i promised there was another list of questions i received over a week ago. yikes - i've been so behind! it's been really busy at work and i've also been really busy at home. i was also sick last week with a nasty cold. i quickly fought it off, though, and was back at work.

luckily, it's just been lingering on and it didn't affect the fun i had at my bridal shower this last weekend. i was actually anxious about it. i don't like being put on display or being the center of attention. i don't like people watching me or having to entertain or anything, so being put in that position was a little nerve-wracking. everything turned out wonderfully. despite the stress my sister and mom went through to put everything together, it couldn't have been better. originally, they were going to have the food catered, but they decided to handle all the food themselves. honestly, i'm really happy they did. we got a really eclectic mix of dishes. they started with an asian-fusion kind of thing, but with my mom being italian, she couldn't steer completely of the mediterranean. the big winner that day was the thai red rice salad. red rice is like a wild rice that puffs up, rather than gets softer (like white rice). the salad was simply rice and veggies, but it was very good. they also had a spinach salad with applies and curry dressing, HOME-MADE samosas, which totally rocked, vietnamese spring rolls (from a local vietnamese restaurant), fresh tuna tartar, which was also delicious, plus cheese wafers, olive cheese balls (my grandma's recipe and the BEST thing to come out of the home cocktail parties of the 50s) and kalamata olive tapenade. everything was so great and i finally was able to show one of my friends where i got my love for cooking. my mom NEVER goes half-assed on hosting and cooking and i always do my best to do the same. anyway, the shower turned out to be super fun. we played one game with the group: the toilet paper bride game (modeling toilet paper wedding dresses). i go to be the judge, which was fun. then i go to show the group just how well i know marshall. i know now his quiz questions are really hard! there were 20 and i got 12 correct, which is still considered failing. at least i got more than half right, but it didn't make the game any easier. for every questions i got WRONG, i had to put a giant piece of bubbalicious gum in my mouth. at the end of the game, i had 8 pieces of gum in my mouth. it was pretty damn disgusting, but it was fun nonetheless. dariosmonkey commented that it was amazing to see that i got smarter the more gum i had in my mouth. anyway, the bulk of the party was taken up by opening the giant pile of gifts i had. the theme of the party was "a day in the life". everyone was given a time of day and they picked a gift that was appropriate for that time of day. such as: my godmother got 9am and bought me my waffle iron (i'm so stoked about this!), 2 coffee cups, and 2 different types of waffle mix from bouchon bakery (owned by the famed thomas keller. i also got bath towels, a coffee carafe and measuring spoon, and pink bunny feetie pajamas during this time!! :D i was a busy girl at 9am... :P anyway, you get the idea. the day started at 5am and ended at midnight. i got so many cool things, but i have NO idea where i'm going to keep everything! we certainly need a bigger house... anyway, the day was awesome and everyone had a great time. it's a real compliment to get from my friends and family saying how wonderful and fun and friendly my other friends and family are. i had high school friends sandwiched between my godmother and future MIL AND having a great time! so yeah, it was an amazing day. plus, how often do i get an entire day to sit, chat, and laugh with all the women in my family (both ancestral and urban) and drink champagne?! :)

sunday started with more wedding-related activities. marshall and i headed to hollins house to meet with our events coordinator and pick out our menu. we also got to go over the overall schedule of the wedding day and how the seating will work for dinner. because of the number of people we're anticipating, we're going to have 2 tables (including our "sweetheart" table) on the dance floor, which will all need to be cleared once dinner is finished and the party starts. it's a little awkward, but i think everything will work out just fine. we might put our friends at those two tables or something and once the party ends they can move easily to the tables which will remain out in the dining room. anyway, i'm not supposed to worry about all of that. so, picking out the menu was fun. we're going to have 3 passed appetizers: pancetta-wrapped prawns, alsatian onion tartlets, and risotto croquettes. we decided to add a salad: mesclun salad with warm goat cheese and a mustard vinegarette. for dinner, we have three options for our guests: boursin stuffed chicken (panko crusted chicken with boursin cheese madeira white wine reduction, served with garlic whipped potatoes), corvina sea bass (lemon herb infused with a caper butter sauce and wehani red rice, and peppered new york strip steak (served with a roasted red pepper and potato hash with a brandy cream sauce). i'm really looking forward to it. i've already decided i'll have the sea bass and marshall's going to have the steak. :) everything went swimmingly and she has everyone's contact information and was very happy we chose the photographer we picked! :D

after that, marshall and i headed to downtown santa cruz for a vegetarian lunch at saturn cafe. i loved my veggie patty (house-made), but i think i would've liked it on a crispier roll. otherwise, they're fries are awesome and if i had ordered less i would've totally gone for one of their awesome milk shakes! after lunch it was back over the hill to BFF-sarah's place for a candle party. similar to the original tupperware parties and recent pampered chef parties, we got to enjoy smelling candles and looking at catalogs of candle holders and other candle-related decorating things. if i had more extra money, i would've sprung for a neat wall sconce, but unfortunately i need to save my current money so i can get people christmas gifts. this party, though, was more about getting together with friends and we spent the entire time chatting more than anything else. my mom had fun chatting with sarah's mom and marshall ended up disappearing to see BFF-sarah and mike's new imac. nerds! :P anyway, it was a great afternoon, but it was soon time to go home. the rest of the evening was spent being nerds and playing WoW. what's new, huh?

in addition to traveling down to LA this week for thanksgiving, i have my final group project for my class due right after the weekend. i'll be spending a lot of my free time this week trying to put together the group's powerpoint presentation together. i still have to get MY part finished and out to secretfanofu, who's managing our website portion. it shouldn't take me long, but i want to make sure everything is handled properly and the presentation is put together exactly the way we want it. we give our actual presentation next wednesday. it's only 30 minutes and it seems like a long time now, but i'm sure once we get started, it will just fly by. we meet tomorrow night to go over last minute details we need to make sure are in our project, as per the instructor's guidelines. we've got a great idea for our assignment, so hopefully it'll fly with the instructor. :) i'm nervous about it, though. when i don't actually see who i'm talking to, i'm worried they aren't getting what i'm talking about or all the technical parts are working properly. my part in the grand scheme of things is about 5 minutes, which won't be much time at all, and i also volunteered to handle the conclusion. so yeah... but once that's done i'm all set for the semester and will be taking next semester off. it'll be a nice break, but i know once next fall rolls around, it's totally back to the grindstone!

marshall and i leave for LA wednesday and will be driving. i suppose it's easier to drive, since we'll have my car once we're down there to do our own thing, but it's the 6-hour drive which is going to be a hassle. the trip itself will be great, i'm sure. marshall's aunt and uncle are coming down for thanksgiving, too, and it'll be nice to have a nice group together. i'm not sure if marshall's grandma will be joining us, but i'm sure we'll pay her a visit on thanksgiving and sneak her in a GOOD thanksgiving dinner! :) saturday night is marshall's 10-year high school reunion. it should be interesting. my high school had a 5-year reunion and only a fraction of the girls in my class showed up and i was the ONLY one who brought a date. i'm sure 10 years will make much more of a difference, though. i do feel a little anxious about it. i ALWAYS feel judged whenever i go down to LA. LA is chock-a-block full of pretty people and since i'm slightly heavier than the average person for my height, i feel like everyone's judging the fact that i'm wearing jeans that didn't cost $100 and my t-shirt is from old navy. i also may be wearing out-of-fashion sneakers and i'm not spending every waking moment in heels. so yeah, when i have to go to a fancy function that's labeled "cocktail dress", i'm feeling a little anxious. i know i should just go as weirdo me, but ya know...i want to make my husband-to-be good. is that such a bad thing?

