Good-bye 2009, Hello 2010

2009, a year of many endings and new beginnings. a year of completely new experiences and travels that I will remember my entire life.

• I finished my Masters program and now have a Masters degree in Fire Protection Engineering. It was a very long schoolward journey and I loved most of it, once I hit high school that is. But I am very happy to be done and using my brains for something real, rather than fake school projects.
• I spent a month roadtripping around the southern half of the US with one of my best friends. We saw so many cool places, beautiful landscapes, met numerous interesting people, hiked impossible trails, and had a few drunken nights in the cities that called for it. Las Vegas, woot woot! And after it all I was completely unsatisfied with the short time we were able to experience it all. I now have a never-ending itch to do the same in the north part and repeat the south! Someday!
• I spent quality time with the family and remembered what it was like to really live in NH and enjoy its beauty and peace. Though I do not want to be living there full time I do love the state. It was awesome to also connect with my family again as I hadn’t really lived at home for 4+ years and probably won’t again?!?! Scary but I can’t even think the next time I will be back in NH in this next year, so not improbable.
• I accepted a full-time position with the company I interned for a year with. Though things with the economy, etc hasn’t picked up and I am still rather bored here I am thankful for a job and for the few opportunities that come my way. I will continue to do my best and learn everything I can so that when things pick up or a new job opportunity comes my way I will be prepared and useful.

• I moved out of my first Chicago apt. I had a wonderful time with my roommate there but I was also excited to move on. She and I led very different lives and I realized that I got very frustrated living with a person who had a completely different schedule than me.
  
• Following that, I moved into my second Chicago apt in a new section of the city with two new roommates who I found off of Craigslist. It was a huge leap of faith in myself that I would be able to live with two completely new people and I’m very happy with how it has turned out. I have found a great new friend in one of them and while the other isn’t as such a good friend, she is pleasant and fine to hang out with. Plus the apt is gorgeous and amazing and finally a grown up place. Though I am still waiting for the grownup furniture, mainly a couch. But hey, maybe in 2010
  
• I read 30 books this year. Definetly on the lower side for me but my life was really just all go, go, go and I find when I don’t have set times to read (like on the way to work or something) that I will sit down and turn the tv on rather than pick up a book. I’d like to make a goal to hit right around 35-40 for 2010.
  
• I traveled to Macau, China and spent a month doing a section of my work field that I loved.

Though I know 2009 has been a rough year for many, for me it’s been a huge growing year. I have enjoyed so many new things and learned so much about no matter how much things change, certain things, the relationships and friendships that get you through, don’t deep down. And really it’s the friendships that we all want right? Love, laughter, happiness. I had an incredible amount of it all this year and only hope that 2010 brings the same amount if not more! Good wishes to all. I’m bout ready to head out of this here office and go party my pants into 2010!!!!

After the gym and a carb-loaded dinner of course. Have to have a base for all that booze. Oh and a trip to the store for champagne! Can’t forget that.

See ya next year!

2000-2009 An Era of Time: My Life in Snippits

2000: I was in 8th grade and I made a decision this year that changed my entire life. I chose to apply to a nearby private highschool because I wasn’t happy I in my current public one. I wanted the chance to remake myself and man did I get the chance! I spent that summer preparing myself for a new environment. I participated in the schools orientation and was amazed when I actually enjoyed camping and hiking while carrying everything on my back! It would later prompt me to make what my family saw as an insane decision a few years later.

2001: I was halfway through my freshman year at highschool in a completely new school. I was still figuring out my new love of theatre and singing by doing the musical Cabaret. I had my first real attraction towards a guy and my “heartbreak” when he got kicked out of school. J love the bad boys. I believe I spent the summer nannying my younger brother and sister which meant that I got paid to go hang out at our lake house and doing pretty much nothing. I turned 14 years old and enjoyed still being carefree.

2002: As a sophomore in highschool I was still deep into the theatre and singing scene. I played Maria in West Side Story and it was one of the proudest moments of my life. That summer I still nannyed. Ugh When Sept 11th happened I had just entered junior year and can remember being called out to our school’s soccer field and told the news. I was so confused that something like that could happen. I ended the year with the start of one of the most incredible experiences of my life, Mountain Classroom. I had a blast in my math and science classes not only because of the fellow students but also because of the teachers.

2003: As stated I was partaking in Mountain Classroom through the beginning of this year. It was the first time I had ever dogsledded, rock-climbed, backpacked/camped, and many other things. I forged a great friendship with 11 other people and changed many mentalities that I had had up to that point in my life. This summer I took my first real job lifeguarding, took drivers ed and got my license, and still enjoyed hanging out at our lake house. Right around here was also when I probably started sneaking out of my grandparents house, on my mothers orders, because the 10pm curfew I had was just not cutting it! This year I got even closer to one of my still good friends and we decided to direct the senior play together the next year.

2004: My senior year! I spent the winter directing Up the Down Staircase with my good friend. It was an incredible experience with lots of hands-on learning and mistakes. Our cast was huge and it took lots of patience and late nights from both of us to turn out a success. The spring was spent with the musical The Fiddler on the Roof and my senior project which left me with lots of free time to hang out and enjoy my last few months. Oh and I got accepted to college. Haha. I worked that summer lifeguarding and serving ice cream at the Quack Shack. Had a fantastic last summer! I entered college and couldn’t have been more excited.

2005: I was in the middle of my first year being on a Varsity Swim Team and taking numerous math and science classes plus having to choose a major. I fell in love with a great guy who would turn out to be my boyfriend for the next 4 years or so. I had a fantastic freshman year, went out lots, met a ton of new people, and had a generally fantastic time. My roommates, we were in a triple, turned out to be my best friends yet and the girl who lived next door became our 4th roomie. I spent that summer at home bummed because I wasn’t with the boy and bored with the slow life that is NH. I waitressed at a local country club with one of my friends.

2006: Sophmore year of college, started doing actual civil courses that I enjoyed. I was living with my two freshman roommates in an off-campus apt and loving it. My boyfriend was living in a dirty frat house and we had lots of fights because of all the stupid frat things he had to do. Swimming was great and it ended up being one of my best seasons. That summer I stayed in Worcester and had a great time waitressing down there. I watched one of my good friend s graduate but convinced her to come back for a grad year! Wahoo!

2007: Junior year at college I was now in the slightly more intense civil courses. I was captain of my swim team and had also taken on a job in our campus bookstore. Still in the same apt with a better 4th roommate. That spring I traveled to London for school and had a fabulous time. I fell in love with traveling as I also visited Ireland, Amsterdam, and Scotland. I spent that summer in Worcester as well missing my boyfriend who spent 2 months in China. It was a rough period where we fluctuated back and forth between being together because we basically spent 6 months apart! My fellow swimmer/roomy and I also convinced our other friend to join the diving team! Made swim meets WAY more fun.

