I heard on the news last night that yesterday, January 5th, was the most depressing day of the year. did you know? Well now you do! So if you survived it or, even better, if you went through the day happily and unaffected, then you totally win. Only today is playing a joke on me by already being the most depressing day of my year (which, isn’t all that depressing, really).
I got very, very little sleep last night and I won’t even get into the whys & hows but I’m exhausted. And starving. And my London Fogger isn’t cutting it. I discovered that you have to sort of take the tea bags out a bit early because otherwise they have a very strong perfume-y taste. So far I’m thinking I might have to renig on my first thoughts about the tea lattes; or maybe just on the ones from the Starbucks by work. Yesterday I got a green tea (remember how great I told you it was?) only it sucked. I think they are still using the bad bad syrup and it was just bleh. Today the fogger is bleh too. I need to go back to the one by my house. There, we talked about it, it’s settled.
Uggghhhhh…I need the sun to come out so I can feel a bit more awake. Come on baby.
Oh, and a quick PSA - I don’t know what’s happening with comments, but they are getting stuck in my queue and I don’t get a notification about them unless I log in. So if your comment didn’t show up yesterday, it should be there now. I don’t know the rhyme or reason behind which comments they put in jail - but keep commenting! Don’t let it stop you.
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January 6th, 2009 at 09:50am
7287pwkr
Monday, Star date 2105…oh my gosh, nerd. I don’t want to start the year out as a nerd. Scratch that.
Ok! It’s Monday. We’re back from vacation, all of us. It’s back to work, back to school, back to life, back to reality. BOO. Yet, yay. I’m ok with this. The new year - it’s so fresh. It’s a time to start over, or to be renewed, or to resolve this or that, or just to get a boost of ambition. In the new year, it’s a clean slate and you can really decide to do whatever you want. Sure, most of us forget what we wanted to do that first week by, oh….February 2nd, but still. It’s a chance to begin anew.
Let’s catch up on a little of what was missed while I was off, shall we?
First - on the subject of “resolving anew” - I joined a gym.
I KNOW! How cliche, right? And probably 37 of you are currently writing a comment to tell me what a waste of money joining a gym is. Except, I really don’t think it is. See, I love the gym. I love working out. I used my parents gym all the time when I was really in my work out mode. Then life happened again and I admittedly slacked. It’s hard to find energy to work out when you’re having a year like 2008. But enough excuses! This is a fresh start.
I worked out almost every day while on break. Did you know that? I bet you didn’t. Well now you do! Do you feel crunchy, telling me a gym is a waste of money? Ok, you probably don’t. Because you’ll say: “Well it’s only January 5th!” That it is my friends, that it is. But I’m really, really excited about this venture. I can take classes, I can run on their indoor track, they have amazing weight machines & a million gazillion elipticals plus this bizarre machine that is like a new-fangled stair-climber…I’m really excited.
What else, what else - oh!
A few NYE pics…
(the rest are on my FB):
Um….wow.
I just love Hack’s face in that last picture. I don’t even know what’s in his mouth - a shark? Or something? Oh Hack.
Ok, next…um…
We got a new TV.
I usually don’t talk about purchases because I don’t mean it to be like “look at the new STUFF we got” because um, that’s gross. But this is kind of exciting, because our TV in our bedroom is old (but big, which is good but then again, bad) and we housed it in this very large entertainment center which does not belong in a bedroom, really. I didn’t realize how much room that whole setup took up until we got our new stuff all set…and wow. It’s like a new bedroom.
Not only that, but we finally bought Dave a DRESSER - yes, this man has been using his dresser from childhood (aw) and it doesn’t match our bedroom, so I forced him to keep it in one of the spare rooms - so half his clothes were in our room, and half in another room. He didn’t realize how annoying this was until - lo and behold - all his clothes were in the SAME room. Very big stuff here, I realize.
So this particular day ended up to be a shopping spree of epic proportions. Dave & I bought him some clothes, always an adventure; the TV, the dresser, a stand for the TV, and…oh! I got a new measuring cup. I know, I know - don’t be jeal!!! It’s 4 CUPS. I know guys. It cost $2.97 at Walmart!!!! Calm down. I realize this was a little bit overboard, but what the heck. I couldn’t help it.
some pictures from this day…
Oh, the stress of it all.
