Shynnee.com

How cool is this? Brandon bought me Shynnee.com! I feel so cool and special :) It directs you to this blog. Now I feel like I should put more important awesome things here. Then again, everything I say is important and awesome :P

He also sent me a big box of cool Japanese things! Some of my favorite items: everything chocolate, a t-shirt that looks like I'm wearing a health kit from Left 4 Dead, Hibiscus flowers you put in a glass of champagne, energy drink that is in a packet that looks like donated blood, a stuffed tank puppy I can dress, dried fish and nuts, neat little brew your own coffee packs and an MRE that he's going to make me eat eventually. Ok that wasn't just some of my favorite things that was everything. I loved it all! Meltykisses are officially my favorite chocolates ever.

I got my brother the MW2 Combat Controller for his PS3. He's gonna be so happy. I see him look it up online everyday and we went to Best Buy and he showed it to me at least a dozen times. I found a "collectors edition" at GameStop, it comes in a special case. Not that it'll ever go into the case, kid plays 24/7! I let Shannon open her plush sushi and edamame keychain because she was having a bad day the other day and it put her in a good mood.

We're going to see Avatar for Christmas tomorrow! I'm stoked, everyone says the movie is great. They are actually playing a 3D version we're going to try and get into. Then moms making Christmas Dinner. I'm a little sad its not ham but she promised me ham for New Years. Have I mentioned before that I have an obsession with ham? The stuff is fantastic. Can't get enough!

The Gift

I went to a Christmas Party last night. At the party I was in charge of the games. We played a getting to know you game where I had everyone write down something about themselves nobody would know. Then we all had to guess who's who. It was fun. My other game was you take a pair of panty hose (everyone freaked when I started handing out panty hose by the way) and blow up balloons, first person who fills their hose all the way puts their "antlers" on wins. Everyone had fun with it.

We also did a Chinese gift exchange. Where everyone draws a number and when its your turn you can choose a gift or steal someone else's. Well I got to my turn and there were some so-so gifts out there so I decided to take my chances at the table. I picked this cute cloth bag with candy canes on it. Opened it up and there was some candles and candy and a book. YAY! I love books! The book was a bible..a camouflage bible.

I get that I live in the south and when it comes to things like this I am the minority, but here's the thing about holy roller that thought it'd be a good idea to give a gift like that. When we were playing the getting to know you game her secret about herself was : "I like to stay out dancing until early morning." When asked "oh, what kind of dancing do you like?" her reply? "Depends on which bar I'm at".

Reminds me of Jim Gaffigan "can we hurry this along, I've got some sinnin' to do".

2009 of awesomeness

2009 rocked for me. Looking back I can name one or 2 things that stood out and made each month awesome. I can only hope to keep the momentum through 2010. Here's some highlights from my 2009:

January-2 weeks spent in North Carolina for training for my awesome new job
February-2 more weeks in NC and a trip to Virginia beach to see my sister!
March-Trip to Myrtle Beach with Lindsy and Nicole for Lindsy's bday.
April-Lindsy and mom at my place all month, bonfire nights out in Batesburg
May-Trip to Hawaii to see Brandon!
June-Stayed at the Lake in an awesome cabin with friends.
July-4th of July pool party at my place and a fun trip to Savanna, GA!
August-Trip to Charlotte, saw a live band. Amazing dinner at my fav place, PF Changs. Trip to AL for work.
September-Cody moved in. hadn't seen my brother in a YEAR. Trip to VA to visit Lindsy and Jake
October-Charleston with Brandon, awesome comedy club! Halloween party, dressed as Marilyn Monroe
November-Evening at the State Fair, Thanksgiving full of yum and joined Golds Gym and the bowling team!
December-Visit from Lindsy, photo shoot with her and cody, christmas parties and CHRISTMAS!

I met tons of new people this year and tried out lots of new things. I learned a lot about myself and the things that I enjoy.

 I lived my life this year and it was amazing.

My brother, sister and myself went to get photos done last weekend. My sister Lindsy drove down from Virginia with her GIGANTIC dog Sampson. He's a German Shepherd. He also tortured Tank the whole time. Sampson just wanted to play and Tank just wanted to not have his head in Sam's mouth. Good times.

The photos turned out really good. We did some traditional smile and pose ones and then we got to do some silly ones too. One where we were fighting and one where my sister and I were kissing my brother and he was rolling his eyes. Totally cute. Its part of our Christmas gift to our dad. He's gonna love it. I posted them on Facebook and Myspace.

