Happy Halloween

Hi my gorgeous readers! Well, we have moved into our new apartment and finally have our internet turned on. I LOVE living in Pensacola, it's so nice to be in civilization. I have a 5 minute drive to work now. Yippee!!! Let's see...a lot has happened since last time I posted. We went to Athens, GA a few weeks ago to see some friends...that was super fun. We shopped, had pizza, went to some bars, a good time had by all. Last weekend we moved to our new apartment and spent most of the weekend unpacking. Our new place is a lot smaller then our old one but we did manage to get all our furniture in here. It's a little cramped but not too bad. Lucy likes it. She is sleeping on her daddy's chest right now. Friday was our school halloween party and I was a zombie prom queen (see pic). I won the costume contest! I won a day off of work! WooHoo! Then after work my bosses and co-workers and I all went out drinking. This was a bad idea. My supervisor kept buying me cosmopolitans and before I knew it, it was 2am. I was so sick yesterday. We were supposed to go to a Halloween party last night but I was still sick. All in all, 36 hours of hangover. Amy will not be drinking for quite some time. I guess this isn't much of an update, but it's been business as usual here. Tomorrow I'm taking the girls to volunteer at a huge charity garage sale all day, so that will be pretty fun, Tuesday I have to go to court for one of my girls' placement hearing to see if she gets put in a mental health group home...and I think the rest of the week should be pretty normal. I'm taking the GRE on Saturday, wish me luck on that. I'm going to spend most of today studying and taking practice tests. Ew. What's goin on in Chicagoland? I miss you guys!

Love,
Amy

I need your HELP!

Hi guys,

Okay, we are having a Halloween Party here at school and we have a staff costume contest. I don't know what to be!!! I really want to win this contest. Please comment with ideas. It could be for just me, or a theme for up to three people. Please help!!!

Amy
xoxoxo

Teen Angst

Hi my fabulous readers!

So today my mom packed up my books for me (since we are moving to Pensacola in two weeks) and she left a few of my little notebook-y things out. I was looking though them and I found one that had a poem in it that I wrote in high school. Oh my god I must have really thought I was a Bronte sister or something. It screams...I am a miserable teenager and I want you to be miserable with me! I am suffering! What exactly was I suffering from? A bad hair day? Forgot to study for a test? Not sure. I can't really think of anything that would make me sad enough to write this poem. Do you want to read it? I thought about whether or not to post it, because while it is entertaining for ME to read something I wrote seven or eight years ago, I'm not so sure it will be entertaining for me when OTHER people read it and comment on it and tell me GOD AMY WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? YOU ARE SO OVER-DRAMATIC! Well please consider that I did write it as an emotional wreck of a teenager and I am sharing it with you for entertainment value only and please don't make fun. Thank you.

Here it is.

alone once again as usual,
i CHOOSE my solitude.
or does it choose me?
i can't be sure.
i'm the weird girl and
no one knows it but me.
how bizarre.
no one acts like me
and no one gets how i am,
what i do.
i'm a piece of the same puzzle
but i've been warped
by a spilled drink and
the heat of the sun glaring
through the kitchen window.
i don't quite fit.
the picture on the surface is right
but i'm the wrong shape-
maybe i'm not supposed to be stuck in their puzzle.

I found two other poems too. Maybe I will post them. We'll see.

Love Me.

Have you missed me?

Hi everyone,

Okay so I've been bad at posting lately, I know. I've been pretty busy with work and now my mom is here visiting! She was supposed to leave tomorrow but she's having so much fun she's gonna stay till Thursday! We've been all over the gulf coast this weekend. Friday we went to Destin to do a little outlet shopping, we saw the movie Two for the Money (it was really good!) and went to La Hacienda for a Mexican dinner. Yesterday was pretty chill, we just layed by the pool most of the day, then went grocery shopping and then mom and I cooked a delicious mushroom casserole FROM SCRATCH! For those of you who know my mom, you must be thinking...Sue cooked? something from scratch? Haha. Well I assure you she is a great cook. It turned out great. Tonight we are going to make mixed berry cobbler. It's like Betty Crocker lives here! Woo Hoo! Today was BEACH DAY. It was gorgeous. Sunny, a little breezy, hot, and the water was clear blue. Perfect beach day. Finally the grand finale of the weekend so far, we played neighborhood softball this afternoon. Mom hit the ball a bunch of times, got on base and SCORED! Yay for mom! She was a little worried about her skills but don't you worry, she did great. I had a couple good hits and caught one fly ball. I'm a little winded. Well folks, thats all for now, I promise more pics soon!

