woooohooooo!

I'm going to NEW ORLEANS tomorrow!!!!!!! A nice vacation from the daily grind, company cash advance, Bourbon Street on Halloween... AHHH I am SOOO excited!!! :)

Anyway, for those of you that asked what the cake ended up like, a pic is below :) We had fun.

This week has been crazy, so I'm trying to pack and hoping not to forget anything important! Even though I'm the youngest going (as always), I'm the supe of the trip, so I'm trying to stay organized without being in one of my way-too-focused-have-to-get-things-done kind of moods. I have had so much to do lately though that it's been hard to even stop and think about it! And, to make matters worse, I had to sit in CPCU class today for 2 hours. Until last week, I had forgotten what it was like to sit in class (other than management classes, but those are way different). You know how there are ALWAYS the people that drive you crazy? you know-- the overachiever that has questions about eeeeverything, the guy who cracks jokes the whole time and thinks he's funny, the girl who looks so prim and proper you just KNOW that she keeps perfect notes and it's annoying just to think about, the know it all who just has to comment on every issue... I don't know, maybe it's just me :) Maybe Kate will know what I'm talking about since she still has classes. (And Kate, btw, I wore my DePaul Law sweatshirt for the first time this weekend! :) still fuzzy and comfy. hehehe.)

ok guys I am off to pack... have great weekends!!!!

simple, but way cute :)

Lisa's Favorite Things #1

hey Oprah can have them so why can't I? :) there's some great stuff out there, and sometimes I can't help but stop the day for a second to appreciate it. And, since I'm in a totally random mood, I'm making a list! There are so many, though, that I think this is only installment #1. So, here's to the world's best creations!

--cell phones
--sock drawer organizers
--Crest Vanilla Mint toothpaste
--bubblewrap
--sweats
--Tastykake fudge bars
--the little sticky roller things that get cat hair off clothes
--the snooze button
--the 2004 Acura TSX :Þ
--Real Simple magazine
--Pat's cheesesteaks
--clumping cat litter
--baseball
--rollercoasters
--the INTERNET

k feel free to add to my list! I am off to get some sleep for tomorrow's very busy day. Steph and I are taking Lisa Shaffer DOWN in the bake-off!!!! (hey she said we're only younger and hipper than her if "hip" stands for handicapped in Pillsbury! hehehehe).

2 days til New Orleans!!!!!!

weekend recap

soundtrack of the last few days: a mix of Frank Sinatra and Train's "Superman" (heeeey baaby/ IIII don't want to be your supermaaaan/ I just wanna be your maaan and I'lllll be suuper baby... ) hehehehe

life has been so weird lately. an okay weekend-- very low profile. Halloween plans from Friday turned into a night out at Tiki instead (more on that later). I also started my short Saturdays at work yesterday, which was fantastic. The only disappointment was the rainy day today that was supposed to be Busch Gardens day. Oh well. It is going to end up being a decent day anyway, though. Steph and I went to breakfast and out shopping this morning, I'm sure I'll end up at the gym, I'll hopefully get some stuff done around the house, and later will probably be Sex & the City and Desperate Housewives back at Steph & Matt's. A quality low key day.

So anyway, last weekend Andrea kind of surprised me when she said her boyfriend, an underwriter at work, was wary of working with my team and asked if I was a bitch. See, when I first got down to Virginia Beach, apparently I had some reputation I didn't know about, because a lot of people have gotten to know me since and repeated the common refrain of "you're pretty cool-- not at all like I heard." WTF?! When I asked a few of the old VB supes, though, they said one thing is that when I'm working I am usually frowning and it's kind of intimidating. I certainly don't mean to frown! I am usually just concentrating or thinking. And I get along ridiculously well with just about everyone at work I have gotten to know, so I was pretty confused. Well, now fast forward a year and a half to Friday. I am at the bar waiting outside the bathroom for Steph just hanging out, and a guy comes up to me and says, "It's not that bad! cheer up!" AGH! Well, we ended up having a cute little chat for a few minutes afterwards, but now I'm starting to think I really do look totally unapproachable! So, I think I'll try just walking around with a big cheesy smile on my face all the time and see if my life is any different. More on this experiment later :) I need to figure out how to meet more people out of work, anyway. There were some fun guys at the bar, but with 9 other fun & gorgeous girls with me AND having to work at 6am the next morning, there wasn't much room for going crazy. ;) Definitely a good time, though.

