Not Exactly the "Spring Break" I Had in Mind...

OK, yes...I said I wanted to adopt the "Spring Break" mentality and went so far as to joke about my "rolling Spring Break" as I travelled a little and got to visit with other legitimate spring breakers over the past few weeks. I usually love a good dose of irony...but this is too much even for me.

Saturday morning I was hanging out with one of my best friends from college, Julie, where she lives in Redondo Beach. We took a couple of her beach cruisers (pretty much the kind of bike I had when I was 10...complete with the basket and cute little horn on it) down to Hermosa Beach for breakfast. The round trip was 4-ish miles and we were almost back to her house when I had a little mishap.

I'm still not completely sure what happened. I will admit that I haven't been on a bike in ages and was a little unsteady from the start. But I thought I had finally gotten into the groove by the time we were in the home stretch. I think I was shifting around in my seat a little to get comfortable--the bike was too tall for me and after 4 miles I was definitely feeling the effects of that. While I was shifting someone surprised me and I lost my balance and started to fall, so I kicked out my right foot to catch myself. I was next to a curb, and in a freak occurrence that would only happen to me, my foot somehow caught the curb on the way down.

I didn't even completely fall over, just stumbled a bit into the bushes. But when I looked down I knew there was a problem. I'll spare you the graphic details and will just say that I knew as soon as I saw my foot that one or two toes were broken. I guess I should mention that I--like every other Southern Californian out there on a cruiser--was wearing flip flops. Don't even bother to lecture me on this point...I get it.

All of this happened an hour before I needed to hop in the car and drive back to the OC to catch my two flights home. Let's just say it was a VERY long travel day topped off with a trip to the ER when I got back to Texas. They confirmed that I broke both the 4th and 5th toes on my right foot (the one that "had none" and the one that cried "wee, wee, wee all the way home").

This morning I followed up with an orthopaedic foot specialist and fully expected that he would just tell me to keep buddy taping them and was pretty shocked when he told me that while he hasn't operated on a toe in more than two years, he wants to do surgery tomorrow as the 4th will likely need a pin. Sigh.

So yes...I'm still "that" girl. You might think that knowing that I have a condition that creates a severe balance deficiency would make me feel better, but it doesn't. Well, you might really think that knowing that I have a condition that creates a severe balance deficiency would keep me off a bike to begin with. But while I might be the most accident prone person on the planet I just refuse to not do the things I enjoy for fear of getting hurt. But it would certainly help me out if I wasn't allergic to pain meds. That part actually makes me more than a little grumpy.

Before my very literal "rolling spring break" I did have a really great time. Here are a few pics of the fun.

Sunset at Huntington Beach:

Hanging out with Clay & Shawna in Anaheim:

Laguna Beach:

Sunset at Redondo Beach:

With Julie at Hermosa Beach (just before the accident):

I'll spare you the picture of my foot.

The Spring Part is True Enough

One of the sad, sad realities of being a working adult is that they don't just close the doors and send you all off to the beach or the ski slopes or even your own backyard in the name of "Spring Break." For all of the upsides of working in Corporate America, this is clearly an area where some reform is needed. Seriously.

Mr. Obama--could you help us out here? I feel certain it would provide a much needed economic boost. I can tell that from the deluge of Facebook updates that taunt me with stories about all the fun that's being had.

Growing up in a family where my mom was an elementary school teacher and my dad was a college professor we were lucky enough to have this time off together as a family every year. In fact, I was probably 11 before I realized that the whole wide world didn't all get 2 weeks at Christmas, Spring Break and summers all together as a family.This was not an easy realization, and figuring out that this window of free time would eventually shrivel up to a measly 2 to 3 weeks of "Paid Time Off" made me just a little bit bitter. OK...still makes me just a little bit bitter.

This year I decided to at least embrace the spirit of Spring Break and try to enjoy the attitude of the holiday if not the actual reverie of Spring Breaks past. (Ignoring the reality, of course, that work is beyond out of control right now and I've spent the better part of the week fighting off a little virus). I did, however, manage to sneak in a little after hours fun and even a reunion with my dear college friends Suzy and Robin.

