Tattoo #2

I went today and got tattoo #2. I am now sporting a very red horseshoe between my b00bies. I'll post a picture later this week. Michelle and I went to a place in Ventura today. The guy who did it was nice. I also appreciated the fact that he both showered recently and was wearing clean clothes. This was important as he spent most of the tattoo time sitting on the table just above my head with his left arm just above my face. Here's what I've learned... getting tattooed on the sternum HURTS. It hurts in a way that my spine did not hurt. Holy hell. After we were done it was still like I was getting pricked. I am pleased with the way it turned out though. :) HOWEVER, I will have to cancel my next blood donation appointment since I now can't donate for a year. You know, unless I don't tell them I've gotten a tattoo in the last 12 months. It isn't like I had seks with a man who had seks with a man in the last 12 months or that I'm a intravenous drug user or anything. It was clean and he used sterile needles and gloves and what not. That's an interesting concept... my blood is helpful to people. I know that the place I went to was sterile and that I didn't pick up hepatitis, but I can appreciate the Red Cross's rules about it. At the same time it is an archaic rule and they test the blood all to hell anyway. So do I lie on the form or do I deny them my lifesaving blood for a year for a dumb archaic rule? Oh please, I'll probably be honest. :)

Happy day!

From what I understand it snowed in Seattle while I've been gone. I'm sad to have missed that! It has not snowed here but it is a bit chilly.

We went and saw Juno yesterday. It's really good. I highly recommend it. We had originally been planning on seeing a sneak preview of 27 Dresses but we missed out on that because there was only 1 seat left and two of us.

I think we're doing arts & crap today and I've got some glass things to etch. I'm happy about that. :) I also have a scarf to finish for a coworker. She admired it during the white elephant gift exchange.

V might come out on Saturday and spend the night. It will be good to see him. I hope he really comes. I bet he won't though.

Christmas was nice. We were all at Michelle's mom's house. They had a lot of people over for breakfast and present opening. I'm always amazed at how many people are in Michelle's family. There are 7 of us total in my family right now. A few cousins and one uncle I've never met on top of that, but that's it. I've not seen one set of the cousins since I was like 8 and the other set since I was about 12. I wouldn't know them if there were 3 of us in a room together.

We did PYOP (Paint your own pottery) yesterday. I LOVE PYOP! Oh actually I think we did that the day before yesterday. The days all run together, especially when there's nothing on TV. I've never noticed how much I've relied on the TV schedule to tell me what day of the week it is. I know some people use those silly things like calendars, but whatever.

Hope y'all are having a good holiday!

In CA

Do you miss me??

I got here on Sunday. It is HOT. Much hotter than I'm used to and it surprised me.

Michelle's baby is cute. She posts pictures on flicker but those do the kid little justice. Seriously. I just like touching her head because she's fuzzy and soft. She's a good baby. Between Kenna and my friend Janel's baby Trygve I may not dislike infants as much as I think I do.

Totally unrelated, I was talking to lyday the other day about adopting kids. My theory on this is that I meet up with a social worker and say you tell me who would do good with me. I do fear adopting a black baby though. Only because I've been listening to my scout moms talking about what you have to do with little black girls' hair and it freaks me out. Hot combs. Wax or something like that. Seriously it is intimidating. Lyday, who is 1/2 black herself, gave me a compliment. She said she thought I'd be great with any kind of kid really. That was nice of her.

So far, we've gone to Mongolian bbq and hung out. Michelle's grandmother, aunt and other aunt came by for dinner tonight. That was a ... tiring meal. It was nice and her hubby cooked a fabulous dinner. One of her aunts, though, had an anyuerism a few years ago and it definitely has affected her. There were kind of weird conversations going on, but in reality every one was nice and civil to each other so that beats most meals with my family 100%.

Slightly related... I wonder if my mother ever told my grandmother about Kayla before my grandmother died. When my grandmother heard Amanada got married, she implied that Amanda HAD to get married. In a fit of righteous indignation my mom lied and said no she didn't. Rather than do the logical thing like announce the baby a year later and just keep Kay a year younger than she really is, she continued to deny the existence of Kay. So weird...

Still on the agenda:
Christmas tomorrow at Michelle's mom's house.
Arts & Crafts projects - Maybe glass etching. Definitely scrapbooking.
A movie - I want to see Juno. Looks funny.
After Christmas shopping
And perhaps tattoos. I am still thinking a horseshoe and now I'm waffling on placement. I originally was thinking between my boobies and now I'm thinking the top of my left foot.

Recently I saw Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox story. HYSTERICAL. Definitely see it. Tonight we watched Spider Man 3. I can't help but think that may have been the most boring movie ever. Ok not EVER, but it was seriously boring.

Merry Christmas!! Have a wonderful day tomorrow and I hope Santa Claus brings you everything you want!

A sign I'm truly designed for my job...

Upon arriving at work this morning, I hear that an employee died on campus today. My first thought was "Crap, I hope it wasn't work related."

Cute!

Last night my new brownie troop and I had our investiture ceremony. They were so cute! My littlest one is 5 and she was so excited about her shiny brownie pin. She ran over to her aunt to show it to her right away. I wasn't sure about this new crop of girls, but I'm starting to dig them a lot. I'm really starting to get a sense of who they are, and who their parents are. It's interesting. And they're a lot of fun, but I really have to watch myself with them about what I say we may do. If I don't follow through they get REALLY upset. Last week we had practiced our ceremony and I said we may be able to play a game. Well we practiced our ceremony a 2nd time and so we ran out of time to play a game and the youngest one cried. I felt really bad. They're really eager to help, which is cute. They're just such fun kids. Although I'm alarmed by the fact that when committing to this new troop, I've now signed up for a good 10 more years of scout leading in Seattle... Holy crap. (That's if they all go into high school. Most of them won't.)

Am I psychic?

I think so. Here's how I know. I was at the deli counter and I noticed a guy off to my right and I thought 'Hmm... that guy looks like guy I used to know.' While I'm standing there I think that I need a basket because I'm buying too much stuff so I head to my left to where the baskets are located. Who is standing in front of the baskets... guy I used to know.

Of course if I AM really psychic then I'll be marrying the guy in the elevator yesterday evening with the amazing eyes but sadly walking the tiny dog that is either a girlfriend's or a boyfriend's with my luck. :)

Oh holy hell...

I just had a bite of the sugar cookies I bought from my bakery. They are so good I could die. I'm totally regretting only buying one package of them and thanking the fact that when I go down to pick up Stephen on Tuesday night it'll be too late to pop in and get some more. Nobody would get presents. I would just get COOKIES!!

Did you hear the alarm go off?

At around 4:30? That was my biological clock. I spent the morning and early afternoon with my friend Janel from Alaska. She was here with her son, the one that was hospitalized last year in Portland. He was at some doctor's appointments to figure out why his blood oxygen sometimes drops. She had been staying at Ronald McDonald House (totally related, the next time you eat at McDonalds, you should throw your change into the little Ronald McDonald House container. They do AMAZING work). But she was booted out on Saturday. She went down to her husband's grandmother's house south of Tacoma but wasn't sure how she was getting back to SeaTac and what to do on Sunday. Thanks to Stephen who is out of town until Tuesday night, I actually had access to a car (and one big enough for a baby and all his accoutrements) so I went to get her and then we went to my bakery and then to JoAnn's Fabrics. It was such a good time. And when I was playing with the baby I started feeling the pang...

