5-1-5-0, Somebody Call The Po-po!!

Last night I tried so hard to stay awake until Nate got home from work. This is hard for me because I work at 7, and have a half hour drive to work, so I wake up pretty early. He, on the other hand, doesn't stroll in from work until after midnight every night. He came home around 12:30 last night. Which gave me less than five hours of sleep once we had talked for a little bit and I was able to go to sleep. Then he crawled into bed with the iPad,  started up Sons of Anarchy, and cuddled up with me until I fell asleep. This morning I was pretty drowsy. Who am I kidding? It wasn't just this morning, I was drowsy all day. I came home and passed out after work. I accidentally took a 3 hour nap. When I woke up from this nap I looked at the clock and freaked out! It was 7:00, I was late for work! Oh  God, I was in a panic. I had to get my scrubs, pack a lunch, do my makeup. Not only that but where was Nathan! Did he ever make it here after work last night? Is he ok? No messages from him on my phone! Is he hurt? Where is he?! We are talking straight up panic over everything. Then I heard a kid outside my window playing. Not what I hear in my mornings. Then I realize it's only 7 PM. After my heart rate went back down I fell back asleep. Pretty sure I just screwed myself over for getting any sleep tonight now.  Damn I was tired. But let me tell y'all, completely worth it to see him just a little bit more that day.    :)

Hey, I Just Met You. And This Is Crazy

But here's my number,

So call me maybe?

Guess who gots herself a second job? This girl. More deets on the job later. My life is going to go back to sucking. Being a workaholic. But right now I'll do anything to help get these student loans paid off and get my checking and saving account balances up higher. Not to mention I'll hopefully be getting my own apartment sometime in September/October. Which means I'll need to pay a deposit, rent on my own, buy some furniture, the whole shebang. Maybe I can drag Mr. Nathan to an Ikea? I don't even know where the nearest one is. Not here, I know that much. But that place is practically Heaven on Earth!

My knee is miraculously better today. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I didn't work at all today so I wasn't up walking around? Or the fact that I discovered Capzasin. Or that I slept with my legs elevated on three pillows. Who knows. One of those. Maybe?

Did I tell y'all that Lisa, Melanie, Nathan, and I got tickets to go see my future ex-husband (Eric Church) in concert? My plan is to make him fall in love with me while we are there. Have a shotgun wedding later that night. Then maybe wake up and be like "ohhh shit, what did we just do?" and probably divorce. Then I can knock "Marry Eric Church" off my bucket list. It won't be hard to do  because I'm sure it will be love at first sight for him. I mean, look at me. He can't resist this! Haha. We have over a month until we see him at the concert, but I'm counting down the days already. I'm sure he is too.

Went to a baby shower today for my friend Stephanie. That girl who was teaching me to cook. The one with the son I told you all about. The one who left me to live with all them hillbillys in the countryside of Kentucky. She's having a precious little girl. Being at a baby shower did not help my baby fever. That's normal for a girl my age, right? To be craving my own little one. Not to mention I spent the majority of my afternoon/evening with Emilee and her two year old son Devin. He threw a fit when we were in Target, and Em says to me "Do you still want one?" and my answer was still yes. All I hear all day is : tick tock, tick tock". I don't want to be the lady dropping off her kiddos at preschool and having people asking me if thats my grandchild. Um, no, that's my daughter actually, but thanks. Plus I want 3 kiddos so even if I were to start tonight, and have them two years apart I'd still be about 30 years old when I popped out the last one. That's getting a little too old for my preference. Blah, blah, blah, people are waiting longer these days. Blah, blah, blah, wait until you are financially ready. Guess what people...I don't care what other people are doing. I want them now. The younger I am the more time I get to spend with them. The more generations after myself I get to meet. And financially? If I wait until I'm ready, I can guarantee I'll never have them. Because with these student loans I'll never be ready. Y'all think I'm ridiculous now don't you? Not that I'm trying, you know because the whole I'm not married thing. I'm just saying my biological clock is ticking loud and everytime I see a baby or hang out with my friends who have them I get really jealous. I'd gladly trade in my nights at the bar to stay at home with a precious little one. Ugh, what's wrong with me?

Cinnamon Challenge.

