Birthday Festivities

In true Amber fashion I partook in more than one birthday celebration. I can't help it that I have friends all spread out over the place and have to plan/enjoy multiple birthdays. Last year I planned 3, this time I cut back to just two; you know with the recession and all. I'm impressed with myself.

The first party I planned I had a few girls over to my place for some chocolate fondue and champagne. SCORE. YES PLEASE. I love chocolate and chocolate fondue is a chance to play with your food and drentch it in chocolate...double score!

Pictures from Party #1:

Partners in Crime

FAT KID HEAVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I made chocolate fondue and Hannah brought spinach dip and Ashleigh brought cookies. YUM.

Testing out the self timer on my new camera...success!

Sweet tea vodka is DANGEROUS.

This is right before Ashleigh started simulating sex and saying "I LIKE SEX". At this point I should have known that I'd have to put her in a cab to go home in less than an hour.

Megan and I waiting in my poshy posh posh lobby in my apartment

Thumbs up for being the LEAST drunk at your own party!

Boys. Boys. Boys. and shots. My favorite kind of night!
Thankfully these boys and a bevvy of other boys were able to remidy my situation of being sober on my own birthday. Thanks :)

And on to Party #2:

Melissa and the girls so graciously threw me the second birthday party of the month. Unfortunately it was also Buster's birthday so I guess I had to let him have part of the party too. [insert sulky pouty face here]

Melissa baked cupcakes for us...YUM! It says Happy Birthday Buster and Amber.

Wait, what? Scratch that shit, it SHOULD have said Happy Birthday Amber and Buster! Don't worry, I fixed it.

Birthday Buddies

One of three guesses what he's doing:

1. Singing Christmas carols

2. Screaming at the Caps game

3. Life coaching someone

Your guess is as good as mine.

Jason being cuddly for once instead of shouting "I hate you" at everyone :)

Some of the other girls for the night.

Trici thought the tree was missing something. She decided beer bottles were it.

Oh Emily...this face is priceless.

More girls of the night.

Happy newlywed couple!

This picture reminds me of that cell phone commercial and the orange bars. For the life of me I can't remember which company its for...BAD marketing if I can't associate the word with the thought. FAIL.

Santa Came Early!

Yes, that's right boys and girls. Santa gave me my Christmas present 2 days early :) What is it you may ask?




Wait for it....







Wait for it....







Wait for it....








Landon Donovan is getting a divorce! EEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!!! Ok, so you may not be as excited about it as I am, but he's one of my favorite people of all time (well besides Prince Harry and Jake Gyllenhall...but still). As you may remember, I wrote this post about him and this post too. He's just too yummy for words. So how about some pictures:

YUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYY

Merry X-Mas

Merry Christmas from me and Jakey Poo!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Winter Wonderland

Just got this email from my friend:

Now if this is what awaited me in a winter wonderland, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

BEST EVER EARLY MORNING EMAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yummy!!!!! He makes my heart melt into mush. Pure mush.

Sorority Squat

We are pretty darn good at the sorority squat. Whenever a camera appears, we immediatly primp, assume the pose and put our biggest smiles on. As the years have passed, the only thing we ask is for the picture to be taken FASTER. The good ole' thighs and knees just aren't as strong :)

You Don't Look a Day Over Fast Cars and Freedom

Well another year down. 28. Now that is scary. When I was little I always thought I'd have my life figured out by now...not so much! Oh well, I'm having fun living my life and exploring new avenues. I hope 28 will bring clarity and excitment. Stay tuned to find out!

Pig Roastin'

Word to the wise, if you are vegetarian STOP READING RIGHT NOW.

Sorry little guy, but you're soon going to turn into this:

BACON BACON BACON!!!!!!

