Friday, July 25, 2008

Merry Christmas (in July)!

Happy exactly-six-months-till-Christmas! :)
I've never celebrated Christmas in July, but was inspired by my good friend Maureen's celebration. This year (since I didn't plan ahead), my celebration includes listening to Christmas music on a local radio station. I think next year we'll celebrate full-tilt. Maybe it'll catch on and we'll all get the day of work. No? Well, a girl can dream, right?

Big news tomorrow... stay tuned!

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Things I Adore...

This thing I adore is not so much the thing itself, but the idea of the thing...

Being a busy working professional (not that I really think of myself as that, but I guess I am...) I go to a lot of meetings. And my specific job keeps me busy and away from a computer a decent amount of the time. Also, my workplace has banned pretty much any internet site that has anything to do with personal email, fun, or finding joy in life.

Because of these reasons, and many more, I bit the bullet and decided I needed this:

Now, I chose this specific phone (Motor*la Q9c), but I'm not all about this specific phone. I'm all about the idea of the phone.

I'll give you that it's totally not necessary, and not the most practical use of my disposable income, but here's what I love about it:
  • I can check my work email any time I want (this one is a recipe for becoming a work-a-holic, but so far I'm good at not looking too much during "home time")
  • I can check and respond to my personal email from work
  • If I choose to leave work early or come in late (thank goodness for flexible hours!), I can see if anyone needs me for anything, and answer their email fast, even if I am in the middle of Target
  • I can check email from meetings when I get bored
  • I have internet. EVERYWHERE. :)
  • I can google to see who's right when J and I have a heated discussion (friendly of course) about whether the guy in "P.S. I L*ve You" is the same guy from Gre*y's Anatomy
  • I can check sports scores for my husband when he's been gracious enough to leave the house to do something other than watch sports
  • If I get lost, I can always find directions
  • I can check the radar to see whether I'm driving into a tornado (a fear of mine)
  • It beats the heck out of my crap-tastic laptop
Let me explain that last one...

My laptop is crap. It's slow, it crashes, I hate it. (We have two computers, and J's is brand new, but he's always using it for school, and it's a PC, so I don't really use it often.) It's so bad that I've taken to using my phone to check my email and search the internet rather than getting on my laptop. In fact, when I was stuck in the bed with the stomach flu on Monday, I didn't want to bother dealing with my laptop, so I just checked everything from my phone. :) Without this phone, my husband would have to share his beloved computer. (Don't get me wrong- he's very willing to share and isn't stopping me, but that would displace his studying, and let's face it folks: I'm a fan of good grades and getting done with that PhD!)

Which brings me to my very favorite thing about it:
Google Reader ON my PHONE!

That's right folks, two things I adore in one. Woohoo!

Form: Well, I'm not rating my phone itself (which is fine, but not amazing), so A+ for mobile internet technology
Function: Yup. works just fine. Except that there are a lot of websites that aren't formatted for mobile, so there's some room for improvement. B+

Thursday, July 10, 2008

a new addition

So J and I have been talking about taking the next step for years now.

First it was just the two of us. We knew from the start that we would spend our lives together. I remember J leaving from coming to visit me at school for the second time, and telling my roommates that I was pretty sure I could marry this guy.

Years of commuting later, we made it happen so that we were in the same city, and made it official by getting engaged.

We felt like there was something missing, and decided to add to our family.

Our little family of three has been very fulfilling-- Bailey brings joy to our days, and warms my heart. I can't imagine life without him-- I sometimes call him my "little heart" (I know that's totally cheesy, but I mean it) because he's been like a child to me.

See, look at him:

extreme close-up... WOAH!

okay, really really bad pic of me, but how cute is it that he likes to sit like this?

and he even lets me dress him up for our Christmas cards and cover him in lights.
What a good little dog!

Bailey has been everything we've hoped for and more, but we knew there would come a time when we would feel ready for the next step, so I'm proud to announce that we are...


...

...

...

Getting another dog!! :)
(what? You didn't think we were-- NO!)

Bailey is always anxious to play, and J and I can only stand chasing him around the house so many hundred times per day. Every time we are around another dog, Bailey gets so excited and doesn't want to stop playing. We felt like this was the best time to add another puppy to our home, and SHE is coming home in late July. I keep going back and forth between excitement and worry... We are really doing this for Bailey-- so we want this new puppy to be his playmate and friend; not something that makes his life more miserable. We are working with the same bre*der that we got Bailey from, and have told her all about Bailey's personality, looking for a good match. I'm sure it will all be fine, but I'll feel better when they're happily playing and not trying to take each other out. :)

ch-ch-ch-changes

and I'm not talking about David Bowie.

J has had some time off recently with a break between the end of his spring semester and the start of his summer session. If I were him and had a break from the massive amounts of reading and writing, I would spend my time: baking, shopping, napping, catching up on daytime tv, decorating, scrapbooking, practicing photography, having lunch with friends, playing with Bailey... pretty much anything other than what he's been up to:
Reading and writing.
The man gets a break from the usual, and guess what he does: he keeps on working. Figures, doesn't it? :) At least we know he's found something that he loves. He's managed to keep himself very busy with two reading groups (but they drink beer at a pub while discussing literature, so that's not really work, right?) and dissertation reading. This week he started an intensive language class, so he's buried in the books even more. I miss my husband who had time to hang out rather than study, but so it goes.

I guess that's not so much "changing" is it? Okay, well by "ch-ch-ch-changes" I guess I was more talking about me...

I started my new job last week. While there are so many wonderful things about my new job, and I was REALLY ready to start something new, I'm having some mixed emotions... Pros: more flexible time, less (or NO) 50-55 hour weeks, no tracking, smaller team, working with a new level of trainees, new material, getting away from drama and politics, better work-life balance. Cons: learning curve, different drama but still drama (not me, but around me), missing my friends in my old department, time not as flexible as I thought it would be, but not bad, traveling.
I think when I've got a couple of months under my belt, I'll be loving it, but at the moment, it's kind of like riding a roller-coaster. Overall, a good choice, but I think in the excitement, I forgot to remind myself that with change (yeah!) comes... well, comes change (hmmm) and change isn't always easy.

Bailey's got some change coming too, but that's a whole other post...

running a bit behind...

I kept meaning to post for the 4th of July... and it didn't happen. :) Better late than never, right?

We had a great long weekend. I had a half day on Thursday, so J and I went shopping and out to dinner. Friday was wonderful-- we got up early and caught up on some yardwork (and I ended up on the roof :)). We worked very very hard, and made a small dent in the long list of things that need to be done, as evidenced by my husband's "dirt leggings" in the cell phone picture below. (You're a good man, honey!)
After thorough showers and a nap, we went to my parents' house for BBQ, washers, puppy playtime and fireworks at the local mall parking lot :) An odd place to watch fireworks, I know, (especially for what is known as a more upscale suburb) but a lot easier than trying to go downtown. It was nice to be able to relax in camp chairs with the cooler and just enjoy... (again, crap-tastic cell phone picture)

Saturday we ran errands and did more work around the house, and Sunday... well, we can't remember what we did Sunday, which means that 1) I need to blog sooner and 2)it must not have been too memorable. :) It was SO nice to get so much done, and also have time to relax for once!! Hope everyone else had a great 4th!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

hi-larious

just saw this on another blog and it made me laugh...

a modern twist on a childhood memory:




:)