My Girls

I never post photos of my girls. They are not my children so I won't show their face online even though I think on a good day only 3 people read this but I did like this photo and can share it. We went camping at Kayak Point Park in Snohomish Co. We had a pretty good time. Played a lot of Apples to Apples and played on the playground. We cooked and ate and did arts and crap. All in all it was a pretty successful camping trip.

Chicago!

So I'm going to Chicago for a few days later this month. Michelle's going to Blogher conference and I'm going to just be a tourist. You can imagine my joy at the email I received from my celiac group listing GF restaurants in Chicago. I'm not positive I'll get to go to one, but it is nice that there are options that I may be able to easily find. I may have to actively seek out Swirlz Cupcakes. Now to figure out what I'm going to do whilst there. :)

Wildfire
Rose's Wheat Free Bakery
The Balanced Kitchen
Da Luciano's
Stillwater Restaurant and Wine Bar
Gluten-Free Grocery
Adobo Grill
Weber Grill Restaurant
Lou Malnati's
Whole Bakers
Uno Chicago Grill
Vinci Restaurant
Lux Bar
Swirlz Cupcakes
Smith and Wollensky
Tavern on Rush
Ben Pao

Shop til I drop

Yesterday I went to Target to get an air mattress. $104 later I leave Target. How does it happen? Well I bought the mattress but I would need a pump to blow it up so that's another thing and then the pump needs batteries so there's something else and then I thought about how much I love Target's brand of fruit leather so I bought some of those and then I found myself buying more underwear and a couple of bras and there you have $104. Ridiculous isn't it?



I also traded in 4 video games and bought a new one and a previously owned one at the mall. I was sad to discover the health food store I used to go to all the time is now closed down. Oh and I went to the movies at the new theater in Northgate. It is a beautiful theater. Of course because it is brand new and relatively unadvertised so it isn't crowded at all and dirty yet. The chairs were super duper comfy. I liked it.


Today I went to the grocery store and that wasn't too bad but then I went up to the drug store and bought... yet another fan. I now own 6 fans not counting the ceiling fan that is in the kitchen that isn't "mine". Sadly, 3 of those fans don't work. I need to throw them away but I get all bogged down in the "can I throw this away?" question and instead I just store them in my apartment. I keep thinking I can't throw them in the trash and have to find another way to dispose of them but then I don't know what the other way would be. This new fan oscillates. It is the most wonderful fan ever!

I bought Big Brain Academy and Mario Kart for my DS. I spent 4 hours this morning playing Big Brain Academy. It might be an addiction. I like Mario Kart, but mostly I like the regular one and not the challenges. I need to practice the regular way before I get into them too much I think.

What does this even mean?

So I was reading my horoscope and here is what it is for today:

Prepare yourself. The more you've been thinking about doing something 'different' lately -- and the more restricted, controlled and constrained you've been feeling -- the more amazingly erratic your behavior has seemed to the people around you. That's not a reason to stop yourself, however. Every now and then, everyone needs to let go. It's officially your turn, and your turn has only just started.

My turn has only just started? I need to let go? I don't think I've seemed more erratic. How do I know? Whatever. :)

Photojeraphic Pimentos

So when I was a little girl I desperately wanted to go be on the Bozo Show so I could play the Grand Prize Game. If you didn't do well you got a 'photojeraphic pimento' of your time on the show. I totally didn't get that it was taped in Chicago and couldn't understand why we couldn't just go there. That's a long explanation that has nothing to do with this photo. :)

So obviously this is a photo from Disney World. I think my sister is about 3 which would have made me between 7 and 8. My mom posted an unedited version of this on her facebook account and I pulled it from there and ran it through photoshop. It helped quite a bit actually since her photo was faded and somewhat red. My actual point to all of this... for those of you with families. Take family photos. This may honestly be the only family photo we have that my sister is in. That's a little sad if you think about it. We took a bunch the last time I was visiting my parents for Christmas, but obviously it isn't the same.