2008: Senior year! Had to choose between going for a grad year and finishing up my masters or taking a one year internship. Opted for the one year internship after I got offered a position in Chicago and who could pass that up. I was busy with my graduate courses, swim team, campus bookstore, and helping my boyfriend who potentially couldn’t graduate navigate that. That spring after everything had quieted down I spent my mornings sleeping and my afternoons drinking in my backyard while calling everyone and convincing them to skip their classes and come drink with me! Graduation was absolutely insane and a complete mix of emotions. I spent a solid month hanging out with family and the boy before we road-tripped me to Chicago and moved me in. I started my internship which was not too fun. I later broke up with the boy in November because it was too exhausting living in two different cities.

2009: Now to this year, a year of mainly Chicago with multiple locations thrown in. These will be discussed in a future post to come tomorrow hopefully.

Last half of Dec Wrap-up

wooooofffff, it's been awhile. I feel like the past few weeks have just flown by at warp speed. Like I grabbed on to the tail end of a light streak and just finally let go last night. which is all just to say that christmas and my week off with it was fabulous and wonderful. Everything went perfectly, I managed to avoid the couple of snowstorms (and terrorists??) that plagued so many air travelers, and had an amazing time with the friends and family I got to see.

The weekend before xmas I flew out to NYC and spent the weekend with a friend where we had just the right mix of being bums on the couch and checking out the holiday parties. I started watching Arrested Development (hilarious!) and finally saw the movie Hang Over (almost died I was laughing so much! a tiger in the bathroom!!!) I also got to drunkenly stumble down the middle of Hoboken streets through 8" of snow in heels! I absolutely love snow storms when the city just goes quiet and you're free to do whatever! Plus I was with a great group of people and when ur drunk the cold and wet just doesn't bother you as much :) I also got some fun close time with a member of the other sex which is always a plus. def crave that in the winter season when I'm always COLD!

Then I met up with my Mom, aunt, grandmother, sister, and cousin in the city on monday. We saw Billy Elliot that night, great play but a little too many kids for me. I don't usually find kids fantastic actors cause they usually either have the cuteness factor or nothing much. But the play was cute and there were some great musical numbers! On Tuesday we walked around the city, it was gorgeous weather out and we did some fun shopping and had a great time. I found cheap pashminas (5 for $20) which made my trip and then we spent the night drinking fantastically expensive cosmos! great trip

finally it was christmas time! my dad and I spent christmas eve day finishing up shopping and then it was a couple days of hanging out at home, bumming around, fires and champagne, family time, lots of good food, and really fun presents! I got lots of things for my room, from sheets to some decorations. I love getting the more expensive but simple gifts that I hate spending my own money on!

overall it was the perfect break, minus that fact that I don't think I have ever had a less relaxing vacation. I finally made it to the airport last night and was so exhausted my eyes kept going blurry! It took a big cup of coffee more than an hour to wake me up to feeling even somewhat normal! but I made it home and managed to unpack my suitcase before falling into bed.

Hope everyone had just as great a holiday! hopefully I'll have a post of the newly decorated room along with a wrap-up of 2009 coming soon. Holy hell, 2010 is pretty much here....craaaazzzzy!

ps. the pic totally has nothing to do with december but I really liked it!

Goodbye

Today I found out that a member of my extended family committed suicide yesterday. He wasn't blood relative (married in) nor was he a very well liked member, in fact most of us couldn't stand him, but he was a part of our lives for many years and for that reason made me rather sad today. And even though my aunt had divorced him a few months back I still feel for the man who had let his life slide into such a horrible place that he saw death as the only solution.

This man had problems all his life in terms of social acceptance and drinking and then later on in life had medical troubles where drug dependence got involved and ultimately a life of sloveliness and self-pity occured. He stopped working, stopped helping out the family, stopped caring about how he appeared to others and how he interacted. This in turn caused others who might have previouslly liked him to turn in the other direction.

I remember as a child I would live with my grandparents over the summer and he would come up with my aunt and every wkend morning, Tom and I would take the boat out and go buy donuts at one of the harbors. As more grandkids started coming into the family he continued this. He was always a willing boat driver when us kids wanted to go tubing or skiing, even though I never actually went when he was driving cause he enjoyed throwing ppl off far too much! I guess the point I'm trying to get across is that at one point he and I did have a relationship and we did enjoy each others company. As I grew up though I started spending more time with friends and less time with family and then his troubles got worse and I found myself avoiding him. Not going to the lake house if I knew he was going to be there or sneaking in the back door! I'm not proud of this but I didn't like the person he had become. And now for the past 8 years or so he hasn't even been on my radar. highschool, college, life. I was happy when I heard they were getting a divorce, I was happy my aunt would finally be free of this baggage.

But it's sad, to spend a life where you aren't happy and where you don't do anything to change what you are not happy with. At some point he was a person. One who deserves our compassion and respect. My father said something along the lines of why is my aunt (his sister) so broken up about it, he can be a little crass at times, but to me it makes perfect sense. She's not grievign for the person who became a burden on her life but the man she fell in love with. The man who gave her two healthy sons and the man she thought she wanted to build a life with.

I don't like the idea of suicide, and I think that's mainly becuase I can't grasp how I feel about it. At times I think it's cowardly and selfish, at others I think if that's really how they felt at least I hope they're better in whatever comes next. All I know is I feel for the people who reach such a dark point in their lives where that is the only option they see. And for now I will remember the fun uncle who would do anything for me when I was a kid. Everyone has some good. Kind thoughts to my aunt and cousins :)

*Rest in Peace Tom*

Xmas Trees!

our tree, it's slightly blurry but the roomie was a couple drinks in. :) it's got a million lights with gold ornaments and red accents. Gorgeous! I have seriously just sitting in my living room and staring at it! To the left you can see our second (and fake) xmas tree. Its silver with lights and blue and silver ornaments. very pretty as well but I'm a real tree kinda gal.

I had a lovely weekend with tres christmas parties. Saturday morning was slightly rough, always remember to eat dinner when drinking, but my roomie was awesome and dealt with my whining fantastically well. I was amazed with her patience. But we had a grand ole time spending hours in crazy chicago traffic and in lines at the packed booze and food stores. SERIOUSLY it was insane how busy everywhere we went was.

Now it's off to a going away party tonight... wish it were closer than WP!!! haha, i'm so lazy

Decorating Time

it's getting close to christmas!!! I am getting excited! AND it is apt decorating time tonight! We have lights and ornaments and other fun things. Going to get a lovely tree, REAL of course and have a ball making things all festive and fun! I even have some christmas music i'm planning on downloading and playing while we decorate. Before the Top Chef finale of course! becuase that is going to be awesome as well. I really want all 3 to win...but mainly the sexy Voltagio cause he's really good.

