20 Things About Me

I’m linking up with Kym at Travel Babbles today to tell you 20 things you might not know about me. I thought it would be fun, but it’s been surprisingly difficult to think of 20 things. I’m sure they’ll start bombarding me when I’m in the car later, though (oops, see #13!).

1. My dogs Bruce and Clark are named after super heroes (Batman and Superman). Both of them were surprises from my husband.

2. I was a cheerleader for 13 years and I still love it. In fact, I went to see Bring It On: The Musical last weekend.

3. I can quote almost any episode of Friends. I love to watch it as I fall asleep.

4. Pasta with butter and parmesan cheese is my favorite comfort food. Whenever I’m really down, a big bowl of it will usually pick me up. Throw in some jalapeno chips and you’re golden. Also? Pasta with butter was pretty much all I ate during my childhood and was the first thing I learned how to “cook.”

5. I hate doing dishes. Our apartment doesn’t have a dishwasher and I seriously cringe everytime we use a dish because I know I’m going to have to wash it (sooner or later).

6. I love to read and I go through books like underwear. I’ll read anything if I have to, but love chick lit and memoirs.

7. I’m a bit of a hypochondriac. I always think the worst when I have an odd twinge or pain, and live in constant fear that I have a tumor I don’t know about.

8. I’m a sister of Delta Phi Epsilon although I was never an active sister. I stopped caring about things like grades in high school which carried over to college and was strengthened when partying every night become the new norm. A poor GPA kept me from taking a little sister, competing in Greek Week, or having a position. It also kept me from graduating.

9. I want to write novels. This has always been a dream of mine, but my desire to work from home has made it grow.

10. My favorite movie is How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Runners-up include the new Footloose, the Notebook, and Remember the Titans. I will always put Stepbrothers on if it’s playing and the Fast and Furious movies are the background to my life. I was once in the backseat of a car racing on back country roads…half fun, half terrifying.

11. I became obsessed with makeup after a trip to the mall over Christmas break my freshman year of college with 2 friends from high school. They were getting makeup, not me, but I became friends with the makeup artist (you may know her as Jessica Romano from The Glam Fairy…if not, you should) and would sit and watch her do makeup on other people. Other times, she would do my makeup and show me what she did. I have no formal training in makeup other than short training sessions when I worked for Benefit Cosmetics and Chanel Cosmetics and 2 MAC artist classes. I currently work as a freelance makeup artist (in addition to my other jobs…plural).

12. Even though I’m 24 years old (and have been drinking since 14, shhh) I am still learning how to handle my liquor. Apparently, you shouldn’t lose track of how many whiskey shots you take, leading to crying and throwing up out a window? (Yeah, that story will be coming…and sorry, Frank.)

13. I am a bad driver. Honestly, my biggest drawback is that I have a hard time focusing while driving, which I didn’t even realize until I crashed my car. I have to force myself to keep my mind on the task at hand and not fiddle with the heat or radio, not stare at things out the window, not look at my phone. I never realized what a problem it was and it got me thinking that maybe I have ADD (please see item #7 above).

14. I’m 5’0. Yes, that is short. No it is not legally considered a midget. Moving on.

15. My desk at work HAS to be organized or I can’t get anything done. I find myself constantly re-organizing it lately because I’ve got so much going on right now and things are always piling up. Too bad I can’t say the same for my apartment!

16. I am extremely clumsy. I have fallen down stairs, tripped, busted ass in Starbucks, walked into doors, door frames, walls, cabinets, bang my knee on my desk regularly, cut my hand with any number of things I’m using, etc. At my friend’s wedding, I cut my palm with a steak knife trying to slice bread. After a few drinks in heels? I’ll need an escort.

17. I tend to wait until the last minute for everything. Major procrastination going on over here. I especially do this when I need to get ready, choosing instead to lay in bed for 10 more minutes or just watch this TV show until the next commercial. And then I’m late.

