Happy post Christmas days

The elusive post-Christmas, pre-New Year days are upon us. Or "up on us".

I had a joyous Christmas, in case you were wondering. There were a few notable exceptions, which will possibly be discussed later. On the 22nd I drove down to my grandma & grandpa's house after work (with brother and mother). That was a 4 hour drive, so we got in pretty late. The 23rd was fun - eating, drinking, game playing, and being generally loud with extended family members. Christmas eve is fun b/c we do our "Dirty Santa" gift exchange after dinner. You know the deal - everyone gets a number, and there is stealing and drama and good times. The game itself usually outshines the gifts, and it takes so long because there are over 20 of us. I like Christmas eve because you get to see all these gifts being opened and have fun, and sometimes not have much control over what you end up with. I did get an awesome gift though! Right up my alley - 4 beers, bottle of red wine, bottle of white wine, bottle of Bailey's, and some coffee. And it all came in a cute re-usable bag! I stole this gift from my aunt. She wasn't too mad ;) My dad gave me the gift he got b/c it was food and drinks, which he can't bring back to Singapore. Haha lucky lucky Leah.

*side note: I'm so glad my brother isn't a jerk. He is awesome.

Long story short, Christmas eve was a fun time. I went to Church even! Mainly b/c I know my family likes when I do. This year's service was so weird. They played a movie from the 80s about a girl with tattoos and facial piercings who runs away from home. It made little to no sense. Also there was not enough singing of Christmas songs to meet my liking. Oh well, maybe next year.

ALSO!!! My cousin's baby/my ex baby roommate Jack is SO FRIGGIN CUTE!!!! He is 2 now. And I love him so much. He even remembers me and loves me back. *insert heart swelling here. When he first got to my grandparent's house he ran past everyone else and said "Leeeeeah!" while giving me a big hug. Moments like this almost make me want to have kids. Jack's mama gave us matching hats for Christmas so we took a few pictures together. Ahhhh the joys of only being around kids when they're being cute.

Okay, I really should work now. Jeez quit distracting me. I'll be back with part 2 of Leah's Christmas Vacation. More boring stories for you to read!

Everyday I'm hustlin

Hi, it's me again. Even though you can't see it, I'm wearing a headset. So don't be confused thinking that I am a secretary or a football coach or Madonna or something. Just regular Leah. With a headset.

So since I spend 40 hours of my week at work I've started keeping certain things at my desk. I'm slowly getting into a routine where I take certain things every day. And you know what? I love this! Mainly b/c the things that I take are good for me/serve a purpose. Let's have a break down shall we?

Keepin my heart from burning all day!

Apple Cider Vinegar (Unfiltered). This stuff is awesome and I need to get better at taking it everyday. It is good for your skin & hair, and even for stomach problems.

Vitamin B12 - keeping me full of Bees.  Since I don't eat much meat anymore.

Bitches be drinking 8 glasses of H2O by 5pm every friggin day!

This picture is misleading perhaps. I also take my birth control everyday. Not to prevent babies, but to make me not miserable for a week of the month ;)

chello

10 a.m. Friday morning. Maybe one of my favorite times of the week. Office holiday party today, then Christmas movie double feature at the music box theater :) This week has had a consistent stream of anxiety so I am more than happy the weekend is coming. Back when I made my first serious attempt at quitting smoking in April, I went to the doc and got an Rx for Zyban (haaaaaated it btw). Anyway, had a doc appointment the other day, they gave me some papers with records etc. Without looking over them much I set the pile in my kitchen. Apparently my mom read something that discussed the smoking cessation treatment and last night she confronted me about it. It's still so awkward to think about. Also still up in the air. We are dealing with it the best way we know how, by avoiding it. Ugh.

Today I am wearing a new skirt and boots! Kind of un-Leah like things but I love em so far. High waist grey skirt with high black boots. The boots have a little wedge which I normally think is ugly, but these don't offend my sense of style yet. Haha. My skirt looks kinda like this one (maybe a lil shorter?):

CHRISTMAS IS COMING! Jeez, sorry for yelling, but I thought you should really know. I have finished so much of my shopping already! Got stuff for my dad, mom, and brother. Bought my family gift exchange present, and my secret santa gift for the other side of the family. Unfortunately I'm still waiting for a few things to come in the mail, but they still have about a week to get here. Leaving for grandparent's house on Thursday night after work.