Hopefully I'll grab some pictures, through my bberry unfortunately b/c my lovely point and shoot has a dead battery and the charger? back in silly ole nh.

Tonight I came...Home

while brushing my teeth tonight and doing the general routine i realized that everything I had done once i got home had been instinctual and routine. And not in a bad way or anything, but I had been drinking and took the train home, etc, so I got into the tired checked-out state. But it was fun and comforting to think, while doing the teeth cleaning, that I was so set in this apartment that I was thinking "I am home" instead of "I am in my new apt."

I love when you finally have that feeling, it's an incredibly satisfying feeling, and with every apartment it's slightly different. Now just on to making the city feel like home again.

Winter and Pilates

It is finally winter... I say this mournfully, sadly, regretfully and yet reconciled. In far too soon of a time it will be christmas and then the new year. What will 2010 bring? What has 2009 had? These questions are not ones I am prepared to answer.

BUT! it is winter... and I now this because:

• The chill of winter is in the air. That creeping cold that sneaks up your nostrils, makes your eyes water, and makes any bit of skin that is unlucky enough to touch the air want to hide!
• Probably about 50% of my block already has X-mas decorations up. And when I say up I mean inside and outside, lights and trees, wreaths and garlands. It is slightly too early for me to want those types of things but I won't deny that I am very excited for when our apartment becomes festive. The roomies and I have decided to have a holiday party so a tree will be present along with who knows what!
• I have been sleeping with my electric blanket on for the past few nights. Means it is fairly cold. Brrr

Completely switching gears. I can't believe thanksgiving wkend is already over. I feel like it just started. Mine was relaxing and soothing, which is good because this December is shaping up to be fairly busy and will fly by i'm sure. I have signed up for reformer pilates class, I met a trainer at my gym who I instantly got along with and I think it will be fun to get myself back in pilates shape. I was feeling really good about it and had noticed significant improvement at the beginning of last summer, not too mention I really liked my body with that exercise, but now everything has fallen apart. lol. I am planning on focusing on the pilates classes and making as many as possible to jumpstart the getting back in shape. Bummer is the regular weekly classes start at 6 and it's rare that I make it home before six...Here's crossing my fingers!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I don't really like turkey so i thought I would go with the festive fall/thanksgiving picture instead of a silly bird. I just slept far too late and now am up and off to spend a lovely meal with some family and friends. I'll miss the real immediate family back in the NH but hope they have a lovely dinner as well.

Luv

Sunday Thanks

I found this while in New Orleans... I never fail to appreciate how lucky i am to live in a city where a body of water is so accessible. I also try to never forget how amazing this city is in making it possible for all to enjoy that water. In case you can't really read it.

A man with a Past

Arms reach Empty-handed

God to a City In Love

with Water

A Trait

I'm a rather forgetful person... and not in a I can't function or remember anything ever. When it comes to dates or meetings or facts I have never needed a planner, and I am pretty much always early. In fact I have tried to have planners, etc and I just never find myself looking at it. My daily schedule was just always in my head and that was that. But when it comes to anything else I just don't have a great memory. And add in booze and pretty much all bets are off.

This means that when I meet anyone who remembers insane details I get rather intimidated. I mean my two best friends: one if you ask her what she ate for breakfast at 10am that SAME day will not be able to tell you, and the other if you don't remind her 8 million times about something will not show up. So I've always just been surrounded I guess by people who have adequate memories. and I don't mean in like you can quote any music/movie/tv show lyrics or music artists etc. cause my friends can do that. I mean the like pertinent specific details about a person. LIke if you get asked what the first concert you went to was and then a month later they pulled that out on you. It's trippy!

one of the first memorable times this happened to me was during a business trip a while back. I had been doing night shifts with this one guy and we were hanging out alot and while you work (or wait) you talk. So then he would just throw out these random facts about me that 1) I had no memory telling him and 2) did not remember the same about him. So we were cool enough that I was just able to make fun of him for it and put it down to alright whatever.

well i just recently met another person who was the same way! and I have decided that it just freaks me out and makes me very uncomfortable. And in a completely selfish way it makes me feel inadequate. I will never be able to remember all those specific details, and I've tried. I remember as a child I would run home all excited to tell my mother a story adn then she would have ten million extra questions and I would be all like I dunno... why don't you just enjoy my story?!?!?! and she would be like aren't you curious about all that??!?!? and I would be but it had/has never occurred to me to ask all those probing, in-depth questions. I think this is along the same lines.

Now I dont' know if this makes me selfish or maybe I am just always thinking of too many things at once that I can never focus on one specific detail... and thus remember it. Whatever it is.... it is what it is... and I have decided that people who remember everything intimidate me. I would like to get better at the whole deal.. I mean I hate waking up on nights that I have one drink and think I know I had this conversation with so and so but for the life of me I can't remember the details. Any ideas on how I could fix this??? cause you want my schedule for the next month? down to the hours of my day until past christmas. but your dogs name if you've only told me once? or the name of the town you're from unless i've been there (or known you for awhile). it's not me.

Am I weird??

Sunflowers

I bought these flowers today on a whim. I was on my way to an event after work and they just popped out at me from the sidewalk. I absolutely love the gorgeous color of them. Sunflowers are easily one of my favorite flowers and being this shade is uh-mazing. I'm just sitting here staring at them... gotta love the simple things.

and a close up so ya'll can see the gorgeous, to-die-for, fabulous color!

Happy Monday!

My grown up room!

I typically have a very cozy, colorful, and sporatic room. I like to use things I have, I hold on to everything ever made for me which means I end up with a lot of cards hanging on the wall or my name in construction paper hanging up, etc. This room for some reason has gone in a completely different direction and though I like it, it is very different and thus has taken me a long time to get set up. The theme of this room is black and dark. which sounds dark in and of itself but for some reason that's just what a bunch of the furniture I had was and I decided to embrace it.

This is obviously my bed. I painted the end table black last wkend but I like the lizard above it! my grandparents gave me the lizard years ago and he's followed along to every apartment I go to and has always lived in a different room. In college he was just outside the bathroom and man was he a conversation starter during parties! I love my new bedspread. The blue is so vibrant. Not a huge fan of the gray pillows in the back but haven't found the right color pillowcases yet. I also totally need a picture or something for that incredibly plain wall, but I'm waiting for inspiration.

