I have to give it to them...this is hilarious.

Inmates Do Soulja Boy and Hammer - Watch more free videos

I think I like this one better than the thriller dance from a few months back. What do you think?

My bump my bump my bump

I was checking out one of my favorite websites the other day when I saw this picture. This is no shocking news considering that this story was published a while ago on many celebrity gossip sites. (Not that I ever read them........)

And realizing that this child will be #5 for my favorite celebrity couple reminded me that I probably haven't told you about my sister and her husband expecting #5 this July. And just as there isn't a whole lot of fuss about Angelina's baby bump, there hasn't been a huge fuss over my sister with this pregnancy. Not that we aren't excited to have another family member, but it is becoming commonplace for my sister to be with child. I mean...she's been pregnant for 40 of the past 103 months that she has been married. That's about 38% of the time! Wowza. We'll be finding out soon what the gender will be, so I'll keep you updated...since I'm going to go ahead and assume that you want to know.

I'm feeling neighborly

Behind my apartment we have a Laugher. A Laugher, by the 2008 SZ Dicitionary, is someone who keeps their windows open at all times and decides that whenever they are close to the open window, that they will laugh as loud as they can so that everyone within an earshot can hear that they are laughing and you aren't. To the best of my knowledge, no one in this apartment has ever met him or even seen him, but my goodness we have heard him. Most nights his raucous laughter is heard breaking up the beautifully monotonous sound of waves crashing on the nearby shore. Yes, people. I live right in San Francisco and I don't hear cars --I (generally) hear waves.

When I was growing up in Matthews, North Carolina, we had birds in the backyard that we came to find out are called "Whipperwills." We lived in a housing development, but as are most homes in North Carolina, we were out in the woods. With the dense trees around and the humidity making the air thick, all you can hear at night are crickets. Sometimes in the summer in the middle of the night, a Whipperwill would just belt out its song loud enough for all of us to wake up. And don't we all love being woken up in the middle of the night? I remember pretty vividly one day when my Dad asked our next door neighbor who was from the area what we could do to quiet the bird. He asked my Dad in return if he had a gun.

Since guns are illegal in San Francisco, anyone have any bright ideas on how to quiet the Laugher? I've tried shutting the window, but it gets all hot up in here if I shuts the window! Oh...and I've tried laughing really loud when he laughs really loud just to see if he catches on.

More info on the good times...

Well, I'm back at the office today. Thank. Goodness. All day yesterday was spent at the Convention Center. Really really long day, but as it turns out, I had a good time. I saw a bunch of people that I've become friends with through the years of belonging to my association and even saw people that I didn't even know were members! Those are always fun coincidences! Here I am giving out prizes at the end of the evening. I was really hoping that he was going to call my name. Seriously - the prizes were things like a 2 night stay at a nice hotel in town (or in Vail!) or even free plane tickets on Jetblue to anywhere they fly. Seriously - could have used either one.

And here's the amazing committee that I worked with on the tradeshow. I was so stressed and everything went very smoothly thanks to these wonderful people. Really, it'd do it again in a heartbeat.

And the John Denver cover band didn't hurt either. Have you ever stood next to someone on an escalator and just started singing in harmony with them to "Country Roads"? Because I have and it is a totally bonding experience. Too bad I didn't get his name. ;)

Good news. Today is going really well.

You're a Trip.

After reading about Heather's latest trip I realized than in less than two weeks, I will be going on a little adventure of my own. Yikes! I don't really think that I'm prepared at all to speak Spanish or Portuguese which is really crappy since I at least tried to learn Portuguese for Silvia's family when they were in town back in December. Hopefully all of that Spanish that I learned back in high school will come flooding back. Highly doubtful, but miracles can happen. Right?

Luckily, Deb lived in Puerto Rico for a while and after hearing her speak some Spanish with a waiter at my favorite Mexican restaurant the other night, I'm sure that we'll get by just fine. The Eurrail tickets have been purchased and all that we really have left to do is make hotel reservations before we get our bull fight on. Olè!

In other news, this past weekend was really good. On Saturday I went to Fresno to see The Nurse which was really nice. A friend of mine was going and invited me along for the ride. And I couldn't very well turn down that opportunity. Plus, a roadtrip is always better when the person you're with loves Taco Bell as much as you do at 1am.

Due to some busy-ness at work the next few days, you might not hear from me until Wednesday. That is, if I make it through the next few days without having a stress attack. I mean...I couldn't even fall asleep last night until after 2am. Oi vey.

yay!

This week really flew by. Maybe it was since I had the day off on Monday and was sick for 2 of the remaining 4 days that I had to be in the office. Just maybe. I'm feeling about 95% today which is much better than the way I felt earlier this week.

