Oy, ridiculously long meme

I know lots of people are doing this, but I stole it from L at Trapped in North Jersey

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
I moved into a hotel for a long term stay.  AND, I moved to PA.  I've never lived in this state before.  It's been interesting.

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't usually make New Year's resolutions.  I find that the actual act of making them makes me nervous and just sets myself up for fail  However, last year, I think I said I wanted to exercise at least 3 times a week every week.  I didn't do a TERRIBLE job with this.  For the majority of the year I kept up with this.  I slacked off a lot when I moved up here, but I'm doing better again (ignoring this past week when I was dying of some awesome lung infection). 

I also said I would cook more and eat out less.  I did terribly with that in Virginia, however, since moving up here, surprisingly, I've been eating out A LOT less than I used it.  Which is odd since I have no real kitchen area to cook in.  But I'm doing it! 
So, I did better than I expected on the resolutions, but I have lots of room for improvements. 

I don't think I'm really going to set any resolutions this year, but I have a few things that I plan to continue working on.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, my sister! Yay Baby V!
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes, my grandfather.  I still expect him to walk down the stairs everytime I go visit my grandma.  It sucks. 

5. What places did you visit?
I went to Costa Rica with L and her husband and kids.  What a lovely trip (in fact, I think that trip was the very first thing I blogged about on my new blog).  I visited places in Virginia I had never been to before.  But, truthfully, I didn't really go anywhere else.  As much as I love traveling, I haven't really gone that many places this year.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
I didn't really LACK anything in 2010.  There are things that I would like to have in 2011, but nothing really that I can say was lacking in my life. 

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
April 7, 2010.  Found out mid meeting my grandfather had passed away. 

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I worked up the guts to do something I had been wanting to do for 12 years.  And...that is all the information you will be getting from me. :-)

9. What was your biggest failure?
Um, sadly, I don't really REMEMBER much of my biggest achievement.  Alcohol is bad. 
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
My knee was originally hurt in 2009 I believe, but it continued to plague me for much of 2010. So I will count that. 

11. What was the best thing you bought?
I didn't really buy anything big or exciting.  Just kind of boring necessities. 
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My friends were awesome.  They were so supportive and understanding of me this year.  I couldn't ask for a better support group. 
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
This question sucks.  I'm not answering.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Nowhere exciting.  Mostly just paying off debt or into savings.  Super fun. 

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Going to Costa Rica.  Meeting Baby V.  And I don't know if this counts as a "really, really, really" excited, but I was excited to move back north and to re-get to know old friends I had lost touch with. 
16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
Bottoms Up by Trey Songz

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? much happier
b) thinner or fatter? I think I'm actually exactly the same.
c) richer or poorer? I don't have a lot more money in the bank compared to last year, but I do have a lot less debt, so I count that as richer.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
I feel like I'm actually pretty happy with my 2010 year and I wouldn't really change much.  Maybe I wish I had saved more at the beginning of the year? 
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
I wish I had not let stupid people get to me as often.  I wish I had learned to take things less personally. 
20. How did you spend Christmas this year?
Same as always, Christmas Eve helping my mom wrap gifts, and Christmas day with my family
21. Did you fall in love in 2010?
Um, there were moments.
22. What was your favorite TV program?
I became obsessed with NCIS.  It's sad, I know.

23. What did you do for your birthday in 2010?
I had to go to work.  Then, we went out to dinner and the bars with some of my friends. 

24. What was the best book you read?
The Physics of Superheroes: Spectacular Second Edition by James Kakalios.  Seriously, this book is really interesting and educational at the same time. :-)
25. What did you want and get?
A new mp3 player.  I put off buying one for so long, that I got it as a Christmas gift and it's awesome.  I also wanted a new camera, and L gave me her old one.  I'm on fi-ah with the gifts this year. 
26. What did you want and not get?
I wanted a new car.  However, I did not NEED a new car and thus did not get one. 
27. What was your favorite film of this year?
hmmm- I liked a lot of movies this year.  I can't pick just one.  However, the most recent movie I saw and liked this year was Easy A.  Very cute.

28. Did you make some new friends this year?
I became friends with people I was previously only acquaintances with.  I also renewed some old friendships.  I think this counts.

29.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Seriously, I'm happy with my past year.  I don't know that it could have become immeasurably more satisfying.  Maybe losing tons of weight and winning the NY marathon?  I mean, if I'm going for something that is impossible...might as well go big right?
30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Casual, cardigans, khakis, comfortable. 

31. What kept you sane?
Talking to Revolting R and my sisters and running.  Always with the running.
32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Seriously?  Um...I like Emma Stone and Ellen Page.  I have huge girl crushes on them. 
33. What political issue stirred you the most?
gay rights.  Argh.  are we really in 2010 and still don't believe in equal rights for everyone?

34. Who did you miss?
My grandfather, Revolting R, and all my friends I left in VA.
35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.
Don't sweat the small stuff, and it's ALL small stuff. 

I want to be where your heart is home*

Things that made Christmas awesome this year:

• Awesome friends.  On Thursday, I was hanging out with Revolting R (yeah, sorry, that name is still sticking) and was already having a great time.  We got sushi and made fun of the mail order bride and her suitor sitting next to us (seriously, these people were hysterical and their conversation was painfully awkward).  It was just like old times and I was having a blast.  Then, Mike stopped by on his way home and gave me an unexpected Christmas gift.  A while ago, I complained my sansa clip was old and didn't have a micro SD slot so it didn't hold a lot of songs.  And, for Christmas...surprise!  A new sansa clip that holds a card for expandable memory.  And...it's blue!  Or purple...or royal blue...whatever you want to call it.  It's pretty!  I put an image of the Sansa Clip below but mine isn't a bright blue as this.  Mine's prettier.  (I have some great friends that apparently DO listen to me when I complain). 

