I'm coming out of hiding

Wow, it's been more than a week since I've written here and I was starting to feel terribly guilty, like I was letting my readers down... but then I remembered that only about 3 people in the world read this blog, and I probably wasn't really disappointing anyone with my lack of motivation for anything that involves using my actual brain cells. Well, anyways, if you have been checking, and were at all disappointed to not hear from me, I am back, and I am sorry.

I had a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend, jam-packed full of more family togetherness than one can surely take! I had a total of THREE Thanksgiving dinners this weekend, if you can believe that. It was absolutely delicious, and I didn't have to cook a thing! Ahhhhh... the joy of having two huge families.

I actually ventured out into the insane shopping world on Black Friday, but found that I wasn't quite ready for all the money I will surely have to spend this month. I managed to buy a few gifts, but I'm feeling terribly over-whelmed about this whole lack-of-efficient-holiday-funds thing that is going on. I've never actually had to pay for both a mortgage and Christmas at the same time, so I'm just easing into it. I did, however, find this ridiculously beautiful Guess coat (brown suede, super cozy/warm furry hood, toggle buttons, fits just perfectly) that i just have to have. I know I can't buy anything for myself until the holidays are over, so I tried so hard to convice both my mom and my husband to buy it for me for Christmas, but my efforts were to no avail. Seriously, this is a $400 coat for only $70! If that isn't reason enough to buy it, I don't know what is. I'm praying that they're both just messing with me, and I will find it under the tree in 25 days, but they are both so damn adamant that a new coat is the farthest thing from what I need. I don't know who told my family that there's a rule that you can only ask for practical things for Christmas, because that is the most absurd thing I've ever heard.

On Saturday D. and I hosted our very first family event. On my mom's side of the family, we have a tradition that every year on the weekend after Thanksgiving we go up to this tree farm about 45 minutes away to cut down our Christmas tree. The whole family comes including grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, and we do the tree thing, drink some cider, eat some cookies, and have a few snow-ball fights. Then we all go back to someone's house for a warm dinner. It's really a nice tradition, one of my favorites, and for some crazy reason I decided to offer to host it this year! It went really well, despite the burning of some chili on Saturday morning and the fact that we were up until midnight cleaning bathrooms on Friday night in preparation for the event! Honestly though, it was really fun playing grown-up. Everyone had a wonderful time, whole bottles of wine were drank, and we got compliment after compliment on our home. It's so strange, though, to be cooking dinner in my home for all these people that have watched me grow up over the past 20+ years. I don't know why it affected me so much, but it was just a really joyous day, and I feel so lucky to be living such a beautiful life with such a supportive family.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Work shouldn't be this much work

Wow, today has just been one big exhausting mess of a day at work. It's nice to be busy because the day goes by oh so much faster, but I haven't had a chance at all to do any of my ritual Monday internet "catching up"! How dare they expect me to do work while at work! Down with The Man. So I'm going to read a few of my favorite blogs, maybe check out CNN, and try to catch up on some emailing during this last half-hour at work. (Which reminds me, Lisa, I cannot believe someone actually stole your rotweiller, that is no-contest, the most bizarre thing I've heard in a long time!)

I had a wonderful long weekend, and I look forward to a wonderful short work week! My mouth is salivating just thinking about the abundance of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, scalloped corn, 7-layer salad, and apple pie a la mode I will be consuming just 3 days from now. Mmmmmmmmmm..... I love Thanksgiving.

Would you like some "whine" with that cheese?

I've talked about my not-so-secret love for chick flicks before, so I found this article absolutely hilarious, and I agreed with every single word of it. Check it out!

Work is sort of driving me crazy this week. I just get so fed up with people that expect you to drop everything when there's something they need, disregarding completely the timetable you're working with. There are these older men that I work with (engineers) that I know don't have the same respect for me as they do my male counterparts, or even the older women in my department. Some days I get the distinct feeling that they think of me as their secretary. We are supposed to be working as a team, them being project managers, me being the financial analyst. Instead, they don't keep me informed until they need something done (that second of course), and they ignore my requests for information that will enable me to do my job more efficiently. I will have all this free time for a couple days, because I can't go any farther with what I'm doing until I receive something from them, and then they finally get it to me at the last minute and I'm scrambling to get it done! They know that my ass is on the line, in addition to theirs, if we go over budget or don't meet our deadlines, but I honestly believe they don't really care!

