A day in my life

Day 15: A day in the life.

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7:30 AM - sitting at my desk

8:30 AM - drinking my water

11:30 AM - pre-lunch snack
The end of a bag of the best pita chips ever from TJ's.

12:30 PM - lunch.
Baked potato with chicken, salsa, and Greek yogurt + a yogurt.

1:30 PM - hard at work

2:30 PM - texting L2. Daily baby picture. :)

3:30 PM - view out the window

4:30 PM - on the train home

5:30 PM - out and about

6:30 PM - traffic.

7:30 PM - dinner by C.
Pesto tortellini, Italian sausage, marinara, fresh spinach. Red wine.

8:30 PM - cat playing with tampon. Normal.

Baby love.

I truly, truly meant to blog every day this weekend as part of Blog Every Day in May.... But then on Friday, I got unexpectedly busy. 

Meet the newest love of my life: Brady, my best friend Lindsey's brand new baby boy. I am smitten! He was born late Friday night, a week early, and is about as cute a baby could possibly be. So, one again, you'll see why blogging every day took a backseat to real life... Some things are just more important <3

L2, I'm so proud of you for bringing this sweet little boy into the world! Thanks for letting me be a part of this new life adventure. So happy for you and your precious little family :) xoxo

Moments

Day 9: a moment in my day. 

A glass of wine on my parents' deck - peace after a frustrating afternoon. 

Just what I needed!

Day 8: A piece of advice you have for others. Anything at all.

I had no idea what to write for this particular prompt. I’ve given and received a LOT of advice in my lifetime (haven’t we all??), and I just couldn’t find the right thing to settle on. As I was sitting at my desk this morning, pondering this blog post and discussing a Major Life Event with a co-worker, she offered just the wisdom I needed, and I knew I had to share it:

“If you’re already traveling to Europe,  just pay the hotel to do your laundry.”
Sometimes it’s just better to let go of the tiny details – if you’re going all the way to Europe, and paying the money to take a big trip, maybe it’s better to just pay the hotel to do your laundry: don’t waste the time and the effort to do something so mundane. Let someone else do it, and enjoy your adventure. If sometime tiny is going to cause you heartache and stress, just let it go – stick to the major details, and everything else will fall into place.

Is this the deepest advice I've ever received? No. Is it the best advice I've ever gotten? Probably not. Was it just what I needed to hear this morning? Absolutely. And so I'm passing it along to you.

'Fraidy cat.

Day 7: The thing(s) you're most afraid of.

I daresay that a better question would be "what are you NOT afraid of," as the list would probably be much shorter. Hmm.

It is not a giant secret that I am generally a big ol' 'fraidy cat. I am, as a rule, a jumpy, nervous, scared, anxiety-ridden worrier.  (Yet another character flaw.) In certain circumstances and situations, I am independent and a Big Girl, but that is usually not the case. 

In the interest of time, here is a short, off-the-top-of-my-head, list of things I can remember being afraid of at one time or am currently afraid of (points if you can guess old fears vs. new ones... you'd be surprised! ha):

• The dark
• Being murdered
• My family being murdered
• Silence
• Our house burning down
• Robbers
• Spiders
• Bugs in general
• Getting in a car accident
• My Peter Rabbit sheets when I was a toddler (explain that one)
• Scary movies (this includes movies that are not considered "scary" by most standards)
• Getting caught lying
• Getting in trouble
• Failure
• Public speaking
• Being put on-the-spot
• Not knowing the answer
• Unknown numbers calling me
• The bottom step of the basement stairs
• Monsters under my bed (yes, really)
• Thunder & lightening

I could go on and on. In addition to being scared of a number of mundane things, I am also the person who gasps constantly in the car (drives C insane) when other cars are coming too close (or not) and lets out a small shriek when doors slam.

Do not get me started on what happens when there is a spider in the house. It ain't pretty.

What are you afraid of? Physical things, or mental / emotional things? I clearly have a mix of both...

 

Words of Wisdom

So I've already fallen behind in the Blog Every Day in May challenge... shocking. In my defense, we had a jam-packed weekend, and I thoroughly enjoyed being present with my family and friends rather than spending time on the computer writing blog posts. Some things are just more important! I spent a lot of the weekend taking care of C while he recovered from his wisdom-tooth-removal, visited with L2 on Saturday evening (pedicures, Target, and Chipotle - perfect!) for what is most likely our last visit before the baby comes, and went out to dinner with the in-laws last night. Didn't get much done around the house and the laundry has piled up, but thoroughly enjoyed our weekend nonetheless.

