Off to Florida & VACATION!

So yesterday I thought it was quiet here. I was wrong. I had no idea what quiet meant until today. The roads, though icy, were nearly empty this morning as I jumped in my car in the 15 degree (yes this is Texas) weather with a wind chill of 7 degrees. Yikes! My Florida bones are not happy to that! I got here at 8 am as usual and there was NO ONE here. I thought I had maybe missed the memo that they had decided to close the office or something. Yesterday afternoon, they let us leave at 3:45 because it was slow and because the snow was falling again, and they were worried about the road conditions as the temperature kept dropping. Luckily, I made it home safely! But today the parking garage was nearly empty and there are very few of us here. I haven't gotten a single e-mail yet and I've been here almost 2 hours which on a normal day would definitely warrant at least 20+ e-mails even in the early morning hours. I put away the two items that I had left to file and now I just sit. Sit and stare! Or get up and talk to someone. Or talk to my hubby who is HOME today because he didn't have to work. Blah! Oh well, what can you do? I'm hoping for the best that they will close the office at noon today like they did last year, but I'm sure I won't be that lucky! At least I get to leave by 2 if nothing else because I have to get home, grab my stuff, and catch a cab to the airport with my hubby.

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and if you're bored drop me a line today because I'll probably be just as bored as you are! Talk to you in the New Year! :)

Let It Snow, Let It Snow (just not ice!)

So, after unusually warm weather on Monday and Tuesday, last night an "artic blast" came into the metroplex dropping the temperatures from the 70s to the 30s. And with it brought lots and lots of precipitation. This morning, that looked like heavy rain which made for an interesting driving experience this morning especially since a few of the bridges were a little icy! I just checked the radar however, and after a line of sleet passes through, it looks like we are actually going to get quite a bit of snow. I saw that there might be at least an inch which is a lot for this area and a lot earlier than we usually get it! So I'm excited because I love snow (in small amounts). I am not excited about the potential freezing of the roads by this afternoon because my commute is okay most days on the way home but if it's icy, it will be really bad. And I have packing to do tonight and everything else! Should be interesting! Plus, I'm supposed to come into work tomorrow from 8 am to 2 pm. Now we live on a hill in Las Colinas (means the hills) so this might be problematic if there is ice. But I guess I will cross that bridge when I get to it! As long as the roads become navigatible (sp?) enough by the afternoon so we can drop off the dog at the Pet Hotel and head to the airport! Then we can go to Florida although I'm sad because it looks like they have rain there too. At least it's not so cold there and maybe it will clear up!

So here's to having good weather to bring snow ONLY to the metroplex and then no rain to Florida! Yippee! Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday weekend in case I don't write before! :) And I'll be out until after the first of the year after tomorrow so if you don't hear from me, that's why!

Not a Creature was Stirring, Not Even a Mouse

It is SO dead here. The phone doesn't ring, there are no e-mails, no one is coming by. There is barely anyone working at all....and luckily for me, there is barely any traffic on the roads (I like that part!). I think tomorrow I will bring my book because at least it will give me something to do and considering my bosses will be here this afternoon and that's all for the rest of the week, that should work out nicely. Tomorrow I am also going to go get my driver's license switched over finally - was going to go today but realized when I got here that I had everything with me except for proof of registration (even though if they came out to my car they would see it but I don't have the paper version). So at least that will give me something to do tomorrow morning - my boss already said I could go then for a random time so I wouldnt' have to wait in line forever and I can use my passport on the plane this weekend if they make me turn in both my Florida driver's license (that one I know definitely has to get turned in) and my Texas id card. I still can't believe it is supposed to snow tomorrow - I have a feeling we are in for a long cold winter. I'm okay with that as long as we have ice storms on WEEKDAYS when I'm already stuck at home! :)

Other than that, not much new to report. Found one last surprise gift for my hubby, but I won't tell you what it is because he sometimes comes on here to read my blog and I wouldn't want it to be given away! He already knows what two of his gifts are by accident, just not what specific brand or type but a general idea of what the two items are. Oh well, I'm doing the best I can to try to keep the secret but it's hard! Not looking forward to packing tomorrow night because I never know what to bring and besides have to figure out how to get a few gifts in amongst the clothes and things I need. Should be interesting! Too bad I can't just stay at home tomorrow and get stuff done instead of sitting on my butt staring at my computer and accomplishing nothing for 8 hours. But that's just the way it is I guess. It's going to be really hard to figure out where to bill my time to this week! ;)

I'm Having a Bit of Writer's Block....

but I really want to blog so I'm going to do something hopefully short and sweet to explain my weekend and at least put something down on the page for today!

Friday, I left work around 3 pm which was nice. I actually had a ton of errands to do because of course nothing I needed could possibly be in one central location! At least all the stores were relatively close by each other and luckily I made it home with all my purchases by about 6:30 since I had gotten the head start! Thank goodness for that! :) Got home, had some dinner, hung out with the puppy, and watched the end of the Apprentice finale (I couldn't take all 3 hours the first night) and ER from a week ago which I had TiVo so I could watch The O.C. that we had taped during the other shows! Fell asleep watching tv!

