We were recently introduced to skype. I had heard of it before, but never used it. As a going away present, we received a webcam in order to skype with our families on a regular basis. I have to say, I really kinda love it. Other than a few glitches with our camera, skyping is truly delightful! I often skype with my sister and my almost 2-year old niece. It's really fun! I think I see them more now through skype than I did when we were at home. I also occasionally skype with my sister-in-law and my nephew although my nephew has a hard time standing still within the frame. So a lot of the conversation is yelling at him to move back in front of the camera. :) Evan also skypes with his whole family every Sunday - it's convenient because they are all together in one place. It's really almost like we are at home and that's so awesome!
One of my biggest worries was that I would miss so much of my niece and nephew growing up, but now with skype, it's like I'm not missing anything. Thank goodness, because they really light up my life and I'm so thankful that modern technology makes it so easy for me to connect with them. If you have skype, look me up so I can add you to my contacts and we too can chat like I'm not several states away!!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
CoooOOOoookies!
Admittedly, I am not a good cookie baker. My cookies always end up burnt, misshapen, and not too great tasting. Usually, I can follow a recipe and it turns out pretty good, but cookies and me just don't mix. However, I always feel like baking this time of year and since I have nothing else to do, we decided to bake some cookies this afternoon. We chose two recipes: Chocolate Chip and Thumbprint Cookies. I was just gonna do the thumbprint cookies, but Evan wanted some chocolate chip. I am convinced that the one recipe for chocolate chip cookies that I have is flawed because each time I've tried to make it, the cookies were melted, flat, burnt pieces of crap. So Evan was put in charge of finding a new recipe.
After 2 trips to the grocery store - I forgot baking soda the first time - we were ready to bake. I started with the thumbprint cookies because the dough needed to chill for an hour. My mom makes these thumbprint cookies every year, so I decided I needed to try them myself.
Next up, I baked the thmubprint cookies and Evan filled them with apricot and boysenberry jam. Usually, these cookies are made with nuts, but since Evan is allergic, I only made 6 with nuts for me. Toss in some "Colbert Christmas Special" and "A Muppet Family Christmas" playing on DVD in the background and it was quite the merry time. And now, we have 2 plates full of cookies that the 2 of us have to eat!! I could be nice and fix some plates for our neighbors, but that would require actually talking to them, and doesn't sound like something I'd do. :)
After 2 trips to the grocery store - I forgot baking soda the first time - we were ready to bake. I started with the thumbprint cookies because the dough needed to chill for an hour. My mom makes these thumbprint cookies every year, so I decided I needed to try them myself.
While the thumprint dough was chilling we whipped up the chocolate chip cookies. Evan was in charge while I supervised. And being, well being Evan, he decided that he wanted to add some marshmallows to the chocolate chip dough. I convinced him to only put marshmallows in the last few because I thought the marshmallows would just melt and mess up the cookies. Well, his recipe was successful! Not only did all the cookies turn out (minus a few with burnt bottoms) the ones with the marshmallows were pretty tasty!
Next up, I baked the thmubprint cookies and Evan filled them with apricot and boysenberry jam. Usually, these cookies are made with nuts, but since Evan is allergic, I only made 6 with nuts for me. Toss in some "Colbert Christmas Special" and "A Muppet Family Christmas" playing on DVD in the background and it was quite the merry time. And now, we have 2 plates full of cookies that the 2 of us have to eat!! I could be nice and fix some plates for our neighbors, but that would require actually talking to them, and doesn't sound like something I'd do. :) 
Saturday, December 5, 2009
The Jay Leno Show
So living in California, more specifically, in Burbank, definitely has its perks. One of those perks is that we basically live next door to all the major tv and movie studios. This allows us to go see tapings of shows like The Jay Leno Show. Tickets are free, you just need to reserve in advance and show up on time.
The time to show up was 2:45 and we left our apartment at 2pm - NBC is less than a mile from our house. Well, NBC sits on the intersection of Alameda and Olive which is a stupid, crooked, little intersection. Olive runs diagonally through Alameda so it's a little confusing. Anyway, we found where we were supposed to line up and there was already a TON of people there. Basically, if you wanna be one of the folks who go up and shake hands with Jay at the beginning of the show, you better be there waaaay early. Anyway, now that we knew where we were going, we had to find parking. I am still astonished at the complete lack of parking in LA. You would think that a city that is so reliant on auto transportation would have places to park. UGH! Anyway, we parked in a parking garage under an adjacent building (that cost $12.50, by the way!). And then we had to walk all the way around NBC studios to get to the line-up area.
We got to the place to line up around 2:35. Now, on the tickets it says that seating is "first come, first served and that a ticket doesn't necessarily mean you will get a seat." There were already 2 sections of the line that went in to the holding area next to the studio so we were a little worried that we wouldn't get in. But finally, we made it to the holding area - where we waited...and waited...and waited. The show doesn't start taping until 4pm and we were seated at about 3:50. We were seated in the far stage right corner (near where the musical guests perform). Not the best seats in the world, but hey, they were free. The guests for the show were Morgan Freeman (AWESOME!), Maxwell (who?), a segment of "Jaywalking" and then comedian Daniel Thune (Hilarious!) at the end.
It was hard to actually watch Jay and not watch the tv monitors right above our heads. Most of the time Jay was blocked by camera equipment or the guy sitting right next to me that was leaning over way too far. What was interesting is that while the show was on commercial or there was something playing on the monitors, like the Jaywalking pre-taped stuff, Jay would just kinda wander around, chat with crew and then quickly go over his next cue cards 10 seconds before the cameras came back to him.
I had no idea who the musical guest was, and I guess his song was ok, but I was mesmerized by his suave moves - that boy could dance. And then it was done and we were all ushered out. It was fun, and it's nice to have a free (except the parking) thing to do in California. I'd really like to go to the Ellen show someday, but she seems to be a pretty hot ticket and books up fast. Anyway, there you have it, our Jay Leno experience.
The time to show up was 2:45 and we left our apartment at 2pm - NBC is less than a mile from our house. Well, NBC sits on the intersection of Alameda and Olive which is a stupid, crooked, little intersection. Olive runs diagonally through Alameda so it's a little confusing. Anyway, we found where we were supposed to line up and there was already a TON of people there. Basically, if you wanna be one of the folks who go up and shake hands with Jay at the beginning of the show, you better be there waaaay early. Anyway, now that we knew where we were going, we had to find parking. I am still astonished at the complete lack of parking in LA. You would think that a city that is so reliant on auto transportation would have places to park. UGH! Anyway, we parked in a parking garage under an adjacent building (that cost $12.50, by the way!). And then we had to walk all the way around NBC studios to get to the line-up area.
We got to the place to line up around 2:35. Now, on the tickets it says that seating is "first come, first served and that a ticket doesn't necessarily mean you will get a seat." There were already 2 sections of the line that went in to the holding area next to the studio so we were a little worried that we wouldn't get in. But finally, we made it to the holding area - where we waited...and waited...and waited. The show doesn't start taping until 4pm and we were seated at about 3:50. We were seated in the far stage right corner (near where the musical guests perform). Not the best seats in the world, but hey, they were free. The guests for the show were Morgan Freeman (AWESOME!), Maxwell (who?), a segment of "Jaywalking" and then comedian Daniel Thune (Hilarious!) at the end.
It was hard to actually watch Jay and not watch the tv monitors right above our heads. Most of the time Jay was blocked by camera equipment or the guy sitting right next to me that was leaning over way too far. What was interesting is that while the show was on commercial or there was something playing on the monitors, like the Jaywalking pre-taped stuff, Jay would just kinda wander around, chat with crew and then quickly go over his next cue cards 10 seconds before the cameras came back to him.
I had no idea who the musical guest was, and I guess his song was ok, but I was mesmerized by his suave moves - that boy could dance. And then it was done and we were all ushered out. It was fun, and it's nice to have a free (except the parking) thing to do in California. I'd really like to go to the Ellen show someday, but she seems to be a pretty hot ticket and books up fast. Anyway, there you have it, our Jay Leno experience.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Thanksgiving = Christmas Decorations
So we just celebrated Thanksgiving which means that it's now acceptable to put up Christmas decorations. It's not yet December, but Xmas here we come! We brought just about all of our xmas decorations from Colorado, so today I took the opportunity to decorate. I got the tree up and all it needs is our ornaments. Evan had rehearsal this afternoon, so I'm waiting till he gets home so we can do it together. Other than the tree, we have a few xmas knick knacks here and there and that's about it. I also have this really sweet Christmas Village, but I don't have a good place to put in the apartment. I have some options, but none of them are really convenient for minature buildings and fake snow.
We are going home to CO for Christmas and I couldn't be more excited! You realize just how homesick you are when you have booked a flight home and comfort, family and friends are only weeks away. Because of Evan's show, we can't stay in CO very long, but I plan to enjoy every minute of it. There are so many things that I love about Christmastime and we are fortunate that we don't have to miss them even though we moved away. Here are just a few of the things that bring me so much joy during the holidays:
We are going home to CO for Christmas and I couldn't be more excited! You realize just how homesick you are when you have booked a flight home and comfort, family and friends are only weeks away. Because of Evan's show, we can't stay in CO very long, but I plan to enjoy every minute of it. There are so many things that I love about Christmastime and we are fortunate that we don't have to miss them even though we moved away. Here are just a few of the things that bring me so much joy during the holidays:
- I love my mom's house at Christmas. She goes all out and makes sure every room is decorated some way. I used to always help put up the decorations and had to learn where each decoration lived and how everything was supposed to be stragetically plugged in. I didn't get to help this year, but I can't wait to enjoy the decorations. The house is really magical this time of year.
- Stocking stuffers at the Marquez house. My siblings and I stopped getting stockings when I was about 10. Kinda sad. Luckily, I married into a family that will never stop doing stocking stuffers. I have my own stocking at the Marquez house and I LOVE opening them first thing on Christmas morning. It's full of all sorts of small, fun trinkets and it's always an adventure to see what's in the stocking.
- Watching all the little kids open stuff at my mom's house on Christmas Eve. What I particularly love is that because they are kids, they pretty much get their way, so when they want to open presents the second they walk through the door, they get the fun started right away. They have so much fun and it's great to watch.
- As much as it might be frustrating, I love how my dad tries to put off gift opening to the very last second. We always need to cook, eat, clean the kitchen, do the dishes and sit around for what seems like forever before we can start the gift exchange. It used to drive us crazy when we were little, but now we expect it and I think it's kind of funny.
- Lastly, I LOVE getting gifts from Evan. Not just cause it's neat to get presents, but because Evan's gifts are always thoughtful, unique and just so "Evan." It reminds me just how great he is, as if I could ever forget. He pays attention to everything and applies it when giving gifts. If I mentioned something in passing 5 months ago that I thought was neat, it will show up under the tree at Christmas. And there is usually something surprising and funny - Something that makes me giggle and something that no one else would ever think of getting me.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Skittles.
I had plans to go to the gym in our apartment complex this evening. Instead, we went to the store and bought candy. Yup, nothing says health like skittles and snickers. Perhaps I'll still go later, but I'm pretty dang good at finding excuses not to work out.
Let's see, so what else is going on? Thanksgiving is the day after tomorrow and Evan's sister is coming to visit! I have a big ol' meal planned that will, no doubt, yield mountains of left overs. I'm looking forward to cooking all day, especially since one of the first things I'm making is pumpkin cupcakes with a cheesecake filling. I really hope they turn out because otherwise there isn't another option for dessert except for eating frosting out of a can.
