I'm just your average, everyday, divorced 38 year old girl -- overweight, tragically unhip,
and trying to make a life for myself. I live with two furry beasts, Dave and Abby, whose
feline mission in life is to choke me with their fur. Nothing special.
There is life after a transcontinental plane trip!
Saturday morning (just barely). Well, I'm here (here being Virginia, of course). It's cold, as advertised, and...{big announcement} I've seen snow! Yes, the quintessential southern California girl had a (semi) white Christmas! Woo. Hoo.
In other news...I got some nice jewelry from Chris for the holidays. It's not the Cartier tank watch or the tennis bracelet that I had my eye on, it's a lovely little ring for the third finger of my left hand. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I'm (we're) engaged. As I've said all day when asked, "I don't know when or where, but you'll be the first to know once we figure it out". I'll post a picture once I get home. (It's pretty!)
I'm going now, because Chris needs to go to sleep and I'm tapping away on the keyboard of his computer. (No, there will be no other tapping of anything of Chris' tonight...we're at his folks' house!!! Get your minds out of the gutter, people.) Not sure if I'll post again before I get home, but you just never know.
Wednesday morning. OK, I've made a decision about my holiday plans: I'm going to Virginia. Thank you very much to my mother, for finally making the decision crystal clear for me; I honestly don't know if I'd ever have made the decision on my own, or, if I did, it probably would have involved flipping a coin. So, I'm going. I'm not packed, but I did all of the laundry last night, and that's the worst part of it.
Today is a truncated work day for my department and it's already started off with a bang. One of my favorite team members is pissed as all get out with me because I questioned some dates on a report. I guess she spent about an hour going over old approval reports to make sure that I was totally wrong and now she's lit. Well, it's Christmas Eve and I'm not going to let it get me down! It's my job to be a pain in the butt and if I hadn't checked and the dates had been incorrect, she wouldn't have been the one explaining to product management why components in several products had to be pulled back for revision. Have I mentioned lately how much I love being a project manager? Fortunately, today is not an alcohol free zone at VLSCI, as a matter of fact, there's all kind of champagne, wine, and beer in the department fridge as we speak. As long as the gift certificate that I ordered on the Web for my Secret Santa giftee arrives before the gift exchange starts, today will be just fine.
I don't know if I'll post from Virginia or not, so, just in case, I hope that every single person reading this has a wonderful holiday, whichever holidays you celebrate, and that the hopes and dreams you hold tightly in your heart will come to fruition in the new year ahead. Think of me about 10:30pm Pacific tonight, as I shoehorn myself into my (probably middle) seat, take my Tylenol PM, lower my eye shade, and drift off to sleep with visions of the man I love dancing in my head.
Monday afternoon. This is an interesting article. I'm not sure that I'd ever have drawn a parallel between Qaddafi and the whole Afghanistan/Iraq situation, but Hitchens plays a credible game of global Connect the Dots.
Monday morning. I'll do a real post later, but for now, I'm stealing from Danelle's blog.
1. What did you do in 2003 that you'd never done before? Walked over 13 miles at one time.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make any next year? I didn't really make any resolutions. I never do, but I'm thinking about making myself a promise to be more fiscally intelligent next year. I fritter away WAY too much money!
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope!
4. Did anyone close to you die? My friend from work, Leonor, and my Great Uncle Bob.
5. What countries did you visit? None, unless you count Appalachia as a separate country.
6. What would you like to have in 2004 that you lacked in 2003? A car that I don't have to worry about taking long road trips with.
7. What date from 2003 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? May 5 - the day I met Chris
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Training for a marathon and starting a novel
9. What was your biggest failure? I didn't finish my novel (but I WILL).
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Just a couple of colds
11. What was the best thing you bought? My awesome running/walking shoes.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My cats. They haven't destroyed anything in a really long time.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? One of my team members. She should be a leader on my team and, instead, she's been passed and she's pissy about it.
14. Where did most of your money go? I haven't a clue. See #2.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Falling in love, seeing New York City for the first time, training for a marathon, and writing a novel.
16. What song will always remind you of 2003? Drift Off to Dream ~ Travis Tritt
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: i. happier or sadder? Happier ii. thinner or fatter? Fatter, unfortunately iii. richer or poorer? Poorer
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Cleaning house, reading, and meditating.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Watch TV.
20. How will you be spending Christmas? That's still up in the air. It will either be a quiet day at my house with my folks or four hour layover at Atlanta followed by dinner and presents with all of Chris' extended family, including his two little girls.
22. Did you fall in love in 2003? Yes, and it still amazes me.
23. How many one-night stands? Not a one (thank you God!)
24. What was your favorite TV program? West Wing, Ed, Seventh Heaven, Everwood, and Gilmore Girls
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Hate is truly a wasted emotion and it makes you feel worse, so I don't think there's anyone I'd apply the word "hate" to in my life.
26. What was the best book you read? "Cry, the Beloved Country" by Alan Paton
27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Evanescence.
28. What did you want and get? Love.
29. What did you want and not get? Thinner.
30. What was your favorite film of this year? I haven't been terribly impressed with anything this year. I also haven't seen too many movies, so that's probably why.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 36 and my mom came down on the train and spent the day with me, just dinking around.
32.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? If I'd lost weight.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2003? Confused.
34. What kept you sane? Um, I don't think the premise is sound.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I love Mel Gibson.
36. What political issue stirred you the most? Too hard to choose just one thing, so I'm keeping mum.
37. Who did you miss? My friend, Rachel. We parted ways a few months ago and the friendship had started to deteriorate even before that. We don't talk at all now.
38. Who was the best new person you met? Chris' cousin's daughter, Shay. She's 13 going on 21 with a great head on her shoulders and limitless potential. I wish that I could become a mentor or something like that for her.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2003. You don't have to be perfect and it's OK if it takes more than one try to complete a dream.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. Looking out on the morning rain I used to feel uninspired And when I knew I had to face another day Lord, it made me feel so tired Before the day I met you, life was so unkind But your love was the key to my peace of mind
CHORUS Cause you make me feel, you make me feel, you make me feel like A natural woman
When my soul was in the lost and found You came along to claim it I didn't know just what was wrong with me Til your kiss helped me name it Now I'm no longer doubtful of what I'm living for Cause if I make you happy I don't need to know more