• An awesome family.   My sisters got me a David Sedaris box set that I've been wanting for forever (and I didn't even have to ask for it, they just noticed it on my wish list on paperbackswap.com and got it for me).  My mom and dad got me some great things, including an apron my mom made me and some orange kitchen tools (like measuring spoons and such).  My aunts got me a leash to use while walking Oscar (it has a built in flashlight and baggie compartment) and a chew toy that Oscar loved so much he pretty much has already killed it.  My uncle gave me this beautiful square bowl that I can't wait to display (And it's SQUARE!  NOT ROUND!  My favorite!).  And of course, gift cards to bookstores.  So excited.  I unfortunately do not have any fun pictures to post here.  I didn't really take any pictures of my gifts yet.  That will be later. 
• Awesome nieces and nephews.  Seriously, the cuteness is just overwhelming!

All in all, it was just a generally awesome Christmas, and now I'm snowed in at my parents.  I'll let you decide if that's a good thing or not :-)  (Also, if the pictures line up funny, I apologize.  I spent a ridiculous long time fighting blogger to make them line up as I wanted.  And it's not working on my laptop.  Hopefully it looks normal to everyone else).  Argh. 

*She and Him

It's the hap-happiest season of all...

So, totally laming out on the post.  Here's the Christmas gifts I made this year:

For my awesome sister J:

It's a silk/wool blend that's an off-white color (this pictures didn't really do a good job showing the color).  It's also really long (It didn't fit diagonally across my king size bed while trying to block it).  

Next, my also awesome sister L:

The scarf and hat is actually a dark turquoise color, not the blue-grey it looks in the picture and is 100% cotton b/c L hates anything else touching her skin.  Apparently she has sensitive skin that itches all the time.   

For my brother in law D (L's husband), I made a hat using a navy blue cotton yarn.  It's nice and squishy and soft and warm.  I am making myself a hat out of the same yarn.

And JP, my other other brother in law, got these socks.

He should feel honored.  I hate making men's socks.  Their feet are just too damn big.  Also, I really hope he likes/wears them.  

Lastly, I made my aunt P a necklace. 

I kind of wanted to keep it.  

So...that was my attempt at giving gifts this year.  I hope everyone liked them!

Good news will work its way to all them plans*

I went to Dunkin Donuts this morning for my normal iced coffee.  It kind of pisses me off these people can't seem to remember what I want.  I go at least 3 mornings a week since I've moved here. 

Anyways, this morning I got into a big "argument" with the guy behind the counter.  (I wasn't really fighting, I just couldn't think of a better word).  I ordered, iced coffee with cream and sugar.  Like always. 

However, this morning, our conversation went as follows:

Iced tea with lemon or no lemon? 
I don't want iced tea, I want iced coffee. 
Ok, ma'am, it's the same price.  Iced tea with lemon?
No.  Iced coffee with cream and sugar.
Ok.

A few minutes later, he handed me my iced tea with cream and sugar. 

Sigh.

I also had an embarassing moment last night at CVS trying to buy tampons and liners.  All the store had was JUMBO packs of each.  Like 50 per pack.  And I was kind of in dire need of them, so I figured, eh, just buy them.  You'll be set for a while. 

Except, up front, hottest guy ever at the register.  And yes, I realize he sees much worse purchases every day, and I can't say I normally give a crap about buying these items, but seriously.  JUMBO PACKS. 

Double Sigh.  

Anyways, tomorrow I will be spending the day in my car, so don't expect a post from me!  :-)

*Modest Mouse

Make my wish come true, all I want for Christmas is you*

So, I'm taking the week off of running.  I went on Sunday evening (yes, I worked up the energy to go), barely.  I felt so lethargic while running.  It was such a struggle.  I just felt awful.  

Then, on Monday, I felt horrible all day.  I was ache-y and kept getting hot then cold all day, and I had that weird crawly skin feeling where I didn't want anything touching me.  It was very un-fun.  I was supposed to run, and just had no energy to do anything but come and sit on the couch and wait for dinner.  

Then, I woke up today, and my throat was killing me, I had no voice, and my lungs felt hurt-y (yes, these are all technical descriptions).  

So, I am taking a break this week.  No running.  Just getting as much sleep as I possibly can.  

I also am trying to get better as quickly as I can because Revolting R is back in NJ and I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HER and I don't want to be sick (oh, yeah, also, Christmas is coming.  Would hate to be sick for that as well...).  

Hope everyone is having a lovely week!

*Mariah Carey

Nothing is different, but everything's changed*

So.  

I've been a little slack on the whole posting thing this month.  But it's almost Christmas.  There's so much to do!

On Thursday, I had to fly to Richmond for a few hours (yes, a few HOURS), and actually spent more time  in airports than I did in Richmond.  I had to get up at 3:30 to catch my early flight that morning.  Going there was surprisingly not a terrible ordeal.  We were only about 20 minutes late overall (even with the snow in Richmond) and it was a surprisingly painless trip.  Then, coming back, I ended up stuck in Laguardia airport for about 6 hours, and FOUR cancelled flights, before finally making it back to Philly.  It was a terrible day.  

I was so tired that day I didn't even want to do any knitting which is crazy talk for me.  I always knit while traveling.  

Luckily, I had already finished all my Christmas gifts (including the ugly monkey) so at least this didn't throw me off schedule or anything.  I'm working on taking pictures of everything I've made, so that after Christmas I can post pictures.  Yay.  

