The Adventures of Katie Bonk!

Tomorrow morning, Daniel and I will be getting up at 4am (yay.) to catch a plane to VEGAS! We'll be there until late Tuesday night, and we're staying at the New York New York Hotel and Casino. I've never been, so I'm excited, but also pretty nervous. You see, a few years ago a bunch of us went to Harrah's Casino in Cherokee, NC. Daniel gave me $10 to get a cup of quarters to gamble with. At the end of the night, I returned my quarters and got my $10 back. I was a nervous wreck the entire night thinking of all the things I could do with that $10 that would benefit me more than throwing it in a slot and never seeing it again... So, I have been collecting donations to the "Help Katie get over her fear of gambling while she gambles with your money instead of hers Fund". I'm up to $20! All of the bills have initials on them so I know who's money won what, and some of them have instructions to be played on certain games. I got on-line this morning and learned how to play Craps, so now I'm ready to go! (This is where I learned how. It's a very informative website with lots of good info about Vegas and gaming if you're interested.) Wish me luck!!!

Oh yeah, and thanks for watching the kitties for us Allison! :)

When dropping the kids off at the pool, stay in the bathroom stall until no one is there to see you when you come out. I already heard and smelled what went on in there, I do not need to know who did it. Thank you.

Does anyone really understand their cell phone bill? Daniel and I recently added a line to my account for Daniel to get a phone (and join the rest of us in the 90s), and we just got our first full-month's bill. We were told it would be around $80 a month. THE BILL WAS OVER $150. What's that all about?! We have been looking over all of the different charges and calls and yadda yadda yadda, and we are more confused than ever. What's the difference between "Monthly Charges" and "Usage Charges"? When we send text and pix messages, does that count against our minutes? Why is Daniel's Usage Charge $40 higher than mine, but I made more calls and had more text messages? Why do some calls made during peak times get charged, but others (which were made after the charged ones, and weren't calls in-network) don't cost anything? Anybody? Anybody? UGH.

I love my garage. It can be pouring down rain (as it has been the past 2 days), and not a drop touches me when I get in my car. 'Tis very nice. Although, when I get to work, I have to walk across the (flooded) street to my office from my car. Not cool. Oh, and I left my umbrella at the Crawdad's game last Thursday, so I am having to use my "back-up" umbrella. grrrrr...

Tonight was supposed to be another girls' night out, but I don't know if I'm going to be up for that. This weather just puts me in a funk. :b

Vegas Saturday! Woo!

You see, this is the first summer in my ENTIRE 27 YEAR OLD LIFE that I have not gone to the beach with my family. They left yesterday for the week, and I will be stuck here working all week long. I realize that it was our decision to not go this year, and to do our own traveling, but it makes me sad to know that they are laying on the beach RIGHT NOW and I am sitting here with the Sunday Blues because I have to go to work tomorrow. :(
Although, Daniel and I are headed to Vegas Saturday morning for 4 days, so I guess that helps a little...

My friend Crystal has started a blog! She and I went to Appalachian together where we met on 4th floor Rankin as we were both Geography majors. She called me "Little Notebook Girl" before we met, because I had, well, little notebooks instead of regular-sized ones...Once we met, we realized that our lives and personalities were eerily similar, and that we must have been separated at birth. There's really no other explanation for it. Anyway, she reads all of your blogs everyday and has for years, and now she's finally joining us in the blog world. So check her out and give her some love!

Daniel and I decided we'd skip the Cowboy Mouth show tomorrow night. :( We are poor right now, and we'll see them at Bele Chere next month, so I think we'll be okay. Last night, we met Mike and Laurie and Erica at the Crawdad's game. Thirsty Thursday! woo! Tonight I think we're going to El Paso after work, and we may end up at another Crawdad's game tomorrow night since it's Appalachian Night. Maybe we'll take a daycation up to Boone tomorrow to cool off and get away from the "ORANGE OZONE ALERT" days we've been having here this week...

I won't reveal who sent it to me, but here's a really funny text message I got last night: "Very good im bout jx TO GO OUT BUT I GOT WORQK 2MORO COOL"

Have a good weekend!

A lot of people in our building have cordless phones at their desks. Some have them attached to their belts with an earpiece in their ear all day long. These people cannot be away from their phones long enough to use the restroom, and they BRING THEM IN THE STALLS WITH THEM.