18. My handwriting looks drastically different all the time depending on how hard I’m trying to make it look nice. In school, I used to re-write my notes if they were sloppy. Sloppy handwriting is a pet peeve of mine!

19. I like to cook if and only if I have mass amounts of time and someone else will do the dishes for me. Also, it doesn’t hurt if the dish includes pasta which almost guarantees I’ll like it. I even ate (and liked!) green pasta in Aruba.

20. Last but not least, I am ridiculously scared of bugs. I make my husband kill them. I was really proud of myself for killing a big big BIG bug while he was away on his bachelor party, but I’m pretty sure it stayed squished on the wall until he came home. I know they’re smaller than me, but I definitely don’t think they’re scared of me.

EXTRA: This used to be my favorite picture of myself until my husband said he didn’t like it. Repeatedly. Kissy face fail.

There you have it. Me in a nutshell. Or rather 20 numbered bullets. Leave a few things about yourself in the comments so I can get to know you, too!

I’m probably going to regret this…

I’m just going to come out and say it. I HATE TWITTER. Seriously, I do. I know some of you tweetheads out there love you some Twitter, but I really just can’t get on board. I’m addicted to Facebook, love Instagram (but forget to use it and then overload it within 2 hours and then forget again), but I Twitter and I are not friends. I’ll tell you why:

1. Everytime I try to use Twitter, it tells me it’s over capacity. What the what, Tweetsville? How are you “over capacity?” And no, I don’t want to come back later, I’m actually remembering to tweet NOW so let me tweet, damnit.

2. Shameless plugs ALL IN MY FACE. And no, not the posts from bloggers with updates. I will definitely take those thank you. I mean the companies who pay people to put stupid links up and oh try this! And blah di blah blah. NO THANKS.

3. I follow a whole bunch of fantasy football stuff and I want them to shut up. In my head, football is over until the superbowl when Hubs and I have a big party and then it’s over again until I get mildly excited about it in August (that ends mid September). I know I can unfollow them all, but that just seems like a lot of work.

4. EVERYONE uses it which makes me feel like I HAVE to use it, especially to be a good blogger. By putting my thoughts, feelings, and ridiculousness out here for you all, I also need to provide you with a million ways to stalk me. Also, please follow me here and like me here (and in general). Oops, just violated my own hate reasons.

5. It just seems dumb. Also, I didn’t have a number 5 really.

6. Oh wait, I do. I always just seem to end up tweeting my friends about Sons of Anarchy or whatever when I could just text them much quicker from the same device I’m twittering from.

7. Ooh and another! The stacking number of updates makes me anxious. Seriously, I have 3 right now and I know it’s going to jump to 47 in about 30 seconds and then I’ll have to update it and then it will creep up again and it’s a neverending cycle of Twitter Anxiety (real life condition).

So to recap: I hate Twitter, but I guess I have to use it so you can all see the shots of 140 characters I have to share throughout my day. But beware, I will probably forget and then send 800 tweets within 5 minutes to make up for it just like my pal Instagram. Also? They’ll probably be boring. Because I work all day. And because of my fatness, I then go to the gym. And then I go home and eat dinner and watch TV while working on my blog. All very boring. So don’t blame me if my tweets suck (but seriously, can you follow me?)

Remembrance, Respect & Silence

 

For those that lost their lives, for those that lost their loves, for those that lost their innocence entirely too young…a day of silence.

Taking today to remember some of Heaven’s newest angels: Charlotte Bacon, Rachel D’Avino, Olivia Engel, Dylan Hockley, Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, Jesse Lewis, Ana Marquez-Greene, Grace McDonnell, Anne Marie Murphy, Emilie Parker, Noah Pozner, Jessica Rekos, Mary Sherlach, Lauren Rosseau, Victoria Soto, Daniel Barden, Josephine Gay, Madeleine Hsu, Catherine Hubbard, Chase Kowalski, James Mattioli, Jack Pinto, Caroline Previdi, Avielle Richman, Benjamin Wheeler, Allison Wyatt.

