Sometimes You Fail

So as you know I throughly enjoy politics. Republican or Democrat Republican. I was so lucky enough to have a birthday last year which makes me eligible to have voting rights. For me I took extra care in keeping up with my current events, watching interviews with candidates and debates, and payed extremely close attention to poll results in primaries across the country. For all of the reasons that I just listed I decided to support former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.


Qualities that I liked about Santorum:

• Believes in God
• Morals
• Pro-life supporter
• Not Obama
• Voted against corporate bailouts
• Ronald Reagan qualities
• Has ideas to reform Welfare
• Plans to limit federal spending to 18% GDP, just like Reagan!

This is how much I believed in him. I gave his campaign money.

But after the Arizona/Michigan polls closed late last night, the results did not make me smile. I like to smile!

Needless to say, he lost three very important states including Arizona. 

In mathematical terms Romney> Santorum

Qualities that I love despise about Romney:

• RomneyCare = Obamacare's twin brother
• Supports government funded abortions
• Supported corporate bailouts
• Hair looks like a skunk
• Liar
• Has money in off shore banks. Scandalous? 
• Disgraces the term Conservative

Can you see what is disturbing in this picture!?!

One in the same.

What I predict for future America:

1. Romney wins Republican Nominee.
2. Obama wins general election....again.
3. Obamacare will never be repealed.
4. You wait 7 hours to see your doctor when you have a common cold.
5. Welfare never gets reformed.
6. America becomes even more lazy.
7. Gas will be $6.00 a gallon, very soon.
8. Debt will increase.
9. No one will be able to afford to go to college.
10. Shannen doesn't smile or crack jokes anymore.

Are you concerned about #10 as much as I am?

This sums up life for the next 4 years forever!

Cheers to a sh*%ty life!

On a more upbeat note, Hope life is beautiful wherever you are!

-----Shannen

SUPER TUESDAY!

Happy Voting!

-----Shannen

The Oscars!

If you live in America, or keep up with current events then you know that The Oscars Aired on ABC this past Sunday, February 26. The Oscars are a celebration of the achievements during the film industry in the last year, but I am sure that you all knew that.

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Like many Americans I watched the full 4 hour special, and what seems to amaze me every year is all of the movies that I have never heard of that win. This year for example the film "The Artist" that won Best Actor and Picture of the Year.

So with that being said, "The Artist" is officially on my Bucket List!

BUCKET(Things to do before I die) LIST

• Sky Dive
• Stand up to a B**CH!
• Have a pay check over $3,000
• Ride my bike to college
• Eat Subway everyday for a month
• Run for Congressional Office
• Move to Phoenix
• Watch "The Artist"

But to me I believe that the Academy has it wrong, and forgets to nominate some of the better movies America has seen. Here is one that comes to mind!

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But we know better, how can a movie with a special needs person get nominated? But come to think of it Forrest Gump was nominated....

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Billy Crystal was the host. This makes his 9th Appearance as the Host. Really Academy, was everyone else busy that night or something?

Nine times is a charm!

I am right there with you Willy!

But probably my favorite part of The Oscars is the fashion. I am not one to EVER have ANY fashion sense, but I am amazed at what people are willing to spend on a gown for one evening. And having witnessed that in person while watching my mom buy my sisters wedding dress I watched closely this year.

My vote for best dressed couple!

Yeah, the Muppets won an Academy Award too!

Gingers should never wear red. I know I can be guilty of it sometimes... but really Emma?

Beautiful dress, wrong color! Still love you Stone!

Emma be prepared to be ripped apart by The Fashion Police(Joan Rivers) tomorrow!

Oh, and you gals too.........

Yikes! Ladies!

It was a great show! I enjoyed all 240 minutes of it! But of the movies that I did see I would recommend them to anyone. Truly great films of 2011!

Phenomenal!

You all know how I feel about Brad.
But it was still a good movie!

Excellent Movie!

But I truly can't wait to see this!

So Excited!

Some Oscar Facts!

