A night with Jason

Hello All!

Last weekend Casey & I spent an exciting night with his brother Jason!!

Before I met Casey I hadn't really ever been around a person with downsyndrome and I really didn't have a good perception of what downsymdrome was, or how a person with the condition acted.

Well that all changed when i met jason winchell...

he is the happiest, most engaging, sweet & loving person i know.

Over 4th of july weekend i promised Jason he could stay with us the next time he was in Wichita!
 (i'll admit I'd been drinking heavily when that promise was made... )
but all the same it's important to me that we start spending more "one on one time" with Jason.


 well,
HE didn't forget!
and last weekend when the whole family came in town jason had his bag packed & was overjoyed he was spending the night with his BROTHER!

Overall it was a great time! We picked him up saturday night and went to church- had a dance party in the car on the way- classic.

Anyway, at church, we needed to leave after communion so we could make their grandmas 80th birthday party.
Casey leaned over to Jason & said-
"when lora goes to communion we'll go out and get the car."

Jason replied-
"do you think she could get us a cracker too"

Can you imagine?
"body of christ"
"amen.& would you mind? I need two more. i've got people in the car- they'd like some too- thanks:)"

So funny!

After dinner we got blizzards, & Jason asked me why i wanted to marry his brother...

I said because i loved him.

Then jason said "i know that! but why!?"

Sunday morning we went to the zoo with the whole famiy-

Jason & my adorable (soon-to-be) nieces!!!

here are a few more of their pics from our day at the zoo

(stolen from their mom's FB)

With UNCLE CASEY

A day at the zoo wouldn't be complete without some kind of animal attack!

{damn goats}

and a newborn baby monkey....

Beyonce's Dad

Last friday afternoon a mysterious email entered my inbox...

it was addressed to Matthew (first clue i wasn't supposed to be getting this email)

it said something about a VERY large sum of $ that was about to be deposited into Matthew's account (2nd clue) and all they needed to move forward was his bank account number.

I was so confused, what is this mystery email, and why am i receiving it?

And- should i send my bank account number and see what happens?

i'd have several million reasons to be happy if i received that money.

I set out to investigate...

Turns out the email was send from an associate in our LA office... interesting.

Also turns out he had cc'd the code that goes out to every audit associate in our midwest region (i'm guessing that was a mistake)

Armed with my first piece of evidence I start instant messaging all my work friends

"did you get this email?"

"yeah, weird"

THEN i look closer at this Matthew fellow... Matthew Knowles... i know that name- it's beyonce's dad!

I announce it to the room- nobody believes me.

 Then, I google his name & find out he owns music world entertainment- well surprise surprise the email was to Matthew at music world entertainment.

(That's right, I have beyonce's dad's email- nbd.)

SO....  this kid accidently cc'd 500 of his closest friends, about a very confidential client, i'm sure.  

I realize I need to take this opportunity to mess with the most gullable person i know... Joel

(a co-worker)

I instant message him,

 tell him about the beyonce dad thing- tell him to look it up- he does- he's so surprised...

Then i tell him it was a payment for Beyonce,

she's performing at our end of busy season party.

He buys it!

I get to work monday & find out Joel's been going around telling everyone about the performance. He probably went out and told all his buddies over the weekend too

So Tuesday morning Joel and I went to starbucks and that's when I broke the news- there will be no concert...

One Bad Day

Wow, you can tell when i get busy with work! the blog gets put on the back burner.

I've been meaning to blog about the worst day ever!

I can't even believe it's been over two weeks since that fateful day, let me tell you about it-  

I was working from our office downtown, I had a hair cut/highlight that night at 6 and i was so excited.

I left work at 4, perfect timing,

ride the light rail to my car.

drive to hair place.

i'll be there a little before six!

Well, I get all the way to my car at the lightrail station, 35 minutes after leaving my desk,

and realize i left my keys at my desk.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

At this point... there is nothing i can do. 

A moment of defeat.

A. This is nobodys fauls but my own

B. there isn't a spare (i actually don't even have a spare here in denver. note to self, let's change that!)

C. The only way to solve this is to go back downtown.

I drag my feet back to the light rail, around the same time, Casey calls, I yell at him- somehow, this must be his fault.

On the way, call the hair place...

"Um, yeah, i had an appointment at six, i'm going to be late, is that ok? or should i reschedule?"

Of couse it's not okay, I am going to be an hour late by the time i get there.

