In the land of cotton

My boyfriend informed me a couple of weeks ago that he had business to do with Walmart and was going to come in for the weekend after he was finished.  I was super excited.  This meant he'd be here to watch the Razorbacks play in the Cotton Bowl.  I'm slowly turning Scott into a Razorback.

Thursday night he arrived and decided that we needed to go to Fayetteville to get long sleeve razorback shirts to wear on Friday at my apartment during the game.  I thought it was weird, but we went and had a nice night getting shirts and having dinner at Noodles.

The next morning, my alarm went off and I got out of bed to start my hair and make up so I could go to work.  Scott was sweet and offered to get me my cereal to save time.  When I walked out of the bathroom, I noticed my measuring cup of cereal was still empty.  I turned and looked in the living room and I noticed cotton balls all over the floor.

I asked "Babe, why are there cotton balls all over the floor?"  I was so confused.  I couldn't decide if he thought it was funny alternative to rose petals to be romantic or what.  I then looked to see that the cotton balls were on my couch with....

Tickets to the Cotton Bowl!!!  And not just any tickets, amazing tickets!!  Scott had cleared it with my boss for me to have the day off.  I have never been so surprised.  Scott has apparently had these tickets since they went on sale and I had no clue!  After freaking out for a few moments, I packed up a bag, and we headed down to Dallas, TX.

5 hours later we arrived to Jerry's World.

It's truly an amazing stadium.  It was my first time there, and my first time ever to a Razorback bowl game.

As you can tell, we were so excited!

View from our amazing seats!

Scott was wearing a Razorback shirt despite the fact it looks like he's not participating in the awesomeness of Razorback apparel.

To top it all off, the hogs were Cotton Bowl champions!  

It was such a great trip.  I ran into my freshmen year roommate by complete luck, I got to talk to my brother, and I even got to talk to a friend I studied abroad with.  My family doesn't do surprises, so this is by far the best surprise I've ever had.  I'm sad football season is over, but I'm quite looking forward to turning Scott into a full fledged Razorback fan.  Woo Pig Sooie!!

The Bachelor or Ben isn't as smart as I had hoped.

Okay so I missed my update on the first episode, but let me just say the producers on The Bachelor were scrapping the bottom of the barrel of applicants for this season.  It's a shame too, because Ben is cute.  If I were single, I think I could have totally rocked this season.  Producers have too much say in the show because of the crazies that got roses.  Also I apparently missed out on the less of how to push up your boobs in any terrible evening gown.

Anyway....episode two...Let the drama begin!

Ben brings the ladies out to Sonoma.  Probably to meet that little dog of his.  The girls hop in convertibles and start drinking.  Drinking is a must.  This is a good opportunity to show off that Ben has a mansion.  Just kidding, it's a rental.  He wishes his dad could meet these woman.  That's a lie.  Really Ben?  I think your Dad would be disappointed.

One girl asks if this is real life.  Maybe she's seen too much David after the dentist.

Kacie B gets ready for the first date.  She seems pretty and normal.  The model informs the camera that she wants Kacie to go home.  The model is my vote to be most like Crazy Ass Michelle.

The couple drives too a ghost town of sonoma.  Seriously no cars parked anywhere.  This can't be normal.  Ben plays tour guide, and then takes her to play the piano.  Apparently the budget was non existent for this date.  They go shopping and buy a lunch box.  Casey is already "herself".  She steals a baton and attempts to woo him with her twirling skills.  So far the budget for this date was $35.  $20 of that went towards gas for that thing he's driving.

"it's like we're the only two people on earth"  Really you are the only two people in this ghost town.  This TN girl actually seems like a good match for Ben.

The other girls get a date card.  Blakely is going to also be a potential Crazy Ass Michelle.  She doesn't get the whole concept of the show where you are forced to go on dates with multiple people.

Kacie no surprise gets a date and a smooch. Ben has a surprise.  Well it's about time producers.  This was disappointing.  Who is it going to be?  What up and coming artist or movie gets a plug?  Oh.  Disappointing.  It's videos of Kacie as a child.  Then there are videos of Ben as a child.  This is slightly weird for a first date.  Both in tears....What a first date.