Silhouette how-to

I'm pretty nervous about my gift idea for ThePanda. I got the inspiration from Pinterest (obviously), but I'm not super crafty and I am really sparse on free time. Anyway, this bird picture is the thing that got me thinking. The person who did this first made a collage using random pictures from magazines, used a stencil she liked and painted around it.

My plan is a little different: I bought a small-ish picture from Goodwill, and am going to create my own stencil of some penguins (ThePanda likes penguins), and paint around them. It shouldn't be too difficult - that is once I actually get started. My first step was working out an idea, 2nd step was buying the picture, now I just have to figure out how to draw some penguins, buy paint, and giterdone! I'll post a picture of the finished product of course :)

Okay, back to work for me! Happy friday.

Small, dramatic photo shoot

Sleepy day fo sho

Ohmygoodness I am so tired today! Last night was lots of fun, but I am paying for it now, and I'm not sure that I like it. (Haha?) Made some vodka cream pasta sauce last night for the first time. I really wanted to take step by step pictures, but I was just too hungry. I couldn't focus on anything but getting ready to eat! This is a pic from the site I got the recipe from, mine didn't turn out this pretty, but it was tasty. We didn't have a blender so it was chunkier than anticipated. That's okay b/c Leah likes chunky. Also I used tiny tube noodles. Because.....that's what we had on hand. Perfect. If you want to make this, here's the link to the recipe: Vodka Sauce!


Today is a very very low workload day at work and I'm struggling to stay awake. Drinking my afternoon coffee so I'm bright eyed and bushy tailed for hanging out with B-Pain tonight. She's coming all the way out to the burbs to see me. And I haven't been home in so many days! Maybe since last week sometime? Who knows. I was in Indy on Saturday night so now all my days are mixed up. I can't wait to get home and open all the boxes of things that I've been ordering online during the past couple weeks! Ahhhhh!!! My mom sent me a picture message of a pile of like 10 boxes in our kitchen that are for me. And that was yesterday, so more of them might come today. It will be like Christmas morning!!!! Except the presents aren't for me. But that's okay. I also like being Santa Leah.

Oy, I wish I had more interesting things to say. Writing this has helped me wake up a bit. I seriously fell asleep for a second when I was playing Sudoku earlier.

The Virginia Tech situation is really upsetting. I hope they find the shooter soon :\

Poopy instant coffee

Seriously. The coffee at work is pretty disgusting, but this instant crap I brought is even worse. Haha oh well. It makes me appreciate the icky work stuff now. And a coworker of mine finally invested in some creamer so that helps. Ahhh, the little things in life.

I have been SO SO GOOD this week about not buying food/drinks while at work! I brought a bunch of snacks at the beginning of the week, and keep them in a bag by my desk so I don't feel tempted to hit up the vending machines/stores downstairs. I am learning a lot about self control (and how much I don't really have, lol). This is the first week I haven't bought coffee - go me! I miss it. I miss delicious, not nasty coffee, but I probably saved about $10-15 by not buying any.

But don't worry, I found other ways to empty my bank account...Christmas shopping! Haha I am actually a little bit impressed with myself this year, I'm probably more than halfway done with my gifts already.

Tonight - decorating Amanda's apartment for Christmas with Molly. Drinking adult flavored eggnog and listening to Mariah Carey Christmas songs. PERFECT. Tomorrow morning - driving with Butsy down to Indianapolis. Sunny & Jeff are having an ugly sweater/house warming partay. My no drinking of beer plan might go out the window.

Love you bye!

Emmy's Organics :)

A blog that I follow (Mr.Kate) is going a little giveaway from a company called Emmy's Organics. And since I'm doing my best to be a healthier Leah I thought I'd try to get in on this (duh). If you wanted to get in on it too, just go over to Mr.Kate's blog and check out the post! #recommend!

whoop!

FINALLY

I am going to see my panda after work! Haven't seen her in a week. Ruuuuuuuude. 7 months together as of yesterday,  I'm a pretty happy Leah :)

Back!

Oh, hello again!
The last few days have been glorious; piles of booze and food and good times. Now I must detox, haha. From all of the above. I've decided to cut out some of my usual vices from now til Christmas, I have faith in myself now, but we'll see what really happens this weekend. I'm going to avoid beer, soda, and meat from now til Christmas (eve). I think I've gotten to be kind of a fatty. This should help with that. Also, a test of will. I will need support, so if you have any to spare I will be accepting of it. I considered cutting down on smoking as well, but I think that could have been a bit much. I don't want to explode and binge consume everything all at once.

