A Labor-less Day

As a holiday, Labor Day doesn't seem to get the props it deserves. It's ranked right up there with Christmas and Thanksgiving and Independence Day...but it just doesn't FEEL like a legit holiday. This feels like Sunday. And tomorrow (Tuesday) will most likely feel like Monday. Then, when Friday rolls around I'll think it's Thursday, but it will be the weekend again. Whew! So actually, Labor Day Holiday is becoming my new best friend. Simply because its throws me off for a good two weeks..and I actually feel like the weekends come quicker. Unlike Christmas or Thanksgiving where there is this big celebration, then you know it's just over. Labor Day just feel like you missed a day, or had this extra random day to rest. *if you understood any of this last diatribe...you are now my new best friend as well*
It was a good day...family came over...Barbecues commenced...Laughing...and a quick game of texas hold em. It's basically what we do every holiday. Except this time we painted our house at the request of the City of Grandview...they are kinda picky about the appearance of a residence around here. Anyway, when I say WE I of course mean everyone but me. I don't paint. Well, I do, but not in the sun. So actually Labor Day, for most of my family was very full of Labor. That kinda defeats the purpose of the holiday huh?
I have now been sitting at my computer for the past 2.5 hours looking at Google maps. I have recently discovered that Google Maps have satellite images to go along with their maps. You can look up anywhere in the world and zoom in to get a full color photo of the area. I have been finding my house, my friends houses, and all the places I have been and want to go. It is very cool, and kinda pathetically addicting. I decided that I would stop the madness, write a piece in my blog, and hit the hay. After that, I decided that I would never say 'hit the hay' again. But now as I sit here, I am struck with the grandest idea! I can look up Laguna Beach on Google Maps and check out all my favorite spoiled rich kids houses!! OK, I'm gonna be pullin an allnighter, I can feel it.

peace,
and Happy Non-Labor Day

Forrest Knows Best

There is something oddly comforting about doing absolutely nothing on a perfectly good Saturday. Something inside me tells me that I am wasting away a perfectly good day...but then I think of the fact that it's a three day weekend and this is really just like a Friday that I happen to have off. Not that it makes the wasting the day away any better, but it works in my mind.
I watched Forest Gump 1.5 times last night. It was on two times in a row. I tried to make it through them both...but it just seemed wrong. Why does TBS always show movies twice in a row? It seems kinda useless. Unless you are that person who turns the tv on in the last 20 minutes of a good movie...then you may be excited to find out it is starting all over again. But...then it taints the whole experience of the movie anyway, because you just watched the end, and now you are going back to watch the beginning? It sets the world off its axis or something....it's just wrong.
Back to Gump...I forget what a poineint and powerful movie this is. Very sweet, and sugary, and thoughtful...it's like a good friend. This is a movie that brings your mind back to it's most simple existence, which is very important to do sometimes. "Life is like a box of chocolates" "Stupid is as stupid does" "You can tell alot about a person by their shoes...where they been...where they're goin" It's all so true!!! Forrest is a genius. If we all thought a little bit more like him, the world would be a better place. Forrest is all about being free, and learning, and absolute loyalty. He reminds me what having a heart is all about. One day Forest decided that he wanted to run...so he did. And he ran all the way accross the country. Everyone made a big deal about his running, and wanted to know why he was doing it. Was it for world peace? or for the environment? Forest simply said (in one of the best quotes you can ever hear) "I just felt like runn-nin" As I sit here on my useless Saturday, I tip my glass of iced tea to Mr. Gump. Here is to always doing just whatever you feel like.... I love Forest Gump.
Today on TBS...I have watched parts of Sleepless in Seattle, and You've Got Mail. This must be Tom Hanks weekend or something...I'm waiting to for Cast Away, Saving Private Ryan, and Road to Perdition to come on....probably in vain though, because that goes way outside of the TBS movie genre. They always do this too....they always play these two movies back to back. Essentially, I suppose these movies are pretty much identical. What is it about Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan? Were they trying to make the same movie twice here? A feel good, hopeless romantic comedy, that deals with the torture of will they or won't they ever find eachother... and if they don't the world will never be the same, and I will never meet anyone ever again... because If Meg Ryan can't do it, what hope is there for me? it's crazy...yet, here I am rooting for these characters to meet and fall in love, and why? because it give me hope. Hope that fairy tales and perfect men can exist. . even in real life. Crazier things have happened. It gives me hope everytime I watch it.
Where are Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan now anyway...are they still actors? If you ask me they should have been cast in Mr. and Mrs. Smith....that would have made TBS rich. Can you imagine them with guns. I think that is what You've Got Mail is missing. Guns.