Some pictures also from our
Belated Kuretich/O’meara Christmas -
which was an amazing time (I need to put the rest up on FB, because they are fab).
We taught everyone Phase 10, and then Corm came up with the brilliant idea of everyone wearing their own hats and then switching every round. This may have been a sugar-induced idea, but it worked camera magic!
Another cute picture…
Ok. I know, this is a long post. It’s a catch up. Hang with me.
Another big thing that happened -
David’s stone removal.
Some of these are on FB too but here’s a couple:
The hat is his gift from Ryan for Christmas and his new all-time favorite:
Coming out of the twilight drug, he was in RARE form. We all wanted a little some of that drug…I tell ya.
Let’s see, so now we’re up to the new year. I didn’t include Christmas pics because it already feels too late for that; if you want to see them, they’re on FB as well. If you’re not my friend on Facebook, well - why aren’t you? 
Last but absolutely not least - the biggest news ever. I mean, I had to do a double-take and then pick myself up off the ground when I saw this.
Starbucks…has…tea…LATTES?!?!??!!??!?!?!?
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lucky for you, I have already taken the liberty of sampling most of them. So far I’ve had: the Vanilla Roobios, the London Fog, and the Green Tea. So, that just leaves the Black Tea latte & both the fruit tea infusions.
My reviews:
Vanilla Roobios - very delish, but me personally, I don’t love red tea. It’s alright, but there is a very distinct taste in the background that I’m not nuts about. But vanilla is my favorite so I still liked it.
London Fog - closets to my Earl Grey Vanilla Creme from Argo. The only difference is they either didn’t put enough vanilla in mine, or the bergamot is too strong in this earl grey. It was a little too citrusy. But still - amazing. I’ll get it again.
Green Tea - by FAR my favorite, surprisingly. I’m not huge into green tea, but now I might get more into it. Their old green tea latte was horrible. just horrible. it was melon-y. REALLY bad. Horrible aftertaste. This one is smooth and delicious and just perfect. I got it with Zen green tea, but there are 3 you can choose from.
I will get back to you on the other ones. Yes, I intend to try ALL of them. And don’t be fooled! Go into your local Star and get the card at the counter for a FREE one to try. And if they look at you like “don’t be thinking you can use that card right NOW” just show them the card and walk away. The girl yesterday tried to act like Buff & I couldn’t use the card - when hello, I had already had 2 tea lattes (not that day, just overall) and hadn’t known about the card! Mine were both drive-thru. So I told her to pretend she didn’t know I’d already tasted them. She did, but reluctantly. It’s not her money! Anyway there is also a bonus card with that card that gives you $2 tea lattes after 2 p.m. thru February. Noice.
Alright, and with that - I’ll conclude this blog post. I posted sporadically over vacay, so if you missed anything, there are some updates down there. Particularly the one about David’s stone removal - good stuff. Hope you all had a great new year!
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January 5th, 2009 at 10:11am
7287pwkr
Good morning folks. So, I have pictures from NYE, I’m sure I’ll get them soon (wink wink Cathy! hi!). Cathy is a new reader to my lovely blog, welcome Cath. Bob & Cathy have been friends of ours for over 10 years now (WOW) and they, along with Hack & Bob’s friend Kim, invited us over to their house for New Year’s Eve. I have to say, it was a total blast. Wii Bowling on a big projector screen; a beautiful syrah rose’ wine (mostly for me…ha!), yummy snacks and great music.
The most touching moment of the night - and I want to blog about this so I don’t forget how amazing it was - was when the previous year’s resolutions were opened. They all wrote something down last year and sealed it up and tucked it away to read at this year’s party. So we also did that now for 2009. Anyway, the point of the story is - we opened up Hack’s from last year. I hope he doesn’t mind, but I’m going to write it verbatim - it was by far one of the most touching things I have ever experienced.
