snow day, baby

today is my first official snow day. church got canceled because of the snow. WOO! it's not that i'm excited that church is canceled but i'm excited to not have to do something because of the snow. that's never happened to me before. YAY snow day.

that said i will now commence my year in review

january
the new year's day fiasco with bill... mostly involved not being able to do anything we wanted all day long and then having to walk home from the movies. trip to virginia for home finding - had a sinus infection and almost died the night before the trip due to an allergic reaction to some medicine that i can never remember. i should probably write it down the next time i remember. trip to seattle with amber and cici to visit dad. disneyland for my 25th birthday.

february
civil war reenactment in ca for valentine's day. trip to hawaii. the neighbor setting their apartment on fire and the fire fighters chopping a "small" hole in our wall. trip to san francisco to visit little dan.

march
driving a 17' uhaul with my car towed behind it from arizona to virginia. i still can't believe i did that. i'm pretty hard core. as is gina. i would totally do it again... but only if gina was with me. highlights: getting the uhaul and company stuck in a parking lot in downtown atlanta, the coke factory, all the mcdonalds across the country, ALABAMA, snow in new mexico and cookies at the doubletree. started work at the new d&b... which involved me being told i needed woman classes. obviously they didn't know who they were dealing with. the first sunday at church here when i met phil and the teeth. ::hahaha:: meeting arianne and she turned out to not be hispanic like i had expected.

april
store opens. woo! emmy came to visit. i had a house warming party that i was hours late to. hmm. i think work was pretty much everything that was going on during april.

may
i got sylvie the hamster. duck beach. we stayed in this adorable beach house and i had top bunk. had fun bonding with stephanie and arianne... our lovely photo scavenger hunt. saw the wright brothers museum. the first of the hair fiascos... i tried to get my hair dyed red... and it turned out pink. it was all down hill from there.

june
i realized that it rains a ridiculous amount in virginia. never-ever trust a virginian when they tell you about the weather. they are all weather liars. you could be standing there getting rained on and they will deny the fact that it is raining until they die. i think virginians like to pretend they live somewhere cool like california and that it doesn't do things like rain or snow... but it's a LIE. it rains all the time here, don't be fooled. went to the world's boringest baseball game with jon. had a big month at work. lots of party planning in june. those were the days, yo.

july
4th of july!!! we organized a trip to dc to celebrate the freedom and birth of our great nation. best day ever. made some new friends and got to know people better. saw an amazing fireworks display. got accused of groping phil on the subway (which i did not do). went to waffle house where we witnessed people having a dtr next to the dumpster. some day that will be me, if only in my dreams. i think my favorite part of the trip was when we went for a walk, me, daniel, nate and tiffani and saw some more of the monuments and we had firecracker popsicles and just generally had a nice time being together. its moments like that that stay with me for some reason. nothing big or exciting happened but we were all together and i was, just, sincerely happy to be there.

august
trip to ca. it was so nice to go home and just get away for a bit. i don't remember too much else about august except this was when i got really, really depressed. the trip home helped me get out of that a bit. it was just such a terrible feeling. i would come home from work and just lay in bed crying. i hope i never feel that way again. i believe august is about that time i got that HORRIFIC hair cut. i'm still recovering. ughh.

september
lauren came to visit! it was so nice to have her out here. we did all sorts of touristy stuff while she was here. we even had TWO picnics. and it POURED rain on one of them. ha. i believe this was about the time i became friends with jessica 'queen fug'. we definitely went to the field day of the past during september. i learned what a tractor pull is. i couldn't explain it to you if i tried. all i know is that people wearing confederate flag shirts like to watch them.

october
this was the beginning of my 30 rock obsession. i hid away for a weekend and did nothing but watched 30 rock all weekend long. it was AMAZING. i love 30 rock b/c i relate to liz lemon so much. it cracks me up. i believe october is when we took the bus trip to nyc. for halloween i dressed up as a zombie cowboy. the next day i decided i would need to be zombie richard nixon for halloween 2010.

november
november involved several attempts at hair dying. most of which turned out to be an ultimate fail. i got a haircut that turned out pretty normal and now i'm still working on growing my hair out. had thanksgiving with diane, javi and quentin. it really was a nice thanksgiving, very relaxing.

december
i took a trip up to NYC all by myself. SOOO much fun. I did touristy stuff around the city and just generally enjoyed the city experience. i hung out at 30 rock and pretended to be liz lemon. my first snow day! and i get to go home for christmas! spent time with people i adore throughout the month. learned how to work the tv finally. kimy bought a house! ready to get my 2010 on.

woo! i'm sure i left lots of big stuff out. hey! add a message with any big things you remember that i left out!

anyway, overall i've had an amazing year with lots of growth and learning. i'm thankful for the amazing people that have come and gone throughout this year. i really am learning that things don't always turn out like you might expect but they always turn out.

