Teeny tiny blog announcement

I finally got Haloscan, which should make commenting much simpler and more efficient. Unfortunately, in the process, I lost all my old comments! Now, I know I don't have a huge fan base, but I really miss the few comments I had from those of you that do faithfully read my ramblings!

So please please please continue to comment away!

Christmas Ramblings

I am such a dork. I'm at work listening to my two newest CD's (Christmas gifts), Vanessa Carleton's "Harmonium" and Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway", and I am just so ecstatic and sublimely happy about them both. I am a girlie girl through and through; three of my favorite things: chick flicks, chick lit, and chick pop/rock.

My Christmas weekend was highly enjoyable, and incredibly busy. It started off with D. and I both taking off Thursday to get some of our last-minute Christmas shopping done, and to experiment with our oven and cookie cookbook. He was strangely and ridiculously motivated to make Christmas cookies, while I would have been fine making a trip to the grocery store less than 2 miles from our house, but I tried to be a good sport about it! Can you believe he got up at 6:00 on our day off to bake? I love my funny domestic husband. I finally dragged myself out of bed at like 7:30 because I was feeling horribly guilty hearing Mr. busy-bee in the kitchen. However, it took me until 8:00 to actually wake up, I swear I only have a vague recollection of those first 30 minutes crouched on the couch with a bowl of cereal, staring comatose at the blurry television. I really don't like getting up that early when I don't have to.

Anyways, the first candy cane looking cookies that he made turned out great. The other ones were pretty comical. We tried to make these "Chocolate Snowflake" cookies and followed the recipe exactly. You were supposed to take the cooled round chocolate sugar cookies you made and use a self-crafted snowflake stencil and some powdered sugar to make a snowflake on the top. Ok, that book was full of crap because all that happened when the powdered sugar hit the cookie was a big white poofy mess. I decided after about 4 attempts with the snowflake stencil that the authors of our cookbook were playing some sort of mean practical joke on us, so I just made some frosting with the only food coloring we had (red) and frosted the stupid cookies. So we ended up with pink frosted round chocolate sugar cookies. They looked ridiculous, and our kitchen was covered in powdered sugar. So much for our first attempt at holiday baking. My two best friends were there to witness it all and were highly amused, I'm sure, by our antics. Oh, and D. is a severe baking Nazi but I won't get into that. ;)

The rest of our weekend, starting with Thursday night, involved a lot of running around and a lot of family! I feel so lucky to have so many people that want to spend the holiday with us, but I think it's safe to say we were definitely exhausted come Sunday night at 8:00 when we were finally home and officially done with Christmas.

I was reminded this weekend how much I love the game Clue! God, I hadn't played that for AGES! Unfortunately, I could have won the first game but I threw it all away on a really stupid mistake. Man, that pissed me off. Now my brother Ben has bragging rights to winning both games. I'll get him next time though, I have that game down. Speaking of dumb board games, I asked for Guess Who for Christmas and I got it from Santa. I need to break that sh#t out, I love that game! I hate when I draw a girl though. You pretty much automatically lose, there's nothing stopping you from forfeiting immediately, you really have no hope. Unless you believe in Guess Who miracles.

God, this Kelly Clarkson CD is awesome. I adore her. Go out and get it now if you don't already own it. Amazing.

Quick update:

So thanks to all your prayers and hopefull thoughts... I got the coat that I have been coveting for the last month! Well I can't really say that you all had anything to do with it, since my dear mother went out and bought it for me the day after we first found it (meaning both my entire family and my husband have been messing with me for the past month), but I still really appreciate you all having my back!

I don't have time now to write, but I wanted to spread the news to those of you that have been waiting with bated breath to hear if I got it. ;) I'd like to post a picture, but we don't have a digital camera anymore, so I'll have to see if I can figure something out, maybe try to work that scanner that D. has in the basement.

Anyways, I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday! I'll update on my weekend tomorrow when I have more time here at work!

Can you do me a favor?

Please please pleeeeease send out all your happy thoughts into the universe and pray that I receive the ONE and ONLY gift I really really really want for Christmas (remember that glorious suede coat I talked about earlier this month?).

And if I don't get it, pray that I will be a gracious adult rather than a childish brat about it. I admit I have been acting like the latter a lot lately, pestering both my mom and husband almost on a daily basis about how much I need this coat.

