Recently in Val's best year ever Category

I have never ever before kept a New Years resolution.
Last year at this time I pledged to have 12 hair colors, to have a life, and to have my best year ever. Three things that normally would have probably slipped by. But I definitely accomplished everything I wanted this year. Sure there were some sucky times (food poisoning in Florence, finding out that the last person who told me he loved me moved right near me the next week and didn't tell me, falling head over heels for someone who doesn't feel the same way, my car getting hit, missing the Fourth of July...) but they were far outweighed by the good

My Year in Random Highlights:
- Quitting my job
- Finding a great new one
- Getting over the one person I never thought I would.
- Having the Best Summer Ever
- 3 weeks in Europe
- making out with a Canadian on the grass in front of a Vienna museum
- Taking snuff from a random German
- Vegas, D.C.
- Getting over my fears of White Water Rafting
- Standing up at one of my best friend's wedding
- Calling bluffs :)
- Many many nights studying or watching tv at MK's
- My Funny Valentine
- Playing Easter Bunny
- developing a higher tolerance for alcohol and discovering the joys of wine bars
- Making new friends (Scott, Andy, Brandon, Heather, everyone in D.C...)
- ditching my novel in favor of a memoir

My Year in Numbers:
- Photos taken: approximately 2,042
- Job Applications 52
- Gelatos eaten: over 14 in one week
- Hair colors: 13
- Trips to wine bars: 12
- Theatre/dance/opera seen: 7
- Interviews gone on: 6
- Countries visited: 6
- U.S. states visited: 5
- Number of coins I threw into the Trevi fountain: 4
- Times I was told I look like Kirsten Dunst: 4
- Championships I watched Takeru Kobayashi win on TV: 3
- Funky elevators ridden: 3 (sideways at Luxor, Paternoster, cave in Switzerland)
- Nude puppet shows seen: 2
- Buffets that cost $30 or more: 2
- Casino Royales seen: 2 (the movie and the casino)
- Times lucky 13 paid off big in vegas : 1
- Flash masterpieces I designed: 1
- Hostels owned by parrots: 1
- Raves thrown in my honor: 1
- Pairs of MK's underwear I froze: 1
- Boys who bought me flowers: 1 (JoeJoe)

My Year in Pictures:
- New Years 2005/2006
- My 25th Birthday Party
- Auto Show
- Las Vegas
- Jen's Birthday
- Brandon's Birthday
- Valerie's Unemployed and Ready to Celebrate Celebration
- BBQ in the Bend
- Jenny's Surprise Wedding Shower
- Europe
- Jenny's Bachelorette Party (password protected, ask me for it)
- White Water Rafting
- Venetian Night
- Jenny's Rehearsal Dinner
- Jenny's Wedding
- Washington D.C.
- Josh wins the Chicago Marathon
- Valerie's Employed and Ready to Celebrate Celebration
- Andy's Birthday

Thank you to everyone who helped make Valerie's Best Year Ever my Best Year Ever!!!!
Let's hope 2007 is even better!!!

First, I find out that I am richer than well over half of the people in the world!

Then, Time Magazine names ME Person of the Year!

It really is my best year ever!

I haven't busted out this logo in a while. So, yeah, I guess the summer of val is kind of officially over now that I'm working. But not without...

Valerie's Employed and Ready to Celebrate Celebration!

Where: Salt Creek Wine Bar, 8900 Fairview Ave, Brookfield, IL 60513

When: Saturday, November 18, 2006, 8:30pm (if we feel done with wine at any point we can move on to Irish Times or whatnot later)

Everyone is invited. No RSVP neccessary, but feel free to leave me a comment here or email me or whatnot to let me know if you plan on coming.

Hope to see all y'all there!

Proof that I am the Secretary of Defense:

Proof that I played Guitar Hero:

(those two pics I stole from Christine)

Yeah, yeah, I've been lazy (or maybe busy with school and such) and never got around to posting these.
HERE ARE MY PICS FROM MY TRIP TO SEE ROB IN D.C.!

I also updated my photography page with links to all my photo pages.
Click here for all my photos!

It's time for SNAKES ON A KITTY!

