Cool

Home Alone

I hate being home alone. Tim has a sleep study tonight and has to spend the night at the hospital with monitors on him. While I don't envy this (I would never be able to sleep in those circumstances), I miss him really badly. I hate being away from my best friend. Also, whenever I'm home alone, I walk around aimlessly. It's ridiculous. I'm fine when I know he'll be home in a few hours or whatever, but I'm worthless when he is away for the whole night. The cats aren't much of a help, either. They basically sit in front of the door and stare, waiting for him to come home too. Punks.

Well, when Tim finishes this sleep study, we'll know more about his weird sleep habits and possible sleep apnea. Maybe he'll have to sleep with an oxygen mask on, which will be freaky and hard to get used to. But I hate taking naps with him because I'm always afraid he'll wake up gasping for air. Whatever needs to happen to fix my fella, that's what we'll do. So I guess for now I'll just have to deal with not having him home tonight. I guess I'll go to bed or something...

(Reluctantly) 52 Blessings

(Ugg. I'm trying desperately to make this one a blessing... especially because I have to be there today.)

Work

Okay, so I know I'm blessed to have a steady job that pays me for my time. I actually have a pretty good paying job for my profession, too. I know that at some smaller libraries, the children's librarian doesn't get near what I get. That is a blessing. Most of time the kids that come in are pretty cool kids, too. That is a blessing. There are some great families that visit my library. And I've gotten to read some great books and be "in the know" about things that are coming out. That is also a blessing. I've learned new skills, like looking confident in the face of a group of wild toddlers and their mommies and belting out songs like the Itsy Bitsy Spider and whatnot. That is a skill and, I guess, a blessing. And my library is unionized so I get crazy holidays off, like Presidents day and such, that only postal workers usually get. And that is definately a blessing. Hmmm...

Yeah, I think that is about as many blessings as I can pull out of my job right now. Can you think of any I missed? This was a tough one for me.

Horay for Snow Days!

Yepee! Today I didn't have to go to my 9 to 5 because my boss (who NEVER gives us snow days) gave us a snow day! I guess she was feeling benevolent to not make us try to drive through the 5 inches-and-still-falling snow this morning. I think Westchester NY just doesn't really know how to handle snow. And I work with a bunch of older women who REALLY don't like to drive on good days, much less in the snow. That's cool, though. I can totally use a Suzy Play Day.

I got to the movies last night. (I feel like I'm on vacation or something!) Tim and I went to see Juno. We've tried to see it before, but it is always sold out. So we went this time on a Thursday night. There were quite a few people in the theater still, which was surprising. Anyway, the movie itself is great. And last night, we ended up getting to see it for free, which is also great. But I wish I could have seen it under different circumstances. Throughout the entire film, something was jacked up with our projector. We missed half of the previews because the lens cap was on (possibly?) and then halfway through, the projection started wobbling like crazy. It was during one of the serious parts, too. Then when the guy fixed it, he split the screen - part of the bottom half was showing at the very top - and the movie stayed that way for a REALLY long time, even though I know a ton of people left at intervals to complain. And when that guy finally fixed that issue, he still didn't have the movie projection centered. So basically, the stuff you usually NEVER see, like microphones on poles - more specifically - we saw. For the last quarter of the movie, the serious quarter, we saw all the overhead microphones picking up the sound for the movie. (Am I painting this image correctly?) How about this: when Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman are having an emotional scene in front of Juno, I saw the microphone that was picking up whatever Garner was saying; it was dipping and bobbing over her head on the big screen. This is the kind of stuff they edit out when you buy the movie at the store "widescreen" and all. Can you say ruin the emotion?!? It is hard to take anyone seriously when you see a giant puffy microphone hanging over their head. And there was this lady in the back of the theater who would just start rolling with loud obnoxious laughter every time she saw one on the screen. I think this goes down as possibly one of my worst theater experiences ever. Maybe even worse than when my sister and I went to the movies to see "Nell" and ended up having to see "Dumb and Dumber." Maybe it was even worse than when I came into "Independence Day" late, knowing I was a few minutes late and not realizing under the movie was over that I actually came in halfway through, while the White House was being obliterated by an alien ship. And it may have even been worse than the time when I went to a tee-tiny movie theater with my folks to see "Master and Commander" and we had to sit so close to the screen that I actually got sea sick. Oh well. At least we got our money back this time.

I'm off to waste my snow day!

Quebec Winter Carnival

Quebec City Photos

I've uploaded all of our pictures from the Quebec City visit finally. You can see them by going here. (If you've already looked, go back and look again - I've added a few more...)

We had a blast. It was the 400 anniversary of this carnival, so there were more people, I guess. We did all kinds of crazy things, like having a flapjack breakfast with the Calgary Mounties, snow rafting, playing in a life-sized game of foosball, watching a canoe race across the icy St. Lawrence River, eating French delicacies, seeing the international snow sculpting contest, drinking Caribou out of ice cups, and even trying to speak the little bit of French we knew. We had some down times, too, like when Tim got really sick on the eggs he ate and ended up smelling up the bathroom pretty bad in our tee tiny room. That wasn't too fun. But he got better and now I know that I will always carry matches in my over-night bag. Lesson learned. And another lesson I learned is that my boots are NOT water/snow proof. And the next time I visit a place where there is over 6 feet of snow and the temperature is somewhere between -10 and 20, I will bring snow boots and ski pants. Because the most sucky thing in the world is frost-bitten and wet toes.

