just wondering...

can i kick someone's ass for being a drama queen (king) and making loud obnoxious breathing noises at the desk across from me? just wonderinng...

practically the tropics

It's so humid out, it's practically like being in the tropics! Except no sand or sea or palm trees. At least we will get two of those three this weekend! Ocean City here we come. Heading down tonight with Brian and Stacey to their home away from home. Luck kids, who doesn't want to own a place at the beach?! Hopefully I'll get just enough sun to tan a bit, but not enough so that I become lobster-esque! Of course I'll take pictures.

Yesterday and today have been busy busy at work... trying to get out a huge mailing. At least it makes the time fly. That and the work provided lunches. Not too shabby. Last night was nice, just relaxed with Travis a bunch. I put the invites in order (that they are on our guest list) so that it will be a little easier to put everything together once we have the inner envelopes. Oh! And my parents offered up their printer to us for our programs. Yay! The programs which I think we finally figured out last night! Double yay!

Okay, have to run back to work... break time over. Have a wonderful weekend!

bittersweet symphony that's life

No boss today, you'd think i'd be thrilled, but no... still just blah. It's been a frustrating kind of day. Just stupid things. Hot and muggy in the morning. Actually took the elevator because I was feeling very tired and worn out, three extra people had to cram themselves into the elevator instead of waiting for the next one, the two interns waiting for someone to unlock the front door let me struggle to open the door and pick up the newspapers and hold the damn door for them without once offering to help (I should have dropped it on them instead, that would have interrupted their conversation), in addition to the fact that I have cramps and just feel "blurgh". Honestly there is just so much a girl can take before she starts to get a little cranky.

Add that to wedding stress and frustrations^ which are coming back in full lately, plus the fact that I literally got to see travis for a half hour yesterday, and that half hour was from the time he got in bed to the time he fell asleep (I was already in bed when he got home)... not satisfying. Plus I was jealous that he got to see Ro & Pat's house... especially since if he was going to be there that long, I could/should have gone too. I could have helped Ro out. But he assured me that he would be home plenty early. So much for that.*

A girl just needs to bitch sometimes.
I'm frustrated, I'm tired, I can't wait for Cape Cod so that Travis and I can actually spend some quality time together without work or wedding (I'm so not thinking about it for the whole week), and we can finally just relax. Together!

Deep breaths.

Anyone want to volunteer their high quality color printer to help me print out some of our programs? You would make my year. I would supply the paper, and if you want, a gift card (for staples, kinkos, office depot, you name it) towards your next ink purchase. Let me know.

I'm going to be productive now.





^ honestly, can you actually look at things that I show you instead of just pretending, so that when I come back later and say, hey hunny I think I finished this, you don't say, oh this is nice, but i don't like this much and i don't "get" this... when the things you are pointing to haven't changed since the beginning?! just a thought.

* As an aside, I'm not mad at Travis... he was just helping. I'm mad in general and frustrated with the situation. As it is three of five week nights I only get to see Travis for about an hour, including time in bed before he falls asleep, and last night I lost one of the two nights that I still have with him. Yea, it made me a little frustrated with him that he didn't tell them he needed to get home sooner... or tell me that he wasn't helping them until 6:30ish so he easily could have picked me up from the train station in Media so that I could have come too... but I love my boy and this anger is not focus on him. Just to clear that up.

calling all expert shoppers!

Help. I don't shop a lot, and when I do the stuff I want is normally very easy to find... but now I am looking for two things and can't seem to find either!

First, and this is probably because I'm thinking (& wishing for!!) autumn... is a dress/outfit like this:
Except obviously not maternity!! This was just the only picture that I could find. I found a similar dress in a turtleneck (which I like) here, but can't really find anything like it anywhere else. I mean, I might just have to wait for fall, but a lot of places have their fall line previews up already and NOTHING.

Second are buttons. Anyone from this area know of a great shop where I can get buttons? Or anyone not in this area have a great shop where you can pick me up some buttons if I send you a picture of what I need? My mom needs them for her dress for my wedding. She needs 9mm shank buttons in Forest Green. :-) Thanks.