What else...oh I've been applying to jobs like mad. It's really becoming quite annoying. I have applied to so many jobs that I'm PERFECTLY qualified for - like they couldn't have written it more for me unless they put my name on the job posting. So I submit my stuff and hear nothing. Not even a stinking interview. I don't understand. I get that the economy is shit and there are like a billion people searching for jobs. But why wouldn't a company want to interview those who are most qualified? Ugh, oh well. Something will come along. And it's not like I'm desperate for money quite yet. Severance will be here for several more weeks, and when that ends, then I really panic.
Still no auditions or agent yet either. I know I've only been here a few weeks, but I hope and pray everyday that something will happen. It's also super difficult to answer questions from loving friends and family about what's going on here when nothing is going on. It's really hard to believe that I made the right decision to move when all I do is sit at home all day. I believe in my abilities, I just need a little outside help to kick things into gear. I've researched, researched and researched and know exactly what I'm doing...and other than shelling out hundreds of dollars for acting classes, I'm doing a lot of things right. And yes, I know that acting classes are important, and I may very well take a whole slew of them, but right now I can't justify the expense - especially when I know that I don't learn well in those situations. I learn the best on my own when I can watch, absorb, experiment on my own and then apply. Or just by doing it! Ugh, anyway, enough venting for now. Time to work on some monologues.
Let's see, so what else is going on? Thanksgiving is the day after tomorrow and Evan's sister is coming to visit! I have a big ol' meal planned that will, no doubt, yield mountains of left overs. I'm looking forward to cooking all day, especially since one of the first things I'm making is pumpkin cupcakes with a cheesecake filling. I really hope they turn out because otherwise there isn't another option for dessert except for eating frosting out of a can.
What else...oh I've been applying to jobs like mad. It's really becoming quite annoying. I have applied to so many jobs that I'm PERFECTLY qualified for - like they couldn't have written it more for me unless they put my name on the job posting. So I submit my stuff and hear nothing. Not even a stinking interview. I don't understand. I get that the economy is shit and there are like a billion people searching for jobs. But why wouldn't a company want to interview those who are most qualified? Ugh, oh well. Something will come along. And it's not like I'm desperate for money quite yet. Severance will be here for several more weeks, and when that ends, then I really panic.
Still no auditions or agent yet either. I know I've only been here a few weeks, but I hope and pray everyday that something will happen. It's also super difficult to answer questions from loving friends and family about what's going on here when nothing is going on. It's really hard to believe that I made the right decision to move when all I do is sit at home all day. I believe in my abilities, I just need a little outside help to kick things into gear. I've researched, researched and researched and know exactly what I'm doing...and other than shelling out hundreds of dollars for acting classes, I'm doing a lot of things right. And yes, I know that acting classes are important, and I may very well take a whole slew of them, but right now I can't justify the expense - especially when I know that I don't learn well in those situations. I learn the best on my own when I can watch, absorb, experiment on my own and then apply. Or just by doing it! Ugh, anyway, enough venting for now. Time to work on some monologues.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
I need a hobby.
Ugh...the days are certainly starting to drag on. Evan works from home full-time, but I'm still on severance searching for a job. Since he needs to be on the computer all day and with the dismal offerings that daytime tv provides, there really isn't much to do. I've been trying to read, but that gets boring. I should clean more often, but it's hard to find the motivation to do so. Today I chose and worked on 2 monologues for drill, but even that only took an hour or 2.
I try to apply to at least 1 job every day, but after days of this you realize just how few jobs are posted during the week. I have had one interview in the week we've been here, but I was outrageously over qualified for it and therefore haven't heard anything back on it. I've also been self-submitting myself to acting jobs, but that hasn't yielded any auditions yet. I have also sent my stuff off to agents, so now I just wait to see if, by chance, someone calls me.
So everyday I sleep in, eat breakfast, watch the today show, get ready for the day, eat lunch with Evan and then honestly do nothing until it's time to cook dinner. It is really a pathetic existence. And the hard part is the longer this goes on, the less motivation I have to actually do anything. What's extra sad is that it was BEAUTIFUL outside today, but I couldn't think of anything to do or anywhere to go to enjoy the weather. Sigh...something needs to happen soon or I just might go insane!!
I try to apply to at least 1 job every day, but after days of this you realize just how few jobs are posted during the week. I have had one interview in the week we've been here, but I was outrageously over qualified for it and therefore haven't heard anything back on it. I've also been self-submitting myself to acting jobs, but that hasn't yielded any auditions yet. I have also sent my stuff off to agents, so now I just wait to see if, by chance, someone calls me.
So everyday I sleep in, eat breakfast, watch the today show, get ready for the day, eat lunch with Evan and then honestly do nothing until it's time to cook dinner. It is really a pathetic existence. And the hard part is the longer this goes on, the less motivation I have to actually do anything. What's extra sad is that it was BEAUTIFUL outside today, but I couldn't think of anything to do or anywhere to go to enjoy the weather. Sigh...something needs to happen soon or I just might go insane!!
Friday, November 13, 2009
Home Sweet Apartment
Going from a 3 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom apartment was quite the transition. We packed up a TON of stuff to store in my mom's basement and still moved quite a bit of junk. Well, here we are 1 week and 1 day as residents of California and I think we are finally all unpacked. We still have some shelves to hang up, but I think we're all settled. It doesn't quite feel like home to me yet. I'm stuck in some middle ground between home and a hotel. All of our stuff is here, but it still doesn't feel quite like ours.
There are a few features of our apartment that we prefer over what we had in our house. First, we have a bathroom that is adjoined to our bedroom. In our house we had to go out into the hall. Second, the living room is very large and open. There is a really nice flow from the kitchen to the eating area to the living room. There is also a long wall that fits our furniture nicely. Third, it's kinda nice to not have to worry about a lawn. Don't get me wrong, I love outdoor spaces and flowers and what not, but it's one less thing to have to worry about and spend money on.
Then of course there are few things that aren't quite as nice. The first major one is that our washer/dryer is in a closet...in the living room!! Yep, right there in the middle of the room is a damn closet that screwed up my whole furniture plan. Next, the dishwasher is not only kinda small, but is the loudest damn thing I have ever heard. We can't even hear each other talk while that thing is on. And since it's smaller, we have to do more loads, ugh. And lastly, the shower head was meant for really short people. We both have to kinda of bend down or squat just to wash our hair. It's a little ridiculous.
Ok, enough of the descriptions, here are the pictures I promised:
One wall of the office: 
Another wall of office that was apparently the magnet for ALL of our stuff:
Our bedroom as seen from the far corner:
Our bedroom from the door:
The second 1/2 bathroom:
Hallway from living room to bedrooms:
Living Room:
There are a few features of our apartment that we prefer over what we had in our house. First, we have a bathroom that is adjoined to our bedroom. In our house we had to go out into the hall. Second, the living room is very large and open. There is a really nice flow from the kitchen to the eating area to the living room. There is also a long wall that fits our furniture nicely. Third, it's kinda nice to not have to worry about a lawn. Don't get me wrong, I love outdoor spaces and flowers and what not, but it's one less thing to have to worry about and spend money on.
Then of course there are few things that aren't quite as nice. The first major one is that our washer/dryer is in a closet...in the living room!! Yep, right there in the middle of the room is a damn closet that screwed up my whole furniture plan. Next, the dishwasher is not only kinda small, but is the loudest damn thing I have ever heard. We can't even hear each other talk while that thing is on. And since it's smaller, we have to do more loads, ugh. And lastly, the shower head was meant for really short people. We both have to kinda of bend down or squat just to wash our hair. It's a little ridiculous.
Ok, enough of the descriptions, here are the pictures I promised:
Here are some closets we have in the hallway:
One wall of the office: 
Another wall of office that was apparently the magnet for ALL of our stuff:
Our bedroom as seen from the far corner:
Our bedroom from the door:
The second 1/2 bathroom:
Hallway from living room to bedrooms:
Living Room:
Living Room:
The dining area/front door as seen from the living room:
The kitchen:
The Kitchen take 2:
Sunday, November 8, 2009
First Post From the Great State of California
So, first let me say, pictures to come, so hold your horses. :) Here are some things to know about CA...
The apartment is great. There is lots of room and one extra bedroom that is currently designated as the storage closet. Basically, if there was a box we didn't quite know what to do with went in that room. Apparently, we had a ton of boxes that we weren't quite sure what to do with...oy. Also, just about ALL of the electric, phone and cable outlets (outlet, singular, in the phone and cable instances) are in the most inconvenient places. We have cables going every which way just to be hooked up - it's ridiculous.
Ah yes...the parking spaces. Only 1 designated parking "space" came with a 2 bedroom apartment. Luckily, there was another "space" that we could rent not too far away. Ok, so these "spaces" are under the building and all have poles separating each space. Our 2 spaces are also right next to walls. These "spaces" are just barely large enough to fit a standard sedan. We have to pull in, back out, turn, and pull in again just to get in each space.
We are right next to a grocery store so that's really convenient. We even walked over to get our groceries. The grocery store is VONS which is just a fancy California word for Safeway. They have all the safeway products and my safeway card even works there.
Everyone, except for the drivers who think that lanes are arbitrary, is strangely nice here. Very talkative and friendly folk everywhere, so that's nice.
Half of our channels are spanish. Seriously. Also, everything is on an hour later and it's really hard to stay up late to watch our good shows. Then, everything on in morning is infomercials - like on 15 channels. Any product you could ever want to buy is being hocked on nearly every channel in LA on Saturday mornings.
The apartment is great. There is lots of room and one extra bedroom that is currently designated as the storage closet. Basically, if there was a box we didn't quite know what to do with went in that room. Apparently, we had a ton of boxes that we weren't quite sure what to do with...oy. Also, just about ALL of the electric, phone and cable outlets (outlet, singular, in the phone and cable instances) are in the most inconvenient places. We have cables going every which way just to be hooked up - it's ridiculous.
Ah yes...the parking spaces. Only 1 designated parking "space" came with a 2 bedroom apartment. Luckily, there was another "space" that we could rent not too far away. Ok, so these "spaces" are under the building and all have poles separating each space. Our 2 spaces are also right next to walls. These "spaces" are just barely large enough to fit a standard sedan. We have to pull in, back out, turn, and pull in again just to get in each space.
We are right next to a grocery store so that's really convenient. We even walked over to get our groceries. The grocery store is VONS which is just a fancy California word for Safeway. They have all the safeway products and my safeway card even works there.
Everyone, except for the drivers who think that lanes are arbitrary, is strangely nice here. Very talkative and friendly folk everywhere, so that's nice.
Half of our channels are spanish. Seriously. Also, everything is on an hour later and it's really hard to stay up late to watch our good shows. Then, everything on in morning is infomercials - like on 15 channels. Any product you could ever want to buy is being hocked on nearly every channel in LA on Saturday mornings.
Monday, November 2, 2009
2 Days and Counting
Well, here we are, 2 days away from the big move. The moving company came on Saturday and hauled all of our stuff away. Movers are definitely the way to go! 2 guys moved all of our stuff in about 3 hours and we didn't have to do anything but sit there and watch them. It was amazing to see how fast they carted all of our extremely heavy boxes away in a flash. So now I sit on the floor typing in a big empty house. There are a few things here and there that still need to be packed up and put in our cars, but really the move has begun. We leave Wednesday and will get into CA on Thursday. Then, hopefully, our stuff will arrive on Friday.
Ugh, I've been such a mess lately. I'm stressed, worried, sad, and stressed again. I should be excited, but I don't think I will be until we are there. Right now, I feel as though I'm just going through the motions of moving, but my head really isn't in the game yet. Tomorrow we will make the rounds of saying good-bye to family, and I really don't want to. I hate saying good-bye. Especially when there are 2 little kids that we will miss so much. It's really hard to grasp the fact that we will miss portions of them growing up. That will be the hardest part. I'm trying to think positively about the whole thing, but it's kinda difficult. Luckily, we can keep up with everyone through the internet so we will never feel far away. Oy, so long, Colorado!
