Monday, May 29, 2006

All right, all right

It has been awhile since I posted! But it's a lovely Memorial Day morning, the sun is out, and I'm up with my dog while my husband is still asleep. No better time than now to blog!

Things overall have been a bit stressful. My job is very demanding but I'm acclimating pretty well, so that's good. I got to see the new office on Friday and it is swaaaaaaaaanky! We're moving the office in September. The office itself inspired me to be a more professional, successful worker. It's very posh and I want to earn the right to be there--and by that I mean I want to be successful at my training program so that when I move to the new office it'll nearly be time for a promotion.

My husband is okay. As I mentioned earlier, his car got broken into, so he has been a bit frustrated. We're both feeling some kind of throat problem and I don't know what it is. It must be tied to sinus drainage so I took a Sudafed when I awoke. On Saturday we did gobs of work around the house and yesterday we went deep sea fishing with some friends so today we have *some* chores but not a full day's worth. I am toying with the idea of going to the fabric store to purchase some fabric to make a drape for the second bedroom's closet door. There is already a dowel rod in place. My alternative option is to do yard work, which could also be therapeutic. We need to paint and such inside but I don't know when we'll get to it. I have to admit that on a cloudy, cool, rainless day my first move is to go outside. I'm also reading Elizabeth Peters' Serpent on the Crown (started it last night) and it's fun. I so rarely get to read fiction that this feels like a real treat. I also feel I should run today--I dreamed last night that an old friend said I was on the verge of being overweight. Whether this is true or it's just my subconscious mind, it still shows that I'm concerned about my health. However, if this throat thing doesn't subside, I'll rest. I don't have enough time to eat at work and I definitely haven't been overeating. Usually the stress alone keeps me from eating much all day.

We have finished our coursework and turned everything in. It feels so strange not to have homework to do every evening! I can't believe I finished on time. No, really, I'm not just saying that. I'm still scratching my head about how exactly it happened!!

I think it's time to pour myself some Cheerios (breakfast of choice when I will be home most of the day and don't have to worry about going 6 hours between meals) and continue on with Mrs. Amelia Peabody and her crazy Egyptian adventures...but since the chimney guy is coming again, perhaps I should change into presentable clothing first!

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Update

My husband's car was broken into last night at the movies. His stereo, palm pilot with GPS, separate GPS, and all relevant chargers were stolen. So, I came home and logged on to livejournal to see that a friend's cousin found one of her babies dead of SIDs.

Puts it in perspective, right? We've got our health, our dog, and our jobs. Gadgets can be replaced.

Monday, May 15, 2006

More Photos



Anybody out there surprised? This is my neighborhood! These are my neighbors! (and note that this is my hill, on which my house sits, high above the water...how privileged we are!!!)

Okay, for references, those houses are NOT supposed to be in the lake. And in this latter photo, that USED to be a road intersecting with our road at the bottom of the hill (on the opposite side from the lake). So if we look to our left from our house, we see houses in the lake, and if we look to our right, we see a lake where a road used to be.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

The Flooding


This is a house at the end of our street. It normally is NEAR the pond but not IN the pond. Flooding, anyone?

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Saturday Update

I'm sitting down with my java on this rainy Saturday morning and it's time to update. Our modest little abode has turned into a New England wilderness with all the rain. If you ever watched the latest version of Little Women, you have seen the green summer foliage of New England. The rain hasn't stopped since Tuesday. When will it end? I'm ready!

Viola, you are too sweet! No, I didn't study music in college, but I've always been a singy girl. I did musical theatre for years but my love of dance probably trumped my singing. I'm so glad you like my music!

