sometimes its just about what I need...

It's so weird stilling here at my desk, reading all the away messages about people heading back to Lehigh and starting classes... and me, instead here in Philly, working.
It's so odd.
Not bad, but I guess it really drove home, that for the first time in over 16 years, I'm not returning to school. I'm done... in the "real world"... I guess now I'm grown up. I guess it drove home some other things too. Like that fact that everytime I said that I couldn't wait to get to the "real world" and "start my life", I was actually just being full of it. Everyday from the moment you are born, you are in the real world, and that is your life. There is nothing else except what you do in all these modest daily journeys! Getting up every morning and going to class or work or whatever, that is what life is about. It's about interacting with those around you and just enjoying every moment. In some ways this makes me happy.

Like last night for example, Travis and I went for a nice walk. We've tried to make this a habit, although so far we've only done it twice! I guess you have to start somewhere though. Well the night was gorgeous... great weather (mid-60s) with no one around and billions of stars to look at. We just walked around at a nice leasurely pace and talked about whatever happened to be on our mind at the moment. I couldn't have been happier. I truly believe those are the best moments... the ones you just wish would stretch on and on, when you are at peace with everything around you.

Other times though it makes me sad to realize that this is my life... a job that leaves me only semi-fulfilled... debt that scares me, not because it is that much, but because it is just enough to keep me from being able to save right now. These things make me wish that I really could look forward to "starting my life". Saying to myself that my trip to China will really be living, or that once I get a better job my life will be more complete. But the truth of the matter is: THIS IS LIFE!
Every little facit of my job, my apartment, my surroundings, my interactions... the good and the bad parts... they are all my life, and always have been. While China will be truly amazing, and a better job would be nice... they won't make my life, but will simply be another aspect of it.

While it is still weird not heading back to Lehigh, I'm feeling a little better about it. It's a trade off really. If I were back at Lehigh, I wouldn't get to wake up next to Trav every morning, or take our evening walks... two of my favorite things about my life right now. Sure I miss my friends, but I know that the distance doesn't make them less of a friend... it just means I have to work on it a little more, and take a little more on faith.

Enjoy your life Lehigh'er... you're in the middle of the real world right now. Something which suddenly couldn't be clearer to me.

Ciao.

Me, a la 08/25/2004.

I needed to read this again. So you get to also.


Oh, and it seems like everyone is blah for blogger lately... probably 50% of my daily reads haven't been updated this week. At least its not just me suffering from lack of inspiration.
I actually do have a few things on my mind, but I really don't know that I can talk about them here. They are VERY private. Hmm...


On another note:



Good stuff. Okay, that's all for now.

the weekend update, attempt 2

Is anyone else having problems with the new blogger? Annoying!

This weekend was good. It felt so busy, but honestly, only Saturday was. Friday night I hit up the gym again like a good girl. It's going well and I've managed to not hurt myself yet... a major accomplishment I think. My elbow is giving me some trouble, but that started before I was going to the gym, and I think was worsened by sleeping on the floor this weekend (will explain). Once I got home we watched the next Star Wars and relaxed.

Saturday we got up, got ready, and headed out to see Willy. His birthday is tomorrow, so we took him out to lunch at his favorite restaurant. It's always fun to spend time with Willy... so a birthday meal was especially nice. We brought along all of the various gift cards we've been accumulating from Christmas, etc., and hit up Macy's, Lowe's, and Barnes & Nobles afterwards. Got lots of fun stuff including a wallpaper steamer, so I'll probably be steaming wallpaper off this weekend! :-) We can't paint everything right away, but that doesn't mean I can't get the rooms ready. Plus we still have a home depot gift card.... soo...

After that we headed to Slink & Lindsey's for another fun evening. More debauchery all around. Plus we stayed this time so no one would have to be the DD... hence where the painful sleeping on the floor came about. Ugh. I don't know that I can handle that anymore. I tossed and turned all night, getting up a few times to use the bathroom or get a drink. Finally at quarter to seven, I couldn't take it anymore. I gathered all of our stuff together, woke Trav up, and drove us home. We were home by a little after 7:30, back in bed by 8ish, and I slept like I was dead until about one in the afternoon. Man did I need that sleep.

The rest of the day we relaxed, ate, watched the rest of the Star Wars movies, then were in bed by 10:20! And again, I slept like the dead. Apparently I was a little behind.

Tonight, you guessed it, more gym! Also, more Ireland! Trav is heading to a travel agency down the road from his work... just to see what they have to offer. We also found a good fly/drive package online.


Hmm... what else. Honestly I'm afraid I'm boring everyone lately. I have nothing new to talk about. It's always going to the gym, and talking about Ireland, and today I did ABC. I'm not writing anything, or thinking deep thoughts that I want to publicly share... I'm avoiding news and politics (in general, not just here). I'm not feeling troubled, and my happiness is tied to "normal" things... day to day items, like spending a day shopping together, that while great for me, aren't super exciting read about! How about a blast from the past?

From 11/19/2002:

I can hardly begin to sum up how i've been feeling. The weekend was too quick, and i've been missing travis very much since then. But i was okay because i felt like i finally had things under control. I felt real good about my IR test, i was sure my Law test was going to go well also. And travis is coming on Wed. I am actually doing my reading on time, and i just was happy about things. So, this morning i took my Law test, and i have no idea how it went. I either did really well or really bad. Then i went to my IR class and got my test back.
well, i should preface this: i did really bad on the first test... REALLY bad. So this test i buckled down and worked harder then i think i've worked on a test in my whole time here at Lehigh. So i get my test back today and i got a C... a god damn fucking C. A friend of mine who didn't study until the night before the test did better then me. And so now i feel like shit. real shit.

