I'm definitely doing that "nesting" thing

I'm feeling pretty super pregnant these days...

...and am most certainly deep into this nesting business. I think my nesting instinct was somewhat hampered by this "busy season" thing that keeps taking over my life, mainly because I literally didn't have time to do anything, so I'm afraid now I've entered an extreme phase that's frightening Craig and the animals.  See the army of tiny clothes - probably should have left tags on some of those guys since Holden will likely not make his way through alllll of the clothes, and then a sane person could have exchanged them for different sizes.  But I NEEDED to wash them and dry them and hang them in perfect order.  I NEEDED TO.  Oh boy.

And then there's the baking...

Baking double batches of banana AND strawberry bread definitely counts as nesting.  And now we have wrapped mini-loaves hanging out in the freezer, all ready for us.  So...at least we have some frozen breakfast?  Because it's quite possible I might not actually make anything else.

And Harrison's favorite part of nesting - the warm clean clothes from my need to stay way on top of any laundry situation.

This week's winner of the "least helpful" award in nesting assistance - Harrison and his idea of helping with laundry.  Laying on warm things and pressing wrinkles IN while adding a light dusting of cat fur is NOT helping, Harry.  And yes, those are more tiny clothes that got added to the army of tiny clothes...they didn't get washed in the first batch and it was bothering me, imagine that.

More updates and ramblings on the baby front...

I'm pretty much over it at work.  Yes, there are plenty of things I can still get done, but since I'm just tired and super pregnant, I'd kinda rather be at home chilling on my couch.  A teeny part of me wishes I had stayed at Pdub just for the maternity leave.  If that were the case, Friday would be my last day of work...must not think about that and should probably focus on actually getting some more things done.  Also, I have this irrational fear that my water's going to break while I'm at work. Or maybe it's not irrational.  It could just be really gross, y'all.

I'm trying to squeeze in so many things in these last few weeks - lunches and dinners with friends, husband, or just myself (I took myself to lunch at La Madeleine yesterday and ate quiche and read my non-baby book - it was blissful); attempting to throw things in the freezer that will sustain us over the summer when I may or may not have actual time to cook; making things perfect that don't really need to be perfect at all but I'm anal and crazy; absorbing information so I feel "prepared" for this thing I don't think you can really be prepared for.  And any of these things that require any movement are just a little difficult because I'm ginormous. Bah.

I think I need to chill out.  I'm certain Craig would agree with this.

Oh, and I wear things in pregnancy that I never wore in my non-pregnant life - things like leggings and maxi skirts. I wonder if any of these style choices will stick.

My weight gain has been very on track for what it needed to be (minor victory!), which means I'm kinda just going for it in these last few weeks...to the extent I actually have room in my stomach since Holden's commandeering a lot of the midsection space these days.  Milkshakes are my current drug of choice.  And Craig picked up three more pints of Ben & Jerry's this weekend...

To aid in the nesting, we now have a GIANT freezer AND a fridge/freezer combo in the garage...a little too much storage space for right now, but I'm imagining it'll come in handy for a ton of things. Right now it holds the aforementioned banana and strawberry bread, ice cream, and the ice cream mixer attachment.  And probably some beer for Craig.  So basically we're set on ice cream.

And to close...remember how I was adamant that we talk about something other than the baby? I've pretty much gone to nothing but baby on the blog, haven't I?  HYPOCRISY!!

So, I'm still a person...

Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I ONLY want to talk about the baby.  I'm still me, people. I'm aware this is an epic, life-changing event that will completely rock my world and probably change the way I feel about a lot of things and how we live our lives...but I'm actually still me at the moment.  Which means that even though I LOVE talking about the baby and what's going on with my pregnancy and getting advice on how to handle this whole parenting gig, it's not the ONLY thing I want to talk about.

Let me caveat by saying this is really not an issue with 97.3% of the people in my life.  I'm generally surrounded by wonderful, supportive friends, family, and co-workers who ask me about my life in general and talk about things other than the tiny child I'm currently carrying around with me at all times. But sometimes the 2.7% really get to me.

Work has been the most challenging battleground on this front.  My admin at work is well-meaning but a little overreaching in her concern and sympathy - I'm greeted every morning with a belly stare and a "how are you feeling?" when previously just a simple "good morning!" would suffice.  And I know she's desperate for her own daughters to give her grandchildren, so I think I'm filling this strange surrogate role in her life that's freaking me out a little bit. Another admin, whom I'm spoken to for approximately 10 minutes in the last 15 months, now carries on epic conversations in the hallway with me about everything from belly bands to breast pumps.  It's a touch awkward.  And since these relationships don't exactly go past the acquaintance phase, I can't just say "please stop doing this" without it coming across the wrong way.

And this week I got the "you're finally looking pregnant!" exclamations on multiple counts. Well, thank you - it's not like I was trying to NOT look pregnant before, so I'm glad the baby's popped out enough to satisfy your desire to see a pregnant-looking pregnant lady walking around.  This is wonderful for you, but marginally uncomfortable for me - huzzah!

I'm aware this is an epic, life-changing event...but...

I'm so fortunate to even be able to have this experience and bring a new life into the world, and I don't want to seem disinterested or anything less than thrilled or grateful for the little guy hanging out with me...but every once in a while I just want to talk about what book I'm reading or weekend plans or even the ridiculous stock market.  For the 97.3% of you who do this, THANK YOU.  It's nice to not worry about kiddo or parenting or daycare for a minute.  You guys are awesome.