Unfortunately, I've been so busy knitting and working, I haven't felt like running.  I've only managed to go once this week.  I'm attempting to work up the energy to go now.  It's not going so well. 

I had planned to go right after the Eagles game, but then we WON!  And it was INSANE!  And then I had to watch the post game shows and all the replays.  And now I'm sucked into the Jets/Steelers game, so it would be wrong to leave now.  Right?  (See how good I am at not running?)

So, anyways, while I try to overcome my lethargic attitude, here's a picture of the ugly monkey.  

I think I shall call her Carlita.  

*Paul Simon

We're just tryin' to be friendly, Come and watch us sing and play*

So, the ugly monkey.

More progress has been made.  The ugly monkey has a face, a very busted face, but a face none the less.  

  

I'm not going to lie, I made the face and thought the monkey got even uglier.  Which I didn't think was even possible.  Then, I started making the dress.  And oh the dress.  Looks HIDEOUS on the needles.  I couldn't understand what these whack-job pattern writers were thinking.  

Then, I decided to see what I thought of the monkey with the dress so I could decide if I was completely wasting my time trying to make this, or if it was salvageable.  

The dress is only half finished, so it's quite...short and indecent right now.  But, oh what a difference it makes!

 She actually, kind of looks like a SHE, and not hideously ugly.  I'm amazed at the difference an ugly dress makes.  I'm slowly starting to LIKE the monkey and I'm not as horrified to give it as a gift.  It looks kind of like a sock monkey!

I'm speechless.  :-)

On a completely different note.  It's cold again today (obviously not 20" of snow cold...but cold anyway). I went for my run this evening and did not really protect myself clothing wise as I maybe should have.  I was warm enough once I started running (as in not shivering or anything like that), but my legs need more protection I think.  The wind was so bad, that about halfway through I realized my skin felt numb from the waist down.

It was not the most pleasant of feelings.  I may have to start doubling up my pants.  Blah.

And just to give you an idea of how windy it is here.  I took Oscar out for his last walk of the day, and the wind blew him over.  Literally, blew him off his feet on to his side.

I am the meanest mom b/c I just laughed hysterically at him while he looked around with a WTF just happened look on his face.  Poor little thing.  I guess he needs to gain some weight or something!

*The Monkees

Lately things just don't seem the same, actin' funny but I don't know why*

I am planning a weekend of driving.  I seem to do this a lot. 

I don't really have any friends in the immediate area right now.  The friends I DO have, tend to go away on the weekends, so, I drive kind of far to reduce the number of nights I am sitting alone in my hotel room.  (Ha!  I sound so pathetic!). 

Tonight, I shall be meeting JH and potentially others in New Brunswick for dinner and drinks.  Nothing too hard core (nothing like the bar crawl last month), just a night out with friends in a social setting and not sitting on my sofa waiting for my laundry to finish...which is how I would otherwise be spending my Friday night (oy, I really AM pathetic :-P). 

Then, on Saturday, I shall be heading to Delaware to babysit the adorably precious Baby V while her parents go get merry at their Christmas party.  However, I most likely will be spending a lot of time sitting on THEIR couch while Baby V is sleeping.  So, it won't be the most social of evenings.  I'll just have to squeeze all my socializing in while she's still awake.  :-) 

However, that's a lot of driving in two days. 

Sunday I plan to spend running, doing laundry, and just being lazy on the couch watching movies.  Feel free to come visit!  :-)

*Jimi Hendrix

I finally figured out some things you'll never know*

Let me start off by saying:

Happy Birthday Grandma!  (Hey...I still have an hour to post this and still have it be true!).  I love you! 

I'm also really tired, so here's a fail of a post telling you the fun (ha!) things I did today:

• Mailed my Christmas cards.  I apparently don't know how to count.  I bought 24 thinking that was enough, but I was definitely short.  Some people will be receiving e-cards.  Yay e-cards!
• Finished JP's Christmas gift.  His was the last gift I was officially planning to make.  I still have to make the dress for Baby T's ugly monkey (as shown a few posts earlier...I'm too lazy right now to find the link).  And I may try to make Little J and H the Viking hats as requested.  
• Gave the scary ugly monkey a face.  She looks a little...rode hard and put away wet?  Seriously.  U-G-L-Y...she ain't got no alibi.  I'll try and post a picture tomorrow for everyone to laugh at. 
• And I am almost finished buying gifts for this year.  I hope.  Although I seem to keep remembering other people I have to buy gifts for.  Argh.  

I also watched Fantastic Mr. Fox on TV today.  I absolutely adored the book growing up, and while I'm usually ok with books changing for movies, I was a little...disappointed...with how they changed the story. Don't get me wrong, the movie itself was a cute movie.  And if I hadn't loved the book SO MUCH growing up, I would have thought it was a great movie (actually, it WAS a great movie...just not what I was expecting).  

I also watched Transformers 2 and UGH!  What a terrible movie.  Just terrible.  

*SPOILER*

WHO THE EFF KILLS OPTIMUS PRIME IN A TRANSFORMERS MOVIE????  REALLY????

And obviously there are plot twists and devices in an attempt to make the movie work, but I swear that happened and I was so angry and we weren't even an hour into the movie.  Just RAR!  

Anyways, so that was my day.  Not very exciting, but at least it's been productive.  :-)

Happy almost end of the week day!

*Better Than Ezra

If I go everywhere you want me to go, how will I know you'll still follow?*

I am a very bad dog owner.  One of the things you're supposed to make sure you do, is establish yourself as the alpha in the "pack".  Your dog should never think he's the one in charge.  I have completely failed at this.

