Opening Day

River Spirit Casino officially opened at 10AM this morning. I could not be more thrilled. My life may return to a semi normal state over the next few days. Everyone here has been working like crazy over the last few months making sure this thing opened. Our parking lots are overflowing today. Whether you gamble or not, it truly is a spectacular facility. It feels like you are in Vegas and I do love Vegas. The restaurants are amazing. I could hang out at the dessert section of the buffet all day long and be a happy girl.

I honestly can't tell you the last time I worked an eight hour day. I worked nine hours over the weekend, fourteen yesterday and arrived very early this morning to help coordinate all the local news crews from the morning shows for on air interviews before the ribbon cutting. I know there are a lot of people here who have put in far more time than I have. I can only imagine how they are feeling because I know I am about to collapse! Thankfully, we are all getting a bonus day off within the next week. I don't know what I am going to do with myself. A three day weekend? Are you kidding me? I didn't know those actually existed anymore.

In other news, I am actually going to be home to watch American Idol tonight. I haven't spent an evening with my husband for a good five or six days. I'm looking forward to it and a very long, much need cardio session at the YMCA.

In other big news, New Kids on the Block are going back out on tour this summer. I'm debating between Dallas and Wichita. I'm already giddy!

Random Stories from Saturday

I went by Panera on my way home from work today. I had to drop by the casino for a short time this afternoon to prep for the big opening on Tuesday. Anyway, I got some yummy creamy tomato soup plus three bagels. Don't judge me, I still have one and a half bagels left. I was about to enjoy some of my DVR goodies and my soup. I was grabbing the remote and looked down and Bailey had her nose in my soup...

...I still ate the soup. It was really good.

It is also still snowing. I am looking at some gorgeous yellow tulips in my kitchen with the back ground of falling snow in the back yard. It seems kind of strange.

Random Text from the Husband:
"What is the name of the snow shoveler in Home Alone?"
I replied, Old Man Marely. He did not believe me. He should not question my Home Alone knowledge. He will lose. I know that movie by heart. I also verified it online. I win.

Ugh

All I want to do is put on my sweatpants, eat a big bag of Twizzlers, drink a huge diet cherry coke from Sonic and watch my TV. I plan on doing all of the above when I arrive home...minus the bag of Twizzlers. I feel to lazy to actually stop and buy them, although it would be totally worth the effort.

Sometimes it is nice to give myself the permission to be a bum. Tonight is the night!

Prayers

The past few days have been a great reminder to me about the incredible power of prayer and the continuing need for it even when things seems to be going our way. I have many friends currently in need of prayers and many who are seeing the amazing grace of God and the healing that only He can bring. These friends of mine and their situations serve as a humbling reminder that I am not in control and never will be. Control is one my biggest struggles.

Although you may not know these individuals or their situations, but God does. Please keep them in your payers: Matt, Levi, Marcie, Corey, Elijah, Pam, Stellan, Robin, Jennifer and myself.

These are just a few of those I know are in need of prayers for healing, encouragement, or strength. Life is short and not our own. I pray that all of you value every second you are given with your loved ones. I pray that you make an impact in a positive way and never let a challenge break your spirit.

My Cutest Pet

She may not have won the MotoPhoto Tulsa's Cutest Pet contest, but she is the cutest pet I know! How in the world did this baby girl not win? I know, she is just a dog, but I love this dog to pieces.

Kody just called and rubbed in the fact that he is already home. How is he finished at 3:30PM on Monday during ortho? Someone go break a leg and give my husband something to do. I promise I'm not serious...I would feel horrible if someone actually broke their leg just for Kody's sake. He'll be fine at home studying for boards. Yes, he is already studying for Step 2 boards. August 17th is the big day. I'm already nervous...

Hospital Fun

Last night I accompanied Kody to the hospital for the first time since he has been on rotations. We were leaving CrossFit a little after 7:30PM and Kody got a call from one of his med school buddies. Apparently he had injured his toe on a door and it was sticking out at a forty-five degree angle. He asked Kody what he thought he should do and Kody gave him some suggestions. Eventually they came to the conclusion that they should meet at the hospital and Kody would try to help him out.

Now, I believe in my husband more than anyone in the world, but let's face it, we both knew that three weeks of his first ortho rotation hardly made him an expert on broken toes. Anyway, we headed up to the hospital and Kody grabbed some scrubs as I followed him around. Finally the friend arrived and they headed back to the surgery area. I waited by the elevators because I was not "Authorized Personnel". They emerged later and the friend's toe was wrapped and the x-ray showed it was not fractured. He was still in a lot of pain so I really felt for him!

