Thanksgiving

The funny thing about Thanksgiving, or any huge meal, is that you spend 12 hours shopping for it and then chopping and cooking and braising and blanching. Then it takes 20 minutes to eat it and everybody sort of sits around in a food coma, and then it takes four hours to clean it up. ~ Ted Allen

Which is pretty much exactly what happened at our place today. The food was delicious, the company was excellent and my family was their usual boisterous, loud and gregarious selves. It was so much fun. Right now, everyone has crashed into a turkey induced coma, and I'm just taking time out to list all the wonderful things that I'm thankful for this year.

1. My Family: For being indulgent, crazy, all up in my business, supportive and yet totally loving. For them recognizing that I needed to find my own way this year, and not putting too much pressure or saying 'I told you so' when things didn't work out the way they were supposed to. For them picking up the pieces, being patient and helping me come up with Plan B and C and D and E.
2. My Friends: For understanding my need to move to parts unknown and for staying with me through it. For helping me pack, and nagging me to unpack. For keeping in touch even though we all now live further away and for coming to visit when finances allowed. For allowing me to make new friends, not flipping out when my socialite status threatened our relationships, and for calling me out when necessary. For all the phone marathon sessions and the antics we got into this year. For helping get over my ex, and not letting me run into the arms of the other ex. For shaking me when I needed to be shaken, and hugging me when I needed to be hugged. For being there.
3. My New Boss: For giving me something constructive to do that made me feel like I wasn't pissing away the whole year, for encouraging me when I was down, for working with my ideas (even the lame ones), for creating a great forum for me to fully explore my talents. For making me Deputy Editor even though I had no idea what to do! For being a great friend, a staunch supporter and an avid reader.
4. My Fellow Bloggers: For teaching me the basics of the blogosphere, for showing me what all the HTML crap was all about, for keeping me sane, for putting me on their blogrolls, for reading my rants and my blogs, for letting me peek into their lives, for leaving critiques and comments, for sending their friends to my site, and welcoming me into the Blogosphere with open arms.
5. My Readers: For those who have read everything I've written and inspire me to write more, who remind me that I'm actually a pretty decent writer, those that bring me head back to earth, and those who hype up my mad skillz. For those that harass me regularly to finish my works in progress and those that pass my work along to others.

I'm grateful for you all.

Obsession

People can get obsessed with romance, they can get obsessed with political paranoia, they can get obsessed with horror. It's isn't the fault of the subject matter that creates the obsession, I don't think. ~ Adam Arkin

Apparently they can get obsessed with XBoxes too. This is dedicated to the guy in his 30s and all the other 42 losers in line, that are currently waiting on a lawn chairs by the door of Best Buy, and have been waiting there since 7am Monday, awaiting the XBox 360 system that comes out on Tuesday.

Rumor has it the Best Buy is the exclusive distributor of Xbox 360 and it only comes out in limited release this week. But around Xmas, there will be more systems available, and in Febuary, you won't even have to wait in any line to pick up your 360 system.

So now that you have taken 2 days off of work (1 to line up, 1 to recuperate from lining up), sat in front of Best Buy for 24 hours, in the Bay area with a temperature that drops to 30 degrees at night, with nothing to eat but the food in the cooler at your feet that you finished already, and no way to pee at all without losing your spot in line, I hope that you are proud of yourself.

I hope that when you are playing the game that you froze your ass off to get, while little kids in hospitals don't even have any games to play with at all, you will pat yourself on the back for having done a good thing. I hope that when you hook up your game that you obtained on the day it came out, you realize that Microsoft only released limited systems to mess with you. I hope you recognize that they succeeded in ripping you out of $399.99 even though you already have a perfectly good Xbox at home (and probably a PS2 as well).

I hope that you realize that your obsession is out of control, and the woman in your life will kick your ass for ever pulling a stunt like that again.

Afloat

...Now, it's a pleasure to walk in sober and be on top of things, to know exactly what I'm doing and be in sync with everybody. ~ Ace Frehley

I've gotten asked several times in the last few weeks, whether I was going to Loma Linda definitely or not. My answer to that was always, "I don't know yet." The thing about it was that, it was easy enough to pick up the phone and find out, and yet, every time I wanted to do that, something kept me from it.