anyway...i may have to put my Q and A in another post. this one ended up being rather long. oops!

oh yeah, i got yelled at work this morning because i was talking too loudly. someone in my group complained to my executive director about the volume of my voice. i was chatting with one of my coworkers about my weekend and since i had such a great weekend, i got excited and my voice may have been a little loud. i understand that we're packed in here like sardines and other people are trying to work, but if i'm being loud - ask me to my face to keep it down, don't complain to my manager's manager (reason being my manager is out of the office this week). i have a few people i think might've complained. if it's someone in my row, she had a lot of nerve because she leaves her freakin cell phone on full blast and it rang this afternoon and she wasn't there to pick it up. it then kept beeping periodically to notify her she had a missed call. the guy next to me commented "and she said my CHAIR was annoying." well, his chair was annoying, but yeah, i agree. anyway, i guess this person thought i was on the phone and so my manager's manager came over to my cube to tell me she sent me an urgent email. i'm sorry, but you could've told me right then and there that my voice was too loud. anyway, i've spent the rest of my day with my head down and working non-stop since this morning. i was having a pretty good morning up until that point...

Tags: anxiety, eating, family, food, friends, los angeles, meme, the weekend, the welding
Current Location: work
Current Mood: anxious

Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile."

• I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity
• Update your journal with the answers to the questions
• Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions

i got the following questions from spitemeat

1. Considering your current job and education, but pretending the economy isn't a complete travesty, where do you foresee yourself career-wise in five years?
well, in 5 years, i'll have just finished my masters program (i still have 9 more classes left after this semester). i'm still at that stage where i'm not sure in which direction i want to go. i find archiving and database management interesting, but i'm not entirely sure if i want to make a career out of it. public libraries interest me, but i'm not totally sold on it. if i wanted to go the children's librarian route, i know it would be fun but creatively exhausting (even just a semester of children's services was fun but it really taxed my brain). just recently i was listening to NPR and they went to their reference librarian to answer an obscure questions. i started to think THAT might be a really cool thing to do: a reference librarian for a production company of some kind. i've really enjoyed my reference services class this semester. of course, i'm seeing a trend where i've really enjoyed my class and then think i may want to continue with that kind of work. i'll tell you this: last year an archives position was open at pixar and if we didn't live where we live now, i would've TOTALLY applied even WITHOUT a complete masters. so yeah, i think the ultimate answer is: i don't know.

2. Expanding on the career theory, if you could spend your days doing anything at all, regardless of income, expenses, etc., what would it be?
i would be a chef. actually, let me clarify. if money wasn't an issue, i would go to school to train as a chef, however i might actually prefer to spend my days being a food critic. :)

3. Were you as into video games before you met The Tall Fellow™ or did he influence you in that regard?
i was, but not definitely not as much. i think being with the tall fellow™ has enhanced and fed my interest in video games. i'm a huge fan of games found in the arcade. i LOVE fighting games. i grew up playing mortal kombat on my sega genesis. my sega was my first console i bought and my mom insisted that i save my own money and buy it myself. i did and i developed a small, but respectful library of games. when i got older i started on PC games. i spent most of my junior high and early high school years playing quake II. it wasn't until i got into college that i picked up video games again. for what it's worth, the guys i dated in high school before the tall fellow™ all were into video games. so, he had an influence, but as i said earlier, he merely just enhanced a love of video games that was always there.

4. Rank the categories "beer," "wine," and "cocktails" in ascending order of preference, with a favorite example of each.
beer > cocktails > wine, although it doesn't mean i like wine the least. i will much easily go to beer before cocktails and then before wine. i love wine, but i can be picky. i'm not nearly as picky with my beer and only slightly more picky when it comes to cocktails. honestly, it's all about the situation. if it's dinner at my parents, i'll take wine. if it's right after work, i'll grab a beer. if it's a bar in the evening, i'll take a cocktail (although if it's a pub - i ALWAYS have beer). now to my favorites:
beer - boddington's
cocktail - no matter how hard i try to fool myself, my favorite has always been the gin and tonic (funny story - i distinctly remember the first time i ever tried tonic water. my dad and i were house-sitting for my grandma (his mom) and all she had to drink, other than tap water, was tonic water. it was left over from when she used to stock her bar. my dad said it was like soda and i tried it. i immediately liked it. when i got older, i believe my dad served me my first G&T. i've been in love ever since. i'll go further to say that my favorite gin is hendrick's.
wine - oh my, this is difficult. in the broadest sense, i like reds more than whites. narrowing it further, i like big reds: cabernets and zinfandels. i also really like earthy pinot noirs. i don't like merlots. if i had to pick a go-to wine, i think it would be a côtes du rhône. i have experienced a recent taking to rosés. they're dry, which i like, and cold. i find them very refreshing. i simply cannot STAND buttery and oaky chardonnays and much prefer savignon blancs if i choose to have a glass of white.

5. Serial commas: discuss.
*sigh* there is a definite time and place for using serial commas. i think since more and more communication is through the written word these days, we have to resort to being creative with punctuation in order to convey inflection and tone to the dry text. when i chat or write in my LJ, i use the serial comma to convey sarcasm and exaggeration. in my head, at least, reading "com'on." (with a single period) and "com'on..." (with a serial comma) conveys different emotion. with a single period, it is more of a command, and with a serial comma it conveys a feeling of disbelief. however, i am intolerant of the misuse and overuse of serial commas. i had a boss who would use serial commas like they were periods; ending every single sentence with a... now, in my mind, i see an incomplete thought, when in her mind she is done with her thought and it's complete. that's two VERY DIFFERENT interpretations. i have a vendor who does the very same thing. when sending confirmation of instructions or materials for a project, i prefer to receive a "OK." not an "OK...", which makes me feel like what i sent means little to her or she doesn't understand what i've sent. i know that i don't use capitals when i write in my journal. i decided and kept to a specific style with my online journal. however, i do make sure i use proper grammar, when i can, and certainly correct spelling (don't even get me STARTED on the growing lose-loose fad i have seen. com'on people - they are TWO separate words and are NOT interchangeable! i've told marshall this and i'm sure i've mentioned it a few times before here, i KNOW how to write. my emails and my papers for school are treated professionally and written correctly. so, those are my thoughts about the serial comma.

okay, i was much more loquacious than i originally anticipated. i have received another set of questions to answer, but those will have to wait for another time.

Tags: answers, curiosities, memes, questions
Current Location: work
Current Mood: sleepy

apparently i never am able to close outlook on my computer without coming in the next morning and getting a "the data file 'archive current' was not closed properly. this file is being checked for problems." normally it doesn't take that long, but this morning it's taken about 15 minutes and it's not done yet... so, i'll take advantage of this time and update.

yikes, just realized i haven't posted anything since halloween!

