Life and Times of BellaFrench

If you're not first, you're last

2009-12-08T00:35:00.002-05:00

Dear Blog,

It finally happened. Aaron told me I needed to dress up more. Now, I know what you're thinking. Something along the lines of "Why on earth would anyone tell Alison she needs to dress up more? Girlfriend dresses up to go the grocery store." I will tell you why. About a year and a half a brand of yoga inspired athletic apparel happened to me. I'm not going to mention the name of the brand for google alerts sake, but I will give you a hint; I work for this company and the fruit "lemon" is included in the name. Does that help? So, over the course of a year and a half I've acquired quite a bit of 4 way stretch, flat seamed clothing that is oh so comfortable and is quite flattering and fashionable if I do say so myself.

I digress. Back to Saturday and the "dress up more" comment. Let me set the scene for you. I go to Spokane for a trunk show with one of my coworkers and Spokane is no hop, skip or jump away from Seattle. It's almost 300 miles away and you literally have to drive through a big ass mountain range to get there. (The Northwest. Sigh. I remember the days when I thought little hills were mountains. I didn't quite know what I was talking about. The skiing is waaaaay better out here. This ain't no Winterplace, WV.) We do a trunk show for these women, go see "The Blind Side" (you should see it!! it's wonderful!!) go to sleep in our cheetah themed hotel room (don't ask) wake up and then begin the 300 mile trek back over the big ass mountain range to Seattle. I drive a European engineered car and I have a size 9 1/2 foot and before I knew it I was topping out at about 95 mph on the way back. I KNOW RIGHT?!? Who drives that fast? Me apparently. I would look down at the speedometer and scream about how fast I was going, slow down and then inevitably speed back up again. Shoot. Now, I know what you're thinking again. Where was the cruise control? Well, I've only had the car for about a year and haven't taken it on too many road trips. When we do go on road trips Reliable Ron drives us there and you KNOW he doesn't speed. And that would be my excuse for not knowing how to engage my cruise control. I was making record time back to Seattle and before I knew it I looked in my rearview and saw a cop car. Double shoot. I get in the right lane and say a quick prayer to Big G that he wasn't going to pull me but who I was kidding? Me and Big G both knew I was getting my very. first. ticket. in about five minutes.

That's right. My very first ticket! I've never been pulled for speeding ever!! And I drive extraordinarily fast all the time! I love driving fast. I want to be the first one to everywhere I'm going. I blame it on my parents, they both have lead feet. Hey, I'm a member of generation y don't we blame everything on our parents? I can't believe I've never gotten a ticket actually. Nonetheless, I was very upset that my impeccable driving record was now blemished. I even mentioned that to cop in the form of; "I have absolutely no reason why you clocked me topping out at 90. It's the German engineering. Have you seen my impeccable driving record?" Big smile, casual hair toss. He was none too impressed by clean driving record but he reduced my ticket to 80mph in a 70. I think it was the smile and casual hair toss.

Then I get home and find out and we're going to dinner with some friends and all I want to wear is my comfy yoga clothes and a casual jacket but noooooooooooo, Ron thinks I need to dress up more and actually wear like real pants or something. What is he thinking?!? Real pants? Blasphemy. So I put on jeans and called it a night.

xoxo,
Al

It's December 2?? Seriously?

2009-12-03T00:38:00.003-05:00

Dear Blog,

Oh my, how I have neglected you. Rest assured, you have never strayed far from my thoughts.

I needed a little reprieve from the blog. I feel like blog world is getting a little...used. Back in the days of dport7 and uncle urb I thought having a blog was so cool and I couldn't wait to have one. And then everyone and their mom (literally, even my mom had a blog for a couple of days--no offense Ma, your blog was legit!) had a blog. And for me, the blog has lost a bit of the old luster. Am I crazy? Am I being a narcissistic, self involved blog elitist? Well, yes. Both actually. My blog needs a facelift. I'm tired of brown. So, this is a public request for my beloved husband, Ron, to give my blog a makeover because you are the best graphic designer in the entire universe to infinity and beyond. Thank you very much in advance. Love, me.

Another reason I haven't blogged for almost two months is because I have LITERALLY had the craziest past 6 weeks of my life. Let me regale you with my schedule. After we got home from Brooklyn/NYC, my mom-in-law came into town. Spent a long weekend with her entertaining our little hearts out. The following weekend I went to Landmark for three very long, head trippy, self excavating days. After Landmark, I proceeded to get a sinus infection and f*ck up royally at work. And for those of y'all who don't know me, I don't f*ck up. I recover from both the sickness and my lil' mistake and am then informed that I'm heading to Miami for two weeks to do some work with a team down there. While in Miami I proceed to turn 29, work my butt off, go the beach, become crazy attached to the team down there, laugh, cry, try to get a tan. I get back from Miami and celebrate Ron's 29th birthday and then am off to Vancouver for a conference where I get to see my work bff Christie! We only get to see each other once a year because she lives in Cleveland, OH and you know, I may travel a lot but I ain't goin' there. Sorry Christie.

I got home the weekend before Thanksgiving and then...you guessed it, it was time to get the store prepped for Black Friday and the crazy holidays that ensue. Call me crazy, but I enjoy the crazy holiday season in the retail world.

There you have it. Those are all of my ~~excuses~~ valid reasons for not blogging for almost the past 8 weeks. However, God is indeed listening and He has told me that there have many, many, MANY prayers for ole' BellaFrenchie to return and I am back and will be blogging more regularly.

In the meantime, stay tuned for BellaFrench's facelift.

xoxo,
Al

No sleep IN Brooklyn OR SoHo

2009-10-12T21:31:00.004-04:00

Dear Blog,

You know the Beastie Boys song "No sleep 'til Brooklyn?" I mean, I get it, Brooklyn is exciting and yay! we're going to Brooklyn! But, what happens when you get to Brooklyn? You still don't sleep. Now, I like sleep, in fact I can sleep almost anywhere. It's a little known fact about me. I will fall asleep in bars and/or Nascar races, but that's another post. However, one (of many) of the nice things about traveling from west to east to visit college friends for a wedding we've all been waiting for is the fact that there is a three hour time difference and I can stay up til three and not wake up until 11 and still remain on my West Coast schedule. If this weren't the case, then I definitely would not have survived the 6 days I spent in Brooklyn/SoHo with our bff's.

So, we traveled to the aforementioned Brooklyn for the nuptials of Ron's friends from SCAD Paul and Kate. They've been dating for 8 years and you can hear about their fairy tale romance on none other than The New York Times, HERE. Now, who gets featured on The New York Times? Kate and Paul. Who has their wedding sanctioned by the Pope? Kate and Paul. Finally, who has an oil portrait commissioned by the Rybicki's of the lovely couple on a subway en route to a Yankee's Game? I think you get it by now, Paul and Kate. In Alison speak, their wedding was the bomb, off the hook, off the chain, any sort of street euphemism you can think of for 'GOOD', that was their wedding.

I love a wedding! When a bride is walking down the aisle I always get a little teary eyed, there's just something so beautiful about it. I especially love a wedding in a church. The last couple of weddings we've been to have been outside and don't get me wrong, those are beautiful too. There's just something about getting married in a church that is so special and serious and ceremonial that speaks to me. You feel me blog world? Discuss. Disagree. Just comment 'cause I love comments too.

One of the highlights of the weekend was meeting #2 BellaFrench blog fan: Linda Diehl! (Naturally, mom and dad are tied for first. They did birth me after all.) This weekend was the first time I had the pleasure of meeting Paul's parents. As soon as I met Linda, I knew we would be friends for life. She has been keeping up with BellaFrench ever since the creation of the blog and we immediately started chatting about current goings-on. What a way to start up a weekend! Thanks Linda!!

After all of the wedding festivities were over, Aaron and I traveled to meet our other friends, Spurge and Gilly for three days of fun, frivolity, drunken shopping extravaganzas, brunch, five napkin burgers and DVR.
Here is the highlight reel:
You a jerk, I know.
Trade 'em in.
Fantasia and Kandi's sweet, sweet moves
Skyline Park. You had to be there.
Why are we sitting by the kitchen?
Don't be tardy for the party; country version a la Aaron Shurts
Basically, all around foolishness. But out of this foolishness came a challenge. A 30-Day Yoga Challenge. To get yo' mind and yo' body right. Spurgeon. Alison. West Coast. East Coast. Oct 15th. More details to come. But basically the details are two cross country bff's are holding each other accountable for 30 days of yoga. We are going to be so buff and enlightened. Love us some yoga. Ommmmmmmmmmm.

xoxo,
Alison

An extra shot

2009-09-24T23:37:00.002-04:00

Dear Blog,

When Aaron and I moved to Seattle we knew that we would be in for some interesting sights and experiences. You can't move from the bottom right side of the country to the upper left side with there not being any changes. However, I did not in my wildest dreams think that one of those interesting things would be the so-called "Bikini Barista" stands. In case you don't speak coffee, a barista is the dedicated individual who arises before the break of dawn to make coffee for the masses! Basically, I'm friends with all of the baristas within a one mile radius of my store and you would be quite surprised at the amount of Starbucks in Seattle in a one mile radius. That is not the point of this post.

In Seattle and other surrounding cities there are drive through coffee stands on almost every corner parking lot where there isn't a Starbucks or a Tully's. Let me paint a picture for you; are you familiar with a mini barn? Just picture a mini barn with a tacky sign and a gimmick for an "almond joy mocha" or something and that's a coffee stand. Now. Just picture a coffee stand with a scantily clad young girl serving up the brew and THAT my dear friends, is a "bikini barista". It's disgusting! I can't even justify my disgust in this post. These girls are wearing lingerie and serving coffee and being blatantly exploited by the owners of these joints. It's just gross. I can't help but think about these girls parents and what they must be thinking? Even as I write this my heart rate is going up, up, up. Aaron always finds it somewhat amusing that I get so fired up about these places but in my mind it is prostitution. SIIIIIIIICK!!!

Well, looky what I found tonight on Perez. I have to admit though, when I read this I chuckled, the comments are especially funny to me.

http://perezhilton.com/2009-09-24-grab-n-go-espresso-and-a-hooker

In other news, has anyone gotten Pearl Jam's new album, Backspacer? It's so good! If you have an extra $10 and feel like buying an album, I suggest this one heavily. And in other, other news Aaron and I went to see them on Monday night! In case you're new to this blog, Pearl Jam is my favorite, favorite, favorite band and this was my fifth time seeing them and I will see them five more times when the opportunity arises. The concert, as always, was amazing and Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam never cease to amaze me. Here is an excellent review of the show, http://www.spin.com/articles/pearl-jam-slay-seattle.

That's all friends!
xoxo,
Alison

Huffy in a Puffy

2009-09-12T00:38:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

Since I am responsible for two blogs I am going to cheat and post the blog that I wrote for work on my personal blog. It's really not cheating. Here you go!

Puffy jackets have always been an enigma to me. The burning question in my mind was how does one look NOT so puffy IN a puffy? At 5’8 and roughly 145 pounds I do not exactly have what one would call a “petite frame” and I was deathly afraid that a puffy jacket would make me resemble Ralphie’s little brother in everyone’s favorite holiday movie; A Christmas Story.

However, the Seattle winters call for a jacket that is both warm and water resistant and when l________* introduced a jacket that boasted both of these important features…well I had to get my hands on that jacket. So I did.

Believe it or not, I have already had the chance to try it out. While everyone was grilling out for the last summer hurrah on Labor Day, I was at a music festival in Seattle where the temperature didn’t get out of the low 60’s and there was light to heavy rain. I was going to be there all day and into the evening and I thought this was going to be the perfect time to try out my puffy jacket.

I slipped it on and after one or two or twenty looks at myself in the mirror at every conceivable angle I came to the conclusion that this jacket outlines my silhouette and does not make me look huge at all. It almost felt like a second skin, it was neither bulky nor bunchy. The hood kept my ‘do in tact so on the off chance that I ran into Fergie of The Black Eyed Peas after the show I wouldn’t look like a frizzy mess. The luon thumbholes on the sleeves kept my sleeves down so when I was clapping or dancing wildly I didn’t feel one raindrop or the wind. Most importantly, it kept me both warm and dry.

Now if I could just convince my husband that I need one in every color I will be set for the impending Seattle winter.

*I like to keep my employer on the DL.

xoxo,
al

Runnin' on Empty

2009-08-26T23:26:00.005-04:00

Dear Blog,

I love blogging, don't get me wrong, but I take this blog seriously for all you readers and I'm always thinking of the perfect, funny, sassy, saucy, authentic topic. I will sit down in my front of my computer and write, rewrite, back space, read and re-read until I think I have the BEST blog ever. I like to surprise Aaron with it and then grill him about what his favorite part was, what he thought was the most funny and generally whether or not he even liked it. So when I was bemoaning on the couch that I had nothing to blog about, I wasn't surprised when I had a pillow in my face. The bellafrench fam has just had one of their busiest weekends yet.

Friday night Aaron and I went to see one of America's greatest singer/songwriters, Jackson Browne, at one of our favorite local wineries. I know I've mentioned before how much I love music and how certain songs will elicit emotions from a period of my life that I haven't thought about in years. When I think of Jackson Browne, I will always be reminded of road trips in the family Volvo. He is an artist our whole family likes and we could always agree to listen to him when traveling to all the places we would go. (The Williams' like to drive. We just get in the car and off we go.) One of my favorite JB songs is "Late for the Sky." When I was in high school I was convinced that I could convince my ignorant youth group leader that a song deemed secular could still be religious or spiritual in nature with that particular song. I worked so hard getting ready for my 'presentation' and interpreted the lyrics and was excited to share with my youth group. I was shot down fast and hard. Be wary of chubby youth leaders who wear gold cross earrings and polyester suits. But, I digress. The concert was wonderful. The live music that comes to Seattle is a major perk of living here. Next on the plate; Modest Mouse, Black Eyed Peas and Franz Ferdinand at a local festival and then the coup de grace; PEARL JAM!! Oh how I will forever be loyal to Eddie Vedder and the men of Pearl Jam.

Saturday entailed a wedding of one of my coworkers. Aaron's mad dancin' skillz garnered the attention of the ladays. I will not go in to details but there may or may not have been some butt grabbage on Aaron from a lady admirer. Do work Ron. Shake it like I taughtcha. The wedding was beautiful. The great thing about weddings is they always remind me of my wedding , or maybe that's just me.

Around 11:30 pm after the wedding we picked up my mom from the airport!! We've been having non stop fun. Well, I don't know how much she's been having. So far she has cooked three dishes for us and done about 4 loads of our laundry. She insists she likes doing this...aight. I love having my mom out here so she can get a little taste of our lifestyle. I like showing off Seattle and the store and having her meet my peeps. So, we're all having a good ole time.

Mom is going to be here for almost another week, so more exciting stories and pics to come.

xoxo,
Al

Slippin n Slidin

2009-08-19T23:51:00.006-04:00

Dear Blog,

You know, it's about 80 degrees in the house and having a laptop on my lap makes me even hotter, however I have a particular spot on the couch that is so comfortable and I can then ~~look at people.com, barneys.com, neimanmarcus.com, all my peeps' blogs, email~~ WORK and also watch ~~Bravo~~ CNN. It is tres convenient and I won't give it up even if it burns my legs or makes me infertile. Laptop comes first. Little AliRon's second. (ed. note: Please do not send me any propaganda about laptops making me infertile, I won't read it 'cause I don't believe it. Guess time will tell.)

Status Update! My dad won the Williams weight loss challenge. He has successfully lost and maintained 10 lbs. Way to go Big Don! I'm still hovering between the 5 and 6 pound weight loss. I must admit that I have not tried that hard lately. I've been enjoying dark chocolate m&m's a tad too much. My dad's weight loss has inspired me to get back on track. Aaron and I ran yesterday for the first time since Hawaii, we went about 4 miles and I was fixin' (southern euphemism for 'about') to die after that one. If I'm going to run the Seattle half in November then I need to uh...run more than once a month. I wish I could be more like my friend Drew who gets up and runs every morning at 5:30 am or something crazy. Every time I have grand intentions to get up early I tell my alarm clock to quit trippin' and I go back to sleep. See how I managed to turn that paragraph about my dad back to me? It's a talent. Anywho, way to go dad! Be on the lookout for your prize in the mail.

Speaking of Drew and also trippin', Drew has been politely asking me and Ron to post pics of the SSS&SP (short shorts slip&slide party) pics. It was so fun! Here is my favorite picture of the whole afternoon/evening.

The look on Aaron's face is classic. I'm sure you're now wondering what I was doing? Well wait no longer my friends:

That's right. I was chatting. Don't judge me. It was kind of cold that day. Like I said, it was fun but I think it would have been more fun if more people came. I think people are scared of short shorts. Get over it people. It's fun. Enough said. We'll have it next year and I'm expecting you all to be here. Oh and yeah, our grass looks sad but believe it or not we haven't had that much rain in ole Seattle this summer. This being Aaron and my first summer here we didn't water the grass because we thought that would be ruh tarded. Little did we know that we are the ruh tards.

Status update: My mom is coming out here on Saturday!!! Let the games and southern frivolity begin y'all! I love it when she talks and people ask her where she's from, everyone loves a southern belle.

I think bellafrench needs a facelift. Any suggestions for new a color theme? A new snotty phrase at the top?

Also, in an effort to update more often I was thinking about adding a new section called That's What She Said, I know, original right? Anyway, in this section I would just write anonymous little quips that either I have said or I have heard from one of my friends/coworkers/cohorts/conversations with Aaron, etc. Here is a little preview:

Friend A: What do you think, Alexander McQueen or Louis Vuitton?
Friend B: Hard to say. I have a heated sexual response to Alexander McQueen. Louis Vuitton is kind of rap video.

That's all for tonight!
xoxo,
Al

upd8

2009-08-11T00:32:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

I think we've all decided that at least french pedicures are decidedly out, I keep looking at my feet and thinking "ew." I don't know what I was thinking. My peeps at work just tell me to take it off but then I'm like, well I spent money on getting a manicure and pedicure so I might as well keep it on there because 99% of American women think they look good and the 1% that include me and my friends think they don't look good but are narcissistic enough to think if we wear it, it's automatically in style. Am I right? I think so. However, in the future I will not be repeating this mistake.

I've been in Seattle for a whole year! My actual one year anniversary was July 7th. It has been the fastest year of my life. Aaron and I have definitely had an adventure or two getting to know our new 'hood. Don't get me wrong, I've been homesick and he's been homesick at times but we both are so glad that we moved out here. I can honestly say it's starting to feel like home. The fact that we have more than 2 friends is really helping. Oh, and the fact that I heart, heart, heart my job. It's the bomb. AND in exciting, exciting news guess which Seattle suburb was ranked #1 by Seattle Magazine? Kenmore, or as I affectionately call it "Kenmo'" or "The More." You know, I think it was ranked #1 because it's about to be privy to the biggest party Kenmorians have ever seen; The Shurts' 3rd Annual Short Shorts Slip n Slide Party. If you don't know, now you know. It's next weekend folks, Saturday August 15th. Get ready. There will be photographic evidence.

Lastly, it's the end of an era. My 2004 ibook g4 has been retired and is about to be given to a new owner, my mom. Now, what does that mean for me? It means I got a new computer fools. This is the first brand new computer that I've ever had. I've always been given hand me downs, I feel so special and techy now. I told Aaron I really, really, needed a new computer because I'm a serious blogger. You would think he would have known by now. I think this new computer might be the one of the most beautiful pieces of machinery that I have ever seen. It has a built in camera and here is a picture I took of me, as proof.

I LOVE IT! Have you seen those annoying commercials where the stupid girl is trying to find a computer and she's given $1000 and there's only one mac that meets her requirements under $1000 and she leaves the apple store saying "I guess I'm not cool enough to be a mac person." Yeah, dummy, I guess you're not. Why the eff would someone promoting HP or Dell or whatever lame-o brand it is (the fact that it looks more like a Best Buy commercial means it's a terrible ad campaign in my opinion) suggest that they're not cool enough to buy a mac so they have to buy a pc? I don't get it.

Real Housewives of Atlanta is back on and it's as much of train wreck as ever. And you best believe I'm tuning in every week. The brand new season of Project Runway starts next Thursday and I'm stoked!! That's one of my most fave shows ever. Remember though, it's on Lifetime and not Bravo.

Alrighty folks that's all for tonight!
Signing off from my new computer.

xoxo,
al

What's love got to do with it?

2009-08-03T22:29:00.002-04:00

Dear Blog,

I generally keep my fingers and toes manicured and pedicured as a rule because who wants to see gnarly fingers when they're being rung up by moi? Plus it's summer time so the only time I wear non sandals is when I'm working out. My father taught me at a young age that feet have the tendency to be very ugly so I have always taken good care of mine. Dad is also quite the extremist, he thinks that sandals should be outlawed. He dislikes feet that much. All of this to say I got a mani/pedi this morning and I decided to go french mani/pedi because I thought maybe I would like it. The verdict is still out. I used to like it. Then I thought it looked trashy. So I tested the waters to see if I liked it again and I'm not sure. What do you think blog readers? Is french mani/pedi in or out? Also, is it just Seattle or is the economy stabilizing? There were A TON of women in the nail place this morning. Usually it's just me and my nail lady watching Vietnamese soap operas.

A good friend of mine is going through a rocky spot in her marriage and is looking for comfort outside of her home...if you know what I mean. (I will be waiting for the flood of emails in my inbox asking who it is from a certain few bellafrench readers...suffice it so say you don't know her but go ahead and email me anyway! I love email!) I cannot, cannot, cannot explain how sad I feel by this whole situation. Generally, I'm not sympathetic or empathetic. Life is filled with facts and truths and non-truths, I make all decisions based on these. I'm not touchy feely, I don't make emotional decisions, I tell people the truth regardless of what they want to hear and expect the same in return. I sound like such a joy don't I?

However, when it comes to what might be a dissolved marriage I just want my friend to fight for what she said she would fight for when she said her vows. I don't think marriage is something that can be tossed to the side when something or someone comes along. This whole situation has made me examine my relationship with Aaron. The thought of something or someone coming in between us almost bring tears to my eyes and makes me want to hurl at the same time. And that is what I'm feeling for my friend.

That's all for tonight friends! Don't forget to comment about the aforementioned french mani/pedi query. It is quite pressing.

xoxo,
alison

Too much information?

2009-07-25T02:10:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

Last night I did a "software update" on my laptop because Aaron told me I needed to do these ever so often (is that a southern phrase?) in order to make my computer run faster and not slow as shit. After 4 years of having this laptop, last night I finally remembered to do it! I'm still working on not saving documents on the desktop. One step at a time people. Is it just me? I always ignore those updates because you have to do the update and then restart your computer and for a person who likes instant gratification, this does not work. Reason #121934875 I need a secretary. Gah.

So, back to the point. One of the software updates was installing the latest version of Safari. I use Safari because I hear Aaron cursing at Internet Explorer all the time. Apparently graphic designers have a hard time getting IE to use the layout that they code. Therefore, internet explorer is so 2000 and late. As is that phrase.

One of the new features of the new Safari is showing you your most frequented web sites. I lol'ed when I saw mine. It further substantiated that I am not that deep. So here they are!!

1. My work email. I gotta make sure everyone is doing their job.
2. Facebook. Cause I'm nosy, fools.
3. Perez Hilton. I'm a little embarrassed by this one.
4. People.com
5. My work's intranet.
6. Gmail. Will someone besides Barney's and All Recipes send me an email?
7. Go Fug Yourself. Because fugly is the new pretty.
8. Twitter. Even though I'm over it.
9. Bank of America. How much money can I spend today?
10. Mate's blog. Since she never calls me back this is the only way I can keep in touch with her. Hint, hint.
11. Dport7. I heart the robots.

If you have a blog and it's not one of my most visited then maybe you should update it more often. I'm just sayin'.

xoxo,
alison

Aloha, betch

2009-07-23T01:03:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

I'm a little behind on youtube humor, so when two of my coworkers introduced me to the Kelly series, by comedian Liam Kyle Sullivan, I thought it was so hilarious and started sharing with all my friends. Howevs, some people think Kelly is like so two years ago and if you're one of those people, why didn't you share with me? I like to be on the cutting edge of everything! And if you're not one of those people, then here's my fave video; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPDl2g8Upvk
It's kind of long, has cursing in it, is probably unsafe for work and if you're older than 40...well you probably won't think it's funny. Is that ageism? OH wells.