After dropping them off at the airport I had to drive up to MOHAI (Museum of History and Industry) to see one of my scout's dance recitals. She was very good, but there was a group of teeny tiny girls dancing and they pretty much sent the pang over the edge. When I adopt, at least one has to be a little girl so I can torment her with dance class. :)

10 Things

Once upon a time a blog reader suggested to me that I should identify the 10 must haves in a future mate. She said to forget about the laundry list of nice to haves and identify the 10 most important things. Then she said to only date people who fit that 10. I told that to Lyday the other day and she mentioned she'd had a list - but of course like most women it was huge and she wasn't sure she could pin down 10. I mentioned it to Stephen and he's afraid to make the list. :) So he asked me mine. I thought about it and came up with several and now I'm writing them down. These are my 10 must haves. (Although they might differ from what I told Stephen because I've already forgotten most of those. :) )

1. Kind
2. Wants children (willing to adopt)
3. Can make me laugh/sense of humor
4. Accepting/non judgemental
5. Non smoker & drug free
6. Is attractive to me. (I have liberal taste remember)
7. Financially responsible
8. Has a job he enjoys or is working towards getting a job he enjoys
9. Willing to volunteer with me
10. Finds me hot. :)

(If I could have an 11 and this isn't really a must have but a would be nice, willing to dance with me on the feet on Broadway)

Update: so I fixed job he enjoys to working towards getting a job he enjoys. I see Michelle's and KtP's point. However, when I say willing to volunteer with me, I don't mean every single volunteer activity I do, but willing to go volunteer someplace with me. It doesn't have to be one of my usual volunteer activities (although I do have quite a variety of volunteer activities), but since volunteering is so much a part of my life, I want it to be a part of my kids' lives and I think in order to be successful with that my partner should do it to so we could do it as a family. Am I possibly being a bit idealistic? Sure. But it's my list. :)

CEBS

Mishka asked what exactly is this CEBS test I'm taking. Well, once upon a time (last year to be exact) my boss of the time mentioned on my performance review that I should become a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist. (CEBS) I said I had thought about it but it was cost prohibitive (tests are $265 with study materials running $120 and you can't pass the test without at least the study guide and possibly the book too (another $120ish)). So I am on my way to becoming an official Certified Employee Benefits Specialist. There are 8 tests to take. I've taken 4 and the one tomorrow will be my 5th. Next quarter I've decided to take two so then the spring quarter I'll take one and be done. This is in case the new boss is a tool and I have to quit sooner than I want to. :) The tests will help me out in the real world make a lot more money. theoretically.

Uh Oh

My employee quit today. I'm fine with it. I knew it was a possibility. Whenever I asked if she wanted to order business cards she'd say "Let's wait and see shall we?" She doesn't want to work in benefits anymore. I can respect that. The uh oh is more for me. Now I have to hire someone. This stresses me out for many reasons:

1. I have the worst taste in potential hires. I'll hire the one who has the saddest sob story about why I should hire them.
2. I am going to have to be the one to call the candidates that we aren't going to hire and say "Sorry, we aren't going to hire you."
3. Did you see line 2?? There's a reason I'm not a recruiter and line 2 is it.
4. I'm also going to have to phone screen people and interview them and all that. I guess that's what being the boss is all about.
5. See #2. No really. See it.

Two chapters left

I'm studying for my next CEBS test which is on Friday. Like the procrastinator I really am I hadn't really started studying until last week. There are 12 chapters in the study guide and I have two left. Phew. I was starting to get worried. On Monday night, I got through chapter 8 and I thought crikey I'm never going to finish this. Then I discovered there were only 12 chapters in this study guide as opposed to the usual 15. Score! :)



Next quarter I'm signed up to take two tests. I want to get this done before the new boss starts. That way I'll have it under my belt for when and if I have to go job hunting.

Smith Tower

Today Lyday and I ventured to the Smith Tower. I've wanted to go there for quite some time, but haven't made the time. The elevator is one of the last manually operated elevators. The building was built in 1914 and I believe the elevator has been in operation the whole time. The view from the top is supposed to be awesome. Let me tell you, it is. There's another reason I've wanted to go but I'll detail that later. :)

This is the exterior of the tower. We couldn't have picked a more beautiful day to go. It was so clear outside. The sky was beautifully blue. It was great!
This photo is the south of Seattle. If you look carefully in the sky you can see Mt. Rainier. I like how it is floating above the lower clouds making it look like Mt. Olympus or something.

Yeah, I have no sense of direction. I think this is southeast. I just like how the city sprawls so far out. Also I like how the cars are little like matchbox cars.

This is the Columbia tower. That's the one I volunteer in in the spring for the Stairclimbs. Isn't it cool? It's seriously tall.

That's the waterfront (obviously).

Can you see the Space Needle in this picture? I like that building with the green dome on top.

I like the juxtaposition of the teeny tiny church with the giant Columbia Tower. I also like the shadow that the Smith Tower is casting.

The cool thing about the Smith Tower is the Chinese Room on the 35th floor (same floor as observation deck). It's just beautiful! This is the ceiling of the tower. The whole room is supposed to be extraordinarily full of good luck. There are phoenixes, cherry and plum blossoms, peonies and the little bird all in the ceiling. There are several dragons and shi dogs. Everything is hand carved. (Totally unrelated I like how Seattle seems to have some very obvious websties... the Woodland zoo has zoo.org, the Smith Tower has Smithtower.com and the Chinese room has Chineseroom.com. That's kind of funny to me.)

Here's a close up of one of the tiles. It is the cherry blossom tile. They are so colorful and are carved in Teak. I believe that Teak is a very hard wood. (I could totally be wrong about that.)

There's also a rather famous chair up in the top of the tower. This is a detail in the back of the chair. Can you see the dragon's face?

This tiger is in the back of the chair. Isn't it exquisite? The chair is carved Mahogany. Isn't that also a hard wood?

And here's me in the chair. The reason the chair is so famous? It is the Wishing Chair. From the website:

Be sure to take a look at the famous Wishing Chair. Legend has it that a single woman who sits in the chair will marry within a year. Happily, this legend came true for Smith's daughter.

Of course I believe in this so y'all are invited to my wedding around this time next year. :)

I will say that Lyday found a blog where it totally worked for a friend of the blogger. And it wasn't like she was dating some guy for years and he finally proposed - she was totally single with no prospects. I believe. I do.

Which is better?

Option A

Option B

Which is better? Option A or option B? I'm crocheting a scarf and a hat for my white elephant Christmas gift thing at work and I can't decide which pattern I like better. Although now that I look at what it could look like I'm leaning towards B. Give me your advice! :)

Oh ho the rattlin' blog

The blog down in the valley -o. Did we ever sing that song at camp, Michelle? We sang it in AZ I know. :) Ok it wasn't about a blog but whatever.

There's a whole bunch of stuff going on lately. (I just realized I tend to say an assful or assload and I heard it the other morning and discovered it is a morning DJ thing. I listen to Adam Corolla and he says it. Weird that.)

1 - I walked all the way to the grocery store last night to pick up stuff for my scout meeting. I had a basket full of things I needed. I got to the check out and realized my wallet was back at my office in my backpack. I put all the groceries away and left with my tail between my legs. I took it as a sign we weren't meant to do science last night but art instead. I had art stuff.

2 - Lyday and I are going to the Smith Tower tomorrow. We are going to the top which will be pretty and we are going to sit in the Wishing Chair. Allegedly, when a single gal sits in the chair, she'll get married in the next year. I have high hopes.

3 - Sunday Stephen, Benjammin and I are going to the Pacific Science Center. I'm looking forward to that too because I love the Pacific Science Center. It's awesome! And I've not been with a little kid in a long time. I hope he'll have fun!

4 - I have been having some pangs of regret recently. Sometimes I go back and reread a blog post or two to remind me about why things had to end the way they did.

Note to self

Despite your thinking otherwise, Southwest Airlines still do not have assigned seating. In the future don't book with them. You should've held out for getting a flight discounted through your sister you dumbass.

Flux

I was driving a Flexcar the other day and I thought that it might be nice to own a car again. It isn't likely I'll get one while I live in my apartment, but since I'm bitter about the place I am still hoping to move sooner or later. Ultimately, though, everything hinges on something else. My boss is leaving. Not my immediate boss whose job I now have, but my big boss. He's been on a leave of absence for the past few months and will not be able to return from it. I'm feeling anxious about this. I wouldn't feel so anxious if it weren't for the toolman. My boss's boss. I don't trust him. I don't trust him to do the right thing for our office. I'm planning on sticking it out until next fall at the earliest. I want to finish my CEBS certification and that's when I'll be done. After that... who knows. It could be good. I'm trying to remain optimistic. The toolman could hire someone who'll be great. Yes. He will hire someone great. (See positivity!)