Whenever Oscar is around me, he is very very very protective of me.  He is very aggressive towards other dogs.  He doesn't like to meet new people.  He just barks ferociously anytime he senses a "threat" to me (or in his opinion, his rightful attention from me).  Basically, he's a socially retarded dog that hates everyone else and thinks he can hurt them by biting off their ankles or something.  (Ok, once he realizes you're ok, he's one of the SWEETEST dogs ever.  He just likes to make sure you know he's in charge when you meet him).  

However, apparently he's also the BIGGEST COWARD ever.  

Today, I had a really long meeting for work that lasted until about 9PM.  I asked one of my co-workers that lives in the hotel to take Oscar out when he got home from work so he wasn't having to hold it in for 14 hours.  

Z stopped in and Oscar does his normal freak out barking at someone being in the room.  Z opens the crate to let him out and Oscar still barking starts inching out.  Z kind of crouches down and puts out his hand to let Oscar sniff him and Oscar turns tail and cowers in the back of the crate.  

Z spent 20 minutes trying to get him out of there and couldn't.  He finally had to give up because he had go to an appointment.  

I find it so funny how different he is if I'm around vs if I'm not.  If I was there, Oscar would have been all about showing Z that HE is the man of the room and he's going to protect me, and Z can just step off.  But, I'm not around, and he cowers in fear.  

So, Oscar is apparently the alpha male, and I am a terrible owner.  Grrr.

*Silversun Pickups

Don't worry you will find the answer if you let it go*

Before moving back north, I used to romanticize how much I loved the weather here.  I loved that it wasn't 100+ degrees every freaking day in the summer.  We get snow here, and I can wear my winter hats and gloves and scarves that I knit so frequently, and yet never was cold enough to wear in Virginia. 

What was I thinking? 

I spent FIVE minutes outside on Friday night walking Oscar and all I could think was, OH MY GOD IT'S EFFING COLD and it's going to get COLDER!  (I think my blood has maybe thinned out from living in the South, because I seriously don't remember it being SO COLD). 

And, to make it even more exciting, last week was my first week of "training" for my proposed next big race I'm trying to do.  However, my training is involving a VERY SLOW build-up of miles (like 48 weeks slow building up).  So, my last week consisted of a grand total of EIGHT miles (please, hold back the laughter). 

Breaking that down, it was four, 2 mile runs (outside...IN THE COLD).  However, on Friday, my knee was feeling a little twinge-y for some reason, and it was cold, and I was tired, and I had to drive to Delaware to visit J, and I just didn't want to run.  SO...I skipped the 2 mile run, and did my Burpees again and just ran as planned on Sunday. 

I thought a grand total of 6 miles and 55 burpees were totally the equivalent of 8 miles.  Also, I have FORTY EIGHT weeks to train. 

However, this week has shown me that I'm not really fully equipped to run in the winter up here.  In Virginia, I owned ONE pair of running tights, that were capri length, and sometimes felt like overkill (too warm) for the brisk Virginia winters. 

I wore these tights on Wednesday and Sunday's runs, and both nights I swear to God my ankles/lower calves were going to freeze mid stride and my foot was going to break off when I stepped down.  They were so cold.  The rest of me was actually somewhat ok (well, my face felt like it may fall off as well, but there's not much I can do for that), but, oh my poor ankles. 

So, my next purchase is going to have to be a pair of long running tights.  Because, this is just not going to work for me much longer. 

Oh, but on a completely different note, but still pants related.  I ordered a pair of snow pants (I'm supposedly learning how to ski this winter) and they arrived on Sunday.  I put them on and they are fantastically warm.  I tried to buy this awesome blue, green, and orange plaid pair, but they did not have my size.  So, I was stuck with plain black.  Boo.

However, the insides are SHINY!  (They have the emergency blanket technology on the inside to keep you warm).  So I suppose that will have to do.  Now I just need to find some sort of foam material I can wrap myself in that will protect me while I spend the day falling... 

*Sarah McLachlan

I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts*

I have been doing a lot of Christmas knitting and gift making lately, this means I don't really get to take pictures of it and post it until after everyone receives their gifts.  

However, the recipient of this can't even read yet, so I'm pretty sure she's not going to accidentally stumble upon this picture of it.  So without further ado...Baby T's sock monkey:

This thing doesn't have a face yet (I still have to embellish and give it eyes and define the mouth), so it is even creepier looking than it will be, however, I still think this thing has a busted face and I'm pretty sure Baby T will think it's kind of hideous...but...oh well.  

If I have time before Christmas, this little naked monkey will be receiving a dress (nothing like dressing up the fugliness), if not, she's just gonna be a streaker.  

*Monty Python

Come on baby in our dreams, we can live our misbehaviour*

I am going to use the collective power of the internet.  Hopefully someone out there knows how to do this:

There is a keystroke in Excel that allows you to copy/paste the exact cell above into the cell below.  (No, it's not copy/paste).  Basically, it prevents iterations from happening.  So, if I had a date in the cell above, I could use this keystroke and it would put the same date in the cell below (whereas copy/pasting puts the next day's date). 

It's very frustrating because I knew this keystroke for all of about 5 seconds, and I've forgotten it already.  D'OH! 

So, have at it, tell me what I'm supposed to use. 

Moving on.

Yesterday, I was having some issues breathing.  It kind of felt like I had an elephant sitting on my lungs all day.  It was very un-fun.  However, it was ALSO my first day of my new training plan (I finally picked a race to train for!), and I was going to be so angry at myself if I already messed up my training plan on the FIRST DAY. 

So, I got home and threw on some clothes, used my inhaler again, and ran out the door of the hotel.  I ran pretty damn fast considering I don't think I breathed IN the entire run.  And it was actually a really relaxing run. 

