2.29.2008

Wii want the Clemson Tiger!! Vote!!

NCAA Football '09 is coming to Wii. The cover of the game is going to be the college mascot that receives the most votes on the website below. So let's cast our vote and get our Tiger on the cover!!

Go to:
http://www.easports.com/ncaa09/
Click vote now
Click Atlantic Coast
and finally Click on our CLEMSON Tiger!!

2.28.2008

Sick

So I came down with the flu this week, and it has really been a pain. Fevers, chills, muscle aches, sore throat, coughing, etc. Bleh... So I've been worthless all week...I even had to miss ballet and I'm bummed about it.

Last weekend was fun. I haven't really felt well enough to really write in detail about it. It was pretty uneventful as far as good stories go. I had hair remorse Friday night for a while after Matt told me he liked blonde Christy better...the first thing he says to me when he sees me. But, my hair is ok. I'm not in love with it, but I do like it. It's different and I like having something different, but I'm still not crazy about the red that's shown up in it.

This weekend, assuming I'm well again, I'm taking it easy in Cola and scrubbing clean my house to get ready for the big St. Patty's weekend...and I've got to start packing for Vegas! Yay!

Ok, so please feel sorry for me as I sit on my ass, can't swallow, can't breathe out of my nose, and feel like I've been hit by a mack truck. And after I get well, I'm going to learn the dance in the video below.... looks like fun, eh? I'd be the coolest girl in the club...maybe I'll bust out some of those moves in Vegas...


2.21.2008

Red Hair?

So today was the day I got the toner done to my hair. It was weird getting this goo all over my head instead of highlights. It took about an hour, but they rinsed me and yes my hair was darker... a lot darker. I liked it though.

It's a solid looking color right now, but they didn't shampoo it. They said that over the next couple of days when I shampoo my hair, it will fade to the right color, and my highlights will show through. Right now it almost looks like a dark, auburn red. It's weird.

I am going to watch it over the next couple of days and make sure it fades to a brown. I don't think I like myself as a red head. I never wanted any red, but I guess blonde + brown = red? Time will tell... I might be in the salon again next week to keep trying to get brown.

Hopefully going back to blonde this summer won't be as tricky...

2.16.2008

2.15.2008

Brown hair and Valentine's Day

So I know a few of you have been emailing me and asking me about my newly dyed hair. Well, it's pretty cool so far. I went through with it. Thursday I went in to the salon, and had a 20 minute discussion with my hairdresser about what I needed to do to go brunette (or the shade of brunette I wanted). Basically, because I am a natural blonde (some of you have doubted, but yes, it's true) I can only go darker in two steps. I have always gotten highlights to my blonde hair, and recently some low lights. But this isn't an all over color, so my natural blonde is still pretty heavily prevelant in my hair. Because I have natural blonde, it doesn't always absorb the darker dye the way it's supposed to. I couldn't do an all over coloring of brown, because it wouldn't look right and my blonde wouldn't absorb the color evenly. So we decided to do a really dark low light all over my head, with a few golden highlights around my bangs.

I really like the results. It's a little coppery looking, and I could go a shade or two darker. However, it's the 'different' I was looking for, and I like it so far. It's cool to see how my make up looks different now with darker hair, and my eyes seem to really stand out a lot more. It's a very caramel, almost reddish looking color. I also got a very minimal, inverted bob... it's stacked in the back and longer in the front. you can't tell unless you really look, but I really like it.

However, going dark when you're really a blonde is a two step process. I'm going back to the salon next week to get an all over toner to make my hair a shade or two darker, and to really make the color look 'richer' which will make it shinier and more natural looking. I'm ready for that. I like the color as is, but it's a little dull and ashey because my blonde is so prevalent still. I don't have pictures yet of this in between stage, but I think I'll take some before I get the toner to show a before, middle, and after picture side by side. So Thursday of this week will be the final 'brunette' version of me. I'm also thinking of asking my hairdresser to stack my hair a little bit more so the inverted bob is a little more obvious. We'll see.

And can someone comment and tell me what the proper amount for tipping hairdresser's is? I think I'm undertipping... but I really have no idea what amount I'm supposed to tip!


Valentine's Day!!
So Valentine's Day was awesome...of course. Bradley surprised me at work by showing up with roses. He tricked me and made me think he was still at work, but he was really downstairs at our main floor. He called me and made up some story about a delivery for me and that I needed to go down to the front desk. So of course I go down and he's standing there with roses waiting for me.

