A fun website

I found the link to this blog on another blog, which shall remain nameless. I aboslutely love this website. From what I gather, it's run by two photographers, and they just post colorful pictures. Pictures like this make me want to be a photographer...to see the world the way they do. I don't think I ever stop and think about how colorful our world is. Anyways, I'll stop trying to be poetic now. Just click here and it will take you to the Catchy Colors page. Enjoy!

the most boring blog ever

Okay- I have resolved myself to blog before the work day gets too busy, but here's my predicament: I have nothing interesting to say this morning! No funny stories, or hip-hop moguls' names to comment on. I think perhaps I have become boring. My routine life finds fewer and fewer "blogworthy" moments. Somewhere along the way I have become stuck in a rut! So here's what we're going to do- we're going to have a relaxing weekend and get rejuvinated for next week's Big Move. (Get ready Chateau Bradley, I'm Comin' Home.) Plus I'm registering for dance classes and finalizing more details of the Even Bigger Move (aka New York City, a few months down the road...). (NEW York CITY????). So I guess my aim this morning is to give you a few sentences just so you know that I am alive and well- oh- one thing of note- I did see March of the Penguins on Monday night.
Take these chanceeeesssss, place them in a box until a quieter time, lights down you up and die!
Oh sorry- wrong animals marching. But the movie was fantastic. Hearing Morgan Freeman narrate I kept expecting to see Tim Robbins show up in a prison uniform but still the movie did not disapoint. The film follows the trek of the Emporer penguins from the ocean to their mating ground 70 miles away, and ends back in the ocean with the baby penguins. There is phenomenal footage shot from antartica and the whole spectacle caused my friends and I to wonder how anybody can doubt the existence of God when the animals have this "unexplained" process down to an art. Def. a must see.
Sorry to cut this short, but things are hectic already. Have a good 'un.

86 the P

Sory kiddos, but in the land of work and craziness, the ole' Diva domain has been forced to take a back seat for a few days. (Does anyone but me ever really notice when this happens anyways?... Buehler?...) I promise to make it up to you though. Hopefully you haven't already heard about this- it's from yesterday's news, but being a busy diva myself, I too am a day late in hearing the big announcement. Yes folks, you read it here Second.

The artist formerly known as P. Diddy, who was the artist formally known as Puff Daddy, also the artist formerly known as Sean Puffy Combs, and you guessed it, the artist formerly known as simply Sean Combs, has changed his name once again. He shall now be referrred to as just "Diddy." Yes, you heard me correctly- P Diddy has dropped the P like a bad Mase record. And the hip-hop mogul (there's that word again) even brought it upon himself to make this announcement formal on NBC's Today Show yesterday!! “I felt the ‘p’ was coming between me and my fans,” says Diddy. Katie Couric feigns interest: “Wow…” (what. a diddy.)

smile, and enjoy your wednesday- the work week is at its glorious mid-point.

My little burrito

Ok, those first two pictures I posted don't even really look like Wilson. Here are some new ones from last night. This is Wilson asleep in his "Moses basket." I keep calling him, "my little burrito." As you can see, he loves to have his hand up next to his face. I promise not to keep posting a million pictures, but i wanted you to all see a more realistic picture of him. Mom and Dad are doing well - pretty tired, but they're hanging in there. How cute is he?

A modern day miracle...

Seriously...anyone who wants to witness a miracle...just wait until someone close to you has a baby. It's absolutely amazing.

Meet my nephew, Robert "Wilson" Borders, born yesterday August 11th at 1:35 pm. He weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and measured 19 1/2 inches. He is so adorable and has the cutest shriek of a cry. It's probably not so cute at 2 am, but I found it endearing none the less. So from now on, I'll probably never see any of you ever again, because I'll be with Wilson. It's been nice knowing you, though...really! :)

I'll post more as I get them - these are the only ones my mom sent. I'll be sure to post some of Wilson and me.

~Auntie Em

you can tune a piano...

