Love Me Some Monday

Let's just get one thing straight - I do not love Mondays.  In fact, of all thedays in the week, Monday is my least favorite.  There are, however, lots of things I love.  Perhaps if I spend Mondays focusing on all the things I love, I won't hate Mondays themselves so much.

Love me some:

1.  Ryan, obviously.  He's warm, funny, smart, and about a million other things.  I can't wait to be his wife so he's stuck with me forever.

2.  Family time.  Ryan and I went over to my parents' house Friday night before heading to my boss's house to celebrate my mom's birthday.  So nice not to have things that needed to be discussed but just be able to enjoy everyone's company.

3.  Friends.  I have amazing friends.  What more can I say?

4.  Thanksgiving.  I can't wait to stuff myself full of side dishes.  Seriously, it's going to be great.

5.  Rue La La.  Three Christmas presents already down thanks to Rue La La.  One of them may have originally been purchased more with myself in mind, but I justified it by saying I would probably use it for a gift.  Luckily most of the time I'm able to resist the urge to shop, shop, and shop some more.

What do you love yourself some of? 

Happy Birthday to Mommers

Today is my Mommy's birthday.  She is also known as Mommers, Anettey-Woo-Woo, Crazy Lady, and Mommy-kins.  Annette was blessed with five crazy kids, and while I don't know how all the nicknames started, they have certainly stuck.  If you saw us all together, you'd never think we grew up in a strict Roman Catholic military household.  I call my dad "Dude" so much that Ryan will ask me "how's Dude doing?" after I talk to my parents.  We also routinely tease our parents just because we can and sometimes my mom likes to go to bed at 8:30.  Sorry, but she deserves to be called an old lady if she's going to go to bed that early.

Anywho, this morning I put on my Pandora station for the wedding music and a Tina Turner song came on (the only request my mom has made for the reception is that we play some Tina Turner).  Suddenly, it was like I was in our house in Virginia.  I remember Mommy putting on music while we were cleaning.  I made chores fun by pretending I was Cinderella and Mom made them fun by dancing around the house as she cleaned.  Yet again I was reminded I'm turning into my mother.

I often find myself singing at the top of my lungs or lip-syncing, even when I'm alone, to my favorite songs and dancing around the house while I cook, clean, or just hear a song that makes me wanna move.  Sure, I look like a lunatic, and Ryan thinks I'm crazy, but I can't help myself.  I am my mother's daughter and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Not Normal

This morning, I typed my notes for class for as long as I could with my brace on.  Then, my computer decided it didn't wan to recognize that it was plugged in and died.  Out came the handy-dandy notebook, and off went the evil, awful, horrible brace.  As I was writing my notes, pain was radiating down my arm.  Granted, my wrist has been hurting more than usual for the past few days, but I took Advil this morning and it should not be hurting.  Then I looked down and noticed the vein that runs from the side of your thumb, over the side of your wrist, and down your arm was bulging and was bright blue.  It was not kind of blue.  It was freakishly blue and more intense than the color of your veins on your arm where your elbow bends.  Oh, and in case you wonder what I mean by "bulging," think about guys who spend a lot of time at the gym and have huge veins all over their arms - that's what it looked like, but bright blue. 

Fanfreakingtastic.  Stupid cyst is even more painful than when it first appeared, I need to type and write for work and school, and now my whole arm is all kinds of freakish.  Surely, this is not normal, and I need to go back to the stupid doctor so he can tell me to continue to wait it out and eventually it will get better. 

But I'm not complaining.  My computer decided to start charging again so at least there's that.  Here's to focusing on the positive instead of making myself crazy and miserable with less than a month to go before I'm finished with my exams.

So Very Wise

I recently learned one of my friends has circled back to an ex.  The guy is nice enough but their last break-up wasn't pretty and I'm fairly certain they broke up a time or two that I wasn't told about.  Watching her get back with a guy I know is not good for her is difficult at best.  It's not that he's a bad guy, it's just that he's not right for her and he has messed up.  Big time messed up.  I'm torn between telling her exactly what I think, keeping my mouth shut, and being supportive but playing devil's advocate to let her reach her own conclusion about what's best for her. 

This is an interesting position for me to be in.  Not so long ago, I was my friend.  Getting back together with a guy I had broken up with, and who had broken up with me, numerous times.  My friends didn't like him.  My family didn't care for him.  Eventually, I realized why, and broke it off for good (though not necessarily in that order).  Six years later, I'm so glad I finally ended it and cut him out of my life completely.  I can't regret the choices I made with regard to that relationship because those choices led me to where I am today and I'm happy with where I am and the person I have become.  However, that doesn't mean I want my friend to go through what I went through to get where I am.  I want her to be able to take a shortcut and avoid the bad things but still end up with the good.  Now I know how my parents felt when I was dealing with a similar situation. 