So, back to the "aloha" part of the title. Well, Aaron was supposed to be in a wedding on July 4th in Charlotte, NC and after the wedding we were going to take our vacation in the Carolina's. The wedding was postponed and we didn't know what we were going to do for our vacay! We still thought about going to Charlotte/Charleston but...we've obvy been there a million times. I was beginning to feel like every time we had a vacation we were running back to the East Coast and that we should do something West Coast style. We threw around L.A, Napa Valley, San Diego, San Fran and Hawaii. Aaron was on the project like a hound dog on a scent. He was all over the internets looking for deals and steals. He presented me with our options and Hawaii was by far the best one! He did one of those package deals where we got our flight, condo and rental car in one fell swoop. It was seamless.

After Aaron purchased the trip, I felt a feeling that I do not feel often. Guilt. I felt guilty that we were going on a fantastic vacation. We're in the middle of a recession, people are struggling to make ends meet and Aaron and I are just going to frolic in Hawaii for a week. While I am ecstatic that we can afford this opportunity, something felt weird. I told Aaron and he just thought I was spending the day in crazy-town. So, I did what any rational girl would do. I called my mom. She was like "Girl, are you crazy? Quit feeling guilty. Y'all work hard." So, I got over it! Good thing I did because we had an effing blast.

I love Hawaii! If you ever get the chance to go, GO. (We stayed on Maui.) It's so beautiful, peaceful, serene, and...beautiful! I really, truly tried to live every moment in the present and soak up every minute we were there. We had the perfect mix of activities for Aaron and relaxation for me. We usually did some sort of activity in the morning and then did the ocean/pool in the afternoon. The weather wasn't too hot, it was in the mid 80's and pretty breezy. I never got too hot and got a great deal of sun. Only downside of the whole trip is that we couldn't take Bella. The upside of the trip was learning how to surf!!

Anyway, how lame is it that this is my first post for July? That sucks. I'm going to crank out some posts on the asap. I have lots of topics on the brain.

xoxo,
Alison

So, I went running

2009-06-29T22:30:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

When I was growing up my parents had to force me to go outside. I loved staying inside and reading, coloring and dressing my Barbie dolls. My parents would me take to the Cooper Branch Library and I would check out a minimum of 8 books and be giddy on the ride home with excitement about all of my books. Are you conjuring up a visual of what I was like as a child? Nerd? Check.

When I was 13 I had a subscription to W Magazine and sounded out all of the Italian fashion houses with a slightly southern accent. (Stay with me, I promise I'm going somewhere.)

When I was in middle school my mom would beg me to go on walks with her, I think I was a little chubby. When I decided I WOULD go, I got overheated and had to sit on the side of the road and get a ride home from a neighbor who was also my 3rd grade teacher. Embarrassing. Same thing happened when I was a cheerleader and had to run ONE LAP around the Flora soccer field. Are you getting the picture?

I was a nerdy kid, who loved fashion, and was a little chubby.

Then the day came when I put two and two together. I could not be chubby and wear the clothes in the pages of W Magazine. I had to start working out.

So, I started running. To me, it's the non-athlete's sport. You don't have to interact with anyone, you don't have to have any discernible athletic talent and if you do it long enough you can eventually become good at it. Check.

Fast forward a couple years and I've done a multitude of 5k's, 10k's, one 1/2 marathon and one full marathon. After the full marathon I swore up and down I was never doing that again. It was quite painful. Oh, and I completely stopped running and started doing yoga.

Fast forward a couple more years and I'm working for a very health conscious company with a bunch of young women who are all hyped up about running the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon and convince me to sign up too. Aaron tells me he's thinking about thinking about signing up for it as well, which in my mind means that he's signing up for it.

We start training.

I convince my friend Drew to fly in all the way from Greenville, SC to run with us!! Yay!

Race day comes. Drew, Aaron and myself get up at 4:30 AM to get downtown, to get on a shuttle, to ride to Tukwila to run 13.1 miles back to Seattle. When you put it like that doesn't it sound crazy? I think it is crazy, but anyway we signed up for it so onward. The race day was beautiful, it was in the upper 60's/low 70's and not a cloud in the sky. We ran around Lake Washington and even saw a bald eagle! That bald eagle was such a diva, he was posing for the thousands running by. There were so many out of towners running the 'thon and I must admit that I was proud of "my" city as they were stopping to take pictures in the middle of the race. Aaron and I ran together until about mile 9 when we encountered a big ass hill and this diva had to stop and walk while Aaron kept on runnnnaaanng. From that point on I was about .5 miles behind Aaron for the rest of the race but I could always see him. For those of y'all that don't know Aaron, he's 6 feet 7 inches, has ganked up knees and ankles from years of playing basketball and is not a runner. He was so serious about training for this race that he made me take it more seriously. So, for the last 4 miles of the race when I was about a half a mile behind Aaron and I would spot him just running along I was so proud of him and a big smile would cross my face. (Isn't that cheesy?!? I can't help it.)

And that my friends, is the evolution of a book worm to a bona fide runner.

The end.

xoxo,
Alison

Highs and Lows

2009-06-18T00:20:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

Man, these past couple of weeks have been filled with hiiiiighs and looooooows. I will recount some of them for you.
Monday: High. Aaron books us a trip to HAWAII! We're going to Maui for our vacation the week after July 4 (my least favorite holiday, just for your information.)

Tuesday: Low. Aaron is so sick, he has to stay home from work. Effect on me: I wait on him hand and foot and sleep in the guest room ('cause I'm not trying to get sick), where we don't have a fan and it's hot because houses in the PNW don't have air condition. Little known fact.

Wednesday: High. I decide that I'm trying to evolve and I don't need all of my material things anymore. I put away the Louis Vuitton and start carrying a reusable bag because that's what evolved people do. I'm also going to stop talking about my archenemy. Aaron decided he would sleep in the guest room! SCORE!

Thursday: Low. Aaron is still sick. I wake up late and have to go to work with greasy hair. YUCK.

Friday: High. I get my bonus check for the first quarter. Low. Damn the government took a lot of my bonus. High. Oh yes, I am evolved and I am happy I got a bonus in these economic times.

Saturday: Low. My archenemy did something that made me laugh and talk about her behind her back in the most un-evolved manner possible. I knew it was wrong but that didn't stop me. Back to square one in the "evolved" department. Shit. Oh yeah, I pull out the Louis Vuitton again.

Monday: High. I've lost 4 pounds on my 10 pound weight loss journey. (I'm not sure if my dad is still in the game.) Aaron is finally feeling better!!! We go bathing suit shopping and we both find suits in under hour. For real you guys, that's amazing. Last years bathing suit search took all day, involved frustration and tears and finally finding a suit and having to order it online. It's a summer time miracle!! Also saw The Hangover, funniest movie of 2009.

I'm still on the search for enlightenment and evolved-ness. It just takes time. If any of you have any tips or tricks of the trade I would be happy to listen. As far as shopping goes, whenever I buy something I'm asking myself is this because I love it or because of status? As far as my archenemy goes, I just need to let it go. She's not in my life anymore. As far as everything else, it's just another day in the life of BellaFrench!

xoxo,
Alison

Rugrats

2009-06-04T23:59:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

Another one of my friends is preggy! Because my friend is so high profile and likes to protect her privacy I'm not going to give her a public shout out cause that is so not her style. Instead, I will give you a hint. She lives in Charlotte, she's a lawyer...and she's tall. There. If you get it, then give her a shout out! Being pregnant is exciting and fun!! I can't wait to meet their little baby!

Now, on to the next burning question I'm sure will come, (and in typical Alison fashion I'm bringing it back to me.) Are Aaron and I feeling like bringing little AliRon's into creation anytime soon? The answer is still a resounding noooooooooo. I don't know why folks, but Aaron and I still aren't ready for kids. And until we're 100% ready then that day is still far in the future. I'm not worried about being an old parent. I mean, if Halle Berry can have a baby at 40 and still look bangin', then so can I. And yes, I just compared myself to Halle Berry.

The other day I was talking to my bff Spurge via google chat and telling him about all of my friends being preggy and/or having kids and the following conversation ensued. We were talking about whether or not I would stay home with my kids or not and I'm about 99% sure that I won't. I mean, once I have the little sucker I might change my mind. I'm just sayin'. So, anyway on to the convo:

Spurgeon:
like, if my kids are anything like i was
i do NOT want to be at home with them all day
LOL

me: LOL
Yeah
kids can be annoying
aaron and i decided if we have one
we're just having ONE

Spurgeon: let somebody else handle that shiz - i'll read 'em a story

me: and then i'm getting plastic surge

Spurgeon: nah - y'all should have two
that way, they can keep each other occupied and you don't have to play with them all the time
otherwise, you end up with a crazy kid that talks to himself and eats dirt

me: HAHAHAHA

Spurgeon: or one that's all up in your shiz 24/7

Every time I read that conversation I laugh. Especially about having a crazy kid that talks to himself and eating dirt. I don't know, is it just me? I was laughing so hard that my stomach hurt, I was glad that no one could hear me because then I would be the crazy one.

Aaaaaaanyway, the point of this whole blog was to congratulate my friend and her hubby on the upcoming arrival of their baaaaaaaaaaaby!!!!!

xoxo,
Alison

My boo times two

2009-05-29T00:03:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

Can you believe we've been married for two years?!? What the hell? Why does time go by so fast? Only five more to go with my practice husband. I told Ron I could guarantee him seven years.

I kid, I kid. Sometimes I'll tell him that though to keep him on his toes. I think it keeps the marriage alive.

Tuesday, May 26th, was my and Ron's second anniversary. So the past couple of times the anniversary has rolled around it has me thinking about our wedding and what, if anything, I would do differently. The only thing I can think of would be to enjoy it more and not worry about what other people thought. I got so wrapped up in what people would think of the type of chairs we had at our reception or whether people would think we weren't popular if a million people didn't come. Honestly, these thoughts would keep me up at night before the wedding. When I think of how silly those things were and now two years later people won't even be able to remember some of the silly details I fretted over, it makes me feel like a big bowl of grits.

Remember last year when I declared that every anniversary Ron and I were going to go on a "mini moon?" In true Alison fashion, we didn't lie and we took our mini moon to Lake Chelan this year. It's a beautiful lake about 150 miles to the east of us, through the mountains. What some of you might not know about Washington, is that only the area west of the mountains receives the rain and has a mild climate. Eastern Washington is dry, arid, and hot as balls. Perfect for a southerner! It gave me a little taste of home. For 48 hours Aaron and I just sat out by the pool, had some drinks and looked at all the college kids who were acting like they haven't had any home trainin'. Seriously. At one point, Aaron nudged me from my too much sun stupor and said "Those two girls are making out and there's a guy filming them." And, he wasn't lying. I felt like I was on spring break at Cancun! It was wild. Howevs, the staff at the resort gave us a room away from all of the debauchery so we could watch The Deadliest Catch in peace and be in bed by 11 pm.

You know, Aaron and I had such an easy first year of marriage that I thought maybe our second year would be harder seeing as how we moved across the country and left all of our friends and family. I was proven wrong and we've had another great year together. I still look forward every day to waking up beside Aaron and every night to when he comes home. He's my biggest supporter, he always laughs at my jokes and he treats me like the queen bee I am. And I, in turn, would do anything for him. (I know what you're thinking and luckily Aaron would never come between me and my clothes.) We are truly MFEO.

Here's to year number 3!

xoxo,
Alison

Say what?

2009-05-20T00:06:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

The following two conversations were had in the Shurts household over the past week and a half or so.

Aaron: I'm going to see a man about a canoe.
Me: Have fun.
Two hours later
Aaron: I bought a canoe.
Alison: Okay. How much was it?
Aaron: Two hundred dollars. That's how much you spend on a pair of shoes. I got a CANOE.

Conversation number 2
Aaron: We need to go weed the front beds.
Alison: I don't see any weeds.
Aaron: See all these? (Pointing to some crazy overgrown weeds, that I honestly didn't know were weeds) These are weeds and need to be pulled.
Alison: Oh. I thought those were green, luscious pieces of goodness that added beauty to our front yard.

I find my relationship with my husband to be one that is extremely humorous and I've often thought that if Aaron and I were in a reality show, it would be crazy popular and then Aaron and I would be BIG and FAMOUS! It's funny how the dreams of being rich and famous don't go away as you get older when everyone in Hollywood is becoming much younger than you are. (Please tell me other people think about things like this? I also have a daydream where Spurgeon and I host a talk show that rivals Ellen and Oprah in popularity.)

A common thread among these reality tv shows is that many couples start out married and as the cameras follow, their relationship disintegrates. What's up with that? It's very disconcerting. Who doesn't remember Jessica asking Nick about Chicken of the Sea being chicken or tuna, and now all we hear about is who Jessica and Nick are dating. The Count and the Countess DeLessups are no longer together, what will the Countess do without her title? And last but not least, Jon and Kate Gosslin who have EIGHT children to think about when they're slinging mud at each via the media and their extended family. AND, apparently they had an open marriage. Gross.

All of this nonsensical daydreaming has led me to believe that I will never be on The Real Housewives of Seattle because I would never risk my marriage for 15 minutes of fame. And I would probably never be on The Real Housewives of Seattle because I am far from a millionairess, but hey I'm only 28. I have time. I'm still banking on my talk show with Spurgeon.

xoxo,
Alison

Oh Snap!

2009-05-12T00:25:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

Sorry for the delay in posting die hard BF fans, I've been stockpiling canned foods and making emergency kits in preparation for the end times. I'm thinking to myself that surely the end times must be near with the shitty economy and then the swine flu pandemic, something just ain't right folks. But then I heard that the swine flu was just like a cold or something and I decided to come out of hiding and begin blogging again for you fine folk.

A lot has happened in the past almost month. I traveled back home to the dirty South to see my parents, my best friend's little sis get married and my other best friends newest addition to the fam; Harper Dana. Now, in preparation for my trip to the South and especially for the wedding, I was in search of a new outfit. A new outfit, wheeeeeee!! These days, a shopping trip with me usually looks like me walking around looking at clothes and Aaron following me looking at his iphone. Thank God for those things. If there's an Apple store within walking distance we'll always stop in there to appease him, oh and we always get a snack. Gotta keep the men happy, especially when they're watching you spend money. So, one thing I noticed when I was in search of my bomb outfit is that it appears as though I've gotten fat. Well, I don't really think I've gotten fat but the size I would normally wear in clothes wasn't fitting and I believe this is due to the fact that I wear stretchy pants everyday. Those stretchy pants will get you everytime. So, I've embarked on a diet. Like, a tried and true diet where I burn more calories than I consume, track my eating and weigh every Monday type of diet. I didn't think it was going to be fun but it really hasn't been that hard. I've just been consuming a lot more fruits and veggies and drinking more water and making sure I work out at least 4 times a week. To date I've lost one pound of gobby, grody fat. Only 9 more to go. I tried to engage my dad in a friendly competition to see who could lose ten pounds first but to date he hasn't lost any lb's. I don't think he's trying that hard seeing as how a little birdie told me that he's been eating sausage biscuits for breakfast here and there.

My trip to the south was so much fun. It was so warm and I was so happy sitting on the back porch of my parents house in Mississippi throwing the tennis ball with their pup. It was just sooooo laid back and I enjoyed my 5 days their to the maximum. Plus I got to spend time with three of my good friends, Faris, Drew and Leigh. As usual I cried and cried when I left my family and friends, which I can't really explain because I'm not that sentimental. Maybe I was just crying because I knew serious dieting was waiting for me back in Seattle? Who knows.

On a funnier note, yesterday (Sunday) Aaron decided he wanted a canoe. So he bought one. I know. A canoe? To me just the word canoe is funny to say. Canoe. Canoe. I let him take the canoe out on a test run yesterday but today I decided to join him. Seriously y'all, canoeing is funny. I couldn't stop laughing whilst in the canoe. I think because the only reason I was in that damn canoe is because of how much I love Ron and I knew he wanted me to go. Oh, the things you do for love. Just think of me in a canoe decked out in and Prada sunglasses and you'll get a good laugh too.

xoxo,
Al

Tweeeeter

2009-04-18T02:11:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

You may have heard of the latest internet phenomenon sweeping the nation; Twitter. If not, let me enlighten you. You get 140 characters (a character includes a letter AND a space) to tell the world what you are doing at any given point in time. Last year Crist was hounding me for months and months to join Twitter because she thought it would be a good way for me to keep up with my peeps back home when I moved to Seattle. At first, I was all "What in the sam hill is Twitter? I already joined the facebooks, isn't that enough?" But, I finally gave in, like I always do. I also decided that Twitter is kind of fun! It's one of those that takes a while. The interface isn't that user friendly so you kind of have to play around with it and then find some friends and then start tweeting away. Sadly, I only have about 12 people on Twitter who care enough to follow my updates. If you are on Twitter, come follow me at Bellafrench! It's always a party over there! My ego is hurting with only 12 peeps. Ron has more twitter friends than I do and we can't have that!

Since I'm on twitter and I have a blog and a facebook account and I read other people's blogs, everyone I know out here in Seattle of all places think I'm all hooked up in technology. Seriously. Let's all have a good laugh about that one. I have had several people call me in the past couple of days to ask me an internet question because somehow or another I've earned the reputation as being well versed in all things internet. Hi-lario.

But, I do read blogs that are good and relatively short. I can't be reading like 19 paragraphs, I'm usually done after about 300 words. I digress. One of the blogs I read, like every other woman in the entire galaxy reads is Dooce. If you haven't heard of Dooce, here's a brief bio. She was a graphic designer in L.A, she started a blog, she talked shit about the people she worked with, she got found out, she got fired, she kept blogging, she became famous, she had a baby, she had post partum depression, she entered a mental hospital for a couple of weeks, she got even more famous, she kept blogging, her husband quit his job, she kept blogging, she started taking anti depression meds, she kept blogging, she's happy now, they make enough money to live off of her blog, she wrote a book. So basically, her blog makes her famous. I am so jealous. I wish this blog made me a penny. And no, I'm not putting those ridiculous google ads on my blog. Gag. Anyway, back to Dooce. So she wrote a book and like most authors she went on a book tour. And, she came to Seattle!! To a bookstore only two miles away from my house! I was so pumped!! I dragged Aaron with me to go meet Dooce and listen to her read some excerpts from her new book, we had a grand time. She's as hilarious and honest and self deprecating in person as she comes across in her blog. She also has quite the southern accent even though she has lived in Utah for a long time. And you know Aaron took a picture of me with Dooce, and you also know that I couldn't just smile like a normal person. I was all up in her grill.

I think I got a little too close for comfort. Her bodyguards started creeping closer and closer to her as I was posing for the picture. I was all, "Whatever, I got my bodyguard here too and his name is Ron." As soon as the picture was taken we were politely asked to leave the premises.

Anyway, the moral of the story is I love the internet.

xoxo,
Alison

Gimme a break

2009-04-07T23:57:00.004-04:00

Dear Blog,

Sometimes it just feels good to break up the routine, to shake it up a little bit and throw things in the air and see where they land. I feel like January, February and March are three of the hardest months of the year. There's a little blip of fun on the radar with Valentine's Day but if you don't have a fabulous partner who gets you a cheeseburger, Raisinettes and watches "He's just not that into You" on this loviest of lovey days, then that holiday is prolly not that great, am I right or am I right? Lately, in typical Aaron and Alison fashion we were craving to break up our routine. We just needed to go. Somewhere. We needed to get out of town and have no plans, drink too much and eat too much and spend a little money. Well, we didn't NEED to spend any money but that is a frequent craving of mine, much to Ron's chagrin.

Since Aaron is the only 28 year old I know who still gets a spring break we thought that would be a great time to take a mini vacay. Since Aaron is a hound dog in human form, he was all over the innernets sniffing out the best deals. (As I write this, he is searching for tickets for our "mini-moon", i.e two year anniversary trip) Since Aaron is an incessant, deal searching, hound dog in human form we got down to 5 days before "GO TIME" with still no plans in sight. I was getting a little clammy in the hands because I had taken myself off the schedule for Friday and Saturday and I was afraid it was Aaron's grand master plan to have me do house chores like painting and potting plants and pretend we were on vacay by putting umbrellas in fruity drinks for me. I was getting nightmares about petunias and azaleas and reminding Aaron that we needed to book tickets like asap. Feeling the pressure from a naggy wife Aaron found us tickets to NYC for a Thursday night to Monday, perfect!!

There's something about New York that's so exciting. It's not the grimy subway, the dirty streets, the crazy horn honking but the energy of the city is contagious. I feel like I can shop all day and stay up all night drinking wine with my friends who I only get to see once or twice a year and be perfectly content. Whereas, I am fatigued by even thought of Vegas, where you are supposed to stay up all night, no thanks.
All of this is to say that I had a great time in NYC with our fave peeps, P, K, S & G*. In my perfect world all of our friends would live in the same city and life would be grand.

*Only initials are given to protect the innocent

xoxo,
Al

Sunbathing in the Northwest

2009-03-26T00:53:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

I know I've griped about this before and I'm going to gripe about it again, 'cause I can yo. Everyone in the U.S of A has a schtick about Seattle and the copious amounts of ~~rain~~ mist we get. "Rain" is often the first word that comes out of everyone's mouth when the word "Seattle" is merely uttered. It's like the whole U.S gets off on talking about something that's semi annoying about a city in which they don't live, and I think it's done to make people feel better about where they DO live. When I moved from Columbia to Greenville and told people I was from Cola town they immediately would say, "It's so HOT there, how did you stand it?" Really? Greenville is all of two degrees cooler than Columbia. Seriously folks. It's hot as balls up there too.

Anyway, I'm totally digressing from the point. So, this winter hasn't been that bad in Seattle. It's been cold, and we had like 18 feet of snow right before Christmas but other than that it's been legit. We've had lots of sunny days, some cloudy days, some random hail storms and snow flurries. I would say it's been a typical winter for anyone in the northern part of the U.S. None of this bothered me until just a few days ago. I'm itching for spring! I think the first official day of Spring happening last week made me want it that much more. It's still pretty cold here and lately all of the days have been really cloudy and misty making me feel antsy for some sun. I check the weather on my iphone everyday and get so excited when I see a yellow sun instead of rainy clouds, and that day came today! This afternoon was SO sunny I just couldn't stand it! Aaron and I took Bella on a long walk and then continued the frivolity in our backyard. I was so sun happy that I just layed down right in the backyard (I checked for Bella poop, don't worry) and I stayed there for about 20 minutes. I had to get my vitamin D and some color on my white, white face. I was immediately in a better mood and I think Ron and Bella were as well. There is no moral to this story other than we make our own happiness and if that is 20 minutes in my backyard sunbathing in multiple layers, then that's what it is.

xoxo,
Alison

Hair it is!

2009-03-23T23:32:00.005-04:00

Dear Blog,

What is it about a haircut that makes me so happy? I don't know why, I don't know how and I don't know where but it's something I look forward to every 6-8 weeks. Anyway, I got my hair cut and colored today and I feel like a whole new woman. The blonde bee is back! I don't have many pics to share but I cut all of my hair off in December a la Victoria Beckham and I rocked the short, short hair for a bit but I felt my facial features were a tad too strong for the short hair so I decided to give it a little bit of length and take it back to my natural* color blonde. Here's a short hair pic of me and Kris tradin' swigs o' whiskey. To answer a couple of questions that I'm sure have arisen upon seeing this picture: a.) I'm not jeepin' on Aaron, Kris is Aaron's bff and Aaron took this picture. b.) I don't even like whiskey, I just wanted to drink it c.) I barfed until about 6 pm the next day d.) I'm never drinking whiskey again.

In a couple of months, this is my vision for my hair: a sleek, simple, blond bob. We'll see, a lot can happen between now and then. Anyway, I've always had a special bond with the person that cuts my hair. In Columbia, I went to the same stylist from the age of 5 to 25. For real! I invited the woman to my wedding. Once I was in Charlotte a couple of years and I was tired of driving to Columbia for a haircut and Brenda was getting a little long in the tooth, I took a risk on a woman named Misti at T. Reid on East Blvd and fell in love with her! She did my hair for my wedding, dyed it brown, dyed it back to blonde, toyed with putting in hair extensions, gossiped with me, etc. We had a tearful goodbye when I moved to Seattle. Upon being in Seattle I've gone to three stylists and I've finally settled on one but I just haven't forged that bond. I'm working on it though, I'm not giving up! Am I being ridiculous or do you get what I'm saying? There's just something special about the time spent in the chair while a stylist is shaping your hair!

