Now I'm drunk, and you're insane*

So ever get mad at someone else because they're being themselves?  Or even worse, get mad at yourself for being you?  Because right now?  TOTALLY happening here.  Gah!  (Also, do you know how ridiculous it feels to be mad at myself for something I can't change?).  

Anyways, that's where I'm at right now.  I'm so ready for some time off.  I need to not be around people or something.

I went for a run today, hoping to clear my head.  The weather was perfect, I wasn't hungry (I'm usually ready for dinner by the time I head home, and convincing myself to run while my stomach is yelling for food totally sucks), and was totally in the mood for this run.

The run SUCKED big time.  As in, I was going for a 4 mile jaunt, and it quickly turned into a 2 mile garbage run, that quickly turned into a combination 1.7 mile "jogging" and .3 mile "walking" (I at least still did the pushups at each quarter mile, so I got in 80 pushups).  But, gah! it was awful.

My legs felt not right from the first step, and then just felt shaky after about half a mile (usually how my legs feel after running 8 or 9 miles...not half a mile) and I just hated it the ENTIRE time.  I was miserable and kept looking at my watch hoping I was at the quarter mile markers so I could just stop already.  However, at least my pushups felt ridiculously easy for the first half of the run, and didn't get super hard until the last set.  Maybe I need to increase my reps.  

But yeah, not only am I am mad at myself for being me (and someone else for being them), I then had a shitty ass run that just made me feel worse about myself.  Awesome.  Totally counter productive and not what I had intended when I started out for the run.

Is it Friday yet?

*Jakob Dylan - I randomly heard this song somewhere (no idea where), and can't seem to stop listening to it.  It's practically on repeat in my car.  Go download some Jakob Dylan!

Life is a highway, I want to ride it all night long*

This past weekend was the weekend of driving. Other than the fact that I was EXHAUSTED by 4pm on Sunday, I had a good time for the most part. I got to see a bunch of different people, and had fun.


I left work a little early on Friday (like 4PM, instead of the normal 5PM). I hopped on the PA turnpike and headed up to L’s house in North Jersey (because I am an awesome sister and said I would watch her kids for her all day on Saturday while she packed). I headed up after work on Friday so I wouldn’t have to wake up early on a Saturday to get up to her house in time (remember that reasoning, it’s kind of amusing later).

The PA turnpike was awesome. No traffic. I was able to get to NJ in about 30 minutes (that’s awesome, it’s usually closer to 45-60 minutes due to traffic). The PA and NJ Turnpikes connect via this 1.5 mile-ish long road that is considered to be part of the NJ Turnpike, even though it’s not actually a real part of the turnpike. There is an exit about 100 feet past the bridge to get off onto RT 130, but if you don’t take that exit, you go through a toll and then there is nowhere to go other than straight to the turnpike. Google maps showed the turnpike was ok, so I didn’t take the Rt 130 exit. I took the toll that’s about ¼ mile past that exit and hit a solid wall of traffic. Brake lights as far as you could see. Sigh.

It took 40ish minutes to go that last mile on the “extension” part of the turnpike before actually getting on to the ACTUAL turnpike. Once I got to the actual turnpike, I hit more traffic, and construction, and flooding, and closed roads. All in all, it took about 4 hours to get to L’s house. It normally takes 2-2.5 hours (even with bad traffic, it’s usually only a 2.5 hour trip). It was awful. And, I didn’t eat dinner before heading up b/c I figured I’d be there by around 6.

Traffic and hunger are not a good combination for me. I was SO grumpy. Ugh.

Saturday morning, I woke up around 8 thinking I should head upstairs (I slept in her in-law’s guest room downstairs) b/c I had told L that I would be there around 9am. I get ready and head upstairs and everyone was still hanging around and hadn’t even eaten breakfast which seemed odd to me. They usually get up and eat pretty early. About an hour later, I look down at my phone and realized it was only 8:15. I had woken up an hour earlier than necessary b/c I can’t tell time half asleep. I was so upset. I really wanted that extra hour of sleep (it was the whole reason for coming up the night before).

I spent the day playing with Little J, Little H, and Baby T. JH showed up later that afternoon (with lunch! She’s so awesome) and we took the kids to the park for an hour or so.

