because I know you care

22 days until Thanksgiving

55 days until Christmas

Dear Professor Isaacs,

Remember that paper I wrote about the symbolism in Harry Potter and speculating as to the author's intentions? And remember how you wouldn't say in class what you thought but then told me in your office that you agreed with me?
We were right.
Feels good, huh?
Amber

my day

6am wake up. re-set alarm for 6:30 (my hair is clean, i can shower tonight)
6:30 hit snooze
6:45 get out of bed and get ready
7am leave for work
7:05 get gas
7:13 get coffee
7:21 on road for work
8am start work
12pm lunch (Rubio's. I ate a churro. Decided it would taste REALLY good if only it was spicy, so I dipped it into my salsa. not bad... but very weird, i realize)
1pm back to work- spend all afternoon on phone with panicked parents convinced that their children's dorms are on fire
2:30 classes cancelled until monday- the phone calls pour in.
4:48 attempt to leave to go home
4:49 overhear phone conversation between my supervisor and someone very important that after hours phone message needs to be changed... i'm the only person who can do this...
5:05 overhear my supervisor say, "but we don't really have anyone who can work the switchboard until 11pm......"
(wanna bet?)
6:15 Amazing boyfriend brings me dinner
11pm I get to go home

don't worry. this is actually working out to be a pretty sweet deal... ;)

brent

oh jeez...

So I was having a conversation with someone this morning, well, it was really just me talking and the other person smiling and listening and occasionally nodding- and it hit me- "I'm being ridiculously annoying right now"

Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever caught yourself being that weirdo?



it happens to me often...

Rules for Work

1. Never give me work in the morning. Always wait until 4:00 and then bring it to me. The challenge of a deadline is refreshing.
2. If it's really a rush job, run in and interrupt me every 10 minutes to inquire how it's going. That helps. Or even better, hover behind me, advising me at every keystroke.
3. Always leave without telling anyone where you're going. It gives me a chance to be creative when someone asks where you are.
4. If my arms are full of papers, boxes, books, or supplies, don't open the door for me. I need to learn how to function as a paraplegic and opening doors with no arms is good training in case I should ever be injured and lose all use of my limbs.
5. If you give me more than one job to do, don't tell me which is priority. I am psychic.
6. Do your best to keep me late. I adore this office and really have nowhere to go or anything to do. I have no life beyond work.
7. If a job I do pleases you, keep it a secret. If that gets out, it could mean a promotion.
8. If you don't like my work, tell everyone. I like my name to be popular in conversations. I was born to be whipped.
9. If you have special instructions for a job, don't write them down. In fact, save them until the job is almost done. No use confusing me with useful information.
10. Never introduce me to the people you're with. I have no right to know anything. In the corporate food chain, I am plankton. When you refer to them later, my shrewd deductions will identify them.
11. Be nice to me only when the job I'm doing for you could really change your life and send you straight to managers' hell.
12. Tell me all your little problems. No one else has any and it's nice to know someone is less fortunate. I especially like the story about having to pay so much in taxes on the bonus check you received for being such a good manager.
13. Wait until my yearly review and THEN tell me what my goals SHOULD have been. Give me a mediocre performance rating with a cost of living increase. I'm not here for the money anyway.

This makes me laugh so hard... it also makes me extremely appreciative and grateful for my boss.

Love is something more stern and splendid than mere kindness.
Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.
-C.S.Lewis

God only knows what I'd be without you...
-The Beach Boys

guess what?

66 days 'till Christmas!!!!!

I don't think I've been this excited about Christmas in my entire life! I'm just SO EXCITED for everything to be lit up with lights and my house to smell like spices and for the weather to pretend to be cold... My mom always lets me wrap ALL of her presents-she thinks I'm doing her a favor but really it's one of my favorite things to do- wrap presents and watch Christmas movies like Home Alone, LoveActually, White Christmas, Sleepless in Seattle, It's a Wonderful Life, While You Were Sleeping...
oh! and Hot chocolate with peppermint marshmallows! My very VERY favorite tradition that my mom and I started a few years ago.
I'M SO EXCITED!!!

(33 days 'till Thanksgiving for those of you who don't love Jesus and are annoyed by my Christmas countdown)

Bee Careful/Don't Eat Thees

So outside my work today I noticed some caution tape wrapped around two pillars that are about 15 feet from one another. Later, while walking to another office, I walked past the "scene of the crime" and saw that between the pillars were about fifty DEAD BEES.
So rather than sweep them up and throw them away, maintenance put up caution tape... like someone's gonna walk by a bunch of dead bees and try to lick them or something...

change

I wish you could see me now
I wish I could show you how
I'm not who I was
I used to be mad at you
A little on the hurt side too
But I'm not who I was

I found my way around
To forgiving you
Some time ago
But I never got to tell you so

I found us in a photograph
I saw me and I had to laugh
You know, I'm not who I was
You were there, you were right above me
And I wonder if you ever loved me
Just for who I was

When the pain came back again
Like a bitter friend
It was all that I could do
To keep myself from blaming you

I reckon it's a funny thing
I figured out I can sing
Now I'm not who I was
I write about love and such
Maybe 'cause I want it so much
I'm not who I was

I was thinking maybe I
I should let you know I am not the same
But I never did forget your name
Hello

Well the thing I find most amazing
In amazing grace
Is the chance to give it out
Maybe that's what love is all about

I wish you could see me now
I wish I could show you how
I'm not who I was
-Brandon Heath

I'm so glad I'm not who I once was. Have you ever looked back at a past relationship or a past friendship and felt super embarassed at the way you acted? Maybe you acted out of pain. Maybe it was deffensivism. Maybe it was bitterness, anger, frustration, or jealousy... You know that Relient K song, "Who I am hates who I've been"? that's my song... He's a big God, he makes us new.
Praise Him. Praise Him. Praise Him.