gee wiz

this is me pretending to be happy about that fact that i'm being snowed on. the snow started up pretty quickly. i don't know if that's always what happens with snow since this really has never happened to me before. by the time i got home from work it was coming down pretty heavily.

the snow stresses me out and i got very little sleep last night. for whatever reason i would wake up in a panic every half hour or so and would bolt over to the window. i think part of me was afraid that the snow would have disappeared or that the whole world would have filled up with snow. i don't know which would have been more shocking to me. at any rate it made for a very stressful night.

this morning i decided i would try to take some pictures of the snow. so i put on jeans and a sweatshirt and opened the front door and realized there was no way i was going outside like that. i went and grabbed my snow coat, opened the door and got to the open air and went back inside for more gear. i grabbed a scarf and pulled up my hood and finally made my way to the parking lot. i took a few photos before i realized i really should have put on gloves and my fingers were killing me. i scurried back to the apartment as quickly as possible (which was actually very slowly b/c i was petrified of falling, breaking an arm and dying alone in my apartment).





















so the other night we decided to have some fun with diet coke and mentos (yes, i've been on a myth busters kick). fun with diet coke and mentos eventually leads to fun with other household items... like cornstarch. we learned a lot about what happens when you combine water and cornstarch (CREEPY) but more importantly i learned what happens when you combine fire and cornstarch... this:

i'm still trying to get my hands on the video to post here. it's a good time.

anyway, i've got a lot of stressful stuff going on right now. i've got some career decisions to make. ::joy:: and just generally waiting on some stuff to work or not work out. also, all the christmas parties for this weekend got cancelled due to the weather so that means more events moving to january. things definitely did not play out the way i had expected. but then again they rarely do. just ask my hair.

"it doesn't snow in virginia"

so that's my car. obviously i'm not going anywhere any time soon. snow is like being sick but without being sick. you have to stay in your house and watch a lot of tv.

it's the journey

so yesterday ann and i got lunch at mcdonald's. ann orders and then i go up and order and at the end of my transaction this happens:
mcdonald's worker man: you're very beautiful.
me: oh, uhmm thank you.
mcdonald's worker man: i just had to say it. i couldn't keep a straight face anymore.
me: (in my head) is that still a compliment? can i have my lunch now? where's the nearest exit?

which leads to... my favorite stories of times guys have randomly hit on me! woo!

so i'm in the parking lot at the ontario mills (i think it's important that i tell you ontario mills... if you've ever been there you'll understand). laurel and i are walking from the movie theater (where we have just purchased tickets for a movie that starts in an hour or so) and are making our way to the food court for dinner when a random guy runs up to me
random guy: hey, hey!
me: uhm, yeah?
random guy: what are you doing?
me: uhm, we're going to eat.
random guy: can i buy you a burger?
me: no i don't think so.

so i'm leaving denny's with little dan. we're getting into the car and next to my side is a truck of guys.
driver guy: hey, can you do the hula?
me: what?
driver guy: i said can you do the hula?
me: uhm, no.
driver guy: oh... uhm because you look like you're hawaiian.
me: dan unlock the car.
::i think the guy either forgot the punchline of the joke or chickened out but i'm sure it should have ended with something about getting lei'd::

and then there's always the assortment of random work incidents. oh the work incidents. like the captain who would come in and dance with my chair. or the kitchen worker who would sneak up and hold my hand. or the server who would tell me i looked like a school girl. or the guy at the coffee shop who wanted to name his daughter after me luckily his wife wouldn't let him (that mostly just qualifies as awkward). or this
him: i love you.
me: i know.
him: no, no you don't.
me: ::awkward::

oh when i was in new york katelyn got hit on by some weird guy. the best part: when he came over and went to start talking he totally drooled on the table. nice.

reminds of the time i was talking to some guy at a networking event. so we're outside chatting it up and suddenly a bug just flies up his nose. his eyes go wide, he looks at me and says 'i have to go' and walks away. i was just like uh yeah you do.

oh life! cracks me up!

that's not a bee! that's a bear in a bee costume!

sometimes in my mind i can't figure out the difference between bear and beer. weird.

last weekend i took a last minute trip to the big apple. friday i got to work and decided i needed a little get away. my first thought was to attempt a trip to orlando but after not finding any flights that fit the budget, i tried new york and found something that was perfect and allowed for maximum time in the city. anyway, i wound up having a lovely time the city. highlight was definitely the nbc studio tour at the 30 rock building.

this is my picture with alec baldwin. aka they put my face where tina fey's normal is. take that tina! i also got a 'that's a deal breaker, ladies' shirt. i love it and would wear it every day if that was ok with work.

