Michigan!

In October, Eben and I flew out to see Emily and her new fiancee Stilian, in their home in Ann Arbor Michigan. We spent a long weekend out there (about 4 days), and really enjoyed it!

The Saturday we were there, there was a big game: Michigan State vs. UMichigan. What made it bigger was that State won the game, and they had not won against UM AT UM in like 20 years!! Insane. The celebrations around town were pretty cool. Also, the fighting among drunk fans was pretty comical.

Eben and I got to help Emily pick out her wedding dress!! Very cool. She looks beautiful, I cant wait for the wedding. It's going to be in the end of June on an island off Midcoast Maine. And, Im going to be a bridesmaid!

Here are some pictures from the trip:

We carved pumpkins together (well, I watched Eben and Emily do it).

Here is Emily and her scary cat pumkin:

And Eben with his Nightmare Before Christmas-inspired pumpkin:

Eben and I posing in front of "Beaner's" Coffee downtown Ann Arbor:

Here is a picture of the VERY FIRST Border's store!!! Ooh, ahhh...

Just a cool ass looking movie theatre downtown:

Ann Arbor is extremely liberal, and stuff like this was EVERYWHERE:

University of Michigan - Go Wolverines!

The gorgeous ceiling of the UM Law Library - I wish the photo did it justice!!It was soooooo quiet in there with all the studious students!!!

Just a nice building on campus:

Here's what we did most of the time: sat and chilled, and had beer and wine....awesome:

Halloween Fun

Me as Juno:

Partygoers:

Chillin Homies:

This was my first shot at Juno, an early October Halloween Party:

3 Car Sandwich.

You know, most of the time, Im honored, nay excited, by the prospect of being the middle of a sandwich. You take that however you like. But...Saturday (yesterday), me and my Saab were the peanut butter and jelly to a Mercury and a Honda SUV.

We were all headed together from a wedding to a reception. For those of you from Lewiston-Auburn, you are aware there are a couple of different ways to get to Martindale. I was thinking we were headed for the further one, called Martindale (rd., dr., who knows?). My friend Laurel, whose husband was driving the Mercury, told Bob (the husband) "we missed the turn! turn around!" when we passed the first road, Beech Hill Rd. I, of course, was admiring those stupid big planes by the airport, and not paying attention. All of a sudden, I see that Bob is stopped cold in front of me. Me going full speed. I slammed on the brakes, let out a colorful dose of explitives, and bam! Hit the Mercury with the passenger side front of the Saab. Then, BAM! again! The CRV hits me from behind.

First of all, I thought Bob was fucking with me, and I was rip shit. See, we play jokes on each other and such, and just before this at the 4 way intersection, he sat at the stop sign for like 30 extra seconds to amuse himself. Turns out he was not a psycho and just stopping to piss me off, he was genuinely stopped, he says he had his blinker on (who knows, I wasnt paying attention obviously), and we all actually had a lot of laughs. Seriously.

So, we all had a good half hour to wait for the Auburn PD while we joked around and inspected the damages. I felt okay at the time, highly impressed at the structural integrity and safety of the Saab. Today though, Im feeling pretty sore in my neck and back. Just overall kind of achy. And looking at the car again today is depressing. The back bumper is coming off (slightly), and my passenger headlight is smashed. It still works though! There is a big dent in the front next to the light. The back bumper is all scratched up.

I ordered a replacement headlamp assembly - not OEM - for $300!!!!! Christ. Just a friendly reminder that even though that Saab is paid off, it will always be a Saab. And steal generously from my wallet.

Here's some pictures for your perusal:

Oh, and in case you are wondering, we did all make it to the reception, which was beautiful. We even made it in before the wedding party was announced! (bonus). Bob bought me a shot 'o Jack, and I had a shitload of Cran and Vodkas. Here's a couple pictures from that:

Cindy, one of my BFF's at work and her hubby the math teacher at LMS ;)

The beautiful bride Linda (my coworker/landlord!) and her proud Papa

And me, giving it to Bob up the ass, much like I did earlier in our vehicles. Good thing we have a sense of humor, eh?

Ice, Ice Baby...

Yeah, that's right. That's Vanilla Ice, a/k/a Rob Van Winkle. He was at Mixers in Sabattus last Friday night, and it was AWESOME!!!! He was shit faced. But cool. And, though it was only supposed to be a meet and greet, he surprised us with a sweet song...I bet you know it...it goes a little somethin like this: "Allright stop: collaborate and LISTEN! Ice is back with my brand new invention!..."



You know you are jealous. Just admit it.

Vacation! Day One.

Im on vacation! Finally! My first 2-week vacation from DHHS, ever. Im psyched!

So, my first day - get this - the SUN came out!! It seems like it hasnt been out for weeks!! I slept in until noon (nice), cleaned the house, did the laundry (brought the doggies with me, it was kind of fun), and was able to breathe.

I dont have a whole lot of plans for this vaca - softball monday night, Tyler monday night and Chuck-e-Cheese Tuesday, work on Thursday (yea, doesnt fit does it? I have a hearing in the afternoon unfortunately), cousin's b-day party at Club Texas (toast) on Friday, my birthday on Saturday (softball in the AM, and Portsmouth overnight!!), and...that's it! Next week is empty so far.

