PepeCarhart House

Good Dog

2009-04-03T15:02:00.001-05:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Pictures

2009-04-03T15:01:00.001-05:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

2008-08-13T08:51:00.005-05:00

Things have really settled down, James sleeps through the night almost every night. He is taking two 1 1/2 hour naps a day and is doing so well at the gym daycare. I have felt great and think I may be losing some weight, thank GOD!

He had a great time in the Hamptons and adjusted to the new surroundings very quickly.

Clearly it's time to start shaking things up again, lets try for #2.

2008-08-11T09:08:00.002-05:00

As I sit here and watch James do his army crawl across the hardwood floor, I wonder if I could somehow attach a swiffer to his belly.

2008-04-24T14:52:00.003-05:00

James has recently been 'talking' up a storm. His adorable little voice reminds me of cookie monster. His cousin was in town, I refer to him as the loud one and she is the quiet one, he greeter her with a loud cookie monster roar and alarmed her to the point of tears. He's all boy and all mouth. I suppose this will be a theme for the next 10 + years.

Despite the rough start, the cousins has such a fantastic time. James was in a great mood the entire time she was here. This boy needs a sibling in the worst way. We'll start working on it soon.

First things first, I have been thinking of weaning James for the past month. I like having the secret weapon in case of emergencies and I can't really think of any good reason to stop breast feeding him but I keep thinking of weaning him anyway. Pretty odd.

He has been taking swim lessons, well, it's actually more like floating in a heated pool and singing the hokey pokey. James looooooooooooooves it, like you couldn't tell from the photo.

2008-04-12T07:24:00.002-05:00

I'm back, James is now 7 months old and I finally enjoy being a mom. The antidepressants helped a lot, I had a pretty serious case of postpartum depression. The scariest part of that is I had crazy irrational thoughts and they seemed rational. That scared me a lot.

But that is over and James now sleeps from 6:30 pm to 5:30 or 6 in the morning. It's a bit too early for me but I looooooooove not getting up at 10 pm, midnight, 2 am, and 6 am. Now that I am getting more then 5 hours of sleep in a row I have started running and taking pilates and am starting to drop the extra weight.

It's so nice to feel normal again and it's so sweet to be mother to James. I feel so confident, it's a feeling of great accomplishment, even stronger then runnign the marathon. I feel bulletproof and invincible.

2008-02-15T12:56:00.000-05:00

What a happy boy he has turned out to be! FINALLY!

2008-01-25T12:37:00.000-05:00

2007-12-14T09:27:00.000-05:00

I suppose I should read my recent posts before I start yet another one with the roller coaster ride line. Let's just say I have been sleep deprived for the past 3 months.

Last night he slept like a champ and with each day that passes he does better and better. Christmas is going to be a blast, I can't wait to get the tree up this weekend.

The presents I ordered for James are arriving, I have done all my shopping for him on line since it's pretty damn hard to find toys NOT made in China.

Rob and I are not getting each other presents this year since getting out and doing some shopping has been close to impossible. At first I thought I would feel a bit gypped about not getting anything, but with Christmas a little over a week away, I feel absolutely no stress. I feel very calm. How amazing is that?

Here is a picture of my little elf.

2007-12-05T11:27:00.000-05:00

Life with James is such a roller coaster, one day he is happy all day and the next day he cries and is uncomfortable ALL DAY. His sleep patterns are even worse, he used to sleep from 7pm to 11 ish but lately he is up around 9ish and then is up every 2 or 3 hours and on some nights he is up every damn hour.

I have been feeling really hopeless and depressed for the past 12 weeks. Some days I feel optimistic but I think those days correspond to his good sleep nights.

It seems like I never have any time during the day to do anything other then the necessities, eat, brush the teeth and use the bathroom. I'm exhausted.

Anyway, my point today is that I am starting to think things are going to turn for the better. I now belive it when people say it will get better because I see faint glimmers of it. Here are a few of those glimmers.

2007-11-21T19:47:00.000-05:00

I finally went to the Dr to find out why James is so damn miserable all the time and the poor little fella has acid reflux. I hate medicating him but the medicine has helped and he is a much happier little fella.

Of course, he still has his meltdown almost every day from 4-ish until he falls asleep at 7. They call that colic. Colic seems to the catch all phrase for the great unknown.

They say the colic goes away and the reflux will improve at 3 months, I hope I can keep my sanity until then.

It's a good thing he is so cute.

2007-10-01T12:09:00.001-05:00

Here he is....

James Lloyd

Wow, what a roller coaster. His birth was incredibly rough, he refused to come out, they had to suction him out!

My milk came in late so he was grouchy and ravenous for a few days.

He went on a hunger strike and then refused to take the left boob, which we now call the bad boobie.

For his first week and 1/2 he cried and cried, the only time he was not crying was when he was nursing or sleeping.

It was heartbreaking for me. He was just so miserable all the time and he cried every time he looked at me and then all of a sudden, he started to change. At first he had a few good minutes, then more good minutes and I am beginning to think it's going to be ok.

2007-09-05T15:43:00.000-05:00

This is what 198 pounds looks like. I think it looks pretty damn good. Most of those calories have been incredibly healthy ones, but lately I eat every impulse that floats into my head. If I pass a sign for milkshakes I'm fixated until I have one. Somebody said rice crispy treats and I had to make them. It's almost nesting, I'm helpless to the urge to make muffins, cookies etc. I HAVE to make the cookies.

12 days to go until the due date but I'll bet I go late. I've been napping almost every day and wonder how on earth pregnant mommies keep up with their other kids. Maybe that's why it's best to have some space between them, not for their sake but for my own.

2007-08-09T08:11:00.000-05:00

The Montero is sitting in the driveway! It's perfect and I love everything about it except the awful smoke smell and the even worse cover up smell. I pulled a panel out of the trunk to experiment my stink removal skills.
Yesterday I tried spraying with Resolve carpet cleaner and then after a good 6 hours Rob vacuumed. Still stinks.
Today I doused it in baking soda and in a few hours will vacuum, we'll see if that works.

This morning was a little bit sad for me, my engagement ring no longer fits. It's been getting a little snug, and yesterday I had a sneaky suspicion that it was only a matter of days before it got stuck on my finger. I suppose I'm lucky I got to wear it up to 8 1/2 months. My hand looks so naked without it. I'm going to have to dig around my jewelry box for something to wear on that hand.

2007-08-02T08:26:00.000-05:00

It looks like my new mommy mobile is going to be a Mitsubishi Montero Sport XLS. We found one we liked and it may be here this weekend, which is great since I need to get used to driving something considerably larger than any of my previous cars. It's really tall and big. Much bigger then my CRX and Del Sol. I'm a bit nervous about driving a car that large. I'm not too worried about mileage now that I no longer commute, lately I fill up the car about once a month.

It's used and I think the person who had it before us was a chain smoker so I am on a mission to rid the car of smoke smell before the baby arrives. I got the stink out of the Honda, I have confidence.

I think we have everything for the baby except the moses basket and that is on the way so he can arrive any day and we will be prepared. Rob's co-worker had their baby 7 weeks early so Rob has been saying that we really really need to pack our hospital bag. I'm anxious to see the baby but I truly doubt he will be early BUT we'll pack a bag this weekend if it makes Rob feel more comfortable. This weekend I will be 34 weeks, 6 more weeks to go. I want to hold this baby in the worst way and I can't wait to see his little angel face.

2007-07-25T10:52:00.001-05:00

Another picture from the shower/christening. I am now 32 weeks along and had my first night of fitfull sleep. There was a foot firmly wedged in my ribs that was so uncomfortable it woke me up. After that, it was heartburn that woke me up and then it was a bathroom break and then my hips ached and then... and then... and then....

I'm going to take it easy today. Tomorrow is my glucose test. I failed the first one, which is totally surprising to me, there is no way I have any kind of glucose problems. The problem was I ate my weight in rice crispy treats the night before and they allow you to eat an hour before the test. I wonder if they set you up to fail you so you have to have yet more tests etc and the insurance company pays more and somebody profits. The more I write about it the angrier I get about having to take the stupid 3 hour glucose test. Jerks.

On to happier things, the nursery is really coming together. Pay no attention to the ugly black dresser, it's going away very very very soon and will be replaced by a changing table.

2007-07-20T09:21:00.000-05:00

The past few weeks have been flying by. I am still hitting the pool 5 days a week but it really tires me out. Maybe I'm kidding myself and simply being pregnant is tiring me out. Who knows but it's hard to lug around all the extra weight and my baby book says he's gearing up for a big weight gain.

He is extremely active and I get such a kick out of watching my tummy move.

We have the crib set up and a pair of cardinals have built a nest right outside the baby's window and there are 2 chicks in there peeping up a storm. It's so damn cute.

My shower and my god daughter's christening was last weekend and we had a record number of people at mom's house. I have a house full of baby stuff and his room is not quite ready for the deluge of presents, so it's all over the living room. Normally, having all that stuff around would make me itch to put it away but I love to look at the baby things and play with them.

I'm just so damn excited to have this baby.

2007-07-09T10:13:00.000-05:00

I think the baby had a growth spurt in the past few days. He is constantly rolling, punching and kicking, sometimes it's just awesome and I could sit quietly for hours and just feel his movement but sometimes it's almost uncomfortable.
It's been about 7 months since I had sushi and red wine, I really miss the sushi and have been actually craving grocery store California rolls. I don't miss the red wine at all, it just smells like heart burn to me, what I do miss is beer. Ice cold Old Speckled Hen, Newcastle and Guinness.

The sleepies are back, I race around all morning getting errands done and exercising because I know that at 2:00 my body will shut down and I will be crazy tired for the rest of the day.

Oh, big news! I called the EEOC when I left working for GP and got my notice today that it's going to mediation! I believe that means the EEOC found just cause and if we don't settle in mediation then it goes to court, AND the EEOC gives me a lawyer. Wouldn't it be cool if we won! I think I'm going to ask for lost wages, that seems fair.

2007-07-02T09:19:00.000-05:00

Here is what I look like at 29 weeks. The belly is getting large but at least the arms and rear are not growing at the same rate.

What a whirlwind of a month, the most recent trip to Hershey was fantastic. Chelle was ready to have her baby but her due date was June 6th. She was dilated and we were trying all the tricks we could think of to get labor to start. I called Rob and he reminded me of what our Dula had told us. Fresh pineapple and/or Eggplant Parm. So we went out that day and got pineapple and made eggplant parm and her water broke the next morning, Thursday June 30th. Conicidence? I think not! Meghan Mary was born at 1:50 in the afternoon and Chelle looked absolutely fantastic after giving birth. Check out the happy family.

2007-06-25T12:37:00.000-05:00

I totally forgot about a pregnancy perk I didn't realize I was eligible for... we checked in at the gate at Islip so we were in boarding group C and it was a packed flight. We each had books, I-pods etc to keep ourselves company if we had to sit separately so we were not worried but when they announced preboarding the Southwest rep came over to us and asked if we wanted to pre-board.

We were so excited we could barely contain ourselves!!!! That's Southwest first class seating! So we are plotting another trip before my flying cut off in late August.

I'm leaving tomorrow AM to stay with Rachelle and Kev for a few days and am so excited for the company. Lately, I have felt so damn lonely, maybe it's because we had such a great time in NY, maybe because I just talked to Sue and miss her, maybe it's because I miss Connie. I also tend to think there are some pregnancy hormones involved but either way I am excited to stay with Chelle while she waits for labor to begin.

I was teasing Rob and asking him if he thought I could go on the roller coasters and the water park rides. He has no sense of humor about that stuff. A few days ago, I confessed and told him and Mom that I was swimming in the rash pool and Rob called me a shifty shape shifter. So, when I asked him about Hershey park he made me SWEAR that I would not go on any roller coasters. I won't go on the roller coasters but I sure love going to the rash pool every day for adult swim, it's the hi light of my days.

Pre baby world tour, East coast leg

2007-06-20T08:51:00.000-05:00

We had another fantastic trip. Rob and I flew out to the Ryan compound in the Hamptons and saw every single Ryan family member. We ate pizza at http://www.johnsrestaurant.com which is always a treat. I forget just how good NY pizza really is.