Good morning friends- not sure what all those ads-disguised-as-comments were all about from yesterday- if they continue to pop up and get annoying, I may have to ix-nay the anonymous omments-cay, so those of you who particuarly enjoy your anonymity will have to break down and create a user id. Mostly I said that because I wanted to use the word anonymity. It's a favorite of mine. As is snafu. And crisp. But we won't go there this morning.

Instead, a co-worker Joel, brought up an interesting point this morning. Why is it when talking about a sandwich, we refer to it as "tuna fish." Why not just say, I went to the store to buy a can of tuna- no wait- that's from a theater monologue I did in high school- but no, instead we usually refer to this smelly food as "tuna fish." Of course I am not a fan of tuna fish (or any fish really...), but why ever say "Tuna fish?" Why not just tuna? You call it "swordfish" or "catfish" because there is something other than an aquatic being that shares its name. Otherwise, I might confuse it. Do you have a feline or a fish for a pet? If you just say "cat," I might assume the first- and we all know what happens when one assumes. But really, what if I do have an aquarium in my apartment, and I own a pet catfish? (Aren't their whiskers cute?) I'd have to be specific by saying "catfish." But as far as I know, there is no other tuna by any other name that would smell as sweet. So let's all make a conscious effort from now on to call it by its proper name- Tuna.

Because remember, you can tune a piano... But you can't tune a fish.

Does it get any better than this:

it's almost 5 o'clock, and I'm listening to J. Timberlake's Cry Me a River on launchcast radio. (I'm still mad that Ooscar chewed up that cd!) It makes for a great end to a so-so day. I wasn't as busy today so the work hours crawled by a little more slowly than usual. Anyways- due to the blah-esque day (didja like that made-up adjective?) I don't have much to share, but I found this quote amusing from an article I was reading about the Marlins this morning:

(Quick aside. This just in. Florida might need to drop the name ''Marlins.'' The NCAA has just voted to eliminate Native American Billfish nicknames. Now back to the column).

Yeah. Sorry bout it, but I got nothin.

aaaaaand, I'm spent.

a day late...and a late morning

5:45 am - the time I set my alarm for in the morning.
7:30 am- the time I leave the Penthouse to go to work.
7:37 am- the time Rhonda Lu woke me up this morning.

eek and Egads. Apparently my alarm shuts off after snoozing for an hour, and when that hour came and went this morning and I was still asleep. It's an awful feeling waking up more rested than usual but full of dread knowing you're going to be super-late to work. Good to know about that alarm thing though. My name is Amanda, and I'm addicted to snoozing. Yes, that's right- I've admitted my addiction and said it out loud. I'm a snoozer. So sue me.

Anywho- everybody and their dog is ordering Christmas music right now, so it's our busy season at work. I know many of you are disapointed when Monday hits and there's no weekend update blog, so here we go, a day late and a dollar short.

My weekend got started on Friday afternoon with a happy hour at Cozy Mel's with all the girls from work. It's so much fun to hang out with work people outside of work because they act differently, and talk about non-work-related topics, so you realy get to know a person in this environment. Later I met up with Ari and her crew for a little birthday celebration hang-out time, followed by a late night at the Brentwood Waff. Y'all, I am not kidding, we had the scariest guy waiting on us, and every time he came to ask us if we needed anything I burst out in nervous giggles! It made for an interesting couple of hours. (Shout to Rhonda, the ex Waffle House waitress- you know how I like my hashbrowns- scattered, covered, smothered, & diced!) (ps, whoever decided that "chunked" would be a great way to serve hashbrowns is dumb, because the word chunk is just Not appetizing.) (and FYI, Rhonda really was never a WH waitress, she just lied and told me that one time and I believed her.) So that was Friday.

I slept in on Saturday, laid out for a few hours at the pool with Em & Rhonda, tried to read an article about the Pope in my New Yorker magazine, and my gosh, you practically have to have a phd to understand anything in that article, so I traded that in for something that was more condusive to poolside reading- my In Style magazine. Man, I love that thing! It's my monthly treat! Sat night we had a Ginormous group go bowling for Emily's birthday. Mary Anna made cupcakes, Lana brought her bowling shoes (I don't know why that's funny to me!), and Brad Johnson and I made up what we liked to call Golf Bowling- lowest score wins! Brad won once and I won once. It was a sad night at the Franklin Lanes for us! Lisa and Mary Anna tried to capture on film what they like to call "that aint right" moments so they could post them to their blog. Not sure if they found any blogworthy shots, but we all had a ton of fun. Later Em and I fell asleep watching Shag for the finale of the birthday celebration.