Saturday, got up around 9 because I couldn't sleep and was grumpy all morning for some reason. It just seemed like everything was going wrong, and I was still tired for some reason, and I didn't want to do anything except lay around and relax because my head and ears and eyes hurt (love this time of year with my allergies & sinus!). FINALLY, after nearly having a nervous breakdown around 11 or so, I got motivated, got a ton of laundry done, cleaned up the place, put a bunch of stuff away, did some dishes, and became sane again so luckily by the time Austin got home from his hunting expedition that afternoon, everything looked much better! I also watched the movie, Saved!, with Mandy Moore & Macauley Culkin. It was good but not as good as I had heard. But it needed to be watched so I could send it back in and get good movies this week for our trip to Florida (which worked out nicely because we are getting King Arthur & the Manchurian Candidate for sure and hopefully Napoleon Dynamite whenever the last movie gets in). Showered, went to the grocery store, and headed up to Grapevine Mills to finish up some last minute shopping and grab some dinner. Turned out to be a sort of shopping spree for my hubby because he really needed new running shoes and jeans so we found those for him for good prices and I also found my last minute gifts that I was needing so it worked out well!

Sunday, got up around 8 (ugh, why can't Austin or I EVER sleep in any more?!) and baked corn bake for the family lunch later that day. Cleaned all that up, wrapped up the gifts, took our dog to PetsMart to get her picture taken with Santa (yes we are dorks!), dropped her back off at home, and headed to his parents house for Christmas with his extended family. That was fun - got to see everyone, some of whom we hadn't seen since the wedding. I got a gift certificate to Express, one to Barnes & Noble (love to read!), and a cute purse. Good stuff! Dropped off a gift to Austin's friend, Brad, whose birthday is today (happy birthday Brad!), and headed home. Did some more baking (I love to cook/bake especially when I have time - my mom has already asked me to help her when I get home to make desserts and things!). Watched Desperate Housewives (such a great show) and had an awesome talk with my husband about our goals in life and how it's frustrating how other people treat you sometimes (not us but friends or family members or whatever) and how difficult the work environment can be at times. Stayed up too late watching North Shore from two weeks ago that Austin still had on video - need to watch last week's episode tonight I guess. Good thing it's mostly repeats this week - I'm hoping to keep plugging through Da Vinci Code because it's really interesting so far and I'm ready to get into the meat of it.

Other than that, it was a relatively calm and non-exciting weekend. Today has been SO SLOW & QUIET because both Sara and my other office mate aren't here today, and neither is my boss (not complaining about that one). At least Sara will be here on Tuesday and Wednesday so I only have to brave the next 30 minutes today and 6 hours on Thursday alone. And I must say that traffic was very minimal this morning - guess lots of people have the week off - I'm just hoping it stays that way for this afternoon's rush hour because that's been the killer lately. And thank goodness that Thursday afternoon we are out of here to have a nice 10 day vacation! I can't wait - just need to squeeze in some time for packing on Wednesday night while watching the snow flurries come down! :)

Today Is a Good Day! :)

Just found out that I can leave early today to go shopping as I had hoped! Thank goodness! I have so many different places to run around to, it will really help me to get an early start - get to leave at 3 pm which is good. :) And then I already got the okay to go next Tuesday at like 10:30 to get my driver's license taken care of - we decided that hopefully it would be least crowded then because it's a random day at a random time and only a few days before Christmas. So I'm hoping for the best that that works out. Then I'll be an official Texas resident!

Anyways, just wanted to share my good news since sometimes my blogs aren't super positive even though I try to be. I'll be thinking of you when I'm fighting traffic and angry shoppers trying to get the last minute things done. At least if I get it all done tonight, I can veg on the couch and sleep in because Austin just left to go hunting and won't be back until tomorrow afternoon. Shopping & girly movies here I come! ;)

A Nice Surprise

So last night, I'm sitting at the computer reading all the nice things everyone has responded to my post from yesterday (sorry for the selfishness, sometimes I just gotta vent!) and Austin is playing with his new fish tanks (he got 2 new small ones and 1 big one for Christmas - gave the 2 small ones to him early - the big one is on backorder so he won't have that until after Christmas) when the door bell rings. Hmm....not expecting anything because I try to avoid sending stuff to the apartment because if we're not home, it's such a pain to get it from the office since they close usually before I even get home from work. So Austin comes back upstairs with this huge box. About 30 minutes later, the UPS guy comes back with a second smaller box. Interesting....they are from Philadelphia, so I had a clue what it might be.

When we got married a few months ago, I had sent my godfather an invitation to our wedding knowing he probably wouldn't come but I wanted him to know what was going on in my life. Somewhere around my middle school years, he and my godmother stopped talking to me....apparently they got into a disagreement with my mom because she had tried to help her aunt (my godmother's mother) who had alzheimers get into a proper care facility. For some reason, my godmother was very against this even though her father couldn't take care of her in her condition, so instead of just accepting her mother's sickness, she got mad at my mom and family and then in turn stopped speaking to me. It really sucked because at the time I didn't really know what was going on, and they had always been so kind to me before sending me cards and gifts and making me feel special growing up. And it was 100% gone. When I was in my senior year or so of high school, my godmother passed away. I hadn't spoken to her in years so it didn't phase me much although I was sad.

