the rest is still unwritten

did y'all SEE the hills finale last night? o. m. g. okay, i'll admit that i'm not as avid a hills fan as i once was for a number of different reasons. for instance, heidi's face was clearly attacked by cosmetic sugery, and honestly, it's a little difficult to look at for 30 whole minutes. and while we're discussing looks.. audrina. audrina the space cadet. what is up with those eyes?! justin bobby.. ew. spencer pratt.. EW. that beard should go. and sister stephanie looked like a hag last night. literally, like some sort of witch. and at her own brother's almost wedding! ruuude. and lauren.. lauren lauren lauren. where do i begin? lauren's really pretty. she's also really clingy, whiney, bratty, and annoying. no wonder she loses all of her friends. okay, that's rude to say, but i've never liked her. even on laguna beach, i was team kristin all the way. i thought i liked lo, but she ended up being like overly bitchy. there's a point where it gets to be too much, and she passed it a long time ago. the only person i like is whitney, even though she too is missing a few screws. at least she can dress! by the way, i miss jason wahler. bring him back, mtv. he's so freaking fine.

but i digress..

last night, lauren and heidi hugged and almost made up but not quite. how touching. and heidi almost made the biggest mistake of her life by eloping with spencer eventhough her mom asked her not to.. but not quite. dear old she-pratt stepped in, explained to spencer that heidi's family should be at the most important day of her life, spencer looked like a hero, and heidi cried. how touching. oh and justin bobby, who showers every other episode, gave audrina the flimsiest little ring for reasons that were almost shared with us.. but not quite. how touching!

all in all, two thumbs up. can't wait for next season! can't wait for more REALity!

not.

i want to forgive you, and i want to forget you,
shannon

have a cup

some things to (holiday) cheer about:

01. the cowboys beat the giants last night! as embarrassing as it is to admit this, i am quite the football fanatic this year. i get overly excited on sundays, especially if my bois are playing. yes, with an i. by the way, we're going all the way this year. i can feel it!

02. the weather tomorrow! for reasons unknown, it decided to be summer today. 60 degrees. sunshine. pretty windy. oh but tomorrow, it's not supposed to get above freezing, and they're saying rain/sleet/snow is very likely. keep your fingers crossed for us marylanders, please and thank you.

03. speaking of wintry weather, i went christmas shopping today! and i managed to only buy five items for myself. believe me when i tell you, that is a feat. however, a lot of the stuff i got for becca is stuff i will be borrowing and enjoying as well. you may call it selfish, but i call it budget-conscious. in case you forgot, we're in a recession.

04. speaking of this god awful recession, gas prices are way down. $1.85 in this area.

05. and speaking of gas prices.. okay, not really..

06. and last but not least, ade and i will be celebrating five whole months of pure bliss together in 7 days and our first christmas together in 10. it's all very exciting!

over and out,
shannon

young, wild, and reckless

or just risky? i was thinking about this today as i gobbled down 354bajillion calories in thanksgiving food. i'm not complaining though. anyway, back to the task at hand. risky vs. reckless. what's the diff? here's what i came up with:

eating fast food is risky. eating fast food every single day is reckless.

facebook pics are risky. halloween facebook pics in your barely-there costume are reckless.

driving without wearing your seatbelt is risky. speeding without wearing your seatbelt is reckless.

risky is saying, "i'm falling in love." reckless is saying, "i'm falling in love, and i don't care if my heart gets broken." those are terribly bitter words to eat.

debit cards are risky. credit cards are reckless.

risky is buying a shirt, wearing it, and trying to return it. reckless is buying a shirt, wearing it, spilling red wine down the front, and trying to return it.

hitting the snooze button once is risky. hitting it four or five times is reckless, and you're probably late by now.

risky is downing a few beers. reckless is downing a few jager bombs.

saying "i love you" to your new boyfriend is risky. saying "i love you" to your new boyfriend after you've had a few drinks is reckless.

