The Year in Review [Part 2]

so here it is... the rest of the year... and downhill from june, i can pretty much promise.

July 2011

High: s & b's wedding. sister's bridal shower. dad's surprise 60th

Lows: bestie moving to cali. being sick

so july had a lot to offer. 2 of my great friends got married. they got married not far from where we live and there were a lot of alumni from our college there. it was one of the most laid back, fun weddings i have EVER been in. we had a blast before, during and after the wedding. it was just a great day all around. then at the end of july, we had my sisters bridal shower. it was a great day, with a surprise visit from one of the bridesmaids who had moved to florida and her sweet little baby girl. brief visit, but so great to have them here... then my dad turned 60 and we had a surprise party [which probably wasn't a surprise] for him. it was a great time and he loved it which made it even better. at the beginning of july (okay actually the very end of june) my bestie moved to cali... i'm really happy for her that she went, but was very sad to see her leave... then at the end of july, i got the plague. no really... i had 102-104 fever. a cough. the pukes. the whole 9. i'm not sure how boyfriend didn't get sick. i ended up at the doctors and the ER and eventually, the shit worked itself out.

August 2011
High: sister's bachelorette weekend. kenny chesney. vacation with boyfriend and his family
Low: a hurricane
August started off pretty great... we spent a weekend in vermont for my sisters bachelorette- a nice low key weekend. some bar hopping. some chillin' at the house and relaxing outside. some relaxing and swimming and a weekend full of memories. i had a pretty great time and i think everyone who went did too... then i got to not only go to kenny chesney thanks to a very good friend, but i got to sit on the lawn at foxboro stadium. it was so crazy to be down where the big guys play but so awesome. we saw uncle kracker, zac brown band, billy currington and kenny. it was a great night. and the start of my vacation. the next day, we left for new hampshire for a few days with boyfriends family. we had a blast and minus my intense fall onto the boat and skin up my entire leg and watch it turn bright blue and purple, it was a great time away. did i mention we had a hurricane? yeah... the hurricane "started" at kenny chesney. us, in ponchos. soaking wet. it seriously rained the entire time we were at the concert. no. really. the entire time. i have never felt so water logged in my life.... the rain and wind continued into sunday but luckily, we had only a few trees down and now power. the same can't be said for my parents who lost their power (again)  and a bunch more trees. way to go mother nature. thanks for the big f-you.

September 2011
High: sister gets married. big e in the rain
Low: still cleaning up from the tornado AND hurricane
after our few days away, we came home, transported the dog to another house, unpacked, repacked and headed to the cape. we spent some time at the beach, time with family and then time celebrating the wedding of sister and brother-in-law. it was a great time with friends and family. lots of dancing. a great time both that night and at breakfast the next morning. boyfriend and i also went to the big e for the first time together. it was pouring rain but we had a blast. we laughed a lot and just had a great time together. but we still had clean up to do. lots of clean up. it got so bad that i had to stop helping cut trees becuase my eyes would swell shut.. thanks allergies. way to kick in at the exact time i don't need you to. please and thank you.

October 2011
High: big e. cirque for my birthday.
Low: my birthday. a lack of power for 7.5 days. and oh, a snowstorm
october started on a high note. big e again, this time not in the rain. a great time, dispite the bazillions of people. then boyfriend got me tickets to cirque de soile for my birthday. our seats weren't great- we were on the floor which i would have thought would be great, but it was harder to see than anticipated but it was incredible. and although i'm not sure boyfriend would agree, i can't wait to see another show. and then it snowed... yes, in october. they kept saying it was going to. it had been pretty warm so we didn't really think it would but on 10/29 at like, 3:00ish, it started snowing. we were having a halloween party at work and when everyone was leaving, it started to come down, hard. i drove home and showered becuase i was covered in face makup and then went out to do some quick shopping. it was snowy and windy and gross... and then at 8pm, we lost power. that was the 29th... we stayed home that night... and the next night. but by monday [my birthday] it was about 50 degrees in our house and i couldn't hang... so we made the trek to my parents to sit by the fire, sans a flushing toilet and running water, to wait it out... some birthday...

November 2011
High: thanksgiving and staind
Low: no power.... for the first 5 days of the month. saying goodbye to our dog

i feel like i have to start with the low this month... because it is a continuation of the low of october. for the first five days of the month, we had no power. we therefor, lost all our food, both frozen and otherwise. we spent five days curled up on the couch and on a matress in front of the fireplace. everything smelled like fireplace and we couldn't do laundry. awesome. and then, just a few weeks after the snow storm, and more clean up, and more trees down, we had to say goodbye to our beloved labrador, Iggy. we found out on a monday that he had a heart problem after spending the entire weekend in and out of the doggie hospital. his appointment on monday was at 10 and by 1, we were forced to say goodbye because his condition had deteriorated so rapidly that he wouldn't have made it home with us. it sucked. it's safe to say that it really effing sucked. there was a high though... thanksgiving and the staind concert were both highs. while it was sad to be at my parents for thanksgiving without big dog [our nickname for him] we laughed, a lot. and the food was pretty damn good. then on friday, after getting my hair did, we went to mohegan to see Staind. it was a relativly short, but great show and i spent the night at sister & brother-in-laws house, to wake up saturday and celebrate thanksgiving again. also a great meal.

December 2011
and here we are....
High: christmas weekend in maine. bestie coming home. christmas weekend. concert
Low: christmas shopping. missing h's birthday.

the month started with christmas weekend with my college roommates in maine. we went up to York and in addition to some pretty amazing december weather, we had a great time relaxing, laughing, eating, drinking and looking out at the ocean [which i could spend every day doing]. early last week, my bestie came back to the east coast. i got to spend friday night, part of christmas eve morning, monday night after christmas and some time on tuesday night with her and her leading man. it was the best possible christmas gift. ever. in addition to my new pots and pans [ha ha]. christmas weekend in general was a great time. we spent christmas eve with my family and christmas day with boyfriend's family. we got to wake up on christmas morning in our own house, got to open our presents very late/very early christmas eve/christmas day and just got to spend time together. it's hard to believe this is our 5th christmas together and that boyfriend moved in 5 years ago! and this weekend, to end 2011, we are going to see Rob Thomas at Mohegan Sun. Boyfriend bought me the tickets after Iggy died... <3 you boyfriend. my low was christmas shopping. not because i don't like to give gifts, becuase i do. but i am always afraid that people won't like what we get them. oh and, the closer christmas gets, the more things i feel the need to buy. whoops. not so good on the bank account. and we missed h's birthday. she turned one this year and because they live in florida now and it was so close to christmas, we couldn't make it there. and i'm sad about that... because we have been there for all the others. but we got pictures, so that helped.

it's hard to believe that 2011 is over. the first half wasn't so bad [after reliving it via these posts] but the second half sucked harder than a vacuum. big time suckage.... here's hoping 2012 has more to offer in the high department than in the low... because there are some people who can't take much more of the low...

