Day 9...One of my most embarrassing stories...

Day 9...One of my most embarrassing stories...

Welcome to Day 9 in the challenge!! For anyone who is just tuning in, I am participating in the "31 Days of Blogging Challenge" hosted by Faith, Juliette, & Allie (Seriously, go check them out---they are fabulous ladies!!). So far I have covered everything from some of my guilty pleasures to some things that I would NEVER do here & here. What could beat that, you ask? How about an incredibly embarrassing poop story? Everyone loves those, right?

I am going to start out by saying that it takes A LOT to embarrass me. I am super clumsy and pretty much anything that can go wrong, will go wrong in my case, so I handle embarrassment fairly well. Running up the steps to catch a train? Of course my flip-flop would break and I would go flying forward, schoolbag over my head, causing a domino effect of people in front of and behind me. On a game show that will air on national TV? Yea, "colored textbook" sounds like a great answer!! (Yes, I was on a game show and no, I did not win...not even close...you can find the blog post all about it and the episode HERE).

With that being said, it is not completely impossible to embarrass me. There are a few things that even the most courageous, confident person can't handle. And this is one of them...

(cred) 

The year was 2002. I was just shy of turning 17 when I started dating my first ex; we will call him Blake. Blake came from a large family--he had 2 younger sisters and 4 younger brothers--all of whom lived with him & his parents. One night at the start of our relationship, Blake asked if I wanted to come over for dinner to meet his parents and siblings. Being that I was 16 and had never met anyone's family before, I was beyond nervous. I agreed, knowing that I would eventually have to get it over with, and off I went. The beginning of the evening was going good--nice family, easy conversation---and then it was time for dinner.....

One thing that I should mention is that I have the WORST stomach issues in the world. Seriously, not to divulge entirely TMI, but as soon as I eat something too oily, too greasy, too spicy, too creamy, too acidy (basically anything besides crackers) I am running for the bathroom. It is awful and painful and both of my sisters and my dad also have it...and the doctors have NO idea what it is...nice right? Anyway, I hadn't told Blake about the joys of my stomach yet, and I was hoping to make it through dinner and the rest of the night without needing a reason to tell him. Well about halfway through dinner I realized that I wasn't that lucky. (Remember when I said that anything that can go wrong, will?)

Luckily, the bathroom was upstairs and several rooms away from the kitchen, so I wasn't worried about his family hearing or smelling anything. After quickly finishing up in the bathroom (obviously I moved as fast as possible so to not raise any red flags at the dinner table! A girl---pooping---on a date?! At 16, that was the LAST thing I wanted advertised!) I washed my hands and went to unlock the bathroom door. I tried several times before it hit me. OH.MY.GOD. I was stuck in the bathroom. I pulled and pulled and the lock wouldn't budge. The panic set in as I contemplated climbing out the window and running home as fast as I could. I then realized that the bathroom was on the 2nd floor, and I had no other choice...

I started pounding on the door and screaming for help, hoping that I was making enough noise to attract the attention of his family. Sure enough, after 30 seconds of freaking out, I heard his family coming up the steps. His.Entire.Family.

"Are you ok?"...

"What's going on in there?!"...

"Are you stuck?!"...

I heard the concerned questions from the other side of the door as Blake's dad went to grab some tools. That's right, his dad had to take the door off of the hinges to get me out!! And you know what happened when the door finally came off? The smell that had been safely trapped in the bathroom with me emerged into the hallway at lightning speed, hitting Blake, 6 siblings and 2 parents smack dab in the face. Seriously, I wanted to melt into the floor.

So let's recap:
*My stomach sucks
*Blake’s entire family had to experience a terribly unfortunate odor on Date #1
*The door had to be taken off the hinges
*I make a terrible impression the first time I meet families
*In the 2 years that we dated following this event, I never again locked the bathroom door

Luckily, with age comes less concern about what other people think about you. My hubby knew about my stomach problems long before we were even dating, and I haven’t been embarrassed about it in years! My 16-year-old self? Different story…

Stop by tomorrow for my favorite summer things and then Friday for some of my favorite Pinterest funnies! Also, be sure to check out Juliette, Allie & Faith's pages for some more embarrassing stories and a link up!