I began my new job Wednesday and, well, it's odd. I like everyone and I think I'll like the job, but my boss is out of town and the girl who was supposed to train me on quite a bit of stuff has also been out sick, so we've been winging it. I have been reading everything I can, contacting people about meeting with me, etc. There is a list of "down time" activities for me to have done by next Friday and I'm almost finished with it already. There is another trainee going through this with me but he was a temp for the company the last three weeks and he seems to feel that training is beneath him. He continually interrupts those who present information to us, brags constantly, loves to hear himself talk, refuses to do the homework assigned to us, etc. It's awkward for me because 1) the answers to his questions are in the manual that we are supposed to have read (and I read it), and 2) I am not interested in listening to him brag. That being said, this program is pretty competitive, and he's making SURE to point out how great he is in every instance--particularly whenever he can also work in how "new" and "inexperienced" I am. I can't let that happen, but I don't exactly know what to do about it. He stays late every evening (though I don't see that he's actually that productive) so I've been arriving early. I want to look like the most professional, competant woman I can be, but I tend to veer on the side of letting my work speak for itself. My colleague, conversely, brags at the drop of a hat. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

Last night was pretty interesting. Let me give you some background. I had to skip my husband's annual work dinner to go out for drinks with "Ed," a consultant of some sort who comes to improve the ability of salesmen to sell. I'll get to work with him in probably six months, but not yet. The entire sales and marketing team was expected to go--particularly sales. I was told by my boss via email that this guy pretty much picks who gets promoted, fired, etc. I also got the strong impression from my colleagues that this guy was a heavy drinker and heavy partier...greaaaaaaaat, right? I had met him a couple of times, but of course couldn't get a word in edgewise due to my colleague's shameless self-promotion, and when Ed noticed me, he admonished the rest of my colleagues and told them, "Don't hide this little light under a bushel!" He was very kind and remembered my name, and I saw him in passing a few times over the next few days.

Skip to last night at the bar. I showed up and got a glass of wine and began chatting with my colleagues--many of whom I hardly knew. That was fun because they're all terribly interesting and witty. After awhile, Ed worked his way over, and he was wearing a flannel shirt. Flannel! Everyone else was in fancy suits and he was wearing a lumberjack shirt! For whatever reason, I forgot about impressing him because he was just a regular flannel shirted guy, just like my husband. We had a great conversation and after he left, the other person I was talking with turned to me and told me exactly how important Ed was in the company. Ed gets upwards of 50k a WEEK for consulting! (Of course this is rumor, so it probably isn't even close to that, but still, he's very, very important to our promotion.) Ed also does NOT take well to anyone who is nervous or a butt kisser. Okay, so at this point in the evening I wondered if I blew it, but Ed kept working his way back to my table and my conversation all evening. I honestly really liked him. He's not much of a drinker, has been married to his wife nearly 40 years, and is full of lively conversation. He's also a Scorpio like I am. We hit it off well, I think, and other people told me later how impressed he seemed to be with me. He winked at me a few times in a conspiratorial, non-sexual way and I got the strong impression that he enjoyed my company. He'll be at the office until Friday so perhaps I'll get a chance to say hello before he leaves town. I also spent an hour or so talking with my boss's boss's boss, and he was a hoot also. We got to talking about bear hunting and speeding and Maine and I laughed myself silly. I told him my embarrassing lobster story too. So I am *guessing* I did well, but since that was my first outing, I don't know how it was supposed to go.

Today I have to write a paper. Before I do that (but after I finish this coffee) the dog is going to get a bath. He has the strong smell of Wet Dog and it'll subside somewhat with a good shampoo. My husband is working until about two today. I plan also to get some housework done so that when my husband gets home we can concentrate on our homework.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

My First Day of Work in My First Real Job in My First Real Suit with the Same Old Lunchbox

I worked out this morning--2 miles of running and 1 mile of powerwalking--in an effort to curb my nervousness about my first day of work tomorrow. TO NO AVAIL! It hit me as I was sitting here, calmly working on a paper about Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and Nhat Hanh and their understandings of suffering as redemptive, and I realized I hadn't yet finished reading the binders of information for work I was given to have read by tomorrow. Where did the time go? I don't see it anywhere! Somehow all this has snuck up on me! So now I'm plowing through my binders of info and my half-glass of red wine isn't helping me relax...baaaaaaaah!

