Holy Mother of War...

The gruesome scene I stumbles across when I turned the corner to check out the clearance shoe isle at Target this evening.

What do you write about when...

when you feel like you should write something but can't think of a thing to say? I probably had a million things that would have been funny, entertaining, or sad and tear jerking running through my head earlier today to write about but now I can't think of a damn thing.

What do you write about when you can't think of anything to write about?

Random Pictures from my vacation...

Paradise, in Mount Rainer National Forest (Park?)
This is what I got to see of Mount Rainer, I think the top 8000' or so were still hidden in the clouds, but pretty none the less.

Christina Falls, that was like a 30 foot drop straight down...

Christina Falls in the background...I am such a dork.

Saturday Night with the girls...mind you, I was very drunk. I was drinking S.O.S.'s (Sip or Suck, don't know what it was but I got to drink it out of a red licorice straw so i didn't really care...this was also a continuation of my birthday celebration (at least for me it was!)). I don't know who took the picture but they suck because the flash reflected off the mirror behind us.

My grandma and my sis at some restaurant in Del Mar on the beach

My sis and my mom at Moonlight beach in Escondido

This is what happens when I am bored....

Tonight's featured dessert....Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Three words for you...MMM MMM GOOD! (MMM is a word right?)

Reminder: I live alone which means I now have an entire pineapple upside down cake to eat by myself, or I have to find willing victims to pawn my baked goods off on.

Note to readers: every time I typed Pineapple I actually typed "pinabble" and had to go back and fix it when I finished. I think I need to go to bed!

I bet you thought I was dead?

I am no longer MIA...I've returned to the blogging world.

You missed me didn't you?

At this point most of you probably thought that I either died or decided to give it all up and not return from my vacation (I wanted to...not return from my vacation, that is) but here I am. I didn't blog all week because I ,quite honestly, just couldn't get the motivation to write, instead I've spent most of the last few nights laying on my couch doing nothing...recovering from my vacation.

I've decided instead of boring you with the mundane details of my vacation, I will highlight the things I feel are worthwhile, because, well, this is my blog.

• The vacation started out with a boring an uneventful drive to San Marcos, CA with my mom and grandma (dad's mom). I say uneventful for me because I remembered to bring earplugs so when we stayed the night over in Bishop I got a great's night sleep while my grandma and mom kept each other up all night snoring. They were a little cranky the next day.
• On Friday my aunt got married. I don't particularly get along with my aunt. She is a very religious person. I am not. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand how religion, faith and the whole organized religion thing can work for people, but it just doesn't do it for me. My aunt is a very close minded, spiteful person who likes to dress up and play "Nice Christian" all the while thinking that my mom, dad, sister and I are probably devil worshipping sinners who are most definitely going to hell. Well this may be true (read the next one), but if I am going to hell it is going to be for something more sinful (and dirty) than not being a hateful person who hides behind my religion instead of having intelligent conversations and accepting her family for who they are, not who she thinks they need to be.
• At my aunt's wedding, a full hour and a half long Catholic mass ceremony (her husband apparently is Catholic) all I could think to myself were the following things (1) DO NOT fall asleep, (2) DO NOT yawn again and (3) I would really like to do nasty things to/have nasty things done to me by the one hot guy that I am not related to in the ___________ (fill in the blank, an hour and half left me imagining having nasty things done to me in every possible location, including the church...I already warned you, if I'm going to hell, I'm making it worth it!).
• My sister (or my sister's boyfriend, still have completely determined which one was the mastermind) tried to set me up with my sister's boyfriends friend. Does my family really not think that I can smell fix-ups from a mile away by now? At least my sister (or her boyfriend, I am pretty sure her boyfriend was the mastermind) has better taste than my mom, my grandma, my boss, etc. The guy was pretty cool, however he lives 10 hours away so in my opinion the whole thing was a waste of time. And to put the cherry on the sundae, one of my relatives (my mom's cousins' husband, I have no idea what that makes her to me...my second cousin twice removed vanilla half caf latte...damn, sorry lost my train of thought...back to the subject) asked me the next day "so did anything happen between you to, did you guys hook up or anything?" Seriously, seriously? This was only overshadowed by the same women saying to my sister's boyfriend, right as she was about to leave "Well I will see you next time, that is if you are still around."
• The remainder of the trip included my sister, mom and I making jokes about my aunt's first night as a married women (oh wait, I forgot to mention that she was (is still?) a born again virgin...when she got super religious about 10 years ago, she, well, yeah, I find it hard to believe she hasn't even, well, yeah..not once but whatever) and doing things like getting bubble tea (I love this stuff and have to get my fill because Reno doesn't have one) and alternating between sitting by the pool and going to the beach. Hard life, I know!
• After San Marcos, I flew to Seattle to visit my friend and meet up with 3 other girls (5 of us all together, her fiance was such a sport to put up with us). We spent most of the time drinking (coffee or alcohol, or both), eating, dodging the rain and just all together having a grand old time having a girls weekend. It was a blast!