This is the other side of the room. I love how an old sarong I had matched the bedspread color. The table under it is this ugly little round table so it totally needed to be spruced up. One of the things I absolutely love about this room is I have incorporated tons of candles and whenever I am in there they are always lit. LUV candles! I also repainted the bookcase, totally needed a sprucing and the picture I LOVE! it's an early christmas present. the only thing is these incredibly tall walls make me want to fill them! it almost looks too small and it's over 3ft long!

This is a close-up on the top of my dresser. I absolutely love the wire basket that is all leaves and stuff and my jewelry looks so good resting all over it. I also love the peace I glued onto the dresser! I was a little afraid it wouldn't look good and then I'd be dealing with how to remove super glue but I like it! I'm not sure the pic will stay there but for now...

Trying to do a close up of the picture Mom. haha, let me know if you want a better one. Oh and if you can see the hill-billy pic of you, me and Dad. Yep I have that out. :)

So now for a few parts of my room that really make me happy... it was hard to choose cause it's all so fun but...

I came up with the idea to screw in those little hooks on the bottom side of the dresser. Who knew I had so many necklaces, but I love having them all hung up and displayed like that. In my old place I put thumb-tacks in the wall and hung them on that. For me my necklaces are art as well as fun to wear!

These were two postcards I picked up at an art show this past week. I loved the real paintings of them, but totally couldn't afford them so I had to settle for these. The flowers on the bike one is just so cute to me. Romantic without having people! And then of course who couldn't like the idea of dancing around in an alley!

That's all I got for now. I think it still needs some work but it's def pulling itself together and for the first time since I've moved in I have put away/organized all the random bits and pieces that come out when you move. It's def weird to not have the 100% cozy feeling when I walk into my bedroom but I do believe it's growing on me :)

The CTA is out to get me

So this past weekend I lost my wallet while out and about and it really isn't such a horrible thing as it only had a credit card, my license, and CTA car, more just inconvenient and annoying. So now of I have been using the non chicago card CTA ticket but it's a pain because most of the machines only take cash and I typically take the bus so I have to think ahead. Then yesterday I finally ended up at an EL station that had the credit card machine adn I threw like 20bucks on that card. Figured my new chicago plus card would be around by next week. THEN myroomie and I checked out this art showing last night and stopped off at Bar Louies first... let me tell you those cocktails are insane! 1 went straight to my head, 2 made it so we were pretty close to drunk as we headed towards the art show. Needless to say when we got on the train back I have absolutely no idea where I put the CTA pass. I'm hoping that maybe I slipped it into the bag holding the things I bought but I didn't even think of that this morning and had to rummage around for quarters to pay for my commute this morning.

so that's about all i've got this fine friday...haven't even had the motivation to write emails today! (that's towards you mom, your novel like email intimidated me!!) Now i'm just waiting till it's time to walk out this door. Cousin time tonight and then a friends going away party tomorrow. Should be a pretty busy wkend!

Happy Friday Everyone!

circles of the season and my wkend :)

I have a new obsession. Mad Men. The greatest tv show ever! and one hot Donald Draper! I have been watching it non-stop while I design my room (hopefully there will be a post forthcoming about that). It has also caused me to stay up way too late watching it... been exhausted!

I have finally started mindfully reading again. It seems like I can't get through a book if I don't make a purposeful decision to open up that book! read a fabulous one though, couldn't put it down, and am raring to go again!

I had this great long post all planned out in my head last night. the problem was I was sitting out by the lake and not at all by a laptop, which was the goal, but of course by the time I made it back to the apt all those lovely words had flittered out of my head and into the wind. See that's the problem with me and writing.. I can come up with great paragraphing and sentences when i'm inspired and talking it out to myself, but every time I sit down and actually go to type I hate what comes out. blah blah, I'll just keep on with the posts anyway cause I like the memories they form.

so this weekend was gorgeous! ABSOLUTELY amazing and fabulous. Now I'm pretty darn sure that it's going to be the last perfect weather we'll have for awhile so I was all prepared to relish in it the entire time! On saturday I had to paint some furniture (also required hours of sanding.. my arms were SO exhausted!) but anywho I dragged my pieces out and set them up in our back porch and in sweats and a T-shirt! went about my job. All afternoon enjoying the day and then went out with some fabulous girlies and hung outside for some of the night too!

Then on sunday I met up with a friend and after waiting for 20 minutes just soaking up the sun we found a place to brunch that still had their patio set up. I mean, it took us close to an hour walking around to find one. I feel like it's been patio patio patio and then none! but it was good and we just sat outside talking for like 3 hours. We also had the worst waitress, and the hostess wasn't too good either. Seriously for good food their serving sucked! Finally after getting home I decided to check out the lake, which is so close to me! like a 10 minute walk. Auh - some!

And that brings us around pretty much full circle to when I was sitting on the steps checking out a dark lake and then turning around to see the lights of the city! I forgot what a fantastic sight that is. It felt comfortable sitting out there, in only a fleece, knowing it was 6pm. lol It was a chance to say good-bye to the one amazing chapter of my life! 5 months of freedom, doing whatever the hell I wanted. Though it did instill in me a forevermore yearning to take another road trip, it was overall the most successfull. I did everything I had set my mind on and came around the bend with a degree, a horrid exam done, and a job. Though work deserves it's whole post, I'm excited.

Come on winter, I am ready! though the xmas music can always stay away!

RENT!

One of my favorite musicals of all time. Playing at what looks like a smaller theatre here in chicago. Theatre Building of Chicago... anyone been there?? It's not till February but I'm totally putting it on my calendar. Anyone want to join??!?

Will I be posting more now that I'm working...?

So i'm a little slow at work adn don't really feel like reading about fire pumps so thought I'd do this cute little meme. It's kind of cool, like a snapshot of my life at this hour and day. Enjoy!

1-Where is your cell phone? right next to me
2- Your hair? freshly cut! luv it!
3-Your mother? making chocolate all day??? weirdo :)
4-Your father? oh working
5-Your favorite food? chocolate! cheese!
6-Your favorite drink? currently white grape vodka and selzer
7-Your dream last night? I don't remember dreams
8-Your dream/goal? loads but a big one is travel to australia
9-What room are you in? my cubby at work
10-Your hobby? reading
11-Your fear? monotony
12-Where do you want to be in 6 years? who knows, that's the fun part
13-Where were you last night? getting my haircut!
14-Something that you aren’t? outgoing with strangers
15-Muffin? BAGELS
16-Wish list item? ummm I'm pretty happy with things right now
17-Where did you grow up? NH
18-Last thing you did? just ate lunch! and set up a gym interview! yea working out
19-What are you wearing? khakis, cute black shirt, necklace
20-Your TV? in the living room?
21-Your pets? wish i had a cute doggie
22-Friends? spread out way too much
23- Your life? changing as always
24-Your mood? ansty
25-Missing someone? always
26-Vehicle? snazzy zipcars
27-Something you aren’t wearing? sweats... wish I were
28-Your favorite store? a great bookstore
29-Favorite color? blue
30-When was the last time you laughed? at lunch
31-Last time you cried? for real, like 3 weeks ago
32-Your best friend? x3
33-One place you go to over and over? work
34-One person who emails you regularly? my mom
35-Favorite place to eat? Cosi's, sushi, thai!