Friday, October 23, 2009
Oops, forgot I had a blog.
So it's been about a month since my last post. It's weird, I've had a ton of free time, but still wasn't able to write anything. So here it is, my re-cap post.
October 1st: Last day of work! Woohoo! A little sad, but mostly woohoo.
October 2nd: Emma's wedding! What a beautiful wedding! And it was really nice to see some old high school friends again.
October 7th-9th: Trip to California to find an apartment. And guess what? We found one!
October 10th: Helped my dad move out of the apartment he had lived in for 16 years into a house literally 2 streets away from our house.
October 11th: Went to the Bronco's game with my sister-in-law, Megan. FINALLY broke my streak of attending Broncos games where the weather has be shitty and the broncos lost. It's been 3 years and we finally beat the Patriots during this game. Yes!
October 17th: Went to a work event of Evan's at the Old Spaghetti Factory - my favorite restaurant! YUM! Then went to a housewarming party at Kim and Ben's new place.
October 18th: Helped paint my brother's new house. Oy, I hate painting.
October 20th: Ate lunch with a former co-worker and discovered that nothing at work has changed.at.all.
And here we are at October 23rd. Coming up we have dinner with friends, moving my brother into his new house, a big family dinner, LOTS of packing and then.....bum bum BUM...MOVING TO CALIFORNIA!! Holy cow! I can't believe I only have 1 more full week in CO and then it's off to follow that big fat dream. I'm ready to get there already. Enough of this planning and stressing over details, I just want to be there. And soon enough I will and I know it will be a great adventure.
October 1st: Last day of work! Woohoo! A little sad, but mostly woohoo.
October 2nd: Emma's wedding! What a beautiful wedding! And it was really nice to see some old high school friends again.
October 7th-9th: Trip to California to find an apartment. And guess what? We found one!
October 10th: Helped my dad move out of the apartment he had lived in for 16 years into a house literally 2 streets away from our house.
October 11th: Went to the Bronco's game with my sister-in-law, Megan. FINALLY broke my streak of attending Broncos games where the weather has be shitty and the broncos lost. It's been 3 years and we finally beat the Patriots during this game. Yes!
October 17th: Went to a work event of Evan's at the Old Spaghetti Factory - my favorite restaurant! YUM! Then went to a housewarming party at Kim and Ben's new place.
October 18th: Helped paint my brother's new house. Oy, I hate painting.
October 20th: Ate lunch with a former co-worker and discovered that nothing at work has changed.at.all.
And here we are at October 23rd. Coming up we have dinner with friends, moving my brother into his new house, a big family dinner, LOTS of packing and then.....bum bum BUM...MOVING TO CALIFORNIA!! Holy cow! I can't believe I only have 1 more full week in CO and then it's off to follow that big fat dream. I'm ready to get there already. Enough of this planning and stressing over details, I just want to be there. And soon enough I will and I know it will be a great adventure.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Last Days of Work
As I approach my final day of work, I can't help but wonder what's next and reflect on what has past. 2 days from now, I will be unemployed - let go from a company of which I have 5 years of service. I started here when I was an intern and now my career here has run its course. I have a little countdown ticker on my computer that has been counting down the days for the past year or so. I never thought that it would make it to the end, but here it is only displaying 2 days left.
I can remember my first day as an intern in the credit department. This was my first big corporate job and I was excited to learn that I had a cubicle! My own wonderful cubicle! I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing and since I was still in college, my first day was only 4 hours long. I'm pretty sure all I did was learn how to log in to my computer and then sit and look through the office supply catalog that day. The next day was a full day and I was so excited to start training and meet new people.
There were about 6 other interns and admins who were all pretty tight with each other. It was lunch time and although I had brought food, I was secretly hoping that they would ask me to go to lunch with them. I waited and waited and I was starving, but finally as they were about to walk out the door, I was asked to join them. Yes! I was included! I interned for almost 2 years all the way through college. The group changed over the years, but there are still a few girls who I consider very good friends to this day. We all try to get together for lunch every now and again even though our schedules never seem to all work out. In fact, I'm having lunch with one of those intern girls on my last day of work...the same girl who asked me to go to lunch on one of my first days with the company.
I can also remember my first day with the catalog department. I was going to be working with a girl who I had worked with previously in the credit department. Having a little familiarity made my transition to this new team so easy. Also, I was going to be learning all new fun and creative stuff. It was awesome. It was the first time that I could say that I really loved my job. Unfortunately, the climate changed a bit a year or so later and the work I was doing was kind of killed. So I had to transition into more of a catalog role vs. flyers and smaller promotional pieces. I am so thankful for all that I have learned in this position. I am also so grateful to have made new relationships with coworkers. I have never seen and doubt I will ever see another group of people work as hard as the catalog team. Great people with lots of great abilities.
My job also provided me with lots of awesome perks. I only had an 8 mile commute to work, I had great benefits and it seemed that every time I turned around, I was getting a raise or a promotion. Sometimes the work kicked my ass and I hated working all those long hours, but I got through it and I am better for it. I know what I can accomplish and now I'm poised to go even further in my next career. And, like I've said in previous posts, I am so overwhelmingly thankful to have been given the opportunity to pursue my real dream. Layoffs can often be absolutely life shattering to some, but for me it was, is and will be incredibly freeing and a sign that I needed to take my life in a new direction.
My cube is all packed up except for a small Cranium desk calendar and a few office product odds and ends. Soon I will take my box of stuff and walk out the doors at 1 Environmental Way for the last time and take the first steps into my new life.
Wow, that was deep, wasn't it? Yeah, I'm pretty cool like that. :)
I can remember my first day as an intern in the credit department. This was my first big corporate job and I was excited to learn that I had a cubicle! My own wonderful cubicle! I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing and since I was still in college, my first day was only 4 hours long. I'm pretty sure all I did was learn how to log in to my computer and then sit and look through the office supply catalog that day. The next day was a full day and I was so excited to start training and meet new people.
There were about 6 other interns and admins who were all pretty tight with each other. It was lunch time and although I had brought food, I was secretly hoping that they would ask me to go to lunch with them. I waited and waited and I was starving, but finally as they were about to walk out the door, I was asked to join them. Yes! I was included! I interned for almost 2 years all the way through college. The group changed over the years, but there are still a few girls who I consider very good friends to this day. We all try to get together for lunch every now and again even though our schedules never seem to all work out. In fact, I'm having lunch with one of those intern girls on my last day of work...the same girl who asked me to go to lunch on one of my first days with the company.
I can also remember my first day with the catalog department. I was going to be working with a girl who I had worked with previously in the credit department. Having a little familiarity made my transition to this new team so easy. Also, I was going to be learning all new fun and creative stuff. It was awesome. It was the first time that I could say that I really loved my job. Unfortunately, the climate changed a bit a year or so later and the work I was doing was kind of killed. So I had to transition into more of a catalog role vs. flyers and smaller promotional pieces. I am so thankful for all that I have learned in this position. I am also so grateful to have made new relationships with coworkers. I have never seen and doubt I will ever see another group of people work as hard as the catalog team. Great people with lots of great abilities.
My job also provided me with lots of awesome perks. I only had an 8 mile commute to work, I had great benefits and it seemed that every time I turned around, I was getting a raise or a promotion. Sometimes the work kicked my ass and I hated working all those long hours, but I got through it and I am better for it. I know what I can accomplish and now I'm poised to go even further in my next career. And, like I've said in previous posts, I am so overwhelmingly thankful to have been given the opportunity to pursue my real dream. Layoffs can often be absolutely life shattering to some, but for me it was, is and will be incredibly freeing and a sign that I needed to take my life in a new direction.
My cube is all packed up except for a small Cranium desk calendar and a few office product odds and ends. Soon I will take my box of stuff and walk out the doors at 1 Environmental Way for the last time and take the first steps into my new life.
Wow, that was deep, wasn't it? Yeah, I'm pretty cool like that. :)
Monday, September 21, 2009
Dental work, illness, cleaning, packing = Vacation?
I took 3 days off this past week. Originally, the plan was to use those 3 days meticulously cleaning the house and packing up lots of stuff and generally being very productive. Well, I quickly learned that while I could clean some things, most things (like kitchen and bathrooms) would have to be touched up before we had a showing anyway, so no need to go crazy now. Then I realized that we had packed up the majority of the stuff we were going to store and at this point it's better to have stuff out and organized than stuffed into multiple boxes. So, needless to say, there wasn't a lot of packing and cleaning that I could do.
Since my benefits expire on my last day of work (Oct. 1st), I have about $1600 to use up before that date. I have a few teeth that need crowns, so I figure I might as well get that work done before I lose that money. So, what do I do? I schedule a crown appointment on one of my days off in addition to a regular cleaning on a different day. (I only got one crown because I'm not crazy.) Dental work is never fun, but for some reason I thought it would be a great thing to do in my time off. Oh yeah, BTW, that dang crown cost me about $500! GRR! Why on earth is dental work so damn expensive?! I submitted a form to get reimbursed out of that $1600, but I am extremely pessimistic about actually getting any money from the insurance company.
And then, the pièce de resistance, I get a cold. The day before my time off. So all three days (plus the weekend), I am coughing and blowing my nose like crazy. Not the worst cold I've had, admittedly, but still not very pleasant. So even if I had some cleaning and packing to do, I didn't have the energy to get any of it done. Oy.
However, some highlights of my week were:
-My sister and niece visiting me one morning
-Having a few lunches with my husband
-Moving a ton of boxes to storage
-Watching my nephew overnight
-watching the Broncos kick but against Cleveland!
Since my benefits expire on my last day of work (Oct. 1st), I have about $1600 to use up before that date. I have a few teeth that need crowns, so I figure I might as well get that work done before I lose that money. So, what do I do? I schedule a crown appointment on one of my days off in addition to a regular cleaning on a different day. (I only got one crown because I'm not crazy.) Dental work is never fun, but for some reason I thought it would be a great thing to do in my time off. Oh yeah, BTW, that dang crown cost me about $500! GRR! Why on earth is dental work so damn expensive?! I submitted a form to get reimbursed out of that $1600, but I am extremely pessimistic about actually getting any money from the insurance company.
And then, the pièce de resistance, I get a cold. The day before my time off. So all three days (plus the weekend), I am coughing and blowing my nose like crazy. Not the worst cold I've had, admittedly, but still not very pleasant. So even if I had some cleaning and packing to do, I didn't have the energy to get any of it done. Oy.
However, some highlights of my week were:
-My sister and niece visiting me one morning
-Having a few lunches with my husband
-Moving a ton of boxes to storage
-Watching my nephew overnight
-watching the Broncos kick but against Cleveland!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Mission Gnocchi: Success!!
My sister and I have this thing where we get together and cook dinner every few weeks. The rule is the meals have to be something we've never made before and we switch back and forth between houses each time. So far, we've been pretty successful with only a few minor misses. Well, when my sister told me she wanted to try to make gnocchi (basically italian potato dumplings), I was very intimidated. However, she had a recipe and the confidence that the 2 of us could figure it out. So this past Labor Day, we decided to try it out. Usually our cooking nights are pretty casual and it's only the 4.5 of us, but this time we decided to invite the whole family = even more intimidated. Since we were all off for the holiday, we got started early. We arrived at my sister's house at 3pm and started cooking. Here was our process:
1. Got huge pot of water boiling
2. Made apple crisp dessert waiting for water to boil
3. Started to boil 9 whole, unpeeled potatoes
4. While potatoes were cooking, we made a pesto sauce (delish!)
5. Also whipped together and baked a carrot cake
6. Cleaned up and cooked some fresh green beans
7. After about 50 minutes, the potatoes were done, so they were drained and cooled.
8. We peeled the potatoes and mashed them with flour, eggs, parmesan cheese and nutmeg
9. Kneaded it until we had a dough
10. Then 3 of us took out portions of the dough, made long ropes, then cut 1 inch pieces and rolled them along the tines of a fork for texture of the gnocchi. (this process took awhile since we had tripled the recipe!)
