Tomorrow Is Another Day...

Ich Liebe Blogging!

Well, don't I just feel like a fancy pants!  Molly from A Foreign Land has awarded me the adorably (and in my current environs, aptly) named Liebster Award!  I actually had another bloggy friend award this to me a couple months back, but it was when I was in the midst of moving insanity and I completely dropped the ball on passing it along.  So, I'm super thrilled that Molly has given me a redo!

The Liebster award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. What is a Liebster? The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

Here are the very strict rules for receiving this award:
1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
2. Answer your assigned questions and create 11 new questions for the people you tag
3. Choose 11 people/blogs and link to them in your post.
4. Go to their page and tell them.
5. No tag backs!

11 Things About Me:

1) Over the course of 29 years, I've lived in 6 states and 2 countries--Oklahoma, Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas, Washington South Carolina, and currently, Germany.

2) I lived in Louisiana for 17 of those years, so the other 12 years of my life have consisted of moving pretty frequently.  I haven't made it to three years living in one place since I graduated from college in 2004.

3) I was an officer in the Air Force for 2 1/2 years.

4) I have a very serious chocolate addiction.  If it's in the house, I will eat it.  All of it.

5) I've been blogging for SEVEN YEARS.  I've never stuck with anything this long.

6) I never really considered myself a runner, but I ran my first 10K in 2011 and my first half marathon in 2012.  I gave up running when I got pregnant, and I find that I really, really miss it.  So, I guess I'm a runner.

7) I have two of the most adorable pups on the planet.  They've been my loyal companions for the past seven years, and help any new place feel like home.  If I ever got lost in a time vortex, they'd probably be my Constants.

8) My favorite book and movie is Gone with the Wind.  I read my grandmother's copy for the first time when I was eleven, and it was love at first read.  As I've gotten older, I've come to realize that it certainly glamorizes the antebellum South more than it deserves, but I still think Scarlett is one of the most fascinating, dynamic characters ever created.

9) I have my bachelors in English Literature and a Masters in Elementary Education... I'm sure those'll come in handy some day...

10) I have a hair color commitment problem.

11) I really hate feet.  I never, ever wear open-toe shoes unless I'm going to the beach and on a few occasions when a formal dress just wouldn't work with pumps.  One of my favorite things about Germany is how almost everyone here wears real shoes instead of the ubiquitous flip flop.

11 Questions from Molly:

What was the last movie you saw in a theater? The Dark Knight Rises

What do you want to be when you grow up? A mom

What would you do-oo-oo for a Klondike bar? Pay for it.

Superman, Batman or Iron man? Superman and Batman have way too much angst.  Ironman.

How many brothers and sisters do you have and where are you in the birth order? Two older sisters, one younger.  I'm in the middle, but my older sisters are 10 and 12 years older and didn't live with us, so I grew up feeling like the oldest most of the time.

What is your favorite season? Fall

Are you more of an early riser or a night owl? Night owl

How did you come up with the name of your blog? Gone with the Wind!  It's a very uplifting thought when times are hard.  Today might suck balls, but you'll survive and tomorrow will still come.

What's one thing you've accomplished that you want to brag about? Go ahead! Brag! Hm, well, I'm pretty proud of the Masters degree and the half marathon, but since I already talked about those, I guess getting a short story published in a literary journal was pretty awesome.

What book are you reading right now? When Christ and His Saints Slept, Sharon Kay Penman

What would you consider your signature color? Clothingwise, probably blue/teal.  Decorating, I gravitate towards yellow an awful lot.

Tag You're It:

Chelsea's Psycho Babble

Operation Pink Herring

Maiden Aunt

And Her Heart It Is In Ireland

Reinventing Erin

Quirks and Smirks

Little Mrs Married

Growing Kateastrophe

Duoly Noted

We Took The Road Less Traveled

To the Nth

Your Questions:

1. What is your dream travel destination?
2. What is your favorite place that you've traveled?
3. What is your favorite physical quality about yourself?
4. What is your favorite personality aspect of yourself?
5. Backstreet Boys or NSync?
6. Do you still keep in touch with your best friend from elementary school?
7. Would you rather watch the movie or read the book?
8. Where did you go on your first date?
9. What's your favorite board game?
10. Do you have a cooking "specialty"?
11. Phone, text or email?

Things That I've Learned

Dry clean or hand wash only is just a fancy way of saying toss it in the washing machine and hope for the best.  70.2% of the time, everything works out just fine.  The other 29.8%... well, you probably didn't like that shirt that much anyway.

The hardest part of any workout program is not starting it.  The hardest part is working out.

The most effective way to seem cool and self-confident as an adult is to talk about what an awkward dork you were in high school.  That is supremely annoying to those of us who truly were awkward dorks in high school.  No one thought it was cool then.

Dieticians and fitness magazines will tell you that many times your feeling of hunger can be satiated by drinking a large glass of water.  Your dehydration just tricks you into feeling hungry.  That's probably true, but I find the water to be most effective when washing down a slice of pizza.  Or when it is wine.

Running is not something I will ever enjoy for itself.  But the excuse to watch reruns of Millionaire Matchmaker and Real Housewives of Somesuchcity while I'm on the treadmill makes it almost endurable.  It's my penance for watching such crap television on a regular basis.

Dusting is the most pointless, sisyphean curse foisted upon humanity.  There is nothing so infuriating as spraying the Pledge, wiping the surface, and then watching as those fecking dust particles drift right back down to the exact location you just cleaned.

Confessions Part 3

(Don't forget, today is the last day to enter my pearl necklace giveaway!  All entries must be submitted by midnight and the winner will be announced tomorrow.  And follow the directions so I can give you all the points that you earn!)

So, it's been a long time since I've bared my soul to you and confessed a whole lot of things that I generally keep swept under the carpet.  But sometimes, it's very cathartic to just SAY THINGS, regardless of what people will think of you or whether anyone will agree.  Get it out there, let it roll around the universe for a bit, and then let things settle where they may.  It's been a while since I've done this.  I wrote my first round of confessions almost two years ago, and I let go another volley a few months later.  So, here we have it, my most recent round of Uncomfortably Honest Things I Should Just Keep to Myself.  Except I'm a blogger.  By definition, I am incapable of keeping things to myself.

* I have always wanted to be a stay at home mom, and my foray into child care further reinforced my desire to raise my children myself and not depend on relative strangers to do it for me.  I don't judge moms that choose differently, but wow, there is some seriously weird shit that goes on in child care.

* I’ve come to think that my Masters degree is a huge waste of time and money.

* I hate any website with music that plays automatically.  I don’t care how well you write, I’m out.  Jane Austen could come back from the dead, start a blog, and if Colbie Callait came blaring on my speakers, I’d be done.

* I am crazy competitive.  Unfortunately, I’m not super great at a whole lot of things.  This can frequently lead to a “situation”.

* This competitiveness spills over into blogging sometimes.  I’m never going to be a super blogger.  I get that.  I embrace it.  But the stat counter can really boost or destroy my ego.  Especially when I think about how many hits I used to get, compared to how many I get now.  I know I need to just get.  Over.  It.  But that’s difficult.

* Sometimes when my dogs are really driving me nuts and I snap at them and yell like an ogre or smack them on the nose, I become absolutely horrified at what kind of mother I might be someday.  Note to self: remove all wire hangers from the house the second I conceive.

* In addition to the boobs I would like to purchase some day, I would also love to have extensions put in my hair.  For it is flat and thin and uninspired.  Yes, I would like to be made of Fake.

* I’ve been going through a serious crisis of faith for the past couple of years.  I know I believe in something.  I just don’t know what it is.  I still pray, but I don’t know who or what I’m praying to.  Usually, I just feel like I’m talking to myself.

* Receiving a long email can significantly brighten my day.  Hearing my phone ring makes me want to throw up.

* It doesn’t matter how cute a piece of clothing is.  If it runs small and I have to “size up”, I refuse to buy it.  Subsequently, Target and Old Navy get a lot of my money.

* I don’t work out to be healthy.  I work out so that I can eat like crap.

* If no one comments on my Facebook status, I feel like a total loser.  Me = totally secure.

* I think people who follow trends regardless of how that trend is even remotely flattering are stupid.  Remember gauchos of yesteryear?  Bodysuits, anyone?  The rompers of today.  Mark my words.  We will look back and laugh.  Bitterly.

* I think I’ve become addicted to tea like most people are addicted to coffee.  I can’t go a day without a cup.  Or two.  Okay, three.

30 Before 30: #22 The Greatest Books List

(Background on my 30 Before 30 list can be found here.)

When you hear about the top 100 books, generally the list being referenced is The Modern Library compendium.  What made me decide against choosing this list is the fact that it was created by a group of ten men.  That's it.  These ten guys got together and decided on the top 100 books according to... them.  Admittedly, they've probably got a better grasp on what makes literature than I do, but still, it was off-putting.  So, I searched around the net for top 100 books lists, and that's how I found the Greatest Books list.

"This list is generated from 43 "best of" book lists from a variety of great sources. An algorithm is used to create a master list based on how many lists a particular book appears on. Some lists count more than others. I generally trust "best of all time" lists voted by authors and experts over user-generated lists. On the lists that are actually ranked, the book that is 1st counts a lot more than the book that's 100th."
~The Greatest Books

The list of books is below, but for those of you who don't feel like scanning through a hundred books, here are some of my thoughts:

• I've already read 30 of the books on the list, giving me 70 more to read by December 20, 2012.
• Dear God, that's a whole lot of Russians...  The only Russian novel I've ever managed to complete was Dr. Zhivago, and as much as I love the movie, that book was a definite slog to the finish line.
• I'm most excited about reading The Catcher in the Rye and Virginia Woolf's books.
• I've started Ulysses twice and never made it more than about 20 pages in--am quite nervous.
• Some of these books, I've never even heard of... Clarissa?  Does she explain it all?  Under the Volcano??  Well, you might want to move.
• If I made a top 100 list, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, and Little House on the Prairie would absolutely be included.  And I think that's a pretty unbiased opinion.
• Wuthering Heights should be above Jane Eyre.  Just saying!

(Books that I read prior to the start of the challenge are highlighted in red.  Books that are completed as part of the challenge will be highlighted in green and will be tracked in a list found in the sidebar to the left.)

1) Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes

2) Ulysses, James Joyce

3) Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

4) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain

5) The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

6) 1984, George Orwell

7) War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy

8) In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust

9) Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

10) Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert

11) The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

12) Middlemarch, George Eliot

13) One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

14) The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner

15) Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison

16) The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

17) To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf

18) On the Road, Jack Kerouac

19) Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift

20) The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

21) Moby Dick, Herman Melville

22) Beloved, Toni Morrison

23) The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James

24) The Iliad, Homer

25) Absalom, Absolom!, William Faulkner

26) A Passage to India, E.M. Forster

27) Native Son, Richard Wright

28) Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf

29) The Odyssey, Homer

30) Catch-22, Joseph Heller

31) A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce

32) Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen

33) The Trial, Franz Kafka

34) As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner

35) Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

36) Emma, Jane Austen

37) Nostromo, Joseph Conrad

38) Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe

39) To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

40) Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

41) The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien

42) Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

43) The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri

44) Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

45) Lord of the Flies, William Golding

46) All the King's Men, Robert Penn Warren

47) Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell

48) The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton

49) The Aeneid, Virgil

50) Tom Jones, Henry Fielding

51) The Tin Drum, Gunter Grass

52) Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray

53) The Call of the Wild, Jack London

54) The Good Soldier, Ford Madox Ford

55) Malone Dies, Samuel Beckett

56) Animal Farm, George Orwell

57) Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

58) Oedipus the King, Sophocles

59) Gargantua and Pantagruel, Francois Rabelais

60) U.S.A Trilogy, John Dos Passos

61) The Tale of Genji, Murasaki Shikibu

62) Tristram Shandy, Laurence Sterne

63) An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser

64) Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston

65) The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer

66) Clarissa, Samuel Richardson

67) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Louis Carroll

68) The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway

69) The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins

70) Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe

71) Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut

72) Sons and Lovers, D.H. Lawrence

73) Finnegans Wake, James Joyce

74) Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

75) Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh

76) The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame

77) Women in Love, D.H. Lawrence

78) The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann

79) Charlotte's Web, E.B. White

80) Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry

81) Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan

82) The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne

83) Hamlet, William Shakespeare

84) A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway

85) The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing

86) Light in August, William Faulkner

87) Rabbit, Run, John Updike

88) The Stranger, Albert Camus

89) Herzog, Saul Bellow

90) Go Tell it on the Mountain, James Baldwin

91) The Awakening, Kate Chopin

92) A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess

93) Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison

94) Faust, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

95) King Lear, William Shakespeare

96) Dangerous Liaison, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

97) Journey to the End of the Night, Louis-Ferdinand Celine

98) The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas

99) Great Expectations, Charles Dickens

100) Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

Countdowns!

