Caffeine, Cookies, and Kate

It's been quite the week at the Angry House. We had our theme park week. Angry Husband helped my crazy aunt move. I came down with a slight kidney/bladder infection. I worked. And it was HOT! Seriously hot!

My mind has not been good lately. I have my hands in too many cookie jars, and I'm trying to piece it all together. I need to really cut down on some of it. But the worse part of my summer is coming to an end. You see, I've been working the swing shift at work. What is the swing shift? For me, it's Friday through Monday, from 4pm to 2:30am. Blah! Do you think I go to bed when I go home? Do I eat properly? Do I work out? NO! I have sacrificed everything the past four months. I realized this last Fall, when I worked the swing shift last time. My workouts completely stopped, and I drank way too much caffeine. So alas, tonight is my last night shift, and I'm squeeing with happiness. I get to have dinner at a normal time, sleep at a normal time, and hopefully I won't be as grumpy.

I'm going to try and organize my life back this week. Hopefully, I can. Our house is a DISASTER zone, I have random bags filled with paperwork that I need to go through. And I need to purge Angry Toddler's closet. I think our trash can is going to be very very full.

So I went to the grocery store earlier today with Angry Husband. This is what I bought, the newest People magazine, a Monster, and Lofthouse Cookies. These are probably the only store bought non-bakery/non-homemade cookies that I will eat. They are FABULOUS!!! Oh, and I got the magazine, because yes, I'm following the drama! It's like a trainwreck that I cannot stop watching!

So hopefully, in the next week or so, I can get back to being normal. Plus we have no swim lesson for two weeks. That makes a big difference in trying to get things done around here!

Theme Park Week

Angry Husband has been on vacation this week. It was completely last minute so we had nothing planned, yea really, we have no money to do anything. We have passes to Disneyland, so Angry Husband and I headed there. We went to Disney's California Adventure first. You can tell a true Disney Geek, because we were excited by all of the construction. Angry Husband made me take several pictures of the construction. It's amazing how much is going on.


After touring through California Adventure, we headed over to Disneyland. We mostly walked around and toured the shops. That's what you can do when you are kid-free and have Season Passes.

On Wednesday, we headed to SeaWorld. I am thanking, Lorna publicly for giving me passes. I twittered about SeaWorld discounts and she let me know that she had some passes. How awesome is the power of Twitter!! We had not been to SeaWorld for about two years. So we thought we would give it a try. Of course, we picked one of the hottest days of the summer to go. We slathered on the sunscreen when we got there. Okay, they slathered on the sunscreen. I was too worried about Angry Husband and Angry Toddler getting burnt that I forgot to put some on. You can only imagine that awful "farmer's tan" I am sporting. It's awesome. We went through all of the exhibits, and sat for two shows, The Shamu Show and the dolphins. Angry Husband and I decided why we don't go to SeaWorld that often, we are not impressed. I think we are totally spoiled by The Aquarium of the Pacific. We used to have a season pass there and went like once a week. That place is beautiful. Sadly, SeaWorld is not that pretty. I now have the same opinion of Sea World as I do of Legoland, "meh, not impressed, not worth the money, and why can't they paint some stuff to make it pretty".

Yes, I got my official "Shamu" photos taken with my upgraded lens on my camera. Yes, I got some pictures of Angry Toddler, but really, give me Aquarium of the Pacific anyday, over SeaWorld. Oh, and Disneyland. I could go there every day of the week and see something different.

On Thursday night, I headed over to Disneyland with my mom, and Angry Toddler. My mom had a Disney pass that she wanted to use and suggested a trip. I agreed. Angry Husband was out hanging with his boys. Oh my, was it HOT! I think it was almost 100 degrees at 6pm. CRAZY! It was pretty quiet though. I think a lot of kids have gone back to school and people were not traveling as much. We were able to see the fireworks, and enjoy some shows. We actually stayed till closing, and the best news...my mom got a season pass. Now she can take Angry Toddler...hehehhehe.

P.S. I added the lovely title to my California Adventure pictures, because I get so many random "hits" for Disney Construction in the title!

Yes, I am a Sorority Girl!

(click photo to make it bigger, and it's easier to read too!)

It's Fall, the start of the year for college. I know that there a lot of college students contemplating joining Sororities and/or Fraternities. They are probably thinking, "I'm not the Sorority Type, this isn't for me, why the heck should I do this?" Well believe me, I still get people asking me at work, "What you were in a Sorority? Really? Yes, this police chick was a bow wearing, pearl wearing, matching outfit, date party attending, full-fledged Sorority girl!

My freshman year of college, I joined a sorority. I was an (A-O-Pi) Alpha Omicron Pi. I was active in the sorority for a little less than two years. I know, I know. But grades, life, etc. raised some issues and I went to a Jr. College for a little while.

In 2001, I was somehow convinced to become an Advisor for my local Chapter of my sorority, ok well, it was my Chapter. This is how I became friends with my BFF, Stacey. She was also an Advisor. For some reason, I became the Financial Advisor. What? Me, money, finances? But seriously, so many lessons that I learned. I learned how to work with a committee, about multi-signer bank accounts, taxes for non-profits, how not to do your finances, etc.