Wussy

I'm turning into a wussy. I need to run a bunch of errands and since it is raining outside I don't want to go. Maybe in 45 minutes when I'm done watching Grease 2 (I know I should be ashamed but I'm not. I LOVE this movie) I'll feel like putting shoes on and venturing out.

Unrelated, well maybe a little related, remember a good year year and a half ago I lost my crystal that I've been wearing since college? I thought it disappeared on the bus (which made sense since it was shortly after I got off the bus I noticed the string I was wearing it on was broken.) apparently it wasn't left on the bus. Somehow it ended up in my sofa. So weird. But I'm thrilled to have it back. I think I'm going up to this bead shop on Broadway to get a new silver chain for it. That's one of my errands.

Santa

I'm watching an old episode of the Brady Bunch in which Cindy goes to see Santa. There were many things notable about this episode... 1 - Mike leaves her in line while he goes to exchange a present, she's 6. 2 - She doesn't carry on like a fool while in line by herself. She just stands there properly. 3 - There's not the photo elf which seems to be the only purpose of mall Santas these days. 4 - I'm such a sap I started tearing up when Cindy asked Santa for her mom's voice back so she can sing in the Christmas concert.

It also made me cry for a different reason. When I lived with the kids while my sister went through a bone marrow transplant, my nephew was 11 and my niece then must've been about 7. We went to see Santa at the pet store. (In fact I still have the picture of Minka and their ferret Slinky with Santa. That's just funny.) Despite the fact that I don't think he still believed in Santa at that point he asked Santa for a gift. His mom to get better from her cancer. Santa looked sadly at him and said he would do what he could but he couldn't make any promises. Poor Santa, what a hard job he must have.

Guess what's happening outside!!

Go on... Guess!

It's SNOWING! Yay! It isn't supposed to stick. Allegedly it will be just a light dusting. But it still makes me happy.

Dude, I'm like totally stoned right now...

Ok I'm not. BUT I did just eat some awesome Gluten Free Pizza I bought here on the hill. It's made from hemp. I find that peculiar but it is good pizza. I'm rather pleased. It's within walking distance from my apartment so I work off the pizza before I eat it by having to walk up a giant hill to get home. The crust was an odd shade... kind of gray, but whatever. It tasted good. AND unlike the other GF pizza place I go to this is real crust made by the guy right there. The other place uses the same Kinnikinnick foods crusts I can get at the health food store up in Northgate. (They add good things to it, don't get me wrong, but it isn't the same.) All in all two thumbs up.

What the hell?

Did you ever wake up from a dream so befuddled by it that you're thinking What the Hell??? I did. This morning I was dreaming that I was dating someone I know. And I was happy about it (in real life, I am not interested in this person like that and do not want to date this person.) and we were even adopting a kid together. It was so weird. The kid WAS cute though. A girl, all cute little girl haircut and cute little girl teeth.

According to dreammoods:

Kissing: If you are kissing a friend, then it represents your respect and adoration for your friend. You are seeking some intimate closeness that is lacking in some waking relationship. It may or may not signify a romantic interest for him or her. (Not helpful dreammoods!)

Date: To dream that you are on a date, suggests that you are getting to know some hidden aspects of yourself. You are acknowledging your hidden talents. Alternatively, it may reflect your anxieties about dating or finding acceptance.

Daughter: To see your daughter in your dream, represents your waking relationship with your daughter and the qualities that she projects. If you do not have a daughter, then it symbolizes the feminine aspect within yourself. (I'm cute and have little girl teeth?)

Adopted: To dream that you or others are adopting a child, indicates that you are taking on something new and different. Ask yourself what is missing in your life that would make you happy.

Hmmm... If I were to hazard a guess I'd say it may be time to find a date or two. Sigh.

IT Rules!

I emailed one of my buddies in IT asking if they had an AC adapter I could borrow and they totally did! Yay!! I think this means I can't say anything bad about IT for a while. :D

I survived

I leve in a few short hours and there have been no meltdowns or serious drama. That's kind of exciting. I'll be without computer tomorrow :( Hopefully my new adapter comes in SOON.

Kinda cool

I'm going to hang out some time today with my best friend from elementary school. I've known her longer than I've known anybody outside my family. Kinda cool... kinda weird. :)

Awesome...

Been here less than 24 hours and there's already been one screaming match. Luckily I was not involved in this one. It would be my parents with each other. Awesome. That's not at all uncomfortable.

I've arrived!

Well I survived the first part of my family visit. I'm here in Arizona. We'll see how thing go. I find myself very tense here... not just due to the events of the last time I was here, but because there's ALWAYS someone around me. It's already killing me. Also I'm politically ideologically different than the whole fam so they frequently make comments that grate.

I am almost done with my scarf in pink and purple that matches my hat. :) I had a lot of time to crochet while waiting for planes and even while on the plane.

Another reason why Canadians are cool

While I was doing laundry this morning I discovered something weird at the end of my roll of quarters. There was a bit of color and I thought it was a sticker on the end of a quarter but I scraped it with my nail and nothing happened. So I flipped the roll over and dropped all the other quarters out to see what was going on. It's a Canadian Quarter. Apparently a few years ago, they released a Breast Cancer quarter. How awesome is that? I think I'm going to save it in my jar where I save other interesting money. It's kind of cool.

Totally unrelated, I think I want to watch TLC's new show London Ink. Two reasons for this... 1 - Hello, accents are HOT and 2 - One of the artists... even hotter. :)

I'm hungry

And I don't know what I want to eat. Although last night I had 1/2 a piece of chocolate cake and it was AWESOME. I love it a lot! (The pieces are kind of big so that's why I only eat 1/2.)

I didn't make it downtown yesterday so I need to leave soon to go get new tennis shoes and marzipan. I think I'll pick up lunch downtown too. :) Mmmm... tacos!

I'm searching for my airline ticket for CA for December and it seems like all the sites are the same now. I tend to go through the list... travelocity, orbitz, expedia, kayak, farecast... and there's no real variation on what they come back with. Oh well.

Crash Boom Bang!

I got off the bus this evening after going to the library and as I'm walking towards the stoplight to cross the street I hear a guy screaming obscenities. I, being the curious gal that I sometimes am, wonder what's going on and turn my head and pull off my headphones to see a bus and a Porsche in a dispute over who belongs in the lane. Specifically the bus won. It appeared, from my untrained eye, that the bus was in the right of way and the Porsche clipped the bus. In any event the meathead Porsche driver (so judged based on his appearance and his total lack of control over the bus/Porsche incident) was fairly certain the bus driver was at fault and as I walked away was shouting obscenities at him. In one way it was awesome, but mostly I felt bad for the bus driver. I know how I feel when I've wrecked my car. It must be worse when it is your bus!

Totally unrelated, I'm going to Maple Valley this weekend for Gluten Free goodies! I am totally stoked! (I also think I'm going to Pike's Place market because I think I can get my mother some Marzipan and I know she likes that.)

Yummy

The girls and I made cinnamon applesauce dough tonight. I used a variety of tips I found online and added glitter to the dough and I had the girls mix their own dough in a ziploc baggie. We made a mess, but these girls are good at cleaning up after themselves. They made a variety of shapes and some used cookie cutters. My hands still smell awesome of cinnamon. I have to set the ornaments out to dry now. Luckily I almost never use my oven since I don't think there's a flat ferret proof surface in my apartment. :) I can set them all up in there. On Monday, I bought a ton of cinnamon so now I have some left over. I also have some dough left over so I can do my own. Yay! :)

Apparently I have a quality?

Today Lyday and I went out shopping in the afternoon. We shopped a lot. Among the things she was shopping for was a new TV. At not one but TWO places we went we were presumed to be a couple. What the hell? Can't two women, one wearing fleece and the other a green lantern sweatshirt and jeans, who bicker not shop for a TV without people judging? Well, maybe we do have a quality... Lyday did prove a point when she hauled her new TV out of the cart and put it into her car as though she were picking up a piece of paper.

