Nothing Says Procrastination Like Blogging!

Spring 2011 Blossoms

I picked a photo I took in the Spring of 2011 because I am SO READY for that now. It’s still cold outside, here. Cold and grey, and the wind kicks pretty hard. I know we didn’t even have a bad winter, but I’m still ready for it to be GONE. It’s March 14, for the love of sweet baby Jesus. Spring’ll be here in six days, not that you’ll ever be able to tell here. If the high DOES get above 40F, we’re also treated with a side dish of rain. But mainly, the temps have hovered in the mid-30s to mid-40s with no indication they’re moving from that any time soon. That photo from above was taken in May of 2011. I worry that I have at least two more months of cold to endure. WAH.

Most people like it cold because they say you can always add more layers. But there gets to be a point where a ton of layers makes me look like the marshmallow man and they’re bulky and uncomfortable. I have a high heat threshold and very little tolerance for cold–I actually get ANGRY when I get too cold. So given the choice? I’ll take the heat over the cold any day. The cold seriously feels like an assault on my body. I have to tense all up and shrink into myself, and it never works. Even when it’s in the 40s I have to wear layers and layers to stay warm, and it usually only lasts for a few minutes before I’m cold again. It sucks to always be freezing while everyone else says they’re fine or even hot.

At least the trees kinda LOOK like they may start to bud soon–the branches are starting to get bumpy. I wonder how much of that is my imagination, though. The lilac bush around the corner looks as dead as ever. I’ll know Spring is really here when I can smell those beautiful lilacs.

Lilacs

That’s what they look like when they’re blooming and smelling amazing. That photo was taken April 2012.

The sidewalks are covered in dog poo because people obviously can’t be bothered to clean up after their dogs. [1. Why even GET a dog if you’re not going to do everything you need to do to take care of it? I hate scooping the litter boxes but I do it because it’s better for all of our sakes.] It’s really gross. I mean, there’s always at least one pile of dog poo per block, but this is really out of hand. I almost took a photo today but thought better of it. You’re welcome.

Tuesday night was really good. Wonderful food, good company, and good times!

photo

Wednesday was good as well. Spent all afternoon and evening in Naperville. I was cold, but I managed to have a good time anyway. I had dinner at Noodles & Co. I love their Wisconsin mac & cheese, and I get the crusted parmesan chicken on it. I added a caesar salad for $1, and they have one of those cool now drink machines. I get the water and flavor it with cherry or grape. πŸ™‚ It was yummy!

My newest freelance project is underway and it’s not as hard as I anticipated. It’s kind of tedious, but it’s not the worst job I’ve ever done. I’ve been working 1/2 days at VSA, and that’s been going well. And things are going well with my new client, too.

Mercury Retrograde cannot be over soon enough. This is the worst one I’ve ever experienced. Last night, my friend Andy texted me and asked why I didn’t respond to his email. I checked my inbox and HIS EMAIL WASN’T THERE. This morning, I happened to peek into my junk email folder and found a bunch of emails from the past nine days that I have NEVER indicated should be junk and had never been marked as such before. Important email from Moksha, mail from friends. Meanwhile, every single Old Navy and Target email is steadily coming through. I was like WTF. Then I checked the spam folders–found out I’d missed a deadline on something because the email went to spam when it had no business. I am not sure what gmail’s problem is but they need to fix it! Fortunately, I was able to get the thing to the client in plenty of time, but that is seriously distressing. I spent my lunch hour setting up filters to keep this from happening again. I’ve never had to worry about this before. I like to use an email client on my computer–lately it’s been Outlook–because I don’t always want to log in to gmail. But because of this latest glitch, I think I’m going to have to go back to logging in on the web too so I can check those other folders. Because even though I have IMAP, the new labels aren’t showing up in my Outlook. FRUSTRATING. Maybe I’ll see what happens with Thunderbird again. I’ve been bouncing around email clients for a while ever since I switched computers and MacMail is being weird.

Today, I met with a family that I will start babysitting for soon. How exciting is that? I get to watch a 12 month old with the coolest name, and he is so sweet, with totally nibble-able cheeks and an adorable little grin. I’m looking forward to spending time with him. There is also a four year old I’ll get to watch as well. The cool thing is that they live walking distance from me, and Aidan is welcome to come along with me on jobs! I get my baby fix, Aidan gets to play with other kids, and the four year old gets an older boy to look up to. Win win all around. I’m actually really excited about this!