Let's see, my weekend? I worked through all of it. Saturday after work I had a date planned with Nathan but I was late for it. Very late. We are talking about 4.5 hours late. I don't really want to talk about why, but I was. He wasn't very happy. We couldn't go any of the places he had planned on taking me because we didn't beat the crowd for after the game. So we found this little place that had great food. After supper he was going to teach me how to shoot his gun buuut like I said, I was late, so it was too late and dark to do that. So we went to Sarah and Frank. Frank taught me how to make homemade salsa, and then we played some darts. Sarah spent the night dancing around to some music and Nathan was outside doing Lord knows what with Frank's roommate. Causing mischief I'm sure. Sunday after work was Sarah and I's day to meet at the bar and get some Blood Marys. Nate joined us. Then Sarah had to leave so we went to a bar closer to Nates. We got home around 10 and I convinced him we needed to watch The Fox and The Hound. I forgot how sad that movie is!

For the past few days my knee has been killer! Oh my, I can't even put my weight on it. I've been popping naproxen, wearing my knee brace, elevating my knee, having Nathan massage it, you name it I'm doing it. And nothing seems to be helping. Work is especially killer because I'm walking around, bending at my knees, and lifting all day long. It's rough right now. Plus all the stairs I climb. Torture. I stood in the hall and fought back tears because it was throbbing so bad.  Once I met up with Nathan after work I pulled my scrubs up and he said "Holy Shit! Your knee is HUGE!". I couldn't tell by looking from my angle, but he said my knee was so swollen it was about twice the size of the other. And that was with my brace on all day. So today I asked if I could work in memory because there's a lot less labor. Everybody knows I HATE working in memory care because my patience level is so low. So when I asked that my boss replied "Of course, I know if you are asking to work there your knee must really hurt!" If it doesn't get better soon, I'll have to go to the doctor. Ugh.

 

 

 

What are your three favorite spices?

1. Pepper

I put pepper on everything. EVERYTHING. Cottage cheese, macaroni and cheese, popcorn, tuna, tomatos, extra peppery bloody marys, literally everything. I don't usually go after salty snacks, but when I do I go after the pepper flavored chips or the cracked pepper triscuits. Just love it.

2. Cinnamon

 I love cinnamon. The smell of it, the taste of it. Have you heard of the cinnamon challenge? It's where you take a tablespoon of cinnamon and try to swallow it. Sounds easy enough, right? Yeah,  not so much. that's what I thought one day when Lilly dared me to try it. I said I would, but I made her and Nate do it with me. That stuff instantly dries out your mouth making it impossible to swallow anything. I think Nate lasted the longest before choking/coughing. Lilly ran into the bathroom to spit hers up. I stayed into the kitchen and chugged a bunch of water. Then we were done and Lilly and I looked at each other and said "Attempt 2?". Nathan gave us the "you girls are retarded" look after that.

 

 

 

3. Garlic

No need to explain, I'm sure. Haha.

Isn't That A Type Of Fish Or Something??

Question: What Is The Worst Date You've Been On?

I surprisingly haven't gone on too many bad dates in my lifetime. None that particularly came to mind when I read this question. After I thought about it a little longer I remembered a few instances on dates that stick out. Some of these turned out a little better than the others.

#1

During college I once when on a date with this guy (whose name I don't even remember anymore) and he said he would take me out to eat anywhere I wanted. Naturally I chose Subway. :) I met this guy one night at Perkins. I was drunk, I was with four girlfriends three of which were also drunk. We were sitting at our table and had already ordered and we were just waiting for our food to get to us. We weren't exactly a quiet bunch, but what can you expect at 3 AM on a Saturday night (Sunday morning?). So we were sandwiched between two other booths of drunkards. The table behind us had a few dudes, and the booth in front of us a few chicks. Well the guys behind us somehow managed to squeeze into our already-full booth. To make the story short one of them left with my number. The fact that these guys sat at our table, instead of the other table full of drunk girls, must have pissed them off because after the guys left they came over to our table and started SCREAMING at us, pulled one of my friend's hair, threw a glass of water all over our table, basically just causing a giant scene. It was bad enough that an off duty policeman came up and escorted them out to their car and asked if we wanted to press charges. We said no we just wanted our damn bacon! Haha. Anyway, back to the story. That was the night I met this guy. So where was I? Subway, that's right. So then after Subway he decides we should rent a movie. So we do. I picked it, it was...oh I don't know, it's not really relevant to the story. So we are sitting there on his couch and he leans in to kiss me, and then instead of kissing me he backs away and says to me "You aren't really 21 are you?" Um, excuse me? Of course I'm really 21. He doesn't believe me and claims that I look way too young to be 21, that I look 17, maybe 18. He feels like a pedophile. I tell him "no dude, I promise I'm 21". That's when he asks to see my ID. That's when I also show it to him and leave. Awkward. Really? Who gets ID'ed on a date?