(There I fixed the comma, happy grammar police?!) :)

Two Things

1 - The post about publishing a NaNoWriMo blog was my 2,000 post. Who knew? 2,000 posts in 4 years. That's a lot of talking without actually saying anything.

2 - Once upon a time, I was a freshman in college. I remember laying across my bed one day listening to Pearl Jam on my Walkman and singing along. My friend, who lived across the hall from me, Shelley, walked in and without a word took the tape from my Walkman and went back to her room. Apparently according to her and Kate, I should not sing. I'm sure my neighbors this morning would agree with that. I've been lying in bed all morning long listening to my iPod and playing solitaire and singing along with the songs playing. It was awesome.

I feel pretty... oh so pretty...

I just got home from my fancypants gala. Well, actually I just got home from hanging out at Bauhaus with Stephen after the gala. (Ok technically I'm now writing this on Sunday morning since I got totally tired last night and couldn't finish)

The gala was really fun. There was a bit of miscommunication between Stephen and I which resulted in him hanging outside my apartment for 30 - 45 minutes and me sitting at the gala going I hope he's on his way. He emailed me that he didn't have his phone which I translated to with him in Vancouver not the real thing which was he didn't have his phone which is broken so he won't have his phone. :) So I called and texted him after I left for the gala on foot. He only got the voicemail through luck. But I can rest assured that my building manager will not give out my information. Of course that's probably because he doesn't seem to actually know who I am but whatever.

Ok so my dress was awesome and I got complimented a ton. And it was fun seeing who didn't recognize me all fancified. The food was also awesome - so yummy. I had risotto which I've never had before. THAT'S yummy! I did get tipsy after 2.5 glasses of wine and I was actually willing to dance but I didn't mention that to Stephen until it was too late and the last song started playing while I was in the bathroom. The Temptations played which was cool. I liked it more than I thought I would. After the gala, we went to Bauhaus to sober up and closed the place down.

I wore the little black strappy shoes and discovered they suck! The strap across the back heel wouldn't stay up so they were flippy and then I ended up stepping on the strap. I took them off to walk down to the Westin because it was easier than wearing them. Sad for my pedicure, but totally much easier to walk that way. Apparently you can take the girl out of country but you can't take country out of the girl. :)

Hurtling towards insanity

Michelle just kindly reminded me that Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away. TWO WEEKS AWAY PEOPLE! Do you know what this means? (Do you?!)

1 - It means I have 2 weeks to Christmas shop for the fam. I would rather either buy the stuff there whilst I'm in AZ or buy it here and schlep it down there with me. Anything to avoid actually having to ship stuff.

2 - I have to go to AZ in two weeks! I don't know how this will go. I'm sure anticipating high drama will ensure it will happen. Is it too late to get valium? (kidding.) (Well sort of) :)

Wiping me out!

Those little girls wipe me out. Last night I got home at about 10 til 8. I ate my tacos and watched America's Next Top Model and then I couldn't find anything else to watch. So I looked at the On Demand stuff and picked Dirty Dancing. I love Dirty Dancing and it's mindless and perfect since I was mostly doing other stuff anyway. Apparently somewhere around the "Penny's in trouble, Baby" part I fell asleep. I woke up when Johnny and Baby were dancing in the rehearsal room after they'd already done the show at the Sheldrake and all that. And then apparently I dozed back off and woke up again at the end of the movie. And I only had 3 girls show up. I can't imagine how tired I'll be when the others regularly show up.

Apparently I need a new DVD player. I went to open mine last night to watch my latest Netflix DVD and it wouldn't open. Not even a little bit. Not at all. Sad. It is probably hmmm... I've lived here 5 years now and I bought it with Michelle in CA at KMart at one of the after Thanksgiving sales so I'm going to go with it is at least 6 years old if not older. I suppose I could get a new one. But then what do I do with the old one? Hmm...

Three things

1 - I just squashed 2 ferrets who were happily sleeping on my bed. I feel a tad bit guilty about that. Poor girls.

2 - Whilst at QFC picking up juice boxes and snacks for my scout meetings this week I picked up a box of Capri Sun apple juices. I put them down in favor of Capri Sun flavored water drinks and discovered, much to my chagrin, one of the pouches had leaked and fermented maybe? Whatever... it was leaking fluid and that fluid did not smell good. Unfortunately I got it on my jacket so now my jacket stinks.

3 - Whilst trying to buy nail stuff at Bartell, my damn credit union bank card for my Alaskan account was rejected. That's always embarrassing. I got home and discovered that I have money in the account so I have no idea why it was rejected.

4 - (ok so that's more than 3) I'm crocheting a scarf to match my hat. It is cute and pink and purple. Clearly I'm regressing back to being 6.

Hmmm... Do I make it public?

I'm doing Nanowrimo again this year. I do it every year with the best of intentions and then never finish. My I suck. :) I think last year I got the closest I've ever gotten which was 25k words. Not too shabby. Already it is the 5th of November and I'm behind. I should be doing 1166 words a day. I'm at 155. Total words. Sad isn't it? I'm kind of excited about the story I'm writing and I'm considering blogging it. A lot of people do. The complicating factors are as follows: 1 - I'm terrified of judgement. I don't want y'all judging me. 2 - I'd want to post the link on my nanowrimo page so that people could see it which, if I used my blogger id, would lead to the potential of the former WC and another person finding this blog. I think. Ok I see that actually I can remove all the different blogs from my profile. Phew. BUT we're still back to concern number 1. I think I'm going to do it. It'll make it easier to post from various spots like work and home. Coo'

Vote

Ok so now the last thing... shoes. Which pair is better? Both are in flat black not patent leather (which Michelle recommended) for two reasons. 1- Avenue didn't have any patent leather shoes. and 2 - This way I can wear them with other things.

Indecisive

I'm going through another bout of indecisiveness. I go through them periodically, usually when I'm tired or overwhelmed or something.

I couldn't decide what to eat for lunch today. I just wanted to eat.
I couldn't decide if I wanted to go to dinner with Stephen tonight. I just couldn't wrap my head around it.

I think buying my plane tickets has broken my brain for the time being. Maybe tomorrow I can make a decision.

Worst flights ever

I may have just booked the worst flights known to man to visit my family in AZ over Thanksgiving. (Related, I just remembered that my college does shuttle buses to the airports for holidays. I may luck out at least on my outbound trip and not have to take the bus or a cab. Yay.) I'm leaving on Monday at 5:55 PM. (That's why it is good that my employer does shuttles I can just catch one at work yay!). I arrive in Tucson at 11:42 that night. Yuck. The return flight is even worse.... I leave Tucson at 10:30 at night and arrive in Seattle at 2:53 in the morning with a flight change in Vegas. BUT I did manage to get all aisle seats which make me happy so at least I'm not flying in the middle of the night in a MIDDLE seat... or worse (to me at least) in a window seat with people in the other two seats. (I don't like the feeling of being closed in when I'm at a window seat with people in the other two seats. I'm fine at a window seat with nobody in the middle seat.)

I think it's because I got an email from her

But I dreamed about Kate and Dave last night. It was a weird dream and when I first woke up I remembered much more of it than I do now. Basically we were in college again, but we were our current ages and they were married and they had their kids. I only remember the kids part because the first part of the dream I was talking to Dave and I remember asking him where the kids were and why weren't they with him. But I don't remember his answer. So then I'm having to go to my dorm room and to get there I had to crawl up this really steep grade. It was so steep we had to do it on our hands and knees. And I think Kate appeared briefly in this part. But mostly I was crawling up this steep grade that was like a roller coaster track when the things I was crawling on started to fall and I fell through the track to the ground below.

Migraine!