As depressed as I am about the fact that when I leave for Japan I'll be saying goodbye to Colby for over four months, I'm trying to look on the bright side of these next few months.  I've made a lot of fun plans in an attempt to  keep myself entertained, and if nothing else, at least there will be less laundry to do!  Here are just a few of the things keeping my spirits up as our days together are dwindling.

1 day until... We get our master bedroom and bathroom painted!  I can't wait, it's going to be so beautiful.  I may never leave my bedroom again!

8 days until... We spend the day in Charleston, have dinner at a fancy restaurant, and stay the night in a charming, historic inn.  I'm looking forward to walking our city after dark and getting to feel like I really live there.

14 days until... I leave for 10 days in Tokyo, Kyoto and Nara.  We've firmed up our itinerary, all of our prior bookings have been made, and we're totally ready to be completely Lost in Translation!

~6 weeks until... A long weekend with my long lost besties in Washington.  This one is a little harder to nail down exactly as I'm contemplating taking a Space A flight with the Air Force.  For the first time.  By myself.  Eep!

10 weeks until... I am FINALLY at LAST after more than two years of work DONE WITH SCHOOL!!!  For real this time.  After this, if I so much as hint at the fact that I want to further my education, please slap me.  But please remember to refer to me as "Master" while doing so.

3 months until... My theatrical sister and San Francisco-based frister (friend AND sister!) are planning a simultaneous trip to Charleston where we'll be uniting the West coast, Northeast, and the deep South.  I really, really hope it all works out according to plan!

3 months & 3 weeks until... I head to a quaint Vermont town for my dear friend's wedding.  She has had a trial of a year, and I can't wait for her to have a magical wedding weekend and to be there to watch it all unfold.  Plus, Vermont!  Maple syrup!  Or something...

4 months until... I head home for a week or so to spend time with family and attend my mother's annual Pretty in Pink party, benefiting breast cancer research.  I may be off on my calculations, but I believe that this year we will be celebrating 5 years since her victory over cancer, and I can't wait to be there and support her cause in person!

5 months until... Colby is back home and this whole deployment nonsense is behind us for another couple of years!!

Fantasy Fashions

I've been reading a lot of historical fiction and watching a lot of period pieces of late, and it's gotten me thinking about a topic to which I frequently return when I get into these phases.

I love clothes.  That's not really much of a secret.  I get terribly excited when my Lucky magazine arrives and I can pore through it looking for new outfit inspiration.  I love watching shows like Project Runway and What Not to Wear to get my fashion fix.  I'm pretty choosy about which trends I'll jump on board with--it took me a couple of years to come around to the skinny jeans phenomenon and even now I can only bring myself to wear them tucked into boots--but I like to think that's because I have gotten wise in my later 20s as to what trends actually work on my body and what just looks interesting on the pages of a magazine or walking a runway on a human insect hybrid.

But deep down inside, I've never felt the passion for modern day clothes that I do for the fashions of eras gone by.  I secretly wish that I was bold enough to be a Steampunk gal just so I could wear a bustle and veiled top hat.  I think that over the last half of the 20th century fashion became primarily about comfort and utility, which I suppose is fine in of itself, but I often find myself yearning for the glamour of eras gone by--corsets and all.

 

Well, okay, so I don't really want to wear a corset everyday, but you must admit, the idea of taking a few inches off the size of your waist without resorting to strenuous exercise is a little appealing, isn't it?  And with the voluminous skirts of the antebellum period, you'd never know just how thunderous anyone's thighs are.  And parasols!  Le sigh.

From a purely aesthetic point of view. I think the era of the Gibson Girls was the heyday of women's fashion through the ages.  And the ruffled bosoms, enhanced bottoms, and cinched waists that signified the late 1800s/early 1900s would suit my body shape ideally.  In fact, now that I think about it, I think that's what drew me so much to the silhouette of my wedding dress.  Yes, it all sounds perfectly dreamy until you read about the rib-removal surgeries women would undergo for the sake of their fashion.  Um, yikes.

The 1940s definitely takes us to a complete departure from the voluminous skirts with which I'm so enamored, but I've always been a fan of a perfectly tailored suit.  Not to mention, the 1940s were all about phenomenal hats.  If there's one thing I think could really be a practical come-back from fashions of the past, it's the hat.  Think of it, any bad hair day could be immediately remedied with a molded felt hat or a fascinator.  Who's with me on this?

And finally, the decade I most frequently turn to for fashion inspiration, the 1950s.  I love the simple A-line dresses and the full circle skirts that women returned to once the war ended and they were tucked away back into their pre-war roles as domestic engineers.  I don't agree with the sentiment, but how can you argue with the gauzy romance of those gowns?

So, what about you?  Is there a fashion epoch you wish you could bring back to the future, or are you perfectly content with our jeans and t-shirt generation?  How do you think our fashions of today will be remembered in years to come?

This Isn't Productive, It's Procrastination

We are more than halfway through July right now.  In fact, we're pretty close to what could be considered the end of July.  I've been on my summer break for more than a month now.  It's times like these when I would give anything for a Time Turner.  The summer is just flying by far too quickly, and there is not time enough in the day for me to get anything accomplished AND be a disgusting couch potato all at the same time.

This past weekend, I spent some time helping a friend pack up her apartment as she is leaving us for greener pastures--or at least pastures where she was offered a pretty job offer.  That, combined with a news article I read got me thinking some kind of deep thoughts about best friends that I'll be writing about at some point when my brain feels like cooperating.

We've got just a little over two weeks left until we leave for Hawaii.  I can't remember what I've talked about here as opposed to Facebook and Twitter, but we are leaving on August 6 for six days in Kauai and five in Oahu.  I'm trying desperately not to over-plan the trip, and instead only book in advance the activities that tend to fill up, and then just go with a list of things we'd like to do.  I have this idea that vacation spontaneity will be more relaxing, but honestly, I'm just feeling a bit stressed that we don't have an itinerary.  We do, however, have rental cars!  I was gasping in horror at the price of a rental car on the islands until I found a most magical website that cut the cost in two, and now we have the cars for the full time that we'll be there for a bit under the price that expedia was quoting for the first week in Kauai.  Of course, we'll probably show up at the airport and they'll be like, "rental car, wha?" but I feel that the price makes it worth the risk.

I was planning on getting a lot of writing done this summer, but so far have spent most of my efforts on editing the steaming pile of mish-mash I've already written.  Then, last night I had a dream about it that is making me want the change EVERYTHING, including the time period it takes place in and a pretty big portion of the back-story.  Sigh.  Writing is frustrating.

So, instead of being productive, I've been watching heaps of BBC period pieces as "research" for my writing.  Let me tell you, if you enjoy Pride & Prejudice, there is a whole world of non-Austen romance out there just waiting for you to discover it.  So far I've quite enjoyed Wives & Daughters, The Buccaneers, and my new all time favorite, with Margaret Hale and John Thornton stealing my heart from Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, North & South.  Not surprisingly, I've been spending a significant portion of time staring off into space, daydreaming of exchanging smoldering, illicit gazes with aloof, yet dashingly handsome young men of means.  I think it is very much past time for my husband to come home.

Lessons Learned

I've had a lot of jobs in my lifetime... hostess at an Italian restaurant, administrative assistant in an oil marketers lobbying association, Air Force officer, office manager at a technical marketing firm, and most recently child care assistant and then child care director.  I think I've learned something from every single one of those jobs that has contributed to the person I am today, but no other job has opened my eyes and taught me more about myself and who I want to be than working with children.

Like most pre-teen and teenage girls, I spent most of my middle and high school years with pretty steady work as a babysitter.  I knew I liked working with kids, and that combined with my love of teacher's manuals and roll books plus bossing my sister around while playing school were the main reasons I decided on teaching as the next step in my life.  I wouldn't say I went into that decision naively, but I certainly think I had a rather rosy view of the teaching profession.  I haven't changed my mind about teaching, but I have had a lot of revelations about what kind of teacher I want to be and what exactly teaching IS over the past year.  And I'm not even officially a teacher yet--I can't even imagine the "lessons learned" I'll have after my first year of teaching.  So, here is my not all-inclusive, but fairly comprehensive list of this I've learned about being:

A Teacher

• Your primary job is babysitting and discipline.
• It's a major plus if you manage to squeeze in a little education.
• A child will scream and cry and curse you and your family, then ten minutes later be your best friend again.
• Gratitude comes rarely--appreciate it when you get some.
• Nine year olds today are getting into the kind of trouble middle schoolers did in my day.  Don't ever underestimate what kind of mischief or far more serious trouble a child can make just because he or she has an angel face.
• Your biggest battle, far more treacherous than managing a classroom, will be dealing with parents.
• Try to form good relationships with the parents regardless, but don't beat yourself up if there's one that refuses to cooperate.  Usually, it's not really about you, but you make an excellent scapegoat.
• Whining.  Complaining.  Lying.  Tattling.  Get used to it.

A Parent

• No one else thinks your kid is as cute, lovable and perfect as you do.
• When multiple child care givers have the same problems repeatedly with your kid, they're probably not making it up.
• Kids lie.  They exaggerate.  They manipulate.  Get a clue.

A Child Care Giver

• It is highly likely that you are the person that a child spends more time with than anyone else outside of school--including their parents.  Whether you know it of not, you are making a difference in their life.  Try to make it a positive one.

Little Miracles

Let me tell you.  I have not felt this happy about life since... last summer!  Actually, that's not even true, because last summer is when Colby left for four and a half months, so though I was not in the depths of despair the entire season, I don't think I was as happy as I've been lately.

Thing the First:

I don't think I have a black thumb!  I don't think I have a green thumb either, but I finally decided to throw caution to the wind and attempt this whole gardening thing I keep hearing about.  I was tired of admiring and coveting beautiful front lawns in our neighborhood and then coming back to our ratty little contractor planted garden, so last weekend we hit up the farmers market and Home Depot and came away with a bountiful crop of fleurs.  I want to show you just how beautiful they are before they all shrivel up and die, but alas, my camera is currently lacking any picture taking abilities and Colby is off gallivanting in some far flung corner or the world (also known as the East Coast) with our schmancy camera.  So, I will tell you them.  Thus far, I have managed to not kill the following:

• 3 rhododendrons of varying colors-- light pink, bright pink, and cream with pink "highlights"
• 1 fuschia
• 1 potted red dragon tree in its infancy
• 3 tiny terracotta pots of some such flowers that I got in the $1 bin at Target and am growing from seeds
• 2 toddler lilacs, henceforth known as Lila and Lacy
• 1 herb garden consisting of sweet basil, lemon basil, pesto basil, mint julep, chocolate mint, lemon thyme, and rosemary, and an ivy, which I realize is not an herb, but does look awfully pretty amidst the more edible plants
• 4 African daisies
• 3 Asiatic lilies

Of course, it's only been a week, so feel free to make a pool placing bets on what actually makes it through the season.  I'll work on pictures in the near future, because I don't feel that a flower post is nearly as enjoyable without them.

Thing the Second:

The weather here has been absolutely phenomenal for nearly two weeks now.  I am cautiously optimistic that this summer may prove itself to be one of those "gorgeous summers" I heard so much about before moving here and have yet to experience.  I think Washington is just being coy.  It has heard that we're leaving, so it's doing everything in its power to woo us into staying.  I will not be fooled by your coquettish behavior, Washington!  I know, come September, you'll be up to your old tricks again!  But seriously, look at this forecast:

That right there is a little something I like to refer to as "perfection".

