The spray tan story is both funny and sad.

My sister has gotten into some expensive situations with a few bridezilla friends of hers (my girlfriends were a lot more down to earth thank goodness).

I can't imagine letting a friend or cousin do this to me, put that level of pressure on. I would just decline, but that's me.

The bridezillas that get away with making extreme demands do so because their girlfriends allow it.

At least the brides in this story were giving away the spa treatments as a gift-- my sisters friend insisted that all 7 of her bridesmaids pony up their own $150 for facials and mani/pedis makeup and updos by HER chosen salon staff. No one was allowed to do their own hair and makeup. That is on top of the money they spent on her shower, shower gifts, wedding gifts, bachlorette party, the dress, the shoes, etc. etc.

It is ludicrous to spend three grand on your friend's big princess day. By the time my sister marries, no doubt this woman is going to have children and private school tuitions and a budget-- and probably, a tightfisted husband who will never permit her to spend that much in reciprocity.

But my sister couldn't stand up for herself and couldn't back down from the group's pledge of loyalty no matter what. She had a really good time at the wedding though and got a nice handbag as a bridesmaid gift. I guess that makes it okay.

I had a bad experience breaking up with a group of friends toward the end of my eighth grade year. Little did I realize at the time that I was involved in a common eighth grade social drama. In the midst of this, my family moved to a different town and I started over with new friends and a new high school, which was great.

But for a little while, I was very bitter about my jr. high experience, and although I have absolutely NO memory of doing this, I wrote very catty snarky comments on many of the pictures in my jr. high year book. This must have made me feel better in that moment.

Twenty years later, my mother, who is now the principal of that particular jr. high (now a middle school), unearths that yearbook from her basement and brings it to the school as "memorabilia."

Twenty years later, some of the students in that book are now teachers at that school and recognize their photos that I have captioned things like "stuck up cliquey ugly b!@*#".

NICE, HUH. I was mortified. So I apologized, but my mother hasn't yet apologized to me.

Will Farrell is great-- think of his great SNL characters-- the music teacher, the lovah (LOL just thinking about it!)

I wasn't crazy about the cheerleader but he was a prop for those skits anyhow.

Will Farrell is really talented, yes he is overdoing the obnoxious boob character but he has it nailed so what can you expect from Hollywood except franchising of a successful formula?

And John C. Reilly is fabulous. Did you see him in Chicago? In Boogie Nights?

How can you compare these talents with DANE COOK? Ugh. Dane Cook. Seriously.

yikes-- my husband and i are raising our kids in exactly the kind of household the LW describes.

intuition is how i make all my big decisions. make sure you do all the rational pros and cons first so you don't intuit yourself into a disaster-- but if reason and logic alone won't push you toward an screamingly obvious choice, then let your brain sort of float on air for a bit.

I have made huge decisions after very hard workouts, long hikes, and more than a few hours of spacing out and daydreaming.

i know someone who is incapable of making any huge life changing decisions without relying on just a little bit of weed to relax and remove all that logical blockage. for him, all those big changes have turned out to be very positive and forward moving, as it turns out.

you can stay stagnant-- or just stay still. remaining where you are is fine as long as you are doing so purposefully rather than fearfully. if you want to move in a direction, however, you just have to pick a direction and move.

you know, i just looked at a house I am 99% sure I want to make an offer on (if it passes inspection). if it is in decent structural shape, all logic screams buy it! its a good financial deal. there is definitely the side of me that is content in my existing house if the deal doesn't work out. its gonna be a hassle to try to sell my house and pack up and move. there will be other good deals in the future, maybe better deals in better places.

so what is pushing me forward toward this particular risk, hassle, expense and uncertainty?

oh, the fact that we had the same artwork on the walls. and her daughter loves dora just like mine. there is a pre-existing swingset on the lot. and finally, the sound of the ice cream truck ringing in the neighborhood during our entire visit on the property.

they have the mr. softee in that neighborhood, and mr. softee was the ice cream truck of my youth. it has a very distinctive song. the ice cream truck of my current neighborhood is a a good humor truck, which plays scott joplin. it is okay, but mr. softee is so much better. you see, one offers neon colored artificially flavored character popsicles, the other offers real soft-serve ice cream.

i can only interpret that truck as a sign to move forward, even if it just means readying my house for sale if this deal doesn't work out.