1. Oscar winners don’t really own their statues. Upon being presented with their award, winners must sign an agreement stating that should they wish to sell their statuettes they must first offer them to the Academy for $1.
2. The Kodak Theater, which has been the most recent home of the Oscars, seats 3,332 people. Of course, not everyone shows up — which is why those famous seat-fillers make $125 an hour making the place look full.
3. There has only been one Oscar winner named Oscar: Oscar Hammerstein II, who won two for best song.
4. While the Oscar staute is perhaps the most recognizable icon of the event, the phrase“And the winner is…” is perhaps even more famous. Originally used by the award’s presenters to announce the recipient of an award, the phrase was quietly abandoned in 1989. Since then, the preferred lead-in has been “And the Oscar goes to…”, presumably to make the losers feel better.
5. The record for shortest speech is shared by William Holden and renowned director Alfred Hitchcock. They both simply said, “Thank you."

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Click this link for more Oscar Facts!

I love movies, and The Oscars!

Hope you had a great Sunday night, and that life is beautiful wherever you are!

----Shannen

Hockey,Hockey, Hockey!

So I am going to tell you two stories. Don't worry they intertwine!

STORY ONE: Acquiring the tickets!

On January 30 we had a company party. At the party we played games and ultimately enjoyed each others company, without customers! The store owner Kevin shut the store down early so we could hangout! We had a raffle and my boss gave out some really good prizes! One of those including an XBOX, oh and 32" TV. I know, you wish you worked where I do!

Here are some pictures that I captured from the evening!

The office hook up! Just Kidding! Here are two of my co-workers,
they fell in love with the butterburger, and each other!

This is one of my bosses Christina! Thug Life!

Here were the raffle prizes! I guess I forgot to mention there
was an iPod too

This is Kim and Patrick, at the party we played a
shaving creme game!

This is the owner Kevin, and his daughter Briana.

We also played a donut game! Daniel loves Donuts!

And a cupcake game! Dan loves cupcakes!

We all get along so well!

We all had a great time! Especially at the after party!!

But aside from the big prizes there were a lot of little prizes too! One of them being hockey tickets to Arizona vs. Arizona State! But unfortunately I didn't win them. My co-worker Jessica did, but she already had tickets so she gave them to me! Thanks Jess, you're the best!

So these lovely tickets now belong to me!

Can you tell which team I am going for?

STORY TWO: What I did with my tickets!

I decided to take my cousin Nicole! If you read my blog religiously then you know who she is!We met some of my other co-workers that got tickets, and had a pretty good time!

Before the Game. Nicole could pull off that scarf in the
middle of June! Flawless!

Well hello boys!

TCC! You hold so many memories!

Inside the Game!

Spoiler ALERT: We lost.

Who do we hate? ARIZONA STATE!

Nicole just had a manicure done! Also Flawless!

We were really upset that we lost!

Me and Nicole with some of my co-workers after the game!
Who brought the chick on the far right in the peacoat?

Nicole jammin' with the drum guy who was trying to make
a couple extra bucks after the game!

After the game my co-workers went to party, but Nicole and I met some friends for hot wings at Chuy's!

We demolished these bad boys in about 10 minutes!
Arena food is just too damn expensive!

Hockey is such a great sport, especially when you have really good (free) tickets!

All in all had a great night!

Hope life is beautiful wherever you are!

----Shannen

Home Is Where The Army Takes You.

MEET DEE!

She kicks ass and takes names!

She rocks the skirt!

I met Danielle Heidema while working at Culver's. She didn't start working with the crew at training week when we opened on July 25, 2011 so I had not really gotten a chance to know her, but I am so glad that I did!  She started working about two weeks after we opened and we became friends fast! There were two Danielle's working at Culver's at the time so we called her Dee! Like me she also worked the 4 to midnight shift five times a week so naturally working all of those hours together we got to know each other really well. 

Dee grew up in Las Vegas and moved down here to Tucson for college. She attended the UofA and received a degree in Sociology/Military Science. On February 15 it was her last day at Culver's because she is currently pursuing a career in the Armed Forces. 

The Army is sending Dee to Missouri where she holds the title 2nd Lieutenant. She will live in Military housing stationed on Fort Leonard Wood. After many months of training and being in charge of others she will hopefully return to Tucson. She will become part of the Army Reserves and train to become a full time Police Officer.