risky is having a song as your ringtone. reckless is having "i kissed a girl" as your ringtone.

a leopard-print bra is risky. a leopard-print bra under a white blouse is reckless.

relationships are risky. open relationships are reckless.

sex before marriage is risky. sex before love is reckless.

flirting with a random cute guy at a bar is risky. taking him home with you is reckless.

oh and by the way..

happy thanksgiving!

gobble gobble,
shannon

boob tube

this wednesday: oprah's favorite things
and oprah has gone and outdone herself by making it the thriftiest holiday yet! everything on her list costs nothing or close to nothing or something. i wasn't really paying attention. i think i was reminiscing on all of the past, luxurious episodes. i'm a little nervous for this episode because i am a firm believer that money buys lots of nice things that can make you happy. plus, i feel like recession or not, oprah can afford to splurge a little this christmas. stop being such a penny pincher, o!

tivo.

then.. sunday: britney spears: for the record
omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg. annoying? oh well. that's all i can say.

but on another more talkative and highly illegal note.. a copy of circus sort of mysteriously wound up in a friend of a friend's hands, and those friends have been sharing the wealth (it is the holidays afterall.) and making their fellow britney-obsessed friends quite happy. okay translation.. i have a burned copy. and i LOVE. it's so good, and i need for you all to go to youtube or something and listen to amnesia, unusual you, and kill the lights. those are my favorites. and kind of like oprah's favorite things in 2008, they were free! imagine that.

tivo.

and then.. next wednesday: victoria's secret fashion show
the show is always so cute. plus, i get ideas for the festive lingerie section of my christmas wishlist. what skivvies to display on my toned, tanned, and teeny tiny body. ha i wish.

tivo.

from one couch potato to another,
shannon

life's little lists

10 years ago (1998):
i was in the 6th grade. omg junior high! jade and i were besties. i was head over heels obsessed with bon bons lip gloss and nail polish. oh and lip smackers. duh, who wasn't? i think i was "going out with" travis at the time. my gosh, he was so dreamy. short, scrawny, bleach blonde hair, blue eyes. where is he now? i'm almost positive that at this very moment, he's chilling inside his apartment in texas, staring aimlessly at his bob marley-clad walls, completely baked, looking (and smelling) like a dirty hippie. mmm sexy can i? oh and i owned a pair of jncos that i loved very much. did i really just admit that to the blogger world? yes. yes, i think i just did.

5 things on today's to-do list :
-must.take.more.theraflu. and then pass out. i'm sick, just fyi. really? again? this never happens to me. twice in one season is a bit much, dontcha think?
-finish season 4 of friends.
-call my mother.
-drink my eight 8 oz. glasses of water.
-make my christmas wish list!

5 things to do if i were a millionaire :
-buy the sweetest ride pretty much ever: a silver range rover.
-i need winter clothes in my life reeeal bad. and closed-toe shoes.
-i think it's all over, but i would have bought tickets to madonna's sticky&sweet tour. front row. cherish the thought..
-travel allll over this beautiful world.
-share the wealth with my family. new houses and cars for everyone. i'd also buy brady his very own iphone since little six year olds need those and all.

5 places i have lived:
-mineral wells, texas
-shamrock, texas
-denton, texas
-san marcos, texas
-rockville, maryland

5 jobs i have had:
-i had a lemonade stand for a day when i was little.
-hostess at the banana boat in florida. (i guess technically i lived there too. for two summers.)
-hostess, counter girl, waitress, and bartender all at mamma lucia here in maryland.

5 random quirks:
-i cannot for the life of me suck on peppermints, cough drops, or any sort of hard candy all the way through. i'll suck on it for maybe 30 seconds, then i'll bite into it and annoyingly crunch on it until it's small enough to swallow.
-i have a playlist on my ipod for every single mood that i could possibly be in.
-right now, i'm verrry obsessed with polyvore.com. i made these:

-i've never had my new year's kiss.

