Guest VBlog from the Great Tipp

Stylish Handwriting

In light of Dana being in Vegas, I, EP, thought I would share a gambling story (since I've not been fortunate enough to have visited Vegas since I turned 21.)

Unfortunately, I only have been to the casinos ONCE in my life, and the night was an interesting one.

My friend A was in town for the weekend, and I was so excited to see her. She'd been in Houston all summer, and we had been planning her visit for a few weeks.

Right after she got into town, A and I headed to our favorite restaurant and bar -- The Chimes. After ordering an appetizer, we decided a celebratory pitcher was in order because she was back in town. Our favorite beer, Purple Haze, was one of the cheaper pitchers for $5, and we were ecstatic.

We drank the entire pitcher over our appetizer, dinner and dessert. It was incredible, and when we finished everything up, we decided to head back to my apartment.

We didn't know what we wanted to do for the evening, but we knew two things. First, we wanted to have a few more drinks (specifically our specialty, Sebastian.) And secondly, we wanted to hang out with our boys.

Back at my apartment, we prepared Sebastian. One packet of raspberry Crystal Light. One packet of lemonade Crystal light. A few cups of water and LOTS of vodka. The Crystal Light masks the vodka burn, and this drink? It's dangerous.

We poured our first drinks.

Sebastian was a great idea.

We poured our second drinks.

Oh, yes it was.

Somewhere around our third drinks, we decided to round up our boys and head out on the town. And once they arrived at my apartment, the decision was made that we would go to the casinos.

I threw on a dress -- a gorgeous dress I actually wore the night my boy and I started talking. I thought it'd make the evening more exciting. A did the same, and we were ready for whatever came our way.

Now, me being the glorious lightweight I am, I was just along for the ride. I was no part of the decision making process, and I sure wasn't going to be our driver. No. No. No.

A's boy drove, and we stopped at the ATM before heading downtown to our final destination. My boy had to enter my information into the machine, and he limited me to $20 for the evening. That choice saved my bank account.

Then we were off to the casino, looking fabulous with cash in hand.

The rest of the evening is a little fuzzy for me, to be completely honest.

We spent our time at the casino on the slot machine floor. I loved the lights. (Yes, I'm THAT drunk.) And pulling the lever? It was quite possibly my favorite thing EVER.

I spent my $20 in about 15 minutes, having lost every penny to the quarter slots. My boy had a $5, and we were able to play that a long time. I couldn't tell you how long we played because, well, I was a little out of it. But I was having fun. That's what mattered.

My boy speaks about it like I was the happiest I had ever been in my life. He tells me I was so joyful about everything, especially pulling the lever and watching the wheels on the machine spin. ... He gets a good laugh whenever we talk about it.

A and her boy were playing the slots, too, and they took home around $50.

We called it a night early.

A and her boy cashed in.

My boy and I made our way out, empty handed. I remember seeing some of his friends -- I couldn't tell you their names or anything -- but I met them that night. I'm sure they had a fantastic first impression of me.

My boy and I were dropped off at his apartment, and I turned in for the night.

I awoke hours later, my tummy feeling horrible. Sebastian did me in, and I was sick for the rest of the evening and into the morning. To this day, this is the only time I have been so miserable after an evening of fun, friends and drinks.

And, to make everything worse, I didn't even have anything to show for me having gone to the casino, unless you count my bank account, which was $20 poorer in the morning.

Here's to hoping Dana fares better -- physically and monetarily -- in Vegas!

Gorgeous Katelin....

Helloooooo all of Dana's fabulous readers! I'm Katelin from gorgeous footsteps in the sand... stepping in while Dana is off off and away.

On this fine Monday before Thanksgiving, which just so happens to be one of my little brothers 13th birthday, I thought I would share with you some of things I'm most thankful for about my brothers (my mom's jaw just dropped for sure, haha):

When I was living at home I could always count on one of my brothers to wake me up if I ever slept past my alarm.
If I ever want to see a cartoon or kiddie movie in theaters I have a guaranteed movie partner.
They think that the Sims 2 is a cool game and don't make fun of me for my dorkiness.
My youngest brother can be persuaded to wash my car for five dollars and I love him for it.
I can always count on one of my two brothers to tell me the truth about how my outfit is, haha. Not even kidding, on more than one occasion I've asked them how I looked before

going out and always with an honest response.
When asked "why are you so cute" my youngest brother would say "because I look like Katelin." Seriously it was priceless, he learned so well.

And I'm most thankful that although my little brothers drive me insane most of the time, still love me and will always be there for me.

Do you have siblings? Anything they do that you're thankful for?

Happy almost Thanksgiving everyone! :)

Painful Job Search

Hola, JustTalk Readers! It's me, Carmen from La Petite Belle, and I'm here to entertain you today while Dana is away in Vegas, baby!!!!If you read my blog (who am I kidding, right?) you would know that I just ended the longest and most painful job search that has ever existed in the history of mankind. I've had a job become unavailable right after I decided that job was my life's purpose, and of course bad days when I felt I simply could not go on. I also had days (ok, a day) when I decided to look at the positive side of being unemployed, telling myself that being unemployed means I can wait for the mailman to deliver my latest Victoria's Secret online purchase while everyone else sits in a cubicle doing boring paperwork.