One last request, pray that it is still available for purchase if I do not get it as a gift. Because I will most certainly be running on out there to purchase it myself, and it will just be double disappointment if it is no longer in the store.

Thanks!

I need to lay off the Christmas cookies this weekend

In just one hour I will be leaving this dreadful office for a glorious 4 day weekend, I am so excited!

Good God, this week has been hectic. I absolutely love this time of year, but it's so exhausting, and I think I'm going to curl up into a cozy ball of television-watching laziness when it's all over. I can't wait for that. But for now, I will keep up with the tasks at hand, which include finishing up some extremely random Christmas shopping (including buying a gift for Bridezilla, who sent me an email yesterday declaring that we need to get together so she can give D. and I our gift... not only were we not planning on buying her and her husband anything, but I was also planning on avoiding any contact with her for as long as possible so as to keep myself from going absolutely insane listening to her b#tchy drivel), baking cookies (very scary, will try very hard to not burn the house down), and going sledding in this lovely -20 wind chill weather we're having.

This morning, as I was in my normal rush to get ready (I just can't get up when the alarm goes off), I somehow did not get all of the conditioner out of my hair. So the roots of my hair where my bangs would be if I had them are extremely crusty and greasy looking. It's a really good look to sport in the office, you should all try it.

Since I started working out again almost 3 weeks ago (after our treadmill purchase, which I do not regret one bit) I have inexplicably GAINED almost 4 pounds. WTF!! I threw quite the tantrum after that realization. I have been a very dedicated runner, about 4-5 times a week, and have not changed my eating habits, so I am just pissed. Argghhh. Don't really know what to think, but I guess if I want to loose that 5-10 pounds I was originally looking to do, I'm just going to have to stop eating altogether. Definitely going to stay away from the scale though, cause that unfortunate event caused me to momentarily question why I am even trying. B#tch scale. I sort of want to take it out to a deserted field and take out all my aggression with a big ole' wooden bat, sort of paying tribute to the Office Space scene with the destruction of the fax machine, or copier, or whatever it was that was always jamming on those guys. God I don't know when the last time was that I got to destroy something like that, but it sounds awfully therapeutic.

Well, since I am off work for the next four days, it is HIGHLY unlikely that there will be any blogging going on in my world. So with that I will bid you all farewell, and a very Merry Christmas to you all!

Knock on wood

This weekend just reminded me of how much I absolutely love D., and how ridiculously happy I am in my life with him. Nothing specific actually happened to remind me of this, it was really just a dreamy feeling of happiness throughout the entire weekend. We had several of those moments where everything in the world just seemed perfect and life felt absolutely blissful. I would look at him, and just think, "God, I just love this man". I really love sleeping in on the weekends, and groggily snuggling up to his warmth, smelling his yummy man-smell, kissing his very kissable back and shoulders, entangling my legs with his. He's just so delicious, there's no other way to describe it.

So in other news, it's our first actual Christmas together as a married couple, and up until we started talking about how we were going to split up the family time, everything was going just dandy! We had put up our Christmas tree, wrapped hoards of presents, hung our stockings, lit cinnamon scented candles, and all seemed perfect. D. and I had actually come up with a very reasonable way to manage spending time with both of our families over the holiday; the trouble actually started the moment we tried to discuss our plans with my mom. My mom is the type of person who will not give you a straight answer about anything, instead she does her patented passive aggressive thing. Rather than talking it over with me calmly and telling me how she feels, she ignores me, walks out of the room, and continues to make snippy comments until she drives me so crazy that I'm sneaking off to another room to cry, listening to my dad doing his best to convince her to be rational about the whole thing. (My dad is my hero, I'm such a daddy's girl!) I realize now that she's actually just really sad, and is having a hard time adjusting to the fact that she has to share me with another family, (it doesn't help that her two sons are both away at college now for 9 months out of the year, leaving her wondering what in the world she's supposed to do with herself now that she's pretty much finished raising her children), but she's making it really difficult on D. and I who are just trying to make everyone happy. I realize now that this silly notion of making everyone happy is actually impossible, and we were kidding ourselves thinking we could do it. Hopefully we'll have all of this down pat next year.