So, I just got back from D.C., my last scheduled event for Val's Best Summer Ever (although since it doesn't officially end until I find a job, whether next week or next February, stay tuned for more events!) and my first time seeing Rob since he moved there like a billion years ago. Yay, 'twas tons of fun! Here's a recap:

Thursday: So, I was supposed to meet everyone in D.C. and go out to a cool seafood place for dinner and drinks and fried donuts, but alas my flight got delayed for about two hours so I arrived much later than anticipated. :( So, when I finally landed, Rob picked me up and we got some Wendys and headed back to his place where we ate and I met Junior who tried to steal my hamburger and fries and eventually knocked down my soda. Sillykitty. Soon after Chris, Christine, Jake, Katie, and Laura came by to say hi so I finally got to meet people I only know lj names for. Yay! But they had to take off shortly after so Rob and I played some Mario three before heading off to bed.

Friday: Long, but fun day. It started with trying to figure out what the heck this Guitar Hero thing was all about. It is apparently a game with fake guitars that you pretend to play. I did ok on the easy level and easy songs (it's easier when I knew the lyrics) but anything involving more than three fingers is beyond my ability.
After failing miserably at videogamedom Rob and I went to get Christine and headed over to the Pentagon for a tour given by her old boss. It was pretty interesting because we got to go to places that most tour groups don't really go like to the inner courtyard (trivia answer: at the center of the Pentagon is an owl, not a hot dog stand) and the media room where I got to pretend to be the Secretary of Defense. It was kind of creepy though that everywhere we went in there were reserves of gas masks for in case of emergencies and kind of funny to see "No driving past this point" signs while on the third floor (since it was originally designed to drive into).
Next up it was off to the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, It was this large temple-like place full of creepy Egyptian-like paintings with a taped commentary that matched-up with lights that illuminated different sections on cue. Rob told me that the masons were kind of like the Stonecutters on the Simpsons so I proceeded to have that damn song on my head throughout the museum (Who made Steve Guttenberg, A Star! We do, we do.) The highlight though was that you got to go out on the balcony on the top floor to see a good view of the city because we all know that I have to see every city from as high up as possible. When we'd had enough of that, we headed back to Rob's, played more Guitar Hero, and got some cheap chicken wings at Clyde's before heading off to see the monuments at night. We all (Me, Rob, Christine, Chris, Katie, Laura, and someone else who's name I don't remember) walked about snapping pics and seeing the monuments all lit up and pretty. We saw the Washington Monument, World War II memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial and on the way back to the metro passed the Korean War memorial which is totally freaky because it looks like all these real people in the dark. Scaaary.

Saturday: Saturday we woke up nice and early to make our way to the National Zoo to see the amnimals. We saw Pandamabears (which were sleeping when we got there, but eventually semi-woke up)

and elemaphants, and GI-raffes and then some hippoooooo!s Then some golden lion tamarinds (which are the cutest monkeys ever) and more monkey and ape-like things and other such small animals.

After the zoo we headed back to Rob's for more guitar heroing and such and then went to see Beerfest, which was actually pretty damn funny. I especially liked that when there was a hot-dog eating contest in one scene all the competitors were skinny little Asians, hehe how true!
Later we watched another movie. A movie that I can't believe I've known Rob for this long and have yet to see. A movie that is probably the only Canadian Kung-fu Vampire Musical starring Jesus. Yup: Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter!! Woohoo! It lived up to my every expectation! Woohoo!

Sunday: Sunday was kind of a lazy-ish day. Rob had a fantasy football draft that was way more important than me so we sat around watching silly TV (I made him watch Trading Spaces and MADE!). When Rob was done acting out his childhood fantasies we headed off with Chris, Laura, and Katie to the Hirshhorn Art Museum which was full of odd contemporary art goodness. There was an Anselm Kiefer exhibit which rocked. The paintings were full of depth (I don't mean a depth of meaning because I don't understand a lot of art, I mean depth as in layers of paint) and texture and a lot of them were more three dimensional with objects hanging from them. He also incorporated some writing into them, which I liked. There were some other interesting pieces throughout like paintings of gumball machines and taped up floors, and television sets flashing images and making an American Flag. Rob wasn't quite as impressed, especially with the paitings that were seemingly just white.

Ah well, can't please them all. But SOME of us liked the art :)

After the museum I bid adieu to Rob's friends and we headed back to his place where we watched the Emmy's and I got my ass kicked in Mario Bros., Monopoly, and some weird monster truck race game.

