my ozzah best friend's wedding.

it seems as though everyone but me is getting married these days. that's quite alright with me, weddings are big helpings of stress. leslie's wedding was really fun though. it was my first experience of being in someone's wedding video (three times!!), being an official bridesmaid, and having a bouquet. so so much fun. but really very hot. if it ever happens, i'm getting married in january.


mr and mrs sam mckenna. he is scotish, like for reals. he is from the uk. his accent is sooooo cool. and his family was top shelf. really nice people. the bridesmaids all got a pearl bracelet from england. woo hoo.



leslie and sam getting their smooch on by the themple.


my temple feet and tan gams. woo.



the ACE gang post wedding.


the temple, i love to see it.



sunny day....


me and chanel.... besties.


sam and les's candy bar. sweet stuff, eh?


our bouquets. and some cool pics of the bride and groom.


bubble blowing contest between bridesmaids. chanel goes:


while i go:


(i won.)

had time between wedding and reception. what happens when i have extra time? i can has photoshoot?



leslie and the maids of the bride.

sam and leslie's cake.

me and chan with my favorite part of the wedding... the bouquets we got to carry.

the bouquet looked like it had broccoli in it. it was so cool.

i was quite sad when i had to throw mine away today :( i wanted to keep it forever.

me and connor. he is old now. almost seventeen. shoot.

exoh,

gabrielle.

for chanel, LSS, erika, noelle, sam, malleri, merissa, and ella.

... and a little bit for me too.

jonas brothers released their new single exclusively to members of their facebook fan group last night. the single is available tuesday may 12th for download so until then, this will have to do.

play it really loud and have a DANCE PARTY!! because dancing is good excercise and it makes you feel HAPPY!!





here are the lyrics for those who want to learn them before we drive around and listen to it in my car on repeat on tuesday (ahem chanel ahem):

i make the most of all the stress
i try to live without regret
but i m about to break a sweat
im freaking out
its like a poison in my brain
its like a fog that blurs the scene
its like a vine you cant untangle
oh i’m freaking out

everytime i turn around
something don’t feel right
i might be paranoid
i’m boarding the lines
cause they just might split
can someone stop the noise?
i don’t know what it is
but it just don’t fit
i’m paranoid yeah

i take the next stairway steps
to get some air into my chest
cant hear the thoughts inside my head
i’m still freaking out
that’s why my ex is still my ex
i never trust a word she says
i’m runnin all the background checks
and shes freaking out

everytime i turn around
somethings just not right
might be paranoid
i’m boardin the lines
cause they just might split
can someone stop the noise?
i don’t know what it is
but it just don’t fit
consider me destroyed
cause i don’t know how to act
cause i lost my head
i must be paranoid
i never thought it would come to this
i’m paranoid
stuck in the room
were staring faces ohh
i’m caught in a nightmare
i cant wake up
if you hear my cry running through her streets
i’m about to freak
come and rescue me
she might be paranoid
yeah
i’m boarding the lines cause they just might split
can someone stop the noise?
i don’t know what it is
but it just don’t fit
consider me destroyed
i don’t know how to act cause i lost
cause i lost my head
i must be paranoid


(someone else's lyrics, don't have time to edit...)

exoh,
gabrielle.

happiness.

happiness is me right now. and it may seem weird bc i have chosen to share my happiness with virtually nobody. "virtually" in this case means technology-wise... lately i have abandoned most of my electronic devices and decided to be on my own in a way. meaning... i don't send random texts out to people who don't appreciate getting them anymore, i don't blog about my life, i don't update my facebook status... the list really could go on, but i won't bore you. i am working on getting myself healthy and happy and clearing my mind and it's going really well. i do, on occasion, miss my computer friends... my bloggers, texters, facebookers... so i decided to update this just for them. i think there is one of them (HI SAM!) ok so... here is what is making my life so great. in random order...