Gripe pertaining to yoga: Make sure your feet don't smell. That's all I'm going to say about that.

That's it for tonight folks!

*I was born blonde, it's not my fault it slowly turned brown.

xoxo,

Alison

The truth will set you free

2009-03-15T22:24:00.004-04:00

Dear Blog,
I have a shocking secret to admit, BellaFrench has a hater. I know, I know, it's hard to believe...it was a big idea for me to swallow. After a couple of weeks of ruminating on this subject I am now understanding the ramifications of having someone dislike you. It's not fun. It appears as though an internet troll stumbled upon my little bloggy here and wasn't in love with it! Shocking. Having someone dislike my blog has affected how often I've been posting and it just dawned on me today that that is not fair to all of the people who DO like my blog. So, pish posh, I wash my hands of you hater. As Rihanna sings so eloquently with T.I, "ain't got no time for no hata's, just livin' my life."

Seattle is as cold as ever and this year it seems as though snow really likes this area. People in Seattle amaze me. Only in this city will 8,000 people show up for a 3.5 mile run in 34 degree weather, did I mention it was snowing? Oh yeah, it was snowing. This was no ordinary snow folks, the snowflakes were about as big as a quarter. They were the fattest snowflake this southerner has ever seen! I wasn't totally into waking up before seven on the Lord's day to go run in the snow, but I gave my word to my team that I would be there. Oh yeah, and I dragged Aaron along with me :) Yay for being married!! You get to do all sorts of fun stuff! The race was fun, I'm not sure what my time was but I'm sure it was superfast. I had fun seeing my girls this morning and the race was aight and then I enjoyed getting in the car and coming home! Wooo. Here's a pic of our crew and yeah, my eyes are totally closed.

So, I can successfully run 3.5 miles, only 10 more to go before the half marathon in June! Wooooooo. (Shout out to Drew! Can't wait to see you!)

In other exciting news, my ten year high school reunion is this summer!! Argh. I'm getting old! I'm debating upon whether or not I'm going to go. I mean, I think I should go but what if I fly all the way to the South Carolina and it's totally lame? What do you think peeps? Should I go to my high school reunion and drag The Ron along with me?

xoxo,
Alison

AliRon Shurts

2009-03-04T23:51:00.004-05:00

Dear Blog,

Aaron and I always joke around about baby names, we already have our daughter's name picked out and I've probably told all of you that read this blog but I don't want to share with the world wide web because that seems wrong. And no, I'm not pregnant but I do seem to blog about it often don't I? I need to stop doing that. Having babay's is not my thing, not at this moment anyway. Wow, I really steered off course with that one. So, we've joked about combining our names, Alison and Aaron, to AliRon! It could be a boy's name or a girl's name, how convenient is that? Too convenient if you ask me, like, it's almost tempting.

However, I feel like this name combining has gone too far. And now I'm going to take it back to facebook. Since now everyone and their mom now has a facebook account several married couples have gone to such lengths to create a joint account. I can see the conversation now;

Wife: "Honey, all my friends at work have something called 'the facebook' and they say I should join because I can stay in touch with all of my friends from elementary school, who weren't really my friends but I just want to see if they've gotten fat over the past 20 years, and I can throw fake water balloons at people, and I can even save the earth with somethin' called the Lil' Green Patch."

(editors note: all of my fake characters have deep southern accents)

Husband: "Um hm"

Wife: "Well, if I get on the facebook, I want you to get on the facebook too because I don't want any ONLINE PREDATORS predatating on me"

Husband: "Wife, is you crazy? I sit at work all day looking at a computer and I don't even remember anyone I went to grade school with, and we don't even RE-cycle why would I want to save the earth with some g$!@#$WSn lil green patch?"

Wife: "Well, hows about this? I'll create a JOINT account and that way it'll scare away all them online predators and I can still throw fake water balloons at my old friends."

So, you know the end of this story. Husband and Wife now combine their name and become AliRon Shurts that you can too can be friends with.

Now, my gripe is this. What if I'm friends with the wife and don't know the husband? Or, I don't like the husband? Or worse, I made out with the husband?!? I'm just sayin'. I see a combined account going all kinds a wrong.
"Why are you friends with your ex-girlfriend? You still LOVE her don't you? I knew it!"

"Why are you friends with your frenemy? You talk smack about her all the time, how can you be virtual friends with her? Just so you can make fun of her? You're a terrible person."

You see how wrong this could go? I say, take a stand for independence!

Besides you could always do what I do, just memorize the Ron's passwords so I can check up on his ass.

xoxo,
Alison

My baby turns 3!

2009-02-23T23:56:00.003-05:00

Dear Blog,

Today my little baby Bella, the namesake of Bellafrench, turned THREE! We celebrated with a trip to the dog park on Saturday and a new toy. I cannot tell you how much joy that little pup has brought into our lives and I would highly recommend one if you have the time and money. Because they take both.

This week brings lots of updates. I'll be training for my upcoming new blog-venture and will make sure to keep you all in the loop.

Right now I'm watching some crazy, crackhead movie with Maggie Gyllenhal called "Sherry Baby", I'm not sure I would recommend it. It's a little rando.

Last weekend, Aaron, Bella and I went to Portland, OR for the weekend to celebrate Valentine's Day. It was so fun to get away, even if just for a night. The weather was beautiful and we always love exploring a new city. You wanna know what's best about Portland? The fact that the shopping is tax free. Everything is tax free, meals, Starbucks, CLOTHES. Even though it's only saving like 8% or so, you feel like you're saving a fortune. I would come out of Starbucks exclaiming to Aaron that I only spent $3.50!!! Wooooooohhhh, an even number. That was really fun for me. I also came out of Portland a pair of jeans and some Tory Burch ankle booties in the good, Aaron got himeself two pair of jeans and a wallet. We like us some Portland. Bella likes Portland too, especially because she got to sleep on the bed in the hotel room (Portland is very pet friendly, even in nice hotels!).

On a more serious note, Aaron and I have decided to give up caffeine. Siiiiiiiiigh. It has not been easy. I'm on day 5 sans caffeine and I would be lying if I said that I didn't have a headache every single day since THE SWITCH to decaf. Upon telling one of my besties that I've given up coffee, he promptly told me to move back to the East Coast. Alas, I have not turned into an organic eating, composting all my extra waste, non-caffeinated, green tea drinking, Pacific Northwest bona fide hippie. Aaron found out that drinking caffeine would worsen the state of his sad kidneys, so we decided to stop drinking caffeine. I'm hoping everyday will get easier but dang, why it gotta be so hard? So, if I seem a little bit out of it let's just blame it on that.

Lastly, in the world of big updates Aaron and I are running the Seattle Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon! Did you hear that Drew?!? The Ron and I are runnnnang. This is the first year the Rock 'n Roll Marathon is in Seattle so we thought it would be fun to participate in some Seattle history. Sunday was my first foray in running since October 22, 2006 when I ran the Chicago Marathon. Granted, we only ran 1.5 miles but it felt pretty good and we will continue to run until we conquer those measly 13 miles.

That's all for tonight!
xoxo,
Alison

A Million Little Pieces

2009-02-02T22:24:00.002-05:00

Dear blog,

There's this plague going around Facebook where everyone is telling 25 deep, dark secrets about themselves and then tagging 25 of their closest friends to do the same. When I saw the first persons list I knew it was only a matter of time before I got tagged. I got to thinking about what I would want to put on my list of 25 things that people don't know about me but are innocent enough for me to put up there? Because you don't really want to put the things that people don't know about you up there, or else, they would already know them. Or is that flawed logic? I read others' list to see a sample of what they were writing and a lot of them went a little something like this;

"I love my friends more than they know, I hope they love me back"
"I have the best boyfriend/husband/girlfriend/wife in the world!"
"I love Disney movies!"
Who freaking cares??
Many lists held trivial facts and other generally banal things that didn't really hold my attention.

There were a couple of lists that I did enjoy reading and you could tell the writer put some thought in their lists, one was a high school chum and how they came out to their family and the other was a friend who said it is possible to be single and happy. (I loved that one!!)

Really, what this proved to me was how much people are just craving to talk about themselves. People are putting their heart on their proverbial sleeve and telling such secrets as "I like the crust cut off of my pb&j". Maybe to curb the insatiable need for people to write lists about themselves, we need to actually start listening. Just think about it. You go to work and something SO funny just happened on your way to work, say the carhop at Sonic asked you if wanted salt and ketchup with your Diet Coke, and you can't wait to tell your coworkers about it and get a good laugh. Nine times out of ten, before you can get to the punchline the person on the receiving end of your story is already thinking of a story that will be funnier than yours. It's a little game I like to call topper. Who can top the other with a more outrageous story? The next time you feel the need to talk about yourself when someone is talking to you, just bite your tongue and acknowledge the other person. You'll be surprised at what you might learn.

That's all for tonight folks.
xoxo,
Alison

Maaaaaybe it wouldn't be so bad?

2009-01-25T23:42:00.002-05:00

Dear Blog,
I'm kind of whack. I was born whack. By whack I mean a hypochondriac. I can recount many examples and I will give you a few; back in middle school one of my friend's mother died of ALS disease or more commonly known as "Lou Gherig's Disease". Being young and not having dealt with much death in my life I did some research on ALS and found it was the deteriorating of muscles until eventually your heart atrophies and then you die. Some of the warning signs include twitching muscles, the numbing of limbs, etc. So from that point on, every time my muscle twitched or one of my limbs decided to go numb I was convinced that I had ALS and I was going to die. My parents convinced me that I was not going to die. I didn't understand why they weren't taking me seriously and they were going to be really sorry when I died. Clearly the joke was on me because I'm still alive.

If you are a faithful BellaFrench reader you will know that back in June I thought I might be prego and then found out I wasn't and life was hunky dory again. What I failed to mention in said blog post was that I was freaking out about the possibility of being knocked up. I had way too many things to get done before I could introduce a child into the Shurts household. I called my mom all crying and while she was trying to calm me down and convince me that more than likely I wasn't pregnant. Little did I know she was rejoicing on the other end of the phone on the 1% chance that I could be. She also secretly thought I was whack. Scratch that, she openly tells me I'm whack. A gene inherited from my father, or so she claims.

Now before all of you over eager readers start thinking I'm telling you this long drawn out story to reveal that I'm pregnant, I'm not. Let's just end that little fantasy right now.
Back to my story. I'm not going to get into all of the details because I know I have some sensitive readers out there that don't want to read about menstrual cycles and whatnot but I will say I had a reason to wonder if I was pregnant again.

Now, what's different about this wacky pregnancy scare is that this time I was kind of okay with it. I had the usual worries like, "is now the right time?" "the economy is shit right now...can we afford me...and a baby?" "will Aaron divorce me if I ask him 1.98 million times if I look fat in my pregnancy jeans?" but then I kind of got...maybe...a little excited.

I know. I can't believe I just wrote that.

When it came to pass that I was not pregnant I felt a little sad inside and I went to our bedroom and woke Aaron up and told him he wasn't going to be a dad just yet. I also texted my mom and said "Sorry Grandma...not yet". It was quite an eye opening experience for me because I always thought I was just going to have babies to carry on my wonderful gene pool (and Aaron's too but mainly mine). I didn't know that I would actually want one. Weird. Maybe I do have a nice gene (and a crazy gene) after all.

All I have to say is, Aaron better watch out. I always get what I want.

xoxo,
Alison

Who do you work for?

2009-01-23T00:27:00.002-05:00

Dear Blog,

I work for a liberal Canadian company that endorses store fronts like this

Are we a match made in heaven? I think so.

xoxo,
Alison

Thoughts from a Recessionista

2009-01-13T22:43:00.002-05:00

Dear Blog,

I would love, love, love to say I coined the term 'recessionista' but I cannot. I read it today in a style blog and thought; "recessionista...what an amazing word. if anyone is going to look good in a recession, even though i'm not participating in said recession, it will be me. (pause and dramatic look to the heavens) DO YOU HEAR THAT ECONOMIC CLIMATE?!? YOU WILL NOT WIN THE WAR ON FASHION! (pause. regain composure) I will win. 'Cause I always do."

This recession is really cramping my style. Even though every retailer across the U.S is slashing prices and you can get really great deals on shoes and handbags and, well, everything, it's no fun to buy stuff when you hear the unemployment rate is rising and it's the highest it has been since like 1654 or something. Ugh. I guess what I'm trying to say is, it doesn't hurt to be a little cautious. I for one am making good headway in this department. Remember when I rationalized those $400 Louboutins last weekend and didn't understand why the husband didn't understand why I couldn't pass up a great deal? Well that was pre-recessionista. The new and improved recessionista tried on pair of absolutely D.O.P.E Dior's at Nordstrom, admired them in the mirror, sashayed around the shoe section and then gently put them back. Cause who needs a pair of 5 1/2 inch orange (yes, orange but trust me they are hot) heels when all you wear is luon* all day? Pas moi says newly formed recessionista. If I'm going to spend major $, it's going to be on luon. Plus, I need to wear all of the stuff I've rationalized in the past. Now those are the words of a true recessionista.

In non-recession related news, this past weekend I made an effort to make some friends outside of work and joined this random book club. It met on Sunday and I went with nervous anticipation. The women were nice enough but I just don't visualize myself hanging out with them outside of book club. So, I don't think I'm going to back. I tried. Now, on to the next venture. There's gotta be a newly formed recessionista in Seattle looking for a new bff. She's just gotta find me.

*luon=nylon and lycra blend

xoxo,
Alison

Wake up and realize you are surrounded...

2009-01-06T22:18:00.002-05:00

By amazing friends.

Dear Blog,

"They" (whoever the hell they are) say that when you die, moments of your life flash before your eyes. Instead of regaling you with witty banter from this past weekends whirlwind trip to the Carolinas, I thought instead I would put a smattering of some of the moments up here for "them" to remember so they can flash before my eyes before I kick the proverbial coffee can.

Laughing so loud and long with my family late night on Thursday and making myself remember this moment because it might be a while before all five of us are together again, laughing like this.

Eating a Rolaid after my first Bojangle's chicken biscuit in 6 months. It didn't sit too well y'all.

Wondering at what point my heart will stop beating so quickly when I hear my parents talking on the phone to someone at an ungodly hour in the morning. I know who is on the other line and I know it's not good news.

Eating STP dippers with my best mate and watching her child clumsily put little orange slices in her mouth, and realizing that we've known each other for over a decade and guess what? We're old.

Sitting in the back of the family wagon while driving to Charlotte and wondering how it will feel when I get there? Very scared that I won't want to go back to Seattle.

Rationalizing to myself and Aaron why I need those Christian Louboutins that are on sale at Bob Ellis for 60% off, yet are still $400. When I don't convince him, I threw a mild a temper tantrum. Then get mad at myself for said tantrum. Note to self: don't go into Bob Ellis next go round.

Seeing my best college friends, The Coles and The Youngs for the first time. You couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

Screaming in the back of Russ' car when Leigh and Kyle slyly told us they bought a beamer.

Crying at the middle of dinner when Kyle asked me if I missed Charlotte at all. Why can't I hold those stupid tears in?

Walking down East Boulevard.

Going over to a friend's house and have her offer me and Aaron weed. Ew. We declined.

Having dinner with good friends is one of my most favorite past times.

Walking into a random Starbucks and seeing an old friend and his huuuuuuuuuuuuge smile when he saw me. A big hug followed.

Burying the hatchet with an old friend over lunch and making a pact to start anew.

Running into a ~~friend~~ someone with whom I would like to bury the hatchet in her back.

Consciously making an effort not to tear up when I said good bye to Leigh and Miles and succeeding!

Barely making it inside before tearing up.

Thinking, "Charlotte is no longer my home. I am a visitor."

Driving home from the airport on I-5 this morning at 1 AM and thinking "This is my home, and I'm fine with that."

Feeling satisfied.

xoxo,
Alison

Best of 2008!

2008-12-28T22:42:00.003-05:00

Dear Blog,
It's that time of the year again when everyone and their brother is coming out with their "Best of 2008" lists and I thought, why not jump on the bandwagon? I did it last year, might as well do it again. Plus, I have TONS of stuff I love this year. Despite the recession, which I am not participating in by the way, I managed to score myself some of these fancy items.

1. Plaid! Oh my, how I love plaid. I know you're all thinking "Alison moved to Seattle and now she's in love with plaid." Well, I've always loved the Grunge era, I think you all know that. Alas, that is not the reason I'm in love with plaid this year. (wo)Men's Wear was all the rage this year and when fashion from the runways trickles down to us normal folk, since we're not going to be wearing crazy pantaloons with top hats and gloves, we wear plaid! J Crew has some great options, in fact that's where I got my shirt. I wear it with everything, jeans, leggings, you name it. You can go anywhere with plaid.
Vest and beer receive an honorable mention but certainly not a best of.

2. lulu! Need I even say it? lululemon pants make you look great, and they feel great! Add to that their wicking, four way stretch and gusset (anti-camel toe) features, you can't go wrong!

3. Chanel Precision exfoliating face wash. Luckily I have good skin so I wash my face with cetaphil and usually buy Dove moisturizer, but sometimes I just buy whatever is on sale cause I'm cheap like that. But, I was noticing that even though I have clear skin it doesn't have that dewy, fresh look that all of my favorite celebs have. So, I went in search of some makeup that would give me a glow. I went to the Chanel counter because I was sure they would have something I could use and I found out it's not make up that gives you that look, it's exfoliator!! Who knew? Not me. So I bought some, it's a little pricey at $45 bucks a pop but it has given me excellent results. Plus, I bought it in February and I still have some now in December. You only use it about once or twice a week. I highly recommend the investment.

4. Favorite new music of the year is MGMT. Lately there have been few bands that I get really excited about listening to their albums but when I wake up in the morning I automatically put this cd on. It's so good. All of their songs are layered and usually have a build up of sorts which I like. It's something to look forward to! They sound very British but they're from Brooklyn. Weird. Anyway, check 'em out.

5. Favorite celeb of the year is most definitely Victoria Beckham.

I try to not use such banal terms as fierce, but Victoria Beckham is effing fierce. In the photo above she's just walking around the Meatpacking District in what look like about 5 1/2 inch heels and a fur stole. Who does that and makes it look normal? I'll tell you who, Victoria Beckham. And that is precisely why I love her. She makes the unreasonable look reasonable. Posh, can I be like you when I grow up? Minus the gross fake boobs, they make you look like a fem bot.

6. Handbag of the year is Louis Vuitton. You know, I really used to dislike Mr. Vuitton but all of a sudden his checkered print really started to grow on me and then it was all I could think about. It was like, I became obsessed with Louis Vuitton and anytime I saw someone with a bag I was very covetous. And you know what God says, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor. Plus, these bags will last forever and hell they've been around since the late 1800's or early 1900's, they're not going anywhere. So, I saved my money and bought me one. Why not right? You only live once. Now I don't have to mutter "bitch" underneath my breath everytime I see a woman with "my" handbag.

Last years favorite things are still some of my favorite things of this year. Christian Louboutin, Tory Burch and OPI still reign supreme in my household but it would be kind of silly to buy anymore because I wear workout clothes everyday. Hey, I'm not complaining it's quite comfy. Sometimes I do miss dressing up but I will again one day. I still love Amy Winehouse but I don't know how long she's going to be around. Crazy ho smokes crack for breakfast, ewwwww.

There you have it, my best of's for the year 2008! Can't wait to see what 2009 brings!

xoxo,
alison

Merry Christmas from the Shurts family!

2008-12-25T19:52:00.000-05:00

You didn't expect anything traditional did you?
Merry Christmas!
xoxo,
Alison

I heard there would be rain but WTF?

2008-12-21T20:13:00.006-05:00

Dear Blog,
So when Aaron and I decided to move out to Seattle everyone and their pup told us that it was going to rain and we were like duh. BUT, how come no one told us that it snowed a shit load out here?? And when I say shit load, I mean that we prolly have about 8 inches outside of my house and guess what folks? It's still coming down. I don't know when it's going to stop. It was supposed to stop today but nooooooooo, it's still snowing.

Now. I know this might surprise you, but I am not in love with snow. Why? Well. Snow inhibits me from doing the things I want to do, when I want to do them. For example, what if I want to go to the grocery store and buy some chips? Well, all of dang Seattle has already gone out and bought all of them. What the heck? And they took all of my favorite cheese dip too. Now what am I going to eat to clog my arteries?

Guess I'll just have to eat some healthy food because there was tons of that at the grocery store. Apparently when there is snow people just want to eat carbs.

I can't believe it's been a couple of weeks since my last post. A lot of things have happened.
We got a tree.

We went ice skating.

And then it started to snow and at first we were like yay! Snow. And then, it just kept snowing and snowing and snowing and people were freaking out and you know what I'm just tired of it. I just wish this snow would stop.

Anywhooooodle, Christmas is right around the corner and I'm excited! It's going to be a different kind of Christmas this year because it's just going to be me, Ron and little angel Bella. I don't know exactly what we are going to do so if you have any fun Christmas traditions you think the Shurts might enjoy, send 'em our way. 'Cause there's only so many times I can watch Christams Vacation. Cousin Eddie grosses me out.

xoxo,
Alison

Oh Facebook

2008-12-07T20:55:00.003-05:00

Dear Blog,
I think just about everyone I know is on Facebook these days, even my mom and I just got a friend request from Aaron's dad...which I haven't accepted yet because I have a certain reputation to uphold with the Shurts family. Geez. I mean, I know I'm going to have to 'friend' him but I feel like maybe some things on a facebook profile shouldn't be shared with in-laws. I can see Tony calling Aaron and asking what does "Alison has the spirit of a hustler and the swagga of a college kid" mean in her status update? And then Aaron will be all, "Well, Alison grew up in the 'hood and learned at a very young age the value of the hip hop genre. You had to speak hip hop to survive in Columbia, SC." And then Tony will wonder what kind of woman his upstanding son married? And then, it's all downhill from there. Now, one might say don't put hip hop lyrics in your status put something more vanilla like Michael Buble lyrics. And to that I scoff because I will not change who I am because of my friends on facebook. I am more T.I than Michael Buble and that is just the way it is people.

What's up with all of this facebook nonsense? Well, BellaFrench reader, Grace, shared with me this hilarious You Tube clip yesterday and I thought you all might find it funny as well. Because it is oh so true.

xoxo,
Alison

From sunny and warm to cold and damp

2008-12-03T23:54:00.004-05:00

Dear Blog,
What up peeps? Oh yeah, I keep forgetting I'm supposed to be talking like an adult these days.
Hello there people. As I write, I'm sitting here watching Elf with Aaron and looking around in amazement that my house is NOT decorated to the hilt, I mean I'm practically married to Clark Griswald and it has almost been a week since Thanksgiving. See, normally the day after Thanksgiving Aaron and I put on our Christmas sweaters, hop in the Jeep and then go cut down our tree somewhere in York, SC sweating all the while cause it's normally 80 around this time of year. This year for Thanksgiving we skipped the 4000 calorie meal and hopped on a plane to St. Thomas. It only took a red eye flight and 14 hours to get there, but when we got there we sure were glad we did. We were greeted by some locals who gave us shots of coconut rum, I'll take two please. I then knew it was going to be a good ~~vacay~~ vacation. We proceeded to head to the best bar in a parking lot in the entire universe, Duffy's Love Shack and drink 1.50 drinks for about three hours. It's such a small freaking world because our server at Duffy's Love Shack on St. Thomas is from South Carolina. Not only is he from South Carolina, but he is from Columbia and he went to Spring Valley. He was quite a bit younger than me and I didn't know who he was but I'm sure we know some of the same people because that is how Columbia is. It ain't that big folks.

Now, as much as I would love for you all to believe that Aaron and I are total jet setters and when we have a hankering to travel to St. Thomas we just go, but alas, we do not. Aaron's sister got married to her beau, Beau, of eight long years. It was quite a lovely wedding and they got hitched without a hitch. Man, I'm cracking myself up with all of these play on words tonight.