When I graduated college, I decided that I wanted to send my godfather a graduation announcement and in it I enclosed a letter explaining what had happened in my life in the past 10 years or so. I got a package in response with a framed picture of my godmother and a piece of her jewelry and a short note saying congratulations and best of luck. So when I got married, I did the same thing - sent a wedding invitation and hoped for the best that he might actually acknowledge. A few days after the deadline for the reception cards, I received a response in the mail from my godfather. He told me how he was glad to see I was doing so well and gave me a more than generous check (which he didn't have to do). He also told me that he was planning on sending me some framed artwork for my new place.

So last night I received a large framed piece of needlework that my godmother had done about 35 years ago in a beautiful wooden frame. And then another smaller piece that my great-aunt (my grandmother's sister and my godmother's mom) had done in an amazing gold frame. I can't wait to put them up in our new apartment, and I feel very special that he sent them to me. So last night it was a pleasant surprise to have these things sent to me. I hope some day that I can get back up to Philadelphia to see my godfather because I haven't seen him in so many years. I wish things hadn't turned out the way they did with my godmother, but that's the way things go sometimes. You can't force people to understand that you are only trying to help them or their loved ones if they get it in their mind that you are doing something else. I'm just glad that I now have these two pieces that I can treasure always, and I can't wait to tell my grandmother that I have a piece of her sister's work. :)

My Quarter Life Crisis

Okay, so I've definitely hit it head on - my quarter life crisis! I know that may seem really silly, but I've actually read articles about this that people of our generation are hitting these walls in their mid 20s where they start going, okay what is going on here and who the heck am I? I've hit mine head on, and I'm really not sure where to go from here. I think I've actually been slowly trying to dig a hole through the wall but it's not working very well.

Here's what I've established so far. I am 25 years old. I am happily married. A lot of my friends live out of town which sucks but through the wonders of Internet and phones, I have been able to keep in touch and still get to see them occasionally. Plus I have good friends here that I get to see now and then to pick me up. I have a great family that even though they are far away, they still love me and make me feel special when they can and I look forward to seeing them when I can. I am healthy (or so I think - being a doctor's daughter I tend to think I have every horrible thing known to man wrong with me because I know too much about all the possibilities and therefore scare myself into thinking the slightest bump, cough, pain, etc. is related to something way more horrible than it is - at least I hope so!). I have a great apartment and am not doing horribly financially (especially with the bonus tucked in my bank account and the upcoming raise). I got a brand new car a few months ago that is great and I enjoy and can afford (always a plus). But something is still missing and it seems to revolve mainly around my job.

Some days I absolutely HATE my job. Some days I like it (those are rare though). And most days are just blah - nothing particularly exciting happens, I spend most of the day bored out of my mind or running around like a chicken with my head cut off - no in between. I don't know if this place in particular is what is making me unhappy or if it's the legal field (not my first choice of occupation) or if it's just a general dissatisfaction with how things are. I mean, I always thought I would be super successful and not have to worry about money or finding a job that I enjoyed. In high school and college, they always fed you this crap that if you worked hard and got good grades and did the right things that you were show to grow up and be what you wanted to be. It wasn't until my first real job out of college (not an internship, a paid job) where I was working for $8 per hour (yes with a college degree!), no benefits, and had to be at work at 3:30 am to work on the morning news that it really hit me about how much a load of crap that all really was. I was valedictorian of my high school class, graduated cum laude with honors from college, did numerous internships throughout college for little or no pay, and where did it get me? Standing behind a camera at 6 in the morning in a freezing cold studio listening to the same news over and over and over until I could practically spit it all back out word for word.

That lasted all of about 4 months when I got scared and ran back to college. I decided since I'd always liked kids that I would become a teacher and to get my teaching certification, I only had to take an extra year of classes and then one semester of student teaching. Couldn't be that bad right? Well the classes were EASY for me - I had already been a psychology minor in college so this was just basically more of the same. It wasn't until I was in the classroom (working 40+ a week with NO PAY OR BENEFITS and then having to turn around and haul butt to a restaurant in Las Colinas so I could bartend and try to make some money to pay the bills) with 20+ kids that I realized that as much as I loved the kids, the school system wasn't the place for me either. Strike two!

So after finishing up the student teaching thing in December, I began the job search again looking for just about anything to get me out of teaching and out of the service industry (actually had fun with that but hated the hours and the uncertainty of the pay depending on how busy it was/wasn't, etc.). Landed my job as a file clerk and quickly moved up to where I am now two years later. Two years....I can't believe I've been here that long. I feel like I've been trying to get out of here almost as long as I've been here. And yet, here they come along with a generous bonus and a nice raise and what's a girl to do? Be stuck in her rut even further - scared that I'll never find anything else, feeling guilty for even looking when they are "good" to me, wondering how I got myself into this mess in the first place, and not knowing how to get out or if I even should.