For the other 2.7%, QUIT STARING AT MY BELLY.  And maybe also stop offering me parenting advice from your lifestyle in 1976 that doesn't resemble our lifestyle in 2014 in pretty much any way at all.

All that being said, we're going to go devote seven hours of our lives today to a one day condensed Weekend Childbirth Seminar at the hospital, so really it probably all IS about the baby.

And now that I've devoted this space to pretty much talking about the baby while essentially asking you to talk to me about things other than the baby every once in a while...thanks for letting me rant and ramble.  It's probably just the crazy pregnant lady talking.

Wrap it up

I genuinely LOVE wrapping presents.  Using excessive amounts of tape (although I think I've really toned it down in recent years - people were actually able to open their gifts this year without using pocketknives or excessive amounts of force) and folding corners and making all the shiny things go together just gives me great joy.  Most of this wrapping has been destroyed by now, but fortunately I have just a little more wrapping to do tonight for friend festivities tomorrow night - yay!  Shiny shiny shiny...

Yes, I'm insane and ridiculous and who actually enjoys spending hours wrapping presents?  This girl!!

So June kinda disappeared...

...in a whirlwind of vacationy things, which is never really a bad way for time to fly by.  We had an epic Mexico adventure with some dear friends, which I'll tell you all about, and then I also escaped to the wilderness (without a bat this time, thank goodness - these smart people actually had screens on their windows, God bless them) with the girls for a few days.

And then before I knew it, July was kinda disappearing, too.  But at least I told you about nerd school.  We'll see if I can get anything else out there.

Hi. I'm alive.

It's hard to blog when life is crazy.  And life is crazy.  ALWAYS.  So maybe the blog does need to die, contrary to any prior opinions.  But I don't think I want it to.  So I'll make an effort to make it back here.  But for now, tax deadlines loom where they once didn't, and I now live with this person who actually expects to see my face every once in a while, and there are a million things to do, and life is just generally more bonkers than it has been before.  Dear heavens, and we only have a crazy dog and cat.  What life must be like once you have a real human child.  Eeeka schmeeka!!!

Instead of being all "ohhh, life is so busy!" - how about I also share a little bit about what's going on, like partying with crazy Cajuns at the Boudin Ball last month.  SO. FUN.  Craig and I spent our evening living the life with the Broussards and the Ortuzars, chowing down on some delicious fried turkey and other Cajun delicacies...and drinking an awful lot of Firefly.  Fun night.  Masks, beads, dancing.  YES.

I heart the reading

Resolution win = book recs for you!  But first, the way I read books has changed a little bit because for my birthday, my husband went and got me one of those nifty tablet thingies...I'm assuming mostly because he saw how many books/magazines I hauled around the country during our extended Christmas 2010 travels, and I think he was very VERY concerned about what would happen on our Costa Rican honeymoon if my bag was overweight due to books.  Seriously.  So I'm now at least semi-on the e-reader bandwagon.

I will never, ever stop loving real books.  I love them.  But here are some good things about the e-reader...

1. I can get new things to read RIGHT NOW.  You know, provided the tablet is charged and I have an internet connection.  But generally...RIGHT NOW.
2. Portability, especially when traveling.  One tablet weighs way less than the hardcover set of Hunger Games, a back-up paperback, and four magazines.  Promise.
3. Look up feature.  If I come across a word I don't know, I'll just highlight it and look it up in the dictionary.  Vocabulary win.
4. I was having trouble thinking of pros, but Craig says: "duh, you can play games on it."  I said I have a computer for that.  Whatevs.
5. Craig also says: "no paper cuts."  I'm not sure the last time a book gave me a paper cut, but I'll give him this one.
6. Craig says: "a few raindrops hurt a book.  Tablet, just fine."  Actually what he really said was something about it being more impervious to water (impervious!), so I put it in Erin words.  I tried to counter this with "ok, but if you drop either one in the bathtub, they're both goners!" - he just sighed at me.

Not so great for the following things...

1. Borrowing/sharing/lending/loaning.  It's just much easier to swap paper books with your friends.
2. The aforementioned "needs to be charged" business - can be really inconvenient sometimes.  Craig has some nifty converter in his car that lets me plug it in, which saved me life during our Christmas driving.
3. Screen glare - not usually a huge issue since I can adjust the brightness, but it's not perfect when I'm outdoors.
4. Durability.  Paper books do perfectly fine when you drop them on the ground.  The tablet...well, there's now some boo-boos on it and a small scratch on the screen.
5. Speaking of the screen...it's ALWAYS dirty in SOME way.  I can't wipe the fingerprints off a thousand times a day.  And that bothers the OCD in me.
6. Minor, but you know how you have to shut off electronic devices for take-off and landing?  Yeah, you can keep reading a real book.

Doesn't cut straight pro or straight con, but worth mentioning:

1. The shopping experience has really changed.  I love nothing more than going to Half Price Books for an hour and perusing the shelves, checking out back covers and finding bargains and things I might otherwise never have found.  It's a little more organized to shop on the tablet...but just not the same experience.
2. The reader apps aren't quite the same, and I have to give NOOK a thumbs-up over the Kindle on this one...mostly for the nerdy feature than turning a page feels slightly more like actually turning a page.  Yup, that does it.