Again wedding productive last night... although there wasn't a lot I could do! Ended up a little frustrated in the end, but c'est la vie. Only 2.5 more months to go, I can do it.

Anyway, nothing else for you today. My apologies. Work is a calling.

last week in july

Pictures a la last week:

Lady, hiding under the pull out bed, at my parents.

Pat at their apartment.

Ro being silly.

The stormy sky in the middle of moving!

Travis and the little hellion.

Teagan and I (please ignore... um, me. i look craptastic in this photo).

This weekend was nice. Too fast, of course, but what weekend isn't. We went to a family picnic at Travis' aunt's house on Saturday... which ended up being an indoor picnic because it POURED like no other. We had to leave in the middle of it so that Trav could get to work... I had trouble seeing to drive. Trav went on to work and I stopped at the Michael's... I was soaked making the 20 foot run into the store from my car, and then about 10 seconds after I got inside, they lost power!! Oh well, I manage to be productive by cleaning the kitchen floor, doing the dishes, and doing some wedding stuff.

Sunday we met up with his mom, the hellion, Willy, and his mom's friend Debbie for breakfast before she left for home. It was nice... and we got to show his mom the invites to the rehearsal dinner which she's going to send out for us, and our favors. Then it was back home for a little before Travis headed off to work. I did some more wedding stuff... addressing and sealing all the rehearsal dinner invites and mailing off two thanks yous for belated shower presents we just got, then prepped for dinner and did more dishes.

When Trav got home we cooked some meat and corn on the grill, made some baked potatoes, and sat down to eat and watch a movie. Then it was time for bed. Oh, and I almost forgot! He surprised me with a gorgeous dress! I haven't been able to find a picture of it, but it is gorgeous and I can't wait to have an event to wear it to. Anyway!

I can't believe it is the last week in July already! This weekend is the shore with Brian and Stacey, which we are definitely looking forward to. Although it is definitely cooler then last week, it is still going to be hovering right around 90* all week.

Well, back to work. We (the girls of my office) have lunch with the wife of one of our coworkers today at noon. He's in Iraq right now, and we want to offer her some support.

hell in a 30lbs package

Travis and I watched Teagan last night... his neice, the youngest of his oldest brother's kids. She's four, and he calls her the best form of birth control. She's not that bad, but she is definitely a Hannan and definitely a hellion!! I think its from the two older (and slightly evil) brothers that she has to deal with, and oh does she deal with them, on a regular basis. It was actually a pretty fun evening. We went out for pizza and subs, then to the playground by Willy's for an hour or so to run around and expend some energy. It was fun. Then it was back to Willy's to relax until Trav's mom and Willy got home from their dinner with various friends. They got home around 11 or so, and we headed back to our place. It was a late night for us and we were drop dead tired, so it was pretty much right to bed for us, and I even managed to fall almost right to sleep.

On another note, I wrote (here) about how we helped some friends, on Tuesday, move from their apartment to the house they just bought... what I didn't talk about was how they lost power that night when we were eating dinner, and didn't get it back until about 4 in the morning. They were definitely lucky thought because I know some people that didn't get it back for days. Luckily for us we did not lose ours at all. One reason I had to mention this thought is because, I do have to laugh a bit at all the people that were "just dying" without their A/C. Travis and I have none and we haven't bit the big one yet!! :-) Maybe I'll get a little more respect now. Lol.

Oh, and just to end on a trashy note... I caught the beginning of the new season of Project Runway, a show I actually enjoy because its fun to see the designs that people can come up with. I didn't watch this week, but I did find out that Malan is out. I'm SO HAPPY! I hated Malan with a passion. Way too cocky, with way too little to back it up. Not to mention, just a huge ass all around and what was with the fake British accent?! So thanks to Stacey for brightening my day with that news (even though we have opposite opinions on the matter).

Okay, work and such awaits.

the last of the megan and mike pictures

I think. The pro pictures are in though and I just had to share. I think there are some really good ones. Ignore the writing across the bottom... I had to get these by devious means.

Megan and I before the ceremony.

Megan with all the bridesmaids.