On another note, there are only 3 days before I leave for NEW ORLEANS!!!!! If you have souvenir requests, put them in now. I apparently already have to send mardi gras postcards and get timed drinking a Pat O'Brian's hurricane (and get pictures of whatever happens afterwards!) Should be an awesome time except for all that work stuff :Þ Gotta love travelling on company money.

The only bad thing about being away is worrying about my cat, who has been acting very weird lately. He has also peed on the carpet a few times (ICK!), which apparently can be a sign of serious health problems, so it's off to the vet tomorrow for him... Hope for good kitty health and a low vet bill! If anything were to happen to this cat, I would be pretty upset. Truman has been around since senior year of college, and since he's thinks he's human and I treat him like he is, I'm pretty attached! :) Funny how animals can be like family. I'll probably be one of those old cat ladies 50 years from now. hahahaha.

Last note: GOOOOO Sox!!!! I hope all you sports fans out there watched the Sox/Yanks series-- one for the record books and the reason I was up late on ALL my days off last week.

Anyway, hope everyone had a great weekend!

okay okay

well, since it's 66 and rainy today, it's kind of hard to cling to my dream of year-round summer. So, I am finally conceding that fall is here and cold weather is here to stay. besides, it's dark when I get up (6:30am) AND when I get home from work (7:30pm). What's with that?!

Anyway, in a show of the attempt at positive fall/winter thoughts, today's post is a list of my favorite things about cold weather. Feel free to also post yours!

--Godiva hot cocoa
--snuggling!!! (need to find me a boy...)
--fall/winter holidays and time with family
--Christmas carols
--cute comfy sweaters
--the smell of cold weather (I love the smell, I just hate the feel of it)
--fires in the fireplace (if I had one anyway)
--gorgeous fall colors

So, it's a short but feel-good list. And it could've been longer except some things I thought of immediately led to bad thoughts-- like snow fun making me think of snow and Virginia drivers... hahaha. Anyway, am I forgetting anything?

just a note

hi all!

just wanted to mention i added some fun links on the right sidebar... send me some ideas of other fun ones to list :)

hope everyone is having a good day!

weekend recap

Well, this weekend was absolutely fantastic, and it's only the beginning of many fun weekends planned! woohoo! It started slow-- we were supposed to go to an Admirals game on Friday, but Steph forgot to leave work (who does that?!) so by the time we got there, the game had already started AND there was a ridiculously long ticket line. But, the night of staying in with Sex & the City at Steph's instead was just as fun and there are plenty of hockey games to go to later. Actually, it was great end to a great day of work too. Did you guys know there's such thing as "Boss's Day"? I didn't until stuff started showing up at my desk on Friday! I ended up with a balloon, flowers, and a SPA GIFT CERTIFICATE! I was psyched about that :) I also had an awesome card where my people wrote me some stuff that almost made me cry! (I know, I'm a sap.) What a fantastic day. It made my weekend, so I put a pic below of my stuff with the others. They got me daisies and the world's coolest vase, which apparently was because it was "colorful, cool, and hip" like me! hehehehe. I love my team.

Saturday I tested for my black belt... Well, I'm pretty beat up now (and I'm pretty positive I broke my toe), but in two weeks at the belt ceremony I'll officially be a black belt! woohoo! That will be an awesome feeling-- long time goal accomplished! There's also a pic from my testing below... I look really enthused, don't I? :) Truman was the least excited about my weekend, shown by when I got home from testing after spending the night at Steph's-- he completely ignored me but looked pretty proud of himself after having torn down all of my kitchen curtains and dragging them into the living room... What a brat!

