Mental Garbage

I Crack Myself Up

2012-02-22T11:20:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to make sure no one at work got a nasty surprise when reaching for chocolate....

Pinterest Makes Me Feel Inadequate...

2012-02-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

I decided to participate in Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop today... It’s been a long time, but I really liked this prompt. It was: 2.) Are you on Pinterest? Share the last five items you pinned,choose one and let it inspire a blog post.

So here are the last 5 items I pinned:

These are just too cute for words... Right? Am I right?? They are on my “So cute, I’m gonna vomit” board.

From my “I wish I knew how to do my hair like grown-ups do...” board. I think I could actually achieve this one...

That’s true friendship... (From “Crack Me Up, Please”)

Who doesn’t sing “Soft Kitty” to ease sickness?! (Also from “Crack Me Up, Please”) I love Big Bang Theory.

Again from “I wish I knew how to do my hair like grown-ups do...”

So the one I’m sticking with is the last one there... I honestly DO NOT know how to do my hair! I can leave it down with it parted on the side or the middle, pull it half up, or put it in a ponytail. When it is longer I can braid it, though I rarely take the time to french braid... I have had success ONCE with a cute “braid my hair across my forehead” thing, but only once. I have not been able to repeat it even though I have tried sooooooo many times.

That’s it. Really. That is the extent of my hair styling “prowess”.

And I wish that I could do more... But my hair doesn’t like to curl, I can’t really have bangs because of my annoying cowlick, and I just flat out have no idea where to start. I simply comb my hair out after a shower, let it dry, and then brush it in the morning – all the while wishing that I had the skill to do something new...

But since I don’t – I will just keep staring at these pictures... Thinking how pretty they are...

And really missing when my hair was red... (But not wanting to make the effort to have it be red again...)

"Just Keep Swimming"

2012-02-01T12:24:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know I said that I wasn’t going to making this all about Nutrisystem and losing weight, but that’s really what’s going on in my life right now... So here’s an update since I’m a week in as of tonight...

I got my first shipment of food last Wednesday – it was a huge box and totally took over the pantry. I was really excited to start trying it, so I went to the grocery store and got the fruits and veggies and other stuff that I am supposed to supplement it with.

And that's just the breakfasts and lunches... The dinners and desserts are in another cube... And the giant pixie stick? In the trash..... haha But my Orbit Sweet Mint Gum? A pack of that is with me at all times... It tastes like those pink, green, and yellow butter mints... Mmmm...

The first night for dinner I had the one thing that I was the most skeptical and scared of seeing as how none of the food needs to be refrigerated or frozen... The hamburger.

I bought sandwich thins instead of buns to have all the sandwich-y things on because they fit into the plan and was mentally psyching myself up for what I would find when I opened the packet... The horror. I didn’t remember to take a picture – I think I was too freaked out... I may or may not have had a hint of hysteria in my voice when I said “THEY EXPECT ME TO PUT THIS IN MY MOUTH?? That’s what she said....” It looked like those organic pet treats that are just dehydrated chicken or beef – because that is what it was. I stood there staring at it with a very frightened expression on my face until I finally put on my big girl panties and just got to work. To “reconstitute” the burger, you pour boiling water into its little try and let it sit for 2 minutes. I did just that and I have to confess...

It was good. Like, shockingly good... Go figure.

So far I have been pleasantly surprised with the taste of the food. I was worried that it would be like eating cardboard, but most of it has been really good!

My lunch the other day... Super yum. The entree was some cheesy chicken noodle thing...

I start off the day with a protein shake (of which Strawberry is TOTALLY the best flavor) and a Nutrisystem Breakfast. Morning snack is a “Power Fuel” – usually either yogurt or cottage cheese. Lunch is a Nutrisystem Lunch, another “Power Fuel” (I usually go with string cheese, almonds, or my personal favorite – edamame. Because, let me tell you – half a cup of edamame out of the shell is a CRAP TON.), salad, and another veggie. Then afternoon snack rolls around and I have a “Smart Carb” – usually fruit like peaches, pears, or applesauce... Then get home from work have dinner – Nutrisystem Dinner, “Smart Carb”, more salad, and more veggies. After that is a Nutrisystem Dessert. (And a ton of water mixed in there... Along with my beloved Diet Coke.)

You guys? I am eating all stinking day...

Don’t get me wrong with that though – it has not been easy... I have had good and bad days. I have had psychotic thoughts like slapping the container of chocolate toffee covered macadamia nuts (LOVE) out of J’s hand and laughing like a crazy person at the look on his face as they all roll around the floor... But then I have good thoughts about how happy I am that the scale is moving in the right direction...

I have been really sad when I have moments where I am hungry and just want to eat something horrible for me, but then that turns around into moments where I am really proud of myself for fighting through.

I have moments where I love the veggies I am eating and moments where I crack my friend at work up by glaring at the sugar snap pea that I am about to eat and telling it that I hate it with the fire of a thousand suns...

Add in my body detoxing from all the crap I’ve been putting in it for years and the massive headaches that has caused and it has not been a dream.

But the scale is totally moving – Down 4 pounds in the first week!

That is what makes it worth it. And the headaches are fewer and farther between... As are the cravings... I figure it will get easier as I go along... It definitely helps that I had awesome support from my bff over the weekend and from J (even if he does eat candy in front of me...) - they make it not suck so bad on the bad days... (and I may or may not have just had something in both of my eyes for a second there... hate when that happens... haha)

I try to keep Dori’s words from Finding Nemo rolling in my brain when I am struggling – “Just keep swimming.” *I don't know why videos don't want to embed anymore, but here's the link in case you don't know what I'm talking about.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmyUkm2qlhA

Because I can totally do this.

And I am gonna look ridiculously hot. Just so you know...

Determination

2012-01-22T12:45:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about trying Nutrisystem for a while now. I know a couple people that have tried it and said that the food was good. The only thing that has stopped me in the past is the cost - it just seemed like a lot of money to spend on the food, but when I really looked at what I am spending on food (even bringing my lunch to work every day) it really wasn't a whole lot more.

So today I finally sucked it up and ordered my first month of food.

I am really excited to try this program - there are a lot of websites out there that have real-world reviews of it and they are overwhelmingly positive. I have struggled with my weight for years and enough is enough. Whining about it and pouting about it doesn't burn as many calories as I wish it would...

I go through phases where I am really good about working out, but then something will happen that will make me miss one or more workouts and then it becomes far too easy to continue missing them... Last time was P90X and I was rocking it for a while and losing weight, but then J's schedule changed and the time that I would normally spend working out was my only chance to see him for the day and crazy me wanted to spend time with her husband. Luckily I haven't gained back all the weight that I lost while I was doing that workout, but the scale is definitely moving in the wrong direction again...

I don't have any plans to make this all about my "weight-loss journey." Mostly because (as titled) this is my place for my mental garbage - it is what it is and it's its own little organism... I will definitely talk about it as I go, but seeing as Nutrisystem isn't giving me anything for this and I am ponying up my own cash here, they aren't getting any exclusive stuff... haha But I will be posting updates.

Wish me luck!!

Umm - Happy New Year?

2012-01-20T16:16:00.000-08:00

I took two weeks off work for the holidays and kind of went on an internet/social networking sabbatical at the same time. Then once I got back to work, I have been so busy (seriously – I came back to 297 e-mails waiting for me my first day) that my brain is melted and I can’t get it function enough to make a coherent post. So until I get back to my normal level of busy/stressed/SUPER exhausted, let’s catch up. Grab your diet coke, coffee, tea - whatever tickles your pickle and let’s talk.

- We did some dog-sitting for our friends after Christmas. As you can see it was a rough life:

Admission: I contemplated putting ‘ruff’ life instead, but that seemed just a little too gaggy.

Even for me.

- I got this message the other day at work when I was trying to pull up a floor plan to see where someone sits at another one of our offices. It seems a little ominous.

Useful for a paid assassin though.

- I’m determined to use the coupons that I get all the time. Normally when they come, I put them on the table next to my purse and fully intend to take them with me and use them. And that never happens. Most recently: I received a $5 off coupon for Fresh and Easy in the mail – we went to Fresh and Easy approximately 10 minutes after receiving said coupon – coupon remained at home on the table. As a motivator, I purchased myself this nifty little coupon holder:

Cute, huh? Find them here. Lots of super cute patterns.

