A Rose by Another Name Would Definitely Smell Much Sweeter...

So here is another random post....

The last few weeks at work have made me think long and hard about how my name sometimes drives me crazy! I always pick up the phone in the pharmacy and answer with the wonderful phrase, "Pharmacy, this is Alisia." I don't know why the nurses feel the need to repeat my name back to me, but they do! Anyway...the name they repeat back to me is never the name I just said! I get "Lawisha", "Militia" (my personal fave...as well as Kelsey and Pat's personal fave), and the newest "Aloe-wisha" (let's say that is the phonetic spelling of that name!). These names that they repeat back to me are oh so beautiful, don't you think?!?! When I get "Militia", I want to repeat back to the nurse, yes, my parents decided to name me after a small army made up of ordinary citizens rather than professional soldiers. They just thought the definition of militia summed up my personality so well that they just had pick that name for me! I also really enjoy when the nurses on the floor decide to call me "Pharmacy" rather than butcher my name. When I am called "Pharmacy," I just want to open up my lab coat and act like I have multiple shelves of medications in my coat, and say something like, "Which medication would you like now?!?" Kinda like a street vendor in New York who is selling watches in a brief case or coat!?!

My parents actually picked my name from the lovely TV show, "Little House on the Prairie." I totally forgot to mention this in my Sexy Minnesota post. I know all of my readers are thinking, how can one blogger include so much about "Little House on the Prairie," but it is quite easy! Ok...back to the topic on hand...I was named after "Alicia" on this wonderful TV program. Alicia, for those of you who don't remember, is Mr. Edwards' adopted daughter. A few weeks before my birth, my parents were watching the show and just decided that "Alicia" was such a beautiful name. Unfortunately it wasn't beautiful enough with a "c" and the strong "e" in "A-lee-sha" just would not do! My parents are yankees (start throwing the tomatoes at me), and so they came up with "A-lish-a." My parents swear to me that if I still lived in Ohio that people would be correctly pronouncing my name. They say that Texans just like the strong "e" too much. I'm not so sure about this. I strongly believe that they are fibbing to me as I think my Grandpa had a crazy time remembering how to say and spell my name. This lead him to call me "Ramono" due to the actress on the TV show, "One Day at a Time." My Grandpa called me this because Ann Ramono had red hair like me. Random....I know! Now you kinda understand where I get my crazy, random thoughts and ideas....

So this lead me to start thinking back to the third grade when we got to change our name for a day at school. I chose the wonderful name "Wendy." What do you think....should I legally change my name?!? I don't think anyone would butcher "Wendy"?!? What do you think?

Tuesday Field Trips

Well...today was my day off. I unfortunately don't get another one of those for about nine more days. It's my own fault, so don't feel too sorry for me.

Today was a great day! I met my friend Michelle at the Dallas Aquarium and then we went to eat lunch at the West End. To top the day off, we ended up at the Dallas Farmers Market. I have wanted to go there since I moved to Fort Worth. Actually, I have wanted to go there since I saw the Hidden Valley Ranch commercials that were filmed at the Dallas Farmers Market! The experience actually lived up to my expectations even though not all of the booths were open. Michelle and I ended up taking tomatoes, cucumbers, peaches, corn, green peppers, red peppers, onions, and squash home with us!! It made me want to start a garden in my non-existent backyard! It also made me think of a quote from my all time fave movie, Steel Magnolias. When Ouiser is asked why she grows tomatoes when she doesn't even eat them, she replies: "Because I'm an old, southern woman, and that's what we do. We wear funny hats and dig in the dirt." I'm ready for a funny hat and overalls and dig deep into the dirt!

Two other random thoughts for today:

• Happy 56th birthday Daddy!
• There is going to be a second movie to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I thoroughly enjoyed the first movie, and I am not even embarrassed to admit it!!

Well...I eventually would like to post about my Saturday and Sunday full of family fun, but my brain is not ready for this yet!

So Much to Blog....So Little Time....or Brain Power!?!?

Let me just start by saying that I had one incredible weekend!! It started with a BANG on Thursday night and rarely slowed down throughout the entire weekend!! I love weekends full of family fun!!

Thursday (July 17,2008):
Todd called me on Wednesday morning and invited me to go see Glenn Beck with him at the Majestic Theatre on Thursday night. I was excited that I could go and it turned out that my parents came down early so that they could go see the show too. Mr. Beck is currently on his Summer Political Tour and is just plain hilarious! For those of you who do not who who this man is, Glenn Beck is a conservative political commentator with a talk radio show on CNN. We got to see his tour program live, but they were also doing a national simulcast to 300 movie theaters across the nation. They joked that only two tickets were sold at the Chelsea theater in New York City!! Those tickets were actually bought by one of the camera man's family members. Governor Rick Perry was there with his family. He continues to have nice hair! Marcus Luttrell, the lone surviving member of Navy SEAL Team TEN, was also there. His team was on a mission to kill or capture a high ranking Taliban leader in Afghanistan when goat herders betrayed the team's location and were then attacked by about 200 enemy fighters. I was even more proud to be an American after going to this show. Some other random things I learned at the Glenn Beck Show:

• I love my mom's laugh!!
• There was actually a law passed in California that makes it illegal to dry a car with used underwear at a carwash!
• Tuberculosis is on the rise in California due to illegal "Mexican Bathtub Cheese." Who buys this stuff...made in a bathtub...nastiness?!?!
  
