Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Well, hello there, young man!



Mmm... Daniel Radcliffe.

**No! He's only 17!

But...he's hot...

**He isn't even old enough to vote!

He's old enough to fight Lord Voldemort!

**Don't be an idiot. That's not for real.

How dare you!

**And he's smoking. You hate cigarettes.

It's only for this part he's playing.

**Sha, in a play about blinding horses and weird sex fetishes.

You're so judgmental. You just don't understand him the way I do. He's challenging himself.

**Whatever. Ooh, look over there! It's Joaquin Phoenix!

Where? WHERE???

Apparently my driver's side car door must have been open just a crack because all the snow piled on top melted and dripped all over my seat. I didn't realize until I'd already sat down. Now I'm at work with a wet left butt cheek.

Wooks wike Apwil had a wittle oopsie!

Monday, February 26, 2007

The stupid, lazy-ass city* never came to clear the sidewalk in front of the library this morning, so I had to shovel a path. It's now 2 p.m., and they still haven't shown up.

In preparation for children's story time on Wednesday morning, I have spent the last hour painstakingly tracing dinosaur shapes onto colored foam, then cutting them out. I'm covered in permanent black ink.

I had to listen to a particular patron whom I can't stand tell the same stupid story for the fifth time. He found some quarter that has heads on both sides. Good God, get over it! It's a trick coin from a freaking joke shop! But please, proceed to tell us all once again how you took it to the bank, then the antique shop, and to a coin collector to see if it's "for real."

It's time to go home, just a quick walk across the street. But the friggin' city plow just came through and left a mountain of snow in the middle of the road, extending 2 city blocks. So I have to climb over/through it.

*I don't need your lectures about how they were probably up all night clearing roads and taking care of major highways as a top priority. This is my blog, and I'll bitch if I want to.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Here are some long overdue pictures of Jersey and Aaliyah.


Jersey eating a cheeseburger. She takes after me.


CHOMP! (The dates are wrong on some of these pics. This is actually from February 2007.)


Aaron with his daughter, Aaliyah.


Nikki with daughter, Aaliyah. Almost 6 months old here.


Baby Liyah (as we call her) thoughtful even in slumber.


If Daddy's a Packers fan, you know his baby girl is, too.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Six Mix

So Rachel tagged me, and now I'm supposed to list six random and/or strange facts about myself. I'm game, but it's hard thinking of things I haven't previously posted about. Here goes!

1. I collect PEZ dispensers. Started when I was a wee lass of 7, and now I'm up to over 100. I lost count somewhere. My grandpa made shelves for me to keep them on, and friends and relatives still occasionally send some to me.

2. I've been blogging since around April 2001. I was newly single, still in college, and had a pretty large number of readers. Now I'm a spinster, living at home, and thankful for the few readers I do have.

3. I can't stand onions, tomatoes, or peppers. And it irritates me to no end when people assume it's just a refusal to eat them that stems from childhood. They also assume that I don't eat any vegetables; they then act overly surprised when they see me, in fact, eating vegetables. Annoyed X a billion.

4. I adore fairs and carnival rides. I love the thrill of being up so high and not knowing if I'll make it to the ground in one piece. Biggest rush ever was going on the Big Shot at the top of the Stratosphere hotel in Las Vegas. 1,000 feet up in the air, the ride sling-shots you up at 4 Gs, then you freefall down at 0 Gs. Scariest, freakiest, most awesome ride EVER. Krista and I went on it 12 times!

5. I was the treasurer for a Christian organization in college. I really loved the core group of people I was on the executive board with. The meetings were enormously boring for the most part, but they had their fun moments. Usually Todd and Laurie would argue, Wade and I would see who could make the other laugh the most, and Nate would sit back and watch all four of us. Then Laurie would yell, "April! Wade! Pay attention!" Ah, good times.

6. This is more of a memory than a fact, but it makes me laugh. My brother was telling me about seeing an old "boyfriend" of mine last week. I use the term loosely because I was approximately 14, and it lasted a week. Anyway, Aaron was reminding me of when my boyfriend, let's call him Romeo, was over at my house. I guess he kept trying to lean over and kiss me, and every time he did, Aaron would flick Romeo's ear. hahaha I have no memory of this, but I don't doubt it happened. Hilarious!

