disappearing act

after encouraging a friend to restart her blog, i realized i should probably post to my own. almost two months later, a lot of shit has happened. you know i love details and over telling my stories (and there's always a story), but i'll stick to bullet points to keep it easy. i can tell the stories in other posts (help me refind my blog mojo?)

*i took over an audit at work. i'm stressed out and back to working ridiculous hours to make up for when i'm "out"

*i'm using an insane amount of vacation in preparation of leaving my job. not that i've applied elsewhere... yet... took a week off for my birthday, which got interrupted. taking off extra time to live it up in vegas

*bossman and a coworker left the business. hence why i have this damn audit and less support. my other coworker was moved to a different team; her boss is trying to get the shit we manage off her plate. dunno what that will mean for me, but i seriously hope every task doesn't fall back to me

*i've been interning like crazy. my clients are all over the place. my interventions are, too. i'm trying similar things with different people with varying success. it's been a great experience though

*i'm winding down my time at my internship and started prepping my clients for my departure. one who i find particularly difficult hugged me and thanked me for how much i've helped. i'm still shocked

*i didn't take my boards in april, which is why i'll be leaving my site instead of staying as a pt employee. fucking date change. now i'm scheduled to sit for the exam in october

*i wouldn't have been able to take boards even without the date mixup. cause i spent the month of april pledging. i'd tell you which sorority, but i'm trying to keep them off my blog. it's not always sisterly, and i refuse to give it up or censor myself. FUCK that

*i have a new twitter for the same reason. i'm keeping @mcschoon as my main twitter space; @aceschoon is the scrubbed version. might take it in a more professional direction at some point

*i'm nearing the end of another semester. it's been one of the busiest with a ridiculous amount of reading from one class. i should be working on one of the many assignments i have due this week. per usual

*i'm taking a summer class with my favorite prof. then i'm taking three classes in the fall. ugh to being full time, including paying for that shit and the increased time consumption. BUT it'll be my last ever semester of grad school. i. can't. wait

*oh yea, and i moved. pants and i are no longer codependent roomie besties. we're just codependent besties who never see each other cause i'm always working. the move was stressful, and i'm totally gonna yelp about it

*i had my five year anniversary at work. i picked out an exercise ball as my gift. i've used it once, and i'm not sure i like it. glad it was free

*i still haven't finished unpacking from the move because of all the pledging, interning and auditing. i did find my old journal though; there are some real gems in it. weird how much has changed... and how much hasn't... since i was 14

*i gained five pounds. stress eating, choosing poorly and just generally overdoing it. thinking i'm pretty hideous at the moment. trying to get back on the wagon and reframe my negative self images... while eating a pint of karamel sutra...

*my brother comes home this week, but i won't see him until after vegas. he's been oversees for 18 months, and he gets two weeks of leave. that's some bullshit. at least we get to celebrate his birthday together this time

remembering all the shit that's happened is really hard. reason why i should blog more often? probably. now, about those homework assignments....

new tricks

jesse: how was class?
me: it was such a struggle. can't pull/hold myself up very long. can't get in proper position most times. kept snagging silk on my love handles
and i can't wait to go do it again!!! :D

so the adventures continue. who could have predicted that? i heard about the new york trapeze school on elliot in the morning forever ago, which piqued my interest. then, as with most things, i completely forgot about it until someone else did it. sarah took a class in detroit and fell in love. interest = resparked. but my life is busy and i didn't think anyone would want to come with. blah blah blah one year later (or however long it's been. it's late people and my brain is le tired [update: was just looking at sarah's archives for aerial tips when it hit me - i've been thinking about this for almost THREE YEARS. what the hell took me so long?!])... rebecca went as her birthday gift to herself. i, in all of my jealous, commented on how i bet the post-class pain was worth every wince. so she convinced me to attend a class with her. peer pressure at it's best, folks :) it just so happened that our business meeting had to be moved, freeing up my thursday. one aerial silks class booked, one missed turn cause my gps is crazy and one sweet parallel park job later... i decided that my body is so not meant for cirque du soleil