+_+_+

i'll start with the obvious...halloween was fun, although my work sucks and everyone here is stupid. i was the only one who dressed up this year. i suppose because halloween was on a saturday they didn't feel like doing anything. no party or costume contest or anything, just people coming into work like any other friday. it was a good thing my costume looked like a normal work-day uniform: skirt, heels, white button-up and a red trench coat. the only thing different was that i didn't wear my classes and i wore a "press badge" around my neck with a picture of lois lane and the logo of the daily planet printed on it. no one understood my costume, which has become pretty standard around here. unfortunately, without standing next to marshall, who seriously looked like he stepped from the pages of a DC comic, my look didn't make much sense. marshall was awesome as clark kent. he shaved his goatee and wore a suit with a superman t-shirt underneath. i advised him to keep his shirt unbuttoned so he could display the S on his chest more easily. so yeah, his costume turned out better than mine.

that was merely friday BEFORE halloween, though. for actual halloween, marshall and i were invited to a south park theme party, hosted by nicole and jesse and their friends. turned out to be a pretty quiet halloween, but fun was had by all. i decided to be a raisins girl, while marshall took on the more challenging role of ms. choksondik. just like with the clark kent costume, he was scarily similar to the south park character. we spent that afternoon at target and found a blue cotton dress (a tube-top style), a large red sweater, and these super long red socks (which were filled with a tennis ball each and pinned to the outside of the sweater). he wore knee-highs and brown shoes and totally looked the part. it was a little eerie. the rest of the group did well, too. nicole and jesse were paris hilton and butters as her teddy bear, respectively. we also had stan and wendy, evil cartman, ANOTHER raisins girl, and jimmy. we all had a great time standing around drinking beer and chatting. before the party, marshall and i stopped at my sister's house to see how their halloween was going. they also invited us for dinner, which was cool. my sister's brother-in-law and his wife were there with their son, who was the most adorable fireman i had ever seen. my niece was, convincingly, cinderella, and my nephew was batman. my brother-in-law was happily dressed as robin and my sister made an attempt at turning an incomplete angel costume from the store into something not quite resembling cinderella's fairy godmother. i'm not sure if it was the black leggings underneath a white choir-like robe, the brown uggs, or the wings borrowed from my niece, which broke the illusion... :P by the time we stopped off at my parents house to say hi, they had already been wiped out of candy and preparing to hole up in the kitchen with all the lights off. we enjoyed a glass of wine and everyone agreed that marshall's costume was completely ridiculous and hilarious.

+_+_+

the rest of last week went better than the week before. halloween weekend seemed to snap me out of my funk. i greeted monday with a gym workout and tuesday with a run. my energy and discipline petered out and i slept in the rest of the week. i'm determined to do better this week, even though it's supposed to be freezing every morning. work last week went well, even though the project i'm currently working on (outside of my individual book projects) is going to be delayed. our schedule for completion was rather aggressive, but it's better we get OUR stuff in order before we try to train and teach our vendors what they should be doing. nothing really stood out from last week, so i'm thinking nothing much else happened.

+_+_+

friday night marshall and i were originally going to have dinner with my cousin, but he told me earlier in the week that he and his girlfriend had plans, but we should reschedule and get together another time. marshall and i were eager to go out, but we wanted to get together with other people. i suggested we call up spitemeat and his Lovely Wife™ and see if they were available. turned out to be a great choice, too, since we had a great time with them! we were originally going to go to pizza antica, but by the time we got there the wait was over an hour long. oh, and guess who we ran into while we were there? my cousin and his girlfriend, having dinner with a few of their coworkers. oh well! anyway, we had The Boy™ with us and he was starving, so we decided to go to the counter instead. this turned out to be a much better choice. our table was ready within 10 minutes of arriving, even if it WAS right next to the bathrooms (com'on, - we asked for first-available and there were TONS of tables available to accommodate 5 people, but they stuck us near the bathroom...). we were all pretty hungry, so we quickly put in an order of 50/50 fries/sweet potato fries, 50/50 fries/onion strings, AND an order of fried pickle chips. E and his family had never been to the counter and they were perplexed by the options available to create his burger, but they all managed to put something delicious together and enjoyed their burgers. mine was delicious as well and included bacon, bleu cheese, sauteed onions, tomatoes, lettuce and pickles with spicy sour cream on the side, all on an english muffin. yum! of course, by the time the last fry was devoured, we were totally and completely stuffed. they had a long drive ahead of them back home, so they dropped us off at home and headed back up the peninsula. it was great hanging out with them and we definitely need to do it more often. perhaps next time we can stay in and cook! :D

+_+_+

this weekend went well. saturday, after breakfast, marshall and i came home so i could be home for my shift manning the text reference services offered by my info quest. it was part of my service learning project for my class where i got to answer reference questions submitted via text message. it was an interesting experience, but one that lacked any questions! i logged into the gmail account and readied myself for questions and none came. luckily, i was chatting with one of my classmates at the time (secretfanofu) and he helped me by texting a couple of questions my way (from different numbers). i should've pressed other friends to text me while i was working, because i came short of the number of questions i needed to reference in my write-up report. oh well, there's a list of very stupid questions i can pick from and answer. i really wish, though, that the list of questions didn't already INCLUDE the answers! anyway, that went well and it went by quickly.

marshall was out looking at his new bike while i was working, but came back in time for us to go to the rental office and renew our lease. this is the second time we were asked to renew our lease 3 months in advance AND with no change in our rent. this year they also offered a choice between a free "accent" wall or a free carpet cleaning. we chose the carpet cleaning, which we'll have available to us once our new lease starts. there wasn't much else to do that afternoon, so we stayed in until dinner and then after dinner came home to change and head out again, but this time to san francisco. it was my friend kathleen's birthday and the plan was to meet up for drinks and socializing at a bar called john colins. it's this tiny little bar on this equally tiny side street in the shadow of the bay bridge, just shy of downtown. it turned out to be a really cool place to go and certainly was a hot spot that night. marshall and i ended up not noticing the change in the time, so we got there right at 9pm. we're dorks, but we were able to snag an area of the bar and by the time everyone arrived, they had a place to put their coat and rest their drinks. the vibe was great and it certainly helped that everyone there was in their late 20s, early 30s. i'm becoming very picky with bars and clubs as i've gotten a little older. i simply cannot stand going to a place crowded with newly-turned 21-year-olds. most of the girls are trashy and the guys are total douchebags. everyone is there to just get drunk, while i want to sip my top shelf gin and tonic and chit-chat. the other thing that was GREAT at this place was the DJ. there wasn't any dancing, but he was spinning the best mix of new and "old" hip-hop. we got to listen to new jay-z AND old-school snoop dog and dr. dre. it was awesome. we all had a wonderful time and i'm really hoping kathleen had a great birthday! :D

+_+_+

i learned early yesterday morning that mexican food and gin do NOT mix and i was plagued by horrible post-drinking stomach issues. luckily, it all subsided once we got up before 10 and marshall was a wonderful fiance and went out to buy and MAKE breakfast of eggs, potatoes, and sausage. it was glorious and a perfect post-late-night breakfast. we couldn't veg all morning long because we had an appointment to meet with the managing baker at gayle's bakery to finalize our wedding cake. we finalized the design and how the cake toppers should be. we also gave our final decision for the flavors and which tiers our flavors should be (2 tiers of the flourless chocolate souffle with grand marnier buttercream and 1 tier of the double-layer hazelnut cake with 1 layer of devil's food chocolate with hazelnut buttercream). so yeah, we're all set with the cake. next up will be picking the menu with our caterer. now THAT'S gonna be fun!

we headed back over the hill and bought a new lamp for the living room. our office lamp broke and instead of finding a replacement for the office we found a great lamp to put in the living room and we'll simply put the lamp currently in the living room into the office. of course, it's one of those paper lantern-type column lamps and after being up for a minute, wash tore one of the corners. *sigh* oh well, we'll put that corner against he couch. after that it was on to the next errand to sports basement to finally pick up marshall's new bike. they noticed some clicking when marshall test rode it yesterday and so they kept it to fix whatever was causing it. they also had to put the pedals on and marshall had to pick out bike shoes, as well. i busied myself in the fitness clothing area and found a new sports bra, long-sleeve workout shirt and a short-sleeve workout shirt, full-fingered running and cycling gloves and a new $5 beanie for running. sports basement really does have some awesome deals on sports clothing, which is great because that kind of clothing is usually SUPER expensive. we got marshall all squared away, put the bike on the back of the car and headed home. only to leave again for grocery shopping and finally to my sister's house for dinner. we enjoyed a large spread of broiled lamb chops, fresh pasta pesto with green beans, salad and garlic bread. it was all very delicious and we had a fun time hanging out with my niece and nephew. we're watching them all day this coming saturday, so we'll see how that goes. the times we've watched them before, they've been really good, so i'm hoping that pattern persists. i'm thinking, if the weather is good enough, to go to a park for a picnic and pack sandwiches and snacks. i think that would be fun.