So now...I just read both kinds of books.  Paper and electronic.  And it works.

Oh, and in the interested of being an organized reader and keeping up with what my friends are reading and finding cool new books, I'm also now on goodreads, which is a fun website that lets you add books you've read and rate them and organize them on bookshelves and add a bookshelf of your "to-read" books and what you're currently reading and it's just cool.  Do it.  If you're a nerd like me.

Book notes from my 2011 reading list.  Here you go.

AWESOME, read these immediately if you haven't already:

The Passage (this one is a beast and kinda crazy/scary/weird, but I really got into it and blasted through it MUCH more quickly than I thought I would) by Justin Cronin
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series by Stieg Larsson
The Help by Kathryn Stockett

GOOD, put it on your list:

The Unnamed and Then We Came To The End, both by Joshua Ferris
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson

DAMN, THESE WERE LONG, but mostly I'm glad I made it through them in the end:

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose

FOODISH, and definitely good for my other foodie people out there:

The Sweet Life in Paris by David Leibovitz
Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

NICE AND FLUFFY for the gals.  Or the guys.  No judgment:

The Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrand
Jill Mansell books:  Take a Chance on Me, Rumor Has It, Miranda's Big Mistake (probably never would have read these without their $1.99 price tags and prominent placement on NOOK list, so possibly score one more for the e-reader)

WAH-WAH:

Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult.  Normally I really enjoy her books, but this one...nope.  One of her earlier books that you can definitely skip.

Go forth and read!!

Where do you get your news?

Katie Couric is apparently throwing in the towel on this whole "hosting the evening news" gig...but I don't care.  Well, and you probably don't either.  And based on her ratings, neither do a whole lot of other people.  But I really don't care because I don't get my news from the evening news.  I'm rarely home in time to watch it anyway, and even if I am...I'd rather watch a rerun of Scrubs and then catch Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert a few hours later in the night to fill me in on what's really going on.

If I watch TV "news" at all.  Isn't that really what the interwebs are for?  I spend my day in front of a computer, and why would I want to watch the news when I can selectively scroll through whateverwhatever.com and pick the headlines I'm interested in?

I'm afraid the days of Tom Brokaw (or, for an earlier generation, Walter Cronkite) may be over.  Those dramatic "breaking news" moments are a little less dramatic when Twitter exploded twenty minutes earlier with all the "news" you need to know. 

I'd rather just read The Onion. 

That health kick I mentioned?

Yes, it's time.  So I got things off to a good start by going to the grocery store and loading up my cart with a plethora of fruits and veggies.  I had a minor environmental guilt trip as I kept filling up those little plastic bags, so maybe it's also time to jump on the recycling bandwagon.  I'm an occasional recycler, but I could be a lot better about it....hmmm, add that to the life/planet improvement plan as well. 

Actually, the healthy eating will contribute to the financial improvement plan as well - if I actually take my lunch instead of eating out almost every day, that should help.  Man.  This is looking good so far. 

Lunch plan #1 - spicy quinoa salad.  I cut the recipe in half so I won't get sick of it and didn't put in nearly that much olive oil - just a drizzle.  Also a slightly higher ratio of quinoa to veggies.  And definitely an entire jalapeño for the half recipe, because this is me we're talking about.  To be accompanied by a random piece of fruit.  It's tasty.  This could work.



It's even kinda Christmas colored!  I'm totally and unintentionally in the holiday spirit!

A little less personal sharing

I decided to embrace National UnFriend Day.  Not necessarily because I have an obscene number of Facebook "friends" who aren't really friends at all, but I thought it might be time to cut loose a few.  Mostly people from high school that I haven't spoken to since high school. Come to think of it, I don't know if I even really spoke to some of these people in high school.  Or those people I've hidden from my newsfeed because their status updates are too annoying or frequent or just straight-up ridiculous.  Sorry, some of you are out there.

But when the time came to hit the button...and "unfriend" someone...why did I feel bad about these things??  It's ridiculous.  Facebook, you're making me crazy.

Don't worry, I kept all my real friends.  No interest in cutting you fine people out of my life.

I gave the boot to a grand total of...eight people.  Didn't make a whole lot of progress there.  This may have something to do with my natural tendency to be nosy.

I wish...

...it was time to go home for Thanksgiving.
...that the rain outside would lull me to sleep, but then stop in the night so I don't have to walk to work in it.
...dishes would just do themselves.
...I got as excited about vegetables as I do about chocolate.  And cheese.
...it was still the weekend.
...zits after teenage years just didn't happen.
...nail polish never chipped.

I'll write something that's actually worth reading soon.  The every day thing is rearing its head.

Shopping at its finest

I believe shopping can often best be done from the comfort of your own home in your pjs.  Which really wasn't a viable option all that long ago.  Can you remember a world where Amazon wouldn't bring your every last whim to your doorstep?  I mean, Amazon - it's kinda like Wal-Mart, only about a thousand times more awesome.  It has EVERYTHING.  I've also become addicted Etsy for things like adorable cards (I ♥ paper products!) and custom-made earrings and other cutesy things.  Clothes can still be a little iffy, but I love Shabby Apple and ModCloth and the usual suspects in the form of Old Navy/Gap/Banana Republic and Loft/Ann Taylor.

