Need a longer weekend...

I'm sitting in a clean, quiet kitchen space, wishing desperately that all the work that needs to happen to the house was magically over and done. New kitchen installed. Wall moved. Deck and sunporch built. Doggie door accessible. Plus the 100 or so more minor projects. I work such long hours, 5 days a week, that when I'm home I'm pretty tired, and don't really feel much like contributing. But yesterday I painted and laquered, which I don't mind that much at all.

I really miss working 4 10-hour days. Then I had 3 days off to accomplish all my chores and reassemble my brain. I can't believe I rushed so hard to get another job. I should have enjoyed the time off!!!

But today should be fun. We're going for a hike in Rock Creek Park, then need to finish up some house projects around here. Oh, and laundry. Need to do some laundry.

Work is work; feel free to call me for an update:)

A lily filled kitchen

So I love the idea of a custom kitchen, and love picking things out for the kitchen...but I hate doing the work, making hard choices, and paying the bills.

We're meeting with contractors, getting estimates to revise our hellhole of a kitchen. It will be beautiful and open when it's finished, but for now, it's awful. I'm typing right next to the microwave, and the flowers an owner sent me. She sent flowers because I found her cat's microchip, and the cat was returned home to her. So I did the responsible thing, and I got lovely lilies, gerberas, hydrangeas, snapdragons, calla lillies....and they smell so good!

Anyway, the flowers are the bright spot in our dismal kitchen. Found out today that the floor isn't even, so that will have to be fixed too. Ugh. But I'll keep thinking about how gorgeous it will be. One day.

Shorty

Hmm...so a minimal post, but look at all the photos I got up finally!

Ah Sunday...

One of my dear friends has a small child. An adorable small child. Coordinating events with someone who has a small child is "challenging." Or something. I guess it's all good practice for later in life when we get around to having a human child, right?

Not that we don't have our own challenges with our doggie children. It's the weekend. I'm doing laundry. I have as many, or more, loads of dog sheets and dog towels, as I do people stuff. And their food is nearly as expensive (or seems that way sometimes) as mine. But I love them.

Gus got a full body shave yesterday. His head and tail are still fluffy, but the poor thing looks scrawny. He was thin before, and now it looks like I don't feed him. Jeremy insisted on the shave b/c he sheds so much. But now I look like a bad mother.

Went out last night with a friend from high school, Christy, who lives in Alexandria, about 30 min away. Granted, not that far, but that's a big deal distance in the DC area, where all road are awful, all the time. The flying car will be invented here, I'm convinced.

Anyway, had a great time seeing her, and meeting her boyfriend Jimmy. I wouldn't have even known they were here if not for Facebook. So take that all you FB bashers! But it's wonderful to have people that you have some history and a few stories with...for instance, how bad my hair was 15 years ago. And now I feel old.

So I'm recovering from hanging at a great smoky bar. Drinking tea. Wearing my glasses. Enjoying the quiet. I wish you a nice, chill Sunday morning.

Human Resources Revision

Per Julie and Roger's request, all work related info is now removed from the site. The only exception to this will be occassional discussion of incredibly cute puppies and kittens. But no commentary regarding the workplace, people I work with, people I work for etc. For safety sake. If you want to hear how things are going, REALLY going, you'll have to call me. Sorry to not have a truly open forum where you can really get an update on my life (work takes up 80% of said life), but it's 2009 and my familial HR staffers don't want me to get into trouble. Thanks for looking out for me guys.

That said, the unnamed workplace has created many "interesting" situations as late. I recommend calling me.

Exhaustion

So I feel like I'm making real progress. Things are coming along at work. We had a positive staff meeting. I'm working out consistently, and not eating terribly.

BUT I feel like I'm neglecting my dogs. And I feel tired. But I will continue to plug along, as I always do, waiting for my next super perky minute to feel energized again. Hope it comes along soon, and until then I'm trying to avoid the "energy vampires!!!"

Hugs!

Whole Foods Gift Card Anyone?