Bt the skills that I learned have helped me in my latest endeavor, The Junior League. I already had the tools and knowledge in my head on how not to work on a committee, run things, etc. I was very excited when our JL meetings only lasted one hour, how we actually had a working budget, the tier of committees and chairs.

But really being in a sorority has helped me with public speaking (even though I hate it), being able to talk to anyone and everyone (helpful in job, especially), how to work pearls into any outfit (giggle), how to function in a huge convention (BlogHer), how to not be catty in public, only in private (can I get some snaps for this), and how to make new and interesting friendships with people that you might have not much in common with.

Oh, and blogging, it's amazing how my bloggers are Sorority girls. I thought that this would be fun to include some of my Sorority Blogging friends and how experiences in a Sorority helped them and became a part of their "adult" non college life.

Newlywed Next Door a (Gamma Phi) Gamma Phi Beta:

I can attribute so much of who I am today to my experiences in my Sorority and on the Panhellenic Council (governing body of the campus Sororities). Being in sorority helped to build my confidence and made me the true extrovert that I am today. It gave also gave endless opportunities to build interviewing and speaking skills through sorority recruitment and conversational skills through other events. Some people think sororities are "too political" or all about popularity, but the little political battles in a house of 160 girls definitely helped to prepare me for the big political battles of the corporate workplace that I'm in now. In fact, I know the main reason that the current company I work for hired me is that they were impressed with all of the leadership and team management skills I gained from my sorority and Panhellenic Council leadership positions. I could not have had that level of responsibility and the opportunity to manage groups of people in just a college internship. Job skills aside, I know that the friendships and networks that I built in my sorority will last a lifetime. And that is truly priceless.

Mrs. Newlywed a Sigma Kappa:

Hi, It’s me, Mrs. Newlywed. Some of you know me, but most of you are probably lucky enough to have never heard of me. I write [if you can call it that] Misadventures of a Newlywed.

Julie asked me to share some sorority love with you. I am a Sigma Kappa. Graduated undergrad in 2006, and I am still pretty involved with my sorority. Well, a different chapter. While I didn’t find my job through Sigma Kappa my experiences there set me up for a career. My sophomore through senior years I was the Vice President of Finance for our chapter which is not the best place for a British Literature major, but I made it work. I loved helping out and managing our chapter’s finances. When it came time to start looking for a post-graduation job, I really drew on that experience. My Lit degree was going to get me nowhere fast except law school, and I needed at least part-time work. That VPF position propelled me into a Financial Analyst job with a Fortune 200 financial firm. Seriously. They were so impressed that I was capable of doing math despite my Lit degree that they hired me.

When I was laid off in February 2009 I drew on the sorority experience again this time accepting a strategic marketing position with a large beauty company. I still am using what I learned during those 4 years. I am drawing on what makes women work and feel beautiful. Hello, it’s cosmetics now! Perfect for a sorority girl. Being in a sorority was an amazing experience and not one I will ever forget. I think I will be forever grateful to Sigma Kappa for the foundation it laid for my future.

The BLAHBLAHBLAHger an (A-Chi-O) Alpha Chi Omega:

I went to college in TX, away from all my friends and family - because I thought it would be cool to have an accent (no joke) - and because TCU has an excellent dance program (again, no joke). When I arrived in sweltering hot AND HUMID TX that August, I had no idea what I was in for. I did my orientation and began to learn the names of the girls in my dorm. Most of the gals I talked to asked if I was going through Rush. I literally got asked the question so many times that I just started answering with "I guess." You may not be surprised to hear that about 80% of my school was Greek, but I had never known anyone to be in a sorority or fraternity, so it felt odd to me. However, that fateful day in August changed my life forever.

Pledging Alpha Chi Omega was one of the single greatest things I've ever chosen to do. I made friends for a lifetime, had opportunities for leadership development (I was VP by my sophomore year), lived in the House with a bunch of crazy girls (there's a whole post there for sure!) where I learned to do the "catwalk" to Wannabe by the Spice Girls, went to dozens of hilarious theme parties, learned to appreciate ritual and tradition, and developed memories like taking a blow up doll as my date to a Formal. I've attended a number of A Chi O weddings were we've circled the bride and sung one of our special songs...and dreamed of the day when I will be the girl in the circle. It's been 11 years since I graduated from college, but I still have a special fondness for sisters, new and old. I served as an advisor at 2 schools on the East Coast and back here in OC when I moved back 8 years ago. I wish I had more time to be involved nowadays, but know that when I'm ready to do it once again, my sisters will welcome me with open arms. And ultimately, I CANNOT wait until I have a daughter someday who I can share this experience with...although, I doubt I'll share with her some of my wilder memories, then again maybe I WILL teach her the catwalk... "SO TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT, WHAT YOU REALLY REALLY WANT."

Being Narcissistic...Some New Pictures....

My mood changes daily...duh, I'm Angry. I recently decided that I needed a new profile photo for my blog. And since I'm usually the one taking pictures in my house, I can't take a picture of myself. I called upon my friend, Jen Johnson. Jen has become an awesome gal pal!!! She has a personal blog, The BlahBlahBlahger and also her photography site, Jen Johnson Photography.