After we got back, I showered, and JH and I headed to Jersey City to get some dinner (I was craving banana pancakes). We met up with Mike and his roommate and some other friends at a local diner there. I ended up staying the night in Jersey City and had to drive to DE on Sunday morning to pick up J and JP’s truck, then take the truck to PA to get the ugly chairs mentioned yesterday, then back to DE with the truck. I picked up my car in DE and headed back to PA b/c I was exhausted and couldn’t bring myself to drive to my mom’s house in Jersey to pick up Little O before heading back to PA.

So, I was basically driving all evening Friday, a little bit on Saturday, and then from 8:30-4:00 on Sunday.

I got back to PA and took a nice hour long nap, and then finally went to bed around 9. Today, I have to go look at that chest after work and head to my mom’s to pick up the dog.

Then, I can go back to my hotel and refuse to drive anywhere other than work for the next few days.

It will probably all start over again this weekend. So, who wants to come visit this weekend and save me from driving all over the country?
*Tom Cochrane

this room will stay just as it is now for quite some time*

Anyone that has been reading L's blog, has probably already seen that I am moving in September, and L has already decorated almost my entire house/apt for me.  And it rocks.  

Unfortunately, I do not have much in the way of furniture (when I lived in VA, I had a lot of...unfinished rooms).  Therefore, I'm feeling like I'm attempting to furnish (and decorate) an entire house at one time and, I'd rather not spend all my money doing this.

So, L has donated some things to the cause, I'm going to be buying a lot from Ikea (luckily, I really like modern furniture, so Ikea is great for me) and Craigslist, and I'm initially buying some things that I'm not entirely enthralled with if they meet my budget (or you know...is free).  

Perfect example.  L designed my living room and it rocks.  I love it.  Included in this living room design, is this $5 chair I found on craigslist.  

Yeah, this thing is ugly , and not exactly a living room chair style.  But, it was $5 (and I got two of them!) so I figured, I was willing to learn to love them because a $5 chair frees up more money to put towards the rest of the place, and in a while, I can upgrade to a nicer chair hopefully.

In what involved a ridiculous amount of driving this morning, I went to pick up my two ugly chairs today, with my $10 in pocket, ready to be spent.  The owners of the aqua chairs also had 5 of these red and tan brocade type chair and needed to get rid of them, so they asked if I wanted it.  Never one to turn down free furniture, I am now the proud owner of THREE ugly chairs (instead of the original two I had planned).

Is it sad that I am excited to own three ugly chairs?  

This chair, at least kind of matches the color scheme of the rest of the living room (ha, not really, I just pretend it does) AND it was pretty damn comfortable (surprising no?).  I will be attempting to improve my slip-covering skills sometime in the near future I imagine. One of the aqua chairs will now go in my "study" (the room otherwise known as the catch-all of my mismatched/un-needed furniture), and either my bedroom (where it will somewhat match the rest of the room) or the basement (which is going to be the spare bedroom).  Oh, the possibilities.

Tomorrow, I'm going to look at this cedar chest I found on Craigslist.  I'm hoping it's in decent shape and can either go at the foot of my bed or will be my new coffee table until I can find a steamer trunk I like and is in my price range.   

So, progress is being made.  Even if I don't move until sometime in September or October.  However, the amount of stuff I still need to buy is a little intimidating.  I'm hoping I have more furniture than I remembered in storage (and that it's not entirely hideous), and maybe I won't need to buy as much as we think. :-) Wouldn't that be lovely?

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!  I'll give another post about what I actually did this weekend (that necessitated ridiculous amounts of driving) tomorrow or the next day.  I think I've already done a ridiculous amount of writing and I'm amazed if you made it this far!

*Dan Mangan

Though winds of change are blowing wild and free, You ain't seen nothing like me yet*

Sunday was spent building a Summer Funland for Baby V with J.  Unfortunately, we are both idiots and kept calling it a Winter Wonderland, which it most definitely was not.  

We had a sand and water table set up (except both sides were filled with water for more summer fun), and a kiddie pool filled with water and activity balls, and an awesome sprinkler with wacky wavy arms.  It was quite the Summer Funland indeed.  

Unfortunately, I did not have my camera, and only had my cell phone, so pictures are a little scarce.  But you can get a small idea of how awesome this funland was. 

Does this not look like a blast?  I was jealous :-)

On a completely different note, I bought a headboard today! (Yes, I DO live in a hotel right now and don't need it.  But it was on sale! And it's pretty!)

In case you don't feel like clicking the link, here's a picture from the West Elm website (however, I got it in white).