I volunteered yesterday and today at the Pacific Science Center for their Halloween event. It was really fun, it always is. But about 1/2 way through yesterday I started getting a headache. It sucked. It was a migraine. I finished my shift and went to get some dinner. I thought maybe I hadn't had enough caffeine. That was not the case. I was sitting in the Seattle Center House holding my head and shielding my eyes because I felt so awful. Finally I got up and headed for the bus. I went to the stop near a Rite-Aid. I went in to get Excedrin Migraine (Clearly my migraines aren't too awful, Excedrine Migraine is all I usually need) and while I was waiting for the girl in front of me to buy her 30 bags of candy (ok probably not that many) and rummaging around for her cash my damn bus went by. That meant another 20 minutes of waiting. I sat at the stop and leaned my head against the bus shelter. A woman offered me a transfer. I think she may have thought I was homeless. :) FINALLY the bus came and I crashed at 8:00 when I got home. I slept until 6 this morning. How awesome is that?! I had a weird dream involving Kate this morning. I'll write a separate post about that.

Today I went back to the Pacific Science Center to volunteer again. I like it, but I'm actually kind of on the fence about volunteering for them again. In past years we gave out treats and did arts and crafts with the kids. This year they've done what several other places I've volunteered for do. They've gotten sponsors. I can understand the need. It allows them to have more activity options and costs them little to no money. The downer is that all the crafts were sponsored by various groups so I didn't get to help with any of that. That's my favorite part! So instead I did a lot of "roving" and "monitoring" and standing. I did have to work a couple of treat stations which have potential but one was in the lobby of the IMAX and so people barely came by.

Then Stephen picked me up and he and Ben and I went to the Zoo. They do a pumpkin prowl. It was fun but not what I expected. I think I thought we'd get to see animals.

A sign of the day to come?

I was putting stuff in my backpack this morning, getting ready to leave when I hear "tsssssssssss..." I investigate. It's coming from my backpack. I start to dig through all the crap that's in there until I discover the culprit. A can of soda has gotten poked with a pin and is now happily filling the bottom of my pack with Pepsi. Awesome. I tossed the can in the tub (nearest thing that had a drain) and cleaned out the crap that I needed for work/scouts today and changed bags. When I left Tess was happily chewing on the bottom of my backpack to get any soda out of it.

I lost.

I've been battling with something at work that I feel intrinsically is wrong. Perhaps I feel it because I honestly don't trust the person asking for the information, but I also feel she shouldn't have asked for it. She kept pushing. I kept saying no and a compromise was reached. We'd consult an outside source. The outside source says no violation so I have to give over the info. I still don't like it, but at least I know I did what I could to keep that info protected.

Shoes

What do y'all think. These are some ideas I've had, although I'm sure they're the wrong ones. ;) My sister told me I can't wear Tevas to this thing. She's no fun.

Option A. From Zappos.com. I don't think I like the square heel but I do like them otherwise. (I don't like rectangle heels like that usually) But I do like the ankle strap.

Option B. Also from Zappos. I don't think I like them actually but maybe. Hard to know.

Option C - Although they do look alarmingly high. But it isn't every day I go to a fancy thing.

Option D - Also alarmingly high. Actually now that I look at them seriously they are SERIOUSLY alarmingly high.

This is an artist's rendering of shoe option E. These are shoes I already own at home. :) They are black and strappy but it is a matte strappy since they are suede I think. They are highesh but since it is a thick heel I'm not worried because it is very secure.

Man Up

I've got to call someone and stand up for what I believe is right even though she's higher on the food chain than I am. I don't want to be a grown up sometimes.

The dress - Better??

So I went out shopping today and I was just going to look, but I fell in love with this dress at Nordstroms. The sales lady said that it was black tie and both sales ladies who helped me loved it so that's good I suppose. I love it.

Please forgive the excessively bad angle. Fat chicks should not be shot from the bottom. However, since the stairwell is the only place where I can set up my camera at a decent height that's why I go there.

Just the dress on the hanger. It is kind of hard to describe the color. The pictures make it seem silver but it isn't really. The silk bottom part is probably sagey, but a pale sage and the lace is silvery blackish gold. Very hard to describe.

This is the bottom part of the dress along with the wrap I bought to go with it. I went to the downstairs part and just said 'tell me what to buy.' I think they like that. :) This is the link to the wrap, although the website doesn't have it in the color I bought.

Slightly better angle. The bra strap that you can see is not the one I'll be wearing. I AM wearing an industrial undergarment in these photos though. I bought a new spanx high panty thing. I can now see why they are as expensive as they are. Next up... shoes. Sigh. :)

Wiped the fuck out

I'm coming down with a cold. There'll be a whole post on the difficulties in buying pseudoephedrine later.

I've had a long ass week that cumulated in me telling our corporate legal counsel that I will not give her the information she is requesting because I believe she does not have the right to the information. This could become fun.

I then spent 2 hours using our crappyass computer system to find salaries for faculty and in the process discovered a whole assload of them who termed and I didn't know it.

I'm going to spend the whole weekend reading about TQM (kidding) and lying in my pjs until I feel better.

Tangentially Related

Who knew that Nordstrom.com actually uses real plus sized models to display some of their stuff? One of the complaints I have had and I know others have had about places like Lane Bryant is that their models are plus sized, but they are 14 which is the smallest size Lane Bryant carries. It makes it somewhat hard to determine really what that looks like on my kind of girls. Well... looking at Nordstrom's page of "party dresses" for the plus sized gal, my red dress looks (to my mind) a lot like what they're showing so maybe it is okay?

HELP!!!

I've been invited to go to the gala that my employer puts on every year. This is a black tie event. I've never been to a black tie event. What do I know about a black tie event?! I am excited to go but at the same time I'm freaking out a bit. I'm not fancypants. So I THINK this dress might work for a black tie affair. I bought it years ago, yet have never ever had an occasion to wear it. So it sadly hangs in my closet all sad. It is red and the stripey part is an overlay of that thin kind of material... I'm sure there's a word for it, I just don't know what it is. Of course I would be wearing industrial undergarments with it (which I'm NOT wearing in the pic) and I have a pair of black strappy sandals with a chunky heel and I would get a black wrap to wear with it. What do y'all think? Does this look potentially okay or should I field trip out to find a black tie type outfit??

Snippets

When I was little apparently I used to like cutting paper smaller and smaller and making what my mother called snippets. They drove her nuts. In retrospect I'm not sure why they did since we were not the neatest people on the planet.

This morning I woke up and had the country Malawi on my mind. I have absolutely no idea why or what I was dreaming about in relation to the country. A few days ago my horrorscope said I should pay attention to my dreams, they are trying to tell me something. Are they trying to tell me to buy a Malawian baby? :) Probably not.

I was trying to think about other Halloween costume ideas for this year. I volunteer every year at the Pacific Science Center, which I love, and they encourage us to dress up in G-Rated costumes. Usually I wear my poodle skirt that I made 2 years ago and a white sweater and go as a 50's girl. This year I was thinking of something else. I briefly thought about dressing up like a postulent nun (I think that's the type before they finish their vows) ala Sister Act. How hard could it be? A black skirt and dark sweater and sensible shoes and a black scarf with a white band. I either have all of that or could obtain it easily. Then I laughed to myself because the only crucifix I have is a glow in the dark one from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Hee.

I watched Mary Poppins on the big screen yesterday with Ben and Stephen. It is a LONG movie, 2+ hours. Also the big screen really highlights how bad Dick Van Dyke's teeth were then (as well as the little boy's and the little girl's.) Ben got restless towards the end. I love the movie though and I've never seen it in a theater so that was pretty awesome.

Fun meeting

Last night we had a great meeting! It was fun. We have a new girl and she was actively engaged. It's meetings like that that make me love being a leader. We played charades for the theater badge. I wrote up a bunch of different type characters and they had to guess what each other was doing and then I let them make up their own. It was fun. They weren't unruly. I like meetings like that. :)

Moneywatch day 4

It's been 3 full business days since I called the bank. The money is STILL there. Seriously. Now I'm getting annoyed. I called the bank again today and the woman today put a hold on the money so I can't accidentally spend it. I probably wouldn't since there still is some of my own money in there, but that's a nice gesture. She and I are both a little surprised that noone has called the bank saying where the hell's my money? Clearly that person is more independently wealthy than I.

Moneywatch Day 3

The money is still there. Of course it is only 8:41 in AK, but still. I called them almost 24 hours ago.

