Typical

Here's an example of a typical night at the McDonald household: Tonight.

Mom: walking around in a showercap in her hairdyed t-shirt that looks like blood. (smelly)

Matthew: doing HW asking my dad for help filling out a crossword puzzle:

Matthew: what's the word for...

Dad: Tammy, what is that again, the...

Mom: I think it's the vas deferens

Matthew: Yeah, that's it

Amy: walking around the house poking people with a red yard stick i just found in the dining room from Aunt Florence's old house

Meredith: talking about having to take a shower

Nanny: opening up her Mother's Day gifts (yeah):

1st gift: black shawl

Nanny: what is it? oh, it's a piece of material!!

Mom: no, it's a shawl

Nanny: oh, thank you!

2nd gift: Shoe-dini

Nanny: oh wow, i really was about to order this! thank you!

Tammy: i thought you would like it

3rd gift: Cookbook

Happy all around

Weird fact: there's a recipe called "Marge's deep dish apple pie" crazy for those who get it!

Tune in next time for another exciting episode!

Random pic time:

Dan is a baller. He'd just found out he got the job w Compass Group. Holla!!

Me and Sarah at the beach this weekend!

something is just not right (fair) w this pic.

Jimmy

Jimmy (pronounced yim-ee) was a good bird and a loyal friend. We had a lot of fun times together old buddy and we miss you.

Last night, me, Dan, Colby, and Jacob carpooled to Abbey and Nick's engagement shower/party/fiesta. It was an all out Mexican themed affair, and boy did the hosts have the theme down to the T! From the sombreros to the pinatas to the Corona... "they dun good." I felt like I was replaying a scene from Gossip Girl. Everybody looked fabulous and it was definitely "the" party to be at last night. The tent said it all. Just imagine a huge white circus-like tent, and that was in the hosts' backyard! It was incredible.

We socialized and mingled for about an hour and then it was time for dinner. It was a buffet of build your own tacos/fajitas, etc. and it was really good. Jess told Jacob that if he picked a table with the sombrero centerpiece that she'd make him wear it. So Jacob chose the table in the back corner of the tent with a parrot pinata centerpiece. Jess and I sat in the back of table and it was kind of on this incline. We had to laugh forward (weird to do) so we didn't fall over backwards out of our chairs. And discussing this, of course, made us laugh. Did i mention that Jess is awesome? She's our new friend :) Abbey's friend from Raleigh that went to school "in Connecticut." Anyways. We were all sitting around the table eating when someone decided to name our parrot centerpiece. We tossed a few names around, and then i said, "what about Jimmy?" then dan, who obviously was NOT paying attention said, "yeah, Jimmy is a great name for a parrot! when did you get a parrot?" (asking colby and jacob) We all burst into laughter...no dan, not a real parrot, the centerpiece! OH. then Jimmy became more than a silly centerpiece. he became our pet and friend. We talked to him, sat him at the table and put one of our empty plates of food in front of him. Dan (or Jacob?) said, "Jimmy, you cleaned your plate! Good boy!" It was quite entertaining.

Jacob sat Jimmy on his shoulder like a pirate and carried him around after dinner. It was apparent that the 2 were becoming attached. When Jacob went to the bathroom, Colby decided to play a trick on him and hide Jimmy under a table with just his beak and eye sticking out. When Jacob came back, the first thing he did was ask worriedly, "Where's Jimmy?" At first, we pretended not to know, but jacob looked so sad that i decided to move my eyes towards the table to help the poor guy out. Eventually, jacob found jimmy and immediately lit up with elation. together again!

The guys were determined that Jimmy was coming home with us. But how to make an exit without being conspicuous carrying a parrot pinata away? Jacob and Dan stood next to each other and it looked like the plan was fool proof... As we were hugging Abbey and Nick goodbye, i forgot that i had some princess sillybandz to give abbey. I've had them at my house for months and had to give them to her. She loved them and we spent another 5 minutes showing them off to the guests: a glass slipper, crown, castle, and diamond ring! Well, this turned out to be our downfall. In the time i spent giving abbey the sillybandz and saying goodbye, the hostesses were secretly devising a plan to get Jimmy back! Just as we were turning to leave, thinking the coast was clear, one of the hostesses comes up to Jacob (Jimmy is still being held between both guys) and says ever so sweetly, "thank you for holding him," taking Jimmy from his hands and giving him an innocent smile and wink. Jacob and Dan were caught off guard and Jacob was like, "haha, yes you're welcome!" Jimmy was now gone. Dan laughed nervously and said to us, "OK now we really have to go!" Colby and I were just laughing.

RIP Jimmy, wherever you are.