Online shopping also serves me well on those occasions when I'm shopping for someone else and might not ever actually visit the kind of physical store that sells things like King Ranch caps.  That one's for you, Dad.  And NOW they send me catalogues, of course.  When's the last time anyone actually ordered something from a catalogue??  I'm talking filling out the form and mailing it in kind of thing.  Does anyone do that now?

I kinda love having coffee delivered to my home.  And I don't allow myself to actually go in Sephora for fear of spending triple digit amounts on things I don't need that won't miraculously cure my skin of all that ails it.  And I found great shoes to walk around Spain in...but NOT in a store.  These didn't exist in any store in the D.C. metro area.  Trust me, I tried.

You know what I've purchased online in the last week?  Well, no, you don't.  But I'm going to share it anyway:

• Essential makeup supplies from Sephora, including a Clinique eyeliner I've recently fallen in love with.
• Custom holiday cards from Snapfish - I used one of my pictures from last year's Snowmaggedon adventures.  Pretty excited about them.
• Tickets via Groupon for my sissy and I to see Paula Deen at the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show this weekend.  Excited to see my sissy AND to hang out with the Queen of Butter.
• Replacement rubber foot for my laptop from Amazon.
• A gift to be delivered as my substitute for not actually being able to attend something since I live halfway across the country from the something. 

Power to the interwebs!  And yes, I have my credit card number...actually, two credit card numbers...memorized.  Maybe I do a little toooo much online shopping.

My mom can rock a sewing machine

I realize Halloween already happened.  But you'll have to forgive me if I'm still a little caught up in the idea.  I grant myself full permission to indulge in some Halloween-ness during the first week in November, if for no other reason than it's fueled by the NOW HALF-PRICE candy flooding supermarket aisles, searching for a loving home (mini Almond Joys and Butterfingers, I'll adopt you!).

For this Halloween-ness rambling, I choose to focus my attention on costumes.  The last time I dressed up for Halloween was 2006, where I did my best as a bunch of grapes.  Massive amounts of purple ballons, strategically safety-pinned to a t-shirt dress.  Not exactly the kind of thing you can drive around in, and it invited several comments involving squeezing and popping, which I hadn't really thought about beforehand.  Oh, boys.  I did have it easier than the other gals dressed in the "traditional" style of French maids and sexy nurses, so easily purchased from Party City.  Blech.  There's just no need for that.  I think I'm kinda over the whole costume thing until I have really good reason to make it happen again, perhaps in a totally different life phase. 

However, my mom busted out some pretty awesome costumes during our youth, and I used to LOVE dressing up for Halloween.  Probably something about the fact that it was combined with my birthday, so just imagine a younger me hopped up on birthday cake AND Halloween treats.  Scary, I know.  Some of my favorites from years past...that I have pictures of...that have been scanned in...oh, they're all good!

Sis in one of the more awesome costumes - RED M&M, SO COOL!  Little cousin Hayley dons the tiger look, and I think I'm trying to make a scary witch face...it seems to be working pretty well.

Hamming up my clown face while sis is the most adorable skunk ever.  Why a skunk?  Not sure...but it's stinkin' cute!  Stinkin' cute...yes, I went there.



I'm an ELEPHANT - how cool is that??  I also appear to be perplexed by the joyful tiger next to me...



NaBloPoMo, round two

I've been behind in sharing anyway, so why not commit to NaBloPoMo again this year?  Post something every day for an entire month...I can do that.  Some days you might not get a whole lot more than just a picture with a few words tossed in, but I'll also get on that whole Spain thing AND share some Thanksgiving stories AND there are likely some adventures with apples in my future AND I have some visitors this month AND you never know what you might get from my random mind, so prepare yourselves.  A daily dose of me.  Eeekk!  Sarah's in on the action, too, thank goodness - someone to encourage me and keep up with it.  Bring it, November!

Just where exactly is home?

You know how I got back from Spain about a month and a half ago?  I promise promise PROMISE you'll see pictures of this amazing adventure AND hear all the stories (the ones I still remember, anyway...geez).  But you know what?  Ever since I got back, life has been slightly bonkers.  At least on the travel side of things.  Oh, and possibly the "what am I doing with my life and how am I doing it and just WHAT the heck is going on?" side of things as well.  Which leaves little time for editing and captioning photos, much less compiling them in any sort of witty form.  Therefore, I present to you my travel schedule.

At the beginning of October, I went to Dallas for new manager training...
 

...and then went back home for a little while, feeling pretty distraught about things...

...and then almost went to Chicago for training and then Dallas but ended up just coming to Dallas a day early so I could be here for something much more important than instructor development training...

...and then went back home for a little while...

...and then went to Boston...

...and then went back home for a little while...

...and then went to Durham for the weekend to hang out with my fabulous sissy AND my wonderful mommy, all while introducing them to that boy I happen to be dating (oh, and for those of you who aren't aware of the boy...well, there it is! updates available upon specific request given my general propensity to not be a great personal sharer, although I think I've done much better in the last month or so)...

...and then went back home for a little while...

...and then went to New York for yet MORE training, which happened to be accompanied by a fun night in the city...

...and then went home for a little while, where there was a Friday night dinner involving the parents of aforementioned boy, which may or may not have contributed to some degree of stress in my life given everything else that stresses me...