*ring* ring*
"____ office. Can you please hold?"

Said person finishes in the stall, and runs out in the hall to return to the phone call. (Note: No hands were washed.) AND the person on the other end of the phone? Could totally hear me peeing in the next stall over.

The 6-month-pregnant Pigs used the bathroom while talking to me the other day also. Granted, she has to pee quite often these days what with the little Piglet doing the jitterbug on her bladder, but when I heard her flush, I was slightly offended. Let's keep all phones out of the bathrooms people!

Finally after years of searching for a pair of jeans that fit and that don't show half of my crack when I sit down- I have found a pair that fit perfectly. Even the length. I went shopping with Lisa last night, and found the perfect pair of jeans. Lisa is my size, so I finally have someone to shop at Limited Too with me! That's where I tried on my new favorite jeans. Size 14 regular. Yes, I am a fat kid. Also, we both got this really super-cute shirt, but in black. Oh, and I got this really cute purse too! It was a very successful shopping trip. And I might have picked up a little something for my nephew while breezing through Baby Gap... Speaking of which, Mom and the sister are coming to visit us tomorrow night! I have to do some major cleaning and cat-hair-removal tonight since Pigs is deathly allergic to cats. My family is headed to the beach Saturday, and I won't be there for any of it. :( Since this is the summer of travels for Daniel and I, we've opted out of both family beach trips. Oh if only we lived in Europe somewhere and got 3 months of vacation time a year or whatever ridiculous amount they get over there... But no, we only have 2 weeks vacation time to use the entire year. wooo.

Cowboy Mouth in Charlotte Saturday night!!!!!!

Last night, Daniel and I went out with Erica and Lacie to downtown Greensboro. We tried to get Lacie into Rum Runners as our "DD", but they weren't buying it, so we moved on. On our way back to the car, Erica and Lacie were talking about something or another, and Lacie loudly said, "That's Crap!". A young man peeing in the corner of the parking garage jerked his head up and said, "CRACK?!" as though he had some to offer or was looking to buy. Lacie, being the sweet little blonde replied, "Yes. That's Crap!". We had to tell her what he said, and she said, "Oh. No thank you." hee hee heee.... I love those girls.

We're going to go back to Rum Runners tonight with John and Emily because I love piano bars. Mom and I are going shopping today, and Daniel and John are going to play golf this afternoon. The kitties are enjoying their time at Ma and Pa Bonk's house. They spend most of their day sitting on the screened-in porch watching all of the birds and squirrels in the yard, wishing they could be out there to chase them around. Last night, they climbed all over Daniel and I in the bed. A double bed just isn't big enough for the four of us.

John was at Carowinds with his family too, and we saw him when we were waiting in line at Thunder Road:




















Here are all the girls at the Crawdad's game... (Katie, Andrea, Allison, Erica, Rebecca, and Laurie.)




















And, of course, here's Daniel doing the Grizzly Bear:

Soooooooo tired today....... Carowinds was SO much fun yesterday!!! The longest line we waited in all day was about 10-15 minutes for the BORG Assimilator which we rode twice. I will never go on a Saturday again- I love that there were no lines! We got home around 7, and met everyone at the Crawdad's game. After the game, we all went to Ham's, and we didn't get home until midnight. Needless to say, I am very sleeeeeepy today, but yesterday was a very good day!

I think I am allergic to roller coasters. Every time a ride was over, I had a sneezing fit. It was strange.

Tonight, Daniel and I are going to Greensboro for the weekend. We're meeting Mom and Dad and Uncle Tom at Monterrey's tonight, then we're going out with Erica and Lacie afterwards. I have to make it through the work day first though... hopefully without falling asleep...

We got Maggie another mylar balloon to play with this week. Here's a video of her playing with it after we brought it home from the grocery store. You can see her mad jumping skillz at the very end. Buddha, of course, was not interested in the balloon at all. (Pay no attention to Daniel putting away groceries. And the annoying beeping is our refrigerator...) I took another one last night showing her walking around the house with it. I might post that one tonight.