FINALLY

I get to my car, a little before six- i should totally be at the hair place right now!

 keys in hand,

defeated,

planning a trip to noodles & company (in place of the hair cut)

& a serious glass of wine when i get home.

Get in the car, it's such a nice day, mid 60's sun shining-I'll open the sunroof!

Hit the automatic sun roof slider while pulling away from my parking spot

SNOW!!!

I hit the breaks, so confused!

Lift my hands up as if to catch the GIANT amount of snow falling into my car, down my shirt, EVERYWHERE!!! This is not helping! More snow keeps falling!!

I forgot it had snowed a good, OH,  6+ inches overnight, 

SO the 6 inches of snow that was sitting on top of my car all day-in a parking garage.

uneffected by the sunny day now in progress was suddenly in my car.

I have a 4Runner,

so the sunroof is big,

and a straight sheet of snow just fell into my car as the sunroof was sliding back. 

People are staring, I'm litterally parked in the middle of the garage, covered in snow. 

Not knowing what my next move should be,

 I drive home, crying & cold.

I get out of my car,

looks like i just stepped out of a snow globe,

thinking about what to do with the mounds of snow piled all over the interior of my car.

Then I hear "You Must be Lora?"

I look up, god only knows what i look like, covered in snow,

here comes suzy homemaker- hand already extended,

"My name is Brenda, I live next door, I don't think we've had a chance to meet"

REALLY BRENDA? You want to do this right now?

Long story short, we exchange pleasantries.

Brenda offers me a bowl to scoop the snow out of my car...

I decline.

Worst day ever!

Here's to you... Checkout Guy

Yesterday I got off work for lunch, I was actually told to take a looooong lunch- we're not busy and we've been working really hard, a well deserved looooong lunch i suppose.

So i stopped the grocery store on my way home that way i actually had a lunch to eat.

Everything was as it should be, aside from the fact that when i got home, i realized i forgot about 5 items i needed!!!

(that's what happens when you're rushed into it and have no time to plan a list, not that i usually a make list, but a mental list would've helped.)

When i get to the checkout, there is hardly a line at all!!!! Yay!!! Victory!!!

I choose the smallest line, one old lady checking out- not a lot of groceries, should be good.

Well, let me tell you, this old lady was as slow as they come.
It took her a good minute to get her wallet out of her purse, another 30 seconds to get the pen off the counter- and we all know what the pen means, she is writing a check!

At this point, I can't leave and go to another line- that would be rude. I'll just wait.

Tick Tock

Then i hear "hey"
I look away from Mrs. Slowest McSlowerson, interrupted mid thought from "should i start to tap my foot? or is this the only time this cute little old lady is going to get out of her house today and for that reason she's gonna enjoy it, and taking her sweet time?" side note: I never did decide on what she was up too, but i have my suspecions.

Anyway- I hear a "hey", I look up, it's the checkout guy- 
"Did you know the girl from Wendy's grew up?" He says to me.
Then he nods his head for me to look in the direction behind him...

HAHAHA

it's literally a grown woman with the same bright red hair as the wendy's girl and it's braided in pig tails.
hilarious.

I start laughing... right about that time grandma over here is getting her bags ready to go when she says-
"Oh no, i forgot to give you my coupons, i guess it's too late."
at this point we might be here for the entire duration of my loooooong lunch.

Checkout guys tells her "i'll just give you cash, if you give them to me"

Well, of course her purse is all packed up, this might take awhile...

"hey"
 it's checkout guy again.
 It's as if he's silently telling me "you're right this is going to take awhile, let me entertain you with a story."

 He continues right where we left off...
"The best is this 70 year old man who comes in with his hair all done like elvis, and every time i ask him if he want paper or plastic he says "uh huh, uh huh, thank ya very much"

"and the worst are the ones that yell but think that they're talking. One lady always comes up and yells "are these on sale!?" and we all try not to laugh because she is yelling"

Anyway, i would like to dedicate this post to checkout guy,
(please start bud light commercial music now... )
Here's to you checkout guy:
Grocery shopping isn't fun, but you make it better, because you're cool. 
(background singers "you make it better")
When the lines moving slow, you take your queue and strike up conversation. (background singers "you are so friendly")
 you entertain your customers like a standup comedian to a sold out saturday night crowd..
(background singer girls "laugh factory, isle 5")
never a dull moment in your isle, not on your watch.
So here's to you checkout guy, because whether your line is long or short-  we'll be there...
(background singers "Mr. Grocery Store Checkout Counter and ocassional grocery bagger guy... ")

 

Neighbor Dean

Just an update for all of you who care, that's right i'm typin to you.