The ocean was too cold but we took a walk along the water. The community pool was a little chilly but we got in anyway. The girls are a riot and little Jack Jack is probably one of the smartest little boys I have ever met. He is an engineer in the making and kept me updated on the status of the lights and fans in the house. "the fan is on" "the light is off"

I got to sun my belly, but maybe too much. It's been itching like crazy and I hope it's Sun Scunge but it may be something else....... There is a city pool a mile from our house that has lap swim every day from noon to 12:30. The majority of the clientele is kids from the public housing complexes near by so Mom and Rob have been telling me not to go there. Rob says it's not safe and Mom says I'll get a rash.

Well, I went to the city pool yesterday and swam laps for 1/2 hour and it was fantastic. There was only one other swimmer and it felt soo good to float. I'm not going to tell anybody that I am swimming there since I don't feel like getting lectured by Mom and Rob. I feel very relaxed just thinking about it BUT by dinner time my belly was itching soooooooooo badly I was feeling crazy!!!!! It's probably Sun Scunge but in the back of my mind I am wondering 'did I get the mystery rash Mom was talking about'

2007-06-13T12:15:00.000-05:00

I can say this on line becuase Rob does not read my blog. My husband is the worst photographer that has ever lived. He takes the absolute worst pictures.... even when I compose the shot for him! We have been having fun with the new mirror and got a few good pix.

We're spending the next 5 days in the Hamptons so there should be plenty of photo op's. And my cousin Cara is a fantastic photographer so I may hand the camera to her.

2007-06-05T10:05:00.000-05:00

There are some trips that stand out in my memory as being the best trip ever like my Honeymoon, the first trip I took to NoLa to visit G, my first business trip overseas and now I am adding the most recent trip to Florida.

The trip was uneventful, I didn’t have the best day ever at the ocean or eat the best filet ever but I enjoyed every single day with Connie and the family. We went to the pool every day, Connie and I took a yoga class and I read books to my godson. I was fighting back tears when she dropped me off at the airport. I think she would be a great person to have with me when I go into labor and have the baby. I feel very calm around Connie.

It was hot so I got to try out my maternity summer wear and I think I’ll hold up just fine…. Except my damn thighs have started rubbing together. It’s absolutely disgusting to me. There is a bit of a debate going on as to weather or not you can get that to stop while pregnant. I talked to 3 trainers at the gym, 1 said ‘well, you’re pregnant so you have a reason for your thighs to rub together’, another one said ‘I think you need to gain weight there to support your growing belly’, the last one said ‘Brigette, if you want it to stop I bet you will be able to do it’. She is my personal trainer, I picked a good one.

On an unrelated side note, we got a convex mirror for the living room and I love it.

2007-05-30T09:43:00.001-05:00

My baby has been on another fantastic road trip. We FINALLY saw Cape Cod in the summer and it was beautiful. The lilacs were in bloom everywhere and I saw white, light purple and very deep purple lilacs. They are definitely my favorite flower. I missed the lilac bloom in my backyard, while we were staying at my mothers, so I have been in lilac withdrawal. I immediately cut a bunch from Lloyd’s house and kept them in my hotel room.

We got to spend time with Rob’s Mom, which is awesome. Rob always talks about how much he loves my mom and I feel the same way about Ann. I always wish we could spend more time with her.
The point of the trip was to pick up Rob’s Father’s things and boy we got some awesome stuff. We got a 8mm camera that belonged to his grandfather, along with great WWII war propaganda movies and a slew of home movies, old pictures and actual receipts from the 20’s. Lloyd and his mother were pack rats but some of that stuff is extremely interesting.

2007-05-08T16:37:00.000-05:00

Funny how things happen. Work called and wanted me to scale down my hours for the next month so I am working 10 hours a week. How awesome is that?! I love going to the gym every day and now that the weather has started to get warm, and I bought a bikini, I am ready for the pools to open.

So far I have gained 15lbs and the Dr said to expect to gain 30lbs. It seems like a ton of weight. I can't imagine doubling my weight. The belly has been growing like crazy, it finally beat out my chest in the great zeppelin race.

I feel him rolling around in there, he really likes the left side of my belly and every time I feel a roll, it's there. I suppose as he gets stronger the kicks will begin and I hope that happens soon.

2 weeks till the Florida vacation and 5 weeks until the Hamptons vacation. I can't WAIT!

2007-05-02T13:03:00.000-05:00

I was looking at other blogs and mine is just too much text so here are some pictures.
It's the Dog Of A Thousand Faces doing his impression of a circus dog and me in my circus clown outfit.

2007-05-02T12:54:00.000-05:00

When I left General Physics, I was a bit panicked about not working so I grabbed up the first contract that came my way. It's a great contract, working from home doing technical recruiting for about 20 hours a week and the pay is big.

But, I am realizing that work is severely cutting into my busy schedule. I wake up about 10 am and have a nice breakfast, then watch the news or read it on line for an hour. I get to the gym at 11 ish and spend 1 1/2 hours there or so and then it's time for a biiiiig lunch. By the time lunch is done, it's nap time.

After nap time, it's walk the dog time and think about dinner time. Next think you know Rob is home. So you see, work is interfering. I just don't have 20 hours a week for work.

I got the contract through a good friend and don't want to let him down but I think I am going to have to look at an end date since I have a trip to Florida and a trip to the Hamptons coming up. Oh yeah, and the pools open up in June. Where will I find the time to swim in the pool. It's my natural habitat since I am looking more and more like a walrus with each day that passes.

2007-05-01T09:30:00.000-05:00

Everybody will be happy to know I have not killed my brother.... yet. He and my mother have a relationship I will never understand. Last night at 10:30 I hear mom saying "I'll cook you a hamburger" and then she cooked him a hamburger. I was considering yelling out "He's 19, he can cook his own hamburger!" . Instead I had insomnia.

On a happier note, I feel the boy move daily. It's not a flutter or a quickening whatever that is. I feel movement and weight shifts. It's so comforting and fun to feel him and I wish Rob could feel it somehow.

Poor Rob, it's always crunch time at work but it's super crunch time now. The flooring guys screwed up the baseboards so Rob is doing it himself but there is a lot of drywalling that needs to be done and all of it needs to happen before the painters come on Friday. Needless to say he is a stress ball and he goes from work to home to work on the house. I am kind of lonely and Rob is uber stressed. I will be so happy when things are normal and quiet back in our own house.

2007-04-24T12:16:00.000-05:00

I have been living at Mom's house for almost a week and it has been quite nice. We eat dinner at the table every night and talk, so far there has not been much TV which is great. Bry ... every 'morning' at noon his alarm clock rings until I BANG on his door which falls forward from it's hinges. I assume he kicked the door off it's hinges in a fit of fury and never fixed it. After he turns off the alarm clock I listen to his cell phone beep every 10 minutes until I yell at him to turn the thing off.
Then he rolls out of bed around 2:30 to start his day, which usually includes working part time and asking mom for money so he can go get a 'burger' after work.
I really want to smack him but I think it would be better if we just pressured the contractors to paint the house quickly.

The floors were sanded and finishes but the fumes are pretty bad so I have not been over there yet. Today is the day, I'm going to stick my head in the door to see my new living room and bedrooms and hopefully not collapse from the fumes.

2007-04-17T12:23:00.000-05:00

The wierdest thing happened to Rob's car. While he was parked at work (we think) somebody tried to steal the catalytic converter on his truck! Somebody took a saw zal, crawled under the truck and cut through the piece that holds it in place and started to cut through the pipe and then stopped.

Apparently, this is common for 2 reasons. A new catalytic converter is crazy expensive and there is platum in them. Toyotas trucks and Toyota suv's get stolen a lot since they are easy to cut.

That just blows my mind.

Maybe nesting?

2007-04-13T11:22:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure if it is considered nesting but the time has come for us to do more home renovations. We are having all the floors on the main level sanded and refinished, they are oak and have been hidden under wall to wall carpeting for 30+ years. It's going to be glorious.
We rented a pod and this weekend Rob is moving everything into it.

Since the house is going to be empty we are also going to have the interior painted at the same time so we are getting 2 pain in the ass projects out of the way at 1 time.

We're going to live at Mom's house for the next week which is great, she has plenty of space for us and Finn is there, BUT my brother is there also. Apparently he FINALLY got a job but I have yet to believe it. Quite frankly, I am totally fed up with his sulking around and his garbage attitude. He reminds me a lot of my father. We shall see if he and I can live in the same household for a week. It's the perfect mix for a bad reality tv show, My Knocked Up Sister/My Emo Baby Brother. The pregnant bitch vs the slacker over dramatic kid.

2007-03-22T12:44:00.000-05:00

Despite the war crimes at work things are going really well for the baby. I have not had any bad symptoms and the only thing I can complain about it that I'm tired ... but my body is working so hard so that makes total sense.

I have continued with the Pilates and have been making modification as I progress but the neatest one happened on Tuesday. I was doing beats and FELT the baby in there! I wish there was a way for Rob to feel that. Also, I was doing roll up and have always been super flexible but I simply could not roll all the way forward, the baby was in the way.

So far I have been modifying because I read something or I overstretched but this was the first time I felt the reason for the modification.

I have to laugh when I get off the treadmill, on Monday I ran a 15 minute mile. Rob is starting to talk about running again and I don't know if I can keep up with him!

My 'skinny pants' don't fit but my regular pants fit just fine with some help from a rubber band or a bella band. The scale says I have gained only 5 pounds which is odd since I eat all day. Instead of looking like I had a few really large meals, I am starting to look pregnant. All 5 of those pounds are in the belly, no doubt about it. I like the way the belly looks. I have been trying to show it off as much as possible. The pilates pants and tank top is my favorite show off outfit.
I'll get Rob to take a picture on Sunday before class.

Praw-lins from Naw-lins

2007-03-21T13:01:00.000-05:00

Oh yeah, a co-worker went down to NoLa last weekend and brought me back pralines (praw - lins). My GOD, do I love those things. I have to limit myself to 1 a day, but I could eat all 4 of these right now.
The taste reminds me of Cafe Du Monde coffee, the 2 go well together.

Forced resignation

2007-03-16T11:59:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a few couple of days.

For the past couple years I have been reporting to the VP of HR. As the department grew she decided to promote the ER person to Recruiting Manager. Aimee and I vehemently opposed reporting to the Boy Scout (as we refer to him) but she promoted him anyway. He has never managed staff in private industry, he manged staff in the military.

Two weeks ago I let the Boy Scout, know I was pregnant and would not be returning to work after the baby. We agreed I would work untill July.

Yesterday, he said I need to switch to full time and work 45-50 hours a week or they wanted my resignation. Can you believe that? What a douche.

He told me he spoke to the VP and they wanted me to go forward and hire my replacement since I'm not going to go to full time. I said it felt like they were pushing me out of the organization and he said the organization has been very lenient in letting me go part time and take leave without pay and he was justified.

Since I am part time (35 hours a week, instead of 40) I only early4 hours of paid time off per month and only get paid 4 hours for holidays, needless to say, leave without pay is my friend.
He acted like he was doing me a favor by letting me take sick days and use paid time off.

I called the EEOC and filed a claim, it was a knee jerk reaction, but what he did was not right.

Today, I talked with the VP and told her that I was bummed to be leaving. She was under the impression I had chosen to leave because I had baby on the brain. I told her that Ray did not give me a choice.

That rat, he told her something different then what happened.
He is now on my list.
He is on the axis of evil and I officially have it out for him.
My new mission for the rest of my employment will be to annoy this man.
I do not need him for a reference so it's open season on the Boy Scout.

2007-03-15T09:56:00.000-05:00

It was a sad weekend, apparently the guy who hit Diane had 4 drinking under the influence of alcohol convictions and 1 driving under the influence of drugs conviction. How can a person like that be on the road? It makes no sense to me.
I find solace in the theory that bad things happen to bad people, and figure his day will come and boy will it be a doosey.
While google-ing her I found a picture of the guy and had a crazy wave of rage come over me. It was pretty intense and I can only imagine what Diane's mother must feel.