Happy Monday! eh. It's time for Katie's weekend wrap-up! woo! Friday night, Daniel and I drove to Tryon, NC for their annual bbq festival. I'm not a fan of bbq, but Daniel lives for this festival, so he got his fill of it that night. I just stuck to the Miller Light and hushpuppies. Then we drove to Madison to visit his parents for the weekend. Saturday, Daniel's mom and I went to Hot Springs for the Bluff Mountain Music Festival. It was a beautiful day for a lot of a'pickin' and a'grinnin'. We always have so much fun together- I have the best mother-in-law ever! That night, we weren't going to do much, but then... we went to eat at Boston Pizza in Asheville where Shane and Heidi met us. After that, we decided to go to Magnolia's for a drink. By the end of the night, Heidi and I had Shane and Daniel out on the dance floor with us! These boys never dance!!! We had soooo much fun! Daniel did his brother's patented "Grizzly Bear" dance a few times. Here's Ben doing it:


























Last night, Andrea and Dave had us all over for supper. She made us yummy pesto and chicken pasta. mmmmmmm.... And now it's Monday again. Allison and I are going to Carowinds Thursday!!!! We wanted to go on a weekday so that (hopefully) it won't be as crowded. We'll see how that goes...

It's Wednesday and I haven't even told you what we did last weekend! Well, okay, that's because it was a pretty uneventful weekend... Friday night after El Paso, Daniel and I bailed on going out with everyone. They all went to Hickory Alive downtown and got rained on, then they went to the Tavern where Andrea left me a really funny voicemail. I have it on my phone if anyone is interested in hearing it for a good laugh. hee hee. Saturday, Daniel and I went up to Boone for a daycation. We walked around Bass Lake, then went to Mellow Mushroom where we sat out on the porch in the sunshine. mmm... Pesto Pizza and Yuengling... mmmm..... Saturday night, we met Andrea, John, and Rebecca at Backstreets where we ate out on the patio. (REALLY good spinach, bacon, and mozzarella quesadilla there if anyone's interested.) Then Daniel and I went over to Andrea's where we sat on her porch and had a beer. Sunday, Daniel and I cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned some more. Then Allison and Andrea (and Meatwad!) came over and we cooked out for them. It was yummmmy. Monday, Allison and I went to apply for our passports! It was a fun adventure for us, and the man working there was quite amusing. Last night, I went out with office girls to Buffalo Wild Wings. It's always fun to get all the gossip from other parts of the building.

Sorry, I don't have any fun stories to tell today. I have a staff meeting this morning- maybe something interesting will happen there...

Formerly mentioned co-worker has a barium enema scheduled for sometime next week. That's the news here today! Woo!

I must say that the self-tanning lotion I mentioned yesterday is a good product, however, I don't think one should use it every day. Maybe every other day instead. I feel a bit tooooo tan after using it 2 days in a row. Just a thought...

In other news... Daniel and I are staying home this weekend! Yes, I know it's a shock. Don't worry, our summer 2006 adventures will begin next weekend, and we won't be home again until August. Well, that's our next free weekend for now anyway... So after work today you can find us drinking a beer on the porch of El Paso! Come on and join us!

I have returned to the office after a 3-day weekend and a 2-day sick leave. Surprisingly, the day is going by really slow. Part of that is because my favorite radio show EVER is off the air and I am so so so so sad about it. It was only 2 hours of my day, but they were a very funny and entertaining 2 hours and now I miss them a lot. I am still not 100% recovered from my cold yet either, and I am very sleepy. At least I have a social committee meeting this afternoon to break up my day.
Last night, Meatwad and Allison came over for a playdate. Meatwad was having so much fun playing with all of the different kitty toys, and he was so well-behaved. My cats, on the other hand, were not friendly or hospitable AT. ALL. Buddha sat on top of his tree and hissed down at the poor little Meatwad while Maggie just sniffed everything he touched, and if he dare got within 6 feet of Maggie, she would hiss and growl at him. They were quite nasty to the sweet little booger. I guess that means Daniel and I won't be getting a kitten anytime soon...
So, I've discovered Dove Energy Glow Lotion, and I love it. Everyone was telling me to try the Jergens self-tanning lotion or whatever it is, but I got this Dove one as a free sample, so it's the one I like! I highly reccommend it to my fellow pasty-skinned people out there!