Thing the Third:

Not only do I have less than three weeks of work-school left before I'm taking this job and shoving it for the summer, but next fall I will be going back to work at a school that is 10 minutes from my house as opposed to the ~30 minute drive that I now face.  And that adds up to not 40, but 80 minutes less spent commuting nearly every day as I make the drive four times because of my split shift.  Even better than the cut in commute time, but from what I have heard, the kids are saints compared to the ones I've worked with this year.  Hallelujah and AMEN!

Thing the Fourth:

And finally, I have a bunch of exciting countdowns going on right now.

• 20 days until my last day of work-school
• 1 month and 5 days until my week-long trip to Montana to visit my sister at her summer theater, see my parents, and go to Crater Lake
• 1 month and 16 days until Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
• ~2 months and 8 days until I'm lounging on a beach in Hawaii with my favorite husband

So, that's what has been getting me through my bipolar days recently.  What has you excited about life?

Washington Bucket List

There's so much I want to talk about right now, and the past three days have been jam-packed with fun and productivity, but I have a paper due tomorrow that I've only just begun, so I'm going to insert a cop out post today.  This may be a bit premature as apparently the email that Colby got a few weeks ago about receiving his assignment in June with a report no later than (moving) date between October and January apparently gets sent out every quarter and only applies to a select few of the recipients.  But still.  My mindset is still that we won't be here through the winter, because honestly, that's the only way I'll be able to make it through another winter here.

So, Colby and I have begun compiling a list of all the things we want to do before we leave Washington.  From the length of the list, you'd think we did nothing but sit around the house twiddling our thumbs, but it's just that the longer we've lived here, the more things we keep hearing about that we must do before moving.  Plus there's a bit of Oregon and Canada thrown in just for good measure.  And, to our credit, we've done almost all of the major tourist attractions in the area, so our bucket list is sort of a graduate level Washington course.  I'm definitely taking suggestions as well, so if I'm missing something it's either just because we've already done it or we haven't heard about it yet!

◊    Woodland Park Zoo

◊    Asian Art Museum

◊    Whale Watching—San Juan Islands?

◊    Seattle Opera

◊    Weekend in Port Angeles

• Start at Port Angeles, and drive west on highway 101. You will see one of the most spectacular alpine lakes in the region. Crescent Lake is nestled amongst deep green firs, which rise in dramatic slopes from the waters edge. Nearby, Marymere Falls and Sol Duc Hot springs are great diversions in you’re staying in the area.
• Forks

◊    Sounders Game

◊    Mt. St. Helens

◊    Bainbridge Island Ferry

◊    Victoria, B.C.

• Tea at the Empress
• Butchart Gardens
• Craigdarroch Castle

◊    Winery Tour

◊    Discovery Park

◊    Lakeview Cemetery

◊    Steilacoom Beach

◊    Alki Beach

◊    Dash Point State Park

◊    Rhododendron and Bonsai Garden in Federal Way

◊    Saltwater State Park

◊    Southern Oregon

• Ashland, Oregon Shakespeare Festival
• Crater Lake

Hm, maybe we will need a few extra months in town to get this all scratched off the list!

T.G.I.F.

Believe it or not, I have yet another story of anxiety and uncertainty to share with you all.  But today is not the day for dipping into the endless depths of my neuroses, today is the day for rejoicing in the sunshine and that fact that today is FRIDAY!

A confession that is either funny or embarrassing, probably a combination of the two:

Have I ever told you about that time when, early in my relationship with Colby, I was musing at length on how his R.A. could have possibly gotten her car from Alaska to her on campus apartment in Louisiana.  I eventually settled on the fact that she had probably taken a ferry, and was satisfied with my conclusion, when Colby kindly took my hand and explained to me that Alaska was not in fact an island unto itself as seemed to be the impression that I had formed over countless years of geography classes, and just maybe she had driven her car down to Louisiana from Alaska.

Well, last night we were watching an episode of Rick Steves where he was exploring the beautiful country of Greece.  As the television zoomed us in on a map of Europe, to highlight Greece, I made a dive for the remote and hit rewind and play again for another look at the unzoomed in map.  As it turns out, Greece is not, in fact an island, as I have thought for as long as I can remember.  I don't know where I got all of these misconceptions about how countries are connected or not connected to their neighboring countries, but I feel confident that it is somehow my 5th grade teacher's fault.  This is in sharp contrast to Colby, who actually spends his free time looking up random locations on Google Earth.

Things that are kind of adorable:

One of my little angel-faced 1st graders, who is obsessed with High School Musical, Indiana Jones, and efforts to combine those two interests, has taken to calling himself Hoops Man, and everytime I call him by his real name, he gives me a reproving glance and an enormous sigh.  I can't decide if his reaction to my faux pas is more precious than the nickname and his near idol worship of Zac Ephron, so I just sort of alternate between calling him Hoops Man and his real name.

Things that I am excited about:

1) The sun is shining, and it is downright WARM for Washington in March, at a pleasant 50 degrees.

2) The kids are generally easier to handle on a Friday afternoon, and oftentimes, downright enjoyable and entertaining.

3) I get to get dressed up for two separate events this weekend--a casino night birthday party for one of my friends tonight, and Colby's birthday dinner tomorrow night at the schmancy, well reviewed Seattle restaurant, Chez Shea.

4) I am leaving for Baton Rouge in exactly two weeks and one day, and I just found out that there is a very high degree of possibility that not only will I be seeing my family and friends while there, but my little sister will be making the seven hour drive down from her school in Missouri for the weekend!!  I haven't seen her since my wedding in November of 2007, and seeing as she is one of my top favorite people in the whole world, I am absolutely ecstatic that I might be seeing her very soon!

I hope that you are all going to be enjoying a fantabulous weekend, and if you have any good news of your own that you would like to share, I'm sure it would go a long way toward sustaining my suspiciously out of character and out of season good mood!

Restless

You like how I patted myself on the back there for blogging more frequently, then promptly fell off the radar for the rest of the week?  Yeah, that was great.  I've been consciously making the decision not to blog, because honestly the only thing I want to write about right now is just how restless and apathetic about life I've been feeling lately.  And it seems of late, every time someone dares blog about something making them unhappy trolls have come out of the woodwork to lambast them for daring to not be happy about everything in their perfect lives, and quite frankly, I just feel too fragile for trolls right now.  But then I was all, "Angela, this is YOUR blog and if someone doesn't want to read your little epistle of unhappiness, they are free to navigate away to cutepuppies dot com."

So basically, I've just felt like a huge old lump of grump for the past couple of weeks.  I've been picking fights with Colby at home, I've been ridiculously sensitive and defensive about just about anything anyone says to me, and my tolerance for nonsense at school has been dangerously low.  Every morning I wake up and tell myself that today will be better, then I really make a concerted effort to be more positive until around midmorning when I reach the end of my rope.

I don't know precisely what my problem is.  One can really only blame so much on that much dreaded time of month, and the excuse wears a little thin when it is used every day of the month.  When I try to put my finger on exactly what is upsetting me, it just makes me feel utterly ridiculous.  Por ejemplo, Things That Are Currently Bumming me Out:

1) I am not going to Italy next month.  Or anywhere glamorous and European for that matter.  We're getting closer and closer to the one year point of when Colby and I left for our honeymoon last year, and I've been torturing myself by reading through my posts leading up to and after the trip.  I know, I'm a twit, some people never get to leave the country, and I'm bemoaning the fact that I have to go more than a year between trips abroad.  But still, every time I broach the topic of my dreams of a trip to France next summer, Colby all but laughs in my face.  In the interim, he's jetting off to Korea, Italy, and Germany, while I'm stuck in Washington, explaining once more to 9-year-olds exactly why it is not okay to use the term "cracker" in a derogatory manner.

2) I'm sick of winter, I'm a little over Washington, and I just want to know what our future holds so that we can stop stressing about the what ifs and start making a plan.  We've turned in our updated dream location list for Colby's next assignment, we have a pretty strong feeling that we'll end up at one of our top two choices--either Charleston or a base about an hour outside of San Francisco.  That's all well and good, but with the real estate market in its current state of gloom and doom, those two options provide us with two very different paths down which we'll travel depending on where we're assigned.  And of course there's always the threat of ending up in Alaska or middle of nowhere Oklahoma.  And please don't tell me that Alaska is actually quite beautiful.  I don't want beautiful.  I want warm.  And not Oklahoma.

3) I really do enjoy what I do.  For the most part, I think the kids I work with are pretty great, and we just had a talent show on Wednesday night, that oh my God, had me in stitches the kids were so damn cute.  But there are are 3-5 kids (depending on the day) that absolutely make me want to rip my hair out.  It is amazing to me how just a couple of disrespectful, physically and emotionally aggressive children can really ruin what should be a great day.  And every day it's a different thing.  A fight. Name calling.  Lying.  Sidebar lessons on what sex is while I'm talking about Dr. Seuss's birthday.  I know this is no different from what I'll experience as a teacher, but it really is exhausting and I feel that in a daycare setting, children are allowed to get away with more than they would in a more structured school setting.  I find parenting other people's kids exhausting, and it's frustrating that they all seem to operate under the delusion that their little angels couldn't possibly be the problem.

4) I've been feeling a little bit taken for granted by Colby lately.  Not in a huge way, just in the little things, I don't necessarily feel that what I do is important and that somehow I've become a little bit of the Lucy to his Ricky.  I know I probably bring this upon myself in the way that I make jokes out of things that I'm really serious about.  Like, I constantly make jokes about wanting a third dog.  I joke about wanting to plan that trip abroad next summer.  I don't come across as really serious about my desires and I often make jokes about my job, so it's to be expected that maybe he would do the same.  But the other night, after repeated reminders about the talent show at school, Colby completely and utterly forgot to show up.  I'd been talking about it for weeks, and it just wasn't on his radar at all, even though he'd participated in the conversations with me.  I was incredibly hurt and angry, and I think it was sort of a culmination of all those feelings I've been having for a while now.  I'm okay with making light of situations, but I don't want to be the foil in the relationship.  There is probably a whole blog for another day, exploring this further, but basically, these feelings had been seething for a while and that was just the final straw for me.

Anyway, the sun is shining today, I've got two hours of America's Next Top Model to watch before I go back to work, it's Friday and I think we're actually going to do something fun this weekend instead of sitting around the house doing homework.  I'm hopeful that next week will be better, and if not, maybe I'll just write about it as it comes instead of saving everything up for another ten page long missive on why I'm still not feeling like rainbows and starshine.

Confessions Pt 2

Welcome to another round of brutally honest, potentially inappropriate thoughts that been circulating in my head recently.  No topic is safe from the wanderings of my little feather brain.

* Our Christmas tree is still up.  Oh yes, it is.  And I have no plans to take it down any time soon.  Not because I am feeling particularly festive, but because I am lazy.  And we have a lot of ornaments on that damn tree.

* I am horrified at the state of parenting and children's behavior in general these days.  I know that makes me a bitter sixty-five-year-old man, but I don't care.  My generation was far from perfect, and I was a bit sheltered as a child, but I honestly don't think that as a whole we were nearly as dreadful as children AS A WHOLE these days.

* I find Ryan Seacrest mysteriously hot this season.  He seems somehow more mature and dignified.  We'll see how long that lasts before the frosted tips and shiny shirts make their come back.

* On a somewhat related note, I haven't been as excited about an American Idol contestant as I am about Alexis Grace in a very long time.  Maybe ever.  This is interesting since I wasn't even planning to watch American Idol this season.  If she makes it to the finals, there is a 57% chance that I might make an actual effort and text in a vote.

* I can't remember the last time I thoroughly cleaned our bathroom.  There is a layer of hairspray and makeup about an inch thick on the counters, and my sink looks like a Jackson Pollack painting.

* Even though know that I drastically cut the number of blogs I read a few months ago and am no longer a terribly consistent commenter, sometimes I get a little sad that I don't get the same number of comments I used to get.  Then I remember that there are far greater problems in the world (see: state of bathroom above), and I get over it.  Until I get a little sad again.

* This has absolutely zero bearing on the amount of my love for Colby, but I would really love to get some fabulous sparkly jewelry from him on romantic holidays.