I decided I needed to knock on wood after re-reading my first paragraph where I talked about my blissful and perfect married life. Just wanted to state that for the record because I am idiotically superstitious about that sort of thing, and have this voice in the back of my head that is constantly reminding me that actually acknowledging your happiness and calling your life perfect is just the sort of thing that people do the day before they're run over by a bus or something. Ok, I have to stop doing that, knocking on wood again.

50 things you may not know about me:

1. I wore my hair the exact same way every day in 7th grade. It involved pulling half of it into a ponytail while still wet, and letting it air-dry. It looked horrible.
2. When I was little, my dad made wooden swords for my brother Ben and I so that we could play He-Man and She-Ra.
3. My first kiss was in 12th grade, how big of a dork am I?
4. My first kiss was with the person I today call my husband.
5. I can’t even quantify how many people I kissed during the time between that first kiss with D. and when we actually got together more than 4 years later. (I think I was trying to make up for lost time.)
6. I believed in Santa Claus for WAY too long.
7. I’ve always wanted to live in New York for at least a few years of my life, but I know that dream was sacrificed when I decided to marry D.
8. I could totally eat a whole 12” sub at Subway, but I force myself to just get a 6”.
9. I wish I could live all 4 years of college over again. I hate that I’m an adult now.
10. I have a serious weakness for men with Australian or English accents, and it doesn’t matter their age, I immediately find them sexy.
11. I literally sobbed watching the series finale of Dawson’s Creek.
12. I hate my body.
13. It’s impossible for me to get out of credit-card debt. I have many times been “this” close to having it all paid off, and then something comes up.
14. I love to gossip too much. It’s a serious problem.
15. I become mute-girl when I am put in social situations where I don’t know people very well.
16. I am terrified of having children and I don’t know when I’ll be ready.
17. I feel like I am living the movie Office Space.
18. I was so scared of boys in junior high that I hung up on the first boy to ever call me. He rode my bus, and I avoided eye contact with him for the rest of the year until he went to High School.
19. I throw like a girl, and almost always strike out. It’s caused me a lot of gym class anxiety over the years.
20. I once dropped a Lit class in my sophomore year of college because we were supposed to have a book read by the next day and I hadn’t even started it.
21. My family has had Spanish-speaking exchange students living in our home on 6 different occasions for months at a time.
22. My favorite Christmas movie of all time is White Christmas with Bing Crosby. My dad is the only person who will watch it with me.
23. I know I’m a terrible driver, but I’m too stubborn to admit this fact to my husband.
24. I used to know the sign language that goes with the song “From a Distance” by Bette Midler.
25. I used to change my outfit 3-4 times daily between the ages of 9 and 13.
26. I made it to “Caddettes” in Girl Scouts. (Yes, we’ve already established that I was a big dork.)
27. I went out with a guy for two months and I didn’t know his real name.
28. My favorite flower is the tulip.
29. My drink of choice at Starbucks is a grande non-fat, no-whip mocha.
30. I prefer red wine to white wine.
31. I have my dad’s huge ears.
32. I absolutely hate them.
33. I have considered having that surgery where they attach them to your head better so they don’t stick out.
34. When I was in 5th grade, 8th grader Jeff Cota called me Dumbo on the bus.
35. I cannot cook. I become somewhat panicky when I’m trying to do more than one thing in the kitchen at the same time.
36. I absolutely love that Ryan Reynolds guy from Van Wilder, and I actually considered seeing Blade: Trinity when I saw that he was in it.
37. I hate talking on the phone.
38. I prefer Diet Pepsi to Diet Coke.
39. I watch re-runs of the shows Angel and Charmed almost on a daily basis.
40. I never would have even considered watching them when they were actually shown for the first time on prime time.
41. I had the worst haircut of my life when I was 18, forever known as the “Triangle Cut”.
42. I was in a summer bowling league for like 5 years.
43. I had a huge crush on my next-door neighbor Trent growing up.
44. One time I did that thing to my shirt where you take the bottom part and fold it up into the neck hole part of the shirt, creating a classy white trash mid-riff-baring look, and went over to Trent’s house to try to seduce him.
45. I was in like 4th grade.
46. My brother and I told our younger brother Nathan that he was born with a big crack down his face, and our parents and the doctors thought it was actually his butt.
47. We also told him he was adopted.
48. I have never been able to do a cartwheel, and crooked somersaults are the extent of my gymnastic abilities.
49. I consider myself religious, but I never remember to pray unless I need something from God.
50. Admitting that makes me feel like a terrible person.