Over the past few weeks neighbor dean and i have had several casual encounters.

First, I'm running kia around the park by our house, and who do i spy?

Neighbor Dean.

He's got his adorable yellow lab cooper with him,

He's wearing fitness gear- i'll give him that,

But he is stopped over on the side of the trail talking to some hot chick.

He sees me too, gives me the head nod- respectfully, i give one back.

Really?

Really neighbor dean?

I know your kind, you come here, looking the part, with your cute dog as bate...

NOW, nobody is saying hot chick didnt come here with the same intentions,

but i say take your foreplay elsewhere!

This is a family friendly park and frankly i'm sick of all these people "pretending" to exercise meanwhile they look like they just stepped off the paged of a fitness mag ,

 they congregate around chatting with others of their kinD,

 Meanwhile my dog wants to run up and play with your stationary dog-

 now i've got to stop my legitimate run and rile my dog back onto the trail...

Anyway. I really don't know where im going with this.

i think just adding to the notion that nighbor dean is a tool?

Is that too much? Probably.

He's a nice guy...

He's just THAT GUY.

Oh- and the additional encounter was finding him in my backyard last night with kia's tounge down his throat.

WTF DUDE?

That's my dog! Now you've got her all excited to see you,

I'll admit, She is a kisser.

But lay off

Candy Fay

Emily (of a day in the life...) and I were invited to  bunko this past Friday-
we were a little apprehensive on the car ride there-
The party was originally supposed to be in December- & the original Evite said to bring a gift for a white elephant exchange-  but it got moved to January... so do we still bring a gift?

PLuS, we only know 2 of the girls that are supposed to be there... scary.

After we do a drive byor 2,
or realistically it was 3.


We take a vote & decided to go in- I mean, we're here,
I've made this awesome cheese & sausage platter in the backseat,
we've got gifts, a bottle of wine, let's do it.


Walk in, gravitate directly towards the 2 girls we know


ChiT ChaT,a few of the girls look familiar,
a few others sound pretty fun from across the island- note to self; sit next to them, become their friend...
 open our bottle of wine- down 2 glasses each (20 minutes= empty bottle)
 time for the gift exchange...




REWIND, earlier in the day, light bulb moment!  My gift will be a DU shirt!
I live 5 blocks from Denver University, they've got a student union where I'd previously gotten my own awesome DU t-shirt
(partially seen below)

So I get the t-shirt, i'm thinking- this thing,

 It's gonna be a hit!

We live in Denver... you know, cute shirt!

back to the exchange: we're all sitting in a circle, my gift gets picked!
everyone's watching the girl open it,
 I'm thinking- "oh no, buyers remorse, what is they don't dig this shirt as much as i do? "


Girl pulls it out, holds it up... confusion all over her face. Didn't exactly fit the theme of scarfs, jewelry, candles...


I turn bright red (remember, just chugged 2 glasses of wine!)


 Now i've got two choices..
1. Make a run for the door
2. admit it's my gift


"um, yeah I brought that one, I don't know, I thought it as funny"

"ooooh" courtesy chuckles all around.
whisper to Emily, "I misjudged my crowd"


Long story short. This was a mixed crowd, & there were a few CU girls, so to the CU girls it was like bringing a ku shirt to a kstate party- my bad.
My poor gift was the last one to be picked in the 2nd round or stealing gifts- totally misjudged my crowd.




Now, on to BUNKO!


We had 14 girls, so we were playing with 2 "ghost" players... if i would've known- i would've brought Helen


i've got to redeem myself after the shirt scandal.  So, I name the ghost player at my table- Candy Fay- short for Candace- and she looked good!  Success!!


I mean, it was funny,
they eventually named the other ghost player "Candy Fay" too:)


So, by the end of the night Emily and I had made some new friends... 2 of which were ghost players.


Now I'm faced with a predicament,
how long should I wait to facebook friend my new aquaintances?


 Nobody has friended me yet- is that a bad sign?




Anyway, the social scene in Denver is hoppin!


Emily & I have been cordially invited to another get together Wednesday night- totally different group of girls, maybe these girls would appreciate a DU shirt?

The Car Wash

So...

 I drove home for christmas, it snowed like crazy- then drove back, salt all over the road and by default my car. 