Last week I was invited to a pig roast down in Newport News with a bunch of my friends and their kickball buddies. A pig roast in December? Yes, I hear they had to plan it around the Redskins schedule.....uhhhh okay?? It was bitter cold and ended up snowing that night. Wish I remembered more of it, but copious amounts of jelly shots and beers later, I only really remember up to the pig being cut. The rest is a bit blurry. Bits and pieces are clear such as the snow, having heart to hearts on the dirty kitchen floor (because who doesn't love a drunken H2H?), fire pits, my spinach dip being a hit and it being annihilated, other people passing out on the bathroom floor and locking themselves in, and countless other things led to a very interesting and super super fun event. I'd like to attend a pig roast in the middle of the summer...now that would be fun. Notice I say attend, its waaaay too much work to but its a blast to attend! I think that since all of us were super cold together it was a blast. I did, however, go home with an awesome cold. Great.

Wish I had more pictures but I was too concerned with drinking. Buuuuut I did get a new camera for my birthday so just wait for all of the embarrassing pictures!

Everyone, meet Annabelle:

Yes, Buster named her. Gross. Couldn't it have been an ugly name or something?

Chatting it up on the bathroom floor. There are no secrets when I've been drinking, I could never tell a lie.

Diets are for Sissies

Exactly.

Found while reading one of my new favorite blogs: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/

Saint Nicholas Day

Happy St. Nick Day! Well, technically the kiddies leave their boots out tonight for St. Nick to come and then celebrate tomorrow. What is St. Nick Day?

Saint Nicholas (270–6 December 346) is the canonical and most popular name for Nikolaos of Myra, a saint because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model for Santa Claus, whose English name comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas.

Why do you think they call Santa Claus St. Nick? You might recognize him like this:

In Germany, Nikolaus is usually celebrated on a small scale. Many children put a boot called Nikolaus-Stiefel (Nikolaus boot) outside the front door on the night of 5 December to 6 December. St. Nicholas fills the boot with gifts and sweets, and at the same time checks up on the children to see if they were good, polite and helpful the last year. If they were not, they will have a tree branch in their boots instead. Sometimes a disguised Nikolaus also visits the children at school or in their homes and asks them if they have been good. I remember doing this when I was at the DoDs public school elementary school in Giessen, Germany. It was fun!

Happy Holidays!

Word of the Day

I was reading a random blog today (much like I do every day) and I stumbled upon a new word. Here's your lesson kiddies: the word of the day is anuptaphobia.

What the hell does that mean?

Well according to the all mighty (the internet...what else were you thinking?) it's the fear of being alone or marrying the wrong person in life. Hahah thank god I didn't read the urban dictionary definition: "fear/phobia of being single...deal with it."

I've always said the greatest fear in my life isn't failure, being fat, or being poor, or not being able to travel. My biggest fear in life is to have my parent's marriage. With their impending divorce and the chaos that surrounds it this word is quite interesting to me right now. Well I guess that could be said for many a failed relationships. They have been married for 28 years and probably should have been divorced 27 years ago. My mother never lets you forget anything, I mean she's still bringing up crap I did with my boyfriend 10 years ago. Yes, 10 YEARS. First off, you should never be held accountable for something that happened 10 years ago, and second off much less in your TEENAGED YEARS. Get over it. I think I turned out all right and it could have been tons worse. And my dad has abolustely no clue how to communicate. Quite a bad combination if you ask me. And you could definitly say I had anuptaphobia with Voldemort aka "he who shall not be named". HAHAHAH thank god I didn't get married to him or his family. I could so see myself turning into his mother. *SHUDDER*

Last Wedding of 2010: The Martins

Introducing Tim and Marty Martin

(I'm always going to giggle at your new name Marty)

Marty, a sorority sister, got married to Tim this past weekend. Marty gets the prize for awesome location because literally the hotel was two blocks from my house!!!!! Thank you! For once I didn't have to worry about being late! Pretty awesome! There was a short and very thoughtful (probably the BEST wedding priest speech ever) that was over before you knew it and then it was off to enjoy the reception. Also this wedding wins the award for best cupcakes EVER. I mean EVER. Apparently they were from some bakery out in Clarendon...I might just have to visit! Also great idea was the bar food appetizers that were brought out after the bar closed. Who doesn't love mozzerella cheese sticks at 10pm?!?! I sure do!