She's home!

I am such a happy girl today, because my best friend in the entire world is home for the holidays! She has been living in Costa Rica for the past year and a half, and I have just been missing her like crazy. We had another one of our tearful goodbyes (there have been too many) about 7 months ago as my brand-new husband and I were exiting our wedding reception en route to our honeymoon suite. We have been friends since before I can remember (together enduring Catholic grade-school, shaving our legs, first crushes, and geeky prom dates), but our lives have unfortunately taken each other in very different directions over the past few years. She has been traveling the Spanish-speaking world, meeting ridiculously handsome Latin men everywhere she goes, and I have resigned myself to the daily 9-5 routine, settling comfortably into a happily married life with the man I truly believe to be my soul-mate.

But, for ONE WHOLE MONTH... she's home! I am so overjoyed!

Welcome home Lisa, I've missed you so much, you're the best Christmas present I could ask for!

Trying to make the day go faster

Ugh. I cannot get that horrible Lindsay Lohan song out of my head... "I'm tired of rumors starting, I'm sick of being followed..." that obnoxious girl is seriously on my list. That song is the biggest piece of drivel I've ever heard, and I need to stop listening to pop radio so that I'm not subjected to any more of her foolishness. I would totally have Hilary Duff's back if those two were ever to duke it out.

Speaking of things I hate... I hate Friday afternoons. Seriously, the minutes feel like hours as I sit here trying my best to distract myself from looking at the clock. When I finally let myself look at it, it's been like 3 minutes. Ridiculous. This day is never ending.

So who else was relieved last night when that Alex girl on the O.C. refrained from sculpting her bangs into a bird on the top of her head. Now if she'd just lay off of the eyeliner, I would be able to watch that show without cringing at the sight of her. I mean I know she's supposed to be all funky and alternative, but I can't handle it. Sad too, because that girl is absolutely gorgeous.

Ooops, I have a meeting in like 2 minutes. Gotta go.

Holiday buffet over-indulgence

So my company had their annual pot-luck holiday buffet today for lunch, and now I am sitting in my cube with the most upset stomach imaginable. Who know that 2 pieces of fudge, 1 brownie, and some apple crisp would have this kind of affect on my body's digestive ability? I KNOW it was all those sweets, because everything else I ate was in relatively reasonable quantities. I'm a big dumb idiot, and am paying heavily for it now.

I finally saw the Bridget Jones Diary sequel last night. It was pretty good, not as great as the first one, but I found myself hiding my eyes during so much of the movie. I really hate when watching a movie you feel embarrassed for the characters, drives me crazy. While the first Bridget Jones offered plenty of cringe-worthy scenes, they seemed really gratuitous this time around. I don't know, not a severe disappointment, but that might be because I was expecting the worst after reading hoards of bad reviews.

My favorite part about seeing the movie last night was the 20 minutes of trailers that came before it! I am excited about so many movies coming out, especially that one with Dennis Quaid and Topher Grace, about the 50 year-old guy with a 26 year-old boss. Dennis Quaid is so sexy. I am least excited about the new J-Lo movie... while at the same time, admittedly intrigued and fascinated. I hate that woman. It doesn't matter if she's on some magazine cover, doing an interview with Diane Sawyer, or walking the red carpet at some awards show. I have this inexplicable obsession with everything J-Lo. Her and Britney Spears, my two celebrity gossip vices. I absolutely love to hate them both.

Anyways, I'm going to get back to doing what I do best... procrastinating. Funny, I thought my procrastinating days were over when I graduated from college less than 2 years ago. No, I think I'm going to be a lifer.

I have a biggest fan!

I had a request from my biggest fan (and one of my very best friends) that I stop being a boring-ass lazy bum and update this site! Well, she was nicer about it, but I know that's what she meant.

So, I've written a few times about my exercise motivation issues, and I have a bit of an update. Actually, this is something that I personally am ecstatic about, but I know it won't come off as a very exciting update for you all. My husband and I bought a treadmill on Monday night! Yeah! It seriously makes me so happy. Every time I go in my basement I look at it and smile like it's some sort of pet or something. We miraculously got it put together late on Monday night, after D. and his poor dad managed to get it from the van to our basement during what I'm positive was quite an amusing display of masculine determination. Anyways, I think it is the perfect answer to my work-out woes and I believe it will solve the biggest problem I have with keeping up my exercise regimen: I won't have to leave the house anymore.