That's the way things have been going for me lately. Just when i am feeling great... sure of myself and proud of how i am handling things, something like this happens and just pulls me back down into this feeling of bleakness. Like why the hell am i here? I've started to wonder if IR was the right major to choose... I love it, but obviously i can't do it, and i think that right now just having a major that i can do would be so much better. At least i'm doing something i love you say, but you know what... employers don't look at interest level as the main determinant for getting a job. I'm trying to be more positive though... i'm trying, i just don't know if it's working.

From 11/11/2003:

IR 344 is going to be the death of me. This paper is driving me crazy because I can't think of what I want to do it on, can't determine where to start, and will end up getting a D in this class (if i'm lucky) because of it. Professor Barkey looked at me in class today and asked how the paper was going... "its going" i believe was my exact responce. He asked if I want to meet... all I wanted to do was shout "HELL NO!!!!" But obviously I couldn't do that.
So now I have to meet with him next week and I have nothing to show him.

Nothing.

It's a very bad feeling.

From 12/02/2003:

In five years I'll be turning 26.

Career/Academics: Let's see... I'm in my last year at Lehigh, so in five years I'll have been out of college for 4 years. I hope to be established at my job by that point; working for the government in some way. I'm not sure if I'm going to start out with the government right after graduation, but by then that's where I want to be.

Family: Hmm... well, Travis and I will be married by then, for maybe 2 years or so. I don't see kids at that point, because I definitely want to enjoy my marriage for at least four years first. But maybe when I'm 27 or 28? As for both of our parents, I see us staying close to them, even if not geographically. We'll almost definitely be doing yearly vacations with his parents, and holidays with mine. At that point my brother will be in his senior year of HS, and hopefully we will still be as close as we are now. I really want Travis and my home to be a place that he can come to vacation and relax.

Social: My biggest goal will probably be to work at keeping up with all my close friends from college and my best friend since preschool, Heather. As spaced out geographically as my friends are, none are in DC, so if we do end up there... it will be interesting. At that point it will also be only a year away from both my 10 year HS reunion and my 5 year college reunion, both of which I will have to attend, just to see everyone again and catch up.

Financial: Hmm... by then I hope to be well on my way to having my student loans paid off, and Trav and I will probably have both car and house payments to make. I don't see this being a problem though, as we are both very good about saving. Also, neither of us needs a lot to be happy... just enough for food, shelter, and the basics. We have so much fun just going for walks together, etc. Hopefully we'll also be investing and starting a little pot for both our future children's futures, and for our own retirement.

Five years ago I was 16, not really even looking at or thinking about colleges yet, and was feeling like I was going to grow old alone. Lol! Oh how things can change. I really feel like my life just keeps getting better though, and I hope that is the continued trend.

That one is funny to read... I'm a year away from the five year point. And in the career section? A lifetime away. But the rest isn't bad!

From 04/27/2004:

I keep talking about how excited I am to leave. About how good it will be to get out. I'm ready to move on to the next stage of my life... But sometimes it just seems like its all moving too fast.
There are so many things I don't want to leave behind.

My roommates, simplicity, my freedom to not get up in the morning, and being able to walk to most of my friends houses.
There are things I'm going to miss so badly.

I have this reopened wound now. The past year and a half I've been able to forget it... but now, as always before, just when I feel like the soreness is gone, it comes back. With a vengence.

"Welcome Brothers old and young, welcome every loyal son..."
Sometimes words are not enough, and peoples sorry's aren't enough, and the fact that "i'm as much a 'chosen few' as anyone else" is not fucking enough....
Sometimes words where actions should have been are just not enough.

And when it comes at a time like this, with every other feeling piling on, it just hurts extra badly. I will miss Lehigh despite everything. And I will miss that one part especially. I've spent a good part of my four years there!
I'm ready to move forward. But maybe my heart is still hanging on.

Okay, last one...
From 04/19/2004:

I was listening to the radio the other day, and I heard the song by Goo Goo Dolls... hmm, well I can't remember the name, but it goes "well i don't want the world to see me, cause i don't think that they'd understand. when everything's made to be broken, i just want you to know who I am." I hadn't heard this song in so long and it brought me the most incredible sense of nostgalia, and with it this overwhelming sensation of ... well, i guess the best word would be resignation or the like. Oh, there is definitely a better word for what it was, but my brain is failing me now (maybe even a perverse sort of acceptance).
Anyway, it was just the biggest reminder of my high school years. It was almost painful because, while I am happy being me, and with myself as I am today, I still feel like I lost something along the way. The line "you bleed just to know you're alive" takes on this whole glaring meaning when you spent so much time doing horrible things to yourself just to attempt to repress something that you now desperately wish you could get back.

It's weird to go back to revisit the past. Some old wounds seem so silly, others hurt just as much today as they did then. But its good to read that and know that I can finally say, "I'm happy", and really truly honest-to-G*d, mean it! It's funny to read that too and think... man, I would love to go back to school right now. Lol.

Okay, ciao!

Child of the 90s?

First things first... I just found out that apparently my mom stumbled onto my blog (hmm...). So, Hi Mom!!

Now, just to warn you, I'll be messing around with the look of A New Day in the next few days. I may end up making a lot of changes, and then just go back to this template... or I might find something all new. But who knows. Please reserve any "hate" for later. Thanks.

A second warning. I'm not feeling very creative today. I am very happy that its friday! But... not feeling creative.

So.. I'll leave you with this (it's good, promise):

I'm semi a child of the 80s and semi a child of the 90s. I was born in the very early 80s, but I "came of age" in the 90s. I find this very amusing.