Okay, so this is the part where I tag 6 other people, right? Let's go with Tusk, Chica, Laura, JenKneeBee, Azucar, and.....anyone else who hasn't been tagged or feels like playing along. And if anyone I tagged doesn't want to play, I won't get mad. I promise.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

April's Private Diary. Warning!! Stay out or I'll SO kick your ass!

Dear Diary,

I had so much fun this past week with Krista! BFF! Yay! We're totally the coolest people ever!!
Anyway, like, on Tuesday I drove about 4.5 hours down to CK's place. And she like, lives on a farm? So I totally got to see the countryside and her dogs and cats. Oh, and I even got to see pheasants!

On Wednesday we watched nonstop episodes of Veronica Mars, Season One. I so got Krista hooked on the show! Both of us wish we could hang out with Veronica cuz she's the coolest. Anyway, later that night, Krista's mom, Sharon, drove us to Madison to see John Mayer! We were, like, SO excited!! Our seats were up in the third section, on an angle from the stage. I took pics, but we were kinda far away so they're a little blurry. Better than nothing, though!

But first was the opening act. Ever hear of Mat Kearney? I hadn't, either, until his last song of the set. Then I was like, "Oh, yeah! I love that song!" The sucky part of the concert, though, was this super annoying girl in front of us. She kept screaming all the words to Mat Kearney's songs, like she was trying to impress the rest of us or something. But she wasn't even watching him. She kept looking at her friends. Then she'd get up and dance (badly) and flail her arms around. The guy sitting next to me, who was right behind the annoying girl, kept getting pissed off. I heard him bitching about her to his girlfriend, and I started laughing. He says to me, "I'm sorry, but she's f***ing annoying." So then we just kept making fun of her. Thankfully, the girl and her friends relocated during JM's set.
So, speaking of which, I totally screamed my little heart out!! John's second song had been in my head for days, so I was excited to hear him start singing it. And at one point he said to the audience, "I know it's Valentine's Day, but most of my songs aren't about love. So, I kinda feel like you guys are getting screwed."

This pic is off JM's official site from our concert.


Another from the Valentine's concert. Isn't he hot? Mmmm... I like to think he was searching the crowd for me.

Here's a few that I took.

One of the very few times he actually came to our side of the stage. C'mon, John! Dispense your hotness evenly among the crowd!
Excellent set list, by the way. I enjoyed every minute and sang along to every song. One song kind of morphed into a Phil Collins song, but for the life of me I can't remember it. It was effing awesome, though. Apparently I was the first person in the crowd to realize/recognize/understand the switch, because I screamed really loudly. Then 10 seconds after my embarrassment of being the lone screamer, the crowd started cheering as they, too, figured out what song it was. I leaned over to Krista, "Geez, they're a little slow."
Anyway, after JM came back to the stage for his encore, guess which song he chose to play? Comfortable!! The JM song I chose to put on my February Librarian's Revenge mix last year. Dear Diary, I think it was a sign that he reads my blog and loves me!!

John Mayer to crowd: "This is for you couples out there on Valentine's Day. Before this song became a punchline." Sings Your Body is a Wonderland.


And then afterwards, he says to the crowd, "Now, for those of you who are single and thinking, 'That song sucks!' Here's a blues song, just for you." Sings I'm Gonna Find Another You.

Me and Krista being nerds after the concert. On a John Mayer high.
After that, like, the rest of the week basically focused on finishing Veronica Mars. I could so watch that show every day for, like, the rest of my life! Krista looked desperately for her own copy of the series, even recruiting her brother to search for it at Best Buy. No luck. She'll totally be ordering it online soon, fer sure! And now I'm sad Kristen still has my Season Two. :(
Krista and I also played two rounds of Scene It, the television version. I kicked her ass, of course. But we had some hilarious answers. For instance, one challenge we had was to add images together to come up with the name of an actress. The three pictures were of a rose, desert sand, and a bar of soap. The answer was Roseanne Barr, but here were our respective guesses:

