a Bloggity version of NerdGirlTalking
Meg Cabot’s latest blog post talks about her experiences at Book Expo America, which would have been amazing to attend, but when I saw it all I could think of is I’VE TOUCHED SOMEONE WHO’S TOUCHED JULIE ANDREWS.
Remember this picture?
Now check out this picture from Meg’s blog:
Um, yes, I do believe that means the four nerdgirls have hugged Julie Andrews, once removed. Queen Clarisse Renaldi! Maria von Trapp!! Mary Poppins!!! Is there a more classy lady than Julie Andrews?
– jill
Hey chums,
Again, it has been eons since I’ve last posted. But alas, what can I do? Only apologize and try to put up a fun entry. I have been reading a blog called HoboCamp lately. I have absolutely fallen in love with it. The girl who writes it is HILARIOUS. Although I must caution you that there is quite a bit of swearing and naughty things on it. OK, now that I’ve cautioned you, go read it. I have almost popped my lungs at work trying not to laugh. If you don’t find it funny, there may be something wrong with you.
Over at HoboCamp, Meg (the author of the blog) sometimes does a feature called I Saw You Asshole (ISYA for short). Whenever Meg sees someone being an asshole to someone else (or to herself), she says that she may not have the courage to call them out right then and there, but she certainly does in her blog. So with that explanation, I offer you my own ISYA.
***WARNING – I PLAN ON DROPPING THE F BOMB IN THIS LETTER. IF PROFANITY OFFENDS YOU, DO NOT READ THIS LETTER, TURN TO THE CLEANER POSTS OF THIS BLOG – THEY ARE VERY GOOD!
It's a good thing this is not me b/c I totally would have ate the Celebrations BITCH
ISYA: Bridesmaid Dress Edition
Dear A**hole at Celebrations in Coralville,
When people go to a professional dress store, they expect to be measured correctly. When I signed my form back in November promising that I understood that the dress I would be getting would be sized according to my measurements right then and there, I put my trust in you that I would actually FIT into my dress.
Do I measure myself every day? Do I know what my hip, waist and bust measurements are? No. I believe most people do not keep track of that kind of information. But from now on, because of you, I think I might start keeping a weekly log of my measurements.
When I picked up my dress a few weeks ago I was SO EXCITED! The dress was SO PRETTY and I could not wait to try it on. But then I got back to the farm and wait…what’s this? The dress was TOO SMALL. Hmm….that’s weird. I have been training for a half marathon, so I would think that I would at least have stayed the same size as before my dress measuring… Actually to be honest, I truly thought my dress would be slightly big on me. But nope. Too small. Oh sure, I can get that sucker on, but then it bunches up on my hips and makes me look fat.
But no worries, I’m sure we can get the dress taken out and everything will be just peachy!
Fast forward to last Saturday.
I walked into Celebrations a little after noon, and you were waiting for me. I was so tickled! Wow, you knew I was going to be early for my appointment! Don’t I feel special?! The seamstress (not affiliated with Celebrations) gave me my dress and told me to go put it on. I did so, and came back out for her to look at me.
All was fine and cool…the seamstress ripped seams, as I understood she was going to do.
Then it happened. The seamstress got out her measuring tape. In comparing my measurements, I was informed by the Celebrations BITCH (not the seamstress) that I have gained 3 inches on my hips and 2 inches on my waist.
At first, I was a little dumbfounded. …..3 inches….on my hips? And…2…2 inches? 2 inches on my waist? Wait…but….I have just run a half marathon! I have been working out at least 4 times a week….wha….what? I….I ran 13.1 miles….I…what? Maybe…..maybe…umm…maybe I should…stop working out? Wait…what?
*Here is the convo that went down at the store…I have edited it for purposes of shortness*
Seamstress: You gain weight. (The seamstress was Asian, and might not consider things callous that we do. So I forgive her.)
Me: I did? But…I just ran a half marathon….?
Celebrations BITCH: Well you signed a contract saying you wouldn’t gain weight.
ME: But…I…didn’t….