Sunday was pretty laid back- an usually unscheduled day for me- until 6 oclock when we got my small group and Allison's small groups together for a dinner at Allison's condo. The food of course was great- you can never have too many deserts- and the conversation spanning a variety of topics such as Michael Bolton: lame, or gulity pleasure?, classic Nick-at-Night shows such as Salute your Shorts, Hey Dude, and You Can't Do That On Television, rapping through the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (Weez, I thought of you!), Bathroom Antics Part 2: the ghostwipe and "stalling out," and oh-so many more. Afterwards Mary Anna and I wasted brain cells and $8.50 a piece on Wedding Crashers. Don't go unless you're a guy- it's more of a rental-esque movie. But it was fun getting to hang out with her at least.

So anyways-the birthday celebrations are finite, the weekend is a distant memory, and it's another busy day here. Kairos tonight. Lots more churches to sell choir music to. Hope you're enjoying your Tuesday, wherever you are!

bathroom antics

For those of you who rely on this site as a source of sheer entertainment, you're in for a real treat today I think. For the minority of readers who were expecting a profound political statement or some morsel of useful knowledge, you're out of luck today (and pretty much every day for that matter)!

While in the restroom here at work lately I've noticed that there is this lady who every time she enters a bathroom stall, there follows a rattling of paper. Of course I'm already in a separate stall so I couldn't figure out what all the rattling was about. I kept thinking, is she opening a new roll of TP every time she goes to the bathroom? That's a little OCD, don't you think? But then it dawned on me yesterday: she's one of those people who use the paper seat protectors.

I always see them in the dispensers on the wall here in our bathrooms right next to the sinks but thought, who actually uses those here? We're all friends; we're all sisters in Christ here- we work together every day. Are we so mistrustful of one another that we have a need for paper toilet seat protectors? I mean, in a public bathroom, yes, by all means, go ahead and partake of the paper seat-protectors, or use a few strips of TP to protect you from those nasty germs, but here at work? Please!

It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine freaks out that her co-worker is using a p.t.s.p. but it's weird especially for Elaine, because the only women using this particular bathroom are Elaine and this other lady. Elaine feels insulted- does this co-worker think she's dirty and full of germs? And I feel insulted as well! I shower. I keep clean. And in fact, I read a study the other day that claims you are more likely to pick up germs in your office cubical environment than you are in a public restroom toilet. Apparently there are more germs lurking in the air you breathe and share with your co-workers at your desk than there are say, in an LA McDonalds bathroom. So what are we paper-protecting ourselves from? Wouldn't it make more sense to cover our desks at work and phones and computer keyboards with fitted, disposable paper covers? I mean, heck, I'm probably contracting some dreadful disease just typing this to you right now- that's right people, I am risking my life for you. Sure makes you think about using that p.t.s.p. next time doesn't it?

The Storyteller

the Storyteller
Originally uploaded by pinkukfan.

Last night dad and I enjoyed one of the coolest concerts either of us will ever attend. Tom T. Hall (who most of you who are reading this have never even heard of), is a favorite of Dad's, and has become a favorite of mine over the years. This was a rare appearance for Tom T. who has long since been retired, but he still had the audience in stitches with his stories, and his clear, recognizable voice kept me holding my breath until each song was over. We were fortunate enough to have front row seats, so I got some great pictures and even some (Sssh!) video of some of the stories he told. Dad looked around the audience and saw several industry people he knew who were all sitting behind us, and he just grinned as he stated proudly that we got to sit on the front row with Miss Dixie. (Miss Dixie of course, is Tom T.'s wife.)