So I knew that Jen was taking photos last night of me. I was supposed to meet her at 6:30pm. At 5:45, I was frantically running around trying to figure out something to wear for the photos. Nothing like the last minute. And I've gained a few pounds, ugh, that limited a lot of my wardrobe. Those lovely button-up shirts I bought last Fall, were um, a little too tight. I settled with a shirt from Kohl's, a jean skirt from Ann Taylor Loft, and some flip flops. I forgot that we were going to Peter's Canyon, which is a trail park where people um, hike, run, and mountain bike. You can imagine it all now, Angry Julie in her flip flops and jean skirt while people are passing us on the trail. Oh, and I brought a Monster with me. Cause I needed props, right? I can't go anywhere without a Monster. Angry Husband actually told me that they should be paying me for all of the PR that I give them.

Oh, and the shirt...I'm trying to figure out what the heck was going on with me...does it look like a maternity shirt (hell no I'm not pregnant) or are the twins trying to come out and play?

So the photos, you probably want to check them out...

In Polite Society

In Polite Society....that is, in real life, not online..

I don't have the following debates:

*Breastfeeding vs. Bottle Feeding
*Rear-Facing vs. Forward Facing Carseats
*Attachment Parenting, Co-Sleeping, etc.
*Vaccinating, Not-Vaccinating, or Delaying Vaccinations
*Being a Working Mom vs. A-Stay-At-Home Mom

But last week I got thrown right in the middle of a discussion about one of these topics. I attended the Dr. Phil show taping last week where Heather Armstrong aka Dooce was a special guest. The topic of the show was "Working Moms vs. Stay At Home Moms".

I took my friend Suzanne from Twenty Four at Heart, to the taping with me. Lucky enough, she drove. It was a good thing since I had only like three hours of sleep. The best part of that morning was parking her car in a cemetery. Yep, that's right, a cemetery. I even Tweeted a picture of the cemetery. We had to leave our electronics in the car. So Suzanne and I both parted with our Blackberries. Seriously, we both had withdrawals that entire afternoon. How dare they! We got in line for the taping and began to size everyone up. Yes, that's what we do. Suzanne and I are from Orange County. The land of the pretty. We both love people watching. How do you think we come up with these blog posts? From sitting in our homes? Anyway, we made our way through the line, a metal detector, and dubbed ourselves as a working mom (me), and stay at home mom (Suzanne).

We were then taken into a room where we were separated again, into two separate categories. After sitting in the room for about 30 minutes, we proceeded to the actual Dr. Phil set. The working moms and stay at home moms were seated in different areas. I suspected this was for the "drama effect". There were several women who were pre-selected. They had microphones placed on them, and were seated on end seats. I would say a small, very small percentage of this group were bloggers. Not that I'm an expert on who bloggers are, but you can kind of tell. I was seated next to Jess from Shuggilippo. Thankfully, Jess was as snarky as I. I wouldn't have been able through all the drama that occurred without Jess. We whispered, and commented. We exchanged annoyed looks, and we rolled our eyes. Jess came all the way from Arizona for this. She is nuts. I was waiting to see when Heather would come on stage. Ironically, they placed her in a chair (seated) in the front row of the pit (chair area). She was on the end seat with her iPhone firmly placed in her hand. Dr. Phil made some comments to her about tweeting. She made some remarks back. Apparently, she was supposed to Twitter during the show. She didn't tweet that much. Believe me, I checked later.

Dr. Phil came on, and introduced "real life" working moms and stay at home moms. Then the debate started. He had a woman talk about having three children under 2, and going back to work. Then he had another woman speak about being a stay at home mom. The stay at home mom was a voice in the audience throughout the show. She was a strong advocate for staying at home, and wanted everyone to know her opinion. I follow this woman on Twitter. She is a strong willed person and will let you know her opinion, she doesn't shy away from that. I knew that already. But the people who did not know who she was, were very offended. I could hear the "oohhhs and ahhs" in the audience. It was not good.

Basically people stood up and told their story. People defended their choice. Dr. Phil had a video prepared by Heather, showing her blogging, etc. Then they had the Producers from the show up on stage. Two of the Producers were working moms, and one was a the child of a working mom. Basically, the Producers had a banter back and forth with the stay at home mom from the audience. I had to be obnoxious and raise my hand. Ok, maybe I was jumping out of my seat, to raise my hand. But I was able to speak my thoughts, and how it works in our household. Then Suzanne stood up and said not all the stay at home moms felt the same way, etc..

It was the most random Dr. Phil show. I felt like we were taping an episode for Jerry Springer. Seriously, I think they set this up to create drama. At the end, they had a new mom on stage. After having her son a few months ago, she had to go back to work, because of the economy. They showed her researching daycares, etc. I felt bad for her, she looked really sad.

But really, what I'm rambling about here is real life vs. online life. Since trying to get pregnant through infertility, etc. in 2004, I've come across various types of people. There are forums ad message boards created for controversial issues in parenting. As a new mom on my "birth boards" if I dare mentioned that I was formula feeding my son, I would probably get 10 nasty replies about it. Really, if I told people in reality (non Internet) about formula feeding Angry Toddler, people would just shrug and say, "what formula are you using". It's not that I don't have opinions, because I do. It's not that I'm not strong willed, I am. But really, I don't have the time or energy to argue with people about their individual choices. Because that's what they area, choices.

