Monday, January 28, 2008

Wandering

In lieu of an actual post, I have randomness for you.

Our CEO has a runner in her pantyhose. I am embarrassed for her but loving that she is human at the same time.

D and I went to a dinner party with some of his higher-ups on Friday night. It was much better than I thought, but still nerve-wracking. On the way home, D asked both if he was professional enough and funny enough. Guys need affirmations too!

Today I told a co-worker how Scotch Guard was invented. She laughed at me. I thought everyone had heard that story in science class somewhere along the way; but perhaps I really heard it from all of my family members that work at 3M. Don't worry, I did not tell her about hymnals and Post-it Notes.

Q likes to chew her fish oil pills; this morning she squirted Carter on the nose and quickly licked it off.

Last Thursday a soon-to-be ex co-worker committed a major sin when talking to a woman. A certain director here has gained a bit of weight since starting last spring, she also carries that weight in her mid-section. (Do you see where I'm going with this?) Almost ex co-worker walked up to her with her hand reaching for her belly and asked if she was pregnant. The answer was a royally pissed off and insulted, "No." !!!

I had a facial on Saturday morning. My skin was glowing the rest of the day; I was actually in love with my skin...for about 10 hours. When I woke up on Sunday morning I had small zits all over my face. I've heard of this happening before, but it has never happened to me.

I was pleasantly surprised that Victorya was auf'd and nearly died of shock when Ricky won.

Success! Previous non-post has been replaced by current non-post.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

You Get 10 Bucks, I Get 10 Bucks, We All Get 10 Bucks

Sign up for Ebates through the above link before February 14, 2008 and receive a $10 sign up bonus--and I'll get a $10 referral bonus!

I signed up for Ebates just before Christmas and I'll receive my first Big Fat Check in a few weeks. After that, I'm changing over my payment option to the Animal Humane Society--so all of the referral bonuses will benefit shelter animals.

So do the same shopping you already do, and get some money back too!

If asked for the referring party's email address, please enter: museonvacation@gmail.com

If the link above isn't working, try this or copy & paste this:
www.ebates.com/doublebonusoffer/index.htm?id=33970198

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Cheeky

My skin hates January. Every year the unrelenting Minnesota winter brings freezing temperatures and my skin cries. My skin care routine that only rates 6 out of 10 the rest of the year completely crumbles when faced with the added challenge of preventing dryness and redness on top of all of the other demands I make.

As you might have guessed, I have been searching the Internet to find the magic combination of products to transform my problem skin into a dewy, peaches ‘n cream complexion. Although I have not yet found the perfect product (although many samples have been requested with high hopes), I have discovered that cosmetics companies have awesome marketing teams. I am quite certain that Philosophy’s Makeup Optional set will completely clear up my skin, even though every review at MUA begs to differ; and that the packaging of Shiseido’s Pureness just deserves to be caressed as it cleanses my aura as well as my face.

I have not yet spent a fortune on skin care products (Oh how I miss my high school skin! Crazy, right? But really, I had nice skin with just a simple routine of Noxema and Oil of Olay and don’t think for a second that I didn’t try to switch right back to that last year when all of the skin issues began!) as I am patiently waiting for my samples to arrive: Arbonne, Aveda and a few others including Pureness (could not resist the pretty blue bottles!). And as I waded through oceans of information on beauty forums and blogs, I came across this Newsweek article which made me laugh out loud as it preached the virtues of sunblock: Wonder what your skin would look like if you'd kept it protected from the sun? "Look at your butt."

Oh, I’m Supposed to Blog Here

That is enough of a break for you; I’m back and I’m posting. Let the nonsense begin!

Some of you noticed that I was not around; it makes me feel good to be missed. Some days I feel like the Internet redirects my rambling to a black hole somewhere. Oh yes, Pity Party for one, please—at a table near a fireplace lest I freeze to death in January rendering me unable to continue whining. (I did the whole Cut & Paste dance with this paragraph too many times to count until I figured that I should leave it in as it accurately represents my current mood: full of self pity with a huge helping of disgust from said self pity.)

So, where have I been? Work has been uncharacteristically busy for January. (Shhhh…I mostly blog at work.) Also, I’ve been practicing (bowling) a lot and working out a lot and all of this effort is bound to pay off at some point, right? Like maybe with a strike or five and a visible waistline? But mostly I’ve been avoiding my blog because I’ve been less than chipper recently and I didn’t want a post like this to happen. But, I’m here. People emailed. And Books said it was OK if I got fired for blogging at work as long as she was entertained.

Luckily, I ignored my blog when a decent post was left on the main screen. Had it been one of my less than stellar posts, perhaps I wouldn’t have stayed away for quite as long, though. And I completely thought about updating you all on how antioxidants almost killed me: I challenged pomegranate seeds to a cage match and those little tarty-sweet seeds kicked my arse but were disqualified for causing an allergic reaction, making my digestive system revolt. The lesson in all of this: enjoy new foods, but eat them with caution!