Rest in Peace.

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A Moment of Silence…

Please don’t forget …

On Tuesday, December 18th, there will be a blogger day of silence.
We will post the button and that’s it. Please try to not post anything else that day if possible.

We are also raising money that will go to an organization in the memory of this tragedy. The organization is called The Newtown Family Youth and Family Services. Here is the official description of the support service we are donating to:

“Newtown Youth and Family Services, Inc. is a licensed, non-profit, mental health clinic and youth services bureau dedicated to helping children and families achieve their highest potential. NYFS provides programs, services, activities, counseling, support groups and education throughout the Greater Newtown area.

ANY DONATIONS MADE TO NEWTOWN YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES WILL BE DONATED DIRECTLY TO THOSE EFFECTED BY THE SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SHOOTING.”

Please visit THIS PAGE to make your donation.

We can’t imagine how they must be feeling, especially this close to the holidays. We would love for you to spread the word on your own blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Let’s make a difference and use blogging in a positive way. Thank you in advance for participating.

Love,
The Blog World

p.s. If you would like to, copy-paste and repost any part of this, please do. Share on.
I copied from Real Life, Real Estate, Real Dana who got it from Living in Yellow

Cars on cars on cars

I feel like follow-ups to the crybaby whine-face posts I left you with are necessary, but since I’m in a good place right now I don’t really want to rehash it at this point. Maybe later or tomorrow, but right now I want to keep this level of happy. I have some fun stuff coming up including 2 outfit posts! I know, who do I think I am?

But today is not about clothes. It is about cars. My car to be exact. My car which was crashed exactly one month ago today. The very same car that is still in the shop with  promises of being released tomorrow. Today is also about rental cars. Yes, cars as in plural. Because I’m on my second rental car. My first one was a beaut, but we’ll get to that. I have a NEW rental car today & I have named him Leon after the snowman in Elf. He is a white Ford Focus hatchback & much preferable to my first rental car who had a slew of names, the most common being the Green Machine and Mike Wazoski.

Leon the Snowman. Not to be confused with Leon the car.

Really, Enterprise? Lime green? I think someone was trying to punish me. To be honest, I’m going to miss Mike Wazoski a little bit. He was very easy to find in the mall parking lot (good for Bucks shifts during holiday hours!) and I may have STARTED to think he was kind of fun. Also, he had purple lights inside. Unfortunately, poor Mike needed a little repair when his temporary owner (who, me?) maybe kinda sorta ran over a curb and the tire went flat. To be fair to this temporary owner, the curbs in her complex are REALLY HIGH and stupid and this may or may not be the third tire she has popped on said curbs. Skills? I has them. (Also, please don’t yell at me.) The donut provided for such instances isn’t really meant for long term use/highway driving, so I switched him out for Mr. Snowman. Ballaaaa! I got whips all up in this place.

Mike Wazowski
(photo via Ford.com)

 

Either way, Leon or Monsters, Inc., I am so so SO excited to get my car back tomorrow, but at the same time I’m trying not to get my hopes up because this is the THIRD estimated date I’ve received for my car repairs to be done. Honestly, I don’t place much stock in these timeframes. I am no mechanic so I have no place to predict such things for myself nor do I have any kind of comparison for how long a smushed in hood of a car and disintegrated headlight takes to repair. So go mechanic! (But seriously…hurry please!)

Will the real Mike Wazowski please stand up?

In a completely unrelated note, I washed my hair with shower gel today. Luckily, I realized my mistake and was able to RE-WASH it with shampoo but now my hair is super soft. Thinking I’ll need to wash my hair again tomorrow (boo!).

Secondly in this unrelated note (It is Hump-Day Update Wednesday afterall) my hand/wrist is really hurting from typing/writing and now I’m afraid I have carpal tunnel. I am finally admitting it here and now. I am a serial hypochondriac. Deep down, I know this. I don’t like to admit it though because that downplays the seriousness of my injuries. Just like my bruised finger (I MIGHT HAVE considered the fact that I broke it until the next day when it felt better) from slamming the blender cover on it at the Bucks.