Today Andrea, Steph, James, Joe, and I went to the Virginia Wine Festival in Norfolk. It was really cool. You pay one price and just taste wines all day. We had an awesome time by the water in Norfolk, capped off by lunch at Hooters. It was absolutely hilarious to swish and sniff and throw words around like "earthy" and "oaky" and "full-bodied" all day. hahahaha. I wonder if we fooled anyone into thinking we actually knew what we were talking about! :Þ Anyway, I'm entirely exhausted now after running around all weekend, but I can't wait to do it again! Next weekend is shaping up to be Halloween at Hunt Club, a G. Love concert at the Norva, and Busch Gardens on Sunday. Can't wait!!!!!

The only bad part of the weekend was my new neighbors above me! They are so freaking loud and they take my parking space that I have ALWAYS had right in front of my apartment!!!! grrrrr. they must go. we'll see what happens.

In other weekly news, a couple of people at work made my week when they asked if I was losing weight (10 pounds so far!) Except Georgia said you can tell in the back. I already don't have a butt and I don't want to lose it! hahaha. oh well. I also got schedule resolution, although it wasn't what I was hoping for. No one is changing schedules right now, so I'm not moving off Saturdays. BUT, I did get to make up my own schedule, so I am working much shorter days on Saturday and getting off early enough the other days to do whatever I want at night. And I still have 3 days off. Not so bad. PLUS, if I want Saturday off, since it's a short day now I can just work Tuesday instead since I have people there then too. So, fun fall/winter with no vacation! YEAH!

In sports news, the EAGLES kicked ass again today. And I still hate the Yankees and all the people over the years who have just decided to root for them because they win a lot. And, we all know they win a lot because there's no salary cap in baseball and they have a ridiculously disproportionate payroll, but that's a whole nother story! :)

Also, I learned something new this weekend: pork rinds are pig skin! Is that true?! Thank god I've never eaten any. Deep fried pig skin?! EEEEEEW! everyone was laughing at me. but hey, they don't teach us that stuff in Bucks County. hahaha.

Ok I'm off to fall asleep in front of some Sunday sports. Life is good right now, and I have a feeling it's gonna stay that way. more later.

presents from my team :)

finishing a form

the girls at the wine fest

HUNH HUNH HUNH

ok most of you won't get the subject line, but that's okay. :)

ok today's topic: I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to go back to Monday to Friday!!!!!!!

15 ways my life would be better if I could get my dream 6-2:30 schedule (that Randy has already teased me with):

1) WEEKENDS OFF!
2) weekend trips without taking 12 hours of vacation
3) people could come visit (b/c apparently when you live at the Beach everyone wants to visit) without taking 12 hours of vacation
4) I would have a gym buddy!
5) I would get a free fleece for signing up a new gym buddy! :)
6) 8.5 hour days versus 12!!!!
7) I wouldn't have to sleep 15 hours on Saturday nights to recover from my work week
8) I could finally rid myself of the Wed-Sat shift BS and stigma
9) I could get back into CLIMBING!!!!
10) because I would have climbing and gym buddies I'd get back into shape quicker, and then I'd be able to go backpacking in New Zealand
11) I wouldn't be completely lost at hip hop because I'd be able to go every week
12) I wouldn't have to deal with certain other management people on my shift that I severely dislike
13) the best of both worlds: time off during the day to get stuff done AND free weekends
14) no rushing around and working non-stop for four days
15) RETURN TO SANITY

okay, as you can tell, I am really stressed about this, so let's hope it's finally resolved by the end of the week... wish me luck!!!!

comfy robe and bunny slippers

ahhh it's nice to relax!

soundtrack for today: Maroon 5, Songs About Jane, Track 3 (notice I don't know any of the names-- I've never looked at the jacket) and John Mayer, "Comfortable"

Again, no real meaning as to why these two, but they were both stuck in my head all day. I will always love the lyrics to Comfortable, though. And, sooner or later I will probably get sick of Maroon 5, and then they will go into my 60 CD stereo for future random track playing, when I will then hear it and say "Oh I remember that CD! I loved that CD!" But, not yet. :)

So, I went to two taekwondo classes today, so I am still on a very kick butt high. And I got complimented tonight on my flying side kick board breaking. So again I say, I am the board breaking QUEEN! Basically that means that when I meet those nasty evil boards that will come flying at me on the streets, they better be scared cuz I'll kick their asses. Because after all, don't you take martial arts to be able to defend yourself?! :Þ

The other fun thing I did today was add a little picture collage to my family room wall. It's kind of a family wall, so there is an old and new family portrait (ages 8 and 21. a lot different!), a pic of my grandparents, me and my brother, my parents... It's cute. And really being on my own I feel like I have some friends that basically are my family, so they're up there too. So, there's my fave one of me and Steph and my fave one of the GCC girls when they were at MWC. more to be added. I don't think you realize how much your friends mean to you until you're really on your own.