#2

I was in high school working my nights away at Hy-Vee, a chain grocery store in the midwest . My friend Liz got off work a few hours earlier than me and her bf and his best friend came in to pick her up at the end of her shift. Her boyfriend's friend? Total hottie. He must have thought the same about me too because they come back in an hour before I got off work, buying nothing but a pack of sharpie permanent markers and a TON of post it notes. They got all tight lipped when I asked what they were planning on doing with them. Once I got off work I figured out their plan. They had written on every single one of those post its and posted them all over and completely covering my car. They had things written on them like "XXX thinks you have gorgeous eyes" and "XXX won't take "NO" for an answer on your date tonight" etc etc. Then as I'm standing there reading all of these a guy jumps out of a car and throws me into the backseat and the car goes flying off. I've been kidnapped! Don't worry, it was just Liz, her boyfriend, and that guy hottie. He took me bowling. We had a blast. Later that night XXX joined into a conversation Liz and I were having about "Joella Day" (A day where all my friends gave me presents and tried to cheer me up because I was struggling with a bad situation in my life at the time). During a pause in the conversation he says "So what's a Joella? That's a kind of fish, right?" Um, no douche bag, that's my name. A type of fish, really? Wow. Never heard that one before. I still went on another date with him after that, and another after that, went to prom with him, and even continued dating him for a few months. He's married now, let's just hope he remembers her name a little better. Haha.

#3

Nate. Dear dear Nathan. My friend Sarah was dating/is dating this guy named Frank. Sarah and Frank had a date. Or so she thought. Until Frank told her he invited Nathan. Well, if "Frank thought she wasn't also going to invite a friend to their "now ruined date" he was wrong". That's where I came in. She gave me Nate's number so we could chit chat before that fateful night. So we did. A lot. We were all meeting at this little dive bar Friday night. Me, Sarah, and Frank were all there waiting for Nathan to get off work and meet us. He comes in...and ignores me for the first ten minutes. Awkward. Especially considering how much we had been talking the few days prior. Then the guys decide we need to play foosball. I just want to point out Nathan had maybe said a grand total of 10 words to me at this point. So what were the teams? Sarah and Frank vs. Nate and Ella. Lucky me. I suck at foosball. Hard. After we finish the first game, with us scoring a whole 0 points, he looks at me with a straight face and says "I judge people based on their foosball skills, and you  REALLY suck at it". I give him an angry glare and drag Sarah to the bathroom. "I don't like your little friend. He's an asshole, a real prick". "No he's not, Ella! This guy carried me up 3 flights of stairs last weekend, all the way into his bathroom because I was too drunk to make it on my own! Give him the rest of the night! You'll change your opinion I promise! He's probably just nervous or something!". Fine, Sarah, you win. But just because if it were the other way around I'd want you to stay. Next we play shuffleboard. I rocked at it. He was horrible at it. HORRIBLE! So I say to him "You know, I judge people based on their shuffleboard skills, and you really suck at it". Those must have been the magic words. He looked at me like "Wow, did this girl really have the guts to say that to me?". Then he asked me what I was drinking and if he could get me another. We stayed up until 7 AM talking that night. He took me out 27 of the next 30 days, planning all kinds of dates for us before finally asking if I would be his girlfriend. And he still takes me out to do fun things.Like, oh hey, want to go to Austin? And on Friday he's teaching me how to shoot a gun. Tonight he's bringing me ice cream when he comes home from work. He's been a key player in finding me a psychology job (probably putting more effort into it than me). We even have our own tradition: every Sunday (that I don't work) we have Bloody Marys for breakfast. He likes the bacon ones, I like the original ones. We always add extra pepper.  Him and my dad have drunkenly shared embarrassing-stories-about-Joella with each other after maybe one too many margaritas.  Dad went on vacation and bought Nate a present. And so Sarah, thank you for keeping him from being another story about a bad date. You were right. I would change my opinion about him. Good job. I knew we were friends for a reason.

Such A Risk Taker.

Question: Whats Your Favorite Kind Of Ice Cream?