After work, I went home and showered and got ready. We exchanged gifts... I got him Turok, some X-box game that he was super excited about (he's been playing all night). He got me a dream book... I mentioned the other day that I have random weird dreams all the time and I always want to know what they mean. So he bought me a book that explains dreams... pretty cool. Next, he took me to Yamato, a Japanese steakhouse! We had a reservation... it was so good... drank some wine and had some good food. Afterwards... Bradley got me a Sonic Blast, because I always crave them and want them, and he never lets me have them. :) So he went and bought me one. Yay! So 1000 pounds later... we make it home and pass out.

We woke up late this morning and drove to Birmingham...where we are now.

2.12.2008

You HAVE to watch this...your grandkids' lives depend on it!

Please watch this video. It's almost 10 minutes long, but it really nails in the problems immigration causes.

If you're a supporter of McCain, pay close attention... I wish everyone had watched this before the primaries.

If you're a supporter of a Democratic candidate, then reconsider being a Republican voter this year..because not only would you allow this madness to continue with your vote, but you're taking health care away from your family to give it to people who don't even contribute to taxes.



P.S. At the time this video was made, 392 million americans were projected for the year 2050. Now, 438 million americans are projected for 2050.

2.10.2008

Ramblin on...

So another weekend has passed... I managed to save some money and be somewhat productive. I stayed in Cola this weekend, alone (no Bradley), for the first time in forever... Friday night I was able to finally hang out with Jess (it had been forever), and we represented old people in good 'ol five points where everyone was most likely underage. Her roommate Rebecca came out with us, so three blondes out on the town (I'm soon to be a former blonde!) and it was interesting as always...

We started out at Jake's, and it was early... 9 PM... and hardly anyone was there. We played some pool, took some shots... and then meandered (sp?) over to this place called the Pub? I've been there before, but it was super crowded and the band playing was one of those Dave Matthews wannabe jam bands... I just can't get into that shit...so, Jess and I left Becca with some guy, and we headed back to Jakes (but not after stopping at Subway to get Jess a sub). Somehow we figured out Becca was at Rotten Tomato (or whatever Knock Knocks is now called) and we went, dragged her out of that ghetto hole (ok, yes I've danced it up there a time or two..but let me pretend to be mature and old) and brought her back to Jake's...again, back at Jake's. Somehow time passed by super fast and before we knew it, the lights were on and we closed the bar out. Maybe we're not so old afterall. :) Check out the pictures...there weren't many, but Jess's hair is so cute!

Saturday I woke my hungover butt up and did yard work all day...by myself! It was scary going in my shed without Bradley's protection, but I did it! I held up my heavy leaf blower and blew leaves around in my front yard and back yard... got rid of probably about eight bags of leaves total...and there are still a shit ton of leaves in my back yard! Grr! Of course today the wind is up to 20mph, so I watched my nicely raked, leaf free yard get covered in leaves again. Oh well... the rest of Saturday I sprayed all the weeds in my front and back yard and refilled the bird feeder (gotta feed those birds). Then it was laziness and relaxing the rest of the night. :)

Sunday...today... much of the same laziness... went to Target and got Bradley an awesome Valentine's Day gift... he's going to be mad at me because we're not supposed to buy each other anything... lol.. but too bad! :) He's going to have the same reaction as he did when he opened his X-box: "I am really angry that you bought me this...yet I'm really happy that you did and will only complain that you spent money on it, but secretly I'm like a five year old on Christmas morning and I am glad you didn't listen to me." :) I'm so excited about Valentine's Day. Bradley has told me we have reservations somewhere at 8pm, and I have no idea where, or what he's got planned. He'll score some bonus points. :)

After V-day, it's a day off work and a drive to B'ham for the weekend... we're taking the X-box and showing the Seasons how to DDR. :)

So I just want to bitch quick about DHL. I'm expecting my laptop back from IBM via DHL, and of course I come home from work on Friday and get one of those slips "Sorry we missed you..." with a tracking number. So I called the 1-800 number because of course when the package will be delivered next... yes, I'll be at work, duh! People work package delivery companies! People work just like you and aren't always home! So, I call the 1 800 # just to find out that the stupid delivery man wrote down the wrong tracking number. So the customer service guy on the phone basically told me that because THEIR driver messed up the tracking number, I couldn't reschedule delivery or change the shipping address. So I asked if I could get a number for the local DHL hub in Columbia...so I could just go and pick it up myself... response? "Sorry ma'am, we don't have the numbers for our hubs, we can only send them a message." Me: "Um, ok... well can you send them a 'message' and tell them their driver gave me the wrong tracking number and I need to reschedule my package delivery time or figure this shiz out." DHL: "Well, I can send them a message to call you back, but they probably won't call you back because you're tracking number is wrong." WTF??!?! Me: "So...basically you're saying I'm out of luck because your driver wrote down the wrong tracking number, so now me, the customer, has all the responsibility for this and DHL can't do anything because of a stupid tracking number." DHL: "Yes ma'am." Me: "So, DHL doesn't have any way to track or identify shipments except for a random tracking number??" DHL: "Yes, I suggest you contact the shipper and talk to them." Infuriated I send DHL an email via their Web site, mentioned the tracking number was wrong because of their fault, and that I needed help getting my stupid package... I just wanted a DHL number to the local hub to go GET THE PACKAGE MYSELF... surprisingly I get a response about 12 hours later:
Dear Christy,