In addition, I discovered that my user name on Pinterest is Pinterest.com/LeDub
Feel free to be checking it out.

Happy Monday

That's right, happy MONDAY!! Since this will be a short work week, I am feeling much less hostile than usual on this Monday of days.

Also, I just got 2 random lovely things from my bank - a $5 gift card to Starbucks and extra points for my credit card. Thanks, BOA :) However, to combat this I was charged twice for the same interaction at Walgreens a couple of weeks ago. I just noticed this today and filed my very first "dispute on a transaction". #Growingup

This weekend seemed incredibly long, I love that! Stayed up til 5am on Friday night (Monday morning) b/c I went out to a concert with Brittny that didn't start til midnight. Slept in on Saturday, then Amanda and I drove out to my house. My dad came back from Singapore a couple days ago so it seemed appropriate to hang out near/around him. I don't think he noticed. He is kind of a jerk sometimes. Amanda, me, my mom, and dad went out to eat Saturday and it was not my favorite. He makes things so uncomfortable and it frustrates the crap out of me. I guess Amanda was subconsciously sensing my frustrations because she was so awesome and easy going. Such a good one :)

Sunday was even awesome as well. Cooked so many homemade (not even the littlest bit healthy) things! We (mostly my mom) baked bread, a bbq shrimp recipe, and this cranberry goodness to put on baked brie. All of this was interspersed with the watching of the Bears game, drinking a few brewskies, and at one point we watched the Swedish movie (from the book) The Girl Who Played With Fire. It was pretty great.

ALSO, I have finally *started discovering the joy of Pinterest! Thanks Jame! I really wish that it wasn't blocked on my work computer, because I'd use it/pin stuff all the time. And I am really only at my home like 2 days a week now, so I don't have my computer all that often....but I will try to be a good Pinterest user. It seems pretty much amazing/perfect for me. I spend so much time emailing myself things, when I could have been pinning them! Times are a changin.

Back to work. Bye-cycle.

Cheese

It is Friday (yay!)

Yesterday was one of those days that turns out to be unexpectedly pleasant. I had plans to go home right after work, but instead grabbed a drink with a couple of co workers. I am newly discovering the pedway system of Chicago. It is amazing, and I had NO IDEA there was a huge system of underground walkways, stores, restaurants, bars, etc. I can get all the way from work to the el without ever going above ground! Granted, that's only about a half mile of walking, but during the winter I'll be very thankful not to be in negative 20 degree weather outside.

Spent some time with Bittny and her THREE cats later in the evening. It was nice to catch up. We are so chatty with each other sometimes, haha. I hope I am as good of a listener as she is. I try to be.

By the way, made some super tasty baked mac & cheese the other night! Not even a little bit healthy, but that's okay. Sometimes you just have to eat 7 different kinds of cheese in a meal, you know?

This was the picture that inspired me. Mine did look a bit like that, except I used swirly noodles. Duh.

Chello

Oh Liz Lemon!



Also, I will make these shelves!

Monday

Phone Photo Phriday?

Oh, I forgot that I was going to do that. Ewwwps. I'm not 100% sure I remember how to get pics from my phone to here anyway. Maybe by next week I will have that sorted out. I did come across these picture online today. Wants!

If I had an iPhone, I would require this case:

p.s. my food run to TJs last night was a success! Made a yummy wrap and bought some snacks. Forget essentials like milk. Oops.

Wrap supplies: Small cucumbers, mushrooms, whole wheat tortillas, edamame hummus, sesame seeds, avocado, shredded sharp cheddar, sriracha sauce <3

Ah Thursday night you are almost as good as Friday

I enjoy most days of the week. My main exception is Monday. Useless. I love Fridays. ESPECIALLY Friday afternoons. The anticipation of the weekend is almost as good as the actual weekend itself. I kind of ruined last weekend due to lots of drinks on Saturday, so my plan is to not do that this time. Medium amount of drinks is fine, as long as I remember to eat first...much vomit/crying/headache combinations were had last weekend. Ew.

