the morning after...

sigh.
i don't even know where to begin.
maybe i was aiming too high. maybe placing THE OFFICE as the highlight of the YEAR was a tad too....ambitious of me. (wow...how pathetic does that sound...) sure, ckuretich, the alfredo carbo load was har-har funny. i think i laughed out loud once...and that was either at: A) his dog and fish monologue. big dog vs small fish, or B) "forgiveness .....is next to godliness.

that's it.
the rest seemed so FORCED....whereas before it was so effortless.
my world may just be shattered.

OH AND PLEASE....you DRAG US ALONG FOR MULTIPLE SEASONS regarding Jim & Pam....only to have the ENTIRE relationship ordeal understated and in progress? NBC...you LEFT US OUT OF THE DTR!!?? the FIRST DATE??!! all the anticipation and.....it's done already!? ....please.

let's hope for the network's sake forgiveness really is next to godliness.....they'll need it.

FORTUNATELY, i have a fun day ahead to offset my heartbreak.
but first i'd like to talk about a little place that has become a rather painful place for me to enter. it's big...noisy...loud....overwhelming...not convenient location-wise....and a MONEY-TRAP:

TARGET.

see, i REALLY loved target in college. it was RIGHT THERE and even though i was ridiculously poor in college -- you always mustered up the money to have a hay day in there. but what is it about that place that you walk in and walk out with a bill you can't believe you charged!!?

and what is it about Target that....you buy allllot of stuff...and can NEVER remember what the heck it was!!!? like, my credit card statement comes in and i'm like...."WHAT THE HECK DID I BUY THERE!!??" and it's like this black hole in my brain....because...more times than not.....IT WAS JUNK in a nice package. sorry, target-ites.

Perks of Target:
1) v. v. v. cheap ovulation test kits. ($12 cheaper than at the CVS around the block from me!!!)
2) ....tapping fingers on keyboard thinking......OH, swedish fish i always in stock for my husband.
3) tank tops.
4) summer flip flops
5) dog food.

Reasons for Hate:
1) carts are ALWAYS disgusting and sticky. i cringe even TOUCHING them.
2) they never ever ever have memory cards in stock...so i end up wandering around buying something else much less important.
3) why! are the dressing room people always SO freaking mean?!
4) halloween costumes for dogs aren't appropriately sized for Rudy. c'mon.
5) half ...if not most...of the picture frames are broken, somehow, in some way....
6) nobody is EVER at the jewelry counter
7) it's not THAT cheap to shop there...but because they use loud, cutesy, obnoxious colors and displays, you FEEL like you're at an upscale K-mart.

i can go to the GAP and spend the same amount these days on a sweater that looks like something target has on it's racks....and guess what! it probably won't fall apart after the first wash! brilliant. old navy has better deals than target...and i would know. because they're both side by side in my shopping center.....

needless to say = i was forced to go to target yesterday for a new external hard drive....some DVD cases....and a massive picture frame for a client. they had all three. check, check, check....but was i able to stop? NOOOOOOOOOO......

i got a nifty little DVD cover kit thingy. have i opened it? nope. do i understand it? nope. but there ya go, i mean, it says #1 on it -- so i had to do it. i'll let you know how it turns out...



and then i got these beauts, in my fave color.....i THINK for less than $10, but since i refuse to look at my receipt i'm not quite sure:





at any rate, i don't intend to go back to target anytime soon. and that's today's rant!

in other news:
MY OFFICE IS TRAGICALLY UNORGANIZED TODAY.
i feel really unsettled and think today will involve ALOT of organizing. it's really a wonder that this place hasn't burned down yet, considering THIS is what is under my chair at this very moment....



yikes. that is not pretty. that's TWO power strips going into ONE outlet. we need to make some changes.....that's on my right. on my LEFT is this:



i am proud to say that MOST of that isn't mine. hubbs did just get back from a biz trip....but even this is pretty bad for him. his pathetic little desk in the background is now covered....Lord knows what those boxes are.....work materials? WE NEED A NEW HOUSE!!!!! i can't DO this crap anymore. i mean....we have armoir, two bookshelves, a king bed, two desks, AND our storage unit = ALL ROLLED INTO ONE BEDROOM. HELP!!!!!