So there you have it ladies and gentleman: welcome to my world of confusion! The one thing I've found that I think I could truly enjoy as a career is event/wedding planning, but it is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to get a chance doing that sort of thing without experience and you can't get experience without getting a job. See this vicious circle! So then I wonder if I should just stay here (or in the legal industry at the very least) and suck it up and try to make the best of it - but then I go back to this whole where did I go wrong thing and why am I going to be one of those people that is unhappy with their job but just does it. Like every other drone in America. I don't want to be a drone! I want to be independent and successful and happy! Now if only I can figure out how to get there......... ;)

Drumroll please.........

We DID get bonuses this year! Thank goodness - I was getting a little concerned yesterday that the sweater and party was all that there was going to be. In the most impersonal way possible, I found out this morning by signing into my bank account exactly how much it was (after taxes at least). I was happy to find it was actually even more than last year so now I can finish up Christmas shopping and feel better about the fact that I managed through this whole year here. Still supposed to get the actual stub today to see how much it originally was as well as find out what my raise will be as of January 1. Should be an interesting day! :) I'll keep you updated, but at least I'm happy with my bonus and the pain and suffering was all worth it!

The Good News Is......

that we are getting at least some sort of bonus per our firm administrator. The bad news is that everyone else in the firm, with the exception of our section minus the one person who gave in to his games and actually asked, found out what their bonus and raise were going to be as of Monday morning. The good news is that we are getting both our paycheck and our bonus direct deposited. The bad news is the firm administrator said he was going to give our pay stubs to our boss so that we may then in turn get them and know how much our bonus and raise are and that he was going to do this today so that we could find out today since everyone else found out tomorrow and yet here it is 4:45 and no news at all..........grrr. I'll let you know what happens!

The Sweater

Okay, I'm not sure if I'm posting about this because I think it's funny or if it's because I'm truly worried about it! Well, you know how I've told you that we have yet to find out what our bonuses/raises will be this year. We are supposed to get said bonus tomorrow & find out what our raise will be for the 1st of the year (to be reflected on our January 15 paycheck).

Anyways, last Friday, the head partner of the firm sent out an e-mail saying to tell his secretary what size sweater we wanted because we are having sweaters instead of bonuses this year. That they are giving us the sweater, they already gave us firm shirts (2), and then the swanky Christmas party and that's enough. It has to be a joke. I'm going to keep repeating to myself that part. So no one really responded because we assumed it was a joke and went about our business.

So today, one of the secretaries came up to Sara & I and asked us to pick out which sweater and what size we wanted. Now, we did get the two shirts last year just because, but I'm slightly concerned as to this recent sweater development. I know the Christmas party they decided to have was quite costly but if my bonus is affected, I'm not going to be a happy camper. So I picked out a Navy blue sweater with the firm logo on it and Sara chose a tan collared one. Don't know when we'll get those - probably not until January or February - or when I will actually wear it but I guess so. Oh well, what can you do? Let's just HOPE that is not all we get for Christmas this year because I was counting on that bonus to help out with gifts for others. Guess I'll see what tomorrow brings (or doesn't!). ;)

The Wonders of Office Christmas Parties

So, as you all know, Saturday was the day of office Christmas parties for Austin and me. I was really NOT looking forward to mine especially, but it turned out to be at least entertaining. :) I will go into that in just a minute.

Friday night, Austin's brother came over to check out our new apartment, and we all grabbed some dinner at Boston's and then went to see Ocean's Twelve. Despite bad reviews from the crittics (what do they know anyways?!), we all really enjoyed the movie - of course, I thought Ocean's Eleven was great too and own that on DVD so maybe I'm just biased. If you liked the first one, you will DEFINITELY like the second one and maybe even more so than the first. If you've never seen the first one or didn't like it, then you may or may not like the second one. I personally thought it was great and would give it two thumbs up. Not that my opinion matters much because I also enjoy cheesy flicks like Princess Diaries and scary movies like The Others. I'm kind of a wide variety of movie type of person.

On to the good stuff..........

Saturday was a very LONG day. A decent day but long. Woke up that morning to shower & drop off my car to get the windows tinted - finally! Came home, got ready, went back to pick up my car, then dropped off Austin's truck, and headed to his Christmas party which was from 1 to 3 at Brookhaven Country Club. It was very nice and not too far from our apartment which we liked. :) And the food was great - turkey and sweet potatoes and green beans and salad and pumpkin pie. We had a good time, got to see his family, and people he works with. And I only had ONE instance of baby being brought up, and at least it wasn't directly at me. The girl was talking to his mom saying that Austin had told her we were going to wait three years and she said no way. Yes way! Don't get me started on that one! Anyways, that party was pretty uneventful - Austin got his usual bonus and we were on our way. Went home and laid in bed and watched tv and bummed around the rest of the afternoon. Then had to get all dressed up and fancy for my party.