-i think honey mustard makes everything taste better. everything.

kiss my sass

waitress rant..

about two weeks ago, four gentleman sporting their business casual came into the restaurant and found themselves seated in my section. lucky guys. i'm a helluva waitress!! haha anyway.. the night had been pretty crappy thus far so i was just ready to go home, and when i'm ready to go home, i give my tables a lot of tude and sarcasm. well these guys liked it! they told me i had a lot of sass and could be the next kathy griffin. i took it as a compliment because other than the fact that she's the epitome of a ginger and pretty darn fugly, she's really funny. i like funny. so me and my (business casual) boys got along nicely for the remainder of the night. they ordered a bottle of $50 red wine. charles krug, if you like specifics. they ordered appetizers. they ordered pricey entrees. they ordered coffee, cappuccinos, and dessert. i talked with them for quite some time while they were eating their tiramisu and found out that one of the dads was having issues with his 19-year-old daughter. it's her first year at college so she's doing what we all did.. ignoring his calls, texts, and facebook friend requests. after i finished giving facebook dad advice, another dad started asking me about myself. i mentioned that i was born and raised in texas, he asked what part, i told him, he noted that his wife is a southwest texas state alum (and a strutter!), and i said small world. isn't that so weird?! it's not like texas state is a huge school or anything. what are the odds of a marylander going to school at texas state? anyway, i'm getting off track. after they were all finished, i dropped off their check, thanked them for coming, and told them they just had to request me they next time they came in because they had been such joys.. and of course, i was sassy the whole way through my little shpill. my fine ass and sass worked it out for an hour and a half and got a 40% tip! that's dayum good y'all.

well, last night, facebook dad and one of the other dads returned. they requested to be seated in my section of course. i talked to them about the election. not sure why. i hate politics. i got an update on facebook dad's rebellious daughter. he took my advice, and it worked! it was pretty much the same thing all over again. just me and my (business casual) boys. again, they ordered wine, apps, steak and seafood entrees, dessert, coffee, the whole shebang. the check for the two of them came to $105.84. i ran their credit card, gave it back to them, and thanked them once again for everything. my tip? 14 effing dollars. what happened to 40%?! hell, what happened to the customary 18%?! ugh.. d-bags. y'all can kiss my sass.

thanks for lending your ears (or eyes),
shannon

10 things i love about you

01. those dimples
02. when you call me "shane"
03. the way my hand fits in yours
04. how excited you get when you a) watch the cowboys.. well, when they're winning, b) talk about your dog, macy, and c) hear one of our songs come on the radio
05. your kind heart and generosity
06. our deep convos on sushi sundays
07. winking wars!
08. your hugs and kisses
09. the coveted adrian side smirk
10. the way you smell, especially after a hard day's work

happy birthday ade!

siempre,
shannon

love in this club

i have some serious writer's block, but i do have a quick story to share with you guys.

last night, and by last night i mean saturday night, the boys and i went to union jack's in bethesda. the boys=adrian, gabe, patel, jed, viet, and viet's friends. and i=me obviously. the one and only girl. talk about a lot of testosterone. anyway, my goal for the night was to find all of the boys (adrian NOT included because he's mine all mine.) a fly mamacita to dance with. patel somehow managed to spot the one indian within the entire crowded bar so he made his move. ten minutes after leaving, i get a text from him that says "i got it look out." haha what does that even mean? ten minutes after the vague yet still somehow cocky text, he returns only to have discovered that his potential fly indian mamacita is actually his distant relative. yikes. that was a close one, patel. needless to say, none of the boys found their fly mamacita for the night. oh well.

better luck next time boys,
shannon

a song beneath the song.

Put your iPod on shuffle.
Put the first line of the song as the answer.

When you're done eating dinner you say:
i am heaven-sent, don't you dare forget.

When you look outside, and see a bunny you say:
get up get up get up get up, you've got to keep on moving.

When you get a new pet, you say:
now shawty don't chop me, shawty don't skrew me.

