mywhat?

do you guys remember myspace? i'm sure most of you had one, and i'm sure most of yours have been deleted by now. well, i actually wrote my very first blog on myspace. in fact,this is it,right here:

Friday, June 10, 2005

summer summer summerTIME
Current mood: busy

Ok, so this is my first official blog entry EVER! Yea me. I've always been afraid to do a blog, just because I don't know who's reading it, and I know I would never completely be myself....so sorry if this is incredibly boring but hey, it's not like I'm making you read it.

So today I moved back to P-Town after another uneventful year at Central. Each year seems to stretch longer and longer and my goal of graduating seems to get further and further away...it seems almost unattainable by now. I feel so old!! By the time I (hopefully) graduate I'll be 25? Do you know how many people that age have already had careers for three or four years? Who have families and own their own homes? Sometimes I feel like a loser, still living at home during the summer and Christmas break. Even though I know going to school two hours away is a legit excuse to not have my own apt or anything, I still feel really behind from the rest of my peers.

Anyways, I start back at Target tomorrow...year 5....yea....I'm excited, all my best friends work there or shop there a LOT so it's always a good time. My routine this summer is going to consist of tanning, working out, and working...and hopefully not spending too much of my money, which I always tend to do...

Well, I think that's enough info for my very first blog entry. I gotta go finish unpacking. Talk to you all later!! Andi :o)

i'm a very nostalgic person. i love nostalgia and things that remind me of (good) parts of my past. this is probably the main reason i have been one of the five people who haven't deleted their myspace account. i love going back and reading old entries and remembering the "old days". it's also been very interesting because a lot of my old entries are kind of dark. 24-26 were shitty(really,for lack of a better word) years in my life and that was definitely reflected in my writing. one amazing thing about that,though, is how back then i thought that was how life in general was and that was how my life was gonna be but it's absolutely not and i've made sure that i've turned it around and that makes me so happy for/proud of myself for accomplishing that.(total run-on sentence,but lacking the brain power/will to un-run it right now)

anyway, i had a question for myself: how can i delete my myspace account,but still keep my old blog entries? then, i had an epiphany. um,post them HERE, of course. duh. so i am going to be doing that for the next few days,posting old blog entries from myspace here, on blogger. i don't expect you to read them at all. after going back and re-reading them i'm noticing they're pretty terrible,actually. this is strictly for me and memories i want to make SURE i don't forget. there's really only about 5 or 6(i'm guessing) entries that i want to keep. if you are interested at all in what i used to do 3-4 years ago then i suppose you may like reading my old posts.

for my first entry(not including the one above) i am going to re-post my trip to oklahoma for my grandparents 50th anniversary. this is in honor of them, since they are not able to make it to seattle this next week...enjoy?(in order to differentiate my old posts from my new ones,the old ones will be in italics)

Thursday, November 30, 2006

it was the best of times, it was the worst of times
Current mood: cheerful

soooo...as most of you know i went to Texas/Oklahoma for a week for Thanksgiving vacation...here is a fun/picture filled recap of how my trip went...


My trip was SUPPOSED to start at 5:30 AM on Monday morning..but i got sick and actually had to cancel my flight. Luckily after a few hours i was feeling better and was able to take a red eye flight at midnight.

I got to DFW Airport at 5:30 AM (that's 3:30 LC time)

this is what my plane looked like on the runway...but picture it in the dark:



so i go to sleep and wake up around 1 PM...right when i wake up my contact pops out of my eye and guess who forgot to bring extra contacts and her glasses for the first time EVER?? oh yeah, me. i'm awesome. so then i go to check for missed calls on my phone and it had completely DIED. For no reason, just up and died on me. RIP my phone. and on top of THAT i pulled a muscle in my shoulder sometime during the night so that was hurting. All that, and I had been awake for five minutes. I was hoping this wasn't a premenition(sp?) on how the rest of my trip would be.

this is my phone RIP:



That day my mom decides she wants to take me shopping and i don't have a problem w/ that so i let her...and i buy a new phone.

Wednesday we leave for Oklahoma/my grandparents house where I discover it's Birthday Day!! Apparently our family had a plethera of November birthdays so we celebrated them all and ate cake. Yum Yum!

here's me and my cousin Meg who was a participant in Birthday Day(that hoodie seems to be in every pic i take...i swear i only wear it like once a week):



Thursday was Thanksgiving!(duh)

My Uncle Greg has magical bread levitating skills:



part of our Thanksgiving feast...it took up two tables! and was so so yummy!...except for stuffing...gross...



this is my cousin Kyle...he's pretty gangsta...he got it from me for i am pretty gangsta myself:



Friday was 50th Anniversary Day!! My grandparents have been married 50 years!! pretty amazing:

early in the day me and my cousin Shayna swung on the swings at my grandparents church...we're pretty pro at it, as you can see:



i got to dance w/ my grandpa!! i love him so hard!



this was a thing on the wall and it looks like Where In the World is Carman San Diego....right??


the cool Happy 50th Anniversary table set up...if you look hard I'm in three of the top left pictures:



Saturday was Christmas!!!

