Aaah Weekend!!!

What a great weekend! H2B was in town since he had Friday AND Monday off for MLK day. He met me and some friends and coworkers at our usual Happy Hour spot at 5 and we all had a really great time. Happy hour went into over time, we didn't get home until about 9:30 or 10.

Saturday was a marathon. For someone who rarely likes to leave the house for extended periods of time on a weekend day (I mean really, if I need to go to Target and the grocery store, I break it up and do one per day), I'm amazed at myself for having this much stamina. So here was our Saturday:

Event #1: Crate & Barrel for our first wedding registry experience. Super overwhelming to pick wine glasses from an entire wall of them! But we had a good time and didn't disagree on much. Dishes, silverware, cookware, etc! The kitchen is really H2B's domain, so I deferred to his preference most of the time.

Event #2: Lunch (and a beer) at Buffalo Wild Wings. A nice break to clear our heads before Event #3

Event #3: Macy's for wedding registry part two. This time I was running the show, sheets and towels are some of my favorite things and The Hotel Collection is just so yum!

After that we went home for a short rest before

Event #4: Drinks with some friends at a bar near home. Super fun but we had to cut it short so we wouldn't be late for...

Event #5: Dinner with other friends at a Baltimore fav, The Brewer's Art. The food was excellent, as was the beer. And the wine. And the company!

Sunday, H2B and I stayed close to home and made soup for lunch and a yummy yummy casserole for dinner. Finally some relaxation!

Monday, H2B left super early to beat the inauguration craziness of DC. Since it snowed all day, I spent the day in bed. I read a little, I watched a little TV, and I took a couple of naps. I also did some online wedding registry management. An altogether great weekend! Now I am back at work refreshed and ready to get stuff done!

Adjusting or Adapting?

I've been meaning to post on this for awhile now. This winter I've noticed a marked change in myself. I'm not as cold (or bitter about the cold) as I was last winter. I've even gotten into the habit of putting a coat on before leaving the house in the morning (I sometimes forgot last winter and it was not fun walking out the door!) although I still dislike the inconvenience. The other day it was in the 30s and I really didn't feel that cold walking outside in my work clothes with a coat and scarf.

I'm wondering, however, is this just adjustment and getting used to feeling cold or have I adapted and so do not feel as cold in the more wintery weather than my past homes? An interesting philosophical question, don't you think? ;)



As an off topic update, my 2009 fitness and eating plan are going great! The scale is moving in the right direction and I'm feeling more energetic, which also helps with the positivity and optimism. What a great year so far!

Is Optimism Exhausting?

or is something else making me extremely tired?

This whole week I've been a slug. I've been to the gym twice (and it's Friday, not good) and have been pushing the snooze button like it's my job. It doesn't seem to matter how early I go to bed, I just can not force myself to wake up. Thank goodness I shower at night or I would be one stinky chick.

So what could it be? I have some theories:

- It's hard to face a 5 day work week after so many days off for the holidays, especially when there are no days off in the foreseeable future.

- H2B and I spent a glorious 2 weeks together and my subconscious is depressed without him to snuggle with and talk to.

- I haven't been exercising as much and so am low on energy.

- It's one of those weird sleep cycles we all get into and in time it will correct itself.

In any case, it's Friday. I'm going to the gym after work (I swear!) to exhaust myself even further. I will then go to sleep at a reasonable hour (like maybe 9 or 10) and sleep in tomorrow!! My hope is that will kick this cycle to the curb so I can get back to my usual self. Plus my sister is coming down from New York tomorrow, so I need to be well rested for some sisterly bonding / wedding stuff.

Alternate Thinking

Just one day into my "be optimistic" plan, I slept through my alarm. Okay, fine, so I hit snooze for an extra half hour. Whatever, same thing. I'm sure I broke the record for speediest shower/makeup/getting dressed and out the door in history, or at least for the past year of my life. Normally, I would have said to myself "It's okay to be a little later than usual. half the office doesn't get in until after 9 so even if I'm 20 minutes later than usual, I'm still technically early." However, this morning I had a 9:00 meeting to prep for. Granted, it's only my weekly status meeting with my boss, but still, I like to be prompt and prepared.

I still had time to stop at 7-Eleven for my customary diet coke. It's just not a good morning if I don't get my "good morning sweetie" from the nice couple that run the store. Of course, since we had freezing rain last night and it was still raining this morning, traffic was a little heavier than usual. And of course I got stuck behind slow people once off the highway. And of course once in the parking garage, I had to stop and wait for a pedestrian to s-l-o-w-l-y get out of my way instead of mowing her down. As I sat there waiting, I was reminded of something my mom told me. Now, while I would love to give her credit for this philosophy, she actually got it from one of the social workers at the place where my dad got his chemo.