 I get the same kind of ice cream almost every single time I go to DQ. I get vanilla ice cream mixed with the Mint Oreos and cookie dough chucks. Every once in awhile I'll throw in the banana cream pie flavor. I also always get the same kind of ice cream whenever I splurge and buy some Ben and Jerrys at the store, Cinnamon Buns. But when it comes straight down to plain ole ice cream, I always stick with traditional vanilla. Call me boring, I don't care. Back in the day, before chocolate made me sick all the time, I probably would have said chocolate. But now that I've been semi-successful in avoiding chocolate for 11 years now I just can't handle chocolate ice cream. The flavor just feels so intense for it being an ice cream flavor. Does that even make sense? Just follow along here, folks.

Some people say the flavor of ice cream you choose says a lot about your personality. Don't ask me which people say that because I don't know, I've just seen those little teeny bopper quizzes that say stuff like, "What does your favorite ice cream flavor say about you?".  Oh I can't hold onto the suspense! What does my favorite flavor say about me!! Please tell me! 

If you like the simpleness of vanilla, you are an impulsive risk taker. You enjoy close family relationships, set high goals, and have high expectations for yourself. (Find yours here).

Sounds semi right. I do enjoy close family relationships, yes. I do set high goals and have high expectations for myself, yes. Impulsive risk taker? Hahaha, um, no. You are talking about the girl who makes pro/con lists for any decision thats even halfway important in her life. 

Let's try another website. (Here)

Those who prefer vanilla ice cream consider themselves risk-takers and are extremely motivated in the workplace. They love the classics, whether it's listening to classical music or watching history shows and documentary films. They're even more likely than the others to choose classic ice cream flavors instead of being swayed by all the trendy concoctions in the market.

Um, actually I hate classical music, and I hate the history channel. And if I didn't like trendy concotions so much why would I find Orange Leaf to be so addicting?

Ok, one last try. (Here).

Vanillas are anything but, well, vanilla! These people are colorful risk-takers who set very high goals for themselves. This also impacts their romantic mindset: They much prefer relationships where they feel like they’re building a future together. 

Well, once again it doesn't really sound like me. Except the relationship part. I don't see the point in being in a relationship with another person unless I plan on building a future with them. Call me a romantic. I want that fairy tale ending just like every other girl.

But holy cow, what have they done? A scientific study on this? Or why else do they all have the same answers?!  Aren't you interested in knowing yours now? Go ahead and look it up. Does yours fit you too? Let me know! It's interesting!

*******

On a completely unrelated note, Subway started serving avocados on their subs! About time! I've been addicting to eating those suckas for a few months now. Totally worth the additional cost.  Speaking of subway, in Austin they didn't have the seafood sub. They looked at me like I was some sort of crazy person when I asked for the seafood sub. "Excuse me, Ma'am, the what?"   

It's Gonna Be A Long Hot Summer

So, I'm back from that trip to Austin, Texas. And damn do I look tan! A good tan, not a jersey shore tan. Want to know what this trip taught me? I do not like long car rides. Usually I'm all up for them and think they are a blast. Jam out to some music, chit chat, dance, an excuse to eat bad for you food, check out hotties in cars next to you.  But something about this trip was just not so fun. It was only a 15 hour drive, so nothing too extreme. This one felt much longer than that, it felt more like 15 days, I'm pretty sure. Nathan was such a trooper on the way! He drove the whole thing straight through, by himself! I know, I know, what a stud. He was completely loaded up on 5 hour energy drinks though, cheater. Like, multiple 5 hour energy drinks, plus a few monsters, plus some good ole mt. dews, plus some Big Red, which I have successfully gotten him addicted to by the way. Is that much caffeing even safe? I don't know, but my guess is probably not. I was afraid he was going to go into one of my caffeine seizures or something. In my defense I did offer to drive, he just always refused that offer! Something about "blah blah blah I'm so wired right now I NEED to drive!" On top of that, you just can't boss that man around. Hell, I can't even figure out how to get him whipped! Haha.

So we made the trip down there with one of his friends and came back with her plus another one of his friends. Then we all stayed at yet another one of his friend's apartment. Whew! Did you follow all that? That's a lot of his friends. Don't worry though I wasn't left out because I got to meet up with my friend Chrissy (from Cornell) almost every day we were in town. It was so nice to see her! I forgot how much I didn't miss going out with her because she's such a babe that I had to deal with guys ogling her every night we went out. I think I yelled at, on average, two guys a bar to leave her alone. One guy was such a sweet talker I almost fell for it and let him keep bothering her. Whoops. At another bar we found the intox box which was pretty cool considering a guy from our college invented it.