Some other highlights were spending time with our new friends Brandon and Emily, seeing the Montmorency Falls (which are taller than Niagara Falls), meeting Bon Homme and getting a French blessing, getting to eat a chocolate and strawberry crepe for breakfast, shopping in little French stores, and the sheer beauty of a snow-covered Quebec City. It was really unforgettable.

52 Blessings - Special Edition

This is gonna be a double decker, since I missed last Sunday. I have a good excuse though - I was out of the country and all.

"New Friends"

I think this is definitely appropriate, considering last Sunday we were road tripping with our new friends Brandon and Emily. It's tough making new friends. Back in college, you're surrounded by people your age and it isn't terribly difficult to meet people you are compatible with, since you already have one thing in common - school. But when you're out in the "real" world, it is hard to find people who are in the same place as you and share common interests and all that. It's especially tough to find a "couple" friend that both you and your husband like! That is why I feel fortunate to have made the friends I have made up here. The two most notable friends I feel so fortunate for are Emily and Ann. I don't know what I do without these gals! (And I hope they are reading this so they know just how highly I think of them!)

Emily is special because she helps me strive to be a nicer person. I swear, she is probably the nicest person I know. While I sit there crowd-watching and saying things like "What was that person thinking when she got dressed this morning?!?" Emily finds something nice to say about that person. (Yeah, sometimes this is quite intimidating.) But she genuinely is a sweet and thoughtful person who gives of herself unselfishly. I think of her as a female version of Tim sometimes! And she has great taste in music. On our trip, we were listening to her ipod tunes and I think you can tell a lot by a person's taste in music. Her tunes were tunes I would put on my ipod. Compatibility.

And I love my Ann. She is also a children's librarian who just had twin girls. We can talk shop, we can talk girl talk, we can talk about anything. I just wish I could see her more often. We met while working together at one of the libraries I used to work at and we shared an office. It's so nice having a friend to work with! It makes the day go by so much faster. We still get to hang out every now and then and we try to keep in contact by email. She always sends me the funniest emails. She's so great.

Part 2 - "Old Friends"

This post has potential of being extremely long... Old friends are irreplaceable. The history I have with my cherished old friends are memories I'll carry with me forever. It's like that song you sing in girl scouts: "Make new friends but keep the old... One is silver and the other gold." As cheesy as that sounds, I have a few sister-friends that I cherish. I'm just gonna talk about three of them in this post... Christie, Rachel, and Celeste.

Christie and I have a long history. She and I met in college, and truth be told, she didn't like me because I had long hair! (There was more to it than that, but that was the icing on the cake I think.) When we finally became friends, we were pretty inseparable. Isn't it funny how two people who have the potential to be such good friends can be so intimidated of each other? Well, Christie and I have come a long way since then! She and her hubby Jeremy are one of our closest sets of friends. She is probably my most thoughtful friend and she is one of the best listeners in the whole world! If I ever need undivided attention (just ask Tim, I need attention a lot), I call my Christie girl.

Celeste is my good buddy and my comic relief! I don't know anyone else in the whole world who can make me laugh like Celeste. Like Ann, Celeste and I met while working together at a library in TN. She made the day go by so quick by being such a breath of fresh air. She'd come up with incredible pranks and the best stories. I honestly just love listening to her. She's like nobody I've ever known. She lives in TN, so I don't get to see her very often, but I am thrilled whenever I have an email in my inbox from her. I think she is the coolest.

And finally, there's Rachel. Rachel and I ARE sisters. (Well, not flesh and blood, but in every other way.) As far as history, Rach and I grew up together, a couple of houses apart. We played Barbies together, we've cried together, we were girl scouts together, we did everything together. And even when we kind of grew apart in middle school, we grew back together again. We tend to do that. It's what sisters do. Rach was away for these past couple of years in South Africa, working as a missionary. And while it was hard, not being able to talk on the phone much and not seeing her, we survived it and now we're growing back together. Just like sisters do. I love my sister and I look forward to us twining our vines back together.

Well, that was a doozy! If you made it through that whole post, you get a gold star. Seriously, this is for you...

A Sickeningly Sweet Holiday

A Sickeningly Sweet Holiday
Originally uploaded by Bent Objects.

I think this guy is SO funny...

NYC Fashion Week '08

I owe my readers a post on Fashion Week still!

Two Wednesdays ago, my friend Emily got us tickets, from her friend who works for Y and Kei, to go to a show during Fashion Week. As a huge fan of Ugly Betty and a total tourist, of course I've always wanted to attend Fashion Week. I just never knew how to get in. (Basically, you have to "know" someone.) Anyway, we both had to work that day, so the plan was to meet for breakfast in the city, go to the show, and then head back.

