Well, I am in the office today and it is as silent as can be. I hear no one but the sounds of florescent lights and the soft hum the building's heating system. Silent. I am surprised the office is even open today with such lack of personnel. I am Acting Div. Director today, ME, ME? Come on now.
So in the spirit of thanksgiving (and inspired by her), I thought Id blog about the things I am thankful for this thanksgiving-- and 2008 as a whole. [ of course, in no particular order]
1). My wonderful family and all their love
2). My perfect boyfriend who adores me and I love more than anyone
3). My friends-- sometimes imperfect but love me the way the know how.
4) Odie-- I look at him every day and ask how did i get so blessed with such an adorable, sweet and loving dog.
5). Matt's family's presence in my life. They are so welcoming and loving, I feel as though they include me and look after me when my family is 200+ miles away.
6). My relationship with my team at work. They are all very bright people and we respect one another. And as the youngest member, I love and appreciate them looking out for me and treating me like a sister. It makes every work day a little better.
7) All the necessities: My functioning car, my beautiful apartment, my stable job, my (still) growing savings/investment accounts, the overall feeling of comfort and happiness I wake up with every day.
A very happy thanksgiving to everyone. AND A WONDERFUL START TO THE CHRISTMAS SEASON!!!!
Friday, November 28, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Thanksgiving 1 of 2
What a tiring week, but a great one too. Yesterday day I think my friends and I started another first annual tradition. Well, at least I hope it turns into a tradition. We had a Thanksgiving dinner at my place for 14. 14!! It was a taste of 'grown-up-hood' as we brought long tables in and folding chairs and put together a HUGE thanksgiving feast in my living room. Everyone brought a dish; we had a HUGE turkey and gravy, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, green bean casserole, salad, rolls, 2 kinds of sweet potatoes, cranberries, and probably more than I am forgetting. Everyone brought wine and there were like 8 bottles scattered all around the huge table. I think we polished off like 10 bottles all together.We were stuffed!! We even had pumpkin pies, chocolate cake and apple-cinnamon pie for dessert. I lit candles and the room looked unbelievable!!
HUGE success!
And the best part, everyone was FABULOUS and helped me clean up. One people, the MVP (aside from K who baked the turkey, gravy and ham) loaded all the plates and silverware and glasses into the dishwasher PERFECTLY and hand washed the bigger things to my kitchen was SPOTLESS! In fact, after I run a vacuum tonight my apartment will look great. It's all primed and read for me to set up my Christmas decorations on Sunday when I get back from Cleveland:)
Hopefully Matt will want to go pick out a Christmas tree with me on Monday after work!
cant wait to see my family this weekend!
Cant wait to eat thanksgiving food!
Cant wait to shop for Christmas!
Cant wait to bake cookies, and making gingerbread houses!
Cant wait to decorate! And Shop! And eat!
Everything is good.....
HUGE success!
And the best part, everyone was FABULOUS and helped me clean up. One people, the MVP (aside from K who baked the turkey, gravy and ham) loaded all the plates and silverware and glasses into the dishwasher PERFECTLY and hand washed the bigger things to my kitchen was SPOTLESS! In fact, after I run a vacuum tonight my apartment will look great. It's all primed and read for me to set up my Christmas decorations on Sunday when I get back from Cleveland:)
Hopefully Matt will want to go pick out a Christmas tree with me on Monday after work!
cant wait to see my family this weekend!
Cant wait to eat thanksgiving food!
Cant wait to shop for Christmas!
Cant wait to bake cookies, and making gingerbread houses!
Cant wait to decorate! And Shop! And eat!
Everything is good.....
Monday, November 24, 2008
Back from Europe!
WHAT AN AMAZING VACATION!!!!
My pictures couldn't do it justice, just not enough time there, not enough time to post about all the great things we saw. Not to mention the wonderfulness and generosity of Matt's parents. O just too much to say. Where do I start?
I took about 155 pictures and the worst part is I am already forgetting some of the reasons I took them, i need to jot them down before I forget even more. Since I haven't got a weeks worth a time to write all about it, I am going to start with some of the highlights of each day:
Day 1: Barcelona: very tired from the red eye but saw the whole city on a bus. Not much to say here (very tiring day)
Day 2: Nice (france) and Monaco-- very beautiful and warm day (lots of sun). We planned for cooler temperatures and we were sweating before we knew it. We walked around Nice and had lunch outisde in a plaza by the open air market. Walked to the riviera and hopped a bus to Monaco where we saw the very famous (and extremely expensive and Chick) Monte Carlos. Didn't spot any famous, rich people, but put 5 euro in a slot and lost it. It was surprisingly quiet in there, but we saw one woman who was lost over 2000 euro in ten minutes we saw her on the slots. wew.