I really need to get a new camera and not have to rely on everyone else to take the pictures. For serious. These are the only pictures I was able to scrounge up from people's fb accounts. I really wish I could find the group picture of all the sisters. Usually we have everyone trying to take a picture from 4893759843720 different cameras, but this time we failed.

Husband and Wife

A bit blurry, but cute!

A few of the sisters at the wedding with the bride.

Third One Down

So, two weekends ago I completed my third half marathon. I had previously harbored thoughts that I could potentially one day complete a marathon. During my run I realized why that is absolutely not possible...I don't like running! And it hurts! Yes, yes I do realize that I run a lot and its weird for me to not like something I do frequently. I always have such (what I like to call) Race Regret. I get super pumped and excited when I sign up for races but then the morning of when I'm waking up way before the sun is up to eat my toast and lace up my shoes, my thoughts are "what the F*CK was I thinking?!?!?!"

This race was held in Richmond and I took my first American train down to Richmond. I really enjoyed it and it was very relaxing! If I had driven down I would have had a severe case of road rage and would really be hating life. I met up with my dad (my running partner) and ate dinner before the race. He wouldn't let me have the beer I wanted to go with my pizza (beer has carbs too!). Saturday morning we were up at the crack of dawn to wait outside for 30 minutes in 30 degree weather...not fun! The race started off really well. This could have something to do with the fact that we snuck up to the 1st corral..such a lifesaver when you don't spend half of your energy sprinting and dodging back and forth around other people. It got to be about 60 degrees by the end of the race and even though I could see my breath coming out of my mouth I was sweating bullets and contimplated on running in just my sports bra. Hello Richmond! I'm half naked in December! I can say for a fact that I will never be running in Richmond again...too many hills! Jesus! Every time I'd run around the corner there seemed to be another fucking one. Not something that you want to see when you are running for 13 miles. My calves BURNED and were not happy. BUT the great thing is that I finished with my best time yet! 2:13...3 minutes faster than my best time. Imagine what it would have been if there weren't any hills. Let's see how fast I can get the next one...yes, I am already signed up for another one (refer again to how I hate running...). My goal is to one day finish in under 2 hours. 1:59 would be fine with me!

During the course of 13.1 miles, I saw a barefoot runner, I almost got hit by a car (damn crazy minivan drivers), saw 26 signs (A is for Awesome, etc.) and a few other memeorable signs:

• Stop reading this sign and run.
• Smile, you're getting laid tonight.
• Pain is temporary. Pride is forever.
• Run like a cheetah.
• Beer is this way.

Guess its time to start training for the next one...

Happy 1st Birthday!!!!!

Happy 1st birthday Searching for a Destination Unknown!!! Wow, I can't believe I've been blogging for a whole year! How time flies and how quickly your life can change within a year. It all started with this post. I started this blog to give myself something to be happy about and shed some joy in my life. Last year I was working in a miserable job with no future, living in a city I HATED, living with my parents AGAIN, always worried I'd run into my ex-fiance, and overall completly miserable. Fast forward a year later and I live on my own, in DC (yay for big cities again!), have a job I like with huge future potential, and am overall pretty damn happy with my life. Not bad for just a year!

I do, however, miss being really close distance wise to a group of lovely females who were always down to go to the bar and drink for happy hour. We were also at the same point in life pretty much and had a lot of things in common. Up here, all of my friends are dispersed and it takes a while for anyone to get anywhere and everyone is so busy (as am I) that its hard to get people together and everyone is pretty much in different stages of their lives. Not that I'm complaining, I'm happy for them. It's just different. Oh well.

So, in the past year, I have...
-written 94 posts.
-been viewed 2224 times.
-went global thanks to an innocent post I wrote about the guy from 52 Burrito Dates.
-been viewed in 13 countries:

• US
• Ireland
• United Kingdom
• Canada
• Russia
• Malaysia (really!??!?!)
• Poland
• Ecuador (really!??!?!)
• Lithuania (really!??!?!)
• China (really!??!?!)
• India
• Slovenia (really!??!?!)
• Sweden

**HELLOOOOO all you interesting people out there reading my blog!**

Whoa its been a crazy and exciting year! Stay tuned for what great adventures are in store for the next year!