Sure, I totally could have made this on my own at home for cheaper... But I had an Amazon gift card that I totally would have used to purchase it if I hadn’t forgotten it on the table!!! See?! Desperate need. Now I always have my coupons and stuff with me :-)

- I got this error today when I tried to load a webpage - I guess if you are going to pause, do it gracefully...

- Etta James, the woman that sang the song “At Last,” died. It’s very sad. And the way I just phrased it is WAY better than the way People.com had it on their Facebook page:

Rude, People.com. You just couldn't wait could you?

I always thought she seemed like a nice lady...

- I am obsessed with the Albertson’s grocery store game. A woman in my office and I trade game pieces that we can’t use, but neither of us have even won the stupid little $2 prize!

Aggravation! So close, yet so far away. On so many prizes.

- I’m going to be starting an Etsy store as soon as I get around to taking some pictures. Stay tuned! It’s mostly going to be cuff links and stuff like that.

I really can’t think of anything else... My brain hurts from thinking this much. Seriously.

Have a lovely weekend!

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-25T01:05:00.001-08:00

I stumbled across this video a little while ago and can't stop watching it. I just love it... So enjoy. Hope everyone is having a very Happy Christmas and gets everything they asked Santa for!!

Watch "T-Mobile's Home For The Holidays Surprise" on YouTube

(I did this on my phone while laying in bed, watching the Oddities marathon, and trying to fall asleep. Unfortunately this meant that I couldn't embed it, but the link should work fine and it's definitely worth watching...)

Randomness

2011-12-14T16:39:00.000-08:00

So... Yeah. The insane business has not subsided at all. I am still feeling like I am several steps behind. I absolutely have to send off two presents that are sitting on my kitchen table, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to bust out the wrapping paper and actually get them ready... I still have a couple people that we need to get presents for, need to pick up J’s See’s (we get each other a box of See’s chocolate for Christmas), and I haven’t gotten anything for my work friends. I thought about making something, but I am feeling like I really don’t want to do that anymore. It was either going to be cookies or black coal candy that I found a recipe for. I just know that if I messed up a batch, I would collapse into a ball under my table and refuse to come out until after the New Year. Since my brain is more than a little melted, this is just going to be some randoms to catch up...

- I have a project that I really want to do in my hallway... Currently I have a large picture of Marilyn Monroe up there that I have had for years, but now it kinda bugs me and I think I would rather have something more personal. I’ve seen tons of picture walls on Pinterest and I really want to do one... I’m thinking about hitting up Goodwill next week when I’m off for the holidays and looking for a bunch of unique frames that I can fill with all sorts of things. I don’t know if J would like it or if he wouldn’t even care...

- Flat tires seriously suck. We were about 40 miles into our trip home from Nevada when the tire pressure light came on. We pulled over, found a screw in my right rear tire, swapped out for the donut, and had to turn around to get to a dealership to get it fixed because the from road-side assistance that I had on the phone wouldn’t bring me a new tire no matter how much I begged. Luckily we got to the nearest dealership 20 minutes before the service department closed and they were able to patch the tire. I am now firmly against ever having another car that doesn’t have a full-size spare tire. If I had a full-size spare, we could have just swapped it out and kept going. It looks more and more likely that I’ll be getting a Highlander as my next car.

- My entire immediate family was in one place at the same time for the first time in over 6 years for Thanksgiving. It was nice to see everyone and we spent way too much time staying up too late talking and playing games. Good times :-)

- We had our Holiday Potluck at work Monday. I brought Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes again. So yummy. Unfortunately I have an entire dozen left over! And I did not drop them on my front walk in the rain like last year...

- I finally “decorated” for the holidays. This is about as good as it gets...

I guess that’s about it for now... This train of thought has derailed...

It's a Good Thing It's My Friday

2011-11-10T16:19:00.001-08:00

Because I could not handle any more of this after the 50th time fixing it:

"Who's the worst copier in the world? You are! Oh yes, you are!"

And after someone so kindly told me that they were pretty sure they saw one of the mice plaguing our office run under the cabinet behind me, I will now be sitting like this for the rest of the time that I work here...

And that makes my knees hurt...

But soon I will be on vacation for a few days. No rodents allowed....

Can Someone Get Superman to Fly Around the Planet and Slow Down the Rotation Already??

2011-11-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

My brain has pretty much melted. I’ve started this post about 50 bazillion times and deleted it after the first few sentences. All I want to do is be able to get some words down and have a post to show for it. Even if it’s a terrible one...

I’ve been so busy when I’m at work and then busy when I come home and I feel like I’m constantly 10 steps behind. My house is a train wreck right now because cleaning up gets shoved to the bottom of my to-do list for the 50 other things that keep popping up on it.

It just seems like a constant stream of work events, errands, and craziness with trying to get some time to relax with friends thrown in... And that feels like it has barely happened. Even when I do find a minute to relax I feel like my brain is either so melted I’m a zombie or I can’t really relax because my brain is constantly thinking through the things that I still need to get done...

"HAVE to clean off the kitchen table... How long has it been since I washed our bedding? Sooo many dust bunnies – MUST VACUUM. Really need to go through the books on the bookshelves and clean them up. Why are there so many old magazines on the coffee table? How is EVERY SINGLE trash can lid in the kitchen broken?? Need to go through my closets again and get more crap out. My car is disgusting – need to do more than just drive through a crappy car wash... How is there so much trash in my car’s trunk??!! It’s getting really chilly in the morning – I really need to get a new jacket. I seriously need to go clothes shopping – must get new tops, can’t keep wearing the same crap every week to work... Do I want to put my order in for the Kindle Fire? Need to find new bras – stupid Target stopped carrying the ones I like... Gotta start getting everything organized for the camping trip next week. Definitely must get my car in for an oil change before we go to Vegas for Thanksgiving. Why hasn’t the stupid towel rack been fixed in the bathroom yet?! GO TO BED EARLY!! Stop forgetting that the white load of laundry is still sitting in the dryer! Still haven’t cleaned the rifles since the Appleseed event two weekends ago... Seriously need to go grocery shopping – wheat thins and cream cheese does not equal dinner... Don’t forget to put new registration sticker on your license plate! When are the cats going to learn to clean their own litter boxes???? Crap, they need food – how long has that been empty? HOW IS IT NOVEMBER ALREADY????????? Why haven’t we gotten our new windows yet? Or the new hot water heater?!?!”

And that’s just the HOME running list... Work has its own list.

“Gotta create the tracking report for the new incentive... Another new report to create for boss. Need to request payments from that incentive. Why haven’t I received the information I need for the payments from the other incentive?? Need to reconcile my purchasing card. Have to check to see if my AMEX charge has loaded in the expense system yet. Holy crap I let my vacation time MAX!! Gotta remember to request days off. Another new report to create for boss. Need to find out if there are pool cars that need to come back from the Dealership so that I don’t have to find a ride back from dropping my car off for its oil change. Need to do the ranking. Have to update my 15 different morning reports. Have to update the wall thing tracking our objective for the month. Need to organize. Need another storage box for paperwork. Another new report to create for boss. Why isn’t my neighbor at her desk – I hate having to answer her bosses’ phones when she’s not there! Need to go get the mail from downstairs. Can’t forget to go to lunch early this week because I have to cover the receptionist’s lunch break. Need to pull my weekly reports and e-mail out the reminders. Why didn’t he just give me the correct information for what he wanted – now I have to complete recreate the information because he’s terrible at his job. How can someone be SO bad at a job that they’ve done BEFORE?!?!?! Still haven’t heard on a handful of itineraries. Surprise – I get to create name badges for a trip coming up! Another new report to create for boss. Have to update a PowerPoint slide with the current info. Have to update all of my month-end reports. There’s a change to one of the codes – have to update every single one of my reports to reflect it.”

And that barely scratches the surface. Of THIS week only.

Time is FLYING. It feels like every time I blink, an entire month is gone.