We had a great time in St. Thomas. It wasn't too hot, it was just right. I would love to regale with you tales of what we did but I can sum it up pretty quickly; eat, drink, sleep a lot, lay out on the beach, Aaron snorkeled, and I read a lot and listened to my ipod. Oh, and Aaron was in the wedding and he had to wear a linen shirt untucked with some khaki dress pants. Man, that was funny. You need to look at his pictures on his facebook profile. He is looking like straight up Miami Vice!

Only 22 days 'til Christmas!!
xoxo,
Alison

O.M.G

2008-11-24T11:06:00.002-05:00

Dear Blog,
It started off with a simple "LOL" and then a "BRB" then grew to "OMG", and finally ending up with the oh so funny, "IDK my BFF Jill" which we all could relate to because we all abbreviate everything. I fully admit to using OMG about 25 times a day and writing it in emails and probably using it on the blog more than once or twice. My friends use it, my husband uses it, my parents use it and I believe my dog would use it if she were able to talk. Maybe she barks it out, who knows? What brings these deep thoughts to the forefront of the blog? It all stems from a deep conversation I had with two coworkers on Saturday while being the directors of first impressions in our store. And yes, the director of first impressions is a real station/duty in our store. So, anyway we were chatting about whether or not it's too feminine for guys to use "OMG" and the like and I said, I could see it being seen as feminine but so many guys use it I don't really think about it anymore. The one 'dude' we were talking to said he could forgive guys using OMG but what he couldn't get over was the overused ELLIPSIS and thought it was really feminine. You know the "...". The other female involved in the conversation and I were like, "Yeah! The dot, dot, dot gets TOTALLY overused!" But, I never really thought about the ellipsis being a feminine or masculine thing. So I decided to do a little test. Go back through my emails and take a random sample and see who overuses the ellipsis the most. Hands down it is the females. I wonder why? My coworker says it is because we can't complete a thought so we just connect all of our thoughts in hopes to get our point across and perhaps that is it. That conclusion makes me sad.

So let's take a stand for completing thoughts! And also taking our language back and not abbreviating everything! This is especially tough coming from someone who says "perf," "ferosh," and "totes."
I probably sound like a bumbling idiot...albeit a funny, bumbling idiot...and actually a cute, funny, bumbling idiot...which leads me to my next thought...the word "actually"...can we not use that in every other sentence....think about it...totes.

xoxo,
Alison

How in the heck is Thanksgiving next week?

2008-11-19T23:46:00.002-05:00

Dear Blog,
Seriously...how is Thanksgiving next week?!? It doesn't even feel like Thanksgiving time. Seattle is all decorated for Christmas and I'm like hopefully it will feel like Christmas soon because I'm not feeling it right now. I love the Christmas season, and uh, Aaron does too. Have you ever met him? He goes a little over the top, have I ever told you about the plastic snowflakes he put in our yard last year? Well, it was real niiiiiiiiiiiiice , if you know what I mean. The snowflakes will not be returning. Aaron agreed they were a little much. Whew.

This year will be a little different because we won't be eating turkey and the trimmings for Thanksgiving, we will be in multiple airports probably eating Chili's To Go en route to St. Thomas! So, Aaron's sister (my sis in law) is getting hitched and decided to have a destination wedding and I think the original intent was for it to be small but instead I think about 50 peeps are going to be there. Destination weddings are so interesting to me. Aren't all weddings a destination for some? It just seems like "destination weddings" make it even harder and more expensive to get there. Whatever. I'm going to St. Thomas for a long weekend and I am so freaking pumped about laying my behind on the beach and drinks with umbrellas in them. I'm going to come back to Seattle with a tan and it's going to be the bomb. Aaron is obvy in the wedding and he needs to get some brown, leather, flip flops. I think he's going to get Rainbows and he hasn't gotten them yet which is really unfortunate because they are not comfortable when you first buy them. In fact, I believe they may blister. It's also unfortunate that both of Aaron's big toenails have gotten ripped off due to being a street balla on the basketball courts. Eek!

Lastly, I think Seattle-ites are wimps. I mean, all I ever hear about is the weather and blah blah blah...and y'all it rains some but not all the time. I haven't worn my rain jacket for the past week and a half. And today it was about 50 some degrees and all I heard was, "Winter has arrived." HUH? This is winter? Damn. I only wore one layer over my ujjayi tank and there were some people out in with dang earmuffs on. People is crazy. Maybe Seattle-ites aren't wimps...they're just dramatic. I can't figure out which.

So in a nutshell, I'm eating Chili's for Thanksgiving in St. Thomas and people in Seattle are funny. The end.

xoxo,
Alison

Best week ever

2008-11-12T23:58:00.003-05:00

Dear Blog,

So...last week was my birthday, you might have heard? Well, if you didn't that's cool too. I generally don't have high expectations for my birthday because I hate being let down and usually for birthdays you can't like create your own birthday party or birthday lunch or birthday whatev because you'll look like a loser so it seems like that particular day's happiness is dependent upon other people and sorry folks, but I don't have time to depend on you for my own happiness. I'm in charge of my happiness thank you very much.

So, Wednesday began like every other day. I'm working a closing shift and Aaron says he wants to take me to work because he has a surprise for me. Well hey, that totally works because that means I don't have to ride the bus* and I get a surprise!?! Helllllllll yeah. So, we get to work and it's pretty busy so I get down and dirty with some guests trying to get them to buy some luon and all of a sudden there's Aaron with no present. Uhhh....that wasn't part of the deal Ron. You were supposed to show up with a present, now get out the way so I can sell my luon. He gets out of the way. All of a sudden my assistant manager Ryan is shuffling me to the back room trying to get me to look at his emails...huh? Why do I have to look at YOUR emails? That's weird. Welll, since I'm nosy I enjoyed looking at his emails and I got really into it. All of a sudden I hear a commotion and I turn around and there's my mom standing in our office!!! Saaaaaaaayyyyyy whaaaaaaatttttt??? I screamed so loud and then she screamed and then we both were screaming and then crying and poor Assistant Manager Ryan was right in the middle of this huge commotion. He about hit the deck because of all of this screaming and crying. Of course all of my coworkers totally enjoyed seeing the screaming and crying because you know...usually I'm cool, calm and collected. That's right.

So, Aaron and Mom totally collaborated for months on end on how they could surprise me for my birthday and it really worked. I had no idea. It was one of the best birthdays ever and only would have been better if my Doo Da had been here too! (I'm trying to convince my dad that "Doo Da" is a good granddad name, so far he's not buying it but I'm going to keep trying!)
We went on a fabulous tour de chocolate, a tour of all of the chocolateries around Seattle, went shopping, went to Bainbridge Island and ate and ate and ate and laughed and laughed. Thanks Aaron, Mom and Dad for one of the best birthdays EVER! You successfully made me feel special and loved on the big 28. Now I'm expecting all of my birthdays to be the double bomb like this one was. So there.

*Even though I got a new car, I still ride the bus because driving and parking in Seattle is a.) a bitch and b.) really expensive. Now you are asking yourself why did we get a car? Well, the only car we had was a Jeep Wrangler and I believe I've spoken to how unbelievably comfortable those Jeep Wranglers are. Note sarcasm. Plus, I'm too old to learn how to drive a stick so Aaron was driving my behind everywhere and that was severely hindering my shopping habit.
xoxo,
alison

Making History in November

2008-11-05T00:45:00.005-05:00

Dear Blog,

I think we all knew that November would be a historical month when two of Aaron's dearest friends from the days of yore (college days), Paul and Kate, got engaged. Even though I haven't known these crazy kids from the days of yore I do consider them my friends too. I felt like I needed to clarify. Anyway you see, Paul and Kate have been dating for seven years. Paul proposed to her several times and Kate was all WHATEVER, but Paul kept the faith and finally on November 1, on Paul's seventh time proposing Kate finally said yes because she started to feel sorry for the ~~young~~ lad. So, let's all say a hip hop hooraaaaaaaay hoooooo to Paul and Kate and pour one out for our homies. Here is a funny pic of the couple scarfing down burgers at a random 5 Guys Burgers we found on the Lower East Side. Man, those burgers were good but we were definitely feeling them about an hour later. Yikes.

On to another positive note, I bought a new car!!! Since I now work in retail I take Sundays and Mondays off because I have to work one weekend day. While this works out quite nicely for getting errands run in no crowds, I get confused when I go back to work on Tuesday and I think it's Monday and people look at me like I'm crazy. Well, that's not unusual. Aaron gets Mondays off too so we can have a semi weekend together. So yesterday we decide to go car shopping cause that's how we do. We decide we want a car and BAM!! We find one and BAM we get some dope financing and BAM I'm driving home in a car. What kind of vehicle did we purchase? A silver BMW X3, hollaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. It drives like a dream and it's so nice to have a car again and not have to rely on Aaron to drive me places. I'm not one for having to rely on people. The end.

So, there's no way I can't NOT bring this up. (I totally am owning that double negative.) Now that Aaron and I have cable again I've been catching up on all of my favorite Bravo TV shows. I think all I need to say is the title of the following show. The Real Housewives of Atlanta. What the HELL was Bravo thinking? That show is turrble y'all. Now, I fully admit to loving the previous "Real Housewives of..." but this show is a disgrace. First of all, who smokes in their house??? That is disgusting and so 1976. Yuck. Second of all, these people don't know how to talk. Take an English class at your local community college for crying out loud. I don't care if you're rich, you need to know that the word "texts" does not have a second E in it and is not pronounced "textES" Say whhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaat??? What is the lesson learned? Just say no to the Real Housewives in Atlanta and pray they don't make another season. I don't like Atlanta that much, but I feel bad for Atlantan's because this show is makin' y'all look baaaaaaaaaddddddd.

And because I never like to end on a negative note, Obama just won!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not the most patriotic person out there but I am so proud of my country for making history tonight!

xoxo,
Alison

We're Open Baby!!!

2008-10-28T21:47:00.004-04:00

Dear Blog,
I thought maybe blogging was a thing of the past since my blog friends, dport7 and jCristg had taken a hiatus from blogging that maybe I didn't need to blog either...but it turns out that blogging is in fact still the "cool" thing to do and since these two are my blogging idols, I will return to blogging as well.

Alright, so all of the above was a bunch of shit I just made up but wanted to call them out for not blogging on a regular basis. The fact of the matter is, the store is open baby!!!! Man, I can't believe I've been in Seattle for 4 months already!! Time flies when you work all of the time, try to navigate a new city and buy a house. I don't even know if my old friends from NC would recognize me, I've truly let myself go. I haven't gotten a pedicure or a manicure in the four months I've been here, I don't even paint my nails anymore and let's not even talk about my eyebrows. Yikes!! I think someone needs to stage a Bahama-vention because I just don't know how long I can go on like this. I have a reputation to maintain. Although, all these granola types wouldn't even know the difference.

But, at least I can say that all of this self carelessness has not occurred in vain. The past 4 months I have been scouring Seattle high and low looking for the perfect people to help me open my store. I found them all and trained them and can honestly say I have the best team in Seattle. We have a blast together and they make me laugh and I think I make them laugh, or they're just laughing at me and I don't know the difference.

Back to the opening, we had a great weekend. Our store is absolutely beautiful and we did a great amount of business our opening weekend. I was thrilled and have to admit to tears of joy when the doors opened on Friday morning. It was like seeing the fruits of your labor right before your very eyes. I can honestly say I've never put so much effort and hard work into a job before because I never really cared and I can say with full force that I love my job and I can see myself here for a while. (Let's hope my bosses are thinking the same thing!) I stay up at night thinking of ideas to get our business up, or how we can get out in the community and it doesn't bother me at all. I actually enjoy it.

As for the house, well we are fully moved into the den, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. The office and guest bedroom still need to be unpacked and we'll get to those soon. We went to Home Depot for about an hour on Sunday (wooo hooo) to pick out some paint colors and get the supplies to paint some of the rooms. We're going to paint the den, kitchen and our bedroom ourselves y'all! Can't wait!! I'm totally being sarcastic, I can think of a million other way I would rather spend my free time rather than painting....like get a manicure and pedicure...but I will be happy when our house isn't one boring shade of vanilla.

That's all for now folks!
xoxo,
Alison

It's a done deal folks

2008-10-12T16:52:00.005-04:00

Dear Blog,
In these trying economic times, it is possible to buy a home! Not to pat myself on the back or anything, but me being in the mortgage business did help the process if I do say so myself. The whole mortgage process was seamless, even in the face of a crumbling financial system. I think we got in our house at exactly the right time because we locked in our interest rate at 5.625% ! And it's a fixed rate! I'm in love with that rate, it's amazing how much a difference an interest rate can make in a payment. Man, I just re-read this post and it is like so boring.

Anyway, on Friday we signed all of the closing docs and I thought there would be a couple of papers to sign but no, there were like a million. I snapped some pics of the two of us in the escrow woman's office, who was kind of weird by the way, but whatevs she was nice. That whole process was rather tedious. There's so many papers in there that I didn't read, one could have said something about them taking away our house if they didn't like the way we decorated it and I wouldn't have known. I was a signing machine. Aaron on the other hand was inspecting every document thoroughly, thus making our visit with the weird closing lady longer. I guess it's the professor in him. But, now thinking about it, I'm glad someone read the documents. I'm also glad it wasn't me because seriously, booooooring.

Aaron just posted the lovely video I made of the house on his blog, urban cowboy So you can check that there if you so choose.

In other news, my store opens in two weeks!!! I saw it the other day and boy is it bright! They let yours truly pick out the paint colors and I'll let you decide for yourself if you like them or not. I'll be in there this Friday to start unpacking the shipments. I'll snap some pics. I'm also going back to the Vancoov this Tuesday-Thursday for a managers conference and am excited because I get to see all my peeps from Groove Camp back in July/Aug.
If you're paying attention to the chronology of said events you will notice that I have gotten myself out of moving into our new house! God is on my side!

xoxo,
Alison

House, here we come!

2008-10-05T13:14:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,
Well I've been hiding from the subject long enough in fear that if I talked about our big news too soon, it might not come to fruition. My husband however, has not felt that fear and has been shouting from the mountaintops that we are currently in the throes of buying our first home together. I believe he has been updating facebook on every single status since we started this crazy house hunting journey. His status for the past month has been, "Aaron is house hunting!!" "Aaron found a house!" "That house sucked!" "Aaron is house hunting again!" "Aaron put an offer down on a house!" "They didn't accept, house hunting again!" And on and on and on, he makes me laugh. So, I told him when we actually found a house and were about to close then I would be the one to announce the official news since he's been teasing all of y'all for the past month.

So....drumroll....we're about to close on our first home on October 14th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's really exciting. I've never felt like I had to buy a house before a certain age and I never really minded renting in the past, it was always so convenient. But when we came out to Seattle, I felt like if I had to rent again I would DIE. I couldn't imagine moving out of our temporary apartment into another rented apt or house and then having to move...again. We both felt like with the economy the way it was, and us having enough money for a down payment that now was the time to get into a house. So, major props to Aaron who literally scoured all of Seattle for the perfect house. On all of his days off he and Bella were in the car looking for the Shurts' first home. There were a couple that we put offers on and they didn't work out, but never discouraged he continued the search and then one day he came home and said..."I've found our house." So when I went and looked at it, I knew this was going to be the place for us. It's about 1300 square feet on the outskirts of Seattle in a nice, suburby area. In this move to Seattle, Aaron and I have found out that we love the suburbs. We like nice quiet neighborhoods where there are families and kids...we are not city dwellers. We don't like festivals going on outside of our bedroom door and beercans strewn around the streets where we walk Bella. So...we are moving to the burbs and we couldn't be more excited about it!

So, wish us luck in the moving process and I will post pics when we get all of our furniture inside of it!
Yay!

xoxo,
Al

Seattle-ites is crazy

2008-09-22T14:39:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,
People continuously crack me up. Like, everyone ALWAYS has a comment about everything. For example, for the past year or so when Aaron and I would tell our friends that we were moving to Seattle after asking why and not really getting the "because we want to" answer we gave every time they would immediately say "You know it rains a lot there." If I had a nickel for every time someone said that to both of us, I'd at least have a couple bucks by now. Enough to buy an Icee and maybe one for Aaron too! Alright, so fast forward to July when both of us are out here and we start getting to know people and we tell them we just moved here from North Carolina and after they ask us why and not really getting our answer of "because we wanted to" the first thing they say is "Well...get ready for the rain."

A couple of Icee's later, I'm talking to a woman I'm interviewing for our store and she just moved back here from California and she's warning me about the rain and the winter. And you know, at this point I'm just tired of people warning me like every single day about this damn rain. So, in a moment of boldness and stankness I look at her and say "If it's that terrible, why did you move back here from balmy California?" I was expecting something like her parents live here, California's too expensive, her boo is here...some sort of factor that forced her to move back to rainy Seattle against her will. I was not expecting the following answer;

"Because I missed our rainy winter."

WHAT?!? You missed it? And you're sitting here rubbing elbows with every other Seattle-ite here in Starbucks about these awful, rainy winters and you came back because you missed it?

Seattle-ites is crazy.

xoxo,
Alison

100th POST!!

2008-09-17T00:06:00.005-04:00

Dear Blog,

It's like every time I make a concerted effort to blog more often, I let myself down. But, I have a reason for it! At least I have good excuses right? I'm working! A lot! Like, all the time! And, the more confusing part of it, I actually don't mind. Those of you who know me well know that I like my free time...but I like to be getting paid for my free time. For the past 3 1/2 years I've managed to wrangle myself a job with flexible schedules so I can get home to watch Ellen in the afternoon or take an early afternoon walk with Leigh and Miles. Those days are no longer. But, I really, really, REALLY don't mind. So, this is what it's like to like your job? Mind blowing.

Anywhoodles, let me catch you up on the past two weeks of my life. To escape the hustle and bustle of Seattle life Aaron and I went camping in the Cascades! (I think that's the mountain range...I'm not sure though. Geography was never my strong suit) And I know some of you are all, "Alison, you like camping? That's so....unlike you." Well, let me clear that little myth up. I love camping! You see, somewhere along the line someone told me that I had flair for style and that is when my passion for fashion arose and I decided that everyday I needed to look good. And let's be honest, it's fun looking good. And let's be honest again, it takes a lot of time and effort to look good. Reputations are tough man. So when I go camping I'm basically bumming in my sweatpants and 10 year old Patagonia jacket alllllll weekend long and it feels soooo gooood. Plus, since I have on elastic pants that means I can eat all the s'mores and hot dogs I want. A win for everyone involved as far as I'm concerned. So, Aaron and I just sat around the campfire all weekend and talked and talked and ate and ate and it was great.

So camping was fun. The end. This past weekend I experienced something that I can't even explain. Landmark. All of the managers and assistant managers have to go so I experience it this past weekend. It's a three day long conference of sorts starting early in the morning and ending at 10 pm!!!! It goes all day long and basically we talk for three days how our pasts do NOT shape our futures and every moment is what we make of it. Okay, I get it. But three days??? Dang Gina. That's a long time. So here's an example of what I learned at Landmark:
At my previous, previous job I had a one on one with my sales manager every Monday and it sucked so bad because my manager made me feel like shit. I came to dread these meetings and Mondays in general. Fast forward to present day. I have a one on one with my manager every Tuesday. I still have a dread for these meetings because my old one on ones used to suck so bad. This is where Landmark comes in. Just because my old meetings used to suck doesn't meet my new meetings will suck. The end.

Or it could be my present day manager isn't retarded. Now, that I think of it, that has to be it. My old sales manager used to have poop for brains.

The end.
P.S. My flip flop got too close to the fire and it died. I buried it by the campsite. May it rest in peace.

P.P.S Dylan is Kelly's baby daddy on the new 90210!!!!

xoxo,
Alison

Chhh-Chhh

2008-09-03T00:18:00.005-04:00

Dear Blog,

I know that everyone knows the opening bars to the theme song of the history making Beverly Hills 90210 and the "chhh-chhh" at the end. That was always my favorite part, especially when Steve and Brandon did the fist bump to show the world that they were tight bros man. Let's talk about how that was my most favorite show ever. I think I was about 10 when the show first aired and I didn't stop watching until I was a freshman at Furman and they were airing the season finale. For my own enjoyment I'm going to share my favorite memory of growing up 90210. I refer to it as 90210-gate. Here's the scene.

It's 1994 and I'm 13 years old. My parents are in a Bible study with about 5 of their couple friends who all have children under the age of 5. At the tender of age of 13 I was everyone's babysitter of choice and I got paid "big" bucks to babysit all of the children of my parents God fearing friends. One problem-o, Bible study night was on Wednesday!!! The same night as 90210!! What's a girl to do? I thought I had it all figured out. We'll start out the evening with kids playing and watching Barney and then as soon as 8:00 hits, the channel is changing to Fox for some Brenda and Brandon time. Well, that plan worked out very well for about the first month and then one of the parents had to GO AND RUIN MY PERFECTLY THOUGHT OUT PLAN AND WALK IN ON A SCENE WHERE DYLAN AND KELLY ARE GETTING IT ON. That was the end of 90210 during the Bible study babysitting night. Not only was this woman adamant that I not watch 90210 while babysitting kids, but she lectured me and my parents about ME watching 90210. She even managed to squeak out a tear or two; "Your DAUGHTER is watching this trash on tv, do you know what she's being exposed to?" It was from that moment on that I began to dislike everyone whose name is Mitzi. I mean, what kind of name is Mitzi?? Whatevs. My parents trusted my judgement that I wasn't going to go out and hook up with random surfers driving Porche's while I was 13 years old. Duh. And look at where I am now? IN YOUR FACE MITZI!

I'm still a little bitter about 90210-gate. Anywhoodle, all of this leads up to the fact that tonight they are premiering 90210 2.0. It's like 90210 The New Class. I'm watching it right now and it's not bad. They've incorporated some of the old characters back into the show like Brenda and Kelly and we'll see who else will come back. I'm sure if the show gains popularity they'll all come back because let's be honest...what else are they doing? They can't all be on Dancing with the Stars.

P.S. I was TOTALLY going to marry Dylan when I was 13.

xoxo,
Alison

Ohhhhh Seattle

2008-08-28T20:58:00.005-04:00

Dear Blog,

I stand corrected. Seattle is NOT the rainiest city in America. After my dad read my last post he promptly busted out the almanac and looked up the rainiest city in America. Seattle wasn't in the top 20. I believe the rainiest city is somewhere in Alabama, I think it's Mobile. While I was talking to my dad I had to explain it's not the same kind of gully washers that we would experience in Charlotte and Columbia, but more like a spitting rain that lasts for about half an hour and only seems to happen when I hop on the Vespa to come home.

I felt the need to clarify to all you readers that Seattle really is beautiful and the days when the sun is shining and there is a view of the water, the views are breathtaking. So, for this next post I decided I would list out all of the things I like and dislike about my new home.

LIKES
1. The views! It's so beautiful sometimes that I can't believe I live here. I do like the weather. The mornings are brisk and I need a jacket to walk Bella and the afternoons usually dont get out of the 70's, sometimes 60's.

2. lululemon! I love my job. I think that has made a huge difference in the move out here. I have a lot to do and I genuinely like all of the people that I work with.

3. Activities. Aaron and I have been leading a much more active lifestyle since coming out here. I've been doing bootcamps and Aaron has been rocking the volleyball tourneys! I'll include some pictures later.

4. Possibilities. I know that one sounds dumb, but I honestly feel like I can do anything after packing up all belongings and trekking across the country. I know no one thought we would actually move but we set our mind to it and we did it! I think that means we can do anything :)

DISLIKES

1. Our stupid pot head, chain cigarette smoking, dumbass, next door neighbor. Whenever we open our window to let the air in, we have to hear his dumbass talking about all the stupid things that potheads talk about. And also smell all of the fumes that he puts off. Sick.

2. Hippies. There are a lot of weirdos out here that think it's a good idea to be vegan. Whatevs.

3. Being so far away from my peeps. I didn't think it would be as big of a deal to 3000 miles away from my friends as it is. I have to literally plan times to call my family and friends. Three hours time difference is definitely harder than I thought it would be. I'm also missing out on my best friends babies growing up :( At least they have blogs that I can follow.

