30 September 2010

cupcakes & cleaning

I'm really glad nobody watched me eat that last cupcake. See, they're just barely too tall for me to bite into without kind of cramming them into my mouth. Oh, they were so good.
Life's too short to deprive yourself of cupcakes.

My floors need cleaning. Well, actually everything needs cleaning. But the floors are especially gnarly. I probably won't do it today, tomorrow, or this weekend.
Life's too short to worry about the floors.

Going to soak my feet- some days they hurt after work and others they don't. I think some wine would help that, also. ;o)

All day long I thought it was Friday and I was disappointed every time I realized it was Thursday. At least tomorrow if that happens, it will be for real!

29 September 2010

pears

Ugh, pears have such a weird texture.

28 September 2010

uneventful happies

I don't know why I'm so happy right now.

Maybe it's this amazing cupcake from Whole Foods. I'm still really feeling cupcakes. I was originally going to just take a quick taste and fulfill the craving, but I keep going back to take a bite. It's So Good.

Other than cupcakes, my day/week has been fairly uneventful. Gym, work, home, bed. I have a TO-DO list of things I've been putting off for weeks, and it's going to get done this week. Mostly boring stuff.

Also, I got my scores back from the board of certification exam and I did really well. Not that it matters too much now, but it's still pretty awesome.

As I sit here after a busy yet fulfilling day of work, my cat sleeping in her box while I catch up on my blogs, a happy belly and a nice breeze outside, I know exactly why I'm so happy.

26 September 2010

sunday wine

I know why I always have a drink on Sunday nights. Shit, Gotta think positive thoughts! It's too early in the game to let it get me down. That which does not kill me, makes me stronger, right? Bring on the future. (Seriously, let's not dawdle.)

Also, I want to have a favorites party. The question is when to have it- my weekends are booking up pretty quickly- every Saturday and most Friday nights in October have plans. Gosh, it's pretty much October already??

Supposed to have a cool front tonight. *crosses fingers*

And, because I love this song, enjoy some George Michael.

wine fest

Wine fest was a big fat WIN.

I had SUCH a good time. I hardly took any pictures like I wanted to, but picture a huge, nice park (with nice grass), full of tents. Wineries, jewelry, wine accessories, painting, chocolate, and some random food. You just went up to the various wine vendors and gave them your ticket for 1/2 glass of wine.

Then we walked around and checked stuff out, sat in the grass and drank our wine. The atmosphere was perfect. It cooled down a bit in the evening so that it was really very pleasant, and everyone had a nice buzz on. The crowd was great too. No obnoxious people; just mellow, good moods all around. They had different people playing music, and I got a HUGE turkey leg for dinner.

I'm definitely going again next year.

Oh, and by the way, I'm never eating gluten again. All day yesterday I could feel the effects of that damn cheese stick.

25 September 2010

lovely

The other day I accompanied my coworker to do a draw on a patient, and the patient's family member asked me if I was a student. I said yes, and caught my coworker looking at me funny. I didn't realize it until a second later when it came to me that I'm NOT a student anymore. It didn't even occur to me because I'm just so used to being a student. Just one of those moments.

You know what I'm NOT doing this weekend?
Studying! A-hahahaha!

I'm going to investigate the most awesome gifts for the Pay it Forward project from this summer, and then enjoy the wine fest. Maybe go to Whole Foods and get some groceries. I'm seriously craving cupcakes. I think it was because the ones Missy made were so damn good and now I've eaten them all.

I ate gluten last night. On purpose. I was tipsy and mom ordered food and there was this huge platter of fried mozzarella sticks and I just HAD to have one. It was delicious and my belly only hurt a little bit. But I think I need to re-create them GF because now I'm craving them. One was not enough! Ashley, I think this is a job for your fryer.

24 September 2010

hcisgif

Holy Crap I'm So Glad It's Friday.
So it's FINALLY Friday. Oy, it's about time.

Today I got to eat lunch, even though the before-8-am-crunch-time this morning was crazy.

This afternoon wasn't so bad. Except. I was happily labeling tubes, the machines were whirring and humming problem-free, and I was watching a storm come in real quick- I could literally watch the sunny blue sky become swept with dark rain clouds.