Pretty much it was fear. (You might remember how I rhapsodized about it here). Anyway this morning, I pretty much had a gun put to my head by Claire and was told to dial the digits and find out whether I got in or not.

With clammy palms I did, got transferred a bunch of times and realized that University admission offices are totally chaotic and run by dweebs who don't know what their right hand is doing from the left. First the admissions office told me that they didn't have a transcript sent to them by my last college. Then the nursing department told me that they didn't have my recommendation letters all in. They needed 3, and she said they only had 2.

So I called my last college and verified that yes, they had sent out a transcript on the 26th of October. Then I called the Dweebs back and told them this, so she looked in the computer and told me that they were awaiting an official transcript because the one they had didn't have my degree on it.

"Have you graduated yet?" She asked me. I was stupefied. Not only have I graduated, my degree has been gathering dust for the past 4 years. I told her so, and she searched again, to come up with the scenario that some dweeb in her office had not put in my graduation/degree info into the computer. It always comes back to human error. She apologized and fixed it immediately, and told me that she would send the info to the nursing department.

I called the nursing department back, had them re-count the recommendations letters they had. I had 4 referrals, so if they only had 2, they must have lost some or something. She counted them, and told me that yeah, they had 4. Gosh people, learn how to count!

Then she told me I would have to come down to the school to make an appointment to take a placement test. "I hope it's not like the NCLEX" I told her, knowing that if anyone ever tried to make me take the NCLEX again I would have to string them up and hang them by their toenails for the request alone. (Hardest exam on God's green earth. Took me 3 months of intense study to ace it)

She told me that it wasn't, it was more like the ACT, which would be a math, reading, comprehension type exam. So I guess once I take this test, my part of the admission process is done and they just have to dig their head out of the sand and send me my acceptance letter dammit!

**end rant**

In other news, my spiffy phone messed up and I have to mail it in to Motorola to get it fixed. So if you are trying to call me and can't, it's not cos I'm avoiding you, ok? Well maybe I am, but now I have a bonafide excuse.

Have you been to the Penis Parade on Baggage Reclaim? It seems that alot of blogettes have been getting unsolicited penii emailed to them by random guys over the internet. These penii are not really impressive, and I wouldn't send it to some girl I was trying to sleep with. Anyway, if you want a good laugh, or to de-virginize your eyes, head over to Baggage Reclaim and check it out. You have to sign up to enter the forums, but it's a quick and painless process. Totally worth it.

I'm flying out to Indianapolis tomorrow to spend time with my family for the holidays. My sisters are going to be there and it should be a total blast if we don't kill each other sometime during the week. I do love them to pieces, and know they love me too, but sibling rivalry can be so fun! Needling them mercilessly is going to help time fly. Ah, good times:)

Fairy Tales...

All in good humor, my friends ......

WORLDS SHORTEST FAIRY TALE

Once upon a time, a girl asked a guy "Will you marry me?"
The guy said, "NO!"
And the girl lived happily ever after and went shopping, dancing, camping, drank martinis, always had a clean house, never had to cook and farted whenever she wanted.

THE END

Change...

To change what you get you must change who you are. ~ Vernon Howard

Be the change that you want to see in the world. ~ Mohandas Gandhi

Remember the instituted Friday evening ritual of chilling in boudoir knickers whilst catching up on blogs, sipping tea, doing my nails, eating shortbread cookies, catching up with friends on the phone? Well, I did it tonight and it was absolutely heavenly. I think everyone should take one evening just for themselves to recharge their batteries.

This evening I reconnected with my old college roommate. We had lost touch about a year ago, she got married, I got inundated with life, and we kind of just drifted apart (it didn't help that we lived on the opposite ends of the US either!) I was stunned when my caller ID showed her calling, and couldn't wait to talk to her. We spent almost an hour catching up...mostly on what has transpired in each other in the last and a half. It was quite lovely and in that session I realized that, although technically I am the same person, I have also drastically changed from the woman that I was last year.

This time last year, I was suffering from a broken heart, stressed at work, had very few friends and less of a social life and wasn't altogether happy with the direction my life was going. This time this year, I'm writing more (which I absolutely love), have little to no job stressors, lots of super cool friends, a crush on a sexy Italian, blossomed into a social butterfly and am happy with myself. It's amazing how one choice can lead you into a totally new sphere of your life.

