Projects

I've been busy this weekend! Coordinates Collections had an online crop, and I actually managed to get all 6 challenges finished this time.

"Greg took this photo of me on my thirtieth birthday while we were at dinner at the Melting Pot. For a long time, I'd been dreading reaching this milestone because it seems like I should have accomplished more by now. But when I look around, I can see how truly lucky I am right now. I have a wonderful husband who I adore, and a family who cares for and loves me. We are both employed. We are home owners. And we have two adorable cats. Sure, there's a lot to do still. And there are certainly days that I feel really old. But for now, thirty is not so bad."


"Changing jobs at work doesn't necessarily mean a promotion, so it felt really nice to finally celebrate my first real promotion earlier this year. Greg took me to my favorite Thai restaurant downtown, Lemongrass. Being recognized somehow makes the daily grind a little better, and I'll take whatever chance I can to celebrate that."


Our Friday Night Ritual.


You mean the world to me.


Soaking up the Sunshine.


4 weeks. "Four short weeks was all it took for the maple tree in front of the house to go from green to completely bare. We've been watching this tree grow since we moved into the house, so it's become an indicator of how long we've been here, and how much our relationship has grown at the same time. Four years in this house!"

Bleh

What ever happened to "I feel mostly ok otherwise"?

I've got a terrible allergy situation going on. My throat hurts, my head is severely congested. I'm on Zyrtec and Mucinex-D. But I'm sneezing and my nose will not stop dripping. I'm not sleeping well, probably because of the Mucinex. Ugh, I just feel miserable. I went in to work for a couple of hours this morning, but it was just too much.

I get these "attacks" a couple of times a year. I don't have a fever, but I was breaking out in a sweat yesterday and this morning. I wish I knew what to do to prevent them... and what to do to stop them and make this agony be over.

Bleh.

But my nurse kitty took care of me last night. Though she'd never admit it, I think Dusty actually missed me! It's very very rare for her to sleep in our bed... maybe once every few months. But as many times as I woke up last night, she was camped out on my lap. Greg said she slept on my side of the bed once on Monday night while I was gone, but then laundry occupied my side of the bed until I got home. :)

Got to go grab a tissue before I short circuit this thing...

Update on the Bronchiosaurus

Greg officially has bronchitis again (even though I prefer calling it bronchiosaurus, because it's more fun to say, and I don't get to talk about dinosaurs much these days). He says he's feeling better, and he sounds a bit better.

I've developed a sore throat this week, and am probably OD'ing on Riccola. I feel mostly ok otherwise.

But I did find a cute rain coat on clearance for $14.99 at Old Navy for our trip out to Seattle. That rocked.

Warning: The Following Blog Post is Most Certainly ***NOT*** Politically Correct

I'll admit I don't like being in Alabama. Regardless, I try to keep and open mind and avoid stereotypes. I try to be tolerant and open. And it's not like South Carolina is all that more progressive.

I try. I really do. But I have a few observations.

First of all, if I owned a radio station in the land that gave us the 'wife beater' men's undershirt, I sure don't think I'd call my station "Kicker." Particularly because, when you say it on the radio, it sounds more like "kick 'er."

Second, I was talking to this guy today (who admittedly likes to talk more than he likes to work, and ALWAYS has the ESPN site up on his computer whenever I see it) who relayed his family situation. And I am not kidding: His oldest son has moved back in with him, because he and his wife are separated. Because he got his wife pregnant a month before he got his girlfriend pregnant. I wasn't clear as to whether both the wife and/or the girlfriend were living with him, too. There was at least one other kid from the wife that was now living with him. His youngest son lives "behind him" (does this mean in a trailer on the same property as his house? I'll leave this one up to your imagingation.), and he has a son from the girl he got pregnant in high school, who visits every Wednesday and every other weekend. He was trying to explain to me why Wednesday nights were so crazy at home. I'll bet he thanks his lucky stars he only had 2 kids...

And what is a "home style coin laundry"? To give you warm fuzzy feelings for the washing machines at home are equipped with quarter slots? I don't get it.