Per my grandmothers request our whole entire family (all 16 of us) attended Mass. It was pretty ok. There was a group of people there playing unrecognizable Christmas songs with bells.

this was the most amazing Christmas dinner feast EVER...Charlies Chicken!! soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good...if you're ever in the dirrty south i highly recommend it!



and then we played Scattagories and i still think that Doctor should be counted as something that starts w/ a D that "jumps/bounces":



Sunday, sadly, was time to say good bye to everyone and go home. Me and my mom had a five hour drive ahead of us back to Texass.

we drove through Checotah, OK...well, i'll let you read the sign



this has nothing to do w/ my trip home but my cousin Shayna is so freaking adorable and was my shadow the whole time we were in Oklahoma:



Monday it was time to go back home to Seattle!!!

we stopped at Sonic where i ate a Frito Pie wrap thingy and some tots...man that stuff is sooooooooooo good...we need one up where i live...or not...cause i would eat there like every day:



i'd never seen a chapel in an airport before...this is in DFW:



this is what my plane looked like leaving the airport:



so i finally arrive home sweet home at about 8:30 PM...my parents were gonna pick me up after the Seahawks game. There was only 8 minutes left in the game when we landed so i figured i wouldn't have to wait long...WRONG. I had to wait two HOURS cause traffic was so bad because while i was frolicking in the leaves w/ my flip flops on in Oklahoma it had started to snow up here in the PNW, and apparently no one knows how to drive when it does more than sprinkle.

My parents finally get to the airport about 11ish...and we start the trek home...only to find EVERY southbound freeway/highway was JAMMED. Long story short what should have been a rad 40 minute drive home ended up being a 5.5 hour crawl. We walked in the front door at 4:30 AM.

this is where we had to stop and take a break from sitting in traffic:



this is a sign that should have taken us 20 minutes to see but instead took 4 hours...and we were going slow enough that i could take a picture of it:



All in all my trip was FANtastic and i did NOT want to come home...i definately needed the break from work/life and can't wait until my next vacation adventure!! hmmm i wonder where i should go next...

up next...my 25th birthday!! stay tuned...

(p.s. like my new layout? preeetty,right?)

oh man...

just got the news that my granddad isn't doing so well so my grandparents had to cancel their trip to seattle. :(

i'm totally bummed but will figure out a way to see them soon! hang in there granddad,i love you!!

word to your mother

(i'm not sure why the quality is poor...maybe it's just me...but it works!)



i forgot to say happy mothers day!!!! i just also wanted to especially acknowledge the mothers who have taken in and accepted children who they didn't give birth to whether it's adoption,step,or otherwise,and also the people who have had to look elsewhere for a motherly example when yours have let you down-this is dedicated to you.

the next biggest loser?

if you know me at ALL you know that i am NOT a morning person. i absolutely hate hate haaaaaate waking up early and avoid it at all costs. in fact, i wake up for work at the last possible minute. alarm goes off at 720,i roll out of bed,and am out the door by 730 having brushed my teeth,hair(sometimes),thrown on some jeans and a tshirt/sweatshirt,and run out the door.

i'm hoping to change this. luckily,i've gotten some inspiration.

my work has started its own version of "the biggest loser"(a show i am a huge fan of and have watched for many years).basically we are weighed in weekly. for every pound you lose our "trainer" puts .50 into a jar. if you gain weight YOU put in .50 for every pound. after 6 months,the person who has lost the most weight wins all the money from the jar! there's probably 10-15 of us participating in this so that is (potentially) a good chunk of change.

my plan is to have my biggest meal in the morning, a medium lunch, and a small snack-like dinner. no carbs after lunch and no eating past 7.

i also have a work out plan that i'm trying to get into(this is where my goal to become a morning person comes in). wake up at 530(gaaaaahhhhhhhhh),consume a cup of coffee(sweetened by splenda), start a brisk walk by 6,finish brisk walk by 7,get ready/leave for work. i am fortunate enough to work right next to a HUGE walking track thing that i figured out i can walk around twice during my hour lunch period,so i plan on doing that every day. ALSO,i will do another walk at night when i get home from work. total walking time=about 2:15. total walking distance=about 7.5 miles. of COURSE i most likely won't do all three walks every day,there are some days i'm sure i won't sleep well the night before and will want to sleep in,or will be too tired after work,or have things i need to do during my lunch. my goal is to do at LEAST 2 of those walks a day,and attempting to do all 3 at least twice a week.