I then came home and hung out with Oscar for a while before heading to the grocery store where I spent almost an hour in the produce section.  Oh, I LOVE Wegman's produce section.  SO MUCH FUN!  I bought all sorts of fun veggies to eat for the week.  I also bought some chicken which I am attempting to cook in my crock pot today.  However, I'm not entirely sure how well that's going to go considering I just kind of threw some stuff in there.  It will either be really yummy, or the worst tasting stuff ever.  I'm also starting to wonder if I actually turned ON the crock pot.  I may have to go back to the hotel real quick and check...

Anyways, hope everyone is having a fantastic day!

*Arcade Fire

Everybody knows it sucks to grow up*

So, I'm going to say something I NEVER thought I would say:  

I really did NOT like the Harry Potter movie.  I wouldn't go so far as to say I hated it, but I was SO BORED.   It was so slooooow and drawn out and nothing happened, and even the so called "sad" parts, I was so un-invested in this movie, I felt nothing.  

They could have eliminated half of the stuff, and just made one movie.  But, it feels like they just didn't want to give up their cash cow and decided to make you pay two times.  Seriously, not fun.  

However, other than the people I went with, I appear to be the only one who feels this way.  Everyone I talk to has LOVED the movie.  (Are these people insane?)  Seriously, I could have taken a nap and not missed anything.  

So, the second half had best be better.  

I went with my friend Mike to the movie.  So in addition to the not good movie, I also had an awkward night meeting Mike's family.  I don't do well meeting new people.  And while they are quite nice and very friendly, I can't remember the last time I felt so awkward.  

At least my Thanksgiving was lovely.  J and Baby V and I did a 5k Thanksgiving morning (J is hardcore...she ran part of the race with Baby V strapped on her belly in the carrier...crazy lady!).  It was a nice way to start the day, and makes the yummy food that much more enjoyable.  Then, we all went to my grandma's house for Thanksgiving "dinner" and as always, I love seeing the family.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures.  So, I have to post one of my sister's:

The adorable Baby V eating her Thanksgiving Day party dress.  What a cutie!

All in all, it was a mostly successful weekend, however, I'm really not ready to go back to work tomorrow. I kind of want another day off.  :-)

*Ben Folds

You just smile politely, and I grow weaker inside*

I am not a fan of daylight savings time.  

It's bad enough when it was getting dark at 5:45, and I barely had time to go for a run after work, but now, it's getting dark at 4:45, which means that it's dark before I even leave work.  This is entirely not working for me.  

I also am feeling the lack of reflective clothing in my dresser.  

My daddy gave me his reflective vest to go running in, but honestly, I look like an ass in it (and while I do enjoy being a LIVE ass, it's still not my favorite look).  

I bought a new running jacket, however, it does not have any convenient reflective strips anywhere on it.  I have been attempting to find reflective tape, but apparently nobody around here has ever heard of it, and I can't find it anywhere.

So, I bought some fun reflective stickers that are supposed to be used for biking helmets and made a fun decorative jacket.  I still look like an ass when I wear it (and I bet planes could try to land on this thing, but at least it's more comfortable than that vest thing).  

 Seriously, doesn't this thing look like a landing strip?

So, I took it out for a run the other evening, and it worked wonderfully.

I just hope these things stick long enough until I can find some reflective tape.






*Ben Folds

And there's so much where we ain't been yet*

I have this amazing ability to attract weird people to me. It could almost be a talent (if it wasn't so obnoxious).

In college, I used to take the train home, and it was almost always an adventure. Some person would feel compelled to sit with me and spend the hour talking to me. Except, I could never have NORMAL conversations.

One time someone spent an hour telling me that I was too pretty for my own good and someone was going to feel compelled to hurt me. Um thanks? Creepy!  Another time, I listened to a guy tell me about the weird warts on the bottom of his feet and his genitals.  (REALLY???).  Listening to my mp3 player did nothing to deter these people.  In fact one person actually removed my headphones so I couldn't ignore him. 

Or, the time I took a train back to Virginia and there was a really smelly guy sitting next to me telling me that I was obviously meant to be with him forever.  Or the drunk guy that kept trying to give me weed randomly and telling me we should go make out in the bathroom of the train car.

Or the time on the Metro in the DC area where the guy was doing something inappropriate to himself while plastered up against me on the train (it was a full car). 

Or the time I was flying back from Indiana, and the guy sitting next to me kept trying to convince me I should fly on to Florida with him and help him house sit.  And then proceeded to rub my arm, ALL FLIGHT.  And the flight was full and I couldn't move.  And he wasn't being OBVIOUSLY touchy-feely.  He kept playing it off like it was an accident.  But really, it was not. 

Last night, I was in a funk and I went to get some takeout sushi.  While waiting for them to finish my order, I was sitting in the front area of the restaurant.  A guy randomly walked up to me, looked around all kind of furtively, and then pet my head a few times and stroked my arm. 

He looked around again for a few seconds and ran out the door as I just sat there in shock. 

I'm not some freakishly attractive person.  I'm pretty average, so what in the world is wrong with me?  Why do people feel the urge to come up and just be weird around me?  Or as we like to say, why am I flypaper for freaks?  They just come and stick themselves to me.

It's bizarre. 

*Josh Ritter

And you know you've seen it all, in daddy's car thinking you'll go far*

I have a definite case of the Mondays. 

So, I'm going to post about the lovely weekend I had instead. 

Actually, this lovely weekend started out kind of shitty.  I woke up at 5:30 in the morning on Saturday to Oscar vomiting blood.  Usually he throws up multiple times before getting to the blood stage, but this time he appeared to be in a rush and just went straight for it. 

