This weekend a very cute cat came to visit. 🙂 And she shouldn’t move back to the UK because a) she makes super yummy cupcakes and b) she’s just too much fun to lose to those stodgy Brits! lol
And oh man, Lost started last night and holy crap I’m still reeling from that one. Two hours and I’m far more confused than I was at the end of last year. And I was pretty confused last year, too.
This is the first time since I moved to this coast that I’ve had a boss that I actually respect and admire, and it’s a different experience for me.
My boss gets in before most everyone and is undoubtedly the last to leave. She works weekends, she works from home and she’s run this company for over two decades. She doesn’t ask her staff to do anything she wouldn’t do herself and damn if she isn’t smarter than all of us, with a Master’s and a PhD and did I mention she graduated with those concurrently? At 24? Yeah. She got into business young, then got married, got fired for being pregnant (ha, she showed them) and started running her dad’s company. Now she’s raised four kids, three of whom work for her, and she’s running one of the most successful businesses in the area with a staff of 150 and contracts easily totaling over 15 million a year.
Every day she allows herself four cigarettes… six if it’s a particularly draining day. And you can always tell what kind of a day it is by which cigarettes are missing—she places them strategically on shelves and power boxes on the way out the door. If they’re all gone by 2PM, it’s a bad day; if there’s one still on the apple shelf, it’s a good day.
I find it endearing.
Yeah, no duh. But this clip of a dog (in a newsroom in Arcata, CA, right before their recent earthquake) taking off right before the earth start moving is pretty cool.
I love how he noses the ground. I image his internal dialogue was along the lines of… just chillin’ in the office, dum de dum, hmm, *sniff* *sniff* oh shit, that’s no good *runs away very fast*.
I’d love to know where he ended up. Some secret doggie lair? Standing tiptoe in a doorframe?
This morning NPR did a profile of Ryan Seacrest, and it proved my longstanding belief that the guy works like a dog. He’s up at 4AM six days a week. He hosts three radio shows. He does the red carpet at every major awards show. He hosts American Idol. Oh, and he produces all of those as well. And two shows for the E! Network.
Granted I don’t listen to his radio shows, I don’t watch the award shows and god knows Keeping Up with the Kardashians might make me kill someone, but you have got to be impressed with the guy for knowing what he wants and going after it 110%.
The argument on NPR was that he’s taking over for Dick Clark and eventually for Larry King… he’s going to have his hands in all the pies. In investment terms, the guy knows how to diversify!
2009 has been equal parts awesome and awful. I can’t remember any other, aside from perhaps 2006 (sick, but met the Chop) and 2003 (my Nana died/my sister got divorced, but moved to the East Coast), where there was such an equal amount of good and bad.
January
We elected a new president, and although it hasn’t been all roses, I’m still glad he’s it.
We started planning the wedding and getting pressure for our “no gift” policy. Sigh. And I lit our oven on fire.
February
We picked our wedding spot, caterers and photographer—and they all turned out to be absolutely perfect.
A dear friend lost her husband.
March
We went on vacation in Ireland, which was amazing. Even though I have a little bitterness about not moving there, lol.
My dryer crapped out, three of our favorite restaurants closed and, oh yeah, that 15% pay cut. Damn the recession.
April
We went and saw David Sedaris, the world was introduced to Susan Boyle and the Chop and I decided to start house hunting.
I had to go to Vegas for our conference; we put an offer on a house that turned out to be the lemon of the century (hello $30k in fixes)… and so we pulled out.
May
Went to a very entertaining wedding of a good friend—and on the same day, found the house we would buy.
We house-hunted every weekend.
June
Bought our house, switched states and marked four years of blogging.
Moved out of my favorite place and left my home of four years.
July
Quit one job and got another. Kept the other job as a client for more money and less pain—win, win.
The dog decided to inaugurate the house by using the basement as her personal toilet—very. bad.
August
Oh god, the wedding planning. And the DMV. And the lack of air conditioning. August was rough.
September
Convinced my parents I should be able to wear red at my wedding. Built the wedding website.
Wedding planning. Hell. Went dress shopping. Double hell. Worked like a dog.
October
Went to TX, where my awesome godmother made my VERY RED dress!
Worked like a dog. Went to ME with my mom and sister—where we fought constantly. Tried to convince Chop that we should elope already goddamnit.