Yes, I am a working mom. Yes, I choose to work. Well really, I don't chose that much. My mortgage company gives me no choice. Thanks Chase. We live in Southern California. My house is 1100 sq. foot. It really can't get any smaller. We are not living a high lifestyle by any means. We eat a lot of hot dogs, and Ramen noodles. My life is so glamorous. But no one has ever questioned my choices. Do I have regrets, no? I only work four days a week, and about one third of the year, it's at night, when my kid is asleep.

The new season of Dr. Phil starts on September 14th, I think? The show should air within the first few weeks of the Season. You can check their website for the details.

Dippin' Dots

I've seen Dippin' Dots before. Usually there's a cart at the mall, theme park, or the County Fair. I just have never tried them. I'm one of those people reluctant to try new things.

I chat with the owner, Debbie, of the Fountain Valley Dippin' Dots. She rocks!! Not only does she sell dots, but she's a Twitter Freak. You can find her on Twitter @dippindotwoman.

Before I started chatting with Debbie, I never knew that there were actual Dippin' Dot stores. Who knew? She informed that yes, she does catering, but there is a STORE! I've been so busy lately that I didn't get a chance to go to her store. I did get to meet Debbie at the Just Spotted OC Blogger Awards last week. I tried the Rainbow Ice Dots that night and I was hooked.

Well we finally got a chance to go and visit Debbie's store yesterday. We tried the following flavors: cotton candy, cookies n' cream, and banana split. They were all very tasty. Angry Husband, Angry Toddler and I all shared our portions. Usually we will take Angry Toddler for ice cream and he eats one bite. This time he finished his dots.

But what are Dippin' Dots? How are they made? I got this from their corporate site.

So what exactly are Dippin' Dots? Actually, it's fun to watch "first-timers" expressions when they take their first bite. After overcoming the sight of their ice cream beads "pouring" into a cup there's the look of amazement that ice cream can be "tingly and almost crunchy" (their words!). When the smooth, creamy ice cream begins to melt in their mouth...a fan is born! It's truly a treat for kids of all ages. And finally, to answer the question, Dippin' Dots are made from fresh dairy ingredients flavored with fun, fruity, enticing and even exotic flavors. The mixture is frozen almost instantly in liquid nitrogen, a common element in the atmosphere used commercially for flash freezing. After production, Dippin' Dots are packaged and shipped worldwide.

Passwords

I'm writing this post out of frustration. It seems like every site that I go on lately needs some kind of password.  I go on a forum, my banking, Twitter, Blogger, e-mail.....you need a password.

It would be easy if you could just use one central password. But nooooooo..

Sometimes it's 4-6 letters, 6-8 letters, 6-8 letters with at least one number.

A username with 6-8 letters, 6-8 letters with one number.

This is only in my personal life.

I think we have like ten different programs at work that need passwords too.

I'm on complete password OVERLOAD! I'm about to crash. Does anyone have a good system for passwords and.or usernames?

Please help my brain.

I swear I fill in one of those "I've forgotten my password and/or username, please e-mail it to me boxes everyday"!!!

Fifteen Years

In 1994, there was this eighteen year old girl, she was in a sorority. It was the summer after her freshman year of college. The girl and two of her sorority sisters decided to go out for some fun. This girl had just removed her walking brace from her leg. You see, the girl fell down the stairs of a Fraternity house a month before, and broken her ankle.

The girl and her friends ended up at an eighteen and over club. This club was heavily populated by Marines. Perhaps this girl knew several of the Marines at the club. Her friends paired off with some boys, and left the girl. The girl decided to talk to one of the Marine's friends. This Marine was very quiet and shy. The girl's friends ended up ditching her. Boo, hiss!! That's what eighteen year old girls do. The quiet and shy Marine took the girl home, and got her phone number. The girl never even got the Marine's name.

The girl and the quiet Marine ended up going on a double date with her friends, and the other Marines. This was fifteen years ago. This girl was Angry Julie (me). The shy and quiet Marine, was Angry Husband. Yep. We went to dinner with our friends at El Torito, a Mexican restaurant, and then hung out at the beach. I think our first date was either August 19th or 20th, 1994. I can't remember exactly. Is that bad? We dated solidly for a few months, and then he was deployed overseas for 6 six months. We wrote letters, we called each other, and we stayed together. We recently celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary.

But holy cow, I've known Angry Husband for fifteen years!!!

Just Spotted and The OC Blogger Awards

Last night I attended "Just Spotted's" OC Blog Awards Party. This was their first annual awards. I was nominated for "Favorite Local Micro-Blogger" and oh my gosh, I won. I would like to thank all my fans for voting for little ole' me!!!! You rock!!!

I'm so glad that I was able to meet so many people that I've only spoken with through the computer. My favorite person to meet was Debbie from Dippin' Dots. I chatted with Debbie on Twitter for awhile now. And ironically, I've never even tried Dippin' Dots. Well hello, I love me some dots now. I tried the rainbow ice. I'm trying to be dairy free right now. The rainbow ice hit the spot.