I'm getting so excited to move and decorate and have my own place again!  And my awesome sister has already started planning my place for me and telling me what to buy.  I'll have an adult place, with little work on my part...just money output :-).  

So excited!

*Technically Bob Dylan, but lately Adele.

Growing up won't bring us down*

I wanted to do this yesterday, when it was actually Baby V's birthday, but, I failed. 

So, today you get a mini-slideshow of the cuteness that is my niece. 

One year ago, J and JP welcomed this amazingly precious baby into the family.  It was love at first sight (at least for me :-P).  And it's been amazing watching this little girl go from this newborn:

To this 4.5 month old (who plays the most adorable almost 900 year old Jedi knight ever):

To this not quite 6 month old:

To this approximately 9 month old (I can't remember when this picture was taken exactly):

To this amazing one year old (who acts more and more like her mom every day.  I'm pretty sure I have a bunch of pictures of J making this EXACT face). 

Happy Birthday Baby V.  I can't wait to see what the next year brings.  :-)

*The Maine

Wow look at you now, flowers in the window. It's such a lovely day, and I'm glad you feel the same*

I love flowers.  Adore them.  Unfortunately, my friends and family appear to be slacking on the whole "giving me flowers" front.

So, taking matters into my own hands.  I bought these:

So pretty. I love how happy they look.  And the way this week has been going, I need the happy.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

*Travis

Breaking the ban on pics!

I kind of have this "rule" where I don't post personal pictures of me on here.  Not that I think it keeps me anonymous, but I feel like if someone from work (or something like that) were to somehow stumble on here, it would take a few extra steps of digging to find out who I am. 

However, this weekend was C's wedding, and I am absolutely in love with some of the pictures that got taken. 

My friend Mike came with me.  He seemed like the ideal wedding date.  He lived across the street from us in college so he knew all my old roommates and would have fun seeing them again.  I have a good time when we hang out, so I wasn't worried about spending a weekend around him, and he kept me entertained while all my old roommates were busy being in the wedding (I didn't really know anyone else there, so it was nice to have someone to talk to when they were busy doing bridesmaid things). 

I'm not as in love with this picture of me as I am with some of the others, but a lot of people are curious about Mike.  I'm not entirely sure why, since I feel like I mention JH and RR just as much, but they don't seem to draw the same curiosity.  Maybe it's the fact he's a boy...(Gasp! a member of the opposite sex who's a friend?!?!), but I figured I'd satisfy everyone's curiosity already. 

So, Mike and I at the reception -

It's a slightly awkward angle I think, but you get the idea.  And yes, I know, he's cute.  I swear, I got more compliments for Mike than I did for myself. :-P  (I'm cute too dammit! :-P). 

Anyways, now everyone knows what Mike looks like.  Feel free to compliment him if you want.  I'll pass it on, along with all the other ones. 

So, moving on. 

Because I think JH is JUST as exciting (and cute) as Mike, I want to post some pics of her.  (Also, I look much cuter in this picture, so you can see I am also cute). 

I'm on the right, JH is on the left (see, we are also both cute).

And lastly, b/c these are also super cute pics of JH, RB, and me, two more pics.

The look on my face in this one is so funny.  This was taken about five seconds before losing my balance, but it's a great expression.  :-)

Mike took some GREAT shots of us.  Another reason I'm glad I brought him with me.  :-)

Also...how many times did I say the word cute there?

McGrumpy Pants

Hi Grandma - there will be not lady appropriate words used in this post.  You may want to look away now :-)

I have been trying not to talk about Weiner's little...moment of complete asstard-ness, but today has been a terrible from a political point of view, and I find that I need a moment to rant. 

I find it very difficult at times that I work for a large corporation, because my personal political beliefs completely clash with what is best for my job.  It's hard to...not get frustrated when I see some of the things we support (like a Republican run house), because personally, I think the current budget issues are showing Republicans to be heartless assholes that only care about making themselves the most money (not that the Democrats are showing themselves as a better option).  However, from a keeping my job point of view.  I probably should be agreeing with the Republicans. 

It's frustrating.  And we just had a government affairs rep at work discussing some of the issues we are supporting and, it was hard to bite my tongue at times.

Then someone at work said how much they hate Obama because he's a Muslim.  And seriously people.  There are SO MANY THINGS you can pick to criticize Obama for.  Can you at least criticize him for something that is at least TRUE, and that actually MEANS SOMETHING.  Who gives a fuck if he's Muslim (and like I said before, he's not)?  It does not make him a terrible person if he was, and it has nothing to do with how he's doing as a president.  Argh. 