Group Date.  Ben was 12 women on that date and he's correct "that's a lot of pairs of legs"  He tells they girls that they are going to be doing a play.  Bahahaha their girls are speechless to find out that the playwrights are children.  The girls "audition" for their parts.  Grandma's girl doesn't know what a hippie is.  The blogger also has no clue.  The kids make Blakely in her stripped romper has her boobs for all to see.  The boy child says "she did good"

The model is really bitchy.  She says she really has a connection with Ben back home.

Blogger Jenna is a wizard complete with a beard.  Jaclyn is a princess nd seems like a drink.  Blakely to her dismay has to cover up her tatas with a gingerbread costume.  Ben surprises the girls with the fact that they are actually performing for a crowd.  Monica the bisexual was a dragon is weird.  Ben then oddly has to strip down to almost nothing.  Kids wrote this?!?!

Play's done.  Let's drink! Rachel the fashion buyer has terrible bangs.  The other girls sit around looking at the rose.  Samantha may be a drunk.  Blakely has a sweet arm tattoo.  Ben thinks everyone really likes Blakely the VIP Cocktail Waitress.  I think that means Vegas Hooker.  Who specializes in terrible dangly claire's earrings.

Samantha is "so over Blakely" thus is hiding in the bathroom.  Good plan there, girlfriend.  Once again these girls don't understand the game.

Date Card--Courtney the model gets the other one on one date with Ben.  She's a complete bitch and rubs it in the other girls friends.

Back at the big group date.  The girls drink more and strip down to bikinis to reveal sweet tramp stamps.  The fake red head Jennifer mentions 40 times "how much this place reminds her of home" and then goes in for the make out.  Blakely goes into kill mode because she's a scorpio and apparently a great lover.  Blakely accepts the rose and all the other girls are attempting to kill her with their looks.  The other girls cry.  Apparently putting yourself out there is small talk and making out in bikinis.

Date 3 with Courtney includes Ben's dog Scotch.  Blakely and Courtney are up for biggest bitches of the show.  Ben plays forest tour guide.  Picnic time.  Really the budget for this season is small.  Courtney tries to play the poor "I'm pretty and no one asks me out" card.  Then he drives her around on a tractor around a wineary that's been lit up with candles.  Poor intern that had to set all of that up.  Ben keeps asking if "she's too good to be true"  Yes, yes she is.  She's a bitch. We find out that Ben was a drunk in college.  Model gets the rose.  Let's be honest.  She goes far.  He wants her naked.

Cocktail Party/Rose Ceremony

The dresses seem somewhat better than the first night.  I spot a jcrew dress on Kacie B.  Blakely has skank hooker long earrings again on.  Lindzi (yes her name is spelled like a hooker) she gets alone time despite not getting a date. They are both apparently tractor people.  She drives a truck.  She apparently likes to dress down despite looking like a flamingo.

Samantha the bathroom girl from the group date finally gets some alone time.  She hates drama but is nearly in tears.  Blakeley interrupts the one on one time to bring Ben a drink.  HAHAHA  They gave Blakeley the nickname Jugs.  Blakeley then again interrupts another one on one date.

Jacklyn looks like a sorority sister of mine that was a drunk.  I can't remember her name.  She'll be great on Bachelor Pad.   Actually so will Blakely.

Blogger girl Jenna also gets one on one time.  Things are a big mess;  She almost sets a blanket on fire by putting it on a candle.  This is awkward.  She feels like she's a guy.  Honey, that's not what you tell a guy.  She goes off to cry in a bedroom.  Get a grip girl.

Blakeley is schammered and is upset everyone is talking about her.  Jaclyn may not be cute, but she's got the most sense out of all of them.  Blakeley goes to cry among suitcases.  Luckily they cover up her dress;  she's kneeling down and would be pulling off a lindsey if they weren't there.

Grandma's girl and Nurse girl aren't happy.  Ben decides to go off to find crying Blakeley.  He's realizing she's crazy.  And then he's off to find Jenna crying in bed.  What an awkward night.

Finally....Roses.
Kacie B, Courtney, and Blakeley already have roses.

Jennifer the fake red head gets a rose.  making out in a bikini does wonders.
Emily the blonde working on her PHD was rather quiet this episode
Elyse gets a rose.  She's a bit much for me.  Too light of lipstick and too much tanning bed
Jaclyn--my favorite drunk with common sense gets a rose (actually this surprises me)
Erika gets a rose.  She played a weasel in the play.
Rachel-the bad bangs blonde get a rose.  I'm not a fan.
Lindsey the truck driving horse riding girl gets a rose.
Nicki gets a rose.  She needs help with her hair.
Casey S gets a rose.  I honestly don't recall her at all.
Samantha gets a rose probably for coming out of the bathroom (way cute black dress)
Monica the bisexual gets a rose.
Jamie the nurse gets a rose who said she wasn't sure she could stick this out.
Last rose goes to:  Brittany--grandma's girl.