November
Went back to WA for a bridal shower, where my awesome cousin surprised me, which was lovely. My family came for Thanksgiving, which was also surprisingly lovely.
Counted down to the wedding, with all the insanity and annoyances that came with it. Worked like a dog.
December
Got MARRIED—now I get to wear an additional shiny, shiny ring. Went to MN for Christmas and had so much fun. Am planning to spend New Year’s happily ensconced at home, with my husband.
Went through so much insanity during the week of the wedding—and the wedding. Dealt with every possible crisis that could come up. Am still exhausted from the entire year.
Well the Chop and I took the plunge on Friday. 🙂 The wedding was crazy (we didn’t go to bed till 4AM) but awesome and we really enjoyed the party. There was major drama (uh, almost-sex in the steam room—not us—and crazy dynamics of family), but all in all we had a good time.
Plus, hi, super shiny new ring!! 😀
I am so in love with this video I’ve watched it probably 20 times.
Two Weeks – Grizzly Bear from Gabe Askew on Vimeo.
Saturday: got the U-Haul, moved all of the boxes and suitcases and drove through a ridiculous hailstorm on the way home. While driving said U-Haul. I’m not going to lie, it was slightly terrifying.
Sunday: We cleaned the house and waited for the movers to come (they were over an hour late). Did a walk through with the landlord (who gave us a bottle of champagne to celebrate our new home purchase, so nice) and spent the first night with all of our stuff in the new house. Also, realized we had no dryer vent. Oh, and the outlet is a three-prong and we have a four-prong dryer. Sigh.
Monday: Started unpacking, debated different avenues for a dryer vent… window, hiring someone to go through the wall, etc. Mom cleaned like mad while I worked and for dinner, we took her to Five Guys (which she now loves).
Tuesday: Hired an electrician (with seriously gorgeous eyes.. my mom thought they were “electrifying” hehe) who figured out the three-prong wasn’t enough volts anyway, so he ran in a line, fixed that outlet, added another one in our upstairs bathroom and then graciously offered to cut the hole in the plexiglass we had purchased to create our window vent. Got a call from my dad around 7PM—was in NYC and wanted to know what was for dinner. What now, I said? Yep, my dad decided to fly out after his call was over (on call till Tuesday morning) and help us set up the house. Apparently the numerous phone calls about random electrical questions was worrisome. 🙂 So sweet… except the weather caused his flight to be delayed, then diverted, then sent back to Boston. Got home at 3AM after Mom and I spent three hours playing Scrabble on my IPod in the cellphone lot at Logan. Dear god, so tired thinking about it lol.
Wednesday: My dad seriously is a jack of all trades. He created a dryer vent, secured it against break-ins, switched two blinds that were installed wrong and changed out the shower heads. Mom cleaned, I worked. (Chop had to work all week, so was only able to help at night anyway.) Went to a new restaurant for dinner, which was incredibly amazing and my parents are in love with it. 🙂
Thursday: Dad took out all the locks and had them rekeyed, Mom cleaned, I worked (see a pattern here? lol). Then we went to Ikea, Costco and Jordan’s Furniture while my Dad waited for Sears to come clean the carpets. Sears didn’t show (apparently the weather knocked out their communications system), and Mom and I spent four hours shopping… deep sigh. Had take-out Thai again—I will never get tired of that—watched the latest Die Hard movie (my dad is a huge fan) and crashed at midnight.
Friday: Chop and I both had the day off, so after we all slept in a bit, Mom went back to laundry, Dad re-hung four cabinet doors, and I made breakfast. Mom then went back to cleaning (I know, it’s crazy amazing) and Dad un-dented the top of my dryer (sigh, movers) while Chop and I installed the latest OS on my Dad’s laptop (we know our skills!). Sadly we dropped them at the airport a few hours ago and they are halfway home by now.
Verdict: My parents are awesome and managed to get so much stuff done while they were here (and save us a bunch of money on a handyman) and we are so, so thankful, but we’re also very glad we finally get to inaugurate our house with just us. And frankly, the dog needs some chill time… Grandpa fed her a Whopper, among other things, and her crazy level is on high alert.
Have a happy fourth of July everyone! We’re planning to sleep late and work like crazy all day. 🙂