I can sum up everyday we were there with pretty much the same routine. Wake up, go to the pool, spend all day there, go out to eat, then head out on the city for the night. I once again had to refuse to play foosball because I'm too scared to play it with Nathan because he's so gosh darn good at it. So we played some shuffleboard. I do not remember being that bad at that game either. Then I played darts with some random guy I met at the bar. I lost that game too. I'm really good at bar games. Another day Christina took us to this place called Barton Springs which according to Wikipedia (gotta stick to those reliable sources!) is a man made swimming pool in the channel of Barton Creek and is filled by water from Main Barton Spring. The water was SO cold. All of us were just standing there until I decided, well, screw it! and just jumped in to the deep spot ( 9 feet). It was freezing! I surfaced and yelled out a very inappropriate word. I couldn't help it! It was SOOO cold. But worth the experience to be able to say I've swam there.

All in all the trip was fun.

Here's some pictures I've collected from our trip.

Missed her! :)

Aww. (Look at those arms!)

Look at that tan! Can you tell it's at the end of the trip?

Classy. Thanks Nate.

Partners In Crime.

My friend Lisa and I have made it a tradition with our friend Melanie to find live music every Friday. I mean how hard can that be in Nashville? We've done it two weekends in a row now and have plans to go again this weekend. Our first weekend going we only went with a group of four of us. (Me, Lisa, Melanie, and Lilly).  Last weekend there were a bunch more of us (Me, Melanie, Lisa, Tanya, Nathalie, Kathy, and Jenn). Hopefully this continues and there are even a bunch more of us this time! Here's me and my partner in crime, Lisa. Jenn should probably hurry up and post the rest of our pictures. Hint Hint!

Mom.

Happy Mother's Day, Momma!

Ok, I know it's a little late to be writing this blog, but I just wanted to make sure I made my mom her own post. I couldn't have asked for a better mom. You were always there for me growing up, and I never felt uncomfortable talking to you about things. In fact, whenever I am having a bad day, don't know what to do in a particular situation, or have exciting news that I need to share with somebody, I always think of you first. I think I have a good head on my shoulders people always compliment me on my positive outlook on life. I honestly believe that that comes from having you (& Dad too!) raising me.  I love you!

All Dogs Go To Heaven

"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our life whole"

-Roger Caras

I absolutely hate it when people don't understand why some people get upset when a pet dies.  To me, and to the rest of my family a dog is not just simply a dog. No. They are a part of the family. A part that loves you unconditionally. A part that is always there for you. A part that knows exactly how to comfort you without even knowing what's wrong. They bring happiness, a sense of security, and years of fun. And losing a pet is one of the worst feelings in the world. I know it took me weeks to get over when I lost my Molly. And now after my mom lost Cholo this weekend, especially so unexpectedly, I remembered how much it hurt. So I just wanted to give a quick shout out to all the dogs that have been in my life. I love them all. 

Molly Mae.

Bandit (Also Binga, but I don't have any of her on my computer!)

Maddie.

Bently.

Cholo.

OH! And we can't forget our little kitties either!

Dewey.

Marlo.

Chocolate. Like A Hersheys.

Oh my goodness, I'm on a writing spree! I haven't written in over 10 days so all these posts I've been meaning to write are piling up. And heaven forbid I put them all in one! Nope, not happening.

So, as of this time next week, I have no roommates. I'll be living alone in this three bedroom apartment by myself. I'm nervous. Not only because both of my roommates are moving away, but because of other things too. Vince and Val will be moving soon. Nathalie has Cody and therefore I feel like I don't really have her as a friend anymore because, well, long story. And I'm just nervous about being in this big new city all alone.

I don't like that the dog is going to be gone. My apartment isn't exactly on the nice side of the city. In fact, it would be safe to call it the bad part of the city. Not that Maddie was a guard dog, but she made me feel safer because she would bark whenever anybody came too close to our apartment door. I've been thinking about getting one for myself. But I don't want to limit my choices on where to live when I can move out. I'm not sure if it's the right time for me to get a dog, then again, is there ever really a RIGHT time to adopt an animal? Because I feel like if I wait until the right time to adopt a dog I'll never get one.

I already know I'd get a chocolate lab mix and name her Chelsea Mae. In case you were wondering.