And thing got wild and crazy.

A hotel party. Shrieking girls throwing themselves at boys. Bare navels. Even an incident involving coconut lime verbena.

And if I ignore the fact that all that mayhem was at the hands of their five small children running wild it almost sounds like South Padre, the sequel. Except not really anything remotely like it.

But despite the lack of Keystone Light in a can by the pool accompanied by suntan lotion in the form of baby oil, we did have fun and I managed to snap a few pictures.

I also had a little St. Patrick's Day fun:

And come to think of it...I guess I'm enjoying the "rolling" Spring Break. I went to LA 2 weekends ago and caught up with some other old friends there (and yes, I apparently really like this outfit):
I'm headed back to SoCal next week. I'll try to disregard that this is a business trip and just see if I can keep my "Spring Break" rolling.

What Time is it Anyway??

I spent a lovely long weekend in LA with groovy people enjoying the gorgeous coastline, watching a myriad of interesting people enjoy the beach, and even got in a little rock climbing.

(For those of you who know me well that last bit probably filled you with terror and you're now expecting to hear about my experience at the ER. I'm happy to report that other than a few normal scrapes I came out unscathed. Well...there is a situation with my big toenail, but it's hardly worth mentioning...not to mention completely disgusting).

Daylight Saving Time came to visit while I was there and I just need to say that it's completely unacceptable for a time change to happen during vacation--at least if you're losing an hour. I will admit that we were still up and going strong at 2:00 AM local time and had a very hilarious (OK...probably more like pathetic) few minutes of trying to figure out what time it really was as half the clocks around us automatically adjusted for the change and we had those plus a few watches from other visitors from different time zones and were VERY confused.

I got home last night, and by that time I had completely forgotten that the time change ever happened, and so I didn't change my clock. So yes, I managed to be an hour late for work today. Nice.

I kept forgetting to take my camera or to take pictures while I was out there, so I don't have much to post. Others did, though, so after I get pictures of me managing to dangle from a rope on a rock without hurting myself, you better believe that I'll post the evidence. Because whatever time it is, it's definitely time to prove that I can enjoy an adventure that doesn't end with some sort of triage.

Magical Chemistry. Or Maybe Not.

Yowser. Was the Internet on FIRE today with some Jason-Bachelor-ABC hating or WHAT?!

I showed tremendous restraint and actually didn't read any of my favorite blogs on the topic until I have a chance to get my own thoughts down (and you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be flying through them as soon as I hit "publish"). The exception was Chris Harrison's "behind the scenes" blog. He gives the full skinny on when it happened (After the Final Rose was filmed 6 weeks ago), what Jason said led up to it, and--as if this wasn't painfully obvious--that it was the most uncomfortable interview he'd ever done. You think??

But I guess I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I? Because there was so much before we got to that point. This would be a novel if I tried to recap it all, so I'm just going to give you my favorite moments.

• The show starts with Melissa meeting Ty and then the rest of the family, and STARS...if I ever questioned whether or not the show was scripted it was at this point. Specifically...the sheep joke. Really?! Melissa just had a sheep joke up her sleeve for a moment such as this? REALLY? I can ASSURE you, that I have no such repertoire. And I kinda don't think I'm the only one. And, no offense to Melissa here, she just doesn't strike me as the kind of gal that's really that into barnyard humor.
• What was going on during Molly's date while they were at the house? First there was the very weird moment with Jason and the fam sitting around the pool while, I'm pretty sure, Ty was holding on for dear life. That was just weird. And then to take step further into the echelon of awkwardness, Jason and his mom had that "tender" moment out on the lawn under a blanket. Now, don't get me wrong--I am ALL about a boy who loves his mama--but I draw the line at sunset snuggling.
• DeAnna--how LAME was that?! It was so weird and awkward (hmmm...a theme for the night?!). She obviously did a great job of scoring a little vacay down under in exchange for espousing the wisdom to Jason to "don't follow your heart. Lead it." Followed by this little gem, "If I'd followed my head or my heart I would have chosen differently." DeAnna--please--we're dying to know--what DID you follow?! I think that whole scene qualifies as "The MOST overrated Bachelor moment ever."