Hannah and I fixing Megan up right before walking down the aisle.

A little nervous.

Mike and Megan finally relaxed and goofing off a bit after the ceremony.

The wedding party.

And this is one of my favorites... I'm going to have Megan pick up one for me:

The wedding party... way more reflective of how much fun we were having.

Okay, I think that is just about all of them. Well, until Britney (the sister/MOH) sends me some, but I probably won't post any of those.


On an unrelated side note, I had a scare last night with my hermit crab Henry. It turns out he is molting, but for a minute I though he was dead because of the random claw and legs laying around. They are however only empty shells of legs and claw, and henry is still kicking! Two years and counting.

All about the fodder

And what do we think about this newest little tidbit:

It seems cursing is not enough for our Georgie, not he's moved on to inappropriate touching.



News story here:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/19/BUSH.TMP

Maybe he's just realized that the only way to make friends is to give us plenty to tease him for!

good enough for me

I really don't know if my desire/push to do work could get any lower. At one point this past weekend, we were all sitting outside on the table in my parent's front yard... surrounded by my mom's beautiful flower gardens... just really enjoying the day. My uncle asked me about my job, and I answered truthfully that it was basically "eh". At this point I certainly don't love my job, but I don't hate it either. I'm just so neutral about it and it is really making it difficult for me to get my get up and go, well, going.

On a nicer note, Trav and I met at Rochelle & Pat's apartment last night to help them move some big items to their new house (which they just signed all the papers for on Monday... CONGRATES guys!) before the painters come in today, so as to not ruin the new paint job when they are moving in later. It was a lot of fun actually. Definitely hard work (well, hard work for the guys really), but it was fun. They bought us dinner from P.F. Chang's, which was delicious. And we headed over to take all the curtains and blinds down so they don't get ruined by the paint. It is a beautiful house and once they have their colors up and their furniture in, it will be amazing. I'm a little jealous. ;-) But I'm so happy for them.

Travis works tonight so I'm not sure what I'll be up to. Thankfully the heat has broken a bit, although it is in the 90s again, which wasn't supposed to happen. So maybe I can actually get outside. Well, nice night....

what a day

Woke up feeling sick... like fighting not to barf before I even stood up kind of sick. What a great way to start my day. My day which is going to be in the 90s and maybe even into the triple digits. It's already 91* outside, I don't know how I'm going to handle this. Maybe move into work for a few days? I could learn to live with this A/C. Hell, I don't think Trav would even get a chance to miss me that much considering he works MWF and Tuesday I have to share him with Ro & Pat. I don't even know if I'll be joining him at their place... they are moving stuff and I don't know if I'll just be in the way. Oh well, I'll probably just entertain myself by reading and watching some TV all week... I know I wouldn't want to do a damn thing, not in this heat!

The weekend was nice though. Travis and I got some cleaning done... vacummed the whole upstairs, cleaned the bathroom and kitchen, washed dried folded all the laundry. And that was all on Saturday. That evening we headed up to my parent's and had a great time hanging out with the guys, getting some pizza, watching some movies. We spent the night and stayed until a bit after lunch on Sunday. It was great to see my fam, Wray and Morgan, and Susie. Then it was home again to relax and try to stay cool.

Now its back to work. You know, just another day in the life.

friday glorious friday

So my coworker just walked into my office, looked at me and asked, "So, have you gotten any work done today?" And that about sums it up. For some reason today just seems very... relaxing! I got completely caught up on work yesterday, so I feel like I can take it a little easy today... a feeling which seems to be shared by the rest of my office!

Looking forward to this weekend. We'll be heading up to my parent's Saturday evening (after a day of house cleaning... oh boy!) to hang out with my brother and cousin Mo for the night (might sleep in the tent, yay for mini-camping), and will spend Sunday hanging out with my parents, Uncle Wray, and family friend Susie. We are bombarded with birthdays this weekend... Trav's dad's is tomorrow, his brother Andy's is Sunday, and my mom's is Monday (hence the reason we are heading up this weekend).

Happy Birthday John, Andy, and Mom!!!