waiting for class, i watched the trapeze class flip and swing and catch and climb a scary high ladder and twist and do some more flippies into the net. watching was exciting and terrifying. i want to try one of the trapeze classes in the future. though that one is about conquering (sorta) a fear... back to silks. having watched the trapeze students, i was feeling mega nervous. noticeably nervous, but all was well. i didn't realize how small they keep the classes. there were only four of us, and three were beginners. so there was plenty of time to learn and figure out each skill and get one on one support from the instructor. we learned locks and climbs and positions and flips and how to properly dismount without rope burn cause you slid from several feet up (or was that just me? ;)). it was SERIOUSLY hard. i'm exhausted from the effort, and my everything hurts. tiff (someone else into acrobatics?! woot!) mentioned her gym offers a strengthening and conditioning class. i need to work on my core and arm strength. i also need to work on finding my balance/center when upside down. so i think i might slip in a couple conditioning classes at TSNY. i'm DEFINITELY going for more aerial classes... as soon as i find some openings in my ridic schedule

my life is getting funner by the minute, friends :) now if you'll excuse me, i need to bengay ALL THE MUSCLES and go the fuck to sleep

meet brutus

in case you haven't heard, i have exciting news :)

I BOUGHT A CAR (well, suv :p)

and then four hours later, i had an accident. no one was injured; both cars were banged up pretty good

after a couple weeks at the shop, he's looking all shiny and new again. it took so long because of the holiday and an issue with ordering some parts. buuut he was ready when i got back from a work trip so all is well

he wasn't my first choice because i wanted the hybrid model. unfortunately, hybrids are in secret production it seems. some people have been able to get them, but little old me can't :p so i went with the non-hybrid highlander. of course non-hybrid is cheaper so my bank account is happy. (not thinking about my loan drama right now) he has the tech package so i have bluetooth, satellite radio and a back up camera. i'm having running boards added on, too. they came in last week so i need to schedule my service visit soon :) besides the tech package, my favorite feature is the V6 engine. brutus tops out at 140mph, and i may or may not have gotten him up to 100 on the highway the other day... i'm not a fan of the mpg, but i'm trying not to let that bother me. it's always going to be an adjustment going from a midsized sedan to a midsized suv *sigh*

overall, i'm very happy with my first big girl purchase. plus my sales guy was fantastic (chris w at fitz annapolis) and made everything so easy. now i just need my tags so we can be officially official :)

winter love

i left work today all bundled up because winter finally came to maryland. our front desk receptionist walked out ahead of me

"back into the cold" "yeaaaaa" "and i hate the cold"

people say stuff like this all the time. we complain year round about the weather wherever we are, constantly wishing it were better. well, i'll have you know that i am quite content at the moment. i thought about it almost the entire drive home. i really do love winter and early spring; here are some of the reasons why...

scarves and fleece everythings || cozying by the fire || my super cute peacoat that matches my wellies || the holidays and random family traditions || being able to bake for hours without melting in the kitchen || eggnog, candy canes and way too many cookies || snuggling under blankets || soup and sammiches || snow and college hoodies || early sunsets || the superbowl || trees encased in ice || parents dressing their kids like randy || warm chai in my big mug to warm my hands || our anniversary || first blossoms of the season || victoria's secret spring collection || counting down to my birthday || light sweaters and jackets || rolling out my favorite heels || spring cleaning and donating so much stuff || getting my easter basket from mom || spring weddings || butterflies and bees || stanley cup playoffs

there are things i don't like, and there are things i adore about the warm months. however, december to april will probably always top my list :)

a small scale story

so ages ago, jess asked about my scale. it's the eatsmart precision digital body fat scale, and i LOVE it. joyce reviewed it back in march, and it immediately got my attention. one of my few complaints about weight watchers is that they focus only on total body weight. so i could gain two pounds of muscle, but they would just see that i put on two pounds. i became obsessed with that overall number and fitting in to the bogus BMI limits. that's the main reason i quit ww. i love the program as a whole; i just hate the way they measure weight loss success. i needed something that measured those pieces that go into one's total body mass