When you stub your toe you say:
say my name and his in the same breath.

After breaking up with your bf/gf, you say:
hey, what did you hear me say?

You stop in in middle of your first kiss because you just HAVE to say:
keep the noise low, she doesn't want to blow it.

When you ask someone out, you say:
sexy can i?

haaahaha (:

When your very last tooth falls out you try to say:
tryna decide, tryna decide if i really want to go out tonight.

When you wake up at 2 am and you see Barney looking at you, you say:
there's a first time for everything.

appropriate..

When you see a spider on the wall, you say:
just because i'm losing, it doesn't mean i'm lost, doesn't mean i'll stop, doesn't mean i will cross.

When the ball drops on new years, you say:
and i'm not going back into rags or in the hole.

When you see a person drinking and driving, you say:
your baby blues so full of wonder, your curly qs, your contagious smile.

When you notice you have no friends, you say:
are there oceans full of things you'll never see?

When someone tells you that they're gay, you say:
breathing from a hole in my lung, i had no one.

The hulk punches your head off, so you say:
what a shame we all became such fragile, broken things.

Hannah Montana sings for you, and you say:
i'm hot, you're cold, you go around like you know who i am but you don't.

Your MySpace gets deleted, so you say:
cryptic words meander, now there is a song beneath the song.

What do you think about the end of the world?:
hey, don't write yourself off yet.

When you mess up the alphabet, you say:
is this a sign of our demise?

When you're in the shower and notice there's no shampoo, you say:
hey now, don't make a sound.

My dog chews your foot off, and you say:
it's been so long that i haven't seen your face.

Lebron James loves to say:
i'm not a perfect person.

Your favorite quote is:
are you there, are you watching me as i lie here on this floor?

Your teacher gives you a detention so you say:
lately, i've been thinking about you, going crazy.

Your little brother cuts all your hair off while you're sleeping so you say:
come to decide that the things that i tried were in my life just to get high on.

The thing you say most in your sleep is:
she's going out to forget they were together.

fall back

in honor of daylight saving time..

fall back: this morning, i went to uncle nick's funeral. if you're not lauren or my sister, you have no idea who i'm talking about. uncle nick was our host at work. 66 years old. balding big time. hairy ears. reaked of coffee and smokes. told the best stories. he was everything you'd expect a man his age to be and more. he was so humorous. i don't think my little anecdotes would do him justice so i'm not even going to try. just know, that he became one of my best friends in the 9 1/2 months that i knew him. imagine that, a 21-year-old vivacious sex kitten (yes or no, y'all?) and this 66-year-old geezer forming a bond so strong. everyone loved uncle nick. everyone loves uncle nick. my god, that man is missed.

anyway, while i was in texas last weekend, apparently they had to take him to the ER one night because he was having difficulty breathing. i guess going through two packs of ciggies a day will do that to you. on top of his little affliction for mary jane. so yeah, they took him to the hospital only to find out that nick was in his early stages of emphysema. scary shit. and then they released him. retarded on the hospital's part, right? they released him so that he could go back to his house where he lived alone and had no one to watch over him. (his wife was murdered 7 years ago, just fyi.) so tuesday night, my first night back at work since my vacation, uncle nick doesn't come in to work at 5:00 like he normally would. no one really thought anything of it, just thought he was feeling under the weather. fast forward a bit to 8:00. i glance over at the hostess stand to see one of our older servers talking on the phone and crying. no, she was bawling. i hustle over to see what's up and make sure she's okay because she could barely even stand. she was obviously just told something horrible. she muttered two little words to me. it's nick. my god, those two little words were so big and powerful that they crushed me. my heart started pounding in my chest instantly. i felt weak. i felt heartbroken. i felt absolutely awful. but i couldn't cry. i tried, but the tears just refused to flow. i was in shock. complete and total shock. i wanted the feeling to go away so bad. i think i stood there, completely dumbfounded, for about 10 minutes. i wasn't sure what to do. i watched all of the servers huddle around, everyone sobbing. and there was little old robot me, my jaw was dropped but no tears. no emotion. i went to the bathroom to escape. as soon as i hit the door, i broke down. completely lost my shit. my mascara and eyeliner ran. my nose turned redder than rudolph. it wasn't one of my best looking moments, believe me. i didn't stop crying for the rest of my time at work. the rest of the week at work was equally as hard, especially since they had me cover nick's shifts and hostess.

