Late August musings....

I feel like I haven't blogged in a really long time. That's probably not true, but that's what it feels like.

A brief update:
We went to Alaska during the first week of August...it was way hotter there than expected. Who goes to AK and expects to have 80*F+? Not me! We had a really good time and kind of want to go back. That's the problem with traveling...you always want to re-visit the places you've been, but there are so many other places you haven't been to yet! All said, we'll probably head back to Victoria, BC in the near-ish future to drink more local beer and generally hang out in Canada again (since we love it there).

My fall semester is in full swing, although it hardly feels like it. I've been a bit of a slacker this week and really need to quit doing that so that I don't fall behind. I'm glad to be taking upper-division classes again. Last semester was painful and rather boring with all the freshman level classes. Gross. My work load appears that it will be quite a bit less than in the summer, but more attention to detail and research will be required, which I'm fine with. I have exactly 4 assignments in one of my classes. Nice. Just show up to class, participate, and write quality papers and I'm home free. Why is it that my upper-div classes seem easier than the lower? Probably because they're courses I care about and am interested in, rather than just hum-drum crap that I *have* to do, per the university's requirements. I can dig it.

What I really can't believe is that summer is over. Frankly, I don't think it ever showed up. I can count on one hand the days we had temps at 90*F or higher. That's a crummy summer, if you ask me. However, we did a lot of really fun things so if the temps are all the kept me down, it's not that bad. I would have liked to spend more afternoons at the pool, in any case.

As a brief aside, I love to eat.

Thank God for Weight Watchers and Jillian Michaels!

Choosing to think positively....

The other day at work, I realized that I'd made a mistake and I beat myself up really hard about it. Really hard. Like I always do. Because apparently, for me, it's never okay to make a mistake, but for anyone else, it's totally acceptable, understandable, even expected. I just never allow myself the chance to be human and eff up from time to time.

But this mistake, as with other issues that have arisen in the last several months (most of the NOT my fault, but I have to deal with the backlash of them), I am learning heavily from and it's working well. I have a giant sticky note on my monitor with several "positive thinking" statements:

I AM good at my job.

I NO LONGER make stupid mistakes.

I NO LONGER get frustrated at things I can't control.

I CAN slow down and time the time to do it right the first time.

I have been living by these mantras for about a week now and they are really helping. I am coming to the realization that shit happens and sometimes I cause it and sometimes I don't. But regardless, it's not okay to beat myself up and it is okay to recognize that every single person in my office (and in the world) makes mistakes and it's okay....just so long as I don't do it again and learn from it.

It's not like this happens every day, so that's the good news. I wouldn't have a job if it did. I am human, after all.

Epic fail, ABC....Epic fail

Dancing With The Stars just announced the celebs for the new season:

Donny Osmond - singer / entertainer
Mya - singer
Macy Gray - singer
Aaron Carter - singer
Tom Delay - former senator
Melissa Joan Hart - actor
Debi Mazar - actor
Ashley Hamilton - actor
Joanna Krupa - model
Kathy Ireland - model
Kelly Osbourne - reality star
Mark Dacascos - reality star (Iron Chef chairman)
Chuck Liddell - mixed martial artist
Louie Vito - pro snowboarder
Natalie Coughlin - Olympic swimmer
Michael Irvin - former Cowboys wide receiver

Epic fail, ABC. I'm looking forward to Osmond, Mya, Carter, Hart, and Ireland. Ix-nay on the rest. Booooooo....good thing I still have So You Think You Can Dance and America's Best Dance Crew. Sigh.

My DWTS list would include the following:
Robin Roberts - Good Morning America anchor
Raven Symone - actor
Kevin from the Backstreet Boys
Melanie Chisholm - Sporty Spice
Joel McHale - comedian
Chelsea Handler - comedienne
Debbie Harry - singer
Kat Von D - reality star
Eric McCormack - actor
Shirley MacLaine - actor
Benji Madden - singer
Donnie Wahlberg - actor/singer
Marcus Schenkenberg - model
Phil Keoghan - host of The Amazing Race

Wishful thinking, at best.

I hate coming back to work after vacation.

Today was a miserable day. I kind of can't even believe it. I got next to no sleep due, in large part, to screaming children at all hours of the night. Sigh.

Coming back to work after vacation is horrible, we all know this. But today was especially horrifying. Without any effort, I was made to feel like an incompetent boob. So that's fun. I really hate that feeling...like I'm somehow the worst ever at my job and that I have no business being there in the first place. Sometimes, it's very very hard being the youngest (by a long shot) person on my team with the least amount of experience. I try really hard to do the best that I can, but sometimes, it's really easy to make me feel like a total moron.