11. Then in small batches we boiled the gnocchi until they floated.
12. Then we fried the batches in some butter.
13. Repeated several times until all the gnocchi was done.
14. Then we made a gorgonzola cream sauce (YUMMMMM!)
15. I assembled a salad of baby spinach, mixed greens, bacon, pears, gorgonzola crumbles and pine nuts in a balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
16. We also baked up some store bought garlic bread.
17. We tossed part of the gnocchi with the pesto, part of it with the cheese sauce and left a few plain.
18. Then, FINALLY at a little after 6pm (yes, 3 hours later!) we ate!!
AND IT WAS FRIGGIN' DELICIOUS!!!!!!! Whew!
1. Got huge pot of water boiling
2. Made apple crisp dessert waiting for water to boil
3. Started to boil 9 whole, unpeeled potatoes
4. While potatoes were cooking, we made a pesto sauce (delish!)
5. Also whipped together and baked a carrot cake
6. Cleaned up and cooked some fresh green beans
7. After about 50 minutes, the potatoes were done, so they were drained and cooled.
8. We peeled the potatoes and mashed them with flour, eggs, parmesan cheese and nutmeg
9. Kneaded it until we had a dough
10. Then 3 of us took out portions of the dough, made long ropes, then cut 1 inch pieces and rolled them along the tines of a fork for texture of the gnocchi. (this process took awhile since we had tripled the recipe!)
11. Then in small batches we boiled the gnocchi until they floated.
12. Then we fried the batches in some butter.
13. Repeated several times until all the gnocchi was done.
14. Then we made a gorgonzola cream sauce (YUMMMMM!)
15. I assembled a salad of baby spinach, mixed greens, bacon, pears, gorgonzola crumbles and pine nuts in a balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
16. We also baked up some store bought garlic bread.
17. We tossed part of the gnocchi with the pesto, part of it with the cheese sauce and left a few plain.
18. Then, FINALLY at a little after 6pm (yes, 3 hours later!) we ate!!
AND IT WAS FRIGGIN' DELICIOUS!!!!!!! Whew!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Oh hey, September. What's Up?
How is it that tomorrow is the first day of September?! Wasn't I just complaining about winter and now summer is already over? Boo. Well, the great thing about September is it will be a nice transition month for me. It will be my last month here at work and I'll really start mentally preparing to move. I feel like I'm ready to make the big leap and I have just one more month to get through until I start living out my dreams. It's kind of exciting! Things are falling into place with the planning process and I know it will all work out.
Oh...and September also means the start of Football Season!!!!! WOOHOO! Although my beloved Broncos are, um, struggling a bit in the pre-season, I still can't wait for football season to start. Yes, I know, when they screw up every game, I'll be screaming at the tv, but I really do love my Broncos. And I can always use the excuse, "It's a rebuilding year," when they go 0-15. :).
Other than that, I guess my month will be filled with lots of cleaning and packing. It's insane how much junk we collect. You never think you have that much until you have to start packing it - and holy crap! How can 2 people who've only lived in their house 3.5 years have all this? It's crazy! And it's especially hard trying to figure out what is moving, what is going into storage and what is being given away. Going from a 3 bed house to a small 1 bed apartment is going to be quite a shock. And I'm sure that will spawn lots of blog posts. Anyway, that's all for now!
Oh...and September also means the start of Football Season!!!!! WOOHOO! Although my beloved Broncos are, um, struggling a bit in the pre-season, I still can't wait for football season to start. Yes, I know, when they screw up every game, I'll be screaming at the tv, but I really do love my Broncos. And I can always use the excuse, "It's a rebuilding year," when they go 0-15. :).
Other than that, I guess my month will be filled with lots of cleaning and packing. It's insane how much junk we collect. You never think you have that much until you have to start packing it - and holy crap! How can 2 people who've only lived in their house 3.5 years have all this? It's crazy! And it's especially hard trying to figure out what is moving, what is going into storage and what is being given away. Going from a 3 bed house to a small 1 bed apartment is going to be quite a shock. And I'm sure that will spawn lots of blog posts. Anyway, that's all for now!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Look Out!! Looooong post ahead!
Well, here it is, the blog I've been waiting to post. The post that was the original intention of this entire blog. Deep breath....we're moving to California. Weird, just typing those words stresses me out even more than I already am. I've known I was moving for the past year or so and I have wanted to move there pretty much my entire life. But now it's real. It's happening. We're going. I've kind of tip-toed around this fact in other blog posts, but now I'm typing the actual words and it's scary.
::: if you don't feel like reading my life story, skip down to the 3rd paragraph from the bottom :::
So, let's start at the beginning, shall we? I have always known or felt that I wanted to be an actress. I didn't much do anything about this urge until high school drama club. The 4 years in high school were awesome and I honestly LOVED high school because I got to do what I loved with lots of really neat people. This is when I promised myself that someday, far in the future, I would move to CA and give it a whirl. Just try. Well, high school ended and off to college I went - to major in business. See, I have this fiercely practical side of me that is constantly fighting with my creative side. Well, in college I thought I had to let that practical side win. I knew I could get a job if I majored in business so that's what I did. I secretly wanted to major in theatre, but knew that I would struggle to make money in that field. I even told myself after I graduated high school that I was done with theatre and acting. It was fun while it lasted, but it was time to grow up. That idea lasted, oh, 2 months maybe. Because in August I was auditioning for my first community theatre show.
I continued my schooling in business (pretty much hating most of my classes. In fact, I hated college so much that I graduated in just 3 years so I could be done with it sooner). However, on the side, I was still doing several shows with a local community theater and eventually joined the board. I loved being on stage and also rather enjoyed the business aspect of running a theatre. Life was good. I graduated college and needed to get a stable job. And so I did. My first, non-internship job was at a small company where I only lasted 3 months because I was so miserable. I gained about 15 pounds and cried every night at the thought of going back there the next day. Luckily, during those 3 months I was cast in another show and had some form of escape.
I eventually got a great job back at the company I interned for. It was wonderful and somewhat creative. It is the job I still have today, although it has changed dramatically over the past three years. I was working in the catalog department for Corporate Express. For the first year or so I was assigned to smaller flyers, not catalogs. Still extremely deadline driven, but the catalog side had it a lot worse. I continued to do a show here and there, but we just bought a house so there were other responsibilities now. Fast forward to about a 2 years ago - I was newly assigned to catalogs. Ugh, I knew it was gonna be bad, but I really had no idea. Because we were so driven by deadlines, we were sometimes at the office until 9pm, 10pm and on a few occasions till midnight. Keep in mind, I come into work at 7am so the days were loooong. Also, the majority of the time we didn't know we were working late until 15 minutes before I was supposed to leave. Needless to say, it was impossible to do any theatre because rehearsals were always in the evenings and if you couldn't make a rehearsal due to work, you clearly can't be in a show. I was miserable, kept having break downs, stressed beyond belief and desperately wanted out.
Eventually, I started applying for other jobs within the company. Jobs I didn't even want or care about. I just wanted a job where I could come in, work my 8 hours and leave. I wanted a job that allowed me to do what I really loved - act. My bosses weren't too happy with this because while I was still miserable I was producing more pages than anyone on the team. So, they eventually worked out a schedule of only 1 late night a week and if I had rehearsal, I got to leave. It was unfair to the rest of the team, but it allowed me to act, so I didn't care. Eventually, Corporate Express got bought out by Staples and work all but ended so doing theatre stopped being in conflict.
Side track--- wow, I didn't realize until just now just how correlated my misery in life is with the fact that something was keeping me from acting. Very interesting. Anyway...back to the story...
Backing up just a tad. Since I knew I had wanted to move to LA, Evan and I decided to take a road trip out there to get a feel for certain areas and look at some apartments. In April 2008 we made a trip out there. It was one of the worst trips that I've been on. I was so incredibly stressed out at the idea of living in LA that I didn't want to leave the hotel room. I cried daily, we couldn't get in to see any apartments, the areas we thought we could afford were far from appealing and I just hated being there. It wasn't until we turned ourselves into tourists and went to Universal Studios that I calmed down. At that point I wasn't ready to move. We didn't have enough savings, I hadn't done enough research, I didn't want to quit my job and be broke - I just flat out didn't want to move. So, we didn't. We decided to save up for another year and try again later.
Then comes September 2008. Staples had bought Corporate Express back in July, but in September we learned our fate. We were retained until October 1, 2009. This means that we got to keep our jobs and "assist with the transition" until October at which time we would receive a bonus for staying plus severance. This was the sign I needed! The decision was made for me - I didn't have to quit my job to move, they were quitting for me and they were paying me to leave!! It was awesome! I had one year to get my life in order and mentally prepare myself for the move. And now here we are - I have 1 month and 26 days till I'm done with work and then off to California we go!
::: start reading below if you skipped all the middle :::
Ok, now that you're caught up. Here are my thoughts on the whole move....I'm terrified. I have never lived farther than 5 minutes from my family. I have always lived in a nice, quiet, safe suburb where one can afford to live comfortably. All my friends are here, I know where everything is...and oh yeah, we own a house here. I'm trading all that in to go live in one of the most congested, polluted, dangerous and expensive places in the country for some sliver of a chance that I'll be successful. I'm so completely stressed with having to figure out how to rent our house out, to hire a moving company, handle the logistics of moving, finding a place to live out there, what I'm gonna do for money, etc that my head is gonna burst. I feel like I'm jumping into a shark pit with both feet in order to chase a dream that might live at the bottom of the ocean.
I try to remind myself that I will forever regret not going and not trying. That I will never get what I dreamt of if I don't try. That it's only a few states away and with the internet, friends and family are never far. But with all that - I'm still scared. I'm going to do it, but I'm scared. Having a big dream is one thing, actually following that dream is quite another. Because what do I have left after I follow it and it leads to a dead end? I have no idea and that's what frightens me the most - that after I hit the end of the road, I won't have anything else to look forward to or to work towards.
I know that I'm not smart enough, strong enough and sure as hell not a good enough actor, but there isn't a better time than now. So I'm going to try. And if I fail, at least I can say that I tried.
The end! Good job for making it all the way through!! Here's a brownie! No, here are 3 brownies!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
That's All Folks!
This coming Friday, July 31st is my last day as Publicity Advisor for Coal Creek Community Theater. If you remember a post several months ago titled "A Volunteer's Lament," you knew my recent frustrations with the job. Well, shortly after publishing that post, I sent in my letter of resignation. It was extremely freeing to write it and submit to the board that July 31st would be my final day. Along with it I included a list of tasks that would need to be taken care of...and because I'm sucker, I offered another option. I offered that, if they needed me, I would still do design work for them for a fee of $100 per month. Design was the part of the job that I rather liked, but it is still VERY time consuming. Although I would permanently shed all the other parts of my job (press releases, email blasts, programs etc) there would be the possibility that I would still be tied to the theater. The $100 was intended to deter them from retaining services, but instead, I fear they will just pay me. I made it clear at my final meeting that I would "rather not" do the design work, but still left it open.
