30 before 30

So I happened upon a really cool tv show tonight and I wanted to share. It's a special on TLC, hosted by Ami of Miami Ink and it's called "The Ultimate To Do List: 30 before 30." Some very neat ideas. A few that I was already thinking about and a few that I've already done. Also some ridiculous things that I will never do. But the show is pretty cool so I recommend watching it if you get a chance. I'm sure it'll be on many more times.

such a monday

Wow today was Monday. Mondays are rough enough as it is, but I think that Mondays after long weekends are the worst!! Nothing too terrible happened -- it was just a long day. Things are definitely picking up at work. Which is both great and terrifying at theh same time. Great because I'm busy and I'm doing really interesting work and I love it. Terrifying because what I'm doing actually matters and because everything I do is new, I feel like I never have a clue what I'm doing! But the only way to learn is to do!

I was supposed to go out tonight, but the person I had plans with just canceled because he's sick. So that's sad because I was looking forward to it (and because being sick sucks). But it's also sort of ok because I'm tired and the thought of going out tonight was frankly a little exhausting. I'm much happier now having plans for Friday.


Not a lot else to report. The rest of my weekeend was really good. Saturday night was fun (and a little scary). Definitely saw some people that I hadn't seen since high school (and at least one that I would have rather never seen again in my whole life because he honestly used to scare the shit out of me). But it was overall a blast and the night really reinforced how happy I am to be living in Chicago and how LUCKY I am to have such AMAZING friends. YAY!! Then Sunday was a wonderful day of relaxation.

OK, time for some mindless tv :)

mixed bag

Today was a mixed bag kind of a day. The morning started out boring, while I waited for the cable guy. He was due between 8 and 11 and what time did he show up? oh yeah, 10:55. But then he gave me a new cable box and I have DVR now so that's happy.

Then I drove out to the burbs. Got there around noon and I was starving for some leftovers, but first my parents and I went on a short (20 mile) bike ride. It was amazing to be able to ride in November without freezing to death. It was so nice out today!! Wonderful just to get outside. Finally got to eat my lunch at 1:45. FAVORITE meal of the year -- my turkey/stuffing/cranberry sandwich. It's better with gravy (and with my mom's stuffing and gravy) but it was still delicious!!

Afternoon went by fast. Dad and I did some errands, including taking my diploma and Bar admittance certificate to get framed so I can put them up in my office. Then we took the annual Xmas card picture. Outside. With the dogs. SO cute. Drove my brother into the city and he and his friend put my tv on its stand. Finally tv is on its stand!! It's been sitting on the floor NEXT TO the stand for almost 3 months now!

But then they left and I've got nothing. And I'm kind of bummed to be doing nothing tonight. Especially because I have 2 things to do tomorrow night and I had to cancel on one :( And, just to add insult to my injury... I just went to Barnes&Noble to see if I could find a book to read and didn't but then on the way home I was walking past a bar and some dumb bitches were throwing peanuts out of the window and one of them hit me in the head. *sigh* Not my night I guess...

Giving Thanks

Today is Thanksgiving. Apparently that means that last night was the biggest bar night of the year. Makes sense -- virtually no one had to work today and people don't have church or anything in the morning. That said, I spent my evening taking a bubble bath and then went to bed very early. It was wonderful.

But back to the subject at hand. Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for this year. So much has changed in my life and while it hasn't been entirely easy, it's been really good. And a special thanks to everyone who has been a part of that :)

bond... james bond

Saw the new Bond movie last night. It was SO good. Much better than any of the remotely recent Bond movies. It was really long though! We went to a 12:20 movie and it was after 3 by the time it ended, Way past my bedtime... But so worth it! Really good night. Went to a theater I'd never been to before (and didn't know existed) at Illinois and Columbus. Good theater actually -- has a bar and a bowling alley attached so it's a good way to kill time before a movie.


Can't believe the weekend is already over and it's about to be Monday again. It went so fast. It's been a really good one though. And I can't complain too much because this week is only a 3 day week (yay for Thanksgiving!!).

organizing memories

I've decided to tackle a really big project in the next few weeks -- organizing all of my pictures from camp to high school to college (any later and they're on the computer). Right now, they're mostly sitting in a box with a few in albums. A messy box. This is a gigantic task. The goal is to put them in albums next Friday, which means I need to get them organized before next Friday. Tonight I did the high school pictures. Wow. Such memories flooding back. It's funny to see pictures of people who I wasn't especially close with back then but am now and people with whom my relationship is, well, different than it was back then. Some of the highlights of the pics though (I'll just describe, I'm not sure everyone really wants me scanning them in for the world to see...):


-finding the amazing scrapbook I made about senior year of high school. I was so motivated back then...
-wrestling
-funny pictures with Anne and DP freshman year.
-pictures of me, Melissa, Alethea, and Alison from 8th grade!! And other funny pics I took in 8th grade, including "Prince Charming"
-SPICE GIRLS
-a hilarious hospital picture of someone...