I also met awesome people like Hollie from the Anaheim Hilton, Carolyn from @OCRealtress, @sbonnin and some many other people that my ADD keeps me from remembering. So "HI" to everyone!!!

One of the most awesome parts of the night was the photo booth provided by Capital Photo Booths. I wish I would have tried more poses. I took these photos at the beginning and then forgot to go back. When I got to my car later that night, Kristin had left a set of her photos on my car window. I giggled.


I just want to give a HUGE Thank You to Coleen and Kelly for putting on this event. I know that it takes a lot of work to put on an event with this many people. There is hours of hours of time spent behind the scenes, and both of these women have children to raise too. So I thank them!!

And here's a list of all of the winners! Everyone is really a winner just to get nominated though!!!

The 2009 "You've Just Been Spotted" Orange County Blog Awards Reader's Choice goes to...
Most Creative Site: Made
Best Food or Cooking Site: Fast Food Maven
Fabulous Lifestyle & Design Site: Sadie Olive
Great Shopping & Style Site: Boutiquing.com
Site with most Beautiful "Eye Candy": Kamee June
Best "Kid & Family Friendly" Site: Tiny Oranges
Favorite Local Blog: Alive in Wonderland
Top "Local News": Seal Beach Daily
Favorite Local Micro-Blogger: AngryJulie
The Runner's Up (otherwise known as Editor's Choice) are...
Most Creative Site: This Mama Makes Stuff
Best Food or Cooking Site: Picky Palate
Fabulous Lifestyle & Design Site: Peace, Love and Momminess
Great Shopping & Style Site: Popshopology
Site with most Beautiful "Eye Candy": Tara Whitney
Best "Kid & Family Friendly" Site: Double the Adventure
Favorite Local Blog: Twenty Four at Heart
Top "Local News": Daily Pilot
Favorite Local Micro-Blogger: YelpOC

How Social Media Impacts Me

I was surfing my one of my parenting forums today, because that's what I do. I have several sites that I check daily. I may not post as often on them, but I do check them. One of the women posted this link to this You Tube video about Social Media.



That statistics that they gave were quite amazing. I use most of these sites/applications daily, but I never really thought about the number of people that do. My parents are just starting to see the trend also. My mom and dad kept asking me to teach them. It's quite frustrating, as my mom can barely use her e-mail. I've tried, but they just don't get it.

This is a part of my daily life. The people and sites that I connect with online, are just as much as a part of my real life as my co-workers, family, and neighbors. I actually like some of my online connections better. I have genuine bonds with these people through my computer and Blackberry. I have even taken the time to meet some of them.

My husband does not use social media as much as I do. Yet, he's in a pretty technical business. I think one of the main factors is that he doesn't have a smart phone, which was his own decision. But yet, once again, I got the plea at dinner last night.

"We should really get iPhones. It's amazing the things that you can do with them".

The video I posted above was done by the people from Socialnomics, a Social Media Blog. I have never visited this site before. I will be bookmarking and subscribing to it now.

Here are some of the Social Meda statistics that they posted on their site.

*Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web
*If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 4th largest between the United States and Indonesia
*Ashton Kutcher and Ellen Degeneres have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of Ireland, Norway and Panama
*54% = Number of bloggers who post content or tweet daily
*78% of consumers trust peer recommendations
*24 of the 25 largest newspapers are experiencing record declines in circulation because we no longer search for the news, the news finds us

And if you don't know what Social Media is? You do. Because you are reading this blog right now, which is a part of Social Media.

Planes of Fame Air Museum

Last Sunday, the boys in my household *Angry Husband and Angry Toddler" took a little trip to Chino. What's in Chino? Well there's an air museum called "Planes of Fame Air Museum". Planes of Fame is an independently operated aviation museum dedicated to collecting, restoring, and preserving aircrafts and memorabilia for educational benefit.

Angry Husband's BFF, Eric, told him about this museum. Eric went with Angry Husband and Angry Toddler. What was Angry Julie doing? Julie was sleeping on the couch, and then she went to work later that afternoon. Don't be jealous. I love touring the sites with the best of them. But walking around a tarmac in Chino, in the summer, not my idea of fun. Think hot, melting sun.

Angry Toddler fell in love when he entered the museum. This love was not any type of aircraft. Oh yes, it was a vending machine. He declared to the hubs, "my favorite".



Angry Husband said that Angry Toddler fit nicely in this B-17 Ball Turret. What the heck is a Ball Turret? A Ball Turret is a space on the bottom of a B-17 where a gunner stayed for approximately five to ten hours with tempuratures averaging 50 below. No thanks. Plus the space was really small, according to Angry Husband.



YEE-Haw, This is the bomb. Angry Toddler was riding a bomb, umm Rodeo Style?



But yes, it is an Air Museum, so you probably want to see some aircrafts, right? Here they are:







Angry Husband took like 200 photos that day. I know you want to see more. Check out my Flickr Account for the rest.

MADMEN Season 3

{click picture to make it bigger and easier to read}

Tonight is the Season Premiere of MADMEN. I've been anticipating this forever!!! This is the 3rd Season. I actually watched the first two seasons on itunes. Yep, you can buy both seasons there, if you want to catch up on this fantastic show.