You're a 90's kid if:

You've ever ended a sentence with the word "PSYCHE!"
You can sing the rap to "The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air"
You remember when Kurt Cobain, Tu Pac, River Phoenix, and Selena died.
You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey from "Blossom" and that "How Rude!" comes from Stephanie from "Full House"
You remember when it was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.
You got super excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.
You remember reading "Goosebumps"
You know the profound meaning of "Wax on, wax off"
You have pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.
You took plastic cartoon lunch boxes to school.
You danced to "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls, Females: had a new motto, Males: got a whole lot gay-er. (so tell me what you want, what you really really want.)
You remember the craze, then the banning of slap bracelets and slam books.
You still get the urge to say "NOT" after (almost) every sentence...Not...
Where in the world is Carmen San Diego? was both a game and a TV game show.
Captain Planet.
You knew that Kimberly, the pink ranger, and Tommy, the green Ranger were meant to be together. When playing power rangers with friends you fought over who got to be who............and still all ended up being Tommy.
You remember when super nintendo's became popular.
You remember watching home alone 1, 2 , and 3........and tried to pull the pranks on "intruders"
"I've fallen and I can't get up"
You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates
Two words... Trapper Keeper.
You never got injured on a Slip 'n' Slide
You wore socks over leggings scrunched down
"Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack, all dressed in black, black, black, with silver buttons, buttons, buttons, all down her back, back, back"
You remember boom boxes vs. cd players
You remember New Kids on The Block when they were cool
You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell"
You played and/or collected "Pogs"
You had at least one Tamagotchi, GigaPet or Nano and brought it everywhere
You watched the original Care Bears, My Little Pony, and Ninja Turtles
NANCY DREW AND THE HARDY BOYS WERE THE BEST MYSTERY BOOKS
Yikes pencils and erasers were the stuff!
All your school supplies were "Lisa Frank" brand. (pencils.notebooks.binders.etc.)
You remember when the new Beanie Babies were always sold out.
You used to wear those stick on earings, not only on your ears, but at the corners of your eyes.
You remember a time before the WB.
You've gotten creeped out by "Are You Afraid of the Dark?"
You know the Macarena by heart.
"Talk to the hand" ... enough said
You thought Brain woud finally take over the world
You always said, "Then why don't you marry it!"
You remember when everyone went slinky crazy.
You remember when razor scooters were cool.

When we were younger:
Before the MySpace frenzy...
Before the Internet & text messaging...
Before Sidekicks & iPods...
Before MIKE JONES...
Before PlayStation2 or X-BOX...
...Back when you put off the 5 hours of homework you had every night.
When light up sneakers were cool.
When you rented VHS tapes, not DVDs.
When gas was $0.95 a gallon & Caller ID was a new thing.
When we recorded stuff on VCRs & paid $3.50 for a movie.
When we called the radio station to request songs to hear off our walkmans.
When 2Pac and Biggie where alive.
When the Chicago Bulls were the best team ever.

Way back.

Tag.
Hide-n-Go Seek at dusk.
Red Light, Green Light.
Heads Up 7 Up.
Playing Kickball & Dodgeball until your porch light came on.
Hopskotch.
Slip-n-Slides.
FoxKids on Saturday mornings.
Tree Houses.
Hula Hoops.
HELLO....HOT WHEELS!!!!!
"POWER OF LOVE" BY CELINE DION..ONLY COUPLES COULD SKATE TO THIS.
The annoying Giga Pets & Furbies.
Running through the sprinklers.
That "Little Mermaid"
Crying when Mufasa died in the Lion King.
Happy Meals where you chose a Barbie or a Hot Wheels car.
LiteBrites.
Getting the privelage to sit in the front seat of the car.
Drinking Sqeeze It "Squeeze The Fun Out Of It" CAPRI SUN
Watching Saturday Morning Cartoons in your PJ's still wrapped up in your TMNT, Power Rangers, Barbie, Fairy Princess comforter.
The original Power Rangers

Or what about: Hey Arnold.
Rugrats.
The Secret World of Alex Mac.
Ren & Stimpy.
Double Dare.
Rocko's Modern Life.
AAAHH!! REAL MONSTERS.
Wild & Crazy Kids.
Clarissa Explains it All.
Salute Your Shorts (CAMP ANAWANA)
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Kenan & Kel.
Doug.
Magic School Bus.
Legends of the Hidden Temple
Hey Dude.
Dinosaurs.
Alladin.
Pinky and the Brain
Sailor Moon.
Blossom.
Hangin with Mr. Cooper.
Martin
Beavis & Butt-Head
Wishbone.
Bill Nye the Science Guy
MR RODGERS!!!!

Who could forget Snick? and Nick @ Nite with Bewitched, I Dream of Jenie, The Facts of Life & I Love Lucy.
Where everyone wanted to be in love after watching The Wonder Years.
PEE-WEE!!!
Kool-Aid was the drink of choice.
Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school.
The Land Before Time movies. All 18392893 of them.
Class field trips.
When Christmas was the most exciting time of year.
When $5 seemed like a million, & another dollar a miracle.
When you begged to go to McDonalds for dinner everyday.
When Toys R Us overuled the mall.

Go back to the time when:
Decisions were made by going 'eeny-meeny-miney-moe'.
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming 'do over!'
'Race issue' ment arguing about who ran the fastest.
Money issues were handled by whoever was banker in 'Monopoly.'
It wasn't odd to have two or three 'best' friends.
Being old referred to anyone over 20.
A chance to skate as a couple at the local roller rink was like winning the lottery.
Scrapes & bruises were kissed & made better.
It was a big deal to finally be tall enought to ride the 'big people' rides at the fair.
When playing Nintendo was the hardest thing ever.
When Ninja Turtles ruled the world.
Another Baby Sitter Club book came out and you put your name on hold for it at the library.
When Aladdin was new, before the trilogy was complete.

