Day 2- Favorite Movie

First thing's first, Drink of the night: Reisling

Favorite Movie:

American Movie.

This recently took the place of Home Alone II.

Tough act to follow.

Didn't you love No Country For Old Men? That's up there.

Alive

I'm doing this puppy:

Day 1 - your favorite song
Day 2 - your favorite movie
Day 3 - your favorite television program
Day 4 - your favorite book
Day 5 - your favorite quote
Day 6 - 20 of my favorite things
Day 7 - a photo that makes you happy
Day 8 - a photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 9 - a photo you took
Day 10 - a photo taken over 10 years ago of you
Day 11 - a photo of you recently
Day 12 - something you are OCD about
Day 13 - a fictional book
Day 14 - a non-fictional book
Day 15 - your dream house
Day 16 - a song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 - an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)
Day 18 - my wedding/future wedding/past wedding
Day 19 - a talent of yours
Day 20 - a hobby of yours
Day 21 - a recipeDay 22 - a website
Day 23 - a youtube video
Day 24 - where I live
Day 25 - your day, in great detail
Day 26 - your week, in great detail
Day 27 - my worst habit
Day 28 - whats in my handbag/purse
Day 29 - hopes,dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 - a dream for the future

I handed in my wretched project yesterday & had NOTHING to do today at work. Isn't that funny? Or not. Such is a day in the life in my profession. When this happens, I worry while I have work on nights/wkends that I am neglecting friends/family. And when I'm at work and have nothing to do, I worry that I will lose my job. I wonder why I can't have work while I'm at work and then no work when I'm not at work. Or work while I'm at work and then a little bit of work while I'm at home. Because I don't mind working from home. BROKEN RECORD. I know. Have you noticed that there is just no pleasing me?

Enough biotching and to the point.

The reason I'm doing this thing is because I saw it on another blog while wasting time today. And I thought- wtf?

My favorite song. Without question, Amazing Grace. Any version. With music or without. Just music, or just vocals.

Nothing sounds better than Amazing Grace on bagpipes. I wanted the bagpiper to play it at my wedding, but he said it's often played at funerals and might make people feel sad.

Thankful.......

So I felt like I should take the time to jot down a few things for which I am thankful. To be perfectly honest, I had a rough passed few days. And today at 230 as I received an email asking me to do work over the 4 day vacation that I so desperately wanted and hoped for, my heart dropped. I'm so sad and so, so fully of self-pity. I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

But that is ridiculous. I am fortunate. I am officially thankful this Thanksgiving 2010 for the following:

1. The Monkster & J, healthy family & friends. Need I say more?

2. My 2 obnoxious furballs that forgive my every transgression

3. Funny text messages that I am blessed to receive daily

5. Netflix

6. Blogs

7. Colored printers

8. Staples (v. paper clips)

9. My secretary- pretty much my only real human companionship throughout the day

10. Juicy scandals

11. Documentaries about drug users

12. Soft beagle ears

13. The smell of the outside

14. My brain

15. Skylines

16. Employment (begrudgingly I write this)

17. King of Queens

18. Boardwalk Empire

19. Caffeine

20. A home with heat in a pretty neighborhood

21. Kindness

22. Right now

22. youtube

23. pacifiers and baby formula

24. wine/beer/hard liquor in no particular order


On that note, drink of the night: A mixture of pear juice, white grap juice and rum. After I poured the rum, I realized we were out of soda!! URGH!

Tomorrow is T-giving w the in-laws. Wish me luck.

Decorations

Drink of the night: Beer

I put up these bad boys again. Only to find that my dog's appetite for foam berries on a wire vine has increased. I can't have a baby crawling around putting wires in her mouth. So I guess you could say that, thus far, Hannie has single-handedly destroyed Christmas. She's lucky she's as cute as a button. A large, furry button.

Here's a pic of my older brother and I eating Santa's cookies, I think.

In the 80's- and maybe early 90's- I can't recall. My mom used to put up those holiday decorations that were like a mosaic of melted plastic. Member those? I sometimes wonder if they ever existed at all, as they seem to have left the earth entirely. I can't even recall exactly what they formed- a tree? a pumpkin? a snowman? an Easter egg? wtf? Am I losing it?