I started watching Seasons 1 & 2 again last week. I wanted to refresh my memory of what happened. This is one of those shows where you can watch it over and over again. I see new things every time I watch it.

My favorite thing about the show is the costumes. I really love the way that they dress. I wish I could frolic around in some of the outfits that the women wear on the show.

But what is MADMEN about? Here's an excerpt from the official site:

Set in 1960s New York, the sexy, stylized and provocative AMC drama Mad Men follows the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising, an ego-driven world where key players make an art of the sell.

Returning for its second season, the Golden Globe®-winning series for Best TV drama and actor will continue to blur the lines between truth and lies, perception and reality. The world of Mad Men is moving in a new direction -- can Sterling Cooper keep up? Meanwhile the private life of Don Draper becomes complicated in a new way. What is the cost of his secret identity?
Created, executive produced and written by Weiner, this drama series stars Jon Hamm (We Were Soldiers), Elisabeth Moss (The West Wing), Vincent Kartheiser (Angel), John Slattery (Desperate Housewives), Christina Hendricks (Kevin Hill), and January Jones (We Are Marshall) along with guest star (and stage/screen legend) Robert Morse (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying). Michael Gladis (Third Watch), Aaron Staton (The Nanny Diaries), Rich Sommer (The Devil Wears Prada), and Bryan Batt (La Cage Aux Folles") round out the cast.

The Premise: The series revolves around the conflicted world of Don Draper (Hamm), the biggest ad man (and ladies man) in the business, and his colleagues at the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency. As Don makes the plays in the boardroom and the bedroom, he struggles to stay a step ahead of the rapidly changing times and the young executives nipping at his heels. The series also depicts authentically the roles of men and women in this era while exploring the true human nature beneath the guise of 1960s traditional family values.

Here's some MADMEN links for you to enjoy:

Official MADMEN Site on AMC
MADMEN Yourself
Official MADMEN Blog on AMC
Basket of Kisses-Fansite

Oh, and MADMEN premiers tonight on AMC at 10pm/9c. It is on Sundays.

Check your local cable channels for the exact channel for AMC.

Friday Fun: The Summer Fun Tag

I'm a total slacker and got busy yesterday. I was enjoying some "summer fun". One Fabulous Mom tagged me with this little quiz that I thought I would share. So in reality, it's Saturday Fun for me.

Favorite Summer Movie: Nothing really sticks out. I did like The Hangover

Favorite Summer Cocktail: Any kind of fruity margarita

Favorite Summer Song: Anything Reggae

Favorite Summer Meal: My new fav, Thai Delight from Sno on the Go (Thnx Kelly)

Favorite Summer Outfit: My leopard dress that I got from Nordstrom and wore to BlogHer.

Favorite Summer Reading: The Girls of Ames and all of my co-worker, Jen's, magazines that she leaves me.

Favorite Summer Moment: The 3rd of July. What a crazy day it was with Stacey and the kiddos.

How about you? I would usually tag someone here, but we are all super busy, so feel free to tag yourself and do this little fun quiz.

The photo above is from San Clemente, CA. I took it while I was running yesterday. Ok, well I did stop to take the picture.

Bruised But Not Broken

On Monday, I blogged about my upcoming mountain bike ride with Carrie and Elise. I was excited and apprehensive about the adventure.

It had been a few years since I went mountain biking. We started off our trek last night in a place that was familiar to me. I had been mountain biking before at Irvine Regional Park, which is the lower portion of the ride. It all came back to me and I was able to navigate the trail. I never realized that this was really the beginning of the trail ride experience. The real experience, or epic adventure as we dubbed it, was up top in Santiago Oaks, or aka as The 3B's (Three Bitches).

Carrie and Elise are pro mountain bikers compared to me. As we went up the first B, Angry Julie got off her bike and walked up. My legs were not trained for that incline, especially my calves. I could have turned around and gone to the bottom of the hill, but I sucked it up and carried forward. The girls patiently waited for me at the top of the mountain. We chatted, drank water, took pictures, and moved forward. I trekked up the rest of the ride slightly walking/riding my bike. Mostly walking though. We made it to the very top when we noticed that ooops, it was starting to get dark. We were not prepared for this. No bike lights, no head lamps, nada.

We attempted to go down the mountain. It was very sandy and rocky on the way down. We inched our way down, one step at a time. I hit some rough spots where my bike almost slid from underneath me, not good. I caught myself, and let the bike drop. We finally made it down to the very bottom of the mountainous area when we realized, oh no!! Why? Because it was dark outside, like after 8pm dark! My eyesight is not very good at night, plus we could barely see in front of us. Think {trees, bushes, things covering the trail, creatures}. Carrie entertained us with singing. I tried to make noises (mostly screaming caw caw caw). Carrie said, "Noooo you sound like a small animal. We need to be loud to scare off the mountain lions." I then screamed, "Grrrrr". I don't think it helped much.

We finally made it out onto the roadway at Irvine Park. It was about 8:40pm. We started our adventure at 6. I think secretly we were all somewhat relieved that we made our way out. We got back to our cars and stripped off our gear. I started to nurse my wounds. I walked away with a tiny blister on my ankle, and some scratches on my elbows and knees. I hopped into Angry Husband's truck and made my way home.