Our firm party was held at Beau Nash at the Crescent Court. For those of you that don't know, this is a very swanky, pricey, 5 star restaurant/hotel in downtown Dallas. So boys in suits or tuxes and girls in long or formal dresses. We arrived about 7:45 (we had to stop off at Men's Wearhouse to grab Austin a pair of black socks because we are still in the unpacking process and although he frantically search for about 20 minutes, he could only find ONE black sock) and headed in to grab a drink at the bar and talk with Sara & Logan. About ten minutes after we got there, my boss decided that he needed to come over and say hi. Here's how our conversation went (and no I wasn't drunk - just feisty because it's fun when my boss is drunk because I can get away with it and it irritates me that he pretends to be a nice guy so I look like an idiot to my husband):

B=boss
M=me

B: So you know you can say hi to me?
M: I could yes. I don't think you've ever met my husband right?
B: No, that's why I came over here. I know you, I wanted to meet him.
So introductions are made and he introduces his girlfriend who looks NOTHING like what I pictured but not in a bad way. He proceeds to explain to her that I work for him and work with some of our other co-workers which she had apparently already met. So I say:
M: Yeah, we're the ones that get to put up with him on a daily basis (big smile)
G: Oh, I feel sorry for you then! (Yay, she's on my side!)
B: Hey, I need to get out a pen and paper and write this down......actually I made the mistake of telling M that she could let me know one time when I made her upset and I guess I opened the door (girlfriend agrees to this).
Then he proceeds to compliment me saying how I work on his most difficult docket and that I do really good work for him, etc. So I say:
M: I try. But I think you better pass the pen and paper to me now so I can write this down.
B: What do you mean?
M: Well, I don't get to hear it very often so......
B: Well, you know that I don't give compliments at work. Just as long as I am saying nothing at all to you that means you are doing a good job.

Then later.......he comes up to us while we are sitting there after dinner and asks why we aren't on the dance floor. So I ask him why he's not. He tells me he doesn't dance. I tell him that's not what I heard from our co-worker about him last year. He says it's all lies. I tell him to take his girlfriend out on the dance floor and prove it wrong then. He says she wants to go so I tell him that would be the nice thing to do and then he proceeds to say well maybe later and walk off. Thank goodness that was about the extent of my interaction with him for the evening.

Other than that, we had a better time than expected. The food was good although I was already pretty full from our earlier meal. And a free glass or two of wine never hurts. I am a big people watcher so it was entertaining to me. We got to sit with the attorney that just came back from Iraq last week so that was cool to see him back home and safe. And we witnessed the incident which Sara described where one of the secretaries (an older lady I might add) apparently had had a bit too much to drink and COMPLETELY missed her chair when trying to sit down to eat with us and then acted like she meant to sit on the floor and spent most of the night staring down people because she was trying so hard to concentrate. She ended up on the dance floor later and I'm sure she woke up with a bruise on Sunday morning and wondered why. I was very proud of Austin for not laughing because he saw the whole thing and that's normally something that would entertain us both (she wasn't hurt or anything so it's ok to laugh) but he kept himself together and I think Sara & I were so shocked by the time that we looked over that we just sat there in awe. My other co-workers which normally want nothing to do with us were super friendly, giving hugs and talking our ears off. I just wish everyone would be nice and normal on a daily basis instead of just when they are drunk, but at least it was entertaining. About 10:30, we decided we'd had about enough because we weren't going to hit the dance floor with the drunkies and we were tired of watching people be stupid so we left. It was interesting times for sure! :)

So that's about all of the Christmas festivities. Now, need to find a few more presents and we're supposed to get our bonus on Wednesday so I guess I'll find out then how much it is and what my raise will be for the first of the year (if anything). Good times! :)

Shipping Madness

So I finally gave in last night and transferred a little bit of money from savings to checking to cover a few gifts that I felt if I didn't purchase they might sell out since I had some difficulty finding them at all. I am going to wait on one specific purchase for Austin (not going to write what that is because he reads this occasionally!) until Wednesday when I have more money because I can either pick it up at the store and put in the suitcase or ship it next week. But these others I have ordered at least. So the stuff I ordered awhile back that is parent gifts and such finally shipped yesterday and despite the fact that it says it won't arrive until the 21st or 22nd, I think their website is wrong because I tracked it on UPS and it's well on its way and claims to be 2nd Day Air which would make more sense for it to be the 14th or 15th but what do I know. And then I ordered from two different places last night. The one place I ordered two things and for some strange reason even though they both said in stock, one shipped today and the other is still "processing." And I haven't heard anything yet from the other place which of course I somehow pushed the wrong button and mistyped the last digit of the zip code and had to e-mail and whatnot last night to see if I could get a response to fix it. That's supposed to go FedEx 2 day when it goes though so Vero isn't that big at least and should be easy to figure out and that has time because it will probably be shipped on Monday or Tuesday. So that's my Christmas shopping progress.

