But you're only 27....

Well yes I know that. But this might very well be the greatest year of my entire life so far. No, I'm not getting married and there damn sure ain't no baby on the way (no ring, no baby swing, you dig?). But I was sitting down with a girlfriend the other night and we started talking about trips. I happened to mention that I'll be going on a cruise for the first time at the end of August. Then I went on to say that I will also be visiting Disney for the first time as well. In the next breath I jokingly stated that this was the best year of my life and as the words fell from my lips I realized, holy crap-it really is!

Let's just go through this shall we?

Joe's family are big ole Disney freaks. They positively go gaga for Mickey and his pals. Joe has been about 6 times that lucky duck; and it has always been a dream of his to take me there for my first visit to the land where everyone's dreams come true. So last Christmas his family sat everyone down and said guess what, next year around this time (use your Oprah voice here folks)-you're going to Disney! And you're going to Disney! And you and you and you and you're going to Disney!!!!! Holy crap! November 27th kids, it'll be me and Mickey livin' it up, Princess-style! I cannot wait! I will get autographs from all of the characters and I will be wearing Mickey ears everyday! I will ride the Teacups the moment we get into the park and then once more on our last night in town. This is going to be MAGICAL!

You see that? I'm going to be just as happy as Tom Cruise! 

(but more so because I'm not filthy rich so I won't be taking any of this amazing trip of a lifetime for granted)

Someone get me a couch to stomp on!

Second, I get a great new job at the beginning of the year and for the first time I really begin to feel like an adult. I have an adult commute and an adult salary and have started paying bills on time (and sometimes a little sooner) like an adult.

Oh if only my office were a little bigger!

Then after years of wishing and planning, my mother and I get our first tattoos. Tattoos I was able to pay for thanks to my new adult salary. Cha-Ch-ouch!

As Alex, tattoo extraordinaire said, "Your first tattoo is on your skull-that's badass!"

Then my co-workers turn me on to this wonderful radio show called Elvis Duran and the Morning Show and now my adult commute is energized and full of laughter and life. I get into work smiling and, thanks to discovering IHeartRadio, I drive home smiling too. Now, I may be a little obsessed with the show but that's for another post....

I even got to speak with them on air and now have my very own Elvis Duran T-Shirt! Whoo-hoo!

Then Joe's dad calls us and say, hey, you wanna go on a cruise at the end of August? Boy, would I! And there ya go, cabin for two to St. John's, booked and ready to set sail! All aboard!!!

Quick! Someone get me a washcloth folded to look like a bunny!

And to top it all off-I've had the pleasure of using my beautiful IPad, Oscar all summer long! Getting him as a birthday gift from Joe was yet another wonderful milestone this year! Live it up baby! Live-it-up!!

Please note: Depending on your relationship with me, the above statement might not be true.

I love you Oscar!

8-Bit and Beautiful

I know I don't have to tell you people this. But I freakin LOVE my IPad! His name is Oscar and he has a beautiful purple cover and he makes me smile.

About a month ago a friend of mine commented on FB that she was obsessed with this App called Tiny Tower. Well, thanks a lot Emily C! I am now just as obsessed (if not more-you, unlike myself, have a life) as you are! This game is addicting and it's one of the simplest games you could download! Words with Friends is more challenging then this App but I just cannot help myself!

If you have a smart phone or an IPad go download this app!don't download this App! It's torture! You're going to get sucked in and I don't want to be the person you blame for losing all of your spare time taking care of this little 8-bit apartment complex. I'm the female virtual Donald Trump over here! I just love it!

I'm actually neglecting my other Apps because I can't stop! So, Words with Friends, Battleship, Burn the Rope, Scrabble, Simon, Angry Birds; I'm sorry. But my heart (currently) belongs to Tiny Tower.  

This is what I get when I'm at work....

Joe thought thinks this is the funniest thing on Earth. He can't look at it without dying. 

This, in a nutshell, is my boyfriend. 

I'm in a Glass Case of Emotion!

This week has been absolutely dreadful! I am a super emotional person and this week has been the most draining week for me. All of this is good but still, I need electrolytes dripping through an IV at this point because I simply cannot give anymore.

I've been gearing up for Harry Potter and since I've read all of the books in the series, I knew just what to expect from the final movie. So I've been on the verge of tears all week thinking about everything that will happen. Joe hasn't read any of the books (or any book for that matter since 1999) so I couldn't discuss anything about the last film with him and of course he just didn't understand what the big deal was.