The Year in Review [Part 1]

In 1999, The Story of Us came out, i'm not sure if to theaters but definately to dvd. my bestie and i have watched it many a time and i have to say, it's one of my top picks. there are some things that don't work in the movie, fine, but i just think it's a really true, almost scary true, account of what can happen. but i'm getting away from the point. there is a point in the movie where they are all sitting at the dinner table and talking about their highs and lows of their day. it got me to thinking on my way to work this morning about the high's and lows of 2011. Twelve months is a long time to pick one high and low, or even a few... so i'm going to try to pick a high and a low for each month of the past year...

the year in review- part 1

January 2011
High: a lot of snow.
Low: a lot of snow.
How can this be both you ask? well, the intense pounding of snow we got was enough to close down virtually everything, including work. a few of those days, even boyfriend got to stay home which RARELY happens becuase for some reason, his place of employment NEVER loses power... so we got to stay home and snuggle and play with puppy. and it's a low because... after 3 straight weeks with at least one snow storm per week- i was sick of cleaning the shit up.

this fence comes up to boyfriends waist
he's 6'3

February 2011
High: my new iphone & mary poppins
Low: even more god damn snow
I waited and waited and waited for the iphone 4 to come out and was due for an upgrade for over a year... and february granted me my new, and now favorite, phone. and i got to go to boston to see Mary Poppins (one of my favorites) with my mom and sister. the first week of february, we got two straight days of snow. and a lot of it. we had nowhere to put it. the roads were small. it was hard to drive, even down a main street and walking the dog was basically impossible...

March 2011
High: my cousin visiting
Low: not seeing boyfriend on his birthday
In march, my sister had planned to go dress shopping for her wedding.. i suprirsed her by having my cousin (who was in the wedding) fly out to try on dresses with us. it ended up being a really fun few days and a welcomed few days off. my March low will continue to be a low for every March that boyfriend has to ref. each March, his dad runs a basketball tournament and it falls on boyfriends birthday weekend... he spends the entire weekend running up and down the court which means i don't see him. it sucks. but it is what it is...

April 2011
High: Red Sox v. Yankees @ Fenway
Low: boyfriend umping... every weekend...
Lucky us, we scored some last minute tickets to the sox v. the yanks at fenway. boyfriend and i are huge sox fans. plus, the seats were pretty awesome. boyfriend had to ump for his dad's baseball league pretty much every weekend in april... made for some pretty dull and boring weekends...


May 2011
High: nothing really qualifies...
Low: boyfriend's grandfather passing away
i should have known that things were going downhill for 2011 when we found out grandpa died... the week following was filled with traveling and family and celebrating the life of a great man but in general, may sucked.

June 2011
High: NKOTBSB/First wedding of 2011
Low: Tornado
So june started off sucking and it's pretty much been downhill from there... on June 1st, we were hit with a tornado that pretty much tore apart the town and everything in it... my dad's work was closed for almost 4 months... we went without power for a while. even as i'm typing this, construction continues. it sucked. but on a high note, we got to go to a great wedding in NY with boyfriends family. we had a pretty good time and the place was amazing. great band. great drinks. great time dancing. and... i got to go see New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys. now i know, to some of you, that's not all that exciting but to me... it's pretty much my childhood dream come true. it was planned as a bachelorette party for one of my best college friends and it was a blast. we went out to a great dinner at this tiny hole in the wall place and then to the concert...

so that's the first 6 months of 2011 in a nutshell... the highs and lows of it all... it's a lot to take in, and to even remember but i have to be honest, because i write pretty much EVERYTHING down in my (full size) planner that my besties like to make fun of, i get to go back and relive the good, the bad and the ugly...

the next 6 months to be continued....

A brief merry Christmas post

Merry Christmas!! I'm taking this opportunity to try out boyfriends little brothers Christmas present, the ipad2. I have to say I am insanely jealous but greatful to be trying it out. Makes me want one bad!! But I did score some sweet new pots and pans and a whole mess of gift cards for some new books for the kindle so I'm prett pumped. And next week, we get the best Christmas present of all... A new puppy for my mom and dad!!

Merry Christmas everyone!! Thanks for reading. Hope everyone has a wonderful day with family and friends!!

one bag too many...

i have come to the unfortunate realization that i have too many bags. wait. before you get all crazy and start in on the but you can never have too many bags rant, hear me out.... i'm not talking purses, although for someone who doesn't really carry around too much, i have stockpiled a few too many of those as well. but i'm talking bags. like, backpacks. and gym type bags. and reusable bags that are just a tad too big to be reused and that i probably got because someone didn't want to wrap a present and the bag was cute. and ikea bags. you know, the ones you just have to have to carry out all the little things you didn't really need but just couldn't pass up? so you buy the bag to carry the crap to the car, swearing that you'll use it the next time you hike the 2 hours down to ikea and you never bring the bag and buy a new one? yeah. those kid of bags. i have a plethora of reusable bags suitable for shopping, many which are insulated thanks to the occasional special delivery from a man who i like to refer to as my work grandfather (although i'm not sure if that would offend him or if he would like it but none the less...) he brings us insulated bags and other fun treats and somehow, the insulated bags keep walking off, usually with my mother (in the off change that you read this mother, i love you). but today, as i was getting ready to leave the house to go shower b/c my ceiling was being painted and i had yet to drag my ass into the shower, i walked out onto the porch type addition to our house and realized, i have about 200 too many bags. and yet, i never seem to be able to find a bag, or the right bag, when i need it.

i also tend to leave things in bags. i have a habit (perhaps a bad one) of swapping bags like some people change their old navy flip flops. one day it's a big blue bag that is literally a bottomless pit for all things small. the next it's a bag my mom snagged me that held some free formula samples but holds SO much crap, it's amazing (i took it to a redsox game once and stashed 2 sweatshirts and a blanket. it's small but wonderful). or the ever popular vera bradley of which i have a few. or a pocketbook, although usually i don't last with those. until my most recent purchase (okay, my mom's purchase for me):

it was on sale... and it's purple... and i'm slightly obsessed with it. i got it back in october and i'm fairly certain that it's the first time i have had a bag and used it for a lengthy period of time. it fits my planner(s) and everything else i need... and did i mention it's purple? i think if i could make everything in my life purple i would... oh wait...

but seriously. other than this bag, most of the bags i have are unnecessary, at least right now. i just bought myself a new vera bag, duffle style, and have yet to throw out the old one. i bought the new one specifically to replace the old as the old has done it's duty... i've had it for probably 10 years at this point. so i have too many bags. it might be my addiction... i don't necessarily fill them, or use them, or even know that i have some of them, but for some reason, i can't seem to stop collecting them...

all these bags have solidified my need/want to start seriously organizing my house instead of just talking about it... i think i'm going to offically name 2012 as the Year of the Organization... more on that later...

counting down... 5 days...

it's hard to beleive Christmas is only a week away. i'm so looking forward to it this year, for so many reason. first and foremost, because it's time we get to spend with our families and friends. this year, i'm especially looking forward to it becuase some of my very best friends are going to be home!