+_+_+

anyway, i think that's it for now. my email is working, so i should probably follow suit.

Tags: family, friends, halloween, the weekend, the welding, work, workouts
Current Location: work
Current Mood: cold

you know, it's an odd feeling when your prominent political figures, who are supposed to be diplomatic and above reproach, swear. i know it's hypocritical coming from someone who cusses like a sailor, but these democratically voted leaders should have a higher sense of personal conduct. however, it's also a relief. it shows that even the most prestigious person is real and mortal. they have their moments of utter frustration or disbelieve that they say the words that come the most comfortable for all of us. yes, i agree, kanye really did deserve to be called a jackass by the leader of the free world. seriously - kanye is truly a jackass. now, whether it was intentional or not, it looks as though our governator has told the entire california legislature to go fuck themselves. not that i agree with how our lovely governor has been treating our fair state. i am certainly regretting my vote for him in our special election (i voted AGAINST the recall, btw), even though i thoroughly enjoy the marketing commercials. :)

so, i laugh, but there is a tinge of disappointment there, too.

+_+_+

our 24-hour trip to los angeles went well last weekend. of course it meant that we didn't get any extra sleep. we were up at 7:30 both mornings to make sure we got to our flights on-time. then when we landed in LA it was go-go-go until we got to marshall's best man's birthday party. even though he knew the party was going on (originally it was a surprise), he still didn't know who was coming. he was very happy to see that we had made it down. we couldn't stay much longer than we did, but it would've been nice to hang out with him and his girlfriend outside of the party. by the time everyone had left, we were all exhausted. thomas was still recovering from the flu and marshall and i were totally zonked. i felt like shit the next day, having only gotten a few hours of sleep and woke up with a horrible stomach-ache an hour before the alarm went off. by the time we got home, which took a long time due to delays and detours along the light rail line from the airport and home, i needed sleep. i slept for almost 4 hours before i got up. i felt slightly better, but we still needed to do all our normal sunday things. despite the no sleep and travel-induced stomach problems, i'm glad we were able to make it to the party. :)

+_+_+

this week, though, has really been a crappy week. i haven't been feeling myself. i'm exhausted for no apparent reason. i haven't been able to get up in the morning to work out. i'm not sure if i'm getting sick or it's just the fact that it's gotten cold and it's pitch-black at 6am. in addition to the extra hour of sleep, i'm looking forward to turning our clocks back this weekend. i really can't take much more of the truly dark mornings. i've also been having stomach issues all week. normally i feel like this when i miss my pill, but i haven't at all this week. all day today, i've felt like i'm on the verge of an anxiety attack. my hands are clammy and shaky and i feel cold but hot at the same time. i've also been feeling just blah emotionally. i want to get excited about halloween and i have my moments, but overall i'm feeling really tepid. i also have NO sex drive whatsoever. it's frustrating for me and i'm sure it's frustrating for marshall, as well. he was just in a funk and now he's coming out of it and i'm just getting into mine. i keep telling myself it's all a lack of sleep, but there's got to be something more.

it's possible i'm getting anxious about the wedding. we're only a few months away now and i'm getting bombarded by a lot of details, which need to be taken care of. we've got the cake, which we're finalizing next weekend. we have the menu, which we plan on finalizing sometime in november. immediately following the finalizing of the menu, we can talk to the invitations lady and get the invitations and menu cards taken care of. at some point in december we'll need to do a preliminary seating chart for the wedding. i'm getting increasingly anxious about people who we THINK won't come, but then they show up at the last minute. i should've put my foot down or advocated for being prudent about our save-the-dates. we can't take them back now. otherwise we will have to rent out the bar and that's an extra $2500, which we certainly don't have.

school is winding down, but before it ends, i still have 3 more assignments to finish. one of which is due next friday. it's my reference observation assignment. i will be observing the children's reference librarian next tuesday evening for about 2 hours. the shadowing exercise will help solidify the practices and techniques i have been learning about this semester. i think it will be a great experience, even if i never become a reference librarian. although, being a reference librarian for something like NPR would be really neat. shortly after that i have my hands-on reference exercise. i will be manning the infoquest reference text "desk" for an hour next saturday from 2-3pm. i'm really hoping it's slow, but if i don't get any questions, i have to ask my professor what to do for my write-up. i just hope i don't get slammed with a ton of questions i can't answer. finally, we have a group library instructional project. my group will be putting together a presentation as if we were instructing library users about how to use sources. our audience are juniors and seniors in high school and how to eat healthily in college and learning how to cook for yourself. i think it's a really cool idea and the resources out there are kinda neat. that will take me to december 2 and i'll be done with school for the semester and will be off in the spring. i'll be back in school full-swing next fall. but yeah, things are getting a little hectic, but since i'm only doing one class right now, it's not nearly as hectic as it COULD be.

so yeah, i just hope i snap out of whatever it is i'm going through right now. it sucks and i don't like feeling like this.

fuck, and i just realized i never worked on our press badges for our costumes for tomorrow. dammit.

Tags: crappy days, crappy weeks, grad-school, the funk, the welding, work
Current Location: work
Current Mood: crappy

it's 9:45 at the san jose international airport. i'm waiting for my flight to burbank which leaves in 90 minutes. thank god for free wifi... marshall is off getting chicken strips at the new "the brit" (i'm sure owned by the same owners as britiania arms) because he had a hankering for something fried. apparently they don't believe in fast food at the new terminal because they got rid of all the mcdonald and burger king kiosks. it's for the best, although i'm sure they'll bring in other places to eat once all the construction is finished. the new terminal is really nice, though. this feels more like a reputable airport, rather than a small-down one. i love all the natural light and the huge walk-ways. i just really wish the peet's coffee stand could make a decent cup of coffee. anyway, marshall and i are getting ready for 24 hours in los angeles, well technically ventura. it's marshall's best man's 30th birthday party. he got the flu earlier this week, but is apparently feeling good enough for a party. i sure hope so. i'd hate to fly down there only to see he's still feeling icky and we're having the party around him. at one point in the last couple of days, his girlfriend was going to cancel and reschedule. woudn't work for us, though, but that's what happens when you live far away. he found out about the party (it was originally a surprise) and started feeling better. whether that's him being stubborn and he wants his birthday party or he's actually feeling better is debatable. he doesn't know who's coming, so i guess that will be surprise enough. so, here we are at the airport embarking on the most expensive 24-trip ever. :P

with nothing to do, i decided to do a meme that celtcub posted yesterday. it's called the "me mosaic". directions are as follows and my mosaic and questions/answers are behind the cut.

Go to Mosaic Maker.
Set it up for a 3x4 grid (Colors and spacing is all you)
That's one entry for each question, Twelve total.