At the last board meeting, I supplied every remaining board member with a 14-page Publicity Training Document. I spent several weeks compiling every task that I did with detailed instructions. Shortly after I resigned, I sent an email to the entire CCCT email list (over 400 people) that CCCT needed a publicity advisor. I briefly outlined the duties and sent it off. Well, I got absolutely NO responses! Absolutely no one wanted this job...they are smart people. I thought that someone, somewhere, might be interested. But nope, that position would remain vacant and the rest of the board would have to pick up the slack - hence the 14-page manual. Anyway, so far, it doesn't look like they will retain my design services, but then again, we aren't in the middle of a show. Once the next show starts up (which I already created the poster for...see above: sucker) I think they will come knocking. It's ok I guess since I'm the one that presented them that option, but deep down, I just want to move on.
I'm VERY grateful for the experience and the knowledge that this role has provided me. I have so much experience under my belt at a young age that I know I can be successful in the future. I loved that I got to help grow the theatre and I hope that the success continues without me. So long CCCT! Break many legs!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Sleepy, Filmy and Dopey
I am writing this blog in a little bit of a haze because I'm so tired. I'm usually tired in the morning on weekdays as I get to the office by 7am because I like leaving at 4pm. You'd think that after3 years of working this schedule, I would get used it, but nope. Every morning when that alarm goes off, I moan and complain and drag myself out of bed. Today, I'm a little more tired than usual because I had a busy weekend that also included getting up early.
On Saturday, I started work on a short, independent film. It was a 2 day shoot and on Saturday I had to be down in Highlands Ranch for an 8:30am call. So off I went for a half-day of shooting some background stuff and sitting around for a long time. See, in film, you film for about 20% of the time and the other 80% is waiting around to do something. I had a book, but unfortunately finished it too early and was left with nothing to do the majority of the time. And it's rather exhausting sitting around doing nothing anxiously waiting for your name to be called.
On Sunday, we had to wake up early to work on the yard. We have this lovely garden in the back that is unfortunately completely overgrown with grass, weeds and other random greenery. It's nearly impossible to keep under control. I had a 1:30pm call on Sunday, so all this yard work had to be done in the morning. So we were outside ripping up weeds by 830am. Then it was the usual Sunday grocery shopping, lunch and then off to the set. Luckily, Sunday's shoot was 10 minutes from my house so I didn't have far to go. I got to set at 130 and got into make-up. And then, of course, sat around doing absolutely nothing until close to 3pm. I did my short scene and was headed back home by 3:20. Oh, did I mention it was 96 degrees on Sunday? Yeah, and there was no air conditioning where we were shooting and no AC at home. So I sat around and sweat (sweated? what's the past tense of sweat? Whatever) until I went to my dad's for dinner. Oy, it was a long day!
And lastly, to address the final word in my title. I'm dopey. Nearly all the time.
On Saturday, I started work on a short, independent film. It was a 2 day shoot and on Saturday I had to be down in Highlands Ranch for an 8:30am call. So off I went for a half-day of shooting some background stuff and sitting around for a long time. See, in film, you film for about 20% of the time and the other 80% is waiting around to do something. I had a book, but unfortunately finished it too early and was left with nothing to do the majority of the time. And it's rather exhausting sitting around doing nothing anxiously waiting for your name to be called.
On Sunday, we had to wake up early to work on the yard. We have this lovely garden in the back that is unfortunately completely overgrown with grass, weeds and other random greenery. It's nearly impossible to keep under control. I had a 1:30pm call on Sunday, so all this yard work had to be done in the morning. So we were outside ripping up weeds by 830am. Then it was the usual Sunday grocery shopping, lunch and then off to the set. Luckily, Sunday's shoot was 10 minutes from my house so I didn't have far to go. I got to set at 130 and got into make-up. And then, of course, sat around doing absolutely nothing until close to 3pm. I did my short scene and was headed back home by 3:20. Oh, did I mention it was 96 degrees on Sunday? Yeah, and there was no air conditioning where we were shooting and no AC at home. So I sat around and sweat (sweated? what's the past tense of sweat? Whatever) until I went to my dad's for dinner. Oy, it was a long day!
And lastly, to address the final word in my title. I'm dopey. Nearly all the time.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Love Day
Yesterday, 07/07/09, was my husband and mine's (that's not right, how do you say that? OUR I guess) 2 year anniversary! Yes, we were married on the ever popular 07/07/07, but unlike the droves of people that chose that date because it was "lucky," we actually had a real reason. We don't need luck or a date that my husband would never forget, we chose it because that exact date was our 7 year anniversary of being together. That's right - EXACTLY 7 years on 07/07/07. How cool are we?!
At the time, I didn't realize just how popular that date would be. We got engaged in June of 2006 and I immediately started planning. Much to my surprise, when I started calling venues for that date, they told me they had been booked for 07/07/07 since January 2006 or earlier!! I know wedding venues often book quickly, but still it was extremely frustrating that every venue was booked - and some even double booked. We finally found a place for our 250 guest wedding and it was smooth sailing from there...ok so not really. The folks at our venue were AWFUL communicators and couldn't successfully coordinate an event if their lives depended on it. So, I became a babysitter for the venue workers for about a year to make sure they had everything correct. And still some things were wrong the day of the wedding, but they were easily fixed. Anyway, 07/07/07 came and went and it was the most glorious day. I got to marry the best man in the world and share that great experience with lots of friends and family! I'm one lucky girl! I love you, hubby!
At the time, I didn't realize just how popular that date would be. We got engaged in June of 2006 and I immediately started planning. Much to my surprise, when I started calling venues for that date, they told me they had been booked for 07/07/07 since January 2006 or earlier!! I know wedding venues often book quickly, but still it was extremely frustrating that every venue was booked - and some even double booked. We finally found a place for our 250 guest wedding and it was smooth sailing from there...ok so not really. The folks at our venue were AWFUL communicators and couldn't successfully coordinate an event if their lives depended on it. So, I became a babysitter for the venue workers for about a year to make sure they had everything correct. And still some things were wrong the day of the wedding, but they were easily fixed. Anyway, 07/07/07 came and went and it was the most glorious day. I got to marry the best man in the world and share that great experience with lots of friends and family! I'm one lucky girl! I love you, hubby!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Getting Laid...Off
In 3 months and 6 days, I will be living the blissful life of an unemployed citizen. In September 2008, we were told that our positions with the company would no longer be needed after October 1, 2009. During the time in between we would need to help transition our duties over to the new company. Oh, perhaps I should back up. Last summer, a competitor took over our company. They are a much larger operation with headquarters out of state. Ok, so back to the story...so, from September 2008 until now we have been helping merge the 2 catalog departments. And by merge, of course, I mean just letting the other company do everything and realizing that everything we had worked to build here meant absolutely nothing. That might sound like I am a little bitter over the situation, but the reality is that getting laid off is quite possibly the best thing that has ever happened to me - work or money wise.
I was jumping for joy (on the inside) when they told me that I no longer needed work here after Oct. 1st. The deal is that they continue paying my salary up until Oct 1st, give me a retention bonus for staying that long and then pay me severance for several weeks after I'm done. They are quite literally paying me to leave! And who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth. Even though I was so happy at the idea that I wanted to kiss that gift horse right on the mouth. Ew..ok...anyway...
Oh and did I mention that the past 9 months have been some of the easiest months ever? We have no work of our own anymore, so the other company has to give us stuff to do and well, they are less than attentive. We maybe get one, small project a week that is supposed to keep a team of 8 busy for 5 days. That project usually takes 1 person 3 hours to complete. Needless to say, we have A LOT of downtime on our hands. We've tried to fill it responsibly by holding professional development training sessions, playing around with different software, cleaning up data that no one will ever use and for some, attending a myriad of job search training classes. However, after months of this activity, it has grown stale and now we have become experts at filling 8 hours a day with mindless crap. It's wonderful. I go to work and get so much done for other aspects of my life - like theatre work and fun design stuff. I've also become the master at several online games...but I digress.
The underlying reason why I am so happy to be jobless in the future isn't the money for doing nothing (although that sure is nice!), it is the freedom and the sign that I needed to tell me it was time to move on. Time to do what I really want to do and follow the dreams that I've always wanted to follow. Being the uber practical person that I am, I have always struggled to find a balance between what I want most in life and being able to pay the bills. The thought of just quitting a job and running off to do something crazy was nearly impossible for me to fathom. Well, now that choice has been made for me and my life has never been so clearly laid out. You see, I am taking this opportunity to actually live the life I dreamt as a child. I would be lying if I was saying that I'm not completely and totally terrified at the idea, but the time has come and I'm ready to take that next step. I only hope that I don't fail miserably, but if I do, at least I can say that I tried to follow my dreams.
I was jumping for joy (on the inside) when they told me that I no longer needed work here after Oct. 1st. The deal is that they continue paying my salary up until Oct 1st, give me a retention bonus for staying that long and then pay me severance for several weeks after I'm done. They are quite literally paying me to leave! And who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth. Even though I was so happy at the idea that I wanted to kiss that gift horse right on the mouth. Ew..ok...anyway...
Oh and did I mention that the past 9 months have been some of the easiest months ever? We have no work of our own anymore, so the other company has to give us stuff to do and well, they are less than attentive. We maybe get one, small project a week that is supposed to keep a team of 8 busy for 5 days. That project usually takes 1 person 3 hours to complete. Needless to say, we have A LOT of downtime on our hands. We've tried to fill it responsibly by holding professional development training sessions, playing around with different software, cleaning up data that no one will ever use and for some, attending a myriad of job search training classes. However, after months of this activity, it has grown stale and now we have become experts at filling 8 hours a day with mindless crap. It's wonderful. I go to work and get so much done for other aspects of my life - like theatre work and fun design stuff. I've also become the master at several online games...but I digress.
The underlying reason why I am so happy to be jobless in the future isn't the money for doing nothing (although that sure is nice!), it is the freedom and the sign that I needed to tell me it was time to move on. Time to do what I really want to do and follow the dreams that I've always wanted to follow. Being the uber practical person that I am, I have always struggled to find a balance between what I want most in life and being able to pay the bills. The thought of just quitting a job and running off to do something crazy was nearly impossible for me to fathom. Well, now that choice has been made for me and my life has never been so clearly laid out. You see, I am taking this opportunity to actually live the life I dreamt as a child. I would be lying if I was saying that I'm not completely and totally terrified at the idea, but the time has come and I'm ready to take that next step. I only hope that I don't fail miserably, but if I do, at least I can say that I tried to follow my dreams.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
So, I Went to France
We were in Paris for the last week or so. We saw all the important sites plus some really beautiful country villages. It was a great vacation and I'm glad I got to experience it, especially with my lovely husband. It was hella expensive, but it's a place that people should go to at least once in their life. I have to admit though, I didn't fall in love with Paris. All the great tourist sites (Eiffel Tower, Versailles, Champs Elysees) were so packed with tourists, they were almost not enjoyable. We could barely move at all (except for the sudden shoves by hoards of people trying to push through) at Versailles and it made me resent the tour instead of enjoying the beautiful palace.
The local Parisians hardly smiled and seemed as though they didn't much enjoy life. Eating seemed to always be a hassle whether it was getting a table, getting waiting on, getting correct food, getting the bill or simply eating food that wasn't quite what I was expecting for Paris. I spoke ok French, but found that although I could speak and read it, I couldn't understand it for crap. They would talk so fast, that I simply couldn't keep up. There was 1 waiter that we had that only spoke to us in short simple French and I understood every word - god bless him.
What I did love about Paris was that every building, everywhere you went was carefully and meticulously crafted. Beautiful architecture surrounds you everywhere you go. And since we went in May, the gardens were in full bloom. I adore flowers and it was wondrous to always be around gorgeous flowers. I also loved the countryside. The villages are far more charming than Paris. Not only do they have a much slower pace, but they are quaint and far more beautiful. I also really enjoyed going to the French Open. I had never been to a tennis match before and to attend one of the Grand Slam tournaments was awesome. Although I was freezing the entire time, I think I found a new love for tennis!