Oh there's no place like home for the holidays,
'Cause no matter how far away you roam -
If you want to be happy in a million ways,
For the holidays - you can’t beat home, sweet home

this might in fact be one of my favorite christmas/holiday songs. especially as of late since so many of my friends are off to other parts of the US doing their thing. it means so much to me that when these people come home, that they can take time out of visiting with their families so that we can spend a little time together. i have been friends with these particular girls since 2nd grade (since we moved to this town). they are my heart... "... you're my heart. and you know i can't live without my heart" (blow). it's so true. these particular girls (including one who is still close enough to visit whenever we want) have been there for the good, the bad and the ugly. the akward stages. the high school drama. the college breaks and life after. the 4 of us are probably very much like the Sex and the City characters- not specially that we align to one of them each but more that we each bring something specific to the table and together are one incredible group. i'm so lucky to call each one a best friend.

best (adj): of the most excellent, effective, or desirable type or quality

given that definition, i suppose best applies to only one person. i don't necessarily agree with that. i think the definition of a best friend is the person, or people, who bring out the best in you. the people who know you. who have seen, and let, you change throughout your life. who have stuck by you no matter what the circumstance. who your parents consider their part time children. i have lots of amazing friends. i have friends from all different areas in my life. these girls in particular have helped shape me and for that, i will always be connected to them.

and i'm SO excited to spend some time with them this christmas season <3




Disclaimer: Read the disclaimers before reading the whole post...

Disclaimer to women: the following post is about men. it's about the things men do that really urk us and the things they fail to do that also urk us. it does by no means suggest that we do not love our male counterparts nor does it suggest that we are not greatful for the things they DO do for us.

Disclaimer for men: sorry, but it's pretty true... maybe it will help you to realize what really pisses us off.. we still love you. but... sometimes, we just need a little more...

Last night, after leaving work, I set out for home with the radio, and the heat, blasting. I was listening to christmas music as it's the only thing that comes in during the inital part of my drive home since I broke my car antenna shoveling the snow off the top last year. I asked boyfriend to help but.... i forget why he didn't... so instead, i broke the antenna, and proceeded to get the ever popular response "well what the hell did you do that for"... um... hence why i asked for help... but i digress. so i'm driving home and i happen to get a phone call from a friend of mine. we begin talking about, what else, men. and the conversation goes something like this...

why is it that when we ask boyfriend(s) to do something, they say "yeah sure" and then when we get home, it's exactly where we left it and it isn't until we start doing it that they realize they were gonna do it?

why is it that after i work a full day, which started with dishes or laundry before even going to work, when i ask boyfriend(s) to do something, they can't because they "worked all day"... really? and i did what? becuase last time i checked, when the paycheck comes in, it has my name on it. and it buys the groceries that feed you through the meals that i cook...

why is it that when i do something, and then ask for boyfriend(s) to finish it, they can't beause they are "watching tv" or "going for a run/to the gym". somehow, i am capable of watching tv, folding laundry and doing loads of laundry simultaneously. i am equally capable of putting a load of laundry in and doing dishes while i wait for it to finish.

i know it's the holiday season and i should be all warm and fuzzy with the one i love but maybe it's because it's the holiday season that i feel like boyfriend could step it up a notch... i do love him, please hear that loud and clear... and yes, i do voice these frustrations directly too him... i don't just blog about it... but i know i'm not the only one...

what is it that gets you?

...where are you christmas...

it's been a while since i've blogged and i'd like to say that it's because i have a lot going on, but in reality, i have nothing. well, nothing aside from the dreaded christmas shopping... i thought i had SO much accomplished. and for boyfriend, i do. although one of his gifts came in the mail today and i'm not so confident it's going to fit him but i can't send it back for another size b/c it's more of a one-size-fits-all type thing so... we wait. till christmas eve most likely because per usual, boyfriend and i have yet to have christmas on actual christmas. okay wait. i take that back. Five years ago, circa 2007, boyfriend was a recent college "graduate" (i use the term graduate loosly as he walked in 2007 but finished up in 2006. this is actually important to the story... read on). he was working at the jail then for his dad and then bam... time for a new job. the reasons behind needing the new job stemmed only from a new mayor in his city of (at the time) dwelling... so long story short he gets an interview with a new company doing something that's pretty far from what he has a degree in but... at the time, he had just had an interview with the company and it happened to be close to where i was living. we had been "together" (again, using the term loosly as for quite some time we had yet to DEFINE the relationship) for almost 6 months and for some reason, i suggested that he move in with me. i was living in a semi-crappy place and my room was rediculously small with a side room that basically held all my school crap and extra stuff (i was well engrossed in grad school at the time)... so i suggested he move in. he said he would think about it and we kind of left it at that... as it was our first christmas "together" we went our seperate ways for the holiday. i was still required to work holidays so i worked christmas eve and headed back home. because i had to work the day after christmas, i ended up going back to my apartment that night. a few hours after my return while curled up watching tv in our rediculously small living room that slanted and that we couldn't really do much in, the door opened. now, looking back i probably should have been scared but it could have only been 2 people... boyfriend or my at-the-time roommate. so it's boyfriend and in he walks with a suitcase and a few boxes of dvd's and cd's... move in day = christmas day. i have since come to find out that he really never talked about moving out of his parents house, he just packed up and on christmas night, came downstairs and when they asked where he was going (it was christmas afterall) he said he was moving out... nice move, boyfriend... so that night, we exchanged gifts on christmas, bearly... but since then, we haven't been able to. we were living half-way between both our families and have done our best to accommodate both sides, respectivly. it's harder to accommodate his family as they are quite large on both his mom's and dad's side and they have festivities for each side on christmas eve and day but we have made it work, somehow managing to appease everyone. lucky for me, boyfriend has great parents who are really understanding about holidays and i too have a pretty good set of my own who are equally understanding and accommodating... present opening has ranged from two nights before christmas eve to the night after christmas, with nothing falling specifically on the holiday itself.

cue 2011...
thanks to my sister's work schedule, we will be celebrating actual christmas with my parents on christmas eve... and given that we have relocated closer to them, we can actually go home after the festivities and wake up christmas morning at our own house. yes, we have to get up super early to head east for christmas and YES, we will probably end up opening presents from each other on christmas eve, but we are making progress... someday soon, we'll actually open presents on christmas.

please don't think i'm angry about any of this... it has made for some funny nights, and some really funny wrapping jobs. and we can always look back and say "remember when we opened presents 2 days before christmas eve"... it also eliminates boyfriend being in the store on christmas eve. finally though, for the first year, we both have christmas eve off. i won't get my hopes up that it will happen every year, but it's a start...

christmas weekend... part 1 of.... TBD....

Happy December! I can't believe it's actually december... 6 days in even. and today, it was 60* out. that's bullshit. i'm sorry but it's bullshit. i'm not saying i mind it because i don't, but in 2 days when it snows or when we get some kind of precipitation that might include snow, people are going to flip a nut... but it's friggen december. it should be cold and semi snowy at this point. just saying...

this past weekend, my college friends and i (hoot hoot, state) ventured to York, Maine for our annual christmas weekend... we stayed at my friend Danielle's parents house and HOLY BEAUIFUL. seriously. words don't really express just how beautiful this house is... but the tree sure does... talk about christmas

spirit! and the view... holy shit. she's really lucky we all have actual jobs or i'm fairly certain we never would have left. i know i wouldn't have. (sorry boyfriend. you're on your own)...

let me give you a brief rundown of our weekend. (it probably won't really be that brief but i do want you to keep reading)... Friday night, most of us roll in mid-day to early evening. we sit around, catching up on the past few months, talking babies (congrats, mamma j) and weddings (you too, doc). and just enjoying each other's company while comfortably seated around the huge "island" in the kitchen. and then... the doctor introduced us to a little man named marcel. marcel is a shell. he is a conch shell and he wears shoes which are actually white plastic with pink on top (although i'm not sure why). and he only has one eye ball which i think makes the whole thing that much funnier. so the doctor introduces us to marcel... (i have since shared marcel with EVERYONE i know and believe me, if you've never seen him before, it's worth clicking this link to learn a little more about Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (part 2).) bahahahahahahahhahahahah. i love this little shell.... i have so many favorite parts... what are yours!? please share... and if you don't think marcel is the funniest little shell you have ever seen, f.you.... post marcel the shell, we cracked open some bottles of wine and such and built some awesome meatball GRINDERS (not subs) and mowed our faces off as per part of the requirements for the christmas weekend. we always have WAY more food than is necessary for us, but the best part is we can pick and choose every day what we want to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and everything in between. no set dinner times. no set times to stop (or start) drinking... it's beautiful.

so after dinner, we retired to the living room to begin our wait for our favorite world traveler. while we were waiting, we were privy to a little yoga show... this conversation ensued...