weekends are a whooole other story. my favorite weekend walk is to the end of the waterfront and back to my house which is about 6 miles. done and done. i will probably start to incorporate some muscle building work outs in a few weeks,but right now i'm just focusing on cardio.

i,of course, am not perfect. there are days when i'm going to want a cheeseburger,or chicken teriyaki, or pizza, and when i do,i will eat them. HOWEVER,it is all about moderation and portion control. if i eat a cheeseburger,maybe the next day i'll make sure i do all 3 walks,things like that,to make sure things balance out. now,if you see me in 3 months and i don't look any thinner to you or as thin as you thought i'd look-get over it. i,like gazillions(i counted) of americans have struggles,and maintaining my weight so i don't become a huge,fat blob of human has been one of mine. it may take me a short amount of time(if i stay super focused) or it may take me a longer amount of time(if i trail off a bit...),but eventually i will reach my goal.

i at first was hesitant on telling you guys about my mission because i don't want to be held accountable. it would actually probably irritate me if i went to a restaurant,ordered the greasiest burger and fries,then had whoever i was with say "oohhhhh,but what about biggest loser?????". i'm a grown up,i can make my own choices,refer to previous paragraph. i'm writing about this because this whole blog is about me and my life and this is going to be an important part of my life for a while.

i'm not going to give you pound by pound updates or post any pictures or anything,but i will periodically give an update if i reach a milestone or feel i am doing especially well or poorly. if anyone has any tips/suggestions i would LOVE to hear them! also,if you see something i'm doing terribly wrong that'd be good to know too,so feel free to email me: bonamie21@gmail.com

tomorrow is my very first attempt at waking up at 530 for my morning walk. i may or may not be dead at the end of the day...i guess we'll see! wish me luck! no dying,ftw!

good luck to all my fellow coworkers! in a few months we'll be the (even more) hotttttest center around :)

thanks

i'm feeling very...thoughtful this weekend. i have lots of ideas running around in my head and i feel the need to get them out-hence the excessive blogging. i started this blog as a way for my relatives(who mostly all live in other states)to keep up with my life which is super helpful considering i HATE talking on the phone...but it has become much more than that to me.

it's a timeline- i can go back and read every post and remember that part of my life,what was going on,where i was living,and how i was feeling(even the things i didn't write down).

it's a journal- for the most part i try to keep my posts upbeat and happy,but sometimes i want to write and i'm not in the happiest of moods. it helps me release the current emotion that i am feeling. this may sound bizarre, but writing it down and seeing it written helps me to sort things out and see it in a different way than if i was just thinking about it.

it's inspirational- (i don't usually toot my own horn,but just this one time,i'm gonna)i can't tell you how many times my grandmother or my friends or other relatives, and even people i didn't even know read my blog have said to me "i really like reading your blog,i laughed so hard at this one part..." it's inspirational to ME,knowing that people enjoy what i am writing and WANT to read it,it makes me want to continue blogging for you guys. people have told me that my blog has inspired them to start their OWN blog...and then they actually do! my grandma even said to me just the other day "you are in the wrong profession." meaning,she thinks i should become some sort of writer(a fairly recent passion of mine) instead of a preschool teacher(a lifelong passion of mine). the only thing wrong with that,to me,is i'm not sure i could write well "on demand". i like being able to phrase things how i want, or even make up words(something i do pretty much on a daily basis).

i'm not saying at ALL that this is some kind of super famous blog that has a copious(word of the week,use it)amount of readers and i'm some kind of blogging celebrity. not even close. each post i make gets maybe 20ish views(which i'm gonna go out on a limb and assume it's not the same person viewing it 20 times...),which is, in blogland a tiny amount. it is,however, MUCH more than the 2 people i expected to be the only ones interested in reading it. so basically i just wanted to say thank you,friends, family,and 2 "followers" that i have no idea who you are for reading. this is for you.

i believe...

i'm not really one for cheesy,overused, misquoted quotes,but this one i think is pretty cute and well,if it's really from audrey hepburn, she sounds like she was a smart lady:

25+3

holy moly i can't even believe i'm officially 28 years old. it's so interesting/funny/weird to think back on where i thought i'd be by the time i was 28. when i was 18 i had it all mapped out: go to college,meet man of my dreams,graduate college,teach 2nd grade,marry man of my dreams,have kids,live happily ever after...all by the time i was 25. now i'm realizing how i am SO GLAD that is not how it turned out. funny how out of that list the only thing i've actually done is attended college. anyway,i digress...