For those of you who live or have lived somewhere like Minnesota, where it is practically winter for 7 months out of the year, you will understand where I'm coming from. Right now, for instance, it's dark when I head to work in the morning, and dark on my commute home. I will have absolutely EVERY intention of going to the gym after work, but I walk out into that cold darkness, I drive the 35-45 minutes home, and I get tired. I get sad that I missed every spec of sunlight that day had to offer. I want to be in my home. And I want to be with my husband. Around this time of the year everyone's always talking about seasonal depression, (my God, even my work sent out a company-wide memo on it!), and while I never thought it affected me, I think I've been kidding myself. I think it affects everyone living here, some just more than others. While I'm not trying to blame my laziness on the winter, I know that I have my own issues with my job, body, and self-esteem that affect how I live my life, but I think I've finally realized that there are outside factors that are not helping my cause. I really hope buying the treadmill was not a $2,000 mistake. No, you know what? I KNOW it wasn't a mistake, because I've already worked out more this week than I have in the last two months, and I think I've actually gotten my optimism back. Cheers to no more excuses!

I've also decided to turn my life around and force myself to be a morning person. This morning I actually got my butt out of bed when D. did and got to work by 6:45. This effort seriously deserves a rousing rendition of "For She's a Jolly Good Fellow" (is there a feminine word I would insert here for fellow?) because it took every inch of motivation in my body to get me up this morning. Honestly though, it felt really good. D. and I got some quality time in this morning while we were getting ready for the day (we even watched some of the news together!), my commute was about 15 minutes shorter, and I arrived at a peaceful quiet office and was able to listen to my favorite radio morning show without interruption from the screech-inducing ring of my telephone. It was a good morning. And not only that, I will be able to leave this afternoon almost 2 hours earlier than I have been leaving work the past week or so. And get this... I will be driving home whilst the sun is still shining! How great is that?

Another week at the office... OVER!

Wow, this week has just flown by! I have off work tomorrow, and I just seriously cannot believe it's the weekend already! Yea!

One of my amazing friends who has a tendency to make me laugh until I cry is in town and I am just ecstatic about seeing her tomorrow! We lived together for 3 years during college and now she's down in Florida working as a nurse. I'm definitely not used to her living so far away, and I'm thankful that she has a brand new fiance still living up here to woo her into frequent visits! Anyways, we are going shopping tomorrow, and I am absolutely intoxicated with the fact that I will be shopping with someone other than my mother or husband. Let me tell you that these two very important people in my life are on complete opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to their shopping personalities, both being almost intolerable 99.9% of the time. My mom is sooooooooooooo slow, and could shop for hours in the crappiest stores imaginable. My husband, on the other hand, will walk around a store for no longer than 5 minutes before he takes his sulky position in some corner and proceeds to shoot fireballs at me from his eyes until I am finished with my browsing and/or purchasing.

So needless to say, I am pumped for my shopping excursion tomorrow with my good friend Kate! To top it off, tomorrow evening is our annual Christmas Party with my college girlfriends, so I'm looking forward to participating in some much needed girlish activities which will include the consumption of way too much red wine and pasta, playing silly board games, gossiping, reminiscing, and laughing. I can't wait.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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.

I stand alone

The following is a list of 10 reasons why working with almost all men is definitely NOT one of the "perks" of my job:

1. When I go out to lunch with them, they never want to go somewhere for a nice light salad or sandwich. No, they want to hit up the Chinese buffet, Taco Bell, Arby's (today's de'jour), or most of the time, the dive down the street with 7 TV's on different sports channels that has a menu consisting of burgers, burgers with cheese, burgers with bacon, and burgers with cheese AND bacon. How on earth is a girl supposed to stay trim on a diet consisting of all that greasy crap!

2. Because of their choices of lunch destinations, I am usually forced to refuse their invitation and sit in my cube, alone, eating cottage cheese and salad from the cafeteria.

3. Fantasy Football.

4. The fact that they all got to spend three paid working hours in the conference room for the Fantasy Football draft, whilst enjoying pizza on the company's dime. It is my feeling that I should have been encouraged to spend those same three hours shopping at the mall and/or getting a manicure/pedicure whilst enjoying a yummy mall pretzel and smoothie on the company's dime.