Denver

I'll upload my photos tomorrow. I feel like the interview went well. I have such a hard time with them. I answered all their questions. It only took like 45 minutes... I don't know if that's good or bad. I think the interviews were only slated to be an hour anyway. I don't know why I'm having such a hard time finding a place that doesn't have a decision making disability. They are going to be making a decision in the next week or two and then decide on the next steps. I could be waiting until July for Christ's sake. That's just too long.

Another problem... I don't know how I feel about Denver. Denver is far more like Arizona than I could have imagined. I can't figure out if that's a strike against it or not. While walking around the Denver Botanical garden, I was in this one section that reminded me so much of scout camp in AZ I was transported back to being a camp counselor years and years ago. We used to smell the trees and some were vanilla trees and chocolate trees. I don't know but the kids swore they smelled it. I leaned against a tree and smelled. I could almost smell the vanilla.

This morning in Denver was great. Went to the Botanical Garden and it was gorgeous, but by mid afternoon I didn't know what to do with myself. That's why I schedule myself so much more carefully. I just get agitated. Now I'm not sure if my questioning of Denver is due to residual agitation about driving all over Denver looking for something to entertain me that would have killed an hour and a half. I don't know.

Struggling

There are two things I'm really struggling with with this whole job search.

1 - I'm trying very hard not to panic and just apply for anything I see. I have been very thoughtful in only applying for jobs that are at my level and in places I want to live. I did apply for two jobs that are a step back. I had good reasons for both. Job a - with firemen. That's all there is to it. :) Job b - is a combined comp & benefits position and I have no hands on comp experience so I thought this might be a good way to get into the comp aspect of things. Interestingly enough, those two jobs are the only ones that have led anywhere yet. I'm still optimistic though. :) I just applied for 3 more jobs this evening and the first 4 candidates we've interviewed in my office for the new boss job have all fizzled out. My boss seems to clearly suck at phone screens. So I'm presuming, hopefully not incorrectly, that my pay cut won't actually occur until the new person starts. Fingers crossed.

2 - The other hard part for me is the whole dishonesty about the whole job search. Honestly, people usually are job hunting in secret. So I put on this very public face of I'm coping well and being a team player and professional and all that while planning on leaving the moment I can. It bothers me a little bit.

3 - I am finding it really hard to give a rats ass about most things. Now that I have a plan in place to leave, I find I couldn't care less about a lot of things I should. I'm going to have to fight harder against that because I still have to do my job.

I blame Sookie Stackhouse

For the fact that I accomplished nothing today. I started watching True Blood after realizing Anna Paquin is in it. I like her acting a lot so I decided to watch a few episodes On Demand. True Blood, for those without HBO, is a show about vampires and other supernatural creatures. I forget how I discovered the shows were based on books (I think they might show a little thing when the episode first starts or ends) but I decided to check out the first one. I was hooked. The Southern Vampire Mysteries are much better than that other big vampire series. :) They are really rather short reads - the first book is 292 pages - and they are quick to boot. The basic premise of the stories is that vampires have come out of the coffins because Japan has invented a synthetic blood that allows them to get the nutrition they need without drinking from people. So now they go out at night and associate with people. Sookie is a small town waitress in Louisiana and meets one and has all sorts of adventures due to her ability to read minds. Regular people don't like her either because they know what she can do or just because they think she's crazy. On the show, they followed the book somewhat. The basic premise of the first season follows the first book although there were definitely places of digression and addition. I just watched the 2nd season premiere and they've gone way off the original books but that's okay. It was still a pretty good episode.

I bought a new gray pin striped suit yesterday. I'm going to take a picture of me in it as soon as I find my camera. :) I like it. I think it is slimming. It was originally priced really expensively - $300 (ok that's expensive to me, maybe it isn't really expensive). It was marked down to $122 which is a good deal. I've never owned something so elegant. :) I just have to figure out how to get it to Denver so I can change into it when I get off the plane and after lunch and it won't be wrinkley. I do have one of those squishy hanging bags... Do the stewardesses only hang those up for first class? Hmm...