I wish I had the chance to enjoy Cape Cod, it looks like such a nice area but every time we are there it's under sad circumstances.

2007-03-06T12:25:00.000-05:00

Last night we found out we are having a boy, A BOY! All the chromosomes are there and in the right place. I am so excited and Rob is delirious. I was super slick and set up a candid camera for the moment I told him it was a boy and it was healthy. I think I could watch it over and over again.

Well, there always seems to be a yin to the yang and Rob's step mother was in a horrible auto accident yesterday and died. We are not super close with her but had been meaning to call her for a few weeks and just kept putting it off. We should have called her, I don't think she knew we were pregnant. It's very sad.
We are heading up to Cape Cod this weekend. Maybe I can continue my culinary tour of East coast cities and have some lobster while there.

Tests

2007-03-02T14:11:00.000-05:00

We had a barrage of tests on Monday and I felt like a pin cushion. They did a Nuchal test which is 70% effective in predicting genetic issues and it came back just fine. That test was done by looking at a sonogram of the baby.

The other test, that is 100% effective, was not as simple. They stuck a 10 foot long and 2 foot thick needle into my belly and twisted it around until it hurt and then said they were done and would call me in a week with results. The results will be an actual picture of my baby's chromosomes! I can't get over just how cool that is.

While doing the test they had the baby on the sonogram and it was doing flips, summersaults, kicking and punching. I am totally amazed at how much the baby is moving.

They asked if we had any genetic issues in my family and I mentioned that my brother is a idiot, but apparently that is not genetic.

One thing I never though of was that Rob's grandmother announced, while she was on her death bed, that even though she had been brought up Catholic, she was adopted and was originally Jewish. I always thought it was a great story but didn't realize that simply being of Jewish descent makes you susceptible to genetic issues.

2007-02-28T10:27:00.000-05:00

I have been a long time fan of Japanese cinema, not the anime stuff but their horror movies. The Eye, The Grudge, Iron Man and the one with the crazy girl and the audition (I can't remember the name) are some great movies with amazing visuals. The plots aren't dumbed down for American audiences and they scare you but not with the cheap Hollywood suspense crap, like the classic build up and the cat that jumps out of the closet or loud noise. The images are absolutely haunting, kind of like the Cell. Hm, I need to buy the Cell, that's a great movie also.

I just found out The Departed was a remake of a Japanese or Chinese movie, it figures. I wish I could find good Japanese/Chinese movies, they are so hard to find at the video store. I am sure there is an entire web sphere of Asian movie nuts. Maybe while I have the month of August off, I can do some movie watching.

2007-02-23T13:26:00.000-05:00

Telling people I am pregnant is getting addictive, I want to walk around the office, the gym, the grocery store etc with a bullhorn and announce I had sex and am knocked up!
Cindy at work was so excited she jumped up and down so I jumped up and down.
The trainer at work said I looked fantastic for 10 weeks and we did cardio together.
After I have the talk with somebody I feel excited again and my adrenaline is rushing just like when Rob and I first found out I was pregnant.

After ranting and raving about how much I hate low rise pants, I now appreciate them. My belly fits perfectly into my sassy low rise jeans and I don't have to wrangle the top button like with my other pants. I do have to buy more long shirts becuase nobody wants to see my underwear peek out of my pants, except my husband, of course.

CheesesteakS - plural

2007-02-22T14:24:00.000-05:00

January flew by me. It started with a trip to San Francisco and ended with a sonigram! Unfortunately I can't get the damn thing scanned, they all come out too dark so there will be no sonigram pictures but the picture just looks like a white smudge in the middle of a black smudge so there is really nothing to see.

Kev, Chelle and Riley moved to PA so they are only 2 hours away which makes me unbelievable happy. Chelle is expecting in July so it's nice to have her nearby and I really missed them when they were in NC.
There are some people in your life that are absolutely genuine friends who you love with all of your heart and even if you don't see them very oftern you quicly fall into familiarity with them. Kev and Chelle fall into that category.

Rob and I saw a food network thing on Philly Cheesesteaks last week and ever since I have been CRAVING a cheesesteak.
We are heading up to Philly for a birthday party next weekend and when I got the directions, I realized the party is less then a mile from Pat's and Geno's.
I am so excited and have planned out my cheesesteak fix already. I'm going to Geno's for a pre party chesesteak and then on the way out of Philly we'll stop at Pat's and have 'one for the road'. I have to have some kind of guilty pleasure, this trip is going to be a booze fest for everybody but Chelle and me. Maybe I should bring her a cheesesteak also.

2006-12-28T13:45:00.000-05:00

I have walked past this tree a million times and don't ever recall it looking like this, so I took a picture. Maybe I should carry my camera around with me. There have been spectacular skies lately and I have had nobody to share them with except myself.

Last night we tried to watch The Ringer with Johnny Knoxville. I am a fan of Knoxville and have a soft spot in my heart for stupid humor but this movie was awful so we switched to Doom, starring the Rock. I also have a thing for the Rock and Doom was equally as horrible, but for some reason watching a bad action flick is much better then watching a bad comedy.

After Doom, I went to bed and had nightmares of vampire zombies coming after me. When I woke up at 4 and had to use the bathroom, I was scared to get out of bed. You never know when the vampire zombies are hiding under the bed or in the shower stall.....

2006-12-15T12:37:00.000-05:00

The acupuncture yesterday was really neat, I wound up with 17 or so needles in my body to encourage blood flow to my uterus and after laying there for a good 10 minutes I started to feel like there was a warm fuzzy blankie around that spot. It could be psychosomatic but I really don't care, my uterus was warm and happy.
I had the most comforting sweet dreams last night about babies and dogs. We shall see how I feel after my next appt, it would be interesting if I had really pleasant dreams again.

Lately I have been incredibly jealous of Rob and Zippy's relationship. In the past he has snuggled with me over anybody else but lately when we sit on the couch and watch tv the dog will snuggle next to Rob and when we let him in bed he snuggles next to Rob. I know he loves me, when I got home really late the other day, Rob told me that Zippy pined for me and sat at the window for hours waiting for me.
I am going to have to beat the snuggle back into him. Rob's theory is that when we sit on the couch I sit in "his spot". Who knows but I miss the snuggle.

2006-12-13T12:30:00.000-05:00

I have been suffering with a nasty cold for about a week and 1/2 so most of my time has been spent either suffering through work or laying on the sofa under a blankie with a humidifier near by.
There were a few nice things lately, I managed to drag myself to Pilates despite the cold and twice, I was the only person who showed up. Essentially, I got 2 free one on one sessions which is awesome since form is everything in Pilates.
Getting Rob's Christmas presents was totally painless, it was a trip to EMS for a coat he loved and a quick click on the llbean website for fleece lined jeans. We decided to take it easy on the presents this year, at least until we see what kind of bonus he gets. Who knows, we may be celebrating with filet and vino at Ruth Chris... but then again, we may be celebrating his bonus with a trip to Subway. The whole thing is going towards the mortgage anyway so I suppose it doesn't really matter, we won't be splurging on anything big this year.

My acupuncturist told me that he does fertility acupuncture. I am constantly amazed with acupuncture and told him so, as proof of his success he told he he has seven children. He tells me that he has luck with women up to age 43, he has never had a woman over 43 conceive with just his help. He said he would be successful with me and said I should come in the day after my cycle ends (tomorrow) and I get acupuncture. Apparently it makes the uterus very friendly. We shall see.....

Damn good marketing

2006-11-29T10:32:00.000-05:00

I want to vent about ovulation predictor kits (OPK), I hate them.

Supposedly you pee on them and it measures your luteinizing hormone (LH) which typically shows up when you ovulate, which indicates when you are fertile. I suppose I always knew there was a small window of opportunity but I never realized just how small that damn window is. It's tiny, or so these demon pee sticks have lead me to believe.

So we spent $20 on Answer OPK, I tested in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening for the week that I should be ovulating and never got a reading. G sent me her unused OPK, I tried testing early in the day, late in the day and started to think I just don't ovulate. Then, last Friday, I performed an experiment. I tested the Answer one and the one G sent me. The Answer came up negative, the others came up positive and I got excited so tested with another brand which came up negative.

I believe that OPK are stupid, over priced, useless pieces of trash that has been successfully marketed to crazed, desperate to conceive women.

I am not testing anymore, it's messing with my mind.

Guilty Pleasure

2006-11-21T11:51:00.000-05:00

I just got "the Dirt" the Motley Crue book and I am totally enthralled by it. The book arrived on my desk from Amazon yesterday and I flipped it open to give it a quick look . The next thing I know and hour had gone by and I'm 1/4 of the way into the book.
This book is the definition of a guilty pleasure and I can't figure out why I am so mesmerized by it. Crue was not a band I liked when they came out, Shout At The Devil and Too Young To Fall in Love are on my i-pod but I think that's nostalgia not a sign of talent.

I like reading about the Metal scene in the early 80's, it's like the Punk scene in the 70's. It's the beginning of the revolution, and when you throw sex and drugs in with the rock and roll, it's a good read. I like it.
Totally unrelated picture we took last night:

Being punched in the face

2006-11-15T14:10:00.000-05:00

There are a bunch of things that I do not want to experience:
Being in jail
Being punched in the face
Bugs crawling under my skin
Bats getting stuck in my hair
Eating razor blades and the list goes on.

Personally, I had never been punched in the face ... until last night and it was not as bad as I imagined it would be. Let me explain. The dog has been especially jubilant lately, he has been antsy and eager to play at all times. Getting off the couch and walking to the bathroom makes him leap in the air and twitch with joy.
So, when I got home from work yesterday, he was super hyper spazzy dog. He ran in circles around me and twitched. Let me back up for a second. Zippy is a pit bull/lab/hippopotamus mix. I realize why pitts have such strong necks, it's to hold up their huge noggin. When Zip lays down to snuggle and drops his head on your lap, it feels like a 10 ton weight landing on you. His cranium must be 2 inches thick, it's not brains taking up all the room, its skull.

So, when I got home last night and leaned down to take the blankie off the couch, it was Zippy's cue to leap into the air and show me his happy dance. The top of his brick head hit me square in the jaw.
I watch a lot of moves where people get hit in the jaw and they all do a little backward stagger with a stupid look on their face and then shake their head. Now I understand why. I saw white flashes and could have sworn I heard my cousin yelling "down goes Frazier". There was no blood and there were no bruises but damn it hurt, and it still hurts!

Rob arrived home and I had a ice pack on my jaw while the dog was still trying to show us his happy dance.

Who's down in Whooville

2006-11-14T13:15:00.000-05:00

Ha! This is the reason I NEED to see Genevieve! The little critter in this picture is hers. I have been dying to share the news but she wanted me to wait untill 3 months and wait untill she told the family. She told everybody over the weekend and I am so happy for her.

This picture makes me smile every time I look at it. The baby has a profile that reminds me of the Dr Seuss characters, the Who's down in Whooville. The baby has a little upturned nose and the sweetest profile, it reminds me of my sister and how cute she is.

It's apparent I love dim sum

2006-11-10T14:23:00.000-05:00

It looks like I'm taking a trip to Cali in January and I cannot wait!!!!!! I have been a horrible horrible sister and have not been out to visit her yet. When she moved to Houston, I went out to visit and actually helped unpack. When she moved to NOLA I was there every other month but I have not been out to California yet and it's been at LEAST a year. That's not so cool, I need to get out there especially now.

On my to do list is Dim Sum in San Francisco for every meal.

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is so close. Rob and I have been going to see the Nutcracker around Thanksgiving every year. Last year it was the Joffrey ballet and they were incredible. I always just assumed he enjoyed it since I can't believe anybody would not like to see the Joffrey do the Nutcracker. This year he started to make typical male comments regarding the ballet so I invited my mother and she is overjoyed. We have FANTASTIC seats also.... maybe we can do dim sum before the ballet!!!!!