Before we realized all this would eventually disappear.

Who would have thought you'd miss the 90s!!

random pics and such

Here it is Friday... Friday? No, Thursday... damn. Anyway, here it is Thursday and I'm posting what I wanted to post yesterday, but didn't get the chance to because 1) I was out at an event all morning and not at my computer, and 2) when I returned mid-afternoon blogger was being, well, a bitch. So, no post for you yesterday, sorry.

Lets see... Tuesday night was fun. Trav and I ate some dinner and watched the Labyrinth. I loved that movie as a little girl, and it is still one of my favorites. David Bowie as Jareth... hot! The makeup, the hair, the intensity... oh yeah.
But what I think is so funny now... the balls. Yes, I said it. Try to watch that movie now and tell me that you don't spend a good portion of it staring at his crotch. How can you not with those stretch pant things he's wearing. I will say, the man has nothing to be ashamed of.

Best picture I could find. Not that good... but you get the idea!
Anyway, it's still a good movie! :-)
So *cough cough*, the rest of the night. We talked about Ireland some, deciding where the important places were that we wanted to go, and then he went to bed early. I went to bed at a more normal time, and in the ~hour(ish) in between played online and looked up things about John Lennon (because he was on my mind for some reason). That man did like to be naked in his later days (see "Two Virgins" and other various 'for peace' and 'for music' shots taken with Yoko).

Anyway, the picture below is one of my favorites of him, and maybe one of my all time favorites. And yes, this is random, but what are you going to do about it?


Shot by Annie Leibovitz... who is just amazing.

What other contemporary photographer has produced as many indelible images of American pop culture? You know these pictures, from Whoopi Goldberg in the milk bath, to a nude and very pregnant Demi Moore, to the most famous picture of all: John Lennon, bare as a baby, curled around Yoko Ono, taken hours before he was killed. (The American Society of Magazine Editors recently voted the Lennon and Moore covers, which graced Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair respectively, the No. 1 and 2 magazine images of the past 40 years.) Leibovitz has become the master of the highly theatrical portrait, carefully staged in elaborate settings with witty props—pictures that have often come to define the image of her sitters.

From an article I wish I had remember to get the link for...

The interesting thing about this picture is that it was taken only a matter of hours before he died, and not printed until it was postmordem.

Anyway, less random.
Yesterday was fine. I went to the gym again... yay me. I'm trying to make a routine of it, so like it or not, off I go (MW&F). So far, so good, but I don't want to overdo it and end up in pain. A little sore, no problem... but once there is pain, I'm done for. It was good though. More weight work... I can't ever find a free treadmill. Annoying.
After that it was home again. Trav and I watched another movie... the first Star Wars. That was pretty much it though. Another relaxign evening.

As for today. It's going faster then I had hoped for. Especially considering I thought it was Friday. Oh well. Tonight? Probably another movie.... maybe some CSI... a lot more laziness I'm sure. And that is all I've got for you! Back to work for me.

Ciao.

Imagine a planet...

...Where superheros wear Khaki instead of Capes.
A la Animal Planet... the ad for Steve Irwin's final project that was broadcast on Sunday night (the 21st). I watched it, and yes, the sap that I am... I did tear up. It was good though.

Oh, and we finally got some snow this weekend. Just flurries, but it was the first real snow of the season. More this morning too.... active snowing this morning, but not really sticking much. It's done now though, and actually looks pretty sunny and nice out. Still cold as hell!! And supposed to get colder over the course of the week. Fridays high, 25*!!

Yesterday was so quiet... no Alan or Jan, Harvey out middle of the day, and no Harry. I left 20 minutes early because I couldn't take it anymore! And, I went to the gym! Yay me. Legs, abs, arms. No cardio though, because those damn machines are always full. One of these days I'll get on the treadmill, but at least I get walking in everyday, so the weights are probably more important.

Oh, and incase Ro is reading this... I left you this note on your blog:

Where've ya been?! :-)

It's snowing out!! Want to do something soon? It's been way too long since we've got together to play. Let me know! Love ya!!

So many little bits and pieces to write on.

This morning I woke up to a not so great surprise. No Water! Lucky me. I called Trav, who apparently had plenty of water this morning... but there were guys on the street doing something when he left. Well, apparently what they were doing was turning off my water! And then leaving! A broken pipe, which I found out should be fixed by the time we get home tonight, but our street had nothing this morning... which meant using some water from the fridge for brushing teeth and a "military shower". Fun. I feel all off now. A nice warm shower would have felt good on the slightly sore muscles, and been good for waking up, but at least it was just one morning.

On a nicer note, Trav and I are working to plan our trip to Ireland. We don't want to go too long without booking something up. Anyone been there? Any suggestions for who to book with? We are probably going to sit down tonight and figure out where we really want to go and see if we can loosely map a route between where we want to go. I also emailed a few travel agents to see if they could help us. I want to just plan it, book it, and be done with the prep work... but its different then just planning a trip to Paris or London, since we want to hit a bunch of different areas, its not just a matter of booking one hotel. We'll figure it out though.

Well, I should get back to it. Ciao!

two random things

You Are 76% Open Minded

You are so open minded that your brain may have fallen out! Well, not really. But you may be confused on where you stand. You don't have a judgemental bone in your body, and you're very accepting. You enjoy the best of every life philosophy, even if you sometimes contradict yourself.

How Open Minded Are You?