So I just emailed D. and told him that my mom and I had tentative plans to go see a movie tonight and asked if he would like to come. Of course his response was, "I was hoping to get more done around the house tonight". This is the response I get almost daily to any question on the subject matter of "What do you want to do tonight?". However, this response has a different meaning than you might think. It does not mean, simply, "You go ahead sweetie, have fun, I think I'm going to stay home and work on the house". Oh no no no. It means, "If you do go to the movie, (or for that matter lay on the couch all night, go work out, or go shopping), I will work on the house without you, but I will be in a super ass-hole mood about it because that means I am working and you're having fun". Did any of that make sense? What I'm trying to say, is that I absolutely hate how he makes me feel guilty about not wanting to clean, work on home-improvement stuff, or just in general do something constructive all the time. I thought I was getting away from the guilt-tripping when I moved out of my parents house!

This man I have married happens to be one of the most motivated, practical, and hard-working men I've ever met. These are all traits that I love about him, but they're also the reasons why some days I find myself wanting to scream at the top of my lungs and run for the hills! I am so the opposite of him, somewhat selfish, very un-practical (especially when it involves money and clothing), and often times a bit lazy. I guess you could say we balance each other out quite nicely, that whole "opposites attract" theory at work. And, I would be lying to myself if I thought he didn't, on occasion, get just as frustrated with me as I do with him. Oh the joy of day-to-day marital life. I have to admit, it takes some getting used to! It's been 6 months and we definitely haven't worked through all the kinks. Who am I kidding, I don't think you ever work through all the kinks! I suppose they're just what makes all the wonderful things about sharing your life with someone that much more wonderful. ;)

Nanki-Poo, Ally McBeal, and shin splints

So my weekend felt so long, and this is the most exhausting Monday I've endured in quite some time. I went to Chicago this weekend with my husband, my parents, and my brother to visit my youngest brother who is currently going to school there. He goes to the Chicago College of Performing Arts (a music conservatory and part of Roosevelt University), and was performing in The Mikado on Saturday evening, a very strange Gilbert & Sullivan opera set in a Japaneese village full of characters with such names as Nanki-Poo, Yum-Yum, and Ko-Ko. Now, I have never been to an opera before, and while it was at times very entertaining, for the most part it seemed excrutiatingly long! But, for my first opera experience (although it's only a light opera), I fared pretty well, and I'm just amazed and proud that my brother is studying to become a classical opera singer. I'm always jealous of people with such big dreams who are actually out there, working to achieve them!

I guess my dream was always to become a successful business woman, and at 23 years old, I'm already well on my way. I graduated in four years with a Finance undergrad degree and I'm working as a Financial Analyst for a hugely successful monster of a company. However, the dream was a lot more exciting than the reality is, and I guess I just feel a bit disappointed by it all. How come career women in movies and television are always represented as living such glamorous lives? I mean seriously, how in the world did Ally McBeal and all her beautiful lawyer friends always have enough energy, after their long days at work, to party it up in the bar downstairs from their law firm? As we all know, I can't even make it to the gym! Well anyways, enough of that. I haven't been out there that long, and I have many, many working years to figure out where I want to be, and to find a job that will make me happy. Right now I'll just keep plugging away, making good enough money and trying to cherish every last second of my weekends.

Which brings me back to my weekend! So Chicago was fantastic (it's my third favorite city, behind #1 Boston and #2 New York). We walked, shopped, ate, walked, shopped, ate, walked shopped, and ate. My shins and feet, however, are killing me today because of my poor choice of footwear. I was trying to be all "Sex and the City" stylish with my pointy mules and black knee-high boots. Which brings me to the question, how did Carrie Bradshaw not keel over in pain traipsing all over New York City in her Manolo Blahnik stilletos?

I think I'm losing my mind

This week has been relatively boring, thus the reason for my lack of writing. I feel like my weekdays have been reduced to a routine, and a boring routine at that. I'm often so worn out and exhausted when I get home after being at work for 9 hours, that I just crash into lazy television oblivion for the rest of the evening. I've got to do something about my energy level! I can't even make it to the gym anymore. I feel like I'm just in some sort of funk, and I am desperate to get out of it. But I can't start tonight.... because it's Thursday, my favorite TV night!