Monday: Woke up early, said goodbye to Junior, said goodbye to Rob, and cauht my flight home. And I have now successfully made it to D.C. twice without ever seeing the White House!

More pictures later!

I'll be in Washington D.C./Virginia until Monday! Yay! Hmm, I need to either find a job or schedule more vacations now. :) Here is a tentative schedule of doings for the weekend according to Chris:

Thurs: Val shows up, group dinner at Flying FIsh, meet, greet, laugh, shake off jet lag.

Fri: DC At Night. Dinner somewhere or other, go into the city after dark and see monuments. Perhaps late night snacks/drinks if we're feeling bold

Sat: Zoo. See animals, laugh, eat outrageous zoo food.

Sun: Art. See the hirshorn, see awesome art, eat outrageous museum food.

Big ole update complete with lots of pics when I get back!

Here are all my pics from Jenny's wedding!

Congratulations Jenny and Adam!

Aw, two of my best friends got married last night and damn, it was about time.

The wedding was simply amazing because Jenny was just the perfect bride in so many ways.
We started the day out bright and early at 9 meeting at the salon to get our hair done. Appropriately, Nad brought the Starbucks along with some fruit and croissants. Our last Starbucks as all single people, ah. Jenny wouldn't let me get a faux-hawk though (at one point while she was getting hers done it so looked like a faux-hawk was in the works, I told her to leave it because it was a great look for her) and the hairdresser told me I looked like Kirsten Dunst. hehe.
After all our hair was (almost) perfect we went back to Jenny's place to do our makeup, put on our dresses, gather our flowers, and start taking some pics!
Then it was off to the church, so we all piled into the limo and hung out in the brides room peeking out of the curtains.

The wedding was beautiful. They did the whole Catholic mass thing, which was kind of weird because they did the ceremony part right in the middle of it, so they did their vows and I dos and rings and kiss...and then went on for a while doing mass things before presenting the bride and groom. Jenny was gorgeous and Adam just looked so happy as he said his vows. Honestly, I don't think I could ever know two people more perfect for each other than those two. :)

After the ceremony we sent them off with bubbles then took more pictures (in the church and at Mayslake Peabody Estate) and rocked out in the limo where Jenny yelled "I just got married" to people out the window and we shared some champagne out of plastic cups before heading off to the reception. A funny thing about the reception hall... I saw two other bridal parties walking around, and each one had a token bridesmaid with a tattoo on her upper back. It was just funny because each bridal party I saw there had one bridesmaid with upper back tattoo. Hehe.

Anyways, we did the whole receiving line thing where I saw some people I haven't seen in a long long time like some teachers from high school Mrs. Marelli and Mr. McOlgan and old friends like Jackie. It was really good to catch up. And one of their relatives said they thought I looked like Kirsten Dunst (so that was twice in one day! I really hope these people mean that in a good way). I am so glad though that there was no videograper, because since the line stopped mostly at the family and breezed past us, I danced away like a good drunken bridesmaid while I waited). They did our introductions next (the families walked in to the theme from Forest Gump nd the bridal party to Eye of a Tiger) and then Jenny and Adam cut their cake (which was PINK! Now, I am all for a pink cake, but considering that everything else in the place was decorated in lilac/lavander, you'd think the stupid cake people would have realized that the cake was supposed to be lavendar!) then it was time to chow down. Soup, cake, pasta, beef, checkien, green beans, mashed potatoes, chocolate mousse (all family style so you could sample it all!) Oh, and really yummy champagne! All the place cards were held on little bells (remember the ones we tied the ribbon around!) so we'd all ring them to get the lovebirds to kiss (I suggested that if we clanked the glasses Adam and Josh, the best man, should kiss, but they didn't go for it). The head table was a blast because we all (OK, the female side of the table) sang along karaoke style to all the songs :)

Adam and Jenny then did their first dance, then she danced with her dad, then we all hit the floor! I swear, Jenny did not miss a song to dance to, she was going all night long! We did our thriller moves, the chicken dance, the humpty dance (Adam's only request), the Electric Slide, Cotton Eyed Joe... hehe.

My hott date MattyK danced with me to all the slow ones and some swing.