We had breakfast at this ultra cool French provincial restaurant near Bryant Park and then headed over to the show, which was actually inside the NY Public Library (instead of in the tents in Bryant Park). I was slightly bummed about that, but the way Y and Kei set up their show inside the Library conference room was really neat. There was this sleek black and white look to everything. Really, it was the quintessential fashion show, everything I thought it would be. Complete with goodie bags full of M.A.C. makeup and everything (I'm sure that isn't what they are called, but for my purpose it works...).

About the designers, "Y & Kei was created by Korean husband and wife couple Hanni Yoon (Y) and Gene Kang (Kei). Debuting in 2001, they are known for intricate and innovative women’s wear designs that combine Asian philosophy with a sexy European edge. Their styles represent their Buddhist beliefs, and they channel fashion as a way of ‘‘watering the earth and nourishing the world with beauty and happiness’’. Their Zen-like Soho store showcases neutral featherweight dresses, perfectly-tailored full skirts with delicate embroidery in pastel hues, ultra feminine beaded gowns, delicate sheer blouses and slim Bermuda shorts. Y & Kei is worn by celebrities including Carmen Electra, Nicole Richie, Britney Spears, Alicia Keys, Kate Hudson, Halle Berry, Pink and Courtney Love." (New York Post) Check out their site - www.yandkei.com.

The funniest thing about the experience was Emily and I weren't by ourselves at this fashion show. My coworker Mary has a niece that had to do a project with Flat Stanley (it's a kids book about a flat character who travels). She asked me to bring along Flat Stanley and take a couple of pictures with him in the city for her niece's project. Let me tell you, Stanley is a crowd pleaser. Everywhere I went with Stanley, I got some kind of response. I had so many people offer to hold Stanley for me that I wasn't sure if it was Stanley who was so popular or me! I'll take that fellow anywhere though. He really made me feel "cool" for the day.

So there it is, my fun experience at Fashion Week. Tim was sure happy to get to skip out on this one!

Wordless Wednesday & Why I Should NEVER Give Blood...

** As an interesting side note, when Tim saw this picture of my current psycho bruise, he asked me what it was a picture of. Then he said "Is it canoes?" Uhh... Does my arm really resemble a fleet of boats? Yikes.

Cool Quebec Video

Rock out - Brandon is the man. Here is a video that he created of our Canada trip using just his gadgetry and his computer prowess. I think it's great. And it makes Tim look like a cool ship captain in it. My favorite part is the recording of us on the snow raft, rocking back and forth to get the raft to go further. Funny.

We're Back!

Okay, so lots of things have happened since last I've posted. That mean foul person I wrote about before is now acting oddly nicer to me - whatever - and the fashion show was so much fun. (I'll do a whole post on that...) Also, we're back from our fun weekend trip with our friends Brandon and Emily. We took a road trip to Quebec City with them for the 400 anniversary Winter Carnival. It was a blast. I have so many pictures and stories to share. For now, I'll give you one of the highlights of my experience... The mascot of the Winter Carnival is called "Bon Homme" (or good man, in French). Well, I got to see him yesterday and he held my face in his giant hands and gave me a French blessing. I wish I knew more French so I could have understood what he said, but how cool is it to be hugged by a jolly giant French-speaking snowman in another country in single digit temperatures?!? Memorable.

Arrgg.

Today, work REALLY sucked. I won't go into details of course, but from now on, this is my mantra. It's all about me. I just can't be so sensitive to tacky people, you know? They obviously don't care about me, so why should I bother with them? They aren't the ones that end up losing sleep about it.

Whatever. Tomorrow, I'm having girl time with a friend. And I know that this particular mean person (who has clearly affected my day) has no friends. AND, I know that this person would never be invited to a fashion show at Fashion Week in the city. So there, mean person. I'm going to play with a girlfriend tomorrow at a fashion show and you have no friends at all. (This person naturally would never read my blog, but it makes me feel better to write all this - and besides, it's all about me anyway.)

Comments

This is a funny comic I saw on Neatorama, done by this guy. I identified, so I posted... the irony is that I am in essence doing the same thing he is making his point about. Isn't the blog-o-shere bizarre like that, though? (So if you liked this, give him the comment. Heh.)

52 Blessings - Fifth Edition

Ahh chocolate. I have a love affair with you, chocolate. We are lovers. I love you any way I can get you.

Speaking of how much I love chocolate, when Tim took me to Hershey PA, he almost got me into a spa for a chocolate bath. (I still want that, BTW.) It was too expensive, but someday I'm gonna do it. Recently Tim has been talking about giving something up for Lent - probably coffee - and he asked me if I wanted to give up chocolate. I just laughed. Of course not, silly man.

Happy Birthday Becky!

Happy Birthday to my favorite big sister - she turns 30 today. What an old woman! It's crazy that time goes by so quickly. I remember fighting her for clothes, playing soccer with her (she always kicked my butt), and getting boy advice from her (she didn't tolerate those type of talks until college, though...). And now she lives up in Canada with her hubby and her one year old, teaching English courses. Crazy. Well, I hope her day is a good one and she doesn't get any black balloons or any crap like that. I hear there is life after 30.