Wow, I am impressed you are still reading...I would have been off watching TV by now...in fact I did just go watch an entire episode of Grey's Anatomy before I could finish this blog.

• Back to Seattle, I went to Mt. Rainer (although it was partly cloudy so I could only see the bottom of it), and then we all went to the aquarium, Pike's Place Market (like 3 times), we went on an underground tour of Seattle (the actually history of it is more interesting than the tour was) and like I said, we ate and ate.
• On Sat. night (our last night there), we went to this really cool restaurant that I won't share the name of because is defiantly a locals place but i will give you a hint about the name: (first word) a color somewhere between red and white and (second word) an opening in a house that you enter and exit through. They had great food, great drinks and a burlesque show, all little bit of everything. Did you guess the name yet? If not, here's a hint.

Well in a nutshell (or a whole peanut farm), there is my vacation.

Going on vacation...

I am going on vacation...I will be back on July 23 and will try to blog between now and then but I can't promise anything. I can promise you that I am store for many uncomfortable family moments, a fun filled birthday of driving through the hot desert with my mom and grandma and then a fun filled weekend with my girlfriends.

All I went in was for ice...

I am getting ready to leave for a trip and I went into my local grocery store for a bag of ice. Here's what I came out with:

Travel Q-tips
Bottle of Water
Shout wipes
Travel Deodorant
Small Liqui-gel Advil
Disposal Razors
3 Travel size Lotions
1 Travel size Body wash
Individual stridex face wipes
Travel Tom's Toothpaste
Face Wash (regular size)
Spray bottle (for my leave in conditioner)
2 types of Travel size mousse
emery boards
mini pumice stone
A book and 2 magazines
and...ice

Total = $72.99

All I went in for was ice! But of course I had to buy all the travel size stuff because it is so cute and hello, I am going on a trip!

Random Memories...

Today I had a bunch of time to think because I pretty much spent the whole day by myself (driving then doing some field work for my job). It always amazes me what my mind recalls when I have nothing imparticular to think about. Here are a few of the random memories I recalled today.

During my freshman and sophomore years in college I had a guy I would call when, well you know when (wink wink, nudge nudge). One night, he called and I decided to over to his house (since I still lived with my parents). Even though I was technically an adult, I didn't think telling my parents I was leaving at 11pm on a weekend "to drive across town for a piece of ass" was very appropriate, so I told them I was going to my friend's bf's house to hang out with them and go in their hot tub. Fast forward 2 hours. When I got home, even though my parents weren't awake, I felt it necessary to get my hair wet so I took a bottle of water from my car and got my hair all wet so I would look like I had been in a hot tub. Yeah, I have no idea what I was thinking.

Skinny dipping off the coast of La Manzanilla, Mexico in the middle of the night with bioluminescent plankton (or algae or whatever) in the water. This possibly is one of the coolest moments of my life, every time you moved the water all around you would light up, like glitter flickering in the light. It was so beautiful.

One night in middle school (or maybe elementary school) my friends and I were hanging out in my bedroom. We had snuck one of the older boys from the neighborhood into my room and we were just hanging out. Suddenly my mom knocked on my door and we panicked and covered him in my stuffed animals and pillows and we proceeded to lay all over him like we were just lying around on the ground on a pile of pillows. To this day I don't think my mom realized there was a guy in my room that night (although there are plenty of other nights that we thought we were SO cool and had gotten away with it when in reality my mom knew he whole time).

