My two cents about KSU football

I've decided this Snyder thing is going to be a good thing! I think that with the right staff, Snyder will be able to continue to do good things with our football program. My hopes are that he's going to get an assistant in who he'll train to be the head coach when he re-retires. He's clearly good at training and developing amazing coaches....Stoops, Leavitt, Mike Stoops, Mangino, and Phil Bennett, to name a few. So, although I know KSU will get criticized by their new "old" coach... I'm still sportin' my purple gear. I bet it was hard for him to watch Prince do what he did to our program, after he had spent so much time and energy building it. Good things are going to happen.

That's my two cents. And that's probably what it's worth. :)

Finally....A KSU winning weekend....or is it?

So apparently I'm not very good at keeping up with my blog. I'm still not real sure how to post pictures and have them not all be clumped together, but I'm sure my darling sister will show me this weekend. I'll continue to update you on my vacations as soon as I get the photo thing sorted out.

This weekend was pretty relaxing. Friday night I got invited to go to a Happy Hour with a couple of girls from work. We went to the Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant on the Plaza. It was amazing, and just what the doctor ordered for all 3 of us after a stressful couple of months at work. (That's a whole OTHER story, I'll save it for a different post). Our conversation started off being mainly work stuff but we realized that was just bringing us down so we quickly changed the subject and ended up just talking about random things: boys, books, favorite beverages, holiday plans, what we're going to do when our homes go into foreclosure, etc. LOL, just joking about the foreclosure part. Kinda. Saturday I met up with a friend and watched the KSU/ISU game....we finally won! YES!!!

How ironic is it that right when I typed "YES" in the previous paragraph, my sister and Todd were instant messaging me about Snyders return to KSU. errrrr........but I support the decision and I'll still bleed purple. On that note I'm going to bed......

The good news is that this is a short week....and I get to see my family at the end of it :)
Toodles!

In memory of Balcony Whore

This is by far the most dramatic vacation ever. BY FAR. Let me preface it.....There were 6 of my "friends" who were going on this cruise. (Carnival Victory: Miami, San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Maarten) It was Myself, Cyndi (good friend from KSU), Krissy (Cyndi's roommate), Krista (good friend from Topeka), Rebecca (good "friend" from Enterprise) and Amanda (Rebecca's roommate). What a fun group of girls!

Surprises of the cruise:

1. Night one..... We were sitting in the sports bar on the boat watching KU basketball play in the NCAA tournament (I'm sure they lost). We were all hammered drunk since we had been drinking all day. All of the sudden a lady (she looked my moms age) was telling me that I looked familiar. I told her that's impossible because I had never seen her face before. She said I looked like someone she went to high school with. I WAS OFFENDED!!!!! I DIDN'T LOOK LIKE I WAS 50!!! It's a darn good thing she followed up her last sentence with what she did, because I was livid. She said "you look like a girl named Patty Kelly." Normally I would have put two and two together (since Patty Kelly is my mom's maiden name). But since I had already downed 13 million captain and diet cokes, I just said, "NO WAY!!! I know a Patty Kelly!" Right then my mom walked around the corner. I swear on my life I don't do drugs and have never done drugs, but I swore at that moment that someone had slipped me something. How did my mom get from Topeka to our cruise ship?! I had just called and talked to her while the boat was pulling out of port! She said she was at home watching TV and really wished she could be there with us! That mom of mine....she is the most amazing human being I've ever met!!! (The girl who came up to me was her bff from high school, Sandy).

Now, many of you are thinking, "OMG...Jamie....Your mom invited herself on a cruise with you and your friends?! What kind of mom do you have?!" I'd like to clear that up for you. We had invited my family to come with us. (If you can't tell by now, my family rocks). But they had said no, you go and have fun with your friends. SURPRISE!!!!!!!

After hugging her a million times, I'm pretty sure I bought her a drink and she wanted me to come up to her room to "check it out". So, I did, only to find out that she wasn't done with the surprises. Oh no......she wasn't. Inside that room of hers was my Kelly, Todd and Karley! I almost passed out. And no, not because of the alcohol. Naturally, my next question was "Ok, well, where did you hide dad at?" I was very disappointed to find out that he had to say behind to watch the dog and take care of Kelly Express....but I didn't quite believe that he wasn't hiding somewhere on the boat. (He wasn't, he really was in Topeka. Bummer).

