Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder... And almost gives me ulcers....

I got to go out of town for a work event. I had extremely mixed feelings about this... I was excited to go because it was going to be at a really pretty resort and there would be all sorts of fun activities and delicious food. I was having major irrational anxiety about the fact that I couldn’t bring J... It’s not often that we are apart for long periods of time. He’s had to travel for work a couple times, but somehow that’s not as bad for me because I am home in my comfort zone...

It’s not like we don’t do anything without each other - I go to hang out with my friends and go shopping without him regularly... He goes to play poker with old coworkers/friends every so often. It’s just weird to be apart. This time was especially hard for some reason - I spent the week or two before it with my stomach in knots every time I even thought about it. It was even harder on him this time - he even admitted to not being able to sleep the whole time I was gone.

He had taken the Monday and Tuesday off while I was gone to do some stuff around the house... He cleaned and organized the garage, installed new shower doors in the master bathroom, and organized the office and music room. The organizing was all in preparation for getting new windows (FINALLY). Last year was new roof, this year - tankless water heater and windows.

So Monday, I had to head out early to meet up with Girl Boss and another co-worker to carpool. I made it out of the house on time with minimal tears - I have become such a GIRL! I never used to cry easily... Now all it takes is a stupid heartfelt moment on Glee or something like that and my eyes start burning... haha

We made it to the event, got checked into our rooms - I had a cute little balcony off of my room with a little man-made river running by. The room was pretty standard, but nice... (Although a little odd that there wasn’t a full-length mirror anywhere....) 

 The view from across the lobby

My room

My view from my balcony

That night’s dinner was Fleming’s steakhouse. I had a delicious filet that was so massive I couldn’t finish it. I went back and socialized around the fire pit with everyone just long enough to show that I was there and then slipped back to my room where I read my Kindle until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore.

Tuesday was the main day where we went to a racing school to drive and ride in some cars. I spent my morning reading and lounging in my room. I went downstairs and had late breakfast / early lunch in one of the hotel restaurants - I had a burger with goat cheese on it. SO yum.

The driving was a blast - first we got to drive Corvettes through a track that they had set up to see who could get the fastest time. I was a couple seconds behind the fastest times, but at least I wasn’t the slowest... haha

 

Then they took us over to the “skid pad” and put us in Cadillacs that were outfitted with what are basically hydraulic training wheels. Using the hydraulics, they could raise the back end of the car to force you into skidding out. Our task was to get the car back under control... I was excited about this because I (KNOCK ON WOOD) have never been in a car that was skidding out of control... I thought it would be cool to see how it felt. I have to brag a little - I was the only person that never lost control of the car and spun out completely. I did have my instructor telling me that I was giving it more than enough gas - that it was about getting under control, not drifting... HA But it was fun!

 You can kind of see the little training wheels...

Next up were hot laps around their real track in super fast Corvettes with a professional driver. This. Was. Awesome. My driver was crazy - he would drift around the entire hairpin and was going 110 - 125 on the straightaway. I actually got one extra lap because there was a car there (someone that was actually taking the course...) that got in our way and messed up the full speed lap. I could have stayed in that car until it ran out of gas. I very nearly disappeared back inside to get a different helmet and go again... haha 

This shows a little bit of the cars going around the track... The speed on the straightaway and flying out of the pit does not come across as well as I hoped - it was FAST.

It was a perfect day... The clouds looked like a movie backdrop...

That night dinner was back at the hotel in their “fancier” restaurant. I had a heirloom tomato and goat cheese salad, a bison steak (so delicious), and goat’s milk ice cream with goat cheese in it over Indian fry bread. Have I ever mentioned my more-than-slight obsession with goat cheese? It’s out of control. After having the goat milk ice cream, I immediately researched and found companies that make it and stores that carry it. It’s really good... Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of my food - I was way too interested in eating it!

 But I did get a beautiful picture of the sunset...

The next morning was time to go home! I was so happy to be home and we both we finally able to actually get some sleep.

And then this past weekend we spent the entire weekend lounging and relaxing. We ran a couple errands and J decided that he was going to make one of his gourmet dinners... He decided on duck. He didn’t want to do the usual orange sauce/glaze for it and decided instead to do a pomegranate brine overnight and then a pomegranate glaze. It turned out ridiculously delicious.

 The duck - all sad and pathetic... waiting to be cooked

It's done!

He even loves to present the food in pretty ways... So delicious - the tartness of the pomegranate worked perfectly with the sweetness of the duck...

I love when he gets in the mood to really cook - he’s so good at it.

So how have you been?

Catching Up...