How do we slow time down? The extra hour this weekend for Daylight Saving doesn’t count...

Things I Want

2011-09-28T10:02:00.000-07:00

I have wanted a Tablet for quite a while now... I’ve talked about it a little bit on here... I see all these pretty shiny handheld computers and the green-eyed monster starts poking me in the back. But I just couldn’t justify spending so much money on one. Even the less expensive versions with less storage space are in the $400 up range.

Then there was the fire sale on the HP Touchpad that I missed out on... $150 is totally within my impulse buying range. But they went in a blink of an eye – and continue to! I keep missing them by seconds...

Today Amazon unveiled the new Kindle Fire. I. WANT.

It’s only $199 – not much above my impulse buying range... It’s full color, touch screen, has what they are saying is a super-fast browser, unlimited cloud storage for Amazon content... You can play with your Apps on it, watch shows/movies, browse the internet, check your e-mail... Oh, and it’s still a Kindle, so you can read on it too...

I have generally leaned more towards the slightly large Tablets – the 10.1 inch screens instead of the ones that are Kindle-sized – in my jealousies and pining. But for some reason because this is a Kindle on steroids, I don’t have a problem with it being smaller... In fact, it’s kind becoming a selling point because it will just take my Kindle’s current permanent place in my purse without taking any extra space...

I may be adding my name to the pre-order waiting list before the day is out...

Since I immediately titled this post “Things I Want” (that’s right, I recklessly title my posts before I write them... I like to live on the edge.), I feel compelled to list more things that I would like in my possession:

- The two new Limited Edition Harvey’s bags that are probably already sold out... (And this one because it's super cute...)

- The Hunger Games movie to be out – now that I have read the books (almost – I am more than halfway through the third one) I am slightly obsessed with seeing it come to life

- My new business cards

- A vacation – it’s been way too long. My last “real” vacation was the cruise we took for our honeymoon... 6 years ago. I would love to go back to Alaska.

- A new laptop. With the newest everything on it. In red, please.

- Cookie dough cupcakes – I realize that I am fully capable of making these at home and that is what I will have to do in order to have them, but I would like them to just magically appear. It would be awesome.

- A house closer to my Bestie. We’re there all the time anyway... Why not just live closer? Plus, their area has way more restaurants and shops... I really like it there.

- A new car. Don’t get me wrong – I still adore my IS250, but I still have another YEAR before I get to order a new car. This will be the longest I have ever had a car... (Boo-hoo first-world problems...) I think I might get a Highlander next...

- My Rifleman patch. We took a rifleman course a couple weekends ago and while I was able to secure the status of “Sharpshooter,” I didn’t make it up to “Rifleman.” It’s the elite. We are going to sign up again next month. I will get it this time. I fully plan on buying a jacket just so I have something to attach the patches to and I will wear it everywhere. For bragging rights.

One of the phases of the test. I'm the one in white. My friend/coworker is the one next to me. And J is the gray edge of shirt on my other side...

- The weather to continue getting cooler. I am so not a summer person and it has been really nice not to have to crank the AC as much to be happy...

- Oh... and World Peace.

What are you wanting right now?

Four Years of Nagging is All it Takes – Keep Your Chin Up

2011-09-23T15:24:00.000-07:00

From the moment that I was placed in the job I am currently in (I did not choose to be in this job – it was chosen for me...), I have been fighting to get my title changed. I didn’t like it.

Secretary.

It brought to mind images of tan pantyhose, big hair, shoulder pads, and taking dictation. None of which I have or do. When I got placed there, I took control of the job. I dug my claws in and I made it mine. And that word had nothing to do with anything that this job did anymore.

It grew into an obsession. I would no longer tell people my title. I cringed when someone would use it – out loud or in writing. I fought just to get that word that makes me crazy changed. “Assistant! That would be better! Why can’t we change that one word??”

Don’t get me wrong – there is nothing wrong with being a secretary. When you break things down, even the highest person in your office is just a paper-pusher like everyone else... My problem was with the way people say it. “Oh, she’s just a secretary.” Like I was somehow less, like I did less, like I was worth less. And I absolutely 100% was not less.

I took on everything that they threw my way, all the while thinking that they would eventually HAVE to agree with me... See how I was doing at least two people’s jobs worth of work and never refusing or throwing a fit (out loud...) when they added more to my daily tasks. But there was never a reaction. Instead it just started feeling like I was drowning – like I was being punished for being awesome...

And I can say that because I am awesome. I have no doubt about that. I am damn good at my job.

Finally the tiniest ray of hope – they promised to change the hateful word. A momentary spark... That was quickly snuffed out by the amount of time that passed without hearing a single mention of it. MONTHS went by.

I began daydreaming about how lost they would be if I deleted all of the reports that I created and update and disappeared... Wishing I would be able to see the looks on their faces as they began to truly realize everything that I did... All while knowing that I would never do that in a million years...

I began looking for other jobs – things where I would no longer be embarrassed to tell people my title. After either not having the guts to leave the company I’ve worked for for 12 years or not getting the position – the most recent because they ended up going with someone already in that office... I had pretty much resigned myself to going to work every day, kicking butt, and hating every second of it.

Until this week.

My boss asked me to come into our assistant general manager’s office. It was like when a cop pulls behind you and you start going over everything you’ve done while driving to think if he got behind you for a reason... Immediate thoughts of “Crap, what did I do?? I know I haven’t been as ‘sunny’ as I used to be, but that’s not worth talking to me about, right???”

Those immediate thoughts were crushed under the news.

My new title.

Analyst.

It may be a meaningless word to you, but to me, it is everything. It’s what I’ve been fighting for. It’s not about money for me – it’s about being able to hold my head up when people ask what I do. It’s about my job having a title that actually fits what it is instead of being locked in the past with what it was… When he said the word, my jaw dropped and there was a brief back of forth of “Wait… What?” and “Seriously?!” And the one that had them both laughing… “I would really like to hug both of you right now!”

There are still things that I would definitely like to change about my situation at work (and I still firmly believe that I was never meant to work...), but this is a big band-aid that I have been screaming for until I felt like everyone around me must be deaf. I feel like I’ve finally gotten the recognition that I’ve been jumping up and down like a hyperactive Jack Russell trying to get since they moved me in and I took over…

It’s a good feeling.

What Would I Save? (certainly not something as stupid as crackers...)

2011-09-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

A while back I was laughing pretty hard at a post of Noa’s from www.ohnoa.com and was reminded of it when she posted something else that referred back to it. In the post she was talking about The Burning House project. To put it simply, people submit a photo of what they would save if their house happened to be on fire...

There are some that are full of sensible things like car keys, cell phones, laptops, epi-pens, etc. Some that were full of sentimental things like photos, signed first editions of books, childhood toys, etc. And then there are the ones that are just too ridiculous... The ones that made Noa crazy and I definitely felt the same way while scanning through the pictures.

I won’t deny that some are very beautifully arranged... But then I started really noticing the little things in them...

My list of things that do not need to be saved if your house happens to be on fire:

- Spray Paint

- Visine

- Tic Tacs

- Gum

- CD’s

- Normal, everyday Forks/spoons/knives

- A spork

- Plastic flowers

- Lip Balm (there was a lot of Burt’s Bees featured... You know they sell that at the gas station, right?)

- Deodorant (certainly can’t replace that...)

- Scissors

- A tiny jar of Nutella (while I do love Nutella – I know that I can buy more...) and peanut butter

- Drugs and alcohol

- Burritos

- Moleskine notebooks - mountains and mountains of them... (Well played, www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.com, you called it...)

- A lemon

- A 2-hole punch

- CANDY BARS

- ROCKS!

- SALTINE CRACKERS!!

- CEREAL!!! A BAG OF CEREAL!!!!!!

And a personal favorite:

“A comically large comb.” (Unless that was given to you by Bozo himself... Wait, no... You’d still be wrong.)

Seriously, people?? SERIOUSLY?!?!

I officially do not like these people.

But it made me think... What would I grab on my way out?

My cats

My purse (which contains my wallet, keys, inhaler, etc.)

