Pharmacy open/State Fair-Kelly

Here are a few photos from recent life, the first one is when Grandma and Grandpa stopped by the new pharmacy in Lincoln after car-shopping with Paul. So far, the pharmacy has been running smoothly and we just had a new coupon mailed out for Super Target pharmacy which has really driven our business. Yesterday, on my 12-hour day, we filled our record thus far of 51 prescriptions. I'm very pleased with how well everything is going in the pharmacy and am grateful to be working with such wonderful people.
This picture is me at the state fair last weekend. Paul and I decided it would be fun to attend since we're right in Lincoln but decided it was a bit of a rip off! We ended up riding one ride (the Big Ben that drops you straight down from a tower) and it cost $6.50 for one ride! Then we needed an order of fried oreos to split (which we were introduced to in Iowa and found to be very tasty). These were $3 for 3 oreos! I couldn't believe it but we paid it anyways since it is just once a year.
Our state fair weekend was a very busy one, we had some neighbors and co-workers over to the house for a grill-out on Friday night, then went to the state fair and Dundee Days (in Omaha) on Saturday. We stayed with some friends on Saturday night and decided to check out the new mall in West Omaha on Sunday afternoon--it's a very nice outdoor mall but I didn't find anything I needed to buy. I, brilliantly, suggested we take Highway 6 back to Lincoln instead of the interstate since we were in no rush to get home but we wound up in Fremont!!! I'm still not sure how this happened, I swear we were on Hwy 6 but somehow this became Hwy 275 and it took us an extra hour to get home. I think we'll be sticking to the interstate from here on out.
That's all for now, Paul and I are looking forward to the first Nebraska football game this weekend, we have tickets and will be cheering/ wearing red like all good Huskers do on Saturdays. Maybe I'll see some of you there:)-Kelly

American Idol Pictures

Here is a good crowd shot that I took. There were tons of crowd shots, but I chose to upload this one only.
Another picture of the judging tables. There were 11 of them.

This is a picture of the judging stations set up. The 4 yellow lines were taped on the floor and we stood in a line of 4 in front of the judge. We then stepped forward to the judges table when we sang.

An estimated 8,000 people turned out in Omaha. So here are 3 of the 12 pictures I took! The rest are cat pictures on this film :-).

AMERICAN IDOL--PART 2

Well, here I am finally at home. Today was a LONG and exhausting day. I'll upload some pictures later of the Qwest Center and how it was set up once I use up the rest of the film on my disposable camera :-). But here is the full story of today's auditions.

It started out with me being woke up with a strong summer thunderstorm moving through Omaha. And here they said that it was supposed to stay north of us. But after that, I was up and at it at 4:00 am. They wanted us in line between 5-6 am you know. So I had my wakeup call and stuff and then went back to sleep for 30 minutes. I had a quickie shower and got my bracelet wet, but luckily it didn't smudge my number off of it. But yeah, then I was up and at it and ate my breakfast at the hotel. Thank goodness they started continental breakfast at 3:30 am!!!

So then here I am checking out of my motel room and heading for the Qwest Center. So I get there at 5:30 or so. LONG line already. They want us there by 6 keep in mind. But needless to say, we still had people coming in and lining up at 8:00. And auditions were supposed to start at 8:00. And yes, they were late at starting them and we didn't even get into the building until 9:00 or so, if not 9:30. But once we got in there, we had a good time singing Born in the USA (although that doesn't apply to me). After that, we did some chants and screams and yes, I lost my voice. Hehehe, for awhile that is. But then I was warming up all day and singing.

So a few hours go by. Around 2:00 I FINALLY got to audition. I was so excited!!! However, when I sang for the judge, my voiced cracked and I was not thrilled. Needless to say, they did not choose me to move on. No one in my group moved on. The judge said that we were good, but not what they were looking for. My question is this, what WERE they looking for? Obviously people who could sing, yes, but what else??? I mean, you can't say star personality and stuff like that because they don't get to know us in 15 seconds!!!

Okay, back to the auditions. There were supposed to be 12 judges, but only 11 were judging. No clue what had happened to the 12th one. But it was set up in the arena so we could hear everyone sing and see everyone. The singers were on the floor in front of the judges. So yuppers that's what happened. Like I said, I'll upload pictures later.

Well, in the end, it was an EXCELLENT experience, yet boring in a way. But I cried after I found out I didn't make it only because I was disappointed in myself for my voice cracking along with the fact that I REALLY wanted to make it to the second round. I guess my dreams have been shattered of meeting Randy, Paula and Simon for tips on improving my voice. Well, there's always Philadelphia still!!! HA HA! Speaking of which, it was rumored that 25 states showed up to the auditions. We had some people from Idaho, others from Missouri and Wisconsin and we even had a person from Connecticut fly in with her father AND some person drove from NEW YORK!!! Talk about a LONG trip!!!!

But I'm glad to be back at home. I splurged and spent about $22 in cat toys. My cats were SO thrilled tonight in getting them!!! They just LOVE them!!!! But yeah, now it's time to read 4 days of newspapers that I'm behind plus today's and go through my mail. Anyway, that's the story behind the auditions and yeah, I didn't make it, but there's always next year!!! That is, if htey are relatively close. If they're in Iowa or Kansas or something like that, I MIGHT go again, but for now, I'll just look forward to seeing the auditions on television this January of who made it in Omaha.

Ta ta for now.

Suz

P.S. How's that paper Keeley?

AMERICAN IDOL PART 1

Well, I have made it to Omaha. Seeing Keeley, Cleone, John, and Christian along with Uncle Dave has been good. Hanging out with Grandma was good also. But here I am to say how I've been doing. I went to the Qwest Center on Wednesday and walked in a quarter until 10 and got my bracelet and walked out. I didn't even have to wait in line!!! That was awesome!!!! So I was thrilled. I then ventured around Omaha and did my shopping (majority of it). Bummer, no clothes for me, but $22 worth of cat toys!!!! I hope my cats will like them.

So okay, you're wondering where I'm at huh? I am sitting here in the hotel and typing this. Here's the lowdown for tomorrow's audition. I am going to be in line between 5 and 6 am. I then have to wait until 8 am when the auditions start!!! Grr, I hate waiting in line. But the good news is that I should get to audition. But we go through about 4 rounds before we go to Randy, Paula and Simon. But the bad news is that they won't be back until October. So yeah, if I make it that far (which I won't) I have to be back in October. Good luck on that!!! HAHAHA!!!

Anyway, we get like 15 seconds to audition and that's it. So yeah, not much time for me to sing my song. But I'm singing Josh Groban's You Raise Me Up. He's coming to the Qwest Center at the end of the month. I was going to go, but then decided not to because I'm up here for this. But you never know, I might come back--highly doubt it though. Anyway, back to the audition. So yeah, that's what I'm doing.

I plan on making the venture back to Hastings tomrrow night. So I will update the blog and tell you how the audition went. I just found out that Paula, Randy, and Simon are at every site the day of audition except US!!! That really sucks. So WE have to come back in October, but no one else had to wait. So this really bites. But anyway, that's the story here.

Well, I better get to bed. It's late and it's 9:07. So yeah, better go to bed. I'll update people tomorrow. Good night!

Suz