Anyway, I'm going to pick back up with Day 6, but first I wanted to go back to Day 4 - the prompt really spoke to me, and I'd still like to touch on it!

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Day 4: Favorite quote (from a person, from a book, etc) and why you love it

I've always been a "quotes" person - I love song lyrics, book excerpts, sayings and phrases, etc. I have always been a word-lover, and sometimes things just strike a cord with me. I have a long list of "favorites"!

One of my ultimate favorites is this:

"Be kinder than necessary for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

This quote is attributed to several different people, and worded several different ways on the internet, but the gist of it is the same. I originally found this quote a few years ago when I was working in health care, and it really grabbed at my heart. It is the ultimate truth - every single person is fighting a battle. It may be harder or not as hard as another person's; it may be more important or less important, bigger or smaller. In the end, though, every battle is just that - a fight. A struggle to get by. And for that reason, it's important to remember to just be kind to people. You just never know what people are dealing with, or going through behind the scenes. Working in health care taught me so many important lessons about people and humanity and relationships, and I have found myself to be far more compassionate and mindful of other people's battles, thanks to that experience.

What's your favorite quote? 
Link up with the BEDiM challenge!

 

Uncomfortable

Day 3: things that make you uncomfortable.

There are so many. So very many things that make me uncomfortable. It's probably best just to address this in list form...

• Phone calls. There is very little in the world that makes me more uncomfortable than talking on the phone. Just about anyone who knows me can attest to this - I will literally do everything possible to avoid making or answering a phone call (unless it's like.. my family or friends). I hate calling to order pizza. I hate calling clients or co-workers. I never answer unknown numbers when they call. I will text you, email you, smoke-signal you... if it does not involve the phone, it is a better choice for me. Also, I have no idea why this is the case.
• Spiders. B!tches are everywhere. And I despise them.
• Seeing someone else be embarrassed. This includes real life, television, movies, etc. If someone else is embarrassed, I am wiggling in uncomfortableness until it ends.
• Watching sex scenes in movies with my parents. I feel like most people can relate...
• Driving in places that I'm unfamiliar with. Shoot - driving in places I AM familiar with can make me uncomfortable. I hate being in charge of getting anyone anywhere, because I'm pretty sure I will get lost. I have a terrible sense of direction, and I've embraced it.
• Math. Especially math on the spot. If someone says "hey, can you add up...." or "what is 23% of 2 million?!" and needs an answer right away, it's almost 100% guaranteed that I'm turning red.
• Job interviews / self-assessments. For someone who loves talking about herself, I really hate talking about myself when it counts.