I really didn’t intend to take 10 days off, but this week has just gone by so quickly. (see Busy At Work above) I have a couple of articles to use as writing prompts (no worries, they are not time sensitive at all, in fact I’m certain they are both old) and some pictures I intend to post as soon as I find my camera. And I am not as crabby in person as I am in black and white. I’m fine—really. In fact, my cute pearl earrings arrived today from Blue Nile and they look great with the pearl pendant necklace from D and the combo perfectly compliments my light blue cashmere turtleneck today. That and a new coffee mug are certainly enough to make this girl smile!

Monday, January 7, 2008

A Page Full of Hearts

Growing up I had a lot of male friends. I always had a female best friend, but seemed to connect better with the boys. Perhaps this was because I had 10 male cousins growing up and I tried to fit in, or maybe it was that I bowled, golfed and took karate lessons (mostly boys), or it could just be that I got along better with the boys from an early age and that’s it.

I did many of the typical girly things like passing notes in class, talking on the phone and hanging out at the mall, but I tended to share my secrets with the boys. Luckily this never backfired on me (until I was 19 or 20 anyway) but it did make some situations a little sticky. For instance, in 7th grade I had a crush on my best male friend, Phill. I met him in 5th grade through our church youth group; and even at a young age we clicked almost immediately. In 7th grade we began talking on the phone quite often and hanging out on Sundays after church. We were often teased by classmates, but it didn’t matter—we were just friends.

In the middle of the year I developed a super duty crush on Phill. Every time a youth group gathering came up I would imagine that it would be the night he would ask me to go out (you know, like dating—we probably wouldn’t go anywhere). I wanted to tell him about my crush, but I couldn’t for fear that he would laugh at me. Finally, it was a page full hearts that did me in. During a particularly boring sermon--when we were all supposed to be taking notes--I was drawing hearts all over my notebook paper and filling them with “K + P”. I had not told anyone of my crush at this point in time, yet I was scribbling it everywhere for the world to see. All of a sudden, my best female friend, Belle, grabbed my paper and announced that I had a crush on Peter—another boy in our Sunday School class. Teasing ensued. Quick thinker that I was, I said emphatically, “P is for Pedro.” Yeah, because I knew someone named Pedro. Riiight.

Peter was awkward to be around the rest of the day, but by the following Sunday it all seemed to be smoothed over. As for Phill, we ditched sermon the next Sunday so he could tell me a big secret. He had a crush on Belle. All of my drawn hearts broke simultaneously. I ached in silence as I encouraged him to call her. They ‘went out’ for 3 months, an eternity by junior high standards. Phill and I remained friends during their ‘relationship’ and beyond. As did he and Belle. But he longed after Belle well into high school.

By 10th grade Phill had dated 3 more of my friends but also found the time to escort me to a Homecoming dance, and be a blind date for one of my friends for that year’s Sno Daze. He was a great friend, but my crush had not died—nor had I ever confessed it to anyone. It wasn’t until yet another one of my friends had a crush on him and followed through, only to be rejected, that I shared my story with her. For months we crushed in private, and then they dated. She told him EVERYTHING. Because Phill was a cool guy, we talked about it and continued to be friends; albeit friends with a huge elephant in the room with broken hearts drawn all over it.

To make light of the situation, I made my crush public knowledge. I put myself out there to be laughed at, probably so that I didn’t feel so alone or marked. In what seemed like no time at all, it just became part of our shared history and our friendship continued to strengthen. I had dated during my crush on Phill, but I dated more after the initial rejection wore off. I began to think of him as almost a brother; he had moved from the Prospect pile to the Friend pile.

After high school we drifted, only talking on the phone occasionally and seeing each other once or twice a year. After my sophomore year in college I received a hand written letter from Phill. He poured out his heart, writing about how his feelings for me had changed—grown. It was a sweet letter. I still remember reading it on the floor of my kitchen, sitting cross-legged leaning on a lower cupboard. It was everything I had wanted to hear—seven years ago—and I couldn't get over how sincere and vulnerable he was being, but I really couldn't get over that at that moment I knew he was certainly, unmistakably, a Friend. I called. We met for coffee. We chatted and hugged good bye. Months later he met the woman that is now his wife.

I don’t know how our paths would have changed had I said “Phill” instead of “Pedro” but I know that we had a great friendship and that I would still welcome him with open arms back into my life (as a Friend) if we were to ever cross paths again.

Friday, January 4, 2008

In Search of Ideas

I swear that I have all of these great ideas for posts. I think of them on my tunnel walks to Sbux. I think of them while I'm in the third step of my approach (bowling lingo). Ideas come at me from all directions. I have so many ideas!

So why don't I post?

I can't ever remember what I was thinking about!

I've taken to writing myself little notes in the hopes that they will jog my memory. It isn't really working. Well, sometimes it works; but then I start typing things out and I've lost all of my inspiration. It's like my muse is on vacation. Heh.

Since I don't have a lot to say, but felt the need to post, I will share with you some of my notes (they may just turn into posts someday).

  1. Stolen cat
  2. Red dress--drawing from high school French class, prom
  3. Crazy ex-boyfriend, Epiphany, brown dress, 4th of July
  4. Engagement story
  5. Bro--Carla, glasses, etc