5. When I am hanging with the guys, and one of them says something inappropriate, or tells a dirty joke, I can tell they all get nervous and are all secretly thinking about losing their job when I run to Mr. Boss Man with some sort of sexual-harassment complaint. Come on guys! I love to talk about inappropriate things, and I enjoy hearing a good dirty joke once and while... please don't censor yourselves around me, I promise I'm very easy-going!

6. March Madness

7. I am the only woman in my entire department who doesn't have a mom hair-cut and doesn't wear tapered jeans on casual Fridays. That means there is definitely no one to talk with about my new tweed purse or amazing new pair of black mules.

8. While they all feel the need to eat fast food every day for lunch, no one ever has any chocolate on the days when I really need chocolate!

9. They were talking about their old TV and movie crushes today at lunch (yes, against better judgment, I did agree to accompany them to Arby's) and they were people like Beverly D'Angelo and Night Court's very own Markie Post! I couldn't relate at all. My TV crushes back in the day were Kirk Cameron and Mark Paul Gosselaar. So not only are all of my co-workers guys, but they're all old. I mean seriously, I've seen those old re-runs of Night Court, and if I remember correctly, I think Markie Post had an almost-mullet at one point in the show.

10. I have no balls with these guys. They are all die-hard republicans (not surprising considering the industry I'm in), talking smack constantly about Kerry supporters. And while I am definitely voting Kerry come November 2nd, I become mute-girl when they talk politics. So yes, I am ashamed to say that they all think I love Bush as much as they do. I am the biggest wimp, a sad-sad girl who can't even stand by her own convictions.

So I sort of feel bad about all this complaining, because I really do like the guys I work with, so here's an accompanying list of reasons why I love working with all guys:

1. No bitchy office-gossip.

2. No PMS (the only women here have probably gone through menopause already).

3. No bitchy office-gossip.

4. None of them will criticize what I'm wearing, or look down on me when I'm having a bad hair day. Because seriously, women are the only ones who really notice or care about that stuff.

5. No bitchy office-gossip.

6. They hold the door for me all the time. I'm all about being on the receiving end of male chivalry once in a while!

7. No bitchy office-gossip.

8. My cube is decorated the cutest! And I can leave little notes for people and I don't even have to sign my name because I am the only one with multi-color pastel post-its!

9. No bitchy office-gossip.

10. I actually started crying one day when I went to my boss just after getting sick and throwing up in the bathroom. There was no way he wasn't going to let me go home for the day! When I told him I would come back in the afternoon if I was feeling better he convinced me that that was entirely unnecessary, and if I needed to stay home the next day, that was completely fine as well. I'm telling you, these men can not resist a crying woman. It's a source of power for women that I don't think is always used to it's full advantage.

Ramblings

I am severely lacking in the motivation department today. I've been so busy at work for the past week and a half, that I think I've hit rock bottom. I had a big project that had this morning as a deadline. Of course I finished it, but now that that huge feeling of relief has washed over me, I am absolutely dreading the thought of starting on the rest of my "To Do List". So while I should be working, instead, since my meeting this morning ended, I have been finding less constructive things to pass the time here at work. Wow, I wish it was a 4 day week, then I could at least pretend it was Thursday and the week was almost over. Oh well.

The fall weather has been so beautiful, I am trying very hard to take every opportunity I have to enjoy it! I have lived in Minnesota too long (my entire life) to know that it won't last long.

So D. and I have been thinking about getting a dog lately. As a sort of "trial-run" we dog-sat for my Aunt and Uncle's sheltie puppy while they were in California for a week. I'm proud to say that I think it went very well! My biggest challenge over the past couple months with D. has been what kind of dog to get. I have wanted to have my own sheltie for as long as I remember, as my parents have had our 12 year old sheltie since she was 4 years old, and she is just the sweetest thing ever. Well, wouldn't you know, D. has been bit by one dog in his life, and it just had to be a sheltie, so it is safe to say that he has taken a pretty resistant stance on bringing that specific breed into our family! Well, I'm hoping and guessing his disposition has changed in the past week, because I saw how much he loved our little house guest Tia. And now that we have been dog-less for two days, I think it is safe to say that it feels like there's something missing in our home!

I mean how could anyone resist this adorable face?