So what do you think of the retired Mike Wazoski? Are you excited for 2 outfit posts (maybe 3…I just thought of a 3^rd Christmas related one!)? Do you think I’m just a walking accident-waiting-to-happen? (You don’t have to answer that last one…)

And because who DOESN’T love Elf…one of my (and my husband’s!) favorite scenes

 

It’s about THAT time.

No, not of the month. Of the fats. As in myself. When I slimmed down for my wedding, I told myself it would be the last time I’d have to work to make healthy eating & exercising a habit. And now here we are. Back to the point where most of my clothes are fitting less comfortably and I have pie face, both as in it is the same shape as a pie & also looks like I just inhaled one. Cute.

The formula for maintaining your weight is not difficult to understand. To live on the other hand… Today is the first day of Diet 2012 2.0 and while the first day is never the hardest – in fact, it’s almost fun - I know I won’t be so excited to be skipping pasta, chocolate & my favorite jalapeno chips a few weeks days from now. This time around I plan to mix healthy eating with exercise I actually enjoy like Zumba & hot yoga. I’ll be trying some healthier, low-fat/low-cal recipes from some of my favorite bloggers & once my hubs & I reach a more comfortable weight, we’ll maintain by mixing in some old favorites to the healthy lifestyle we will (hopefully) be making a habit. I’m not trying to become a model here, just be comfortable in my own skin. I felt really good over the summer when I was at a lower weight & I’d love to live there permanently. So whereas I could forego all pasta, all snacks forever and ever, I won’t do that. Life is about living & if a bowl of pasta once in a while makes me happy, I’m not going to put it on lockdown. But moderation is key both on & off a diet. My problem has never been actually losing the weight, but keeping it off. Once I get to that goal weight, I give myself all the food I’d been laying off of…not exactly a recipe for success. So I am raising my salad fork to a new lifestyle, one that will not be compromised once lbs are lost; to finding an exercise regime that makes me happy; and to choosing to enjoy life in moderation…instead of the shovel method.

My father-in-law & I at a friend’s wedding this past weekend…aka me with pie face

Me & my husband at our wedding…sans pie face

“Day” Dreaming

What would your perfect day look like? Not your ACTUAL perfect day like making out with Ryan Gosling before meeting B.Spears for mani-pedis. Like a common everyday perfect day. Have you ever stopped to think about it? I don’t think I ever until the idea of being a full-time writer seemed a bit more plausible in my mind. Because my perfect day doesn’t start with a 6am trip to the gym or a battle with traffic on the way into work. Yours might, but I actually day dream about being able to get up, eat breakfast while catching up with my favorite blogs & then starting my day. I picture the alarm going off at about 7:30/8am to walk the dogs (one day to get the kids up & ready!) and then settling in at the kitchen table with my laptop & a cup of coffee to read. My ACTUAL perfect day would definitely include pumpkin coffee or at least some Bailey’s Pumpkin Spice creamer. Breakfast would probably be eggs with hot sauce and turkey sausage or turkey bacon; perfection would be some breakfast potatoes. After finishing breakfast and my morning update session, complete with comments, I’d check my own wildly successful blog (ok, I guess we can have some of the crazy perfectness sprinkled in the dream, right?) to make sure my scheduled post had gone up & reply to any comments that were already there. It would probably be about 9am when I went for a long walk or jog, turned on a fitness DVD or hit up hot yoga or Zumba somewhere (perhaps in my living room?) before showering the sweat away. Dressed in a comfy cute outfit, I would sit down at my desk (yes in this dream I also have my own desk) and write for about 3 hours and then break for lunch. I’d eat a wholesome meal, definitely something more substantial than the yogurt I’ll be having later but still healthy, before checking email & taking care of some social media. Around 3pm, I’d check my line up of blog posts, add one or two more & finish off with some brainstorming for future projects/posts. All without leaving the house!

