I love Junior.

From Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s website

"Wednesday, August 11: Well guys, I'm back to check in with you guys. You've probably been wondering when that might happen. To tell you the truth, my burn injuries are probably the toughest injuries I've had to recover from just because my ability to move around came to a halt. I've done a lot of laying around during the weeks to give my legs a chance to heal and they are doing better each day. I felt great in the car on Sunday at Indy and this week, I've been able to get out and about more easily.

With all the national attention it seems to be getting, I thought I would also address the nonsense stirring about my mom, Teresa and I and what airplanes I've flown on lately. I've been considering purchasing an airplane for awhile now and started taking test flights in Mid June. I took three flights in June on some different aircraft to get a feel for what I might want to purchase. I haven't really needed a plane, but with my schedule these days, it's becoming more of a necessity. The first weekend back to the race, I was called to a medical appt that made me miss the DEI team plane. Luckily we were able to catch a ride with Richard Childress. I've been fortunate to have many friends loan their aircrafts to me so that I could come and leave the races depending on my circumstances. It's bull crap that folks are trying to pull a story together that's completely bogus. As a family, we all know what's important to my recovery and no one in my family would compromise my ability to get back to 100%. I hope this helps clear up some of the rumors and what some of the media have been writing over the last several days.

Have a good week and I'll be back..."

Good boy! He even censored himself and didn't cuss. Hee.

Giggle time!

raelan has some squee-worthy news...at least it's hinting at squee-worthy. Heck, I like Tom Welling, so *any* movie with him is squee-worthy.

And follow this link for the funniest thing I've seen in a while...Wizard of Oz themed cars. And Jeff Gordon got the Cowardly Lion car! *giggle* Sorry, y'all know I don't love the Gordon, and this just makes me giggle. And Elliott Sadler got Toto! Hee!

Opportunity

I would like to take this opportunity to say...I hate being photographed. It's apparently a family affliction. I don't hate being photographed in the same way my grandmother does (she literally runs from the camera, and god forbid you sneak up on her, call out her name, and snap a shot, because she will hit you...I know). And not in the same way my dad hates being photographed, although far more similar (he has the awkward smile issue...hence him not smiling in photographs anymore).

I have an issue with being natural.

Posed photographs are the main problem. When I'm posed I'm expected to tilt my head, lift or lower my chin, smile at just the right point with the corner of my lips curling just so, but don't clench the jaw, oh and remember not to put my tongue between my teeth, and while we're at it, stop furrowing the brow, and lastly, smile with the eyes, too.

Do you know how fucking hard that is to do?!?!?!? Plus, they always always always turn me so that the one tooth in my mouth that is just slightly behind the others (braces are wonderful *sarcasm*) is featured prominently and looks like a hole because of the lighting. Oh, and I'm not allowed to wear my glasses, because of either the glare, or the fact that it makes me look "bookish".

I know this seems overblown, but take for instance the smile issue. I have a square jaw and a fairly narrow face. Plus I have puppy dog eyes (the kind that droop at the corners). When I smile too big, my checks get plump and appley, and my eyes scrunch up too much and nearly close. Smile too little and I look mad. *sigh*

I. Hate. Posed. Portraits.

Now, candid shots? I rock. One of the best pictures of me that's been done recently (meaning last year) was a shot of me eating broccoli done by my grandmother when she surprised me. And I look fabulous. I make broccoli look good.

Perhaps you're wondering why the hell I'm rambling about photography. I was forced to go today and get my portrait done again for work. We have portraits up on one wall, and 3 new employees hadn't had theirs done yet. So they were getting theirs, and I and three others who have changed significantly were sent to get ours redone.

Issue number one...they wouldn't let me wear my glasses.

Issue number two...the above mentioned freakish choreography.

Issue number three...they took off my eye makeup and lipstick and redid it.

The makeup one is huge to me, because last time they did this really pale, boring, brown palette. The lipstick was wretched. My hair was brown and the makeup was brown. But it was redone because my makeup I had worn was too shimmery. Okay, I'll give them that, since they're the experts.

This time they took off my eye makeup and redid it...in nearly the exact same manner. The only difference? They lined my eyes with black shadow instead of black kohl liner. My lips were then lined (which I don't do, because I have thin lips and lining means drawing outside the boundaries) and lipstick that was the exact same shade I had been wearing was applied. They also added some more concealor around my eyes (hey, if I'd been allowed to wear my glasses I wouldn't have *had* those under eye circles). And they're giving me makeup tips that I had already been utilizing! Seriously, don't give tips unless you *look* at their makeup first!

The kicker was the return to the office. I don't wear lipstick because it comes off so easily on me. It's just an issue. Why bother when five minutes later you'll have that messy, stained look because the lipstick is gone. Well, I put on lipstick before I went. One coworker didn't see me with the lipstick on. Believe me when I say, it makes all the difference in the world (hell, makeup itself changes my appearance drastically). So when I got back and found the one coworker saying that my makeup looks sooooo much better than this morning...I was pissed. Hello! It's only taken me damn near forever to figure out how to do my makeup and make it really good, but I do know how. When I put the 30 minutes in for the entire process, it looks fabulous. And I looked fabulous. Both before and after the nonmakeover.

*grrrr*

This rant brought to you by Lancome. Just because.

Yo, Florida

Hey, Florida crew (to be headed by plum_evil, because she's in the Panhandle).

What the hell are y'all sending our way? Bonnie isn't even *here* yet and we've got tornados.

*boggles*

I remember the tornados from Hugo and the massive power outages from Fran, but those were massive, monstrous, scary hurricanes, and they were *directly over us*. Not some Tropical Storm that's still a couple of states away.