my birthday celebration kicked off on wednesday when i went to dinner with my parents(an annual tradition). i very rarely crave steak,but that night i was CRAVING steak. i was also craving italian (i blame the commercials for olive gardens steak gorgonzola alfredo. have you seen it? it looks DEVINE). i can go to olive garden any day of the week, so i chose to eat dinner at Toscanos Cafe&Wine Bar in puyallup. this was the description of the meal i ordered:

Steak Medallions with Brandy & Mushrooms- Medallions of tenderloin, roasted shallots and mushrooms are sauteed in brandy; then finished with a touch of cream. Served with parmesan mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables

sounds crazy delicious,right?? it was! top that off with a dirty martini and i was in HEAVEN. after dinner we went back to my parents house where my dad and i rocked hard playing guitar hero. the evening was finished off with a fantastical homemade peanut butter pie w/ chocolate coated graham cracker crust.

yesterday was the official 28th anniversary of my birth. usually i don't plan things for myself for my birthday. i like to keep it low key. but this year i REALLY wanted to have a special get together of my friends and i and i wasn't about to wait to see if someone planned something because if i ended up doing nothing i would have been way disappointed. so i took the initiative and planned my own celebration!

first order of business was to decide WHERE to have my party. i didn't want it at some dive, i wanted me and my friends to get dressed up and get all good looking and dance the night away. i've been to The Parlor in bellevue a few times and i realllllly liked it. it was also a great location for my friends who mostly all live north of me,so i figured that would be the perfect place!

now,when you're a girl, getting good looking for a special occasion takes LOTS of time. i obviously had to take the WHOLE day off of work so i could look as delicious as possible. luckily,my friend katie agreed to take the day off as well so she could get good looking with me! we did have to go in for about a half hour in the morning. i reached the door to my classroom and was greeted with this sign:

not sure why my face is on a birthday cake i received last year,haha:


and these cupcakes!(thanks again,melissa and kasey!):




after we were officially cleared to leave for the rest of the day me and katie headed out.

first stop: starbucks. this is how it went down-

*katie and andi walk into starbucks.katie is wearing a seattle sounders jersey*

cute barista dude wearing mariners jersey,to katie:"NICE jersey!"
katie:"thanks!"
cute barista dude,to me:"where's your jersey?"
me:"it's my birthday."
cute barista dude: "it IS?? we give free drinks on birthdays!"
AWESOME.

we headed promptly to the southcenter mall to find dresses and get katie's hair did. it was at this mall i made my first birthday present to myself. i have been looking for a nice clutch purse for about a year now,to no avail. we walked into the coach store,just to look around...and i ended up actually buying my very first(and probably last,haha)coach item!i thought "hell,why not?it's my birthday. happy birthday to me!" while i was waiting for katie to get beautified i walked to one of the 2498 starbucks in the mall to try to score another free coffee-no such luck.
behold,my new coach clutch:



my favorite part is the pretty purple inside!:



by the time katie was done getting her hair did it was time to meet my most lovely friend amanda at red robin in puyallup for a birthday lunch! amanda,being the wonderful friend that she is,promptly told the waitress it was my birthday. i, feeling i am too old to be sung to at restaurants, promptly groaned. when the red robin crew arrived with my birthday sundae and balloons i asked them to not sing to me,but i felt bad for them coming all the way to our table,so they sang to katie instead. happy birthday,katie!

after lunch we had to dash to the south hill mall and find accessories for our outfits. luckily,claire's, a 12 year olds dream jewelry store, had every accessory necessary for our fashion needs. it was also in this store me and katie had this conversation:
[it should be mentioned here that the most expensive piece of jewelry in claire's is probably $17.99]

*andi,amanda and katie are browsing the racks,looking at necklaces and rings*
*katie spots a necklace she really likes*

katie:"ooOOOOoooooh,FANCY!"
andi:"um,katie, you're in claire's."

[note to katie's future husband. don't bother saving up 3 months of pay for katie's engagement ring. get a ring from claire's for $14.99 and you are SET]

by the time we got all accessorized it was time for ME to get my hair did. so we said goodbye to amanda and headed to see my hairdresser, dannielle. a half hour later...tada! c'est fini!



up next: nail salon for pedicures and macy's for make-up. ahhhhhhh...so nice to be pampered.

by the time we were done with those it was almost 6 o'clock and time to head back to renton to get katie's kids from their preschool. we then put on our newly purchased dresses,shoes,accessories,touched up our hair and headed out the door.

the rest of the night was pretty awesome. unfortunately no one brought a camera, and once someone finally did arrive that had a camera it was near the end of the night,so there's very few pictures. however,everything turned out exactly how i wanted. i had fun and appreciate every single person who came out for my birthday,it really meant a lot to me. soooo stoked to start planning my next birthday celebration-off to paris when i'm 30!

my girls: sara,moi,kasey,katie,sarah,pattie,jasmine <3