Love you!

Amy

Ronnie's Got Some New Specs

Hey dad, nice new glasses! Everyone check out Ronnie's new specs. He looks pretty tough in this shot huh? Not someone you'd want to mess with in a dark alley...They are bifocals, but you can't even tell! They are blended. Tres chic.

I think I'm gonna go get a new pair pretty soon, something trendy...I better ask my dad for some advice on style.

Tomorrow I'm taking 9 girls to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House, then Monday I am running a Mary Kay "pamper party" for the girls and then Tuesday I am taking 5 of them to the art museum to see an exhibit on the Harlem Renaissance. Do I have a cool job or what??? Only one week till my mom comes to visit. That will be so much fun. Anyone else want to come see us? You're always welcome!

Amy

Wedding of the Century

Well, well, well. It looks like I missed quite a party this weekend! Living in Florida has it's downfalls...like missing out on F U N weddings. Doesn't Linny look cute? Along with her are my friend Melissa (center) and Linny's friend Yvonne (left). Lin, this is yet another attempt to bribe people to look at my site by featuring pics of you. Will it work? I think we still only have about 4 readers. I told dad that he'd better get on the bandwagon here and start posting. He is Mr. Internet-mania...

Today was a lovely day at work, the girls were pretty well behaved, and I taught a class on nutrition. I am not really the best person to teach nutrition as my diet is far from healthy. Today I had brownies for breakfast, chinese food for lunch and a DQ blizzard for dinner. Hmm...Yeah I should definitely NOT be teaching nutrition classes. Then we all piled into a school van to get fingerprinted because there is the new law called the Jessica Lundsford Act (remember that little girl who was kidnapped in March?) and the law says everyone working in a school has to be fingerprinted by the Department of Education. I've already been fingerprinted by the Sheriff's Office but I guess that isn't good enough. So anyway we squished in this van like it was a clown car and drove downtown and when we got there...their computers were down and we couldn't get fingerprinted. So that was a really productive afternoon. We ended up going back to work with no ink on our fingers. Maybe tomorrow we will get luckier.

I'm about halfway through the process of applying to UCLA for graduate school. Did I mention that I want to go to UCLA for grad school? I found a program there called Masters of Social Welfare. I'd be concentration on Organizations, Community and Policy. My eventual goal would be to run my own non-profit organization. It looks like a great program...now I just have to ace my GRE's and write a very impressive personal and professional statement. Yikes! You might be thinking, why UCLA? Since when are you going to California? Well, nothing is for sure yet, of course, but there is a good chance Rob will get stationed in Southern California in the spring so UCLA would be a great location for me to be in school. Plus I LOVE THE PROGRAM and I have wanted to go to UCLA since I was 15. I've been rejected from there once, I'm not sure I can take it again. My application needs to ROCK.

Any ideas on why I think I'd make a good social worker???

Amers

FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY!!!

Hi guys,

So it's Friday and wow am I happy about that. This week has been...challenging...to say the least. The girls have been insane! I've had fights, runaways, murder threats, and 3 girls that want a new counselor because I apparantly suck. (those three girls actually changed their minds and decided to love me again after all...) Good thing I love these girls I guess. I went to the mall after work with my friend Amanda and saw two students there. They are everywhere. I can't get away. Haha. This week hasn't been too eventful. We went to the movies to see Lord of War with Nicholas Cage. It was way better then I expected, it's about drug running in Africa. I guess I am in an African movie kick lately. These kinds of movies really make ya think. Life in Africa is like a different world. Last night we went out for Mexican food which was delicious and watched the season premiere of CSI. I LOVE CSI. We watch the Vegas one which is the best. I am so addicted and have a big crush on Nick Stokes. It's on Thursday nights if you want to watch the new ones but re-runs are on Spike TV all the time. It's so so so so good.