* I am seriously, hopelessly addicted to Facebook and at a slightly lesser level, Twitter.  As such, I am giving up both for Lent.  Jesus is probably rolling his eyes, like, "I fasted in the desert for 40 days and this twit is worried about her ability to stay away from social networking sites for 46?" but in a nicer way, of course, because he is Jesus.  I have had multiple friends contact me, worried that they will never hear from me again, but have no fear, I will still be blogging and emailing.  But still probably not ever answering my phone.

Resolute(ish)

Every year I claim that I'm not really one for New Year's resolutions, and then every year I find myself making New Year's resolutions.  I think it's a hold over, knee-jerk statement from back in the days when I really didn't make resolutions.  When life seemed like an endless road, full of possibilities stretching out before me.  When I didn't put so much thought and effort into living, and just lived.  Every year that passes, every birthday I celebrate, I feel those possibilities slipping away and the frightening finiteness of life becomes a little more real.

I know that I'm still young, that life is far from over and every day is another opportunity to do something great, but I have reached the age where I have realized that if you do want to "be anything you want to be", you have to work at it.  If you're lucky, opportunity knocks, but it's far more likely that you'll have to hunt it down with a tranquilizer gun, tackle it, and hold on for dear life.

So, anyway, all of this to say, I made some resolutions centered around becoming a better person, both in mind and body, and I'm resigned to the fact that I apparently am a New Year's resolution kind of gal.

"A man is but the product of his thoughts, what he thinks, he becomes." ~Mahatma Ghandi

1) Reading: In continuation of my somewhat belated resolution last year, I'm going to try going another year without reading any "chick lit".  I think I did a decent job cutting the genre from my reading list in 2008, with just a few journeys back into fluff territory, and I was surprised to find that I really didn't miss it and the few that I did read felt a little empty and formulaic to me.  I'm not knocking a good Sophie Kinsella or Jane Green when you need to give your mind a break, but I feel much more inspired and moved when I'm reading books with a little more heft to them.  I've always kept a list going in my sidebar of the books that I've read recently (a list that has been woefully out of date lately), but I've also started a new page (found in "Bonus Features" under my profile picture to the left) tracking the books I've read in 2009, along with a little personal review.

2) Writing: In short: Write more.  I suffer from a strange malady in which I lay awake nights thinking up stories and plot twists, characters and intriguing themes, then I sit down to write them all out and am completely blocked.  From what I understand, the only way through writers block is to just keep writing, even if it's complete crap (which is not to say that everything I write isn't complete crap--I am incapable of judging for myself).  My resolution for this year is to write at least one short story that I deem worthy of submission to various literary contests and journals and to write at least fifteen pages per week of the ongoing trainwreck with the working title, Gemini.  A subresolution would be to come up with a less cringe-inducing title.

"Health is not valued until sickness comes." ~Thomas Fuller

3) Eating: After spending the vast majority of this winter wishing I could either die or trade in my nose/throat/stomach/head, I have realized that both Colby and my mother are right: I eat like crap.  And I think it's safe to assume that my steady diet of candy, cheese, starches, and cereal is having a less than healthful effect on my body.  I don't expect my diet to magically change overnight, but I am going to make a real effort to eat better.  Here are my goals:

• Pizza no more than once a month
• Eat at least two servings of a fruit or vegetable every day
• Drink at least 3 large glasses of water every day
• Take a multivitamin every day
• Dessert no more than twice a week (and YES, Angela, that does include breakfast items from Starbucks)

4) Exercise: Did you know that I bought the 30 Day Shred on October 19th?  Do you want to know how I feel about it or how well it worked for me?  Well, I don't know, because I haven't so much as OPENED it.  Funny thing these workout DVDs.  You actually have to DO them for them to be effective.  Oh, and that elliptical machine sitting up in our loft?  Haven't been on it since before Colby got home from his deployment.  More than two months ago.  So, yeah, safe to say there is plenty of room for improvement here.  Improvement along the lines of doing at least thirty minutes of cardio three times a week and completing the 30 Shred by the end of February?  Yeah, I think that would do it.

So, those are my goals for 2009.  I feel like there's a certain amount of effort involved in all of them, but none of them are completely unrealistic or a set up for failure, so I hope that by the time 2010 rolls around (oh my God, that looks crazy!) I'll be able to look back on this post without feeling completely defeated.  What about you?  Did you make any resolutions this year?

(Oh!  And in case you haven't seen my tweets or Facebook--no, my house did NOT flood and I was back home by about 4 o'clock the next morning.  Thanks for your good wishes!)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I just love Christmas.  For a lot of reasons really.  I love how it's a season all about showing people how much you love them.  I love getting Christmas cards from people near and far, and being updated on the lives of those I don't get t spend as much time with as I'd like.  I love the nativity story and how this is the one time of year that I don't get all doubty and skeptical about religion.  I love the traditions of hanging stockings and decorating the tree with family and I love picking out and wrapping gifts.

And let's be really honest, I like presents.  And between my birthday and Christmas, I have two present occasions within five days of each other.  What's not to love about that?

Both Colby and my mom have been not so subtly asking for and reminding me to give them my Christmas list, so I put a little post together with a few of my favorite things.  Because, if Oprah can do it, so can I.  Words to live by, I think.

For some reason, I never hesitate to impulse buy things things like clothes, makeup, and books, but I very rarely buy any movies.  I happened to go to Target last week when they were offering up seasons 1-6 of Gilmore Girls for $15 each so of course I had to snap up a few of those, but that was definitely the exception rather than the rule, so there are all kinds of DVDs that I'm constantly wishing I had and then not buying.  Like these for example:

Anne of Green Gables: The Collection
Sex and the City (the movie)
Enchanted
The X-Files: The Complete Collector's Edition

Cinderella
The Little Mermaid
Alice in Wonderland
Sleeping Beauty

The King and I
Sweeney Todd
My Fair Lady
The Sound of Music
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella

Now, just because I'm always buying clothes and accessories for myself, that doesn't mean that there aren't things that I still want and can't justify as easily as a silky, purple top from Target.  And with winter settling in for it's loooong stay in Washington, I am a really big fan of having a lot of cozy, warm outfits.

Soia & Kyo Double Breasted Leather Trench (XS)

Soia & Kyo Empire Seam Jacket (XS)

Banana Republic 3/4-Sleeve Belted Sweater Dress (XS)

Tahari by Arthur S. Levine Sweater Dress (XS)

And for some fun accessories to wear with my warm and toasty winter outfits, what more could a girl want but to smell good, have a great looking bag, and of course, be punctual?

Marc by Marc Jacobs "Molly" Round Dial Metal Watch
(Fun fact: I have not owned a non-sporty watch in over three years?  How sad is that??)

Coach Op Art Sabrina Brass/Khaki
(The one I really wanted was the graphic orange, white and grey print, but it's no longer available.  And THIS is why I support impulse buys!)

L'Occitane Jasmine Eau de Parfum Travel Set

This list could probably go on and on forever and ever, because as it turns out, not a whole lot has changed since my epic lists to Santa of days gone by, but I think this gives a pretty good overview of my heart's desires.  So, hopefully this doesn't leave Santa's elves with a whole lot of confusion or bankruptcy, and honestly, I promise to love anything anyone decides to bestow upon me, especially if it is this:

Too Much To Write About, Not Enough Motivation

I have so many wonderful post ideas up my sleeve (well, actually in a word document saved on my desktop), but I just cannot seem to bring myself to sit down and write a well-crafted, linear post.  Instead, I'm just going to dump all of the random thoughts that are jumbled up in my brain and maybe later this week I'll be able to reflect in a rather more writerly fashion!

• This weekend, I went for my very first full service pedicure.  I've made no secret around here about how much I hate feet, and the idea of someone else pawing over them has always just grossed me out.  Before my wedding, I had my toenails painted, but skipped all of the other soaking and scrubbing nonsense.  Well, now I know what a mistake that was!  Mind you, I still despise feet, and I don't think anything will change that, but somehow, for those sixty minutes of pampering, I was in total heaven.  I also discovered a new must have polish for the fall, OPI Bogota Blackberry.  Buy it.  Love it  Thank me.
• I never really realized just how much I lived in "the country" until I had to find an alternate route to work when they closed the street outside of our neighborhood.  Driving along less than two miles of this back road, I pass multiple sheep, cows, and horses, a goat, a shetland pony, a vast expanse of pumpkin patches dotted amongst various other unidentified produce, and the icing on the cake?  A sign for an alpaca farm.  I feel like I need to go buy some overalls in order to fit in better.
• The Air Force has been on my poo list lately.  Colby is deployed to Location A, a relatively safe area from which they fly their missions to the less safe areas.  He's been working the desk a LOT since he's been there, which of course he hates as he is a PILOT.  Anyway, a couple of months ago, he was told that at the halfway point of the deployment, he would move to Location B--a little less safe, but still far from the worst possible place to be--and would be flying a specific mission that he's really wanted to get involved with.  Well, the halfway point came and went and he heard nothing.  Then they told him he would be going there a few weeks ago.  Then they changed their minds.  Then they told him he would be going there tomorrow.  Then they changed their minds.  You see, way back before the deployment, they told all of the experienced copilots that they really needed Aircraft Commanders for this deployment, so they started Colby and a bunch of his friends on that upgrade process.  Colby became an aircraft commander about a month ago, and now they're telling him the reason that they aren't sending him to Location B is because they need more experienced copilots.  And this is the kind of stupidity that we deal with on a regular basis.
• One of the perks of my new job is a free gym membership, which I finally got around to activating last week.  The gym has a nice indoor running track, so I've been starting back with running a little bit, testing it out to see if the shin splints come back.  I have such a love/hate relationship with running, but I definitely prefer an indoor track to running outside (People stare at you!  Dogs chase you!  Weather is completely crazy here!) or on a treadmill--although on this track, a mile is SIXTEEN LAPS.  And I always lose count.  Does anyone have any tips for keeping track of laps while running?  You know, other than depending on your brain to keep correct count.
• I'm super excited about this weekend because I'm watching the undefeated LSU Tigers play Mississippi State at a friend's house on Saturday (well, the Tigers aren't playing at her house, but we'll be watching on her television), and then on Sunday I'm going for drinks with another friend and then to see Phantom of the Opera!!  I've seen Phantom in London and on Broadway, but I've never seen a touring production and I'm quite curious to see how it will compare.  It's been almost five years since I last saw the show, and I cannot wait to experience all of the emotions that it brings out in me.  Oh, how I love Erik!

Okay, well, I think I've done enough rambling and homework procrastination for now.  I'm issuing a challenge to myself to blog at least four times this week, so that hopefully I can get back into the habit of writing here more often.  Feel free to hold me to it and send me Howlers if I don't come through on my promise!

Little Heart Squeezes

You know what I mean by heart squeeze, right?  When something good or bad happens and then you get that little squeezy feeling right around your heart, like a band of emotion is just closing in around your chest?  Sometimes it results in tears, sometimes my breath just starts to come a little bit faster until the band dissolves, but over the past twenty four hours I have had one after another.

• Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was pushed back for a release date of July 17, 2009.  I am just... heartbroken.  I know that is completely ridiculous, after all IT'S JUST A MOVIE, but I am amazed at just how much I miss Harry Potter in my life, and apparently I was looking forward to this release a little bit more than I realized.  WB gave the most ridiculous reasons for the push, and I think it's not quite a coincidence that the movie version of Twilight is scheduled to be released just a couple of weeks after the original Half Blood Prince release date.  I think WB was just afraid of being knocked out of the top spot by another kid friendly, immensely popular fantasy movie.
• That women's gymnastics all around competition nearly killed me.  Granted, it was very late, and I was very tired, but I was this close to a complete Hulk type tantrum when those judges kept over-inflating the Chinese scores and giving Shawn and Nastia the most ridiculous deductions.  I think the medals were given to the right girls, but I really don't think that the competition should have been that close.  But let me tell you, there were some serious tears during that medal ceremony.  I loved watching Nastia's face as she focused on breathing and remaining upright while she stood on the podium, you could just see the realization that she had just won gold breaking over her face again and again.  That was a really beautiful moment for US gymnastics after a really tough week.
• A few months ago, my high school boyfriend's mother passed away from cancer, and that was a hard thing to accept, then I found out yesterday that the man who was my high school band teacher and the father of one of my friend's ex-boyfriends passed away a few days ago.  Sad enough on its own, but when combined with the other parent death, it hit me pretty hard.  I don't like to think about my parents as mortal beings, and I can't imagine the pain that my old friends are going through.  I feel ridiculous sending them Facebook messages with my condolences, but it doesn't feel appropriate to intrude on their lives any more than that right now.
• Every time the phone rings, I race to answer it thinking that it might be one of the companies I've applied with calling to set up an interview.  One of the managers I dropped an application with told me to my face that she'd be calling this week to set up an interview, and nothing.  Honestly, this is one of the suckiest things I've ever been through.    Yesterday my hair dresser told me that the unemployment rate for high school age kids is at its highest right now, and I tell you what--I feel their pain!  I'm putting in another couple of applications this weekend, but yesterday was a pretty low point for me when I realized that I have a college degree, I have tons of experience in the work place, as well as personal recommendations from CEOs of companies and colonels in the military, and I can't even find a job selling an effing skirt.  What the hell world?