and my desk:


what IS all this crap!!? two mice?! i don't even USE one of those. stack of quarters, keys, bills, etc. sigh. it's CLEAN UP DAY!!!

tonight is dinner with an old coworker and her brand new hubby downtown at:



nothing heals my soul like....QUESO!!!!
i hope everybody has a great weekend....
XOXO

big FAT letdown....

i'm not sure what premiered tonight at 9pm on NBC....but.....it was NOT the OFFICE THAT I KNOW AND LOVE....

...i was BORED out of my flipping mind!!!!

WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED!!!!?

maybe i'll just stick to the DVD at the end of the season.....

somebody needs to pay.

difference a year makes!!!!

so this month has FLOWN by...and i really get sick of hearing myself say that...but this month was exceptionally FAST. and this morning i was realizing how much calmer this upcoming October will be as opposed to LAST year. back in the day, when i was actually...MAKING money....as opposed to....LOSING money, (this is a tangent for another day, remind me in case i forget to come full circle on the pitfalls of starting your own business....oh? you wanna hear about it now? ....too bad. i only like to talk about money 2 days a month....the days my husband gets paid. i'll feel better about the subject in a few days at the end of the month) i used to dream of lazy fall days and i THINK this october will be relatively quiet and that MAKES ME SO FREAKING HAPPY!!! :)

some things won't change, however....such as our INFAMOUS halloween home decorating extravaganza. this year will be even bigger. and even better. but i have to tell you -- since i care about all of you reading -- do NOT bring your children on halloween night. they will kill you as vengance when they've grown up. now, bear in mind, LAAAAST october i was not keen on children. at all. read: let's scare the pants off of all of them and photograph the wails as evidence of a FANTASTIC evening. job well done. we were running around in our black costumes giving jumping chest high-fives with each 3-yr old's scream.

shut up. it was funny. really.
and granted, you know, you have to ask = WHAT PARENT TAKES THEIR THREE YEAR OLD OUT AT 9PM TO THE SCARIEST HOUSE ON THE BLOCK??!!! we're just meeting their expectations by flipping their kid out. but they aaaaaasked for it.

nevertheless: we will be decorating again. and people will come by with their cameras for 2 weeks leading up to halloween to photograph our house, which is always interesting when you're cooking dinner and glance out the window to see a SCHOOL BUS pulled over so the kids can snap away with their camera phones. (hello...5th graders with cell phones....another time.)

i think we're buying an additional fog machine...and having a little pre-game party...and giving the community everything they look to us to provide.

EXHIBIT A:








the really sad (hysterical) part of it all is that these parents GET HIGH on setting their kids up and BEGGING US to terrify them. half the time, due to the nature of my neighborhood, the parents are drunk...mean...and bored. we have a rule about NOT torturing any munchkin under the age of 2. but....the rest are free game(please take special note of the playboy purse) :







oh man oh man oh man.....
::: chuckling to self :::

chad and i have decided this year (along with the cooperating neighborhood folk) to get back at the parents this year. i won't name names...but SOMEBODY in my household thinks it'd be funny to mix the plastic spiders with real ones bought at a local pet store.

like i said....this is merely a fair warning to my local friends with children. :)

moving right along to something warm and fuzzy:
last october also included a GIRLS REUNION, A MARATHON, A DOGGY SURGERY, and A FAMILY WEDDING!!! i swear i did not sit down ONCE that month....

girls reunion will be happening again in november, but this time last year we gathered at the BEACH and had kickin' time...even though i can't recall for the life of me what we did besides eat. as long as eating is involved, you can assume it was a homerun weekend!!!!



and i KNOW it only seems like yesterday to all of you...but A YEAR AGO next month rudy had his wicked EYE SURGERY!!! and not only did we feel the need to decorate his cone, but we decked him out in some festive attire....which proceeded to suffocate him, but i'm sure it distracted from his agony of having stitches in his EYEBALLS.....at least he got the month right.