1. my mom... she is funny, she is smart, she is quick, she is a hard worker, she is beautiful, she is my best friend. things are just better when she is around. and she doesn't have a blog OR a facebook. maybe that's why i can abandon mine so quickly.
2. music... music is always my staple. i love it. it saves me. right now i am loving maria taylor's new single (available on itunes...) "time lapse lifeline", and i am revisiting jimmy eat world's "clarity" album, the get up kids' "something to write home about" and the juliana theory's "emotion is dead".
3. yoga. i am OBSESSED. i never in a million years thought i would be a yogini, but i love it so much and right now, aside from keeping me sane, it is also helping me get toned, so... yeah. love me some yoga.
4. ACE gang bonfires.... so about a month ago, we as an ACE gang decided to do bonfires once a month to "burn the man". we basically just light all the crappy stuff from our lives on fire. it's very therapeutic, and also very stinky. but the stink is worth it bc we get great pictures and listen to amazing playlists (courtesy of M-O-I) and play "truth, dare, or fire" which is my new favorite game.
5. gossip girl... and i'm not even ashamed. i don't care. i wish teenage girls would never watch this, bc it's pure sickness, but i'm an adult and i have morals so i am allowed to watch it as one of my guilty pleasures. the clothes and people are beautiful, and something about chuck bass just gets me. even though he is... whatever the male version of "slut" is, and he may have a hare lip (according to d.w.)? but i don't care. sign me up, i'm hooked.
6. the jonas brothers on snl/the jonas brothers 3-d movie... yeah, that part about me being an adult and having morals, blah blah... it goes out the window when these dreamboats are involved. i don't even care WHAT they are doing, i am watching it, and i am probably LOL-ing. strike that, not PROBABLY, i am. and when it comes to the jo bros, my "LOL-ing" comes in the form of a school girl giggle.
7. movies with garrett... garrett is such a patient friend. he watches HSM with me. ALL THREE OF THEM! and he isn't even critical. i love him and i am glad that we get to do movie nights together. he always makes me happy.
8. my NY boys.... i almost NEVER talk to them, and i see them even less, but i love them. kenny and brad, just knowing they are holding up the east side makes me smile. kenny is a super fantastical journalist and is doing some magical duties for the NY times ( i know, right?) and brad is some super hairstylist cutting hair with Carsten. love them both, and couldn't be prouder. unless of course bradley STOPPED listening to lil wayne. right now.
9. david and malia.... my second family. i want them to adopt me and take me with them to harvard. can i be your elle woods? please?
10. jigsaw puzzles... this is me being in FULL ON granny mode. how can i act like a tween AND granny at the same time? no one knows, but if there was an award for doing it, i would-HANDS DOWN- win it all the way.
11. chanel... well, she was my balentime this year and she watches buffy and listens to the get up kids with me. and she accompanies me to bookman's while i search for hidden books, and without her, there would be no one to tell me how OUT OF CONTROL i am. she's a gem.
12. concerts... ohhhh boy! there was a dry spell in az for a while, but concerts are back in full force. here's my sched... 02/25 MODEST MOUSE!!... 03/07 JIMMY EAT WORLD CLARITY SHOW... 03/25 MARIA TAYLOR... 04/14 CONOR OBERST... 04/24 THE FAINT... 05/19 FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS.
13. long lost lovers.... basically sam and sandee. i miss them and there's just nothing that can be done about it. it is what it is, and that is life. booooooooooooo.


alright, readers. those are a few of the many reasons i am H-A-P-P-Y. notice how none of them had to do with having a boyfriend... IT CAN BE DONE!

exes and ohhhhs,
gabrielle.

HSM3 at midnight.

proving once again that i am not afraid of posting grossly unattractive pictures of myself, i have included some from the night me and a few of my ACE gang went to see HSM3 at midnight. you can tell the pictures that i am delirious in. i want you all to know that after waiting an hour i got so loopy that i did my shirley temple impression for the entire theater (and believe me, that's not one to be missed), and at one point, i may have confessed to wanting to marry tim curry circa 1987. god save the queen.


me and chanel.
chanel and me part duex.

well, there that is. that pretty much sums up the night, folks. she's ashamed, and i can't say i blame her.

malia and me.

malia, chan, me, syd, and muck. we are SSSEEEEEWWWWW KEWWWWWLLLLL.

waiters and spiders.