I'm nervous about working--more nervous than my wedding day or when we bought the house (or car, or dog). I'm not sure what exactly makes me anxious. I fully intend to do a great job and knock their socks off, but for some reason, just the fact that it'll be my first day makes me anxious. I suppose this is just the jitters of "How is it going to be? Will I really like it like I think I will? Where will my cubicle be? Will I break the coffee machine? Will I spill things on myself in front of management? Will I forget everyone's name? Will people be staring at my butt and pointing because it is so big that I look like a hippo?" I feel like it's my first day of junior high and I don't know ANYone in the school. I feel quite sure that nothing monstrously bad will happen--in fact I have already met and like many of my new colleagues and I know beyond reasonable doubt that my butt is not the size of a hippo's derriere. If my hair looks stupid I'll just tie it back, and if I spill something on myself...well, I'll just wear the stain for the rest of the day. I've done it before. So, really, I shouldn't be anxious. It'll be fine and I'm sure I'll come home tomorrow feeling like my day was rather boring. And then I'll call my family and friends and be completely blase about the whole thing: "Oh, yeah, I started work this week. No, it was totally tame but I expected that...wasn't the least bit worried at all..."

Shouldn't they have a magazine article devoted to this? "My first day of work in my first real job in my first real suit with the same old lunchbox."

Monday, May 08, 2006

Update

Well, I feel like I should update my blog, but I can't say that I have much news. I've been working out. On Friday I ran 2 miles and powerwalked 1, on Saturday I ran 1.5 miles and powerwalked 2 miles, and yesterday I walked somewhere over 1.5 miles with my husband. I am trying to decide if I want to jog today or this evening (or not at all). Hmmmmm.

On Friday I went to a gathering in Rhode Island by the ocean for my husband's work, and Saturday we went to a baby shower. Oh, the envy! However, I know we'll have a baby when it's time, and in the meantime I am excited about being able to improve our standard of living. I have new suits to wear and I'm ultra-excited about my new job! My personal grooming has got to improve, however. I wear my hair in a ponytail every day even though I have an adorable little haircut simply because I don't know how to do it and am too lazy to try. I need to do a pedicure and put polish on my nails. Also, Physicians has started a new mineral line of foundations, powders, and other makeup. There is a rebate online for the full value (minus tax) of the mineral liquid foundation, so I may give it a shot. Mineral makeup is supposed to be good for your skin, and I would love to have improved skin. I am only semi-pleased with my current foundation. Physicians also has a new powder foundation much like Bare Escentuals except it's 1/6th the cost--ten dollars for the brush and foundation! Woohoo! So I'm going to go to Brook's today and see what's there.

How's this for an uninteresting update? :) I have LOTS of work to do on my final papers, so that is what I'll be doing for the majority of my day. My husband is defending his thesis now. I hope it goes well. He should be back around three.

The verdict is still out on when I'll exercise...I'll either do it tonight or not at all.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Last Couple of Days and Random Thoughts


The last couple of days have been great! On Wednesday I arrived to my last day of work at the library and brought chocolate bars for my supervisors and one big bar to share with the rest of the staff. I had worked there nearly three years and enjoyed everyone, so I felt sad about leaving. Turns out they were sad also! They had planned a surprise party for me with cake, flowers, presents and the whole library staff came! It was fun and flattering and I'm so grateful for them. It was a great last day of work.

Last night I went to meet some of my new work colleagues at a BBQ. They were all fun, friendly, well-spoken, and surprisingly good-looking. Everyone was incredibly intelligent and I think I'll enjoy working there. But that and hearing stories of others' exercise has induced me to hop on the treadmill. I'm about to finish my java and then I'll put on a movie and jog. I think that having a goal of some sort would help me--perhaps a distance goal, frequency goal, something. I don't own a scale so it can't be a weight goal.

The dog hasn't been coming back when called lately so we're going to try to put in a fence this weekend if it doesn't rain. We got an estimate and it's going to be expensive to have it done--about 2k--and to do it ourselves will top out at 500 dollars. Huge difference. This, of course, puts us in the position of doing a home improvement project that we have no idea how to do, but my husband is determined to do it ourselves.

I still love the car. I think I've named him Zippy, because he's got a lot of get-up-and-go and I bought him in a rush.

