Hola

Hey all, just thought I'd say hello. not much going on really. I am getting a puppy this summer! The puppy is in Kentucky, so whenever I come home to visit in the summer I will drive to Kentucky and get her, then she'll fly back with me. She is a Malti-Poo, which is a Maltese-Poodle mix. They're kinda popular right now because it's the same kind of puppy that Nick Lachey bought for Jessica Simpson on Newlyweds. I just needed something small since we live in an apartment you know and they are all tiny & fluffy so that's what I'm getting. Need someone to keep me company (and sane) while Ivan is at work at night! I'm going to train her to a litter box in the house so we don't have to worry about getting home to let her out and things like that. Plus, being so small, she'll have a tiny bladder and this would just be easier for her! The picture above is her and I'm supposed to get an updated one pretty soon so I can watch her grow! haha

Standup.org

As you know I hang on nearly every word that falls out of Oprah's mouth :) What can I say, she's usually saying something worth hearing.

Today her topic was how America's schools are basically crap. And it's not just poor areas and inner-city, it's everywhere (although it is worse in those places). And yeah we probably kinda knew that, but we probably didn't think ahead a little bit about that and what it means, and I'm going to paraphrase this a lot!-- ok, if our kids are coming out of school stupid, who is going to lead us? A bunch of stupid people? Not only that, they're lazy! Did you know that 1 student drops out of school in the U.S every 26 seconds?! So, our kids are lazy so they don't even want to lead the country, but if they're not lazy, they're stupid! America will fall behind all the other countries (as we are already slipping quickly) and we will not be the most powerful nation in the world anymore. (Along with a host of other reasons that I'm not going to go into right now about why we are making ourselves suck so bad- such as being super fat and over-spending, healthcare, etc.) And the thing is, it's not even the kids faults that they're "stupid." They're not being provided the right education/resources. And keep in mind it's not just a matter of "leading the country" as in a president & people like that, it's people researching, and becoming doctors and all that stuff. The kids won't be ready! And America will be the dumb, fat, broke nation that was.

Why do you care? You probably don't. I sure didn't until I watched Oprah & thought about it for a minute. Anyway, just go to www.standup.org and you can just type in your name & address and it generates a letter to your state officials. That's it, you can do nothing else but that. And if you're reading this then you're already doing nothing on the internet, so just do it real quick! Big numbers folks!!

Top 33 Work-Out Songs!

Ok, as you know I work out quite a bit, especially lately. (Yeah you can't always tell that I work out a lot, but I really do work out consistently) Anyway, tonight I was doing my cardio after I had my trainer session and got through it by finding my absolute, all time, most energizing songs that I have on my IPOD. And then I felt I needed to share them with you! I guess mom & Jyll because I think you're the only ones I read this every once in awhile :) haha

Anyway, I thought maybe it would be my top 20 or something, but I couldn't narrow it down at all...you should try some of these songs because for me, they are awesome!!! There is quite a range on here, but I think there's something for everyone, and it depends on my mood too ya know? (Can you tell I'm bored?? And in the zone right now??)

I could only rate the top 5, and that was a fairly difficult decision :) ha But the rest are all still in my faves!

1. Boom Boom Boom- Vengaboys
2. We Ready Remix- Archie Eversole & Bubba Sparxxx
3. Evil Deeds- Eminem
4. I Want To Be Sedated- Offspring
5. Lose Yourself- Eminem

Like A Prayer- Madonna
Mony Mony- Billy Idol
Beverly Hills- Weezer
Material Girl- Madonna
Right Back Where We Started From- Maxine Nightengale
Like A Virgin- Madonna
I Think We're Alone Now- Tiffany
Let's Go- Trick Daddy
Over & Over- Madonna
Jesus Walks- Kanye West
I Want You to Want Me- Cheap Trick
Sweet Caroline- Neil Diamond
Throw It Up- Lil Jon
I Hope You Die- Bloodhound Gang
Lean Back Remix- Fat Joe, Eminem, Lil Jon, Mase
Welcome To Detroit City- Eminem
How You Like It- Petey Pablo
Three Point One Four- Bloodhound Gang
Party- Dis N Dat
Outta Control- 50 Cent
Oh- Ciera
Gasolina Remix- Daddy Yankee
Hoochie Mama- 2 Live Crew
Cotton Eyed Joe
Yeah- Usher
Candy Shop- 50 Cent
Goodies Remix- Ciera
Rompe- Daddy Yankee

Big Bear Mountain

This week I was on Spring Break and loved it :) Ivan planned a little trip to the mountains, Big Bear Mountain which is about 55 miles from us. We went up on Thursday afternoon-- we had to buy snow chains for the tires. They were required; there was a little stop & the police made sure you had them on before you could go any higher. And the driving was crazy too-- as you can imagine, driving through the mountains is bad enough how it winds & stuff, now imagine doing that when you can only see about 20 feet in front of your car! It got really foggy up there and I was scared to death. All of a sudden it was completely clear and when you looked over to the side you could look down on the clouds! Very pretty, there's some pictures of them down below. So anyway, we got up there about 2:30, got some food and then went tubing. It was a good time. There was a moving sidewalk thing that you stood on & it took you back to the top of the hill and so we just kept going & going.

Friday we went to the Big Bear Resort and signed up for our lessons-- Ivan snowboarded and I skiied. I have to confess I was scared out of my mind before we went into our classes, I was crying a little & everything! Pathetic, I know. So anyway, it started out a little shaky... we were on like relatively flat ground and anytime I started gaining speed I totally forgot what to do because I was freaked out a little bit. It got better though, I actually only fell once that day! I was starting to enjoy it quite a bit & then it was time to go. Ivan was doing pretty well too, he fell a lot but the snowboarders did quite a bit so he was normal :) Today we went back and skiied for about 3 hours, and I didn't do nearly as well today! Neither of us did, must have been beginners luck yesterday. I fell 2 or 3 times coming off the lift-- both times when Ivan & I went up together, if we went separately I did much better! And one other time I fell and I fell good-- poles flew out of hands, I'm dragging my hands in the snow trying to stop! It was crazy. After that I did alright. Ivan fell pretty hard once, his tailbone is pretty sore right now. But overall I think we did pretty good for beginners, and had a lot of fun. Oh & my face got so burnt, day 1 I didn't wear sunscreen (duh) and you can tell, I look like a red & white raccoon. Ivan looks like it too only not as bad :)

Here's some pics for ya: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5Ylw

Snails!

Ok, this is kinda random, but anyway, I see these snails around sometimes. Mostly I have just seen a couple hanging out on our patio wall-- all you see is a shell like hanging there. Well last night I was out running & the snails were like out of the shells, with their antennas up slithering along. So tonight I saw them again & thought I needed to take a picture & post it :) Enjoy!

For anyone wondering, Megan made it back to Bloomington, a couple bumps in the road, but she's back :)

Friday night Ivan and I went to see the movie "Stay Alive." It's about this video game that once you start playing it, if you die in the game, then you die in real life. It was pretty creepy. Oh and we bought the movie "Kids." Yes it's like 10 years old but I had never seen it, that movie is crazy. If you haven't seen it, watch it, it's crazy I tell you.

So this week is my spring break and Ivan planned a little surprise-- Thursday we are going to Big Bear Mountain, which is about 40 miles from here, to go skiing!! I'm psyched. He got a little cabin or room...something, either way it sounds nice. And neither of us have been skiing before so this should be interesting, but really fun I think. So I will be sure to fill you all in when we get back, assuming I don't run into a tree or something messed up like that!