Anyway, I could go on and on ad nauseum, but I still have a long chapter and an article to read and outline for school today and the day isn't getting any longer.  I have a pretty quiet weekend planned--just working on a 30-minute presentation on "Teaching with Purpose" and a book club meeting tomorrow, which means I should probably try to finish A Tree Grows in Brooklyn before 6:30 pm tomorrow night!

A List of Things

Thing the First:
My sister expressed heartbroken disappointment that when she visited my new digs on the internet, they looked exactly like my old digs on the internet.  Because I am nothing if not a people pleaser (and I've been procrastinating about this for months now), I spruced things up a bit over the weekend.  A little "Spring Cleaning" if you will.  I brightened up the decor and cleaned up the side bars by creating a separate page for all of those fantastic blogs that I fully endorse.  I even added a 100 things about me list over there to the left--except mine is 101 things about me, because I will not be restricted by convention!

Thing the Second:

Over the weekend I was honored to discover that one of my very favoritest recently discovered bloggers, Tipp, had bestowed the honor of naming Tomorrow is Another Day an Excellent Blog.  This was really more exciting than I would have expected, and I've got to tell you, this is the first blog award of any kind that I've ever been given.  It took almost three years, but I've finally made it!  I'm the damn Susan Lucci of the internet!  Anyway, the idea is to now pass it on to those bloggers whom I happen to find excellent.  And this is where I'm stuck, because I made a list, and it was about fifteen thousand miles long.  So, my solution is to give it to everyone on my blog roll.  Some of you read here, others of you don't, but every single one of you makes my day a little brighter every time you post, and I couldn't possibly choose favorites.  So there you go, you gorgeous, Excellent Bloggers!  Be proud!

Thing the Third:
I'm leaving for Italy in four days--our flight takes off on Friday evening, and we'll be touching down in Rome on Saturday.  I really feel like somehow we made the leap from four months to go to four days to go at an alarmingly hasty speed, and I still have about a bajillion things that need to be done.  And so of course, I'm freaking out just a tad.  Here is a random sampling of my to do list for this week:

1)  Contact Our Lord in Heaven, and find out his weather plans for Italy from April 5th-20th.

     a)  At least see if He will narrow it down to sweater weather or tank top weather.

     b)  If He is not available, leave a message and then check weather.com obsessively for the next four days.

2)  Learn to speak Italian

     a)  If not fluent by Wednesday, at least learn basic conversational phrases.

     b)  If still not able to carry on a conversation by Thursday, focus effort on numbers, bargaining terms, and "more wine/gelato, please".

3)  Lose 15 pounds so that the 20 pounds I am liable to gain by eating a steady diet of gelato, parmesan, and wine for the next two weeks will not be so visible.

Of course, there are many other things on the list--packing for example--so I'll be pretty busy for the next few days.  But I figure we've got our passports, we've got our plane tickets, and we've got our hotel reservations, at this point, everything else is just extra.  (Although if you have a spare Italian tutor lying around, please feel free to send him/her in our direction.)

My Dream Job List

An unfulfilled vocation drains the color from a man's entire existence.
~Honore de Balzac, "Scenes de la vie Parisienne," La Maison Nucingen, 1838

My level of stress about leaving my job has now begun manifesting itself in snappish remarks to anyone who dares speak to me and a constant eyelid twitch.  I'm like Popeye with severe rage issues.  Additionally, according to WebMD, I'm going blind from staring at the computer 24/7. 

Many years ago, when I was a charming young naif, I dreamed of the day that I would be sitting behind a computer, muttering sarcastic comments under my breath while my eyelid fluttered uncontrollably.  And just look at me today!  Living the dream, people!  Living the dream.

I've been thinking a lot about my childhood dreams lately, and just how far short of the mark I'm hitting on a daily basis.  In all fairness to myself, the vast majority of my childhood dreams were ridiculous.  And so, to make myself feel better about continuously failing meet my own expectations, I'll share those more far fetched dreams with you today.

Ballerina

Oh, how I wanted to be a ballerina.  I began taking ballet classes long before I can even remember, and I so loved the beautiful costumes and ballet slippers that the older girls wore.  I can remember sitting, hunched against the wall, watching the girls practicing en pointe, dreaming of the day that I would be just like them.  When I was in 5th grade, our wonderful teacher left our school, and she was replaced by a woman who would sit on our backs to "help" us with our splits.  It was around this time that I began to realize that becoming a ballerina would take a great deal of practice and require eating far fewer Cheetos than I would have liked.  At nine years old, I hung up my ballet shoes for good.

Psychiatrist

I'm honestly not sure what sparked my obsession with psychiatry, but this dream lasted from 7th grade through early 9th.  At some point along the way I discovered that if I really wanted to become a psychiatrist, I would have to go to medical school, and that didn't seem like so much fun.  Then I found out that a psychology degree required a statistics course.  NEXT!

FBI Agent

Mostly I just wanted to marry David Duchovny.  Once I started to figure out that television shows are not real, and I would never be able to help Mulder track down creepy aliens, I kicked this idea to the curb.  But not before I read up a great deal on FBI application procedures.  Did you know you have to learn how to fire an actual weapon?  Scary!  So, you know, then I joined the Air Force.  No guns there, thank goodness!

Cupcake Shop Owner

This one still sounds kind of fun sometimes for two reasons.  1) Cupcakes are delicious.  2) Frosting is delicious.  But then I remember that I would have to make the cupcakes every day, probably quite early in the morning.  Also, it would be beneficial to me to work rather long hours with the end goal of not going out of business.  Neither one of those things sound very enjoyable, so instead I just frequent other people's cupcake shops.  It's win-win I think.

Astronaut

I went through a period of intense obsession with all things NASA related in elementary school.  It was sparked by a classroom exercise of writing a letter to an astronaut to tell them about ourselves.  I wrote my letter to Bonnie Dunbar, and was thrilled when I received a letter back from her (read: NASA's PR department) along with some glossy 8x10s of her headshot and their crew group photo.  I was entranced and spent the next year begging my parents to buy a telescope (which I seem to remember they did do, but it disappeared shortly thereafter) and reading books and magazines about the stars.  Then I saw Apollo 13.  Dude, nobody told me you could get STUCK out there in space.  Screw that.

So please, make me feel better about myself.  Are you living your childhood dreams, or would your nine-year-old self arch an eyebrow, curl their lip and swear they'd never turn out like you?

Failing Pretty Much Everyone Around Me

Coworkers.  Never before have so many people at work commented on projects that they'll need my help with "soon" or "in the future".  Never in my time here have people made me feel like a such a necessary cog to this operation.  Never have I felt so incredibly guilty about something that hasn't even happened yet.  I'm struggling mightily with the decision to wait another week and a half before giving my notice, because I feel like such a horrible person each time I nod and smile as someone commits me to a project down the road.  But Colby and I still have to sit down and examine our finances more closely, and he doesn't get home for another week.  I know I need to wait, but every day I feel a little bit worse.

Fellow bloggers.  I'm supposed to be guest posting for Bre today while she's in London, but I can't figure out her instructions for logging into her blog.  It seems like such a simple task, no?  Yes, that's what I thought too, so I didn't test it out before she left.  Now I'm sitting with a drafted entry and lacking the brain cells that are necessary to understanding how to post it.  I know I'm not really all that important, and her blog will probably survive without me, but I hate to promise something and then not follow through.

Friends.  I owe phone calls to pretty much every single friend in my address book, but each evening, I sit down on the train and opt to fall asleep rather than dialing the phone.  Seriously, what the heck is wrong with me that I HATE talking on the phone so much?  Why can't we all just correspond by email, text messages, and smoke signals?  I miss my friends, and love them, and would so much rather just hang out than come up with riveting phone conversation for 30 minutes.  Why do they have to live so far away?

Jack and Ellie.  You want to go for a walk?  You want to play after dinner?  You want to lay on the floor and get your bellies rubbed?  Well, how about you just sit here next to the couch so that I can half-heartedly scratch your head while zoning out to the Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious.  Well, okay, I guess I'll feed you your dinner.  To everyone out there who seems to think I'm ready for kids?  Jack and Ellie would like to voice their vehement disagreement.

My Eye. I seem to have gotten some tiny grain of something stuck between my eye and my eyelid, and no amount of blinking, flushing with cool water, or forced tears will do anything about evacuating it from the premises.  It huuuuuuuurts!

Not So Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

In just a little over three weeks, Colby and I will celebrate our one year anniversary of co-existing under one roof.  Just over a year ago, we crammed my Mazda Tribute literally to the roof with all of our luggage and wedding shower gifts and began the four day drive from Louisiana to Washington.  When we pulled into our driveway at dusk, Colby swept me off of my feet and carried me over the threshold, where my eyes were met with this sight:

Clearly, we've come a long way since then.  Almost all of the house is painted, most of our windows have coverings that didn't have a previous life as a bed sheet, and the majority of our pictures have been hung.  However, as we approach the one year milestone of home ownership, I'm feeling an intense desire to just get everything DONE for crying out loud.  Our loft is still overtaken with wedding gifts that haven't found a home, our master bathroom and upstairs guest bathroom still haven't been painted, one of the hallways is still lined with family photos that have yet to be hung, etcetera, etcetera, and so forth.  I know that when you own a home your work is never really done, but I'm so tired of thinking about all of the basic final moving in steps that haven't been finished yet.

So, when Janet mentioned that she was going to begin a 21-day makeover centered around organizing her home, I jumped on board without a moment's hesitation.  I've never been good at just getting things done on my own timeline, but when there are rules involved and a deadline is set, I am golden.  What can I say, I'm a toddler at heart and I crave structure.  Beginning today, I will spend one hour every day doing something around the house with the end result of getting the crap off of the floor and making every room presentable should the Queen Mother decide to stop by for a visit.  I'm not limiting myself to these items, but these are my main goals:

• Paint the two bathrooms
• Hang the pictures in the upstairs hall
• Hang pictures in the stairwell
• Clean out the loft (move all extra furniture to the Salvation Army pile, and put away wedding gifts)
• Buy window treatments for the master bedroom and living room
• Hang curtains in the loft
• Mount knobs on kitchen cabinets and drawers

Some other tasks that I'd like to accomplish are a little more dependent on other elements--for example, I'd love to get the window treatments actually hung in the bedroom and living room, but if they haven't arrived by March 25th, I'm not going to beat myself up over not getting that done.

I'll update once a week with my progress for the next three weeks, and hopefully 21 days from now I will have a whole lot less home improvement hanging over my head, and a whole lot more pride in our beautiful house.  Who knows, maybe I'll even get around to putting those promised house pictures up here in the next few weeks!

A Newly Engaged Girl's Guide to The Knot.Com Crazies

So, Jen, from Operation Pink Herring, recently abandoned the internet for an extended length of time while she and her boyfriend went gallivanting around Barcelona.  When finally, her first post in over a week popped up in Google Reader, I immediately surfed the internet wave over to her place.  The first part of the post detailed the standard post-vacation slump, but then, the final picture in the entry was a picture of a gigantic diamond smack dab on her finger.  That sneaky girl went and got ENGAGED!