Day 3- Florence. O beautiful. How can it not be? The architecture, the cathedrals, the little cafes and statues out in the plazas. We saw the church where many famous/important people were buried (including Michelangelo, Galileo, Dante, Machiavelli and more). Me and the boys walked 450+ steps to the top of the dome in another cathedral. Beautiful.
Day 4- ROMA. Way too little time here, but we saw the Vatican as the number 1 highlight. I learned a lot more with a guided tour, and saw the Sistine chapel (and accidentally took a forbidden picture). It didn't turn out well, i think it was karma.
Day 5- Naples. I remember eating lunch off the tourist path and enjoying everything. We shopped a little, drank cafe (coffee) and enjoyed everything. Shopped a little bit and found the back allies with the balconies and little markets-- so European. We saw Pompeii in the morning (for me, the second time). And loved it again.
Day 6- Sicily. This was the adventure. We rented a car and Mr. Naylor drove the streets with the crazy drivers and scooterists. We got lost a little but saw so many things. The ocean, the countryside, a little town to have a quick lunch, ate some pastries, we laughed a lot.
Day 7- At Sea. RELAX. Matt and I spent some quality time roaming the ship, gambling some more, relaxing. I learned the play video poker next to Mr. Naylor and double my money.
then played it downt to zero.
Day 8: Flight out and Amsterdam. AWESOME CITY! So glad we got to layover the entire day and night. It was happening, lots of people in the streets, xmas decorations up, everyone was getting ready for St. Nick to come in a couple weeks. It snowed that day (a lot) and it was beautiful. We were cold, but i dont remember the cold as much as I love and remember the energy of the city and all the things to look at and see. The food was awesome too. We even walked to the red light district (of course,just to pass by). Just like you imagine. Everything, SO COOL. Iwant to go back.
Day 9: Travelling. Ate lots and lots of snacks in the NW crown room.
Back home. Ill try to post pictures soon!!!!
My pictures couldn't do it justice, just not enough time there, not enough time to post about all the great things we saw. Not to mention the wonderfulness and generosity of Matt's parents. O just too much to say. Where do I start?
I took about 155 pictures and the worst part is I am already forgetting some of the reasons I took them, i need to jot them down before I forget even more. Since I haven't got a weeks worth a time to write all about it, I am going to start with some of the highlights of each day:
Day 1: Barcelona: very tired from the red eye but saw the whole city on a bus. Not much to say here (very tiring day)
Day 2: Nice (france) and Monaco-- very beautiful and warm day (lots of sun). We planned for cooler temperatures and we were sweating before we knew it. We walked around Nice and had lunch outisde in a plaza by the open air market. Walked to the riviera and hopped a bus to Monaco where we saw the very famous (and extremely expensive and Chick) Monte Carlos. Didn't spot any famous, rich people, but put 5 euro in a slot and lost it. It was surprisingly quiet in there, but we saw one woman who was lost over 2000 euro in ten minutes we saw her on the slots. wew.
Day 3- Florence. O beautiful. How can it not be? The architecture, the cathedrals, the little cafes and statues out in the plazas. We saw the church where many famous/important people were buried (including Michelangelo, Galileo, Dante, Machiavelli and more). Me and the boys walked 450+ steps to the top of the dome in another cathedral. Beautiful.
Day 4- ROMA. Way too little time here, but we saw the Vatican as the number 1 highlight. I learned a lot more with a guided tour, and saw the Sistine chapel (and accidentally took a forbidden picture). It didn't turn out well, i think it was karma.
Day 5- Naples. I remember eating lunch off the tourist path and enjoying everything. We shopped a little, drank cafe (coffee) and enjoyed everything. Shopped a little bit and found the back allies with the balconies and little markets-- so European. We saw Pompeii in the morning (for me, the second time). And loved it again.
Day 6- Sicily. This was the adventure. We rented a car and Mr. Naylor drove the streets with the crazy drivers and scooterists. We got lost a little but saw so many things. The ocean, the countryside, a little town to have a quick lunch, ate some pastries, we laughed a lot.
Day 7- At Sea. RELAX. Matt and I spent some quality time roaming the ship, gambling some more, relaxing. I learned the play video poker next to Mr. Naylor and double my money.
then played it downt to zero.
Day 8: Flight out and Amsterdam. AWESOME CITY! So glad we got to layover the entire day and night. It was happening, lots of people in the streets, xmas decorations up, everyone was getting ready for St. Nick to come in a couple weeks. It snowed that day (a lot) and it was beautiful. We were cold, but i dont remember the cold as much as I love and remember the energy of the city and all the things to look at and see. The food was awesome too. We even walked to the red light district (of course,just to pass by). Just like you imagine. Everything, SO COOL. Iwant to go back.