There was heavy rains, then about 1/2 second of power loss.... and all hell broke loose. I could hear patient monitors beeping all down the hall, then one-by-one my (yes, my) machines aborted their mission. Computers shut down, results were lost, and I stayed calm. Except then they all had to be started back up, initialized, primed, and samples in progress during the outage had to be manually programmed. But I managed. Because I'm kind of a badass.

Also one of the QC parameters wasn't coming in at ALL, and I couldn't figure out why. Then I realized that I was using the wrong control all day. Oops. Shit. Chalk that up as another learning mistake that I never repeat.

Anyway, leftover chinese + wine = bliss. Debating on another glass of wine or a redbox movie. I can't do both, as the wine will prevent the safe driving but I kinda want that movie. But I really want more wine.
Movie? Wine?
Movie? Wine.
Movie... Wine!
Movie then wine!

Also, Wine Festival tomorrow! I told you, Missy, that I'd end up buying my ticket Friday night.

Except I can't print it because my printer is a FUCKtard and won't let me print in black and white even though I have plenty of black ink, but am out of fucking cyan. Infuriating.

Also, what the fuck kind of name is cyan? Why don't they just call it BLUE?

Ok, I really did just get all worked up over a stupid printer. More wine. :o)

23 September 2010

Man.

Hoooo, man.

What a day. I started work at 5am and did not sit down or stop moving until 9 hours later. I didn't even eat lunch today, which everyone knows is next to impossible for me. Every time I tried to go eat, another stat came in the door and I had to stop everything and get it done. Not that it was a bad day; just busy. By some miracle I didn't hit that dizzy, shaky hunger point. Pure adrenaline, baby.

As soon as my coworker came in at 2ish, I brought him up to speed and flew out of there. Luke and I went and ate chinese food- absolutely delicious. Being famished probably made it taste better, but it really was great. I had a tapioca slush, too, and now I'm going to rest a while till my food baby goes away. Bliss.

Since I've graduated, oh hell since I started CLS school a year ago, my days have consisted of going to school/work, coming home exhausted, and crashing early. I think I'm finally coming out of that rut- I want to go out to dinner or hang out in the afternoons/evenings instead of flopping on the couch and falling asleep. Although, right about now I wish I had a nice clean bathtub to soak and relax. Or a hot tub, but only if it was cold outside. I'm not trying to have a heat stroke, haha. I wonder how much hot tubs cost?

Umm, apparently you can buy them at Walmart. Wow. As for myself, I want this one:

 :o)



Also... are you serious?? Someone's getting paid to write articles about facebook being down?? No wonder we haven't mastered time travel or cured aids yet.

21 September 2010

ahem

I have 15 minutes before I should leave for work. Got a little bit of a schedule change a few days a week, and I gotta say it might be harder to wake up at 8 than it is to wake up at 330. I've gotten semi-used to the early time, and I think when I sleep in my body thinks it's the weekend and I should get to sleep until 10. So it's been interesting.
I think to combat this, I'm going to get up at 6(ish) and go to the gym before work. It worked today, except my toe hurts and maybe I should have stuck to weights.

I think I should clarify on my last post- I know what he's doing is a selfless, honorable thing. I'm extremely proud of him and I know it's not an easy accomplishment to become a US Marine. I sound selfish and bratty when I say, "why me?" when he'll be risking his life. He loves what he's doing and he's damn good at it. I'm supportive because I want to be; because he deserves it.

I don't think he'd understand if I told him my concerns. I think he'd take it as an attack because he's the one living it, every day, the physical and mental exhaustion. I think at this point in the training they have to think about themselves, to keep themselves going. I get it, I do.

Not that I'm going to say anything yet- it's not that definitive in my mind. It's just something that I'm slowly becoming aware of as every day passes that I'm waiting. I don't even know what I'd say if I brought it up. I try to be positive on our brief talks because I can imagine the taxing world he's immersed in right now.

If I try to ignore it, I'll just end up full of resentment and nobody will be happy. That's why I'm glad I have a blog- to sort things out. I think it all boils down to I miss him a lot and there's not a damn thing I can do about it.

19 September 2010

honestly,

I never wanted this.

This affects my life, every single day, but I never had any say in it. Instead I'm supportive while it's the little black cloud being annoying and following me around everywhere. I'm ready for my life to move on, not hang in the balance of text messages and 10-minute half-assed phone calls every weekend. It's just not very fulfilling for the sacrifice I feel like I'm making. I guess that's part of the sacrifice, or the commitment, or whatever you want to call it.