In other news... I bought new shoes! These were also purchased at Nordstroms but future Nordstroms purchases are tabled until my customer issue gets resolved. I took my other danskos in to be repaired and they can't fix them and they did not offer to replace them for me, instead blaming me for the way I walk (which is not necessarily untrue but the it really varies from shoe to shoe because my tennis shoes don't look like that at all and my physicial therapist actually thinks I walk inward). I was actually fine but Big R was incensed so he's emailing them today. (It helps to be friends with a diva! :) )

Random Extra Money part 2

I got a hold of the bank this morning. I told them that I was 100% positive that it wasn't my money and the person looked up the transaction. It was done in person at a branch in Fairbanks so she is now researching the money to find out where it should have gone or whose money it is. Hopefully the person isn't NEEDING that money. It's 4 days without their cash. (Although if it is some sort of Karmic anonymous good deed, I won't turn it down. ;) )

Random Extra Money!

Too bad it isn't really mine. I just went online to check my account balances for the rest of the month (since I'm horribly horribly horrible at budgeting) and there is randomly more money in my Alaskan account than there should be. And by more money I mean over $1,000 more. Only $500/mo gets deposited into that account so you can imagine my surprise when I looked it up and there is over $1,000 in there. There are two deposits listed for October 4th. Sadly, for me at least, they weren't made by me. I have someone elses money and that stresses me out a little bit because I don't want someone else to be worried about where their money is. You know?

Maybe I could get new dots...

I drove out to my new favorite GF bakery today. Again it was yummy, AND the owner is so awesome that when I commented that there were no 'smoreos' she went into the back and put 8 together for me. I am slightly embarrassed though because apparently she read my blog post about her bakery. (which now that I reread the post I wish she had had some creme puffs because damn those were awesome.) Anyway, she remembered me and remembered reading my post. How embarrassing... although since I didn't say anything bad I guess I shouldn't be embarrassed. In fact it was clearly a rave review. :) I felt the same way when the producer of the movie I worked on commented that he read my blog post about the movie. It's like I've gotten caught gossiping or something. Anyway, I've fully digressed...

When I was out in Maple Valley I briefly entertained the idea of moving out to the middle of nowhere. I like the middle of nowhere. I can't imagine what the commute would be like. It would require 2 freeways just doesn't seem like it would be fun at all. Plus I would have to get a car blah blah blah. But it is a nice dream.

Sometimes I wonder about the career path I have taken. If I continue to work in benefits (which, why on earth would I want to start yet another new career path?) that will require me to stay working in larger areas. Not necessarily as large as a city like Seattle or whatever, but I would have to stay in a place that has businesses beyond what you usually find in small towns. (Well not all small towns. I know when I lived in Indiana which was a relatively small town it was the location of a large furniture manufacturer plant, including the fact that they own Brosendorfer pianos which are the ones Tori Amos uses) but still... you get my point. Hmm... this post did meander didn't it.

3:10 to Yuma

I watched that movie last night... the new version not the 50's version. I don't know what I was expecting but I did like it. (Although I was weirdly distracted by the lack of saguaro cactuses in "Arizona". I grew up about 30 minutes from Bisbee and looking at a map, Contention (where they were going to) . We have saguaros. :) I think I liked it. Although it wasn't what I expected at all. I did require quite a bit of suspension of belief. But it is definitely a movie that has stuck in my head. I googled the original movie and then I ended up googling the story. Once I saw the cover of the original publication of the story, I realized why there was such a distinct 'honor among thieves' theme to the movie. I don't think I'm giving anything away with that. :)

Anytime I watch a western (which I weirdly love westerns) I always want to go riding. It's been years since I've been on a horse. I went once in college and prior to that I hadn't been on a horse since my childhood. I don't actually like horses, truthfully, but it takes me back really to my youth. And I can still remember riding from my hometown to Tombstone. So I think westerns remind me of that. AND since many westerns allegedly take place near where I grew up, I'm always on the look out for things I should recognize. That rarely happens, though. Although Unforgiven did film near where I grew up AND one of my students when I taught school was a kid extra in it.

2.7 miles

Today I had a meeting at a branch of the library for my new brownie troop. I got off at the wrong stop. Apparently there are two libraries on Rainier. I asked the woman in the library and she said it was about 7 minutes away in car. How far can that be I thought... 2.7 miles. That's how far it is. I leave the wrong library and start out on foot. I've got 20 minutes until my meeting is due to start. I figure I'll hike down there, it can't be that far. That was a frequent thought in my mind. I kept thinking actually as I walked "it can't be much further... it can't be much further..." And then I thought I'd catch a bus, but I'd stand and wait at the stop and get impatient so I'd leave and I'd be about 1/2 way between 2 stops and the damn bus would go by. OR I'd be at a stop and waiting and an express bus would go by and not stop on my stop. It took me almost an hour and 20 minutes and there are now blisters on the bottom of my feet. But I made it to the meeting and I've got a new troop of first grade brownies to start to corrupt. (This is in addition to my current junior troop.) I'm kind of stoked about them. :)

I like free good PR

I was sitting in my office yesterday afternoon when someone from our events group called. It seems there's a large, nationally known charity who would like to have an event here with a bus and information and fliers. Ordinarily when a non college group wants to hold something on campus they have to pay. Clever event guy called me. Since the large charity is health related he said we could sponsor it and then they wouldn't have to pay. Heck yeah we'll sponsor it. When I announce it, it'll look like our office is all concerned and stuff (and we are) so we'll get credit for bringing them here and all I did was answer the phone. Awesome.

Also I got head hunted this morning. I'm completely underqualified to be a sr. manager of retirement plans but whatever. I wonder if this is what it is like to be Stephen. ;)

Another Weekend of Reckless Abandon

Saturday morning I volunteered with my employer's Day of Caring. (It is a United Way thing where you go volunteer in the community.) We take groups of freshmen out and do some volunteering project. This is my 4th year and usually I love it, but then again after this year I might be over it. Actually after last year I thought I WAS over it, but like a moth to a flame, I was drawn in again. We went to Ravenna Park to do "Plant Establishment". I naively (is it vaguely wrong that any time I write the word naive I double check the spelling by thinking Evian backwards?) thought 'plant establishment' was planting things. Isn't that what you do when establishing a plant? Well, it wasn't. It was removing things. It was removing English Ivy and Blackberry. (speaking of blackberry, there were some on sale at qfc last night, I think I may go back and get some and make blackberry muffins... that sounds good. :) ) Anyway, I understand why English Ivy is a pest. It is ugly and it chokes out everything. We had some in CA (and at least 1 rat nest within the English Ivy as I saw on more than 1 occassion a rat go running across the patio and steal dog food) and I see it here on my routes to and from work. I never really got why the blackberry is bad... although apparently it grows like weeds here and the birds eat the blackberries and spread the seeds in their birdie poop. In any event, I spent several hours pulling blackberries and English Ivy. On the one hand English Ivy is fascinating... especially how it all interconnects with itself. On the other... weed pulling is exhausting work! :) But we did pull 8 cubic yards of stuff so that was cool.

Crisis Averted

Ok... Phew... I'm going to Arizona for Thanksgiving... (I wonder when I have to go to my doctor to get the necessary xanax to survive the visit) and to see Michelle at Christmas. Or maybe it is as easy as packing the rum in my nalgene bottle just as back up. (At the Great American Family Vacation I had it, but didn't drink any of it.) Crikey that's a lot of airline tickets I'm paying for this year. (Since it is over a holiday flight benefits wouldn't work out. I'd never get out of the airport.)

Conundrum

Subtitled: Damn why didn't I buy the ticket already??

My mom wants me to come to visit them for Thanksgiving. Allegedly the whole family will be there... including my niece who I haven't seen since the Christmas before her mom died... that was 5 years ago. She was 11 or 12 then. Now, for those of you who are semi regular readers, you may or may not remember the Christmas visit debacle of a couple years ago. Seriously, we were the white trashiest family ever... screaming at each other in the front yard. Clearly we've patched things up and maybe now that we are both 2 years older and wiser we can get along, but who knows.