Feel free to check out Feed Me I'm Hungry for a Whole Foods Gift Card Giveaway:

http://www.feedmeimcranky.com/?p=1490&cpage=1#comment-712

Thank Goodness for my Trainers

So all my friends are my trainers. In various realms. I'm a notorious labeller, so have a look:
Cliff: family shrink
Sarah & Jason: religious counselling
Jasmine: positivity and motivation
Kori: humor specialist
Autumn: scheduling guru lol

and the list goes on and on. Everyone who comes into my life has an impact. The more time I spend with the person, the larger the impact. And I've decided to only keep those people who have a POSITIVE impact in my life. I want to, and need to, learn from all of you in order to continue to grow and improve as a person. Seems simple, right? But with the advent of the WWW and our recent move to VA, some of the impacts are felt from a longer distance. Still just as vital, just further away. So that requires a bit more upkeep.

Case in point. I haven't had a conversation (physically talking) with my bff Kori in at least 4 weeks. She's getting married in October. How shitty am I? We keep trying to connect but with life, time zones, and travel, etc. it's actually really hard. I hope that she isn't now wanting me to dye my hair for her Halloween wedding... And I still need to plan the bachelorette!

So if you are reading this, please do me a favor and leave me some kind of POSITIVE comment. Aim my energy. Direct my current thoughts. I will now exit to leave Kori another text.

Fourth of July and Food

So Jeremy and I flew down to Valdosta this weekend to see the family, eat a lot, and pick up our plane. Wonderful and stressful all at once. Let me explain.

We flew down Thursday, after I picked up my bridesmaid's dress for Kori's wedding (easily 14 inches too long...crap). My dad flew up to Mannasas, where we will be keeping our plane. We flew to TN to pick ours up, then through some beautiful clouds (check back later for photos) to get home.

On Friday, we had brunch with my godparents, Wayne & Vi at Cracker Barrel. Love that place. (Turns out there is one about 30 min away from my house, yay!) Very calorie laden simple white carbs. But damn tasty. 1 word--biscuits. Yum!

We then went swimming with my niece and nephews, Savannah, Connor, and Drew, aka The Triplets. They have gotten HUGE since the last time I saw them. Or at least tall. And I thought I had big hair. Sheesh! But yay for calorie burning! Loved hanging with them, and my sis Julie, and my crazy dad, and my uber-fun brother Cliff. But mentally exhausting. All 3 babies are 6, so there is much activity.

Saturday Jeremy and my dad went flying in our plane, the Mooney, while Cliff and I hung out a bit. I really miss living close to him. I'm lucky to have such a wonderful (if ecentric) family. Cliff and I are really close as siblings go. And we share a lot of friends, which is super cool. 'Cuz then when he's being spastic my friends already know! lol. More swimming, and of course fireworks. Foodwise, plenty of margaritas and my mom's famous pasta salad. Does anyone else do pasta salad (again with the white pasta...ack!) with tuna, mayo, ranch (both partially reduced fat at least), celery, & GREEN GRAPES? I think not. But it is sooooo good!

Very few things remind me of home as much as food. I know that's the case for a lot of you. What foods remind you of home? or a person?

My mom's lasagna always reminds me of her. I refuse to make lasagna, at least the traditional kind. It would be too wierd. So she sent some home with me.

Sunday was time to return home. We went to Waffle House for the "leaving town" breakfast. There is no close Waffle House anywhere around, which is a really good thing. Again, simple white carbs, lotsa calories, next to no nutrition, but damn tasty. Plain waffle. For real. No butter, no syrup. There is so much sugar in the batter that the waffle, right off the iron is a bit sweet, and crispy and soft all at the same time. So good.

Leaving town was a disaster. It's like herding cats with my family. "What time do you want to leave?" "1 pm." "Are you coming here for lunch?" "Do you want us to?" "If you want to." "What time should we come over?" "Do you want to come over?" Ugh. Time to leave my hometown in order to regain my sanity. And back away from the southern foods. (Note to family members: I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, crazy as you(we) are ;-)! )

Happy belated Independence Day!

Real World

So when you were a kid, and you didn't feel like making your bed when you first got up, did you ever notice that you wanted to do it less and less as the day wore on? Yeah. So that works for at least 2 things in my life, 1--exercise and 2--blogging. I've had SO MUCH CRAP happening in the last week that discussing it kinda got pushed down on the to do list. Oops! I'll blame it on being a freshman blogger.