My cell phone (if it’s handy)

My collection of Harvey’s bags – I know this is kind of shallow, but I’ve put a lot of years and money into building the collection and a lot of the bags are not for sale anymore...

If that’s all I had time for, then that’s all that would come with me. If I had to abandon the purses, I would... Would it suck to lose everything else? Oh yeah... In a big way. Would I mourn the loss of my photos? Absolutely... But would I risk my life to get them out of my house? Nope.

My wedding dress can go... Sad, but true. I got an amazing deal on it, it was beautiful, and it served its purpose... I really have no plans of having it boxed and storing it forever...

I don’t really have any jewelry that I would be devastated to lose that I wouldn’t already be wearing... J, however... He would have to just grab the drawer that his cuff link collection is in... If for no other reason than to save his elephant ivory cuff-links and tie pin shaped like Buddha that his grandfather left him. There would be absolutely ZERO chance of hoping to replace those...

Any important paperwork is secure in the fire-proof gun safe... (Should really put the ivory cuff links in there........)

I would be beyond sad to lose all of my books, things I’ve hand-made, little keepsakes, clothing items that I love... But I’d be much sadder to lose myself... See, the thing is... I’m quite fond of myself.

What would you save??

Randomness

2011-09-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

- My default response to “How are you doing?” is never “Fine.” It’s “FANTASTIC” or “Livin’ the dream!”

- I have often been accused of being sarcastic. See above default responses.

- J got a new faucet for our kitchen sink. It’s much taller and nicer and doesn’t leak. So it’s pretty awesome. Although getting it in was an adventure. As J said, “Who knew that something so simple could open a can of worms...” Apparently some part of all the chaos that is the plumbing under the sink (why do I need to know? He’ll take care of it...) was slowly leaking for no one knows how long... And he never would have found it if he hadn’t bought the pretty new faucet.

- They just moved an entire department-worth of people back into the upstairs portion of the office. This involved me losing my “buffer desk” next to me that stops me from having unwanted neighbors, having a group of VERY loud women get shifted much closer to me, and being way too near to a woman that eats tiny meals all day... While this may be a healthy way to eat, she tends to eat overly fragrant tiny meals and it makes me gaggy several times a day... (Hmm... Maybe it will help my diet plan too! **Silver Lining!!**) It also involved Jerky McFacepunch having to move out of his precious office into a cubicle. And all of his bitter pouting has been oh, so sweet.

- I’m hoping to catch a couple of the HP Touchpads when they get some more out there because I was really bummed that I missed the super crazy sale the first time around. And $99 - $150 is way more my impulse-buying speed than the price of an Ipad or even a Galaxy Tab.... And I really want one.......

- I FINALLY went to see the last Harry Potter! I am no longer a traitor to my inner nerd-girl... There just hadn’t been time until now for us to get to the movies... I’m so glad we made it. It was really well done and I may or may not have had something in my eye near the end......

- Banana Cream Pie ice cream from Ralph’s is delicious. It makes my mouth happy.

- I worked out for the first time in a couple weeks (J’s crazy work schedule was not very compatible with my workout schedule... At least not if I wanted to get to spend any time with him at all... Which I did...) and I am HURTING.

- My car had gotten so dirty that it was embarrassing... (and if you know me, that means it was FILTHY.) I had to give in and get it washed... It is ridiculous how much I love how it looks when it’s clean, but I just don’t have the time or patience to wash it or get it washed all the time...

- I want a new laptop really badly... Is there anything wrong with the one I have? Nope. Do I NEED a new laptop? Nope. Will I make myself crazy thinking about how I want a nice petite, portable mini-laptop that I can take with me everywhere until I break down and get one? Yup. I still regularly think about the laptop I originally wanted whenI started this little blog here... But they don’t make it anymore.

There is this little number that looks like oh, so much fun even though it is not NEARLY as sleek as a tablet.... And it comes in RED.

(Sidenote- I generally do not like Dells. At. All. But this kinda makes me want to hug it....)

- There were two 9 – 10 year old boys at Bed, Bath, and Beyond the other day while I was there shopping... They were running up and down the aisles playing tag and screaming. I have no idea where their parents were and why this was being allowed to happen... Or why no one else seemed to even notice that it was happening! So when I heard them coming, I nonchalantly pushed my cart out the end of the aisle and one of them may or may not have run directly into it while I told him that he should really consider behaving like a normal human being when in public... I didn’t hear them running around after that...

I won’t lie - it felt really good.

- We bought new sheets for our bed... I had to go for the 1000 threadcount sheets that I love to pet when I’m at Bed, Bath, and Beyond... They’re just so soft... BUT being ~~cheap~~ thrifty... I waited until I found some at Tuesday Morning. I mean, why would I spend $249 (which is what the sheets I purchased were originally marked – as are the ones I love at BB&B) when I could be a little patient and get them for $89.99 instead? We got them in “Mineral” color which is kind of brown-ish... They are apparently single ply Egyptian cotton. None of that really means all the much to me... All I know is that they are REALLY nice. They need a few more washes because they are still pretty stiff right now, but they fit our extra deep mattress perfectly and are very soft to pet...

- We signed up for a rifleman course in a couple weeks. I’m very excited and hoping to qualify my first time going... My friend will be going for her third time and has not yet qualified... She says she will be pissed if I get it first try.

- We went to our friends’ house for a bbq last weekend and I really enjoyed getting to play with their baby more. He’s getting to the laughing out loud, lots of personality phase of baby-dom. I had him laughing really good for a while and took a video of it... I think I might have been laughing at him laughing more than he was laughing at me... Laughing laughing laughing. (It seemed like I didn’t quite write “laughing” enough times in that sentence...)

Enough of the Blahs

2011-08-25T14:18:00.000-07:00

On a much lighter note..... This song gets stuck in my head all the time... And I love it.

99.9% of the time, this is the song that I belt out in the shower.

Even though there are clowns in the video and they creep me out.... Enjoy.

<iframe width="560" height="345" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/owNv81KIvAQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

**UPDATED** It doesn't want to embed apparently, so here is the direct link: http://youtu.be/owNv81KIvAQ

Woe Is Me or Pity Party, Table for 1

2011-08-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

I will be the first to admit that my problems are really not big in the grand scheme of things. Especially compared to some things that other people have to go through and deal with... In fact, I can fully admit that most of my problems fall under the category of “First-World Problems” - meaning, they aren’t really problems. (Example: I really wanted to buy a couple of those HP Touchpads that were on super-cheap sale, but they were all sold out...)

Like I absolutely, 100%, with-the-heat-of-1000-suns mega-loathe someone I work with. And I really hate my title (which they promised me was being changed - I no longer believe anything they tell me until I see it). But I have a steady, secure job. And they pay me. So, really, I generally just suck it up and deal. And most of the time it works.

Lately, though? Not so much. I even proved that the jerk referenced above is actually bad for my health. I bought a heart rate monitor to wear when I’m working out and, as a joke, I put it on to see what happens when he comes near me... While sitting at my desk working away my heart rate hovered between 62 - 66 beats per minute. When jerkface walked over - before he even opened his stupid mouth - I glanced down and I was well over 90 beats per minute. Sooooo not ok.

I just am not happy at work. I like a lot of people I work with... I really like the company I work for (and have worked for for 12 years). I even used to really like what I do... Until they added so much extra work to it that it makes me want to scream. Almost every day one of my bosses will give me a new report or project or task that is now 100% my responsibility... And I am waiting for either the breaking point or, I don’t know, just maybe a little recognition or credit. It’s like I’m being punished for being awesome at my job...

They know that I’m not happy... It’s pretty much impossible to hide. Especially from the people that know the history of last time I had to work with jerkface. Long story short - he called me “witchy” with a “B” because I didn’t laugh at a stupid “joke” he made... The “joke” in question? (Because it wasn’t even a joke...) “I’m going to lunch and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!” After this and repeated rude behavior to me, he was put in a different job and was pretty much told that he was not allowed to speak to me. Not even to say “Hello.” And now I have to work with him again.

Thanks, Murphy’s Law! You’re awesome!