I *think* I might be able to sleep in a bit tomorrow. I made my deadlines, and I have a little bit of breathing room. VSA doesn’t need me until the afternoon, and then I’ll be busy in the evening with a workshop, and then coming home to do more work. Saturday, I am attending a thesis workshop, and Sunday I’ll be working. Monday as well, and Tuesday, and Wednesday! That work’ll be from home, though. Unless I go to a coffee shop which I doubt because frankly, no establishment ever keeps it warm enough for me. Which is why I work in my living room most often unless I have to be onsite. I FEEL more productive at a desk or a table, but my couch is more comfortable. And I have blankets and space heaters and kitty cats.

Adam got really sick the other night. He came out of the room shivering with his teeth chattering asking me to take his temperature. He was burning up. πŸ™ He’s been recovering, but he still has swollen glands and a sore throat. I’m feeling weird now… really hoping I’m not getting what he has/had. I really don’t have time to get sick right now.

Anyway, I am off to bed. Crookshanks just hit the litter box so that’s my cue. While I desperately long for Spring, I’ll look at more flowers.

Spring 2011 Blossoms

Till next time….

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Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow

Epcot

Part One: Magic in the Magic Kingdom
Part Two: Animal Kingdom: I LOVE TODAY

Day three of our Disney trip took us to Epcot. We got to the bus stop just in time to see the Epcot bus sitting there, so we hopped right on. Finally! Good bus luck! Of course, the bus took us all the way through the OTHER Port Orleans resort as well, but we still got to Epcot at 9am. But then I picked the worst line ever to stand in. It was so slow but the people we were behind–a dad and his two boys–I swear to you that they were George Bluth with young Michael and Gob. “Michael” and “Gob” just kept beating up on each other. “Gob” would not leave “Michael” alone and they were roughhousing pretty good until “George” finally caught them and made them stop. Entertaining. But not enough for me to stay in the horrid line. We moved over and were in the park within three minutes.

As always, the first pavilion we headed toward was The Land so we could get Fast Passes for Soarin’. But because we’d gotten there so early, Soarin’ only had a ten minute posted wait time. (For that ride, the wait is ALWAYS longer than the posted wait time, by the way.) We got in line behind a French family. Adam enjoyed listening to them talk in French.

Soarin’ was GREAT. It’s one of my favorite rides in the park and I cannot wait to take my mom on it. It’s so relaxing and pretty and the music is lovely as well. I can’t even describe it–it’s definitely something you’ll have to experience for yourself if you get to Disneyland or Disney World.

After Soarin’, we got on Living With The Land. It’s not an exciting ride, but I love going through the greenhouses and seeing all the food they have growing. A lot of it they use in the restaurants right on property!

Living With The Land

Living With The Land

Living With The Land

By then, it was time for Soarin’ again; our Fast Pass window had opened up. We were next to an older lady who was terrified of heights and her commentary throughout the entire ride was almost better than the attraction! “Oh my goodness, oh my, why would anyone ever… oh my goodness.” Her hands were literally dripping with sweat. When I asked her if she liked it, she said she loved it. People are so interesting.

We headed over to the more thrilling rides. Adam and I did single rider on Test Track and both of us got on within five minutes or so. I like single rider because of the fast lines, and most of the people I end up with are nice. But this time I was with a family who clearly didn’t want anyone joining them and it was kind of awkward. I liked the ride anyway. Not as much as I liked the old version, though. I do like the quieter queues but the actual ride re-imaging is not as cool as the original was. I am not sure how Aidan will feel about the changes when we go in June.

Adam didn’t want to do Mission Space (green, always green for me), so I got on single rider for that. This time I got to stand in line by a mom and her daughter from Canada and they were super nice. I rode with I think a three generation group–a mom, a daughter, and a grandma, and the little girl kept yelling out “I’m the NAVIGATOR!”

Maybe one day I’ll be brave enough to do orange again, but I did it in 2005 before you had a choice, and well…. let me tell you. It is HARD CORE. Just don’t eat anything before you go on. Or you’ll be tasting it for the rest of the day.

Sadly, Captain EO was closed, so I didn’t get to see any of Hooter’s antics this time. Maybe in June.

They were starting to decorate for the Flower and Garden Festival, and we got to see some sneak peeks!

Epcot Flower & Garden Show Preview

Epcot Flower & Garden Show Preview

Epcot Flower & Garden Show Preview

Then we headed out into the “wild”… OK, just to World Showcase. Adam was hungry and I was curious about the Fish & Chips. Which were expensive but FREAKING DELICIOUS. So good that the birds hanging around the seating area were pretty loud with their begging.

We walked around World Showcase, and did some shopping in the UK, where I got the most awesome Yellow Submarine shirt (you’ll see it in the Hollywood Studios post) and a Doctor Who shirt. Because DISNEY SELLS DOCTOR WHO SHIRTS HOW FREAKING AWESOME IS THAT I LOVE WHEN MY FANDOMS COLLIDE. Anyway, yeah. We made our way through World Showcase, going from UK to Mexico.