Travis' mom will be joining us in steamy hot PA next week. It will be nice to see her... we haven't since... January? Yea, when we hit up Seven Springs in January. (Oh January, cold and snow... *sigh*)

Ooo, let's update the countdown! Lol, sorry... I'm just feeling very excitable today.

July:
Megan & Mike's wedding Done!
2 weeks until we hit up Ocean City with Brian & Stacey
August:
2 weeks 4 days until JIMMY BUFFET!!!!!!!!!
4 weeks 4 days until my birthday!
5 weeks until we leave for Cape Cod for a week!! :-)
6 weeks 4 days until we mail our invites (give or take).
September:
7 weeks until the girls and I take over VEGAS! Hot!
10 weeks until our RSVPs are due (i think).
10 weeks 1 day until the first day of Autumn (9/23 this year).
October:
13 weeks (aka less then 3 months or 91 days!) until Travis and I finally make it legal!!!!! :-)

So much to look forward to. Plus the Save-the-date we just got yesterday for a childhood friend (actually his best friend for most of his childhood) who is getting married in February. She's awesome, and her fiance is awesome, so we are very much looking forward to this wedding. Plus it will be our first wedding as a married couple. Wee!

Okay, well I have a TON of sushi and other japanese foods to work my way through, compliments of Hiro, who is working his last day at his sushi restaurant. Yum!

2996

Thanks to the June Cleaver Diaries, I found a very very worthwhile project to take part in. You should do the same... J.C. described it perfectly, so I will just quote her:

A blogger named D. Challener Roe is putting together a project to remember the victims of September 11th, 2001. His goal is to find 2996 people who would each be willing to post a tribute on September 11, 2006 about one person killed in the terrorist attacks.

It's easy to get involved. Just click the banner on this page, and email Mr. Roe. He'll send you the name of one person who died on 9/11. On September 11, 2006, you should post a poem, a picture, an essay, whatever you want, in honor of that person.

Mr. Roe is not making any money off of this project. He simply wants people to remember those who died on 9/11. I'm not sure how many participants he has, but I know he doesn't yet have enough bloggers to post about all of the victims. So, if you're interested, contact him, get involved and help spread the word.

This is a great project, a great way to remember, and I highly encourage you to click on the banner to the left. Mr. Roe is almost up to a 1000, so he's getting there... but he could definitely use your help!! My honoree is Noel J. Foster, 40, Bridgewater, N.J. who was vice president and producing broker at Aon Corp. He was killed in the World Trade Center.

If you don't think you can participate for whatever reason, then I hope you'll help me out by leaving some comments with ideas for how I could honor Mr. Foster this Sept. 11th. I can do it however I want... through pictures, words, ideas... so let me know what you think!

Day in the Life

I decided to do this because Susan did it and I found it fun. Check out Paper Napkin for more Day in the Life. Also, let me know if you participate!


My day, if you want to be technical, normally starts very early since I often have so much trouble falling asleep that it is technically my next day when I finally conk out. We'll, skip that though.

My day starts around 6:40... which is when Travis is heading out the door (the guy is a bit crazy when it comes to work arrival time). My sweet boy always stops in the bedroom, closes up the windows for me, and gives me a kiss or two before heading out. My alarm goes off at 7, and I always hit the snooze button... those seven minutes are built in and they are SO necessary! On bad mornings the alarm gets hit twice. After I'm up I start to get ready... brush my teeth, comb my hair, and hop in the shower. I admit that I take too long in the shower, maybe twenty minutes, but first thing in the morning I really can't move much faster. I like waking up and having the quiet though, it makes the morning a little easier to handle. After I get out of the shower I towel dry, mositurize, brush my hair, and then start to battle between what I want to wear (jeans, a polo shirt, and sandles or sneakers), and what I should wear (dress pants, a button down top, and um, nice shoes?). Normally I end up somewhere in the middle... dress pants, a polo shirt, and "dressy sandles" is practically my uniform. Then its time to grab some lunch, a can of something for breakfast, and off I go by 8ish. If I get done real early, I'll watch Arthur on PBS. It takes me back and keeps my morning relaxed.