The time I was on a game show...

I have always been a huge fan of game shows, especially Jeopardy. After taking the Jeopardy test online and realizing that you had to be a rocket scientist/biochemist to know the answers to any of the questions, I decided to go a different route. Whilst browsing through some casting calls back in 2007, I saw that "Chain Reaction" on Game Show Network was casting. So OF COURSE I had to go for it. After submitting my application and going through the Q&A process, I got a call back saying that they wanted me and my 'team' to come in for a face-to-face audition! My team consisted of myself, my older sister Nikiya and my friend Kate. A few days later we were sitting in an auditorium with 50 or so other people waiting for our audition. We must have done pretty good because we got a call back to come to NYC and film the show!! To say I was ecstatic is an understatement! Fast forward a few weeks, and it was the morning of the audition. In order to get there we had to get up at the ass-crack of dawn, drive to the train station an hour away, and then take an hour train ride into the city. My sister woke up sick that morning, and after plenty of begging and coaxing I convinced her to suck it up and get dressed. Out the door we went on the way to the Big Apple, imagining how we were going to spend our winnings....

Fast forward 8 hours later. Not only had we gone up against 3 of the smartest nerds I have ever met and lost horribly, my sister also got yelled at for chewing gum on national TV, and then we got back to the car to find a hefty parking ticket on the window! We had spent around $150 between the train and cab ride to the studio, plus another $180 on the ticket, and we won a whopping zero dollars on the show. On top of that, I had planned a viewing party at my apartment for everyone to watch our episode, which now would end up turning into a half hour of laughing and cringing over our lack of game show skill. Lessons learned:

1. Guessing answers from your couch is MUCH easier than guessing an answer when you have 10 TV cameras in front of you and a studio audience behind you
2. When parking at a train station in Trenton, NJ, be sure to look around EVERYWHERE for parking meters (even across the parking lot and around the corner...because apparently that is where they are located)
3. "Colored textbook" is not an acceptable answer and will cause you to lose the game

All in all, it was a fun experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I videotaped the episode and have watched it a bunch of times since then, each time still laughing at how awful we really were. The best part of the whole thing? 7 years later, GSN still airs my episode and every few months I will get a text or Facebook message from someone I haven't seen in years telling me that they are watching me on TV! I once got a message one time from my high school geometry teacher telling me that he had just watched my episode!! If you have spare 30 minutes and would enjoy a good laugh, I have included the link to the video here. (I am the one in the middle) Please allow the following disclosures---First of all, I don't know why I couldn't take 20 minutes before the show to dye my damn hair! My roots are about 7 inches long!! Second, I look like I am about 14 years old, but I was really 22.  Third, the make-up artists caked a good 5 pounds of makeup on my face before the show, so I kind of resemble a hooker. And finally, I swear I am not nearly as arrogant and as the video makes me seem! Don't say I didn't warn you!

Always being on the lookout for my next game show adventure, a few months ago I found a casting call for a show in LA looking for a fun, energetic family to star in a new trivia show. Hello?! Perfect family, right here. I sent in the application and got a call from the casting director, but unfortunately the show never took off. With the application, they wanted a picture of your whole team together, and I figured why not share that picture with all of you?

 

From left: My hubby, my niece Camden, me, my momma, my nephew Mason, my brother-in-law Brett, my nephew Aiven and my sister Angela. And yes, we seriously all dressed alike and posed in my living room for a picture. 

I hope everyone is having a fabulous week so far! We are in the middle of an ice storm down here in Florida--apparently the worst storm in an entire generation--so its been a lot of vegging out by the TV and snuggling under cozy blankets!! And I have no complaints when it comes to snuggling!!