Plus, I'm afraid I'll be lonely without a dog. I don't know. I have no idea what I'm going to do. I really shouldn't even be thinking about a dog yet. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do when my lease is up. I don't know if I'll be able to afford living on my own. But I don't have anybody to live with. Not to mention I don't have any furniture, or any money to buy any as well. I mean, I've been applying to jobs that (hopefully) pay well. I do have a degree after all, so this not-getting-paid-well thing is starting to turn into a crock of bullshit.

I'm just completely lost as to what I'm going to do by the time my lease is up in September. Please help.

Then again, if I could afford it I'd probably love to live on my own. (If I got a dog). I've never had my own place and I feel like that's a life experience every person should have sometime in their life. I'm a neat freak so I wouldn't have to stress over anybody else. I could have complete control over the place. I could decorate how I want. Rearrange whenever. Walk around naked. You know, the good stuff. I'd be forced to learn to be even more independent, even though I've vastly improved in that area since this time last year. I'd have to learn how to cook. Be forced to learn how to (better) budget/manage my money.

I don't know. This is one of those times when I should make a pro/con list. But if I were to find out that the "get a roommate" situation won, I'd be freaking out about who in the hell I'd find to live with. A complete stranger? Ugh, I don't know. Seriously, opinions please.

He Figured She'd Gone Back To Austin.

Today I got my vacation approved! So it's official! Nathan and I are going to Austin! As in, Texas. I'm pretty excited. He is too. He is "sooo fucking excited, this is going to be awesome!" Exact quote, For the most part, kinda. I love roadtrips. I'm hoping he lets me navigate. This is kind of a running joke because I'll hook up my TomTom and use my GPS on my phone to go places though the city. And still manage to get lost. The other day he even told me I could get lost on a straight street. The nerve!! So yeah, I bet he lets me navigate. I mean, it's only about a 900 mile drive...how lost could I get us? He won't let me take my radar detector. Something about going the speed limit, stop having such a heavy foot all the time, blah blah blah. We are not taking my car. I'm sure y'all can guess why. I'll give you one guess.  Oh, that I just got my car back after he wrecked it? Yep, good job. (It really wasn't his fault! I just try to give him a hard time about it!)

Bragging Rights.

The other day I was sitting on the couch catching up on Hart of Dixie episodes when my phone went off. It was Nate. He told me to come answer the door.

"Where's your key?"

"In my pocket."

"Soooo, why am I answering the door?"

"My hands are full".

I answer the door and he has his hands behind his back. He pulls his arms out from behind him and shows me two bouquets of flowers AND beer! He knows me so well!  Just thought I should brag to the world about how I somehow snagged the best guy ever and show off my flowers. Not the beer though, y'all already know what that looks like. Of course I had to text my mom the news about this great guy. Her first question? Did he mess something up? Haha. That's always a woman's first assumption when she gets flowers. Isn't that sad? But no, his reasoning was that he thought I needed something as beautiful as me, or something corny like that. Which is unlike him, the whole "Mr. Romance" thing, so I was pretty surprised. Then Mom said "Only your boyfriend would buy you beer and have it be considered romantic". Yeah, we went there.

Lullaby.

I got the joy of hanging out with this lil guy for most of Saturday after work. His name is Mason and he's my friend's son. Doesn't he look all classy in his little tie onesie? Yeah, I thought so too. He's looking at a cat in this picture. A cat that he enjoyed chasing around the apartment. I say chasing because the cat wanted absolutely nothing to do with him and kept running away from him. Making him giggle. We took him out to a BBQ restaurant and while there were a bunch of other little tykes there, I'm positive he was the cutest. I may be a little biased though.

Come On Now, Mother Nature.

Do you see what's in my hand there? That's right y'all, it's a pile of hail I picked up off our porch. It came out of nowhere. The other day it was raining and pretty windy when all of a sudden it started hailing. It kept it up long enough that it piled up in the corner of our porch. I was flipping off the camera because isn't the point of living further down south to have warmer weather? I mean, come on, hail is the opposite of warmer weather. Although my dad said it has been pretty rainy in Iowa lately too. The storm knocked out the power over on our side of the city so Nathan said we should drive to a side of the city that had power and hit up a bar. Such a good thinker. He even got me home at a decent time so I wouldn't hate my life in the morning since I had to work early.

Sweet Dreams Are Made Of These

Question Of The Day: What do you usually think about before you fall asleep?