On the way home I told Kody how being there with him took me back to my childhood. I ended up at the hospital (Children's in OKC) probably every other weekend with my dad growing up. We would always end up stopping by on our way to lunch or the zoo on the weekends so my dad could look at x-rays or make rounds. I was young so I didn't know the difference. Robin and I would end up taking turns standing behind the office skeleton and making it move. I am amazed at how entertained we were by that thing. We would sneak into exam rooms and look at all the cotton swabs and pretend to take each others blood pressure. We had races up and down the halls that drove my mom crazy. I feel so bad for her that she had to keep us "under control" the whole time. I really loved going to that hospital. I got excited that some day my children may get to experience the same thing. I know it sounds silly, but it is something made me feel special. It also made me really comfortable with hospitals which I am sure will come in handy at some point in my life.

Anyway, it was a late night. I got to see Kody mingle with hospital staff and what he looked roaming the halls of the hospital. He looked like a pro! Also, Kody has pretty much confirmed at this point that he wants to do orthopedic surgery. It is going to be a long road and he is going to have to be really impressive on his rotations. I know he can do it. He is motivated and interested and I love to see him in that mindset. He is incredibly brilliant and has the most amazing ability to learn. I am impressed by him everyday. As long as he is happy, I am happy!

Happy Tourney Day!

It's tourney time! I hope everyone has their bracket ready. I'm not feeling extremely confident in mine, but I'm kind of going into it blind this year. I didn't do my usual week long research. I don't really pay attention to basketball season until a week before "Selection Sunday". Yes, this means I am not a huge basketball fan, but I love love love love the tournament. I have a fairly good track record of winning in bracket pools. Show me the money!

I wish I had more motivation to sit here and write about more today, but I don't. All energy has escaped my body. I hope to replenish it over the weekend. :)

Better Luck Next Year...

I didn't win the HGTV Dream Home. I really thought this was the year. I entered online everyday for myself and Kody. Some retired lady in Lakeland, Florida was the happy recipient of MY wine country getaway in Sonoma, California. Whatever.

In other news....

• I wore green today and realized I have to wear it again tomorrow so I don't get pinched. I don't like getting pinched...it hurts.
• I can't run over seven miles without my left foot feeling like it is breaking in half. I think this is going to be a problem.
• I ate a whole box of Life cereal in two days. Oops.
• I'm going green. I bought biodegradable poop bags for Bailey so I can clean up after her on her walks and still help the environment. Apparently putting pet waste in Wal-Mart bags is not good for the environment. What am I supposed to do with all those bags now???
• I'm actually cooking a real dinner tonight. Nothing from a microwave. Kody is getting so lucky tonight.
• Speaking of Kody, he is in love with orthopedics.
• I finally got the Christmas tree down...just in time for Easter!

Welcome

I wanted to give a quick should out to my friend Crislyn who is new to the blogging world. I am so excited that she started a blog because she always makes me laugh. Please visit her and say hello!

Also, I hope everyone is enjoying the winter wonderland outside. Ohhhh Oklahoma!

A Taste of the Future

Kody started his first orthopedic rotation the beginning of this month. I have been looking forward to this month for a long time because surgery is something he is interested in pursuing. Anyway, he has been working pretty long hours as would be expected on a surgery rotation. Yesterday he worked one of the longest days yet. He goes into the hospital around 6:30 AM every day so he can study up on the surgeries he'll be in on that day. Last night he didn't get home until 9:45PM. That is a fifteen hour day! Now, for someone like me who works an eight to nine hour day it seems crazy, but I know as a future resident fifteen hour days will be the norm. Luckily he loved every minute of it. It also gave me time to relive the NKOTB concert by dancing around the house to their new CD. I'm sure I might get bored of that eventually, but for the time being I think I will be able to handle the long hours as long as I can keep myself entertained.

PS. Thank you America for a job well done on the voting tonight on American Idol! Gosh I love Idol season.

The Block

Last night was the big night. Eighteen years after I saw them for the first time, I was able to witness the greatness that is New Kids on the Block once again. Amy, Michelle and Crislyn all drove up from E-town and we headed to El Guapo downtown to eat before the big show. My friend Nicole met us there since she luckily got tickets last minute! The entire place was packed with New Kids fans. We talked about how excited we were with other groups of girls. I was kicking myself the whole time because we didn't make t-shirts! Next time....

Our seats we bought were not the greatest. We were in the back on the top level. About ten minutes before show time the ticket taker people told us we could go fill in the empty seats on the first level. That is all I needed to hear before I grabbed my purse and we went sprinting, yes sprinting (in heels), down the ramp at the BOK Center and busted through curtain to find our amazing seats. I'm sure we were a sight to be seen. We ended up about fifteen rows from the floor three or four sections from the stage. AWESOME. I could probably go on and on about the amazingness of the show, but I'll just let you see the pictures. Joey is still as cute as ever, Jordan is as zexy as can be ....and Donnie well, the boy can move. Of course I didn't forget about Danny and Jon. They were great as well, but I was always a Joey girl. Jordan did have a great moment that included a mic stand, a fan and an unbuttoned white shirt. WOOHOO He also sang "Give It To You" from his solo album. Very nice. It was easily one of the loudest shows I have ever seen. I lost my voice and my hearing and it was all worth it! Still a fan....

