Nicole Tasker Woods

I love weddings; the flowers, the dresses, the DJ–I think it is so much fun! I will be a bridesmaid in my friend’s wedding this coming Saturday. I fly out on Thursday morning and land in El Paso, TX around 1pm. My mom is flying out from NH to be my guest and the minute she steps onto the El Paso soil, the fun begins! The bride is planning outings every night for everyone because all of the guests (excluding the groom’s immediate family) are visitors in this town.

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On the ride into work, I switch between three radio stations. I usually start off with 1070 AM to get the daily news on politics, the stock market, any local shootings and traffic updates. But the commercials become annoying after about 15-20 minutes so I switch over to music and alternate between 104.3 FM (an alternative rock station, the one that had the Alanis Morisette raffle tickets which I won, yay me!) and 105.1 FM (a country station that I get the best reception on when leaving my house and heading to work).

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The seasons do exist in Los Angeles, though not to the extremes I grew up with in New Hampshire. Winters are rainy instead of snowy. Summers are dry instead of humid. Spring gets lost between fall and summer instead of standing out as rebirth for newly planted bulbs and baby green grass. Or maybe that’s just how I remember it. I think that from the moment you are born and grow up with your immediate family, everything around you has a strong impact on how you’ll turn out in the next 20 years. What you remember as “home” is something you strive to recreate in your apartment or townhouse with your significant other, upon moving out from under your parents roof. And it is never perfect until you have made a new home in this next chapter of your life.

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In addition to Monday, I also have tomorrow off. I do love a four day weekend. I am a huge fan of sleeping in and bumming around the house in my pj’s. I have a fun day planned tomorrow when it is just Cali-And-Me. Temps should be in the high 70’s so we are going to go to my in-laws for a swim in their pool. After a couple tiring hours of running and jumping after tennis balls, we are going to head to Golden Spoon for some fat free frozen yogurt. Nothing like a cool treat on a hot day!

Saturday we are all gathering at my in-laws to watch the USC game and then Sunday and Monday are reserved for sleeping and movie-going. I know what you are thinking, I lead a very exciting life. But these are by far my favorite kind of weekends.

After Labor Day, the countdown is on for my friend’s wedding in El Paso, Texas—three weeks away! My mom is my guest to this event and I think it was the perfect choice—this wedding has turned into a girl’s weekend away from our men. We are getting all dolled up every night we are there and are going to fully enjoy our time together. I will be posting some pictures of the event, so be sure to check back in!

We went white water rafting a couple of weeks ago on the American River near Coloma in Northern California. The long weekend trip was like a mini-vacation, except for the sore bottoms and aching backs Saturday night after we rowed 21 miles through the river rapids that day. I enjoy this yearly escape up North with family and friends. My parents even flew out from New Hampshire to join in on the festivities. This is their second year and for Ryan and myself, this is our fourth. Every year there is a core group of people who attend regularly, sometimes there are a few newbie’s, but it is mostly the same old crowd. The hotel we stay at is about an hour and a half drive from the rafting spot, but it is a one-of-a-kind location (St. George Hotel).

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I am not a very graceful person. I have more than my fair share of clumsy moments. Even when I walk, I slam my heels into the ground and make a loud clip-clop everywhere I go, whether I’m in sneakers, dress shoes, flip flops or heels. Sometimes I notice the noise and make an attempt to walk softer, but to no avail.

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I had what I was quick to label a ‘lucky day’ on Friday, July 18th. That Friday, I received a call on my cell phone I had won a raffle that I entered the day before. The item being raffled off was two tickets to see Alanis Morissette in a very unique, private setting that only a select few would get to attend. The event was held by 104.3 My FM, a local radio station I started listening to daily when they started the $10,000-a-day-give-away. I never won $10,000, but I did sign up as a My Club member, which is where I earned points every day and ended up using those points to enter the raffle.

Ryan was my guest at the 104.3 My Stage on Monday, July 21st when Alanis Morissette was interviewed by Billy Bush on camera in front of 10 guests (us included) who watched from leopard print pillows on the floor. The room was small and the stage was less than 3 feet from us. Audio clips from the interview were aired on Billy Bush’s radio show and video clips were supposed to show up on Access Hollywood. I know I got on camera a few times, but have yet to find the episode that shows me and my smiling face.

After the interview and performance, we got group photos with Ms. Morissette and I even got to shake her hand.

Ryan and I saw her in concert on her last tour at the House of Blues in Hollywood. We had a great view of her on stage and had a wonderful time–we always enjoyed her music. Her lyrics are very unique and poetic, one of the main reasons why I like her so much. This next album she is promoting sounds incredible and we are already trying to get tickets to her next stop in Los Angeles at the Orpheum in November.

Back to my lucky day…

I got a free massage that Friday afternoon after work and felt so lucky, that I bought myself a Mega Millions lottery ticket. I kept it simple and just spent $1 on a quick-pick. I felt that I shouldn’t push my luck by picking meaningful numbers. Needless to say, I did not win the $125 million that was in the pot.

Monday night my Tivo picked up an episode of The Bachelor: Where Are They Now. The same old stuff was in the first half, but DeAnna and Jesse meeting and chatting with Trista and Ryan was in the second half. That was quite enjoyable. Trista was able to tell DeAnna about what to expect in the next year as far as being in the public eye. Ryan talked to Jesse about how to handle people that come up to them as if they know him and to always be nice. I thought it was cute and I always enjoy seeing where these people are now. Even though they are not really celebrities or millionaires or anyone that we should even care about—but I still have an interest in them, and I know I am not the only one.

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Well, it is all finally over. DeAnna chose Jesse in the final two hour episode last night. They even had an hour long After The Rose Ceremony episode to follow, but I could not watch three whole hours of the show, I had to get ready for bed. I like that the season is shorter because the episodes are always two hours long, but that does cut down on the available time at night that I have to watch it.

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I watched this week’s episode last night and was very proud of DeAnna. She is making the right decisions for her and is not thinking about anyone else when giving out the roses. As well she should! This is the one thing in her life where she deserves to be completely selfish. Why lead someone on to avoid hurting their feelings? That is what Brad did to her two seasons ago and look what happened.

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I am in a blah mood right now. Work wraps up in 90 minutes and I’m fighting the urge to get myself a candy bar from the vending machine in the kitchen. I am excited to sleep this weekend and be low-key every single day. I think that a couple of movies are in our future plans, which I won’t mind leaving the house for. Right now, I have nothing clever to say, no anecdotes to share and nothing at all humorous. So instead I am going to tell you a non-story. Do not think for a moment that it ends with some witty remark, it doesn’t. Here goes…

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I was not surprised to see three of the four hometown dates going extremely well. There were lots of happy tears at Jason’s house when he said goodbye to his son, Ty, and you could see DeAnna melting every minute she looked at him or talked to him or played with him. She mentioned how comfortable she felt around his huge family, which is so similar to her own.

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