On a quick side note, I found my beloved red suede pants and they actually fit (barely), one good meal of pasta and they will not fit but, dammit, I put them on and wore them around the house. So there.

We have been married 368 days today

2006-11-09T09:52:00.000-05:00

I was looking at the calendar to remember all the things that have happened since the last time I wrote, Rob and I have been busy! We spent a long weekend in Cambridge to visit his mother and the weather was perfect. The trees were in the peak season so the scenery was red, yellow, green and brown. As always, I ate my way through Cambridge, corned beef hash, coconut friend calamari and mojitos were at the top of the list. I got to spend time with Rob's sister, which was particularly nice since I didn't feel like I ever had the chance to just sit and talk with her before. Man, I love his family and am pretty damn lucky to have them. Rob's mom gets giddy when I tell her about our plans to start a family and about ovulation tracking kits and things like that. It's nice to share that with her.

After suffering through long hair simply due to a lack of funds and a lack of hairdresser I finally got a great haircut. Thank GOD, I can finally look in the mirror again and love my hair.

We had our one year anniversary last weekend, originally we talked about a trip to Vegas or a trip to Miami but we decided on a refrigerator and a trip to Ruth Chris instead. As it turns out, staying home was a good idea, Rob was struck down with the flu for the weekend so it was a quiet anniversary filled with naps and TV time. We have been married 368 days today.

2006-10-16T13:20:00.000-05:00

I had such a great trip to Florida for my god son's birthday. I am totally blown away by how much he looks like his mother, it's really fantastic to look at him and see her face. His catch all phrase is Dobby, after spending a few days with him I was calling everything Dobby. I held Justin and apparently he is sort-of like a baby Buddha, you hold Justin and get pregnant, no need to rub his belly unless you want to so I snuggled with him and nuzzled with him and we made cooing noises at each other. It was so nice to just relax and do nothing with them. I miss Connie.

At my acupuncturist appt I was taking about babies and how Rob and I were trying to conceive; Dr N asked when my last cycle was and told me the dates I was fertile however the way he phrased it still makes me laugh, he said (AND I QUOTE) "Not this Friday or Saturday but next Friday or Saturday, put on nice music and light a candle". I said "Is that ALL I need to do" and he laughed harder then I have seen him laugh. Hm, it's not so funny when I write it, I suppose you have to imagine his very thick accent and maybe use some birth control next time you light a candle and listen to music.

2006-09-07T13:10:00.000-05:00

Well, I can't find my beloved red suede pants, I may have given them away. Oh well, they were too sassy for me anyway.
I am so excited to go to Florida this weekend and am wishing I could spend more time. I feel very disgruntle about my work right now, recruiting is always extremely hectic in September and January, that's the nature of the beast but this recent surge of work is just making me mad for a myriad of reasons. (I love to use myriad any time I can - Heathers reference)

My boss is really unpredictable and totally inflexible. I am leery to tell her I am busy because when I ask for time off she hemms and hawws about it. But on the other hand, if I am so swamped I can't handle my workload she needs to know. Especially since I recently took on a very large chunk of work from a co-worker who couldn't handle her workload. Not too surprising since what should be a quick 2 minute exchange of information always turns into a 20 minute diatribe about her workload. Personally, I am inclined to suggest she shut up and get back to work but that's not my style. I'm playing nice.

So, if I tell my boss I am swamped she is going to tell me to switch back to full time.... but I am already working the extra hours at home but don't get any pay for them since we can't work from home.

I'm getting mad just typing this. My solution to this is to research going 1099. I need to crunch some tax numbers before I bring it up and if she says no to that, I may consider the Cisco job again. I may also be able to pull in some consulting money on top of that. Just a thought.

Oh red suede pants, how I love thee

2006-08-16T14:24:00.000-05:00

Interesting how things happen, the back pain I have been struggling through for the past 5 months has actually paid off in weight loss. All the exercising I have been doing to strengthen my core has make my back stronger and along with the acupuncture, I feel much better. AND the pants I wore yesterday are a size 8. The size 10's I have on now are too big. Last winter I was telling Rob that I have to stop holding on to my 'skinny' clothes, like my red suede pants..... oh how I love my red suede pants. We had so much fun together. I was wearing them when I danced on stage in New Orleans for free beer when I was down there for a bachelorette/birthday/whatever visit with my sister, Erin and Connie. I think I was wearing them in Ireland when the 70 year old man copped a feel in a pub. I wore them to the Redskins game where I literally had a line of men waiting to talk to me. Oh red suede pants you and I have some memories. I'm not going to let you go, one day we will be together again.

2006-08-09T10:44:00.000-05:00

A friend's older brother was injured in Afghanistan a few months ago and passed away last week and the funeral is tomorrow at Arlington National Cemetery. I have really mixed emotions about going tomorrow. It's the second funeral I have attended for this family, the father died 15 or so years ago and it broke my heart to see Paul and his mother so sad. Now it's Danny's funeral and just the thought of seeing their mom makes me well up BUT there are going to be a lot of old friends there that I have not seen in a long time and I think that the ceremony at Arlington is going to be very impressive. I feel really weird. His mother sells jewelry so I saw her every 6 months when the jewelry shows came around and she is always such a sweetie. She always had a picture of her husband in her display with a rosary around the picture. Heavy sigh.

What a way to come back from the beach. It was a zillion degrees at the beach but we found a way to beat the heat. Go for a swim at 10 or 11 then get out of the sun until 3-ish. During that time we took naps, went on road trips, went shopping etc... Then, at 3 or 4 we would head back down to the beach with the umbrella, chairs, cooler full of beer and go for a swim and enjoy being at the beach. By that time the kids are all at the house getting ready for dinner and it was just the 2 of us. I really enjoyed that time with Rob. I hated coming back home. Really hated it. Still hate being home.

My 20 year high school reunion was the day we returned from the beach and it was a good time. Apparently I look very good, I thought I look the same. It was an interesting look at a cross section of people, most of the women had 2 or 3 kids and looked great. Most of the men had lost their hair and gained at least 50 pounds. The ladies aged much more gracefully then the men. Interesting.

2006-07-26T11:59:00.000-05:00

I miss my Poppa today. I was at the acupuncturist office today, he is probably in his mid/late 70's and he is a truly sweet man and probably a really good Grandfather. He made a little joke about the needles, when I laughed he did that I-got-your-nose thing to me and it made me miss Poppa and sad that Rob's father had died since he was my last chance for a father/grandfather figure.

Poppa died 4 years ago next week and I doubt there was a better man that ever lived. I recently inherited one of Grandma's furs that Poppa gave her. For years, I have loved her furs and have worn them around the house during summers in the Hamptons and actually having one of her furs feels like a direct connection to them.

When we got married we received their silver and it is magnificent but I have no recollection of ever using it. I do recollect going to the drug store in Grandma's furs when the weather was really not that cold. The coat smells like her and has her name embroidered in it so every time I wear it, I will think of my grandparents. But, right now I miss my Poppa.

2006-07-24T13:10:00.000-05:00

I am packing for yet another trip to the Outer Banks. This one will be for a full week with friends. Now that the kitchen renovation stress is behind me I can really relax at the beach and not be freaked out by how much work needs to be done and worry that it's never going to get done.

G was in town last week with Pat which was cool since he rarely makes it out here, we went to Joss and got one of those boats that always catches your attention while you are waiting for a table.

I have been totally uninspired at work, I do what I need to but my heart is totally not in it. Last week I had my tarot cards read and she said that I needed to find a job that expresses my creativity and suggested event planning. The other cool thing she saw was children, she said there were a lot of spirits vying to be our kids. Apparently Rob and I are very attractive to nebulous spirit children out there and she thought we would be pregnant in 3 months. Very cool, especially since all I had told her before the reading was my first name. Not sure how I feel about event planning but the sooner we get pregnant the sooner I can quit this job.

Hi, I’m back.

2006-06-21T09:17:00.000-05:00

It’s been pretty busy; we have a new kitchen with all new appliances and cabinets.
I spent a week in the Outer Banks with the fam, and I battle incredible pain in my back daily.
We ran the dishwasher last night for the first time and Rob was actually giddy, it was a momentous occasion in our marriage, according to him. I’ll get a picture of his handiwork up in the next day or so but we finally have a fully operational death star. The appliances are stainless and black so it really does remind me of the death star.

In the Outer Banks my cousins caught over 200 lbs of tuna and we had sushi appetizers every night and seared tuna for our main course at least 3 nights. Words cannot describe how perfect this tuna tasted. It was like the best tuna sashimi but even fresher, more tender, a much more organic ocean taste.

We also saw dolphins surfing, mere yards in front of us while we were on the beach. They were surfing waves in and then jumping clear out of the water. I had never seen dolphins truly frolicking on their own and this was awesome.

My back, sigh, what a pain, literally. After a MRI, Acupuncturists, Pain Management Doctors, Neurologists and a boatload of stupid medicine that I hate taking I am no better. The one thing that does give me some relief is the acupuncture, I wish I had started doing that years ago.

2006-05-22T13:50:00.000-05:00

We have an intern starting today and she came into the meeting to go over the new hire paperwork with i-pod on and one of the plugs in her ear. She took it out for the meeting but had it on before and immediately after the meeting. Apparently she 'lives' for this piece of machinery and 'can't work without it'. She is a musician and listening to music is essential to her very existence. Personally, I found her to be incredibly amusing but then again..... she sure is passionate about her i-pod. It made me laugh and think of my brother and how he is wildly passionate about everything. Maybe is one of those generational things?

I starting going to acupuncture with Mr. Miyagi (as I so affectionately refer to him) and he came across a very interesting piece of information about me that I never knew. One of my legs is shorter then the other. By almost 1/2 inch. How do you like that?

Another thing I learned about myself is that I am squeamish about blood. We let the dog off the lead for a nature walk and he ran around willy nilly into swamps, into the bay, into patches of woods and into anything he could find. It was really quite funny, he would run as fast as he could, stop, turn around and look for us and then continue on his way. When we called him back to us he had a cut on his foot and it bled and bled and bled. I thought I could handle it but Rob was the one who felt around his bloody paw to make sure there was no glass or wood or anything else in his pad. I was the one ready to pass out. We came out of the woods and Rob had a hand covered with blood. Looking back, I should have run screaming out of the woods with bloody Rob and the pit bull behind me. That would have been pretty funny.

2006-05-02T10:59:00.000-05:00

I just got a best of Stevie Wonder CD and I'm listening to it at work today and have to really contain myself. I want to jump around, dance and sing along. Why have I never bought any of his music in the past, I was clearly missing out.

Man, my back has been killing me lately and I can't figure out why. I have been exercising and keeping my core muscles fit. Next week I have my first acupuncture appointment and I am really excited for it.

2006-04-20T12:49:00.000-05:00

My mom is part of a Irish singing group. Once a month, they take over a local bar, bring in musicians and sing Irish songs at the top of their lungs and drink good Irish beer. Rob and I went before the wedding and I think it motivated him in some way. He has taken it upon himself to learn some good Irish drinking songs and I love to hear him sing them as he strums away on the guitar.

I am the world's worst singer. I hear what the music sounds like but what comes out of my mouth is nowhere close to what I heard. It is a total inability to create a note. The mind is strong but the vocal cords are not willing.

The other day Rob came out of the bedroom with the guitar and the tablature to our favorite one and announced that we were going to learn it. I told him that I can't sing and I an old enough to know that it's beyond my capabilities. No delusions here. Rob looked at me and said (with a straight face and truly meant it) "you have a great singing voice". I laughed when he said that and replied "it's only because you love me so much".

So, there I am, singing along with Rob and I felt like one of those dubbed Japanese movies. In my head I am forming the notes just as I heard them; but what is coming out of my mouth is something totally different and definitely NOT in synch with what my brain is trying to do.
Even though I sounded like a cat in heat, howling away, I had a very nice time and think that when Mom and Rob are singing along my caterwauling won't stand out too much.