So, now my mini rant on Weiner

A - I absolutely LOVED him before.  He was one of the few Representatives that I actually admired. I mean, watch this video and tell me you wouldn't think he's freaking AWESOME.  He was one of the few people that actually called people out on their bullshit.  They need that. 

B- I don't particularly care that he's a pervert.  Whatever.  To each their own.  What I DO have an issue with is that he lied about it for over a week (I also have seen reports that the woman did not want to receive this pictures, in that case, this would also be a sexual harassment case, however, I'm not even going to get into that argument because I dont have enough evidence to actually have anything useful to say).  If he had just flat out said, yeah, that's me.  It probably would have blown over, because it's not like he's an asshole lecturing people on family values and being a huge hypocrite.  He's just a pervert.  And that has nothing to do with him as a politician. 

C- I ALSO give a shit that he just supported the idea that Breitbart is an honest, trustworthy publisher/whatever you call him.  Hello, this is the douchebag that didn't want to leak the pictures b/c it would be harmful to Weiner's family, and yet, he then SHOWS THE PICTURES ON HIS PHONE TO RADIO DJs and LET THEM TAKE PICTURES OF IT.  Explain to me how this isn't leaking the pictures?  The fact that he was actually proven right in this whole situation just PISSES ME OFF b/c more people are going to consider him an actual source of information.  ARGH. 

D- We needed someone that was able to stand up and get in the faces of people on votes.  As shown in the video above.  Except now, he's just a pathetic joke, that has no right to be lecturing anyone on honesty or ethics. 

So, this is just a big EFF YOU to Rep. Weiner.

Ok.  Rant over.  I shall never talk about this again. 

Cause this whole world needs an Anthem, and I'm trying to put the words where they belong*

Three completely unrelated topics in one post:

So, I made this for J:

(Please, ignore the toilet, I had no where else to hang it).  Anyone want to guess what I'm making?  (Really, how many things can you make out of a paper mache balloon?)

Isn't it lovely?  

Then, my awesome lunch today.  Citrus Wasabi Tofu and Veggies.

Yeah, it looks kinda gross, but it was sooo yummy.  New favorite tofu recipe (super easy too).  :-)

(Just press the tofu and cut it into cubes.  Then, cook it in a skillet with the citrus wasabi marinade until it starts to brown).  Yumm!

Sadly, there has been no running lately.  I had a really crappy run on Friday.  I stupidly decided to run 4 miles after work (after having been sick on Thursday and unable to breathe).  Idiot.  

I had a lovely asthma attack about 2 miles into the run (while I was 2 miles from my car) and this was after almost falling OFF the trail, down a ravine, into the river thanks to an asshole mountain biker.  I'm not kidding about the almost falling off.  I had to sit down quickly on my butt to stay on the ground.  My leg and foot were actually dangling off the edge.  And of course, the mtn biker just kept on going without stopping to see if I was ok.  Some people need a serious lesson in trail etiquette.  

Anyways, my lungs finally stopped bothering me today, and I'm not as nervous about running on the trail anymore, so hopefully I'll go for a run tomorrow after work.  

*Phantom Planet

Dresses (I'm too busy watching Game of Thrones to figure out a song)

Anyone that doesn't give a crap about what I'm planning to wear to a wedding next weekend shouldn't bother reading this.  I just feel like I've been planning for this wedding for so freaking long, that I'm just ready for it to be over with already (actually, just ready for it to be here so I can enjoy it). 

I had other dresses originally picked out, and THAT was a huge fiasco.  The one for Friday night was HUGE.  As in, looked like a potato sack.  I had it taken in, and it STILL was too big and just unflattering, and I felt like I was wearing a shroud, and it was making me want to cry just looking at it (not really, but there were definitely some angst-y moments there with the dress.  Sigh).  The other dress I was planning to wear to the wedding was a little too cleavage-y, so I tried to get the dress altered to close the V-neck, and it just looked terrible.  Ugh.  Big disaster.

So, last weekend, L and I went shopping and bought all new dresses.  This weekend, JH and I went shopping and I bought cute shoes to match my dresses.

Friday night I'm wearing a coral halter neck dress with these flowered shoes (You can click on the pictures to make them larger):

 Then, for Saturday (the actual wedding), I'm wearing a fun flowered dress with dark silver heels.

So, yeah, at least I have the clothes worked out.