so yeah, today was the viewing and funeral. adrian and i went together. he was my shoulder to cry on. uncle nick was greek so much of the service was spoken in greek and hard to follow. i just kept my eyes focused on the open casket. uncle nick looked chubbier than normal because apparently having a heart attack makes you puff up like a blow fish. i don't think he would have appreciated that much. uncle nick was kind of obsessed with looks. he was a hairdresser for years long ago. he even did elizabeth taylor's hair on a regular basis! at the end of the service, they had everyone walk up to the casket one by one to say their goodbyes. i held his hand, kissed his forehead, stroked his cheek. it sounds odd and creepy, but it was necessary. i had to give him a proper farewell. i found myself being surprisingly strong during the whole service. sure, i cried. but there was people wailing. so at least i didn't wail, right?

you're waiting for the fall back part, aren't ya? well here it is. uncle nick's death made me fall back on the memories of my grandma ruby. her death in 2001 was only one of many catastrophic events that year. my life was a disaster that year. this week reminded me of that. it was comforting actually, realizing that i'm in a much better place today. i have dear old uncle nick to thank for that. so here's to uncle nick! "i'm going to miss you, mon. i'm going to miss you." (there's a video on adrian's cellphone of me saying that to nick the night before i left for texas.)

don't forget to set your clocks back an hour y'all! oh the productive things you could do with that one extra hour. plant a tree, volunteer, organize your closet, call your mother, write a blog entry. but me, i think i'll just catch up on sleep. after all, this has been an exhausting week.

cherish every moment,
shannon

bubbly

things on my mind at the moment:

i wrote a blog entry last night, but after i read it a few times, i decided not to post it. i don't know, i just felt weird about it. it didn't sound like me at all. maybe one day i'll get the courage to post it. ehh probably not. maybe i'll let lauren read it when i return to texas (in exactly one week!!!). anyway.. moving on.

speaking of texas.. i leave in exactly 170 hours. 7 days and 2 hours. 6:59 pm (eastern standard time) if anyone is confused. you have no idea how necessary a vacay is right now. i feel like i've been working myself to the bone, and then there's school and trying to maintain something that resembles a social life. ugh it's all just so exhausting. plus, i just really miss my old stomping grounds. it's hard to believe that it's been 10 whole months since i left, yet at the same time, it feels like it's been 10 years. i can't really explain it.

what i miss most in texas: my friends, especially my bests lauren and ashli, what's left of my family there, which wich, college life (it's not the same living at home and going to community college.), texas country, sonic (the closest one is in virginia.), southern hospitality, ugh the list is endless. i miss it all so much.

but..

i love maryland. really i do. i said it out loud for the first time in a long time yesterday, and it felt good. it felt right. i feel like i've found some clarity and peace here. being near my sister, my best friend in the whole entire world, has helped a lot. i felt really lost and alone in texas, especially after my mom moved to florida. i was so unhappy. it's kind of a long story that i hate telling. it doesn't really matter anymore though. i'm better now and happy again!

on a lighter note, the number one most played song on my ipod is bubbly by colbie caillat. that isn't even my favorite song, but it blew my top three songs (i'll share those later.) out of the water in terms of its number of plays. verrry interesting. i'm curious to know what everyone else's top played song is?

alright, it's time for me to stop rambling. i'm going out for dinner and drinks (ohhh the perks of being 21!) in an hour so i really have to go get ready now.