2006-04-18T12:06:00.000-05:00

Hm, watched the Passion of Christ last night. South Park called it a snuff film and I tend to agree. What a let down, I would have asked Mel Gibson for my money back also. I don't think that movie had any redeeming value and don't understand why it made people want to change their lives. It was a move of a guy being tortured to death with a biblical theme as seen through the eyes of an out of touch Hollywood ego maniac.

I'm going to buy a lottery ticket today, it's up to a zillion dollars. I know that I'm not going to win but the last time it was up that high I spent $5 on tickets. I forgot to check my ticket the night of the drawing but the next morning when I was watching the news I saw the ticker and laid in bed thinking about what our lives would be like if we didn't have to worry about money and even though I didn't win, I liked that feeling. So I am going to spend $5 again. I'm buying a fantasy.

I created a myspace account after lurking on my brothers page for 6 months. I managed to find a whole faction of my post college friends, it's funny to see what they are into now as opposed to what they were woing 15 years ago. I suppose we all grow up.
It seems like all the defunct bands now have myspace shrines to themselves, interesting.

2006-04-12T13:50:00.000-05:00

We are heading back into construction land. The new cabinets will be here in about a month, the new appliances will be here next week and the counter tops will be here in about a month.

As of next week, we will FINALLY have a dishwasher! I can't begin to describe how much of a pain in the ass life without a dishwasher is. I don't EVER want to wash a dish by hand. I can bet that Rob feels the same way. I bet we hook up the dishwasher in the middle of the kitchen before we start the renovations. We'll definitely have the new stove hooked up before the renovations start. I can't wait for the new kitchen.

We have been reading up on additions, bump outs and dormers. Our attic is going to be huge once we get the addition done. It's so neat to have a big open floor plan and get to design where everything goes from windows and AC vents to the location of the bathtub and closet. I have a hidden agenda also... the stars to the attic are horrifying. I am secretly hoping the architect can suggest a new place for the stairs or SOMETHING to make them less treacherous. A few months ago, while discussing the addition, I told Rob I wanted lights on the steps and he said that would be too complex and really wasn't an option. Last night when I was trying to find a new place for the stairs he suggested putting lights on the current staircase. I love him.

Utah

2006-03-28T14:23:00.000-05:00

Utah was much better skiing then I could have ever imagined. It was one of the best skiing trips I have ever been on. Perfect conditions and I got my bronze medal at Park City. It was pretty easy getting back into it and I was whooshing down the blacks in no time untill we got a foot of powder. Skiing in powder is a totally different beast all together and I have no idea how to tame that beast so I got a little beat up by the powder. Rob did an incredible job as well, I dragged him down a few runs that were clearly beyond his ability but he made it down them like a champ and with no injuries.

We stopped at the Rite Aid to get a bottle opener since the state run liquor stores don't sell any equipment used to open products sold there(wierd Mormon law) and Rob was wearing the Sin Zin t-shirt. The back says "Saturday Night" with a picture of the logo from Sin Zin and the front says "Sunday Night" and a picutre of the logo from thier Redemption ale.
As we were walking out of the Rite Aid a guy who was walking in stopped dead in his tracks and gave Rob the look of death. The only thing we could think of was the t-shirt. I wonder if we offended a Mormon.

2006-03-17T13:45:00.000-05:00

I love St Patrick's day but wonder why the Feast Of St Gennaro or the Chinese New Year aren't as big. Why the Irish holiday? The general consensus around work is that if you make it a "drinking" day then it's popularity grows, for example Cinco De Mayo and Mardi Gras.

That makes some sense since my 2 favorite St. Patrick's Days both involve drinking. I took the Erin Express with the Philly crew one year and took the drunk bus all over Philly drinking green beer and wearing ridiculous green attire. Another year I went to NY to see my cousins march in the parade and wound up drinking too many mojitos the night before and missed the parade. Fortunately, I recovered in time to meet up with Tom, Shamus and the bunch at an NYPD Irish bar on the upper East side and then moved to a FDNY bar and met up with the rest of my NY based cousins.

I read that they are doing the Green Beer races again...Zippy and I are pretty good running partners and I know he has some speed in him. I think we are going to go for the gold.... or the bronze. Speaking of bronze medals. I won a NASTAR Bronze medal in Crested Butte and I keep it on my ski hat. Well, Rob wore my ski hat and left it on the couch while we went out to dinner last night. Zippy seized the opportunity to:
A - Nibble on the medal until it came off the hat
B - Slobber all over the hat
C - Scratch the medal beyond repair
D - Bend the pin part in half

Sadly enough I can't be mad at either one - anything left out runs the risk of having the dog demolish it and I gave up on expecting Rob to put anything away. It's the nature of both beasts.

2006-03-08T13:48:00.000-05:00

Two Names You Go By
Brigette
Budgie

Two Parts of Your Heritage
Irish
Italian

Two Things That Scare You
Steep Stairs
Creepy images from good horror films like "The Eye" or wired images like from "The Cell"

Two of Your Everyday Essentials
Coffee
Sleep

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now
Sassy black cord blazer
Red pants that don't look stretchy but really are stretchy and very comfortable

Two of Your Favorite Bands or Musical Artists (at the moment)
Talking Heads
Wings

Two of Your Favorite Songs (at the moment)
It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp (Soundtrack from Hustle and Flow)
Love --> Building on Fire (Talking Heads)

Two Things You Want in a Relationship (other than Real Love).
Laughter
Comfort

Two Truths
Getting married really changes the relationship for the better, even if you lived together
Having your health is really something to be thankfull for

Two Physical Things that Appeal to You
Eyes
Smile

Two of Your Favorite Hobbies
Exercise
Travel

Two Things You Want Really Badly
I want our home rennovations done so badly, it counts as two things.

Two Places You Want to go on Vacation
Japan
Amsterdam

Two Things You Want to Do Before You Die
Have a baby
Retire early

Two Ways that you are stereotypically a Chick
I LOVE shoes
I LOVE bags more then shoes

Two Ways you act like the opposite sex
I love football
I sure have a foul mouth from time to time

Two Things You Normally Wouldn't Admit
I am strong in my convictions but not neccesarily right in my convictions
Swallowing your pride gets easier the more times you do it

Two Things You Are Thinking About Now
Babies
Home rennovations

Two Stores You Shop At
H&M
Safeway

Two Ways in which you've already lost touch with your childhood:
I fell down and skinned my knees, hands and shoulder and it hurt everywhere, taking a tumble is much worse as an adult.
I don't live in the moment at all

Two of your earliest memories
Fishing a penny out of my pocket and eating it while KNOWING I was not suppsed to eat it.
Eating a cheese nip but having it turn out to be a dog biscuit, I was too young to read and the looked the same.
Strange, they are both eating things....

Two of your resolutions for New Years
Don't do new years resolutions

Two People you've lost touch with and wish you could talk to again
Trying to get in touch with class mates from Seattle
I just got back in touch with the second person, Brenda, former co-worker.

2006-03-07T10:34:00.000-05:00

Wow, it took me an hour and 1/2 to get to work today. I think I have some kind of traffic phobia because my chest is incredibly tight, my tummy hurts and I just want to sit here and cry. I truly have a physical reaction to sitting in traffic.

I got a call from a friend who is a Technical Recruiter at Cisco, and they need another Technical Recruiter to work part time from home. Boy would I love that job but I don't feel right taking another job when I plan to take a 3 or 4 year hiatus from working as soon as we have baby #1. Which means I have to stick it out here, which isn't so bad but isn't so good.

2006-03-06T15:14:00.000-05:00

Kevin and Chelle had the baby on Friday March 3, 2006 at 2:33 pm. Here he is ust moments after being born. What a face!

Bears

2006-02-28T13:40:00.000-05:00

I have been incredibly insulted by Hollywood lately and have become more of a movie snob over the past couple years. The moves we have seen have all been so contrived and predictable and this new wave of remakes just proves my point. The Sundance Channel and IFC have become my favorites movie channels on TV. Rob and I stumbled upon "Greg the bunny" a few months ago and I can't say enough about these 15 minute indie film spoofs they do. Each one is more amusing then the next. It's my new favorite show, the best was the spoof of Pulp Fiction, Dead Puppet Storage.

I must admit I am a sucker for any kind of wildlife documentary so last weekend we watched Grizzly Man and I am speechless. That documentary creates so much dialog it's ridiculous. It addresses conservationists, homosexuality, manic personalities, bears and more, what a list. This poor manic fella finds peace in Alaska and gets his adrenaline rush from living among the grizzlies, eventually (but almost predicably) the bears see him as food and eat him. The way he talks about his love for the bears, it's kind of creepy, especially when he stumbles upon bear poop and lovingly pets it while excitedly saying "this was inside her (the bear), this was just insider her, I can feel the heat! It's her energy".

Part of it is filmed in Kodiak, where we spent a summer when I was 12. I wish I remembered more of that summer. Sadly enough, living in the moment is not something I am good at, so I often miss the things that are right in front of me. I remember the kids who were my age. They were so much more experienced then me, they drank, smoked and kissed, I recall thinking it was because they had nothing else to do up there. There was a stuffed Kodiak bear in the town center that was huge, I was scared of meeting a bear every second I was in Alaska. We traveled around the mountains and went fishing but where ever we went, I was on bear watch. I also had some of the most horrifying nightmares of my life when we were up there. Kodiak was a very weird place, very beautiful but filled with very weird energy. Of course my crazy father loved the place and wanted to move there and run for mayor. Sheesh.

2006-02-21T14:55:00.000-05:00

I had such a pleasant surprise this weekend! Every single one of Rob's work parties has had music HOWEVER it is never music that I am fond of. It's usually very skilled guitar players doing very skilled (and self indulgent) guitar stuff and it's simply too refined for my musical palate. For the party over the weekend I was expecting the same, the big hoopla was that Johnny Hiland was performing. I have no idea who this musician is however I would feign interest in watching him play and the same went for the other bands.

The first band was just as expected - probably great musicians but I just don't get it. The second band started up and I was thinking that they were really good and I overheard somebody say it was Chuck Brown. I almost jumped out of my skin! It was Chuck Brown and the Soul Seekers, I got to see the godfather of DC go-go play all the songs that I loved. It was so awesome! He even did a cover of gold digger! Apparently he has played at other company events however Rob and I have a habit of leaving early so we missed him at a party a few years back.

Johnny Hiland came on next and he was good but it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that go go swing
Do wa
do wa
do wa
do wa
do wa
do wow

I should have quit when I was ahead

2006-02-15T09:31:00.000-05:00

Addendum to yesterday's post.

When I got home from work, Zippy and I went for a run and somehow I tripped, on my feet or on the dog, who knows but I hit the ground HARD, right in front of a bus stop. There was a college student waiting for the bus who witnessed the entire fall and as he helped me to my feet he said "Oh, that looked like it hurt".

AND IT DID HURT. There was blood and bruises and ripped gloves, ugh. Rob bandaged me up pretty well but I feel like I was hit by a truck.

2006-02-14T13:30:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning with a stiff neck again. Even bending my head back to get my hair wet in the shower was painful.

I took the trash out and managed to step in the only patch of ice surrounding the house. Full knee and elbow contact with the ground.

I am on the highway and traffic comes to a crawl, I'm in the slow lane so I put the car in 1st gear and creep along. I kept about 3 car lengths between me and the car in front of me so I don't have to stop and go, I cruse along at a steady 5-10 mph pace. The lady in the dodge neon behind me starts tailgating me an honking her horn! She does it 3 times! Like riding the car in front of me is going to make the traffic move any faster. I was very proud of myself that I ignored her the first 2 times she honked the horn but the third time earned her an obscene hand gesture.
The ironic thing is ... before traffic came to a stop she was the car in the slow lane going 10 mph BELOW the speed limit causing a small back up of her own.

I had a horrible morning! My knee has a strawberry on it and I am totally irritated. Bah Humbug. I want to go back home and start the day over. I want it to be 7:00 and Rob is giving me a kiss good morning while I am insisting the thermometer must be broken because my temprature HAS to spike soon. I want it to be back to when I was laying in bed with warm coffee and a dog curnled up next to me breathing his soft dog breath on my arm.