We tried to have dinner at my all time favorite place to eat Mikinos but they were closed for the holidays. Musta went on vacation. So we went to Copper River instead. I'd never eaten there, it was awesome! Not to mention the service was really great. Our waiter was an asian guy named Herman which I thought was kind of silly but it helped me remember his name. He was fun and gave great service, which is always important to me.

We wanted to go see the Christmas lights in Sumter at Swan Lake but it was late and that’s a long drive. I'm going sometime this week I think. I've seen photos on the website, it looks really pretty. I'm going to bring my camera and see if I can get some photos. I think if I just turn the flash off it'll turn out pretty cool. We shall see!!

I'm really excited about the Christmas gift I got Shan. She's obsessed with eating sushi and I found some plush Sushi on thinkgeek.com (yes like a stuffed sushi pillow thing) so I got her that along with an edamame keychain, the little pea pops up. Its adorable. I wasn't sure what to get Brandon so I just filled a box with random things that I thought he might like. I can't wait for my brother to get his, I got him Scribblenauts. I got my dad a bar set that looks like a chemistry set! Totally awesome. I'm in love with thinkgeek.com by the way. Its ok that I spilled my gifts here, none of those people read my blog ;)

 

Nonsense and rambling.

I really like that I can email my blogs in now. So I can just ramble and compile my blog throughout the day and send when I've run out of things to say. Enjoy!

I joined a bowling league for something to do on Monday nights. I'm a pretty horrible bowler but its just a fun league and you get a free bowling ball for joining. Last night they gave us coupons for Christmas so now I have a big book of bowling coupons. I decided to take my tellers sometime, they are pretty excited about that.

Tonight at the gym is shoulders. My 2 favorite things to work out are shoulders and back. I think because for the most part my shoulders and back always hurt, everyday. So I know when I build some muscle there they will likely start to feel better. Plus all the exercises I do for them get the muscles hot and stretched out so the pain goes away for awhile while I'm working out.

Man I can't believe the year is almost over! 2009 was definitely a big year for me, so many changes and so many awesome things happening for me. I think I'll make an end of year look back post, I need to make a list first. I already have a pretty exciting 2010, looking at flights to Japan today. Its like 6 months off and Brandon has our whole trip mapped out almost! My sister is turning 21 in March and we're planning a vacation for that.

Final note-It is my personal opinion that women should never wear camouflage. Ever.

The Jewelry

I moved recently to a bigger apartment. I've been living in a 500 sqft place so you can imagine that I don't actually own that many things. I don't collect anything so the stuff that I do own is either meaningful or useful or both. As I was moving I noticed that some of my jewelry was missing. These are items I don't wear because they are expensive and I don’t want to mess them up. I didn't stress about it because I thought maybe my mother had put it into her safe. When she got back I had her look inside just to make sure and it wasn't there.

I'm missing:
Diamond Earrings
Gold Garnet and Diamond Ring
Gold band with hearts shaped into the band
Gold and Pearl Necklace
Silver ring with blue, green and purple colored diamonds in it.
Heart shaped gold ring with diamond chips in it

I placed an ad on Craigslist and I have been looking at local pawn shops, I filed a police report and a claim with my renters insurance. Yea they will give me some cash, but man. I have so many cool expensive things in my apartment, why my family jewelry?? I'd trade everything I own to get that stuff back, its simply not replaceable. I am positive that it was workers coming into my apartment for various reasons. I have had one person stay the night in my apartment and I'm positive that person 1. wasn't alone in my bedroom and 2. wouldn't steal from me for any reason. I'm sick over this.

Mustachio!

Played some Left 4 Dead 2 the other night with Nick, Jon and AJ. We found a Whack-a-Mole type game in the Dark Carnival map. It was called Whack-a-Stache and instead of moles popping up it was pistachios with mustaches! When they popped out they yelled "Mustachio!". Very cute and I've been saying Mustachio! for days now. You get an achievement for beating the Whack-a-Stache game, which is basically the 4 of us shooting at the thing each time one popped out. Still loving that game.

Brandon got me Serious Sam:HD and I've been playing that today. Its a Doom style FPS game. I haven't tried Multiplayer yet but the Single Player is fun, I like the monsters and so far my favorite are these headless guys that come running at you screaming and they have bombs on their hands. If they get too close they explode on you. I just like how they yell AHHHHHHH!