Answer each of the following questions and then copy that exact answer into Flickr.
You MUST use an image from one of the first THREE pages of results (no digging for the perfect picture!)
Copy the URL of the image you choose into the spaces provided on Mosaic Maker.

Complete your mosaic and post.

( click! )

Tags: birthdays, boredom, memes, parties, sickness, weekend
Current Location: SJC
Current Mood: bored

i found this article after reading a related article. normally, i don't read cnn, but a friend on facebook linked this article, which sounded good (even though i already know that real men buy flowers, marshall buys me flowers :P). anyway, this other article caught my eye with the tagline "why you should NOT cohabitate before marriage". marshall and i have been cohabitating for almost 4 years now. i know plenty of other friends who currently cohabitate with their boyfriends and the majority of them got married or are getting married. my sister and her husband lived together for YEARS before they got married. in fact, i haven't met anyone who has gotten married without living together beforehand (except for extenuating circumstances (long distance relationship being the main reason). when my sister and her husband were engaged, they were obligated to attend marriage counseling sessions with their priest. i'm not sure if it was a diocese-thing or not, but the priest insisted. they took compatibility tests and went to handful of counseling sessions so they could talk about marriage and the responsibilities of being married and having a family. the priest asked if they were currently living together and applauded them for doing so. he fully agreed that couples who want to be together SHOULD live together before they get married. there's a lot you don't see of your partner when you live separately. everyone has their little habits they have when they're alone. living together not only solidifies the bond between a couple, but also prepares them for what lies ahead. now, reading that article through, i agree that for some reasons cohabitation is not an option. when both people are not fully committed and decide to shack up, there's a definite chance of that relationship failing. when it's a decision of convenience, there sure is a chance of something going wrong and things ending badly. however, if both people are committed and have their sites on spending their lives together, cohabitation is the best way to go. so, while i agree with the article on certain points, i certainly don't think everything is that black-and-white.

+_+_+

anyway, this weekend was eventful. saturday started with our usual routine and had breakfast with liam and paul (paco was at NASA watching robots). then marshall and i braved costco. we picked up a lot of things that we normally buy in bulk, plus a few other things like really cheap high-efficiency light bulbs (originally $11 or $12, but with an immediate PG&E rebate, they were $3 and $4 for 10 and 6 packs), microwave popcorn and granola bars. then we braved the mall. marshall and i are dressing up as lois lane and clark kent this year for halloween and we both needed a few things to complete our costumes. i needed an outfit and trench coat. so i went to express and was excited to see they were having a huge sale. i bough 2 skirts and a shirt, all perfect for my costume. then i needed the coat. i know macy's always has a huge coat selection during the winter, so we headed there. we found a black one which worked, but i browsed a little more. marshall found a really nice RED trench coat. it was the same price as the black one, so i went into the dressing room to compare the two with the skirt and shirt i bought. the red one was the clear winner. i'm using the terri hatcher lois lane as my model, since she's a little more fashionable than the comic book and even the animated series. i love this red coat. it's also really comfortable, too. the only thing left that i'll need is a notebook and a pen. i also plan on making press badges for both of us to wear. :P the last time we were at hot topic, i noticed they had the standard blue superman t-shirt. the idea for marshall's costume is for him to be in a suit, but with the top of his shirt unbuttoned to reveal the S on his chest. wearing a t-shirt would simplify things, but unfortunately hot topic didn't have anymore. they had a XXL, which is just too big for marshall. they had another one, but it turned out to be a supergirl shirt and it was a medium, so that was a no-go. with that we headed to spirit to see if they had glasses or a superman costume. they didn't have either, which was really disappointing. we then tried the costume shop and although they had a superman costume, it was a jumpsuit which would not work. we found a pair of glasses which were the best we'd seen, but we didn't get them. marshall decided to order his t-shirt online and i think we might check other stores for glasses. we found a cheap pair of reading glasses, which i thought worked really well, but he would have to pop out the lenses.

for dinner that night, i suggested trying some place new. man vs. food did an episode in san jose last season, where he ate a basket of the hottest wings available at smoke eaters. however, i wanted to go to the other place he showcased: henry's world family hi-life bbq. they have some really funky hours, but we were going for dinner, so i didn't worry. it's located underneath the freeway and was a little difficult to get to, considering the streets around the arena were closed down for a show. we eventually found out how to get there. it's a really old joint and looks like a old san jose house, which i'm sure it was at one point. it was so quiet, due to being in a residential neighborhood, that i thought they were closed. they weren't. as soon as we opened the front door, the bar was packed. their set-up is very different to any other restaurant. you take a number and decided what to eat from the menu on the wall. they have the standards: steak, chops, ribs, and chicken. they also offer daily specials, as well. each entree comes with salad and a baked potato, topped with herb butter (it's SOOO yummy). then the hostess calls your number and you give her your order. once your order is ALMOST ready, they call your name and you're seated. you get a waiter who will handle your drinks and who will serve you your dinner. you then pay at your table, rather than at a counter. it actually works really well, surprisingly. there's really plenty of room in the bar and the names go quickly enough that we waited about as much as if we went anywhere else on a saturday night. and the bbq? the bbq was delicious. it's a wet-style bbq, but it's not sopping. it's sticky, but not too sweet. marshall and i both ordered ribs, even though next time one of us will order ribs the other chicken and we'll split it all together. the ribs were tender and juicy and they melted off the bone. you barely had to bite into them. the prices were standard for a steakhouse, which this really is moreso than a bbq joint. but with a half-rack of baby back ribs, salad and a potato - $17 isn't all that much. i couldn't even finish all mine, so i got lunch for later this week! :) i'd totally go back there again.

+_+_+

after spending the rest of saturday evening baking cookies, we got to bed a little early in anticipation of the silicon valley AIDS walk sunday morning. i got an email from my friend nicole a couple of weeks ago asking for donations and it sounded like a great thing to do, so i signed up with her team from her school. marshall signed up, too, and we both did a little fundraising. we got to downtown san jose bright and early sunday morning. we took the lightrail instead of driving and i'm glad we did. we ended up getting there much earlier than everyone else (BFF-sarah and mike joined, too), so we walked around a bit. there weren't as many vendors as i thought there would be, so there wasn't much to do. there were a TON of kids; a lot of them from local clubs and schools. finally everyone got there and we got ready to go. the walk started at 10am and we walked 5.2 miles along the guadalupe river trail. it was a great walk and i didn't get worn out. i felt like i walked a lot, but i wasn't super tired or exhausted afterward. i had a great time and it was a wonderful way to spend my sunday morning. plus, i ended up raising over $200 for a really great cause. :)

after the walk, we showered and went to my mom's for my grandma's memorial. my grandma passed away a couple of weeks ago and, since her funeral was small and not everyone was able to make it, my mom, dad, uncle and aunt decided to put together a family get together to remember her. there were a lot of people there, close to 30 people. i got to see family members who i don't get to see all that often and i got to meet people i've never met before. while my grandma lived at her home, she befriended a man. they were a couple and spent a lot of time together. he passed away a year ago, but his daughter and her husband made it to my grandma's memorial. it was extremely touching. i finally got to see my brother, in i don't know how long. his little girl, my niece, is getting big and looks EXACTLY like her mom. they're expecting another little one in january. :) i also got to spend time with my cousins, which is always nice. it was a great party and my grandma was probably kicking herself for not being able to make it. she loved a good party and this certainly was a great one. :) my aunt went to a photo place and had a DVD made of a bunch of photos of my grandma and our family. my mom had it playing during the party. there is this one photo of my grandma which shows SO MUCH personality. i really want a copy. she's looking straight into the camera, pointing her finger and has this almost menacing look on her face, but you can tell whatever is going on she's having a blast. i need a copy of that picture. :)

even though i wasn't close with her, i will certainly miss her. she had a great attitude and a wonderfully dry sense of humor. it's a weird feeling not being anyone's granddaughter anymore. sometimes i really hate growing up.