I read an article today about women's dress sizes having gone down. A woman who wore a size eight in the 1960s now wears a zero or two. Crazy, isn't it? Women are getting bigger and more and more companies are catering to women's vanity. Overweight women wear sixes and eights. Oh wait, *I* wear a six sometimes. This does not bode well for my believing I still fit in a size four--technically I do, but it's only because sizes have changed along with my rear. The number on the tag no longer reflects how cute a rear is. I can't delude myself any longer. Maybe that's a blessing in disguise.

This past weekend I went to a wedding shower and bachelorette dinner, and it was so strange to see the bride's old friends and new friends. Her old friends were the gorgeous, popular girls from Anytown High School, and I felt like I was looking at "Mean Girls: Ten Years Later." They were nice enough but rather cold, and all at the same time I couldn't help admiring how incredibly beautiful they were. The shortest one was a solid six inches taller than I am, so I can't help that, but it made me realize that I do have the choice how much to take care of my hair, skin, nails, and body. My husband and I were talking about it and I realized that my envy of them had little to do with them and everything to do with how I feel about myself. While I don't want to turn into them (with monthly hundred-dollar salon haircuts), I think my uncharacteristic envy of them was derived from how I've let myself go in graduate school. I've maybe gained ten pounds but more than that, I've just quit taking care of myself. So, the obvious solution is to begin anew, and I intend to do that. Just as a frame of reference, here's a photo of me in college on the pom squad and the second photo is from my honeymoon, two years later.
Yep, it's time to begin again.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

I Am a Celebrity Look-Alike



From a friend's blog I discovered http://www.myheritage.com, a site that allows you to upload a photo of yourself to see which celebrities you look like. I generically looked like multiple celebrities (as in we all have eyes, ears, noses, and mouths), but I am strikingly similar to Holly Marie Combs. Check it out:





Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Told the Husband

and he loves the car! He was really pleased about the whole thing--most of all the fact that I enjoy driving it so much. He liked the price, liked the specs, and was grateful I did it while he was gone. He drove it today and said honestly, he didn't much care for the feel of it, but that is because he loves big barrelling trucks and SUVs that make you feel like a piece of popcorn (bounce! bounce! bounce!). My car is smooth and the brakes are feather-sensitive, and he said that while he thought it was a perfect fit for me, he would have chosen a pickup truck. I replied that I was glad I bought it while he was gone!!! Really, though, he's completely supportive and is very, very happy about my choice of car. Also, he said he's glad that I am able to make big decisions without him. My mother has somewhat of a complex about not being able to make big decisions AT ALL (my dad must make them all), and he was pleased I am not showing evidence of having that trait. I research it, I test drive, I know my price, and I buy it at my price. I am exactly like my dad in that respect. I do not want to agonize, and I don't doubt my decision. Neither does my husband. I wasn't worried about his reaction but it's nice to know that I really *do* know my husband as well as I thought I did.

Now I'm sitting here drinking a glass of sauvignon blanc, having finished my salmon and rice. I did a good job on dinner! I've made this particular meal before with supervision, so I guessed I'd do a decent job. I'm watching American Idol and I'm more and more impressed with Chris. I didn't like him at first because, ick ick ick, he has facial hair. I think facial hair looks exactly like the OTHER hair you cover with your underpants. But I suppose I must acknowledge he has talent, even if I wouldn't kiss him. Taylor, who also hasn't impressed me up until now, got funky! What a hoot he is!!!! I like him now as well. I am a sucker for old-timey funk.

I start my new job next week, so I've been working on my final papers today. I am getting more and more excited about my new job--what opportunities abound! I'll work my butt off but there's nothing bad about that. I'll get better, move up, and maybe one day I'll wake up and my butt will actually be smaller. I've been reading some motivational business books and I'm getting pumped.

My husband will be home in half an hour or so, and I'm already excited. Is it normal to be in love with your husband even with all the stress in life? The book I've been reading says if you pour yourself into something and put it high in importance in your life, you will continually find new things that fascinate you and rejuvinate you about it. I think I must feel that way about my marriage. I am still madly in love with my husband, and I feel like I'm waiting for a date to pick me up when I watch the clock to see when he will come home. I'm giddy! This must be one of the best blessings in life ever given, and I'm so grateful God gave it to me.

The dog says he's a blessing, and he has some holy water to bestow upon the holy grass. I must take him out.