so, a month after i canceled my membership, i bought my first scale. as an overweight kid who grew into an overweight adult, i HATED scales. i used to avoid eye contact with the little slider bars when i went to the doctor. oddly, the only doctor who ever expressed concern about my weight was my first pediatrician. i stopped seeing him shortly thereafter... buying my own scale was so terrifying at first because of my long standing fight with them. i spent two days looking at every single digital scale amazon sold to make absolutely sure that i wanted the eatsmart. (btw: sears sells them, too, but at full price). it was truly an exciting day when it arrived. i never would've thought that possible in my pre-ww days

this scale is fabulous and exactly what i wanted. i can track my percentage of water, fat and muscle. plus it takes a read on bone mass. they even give you the healthy guidelines for each reading in the instruction booklet. so i set up a spreadsheet to track every measurement. currently, i'm 132 pounds (the absolute top of my goal range), 27.7% fat (moderately high), 50.3% water and 36.7% muscle (both within range). i have 4.4 pounds of bone (also in range). i weigh in twice a week, and don't stress too much about the numbers like i used to do... well not stressing as much since i've lost five of the post-funeral eight i put on in august

did i mention it's pretty? (image via amazon)

why do i like this plastic and glass contraption? it has an auto on feature that recognizes me. if other people were using it, the scale would create individual profiles for each person. it uses it's memory of your last recorded weight to identify the user automatically. it's on and calculating the minute my feet hit the scale. it takes about a minute for it to get all the readings, and scrolls through the numbers a few times. i have plenty of time to jot the numbers down in my spreadsheet. then it turns itself off automatically, saving battery power. it's also easy to keep clean. even though i usually weigh in after showering, it can get a little dirty. lysol wipes and swiffer to the rescue :) the only issue is moving the scale. sometimes the slightest shift resets the calibration. i'd like to store it when not in use, but then i'd have to recalibrate every time. and i'm not that patient (it takes an extra minute, but i just don't wanna :p)

the lasts few months haven't always been pretty, but, at the end of the day, my scale is an awesome tool to help keep me focused on staying healthy

off the rails

so much has happened in the last few weeks. emotionally, it's hard to keep up. i've started four posts about the happenings; clearly, nothing's been published. i have a few more posts rolling through my head that i haven't had the time or patience to flesh out. i want to get back on track with everything, but i need to visualize and plan it all out first. here's what's up:

*grad school: i'm embarrassed to admit my academic defeats so i doubt i detailed much of this before. i'll start towards the beginning. last semester, i was on probation. i got fucked in the fall so my gpa dived. i tried my best to get what i needed to get it back up, but fell just short. it doesn't help that one of my grades may be wrong. no, it's not going to boost me over the threshold, but every point counts. unfortunately, JB is an asshole. it took him a week to respond to each of my emails; then he just stopped responding altogether. at the end of june, i got the letter saying i was officially suspended. no class for me in the fall, and i'd have to jump through hoops to be allowed back in for the spring. i had a meeting with the program director, now EJ (JB was the interim director while TM was on sabbatical). i was almost in tears at the end of the meeting. happy tears. she and SB (director of academic advising) believed i should get another chance so they were going to waive my suspension. no begging or pleading from me required. i registered for classes a couple weeks ago. i had a meeting with SB this week to discuss the numbers and do the paperwork. she wanted to hammer home how important this semester is, which i totally agree with. if i don't get the grades, i'm done. that is not an option. much like last semester, things will be difficult and i'm ready for the challenge. i have another email in to JB, i put in my paperwork for my education benefits and my money is ready to go

*finances: i was obsessing over and reconfiguring my savings goals because of the semester beginning. then i started focusing on my long term goals. after days of checking and rechecking, i realized how beneficial having a side hustle would be for me. paying off students loans and saving for huge future purchases over three years without using money from my primary job? sign me up! of course, that was before i reconfigured the MKN budget. there are quite a few assumptions built in given that we dumped our first client before any business was done. once things get moving though, i think everything will work out nicely for the business and us