In other (not necessarily politically correct) news, the fact that I don't get the Discover Channel or Comedy Central in the hotel did mean that I got to catch old re-runs of The Office on TBS last night, and they were episodes I don't think I had seen before. There was one where Dwight and Michael fight karate style after Jim finds Dwight's purple belt, and Michael says he can beat him up. And his does in a big sissy fight. And then Michael promotes him from Assistant to the Regional Manager to Assistant Regional Manager, so Dwight takes white-out to his business cards. The 2nd episode was maybe the first one where Michael and Jan hooked up. Michael moves an important business meeting to Chilli's. Meanwhile, when Michael calls Pam and asks her to look up a joke for him to tell at the Chilli's meeting, she finds his manuscript for a movie, so the rest of the office proceeds to stage Michael's movie, with him as the star.

I am so looking forward to going home tomorrow.

On the Road Again

My suitcase has been packed 3 times and unpacked twice in the last 10 days. I've slept in my own bed for 4 of the last 10 nights. I'm traveling for work this week, and am now in Alabama. Everything just got stacked up back to back, but I really can't complain. I haven't traveled for work in over a year, and my last trip was to France. Our trips to Boston and North Carolina were planned earlier, but this project for work just kept sliding until it landed on the week after all of my other travels. Plus, the Boston trip and this one mean I get to keep my "silver" status again for Hilton. You know how important that is. :) I think it means I get free water.

Greg is home with the nurse kitties, as he's not feeling well, and now has a fever. I'm hoping he goes to the doctor tomorrow, just to knock this out before it gets worse. Once he gets a chest cold, it tends to linger and get worse.

Not a whole to report on right now. My work days are going to be fairly boring, as all I'm really doing is "overseeing," so that I have some confidence that they are doing what we asked. Which basically means standing around a lot all day. I'm hoping to have seen enough by Wednesday/Thursday to head back home.

Trying to stay healthy while traveling this week, as I ate too much and exercised too little over the last couple of trips. Trying to eat at places I know when I eat out, and I got groceries (honey bunches of oats with almonds... mmm....) and fruit to keep in the room. I've been happy of the results of Weight Watchers so far... but it will really take a long time of keeping it off to figure out if it 'works.' I read a newspaper article last week that said that once you lose 10% of your body weight, you should kind of take a break for a few months and just try to maintain that weight, to kind of reset your body to maintaining this new weight before you lose any more. I'm not sure there was any hard science behind it, and everbody seems to have an opinion....

And, because it logically follows my diet babbling, I'll confess that we stopped at Burger King on the way back from the beach. But I certainly won't ever stop at that BK again. We're eating, and there are a couple of employees in the back corner of the restaurant. One starts smoking. I smell it immediately. "Oh no she isn't." There's a big "NO SMOKING" sign hanging in the seating area. Several customers question one of the other employees back in the corner (not the one smoking) if smoking is allowed, and she says yes. As we're leaving, I notice that NONE of the tables have ash trays. (If I had seen ash trays when we went in, we probably would have left immediately.) At that point, we just ate fast and left. And as we're pulling out of the parking lot, we see another employee smoking OUTSIDE. So, not only was an EMPLOYEE SMOKING IN THE RESTAURANT, but another employee was LYING TO CUSTOMERS TO COVER FOR HER. It made me flaming mad. (Of course, complaining to BK would just get me BK coupons, and we really don't need those...) "My Way" is without cigarette smoke, thankyouverymuch.

After work today, I stopped and was looking at sneakers -- and I need help. What does it mean that, when I put any of them on and stand up, my arches hurt, particularly the left one. Do I need wider shoes? Or is it an arch problem? Or do I just need to keep trying them on? It's to the point where I hate looking for new ones, but there's only one pair that I have now that I'm comfortable jogging in, and they're starting to get quite a few miles on them. Because it takes me so long to find them, it's like I'm perpetually looking for them. Recommendations?

So I'm looking forward to being home this weekend, cleaning up and cleaning out. I can't remember the last time I did any scrapbooking, but I'm hoping to this weekend. We also need to finalize some vacation plans, as that's coming up fast.

Hm, that's a lot for not having much to say.