When I was in high school I went skiing one day at a local ski resort. I was using the bathroom facilities (so much fun in ski boots BTW) and there were these 2 kids in the stall next to me. I never saw them but they were probably 6 or 7. They were in the stall giggling like all little girls do when they get together and all the sudden one of them screams "I just freed my willy". Mind you, they were both girls and it was when the movie Free Willy was very popular. I still to this day do not completely understand what she was talking about but I still find it hilarious when I think about it because she was SOOO excited when she said it.

Like I said, just random memories...no point at all really.

25 things to do in my 25th year

Since my 25th birthday is only 4 days away, I have decided to come up with a list of things to do in my 25th year (in no particular order, thought I would throw that is to make it sound official).

1. Travel to Belize and go sea kayaking and snorkeling (mine as well start off with a bang!).

2. Take a cooking class

3. Master making a lemon tart

4. Paint my condo a color besides white

5. Lose 10 pounds (I really want to lose 20 but let's start with 10 and see where we go)

6. Find something to be passionate about.

7. Get a phone line installed in my 'office' and move my computer off of my dining room table (yeah, this has been on my to do list since I moved into my condo 2 years ago, I just relocate my computer when needed).

8. Keep all of my house plants alive (Exception: the one plant that is half dead already does not count!)

9. Sleep underneath the stars.

10. Skinny dip.

11. Find Mr Right (or Mr. Right Now Wanna Have Some Fun). I am ok with either.

12. Buy myself flowers for no reason.

13. Have someone else buy me flowers (refer to #11)

14. Eat at a restaurant I've never eaten at before.

15. Write a book.

16. Take a dance class.

17. Go to the Chocolate Bar more than once this year.

18. Ask out the dog park guy (even if I still am not sure if he likes me or not).

19. Finish reading 100 Years of Solitude (I've started it 4 times and never seem to get past the first 20 pages).

20. Finish the photo collage I bough the frames for 6 months ago.

21. Clean out my closet.

22. Be a better friend.

23. Visit Yosemite.

24. Not let others make me feel guilty about how I decide to spend my vacations and/or holidays.

25. Learn how to ride a bike (nope, still haven't gotten it down).

Wow, that was actually really hard to come up with 25 things that I want to accomplish in the next 365 days.

Summer Read's

Since I have nothing better to talk about tonight, I figured I would share with you some of my favorite books (in no particular order...I wouldn't want one to think I was favoring any of the others).

Rain of Gold by Victor Villasenor is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read. It is a great book about the love of families and how much people endure and how much they can overcome.

Suzanne's Diary for Nicolas by James Patterson...all I have to say is be ready to shed a tear.

Hot Pink by Susan Johnson, this is one for the single girls (or the girls who want to pretend they are living a crazy, single life as a sexy city gal for 295 pages. Warning, this one is a little dirty.

Reinventing Mona by Jennifer Coburn. What girl doesn't want to escape for 314 pages and read about another women trying to find out who she is and what makes her tick.

And my final 3 are both written by Jennifer Weiner. Jennifer Weiner is one of my favorite writers. On top of writing chick fiction like Good in Bed, In Her Shoes and Little Earthquakes, she has also written a book called A Very Hungry Girl about her battle with and overcoming of eating disorders and how she has taken what she learned and is helping others.

Apparently I rock!

And all this time I just thought I was typing to myself! Misguided Mommy (who is definately a Rockin' Girl Blogger) thinks that I deserve this. It could be because, I am pretty sure, she is my only reader and one of my best friends (in real life, not just in my mind) so she is really just making me feel better about myself but reading back through what I've written, I have had a few classics that even make me laugh when I go back and read them.

Part of the responsibility of this award with to nominate 5 other bloggers who you think deserve this award. Here are some blogging chicks that I think deserve a mention:

1) Momster's blog is more of a photo journal but her photos are always beautiful and her twin sons are adorable. Seeing her photo diaries of her life in Paris makes me want to leave my life behind and become some cool city dwelling chick.

2) Since I am still relatively new to this whole blog world, I only have a few blogs that I consistently read but one of my new favorite mommy blogs is written by Weekday Wisdom (does it count if someone has already nominated them?). Her writing is witty and graceful, even when she is talking about poo.