“I hope Dave doesn’t have to suffer anymore with cancer, and that he comes out of surgery the way he went in - sans cancer.”
When that was read aloud, I burst into tears. I could not believe it; not only because it came true, word for word, but because Hack would take the time while thinking of HIS resolutions for the next year - and write solely about Dave. Completely focus on another person; especially for something that huge. I can’t even…I can’t tell you what that does to me, and to my heart!
We are so, so blessed to have a friend like Hack. I will NEVER forget that.
So after that, you really can’t top a moment like that; but we tried. Somehow the time got away from us and we were pulling away from Bob & Cathy’s at around 3:30 a.m. WOW. I probably fell asleep around 4…
…which is why I woke up yesterday - for the FIRST time that day - at 2:15. 2:15!!!!! Dave came in and said good morning, and I was like “mmmgregahahiouae;mmmm what time is it?” and he says “2:15.” NOOOOOOOOOO. No it is not. You’re lying. stop lying! “Baby I swear to God…2:15.” OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG…
So, we slept the day away. Well, I slept the day away. I felt so incredibly crunchy for a minute; I had big plans yesterday, I have big plans for the rest of break, and I can tell you unequivocally that I will not be getting it done. Oh well; Dave made the day fabulous yesterday by ordering us a bunch of pizza and having a Big Love marathon…I’ve seen the first season but he hadn’t, so we’re re-watching it and then getting the 2nd season. That show is KOOKOO that’s for sure, but I dig it. I will say - it really makes me love Jeanne Tripplehorn. She’s such an unconventional beauty; you don’t really think she’s much looking at her, but a few episodes of this show and I’m all about her.
Mmmkay - so now we’re off to do some things on my list; exchange some pants Dave got for better sizes and most importantly - eat breakfast. Talk to you all later.
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January 2nd, 2009 at 12:53pm
7287pwkr
Yeah, we’re going out tonight. Not really “out” so much as to a friend’s house for some games & hang out. Low-key, no big. I made a dessert. And I’m bringing my MIL’s & SIL’s christmas cookies they made, which totally doesn’t count as my own thing to bring, which is why I made the other thing. Which is - incidentally - a panetonne bread pudding, Giada’s recipe, and I’m dying to taste it, my house smells divine right now. Like, buttery & vanilla-y & bread-ish. MMMMMM.
This morning my puppy did something totally out of character for him - he crawled into bed with me. He usually only does this with Dave. But this morning I was still sleeping and he tiptoed in and cuddled with me for almost an hour. I couldn’t help but capture some of it, so here are a couple snapshots: (I’m fake sleeping to recreate the mood - so you get the idea)
Could you just melt into a puddle of goo??? I did. Look at his little paws. Oh that baby.
I was thinking today as I drove around running a few errands, that a few small but important aspects of life are starting to kind of return to normal. Music is starting to become enjoyable again, for one. Running errands are fun again, and not a desperate time where I talk myself out of driving off the road and cry and pound the steering wheel. I realize that sounds a tad melodramatic, but trust me - this was my life. Thank God that’s not happening anymore. I’m just grateful that I can finally start exploring new music - such a simple thing, but this past year I have shied away from it because I so strongly associate music with certain times in life, and I really didn’t want ANY song to remind me of this year. I’m sure that’s impossible, but that’s what I tried for. So it feels really good to start checking out new stuff and loading up my iPod with fresh tunes and feeling ok about it.
The New Year is here - we survived. Thank you Lord Almighty. I am off to get myself somewhat presentable. I wish you & yours all the sweetness this evening may bring.
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December 31st, 2008 at 08:13pm
7287pwkr
…I don’t know what keeps happening. I literally gasped when I saw it in Walgreens during a routine run to get some gum & shampoo…I’m like “GIADA! GASP!!!!!” and then snatched it up victoriously. I think I even said: “YES” out loud to myself, like a big dork.
