HappyBirthdayMerryChristmas!

My birthday is December 21st. Here is what I know to be true of this day.

- It is the Winter Equinox. Meaning, it is the shortest day of the year, in terms of sunshine.

- It is the last day of the Sagittarius horoscope. Sometimes, it is considered Scorpio and that really throws me for a loop. I consider myself a Sag no matter what "they" say.

- It is annoyingly close to Christmas. So much so, that after the age of 16 I stopped having Birthday parties. Once I got to college, everyone was gone back home for the holidays. No birthday recognition. Even in grade school, most years we were off on the 21st for Winter Break. Now that I'm all grown up, everyone still goes "home" for the holidays and I am left birthday-less. Every year I think I'm going to be surprised and get a party, and every year I am left with no Birthday celebration. I used to consider celebrating in the summer just so I could have a party.

- And yes, just like most other December babies, we are stuck with the Happy Birthday/ Merry Christmas presents/cards. I'll remember that when your birthday rolls around. No present/card? Sure, I gave it to you on Christmas when you gave me mine, remember?

- This year, on Dec 21, there are lots of fun movies coming out that I want to see. I'm almost considering taking the day off from work and spending it at the movie theatre. Alvin and the Chipmunks, Charlie Wilson's War and National Treasure 2 all come out on December 21st. I consider it Hollywood's personal birthday present to me. Honestly, its the least they could do considering all my shows are now in reruns until further notice.

- Dec 21, 2007 is a Friday. That's super in and of itself.

- Its the last day of work for most people until after Christmas.

- It will probably be a really bad day to drive out of DC for several reasons:
1. Its a Friday
2. Its a Friday in DC.
3. Its a Friday in DC of a major holiday weekend.

As you can see in the picture, last year I was in Germany for my Birthday. We did in fact celebrate there. Dave made me a special dinner and even got me cake! It was very lovely. One of my favorite birthdays! Ok, that's all I have for now. Thank you for coming to my pity party. Rest assured, I will have a small celebration this year with a few near and dear friends who are so graciously sticking around to celebrate with me. I'm not even going to require presents...merely their presence :)

Rest in Peace, Grandpa

Sorry for the lack of posts- my grandpa passed away and I don't feel like writing much. I will, just not right now. That's all.

Things that are yummy... Life snacks

So I've been in a particularly nostalgic mood lately. Thinking about old flames, old friends, old memories and Johnny Depp. Granted, Mr. Depp does not necessarily belong grouped with the others, he is devastatingly hot and I like think about him too :)

In thinking about old memories and old boyfriends and the such, I found that daydreaming about these great times in my past were like tasty little treats in my day. I don't normally find myself digging up these old memories, but once and awhile its fun to see what you can actually remember. Moments I thought I would never forget, I seemingly have! Things that at the time I thought were monumental in my life- were actually very inconsequential.

Anyway- my point is, that I wanted to make a list of Things that Are "Yummy"... my tasty little zero calorie treats. Life Snacks. Things from the past that are fun to think about and also, current situations that are actually a pleasant diversion from the mundane routine we all get stuck in. Enjoy!

Things That are Yummy.

1. Johnny Depp. Lets just get that one out of the way. Move over Matt Damon and People magazine, Johnny Depp wins my sexiest man EVER award. No contest. Moving on.

2. First kisses. And I don't even mean your very first kiss. In general- the first kiss with a new person. Often forgettable, but once in a while, if you're very lucky, you get one that you won't ever forget. First kisses can be very yummy.

