Hypocrisy FTW!

Like the old adage goes, "If you can't beat them... beat them."

I'm sure Trayvon is super proud of this behavior.

I can go on and on.

This is really sad news:

Man tells police group yelled ‘Trayvon,' then beat him

I Should've Written, "5. A Million Dollars!"

In general, I don't expect gifts.  Well, okay, I take that back.  Thomas I expect something from.  (Not always, we did have a deal a couple years ago to not give any gifts!)  :)

This year, I got literally everything I wanted and more!

On Monday (the day before my birthday) I jokingly (and randomly) wrote a list of things on the dry erase board in the class I was subbing for.  This was more my way of getting their attention (they were all talking to each other when the bell rang, but they got a lot quieter once they started trying to figure out what I was writing):

1. green
2. size 7
3. Anthropologie
4. gerber daisies

I proceeded to ignore their questions and comments ("Miss Nguyen, 'anthropology' is spelled with a 'y'") and take roll.  I then went through the instructions for what they were supposed to be doing that day and right when I was done, on the tail end of the last instruction, I pointed to each item on the board and said,

"My birthday is tomorrow.  Oh and by the way my favorite color is green, I wear size 7 shoes, my favorite store is Anthropologie," (here you see some girls nod in agreement, and the rest of the class still remains clueless as to how there is a store dedicated to the discipline of anthropology), "and my favorite flowers are gerber daisies!  So, you know... just... saying."

The next day, I actually had some students bring me things!

Not only did I get green things (a green bag with an umbrella and some green lotion and body mist and also green cards), but I also got some flowers including (of course) gerber daisies!  :)

That night, Lisa, Luke, Thomas, and I went to Jasper's.  We had some (and by some I mean all) of their happy hour bar menu.  My favorites were the: pizza, sliders, and pork satays.  Skip the blue cheese potato chips--especially if you're expecting it to be as awesome as Plucker's version.  Then we... went to... *drumrollnotreallyneeded* ANTHROPOLOGIE!  Where I found myself some silver shoes... size 7.  And my sister was, of course, sweet and wonderful enough to treat me to it (this is after she already treated us to said dinner at Jasper's)!

Probably could've gotten a better photo, but too lazy.  :)

So there you have it.  My four things that I randomly off-the-top-of-my-head listed, and I got all four!  I even got a couple more things I hadn't expected (but would definitely be somewhere on my list of favorite things): TWO--yes, count it--TWO bottles of sriracha--one from Miss Maggie and the other from Thomas's family.  Thomas's family then threw in one more really really awesome thing:

Seth Meyers @ Paramount Theatre

I have such an awesome nerdcrush on him.  I look forward to weekend updates so this SNL Headwriter can make me giggle.  I still haven't decided if I have a bigger crush on him or Tina.  It's a tough one.  Now, if I got this combo, I might not have such a hard time making the decision:

Or, even better (if you're not reading this from your iPhone and/or the book I plan to print and make of this):

Yes, guys.  Really.  This was a GREAT birthday!  Much like Edwin McCain, I've got all I've waited for, and I could not ask for more!  (Yeah, I went there)

My birthday cupcake!  Luke helped me blow out my candles!  :)

Dinner #16 - MY BIRTHDAY DINNER!

4/2 - It was the day before my birthday and I had a feeling something was up.  Johnny hadn't yet sent out his weekly message telling us of his details for dinner.  I hadn't thought about it too much because I was still riding on my high from school.  It was a great day!  I was also focusing on my back-to-gym routine (which, thanks to it being my birthday week, I only had ONE day of, but that's okay!)

Long story short, I had a feeling, and I was bold enough to ask Thomas about my suspicions.  Which means I must've been REALLY feeling it, or else I wouldn't have bothered to ask.  I said, "Umm... we're not having crawfish tonight, are we?"  Thomas gave me a look and said, "No.  It's even BETTER!"  But I literally could NOT think of what else could be better (except for maybe... no.  I still can't think of what could be better), so I just nodded and said, "Okay."  I didn't want to make THEM feel bad for NOT getting crawfish (if that was, in fact, the truth).

I was told to sequester myself in my bedroom until they came back with food.  (Another reason I had a feeling it had to be crawfish, because Johnny generally cooks the food, so why would he need to go get it so late?  AND THEN cook it?  Nah...)

I'm finally allowed to come downstairs and sure enough, my best friends were there, with vats and vats of crawfish.  Danielle had even bought me flowers :)

This is a BEAUTIFUL sight.  BEAUTIFUL!

We all sat around and had some yummy, juicy crawfish!  Well... almost all of us.  To make this dinner even more awesome, you need to know that Johnny bought it.  Johnny bought ALL 18 LBS!  It was about $9/lb!  Yes, $9!  And he bought 18!!!!  And the kicker?  HE CAN'T EAT CRAWFISH.  Basically, he'll die.  He used to eat it with us... but I think he'd die a little each time and it's finally sunken in to him that he's deathly allergic (well, mostly).  So to make up for it, Thomas bought Johnny a steak, which he seemed to enjoy while we ate our crawfish.  This is the true mark of a best friend.  If I ever doubted (which... I haven't)... this was proof!

BUT THE SURPRISES DIDN'T STOP THERE!

While we were sitting out in our screened in patio, I heard some voices that sounded vaguely familiar... Buddy, Johnny, and Thomas looked ESPECIALLY excited, so I knew whoever it was, it had to be good.  I literally felt my heart pounding faster and faster until...