Blogger Jenna tearfully goes home and that girl with the skank blonde hair with the brown underneath it that wore the terrible green dress last week goes home.  Girls don't cry.  You are better off.  and Jenna stop holding your boobs.  Jenna "deserves love"  (honey, don't we all?)

Remember if you go crazy crying on TV, people will see this.  You may not get dates for a long time.

After saving pennies this week, Ben and girls are off to San Fran.  Ben's other home town apparently.  It seems that there is more of a budget for next week's date.  There is drama ahead, I'm sure, and apparently next week a new girl comes in and someone passes out.

OH joy!  Until next week!

Buzz, Your Girlfriend! Woof! (or a Christmas month)

Okay, so I've failed at updating the blog.  Things got busy over the holidays with the boyfriend in town and then Christmas going on, so here's a quick (or not so quick) recap.

Christmas really started for me with the arrival of Scott the weekend before Christmas.  We spent the next 6 days having a little Christmas of our own.  We kicked things off with a nice dinner and off to the square to look at Christmas lights and take pictures.

Above may be the only actual good photo we took.

Sunday we woke up and exchanged Christmas gifts, and then made a gingerbread house.

The side of the house may just have candy shoved on the side of it.  Then we ordered a large cheese pizza to watch Home Alone together.  These are new Christmas traditions that I look forward to doing again.

Another tradition I continued is dressing up my cat Peewee for Christmas. This year he was the angriest  reindeer of all:

For early Christmas, my grandmother decided to do something new this year.....We each received the same sock monkey pjs.  I've never laughed so much seeing my family all dressed up in the same clothes:

The entire Cathey Clan

These aren't so flattering, but I love seeing my cousins and my brother.

My brother got my mom, dad, and I all a forever lazy.  Apparently figure flattering gifts were on my list this year.....

It really was a great Christmas.  My parents got me the red kitchen aid mixer I've been wanting since college.  It's a lot of fun to get together with everyone.  As I get older, I really do realized how much I love my family.  I hope you had a Merry Christmas too!  I can't believe 2012 is almost here!

Baseball Winter Meetings

Since Sunday, I've been in Dallas for Baseball Winter Meetings.  It's one of my favorite parts about my job honestly.   I get to do what I do best, meet and interact with my clients.

This year was my second one to attend.  It's 2.5 long days on my feet, but it can be a lot of fun.  MiLB workers are a lot of fun when they get together.  My favorite part of the trade show is wondering around grabbing food from all the vendors.  The dip n dots are by far one of my favorite booth.  It was also pretty cool seeing the sets of Sports Center and MLB Network filming while I was there.

This year was extra fun because my boyfriend was there.  I actually met him in September of last year at my very first trade show ever.  I was nervous and had no clue what I was doing.   If you ask him, he attempted to talk to me, and I ignored him.  Any by ignore him, I mean he thought I was a terrible bitch.  In December at my first Winter Meetings, I had a lot fun getting to meet my clients face to face, but I was still shy.  At the Gala I spent a lot of time sitting at a table with my manager and his friends.  24 year old me with a group of 55+ older guys.  Scott luckily decided to come say Hi to me.  We bumped into each other again later that night and ended up talking for 5 hours in a hotel lobby.  After we had many conversation of him informing me that he "wasn't hitting on me" and I may have drunkenly informed him that I was getting new boobs in January, I had to leave.  Me being hard headed, declined his offer of walking me to my car, but I did think "it's too bad he wasn't hitting on me"  We very much clicked, and 9 months of thousands of text messages and facebook messages later....we saw each other again.  You never really know how things are going to work out, so it was very fun being together a year later.

This year's Gala took place at the Texas Rangers stadium.  It was my first time to ever go into a MLB ball park.  It was really cool to check out the locker rooms and actually get to walk on the field.  Despite not really going to many baseball games, I really enjoying working with baseball teams.

Scott and I on Ranger's Field 

Ranger locker room.  It also included a poker table.  I also learned about taking the bat to the bone.  Which I may have picked up several times, and gotten several looks at from the Rangers Staff that said "PUT THAT DOWN" 

Rangers Field.  I really do need to make it to an actual game.