I'm really lucky in the fact that I have trained my body to learn my routine. Every night before bed I straighten up the apartment, pack my lunch, set out my scrubs, shower, brush my teeth, read, then turn out the lights. Usually in that order. Usually that routine starts around 9:00. I'm predictable. My body knows once I start straightening up, it's almost bedtime and I start getting tired. So usually I don't have time to think about anything before I fall asleep. I turn on the lights, pull up the covers, and am asleep. I don't toss and turn or anything. I wake up in about the same position I fall asleep in.

But last night...I couldn't sleep. It was 2 AM and I was still just laying in bed. I was tossing and turning. I was dozing in and out. It was annoying. I don't know what to do when I can't sleep because it happens so rarely. Nathan was laying in bed watching a movie on Netflix with his feet up by my head and his head by my feet. I know it wasn't the sound from his movie or the lights because I can fall asleep with anything. I had went to bed around 11 that night, so I had been trying to get to sleep and stay asleep for about 3 hours.Here's the sweet part. Nate held my hand after I rolled over once again. And as soon as he did it, I was out like a rock. He must have the magic touch because once my hand was in his I was instantly relaxed. Awww.

Other facts about how I sleep:

• I HAVE to be covered up with something, even if I'm dying of heat.
• I HAVE to have some kind of sound. Usually it's my radio on.
• I generally fall asleep and wake up in the same position.
• I can't go to bed unless my bed is made. If I didn't make it that day (which is rare) I'll make it before I climb in.
• I'm bad about staying on my side of the bed...
• Or sharing covers for that matter.
• I keep a water  bottle on my headboard. I'm always amazed how much I drink in my sleep.
• I'm not one of those people that gets up to use the restroom during the night.
• I can sleep through anything until my internal alarm clocks goes off about an hour before I need to get up. Then the slightest noise can wake me up. I don't know how my body knows, but it does.

Sweet Ride!

My new sweet ride.

See that car? Yeup, that's what I'll be driving/ have been driving. It's my rental that I'm having longer than the expected week. But that's ok, I'm having fun driving it around. It's a Dodge Caliber. It's fun to drive a new car around. Play with all the features it has and my car doesn't have. Such as lighted cup holders. It's the small things in life that make me happy! Now when I'm struggling to find my water bottle when I drive, I don't. Because it's all lit up! Thank God because that has always been a huge problem for me. Haha. But no really, I think it is fun that it has lighted cup holders.  Not as fun as lighted speakers but it'll do for now.

This car also shows me as being out of state. Only now instead of being from Iowa, I'm from Minnesota. Which is funny because it's right next to Iowa. Plus all of the sports teams I like are Minnesota, so I have a lot of Vikings/Wild/Gophers clothes. And my car keys are on a Minnesota Gophers lanyard.

What's Your Name?

You know what I haven't done in awhile. Those random questions I used to do. So here we go folks.

How did you get your name? And if you could rename yourself, what would you choose?

I can't say my memory is exactly clear on how I got my name. But I can say I'll try my best to remember how the story goes. If I'm wrong *cough, grandma/grandpa/mom/dad, cough* feel free to remind me of the details. M'kay, so here it goes. 

So it took Mom forever to get pregnant. And when she finally did Mom and Dad started talking names. They didn't know if I was a boy or a girl until the day I was born (which has it's own dramatic story, btw...maybe someday I'll let my momma do a guest post about it). They decided if I was a boy I would be Michael Duane. If I was a girl though...wheeeew...that's where my parents started to not agree. 

Dad wanted a "double name". You know, where there's a first and a middle name and the girls goes by both. Such as Mary Kate or Sarah Beth or Betty Lou or something. Lovely. Mom wanted a name that I wouldn't have to share with anybody. Such as Jodessa. Even better. That was sarcasm, folks.

Anyways, so one day Mom and Dad went out to eat and they had this really sweet waitress. Her name was Joella. They both agreed it was a beautiful name and it fell under both of their wants. No, my name is not Jo Ella, it is Joella. One word. Joella Marie. 

But if I could rename myself I think I'd choose Eila. Pronounced I-La. I don't know why but I absolutely looove that name. I guess it's not too far off from Ella, which everybody seems to call me these days anyway. Maybe I'd choose to name myself Brilane. Or Norah. Or Davanee. (Pronounced Day-va-knee). Actually, you know what, I don't know. I have no idea what I'd choose.