I'm pretty sure I could double or triple this list in no time. But for everyone's sake, I'll leave it at these few things.... and I'm actually sitting here shuddering just thinking about them. Blerg.


~~~

In other news, C had his wisdom teeth out this morning. He's known for a while that they needed to come out; he just put it off. Today was finally the day. We've spent the day in a haze of pain killers and ice packs and pudding cups. I took the following photo earlier after an "emergency" run to the grocery store:

His and her necessities

Here's wishing for a quiet weekend and an easy recovery!

What I know.

First things first... a big ol' happy birthday to my mama! Love you!

Hope your day is just as good as this one was :)

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Day 2: Educate us on something you know a lot about or are good at.

If you asked my mother, she’d probably tell you that I know a lot about everything – or at least I think I do. I’ve always been that way – I’ve always been the smart one, the know-it-all, the one quick to correct others when I’m positive pretty sure that I’m right. It’s a character flaw, I know. When I read this prompt, though, I was stumped. Educate others? On something I know a lot about? Or do well? What the heck. I drew a complete blank. I know nothing! I was sure.

And then, out of the blue, a memory came to me. A distinct memory, from somewhere deep in the recesses of my brain. In third grade, we had show-and-tell with themes – animals, hobbies, what I want to be when I grow up… you know the deal. One month, the theme was “teach us how to do something.” I don’t remember what any of my classmates taught, but I’m sure they were the usual things: how to tie a knot, how to make a PB&J, how to jump rope. When it was my turn, though, I did as I always do, and made things complicated. I knew just what my lesson should be: I wanted to teach my classmates how to make a milkshake. Yes, really. It was something we did regularly at home – milkshakes, blender drinks, smoothies; we were always throwing things in the blender and giving it a whirr. So, naturally, that’s what I wanted to share with my class. Never mind that a ten-year-old can’t really bring a blender to school, and that the ingredients needed to be frozen, and that, generally, this was about as complex as show-and-tell could get. I had my heart set on it.

My mother, the saint that she is, indulged encouraged me, and helped me figure out a way to get it done. I brought a big plastic bowl and wooden spoons and a whisk, and we made arrangements to keep my necessities in the freezer in the cafeteria. A little while before show-and-tell, my teacher and I retrieved the ice cream, and left it out in the classroom to soften. When my turn came, I got up there in front of the class, put all my ingredients in the bowl, and stirred and stirred until it was finally “milkshake” consistency. Then I doled it out into little paper cups and served it to my friends. In retrospect, I’m sure it was terrible, but at the time, it was perfect. I was so proud of what I’d accomplished. Even in third grade, I knew that a hair-brained idea just takes a little persistence (or pestering of your mother) and a little manual labor (no idea how long it took me to STIR that milkshake up), and you can make it happen. Plus, I “taught” my classmates something really cool!

Moral of the story is, if anyone wants to know how to make a milkshake, just let me know… I’m something of an expert.

Disclaimer: this may or may not be an exercise in creative non-fiction... the details are the facts, as much as my brain can recall them. I did email my mom this morning to verify that it was a real memory, so that's good... Take it or leave it!

And now I’m singing “my milkshake brings all the boys to yard…….” – and so are you! 

Story of my life.

Hi there. I've been a bit MIA - sorry about that. In general, I don't really have the words for the month of April. Many things were written in my head, but for some reason, I just couldn't get them down on paper (screen). C'est la vie.

In an effort to get myself back into blogging (and really, into writing in general), I'm taking on a challenge: blog every day in May. This is a link-up with Jenni at Story of My Life. She's offering writing prompts for every day of the month, and I'm going to do my best to tackle them. No guarantees that the writing won't be rambley and jumbled - bear with me!

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Day 1: The story of your life in 250 words or less.

I arrived in this world exactly two weeks late, on a cold January morning in Germany. I can’t help the fact that I’m always late – I was literally born that way! My sister came along almost three years later, and our little family of four shares a tight-knit bond. I was an Army brat who didn’t get the typical experience: we moved a lot before I was 5, but I spent K-12 living in just one house. I was always pretty indifferent to living in Virginia, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve found myself really attached to it – it truly is my home state, and I’m proud of it. My childhood hobby was dancing – everything from ballet and jazz classes to competitive dance team. I can tie a perfect hair bow, and I still have a deep love of glitter. I toured college after college, and when I stepped foot on the campus of Virginia Tech, I knew I was home. VT was the only college I applied to, and Blacksburg will always have my heart. I met my husband in a poetry class, but, before you ask, he’s never written me a poem. Our wedding was a huge party with a quick ceremony first, just like we wanted. We have a crazy cat who we rescued, and we’d like to have a dog someday. Now, we’re hunting for the perfect house with a deck and a yard that can be our family home – we know it’s out there somewhere!

Bam. 250 words on the dot! 

 

6 years.

"And in this moment, once every year... throughout the town, throughout the school... time stands still."

Travel Tales: NYC, Part 2

When I left off back in January, I'd gone through most of our pre-Christmas day trip to NYC. We had quite an adventure, and were heading towards one of our main destinations of the day: Ground Zero.

When I first started planning this trip, I knew that I wanted to try to fit in a trip to Ground Zero. That turned out to be more of a challenge than I expected - I didn't know that you needed to book timed-entry passes until just a few days before our trip, and I almost didn't get them. When I first looked at the site, there were entry times available for that Saturday, but I didn't get them right then, and the next time I looked, they were gone. However, a friend suggested to keep looking, as sometimes more entry times are added. I did that, and on Thursday managed to secure four tickets for late Saturday afternoon.