She has good Aim!

Dee was by far one of my favorite co-workers! She was really funny, and gave me her Wii + a lot of games! She loved UofA Basketball Games and was a really hard worker. We would have a great time making inside jokes and have a blast laughing at our other co-workers. 

I am truly going to miss her and her humor that she brought to work everyday! On her last day I gave her a card/gift card to help her and her car get to Missouri safely! 

She's an all around badass!

I am a huge supporter of our men and women in uniform and believe that all Americans are indebted to the work they do everyday. I also believe that a soldier is one of the only people that experience real sacrifice.  We need more people like her, that are willing/able to fight for the freedoms of this country. America is a place where dreams are made and accomplished, and I wish Dee the best of luck now and for when she returns home. 

Good luck Dee! Thanks for your service to our country! 

                         I love America, and would not want to live in any other place in this world. 

                          Have you shown appreciation to our men and women in uniform lately? 

                       Hope life is beautiful wherever you are, especially for you Dee!

                                                                 ----Shannen

Action Packed!

You know when you just need a break from life. Yeah, that happened to me. So I went to Phoenix for the weekend and had such a blast it was ridiculous! I went with two of my best friends that live in Tucson, turns out they needed a break too!

On Friday I picked up Zachary and JohnJohn after class and we headed on the open road!

When we got to Phoenix we headed straight to our friend Jackie's, dropped off our stuff and headed out for dinner. We decided on Applebee's for the soul fact that Jackie had a gift card, and I have no idea what is in the surrounding area.

****Warning there are going to be some crazy pictures in this post!****

This was our outing on Friday night to Applebee's!

Left to Right, Top to Bottom:
Johnjohn, Zachary, Jackie, and Ginger in the Rye!

Johnjohn was caught off guard, Zachary just looks handsome in every picture, Jackie had too many Shirley Temples and I am just a four-eyed Ginger, enough said.

After downing 2, two for $20 meals....We wanted to jump around! So we picked up Kevin, one of my good friends that goes to ASU, *insert throw up sound*, and headed to JumpStreet in Chandler! JumpStreet is a really cool place with huge trampolines, dodgeball arenas, a bull riding ring, and a great place to get your daily exercise in.

Here are some pictures that I recovered from JumpStreet!

Some good people in this picture.

Kevin was BOSS!

Look at that kid smiling!

I fell a LOT!

Why is Zachy so good at everything!

Jackie was PRO!

After we headed to IHOP for sundaes, and shortly after that it was 1am, we called it a night! Drove Kev home to Tempe, and listened to the boys in the back seat snore till Phoenix!

The next morning (Saturday) Jackie had a previous commitment so I picked up the boy's from Justin's (Jackie's super generous special friend that offered to hold up the boys in his super nice house for the weekend!) house...downer of a friend that attends a Christian college, NO BOYS IN THE DORMS AFTER MIDNIGHT OR BEFORE NOON! After I picked them up we went to Subway for lunch (Did you know it's $5 dollar footlongs all.month.long!?!) To kill some time we went to this Christian thrift store and I bought Jackie something for her dorm...it was only $2. If you look really closely I signed it on the bottom left in one of the squares. It is currently displayed proudly on her wall and can be seen right when you walk in the door. #winning

Here is the painting. It truly set me back a couple of bucks.
Totally worth it!

After Jackie came home, covered in raw egg I might add(another story), I showed her my latest purchase. She loved it! We let her get cleaned up and headed to The Wildlife Zoo/Aquarium in Litchfield, AZ! It was so much fun! We tried to get Kevin to go out with us, but his Animal Rights Activism kicked in a.k.a he had better things to do...DOWNER OF HAVING A LIBERAL FRIEND!

Some pictures from the Zoo! Check these out!

Side Note: I took all of these with my Sony. Yeah, I am that good.

The Flamingos...similar to the two that are sitting in my neighbors front yard.
Don't worry Blogland I have already told the neighborhood association about.
Seriously guy, get some CLASS!

Wouldn't want to be in that tank. Crazy Shark!

I will have one of these at my place soon!

Close up of the tank.