3) Another repeat but I have been hooked since I started reading because to see what Karla's Untangling Knots has been through and to see that she still is living and loving her life always puts a smile on my face. Plus I can totally relate to her big dog issues!

4) This one I just starting reading it but how can I not bond with her, based solely on the title of her blog of course...It's Just the Coffee Talking. She loves coffee, random facts and she seems to be a bit of a smart ass. A woman after my own heart.

5) My final entry is The Domestic Goddess. Because it is about food, and it's funny. Do I have to have another reason? Ok, the pictures are to die for...

Addendum to "Karma Bit Me in the Ass"

This morning I woke up, put on my dog walking clothes and headed to the park. I have not done laundry since Saturday (or all month for that matter). You know what this means? In my early morning daze, I put on the same pants that got peed on on Saturday and didn't even realize it until I got halfway through my walk...nice, I really need to start doing laundry more often, or at least drinking some coffee before I put on my dog walking clothes!

The neighboorly thing to do...

...is to not answer your door when someone knocks on it. Well apparently that is what my downstairs neighbors think. My downstairs neighbors are an elderly couple, very elderly, but they have always seemed nice enough. That is until the ignored my attempts to use their neighbourly niceness of making a phone call.

You are probably asking yourself why I was knocking on my elderly downstairs neighbors door on a Sunday afternoon anyways. Well because none of my younger (and probably more aptly to answer their doors) neighbors were home. Now you are probably asking yourself, why the hell doesn't Ginger just tell us why she insisted on knocking on all of her neighbors doors on a Sunday afternoon.

Because I locked myself out of my condo. My second story condo. My second story condo with the screen door WIDE open, but unable to get to. Yup....and this is not the first time this has happened, although last time I happened to have my purse with me, with my cell phone inside. This time I had nothing except my dog and her leash.

I do have one neighbor that was home, who I eventually went to visit to use her phone, however I was avoiding that because she caught me sitting on my steps waiting for my dad to show up with my spare key last time I locked myself out...I was trying to avoid that humiliation.

I wish I lived on the first story, at least then I could break into my own house if needed. Or, you know, I could just hide a spare key somewhere in my development...since this seems to be a habit of mine...maybe in the dog run where they hide a tennis ball...

An Open Letter to the Guy I Was Forced to Sit Next to at the Movies.

Dear Sir,

I realize that I was the one that sat down next to you. This was not a choice. I would have preferred to sit all the way in the back to avoid sitting next to a stranger at the movies but we needed 3 empty sits and there happen to be 3 seats next to you so alas, I had to sit next to you because my friends didn't want to sit all the way in the back. For your future reference (and for any poor soul's sake that gets stuck sitting next to you at the movies), please keep the following things in mind:

1) Just because I sat down next to you, does not mean I WANTED to sit next to you. There were in fact 3 empty seats on the other side of you as well and you could have easily moved over one seat to put a nice neutral territory between us. I promise I won't get mad and think that you think that I smell or that I am fat and overflowing my seat. In fact, next time I think I might not take a shower before I go to the movies and possibly consider stuffing a pillow under my shirt so you do indeed think that I smell and that I am too fat so you do move over one seat.

2) Just because I am sitting next to you, DOES NOT mean that I want YOU to respond the snide comments I make TO MY FRIENDS during the movie. If this is a lame attempt to flirt, eww gross, you were like 50 and if you just wanted someone to chat with, well I am sorry but I am not that person. It also creeped me out a little bit that every time I laughed you looked over at me because, yes we did laugh at the same parts of the movie, BUT SO DID EVERYONE ELSE IN THE THEATER...IT'S A COMEDY, THEY PLAN FOR THAT!

3) And last but definitely most importantly....IF YOU HAVE TO BURP DURING THE MOVIE, DO NOT ASSUME THAT I ENJOY THE SMELL OF THE NASTY ASS STANK COMING FROM YOUR MOUTH AND PLEASE TRY TO BLOW IT IN THE DIRECTION THAT NO-ONE IS SITTING. Seriously, once or twice I would have overlooked this disgusting act but I smelled your disgusting burps every time of the AT LEAST 10 times you felt you needed to burp during the movie.

Sincerely,

The Poor Girl Stuck Sitting Next to you at the Movies on Saturday