Growing Up

Hubs and I will be heading to my parents' house this afternoon.

Its celebration time.

My little brother is graduating from high school.

Sigh.

I am officially old.

Happy Graduation, Jamie!
Congratulations!
I love you!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, so I know that not everyone loves Glee like I do, but please bare with me.
You might even become a convert if you follow along and do as I say.
Sounds a little sinister, right?
WELL I MEAN IT, YOU BETTER DO AS I SAY.
Ok, I really am joking.
On topic again, this past week's episode, the Gaga episode, was a revelation.
I actually do like Lady Gaga, well that isn't exactly true. I appreciate her status as a pop icon and I do enjoy a limited number of her songs (I am currently digging "Paparazzi." I know, I know. Everyone says its so overplayed, but I don't listen to mainstream radio, so I miss all of the redundancy.).
Her videos are quite entertaining. I'm just not into the whole techno thing. Or, all of the air humping.
I do, however, LOVE her songs when they are covered by the incredible members of the Glee cast thanks to the creative geniuses who can listen to a song like "Poker Face" (Exhibit A) and turn it into Exhibit B.
See what I mean below.

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B:


I wish that I had talent like that to hear the potential in a song to take it from scary techno to something so lovely that I can't stop listening to even at work where I sometimes (maybe all the time) forget that I am not alone and sing very loudly along with the tunes buzzing in my ear buds.
Embarassing.
But don't you agree that Exhibit B is, well, incredible?

I am shutting up now about Glee. I have been trying my hardest not to blog about it all week.
I have no will-power.
Have a fabulous holiday weekend!!!

A Welcome Break

So, after working all weekend and week, not getting to bed before 11:30 every night, finishing up my freelance assignment, dropping another $200 on the car, babysitting the monster, "kicking ass" (so said my boss) in my meeting yesterday morning and laying on the couch all last night with a splitting headache while Hubs worked late at the hospital, I have decided to take this morning off. I was in desperate need of sleep and just one moment to sit and think about nothing in particular.

God knows that I definitely don't want to think about the future. Things are too up in the air, too close to going exactly the way that I wanted them to go. And that part is really scary.

Being so close to having what you've been dreaming about for the past year and yet having no control over what happens next.

I need an interview and the only thing I have to rely on to get that interview is a few pieces of paper.

That's it.

That's scary.

I am so conflicted.
Part of me is counting down the days til the big move, so ready for a change, so ready to start something brand new with Hubs.
The other part of me is worried, discouraged by the moving process and wondering where in the world I am going to fit in the Wild State.
I'm worried about being lonely while Hubs studies his life away.
I've lived for nearly a year here in this city without any girlfriends (AND IT SUCKS) but at least I have had Hubs almost every time that I wanted him.
What am I going to have up there?

My alienation is really my own fault. I could call up any number of my girlfriends that live at the closest 2 hours away, but I have some strange physical and mental block when it comes to talking on the phone. I just don't do it. I forget to return calls or to even call in general. I'm not a phone talker. I want you to physically be with me. That's where I connect. (Yes, this is a totally lame cop-out, because I'm the worst friend ever.) Because I have some great friends. Friends like Hannah who will drive 2 hours just to hang out with me all day and make me laugh. Friends like Margaret who sends the best presents ever like the package of cosmopolitan ingredients and a gift card to the movies, so that I can feel like I have a girlfriend with me as I drag Hubs to see SATC2. I think I'm going to cry. No really. I think I am. I don't deserve any of that.

Anyways, I have been looking at Hubs' future fellow students a lot on facebook, scoping out potential new friends, and that had me even more worried.

There are so many varied ages among the students and their SOs. Its like half of them are married with children while the other half are fresh out of undergrad and read to par-tay.
You see, I'm stuck somewhere there in the middle.
And some of the people just seem so... OUT there. Like really out there. Like they are in bike gangs together and the guys wear girl jeans and they are OVER 25. Yeah..
I keep telling Hubs, "Dude, you are going to be the squarest person in your class."
Its true. He shall see.
I don't think I'm a square. I've always been told that I am just "freee." Whatever that means.
I think that I probably look like a square, but I've got way too volatile of a tongue to be one.
I guess what this boils down to is that I am extremely shallow, and yes, I do judge a book by its cover. So shoot me! And sign me up for the squares!