Tags: costumes, deaths, exercising, family, halloween, shopping, walking
Current Location: work
Current Mood: contemplative

this weekend turned out to be rather exciting. originally, we didn't have anything planned, but that quickly went out the window. :)

friday night i wanted to go to my elementary school's annual fun-fest. it's a carnival they hold every fall and it generates donations and money for the school and the parish. they have tons of great homemade food and lots of games and raffles. they also have a midway section with carnival rides and games. it caters to mostly younger kids, but there usually are a few rides for teens and adults. it was always so much fun being in school and watching the big rig trucks bringing in the rides and then watching as slowly the rides were erected in the parking lot. that friday during school was always so difficult because all you wanted to do was get home, change and come back to play games and ride the rides. so much fun! we made it out last year with my niece and nephew, but this year i didn't hear if they were going or not. i still wanted to go and friday would be the night. unfortunately, as soon as i got home from work, i spent 3 hours finishing my homework, which was due by midnight friday, and by the time i was done i was totally beat. i didn't feel like doing anything. instead, marshall and i walked to DQ, got a sundae and came home to play WoW. :P

saturday morning started in the usual fashion. we met up with the breakfast club and headed out to the cup for breakfast. it was surprisingly busy and i was getting anxious. i had a 12 o'clock viewing appointment for my wedding dress and since it hasn't been busy for a while, i figured even if we met at our usual time, i wouldn't have a problem making my appointment. yeah, don't assume... marshall and i also went running beforehand, so i was so incredibly hungry. i didn't want to eat something super heavy, though, since i was nervous about being able to fit into my dress. i ordered a side salad and a half a tuna sandwich and that was just right. i quickly departed from the group and hustled to trudy's to meet up with BFF-sarah and my mom. trudy's originally thought i was a no-show, since i was late, but was able to fit me in anyway. hell, the consultant i was assigned had just barely finished with her bride by the time i got there. anyway, the viewing went great. i looked ravishing, as the consultant kept saying, and sarah and mom agreed. they were taking bets to see who would cry first at the wedding: my dad or marshall. :P since the viewing is the time to pick out accessories, i tried on about a dozen headpieces, before finding the right one (NOT a veil), and they also had bracelets, so i found one that not only matched my dress but also matched my headpiece. finally, i picked out a great pair of shoes, which i wore for almost an hour and didn't even realize i had them one when it came time to leave! i'm so happy i got everything done with that day. :)

after my appointment, it was back home to pick up marshall and head over the hill to santa cruz. we got invited by our friends ian and kareena to join them in their quest to finish all 99 bottles of beer at 99 bottles of beer on the wall. you get your name on the wall if you've had all 99 and that's what we set out to do. there were 13 of us, but by the time we arrived, there was a group of about 8 or 9, who had already started. we soon caught up and by the time we finished, i had 5 beers and marshall had about 7. we all took our time, not only to make sure we finished our beers without being too hammered and sick, but also because there's a consumption rate and we didn't want to be officially cut off by the bartender. we went through 2 waitresses, the first one finishing her shift about half-way through our venture. we made sure to give both waitresses a healthy tip. we made sure to eat plenty, too, but of course after we were finished there, we had no choice but to go elsewhere to celebrate! we slurred and stumbled our way across downtown santa cruz to i <3 sushi. this place had been recently recommended by nicole and jesse and it was the only bar in town with karaoke. we got there and found our way to the karaoke bar in the back. our waitress told us there was a $10-minimum to stay, so we started ordering drinks. she came back and told us that we hadn't fulfilled our minimum and that the kitchen was closing in 15 minutes. we wanted to stay, even though we were the only people there (at 10:30 on a saturday night...), and started ordering food. marshall and i each got soup and an order of gyoza and edamame. other people around the table ordered a few rolls and we finally met our minimum. only to get booted out 5 minutes later. i'm sorry, you're kicking us out after we shelled out about $100 for food that was cold and not fresh at 10:30 on a freakin saturday?! unfortunately, our tip was already included in our bill, due to the number of our party, but we didn't leave any extra. had tip not been included, i would've left maybe a few dollars. so, we crawled out of that joint and headed to another. we went to 515 (run by the same people who own the red room and the red). it's a really nice place and we found the upstairs patio completely empty. we headed out and then was quickly greeted by a cute and very gay waiter who informed us we couldn't have any alcohol outside. this was fine with marshall and i, plus a few others, who had ceased drinking, but it didn't fly with the rest of the group, who were content to keep drinking. we stayed outside and then those who were drinking found a VIP room and hung out there. that's where our night ended. it gets a little annoying when you're sobering up, while those around you are progressively getting drunker. we still had to drive home, so we said our good-byes and headed out. we had a great time, though!

sunday was a relaxing day with only one major errand: the sports basement. i always forget about this place, but they have one in sunnyvale and one in san francisco (it's one of the sponsors for the escape from alcatraz triathlon). marshall was disappointed with the sales staff at REI when he was looking for a new bike, so he wanted to try a new place. the really nice thing about the sports basement is that they have an entire department dedicated to triathlon gear. they have clothing, shoes, wetsuits, swimsuits and trisuits. they even rent wetsuits! i browsed while marshall talked to one of the bike guys. they found a bike that was on clearance, and which marshall liked, but because of marshall's size, they had to special order it. it's a really nice bike, too, and on super sale (well, sale for a really nice bike is still more than what my bike cost, but still). it's either a felt or a fuji, i can't remember which, but it's great. cycling is my strong point and i always felt i was able to set a pretty good pace with marshall, even surpassing him a bit. with this new bike, though, he's gonna leave me in the dust again. we decided to try on some wetsuits, while we were there. i found one that fits me the best out of all the ones they had. unfortunately, my weight puts me in the larger size, which is meant for people 5'5" and up. sizing for wetsuits is ridiculous. the woman helping us noticed the one that fit me best was a little baggy under the arms, which potentially can fill up with water and chafe, while swimming. kinda sucks, but it's really the only one that fits me. i didn't buy it since, even on sale, it was $200. it's a purchase for another time. i did buy new handlebar tape for my bike (sky blue) and long running pants/tights (they worked really well this morning!). i think i might go back for a long-sleep top layer, for the really cold (dry) mornings. most of them have longer sleeves with thumb-holes, so you can cover the bulk of your hands. marshall and i were really impressed with the sports basement and, even though it's a little out of our way, we'll definitely go back for all our sports needs. plus, they have regular bike maintenance classes AND they even have friday evening spin classes. they also have a running group, which runs every sunday at 9am, which sounds intriguing. god, what's wrong with me...