The Importance of Being Idle

After a blur of a 2 day work week, we took off on Thursday morning for Topsail Island, NC for the weekend. Greg's parents were staying there for a few weeks, and with the wedding last weekend, this was our chance to visit with them. They also invited my parents down, and Greg's sister joined us on Saturday and Sunday.

We left a little later than planned on Thursday morning, just being so exhausted from last weekend, and then trying to turn around and pack again. Being late, we just couldn't justify another stop at South of the Border, despite the signs every tenth of a mile once we got on I-95. No flamingoes, fireworks, leather goods, or goods "imported from around the world" (which I think is just a euphemism for "China") for us this time. I guess that will teach us. Doesn't it look like a classy place, though? I went there once with my dad when I was 11 or 12, maybe. It took me a long time to realize that we had never been anywhere near Mexico.













We got in late in the afternoon, but got a nice walk on the beach in before dinner. I am a little fuzzy on details already, but most of the weekend consisted of reading, relaxing, walking on the beach, kite flying and catching up with family. We did actually go swimming on Saturday afternoon, too! The water was chilly, but not too bad once you got in. The worst part was that the wind was just nonstop. The temperatures were probably in the 70s, but it felt much cooler. Once we got in the water, it was my shoulders that were coldest -- just once they got wet, the wind hit, and it was chilly! But how often do I get to swim in the ocean?

Beyond a patch on my leg and patch on my neck/shoulder (neither of which are too bad), I escaped without sunburn. I still feel like I am coated in sunscreen though, and will probably feel like I'm scraping it off for the rest of the week.

But I guess there are worse things. :)

Here are some photos... they sand turtle photo and the smiley face shells are courtesy of my dad. :)

It's Hip to Be Square

I still use a film camera, not because I'm particularly in love with film. Rather, I'm in love with the camera. I love the photos I get off of it, and perhaps my favorite feature is the lack of shutter lag. Shutter lag drives me crazy with our small digital camera. The camera I have now is a Canon Rebel. If my budget ever allows for it, I'd love a digital Rebel... but there are other things higher on the list right now.

When we were in Boston on Saturday, we stopped for a moment for Greg to run into a 7-11 and get a drink. We were right by the old South Meeting House, so I decided to pull the camera out of my bag and play for a little while until Greg got back. As I was pulling it out, I thought to myself, "You know, if you drop this, you might be able to justify a new camera..." But I didn't drop it. As I tried to start shooting, though, the camera went totally dead.

At first, I thought it heard me.

But apparently the batteries just died. Luckily, it happened the day *before* the wedding, and just as luckily, we were across the street from a Radio Shack. (I had already taken a few shots on Saturday afternoon and didn't notice any flashing battery lights. Hm.)

Oh, and bear with me. If I post photos like 3 weeks after something happens, it's probably because they're film, and that's about how long it takes me to get film developed through Shutterfly.

Memo

To be posted VERY LOW on the refrigerator door - snout height.

Dear Dogs and Cats,
1. The dishes with the paw prints are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food.
2. Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate of food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.
3. The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not the object . Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.
4. I cannot buy anything bigger than a king-sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.
5. For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom!! If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered.
Also, I have been using the bathroom for years --canine or feline attendance is not mandatory.
6. The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough!

Note: We only have particular problems with #3, #5, and #6. But this way I didn't have to forward it to you. You can thank me now.

!!!

I work for a French company, hence the trip to France last year. Some of our software, particularly some of the Unix based stuff I am working with these days, gets developed internally. It's typically developed in France and then, sometimes, "translated" to English. I have to use the word "translated" loosely.

I was working with one where, once you pull up a material, there are a bunch of buttons to click on to get more information on whatever you're looking at. Well, I'm not familiar with this one AT ALL, but I was desperate. So I started clicking around and couldn't figure out how to pull up a material. I can't remember the first part exactly, but the second line I distinctly remember:

"You want to click this button without a material pulled up??? Be in earnest!!!"

Is "be in earnest" a translation of "get real?"

Another one was while a program was loading. "Please be patient. I am busy!!!" I wish *I* could say that...

My personal favorite is the excessive punctuation. It's like yelling at someone in a foreign language to try to get them to understand you.

