wicked weekend

Just got back from Boston on Sunday! I went for a much-need visit with Matt :)

Lately, the weather has been warming up in New England. Matt said one day it reached 90 degrees in Cambridge even! But, while I was there, Boston chose to be rainy and cold. Go figure.

The rain didn't keep us from driving out to Salem, though. Sadly it wasn't the Salem from Days of Our Lives, but it was def the Salem of witch trial infamy. We went to the witch trial museum, saw the harbor and strolled through the town despite the constant mist in our eyes. Everything up there is so flipping old, it's insane to see houses and cemeteries from the 17th century. The witch museum also was a two-part show, in a way. The story of the witch trials from 1692 were told in the first room with this kind of wax-model-people display. Kind of like the animatronic action you'd catch at a Disney theme  park, except these figures didn't come to life like robots. A very ominous voice narrated the story, though.

The second part was a short display on the perceptions surrounding witches based on movies and TV, and how pandemonium can spread like the witch trials did.

The town also has a statue of Samantha from "Bewitched" in the middle of the downtown area, courtesy of the fine folks at TV Land, the network that brings you Nick at Nite lol! We took pics with the statue on Matt's camera, which are posted above.

Anywho, that night we went to a bar down the street and indulged in falafels from Falafel Palace, the Roppolo's Pizza of Cambridge nightlife. The next day we tried to walk around by the river during some sunlight, but of course, got caught in some serious rain that ended up breaking my phone :(

All in all, good times, especially because Matt's going to be here in less than three weeks!! I'm soooo excited we don't have to go six weeks between visits this time! He is coming here for the Ben Folds concert on Sunday, May 8, so he's also staying until Monday morning!! I can't wait!!

I left my heart in ATX

I went to Austin for the first time since last August last weekend. I got to see Rachel and her and Matt's new house in Buda, and I went cake tasting with her and her mom, too. We tried to look at bridesmaid dresses, but by "tried" I mean, "went to one store, laughed at the ridiculousness that is the world of bridesmaid dresses, and gave up." We had much more fun gabbing at Le Madeleine after tasting cake.

I saw Maryam and Audrey, too! We had a good sushi dinner on W. 5th St., a place called Sushi Zushi. Good stuff :)

Sunday was the kite festival! It was awesome! I went last year with Matt, and we tried to fly this pathetic kite we made for free that we named Lil Lightning (it's a 'Simpsons' joke). Needless to say, Lil Lightning should have been renamed Piece of Crap (which is ironic, because Matt's an aerospace engineer. He told me to emphasize the 'space' when I tell people that :P )

Anywho, Maryam and I got a kite before we hopped on the shuttle - a Little Mermaid kite, clearly for kids, but I liked it - and got it flying on the first try! It was a gorgeous day, and to see Zilker full of kites in the perfectly blue sky made me think how much I love that city.

This is our kite in the sky. yup, it's Ariel!

I was able to go to Austin because I got two whole days off from work to go to a page design workshop at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. I really enjoyed it. It started Wednesday night, and then you spent all Thursday learning and creating page design. Seriously, we went from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 or 11ish at night. But, we got to use all of the super-new software and iMacs at the TCU School of Journalism. It was like being a kid locked in a candy shop, to sound like a total nerd.

I tried to post the page I created up on this post, but I couldn't get it to work because it's a PDF, not a JPG. Oh well :(

been thinking a lot today

I am having the hardest time focusing on work today. It's terrible. Part of it is because the weather is so flipping beautiful, I just want to be outside basking in it and enjoying a day that isn't full of rain and clouds or snow or arctic air.

I'm also a little tired/sleep-deprived from trying to stay awake for the Tonight Show. What a bust that was.

My mind is also hard to corral ever since I learned about my Aunt Adrianne on Saturday. She has been fighting a stage four cancer reoccurance since fall of 2008. She was initially diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer back in 2002 or 2003 - I think 2002, because that's the summer I was 16 going on 17.

Anywho, she's been fighting for her life for a year and a half now, but it's rapidly gone downhill. She is leaving her third and final treatment in Washington state this week and coming home to Oakland for hospice care. My mom told me to be ready to fly to Oakland this spring for the inevitable, I guess (I can't even bring myself to type the words).

I'm just so thrown by this whole thing with so many emotions. I always thought the five stages of grief were cliche, but it's true. On Saturday I was shocked and openly wept. I just let it out. Last night I was at the gym, and I was irritated with all the little things that were off with my regular routine - like, I lost my normal pen, and my combo lock, and my usual locker(s) were taken, and all of the squat apparatus were taken (which is never the case), and I was just filled with anger. I wanted to throw all of the weights around and make noise and just rage. It was weird.