A bulleted list cause I'm too tired to think

It's been a over-packed busy/not busy week culminating in a fully great night out on the town with two new friends.

• 2 minutes a problem on a standardized test is totally not sufficient. At the 15min mark I still had like 40 unanswered questions and just had to go down filling in bubbles. In a situation such as that I can never decide if it's better to fill them all in the same (eg. all c's) or to go about filling in random ones and making it look not to guessed at. The second choice is what I ended up doing for whatever it ends up to be.
• As you can tell from the first bullet I have finally taken the exam. It was long and I got very antsy but I feel pretty good about the final outcome. I'm positive I knew about 50% of the questions and then beyond that a good number were figured out and then it's luck. Unfortunately I won't find out the results for like 4 months but I'm going to tell myself it's all over. It's weird though, for the first time in a long time I don't have any cares in relation to learning. It's a very freeing feeling.
• Which makes me think. did you ever have those professors who would never return your exams or let you know your grade until like the end of the class. I would have times that I would take 2 or 3 exams and turn in other assignments without getting any feedback in the form of grades or what they as a professor wanted. It would really annoy me because each professor is different and what different things out of their students and you tailor your work to that. The first exam of every class was always the most stressful for me, those were the ones were I would actually try to get a good nights sleep before and not do any irresponsible things like drinking :)
• While out last night two guys I was hanging with decided to have a race (no idea why) and one of them ate it! It was legit a tuck and roll. First he was running and then next thing you know he's gone and on the ground between two cars. HILARIOUS!
• I went out with my new roomie and one of her friends and it was really nice to be out with new people. I love making new friends and I'm really excited with how this new living situation has turned out. Now if only I could ignore this hangover long enough to make some order in my room.
• My area has become flooded with costumed kids. I went out to get a coffee and they are all over the place! I could not get back to my apt fast enough! I do think it's cute though that all the stores give the kids candy and stuff. And that they do it on a weekend so you don't have to do it on a cold weekday night. The school down the street was also giving "hay rides" around the block. Cracked me up cause I've see real hay rides and these just weren't the same.
• I need a halloween costume. There are a couple of parties I will be attending and I have no idea what to be! Any ideas that is somewhat cheap and fun and not too slutty????
• alright think i'm out of bullet points. Off to enjoy the last afternoon of my freedom. Tomorrow it's back to the grind!

Bed-frames & Bureaus... OH MY!

Today I spent about 5 hours putting my bed frame and ikea bureau together. It was long and hard and dirty but now I have mucho storage space! And well the bed frame wasn't really that hard. It's just these metal bars that pretty much raise the bed so I can slide awesome storage containers under it! BUT I had to laugh cause while talking to the bed sales person I mentioned that my old frame hadn't had a middle bar (I was concerned it would effect my storing things) she was HORRIFIED and kept saying I'm so surprised that your bed just didn't collapse in the middle or anything. To which I replied , well it did end up breaking so I guess maybe it's needed. I neglected to tell her that I was doing a bit more than sleeping when the leg collapsed. Gave me a laugh though. I woke up the next morning on a tilt...not so comfortable :)

So after the quick bed assembly and the not so quick dealing with a heavy mattress as a poor weak girl I moved on the constructing this!

And it is oh so pretty and fun! Luckily it was a lot more assembled than I had been picturing, alas it did still take me like 3 hours and I was exhausted after! I mean my hand was killing me from screwing in so many screws! lol. But it's so pretty and gives me so much room :) Note: things look much smaller in a very large ikea. In my room here it is definitely mammoth. In fact tomorrow I am planning some major furniture moving to see if it will look less mammoth anywhere else. Heres hoping!

beyond that, the countdown is on to my exam on saturday and I'm feeling very so-so about my preparation. I know I could have studied more but I also know that there is so much info I am suppossed to re-learn that I wouldn't remember it anyway. So I am doing my usual studying which is to re-alert my brain and now the basics and I will just have to trust that my problem-solving, engineer mentality, and brain will get me through. Because seriously, I've probably studied more for this exam than my entire time in college which is just insane. 4 days!

oh. if anyone has ideas on how to keep bed frame wheels from rolling on my hardwood floors please help?! wheels and no rug is not a good combination.

Musings

A new place... by myself. I've never been there before. My first apartment I had my friends, my second apartment I had my boyfriend. My third... I have me. And my roommates are great, I just had a fabulous time with them tonight, but it's weird.

For awhile there my family became a family of 5 instead of 4. For the first time. Which we never really were cause I was always so far ahead of things. It was good, it was nice. I love my family.

Now I'm here, surging forward alone again. I know I can do it, I know it will be the best, but I hate transitions. hate the waiting. Sometimes I think I am just waiting all the time.

Colors of Fall

Columbus Day Wkend always feels like the end of the end for me when it comes to being outside. This wkend the air is chilly enough that it takes sufficient motivation to get yourself outside, but not bad enough that once out there you're suffering, lol. Thus to commemorate my last wkend in NH and of freedom :) I had a number of my close friends up and we lounged around, hiked, hung outside, made fires and had a jolly old time. Perfect fall activities (minus the margaritas..but who turns down margaritas??) The shot is the view from our local ski moutain. We rode the chair up and then walked around and down. Very pretty.

The foliage this year is just to die for this year...or maybe it's just been so long since I've been in the thick of it, but I'll miss it when I leave. Until then I will continue to stare in awe at the gorgeous reds, yellows, oranges, and greens that are backdropped with a brilliant blue sky. But the frost that was here this morning??? you feel free to stay away till I leave please.

Happy Columbus Day! Did anyone else to any fun fall activities this weekend?

Stummy's

Wanna hear something weird????

if anyone watches grey's anatomy, the stomach they showed when meredith was being cut open, I knew the girl who was acting it!

Kinda fun.. oh and stummy is stomach and tummy put together :)

Hal wears a Hat

So in order to satisfy the goal I set for myself yesterday I formed an outfit today where the hat fit.

Scene: I have gathered myself together, hat is on and all is good. Walk downstairs.

Mom: Well well you are wearing the hat.

Me: well yes I am, do you like?

Mom: Oh yes you look like Paula Abdul

alrighty...not a fabulous compliment but take what you get

Scene: Dad walks in... stops and stares at me as I am doing things in the kitchen. Me: like the hat?

Dad: You're wearing a hat.