In other news, we still have NOT found out what our bonus will be this year or our raise for the new year. Last year we knew ahead of time but apparently this year they are going to make us wait until they actually hand us the checks on Wednesday. I swear we are going to get nothing and I'm going to cry! ;) Tomorrow night is our Christmas party which should provide for some good stories if nothing else as well as going to Austin's Christmas party during the day. So I guess we are going to have a celebratory day. Too bad it's celebrating with a bunch of people I don't know or don't really want to be around! Oh well, what can you do?! ;)

Hope you all have a good weekend and let's hope the shipping people can get their acts together so my gifts make it to Florida in time for Christmas!

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (Next Week)!

Okay, so I'm realizing that two weeks from today we leave to go to Florida for the holidays to spend time with the family. The good thing is that his family is coming with us (well not all of them but his brother and parents!) and we have lots of fun activities planned besides just the normal Christmasy thing. And I've tried to be good and do a little shopping here and there, but I'm kind of at a standstill now. Our bank account is slowly dwindling due to Christmas buying as well as trying to get organized and stock up on new things for our new apartment. And the worst part is that neither of us get paid until NEXT Wednesday when we both get paid the same day plus I'm supposed to get a pretty good Christmas bonus (at least it was good last year - can't say what it will be this year since they have neglected to inform us yet for some reason even though we know they already finished calculating them and they are all finalized). So as of next Wednesday, we will have plenty of money. I have to pay some bills out of that but nothing extravagant and we are getting two paychecks plus an extra one basically of bonus (at least I'm hoping). But of course this week when I REALLY need to be able to order gifts as I think of them online so I don't have to cart five million things on the airplane with me, I don't have enough money. Boo to that! Guess I'll just have to be satisfied with making a list of all the things I have to get on Wednesday next week and hope we have enough extra money to pay for the extra shipping costs! Yikes! So I'm excited because it's fun buying things for people and coming up with good ideas but sad because I can't get the ball rolling any further yet. Oh well, 6 days and counting until the busy Internet shopping day & bill-paying day which will occur next Wednesday! :)

Exciting News!!!

Okay so a few weeks ago, I blogged about the fact that my friend, Jen, who was also one of my bridesmaids had gotten engaged to her boyfriend, Bobby. Today, Jen asked me if I would be part of her house party and specifically if I would be her day-of wedding coordinator. Now, I'm sure some of you are saying, "hello that is stupid. why would you want to do that? that's not special." But in reality, it really is because Jen knows that I'm interesting in getting into the wedding/event planning business and she trusts me enough to help her out with the wedding day events. I'm sure she'd have me help coordinate the whole thing but seeing as the wedding is going to be in Virginia outside of DC, I'm a bit far away for now to help with everything. But I'll be a sounding board for pictures and whatnot and then get to help the day of. I can't wait! The wedding is going to be June 25 I think which is cool because it's a few days after my birthday. And Austin & I are hoping to use some frequent flier miles to save money on the airplane tickets and then be able to use our money to stay an extra night in DC so that we can spend Sunday and Monday doing the tourist thing in the city since Austin's never been there! I am so glad it's only a little over 6 months away because it's a lot of fun stuff to look forward to. :) Anyways, just thought I would share my happy news and let you know that I will be debuting (other than my own wedding planning) as a wedding coordinator on June 25!!!!

Two Mornings of Tears

Yesterday and today, on my way to work, I have decided to flip around to the Kidd Kraddick show. Yesterday, Kidd & the gang introduced a family that the father is terminally ill from pancreatic and liver cancer. His cousin as well as a neighbor wrote in to the Kidd Kraddick show asking for a Christmas wish for this family. It was really a heart-wrenching story. He has four children: a 19 year old, a 14 year old, and twin 10 year olds. His mother has practically had to sell her house to help pay for treatments, and the experimental treatments they are doing to try to prolong his life cost $8000 per month. This will most likely be his last Christmas with his family because they don't give him much longer to live.

So the radio station and the listeners did an AMAZING thing for this family. They decided to give them a vacation together to Disney World to escape reality for a few days. And all these wonderful people called in and donated what they could and were dropping off checks and cash and people listening all over the country have helped out. It is truly amazing. One guy called in and donated the use of a private jet to fly the family to Florida and bring them back. The Dolphin hotel (a very nice hotel in Disney) gave them a room rate of like $50 per night which is wonderful when it normally would cost $200+ per night and they were able to get 3 day park hopper passes for the 7 of them plus $3000 cash to use for food and souvenirs. They will have an amazing time together I'm sure and have also set up a doctor there in case the father needs any extra care while he's there. In addition, they have set up a bank account because they have received so many donations to help pay for these treatments and to help the family since he has been unable to work, and the radio station promoted the wife's online business and she had $10,000 in sales yesterday alone (quite a feat when the bracelets and things are reasonably priced around $5-10).

So the tears that I shed yesterday and this morning were not tears of pain or suffering or sorrow. Just amazed at what a wonderful world this is even with all the craziness that sometimes goes on, and proud that all those people pulled together to help this family out in a time of need. I don't know what it is about the holidays that makes you especially want to help people out but I think it's wonderful! I'm hoping to be able to pick up an angel tree gift or Toys for Tots thing soon to do my part.