And a quote, from Pat:

The irrationality of a thing is no argument against its existence, rather a condition of it. - Friedrich Nietzsche

That's all for now... real post below.

not normally, but here

I'm not normally one to write on a weekend, but here I am because we are having a Lazy day (with a capital L)... which has me loafing around online and reading, and Travis having gone back to bed after breakfast, most likely only waking up for lunch... why, because he is enjoying the fact that he can!
So I figured I would take advantage and post because I have 1) pictures that I'm actually going to post in a timely fashion for once in my life, and 2) because I have the first death of a famous person that means something to me in 2007. Did that make sense?

Okay, so first some pictures. These are all from yesterday. I headed up to my parents first, and hung out with my brother. It was fun. I wish I took a picture of him... with his new beard and mustache. It's so funny to see him like that, but he really looks good. I just can't believe the kid is going to be 17 in just a few weeks!
Anyway, so then I headed over to Cassie's house to hang out with her and Sebz, and Cas' daughter Skyeler. It was a great time. It was different without Babs there, but we had a really good time and are going to do it again soon... probably here at my place.

So pictures... here are a few, you can find more at my yahoo picture page.








So there are my girls and I.

Now for the dead celeb.

Denny Doherty died early Friday at his home in suburban Mississauga after suffering an aneurysm in his abdomen, said his sister Frances Arnold. He was 66.

For those of you who don't know the name, I'm sure you would know the voice. Denny Doherty was one of "the Papas"... from the Mamas & the Papas. I was always a big fan of tM&tP... their song "California Dreamin" was always one of my favorites. To read the full article on him, click here.
So that would be the first big lost of 2007. For me at least. If you want to see a list of all "famous" (in one way or another) deaths in 2007, check it out here. Leave it to wikipedia to have a Death List... but I suppose it could be useful.

Okay, back to my loafing!!

title*

So today is a pretty good day so far. I went to bed at a good time last night, and actually didn't have a horrible time falling asleep. I slept well and didn't have to hit my snooze button a dozen times this morning. It was great... I had actually forgotten what it felt like to get up and NOT have to rush through my morning routine! I even got to do some sun salutations this morning before I left, a recommendation of a friend, which I found relaxing. I feel like they will be a good workout for my arms if I do them everyday. But lets take this slowly.

Anyway, its great to have your day start off so nicely. And last night was good too. I did go to the gym after work, and although I wasn't there as long as I would like (didn't leave work until 5:25ish), I tried to make the most of my time there. Plus work was already a bit of a workout. We had a mailing that filled 12 mailbins... and I was carrying them back and forth, lifting and definitely starting to sweat a bit! When I got home Trav and I watched a movie and folded some laundry. Nothing super exciting, but nice. Quiet evenings together are appreciated as we haven't had many of them for a while now! Once again, can't help but saying, yay for no more JCPenny!

Now I'm heating up some lunch. A yummy looking Lean Cuisuine... Chicken with a Basil Cream sauce over Angel Hair pasta and peppers. I'm trying to do my best to not overdo it with changes to my routine... because if I get too overwhelmed, chances are I'll lose them all! So I figure... adding in some exercises, changing from regular microwave meals to Lean Cuisuines, and doing the Sun Salutations in the morning only if I feel like it and have time... well that's not too much. Hopefully it will all stick.

Anyway, I am really glad that it is Friday and I'm feeling good (legs are a little sore from yesterday, but not painful sore, just tired sore). I'm excited to spend another night with my boy, and tomorrow I'm going to have dinner with 2 of my 3 high school girls (minus Babs in Indy) plus a daughter. Should be fun. I love the weekends!

Now, I'm going to go eat. Enjoy your weekend!



*Sorry, sometimes I'm just not creative enough to come up with a title for what I am writing.

yea, still cold

Yea, it's still really cold out. See your breathe, shiver all the time, winter-mix predicted... cold. Oh well.

Tonight I'll be heading to Bally's after work to exercise a bit. My free 8 weeks started this week, so off I go to take advantage. I actually remembered to bring my workout clothes and shoes, although I might see if Old Navy has some yoga pants on sale since mine have seen some better days, and I heard they are having a big sale right now. But either way, I'll head over there, hop on the treadmill or elliptical machine for a bit, then probably use the seated adduction and abduction machines. We'll see how I feel after that. :-)

So last night was pretty lazy, although I was up late because I didn't want to head to bed until I new Trav was on his way home. So I was in bed around 12, and still awake when he got home about 20ish minutes later. We talked for a little too... so this morning was a bit rough. But the evening itself was pretty damn relaxing. We got a great Home Depot gift card from my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins for Christmas (as well as a box of the most incredible chocolates... carmel and marshmellow... wish me luck with that!) so I spent a bunch of time thinking about what we could do with that. I hit up the grocery store, and took care of some emails. But otherwise it was just watching the boob tube. Good stuff.

Changing the subject... I've noticed something weird lately. Starting right before the wedding I noticed that I was getting a lot more emotional... tearing up at stupid things (like commercials and cheesy TLC shows about Miracle Babies). I know it was due mostly to stress and the emotional overload that goes with a wedding. But while it did wane for a while, it is now back in full force. It's not like I just cry all the time or something, but I am super susceptible to "touching" commercials and shows... and don't even get me started on the mess I was after watching a few episodes of A Baby Story when I had off on Monday. Yipes. It's the weirdest thing and I wish it would go away! Maybe its just the winter darkness getting to me, but bah!