Day 9: Travelling. Ate lots and lots of snacks in the NW crown room.
Back home. Ill try to post pictures soon!!!!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
2 days more!
2 more days.
2 more days of work.
2 more days before I am on a plane for EUROPE!!!!!
Cant believe this vacation is finally here, gosh its seemed like so far away for so long. I am nervous, anxious, excited, and really looking forward to spending a lot of time with Matt's family! I charged up my camera last night and deleted the whole memory card to take lots of pictures! I put a few new song on my Ipod, went to the store to buy some plane ride snacks for Matt and I, I even started packing. I cant wait, I cant wait to for the Italian food and wine, AND COFFEE, I cant wait to relax and explore, It's going to be a great 10 days.
I've been feeling so good lately. I am starting to see Christmas things popping up everywhere and I am getting really excited about coming home to the holiday season. I love Christmas and everything about christmas cant wait to get another Christmas tree with matt, decorating my apartment, making cookies, gingerbread houses, zoolights, buying presents!I am ready for the cold and snow when I return to start feeling like Christmas!
Tonight is the first play of the 2009 Broadway play series and I am really looking forward to some QT with J and A. Tonight is the Wizard of Oz. It wont compare to Wicked, I am still excited. I have a lot more packing to do. I am in charge to figuring out what to do, where to go, and how to get around Nice when we arrive. It's turned into a difficult task.
The boss is out today. It's quite. I love it. Hopefully not major ruffles in this slow week. When i return I am having a bunch of friends over to my apartment for a Thanksgiving Potluck. Just so much to look forward to. I am happy!
This may or may not be the last post until thanksgiving week, we shall see!!
2 more days of work.
2 more days before I am on a plane for EUROPE!!!!!
Cant believe this vacation is finally here, gosh its seemed like so far away for so long. I am nervous, anxious, excited, and really looking forward to spending a lot of time with Matt's family! I charged up my camera last night and deleted the whole memory card to take lots of pictures! I put a few new song on my Ipod, went to the store to buy some plane ride snacks for Matt and I, I even started packing. I cant wait, I cant wait to for the Italian food and wine, AND COFFEE, I cant wait to relax and explore, It's going to be a great 10 days.
I've been feeling so good lately. I am starting to see Christmas things popping up everywhere and I am getting really excited about coming home to the holiday season. I love Christmas and everything about christmas cant wait to get another Christmas tree with matt, decorating my apartment, making cookies, gingerbread houses, zoolights, buying presents!I am ready for the cold and snow when I return to start feeling like Christmas!
Tonight is the first play of the 2009 Broadway play series and I am really looking forward to some QT with J and A. Tonight is the Wizard of Oz. It wont compare to Wicked, I am still excited. I have a lot more packing to do. I am in charge to figuring out what to do, where to go, and how to get around Nice when we arrive. It's turned into a difficult task.
The boss is out today. It's quite. I love it. Hopefully not major ruffles in this slow week. When i return I am having a bunch of friends over to my apartment for a Thanksgiving Potluck. Just so much to look forward to. I am happy!
This may or may not be the last post until thanksgiving week, we shall see!!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Tagged
So I havent posted at all this week because I keep hoping my Internet will work well enough to send some pics from Halloween weekend over to my email to upload them here. My Internet has been terribly flaky, and the one thing i wanted to post this week was pictures of Sarah and Todd Palin. Hopefully I will still get around to putting them up belatedly.
The week has been full of interesting and noteworthy events; The election would probably take the top of the list. And as much as I hate reading about the election and other people's opinions for all these months-- because I think I have dont a very good job of keeping my opinion to myself ( I can can toot my horn for a second) and it has NOT been easy. Like many Americans out there, I too have my own and very strong and personal opinions about who I think the next president should be(should have been). And as much as I am so proud to see someone of a different race and color stand up to the most important position in our government, it comes with a bit of a heavy heart. I am proud that this day in American History is here, and I am proud to see so many people come together in support of a man with a vision for our country, I am proud to be part of this very important era. But as much as I have enjoyed seeing that masses come together, I cant help but question the motives and the understanding driving this enormous ship. I personally have a vested interested in partisan economic philosophies which firmly plants me by the red elephant, with my own hopes and visions to be successful and to build success for my children's children. In my opinion,is the American dream. It just surprises me (a deeply concerns me) how many people believe that it is OK to take from people who have more than you? To take the hard earned money of those who have put the life into a business to make something of themselves and just give it to those who aren't doing much at all. How is this OK? From a girl who saw her father struggle and worked more than he slept to make his way, there are some fundamental reasons I feel the way I do. I have a hard time casting my beliefs to the side, and I believe monetary policy is an incredibly important reason for casting a vote. But like an American who does love her country, I will hope for the best and will going to stand behind the new president.