*work: i'm managing a project that i'd rather be doing. i have the boring job of coordinating between people. i'd much rather be running and analyzing reports, even if it's a cumbersome, time consuming task for one person. what else do i have to do? granted, just like last semester, my lack of projects gives me more time to do homework. i'll be taking full advantage of that given the insane workload i'm going to get

*family: my grandmother was sent to hospice on the 31st because her kidneys appeared to be shutting down. on the 1st, the nurse thought the doctor had misdiagnosed her because she was doing better. the morning of the 2nd, she died. i'm glad i had better sense than to believe what the nurse told my mom monday. false hope is the worst when dealing with sickness and death. she lived 100 amazing years, and her body decided it was time to go. my parents went down to atlanta wednesday to get everything together for the funeral. i went down thursday to help mom because i knew she wouldn't get the support and assistance she needed. her side of the family is wonderful, but they just don't get us. we spent two days running around and making phone calls and two days trying to mentally prepare. tuesday afternoon, we said good bye. over the week, we shared a lot of stories, jokes and tears. we saw a lot of old faces, too. sometimes i forgot what a big heart she had; she touched so many people in one way or another. everyone was a part of her family, not just those of us tied by bloodlines

*health: the stress of the last two weeks took a toll on me physically. mindless eating to the extreme. i still documented every bit of what i ate and drank. so i know i ate at least double my daily allotment every single day i was in atlanta. before i left, i was barely eating at all. i had to consciously remind myself to eat because i simply wasn't hungry. i've been home since wednesday evening, and i still feel way off. my body has done everything it can to let me know it is displeased. even thinking about it now is making my stomach turn... i shouldn't really call it mindless eating. i kept saying i was craving sugar, but i wasn't really craving it. i had an insane compulsion to devour sweets. all of my eating was compulsive. i stripped the skin off a chicken thigh like i used to when i was little. i've always disliked chicken, but i love the fried skin. i ate a whole leg. then i ate the skin my mom hadn't wanted. then i ate all the bits that had fallen into the box. then i grabbed a thigh and methodically removed all its skin. cameron asked, halfway through, if i was going to eat the rest. with no hesitation or guilt, i said "no, i don't want it" like i was seven years old all over again... i'm feeling more mentally myself, but i know i started to undo all the good i've done. i dread getting on the scale this morning, but i know it's the next step in getting back on track

*random: jesse sent me this old article a few weeks ago that still has me thinking. do i see what's out there or do i focus on the minutia? over the last year or so, i think i'm opening myself up to more possibilities. i know where i want to go, but i'm more willing to try different paths to get there. i'm still a detail oriented planner; i will always stress over the little things. i'm just allowing myself to be guided a bit more by the universe instead of forcing/rushing the universe to fulfill my demands

given all i have/need to get done, i really need a game plan. i've already set up my personal schedule for the fall, which includes all the usual obligations for work, school and myself. i'm buying books this week so i can get a headstart on readings. eight books between two classes means no wasted moments. i'm hoping the week off for the funeral hasn't screwed with my momentum. i have wiggle room, but not much. like usual, the schedule is probably overly ambitious, but i don't know how else to be

the cut

mission: accomplished. got my hairs chopped off yesterday. my stylist (i can claim her after two visits right? right :)) said i probably could've donated my hair if it weren't so dry. that's how much i lost. ridiculous! it's a super cute cut, straightened or curly :)

for reference, the befores:

post shower, wet hair - straightened adds about 5in

15min of drying

 and then, there were afters:

after hours of humidity, playing with it and sleeping on it

adding a headband and half smile makes me look less criminal ;)

it took about two hours to wash, cut and style. it's still itchy where little dry hairs are poking me. and i need to buy a head scarf so i can wrap it at night. but, i'm SO happy with it. i probably won't go curly until this weekend. mostly cause i look even more like my mom (hey there, curly fro), and i don't want people to think we're twins when we go to lunch this week :p