Honest Scrap

Thanks to my friend Emily I have been awarded or tagged (depending on how you look at things) with Honest Scrap. I'm calling it an award because I don't get many awards and it kind of made my day to "get one".

The rules for Honest Scrap are:
1) Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.
2) Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Scrap.”
3) List at least 10 honest things about yourself

1. Ashley - my future sister in law who always makes me laugh!
2. Michelle - I love reading about her precious Cooper.
3. Melody - She always has the cutest layouts, plus, I like her. :)
4. Katie - She married Michael, I married Kody...we need each other.
5. Sara - She has been my information go to throughout medical school and now her husband is graduating. I'm so jealous....

I only picked five. Sue me! Alright here it goes....the down and dirty truth about me....

1. I am obsessed with washing my hands. I gag a little bit every time I see someone leave a restroom without sanitizing themselves. Ugh.
2. My Christmas tree is still up. I can't really say much to defend myself...
3. I am going to see New Kids on the Block tonight in concert and I am beyond excited. No, it is not a joke, I am 100% enthusiastic.
4. I am absolutely terrified about what having a baby (someday) will do to my body. I know it is vain, but I like my hips where they are right now and would like them to stay that way!
5. I am not good at saying no. I like to be involved in everything and make everyone happy and then I stress myself out because I'm always running around helping out somewhere. Kody and I don't get near enough together time because he has a crazy schedule as well. We are trying to say no more and just stay put on weekends so we can actually have some quality time together.
6. I would love to end up living in Florida someday so we can be closer to some of my family, the beach, The Swamp and Disney. I need to live somewhere that I can run outside all year long in shorts. I love that Florida sunshine.
7. I got a guitar for my college graduation and I have yet to really learn how to play. When Kody is off rotating away from home I plan on taking up lessons so I can learn how to jam!
8. Some days at work I refuse to answer the phone and I let everything go to voicemail. I have too many people call that I don't want to talk to. Some days I just can't fake it!
9. I have been doing a horrible job of making time to read my bible. I need to do a better job of making that a priority again.
10. I would love to just shave my head and be done with it. I have the thickest hair on the planet and I really don't care enough about how it looks to give it the attention it deserves.

Gym Etiquette

You may not think there are rules about personal space when working out at the gym, but there are. It is kind of like the rules that apply to seating in a movie theater. If there are empty rows at a theater, you don't plop down right next to someone, right? A savvy movie watcher knows that you go to to the next available row or at least give plenty of space in between you and the other attendees. I like to apply these same principles to treadmills. If I show up at the gym at 6AM it is not to be social, it is to run. If I am on the back row of treadmills and there are two completely empty rows of eight treadmills in front of me, it is not OK to hop onto the empty treadmill directly next to me. I just wanted to clarify this point to everyone, because this morning it seems that a man was confused and thought he had to help fill up each row before moving onto the next one. I'm still confused as to how he thought it would be fun for us to run right next to each other when no one else was there. The last thing I want to do is listen to another runner's stride and breathing when I'm having a hard enough time getting into my rhythm...ugh!

In other news, aren't you sooooooo excited that Matt and Anoop both made it into the newly formed American Idol Top 13 last night?? Yes, I was busting out some sweet 90's dance moves while Anoop rocked some Bobby Brown. Just ask Kody, I was giddy. My top four picks are all in. WOOHOO. I predict that one of the females will be the first to go...maybe Megan. I just can't get into her vibe...all the wiggling distracts me.

Flu-Rida

After a two hour delay in Houston on Friday I finally made it to Orlando! The highlight of the flight was listening to the girl sitting behind me looking at the window yelling "Tinkerbell! Tinkerbell! Where are you Tinkerbell!" as we were landing in Orlando. She was going to Disney for her birthday. I think she was turning five. It was precious. I arrived sick as a dog (Kody and I both had the Type A Flu according to Kody's doctor). I had a great time despite the sore throat, chills, aches and constant coughing. Something about the Florida sunshine and dancing the "Cuban Shuffle" at a wedding can make you temporarily forget how horrible it is to be sick. I get a F- for my picture taking. My dad, however, played camera man the whole trip so hopefully I'll have some good pictures of the event soon. Here is the lone picture I got all weekend. My cousins Jennifer, Julie and myself right before the wedding. Seriously....one picture....pathetic.

Kody starts his orthopedic rotation today here in Tulsa. I am beyond excited to hear how his first day goes. I feel horrible because I got him sick. He had the worst of it yesterday. Thankfully he is feeling a lot better today. Thank goodness for Zicam, DayQuil and Russel Stover Sugar Free Marshmallow Eggs...yes, they are a great flu remedy. Didn't you know?

I would comment on The Bachelor last night, but I haven't been able to really come to a conclusion on how I feel about the whole situation. I didn't really care who he picked. I liked Jillian. Poor Jason, such a conflicted fellow....

Oh yes, and the wedding cake was really good. It was chocolate. Score.