Celebrations BITCH: Well obviously you did or else your dress would fit. Here, I’ll go get your contract for you.
*I am still standing while the seamstress continues to rip out the seam of my dress.
*Celebrations BITCH comes back with my contract.
Celebrations BITCH: See, here, you signed it.
Me: I can see that I did sign this. But it says that my waist is a size four while my hips are a size 6 (my dress was a size 4). Why didn’t I get a size 6 so that it would fit my hips?
Celebrations BITCH: Well, if we had gotten a size 6 we would have had to take it in, and you don’t want that.
Me: Umm…………?
Celebrations BITCH: You signed for a size 4.
Seamstress: I can take this out, but you still need lose weight. Just lay off ice cream.
Me: …..What?
****END****
And that’s pretty much it. I got out of the store and then sobbed in the car for a good half hour. Yes, the seamstress did make me cry by telling me that I was going to have to lose weight, but I am PISSED to no end about the Celebrations BITCH. I wish I could go back in and give her a piece of my mind. See, the thing is, if I have really gained 3 inches on my hips and 2 inches on my waist, it would have also come with a significant weight gain. 2 out of my 3 sisters in law are nurses, and they inform me that I would have had to gain at least 20 pounds. And how many pounds have I gained since I signed my contract? Oh wait, none. In fact, I have lost about 2 or 3 pounds. And besides….doesn’t it make more sense to take a dress IN than let it OUT? I mean….there is a chance that there will not be enough fabric to properly let it out to fit me…but of course that is preferable to having a dress be to big and have to cut out fabric…….. WHAT???
SO TO THE CELEBRATIONS BITCH WHO INSISTED THAT IT WAS MY OWN FAULT AND THAT I HAVE GAINED WEIGHT AND GROWN WHEN I REALLY HAVEN’T – YOU NEED TO HAVE YOUR ASS FIRED. YOU WERE RUDE TO ME, AND UNWILLINGLY TO ADMIT ANY GUILT ON PART OF THE STORE. MAYBE IF THEY DIDN’T HIRE INCOMPETENT SHITBAGS LIKE YOURSELF, MAYBE THEY COULD GET SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY KNOWS HOW TO MEAUSRE SOMEONE PROPERLY BEFORE THEY ORDER A DRESS DAMMIT.
Shove it up your ass,
Lindsay
OK, In rereading that, I’m pretty sure I did NOT drop the F bomb. I definitely did after I stopped crying and realized that I was being stupid and was NOT fat.
But seriously….I am writing a letter to Celebrations. This is ridiculous. I know that they do have people who know how to measure correctly because all of the other bridesmaids were measured by the same person and their dresses all came out fine. I got measured at a different time by someone else who OBVIOUSLY knows NOTHING about measuring someone for dresses.
So now I am back in Nashville, wondering how on earth I am going to manage this. I figure I just need to keep on with the exercising (Andrew and I are training for a 10 mile run in June), and completely cut out sugar in my diet until after the wedding. I figure if I drink my coffee black, have no pop and stay out of the cookie and candy drawer at work (the most glorious drawer in all of our lab) I should be OK. I am also thinking of the Special K challenge – they claim that I can take an inch off of my waist if I do it right…but then again, it’s really my hips that are the problem.
Gosh this sucks. I shouldn’t even be THINKING about trying to lose weight let alone area off of my body. I FUCKING HATE CELEBRATIONS. There, I dropped it.
Also, don’t believe me I ran a half marathon? Check this shit out. Also, after Jill informed me that Jason Mraz ran the 1/2 marathon also, I looked it up and realized that he ran past me. Don’t believe me? Do the math yourself.
Peace out girl scout,
Lindsay
This is the most amazing thing I have seen in a long time. I know I say that about EVERYTHING, but I really mean it this time:
There are so many great things about “Glee” that I don’t even know where to start. I love the main guy, his crazy wife, and all the high school students (even though they look old enough to be in grad school). Plus Jane Lynch, Jane Lynch, Jane Lynch!!! I wish we broke out into song on a regular basis in real life, so this show is perfect for me.