Amy, Auditor by day...

I had a meeting with my manager today to catch up on everything that's been going on in the last month. As we were wrapping up, she was telling me about her wedding planning and how she's getting her bridal portraits taken this weekend. I brightened up and told her how I'd taken my cousin and a few friends' bridal portraits. Almost shocked, she said, "Really?" and asked how long i'd been taking pictures, etc. "Why didn't i know this?" she wondered, and then proceeded to ask what i was doing on her wedding date lol. "Oh you have no idea," i added, "i just auditioned for Glee a few weeks ago!" Then she got this really confused look on her face. Laughing, she said, "I could totally not see you doing that!" hahaha.... A little taken aback, i explained to her that i really did audition and that id sang in an a cappella group in college. "Really?" is the only answer she could come back with.

That got my mind really thinking. What did she mean by that? How do i portray myself at work? Am i too uptight? Do i look homely? i started questioning everything. Of course i can see myself singing and performing, but why couldn't she? Is it a good think that she couldn't see me doing that bc we're in a work setting? it's something i've been pondering all day...

I told my friend and coworker, Sarah, this story and she laughed. Secretly im still a little distraught over the fact that my manager doesn't know the "real" me. but then again, what is the real me? i have so many sides and aspects of my personality. in one setting im a serious professional that writes stern, direct emails. in another, im a happy go lucky girl that just wants to sing and take pictures.

a few months ago, my friend/coworker, Todd and i were having our usual McDonald's breakfast, and i made the comment about liking sports or something (i can't remember exactly what we were talking about). Again, he told me that he couldn't see me doing that because i look like a prissy girl. i remember my jaw dropping and laughing bc that's sooooo far from who i am (or perceive myself to be). when i tried to explain/defend myself to him, that there was more to me than high heels and makeup, he just couldn't see it. it's happened more than once, and i find myself almost pleading to prove that i'm really this kind of person, not that.

just to drive it home, me and max were walking to get sushi today and ran into some guys from our original orientation class (from almost 2 years ago). I did the fist pump to say hello bc id just spilled water all over my hands. anywayz, we all ended up eating together. a little into the conversation, james, one of the most polite people ive ever met, ask max and i, "so what are you guys up to? are you two in a dating situation?" uuuuugggghhhh, max and i both looked at each other, laughed, and almost simultaneously said, "You wish!" i went on to explain to james that max and i grew up on the same street but didn't become friends until we both interviewed for the same job randomly. i did not mention the fact that we both had our respective bf and gf. i esp didn't go into detail that max's gf and my bf went to elem, middle, and high school together. that would've just been too confusing. so in short james, no. (no offense none taken max)

another fun fact you might not know about me: i like to go mall walking with my dad and mr. morgan (kristin joined us last night!)

i also love walking by the louis vuitton window, lingering and being mesmerized by the creativity and style.

Housewarming party, that's gucci

On Friday, my little house had it's official debut! Housewarming Party!!

Man, that was a fun time. Old friends and new came over to hang out and see the new place. Kristin helped get everything organized, Meredith brought it all together, and Matthew & Dan were my muscle.

It all started at about 8:38am when Kristin came over to make jello shots...

...and it ended with Max "sneaking" his 34th jello shot.

Catering compliments of Charlotte's Best:

BBQ, baked beans, cole slaw (forgot to put it out): Art's

Fried Chicken ("8 whole birds"): Price's Chicken Coop

Cornbread: Mert's Soul Food

Sweet Tea: Bojangle's

Mac n Cheese: Kraft...in a box :)

Other highlights of the party:

-used my NC State canopy

-Raleigh girls and Tyler driving here

-baby Kendall's first cookout

-half corona bottle w minimal spillage

-margaritas

-Mr. Fuzz

-Skye

-Deuce

-Mansour leaving early to judge a bikini contest

-decorated tiki "Laua" themed (Deuce)

-white lights

-the yellow bonnet

-talking around the burning bush

-"March 9"

-snipe her

-"that's gucci"

-scissoring

-ghost stories

-Dan calling his Asheville friends for the "I love you man"

Overall, the party was a success!

Gleefully waiting (yeah right)

If you've been on Facebook in the past week, you might have seen my news feed blowing up with constant updates. Glee. Not the describing mad lib word. The show!

I auditioned to be on Glee about 2 weeks ago in an open casting call to the general public. Now, I (and about 33,ooo+ hopefuls) wait. I'm trying not to think about it, but it's hard not to... to think that this just could be my one big chance...it's crazy.