Now that I said my piece, I also want to mention how much I have truly enjoyed reading some of my new found friend's blogs. There are a few blogs that I read and check daily, two people who sometimes read mine and comment on here which brightens my day. They some how make me feel included and inspired, and have touched my heart in a lot of ways from their experiences. So with that, this girl (Musings) and this girl (Potimus Where) deserve some recognition. And also in the spirit of the TAG game:
Seven random tidbits about me:
1). I love every condiment, I have yet to meet a condiment that I haven't liked. It sounds weird, I still haven't figured out why I am not 100 lbs heavier.
2). I dont know how to cook, or I should say cook well. I am 25 years old and I hate how non-domesticated I am when I try so hard. I am working on this.
3). I used to play piano for 14 years of my life, I have nothing to show for it.
4). My sister runs marathons, works for a major news network, knows tons of interesting and important people and lives in New York City, I am so proud of her and how glamorous her life seems (even though she has some struggles).
5)My boyfriend has heart problems that he was born with, he has a pacemaker and is the only 25 year old I know that sees a cardiologists twice a year.
6) I find it so weird (an incredibly awkward) that my 80 year old grandma has hit the dating scene and talks about boys like a giddy 13 yr old whenever I see her. She has a boyfriend, he's wonderful, it makes me laugh whenever I talk about my "grandma's boyfriend."
7). I recently re-discovered Bubble Tea (AKA bobba tea). It's amazing, there are "bubbles" of tapioca in tea and it's probably the best drink you will ever try. I drive to very far places to find it, it's turned into a strange obsession in the last 6 months. Everyone should try it.
The week has been full of interesting and noteworthy events; The election would probably take the top of the list. And as much as I hate reading about the election and other people's opinions for all these months-- because I think I have dont a very good job of keeping my opinion to myself ( I can can toot my horn for a second) and it has NOT been easy. Like many Americans out there, I too have my own and very strong and personal opinions about who I think the next president should be(should have been). And as much as I am so proud to see someone of a different race and color stand up to the most important position in our government, it comes with a bit of a heavy heart. I am proud that this day in American History is here, and I am proud to see so many people come together in support of a man with a vision for our country, I am proud to be part of this very important era. But as much as I have enjoyed seeing that masses come together, I cant help but question the motives and the understanding driving this enormous ship. I personally have a vested interested in partisan economic philosophies which firmly plants me by the red elephant, with my own hopes and visions to be successful and to build success for my children's children. In my opinion,is the American dream. It just surprises me (a deeply concerns me) how many people believe that it is OK to take from people who have more than you? To take the hard earned money of those who have put the life into a business to make something of themselves and just give it to those who aren't doing much at all. How is this OK? From a girl who saw her father struggle and worked more than he slept to make his way, there are some fundamental reasons I feel the way I do. I have a hard time casting my beliefs to the side, and I believe monetary policy is an incredibly important reason for casting a vote. But like an American who does love her country, I will hope for the best and will going to stand behind the new president.
Now that I said my piece, I also want to mention how much I have truly enjoyed reading some of my new found friend's blogs. There are a few blogs that I read and check daily, two people who sometimes read mine and comment on here which brightens my day. They some how make me feel included and inspired, and have touched my heart in a lot of ways from their experiences. So with that, this girl (Musings) and this girl (Potimus Where) deserve some recognition. And also in the spirit of the TAG game:
Seven random tidbits about me:
1). I love every condiment, I have yet to meet a condiment that I haven't liked. It sounds weird, I still haven't figured out why I am not 100 lbs heavier.
2). I dont know how to cook, or I should say cook well. I am 25 years old and I hate how non-domesticated I am when I try so hard. I am working on this.
3). I used to play piano for 14 years of my life, I have nothing to show for it.
4). My sister runs marathons, works for a major news network, knows tons of interesting and important people and lives in New York City, I am so proud of her and how glamorous her life seems (even though she has some struggles).
5)My boyfriend has heart problems that he was born with, he has a pacemaker and is the only 25 year old I know that sees a cardiologists twice a year.
6) I find it so weird (an incredibly awkward) that my 80 year old grandma has hit the dating scene and talks about boys like a giddy 13 yr old whenever I see her. She has a boyfriend, he's wonderful, it makes me laugh whenever I talk about my "grandma's boyfriend."
7). I recently re-discovered Bubble Tea (AKA bobba tea). It's amazing, there are "bubbles" of tapioca in tea and it's probably the best drink you will ever try. I drive to very far places to find it, it's turned into a strange obsession in the last 6 months. Everyone should try it.
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