More Spring Flower Pictures

Boston in a Blur

This past weekend was just a whirlwind blur! We went to Boston for the wedding of one of my friends from college. We flew up on Saturday morning, on what had to be one of the roughest flights I've ever been on. I'm usually ok with some turbulence, but it makes me nervous, and I literally have to sit there with my eyes closed and my head pressed into the headrest in order to not get sick. This was the first time in as long as I can remember, though, where there were times that, if you weren't strapped in, you would have gotten hurt. I was so glad to finally get off the plane.


With a quick stop at the Legal Seafood in the airport for lunch (I'd like to think that the reason why we fly USAir to Boston *isn't* because their gates are right by Legal Seafood, but who am I kidding?), we were in the car and off for downtown. A few laps around the Commons and some requisite parking lot bickering later, we made it. We were expecting it to be rainy, and were pleasantly surprised when it wasn't. We walked through the Commons and it was just a bright, spring day. We did some shopping in Downtown Crossing. I came out with a few shirts and lightweight sweaters, and Greg got some shorts, shoes, and a new (smaller!) belt. (And it all fit in our luggage on the way back!)


By that point, we were starting to get hungry, and it was starting to rain on and off. We walked quickly through Quincy Market and took one of my "short cuts" to the North End... which involved finding this really neat park on the water and getting this great picture back of the city, with the clouds and rain moving in. Which was all well and good until the thunder and lighting started. Oh, and the heavy rain.





It's always such a hard decision to choose a restaurant in the North End... they're all good, and I always want to try a new one. So we usually end up walking all the way down the street, unable to decide. But the rain certainly hastened our decision! And dinner was wonderful, as usual.

Sunday was Sam and Jason's wedding, which was just beautiful! It's always great to see your friends so happy! Plus, it's always great to get the chance to catch up with friends that I really don't catch up with often enough. (After every wedding, I always *swear* to myself that I'm going to be better about keeping in touch... and it lasts about until I get home.) Anyhow, this photo is of Leah, Rachel, and myself. The one of Greg and I is really blurry, which is why it is small. I'm hoping there's a better one on my other camera.

We pushed our way through rush hour traffic this morning, and were back at home tonight earlier than if we'd gone to work. We ate lots of good food, but did manage to exercise twice. One time was at 6:15 this morning. I think I got Greg up too early, because he was in bed within 20 minutes of being home, and is still out.

Q: What is worse than BO?

A: Trying to mask it with tons of cologne!

So, I distinctly remember reading this article in Real Simple (magazine) a while ago, about gym etiquette. I remember being sort of put off by the article, because one of the things it talked about was what to do if someone has really bad BO. And I remember thinking, "Um, this is the gym. Aren't you supposed to smell?" I mean, if someone told me my sweat smelled too bad for the gym... C'mon...

But there's this guy at the gym. We call him "jerky guy." Not because he's a jerk. But, because he gets on the elliptical and sets the level so insanely high that he literally has to jerk his body with each stride. It's somewhere between comical an painful to watch.

But that's not the worst part.

Oh no.

The worst part is that he REEKS. But it's not BO -- it's some terribly horribly awful mix of cover up scents. I can't quite describe it properly: earthy, almost tobacco-ish (but not like cigarette smoke). But it's nauseating. And it's strong. (And for some reason I was blessed with an incredibly sensitive sense of smell. It's one of my gifts - being able to tell what Greg has been snacking on when he comes to bed.) I literally can smell him coming. When I'm on the elliptical, I'm usually engrossed in Newsweek.

On Monday, I smelled it. And then I looked up. And he had just gotten there, 2 machines down from me. And this was before he even started working out, when it gets worse. Oh, it's awful! And he's there like EVERY DAY. Now I dread when machines open up near me. I seriously think I'm going to have to start getting off the machine and moving because I just can't take it any more!

Today was treadmill day for me, so I specifically went for the bank of treadmills that has no ellipticals. I couldn't smell him from across the gym, but I'm sure it was just a matter of time before the scent wafted over.

Ok, enough for tonight. I really do need to go somewhere so I have something better to blog about.

Now I Can Admit It

So, I love South Park. I think it's hysterically funny. It's edgy, politically incorrect, and culturally relevant.