Then the US Woman's Soccer team had two of the most outstanding performances I've ever been privy to witness and of course that just set me off. And Japan! Let's not forget about them! I mean I know they're playing us in the finals but the fact that a huge natural disaster just crippled their country AND for the first time in their history, the team is going to the finals of a World Cup tournament?! Stick a fork in me people-that's a wrap!


Then-THEN! Joe and I sit down to watch the ESPYs. ARE-YOU-KIDDING-ME?! They not only honor a boxer who was wrongfully imprisoned for 20 years, convicted of a murder he didn't commit; who also grew up to watch his father beat his mother to death and then years later witness his brother get stabbed to death and then come face to face with his brother's killer and forgive him; so then after a decade into his sentence is told by the D.A. during his appeals case, that if he admitted to the murder they would release him and he says NO because he refused to be labeled for a crime he never committed and went back to jail for another ridiculously cruel amount of time. He eventually got out thanks to some uncovered case files that blew his case wide open and now his goal is to coach students in his own gym. The man has no hate and blames no one for the time he had to spend in jail. He doesn't feel his time in jail was time lost because it provided him with a new outlook in life and helped him refocus and re-purpose his life.
BUTTTTT
Then they also decide to honor a high school student who won the national wrestling match this year and oh yeah-he's only got one leg!
And if that wasn't enough to bring a tear to your eye-my man gets on stage and starts telling his story! So he's born with one leg, his biological father walks out, years later his step father walks out leaving him and his mother homeless, his mother then gets very ill, and when he tells his mom he's prepared to quit wrestling so he can get a job and support them - she tells him don't you dare and then he goes and beats last years champion at the national match!
Are you guys following all of this?! This was all in one program! Are you kidding me?! This is just too much! They don't even write movies that are THIS inspirational! Joe just didn't know what to do with me by the end of the show-I was a complete mess. Just fell apart.

Then we finally get to see Harry Potter. And they show a preview for a movie based on a true story about a Dolphin whose tail had to be amputated and is then taught to swim with a prosthetic tail! And it's a true story?!? So I'm going to see Harry Potter after a week of being emotionally drained, partially due to the fact that I'm going to see Harry Potter and this is the preview they choose to open the movie with?!?!? It's just not fair people. I'm telling you. I need a serious nap and a huge bottle of Gatorade, I am not going to recover from all of this anytime soon....

Crying for GOOD reasons? I like it :)

Am I Creepy?

I don't mean to be. I'm curious and I like surprises. I guess that combination confuses, and occasionally, concerns folks.

I was in traffic again on the way home tonight (and on the way in! 2 1/2 glorious hours of traffic this morning-whoo hoo!) and I drove next to a car with another fun license plate! Tonight's plate read "SEAGYPSY". I thought this was pretty cool. Then, as always, my curious side took over and, as I had a good amount of time to sit with my thoughts, I started to wonder what would cause someone to get a license plate like that? Did they have a boat? Was "Mermaid" or "SeaWitch" taken already? I've never heard anyone refer to a Sea Gypsy anywhere before so of course my head was a spinnin'.

This is where "creepy" me kicks in. Just like Cat Lady, if I had the chance to meet the Sea Gypsy, I'd ask what the license plate was all about. I don't know why this is bad though. I know people are weary of strangers and after 9/11, we all, as patriots, must assume everyone is a terrorist.

But about two decades ago, it really wasn't "taboo" to approach a complete stranger and start talking to them. I'm a nice person, I certainly wouldn't approach anyone in an aggressive or excited manner, but yet when I share my desire to ask a complete stranger a question, I'm shot a look of utter disbelief. This drives Joe nuts actually, he hates it when I "make a scene" or fail to "control myself". But dammit, obviously these people put these license plates on their cars to be seen! So why wouldn't I ask? If you had something unique on your car or hell, even on your person, wouldn't you expect to get some questions every now and again about what all of that was about? If you don't have a desire to stand out, don't single yourself out through your actions or accouterments. And I don't think anyone that has a license plate like these would mind if a friendly person said in passing at a rest stop, hey, what's the story behind that license plate? Hell! I followed a dude in his car to ask him about his plate and he was perfectly cool with it!

On another "creepy" note; My desk at work, in fact at any job in which I've ever had my own "space", is quite decorated. I like being surrounded by fun, happy things that either evoke a fond memory, or make me smile throughout the day. Recently one of my co-workers gave me a tourism pamphlet that had a bunch of, for lack of a better term, super-random stickers inside. He knew I liked "kitschy" and decorative things so without a second thought, gifted them to me.