+_+_+

marshall has been feeling under the weather since last friday, due to a nasty cankersore in his throat. he went in for a half-day yesterday, but i told him to just stay home today. so many of his coworkers go into the office when they're sick that it's just not a healthy environment, especially when you're on the verge of being sick. i hope he gets better soon. he was asked to compete in a relay triathlon with my brother-in-law and his brother in a few weeks (marshall would be swimming), but he hasn't been able to get much working out done since we got back from LA last week. i'm kinda hoping the tri gets scrapped (my brother-in-law's brother might have to go on a work trip that weekend anyway), just so the pressure is off of marshall and he can relax.

i decided to take advantage of management's offer for people to work home today, due to the crazy storm we're experiencing. they're predicting up to 6 inches of rain within a 24-hour time period and wind gusts up to 70mph in the higher elevations. it's been raining since very early this morning and just recently the wind has picked up. i'm really glad i decided to stay home. i ran on the treadmill this morning, due to the fact that it was pitch-black outside and raining at 6:30am, and watched some of the storm coverage. a lot of the valley areas are under flash flood watches today, so while commercials played we got some emergency broadcast signals. fun, huh?

Tags: crazy weather, cycling, dresses, running, shopping, the dress, the welding, training, weekends
Current Location: work
Current Mood: cold

this past week, i've yelled at my car radio on two notable occasions. i tend to do that from time to time. a story or interview will come on and i just have to yell. what with all the craziness in politics these days, i've been yelling more often than what would be considered "normal". before this week, the last time i yelled at my radio was regarding health care. i'm sorry, but does everyone need a vocabulary lesson - what part of option don't you understand? it's an OPTION, it's not mandatary, it's not forced, it's available IF YOU WANT IT. don't want it? don't have to use/take it. want to keep your doctor? more power to you, but your neighbor who can't afford health care right now, may want to take advantage of cheaper health care...that just happens to be run by the government. who gives a shit? it's not socialism and we're not turning into sweden. the government is looking out for those millions of people who live their life in fear that if they get really really sick, they have no coverage; OR if they have coverage it's the super cheap stuff that won't even cover the kleenex to wipe your runny nose because they can't afford anything other than what their cheap employer provides. it's an OPTION. *sigh*

anyway, earlier this week it wasn't so much that i yelled at my radio, but i nearly cried at how incredibly horrible health care is in this country. the "pay for service" system encourages over-servicing. doctors simply providing more than what is necessary because they'll get paid for it. a town in maine whose women were getting hysterectomies in their twenties because of some belly pain. why? it wasn't just because it was the 70s and no one knew better, it's just that it was an operation that got the doctors paid. for most, it wasn't a problem. it became a problem for the woman who had 6 different spinal fusion surgeries and now lives in constant pain. why? the doctor was getting top-dollar for the very complex surgery for fuzing the spine together...THAT'S BEEN PROVEN TO NOT WORK! compared to the lesser complex spinal surgery, the fusion surgery has been proven to not work as effectively and, in some cases, make things worse. you can get mad at the doctors, but without the "pay for service" they're basically working for free. do you get mad at the system? you can, but it doesn't do any good. yet it seems like no one else sees what's going on. the ones that CAN see what's happening, just aren't as loud as the other guys who think this country is just fine. we're not. we have the worst health as a country for being so damn rich.

the second thing that got me to yell at my radio this week was the recent passing of hate crimes legislation when pertaining to hate crims against sexuality. i'm not mad about that. i'm really happy it finally passed. what made me mad was the way it had to pass. it couldn't happen as a regular bill, because it would get shot down. why? first ammendment rights, is what's usually stated. hate crimes against someone's sexuality would infringe upon the hater's possible religious beliefs. i am all for freedom of religiou, but that does NOT give ANYONE the right to persecute someone for who they are. you may not agree with it, but that doesn't give you the right to hurt someone else. how is hate crimes against someone's sexuality any different than hate crimes against someone else's race or, god-forbid, someone else's religion. so, what did they have to go to get this thing passed? paperclip it to a goddamn defense spending bill. some redenck hick senator actually said: i have a son doing his 3rd tour in afganistan and i want him to have all the money in the world to help him, but i'm NOT going to vote for this bill because it's also protects gays from being lynched. what kind of fucking backwards thinking is that shit?! that just made me so incredibly angry and, for lack of a better word, hateful. it still passed the house with a 2-1 majority, but still, this kind of thing should NOT have had to be paperclipped to something people wouldn't vote for. ugh...

+_+_+

what made me love people this week? my coworker told me what whatever i'm doing with my hair recently looks great and fits me well. it only makes me feel that much better because i simply don't do hair. having to blow dry it and use 2 different products is totally beyond what i can do. hearing that it's working and looks really nice, just helped make my thursday. :)

Tags: hate, ignorance, love, people, politics, stupid people
Current Location: home
Current Mood: annoyed

i woke up this morning feeling really cruddy. it's not like i'm physically sick or anything, but mentally i feel blah. my shoulders are really sore from my workout yesterday. i tried to push myself by running a mile on the street and then doing weight training. i also increased the weight i was lifting, as well. it's possible my over-head extension was too much for my shoulders. they feel really tired. originally i was going to finish with another mile run after weights, but i wasn't sure i could last another mile. looking back, i probably could have. i think this will be something to try for next wednesday. instead, i walked to the store after my workout to pick up some eggs for breakfast. i was feeling really good and made a really yummy cheese omelette topped with salsa and served with warm corn tortillas. it was great up until lunchtime. i was going to make tuna, which i have been planning on making for almost 3 weeks now (not like canned tuna is going to go bad), so i started pulling the ingredients i needed. i got out my tuna, mayo, mustard, red onion (even though it looked a little old, i only needed a few tablespoons of it), and then reached for the celery. it was old. TOO old to really salvage anything from it. into the trash it went and i was left with a decision to make: do i go to the store and pick up new celery (because really - what's tuna salad without celery?) or do i listen to my impulse center of my brain and go out? i went with the totally unhealthy choice and went to burger king for lunch. it's been a while since i've gotten a meal at burger king, but i went with a whopper with cheese (no onion). i came home and ate it. the burger was almost completely flattened from sitting in the bag on the way home and the fries were stale. i ate it all anyway and about 20 minutes later i felt disgusting. i felt sick and pukey. i chugged down some pepto, which alleviated the gurgly stomach, but i still didn't feel that great. i actually wasn't that hungry when marshall came home from work and it was time for dinner. i ate dinner anyway, even thought i could've done without. then i proceeded to work on my homework. i got through to the second-to-last problem i needed to work on when i hit a wall. i was "helping" a potential library user looking to find information about urban planning: what does the job entail; what does it pay; which schools offer the program and is a bachelor's enough or does it require a masters; which school is the cheapest for a bachelors and masters? the first 4 questions i found right away, but that last one was beating me into the ground. there were 10 schools i found in california that offered BOTH the bachelor's and master's program in urban planning, but figuring out how much they cost was proving to be quite the feat. one of the websites i was using only listed estimated costs for undergrad ONLY, not masters. this other website allows you to search for the school and then they offer PDF access to that school's catalog. this DOES contain estimate costs for graduate programs, BUT the files are huge and hard to search through easily. i simply cannot follow this same procedure for 10+ schools - it would just take forever. there really has to be a better way, but i'm not allowed to use google or yahoo, so... anyway, i went to bed frustrated and exhausted. of course this is one of the two thursdays each month where i have back-to-back conference calls at 8:30 and 9am, so i have to leave home really early and get into work with enough time to get my stuff unpacked and computer started up. that meant not hitting the snooze this morning and no possible way of fitting in any kind of workout. since i have so much to do tonight with homework (this assignment is due tomorrow, but tomorrow i also the first night of the st. lucy fun-fest and i really want to go), i won't be able to get in a work out tonight, either. :(

so yeah, that's how i'm feeling right now. i have a grand total of 5 meetings today, 6 including a training i have with the new project manager in our department. i'm to train her on how to work with textbook supplements. i'm hoping she's a quick learner...