I like my job, my family, my friends, and pretty much every other aspect of my life- except my love life. I want to be happy, not waiting around to be happy. It's all wrapped up dormantly, buzzing to be opened up. I sound like a broken record, but I'm just not a very patient person.

The question is, how long do I let it affect my life? I don't know, maybe I'll feel differently tomorrow. I can't be optimistic and perky all the damn time. I'm allowed to be a little resentful every once in a while, right?

Oh, and my toe freaking HURTS! Tomorrow should be interesting.

Oh, and I think I'm going to start going to church again. With Missy. With the Catholics. Oh, the kneeling! But I feel good about it.

18 September 2010

dirty dishes & good books


HOW does this happen? I didn't even cook that much this week!

I'm running dangerously low on forks and rather than do the dishes, I'm seriously contemplating just going and buying some new forks. I hate doing the dishes SO MUCH. This is probably why I don't know how to cook- I avoid practicing because I know THIS will happen.

I woke up to the glorious light streaming into my window at 7am, and I felt ambitious so I got up and paid some bills. Then I went back to bed for 3 hours and pumpkin snuggled up under my arm. I broke down and gave her whining ass some wet food last night so now she's happy with me again. Until the wet food runs out, of course.

Chocolate chip muffins for breakfast. <3 Saturdays.

Oh, the library finally called for the book I requested months ago: My Sister's Keeper. It's so good it's hard to put down. I peeked at the end so I know how it ends, but I'm still going to read the whole thing.

16 September 2010

nom

1 m&m mcflurry and 3 bags of chips later... *guilt*

*blood lipid levels rising* *stomachache imminent*

I don't even know why I do this!

Yes I do- I have absolutely no delayed gratification neurons and it's so good!

scary camel

First thing this morning, this catches my eye on the front page of msn.com. WHY does that still shot of the camel freak me out??

It's way too early in the morning to catch scary-beyond-all-reason-camel staring at me from that one big eye from a thumbnail in the corner. I have decided that camels are creepy, and that one picture just might have ruined camels for me forever.

Have a nice, camel-free day.

15 September 2010

questionable

This morning I was making coffee when I heard a small rustling at my feet. It was Pumpkin finishing off the half-cooked hunk of questionable meat that I threw out last night because of its' questionability. She had dragged it out of the trash and ate it. I swear.

So now she's outside because I'm scared she's going to puke on something un-cleanable. Like my pillow. But if she pukes on my pillow, it's an excuse to get a new one... Hmm.

Hump day. Let's get it onnnn.

14 September 2010

hairs, hot water, tv

Until a few years ago, I was blissfully unaware of the random hairs in my sink. Then one day, Frank walked in and said, "Eeew your hair's all over the sink!" I came running in and said, "Oh my gosh, it IS!" It was like becoming aware of your nakedness in the garden of eden. I had honestly never noticed those few strands of hair that made it from my head to the sink while I styled it; it simply wasn't on my radar.

Of course since that moment it's become one of those things that I ALWAYS notice and it's super annoying having to notice them every day and want to clean them away. I liked it better when I wasn't aware of them. And they're annoyingly hard to clean up. They want to stick to the sink and move around instead of being wiped up.

Right now I would love nothing more than to take a hot shower and crawl into my fresh clean bed, but I used up the hot water cleaning the massive pile of dishes in my sink. Ugh, hate washing dishes. Now I have to find something to do while I wait for the hot water to return to an acceptable shower-taking level.

Ummmm, I got nothing. I guess I could watch tv.

Which reminds me. I'm not a huge tv watcher. I don't automatically turn on the tv; it's always an entertainment last resort. The only time I really watch it is with Chris, who is a huge tv (and reality tv- ugh) watcher. Even then sometimes I'll grab a book while he's watching tv. I dunno, I guess I'm just not a huge tv fan. Tv is starting to look really strange now that I've typed it a lot.

Anyway, I'm curious which of my 3 on-and-off readers are tv fans. What do you do instead of tv?

13 September 2010

food, gym, cat video

Dear jalapeno cheese and bean quesadilla, thank you for being my dinner. You are awesome. Next time, bring your friends guacamole and sour cream and make it a party. I'm using up leftovers in awesome ways. I'm so proud of myself.