My perfect day might sound incredibly boring to you, but I can’t picture anything more perfect. Of course it would be changed up here & there depending on the needs of the day (perhaps a business meeting or phone call, staging for a blog post about something more concrete than hopes & dreams or even a book signing?! You never knowww…) Perfection is in the eye of the beholder (yes I changed the quote to suit my needs today) and one man’s perfect may not be that of another man, but no matter what your dreams are, the first step in realizing them is to actually formulate goals & the action steps needed to get you there.

I’ve been thinking about my future a lot. Maybe it’s because I recently got married or maybe it’s before of the recent passing of my mom and pop-pop, but I’ve been thinking about how I can live a happier, healthier, cleaner, more fulfilling existence. One I can be proud of and actually fully enjoy. One where my biggest accomplishment eclipses my high school cheerleading team’s 2nd place victory at Worlds. It’s time to starting taking the steps needed to make my dreams a reality, to turn them into accomplishments, to color my bookshelf and office with titles made up by me, to create my own schedule & my own existence. And maybe one day, not too too far away, I’ll be leaving my daydream, my perfect existence. Most likely in a zebra print office, but some things never change.

Overwhelmed.

There’s a lot going on in my head right now. Like at this very instant. I wish I could share it all because blogging and writing about the way I feel really helps me feel better & clears my mind. Obviously some parts of my life are personal and don’t belong entirely to me. I can’t write about the way another person is feeling because it’s their feelings & their thoughts, even if I have become involved.

Life isn’t simple. I love the idea of living simply and taking the extravagance out of your daily life, and I’m going to try to practice that more in 2013, but overall life is a complex thing. Some days it’s more complex than others while there may be points where you feel blessedly content & free. I’ve found it’s also possible to feel both of these conflicting emotions at once in different parts of your life, compartmentalizing at its finest…which is altogether confusing and difficult in itself.

Sometimes I think about writing a different blog, one I don’t publicize, one that’s simply(there’s that word again) for me. Where my friends & family don’t go to read & I can speak my mind truthfully and get it out there. Then again I believe that’s what a journal or diary is for, so possibly I could just break out a notebook.

I recently tried to explain to my husband the way I’ve been feeling the past few months, pretty much ever since my mom passed away. I think I’ve gotten pretty good at hiding my feelings, definitely better than I used to be, but I don’t always see the point in talking about how I feel. Because I’m ashamed, scared, unsure anyone will understand. He seemed pretty surprised to learn the way I had been feeling which is just so hard to get across in the first place. I feel better having it out there, but it’s also weird to continue about my everyday life like that conversation didn’t really happen. Which is probably the wrong thing to do anyway and could possibly be the reason for my drunken nervous breakdowns, alcohol being the bridge that releases my inhibitions about sharing and feeling and telling people I’M NOT OK. Because I’m not. But at the same time, I am. And I don’t even get it enough to understand it myself let alone try to explain it to others so how do you talk about it? You don’t until you’re multiple bottles of wine or shots of fire whiskey (which I didn’t even realize was whiskey…oops, mess moment) & all of a sudden it’s the perfect opportunity to burst into tears because you feel so lost and alone and miserable even though it’s the happiest time of your life and you just married an amazing guy and gained an amazing family, this whole other support system who would be there to talk, but without the alcohol the shame and uneasiness comes back & you tell people you’re fine, fine, fine. Which you are, to an extent.

If you made it this far, you’re either really bored, a really good friend or possibly understand what I’m talking about (explain it to me?) so I guess I’ll wrap it up and stop the babbling mess that is this post. Ever wish you were a dog? I do. Pretty much on a daily basis. Especially when my puppy is laying on his back snoring while I try to dry-shampoo my dirty hair into some semblance of style at 7:15am. Those pups have a pretty nice existence. Their biggest problem is when they can go outside and can they have a bite of that whatever you’re eating.