How are you guys spending your Friday night? I'm going to spend my Friday night studying for the GRE. Graduate Record Examination. The bane of my existence. But...I want to go to grad school so I have to take the test. I can't believe how much math my brain has forgotten. I was once a calculus student. Now I can barely find the area of a circle. I have some serious learning to do between now and Novemeber 5th.

So have I told you we are moving into Pensacola next month? YES! We're moving out of Milton, away from the goat farm, away from the bible beaters, away from the barber shops that still cut a mean mullet...and to the land of civilization, a mere 5 minutes from my work, the mall, bars and restaurants and only 15 minutes from the beach! Hooray! I am so excited. We are moving from a 2 bedroom to a 1 bedroom so it will be a little smaller but worth it to be in the land of the living. This does mean though, that if you come to visit you will have to sleep on the couch, no more spare bed...

Okeedokee folks, I'm gonna take Lucy out for a walk and crack the books. I am such a nerd, I know. I've decided not to fight it. I'll just be proud of my nerdiness. Hope you're having more fun tonight than I am!

Love,

Amy

Here by Popular Demand...

Good morning lovely bloggers! Someone told me that people reading this blog do not just want to see pictures of me. They apparently want to see pictures of Linny as well. I thought about it and I guess it is probably true. I will from now on be posting pictures of Linny as an added bonus and additional reason to read my blog. We still don't have a lot of commenters on here and I thought maybe this will be a way to popularize the site. Who in their right mind wouldn't want to see pictures of of my sister? In this particular shot aboard the Zuiderdam, Linny is posing with a strange looking boy. Many of the crew and guests on the ship speculated that they were a married couple. My inside information tells me that this is not the case. Either way Linny, I wouldn't let Wesley see this. Hahaha. It doesn't take much to amuse me these days. Well readers, I am going to try to find myself some strep throat drugs. I love you, and I miss you, especially my sister.

Love,

Amy

Who's Got Gas???

Not THAT kind of gas. Don't be gross...
Fuel. For my car. My car that takes me 25 miles each morning to work and 25 miles home again. The gas crisis has pretty much passed here. There aren't 2 hour lines anymore and many stations do have at least regular unleaded in stock. That's all I ever use anyway. I had to wait for 45 minutes the other day which wasn't so much fun but at least I got filled up. I'm getting low again though and when I drove to work today it was looking like places were starting to run out. I feel pretty sure I'll find a place but it is really weird to have to worry about it. I've never been in a situation where gas wasn't plentiful. I think that says a lot about how we live in America. In 23 years this is the first time I've ever been worried about going without something that I need. It makes me feel grateful for what I have evern while I feel cranky for having to wait in gas lines for 45 minutes. We are a lot luckier than we realize.

Rob and Lucy Continue to be in Love...

Yes, I have resigned myself to the fact that Rob will never love me as much as he loves Lucy. He says she is the love of his life. She gets many hugs and kisses from him every day. I do not. What a lucky girl she is...

Today I had to go to the Family Expo at the Pensacola Fairgrounds. This was a particularly southern event. They had a stage and people were (willlingly and without alcohol) doing the Macarena, Electric Slide and other dances that will not be done at our wedding. I watched and laughed. I did not join in. My job was to sit at the PACE Center for Girls booth and give out pens and tell people what it is that we do. After I was done being PR manager for the day I went to the blood drive bus and gave blood. I was waiting to donate and watching them try to stick the lady before me and let's just say it was less than reassuring. They were jamming that needle around in her arm, she was crying, it was a mess. I was a little nervous but luckily I have big veins. She only had to jam the needle around a little bit till I started to bleed. She said I'm a quick bleed and it only took about 6 minutes to fill my bag. What can I say, I'm a bleeding overachiever.