Yay for a wonderful world and people with big hearts! :)

Marriage DOES NOT = baby

I do not understand this concept whatsoever. Why is that that people think they have the right to start asking questions about babies about two seconds after you walk down the aisle? Don't get me wrong: I totally want to have children in a few years. But I would really like to ENJOY my time as a newlywed with my husband and whatnot before I even think of adding another life to the picture. I mean, heck, I think it is difficult enough taking care of my dog right now because if we decide to go out of town or whatnot, we have to consider what to do with her too. We can't just decide to take a last minute trip to Austin or Houston or whatever without boarding her which costs money as well. I can't even imagine having a kid. I still have many things that I want to do - I am only 25 years old. It's not like I'm some old maid that better have kids soon or I won't be able to. I have only been married two months and people are already starting with the "oh you can have one of these someday soon" or "so when are you two going to have a baby?" It is SO annoying!

I mean maybe I'm just selfish or whatever, but I personally don't think it's anyone else's business about when we will be having children. I mean hell, it's not their decision whether we have any at all - which I do want to have them so that's not the point. The point is this: please don't assume that just because I'm married now that I'm immediately going to be getting pregnant. I am a very independent woman and would like to have a career and be successful in life at least for a little while before settling down and doing the mommy thing. And you can think I'm the most evil, insensitive person in the world but that's just how I feel. I don't think I should be having kids tomorrow just because someone's co-workers or family members think it should be so.

The moral of the story is: do not ASSUME that just because we have rings on our fingers and walked down the aisle that a baby is on the way. It's just not right to butt your nose into other's business, and people should be more respectful of decisions that have been made. I know Austin is excited about being a father just as I am excited about being a mother ONE DAY, but not today or anytime in the near future. So BACK OFF!!!! :)

Breakaway

I keep hearing this song on the radio and even though it may seem cheesy that Kelly Clarkson sings it, I absolutely love the words! I have so many positive things going for me in my life that I try not to focus on the negatives, and this song really motivates me to keep moving on and trying to be all that I can be. So sorry for the cheesy blog today but I thought everyone could use the chance to read these words and apply them to the parts of their life that they want to improve.

Grew up in a small town
And when the rain would fall down
I just stared out my window
Dreaming of what could be
And if I'd end up happy
I would pray (I would pray)

Trying hard to reach out
But when I'd try to speak out
Felt like no one could hear me
Wanted to belong here
But something felt so wrong here
So I pray (I would pray)
I could breakaway

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly
I'll do what it takes til' I touch the sky
I'll make a wish
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway
Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won't forget all the ones that I loved
I'll take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway

Wanna feel the warm breeze
Sleep under a palm tree
Feel the rush of the ocean
Get onboard a fast train
Travel on a jet plane, far away
(I will)And breakaway

Buildings with a hundred floors
Swinging around revolving doors
Maybe I don't know where they'll take me but
Gotta keep moving on, moving on
Fly away, breakaway

I'll spread my wings
And I'll learn how to fly
Though it's not easy to tell you goodbye
I gotta take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway
Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won't forget the place I come from
I gotta take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway, breakaway, breakaway

Update on my Rainy Day Adventures

So I finally gave in and e-mailed my boss yesterday and told him that I would be leaving at 4:45. Usually, it's best to inform him of these things ahead of time and then he'll be okay with it whereas if he just comes in here looking for you and you aren't here, then he's mad. So I e-mailed him explaining the situation, etc. The response I got was this: "wuss"! I am saving all those e-mails in case I need them one day! Anyways, it's good I left when I did because I made it to about 635 & 35 before it became and utter downpour. I could barely see a thing, and I had to sit leaning over my steering wheel to even make sense of the road it was raining so hard. Luckily, we live only about 2.5 miles from that point so I drove 20 miles per hour down 635 along with others and finally made it to my destination safely. Thank goodness! But that was not fun and had I gotten stuck earlier in that mess, I probably would have had to pull over to the side of the road and wait a bit. At least I didn't get hit by any hail!

Rain Rain Go Away!

I swear that lately I feel like I live in Seattle or London instead of Dallas. We have had SO MUCH RAIN! I have to say I can't complain entirely because the weather was nice to me on October 2 and gave me one perfect day of weather for my outdoor wedding, but other than that, it's been depressingly rainy. The summer was relatively mild (which was good because I was without air conditioning in my car at the time) so I'm sure this winter will be super cold (which is okay as long as I am trapped AT HOME in the ice on a WEEK DAY and don't have to go to work!).

Today there are bad thunderstorms heading our way which have caused my husband great concern about how I will get home from downtown Dallas. I am planning on leaving fifteen minutes early to fight the initial rush which I'm hoping will help. But seeing as my boss probably won't really care much if I'm worried about hail damage to my new car and/or the safety of my life in case of tornado or other bad weather, I think I will have to stick to my 4:45 departure time and hope for the best!