I'm a magician/I love my job

So yesterday I turned this:











into this:

TWENTY FIVE TIMES

wanna see something really gross?

Cute Overload

i blooped

The Jars of Clay concert last night was amazing. NeedToBreathe opened for them and let me just say that I am now a fan. Those guys are super rad and I can't wait to get their cd's. In fact, they were so good that they inspired me to write my first fan letter. That's right, I'm 24 years old and this morning was the first time I've ever written a band to tell them how much I love them.
Jars gave an excellent show as well, except Dan dances like Buster from Arrested Development, which was a little distracting at times. Aside from that, they did not dissapoint. In fact, we got to be at a "special" night where the concert was videotaped (maybe for a new DVD??) AND they played CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!!

75 days till Christmas!!!

(Brian and Brent: stop rolling your eyes)

actual phone conversation from today

obsessive mother, panicked, irritated, angry and talking really, really quickly (profanities have been omitted to keep it G-rated): I was just told that there's no way for me to call my daughter's room directly. If I have to call the main line and be transferred to my daughters extension by the operator every time I want to call her, then I have a problem with that because the switchboard is only open from 8-5 Monday through Friday. What if her cellphone wasn't working and there was an emergency where I needed to contact her, for example if there was an earthquake, terrorist attack or a fire?"

me (not thinking): "Ma'am, I'm sure that if there was a fire, your daughter wouldn't be in her room."


**jo-haa-nathan requested that I clarify that there IS indeed a way to dial directly to the dormrooms... we're not that ghetto...

makes me laugh every time...

Parental discretion is advised.

Wedding

My cousin got married yesterday at the Botanical Gardens in Arcadia. It was so much fun to see my awesome family and see my cousin get hitched!
Highlights:
*It was an outside wedding in an orange grove 50 yards in front of a waterfall!!!
*Having my mom ask me and my cousin to go stand up in front of the waterfall in front of all the wedding guests BEFORE the ceremony so she could take our picture... to which I replied: "Absolutely not"
mom:"why not??"
me: "Don't be ridiculous. You can take our picture AFTER THE WEDDING"
my aunt, who's sitting next to my mom: "Thank you, Amber. That's what I told her"
*Playing 20 questions with my cousin about what kind of wedding I want
*listening to 12 different versions of the wedding march on the way there, each one "just a little different" and trying to help my dad pick out the perfect one for Tom and Heidi
*freaking my dad out by lying and telling him I want to get married at Disneyland
*freaking my mom out by lying and telling her I want Chick-Fil-A to cater my wedding
*Tom being so "vacclemt" that he couldn't say his own wedding vows
*My uncle almost dying because he ate cake with strawberries
*the most awkward best man speech I've ever heard (I'm tempted to say "ever" but I'm sure there have been worse) "The only reason Tom asked me to be his best man is because I blackmailed him- that's why none of you recognize me... So now you've taken on every aspect of each other's lives.... how incredibly daunting that must feel.... hope it works out" (the best part was Tom's face- it was as though he was thinking "what the heck are you talking about? who would say something like that? please stop talking. Now.")
*Dancing with my Aunt's to "sexyback" (ask me for a demo- we tore up that dance floor!)
*passing out tums at the table like candy to my aunts and uncles
*remembering the funny parts about my cousin, Nicole's wedding (hi nicole! thanks for reading! Remember Katie at your wedding???)
*being "almost next"
*walking around barefoot because my feet were bleeding :(
*having so much fun I could hardly stand it!

blast from the past

This morning as I was leaving for work I came across my first mp3 player that I recieved as a gift when I was in college. It's a cute little thing about two and a half inches long that looks like a little red digital recorder. I still don't really know how to work it because the instructions were in chinese.
Anyways- I decided to bring it to work with me because fridays are usually ridiculously slow, and I've been rocking out all day!
it's fun to listen to all my favorite songs from four years ago- Matthew Ryan, Martina McBride, Guns n' Roses, My Chemical Romance, Journey, the All-American Rejects, Blink 182, Queen, SheDaisy, New Radicals, N'Sync, Outkast, Switchfoot, Coldplay... man, I was all over the place!

50th Post!

So for my 50th post, I've decided to list my 50 favorite romantic comedies...


um... not really.
I decided to list 5 (not fifty) things that you probably didn't know about me:

1) I love Social Distortion and Dashboard Confessional
2) I can speak Klingon.... not really... but I AM a huge Star Trek fan.
3) I love candy corn but won't eat the white tips (they taste funny). I once had a roommate who bought me a large bag of candy corn and spent an entire afternoon cutting off all the white tops for me.
4) I was a pole vaulting/soccer playing/cheerleading/actor in high school
5) I once won a thousand dollars in a singing competition for my performance of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina"

what made me laugh today...