side projects

i'm bored. it's friday. i'm way less hungover than when i started this day (oh my cinco de mayo at 27 does not look so pretty). the shared printer is fucked up so i can't print my class notes to start reviewing. i have nada to do at work because my project is, shock of all shocks, on hold. we need to regroup since corporate security got looped in, and they're useless. bossman wants to meet, but he's been in other meetings all week. i'm going to be out monday and tuesday; he has meetings all of wednesday. so maybe we'll have a chance to chat thursday? *shrug* it is what it is. unfortunately, that means i get to be bored out of my skull at the moment. so i'm going to share some exciting news

i'm training to be a CFO. yes, Chief Financial Officer, of a for real company... well the company isn't exactly officially real quite yet, but it's going to be soonish. my life goals haven't changed, but i'm helping neal realize one of his life goals. for now, it's just a side hustle, but it definitely won't be one forever. we're still fleshing things out so i don't want to discuss too many details. but i have SO much research to do. all about monies! figuring out budgets, billing and benefits. love love love it! it's disgusting how excited i am about all of this :) seriously. who actually gets excited about business taxes?!

oh! oh oh! [via]

yea. totally me ;) neal's getting books; i'm putting a list together of brains to pick. we're also picking out friends for specific tasks. i guess that's another fun thing with starting your own business. you get to pay your talented friends to be their awesome selves... ha as i jot more notes because there are SO many things to think about. no longer bored; i have things to start doing :)

swagalicious

27 looks a lot like 26 so far; it's just sleepier :p this year was WAY better than last year. seems like i've gone a million years without a drama filled birthday. i set my expectations super low for these people, and, for once, they lived up to things

i kicked off the weekend with a day off work. i raced around thurs evening because i didn't want to have to leave the apartment at all on fri. picked up packages, groceries and cupcakes on my way home. then i piddled around til the wee hours just because i could. naturally, i slept in on fri. then i ordered in thai food (sooo yummy) and started cooking. just cause it was my birfday doesn't mean i was going totally off my usual routine. jesse took the day off, too, and was gonna come down in the afternoon. unfortunately, he got stuck in traffic nearly the entire way here. at least we were able to have dinner together at dinner time :)

sat, i had to pop over to weis for some forgotten items. then i made the first round of baked macs. erin came over early before we rolled off to the bowling alley. so excited to see her, and really itching to see jess and heather now. miss my girls so much! for my friends celebration, i decided bowling was the thing to do. the awesome: alley is right around the corner from us. the unawesome: it decided to hail the second we went out the door. it was insane! and only lasted that five minutes we were in the car. super weird. i got to see more of my favorite people, had a beer + two cupcakes and got my ass handed to me lol. i am awesome at wii bowling so i kinda forgot how much i sucked at real bowling. neal won; jesse and cait were neck and neck most of the game. it was an amusing afternoon. i invited peeps over to the apartment afterward for more catching up and being silly. i didn't realize how much bowling had taken out of me though. i hate to say it, but i kinda wish i had told people to just go home :p i went from 100 to -10 on the energy scale super fast. it was fabulous spending time with everyone though. i can't wait to throw a summer shindig! i'll make sure to nap before the fun begins ;) we headed to bed shortly after the last guest left. my sister and her best friend (who's birthday was sat) called at exactly midnight to wish me a happy birthday. drunk fools :p it was sweet though, even if i was super exhausted

sun (dun dun dunnnnn) was the family birthday outing. i opted for brunch at a place stace recommended and invited neal, too. can't go anywheres without my entourage ;) it was a good brunch, even though stace kept trying to eat off my plate. any other day, i would've conceded (baby sister's are the worst :p), but i wanted my whole muffin dammit. no bites for her! that girl seriously needs to travel with snacks; she's ALWAYS hungry. it was nice to have my two favorite boys along, but part of me is still sad my brother couldn't be there. it's still weird that he can't come to things because his schedule is dictated by someone else. after eating, i quickly opened my gifts...