My favorite line: “You’re very talented. I would know, because I’m very talented.”
There are two incredibly sad things about this:
1. It airs tomorrow at 8 on FOX and then doesn’t come back till the fall 😥
2. I will be in the car at that time driving to Chi-town. Arrrrgghhh! Thank God for Hulu.
Jen
Kansas City (MO) Public Library!
Look at how awesome the library’s parking garage is! On the far left, which I don’t think you can see in the pictures, are titles by KC authors. Then some popular favorites.
I think people in the community could nominate and vote on titles.
It’s difficult to see in this picture, but see the steps on the left? They actually look like stacked books! You can kind of see that in the top picture.
Don’t you think all public libraries should do this??
– Jill
She can go and make all the horrible movies she wants (*cough* Bride Wars *cough*) but I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Anne Hathaway. Here is a commercial for the MTV Movie Awards at the end of this month. Andy Samberg is funny but Anne MAKES this video with her reaction at the very end.
I might actually watch the awards this year.
Jen
Last night I started off my week by reading Miley Cyrus’ engrossing biography called Miles to Go. That has to be the most fitting biography title I have ever seen.
I checked it out just for kicks, but I really learned a lot of interesting things. If you can sift through all of the inspirational hooey (not to knock inspirational stuff, but to me it is mostly just hooey) there are several juicy facts found inside.
1. Miley and Emily Osment did not get along at all during the first two seasons of Hannah Montana. WHAT!!!! I was horrified and saddened to read this. Lily is my favorite character on the show, and it hurts to know that her friendship with Miley was all “fake.” Okay, I know they are acting so it really is fake, but still. Apparently things were really awkward until they started shooting the movie and now they are the best of friends. At least it has a happy ending.
2. I didn’t know that Billy Ray wasn’t originally scheduled to play her dad. I thought the whole show was built around the two of them, but I was way wrong. The whole first part of the book is about the multiple auditions she had to go through to get the part. According to the book, Billy Ray getting the part was based on an offhand comment made by her mother. The audition stuff is really great to read. Apparently they wanted a 16 year old girl to play Hannah……imagine how different that would have been.
3. Miley’s sixth grade experience was just as hellish as the rest of ours. She writes about being bullied repeatedly by several girls in her school. They tormented her at lunch and even locked her in the bathroom once. I don’t know why I was so surprised by this. I guess I pictured her childhood being filled with sunshine lollipops and rainbows.
4. She has lots of sweet things to say about her “Prince Charming.” (Not her current illegal prince charming, but her first one.)
5. She struggled with really bad acne during the second season of the show. I totally can’t tell at all when watching the show. I can’t even imagine how awful it must be to have to go through things like that while the whole world is watching.
Anyway, I found the book to be an entertaining and quick read (There are even full color pictures!!!). It is rambling in some parts and filled with lots of the aforementioned hooey, but it really does sound like it was written by a 15 year old. That may sound like a bad thing, but it lets me believe in my mind that she actually DID write this book herself and didn’t have too much “help” with it. So if you are a fan of Hannah Montana or Miley it is definitely worth your time.
Jen
I have watched this video many times today. Thanks to Give Me My Remote for introducing it to me.
It makes me teary everytime I see it. It gives me hope that with all the terrible stuff going on right now, there is actually hope for humanity. It also makes me want to live in London where stuff like this happens all the time. I also think that I totally saw my roommate from London Jen at 3:05 (she is on someone’s shoulders).
P.S. Watch out for Pink. I don’t know if she just happened to be there, or was in on the plan.
P.P.S. Here is T-Mobile’s previous ad that is equally good.
Jen
As I said in the previous post, I just moved back to Iowa after living in the Chicago suburbs for a year and a half. So what did I do during my first weekend back in Iowa………….I went back to Chicago of course!!!
I went to say one last goodbye to my co-workers (full of lots of tears) and also to go to the Harry Potter exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. Abby and I bought our tickets ages ago, so I wasn’t going to miss this no matter how tired I was from moving.