Then she just stopped.

One year her failure to decorate for holidays (aside from a fall wreath or whatever) other than Christmas really depressed me. I think I was in junior high or high school. So I tried to decorate myself, but I didn't have money or a car so I made them myself with neon paper and some tape. They were terrible.

I decided that I would always decorate the house for holidays- if for no other reason- than for Monkey. I hesitate to make this statement on the tail end of a story about how my mom stopped decorating and it depressed me because she's a good mom and a wonderful grandma, but the truth stands: I wanted her to decorate more for the holidays. She would roll her eyes at this entry.

So this year, I made a point of getting pumpkins and gourds and mums and all that jazz. It looked really pretty and made me feel satisfied. And at Halloween, I made sure those pumpkins were carved. I always make J carve one too. He complains and puts it off for days and then he all of the sudden gets really into it. This year he made an awesome cat. I carved Monkey's name into the other one. Then we set them outside and watched the squirrels go to town on them- using their little paws to dig out the edible stuff from the pumpkin. It was really cute.

I totally understand why my mom didn't decorate other than for Xmas. It felt like a production and it would have been very easy to be like, 'What's the diff, it'll be over in 2 wks anyway.' Moreover, she was probably like, 'My kids are teenagers. I don't have to do that stuff anymore and I'm too busy trying to prevent them from skipping school and smoking cigarettes.'

She failed at both. We all skipped school and we all took up smoking at some point.

So she might as well have decorated.

Reunion Thoughts

I DESPISE how judgmental I am.

So my 10 yr reunion is coming up and my dear friend The Blind decided to create a website for it. People register and then if they fill out their spouse, occupation, etc..

I'm cruising the names of people I barely remember. And I have the audacity to be surprised at what some people endeed up doing.

For example, one kid wrote something about being a motivational speaker. I thought, 'That surprises me.'

I knew him in 4th grade. We were 9 or 10. He professed his love for me on the playground in elementary school. If we spoke after that, I have no recollection.

I feel like I don't have the right to be surprised at anything he ended up doing. I did not know him at all.

But high school tricks you into thinking you knew these people. At least big high schools. Because you see the same people every day.

But I really only actually knew a handful of people.

I know these aren't novel thoughts, but I find myself falling back into the same pattern and I find it limiting. Even though the thoughts I think are not always negative, I feel like they do not make me a better person.

For this reason, I want Monkey to go to a small high school. So at the very least, there are only 100 people she stereotypes, as opposed to 500.

10 months

Today is Monkey's 10 month birthday! She celebrated by drinking 8 oz of formula, eating a delightful apples & cherries combo and passing out while watching a Sesame Street Sing Karaoke special. A glutton before the age of 1. Apple doesn't fall far, folks.... :)

I'm also coming in at almost 9 months of working. Silly as it sounds, this is a huge accomplishment to me. When I first started, I could not envision it lasting a month. I've adapted, but I still do not think that this is the job for me, long term. But for the time being, it works.

The drink of the day so far is the milk in which my Honey Nut Cheerios are swimming. But this evening, it will most certainly be a rum and coke. Last night I had wine and I missed my carbonated go-to.

So I'm on J's computer. Again. And I was looking through the folders and found some pics.

This first pic featuring me with my eyes closed is from law schl. I had just returned from a run and we decided to attempt a family photo- which is always hysterical when a beagle is involved. We were baby-less! I cannot imagine a life without the Monkster. While I definitely would not classify myself as "care-free" as a 1st yr l-aw student has about a million worries, I would classify myself as less vulnerable. But I was a pretty huge psychotic mess that year.

And this second pic above is me and my little brother on either my 5th or 6th birthday. I believe 6th. In my hands is my beloved guinea pig.

I'm Lame

J's at work again late tonight. I seized the day and watched Toy Story 3. Completed the trilogy.

I am crying like someone who is super wasted, but I'm not!

It was SO SAD.