I was raised listening to the story songs of Tom T. Hall. If you want to study some clever songwriting, take a look at The Storyteller's lyrics. He puts stories in words the way you would hear them spoken, and paints word pictures so strongly that even on a first hearing you can follow every image in your head. He told the story behind my all-time favorite Tom T. song last night, which he told us ahead of time, would be his encore! ("I don't believe in planned encores," he said. "If you plan on doing it, it's just another song.") He had a friend who was a psychiatrist- "I couldn't afford to be a patient, so I was just a friend," Tom said. His psychiatrist friend suggested he make a list every day of all his problems in life, that way when Tom read through them he would see that there were fewer problems in his life than he originally thought, and would discover how trivial some of these problems were in reality. Well this activity depressed Tom T., so he decided instead to make a list of all the things he loved, came up with the song "I Love."

I love, little baby ducks, old pickup trucks, slow moving trains, and rain.

I love little country streams, sleep without dreams, sunday school in may, And hay

And I love you too

I love leaves in the wind, pictures of my friends, birds in the world, and squirrels

I love coffee in a cup, little fuzzy pups, bourbon in a glass, and grass

and I love you too

I love honest open smiles, kisses from a child, tomatoes on the vine, and onions

I love winners when they cry, losers when they try, music when it’s good, and life

And I love you too

birthday #2

Ahhhh... the joys of coffee. It's keeping me going this morning. I often delude myself and pretend I'm still 21 and in college, and then I wonder why I can't function anymore in the mornings after being out late (read: past 10 o'clock)! Say it with me: 21 and in college- maybe if I say it enough it will become true!

We went to Jonathan's to celebrate Ari's birthday last night- we, being myself, Angela, Ari, and Flyboy, who drove in from Texas as a surprise to the birthday girl. Singing 3 part harmony over the music at the bar- is there anything more fun? We should take our act on the road, girls! I left Jonathan's late, and then ran into my Walmart Neighborhood Grocery to gather supplies to prepare for the next birthday, which happens to be today. (Happy 23 Emmy Sue!) Here I am, about to pass out from exhaustion, and I'm baking cupcakes at 12:30!!! I think I ate about as much cake batter as I put in the cupcakes!! (Isn't that the best way to bake though?) Needless to say I was a little loopy this a.m. when Rhonda and I got up to finish decorating the 'birthday hallway' in the Penthouse and make the birthday girl the traditional chocolate chip pancakes!

Man, oh man, is that coffee working though! 4 cups later and I'm going strong here at bbmpi today. Good thing too, cause it's a busy one; lunch plans with a friend from "Pirates in my Pants" and then a date night with Dad tonight to see Tom T. Hall. Finally, we culminate by celebrating the birthday of Miss Emily Elizabeth Borders, affectionately known as Emmy Sue, e.e. borders or soon-to-be Auntie Em!

Em is 23 years old today (yep, she's a youngin) (but not as young as me- remember, I'm 21 and in college!), and a fellow Native Nashvillian. There are few of us out there, so we stick together! Little known facts about Emily: she makes a mean chocolate chip bundt cake (not sure what the official name of that tasty treat is, but trust me, it's yummy), she cheerleaded in high school, does an amazing elephant impersonation complete with arm motions, and is the voice of reason and maturity in the Penthouse even though she's the youngest of the 3 roommates! Emily enjoys cheering on her Baylor Bears, watching (and falling asleep to) the classic 80's movie "Shag," and wows us occasionally with her hot dance moves! Have a great day, Emmy Sue!

modern day fairytale

a birthday story.

Once upon a time, 24 years ago to the day precisely, there was a beautiful princess born in the Bluegrass state. Her name was Princess Celia Ariana Bryant, but nobody could pronounce that, so everyone just called her Ari. Ari spent her childhood roaming about the country with her mother, Queen Celia, until finally, one day, the beautiful Princess Ari was all grown up, and desired to go to school. Being a Muggle with no magical powers, she was not admitted into the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, so she settled for a school in the Commonwealth of Kentucky; a little school called UK, which happened to be known for their basketball almost as much as their pension for attracting men of the homosexual nature (Oh wait- maybe those were just our friends). Either way, Princess Ari decided to study music and it was there that she met her fellow DIVA Amanda.