And now, thanks to NPR, I can finally admit it.

Hey, if NPR can admit it, so can I.

I need your help...

1. Will 2 regular size (not giant, but not carry on size) fit in the trunk of a Prius? We're thinking about going for full immersion when we go out to Portland/Seattle, but I'm not sure the suitcases will fit. National says 2 "small" suitcases. But I don't think ours are "small." For the slight premium for the car, I really think it would still come out ahead with gas prices where they are... But I'm also not driving around for a week and a half with a suitcase in the back seat.

2. How on earth do you paint a stairwell without scaffolding? This is next on the "to paint" list. I have some wild and crazy ideas about getting tape up to mask the ceiling, but no real good idea for how to paint the edges. We could get most of the wall with a roller on an extension pole. But the edges? I have no idea...

Simpsons References, Bendy Straws, Overzealous Weed Wacking, and Sweet Potato Cake

Another weekend flew by. We got some edging done in the living room on Thursday (while watching/listening to the new My Name is Earl - cannot wait for new episodes of The Office this week!), so we managed to get the 2nd coat done at a reasonable-ish time on Saturday. I think 2 coats is going to be the end. We still need to repaint the trim and windows, so we did some taping and Greg washed the doors and trim that I didn't get the first time around on Sunday. So, all that's left to do is actually paint the trim. We're hoping to get that done sometime Tuesday and Thursday (our no gym days) so that it will be done before we leave for Boston. Of course, we couldn't have done it without the help of our Helper Kitties. (That's a reference to Homer Simpson's helper monkey - "What do you expect, Marge? His cholesterol's through the roof!") (Just noticed that the little bit of wall you can see in that photo looks VERY yellow. Blame the lights. The living room is now a light yellow.)

We made it out to dinner on Saturday to see a friend of ours that we haven't seen in a while. We tried a new Mexican place ... but around here, there kind of all the same... (It's like 'diners' in NJ.) Anyhow, don't know that I had ever drank a margarita through a bendy straw before, but hey...

So, lest you agree that I have nothing to blog about these days, we are headed up to Boston this weekend for a wedding of a college friend of mine. It's going to be a really quick trip, but I'm already trying to figure out how much good food I can squeeze into 2 nights.

Some more yard photos... The daffodils are gone now, but the tulips are blooming in some places, and getting awfully close in others. The hydrangea leaves are sprouting - can't wait for those flowers! One of the azaleas has some flowers on it now, too. Some of the smaller ones in the backyard are flowering now, too, though this may be a good time to point out that only 3 of the 4 in the backyard are flowering right now, as Greg took one out with some overzealous weed wacking, and the one we replaced it with flowers a little later. So I'll be able to pick on him every single year that we're at this house... :)

And major points to Heather, for picking up on the fact that today is in fact the 6 year anniversary of our first date! Who'd have thought? :) We celebrated by breaking out some sweet potato cake that was left over (and frozen) since Christmas. Oh, it was so good! And quite the indulgence for the two of us, what with this diet and all.

Recent Projects

This was for Pat's Saturday night challenge - the first time I've managed to fit it in!
NYC - "For growing up in NJ, I've actually been in to the city just a handful of times. So, when we were invited to Isabelle's recital, we jumped at the chance to spend Thanksgiving with my family and a couple of nights in the city. Besides seeing Isabelle, my favorite part was seeing the city get ready for Christmas."


Pumpkin Love - "How lucky were we to stumble upon this pumpkin carving fundraiser in downtown Boston? There were thousands of pumpkins, on scaffolding 2 or 3 stories high, and covering the steps of Government Center. When we found the pumpkins, it was dusk. We went and ate dinner in the North End. Then we picked up pastries from Mike's. We brought them back and ate them by the light of thousands of glowing pumpkins. It was truly a magical night."


@ the park - "You know, the park was NOT this pretty when we first started going there. There used to be a big, ugly road bridge right over the falls, the grass was a mess, and there were certainly some unsavory characters. But that's all changed now, and there's even a Starbucks across the street. I like to think we were visionaries. I think we both know a good thing when we see it."
"Falls Park, Greenville, SC. Official site of our first date, April 7, 2002."
"photo: September 2006"