More Flower and Garden stuff:

Epcot Flower & Garden Show Preview

Epcot Flower & Garden Show Preview

And then a pretty princess:

Me, Belle, and Adam

And then some pretty scenes:

Prettiness in Epcot

Pretty Pond

Pretty

And SHOPPING! I got CDs and incense and a lucky kitty cat and Super Mario Bros. socks and and and …..

Then I got a front row seat to see the Chinese Acrobats, which I’ve never been lucky enough to do in the past!

Chinese Acrobats

Chinese Acrobats

Chinese Acrobats

Chinese Acrobats

After that, we walked through the countries, stopping at the America Pavilion because AMERICA WAS HAPPENING. I also had some work to do, so we hung out at the Pavilion while I did that. At some point, I tried on a Viking hat and sword and bought a little white polar bear too. Probably after I got off of Maelstrom. That ride is always fun, especially when I’m on with people who have never ridden it before. Their reactions are always so funny. I remember one year, a college-aged girl went “What’s it even about?” after it was over. Truly, I don’t know. But it’s a neat ride anyway.

Viking Me!

We made our way back to The Land for dinner, but on the way ended up in the new Oz section that had games and cute things.

:)

Adam as Finley. Oz Promo.

While hanging out in the Oz garden, we ended up chatting with two girls who I decided I liked immediately: Lindsey and Harley. They were so fun. I hope I get to see them again when I go in June.

We Are All Of Us!!!

After hanging with them for a while, Adam headed to our favorite restaurant at Disney World: The Garden Grill. Good, good food, awesome characters, and the server remembered us from last year! Her name’s Lisa and she is from CT–I hope she’s there in June and that we get her again. ANYWAY, we had a BLAST there!

Dancing with Pluto

Me & Mickey Mouse

Dale and I Share a Giggle

Me and Chip Share a Secret

After eating, we walked around a bit more. But the sun had gone down and it was getting chilly. We didn’t stick around for the fireworks because we’d seen them a million times. We did ride Spaceship Earth because that’s what you do when you go to Epcot.

Spaceship Earth at Night

See ya next time, Epcot! The next post will be about our fun day at Hollywood Studios, where I got to dance (again), we drew Agent P, and we got to meet some folks from the movie Wreck-It Ralph!! πŸ™‚

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Back To Myself

Flamingo

Ah. I feel so much more like myself today and let me tell you, THAT is a relief. I got to work in an office I enjoy, and I got to catch up with friends I haven’t seen in months and I even saw someone from my past life at Ogilvy. It was cool to see him! Sometimes I guess I just need some good energy to help clear out the cobwebs in my brain.

My sleep schedule has become way more conventional in the past few weeks. Disney World helped do that. It’s weird to wake up at 6am and think to myself “Wow, I can sleep for another two and a half hours!” (It helps to live very close to the offices I typically commute to, or in most cases, have the office in my living room.) I woke up feeling well-rested this morning and definitely less cranky. And I was greeted at the bedroom door by little Fi again. He must hear me moving around when I am getting ready so he goes to wait for me, and when I open my door, he’s sitting or standing there looking up at me. So sweet and cute.

He’s curled up beside me right now. πŸ™‚

Last night, Adam made chicken nuggets from a recipe he got from YouTube, I think. They’re to mimic the Chick-Fil-A nuggets. He does a really good job with them, and they taste AWESOME. But then the leftover cooking smell drives me bananas [1. Unless it’s bacon. I’m surprisingly very OK with the place smelling like bacon all the time]. I diffused some lavender essential oil (I am anxious to receive the purification oil) and then I had to burn two incense sticks. Deep-fry smell lingers and lingers and gets onto everything. I’m not a fan. My friend Jen is the same way. She cannot stand cooking smells. I don’t mind them WHEN cooking is taking place. But once I’m done eating, get it away. I’m the same with strong food smells. Stew? Ketchup? Beef n Noodles? Get it away from me when I’m done or I’ll get nauseated. It’s weird.

Anyway, I’m not even sure how I got on that topic. I really just wanted to write and report that I’m feeling so much better today. OK then. Til next time! πŸ™‚

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Angst, Angst, More Angst

Crabapple Tree

Sometimes I feel so silly. I swear, I’ve been nothing but dumb the past few weeks, and verbalising it and beating myself up out loud. Saying things like “I’m so stupid, I can’t believe I said/did/thought that.” I don’t know why I’m doing this. I want to call myself stupid for doing it. And I probably will.