So, here's the room situations. Room 1: Myself, Krista and Rebecca. Room 2: Cyndi, Krissy and Amanda.

I'm not going to mention names, but one of my roommates (not Krista) found a very young gentleman and brought him back to our room to "show him a good time". I'm pretty sure this guy is was over 18, so the only illegal act that went on was that Krista and I were in the room while they were doing their thing. NASTY. Sometimes they'd move out onto the balcony and do it out there. After 2 nights of this, and Krista and I both telling her to stop and him to shut up (he was a squealer), she finally got the hint. She just quit coming back to the cabin at night. Only for us to find out she had now moved on to the cruise director, Dale. Luckily Dale was nice enough to invite her to his room, so we didn't have to listen to the....well, you know.

Now, to make a long story short, the last night we were on the cruise we all decided to go to the dance club and have one final 'girls night' before we went home. We were all there, all except for "balcony whore". When she finally showed up we were kinda livid at her, and I forgot to filter some things I said. We duked it out and everything was normal, we drank, danced, went to the pizza bar, etc. When we got back to KS, Balcony whore sent me a message saying that she didn't think our friendship could go on any more and she wished me luck in all that I do. Nobody has talked to her since. That is why this is dedicated to her.....Cheers, Balcony Whore.

Thankful for an amazing family

Hands down the best Thanksgiving in my entire life....we took our show on the road and headed west to visit Vicki and Ken in Aspen, CO. I flew out with cousin Tami and her kids, Katarina and Caleb. My mom, dad, Kelly, Todd and Karley flew out a few hours after. The drive from Denver to Aspen is absolutely breath taking. I highly recommend listening to Neil Diamond and John Denver the whole way, but you do what you want.
Here are some highlights of the trip:

1. Lying to my parents and telling them Tami and I hit a deer on the way to Aspen (our rental car had some dents and scratches on the front bumper....they bought it).

2. Teaching Kat and Caleb Sweet Caroline, which to this day they still call me every time they hear it on the radio.

3. Going to Vicki's amazing house for lunch on Thanksgiving Day. Enjoying the view from her back deck, having snowball fights. Watching football, drinking wine, playing games, relaxing, having more wine, etc. The day was perfect.

4. Going out on the town with Dad, Tami, and Karen (Chad's wife). After convincing my dad that we the hotel bar was called the J bar, not gay bar, he decided it was safe to come with us. Boy was he wrong! Tami and her dirty martinis....

5. Going skiing at Snowmass. I'm sure Todd would disagree with this one, since on the first run down he fell and broke his shoulder. Poor guy still skied 1/2 way down the mountain until he finally couldn't take it anymore. He did get to ride a sweet snowmobile, and they even gave him his money back for his lift ticket and skis.

6. Sitting in the lobby of the hotel listening to Ken and Vicki's friend sing and play songs on his guitar. While we were all out there John Mayer walked by and smiled at us, then walked outside to the hot tub. Pretty sure he was jealous of our awesome family!

7. Going to Boogies Diner and finding my most favorite t-shirt ever....The Betty Ford Center t-shirt.

I'm sure I missed some key points. And I'm sure you understand why this goes down in history as the best Thanksgiving of all time.

I don't have any idea where to start, but I've been mapping this out in my head all day. I think I'll start by sharing some of my most memorable moments....VACATIONS!!

I'm sure if you're reading this blog then you know me, (and if you don't know me then get off my blog, you're creepy), but lets get one thing clear.....I LOVE TO TRAVEL! Whether it's a weekend getaway to the lake or a week long caribbean cruise vacation, I'm all for it.

So, the next few blogs are going to be some of the best vacations I've been on, at least within the past few years. Enjoy!

Oh boy. I'm nervous. I always enjoy reading other peoples blogs, so I figured why not....lets try this out! It's kinda like writing my own book about my wild and crazy life, only not really. I'm sure this blog will be filled mainly with pictures and random thoughts, but I hope you enjoy. Whoever you are.