Irreplaceable?... I think not.

Move over Beyoncé, here comes Sasha Fierce.

For those of you that don't know, I feel in love with Beyoncé Knowles on my Honeymoon, November 2006. (She is second only to my one true love, Elvis, not counting Matt.) Between sitting at the beach, eating ice cream and lounging by the pool, I found some time to watch a video-countdown where I was introduced to the Number #1 Hit Song: "Irreplaceable." I immediately became a huge Beyoncé fan, bought her album, put "Bootylicious" on my ipod and even rented "Dream Girls."

Following our introduction, I became an admirer of her coolness. She had style, she kept her private life private, and she dated Jay-Z, who with, coincidentally, I share a birthday. I followed her every move through People and was so excited when those two crazy kids got married! It was a beautiful ceremony where she asked all of the guests to wear white-- ultra style points to B.

Then, this past Saturday night, I cozied into bed a a little later than planned, realizing that I was missing Saturday Night Live where Beyoncé would be the guest musician. I only caught her last song performance, but I felt like maybe I was missing something. Maybe in the introduction, she explained why she was wearing a Rockette-swimsuit outfit. Maybe she explained why one of her back-up dancers was painfully white and had no rhythm. Maybe she explained why the "new" song, "Single Ladies. (Put a Ring on It)" sounded just like five of her other songs from the B-Day album with different words. I turned off the set and went to bed, confused and a little worried about her lack of taste and judgement.

(The outfits look just like this, without the hat. To get a better idea, you'll have to watch the hilarious spoof SNL did of her "Single Ladies" video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TegjiG2mrzI)

But, like all of us who are in love, I let it slip my mind and went on to church the next day without giving it another thought.

Then, Monday morning, I got the text message from my friend, Carrie: "Beyoncé has a new alter ego named Sasha Fierce. Watch out. Just thought since she was your hero, you should know."

Devastated. Apparently, when I wasn't paying attention, Beyoncé decided to release the album, "I Am... Sasha Fierce," which debuts tomorrow. She explained to NBC that Sasha is her alter ego that is more fun, more sensual, more aggressive. How could she go Garth Brooks on me? After I was so loyal? I even paid money to see Dream Girls! Tiger Lily to Beyoncé, or Sasha, or whatever. Right, Irreplaceable.

If she can't bounce back from this, I might have to find a new super-star to obsess about. Rihanna is dating Chris Brown and she has a poodle. She would be a good rebound.

Ok, so let's be real. I'm buying Sasha's album tomorrow. I dedicate this TL to Carrie. Thanks for the heads-up.

Non-Lily Blog Tagging

My sister blog tagged me, and because I'm always game to talk about myself, I gladly accept!

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you (Reagan's blog, "Controlled Chaos" is already linked on my site )
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write six random thoughts about yourself
4. Tag six people at the end of your post
5. Let each person know he/she has been tagged
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted

Six random things about me: (Keeping with some of the question's themes from previous blog-tags)

1. I don't like beer at all but will drink it to be cool. For instance, I will have a beer at a sports bar if no one else will join me with something different. (I'd rather have a glass of wine any day!)
2. I am a sugar-aholic and go through phases with candy-obsessions. Right now, I'm on junior mints.
3. I love, and will wear my pink lipstick whether it's in style or not.
4. My husband is a better cook than me. Although this is no revelation.
5. I'm a pro-napper and could sleep at any time of day without missing a wink later that night.
6. I have three recurring dreams: 1. running line-drills for Coach Loucks, having too much bubble-gum in my mouth, choking on it and pulling it out, and one where I can swim through the air, breast-stroke style.

Ok, so I blog tag:
Jessica Linville
Meredith Porbeck
Kerry Boulware
(Do I have to ask 6, I don't know anyone else who would want to do it!)

Planning without the Plan

(Just because I needed a picture and I just love Mad Men.)

In the last few weeks, I have really been evaluating my plans for 2009. I've been thinking a lot about my family, my career and even what television shows will be on the horizon and subsequently on our DVR. Being a planner, I don't wait until late December, it's just too late to map out a course, and I've never been one to procrastinate.

What dawned on me this week is that "planning" and "the plan" don't really go hand-in-hand. Instead, things are really out of your control. Honestly, for all of my planning, how could I have possibly planned for my 2008?:

• First, I changed jobs. I now work at an advertising agency, leaving a sales career behind.
• I attended my 10-year high school reunion.
• I changed my email address. This is huge for me, and so, it makes the list. Abandoning RLSooner and moving forward with a more grown-up, name/last name email address was my official inauguration into adult-career-hood.
• I've gone back to school part-time.
• I've traveled to New Orleans, Atlanta, Tallahassee, Chicago, Napa Valley, Kansas City, and Hawaii.
• I put my foot in my mouth a number of times.
• I watched and became enamored with the first two seasons of Mad Men.
• I joined facebook, started a blog, and became addicted to a blackberry.

So my new plan (because once a planner, always a planner) is to try and be organized, have a purpose that is bigger than all of this, and see what happens.

Tiger Lily to planning, because it's just an exercise in organization that has nothing to do with the actual "plan." I'm pretty sure that Someone Else has things securely under control.

Rude and Oblivious. A double-whammy.

(If this sign could just spontaneously pop-up out of thin air up at the appropriate time!)

I've been traveling a lot lately and really enjoyed the post that my sister-in-law provided on my brother's blog, "Something Clever." She outlines the many things that bug her about traveling.

Please read her post, it's hilarious and you'll get worked up even reading the list.

It got me thinking that, I too am annoyed at people's rude behavior that is sometimes just plain annoying. My biggest complaint from my recent travels includes people talking at volume level 15 (on a scale of 1-10) on their cell phones. You know these people. You are sitting, say, in an airport coffee shop or searching for the next issue of People to accompany you on a flight, and the digitized version of "My Humps" blairs out from a fellow-customer's cell phone. She answers.

You are then treated to your fellow-customer's 10 minute exchange about who they saw at the party last night, what time their flight will land, how many times they've gone to the bathroom that day. It's crazy. And what is most annoying about the whole thing, is that they have no idea that anyone else is annoyed. They are having a blast talking to their friends and co-workers and don't have a clue that they are being rude.

So, this leads me to an article I read on CNN's website today, "Are you rude? Maybe you should think again." This article showcased a recent episode of Oprah. Our all-knowing, mother-of-everything-good, expert in every field of spirituality and reason, Oprah, talked to Jerry Sienfleld about his biggest pet peeve-- a lack of civility.

While Oprah reports that 80% of Americans say that rudeness is a national problem, 99% of those people who took the survey said that they are never rude. Tiger Lily. People think that being rude is a problem and they don't even recognize that they are being rude. It's rude, people!

Because I am so easily annoyed by others, I went to Oprah's site to take the quiz, Are You Rude? I'll be honest and say that I probably didn't score in the realm reserved for Mother Teresa. Instead, I was guilty of quite a few of my own acts of rudeness. Some of which include:

1. Talking on the phone while someone is serving me. (Think about when you get groceries.)
2. Interrupting a face-to-face conversation with a non-urgent cell phone call.

3. Typing an email while talking on the phone. (I at least try to make it where the caller can't hear the clicks...)

4. Guilty. But she's a small dog!

Those are just some examples. Please don't take this opportunity to point out my particular rude offenses, but feel free to add to the list of rude behaviors. Maybe we can just raise awareness. Knowing is half the battle. Tiger Lily to rude people who are totally oblivious sometimes. Myself included.