"this one is called birds of paradise... first you grab here (arm under leg) then you hold on (to the arm that is under your leg) then you lift your leg up (whilst your arms are wrapped behind your body and under your leg) and then you straignten everything..." 

to which i replied... "which part of this is paradise?"  

..... to be continued.... 

rambling...

Happy Thanksgiving to all my faithful readers and friends (some of who are one in the same). I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday with friends and family and whoever else you spent it with. we had 2 thanksgivings this year. the first was with my parents, our good family friend, my cousin and my boyfriend and i. food was good. we laughed, A LOT, which was much needed after the past few weeks and i lost $15 playing poker b/c i had to buy in for not only myself but for my cousin and bf too... something about that doesn't seem right. at least i know i'll see the money from the bf but my cousin... doubtful. friday night we went to Mohegan Sun to see boyfriend's all time favorite band Staind. they have a new album out which is a little on the hard side if you ask me, but none-the-less, we went. i'm more of a fan of the solo stuff, but that's b/c i really like all of their mellow songs and he tends to play the mellow stuff when he is solo. but i digress. one of my most favorite slots at Mohegan is the Wizard of Oz machine. i LOVE the wizard of oz so the fact that i can gamble on it makes it ever so much better. but... when i got over to the one i like, there was only one seat open. unfortunately, some lady thought it would be okay to play 2 machines at once. NOT okay i don't think. at all... then, when another opened up, the lady who took it (she was there before me so it was fair) jumped up and down in her seat every time she won even $1. and then, these 2 other dudes just kept switching off... so i was getting super heated... especially when i realized it was 7:45 and we had to go into the concert. the show was good- shorter than i anticipated but i think they usually talk more in between the songs. he played 18 including one off his solo album- country boy- which i love. i'm also a fan of his new song "paper wings"

Make some paper wings
And learn to fly

while i'm sure the lyrics mean something totally different, i feel like there is something to be taken from them... it's like, at some point, you have to just do it. you have to trust that you can and will be okay if someone pushes you to do something you are unsure of. you have to learn to fly solo. a friend sent me a card for my birthday and since then, we have had a few conversations stemming from this card. it said "leap and the net will appear" it's from a series of cards/mugs/paper etc. from quotablecards. I LOVE LOVE LOVE these products. did i mention that i love them? i do. it stemms from my love of all things quote related (no really?) and b/c they are done in cool fonts and colors and just... i love them. anyway. back to my original story.

leap and the net will appear. so many times, we are afraid to do things. to try new things. to take a leap of faith, or a leap of no faith. to move on from the thing we know to that which is unknown. i used to be afraid to take the leap. to jump in, both feet, unsure of how close the bottom would be. until recently. i hated where i was, liked the idea behind what i was doing, hated where we were living even though i was lucky to have the unwaivering support of boyfriend. so i lept. literally. i got a job interview appointment on a thursday for the next day (friday). i called out of work to go to the interview. i took the job before i quit the one i was working at. i quit the first job and spent the next week preparing to transfer my case load. i was sad to leave the kids, and some of the staff, but i needed something different. i couldn't be miserable. i couldn't keep holding on to something that made me want to come undone at the very thought of it. i cried on a daily basis. i cried when i left meetings (even meetings that went well) and i cried during my entire drive home each day. then, i would cry again when boyfriend would get home or when i would see him. i worked from 7am-3pm most days (some days not till 8) and then would drive home, run errands if i had any, and work from then till it was time to make dinner, sometimes while cooking dinner and then after dinner. i watched tv from my computer, turning around periodically to see what was going on. boyfriend and i argued about my working constantly... it hurt us... not enough to break us up, but enough that he would be really frustrated that i was doing work again... it was never ending. but i lept. and somehow, out of thin air, the net appeared. similarily, a friend also took a leap. left. moved. tried new things. was scared. and just like that, the net appeared.

so i've learned... it's okay to be scared. it's okay to leap and it's okay to not know what to expect. it's normal to be completly freaked out and not have any idea where your life is going. on some days, i still don't know where my life is headed or if it's headed in the right direction. but i know that it's okay to leap. that it's okay to not know where i'm going every day but to know that if i jump, somehow, i'll be okay...

two posts in one day!?

this one will be brief... i promise...

every monday night, we settle in to watch our line up of television shows. we start at 8:00 (or whenever i get home and dinner is done cooking) with How I Met Your Mother which neither of us ever used to watch but that we purchased on DVD, caught up and are now HOOKED. following that, we usually watch Two and a Half Men because I personally happen to like watching 2 Broke Girls last and we follow 2.5 up with Mike & Molly before making it to 2 Broke Girls. If you haven't already, you should 100% check it out. it is seriously one of the funniest shows I have watched lately and on a Monday, funny is necessary. But I digress... anyway... after 2.5 men and Mike & Molly, there is this clip at the end called a Vanity Card. I'm still not entirely sure who they are actually written by but it is part of our routine to pause the DVR and read these vanity cards. It's kind of become my obsession. If we miss it, I have to rewind to read. so... i wanted to share them with you. Check out Chuck Lorre Vanity Cards here.... ENJOY!

this life is what you make it... (m. monroe)