The worst part of all of this is that especially when the weather is cooky like this (relatively warm - 70 degrees - and about to storm like crazy), I get these horrible sinus headaches. Right now I have one covering the whole right side of my face - around my eye, in my nose, and up my neck. Man, I hate that! So hopefully the pressure in my face will not cause me to crash in the crazy weather on the way home! So.......the moral of all this is: rain, rain go away! Don't come again another day! Go far far away and bug someone else today! :)

TGFW & WTWL (see below)

I'm sure you all are wondering what gibberish I have written as my title to this blog. It stands for Thank Goodness For Weekends & Wish They Were Longer! We had a great and productive weekend, but man I wish I could have some more time.

It just never seems there are enough hours in the day. Here we are working 40+ hours a week plus spending at least 5+ hours a week traveling back and forth to work and then by the time we get home and cook dinner, we are so tired it is difficult to motivate to do much of anything so we end up postponing everything to the weekend. And then the weekend comes and we have 48 hours to accomplish all kinds of things and by the time Monday rolls around, we've accomplished a lot and yet we are still tired! It's like you either get stuff done and be tired or you get sleep and have nothing done. I really wish I required less sleep because then that would solve many of my problems.

Just imagine if you will how much more you could get accomplished if you only had to sleep say 2 hours per night and feel completely rested! I usually get about 7+ hours of sleep per night so that would give me an extra 5 hours EVERY DAY to get things done so that I might have time to stop and smell the roses on the weekend instead of moving at mach one! I'll have to work on that whole sleep deprivation thing! ;)

Enough of my complaining - in reality, our weekend went very well. Friday night we got to catch up with Austin's cousin and good friend which was nice since we hadn't hung out in quite awhile. Saturday, the Rooms-To-Go people actually showed up at a decent time (about 8:05 am) which was super exciting since we were dreading having to be home the entire day when we had errands to run and other things going on. Turned out, I stayed home most of the day unpacking my clothes, reorganizing my drawers, and repacking up for storage my summer clothes since it's obviously too cold now to need those. I left out some in between ones for layering purposes and for when we are in Florida at the end of the month, but the shorts and capris and spaghetti tanks had to go up! I also watched the new Harry Potter which came out on video which I enjoyed (I LOVE the books and am pretty fond of the movies as a result and I hadn't gotten to see this one in the theaters yet because Austin thinks it's goofy so...). We also got our surround sound all wired up and hooked up so we have some quality seating and living space now! ;)

Saturday night, we went up to Grapevine Mills because I had a free movie ticket from my moviewatcher's card so we went to see National Treasure. It was actually really good - I didn't think it would be bad but the reviews I had heard weren't very good. Then again, I don't often rely on movie critics' reviews because I don't always agree. Yesterday, I went to Target & Pier One to pick up some gifts and to get some more organizational stuff for our closets and whatnot. I love doing that stuff but boy is it expensive! Thank goodness we still have some money from the wedding to help defray the costs and hopefully I will be getting a bonus next week! Then Austin's friend, Brad, came over and was totally awesome and helped us hook up a wireless Internet system so we could both be online at the same time and so there aren't cords all over the place. And if my laptop battery was actually functional, I would be able to sit wherever I wanted to in the apartment and be on the Internet (I'll have to work on that!). We also went to Walmart last night to do some grocery shopping and to grab a bookshelf which Austin put together for me last night. So tonight I will unpack some more boxes and put away my books and frames and whatnot. :)

So that is my somewhat non-interesting story of the weekend. Needless to say, I have a feeling that we will just finish up with everything by the time we leave for Florida but at least we'll come home to a nice organized place in the new year! And we aren't moving out of there until at least February 2006 so we have time to enjoy it! Now....gotta run to a meeting and work on that whole not needing sleep thing. Need to grab a cup of coffee!

A New (and Yummy) Adventure

A few weeks ago when we were all out to dinner after my dance concert, Jessica was telling us about this really good Vietnamese restaurant near downtown that is actually across the street from Sara's apartment. So we decided that we would all go there during lunch one day to check it out, and today was the big day! I've never eaten Vietnamese food before; I've had Thai & Chinese & Japanese but this was a new adventure for me. I'm not a super picky eater and will at least try things so I was looking forward to seeing what this had in store. Jessica ordered for us so we weren't lost on the menu and it was really really yummy! We had some pork vermicelli thing I think it was called. It was good stuff - so here's to new adventures at the Vietnamese restaurant. I'm sure I will never get to go again unless we go during lunch again because Austin is not into trying new things as I am and would probably be afraid even though I'm sure he would like it. Needless to say thanks to Jes for introducing Sara & I to a new yummy restaurant and for listening to us complain about work for an hour! ;)

In other news, our new couch is being delivered tomorrow which is also very exciting. We can actually have something to sit on other than the floor (we threw out the broken futon frame when we moved so we didn't have to bring it in to the new apartment and plan to get a new one soon but are waiting to hear back from one of Austin's friends about picking it up). Can't wait!

What else? I had a moment earlier today where I wanted to walk out the door and say screw it but I refrained. I promised Sara I would warn her before doing that so she could come with. We decided we need to somehow get funding so we can just own our own business so we don't have to deal with this insanity. I'll let you know how that goes!

Other than that, nothing tremendously exciting to report or write about. Hopefully next week I will be more creative!