SnowSnowSnow

2006-02-13T15:52:00.000-05:00

What a fun weekend - it did snow on Saturday night. We went to sleep with a small dusting on the ground and when we woke up it was like Christmas morning. There was somewhere around 8 inches of snow on the ground!

We froliced with the dog, we shoveled snow, we shoveled the neighbor's snow, we threw snowballs at the neighborhood kids and I made a snow angel.

Mom's power was out for a good 24 hours so she and the dog spent the night last night. Of course, at 3:30 one of the dogs went on a frantic barking spree. At 5:30 another one had a barking fit. My guess is that melting snow hitting the roof or landing on the ground spurred the ruckus. Rob got up super early and Zippy was whining because he was stuck in the bedroom. Roib let him out and then more ruckus for no reason...... needless to say, I did not get much un-interrupted sleep. I think I'm going to keep waking Zippy up tonight as he tries to lamp out on the sofa.

SNOW

2006-02-10T11:19:00.000-05:00

They are predicting show for this weekend and I feel like a 3rd grader, I am so excited for it. It's Feb and we have not had any snow yet this season. Last year I bought myself show boots and I loooooooove them. I have always sided with fashion vs. functionality so I have never really had good snow boots and I have chronically cold feet all winter. Now that I have the right equipment for keeping my feet warm and dry I enjoy the snow much more then I have in the past years. The dog, on the other hand, is not equipped for the snow. He loves to prance and eat snow but winds up lower his core temp and shivers like a Chihuahua. Last year we got him a coat and he wore it when he went outside but I left it out while I was at work and he ripped it apart. Hm, maybe he didn't really like the coat.

2006-02-09T12:51:00.000-05:00

Oh happy day, wedding photo's have arrived!

Grammys and Superbowl Music - what a sad state of affairs

2006-02-09T12:39:00.000-05:00

In the immortal words of Henry Rollins regarding U2
"I just think are hilarious. Hack drummer, hack bass player, one-note guitar player and then there’s the singer. It’s basically music for people who’ve lost the will to fight."
On the boxed life cd (one of the finest pieces of spoken word every created) he goes on a rant, while in Ireland, of how U2 has been spitting out the same song over and over and over again and the world just eats it up.
I totally agree.
How on earth do they win Grammy's? And what are they putting in the water to dope people into buying their music. Isn't everybody tired of being force fed this tripe? Argh, I could go on for days but there are more to bash.

Mariah. I was totally suckered in by her. I heard 2 songs from her new album that I thought were catchy and almost good but I can't bear to watch her perform with all that vocal athletics that she and Christina Agulera revel in. Ugh.

Enough rants - how bout a rave. I loved that Gorillaz opened the show and thought everything about that was awesome. I loved the animation of the characters and the visual when Madonna came up through the floor with the back light - she looked like a superhero. That was a great intro.

Baby I'm amazed at the way Paul McCartney can sing. Helter Skelter was one of the best and it makes me sad to think what could have been if there were more Beatles on the planet. His duet with Jayz and Linkin Park was just kind of weird, like it was too unscripted for him or he didn't have enough time to practice. He just looked awkward.

Jamie Fox should be ashamed of himself. He's a great actor and singer, yet he's prancing around like Flava Flav to Kanye West. So he did the hook to Gold digger, doesn't he have an album of something of substance to contribute?

Did anybody notice how much the Stones sucked for the Super bowl? The mix was atrocious, but I wonder if they would sound any better if the mix were done well. It's sad to say but I think the first time they retired they were on to something and all the subsequent retirements after that were just putting off the inevitable.
Although, seeing Keith Richards tell Rich Eisen that he was there for the cheerleaders and then looking to his fingers like he was searching for a missing cigarette was priceless.

Diamonds

2006-02-07T14:30:00.000-05:00

My belated birthday came with diamonds. Lots of sparkly diamonds that wrap around my wrist. Wow, he got me a very nice bracelet, it's a lot nicer then the one I had looked at the last time we were at Zachary's. Like my engagement ring, I will never take it off. In fact, when I run with the dog I wear gloves, not to keep my hands warm, but to cover up my engagement ring and now... to cover up the bracelet as well. Last summer I had to take of the ring to run and I hated to see it sitting in the jewel box but at the same time my wedding band is so damn tiny it made the simplicity of it really stand out. Hm, hope that made sense.

I am so bored at my job. I should be looking for engineers, doing phone interviews and the like but I am just so bored with it I could scream. Listening to music at work takes the tediousness out of the day, maybe I should find a good station to listen to. I loved the AOL XM stations but since I am getting rid of AOL I have to find a new station and not only am I bored, but I am lazy.

G is at Mavericks watching the surfers today - how much fun would that be? I imagine Zippy and I going and sitting on the cliffs but the reality is probably no dogs allowed and no bathrooms.

bored bored bored. I am even bored at home, if I have to look at the TV for another second I may throw something at it. I'm reading The Other Boleyn Girl and it's ok but it's not great. I run with the dog, I do exercises on the ball, I do crosswords, I soduku but I am still bored. Bored at work. Bored at home. Bored.

2006-01-30T12:34:00.000-05:00

Well, things have significantly calmed down since last week. Right after the return from Arkansas we had to have another intervention - apparently my brother is acting like a typical 17 year old and Mom is at her wit's end with him. I hope that this downward idiot spiral will start to spiral up but I honestly think men stay idiots until late in their 20's and if you ask any man in his 30's, they will agree.

Still waiting on a birthday present from my husband but I am told it's on the way. I secretly hope it's the diamond bracelet at Zachary's but but I also hope he doesn't spend that much money on a gift when we have so much work to do on the house.

I feel like I am back in the land of the living. I know what day and what day of the week it is and I have had a chance to be home. We raked leaves Saturday and the exercise mixed with being outside on a beautiful uncanny warm day in January was just what the doctor ordered. We capped off the night with 2 stunning filets from Whole Foods and a game of rummy. It was a perfect weekend.

Wierd Travel Vortex

2006-01-23T19:02:00.000-05:00

I am in a weird haze of travel induced dementia. I’m not even really sure about the day of the week or date. I know that February is incredibly close and somehow January totally disappeared.

The last thing I remember was that Rob got a call that his father was in critical shape. I am pretty sure that was Thursday Jan 12 th. I was at work on Friday the 13th and had a flight that pm to Raleigh for Chelles’ shower. Wait – that’s where it all starts. Friday the 13th. I should have seen that one coming.

While at work on the 13th Rob and I decided to fly to Boston on Sunday the 15th , so when I flew for Raleigh to BWI on Sunday the 15th I just stayed at the airport. Fortunately Rob was able to pack a few sweaters coats and clean boodongas for me since I was packed for the balmy Southern weather.

The shower was a blast, I got to see all of Rachelles friends and spend time with Kev. She is so pregnant and cute, it’s overwhelming. They shared some baby names with me and I was incredibly flattered that they felt comfortable telling me the secret names they had not told another soul on the planet; Cryin Ryan O’Brien – just kidding….. The shower was a surprise so Kev told Chelle that I was on business travel and had a layover in Raleigh to justify my being there. I went along with the lie and told her I was coming home from Pine Bluff because it was a lie that could easily be reality. HA

The trip to Boston was definitely the Yin to the showers Yang. Rob’s dad was in horrible shape, I did not know that people can survive on only 3 or so breaths per minute. He did not last long in that shape but at least Rob had family around him for the event. It was profoundly sad but almost a relief to know that Lloyd was not in pain or in that horrible incoherent limbo of being barely there. As we were leaving the hospital an interesting thing happened. I felt the finality of never seeing him again and my emotions were starting to get away from me and then the fire alarm went off. I felt like it was some kind of explanation point to the last time Rob and his father would be together. When I told G that she reminded me of when Poppa died and the garage door slammed. I know that they are coincidences but I also like to think that there is something behind them.

At some point during all this I had a birthday - not much of one but it was there none the less. I got myself a massage for my birthday the day after Lloyd died and that did the trick. While in Raleigh, Kevin gave me a little bottle of the Cap’n and a gift card so I at least got a presnid. The bottle came in particularly handy in Cambridge. Another saving grace was the hotel had a Starbizzy in the lobby and a whole foods and liquor store next door. We found a bottle of Elu’ by St Suprey which is our favorite vineyard and wine from our honeymoon so that felt like a little bit of a comfort and felt like a birthday special.

As we were packing and checking out on Wednesday the 18th we got the call that the funeral service would be on Saturday the 21st. Part of me thought we should have stayed in Cambridge and the other ½ desperately wanted to get home. Rob wanted to get home too, thank God. We got 2 weird hazy days at home to decompress a little bit before Saturday the marathon flying day. Rob spent most of his time sleeping, poor fella.

I worked from home on Thursday and that was a great way to ease back into the real world but when I got to work on Friday I was given some really bad news. We have to lay off a large chunk of staff in ….. Pine Bluff Arkansas! My lie from some time in the past! . I pleaded for some mercy so we flew out on Monday. HA! Some mercy, give me a break.

We were fortunate, the travel gods smiled upon us for the trip to the Cape on Saturday the 18th. We took the first flight up and the last flight home. No delays, no traffic and flights that arrived EARLY! We had talked about what we want when we die, burial vs cremation and on the way I voted burial and Rob voted cremation. Now that the event is behind us I think we are both on the same page with the burial. We felt like there was really no kind of closure or saying goodbye. The event seemed empty. Maybe it felt empty because Rob didn’t have a lot of family there but I think it was empty because there was nothing to say goodbye to. Just a flag, 2 candles and 4 bouquets.

Well, I am sitting on a plane en route to Pine Bluff. I got up this morning at 5:00 am and originally will get home tomorrow at 11:30 pm. It’s actually a relief since they indicated they wanted me to stay until Friday. I am happy to get home tomorrow, it’s ironic, when we were traveling to Boston the first time I kept thinking (jokingly) that I will be able to relax in February, never truly realizing how true that is. February is this week…. I think … and maybe I will get a chance to relax next week. Maybe we can even celebrate a birthday if I don’t have a total melt down or shut down on this trip.

Wedding, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Birthday

2006-01-10T14:31:00.000-05:00

Wedding, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Birthday - I am feeling a bit weird lately and I think it's the post wedding, thanksgiving, Christmas, new year crash. I am not even excited about the birthday. I am actually mad at my birthday. Why is it at such a time when all I really need is to relax a little bit. Stupid birthday. I suppose I have some sour grapes too, I wanted to start the birthday celebration and I am the only one who is buying into the idea.

Maybe I am tired of watching my husband miserable with a toothache. I can't imagine what life was like before medicine. Toothaches make you crazy insane with pain. I'll bet people with toothaches counted for more then one heretic back in the day.

HST

2006-01-06T14:28:00.000-05:00

"There he goes. One of God's own prototypes.
Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production.
Too weird to live, and too rare to die."

"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is, are the ones who have gone over."

I loved Hunter S Thompson. He is one of my top 5 favorite authors. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is my all time favorite book. I just ordered a documentary about him. I was thinking about when I saw him do a reading in Baltimore back in the early 90's. 1992 maybe? It was at a tiny club and it was not as crowded as I thought it should have been. HST was 2 hours late and the rumor was that he was at a bar next door drinking. When he finally did show up he walked on to the stance and proceeded to know down the table, fan, chair and anything else that got in his way. He started into his diatribe but was slurring so badly I was beginnning to think I had wasted my money but he eventually got into his groove and the show was awesome.

Not long after his death I read an article that said he faked being drunk at those spoken word dates, and I laughed becuase he got me. The joke was on me.

2006-01-03T10:32:00.000-05:00

Well, this is the year I get pregnant.
This is the year we refinish the attic.
This is the year we re-do the kitchen.
This is a big year.
Nothing is going to be recognizable this time next year.

I was a little sad to see Finn go home. Last night when Rob and I got home there was only one monkey happy to see us. For the past week, there was a huge production every time we got home.