For example. Right now I’m pretty tired and wondering how the hell I’m going to manage a full day in the office and then an evening out with friends tomorrow. Then I had to sit here and remind myself: “Oh wait, it’s the end of the day, of course I’m tired. I’ll get a decent night’s sleep (cats willing) and I’ll be good to go in the morning. DUH.” And if not, there’s always these guys:


[via]

Coming off of a weekend that was 80% annoying and 20% OK, I’m kicking off a pretty busy couple of weeks. Workshops, working THREE freelance jobs, and commitments every evening this week, except tonight, but tonight I was working so….

But now I’m done working for the day. It’ll be time for me to bathe and head to bed soon, and I hope that the cats aren’t obnoxious so I can actually get some sleep. At least I’ll be at the place with the free apple juice and oranges. But I’ll probably spend most of my time in the free candy drawer.

It seems like I go through these times where I’m doing nothing but eating candy and playing video games, and then I go through times when I am so busy it’s a miracle I don’t have a nervous breakdown. Sometimes I wonder if I’ve taken on too much and I’m 99% sure I’m going to give up one of my commitments within the next couple of months. I don’t like to do that but I think I have good enough reasons:

1. I don’t really like it. I resent it when I have to do it, and I dread it when I see it on my schedule.
2. It’s volunteer, so I’m not even getting paid for it, although I am getting things in exchange for it. But I’m beginning to think it’s worth my sanity for me to just PAY for the things instead.
3. The resentment of *that* thing is spilling into other aspects of that life, and I don’t like that. Because most of the other stuff is just fine.
4. When I am busy, I am busy, and that’s the one thing I can always see sacrificing and being totally OK with it.
5. I’m picking up new paid gigs all the time. I’d rather devote more time to that.

I’ve been feeling off, and I wonder if that’s because of the Daylight Savings Time combined with Mercury Retrograde and also coming off the high of Disney World (I do know that I owe you some more trip report posts!)… all I want to do is curl up with a good book, chocolate, some chips, and a big glass of Tang.

And because I’ve been feeling off, I’m not resigning from that post just yet–it could just be a passing thing. We’ll see how it goes.

Right now, I feel like the depression is trying to take hold again and I’m too damn tired and overwhelmed to fight it.

BUT I’m going to see an old friend tomorrow night after working onsite for a client, and we’re going to eat in a very yummy restaurant. Also, Golden Boy will be recording for me on the TiVo. I get to go out to Naperville on Wednesday, and Thursday I’m going to meet a family I’m potentially going to babysit for occasionally. I’ve got the rest of the Twilight movies coming for me in the mail and I plan to have a marathon once I’m done turning in all my teacher training stuff. (THAT should give me the motivation to finally get shit done.) The official first day of Spring is 10 days away (even though you wouldn’t know it by the 30F weather and snow here), and it smells like popcorn in my apartment. And Fi has been curled up by my feet almost all day and evening. (I guess that tells you where I spent the majority of my day.) So there are GOOD things and I’m usually so good at focusing on them. It’s just been much harder lately for some reason.

Right now, I’m craving something warm and sweet and yummy and comforting. Like Cream of Wheat and bacon, or apple crumble. Also a hot bath. So I’m going to do at least one of those things.

Night.


miscellany monday at lowercase letters

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Sunday Stealing (17):

The Meme From Memphis (Part 1)

Be honest, who texted you last?
Tami! πŸ™‚ She’s coming to stay with me a few nights next month. SO EXCITED! I’ve not seen her in almost five years!

Do you sleep with the bedroom door open or closed?
Closed to keep some of the the cats out.

Do you drink tea?
Yes.

Do you have plans for tomorrow?
I have a workshop in the morning, then maybe King Spa in the evening.

What’s worse: dry skin or chapped lips?
Chapped lips. Dry skin can be hidden.

Would you be surprised if Facebook started charging?
It kind of amazes me that they don’t already.

Would you rather go to Canada or California on vacation?
California. It has Disneyland.

How many social media sites are you registered with?
OH GOD. Too many. Spend most of my time on Twitter and Facebook, though.

Are you wearing jeans, shorts, sweatpants, or pajama pants?
Jeans.

So, what if you changed lives for one day with the last person you texted?
I’d be a student and I’d have awesome curly red hair.

Last person you told a secret to?
Not sure.

What are you listening to at the moment?
Adam’s pinball game. He’s playing it on his iPad.

Where was the last place you fell asleep other than your bed?
My “nest” in the living room. I took a nap when I didn’t mean to.

Is there someone that you believe you will always be attached to?
*shrug*

Are you going to any concerts this year?
YES. Going to see Marina and the Diamonds!

Do you believe in Karma?
I do, but probably not in the way people traditionally think of karma.

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