today i got to thinking... can you ever really escape "small town" life? physically, sure. it's quite possible to pack up, pick up and move. and i'm no stranger to the pack it up and move it along- i left town for college as all who live in a small town must do if they wish to attend and live at school given that there are no colleges in this here small town. and after that, i stayed for a while, mostly because i didn't have anywhere to live out where i was working so i commuted back and forth, wasting gas and putting miles on my (at the time) brand new car. and then i packed up. i moved out to eastern mass. a land where prior to, i had only been to go to fenway. i bearly even ventured out there in college to do "21 year-old things" with the exception of when i went out "that way" to visit college friends. but i did it. i moved to "eastern mass". i embraced boston. in fact, i embraced boston so heavily that i ended up with a pure-bred bostonian. thick-ass boston accent and all. okay so i'm straying from my initial topic... small town life. so after moving to "boston" and doing "eastern mass" things, i made it back to western mass. and i dragged my pure-bred back here with me (as a side note: he went to college in western mass and loved it so it's not like i had to pull TOO hard...) so i'm back. and i don't live where i grew up but i'm still around enough to know that things in this small town haven't really changed. i have a number of friends who still live here, and i have a number of friends who have left for other adventures and who have found SO much happiness in those adventures. they have found new jobs, new homes, and most importantly, new and strong loving relationships. and that's not to say that they didn't have those things here but just that in moving on to different places, have found the things that we all wish for our friends. but i know that small town hasn't escaped them. i know that although they are waking up to fame in hollyweird and to government in our nation's capital that there is always the thought of this small town and everything they learned from it. and because i know these people so very well, i know that they have been shaped by the things they learned here and the things that they took from it- the good, the bad, the ugly. you can never escape it. and anyone who says you can is a liar. it is ALWAYS a part of who we are. i get that there is drama in a small town but in reality, there is drama in a big city too. you just don't necessarily see the drama because there are more people for it to be hid behind or based upon. but take from it this... that drama will not haunt you for the rest of your life. in fact, if you play your cards right, any and probably most of that drama will teach you a very valuable lesson. it will teach you about who matters. it will teach you about who is going to be there, no matter how far away you go or how many times you come back. it will teach you about yourself- if you let it or it will bite you in the ass... IF you let it. when you wake up every morning and real ize you're in that same small town and that the same drama is going to make its way in and out of your ears at school or after school or wherever... remember this... in a few years, you are going to wake up and miss that. you are going to wish to have it back and to do it over again and once you know then- what you don't know now, you will want it to be exactly the same because from it, you have become the best you that you can be. and in all honesty, even if you do decide to move away, to leave "small town" life forever... ultimately, it will always be with you. you will always find yourself saying things like "well in my hometown" or "when i was in high school..." and comparativly speaking, your experiences are going to be just as great, if not better, than your new friends from the big city. hell... some of them never had a snow day where they could actually spend it sledding or if they could, had no hills to sled down. (okay so as of late, that might be a bit different but...) some of them have never spent their nights kicking back coldies at a bon fire in someone's back yard (this is where some of the best memories are made-btw). and some have never been able to say that they have never utilized public transportation. (it's true, not everyone rides a bus to school. some people take the T... really!). it is these things that make you who you are today and will help to shape who you will become. so embrace it. don't let anyone tell you that "small town living" isn't really living...

The big reason why folks leave a small town, he used to say, is so they can moon over the idea of going back. And the reason they stay put is so they can moon about getting out. He meant that no one is happy, anywhere. -Chuch Palahniuk, Rant

...it's been a while...

so i realize it has been something like 17 days since i last posted. okay it has been 17 days. there have been a lot of times i have sat down to write and nothing makes it onto the page b/c something comes up and i just don't do it... and then by the time i get home and make dinner and snuggle up into pajamas and sit my ass on the couch to watch tv, it's time to go to bed and i haven't blogged. i've toyed with the idea of blogging via my phone but it annoys me in all honesty. so... what's been going on...

a week ago today, actually right around this very time, we (my parents and sister and i) had to say goodbye to our beloved dog, iggy. those of you who know iggy know what a huge part of our family he was (like most dogs) but this one...i dunno. i'm pretty sure my parents (at least my dad) considered him a human more than my sister or i. so after a long weekend (friday/saturday/sunday) of my parents and during some points, myself being in and out of the doggie ER (which is no cheap feat) we were told that the vet from earlier in the weekend had been basically, wrong, and that Iggy was suffering from cardimyapathy. which is heart disease. he was also in congestive heart failure at that point and his heart was functioning at a very low percentage. he was getting progressivly worse throughout Monday morning and so we made the decision to say goodbye...  it's been a week and i know that going to my parents on Thanksgiving is going to be so super hard b/c he won't be here... now, we are really going to have to wash the dishes instead of just letting him lick them and putting them away. I'M KIDDING! but seriously... he's been gone a week and hopefully, my mom and dad will get another dog soon. not to replace him b/c NOTHING could replace this guy but to make the house feel a little more normal....

Iggy Czarniecki... 6.9.02-11.14.11

overall, this has not been the best year... i mean there were some high points... my sister got married. we went to a bunch of weddings. friends got engaged, are buying houses and having babies.. that stuff is all great and i'm very happy for each of those friends who have had the good things happen. but overall, this year has sucked. tornado- lots of damage to my parents house. really stressful event in general and something i'm going to spend every summer praying to avoid... a hurricane- which provided us some damage both for us and my parents but that ultimately didn't stop our trip to new hampshire or hinder my sister's cape cod wedding. and the last freak-o-nature snow storm that tore up our yard and trees and just sucked in general.

don't get me wrong. i am VERY thankful for the things i do have and not just b/c it's almost thanksgiving. i'm thankful for these things all year long and it seems kind of cliche to be "thankful" just b/c it's thanksgiving on thursday but why not take advantage of it right? the people i am thankful for know that i am thankful for them. b/c i take the opportunity to say thank you...

on that note... i have a hard time with words. not saying them or using them b/c let's be honest i can easily talk to anyone. but i have been thinking lately about the way we use certain words. i actually dedicated 4 handwritten pages of a letter (yes, imagine that, an old fashioned, hand-written, letter) to talking about the overuse of the words i love you, just for the sake of saying "i love you". okay so not a whole 4 pages but still... i'm not saying you shouldn't say that you love someone. in fact, if you do, i think you should say it b/c too often we don't get to say it until it's too late to say it (hey, deep thought). but i think it's a go-to word for a lot of things. i "love" this or that or her or him or that thing or something that happened... but really, do you LOVE it? or is it just something you enjoy or really like or it makes you happy. i mean, you can use "love", who am i to shut down your feelings on the situation? but i just feel like sometimes, and even i am so very guilty of this, we overuse the word love when we can't find anything else to say. there are a lot of things i really enjoy, things that make me happy and things that i look forward to. but if i really stop to think about it, the things i truely LOVE are harder to come by. i guess it's all based on your definition of love and if you are saying that love can have different values or that it can in fact be more of a tiered approach. just something i've been pondering lately...

134 hours later...

it's baaaaackkkk... never have i been so excited to hear the words "your power has been restored..." i mean, seriously. how the hell did people do it in the past? i guess if you weren't used to having electronics and cooking on a stove and keeping your food cold in the fridge you would be okay... which just leads me to believe that convienence has made us relativly lazy people... i mean, i can plug in a device that cooks my dinner while i go to work... really? but seriously. i'm really excited to go home and do 100 loads of laundry, to wash my comforters b/c they smell like fireplace, to wash my pillow b/c it too smells like fireplace and to sit in front of the tv... i do feel bad b/c some of my friends still don't have power and let's be honest here, that sucks... the lack of power has become less about when we are getting it back and more about who makes it the longest without it and therefor, wins by losing... over the past few days i have gotten pretty damn bored. here are the results of that boredom combined with leftover halloween candy that has been staring me in the face for the past week...

milk dud mountain... as i was building this i was saying "candy mountain...yay..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5im0Ssyyus

check this out if you aren't sure what candy mountain is... b/c it's effing hilarious...

the starburst tower was created when i picked out all the pink starbursts, then discovered the purple tropical ones... then i just went nuts... and the S.O.S... self explanatory...

so now i have power back... but alas, no food... literally. my freezer has a bottle of cherry vodka, some blueberry vodka and some ice packs that have at this point defrosted fully... my fridge has some waters, garlic and onions (to keep away the vampires) and.... that's it... so... we have to go out to dinner (AGAIN) because we have no food. and hopefully tomorrow, we will go to my sisters (thanks, Jenna) for a nice home cooked meal... and hopefully we can convince my dad to come along.

i'm excited to go home and clean... to vaccume... to do laundry... and i'm NEVER excited about this...

and... i'm ready to sleep in a heated house with no fireplace... it's been a VERY long week....