xoxo,
shannon

more of this, less of that

thanks to lauren and shelby for inspiring me to make a list.

my life needs more:

pampering

exercise

indie music

adventure

forgiveness

inspiration

acceptance of my flaws

cute shoes

play time

meaning

use of my camera

hugs and kisses

drive, motivation, determination, and so on

clarity

vacations

religion

cold weather and winter clothes while we're at it

love

and less:

curse words

regret

worry and stress

my gosh, blemishes at the moment

work

hard liquor

negativity

slothiness

politics

tanning if i don't want wrinkles by the time i'm 25

procrastination

jealousy

catty gossipping

grudges

junk food

fear

my day was really really blah. i was exhausted this morning so i drank a freakish amount of coffee when i got to work and wound up with the shakes. i guess it goes without saying that i was still groggy as can be even after my caffeine binge because well, that would happen to me. i left work at 9:15, headed to my little faux tropical oasis, palm beach tan, and fake baked (i'm not ashamed.), and came home to be a computer nerd. i'm obsessed with blogspot. i can thank lauren and shelby for that too.

later gators,
shannon

finally

let's see, let's see. my day was not all that exciting, but i'll tell you aboout it anyway.

i took brady to the bus stop at 8:18. brady is my six-year-old nephew who just recently began kindergarten, lost his two bottom teeth, and sampled ice cream for the first time. he doesn't really like sweets; therefore, he is skinny and lucky. his favorite things include cars, especially mustangs, apple juice, transformers, and his aunt shanhan. she does like sweets; therefore, she is a lard ass. lately, brady feels more like my annoying (but still cute) little brother. i'm not sure why i chose to share that with you..

i went back to sleep for a few hours because in addition to a lard ass, i am a sloth.

i woke up at 10:48 and stared at powerpoints for my three online classes for a while. that was exciting, let me tell ya. took a quiz, signed out, and laid on my bed again. so now that makes me a slothy but educated lard ass.

okay, let's fast forward a little bit.

i got to work at 4:07. i was a little late as usual, but this has become customary; therefore, i don't get in trouble for it anymore. i thought i was waitressing tonight, but it turns out that poor little kristy overdosed on dayquil and tylenol (and probably midol too since aunt flow is visiting every woman at mamma lucia right now) today so she was feeling "a little loopy" and just needed to "nap it off" as she put it and couldn't work the counter. so they stuck me on carry out with andy, our manager with self-diagnosed adhd. he is always saying shit like, "HOW YOU DOIN!?" and "i like that! I LIKE THAT!" when he gets excited. it's entertaining and weird and embarrassing and i hope none of my future children turn out this way. so yeah, carry out. answer the phone, remind people that if they buy one pasta entree on a monday night, the second is $3.99, try not to screw up their order, bag it up, don't forget the salad and garlic bread because people will throw a hissy, and pray to the lord above that you get a buck or two out of the cheap clientele that likes to come to our restaurant. two eventful things happened at work: meghan made a stuffed crust pizza and covered herself in flour in the process (!!!) and some guy bitched and complained because there was a mysterious piece of plastic in his fettucini alfredo so he was boycotting mamma lucia and telling all of rockville, maryland to do so as well. dude. not cool.

after work, i went to burger king with adrian. it was the only thing open in the area, we were starrrvinggg, so we settled. actually, this bk had big screens and crap so it felt like we were at some fancy schmancy restaurant. like nobu! i enjoyed my plain grilled chicken sandwich and french fries, but then again, i was starving remember? the convo was good. we laughed a lot. my diet coke had just the right amount of carbonation. the only thing missing was honey mustard. it's just not a chicken sandwich without honey mustard.

i don't remember exactly what time i got home, but i know it was late. i checked facebook, myspace, and perez hilton, showered, then got to work on this because i promised lauren i would. it's now 4:44, and i have to be at work at 10:30 so i should probably call it a night.

so there's your play by play. i hope you enjoyed it as much as i did.

until next time,
shannon