A few days ago, I got an email invite to attend her Surprise Virtual Engagement Party, the idea being that all of Jen's bloggy friends would post a wedding-themed entry on February 15th in honor of her big news.  It seemed simple enough, but immediately the pressure hit me.  I mean, what can you say to a recently engaged girl that she hasn't already heard a million times!  Clearly there is "Congratulations!", but I needed a little more than that to fill out an entire blog post.  So, I thought and I thought, and I realized that the first thing that most newly engaged girls do is log on to The Knot and often times get sucked into their message boards.

I loved using my local board to find vendor suggestions, but before much time had passed, I realized that there were certain types of people that I kept coming across.  And so, to help Jen out, I have decided that I will detail the nomenclature of The Knot should she decide to journey to that bizarro universe of all things wedding--The Knot Message Boards.

The Regular
The Regular is the easiest species to spot as they will almost always be the first people to respond to your queries, and have three or more of the small blue circles beneath their names in their posts.  The Regular  is the most predominant species in The Knot universe, and often can be sub categorized by some of the following descriptions as well.  If a poster has been married for more than a month and is still residing on The Knot, it is safe to assume that they are a Regular.

The Troll
The Troll can generally be found on typically peaceable boards, and their sole purpose in life is to wreak havoc and cause dissension amongst the masses.  It is usually easiest to spot the Troll by their use of all caps or poorly spelled missives, usually choosing a random "Regular" and criticizing their carefully constructed "Knottie Bio".  The Troll is most efficiently dealt with by ignoring their attempts at upheaval and feeds on heated responses such as, "Oh yeah, well I bet ur fat and ur fiance hates you!"  Proceed with caution.

The Co-Dependent
The Co-Dependent can be easily detected by their chosen identifying moniker.  It will typically involve composition such as "Mrs.XXXtobe"  "XXX'sWifetobe", and in extreme cases "XXX'sGirl4Eva".   It is important to note that although this species' identity seems to have melded with that of their mate, it is almost always harmless to others unless provoked by its main predator, The Troll.

The Beebee
The Beebee is a species of poster who has chosen their life mate at an age that is lower than that of the average bride.  However, the youth of the species alone does not qualify it as a Beebee.  This is a trickier species to spot, as it is usually necessary to investigate their chosen nuptial arrangements.  In addition to their youth, the Beebee will typically include a great deal of pink in their decorating scheme--often including several different shades of the color with contrasts of lavender or possibly ivory.  You will also often find that they have selected a cake topper in the shape of a castle,  reference the term "fairy tale princess" in their descriptions, almost universally choose to wear a tiara, and generally have a date set two or more years in the future.  Like the Co-Dependent, the Beebee is fairly harmless though often considered a pest.

The Shrew
The Shrew is the most dangerous species of the lot, although if observed from a safe distance, often a source of great entertainment.  The Shrew is the hunter of the universe, and they move in large packs, feeding on Regulars, Co-Dependents, and Beebees.  Their natural habitat is the Not Engaged (Yet) board, but they often forage for their kill in other boards selected at random.  The Shrew is often an older, married woman and is most easily identified by their razor sharp tongues, sarcastic comments, and regular use of foul language.  They are a fascinating species to study, however, approach at your own risk.

This is of course, not a comprehensive list of the species you are likely to find when traveling through the wilds of The Knot message boards.  Jen, I wish you the best of luck on the battle field that is wedding planning.  Congratulations once again on finding such a wonderful man, and I look forward to hearing all about your beautiful wedding day when the time comes. 

(Important side note:  Be assured that as beautiful as everyone else's weddings are sure to be, you will always know in your heart that YOUR wedding was the most beautiful.  And you'll always be completely right!)

Things That Are Currently Hanging Over My Head

Don't you just love making lists when it comes to getting things done?  I adore the feeling of checking things off one by one, seeing the progress being made in a visual, hard copy form.  Without lists I do nothing but sit around watching My Fair Brady reruns and stuffing my face with Baked Cheetos (surprisingly delicious!). 

And so because I don't feel like discussing how bummed I am that we're not going to New York over the upcoming three day weekend because Colby is swanning around D.C. (waiting to possibly be deployed but mostly touring and going out to dinner a lot), and how for the fourth year in a row we won't be spending Valentine's Day together, I'm going to enumerate in fascinating detail the things that I will be doing this weekend to keep myself entertained.

1. FINALLY sitting down to go through the 1200 or so photos that were provided by our photographer to select 200 photos for the proof book, 75 photos for the flush album, and upload to Target's online photo store any others that I want to put in my scrapbook.  I've already gone through the pictures a few times to pick out favorites, but now I need to commit to our selection and get Colby's approval.  We've had the pictures since December 3, a mere, 10 days after the wedding, now it's time to get off my arse and do my part.
2. Thank you notes.  Yeah.  Sigh.  They're coming folks, I swear!  I kept waiting for Colby to be around to help out with them, but it appears that this is not in the cards for us any time soon.  And so thank you notes I shall write!
3. Send our dang wedding announcements to our hometown newspapers.  I've been putting this off because the announcement form for Colby's hometown basically asks that you write a novel about your wedding, and, um, I don't want to!  However, I know it means a lot to our parents to have the announcements printed, and in 30 years I'll probably be glad I did it.  I just really don't feel like describing every single person's attire, flowers, and blood type.
4. Book some of the Italy tours that I've been reading up on but putting off actually scheduling.  Specifically this one, because YUM.  I'll probably become homicidal if it's already booked to capacity.
5. I want to get at least another 20 pages of The Book written.  I'm hovering around 12,000 words right now, so I'm pretty proud of my accomplishment over the past month, but rather than banging out a couple of pages at a time, I'd like to sit down, get in the mood, and go with the flow for a few hours to see what comes out on the page.
6. Must, must, must go to the UPS store and ship back some returns as well as do a couple of in store returns.  I didn't get them done before my credit card cycle ended and so I am left with a much larger balance than I would have liked.  Bummer.
7. Maybe, if this warmer weather holds out, go for a run.  But probably not.

So, aren't you jealous?  Don't all of those things look SO FUN!  Wouldn't the majority of those things be so much MORE FUN if Colby were home?  And maybe to spice things up and make it a REALLY exciting weekend, I'll throw in a little dusting and bathroom cleaning!  Y'all I am so excited!  Bring it on President's Day, I'm going to make you my bitch!

The Great Shoe Quest Begins

February is off to a rip-roaring great start--already the sun has shone more in the past 3 hours than it did through all of January.  Colby arrived home Friday night and we immediately resumed our places on the couch, cuddled up with the puppies at our feet and tuned into the Lost Season 3 Finale and Season 4 premiere.  All I can say is that if the premiere is any indication, this season is going to be about 5,000 times better than last year.

We also got our passport pictures taken and can I just say, what a ripoff. Granted, it's been a very long time since I got my old passport photo done, but I seem to remember it being a slightly more advanced process than standing in front of a dirty projector screen while a bored Rite-Aid employee takes your picture with a crappy digital camera from 2001.  The pictures are AWFUL and pixelated and a horrific embarrassment, but then I guess that makes them the perfect passport photo.  Enough people in blogland and real life have indicated that it will only take 3-4 weeks tops to get my new passport, so I think I'm going to risk skipping the expedite fee and just keep my fingers crossed that when our plane takes off exactly two months from today, I'll be on it with passport in hand.

And as everyone in the country is probably aware, the Super Bowl was on yesterday.  I tried to give even half of a flip as Colby spent the first ten minutes agonizing over which team he was going to root for, his decision making mostly based on the number of former LSU players on the team, and eventually decided on the Giants.  Since I didn't care one way or another, I rooted for the Giants as well, but felt that I would be happier doing so from behind my computer screen, ensconced in the warm embrace of Zappos.com.

I've been on the hunt for comfortable, but CUTE, shoes to pack for Italy for a few months now.  I've searched the TripAdvisor website extensively looking for suggestions, but honestly the thought of wearing Tevas, Crocs, or hiking boots makes me want to poke my eye out (but just one!).  I have to believe that it is possible to combine style and comfort, but it has become apparent that I am going to have to take matters into my own hands.  Over the next month, I will endeavor to find these elusive "perfect" shoes, so that I can properly break them in before traipsing for miles around glorious Italia.  I'm documenting my search here in the hopes that I will be able to assist other world-traveling fashionistas conquer the planet one blister-less step at a time.

There are three categories that I'm looking to fill with the perfect shoe:

1. A cute, but well cushioned and supportive, flat that I can wear with skirts, dresses, or pants
2. A more sturdy shoe that will be more appropriate for evening hikes through the country-side or up Mt Vesuvius
3. A dressy but low, chunky heel that I can wear out to dinners and still easily walk in without breaking my ankles on the cobblestones.

So, if we liken The Great Shoe Quest to American Idol, let's think of this round of tryouts as the city auditions.  I scoured Zappos and Endless (online stores selected based on their free overnight shipping and easy as pie return policy) for shoes that showed great potential, but not all of these shoes will make it past Hollywood.  For now, I would like to award a Golden Ticket to the following shoes:

Category 1: Practical Ballet Flat
Clarks - Swan in Black Leather
Clarks - Arye in Champagne Leather
Clarks - Demure in Black Leather
Indigo by Clarks - Giana in Cafe Brown Leather or Green/Orange Printed Satin
Indigo by Clarks - Picnic in Red Striped Raw Silk or Black Leather
Privo - Spot in Chocolate w/ Pink Dots
Amy Gladstone - Bow

Category 2: Sturdy Walking Shoe
Privo - Comice in Brown or Black Nubuck
Privo - Float in Brown or Black Nubuck
Privo - Acacia in Smoky Brown or Black Nubuck
Privo - Trumpet in Chocolate or Black Metallic
Privo - Step Flat in Chocolate
Cole Haan - Phebes in Putty Suede/Patent


Category 3: Comfortable Heel
ECCO - Brig Petit T-Strap in Black Patent
ECCO - Basel T-Strap Pump in Black Patent
ECCO - Bristol T-Strap Pump in Black or Olive
Sofft - Serena in Chocolate or Black Suede
Sofft - Regina in Cashmere/Spirit Tan Leather

So, clearly, that is a LOT of shoes, and I'm definitely going to have some serious narrowing down to do over the next few days.  Looking back over my initial choices I can see that some are not exactly practical for traveling purposes--for example, while the red striped raw silk flats are absolutely gorgeous, they're not going to be able to match easily with a large selection of outfits.  Also, I need to do some serious thinking about whether I'll be packing more black than brown clothing and how much I'll care about the possibility of having to mix the two colors.  It's not the fashion sin that it once was, right? 

You know, it's a darn shame I don't put this kind of time and effort into things like keeping the house clean or whipping up gourmet meals.  I'd be giving Martha Stewart a run for her money for sure!

Wedding Weekly Activity Report

Well, it's the final countdown--no more weekly activity reports after this one.  I don't know how all of you feel about that, but I for one am absolutely thrilled.  We got almost all of the programs assembled last night without any more issues, Colby and I went to pick up the marriage license today, and I have my bachelorette party tonight and Colby's bachelor party tomorrow night.  It's all starting to get pretty darn official and exciting, and all I can think about is how much I want a nap.

It has been such an insanely busy week, but it's funny how it hasn't seemed to fly by at all.  The days have stretched out to accomodate everything that we need to get done, and I feel like we're doing exceptionally well with sticking to our schedule.  Everyone keeps telling me that my wedding day will be over in the blink of an eye, but if this week is any indication I think it may just seem like The Day That Lasted A Million Years.

Rain is still in the forecast for Saturday, which I'm not thrilled about, but I'm trying to take a page out of Colby's book and just not worry about things that I can't control.  I also have been trying to confirm with our hair and makeup girl for the past two weeks and haven't heard back from her.  That's another thing I'm trying not to worry about, but it does seem a bit strange for a respected and highly recommended business owner to drop off the face of the earth for two weeks.

However, there's not a whole lot left on the list, and for the sake of brevity I'll just skip to the list of things we still have to finish before the weekend.