Within an hour, I was surprised with some wonderful pictures from Carrie. She rocks! Carrie and Elise were so awesome and patient with me. They are pretty terrific mountain bikers too.

I can't wait for the next ride, and where I will be way more prepared!

P.S. All the photos were taken by Carrie. She was brave enough to carry her SLR with her!

Mountain Biking & Text Messages

(click photo to make larger)

I met some very cool people last week, when I attended the Orange County Startup Princess event. One of the women was Carrie from This Mama Makes Stuff. I got a message from Carrie on Twitter yesterday. She asked me if I wanted to go mountain biking with the girl's on Wednesday night. I replied with yes, and that I would most likely be there, in a matter of words.

Oh, and the trail we are riding, "Three Bitches".

I'm a little apprehensive and cautious about this whole "trail ride". A few years ago, ok more than five, I had a mountain biking accident. I was riding the Whiting Ranch Trail with Angry Husband. I was coming down from a hill. I was going at a medium pace, and must have hit a rock or something. All I know is that all of the sudden I went over the handle bars of my bike and landed with the bike on top of me. It was a few minutes before Angry Husband discovered me at the bottom of the hill. He had taken a different route.

I could barely walk and thought that I broke my hip or something. I was scraped up, bruised, and in pain. I had him take me to the ER for tons of x-rays. Luckily, my hip was not broken and I would survive. My bike on the other hand, had a cracked fork, and bent pedals. My helmet was also cracked down the middle. I took my bike to REI for service. They had never seen a fork so damaged. I think it was a manufacturer's defect in reality, and not the accident. Maybe my fork caused the accident, I don't know.

I never really got on my bike after that. About six months ago, I thought maybe, I would start training for triathlons. I got my bike serviced and inspected. And there it sat, or actually hung in my garage rafters.

After tweeting Carrie, I had this texting conversation with Angry Husband. I was at work, hence the texting.

ME: Ok..I got invited to go mtn. biking wed night at 6. Am I ready?

AH: physically or psychologically?

ME: Both?

AH: lol, well your bike works fine..well it did 6 months ago when you had it tuned up. i will pull it down tonight or tomorrow and see if anything needs fixed..as for the mental aspect you are on your own..

ME: Yea, I prob need some new shorts as well.

AH: you should go for a test ride tomorrow day to get refreshed on the bike, so you don't look like a total dumbass out there and fall on your face.

Well I went into the garage this morning. Angry Husband had not checked out my mountain bike. Fail. I wrangled it down and inspected it. Sigh. Both of my tires were flat. I could not locate the pump. So I walked with the bike about a mile to the gas station.

I then went on my ride. I did about 3-4 miles around my local area. My body was not used to riding a bicycle at all. I didn't realize how bad my knees were from running. I'm a mess. I really need to stretch more. After riding, I worked on stretched out my legs/knees/body. I was also not used to the shifting.

Also, I will have to drive Angry Husband's "angry truck" to the trail site. I don't have a bike rack on my Tahoe. Sigh. My old car, I had a sweet rack.

Carrie said we would take breaks. I hope they have sympathy on me. I will have to strap my cellphone onto the front of the bike for "emergency purposes" aka "HELP!".

Wish me luck tomorrow night!

Project Playhouse

Every year they set-up "Project Playhouse" at Fashion Island. Before we even had Angry Toddler we would go and check out the playhouses. Each year builders and designers come up with new and different ideas for these playhouses. They are out for display for six weeks and then they are auctioned off.

This year Project Playhouse is at the Irvine Spectrum, just north of Nordstrom. It opened up last weekend and will be there until September 12th.

Per their website:

"Project Playhouse debuted in 1992 and has become HomeAid Orange County's signature fundraiser. In 18 years, the event has raised more than $5 million to help the organization fulfill its mission to build and maintain dignified housing where homeless families and individuals can rebuild their lives."

Angry Toddler was being crazy on Saturday afternoon so I suggested to my mom that we take him over to Project Playhouse. It's a $5 fee to enter the playhouse area, but it's for charity. Angry Toddler loved all the playhouses and wanted to go in and play.

I would love for Angry Toddler to have a playhouse like these. Unfortunately, we have nowhere to even put one. Our backyard is tiny. In reality, my house is only a tad larger than these playhouses. We also bought some raffle tickets to win one of the houses. I have no idea where we would put the house if we "win" it. I told my mom she would have to buy a new house just to accommodate the playhouse.

But seriously, I think this is a great idea and I loved touring all the playhouses. There are such great unique ideas. I wish I would have had something like this to play in when I was little.

An Overall View of The Playhouses

Interior Views of the Playhouses

I've added more photos of the Playhouses to my Flickr account. Check them out here!

Burger King = Epic Fail

I've never been a big fan of Burger King's food. I think it's garbage. Angry Husband was a big fan when I met him. Really, it was the only fast food restaurant that they had at the Marine base that he was stationed at. He ate there A LOT.