115 hours.... and couting... part 2

....where was i... so i start to make my trek home. i get on the mass pike and immediately, i'm going 10mph... now mind you, they had already reduced the speed limit from 65 to 45 b/c of the road conditions but 10?! 10?! so i'm driving along, trying not to freak out that i'm low on gas (ps. remember when they told you to fill up before a storm? do it the morning before... not after the storm starts)... anyway... so my 15 drive turned into a 45 minute drive... but being as i was covered in white face paint i opted to go home and wash my face and shower first. this turned out to be the best idea i had all day. so i showered, made a list of things i needed to make some turkey chili and headed to the grocery store. it was GROSS out, but i was still convinced that a power outage would be minimal... a day or so... so i was going to make some turkey chili and then i'd just keep it to eat over the next week... yum! before hitting up big Y, i stopped for gas... something told me do it now, or else... once, i think i heard that if you have a full tank of gas, you won't slide around as much. it's probably bullshit but if it's the reason that that made me fill up, so be it! so... i filled up and moved on to big y. i picked up the necessary items plus a few extra things for snacks and for pat and headed home. i got my chili going on the stove, threw on the tv and just relaxed while it cooked... a little while later i made myself a nice bowl of chili. it was delicious... i snuggled up on the couch with coors (the dog) and waited patiently for pat to find out if he had to work till 10 or if they would let him out early because of the weather. around 7:15, he texted me saying "we're getting out in a little bit"... i think he called to say he was on the road about 7:40ish and again around 7:55 to tell me he was pulled over b/c the road was closed for a few minutes. at this point, i was excited for him to come home and for us to not only spend some unplanned time together but also to catch up on DVR'd shows from last week. until 8:00.... when i hear the sound that everyone hates to hear... the death of all things electrical, simultaneously... power... out... pat came home about 5 minutes later and he too was less than thrilled about the lack of all things electric... around 9:30, we retreated to bed  as it was too dark to see ANYTHING... luckily, i had charged the kindle and phone so i could read a bit... we both fell asleep only to wake up multiple times during the night to the cracking and subsequently, trees hitting the ground. around 1, i made pat go out to make sure our cars were okay and that the house didn't have any major damage... he came back in and because i was satisfied with his detailed description, we were able to go back to bed... and woke up to this...

the first picture is... my car.. no seriously. that branch got SO heavy that it covered my entire car and somehow, by the grace of god, did not break... or else, it'd be a new car for me which i would not have complained about but only would have added to the mess... (oh. ps... no power at this point, still)... the second is a tree in my front yard that snapped and was laying in the road. we lost something from all the trees, which was awesome. but.... despite the scene, at least someone was happy....

so... pat went off to work after shoveling and i plugged the phone into the car and retreated back to bed to read and stay warm.. it was a balmy 56* at this point so it wasn't too too bad... sunday night we took a trip to hooters for some dinner because we couldn't find anything else open. dinner was good and it was nice to be out with lights, tv and warmth. (add to the power bullshit that the Pats lost). we got home and went back to bed becuase lets face it, after over 24 hours without power, the house was staring to get cold... we made it through sunday night and i went into work monday morning. we transformed work to accommodate another company without power and upon returning home to a house that was now 40*, we opted to make the move to my parents house to spend the nights in front of the fire.



that was monday... it's thursday... neither i, nor my parents have power... i have been showering at work, throwing elbows at people at the laundry mat and have changed my casual "hi, how are you" for a "do you have power" greeting. to say it is getting old is an understatement. my clothes have a constant stench of fireplace smoke, i'm exhausted from getting up every few hours to feed the fire, and i'm about ready to throw all the dogs out into the snow... they are estimating my restoration to be tomorrow by 12 noon but i "should be cautioned as this is just an estimate and actual times may be later than anticipated". but rest assure "we at Western Mass Electric won't stop until power has been restored to the last customer".....

115 hours later... that's reassuring.....

115 hours without power... part 1

restless... that is probably the only way to describe how i am feeling after the past (almost) week... but let's back up...

last thursday night, i tried to go to bed early b/c i had to get up to be at work to drive to malden, ma for a conference at the department of education. trying to go to bed when it's so out of your routine and you aren't tired always makes for an interesting evening. so because i wasn't tired, i did not manage to actually fall asleep until past 1am... which normally would be okay since i don't work till noon but did not bode well when the alarm went off at 5am. i got ready, drove to work and headed into boston with a co-worker/good friend of mine. he, after 2 coke zeros and a large black coffee, was strangely awake which could be in part due to the fact that he (for some reason) enjoys the early morning. okay so we get to malden (3 hours after the start of our journey) and sit in this meeting which was almost entirely pointless and had i known they would send me the powerpoint upon returning home, would have probably skipped but... i digress... i get back to work around 3ish and my other co-workers are in full swing decorating for our halloween party we have for the little town kids... so we decorate, have a few kids in the office and then around 5, lock up and head home. so at this point, i'm beyond exhausted because i do not do well in a car for that long without a nap... but, we had already committed to a halloween party at an adult beverage establishment with other friends of ours. so despite my exhaustion, i went home, ate some subway (thank you hunny) and got ready to go to the party. P & I went as a team from Double Dare!

I made our tshirts with some transfers and although the red sweats were INCREDIBLY hard to find, it was a super fun, comfortable costume and people LOVED it... we came in second place in the costume contests, but in our defense, the people who won were "bar regulars" and our friends left prior to voting.. which means people really liked our costumes!! I would have probably added some green slime and perhaps a beaker with a line on it like they had on the show but all in all, a success...

so.... needless to say we are out a little late on Friday night. we probably got home around 12:30 and i went straight to bed. however... again, with the little sleep on thursday night and now having to be up at 7 saturday morning, i was in no mood... but i rallied. got up, came to work, finished decorating and got all ready in my cosutme. i was a mime (which i will NEVER do again b/c in my opinion, the costume was an epic fail but i already have a great idea for next year- thank you to a fellow blogger who at this time shall remain nameless). So our "party" at work starts around 11 and people are coming in at a pretty steady pace... about 1:00, it starts raining... people are still coming in at a pretty steady pace... around 2, it starts to slow down becuase the impending snow is finally starting... it's heavy, really heavy and by this point was pretty damn cold out too... it even smelled like snow, which i think happens to be pretty cool that you can "smell snow". anyway... digression again. so at 3, the party ends, we push the last people out the door, do a quick cleaning (REAL quick) and decided to get out because well, the snow is actually coming down at a pretty good pace, the roads are starting to get covered and well, we were all over it. let's just be honest here... so i begin my trek home....

to be continued... (in the next post, to appear shortly)....

slacker.... and apparently, complainer...