Me: yes I know, like it?

Dad: yea, sure, it's different

Scene: Brother enters the car when I go to pick him up...

What is with the hat???

Me: what? I can't hear you.

Brother: WHAT IS WITH THE HAT?

Me: I dunno, I liked it. Do you?

Brother: where did you get it?

Me: what the heck does that matter? do you like it?

Brother: WHERE DID YOU GET THE HAT?

Me: JESUS CHRIST!

Scene: Sister enters the house after school, I walk out of the living room with the hat on.

Sister: yea I saw that as you were driving by. Whatever

Me: Do you like it?

Sister: yea sure, weirdo wearing a hat. Think you're cool?

Think my family likes me wearing hats? just trying to bring a little class to NH... not sure how well it's working :)

2 Hats, 2 Scarves, a Purse & Shoes

so many thoughts rolling around in my head... completely unable to process any of them. Perhaps I have been wasting the brainpower for a bit too long. I sit down to study and can not focus for more than 20 minutes. I tell myself I need to do laundry and I end up reading blogs or organizing my room. I go shopping with my mother so SHE (you heard me, SHE) can buy a purse and end up with two hats purchased! One a winter hat which will come in very handy and useful, but the other just so cute and perky. A perfect going out hat. Problem is I have never worn a hat out... Goal for October: Wear hat out! Here are my hats though!

I've been using Fitness TV these past few days to start getting my body back in

decent shape. And when I say decent I want to be able to actually do 20 crunches in a row or look like I know what I'm doing in pilates class. The point of this paragraph though is I saw one titled abs and got excited... turned out to be a Baywatch abs one. There were woman in skimpy bikinis, make-up, and long free hair telling me what to do and then after says hey! now that you've done this 15 minute workout you can go out and wear a mini-skirt. Good freaking lord. I like my instructors to be sweaty and gross just like me.

I have also been on a huge shopping spree...I mean ridiculous given that I don't have any money coming in currently but I've just been hitting everything right and when that happens you have to pick things up.

A gorgeous Coach purse (not real :)) and some fun cute looking clogs. A secret about me, I wear clogs ALL the time. I hate sneakers so in the winter this is all I wear. Thus finding a cute pair that can pass as work shoes as well is such a deal! And a girl always needs purses.

Two scarves. I love love love scarves, wear them all the time and am so excited that it is getting to scarf season again. The pink one has some thread work and is rather light. It can work as a summer or winter scarf!

Work out pants! I have been looking for the perfect pair of work out pants for pilates for so long! I am extremely picky though and will not buy one unless it fits and feels right. I loved these as soon as I put them on...now I only need to find a 3/4 length as well :)

alright, clean the kitchen time. I will not miss getting back to a living space where it's only a few smart, clean, females who clean up after themselves! This whole family thing is ridiculous!

Goodbye College

After 4 fantastic years filled with friends, boys, swimming, booze, ridiculous drunkeness, hw, classtime, drinking during classtime, group meetings, working in the bookstore, booze, parties, apt parties, dorm room parties, "It's just coke!", etc I have closed the chapter on my higher education!

I've been crashing at my friends place the last few days and she is overwhelmed with loads of hw and classes...makes me think of the days we would lock ourselves in the library for hours upon end. Mini freak outs would ensue and then 15 min later you would be back at again. Because above all we chose to be there, we want to learn this. I have loved pretty much every second of my time in college, and out when I took online courses, but being where I am now I am ecstatic to be looking forward at using my brain and knowledge to do something real.

But being handed that degree....I am now officially a holder of a Masters Degree. Say what???

Note: I was going to have a lovely photo of the degree but my camera has decided to not turn on. I'm really really hoping it's just dead....

Happy Friday Everyone! My wkend looks to be fabulous...hopefully it just won't rain on us!

Red, Yellow, Orange

My new favorite place at my home home. it gets an amazing amount of sunlight and very little wind so it is the perfect place to read and be warm even during these chillier fall days.

And using that as a segway fall is most def here, not even knocking on my shoulder anymore saying hello I'm coming. Nope it is everywhere around you here in good 'ole nh. Mom and I went hiking yesterday and it was absolutely gorgeous with all the red, yellow, & orange leaves above, below, and floating through the air. Though I do hate to say goodbye to summer the crisp fall days can be enjoyable and the colors of the trees are to die for. Every cloud has a silver lining or something like that right?

Countdown to the start of work begins tomorrow....26 days till adult time, 24 days till hell exam. 19 days till I move in to the new apt though!!! eek, and columbus day wkend should be a blast!

A list of Randomness

I'm back in Chicago and it feels really great!

This weather is awesome. Warm and balmy! I'm very much enjoying the surprise indian summer and hope it lasts for awhile. :) totally not prepared for winter yet. I am enjoying the leaves turning though, sooo pretty driving around the northeast.

I deleted an entry in my phone the other day, felt like it was time. I'm not sure exactly what I'm hoping to come out of it, in fact kind of think it's silly now that I'm a few days into it, but I know I need to do something.

The seventh gabaldon book has finally come out! If you do not know the author Diana Gabaldon than you are missing out. It's this fabulous love story set way back when, all the books are very long but you just can't stop reading them. so excited!

I really need to start working out. Like really really really but I just have no idea where or how to even start. Very frustrating. I keep telling myself once I start working again and all that then I'll join a gym and stuff but I'm not sure I can wait a whole nother month. have to get motivated!

I'm out!

Excessive use of Exclamation Points!

haha so i've been doing a lot of craigs-listing in the past few days b/c I am hitting up chicago the end of this week and will be a mad crazy apt looker gal! I have approximately 4 appointments set up so far and hoping for a few more! So excited! and yet stressed, cause meeting new people is nerve-wracking...i mean what if they don't like you!

but that's not the point. The point is it is interesting to see how people respond to my emails. I have a pretty basic email that I send out now, I've been doing this for a few months now. I know what gets the point across. But when someone likes what I have said I get exclamation points galore! and I mean after the greeting "Hey Hallie!" between points that they are excited about, etc. And it's funny cause i've found myself using it much more frequently as well because you really want to get the correct point across. I mean these are people that you just randomly found online. that elusive, you might be lying bout who you are, is this sketchy, are you sure you're a real person online. So I have been throwing these exclamation points around like it's the end of time and it is cracking me up. But I also feel like I get a decent idea of people through an email, which could be completely wrong. I mean I read into emails from ppl I know like the back of my hand, so why wouldn't I read into these ones by ppl I dont' know? but for some reason I am not, and I like it.

I can not wait to have my apt! hell yea after this wkend I have a very good feeling that I will know where I will be living for the next year or so. Lets all cross our fingers that it's true! thanks in advance.

Dirty Chai!