I'm currently feeling pretty fly, sitting on Panda's couch, listening to the heater and people outside. Just showered, wearing sweats, drinking a Red Stripe, and planning a quick shopping trip to Trader Joe's down the street. Ahhhhh knowing that tomorrow is Friday puts me in such a good mood! Panda works late tonight, and I was supposed to go home, but I'm finding it increasingly difficult to make the treck all the way to the suburbs knowing that I'll just be coming right back to the city in the morning. PLUS when I stay with Panda I get to sleep in a bit and only take one form of public transportation #perks. Oh, and I get to spend time with my love :)

Tomorrow I have a blog plan! Phone Photo Phriday. See what I did there? Bahh ha ha ha. I'm gonna post pics of my day every so often. You know, to capture a day in the life of the Leah. I can't promise it will be exciting, but I can promise it will be a thing.

I'm turning into a hungry hungry hippo now. Must seek sustinance. Bye-cicle.

smpics

I do love sleepy baby otters.



Also, kid from Jerry Maguire WHAT??



lollercoaster

Cutest couple halloween costume!

Want

REVELATION!

Today I realized that Nickelback lead singer Chad Kroeger, is the love child of Dax Shepard (Parenthood/Punk'd) and Zach Braff (Scrubs).

Awesome blog just discovered

FOOD 52
I love that you can filter recipes by different types (vegan, vegetarian, ingredients, booze/non booze, etc.) AND you can save the things that you want to try. Normally when i come across a recipe I want to make I'll just email myself the link and then promptly forget about it. At least this way (as long as I don't forget about the site, haha) I'll have a bunch in one place! The pictures are pretty lovely as well :)

Also, this beverage sounds friggin delish: Boozy Watermelon Rosemary Lemonade.

That is all for now.

French Onion Soup!

It was so good!! The hardest part about making it was frequently stirring the onions for about 20 minutes, just so they cooked evenly and didn't stick to the pan. I had no idea making FO soup would be so simple, and with so few ingredients. I would definitely recommend it, if you like FO soup of course ;) A few changes I made to this original recipe:
- Used Trader Joe's Cabernet Sauvignon instead of dry sherry (only spent $2.99 AND we had drinks to go with our meal!)
- Used vegetable stock cubes instead of chicken stock, because, well ya know I'm trying to avoid meat related things.
- Used 1 red onion and 2 yellow onions instead of 3 spanish onions.
- Instead of using unsalted butter, we used Earth Balance.
- Because I HATE cutting onions (burning, firey eyes), I did NOT cut them up into small pieces. They were large chunks. Equally delicious and chunky.

Also, when I make this again (and I totes will) I will probably just break up the bread into crouton shapes, and cut the cheese up into little strips so it doesn't all stay together in one piece after you broil it.

The tele

Now that Netflix and On Demand have become part of my life, I find myself feeling overwhelmed with the need to watch awesome TV series from start to finish. Currently on my radar:

- The Walking Dead
- 30 Rock
- Golden Girls
- Twin Peaks
- American Horror Story
- Happy Endings (medium amount)

Don't worry, I am still taking suggestions if you would like to share with me.

That is all for now.


**edit: 3 shows to add to my best list: Sports Night, The West Wing, and True Blood

Logos!!

See if you can name These Logos!!
Haha, I had a lot of fun with this one.

Beer consumption by state. Just sayin...

See if you can name the states with the highest beer consumption per capita

Friiiiiiday

I have a Friday dance. It involves some high knee action, accompanied by a "whoooooop" and another "whooooop". The hand gestures vary from week to week, but overall they look really good. I can't wait to do my best Friday dance after work today. You can expect to to occur around 5:30 p.m. Set your watches, followers.

My best Amanda and I have been dating for 6 months as of today <3 I might incorporate a movement to celebrate our love in my Friday dance. It will likely be a thrust. I am going to be planning this ALL DAY. Yesterday ended up being so lovely. Got to her place after work. We did some pretty serious crossword puzzle action. Went out for sushi (so delicious). Stopped by a sports bar around the corner from her apt to grab a beer (it was crappy beer night - crappy beers for cheap!) and watch the Cardinals/Rangers game. Left about 5th inning, and continued to listen to the game on the radio in her apartment. She unfortunately does not have cable anymore :( But it ended up being kinda nice snuggling on the couch, listening to the game. I cannot believe the ridiculousness that was that game, though. Seriously. A good game to watch/listen to.

It's time to go get some work done. I'm sure I'll be back later. BYE!

Hi, it's been a while!

Over a month since I last graced Blogger with my presence!

