New Years Eve 2013

Thinking back on this last year.

I think it's been pretty good. Some might say that I made some amazing accomplishments... I think I simply feel like I kept the status quo. Which, in and of itself, might actually be considered an accomplishment now that I think about it. I completed my second triathlon and an 8k, along with finishing my second round of graduate work. I think, perhaps, I feel like I was so concentrated on school that I didn't have time to focus on some other things I enjoy, therefore while the graduate certification is a big deal and accomplishment, I don't feel like I got anything else done.

I promised Captain Awesome AND myself that I would really focus on my weight and nutrition goals this year. I didn't gain any weight last year but I didn't really loose any either. So, that is probably my biggest focus this year. Now that I don't have school, homework, papers, and group projects stressing me out and demanding my attention, I can pay more attention to working out and eating better.

I'd like to list dozens of other goals and a huge exciting "to do" list but I'm afraid that would take away from what I want to be my main focus. I know how easily distracted I can be so if I formalize those other things on a list there is the risk I will feel like I have too much to juggle and then I might not prioritize properly again. So. While I look forward to doing some more art and reading and writing, those will stay simple hobby things to entertain me on occasion but not goals or tied to any specific event or objective.

This new year will be exciting enough in that I'm working on a new career; planning another triathlon and another 8k; and I'm looking forward to some new work opportunities with AM. I'm off now to work on putting together lesson plans with Thomas to teach P about religion this year for homeschool.

I hope you all have a happy and safe new year!

Duck Dynasty

I really don't get into "reality" television. And I had sort of gone out of my way NOT to watch this only because it was SO trendy popular…and, as I said, I do not like reality television.

BUT….

Sigh.

Endora suddenly got all into watching it with the recent "scandal" involving one of the members in the news.

So, I did not sit down with the intent to watch it. But it happened to be on in some of the rooms I was in as Endora and P were watching it so I was second hand exposed and…sigh. I have to admit,  it's not bad.

I don't think I would actively CHOOSE to watch it. But if it's on, I won't leave the room or ask for it to be shut off and….well, I have to admit, Si makes me laugh. He reminds me of my late grandpa.

The show is stupid. BUT….there are some moments that are gems. And here is the kicker:

I should be all offended and "mad" at them as they are Xian but why? I think they are (as we say in the South) "good people". I listened carefully to what Phil said in the GQ interview. Did I agree with him? No. Do I defend his right to speak his mind? I sure do. Why?

What kind of hypocrite would I be if I demanded others respect MY right to be different and to speak my mind and to have my own beliefs yet I deny those to others?

I know a lot of people like him. They are good people. They have their beliefs but they also don't push them on others. They will share them and speak them but are pretty "live and let live" especially if they have an "interesting" background as that man appears to have.  Sure, there are asshole born again Xians who are rude and dangerous and violent. But there are asshole atheists, too, that are just as rude and dangerous.  Stating your beliefs is not necessarily "pushing" them on others and I think far too many people on both sides fail to make that distinction.

At the end of the day, I think his show speaks for itself. They try to install traditional values which may be (to them) "biblical" but I don't see them as biblical because I HAVE MANY OF THE SAME VALUES!

I have enjoyed the few episodes I have watched. I will watch it more when I come home and Endora happens to have it on. And I think if I lived down in their neck of the woods, I would be friends with them.  Thomas and I talk often about those atheists that are so "unholier than thou" and have such a chip on their shoulder against religion that being around them is annoying and exhausting. We both agree we would much rather have dinner with a nice Jewish Rabbi or a Sikh or even a Catholic priest or Muslim who is intelligent, well spoken, and thoughtful. I have sat with my Muslim neighbors and had amazing conversations over tea that I would much rather have than listening to ANY fanatic close minded prig (religious or not) rant and rave against the machine like some mindless drone in lock step with whatever diet of propaganda he's consumed recently.  You can have faith and belief and not be an asshole. And lack of faith or belief does not mean you are intelligent OR a nice person.

I don't enjoy arguing or fighting or constant conflict.  And, I think anyone who demands rights for themselves while simultaneously trying to wrest them from others is a douche bag.  For the record:

I support human rights and I do not think anyone should be discriminated against based on race, religion, creed, gender, OR sexual orientation. I think you have a right to be gay and I also think others have a right to not like it and say so. I don't expect everyone to agree, I do expect everyone to be respectful. Heh. Like THAT will ever happen.