  

Friday (July 18, 2008):

I unfortunately had to go to work early on Friday morning while my parents were here. It was a good thing that they were here because the Saturn decided that it didn't want to start! I had a dead battery, so it was nice that my dad could take me to work! After work, I met my parents and our good friends, the Delich's, at the Steven Curtis Chapman Concert. It was a wonderful concert with just Steven Curtis Chapman alone with his guitar. He did a great job of sharing his raw emotions of the recent tragic death of his daughter, Maria. There was not a dry eye in the sanctuary when he sang "Dancing with Cinderella." SCC makes me think a lot about my years at A&M. I loved the Speechless album and listened to it a lot on road trips during my college years. SCC also had at least one song on each of the WOW albums during those years. I always got a WOW CD in my Easter basket...thanks Mom!! Fun memories! I really love the song "Be Still and Know."

I will have to save the adventures of Saturday and Sunday for a journal post tomorrow!! Gotta keep my audience on the edge of their seats...

The Orphan Wedding Dress....

I went to the dry cleaners today, so it reminded me of a great blog topic that I have been meaning to post! It also is in conjunction of the third wedding anniversary of my good friends Brad and Emily Gentry. Where does the time go?!?! Congrats!

Ok...back on topic. A few months ago when I dropped off some dry cleaning at Centre Cleaners on Hulen Street, the girl working behind the counter asked me my name and then proceeded to ask me if a wedding dress in a box behind the counter was mine?!?! I was a little shocked by the question, but then she told me that the person who left the dress had the last name of Baker, and that they have been trying to contact the owner for a little over three years. I couldn't really see what the dress looked like but I picture it to be just hideously ugly in my head. It makes me feel better that it is an ugly dress since it is now an orphan at the dry cleaner! I found a really fun picture of an ugly wedding dress but crazy Blogger isn't letting me upload pictures at the moment...ugh!!

So my crazy imagination made up several different scenarios as to why someone would leave a preserved wedding dress at a dry cleaner for OVER three years.

• The bride and groom were tragically killed on their honeymoon. Someone had taken the dress to get it preserved after their wedding, and they just could not face the dress again and therefore left it at the dry cleaners.
• The person who took the dress to the dry cleaners for the bride was tragically killed and the bride has been trying to track down her dress ever since. No luck obviously!
• The bride and groom split up right after the bride took the dress to the cleaners and she just can't face the dress (the most "Debbie Downer" scenario...oh wait...they are all pretty depressing!).

Ok...so my scenarios aren't that interesting. Anyone else have an idea of why this wedding dress is now an orphan? I hope the owner reads my blog and suddenly feels compelled to pick up their property! I asked the girl at Centre Cleaners about the usual policy of donating unclaimed clothing to Goodwill after 3 months, but she says that they can't do that with the wedding dress!

Enough Already About the Barnett Shale...

OK...I am first going to make a blanket statement that I am neither for nor against urban gas drilling. I also would like to make a blanket statement that I honestly don't know much about this whole Barnett Shale thing and the urban gas drilling business. Shame on me since I am a resident of Fort Worth!!

What I really want to discuss is why did Chesapeake Energy decide to pick Tommy Lee Jones as their spokesman to tell Fort Worth citizens to "get behind the Barnett Shale"!?!?

Here are a couple of reasons why I am probably annoyed by the fact that they picked Mr. Jones:

• I think of Tommy Lee as being a t-sip after he filmed the wonderful sleeper film "Man of the House." I don't even think that the movie references the university of the cheerleaders that Tommy Lee is protecting, but I assume that it was t.u. since that is where the movie was filmed. Actually, Tommy Lee went to Harvard where he roomed with my next point...
• Al Gore. Yes...every time I pass the billboard with Mr. Jones' picture I have to chuckle to myself thinking about what Al Gore must feel now that his college roomie is involved with this whole Barnett Shale campaign. Wonder how Tommy Lee's carbon footprint has changed with his association to the Barnett Shale?!? My carbon footprint has recently decreased now that I only use my private jet monthly instead of weekly! Sorry...back on topic!!
• What does Tommy Lee Jones know about the Barnett Shale?!?!....he is an ACTOR! I just feel that the marketing people for Chesapeake could have come up with something better! I think that lots of credibility was lost by picking an actor....but that's just me. Maybe their marketing people are the same people who chose the name for the store Dress Barn. I have always been perplexed why the marketing people of Dress Barn haven't suggested a name change!! This is my impersonation of someone who shops at Dress Barn...."Bubba, drive me down to the Barn so that I can buy a feed sack to cover my ginormous, square body." Makes me want to shop at the Barn!! I digress greatly again!
  

