Nuthin’ but an H thang, Baybay…

Sorry my blog’s been boring/neglected again. On the up side, my excuse is that I had a very, very good summer.

Some summers are disappointing because of icky weather, others are too short because I’m tied up with too many events, and yet others escape me because I’m too caught up in work/stress to really stop and take them in.

Not this summer.

I skipped the icky weather of early June because I was vacationing in Paris and London. Thanks to the persistent rain, I was thrilled to come home to a lush yard which lasted all summer long. I attended plenty of great parties, hung out with friends/family and got in some solid cabin time. I dipped in the lake and even managed a tan. I spent a lot of quality time with my camera around Minneapolis.  The novelty of my new windows and my new bathroom have not worn off, either. And as for work – I think I did a pretty good job of managing my stress levels by appreciating and enjoying all of the things I just mentioned.

I’m bracing myself for the colder weather…but I think (and hope) the memories of this past summer will keep me warm for a time.

Picture this: I’m on my way out of the office trudging through the parking ramp trying to find my car (so, a bit distracted). A bright yellow Porsche Boxster starts to drive in my direction and I notice that the driver has a short blond hairdo styled upward. In my mind’s eye, I thought it was one of my high-ranking female coworkers. I smiled as she passed by and nearly waved…until the car got closer and I realized “#@*&! That’s a dude!” Nope, it wasn’t my coworker at all, it was some random guy who spotted me smiling at him, slowed down slightly, and smiled back. Great.

As I approach the ramp’s exit, my car ends up behind the Boxster so I divert my eyes from any possible contact. He pulls ahead, then I do. Now on the street, I have to pull up behind him again at a stoplight to make my turn for my usual route home. He checks his rearview mirror nervously, probably thinking he’s being stalked by some weird chick from the parking ramp.

Oh, it gets better. It turns out that he takes the same route home I do – nearly all the way to my neighborhood! Which means that I followed him for about 6 miles on side-streets! He’s probably filing a restraining order against me today.

Think I need to start taking the bus again.

This afternoon, I talked with my Auntie Bon a bit. It always startles me to hear her clear and happy voice after what she went through just a couple of short months ago.

The last two months have escaped me. There’s been so much going on this summer but I haven’t had the energy to blog about it (clearly) and I’ve been revisiting my summer days through photos alone. I think this is one of the more heavily scheduled summers I remember. The majority of those events have been great fun, but I’m sad to see my favorite time of year coming to a close…as usual.

I also hope the end of the summer season means a return to blogging. A weird side effect of Facebook/Twitter is that I’ve been satisfying my urges to blog in the form of “status updates” or worse, “tweets.” It’s like taking a bite rather than having a meal. When I look back at this blog, I want to be able to remember what I was up to, what I was thinking, what I was complaining about, etc. Revisiting those things with “status updates” is less satisfying, but I admit, I enjoy seeing the comments from my FB friends & fam. Anyway, you should see more blog entries soon.

For now, I need sleep or else.

Despite the fact that it’s Monday, I think I’m still hanging onto a zen moment from my massage yesterday. I’d like to point out a few simple pleasures I really enjoyed today:

1. The rain felt so good today. I loved waking up to the rain as it gently tapped on the roof and swished through the downspouts. Everything looks a little cleaner and a little greener this afternoon.
2. Several weeks ago, I bought this stretchy rayon dress. It’s a black v-neck that goes nicely with jeans and a white tank underneath. I wore it today…it’s quickly become one of the best things in my closet for how comfortable it is and because I think it slims me down ever-so-slightly.
3. Strawberries! I bought a ridiculously large container of strawberries at Costco on Saturday. To accompany my lunch today, I brought a nice quart-sized bag of them to work and ate every last one. They were so sweet.

I had a very busy, but very pleasant day. I NEED MORE MASSAGES!!!

In recent IM conversations with coworkers, I created some real blunders while furiously typing. Here are some examples:

- adapeter (meant to be adapter, but with an extra appendage?)
- additionanal (yikes)
- sweather (weather, but with more sweat)
- othera (the new plural form of “other”)

In order to quit embarrassing myself and othera, it might be a good idea to slow down…

All is quiet in my house at 6am on the last day of the year. I shouldn’t be up this early, but out of habit, I am. I’m sort of excited to get this day behind me.

There are two times of year that never fail to get a rise of sentimentality and reflection out of me: the early fall season and the last day of the year. Every fall as the leaves drop, I examine my life and my choices in general. I look for areas to improve and analyze where I am and how I got there. I think about people who are no longer in my life. I obsess about the future. As for the last day of the year, these thoughts are much more pinpointed to the last 12 months and the next 6 months. Even in this blog, I usually write an end of year summary, describing line by line, what happened or what I accomplished. It’s a fun and usually therapeutic exercise. I’m big on goal-setting, so it also helps me take a look at how to organize my priorities and devise plans for the coming year. There, now you know another wonderfully boring thing about me that you didn’t know yesterday. Yay you.

Two things occurred to me yesterday that were slightly amusing and frightening all at once. One, time is speeding by. I cannot believe that come this April, my blog will have been up for 5 years. Where did 5 years go? Okay, so I can read the blog and figure that out…but why did it go so fast?  For the girl who wanted everything, it’s freaking me out. I need more time to travel all around the world and finish school and finish my master bathroom remodel and…take more leaps forward in my career and have a kid and…yeah. Okay, so the second thing: the more snow we get, the slower the days go. Is this contrary to what I just barfed all over this post? Sure! Welcome to my brain. Really though, the snow is making me feel like the days stand still. All this precious time I was whining about? It drags on as the snow piles up and I’m increasingly more frustrated that I can’t hang out in my backyard or go eat on a restaurant patio. So, it’s like I’m waiting for the time to get behind me…what a paradox.