Okay, well back to work for me. Leaving soon to have some lunch with Miyano and Joe to celebrate Miyano's return, and her belated birthday. Fun!

baby its cold outside

O.M.G. It is damn cold out! I think winter finally arrived in PA. Not that I should be complaining, because it's January (and you know, this stuff happens in January), and it hasn't happened until now, and it could be worse... but honestly I'm not ready for the predicted snow flurries, and I never look forward to walking the blocks from the train to work when it is in the 20s. I have the heat turned all the way up in my office, and I'm still a little chilly (probably from being right next to the window, but damn it, I like my window!).

On a nicer note, Miyano came back to work yesterday! I really am relieved that she is here, I was a bit overwhelmed these past weeks. And she brought yummy things from Japan... cakes with red bean paste filling for me (yum!), and orange cakes for Jan (and me), and these yummy cookies with apple white chocolate on them! I'm trying not to eat everything.

More good things: Tonight is Trav's last night at JCPenny! And my day is going really quickly. Oh! And I haven't had any Starbucks in about 6 days!! Which has saved me something like 3060 calories (at 510 a piece, one a day). Check out how many calories in your favorite Starbucks drink... bet it will make you cringe! But thinking positively, I should drop a few pounds just by cutting out Starbucks. Lol.

Okay, really that's all I've got for you right now... work is so busy and I didn't sleep so great last night, and honestly I'm having trouble keeping my concentration. So I'll ramble some other time. Have a great day!

my super productive day

So much to show and report.
First off, a la last weekend... new cut and color:

You like?

Now, this weekend. Very much not a great weekend for Philly sports-wise. Saturday started off with me sleeping in until about 9 (ahhhh, so nice!)... and walking up to find that Trav, apparently unable to sleep past 7, had gone grocery shopping and put away all the boxes of Christmas stuff. What a guy!
But back to the sports stuff. At 2 the Flyers played the Penguins (Trav's team) at home... and we had tickets!

(Enjoying the game!)



Unfortunately, as fun as the game was (and it was great fun to watch)... well, the Flyers lost. Again. But it was a pretty close game until the very end, and we had a great time.

That night we went home, and cooked some chicken and potatoes on the grill because it was pretty damn nice out. Then of course, it was time to watch the Eagles game... and I'm sure you all know what happened there. Urgh. Again, we played pretty well until the end. But apparently it was not meant to be. I'm still proud of my boys, especially considering where it seemed they would be back at the beginning of the season. They made it so much farther then I thought, and hopefully next year we'll go all the way... whether it is with McNabb or Garcia (I'm definitely not chiming in on that one!... yet!).

Sunday I slept in again... but Travis did too this time. It was nice because the poor guy had to work later that day. But at least this was his last weekend working at JCPenny! I was just damn lazy all day. :-) It was great.

Today I had off for MLK day, and I took advantage of that! In a furthering of my New Years Resolution to declutter, I cleaned the bedroom and hall closet. It was hard work, taking about 5 hours today, but it was very worth it and boy did it feel good to toss out the two big bags of trash that resulted.

First the befores:





Cluttered dresser, and cluttered floor. Laundry everywhere. (I don't have a hall closet before, but picture a closet that matched my bedroom!)

And the after:




(This last pic is the bag of stuff that I through away from our hall closet... its amazing how much junk you end up toting around... expired meds, old cosmetics, etc.)

I'm so proud of myself!! It was a lot of work, but it made me feel so good to get it done. I can't wait for Trav to get home so I can show him what I accomplished today.

Next will be the guest room and office. The office will be better once we move a few things around so we don't have a filing cabinet/table thing in the middle of the room, the guest bedroom needs more work as it has become our room of clutter, where we stick extra things "for now" and had all of our books. That will take some work, but after what I got done today... I'm much more pumped to do more.


On another note, hopefully all went well for Brian and Stacey who moved to their new place on Friday. At six months pregnant, I'm sure that Stacey didn't do too much of the moving... but hopefully it went smoothly.

Okay, well it's on to the dishes! Ciao!

getting my friday on

So glad its friday... today has been very busy again. More projects just keep coming, and more emails to take care of. My inbox is more full then its been in a long time, and I just can't wait for Miyano to get back in (Tuesday, today was too soon... what with the 20+ hour flight).

But I have a three day weekend ahead. VERY nice. Tomorrow Trav and I are hitting up the Flyers vs. Penguins hockey game. We're excited to see our teams play, although I'm not so excited to see my team lose. We are at the bottom of the barrel right now with an 11-24 record... and although Pittsburgh is just right above us at the moment, they atleast have a winning record (18-17). Either way, the game will be fun, and the weekend will be great. Plus I have monday off, which means one more day of sleeping in! Maybe I'll get more straightening done too.

Last night was great, and made me even more excited for Trav's last day of work next Wednesday. Trav came home last night with a loaf of crusty bread... and we broke out the bottle of garlic & parmesan infused olive oil. So good. Plus we opened a bottle of wine and just relaxed together. It was great, and after that I slept so well last night!

I was playing around on the some friends blogs and wandered to an old high school friend's sister-in-laws blog. I think she is nowme1213 on xanga. Well she had this great entry about all she learned in 2006. I loved one section from it and just had to share.

i learned that you can't make someone love you at a capacity they aren't ready for..friends come friends go, the true ones stick like tacky glue. ... people sting, don't waste your energy on stinging them back, you're drinking self made poison. sometimes it's not something that you've done wrong, sometimes it's called growing up.

Very insightful I think, something I would do good to internalize. I really am lucky, I have so many "tacky" friends. :-)




(From left to right, starting with the top picture)... Trav of course!, my babs (in above picture, caught in a wind storm!), Stella, Lauren, Ro, and Laura. They are all so great. And plenty more! I really am blessed with too many people I can count as friends to even picture.