no doubt about it, i have been slacking off like woah on posting. my apologies. i have spent the last 2 weeks battling a stupid cold, which i'm sure i got b/c i feel the need to run around like a crazy person and cram all kinds of things into my life only to get sick so that i am forced to slow down. you think i would have learned after the last time- couch bound for a straight 7 days complete with a trip to the dr and the ER, with the bill to prove it. which is bullshit btw... why do we pay for insurance so we can then pay out the ass for the ER. i am not a person who over uses the doctor or for that matter, the emergency room. in fact, i underuse it, much to the chagrin of my mother and as most recently noted, my sister. but that's another story all in itself. anyway. back to the insurance. so i pay each week, out of my hard earned pay check (coincidentally it's pay day) and then i have to pay out of my pocket to cover the doctor walking in and writing me a prescription for some eye drops for (gross) double pink eye (thank you dr. those were actually amazing and totally worth the trip). but seriously. i'm going to be out a nice chunk of money.

so being as it's pay day i just decided to take a look at my bank statement. now, while some people are not necessarily a fan of the bank i choose which shall remain nameless, it is super convenient for me. anyway. so i'm checking my statement and i decide to add up the amount of money i have put into my savings through their program which rounds all purchases up to the whole dollar (yay for round numbers) and then puts the extra into my savings... in a month, i have saved almost $17. now, that doesn't seem like a lot to be putting into your savings account however, it is. because that's $17 dollars i could have spent on pointless crap. i mean, yes, i'm much better at not buying pointless crap than i used to be but it actually feels better to save it. wow. i'm getting old. or just smart. whatever the case. i'm kinda pumped about it. i would make it my mission to save even more than that, but i feel like that means i need to make even more purchases in order for them to round up. but maybe i'll stop caring if i get to 40.00 on the gas pump and be okay with 39.01... because that's usually what i hit, and then, b/c i'm a touch OCD, i have to keep going until i reach a nice round sum. which is okay if i can get it on the first or second try but sometimes, my goal is to put like, $25 into the tank and i end up at $30 or $35 because i can't quite reach the 00. (ISSUES)

big weekend this weekend. heading out to the "in-laws" (who technically are not my in-laws yet but. you know the drill) for some birthday festivities for the bro-in-law (also not technically but.. you get the picture) and then for a little family party then hopefully meeting up for some drinks with one of p's good friends from elementary school who is getting married in January. since we are going to the wedding, i thought it might be nice to actually meet the groom before hand and the bride since neither of us have met her, and since the opportunity has risen, we are hopefully going to be able to take advantage of it. while i am looking forward to the weekend, i'm a little worried about the dog as he will be spending the weekend with his lovely grandparents (yes. i treat my dog like my child and i'm 100% okay with it). and it's not that my parents don't love him or take good care of him but they also have 2 other dogs- their own and a family friend's dog who is boarding with them. and normally, i don't care but since Coors puppy just had his male parts removed (sorry dude, it had to be done) and is only 9 days removed from surgery and only 12 hours sans anti lower half of the body licking cone, i'm a little nervous about his behavior...

before i go... happy birthday to one of the best friends a girl could ask for. we have been through so much together and while i am sad that i won't see you on your birthday, i am so incredibly happy for you and for everything that has fallen into place in the last few months. you are an amazing friend and i am truly blessed to have you in my life. <3 it takes a long time to grow an old friend, and you my friend, are one of the best. happy birthday, ashley!

i think men are from another planet

no seriously. i know they say "men are from mars..." blah blah blah but why is it that men are SO incredibly different from women. on all levels? i get the physical stuff, i'm not an idiot. and i can almost 100% understand the emotional stuff. but i can NOT for the life of me, understand the rest of it. and i'm not even sure what the "rest of it" would be called but... it's that shit that says "i can't fold the laundry. i'm watching tv" as if you need more than your eyes and ears to watch tv. or "i can't do the dishes, i did the laundry" well where i come from, you typically put a load of laundry INTO the washer, start the dishes, change the laundry over, put away the dishes (that have now dried), take the laundry out of the dryer, switch the wet load over to the dryer and fold the now dry and clean load, ALL WHILE WATCHING TV.

i think the kicker was the letting the dog out one that occured last night... see tomorrow (wednesday) my dog is going to be neutered. (which i'm not aloud to speak of in his presence becaue the man in my house thinks that the dog will be mad- which i'm sure he will be but he'll get over it). so i mentioned the other night how after his surgery, we will need to watch him to make sure he isn't picking at stiches (or trying to rip the cone off his head). so i said that when he goes out after the surgery, we should put him on his leash, take him to the end of the driveway and let him do his business. just so we can watch him and he isn't going crazy or anything. yes, i am an overprotective mother. i'm okay with that. anyway. so yesterday i got up about 9 and took the dog for a walk. it was only about .5 mile but it tires him out and lets him piss on every tree in a .5 mile radius (oh and every telephone pole, mailbox pole etc. etc. etc.) i left for work at noon and the other male in my house got home around 5:30. i got out of work at 8 so i get home last night (about 8:30) and cook dinner. after dinner (around 9:30-10:00) i notice the dog keeps sniffing around one of the spare rooms (the "man room") which is weird because he usually either sleeps on the bed or sits with us on the couch/in the living room. so after a little bit of the sniffing i ask "did you let him out when you got home" to which i recieved this response...

him: "no. you said we had to take him out on the leash and watch him"
me: "no, i said that after he has his surgery, we have to watch him"
him: "oh well, no. i didn't let him out"
me (obviously): "i hope he shit on your clothes" (hey, if i can't teach him a lesson, maybe the dog shitting on his clothes would)
him: "well go let him out"
me: "really. you didn't let him out at all?" (although not sure where the disbelief came from- i shouldn't be that surprised)

so i let the poor dog out and he did his business and (unfortunately for me and my lesson teaching) didn't drop anything in the house (good boy)

after this bullshit conversations, i learned that "i (he) shouldn't have to go bring the dog for his surgery becuase i have to pick him up and it's my day off"
Um... it's your day off which is exactly why you should bring and pick him up. that's what a day off is for- to do the things you can't do when you are working!

i left a nice note this morning about all the things i need done before i get home from work. they include changing over a load of laundry, folding a basket of laundry and walking the dog.
"fold the laundry. you can do this while you watch sports. if you miss something, it will probably be on again in an hour. you have unlimited access to the bathroom- so should the dog. walk him". and other such things.

tuesday is also his night to make dinner... it's not the dinner that doens't get done, it's the dishes... which is a whole different entry....

WHY are they so different!? and what can we do to stop it!? i know you can't "change a man" but... there has to at least be an edit button for some aspects right?