Nothing too exciting has happened here this week. It's still hot, I'm still working a lot, and Rob is still waiting to find out where and when he is going next. I saw the movie The Constant Gardener yesterday and it was really good. It's about a British diplomat living in Africa. His wife gets killed in this big conspiracy. I highly recommend it.

I hope you are all having a good weekend. Post comments and let me know. I love you guys!

Ames

My kind of town..Chicago is...

Well, well. I had a really fun weekend in Chicago. It was so great to spend time with my girls and my family. I miss you guys a lot when I'm gone.

I spent Friday night with my sister, we had dinner at Beat Kitchen. That place was really good. I recommend it! We went there to eat and ended up sitting there yapping for about three hours! I love my sister. Linny said there were a lot of "thespians" there. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Not sure.

Saturday morning mom, Linny, Dana and I went to the Art Institute for the Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre exhibit. It was great! The only problem is that it made me want to go buy a plane ticket and go to Paris right this minute. (Unless Ed McMahon is about to come to my door with one of those huge cardboard checks, I don't really see that trip happening right now.) It was pretty cool to see all those paintings and pictures of places that I've actually been! Then Dana and I checked into our hotel, had a little nap and met the girls for our sixth annual girls' birthday dinner at Wildfire.

The food was really good and I had a delicious wild raspberry martini. But who is that weirdo in the back of our picture?? He is definitely not a GVC girl. It's like that Sesame Street song...one of these things is not like the other...One of these things just doesn't belong...Yeah buddy get your goofy self out of our picture! After dinner we set out for Rockit, Shenanigans and Mothers. A few drinks, a little dancing and some bad kareoke and before we knew it, it was 3:30am. We had so much fun! Girls' birthday dinner will be a tradition for the rest of our lives! Hooray!

Sunday was filled up with a BBQ at mom and dad's house. Ronnie took our orders and manned the grill like a pro. (Great baked beans dad. Delicious.) I'm still pretty dissapointed that Wesley didn't do a Ronnie impression though. I also feel a little bad that Jason had to blow out matches instead of candles. The effect isn't really the same. Better luck next year bro. Sunday night I made my first visit to Skores. Believe it or not, I had never been to a Norridge bar. It was a little weird to see so many Ridgewood people in one place but nice to talk to everyone I saw there.

I dragged myself off the couch at 5:45am and went to the airport. Thanks for the ride dad! Two plane rides later here I am back on the big red couch. Most of you know the big red couch. It is possibly the best couch ever made. Lucy and Rob were really happy to see me. The weekend went by so very fast and I feel like I barely even left Pensacola. But for those of you that I didn't get to see, don't worry, dry your eyes, I will be home for a week and a half at Christmas so there will be plenty of Amy to go around. Haha. Going home reminded me of how much I love Chicago and how much I love my friends and family. Life in Pensacola is good, I've made friends and I love my job, but...and this is corny beyond belief, I know...there really is no place like home.

Famous Amos

Welcome to class...My name is Ms. Amy

Good morning lovely blog readers! (All three of you.) Today our English teacher and substitute teacher are out sick. Guess who gets to teach today??? You guessed it. Me. Now let me tell you, I LOVE my girls here. I especially love them one at a time. But put 12 of them in one small classroom (now remember these girls are here becuase they have been expelled from public school) and you have quite a group. Luckily I had the brilliant idea of letting them all play Scrabble and bribed them by offering a prize to the winner. This should hopefully keep the girls from revolting and taping me to my chair or similar. One of the girls is singing about lighting up and passing a blunt, another just told her friend to "Go F%$& a Duck" and the rest keep asking to go to the bathroom. I love my job.

I'm dreaming of a white...wedding dress...

Okay so I've spent the last hour and a half looking at wedding dresses online. (No we have not set a date and I have no idea when we will set a date. Please feel free to call Rob and ask him. Haha.) This is the winner so far. Isn't it gorgeous??? I'd have to do some serious arm workouts to get 'em toned but wow I love this dress. What do you think?