On another note, Trav and I are in full go mode on the Ireland planning. We are looking all over the place to try and figure out what will be the best and least expensive way to do our visit. Right now we are thinking September... and we are 98% sure we will do a self-drive tour. We don't want to be stuck seeing places we aren't interested in just because they are on a preset route, so we don't want to do a group tour. Self-drive seems like the best choice. That way we can decide what is important for us to see, map it out and decide the best route/what is feasible, then book our B&Bs beforehand.
So, have any of you been to Ireland? How did you travel? Where did you go? How did you book your trip? Any other advice to offer us?

Okay, back to finish off the day!

me, only better.

So blogger has been giving me problems? Anyone else. I wrote an entry on Tuesday, went to publish and just got errors. Tried to hit the back button to at least save what I had done... no such luck, more errors! Frustrating! So... I switched. I'm now in new blogger format and hopefully with not have anymore problems! We'll see.
But at least now I get tags! and my buttons (on dashboard) look all flat and boring! Lol, not that something so silly matters, but I liked the old "push" buttons.
*desperately clings to old ways... beats at change with stick*

So, what did I write... well, first off... Happy 500 to me!!! I've actually done 502 entries now (including this one), but completely forgot to mention that I had hit that beautifully round number, and thought it was deserving of its own paragraph. Oh, and in November of this year I'll have been blogging for 5 years. Yipes. But we'll talk about that when it comes... so for now, Happy 500 to me!

Let's see... I also did a quick meme, which I got from Mainline Mom. It's pretty interesting and a great looking back type... which fits nicely with my starting 2007 over thing! :-)

1. What did you do in 2006 that you had never done before?
Got married!

2. Did you keep your new years resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't really remember making one last year... but I did discuss the one for this year already. And it is actually going pretty well so far.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes! Jen had her beautiful baby boy!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, we were lucky this year.

5. What countries did you visit?
None... boo! But this year, Ireland!

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
A less cluttered and more "us" house. A trip to Ireland.

7. What dates from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Take a wild guess! Lol. 10/13/06, our wedding.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Hmm... what do I consider an achievement? I've had plenty of good things happen this year, and plenty of fun, lots of little things that I considered accomplishments... but a big achievement? Maybe just pulling off the wedding, and having it be as great a day as it was!

9. What was your biggest failure?
Besides the slow slide of our house into disarray... probably the loss of that friend, which I didn't talk about until just last week, but which started last year.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Hmm... nope, I think we lucked out there too. Just the "little" illnesses, like the Christmas case.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Probably anything wedding related. :-) I swear, not a cop out... I can't help it that the wedding just happened to be the biggest event of my year.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Hmm, is this like who gets a gold star? Most of my family, all of my "thick and thin" friends, and definitely my husband.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I would say the person who pulled apart that friend and I... but that more made me sad then appalled.

14. Where did most of your money go?
House and wedding.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Lol, one guess! Actually there were a few things that got me really excited this year... our wedding was the biggest, but also 3 friend's weddings, four pregnancy announcements (though 2 more then the other 2), and some new engagements.

16. What song will always remind you of 2006?
"You're My Best Friend" by Queen.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
a) Maybe a little happier, in general life is very good.

b) Hmm... after these holidays, probably a little fatter... but mostly about the same.

c) Really not sure about this one... we did pay for that wedding, but we've been great at saving!

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Exercise...

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Let things I can't control get me down.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
With my wonderful family... but sick, ugh!

21. Did you fall in love in 2006?
I fell more in love... if that counts.

Hm, 22 is missing.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
House, CSI, NCIS, and Rachael Ray.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Hate is a waste of time.

25. What was the best book you read?
Hmm... I read a lot of good books, many that I can't remember the names of offhand... but probably The Davinci Code.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Don't know that I discovered that much musically this year, although I do love that song by Ok Go.

27. What did you want and get?
Hmm, mostly all wedding things... and lots from our registry.

28. What did you want and not get?
A new tattoo.

29. What was your favorite film this year?
I honestly don't even remember the last time we went to the theater to see a movie. But we bought a bunch... Click was great and so were the X-men movies. I'm dying to see Children of Man though!

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 24, and I don't remember doing much except for working and probably a nice dinner from my hubby. My celebration had been earlier that month when we went to Jimmy Buffett.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Not too much except for maybe getting more house stuff done.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
Business comfortable. :-)

32. What kept you sane?
My husband, family, friends... I'm a lucky girl.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
You know I love me some Angie.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
The war.

36. Who did you miss?
Kelly.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
Travis' uncle Bob is great, and Tyler, my train buddy.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006.
That sometimes you have to relax and let life take you where it will... to can't control everything and sometimes it's best to know when to let go.

Oh, and I never talked about Ballys.
Well, I signed up for the Discovery Health Challenge. You get 8 free weeks at Ballys, and I figured why not? It would be great to drop a few inches off my lower half, and maybe lose 5 lbs. It doesn't start until the 13th, but I went in on Monday night to get an orientation type thing. It was interesting to say the least. The manager was basically giving me the hard sell, and trying to tell me that if I didn't sign up for a membership that I wasn't serious and I wouldn't get any results in 8 weeks anyway. Talk about an all or nothing approach! It was a little pushy for my tastes, and the gym itself while nice, wasn't really my kind of atmosphere. So at $60 a month (with a 36 month contract), I say no thanks!! I'll probably still use my 8 weeks, but after that there is no way I'm signing up. I'll either use the free (infinitely smaller) gym in the basement of my work building, or start walking most days as it will probably be warm enough at that point.

Now... well today is really busy, I have so many email to take care of and we are prepping for a big Quarterly mailing that involves work from pretty much the whole office. Fun.