Yesterday mom and I went shopping. I got most of my Christmas gifts online this year so besides the few things I needed to pick up for local people I mostly shopped for myself. Old Navy had a sweater sale, too bad when I got to the counter only 1 of the three I chose were actually on sale. I had already fallen in love with them so I got them anyway. After shopping we decided to grab a beer before going home so we stopped at Carolina Ale House. It was fun but as the bar area got more crowded we realized we were the only women in the place and that was attracting much unwanted attention and more drinks than we could handle, so we left and went to the comfort spot, McCareys.

Nicole had a purse party yesterday afternoon. I've never been to one before but it was neat. Very similar to Pampered Chef, PartyLite and all those other shop at home companies. They were selling purses, totes, and accessories. I got my sister a cute handbag and I bought myself a organizing tote. Its got lots of pockets and places to put things and the fabric is super cool. I'll probably use it for a gym bag or to put my sewing stuff in. Christmas time really makes the girl come out in me. haha.

Speaking of the gym, I haven't updated my okfinefinefine blog because its redundant. I'll probably end up mentioning everything I do here and since I joined bodybuilding.com to track my measurements theres no point to a separate blog. I'll delete it soon. I started going to classes at the gym now, Monday mornings is Boot Camp, Wednesdays BodyPump (favorite so far) and Saturday is BodyStep. Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday I do regular workouts and cardio still. Besides the fact that my entire body aches pretty much all the time I am starting to feel stronger already. My first 30 day measure date is the 11th, this coming Friday. I am confident I will see a difference.

Never Try and Yankitize Me

Me: Don't call me sugar

Friend: darlin?

Friend: honey?

Friend: sporty?

Me: Steph

Friend: lmao

Me: Honey, darlin ect sounds condescending

Friend: ok didnt mean to offend, i am what we call southern, so i do use sugar and darlin a lot and they arent meant to come off as sexist or whatever..............they are kinda like saying ma'am when i use them

Me: I know

Me: I'm yankee-inizing you

Friend: meanass

Me: Or teaching you how to speak to one

Friend: never try and yankitize me

Me: Haha

Friend: it aint happenin

Friend: although i can pull of a pretty good chicago accent

Me: I gotta hear that

Friend: oh i know how to speak to "yall", just cuss a lot and never actually show any respect. its simple

Friend: and speak loudly also

Friend: show zero manners

Friend: and just be an all around ass........which shockingly enough, i can pull off ;)

Why does speaking loudly with no manners sound so appealing to me? ...I need to take a trip back home soon.

The Pen

My favorite pen has left my desk leaving behind only a note that reads:

"Don't worry...

I'm ok. I just went out

4 some fun. Hey...you

got 2 go on vacation

this year...

With Love, The Pen"

its been several weeks and my pen has not returned so I have left a note for it to find upon its return:

"Dear Pen,

I hope you've enjoyed your

travels. Much has happened

over the last few weeks.

Sorry for doing this in a

letter but...

I've replaced you with

a younger, thinner, move

attractive pen. I hope

you understand...I have

needs. Its not you, its me.

Regards,

Stephanie"

Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist

So as I download music recently I realized that a lot of the songs I've been choosing were from "Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist". So I googled it and found this site, apparently this dude Blalock compiles a monthly playlist of new music and you can torrent it. Each list is about 125 songs. So far March, August and October have the most songs I like. But I wanted to share, cool stuff in there. Enjoy!!

According to this my Xbox is feeling "Emo" because I haven't played it much. Don't worry little buddy, I picked up Dragon Age: Origins and Assassins Creed 2 yesterday! I also got my long awaited Left 4 Dead 2 and played a bit with Brandon until my stupid dumb annoying internet disconnected and then he had to go to bed. I finally got back on and was able to jump into the finale with AJ, Nick and Hisan. Very cool thing, instead of just fighting off wave after wave of zombies you actually have to complete objectives. For example, we had to collect 13 gas cans that were spread around the area and fill up a car to get out. This requires even more team work than before, I throughly enjoy it. Not sure how I feel about the new characters yet though Ellis reminds me constantly what I don't like about South Carolina, even if he is pretty funny.

Dragon Age: Origins is just awesome. I only did my first quest but the customization, amount of quests and the fact that its single player but you're playing with a group and you can actually switch to other party members makes the gameplay really interesting. There are customizable battle plans (a bit like a complicated wow macro), tons of side quests and your responses shape your story line. I'm playing an Elven Mage right now.