Even though I've never claimed to be a huge fan of the South, there are things that I miss about it. I can't exactly articulate it but I'm sure all you Southerners know what I'm talking about. There's just a different way of living down there that no other part of the country can replicate.

Anywhoodle, here are some pics of a bootcamp that I did last week! Please laugh as I find it hysterical.

xoxo,
Alison

All I wanna do is a vroom, vroom, vroom and a zoom zoom!

2008-08-21T01:24:00.004-04:00

Dear Blog,

So, I'm wondering if people just equate me and Vespas. Because I received this in the mail yesterday.

It was from my sweet Momma who said it reminded her of me and all of my new adventures! I realize I should have used the flash when taking the picture but I was too lazy to take another one and then upload it again, so sorry kids. It's funny that she sent me this yesterday because this is the first week that I've been brave enough to take ole Birdie out on the Seattle roads. Now, if you'll remember, I am directionally challenged. Like, I don't even know if that describes it. The only way I can get from place is to place is sheer memorization. So, my first day of riding the Vespa to work I made Aaron drive in front of me so I could memorize how to get to work. Even though he had been driving me everyday prior to this adventure by myself, I wasn't confident in my abilities to get there and on top of that, I have OCD regarding being to places on time so I couldn't handle the thought of being lost and being late to work. Whoa. Man overboard. So, I get to work and it's all good. I clip my helmet on Vespa and go in to work my 8 hours. I have mild anxiety about getting back home by myself but little did I know that would be the least of my worries. When I get off work I go outside and come to find that my helmet is not full of water because at some point in the day it rained and my helmet acted as a rain gauge. Which leads to me to...

Lessons in Vespa riding #1: Do not leave helmet clipped on Vespa outside in the rainiest city in America. DUH.

I did the only thing I could think of to do. I turned it upside down, poured the rain water out and stuck it on my head. Wet. I didn't even really think about getting lost on the way home because I was thinking of the rain trickling out of my helmet and onto my neck and back on my commute home.

Maybe it was a blessing in disguise!

xoxo,
Alison

Made my day

2008-08-14T11:03:00.004-04:00

Dear Blog,

A friend of mine sent me this link as it is the cover of the latest skirt! magazine and said it reminded her of me. It totally made me smile and reminded me that I have the best friends even if they are 3,000 miles away.
Thanks Nini!

I'm working on putting her website up here but I forgot how to add links and I'm pressed for time right now! It will be up later!

xoxo,
alison

Teach me!!!

2008-08-13T01:22:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

I've often said that I should teach a class on how to interview. It's a skill. There are things to do and things not to do, things to say and things not to say. Whenever I'm applying to jobs I know as soon as I get the interview that I'm golden, I've just got it down. Don't know why but I can market myself like a champ. Now, what I canNOT do is shine in a group environment. This is where I need the teaching. I'm sure we've all been there. You have to go to a corporate dinner and the president of the company is there, or some bigwig that everyone is trying to impress and so you're on your best behavior right? Well, for me, I'm always on my best behavior but I'm really not going above and beyond to impress the big wig because I'm not going to be fake and sometimes that is a skill I wish I had. You have no idea. I can't be that person that hangs on to their every word or laughs at their jokes. I'm sure that sometimes I've come across as a bored, self righteous beeotch but really in my brain I'm dissecting the persons behavior who is engaging the big wig and wondering if that is a learned skill and if so, can I learn? Because surely that person will be remembered and I will be remembered as the girl who was clearly more interested in her sushi order that contrived conversation. Thoughts?

Anywhoodle, Aaron and Bella came to visit me in Vancouver for my last weekend here. This is my 4th week in Vancouver!! Crazy how time goes by. We had a grand time, ate a lot of food, did a lot of walking, went to some parks, had fun with my crazy roomie Christie. Oh, we took Bella to the Pacific Ocean!! We took some great pics.

Anyway, wish all of you were here!

xoxo,
Alison

Groove Camp

2008-08-05T23:21:00.004-04:00

Dear Blog,

I hated camp when I was a kid. No lie. One time at Girl Scout camp I awoke my dad from a deep slumber and convinced him that I had hypothermia and he needed to pick me up from camp, right now. And he did! Thanks Dad!! I never had to go back to Girl Scout Camp, yesssssssssss. So, I totally feel like I'm at camp right now back in Vancouver. There is a total of six of us here and they have us paired up in threes, all with roomies. It's kind of terrifying being around new people and all of the old insecurities that used to haunt me back in the day and I thought I had gotten over come rushing back; "Will they like me?," "Will they think I'm fat?," "Will they think I'm funny?" "Will they think I'm smart?" And there's an added layer of comparisons here because we're all yogis, and lead active and healthy lifestyles and so some people are afraid to admit they eat meat and are afraid their yoga practice is not as up to par as others. But, that's why it's called a practice, duh. Yesterday I was asked if I was a vegetarian and when I said no I was met with a truly disappointed, "Oh." Crazy huh? I love hot dogs too much to give up meat!!
Anyway, so I'm here for another week and a half and then I'm done with camp! Yay. I'll be a Groove camp graduate. My roomie is from Cleveland, OH and she's pretty funny and nice. She drew me very detailed instructions to a yoga studio because my "sense of direction scares her." I would say it scares pretty much everyone. It's awful. Take a look at the map though, I had to take a picture because I thought it was hilare. She way dumbed it down for me.

Anyway, Aaron is going to attempt to bring Bella across the border this weekend for some fam time in Canada.
That's all for now folks!

xoxo,
Alison

Life in the PNW

2008-07-30T01:08:00.007-04:00

Dear Blog,

You know how each company has different acronyms for phrases they use all the time? I'm slowing getting used to the lulu lingo and PNW is thrown a lot. I'm very lucky to be opening a store in the Pacific NorthWest because lulu is growing like ca-razy up here and everyone snatches it up like ~~hot~~ coldcakes. Speaking of coldcakes, today it was so cold here. It didn't even get out of the 60's!!! I wear a jacket everyday and I usually take it off at some point but today I was all kindsa bundled up in my jacket and regretting my sandals choice.

I'm slowly learning that everyone who lives up here (disclaimer: that I've come in contact with, clearly I have not met everyone here) LOVES it up here with a passion. I mean a hot, fierce passion. So hot and fierce that the PNW wants to secede from the ~~Union~~ (whoops, that was South Carolina!!!) alright so the PNW wants to secede from the United States and form their own country; Cascadia. That's right, Cascadia. And just for clarification, I'm talking Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. I could have dual citizenship, y'all!! I will keep you posted on the success of this new country in my coming posts. BUT, in the meantime, read all about it HERE I'm already practicing my pledge of allegiance to my new country!!

I head back to the Vancoov (Vancouver) on Sunday for my last round of the Groove and I guess I'm not dreading it but I'll be glad when my one week here, two weeks there routine is over. Somedays I feel a little misplaced out here, lots o' crazy hippies!, but everyday I'm getting more and more used to it. It's been a great experience so far!!

Here are some pics from the weekend my mom was here!
Dang blogger isn't loading pics, it'll have to wait.

xoxo,
Alison

Vancooooooooouuuuuuver

2008-07-18T22:20:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

I love the internet. There, I said it. I can sit and be on the internet for hours and hours and hours looking at everything from facebook to craigs list to gofugyourself to all of my peeps blogs to on and on. The internet has especially been helpful in this endeavor across the country that has now taken me into another country. Alas, as soon as I got into Canada my trusty iBook ceased to work. Panic, panic, panic. I mean, pure panic ensued. I had to interrupt Aaron's dinner with friends because I was having a LARGE panic attack about my laptop...is that normal? How am I going to stay in touch with my peeps, how am I going to check facebook, how am I going to blog?!? Well, when you stop doing those things you become somewhat detached from them. Although, I managed to wrangle myself a loaner lululemon laptop. Say that 5x fast. Anywhoodle, I will have to get said iBook fixed but needless to say not having a laptop is not the end of the world.

As I'm sure you all cared so much about my laptop dilemmas, I will move onto other topics. I APOLOGIZE for being so completely out of touch. My schedule with this move has been absolutely crazy. I will break it down for you.
July 7-13th in Seattle training at University Village Store
July 14th-19th in Vancouver to beging my Groove Training (yes, that is what they call it)
July 19th-20th in Seattle to help Mom and Ron unload the Penske
July 20th-25th in Vancoov to continue the Groove
July 25th-August 3rd in Seattle training at U. Village store
August 3-August 15th in Vancoov for last of the Groove.

Now, with all of that going back and forth you can imagine why I have not been in better contact. Hopefully next week I will get my laptop fixed and will be able to holla at my peeps but until then I'm stuck. I can't use my phatty iPhone because I'm in Canada and that's all international and crap.

So, onto this Groove training. There are about 6 of us here and they have us in these swank apartments in downtown Vancouver...and we all have roomates. At first I was like, WTF?!? A roomate? But now, I love my little roomie. She's 25 from San Diego and a fun girl. We've bonded and it almost feels like college again. She drank my milk and I had to apologize for leaving little piles of stuff everywhere. It's been interesting to say the least.

In other news, Mom and Ron safely made it here!! I'm so proud of BOTH of them for driving across the country in a 22 foot Penske truck, with the Jeep on the back and a Bella in the middle. That's crazy!! There weren't any setbacks and I was waiting at the apartment when they pulled up. They were soooooooooo happy to be there and I was too. We spent all Saturday unloading the truck and getting stuff semi-organized in the apt and then had a fun day on Sunday. We took Mom downtown to the market and the waterfront and I think she promptly fell in love with it :) I'm trying to convince her and Dad to move to the Northwest to nanny my children when/if I decided to have them :)

All in all, I have to say I'm liking this change in the pace of life. I've become a lot more independent throughout this process and that is something that was definitely needed.

I've taken some great pics but posting them will have to wait until I get my computer fixed!!

xoxo,
al

Techin' out

2008-07-12T23:01:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

I most definitely do NOT consider myself a nerd, I mean seriously. I do not think I could even pretend to be a nerd. But, this week I've enjoyed two very nerdy things. First off, I had a surprise in the mail on Thursday! The front desk called me and said I had a package! As I made my way to the lobby I was like hmmm...what could it be? Lo and behold, Aaron bought me an iSight for my laptop! Although, due to some technical difficulties Aaron and I were unable to talk. BUT, we were able to hook it up so that Leigh and I could video chat!!! Yay I was so excited to see my bff:). So, if anyone has a MacBook with iSight then please holler at your girl because that is my new Fave.

Next on the list of geekiness is the new iPhone! Oh wait you didn't hear? Yes, the newiphone has arrived. I imagined that I could just breeze into the apple store and get myself hooked up. I had no idea that peeps would me spending the night outside of the store!!! That is insane and kind of dorky...sorry to all dorks out there. So anyway, the following day the lines were looking smaller and so I braved the line. Lucky for me, I only had to wait an hour! It was so simple! Only an hour and I was in tekky heaven! Seriously everyone needs to get one because they are awesome! I think I'm in love! I'm actually blogging on it right now.

Right now I'm in vancouver and I think I like it, not sure yet. I will fill you in as the week progresses.

Xoxo,
Al

Where are you from?

2008-07-10T00:27:00.002-04:00

Dear Blog,

Well, here I am. Sitting in my hotel room in Seattle watching E! on television as I blog. I'm pretty exhausted right now but I just wanted to check in and let everyone know that I'm here safe and sound. I'm not gonna lie folks, Monday was seriously hard. Knowing that I was traversing the country with a one way ticket out there was damn right scary. I kept thinking about now...how am I getting back to the airport to go home? OHHHHH, that's right. I'm not. I'm like, out here. For good. I had a couple panic attack moments and tears were shed as I was sitting in the airport alone but then I was like, THIS SUCKS. I am not going to be that girl who can't move more than 100 miles from her home. I'm out here now and I'm gonna rock it. So, as soon as I made that my mindset I've been rocking it.

I LOVE my job. I love the people I work with and they love me and we're just in love. No really, everyone that meets me gives me a huge hug, knows my bio and then we skip off into the Seattle sunset. Alright, well not that last part but the other two parts are true. Right now, working is the best part of my day because I spend the rest of the day alone. And we know how much I loooooooooove that.

BTW, the sun has been out and the temp hasn't gotten out of the 70's, it's been beautiful. How's the weather been in NC/SC?
heehee

xoxo,
Alison

Fun for all ages!

2008-07-02T15:09:00.005-04:00

Slip 'n Slide for the under 21 crowd.

Drink 'n Dive for the over 21 crowd.

Either way, everyone had a blast!

xoxo,
Alison

The picture that started it all

2008-06-30T19:31:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,
(I'm having trouble loading the pic, patience please.)
That particular jpeg has decidedly changed my future for the time being. Before I get to that riveting story, let me give you all a littttttle more insight as to why Aaron and I are moving. Aaron and I have always felt like maybe we aren't southern living folks and that perhaps we should move to the West Coast. For some reason, Seattle has always stuck out to us. We have been there a handful of times and it's so beautiful and just has a vibe that we think we can get used to. So, when it became an option for Aaron to possibly transfer out there with his job we were like, DUH, we are so there. Oh, what say you? It rains there? Well, I guess it's a good thing I bought my phatty bo batty trench coat back in March. Heeeeeeeeeey! I knew that two hours of hmmmmiiing would definitely come in handy.

So, why has that jpeg changed my future the time being? Well, the Lord has blessed me with a mind that knows what it wants. About a month ago I was given the task to find an image of an article of clothing that we sell in our boutique at the studio and do a little write up about it for a local magazine. Well, we sell a lot of The Groove Pant by lululemon in our studio so I was perusing their website looking for a high res image. While I was on their website I took a look-see at their Job section to see if there was any potential there. Lo, and behold there on the glowing LCD monitor was the write up of my future job. Store Manager. So, lululemon is opening a new store in downtown Seattle and they are looking for a store manager. I spruced up my resume and wrote a kick ass cover letter that I had Mom, Dad and Ron proof read over and over and over and then I sent it off to internet-land. Now, I hate applying online because it's like...ummm who checks that stuff? Well, I think someone checks it because about a week later I got an email from an employee about doing a telephone interview. Wooohooo, I was so excited. After a grueling telephone interview and a long week of waiting, I found out they wanted to fly me out there for a face to face. So, in two days I flew to and from Seattle and had a two hour interview. Well, obvy, I knocked their socks off and I landed the job!! I am so excited and think this is going to be a great fit for me.

Now, the kicker. I have to be out there on July 8th. That's about 2 weeks earlier than I anticipated. It totally threw me for a loop. Being the Type A worry wart that I am I was FREAKING OUT about Aaron driving out there with all of our stuff by himself. I made it my mission to find him a replacement. I racked my brain trying to think of someone who had a schedule flexible enough to drive across the country for a week. Only one person came to mind. My mom. I ran this by Aaron and he was all, "Heck yeah! Moo and Ron's big adventure!" I asked my mom if they would miss her at Starbucks for a week and she thought they could manage and she has enlisted to ride with Ron for 5 days across the country. Now this, I wish I could see. Aaron, Mom and Bella riding in Penske rental truck.

This will be very well documented.

xoxo,
al

What a long strange trip it's been, and this is just the beginning.

2008-06-25T23:03:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

Hello? Are you still there? Do I have any readers left? Man, it's been a crazy June. Let's see in the past month, I thought I might be pregnant and totally freaked out about how that is not in my plan right now. I mean, have you seen the pictures of me holding a baby?? I need more practice! After getting used to the fact that I could possibly be pregnant I then decided that I was gonna rock pregnancy like no other and be like Gwen Stefani up in the hizzzz-ouse and started to name my imaginary baby. Then my period came and I celebrated that I wasn't pregnant by getting kinda drunk. (Sorry Mom and Dad I know you don't like your little girl drinking so just erase that from your memory bank.) Anyway, back to June. So we have continued our whirl wind month by doing a lot of traveling. Aaron was in Seattle at the beginning of the month and has documented his eating his way through the city on his site, check it. Then we were off to New York to hang out with my parents and our bff's Spurgeon, Gilleon and Kate. Of course New York is always fun and it was way fun this time because my parents were there! Dad, Aaron and Spurge were great sports while Mom, Kate and myself managed to do a little shopping and visit some tourist attractions. After we got back from New York, Spurge and Gils decided they missed us way too much and came down and spent a couple days with us. We had a super FUN drink n' dive party in their honor. That's right, we pulled out the slip 'n slide from last year and invited over a dozen or so of our besties and had fun rollin' down the slide. I even did it!!! Somewhere out there I know there are pics but I'll have to track them down before adding them to the site.
As soon as we kicked those two out we were off to Cincinatti for a family wedding! Can you imagine Alison, Aaron and Bella in a Toyota Corolla from 10 hours???? It was not a pretty site. We had to rent a car because we sold mine, YES!!!!!!, and we ain't trying to ride up there in a Jeep. In my mind Jeeps are about as comfortable as a dang horse and buggy. I'm just sayin'. Cincinatti was grand. As soon as we got back from Cincy, I was jet setting off to Seattle for an overnight trip. Needless to say, I'm pretty tired and am glad to be home for a little while. My mom has asked me was I ever going to blog again and lately my brain has been so filled with details of real life that I haven't made room for creativity. I know I have let you down blog world. I'm scared to look at my statcounter because I don't want to see how few people are checking my blog.

Hopefully something exciting will happen soon, like I'll wreck my Vespa again or something and that will drive my membership back up!!

That's all for tonight ho's and bro's.
xoxo,
Al

I got friends in looooooow places

2008-06-12T07:44:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,
I can't believe I just used a phrase from a country song in my blog title, I abhor country music--it's terrible, but I couldn't think of another phrase about friends. I've been thinking a lot about friends lately. What it means to be a friend, having a lot of friends, having a BEST friend, having no friends. I think I have a lot of quality friends and then some not so quality friends that I keep around because they are just fun to be around and then I get my feelings hurt when they act selfishly. I think the reason I've been thinking so much about my friends is because in about a month Aaron and I are taking a big adventure. Much like Oprah and Gayle's big adventure, we are heading cross country. Unlike Oprah and Gayle's big adventure we're not just taking a trip we're moving to God's country (heehee) Seattle, WA.

Let the shock sink in. Yep, ole' Ronny boy and I are moving to Seeeeeeeee-attle. We've always thought that the West was a place we would like to live and if you'll remember Seattle is where Aaron professed his undying love for me, shouted from the top of Mount Ranier that he wanted marry me and yeah, basically that's where we got engaged. Plus, there is tons of coffee there. That is a huge reason in and of itself. Screw the folks who recount the negatives of coffee. Coffee is a gift from God. A little ground up bean with some hot water never tasted soooooooo good.

Anyway, one of my main worries is that I won't find friends out there like I have here. And that my friends here are going to forget about me and find another funny, fabulous, fashionista to be their friend. Humph. I'm already getting jealous of my old friends friendship with this new awesome yet made up friend. I'm totally going to be so mean when I come back to visit and I meet this new friend. I hate her already.

After having re-read this post, I'm surprised I have any friends at all.

xoxo,
Alison

My dowry

2008-06-05T20:46:00.005-04:00

Dear Blog,

My dad often asks me, in the presence of Aaron, what did I bring to our marriage? I don't cook, I clean alright, I'm like take 'em or leave 'em on the subject of kids and I have no discernible talents other than dressing myself up all nice and pretty like. I tell him that I offered MYSELF to this marriage and, DUH!, that is more than enough. Hey, Aaron knew what he got when he was marrying me so don't feel sorry for him.

I have a feeling that at some point in our marriage I'm gonna pop out some lil' Alison and Aaron's. I already know who the favorite parent is gonna be and uh...it's not me.

So my bff 4 life just had a baby! That's right, Faris just had herself a little chillin'. She had a cute little baby girl named Eliza Faris Connor. She shore is tiny and cute. Yesterday I was in quite the baby loving mood and I kept trying to hold little Eliza and she wasn't happy with her Auntie Mate and together we look like this;

I'm looking all like, what the heck am I doing with this baby? And Eliza is just throwing up everywhere. Together we are not an army of one. But give the baby to Aaron and look what happens;

Together, they are an army of one. Aaron is like, "Man! I love me some babies! I'm good at everything! Everyone loves me! I'm Aaron!" and Eliza is all "ganalsfgu;abna sfd gooooooooooooooooooooahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

Sigh. Eliza really is a cute little nugget of baby munchkin love and we had so much fun getting to know her!!
Lucky for you readers, we took some video of potential #1 Dad and his practice child. I apologize in advance for my laughing in the background.

xoxo,
#56930762 Momma
(alison)

Officially an expert

2008-05-29T20:40:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,
You read right! I am officially considering myself an expert on marriage now that I've been married for a year and a few days. This past Monday, May 26, was my and Aaron's first anniversary! What a lovely day it was. We celebrated the big anniversary/Memorial Day weekend by going to Savannah, Ga. We stayed at the purty Westin Harbor Resort and enjoyed ourselves way too much. Aaron kept referring to it as our honeymoon so I tweaked the name a little bit and started calling it the "mini-moon." We had so much fun during our mini moon that we vowed we would take one every year no matter how busy our lives became.

At the risk of sounding absolutely cheese-a-licious, I never imagined that being married would be this easy and fun. This past year with Aaron has been one of the best of my measley 27 years on this planet. He is my best friend, biggest fan, constant companion and knows all of the quirky, OCD, expensive habits I have and still loves the heck out of me anyway. We've taken some great trips, had a lot of laughs and learned that communication really is key; "Aaron, I promise, I really DO need that pair of shoes. I'm only telling you now that I'm going to buy them so you can have some time to get used to that idea."

I can only hope that the rest of our years will be as easy as this one was.

P.S. The cake was freezer burnt. Booooooo.

xoxo,
Alison

A little of this and a little of that

2008-05-22T22:12:00.002-04:00

Dear Blog,

I'm always on a diet and that means that Aaron is always on a diet too! Isn't that so fair? Well, thanks to my Internet BFF, us being on a diet has been so much easier. Like a good Internet BFF she told me about a recipe of the day from Cooking Light. All you have to do is sign up on Cooking Light's website for their recipe of the day and like *magic* a new healthy recipe appears in your inbox everyday. I've been cooking at least one of these recipes every week and generally trying to eat healthier for about the past month or so. Tonight we decided to have Elk burgers. Yes. Elk burgers. 90% Lean Meat. Virtually fat free. With organic baked potatoes and organic corn. I know. WTF? Have we completely lost it? Yep. Cause that burger was DISGUSTING. After one bite I thoughtfully looked at Aaron and said, "I don't think I like this burger." He took another bite and said, "Yeah, this is pretty gross." We then decided to screw the diet and go to McDonald's!! I mean, who can go wrong with 100% beef? Not me. Definitely not Aaron.

Two quarter pounders, two fries and one large DIET Coke later, we were much happier people. Even with the addition of about 2,000 calories.

xoxo,
Alison

Damn hippies

2008-05-17T11:51:00.004-04:00

Dear Blog,

It's no secret that I work at the BEST yoga studio in Charlotte. For reals, I went to another one this past week and was seriously UN-impressed. I won't mention the name of it but just recognize that Yoga One is the best. You can check out their website here, Yoga One . You can also check out my phatty profile, it's a little embarrassing but you already know all about me anyway so what to the ev, Here

There's nothing better than some shameless self promotion, right? One of the things I love about the studio is the different types of people that work there. In my previous jobs I have not encountered that much diversity but at Yoga One everyone is so different and it is quite fun. So, that being said, all of this diversity has introduced me to a couple different things, some good and some bad, that I never would have known had I not worked at Yoga One.

Hippie Butter Seriously people, this stuff is good. Put it on a banana and wham, you've got yourself a nutritious little snack and it keeps you full because it's got twice the amount of fiber as peanut butter. Can we say a healthy digestive tract? Holla.

Jesus Bread Now, if you use the Hippie Butter on the Jesus bread, then you are really feeling good because that's two organic things that you are eating, at the same time! Now pat yourself on the back and call it a day.

