No Doubt 2009 Tour Widget

Covert Ops

I snuck a picture of this painting I LOVE at work. No flash, because it degrades the art. Isn't it incredible? Everytime I walk by it, I can't help but admire it and I don't even have a particular fondness for Bogart.

It was painted by a very talented artist named James Michaels. I WISH I could buy a print of this, but I can find close to nil about this dude on the internet. I just know that the guy who owns the company has bought a ton of this guy's work, which is mostly big, bright and crammed with pop culture. It's completely up my alley.

If you ever come to the area, I'll get you an art tour. The buildings have a pretty great collection. There's even an original Dali or two.

The soon-to-be favorite person I have met this year...

My ever so adorable niece, Makayla! She was born in March and I am going to see her in seven days! I AM SO SO SO EXCITED!

What a muffin, hey?

The best thing to happen to me during my entire absence.

I adopted a kitty!

You can see she LOVED the ride home.

But really, she fits in here just fine.

It's about that time, I think.

I'm back, baby!

chipotle and reisling

Last night, we had our friend Nicole over and watched Shaun of the Dead. We picked up some Chipotle and a bottle of wine too. Yeah, I don't know about wine and Mexican food, but I liked it well enough. I don't know why, but I had been craving a nice bottle of red. Sadly, it seems I was the only one who likes red, so I had to settle for a bottle of Reisling, which wasn't too bad.

Maybe one of these days soon, I'll just walk over to the Cork & Olive and buy myself a nice Pinot and draw a bath and sit in it and get tossed while listening to music. Have a nice little night with myself. Right now Joel's working two jobs and with my new job, I pretty much only see him on the weekends. I leave for work before he gets up in the morning and he gets home from the second job after I go to sleep.

It sucks balls, I tell you. And not in a good, fun way either, it's the kind of ballsucking that, well, sucks.

Anyways, I love Shaun of the Dead. It's such a great movie. A month or so ago, Joel and I went to see "Hot Fuzz" - their follow-up flick. It was so tremendous we were looking for a copy of SOTD for a while. I have to say after watching it again last night, I think I have a little crush on Simon Pegg, He's cute in a 30-something and British kind of way. Is that weird? Probably not, given my taste in men. It's all over the freaking map.

My stomach just rumbled loud enough that you could probably hear it if you're awake up in Canada. I'm gonna go scrounge for breakfast.

this is my new favorite picture.

"no more pictures!", he declared.

however he knew he wouldn't be spared.

she has artistic vision.

this is what happens when you let a three year old use your camera.

personally, i dig it.

however, i am thinking i should invest in some whitening strips for my teeth.

delicious.

i like beer. beer tastes good.

um, when enjoyed in a responsible manner of course.

The first day of work.

Today was orientation day. It was a whole day of being bombarded with information - company policy this, dress code that and etc. I got to take a quick tour through some of the towers - there are four interlinked towers that comprise the corporate headquarters of Raymond James and I work in Tower 4. Wheeeee. I have to admit, I was WAY intimidated walking around there - this is the largest place I have ever worked. I felt like such a hick.

I got to see the executive boardroom. It was so quiet in there, I felt like the 14 of us were sneaking in somewhere we weren't supposed to be. They had a Haida Sculpture in a corner of the room and I missed BC for just a few seconds when I saw it.

My favorite thing about the place so far is all the crazy art that hangs in the corridors. Everywhere you turn, there are incredible paintings, sculptures and murals. The CEO of the company has put about 2000 pieces of his personal art collection on display for us working stiffs and they rotate the pieces about once a quarter. How cool is that? We're not allowed to photograph the paintings - the flashes would deteriorate the paintings over time - otherwise I would have some freaking cool things to show you today.

In the cafeteria where I had lunch, one guy who worked in the back was super friendly and made me laugh telling me that I shouldn't get too cozy at my job because since I was new, I was likely to be fed to the dinosaurs that Raymond James uses as the meat to make all the cafeteria food. Okay, pal. Dinosaurs? Did Tom James steal the bug in amber from Jurrassic Park? Should we be concerned?

I ate lunch with my supervisor Mike. He's a really nice, cool guy. After chatting about our department, I found out that he's a former cop [he quit cause he hated being one] who likes Social Distortion and South Park. It turns out we're both forgetful as hell and also should be forced to wear bibs when we eat. He told me that after my interview he wanted to offer me my job right away, but had to interview someone else - who not only didn't show up, but didn't call to let him know either. Wow. But anyways, I got a major ego boost because it really seems like the two guys who interviewed me really wanted me to work there and are very confident in my ability to succeed in my job.

It's so nice to be told that.

I found out a piece of news during that lunch which got me really excited for my job - I get my very own desk. I don't have to share with anyone. I don't have to wander in with a headset and hope I get a workstation that actually works. I am so freaking nerdily enthralled by this bit of news. You have no idea.

Watch out, when I have access to the office supplies, I may have to be resuscitated. I don't know why, but if I won a shopping spree in Staples, I'd be in heaven. I love pens, post-it notes, markers, notepads.

