Love/Hate

This morning was one of those days that crawling back into bed and starting again seems like the best option. It was the kind of morning where I hate the city that I live in and really love so much. And it's a Monday. It's a lose-lose-lose kind of morning.

It started with my alarm being too quiet. I guess in the madness of waking up at 4am yesterday to take the hubs to the airport, the alarm was turned down (who knows how), so this morning it went off for a good 1/2 hour before I woke up. I had ear plugs in (Mass Ave is SO incredibly loud when it's rainy, so I often bust out the plugs), so the quiet alarm was just not cutting it. It was the jack hammering outside my window that was loud enough to wake me. WHY Boston, must you constantly find awful times to jack hammer on the already too loud street I live on? Not the most pleasant wake-up call at all, and not even an on time one. I set the alarm intentionally early because I love to snooze, but at this point I'm running 20 minutes late.

Rushing to get ready, I come to the realization that we have no hot water. Awesome. Some times when too many of the apartments are showering at the same time the water is just a little too cool, so I figured I'd wait, get lunch ready and try again. No success. There is just no hot water. Well it's 7:30am...can I call the landlord this early? He doesn't ever call me back anyway...he LOVES the hubs and so I stay out of the landlord-tenant convos at all costs, but today I have no choice. I decide 8am is a decent time to call, heat up some water on the stove to wash my face and clean up a little with, and go on getting ready. I try the water again, still nothing. I call the landlord, no answer. Oh well. It's off to work with yesterday hair.

Out the door and first thing I do is spill coffee down the front of my jacket.What a day to not have a husband to laugh at you/make things better.

I'm hoping that it doesn't turn into one of those "days" and just stays "one of those mornings." So far work has been fairly uneventful, so I'm hoping for the best...

Monday Madness

I have already checked out and am completely in vacation mode. The only problem is, I'm not on vacation yet. Not really even that close. I have all this week, plus two days of "working from home" next week. That means I need to be focused a little more. Hopefully I can make that happen...

Anyway! The madness this week is insurance and flex spending and all the crazy benefit stuff! I have to figure out what I want to do with my 401K and if I want to change my dental insurance. It's all too much! I've never had to figure these things out before, so I have no idea what I should be doing. I wish it were like elementary school where I could just take my papers home to my mom who would fill them out. I just had to make sure they made it to her hands.

Now I have to try to figure it out for myself. How much do I estimate I'll send in medical expenses this year? What if I need new glasses? Should I count that in? What if I don't? Ugh. I don't think I like this part of being grown up...

Monday Madness

I know it's not the highest quality picture ever, but that's my wreath. It smells wonderful and it makes me happy. I'm still bummed that we're not having our own tree this year (the in-laws-to-be will have one, so I'm not completely without), but this is a nice touch. I put up our lights and even made a couple paper snow flakes. Tree or no tree, my apartment will have some holiday flair.

What maddens me today is how close Christmas and our travels really are! We leave in less than two weeks! That's crazy! We're having Christmas with my family in less than two weeks! I have less than two weeks to finish shopping for my family! (4 down, 5 to go! Yikes!) Not to mention, in the next two weeks I have about 5 Christmas parties to go to! I need to go shopping! :)

Monday Madness

What happened to November? How is it possible that the month is over and Christmas is just a few weeks away? I feel like I blinked and the month went by. It's maddening.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. We had quite the adventure and a great weekend over all. My top five moments are:

1. Being pulled over Thursday morning for being a horrible driver and running a red light. I was driving in Boston and could not get to where I wanted to be for the life of me, thanks to all the one way streets, and just totally missed the light. Luckily, no one was even close to hurt (it was a stop light for a crosswalk, so no cars and no people were crossing), but of course a police office saw me. He was in the Thanksgiving spirit and let me go.

2. Spending approximately 13 hours in the car. Luckily I enjoyed the company I kept and my radio decided to work for all but an hour of the trip. The clock was not as cooperative.

3. Hearing "Alice's Restaurant" on the radio at noon, as always, and knowing pretty much all the words...at least all the words at the good parts. (If you don't know the song, definitely look it up. It's by Arlo Guthrie and is a Thanksgiving must).

4. Celebrating seven years of dating with the hubs-to-be. On our first date we saw a Harry Potter movie, went to the Thanksgiving bonfire, and played pool. This year we went to Borders and had coffee, and discussed wedding invitations. I'm happy to say we've grown up quite a bit since then, but not to worry, I still love Harry Potter movies :)

5. Taking a nap by my grandfather's fireplace on Friday when it was nasty and rainy outside. That's what's supposed to happen on vacation and I was happy to do it. It's not often that I get to sit in front of a fire, or take a nap, so it was bliss. (Plus I was full of day-after-Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing sandwich, so life was REALLY good).