Thank you for contacting DHL.

I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused. Unfortunately, I am unable to locate your shipment based upon the tracking number as well as the other information provided. Please provide me with the senders and receivers name and both zip codes. Also, please provide me with the estimated ship date. I will do everything in my power to track this shipment without a valid tracking number. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused you.
Please advise if you need further assistance.
Thank you for using DHL.

ShaneDHL Express
Customer Service

My response:

Shane -

The incorrect tracking # written on my 'Sorry we missed you' slip is: 55937420336

The attempted delivery was on 2/8/08 at 10:28 AM route 109.

The delivery address is:
[took this out]

The sender is IBM, their service department I am guessing. I have no other information about the sender. The ship date was probably 2/7/08. I had sent my laptop to them via a prepaid DHL box (sent on 2/4/08) to be repaired, and they were sending it back.

There has got to be a way to get details on a shipment besides the tracking number. I am willing to go and pick it up myself if necessary, but I have no information on the local DHL office and customer service would not give me a phone number to call, or any other help for that matter.

Please help me locate the actual tracking number of my package and, if possible, a way to get my package or schedule a delivery time when I'll be available.

Thanks for your help, Christy

DHL's response:
Dear Christy,

Thank you for your reply.

I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused. Unfortunately, we could not provide any details regarding this shipment through the information which you have provided to us, so please contact the shipper regarding this package.

Please advise if you need further assistance.

Thank you for using DHL.

ShaneDHL Express
Customer Service

So basically... DHL is worthless and lazy and won't help me one bit. So I'm having to work from home for half a day tomorrow in hopes they'll deliver the package in the morning again. Don't worry, the driver will get a piece of my mind on leaving the wrong tracking number, as well as a message to take back to their 'hub'. I understand the tracking number being wrong and them not being able to help me reschedule, etc. because I couldn't be me...but if I can go to the local hub, and pull out my license, and prove that I'm the recipient and prove I live at the shipping address, then shouldn't they give me my package!! And, regardless, couldn't some random person walk up to my porch, take the 'Sorry we missed you' slip and call and reschedule delivery to their address using the tracking number?? Just doesn't seem foolproof to me... Grr!! Bad customer service.... After I get my package, I plan to post my story on my company's bulletin board, which reaches 5000 employees and suggest no one use DHL and to tell all their friends and family not to use DHL.

I'm just mad because when I lived in Clemson, I would miss UPS packages, and I could look up the local UPS hub on Yahoo Yellow Pages, go to the hub, and pick up my package... on my time.

Ok, I'm done venting....blah. I feel better already. :) This week should be pretty uneventful until V-day. I have bowling tomorrow night, I need to finish sewing my new pointe shoes before ballet on Wednesday, and I need to clean the kitchen...sigh.... Wenesday is going brunette day.... the votes were unaminous.

2.05.2008

Christy as a brunette? Should I pull a Cameron Diaz? a Mandy Moore?

So, over the past six months I've been experimenting by adding low lights to my usual highlights. Well, each time I go in to get my hair done, I always ask to go a little darker...just to see. Well I have a hair appointment next week, and I want something different... very different... I don't think I'm ready to do anything crazy with the cut yet... I actually think I'm growing my hair out (again). However, I've got this weird bug.... maybe I should go darker...as in almost brunette... I want to have all over dark low lights, and then a few of my highlights around my face. What do you think? Tell me if you think I should go for it... I thought it would be good for just a few months... I definitely want to go back to my normal blonde by Memorial Day, because during the summer the sun turns me blonde anyways, and if I was dark then, it would just fade it and turn it blonde anyways... so I'd like to go dark until May.... thoughts?

And because I'm a complete computer nerd... I've photoshopped myself with Cameron Diaz's hair, and then with Ashley Simpson's hair..... that's the color I'm thinking..... Well???