2005-12-30T09:11:00.000-05:00

2 dogs is 1 too many. Finn barks at everything that MOVES in the front yard. Revelation - I don't like barking dogs. I have to remember that Finn is still a puppy and I have to remember patience......
And he is pretty cute, just look at that face.

2005-12-28T15:09:00.000-05:00

Wow, the circus has come to town. I have Finn (Mom's 9 month old Doodle pup) for a week. It's a constant battle for who is the top dog and Zippy always wins but I have to give it to Finn for trying.

They are the perfect tug of war partners though, they both loooooove sticks and every time they go outside they wind up playing tug of war with the sticks laying around the yard. Yesterday Zippy grabbed a stick and then proceeded to smack Finn with the stick until Finn grabbed his end of the stick for tug of war.

Zippy ignores the TV unless there is an animal noise and then his ears perk up but Finn actually watches TV. I bent over him and watched his little eyes, he follows the action on TV! It's the funniest thing. He especially liked the documentary on Hyenas.

I read that to keep your mind alert and to avoid dementia and Alzheimer's in old age you should get exercise and do brain teaser stuff. I started in on crosswords but have found soduku. Wow, I love that game and now totally understand how people get sucked in. It's numbers logic and I love it. I have been playing every day, I hope that means my short term memory will get some assistance. I swear I have the worst memory on the planet.

2005-12-20T09:08:00.000-05:00

If I had all the money in the world, I still would not know what to get my brother. Mom is getting the big present, deliverable on her return from Cali and I have no idea what to get G. Argh. Gosh, I don't even know what I would get for myself. I have been in a very blah mood lately. I wonder if it's post wedding something or pre Holiday something. Rob was rummaging around my clothes the other day looking for sizes so I am curious to see what appears under the tree. For a man who has no sense for fashon, he gets me awesome clothes.

Today, I went to a Safeway that is next to a Old Navy, Target, Staples etc and I am totaly apalled at the way people are driving. Outright nasty old bitches who figure they don't have to stop at stop signs and don't have any clue what yield means.

That's it - I am not doing any more shopping, I am not going anywhere NEAR any kind of shopping area. It's like a whole season of those people who don't wait for you get off the elevator/train/whatever before pushing thier way in. It upsets me way too much so I am now avoiding civilization untill January.

Concert Review - X

2005-12-07T12:43:00.000-05:00

Wow, I went through a time warp last night. X was exactly like they were 20 years ago. Billy Zoom spent the entire show with his silver sparkle hollow body smiling at everybody in the crowd. 20 years ago I was the girl in the front row that he was winking and smiling at but I was no longer his taste, he actually smiled a few times at my BROTHER! Bry did stick out in the crowd of 30-somethings with his leather jacket and Billy Idol hair. Billy Zoon did the wide leg rock star stance and I thought his thighs must be in good shape to hold that stretch for such a long time. He stuck around before and after the show to say hi to fans and sign anything you put in front of him. He is a really nice guy and I think that is rare.

He stand there almost still, looking out at the audience and this freight train of raw guitar sound comes out of the speakers, it's pretty amazing. Durring a break, the guitar tech brought out a mike on a stand but the mike was really low on the stand and i was thinking it was for an acoustic guitar. Then went into a song where everybody in the band yells "yeah" at a few points in the song. The low mike was perfectly at his mouth when he did the wide leg stance and after saying "yeah" 3 times the tech came out mid-song and removed the mike. It was too funny. That 's the thing about X, they smile and they are just too funny.

Come to think of it - Exene did not smile too much, but they really looked like they were having a great time. The club was so small we were right in front of the band, no less then 4 feet from the stage and this time I had earplugs on. I knew every song they played from start to finish and they played the first 2 albums almost in their entirety, how rare is that!

I totally forgot that John Doe was from Baltimore but it makes sense. He looks just like all those Baltimore boys that I used to date. They all have that Levi jeans, work shirt, chain wallet, dirty hair look. They smell also but I digress....

I feel very lucky that I got to see them in such a small club and they certainly did not disappoint.

Punk Rock Show

2005-12-06T13:06:00.000-05:00

I am going to an actual punk rock show tonight. X is playing in Baltimore and I am going to relive a night I experienced over 20 years ago when I drove into some small dive bar in DC and wormed my way into the front row with an X t-shirt over my shoulder to see the loudest band I have ever experienced. I was parked right in front of Billy Zoom and the tallest wall of speakers ever. My left ear rang for 3 days after the show and I attribute my poor hearing to that show. Billy Zoom smiled and winked at me the entire time and after the show we rushed backstage and I met him. He was a nice enough guy, sadly enough we missed Exene and John Doe who I consider the true talent of the band.

From what I remember, they put on one hell of a show and I am so excited to see them tonight! Of course I am sitting here wondering what to wear. Since punk has become so mass marketed with everybody wearing black, silver chains, bondage pants, ripped up stuff and combat boots. I am going to be true to the rebellious nature of punk rock and dress differently. I think I'm going to wear white pants, pink shoes and maybe a nice dress shirt. That will be punk rock. All these kids running around in their punk outfits they got from Hard Topic make me wonder if they really got the message of being different because they all look the same to me. ..... or am I getting old? Or even worse, have I become "THE MAN"?!

Honeymoon Part 1

2005-12-05T13:38:00.000-05:00

I loved Napa Valley, the leaves were still on the vines and they had turned magnificent shades of red, orange and yellow. The rolling hills of Napa looked like they were covered in a carpet of fall colors with trees littered across it. Napa has those great medium sized trees that turn the color of a red crayola crayon that has been melted in the sun. I think that even in the peak of the summer, with the grapes on the vines it's nowhere near as beautiful fall in Napa Valley.

The weather was jeans and t-shirts in the day and long sleeves at night. What a beautiful place.

We decided to splurge on a dinner and went to http://www.latoque.com, at the www.ranchocaymus.com. I desperately wanted to stay at the inn but the prices were our of our range but after comparing their hotel to the River Terrace Inn, I wished we had spent the extra dough. They had tubs with stained glass windows behind them and a fireplace in the bedroom.

The restaurant was a prix fixe menu and they offered a pairing menu for the wine so we decided on both, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Artichokes were in season so everything had some kind of artichoke in them. I had the artichoke/mushroom soup, the scallops on artichoke mousse, bone marrow beef burgundy, venison and baklava/pear dessert. There was a pork something with truffles on the menu that we passed in lieu of the beef burgundy and the chef would come out the truffle clenched in his white gloved hand. He would shave a few slivers on the pork for an extra $35. Give me a break.

The sommelier came over to give us his spiel and I immediately tried to interrupt him to keep him from regurgitating the same comments I heard him give all the tables around us but it didn't work. The guy was like a robot BUT he did recommend a decent white. I told him to give me a very small glass of the white since I was not a huge fan, but after tasting the wine I would up drinking the entire thing before the food even came so I had to wave him over and ask for more. The dinner was awesome and as soon as I got home I bought mini artichokes and planned on making something exotic but I caught a cold and never cooked them. I wound up throwing them away and eating Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup for a week.

Wineries that we loved:
http://www.avvwine.com/
www.niebaum-coppola.com
http://www.chandon.com/default.html
http://www.vsattui.com/
http://www.stsupery.com/

Wedding day part three

2005-11-30T12:59:00.000-05:00

We had plenty of time to kill before everybody got to the reception so we went up to our room for a few minutes to relax, check makeup, take off the veil etc. Once in the room we could look out the window and see the guests meandering on the patio - it was so neat!!!! We waved and a few people looked up, I think Evan got a few photos of us in the window.

Speaking of Evan, our photographer was so awesome and I am DYING to see the photos. In this world of instant gratification, waiting a month seems like an eternity!

The one thing about the wedding that was not necessarily perfect was the fact that we had too much room! With the patio open and the weather perfect there were always a good chuck of the crowd outside so there were not a whole lot of people around for our announcement and cake cutting but I would gladly have too much room as the only critique of the day.

The covered part of the patio had the raw bar, bartender and dip etc. They had strung twinkly lights and greenery so it looked like a move set from some romantic comedy. My description pales in comparison to how it looked. We had the Star Wars cake topper at the head table so nobody sat there but when dinner was served we didn't want to sit at a big table by ourselves. We would up sitting with the best man, a mutual friend who went to high school with and friends of the family that knew me when I was an infant. It was a great table of friends from different eras who have one thing in common - us, and they were having a great time. It warms my heart to see my friends and family having a good time with Rob's friends and family.

Our first dance went so well, we did it while everybody was finishing dinner so we KNEW that we had everybody in the main room and we had their undivided attention. We started the dance and everybody was sitting and all of a sudden everybody was standing and whooping and hollering. The dance went so well, we did our little pauses, spins and dips with only a minor flub or two. I saw the video and we looked professional. It was so much fun also. That's the other thing, everything about the reception was fun.

Once we got to the party Rob and I went off in different directions greeting everybody and it was fun to say "excuse me, I need to find my husband", and it was fun to look around and see Rob in his tux, looking incredibly handsome talking to somebody. It was fun to watch him. He looked so damn handsome, we need to find another reason for him to wear a tux.

The cannoli cake was the talk of the evening - everybody wanted to complement us on it. When we 'cut the cake' we pulled a cannoli off the top and cut it in 1/2. Rob looked at me and mouthed the words "shove the whole thing in my mouth" I shook my head and he nodded so I held up the 1/2 piece of cannoli and he inhaled it! It was too funny. After the fact I found out that all the Italian relatives had grabbed a few extra cannolis and had brought them back to the hotel and the next day at brunch they were pulling cannolis out of thin air like magicians! Too funny.

I loved dancing with everybody, the DJ did a great job with the music we gave him. We had the floor packed off and on all night. I loved dancing in the big dress, when I spun I felt like Cinderella at the ball. The ironic thing of it all was that I was NOT going to have a conga line but for the last song I wound up in a conga line. It was actually fun.

Wow have I been sick.

2005-11-29T12:40:00.000-05:00

Wow have I been sick.

While in vegas we sat next to this guy http://www.funnyhub.com/videos/page.cgi/greg-the-bunny-hits-las-vegas and after he knocked over 3 bottles of Bud on the Black jack table, he sneezed. It was a loud juicy sneeze and the bastard didn't even cover his mouth. The table was covered in snot. If you know me, you konw that I am a germ-o-phobe, this incident was one of the grosest things that has ever happened in my life and I wound up with a horrible 2 week head cold. The kind of coldthat makes you so sick all you want to do is lay on the couch and whine. The only thing that makes you feel better is sitting in an uber hot shower that unclogs your head for a few minutes. I hate that guy. At least I did not get sick untill we got home from the honeymoon.

The unfortunate part was I was sick for Thanksgiving, but Rob and mom took care of the cooking and cleaning for the holiday so I had the opportunity to lay on the couch with the dog and my blankie and wallow in my sniffles.

Wedding part two

2005-11-18T11:52:00.000-05:00

We lined up to start the wedding and it was Chelle, Connie, G and then me. Connie and G were battling tears and we were all very emotionally charged at that moment then the greatest thing happened: Chelle turned around to face all of us and told us “the baby just kicked!”. How awesome is that? What a great beginning to the wedding.

At this point the planner came over to the 3 brides maids and went over what they needed to do. The planner finished her conversation and the ladies all nodded and knew what to do but at that second I totally forgot everything. The planner backed away from the ladies to give them their cues and I went into panic mode and announced “I totally forgot what to do!“. The ladies all snickered and the planner reassured me and said I would get her full attention in a minute. Duh, the only thing I had to do was WALK down the isle.

I was convinced that I would cry but as I stood there alone waiting to walk down the isle I felt like I was going to be able to keep it together and got incredibly excited and happy. I walked to the back of the isle and waited for Rob to see me and then I walked down the isle. I wanted to see everybody there but I couldn’t stop looking at Rob, he looked so handsome and as I got closer to him I started to get weepy and actually started to loose it when he walked off the alter to me and we walked up to Father John Candy together.