I got amazing news today that after a really long two year wait, I will be getting a parking pass at work. To you, this is not very exciting, but for me, this is the best news I've heard all year! No more having to have cash on me at all times (even though I probably still will because I'm used to it, living in SF), and I can now come and go when I want!! Seriously, when I got the phone call, I felt like this:And I immediately proceeded to start jumping up and down. Unfortunately for you, there's no real proof of this except for about 3 eye witnesses in the form of coworkers. Really, people. I'm THAT happy. I don't even know the last time that I was so happy that I actually jumped up and down.

Sometimes, it's the little things in life, right?

And In My Spare Time...

Boy, have I been busy lately. Between skiing on Monday, the LAC on Tuesday, Spain planning dinner tonight, the ballet, and having a bad case of a cold, I'm ready for a break. So while I'm home sick today, check out what I've been checking out.

Tonight I saw "Giselle" at the Opera House and I am ashamed to say it was my first ballet; however, I can honestly say that out of all the ballets that I've seen, this one is my favorite. Really though, I loved it. The story, while tragic, was full of emotion and watching all the ballerinas hop around on their toes made me appreciate their talent that much more. And what is more dramatic than watching a ballerina die on stage? Yeah, you guessed it: A dead ballerina hanging from a rope swinging around the stage. If you're in the area, check it out. {our tickets were only $18 so you don't have to have a lot of money to get tickets and we could still see the stage really well!!}

Somehow I also managed to read a few books last week. Only two more until I have read all of the series of "The Chronicles of Narnia." I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying each story. I kinda wish that Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy were the main characters in all of the stories, but they are still good. I highly recommend reading them if you haven't before. Quick reads at only 200 pages a piece and very very entertaining. Check them out.

Last Friday I went and saw the movie "Definitely, Maybe" starring Ryan Reynolds and some other really beautiful actresses. I thought that this movie was going to be about a divorced dad who gets his daughter's opinion on the girls he is dating, but as it turns out, this isn't the case at all. I really loved it and would say that its a great date movie that isn't over -the-top cheesy and the ending was actually different than I thought it would be. An unpredictable chick flick. How often does that happen? I mean...I'm still surprised every time that I see Marianne and Colonel Brandon walk out of the chapel at the end of this movie and I've seen it at least fifty times. Go to your local movie theater and check it out. And then tell me what you think.

Oh...and I netflixed the first season of LOST. Kind of intense for my taste, but I'm giving disc 2 a shot in my sickened state today.


Hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things by Friday. :(

Murder Mystery Mayhem

A month or so ago, Emily asked me to host February's LAC party. I decided to host a murder mystery party called "The Annual Meeting of Killers International." From the looks of the picture no one looks too happy, but the reality of the situation is that we are all hard-core killers and we're not allowed to smile. Don't we look tough?

Thanks ladies for such a great time!! I didn't take any pictures, but when Emily has the rest of hers up, I'll put a link here so that you can view them. I'm sure that some are quite hilarious.

Summin' up Sierra Summit

The main reason for posting this video is so that you can see the AMAZING view from the top of the mountain up in the Sierras earlier today. Do you see that lake? Wow.

I actually only fell twice the entire day despite my lack of skiing confidence. For me, that means that I did extremely well. I would post the video of me skiing down said hill, but that is far too embarrassing for anyone to see. Funny for sure, but embarrassing. So sad, I know. The snow was much much better than I thought it would be with the recent warm weather. All in all, The Nurse and I had a wonderful time.

El Presidente

I hope that you aren't at work reading this, because this is where I'll be today. Be back on Tuesday. For those of you who, like me, have a day off, I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am enjoying mine.

Stoppin' to Smell the Roses

Today I was walking down the beach with my friend and I thought to myself: "Self, you need to slow down a little. Just enjoy things while they are happening and quit worrying so much about the next ten minutes." Am I the only one that does this? For example, this morning when I left to go hiking I kept on thinking: "I can only go for half the day at the most. I have too much to do and I have to get ready for things happening next week, etc." Dude. Why do I do that? Whether I fret about it or not, everything is going to happen, so I might as well stop worrying. I'm not a chronic worrier. I just tend to stress myself out over things once and a while instead of stopping to smell the daisies {--or stopping to video the walker lady when I drive by her.} I hiked about 4 miles down a mountain today and then laid at the beach for a few hours while my friends hiked back up the mountain to get the car. They just picked me up on their way back out of town. Yep, that's right; I'm smart and lazy. I don't think that there can be a better combo. ha.

Valentines Day Holla!

What a good Valentines Day! I thought that it couldn't get much better when I was still at work and yet, it did. I had a lovely dinner with four gentlemen and even got a sweet Valentines Day present - a stuffed animal AND chocolate. Thanks, Mike! Love it!

Then my roommate had this awesome 30 minute dance party. What a sweet idea! The music was blaring and everyone was dancing their sweet little hearts out. Here's me and Deb practicing our dance moves for when we're in Spain next month. Como se dice "Drop it like its hot"??