He refused to chicken dance but I did get him to electric slide. :) While Nad and I were busy with our bridesmaidly duties, he got all buddybuddy with Nad's fiancé Bryan so we kept joking that we were losing our boys to eachother and that they were going to be BFFs. Hehe. They even scored each others' digits. Oooooo.

I didn't catch the bouquet in the toss :(

I managed to pick up a flower that fell off of it that I determined meant I'd get married some day, but then the stupid staff threw it out. :(

Jenny and Adam danced to the Grow Old with You song from The Wedding Singer, and it was supercute.

Then more dancing, then the last song, Time of Our Lives which Adam almost missed so Jenny had to dance with Nadia for half of it before Adam came running back. The boys refused to lift us up a la Dirty Dancing though :(

As we said our goodbyes (they headed off on their honeymoon this morning) I made sure to remind both Jenny and Adam that the video we showed them how to make a baby, it did not show them how not to make a baby, so to be careful :) and Jenny said that they'd defiantly be "doing their taxes" for months (Full House, anyone???)

It was a wonderful night and an amazing wedding. Jen and Adam are two of my greatest friends. I have known her since third grade and him for at least ten years and could not imagine two people being better for each other. I love them both and I know they love each other and I know that they will have a long wonderful amazing marriage.

Congratulations to them both!

(more pics tomorrow!)

One of my best friends in the whole world is getting married tomorrow!

I have been friends with Jenny since the third grade when we met and bonded over dancing and All My Children. And tomorrow our Jenny is marrying a wonderful guy and great friend who she has been dating for the last eight years. Insert tear.

Tonight was the rehearsal. I get to walk down the aisle first and screw everything up. Yayme. Its weird because even though I am a bridesmaid I get to sit through a lot of it because there is a mass and such. Plus we all stand really far apart. I guess I always think of all the bridesmaids standing close to one another and standing the whole time (although I am kind of glad because my feet would kill me if I didn't). Basically I stand when the priest says to stand, sit when the priest says to sit, and stand when the priest says to kneel. Whatever.

After we practiced the priest gave a speech about how there is no food or drink allowed. Damn, there goes my plan for hiding a big mac in my bouquet. Drats. I decided to sew a pocket on one side of my dress for the hamburger, the other side for the fries, and build one of those hydration system things they sell for backpackers into the bouquet. Hmm, I should market this...

After the rehearsal it was off to the rehearsal dinner, which is where you go to practice eating.
Now, for months and months and months I have been joking with Jenny that (since I dye my hair all the time and every color of the rainbow) I was going to dye it purple to match our dresses for the wedding. So, once we got to the rehearsal, all us bridesmaids snuck away and put on these:

PURPLE WIGS!
Hehehe. See, dye-to-match hair!!!

The rehearsal was fun. Good food (pizza, pasta, salad, and cookies) and a bartender who somehow decided that amaretto sours go in a blender. I got to know Tim (the only person in the wedding party, minus the flower girl, who didn't go to high school with us) and caught up some with Stefan (who will be escorting me down the aisle tomorrow).
Then they gave out some gifts. The guys got beer mugs and shot glasses that had their names, groomsman, and bros for life engraved on them and all us gals got a little putple play purse with lots of Claire's goodness, a silver heart-shaped box engraved with our name, bridesmaid, and friends forever, and a gorgeous necklace to wear tomorrow. It's all really cute.

It was a really happy night, it's good to see that Jen isn't too stressed or anything, she's just really happy and that makes me really happy.

More pics:

Thought of the day:
i have to remember that when i google images of my last name that its probably kind of gross to think "oh that guy is kind of cute"

Thought of the day 2:
My laptop will be less likely to shut itself down if I keep it directly over my air conditioning duct. Unfortunately, it is very hard to work on your computer when it's under your dresser.

Quote of the day:
Joe (on me): Why do I encourage the devil on my shoulder
Me: I have given my whole life over to the devil on my shoulder

**Insert picture of me, Jen, and Isla on the beach that would have been really cute if only I had remembered a memory card here**

So today Jen, Isla, and I went to New Buffalo beach in Michigan for some beaching. We swam a bit (the waves were totally awesome), played some frisbee (I can't throw a frisbee for the life of me), and sunned a bit (despite there not being a whole lotta sun). Yay. Now I feel icky but don't feel like showering. I'm sure you wanted to hear that.