 Monday I decide it's time for a car wash!

 I was supposed to be at a client all day, but the client wasn't ready for me so I had some time to spare- & 2 errands- grocery store, car wash.

Grocery store: Check

Enter: Car Wash.

I should've drove away after I pulled up and realized I couldn't pay there, so I have to reverse, park, go inside- now back to the wash.

As I'm pulling in I wonder... "should I have folded my mirrors in?"

 I have a 4Runner (like everyone else in Denver, mildly annoying) so it's a big car and a tight fit.

"Oh well, nothing's gonna happen... "

The wash starts up, I get on my iphone- facebook ap, great way to kill time.

THEN I here A loud noise- look up, the spinning brush has ripped my mirror the opposite way of where it should be, bended it back.

I freak out,

drop the phone,

hit my window button-

of course the window it automatic so it slides ALL THE WAY DOWN,
no time.

I reach out- getting wet- pull my mirror in.

Well, right about this time the previously mentioned spinning brush comes up from behind me and before I CAN pull back into the car- it slaps me in the face!

Not only do i have car wash face, my entire interior/ work clothes & phone are soaked.

I learned two valuable lessons on Monday.

#1. Fold mirrors in before entering the car wash.

#2. The spinning brush is not cotton rags as previously suspected, it's rubber.

The Spider Email

I realize how Cliché this is, 

but this email is hilarious, the first time I read it I laughed so hard I cried- which surprised me... because normally when people do that (or say they did that)- I'm annoyed. But it finally happened to me, so maybe now i'll have more patience for those who say they "laugh so hard they cry," probably not- but this email is great! I'm only mad I didn't think of it myself. 

*The*North*Pole*

'Tis the Season! 

This weekend the Griffins & I took a trip into the mountains- to the Luckylure christmas tree farm in Evergreen:) (featured in the picture above)

Emily did some research before we went so we knew this place was going to be awesome, but it really was amazing! I will quote Adam.. "I've always wanted to go to the North Pole!"

Snow on the ground, a fire to roast marshmallows, a frozen creek, elves to help you pick your tree, and even "warmers" at the register. (warmers=free shots, which we did)

It was one of those places you wished you'd found earlier- the whole time I'm thinking how much cooler my childhood christmases would have been if only we'd gone to this place every year instead of dragging the cardboard christmas tree box out of the attic and assembling the fake tree by its color coded branches--- I felt cheated. 

So after the elf helped us tie the tree to the top of my car- we stopped in town for hot chocolate then made the trip back to Denver where Emily and I spent the rest of the night drinking wine and decorating the tree... here it is!!! 

Christmas Wreath 

I also hung our stockings on the fire place! (Mine, Luke's, & Kia's)

On a totally unrelated note... 
Casey's family took pictures at Thanksgiving, we also took a quick shot, here it is! 


Something about this pic screams sorority composite, like, remove casey and I'm back in the chi-o front lawn for my senior pic. I think I have 4 where I'm doing that exact same pose... well, actually, I only have 3. Junior year I refused to take my picture so they would write my name at the bottom in the list the people who are "not pictured:"... I have never regretted that decision.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Please click on the turkey to hear a special Thanksgiving song, created just for you!

New Developments...

Hi ALL!

I'm back to the blog, it's been a busy weekend! I tried to blog from the car, but my iphone, (as fancy as it is) would not allow me to type in the right field. Saturday I went to the football game in Manhattan... so sad to be back and have nowhere to stay. It really made me realize all the change I've been through in the last year. All good change's of course:) Then Casey and I went onto Garden City on Sunday, played golf monday, and had a cookout with the family Monday night. On the way back to Wichita Casey got pulled over, not once, but twice. I was pretty intoxicated from drinking all day, and then vodka tonics at dinner- I honestly, barely remember the car ride. Just singing country music the whole way home. I woke up Tuesday and said "Did we really get pulled over 2 times!?" HA, I would love to have a hidden camera in the car on me when he was getting pulled over/ talking to the cop... so out of my character- I wasn't saying a word. Just chillin' shotgun, waiting for my music to get turned back UP!

Anyway... onto the new developments with Shirley.. i was looking through the pictures of the house, and I saw a very noticeable orb in the kitchen pic. It's got to be her:)

I'll post the picture this afternoon! I', in the middle of studying, but I had to inform you all! As this is a very interesting development in a seriously creepy story.