Here it is. Are you ready? Okay. When you're running late, or in a hurry, or just plain cranky and stuck behind a slow poke driver on the road or held up by an elderly person slowly crossing the street, remind yourself that this person is keeping you safe and your car undamaged by forcing you to slow down. Pretty good advice huh?

My personal addition to this is that in all honesty, you aren't going to get where you're going any more quickly if this person weren't in your way. I can't even count the number of times I've seen some jerk cutting people off and swerving in and out of traffic while I patiently waited in the lane of my choice, only to find that jerk face and I arrived at the same place several miles away at the same exact time.

Back to my optimistic and positive morning. When I arrived in the office at 8:40, I checked my bosses calendar and it turned out he was up at the hospital for a meeting and hadn't rescheduled our meeting. "Oh well!" I said to myself. Now I can take my time, eat some breakfast, catch up on e-mails and be even better prepared for our meeting whenever it happens.

Yay me! Go optimism!

Be Optimistic...

Don't you be a grumpy, when the road gets bumpy just smile, smile, smile and be happy!

Happy New Year to all my loyal readers! I've never really been one for New Year's resolutions. I always predicted that after about a week I'd relapse back into whatever bad habit I decided to drop, so I rarely bothered.

In the past month or so, however, I have caught myself several times feeling and acting very negatively. It's not pretty. You know those bitchy girls who do nothing but complain and put other people down? You know how you hate them? Yeah, I really don't want to become one of them. I've known many in my short life, and really dislike their poisoning effect on everyone and everything around them.

So here's my resolution: I resolve to be more optimistic and positive in 2009. Now I know some people think I'm overly perky and happy as it is and the thought of more sunshine and butterflies is just too much to handle. My resolution is not to increase my regular level of positivity, instead, I will be attempting to reduce the amount of time I spend in Negative Nelly mode. Stay tuned on this...

Home is Where the Heart is

But what is you have trouble figuring out exactly where that is?

H2B and I spent a week in California, which was great. But as we boarded our plane yesterday to return to Baltimore, I had this feeling that I was going home. This isn't an unusual feeling; I've had it ever since I returned to college after that first Fall Break. A big part of me, though, felt like I was leaving home at the same time.

It's a strange feeling to feel like you have two homes. On the one hand, no matter where you are, you're always home. But on the other, you always miss home because you're never there. There's a sense of never really belonging anywhere and a constant feeling that I'm always waiting. In Baltimore I'm waiting until the next time I take time off from work to "go home" and when I'm in California, although I love being there, I still look forward to "going home" to get back to my life.

I really do love the life I've made for myself here. I have a great apartment, I love my job, and I have made some good friends. I simultaneously can't imagine ever leaving and look forward to a time when H2B and I decide to make a change.

I suppose this is better than a constant longing to be someplace else, doing other things. It's still pretty weird though...

Reason #87 California is better than Baltimore

Okay, I admit that it's not really fair to compare; California is a whole state and Baltimore is just one city. But today, I'm mad at Baltimore and you know what? It's my blog and I'll do what I want!

So here's why, for today, I dislike B'more so much and yes, these are generalizations that have exceptions. People here are r-u-d-e RUDE! I understand that I grew up in a friendly town that was part of a friendly state and that not every stranger I pass on the street is going to smile and say hello to me. I have come to accept that.

HOWEVER, when you work in an office of less than a hundred people, and you pass someone in the hallway and not only do you not say hello but you don't even smile OR make eye contact, that's rude. I understood when I was the new kid in the office and maybe these people didn't know my name, but I've been here awhile now, you know me, fucking smile, okay? It takes very little energy, it makes other people happy and guess what? Studies show that even if you're in a bad mood, smiling will actually improve your affect.

AND if you enter the kitchen to get your morning coffee and someone else is in there getting a lovely beverage or snack, pretending you're all alone in there and going about your business in silence is RUDE. We are coworkers, we see each other 5 days out of 7. Even if you are a miserable, self-centered human being (one of many in my office these days), maybe putting forth some friendly gesture of a "good morning, how are you today?" will improve the workplace and therefore make you just a smidge happier. And if you're worried that I'm going to suddenly tell you my life story because you said "how are you?" get over yourself, most people will give you a one word answer such as "fine," "good," or maybe if it's a Monday "tired." Humans are social creatures, we need human contact. It's normal. Being rude is not normal.

And another thing, throw away your trash! Is it that much of an inconvenience to just hold on to your soda can, newspaper, sandwich wrapper, etc until you walk past a trash can? Do you realize that you are contributing to this city becoming more and more of a shithole than it already is? AND if you're at the gym, put your towel in the laundry bin, not the floor. You have to walk past it to leave the locker room. Who exactly do you think is going to pick that up? There is no towel fairy so do it yourself.