...and now I'm in Dallas for a full week actually TEACHING training, which is going really well, but also happens to coincide with my dear friend Dana's last week in the DC office, which means I'm going back to a work land filled with ZERO I-can-tell-you-anything kind of people...but at least I'm spending some exceptionally good time with my wonderful people here...

...and then I'll go back home for more than just a little while.  With weekend visitors lined up for the next two weekends, which I'm MORE than excited about.  Probably because they know how important sleeping in is to me.

So, that's a little bit of the reason why you haven't heard about Spain yet.  But you will.  And Darcy, I PROMISE those pictures will head your way...definitely before Christmas.  This is ridiculous.

In case you were wondering about the cheese...

...you know, the anniversary, thanks for all your hard work, here's what five years gets you cheese?  You probably weren't wondering about it, actually, but I figured the cheese review should go ahead and make an appearance here on the blog.

And yes, I've been a little blog-absent over the last week and a half or so.  I promise there's a total crap good reason for this - I was volunteering evenings at a local animal shelter, assembling care packages for our troops overseas, putting in extended evening workouts to burn off things like strawberry pie ... obsessively watching the first three seasons of "Friday Night Lights" thanks to the evil geniuses at Netflix who made it available on instant viewing.  Consider yourself warned.  Also consider yourself warned from catching the first three episodes of season four on Hulu and the remaining season four episodes through Comcast On Demand so that you're completely caught up and ready for tomorrow night's new episode.  Yipes.

Anyway, back to the cheese.  I received a shipment of the Cowgirl Collection from Cowgirl Creamery, thereby discovering from a quick trip to the website that my five years of service add up to $55 plus shipping and taxes.  Hmmmm.  Although in today's trying times I suppose I should be happy to receive anything at all.

Back to the cheese again.  I decided to practice for my trip to Spain and have a tapas-ish dinner, celebrating the glory of the cheese with a few olives and piquillo peppers and crusty bread and cured meat.  Not the healthiest of dinners, I realize, but I'm an adult and can eat whatever I want for dinner.  So, when all was said and done, I ended up with this (and yes, I realize how organized it is - have you met me?).

See that cheese in the very middle of the plate?  Notice how it's not quite as organized, and how it's missing its rind?  Yeah, that's the incredibly smelly cheese that actually comes with a warning label regarding its smelliness:

Thanks for the warning and all, but...dang, this was a smelly cheese.  In fact, I'd left all of the cheese sealed up in the styrofoam container it came in just to prevent the smelly cheese from smelling up my entire refrigerator.  And when I finally cracked open the smelly cheese, its appearance and even stronger smell wasn't really doing much to appeal to my taste buds or olfactory senses.  But I bravely cut a wedge...and hacked off the rind to try to get rid of some of the offending material...but I just really couldn't get past it.  It smelled horrible, and I just couldn't handle that when trying to eat it.  Red Hawk...fail.  I had to wash that smell off my hands so I could actually enjoy the rest of my meal.

Come to think of it, anything wrapped in nettles doesn't exactly look promising, either.  St. Pat cheese over there to your left.  Smelled a thousand times better than the Red Hawk, which already had it off to a good start in my book.  And it was edible!!  Not the most amazing cheese experience I've ever had, but I didn't have to pinch my nose to try to get it down, so let's consider that one a success, even if it does look a little scary.

And then...and then I didn't have to try to look past the Day-Glo orange smelly rind or the nettles reminiscent of mold.  And then...I found a winner.  Mt. Tam.  A "smooth, creamy, elegant, 10-oz, triple-cream - made with tasty organic milk from the Straus Family Dairy...firm, yet buttery with a mellow, earthy flavor reminiscent of white mushrooms."  Now THIS was tasty cheese.  Not as squishy as Brie, just a touch firmer, and crazy tasty.  This cheese is gone now, and not because it met an untimely end in the garbage...ahem, Red Hawk.  I just couldn't do it.  But Mt. Tam I could do.

Maybe I should have gotten that crystal bowl after all.

Nah.

Then my taste buds would have been bored.

Ten years already?

My ten year high school reunion was last weekend - yeeps.  Making me feel a little old.  Just a little bit.  Did I attend?  No, I did not.  As much as I would love to see...well, my parents more than anyone, I wasn't really in the mood to shell out the dollars for an Amarillo trip given that I've been bleeding a little cash lately.  Would I have attended even if I still lived in Amarillo?  You know, I don't know.  I keep up with anyone I really want to keep up with.  Carrie, Kerry, Darcy - we're all still very close and always pick up right where we left off.  And as for everyone else, that's what Facebook is for, right?

I haven't even cracked open a yearbook for nostalgic flipping through those formative years.  And there will definitely be no pictures to accompany this post.  Those were some unfortunate years for me in the bangs department.  Among other things.  Just take my word for it.

All of that said, I think I did embrace the spirit of reunion weekend by booking a reunion of my own - with Darcy.  Only not in Amarillo.  In SPAIN.  Into Barcelona on September 5, fly out of Seville on September 17, and it's basically going to be amazing.  I've already added the countdown clock over on the side there just so I can continue to be excited about it as the days tick away.

Now THAT is how you do a reunion.

Five years gets me...

...cheese.  Allow me to explain.

