Hee!

In an octopus' garden.

I just need to record this monumental occasion:

I have officially won my first game of Monopoly. EVER. Not just Monopoly, either. Beatles Monopoly. I was the octopus!

Vomit.

Went out for a nice dinner last night, and promptly came home to throw it all up. Isn't it the worst when you hurk food that you really enjoyed eating? It's like you watch it going "Nooo! Come back!", and it tastes awful on the way back up, so it ruins the memory of your enjoyment just a short time before.

Or that could just be me.

Happy Christmas!

All in all, it went well this year. We stayed home and my family came over for christmas eve, where we did all of exchanging. It was a bit of a hard christmas for the whole family, since no one is in the best financial spot. Thankfully, we can all manage to have a good time together and make the most of everything that we do have.

Christmas morning was nice, just leisurely opening the remaining presents. I got some pretty bitchin' shit, if I do say so myself (Can you say heart rate monitor? oh my goodness and gracious) and it was great just to spend the day hanging around with no responsibilities. Today of course I have to clean up and get ready to find a way back to the real world by Monday....but even that can be put on hold for a little bit.

Cold.

I have a headcold and all I would like to do right now is sleep. Thanks to all the snow, I haven't been to the gym in about a week, and I'm actually kind of antsy to get back. Of course, I will have to go clean off my car in order to even get home.

Dear snow,

Please stop ruining my life.

Love,

Tina

Oh my snow.

For anyone who lives in the northeastern US, how fun was last night? End count, Portland got 13" of snow. Holy whoa. I worked yesterday, but ended up deciding it was best if I leave early and go to the grocery store to grab some food for dinner. The roads were drivable (I have been doing this for almost ten years now), but I still went about 20 -30 mph the whole way, including when I was on the interstate. I wouldn't mind as much if I could just go play in it, but I still have three days of work and it makes it harder to get there with all of this crap. I'm currently waiting for Jason to come pick me up on his way in, because I'm a sweet talker like that and he had already cleaned off his car when I had called him. Lazy? Or smart like a fox? You decide.

Rush.

With Christmas just a week away, I feel like most people around here at work are either rushing to get everything done or they are procrastinating in ways never heard of before. I'm both at this point. But I also don't have all the vacation time that they do, so I''m not as worried because next week and the week after I'm going to be all by myself and I be as leisurely productive as I'd like.

The guy from Maine won Survivor! That makes me happy for several reasons: 1, He's a mainer. 1, He is the sweetest nicest most productive member of society ever and 3, I saw my Hannah on TV talking about him because he teaches at Gorham HS! What more can I possibly ask for?

I need a new car. Or to actually put a LOT of money into the one I have for repairs. If I had better credit, I would look into getting something newer...but it is not in the cards right now. Save save save.

Christmas cards got sent out. They are 'awesome' this year. The people who have gotten them already are happy with what I did, so that is good enough for me.

Why is there so much chocolate around Christmas?

PRESENTS!

Christmas Eve is two weeks from today. Holy crow.

My family is coming to spend it at my apartment, which will be nice even though we only have a three foot tree. And it's fake. But I like to think that it makes it look like we have even more presents than we actually do.

Also, I'm not solely materialistic. I do enjoy being with my family, and playing games and in general having a good time. These things are also good. But opening presents is sweet. The best part about online shopping is that I get a present in the mail, and then it goes to someone else. Two for one!

It's five and I'd like to leave work. So...I think that I just might. I have to get here really early tomorrow anyhow, so there's no reason not to just go home when I'm feeling burnt out.

I love you!

Competition, you say?

So, Kim at work would like to have a weight loss competition with me. I know, you're thinking why would tall pretty blond Kim want to lose any weight? But she says she's put on some pounds and she'd like to get it off. I'm down. There's nothing like a little competition to spark the motivation in me. I say bring it.

Christmas shopping starts tomorrow for me! I'm super pumped. Then Saturday. And then I want to be done. Did you hear that someone got trampled to death on Black Friday? That is just plain ridiculous. Uh uh. No thank you.

Tina is in town and we are hanging out tonight. I just love her to pieces. It's good to have people in your life that just make it a happier place. I have a lot of those people, and I need to not forget that.

Gymmin' fool.

I added World Gym to my existing Planet Fitness membership (yep, that's right. I now go to TWO gyms), because World Gym has group classes that are included in the membership and together both of them still only cost me $30/month. Worth it!

I did my first group class today, and it was a strength/muscle training sort of class that kicked my ass completely. I never would have done the sort of repetitions that it required of me on my own, but because there was someone calling the shots and other people around me doing it as well, I did it. Fifty freakin' minutes of it. I was jelly afterward, and with a whole new determination to not be this body anymore. I don't feel the way I look, and I'd like for those two things to become far more cohesive than they currently are. The funniest thing about how I managed to get through today was that competition gave me the extra edge I needed. Just the desire to not be the worst person in the class. In a lot of cases my competitive nature can work against me, but this time it may be my saving grace. Hey, whatever it takes.

