I really need to clean my house.

(Sorry about the weird ad thing at the end of the video, I couldn’t find a clean version and Vimeo and WordPress aren’t playing well together…)

But someone is a freaking genius. Seriously.

I wonder if they make one I could attach to Puma…

Ummm, is it just me, or were the super bowl commercials lacking this year? I was less than impressed.

The ones I did like were:

Pepsi, forever young commercial. The contrast between old and new was super cool to see, and it appealed to my parent’s generation and mine. I loved that. I keep picturing Gumbi vs. Shrek. I just thought it was super creative.

Conan O’brien, where he makes the commercial over seas, but it gets out in America. I laughed. I think it was a Bud Light commercial.

Mr Potato Head and Bridgestone Tires: I really liked this one. I laughed out loud, but my friend thought it was cheesy. Did you?

Castor Oil and the Grease Monkeys: For originality I liked this one the best. And him kissing the monkey at the end was just…[shudder], it was perfection. “Strange Days Indeed…”

Land of the Lost commercial: I didn’t like the commercial, but I loved Will Ferrel saying “Matt Lauer can eat it.”

Pedigree, maybe you should get a dog. Ok, yeah, I liked this one. Sue me. I’m an animal person.

Budweiser horse playing fetch: I liked this one too, although it was predictable.

Budweiser horse and Daisy “Aint no mountain high enough”: this was strangely cute-sy for Budweiser, wasn’t it? I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. I mean, it was sweet, but think back to the frog commercials. Were they trying to market to women this year?

I wasn’t super impressed with:

Doritos Commercial: He eats the chips and good things happen, he’s out of chips he gets hit by a buss. Predictable.

godaddy.com: danicka patrick, not good at all

Diet Pepsi for men? I didn’t catch the name of the product, but the concept is interesting…”I’m good.”

Budlight discussions on drinkability. LAME.

Sobe football players doing ballet…I was super excited when this one started, ’cause it made me giggle, but then it got SO WEIRD at the end with the lizards, and the acid trip backgrounds, and the breakdancing, and the tight white body suits….ugh. Super weird.

Anyway, what did you guys think?

MTV is remaking the cult classic: The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Are you kidding me?! NO ONE will every be better than Tim Curry.

NO ONE.

They are going to butcher it. I can’t stand the thought of it.

I saw this movie as a teenager and it’s been one of my favorites ever since. I can’t imagine MTV ruining it. They are even writing new music for it! WHAT!? Blasphemy.

What do you guys think?

The concert last night was awesome.

Jannus Landing is a really cool venue, if you can go, go. It’s like being in someone’s backyard for a concert, and you really kind of are actually, if you think about the apartment building that borders one side of the place.

The opening act was a guy named Keaton Simons and my word, if you like blues-y rockish guitar playing from a (dare I say) attractive man with voice that will make you stand up straighter and pay attention, then you MUST go get his album off of iTunes. I will do it as soon as I’m done with this post….and Mike wakes up and tells me it’s OK to spend 10 dollars on iTunes. Seriously, we were blown away with his guitar playing. It was a 3 piece band and they sounded really rich and full. It was glorious.

*speaking of glorious, if you haven’t been to a concert in a while, you wouldn’t believe how much it’s like being in a church service. people raise their hands, close their eyes, and WORSHIP. it’s just missing the whole God element. it was very interesting*

Then Sister Hazel came on, and they were good too. The shining moment was the guitar playing, again (um, do I possibly have a thing for lead guitar players? I think so.) the lead guy was incredible. He played his guitar against a pole that was holding the tent up (yes, I know. I know.) and all the ladies went ,”Oooh ahh,” and it was pretty much just,….yeah. Awesome.

We always seem to score incredible parking at concerts and this was no exception. We were the first ones out of the venue, we basically ran passed the homeless people to the parking garage and straight to the car, which was right by the exit ramp, which got us out FIRST! Rock.

Funny things that happened:

• A lady next to us (she looked to be in her high 50’s, and I do mean HIGH) had a joint. She tried to hide it, but we saw it. Busted.
• There were so many old people there it is not even funny. And they were putting away some beer. And DANCIN’.
• We met some Canadians. A young couple, so we chatted with them, and the guy proceeded to show me a picture on his cell phone of his wife sitting on the toilet. I asked if they spoke French, and yes, they did. (I stopped myself from saying “eh?” and asking about Alex Trebek.)
• Some lady kept doing a wild banshee call.
• Mr. Bean was dancing in front of us. He kept doing this weird 270 degree spin kind of dance and he kept looking at me, and I swore to Buddah that if he looked at me one more time I was going to hit him squarely in his giant nose.
• I got hit upside the head. Yes. Really. By the girl behind me. I turned around and she was like, “I’m so sorry!” and I was laughing too hard to console her. I mean, I had just been “hit upside the head” for the first time in my life, and that was something to be savored. How often do you get hit by a total stranger?! It just struck me (no pun intended) as funny.