The hubs & I are going [mostly] sober starting this Sunday and lasting to New Year’s Eve. I say mostly because I’m pretty sure my in-laws have a pumpkin pie martini brewing for Thanksgiving and pending my Bucks schedule (they’re opening at 9pm on Thanksgiving for Black Friday…WHAT?!) I would definitely enjoy one of those babies. Other than that…sober Sally. I think it’s a good idea. I’ve done it before, and it usually helps me feel more cool day & less hot mess if you will. Also, we’ll be dieting because post-wedding anti-dieting has made us both thicker and gross-feeling which doesn’t add to the mess.

Thanks for listening reading. Hopefully one day soon this little space of internet will be less gloom & more happy tales of falling down & ripping skirts.

Clumsy, Klutz, Walking-challenged…

All of these could describe me.

In the past 2 weeks I have: fallen at the Bucks while carrying a tray of freshly washed dishes (this resulted in 2 big bruises and the inability to wear heels for a few days), dropped & shattered my month-old iPhone 5, tripped walking up the stairs with a basket of laundry, & bumped my car with my husband’s car. And these are just the big, truly memorable things I did. I’m sure I’ve also walked into walls, banged my hand on whatever is within 5 feet of me, etc. You get the picture. Actually I just remembered stubbing my toe on my husband’s suitcase.

Now, I can understand my husband’s feeling of frustration when I’m constantly doing these things. He’s told me (just today) that he is torn between feeling bad that I fell/hurt myself/whatever and wanting to laugh at my clumsiness to being mad whenever I break something (often). In fact within the first month of dating, I broke the towel rod in his bathroom & the handle off his sliding glass door. Apparently, I don’t know my own strength.

Dropping & shattering the screen of my iPhone 5 last week was kind-of the last straw. I had already cracked the screen on my old iPhone resulting in crappy photos from the broken camera which was why I upgraded when the 5 came out. This new break was especially bad and was most certainly unliveable. I had to be careful with the phone because little shards of glass were sticking up and easily could have pricked me or fallen on the floor. $300, a new phone & an Otterbox case later, I no longer had the glass issue but hubs was still upset with me. Rightfully so, especially since money is more of a shared entity and our future home & lives depend on NOT wasting money because you can’t stop breaking things.

In the heat of the moment following the accident itself (dropping my phone on the kitchen floor), Ron told me I need to be more aware of myself. This statement perplexed me. To be honest, I always wondered why I could do backflips down a 4″ balance beam, yet could not seem to walk through my own apartment without hurting myself. Is it really because I’m not “aware of myself?” And what the hell does that mean? Move slower? Think more/faster? I’ve never known myself not to be clumsy. It’s the basis of plenty of inside jokes and humiliating memories (like my freshman self falling down the stairs in front of the junior football players during highschool…and I thought those stupid platform clogs were so cool).

Being an adult now, I definitely see the perks of a NON-clumsy lifestyle…less bruises/band-aids, poise, confidence, people not thinking you’re incapable of one of the most basic motions which I’ve had roughly 23 years of practice doing. How do I go about changing this seemingly-ingrained quality of myself? It’s something I’ll be practicing in the coming months…trying to be less clumsy. Obviously, this would mean less alcohol + lower heels while out, but what about when I’m wearing the same boots I always wear and entering my office? Why do I walk into the doorframe? I like to think it’s because I’m SO FOCUSED on work that I didn’t notice it, but that’s probably not entirely true.

Any advice on the matter would be seriously appreciated. While it’s easy enough to laugh at myself falling down, I’d prefer fewer iPhones and bruises and perhaps a little more admiration from my hubs…instead of the bevy of feelings he has while watching me break another wineglass/fall down our steps outside/trip over the dog. Seriously, the more I write, the more that comes to me. I just wish I had video/photo proof to include as evidence. My belongings and injured self thank you in advance for any help!

 

Since I don’t have any such photo, I’ll show you a picture of my new hair color! My sister-in-law colored my hair a red-brown with copper ombre this past weekend & it came out amazing! Love it