A little bit older, and so very much wiser, I find myself in the same position my parents were in.  How do you make someone realize he or she is making a mistake?  Of course, you can't.  Absent circumstances where intervention is absolutely necessary, you have to take a step back and be there when the relationship ends so your friend has a shoulder to cry on. 

It's funny how history repeats itself.  I just hope it doesn't repeat itself with my children and they are smarter than their mother was.

Are You Wearing Pants?

With increasing frequency, people are routinely leaving the house without pants on.  Did you just gasp?  You should have.  I'm sure many of you have seen this strange trend and are just as horrified as I am.  Obviously, I am not concerned about people wearing dresses, shorts, skirts, or actual pants.  The people I am afraid for are those that seem to think tights, leggings, and yoga pants are actual pants and therefore perfectly reasonable everyday-wardrobe options. 

Enter my Pinterest love affair.  Perhaps more accurately, enter my friend Erin's Pinterest find. 

Am I Wearing Pants?

It would be handy if this was handed out to young ladies women.  Perhaps the education system has gotten so bad the pantless people don't even know what pants are.  Um, yeah, that's it.  

 

At the end of the day, I think it's really simple.  If you have to ask yourself if you're wearing pants, chances are really good you aren't. 

When Neighbors Attack

Saturday is in the running for the laziest day ever.  I managed to make it to the living room around 9:30 but hardly moved again until noon.  Lazy moments happen, and relaxed days are allowed, but doing nothing isn't really option for me.  Also completely out of the norm is me not showing up for something I've been planning on attending for about two months.  Specifically, I was supposed to participate in the Heart Walk for the American Heart Association.

Who or what is responsible for turning me into a zombie-like, lazy bum well into the afternoon?  The neighbors and their stupid parties.  The neighbors' antics as they went to and and from their apartments, seemingly unaware the concrete tunnels that serve as hallways magnify and carry sound.  The neighbors' guests yelling on the sidewalk just below my bedroom windows.  Yes, that's right, I blame the neighbors.

My apartment is over the gym and the common room.  Anytime someone wants to have a gathering too large for their apartment, I hear it.  Whenever someone wants to workout in the wee hours of the morning, I hear that too.  Most of the time, it's not a huge problem, but last night was out of control.  I'm fairly certain every international student at University of Tampa was gathered in the common room, with a few Americans mixed in for good measure.  This group loved it some dance music.  LMFAO and Britney are great for the gym, but I do not really need to hear them, or techno Adele, when I'm trying to sleep.

Finally, the party downstairs broke up and the party next door began.  Lucky me, my bedroom is right next to my neighbor's living room, and my bed is on the same wall as her couch (sarcasm font).  After at least thirty minutes, I couldn't take it anymore.  Over the next two hours, I banged on the wall, yelled for them to be quiet, stuck my head out the door and gave the people congregating in the hallway my best dirty look, and went outside at least two more times, begging and pleading for them to at least take the volume down a little.  Side note - wearing a wrist splint with a large piece of metal in it is excellent when you need to bang on your wall in an attempt to shush your neighbors.  Finally, at 4:12 am, I sent my friend Erin, who I was supposed to meet for the heart walk, an email warning her that I may not make it since I was supposed to meet her about four hours later.  I wanted to be there, but I knew if I did not fall asleep immediately after hitting send I would likely not actually wake up when I silenced my alarms and if I didn't fall asleep, I would not be in any condition to drive.

The last time I looked at the clock, it was around 4:45, and I could still hear the people next door, despite the feather pillows I was clinging to my ears.  Once I'm out, I'm out, but falling asleep with that much noise is almost impossible, even for me.  When the noise started up again Saturday night, I hightailed it out of my apartment and headed straight to Ryan's.  I couldn't take another night without sleep.  The neighbors are safe for now, but I make no promises things won't turn violent if there's a repeat of Friday night/Saturday morning.  On second thought, I think a bullhorn with a siren button or an air horn might be a smarter move--I don't think I want to wind up with prisoners for neighbors.

Pinterest Veggies

I, like most people that have been fortunate enough to discover it, am completely in love with Pinterest.  It's perfect for putting together wedding ideas, a wall of inspiration, keeping track of adorable outfits for the future little ones, and finding ideas for new, tasty treats to try.  I mostly do a lot of pinning and don't necessarily do anything with all of the things I pin, but all that changed when I tried two fantastic veggie treats.

Mine didn't turn out quite this pretty, but there was vegetable tian

and roasted sweet potatoes

You can find the recipes here and here.  I used less cheese on the vegetable tian since I'm still kind of detoxing and I cut back on the butter and brown sugar on the sweet potatoes, but they were delicious.  So fast, easy, and healthy, they'll make great lunches and snacks this week.  Food likes this makes me completely forget I used to really love meat.

Next up?  Maybe some

pumpkin cinnamon rolls

 

or maybe french toast souffle

 and I might even try these Dr. Pepper cupcakes

Pinterest might be a problem, but it's a good kind of problem to have.  Unless, of course, you're actually trying to get things done around the house or do schoolwork.