They are even really supportive of helping me keep an eye out for openings at our other offices in the area... And there was an opening at our closest one recently. It was a big step up and would be a really nice promotion, AND it would set me free from having to see jerkface, so of course I went for it. I kept my expectations down because it was a big step up and it’s been a few years since I had anything to do with that department at this office. But then I was surprised with a phone interview! And it seemed to go really well. A little spark of hope started whispering that I might actually be a contender... And I started wondering if I would be lucky enough to get a call back as one of the 2 people that would get an in-person interview....

But that was a week ago. Every day that has passed this week has snuffed that little spark out more and more. I mean, how long could it possibly take to do four phone interviews and narrow it down to the two final candidates? Not this long! Even knowing how slowly this company works sometimes... So now, that spark is hiding way in the back of my brain whispering “But it still says ‘open position’ on the org chart...........................” while at the front of my brain is a big fart noise and a big thumbs down.

I was telling a friend about it and she asked if I was bummed... I told her that it would have been really nice, but it was a big stretch and I was genuinely surprised to actually be seriously considered for it... But I’m already so unhappy with where I am at work that it’s not really making me any less happy... Because I can’t really go down much further from here. Her exact words were, “Wow. That’s really sad.” I laughed. I have to laugh because, unless I am able to find something else, this is where my paycheck comes from. And I truly do like working for this company... I don’t want to leave it completely... I have a lot of friends and history here.

There are other big companies in the area that I have heard are also good companies to work for that I have seen have openings... But I’m worried that it will be worse to leave. What if the grass only looks greener because there’s more dog crap fertilizing it over there?

So I’ll keep on being awesome at my stupid over-loaded job and wishing the days away so that I can have my weekends... And I’ll keep watching for my opportunity to get away from the people making me miserable. And I’ll keep pushing my boss about my title change. And I’ll keep being furiously happy in the rest of my day-to-day...

And even though I prefer to live my life as an optimist, I keep telling that dim little spark to shut up and stop being stupid....

Because to let it work its way back up and shine brightly would hurt even more when I finally get the definitive answer if it doesn’t go my way...

But it still says “open position” on the org chart.........................................................

I'm, like, Totally Rad.

2011-08-11T09:56:00.000-07:00

We had 80's day at work last week, so I spent the weekend before it running from Goodwill to Costume Shops to Walmart to prepare for it... (Am I the only one that feels kinda weird going to Goodwill for clothes for a costume? "Excuse me, person shopping for their actual wardrobe... I need that horrible t-shirt to wear to be funny..." Just sayin'... I have seen other people able to find some really cute stuff at Goodwill - mine doesn't have any of that...) We were supposed to have brought in a picture of us from the 80's and then dress in our best 80's look.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.....

Mini-Me

Rockin' it.

My hair ended up crimped shortly after I went inside - a coworker had brought her crimping iron. I even had press-on nails that were like a french manicure, but with a difference fluorescent color on each nail. I rocked my 80's look with no shame - hot pink eye shadow and all.

I even went to the bank and the gas station... With my head held high and my purple skirt bouncing.

True Life: I’m a GENERAL Blogger.

2011-08-05T11:44:00.000-07:00

I suppose that pretty much covers me... If there were a category of I’m a RANDOM Blogger, I would feel even more comfortable there...

For anyone new visitors stopping by from Fabulous But Evil or Mrs. Monologue’s blog hops, Welcome. A little about myself and this little hot mess of a blog I write...

I’m -

- 30-something

- married to a great man (J)

- horribly addicted to my best friend (I go through withdrawals if I don’t see her very regularly)

- weird

- entertained by inventing new words (“Is that even a word?” “It came out of my mouth, didn’t it?”)

- a sporadic writer - especially when I have a lot going on... I write to relieve stress, but when I have too much, I disappear a little...

- a lover of lists

- completely random

- a full-time worker, but dreaming of a day when I won’t have to go to an office ever again

- easily irritated

- hopelessly addicted to Diet Coke

- impatient

- funny (at least I make myself laugh)

- ridiculously entertained by watching British or Irish Parliament (or House of Lords) on CSPAN. It’s wonderful. Seriously - watch it. They yell at each other and call each other names... Even the Prime Minister!

- a bookworm - always have been, but having my Kindle has made it even worse because I can take it everywhere with me and when I finish a book, I just download another...

- working on losing weight and getting healthy

- silly

- a home-body

- outgoing and shy at the same time

- no longer embarrassed by pretty much anything (even falling down the stairs in front of my boss... true story...)

- an excellent shooter

- Definitely not normal, because Normal is Boring

So.... Yeah. That’s a bit about me. I started this blog because I’d always loved to write and it was a good way for me to vent or get weird thoughts out of my brain. If I don’t release my randomness or crankiness, it just builds until my brain feels like it’s going to burst... I figure it’s better to do a controlled release of crazy instead of just letting it explode and tear through the city like Godzilla on a rampage...

So please take a look around and enjoy!

Best. Pencil Sharpener. Ever.

2011-07-29T12:08:00.001-07:00

That is all.

Our Grand Adventure in NOT Getting a New Couch...

2011-07-26T16:29:00.000-07:00

Our couch.... Oh, our couch... It’s done its job for quite some time, but it’s getting progressively more and more horrible... I was never crazy about the light sagey-green color, but it was comfy enough... Until it started to sag. And the cushions lost their comfy smooshiness (it’s a word... I swear.). And the cats decided that the fabric made great scratchy-post-i-ness (also a word) and clawed it down to the wood in places.

I’ve been trying to talk J into getting a new couch, getting this one restuffed and reupholstered, or even just buying those stupid As Seen On TV furniture things to put under the cushions and a slipcover... But none of it has swayed him. He says that he doesn’t want to buy a new couch just to have the cats scratch that one apart too. I tell him that 1. I don’t think they will if we don’t buy one made of a fabric that is just so satisfying to dig their claws into and 2. I CANNOT KEEP SITTING ON THIS STUPID UNCOMFORTABLE COUCH!

I think it was the weekend before last that finally convinced him that it was time... It was a lazy day and we both ended up taking pretty long naps on the couch. And woke up in blinding agony... And then a commercial came on for Living Spaces (if you have one near you and have heard the commercials a million times, you know you just sang it...) all about their “Warehouse Consolidation Sale” with the guy talking with the creepily calm voice... It was all too perfect and J gave in to “if we can find one cheap enough, then we can get a new couch that hopefully the cats won’t claw.” So we made our plan of going and wandering Living Spaces (SING IT!) last Saturday morning after dropping off J’s truck for service.

Saying we were overwhelmed would be a drastic understatement. There are just SO MANY COUCHES! You’d think it would be simple to find a standard sectional without a triangle corner piece that makes it extra huge... But no....... Apparently the trend right now is to have the biggest sofa you can possibly find... Extra large cushions, giant triangle corner piece, a minimum of two recliners, arm rests, cup holders, a chaise, and an ottoman bigger than my dining room table! And as much as I would love a room FULL of sofa... It's just not logical. We looked at and sat on way too many couches... We felt fabric samples and J told me that I absolutely could not get the long-haired faux fur fabric... (Dream killer...)

We narrowed it down to two couches - his pick and mine:

Not exactly his couch, but similar enough...

My couch... In all its glory...

His was a dark brown leather two seat by two seat sectional with a recliner on each end. I pointed out quickly that if it went in the room the way the couch is now, we would both be sitting on one side of the couch squished together and I would be the only one that would get a recliner because that’s MY seat!

He proceeded to try to create various scenarios to make the couch fit and have both recliners be useful... We even went home for a while so that he could bust out his stuff from architecture classes and make a scale drawing of the room complete with cutouts of the current furniture in the room that he could move around... Because that’s what you do. Obviously.

He then took the drawing back to the store, measured the couch, and created a to-scale cutout of the couch he wanted. Believe me when I tell you that there is NO WAY that this couch was going to fit in our house, have both recliners usable comfortably for tv watching purposes, and not be totally annoyingly in the way somewhere... But he was determined. I am still catching him playing with his little faux room - trying to figure out a way to make it work.

Unfortunately our living is set up in the crappiest way possible with hallway access, an angled wall where the fireplace is (which we NEVER use... Seriously - we blocked it off. That’s how much we don’t use it), kitchen access, and where the front door is... It doesn’t leave many options...