And I promise they're just as cute when they're older!

My struggle for a sheltie is definitely not over yet!

Hmm...

Man, that's a big picture. I wonder how you shrink it a little, it's quite overwhelming.... I'll work on it.

I'm not sure if I know what I'm doing...

I'm trying to post a picture, so we'll see if this works! If you see something, then you are seeing myself and my new husband on our wedding day. This is my favorite picture. It really seems honest and real, and to me captures the happiness of the day. I am so infatuated with this man...

The women in my life...

Tonight I'm going to Liz's house for a homemade dinner, lots of wine, and numerous episodes of Sex and the City. I'm so excited to see the girls, it just feels like it's been ages since we've all been together! I really wish I would have cherished my time with them in college when all of us were living under the same roof. There was always someone to watch TLC shows with, there was always someone to ditch classes with, and there was always someone to help you pick out a "knock 'em dead" outfit for the bars. I could never really run out of tampons, because there was always a stock of about 10 boxes throughout the apartment (usually none of them were mine, hence the reason why now I seem to run into the same problem repeatedly month-after-month). And there was always someone in the room right next door willing to drop whatever they're doing just to talk, whether it was about the guys in our lives, someone's disastrous hair coloring incident, or our Halloween costume plans involving Ninja Turtles and Splinter (and subsequently Angela being wrapped in brown carpet). Really, talking is what we did best, and it almost always involved laughing.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about my present living situation, not at all. I love living with D., I love decorating our darling home, I love that he sometimes has a dinner of Hamburger Helper ready for me when I get home from work, and I love going to bed with him every night. But it's strange to think about my girls, and how our relationships with each other have had to morph into completely different ones. I guess it's just inevitable, goes back to that whole "growing up" thing. I just hope and pray that no matter what changes come into our lives, that we don't forget, and we don't lose the sense of comfort we had with each other. Even though now we have to try a little harder to see each other, and it might not be as often as we would like, I really hope we continue to be there for each other, and we don't' lose the laughter and the familiarity.

I'm so blessed to have spent my 4 years in college with such amazing friends, and I'm so happy that each one of them stood up for me on my wedding day 5 months ago. I love these women, I just miss them, which I guess is pretty obvious.

Really?.... Yoga?

So last night I bought two yoga mats, a pinkish red one for me, and a blue one for D. And we did yoga together. Ok, that makes me laugh. Are we really the kind of people that do yoga? I've been wanting to try it for a while now, and my recent lack of motivation for anything that resembles the eliptical trainers and tread-mills that I normally frequent at our local gym gave me that final push. (It didn't help that I have convinced myself over the past week or so that my belly is protruding excessively, and it needs to be stopped.) At first I felt awkward, because I just don't feel like I'm cool enough to do yoga... it seems way to trendy, way to "hollywood". However, after doing the 35 minute instructional portion of the video, and then the 20 minute session, I have decided that I do like yoga!!

We'll just have to wait and see if this will end up like the yoga incident of my college sophmore year with my roommate Betsy. We bought a tape during one of our boredom-induced visits to target and popped it into that ole' VCR as soon as we got home. While our two other roommates sat on the couch behind us, amused by the whole situation, we struggled to follow allong with the crazy poses that crazy woman on the TV did. That was the first and last time I did yoga (well... until now!). It was just too much of a hassle, we actually had to remove the majority of the furniture from our tiny living room to the kitchen so we had room to do the poses properly. Yoga should not be that much work!

So anyways, I'll have to do my very best to use my new yoga DVD and mat more than once. Wish me luck. I have to give props though to D., my sweet husband who I can't believe agreed to try it out with me. What a good sport. And I know he would have much rather been laying on the couch watching the Red Sox/Yankees game than perfecting the "Downward-Facing Dog" pose on his very own blue yoga mat. I'm a lucky girl. ;)

My very own blog!

It's amazing how a girl can be so excited about creating an outlet for her thoughts and ramblings that as soon as it is available to her, her mind goes blank. I have nothing. Let's hope I can find my voice soon. For some reason I feel like there is too much pressure, this being my very first entry! I'm still just not sure that I am a very interesting person, who would want to read my incessant ramblings day after day? I know, how self-deprecating can I be!

Alright, so I'm just going to leave it at that for now, and we'll see what this disaster of a mind produces next time!

Cheers, and welcome to my life!