Anyway, it is all over after I got the best ever job offer yesterday. After two nerve-wracking interviews and being one of 20 candidates, apparently they saw something in me (although I'm not quite sure what?). And now it's a thing of the past.So I want to share with you some tips.
Are you job searching? Good, now let's get started.

1) Don't be too picky.

In the beginning, I would walk into interviews like I was the CEO if a multi-million dollar company walking into a room of people who were there to convince me hire them. That obviously wasn't the case and I quickly learned my lesson. Have a humble attitude, which I lacked until very, very recently (ha-ha) and a desire to show the employer why you would be the best pick, and you've made an impression. Don't negotiate until after you receive an offer. Say "yes, yes and yes", and when you get the job, then you can say "yes, no, and maybe".

2) Don't get too excited.

We've all heard the "don't put all your eggs in one basket" or something like that. It's so true, because after being rejected the first time, I thought my world was ending. I felt useless, as I scrunched the regret letter I got in the mail, opened it back up again and wrote "I HATE YOU" all over it with a sharpie. If you have tons of options, you won't get devastated after one rejection. Or maybe I'm just a super-sensitive girl with obvious anger issues.

3) Don't send thank you cards to all employers after the interview.

Because now, I have no pretty stationary left. Although the job I got makes it totally worth it, and I'll probably be able to afford a new stationary set in the near future, seriously, what if I didn't get this job? I'd be unhappy, broke, and out of pretty stationary which has my name all pretty in cursive. So save your pretty stationary for the good jobs- the ones you really like. You wouldn't get out the fancy soap for when your sister comes over, would you?

And that is all. I hope you learn from my mistakes, and while you're home browsing for jobs on Monster, why don't you stop by my blog and say hola?

The Sweetest Addiction

Well, hello there. I'm Ashley, and I can usually be found writing over at my blog, Our Little Apartment. Dana holds a special place in my heart, because she was the first blogger to tag me for a meme…or maybe she gave me an award? I forget which it was, but I remember feeling a sense of belonging to this blogging community because of Dana and her faithful commitment to us bloggy friends. :) What a lovely lady she is, right?

So! While Dana is off enjoying Vegas, I'm here to ask you a question. Or maybe muse over a predicament. Or just confess something.

[In case any coworker were to find my blog (oh, please no!), I wouldn't be able to post about this over there.]

Most days at the office where I work are the same: Get to work, fire up the computer, attempt to make a to-do list, and alternate for hours between reading blogs, Twittering, and trying to actually get work done for, oh, you know, WORK. Many days, I even write my blog posts at work because it's just another way to procrastinate. I leave at the end of the day feeling defeated and frustrated with myself. [Although, since this is only a one year position, meaning I'm leaving in July anyway, I'm not too worried about getting fired.]

I'm slightly ashamed looking at the past few sentences. Who is this girl and when did her work ethic become so insanely terrible!?

Today, for example – I have to get tons of work done, so I'm avoiding Twitter and blogs. (Although, I am totally writing this at work.) I have no ability to be moderate in these things, apparently. It's either the whole tamale or I completely abstain. Where is my self-control? I'm honestly a little afraid that I'm ruining myself by being such a bad worker…I am better than that, darn it!

I guess my question for you all – Dana's faithful readers and my own – do you blog/Twitter/waste time on the interwebs while you're at work? Do you feel guilty? How do you ensure that your productivity doesn't take a blow?

PS: Dear internet, my sweetest, most favorite drug – I could never quit you. But why must you be so addictive, darn it!

Relationships

Hello everyone, the lovely Dana has asked me, Auburn Kat to post while she is hopefully winning lots of money in Vegas. I won't mention the fact that I'm extremely jealous!!! This is my first guest post ever, so please humor me if it's not good!

Sometimes I wonder if I am cut out for being in a relationship or not.

When my ex and I broke up I made a commitment to myself that I would not get into another relationship for one year so I could find out who the real me was again. Well, my one-year was officially up a couple of weeks ago. Not surprisingly, I had no issue in accomplishing my goal. I definitely have found who I am as a person and you could say that I was a bit of an over achiever in the not getting involved in another relationship department seeing as I've been on a total of zero dates in the last year. Yes, you read that right, zero dates. Granted, there was a couple of what I consider non-dates but nothing else, definitely nothing serious.

Now that my year is up, I'm not sure if I want to be in a relationship. Maybe it's all of the bad memories that I have from my previous relationship that still leaves a bad taste in my mouth? Maybe it's the fact that I haven't met anyone who lives in the same zip code, let alone same area code as I do that I find remotely interesting and attractive. Maybe life just seems less stressful by not being in a relationship? It's definitely not that I still want to be with my ex because I don't.

What is it? Why don't I want to be in a relationship? The only answer that I can come up with is that right now, I'm pretty happy with where my life is and I'm completely content with going to bed alone. Some people always have to be in a relationship and I'm just not one of them.

Then again, if the right guy tries to convince me otherwise, I'm sure I could be persuaded!

Guest Blogging

I am Guest Blogging today for my best friend Danielle over at

New Mommy Rant..

Today I will be discussing the 10

mistakes I see parents make (while I am at school, since I'm a kindergarten teacher)... I hope all of you wonderful mommies & daddies out there aren't offended... It's just what I see with some combined research from an article I read and converstations with my "mommy co-workers"... They gave me some great tips for what not to do when i'm a mommy...

So pop on over to Danielle's blog and check it out!!

Hope you're having fun on vacation Dan!!!!