I am the biggest dork you'll ever meet.

Anyways. I'm also loving all the perks this job entails. I get discounts on all manner of things from tickets to DisneyWorld to postage. They have an on-site shoe shine department and you can even bring in your dry-cleaning to be sent out.

I'm so effing excited about this. I was so nervous about what kind of a job would get down here and how it would be going back work after taking almost a year off, but after today I feel like I'm ready to go in and kick some serious butt.

This is the most confident in myself I've felt in a long time. It's a damn good thing.

For that bored reader....

From Facebook, May 31st:

Before I get into any stories, I just have to take a moment to announce that I am listening to a new Spoon track from the forthcoming and oh-so-aptly named record "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga".

I'm in so much love right now. If these fellows know what's good for them, they'll come here in their travels to support this record. Lord. I NEED to see them.

Okay. I think I'm done gushing. For now.

So. Two jobs. Yeah. I got a call this afternoon from the staffing agency who's been dicking me around. Apparently, the insurance agency that previously hired me and then unceremoniously absconded with the job they offered, had someone quit on them and were looking to use me to fill that void seeing as they had interviewed and adored me already. Being as my husband is desperate to quit his second job, I accepted the position even though I was still kinda pissed about what happened. I was told the job wasn't going to start til June 11th, so I figured if I didn't get the job that I wanted at Raymond James, I would still have something to go to.

Then, a few hours later, I got a call from the HR Department at Raymond James. They had heard back from the hiring manager and wanted to offer me the job I interviewed for last Thursday. I was so excited! She asked me if I wanted time to think about it or if I wanted to accept the job. I told her that I accepted right then and there!

So, tomorrow I have to go pick up my new hire package and do my drug test. I start with orientation on Monday!

I'm psyched and a little nervous because it's been almost a year since I left ADT, but I know I'll do just fine. Now I just have to call the staffing agency and tell them I can't take the insurance job. I don't feel the slightest amount of guilt after the way they've jerked me around.

This is awesome!

a few shots from the show.

my super kawaii harajuku lovers shirt that i bought at the show.

hi-yah!

give it up for g!

blurry gwen sings 'cool' from the crowd. next to her, blurry warren fitzgerald.

gwen, jill greenburg style.

winding it up!

tree and i hamming it up.

gwen stefani - ford ampitheatre - may 8th

see that freaking speck down there with the lights? yeah, that's gwen stefani.

i feel like such an ungrateful wretch, but my seats for this show sucked balls. i'll admit it, since i've been with joel, i have become incredibly spoiled when it comes to concerts. i had built this show up in my mind so much and was so excited because i heard i might get to have vip box seats. sadly, the guy who was supposed to get those vip seats went on vacation and forgot to secure those for us, so we ended up sitting in the back of the third tier. i really wanted to pout, but i DID get into this show completely for free. if i had to pay for seats i wouldn't have been able to go, so i thank goodness for small graces.

besides, it was gwen. i can't be upset when she's so absolutely adorable and i get to sing along with her.

the setlist was as follows:
the sweet escape
rich girl
yummy
4 in the morning
luxurious
early winter
wind it up
danger zone
hollaback girl
wonderful life
instrumental intermission
now that you got it
don't get it twisted
cool
orange county girl

encores:
the real thing [slow jam mix]
what you waiting for?

my memory is shite, so i actually wrote down the songs she played. her stage banter was sweet. she told us how ridiculously excited she was to be touring again and couldn't beliebe that the last time she was in tampa she was pregnant with kingston. she told us the only reason she goes on tour is to watch the crowds sing to her. she would point down into the crowd and tell members of the audience how adorable she thought they were.

because of how far back i was, i didn't notice that she had warren fitzgerald from the vandals in her backing band! i went crazy when she introduced him. this was even after gwen came up into the foot of the third tier with him and a few band members to sing cool - during which i stood up on my chair to try to take pics. they didn't really turn out that well though.

i know for sure that when no doubt tours to promote their next record i am not only getting floor seats, but i am going to be one of those insane people who camps out in front of the venue so that i can guarantee myself a spot in the front. i enjoyed seeing gwen last night, but i felt so freaking far removed. sure, they had screens up so you could see close ups, but i just felt like i was lacking something in not being closer to the stage.

i have a cold and i was singing along last night, so just imagine what i sound like today. pretty funny.

update.

called the place i want to work at. the human resources rep is still not available. got her voicemail, so i left a message.

it didn't indicate she was going to be away for an extended period of time, so i'll just twiddle my fingers and see what happens.

wish me luck again.

it's 9:11pm

i like bows.

i constantly notice one of my eyes doesn't quite open as wide as the other in pictures. it's not horrendously noticable, but enough to bother me.

i think maybe it has to do with my frankenstein scars, but i'm not sure.

just an observation.

it's been thundering outside. i like it.

i need to become acclimatized to this environment much faster. it's too frigging hot outside.