shananagins in my life often come in the form of waiters. just ask anyone who has ever gone out to dinner with me. it is usually the worst with kenny and i, we seem to always get the weirdest of the weird. but last night was one for the books. samantha and i went to the cheesecake factory, and the rest, well... here it is.
i don't remember the poor guy's name, but it started off badly when he had to write down our drink order. sam was like "he isn't going to last a second at this table, he just had to write down our drink order for two waters". then he starts to tell us about the soup of the day for tuesday which is cream of mushroom. but he is giving this speech (the "tuesday cream of mushroom" speech) and he starts mumbling about how tuesdays are his favorite day b/c it's mushroom soup day or something? all i could really decipher was the word "tuesday" which he said about nine times in 23 seconds. he just started rapid firing the word "tuesday". bewildered, i was. his next favorite word was "navigate" which i could tell he thought he was so clever for using. example: "you two ladies need help navigating the menu?" or "can i assist you in some navigation of the menu", etc. at this point, sam and i are aware that our dinner experience is just going to be straight up nonsense. let me also inform you that the table behind us is discussing politics, the classic obama v. mccain duel. they are of course sorely misinformed on every topic and loud as all get out. the table in front of us is discussing filet mignon and their friend amanda, who thought filet mignon was fish! you can imagine how silly amanda is in person, can't you? there have been three birthday songs, and you know how those get me going on the worst rampage. amidst the circus, our waiter walks by with a piece of cheesecake and stops by our table and holds it in front of our faces. he crosses his legs, leans on the pillar and says "white chocolate raspberry cheesecake... our number two most requested cheesecake. just wanted to let you ladies see what you're missing so you can save room for dessert" and walks away. i wanted to die, really. are you kidding me? i couldn't even look at samantha during this fiasco. don't taunt me with another man's dessert!! when we're done eating, he packs sam's cheese pizza into a nice to-go box and then he comes back with it, and does the crossy-legs, lean-on-the pillar business and has the bag in one hand and he tries to pull out the menu and flip to the dessert page with his other hand, just one hand. so he is like, leaning and using his left hand to open this menu/book ordeal and his hand is totally twisted into this claw affair and i'm just thinking "just set down the bag!" then he gives us this speech "you know, here at cheesecake factory, we're famous, and rightly so, for one thing... and that's cheesecake" i cut him off here bc i really couldnt handle anymore at that point so i just tell him our order. we did not, much to his dismay, go with the second most requested cheesecake, we decide on the brownie sundae. i tell the wiater this and he's like "the brownie sundae cheesecake?" and i'm like "no, just the godiva brownie sundae" and he's like "the godiva brownie sundae cheesecake?" and i'm like "no, 'tis not a cheeesecake, my firend, just the regular dessert" (which he could not fathom by the way). so he brings us our dessert and sets it between the two of us and spins it all the way around- a complete 180 (or 360, i'm not really sure) just so we can get a good look at the brilliant craftsmanship of the sundae. then he proceeds to watch us take the first bite, like his face is like level with our table. i'm like "you're dismissed, thank you." then he does one of those "how is everything looking, you guys sure know how to pack away the desserts... har har har, sigh" i don't know who told waiters that it is flattering to girls to tell them how impressed they are with how much we can eat, but they were sorely misinformed. don't get me wrong, i like to impress the males, but not with my dessert eating skills.
i don't know if any of this comes across as funny or ridiculous as it was in person, but it was a straight up, classic waiter fiasco. oh, i also hope i didn't come across as rude or beastly, as i am neither. you just have to understand the situation and know that there was no way we could have taken him seriously.
the best part of the night was perhaps when samantha was attacked by a spider. it all started when we were outside her house and walking to my car and there was this huge spidey on her light pole and she was like "please come and observe the hugest spider you've ever seen" and i was like "you better kill that b/c once it is done with that pole, it is headed straight for your room and it's gonna lay eggs on your face". seriously it was a pregnant spider b/c she had like this huge bulb on her butt and i'm telling sam, that is where she holds the babies. sam decides to spare spidey's life but when i unlock my car door and my lights come on, they highlight this string of silver right in front of sams face and i am like... what the? so i'm about to tell her to step back just as she feels something on her and starts rubbing her face frantically and i am like "you just stepped into a string of spider web" and i am pretty sure that mistress spidey heard us plotting her demise, and being insanely unbalanced like she is, she shot a web out at us. i mean, clearly she knew what she was doing. i have to say, i would have done the same thing had i heard two girls plotting not only my death, but also the death of my loved ones (i.e. the baby eggs on her bulb). when i talked to sam today she said that she checked her entire body last night for spiders. is that like, instant karma for laughing at our waiter? i hope not. i don't really feel like spending my wednesday looking around for spiders droppin' eggs on me. that would really put a hitch in my giddyup.

tilly and the wall

this past saturday i went to the tilly and the wall concert with chanel and leslie. we had blasties sweating babies while crammed in the small "venue" known as the modified. i think chanel was getting frustrated with lester and i because we wouldn't stop talking in accents- first british and then minnesotan. and then we started talking about politics... don't ask me how bc i know not. lester is the funnest to discuss poli's with though, bc she is super smart- just like me.

woah, i have more bad news. so, my computer broke last week, right? right. and today, my cell phone broke. isn't that lovely?! well it's not. i am BROKE as a JOKE... i am in serious need of some cabbage and i mean the green stuff, not midgets. seriously, whose computer breaks down and then five days later their phone breaks?! THIS GIRLS!! so if anyone wants to make donations to, uh, me... call me.

brad and angie had their babies. i don't know how many of you follow those people, but i happen to think they are fascinating, and i cannot wait to see those little twins. she had a boy and a girl via c-section on saturday night. she named them knox leon (boy) and vivienne marcheline (girl). the bidding for the first pics of the twins is already up to $16 million which they are donating 100% to charity. yeah, they are amazing people i'm pretty sure.

sorry this blog is boring. i really just wanted to get those pictures posted before i lose them. har har... NOT.

love, gabrielle.

happy birthday, dear samantha... happy birthday to yooooooooouuuuuuu!!!

last tuesday (yes, i am behind on my bloggage) we had a surprise party for my best friend sam at flicka's in scottsdale. sam and i have been friends for five years now and it seems crazy to me that i've known her since she was SIXTEEN! that's such a baby! i am very proud of how she has turned out, and really glad that we have stayed friends through all the madness. happy birthday, sam! we love you!!

gabby, sam, erica.

the remains of the birthday cake.

nano and john-john.

BFFL.

i'm this many!

and for fun, here are some of my favorite "sam moments" from our history.