Pdub is kind enough to recognize, with a selection of tangible goods, "career milestones" for every five years of blood, sweat, and tears you pour into the firm.  As of about a month ago, my internship time + a start date of June 2005 = five whole years of working away in the world of public accounting.  In my book, this is definitely something worth celebrating - many, many hours of, quite literally, blood (paper cuts hurt, you know), sweat (hauling boxes of tax returns down to the UPS dock drop is rough), and tears (busy season breakdowns, both in and out of the office - it's true).

So, it's time for my five year treat!  I might actually use/admire/enjoy several of the offerings, including the iPod shuffle or Nike iPod Sport Kit (which might be nice if they also provided the Nike Ready shoe and iPod nano required for it to actually function) or a Tiffany necklace.  Don't get too excited by the Tiffany necklace thing, people - we're not talking diamonds here.
 
Now, I realize we need to have a selection that appeals to a broad range of five year celebrators, but what use do I have for a golf bag or putter? None. Although one of my colleagues did suggest getting one or the other and selling it on eBay - could probably turn a decent profit that way.

Several of the options read like a wedding registry:  popcorn maker, coffee maker, fondue set, tea kettle, paella pan.  I'll pass.  Cashmere pashmina wrap or Kobe Bryant 81 points PhotoMint Framed Collage (??).  I'll pass.

Then comes another round of Tiffany...key ring (Texas Tech works just fine for me), money clip (gonna say this is male-focused and not really geared towards me), crystal bowl (do we have some kind of agreement with them about the number of products that have to be from Tiffany's?).

 

Two different Waterford pens (I'm partial to the Pilot G-2 07 myself - don't really need that fancy pen) up for grabs, along with a wine chilling carafe - but let's face it, I'm a planner and have that bottle of white in the fridge when I know I'm going to need it.

I also didn't necessarily want something tangible to remind me of work every time I look at it/put it on/use it in any way.

Cowgirl Creamery Seasonal Starter Kit.  Three seasonal cheeses.  Sign.  Me.  Up.

50+ years...Ralph Lauren domino set?  Fancy espresso machine?  Baccarat whiskey decanter?  Hmmmm....I don't necessarily think that's going to keep me around when I'm 73.  Actually, I really hope I'm not working when I'm 73.  Unless it's at my bakery.  Or cheese shop, at this rate.

Obvious winner in the five year category?  Cheese.  Nothing but cheese. 

Note: this post may or may not comply with my workplace's public communications and social networking policies.  I'll chance it.  Also...slightly concerned about stinkiness of one of the cheeses, which have actually made it here and are waiting in the fridge for their party.

Under the knife I go

Almost done with this medical malady thing that's been driving me slightly batty for the better part of a month because tomorrow is...surgery day!  That's right, time to get this bad boy cut out and sent off to the lab to make sure there's nothing scary lurking in there.  I can't tell you how ready I am.  Ok, not overly excited about the whole surgery part, but just ready to be done dealing with it.  Although I'll still have to deal with it...post-op stuff and all...but one step closer, right?

That being said, I'm not exactly going to be celebrating Cinco de Mayo with the traditional adult beverages, but I'm hoping there might be a way to track down an orange Jarritos - those things are dang tasty.  I think it's probably in my body's best interest if my blood can actually clot tomorrow, so I'm skipping the margaritas and/or Mexican beer tonight.  That, along with the fact that I can't eat or drink anything after midnight, will also help me avoid any late night shenanigans.  Although since I need to be at the hospital at 6 AM and I have quite the track record for not really embracing the morning hours, it might just be easier to stay up all night.

For those of you who are into that whole schedule sort of thing and might want to be thinking positive thoughts for me (hint, hint), here's how the day's (theoretically) going down:

• 0515 hours - drag self out of bed, remember not to drink coffee, stumble through shower, remember to wear glasses, hug Harrison, remember not to wear makeup, valiantly keep eyes open
• 0545 hours - crawl into cab and mumble "23rd and I" while not falling asleep in said cab
• 0559 hours - arrive at hospital admissions one minute ahead of schedule (aren't I optimistic?)
• 0600 hours - get all checked in, sign various forms and fork over hefty deductible, change into what I'm sure is to be a lovely hospital gown complete with matching robe and slippers, get minorly freaked out about what is happening, listen to calming voice of anesthesiologist who (along with miracle drugs) will make me forget what I'm here for, receive reassurance from fine doctor
• 0730 hours - let's get this show on the road!  various things with scalpels and other instruments that I'd rather not know about
• 0830 hours - should be done with scalpels and other instruments that I'd rather not know about...to the recovery room we go!
• 0915 hours - amuse fellow recovery room occupants with my loopy rambling
• 1000 hours - my angel Dana arrives to check out my loopiness and make sure we actually understand the nurse's instructions
• 1030 hours - time to bust out of this joint
• 1045 hours - home sweet home and immediately to bed, hopefully with a content kitty curled up next to me while Angel Dana works away in the living room

For this privilege, I will be wiping out my HSA and using a chunk of my tax refund to meet my deductible on this lovely high deductible plan (which really is lovely until you actually need something like surgery, and then it's blown all to hell), but at least another chunk of my tax refund is being used to fund an amazing almost-two-week adventure in Spain with my very dear friend Darcy in September.  Keep earning interest, tax refund, keep earning interest!  Have to have something to look forward to, right?  At least I'll get credit card points for the massive payment I'm making tomorrow.