O Christmas Tree......

Last night I decided to put up my Christmas tree.  I'm going to be at Baseball Winter meetings next week, so I wanted to make sure it was up before then.  I have a great fake Christmas tree thanks to my mom.  It's a tall skinny tree that my apartment has the perfect corner for.

First I opened the box and I found the stand.  In pieces.

I had to google to figure out how to put this thing together.  I began regretting putting up my tree.  Finally I figured it out and inserted the bottom piece and began putting lights on it.  I was frustrated because it wouldn't stand up straight despite me using a wrench to tighten the screws and shoving a magazine under the stand to make it stead and straight.

After putting all the lights, I decided to try the middle piece to see if it would help steady the tree.  This is when I realize that my bottom piece currently in my stand was actually the middle piece.  Several expletives later and having serious issues getting the tree out of the stand, I actually put the correct bottom piece in the stand.   I then have to put lights on the bottom piece, and surprisingly the tree stands straight!  I added the second piece.

Then it came time for the top.  I add it and the lights and tada! the tree was up.  I was sweating tired and sore.

So I decided to put off ornaments and ribbon until Tonight.  It's not my prettiest tree, but it's up.  It's in a corner, so I totally have zero ornaments on the back side....

So let the Christmas season being.  I've even ordered my first gift.   (yes, ordered...No crazy crowds on Black Friday for me).

I do question a bit about Christmas.  It's an amazing time of the year with lights, trees, and family.  I do wonder what it's like to be a parent now having to put up the tree.  I'm telling you.....this tree business is no easy ordeal.  Here's finding a new tree on sale at the end of the season for next year......

I am a bad blogger

Life happens.  A lot of things have happened, but I never could come up with anything to blog about.  Go figure.  Here I go again trying this out.  So tonight, there's a list of what's been going on.  It's all probably random and out of order.

1.  Razorback football season was fun this year.  10-2.  Great season.  Two terrible losses.  A bowl game left to go.  This must mean it's practically Christmas.  Time Flies.

2.  Date #3.  I reached my goal.  I went on date number three who just so happens to be my boyfriend.  He lives in Virginia.  Sometimes life will surprise you.  I'm happy, and I don't think dating is so scary.

3.  I've never been so stressed out about work, but slowly I'm learning that's just part of growing up.

4.  Running.  Yeah....um I've hit a wall.  2 miles is a good day.  Getting to the gym is a good day in general.

5.  I ate half a pie at Thanksgiving.  We're not talking a small pie.  We're talking a big chocolate peanut butter pie that i like to call heaven.  Worth every pound it put on me.

6.  It's almost Christmas.  Which means it's Almost 2012.  So weird,  2011 is going by alarmingly fast.

Hopefully I'll return to blogging again.  I am among the living.  Hopefully I'll be back to entertaining my one reader again.

There's No Crying in Baseball

And I'm back.  After just 8 days in the office during the month of September, I am finally home for a spell.  I'm not going to lie.  I'm way excited to be home for a while.  It's fall so that means leaves will be changing colors, boots are almost acceptable to wear, and pumpkin bread!

During my many travels, I received a phone call from my boss asking me what I thought about taking on some more work.  I attempted to be a team player and said sure.  This extra work has been dumped on me this week, and I'm not going to like....I hate it.  It's more administrative work than anything else, and I'm basically taking half of one person's work load.  No we aren't down sizing.  The lady is still there.  She just decided to dump her work on me.  Joy.

I've been training this week in addition to playing catch up from being out of the office for so long.  Needless to say it's all been overwhelming to see my work load more than doubt, and I have no clue how to keep everything organized.

Today during my training session, I broke down in tears.  Boy do I feel stupid.  As a girl, I cry from time to time.  A sad movie, a bad day, whatever....but it's usually in the comfort of my own apartment when I'm alone.  To cry at work is well quite embarrassing.  Thankfully my boss wasn't there and most people had gone home, so not too many people witnessed my 5 minute cry fest.

I don't want work to think I can't handle it, but I know I'm much more capable than the stupid admin tasks they are giving.  These aren't exactly the new projects I had in mind when my boss told me he was looking forward to giving me more in depth projects.

Just like in baseball (I just so happen to sell baseball caps) there's no crying at work.  I'm a girl;  work can deal with it.  In the meantime, I do feel stupid.