Today .... drum roll please.... I made it to the gym! I changed the monthly payments to come from MY account, and did 25 minutes of cardio. Heck yes. Non-money-wasting motivation. I came home feeling like a skinny wiener! But, BUT. While stretching in my big t-shirt and borderline lesbian workout shorts, I noticed that I need to start shaving again. I don't really stress about shaving my legs, but it's TIME. Eesh.

And since Akhtar was kind enough to email this, have a nice kitten-based laugh.

12 September 2010

List of things I want to buy when I'm rollin' in dough

... not that I actually will be, but this is a wish list of sorts.

  • Tires. By all accounts, I should have gotten them long ago. It's not the price that's making me procrastinate. It's sitting there bored while they do things to my car and then come out and ask me if I want "absolutely necessary add-ons" that I have no idea if I need or not, and probably don't need. I think it's time to take advantage of ask future-brother-in-law to help me out.

  • Contacts. Glasses sliding down my face in the heat? Squinting on sunny days? Gorgeous eye makeup hidden behind frames? Smudged lenses? GOOD. BYE!


  • A Big Girl Bed. No, not for the bom chicka wah wah... we all know I'm not getting any for a while. I'm talking about getting rid of the twin bed that was a former bunkbed with the saggy mattress! I will have at least a queen, grown-up bed. It will have a headboard! It will not have stickers that I didn't even put there, and I'm looking forward to fresh new high-thread-count sheets and fluffy pillows.

  • A wine rack. Not that it's particularly expensive, but classy people have a nice wine rack with a supply of wine at all times. That's right, classy people-- not to be mistaken for drunks, who have bottles of wine laying around on tables (*cough* me *cough*). A wine rack instantly classy-fies things. I want something like this, but I don't really have the counter space. Enter: creativity.

That's about it for now.

p.s. that last axe commercial is my favorite :o)

11 September 2010

new blogs and workout guilt

Last night I randomly discovered this blog, hyperbole and a half. At first I was like, "Oh, this has been done and it's kind of annoying." But for some reason I kept reading and I found myself laughing hysterically.

My favorites: The Four Levels of Social Entrapment, (SO TRUE)
Dinosaur,
and I know I've read this one about the Fish before some time a while back.

If you're bored check it out.

After several glasses of wine, lots of simple carbs to soak it up, and the mediocre Date Night (thank you for only being a dollar at Redbox), I barely stayed awake last night to get Chris's text declaring freedom for the weekend. I then crashed hard until about 30 minutes ago, when I made coffee and defrosted the last piece of graduation cake for breakfast.

Oh, GOD I need to go to the gym. I know what will motivate me- I have to change the automatic payments from my mom's bank account to mine, and once I'm paying for it every month you know damn well I'm not wasting my money. But I have to actually go to the gym to change it and I haven't been... vicious cycle. I wish someone was around to go with me, which would definitely help in the motivation area.

Although I don't feel SO bad because I spend 8-9 hours of my day constantly walking/ standing/ moving at a fast pace. Still, my muscles, especially in my upper body, could use some exercise. Not to mention my cardio tolerance is back down at nothing. I took the stairs to the vending machines last week and on my way back up I was panting so hard that I couldn't comfortably eat my chips. There is so much wrong with that sentence, haha.

But enough about my never-ending workout guilt. Gonna finish my coffee and figure out what's going on today. I could say I'm going to the gym but we all know I'm not...!

09 September 2010

this post turned out to be about shoes

Today was what I'll call a "Learning Day."

As in, make a bunch of mistakes and learn how to fix them and definitely remember not to make them again. At least it wasn't the same mistake over and over, but it was different ones over and over, and they took a lot of time to fix. Oy, I kept wishing it was Friday all day so I could go home and get drunk and rent Date Night from Redbox and talk to Chris and sleep in the next day.

But anyway. Instead after work I went to Whole Foods and got some new things to try along with some old goodies. Still waiting for gluten free ice cream sandwiches to show up. I had dinner with my brother and sister at Pei Wei, and had a small glass of wine along with some very expensive dark chocolate that I splurged on. Bonus: leftover chinese takeaway for lunch tomorrow. I predict an early bedtime, even earlier than my normally early bedtime.