Angela & Colby's Wedding WAR 21 Nov 2007

Tasks Still on the To-Do List

• Confirm with Makeup Artist/Hairstylist:  You know, if she ever decides to call me back
  
• Wrap Bridal Party Gifts:  I got started on this last night and it should only take another 30-45 minutes or so to finish this up tomorrow or Friday.
• Finish Assembling Programs: I just have about 25 or so of these left to do, and it's just a matter of sticking the brads in the holes that have already been punched.
• Start a Wedding Gift Tracker: I just need a spreadsheet to keep track of the gifts we're receiving and will receive.  It was easy at first as they trickled in, but we're already starting to have trouble remembering all of the generous and wonderful gifts we've gotten so far.
• Finish Framing the Wedding Photos:  We have a two frames with spots for 3 5x7s each, and we're putting in the wedding pictures of each of our parents and all of our grandparents.  The pictures will be set out on the guestbook table and later hung on the "wedding wall" in our house.
• Pack Wedding "Emergency Kit"
• Pick Up Wedding Gown, Tuxes, & Guitar: All done Friday morning, working around picking up Carolyn at the airport at 11:30 and getting home in time to get ready for the rehearsal which starts at 4:30.
• Drop Off All of the "Stuff" (Guestbook, Pen, Cardbox, Etc.) At White Oak: We found out that we can drop off everything Friday evening, so we just need to inventory our box and provide them a list of where everything goes on Saturday.
• Make Final Payment to Makeup Artist/Hairstylist: Provided she actually shows up on Saturday that is.

So, really, it's not too bad--most of the things left to do will just take a brief amount of time to finish, it's just a matter of squeezing them in between spending time with all of my family and friends.  Speaking of which, my family is all gathered out in the gazebo, drinking wine and laughing, so I think I'm going to go spend a little while with them before donning my sparkly dress and heading out on the town!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!!

Wedding Weekly Activity Report

Oh my Lord, y'all, I have to most serious case of wedding brain KNOWN TO MAN.  Yesterday I managed to leave the house with the back door unlocked, the alarm not set, and I forgot to grab my jacket.  I then proceeded to freeze my butt off all day and stare at my computer screen at work, half-heartedly filing and filling in spreadsheets.  The evening was capped off with a bizarre dream in which a Mr. Beldenesque teacher led a chorus of singers and dancers in a rousing rendition of "Mein Herr".  I'm not sure how that's wedding related, but it sure was hilarious when I woke up this morning with that stuck in my brain.

All joking and Cabaret references aside, the wedding stress is truly beginning to weigh heavily on my shoulders.  Last night, I was reminding Colby to finish his part of the photo list and when my voice crept up to what could be referred to as a slightly shrill pitch, he pulled me down on his lap, put my head on his chest and remarked gently, "You've done a really great job of not being a 'Zilla so far..."  But the thing is, after a year of calmly and meticulously planning, I can finally feel her there, lurking just below the surface, just waiting for something to go wrong or not go according to schedule.  Bridezilla is there, bubbling up from the deepest, darkest pits of my soul and I fear for all of those caught in her wake.

I've been stalking accuweather.com for the past few days, ever since we entered the 15 day range that it forecasts.  Things started off well enough--highs in the low 70s, lows in the 50s, but sunny and clear.  Then yesterday the temperature was still the same, but scattered showers had made their way into the forecast.  And now this...

Oh my God!  No!  What did I do to deserve this!  In the span of 12 hours, how did we go from sunny and the upper 70s to THIS??  So, of course, logically I know that there's no way they can really accurately predict the weather in Louisiana from 10 days out, but the Bridezilla in me is seriously freaking out now.  Why?  Why?  Whyyyyyy???

Sob.

Anyway, I guess now let's move on to the current status of wedding planning in Angela's world.

Angela & Colby's Wedding WAR 14 Nov 2007

Recently Completed Tasks

• Finish the Guestbook Scrapbook:  I snipped my last photo and stuck on my last sticker last night.  I'm planning to bring my supplies with me when I go home so I can scrapbook the bachelorette party and rehearsal dinner if there's time, but if there isn't, I'm perfectly happy with the product as is, and I can't wait to show it off!
• Finalize Menu and Service Details with the Caterer:  I finally got in touch with White Oak and we finalized our menu for food and the bar, reviewed all of our linen rentals, made our final payment, and scheduled a final meeting with our wedding coordinator for next Monday.
• Call All Guests Who Haven't Yet RSVP'd:  We took care of this over the weekend, and it turns out that a few of our guests had actually sent in their RSVP cards, but they were lost in the mail.  I'm thrilled with our final number of 131 and although it's still going to be a tight squeeze if the ceremony is forced inside by rain, it will certainly be much better than the 150-175 number that I was fearful would be attending.
• Give Final Headcount to White Oak and Bakery: Done!  And we were even able to go down by one cake size for the wedding cake which saved my ridiculously generous parents about a hundred bucks.  A drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things, but still, we'll take it!
• Confirm all Vendors: I'm counting this one is done even though I'm still waiting to hear back from the hair stylist/makeup artist we have scheduled to come to the house and get us ready.  I'm hoping that she'll get in touch with me today, and if not I just have that one phone call to make tomorrow.
• Send Limo Company a Schedule and Directions:  Turns out all I had to do was tell them all of the pick up and drop off locations over the phone and they don't need us to give them directions.  Nice!
• Make Final Payments to Vendors:  This is another one that goes in the mostly done, but just waiting on one vendor file, so I'm counting it as finished.  We just have to pay the makeup artist on the morning of the wedding and we'll be squared away.

Tasks Still on the To-Do List

• Finish "Must Take" Photo List: I have this almost totally finished, Colby and his mom just need to fill in the names of people who will be in their extended family photos.
• Pack to Go Home:  This is starting tonight.  I'm just going to scour the house for all of the wedding related items that need  to come home with us and throwing them in a pile in the loft next to my suitcase.  I'm going to attempt to start thinking about clothes too, but if I'm honest with myself, I know I won't get that done until Friday around midnight.
• Final Haircut & Color: I have an appointment for Friday night.
• Email the List of Nail Appointments for the Girls:  A family friend is setting up the appointments for us, so I just need to let her know what everyone wants--I'm planning to get this done on Friday.
• Print Table Camera Cards, Martini Menu, and Guestbook Cards: I'm doing this Sunday after brunch at a friend's house.  It should be fairly quick and painless.
• Assemble Programs:  On the schedule for Monday evening--I'm hoping I'll have some volunteers to help me out, but I don't think it should be too difficult.
• Final Wedding Gown Fitting:  First thing Monday morning.
• Pick up Sabers:  I'm hoping Colby will do this while I'm at my fitting
• Marriage License: Also on the schedule for Monday.  I was hoping that we would get the chance to squeeze in lunch with Wordnerd too, but sadly she'll be heading out of town that day and will be gone all week.  I'm so bummed, but we're definitely going to make it happen next time I'm in town!
• Drop off Unity Candle and "Something Blue" Brooch with the Florist:  Tuesday morning
• Hit the Mall to Buy Final Gifts, Shop For Honeymoon "Trousseau", and Eyebrow Wax
• Wrap Bridal Party Gifts
• Shop For and Pack Wedding "Emergency Kit"
• Pick Up Wedding Gown, Tuxes, & Guitar: All done Friday morning, working around picking up Carolyn at the airport at 11:30 and getting home in time to get ready for the rehearsal which starts at 4:30.
• Drop Off All of the "Stuff" (Guestbook, Pen, Cardbox, Etc.) At White Oak:  Still hoping that I can do this on Friday, but I forgot to ask when I talked to her this weekend.  I'll check during our Monday meeting.
• Make Final Payment to Makeup Artist/Hairstylist

And that's about all I have on my schedule, so hopefully it's really all we have left to do.  Okay, well, now I'm going to go cry a little bit about the weather forecast and check my skin for any hint of Bridezilla green.

Wedding Weekly Activity Report

When I was in the Air Force, one of my jobs as the Officer in Charge, and then the Executive Officer, was compiling the Weekly Activity Report--or WAR.  I loved compiling the WAR because it was a list of everything that had been done that week and the status of ongoing projects in an easy to read bulleted list format.  I enjoyed keeping track of our own stats when I was the OIC and then I liked updated all of the information submitted by the squadrons weekly when I was an exec.  What can I say, I am a huge dork and this is why I enjoy admin jobs when most people would rather gouge their eyes out with a dull knife than sit behind a desk and file all day.

ANYWAY.

I have decided that as an homage to my military self (Since technically I am still in the Air Force--I received notification that I've been selected for the rank of Captain effective June 2008.  Feel free to congratulate me on my ability to breathe.) I will be reporting back to you weekly (and let's face it, probably bi-, tri-, and quad- weekly) on the status of wedding plans.  I know!  As if it weren't thrilling enough to hear me drone on about my wedding, now you have to associate it with camouflage and weapons!  How glorious!

ANYWAY.  Let us proceed.

Angela & Colby's Wedding WAR 7 Nov 2007 (That's how we do dates in the military for all you civilians out there.)

Recently Completed Tasks

• Book Saber Arch:  Both LSU and Keesler were unable to commit to our wedding date, so Colby contacted the Army ROTC department at LSU and got permission to pick up the sabers from them  the week of the wedding and our groomsmen and ushers will perform the actual arch.  I think it worked out for the best since now we don't have to stress about Keesler randomly not showing up (it's been known to happen) and we won't have to kick out any 18 and 19 year old cadets who think they can stick around for the free food and drinks.
• Confirm Wedding Night and Honeymoon Hotels:  Done and done.  We also made reservations for NOLA and Restaurant August for two of our nights in New Orleans.  I'm particularly excited about the latter since I've become obsessed with The Next Iron Chef show on the Food Network, and John Besh, the founder of Restaurant August, is in the final showdown and my favorite for the win.  Also, both menus make my mouth water.
• Programs Printed and Ready For Assembly:  Okay, we actually hit a snag here and the paper hadn't been cut properly when my dad went to Office Depot yesterday, but after I slowly and carefully talked the print shop manager through the process for the third time I think she understood and it's supposed to be done today or tomorrow.  Therefore it is no longer on my list of things to worry about.  We'll assemble the programs when I get home.
• Add Wedding Rings to Homeowners Insurance Policy:  Colby took care of this--that wonderful guy.  Now when the raging housefire rips through our neighborhood, we may lose all of our nearest and dearest possessions and sentimental mementos that can never be replaced, but at least our jewelry is covered.
• Finalize Wedding Ceremony With Officiant:  The Reverend who will be performing our ceremony is actually a very dear family friend, which meant that I felt very little compunction while typing up the entire wedding ceremony myself, emailing it to him and in essence dictating the entire thing.  Of course, he then went through it and made his own edits that made the whole ceremony much more lovely and "churchy", but I still tell people I wrote my own ceremony.  (Except that I mostly just patched together various ceremony bits I found online.)  (And I'm not being "given away" by my dad, I'm being "presented".  It's different!
• Order/Purchase Groomsmen/Usher Gifts:  All of the components have been ordered, dropped off at the place they need to be dropped off, and will be ready for pickup on November 15.  This is another one of those things that although it's not technically finished, I am no longer worrying my pretty little head about.
• Finalize Music Selections and Send to DJ:  Done!  And we did the ceremony music and sent that to our string quartet ages ago.  We are all over this!

Tasks Still on The To-Do List (I hate this list, and yet, it lingers as most of it cannot be done until I get home.)