I think I'm ready to admit it, but...I'm terrified every Sunday evening of going to work for Monday. For the first time in years I dread going to my job. I spend a lot of time trying to figure out if I made the right move, and while I'm confident that I did...I wonder if I'm going to live to tell anyone that it was. I know that my own bad decisions will ultimately be the reason that I fail if I let it get in the way of the great work that I am capable of. I'm an amazing worker, with a talent for the things that I do and I just need to step it up and accept that for the first time in my working career I am being CHALLENGED. Being good no longer cuts it. I'm being forced to prove that I  deserve to be where I am, every day, and I'm really uncomfortable saying that this is a first for me. It's no longer effortless, and it wears on me in ways that I'm not used to. People who succeed in life the most are the ones who are the worst equipped to deal with failure, and I don't know how to lose.  

So I guess I just better win.

Post Thanksgiving.

Yesteday was the first year that I didn't have Thanksgiving with my family. It was strange, and very un holiday like. I thought I would like it better, and in the fact that I didn't have to stress about anything I did...but I also missed being around my family. Fortunately, Christmas will be with them and I like Christmas was better anyhow.

Speaking of...I'm pumped about getting gifts for people. It's my favorite part. Some people are harder to pick out for than others, but the ones where I know I'm dead on makes me feel real nice.

I'm the only one at work today, and it's incredibly hard to stay focused on tasks at hand. Hence, while waiting for something to load I update a little here. Huzzah!

Lazy Sunday.

I like Sundays a lot, solely because I don't have any responsibility to do anything at all. No one is going to chastise me for sitting around watching tv shows on my laptop, because it's a Sunday. What's great is that it's also open for hanging out with people. Tonight, I pick up Tina from the airport, yay! She's been in Poland for certification. I will never get over how much more you miss people when you can NOT see them. It's craziness.

I'm already thinking about christmas presents. I love getting gifts for other people. It's one of my biggest joys in life. 

I love my mom.

My mother came to have lunch with me today at work. It's always nice to spend time with her, since we have always been good friends. Not to mention that taking a little bit of a longer lunch break is ok by me as well.

After lunch, she gave me my 'Thanksgiving Basket'. Oh my gosh. She is the most sweet and thoughtful person ever. It was a small wickerish laundry basket with potatos lining the bottom, stuffing mix, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie mix with homemade crust and a tin, homemade roll dough, and (frozen) fresh turkey breast from turkeys that she raised herself. All with a little recipe card with directions for a thanskgiving dinner. I'm glad that I took a lot of the good qualities I adore about her, because it just makes me feel fantastic inside to know that people do nice things for the sole purpose of making other people happy.

Also, I found out a way to make cheap turtles (the candy); Take a mini pretzel, put a Rolo on top that is slightly warm and melty so that you can smoosh it down with a pecan half. Chill. Voila! Easy peasy, and super nommy.

I just tooted.

I finished my flannel duvet cover. I would like to take a  picture to show you, because it is not only super cute (on one side), but so freakin' comfy. Oh my heck. I was just the right amount of warm this morning and it was extremely hard to get out of bed. I had been struggling to keep a second blanket on, and this is just perfect. Hard work paid off!

Ok, so it wasn't hard. But it was definitely tedious and I have a short attention span at times. 

Fabricated frustration.

So I decided that I wanted to make a duvet cover to help stay warm this winter. It was going well, until I didn't have enough fabric. Today I went back to JoAnn Fabric to get some more. Of course, before I went I checked online for a coupon. Only online coupons! Grr! So I signed up with my e-mail, thinking I would get one immediately. Nope. 

Ok, fine. So I just go. OH MY GOSH. It took an hour to get 2 and a half yards of fabric and a new sewing machine needle.  But I've got 'em. And it's going to be awesome once I'm done.

The best part for me was that when I got home and checked my e-mail, there was a coupon. Oh, fate. You are so silly.

Laughing and crying.

I went to the Comedy Connection tonight with Martina (a coworker) to see John Cail (who works in the reservations department) perform. Can I just say, I don't know why I don't go to stand up more often. I love it. Laughing is so good. Even if they aren't that funny, it's still good for me.

On another note, it was beautiful weather tonight. 57 degrees! In November!  

I've officially had everyone from the front desk tell me that they miss me. It feels good that I made a big enough positive impression that people miss me, and it's also hard to hear that people I care about are unhappy. But what can you do? I had to go on. If they had paid me more to do that job, I probably would have stayed. I know that i miss it now. I miss being good at what I do, and knowing my job inside and out. I guess that will come with time, though.

Halloween @ work.

80's Roller Rink Rat

Action shot

With my old boss, Jason. I miss him terribly, even though we still work in the same building.

Hello.

My name is Tina. 

It gets better.