you know all this build up was just to talk about my new swag, right? what? i like stuff :)

erin is hilarious; she gave me my xmas gift for my birthday since she never mailed it. super cute ornament from hallmark. love it! briah also got me something... cupcakes! they were delicious and went fast on sat. i tortured poor jesse by not opening his gift until sun. neal's thing is blowing out a candle; mine is opening gifts. these things must occur on the day of actual birth. otherwise, they don't count. or something... so i brought the box with me to brunch. mom also brought the gift from her and the old man. i had sent mom, jesse and neal a link to my gamestop wishlist last month since all i really wanted were games. unfortunately, there was some weird error that gamestop still hasn't fixed. so mom got me a giftcard, which she put in a large bag. i totally thought there was more, but it was just a lot of tissue paper. i also got two hallmark cards (one mushy, one funny). then i opened jesse's gift. a kindle with books already loaded :) he even drew me a silly picture to illustrate how he kinda lost a fight with some tape while trying to wrap the box. so cute. i'm still not 100% sold on ereaders, but will happily use this gift. i think i was most excited that he actually checked my goodreads list for books i wanted to read. he put so much thought into it, which was super sweet. someone knows how to make a girl feel loved *swoon*

we headed home shortly thereafter, where my little 3DS was waiting. toys r us was giving me heart palpitations all week, but UPS/USPS managed to get my new toy in early and in one piece. i think jesse was just as excited as i was to open the box hahah. he didn't believe i could wait three extra days to open it, but i did. i take gifts very seriously :p i immediately created miis for both of us. then i played face raiders. then i whipped out the AR cards. i took random pictures of nintendo characters in 3d, and i played two AR games. unfortunately, i killed the battery (i was too excited to full charge ooops). so i plugged it in and immediately went back to the kindle. i spent the next couple hours looking through the user guide and trying to figure out how to read blogs. i can't wait til their web app is fully functional. i would love to be able to read and comment on my fave blogs on my commutes to class, but right now, that's cumbersome

then neal rolled out his gifts. from my amazon wishlist: the training day soundtrack and sailor moon sailor stars, from my gamestop wishlist (which i totally forgot i'd added, but my bestie knows me so damn well and just got it): alice in wonderland and, lastly, strong bad's cool game for attractive people (super awesome find!). seriously impressed by both my boys :) at that point, it was most certainly naptime. jesse and i crawled into bed, while neal started dinner. cause one of his other gifts was dinner and dessert (holy crap, i'm spoiled!). unfortunately for him, he underestimated the difficulty. fortunately for me, i got a birthday quickie. there was even time to spare so we stayed in bed with our handhelds. hahah 3DS for me; PSP for jesse. it was worth the wait, too. i think dinner turned out quite nicely, and the cupcakes neal picked were super good. after dinner, we watched legion

overall, it was a great day to end a fantastic weekend. not just because of my new nerdy stuff. i'm genuinely happy i could spend time with some of the important people in my life :)

just can't hide it

i know you missed this because normal people were sleeping at that hour, but...

I'M GETTING A 3DS FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!!

yea, i'm uberexcited :D i won a SmartyPig trivia contest months ago and received $300 in toys r us gift cards. i have been waiting somewhat patiently for the 3DS release since i first heard about it waaaay back at the beginning of last year (or was it end of 09?). i stalked a handful of websites for announcements of any kind. then suddenly, it had a launch date and pricing and actual specs *swooon* amazon started preorders in january, but i'd already decided i was sticking with toys r us. they aren't high on my toy shopping list, but who turns down gift cards? then i heard about the new psp2, and i started having hesitations. the tech on that thing is mindboggling, and i think it's fancy enough to contend with my beloved 3DS. InSlut (should i just start calling him jesse? ...meh) says nintendo will always top other handhelds, but i still have doubts. and then brand about town invited a bunch of awesome peeps to new york for the 3DS launch party. reading their reactions solidified my need to have it now. i don't care if it drops in price. i don't care of the psp2 has better capabilities. i don't care if all the games i want aren't out yet. I NEED THAT TECH NOW! i don't know what made me think about it, but i popped over to the toys r us site last night just to check on the happenings. and there it was "NEW! Pre-Order Now!" (ps, toys r us, your capitalization is unnecessary) so i followed orders :)

this hot little thing will be on it's way to me on march 27th, and i can't stop grinning. i'm already looking at slipcovers and cases on etsy :)

from toys r us site

part of me thinks i should've gotten expedited shipping so i could have it to open on my birthday, but i'm ok with waiting an extra few days. now i just need to decide what to do with my remaining cards. most of my games will be from gamestop so i may give the one unused card to someone else or stock up on batteries... oooh i should start building my wishlist on gamestop... or i need to take a deep breath and get back to work. one of the two ;)