Oh, and I got a hair cut last monday. It's different, and high maintenence sort of. Which, as you know, is not me! Im doing what I can. And dont ask how much it costs. All I will say is it was done in the old port.

June and July

In June, I spent an evening and a beautiful day in Bar Harbor. It was early June, so it was mostly devoid of tourists. I met up with my good friend Eben from high school, and we went out on the town and enjoyed some beverages:

At this one particular bar (in picture), this girl comes in and says we just have to try a Scorned Woman shot. Sounds good to me. Perfect really. However, the ingredients include jalepeno pepper vodka and tabasco sauce (and a little grapefruit juice thrown in for good measure). Check it out:




It was absolute misery, but apparantly it's a local favorite.


Anywho, the next morning while Eben sobered up, we walked along the oceanfront path, and around town. We ate gelattos (tasty!), did a little shopping, and sat on a bench in the center of town people-watching (I think that was my favorite part). Eben left after a while, and I spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the scenery:




June and July kind of flew by - work's been rough as usual, but I've gotten some good outcomes for some kiddos so far this summer which is always nice.


I did the Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society in June at ELHS in Auburn. A few of my friends including Holly, Crystal, Grace and Tara joined me on the walk. It is an all-night walk-a-thon around a track. Our team was one of very few that was still around in the morning at the closing ceremony. It was really moving to be part of something like that. Here is a picture of some survivors on the beginning lap:




In more selfish news, I bought myself a nice Blackberry Pearl last month, which totally rocks! I love it! Im not big on making phone calls, or getting them really, so I use it primarily for internet, texting, GPS, etc. It's super sweet:




And...I have seen my nephew quite a bit this summer. We had a family gathering last month up at my parents' house that was nice. Here's Tyler on his swing:




Oh, and my most recent break up this summer (yeah, another one!) did a couple things for me. First, it fueled this kind of emotional break where I decided to take charge of my moodiness and irritability and finally do something FOR REAL about it. I started seeing a psychologist and that is going awesome! And, Im realizing that somehow, I am a magnet for troubled men who I feel the need to emotionally take care of. Well, no more! So, Im taking a break from all men, until I figure out how to stop ignoring those gigantic red flags that always made me feel pity and compassion instead of telling me to run for my life!!! like they should have.

The negative effect of the break was that I have been doing a crapload of online shopping. But the positive spin was that the last bf had really good taste in clothes, so what Im buying is top notch. Whether my bank account likes it or not.

In one week, I am taking my first ever 2 WEEK VACATION! I'm so stoked. Haven't made much for plans. Am taking Tyler to Chuck-e-Cheese one of the days, and am celebrating my birthday on the 16th in Portsmouth!! Im thinking of both travelling up east to see Luke and Becca's new place (provided the fleas have retreated! hehe), checking out Monhegan Island for a day, getting myself a massage...etc. Pretty much it's going to be all Angela, all the time. I can't wait!

Ltns.

Here's a little glimpse of what I've been up to during the past few months:

This winter, my Grampie's lung cancer came back. He's been doing chemotherapy for many months, and I saw him quite a bit during his treatments and spending time with him. His tumors shrunk big time, and he has stopped the chemo, and is feeling a ton better! We're all very happy about that.

We had a nice Easter with my Mom's side of the family out in Oxford, with a nice breakfast buffet then an Easter Egg hunt. It was FREEZING outside, but it didnt stop the kids from enjoying the day.

Here is a cute one of Tyler sharing his goodies with my Grampie:

A little shih tzu update: the kids are doing very well. They recently got hair cuts, but here is each of them beforehand, one of Ellie basking in the sun, and one of Mcgee being rudely awakened from a nap!

In the end of March, I went to Florida to visit with my grandparents and to soak up some sun for some MUCH needed R&R.

After several days, I really missed being back home, and was able to catch up with some work friends the night after I got back:

A couple weekends ago, I spent some time with Tyler and we got some cute pictures taken together:

Finishing up my round of pictures is last night at softball - well, mostly post-softball pictures. I did great, for once! I got 3 good hits, and two runs! I have a good feeling about this season. A bunch of us went out to Fast Breaks after the game, and here are some silly pictures of us (and the Iron Man figurine I found in the dirt who turned out to be my good luck charm):

My work update is that the past 6 weeks have been absolutely brutal. Isnt that always the way when you get back from vacation? Ive had to do some pretty tough (emotionally) things, and its been kind of a whirlwind. That at the same time as finishing up my two classes for the semester and doing a bunch of writing was kind of shitty. BUT, the good news is I have decided to take the summer off (from school, that is!) so I can relax when I get home, do absolutely nothing if I so choose, and can enjoy my time! I am going to take another week sometime this summer for vacation.

Oh, I have caught up on Lost by watching every single episode on abc.com over the past few months. It rocks!

And...Vote for David Cook on American Idol!
..Seacrest out!