Thirty Days - Day Ten

A photo of me taken over ten years ago

I couldn't pick just one...I love embarrassing myself with old pics.  Especially when other people are included in them.  :-)

First, a picture from 1996, so that puts me us in 8th grade.  I'm on the left with my big bushy eye brows and sticker on my cheek.  And on the right is Melissa, giving me the evil eye.  You love me.  I promise.  Not sure what the dirty look was for that day.  Geez, we look like such babies!

This picture was taken in the basement of the Catholic grade school I went to for 7th & 8th grade.  The basement was used for many different functions - lunch room during the week, meeting space for after masses, a place to pick up your market day orders, and the place where we had our weekly music classes (Side note - to this day, when I hear "La Cucaracha", I still remember the two of us convincing Mrs. K that we should sing it in class...Despite the fact that NONE of us spoke Spanish!  lol!!).

This second picture is from Prom, my senior year.  What a difference four years can make on some eyebrows, right???  lol  I went from one ridiculous extreme to the other.  I'm glad to say, they've settled at a more normal place and size nowadays.  :-)

About a month before prom, my boyfriend of two years and I called it quits.  I didn't know what I was going to do about prom.  It was the first dance in years that I actually had to worry about finding a date for.  The guy that I went with, Tim, was a good friend and such a nice guy.  He asked me before I could make the mistake of going with my ex "for old times' sake".  I'm fairly certain that Tim would have liked to become an item, but I was too busy feeling sorry for myself to realize what a wonderful boyfriend Tim would've made.  I haven't had much contact with him since I graduated, but I'm sure that he's continued being a nice guy and is making his wifey a happy girl. 

Thirty Days - Day Nine

Pet Peeves

I don't know where this pet peeve comes from, but somewhere along the way, I became a spelling/grammar bitch.  Nothing irritates me more than seeing misspellings and incorrect uses of words like their/they're/there.  Come on!  Why is it so hard to remember how these words work?  And with all of the spell checking tools that we have, why do I still see things spelled wrong? 

I'm my job, I have a lot of correspondence that happens through emails.  You'd think at a professional level, people would click the spell check button.  But no, they don't.  I have become the proofreader in my office.  Any time an official document is sent to a customer, they ask me to read it over and correct any spelling or grammatical mistakes.  Well, thank Geebus for that!  Someone's gotta do it!

Thirty Days - Day Eight

Something I Crave

Man, oh man...The timing couldn't be better on this one.  With Lent beginning today, I'm trying to decide on something to give up.  If I do the same thing I did last year, I'll be craving Mountain Dew in 40 days, that's for damn sure.

Most of the women I know crave chocolate.  Like 24/7.  I do not.  I'm one of those strange people that if chocolate ceased to exist right now, I probably wouldn't notice too much.  Don't get me wrong.  I'll gladly enjoy a Dark Chocolate Milky Way or a brownie topped with ice cream and hot fudge.  But it's not something that I need to survive.  :-)

No, the thing that I crave everyday, all day is CARBS!  No wonder I'm as fat as I am.  I blame it all on the noodles.  Seriously, though.  My favorite foods are all chock full of carbohydrates.  Pasta, bread, rice, potatoes.  Don't get any crazy ideas, though.  Absolutely No Way I could give up carbs for Lent.  That would be insanity. 

Thirty Days - Day Seven

A Favorite Photo


I thought about sharing a photo from my wedding.  Eh.
I thought about sharing a photo of my kitties, but that just lends itself to the crazy cat lady thing that I have going on.
I thought about sharing a photo of my girls because they're amazing and I don't know what I'd do without them, but I don't have one of all of us together.

So, I've decided to share a pic of myself.  I was loving my makeup & hair on Friday, so I did a real not so quick vanity shoot at work before everyone got to the office.  My eyes are always squinty in pics of me because I smile too big.  I consciously opened my eyes wide and minimized the smile and love the pic that I produced.  I feel pretty, oh so pretty....