We took a taxi from Times Square to Ground Zero (so much easier than figuring out the subway or anything, and took us less time, too - and not so expensive, considering there were four of us in the cab) and got there about 45 minutes before our entry time. We found a hotel bar and had a beer and thawed out before making our way over.

Security at Ground Zero is obviously intense - lots of lines, and guards, and metal detectors. Everyone has to have a ticket to get in, and each ticket has a specific name printed on it. They warn you that you may be asked for photo ID (we never were). At one point, you have to go through metal detectors and take off coats, shoes, hats, etc. - it all seems rather thorough. I was surprised to find that everything moved quite smoothly, though, and before we knew it, we were standing in the middle of the site.

I will never forget those moments (and am actually tearing up a bit just thinking about it all again). It had gotten dark already (it was about 4:30 PM by then) and everything was lit up. It was surreal to be standing there, seeing those gigantic holes in the ground, hearing the rushing water, and seeing so many names. All my memories of September 11 flooded through me. I was young, just starting high school, when it happened, but my memories and mental images from that day are so vivid - and standing there, trying to imagine what it could have been like, was almost too much. It was a powerful, emotional experience.

The Survivor Tree

Those moments at the memorial are some that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

We finished out our day with dinner at an incredible restaurant -the Blue Planet Grill in the Financial District, right by Ground Zero.

As we excited the memorial, we tried to figure out what we should do next. We had a few hours left before we needed to catch the bus back home, so we could either go back to the heart of the city and find somewhere for dinner, or we could find dinner where we were and then go back. As we stood in the cold debating, my mom suddenly looked up and saw a sign right in front of us: the Blue Planet Grill. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed, "multiple people told me to find this restaurant and eat there if I could!" ....Decision made. We tumbled into the restaurant, and were very, very happy to hear that, though they had a large reservation for the majority of the dining room in a few hours, they'd be happy to seat us for dinner then. Perfect!

I cannot say enough good things about BPG. It touts itself as a "global fusion" restaurant, with "liquid art" cocktails. The food was absolutely scrumptious. It's a bit of an eclectic menu, and so we had a variety of dishes. I went with the beef stroganoff, which I could have just passed out over. It was comfort food at its finest, with melt-in-my-mouth beef tips and a delicious, creamy gravy. I practically licked my plate! My mom had short rib tacos, while my dad went with homemade creamy mushroom soup and a Greek salad. C chose chicken kebabs, which were so tender and juicy. Everyone was happy with their meal, and we were so glad that we'd found our way into that restaurant - it was like it was meant to be! I also got ambitious and tried a new-to-me drink: a Moscow Mule! The homemade ginger beer absolutely made it. A little sweet, a little spicy - it warmed me right up. Yum! If you ever find yourself in the Financial District looking for a great place to eat, make a reservation at BPG. You won't regret it! I just wish we could have tried even more things on the menu.

Terrible photo, but that's my Moscow Mule in there!

To-die-for beef stroganoff

C's chicken kabobs and homemade chips

Greek salad

Dinner at the BPG was the perfect way to end our day in the city. We all climbed the bus back to DC absolutely stuffed, and happy as clams. All in all, I think the day turned out perfectly. We may not have seen all the tourist sites or checked a bunch of places off in a tourist guidebook, but we saw what we wanted to and enjoyed each others' company, and kept the day quite stress-free, to boot! I'm already looking forward to our next adventure in NYC!

Scenes from the weekend

Got a bit ambitious... making quiches from scratch at midnight for the bridal shower!

Bridal shower gift... anything Etsy can do, I can do better!

On my way to the shower on Saturday - coral and blue! Loved this.

Beautiful, delicious cake

Loved spending the afternoon celebrating a sweet friend!

Sometimes I think he hates me... taking pictures before giving him dinner!

FaceTiming with C while he was out of town with friends

Sleepy kitty

Celebrated St. Pat's with BodyPump in matching shirts

C has perfected the art of Black & Tans - a new St. Pat's tradition!

Woke up this morning to crappy weather - snow at the train station! Where is spring??

Five for Friday: Travel Edition

I have traveling on the brain! C and I are in the process of applying for passports, and I'm determined to get us out of the country this year for a trip. We've been dreaming / talking about a trip to Europe since we first started dating, and I think this is the year we make that first adventure happen. In honor of that, this Five for Friday features the top 5 destinations I'd jump on a plane to this minute if someone told me it was possible. Where would you go??

1. Germany

I'd love to show C the town where I was born, and the thought of having an authentic schnitzel, in Germany, has my mouth watering. Seriously!

2. London

I have a minor love-affair with all things London - so of course this ranks high on my "places I'd love to jet-set to" list. The history absolutely fascinates me, and I'd never run out of things to see and do!

3. Greece

Enough said, right?? Greece has always been on my list of places to go. I can't get over how breath-takingly gorgeous it is.

4. Ireland

Ever since seeing the movie PS I Love You (watch immediately; so good!!), I've been craving an adventure to the Irish countryside. Everything is always exactly as it's portrayed in the movies, right?? I've got to go!

5. Sri Lanka

A bit random, sure, but just look at that - the beaches in Sri Lanka look incredible. Plus, it has tons of history, so if I wasn't lounging in an oceanside villa, I could explore and get my education in, too. Great combination!

Alright, who's with me? Let's go jump on a plane - destination: anywhere.

All images from Google Image search.