Speaking of Steph-- after making all our way fun plans for the next month, she calls me last night from Wal-Mart (at like 11:30pm) to tell me that she was very excited about a recent impulse buy. What was it? WALKIE TALKIE PENS for us at work. Now, it's a good thing people already think we're crazy, because this is gonna be waaaaaay too much fun. (Trina, I see you rolling your eyes as you're reading this! if you'd rather we can use the regular walkie talkies and interrupt all your calls on hold fun! :Þ)

Ok I'm off to eat my undercooked brownies... I did it by accident, but I think they're better that way anyway! hehehe. bye all!

ahhhh

Link of the day: http://www.jibjab.com
watch "This Land"-- you'll love it, even if you're voting for the horse guy :Þ

Okay so I'm starting to feel a little less stressed.

It's almost a definite now that I'm testing for my black belt this coming Saturday. How freaking cool is that?! I'm excited but also very nervous. I'm not usually nervous for testing, but this is definitely going to be a bigger deal...

I also just picked up Blazing Saddles, which is one of the funniest movies of all time!!! Anyone else out there a Mel Brooks fan? :)

I hope you all had good weekends... Unfortunately all I did during mine was work. And, I was so tired from this week, I slept for 15 hours last night when I got home!!! The next month is gonna absolutely kick ass though. Admirals game Friday, Virginia Wine Festival Sunday, G. Love at the Norva and a random jewelry show next weekend, NEW ORLEANS the weekend after that, and supe retreat (a great break from work!) in Williamsburg the week I get back. wooohooooooo!

In other notes, it's bye week for the Eagles, so no ass kicking this weekend.

Also, schedule stuff should be resolved this week (hopefully!), so I'm really hoping all stress is gone by my test on Saturday. Or, if it's not, all the wine Sunday will probably help! hehehehe.

I also just ended the no-gym week, so it's oficially a new start. Happy beginning of the week everyone!!!! :)

this kitty has claws

soundtrack of tonight: "Angels and Devils," Toby Lightman

well, I'm on a little bit of a high. I just got back from softball, where we again beat the stupidly-named Spontaneous Combustion she-man team to take sole possession of first place. Now, first place in adult slow pitch doesn't mean all that much, but winning games in the 7th inning is always a good time. Nothing better in the sport.

btw the subject is a fun bumper sticker I saw on the way home, right before I got left in the dust in a race off the line with an RX-8. Oh well. I still believe in you, Jose Juan! oh yeah-- for those of you that don't know, that's my car's name. Not just Jose Juan though (damn I wish I could find the language option in XP so I could put accents in). It has to be said HHHHHOSSSSAY HHHUAN (think phlegm! hehehe). And, it's last name is Acura (said normally!) :) This came from the same phone conversation in which Steph named her new Explorer "Mitch". (I was pulling for "George". oh well.) I am ashamed to say that there was no alcohol involved in this conversation-- these were completely sober decisions :) we are crazy...

so, I don't think I'm going to be able to move when I get up tomorrow. Tonight right before the aforementioned softball game (aforementioned is my new favorite word. Isn't it fun?!), I went to my first ever black belt class. No, I am not a black belt yet, I am only a red-black belt (aka recommended black: the one between black and brown). But, it was the best workout I have had in years. I have a feeling black belt classes are a lot more tightly run and more is expected of you, which I love! It was a challenge just to get through the class and still have the same form at the end. Apparently, though, taekwondo isn't the same as the corporate world, which I am learning more and more... If I had taken a good class at work, I would go up to the teacher afterwards and tell him or her so and express my thanks, which would likely be appreciated. Well, I did that to Master Lee, and he seemed less than happy to take the compliment. I don't know, maybe with the culture gap he didn't realize I was trying to be complimentary. Or, maybe it's arrogant of me to think he cares what I think about his class in the first place. I am never quite sure what he is expecting. I have become a very direct person, though, and it's hard for me to understand when the people around me aren't.