Oy much has changed. As I said in my last post I started a temping job. With an insurance company. The job is tedious, but we have a lot of down time. 7 other people were hired at the same time as me so it's been kind of nice to go through the training process with a bunch of other people.

Today by boss's boss came in to tell us about permanent positions that the company is hiring for. I'm not sure I will apply to them b/c I like the idea of this job being done with in a few months. Amanda and I have been talking about possibly moving out to Denver in the (somewhat near) future. Maybe within a year. So living at home, and (kind of) saving money from a temporary job is actually ideal for me right now!

This weekend is Halloween and I have no desire to dress up/go to Halloween things. Tomorrow night I'm going to a show at the Double Door in Chicago with Panda (aka Amanda), and on Saturday I want to do some shopping. That's about it, haha. And you know what? I am happy with these plans.

I lost my camera a couple of weeks ago at a party. Not only was I obviously sad about the camera itself, but I also had pictures on it that I wished to have. Believe it or not the person who found my camera posted it on a message board from the party's website and I was able to get it back! **Happiness ensues!!

I need a winter coat. Stat. Also black boots. Also work clothes. I am in the market for some gray, medium skinny legged slacks. Hopefully I will find some of these items this weekend.

Unfortunately the internet blocks have gone into effect at work so I can't look at lots of websites, but I think this will get me to do a bit more blogging which I've been meaning to do. Not that I have anything particularly interesting to write about, but I still enjoy it. And reading other people's blogs.

Cheers!

Oh, hello!

Last weekend was lovely - one of my best best buds got married :)
Tomorrow - start my first day of work (just temporary - til Feb or March probably).
I will elaborate on these topics at a later date. I'm nervous and can't sleep, but I will do my best to fix that.

I would eat this.

Dog City

Hello! I am living in Lake View for a couple of weeks while dog sitting for some friends. Dean is the dog. He is a good dog, but the more I get to know him the more I realize how sensitive he is - haha, he is very needy. He hates to be alone, so he'll keep a close eye on me when I'm around to make sure I don't leave. Sometimes I feel bad for him, living in a small apartment in a city - but I suppose he seems okay. I've been watching him since Friday, and we've gone to the dog beach twice already. He loves to fetch! He has no interest in any of the other dogs, unless they too are fetching. In which case he would like to have whatever item it is that they're playing with. At one point this morning, he acquired 3 tennis balls at the beach. He tried to herd them into a safe pile, but was unsuccessful. I like taking him there because he runs/swims A LOT. I want him to be tired so he's less anxious. We'll work on it.

Cuddling

Retrieving!

smonday

Today much time was spent searching Craigslist for jobs. A fruitless endeavor it turned out to be! Unless depression is a fruit. I am surprised that my frisbee fellow hasn't gotten back to me about the job situation, I was hoping that would lead to something - even just an interview! Ahhh well, just have to keep looking elsewhere.

Went to a couple of animal shelters in the city this past weekend. I only cried about 4 times. Haha I am so dramatic. But seriously, some of the faces these dogs made were just punch you in the heart sad. I wanted to take them all home. I fell in love with a brown and white lab/german shepherd mix pup. She was sleeping next to another pup and they were HOLDING HANDS. Ahhhhh so cute.

Last day of frisbee is tomorrow. Lots of stuff for me to do tomorrow. Pick up my *new* bridesmaid dress (in the appropriate size), mow the lawn, go to Target, and perhaps go make some food for my sickly girlfriend. That would be nice of me. Met her parents yesterday. NERVOUS LEAH. I suppose it could have gone worse. I think they have neutral feelings towards me. Meh.

Okay. My dryer beeps at me.

Heyo

Epic week is coming to an end! I have been in the city all week; just got home an hour ago. I missed my bed and all of it's squishy gloriousness. I had big plans of posting pictures from this week, but my camera is downstairs. I am not going back. Too far!!!!!

Last weekend the New Yorkers came, good times were had! Sara and Alex are pretty fly. Here's a link to Sara's blog: http://roadtotheheart.com/. She did a couple of posts on her time in Illinois. Her camera is awesome and takes excellent pictures. 2 of my aunts were staying at my home last weekend. They have since left. On Monday and Tuesday I helped out (a small amount) at the trade show in Merchandise Mart.

Tuesday was supposed to be a day of Ultimate Frisbee, but due to lightning, Brittny and I crashed Amanda's apartment and drank fancy/glamorous beers while watching a show about a briefcase...and a GPS.