I just hope December can live up to the standard November set!

Monday Madness

Here we are at Monday again. The week really goes by so quickly!
This week was good, but the madness is the irony of a broken hair straightener. So this weekend I got my hair cut. I decided to go with bangs again because it's winter and I have to blow dry my hair anyway, so bang wouldn't be such a pain. Of course because I have curly-ish hair I have to straighten them with the hot iron after blow drying. Wouldn't you know my straighten broke this morning. Just decided it didn't want to turn on any more. Gonzo. Four days ago and I wouldn't have cared. Today, I needed that puppy. Luckily my most amazing bff is in town from NM, so I could use hers, but I have to get a new one tonight.
Isn't it always that the one thing we barely ever use decides not to work right when we need it? And there isn't much that will do the duties of a hair straightener. Although I know this is ridiculously trivial, it was not the way I wanted to start my Monday.

The weekend was awesome, as was having the bff in town. If I could find the card reader to take my pictures off my camera I'd add a little pzazz to this blog. Hopefully that can happen soon!

Monday Madness

Yes, I know, I've missed Monday again. Monday at work is pure madness, so I run out of time! Plus yesterday I had to go to the dentist and see the trainer at the gym, so I was all over the place. Oh well!

The madness this week is wedding dress shopping! It's happening! On Friday! Holy Cow. I'm so excited, but so nervous! The last time I wore a white dress I was 9 and having my first communion. Now I'm going to be wedding dress shopping! It makes my wedding so real! Luckily, I'll have the bff in town to help out, along with the other engaged friend. There will be back up. There will be lots of girly-ness. Amazing! I just can't believe it's happening already. Neither one of us engaged ladies is planning on buying a dress, we just want to try a million on and see what styles we like/don't like, and kind of go from there. Crazy!

What I also think is crazy and maddening is the show "Say Yes to the Dress" on TLC. I mean, it's amazing. Some of the dresses are gorgeous (some are awful) but the girls trying the dresses floor me. A $5,000 budget for just your dress!?! Or some even at $7 or $8 thou!?! Whyyyy!??? I mean, I understand it's super important to look beautiful and you definitely want to look your best, but I don't think that means you have to spend all that money! I sure hope it doesn't mean that because I'll be screwed! I would love the help of these wonderful people at the store on the show, but not if it's going to cost me my entire wedding budget!

The cool thing for me is, my dad's wife and my g-ma are going to make my wedding dress. I'm excited to have something so special done for me. I don't know what exactly I want yet, which is why we're going shopping Friday, but they need time to make it, so I need to start looking! Our wedding in less than 10 months away! Gosh that seems like forever and not enough time all at once!

Monday Madness

How maddening is it that I don't have a pumpkin yet? I love pumpkins and I have yet to get around to getting one! Halloween is in less than a week and I have nothing to show for my holiday spirit. I went to Trader Joe's yesterday, but all they sell are pie making pumpkins, and I most certainly do not want one of those. I do have a mini pumpkin at work, but nothing at home.

I'm not sure that I want to carve said pumpkin, but I definitely want to have one. Last October I got a pumpkin in Vermont, which I did not carve, and it lasted, rot-free until February (well maybe not really that long, but it was a really long time). I would love to have another amazing ones this year, but I'll settle for whatever I can find.

I have to walk past the farmers' market today (poor me, right?) on my way home, and I'm hoping they will have a selection, even if it's not the best. I also need to get flowers for a friend's birthday today, so hopefully the cold hasn't scared the farmers away yet!

Monday Madness

Yes, I do know that it's Tuesday. Yesterday was a little too busy and I didn't have a chance to wax poetic. But I'm here now with some more madness. The weather.

My mom always told me that people only talk about the weather when they have nothing else to say, but the weather here is worth mentioning! When we got back from New Mexico we were shocked by chilly 50 degree temps. Nothing too horrible, but they just kept dropping from there. We had a couple days of high 40's, but by the weekend we had rain and low 40's (definitely the biggest down fall of living in New England). Pretty gross if you ask me.

Saturday turned out ok, but Sunday was horrible from the time we woke up. It was rainy and windy and just about the worst weather to go out in. But we did. We wandered out to the suburbs to see my sister, only to also see snow. SNOW. Yup...October 18th and it was SNOWING. What the heck? Even for New England it's WAY too early for snow. I'm just not ready for the boots and mittens and constant runny nose that come with snow and winter.