What I have always known about me, was confirmed on this trip: I'm not a good traveler. I do just fine for a few days, but then it starts to wear on me. I lose interest in doing things and would much rather just hang out in the hotel room all day until we go home. I also find that instead of relaxing and enjoying myself, I get even more stressed. Stressed about money, stressed about transportation, stressed that I'm going to do something wrong and offend someone or get lost, stressed that I have to be responsible for planning things, stressed about returning to a mountain of work...ugh, just stressed in general! And it's especially worse when I travel to large cities. I long for suburbia - and yes, I know how crazy that sounds, but I really do. If I could vacation in a Target or a Chili's I'd probably be just fine. I do know that the next vacation we take will be to an all inclusive resort that picks us up from the airport, feeds us and just lets us lay on a beach all day. A vacation of mindless nothing-ness - sounds good to me.
The local Parisians hardly smiled and seemed as though they didn't much enjoy life. Eating seemed to always be a hassle whether it was getting a table, getting waiting on, getting correct food, getting the bill or simply eating food that wasn't quite what I was expecting for Paris. I spoke ok French, but found that although I could speak and read it, I couldn't understand it for crap. They would talk so fast, that I simply couldn't keep up. There was 1 waiter that we had that only spoke to us in short simple French and I understood every word - god bless him.
What I did love about Paris was that every building, everywhere you went was carefully and meticulously crafted. Beautiful architecture surrounds you everywhere you go. And since we went in May, the gardens were in full bloom. I adore flowers and it was wondrous to always be around gorgeous flowers. I also loved the countryside. The villages are far more charming than Paris. Not only do they have a much slower pace, but they are quaint and far more beautiful. I also really enjoyed going to the French Open. I had never been to a tennis match before and to attend one of the Grand Slam tournaments was awesome. Although I was freezing the entire time, I think I found a new love for tennis!
What I have always known about me, was confirmed on this trip: I'm not a good traveler. I do just fine for a few days, but then it starts to wear on me. I lose interest in doing things and would much rather just hang out in the hotel room all day until we go home. I also find that instead of relaxing and enjoying myself, I get even more stressed. Stressed about money, stressed about transportation, stressed that I'm going to do something wrong and offend someone or get lost, stressed that I have to be responsible for planning things, stressed about returning to a mountain of work...ugh, just stressed in general! And it's especially worse when I travel to large cities. I long for suburbia - and yes, I know how crazy that sounds, but I really do. If I could vacation in a Target or a Chili's I'd probably be just fine. I do know that the next vacation we take will be to an all inclusive resort that picks us up from the airport, feeds us and just lets us lay on a beach all day. A vacation of mindless nothing-ness - sounds good to me.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Festival Update
Well...we didn't win and I'm actually very glad. It was enough of a headache planning a trip to Utah, and I did not want to do that again for Tacoma.
If you read the below post, you will see that the organization of this festival was a piece of crap. Once we got there...well nothing had changed, still shitty. Other than the hotel being a rather nice place to stay, the festival was a joke. Some of our paperwork was lost - of course they got our check, but some of the paperwork that was with it was missing. The adjudicators provided nothing meaningful and made such comments as "well, I wasn't bored." Awesome. I am glad we were able to perform, but sad that our little not-for-profit theatre had to spend so much money to attend this poorly organized event. The awards "ceremony" at the Applebees didn't start till after 11pm and, again, was poorly planned. They didn't notify the restaraunt that awards were being given out and that everyone should be in the same area. So when we showed up, it was chaos. Then, they handed out the 2 awards and it was done. Fortunately, the right people won 1st and 2nd place. The 1st place show was from Littleton, CO and they were amazing! It would have been nice if the organizers recognized people for acting, set design, costumes etc, like other regional festivals had done, but clearly making a few more awards was beyond them. Lots of folks worked their butts off, not to mention took time off of work and spent lots of time and money getting to the festival, and they couldn't even print out a certificate that said Good Job! We plan to send a letter to AACT explaining to them was a disappointment the festival was. They obviously can't do anything now except for maybe take more care when planning the festival next time. Which would be good enough for me.
If you read the below post, you will see that the organization of this festival was a piece of crap. Once we got there...well nothing had changed, still shitty. Other than the hotel being a rather nice place to stay, the festival was a joke. Some of our paperwork was lost - of course they got our check, but some of the paperwork that was with it was missing. The adjudicators provided nothing meaningful and made such comments as "well, I wasn't bored." Awesome. I am glad we were able to perform, but sad that our little not-for-profit theatre had to spend so much money to attend this poorly organized event. The awards "ceremony" at the Applebees didn't start till after 11pm and, again, was poorly planned. They didn't notify the restaraunt that awards were being given out and that everyone should be in the same area. So when we showed up, it was chaos. Then, they handed out the 2 awards and it was done. Fortunately, the right people won 1st and 2nd place. The 1st place show was from Littleton, CO and they were amazing! It would have been nice if the organizers recognized people for acting, set design, costumes etc, like other regional festivals had done, but clearly making a few more awards was beyond them. Lots of folks worked their butts off, not to mention took time off of work and spent lots of time and money getting to the festival, and they couldn't even print out a certificate that said Good Job! We plan to send a letter to AACT explaining to them was a disappointment the festival was. They obviously can't do anything now except for maybe take more care when planning the festival next time. Which would be good enough for me.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Idiots who think they can plan things.
As you know, I will be going to a regional theatre festival on Thursday. This is a big deal to our little community theater and I'm sure it's a big deal to the others attending as well. However, it seems as though they found the most incompetent person to actually plan the festival. So, what should be an honored event to attend, is a thrown together piece of crap. Let's see, where to start...
First, the regional festival dates weren't officially set until end of March - only about 8 weeks until the festival will take place. (other regional festivals have been completely planned for months) It's not cheap to travel to a different state with 7 people, costumes and a set. We won the state festival in June 2008, but because we didn't know IF there was going to be a regional at all, we couldn't fundraise during that time. And there wasn't adequate time between when we were told the dates of the festival and the actual event to plan anything successful. Luckily, we received some donations, but they won't even cover half of the expenses.
Second, information about the festival itself was impossible to find out. I had to send several emails to the nitwit organizer asking questions that should have been easily answered - where will the festival be taking place, who is participating, when will there be a schedule, where should we stay, what are the technical specifications of the theatre...and so on. More often than not, the organizer wouldn't respond at all. I had to send several follow up emails just to get a response to 1 of my questions. One of the most important things was obtaining official registration forms for the event. We got these a mere 3 weeks before the trip.
Next, I had to bring up issues with the organizer that she most certainly should have been aware of before the planning process begun. AACT has very specific rules for the festivals, but it seems that the idiot organizing the event didn't bother reading them. I had to bring up the fact that we needed to send in copies of the script and permission from the playwright to produce the play. She responded essentially saying, oh yeah, you should send those to me at X address. HELLO! This is something that you need to make sure you have well in advance! GRR!
There's a whole laundry list of grievances I have with the organization of this festival. It is costing the theater a significant sum of money to attend this haphazardly organized festival. Oh and did I mention that the awards ceremony is at 11pm at the Applebee's? Ugh.
First, the regional festival dates weren't officially set until end of March - only about 8 weeks until the festival will take place. (other regional festivals have been completely planned for months) It's not cheap to travel to a different state with 7 people, costumes and a set. We won the state festival in June 2008, but because we didn't know IF there was going to be a regional at all, we couldn't fundraise during that time. And there wasn't adequate time between when we were told the dates of the festival and the actual event to plan anything successful. Luckily, we received some donations, but they won't even cover half of the expenses.
Second, information about the festival itself was impossible to find out. I had to send several emails to the nitwit organizer asking questions that should have been easily answered - where will the festival be taking place, who is participating, when will there be a schedule, where should we stay, what are the technical specifications of the theatre...and so on. More often than not, the organizer wouldn't respond at all. I had to send several follow up emails just to get a response to 1 of my questions. One of the most important things was obtaining official registration forms for the event. We got these a mere 3 weeks before the trip.
Next, I had to bring up issues with the organizer that she most certainly should have been aware of before the planning process begun. AACT has very specific rules for the festivals, but it seems that the idiot organizing the event didn't bother reading them. I had to bring up the fact that we needed to send in copies of the script and permission from the playwright to produce the play. She responded essentially saying, oh yeah, you should send those to me at X address. HELLO! This is something that you need to make sure you have well in advance! GRR!
There's a whole laundry list of grievances I have with the organization of this festival. It is costing the theater a significant sum of money to attend this haphazardly organized festival. Oh and did I mention that the awards ceremony is at 11pm at the Applebee's? Ugh.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Chi-Town
This past weekend, we visited my best girl friend in Chicago. She moved there about a year ago, so it was time to go see her new digs. It was a short trip, just Friday-Sunday, but we had a great time. We walked (A LOT!) around the city, took a boat tour, walked around Michigan Ave, went to Navy Pier, ate at a bunch of great restaurants and saw the comedy show at The Second City. The weather was also quite pleasant. When we arrived it is around 80 degrees, which was a bit warm in the cab, but otherwise wasn't bad. Then the other 2 days it was cloudy and rained off and on. The overcast skies made it nice and cool to walk around the city. And we seemed to get pretty lucky with the rain; we would just happen to go into a store or a restaurant right before it poured.
I really enjoyed Chicago. I thought it was great mix of Denver and New York. It's definitely large and busy, but seemed a lot cleaner, less crowded and safer than NYC (at least in the area we were in). Also it's not overflowing with crappy souvenir shops and other tourist traps like NYC. Chicago certainly had it's fair share of tourists, but it was nice that the city didn't seem to pimp itself out to them. But clearly, the best part was spending 3 days with Marisa. We always have such a great time together and it was nice to devote some actual time together. I was glad we were both able to take some time off and have some fun in Chicago!
I really enjoyed Chicago. I thought it was great mix of Denver and New York. It's definitely large and busy, but seemed a lot cleaner, less crowded and safer than NYC (at least in the area we were in). Also it's not overflowing with crappy souvenir shops and other tourist traps like NYC. Chicago certainly had it's fair share of tourists, but it was nice that the city didn't seem to pimp itself out to them. But clearly, the best part was spending 3 days with Marisa. We always have such a great time together and it was nice to devote some actual time together. I was glad we were both able to take some time off and have some fun in Chicago!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Regionals Here We Come!
Today, I sent off the registration forms and a check for the registration fees for the American Association of Community Theater's Region VII Competition. I will be acting in "The Organist's Daughter" for Coal Creek Community Theater. We won 1st place at the Colorado Community Theater Coalition Festival last June, so now we compete against theatres in Utah and Wyoming for a chance to perform at the National Competition in Tacoma in June. The Regional Competition is in Orem, UT May 8th and 9th. This is the first time CCCT has had the privilege to attend a Regional Festival and we are pretty stoked!
8 of us will caravan it out to Utah to stay at the prestigious La Quinta Inn and perform at the world class Mountain View High School Auditorium. I tease. These are pretty standard locations for theatre festivals. But, it's hard to get people excited about a trip to the middle of Utah. So to get you jazzed, here's some info about Orem and about Utah:
Census 2000 Information
Population: 84,324
Households: 24,166
Population 18 & over: 54,492
Average Age: 23.9
Average Family Size: 3.93
Percent Male: 49.7
Percent Female: 50.3
Percent Married: 69.0
Square Miles: 18.241
Average Temperature: 89 Summer, 45 Winter
As with many theater festivals, the entries are top-notch and because all the folks at regionals have already placed at the state level, I expect competition to be steep! Our show is a sweet little love story. It's far from deep and doesn't really deal with any pressing or serious issues. It's cute and heart-warming. Sometimes (as was the case for state) the judges love this type of thing and other times it is considered fluff. Who knows what the judges will think this time, but no matter what we will do our best and put on a good show. Personally, I don't believe we will advance any further. The other groups attending the festival have competed at this level before and we are certainly the underdog. You can expect a full run-down of the competition once we return, so be sure to check back!