[insert me running around with my arms in the air screaming WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE like the geico pig commercial. that's what my brain is doing so it's kinda hard to focus]

... um... um... end post

year condensed

i hadn't intended to do a reflective post on 2010, but then i scrolled through my photos again (yea... i reread my own posts a thousand times). it occurred to me that i had a pretty adventurous year. and i HATE adventure... says the girl who's planning a summer road trip with her bestie... i'm not in the mood to hunt down all the applicable blog posts (if i even wrote them), but here's a quick recap of 2010. in the order i remember them

- i met and fell in love with an awesome guy

- i walked in the susan komen 3day for the cure

- i helped gather postcards in support of marriage equality for maryland

- i hung out with the DC bloggers a few times

- i got drunk under the table by the tweeting lesbians

- i attended a pocket gays happy hour and met new people by myself, without knowing a single person (online or offline) beforehand

- i went to the DC NOH8 shoot

- i got a tattoo

- i worked the gate at baltimore pride, and THE pandora boxx smiled at me. then she and juju tweeted me, and i DIED

- i bought and carved my very first pumpkin

damn! that was a good year. running theme: booze and gays, sometimes at the same time :) oh, yea. and volunteering and my darling boy and a random pumpkin. but mostly boozey gays

dear 2011,
the stakes have been raised

:)

talk to me

oh, is that a bandwagon? let me get on

(hopefully, this works. youtube won't allow videos longer than 10 minutes, and my middle name is rambler. i'm uploading directly through blogger eep) so this is part of a vlog meme. i don't quite know who started it, but it's funtacular. all about accents and dialects, and i <3 phonology. i was born and raised in maryland. my mom is from georgia; my dad is from new york. we lean towards the southern half of the family in terms of some word usage and pronunciation

so that's my horribly awkward self. i really should never be allowed in front of a camera. thanks to jenn, rini and emily for inspiring me and amy for encouraging me to do this post. so... blame them ;)

if you want to join in, here are the list and questions you need...

words: aunt, route, wash, oil, theater, iron, salmon, caramel, fire, water, sure, data, ruin, crayon, toilet, new orleans, pecan, both, again, probably, spitting image, alabama, lawyer, coupon, mayonnaise, syrup, pajamas, caught

what is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
what is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
what is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
what do you call gym shoes?
what do you say to address a group of people?
what do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
what do you call your grandparents?
what do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
what do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
what is the thing you change the TV channel with?

i hope you join in on the embarassmentfun. happy vlogging :)

ps: i look and sound just like my little sister. it's so weird :p

some pictures

at some point, i meant to post these to document things i'd done. i don't really remember if there were full blog posts to go with them but whatev. enjoy a few moments from my fall

cookies for my fave startup because they're that awesome

a dress that fit me wonderfully, hugging all the right places, is now gaping a year later. i still have it because i think it can be taken in

susan komen walk. the morning of day one, and after getting home on day three. my poor knees

i went to the noh8 shoot in dc; my official photo is here. i wish my skin looked that good all the time :p

the pumpkin that became ray pumpkwis

christmas morning carnage. because i'm mocked if i'm too dainty

struggling

it's really hard to blog more when you have nothing to say. i keep writing half posts in my head/in draft. but by the time i get around to actually fleshing them out, my brain is empty

i'm still catching up on blogs from back in october (worst reader ever). still tweeting about nothing. have zero projects at work. class is still three weeks away... there is very little happening in my life that y'all don't already know about