All Hippie Butter and Jesus Bread aside, I think one of the most important lessons I have learned from working at the yoga studio is that every day is what I make it. I can either let myself be in a bad mood and reactive and be stank with everyone I come in contact with or I can choose to be in a good mood and let things roll off my back. I know that sounds all crazy and hippie like, but just think about it, then try it, and then thank me. You're welcome in advance.

xoxo (or Namaste for all you enlightened ones)
Alison

Seacrest...OUT

2008-05-12T20:47:00.004-04:00

Hey ho's and bro's,

The Shurts' need your help! Aaron has entered a design contest for Doc Marten. Remember Doc Marten's? Yours truly had a pair in the 7th grade, you know that's right! I was going through my discovering myself phase, I probably looked like such a dork. Anyway, the winning designer will have their design printed on boots and sold in stores. Obvy, we want Aaron to win so his notoriety can grow and spread throughout the U.S!! The designs are below. Click on the image and vote "Love it"! If you vote "Hate it" then I will personally find you and kick you with my good leg.

Design #1

Design #2

Design #3

And the answer to your question is yes, I am obviously the model for Design #3.

Please Rock the Vote!!!

xoxo,
Alison

Upd8

2008-05-08T14:29:00.004-04:00

Dear Blog,

Man, it's been a busy week. Sorry for the neglect but I'm back. The quote unquote lineage holder of our studio is making his first trip to the SouthEast this weekend to hold an All Day Immersion* and you're looking at the event manager. It's been a little overwhelming but the way I see it is the event is going to happen so let's just get it done right beotches. It's been a little challenging hobbling around on my gimp leg but I'm not letting a gimp leg hold me back. I think all the years of walking around in uncomfortable shoes has prepared me for this Vespa wreck. Everything happens for a reason. I keep singing to myself "It's hard out here for a gimp, trying to make that money for the rent." But, not that many people get the reference so my suggestion is to watch the movie Hustle and Flow and then come back and read this blog.

Now, I bet you didn't know that I am a total hypochondriac. Poor, poor Aaron for having to listen to all of the musings of what can go wrong with my leg. Here are a couple, in chronological order of course.

1. The night I came home from the hospital I was convinced I was bleeding internally and was going to die in the middle of the night. I asked Aaron how would I know if I was bleeding internally and he said if my pee had blood in it. So what did I do? Drank a lot of water throughout the night and made myself go pee pee about 27 times to check and make sure there was no blood in the urine. There wasn't.

2. On about the 3rd day of recovery my foot got really swollen and I was convinced it was infected. I made Aaron look at it like 35 times during the day to see if it was okay. I looked up gangrene on the internets and thought I was going to have to get my whole leg cut off from the knee down. I was imagining all of the cute shoes I could no longer wear because those prosthetic legs only fit in like New Balance or something.

3. Now that I know my leg isn't infected there isn't much to worry about, but I've managed to come up with a few. Everytime I stand up and the blood rushes back into my leg and it HURTS SO BAD because of exposed nerve endings or something like that and I am constantly saying "F*CK MAN" (I say it just like my friend Paul and he's where I learned it from so blame him for my profanity usage.) So, after I get over that crazy hurting sensation I think that my leg is going to have that phantom hurting for the rest of my life and I'm going to be known as Aunt Gimpy forever. Aaron and Leigh have repeatedly told me there is no way that can happen.

We'll see.

I have been fortunate enough to never have been really hurt in my life until now. I think we all know why. I'm annoying.

*An All Day Immersion is one day chock full of hot yoga in a hot gymnasium with about 200 sweaty yogis. If you're not doing anything on Saturday, come on down!

xoxox,
Alison

Let's be honest

2008-05-02T09:58:00.006-04:00

Dear Blog,

As the title suggests, let's be honest here. Didn't we all think that at one point or another I would wreck the Vespa? I mean, if it was going to happen, wouldn't it be better to do it sooner rather than later? I think so. Alright, so if you put your context clues together then you will concur that I indeed wrecked the Vespa yesterday. The following is a true recount of what had happened.I go to the grocery store to get some chicken for dinner. I'm riding home and a guy in an Acura I believe, cuts me off. So, I overcompensate by swerving and braking extremely hard. Well, wouldn't you know that I just flipped right over and skid a few feet? After I come to a stop I just sit in the middle of the road like hmmm...did that just happen? I then check to make sure that my sunglasses and new top are still in tact. They are. Some nice gentleman comes to my aide and helps me over to the side of the road. As luck would have it a fireman was right behind me and saw everything that happened and came over and started asking all of the appropriate questions. This is all I would say;

"What I need you to do is call my husband. I need you to call my husband. Call Aaron. Can someone call my husband? Please someone call Aaron."

Finally, someone called Aaron. He came a runnin'. Literally. About 10 minutes later I see Aaron sprinting to the wreck site.
"Hey honey, I wrecked the Vespa."
"I see that, are you alright?"
"I think so."

At first I refuse medical treatment cause I hate hospitals, etc. But, then I couldn't walk on my leg so they load me up in the ambulance and away we go. The medic with me was super cool and she helped me calm down. Once we got to the emergency room she had to leave me and I started crying. She just told me to breathe like I do in yoga and I would be alright. She was right! Aaron had to deal with the cops and then he came to be by my side at the hospital.

Alright, so the emergency room is ghett-o. I was not a fan. My room was all gross and had like cheeto's on the floor. Uh-uh. Someone better get that up. So, props to my boy Chris Restrepo for being a doc. Holla. Anyway, back to me. The doctor was like trying to send me home without triple checking that my knee was okay. So we got in a little fight. I was all "LISTEN HERE DOC. My knee hurts. The only reason I even CAME here is because I was seriously worried that my knee was messed up. I am not exaggerating. I want you to check and then double check and then TRIPLE CHECK that my knee is okay."

So, we did three x-rays. And guess who was right? That damn doctor. Ain't nothing wrong with my knee. It just hurts cause I don't know...I got in a wreck?!?

We stayed in the hospital until about 10:30 and then I came home and had to get in the tub to clean out my wounds. I think that was the most pain I've ever experienced. That was the first time I really cried. I just sat in the tub and cried and cried.

Then I ate a pb&j and went to sleeeeeep.

So, it's all good. I'm a little banged up but I'm going to heal. Will I ride the Vespa again? Prolly.

The end.
xoxo
Alison

Alison and Pete make for good convo

2008-04-25T15:59:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

Aaron and I talk on iChat a lot. Since we're both on the computer all day it is very condusive to have little quick chats and that way I don't feel like I haven't seen him all day. Pete is our handyman at work and I must say, I love me some Pete. He brightens my day like every day. Here is a pic of me and Pete.

I always have a story about Pete everyday and today I regaled it to Aaron over ichat. The end turns out to be rather humorous.

alison:so this is funny
i'm riding home on my scooter
and i'm at the stop light of 4th and kings
and i just hear this person honking and honking
and i look over
and it's pete!
big smile

aaron:haha

Alison:no teeth
arm just a wavin

Aaron:hahaha

Alison: and it warmed my heart

Aaron:yeah

Alison:yeah

Alison: cause he looooooooves me

Aaron:thats a good story
true
he does

Alison: althought
today
he told me i was going to die like johnny cochran did
with a brain aneurysm

Aaron: y?

Alison: because i'm always on the phone

Aaron: you are?

Alison:people always callin
so i gotta talk

Aaron:true
well i hope thats not the case

Alison: me too

Aaron: we are gonna die when we are 115

Alison:ok
sounds good

Aaron: and we will be on the smuckers commercial together

Alison:hahahahahahahahaha
lol

Aaron: ill be hunched over and you will have white hair with big ole glasses

hahaha
hahahahahaha
hahahahahahaha

Alison: hopefully i'll have my eyes fixed by then
true

xoxo,
Alison

Gimme, gimme More, gimme more, gimme, gimme More

2008-04-22T20:07:00.002-04:00

Dear Blog,

So, I've been tagged by Crist to do this THING, where I tell you 6 things about me or something. And I'm like, don't I already tell you people enough? I think I get pretty nitty gritty on this here blog, my trials, tribulations, wants and needs. But, NO, you want more, more, more. And to that, I say, fine. I will give you more.
Here are the rules;
Six Quirky Things About Me

Rules:
* Link to the person that tagged you.
* Post the rules on your blog.
* Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
* Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
* Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

I think I'm going to have to not follow the last two rules because I don't know 6 bloggers that would do this, so, sorry person who made up the rules but this part of the Family Tree stops with me.

1. When I was little I wanted to be a donut maker. Seriously, that's what I would call it too. I wanted to be that person who got up at 3 a.m to make donuts at Dunkin' Donuts for all of the early risers who found sugar to be their breakfast of choice. I thought their was nothing more perfect than a donut. I still think that. I had high ambitions as a 4 year old. Makin' the parents proud. And I was the over achiever in the family.

2. When I'm working out and listening to the iPizzle, I mostly listen to some hip hop and urban beats. Not only do I listen to some booty shakin' music, I choreograph Fly Girl dances in my head to go to the song. Of course, I am always the star fly girl. I even think about what I would wear in the hip hop videos. I imagine myself to be the flyest white girl in all the videos. Pretty soon I have all of the hottest stars asking me to be in their video.

3. Sometimes I can be so cheap!! Clothing and accessories aside, I won't buy anything unless Aaron and I absolutely have to have it. "Aaron, are you sure you need to eat this week? Now, brushing our teeth...is that a necessity? Cause...we're out of toothpaste." I'll use all of the lotion out of little hotel mini bottles before I go buy some more. That's where I save money so I can buy more important things.

4. I'm not a very sympathetic person. I wasn't born with that gene. I mean, I'll be sympathetic if it is something worth being sympathetic to; not being able to get pregnant, getting fired from a job; natural disasters; but you're talking to the wrong girl if you complain about dumb things. Case in point; I used to have a co-worker who could find the negative in any given situation and then would turn it around like the universe is totally against her and WOE, WOE IS SHE. Well, all that starts to get so old and people tune you out. Besides, I firmly believe we are in charge of our own happiness. If you're waiting on it from someone else, well you'll be waiting a long time. Check it.

5. I cry at everything. Give me a commercial with some sad dogs who aren't being adopted and I'll cry like a baby. Give me a 20/20 special with Babwa Walters and show like two people being reunited and I'll just crrrrryyyyyyyy and crrrrryyyyyyyy. Aaron thinks I'm cah-razy and all I can say is, I get it from my Momma. She be that way too.

6. Now, this is kind of weird. But, I make friends very easily with all men over 50. I have like 4 friends from my past jobs who are all over 50 and who will still call me regularly to chew the fat. Now, I know some of y'all think that's creepy but it's totally just a friendship. All of them know Aaron and I know their wives and we're just friends. So, if you know any 50+ men who are nice and looking for a friend who will make them laugh just send 'em on my way.

Now, are you all satisfied?

xoxo,
Alison

Our Father, who art in Heaven

2008-04-20T20:59:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

This past week I felt like God was telling me to go to church. Why? Well duh, I'll tell you.
1. I was talking to my main man Pete,the handy man at the studio, and asking him why can't I just be rich? His reply? "Awwww, Alison, lookah here; you got more riches than you already know. Every day above ground is another day in Paradise. Praise Jesus." Well, damn Pete. Couldn't you just commiserate with me for a few minutes here and we could talk about how fun it is to buy shit? Apparently not.

2. A friend emailed us and invited us to church.

3. While walking Bella yesterday we ran into the minister who married us and she invited us to come to church.

Now, wouldn't you take that as a sign that someone upstairs wants you to go to church?
This morning Aaron and I woke up around 8, he took his laptop into the den and I remained in bed with my laptop. Around 8:45 I i'med him and asked him if he wanted to go to church, he i'med back and said sure. I think it's fun to instant message in the same house. It's all lazy and technical at the same time. Sometimes we even instant message while in the same room, now that is lazy but sometimes you just don't feel like talking. I'm really getting off the whole God subject aren't I?

So, we go to church and after about 8 songs, I hunker down in my seat to get some good, juicy sermoning. The preacher immediately started talking about the Kingdom of Heaven and I'm all about the Kingdom of Heaven so I turn on my ears real good. Alas, as always happens in church, my little mind starts a wonderin'.

What is the Kingdom of Heaven like? Well, in my Kingdom of Heaven I sit on top of a fluffy little cloud that never gets Bella hair and pieces of grass and earth all over it, Eddie Vedder follows me around and sings quietly, the BoJangles drive-thru is the next cloud over and all of the fried chicken in the world does nothing to my size 4 figure. I wear vintage Chanel on the days I know I'm going to see the Big Guy and Balenciaga when I'm feeling a little devilish. Aaron and I laugh and play with little Bella all day long...

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeech. All thoughts come to a halt.

Will Aaron recognize me in Heaven? What if I'm floating around in Heaven and I see Aaron and some random chick eating McDonald's fries together (ed. note: in Aaron's Heaven the McDonald's drive thru is the next cloud over) and his girlfriend is all "Aaron, maybe you should only eat half your fries." And then I have smoke coming out of my halo because I'm the only one who can tell Aaron that maybe he should only eat half his fries!! Uh oh. I'm about to cut a bitch in Heaven.

I'm totally getting kicked out of Heaven.

xoxo,
Alison

Stuck in my Craw

2008-04-16T19:02:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

Have you heard that expression? I'm pretty sure it's only relevant in the South. Having something stuck in your craw is like something is bugging you and it just won't go away, like a little gnat. I can only imagine what a 'craw' is, let's just leave that up to everyone's individual creative mind.

Well, I have something stuck in my craw. I'm trying to just let...it...go...but it won't. I keep thinking about it and running the scenario through my mind. Here's the biz: When I was a senior at Furman my sorority ordered some Nalgene bottles in our colors with the Chi and Omega emblazoned on the front of the Nalgene. Cut to 5 years later and I still have mine, those things last forever. Since I still have it, I drink out of it. I mean, why would I buy another one? I don't care if it still says XO on it. Well, today I'm happily drinking some water minding my own bidness and the following scene unfolds:

Rando Girl: "Were you a Chi O?"
Alison: "Yep," (pause) "Were you?" (she says with a smile)
Rando Girl: "Ewwwwww NO."
Alison: Bewildered, "Well, that was lovely of you."
Rando Girl: "They were bitches at my school."
Alison: "Well, we were bitches too." Turn around and take a long swig out of said Chi freakin' Omega water bottle.

Alright, so I know I am in control of my emotions and I totally RE-acted to that situation but I just had to. I was not about to let that girl run up on me talking about "Ewwwwww NO." I was minding MY business and SHE started being RUDE to ME. (All caps for major emphasis)

Now, with that being said. What is the big damn deal about being in a sorority? Because honestly, I could have not cared less whether or not that girl was in a sorority, in MY sorority, or was not. If you want to be in a sorority, be in one. If you don't, then don't. The end. Any other problems that arise are your insecurity and not mine.

The end.

xoxo,
Alison

April Showers (supposedly) bring May Flowers

2008-04-14T20:45:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

What if you don't care about flowers? I don't care about flowers, I mean they're nice and all but you will definitely not find me on any given Saturday outside planting flowers in my yard, or weeding, or digging. That bug just hasn't hit me yet, maybe it will? Who cares, anyway. I told Aaron never to buy me flowers as a nice gesture because I didn't like flowers. He hasn't. Alright, enough about the damn flowers already. It has been raining like the dickens here in Charlotte and while we need the rain, I'm really just ready to wear my new, white, shades I bought this past weekend. They are super cool and they really complement my helmet that I wear to ride the Vespa. It's all about the accessories, really. I'm sad to say though, these super white hot sunglasses are not an Alison original. One of my best friends, we'll call him "Spum" has a super hot girlfriend and she wore these sunglasses to my rehearsal dinner last year and ever since that night, I've been wanting these sunglasses. I know you're thinking, who notices a pair of sunglasses at their rehearsal dinner and is still stalking them out almost a year later? The answer would be me, my friends. The one and only. I will always notice what you are wearing and ~~more than likely~~ definitely will be judging it. I can't help it, it's just the way God made me. Here is a pic of Gilleon (Spum's girlfriend) in the sunglasses that I just bought.

I don't know why I just gave you all the background about these sunglasses, I just really, really liked 'em and am excited to wear them.

In other news, my mom came this weekend! Of course we went shopping but I didn't get myself into trouble like I did the last time she came. I steered way clear of the handbag section. Aside from all of the shopping that was done, I got a great kick out of taking Mom on a Vespa ride. She was a little wary but I convinced her that I take Aaron on the Vespa alllllllllllll the time. It's true. Well wouldn't you know that Mom loves the Vespa? She was waving at everyone like she was in a parade and if someone was on a sidewalk she would say "HEY!" and I was laughing so hard. We looked a sight. I really wish I had gotten a pic but I didn't have the camera. Sad.

xoxo,
Alison

A blessing and a curse

2008-04-09T21:23:00.005-04:00

Dear Blog,

A blessing and a curse, doesn't that seem to be so fitting an adjective for New York City? Continuing our jet-setting life style, last weekend Aaron and I hit up the Big Apple. In true Aaron and Alison fashion, we got in on a Friday night and left on Sunday night. I liken trips to New York like taking a shot of cheap tequila, strong, fast and gets the job done quick. There was a point in my life when I thought I could live in NY but I gotta give props to my NY peeps, I don't know how y'all do it. I gotta have my personal space and I would prefer not to be tempted every other day with something outrageously expensive, because I know myself. If I want it, I'ma buy it. I can rationalize everything. Don't tempt me.

So. This trip to NYC was especially funny because now Poppa Williams is living up there. After coordinating train schedules, synchronizing watches, several phone calls, texts on the blackberries reading "We're leaving!" "The train is slow!" "Why is this 3 year old trying to lift up my dress?" "The person beside me smells! Eeeeewww!!!" and finally, "I'm here!" Aaron, myself, Spurgeon and Poppa Dubs met up at Grand Central Station for some crazy wild times in Neeeeeeeeeew YORK Ceety! Spurgeon was right on point and had a place for us to eat brunch and so off we went. My dad and Spurgeon are rather loud individuals and when you pair that up with the fact that they look like this;

With one decked out in Clemson Tiger Sports Network gear and the other wearing traditional Indian gear, well, we got a lot of looks. But, it was so fun! We all had a great lunch, had a lot of laughs with my Dad regaling us with tales of calling people "WHACK" and walking around in Union Square. We then bid au revoir to Poppa Dubs and decided to get down to the nitty gritty. Shopping in SoHo. Now, you may remember that Aaron and I got into a little bit of a tussle about my previous shopping trip and so I didn't know what to expect this go 'round. Since Aaron was with me how was I going to follow my usual motto of; just ask for forgiveness, NOT permission. I guess I'm just gonna have to ask permission. And guess what folks? That little plan worked. I got a pair of KICK ASS Alexis Bittar earrings from the fabulous store in SoHo and probably the dopest trench coat EVER MADE PEOPLE! I'm talking it is so great that I get goose bumps just thinking about it. I still can't believe it's mine. I did have to spend some of my Christian Louboutin savings fund for the coat, but it was so worth it. I got to wear it the other day and I have to say, I was already begging for the next rainy day. I might post some pics, we'll see. My trip was totally made after buying the coat with some of my fave peeps, Paul, Kate, Spurgeon, Gilleon and the one and only Aaron encouraging me to just buy the damn thing.

I think I forgot everything else that happened after that because I was in a state of pure nirvana after my shopping experience.

All in all, thanks to Paul, Kate, Spurgeon and Gilleon for making this trip so fun that I was in a state of mild depression when I got home. Sigh.

Caption: Aaron is high on life. Alison is high on trench coats. Random dude in the back is just plain high.

xoxo,
alison

2 great vids

2008-04-02T15:33:00.006-04:00

Check out these videos to laugh and laugh and to learn a little bit more about BellaFrench than you EVER wanted to know!

dport7

Uncle Urb

xoxo,
Alison

Fierce

2008-03-31T20:33:00.005-04:00

Dear Blog,

You know that old adage, "The more things change, the more they stay the same?" Well, it's true. Hence the following photos.

Photo taken in March '06

Photo taken in March '08.

NYC: Check
Prospect Park Subway Stop: Check
Dirty blonde hair: Check
Big, black jacket: Check
Cream scarf: Check
Blue bag: Check
"Get that ^&*()%! CAMERA OUT of my FACE or I WILL SHOW YOU where you can stick that &*(_^*$%& CAMERA" look on my face: Double check.

xoxo,
Alison

Spu-Ring!!! (Spring)

2008-03-25T21:15:00.004-04:00

Dear Blog,

I love me some spring and thankfully it came last Thursday! I've been rockin' and rollin' my Vespa to work everyday and I gotta say, I think I'm in love. It adds about 5 minutes to my getting ready for work routine but it's totally worth it. I'm still bringing people joy and at least once a day someone in their car beside me rolls down their window and asks me as many questions as time allows about the Vespa. In my mind, as soon as the light turns green they're driving on over to Vespa of Charlotte to buy one and I've done my duty to help save the earth.

Alas, there is ONE thing missing from the Vespa. A cup holder. Y'all know I'm addicted to my coffee and I've been strug-a-lug without my 3 cups o' joe in the a.m. But, Aaron fixed that. He fashioned me a cup holder! He's so smart and talented and blah blah blah. (Picture to come soon.) I tested it out this morning and it firmly keeps my cup in place and THAT gave me joy. Take a look;

So, this past weekend was Easter and I think Easter is a great holiday. I do think it is one of the most holy holidays and I like that the fan fare around it is less intense than Christmas and of course, I love the insane focus on candy! I think this might have been the first Easter I wasn't with my family, instead I was with my best good friend Leigh's family and helped support cute little Miles get baptized. He sure is a cute little sucker and every time I'm around him my heart of stone turns to mush and I see a glimpse of hope that I too, might be a good parent. Aaron and I were matchy matchy at church and everyone was like, what's up with the matchy matchy? What's up with it? Duh. Matching is totally coming back in style. So do it.

I'm sorry this blog is totally random but I have nothing to write about. I'm going to New York this weekend to see some of my fave New Yorkers, y'all know who you are. When I come back, I'm beginning the 40 Days of Yoga program at our studio. The participants are enlisting themselves to do yoga 5 days a week at the studio, once a week at home and then are given one day of rest. I know all of my non-yoga friends are like WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU HIPPIE, VESPA RIDING, FREAK? Well, don't worry non-yoga friends, I will keep you all abreast of my progress and let you know if I have any life altering experiences during my 40 days.

I know you wait with bated breath.

xoxo,
Alison

Normal, everyday conversation

2008-03-21T09:43:00.002-04:00

Dear Blog,

The following conversation was had at 9:25 am this morning.

Alison: Johnna, it's 5 'til, better get your butt in the classroom.
Johnna: It's packed in there! What's up with that?
Alison: It's Good Friday, most people have today off.
Johnna: What's Good Friday all about?
Alison: Today is the day Jesus was crucified.
Johnna: Shit. That's heavy.
Alison: Don't worry though, on Sunday he raises up from the dead and you get to sing "Up from the Grave He Aroooooooooooooooooooose!"

xoxo,
Alison

Matey-moon

2008-03-18T22:04:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

So, one of my best friends from college is pregnant. Her name is Mate. It's still kind of unreal to me that she is pregnant and quite frankly, sometimes I forget. (whoops) It's not that her pregnancy is not important to me but I'm just not USED to the idea of MATE having a CHILD. That is so grown-up and kind of intimidating. I keep forgetting that I'm officially a grown up, sometimes I feel like Aaron and I are just playing house and I'm going to wake up from this dream and be freaking out about a pre-cal exam at 8:00 a.m. Babymate is due at the end of April or the beginning of May and Mate and I wanted to go to Charleston for the weekend, just the two of us, to have a mate weekend before life changes. Mate taught me two very important things about pregnancy that I did not know that I will need to remember if/when this woman decides to have little ~~brats~~ children.

1. A babymoon! Apparently, before you are banned from traveling because you are to push out a little booger, your husband is supposed to take you on a fantastic trip called A BABYMOON! I think that idea sounds fabulous and have already planned my babymoon to Maya Tulum and dreaming of my virgin mai-tai's...yuuummmmm. Since Mate and Caleb aren't going on a babymoon, we termed our weekend the Matey-Moon and I hope it sufficed as a trip before Babymate is born.

2. A push-prize!!! Yes, folks, that is exactly what you think it is. You get a PRIZE for PUSHING a BABY out of your HOO-HOO. I mean, that really sounds enticing to me because someone is going to have to strongly convince me that having children is worth the time, money and responsibility before I willingly comply to pushing a baby out of my hoo-hoo. I'm just sayin'.