Anyway, my major goal right now is to be able to test for my black belt a week from Saturday. This would be pretty big, considering you usually have to wait six months to prepare and I'm trying to do it after a week and a half! We'll see. Again, I am never quite sure what he is expecting. But, I am very anxious about this whole thing, so I hope it works out so I can calm down!

In other randomness, I also realized today that Eartha Kitt's "I Want to be Evil" has now been my cell phone ringer for like 6 months! That's awhile for me considering the 30 some songs on my phone. I think that's my mood right now, though. I am sick of being the good little perfect girl who always does everything right and all that. I'm not saying I'm on some wild streak, but I'm sick of people saying things like "wow you're so different outside of work" and stuff like that. It's way more fun to have an edge. For those of you who don't know who Eartha Kitt is, look her up... and start watching more classics. They're good for you :)

All of that kind of plays into my current favorite music, a Canadian band called Stabilo. They have one song called "Laughing Nervously" with one section I really like: "And if you could/ Would you live these years again? / It's Sicken'ly absurd/ How all these hours were spent/ We never meant to waste them." It's just kind of a reminder to me to try to make the most out of everything in my life. Sometimes I realize how lucky I am to have such a great life here at the Beach, with awesome friends, fantastic times together, a good job, and great activities outside of work. I just want to make sure I don't waste any time I have here, which is the idea I'm currently trying to live by. Who knows where I'll be next or what I'll be doing...

K enough rambling for tonight. Actually one more thought: why do I keep attracting Hokies?! odd. okay now I'm done. hehehe. gnight all!

PS- yes, and both my kitties have claws :Þ and to a point I would say I do too...

take the poll!

Ok here's the official poll that will decide America's fate (ok well maybe my poll isn't quite that important, but vote anyway!)

Who are you voting for? Bush or Kerry?

Click the little post a comment button and answer. You can post even if you're not a member, just make sure you say who you are somewhere in it. or if not, have your little anonymous fun. :) also say why too if there's a specific reason.

ok onto other stuff... my weekend has been pretty boring. since I've been feeling pretty shitty (I found out AFTER wondering why I felt so bad that sun poisoning also usually involves fever and flu-like symptoms), I stayed in friday, and then yesterday I had to work til 2am b/c of my taekwondo test. fun fun. BUT, as of tomorrow i'll officially be a recommended black belt, and in two weeks i'll hopefully be allowed to test for my black belt! or if not, i'll have to wait the usual 6 months which would kind of suck. we'll see. even though it will cost me an arm and a leg either way (plus all the money it's cost up til now), i think finally having it will be a really cool personal accomplishment, even if it's totally random.

other good news: I go to New Orleans in 25 days! woohoooooo! :) I am so freaking excited. all my meals and expenses are taken care of, which leaves plenty pocket change for some fun nights out on Bourbon Street (like on Halloween!) if anyone out there would like to request any souvenirs, send your requests now.

the EAGLES are playing today! let's go boys! And BOWA got the axe!!!! any philly fans surprised? I was. I had thought about it, though. I mean, they haven't totally sucked, but they also haven't lived up to the expectations they've built. But is Bowa taking all the blame for Philly's frustration as a city? who knows. oh well. Onto a new era in Phillies baseball, hopefully soon to include a ring!

lately my life has been void of any real excitement. I'm not even sure what I'm looking for though... I'm not talking the usual nights out and stuff to do-- that's all fine, but I really think I need some new big challenge or adrenaline rush or something! I don't know what, but let me know if you have any ideas... I really think it would be cool if the backpacking trip actually happens. I would LOVE to be out of the country again, especially somewhere like New Zealand that I'd probably otherwise never think to visit.

Ok enough randomness. I just got back from the gym and I need to go get clean for later's fun. Later all!