-Em

Last night we got lost in a town that, according to wikipedia, has 2,975 residents as of 2004. There are 2 redlights. 1 McDonalds.

We had to find First Baptist Church.

We went to the bank downtown: they sent us in the wrong direction. To no where.

While driving around in no where, we see an ice cream truck. We asked the lady in the ice cream truck. SHE DRIVES AROUND TOWN ALL FREAKING DAY IN A FREAKING ICE CREAM TRUCK. Surely she will know where FBC Frostproof is.  She says, “You won’t believe this, but I’m from Lakeland.”

Seriously. I didn’t make that up.

Her directions took us to an elementary school. Cussing 1, Emily 0.

We asked some guys on the side of the road by the auto repair shop. They pointed us in the right direction, but we ended up at the methodist church. Frostproof is not good at denominations, or directions.

Finally, we had to call the people we were meeting and have them get us there via cellphone. We were 30 minutes late.

The wedding starts tonight at 6:00! I’m singing I need You (that one that LeAnn Rhymes did) and it’s not really my typical wedding song, so I’m nervous about it. Mike is playing guitar for me, because he is my hero.

We will let you know how it goes.

PS. If you’re getting married in the Central Florida area and want some quality live music for your ceremony, holler at us!

i got to do one of my favorite things this weekend.

i got to lead worship.

we did a stripped down set, just 2 guitars, 2 voices, and it was way cool. plus i got to be up there with my hubby, which is really neat.

I remember more of my first year at college more than I remember any other year. I couldn’t live on campus (or I’d talked myself out of it…something) so I didn’t know anyone.

I. Didn’t. Know. Anyone.

It was the loneliest time of my life.  I would drive to school early, go to class, go to Mitchell’s, drive back to campus, eat breakfast in my car, go to class, eat lunch in my car, read a book in my car, go to class.

Typically this is me anyway. People freak me out.

But in a college setting, where relationships are forming all around you…it’s harsh. No one cares.

I hear about an audition for a musical. I think “well, the worst that can happen is I get laughed off the stage, and I’ve done that before.” I go to auditions. There are lots of girls. Lots of tiny blonde girls, and they are all best friends with each other (Lord I was naive). One would later become my maid of honor, my “blonde counterpart,” but I didn’t know it yet. Just then, she was competition. I was terrified. A room full of beautiful blonde people.

I sang a horrible song. It was the worst audition of my life. I got a part. I was a whore. No, in the show, that was my role. I was one of 10 or so. “Get some character shoes,” they said, “rehearsals start next week.”

And just like that I was in. I had friends, a crowd to hang with, even a boyfriend, err..sure. We can call him that.

I also got from them a terrible lifestyle, but I digress.

I spent the better part of the rest of my school years in my character shoes. Auditioning, falling on incomplete sets, smoking outside the theatre. These shoes are slippery when you first get them, and you have to wear them a lot to have a grip, to get your footing.

It has been 2 years since I’ve done a production. Because even though I could get into character in my character shoes, I couldn’t quite grasp my character. Who was I? What did I believe? How far was I willing to go? What would I do when no one was looking? The theatre was a place of acceptance and approval. No boundaries. And I found that I became the character I was playing. A whore, a snooty sidekick, a cheating wife. I didn’t always take it so far (like, I didn’t cheat on Mike, duh), but my thought processes were impacted significantly. I’d lose the ability to distinguish my reality from the character’s world.

So I’ve stayed away, trying to clear my conscience, move on, build my character, love God.

But now, my character shoes are calling me. I am absolutely itching to do a show.
The question is, when I put the shoes on, who exactly is filling them? Have I changed enough that the same girl that walks into the auditions will be the same person taking a bow on the final night? And if that’s the case, did I really do it right? 

Perhaps we shall see.

Character shoes indeed.

I am sure this site will bring me hours of entertainment.

Here are some of my friends (click the pic to get to their blogs):

I don’t go to a churchy church so I haven’t seen anything like this in a while.

I’m singing in a wedding on Saturday and we had rehearsal last night. This place is gorgeous. It’s in the historic district of Lakeland and it’s actually one block over from our first apartment. Back in the hood. Word to your mother.

Sorry that’s not bigger.

I’m singing with an organ!

That tiny lady is fierce. She was the accompanist at the college I sang at.  I think she still works there.

This one is the balcony.

Pretty cool to see some old school stuff every once in a while.

Did I mention the stained glass windows?

I’m psyched. And nervous.

I can’t remember the last wedding I did. But don’t worry, ’cause after this one I still have 2 more to go this summer.

WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR?!

At least I hope so. I’m “judging” a “talent competition” today. I’m not sure how I got to be a judge, and I’m not sure exactly what I’m judging. Justin’s coming with me, so if the talent sucks he’ll entertain me.

More on this later.