Oh well.

Christmas 2013

Had a lovely day today. Opened presents and did:

Absolutely nothing!

Best gifts so far this year were:

1. A spiffy Phillips Wake Up Light HF3520!  I asked Santa for this because I have been struggling a bit with sleep. Sure, most likely due to staying up late, studying, and chatting with Thomas but also waking up is SUCH a bear :( This is an "alarm" clock that works using light instead of that horrid blaring alarm sound or, as much as I like it, my iPhone alarm that plays music. The idea behind this is that it is supposed to simulate natural sunrise and wake you up more gently and refreshed. I requested the nicer spiffier one that has a bed time setting as well so that it will simulate the setting sun, thus triggering melatonin and helping me fall asleep better. I wanted to try this before taking drugs like valium (which my shrink keeps offering) or even over the counter melatonin supplements. I figure, if I can trigger it "naturally" why pop the pill? We shall see. I have it all set up and ready to go and shall see how well it works this week when I am working from home so it's not a terribly big deal if I sleep through it. Stay tuned for the results of my experiment!

2. I also got a new charm for my Pandora bracelet! Think Geek actually has some geek themed charms so I am now the proud new owner of a 20 sided die sterling silver clip :)

The rest of the stuff was your general pajamas, a gorgeous new scarf, some neat new books NOT SCHOOL RELATED! lol that I had asked for, and various and sundry little things. I am way big into GIVING presents. I love getting them but I much more enjoy the giving part. I will say I was a HUGE hit with the neat Left Hand Path beer glasses I got Thomas:

I also got him this super fun Edgar Allen Poe magnetic poetry set!

A few books and a nice shaving kit by Everyman Jack rounded out what I got him:

For the Gentlemen who follow me, I highly recommend this brand and this particular scent. I confess that I truly dislike traditionally "female" perfumes because they are always so flowery. I do wear Opium by Yves Saint Laurent for fancy dress up and work some days and this scent goes far better with it than any others I have found. I started out just using the deodorant as most ladies deodorant smells all…girly. When I fell in love with the scent, I got the body wash to go with. I loved it so much that I got the whole nice full size dop kit sampler for Thomas. Now we both smell delicious and because every scent is altered slightly when it mingles with a person's individual body chemistry, we don't smell the same :)

P was very exasperated with Merlin this morning as when she opened her stocking, she had a small little lunch size apple that the local grocery store Wegmans carries. She looked at it and he said it was a "mini apple" just like she wanted! The look on her face was priceless as she had been asking for an Apple iPad mini for MONTHS. Merlin played up the whole "mini apple" thing and she was polite but you could tell she was sort of let down at his joke. All was not lost though, as she opened the very last box and inside it were a dozen little boxes all mixed in with tissue paper and as she opened each, they had a little treat or a dollar bill in them. She was a good sport and had pretty much given up on the iPad mini but at the very bottom of the box was one last wrapped box and in it was: yes! Her new Apple iPad mini :)  She actually held back on the celebration until the cellophane was off that box and she actually saw it was inside and not another trick by Merlin :)  She was elated and now is all grown up with her VERY own, not a hand me down, iPad Mini. 

The last little piece of good news is that Alpha and I were exchanging texts while the kids were all opening gifts this morning and my unexpected Christmas gift from him? 

A job offer.

Yup. It's official. He offered me a job for Christmas. Oh my goodness that made me smile. So, on that front, it is not a full time position as it's basically helping him with a start up. So I would essentially be sort of a consultant while I finished my time with my current place to pay off the school I just finished and work on beefing up my experience. And working with him as needed which will:

Best Case Scenario: snowball into something amazing awesome cool exciting and helping him from the ground up!

Worst Case Scenario: getting to work with him, having a great time, and getting a ton of experience. If it doesn't take off, no harm no foul. If it does? Wow. Could be amazing :)

So, yes, very excited and looking forward to the new year and new adventures. 

On that note, I am going to lay back, watch some old episodes of Columbo and read and enjoy this day off. 

Sweet Dreams, Y'all!

Christmas Eve: Not Sarajvo 2013

I am pleased to announce that I am all done with school. I completed the form with the proper name to put on my graduate certificate and it should be mailed to me on December 30th.

Whew. 