• Pack to Go Home: Yeah, this one is kind of a biggie.  And I'm terrified that I'll forget something vital.
• Final Haircut and Color: Booked for Friday, November 16.
• Finish the Guestbook Scrapbook: I'm so close to being done.  The only pages I have left are for the shower Lori threw us and about a two-thirds of the New York bachelorette weekend.  I'm also planning to bring all of my supplies home with me so that if I have time I can do pages for my Baton Rouge bachelorette party and the Rehearsal Dinner.  We'll see.
• Finalize Menu and Service Details With the Caterer:  I have tried.  Oh how I have TRIED.  Our catering is being done by the reception venue, since the venue is actually owned by one of Louisiana's most famous chefs, John Folse.  It's amazing food, and we have a delicious menu selected.  However, we switched up a few items from the preset level of catering that we chose and we're also doing a martini bar, which is something a little different from how they normally run their bar, and the venue kept telling us that they would confirm with us a month out.  I sent in the required final wedding report--about 5 pages of documents detailing every little thing about the ceremony and reception--weeks ago and included a note saying that once the report had been reviewed I'd like to be contacted so that I can set up an appointment with our Day of Coordinator when I get in town.  I haven't heard a peep from them.
• Attend Final Wedding Gown Fitting (And Later Pick Up the Dress):  Yep, can't do this until Monday, November 18.  Sure hope five days is all they need.
• Print Table Camera Scavenger Hunt Cards, Martini Menus, and Guestbook Cards: Monday, I'm sure.
• Pick up Sabers From LSU
• Assemble Ceremony Programs:  See above--will probably be done the Sunday or Monday before the wedding.
• Pick Up Marriage License: This will be another Monday task.  Monday is going to be so busy.  Shudder.  But family starts to arrive on Tuesday and I want to have as much done as possible by then.
• Call All Guests Who Haven't Yet RSVP'd:  This is going to be mostly Colby's job since the majority of non-responders are from his list.  I have two folks to contact, both of whom I highly doubt will be in attendance.  And I am so thrilled with our numbers for the wedding.  We had originally hoped for a small wedding, but over time our number invited ballooned to 216.  However, it's looking like our number attending is going to stay under 130 total guests.  It's still a little higher than I'd originally anticipated, but I'm just so glad that it won't be in the upper 100's.
• Wrap all Gifts for Wedding Party
• Give Final Headcount to White Oak and the Bakery
• Confirm All Vendors
• Send the Limo Company A Schedule and Addresses With Directions
• Buy Supplies For and Pack An "Emergency Kit" To Bring to White Oak:  The list has been made, and oh, it is extensive.  Anyone know where I can get smelling salts?
• Make Final Payments to Vendors:  This starts on Saturday and goes through the wedding.  My parents are thrilled, I'm sure!
• Drop Off All of the "Stuff" (Guestbook, Pen, Cardbox, Etc.) At White Oak:  I'm hoping that I can do this Friday when we have our rehearsal, if not I plan to beg a friend to bring it over for me on the day of the wedding.  White Oak is about 5 minutes from our house, so it wouldn't be a huge hassle.

That seems to be all I can think of right now.  I've got six spreadsheets made detailing the schedule for the week, the wedding day schedule, our payment amounts and due dates, the photo list, day of wedding tasks, and the supply kit list.  I have both The Knot checklist and my own personal wedding checklist that I've been diligently checking and complying with.  And yet I still feel like I'm forgetting something huge.

I haven't started to freak out yet.  In fact, I'm a little concerned at just how un-freaked out I am, but I'm fairly confident that when I wake up Sunday morning in Baton Rouge and look at my mountain of things to do, the nerves might just start creeping up on me.

Things That I Love--And You Should Love Too!

Now I'm just going to talk about things I love.  Possibly a reoccurring feature, maybe just a random one-off because I just can't keep these things to myself.  Only time will tell!

Also, is anyone else out there is planning to participate in NaBloPoMo?  I've decided to give it a try, and I just dare that pesky wedding to get in my way!

iPhone


Clearly this is not a new or revolutionary statement, but oh my lands, the iPhone is incredible.  I've wanted one ever since the announcement was made last summer, but balked at the original asking price and decided to just suck it up and live my life with my Razr by my side.  But then Colby's Zach Morris phone met with a violent death via canoe, and suddenly we were in the market for a new mobile device--and preferably one developed in this millenium.  So, I bequeathed my Razr to Colby and we went down to the AT&T store "just to look".  Obviously we left with a new iPhone in hand, or I would not be writing this glowing review now.

I know the price is still considerably higher than most cell phones out there, however, for a girl who communicates primarily through email and text messages and spends approximately 90% of her waking hours on the internet, this phone is an absolute dream.  Honestly, I don't think it would be worth the price unless that's the kind of person you are, but since I am, I feel like it was worth every penny.  The downsides?  The screen does get a bit... smeary, but it's nothing that can't be remedied with a swipe of the shammy.  I also thought that it didn't have a car charger, but I did a quick Google search to verify and lo and behold a multitude of car chargers came up.  And then there's the fact that you have to be an AT&T customer, but that wasn't a problem for me since I already had a contract with them and it was incredibly easy to switch phones.

Target GO: Designers (specifically Alice Temperley)


It's no big secret that I'm a huge fan of Target, and lately in filling out my "civilian" wardrobe, I've turned to Target for clothes more than any other store.  Their basics are all inexpensive and fairly well made for the price--I would say at least higher quality than Old Navy and quite often on par with places like The Gap or New York & Co. for half the price.  Then there are the GO: Designer collections.  Every few months they introduce a new, well known fashion designer who comes in a creates an entire line of clothing just for Target.  Sure, a lot of the stuff is obviously not of the highest quality and the fabrics and construction aren't going to be as upscale as what you'd find in the boutiques, but a lot of the pieces are really beautiful, interesting, and well made.

Right now Alice Temperley has her collection in stores, and I am absolutely in love with almost everything in the line.  I bought this sweater and this dress and get compliments and questions about where I got them every time I wear them.  There are so many other beautiful, feminine dresses and blouses that I'm dying to try, but I'm making myself hold off on buying anything else for a while just because I'm trying out this pesky thing called "budgeting".  Also, I suspect that since her collection has been around for a little while, things should start going on sale within the next month or so.

Sofft Shoes

If you've been looking for a pair of interesting and work appropriate heels that truly feel like wearing tennis shoes, I highly, highly recommend giving Sofft Shoes a try.  I bought the pair pictures above (Gemma) after seeing an ad in one of my magazines and reading the glowing reviews, but I wasn't sure that the heel would be something that I would want to wear every day while walking my half mile to and from the train station.  I got them from Zappos, so they showed up on my doorstep Friday afternoon and I got to try them out this morning.

They're like walking on a beautiful 3-inch cloud.  I kid you not, I've been wearing them all day and doing plenty of walking and my feet hurt not a smidge.  I'd ordered a pair of brown shoes from another company, and they're certainly moderately comfortable, but I'm seriously considering returning them and ordering another pair from Sofft.  The price is definitely on the higher side--usually about $90-$100 full price, but I certainly consider that money well spent if it means I don't have tears of pain running down my cheeks by the time I get to my car at the end of the day.

Is It Friday Yet?

This week in bullet format:

• I still feel like crap, and the weather is not helping.  Oh yeah, it's definitely fall in Seattle.
• Airborne can suck my left toe because it IS NOT HELPING.
• My first thought upon waking up this morning was, "Oh God, I have to do this again tomorrow."  I then hit the snooze button.
• After downing a quarter pound of semi sweet chocolate a couple months ago, and then surviving, Jack and Ellie decided to conquer glass.  We came home yesterday to bits of Colby's glasses strewn across the living room floor and both of the lenses popped out and no longer present.
• We soaked cotton balls in milk and fed them to the dogs and then gave them each a bowl of high fiber cereal.  Ellie seems fine, Jack still hasn't gone number two, so let's just hope his intestines aren't being ripped up by glass shards as we speak.
• Why do my dogs have a death wish?
• They are now being crated during the day.  Twits.
• I took Tuesday off from work and still haven't caught up--hence the crappy bullet post.
• We picked up my wedding band from the jeweler yesterday and it is GORGEOUS!!  However, I'm not allowed to show it off to the internet yet because Colby says I have to actually be married first.  He's mean.
• The ring came with a jar of jewelry cleaner, and although I am now thrilled to have jewelry cleaner in the house, I was a little disappointed at first because I totally thought it was a jar of candy.
• How is it that it took 3 days to set stones and do detailed etching on my band and it's been 4 days since we bought Colby's ring that just needed a brushed finish put on and we still haven't heard from the jeweler?  Weird.
• I still haven't bought the dress... I'm working on it.  But I did buy a brown pair and a black pair of (hopefully comfortable) heels for work since I'm tired of either wearing flats or having sore feet.  I'll provide shoe updates soon.
• There were wedding related "heated discussions" and tears shed on Tuesday night.  Yesterday my monthly visitor arrived.  I'm not saying there's a direct correlation, but I think maybe the one had a little something to do with the other.
• But isn't the saying "There is much truth to that which is said in PMS"?

A much more interesting (to me) wedding-centric post is coming soon, but I need to eat and then get back to work.  Those spreadsheets aren't going to create themselves!

Playing Catch Up

I think I may have mentioned before that the one constant in my life has been my repeat abandonment of diaries.  I always loved the idea of keeping a diary, and I loved opening that brand new book and detailing all of the fascinating events of my day (I think Ryan likes me!  I ate tuna salad for lunch today!  I hate Mrs. D!), but after about a week of devoted attention to recording my life story, I'd always forget to write for one day.  And then the next day I'd think I should really catch up on the past two days, and then a week would have passed and suddenly it seemed like a gargantuan effort to remember and write down everything that had happened in my exciting life over the past week.  Suddenly, a year would have gone by and I'd be starting my diary all over again with renewed determination and commitment.  And then the cycle would repeat.

I feel like that's been happening to my blog.  For the past few months I've had so much to write about, and all of the events just pile up on top of each other and never quite force their way out of my fingers and onto the keyboard.  Then by the time I sit down with Typepad all loaded up and that blinker just blinking away on an empty screen I get so overwhelmed by what I should talk about that instead of blogging I decide to watch The Hills.  Just this past week has been jampacked with topics to write about:

• My encounters with various homeless and/or crazy men on my way to and from the train station each day.  How is it that one man with so few teeth has the ability to simultaneously creep me out, make me feel sad, and give my ego a boost all with one hastily muttered comment slung in my general direction?  I mean, they might be crazy and homeless, but if they ALL think I'm pretty, they all can't be wrong, right?
• The little retaining wall Colby built around one of the beds in our front garden.  I'm so proud of how he can just Googles some DIY instructions, goes to buy the supplies, and then builds a wall.  Granted, it is a very short wall that I probably would not trust to hold back an invading army, but it's perfect to keep our mulch from washing away in the rains.  And if we needed an wall to keep out an invading army, he could probably figure that out too.
• How much I love my new job.  I'm still very much in the learning stages, and there is a LOT to learn, but the people are so friendly, my boss(es?) has (have) been nothing but nice and seem to actually respect and appreciate my abilities--a far cry from many of my experiences in the Air Force.  The fact that I found out I was chosen from about 50 applicants and they actually raised their maximum salary to hire me makes me feel about a frillion times better than when a Major sits me down on your first day in the military and tells me (having never actually spoken to me or met me before MIND YOU) that I'm incredibly naive and am going to have to toughen up and be willing to work hard.  Plus I don't get all queasy on Sunday night knowing that my weekend is over and I have to be in the office the next day.  There is a lot to be said for your job not making you physically ill and not constantly talking down to you.
• How terrible I feel that as nice as everyone is, I can never remember anyone's name at my new job.  I've always been really great with names and faces, but I just cannot keep all of these people straight.  I think the problem is that they are all white guys with short hair, most of them wear glasses, and they all hide behind a computer most of the day.  The one thing I miss about the Air Force is the name tape and the rank.  It may have been irritatingly classest to always refer to people by rank and last name, but at least you always knew exactly to whom you were talking.
• The Air Force Ball on Saturday.  The tailor did a really good job with my dress and everything was going swimmingly with the getting ready process until I realized that my trusty little stick on bra was going to be necessary and was mysteriously MIA.  Colby was already out buying retaining wall supplies so I just called him and asked if he could possibly go to the mall and find me a replacement sticky bra.  And do you know what?  20 minutes and two helpful sales ladies later, he did!  Love doesn't mean never having to say your sorry.  Love means going blindly into the lingerie department with vague sticky bra instructions from your fiance and emerging victorious.

And those are just the things that stick out in my mind.  So see, now I have no excuse to not keep this site updated more often.  I've gotten most of the logjam of recent events out of my mind and now I'll be able to start over fresh and hopefully keep up with things as they come along.  I'm also going to try to get out of the Google Reader trap of reading everyone's blogs but rarely commenting.

But now I'm going to stop blogging my lunch break away and actually go eat something before my stomach starts the painful process of digesting itself.  Yum!