8 of us will caravan it out to Utah to stay at the prestigious La Quinta Inn and perform at the world class Mountain View High School Auditorium. I tease. These are pretty standard locations for theatre festivals. But, it's hard to get people excited about a trip to the middle of Utah. So to get you jazzed, here's some info about Orem and about Utah:
Census 2000 Information
Population: 84,324
Households: 24,166
Population 18 & over: 54,492
Average Age: 23.9
Average Family Size: 3.93
Percent Male: 49.7
Percent Female: 50.3
Percent Married: 69.0
Square Miles: 18.241
Average Temperature: 89 Summer, 45 Winter
- The City of Orem was organized in 1919 and named after Walter C. Orem, President of the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad.
- BTW, folks that live in Utah are called Utahns. Interesting.
- Utah has a higher percentage of residents (30.8%) under the age of 18 than any other state
- Utah is the beehive state.
As with many theater festivals, the entries are top-notch and because all the folks at regionals have already placed at the state level, I expect competition to be steep! Our show is a sweet little love story. It's far from deep and doesn't really deal with any pressing or serious issues. It's cute and heart-warming. Sometimes (as was the case for state) the judges love this type of thing and other times it is considered fluff. Who knows what the judges will think this time, but no matter what we will do our best and put on a good show. Personally, I don't believe we will advance any further. The other groups attending the festival have competed at this level before and we are certainly the underdog. You can expect a full run-down of the competition once we return, so be sure to check back!
Monday, April 13, 2009
I don't understand...
...how parents do it. This past Saturday I babysat my nephew, Marcus, for about 6 hours. Luckily for the first hour or so, my husband was there to help entertain him while I cooked dinner. Marcus is 4 years old and a bit of a handful. He tires quickly of activities and has to move on to something totally different within 5 minutes. We have a lot of toys at our house, but of course he really doesn't want to play with those. He'd rather get into things that are breakable or not for kids like the computer and video games. And you have to keep a constant eye on him or he is into the candy (it was Easter so candy was abundant), going upstairs for something or just off doing something mischievous. So, in order to keep him busy here is what we did:
- We colored
- We ate dinner
- We played board games
- We read comic books
- We went to the park
- We walked around the neighborhood
- We played catch
- We played make-believe outside for about an hour
- And finally, because I was so exhausted, I gave in and let him play video games
Marcus is obsessed with playing mario cart and for a 4 year old, he's pretty dang good. I know there are better things for a 4 year old to do than to play video games, but it keeps him busy and content for a good while and all I have to do is sit on the couch and watch him. I couldn't really get anything else done besides just watching him play or playing with him. And this is where I can't, for the life of me, understand how parents do it 24/7. Even with 2 people it was difficult to get anything else done while he was there. How do they clean, cook, work on things, or even take a shower and get ready?! It is seriously beyond me. He doesn't take naps anymore nor does he go to bed early - he is always going, going, going. And of course, he's really difficult to ignore, so that's not an option. I just don't get how parents do it. I'm in awe that Marcus' parents haven't fallen over and died from exhaustion, because after just 6 hours I was ready to collapse.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Eating Habits
Ok, here it is, another rant blog. There are several eating habits that I just absolutely cannot stand, so here goes:
- Slurping: AAAAAAGGGGGGHHH!!! I can't stand slurping. Unless you are in the middle of some dental procedure where your tongue is numb and you have no teeth, there is never an excuse for slurping. It's really damn annoying especially because if you slurp, you are just being lazy. Yes, it is possible to eat soup and drink beverages without slurping. Trust me, I do it all the time. I know people that slurp everything! Like things I didn't even think you could slurp like mashed potatoes.
- Chewing with your mouth open: What, are you 3 years old? No? Then close your damn mouth when you are eating. I don't want to listen to your chomping and squishing nor do I want to look at your food when you eat. This also goes for gum chewers. Seriously, shut it and keep your chewing to yourself.
- Loud Crunching: This can sometimes be combined with chewing with your mouth open to create a truly frustrating experience for me. This usually happens at work. For some reason, the people around me only bring crunchy food to snack on all day. I can hear it over typing, people on the phone, copy machines and what ever else is going on in the department. It's like their crunching is magnified just to annoy me.
- Heavy breathers: Ok, I understand that if you are sick and can barely breathe at all it can force you to breath heavier when you eat. But this is for those who just breathe heavily when there is nothing blocking their airway besides the food they are shoveling into their mouths. This habit actually makes me nauseous. I don't know why, but when you breathe heavy while eating, I want to puke. So, breathe like a normal person and spare us all the nausea.
I think that most people that have these annoying habits don't think they have them. And even if you told them to knock it off, it really wouldn't do any good because it's been ingrained over their lifetime. But seriously, the next time you eat, stop and listen to yourself and if any of the above occur, please know that you are annoying the hell out of me. Thanks.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Woohoo! New Furniture!
When Ev and I first moved into our house, nearly everything in it was either a hand-me-down, a garage sale find or came out of a box from Target. Our first major furniture purchase was our bed and then it was another year and a half until our next purchase: an entertainment center. We've bought small things along the way like end tables, a bookcase and some shelves, but still the majority of our furnishings were not originally ours.
Our living room furniture was no exception. My sister gave me her large purple sleeper sofa, over sized chair and ottoman about 4.5 years ago. At that time, I was still in college and living at home, so I rented a storage unit to keep it safe until I had my own place. It was a lovely, hip set and for the price of nothing, I couldn't just let it go. Of course after a year or so of renting a storage unit I probably could have bought new furniture for that money, but oh well. So when we bought our house, in came the large purple furniture pieces. They are quite comfy but after 3 years of our use and another 3 years with my sister before that, their shine had worn off. The cushions were all out of shape and there were a few stains and general wear and tear. (BTW: I am selling the set if you are interested: http://denver.craigslist.org/fuo/1096559726.html)
So, this weekend, we finally purchased a new living room set! It was just delivered today is sitting in my living room as I type this and I can't wait to go home and see it. They are smaller (and MUCH lighter than that dang sleeper sofa), light blue and cute! Although they need some breaking in as they are bit stiff, they are OURS!
Our living room furniture was no exception. My sister gave me her large purple sleeper sofa, over sized chair and ottoman about 4.5 years ago. At that time, I was still in college and living at home, so I rented a storage unit to keep it safe until I had my own place. It was a lovely, hip set and for the price of nothing, I couldn't just let it go. Of course after a year or so of renting a storage unit I probably could have bought new furniture for that money, but oh well. So when we bought our house, in came the large purple furniture pieces. They are quite comfy but after 3 years of our use and another 3 years with my sister before that, their shine had worn off. The cushions were all out of shape and there were a few stains and general wear and tear. (BTW: I am selling the set if you are interested: http://denver.craigslist.org/fuo/1096559726.html)
So, this weekend, we finally purchased a new living room set! It was just delivered today is sitting in my living room as I type this and I can't wait to go home and see it. They are smaller (and MUCH lighter than that dang sleeper sofa), light blue and cute! Although they need some breaking in as they are bit stiff, they are OURS!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Happy Birthday, Dad!
Today is my dad's 66th birthday. There are a lot of people that have told me I'm a lot like my dad. Although I look a lot like my mom, I think about 60% of my personality comes from my dad. My dad is a perfectionist - down to the core. Whether he is making dinner by perfectly following a recipe or changing oil in 3 cars in one day or ironing creases into his jeans, he never does anything half-assed. His work is precise and accurate every time. It's actually quite exhausting sometimes to see him work. When I'm ready to say "that's good enough" he continues on for 20 more minutes until it is right. Oh, and he can fix anything. I love that. Any problem and the solution is only a phone call away. My dad also knows everything about just about everything. I know everyone thinks their dad is pretty dang knowledgeable, but I'm pretty sure my dad is close to a genius. And if he doesn't know something, he'll read about it until he knows more than the guy who wrote the book. I don't even know how that's possible, but it seems to be how it is. He's also a genuinely good man, who loves his family and always makes sure everyone is taken care of.
I may be the only person to say this about their parents, but I'm glad my parents got divorced. It allowed me to see who my dad really was and I think my parents are much better people apart. When they were married, my dad assumed the typical patriarchal role to provide for the family and to be the disciplinarian. But after they divorced, I got to see my dad for the person he was and not the guy he thought he had to be for the family. I also honestly think I "get" my dad. He's kind of a hard guy to read and seems difficult to please, but it has never been a problem for me. I think that's because we think in kind of the same way and I don't expect him to be someone he's not. It just works between us.
Anyway, I'm glad my dad is my dad. I couldn't imagine having a better one. So, Happy Birthday, Dad!
I may be the only person to say this about their parents, but I'm glad my parents got divorced. It allowed me to see who my dad really was and I think my parents are much better people apart. When they were married, my dad assumed the typical patriarchal role to provide for the family and to be the disciplinarian. But after they divorced, I got to see my dad for the person he was and not the guy he thought he had to be for the family. I also honestly think I "get" my dad. He's kind of a hard guy to read and seems difficult to please, but it has never been a problem for me. I think that's because we think in kind of the same way and I don't expect him to be someone he's not. It just works between us.
Anyway, I'm glad my dad is my dad. I couldn't imagine having a better one. So, Happy Birthday, Dad!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Holy Tooth Ache, Batman!
I would like to start with the fact that tooth aches can kiss my arse!
Anyway, on Monday night I went to bed with a slight ache on the lower right side of my mouth. I have a tooth, second from the back, that was crowned about 3 years ago. The ache was bugging me, but I really didn't think much of it. I tried to ignore it and went to bed. Through out the night I was awoken by the tooth ache and just tried to focus on other things and go back to bed. Well, by 4:30 am I had enough and went to go take a shower and take some advil. I got out of the shower and started getting ready and that's when the pain became unbearable. Like, crying, shaking and writhing on the floor unbearable. Well after about 10 minutes of this agony, the pain killers finally kicked in. They didn't completely take the pain away, but they dulled it enough to where I could call in sick for work and climb back into bed.
I had my normal dentist cleaning scheduled for the next day, so when I went back to bed I thought maybe I could tough it out until my appointment. I woke up at about 9am with a little pain, but not bad enough that I couldn't eat some cereal. I finished my bowl and the agony set in again. I rushed to the bathroom to take more advil but knew it would be 15 minutes before it took affect. So again, the writhing in pain thing. Not fun. I called up the dentist and described my excruciating ordeal and they said the earliest they could get me in was 10:30am the next day. Lovely. So then through out the day I had to continue to take 2 advil every 2 hours just to keep the pain at bay. And there were times within that 2 hour window that the pain would briefly resurface and send me into hysterics. And if I didn't down another advil in time, I would be in complete agony until the new pain killers kicked in.
Finally at 9pm I was ready for bed and I took 3 advil in hopes that I'd maybe get 3 hours of sleep before waking up to the feeling of someone stabbing 100 needles directly into the nerve of my tooth. So, from 4:30am to 9:00pm, I had ingested 16 advils and had essentially been in pain all day long. I did pretty well last night and slept from 9:30 until about 2:30am. Got up immediately and downed another 2 advil. The pain was really bad this time because it had been too long since my last dose and so I didn't get back to sleep until almost 4:00am. Then, I was up again around 6:00am, took another 2 advil, but was still in tears and near hysterics from the pain. After about 20 minutes of thrashing in bed from the agony, I feel back to sleep until about 9:15. And then, you guessed it, took another 3 advil, took a shower and got ready for my dentist appointment. This time it seemed as though the advil had no effect whatsoever and I was in tears and shaking on the way to the dentist. I told them to screw the cleaning and get right to work fixing my tooth.