Song lyric stuck in my head:

you got your hot crowd,
shoes on your feet,
and you wear them around
like it ain't shit.
but you don't know
the way that you look,
when your steps
make
that
much
noise

Too bad I love it when my heels make that clacky heel noise. Reminds me of "the clackers" from The Devil Wears Prada. I don't care, I still love it. I think it stems from the days of Princess Shoes. They were what my dad called our dress shoes when we were kids- those shiny black mary janes that weren't princess shoes unless they made noise on the tile. And they HAD to be worn with ruffle socks, very much like these:

photo props-
picture links to Jody Cooper's photography blog


However, I like the grown-up version of princess shoes much better now:



No, Ash, I'm not getting Manolo Blahniks for your wedding. I wish...

08 September 2010

comfort


Not that I'm AT ALL picky about ice cream, but this is my all-time favorite standby.

Stressful day at work today and I couldn't help but bring some of that stress home with me. Nothing a hot shower and some ice cream can't help.

I'm wanted to get people together for a tour of the factory this weekend, but they're only doing them Monday through Friday. Balls.

07 September 2010

grind baby

I just spent 45 minutes researching spice and seed grinders...

I know.

But I want to grind those flax seeds in my freezer into flaxseed meal, and darn it I don't want to buy a coffee grinder just for that. I want something smaller, cheaper, and please, not another appliance! Maybe something like a handheld pepper mill would work. They fit in a drawer, but I haven't found one that someone has claimed to actually work on flax seeds. I don't want to buy one only to have it not work that well. Like this super cute nutmeg grinder, which I have a feeling would only work on nutmeg.

Oh, and then I found something called an herb grinder and I got all hopeful because it's cute, compact, and cheap, but then it turned out to be something for potheads and I don't think it'd work that well on seeds. Darn.



And THEN, I came across a cute story about a sesame seed grinder, which can be found at asian food stores. Jennifer! This is a job for you! Do they exist? I need one! Even if they're not nearly as cute as the nutmeg grinders...


Because damn it, after 45 minutes of searching for alternatives for coffee grinders, I'll be damned if I buy a coffee grinder now. And I don't know why it has to be cute. It just has to. Oh, and it has to be hand-cranked or battery-operated. I don't know why. Maybe I need to sleep instead of pondering flaxseed grinders. I have said "cute" way too many times in this post.

06 September 2010

nice

330am: alarm goes off. snooze repeatedly

410am: get out of bed.

430am: leave for work

453am: clock in

1020ish: leave for the day (reduced workload for holiday)

1100am: pop frozen cookie dough in oven, brew fresh pot of coffee

It's dreary and rainy outside and I've got a date with my couch. Got some magazines, plus the 6th Harry Potter book.

I like how I can leave work at 10am and still have 5 hours on the clock. SO glad I didn't settle for crappy jobs.

Oh yeah, tomorrow, for real this time, I start to work out again.

05 September 2010

fall-ish

When I let pumpkin in at 7am this morning, I caught a whiff of fall in the air. I actually opened the door again, stuck my head out, sniffed, then put my arm out to feel the air- on the slightly cool side. If I wasn't so tired, I would have gotten up and had coffee on the back porch to enjoy the morning.

But I crawled back into bed with a purring cat and of course now it's hot and humid, but it was a great taste of things to come. I love the first cool day with a bite after these nasty summers, and I'm looking forward to hoodies.

Now, a trip to Ikea with madre. I LOVE Ikea.

03 September 2010

joyfulness

Um, freaking YUM and CUTE.


click to link

I'm glad this busy week is over... WITH a paycheck. Hellz yeah I love being a scientist. This is making all those years of school worth it.

Time to go shopping catch up on my sleep... after doing wedding stuff with my sisters!

Happy Friday!

02 September 2010

Thurs-tothe-day

1. Working does not make me miss Christopher any less, like I thought it would. Hrm.

2. Still loving the job.

3. Re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. SO. Freaking. Good. Can't wait for the movie.

4. Really want ice cream for dinner.

5. Really should go to the gym and work out, but my feet hurt. Also, I think moving non-stop for 9 hours should count as a workout. What a busy day. Tomorrow is FRIDAY and then I can sleep in!! Oh yeah, and it's PAYDAY too!