Vague representation of the room - using nothing but Word..... Pretty much guaranteed not to be to scale...

MY couch? It was so simple. Three seat by two seat dark brown leather sectional in the configuration it would need to be to fit where the current one is... AND it was $6 cheaper than his couch... Just sayin’... The only things? The arm is a bit high, so no more lounging with my arm propped on the arm of the couch... (Who cares?) and the “two” side is technically a chaise, so there is only a cushion on the back for one of the seats and no arm on that end. Now, I didn’t see this as such a big problem because that side would be up against a wall and we could just buy a really pretty comfy pillow to put there and BAM done. But no. J thought it was just too stupid for words that they would want it to be a chaise so badly that they couldn’t just put a back and a cushion for every seat on the couch.

So he immediately wrote mine off... And I did the same to his. So no new couch. After HOURS of looking and sitting and measuring and walking and sitting and lounging and measuring and..... SIGH. Same. Stupid. Green. Torn Up. Uncomfortable. Couch. Ugh.

Now we have to try other places...

All I want is a dark brown sectional!! Preferably made from soft leather!

I’m goin’ on Amazon....... They have everything........

Randomness...

2011-07-14T16:48:00.000-07:00

- J has been working nights... Oh - and days too. It sucks. I get to see him for about an hour or two every night between when I get home and when he leaves again... And most of the time he gets back home before I leave for work in the morning... He doesn’t work full days at work - just enough time to get things prepped for the night jobs... It seriously sucks. The two worst things are: 1. He is pretty much incapable of sleeping during the day so he doesn’t get much sleep all week and 2. I stay up too late and sleep like crap when he’s not there and then I don’t get much sleep all week either.

Needless to say (which apparently means NOTHING because people always follow that up with what they were going to say anyway.... Yes, I just irritated myself...) that by the time the weekend rolls around we are both grumpy. At least it’s only going on until SEPTEMBER! I don’t know if we can take another month and a half of this... SIGH

And it's been making me slack off on all of my "social networking" because the last thing I want to do with my small amount of time with him is stare at my computer.... But I miss being up to date on everyone and updating my little blog here, so I'm trying to get back on top of it all...

- We went out on our friend’s boat and had a lovely time. I even jumped in open ocean... With sharks and creatures and not being able to see or touch the bottom or anything... It was super cold and I pretty much only did it for the picture and to say that I did...

I may or may not vaguely be drowning J... It's hard to tread water while posing for a picture...

We found a Michael Jackson impersonator while we were in Long Beach for lunch... Dude had on so much makeup that everyone who saw the pictures thought it was a statue...

- My body hurts more from the first three days of my new workout than they did from the entire 9 weeks of my previous workout... I had been wanting to try P90X for a while, but didn’t want to shell out the money for it... J has been trying to get himself motivated to work out again and decided that he wanted to try it, so we got it. Unfortunately with him working weird hours, we can’t work out together like we had originally planned, but I didn’t want to keep putting it off. Now I will work out while he is taking his “before work nap” after I get home... And he can work out whenever he feels like it... haha

I don’t know how “ripped” I’m gonna get, but I am most definitely feeling it after three workouts... I like that it’s really your own pace... “Chest and Back” was basically a ton of pull-ups (I do a modified version using bands since we don’t have a pull-up bar in our living room...) and push-ups. Next was “Plyometrics” or “Jump Training” and then “Arms and Shoulders...” Today is going to be Yoga. And for each part of the exercises, you just do as many as you can... And then try to do more next time...

But I seriously can’t lift my arms right now.... And the stretching in yoga is either gonna feel really good or it’s going to really hurt. Or both.....

- Oh - and BTW - I had already lost 24 pounds from the previous 30-Day Shredding and EA Active-ing... I have found that there is not much that can instantly brighten my day as quickly as fitting into a smaller size of pants...

- But I felt REALLY lame when a guy in one of the workouts with a prosthetic half leg was doing WAY better than me on some of the exercises... Oh well... I’ll get there.

- Finally tried a frozen yogurt place by my bff’s house that may very well be a rival for Yogurtland and Cherry on Top for me... They have this amazingly delicious Black Cherry Tart... And their toppings are awesome... My favorites are the cut up Rice Krispie Treats and cut up Ho-hos... SO yummy. I can’t believe we didn’t go try it out sooner!

- True Blood is back and “lost little Eric” is cracking me up... I am definitely not upset to see an “Eric-heavy” season... Just sayin’... I love me some Eric Northman. Plus, Alexander Skarsgard might someday be my best friend...

- J and I bought Vibram FiveFingers... I got the women’s Bikila LS. I can’t remember what J’s are called. We have a lot of friends that swear by these shoes for running, walking, jogging, hiking... So we decided to give them a try. I was a lot more wary of them because I am generally disgusted by toe socks and feet... They are actually surprisingly comfortable.

I bought them at REI specifically because REI has such a good return policy. If I end up absolutely hating them, I can take them back... They seemed to be good during my workouts...

- I bought a cowboy hat... A second thing that I never thought I would purchase... But I am really pale and burn really easily, so I decided that I needed a nice hat with a wide brim to help protect my fragile skin... I like it; I think I picked a pretty good one...

- I finally met my new boss... He was in one day that I had taken a vacation day and then wasn’t in again for two weeks... Seems like a nice guy - although, I have only spoken to him for 10 seconds so far...

- I bought “Alice, The Madness Returns” for my PS3... It’s a creepy, twisted, and entertaining take on the old Alice in Wonderland story line... It’s a very pretty game and fun to play. And her costumes are AWESOME. I so want to go as her for Halloween, but I don’t think anyone would get it...

Image from here.

- I’ve been entertaining myself by playing with the Zombiebooth app for my phone... You take a picture of yourself (or someone else) and it turns them into a zombie. I didn't even have to make an angry face - it did it for me... And it moves around and growls and screams... SUPER creepy. My bff has told me that I cannot send any more because they really scare her... Maybe I’ll do my makeup like one of the zombie pictures for Halloween instead...

If I ever actually look like this, I fully expect J to put two bullets right between my eyes... I would do the same for him...

- I love my new Harvey’sSeatbelt Bag... They had a sale and a bag that I had been wanting (but not wanting to spend that much money on) was 50% off! I was legally REQUIRED to purchase it... Plus, I needed a new briefcase for work, and it is the perfect size... And look how pretty it looks with Lola...

- I found jellies at my grocery store! I feel like a little kid again when I put them on... They make me smile. I’m going to go get more colors! For $2, how can you not??

- I saw a little girl - couldn’t have been more than 8 years old - at the store the other day with her parents... She was wearing short shorts, an off-both-shoulders top with chain straps on her shoulders, and knee-high Converse... It was totally the uniform of the “Prostitot”. And TOTALLY not right... Why do parents let their young children dress like that? They are the ones that purchase the clothing and have the final say, right?

- I got a new water bottle that I think is really cool and I like it a lot... Kinda lame to get excited about a water bottle, but what can you do? Ha

LifeFactory 22 Ounce Glass Water Bottle - I got mine on Amazon.

- I am both extremely excited and extremely sad about the last Harry Potter movie... It looks SO good, but it’s the last one!!!!!!! I get chills when I see certain parts of the previews for the last one. I’m not planning on going to the midnight premiere or even going this weekend... I like to wait until it calms down a little bit so that I don’t have to be crammed into a too-full movie theater with noisy, rude people... I want to be able to enjoy the movie...

- It’s rainy and cool today and it makes me wish I could have spent the whole day cuddling on my couch...

- I bring Lean Cuisines for lunch most days and they have this points rewards program thing right now... I ordered really cute salt and pepper shakers...

Photo from here.

- I saw the pilot episode of a new show called “Alphas” on SyFy. As much as the way they chose to shorten their network name irritates me, the show looks like it’s going to be really good... It’s about a group of people that have special powers and how they deal with them and the repercussions while also solving crimes...

So there I am... All of my current randomness rolled into one neat package... :-)

Why Am I So Tired??

2011-06-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

This is a question that I ask myself more often than not.... And I think I’ve ruled out the possibilities...