3. Those little raspberry candies... you know, the ones that come in red and purple (or are they blackberries? I never can tell). Anyway- they're totally yummy. Okay- not in this list's definition of yummy- but when I thought "yummy" they are what came to mind. :)

4. Cpt. Jack Sparrow

5. Random college memories that I thought I forgot until I uncovered a forgotten photo album. Pictures from my skinny days.... sigh. And to think, I thought I was fat back then. Ha. What I wouldn't give to be that "fat" now! I digress... this post is about fun yummy memories. LG. I mentioned him once before. He's a great college memory. He was my best friend. He really was my best friend. I wish he still was, but sadly he had some crazy fiance who he met after he graduated (I was still in college) and she wouldn't let him talk to me anymore. Needless to say, that ended and we're friends again, although sadly, I don't think it will ever be the friendship that it was :(

6. Man, I get so distracted in my thoughts. I really need to learn to focus. Ok, so number 6 on my list of things that are yummy. Orlando Bloom in the last scenes of Pirates 3. Don't know what I'm talking about? Watch it. You won't regret it.

7. Walking at night after a big snow fall. Everything is quiet and calm. Oh, gosh that is one of my very favorite life snacks.

8. Flowers, when you don't expect them. Florist flowers are great, and I love those, who doesn't. But what inspired this entry is the little plant I have on the windowsill in my office. When I bought it, it had a few flowers, but then the flowers went away and didn't come back. The plant was alive and flourishing, but not flowering. Then one day, I noticed a little flower bud. Then another, and after a week, there were 7! Then 10! And it kept flowering and to this day it always has flowers on it. Always makes me smile.

9. Turning on the radio in the car and hearing your favorite song, or better yet, a favorite song from years ago! This often brings back memories which presumably are good since it was your favorite song for a reason. And good memories are always great snacks.

10. Speaking of songs, how about those songs that you associate with a sad time? And yet, instead of making you sad, they remind you of just how far you've come. Those are just as yummy as the happy songs.

That's all I have time for now, many more to come...

Gobble Gobble!

Woo hoo! It's almost Thanksgiving! Just a few more days at work and then its all the turkey and mashed potatoes I can cram in my happy little face!

Those who know me, know of my love for turkey and mashed potatoes. Gravy and corn complete the equation very nicely.

I'm hosting my first Thanksgiving this year which should be interesting. Last year was our first without Mom and we went out to my Aunt and Uncle's place and it was fine- but it wasn't my mother's Thanksgiving. My mom loved to play hostess. She could coordinate a turkey dinner for 10 people without setting one timer or burning one dinner roll. Well, I think there may have been a dinner roll or two sacrificed to the turkey gods over the years, but the point is- she was great at orchestrating a huge dinner.

I somehow had the foresight to watch her for 21 years (well, I probably only watched for about 15 of those 21), but I watched enough to learn exactly what she did. And now its time for me to try it on my own. I did a trial run for my boyfriend over the weekend and all went well. We had the turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, etc. I didn't prepare all the sides because that would have been a little crazy, but I got the hang of it.

My Dad will be coming down from New York (with Herbie!) and then my Aunt and Uncle who live nearby will be coming as well. I'm very excited. I hope I can live up to my mom :)

I've gone a little nuts getting table decorations and festive things to make my apartment a little more comfy-cozy. I was actually in the checkout line buying some table linens a few days ago and this lovely older woman behind me started to chat with me about the holiday. I told her it was my first time hosting and she said "Oh your mother must be so proud!"

Deep breath.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure she is," I said with a smile.

Oh I hear the weathers nice in California

I wrote a title for this blog, but never wrote an entry.

So I just came to "catch up" and am left trying to figure out what exactly I had in mind with my title. This much I know...

I have recently been watching Kellie Pickler's "I Wonder" performance on the CMAs on youtube.... (**Backstory: Kellie wrote this song about her mother who ran out on her and her dad when Kellie was two years old. She currently has no relationship with her mother**) I feel some weird connection to it, although I had a great mother, she never ran out on us. I was very impressed with Kellie's performance. Its not often today that you see someone in Hollywood wear their heart on their sleeve like that. It was quite touching. I give her a world of credit. It was like she was there having a therapy session with the world, feeling these emotions for the very first time. So raw. I'll try to attach the video, or at least a link. You should see it.