This is incredibly vague and I'm aware of that. Just know that work was total shit today.

There is a redeeming factor to today however.

I came home this evening to find Todd making my all-time favorite dinner he's ever made me. WHAT!?!?? That's usually reserved for date nights and only after I've requested it several bajillion times in one day...it's a really hard dish to make so for him to make it on a MONDAY no less was very very special and surprising!

I'm a lucky girl.

I stand by my previous statements...

Regarding vacation.

The week prior to any vacation is, without a doubt, the WORST. Worse even than the week after a vacation.

This week has been pretty gross already and today is (hopefully) going to be the worst of it all. I'm itchy like you wouldn't even believe so I made a doctor's appt for Friday afternoon at 3pm...an hour after my final ends and 2 hours before we're supposed to out for dinner and the airport. I'm the queen of jamming my schedule, aren't I? (The answer is, of course, yes.)

I went to The Home Depot to get a water filter for our shower head and was met with more-than-blank stares by just about everyone I talked to. "Do they even make those?" I was asked at one point. Uh, yeah. I checked on the Home Depot website. The guy who ends up "helping" me is not the large man he was described to me as by the customer service rep, but rather a very old gentleman, towering over me at a slight 5'4" (more or less), and one very very offensive individual, but I digress.

I went to Starbucks for my daily dose of pick-me-up (my boss thinks we should install a Starbucks in the office just for me...I have an addiction) and the woman next to me is tapping her foot incessantly and then a guy sits down on the other side of me and REEKS of day old cigarette smoke. Foul.

Work stuff is standard, but I'm putting pressure on myself to finish everything up before I leave so that no one else has to deal with my crap.

Suffice it to say, I'm ready for a vacation. I look like I've been cast in some crappy, B-rate horror flick, what with all the claw marks and scratches and gashes all over my body. Fortunately, Melo has given me the name of a lotion she swears by that is a) expensive, but b) available at Walgreens in small bottles so I can take them with me wherever I go. YAY!

I'm a wreck!

I have been itching incessantly since about 9pm yesterday. I've actually been pretty itchy for a couple days now, but it got really bad last night. I wish Todd could have stayed up all night scratching my back while I slept.

This morning, it's pretty bad too. I'm clawing at my arms and back...I'm sure it looks glorious!

And the nasty weird whatever-the-hell is back on my hands. Every time I get out of the shower, the palms of my hands look like Falcor's skin. It's disgusting and it HURTS!

Why, oh why, can't I get into the doctor before September?!?!

On growing up....

I can't believe I'm speaking in numbers I actually understand at this point. Only a few more semesters and I'm totally done. I think that number is going to be five, just to be certain that whatever sanity I have left remains intact.

Latin was supposed to be the class that was "easy" and it's turning out to be a bigger pain the ass that I could have possibly imagined. Bleh. Midterm on Monday, Final on the 31st, then done. Thank God.

In other news, Todd and I finally found something to purchase with the rest of our wedding money (yes, we still have some leftover) and bought a brand new, giant bed. WOO!!! Exciting for Todd because now his back won't hurt every morning. Exciting for me because we kept the old bed and I now have a guestroom. I even bought a funky new bedding set for it. YAY! We're almost done setting up the guestroom... just need to organize some misc. crap that we still have (and can't get rid of). We did QUITE a number on that room last weekend. Re-organized Todd's closet and somehow managed to get rid of another trunk-full of crap, either via garbage, recycle, or Goodwill.

I am baffled at how we manage to toss a trunk-load of stuff at least once a month, if not more. Where does all this crap come from?! We don't even have a storage unit! All our wordly belongings are either in our apartment or our garage (and even that is really only our camping stuff and some Christmas stuff). I have absolutely no problems getting rid of excess junk. The less stuff we have, the less stuff there is to pack and move (at some point), and the less clutter there is to make me crazy. I am quite enjoying this minimizing venture I've been on for some time. It's been a New Year's Resolution for nearly 3 years now. It's nice to see it in action.

I think we're even going to get rid of the "purpa chair" (and possibly buy a fancy leather "cigar chair" for Todd instead)

and I'd really like to dispose of the white shelving that I've had since I was 20....move the big brown bookcase into the guestroom and invest in a nice little "media cabinet" for the living room.


Part of this is me de-cluttering. Part of this is me coming to the realization that I'm a grown up and it's time to have grown-up things and stop living off of chip-board and crap from Goodwill or that has been handed down to me. It worked for a really long time...and it worked well...and I really liked it. But the "purpa chair" needs to go.