I haven't touched Assassins Creed 2 because I would like to have more than just an hour or so to play, review to come :)

Today on the news they talked about how the government says not all women should have to be screened for mammograms in their 30s and 40s. They did NOT say if you are in your 30s or 40s its completely unnecessary to get them but you know the news they like to word things in such a a way. Of course all day I hear women in an uproar about this new piece of information. C'mon guys. If you are in your 30's and early 40's, nobody in your family has had breast cancer, you're healthy and you do self exams (which every woman that has breasts should be doing by the way) and not an "at risk" case you really do not need to get a mammogram. Yes, of course there are exceptions to this rule, there are exceptions to every rule but they are as common as a freak bowling ball accident.

-as an aside about the self exams and a note to how important they are, my best friend does them religiously and found a lump a few weeks ago. Went to have it checked out and is having it removed this week, the chances of it being anything are slim but you never know.

Moral of the story - know your medical background, be responsible for care and maintenance of your body, listen to your doctors advice. Just because you turned 30 does not mean you are at risk for breast cancer.

Clearly

I'm moving! Not far though.

My apartment complex emailed me last week to let me know my lease was expiring. I had planned on renewing but I wanted to check the complex next to mine to see what rates they were offering on their one bedrooms. So I emailed her back and said I was thinking about moving because they were bigger next door. I get an email back from her offering me an upgrade. 200 more square feet and a fireplace for the same price I was going to renew my current lease for! How awesome is that?! I move Friday.

I think its great how usually when you tell people you're moving they have 100 other things to do. But everyone I have told has offered to help! I have people supplying boxes, helping me pack, moving my big stuff and helping me unpack! This should be great!!

I preordered Left 4 Dead 2 and while in Game Stop I almost ordered Assassins Creed 2 as well but they had a deal going on, trade in 2 games and get it for $20. SWEET. So Tuesday when I pick up L4D2 I'm gonna snag Assassins Creed 2! Great week for gaming.

I downloaded "Never Been to Spain" by Three Dog Night the other day. So far I'm the only person I know that loves the song. Clearly I have amazing taste and everyone else sucks. Clearly.

CoD MW2

Yes I guess I am the only person I know not SUPER OMGWTF STOKED for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Friend: Imma go home, and patiently wait on UPS guy. When the game gets there I will quickly rush to the kitchen and get a knife and open the game.

shynnee123: You don't have it yet /gasp

Friend: At that point I will hear angels singing and I imagine it will be something like Charleston Heston in that movie The Ten Commandments when he parted the red seas…….I will even hear the exact same music playing.

Friend: I will then rush to the xbox, turn it on and gently slide in the disc. I imagine that will feel like the first time I had sex but better. The hard drive will be a bit tight, but probably not as wet ya know?

Friend: Then as the opening cut scene plays I will bask in the glory of my accomplishment of scoring the greatest game in the history of the universe!

Wow. Just wow. I'm still not buying it..

On another note, Left 4 Dead 2 comes out next week and Assassins Creed 2 shortly after that. So I can be OMGWTF stoked in my own little way.

Mitch Hedberg

I've been lol'ing all morning reading a Mitch Hedberg thread. Enjoy some of my favorite quotes:

A severed foot is the ultimate stocking stuffer.

This shirt is "dry clean only"... which means it's dirty.

I haven't slept for 10 days, because that would be too long.

I saw this wino, he was eating grapes. I was like, "Dude, you have to wait."

also - I saw this rhino, and he was eating grapes, and i said, "what the fuck is a rhino doing in italy"

I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it.

I like refried beans, which makes me want to try fried beans. Because maybe they're just as good and we're wasting time.

Is a Hippopotamus really a Hippopotamus, or is it just a really cool Opotamus?

I went to a record store, they said they specialized in hard-to-find records. Nothing was alphabetized.

Escalators can never break, they can only become stairs

smokey the bear is a lot more intense in person

If you find yourself lost in the woods, fuck it! Build a house. "Well, I was lost, but now I live here. I have severely improved my predicament

At the end of my letters, I like to write "P.S. — This is what part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R were eliminated

One time, this guy handed me a picture of him, he said,"Here's a picture of me when I was younger." Every picture is of you when you were younger. "Here's a picture of me when I'm older." "You son-of-a-bitch! How'd you pull that off? Lemme see that camera... what's it look like?

I want to hang a map of the world in my house, and then I’m gonna put pins into all the locations that I’ve traveled to. But first I’m gonna have to travel to the top two corners of the map so it won’t fall down.

There's a commercial on late-night TV for this thing you attach to a garden hose. It says, "You can water your hard-to-reach plants with this product." Who the fuck would make their plants hard to reach!? That seems so very mean. "I know you need water, but I'm gonna make you hard to reach. I will throw water at you. Hopefully, they'll invent a product before you shrivel and die. Think like a cactus!