So, in the midst of my learning about these two very important items dealing with pregnancy, Mate and I were in the middle of a tornado. I'm like why do we have to deal with tornadoes during our matey-moon? It was stressful. The very overzealous weathermen were scaring the DAYLIGHTS out of me warning about this stupid tornado! I seriously thought I was going to die. Not only was I worried about dying, I was worried about having to become McDreamy or something and pulling out mate's baby in case it decided to come early during the stress of the "WORST STORM TO HIT CHARLESTON EVER IN THIS CENTURY OR EVER IN ALL OF CHARLESTON'S EXISTENCE EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER! GET IN THE BASEMENT FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY!" So, I'm texting Ron and my family telling them that I love them, I'm also lookin' up on the interweb how to deliver babies in case something decides to happen. While I'm huddled in a basement with my dear pregnant friend, reminiscing on my short 27 years of life, laughing over the good and bad times, convinced that I'm about to be knock, knock, knockin' on Heaven's door, I get a text from my dad. I think to myself surely my dad is going to tell me he loves me and thanks for the being the best daughter a Dad could ever ask for. This is what the text reads: "Clemson beat Duke. Don't die and ruin my day."

Leave it to a tornado to show you who really cares. Thank you Mom, Michael and Ron for sharin' the love.

xoxo,
Alison

Livin' the gooooood liiiiiiiiiiiiiiife

2008-03-13T20:42:00.003-04:00

Dear Blog,

My brain jumps all over the place from day to day, hour to hour and minute to minute. So, I thought I'd give my blog readers a smattering of what I think about on a day to day basis.

1. I love the sun, it makes me smile.
2. Working at a yoga studio is so fun because I just get to be honest to everyone, if someone is getting on my nerves our owners encourage us to go to that person and say "You are getting on my nerves...let's talk about why." I have already exercised that right probably more than any other person working there. I LOVE IT!!!! I love being honest.
3. If I love being honest so much, why do I have to be nice to people I don't like? I wish I could just really focus on spending my time and my energy towards people I actually care about and not as much time talking about boring things with people I don't like. But, if they like ME and I don't like THEM, there is a problem.
4. Someone once told me that if there was something that really gave you grief then you were either supposed to write that grievance down on a piece of paper and burn it. I really wanted to burn my call reports from my last job but I didn't have time to start a fire so I just SLAMMED them down to the bottom of my trashcan!!! I mean, I threw that binder in the trashcan like it was a fake Louis Vuitton. Loved every minute of it.
5. I got my car washed today and I felt like a new person.
6. All of the highschool boys at the AutoBell flirted with me and that made me happy because they cleaned my car with an extra zest of energy.
7. Aaron is employee of the month at the Art Institute! He gets an up close parking space.
8. Aaron is doing yoga with me yiiiiipppppeeeeeeeeee!!!!!
9. We're going to NY in two weeks!
10. This Cadbury Egg is delicious. Thank you Jesus for raising up from the dead so we can have Cadbury Eggs.
11. I can't wait to go to Charleston and hang out with my mate and eat some Groucho's.
12. Thank goodness for www.pankates.com, I made some chicken curry soup and it was delicious.

All of those thoughts ran through my head today :) The end.

xoxo,
Alison

Sick Day

2008-03-11T21:22:00.011-04:00

Dear Blog,

I know I don't often write about the ~~plight~~ JOYS of being married but I need to warn all of my unmarried friends about what will happen to you once you get married. You're, like, held accountable for, like, everything you do. Everything. (That includes shopping.) Aaron and I have been married for 9 months. Technically there could be a little baby running around now, thank God there is not but that does seem like a long time to be married doesn't it? We don't really ever fight or even have heated discussions, in fact, being married to Aaron is probably the easiest thing I've ever done. But, every once in a while (ed. note: once a month or so) Aaron and I will have a lovely discussion (ed.note: ARGUMENT, RUN!!! RUN!!!) about a few minor but necessary purchases (ed.note: shopping sprees) that I may have.

This past weekend my mom came to town for a beginners yoga workshop at the studio and when she comes we always make a trip to SouthPark Mall. While we were at Nordstrom I found two bags that I HAD TO HAVE. So, I did what I had to do, I bought both. I mean, they are really different. I had a little guilty feeling inside but I just pushed that negative thought aside because I really needed these bags. Cut to the next day. My mom is leaving. Enjoy the following scene:

Alison: "Bye Mom! Love you!"
Aaron: "So, are you going to show me what you bought at the mall?"
Al:"Sure (inner dialogue:F*!K...he's going to kill me)...maybe later"
Aar: "How about now?"
Al: "Okay....I'll go get them.
Alison goes to get her bags and quickly tries to devise a plan about how to explain the purchase of two bags from Nordstrom.
But she can't come up with anything dammit, she's just going to have to come clean. Oh wait, wait, one of the bags can be used to jet-set because we are jet-setters and the other one is just cute. And the jet-setting bag can also be used to ride around on the scooter when I have to carry lots of items...alright, this is getting better and better. Sweet.

Al: "Alright, I bought this shirt that was 50% off...how cute is that? And this hot little number was like 80% off? See how I'm totally a bargain shopper? Aren't you proud of me?
Aar: "Yep, good honey. What's in that Nordstrom bag?"
Al: Well, you see, I needed a bag for the scooter and all of the traveling we do so I bought this bag And then I saw this cute little Marc Jacobs number and I bought it too.
Aar: "You did what?!?!? How much did you spend?"
Al to self: Shit...he's not liking my explanations, what next, what next? Steam is coming out of his ears, what do I do?
Al to Aar: Smiles..."Aren't they so cute?"
Aaron: "Why did you buy two?"
Alison: "Duh. One is blue, one is green, one is big, one is little."
Aaron: "Why can't you just spend $30 on a purse?"
Alison: "EGADS, AARON HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND? ARE YOU ASKING ME TO CHANGE? I might have said for 'better or for worse' but I never said 'for real or for fake!!!!!' Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh...I would never ask you to change....waaaaaaaaaah"
We then discussed for the next three hours how we could come to a suitable understanding on the ways our $ is spent, but future wives out there...for the love of God, never buy two bags in one day. Take it from me. After all of that was settled, I had to take a sick day (it was Sunday). I couldn't wrestle up any energy to do anything, not even enjoy my bags! It was terrible. I just watched lots of TLC and drank lots of wine. By the way, Jon and Kate plus 8 is a pretty cute show! I think Jon is way cooler than Kate though.

In non-related news, in order to deal with yours truly, Aaron has started doing yoga! Check out the pics. He's also added some of his own modifications.
Observe:
Warrior 2
Warrior 2 with beerification

Ohmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Finally, shavasana...with a Yuengling. Never better!

And together we say, Namaste!!

xoxo,
Alison

Wild, Wild, West

2008-03-05T20:05:00.003-05:00

Dear Blog,

BellaFrench: Bringin' the dirty South out West; cause you know black people don't like snow.

For real, I don't think I saw one black person when I was in Colorado. Let me think about it...nope, none. I missed my peeps for real. Oh, and to answer the question; "Did she really wear that outside of the confines of the Shurts' household?" The answer is a big DUH. You know I was rockin' that outfit. I wore it to go snowmobiling, which I don't really like, but I did it anyway and I kept myself entertained by lookin' a fool. Husby and I had a great time in CO, to break it down here's what we did; Got there late, woke up the next day and went skiing, woke up the next day and went skiing, woke up the next day and went snowmobiling, woke up the next day and began our descent back East. Oh, and we ate a lot. Aaron's mom is a big fan of cooking. A LOT of food. So we ate a lot of food and that is always fun. Plus, you can eat more out there because the elevation is higher and that in and of itself burns calories so you just need to eat MORE cookies to LIVE. Sounds good to me.

Ohhhhhh, so this is funny. As far as skiing goes, I'm good but not great. I always check the intermediate box when I'm renting my skis. I've done my fair share of falling but nothing has ever happened to me like the following. I decided I needed to try the black diamonds. I find one that looks relatively challenging and give it a whirl, I fall. It's not a big deal, Tony(Aaron's dad) and my main man Paul (Tony's friend) help me back up. I don't want that stinkin' mountain to kick my butt, so I decide to go down again and this time I don't fall! Victory...or not. I turn around to check out my cohorts and I fall down but this time my ski comes off with my boot still attached to it. Clearly, my ski was still itching to ski down that hill. So it did. My ski (with the boot still attached) skiied right on down the hill by itself and ended up in the bank at the bottom of the mountain. Well, what's a girl to do? I don't have a boot on, I don't have a ski on so the only thing I can think of to do is just slide on down the hill on my well cushioned butt. Seriously, it was funny. It's a good thing I don't take myself too seriously because it was mildly embarrassing but I got over it. I gave everyone on the ski lift above me a good chuckle.

That's all I got for tonight!

xoxo,
Alison

Procrastination.

2008-02-26T20:43:00.005-05:00

Dear Blog,

Even though I LOVE clothes,Love, love, LOVE clothes and use them to expresssssss myself, I canNOT stand packing. I am sitting here at the computer looking at everything under the sun on the internets just to avoid packing. I'm even watching the atrocity of a t.v. show "Celebrity Rehab" just to avoid packing. Could we HAVE a worse tv show? What are we going to exploit next? Are we going to show little crack babies being weened off crack for the first few weeks of their life? Whatever!!! TV execs bring back like Happy Days or something, I think we are craving some good ole fashioned tv.

Now that I'm off that tangent, the reason why I'm even needing to pack is because tomorrow Aaron and I are heading off to God's Country; Colorado. What kind of visual picture did you get when I said "God's country?" I mean, did Colorado come to your mind, or something else? Because literally, I can't stand it when I hear people say "South Carolina is GOD'S COUNTRY" or "Alabama is GOD'S COUNTRY" (Notice how I've only heard people say that about southern states...hmmm) Because do you think God REALLY thinks that ONLY SC or AL is HIS country? I doubt it, people!! I have a feeling that these people who really think where ever they live is God's country, well, they probably suck at life and I don't want to be friends with them. God is love, Rev Run. I hope someone gets that reference besides my husband.

Since this post has been permeated by negativity, I'll end on a positive note. I love my job! I really do. My advice for anyone that's in any sort of a negative position in the workplace, seriously peeps, get a new job! It will make you a much happier person and more pleasant to be around.

Aaron and I will be in Colorado until Sunday. There will possibly be a post and maybe a video from the road. Leave some love peeps cause you know I'll be checking back in as soon as I can.

P.S. In familial news, the house has been sold in Columbia! At the beginning of May, my sweet lil Momma will be joining my sweet lil Poppa up in New York. She will officially be a damn yankee. (My dad was already one.)
xoxo,
Alison

Hello. My name is Alison and I'm a Loser.

2008-02-23T11:07:00.003-05:00

Dear Blog,

Obviously, I don't mean that I MYSELF am a loser but lately I've been losing things! Now, some of you may not know this but I pride myself on my impeccable memory and I never, ever, EVER lose things. I'm the girl who checks her purse 5 times to ensure her camera is in there, or iPod or laptop or whatever else I'm carrying that happens to be worth any money over like twenty bucks. But, in 2008 I've been losing stuff and/or forgetting things and it's really starting to grate on my nerves and make me feel like a literal loser. It all came to a head last weekend when I FORGOT my toiletry bag when I went to the beach and had to beg like a homeless person for everyone else's leftover or extra things. "Um...yeah, can I borrow your razor?" Whatever, so I started beating myself up over that. Well. When we were on our honeymoon Aaron bought me this ring.

It's a beautiful ring and I love it so, so, so much. I had been wanting it for a couple years and Aaron bought it for me as a surprise on the honeymoon! Cue doting wife; "isn't he the best?" So, since I had left my toiletry bag at home during the beach weekend I took my ring and stuck it in a pocket in my purse and left it there. On Thursday morning at about 8:25 (five minutes before I need to leave to go to the yoga studio) I decide I need to take my ring out of my purse for obvy reasons. Well, I look and it is not there. In a panic, I dump out the contents of my purse and it is not there. I then go shrieking around the house looking for my ring and I canNOT find it anywhere. The sobbing ensues here and I do the only thing I can think to do. I call my mom. "MOOOOOOOOOOOOM, I (hiccup) can't find my riiiiiiiiiiing!!!!"
"Um...good morning Alison...I can't understand you."
muffled sobs, "I can't find my ring that Aaron bought me on the HOOOOONNNEEEYYYMOOOOOOOOOOON"
After telling her the story that took twice as long because I was HYSTERICAL she just calmly tells me to not give up on it and clean myself up and go to work. Okay. I was all set to take the Vespa that morning (mental picture: me running around the house crying and talking to my mom with my helmet on) but I couldn't because I was in too fragile a mental state to get on Bertie, (her new name thanks to JCG). So I jump in my car and what is staring me in the face? My ring!!! It was in the passenger seat.

Have I learned my lesson yes? I must immediately go out and buy a cute small jewelry holder for my purse.
Oh, and when I get to work and am explaining about my losing streak to one of my coworkers she immediately said "Well, I guess you weren't supposed to have it in the first place."

Damn hippie.

xoxo,
Alison

OH! HOW I HAVE MISSED THEE?!?

2008-02-19T19:52:00.004-05:00

Dear Blog,

I'm literally so excited to be sitting down writing this post that my heart is racing with glee. You think I'm kidding but I'm not! It's not that I have anything terribly exciting, insightful or witty to write about but I'm addicted to my blog like Goldie Hawn is addicted to lip injections! So, I'm back from like what? A week and a half of absence? What to the EV that will never happen again. (I hope.)

Where did we leave off? Oh yeah, I left the rag for the yoga studio and now have a Vespa. First off, I love my new job!!!!!!!!!!! I really, really, really, really love it. I am not micro managed at all, people expect me to do a good job and I do a good job and then I go home. The days fly by and I think that's a sign that I like my job? I'm not constantly looking at the clock and wondering when I'm gonna get my next b*tch ass email from you-know-who and thinking I need a drink, instead I'm like WHAT?!? it's 5:00, I need to change into my yoga clothes and get a spot for yoga, where's my wheat grass shot? Everyone I work with is the bomb and I hope they think I'm the bomb but it's too early to tell. I know Jaimi thinks I'm great but that doesn't count because I knew her before. Shoot.

So, after we got the Vespa, Aaron and I did a lot of scooter riding to get me more comfortable on it so I could drive it to work and decrease my footprint on planet Earth. Well, at first I sucked hardcore but now I think I've got a handle on it. I drove it to work yesterday and I've decided it was my mission in life to ride a Vespa. Everyone loves Vespas! Me being extremely self centered and self loving, translate that into; "Everyone loves ME!" I get tons of smiles and waves and honks everywhere I go. And before you get all smarty pants and think "they're honking at you to move out of the way dumbass", NO, they're not. They're honking at me to get my attention and mouth "I love your Vespa!" which I then translate into "I love YOU on your Vespa" and it makes our day that much better. I'm bringing JOY into the lives of others.

This past weekend I went to Kiawah with internet bff and friends. Just to clarify, Internet bff and I went to the same elementary, middle and highschool together, while we were friends we were decidedly not bff and I don't know if we ever had a telephone convo during that time period and that is really telling of a friendship because adolescense is all about talking on the phone. We reunited about a year ago over facebook and somehow or another bonded and have now each earned the title Internet Bff. Isn't it lovely how things work out? She is a wonderful friend and I had a GREAT time at her beautiful house at the beach. (I would love to go back...is that subtle?) Not to diminish the others that were there, I enjoyed hanging out with you all and hope to do it again. Thanks for the laughs and laid back, chillaxed time. Shout out to Cheri who reminded me of the times we would go to Eau Claire highschool for basketball games and have to get down really low on the bus because we were being rocked by overzealous ghetto Eau Claire fans! Literally, a great laugh and so indicative of my high school experience.

Lastly, I succumbed to fugliness and bought a pair of Uggs. My bff's Jaimi and Sarrin have a pair and they just seem so easy to wear to scoot around in and since I'm scooting around A LOT these days, I bought some. I don't think they're cute but they're easy to put on and they're warm and supposedly they keep your feet dry.

Whew, I'm feeling so much better after writing this...I must do it again soon.
xoxo,
Alison

Victory in Jesus and Vespas

2008-02-06T21:44:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog,

I'm going to be honest. I just wrote a reaaaaallllyyyyyy long post about my last day at the magazine and all of my likes, dislikes and grievances. I put it up for about 10 minutes (long enough to put cupcake batter in the cupcake pan and stick 'em in the oven) and then asked Aaron what he thought and we agreed I needed to take it down. Long siiiiigh. Part of me wants EVERYONE to know about my experience(s) there but my blog might not be the best forum to get it all out. So, that chapter of my life is closed and I feel very healthy and happy about it. I am an honest, honest believer of everything happening for a reason both good and bad. So, I'll break it down for ya; I worked for the magazine, I met my work bff Jaimi, she introduced me to yoga, I started going and became great friends with the head instructor and owners, and they asked me to manage their ever growing studio and help them open their second location. So, DUH, tomorrow I'm starting a new job! I'm stoked about tomorrow and I know this is going a great experience and the beginning of a frizzy fresh feroshe start to the new year.

Another awesome thing that happened today, my fantastic husband and I bought a brand spankin' new Vespa!! So excited, so excited, so excited. Love it, love it, love it. We are doing our part to reduce our footprint on Mother Earth while looking totally sweet. I plan on tootin' my scooter to and fro the yoga studio. Check out the vid from you tube.

Also, go on over to Uncle Urb's site to hear his explanation of the joy of being a Vespa owner.
http://urbncowboy.com

P.S. A big shout out to former co workers and fellow blog readers Bailie and Nini! I love you peeps and presidents club 4 life boyeeeeee!!

Amen and amen,
Alison

Art with Heart/I heart Alexis Bittar

2008-02-03T13:19:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog,

I think I have found my NEWEST obsession and it's called bidding on stuff at auctions. Why? Because, sometimes it's just fun to buy shit. Last night Aaron and I put on the glitz and went to a benefit for domestic violence and it was called Art with Heart. They had a plethora of art up for auction and the evening was split into two parts, the silent auction and then the live auction. Let me be honest here, the only art I have ever owned are those posters they sold at the big poster sale before classes started at Furman and I don't think those necessarily count. Suffice it say that I am honing my skills at picking out beeeeautiful art. I'm always a little timid at telling Aaron what I like because I'm afraid he won't like it and then he'll make fun of me because of my sucky picking out art skills. But, last night everything I pointed out he said he liked too so I know I'm getting better at this whole liking art thing.

Another thing I found out last night was that Aaron doesn't mind spending money on art! Who knew? Usually the husby doesn't really spend money on things for himself, he leaves that up to me but last night I saw a little gleam in his eye when he saw some art he liked. He bid on stuff at the silent auction and also bid on things at the live auction, he didn't win anything but it was fun to watch him get excited over the possibility of taking home something. I won something though!! Maddi's Gallery on East Boulevard donated an Alexis Bittar necklace and no one bid on it during the whole silent auction so in the last 5 minutes I swooped in for the kill! I won, it was quite the glorious feeling. I'm wearing my necklace now and it makes me feel precious.

Alexis Bittar hails from NYC and you should check out his stuff because it is cool and affordable. I'm already on the hunt for my second piece. For all things Alexis click here

I'm diggin' this bracelet...and Valentine's Day is riiiight around the corner.

xoxo,
Alison

The day I have been waiting for!!!

2008-01-30T18:43:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog,

Alright, first things first, that girl in the bubble is NOT me. I wish it was because her legs are the fierceness and I would like for mine to trim down a little bit but I'm not complaining about what I've got. But seriously, doesn't that girl look like me? The hair and everything, Aaron found that pic on the internet while he was searching for God knows what but whatever, I like it and it made for good blog fodder.

So. Before I delve into the topic of tonight's blog let me give you a little background on me and my family. We all border on being OBSESSED with things. Par example, my mom and dad will only drive Volvo's. My dad CLAIMS he'll get a Hybrid one day soon but I don't believe it. He likes that Swedish engineering too much and I can't say I blame him, cause I like what I like too. My parents don't really like any Republicans (if you're a Republican reading this blog and you're like, "Hey, Al's parents are nice to me, what's up with that?" Well they might just tolerate you but they disagree with your core values and really, that's no good.) I'm obsessed with yoga right now, Eddie Vedder will always be a demi-god and I would do anything short of dancing on a pole for a lifetime supply of Christian Louboutin's. And, to be COMPLETELY honest, I might even dance on a pole. It might be kind of fun. Who knows?

So, let us rewind back to 1987 and guess what I was obsessed with then? NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK. I was the uber-fan. I went to Claire's on the daily to get those over sized buttons that I could pin on my back pack and I practiced writing out "Alison McIntyre" in the margins of my college ruled notebook paper. (I was so advanced in the 3rd grade I could totally use the college ruled instead of wide ruled.) I would say little prayers to God that sounded a little something like this,

"Dear God, hey what's up? You know God, I'm kind of a nerd down here with these big glasses and I'm kind of chunky. You know what would be so cool? Is if I met Joey McIntyre!!! Can you please make that happen? I'm really good in Sunday School and I'm already eagerly anticipating being an acolyte, I can't wait to light those candles. Okay, good night. Oh yeah, bless my mom, dad and annoying Michael too. Amen."

Needless to say, I went to two NKOTB concerts and never met my Joey. And then I grew up and so did the fab five and then they broke up and blah blah blah.

Well. What I had heard was, they are making a comeback and getting the band back together!!!! YESSSSSSS!!!!!! If they come anywhere near Charlotte, then I am there. Seriously, can't wait. Check out the link and tell me what you think. click here

In the meantime, enjoy this little ditty I found on youtube and yes, I remembered all the words and emphatically sang along.

xoxo,
Alison

14:59

2008-01-27T13:50:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog,

Have I told you about my 15 minutes of fame? I did an ad for World AIDS Day and it's hittin' the internet.

Denmark people get the word out. The objective of this air bubble is to make society think about the prejudice toward people affected with AIDS and social isolation being one of the worst effects of getting this contagious disease.

Someone hire me again, this was fun!

xoxo,
Alison

yoga practice. not yoga perfect.

2008-01-22T18:02:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog,

I think we all know that I love me some yoga for several reasons; it is a mental and physical exercise, you are in competition only with yourself on the mat, it detoxes all the nasty stuff out of your body, it reduces stress which in essence got rid of my hand ecxema which no dermatologist could ever seem to do and it makes me skinny. (side note, who in the heck has ecxema when they're 27 years old? Don't only kids have that?? A big thank you to yoga for helping mine clear up because that shizzle is nasty for reals!!)

So, this is my thought process as I am preparing for my 90 minutes of pure sweat, breathing, accelerated heartbeats and let's be honest, mild cursing at the instructor for making us do a million chatarangas.

Mind you the following is what goes through my head while I'm preparing for yooooooggggaaaaaa.

Alison to self: "Ahhhh, I'm so glad I came to yoga tonight. I'm going to feel so awesome when I leave. I'm going to be all zen and in tune with what REALLY matters and I'm totally going to have a 6 pack by summer. Just remember Alison, when it gets too hard just remember to keep breathing and focus. Keep your eyes on the prize girlfriend. Killer abs, clear brain and a firm butt. I love yoga, la la la la la.

Wait a minute. What? Who brings a Chanel bag to the yoga studio? Is that real? Yep, that's real. Seriously woman, can't you lock that up in the car instead of making the rest of the fellow yogis jealous? And, who wears Van Cleef & Arpel earrings to practice hot, sweaty yoga in? I hate you. Oh, no one else is looking at that women. No one else cares. Only me."

Clearly, I need a lot more time on the mat.

xoxo,
Alison

The one, the only, the Fabulous Las Vegas

2008-01-17T22:28:00.000-05:00

Dear blog,

I'm sorry for my absence, Vegas just left me feeling exhausted. After two days of being back in the land of normalcy (is that a good or a bad thing? Hmmm) I finally am starting to feel back to normal and up to writing a blog. I mean, it's not like I went bat shit crazy while I was out there, it's just exhausting being there because you are going and going and going like the dang energizer bunny. All in all, we had a great time and I would even venture to say that I would go back again. That's saying a lot coming from someone whose attitude is often 'been there done that and let's go somewhere else.' I would stay in the Luxor again. The only thing I would change is taking much more comfortable shoes. Seriously ladies, don't even try to look cute while you're out there because chances are you're going to look 100% better than the people out there just by wearing your old duds. Fo' realz. Most of the ladies I saw out there were strug a lug a ding dong. In laymens terms that means FUGLY. In laymens laymens terms that means they were just not cute.