P.S. Dresses are insanely expensive. Feel free to send donations. Haha.

Might as well face it...I'm addicted to Blog

I love to blog. I don't really have anything to say, but I'm on day 3 of being home from work and I'm tired of watching TV. I can't keep watching the pictures of the Katrina devastation without crying, then I put on "A baby story" (on TLC) and then the baby was born and that made me cry too! So instead I'll write a little more and show you a picture of Rob and I on my birthday at Bonefish (I had a great birthday! We went out for dinner and out to the beach and Rob sent me gorgeous flowers and got me the new Harry Potter AND our friends Tamara and Pascal had a party and got me a cake and really cool martini glass presents!). Isn't he a babe? (Back on track...talking about Rob here, not Harry Potter.) Oh, I asked him if he wanted to say anything to all of our blog readers (which, as I type this, is only me so far...) and he wanted me to tell you: Good, better, best, never let it rest till your good is your better and your better is your best. At the moment he is up at the base. His job right now is Flight Duty Officer for the Instructor Trainer Unit. He is in charge of getting all the instructor students logged in and out, assigning them planes, making the schedule and pretty much making things run. It's pretty cool and a lot of responsibility from what I can tell. He is still waiting to see where he is going next, but he won't be leaving for another few months. Well, I guess I'd better make the most of my last day off and either clean the apartment or go to the pool and get some sun. Thanks for reading.

Amy

Can't Sleep

I am not so smart. I slept till noon today and now it is almost 1:00am and I'm not even the least bit tired. I guess I'll go lay down and close my eyes and pretend to be tired and see if that works. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Thanks. Ames.

How is Lucy doing?...and other news

Hi guys,

If you didn't know, Lucy recently had surgery. (She lost her womanhood.) She has recovered just fine but she wasn't too happy for a while. She had to wear a cone around her head for a while so she wouldn't lick too much. She HATED it! She wouldn't walk forward with it on, only backwards. So...for about a week she moonwalked all over the apartment. She was pretty happy to be done with it. She's sleeping on the couch with me right now. For those of you that know Lucy, you know she used to be a terror. Since moving to P'cola she has been so good! I guess it's because Rob trained her. She listens to him all the time, he takes her out off the leash and she does whatever he tells her to. She still totally ignores me. Oh well.

In other news, we made it through Hurricane Katrina with no major problems. We lost power for a few hours and lost cable for about a day. Lots of wind and rain, 3 days off work, that's about it. I feel awful for the poor people of New Orleans. That city won't be the same for a long time. Thanks to everybody that called and worried about us. It's nice to be thought of.

Work is going well, I'm a counselor at the PACE Center for Girls. It's a private school for at-risk girls age 12-18. (www.pacecenter.org if anybody wants to know more about it) I love my job. The girls are crazy, fun, dramatic and exhausting but I'm never bored and I love it when something I say actually sinks in. Most of the girls have had pretty rough lives so far (poverty, addict parents, abuse, etc.) and this stuff has gotten in the way of their education. At PACE we help them deal with all their outside issues so that they can be successful in life. It's an uphill battle sometimes but it's really rewarding. Plus I work with a lot of really awesome people. I added a pic of my office for ya too. (Yes, I have my own office!)

Well I think that's all for now. Thanks for reading and if you want, post comments and let me know what's up with you. Love you!

Amy

Welcome to Ame on the Move!

Hi everyone! Well, I've decided that since I am one: bad at emailing everyone that cares about me and two: going over my minutes on my cell phone every month and therefore becoming very poor while Verizon is becoming very rich...having my own website would be a cool way to keep in touch with you guys and letting you in on life in sunny Florida. I hope you think this is a good idea too, since the whole point of this is for people to read it, and if everyone thinks it's dumb and no one reads it...well...then I guess I'll keep posting anyway in hopes that you'll come around. There is a way for you to post comments to me and I really hope you do. Bear with me on this because it is my first attempt at doing something technological. I'll try to post at least once a week so keep checking in on me! (Above pic is me in NYC over Memorial Day weekend. Note the hair...getting longer by the day!)