Sigh. 

He seemed ok and didn't do it again, so being the heartless mom I am, I decided to just keep an eye on him, and if he did it again, we'd go to the emergency vet, but otherwise, we were waiting until the normal vet opened at 8.  (Other than needing to poop twice in the next 2.5 hours, he was ok).  Off to the vet we went. 

Waited about 40 minutes for a doctor (I had no appointment, just kind of walked in, so I was surprised it wasn't longer).  An internal IV (those things are so cool) and a few shots later, we walked out with a bunch of meds to give Oscar, and he already was acting much happier so I wasn't too concerned.  And he's fine.  Doesn't seem to be showing any adverse side effects from being sick, so, we're good. 

In addition to drama queen Oscar, I had invited my sisters and their families to come to breakfast at my place (yes, I am crazy and invited 8 people to eat in my ridiculously tiny room...but that's just how I roll). 

But, my lame oldest sister L (ha!  last week you were awesome...but this week you're lame!) had completely bailed on me and NOBODY from her family came.  And then, JP was supposedly "too sick" to come (although he made a miraculous recovery in time for his co-workers party...), so it was just J and baby V.  Which was actually great.  I had way too much food for just the two of us to eat (I had planned for at least 4), but it was really fun hanging out with J, I feel like I didn't get to do that enough the past 5 years. 

Then, in the afternoon my parents came up for the evening. 

My mom has been wanting to learn how to bead and make jewelry.  So, I spent Saturday afternoon/evening teaching her how to make a necklace.

And seriously, her first attempt is freaking AWESOME:

I'm impressed :-)  (Also, best teacher ever...)

My parent's stayed the night, and we went to breakfast Sunday morning at the diner up here (it's a really good diner...best french toast ever!). 

They went home after breakfast, and I cleaned and fell asleep on the couch (that early wake-up call on Saturday took a lot out of me), and waited for JH to call so we could go out for her birthday dinner.  (While helping my mom, I made a necklace for JH's birthday gift.)

We just went to the Applebee's across the street from my hotel for some drinks before dinner (so we could watch the game), and we ended up just staying there for dinner as well.  Our bartender couldn't get any candles for her cake (apparently they don't have candles???), so he held his lighter lit for her to blow out.  I suppose that was creative. 

Then, I came home and went to bed so I could go to work at 5:30 (that didn't happen, but it's a story for a different day).

All in all, I had a lovely weekend (minus the bloody vomit) and it was so nice to see everyone (except the lame L). 

*Dead Kennedys

A penny for my thoughts, oh no, I'll sell 'em for a dollar*

I got a weird email today and it's put me in kind of a shitty mood. 

There is someone in VA that I'm not a huge fan of, and to be honest, I kind of never want to see again.  This person is an asshole and pretty much is just a terrible person.  I unfortunately ran into this person last time I was in Richmond, and it just kind of re-emphasized how happy I am to not be living there anymore.  

I forgot that I still had this person as a friend on Facebook (this person quickly got unfriended).

BUT I AM SO MAD AT MYSELF FOR NOT THINKING TO DO THIS SOONER.

This person saw some pictures from this past weekend and decided it would be fun to email and make comments to me about them (Yeah, there is nothing bad in any of the pictures, don't worry mom and dad).

So now, all I can think about is how angry I am at this person, and how much I can't get over what a douche-bag this person was.  And I'm mad at myself for letting this get to me. 

And, yeah, I've just been mad pretty much all day. 

*The Band Perry

So bar maid bring a pitcher, another round o' brew*

I mentioned in a previous post that Oscar has been a little concerned lately with how often he gets left at my parent's house. 

I left him there again this past weekend in order to head to North Jersey to see Little J play in a soccer game, and to go to the bar crawl that a bunch of my college friends were at.  

I had a great time this weekend. 

The soccer game was so funny to watch.  However, the other team was full of douche-bag parents and coaches that are teaching their kids to be assholes!  They beat little J's team like 17-0 (I honestly lost count after 13-0, so it may not have as bad as I said, but it was BAD).  AND, they kept telling their kids to KEEP SCORING!  WTF????   Keep in mind, these kids are like FIVE.  What are you teaching them??

After the game, I headed down to New Brunswick for the bar crawl and I got to see A LOT of people that I haven't seen since graduation.  It was the most random gathering of friends (it's crazy how your circles of friends can intersect and you aren't even aware of it).  I saw old classmates from my Chem-E days. I saw old floor-mates from Freshmen year.  I saw my old roommate JH and hung out with Mike again (it's crazy how many times I've seen this guy in the past two months.).  

I got very happy that night.  Probably a little TOO happy.  I was thinking of posting pictures, but that requires posting pictures of myself, and I kind of have a policy about that...so...no pictures.  Just know that I had a great time and it was reflected in the pictures.  

Oscar on the other hand, apparently did NOT have such a good weekend.  

When I got home Sunday evening and started unpacking, I think Oscar thought I was getting ready to leave again.

Because he crawled into my suitcase and made himself at home.  He just REALLY wanted to make sure I couldn't leave him behind this time.

And, on a side note...guess whose oldest sister gave her their old camera?  That would be me...I can now take pictures!  That look like pictures!  And not big dark blurs!

Isn't she awesome?

*Jimmy Buffet

And I thank my lucky stars, that you are who you are*

My sister J's mother-in-law bought her a cool little dress form that is a jewelry holder (it's about 12" high, not a real dress form).  While it's not something I would have originally bought for myself, when I saw it on J's dresser I wanted it.  That instant. 

Unfortunately, J likes it too, and wouldn't give it to me. 