30 Days - Day Six

A fun fact about me

My dream job is an event planner.  I love all the details that are involved.  I like focusing on all the small things that people may not think about, but really help to make an event fun.  I like having a list of things that need to be accomplished, and I get a real feeling of satisfaction as I check off items on that list.  Planning my wedding was a bit stressful, but I really did enjoy doing it and would love to help other women to plan theirs.  The research that goes into something like that is fun for me, too.  My latest planning ventures have been a fun reunion dinner with some old friends from high school and my best friend's baby shower last month.  But even just planning a dinner with my girlfriends or the details of the family Christmas party - it all is super fun to me!

30 Days - Day Five

A Favorite Quote

Ordinarily, I would use one that expresses happiness like 'Don't frown - you never know who is falling in love with your smile'.  Or one that helps me to try and keep my over-emotional brain in balance like 'Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.'  Those two have always been a couple of my favorites, and I really do like them.  I am generally a positive person and I think smiles are great things.  They can brighten your own or someone else's day.  They can be a defense mechanism for when you're feeling down or frightened.  I like smiles. 

HOWEVER!

In the last week or so, I heard the same quote from three different sources...Makes me wonder if God or the universe isn't trying to tell me something. 

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

So, for days now, this thought has been running through my head.  And I keep thinking about how insane I really must be.  lol  Really, though.  I keep on doing the same shit over and over again, and I'm hoping that one day, it will be different.  That eventually, I'll get the outcome that I want.

Duh.  Try a different tactic, Dummy.

So, yesterday, I started a new tactic.  I have to be diligent and stay on this path.  Hopefully, it will lead to different results. 

30 Days - Day 4

A Favorite Book

I've been slacking for a couple days.  I was busy at work and tired at night, so I missed a couple days.  I'm sure you're over it.

I don't know if I actually have a favorite book.  There've been a lot of books that I've read that I liked.  A lot.  But I can't say there's one particular book that I would call my favorite.  If you sit me in a quiet room with a Nicholas Sparks book, I'll have it finished before you know it.  But none of them have been like ohmygod, I could read this book a bazillion times and never get bored with it.

For a long time, when asked my favorite book, I would respond with 'Summer Sisters' by Judy Blume.  But to be perfectly honest, I hardly even remember it anymore.  Perhaps I should go back and re-read it and remind myself why I liked it so much.

I just recently pulled all of my books out of a box and put them on display.  And there are SO many that I know I read, but can't remember most of the story.  And then there are a bunch more that I don't know that I ever finished.  And mixed in with all of those, there's a handful of books that I remember reading and I remember the whole thing.  Maybe I should classify those as my favorites...

Wow.  This was a much longer post than I thought it would be.  Gotta love rambling.  Hope you all have a fantastical weekend!

30 Days - Day Three

A Favorite TV Show

OMG...This is even more difficult than the favorite song question!  I literally have a list of about 40 shows that I watch on a weekly basis.  You think I'm exaggerating...I sorta wish I was.  I Love tv more than I can say.  lol  We subscribe to a service where you get x amount of downloads (we're talking gigabytes here) per month.  Most of the shows that I watch are posted on this newsgroup.  The ones that are not, I actually watch on tv.  With commercials, since the newsgroup takes the place of a DVR in our house.

Anyway.  Enough rambling.  I have LOTS of favorite shows.  But this one is damn near at the top.  I love ALL of the characters.  The love that they all have for one another is amazing.  I envy this family and their closeness.  It's going to be one of those shows where I'm SUPER mad when it ends because it's such an amazing program.

Parenthood

30 Days - Day Two

A favorite movie.

Hmmm...Gonna have to go with Grease.  It just Never. Ever. gets old for me.  I HEART John Travolta in all his 24-year-old 1978 hotness.  Oh, Danny Zuko...You're the one that I want.  ;-)

Thirty Days of Blogging - Day One

A Favorite Song

This is actually very difficult for me to answer.  I have MANY favorites.  But if I've gotta choose just one, it's this one.

The first live concert that I saw was Tom Petty (with my parents :-)).  Any time a Petty song comes on, I have a rush of memories that comes over me.  This particular song brings back junior high.  I listened to this song on repeat in 7th grade, so I could learn all of the words.  I don't know what it is about "Mary Jane's Last Dance," but it's always been a favorite.  Maybe it the guitar - I feel like I'm just getting down.  Maybe it's the harmonica - I'm a SUCKER for anything with a sweet harmonica solo.  At any rate, this is the favorite song for today.