what have i been doing all week? playing with my budget. even though it's done, i never stop tweaking... updating my planner. this is the first year ever that i started without the new pages in my planner ready to go. i don't know who i am sometimes... checked out a new weight watchers meeting with mom. we're officially switching because anne marie is seriously lacking in the friendliness. plus i discriminate against people who've lost weight and still have cankles... skyped with jesse, which was mostly watching him play saints row II :p ...
oh! my new games arrived on wed, but i haven't retrieved them from my parents' yet. which is convenient because my bird print arrived yesterday (check out rini's designs). i swear half my fave etsy shops are owned by bloggers. i'm gonna swing by the house after work to pick everything up... tomorrow starts the cooking extravaganza. goal was one recipe per week, but i'm tackling four. one of which utilizes something from the chez schoon and neal pantry :) ... i'm baking up teal velvet cupcakes tonight. i knew neal would be jealous of the anniversary cupcakes i made (red velvet is his favorite) so i figured i'd make a batch for him. unfortunately, i used all the red (and a little yellow) so i only have a full thing of blue left. i don't think there's enough yellow left for green cupcakes, hence the teal. regardless, they'll be nomalicious... sunday, of course, is wild card day so i'll be glued to the tv from 1pm til whenever the late game ends

so yea. that's my exciting life... when did i stop being interesting?

shower musings

i had an epiphany the morning after my last day of the semester... ok epiphany might be a strong word, but whatever :p ... taking finals is almost like having a newborn...

- you don't sleep well because something wakes you every few hours of the night. that 20minute power nap might just save your sanity

- you don't eat properly. sometimes grabbing whatever is easiest/quickest/closest just to have something in your belly

- sometimes you get screamed at. if you take too long responding, you're gonna get an earful

- you're probably the smelly kid. showers become an adventure in time management every time you turn on the taps

- when dealing with massive amounts of shit, you will question your life choices. you will always decide, ultimately, you made the right ones because you know it's worth it

of course, having kids is a longer term commitment, but at least they grow up. unfortunately, finals never get any easier. i can't fathom doing both at once

reflection

friday morning, i was feeling reflective. 2010 has been kind of a big year. i started classes at a new grad school, have a new boyfriend and live in a new apartment. it's been a good year. it may only be november, but i don't mind declaring 2010 the best year ever. i'm already excited for 2011 :)

however, today, i am feeling very lazy. so yea that's all you get :p i'm not even in the mood to gush over harry potter. the movie was excellent, and i can't wait for part two. i'm going to reread the book when this semester is over because i hate cliffhangers. yea, i already know what happens, but still. i need more

*shrug* not much of a post here, and i make no promises about the awesomeness of any upcoming posts :p

permasquee

i am super excited at the moment. so excited that i'm barely forming full coherent thoughts. sorry. one of my very best friends is about to have a baby. it's been a crazy couple of weeks, but we think baby Z is finally about to introduce herself. one of my other close friends is going ring shopping. i KNEW that boy was gonna propose, but they've been taking their time. and driving me crazy :) i've had her shower gift picked out for ages, and i'm so excited i may actually be purchasing it soon. ER is wonderful so i can't wait for him to make an honest woman out of my HB ;)

if there were a support group for people addicted to weddings and babies, i would have to join it. i seriously think my heart is going to explode from excitement :D

i would include pictures of happy engaged people or happy new parents, but my brain is on hyper drive. in no shape for weeding through pictures of happy moments. instead i leave you with a link to this adorable photo by mark loper. a glass friend sent it to me, and i've had it open all day. makes me miss my big spoon...

for the stache

we saw a portrait by whistler at the carnegie museum that i thought would make a hilarious lolz about movember. however, i didn't want to infringe on anyone's copyrights so used something in the historic databank instead. i was bored; movember amuses me. i realize it's about raising money/awareness for prostate cancer, but it's still an odd/interesting way to go about it. get to growing your 'staches, gentlemen. i expect to see some classics by the end of this month

blog's first birthday

one year ago, i started a second blog cause i'm an internet addict. you know you love it ;)

happy anniversary to you, desultory. i'm gonna celebrate by spending the day being naughty with InSlut... well, that was gonna happen anyway... thanks for sticking around through all my nonsense, everyone :)

i love fall