Today, I am just numb and distracted. I feel like I'm on another planet. I went through my inbox and re-read all the emails Adrianne and I have sent each other, and I'm just thinking about how I failed at keeping in touch, especially as of late. I got really afraid to talk to her, because I just have no experience with this kind of grief/tragedy. I left her a voicemail about a month ago (she didn't answer her phone) because I wanted to say, well, anything I could just to show that I still think about her.

This whole situation is just awful. I feel even worse for everyone else around me, like my mom, who watched her dad die of cancer around the same age Adrianne is. I hate that she has to lose her sister too early, too. I feel awful for my Uncle Kenneth, who is a living saint for being with her all these years and taking such perfect care of her. I wish I could think of the right things to say to my cousin Deidre, who has never had the perfect relationship Adrianne, and is an only child, which means she doesn't have any siblings to share the load with.

I have this morbid curiosity now about what it's going to be like when it happens, I guess because I'm preparing myself for it. It's going to be awful. I just want to go back to the days when we would spend our summers in Santa Cruz or Laguna Beach, and we'd all swim and lay out and stroll the boardwalk without a care in the world (at least, I had no worries, because I was a teen). I want to tag along with her to dance class again, or go to plays with her and Kenneth again. I remember when she took me shopping when I was 13 and I felt so stylish and hip as I let her and the store clerk pick out clothes for me to try.

Ugh, I don't know, I'm just so overwhelmed with confusing feelings - I wish I could just feel acceptance or peace or something less tumultuous. I guess if I'm wishing for things, though, I wish for a miracle.

quick update

I realize why I let this blog go so neglected last year. It's not that my life is unexciting and status quo - that's half of it. The other half is that I don't want to share when my life is not well.

Life is fine, actually, I've just been stressed and not all chirpy and positive. Work is super-busy, although hopefully this Friday's edition, with the Progress tab, will put an end to the madness. I've spent the last two weekends sitting at home sad over missing my boyfriend. Sad but true. I'm usually so wiped by the weekend that I can't bring myself to go out, so I've spent the nights at home relaxing and wishing Matt was here. Long distance is really, really hard.

I'm still making it to the gym three times a week, rain or shine or good day or bad day. I'm proud of myself for that. I'm not eating as well as I should, because it's still instinct for me to indulge in food when I'm stressed and think a snack will make me feel better. I'm packing better lunches and breakfasts, though, and eating better dinners. Just got to watch the in-between grazing.

Finances are still going fine - no overdrafts, yet, and will have a nice chunk in savings at end of the month. It's a start, though it gets hard to make myself update Quicken every day now that the novelty wears off. This is why so many people fail to change or uphold resolutions every year. They're just plain draining, trying to change your habits. Continued consistency is key.

Record snow hits DFW!

On February 11, Dallas was hit with nearly a foot of snow! I think we got about 6-7 inches in all in our neighborhood, so this morning, I snapped a few pics! The last one is me attacking my car with a broom so my car is ready to be warmed up when I have to go into work eventually.

ugh, stupid Super Bowl XLIV

Peyton lost :(

I've been ignoring the news ever since because I can't stand New Orleans and their stupid "Who Dat" chant. I'm being a sore loser today, but I'm sure I'll be over it tomorrow!

Super Bowl XLIV

It's halftime and Colts are up 10-6 - yessssss! In college I had a Peyton Manning poster on my ceiling, and I'm starting to think it's time to bust it out again. Don't worry, it wasn't a very scandalous poster, just an action shot of Peyton throwing a pass.

Anywho, so far, some interesting commercials. Leno and Letterman with Oprah was a surprise, and of course, who doesn't like Betty White? And, the one with Brett Favre as the 2020 MVP. Now, time for The Who!

another quick update

. . . to say that I've lost 5 pounds - woohoo! Getting past the first five is huge for me, really. I've just got to keep going to 10 and 15 - 15 is usually where I hit a wall. I think the big difference this time is that it took me three weeks to lose five pounds, instead of something quick like 10 days. Slow and steady wins the race, right? I hope so. My goal is to look good at Rachel's wedding in July and then at Schlitterbahn the next day, hopefully in a new, cute bathing suit.

Anywho, first five pounds are gone, yes!

wow, January's gone!

Now that January is over, actually three days gone, I reviewed my first attempt at executing and staying within a budget created with Quicken, and . . . it worked! I wound up with a decent surplus in my savings account after all was said and done!