Well, the one really disappointing part of the exhibit was that I was not allowed to take pictures. I had a mini hissy fit when I saw the giant sign proclaiming that there was no photography. I had promised a lot of people (including my fellow nerdgirls) that I would take pictures so that they could see what it was like, but alas, I failed them. I honestly can’t think of any reason why we weren’t allowed to take photos except that they wanted to move us through the exhibit pretty fast. Here is a site that does have a lot of pictures because Leaky is special and can do whatever they want. There is also a very detailed description of the exhibit here.
After that tremendous downfall, I really did enjoy the exhibit. The beginning part is pretty cheesy, so be prepared. All of the staff members talk in varying degrees of fake British accents and give somewhat painful pep talks to the crowds waiting to cram inside. But after the initial cheesiness, the awesomeness begins.
The only pic we could take because it was outside the exhibit.
You are ushered into a room with video screens that show clips from all six movies (that’s right, I said six). The montages are great and the music swells at just the right time and it totally gave me goosebumps. Then the doors fly open and you are standing right in front of the Hogwarts Express. That’s when I knew that I was going to be in for something great.
The exhibit itself is very “look but don’t touch,” but that was fine by me. It is composed of costumes and props from all of the movies. Some of the highlights include Yule Ball attire of all the major characters (hello screaming Twilight fans!), Ron’s trunk from school, Kreacher, Buckbeak, Umbridge’s office, and Oliver Wood’s quidditch robes (oh how I miss him). There were three interactive parts of the tour. You could shoot a quaffle, pull up a screaming mandrake, or sit in Hagrid’s chair (very uncomfortable).
I loved looking at all of the different props, but especially the costumes. It was just really cool thinking that I was standing feet away from something that Alan Rickman or Emma Thompson had worn. And yes, I know that makes me a giant nerd, but I don’t care.
I would recommend going to the exhibit for anyone who loves the movies because the rest of the museum is so awesome that it is completely worth the price of the ticket. The exhibit doesn’t take very long, but make sure you allow a whole day to explore the rest of the museum. But I will say that the exhibit is ONLY about the movies…….if someone is a fan of the books and hasn’t seen the movies, it probably wouldn’t mean much to them.
So if you are going to be in Chicago from now to September you should go and check it out. We bought our tickets way early, but they were still selling tickets for it that morning, so I don’t think you have to worry about it selling out.
Jen
Hopefully everyone knows exactly what the title of this post is referencing. If not here are some other clues:
“Slick Shoes Are You Crazy?”
Chester Copperpot
One-Eyed Willy
The Truffle Shuffle
I am talking about one of the most influential movies of my childhood: The Goonies. I used to watch this movie all the time when I was little. Then I went for a long time without watching it and when I revisited it again, it was like a completely different movie. I finally got all the jokes that went way over my head as a kid (I lived a rather sheltered life, so all the stuff about sex went right over my head) and I could actually understand some of the stuff that was said when they were all talking at the same time.
If you haven’t already listened to the commentary on the DVD, then you should run out and do it right now. It is especially awesome because there is a video in the corner the whole time of them recording the commentary. I wish every movie did that. It is sad that Sean Astin has to leave partway through, and Corey Feldman does try to make one too many jokes, but it is very worthwhile for anyone who is a fan of the movie.
Well, Luckily I follow Empire Magazine on Twitter and I caught this marvelous video of a Goony reunion. For the magazine’s 20th anniversary they brought together the cast of the movie along with the director and producer (Richard Donner and Stephen Spielberg). The video is super cute and makes me think they should all get together once a year and charge admission. I would totally pay to see them reminisce.
I can’t seem to figure out how to embed the video, but here is the link. Go there and watch it now!!!
20 Something Years Later
A few thoughts about the video:
All of the guys are so good looking now! If only Corey Feldman would cut that hair of his (and wash it?). Data is completely adorable and Chunk looks REAL good all grown up. I think that Kerri Green is about the most beautiful woman ever and I totally have a girl crush on her.
Anyway, sorry it took me so long to post something…….I just moved back to Iowa!!!! So hopefully the posts will be coming more frequently in the future.
Jen
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