The audition was 2 parts: Intro and Audition. You're allowed a 1 minute personal statement and then you sing a song (1 from 10 they provided). I chose "Don't Rain on my Parade" by Barbra Streisand. At first, i avoided the song bc i didn't know the words and thought it was very demanding vocally. but, after finally deciding to "just listen to it," i knew this was my song. i smiled listening to the song for the first time bc i knew i'd found "the song." i had to sing this song because the lyrics describe exactly how i feel at this moment. i immediately began looking up different versions of the song on itunes bc i didn't want to just imitate the way Rachel had sung it in Glee. That's when i heard Barbra Streisand's version...the emotion in which Barbra sings the song blew me away. what an inspiration to live up to! I immediately downloaded her original "Funny Girl" version, the Glee version, and Shirley Bassey's version. Then i got to work.

For 2 weeks i immersed myself in the lyrics and emotion of the song. on one trip to Raleigh, i borrowed Dan's explorer. his cd player has the ability to rewind, so on the entire way up, i practiced the song over and over like i was back in Acappology. I only listened to one phrase until i got it perfectly...if not, i rewinded it until it was perfect and the lead in to the next phrase was solid. that's the way my piano teacher, mrs. roche, used to drill me every lesson. i used to get so frustrated bc she wouldn't let me play a single note ahead until the notes before were played without hesitation. thinking back to those days makes me cringe, but she was just preparing me and teaching me the way. now i can only really learn lyrics that way. we did it the same way in aca. It drives Dan crazy listening to me sing that way. One time, i convinced him to practice a Chris Brown duet with me, and he bout went nutz every time i hit rewind. Needless to say, he never let me "teach" him a song ever again...

to further get me in the mood of the song, i added "Funny Girl" to my instant queue on netflix and started watching. That's when i fell in love with Barbra. Whoa. that girl can wail, and she's funny! I never knew what id been missing.

Not such a coincidence: a few weekends ago i was visiting with my aunt Cheryl and uncle Vernon in Loris. I was sitting on their living room floor watching "julie and julia" when my hand hit a book (or i thought it was). i picked it up, and it was a book on tape entitled "Barbra: The Barbra Streisand Biography" !!! i got so excited and surprised that i grabbed the box and stared at it all wide eyed. i asked if i could borrow the tapes and they obliged. incredible. i got to understand the "real" barbra and learn about where she came from and all the background stories of when she taped "funny girl" aka performed "dont rain." did you know she was just 24 years old when she began filming "funny girl" ?! I'm 24 years old! i listened and all the while kept a running math problem in my head... if she was born in 1942, then she was __ old when she did this!

the wednesday before i recorded my audition (th), i went to my high school to practice with my former high school chorus teacher, Mrs. palmieri. She's the one that really encouraged us to show the emotion of the song and shoot for the stars, and ive never forgotten those days. it was the first time i sang "dont rain" without music behind me. (i forgot to mention, i was singing the song a cappella for my audition). so i took out my trusty pitch pipe from my aca days, and sang for her. it was really nerve racking singing to an empty room with no one behind you singing the mmbops doo dahs behind you. eventually i warmed up for her (she moved to the back corner of the room while i sang), and we drilled the 2nd half of the song for an hour straight. mrs p is my rock of confidence. she really showed me what it meant to sing every meaning of every note. thanks, mrs p.

meredith came over to my place the day i recorded my audition. mrs. p told me to sing the final audition by myself, but i sang it with meredith watching. she gave me all the right nods and smiles when i hit the note, and kept me going. to ease my nerves before i did "the final take," meredith and i danced it out to some of our favorites..."I wanna dance w somebody" by whitney houston and "Leavin" by Jesse McCartney to name a couple.." Meredith-- i can't thank you enough for giving me the confidence and encouragement to go for that note (and kill it).

back to my story... the other night, i had just posted my Glee Intro video and my Glee Audition video to youtube. The audition required you to sign up for myspace and post your audition through myspace. However, when i checked on my submission, the Intro video had an error and didn't post correctly! when i found this out (about a week ago), i immediately broke down...emotionally, physically, mentally. i cried, asked God "why" and just lay in my bed thinking my life was over. i had no chance to realize my dream now. all bc of technology. Dan tried to comfort me, and he did his best. I eventually got over it (for the moment). On Tuesday morning, i had a relapse of my freak out. again, Dan was on the phone to console me...telling me that i can't compare myself to Barbra, etc. i finally got over myself and decided to do something. post my videos like crazy. if they weren't going to work on myspace, i'd post them to facebook and youtube...with hopes that maybe the glee judges would look elsewhere for my broken intro video. At least the audition video uploaded, right?

It's Tuesday night, and here's the conversation:

Amy: How do i get someone to watch my video 500 times?