The train station is only about 5 minutes away... sometime I get stuck at a stop sign with lots of traffic, or hit every red light between our house and the station... but normally the latest I get to the station is 8:10. I back into my space and relax listening to WMGK (the John DeBella Show), while drinking my breakfast. I sing along to the radio and hope the people waiting can't hear me. Around 8:24 I get out and go stand by the tracks. The train arrives a few minutes later and I head to the front, to my normal seat, and say hi to the handful of other people that also always sit in the front. I break out whatever book I'm working through at the time and read for the 20 or so minutes into the city. We get in, unload from the train, and I head off to cover the 5ish blocks from Suburban Station to 16th & Walnut, where my office is. I grab the stack of newspapers that belongs to us by the front desk, and head up the 5 or so flights of stairs to the sixth floor, trying not to get too worn out in the process and relish the first blast of A/C that hits me when I get in our office door. I pop my lunch in the fridge, drop the papers in the Presidents office, and get settled in at my desk.

Work passes quickly if there is lots to do, slowly if it is a boring day... but I always have coworkers to joke with, which helps a great deal. Days like today, where there is no Alan, are pleasantly quiet. I take a break around 1 o'clock to eat lunch and play a card game on the computer. A brief recharge before tackling the afternoon. Endless emails, paperwork, mailings, and address changes. I head out anywhere between 5 of and 15 after 5 o'clock. My train arrives at the station around 5:23, and I know just where to stand so that I can get on quickly and get a window seat. I see more "train friends", and chat for a bit before diving back into my book. By the time we get to my stop, I'm nicely relaxed.

I hop in my car, roll down the windows to get some air, and head home. Most days Travis isn't there so I change into shorts and a tank top, grab the mail, and try to decided what I want to eat. I cook, eat, watch 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray, then Friends. When I am feeling up to it I go for a walk/jog. I get exhausted, and then relax in the shower for a bit. I wash the dishes, put away the dry ones, and go spend some time on the computer. Travis gets home around 10:15-10:20, and I always spend the last 20 or so minutes awaiting his arrival.

We have a brief time together, maybe 40 minutes if we decide to stay up late... he unwinds in front of the TV and eats a little something. We talk about our day and anything upcoming. Then we head upstairs, get ready for bed, kiss goodnight, and go to sleep. Well, he goes to sleep... I toss and turn right into my next day.

Lather, rinse, REPEAT!

look at me, look at me!

Holy crap, look at this... I downloaded my pictures! Can you believe it?! Just a few for your viewing pleasure. The first is of Britney doing up Megan's bustle... I just love how it shows off Megan's tiny waist and belly.


Next are the awesome cakes... first them cutting the wedding cake.

And here is the AWESOME groom's cake! Mike is a Psi U like Trav, and like a ton of other guests there. This is the Psi U symbol.

Now, just to clarify... I did not have the camera for most of the night. So don't ask me about the random up the nose (etc) shots!!

Okay, that's all... but check out the rest of my pictures here if you so desire.

deep sigh... part two

(Starting off at the part where we were getting dressed and adding the final touches.)

Megan looked absolutely incredible!! The dress was perfect for her and she was so happy that it just shined through.



The rest of us got dressed then and we took some pictures, and had some taken by the photographer, then it was off to the country club.

We relaxed in the limo until everyone was ready... then headed right down the aisle. The ceremony was beautiful. The tears that Megan & Mike had been holding in all day finally came out, and caused the bridesmaids to cry as well. It was really as perfect as they could have asked for.


After a few more pictures, we headed in and had a great rest of the evening!!

Saturday we headed home and I lounged around all day. I was just wiped out completely and didn't want to move. Trav worked and Sunday we both worked... but it was definitely an amazing weekend, work and all. If our wedding can be this meaningful and beautiful (what do I mean if, it totally will be!), then I will be thrilled.

If you want to check out some more great pictures from the weekend, you can see Hannah's here... Lauren's here... and Mary's here (in the middle of the group of pictures from Mary & Casey's trip up North). My pics and pro pic hopefully to follow soon.

