Happy Birthday Willie Nelson!

And oh yea, Me! The big 27 is finally upon me. It's such an important year. Full of... 27 ness. Ok, I'm thinking nothing big happens in the 27th year of life. But hey, it has to be better than 26. I was actually depressed about being 26 because it's "late 20's". But now I'm over it. I'm actually thinking I'm going to like the person I will be by the time I'm 30. I'm working towards being a really cool chick by then. Maybe even trendy. We'll see.

Plans for this year:
1. Get up to the $1,000 mark in savings.
2. Have some sort of super awesome vacation (may nullify plan #1)
3. Keep up with the world.

Okay, and to celebrate this being my super awesome birthday, here's a treat for everyone:

More evidence that kilts rule.

Found this picture of my boyfriend in a kilt with his sister and brother. Okay, so he was a kid and therefore not "hot" in his kilt. But he is wearing one none-the-less. Maybe I can get him to wear one now...


Speaking of kilts.. The hot kilted bartender that works at the Tap Room was working the other night.. in pants! Yes, it is true. And let me just say, it's the kilt that was making him hot. *sigh*

Saturday was a looong day.

It started out good with me making the best french toast ever. Then Jared and I headed on over to the Hickory Hops Festival. Every year, a bunch of us volunteer to work a four hour shift at the festival in exchange for free beer! All day! Usually it's pretty laid back and I am able to still get my drink on while I'm working. Not this year! It was so busy I couldn't sit down! And, some mean old lady made me cry a little (what is it with mean old people making me cry?). Anywho, once I was done, I got my little drink on with my Jared:

Katie, Daniel, and several other friends were there too and we drank the most delicious beer ever (which also happens to be a pirate beer) called "Holy Sheet" by Heavy Seas Brewing Company.
The guy in my picture is the same guy as in the picture on the web page.


Around 6:00 Jared and I decided to go home and nap for a bit. We're old, ya know. Then at 9, I went to karaoke! I wasn't going to go, due to the fact that I was TIRED. But I figured what the hell. It was fun, and thanks to my brilliant Harry Belafonte impression, Beef O' Brady's in Hickory had it's first ever Congo Line. Check out the pics at HKYnights.com.

stuff

So, who, dear readers, uses Embarq and searches for my blog with the google words "allison's blog hickory, nc"??? Just curious :) I know you're out there, whoever you are.


So Tuesday was my brother's big "going away ceremony" at Ft. Bragg in Fayetteville, NC.

Here's why the army sucks: If you are planning a big going away ceremony with 4,000 soldiers, wouldn't you expect there to be at least several people PER soldier at the farewell cememony?

Apparently the army figures that since these guys are in the reserves, they aren't as loved and won't have as many spectators there for them.

We drove all the way to Fayetteville on Tuesday to be at the ceremony to see my brother off to Kuwait/Iraq. We got there around 11:30, the ceremony was to start at 2:00. My brother wanted to go out for lunch. So we all went to lunch and then got back to the Coliseum around 1:30. My sister-in-law dropped my brother off at the door and we all went to find parking. A minute later my sister-in-law calls from her car to my mom and tells us that when Alan got to the entrance of the coliseum, the security guards were turning people away. All civilians. Apparently, the coliseum was at capacity and they had to turn away thousands of people. yay! So instead, my brother chose not to participate in the ceremony. We all drove to Starbucks and hung out for a while and had our own, private goodbye. My dad had driven all the way from West Jefferson, which is like a 6 hour drive. *sigh*

We still managed to have a good time. It's just.. we could have gone to Starbucks in Kannapolis. Which is where my familly lives. It's only an hour from me.

Stupid army.

Pics here:

2 Things.

First, I hope you all know of the awesomeness of Google Street View on Google Maps. If you don't, I'm sorry.

I waited forever and ever for them to finally Street View Hickory (where I live) and they finally posted it, but my car wasn't at home or work. Boo.

Lately, however, they finally posted pics from Morganton, NC (where I was working once a week for a year). And lo and behold, there's finally a picture of my car! At Morganton city hall! Woohoo!


View Larger Map

If you can't see that link, try clicking here. If that doesn't work, I'm sorry again.

Also, my brother Alan is in the Army National Guard Reserves. Tomorrow he is flying to Kuwait for two weeks, and then to Iraq for nine months. I'm a little scared but I know he's smart and hopefully he'll remember all of his training, etc. My mom and I are going to his Farewell Ceremony at Ft. Bragg tomorrow.

The boy.

Jared has asked me to blog about him. A full blog dedicated to the Jared. Instead of being all gushy and grossing you out with my droolification, here are 5 things you may or may not know about Jared:

1. Jared is a chocolate FIEND. Especially Reese's peanut butter cups. If it is chocolate, he will eat it until you make him stop. Molten chocolate brownie lava cake with ice cream and syrup makes him weak in the knees.

2. Jared has told me he that if UNC was playing a basketball game against people who had murdered his family, he would still not cheer for Carolina. This hatred runs deep, yall.

3. Jared has disdain for Jessica Simpson and Rachel McAdams. Why? I mean, Jessica Simpson might be a little ditsy, but she's not what I would consider hateable (not like that skank Jennifer Love Hewitt). And Rachel McAdams? She's cute as a button.

4. His favorite movie is "Dumb and Dumber". But then, why guy doesn't love Lloyd and Harry? But he also loves Harry Potter, Da Vinci Code, any and all sports movies, and of course, all those dumb American Pie movies (the original isn't dumb).

5. He once dreamt of being a doctor. He makes an excellent restaurant manager though. And if he were a doctor, we probably wouldn't know each other now. So I'm glad things changed and life moved him my way.

Mush free.

Anniversary

Today and this week:

-I have owned my condo for 3 years now. I feel like a superstar for buying a home at 23. Two more years and I'll only have to pay back one of my two first-time home buyer loans. I think I can handle that. I have made a few improvements (I think). I still have a lot of things I would like to do, like replace the carpet downstairs with hardwood floors (and by hardwood I mean laminate). The problem with this is it takes money. And skill with tools. Neither of these do I possess.

-My blog turned four years old on Tuesday. The last year it has suffered I think, but hopefully that's all about to change since I'll be in my office every day now. Whee!

-Meatwad is 3 years old now. :( He's still my baby kitty though. I still see the kitten in him. He still plays, and chases his tail, and gives me the "momma" treatment. He is a boob man. Loves to cuddle and stick his face in my chest. It's kinda weird but I figure maybe he gets it from watching Jared (teehee). Meatwad is my big man.


-Beefcake turned 2 years old a few weeks ago. He is most definitely still a kitten. He's got the biggest, most beautiful eyes. He's a lover. But he also LOVEs to fight with Meatwad. He's an instigator. He has such a crazy meow. He rubs on everything he can reach with his long tail and his big head. He has an underbite. He's my big boy.