I Can Be Your Buzz Lightyear, Fly You Across The Globe

Have I mentioned I'm addicted to The Hunger Games books? I have? Oh. Well, just in case you've forgotten, I am. And I also am not ashamed to admit I just finished the second book, Catching Fire. It's even more addicting than the first one. I'm dying waiting to get my hands on the 3rd book! I want to know what happens! RIGHT NOW! I'm already freaking out about what I'm going to do when I finish the series. Don't you hate that? When you love a book, and then it's over, and yet you are still craving for more. I know that's going to be me and this book.

Addicting book.

Nate has agreed that we can go see the movie on Sunday! I'm so excited to go! I wonder if it's going to match how I pictured it in my head. Probably not, but that's the beauty of reading a book then watching the movie. You can compare it to how you pictured things in your mind. How different people can take the same words and yet they are completely different. Usually I like the book more, but nothing beats seeing a movie to a book you are addicted to.




Another thing I really like, which I probably should be more embarrassed to admit: the new Justin Bieber single, Boyfriend. Now that he has matured and his voice is a little deeper I feel way less creepy when his songs come on the radio. Honestly I thought it was a new Justin Timberlake song. Those dang Justins just sound so much alike now! Who'da thunk it?


Other things I'm currently addicted to include, but are not limited to:

• Orajel : It's like a present straight from heaven when your widom teeth are coming in. Those suckers hurt!
• Breakfast On The Go! packets, the S'mores flavor: I throw them in my purse (along with a granola bar or a piece of fruit) so that if I'm out and about and hunger strikes I'm good to go!
• The Big 98: My radio is constantly set to 97.9 in my bedroom. It's never off. Ever. 
• Eric Church's Springsteen: Song of the moment
• Ben & Jerry's Cinnamon Buns Ice Cream: I love this stuff. I think the main ingredient is crack cocaine, because I can't stop eating it!

You Don't Look A Day Over Fast Cars And Freedom

3000. 

The number of dollars needed to fix my car.

5.

The number of days needed to fix my car.

1/2.

The amount of my car that will be brand new by the end of the process.

0. 

The number of tears I've shed over my car so far.

I may not have shed any tears over it, but I'm not going to lie. I'm getting rather pissed off at the amount of people telling me "it's not so bad". You are right, it isn't that bad. It could have been a lot worse. Or even worse Nate and/or I could have been hurt. So I'm really lucky, and I know this. But don't tell me you want to see my car and then make a comment like that. You aren't making me feel any better. And I'm sorry, but if you had a car that wasn't even 2 years old, and still had 4 years of payments left on it... you wouldn't exactly be shitting butterfly glitter either. So shut it. Just agree with me that it sucks, ok?

On the bright side, it turns out I have rental car insurance. Who knew?! So hopefully I can borrow a cute lil car. I hope I get a tC. Do they even have those to rent out? I don't know. When I was on the phone with my Grandpa I told him this is exactly why I need two cars. Hence, maybe it's a sign I also need a tC. Ha! Oh jeez, I'm funny. 

Katniss Everdeen.

I'll admit it. I, Ella, have an addiction. It's called The Hunger Games. The book. Nathan had read the first one and wanted to see the movie, but once he found out I had not read the books he decided we couldn't see the movie until I had read the book. The problem was that there were so many holds on the book at the library that it would probably be 10 years until I got my hands on it. So he even found one of his friends to let me borrow all three books. Once he gave them to me I laid down in bed one night with intentions of starting to read it. He told me not to start reading them until I had time to finish them. I giggled when he said that because even though he tells me he likes to read, it is just hard for me to picture it. Then he gave me "that"  look and said "No, I'm serious. I started that book one night before bed and didn't sleep that night because I was up reading it. I finished it in one sitting."

Now, I wasn't that bad, I think I finished it in about 5 sittings...over the span of three days. Now I'm on part two of the trilogy.  In fact the second book is sitting right here beside me and as soon as I'm done writing I'm going to curl up in bed and continue reading it. These books are soo good! I want to know what happens. My heart is just broken for poor Peeta, but also for Gale. Then I just sit there and wonder what I would do if I were Katniss. I mean, I know what I would do because she doesn't really have an option, but I just feel so bad for her. She's such a strong woman, and smart, and independent. It's nice to have a heroine in a book for once. Unlike Twilight where Bella depends on Edward for everything,  (not that I'm not looking forward to the last movie, btw) Katniss is one badass woman!