So then it all came down to the final decision. First we see him say good-bye to Molly, "the tomboy gone pretty", which apparently made him want to throw himself off the balcony in a storm of tears. [Side note--special thanks to Emily for passing on the stat she heard on the radio--Jason cried TWENTY-FOUR times in this episode. Was that ALL?].

He got over it pretty quickly, though, because after his heart BROKE for Molly he promptly turned around and proposed to Melissa, who responded with the weirdest happy dance I've ever seen. [Is it just me, or would you expect a little more rhythm from a DCC? (That Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader for y'all who aren't in the know..and I was one of you until I was schooled in such things by LB. And she knows everything cool and hip and trendy.) And Mel's hair--great in theory, so bad in execution].

But he put the ring on her finger and they took the Nestea Plunge with Ty to cement that it was, in fact, true love. And apparently they were blissfully happy for about 5 whole minutes.

Until Jason broke up with her on national television. Ugh. I still don't know what I want to say about all of this. On the one hand...HELLO, it's a TV show and you knew what you were in for when you took the gig. But I'm a softy (and let's be honest, Jasons breaking up with Melissas hits a little too close to home). It was just so bad to have to watch it happen. I had no delusions of happily ever after for these two, but I also didn't think the poor girl would be humiliated like that and if I had any control at all I might have even stopped watching. But of course that didn't happen. ABC really did hit a new low when they sent her into the limo. Did they really need to add that injury to the insult she'd just endured?!

And then Miss Molly took him back. With lightening speed she went from giving him the icy stare to wrapping her hand around his thigh. A speed rivaled only by how quickly Jason jumped from one relationship to another after admitting that what he did to her was horrible. Yeah...that's what I want someone to say to me 30 seconds after breaking off his engagement. Just sweeps me right off my feet.

So tonight they came on and gushed about how happy they are and how they wouldn't do anything differently. I'm sure Melissa is REAL happy about that. I have to admit that, while I was disgusted by what happened, I wasn't outraged until Jason said--at least four times--that the great thing about Molly was that (wait for it) she is his best friend. OH NO HE DIDN'T!! Seriously?? After freaking out because that's what Jillian was looking for? Sigh. This is clearly a conflicted and messed up guy. Brad Womack must be so pleased.

[OH...I can't let it all go without commenting on Stephanie's outfit in Part 2. Tracy astutely observed that she appears to have MAD BeDazzeling skilz. MAD!]

Oh well. The most entertaining part of the whole experience was watching with my posse. These girls make me laugh so hard and there were a couple of time where I was in tears and stitches at their cutting observations and running commentary. And when Laura started screaming at the tv "I hate you Jason! Enough with the tears!!" I couldn't even see straight.I think there was a moment where Chris Harrison was even dead to her, but I hope we can manage to revive that.

Here are a few pictures of the party and our carefully chosen "Bachelor Inspired" attire...please note the scarves, poufs, Uggs, and obscenely inappropriate amounts of jewelry (you can't tell that I'm wearing 4 bracelets and 6 rings...remind you of anyone?).

Thanks, girls, for SO MUCH FUN over the past few weeks. Can't wait until next season! (Oh, come on, I'm not even going to pretend that I won't watch). Go Jillian!!

Seriously?!

Wow. OK, so I know I have to write about the finale--and I will--but at the moment I'm too shell-shocked. And disgusted. And, quite frankly, a little amused. This is TELEVISION dating, after all. And it was so, so bad. So I'm going to have to process it all and collect my thoughts. SO MANY thoughts. For everyone's sake, they're going to need to be censored. Check back in on Wednesday and I'll glom it all together after tomorrow's "After the Final Rose, Part 2" Anyone want to place bets on whether or not he ends up with Jillian or DeAnna?? :-)

OH...and despite what trivial thoughts I might have on the show, I promise that I'll post the pictures of our little group dressed up in a delightful Bachelor fashion parody...