I feel like I’m playing a lot of “catch up” lately. Especially on here - I just haven’t had anything worth writing a full post about... Maybe it’s writer’s block...

So to catch up...

- I chopped my hair off.

Well - my hair stylist did anyway... This is my second time donating my hair to Locks of Love. Last time I did 15 inches, this time it was only 11. It’s weird going from so long to so short, but I actually really like how it turned out. I can still put it in a pony tail (muy importante), so I am very happy about that...

This was still attached to my head last Saturday morning...

I always forget to take a picture until I’m at work... My brain is still half-asleep until then... haha

I’ve gotten tons of compliments on it. J prefers long hair, but there’s not much he can do about it... What’s he going to do - try to tell me that I can’t cut my hair? He knows that would just have me coming home with a pixie cut...

And plus - “You can’t give your hair to those poor little children with cancer because I like it when it’s long” would be kind of a dick move, right? Right.

- I went to the Long Beach Grand Prix.

We go every year and bring my best friend and her husband. It’s always a fun day... Luckily it wasn’t too hot - I am definitely NOT a hot weather person in any way.

 Getting this picture took 4 tries of “Ok, I hear the cars coming - hit the button NOW and they’ll be here by the time my cell phone actually takes the picture!”

This is the sound that you hear all day....

We were enjoying ice cream in the hospitality booth... These TV’s have pretty impressive surround sound... Or the cars are actually driving by.... One of the two... hahaha

- I found a sports bra that I love.

Ok, this may not seem like such a big deal, but when you have DD’s... It seriously is. I usually have to wear two of them in order to keep the “girls” in check, but this one is magical. It’s the Maia Bra by Moving Comfort. It works like a charm. I already ordered more in different colors....

- Finally got Froyo for my phone!

Only FOREVER after it was originally promised... And after watching every other Galaxy S get it before Verizon... And now that I have it? It doesn’t really seem all the special... haha This is why I didn’t root my phone like my friend kept telling me to. I didn’t think there could possibly be anything so special that it was worth possibly voiding my warranty... And I was totally right.

- I ordered (and received) Rice Krispy Treat Cereal!!

This was one of my favorite cereals as a kid and it disappeared... I reminisce about it every time we are at the grocery store in the cereal section... One of my friends suggested checking Amazon because they were able to find a beloved childhood cereal of theirs on there. Sure enough - they had it. Because Amazon has everything...

I had a bowl of it for dinner two nights this week... I would have had it a third, but J was giving me weird looks when I was reaching for the bowls again... I think he was worried about me getting vegetables and silly things like that... But I am definitely having a big bowl for breakfast on Saturday!!

My mouth was so happy while eating this.... It tastes exactly like I remembered...

 Fred wanted to make sure I couldn’t possibly forget that he wanted the cereal milk when I was done eating... He was laying on my shoulder, staring at me the whole time...

- I purchased the newest Harry Potter movie.

I have them all, so not really a surprise... I haven’t had a chance to watch it again yet, but I plan on doing that very soon. I also want to put the digital copy on my phone...

I am always confused as to why the sell box sets that aren’t complete yet... I know the simple answer is “because people buy them,” but it still bothers me... Just sell one fancy box set once the 8^th movie is out and be done with it... And make even more money on it by selling an ultra-fancy one that comes in a tiny chest like the ones the kids pack their school stuff in and include some of the main character’s wands... I would even consider buying that....

- I am still seriously in love with my Kindle.

My book reading pace has definitely slowed down since the beginning of the year... (Check out the list above - I read SEVEN books in January... Sure they were all short brain-candy, but still...) I’m loving being able to read some of the series that I had never really gotten into because I didn’t have any more room on my bookshelves for them...

- I love the Amazon App Store.

Mostly because they give away one paid app for free every day... Some days it isn’t something I want, but I have gotten several that I’m having a lot of fun with...

- I love Honey Girl Organics skin stuff...

Found out about it from another blogger’s review and purchased it based on her recommendation. I love it. It makes my skin so soft and it looks better and healthier every day. LOVE it.

Other than that...... Not really much going on... Next week I am taking a couple days off because I am really close to my max on vacation time accrual. Gotta use it or lose it! I’m planning on sleeping. A lot. Haha And catching up on stuff in my DVR...

What have you been up to?

Weekend Rewind

Friday:

I spent the day at work bouncing around in a good mood - it was Friday, the person that makes my life miserable at work was out, we had made plans to go get delicious burgers at Slater’s 50-50 with my best friend and her husband, my best friend had decided that she wanted to cancel the off-road trip because it was going to be cold, we were finally going to get in to get hair cuts that weekend... It was shaping up to be a good day.