This fish looked pissed. The entire time.

Did you know that Male Seahorses carry the babies?

Check out the neck on this guy!

They were so small. Thought they would be bigger.

Dori!

More fish. I mean it was an aquarium after all!

Then we went to the Land Animals...Oh wait! Here is Jackie and her favorite Water Animal! (Otters!)

Tappin' the glass!

Mr. Otter!

On the main land!

The Zoo can be very intriguing.

Tortoises...this one is for you Kristin Salerno!

Black on White? or White on Black? To answer your
question, white on black!

The antelope that almost killed Johnjohn. No joke!

"They need to be brushed!" -John Edward Roebuck III (JohnJohn)

Then we got to feed the giraffes! JohnJohn felt right at home.

I ate Subway. This is what they ate. Oh, I think I could be a hand
model by the way. I am currently looking into it!

Jackie was super excited to feed
John's brother! (Inside Joke!)

Well, hello there!

I didn't want to get licked! So I just threw it at him.
Sorry, Kevin.

Johnjohn feeding! Check out the
tongue on this guy.

So cute!

Then we saw some Kangaroos!

I couldn't figure out why his face looked like that!

But then I saw this and my face looked the same!
Keepin' it classy Kangaroos!

Zachy waiting for the Penguins to be fed!
Why are you so photogenic!?! I mean seriously!

All in all the Zoo/Aquarium was amazing! Thanks for the admission coupons Brittany! (Jackie's ginger roommate!)

After the Zoo we drove to see Nama! Remember one of my previous blogs about the Flaherty/Alvarez/ McDonald Family. Well, this is the Grandma! One of the sweetest down to Earth people! I love her. She texts me too! (Bonus) My grandma doesn't even own a Cell Phone! I officially adopted her. She is now and will always be my Phoenix grandma!

I love her!

After Nama's we picked up the pesky Sundevil named Kevin again, met Justin, and went out to The CheeseCake Factory! Kevin, Zachy, John, and Justin had never been there before, and I think they were very impressed! I mean it was The CheeseCake Factory! We really wanted cheesecake but we were too full to even think about dessert, oh well, maybe next time!

Then we went to the Ice Skating Rink, all 6 of us! If you know anything about Tucson you probably know that we don't have an Ice Skating Rink and haven't had one for about 10 years. Which brings me to the conclusion that if you don't have a rink, the town sucks! Way to go city of Tucson! Maybe that is why graffiti is all over the walls! Give the youth something affordable to do!

Here are a few from the Rink!

Arcadia Ice Area, where skating magic happens!
Meet Justin, he is in the middle, can you spot him!?!

Zachy is also good at skating! No surprise!

Mr. Bushway, where is your maroon and yellow tonight?

Pro status!

Look who ended up in the Penalty Box!

Well hello new Facebook default!

Group shot...sorta!

Justin was too dang fast. Literally doing circles around us!

Jackie wanted me to remember her, currently saved on my phone!

Couples skate. Heck yes!

Finally caught a good one! Justin was just too fast!

Oh wait he paused for this one...kinda!

Kevin is sooooooo good at skating!

It has been a while Ice. How are you?

Another photo saved in my phone! Thanks Jacks!

After skating I dropped Kevin off in Tempe with Jackie, and JohnJohn and Zach headed back to Justin's.

We had a little midnight snack (Jackie and Justin) and crashed out!

The next morning we slept in!

Jackie and I caravanned to Justin's, who was at church, to pick up the boys and headed to IHOP for the last meal. No Pun Intended!

This was my view on the way!

Tiger Lily(Jackie's Car's Name) I have missed you!

After IHOP we hugged and parted ways! Jackie went to work, and Johnboy, Zach, and I headed back to Tucson!

Oh the things you see on I10!

I love vacations! But one thing better than a vacation is coming home to a clean house afterwards!

My mom was very impressed! So was I!

I had such a blast in Phoenix! We were talking over breakfast and might make it an annual thing while Jackie is going to GCU! 

Jackie, Zach, John, Kevin, and newest addition Justin, if you are reading this thanks for a great weekend!

Hope life/your weekend was beautiful wherever you are!

----Shannen