And for those you keeping score...my parents were in town last Wednesday through Monday, and we had a lovely time, which I'll tell you alllll about in the next few days.  Hopefully not while loopy from anesthesia or other miracle drugs.

Now what do I do at night?

Oh, Olympics, how I love you.  You captivate me with your impressive showings of athleticism, emotional and tear-inducing life stories, NBC's truly ridiculous amount of coverage, CURLING, and general awesomeness.  I'm a total Olympics junkie and have spent a slightly obscene number of hours taking in the Vancouver games.

Take that, Trinity.  Ok, the opening ceremony is not the most fascinating thing, but you know how awesome it is with DVR?  Skip the boring parts.  It's life-changing, it really is...the DVR, not the opening ceremony.

Now I give you...random Olympic musings.Pride for your country.  Waiting four years for your next opportunity.  Eeekk!!  It gets me all worked up for these people.

Oh, and I liked how the Vancouver bouquets weren't too girly.  Nice and green, suitable for the feminine and masculine of all disciplines.  Then the boys didn't have to feel too silly holding their flowers.


Female figure skating: yes, there's a part of me that would like every skater from South Korea and Japan to totally bust it on their triple jumps so America can make it on the podium.  But they're also carrying the weight of a nation on their shoulders.  Anything less than gold and these gals are shunned.  Dang.

I love all the stories.  The sheer joy of those first time medal winners.  How everyone comes together.  Mushy mushy!


I get all warm and fuzzy cheering for my fellow Americans...or for the single athlete from countries like Turkey and Hong Kong who want nothing more than just the chance to compete at the Olympics. What guts it must take to make it all the way to the Olympics and go it alone, knowing that you don't have a real shot at a medal, but you can sure as hell take to the Olympic ice and make the most of it.  I knew I would never be a stellar athlete and realized early on that my brain power would lead me down a more successful path than any other muscle in my body...but maybe I'll take up curling or archery so I can go to the Olympics.  Ok, not happening.  But I am slightly intrigued by this "shuffleboard on ice" business. 


The Olympics are waaaaaay better on DVR.  Love you, Olympics, but sometimes I do need to skip a little bit of you along the way.


I will never, never get tired of listening to our national anthem while one of our proud athletes stands atop the podium.  I'm also somewhat inspired to actually learn the words to "Oh Canada" past the dramatic opening "Oh Ca-na-da".  It could be fun - give a little shout-out to our neighbors to the north.


I'm totally a gasper.  Most of my Olympics viewing is done from the privacy of my couch, and Harrison really doesn't care about my reactions at all, but when I was home in A-town with the family for a few days, they were exposed to my...enthusiastic...level of viewing.  My poor sister.  Between my dad and I gasping and exclaiming, she didn't even really need to watch the television - we told the story through our sharply dramatic intakes of air and bold exclamations.  All while chanting "U-S-A, U-S-A," or perhaps rooting on Canada in a sport that our great nation particularly sucks at (ah-hem, curling...again with the curling!  Maybe I do have a shot at the team...).


Oh, and thank goodness this time zone lends itself to decent watching times.  Some live viewing is much better than recorded everything.  Although as I take in the closing ceremonies and NBC's take on the games, I realize I could have many hours of my life back had I just waited for this highlight reel of the last two weeks.  Oh well.  Then I wouldn't know as much as I do about curling.

Bryan Family Christmas Cruise, Part 1: Snowpocalypse 2009

Time to get caught up (or at least start getting caught up...this could take a little while) on the holiday adventures!  As most of you probably know, the immediate Bryan family (Mom, Dad, sis, me - we left the other siblings at home) made plans almost a year ago to embark on a seven-night Caribbean cruise adventure for the holidays.  How awesome is that??  Props to Mom for dreaming up a cool vacation plan.  The traditionalist in me did find it a little strange to be completely surrounded by water on Christmas Day, but the traveler in me found the whole thing to be quite fantabulous.

However, all holiday adventures begin with a little bit of travel, and for this particular holiday adventure, I had to contend with Snowpocalypse 2009 in getting out of D.C. and making my way to Galveston.  I snapped this picture on Friday night in the midst of a packing frenzy (swimwear AND winter coat?  what the what?) that really should have taken place on Thursday night so I could attempt to fly out earlier than intended.  The snow is beautiful as it's falling, but when it's already piled up this much by the time you go to bed, you really start to wonder about your flight actually taking off in the morning.  And thus begins the comedy of errors detailing my journey across the country.