ORO AND LAURA WALKED THROUGH OUR DOOR!  Oro, our friend (who some of us may or may not believe that he may or may not be in a secret sector of the FBI) who went for "training" (see?  FBI) in Georgia back in September was finally back!  Laura, his sweet girlfriend, was with him and it was AWESOME!  :)  I was so glad they got to come join us for our dinners!  I think one of my favorite things about them being there that night (minus the gossip that was inevitable) was that Oro kept saying, "You guys are like Friends!"  Apparently the Joey/Chandler/Monica/Rachel roommate friends thing was always awesome to him.  We had officially made him jealous by achieving this.  Anyway, so the full roll call for the night was:

- Me
- Thomas
- Johnny
- Danielle
- Amy
- Maggie
- Buddy
- JJ
- Justin
- Oro
- Laura

No, unlike the other nights, we did NOT end the night with a movie.  Instead we ended it with a bundt birthday cake by Maggie!  It had alcohol in it... and by that I mean every bite was like a mini chocolate cake shot.  Which was awesome.  :)

I truly truly truly truly TRULY have some of the BEST FRIENDS anyone could ask for, and I was so happy they wanted to spend not only this particular Monday night with me, but that we're the kind of friends that want to spend almost EVERY Monday night together :)

Dinner #15 - Despicable Me

3/26 - This was a very special Monday night dinner, as we had not one but TWO visitors!  Eshe & Nia!  Johnny made some more scrumptious grilled cheeses and we watched a kid movie.  Nia seemed to know Despicable me really well (and so did Eshe!)

It was great to get to see them both, as we've missed them since they moved to New York!  It was even extra special to see little Nia, because the poor girl's been really sick and was a week and a half shy of having some surgery done, so we all wanted to show her some love!  Those in attendance:

- me
- Thomas
- Johnny
- Buddy
- Maggie
- Luis
- Eshe
- Nia
- Justin
- Joey

I think that's it?  Anyway, it was a fun night.  Nia was adorable as ever and kept passing out our beds to us.  Yes, we still had our treasure chest up and out.  (Big props to what I assume was Danielle deciding all of that needed to be put away!)

Oh it should also be noted that the weekend before this, we went DT with Eshe.  It was me, Eshe, Kristi, Thomas, Johnny, and Buddy.  It was like the good ol' days, only, Spill was closed and our hearts were broken.  We did however get awesome pictures of Eshe, but because I do, in fact, love her, I will spare her the public humiliation.  :)

Oh and here's one more pic of Nia... holding up her bacon in the back of my car.  Not too many combinations beat that!

Spring Break 2012

It was a good Spring Break, though I can barely tell you what all I did!  Here's some snapshots!

BFFs forreal

Riverwalk!

Luke snapped this shot!

Chamberlains hanging out at the Alamo

Shelby was in town so natch, we went karaoke-ing!

So great to see her! :)

Obvious Reason Why Thomas is Wonderful - #15

Thomas: "Look Mel!  I'm the Eye of Sauron!"

*Oh and just because I haven't done this in awhile doesn't mean he's not wonderful, it just means I'm lazy :)

Keys to Creativity

Reblogged from the original post from my nguyenning blog on Tang-Yaroo!

If you’re anything like me, you have random old keys on your keychain that serve no purpose.  You don’t even know from whence they came.  Instead of chucking them, here’s a much more fun alternative!

Oh and you get to use glitter!

…who doesn’t love glitter?!

I. Love. Glitter.

My sister shared with me an idea she found online about decorating her keys.  I’ve been meaning to do it for awhile, and while trying my best to do anything but actual work, I finally found the time to make them!  It was almost too easy.  So here’s the world’s easiest tutorial on DIY glitter keychains!

You only need a handful of things:

• Keys!  (Old OR Current!)  In this tutorial, I will show you how to decorate one that you still currently use 
• Adhesive.  I use Mod Podge, because it’s cheap and there’s a lot and it works (for everything)!
• Brush.
• GLITTER!!!!!!!

Fun!

Here goes!

1. Spread the adhesive evenly over the portion that you want glitterfied (yes, it’s a word now).  I didn’t do it this time, but in the future, I’ll probably take a piece of tape to cover the “key” portion.  It’s not hard to avoid getting glue where you don’t want it, but safety never hurts, right?

2. Sift your glitter of choice over the adhesive.  If you’re wondering why I have so much glitter, you can blame it on Martha Stewart and my sister.  My sister bought the world’s most beautiful set of glitter from the Martha Stewart EverythingCraftyisAwesomecollection.  I couldn’t commit to all the glitter for the price, but that’s OK!  I ran across this fun little package at Joann!  For 4.99 you can get a sample pack of 16 different colors!

3. Tap off any additional, unnecessary glitter.  Allow the glitter to set in and dry.  After a few minutes, dab on some more adhesive.  This will ensure that the glitter won’t rub off on your hands when you use it.  Believe me, I currently have glitter… everywhere.  It’s just… all over the place.  This must be what it’s like to be her…

Annnnnnnnd you’re done!  :)  Like I said, you can just do the tops of your keys (this is a great alternative to the rubber thing you can put on the heads of your keys), or you can do the entire key!  I took my unusable keys (to Narnia?  I don’t know) and glittered the whole thing.  I will most likely stick them on a chain and wear them as pendants for a necklace.

Voila!  The finished product!

Glitter should be everywhere all day er’day. 

 If you end up making your own, post a picture of your finished product!  :)