Ciao!!

deep sigh... part one

Well, it has been a crazy couple of days... but good crazy. Shockingly I haven't uploaded my pictures yet, but I do have pictures from a few other people which I will through in here.
So... Thursday I left work at 2 and headed up to the Willow Grove area to attend the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner for Megan & Mike's wedding. The rehearsal went well and the dinner was a riot! Most of the Lehigh people ended up sitting at one table and making all the noise.

Afterwards it was back to the hotel... mostly to relax for the girls, mostly to drink for the boys. We woke up bright and early on Friday for the hotels comp breakfast. Someone up there must like Megan because after weeks of rain and blah weather, it was sunny, blue skies, and a perfect non-humid 84* out!!


This is downstairs right before the hairstylist got there and we headed up to get to work. From left to right: Hannah, Me, Megan (the bride), Caitlin, and Britney. We're all the bridesmaids. After breakfast it was time to get hair done... followed by doing our nails and relaxing for a bit. And basically enjoying and making sure Megan enjoyed (and stayed calm through) her last few hours of singledom.

Then it was time for lunch, makeup, and more relaxing. Finally a little before 4, it was time to get dressed and add all the finishing touches.

to be continued... (as my computer has decided to stop uploading pictures!)...

hump day... oh yea.

I love coming into work and knowing its already Wednesday. Although I'm still not a fan of coming into work with the pouring rain!! At least I had an umbrella this time... but I hope it stops for Mike and Megan's sake! Right now they are still calling for mostly sunny and high of 85*, so keeping my fingers crossed.

I had my hair trial this weekend. It was good... the woman is great and we figured out what we're going to do. Unfortunately, no pictures... travis doesn't want to see anything about my look before the big day. On a funny note, guess what the woman's name is. That's right, Meghan. Go figure... three really wasn't enough, so I thought I would add another Megan to my wedding day.

Otherwise the long weekend was pretty quiet. Most days I just lazed about. There was a parade yesterday for the fourth, but Trav and I didn't watch. The first part was too early and we didn't wake up for it... the other legs, well Trav was napping and I went for a *majorly overdoing it, way too long* run. Let's just say that one of my major accomplishments for the day, besides the run itself, was not throwing up in the shower afterwards! I'll map out a shorter route to run for the next few weeks, then we'll try that run again. I'm really going to try and run at least three times a week from now until the wedding. I figure while that won't completely change my body, it will certainly help.
Anyway, after that we relaxed for most of the day before then headed out to the tennis court to watch the fireworks around 9ish. They we being shot off from about 6 blocks away at our little community center... and we had a good view except for some of the lower ones which were blocked by trees. But our tennis court was perfect because no crowd! Just us and a few neighbors.

Well, today it is back to the grindstone... and I should really get to it since I have so few days this week. Ciao!

we got to get out of this place, if its the last thing we ever do...

People always ask me about my job... and specifically what I'm going to do about my job. They know that it isn't exactly what I wanted, they know I want to find something better. This is all true... and I definitely have plans to at least look around after my wedding and see if there is something better. But sitting at home today, blogging naked (lol, sorry, couldn't not share), while Travis and Ro and Pat are all at work, well I have to wonder if maybe I'm not a little spoiled by the things at work which are good. Will I be miserable when I have to give up my random holidays off? Or the fact that they don't really keep count of, or care to keep count of, how many days you take vacation? I would definitely miss my incredible coworkers. I would miss the travel aspect that has finally become a part of my position (Chattanooga this year, I'm missing Wisconsin, though I feel that's not a huge loss since I will be on my honeymoon... and next year Chicago!), although I would love to find a new job with travel potential.

All this time I've been singing about how I have to get out of here... but now I'm wondering if I'm setting myself up for disappointment. Say I find a position doing something I really want to do... will the hard adjustment to the rest of the things listed temper my happiness for it? Will I find myself longing for the freedom I had at this job? What if I just don't get along with my new coworkers?

Some changes scare me. This is definitely one of them. Less then four months and I'll have to make a decision of sorts. I guess I'll just have to play it by ear.