But I skipped right to Giada’s article when I got home, and so now I have the rest of the mag to read (which, even though the title of the magazine sounds really horrible and sinful, it’s a good mag) and I keep picking it up tonight but then I get distracted. I was baking madelines, updating my iTunes, canceling subscriptions, renewing others, making coffee for Dave who is now on a coffee kick (?), looking around my house willing myself to take down my Christmas decorations but nothing has happened yet, willing myself to also get to all that organizing and giving away of clothes and “stuff” that I promised myself I would do on vacation, and nothing’s happening with that yet either. I know it will happen - it’s only Monday. I still have 6 more days off!
Every day Dave asks me: “Is our vacation over yet? It is, isn’t it?” And then I tell him how many days left and he gets really happy.
Oh, John Legend’s “Good Morning” just came on. Stop what you’re doing and download this song. So lovely.
Dave’s procedure/surgery went really, really, REALLY well. Do you know how good it feels to be able to say that about something medical, related to him??? Do you know how often that has happened? Pretty much never.
I updated the cancer blog with more details, so feel free to go there and check it out. Basics are: the stone came out NO problem, they didn’t have to use lasers or anything more drastic, they only had to knock him out with the twilight and not full anesthesia, and he feels really good today. He felt great right afterward, and even felt up to going out to lunch with everyone! I mean this was orchestrated by him, we would never have said “let’s go to lunch” but he was pretty much expecting everyone to go! Who can say no to him?
We are very thrilled with that, and now we still have 6 more days (as previously mentioned) of glorious time off. I have/had so many plans to do on these days; my own personal list of goals and projects; we’ll see how much I get done. I’m not counting myself out yet.
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December 29th, 2008 at 11:41pm
7287pwkr
Lucky Charms!
Seriously, Lucky Charms has always been Christmasey to me. I remember back in the good old days (the 80’s) when they had Christmas edition cereals in the month of December. Guess what? THEY DON’T HAVE THEM ANYMORE! Unless they were just sold out in every store I went (target/Jewel). Come on! What happened to Christmas Cap’n Crunch? Christmas Lucky Charms? Holiday Fruity Pebbles?
I still bought a couple boxes of Lucky Charms this week so we could have it as breakfast or late-night snacks during this time off. Nothing says Christmas like Lucky Charms.
Now back to Ina Garten…more on how she is my QUEEN of Food Network in another post…back to basics indeed!
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December 27th, 2008 at 01:45pm
7287pwkr
What an original title.
So we’re deep in the thick of Christmas 2008 extrasuperduperlong vacation/time off, which has been mostly fantastic. A few bumps here and there but overall great. Dave feels pretty ok sometimes, pretty crappy at other times, but his spirits are good which helps things. We’ve seen a lot of Hack lately (hi Hackie!) because our internet has been totally ridiculous. Up, down, spastic, slow, Comcast BLOWS and I can’t wait til the day we can fire them. Anyway - thank God for Hack, is all I have to say…though Dave’s talents haven’t been too shabby, either.
We had a great Christmas Eve/Christmas with family. Dave did great for me in the gift department; all I have to say is ‘YES TO CARROTS’ - people, it’s amazing stuff. I asked for it, but he went nuts and it is really great and my hair has never looked better. More on this at a later time.
The weather is nuts - Buff & I just saw Yes Man (very funny) and when we walked out of the theater, it was actually about 5 degrees warmer than it had been when we walked in. It was so foggy we could barely see the car in front of us - we looked at the thermometer - 49 degrees?!? and tomorrow, it’s supposed to be in the 50’s. And rainy. Weird Christmas weather…
I must say that I kind of love this whole idea of the “holidays” being all lumped together - Christmas and then New Year’s. Obviously Christmas is a stand-alone holiday; but there’s something very adult about ending the year focused on Christ’s birth & coming, and then…resolutions for the New Year. It just feels like a fresh start, I always love the end of the year, and even more - the beginning of the next one.
More later - hope you’re all enjoying your time off, your holidays, your families, your friends.
Yay…..9 more days off!
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December 26th, 2008 at 11:54pm
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Writing is my creative outlet, and that's why I have this blog. I needed an efficient way of keeping in touch with my friends, and that's why I started blogging 4 years ago. I can't get it out of my veins—it's something I just have to do. Maybe someday it will prove fruitful.