So, I've been searching for about 8 months, attempting to find one of my own.  I've dragged multiple people to multiple stores that could potentially have this.  I managed to find ones that were huge (like 3 feet tall) and super expensive, but not the size or style I was looking for.

Then, yesterday, at Ross, I found it. 

My precious (and it was on clearance!).

I quickly yanked it off the shelf and carried it with me throughout the store.  It would have taken an army to get me to let go of this thing for any reason. 

I excitedly brought it home and hung all my necklackes and earrings on it.  I decided to leave it sitting on my vanity outside the bathroom where I can look at it every morning as I get dressed.  I think it adds a special little something to the hotel decor...

*James Taylor

You're a butterfly and butterflies are free to fly*

Yay random bullets!

• My lunch on Tuesday made me feel...not so hot.  So...I bailed on my run and went back to my hotel.  However, I felt bad not doing anything even remotely physically active, so I decided to do some burpees in my room (as recommended by BS).  As BS pointed out, burpees are great total body exercises and if I had any "distress" issues, my bathroom was right there. 
• My burpees are lame.  I did a set of countdowns.  So, I did 10, rested a minute 9, rested a minute, 8...and so on down to 1.  I was able to do good ones for the first 10, 9 and 8 sets.  However, the set of 7 came along and my push-ups got super lame.  In fact, I'm not entirely sure you could classify them as push-ups.  It was more of a bend my elbows so I start to lower and catch myself really quickly and call that good enough.  I am so weak. 
• I had no "distress" issues, but I was definitely toast by the time I finished the last one.
• I woke up Wednesday feeling remarkably not sore.  Then, I proceeded to stand on the manufacturing floor for 3 hours for a test, and I could barely move after that. 
• I went for a "recovery" run yesterday hoping it would loosen up some of my muscles.  I only went two miles.  At the 1 mile mark (and the turnaround point) my legs finally felt like they were moving normally.  Then, at 1.75 mile mark, my legs wanted to break off.  They were done.  I finished the two miles and tried to stretch and could barely lift my leg to stretch it.  My quads felt shredded.
• I call that a failed recovery run. 
• Today is a rest day (my favorite day!).

I am done with the exercise talk for today.

• I wore my new snow/rain boots today (it's raining).  They are super cute, but I look super lame tucking my pants into them.  They make my pants do this funny balloon thing where I look like a pirate.
• As much as I am obsessed with pirates, it's not a good look for me.  I untucked my pants and just made sure I was careful not to step on them.  Kind of defeats the point of rain boots. 
• I need to go buy some new long sleeve shirts for work.  I got rid of most of mine when I moved because I never wore them (I got used to 80 degree offices) not thinking this place would be colder.
• I'm freezing cold all the time.  I need some sleeves. 
• On a positive note, so far I have finished both my sister's and one of my brother in law's Christmas gifts.  Only have to knit for 5 more people.  I'm so not going to finish. 
• This weekend is our bar crawl in New Brunswick.  So far there 14 bars scheduled.
• And people wonder why binge drinking in New Brunswick is so prevalent.  We have so many bars there!  We're not even hitting all of them. 
• I feel that 14 bars and me driving home is not a good idea.  I will be staying in a hotel in downtown New Brunswick. 
• This means another night for Oscar at my parent's house.  Poor little booger.

I bet people are sick of bullets.  I kind of am.

Have a lovely day today! 
*Elton John

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go*

There has been a lot of knitting and "traveling" lately. 

As I mentioned before, most of the knitting is Christmas knitting, so I can't really post pictures of anything.  However, in the midst of Christmas knitting, I was working on my sock of the month club sock.  I made October my "Mystery Sock" knit along (basically, once a week, the lady who wrote the pattern published part of the pattern.  You had no idea what the finished sock would like until you were finished).  I finished these last night. 

 I hate these socks.  The colors looked so pretty in the hank (or skein, whatever you want to call it), and did absolutely NOTHING for me while knitting them.  In fact, the longer I knit them, the uglier they got.  The pattern wasn't a terrible pattern, however, it was a pain in the ass to knit this many cables with tiny yarn.  Drove me insane at points.  The pattern of the cuff to the leg also drove me insane.  It's hard to see in these pictures (I blame the lighting in my room and the crappy phone-camera), but they don't match each other.  As in, the cuff has little tiny cables.  Really annoying little tiny cables.  Then, the leg has weird checkerboard type boxes. 

THEN, the leg has bigger little cables.  WTF?  It irritated me so much while I was making them.  Checkerboards and cables DO NOT MATCH.  I felt intense hatred for the checkerboard part.  (I don't know why I was so irrationally disliking that part of the sock, but whatever).  I guess overall I will say that it's a nice enough pattern, and some people love the cables and checkerboardlook, it's just not my normal style that I would knit. 

In addition, while knitting these socks, I thought they were the UGLIEST things I HAD EVER SEEN.  But, once I actually finished the sock, it came together a little more and was a little less ugly to look at.  (It also looks cuter on the foot than off). 

However, this sock also proves how different my mom and I are when it comes to taste. 

She loves these socks.  In fact, they will soon be in her little hands so I can stop looking at them. :-) 



In addition to the knitting, there has been the traveling.  I spent the two weeks in Virginia for work.  Then, the weekend of Little H's birthday, I went to L's house in North Jersey, and this past weekend was spent in DC.  Poor Oscar has not been able to come with me on these little trips.  He spent the two weeks I was in Virginia with my parents (they are seriously awesome for taking him), then he got boarded at the vet's the weekend I went to North Jersey, and this past weekend he was back at my parent's house. 