Wish me luck!

much needed weekend

This weekend brought me to a much better place.

I felt like I accomplished something housewise and otherwise (huge shopping trip with enough lunches for the next three weeks, and cleaned out under the bed/big pile of junk in the bedroom), got to relax with my boy (sleeping in on saturday and yester, and watching the games yesterday), got a fresh cut/color in my hair, got to see my dad, get the great news that my DC uncle is getting married (joining my family with the family of a girl I was best friends with growing up, who's mom has been a good family friend for ages), and the Eagles WON!!

Plus I went to see the Quad's and had a WONDERFUL visit. Got to talk lots with Laura, found out that I'm one of the few to know about the move already (which did make me feel special, I'll admit), and just spent time with one of my absolute favorite families/group of people. She sent me home with a bunch of books that I'm looking forward to reading, and some great Thai chicken for dinner. I feel a lot better about that... especially since they aren't moving until end of June or beginning of July (although Rick is going in March!). It will still be hard to watch them go, but I know things will be okay.

So today I am feeling much better. Plus, the office is very quiet, and I'm pretty much caught up on work... so I feel like I can take a breath! Finally!

Thanks for your words of support... they helped a lot. Mary, it's good to know that others have come through the same kind of situation and still remained close. I'm sure it will work out the same for the quads and myself as well.

Tonight I'm going to try to get more straightening done in our bedroom. It makes me very happy to throw out bags of old junk and come away with a much more organized space. I do like to save stuff, memories from past years, but I'm learning to tell the difference between worthwhile things to save and junk that should be tossed. I'm also defining what is really my style and creating some cleaner lines in the process. Wish me luck!

Okay, lunch time. Ciao!

just not what i pictured

This is just not how I imagined my new year starting. I'm such an emotional rollercoaster right now. Sitting at work and trying not to cry... not exactly how I want my day to go!

First there was the fact that I think I might have lost a good friend. I'm not going to go into too much detail because people who read this might know to whom I'm referring (if you do, shhh!)... but it's just a horrible situation with this friend feeling torn between me and someone else she is very close to, and I think I'm going to be the loser in the situation. I feel like having to chose isn't the only option, but it's up to her to decide what she can and can't do. It's just such a horrible feeling and the whole situation sucks.

Then I got some good news. On Wednesday, Trav gave his two weeks notice at his second/part-time job! Right now he works MWF nights getting home about 10-10:30, and most weekends. Meaning we really only get time together two or three nights a week. So, it will be incredible for him to not have his second job... we will have our nights and weekends back!

Now, this morning, more bad news. The quadruplets (and fam) that I cared for throughout college, and who were my flower girls and ring bearer are moving! Right now they live about an hour away from me, but between us and my parents... so I see them very regularly, at least once a month. The mom and I are close, we talk a lot and I just adore the whole family. Now they are moving to Boston, which means I will probably only see them about once or twice a year.

I'm so sad, I'm about to cry. I will miss them, and I'm so afraid that they will forget me (the kids, not the mom obviously) as they are only 7. And this weekend I will be seeing them, but now I'm afraid I will start to cry in front of them and not be able to explain why because they aren't telling the kids yet since they aren't moving until the summer.

I'm just pretty upset right now and needed to vent.

I'm lucky in that I have a wonderful husband and tons of great friends... and Laura and the kids even thought they are moving will still be my close friends, but it's just so hard to not feel .... a loss?

I even started off the morning feeling pretty damn good. I had an easy morning and actually put on some makeup just for sh*ts and giggles. I even took two pictures (one at home right before leaving, one at work with better light... although you have to ignore the shine on that one.) to commemorate the occation! A self portrait to start off the new year.



Some change just isn't that great...


~~~~~~~~

On another note all together (something I wanted to write about before I got my bad news), I'm pretty excited about our first female speaker of the house.

I accept this gavel in the spirit of partnership, not partisanship.

I hope that truly can be the case, because that was one of the problems that I have had with Bush and his time in the office... it has all seemed so one-sided.

For our daughters and our granddaughters, today we have broken the marble ceiling.

Plus, I have to admit that it is pretty exciting have a women as the third in line for president! It's a step in the right direction.

What do you think about our new Speaker?



Well, i have to get back to work. Maybe i'll have an honorary "new start to the new year" next week. That sounds good to me right now.

want to mess with your mind a little?

Check this out...

Very intriguing!

picture post... first of the new year

The craziness that is work when returning after holidays continued for me today. Both yesterday and today flew by so quickly... mostly because I had so much to get done. I did get a lot done, which is good, but the days felt very crazy and hectic. Tomorrow should be so much better. More relaxed and normally paced. Still have a bunch to do... but mostly caught up, so I should be able to take a breathe!

First thing I did when I got home today? Downloaded pictures!

Christmas Eve... Trav being cute with the dog.

The boys playing some poker on NYE.

New Year's Day... 12:01 a.m. (Travis just slightly intoxicated.)

Then... my Christmas necklace, and a whole lot of goosebumps! Lol.

Good stuff. And now... dinner. Then maybe, in starting off the new year right, cleaning up some of the post holiday clutter!

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit...

Can't believe it is the New Year...

Happy 2007 to you and your family. The new year always makes me rethink life and what is in store... but I remind myself that we can't really predict, we can only hope. I have a lot of hope for this year, but my biggest goal (which is not my "resolution"... which was already covered) is to take whatever comes in stride.

Everyone around here that I read gave me lots to think about in 2006, and made me smile and laugh on multiple occations... as well as occationally making me tear. I wish you hope and adaptability in 2007. I wish you love.