I have found my new perfect, fabulous, amazing drink. This combination of two wonderful coffee-ish flavors are my two favorite things to get and now a little coffee shop in Hoboken has done the unthinkable. I'll stop raving now and tell you all what a dirty chai is. It is a chai latte with shots of espresso in it! yes ma'am, coffee and chai mixed. Good hot or iced, small or large.

now I'm sure this drink has been out there for awhile, that maybe many others have known what it is for eons now, but for me it is now my go to drink. I am even going to become one of those annoying people in the Starbucks line who takes a full minute to spell out their order. Yep, pretty exciting!

can you tell I have no idea what to post..... happy friday everyone!

Circles of Living

I've been very interested in the past few months how I've been doing so many different things and every time I've been realizing how much I had missed this, or forgotten about this. It's like life just keeps bringing me back to places i've been before and yet I am different and view them all differently. It's all very new and fun, yet familiar and awesome because of that!

for example, I think I may have mentioned this before, but when I went on my roadtrip I had completely forgotten how fun it is to totally accept the dirty, hippy, nomadic life and become one with nature and the environment. To not care what is going on in the stressfull real world, so extremely to a point that I can go out in Las Vegas without showering for a few days and being grimy from the 3 mile hike I took that morning.

another one is how much I love my home in New Hampshire. It was a gorgeous day the other day and I was sitting outside on the newest part of our house, the backyard patio, that gets loads of sun and very little wind. Perfect for a cat-like human who wants to soak up some of the last summer rays. In fact as I type this I am hanging inside chilly because I went to get coffee earlier and tried to sit outside and read and it was too cold :( Back to the point, it was nice to experience again the complete relaxfullness of nh where you can be outside in your home and yet feel very peaceful.

And now I'm visiting a friend in Hoboken and I've been wandering around, he just got a new apt so I've been checking out the surrounding area, and I have forgotten what's it like to be living in a fun cool city. one of my favorite things to do while I was in Chicago was to just go grab a coffee and sit outside and people watch. Or just walk around the city. I love the interactions you can have with anybody and everybody. So diverse and different.

All in all this is a long-winded way of saying that I am very excited to get back to Chicago, to have a place of my own again. I do believe that my life is going to be very hard to choose where the heck I settle down. Nomadic hippy, country-bumpkin, city-gal....who knows!!? Guess that's the fun

Aruba Pics!

Here are some of my favorite shots from the week. Jewlz and I are pretty much the only subjects :) In no particular order....

We tried out scuba diving! Jewlz is holding my hand cause she's nervous!!!! just kidding, she was a champ. I believe we spent maybe 30 minutes in the resort pool learning how to lose the stuff. We were so stellar he brought us right out after that and let us spend some extra time actually diving!

We played bingo one night. There was really not much night life around our B&B and the whole resort/casino thing is not our scene...so bingo it was! We were so bad, the old ladies sitting next to us were directing us what to do. LOL

Hint: If your plan is to hit up the beach for an awesome sunset and drinks...make sure you bring the bottle opener. Haha supposedly she knew a way to force the cork out, we obviously didn't have enough strength to do that.
This was pretty much our daily setup. A little shade, some towels, and a book. Jewlz had a book on tape the loser (I was just jealous) so she didn't even have to do the annoying lying positions that reading requires. I kept thinking up random things to say so that she would have to stop listening and talk to me. jk

We rented a car one day and had it for 24 hours. We got so tired out the first day (yes after three days of pure beaching it touring the island and snorkeling was exhausting!) that we decided to hit the hay early and check out a sunrise. It was gorgeous!

Ahhhh Aruba! If you ever need a place to stay check out Buffam's Tropical Haven! I swear, they are the sweetest people, make the best breakfast's, and their place is so cute it's over the top awesome.

Snorkeling, Scubaing, & Sunrises

Over the past week jewlz and I have done lots and lots of beaching interspersed with everything in the title. Tuesday we did a resort scuba class where they taught us the basics and then we got to go on a 45 minute dive. I have scuba'd once before like 7 years ago, interestingly enough in Bon Aire which is very close to here, and absolutely loved it. Jewlz had never gone and so we def had to check it out. We dove in a rather commercial place, only up to 25ft and though I had a lot of fun and def don't regret it my memories of my Bon Aire dive are of much more color and fish everywhere! This was pieces of a ship that had been used for target practice so it didn't really look like a ship and it had started having coral grow on it and stuff and there were plenty of fish but it didn't have the vibrant color that stands out in my head from my first dive. But I do know that we dove on a legit coral reef so that's a major difference. All in all we decided we would love to do it again but certification is required so that we can do the interesting reef dives. Unfortunatly that is EXPENSIVE!

Then yesterday we rented a car and drove all around the island checking it out. We made a stop at one of the best snorkeling spots on the island and pittered around there for awhile. To get to the really good coral we had to swim out about 15 minutes and then it was low tide so we were floating over coral that was as close as a foot below us. You basically tried to just swim with your hands so that you didnt' touch anything! I was sucking in my tummy at points I was so close! It was AWESOME! saw so many cool fishes and the sea was a little rough so got a workout in as well. One of our host's friends brought us out and showed us around, they live right there, and she does it every day. I am supremely jealous, pretty fish, colors, water, and a workout. Perfection in my eyes.

After that we checked out the national park here and pretty much just wore ourselves out, so much so that by 9pm we were like man I really want to go check out downtown and have a night out but there is just no way I will make it. So we decided to hit the hay early and go see a sunrise this morning! so here it is now 7:30am and I have been up already for 2 hours...but the sunrise was absolutely gorgeous. We went to the tip of the island, by this old lighthouse where you could see the entire island laid out before you.

Now we will most def head to the beach at some point and spend our day reading, napping, and floating. Then maybe tonight we'll try that night out again...

Packing Woes

From yesterday to next saturday I am staying in a fabulous little B&B in Aruba with one of my best's aunt and uncle. They decided to just up and move to Aruba a few years back because they had vacationed here and loved it and thought they would make it work by running an adorable little inn place. Their home has a main section and then three rooms that are available for rent. They make you homemade breakfast every day, have a great pool and sitting area in the back and the rooms are great. My friend and I lucked out and got the big room with two queen beds and a huge bathroom. guess it pays to know the owners! wink wink.

But yea, here I am packing for the trip a few days back and I was leaving my house a few days before our flight for some other adventures and I for some reason decided that no cords whatsoever were needed for this trip. Now I don't know about most people but I have an astonishing amount of cords that I carry along with me and though I remembered my laptop and phone chargers I ditched everything else! So that means my ipod hook-up, my camera cord, etc. So instead of getting the absolutely gorgeous picture that I took of the absolutely gorgeous beach that is an easy 10 minute walk from my room, you get this. A lovely wordy nothing post that does not make you picture envious or anything. I'm sad. Lol.