Wednesday went to the beach with miss Brittny. It was perfection. Minus my sunburn. It's one of those burns where you can clearly see what parts of my back I didn't reach enough with the sunscreen. Very sexy. And wednesday night Amanda and I went to Navy Pier to see a show at the Shakespeare Theater. A murder mystery! It was funny and also a musical. And also 1 guy played the part of about 9 characters. Then if you could even believe it when the play was over we shared a hotdog and watched fireworks. Navy Pier isn't my favorite place in Chicago, but it actually was a very lovely date :)

Thursday was...yesterday. the Chive party! Ahhhhhhh so fun. "I am obsessed with this night" was said multiple times. So many drinks were drank. That is what happens when you have an open bar all night. It was fun for me to meet the guys who I always see pictures of, and who post things that have brightened many hours of my life. They are a lot of fun.

Unfortunately today was a bit of a waste. So so sos os ososososos hungover. Ew. I have consumed sleeping pills and showered. So I'm ready for a solid 10 hours of sleep tonight. Hopefully the hangover will be gone tomorrow! I need bacon. Oh, speaking of bacon, on Sunday morning we made pancakes with a slice of bacon inside. <3 delicious.

peace and blessings. peace. and blessings.

July

What a busy month! I like that.

Spent about 5 days in Atlanta, went to Indy for some wedding stuff, and some friends from NYC are coming into town today :) I want to take them to Piece Pizza, obviously. Haven't been there since Erica was in town, so I think it's time to go back.

I need to be better at updating, I've been slacking!

But I am off to get my oil changed...sexually. No, just kidding. Regular oil change.

Boopenboop

Oh hey again!
Nashville is a no-go this weekend :( sad. But I'm only medium upset because the reason we're not going is that Amanda got a job - which is good news! It is the perfect job for her, and I know how badly she wanted it so I'm pretty happy ;) Now I can be a kept woman. Hahahahaha...right.

I AM going to Atlanta next weekend, though! This one is official because the plane ticket is bought. I'm going to help out my cousins at a trade show for their company. I will mostly just be wearing pajamas all weekend to promote, and setting up booths. And hanging out with my Cincinnati and Atlanta cousins :) Sounds like fun to me.

Today I saw a tiny desk on the sidewalk that someone was getting rid of, and I wanted it. It was in good condition and I thought it would fit in my car. Wrong. A guy saw me struggling, and he came over to help. He ended up getting a wrench from his apartment and taking it apart so it would fit in my car, how nice! While this was happening I saw someone I knew and she found the situation to be pretty funny. Then she told me that a week or so ago there were some awesome chairs that someone had put out down there and she snatched em up. Exquisite.

I'm eating a tasty bag of Gardetto's right now. Thinking of a poem that Lisa wrote, I'd like to share:

Oh, Gardetto's
I want you in my mouth
you have no idea
how bad I want to go down south
stop at every store on the way
I wish you knew
how much I love your shapes
brown ones, round ones
salty but so sweet
Oh, Gardetto's
if I could I would eat
every bag so tenderly
lick you, savor you
I want your flavors all over me
there’s nothing that I wouldn’t do
I see you with someone else
in their hands, touching their lips
I wouldn’t hesitate to give
even a small child a swift kick
because you belong to me
I want you all to myself
I’d smuggle every one of you off the shelf
smile as I run away
if I had you all for just one day
I’d take you to Gardetto Island
just being together, munching in silence
Oh, Gardetto's
you are perfect to me
I want to open you up, whisper softly
--that you are the only snack I’ll ever need 

Gotta go

My dad's leaving for Singapore tomorrow - well technically today I suppose. In 12 hours. I've known about this for several months, but for some reason it didn't really register with me until today. Not sure how I feel about it yet. I'm surprised to find that a part of me is sad. I feel bad saying it like that, but it's just...weird. We have a weird relationship and he's not usually my favorite person to be around, but looking at this objectively I think it's a bit sad. I don't know.

I was thinking about going to Indianapolis and Nashville this week, but some things have changed and that might not end up happening. I'll find out tomorrow.

a time

Sometimes it is 1:00 a.m. and I am watching Moulin Rouge while cleaning my room. And also eating some greek pasta salad. and a bowl of chips. and maybe having a tootsie roll pop after those other things are gone. and then just maybe when all of those things are done i will go out into the street on this warm night to smoke a little cigarette.

whoop whoop!