I’m neurotic, yes. On that note, one of my goals for 2008 was to find a handful of things that bring my stress levels down. This might sound weird (in this post, it’s on par), but I’ve discovered that listening to birds singing early in the morning takes some stress off my head. In the winter, I miss it terribly. However…for some reason, right now, outside my window, there is a loudly chirping bird. I must have some good karma coming my way today.

Here are a few thoughts and updates for the week:

1. It seems that some women don’t realize that sheer opalescent pantyhose are about the most hideous thing you can wear. Please ladies, you’re killing me here.

2. Corina is leaving me! My trainer is moving to Iowa City, for love, of course. Adam and I are both very sad.

3. My Daddio sent me two AWESOME clips of him singing a few blues tunes. It made my day.

4. I get to drive Adam’s truck this week. His speakers kick the crap out of mine, so I’ve been bumping bass-heavy grooves all over the place. Yesterday, I listened to Swass by Sir Mix-a-Lot with glee.

5. The tree in front of our house may be taken down. The nasty hail storm we had in June pretty much sealed its fate and we spent most of Saturday cleaning up the area around it. My legs have hurt ever since.

More later…swass!

My psyche has this habit of reminding me that life is so, so short. Ever since I was a teenager, I was fascinated, if not obsessed, with the concept of time. I must’ve read the following excerpt from Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles a hundred times:

There was a smell of Time in the air tonight. He smiled and turned the fancy in his mind. There was a thought. What did Time smell like? Like dust and clocks and people. And if you wondered what Time sounded like it sounded like water running in a dark cave and voices crying and dirt dropping down upon hollow box lids, and rain. And, going further, what did Time *look* like? Time looked like snow dropping silently into a black room or it looked like a silent film in an ancient theater, one hundred billion faces falling like those New Year balloons, down and down into nothing. That was how Time smelled and looked and sounded. And tonight-Tomas shoved a hand into the wind outside the truck-tonight you could almost *touch* Time.

I have an additional question that Mr. Bradbury can’t answer: *How* much time do I have? I’m in luck, because The DeathClock.com has made calculating my life expectancy easy! According to the site, I will die on April 7th, 2055. I’ll be just 77 years young. This means that I have 47 years left…which means at 38 and a half, I’ll officially be “middle-aged.” I’d better start that Bucket List now.

Maybe that’s morbid. Perhaps I’m just feeling a little “mortal” lately. Attending a funeral tends to cause that feeling. If it’s true that I die on April 7th, 2055, I predict it will be an unseasonably warm day…

When I die, I want one of these!!! And for heaven’s sake, make sure my tombstone faces South so that it can recharge.

Okay, okay already! Everyone and their grandmother has been yelling at me about the absence of anything new on my blog. I’m sorry, dudes! I didn’t realize anyone was paying attention…

I’ve been putting off blogging because I’ve been meaning to recap our Italy trip. Between work and family and travel and my newfound relationship with Bally’s, I’ve been bizzie! I’ll get around to finishing the Italy post someday, but for now, I’m movin’ on.

So. I guess today is a good day to start. This morning so far, here are some observations:
1. I listened to You Gets No Love by Faith Evans on my commute. Oh, hellllls yes! That one gets me grooving in my car every time, much to the amusement of my passersby.
2. Diablo Cody and Jonny are getting divorced! This saddens me a great deal.
3. It’s December and I’ve purchased ZERO Christmas presents! AHHHHHHHHH!!
4. Around the office, we’re engaged in Secret Section8 Santas again. It’s-the-most-wonderful-time-of-the-year!!
5. I’ve been falling in love with Flickr. I find it even more fun than blogging, I think.
6. Speaking of Flickr, I’m participating in a project called “365 Days.” I take one cheeky pic of myself per day and post it to a large conglomerate of other people doing the same thing for all the world to see. Weird, yes. But it also makes me come up with a new idea each day and find new ways to mess with my camera. And ya’ll know how I love to mess with my camera.
7. One of the managers at work participates in a Lego League. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but they’ve invited Adam to “Emcee” the tournament this Sunday. I’m tagging along to check it out and take photos (cuz, what else would I do?).
8. AdamV and Dena’s Holiday Party is this weekend. I need to bring something “snacky,” so if you have any ideas, please kick ‘em over. Otherwise, I’m bringing gruel. I’ve always wanted to make gruel.
9. We have a new addition to our family! And no, I’m not pregnant (sheesh!). We adopted a 5-month old kitten from my Aunt Cindy and we adore her. Adam named her Vespa, after the Bond Girl in Casino Royale. She’s the most sweet, affectionate, tiny little thing. Garet isn’t so sure about her yet but I think he’s warming ever-so-slowly to the idea.
10. My new role at my company has been going pretty well. I’m under pressure, man, REAL TALK. If you haven’t seen R Kelly’s Real Talk video, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about – but you should watch it for hilarity’s sake.
11. I worked from home yesterday, which was awesome until the power went out. Thankfully, Xcel had it restored in 2 hours.

There are all sorts of other things I need to tell you, but that’ll have to do for now. I’ll leave you with my empty promise that I’ll try to keep my blog updated going forward.