Packing. I manage to get it all into one suitcase and realize I've left cords, or I bring a huge ass suitcase and realize I brought nothing I need. Will it ever actually work itself out???? Does it really matter when all you're doing is beaching and relaxing it??? NOPE!

And here we go to the end of another August... And those pics...might come later. :)

If my life were a musical

every once in a while I get absolutely obsessed with a musical and I watch it over and over and over again. Then once I get bored of the dialogue I start fast-forwarding through the boring parts to the songs that I love. Then once I get sick of just watching the actors/singers do it, I start bouncing all over the room singing the songs and rocking out. That is the same progression and it is such a relaxing thing for me. My two favorite musicals, Rent and Across the Universe. There is just something so incredibly moving about Rent and then Beatles songs put to a plot??? how could that not be fabulous?

sometimes I wish my life could be a musical. That at any tense/nervous/scary/angry times I could just burst out into song. I feel like it would be a great way of easing the situation and making things seem alright again. I mean maybe I wouldn't even be afraid of confronting people if I could just sing it to them! but alas, most people would look at me weird if I started vocalizing all my songs things. haha, I actually made up a choice few short songs during college that my roomies and others still use today! yes, they were very accepting of my weirdness.

I have to laugh at myself as I write this now though because in my apt searches I met with a girl who asked me if I had any pet peeves in a roomie and then she told me that hers was when people sing their conversations. I guess her old roommates would sing their questions and answers to each other just while doing normal things. I thought this was hilarious! I mean, it would totally get on my nerves but how funny is it still? loved it, and really that isn't at all what I'm saying. I would totally sing for real if I did it.

so, where do we end here...I think there should be a day where life just becomes a musical. One day and everyone around me sings. So awesome! though only good voices cause the bad ones hurt my ears :(

countryfest..who knew

went to countryfest this past weekend and had a absolutely wonderful time tail-gating and when we finally hit the concert we were just in time for SUGARLAND! yes I am obsessed but man were they awesome and anyone who hasn't heard of them should def go check that out. Our seats were the very last row and we had all this space behind us to dance our hearts out. It was amazing. so after sugarland was kenny chesney and sometime during the break before him and getting a beer/mingling/being bored I started talking to this guy who as far as I was concerned was a spitting image of Channing Tatum. Now for all of you who don't know who he is here you go...

yes, isn't he just gorgeous. But seriously this guy totally had the same angled strong jaw. And height. good lord was he tall! now granted I may have had a few drinks but we talked and danced and overall had a good time. I enjoyed it thoroughly. The most annoying part was he kept trying to get close while dancing and it was so damn HOT! yes, I did not even want his arms around me. lol. but all in all it was a success, cause not only did I get to dance with a channing lookalike but then I got to blast rock music as we drove out of countryfest! can you imagine the dirty looks we got with that??? haha

Looking for a place to live....

SUCKS!

so I am starting once again to look or a place to live when I come back to chicago and it is not going well. I really just want to find a place where I can be friends with my roommates and yet the place is decently clean and nice to live in. (along with having natural light, washer/dryer somewhere in the building, and an outdoor space) And yet, I can't seem to find that. granted I am trying to get this through craigslist which of course makes it hard enough but seriously....I just want a nice, fun, awesome place to live!

blah blah blah i know this is a ridiculous post, but I'm frustrated and tired of it... if anyone has any better ideas on how to go about finding a place to live in chicago please help me out!!!

Plans, schmams, and some Weather

"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir [women's] blood"

I'm reading Devil in a White City and the head director of works for the World Exposition, Daniel Burnham, was quoted saying this. I of course changed men to women because seriously, but I thought it was a very cool quote. Life is funny because even if you do plan it has a way of sending you off in a completely different direction but it's completely true that to make just small boring plans means you are living a never-changing life.

I make big plans but then keep them quiet so that if/when they change everybody doesn't know. But really who cares if my plans change??? It doesn't signify failure or defeat but just a curve in the road that I never saw coming. Yesterday I told ppl that what I really wanted to do down the road was be an investigator and be out in the field checking out fires that have occurred. Unfortunately for me, in my field a position like that requires you to have years of experience because you need to know EVERYTHING. But in 10 years or so I would really love to break into that. So there you go, my flimsy 10 year goal is out! And hopefully before then I change the focus of my job a few times...but that is a completely different can of worms.

As for now, it is HOT! I mean so hot I can't get out from in front of my fan!!! And my and the fam are going to head to the lake and chill on the boat for the day. Yessir! Wakeboarding please? Hope everyone finds a way to beat the heat.

How to kill a spider the New Hampshire way

Step 1: Find a broom and boot

Step 2: spend 15 minutes gathering the courage to knock spider down from ceiling

Step 3: scream and run away when said spider is finally locked down

Step 4: carry broom, with attached spider, out to dirveway as quickly as possible

Step 5: smush, smash, & crush spider into miniscule bits and pieces

Coming home tonight with the sibs we found a HUMONGOUS spider in the corner of our porch ceiling. I of course had already seen this and tried to erase it from my mind because good lord do I hate spiders BUT my sister was unable to forget about it and insisted that we kill it. Now me being sensible and having many more years of experience in spider killing said no freaking way! that spider will jump off the ceiling, onto our heads and kill us with its freaky orangutang legs and fast crawling.

So after I have locked myself in the house (along with the dogs because what if it got on them??) they devised a plan to knock the spider off with a broom and then smack it with a shoe. Does anyone want to guess how long this took them??? like 20 minutes...and though the spider did end up being dead by the end (THANK GOD) they were utterly ridiculous making it happen. Picture a 23 year old hiding behind a front door with a crazy 16 year old jumping and screaming around and a silly 14 year old running around with a boot just making noise. Yes it is quite the scene.

*I would put a pic of a spider up just for fun but I'd have a heartattack every time I'd look at the post so now way jose!

That time of year :)

I am 23 today! Yessirre I am moving up another notch on the 20 yardstick and it feels eh. There have been so many firsts this year such as trying a new area of work (in china!), beginning this whole blogging lifestyle (including writing & meeting other fellow bloggers!), completing my Master's degree, becoming single, accepting a fulltime job. Overall, so many that I almost got used to everything being new and nothing normal. Not a bad thing at all but very interesting.

But beyond all that, I have become so happy figuring out what I want and how I can make that happen. I also feel like I relax more and allow life to just happen! so all is good and now I have another great year to look forward too. who knows where I will be at the end of that!

So today I am going to treat myself to something pretty, maybe a lovely coffee and then go partay it up in the city tonight. Wish you all an awesome Hallie Birthday Day!