it was around this time that my husband had obviously toked a bit too much and decided to run the Marine Corps Marathon. i still cannot believe he did it. but that is an awe that constantly washes over me when i look at him. i can't believe everything he does....and this marathon was such a testament to how he tackles all of life. sure....he took his first hot bath of his entire life, after stumbling into the house...post race. (i think he secretly liked it...it's the only upside of the entire ordeal. must be why he signed up again for the NY marathon NEXT MONTH)....and it was the first time in his life he ever popped advil. aaaaand he gimped around for the following two weeks, talking about where and when he'll run his next race. freak. but my heart swelled with pride as he (AND CAROLYN!) crossed the finish line and it's a memory we'll never ever forget! HERE'S TO THE NEW YORK MARATHON ON NOVEMBER 4th!!! Who's comin' with us? :)








aaaaaand last but clearly not least:
my baby brother got married....IT HAS ALMOST BEEN A YEAR!!! what the....
happy ONE YEAR together, dudes:



at any rate....fishing through old photos is such a strange phenomenon. even the incidentals in life.....the fleeting moments.....the activities performed on a whim....the bustle of everyday living ....all add up to create the fabric of your life. i look at these pictures and can literally recall what the air smelled like.....how the sun set on that particular day.....how Autumn descended upon us... as i gazed over my shoulder, at the fading summer behind us, fat with satisfaction and contentment, as though i had just eaten Thankgiving dinner.....

and i praise the Lord i wasn't truly able to see some of the heartbreak the following year would bring.

but that's the incredible thing about life.....all you have is today.
yesterday's memories are held SO close....and with each day, you tuck another memory into the batch.....whether you realize it....or not.....

Let's DISH!!!

ok, i know it's a cheesy name, but, i'm in love.
i'm in love with Let's Dish!! (note: nina, you need to check it out...it's by far better than MGFK!)

so to start from the beginning, my girlfriend annmarie invited me to an event that the bethesda chamber of commerce was putting on for female business owners! woo hoo! so last evening i drove out to rockville during rush hour -- LUCKY ME! -- to meet up with her (why didn't i bring my camera!?) and other biz-chics from around the area at a place called Let's Dish.

sorry if this is redundant because of a previous post on another blog about My Girlfriends Kitchen, same sorta thing. bear with me, people.

so you show up, slap on an apron, pull your hair back with an adorable bandana....eat freshly baked chocolate scones....sip on coffee....and pretend to be a domestic goddess, whipping up perfect dishes for future use! OH, and you get to do it with one of your best friends. i mean, you could do it alone, but that would not only be expensive, but not as fun!!! oh, and by the way -- it's got a higher ranking than MGFK by the washingtonian AND it's cheaper!! (they're very very very defensive around peeps who have gone to other chains....)

did i meet any other cool business owners?
no.
did annmarie and i not shut up for nearly 2 hours (shoulda taken us only 45 minutes...but she's a newbie and we had alot of catching up to do!!! it's hard to measure, read, mix, knead, AND hear about the latest engagements, breakups, baby news, holiday plans, vacations, etc!), which was alot of fun!!! and they gave us free desserts on our way out.

hello.
somebody told these people that sugar sells.

we then went out to dinner at chilis and i drove home to meet up with puff-chaddy right as his plane was landing from a business trip in houston. having him gone for three days was harsh, after a non-stop week of hanging out together. i missed him too much....and of course i had no qualms about ripping out the cold, uneaten, leftover queso i refused to leave behind at the restaurant as a nightcap. no qualms at all my friends......

in other news...SEASON KICK OFF OF THE OFFICE STARTS IN 34 hours!!! that's if my math didn't just fail me. .....shut up. i have a bride and her fiance showing up at my house in 32 hours for a consultation and i'm dreaming up ways of making their visit to my house as UNCOMFORTABLE as possible so that there will NEVER BE A CHANCE of the meeting overlapping with the show starting. i think my mission is accomplished, if she's reading this blog right now. otherwise, i'll just have to put a sock in it, when i'd otherwise ramble about peonies not being in season in august ONLY to learn that it was all a lie when I GOT MARRIED....