other highlights: i was able to use public transportation to get from the airport to time square without getting lost. people on the street asked me for directions and i was able to tell them (luckily they were going to the same place as me). the rooftop restaurant where they give you a big cozy red robe to wear because it's cold. watching mythbusters in my swanky hotel room. having the freedom to do or not do whatever i want when ever i want (one of the perks of traveling alone... also there's no one to question your sense of direction or get angry at you when it turns out you've been walking the wrong direction for a while... however there is no one to help you when some random man on the street wants to give you his phone number. you win some, you lose some.).

i love love love mythbusters. mostly b/c i'm in love with grant. that guy is awesome. i love that mythbusters always seems to be on tv when i'm in a hotel. it's one of the reasons i love going on vacation.

yesterday i went up to dc with my favoritest boos. we went to the newseum. whenever i tell that to anyone they say 'oh, which museum?' and i have to say 'no the neeeewwwwwwseum.' it's a museum about the news. actually, it's more like THE museum about news. they had an amazing 9/11 exhibit. i don't know that amazing is the word... shocking, heart breaking, scary? they were showing footage from the attack that i'd either blocked from memory or had never seen before and the magnitude, the horrible loss, the tragedy... it all came back. it's odd to me b/c less than a week prior i had made the trip down to the site of the world trade center for the first time since the attack. with the image of the massive nothingness fresh in my mind, seeing the footage... it just was unreal... unreal to think of the horrible things that happened where i had been standing. horrific to think about how quickly we forget about what happened to us.

the museum also had a great exhibit about the berlin war. i don't know why i feel such a connection to the fall of the berlin wall. whenever it comes up it stops me. i suppose it scares me... the awful things we do to each other. it breaks my heart.

today, i read 'the hunger games.' nate had been telling me to read for a while so i picked it up yesterday while we were up in dc. i started it this morning and finished it this evening (with time to spare for church and baking cupcakes). it's one of those books that is engaging right away. definitely worth reading. i'm still upset about the ending... b/c it's not fair. also, in a way i relate to the main character and i hate it but need to know what happens at the same time. and i'm hooked.

as a side note, i finished 'the lost symbol' and it was a let down. don't bother with it. read 'the hunger games' instead.

now we can swim any day in november

i've been pretty depressed again lately. anyway, this has made me realize that i've always been very lucky in the people i have shared an office with... asia, rachele and, now, ann. these three women have been like angels in my life. wonderful, hard working, fabulous people who keep me sane (to the extent of sanity i'm capable of having). i realized this today after telling ann about why i'm actually depressed. i realized that the only people who have ever known what is going on in my life for the last 4 years have been the ones that have been locked in an office with me 8 hours a day. besides that i usually just deal with things myself and don't like to talk about whatever it is that is currently got me beat. but it's so wonderful to have those times when i can just unload all my crazy and not have them tell me i'm crazy.

i suppose my whole point in this is to say how thankful i am for these women and what they have done for me.

this past weekend i had a stay-cation at diane's house. i just adore diane's house. it's so cute! and i have my own bedroom there! with a ninja turtle blanket. saturday we went to ihop for breakfast. i can't even remember the last time i went to ihop. it was a fun breakfast. i had biscuits and gravy and felt like a real southern lady. ihope was PACKED. i've never seen so many people in one place and we all had to set really close together. it was insane. then we went to the mall and to costco where we had a sample adventure and also berry smoothies. saturday night we ordered pizza and watched the office. sunday we went to the smithsonian museum of natural history. i learned about the history of things that are natural. i like that museum because in the lobby they have a giant elephant. after that we went to the zoo. it was a very full day. they don't have any giraffes at the national zoo. when we got back to her house i took a nap and then drove home.

and now things are in full swing at work. so many parties, so little time. ::sigh:: i spend probably have the day resisting the urge to bang my head into the wall. the good news is that so far i've been successful. today ann told me i should punch the wall. i pretended to do it and it actually did make me feel better. ha. oh wall punching!

"i'm hiding under your porch because i love you" i heard that as i was walking through target today. it was little clip from up. i think i'm going to start saying it to people now. ha. maybe i will just randomly text it to everybody one day.

life or something like it

so this evening we discovered that sylvie died. i heard her running around this morning. and now she's dead. she used to climb to the top of the cage and drop. and once she bit me.

two nights ago i had a dream that i had a few hamsters and they started to reproduce and there were hundreds of them and i didn't know what to do. so i let them go at the mall. and i was walking through the mall and they were just sitting all over the place. just perched watching the people walk by. hundreds of hamsters. can you imagine?

i'm glad life isn't like tv. i'm glad things aren't so dramatic. we've been watching grey's anatomy. i'm glad life isn't like that. and i'm glad i'm not a doctor. i just couldn't take it. i mean, we realized the hamster was dead and i thought i was going to vomit. i'm just not cut out of dealing with drama. i need for things to not be complex. i don't know how some people do it. ::sigh::

as a side note, i will never understand the men folk. it's beyond my comprehension.