BUT... I usually go to Michelle's for Thanksgiving. We shop the day after. We may be going to get new tattoos... It will definitely be more fun. If I had already bought the LA ticket, this wouldn't even be a question - I'd have an excuse premade, but I haven't. (And I didn't think quickly enough to lie.) The way my mother asked has just filled me with guilt, too. She was trying to be all cas... Fuck. I think I have to go.

Math is Hard

Is it totally pathetic that I had to go to google to find out how to do a ratio? For some reason my mind just could not wrap around how to do it. (even though I KNOW I must've learned sometime in my past.)

Touring bartells

Last night I went to the drug store to get a few random things (although Advil was not one of them now that I think about it, and it totally should have been.). Q-tips, nail polish remover and razor blades were on the list. Tights got thrown on in the last minute (and can I say that these cheapass $4.99 legs my way or whatever brand tights are way better than the 12.00 ones I get at the fat chick store? Seriously.). So I get in line like a normal person and there are two people ahead of me and a line forming behind me and the register guy says "Miss, he can take you down on 5." So I dutifully walk down to 5 who looks at me and says "Um, I'm closed." To which I reply, "But 1 said you could take me." (Yeah, cuz that always works...) And then a woman comes in and she says she can help me at 4. So I go to 4. And then she says, wait I can take you on 2. So I go to 2 (now during this time the line I left is acutally moving but also getting longer.). And then she says oh no wait, 4. So I head back to 4 where she FINALLY checks me out. Seriously that was ridiculous.

Also, I think I don't like the yellow background I put up. I may have to change the color. I think I may change the masthead again, but I have to do that at home. :)

I don't wanna move!

Over the weekend I received that notice that any renting tenant fears... the rent increase. Apparently my rent is going up $200 in December. You read that right... $200/mo the month Christmas falls in. My rent now will be $1,050/mo. Once upon a time I would have flipped out at the thought of paying all that... now I'm thinking, well, it's still cheaper than some of the places in my area and I hate moving so whatever. (Really, a cursory survey of the rents to stay in my general vacinity... that's about average. Now is my older building worth that... hard to say. I'm leaning towards no, but moving costs and I don't have the money or time to do it... ) However this does mean I'm rethinking my original 4 year plan. And I'm rethinking my stubborn obstinance about living where I do. I'm not moving right away, that's true, however once the ferrets die (I know morbid to think about) I think that may be the catalyst to get me to move. I don't want to move while I have pets because of all the pet problems one has when moving, especially when one has an odd or uncommon pet. If I get a cat, that's a bit different. Almost every place takes cats and I won't get a dog while I live in an apartment. I know plenty of people that have them, and I'm not judging, but for me a dog in an apartment isn't right. (And a part of that is definitely the walk multiple times a day/pick up warm poop factor. I'll fully admit that.) But I've totally digressed... I don't want to move. My original thought when moving into this building was that I'll live here until I buy a place or get married, whichever comes first. And now that I've had my 2nd rent increase in a year, clearly I may have to change my views. HOWEVER, I really am going to have to face that even on my relatively modest salary (I think I'm finally middle class, but I suspect middle class has jumped. ;) ) I'm not going to be able to afford to live where I want to. Well, I take that back... I CAN afford the additional 200/mo. I just don't want to. Not on the current place I'm renting. But, there are certain intangibles that are hard to deny that make my apartment relatively appealing. Please check out the map...

My apartment is the star.

My employer is the big blue rectangle. That's less than 1/2 mile away.

My doctor's office is the yellow dot.

The green one is my grocery store and my current favorite taco place.

The periwinkle one is my old favorite taco place and the purple one is the bar I used to hang out in. How do you argue with that kind of convenience??

Full fun Saturday

I had started this post yesterday and never finished it...

Saturday was a very busy day for me and most of it was spent on the bus. I took a bus out to Lynwood for my next CEBS test. I thought the test appointment was for 1:30, it wasn't. Whoops. It was for 1:00. If my bus hadn't been late, I actually would've made it almost on time (maybe 5 min late tops) but my bus was 15 min late so I walked in at like 1:25. Sigh. Luckily they hadn't "no showed" me so I got to take my test. I think in past tests I have declined to answer the survey or something because when I finished this test the survey started up. My first thought was "oh shit I failed." Then I started having a panic attack about failing the test and with each answer of the survey I was beating myself up about how much I had studied and how could I have failed it? And then I get to the end of the survey and I see the result and at first I didn't realize what it said, I just looked for the parts I did bad on. And then I realized I actually passed it. Phew. My legs were actually shaking as I stood up to get my results.

I then caught the bus home which is another over an hour and while I was talking to Stephen I realized that the times I told him for my volunteering shift that night didn't sound right. Usually they are 4 hour shifts not 5 hours. So I stopped at the library (as I had planned) and checked my email and I was wrong again about times and my shift started at 7 not 6. Crikey I had been planning on just finishing up at the library and jumping on another bus to Fremont. Luckily I didn't.

BUT I did go to Fremont at my assigned time and volunteered for the Fremont Oktoberfest. It was so much fun! I love pouring beer at these events. I got to chat with people and there was a lot of fun to be had. It also goes by quickly which is good too. :) Although when I was done I ached. Oh how I ached. AND luckily I caught the last bus out of Fremont, however there was no #2 coming so once I was downtown, I had to walk the rest of the way home. It isn't a big deal except I was exhausted and kept thinking, I could just sit and take a nap here right? :)

Sunday I was supposed to volunteer at the Oktoberfest again. I even blew off a previously arranged event with Stephen to do it. I was supposed to work in the kids area. I got up Sunday morning and was reading in bed for a little while and the little lights were there in front of my eyes. Crap, I thought, a migraine. I got up and did laundry and ate something and took some advil and drank a bottle of water and hoped for the best. I felt better. I caught the bus to Fremont and had Baja Fresh for lunch and some ice cream from Coldstone and then went to my shift feeling pretty good. About an hour into it, I felt less good. And then I felt even less good and had to run to a portapotty. Do you know how awful it is to have to run to a porta potty?! That's way more than 10 times worse than having to run to your regular bathroom. I struggled through and more and more volunteers showed up for the kids's station so I bailed. I felt kind of bad for backing out, but I honestly felt awful. The headache was back too. So I caught the bus and luckily made it home where I crashed for the rest of the afternoon. When I finally woke up I was feeling better but it was like 6 in the evening...

Tattoo toooo

Since Michelle wanted to go to LA Ink to get her next tattoo and we discovered that in order to get one from one of the LA Ink artists, you have to apply to be on the show, the odds are good I'm not getting one over Thanksgiving. But I am still considering a 2nd one. I've had a new thought about a possible design... I like Michelle's idea of that little triangle between the boobies (Although it does present certain challenges for actually getting the tattoo. :) Not really, a button down shirt should work actually). I've had a new thought about the design. I'm thinking of a horseshoe. Similar to this one, although for the size and space I have in mind, it might have to be smaller which means you lose out on detail. It would also have to be right side up (the curve down and the 2 ends up) so that all the luck doesn't run out. :)

DVD!

The movie I worked on, Inlaws & Outlaws, will be released on DVD. That's so awesome. I'm going to order a copy and I think the rest of you readers should too. :) It is a great movie and I pretty much promise you'll cry. (I do when I even think about certain scenes)

Addictions

I'm sitting here enjoying a lovely Gluten Free cupcake from Sunny Valley Wheat Free and enjoying every morsel of it and dreaming of my next trip down to freakin' Maple Valley to get more. (I say that like Maple Valley is THAT far away. It is 26 miles away. ConsideringI used to work in Auburn, Maple Valley is down the block) Anyway, starting in January my coworker, Red, goes back to Agility Training for her dog. Do you know where this training is held?? Maple Valley. How awesome is that?! She said she eats at the Taco Time which is right next to my bakery every time she goes. She is willing to pick up GF goodies for me. She said she never mentioned it to me because she figured I'd never want to drive all the way out there.... Oh little does she know. :) So now I only have to flexcar it out there until Jan. Awesome...