I digress. Back to my worries.

I'm not whining. I'm truly worried (remember, I'm a worrier).

And right now, I am scanning our crappy little apartment from my perch on our couch with its ugly supposed-to-be-navy-but-it-looks-purple slipcover and trying to picture everything packed up in cardboard.

Is there a 12 step program for packing?
How about one for making friends?
What about one for curing my inability to use a phone correctly?
There must be one for my extreme shallowness and quick-to-judge mentality.
Help?

Ok, I need to get off the couch now. Productivity is my friend.

Sorry for the Debbie Downer post. I have been fooling myself and you, my dear readers, for the past two weeks with photos and cheap talk. I apologize for submitting you all to my ridiculousness (as Hubs would call it).

Here. You're distracted:
We call this the high-dive tuck. Excellent form, Panther.

Tuesday with Monster

What did Monster and Aunt Beezy's morning look like?


Like this:

Complete with block stacking, posing, laughing, photo shooting, eskimo-kissing-turned-makeout-session. Perfect!

I love Hubs

**Warning: All of these pictures were taken from the comfort of the sofa. Their quality may or may not have suffered.**

But first, a tribute to the Panther-ball. A Panther-ball is a rarity that only a lucky few of us has ever stumbled upon. You have to be quiet. And stealth. You shouldn't even try if you've recently eaten fish. But sometimes, you get lucky and you catch the Panther-ball unawares.
Like this:

But this post is about Hubs and all of the wonderful things that he does for me, because he loves me and is the best. EVER.

First though, look at what we just threw $500 away for:

Ok, really, this is about Hubs. Look at the things that he has done for me, his baby (and creative genius):

(I use the past tense [was], because these two pieces were done during college, when I was unspeakably in love with anything in any shade of avocado green.)

I love this filing cabinet for its style. But, don't ask me to open it for you. Its a complete and utter disaster. I am forcing myself to tackle it before the move. It makes me break out in a sweat just thinking about it. It was a thrift store find in pretty bad condition, thus the paint-job. As we were painting it, streaks of rust began to run through the paint (although you can't really see it in the picture) and I actually love the look of it. Just haven't gotten the organization part down yet.

The chair was all Hubs. I picked out that beautiful shade of green and the very expensive fabric that thank God was 75% off because I saw it and had to have it. (Before: the chair was painted in a dirty shade of off-white and had the most horrifyingly shiny, pale blue floral fabric on the seat.) So, Hubs took it upon himself to recover the seat and paint it! And, it is definitely one of my favorite pieces, although his next creation might rival it:

So, yeah, this is pretty much the sexiest lamp I've every owned. For some odd reason, I only bought table and floor lamps with paper lantern shades (again, my college style was obviously immature and lacking and I have no reason why I chose the things that I did), and I am so over them right now. When I saw this lamp on the shelf of our neighborhood Goodwill, I knew that I had to make it into my--I mean our--I mean, Hubs' next project. It was sans a lamp shade, but I knew its potential. For $3.50, I bought the hunk of cream-colored sculpture and $14 of a lampshade and $8 of freaking fabulous zebra-striped micro suede fabric later, I had this beauty to call my own. Thanks Hubs!!

Don't judge us for eating our tacos on the couch. Ever since we threw away that $500, we can't help but drool over our new tv. (And I didn't get off work until 6 and we had to trudge through the grocery store before making it home to cook, so there!!)

Stroke My Big uh,uh,uh Ego

Happy Weekend to all!

This is my new favorite tune.

Beyonce, you rock my socks off.

Kanye, as long as you're behaving, I like you, too.

Enjoy!

(Where do I learn to dance like this?)

The first year of marriage brings...

***There are qualifications for the following list to apply to you and your significant other (SO):

1. At least one of you must be under 25
2. Both of you must be in some way shape or form beginning, about to begin, ending or trudging through some type of higher education
3. Neither you or your SO (significant other) can be an heir/heiress/oil tycoon/royalty/professional athlete/celebrity/hedge funder/trust fund baby/etc.