- Not because I have to get up at 6 in the morning to get ready for work Monday through Friday... (And am not a morning person...)

- Not because I leave my house by 7:25 a.m. and then don’t see it again until 5:25 p.m.

- Not because I spend an hour every night getting my butt kicked by EA Active 2...

(and end up looking vaguely like this afterwards - bright red and sweaty...)

- Not because I then don’t get to eat dinner until closer to 7... And have to shower because I’m all gross from the workout... And want to chat with J to catch up on our days... And want to watch my favorite shows...

- Not because when I finally drag myself to my bedroom, I still have to take my vitamins, get stuff ready for the next day, set the alarm.... before I can curl up under the covers...

- Not because on nights when J comes to bed at the same time as me, I have to have my minimum half-hour of snuggle time to just relax and unwind in his arms before I push him away, roll over, and spread out because I can’t actually sleep like that... Seriously. I would burst into flames... I run way to hot at night to be squished close together with blankets on...

- Not because on some nights when he comes to bed at the same time as me and I have already gotten my snuggle time and rolled away, something that amuses me will pop into my head and I will randomly become a chatterbug and get him talking too and we will talk about ridiculous things and giggle like children having a sleep-over...

- Not because on nights when he stays up later than me, I take advantage of my lighted Kindle cover and read read read read read read.... “Just one more chapter!!” “Crap.... that chapter was a total cliff-hanger... Just THIS one more chapter......”

- Not because on nights when he stays up later than me and I force myself to leave my Kindle in another room, I end up watching tv or playing a game on my phone until it gets much later than I wanted it to...

- Not because on nights when he comes to bed later than me, he somehow makes as much noise as is humanly possible while coming to bed and wakes me back up if I was lucky enough to already by snoozing...

- Not because the kitty-cats think it’s funny to have screaming death-matches at 4:30 in the morning... Which require me to have to get up out of bed to put a stop to...

- Not because the same kitty-cats (mostly the girl one) think that it is funny to throw up in the middle of the night...

- Not because on Friday and Saturday night we end up completely losing track of time while hanging out with my best friend and her husband... Nothing makes time disappear faster than getting dinner, watching funny shows, laughing hysterically about the stupidest possible things (seriously - our shadows can make us laugh harder than almost anything...), swimming, playing cards, playing video games, sitting in the hot tub, going to Yogurtland, playing with their dogs..... Suddenly you wonder why your eyes are burning, look at the clock, and it’s 1:00 a.m.

- Not because I am quickly losing my ability to sleep in ALL day on Saturday... Once I get vaguely around 8 hours of sleep, I’m up... Plus, the day just feels so wasted when I sleep half of it away...

- Not because our friends just had their first baby and we love going over to see them and him...

(I mean... The wee baby Jackson? Too adorable for words...)

- Not because we’ve had birthday parties and pool parties and hiking and off-roading days and dinners and work to do on our camper and things that have to get done around the house and have been too busy to just sit and relax and read or write....

- Definitely not because I turned 31 back on May 25th...

- Not because I am highly entertained by wasting time making photos of me look like those WAY over-photo-shopped Facebook pictures that people post... The ones where you can’t even really tell what they look like anymore... And they are usually from a weird angle... And then spend more time texting them to my friends who know who I am making fun of... And then hilarity ensues....

"What you should know about me is that I’m very dramatic and just have this.... 'inner glow' that people find oh-so attractive....."

- Not because I have a tendency to drink two liters of water after I get home - in addition to the smaller water bottles and diet coke I drink at work and therefore have to pee a bazillion times...

- Not because there is something going around my office that is trying to catch me... I just don’t have time to be sick... And this whole “not being able to breathe” “do I have a fever or not” crap is getting REALLY old.

Or............. Wait. Maybe those are all the exact reasons that I’m always tired... Who knows? My brain is too tired to figure it out...

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder... And almost gives me ulcers....

2011-05-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

I got to go out of town for a work event. I had extremely mixed feelings about this... I was excited to go because it was going to be at a really pretty resort and there would be all sorts of fun activities and delicious food. I was having major irrational anxiety about the fact that I couldn’t bring J... It’s not often that we are apart for long periods of time. He’s had to travel for work a couple times, but somehow that’s not as bad for me because I am home in my comfort zone...

It’s not like we don’t do anything without each other - I go to hang out with my friends and go shopping without him regularly... He goes to play poker with old coworkers/friends every so often. It’s just weird to be apart. This time was especially hard for some reason - I spent the week or two before it with my stomach in knots every time I even thought about it. It was even harder on him this time - he even admitted to not being able to sleep the whole time I was gone.

He had taken the Monday and Tuesday off while I was gone to do some stuff around the house... He cleaned and organized the garage, installed new shower doors in the master bathroom, and organized the office and music room. The organizing was all in preparation for getting new windows (FINALLY). Last year was new roof, this year - tankless water heater and windows.

So Monday, I had to head out early to meet up with Girl Boss and another co-worker to carpool. I made it out of the house on time with minimal tears - I have become such a GIRL! I never used to cry easily... Now all it takes is a stupid heartfelt moment on Glee or something like that and my eyes start burning... haha

We made it to the event, got checked into our rooms - I had a cute little balcony off of my room with a little man-made river running by. The room was pretty standard, but nice... (Although a little odd that there wasn’t a full-length mirror anywhere....)

The view from across the lobby

My room

My view from my balcony

That night’s dinner was Fleming’s steakhouse. I had a delicious filet that was so massive I couldn’t finish it. I went back and socialized around the fire pit with everyone just long enough to show that I was there and then slipped back to my room where I read my Kindle until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore.

Tuesday was the main day where we went to a racing school to drive and ride in some cars. I spent my morning reading and lounging in my room. I went downstairs and had late breakfast / early lunch in one of the hotel restaurants - I had a burger with goat cheese on it. SO yum.

The driving was a blast - first we got to drive Corvettes through a track that they had set up to see who could get the fastest time. I was a couple seconds behind the fastest times, but at least I wasn’t the slowest... haha

Then they took us over to the “skid pad” and put us in Cadillacs that were outfitted with what are basically hydraulic training wheels. Using the hydraulics, they could raise the back end of the car to force you into skidding out. Our task was to get the car back under control... I was excited about this because I (KNOCK ON WOOD) have never been in a car that was skidding out of control... I thought it would be cool to see how it felt. I have to brag a little - I was the only person that never lost control of the car and spun out completely. I did have my instructor telling me that I was giving it more than enough gas - that it was about getting under control, not drifting... HA But it was fun!

You can kind of see the little training wheels...

Next up were hot laps around their real track in super fast Corvettes with a professional driver. This. Was. Awesome. My driver was crazy - he would drift around the entire hairpin and was going 110 - 125 on the straightaway. I actually got one extra lap because there was a car there (someone that was actually taking the course...) that got in our way and messed up the full speed lap. I could have stayed in that car until it ran out of gas. I very nearly disappeared back inside to get a different helmet and go again... haha

This shows a little bit of the cars going around the track... The speed on the straightaway and flying out of the pit does not come across as well as I hoped - it was FAST.

It was a perfect day... The clouds looked like a movie backdrop...

That night dinner was back at the hotel in their “fancier” restaurant. I had a heirloom tomato and goat cheese salad, a bison steak (so delicious), and goat’s milk ice cream with goat cheese in it over Indian fry bread. Have I ever mentioned my more-than-slight obsession with goat cheese? It’s out of control. After having the goat milk ice cream, I immediately researched and found companies that make it and stores that carry it. It’s really good... Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of my food - I was way too interested in eating it!

But I did get a beautiful picture of the sunset...

The next morning was time to go home! I was so happy to be home and we both we finally able to actually get some sleep.

And then this past weekend we spent the entire weekend lounging and relaxing. We ran a couple errands and J decided that he was going to make one of his gourmet dinners... He decided on duck. He didn’t want to do the usual orange sauce/glaze for it and decided instead to do a pomegranate brine overnight and then a pomegranate glaze. It turned out ridiculously delicious.

The duck - all sad and pathetic... waiting to be cooked

It's done!