The best part is, weather in Massachusetts is bi-polar...and the high today is 62.

Monday Madness

It's Monday again (how does that keep happening?) and the madness today is...colds! It seems that about half of the people in my office are sick with colds. They all sneeze and cough all day long in the office. IN THE OFFICE! Instead of staying home to get better, the come to work and spread their germs to the rest of us. I am less than excited about this. I do not want to be sick. I do not find it fair that I have to share my office with sickly people and their germs.

The reason these sick people are coming in is because they "have too much work to do to stay home." I understand that. I have a lot of work to do, and a unplanned, unprepared for day off would be hard, but putting the rest of the office's health at risk? That's just mean.

Since we're going to New Mexico on Friday (yay! I can't wait!), I REALLY don't want to get sick. So today I've been pumping the vitamin C, drinking lots of water, and making sure to wash my hands. I don't want to go overboard, but I really don't want to get sick! I just wish the sickos would stay home!

Monday Madness

Well look at that, it's Monday again. There is a lot going on today that makes my life crazy (mostly work), but the madness is the dentist.

Today I have to go to the dentist and have some cavities filled. I'm not really looking forward to it. I used to love the dentist when I was little because I never had any problems with my teeth, and I'd come out of the office with squeaky clean dents. But then I started getting cavities. I take good care of my teeth (the dentist says I have great oral hygiene), but thanks to genetics, my teeth are soft and get cavities more easily. Gee, thanks Mom and Dad. And as it turns out, the dentist is not so fun when there is a drill involved.

It's maddening that I can sit in the dentist chair and be told that I have "beautiful teeth" and "amazingly clean teeth" and then be told I have 6 (Yup. SIX) cavities. I'm having three filled today, and the other three at a later date. The dentist didn't want to have to numb my whole mouth at the same time. How thoughtful.

Of course the real problem stems from the fact that my cavities are mostly between my teeth. I floss, but not enough, and since I haven't had x-rays in two and a half years, there was no way for the hygienist cleaning my teeth to spot them. So now there are six gross cavities in my teeth. Awesome.

I just hope I don't bite my cheek while it's numb...that's about the worst feeling ever...besides maybe a drill going into your teeth.

Monday Madness

Today the madness is buying a house. I am, by no means, looking to buy a house. But it seems like everyone else I know is. My sister and her boyfriend, my mom and a few of the girls at work all just bought houses. I understand the draw, with all the tax credits that will be given, and it being a buyers' market, but it just seems like a whole lot of responsibility I'm just not ready for.

I do like the idea of having my own place, in the sense that I don't have to worry about whether or not I can paint a certain color, and I like the idea of having a yard or a deck, but I don't really like the idea that everything becomes my problem. We just got a brand new fridge (after an entire year of dealing with an awful one) and at no cost to us. If there is something we can't fix on our own, we have someone else to take care of it for us. No paying for plumbers, or electricians or anything like that. Granted, at the end of our lease we will have paid a lot of money and be no closer to owning our own home, but it's something we're ok with.

 So why do people assume that a house is in our future? Even at the bank on Saturday when we were opening a new checking account (now that we're engage, we've finally gotten a joint account) they asked if we were saving for a house or looking to buy. Nope. Not at all. And not only that, but I don't want to leave the city! I love living in Boston and you have to be Scrooge McDuck to buy here. Maybe in a few years a house with be part of our game plan, but for right now, we're so happy being renters.

Monday Madness

Today is, of course, Monday. I've decided that on Mondays, I will discuss one of the maddening issues of my life. Hopefully it will be more amusing than a horrible vent session.

Today, it's planning a wedding. I was proposed to a total of two weeks and two days ago. To me, that's not a whole lot of time. I've been just enjoying the new bling on my finger and not thinking too much past when I'll need another manicure. But, unfortunately, other people want details. When will it be? Where will it be? Who will be invited? Granted, these things have crossed my mind, but nothing has been set in stone. We're still working on it. Maybe next week?

At the same time, I'm very eager to start planning the unimportant details. I love spending my time looking at wedding dresses and floral arrangements, and fancy place settings. I've thought of what the invitations will look like, and my guest list for an engagement party. Am I doing things in the wrong order? Probably.

I'm sure we'll get around to setting a date before all the other weekends in 2010 are taken, and I'm sure we'll find the perfect location. Hopefully these will happen soon too. But for now, I'm just fine not doing anything important. And hopefully I won't annoying too many people in the process.

And hopefully I won't be kicking myself in a few months saying "why didn't I start thinking about this earlier?"