It has been really interesting reevaluating the things I spend money on, and the things I prioritize in life and such. Plus, and this is a sad one, it's been good to have my eyes opened to how much I spend on small stuff I don't need! Seriously! Whether it's eating on the road while I'm working, or random desk supplies, or clothes that are super-cheap on sale and I think, "oh, I can't pass this up!" but only wear it once or never wear it at all.

Anywho, so far, the budget is working, thank goodness! Plus, I've officially stuck to my weight lifting routine three weeks in a row now - yay! Just gotta keep swimming, like Finding Nemo says (since I'm secretly eight years old deep down, or maybe not so secretly)!

quick post

I think I've realized why I let this blog go so down hill last year - I just don't find myself interesting all the time, sadly!

Still hitting the weights at the gym. I'm really enjoying getting back into my lifting routine and feeling myself get stronger slowly but steadily. I forgot how good it feels to make progress like that.

Matt came to town last weekend! I took him to Nickelrama and Sali's Pizza in Garland, a very nostalgic outing for me, but we had fun pretending to be little kids for a rainy afternoon. It gets really hard to say goodbye each time one of us has to leave :( We actually had a good talk during my visit to Boston over NYE, and decided that once he figures out where he's going to be getting his PhD (cause he's a bad ass genius), then I'll move there in 2011.

Work is still work. Trying to sell my bridesmaid dress from Lauren's wedding on Craig's List to pull in extra cash, since I'm in another wedding this year.

Again, just not very interesting! Ciao!

New Year's revolutions - I mean, resolutions!

Since updating this blog was just one on my many list of things to improve this year, I figured I'd share a couple more of them.

Biggest resolution: Finally, finally get into good shape. This one makes the list every year, and every year I make a valiant effort but wind up worse off than when I started. It's like I don't know how to live if I'm not out of shape and unhappy with my body. 2009 was a terrible year for my health in the fact that I ate so much junk while covering road games and indulged in junk when stressed out, found no consistent exercise plan that worked with my work schedule and just overall stopped paying attention to my body and put on some 'love weight' (the extra pounds that come with being in a happy relationship).

Now that I've been at my job and adjusted to its schedule and commute for a full year, I feel like now is the time to work in consistent, realistic exercise and health goals. With two beach trips possible this year, I just can't show up looking the way I do now.

Anywho, yesterday I hit the gym and hit the weights! I found my old weight training routine from college, which I really loved, and am taking it back up, two days a week (if I have an extra day I'll do three, but two definite days works for me). I am so sore today, but doing squats and bench press again felt really, really good. Cathy and I (my paper's advertising director) have started walking everyday during lunch, too, which helps us both relieve some job stress as well as pump some blood.

So, to sum it up, 2010 is the year to sweat! Other resolutions on my plate are:

• Drink more water than Diet Dr. Pepper every day
• Manage my money like, a thousand times better (this one is probably bigger than the exercise one, but I won't go into detail there)
• Keep on top of correspondance - birthday cards, thank you notes and just talking to friends and family a little more regularly

Wow, did I abandon this thing or what?

In the spirit of New Year's resolutions and the self-betterment that comes with January, here I am again, resolving to blog on a regular basis and keep in better contact with friends and family.

A lot has happened since July 2008 and yet, so much of my life is the same. Here's the rundown:

• Still working full-time at my paper, the Pilot Point Post-Signal. The school's football team won the Class 2A Division I state championship, which made for 15 exciting weeks of football to cover!
• I went to NYC in November to see Matt run the marathon - so proud of him! He finished in about 3:35, 10 minutes faster than his Austin time. It didn't qualify him for Boston, but it was a great experience for him. We got to see a Broadway show, too! We saw Avenue Q, which was technically off-Broadway, but eh, it was still a theatrical production in Times Square - close enough for me!
• December marked my one-year anniversary at my newspaper, and one whole year with Matt, who continues to work at MIT in Boston :)
• This year, I'm a maid of honor yet again - this time for my best friend Rachel, whom I met freshmen year of college when we were randomly assigned to be roommates. God works in  mysterious ways, doesn't he? Mysteriously awesome ways!

Let's see, here are some things that happened to people in my inner circle:

• Melissa and Kent, my friends from college, moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico. Melissa is another former college roommate, and I wish she'd come back to Texas already!
• My brother is on his last semester of college at SFA State in Nacogdoches. I can't believe! He'll receive a BS in health sciences this May - woohoo!

That's a pretty good update on events in my life, I swear I'll have more posts to come :)