So, here is a list of the top 10 things I saw in Vegas.

10. Slot machines. I mean, duh. But, I had never played on a slot machine before and I had fun!! I even doubled my money on my very first try. And when I say doubled my money I mean doubled my $1 to $2. Sweet!!

9. Amnesia. That was the name of the pilot Aaron and I got paid to watch. We both got $15 dollars to watch a dumb tv show and answer some questions. I don't know about you but I think that's a good deal. Count me in for the next one.

8. Christian Louboutins. While we were in the Bellagio, Aaron kept pointing out all of the women wearing those "red backed shoes that you talk about all the time." I was proud of him for listening to me. I guess it doesn't help when I pull up CL on neimanmarcus.com and leave it open on his laptop. Oh well. He doesn't take the hint.

7. Uggs. That trend has not left Las Vegas just about every female had them on there and to be frank, I was a little jealous because they looked really comfortable and the shoes I was wearing, were....not. End of story.

6. Greasy food. There is not much healthy food in Vegas because...well...I don't know why? I ate so much crap and felt AWFUL by the end of the weekend. But it was worth it because let's face it, greasy food is delish.

5. Timeshares. Aaron and I went to go see a timeshare in order to get cheap tickets to a show. It was worth it! We got our tickets to Cirque du Soleil for only $10 a piece. I think that was a steal considering they retail for like $70. It was fun pretending like we would actually consider buying a piece of Las Vegas Boulevard and then at the end of spiel being like, "we just got married we don't even own a house! why in the hell would we buy a timeshare? are you crackers crazy?? can we have our tickets please?"

4. Douchebags. OMG y'all there are a ton of guys out there who think they are the shizzzzzzz. You can point them out with their spiky gelled hair, gold necklaces, big lapeled shirts, seven jeans and white square toed shoes. Stay away from these guys. Ick.

3. Alcohol and cigarettes. Even if you only put a nickel in the slot machine a nice woman will come around and say "drinks? cocktails?" and you can say, "why yes, i think i will have a cocktail." And they are free! But be sure you tip the woman or she won't come back. And, you can smoke pretty much anywhere which is kind of gross.

2. Acrylic Nails. We all know how I feel about acrylic nails. End of story.

1. BOOBIES!!! Boobies are the #1 thing I saw in Vegas. I saw fake boobies, real boobies, small boobies, big boobies, sagging boobies, barely covered up boobies, jiggly boobies. All kinds of boobies. Writing boobies that many times is starting to sound funny. Boobies, boobies, boobies.

All in all, that was our trip to Vegas.

xoxo,
Alison

Las Vegas Baby

2008-01-14T20:29:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog,

The team here at BellaFrench is writing in from Vegas. No need to worry, we're still alive and kickin'. We haven't seen any celebs but have had a great time and just gambled our little hearts away, and by that I mean we spent about $10 on the .05 slots and when that didn't win us anything we said screw this and left the casinos.

A more detailed report to come later.

xoxo,
Alison

Ka-Razy?!?

2008-01-08T18:10:00.001-05:00

Dear Blog,

My first solid week of 2008 has been boooooooring. It's going by impossibly slow but I have a ton to do before Ron and I go to Vegas. Oh, what's that? True!!! We're going to Las Vegas this weekend!!!! Can you tell by the multiple exclamations that I'm a teensy bit excited? That was my Christmas present from the hus. In preparation for my trip I've been totally UN-FUN because I have to ration out my fun and I want to have lots of fun in Vegas. Does that sound weird? It is. I've been saving up all sorts of laughs, smiles and jokes for this weekend. So, if in the future, you see me around town and I'm like the most boring person you've ever met just realize I'm most likely about to do something fun and so I'm saving my fun energy for THAT instead of whatever I happen to be doing at the present moment.

Anywhoodle, even though Spurgeon and I are in a fight he gave me an idea for this blog post. When I asked him what I should write about he said "Just make something up." Which got me to thinking.

Do you ever get in a confrontation with someone and you can't think of ANYTHING to say that is smart, witty, and cunning to SAVE YOUR LIFE? And then afterwards once the scene has run through your head only 810,000 times you finally come up with the perfect thing to say? Why does that ALWAYS happen?

So, here's where the title of the blog comes in. You tell me if you think I'm CRAZY. I often think up confrontational scenes in my head that are purely fictional just so I can have the last word. Here is the latest. On Sunday Aaron and I are going to meet some of our friends for lunch. As I'm getting ready and doing my hair, I realize it is going to be a terrible hair day.
IN MY HEAD, the following confrontation ensues.

Scene;

Alison and Ron enter restaurant and find their friends. They sit. Ron orders a beer and Alison orders water because she is off alcohol for the moment. They are laughing and enjoying some lovely eats on a lovely day. All of a sudden, Alison overhears the following;

"Ummm, that girls hair is the Posh Spice gone WRONG"

Alison promptly replies with a sneer, "Excuse me, this is the Bitch Spice gone RIGHT."

Rude redneck girl promptly turns white with fear from Alison's prompt response and cowers in her booth.

Seriously!?!!!! That kind of stuff goes through my head all the time. ALL THE TIME. It's like if I don't have real life drama then I make up drama.

So. You be the judge? Am I crazy?

P.S. If you have any recommendations on what to do in Vegas please write in.

xoxo,
Alison a.k.a Bitch Spice

L.O.V.E

2008-01-03T20:09:00.000-05:00

Aaron and Alison New Years Eve 2004

Good Evening Blog,

I don't usually write about love because, well, I don't really find myself to be an expert on the topic. As my dad lovingly, jokingly and honestly pointed out during our toast at the wedding, I've had a grand total of two boyfriends before I met and married Aaron. And since we're on an honesty streak here, it was kiiiiiiiind of a stretch to call them boyfriends. But, I don't really care now and I didn't really care then either.

The reason I'm writing this post on loooooove is because lately I feel like so many of my friends and searching for it, and that search consumes their life, their conversations, their being and their focus. And I don't know about you blog reader but I don't think that's healthy. As I mentioned before, I'm not any kind of expert on love or relationships but what I am an expert on is self esteem and a healthy self image. I'm not sure where, or why, but somewhere along the line I was okay with being me. Not only being me, but being by myself. I never cared about my lack of boyfriend status, my grandmother cared, my parents might have wondered if I was a leeeeeeesbian, but me? Nope.

So, what I think I'm trying to get across here to all of my loyal readers, male and female alike, don't turn every acquaintance of the opposite sex (or same sex depending on the way you swing) into potential future spouse material. Concentrate on yourself, being happy, making friends, and who knows? You might meet somebody on the street who will turn out to be your main squeeze.

xoxo,
alison

Best of 2007!

2007-12-31T13:58:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog,

Well, here it is, the very last day of 2007. I really can't believe it. This time last year I was out skiing in Colorado with the realization that I had A LOT of shit to do to get ready for the wedding. Boy am I glad I don't have to worry about that EVER AGAIN. Can I say that emphatically enough? EVER AGAIN.

I compiled a list of my favorite things of the past year and I'm going to share them with you. Most of them are fashion related but read them anyway for some witty commentary from yours truly.

1. Shift dresses were the rage of 2007 and what's not to like? They fit and look great on everyone! You can wear them on your skinny and fat days and feel absolutely fab-o! I own hmmm...well I don't want to admit how many I own because the husby reads this blog and we don't need to give him any ideas about the depths of my closet.

2. Chanel glossimers. These little lip smackers of joy are so fun to wear because they are Chanel. If you, precious reader, are not a sucker for a name brand then keep reading. This gloss will stay on for hours on end and even when the shininess starts to wear off you will still have an inkling of glitter left on your lips for a nice shimmer. I hightly recommend and at $24, everyone can buy one!

3. Tory Burch Reva flats. Even though these flats are a bit of an investment, it's worth the extra penny. I have worn mine with juuuuuuust about everything I own and have gotten my moneys worth out of them. I've worn them so much the color is starting to wear off the shoes. I bought a neutral color (gold) so I can wear them whatever. If you're skeptical of gold, give it a second thought. You'll be surprised at how much they will go with. On a funny note, I wore them when we were in Seattle and Kris said he had never seen a white woman wear gold shoes. I own 3 PAIRS of gold shoes!! Hmmm...

4. OPI nail polish. I love the dark colored fingernail craze and I think I'm going to keep rocking them when it goes out of style. I think it just gives your hands personality. I've decided dark nails are going to be my 'thing', my trademark if you will. Everyone needs a trademark. That's mine. Regardless of the color, OPI is the only nail polish I would bother spending your hard earned money on. It's a good quality and will stay on longer than most and covers quite nicely.

5. Amy Winehouse. Even though she's a freaking psycho addict, I love her cd Back to Black. It is my favorite of this year, and that's saying a lot since my girl Britney Spears released Blackout and almost beat out Amy. (I kid, I kid) Seriously, Amy Winehouse is so original and I respect that. She's got a style all her own and she rocks it out. I hope her resolution in 2008 is to say nope to dope. I need some more Winehouse in my life.

6. Christian Louboutins. Sigh. I just love these shoes. I think I look at them everyday on Neiman Marcus. I don't own them because they are out of my price range. I have one pair that I got on a crazy sale, it was like Last Call to the MAX at Neiman Marcus. As a whole, I think Mr. Louboutin is a geeeeeenius and I would wear every single pair of his shoes if I could afford them. If you are a shoe-a-holic like me, check them out and you can drool over them and then we can talk about how much we like them together! It'll be great!

That's all for now my friends! I hope everyone has a great New Year's Eve and I look forward to blogging for you in 2008!

xoxo,
alison

Whew! That was a close one.

2007-12-29T13:51:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog,

How do you like the new look? Everyone needs a makeover for the new year and I thought the blog needed one as well. Special thanks to the creative director, Mr. Aaron Shurts, for the redesign of the site. Also, in blog news, you can now just type in www.bellafrench.com and it will bring you to this site. How is that for O-FFICIAL? I'm thinking tee shirts will be just around the corner as well. Maybe a male version and a female version. I'll get the creative director on that pronto.

Annnnnnnnnnywhoodle, the holidays were fun. My now 11 year old car made it to Cincy and back, I was a little worried about that one but I was so proud of the way she handled it like a champ. Cincinatti was effin' cold y'all. I'm not used to that. I mean, it made my bones chatter. Lucky for me, I had Bella with me to keep me warm. Literally, we snuggled the whole time we were there. I don't have much to report from our trip to Ohio and not much to report from our trip to SC. It was just Christmas, lots of food, presents and family time...and that's my blog about the holidays. Oh, we stayed with Aaron's aunt and uncle and his three cousins and I gave them all rapper names; Mikey J, Drew Diesel and Baby G. I taught them how to do the chest bump and tell their teachers "Shut up Shawty! You ain't the boss of me. I'll do my homework when I damn well feel like it! And guess what, that day ain't today. Shiiiiiiiiiiiit." I miss those boys. P.S. I'm free to babysit anytime!

So, I got to thinking. (No smart aleck comments, please) As I'm evaluating the past year and rehashing the events in my brain, I'm thinking you know, it's been a pretty good year. I got married, I found a job I really like, Bella is the bomb, I started this blog, I got some sweet, sweet additions to the wardrobe and accessories collection, made some new friends, ditched some friends that got on my nerves, saw some of my friends get married, sweet little Miles was born and started doing yoga. Now, while I was thinking about all of the positives in my life, I started thinking about the negatives. Believe it or not, I can only come up with one negative. (I'm not going to say what that negative is because I like to keep some things private.) So, I can only come up with one negative thing of '07 and I think I spend about 95% of my time thinking about that neg, or talking about that damn neg to anyone who will listen. Can we say UH-NNOYING?? So, while I have so many blessings in my life, why do I spend so much time focusing on the ONE negative? Hmmmm....good question. So, I think my resolution for the new year is to focus on how great my life is. I know that '08 is going to be a great year! Have I told you my philosophy on even numbered years being super great years? I haven't, oh well. That can wait 'til another blog.

Til then,

Who loves you? BellaFrench, natch. (Bella on right, French on left)
xoxo,
Alison

Random

2007-12-17T21:55:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog,

We just had the work Christmas party at my house and since we were having it at my house, I had like more than than the normal amount of glasses of wine to dseal with having the work party at my house and now my head is speinning a little bit. But who cares right? tis' christmas! everyone should have a few too many classes of wine at their house. what to the ev. the party was fine. i have the best husband in the world who dealt with 8 women, my whole office is women, how do we get awya with that you ask? because we're a privately held company who doesn't have to hire men if we dont want stinkin' men. we don't want men. but i thinmk it's easier towork with menm. i love men. sigh. so, back to the party. it was a potluck and everyone signed up to bring something. i volunteered for the meat dish. but then, aaron made the dish and he doesn't work with me. hmmm. does that make me a bad wife? hope not. cause i don't know how to be a good wife. they didn't teach that course at furman. i think some women are just naturally good wives. i'm not one.

merry christmas.

xoxo,
al

Passion for Flashin'

2007-12-12T19:46:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog,

I have a friend, we'll call him Hunter, who always has ghetto song lyrics as his status on Facebook and when I recognize the ghetto song lyric it always makes me laugh. So being that copying is the ultimate form of flattery, I decided I would copy HIM. Currently, my status on facebook is 'Alison is I have a passion for flashin' (ed. note, that is not a typo, for some stupid reason the beginning of a current status always has to be 'Alison is...' UHNNOYING) I chose this lyric as my status because I love flashy things and looking flashy and uh...getting attention.

BUT! The meaning of my status is twofold. Today everyone in the normally peppy office was in a crappy mood and I was like this negative energy has GOT to get out of here. So, I did what I had to do. I did a quick ohmmmm for peace and then I started flashing people. And you know, it was really fun. At first, I flashed our office manager who sits in the front of the office and she spit out her tea because she was laughing so hard. Then, I flashed our editor and she loved it. Then I just stood in the middle of the office and twirled around and showed everyone my Hanky Pankies. And you know what? Everyone was in a good mood after that. So, the lesson here is if you want to lighten the mood a little bit, just flash someone.

In order for this to be funny and not icky, remember to wear underwear. Don't pull a Britney.

xoxo,
Alison

A train, a ticket and a smile

2007-12-09T17:40:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog,

Saturday began as Saturdays often do, with coffee and little VH1. Whilst Aaron and I were pondering what to do with our day, I remembered we live pretty close to the brand spankin' new light rail and that it might be fun to take it for a whirl to Uptown. So, I suggested to Aaron we take the rail uptown for some lunch. I tend to stay away from Uptown because it is so hard to find parking and I hate paying $ to park my car in a garage. Annoying. Meanwhile, I'm getting ready and get a call from next door neighbor Leigh asking me if we have any taco seasoning...um...no, but do you want to ride the rail with us? After much, much, much pondering, and if you know Leigh this does not surprise, Leigh, Kyle, Miles, Aaron and myself are walking down the road en route to the rail. It was a very fun afternoon and YOU TOO can have as much fun as we did if you follow the tutorial below.

1. Start with a good attitude and remember to buy your ticket!! This is how you get on the train.

2. Aaron to me and Leigh, "Remember, always enter and exit the right side of the train. Also, let exiting passengers get off before you get on. That is the kind and polite thing to do. There is plenty of time for everyone to enter AND exit."

3. For safety reasons, hang onto the poles alongside the perimeter of the train or overhead as to maintain an upright position. We don't want your clumsy behind falling on other passengers.

4. Once exiting the train, stop, smile and pose. This look says, we just got off the Lynx Blue Line, naturally. What else would we be doing on a Saturday? If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us, as we are PRO-fessionals.

If you follow these 4 simple rules, you too can be a professional Lynx Blue Line rider! Where can the Light Rail take you?

xoxo,
Alison

And the envelope goes to.....

2007-12-06T22:35:00.000-05:00

NO ONE!!!

Dear Blog,

Man, I'll have to admit. I'm a liiiiiiiiiiiiittle bit disappointed in my readers this past week. Can't figure out who the big CELEB is in the pic below? I even posted a hint and still nothin'. So, the big celeb-rit-y who graced the magazine office with his presence was the one and only LARRY SPRINKLE!!!! Who is Larry Sprinkle? Only the BEST weatherman in Charlotte, NC. Seriously, if you don't watch the Sprink, (as I lovingly refer to him) then you need to tune into channel 6 in the morning while you're watching Matt, Meredith, Al and Anne on the Today Show. I usually catch him at 7:26 and 7:56 a.m talking about the days weather.

Soooooo, the reason why he came to our office is because one of my coworkers is in looooooove with him and has pics posted up of him on her desk. It borders on the line of stalker/obsessiveness. Seriously, look at the man and just feel the sex appeal radiating off of him, DUH! Who wouldn't be obsessed? I mean, when he came into our office I couldn't keep my eyes off his nice, tight, little bum.

Anywhoodle, I'm thinking of making a BellaFrench teeshirt for my readers. I'm stealing this idea from my friend Paul of dport7 fame. Aaron and I still wear our tee shirts btw. Any suggestions of what would go on said tee shirt? Obvy, the web address, so get creative!!

xoxo,
Alison

G.L.A.M.O.R.O.U.S.

2007-11-29T10:18:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog,

Can't you just hear the refrain of Fergie's song, "we flyin' first classssssss, up in the sky. sippin' champagne...." I normally don't meet celebrities on a daily basis but yesterday I met a local Charlotte celeb and I snuggled up to him and now we are oh.so.tight. We are not only on a first name basis but are on a nickname basis. Yesss......! If any local Charlotteans can name what local celeb I am snuggled up to in this pic, you will get a super fresh Bella French prize tbd.

P.S. For my fashion conscience readers, that dress is winter white.

xoxo,
Alison

Turkeys, Trees, Tigers, Roosters and Rednecks!

2007-11-22T22:15:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog,

Man! With a title like that how could YOU NOT read this blog? Those five nouns above describe the past 4 days of my life chronologically and also using only the letters "t" and "r". Who went to Furman around here? Here's how it all went down. Thursday was Thanksgiving, duh, and I don't know about you but I'm tired of reading about how thankful we all should be and blah blah blah. I'm not going to say we shouldn't take this day and reflect about our blessings, I'm going to say it's a little sad that we have to use a day of 5,000 calories to realize that. I know, I know, bah humbug. All I'm saying is, everyone I know is blessed. So, realize it damnit. Myself included on this rant.

C'mon, you know you feel like this when you've spent all day eating and hanging out with the fam.

On Friday, I did NOT go shopping. Even me, the girl who would spend everyday shopping, did not want to hit the stores. I fear for my life on Black Friday. Instead we went and got our Christmas tree! Have I ever mentioned that I'm married to Clark Griswold? As I type, he is outside of our house pounding away on nails and stringing up glorious lights. I also think there are some snowflake apparati outside but I am afraid to look. Trust me, there will be pics, so stay tuned.

Oh no you didn't! Oh yes we did! We dressed up Bella like Santa Clause. We do it for the kids!

Saturday we went to the Carolina/Clemson football game. You know how Aaron and I love football so much and both of us obsess about our fave teams and have fantasy football players and we just can't get enough, we just can't get enough. Okay, that's a mild exaageration, but going to a football game a year is pretty fun. I don't know how people go to more than one a year and I especially don't know how my dad goes to like a billion a year. There's just sooooo many people and they're all drunk and raucous and rude but occasionally you will find a diamond in the rough! I met up with my internet BFF Crist, does that sound weird? It's not. I met her boyfriend and saw old highschool friend Jennifer and old college pal Andrew. It was fun but my football quota has been fullfilled until 2008.

Thanks Mom for the warm jacket with the sweet shoulder pads!

Oh and this is funny. Since it was like 25 degrees last night Aaron had on his University of Washington sweatshirt and you should have seen the glares he was getting from the tiger and rooster fans. So, finally one of the guys who was sitting around us asked,

" 'Ey man, what's up with 'at 'er sweatshirt?"

Aaron: "Um...well, it's a, uh, University of Washington sweatshirt."

"Yeah but, you ain't in Washington sunn. You in South Carolina and this here's a big game. This is blood right 'ere."

Aaron: "OH, that. Well, I got on the wrong plane and ended up in South Carolina. I'm supposed to be at the UW game right now."

"Well. YOU SHORE MESSED UP RIGHT CHERE sunn. I mean that's a MIS take. Do you know what a rivalry is? 'Cuz this is a RI-VAL-RY."

Aaron: "No, we don't have rivalry in Washington. Um, who's playing right now? I haven't been paying attention."

The redneck then proceeded to spit his tobacco out on Aaron. It was funny!!

xoxo,
Alison

Happy Birthday Aaron!

2007-11-18T20:12:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog,

Yesterday was Aaron's birthday! Happy Bday Ron! Since he was lucky and his birthday fell on a Saturday we decided to have a small get together to celebrate! It was a heck of a crazy night especially since Leigh and Kyle brought their 3 month old, Miles. We all got down like James Brown, or, you know, had fun.

Since I am such a great cook and even better planner, I decided that I would plan out the menu and I would do this totally by myself. Aaron could just sit back, relax and enjoy the evening of friends celebrating his birth. Well, as luck would have it, Molly loves to cook! So, as soon as I stepped up to the kitchen to get down and dirty with our meal, Molly pretty much took my duty away from me (oh darn!) and I ended up chopping and measuring as she actually cooked. Probably because I looked like this.

And she looks like this. A total natural.

I love our friends and we all had a great time. The meal ended up fantastically and Aaron and I sat at the head of our dining room table, solidifying our entrance into 'adult world'.
We did have a tearful moment though during the party. No, it wasn't Aaron crying because he's as old as I am now. As I'm talking about my boy, Eddie Vedder, all of a sudden I hear, "I've met him."

EXCUSE? I literally scream and drop my fork. Our friend Julie whom I've known for over a year now has been holding out on me??? Yes. She has met Eddie Vedder. I am so overcome with emotion that I start crying. At the dinner table. With 6 of our friends sitting about. I couldn't talk and kind of started sputtering, laughing, crying. Aaron simply says, "Eddie Vedder is kind of her hero." I gather myself together but now kind of have a little bit of hate towards Julie. I kid. Not really.

Thanks to Crist for the awesome recipe! Everyone loved it and thanks to Kyle for the pics. Your camera is the bomb.com

Happy birthday Husband! I love you,
Al

Into the Wiiiiiillllldddd...Grrrrrr...

2007-11-12T23:04:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog,

Here we go again with another blogvertorial. Aaron and I like to keep the romance alive after our five (almost six!) months of being married by having date night. We have date night A LOT because we don't have that many friends to hang out with...or to keep the romance alive, whatev. Friday night we enjoyed a fine dinner at Cantina 1511, goat cheese, mushroom and spinach quesadillas make for a lively meal!, and then headed to our local theater to see the movie 'Into the Wild.' Now, before I begin my discourse about the movie I will start by saying how I learned of the movie. And if you know me, this will not surprise! Eddie Vedder did the whole soundtrack, say whaaaaaaaat? I know right, how did he know my birthday was coming up? Thanks for that Ed! So, being the Eddie Vedder/Pearl Jam stalker/fan that I am, I had to go out and buy the soundtrack, which really consisted of me sitting my behind on the couch and downloading it from iTunes and no wonder Americans are fat, but I digress.
The soundtrack is really good and I highly recommend it. So, naturally after I memorized the soundtrack, I wanted to see the movie and so begins our date night. Now, I would watch a movie that Eddie did the soundtrack for even if all of the movie consisted of was a donkey pooping in a field, but LUCKY FOR US the movie was a lot more interesting than that.

Some of you may have read the book that came out circa 1996 about a young Chris McCandless who gives up all worldly pleasures and headed off, well, Into the Wild. He comes from a well-off family that is full of dysfunction and decides to screw it all and head out of the heart of Alaska. He meets some interesting characters along the way and touches the lives of many. It is a great movie that is only made greater by Eddie Vedders greatness.

I give 4 thumbs up, cause I'm counting Aaron's thumbs as well.

xoxo,
Alison