I guess I relate to the song for other reasons. Reasons that I'll get into eventually, but not right now. But I would like to say how wonderful mothers are. In general. If you have a mother, you should count your lucky stars. Especially if she is a mother like mine. One who loves you no matter what. Will give up her own happiness and convenience to make your life easier. One who will endure you as a teenager, because she knows that once you grow out of this "phase" you'll have no greater friend in the world. One who will be there when you have babies and get married. A mother who will listen to you cry on the phone when that boy breaks your heart. Or listens when you try to figure out what to do with your life.

Get recipes from her. Ask about HER family. I think a lot of us don't realize that our mothers were actually people, with actual lives before we came along. Find out what she was like before you. Ask her everything you can think of. Find out as much as you can, discover exactly why you are HER daughter. What part of her is so very YOU?

And take pride in that. Embrace it. You only get one mother. And she won't be around forever. So get to know her while you can. Tell her you love her. Tell her you appreciate everything she's ever done for you, and especially everything she's ever given up for you.

I can imagine no greater accomplishment that to be exactly like my mother.

Love you, Mom. :)

The Long and Short of Things... namely my hair

Yesterday I had a hair appointment at a new salon in town (new to me, not new to the town). The last time my hair saw a pair of scissors was back in January. I took off a good 6 inches at that time and have been patiently waiting for it to grow back. Well, it finally has, almost... close enough.

So I decided that now that my hair is getting longer, it needed a trim. I needed layers put back in to it so I don't get triangle hair. So I'm all excited for my new salon, its a spa, by the way. I feel like I should mention that since it was super fancy, and I shit you not, the last haircut I got was at the Haircuttery. So I sit in the chair and Song (that's his name) introduces himself and we talk about my impending haircut. It went a little something like this:

Song: So, what we do today?

Me: I just need a trim and I want some long layers put in (I fluff my hair and point).

Song: Ok, so how much you want off?

Me: Oh, I don't want any length off! I'm growing it out, so I just want layers, keep the length.

Song: Ok, so I take about 2 inches.

Me: ...uh---

Song: Maybe 2 and half.

Me: No, no, see I want to keep it long. I don't it cut short.

Song: Lets go wash hair now.


And that's where I cowered and went along with Song to get my hair washed. It was one of the better washes I've ever had. They use this aromatherapy shampoo and it smelled so good and made my head all tingly... in a good way.

Long story a little less long: he cut off about 2 1/2 or 3 inches. I hate it. I like the layers (sort of) but I HATE the length. He cut me to the "in between length." You know what I'm talking about. That length you can't wait for your hair to grow out of. Right in between really short and pleasantly long. Nobody actually goes in and asks for the "in between length."

Fortunately hair grows. Ho hum.

Keep Thinking BIG PICTURE

That's what I have to tell myself when I work myself into a tizzy over nothing. Literally, nothing. My best friend in college, we'll call him LG, always used to joke with me that I would cry if I didn't get enough pink sprinkles on my ice cream cone. LG and I had some good times in college, I still don't think anyone "gets me" like LG did. But that's a story for another post. Another post where I don't want to talk about the craptacular day that was today.

My bad day started yesterday. I have theses bizarre wisdom teeth that sort of come and go. They'll pop up and say hello! Cause some major headaches for a week and then go back down where they came from. It's been happening once a year maybe for the past few years. I've been able to grin and bear it simply because I'm too big of a baby to have them extracted. I'm pretty sure I was traumatized as a kid when I had to have 12 of my baby teeth pulled. Yea, that's what I said. 12. Count em. I was some weirdo whose baby teeth just would not fall out, so in order to get my braces on I had to have them all pulled. It sucked, I can tell you that. So now I have dentistphobia.

photo credit: http://www.dentistchristchurch.co.nz/graphics/wisdom.jpg

So all that said, yesterday one of my wisdom teeth decided to show up. Oh and not only is it going to show up, but its going to get infected. So not only do I have a sore cheek and rockin headache, now I have a lovely fever to boot. Super.