Here's to Hopeless Romance...
and Forrest...

*EDIT* I just realized that it's not TBS playing all these movies I love...it's TNT. But just like those movies from today...what's the difference? Oh and Forrest is on again now...they are really going for it.

Workin Hard....or Hardly Workin?

Today, I have been at my job for 2 years. It feels like about 7. Not really though. I have a good job, and I'm thankful. We work really hard around here. HA! On the day of my anniversary I think it only right that I let everyone in on what actually goes on around here. I work in an Art Department, so naturally, we are not the most normal of people. We require a daily dose of stupidity and off the wall humor to get our creative juices flowing. Hey, it's part of the job. There is a good amount of goofing off on any given day, and it helps us deal with the stress that comes along with the HUGE amount of work we do. I really have no idea how we get it all done. We must be super human.
This is me at my desk. It only becomes apparent to me after seeing this photo how absolutely crazy my work station is...and this is clean for my desk! How lucky I am to wear jeans and flip flops to work...

Here is Katie. We just recently moved her desk and had to set up a semi cubicle type work space so she could actually have walls to utilize. She likes it.

Our Boss? Yes he is...believe it or not, he keeps this place running and keeps us all sane by letting us act crazy! As you can see, working at a toy company, there are always opportunities to make fool out of yourself.

These are SOME of our new products for the 2006 catalog. Yeah. . . It gets a bit overwhelming at times.


My friend Ro"Bird"a ...and that's Bill in the background. He's a loner. I think we scare him most of the time.


Some of Katie's artwork....it's so cute!!

More random photos...

















Stay tuned...there will always be more to come!

Thinking of New Orleans

It's so crazy. You don't even realize what is going on in New Orleans and that area, until you see the frightening images on TV. I watched the Dateline special tonight....and wow....it is just mind boggling. I can't even begin to imagine what those people are going through out there. One man swam for 8 hours with his three dogs, just to get to dry land. Some of them are going on the fourth day on their roofs. People are still being rescued, only to be dropped onto a highway for another wait to get on a bus. When people do get on these buses they have no idea where they are going. With only what they can carry...pets...children....they are shipped off to spend what could be months at an airport, or convention center, or arena. They have lost everything they own. Clean water is like gold now. Families are being separated. People are dying now, just because of the aftermath. Looting, shootings, starving, dehydration...it's all normal to them now. There are dead bodies in the street. People are pulling their dead loved ones along with them. People are shooting eachother over a bag of ice.
So much, we take for granted. It's amazing that it takes something like this to make me realize it. As I sit here typing on my computer, with lights to see and water to drink, an air conditioner to keep me cool, and all of the things around me that make me happy and comfortable....I just feel sick for those people. I get to go to sleep in peace tonight, while others are out there sleeping on the side of the road, or next to thousands of other people who don't know what to do, or where to go next. Paying $3.00 for gas doesn't seem like that big of a problem now. I can't even imagine.....

All Grown up?

Ahhhh...I've actually done it. I've officially become a minion of the digital age. Not like I wasn't before though. I'm a computer geek, what can I say. I figure, since I am officially a "grown woman" now, I should start really thinking about my life and what better way to reflect and receive feedback from my peers, than to publish my life happenings on a blog? Maybe the biggest mistake I make, but what the hell.
I have made a new rule that once you turn 26, it's all over. You are officially a grown up, whether you choose to accept it or not. At 25 you can still fake it and get away with doing immature things. You are still in the lower half of your twenties. It's acceptable. Now....I can't go out and get drunk and make a fool of myself on a Tuesday. Why, you ask? Because I have to be at work at 8:00 AM. I have caught myself saying these very words too many times to count. This, my friend, is when you are an adult. When you start thinking of consequences. When you start to care about your job. When you have more money in savings than you ever thought you were capable of. When you are getting a realtor and thinking of buying a house. . . ugh!
Yes, the time is here. And it sucks. Can I go back to College please?