(very) early birthday present & other stuff...

last night, p. took me to umass to see cirque de soleil- quidam. what a crazy show... the costumes, performers, makeup... all of it was awesome. p. thought it was more on the weird side... to which i responded "... you're just broadening your cultural horizons..." which is so true seeing that most of the time, the only "culture" he gets is from a tool or korn (incorrectly spelled which makes it even worse) concert. anyway. it was a great birthday present and since we probably won't make it to vegas or even to disney anytime soon... it was an awesome show and i'm very glad i saw it... (thanks p. i love you!)


so i started watching the show 'whitney'... now, we all know i don't need any other shows to watch but sometimes it's nice to watch new stuff just for the heck of it. so i started watching... and it's actually pretty funny... too bad it's on Thursday's. (that's grey's night, sorry kids). but the funniest part was when Whitney said "I feel like all we ever do is go to weddings. I can't remember the last time I sat down for dinner that didn't involve a DJ screaming 'let's get this party started'. " hahahah. if you know me, at all, you know that is the story of my life. not that i don't like going to weddings and i am happy for all of my friends and their nuptuals but... that seriously is my life. we have been to so many weddings that when we get an invitation now, i just laugh. and depending on who the wedding is for, that uses up anywhere from 2-4 weekends for the wedding and related festivities. showers. jack and jills. engagement parties. bachelorette parties. and the wedding itself. so if someone were to have all of those things, that's 5 different weekends for 1 wedding. there are 52 weekends in a year and in the year 2011, i already know where at least 7 of my weekends will be spent.. 7... which doesn't seem like a lot in comparison to the 52 that comprise the year, but it's not even january yet and i know where i'm going to be for weekends in june and august. what i do think is funny is that when i get a call to "book a weekend" because a friend is getting married. it's a running joke with my wsc friends if p. and i can't be somewhere we "have a wedding" or "something for a wedding"... and usually, that's the truth. and while i have missed out on some of the wsc vacation weekends, i have had some great times at the weddings, so that makes up for it. we are wedding free for the rest of 2011 with the exception of an engagement party in a few weeks for one of p's friends. which i'm excited for becuase i have never met the groom, let alone the bride and it will be nice to meet them both before their wedding. and i'm looking forward to their wedding because the hotel looks amazing, isn't too expensive considering and will give us a nice weekend away.


i can't believe it's october already... this year has flown by... this time last year, we were packing up our apartment in milford and getting ready for the big move. sometimes i miss being out in milford- but i definately don't miss the apartment, "harry man back" (as we called our upstairs neighbor) or the stomping from the other neighbors. i don't miss the police showing up, or our cars being broken into. (bullshit). i don't miss the lock on the door not working with the keys and i don't miss the lack of closets. i do miss the proximity to target, to my holliston friends and to my other friends in that part of the state... and the proximity to boston. on a day like today, taking the t in to boston or shopping at shoppers world would be a great time...


i'll try to post more frequently- as i've been slacking... but for now... adios... happy long weekend (those of you who are lucky enough to have one)....

if i were 16 again...

apologies for the lack of blogging on sunday and monday... i'm not sure what happened to sunday, but yesterday just got away from me. well, really i was just pissed and didn't really feel like doing a god damn thing, though i didn't really have much of a choice on that matter... but after i got home, ate dinner (that i didn't have to cook) and talked to my bestie in cali, i just enjoyed being on the couch, watching tv and spending time with my boy... and the monday night show line up is pretty decent. i'd say if i had to rank the 4 shows, HIMYM is still first (how i met your mother) followed by 2 broke girls and closely followed by mike and molly with a 2 1/2 men bringing up the rear... they should have just quit while charlie was alive (get it? haha)... i mean, no offense to ashton but the show is kinda weird now... not that it wasn't getting weird before. and with great shows like 2 broke girls and mike and molly, they are killing the nightly line up. i guess that's why it's in there 3rd because anyone who watches the monday night CBS lineup would probably stop right before it came on... i know i'd go to bed... anyway...

so all these kids i know are turning 16... having sweet 16 parties and surprise parties... getting their permits.. and here i am thinking... what the fuck... it's been 12 (almost 13) years since my 'sweet' 16 and i'd pay good money to go back there, and frankly, to do a lot of shit differently. don't get me wrong. i don't have regrets- i loved high school, had a great time and sophomore year was the start of the real fun but... damn, if i knew then what i knew now... so many things would be different... again, NO REGRETS... just things that i would change now that i know what i know... that's what they all say right? but seriously... i would save the money i made in high school because then, when i got to college, i wouldn't be so poor.. and then, when i got out of college, i wouldn't be poorer and trying to make it in the "real world" (which btw: extremely overrated). i think that they should have a class in high school entitled "how to navigate the real world"... or maybe you should take it in college... because i'm closing in on 29 (yikes) and still don't know what i really want to do with my life. i mean, i have an idea, but then that whole funding thing comes into play and i'm like.. okay so shit.. i can't really do what i want to do because i can't really afford to do that right now... even though in the long run, it would pay off...

i really would go back to 16. And this time I wonder if things would be different. Who knows.

In the meantime...happy sweet 16 to some of the greatest kids I know...

turns out... you really CAN deep fry anything... (adventures of the big e)

so last friday night, p. and i took a trip to the big e. it was the first time we have ever been together although not the first time either of us have been. being from western mass, i've been only about 25 times which is roughly once a year since birth... give or take... we went in the rain which was both a blessing and a curse. it was nice because there was hardly anyone there but it was gross because my left foot found it's way to a puddle and i spent the rest of the night with a wet foot... but anyway... we did the usual... state buildings. played some games. blah blah blah. the only exciting purchase of the night was 3 sets of 'sham-wows'.

so tonight. i went back to the big e, this time with two of my good friends and two of the cutest 6 year olds ever. it's a totally different experience to be at the big e with a kid, let alone 2 kids. turns out, i morph into "mom mode" under such conditions. hand holding (which is not out of the normal), counting kids (even if there were only 2 of them)... but in addition to that going to the big e with kids means you get to act like a kid. roller coasters. games. the giant yellow slide. and of course, cotton candy. which by the way, they make in the maple sugar variety and i'm fairly certain i told the woman in the New Hampshire building that it was the only reason i went back to the big e. the corn on the cob (NH) was a little overrated, but nicole did get a killer potato (sorry, maine. you got NOTHING on the ones outside the CT building)... and of course, there was the hitting up of Millie's for some polish food. (best ever).

i think the real highlight of a fair like the big e is the fried food... and not necessarily because it tastes very good because let's be honest, some of it is just bad news. but it's a highlight because well, you really can deep fry anything. and they are deep frying things you should NEVER even consider deep frying. vegetables- okay those are one thing... unfortunately, they are made in such huge batches that they aren't really as good as they could be... and while we were really looking forward to the fried pickles, there's something about the pickle chips that makes it a little more tasty than the spear (take note oh friers of the vegetable... ) the real star of the big e is the fried oreo... honestly. i mean, i thought it sounded pretty gross but lucky for us, one of the cutest 6 year olds had an in at the oreo booth and hooked us up with some freebies... wow... whoever decided to fry the oreo- good going on that one...

the moral of this story? the big e is a great place for a date night... it's fun, you can people watch and win corny prizes for each other... it's a memory builder. the big e is awesome with kids like the ones i went with tonight because they were well behaved, enjoyed everything we did, and didn't even complain about the shopping (neither did b. very proud of him for that)...

but more than anything... the moral here is this...

just because it's a food, doesn't mean it should be covered in batter and dropped in a frier... stick with stuff that makes sense... because "fried kool-aid" (coincidentally just fried dough made with kool-aid) is a rip off and if you ask me, false advertising (no we did not try it, just asked) and fried butter is just a disgusting excuse to get people to say "hey, i wonder what that tastes like"... newsflash people... grab a stick of butter out of the fridge and a french fry... eat them at the same time... you have yourself "fried" butter... better luck next year oh friers of the food... stick to things that make sense, like oreos and fries...