Friends and Family

Two weekends ago I got to spend quality time with lots of family and friends. It was so fun! I'll have to upload more pictures later, but one of the highlights was to see my dear friend Lusia. We went to HS together and played volleyball together. We've been friends for like 13 years now or something! She lives in Maryland :( But she was here to run a race and I got to see her. YAY! Miss you and love you, Lulu :)


Lusia and Ter


Mariel, another HS friend, Lus and Ter

I wish...

Today I am soooo nostalgic for NYC. I love that city and it will always have a piece of my heart. Before I met Jeff I made big plans to move there in the summer. (that would have been summer 08, I believe.) Well I made plans to move there many times, but this was going to be the time I ACTUALLY moved. I was going to apply at Random House, find a teeny tiny apt to share with 18 other girls and have the time of my life. Oh how dreams change. Now all my dreams include Jeff who does NOT dream about NYC ;P. I don't mind at all. I wouldn't want to be anywhere he didn't want to be anyway. Buy oh how I long to just fly out for a couple of nights. To stay in a quaint hotel, see a Broadway show, buy a $5 purse or scarf from the corner and enjoy a delicous frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity 3. A girl can dream. Maybe someday.

Dancing with the Stars

I've mentioned it before; I LOVE this show. I love dancing. Love it. I've also mentioned that the show brings tears to my eyes. I think part of it is that I feel like I can SEE REAL people when they dance. Real, sweet, nervous, vulnerable, proud, hurt, needy, strong, scared, happy, fun-loving and more. From Kelly's doubt to her excitement when she nails a difficult step, to Aaron's nerves, to Michael Vincent looking down and trying to keep a smile on his face through the harsh criticism, to Tom Delay determined to continue even with stress fractures painful enough to hear him say "I can't do that." I'm sure that's not easy for him to say! The dancers facial expressions shoot right through me and I feel what they feel. OK, maybe that's a little dramatic, but I really am proud of them (even if they do get paid big bucks. and I don't know if they do.) Not to mention they are DANCING and I'm so jealous! I LOVE this show :)

Now this is a wedding celebration

I guess The Office was pretty funny last night. I didn't see it, but a friend sent me a link to a similar wedding entrance. It was so fun and cool and creative! It even made me tear up, because THIS is what a wedding is about. Sharing the love and joy in such a celebratory way. I love this!

Jeffrey

We had a great night celebrating my crazy hubby's 33rd birthday. We opened present, went out to eat, Cade and I sang to him (over the phone :) and had cake. This is the third pound cake I've made. One last year for the bday that was yummy, one random one that was WAY overdone and this one, which, I must say, was PERFECT. Hello, I'm a professional.



Yep, 33.


He wouldn't even sit down to open cards and present. What a silly man.


Here he is working on his next table with his new table saw!


And here is the awesome saw horse he built in the garage. They go up and down to easily store away. Isn't he creative?!


And here is Chloe last night. We had a fire because I was freezing. She loved it!

Our "new" house

Before:


After:

Another project complete! Well, minus the trim and the touch-ups. But doesn't it look awesome? I sure think so. Hope the neighbors don't mind. Hope it won't hinder it from selling someday. But in the meantime, it's pretty cool! Jeff said to one neighbor, "you're going to live next to a barn." and she replied "well at least it will be easy to tell people where my house is now." Ha! Hopefully this weekend we will be able to just sit back, relax and enjoy ourselves, maybe it no projects at all. We'll see!

Three Things for your Tuesday

1. David Letterman. In case you didn’t know, he was going to be extorted, blackmailed, call it what you like, regarding affairs he’d had while with his wife. Instead of letting that guy get away with that kind of nonsense, he just came forward, and admitted to his wrongdoing in front of his whole audience and TV viewers. I have a few comments about this. Good job for standing up for yourself and being truthful. Good job not letting this guy use your situation for his gain. But really? You’re going to make jokes about your affairs? In front of millions? And millions are going to laugh? Sure, Letterman is a comedian, that’s how he makes his money. But this is someone’s heart we’re talking about. Maybe he talked to his wife and got her permission to bring it up. Maybe they’ve had lots of heart to hearts and even counseling before he went public. But still. Cheating is not a joke. Wouldn’t you agree? Sure, it’s Letterman’s personal thing. Maybe I should butt out. But he made it public, that was his choice. So I think the public should say, hey, you suck.

2. “Missing Teeth? See our ad.” Yep, that’s a little banner ad, right on the front page of the Gazette. Right on the top corner where the name of the blessed paper is. Really? Thanks, Gazette, for keeping Colorado Springs classy.

3. Most importantly: Happy birthday to my love! Jeffrey is 33 today. This is only the 2nd birthday I’ve celebrated with him, which is weird. I missed the first 31 years. But I can’t wait to celebrate the next 33 and MORE with him!

Awning Red...

...stay tuned.

this is no way to work

How does a person, who is non confrontational, an introvert, and with a strong work ethic, go about telling his boss that they just have too much work to do, too much being expected of them? What should he do instead of looking up from his chair each time someone from another department comes into his cube with another pile of things to do. At this point all he can bring himself to do is nod, say he’ll do his best, and try not to show a look of total bewilderment and overwhelmedness that lurks in the shadow of his eyes. And why does his boss not stick up for him? He is also non confrontational. He tells him to just do what he can and the rest isn’t on him. But it is on him, wouldn’t you agree? To the people around him, with no words from his boss, it just looks like he isn’t getting things done and no explanation is offered. What should he do? I have plenty of unsolicited advice for him, but I don’t know if I would even follow my own advice. Should he not rely on his boss and just tell this person and that person that he can’t get such and such done by that date, would this date work instead? Should he stay late every day, becoming bitter and hateful about his job and his work place? Should he say to his boss, look, I know you’ve said I can only do what I can do, but it would be really helpful if you could set some parameters for people in other departments. Should he just take it upon himself to make guidelines for the rest of us and post them on his wall? Something like, If you need thing A done, I need a week. If you need thing B, I need two weeks. Etc.?? I understand we run on schedules and timelines and deadlines here. We have unexpected projects that we just need yesterday. I am one of the people that gives the poor girl so much work. But we are just people, we are human, we all have jobs, projects, bosses, stress, deadlines. Do we all have understanding, compassion, flexibility? What can we do in this situation? Should I be doing something? Should I be an advocate when no one else is? And if so, how? Oh dear. Why do we have to work to live?