I made an appointment with a new dentist today and I swear my insurance only covers the most run down dumps. I went to a new GP last month and what a mess that place was, the waiting room for the lab was basically some folding chairs in a closet- I'm not even kidding. But while the office of my new dentist leaves a little to be desired, I actually really like the doctor. He was very nice to me and very gently told me about the 8 cavities I have. Holy shit. Am I brushing with sugar cubes twice a day or toothpaste?? He promised me that 3 are so small they don't need to be filled (...yet...) but 5 are a teeny bit bigger and should be filled. Super. Again.

So in the madness surrounding my apparently cavity laden mouth, we completely skipped over the whole wisdom tooth problem. There as brief mention that I should get it pulled but that's where the conversation ended and turned over to scheduling my fillings. At the very least, he did remember to write me a script for amoxicillian to kill the infection, thank god.

And my day keeps getting better. Through no fault of anyone but yours truly here, I have a huge term paper due for my US history class tomorrow night. I'm about 2 pages into it. Its an easy paper on an interesting subject, but the motivation is so not there. Its no where to be found.

And I have a big exam on ancient somethingorother next week in my Western Civ class but I'm going up to Philly this weekend to see my gal pals so studying is out of the question.

There were lots of other terribly annoying things that happened today to make me burst into tears when I got home, but they've temporarily flown out of my head. No doubt they will return when I finally find some motivation to do my paper. In the meantime, I keep reminding myself that these stupid little "obstacles" are definitely not worth crying over, maybe I'm PMSing. I tend to cry when I'm PMSing. LG always used to know that I would get horribly irrational around that time of month. I wouldn't doubt that at some point in my life I have actually cried over a shortage of pink sprinkles. But I try to think BIG PICTURE... these little things that have me in tears today will mean nothing a year from today. I once heard a quote that I loved! I don't remember it exactly, but to paraphrase...

If something has you worried today, try to think back to one year ago, what were you worrying about then?

And of course you probably can't remember. Which is exactly the point.

:) Thanks for listening.

Home, sweet home.

Today I decided to start a blog. Well, technically I decided yesterday but never got around to actually writing anything until today. I tend to have a severe procrastination problem. I work best when I'm under pressure. Give me a lot of time and I'll give you a million other things I'd rather be doing. It's so bad that I will actually do things I previously put off just to further put off what it is that I currently don't want to do. So I guess in my own world, I work things out.

Now what was I saying?

Yes, my first blog. I feel like a lot of blogs today sound exactly the same. Personal blogs that is. Personal blogs that I actually read. Which isn't very many, so I'm not really basing that on anything, other than the fact that I'm usually always right.

I shit you not, its almost a problem. My boyfriend hates it. Ha, do you blame him? Its like a hidden talent I have, I'm just always right. And in terms of test taking and opinions I'm usually wrong- but if were talking door A or door b, I always pick the better door. Except if I actually had to pick a door on a game show, I'm sure in that case I'd pick the one with nothing behind it. But you know what I'm saying.

Anyway- there I go getting all distracted again. I guess I'm starting this blog because I love to write. I don't really expect anyone to read it, because quite frankly I can't promise it will be all that interesting. I guess I'm looking to get things off my chest. Its been a tough year and perhaps other could benifit from any insight I may have gained during that year. I suppose I could start at the beginning.

I'm a relatively recent Penn State graduate (We are!) and I'm living in the DC area. I grew up in a teeny town in New York and I miss it terribly. Well, I don't miss the town, there really wasn't anything there (still isn't anything there) but I miss my family and that comfort. I've been way out of my comfort zone ever since graduating, and while I've adapted quite well, sometimes I long for the comfort of just being "home." You know what it feels like to be home, its the best feeling in the world. And my home is the best home in the world. I grew up there, my entire life in one house. Everything I know for sure, I know in that house.

Coby and Herbie, an integral part of being "home"