So I guess, as much as I rant and rave, moving all the way to the other end of the country has been good for me.

Here's to the continuing dance of love and life!
Pour l'incessant ballet d'amour et de vie.

Seven Things

I got this from Christine's Blog and decided to have a little Monday night fun.

7 things to do before I die

1. Do everything on my 'Things to do Before I Die' List. Yep, it's a bonafide list that does actually exist, and covers more than 7 things. In the interest of not punking out, I'll list some of them here...
2. Parasail
3. Travel the world
4. Write and publish a NYT Bestseller
5. Build my dream house
6. Attend an event at Carnegie
7. Learn a new language

7 things I can not do

1. Swim
2. Commit suicide
3. Follow all the rules (they are made to be bent/broken!)
4. Enjoy food that doesn't have lots of spice/pepper
5. Live without Walker's Shortbread Cookies
6. Pilot an airplane
7. Back down from a dare

7 things that attract me to the opposite sex

1. Intelligence
2. Integrity
3. Intensity
4. Impeccable taste
5. Accents
6. Long Hair
7. Ambition

7 things I say most often

1. Ciao
2. Hey sweets!
3. TTYL
4. Pumpkin
5. Ok then
6. It's official
7. Big pimpin'

Care to join in?

Addictions

All sins tend to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is damnation. ~ W. H. Auden

Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism.~ Carl G. Jung

There are too many things that I'm addicted to at this present moment that I realize I may need a 12-step program to get me out of them. Remember when I gave up TV? Well it looks like I didn't really give it up, I just replaced my TV addiction with something else. Actually, a whole bunch of something else's. For the fact I have blogged about these addictions before, you would think that I should have noticed a trend. Oh well.

1. My Computer: The seat of all my iniquity. It's here that I spend 2-3 hours reading blogs, writing blogs or just learning new and zanier things to put on my blog. It's here that I spend half my day surfing varied internet sites, writing, commenting and ruining my eyes.
2. Cookies: I can't spend 10 hours on the computer without breaking at least once or twice for the cookie of my choice. This week, it's a mix between the Oreo's Peanut Butter Double Stuf and my personal all time favorite Walker's Shortbread.
3. Ipod Mini/iTunes: If I'm cleaning the house, running errands or on the metro, the Mini accompanies me, plugged in my ears at all times. With 800+ songs at my fingertips...how giddy can a girl get? If I'm on the computer, then iTunes is my friend, playing the other 500 songs that didn't make it on the iPod.
4. My Cellphone: A source of communication, a source of entertainment, a source of enlightenment. Even though my phone has been acting loopy as of late, I still spend hours on there daily talking to my friends, families and dates.

The thing about it is...I love my addictions!

How Do You Live Your Life?

How You Live Your Life

You seem to be straight forward, but you keep a lot inside.You tend to avoid confrontation and stay away from sticky situations.You tend to have one best friend you hang with, as opposed to many aquaintences.You tend to dream big, but you worry that your dreams aren't attainable.

How Do You Live Your Life?

Meandering...

Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil. ~ Aristotle

Thanks to all the wonderful people that told me that those orange flowers were Lilies. They are still blooming and looking beautiful.

Ok, so I'm a tad giddy right now. Mainly because, while blogsurfing, I came across Singular Man's critique of Dealbreakers. So there is my first official quote on another blog. Very cool.

Moving right along...has anyone been to Baggage Reclaim lately? Another huge positive...I'm the new Deputy Editor over there.

Advertising wise, here are today's tidbits...
Diamond Anniversary Rings>(a year and you're both still breathing!)>
Mortgage Rates>(in case you haven't invested in real estate yet)>
Psychotherapy T Shirts>(something to irk your boss on Casual Fridays)>

I still haven't heard from the university I applied to. It's been 2 weeks, all my stuff is turned in. I'm going to give them a call tomorrow...cross your fingers please!

Guesses?

Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made and forgot to put a soul into. ~ Henry Ward Beecher

These are the flowers he brought. Does anyone know what they are?

Any guesses?

Aren't they so beautiful though? OK, enough rhapsodizing.