• Wake up at 6:30 to discover that my morning flight, along with every other flight out of this part of the country, is most definitely cancelled.  Immediately call customer service, wait on hold twenty minutes to reach somewhat helpful yet also incompetent representative who politely inquires if my travel plans are flexible.  Representative receives resounding "no" from me and would like to rebook me on a 5:45 AM flight out of Baltimore the next morning.  Respectfully inform representive that it is supposed to snow for the next 24 hours and not only will it be next to impossible for me to get to Baltimore, the odds that the flight will actually leave are slim to none.  Hang up.
• Pause for a moment of gratitude that the family planned to meet in Houston the day before the cruise.  Need to board giant boat in approximately 32 hours.  Back to work.
• Panic slightly and use interwebs to discover any other travel options.  Amtrak is running!!  Will take train to New York and catch flight there!  Oh, wait, the snow is now hitting New York...duh, Erin.  Not thinking clearly.
• Call voices of reason in the central time zone (known as The Parents) at this early hour and seek guidance.  Mother Guidance suggests heading south, through and then away from the snow, to an airport of reasonable size.  Which would happen to be the one my sister was flying out of, albeit a day ahead of me now.  Yes, brilliant! 
• Rebook flight myself online since I can't reach anyone on the phone.  Incur $160 change fee that I'm currently attempting to get back.  Am now flying out of Raleigh-Durham at 6:00 AM Sunday.  Day of cruise.
• Attempt to book business class seat (might as well travel a little more in style!) on late morning train to Raleigh out of Union Station.  Business class sells out before I can manage to get credit card entered.  Chastise self for being seat-comfort greedy and promptly book seat in coach.  Phew.  Goodbye, $100.
• Realize I will need hotel room.  Mother Guidance offers to surf the web and find me a place in Raleigh since I'm running short on time to get to the train station.  Profusely thank Mother Guidance and then...
• Hustle to shower and pack last-minute items, hug cat, and bundle up to face the snow.  Prepare to drag self, 50.5 pound suitcase, duffel bag, backpack, and giant purse through approximately two blocks of snow to get to Metro.  Do not trust any of the taxis attempting to make progress on the disaster that is the streets of D.C.
• Pause several times to catch breath on snowy walk as wheels on giant suitcase don't function when there are snowdrifts on the sidewalk.
• Attempt to cross 6th Street and unfortunate backpack/laptop incident occurs.  Curse the snow loudly and with great force.
• Slip, slide, stumble to Metro stop where escalator is actually functional.  Brief moment of thanks.
• Arrive at the utter madhouse that is Union Station.  Print boarding pass with relative ease and then attempt to check bag.  Stand in long line, determine I don't need to stand in line, and frantically flag down harried agent to collect bags from some twenty-odd people.  Am relieved to be relieved of bag and take the time to capture Christmas tree.

• Stand in loooong line to board somewhat delayed train and realize in moment of stunning clarity that giant bag has been checked through to the end of the train line...Charlotte...and not where I'm getting off...Raleigh.  Miscommunication with harried agent.  Curse self, snow, bag, travel in general. 
• Stomp through snow to board train.  Inquire with several people about status of bag and receive shrugs.  Say hopeful prayer that train conductor is a kind soul who will save me.
• Train finally begins moving.  Hooray!!
• Conductor Steve inquires as to why I'm going to Raleigh and my bag is going to Charlotte.  Make absurdly pathetic face.  Conductor Steve returns two hours later to inform me that my bag will now also be getting off in Raleigh.  Profusely thank Conductor Steve as Charlotte is approximately a 3 hour drive from Raleigh.  Because in my moments of panic I contemplated riding the train through to Charlotte, retrieving bag, and driving to Raleigh.  Did not consider rebooking flight out of Charlotte.  Obviously still not thinking clearly.  But saved by Conductor Steve!
• Travel approximately 60 miles in two hours.  This does not look promising.

• Train stops on tracks for ONE HOUR outside of Fredericksburg while engineers attempt to thaw computer that enables the track to switch.  Bond quite closely with seatmate Kristen on how we may die on this train.  Are reassured by Conductor Steve that we have plenty of fuel.  Hadn't even THOUGHT about that.
• Make excruciatingly slow progress through excessively snowy Virginia.  The snow is beautiful, but still I curse it.

• More train stops, more slow progress, but finally FINALLY arrive in Raleigh at approximately 10 PM...after just over ten hours on a train ride that typically takes half that time.  Am extremely grateful to see giant bag waiting for me.
• $40 cab ride to hotel.  Discover it would have been more efficient to get off train in Cary, but no longer really care.
• Fall into hotel room, call family, cry.  Order room service and wake-up call for 4:00, cab for 4:45, attempt to fall asleep, curse the snow and my stress, then actually sleep for a few hours.  $125 to Hilton Garden Inn.
• Cab driver charges airport fee of $12 to drive me less than one mile.  Am not awake enough to care.
• Board plane.  Finally.  Wait 20 minutes just outside gate while they de-ice the plane.  Am not reassured by the term "de-ice" after previous day's adventures with frozen train computer.
• Connection in Atlanta.  Fortify self with coffee and bagel.

• 24 hours and several hundred dollars later than originally intended, arrive in Houston to smiling, loving family, complete with camcorder armed by Mom.  Bag, however, does not arrive on baggage carousel.  Almost lose it.
• Bag made earlier connection out of Atlanta and is waiting in baggage office.  A few more tears.  Mom with camcorder.  Not amused (sorry, Mom!).

And after all of that, the remaining travels for that day went remarkably well.  Made it to Galveston with plenty of time, enough time that we made a stop at the Texas treasure known as Whataburger for a little lunch before hitting up the boat.

I've already regaled several of you with this tale, although not necessarily with all of the gritty details, and several of you had quite the travel adventures of your own.  But you know what?  I think I needed the cathartic experience of getting it all out, so if you actually read through all of those mishaps, thanks for suffering along with me.  And I think you're right, Mom - I can laugh about it now.  Time to get on the big boat!