DIVA Amanda was a priss and wannabe princess from Nashville,TN, and Princess Ari was not so sure she was going to like Amanda. For Amanda, you see, liked the Backstreet Boys at that point in time, and this made her very uncool in Princess Ari's world. Conversely, Princess Ari was loud and opinionated and DIVA Amanda was not sure she and Princess Ari would get along. One day these two unlikely friends discovered their joint dislike of a mean, evil professor named Dr. J, and this bonded them together, and they were the best of friends forevermore.

To this day, if you see Princess Ari or DIVA Amanda they are not far from each other's thoughts, and they enjoy encouraging one another in their quest to find their respective (prospective?) handsome princes.

The End.

What IS a Hokie anyways?

Another one bites the dust! I have coerced yet another friend into joining the Wonderful World of Blogging. Here you can read all about my trip to Vrginny on Heather's blog. (Oh yes. She's gone up and done it.)

But of course, I have to get my two-cents in as well, so here are the weekend highlights, according to yours truly:

• *eating Momma B's chocolate chip cookies in the car on the way to Blacksburg
• *finally meeting "Craig & Jenny" aka Heather and Jacob's married couple friends, Joe & Jana
• *sadly enough, yes, getting lost on a loop hiking trail around a mountain lake... it was not what I was thinking when I suggested we go on a hike in the mountains of Virginia... I admit I was picturing more of a Radnor Lake-esque trail but with more of an incline... nice wide paths lined with cedar chips- none of this scaling rocks and dodging sketchy holes that looked like they might house a family of snakes... hmmm. (This made me decide that once in New York I'm going to find a gym with Virtual Hiking- a stair climber and a video screen in front to give the illusion of hiking outdoors!) (This is an awfully long bullet point, don't you think?)
• *Must Love Romantic Comedies, but Must Love Dogs was two thumbs up if you do!
• *Beating Heather in a 3am game of Pop-culture Trivial Pursuit
• *eating Momma B's chocolate chip cookies for breakfast
• *laughing hysterically at the geek who wrote out the number Pi in the dust on the front window of the Virginia Tech Engineering bldg.
• *giggling with Heather as we wrote "helpful" formulas such as a2 + b2 = c2 and E=MC2 on Jacob's office research marker board
• *helping out the Roanoke Lifeway store by straightening their shelves... force of habit for me and Heather
• *finishing off those yummy chocolate chip cookies... I don't think Jacob even had one!
• *Singing Ray Charles a la Rudy Huckstable
• *hearing Heather tell "The Fishes of the Sea" story on Jacob and laughing each time as it got funnier (for us, anyways!)
• *Music theory lessons with Heather in the OG, and in the shoe section of Dick's Sporting Goods (keep working on those "fractions" Weez)
• *the bizzare feelings of being uprooted from a subway in Manhattan one weekend to the rolling hills and small town life of Blacksburg, VA the next!
• *and finally... seeing my "best friend Heather from home." You may know her as HBo, Weezer, or Heather Bowlman, but she's my oldest pal, and it was great to spend some time with her and Cubby Hubby Jacob as well. (Thanks Jake for going to the Chic movie with us!) See you in 2 weeks, H!

the best laid plans

So yesterday Lana (which we recently discovered is 'anal' backwards) and I had plans to go walking at Radnor Lake after work. Well in case you didn't notice, it happened to pour down rain yesterday afternoon. Or in case you don't live in the Nashville vicinity, it poured down rain yesterday. And by 5 o'clock, while it wasn't raining anymore, it sure looked like it ws going to any minute. (Ok, let's be honest- we were looking really hard for an excuse not to go walk!) So Lana and I debated: to walk or not to walk, and then she tells me about a friend from Lexington who was in town for a work conference. He wanted to see her, and she really didn't feel like going out to eat with just him, so what did we do? Well of course we had to be good friends to Lexington Boy, so we canceled our plans to walk, and graciously offered to have dinner with him and his coworker. I know what you're thinking- how generous were we to give up our exercise time to have yummy food with people we'll probably never see again! Skip forward to me and Lana back at the Penthouse.