I just happened to catch this article on one of my parenting forums about a mom and her six month old baby. Apparently the baby's toes caused a "health hazard". The woman was asked to put shoes on her baby. She was there with a church group. Umm yea, Angry Toddler would not and did not wear shoes at that age. He would barely keep on socks. That is ridiculous.

Can we get some common sense? Oh yea, I guess they don't teach that anymore? Did they ever teach it?

I was telling my husband about this at the dinner table. Well actually, I was sitting on Twitter while he was painting his models. He asked me if I heard about the one-armed man and Burger King? I said, WHAT?

So of course, I had to do some online searching...

In June, a man went into a Florida Burger King and ordered a Whopper. He asked the employee if they could cut the burger in half. The employee got the manager involved. They told him that they could not cut the burger. The man (customer) only has ONE ARM.

Here is the article.

I understand that its fast food and they follow certain standards. But asking a mother of an infant to put shoes on her child and a simple request from a handicapped man? SERIOUSLY~

I'm glad that I loathe Burger King. We stopped eating there years ago when Angry Husband got pretty sick from eating something there. He vowed to never eat there again.

You've Just Been Spotted-Orange County Blog Awards

I just found out that I was nominated for "Favorite Local Micro-Blogger" in the "You've Just Been Spotted, Orange County Blog Awards". These awards are sponsored by the lovely women from Just Spotted, a fabulous Orange County website.

I'm thankful for the nomination. I guess all of my rambling pays off somewhere.

So go to their site, click on the button above, and vote for me!!!

(P.S. check out all the other fabulous people nominated too, while you are there, but VOTE for ME.)

Oh, and speaking of micro-blogging, you can find me on Twitter here.

Observations at Swim Lessons

Angry Toddler has been taking swimming lessons since the start of the summer. We are doing the lessons through the City's Parks & Recs program.

After the first day of lessons, Angry Husband called to warn me. He took the kid the first day. He said that there are lots of bitchy mothers who are complaining that they do not like the instructors and want their kids switched. I just rolled my eyes, while listening to him on the phone.

The second day, I sat down and began with my people watching. I'm new to this youth sports thing. I like to watch the parents as much as the children. When I observe the kids, I like to see how Angry Toddler is interacting with them. Are they acting like him? Is he doing well developmentally? YES, these are the things that go through my head.

And then there's the parents. They are very cliquey. The normal "sports cliques" really don't apply here. They actually break themselves into "race cliques" here. The "crackers" my white folk, were left sitting alone. We had no cliques, just ourselves. I actually watched my kid, mostly, since I wasn't busy gossiping in foreign tongues.

The outfits on the kids crack me up. Even Angry Husband shakes his head at these. Angry Toddler's swim lessons are usually in the early evening, think 5 o'clock. This is in Orange County at a high school pool. I can't tell you how many kids that I've seen in full wetsuits (long sleeves), rash guards, normal clothes, and bathing suits that look like they are 5 sizes to small. These poor kids, I just don't get it. A wetsuit to take lessons in a 3 ft deep pool? I guess Angry Toddler is boring, wearing just swim trunks and some goggles from the grocery store.

We've done 4 sessions of lessons so far. Angry Toddler has "decided" that he would like to play water polo in the future (random for a 4 yr old). I told him that he needs to learn how to swim really good. Hence, why we are at swim lessons, almost every day of the week.

The last session of swim lessons was my favorite by far for the people watching. While they have the group swim lessons for older kids (3 and up), they also have the parent and child for the smaller kiddos. There was this dad, just walking around in his Speedo and t-shirt. He was fit, but not ripped. He always got there early. Dude, I really don't want to see your junk that close. He kept chasing his toddler around. I wanted to say, please put some damn pants on.

Then my most favorite story. There was this woman that walked in with an infant in a stroller system thing. I guess she had an older kid in lessons. All of the sudden this young girl walks up to her. The mom says something and walks away. I then see her go running. These swim lessons are 25 minutes, not hours long. The girl looked lost with all the other "parents" sitting there. I finally figured out that she was the nanny.

The next day, I saw the mom again, with the dad. They had the baby with them, and the nanny. The nanny was sitting on a folding chair, and the dad pretty much kicked her out of it. She ended up sitting on the floor. The dad kept asking her weird questions, like was she wearing a new shirt, what book was she reading, etc. It totally creeped me out. I would never want to nanny for a family like that. I was texting the entire situation to Angry Husband while I was there. His response was "ewwwwww".

Angry Toddler started another new session this week of swim lessons. They are broken up into two week increments. I hope I can get some good stories from this session. Angry Toddler is doing quite well. I guess he's working on his goal of being a water polo player. He does amaze me though. He knows all of the kid's names in his class and all of the instructor's names. He's 4, how does he do that?

I don't know if I could ever be a soccer or baseball mom. It's probably that I don't fit in. I like to sit on the sidelines and stare at everyone. I'm such the people watcher. I CAN NOT help it. At least I keep entertained with the people watching, and maybe even Tweet while there.

P.S. I'm including this picture of Angry Husband and Angry Toddler. Don't they look angry? Angry Husband hates his picture being taken. I will know if he's stalking/reading the blog because he will say something like, "umm, why did you put that crappy picture of me on your blog post."

Wordless Wednesday: The OC Fair 2009