Man, the entire time I was on the alter during the ceremony, I wanted to jump in Rob’s lap and snuggle or throw my arms around him and hug him. I also felt so happy, I can safely say it was the happiest moment I have ever felt in my life and that happiness lasted for hours. It felt like a pure happiness. It’s a shame I can’t think of a better way to describe it .

We took a ton of photo’s outside in the gardens and I think I had a perma smile the whole time. The limo ride was great – the traffic was horrible but everybody stopped to stare at the limo and then to wave at us. I felt like a celebrity. We went to the end of the city dock where Rob proposed and took some photos, there was a light breeze that would occasionally take the veil and raise it up. The breeze felt so good after standing in the sun in the 200 lb wedding dress.

I totally forgot about the bouquets!!! My flowers were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, it was such a rich red and stark white freesia, it reminded me of the wedding dress next to the bride’s maid dresses. It smelled so good and the whole ceremony I did not want to put it down, it was like my security blanket and I held onto it with a death grip the entire ceremony….. and I had no idea what to do with it during the mass. The ladies flowers were perfect fall colors and looked like they were meant to match their dresses.

Wedding day part one

2005-11-17T12:02:00.000-05:00

Hm, not sure exactly where to start – weddings are a big day.

Weather was perfect, sunny and a little bit of a chill but totally comfortable in a strapless ball gown.
We had our make up and hair done at the hotel and Connie mentioned that it was one of her favorite times and I totally agree. It was so nice and relaxing to get pampered and just hang out before the wedding, everybody was calm and the hair chair was facing the window so I could look out on City Dock. We had calamari and quesadilla while listening to the radio. Genevieve’s up do was really stunning on her. My hair was stunning as well, I really enjoyed letting Kelly and the other ladies be creative and do what they do best.

Once we were ready, Rochelle, Mary Ann and Mom showed up and then the party really began. We saw the 2 jets do the fly by for the NAVY game and Connie said it was a romantic pair of jets for our wedding. I had 4+ people help me get my ½ naked self into the dress while the photographer stood on the bed with his back to us. It was quite a scene.

I loved walking from the hotel to the church – downtown was packed and people were honking the horns and waving, the sun was so bright we should have been wearing glasses. We got to Duke of Gloucester St and the bridge was up so traffic was stopped – our photographer stood in the middle of the street and told us to do our best Reservoir Dogs strut down the middle of the street. That was awesome and I can’t wait for the pictures of that.

Sitting in the waiting room wasn’t much fun. The anticipation was just too much at that point and I was feeling antsy. Princess Sparkle Star, Marissa and Tony stopped by and that was a lot of fun. There is nothing more amusing then watching a little girl look at a bride. They get starry eyed, it’s so cute!

Very close

2005-10-31T15:30:00.000-05:00

I am so excited to get married. It's going to be such an awesome weekend. I'm at the part of the roller coaster where we are slowly heading uphill, click click click up the rickety wooden rails. It's the scariest part because you know the big drop is coming but you are soooooo looking forward to it. Once you get over the hill and start the big drop it really gets fun but it's always over so damn quick.

Click Click Click up the hill. Work is crazy - it's so busy I can't keep on top of everything. I have PMS sooooo badly. BUT once we get to Friday then it's all down hill, I just have to make it to Friday. That is my mantra for this week.

The bachelorette part was on Saturday and I had vinegar that was made from grapes that were harvested at 8 degrees below zero. The waiter was actually serious when he was telling us this, it was so pretentious you had to laugh. My steak was awesome, that GOD I ordered that because the ladies who ordered the fish got a piece of meat the size of a bottle cap with a drop of mashed potato pure as the garnish. I hate restaurants that give you small portions especially when you pay so much for it. I suppose we were paying for the workers who were slaving away at 8 degrees below zero harvesting grapes.

We did a haunted bar crawl that was awesome - I love walking around Annapolis, especially when the walking is interrupted by drinking. It was a beautiful night and we heard some good stories. We went to some bars that hold a few of my own ghosts so it was kind of cleansing to exhume those ghosts for good.

Dog Update

2005-10-28T13:52:00.000-05:00

The dog of a thousand faces is fine - mostly. The vet said there was bacteria however it never grew, whatever that means. According to her it means his UTI is gone but there are still crystals in his urine. She said they were going to x-ray him and I told her he is a very good boy and will stay if you give him the command.

She took the dog in the back and about 15 min later she came out and said he would not stay for the x-ray. We offered to go back with her to calm the dog. Apparently Zippy did not like the slippery talbe they put him on AND he did not like the idea of laying down on the cold slippery talble AND he did not like the idea of showing anybody his belly.

He was so vehemently against the whole process his anal glands expressed themself. You read that right, he did not bite or growl..... he soiled himself.

The Vet said that he appeared to be fine and to keep an eye on him untill we return from the honeymoon and then we will put him on the special CANNED food. Zippy is going to go bonkers over canned food. We are never going to get him back on the hard stuff without a hunger strike.

8 FLIPPING DAYS

2005-10-28T13:27:00.000-05:00

I am delierously giddy over the wedding. For the past couple weeks when I check an expiration date on yogurt or something I snicker if it's after our wedding day. When I bought milk last night the experation date was AFTER the wedding. Rob laughed when I told him we will be married before this milk expires!

Oh how exciting. I feel like everything is ok right now. I feel prepared and I feel a little bit relaxed. Go figure, I feel relaxed.

The bachelorette is this weekend and I am very excited to see Connie and Sue, the 2 of them have not been in the same room together for at least 7 years. 2 weeks ago was my pre-bachelorette party and that was a lot of fun. It invovled 3 bottles of red wine, 2 magnums of red wine, 2 shots of SoCo with lime, beer and one run in with the police. Ugh. The day after I was reeeeeaaaaaaaly loopy. I think I was delieriously happy becuase I was not hungover but teetering on the edge of still being drunk. Rob was convinced I did some brain damage that night.

Girl Scout Season

2005-10-24T12:15:00.000-05:00

Ugh - I just had a 1/2 box of thin mints for lunch. I feel like I'm going to puke. I love/hate Girl Scout season. Thin mints and samoas are my down fall.
I can say to no any cookie you put in front of me but like a junkie, I can't stop with it comes to these damned cookies. I am going to have to read the ingredients becuase I am sure there is crack in there somewhere. Hm, no crack but 28 grams of fat and 560 calories - that is simmilar to one order of large Mc Donalds French Fries. That would make me sick also.
It's the same a 3 taco bell tacos with no cheese. My tummy can usually handle that. ohhhhhhhI feel icky.

Things at work have been buisy - I am averaging a new requisition per day. My first impulse is to tell all these people that I have the attention span of a gnat and I can't think about anything other then my wedding right now.

Oh! The dog of a thousand faces is sick!!!!!
I can't believe I forgot about the call from the vet last night..... here is what happened:

The dog had an accident in the hosue and he NEVER has accidents. The vet said he had an UTI and gave him antibiotic 1.
The vet called 3 days later and said they did a test and the bacteria in his urine was not responding to antibiotic 1 so give him antibiotic 2.
Zippy finished all his antibiotics and I brought an urine sample in on Sunday. (getting the sample was a comedy all to itself, picture me in rain gear and plastic gloves telling Zippy to "do your business", if only there was a video camera)

The vet called and said there was a lot of bacteria in his urine and thought he may have kidney (struvite) stones!! I am so upset, poor doggie! he doesn't appear to be in any kind of pain but now I am worried about him. He goes for an x-ray on Wed to see if there are stones. Poor little feall!!!

The Vet said that they can treat the stones with food and medication but if that doesn't work then it's surgery. The dog of a thousand faces will have another one to add to his collection. Rehab Dog.

Poor zippy

2005-10-21T08:50:00.000-05:00

I had my second dress fitting last night and I loved the way the dress looked. She did a really simple bustle which looked best since the dress is so busy. The bustle moves and sways with the dress and I started to feel pretty choked up about how much I liked the dress.

Stress

2005-10-20T11:23:00.000-05:00

Zippy and I went for a nice run last night - 2 miles in 20 minutes and then 15 minutes of strolling around the neighborhood. For some reason I was not tired at all until about 3 am. I laid in bed listening to Rob and the dog snore, then I laid on the couch waiting TV and listening to Zippy dream about hunting bunnies or whatever dogs dream about.

Now I am sleep deprived and irritated at everything.

What do dogs dream about? I can't imagine he has much stress in his life, he is totally unphazed when we leave the house. Does he have nightmares about somebody breaking into the house? He has never had anybody break into the house so he has no reference point. Is his imagination that good? Zippy HATED being crated, maybe he dreams of THE CRATE. He was found on the side of the road when he was 2 months old, maybe he dreams of being hungry and cold?

I bet he dreams about chasing a bunny/kitty around the yard. I wish I had dreams like that instead of dreams that the dres isn't ready.

We finished the wedding music and I am very happy about it. Rob only veto-ed one song: Faith by George Michal, but I got N'SYNC so I am happy. Still thinking of putting push it by Salt & Pepa or Rancid on the list....

Chicken Dance
I'm gonna be(500 miles) - Proclaimers
Ob La De - Beatles
Hay Ladies - Beastie Boys
"I walk the line" - Johnny Cash
Abba - Take a chance on Me
Dee lite- Groove is in the heart
Patti Labelle - Lady Marmalade
Bye Bye Bye - N'sync
Ramones - Do you wanna dance
Bee Gee's - Staying Alive
Outcast - Hey Ya
Hot Chocolate - you sexy thing
Amore - Dean Martin
Whisky in the jar - Irish folk song
Barry Manalow - Copacabana
Litle Richard- Good golly miss molly
sea cruise- frankie ford
Chubby checker - Twist
Stevie Wonder - Supersitition
Smokey Robinsin - you really got a hold on me
James Brown - i feel good
BB King - Aint that just like a woman
The 5 Satins - In the Still of the Night
Chuck Berry- Maybelene
Unforgettable - nat king cole
It had to be you - Connick
Al Grene - Lets stay together
Righteous Brother - Unchained Melody
Mac the knife - Bobby Darin

Secret Plans

2005-10-19T13:16:00.000-05:00

I live my life looking forward to things and planning things. If I do not have something to look forward to I feel a little down and lost. I need lights at the end of the tunnel.

Sometimes I am looking forward to weekend plans.
Sometimes I am looking forward to my wedding.
Sometimes I am looking forward to having kids

Today I am looking forward to one last vacation before having kids. EUROPE!!!!

Rob has never been and feels some apprehension over traveling to Europe. I am not sure if it's the horribly long flight, the great unknown of being outside our continent or if he worries about our safety but he does understand the desire to do it before kids.

I feel like the world is my oyster!
Prague looks like a lot of fun
Barcelona would be soooooooo beautiful

But then again I think that maybe we should go to a country that is not so drastically different then the states . Maybe I ease him into Europe via London or Ireland.
Personally, I have been to both places and would rather go somewhere new, but if he enjoys those 2 then I can coerce him into more......

Now that the wedding and honeymoon are almost near the next thing is Europe..... oh yeah, after we do the mega restoration to the attic.

Family Therapist

2005-10-18T14:21:00.000-05:00

My idiot brother had decided to stop going to High School. I am going to be the peace keeper at the battle tonight. Is there anybody on the planet who needs a drink more then me right now.
How do you convined a kid with a hormone/boobie muddled brain that you HAVE to get a HS diploma. No matter what you do.... you need that diploma. Unless you want to go to jail, live on welfare or become a drug dealer. Those are the top 3 occupations for HS drop outs.

DOG OF A THOUSAND FACES

2005-10-17T09:26:00.000-05:00

Sly, secretive Zippy.
Secret Agenty Zippy on a stake out - patiently waiting for the squirrel /bunny / kitty

DOG OF A THOUSAND FACES

2005-10-14T09:51:00.000-05:00

Once again - we have Zippy showing us he is truly.......

DOG OF A THOUSAND FACES

Zippy is interested in expanding his acting range. He is much more then a thug or Paris Hilton's sex toy. He is an intelligent K-9 and wants to be appreciated for his intellect, not just his muscular stature and classic beef cake looks. Too bad his ears wont hold up his glasses.....