So, back to the list. The first year of marriage (for all of those who qualify) brings:

1. NO money, because even the few thou you racked up at the wedding is gone. Admit it!
2. Unexpected things that cost lots and lots of money (like car repair, or tonsillectomies, or a replacement laptop, etc.--and no, this is not a personal list--these are generalized observations that might be based off of my own experience--might be!)
3. Lots of fun, guilt-free time spent with the SO, because you're newlyweds and its expected.
4. Lots of free meals from family members who either remember those moneyless days or use food to bribe you out of doing #3.
5. Crazy ideas about drastically changing everything you've ever known to save a little money (like selling your or you SO's car and becoming a one car family = problems).
6. Justification of hating certain chores (like, your disgust for washing dishes and doing laundry is because your SO LOVES to do those two things. Duh! I should've known that! I mean, you or your SO should have known that, because this list is not specific to me at all. At all.)
[Weird.]
7. Fights over which side of the couch you prefer (LEFT!).
8. The pout face when you or your SO ignores the other for other distracting and frivolous things (like facebook, or the student doctor forums, or blogs, etc.).
9. Satisfaction, because it all just feels so right.
10. Lots of unnecessary purchases and gifts (some that you will feel bad returning, but YOU MUST!) because you're young and carefree and immature and don't know any better.
11. Lots and lots and lots of the best, heartbreaking-because-its-too-much-for-one-heart-to-contain LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope that this helps someone out there. These are definitely pertinent things that I wish someone would have shared with me before taking that ultimate dive into the freezing and bottomless depths of marriage.

BLAAGHHHHH

So, I am sitting in the Ford dealership as they do fancy things to our car (ahhh... the infamous "our") the likes of which is going to cost. Big time. Like $1,000. Yep, that is three zeros that you see.

Am I regretting the $500 dollar purchase of our brand new flat screen tv that we made Monday?

Why, yes. Yes, I am. How did you know?

So, I am sitting here--have been sitting here since 10am and a lot has been happening.

Things like near panic attacks when the guy told me just how many things needed to be replaced like all four tires and coils and plugs and yadda, yadda, yadda.

Things like near fainting spells as he tallied up how much all of those things would cost.

Things like frantic texting to Hubs at the hospital and incessant phone calls to my dad, reporting these incidences of highway robbery.

Things like crying over my keyboard as I transfer $1000 from one account to another.

Things like reflecting on yesterday's catch-up of RHNYC and how I now officially hate Kelly. See, I hate her this much:

Yes, that is a volcano erupting out of Kelly Bensimon's mouth, because, she is an idiot from another planet, who really should rehearse every word that comes out of her mouth before speaking so that she doesn't make herself look any dumber or loonier than she does already. Do not mess with Bethenny, Kelly, because you will lose (Go Team Bethenny!!). And actually, I would really like to see your credentials, because I DO NOT believe that you could have ever graduated from college. Who thinks that the phrase "making lemonade out of lemons" is negative? Oh, only morons? Right, well, you're a moron.

Wow, I think that I just took all of my car frustrations out on Kelly, but I still don't like her. At all. You deserved that Kelly. You did!

Well, all of my hopes and dreams for showing you all of the things I have accomplished in my spare time will not come to fruition because I was supposed to use today (you know, my "spare time") to finish all of those things, which is really annoying because I was so excited!! Oh well. Duty calls. Or, the money-hounds. What's the difference? Hmm...

I guess that next week will be a more likely time to show you my creations. The suspense..

ON A FREAKING FANTASTIC NOTE:

If you haven't been with me long enough on here to know about my and Hubs' less than 40 day move to the Wild State, you do not know about the totally awesome job opp that I went after with teeth bared and claws flexed back in December. What was this job opp? Oh, a measly little volunteer position at the local historical society that might get my foot in the door for eventual paid employment. But this dream, well, it was dashed back in March when I learned that their budget would not allow for another employee anytime soon, so I turned my attentions elsewhere. UNTIL TODAY. Because, literally minutes ago, I received a text from the director of said society that she has found another job and would be submitting my resume for the position.

What. Wait. What.  

WHAT!??

  

WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY, I MEAN TYPE?!!!!!!!!!!!!?!?!?!?!??!!?!?!?!?!

Does this mean that the Heavens have opened up and shone a light on my misery and had mercy on my poor, tortured soul?!?!

This almost makes the $1000 car bill insignificant.

ALMOST.

I'm going to go lick my money-less wounds now.

Tell me something funny. Quick!