Me: Um? Rose Sandbar?
Krista: *shouts* Rosa Parks!!
Later, same challenge, except the images (a handgun and a cloud of smoke) were supposed to be added to make the title of a TV show. Krista got it right...
Krista: Gun Smoke!! haha! I got it!
Me: No, it's not. It's Revolver Cloud!
hahahahahaha
I taught Krista how to burn cds on their computer, and in kind, she burned me a mix cd. Her dad is a big fan of oldies music and classic soft rock. So I made up a tracklist and had her burn it for me. Her dad was really excited. He kept saying, "She's using my music! Not anybody else's!" haha So I guess he approves of me now. :) Oh, and he said to me at one point, "See, April, I'm the one with all the good taste in this family." I replied, "Oh, I sensed that as soon as I walked in the house. It was the vibe." He kept laughing while Krista and her mom acted disgusted. :)
I drove home yesterday, Saturday, and ohmygosh! Imagine my surprise when I saw more Valentine's surprises! I got a package from the delectable Rachel. Inside was a lovely little card and a whorish journal in which I'm supposed to catalog my sinful secrets and trysts. Woohoo! Then there was a pink envelope sealed with a heart sticker that reads "Avast there, Matey!" Inside was a pirate valentine from my friend, Pete! (Did hell freeze over? Did I actually get a valentine from a guy???) And sitting on the table was a vase of roses from, according to my grandmother, my wonderful co-workers. I'm so lucky!!





So, there you go, Diary. One awesome week! Like, nothing can top this Valentine's Day! Mm, maybe sex. But I'll worry about that next year. Until next time,
Moonbeams and Unicorn Kisses!
MWAH!
April

Monday, February 12, 2007

**I got to spend two hours with Aaliyah yesterday! She's so stinking cute. I bought her and Jersey each matching pink toy poodles for Valentine's Day.

**I tried on a pair of jeans at the store, and my normal size was too loose!

**I'm headed to Krista's to spend a few days watching Veronica Mars and One Tree Hill and playing Scene It, Deal or No Deal, and various other board games. We'll also be going to see the movie Music & Lyrics, featuring Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant. I think that's what it's called, anyway. It's a pretty forgetable title. I'm not expecting an awesome movie, but I'm sure it'll be fun.

**And, of course, we will be attending the live performance of Grammy award-winning John Mayer. On Valentine's Day. It's okay to admit you're jealous. I will update next week with pictures.

I hope everyone has a lovely Valentine's Day!

Saturday, February 03, 2007

"Everybody's lookin' for something..."

As the number of hits to my blog creeps ever closer to an amazing 10,000, I thought it would be fun to take a little look at just how people are finding Love the Details. Thanks to the addicting Sitemeter, I know times, places, and search words used to get to my blog. Here are some recent searched phrases, along with the person's location, that led the unknowing straight to me.

*Confessions of lesbian bridesmaid
~India

*lyrics "I'm just your average jane i couldn't stand to model but that doesn't mean i'm plain"
~Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

*I always feel like someone is watching me song
~Levittown, Pennsylvania

*got mauled by a cougar
~Sycamore, Illinois

*Jogging w/ bruised ribs
~San Diego, California

*It's close to midnight and the
~San Francisco, California

*Nikki McJagger
~Springfield, Virginia

*Cher singing Levon
~Baton Rouge, Louisiana

*Isaac Hayden
~Fort Collins, Colorado

*Norwegian Krub
~Rock Island, Illinois

*ricky bobby "read a comic book"
~Altoona, Pennsylvania

*celebrity crotches
~Cedar Park, Texas

Obviously, Love the Details appeals to the masses. Bonus points if you know where the title quote comes from.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

We are the champions, my friends...

My mother gave my grandpa a stern talking-to the other day. She told him that I had been looking forward to this concert for months, and it was probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So, although he hasn't specifically said anything to me about going, he did go out and check my oil and said he'd take it for a check-up next week. He also got me a road map. (I didn't mention I already had one.) Plus, no more attitude. Woohoo! No Greyhound bus for me!! ($70 for tickets? Give me a break.)

Yesterday I went to Curves for one last work-out before it officially closed. I got my final weigh-in and measurements taken. From 1-8-07 to 1-31-07, I lost a total of 7 pounds and 8 1/4th inches!! Pretty damn sweet.

So far, 2007 doesn't suck.