Seashells on the Seashore

Romance is not a science but an art, no less so than the art of eating well. And it takes cultivation and refinement if a relationship is to offer its fullest rewards. ~ Mireille Guiliano

Every time I have some moment on a seashore, or in the mountains, or sometimes in a quiet forest, I think this is why the environment has to be preserved. ~ Bill Bradley

Top 10 Reasons we Like the Italian

1. He brought me flowers. Not roses...they were some orange tinted, gorgeous looking, haven't-yet-found-the-name-unique, thinking-outside-the-box kind of flowers.
2. He insisted we kiss even though I had a cold. He said it would be more torturous not kissing me than catching my cold.
3. He's a stimulating conversationalist and deeply intellectual
4. He cooked dinner, brought it in his car, drove to pick me up and took us to the beach. And the meal was scrumptious...let's just say there were no leftovers.
5. He's passionate about life, his job, life, his family. Driven and ambitious.
6. Did I mention how hot he was?
7. He's punctual, he calls and he does the whole courtship thing just right.
8. His music choices don't make me want to strangle myself
9. He speaks fluent Italian and it makes my toes curl
10. He wrote a phrase for me in English, had his Naija friend teach him how to say it in Yoruba and then he quoted it to me, along with translations in English, Italian and Spanish and instructed me to choose which one I liked better.

Ok, I'm not going to get all cynical and list the top 5 reasons why we shouldn't like him. I don't even think I could get that far. So even though I was kinda sick, as you can see, I had a totally heavenly time.

100 Reasons I Hate My Husband....has moved!

For those of you that don't know, Christine had to move her blog to another site because it was getting 'close to home'. She lost alot of her links in the process and is trying to find her darling readers once again.

So I'm giving you that read her a heads up. Go on and show Chris some love!
Time's fun when you're having flies.

Meanwhile, whilst you are in the clicking mood, a word from our sponsors.

Diamond Watches>>>Mortgage Refinancing>>>Current Gold Prices>>>

Home Remedies

Extreme remedies are very appropriate for extreme diseases. ~Hippocrates
Some remedies are worse than the disease. ~ Publilius Syrus

Ok, since the majority of my friends figured out that I have this awful cold that just won't go away, I've been inundated with all kinds of home remedies. Desperate that I am to get rid of it before my 2nd date with the hot Italian tonight, I tried...*gasp* all of them.

1. Gargle with warm salt water: YUCK! Either I added to much salt or this concotion was a vile brew suggested by someone that I had offended. I almost hurled.
2. Gargle with vinegar and salt: Ok, I tried this, but couldn't get past the smell of the vinegar. It ended up down the drain.
3. Take large amounts of Vit. C pills: This was no problem for me. The only thing is that those pills are slightly sour. I figured I couldn't get Vit. C poisoning because it's a water soluble vitamin. See, higher education does pay.
4. Drink lots of lemon tea with honey: Tea lover that I am, this wasn't hard to do
5. Drink echinacea tea: I couldn't even pronounce it without getting dizzy, ok, i punked out of this one mainly because I didn't have any at home.
6. Put Vick's Menthol in hot water and place your head in the rising steam with a towel over it: My eyes were burning, my throat was burning, my nose was burning...again this is another torture device.
7. Go to the pharmacy and stock up on all their cold & sore throat drugs: Ah, drugs...the modern invention that makes me comfortable. I did this with no qualms, got some Nyquil, Advil Cold and Sinus...the works. Been popping stuff all day. I have 7 hours to go.

Please let something work!!

Caught a Cold

We now feel we can cure the patient without his fully understanding what made him sick. We are no longer so interested in peeling the onion as in changing it. ~ Franz Alexander

Ok, today I woke up with a sore throat, headache and stuffy head. What made me sick you ask? Well, let's take a guess here....

1. Too much partying
2. Too many late, late nights in a row
3. Not enough sleep
4. Too many first dates jammed into one already filled weekend
5. Making out with this hot Italian

Hmm, could it just be a combo of the first four perhaps?

Speaking of which, while on number 5, I had made a comment that brought insane musings in my head. My comment, "I'm like an onion, so layered but not complicated. To learn more about me you have to unwrap the layers one by one." How can one be layered but not complicated? It's a conundrum even in my own mind.

Anyway today I'm taking it easy, getting lots of rest, Vit. C and fluids. Yes, I will be fine, no, it's not going to lead to anything more serious, and thanks for your concern.

PS: If anyone wants to send over some pepper soup, it would be greatly appreciated.