There were so many and it was really fun (and funny) to go through them. Next time its the college pics...

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAY!!

weekends should be 3 days

This whole 2 day weekend thing is rough. Really rough. Especially when I have super-busy Monday mornings at work! I don't even know how to describe my weekend. Well Friday is easy -- I stayed in and went to bed early. Then there's Saturday... I'd rather not go into details but it was unlike any other evening I've had since college... Crazy. And Sunday was spent recovering. (and hanging out with the parents and PUPPIES). Would have loved to spend Monday recovering as well, but no, I'm a grown up now, so I went to work (and went to work EARLY) and was quite productive. I think that's key for me being productive (going to work early, not going out on Saturday nights). I'm so much more efficient in the morning.
And now I'm doing laundry and hopefully I'll go to bed early so tomorrow I will really be at 100% again...

a banner day

Today has been a very very good day.

1. Phone call from Hong Kong this morning was a GREAT surprise and it was a really nice treat!

2. I GOT SWORN IN AS A LAWYER!! Pretty exciting :) I mean, yeah, I graduated law school last spring and found out I passed the bar a month ago but that didn't make me a lawyer. Today made me a lawyer. And I had business cards waiting for me at my desk when I went back to the office!! Cool!!

3. Tonight, going to see a show. A guy I went to high school with is in a band and Lisa and I are going to see it. Didn't know the guy really, except that I had at least one friend who was obsessed with him. But it should be fun. Minus the whole being awake WAY past my bedtime, but sometimes you just make sacrifices!

quick reminder

GO VOTE TODAY!!

I did. Actually, it was my first time voting in person (as opposed to absentee). Anyway, lots of important things happening, no matter what you believe in, so make your voice heard and VOTE!

a funny pig and more!

I just saw the funniest commercial. It was for "California Cheese" and it was with the happy cows and a pig was trying to be a cow. OK, so maybe it's not funny to those people who don't have an unnatural amusement with cows... But in the season of nasty, annoying campaign ads, it's so refreshing to see a commercial that makes you laugh out loud.

In other news, I made a really good dinner tonight. I made a garlic-chili flank steak (very subtle flavor but SO good) and some green beans. I was going to make roasted sweet potato slices but ran out of time so that will come later this week (seeing as I have the sweet potatoes). Yummy!! And I'll be eating leftovers all week :)

Ooh, and I ordered some prints of pictures from Walgreens today. Best thing ever. Only 19 cents a print and they were literally ready at my local Walgreens within minutes of my uploading them. And since Walgreens is across the street, it was really instant gratification! So excited that I'll finally have some pictures up in my office and at home :-)

quieting the voices and other thoughts

So if you know me at all in real life, you  know that I talk to myself.  A lot.  And that often I talk to myself out loud.  It's always just been something that I've done and I just chalked it up to my own quirkiness.  No harm no foul.  Well, it needs to stop.  Now.  Because when you talk out loud to yourself at work, other people hear you.  And you come across as kind of insane.  It's one thing when I'm in my office and sort of muttering to myself as I read a document, that's ok.  It's quite another to be having a full on conversation with myself while walking down the hall or in the elevator.  Yeah... this needs to stop.

 

In other news, it has gotten cold.  Unseasonably cold.  I've had to wear my winter coat for the past couple of days.  I love my coat (black, wool, goes down below the knees) but I get a very strange sensation when I wear it. When my coat brushes up against my legs, it makes me feel like I'm wearing a bathrobe.  And then I have to look down at my body to make sure that I'm actually dressed.  This is bizarre, right?  Hopefully I'll get used to the coat and this will stop happening...

 

Finally, TGIF.  Yeah, it's still morning and I have a full day of work to get through but then it's weekend.  Yay for weekend.  No big plans this weekend.  The goals are to finish my book, interview potential scholars for the scholarship foundation I'm involved with, and cook.  Haven't decided what to cook yet, but I'm definitely in the mood for cooking.  So if I cook...anyone want to come over for dinner Saturday?