Until I got home. And J didn’t. And didn’t. And didn’t. And didn’t. He was stuck on a job and didn’t end up getting home until 9. Crapper. Ruined the Friday night plans, but that’s fine... Not the end of the world - rescheduled the dinner at Slater’s for Saturday and all was just fine.

Saturday:

Saturday was our 6^th anniversary. How it has been that long, I do not know... It feels like just yesterday! Unfortunately our friend/hairstylist had to cancel on the haircuts... She has a lot of health problems and some days are just not good days for her. I would say completely not a problem, but J SERIOUSLY needs a haircut. The jew-fro is getting ridiculous. But there isn’t anything that can be done about it and I do feel bad for her when she’s having problems...

**SIDENOTE** I’m thinking it may be time to donate my hair again. I was going to see how short she thought it would end up after cutting the 10 inches and then styling it and make the decision, but now I have to wait another week... Hopefully I won’t lose my nerve! It’s very scarring to go from LOOOOOOOOONG hair to short hair so quickly... But my hair grows so fast and there are definitely people that need it more than I do... Plus, as much as I love my long hair, I am getting really sick of the amount of conditioner I go through...

Our rescheduled dinner was planned around the fact that our friends had to go to a birthday party and they were going to call and stop by after they were done because it was near our house. Shortly after the party was supposed to be starting, I got a call from K, hysterically laughing... They found out - after walking right in the front door of their friends’ house - that the party was actually on Sunday! Oops!

So we met up, headed to their house to let the dogs out, and then headed over to dinner. Unfortunately there was AN HOUR wait!! 50-50 burgers are delicious, but they are not 1-Hour-Wait delicious! So we went to Lone Star instead. Not a bad consolation prize - filet mignon, baked sweet potato, chicken pot pie soup, and DELICIOUS rolls... Love it. I even got extra rolls so that I could take some home with me.

Back to their place for a nice relaxing soak in the hot tub and our night was complete.

Sunday:

Same routine as always... All the while dreading the Monday morning return to work!

How was your weekend?

Rain, Rain... Please Don't Go Away.......

I love going off-roading. It’s a blast to get all geared up and roar around on the quad... But for some reason, I have a hard time getting excited about it until I’m actually out there. It’s weird - I know that I will have a great time once I’m there, but when I think about it beforehand... I absolutely do not want to go.

I am a home-body by nature and after a long stressful week at work, the last thing I want to think about is waking up early and sitting in the car for 1 and a half - 2 hours just to go ride for a few hours... It makes me feel grumpy. Once I’m out there, I am reminded of part of Daniel Tosh’s standup:

Just replace “wave runner” with “Honda TRX450R” and there you go... haha

It’s just so much fun... Except when I get wimpy and wuss out about riding up a big hill... But I’m getting there.

Just talking more about riding is making me less hateful about the idea of going out... The other day I told my best friend that I wasn’t really excited about going and she was sad. Then I told J that I wasn’t really excited about going and he looked like I kicked a puppy....... Ugh. I told them both that I will still go and that I am sure I will be fine when I get out there...

But I can’t help the fact that I have been obsessively checking Weather.com to see if the rain that is supposed to hit today will please please please carry over to Saturday so that I can get out of it without having to seem whiney and cranky...........

Boredom Creates Fun

Being bored can be a dangerous thing... For me it usually just leads to talking to myself WAY too much and doing things I don't normally do... Like paint my nails. I go through phases where I paint and repaint my nails all the time and then go for months without so much as looking at my vast collection of nail polish...

J is out of town for work until Thursday - I dropped him off at the airport Sunday... While doing laundry and watching bad movies (seriously - I watched "Don't Mess With the Zohan" SO bad... But made me giggle a few times...) I decided - during a conversation with myself - that I wanted to try a new way of doing my nails that I had seen on another website... I call it newsprint nails...

Please ignore the messy paint job and where I accidentally smudged the newsprint... it was a first try....

Slightly closer - this one turned out the best... Minus my messy polish... Oops....

It was really pretty easy once I got the hang of it. Next time it will turn out better... I used Sally Hansen Quick Nail Color pen in white. I LOVE the Sally Hansen nail polish pens - super easy to use and dries really fast. Once it is dry, you dip your nail in rubbing alcohol and hold a piece of news paper firmly on it for 30 seconds. Peel it off carefully and put on some clear top coat. (I found that using a liberal amount of the top coat helped minimize the smudging...)

I slowly flipped through the whole paper while trying to decide if there was something specific that I wanted to use for the newsprint - even though you won't be able to read it... You only get little snippets and they are backwards... I went with horoscopes! It made me crack up and I loved it. I cut each one out individually and used a different sign for each nail. Next time I think I am going to cut the pieces into the shape of each nail with a tab on the top to make it easier to ensure newsprint on the whole nail...