Ok...I am done with my rant for the evening!!

Sexy Minnesota Trip (See Reason for Title in Previous Post!)

Well here is a recap of my fun wedding weekend in Minnesota!!

Thursday (July 3, 2008):
I arrived pretty late in Minneapolis and headed to my hotel near the airport. It was crazy to see all of the foreign tour groups that were headed to the Mall of America. I later learned that there are a ton of charter planes from Japan that have one mission: MALL OF AMERICA!!


Friday (July 4, 2008):

Alisa and I headed out in our Chevy HHR for Walnut Grove!! Here is a pic of us before our crazy journey and our trusty rental car with Florida license plates!

We had a fun rural route to Walnut Grove where we saw lots of corn fields ("knee high by the Fourth of July") and cute farms. We passed a crazy large rabbit outside Wabasso, MN and then saw two random exercise bikes in the middle of a field. The rabbit kind of scared me with its big pink eyes. Do rabbits really have pink eyes?



When we arrived in Walnut Grove, we first headed to Nellie's Little Cafe on the Prairie. I ate broasted chicken (definitely a Minnesota/Wisconsin thing!) at Nellie's. We then headed to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum. It was tons of fun! I think we brought the age range down by about 30 years! I don't care...I am a true aficionado of Little House on the Prairie!! Here are some fun facts that I learned at the Museum:

• Charles Ingalls (Pa) helped pay for the Congregational Church bell by donating his last $3.00 which he had intended to use for new boots. The bell continues to call people to worship every Sunday morning!


• The family depicted as the Olesons on the show were really named the Owens.


• People in Minnesota cannot use a camera and have a great talent of taking pictures of Alisa and I that say "corrupt file." That is why we have no fun group pictures!

I also included a pic of Doc Baker because that is what a co-worker like to call me! It appears that the actor who played Doc Baker really enjoyed coming to visit the real Walnut Grove!



It was then time to head to the wedding at Lake Shetek State Park in Currie, MN. It was a perfect day (about 80 degrees) for an outside wedding! Julie and Jake had a beautiful ceremony and then we headed to the Key Largo Ballroom for the reception. The pictures of me at the reception are horrible. I look like I am scared! Maybe it was a combination of me thinking about the size of the mosquitoes in Minnesota as well as my exhaustion from all the fun at Walnut Grove. We got to see fireworks over the lake, but I unfortunately did not get to hear my two favorite July 4th songs: "I'm Proud to be an American" by Lee Greenwood and "Coming to America" by Neil Diamond." Maybe I'll download these wonderful songs to my iPod now!

I really roughed it after the wedding and stayed overnight in a cabin. No bathing for 24 hours was hard, but I accomplished it well!

Saturday (July 5, 2008):
We headed back to Minneapolis to stay downtown. My pictures of all the bridges in downtown did not turn out because it was too dark. I did get my picture taken with the Mary Tyler Moore statue (long live the TV Land Summer of 2008!). Alisa and I also randomly stumbled upon the headquarters for Al Franken for Senate. That scares me greatly people!




Sunday (July 6, 2008):
We arrived at the Mall of America when it opened at 11 AM. The number of stores was overwhelming, but we managed to see almost all of the stores. There is a Nickelodeon amusement park in the middle of the mall and a fun Lego Land exhibit.

We then had to head back to the airport!! I had great fun on my adventure to Minnesota! Some random things that I learned about Minnesota include:

• Women are TALL in Minnesota. I felt really short a lot of the time while I was there! I even saw a shop called Tall Girl!
• Mosquitoes are definitely the state bird of Minnesota!
• Women don't wear makeup in Minnesota.

Sexy Minnesota or Bust!!! (See Explanation Below Please!!)

Let me quickly explain the need for "sexy" before Minnesota in my post. I promise it is nothing dirty! My friend Jessica is the person who named my trip this weekend for me because she too has been to "sexy" Minnesota. She showed me the need of adding this adjective to my trip name since Minnesota isn't exactly the most glamorous destination for a summer vacation. I am SO pumped about heading there though. I will be attending the wedding of my good pharmacy school friend, Julie, in Currie, MN. She will be marrying Mr. Jake Lindberg at Lake Shetek State Park on July 4th! I will be staying with my friends Alisa and Tammy in a cabin located at this lovely state park. I get to wear shower shoes as I bathe this weekend!! This will definitely be a new experience for me!

I also just did some really great research about fun destinations around Lake Shetek. No...it's not the world's biggest twine ball....that's in Darwin, MN (too far north for our adventure!). The awesome destination is Walnut Grove, MN!! I can't believe that I didn't think about this earlier!! It is the home of Little House on the Prairie!! This is just too fun. I got to visit Mayberry in June and hopefully I can visit Walnut Grove in July!! I think I shall dub the summer of 2008 the TV Land Summer. Maybe I will head to Scranton in August to visit Dunder Mifflin.






Many more stories to come!! Keep your fingers crossed that my friend Alisa will stop at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum for me.