This morning I took the first step in the quest to rid myself of this apathetic lifestyle I have become so accustomed to. I packed a gym bag and brought it with me to work, and since my arrival this morning at 7:25 AM, it has been staring at me from on top of my file cabinet in the corner of my homey (not really) little cubicle. So at this point, all signs point to me heading to the gym IMMEDIATELY after work. Now that I think about it, I believe going home after work is where the trouble starts most days. I see my cozy bed/couch/husband, and I just lose my will to go back out in the cold just to get all sweaty and yucky. It also does not help one bit that D. is so entirely focused on his stomach, and what we are eating for dinner, that I often times end up breaking down and heading to either the kitchen or some take-out place instead of the gym.

Well anyways, I'm going to get back to work. Oh, actually I think I'm going to go get something to eat. It's lunch time already.... Yea! Only 4 1/2 hours left of work!

Or on the other hand, this sucks, I have to be here for another 4 1/2 hours!

See, I can be a glass-half-full or a glass-half-empty girl from one second to the next. I think I'm borderline bi-polar. I'm telling you, it's a product of the 70's burnt orange carpeted and fluorescent lighted environment I am living in.

It can't be Monday already!

I'm really having a hard time this morning getting over the fact that my weekend is already over. How on earth does that happen so quickly!

Well, it was a nice weekend, very lazy and relaxing, which I love! After surviving the last 7 months which I like to call "Wedding-Overload 2004", I absolutely cherish these weekends of doing nothing. FYI - the official definition of "Wedding-Overload 2004" is the following:

The period of 7 months from April, 2004 to October, 2004 in which participants enjoy attending a total of 8 weddings. Male participants specifically will attend 4 weekend-long bachelor parties and 1 drunken night of bachelor party-debauchery in downtown Minneapolis. Female participants will enjoy 5 bachelorette parties and countless bridal showers in this 7-month time span. In total, these activities add up to 18 weekends almost entirely dedicated to wedding-related events, and literally, THOUSANDS of dollars spent on wedding/bachelor(ette)/shower gifts, alcohol, hotel rooms, new dresses (admittedly, not necessary), and tux rentals.

I don't have the right to complain too heartily, as my wedding was a part of "Wedding-Overload 2004", but suffice it to say, I'm pretty sick of it all. So far my next wedding, for a dear friend of mine, will not be until July. That means I have less than 8 months to get over my wedding-crankiness.

Anyways, that was quite the tangent I just went on, and definitely not the point of all this. The point I was trying to make, is that I had a wonderful weekend, completely devoid of any wedding activities! On Friday night I saw Friday Night Lights with my mom and D. (My dad was gone hunting for the weekend, and since my mom has no transportation, I try to be a good daughter once in a while.) Since it usually takes ridiculous amounts of groveling on my part to convince D. to go see a movie, I let him make the decision on the movie selection (I got one veto with Team America: World Police, and while I do want to see that movie, I know my mom would have been very unhappy and confused had we gone to see it). It was not a bad movie at all, but would probably qualify as a "renter" in my book. (Not that I have a book, where does that expression even come from... "in my book"? It seems pretty stupid now that I think about it.) I LOVE seeing movies, I love the smell of the popcorn when you walk in that door for the first time, I love the trailers (the best part actually), and I just love sitting in silence and darkness for an entire 2 hours. My most favorite kind of movie to go see???? Yup, romantic comedies, even the horrible ones. I love them. Getting back to this weekend though, I will say that I fought hard for Alfie, but ended up with Friday Night Lights. You take what you can get ;)

I went antiquing with the girls (and my mom) on Saturday and had a wonderful time. This is my favorite new pastime, even though it makes me feel like a middle-aged themed-sweater-wearing mom. If I ever dare leave the house wearing a sweater with a Christmas tree on it, or worse, a Halloween jack-o-lantern sweatshirt over a turtle-neck with little ghosts on the collar, I encourage all witnesses to this fashion travesty to give me a swift kick in the head, which will hopefully jolt me out of whatever possessed trance I must be in.

Moving on... watched "Super Size Me" on Saturday night with some friends. I'm not sure when I'll be able to eat McDonald's again, and even more specifically, my beloved Chicken McNuggets. However, while the movie was disturbing, I just can't imagine my life without fast-food! I try not to eat it too often, but when I do allow myself to splurge, it is soooo incredibly enjoyable. But man, 3 times a day, of course he got sick! Check it out if you get a chance, it was really interesting.

Sunday we finally spent some time trying to finish up the room we were painting upstairs. Just one more coat on the doors and we're done! I'm so excited for my "lovely lavender" guest-bedroom. It's turned out so beautiful, and I just love the wainscoting in there.