Other than that, I have been trying to go to bed early and doing weird paranoid things that I don't do when J is home - like locking our bedroom door. And by "trying" I mean that I've been going to bed early and then laying there reading my Kindle and getting absorbed in my book until I realize that I stayed up way later than I should have... Oh well - at least I mean well... haha

Thursday will be here before I know it and J will be back home to me from Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. And I can resume my normal levels of slightly less restless craziness.

I Love To Laugh.

And that makes me original? 

I hope I didn’t lose any of you just from that line!! I realize that that is a “most hated” profile phrase for so many people. Might as well say, “I hate when trains run over my feet.” It’s a “DUH!” statement.

I want to see the people that say that they hate to laugh. And then go out of my way to make it happen.

I only use it today to open the door to my list of things that make me laugh every time because I felt that with the world falling apart...

(You do realize that Japan is now 8 - 13 FEET closer to the US now, right? And that that earthquake SPED UP THE EARTH’S ROTATION! What the what what????)

We could all use laugh.

Enjoy:

- These Subway Commercials

- People falling down - as long as it's in a funny, non-tragic way...

- My husband doing other accents because I love it so much... (Reading that, it kinda looks sarcastic... It’s totally not. I love his other accents. For real real - not for play play... Especially his Scottish brogue.)

- Animals doing stupid things

- Babies laughing - I’m talking belly laughs here... not just a little giggle. Full out cracking up babies get me every time.

- Kinect Sports for Xbox360 - Specifically the replay of how stupid you looked that plays after each event

- Thinking about an imaginary scenario that came up the other day - I wanted to know what my boss and his boss were talking about... My best friend suggested getting a cup and listening through the wall. I let her know that unfortunately it is a GLASS wall...

Then I pictured how it would play out.... Me sneaking up, putting a cup to the glass, and leaning in for the scoop... Them freezing while staring at me... “What is she doing?” “She knows we can see her, right?” And I am melting back into a puddle of giggles once again....

- Damn You Auto Correct - sometimes the responses are as good as the mistakes... And is just one of a long list of funny websites that I adore...

- Archer. He’s just so stupid. I love it. And Pam eating her lunch out of a full-size crock pot? It’s the little details that keep me coming back for more...

- Ricky Gervais’s voice when it gets all high pitched.

- Youtube - there is no shortage of entertaining things to find... Watch one video, click on a related one, lather, rinse, repeat, lose 4 hours of your life..... haha

- These disturbing little toys.... I play with them every time I see them in a store and laugh hysterically...

- “Your mom” and “That’s what she said” jokes

- Turning on the seat heater or cooler on the passenger seat in my car before someone gets in and seeing how long it takes them to notice... Or slyly changing it when they aren’t looking... Much more noticeable...

- Words like Ballcock, Ballyhoo, Kerfuffle, Onomatopoeia, Bunghole... My brain won’t think of more right now...

- Deciding what group names for animals (flock, troop, school, band, etc.) apply to different groups of people. My two favorites: Murder of bicyclists (because that’s what you want to do when they get in your way) and Pride of Gay People (this has been approved by gay friends... b.t.w.) Love it.

And just to let you know a little more about me.... These are things that cause me to cover my eyes, wince, curl up in the fetal position, or run away...

- Paper cuts - specifically seeing someone else get paper cuts.

- The Burger King King

- Any type of power tools - I immediately picture something going wrong and missing extremities, blood....

- Anything involving spit, mucous, or pus... just the thought.......

- You know those textured wall coverings? Or the stuff that they make those hologram-y cards out of? Hard and kinda ribbed... ish? Scratch your nails on it to make a high pitched noise and I will be dying. Breaking out in goosebumps and my teeth hurt just thinking about it...

Please see the quick video below if you aren’t sure what I’m talking about...

 

I’m kind of whispering because I had to remember to do this while I was at work... And I didn’t want to have to explain what I was doing. Knowing the people here, they would start going out of their way to scratch it to make me crazy... haha (and I made myself shudder a little when I put my finger near it.... Just f.y.i. ha)

- Squishing bugs - ok... can’t really type anything more about this without gagging. Needless to say J is the primary bug squisher ‘round these parts. Not because I’m scared... But because it makes me violently gag. I can’t even be nearby...

Ok enough freaking myself out......... Go back and look at the funny stuff again to clear your mind of this nonsense...

What makes you laugh? Or what freaks you out? Either way :-)

I'm a Sssssnaaaake!

I cannot stop laughing when I watch this video... I don't know why, but I just love it so much..........