Oscar already has some abandonment issues from before I adopted him.  All this change has left Oscar a LITTLE ANXIOUS about where he is.  I packed Sunday evening and got ready to head back to my place. 

Oscar made sure he sat in my pile of stuff I was bringing back to ensure he was not left behind.  He just wanted to remind me that he should come with me.  (Again, sorry about the quality of picture.  Stupid lack of a camera.)  However, he's the black blob next to the plastic bags.  He sat there until I told him to get in his crate and he jumped right in ready to go home. 

He better be careful, my parents might get the idea he doesn't like them. :-) 


EDIT:  I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THAT LITTLE SOCK PICTURE IS COMING FROM...IT'S NOT IN THE DRAFT...IT JUST MAGICALLY APPEARED. (AND APPARENTLY IS ONLY IN GOOGLE READER? SO CONFUSED)

*John Denver

'Cause this is thriller, thriller night*

I'm hoping everyone knows that this past weekend was Halloween.  If not, please crawl out from under your rock. 

I didn't personally dress up as anything, and didn't really do anything Halloween related (other than hand out some candy to the kids that came trick or treating at my parent's house).  However, I DID try and help Baby V with HER costume. 

This had some mixed results. 

Here are the pieces that I made for her

The weird thing that people thought looked like a turkey or an octopus got felted and didn't really look anything like that at all.  

Here, is how Baby V looked like in her costume:

As you can see, she absolutely hated it.   In fact, she screamed bloody murder the minute J attempted to put on the sweater.  This is what her awful aunt's knitting does to her.  (I will say I have learned my lesson.  Never knit sleeves and seam them to the sweater again.  Apparently her she-man arms are too powerful for a mere seamed sweater). 

So, this is what she ended up actually wearing.  At least the hat/ears are ok with her.

However, is she not the cutest Yoda you have ever seen? 

*Michael Jackson

From gay men who love football to straight men who like 'Glee.'*

I had a great weekend.  I'm exhausted, but I had so much fun. 

Saturday morning, Mike, Mike's dad, and I drove to D.C. to attend the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear and had such an amazing time.  (Also, Mike and I have now managed to see each other more in the past two months than we had in the past 7 years...so that's an accomplishment as well). 

As for this picture, I just really liked the people sitting in the tree at the rally.  The cops however, did not.  They escorted the one kid out.  We have no idea if he got in trouble or not, but we booed the cop for being a dick.  So that was fun. 

The crowds were INSANE.   We got to the Metro station in Maryland around 10AM and parked the car.  The line into the station wound all around the parking lot and was probably about half a mile (if not longer) long (we were smart and went directly to the station and realized we didn't NEED to stand in the line, the machines were running and the lines were much shorter for these.  People were just getting on line thinking they had to.) We managed to bypass at least an hour long wait.  The parking lot itself filled up by 10:45.  The station we went to is one of the larger commuting stations, so the parking lot is HUGE.  The fact that filled up that early was amazing. 

My biggest complaint I have about the whole event is how terribly the Metro service handled this rally.  They didn't increase the number of cars on each train, they still expected people to swipe their pass card, and they had at least 3 lines not running for routine maintenance.  All of these things were frustrating, but still tolerable (It was so crowded.  You didn't even need to hold onto anything while standing because we were jammed in so tight there was no where to fall.  I made friends with a lot of people's armpits on the train rides)

However, the swiping of the pass cards pissed me off.  Most stations in DC have 2-4 turnstiles to swipe your card through.  There were 600 people getting off the trains at a time (I'm guessing this number, it may have been more or less but it was A LOT of people).  This led to a HUGE bottleneck and an insane fire hazard.  It took us about an hour to get from the train car to outside the station.

I don't do well being underground or super crowded (I have some claustraphobia issues) and I was starting to get really freaked out, but once I finally got outside it was ok. 

The amount of people in the mall was so incredible.  Usually the rallies take place around the reflecting pool, but this one took place at the Capitol end of the mall.  When we got there, it was 11:30ish and it was already packed from the Capitol to 7th Street, and was filling up on the other side of 7th street. 

We walked up the side and managed to get about 2/3 of the way up towards the stage.  We were really far to the right side of the mall, and couldn't really see the stage, but we had a decent view of the screens (see the picture to the right) and were close to a set of speakers so it was actually a decent spot. 

You can sort of the see the stage in this picture (to the left).  Look in the middle of the top.  The stage is the rectangle thing directly behind the tree.  However, the really cool thing about this picture is the guy in the front in the baseball hat looking towards the side.  He was wearing hand-knit socks (sadly, with sandals, but I'm overlooking that fact because he had on some nice socks).  I attempted to take a picture of them, but, my phone took a very dark picture with some darker lumps in it.  You couldn't even see they were feet, let alone socks.  So, that will not get posted. 

I still don't have a camera, but I tried to take a few photos of the crowds by holding my phone over my head:

This picture was taken in just my general area, so imagine how crowded the entire mall was.  Lots and lots of people.  I loved it.  And, the crowd was SO WELL BEHAVED (you know, rational and SANE).  There was no stomping on people's heads, no calling anyone Hitler (in fact, a lot of people were carrying signs proving that the only person who is Hitler, was Hitler himself), and just nice, normal, moderate people. 

I enjoyed myself so much.  However, at the end I was slightly confused.  A lot of people were sitting on the port-a-pots there. 

As in, sitting ON TOP of them.  You can see  the tops are starting to cave in.  They do not seem to be the most sturdy of seats, and really, do you want to tempt fate by sitting on top of an un-sturdy structure that is housing people's crap (literally)?   I thought it was bizarre. 

But, all in all, I had a great time and I'm so glad I went. 

*John Stewart/Stephen Colbert