+_+_+

this week has been super hectic. not only do i have lots of homework, i had a TON of catching up to do at work. there was a lot that happened while i was gone last thursday, friday and this past monday. i'm through most of it, but i'm sitting on a couple of projects because i plan on using them in my training later today. i hate when i have emails sitting in my inbox, especially when they're projects i need to work on. i'm not one to put off things, especially when i can easily work on them and blow through them right now.

our time in LA was really nice, even if there wasn't much relaxation time. i would've liked it if we could've taken advantage of the fantastic weather by making it down to the beach. we really didn't have time, though. we tried to fit in as much as possible, as we normally do. we drove down thursday and got into venice around 4:30/5pm. we hung out at marshall's mom's house for a bit before we all went to dinner at island's. i think it's almost tradition to go there for our first LA meal. it's really good and we can walk there, instead of driving, which is always nice. i got up early on friday to fit in a run. marshall was shocked, but i needed to keep on schedule. i ran my normal 2 miles, but i got to run along the venice ocean front walk, which is really nice, even if it's a bit busy. i managed a 10-minute mile, which astounded me. i was wondering why my legs were so wobbly when i was finished. i tried to repeat that yesterday, but failed horribly. i think what pushed me so much in LA was finding someone running in front of me and trying to keep up with them. anyway, friday afternoon we headed to downtown to visit with marshall's sister at USC. i'd never been to that campus before and so that was fun. we found a place for lunch and hung out. we also got to see her "apartment" and "meet" her roommate (who pretended to be asleep on her desk as soon as we walked in the door). fun, right? after that we headed back to the coast and got in touch with one of marshall's best men in the wedding and found a time to meet up. we decided on a movie, whip it! (i really liked it.) and then dinner at BJ's afterward. we had a great time chatting and hanging out with ben and his girlfriend. saturday morning, marshall and his dad got together to check him in for his triathlon on sunday. they were also going to sit in on a course explanation, but it turns out that wasn't happening until later. so, they came and picked me up for lunch (a yummy hot dog at costco :P) and we all went to the course explanation talk. we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing before marshall's dad picked us up again to go to a family friend's house to watch the USC-Cal football game. this family friend happens to be very wealthy and own a gigantic house in pacific palisades. ridiculous. the party was fun and marshall and i were out-numbered by USC fans. there were a couple of other Cal supporters, but not many, and we ended up getting our asses handed to us. it was nice meeting new people and chatting. we met a guy who is a cyclist and in his 70s. he loves cycling and you could tell from talking to him about it. he definitely got me excited about cycling and possibly looking into any bike clubs in the south bay. we called it an early night saturday night, to make sure we got enough sleep for sunday.

sunday started at 5:30. marshall and i got up, got changed, ate breakfast and headed to the beach. marshall got checked in and his transition area set up. unfortunately, it only meant that we had to wait. and wait. and wait. most of the other triathlons he's competed in, the sprint was made separate from the olympic distance. this time, they were all in one. the pro olympics were in the water at 7:30, but marshall's wave was the last in the water at 9:30. we got to the water and watched the surf. it was intense. the race started and there were PRO ATHLETES being pulled from the water - it was THAT crazy. because the officials needed to provide extra up-front time for swimmers to get out to the first buoy, they had to delay the waves. by the time it was ready for marshall to line up for his wave, it was 10:30 - A WHOLE HOUR later than originally scheduled. marshall's parents and i shouted and cheered as he made his way out of the gate and tried keeping him in our sites as he got into the water. we couldn't spot him in the group that couldn't get past the break, so we assumed he made it out to the buoy and he did! within about 20 minutes, he was jogging up the beach to the timing mat into the transition area. woohoo!! i have some pictures from the beginning of the race, but i haven't gotten them off the camera yet. i also played with the video feature and taped marshall running out of the gate. :P this triathlon wasn't a circuit, but a point-to-point race. that meant, as an observer, we had to jump in the car and drive to downtown where the race ended. i went with marshall's mom and we ended up taking too much time to get back home, in the car and out to the staples center. we were JUST parking when we got a call from marshall's dad saying that he had just finished. :( i've been there at the end of all of marshall's races and not being there when he finished was frustrating. i was so mad. anyway, we hung out at the "fest" they had going after the race. marshall's step-mom saved him a place in line for the complementary after-race massages they were offering. it was time to pack things up and head out. marshall gathered all his stuff and we went back to his mom's. we all showered and relaxed for a while. marshall missed out on an actual nap, but we all wanted to visit his grandma while were down there.

we did get to visit and she enjoyed the company. she was recently moved from her original home to a more standard nursing home. so, she's sharing a room and she doesn't get any of her own furniture. it also doesn't have much in the way of social activities, which really sucks. marshall's grandma is still pretty with it, much more than my grandma was, and she would really benefit from getting together with other people to chat, listen to music, and even watch TV as a group. i guess they have something during lunchtime, but when we saw her on sunday, she said that she hadn't gotten out of bed that entire day. :( anyway, we stayed with her while she ate dinner and then headed out.

marshall and i came back to get all dolled up for our anniversary dinner. as i wrote about last week, we went to the tasting kitchen in venice. we got there and we were the first ones for the evening, but that didn't last long. merely 30 minutes later, the dining room was full. they change their menu almost daily and so a giant "83" was stamped on the menu cover. we learned that this signified that this was their 83rd menu. apparently they haven't been open for THAT long, but it didn't feel new. the waitstaff was incredibly knowledgeable, professional, but really casual and friendly. i ordered a glass of rose to go with my entree (a lovely whole-grilled arato on a bed of sweet corn, faro, and squash) and they didn't have that particular one available, so our waiter came to the table with 2 other roses they had available and had me taste them both and make my decision. it was great! he also was able to suggest a wine to go with marshall's lamb. we had a wonderful time there. everything was delicious and the atmosphere was modern, but not pretentious. so yeah, it was a great choice for our last dinner in LA. :P

monday morning, marshall and i met up with marshall's dad for breakfast. i felt bad that we had to leave so abruptly on sunday after marshall's race, so i set up breakfast with his dad. we went to our usual breakfast spot in LA and had a lovely breakfast. marshall and i got on the road a little before 11am and didn't hit any traffic until just outside salinas. we got home a little before 5pm, only to turn around and go grocery shopping. by the time we got home, i was exhausted. i even woke up tuesday morning, thinking of taking the day. i didn't and i'm glad i went into to work, actually (see above).

we had a great trip and i am so incredibly proud of marshall for completing that triathlon. he was simply amazing and i know he'll only get better. apparently the tentative plan is BOTH of us will compete in the LA triathlon: marshall in the olympic distance and me in the sprint distance. we'll see... :P

Tags: eating, family, food, grad-school, la-la-land, marshall, restaurants, training, triathlon, work
Current Location: work
Current Mood: sleepy

six years ago, marshall and i went on our first date. marshall knew he had a chance when i asked for no onions on my chicken sandwich at dinner. he broke the "physical barrier" by grabbing my hand as we crossed the street to go to the movies. i knew it was a date when he kissed me good-night.

during these last 6 years: we've been thousands of miles apart twice; we've gone on 3 different vacations - hawai'i, florida, and new england; we've lived in 2 different apartments together; and we've had more couples massages that i've lost count.

i'm infinitely grateful for whatever brought marshall and i together. all it took was thursday night TV and a well-timed movie trailer, to spark a relationship that will last a lifetime.

happy anniversary, babe.

Tags: anniversary, love, marshall
Current Location: la-la land
Current Mood: loved