They took an x-ray and sure enough there was an abscess on one of the roots of my crowned tooth. Then they told me they were short staffed and weren't quite sure whether they could work on me today. I almost lost it. Luckily, they worked it out and the next thing I knew they were numbing me. SWEET BLISS!!! I didn't care that I couldn't feel half of my face, for the first time in about 30 hours I didn't feel like ripping all my teeth out. It was heaven. At this point they could have done whatever they wanted to my teeth and I would have conceded without a second thought.
The dentist got to work quickly on the root canal. He drilled a hole through the crown and then cleaned out the roots of my tooth. I didn't feel a thing and it was heavenly. Within an hour he was done. I was prescribed an antibiotic and some vicadin just in case I experience some pain from the procedure. Although I have to go back next week to finish up and to get the permanent filing in my crown, I am so happy. It is now 5:15pm and I haven't had any pain or any advil. There's a little soreness from where they poked me, but it is really nothing at all. I never thought I could be so happy about a root canal. The root canal was easy, it was the 2 days leading up to it that was the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life!
Anyway, on Monday night I went to bed with a slight ache on the lower right side of my mouth. I have a tooth, second from the back, that was crowned about 3 years ago. The ache was bugging me, but I really didn't think much of it. I tried to ignore it and went to bed. Through out the night I was awoken by the tooth ache and just tried to focus on other things and go back to bed. Well, by 4:30 am I had enough and went to go take a shower and take some advil. I got out of the shower and started getting ready and that's when the pain became unbearable. Like, crying, shaking and writhing on the floor unbearable. Well after about 10 minutes of this agony, the pain killers finally kicked in. They didn't completely take the pain away, but they dulled it enough to where I could call in sick for work and climb back into bed.
I had my normal dentist cleaning scheduled for the next day, so when I went back to bed I thought maybe I could tough it out until my appointment. I woke up at about 9am with a little pain, but not bad enough that I couldn't eat some cereal. I finished my bowl and the agony set in again. I rushed to the bathroom to take more advil but knew it would be 15 minutes before it took affect. So again, the writhing in pain thing. Not fun. I called up the dentist and described my excruciating ordeal and they said the earliest they could get me in was 10:30am the next day. Lovely. So then through out the day I had to continue to take 2 advil every 2 hours just to keep the pain at bay. And there were times within that 2 hour window that the pain would briefly resurface and send me into hysterics. And if I didn't down another advil in time, I would be in complete agony until the new pain killers kicked in.
Finally at 9pm I was ready for bed and I took 3 advil in hopes that I'd maybe get 3 hours of sleep before waking up to the feeling of someone stabbing 100 needles directly into the nerve of my tooth. So, from 4:30am to 9:00pm, I had ingested 16 advils and had essentially been in pain all day long. I did pretty well last night and slept from 9:30 until about 2:30am. Got up immediately and downed another 2 advil. The pain was really bad this time because it had been too long since my last dose and so I didn't get back to sleep until almost 4:00am. Then, I was up again around 6:00am, took another 2 advil, but was still in tears and near hysterics from the pain. After about 20 minutes of thrashing in bed from the agony, I feel back to sleep until about 9:15. And then, you guessed it, took another 3 advil, took a shower and got ready for my dentist appointment. This time it seemed as though the advil had no effect whatsoever and I was in tears and shaking on the way to the dentist. I told them to screw the cleaning and get right to work fixing my tooth.
They took an x-ray and sure enough there was an abscess on one of the roots of my crowned tooth. Then they told me they were short staffed and weren't quite sure whether they could work on me today. I almost lost it. Luckily, they worked it out and the next thing I knew they were numbing me. SWEET BLISS!!! I didn't care that I couldn't feel half of my face, for the first time in about 30 hours I didn't feel like ripping all my teeth out. It was heaven. At this point they could have done whatever they wanted to my teeth and I would have conceded without a second thought.
The dentist got to work quickly on the root canal. He drilled a hole through the crown and then cleaned out the roots of my tooth. I didn't feel a thing and it was heavenly. Within an hour he was done. I was prescribed an antibiotic and some vicadin just in case I experience some pain from the procedure. Although I have to go back next week to finish up and to get the permanent filing in my crown, I am so happy. It is now 5:15pm and I haven't had any pain or any advil. There's a little soreness from where they poked me, but it is really nothing at all. I never thought I could be so happy about a root canal. The root canal was easy, it was the 2 days leading up to it that was the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Scrubbing in the Shower
Admittedly, I don't clean my shower as often as I probably should. Instead, I wait until the drain is sufficiently clogged enough that the water won't drain. Then it's time to clear it out and scrub down the whole shower while I'm at it. So last night was the lucky night when I had to time to clean the darn thing.First, I start with the drain. This is actually kind of fun despite being stomach-turning. The fun part is thrusting the plunger against the drain clean-out hole thingy. (I'm sure it has a real name, but I don't know what that is). So I'm whacking the heck out of it until big hair balls pop up through the drain. Hey, I told you it was stomach-turning. And then it is my duty to grab the hair balls before they fall back down the drain. It's a miracle that I'm not bald, because there was certainly enough of my hair in that drain to make one hell of a wig.
Now that the drain is clear, it's on to the rest of the tub. Can someone please explain to me how a shower can have build up that is white, pink and peach in several different spots? Seriously, how does that happen? Luckily, no matter the color of the gunk, it cleans off easily - well except for the soap scum. The fact that soap - a material that is supposed to clean things - leaves scum behind really gets my goat. And no matter what I do, it always returns. After scrubbing for an hour or so, I'm finally done. And if I don't pass out from the fumes or become paralyzed from the horrible positions one has to contort their body in to actually clean the shower, I will live to clean it in a month or two. Hooray.
P.S. Yes, that's me as a singing janitor.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Birthday Cards
Yesterday during lunch I look a trip to one of my very favorite stores: Target. I had a gift card to spend and needed to pick up a few odds and ends. Included in that were 2 birthday cards for 2 girlfriends of mine. Now, picking the perfect birthday card is an art form. I have to read through dozens till I find the perfect joke, the right illustrations and overall feel. Apparently, I was in a certain mood yesterday as both of the cards I picked out had sex jokes. Very tame and not at all crude sex jokes, mind you. Typical girl friend type stuff. In fact, both cards had 2 ladies on the front. Anyway, I had the 2 cards in my hand as I was walking around the store and realized that maybe I should be a bit more discreet about my cards since one of them did have the word "SEX" in bold, capital letters on the front. So, I positioned them under another item, out of sight. I laid them on the check out counter in the same fashion, but didn't really think much about it as I was sure the clerk had much better things to do than care about my birthday cards. But of course, I pick the one checker that feels the need to read each and every word on my cards before scanning them. I felt a bit violated. Those are MY cards, if you feel the need to read greeting cards, take your break in the card section and don't nose through my stuff! At this point a few other people were behind me in line so they could hear the checker proclaim, "Those are nasty" before putting them in my bag. I was angry. They were not nasty, nor were they any of his business in the first place. So I snapped back sternly, "No, they're funny" and threw him a dirty look. I was judged. Judged at a Target. For buying birthday cards. Stupid clerk.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
A Volunteer's Lament
I have been a volunteer Publicity Advisor for Coal Creek Community Theater for a little over 4 years now. When I started, I was thrilled to be able to channel my energy into something that would help promote theatre - one of my biggest passions. I jumped in with both feet and I'm proud to say that, over the past 4 years, I've built a pretty stable marketing program for the theatre. I submit all the press releases, send email blasts to the membership, write and design the quarterly newsletter, help obtain stories in the newspapers and theatre critics, design the posters, postcards, business cards, design and layout the programs, the season brochure, manage all the printing, assist with updating the website, send out mass mailings to the membership and area businesses, manage business sponsors, help with grant applications and essentially if anything is ever printed or sent to more than 5 people, I have touched it in some way. And keep in mind that I have to perform these tasks numerous times a month all year long. Again, this is a complete volunteer position and I do this work after working 40 hours a week at my real job. There are parts about it that I really love and the work I have done for the theatre helped me land my current career, for which I am very thankful. But, after 4 years of this work, I have quite the bitch list and I feel I need to get it all out before I explode.
- I'm tired of hearing that publicity is the answer to all questions and the reason behind all failure.
- I resent the fact that my job is far more time consuming and difficult than the vast majority of the other board positions. I also resent the fact that other board members only show up for meetings and feel that they are actually contributing to the group in a big way.
- It stresses me out to no-end that I feel like I can never give this job over to someone new. No one would want to take it over and I care about it too much to just throw it in the garbage.
- I can't control what a newspaper decides to print or what a website decides to post to their calendar. All I can do is submit the information (which I always do!), so please stop asking me why something is or isn't in the paper.
- It drives me crazy when people pester me about if or when a press release will be sent. Of course it will be sent. I always send it. I will copy you on it when I do send it. I only have a thousand other tasks to do this week, so leave me alone!
- I hate getting a thousands comments/edits on artwork I've created for a poster or post card. It's really hard coming up with original designs (especially with such limited time and resources) so the theatre doesn't have to pay for copyrighted material. Unless I completely miss the point with the poster or unless you can provide me with a clear concept and artwork ready to use, I am only asking you to edit content. I think my designs are pretty dang good so leave the imagery to me.
- It's really frustrating to have to go to 5 different people to just get the information I need to complete one project. And the fact that 4 out of 5 of those people never respond to email makes my job that much more (needlessly) difficult.
- DEADLINES: a word that means absolutely nothing to the vast majority of people. I need time to do a layout or design, time is needed for proof reading and the printer needs time to complete the project. This means that deadlines must be followed in order to get things done in time, but of course I get things late and I have to work well into the night to make up the time. This really sucks.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Oscars! And not the grouchy kind...
And now it's time for Linda's Oscar Picks! ::cue the theme music:: I have now seen all 5 of the Best Picture nominees, so here we go!
Actor in a Leading Role:
Sean Penn, Milk
--Mickey Rourke might win it, but I think Penn deserves it
Actor in a Supporting Role:
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Again, duh.
Actress in a Leading Role:
Merryl Streep, Doubt
--Kate Winslet may take home the statue finally, but having seen both performances I don't think Winslet can even hold a candle to Streep
Actress in a Supporting Role: (AKA the Toss Up Category)
Uh...Viola Davis, Doubt
--I feel like none of the gals nominated for this category particularly stand out in any way so your guess is as good as mine
Best Picture:
Slumdog Millionaire
--Without a doubt the best movie this year
Animated Feature Film:
Wall-E
Anything associated with the name Eva has to be good
Best Director:
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Fabulouso!
TA DA! See ya on Monday with the results!
Actor in a Leading Role:
Sean Penn, Milk
--Mickey Rourke might win it, but I think Penn deserves it
Actor in a Supporting Role:
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Again, duh.
Actress in a Leading Role:
Merryl Streep, Doubt
--Kate Winslet may take home the statue finally, but having seen both performances I don't think Winslet can even hold a candle to Streep
Actress in a Supporting Role: (AKA the Toss Up Category)
Uh...Viola Davis, Doubt
--I feel like none of the gals nominated for this category particularly stand out in any way so your guess is as good as mine
Best Picture:
Slumdog Millionaire
--Without a doubt the best movie this year
Animated Feature Film:
Wall-E
Anything associated with the name Eva has to be good
Best Director:
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Fabulouso!
TA DA! See ya on Monday with the results!
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