I have been told by multiple people that they REALLY missed my updates so now that school is over, I have made a promise to be better at this :)

Latest news to catch you all up and then I'll be back in the swing of things:

1. Received my annual review. I rock, as usual. Got a nice raise and bonus. 

2. Had a quiet little birthday with a few friends. I had a "My Favourite Things" party (yes, named after the song). The invitations were "brown paper packages tied up with string" as you can see in the photo below: 

The idea of the party was that each person brought a few of their favourite things to share with everyone else! That way, everyone got presents, not just the birthday girl. It was a quiet cozy last minute affair due to my finals being right after. I made schnitzel with noodles and for hors de oeuvres I made those yummy little cocktail hot dogs and a home made mustard beer cheese dip with hot soft pretzel bites. Everyone brought fun stuff to share with others: a pint of Fireball cinnamon whiskey for each of us, Yankee Candles, cupcakes, and Alpha showed up with his arms stacked high with Krispey Creme donut boxes! A dozen maple glazed for each of us. So, yes. We sat around and sipped whiskey and ate donuts while it snowed. Merlin topped the evening off with a home made baked Alaska which he set on fire with cognac making a spectacular and splendid show :)

3. I have been down with an injury for a few weeks. Managed to pop a rib head while bench pressing and pinch a nerve. I have had my arm in a sling for two weeks and, quite frankly, am annoyed and sick of being hurt. 

4. I am currently working on my new goals for the new year. More on those in the days to come.

5. I finally got an assistant!!!!!! Yay! He has been an absolute life saver and I made sure to recognize him with an award at the end of this year. He doesn't realize I am secretly grooming him to take my place...more on that later ;) shhhhh

6. Got yet another section of my tattoo sleeve done. I will share a photo with you when I write up the piece on that.

I'm sure there is more but it seems like so much so I'll just continue to catch y'all up. I'm off to have Xmas dinner and stuff stockings and cuddle up to some movies with P and Thomas tonight.

A merry christmas to all and to all a good night!

It's That Time of the Year...

Almost done with graduate school. Have an A average so far. My team for the group project buckled down and got our group paper turned in before the holiday so that gave me a chance to enjoy:

NM, P, and I attended the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who in the theater!!! It was awesome :)

Work gave me free front row box seats to see Michael McDonald's Christmas concert at the Strathmore last night so I took P to that. Really nice show.

Also managed to obtain two tickets to see the Mthbusters Tour in Baltimore on the 13th so I'll be surprising P with that and she is going to be SO excited to see Adam and Jaime... I'm so excited that it's killing me to not tell her!

Made the appointment and took my drawings into my ink guy to have the last piece of my forearm done. Then my sleeve will be half done! That's on the 12th... My bday gift to myself :)

And there's probably been a thousand other little things but I've been so busy with work and school...

Dashing to the grocery store so can get home to do laundry and homework!

xxx ooo

From the concert last night:

My First 8k

Just ran my first "official" 8k. I have actually gone that distance before in training but never actually done a race.

I'm so pleased! I not only finished (never really doubted that) but I also passed TWO people!!!! I am exhausted and hungry but I know I've been pretty quiet lately with school and work so just had to share this.

We are going to go have breakfast and then home for a nap. Later today I have my turn at editing our group project paper so that's the big project today (other than an 8k) and then tomorrow I have more homework to do. I'll be spending tomorrow grocery shopping, doing laundry, studying, and trying a new beer Mac and cheese recipe in prep for my birthday party next month.

I just have to hang in there one more month and I'll be done with school and have my grad cert. 

Ooooooo Turkey Treeeee

I slept in this morning and then shuffled into the family room to discover Endora and P hard at work with a surprise for me. 

The Xmas tree was up!

But, it wasn't an Xmas tree... It was a thanksgiving tree!

Long ago, the day we put the tree up was my bday in Dec. The last several years, we have made the day after thanksgiving our traditional day since I had wanted the tree up in time for my bday party as a decoration. 

This year, Endora was just ready to put it up instead of waiting to feel rushed after the holiday. They had the brilliant idea to do fall decorations on it :)

I love it. 

Today is laundry day and I'm making Guinness cupcakes for Thomas then experimenting with the food for my bday holiday party. I'm doing a "my favorites things" party so I will be making schnitzel with noodles for dinner. For lunch / afternoon snack, I am making home made pretzel bites and home made warm beer cheese dip.

I'll leave you with some pics of our "Turkey Tree"