Thanks, Dave, for helping me meet my Valentines goal of 2008. You know what I mean...

I love that I look so weird and hard core in this pic. Whatever!

Can't beat a holiday with good friends and good dance moves.

Heart you. Mean it.

Let's Hear it for Valentine's Day

I sure hope that everyone has had a wonderful Valentine's Day. My phone has been buzzing consistently all day with texts of love and affection. I don't really understand it when people tell me that they don't believe in celebrating Valentine's Day since they love their significant other every day of the year. Dumb logic in my opinion. So you decide not to celebrate it, but deep down, you still expect something and then you feel bad when you don't get the flowers at work or the sappy card on your pillow. Anyway, embrace the day, I say. If that's the logic that you're going to use, we might as well not celebrate Christmas or Easter. It isn't about the day; its about the celebration!

ps. can you tell I'm a little giddy today?

Mix Tapes

Thanks Amy for posting such a cute link today about Mix Tapes!!! I have been obsessed with this website now for the past few hours. What a cute idea. Guaranteed you can find a good mix tape song list on this website for any situation you can think of. I mean...My cute new boy likes to dance. Al Green and Otis Redding-esque songs that will make him want to dance with me in the living room.??

Have fun!

Out With the Old and In With the New!

Two things:

1. Most of you know that I work for some Ophthalmologists -- kinda. Here at my office we are having a drive for unused glasses. Do you have any that you would like to donate to a good cause? You could give "New Eyes to the Needy" by donating your old glasses to this great cause. If you would like more information on where to send the glasses, please email me at stephzundel at gmail dot com. Got that? Great. Oh..and I need them no later than Feb 28.

2. Look, Ma! I got bangs!

Just When I Thought The Weekend Couldn't Get Any Better...

Wow. As of Friday morning, I didn't have any plans for this weekend. I'm starting to think that maybe I should live like this all the time and maybe not plan out my days so meticulously. This weekend really was amazing. Saturday morning I went with some friends to Dottie's True Blue Cafe for the first time and I have to say that I can't believe I haven't been there before. The food that we ordered was incredible! I mean...I love the Grove and all, but I might venture to say that I enjoyed Dottie's food a little more. Atmosphere of the Grove is better in that you feel like you're in a lodge and you typically don't have to wait in a 45 minute line to get in like you do at Dottie's, but my point is that if you haven't been to either, get up and go. As soon as possible. Oh...and I forgot to mention that part of the fun of breakfast this morning was that somehow Rebecca and I talked Cameron into wearing this outfit. True story.

After breakfast we came back home and took a nap. And have I ever mentioned here on my blog that I really really love naps? Because I do. And I never have time to take them. So yes. We napped. We napped until we couldn't nap any more. Lucky for us, we didn't nap the afternoon away and decided to wake up and be responsible adults. Since I'm currently back in training for a half marathon in April, I went running and boy oh boy, was it beautiful weather in San Francisco! I went four miles and I'm finally getting back into running long(er) distances. It feels good to be back out there on the road again. I'm just hoping and praying that I can keep it up this time and not get shin splints like I did last year!

I know that you must be thinking that my weekend couldn't be any better than that, but you'd be wrong. On SF Weekly I saw a posting for "Bat Boy - the Musical" here in the city and it was only $10 to see the show. Due to my love for the Weekly World News, I knew immediately that this musical was referencing one of my favorite Weekly World News characters.


For more Bat Boy stories, click here, here, here, or here. How could I miss the amazing opportunity to see this odd character on stage? So after thinking about it a lot, I haven't decided if I loved it so much just because I went into it with such low expectations or because it really was the funniest theatrical production I've ever seen. Unfortunately, the last day of the show was Sunday, so you all probably missed it. I just wish that I could sit and laugh with all of you about some of the lines in this play. Well, to get a small taste for the music, visit the official website; and then think about singing the following words to an audience:

" Hold your Bat Boy, touch your Bat Boy."
"Lick my tears" and of course my all-time fave: "And they burroughed."

During one point I said to my friend "What's odder right now? The guy in spandex dancing around the stage like a nymph or the two teenagers on stage pretending to have sex?" Wow. If you want a good laugh, this is a show that you've got to check out sometime.

Sunday was equally as good of a day. I woke up early all on my own due to the copious amounts of sunshine coming through my bedroom window, so I laid in bed and read "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." I hadn't read it since I was in the 4th grade and I'd been meaning to read all of the Chronicles of Narnia, so 1 down, 6 to go. Then, after church, I had an hour to kill, so I picked up "Prince Caspian." By the time I went to bed last night, 2 down, 5 to go. I have to admit that it was the first time that I've ever read two 200 page books in one day in my life. Looks like I'll be finishing up the rest by the end of the week.

Have a Happy Monday, everyone!