Dan: Idk, it's gotta go viral. You shoulda put "naked" at the end of the title.

Amy: Dan! ...you're probably right

Thatta boy, McIlroy!

In case you didn't see, my boy Rory McIlroy (refer to my 2nd post) won the Quail Hollow Open today!! I know he did it for me... ahhhh

On that note, i'll leave you with a typical Amy/Dan convo.

Saturday morning
Amy: Tiger's out of the tournament.
Dan: Really? That's because he's not getting any.
Amy: You're stupid.

It's a we thing

I didn't write on Friday night because i was really tired...i sat and stared at the blank page...not because i couldn't think of anything to write about, but bc i had too much to write about. i couldn't figure out how to start, so i just decided to sleep on it. the next day, i knew what i had to write about. i'll get to that later. now is the time for some lighthearted news.

Friday morning started early with Meredith's award ceremony at MP. She was receiving not one, but two honor awards out of all the underclassmen. the awards were in Housing and Interiors and Spanish II. Don't ask me (or her!) how she got the spanish 2 one lol. But it is something hilarious to rub in matthew's face since they sit next to each other in spanish. I am so proud of my little chika! she's been a huge help getting my house together and making sure all the furniture looks right visually. she's pretty much a professional interior designer w the certificate to prove it!

my mom and i went to the pancake house after the awards ceremony. that's one of my favorite breakfast spots! the food is always good and the oj has real pulp in it yumm. it's kinda pricey and the portions are huge, so my mom and i shared the giant western omelet. we even had some leftovers (which i ate for dinner last night).

when i got back to my place, i had a bunch of emails to catch up on. one of the emails was from Colby. for those of you that don't know, Colby is my 3rd (or 2nd??) cousin, we are 3 days apart, and were roommates in college. aka, we're very close. she just got married in October, and it's something that im still getting used to...they moved to va for jacob's job and it's still just so crazy for me that she's married. my dad calls me an old maid bc a lot of my friends are (or are getting) married. which, is pretty ironic since ive been with Dan for over 3 1/2 years. not that i want to be married right now. but some things just take a while for me to get used to... like this email i got from colby. to her, it was just a simple few sentences responding to an email it'd sent her the day before. i asked if she had any plans in the summer yet bc i wanted to come visit her, and for to let me know. this is all i saw when i read the email: WE dont have plans...WE are going to weddings on these dates...WE would love for you to come...WE WE WE... now, i know she did not mean anything by that email and had no intention other than to respond to my question. me being me, i immediately took offense to the entire email...my internal thoughts flowing as such: "We??!" since when did she start referring to herself in the "we" form??

We, aka
not you
not me
something you don't have
im married, you're not

so as you can see, i have a lot of insecurities about the fact that people around me are getting married and using "we" more now than i am comfortable with. It's so weird growing up. Watching your friends become wives and husbands with spouses. things will never be the same. you will never be the center of their world. new priorities come up, and now you have to watch from a distance when you used to be in the middle of it all. it's hard growing up. i don't know if it will be easy or hard to change from the me to we one day. i imagine i'll probably still want to use the I or me a lot... which is probably another reason why im not begging to get married lol. so that's something ive been pondering all weekend.

that got me thinking about another thing... what the purpose of my blog is and what i'm trying to accomplish. well, first of all, id just like to express my thoughts and hope that others can relate and maybe even respond to what i write. every night, i'd lay in bed wanting to write in my journal. but my thoughts were rushing through my mind, to the point that i was too overwhelmed to even start bc i knew i wouldn't be able to finish. this is substituting for my nightly journal in hopes that i can just get everything out there and be as honest as possible. i dont want to start censoring myself, but i will use discretion as needed, and never want to use my words to harm others. i dont want this to be a place where i rant and go on and on about this and that. i hope my blog never gets to be annoying, bc that would be annoying. feel free to comment if you ever want to say something.

oh and another thing... as you can tell, i take the relaxed approach to grammar and spelling out words. please don't hold that against me. i am a perfectionist, so i usually read sentences like 3 and 4 times, rephrasing all the time until i get it exactly write. one of dan's biggest pet peeves is watching me type an email... it drives him crazy the way i'll write entire sentences and then just erase the whole thing lol. so needless to say, i'm making a conscious effort not to read over the blog a million times until i have the editing perfect. it's kind of like therapy for me. i can just see it now, "Oh my gah, Becky, look at the way she used that comma! can you believe how she doesn't write out words??"

I'm sleeping at shaker tonight bc my parents are out of town all week. so, i couldn't load any pics tonight, but i'll add some to this post tmrw. Goodnight and happy Monday!