My other latest addiction... Peggle on MSN. I know it is the evil empire's site and all that but the game is so addicting! I love it! It combines two things I think are very fun... Plinko and pinball. (I don't believe I've ever really discussed my unholy love of pinball, but if you, dear reader, and I were ever to go to an arcade... that's where all my quarters would go.) Is it really a bad sign that given how nice it is outside, I choose to spend my lunch hour playing the online version in my office? (Yes, Stephen, I know it is. :) )

Can I start the day over?

Seriously? It has already sucked and it is only 8:55 in the morning.

An app I sent to the health insurance providers didn't get processed. Now they say the guy has to wait until open enrollment (not an option) or the app has to go to retro committee (not an option).

I got two dunning emails about an employee's member ID. Dude, it has been less than 5 days since she turned in the form. Two of those days were a weekend and one of those days I was out of the office the whole day. Sometimes things take time to process. Get the fuck over it.

When I got breakfast I spilled first on the stairs and lost some fruit. Then as I was walking out the door, I started to choke on watermelon juice and the door hit my elbow knocking more fruit and worse the bacon off my plate. Also thanks to this I now have spots on my shirt.

If one more thing goes wrong, I am going home!

Alarming realization

Today I was sitting with ski, the gal who we hired to take my job, and I had a kind of alarming thought. She is older than I am by a pretty good amount... ok maybe 4 - 5 years. She isn't married. Coworker, red, the recruiter is not married and she's in her 40's. Newnotboss (higher on the food chain, but not the one who adopted the Guatemalan baby - she left) isn't married - she's younger than me by a couple of years. I've always kind of lived with this belief that someday I would get married. I've been buying into any of the wide variety of ideas about when you stop looking you'll find the one or when things are meant to be they work out... I even rather unsuccessfully took the bull by the horns a couple of times with the fellow online dating goons and nothing. So I was looking at ski and thinking she's really pretty. She's pretty in that tall willowy blond way that reinforces any troll like appearance I have. And I started thinking that if my coworkers haven't found Mr. Right, what chance do I have? Am I going to be them... in 5 to 10 years with just me and maybe a pet? And I know I have my plan... start adopting kids whether or not I have a partner, but the reality is it would be much easier with one. I don't know...

Obviously I should know better...

But taking a 3 hour nap from 4 - 7 is not the best thing one can do in an afternoon if one wants to sleep that night.

Montessori VMA's

PM teases me about how I'm incapable of helping her pick a new Peever because I want us all to get along and it can't be the Montessori Peevery. Anyway, after reading Kanye West's comments post not winning an award for the 2nd year, I kind of feel bad for him. MTV should just give him one. I mean c'mon. Even though I don't like him, he seems to be very popular. Even that stupidass Umbrella song won two! Also Gym Class Heroes who sang remade that awful song. Also I found it funny that Justin Timberlake commented on the fact that MTV never plays videos and I really really do like Linkin Park. I may like to see them live someday.

News from the homefront

This weekend I should have done all this stuff. I didn't do any of them. Ok well all I really had to do was study. I didn't study. I'll be spending every day after work doing that. Sigh. I did finish the next Thursday Next book First Among Sequels. As with all Jasper Fford's novels, it was clever and really well written. I loved it and am now dying for the next one.

On Friday night I went to dinner with some friends. We went to Djans in Wallingford
(?) It is Thai food. I actually had a really good time. It was a friend's (Curly top's) birthday and she reserved this upstairs room. There were quite a few folks. Most of whom I've met but didn't know that well. It was a better time than I expected. The only downside is that you sit on the floor. After several hours that gets hard on the body. My legs and hips were killing me from being bent up. The food was really good as well. And I sat across from a hottie all night so that's always fun too. :) (Of course everyone there was probably between 8 - 10 years younger than me and now that I've typed that out, I feel even OLDER. :) )

I'm watching a rerun of Sex & The City. I love how awesome Smith (the actor guy) is to Samantha. I always liked Sam and the actress Kim Cattrell rocked the cancer storyline. (actually, in this episode, I realized how much most of the guys in the women's lives rocked. Harry is pretty awesome too as is Steve).

Ooh! One other thing. My new faculty orientation rocked! It was all day Friday and as exhausting as it is (I was mostly ready to skip out on dinner because seriously I have to be "on" all day and to be "on" all evening is exhausting.) I really am glad I do it. At one point 19 new faculty showed up! (Honestly, if you knew how it was in the beginning. When I first started we would do these 1 hour meetings before their new faculty institute. We would bet how many newbies would show up and the turn out was sad. SAD I say. I think the fewest was 2. Which meant that I had to meet one on one with new faculty for a week. That's just too much!)

ALL or is it Cheer?

I think my new laundry detergent is making me itch. I was just sitting here dying... my shoulders and back and chest were driving me nuts with itchyness. Removal of the bra and t-shirt seems to have alleviated the problem. (That last part may be TMI.)

Burn out

Every fall I start to think that I don't want to be a girl scout leader anymore. I don't want to do all the volunteering for them that I do. I'm just tired. The reality, though, is that if I didn't do it, I would be so much more lazier than I currently am. Plus I would miss my girls and I love them. I just worry that I'm not being a good leader to them, but I would really love to see them the rest of the way through. I think this year I'm not going to do the encampment at all. I'm already committed to being the service unit manager, but I think this may be the last year I do it. I don't know...

this post is sponsored by the letters P and M and S. :)

Pedicure

I think I'm going to go get a pedicure today before I go to Bumbershoot with Stephen. My feet are torn up because of sandal wearing all summer.

Whining about pain

I was lying in bed this morning and thinking I'm kind of sick and tired of hurting. My tendon is still swollen and periodically painful. It varies. But this is going on 2 years now with little to no improvement. I periodically think of going back to the doctor, but then think they've already established there's not much we can do for it. Unless of course it is now so bad it can be surgeried which I don't have time for anyway. My back (perhaps because of my tendon, but it is hard to know) has also been hurting again for quite awhile. Not the parylizing pain that sometimes happens where I can't move, but just general discomfort. I think about going to the chiropractor but then I think why bother, it just comes back. I'm just kind of sick of the whole thing.

Best Doughnuts Ever

I field tripped out to Maple Valley today to try a new (to me) GF bakery, Sun Valley Wheat Free Bakery. She gets it. It is so awesome. She makes exactly what I'm looking for in GF food. Good GF food that is similar to what the regular folks get. I bought a ton of foods. It is appalling how much money I spent, but it was so damn good how could I not? In fact, I bought two doughnuts and then after I tasted one while driving away, I turned around and bought two more. (I would've bought more but she didn't have any more.) I bought raviolis and a scone and cream puffs. And cupcakes. CUPCAKES! Awesome cupcakes. Everything is so yummy I can't believe it. I may have to flexcar out there once a month to treat myself... Why are all the good places so far away? :) Themost fascinating, to me at least, part. She isn't wheat free herself. She got into it for a friend of hers and was selling food at a coop or something and discovered she was always selling out everything there and so she went into her own bakery. Awesome.

Another option

Here's another option for the potential tattoo in November. The Forget-Me-Not. I love this flower. I like the simple lines of it. I do love tulips also. They are my favorite flower, but somehow I don't think tulips will lend themselves easily to the type of tattoo I'm thinking of. Maybe the size of tattoo I'm thinking of. :) And a daisy seems so cliche'.

Hmmm Ideas...

So apparently if I'm going to get a 2nd tattoo in November, I have to have some ideas...

This is the current one. On my back. I like the idea of keeping in the same style as that one but with a different picture...

This is a crappy paint version of what I think would be okay. (I had to use spray paint because I was having a hard time getting the circles right, but it would definitely be much more polished.) This would celebrate my unholy love of the mouse... :)

This is another idea. Just the regular mouse. Now either would be very small... Maybe 3 inches at the widest point... I can't ever decide where though. I like the idea of one I can actually see, but for those that were around for the original tattooing, there are limits. It can't be anyplace I can't cover with business attire and it can't be in a place that will eventually sag. (The other one is between my shoulder blades. Sometimes the antenna show depending on how low the back of my sweater is.)