Sometimes I wave to people I don't know... very dangerous to wave to someone you don't know, because what if they don't have a hand? They'll think you're cocky. "Look what I got motherfucker! This thing is useful... I'm gonna go pick something up."

Someone on my Facebook friends list updated his status to say "is this where you want to be when Jesus comes back?" Well, no. I hope I'm in a bunker somewhere with weapons because it means the zombie apocalypse is finally upon us.

Last night I went to the state fair. Rode some fun rides, won a stuffed animal and restrained myself from eating things like funnel cakes, corn dogs and chocolate covered bacon (yea wtf). Read more about all that on my fat girl blog okfinefinefine.blogspot.com

The coolest thing at the fair was an amazing sand sculpture. It was huge, an entire woodlands theme complete with trees, animals and it was so incredibly detailed. Wish I'd have brought my camera with me.

Tonight I'm going to dinner with Nicole, Monday was her birthday and I got her one of those horrid ugly purses she so badly wanted. Then home to carve my pumpkin! I love fall!!

I mean, seriously, NOWHERE? For starters there are like a thousand species of dinosaurs

HAHA, this IS totally me.

This weekend will be a good time. Tomorrow morning I am headed out to Nicole's house to set up for her mom's surprise 50th bday party, then going over to Newberry for Kristina and Bennies wedding (yay guys!). Then back out to Nicoles for the party, I LOVE her mom. This lady took me in as her own kid almost immediately, inviting me to family stuff like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years when my family wasn't here. Totally being there for me when I was having issues with Tim. I'm stoked to celebrate her birthday!

I don't think my mom realizes that Lindsy and I keep NO secrets. Literally, I don't think I can even speak to my sister without telling her every little detail about everything in my life. We just don't do secrets. So mom tells Lindsy that she's been watching LOST on her laptop without Cody and I and not to tell me. WTF!? She's ruining family night! She went so far as to buy her own Netflix subscription so that we wouldn't see that she shows had been watched (on xbox when you watch a show it marks it as watched even if you delete it from the queue and re-add it). So of course Lindsy calls me right away with this news. jerk.

Next week starts my eat right and stop being a fat girl routine. I'm going to blog about it so I have some accountability. You can find the blog here okfinefinefine.blogspot.com don't look today, its not started yet. I have a little motivation to do what I'm doing so hopefully I can stick to it.

The Rubber Galoshes

So Brandon and I are at a Food and Wine Fest, very cool by the way. I have a tendency to check out other girls. For one, girls are pretty and two, I like to see what they are wearing because it helps me when I have to dress myself. I notice a couple girls wearing rubber galoshes. Ugly ones. Well to be honest there are no cute galoshes. They are almost as horrible as Crocs, in my opinion. Anyway I point this out to Brandon and he and I start counting how many girls were wearing these things. TONS! One chick had on a straw beach hat, safari dress and galoshes. She wasn't sure if she was going to the beach, on a safari or trekking through marshes but whatever it was she was covered....too bad she was on a plantation at a food and wine festival.

Speaking of chicks at the festival. There was this smokin hot girl in a green dress that I couldn't stop staring at! Brandon says she looks like Caprica from Battlestar Galactia, she totally did.

I've been playing Scribblenauts, it came in the mail last Friday. I refuse to use the obvious methods of getting to things. Like flying around in a spaceship instead of just climbing. The game is hilarious though.

Spent this past weekend in Charleston and decided Charleston might need a Stephanie but it has to offer a giant balcony downtown. I'll keep updated on how negotiations are going. Saw The Have Not's they were great. Improv comedy. Saw the aquarium, went to a food festival, went on the aircraft carrier and submarine and walked on the beach at night. It was a great trip.

Also I found out that you can get Acai Bowls in Charleston! First place in SC I have found yet. However, I have become so obsessed with these that I can make them at home now!
Acai Bowl
1 acai smoothie mix
like 1/2 c apple juice or soy milk (up to you)
1 banana
blueberries
ice
granola
honey
mix 1 smoothie pack with a banana, apple juice and some ice, top with blueberries, granola and drizzle in honey
AMAZING OMG

So many games so little time!

I will not play Aion, I will not play Aion. It actually looks really fun and the graphics are very pretty, not to mention you can get wings and fly! It looks alot like World of Warcraft by looking at the interface but that's about all they have on common. I just don't have the time for an MMO. 5 of my friends are playing already, if they still love it in a month, I'll consider at least picking up the 10 day trial.