Well, to a stranger, my weekend may sound pretty boring, but I think these were 3 of my favorite days in a long time, so I guess I don't care what other people think! Now it's back to the cubicle, fluorescent lights, and a long to-do list which I am doing a good job of putting off. I love procrastinating.

My lazy plans for the evening

This is what I hope to do tonight (in chronological order):

1. Change out of the restricting button-down shirt I'm wearing into my most favorite, cozy, huge U of M sweatshirt (stolen from the most snuggly and sweetest smelling boy ever).
2. Head on down the street to the Canton Garden for some carry-out Szechuan Chicken and fried rice. (Mmmmmm.... yummmm)
3. Enjoy the crisp fall air on my walk home and listen to the crunching of the leaves underneath my shoes as I walk.
4. Dine on our carry-out dinner by the light of only candles and the television on our super cozy chenille couch that cradles you like you're a tiny infant.
5. Enjoy my most anticipated night of telelvision, starting at 7:00 with the premiere of the O.C. and moving on to The Apprentice at 8:00, still stationed on that glorious couch and wrapped in my favorite blanket.
6. Make myself a big mug of green tea (adding one package of sweet 'n low).
7. Take a warm bath, soaking in the silky soft vanilla scented bathwater with my green tea and the new Cosmo.
8. Snuggle up with my favorite person in bed adorned with our freshly washed sheets and quilt. The "Clean Breeze" scented Tide is absolute heaven; this is a new revelation for me and I feel I should tell everyone I know.

Ahhhh.... Dreaming of all this is actually helping me make it through my day at work. Let's hope D. doesn't have different plans for the evening. Anything involving shopping, painting, or cooking is off-limits.

Sad, sad day

I am in just a complete state of pure and utter sadness today. It's hard to even comprehend that we are in for 4 more years of Bush. I just feel so disillusioned, frustrated, angry, and disappointed. I can't believe this has happened.

On the bright side, we don't have to see another one of those commercials again, well at least for a few years! I just didn't realize that I would be so emotionally affected by these results. I'm one of those people who doesn't like to get her hopes up, in an effort not to "jinx" it, so I convince myself that the worst possible thing that could happen will happen. Now that the worst possible thing that could happen has happened, I realize that my "glass is half-empty" attitude has not helped to ease any of the pain.

I hope that our country can get through this, and I hope that Bush will soon realize that he has to do something about uniting this country again. I'm trying to have hope.

"The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart."

~Robert Green Ingersoll

My ridiculous drunken weekend

So the Halloween party D. and I threw on Saturday went off without a hitch. Unless you consider... me passing out on the floor of our bedroom at midnight, throwing up a little, rolling around in the throw up, being carried to the bed by my inebriated husband, waking up at 5:00 AM to discover that my poor husband had passed out on a pile of my throw-up while trying with all his might to stay awake and watch me sleep to make sure I was ok... a "hitch".

Whew! All of that aside, it was a very successful party, everyone seemed to have a wonderful time, and almost everyone showed up decked out in awesome costumes! And, while I was being crazy passing out/sick drunk girl at the end of the night, some very good friends stayed and cleaned up our house so the two of us didn't have to wake up to a complete disaster. Everyone needs friends like these people!

At first I was so perplexed as to how I got so completely drunk, when I didn't seem to be drinking any more than I normally do. However, then I started to do an inventory of what I had eaten that day, and it wasn't much. Thus, I found the culprit. I've always hated when girls claim that they "forget to eat". I thought it was just another way for them to get attention and fish for compliments or sympathy. I never forget to eat, I think about food way to much to forget to eat! But that is seriously what happened. I spent the entire day cleaning house, cooking, and just generally preparing for the party and I really, truly, forgot to eat! It didn't help that D. was off pheasant hunting with the guys (yea I know, wtf, pheasant hunting?! I promise he doesn't normally do that), so he wasn't around to complain about being hungry, or ask me when/what we were going to eat lunch/dinner as he usually does.

Oh well, I shouldn't dwell on it anymore. All I know is just the thought of alcohol makes me want to vomit. I was talking to my friend Liz this morning, who also drank a little too much on Saturday, and she said that she almost threw up again yesterday when she was going through the ads and came upon one for a liquor store. Haha, I thought that was hilarious. I think I need to start acting like a grown-up one of these days. Do married people still get wasted to the point of vomiting? That is so not cool.