it's a fine line with brides.
they want to know you can relate....but they also do NOT want to hear endless dramz about your wedding day. i cross the line every time. it may be annoying.....but i call it an icebreaker. hello!

ok, back to my point about TV...OH....but i will be THAT GIRL who actually comes to the table right now raving about the bachelor. because puff was outta town and because you simply cannot WATCH the bachelor alone....and because lanier has the MOST adorable house in the city....we converged at her place, over pizza, wine, greek salad, fluffy blankets....and it was amazing. ABC did not fail us this season. he's HOT. he's semi-normal. and the girls are delusional and insane. (and ugly..hello...you know it's true! Oh, and when did it become normal for everybody in their 20's to get boob jobs!?) .......it's perfect :)

omg.
people.
it's almost 1130.
i need to go.
i have so much to do.
and an email from a client in my inbox just reminded me of it ....

toodles.

memoirs of vacation

i have to tell ya, i'd do anything to turn around and go back to the beach :) between my tumultuous previous month...and a week away....i am WAY behind with photography and the calendar is very very unforgiving right now.

my desire to return is also partially due to the fact that i got zero tan...and am resenting that! but i guess there were cooler things to do in Hilton Head than to sit around on the beach, but the water was 80 degrees and the sun was out for 5 of the 8 days we were there.....it was a really lovely time!!!

i wish i had gotten pictures of the bikes we rented, but i was too busy concentrating on pedaling. people, bikes are a RIOT! we had ALOT of fun, and hilton head is full of these bike trails and we spent hours on our bikes.....

we walked along the beach....
we ate ALOT....
i devoured a 400+ page novel in 4ish days. "Vanishing Acts," AMAZING.....NYTimes bestseller for fiction.....SO GOOD!
we sat in the hot tub out back...
we rented EVERY EPISODE of The Office and it was family routine (by day #2) by 9pm to congregate in the living room with peanut butter ice cream and watch 3-6 episodes. :) i have not laughed that hard in a LONG time!!!

but frankly, if i'm honest -- i'll remember this vacation most because God plucked me out of a detrimental state of mind and relieved me with time away. not to mention my husband who is the real unsung hero of our marriage right now. when all my energy isn't being sucked away grieving, or obsessing....i can look across the room at him and my mind is filled with all the reasons i love him. and how he takes my breath away......his calm, yet strong confidence....his humor....his faith....his love.

and for an unspecified amount of time....until God ever gives us a baby or confirms He won't....i have all the family i could ever want in Chad. and i realized that until God expands our family....chad IS my family....and the week away reminded me that that is more than i could have ever dreamt for....

(our backyard)


("Peppers Porch"....mom, their jumbalaya was not as good as yours!)


(In-laws and us on a morning beach stroll...)

Branching Out

omg.
i did it.
i took the PLUNGE.....

i bought an ipod!!!
i'm still trying to figure it all out, and to be honest, apple never ceases to amaze me!!! you plug the darn thing in and WHAM! it starts to upload -- i'm floored.

and of course i got the cutest one i could find:


hello. it's red :)
i think it holds up to...dunno...a few thousand songs and if any of you really know me that well, you'll grasp that i'm a raging loser when it comes to music! but i uploaded what i DO have on iTunes at the moment (my hubby's acct, he's got one already!)....and i intended to use it on vacation, but -- i didn't take it out once!!!! i couldn't stop reading long enough to care about music. i finished one of the BEST novels i've EVER read called, "Vanishing Acts".....i forgot how much i enjoy reading.

at any rate, i thought you'd all be proud...i've made technological progress!
if any of you would like to make some music suggestions -- i'm all ears!!!

A New Blog

...boy i'm hard to keep up with, i know!!!
i've decided to start fresh with a NEW blog....since xanga was not letting me design a new one the way I WANTED TO.....so frustrating :)

at any rate, we'll see how well this goes....
more to come!