"It's still light outside," I said to her. "Let's just go walk around the apartment complex."
So with our tummies full, we changed clothes and set out to walk. Only excepting we stopped into Rhonda's room and started looking at Rhonda's old pictures with her and John. The next thing I knew, I looked out the window and it was completely dark outside! Lana left soon after, and I marched into the living room, determied to do some form of physical activity. I popped in our Mari Windsor pilates video and made it through half of the (mere 20-minute) video before my energy was completely zapped, so I went to bed about 15 minutes later!

Isn't there some quote about the best intentions or the best-laid plans or something that applies to this story? I'm sure there is. If not, allow me to coin another one: Best intentions are, at best, just intentions. Sleeping and eating are much more fun. And you can quote me on that.

catch phrase

So, you know, I was driving home last night and you know, called back Corbin, the director for the Secret Garden at Boilerroom Theater, and you know, he told me he didn't have a part for me in the principals, but you know, he would like to cast me as one of "spirits" in the ensemble. Would I be interested in doing that?

You know Corbin, I don't think I would! And would you PLEASE stop saying "you know" after every phrase??? Every. Single. Phrase! Of course I didn't say that- I said I'd think about it and check my dance class schedule, and you know, I'd call him back in a day or two.

My store!

My store!
Originally uploaded by pinkukfan.

OK, so there's just way too much to wrote about from this past week's mission trip to New York. Instead I have posted several pictures and commented briefly on them so you can get the jist of it. During the weekdays, we painted a middle school in the Bronx partnering with a program called New Hope New York that has a project it sponsers called "Paint the Town."
Our nights were free in the city, and we stayed in apartments right near Times Square. The first few days I was enthralled with the lights and hustle and bustle that encompassed Times Square- by day 3 or 4, I could not stand having to fight my way through all of teh "tourists" to get where I was going! Ha!
This store was just calling my name to take a picture in front of it. "I like pink. Pink is my signature color."

Brooklyn Tab

Brooklyn Tab
Originally uploaded by pinkukfan.

Not at all what I pictured it to look like, but the service was unlike anythng I've ever een to. These people know how to praise the Lord! The praise and worship was great, and the famous choir sang "My Life Is In Your Hands," which is one of my favorite Brooklyn Tabernacle songs we sing in the BBC choir. It was a total God thing too, because when I was waiting in line to get in the church that morning (yes, you have to wait in a line that spans a few blocks!) I thought to myself that I would just love it if the choir sang that song. 2 hours and 15 minutes later, we were on our way to explore Chinatown and Little Italy in the pouring on-and-off rain.

Roomies eating Dolce in Little Italy

Roomies eating Dolce in Little Italy
Originally uploaded by pinkukfan.

Here we are, the girls of 123 W. 44th st. # 5D, enjoying some desert at a cafe in Little Italy. The gelato was yummy, and so was our waiter. I actually ordered a cannoli just to keep him coming back to our table! (You all know how I love me some Italian Mens!) So we exchanged flirtatious smiles throughout our stay, and he grabbed my camera off the table to take a picture of the 4 of us girls. Trust me, I got a card from that place so I can go back next time I'm in the city!

painting the hall

painting the hall
Originally uploaded by pinkukfan.

This is Alicia demonstrating a big part of what we did. The school was bulit in 1937, and has not been painted or repaired since, save some new windows 15 years ago. We are hoping the new spruced-up building will have an impact on both students and teachers. Did I mention the 100+ stairs we had to climb multiple times a day? 4 floors plus a basement- this building was huge- oh, and no air conditioning either. We sweated it out while working joyfully. Seriously- as the days went on, and we became increasingly more tired and sore, the attitudes of the team remained joyfully focused on the task at hand. This made it easier to get the job done.

a view of the Bronx

a view of the Bronx
Originally uploaded by pinkukfan.

I took this from the 4th floor in our school. The neighborhood is most definitely run-down, but it still has character. I would get off the subway each day, admire my surroundings and just smile thinking about where I was. I am in love with this city for sure. A point of interest- the school is only a few blocks away from Yankee Stadium.