Thoughts for the weekend.

Tonight I went country dancing with some girlfriends and while there, I made a few observations.

• Apparently, gentlemen really do prefer blondes. I mean...not that I wanted to dance with any of the guys that my beautiful blonde friends were dancing with, but at least they were out on the dance floor. I'm just sayin'. I might take my current dating techniques to the next level and dye my hair blonde. Seriously. I think it would be an interesting study. I'll try it out and get back to you on that one in a few months.
  
• I always thought that if I was ever on the radio, it would be a lot more exciting than it was tonight when Kristine and I were live on the air for this radio station.
• There is something about a man who can dance. If you're my friend and you're a single male, take my advice and take some dance lessons. Just think of this bullet point as a personal and sincere phone call from me to you. I know that at least one of you out there is currently taking dance lessons and for that, I am proud of you. To the rest of you, make it happen. You won't be sorry. Even knowing how to do this dance is hot in my opinion. I'm serious.
• Ummm....and my friend's doppleganger was at the country club tonight. I'm not even kidding. I kept staring at the guy all night long because it was scary how much he looks exactly like my friend. (on the left in this pic.)
  

That's all for now. I'll be back Monday. Have a nice weekend everyone!

Got Vocab Skillz?

Thank you Zach, for sharing this link today. What is your best vocab level? So far mine is 40.

Oh. AND this supposedly gives rice to people who need food. Check it out.

Thank you to Derek who sent me these pictures this afternoon. This was us on Friday night in San Ramon.

Ummmm.

Only a few of you will know exactly what I am talking about here, but...

Alcatraz? Global Peace Center?

Sometimes I have to believe that this city is completely full of idiots.

Weekend Report Delayed Due to Weather...

So many good things this weekend. I went roller skating with Justin & Silvia (which was a blast) on Friday night. I'm dang good at not falling while on roller skates, although I'm not very good at the skating part. Much improved from when I took roller skating lessons at Kate's Skating Rink at age 7 in Charlotte, but I still suck. Afterwards, I went to Justin's family's house in Pleasanton and played Guitar Hero & Wii Tennis with Silvia. My arm stopped hurting only yesterday after 7 games of a very close cyber tennis match. Then of course, I went to a party in San Bruno and when I got home, talked to my roommate until 2am. Six hours later, the two of us went for a good run in the rain, I watched Gordon B. Hinckley's funeral with Tiff, went to lunch with friends, cleaned the house, went to the store, came home and got ready just in time to be ready and presentable for dinner. Needless to say, I slept in on Sunday and spent a great portion of the evening watching Elizabethtown and now I'm obsessed with the soundtrack. Too bad I can't buy it until June. Hallelujah for last.fm though so that I can listen to whatever song I want, when I want.

Tagged Like A Duck in Golden Gate Park.

What were you doing 10 years ago?

Feb of 1998. Hmmm...Should we reference the journal?? {reaching into my bedside table} Well, I found an entry within 9 years and 11 months, so hopefully that counts. Ok I would totally write exactly what I wrote, but it is far too embarrassing, so, sorry kids; not this time. Here's a general overview for you: I did write all about the boys that I danced with at a church dance (I was 16, people!) and I was pretty smitten about this guy who I danced with who was 5 years older than me. I did mention Shelley and Pace though in my ramblings, which I think it pretty hilarious. Ahem...and thats all I wrote.

5 things on my list today:
1. Running at 8
2. Clean house/room
3. Nap
4. Lunch with friend
5. Call Jacque.

5 snacks that I enjoy:
1. Cheese & Crackers
2. Guacamole
3. Kashi
4. Diet Coke
5. Hummus

3 bad habits:
1. Snoozing for way too long.
2. Staying up late answering dumb things like this.
3. Knuckle Popping

If I were suddenly a billionaire:
Buy a house here in SF, get a maid, travel more. Other than that, I wouldn't really change a whole lot.

5 places I've lived:
1. Vallejo, CA
2. Matthews, NC
3. Rexburg, ID
4. Provo, UT
5. San Francisco, CA

5 jobs I've had:
1. Hallmark Sales Associate.
2. EFY counselor
3. Registration Coordinator
4. Function Space Coordinator
5. Postage Meter Girl.

In All the Hustle and Bustle

Last night I had a really good talk with a friend who is going through some personal struggles right now. In all the busy-ness of my life, talking to this person really made me stop and think about how grateful I am for my family, friends, and my health. All of a sudden, dealing with being busy and the rain didn't seem so bad. Things could definitely be worse and I should complain less. Despite all the rain that is going to continue to dump on San Francisco this weekend, it should be a good one full of good times. Birthday parties, roller skating, nice runs, lunch with friends and who knows what else. And maybe I'll blog about the who-knows-what-else on Monday if you're lucky.

Since this is my mood right now, enjoy. Have a great weekend, everyone.