What a cute girlfriend I have!

She is coming over to make dinner for my parents with me tonight. Nervous/excited! I have never introduced my dad to anyone that I've been dating before. We'll see how it goes.

Father's Day

Went out for dinner with my dad today - you know, with it being father's day and all. Ate delicious food and heard some interesting stories. Despite all of the ways I don't get along with my dad, I have to admit that he is one of the most interesting people I know. He's met so many people, and seen so many things that it always just blows my mind.

Tonight is rather uneventful. Laundry, a bit of cleaning. I'm in and out of my house so often that I feel like I'm constantly living out of bags, even when I'm at home. Sometimes when I know I'll be home for a couple days in a row it's nice to unpack and get things sorted...even if I'll just be leaving again soon.

The other day someone was telling me about the health benefits of apple cider vinegar (ACV), and today I decided to do some research on it. Drinking ACV is supposedly good for you in quite a few ways, so I'm giving it a go. I've had stomach issues for several years now, and hate having to take antacids all the time - so this should help with that. And it's also used for clearing up skin problems like acne which has been bugging me lately. I'll let you know how all this vinegar drinking goes. So far the only downfall I've heard about drinking it is that it's pretty awful on your tooth enamel...which could be a problem, but maybe if I brush my teeth before/after drinking it that won't be an issue. We'll see.

Went to 6 flags last week and it was AWESOME. It was a gloomy day so we it wasn't crowded at all. Lines were almost non existent. Went on all the roller coasters AND only paid $20 for a ticket. Was a pretty perfect day :)

Amanda wore my fanny pack like a messenger bag for most of the day. Here she is posing in a non existent line for that giant drop ride which scared the crap out of us both times we rode it.

Hey Scooby. Sorry about molesting you like that.

Oh yeah, and sorry about molesting you too, Superman.

Dryer is obnoxiously beeping at me. I'm off to tend to my clean clothes now.

Summercamp

Went to a music festival this past weekends, stayed Fri, Sat, and Sunday night. Just got back on Monday. It was pretty much awesome :) It was muddy and loud and splendid. We camped out so that was an adventure. It was so incredible to use a real bathroom on Monday! Oh, and also I went without showering for several days. Mmmm delicious. I am a bit sad to be back in the real world. Here are just a couple pics from the wknd:

Brittny is surprised to discover that we can put up a tent!

I drink coffee out of a bowl.

Music peeps

Fire spinner captures my attention

Living alone

I can't take much more of this living with my family thing. I'm 25 and I think it's pretty normal for me not to want to live at home anymore. Woke up around 10:30 this morning, went downstairs, and was pleasantly surprised to find nobody around. Unfortunately, people were around - I just couldn't see them right away. Reed was still in bed. My mom was outside. I attempted to suckle in the peace and quiet for a short time. Made (and ruined) some oatmeal. Drank some juice. Checked my emails/facebook. You know, the usual morning activities of an unemployed person.

Anyway, the point of this story is that living with my mom is so fucking stressful. She is certainly not mean or rude in anyway. She just has a lot of energy and can't be still. I don't like this. Sometimes it is okay to just chill out, relax, and not worry about things. My mom doesn't understand that. I guess it is a personality thing. As soon as she came in from outside I was bombarded with conversation that I didn't want to participate in. How was the job interview? What was the company? Where can I buy disposable customizable cups? Where is the music festival that you're going to this weekend? How far is that from Springfield? Are you doing anything today? Do you want to help clean out the basement? What should we have for dinner?

This was just the tip of the iceberg. There were follow up questions to all of these, and side comments, and unfinished sentences that made no sense. I finished my oatmeal and returned to my bedroom. I don't like to do this because I feel like I get stuck here. I just like to be alone sometimes. And I like to enjoy some quiet time, without worrying about a thousand things. I do enough worrying in my head that if I can have some time where I don't think about stuff it just feels really good.

The 1st time I slept over at Stacey and Stu's apartment, I remember waking up on the futon - they were still in bed, and it was around noon. I cuddled with Dean for a while, and they came in, turned some music on, and made coffee and breakfast. It was all just really lovely. I didn't fill up with my usual morning anxiety which was incredible. I wonder if I lived alone what things would be like. Damn I just rambled about a lot crap. My apologies.

Cup in mouth face

This is a special tradition in my family. And by tradition I just mean a thing that Reed & I do because we think it's funny.

"Cup in mouth face"