Now in high school we were not allowed to decorate our lockers with stickers. I got around that by turning every sticker I ever had into a magnet. My locker was covered from floor to ceiling and it was perfectly acceptable and a lot of passersby would look upon them in awe.

So, given my history with sticker-to-magnet transformations, I decided to create fun magnets from this pamphlet and even came up with the idea of randomly placing said magnets around the office. I thought it would be fun to occasionally put a magnet on a co-workers file cabinet for them to find the following morning. I'm the last person to leave the office every night so this would be extremely easily accomplished.

I put the first surprise magnet in someone's office at the beginning of the week and it took him about two days before he realized it was there. When he finally noticed, he asked me about it and when I confessed that, yes, I thought of you and put it in your office, he said he loved it and thought it was pretty neat. Mission accomplished!

Well I did the same thing with another co worker and unfortunately, their reaction was quite different. I was told they felt it was creepy and left them confused and concerned as to why someone would put something on their desk. Mind you, this magnet is smaller then a dime and was chosen specifically for this person because of something they have going on in their personal life (it's a super awesome thing so please don't think I'm a jerk or anything). But, it made them uncomfortable none the less and I was told I was creepy and should not consider continuing to "surprise" the rest of the office with these magnets.

I'm a little bummed because this is not what I expected. Granted, I assumed everyone would react as I would, surprised and tickled and curious, but that's a little presumptuous of me and this co-worker's reaction is proof of that. I will still turn the rest of the stickers into magnets, but I don't know if I will continue to surprise my co-workers with them now. I am still fairly new to the office so maybe I'll wait until they all "get" me and may not have such sensitive feelings towards one of my "surprises". We'll see. I suppose I could always just ask each of them whenever I come across a magnet I think they'd like. Who knows. I'd just rather avoid being labeled the office "creeper". We don't have one of those yet and I would never wish that title be bestowed upon me.

It's hard being a "unique" adult, which is why I still contend, I never agreed to become a grown up!

Don't Call it a Comeback

I was stuck in traffic on my way home last night for 3 hours. THREE HOURS! It, for lack of a better term, sucked!

The only cool thing that came out of it however: I saw Cat Lady! I was so excited I almost forgave the fact that it took me a half an hour to get from one exit to the next.....then it took me another hour before I'd finally get off the highway, so the excitement was short-lived.

One other, kind of cool thing I observed while trying real hard not to melt in the days heat and/or fall asleep behind the wheel, was a black Maserati with the license plate that read "Yahoo-7" Thanks to that guy, I spent the rest of my time stuck in bumper to bumper traffic contemplating why someone would have a license plate like that. Perhaps he worked for Yahoo? Big corporate-type? Maybe he was just a driver for Yahoo and was late picking up some big corporate-type? Who knows.

Once in high school my friend Christine and I were behind a Corvette with the license plate that read "Starbux". Now, being two teenage girls with nothing planned for the afternoon, we decided to follow said Corvette and see if we might be able to ask the driver what the license plate was all about. Now before you go calling us stalkers, we were only going to follow the driver until he turned off the main road we were on, we just thought it was fun trying to guess what the plate was all about. As luck would have it, the Corvette turned into a local bank and we decided to just go and ask about the plate. Turns out the very nice gentleman who, surprisingly, wasn't concerned two teenage girls in a white mini-van just followed him into a bank parking lot, had come from a family whose last name was Starbucks and they had sold the name to the coffee mogul. Now, I'd like to believe his story was true but "grown up" me really doesn't think that's how Starbucks got their name. But who knows. The man was wearing a very nice pin striped dress shirt with a shiny, expensive looking watch sticking out from under his cuff-linked sleeves so it's very possible he was telling the truth. Either way, makes for a good memory and a pretty funny, albeit creepy, story.

So after seeing cat lady and driving past the Yahoo Maserati, my week was pretty much made-what else could possibly surprise me on my commute after all of that? Well folks, this morning on my way in I passed a completely different Maserati and that guy had a funny license plate too! His read, "BatMobil" - apparently rich dudes have a sense of humor and don't mind expressing it via their super fancy sports cars. Go 'head rich dudes, go 'head.



Oh and I've finally figured out why I always get songs stuck in my head at the office-it's completely quiet in here! When one of us isn't on the phones, it's like a library! Something's bound to get stuck in there simply because there's nothing going on to distract me from humming some random tune. And yesterday was the worst by far! Who honestly wants this in their head all day?:

No really, ALL day!