He even loves to present the food in pretty ways... So delicious - the tartness of the pomegranate worked perfectly with the sweetness of the duck...

I love when he gets in the mood to really cook - he’s so good at it.

So how have you been?

Catching Up...

2011-04-22T11:14:00.000-07:00

I feel like I’m playing a lot of “catch up” lately. Especially on here - I just haven’t had anything worth writing a full post about... Maybe it’s writer’s block...

So to catch up...

- I chopped my hair off.

Well - my hair stylist did anyway... This is my second time donating my hair to Locks of Love. Last time I did 15 inches, this time it was only 11. It’s weird going from so long to so short, but I actually really like how it turned out. I can still put it in a pony tail (muy importante), so I am very happy about that...

This was still attached to my head last Saturday morning...

I always forget to take a picture until I’m at work... My brain is still half-asleep until then... haha

I’ve gotten tons of compliments on it. J prefers long hair, but there’s not much he can do about it... What’s he going to do - try to tell me that I can’t cut my hair? He knows that would just have me coming home with a pixie cut...

And plus - “You can’t give your hair to those poor little children with cancer because I like it when it’s long” would be kind of a dick move, right? Right.

- I went to the Long Beach Grand Prix.

We go every year and bring my best friend and her husband. It’s always a fun day... Luckily it wasn’t too hot - I am definitely NOT a hot weather person in any way.

Getting this picture took 4 tries of “Ok, I hear the cars coming - hit the button NOW and they’ll be here by the time my cell phone actually takes the picture!”

This is the sound that you hear all day....

We were enjoying ice cream in the hospitality booth... These TV’s have pretty impressive surround sound... Or the cars are actually driving by.... One of the two... hahaha

- I found a sports bra that I love.

Ok, this may not seem like such a big deal, but when you have DD’s... It seriously is. I usually have to wear two of them in order to keep the “girls” in check, but this one is magical. It’s the Maia Bra by Moving Comfort. It works like a charm. I already ordered more in different colors....

- Finally got Froyo for my phone!

Only FOREVER after it was originally promised... And after watching every other Galaxy S get it before Verizon... And now that I have it? It doesn’t really seem all the special... haha This is why I didn’t root my phone like my friend kept telling me to. I didn’t think there could possibly be anything so special that it was worth possibly voiding my warranty... And I was totally right.

- I ordered (and received) Rice Krispy Treat Cereal!!

This was one of my favorite cereals as a kid and it disappeared... I reminisce about it every time we are at the grocery store in the cereal section... One of my friends suggested checking Amazon because they were able to find a beloved childhood cereal of theirs on there. Sure enough - they had it. Because Amazon has everything...

I had a bowl of it for dinner two nights this week... I would have had it a third, but J was giving me weird looks when I was reaching for the bowls again... I think he was worried about me getting vegetables and silly things like that... But I am definitely having a big bowl for breakfast on Saturday!!

My mouth was so happy while eating this.... It tastes exactly like I remembered...

Fred wanted to make sure I couldn’t possibly forget that he wanted the cereal milk when I was done eating... He was laying on my shoulder, staring at me the whole time...

- I purchased the newest Harry Potter movie.

I have them all, so not really a surprise... I haven’t had a chance to watch it again yet, but I plan on doing that very soon. I also want to put the digital copy on my phone...

I am always confused as to why the sell box sets that aren’t complete yet... I know the simple answer is “because people buy them,” but it still bothers me... Just sell one fancy box set once the 8^th movie is out and be done with it... And make even more money on it by selling an ultra-fancy one that comes in a tiny chest like the ones the kids pack their school stuff in and include some of the main character’s wands... I would even consider buying that....

- I am still seriously in love with my Kindle.

My book reading pace has definitely slowed down since the beginning of the year... (Check out the list above - I read SEVEN books in January... Sure they were all short brain-candy, but still...) I’m loving being able to read some of the series that I had never really gotten into because I didn’t have any more room on my bookshelves for them...

- I love the Amazon App Store.

Mostly because they give away one paid app for free every day... Some days it isn’t something I want, but I have gotten several that I’m having a lot of fun with...

- I love Honey Girl Organics skin stuff...

Found out about it from another blogger’s review and purchased it based on her recommendation. I love it. It makes my skin so soft and it looks better and healthier every day. LOVE it.

Other than that...... Not really much going on... Next week I am taking a couple days off because I am really close to my max on vacation time accrual. Gotta use it or lose it! I’m planning on sleeping. A lot. Haha And catching up on stuff in my DVR...

What have you been up to?

Weekend Rewind

2011-04-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

Friday:

I spent the day at work bouncing around in a good mood - it was Friday, the person that makes my life miserable at work was out, we had made plans to go get delicious burgers at Slater’s 50-50 with my best friend and her husband, my best friend had decided that she wanted to cancel the off-road trip because it was going to be cold, we were finally going to get in to get hair cuts that weekend... It was shaping up to be a good day.

Until I got home. And J didn’t. And didn’t. And didn’t. And didn’t. He was stuck on a job and didn’t end up getting home until 9. Crapper. Ruined the Friday night plans, but that’s fine... Not the end of the world - rescheduled the dinner at Slater’s for Saturday and all was just fine.

Saturday:

Saturday was our 6^th anniversary. How it has been that long, I do not know... It feels like just yesterday! Unfortunately our friend/hairstylist had to cancel on the haircuts... She has a lot of health problems and some days are just not good days for her. I would say completely not a problem, but J SERIOUSLY needs a haircut. The jew-fro is getting ridiculous. But there isn’t anything that can be done about it and I do feel bad for her when she’s having problems...

**SIDENOTE** I’m thinking it may be time to donate my hair again. I was going to see how short she thought it would end up after cutting the 10 inches and then styling it and make the decision, but now I have to wait another week... Hopefully I won’t lose my nerve! It’s very scarring to go from LOOOOOOOOONG hair to short hair so quickly... But my hair grows so fast and there are definitely people that need it more than I do... Plus, as much as I love my long hair, I am getting really sick of the amount of conditioner I go through...

Our rescheduled dinner was planned around the fact that our friends had to go to a birthday party and they were going to call and stop by after they were done because it was near our house. Shortly after the party was supposed to be starting, I got a call from K, hysterically laughing... They found out - after walking right in the front door of their friends’ house - that the party was actually on Sunday! Oops!

So we met up, headed to their house to let the dogs out, and then headed over to dinner. Unfortunately there was AN HOUR wait!! 50-50 burgers are delicious, but they are not 1-Hour-Wait delicious! So we went to Lone Star instead. Not a bad consolation prize - filet mignon, baked sweet potato, chicken pot pie soup, and DELICIOUS rolls... Love it. I even got extra rolls so that I could take some home with me.

Back to their place for a nice relaxing soak in the hot tub and our night was complete.

Sunday:

Same routine as always... All the while dreading the Monday morning return to work!

How was your weekend?

Rain, Rain... Please Don't Go Away.......

2011-04-07T09:45:00.001-07:00

I love going off-roading. It’s a blast to get all geared up and roar around on the quad... But for some reason, I have a hard time getting excited about it until I’m actually out there. It’s weird - I know that I will have a great time once I’m there, but when I think about it beforehand... I absolutely do not want to go.

I am a home-body by nature and after a long stressful week at work, the last thing I want to think about is waking up early and sitting in the car for 1 and a half - 2 hours just to go ride for a few hours... It makes me feel grumpy. Once I’m out there, I am reminded of part of Daniel Tosh’s standup:

Just replace “wave runner” with “Honda TRX450R” and there you go... haha

It’s just so much fun... Except when I get wimpy and wuss out about riding up a big hill... But I’m getting there.

Just talking more about riding is making me less hateful about the idea of going out... The other day I told my best friend that I wasn’t really excited about going and she was sad. Then I told J that I wasn’t really excited about going and he looked like I kicked a puppy....... Ugh. I told them both that I will still go and that I am sure I will be fine when I get out there...

But I can’t help the fact that I have been obsessively checking Weather.com to see if the rain that is supposed to hit today will please please please carry over to Saturday so that I can get out of it without having to seem whiney and cranky...........