The Energizer Bunny Aint Got Nothing on Me

I am just purely exhausted. I don't know why I keep doing this to myself. I over book and then I end up being super super super tired ALL THE TIME. For eample, this weekend, I am attending my sorority semi-formal as an advisor Friday night, I am volunteering Saturday morning at the Food Bank, going to a wedding on Saturday night, and on Sunday trying to relax, clean my apartment, run errands and squeeze in Harry Potter. I also need a manicure like whoa, a pedicure too probably. Running that half marathon last week wreaked some major havoc on my feet. There is also a Game Night at my apartment that I'd like to go to Friday night, I'd like to meet more people in my apartment building so that should be a good way to do so. I also need to go to the cleaners to get a few things altered. I'm also going to a meeting tonight for an hour to hopefully get more work at work. Yes, I know...crazy.

Next week is Thanksgiving, and I'm going to drive home and also run a 5K, the weekend after that I'm considering driving home again to possibly celebrate my birthday, weekend after that IS my birthday (craziness WILL ensue!), the weekend after that my two best friends might come up for another of my birthday parties or there is another party already planned in Fredericksburg, then its CHRISTMAS. Christmas ALREADY??? Where has the year gone?!?!?!?

Phew, I'm tired already just thinking about it all!

The Midlik Wedding

She's married!!!!!

Yeah, yeah, yeah I know I'm about a week late one this one...don't shoot me! Life has just been so busy and I've been so tired that it totally slipped my mind to post! And I also find it really odd that we never posed as a group of bridesmaids/bride (besides the professional ones) at the church or reception. Oh well! I can't wait to see the professional pictures!

The festivities started on Friday night when we had rehearsals and then went off to Marker 20 for dinner and drinks. This was SUPPOSED to be a quiet evening where we all went to bed early in preparation for the big day. WRONG. Because we thought it would be a brilliant idea to stay out at the bar until 1:30 am and have a dance party. But it was okay since the bride was there too! We even took shots...NOT SMART when you have to be up at 6:30am the next morning! And to top it off and make it even better we were at the Best Western hotel bar with other randoms and we just danced and drank the night away.

So Saturday morning came around and we were hating life. Well, some of us more than others....thankfully I didn't decide to take more than 1 shot. Mimosas started at 8:30 then off to continental breakfast and then to get our hair done. Melissa and Emily's hair took the longest (2 1/2 hours EACH), you'd have thought they were Cousin It from the Adam's Family! Mine was pretty short and easy and it turned out really great. After our hair was done, it was off to Tropical Smoothie for a quick lunch then back to the hotel to get ready. We were transported to the church by Crystal's lovely family (I LOVED her mom and dad!). The ceremony was quick and beautiful and then we were off to stand outside for like 30 minutes while we get our pictures taken. Hopefully the pain of freezing to death doesn't show in our pictures and we all look great! The sun also decided to be a pain and I'm sure there is a squint or two to ruin a picture. We didn't take many pictures throughout either night, but here are a few I stole off different people's FB accounts. Oh the joy!

USPS delivers! I got so confused because I only saw the back of this guy when he came in and my first thought was "OH MY GOD, THEY DID GOT A STRIPPER!" Thankfully, it was just her dad who works for the post office! He brought her the book version of the father/daughter dance they were going to do! So cute!

Joel and the girls had a dance party alllll niiiiiiight loooooong!

Thumbs up!

Mikey and the girls...He likes it, he likes it! (A Life cereal commerical refrence!)

Before partying...please note a family member came to our door and presented us with a whole cooler of beers to choose from!

Best picture of the night!

Pretty bride getting ready for the big moment.

Lighting the unity candle

YAY!

Saying their vows to each other

Introducing Mr & Mrs Midlik

Always love a good black and white photo

On the party bus...yes, I said party bus! We took a party bus from the church to the reception. Def the way to go!

YUMMY CAKE! I think the cake is one of the best parts of any wedding!

Erika and I getting down.