This blog just got CPR after a 10-year hiatus

In a class I had this semester for Spiritual Formation, one of the requirements was that we kept a daily journal to see how we connected with our spirituality and a spiritual virtue that selected us. My virtue was courage, so every day I had to stop to think about how I would be courageous and somehow demonstrate this virtue...and I had to write about it in journal. I learned two things from this exercise: 1) It is awfully hard to sit down, old-school, with a pen and paper and write out your thoughts when you are used to typing everything on your computer and thinking as you type. It makes it difficult to think the same way (at least for me!) when you are writing vs. typing. 2) I realized I missed blogging and sharing some of my thoughts, musings, and ponderings as a way of expressing myself. After all, I was a college journalism/PR major who used to do a lot of writing for my various professions and that has now gone by the wayside to a great extent, and I miss the creative outlet. So I am going to attempt to post on a semi-regular basis, given that I'm often rather pressed for time.

While it's impossible to capture everything that's happened since I last blogged, here's a quick synopsis since I last posted, in case you've read my previous posts:

- I left my job in fundraising at the university because I traveled a lot and wanted to be with my daughter more....oh, and the Jerry Sandusky scandal happened and let's just say that was a difficult situation to deal with, both personally as an alum as well as professionally as a development officer.
- I began working as the development and marketing director for a non-profit health and human services agency that focuses primarily in senior living. I worked there for four years.
- During that time, I met many clergy and became more and more involved in church and in our regional synod. I took classes and became a lay worship leader and loved learning about the historical aspect of the bible and the history of religion -- which is totally different from what I learned growing up in a more fundamental church background.
- I sensed a possible call to ministry but kept telling myself NOOOOO, I can't give up a good job and go back to school. But God had other plans that happened without my doing.
- I quit my full-time job and took a part-time job that I found out about -- as a church secretary! -- and am now in my second year as a Master of Divinity degree student at United Lutheran Seminary. I have another full year of coursework then a year of internship -- and if all goes well, I will be ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in 2021 in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America).
- My daughter was little when I first started writing this -- she's now 12 years old and my worries about potty training and being a bad mom for putting her in daycare have evolved into worries about boys, hormones and girls who are asshats bullies.
- Dork and I celebrated our 15-year anniversary this past October. When I first began my blog, marriage and parenting were both really difficult for me. I often felt overwhelmed and unsupported. But through the years, I discovered that support comes in a variety of ways. People grow apart, or they grow together....and we have grown stronger together. The rough times have made us stronger, more understanding, and more supportive of one other. We are a family unit of three and we have one another's backs without exception.
- I lost my mother-in-law three years ago and my dear mother last year. I miss them both and grieve the loss of my mom every day, but I also know she is at peace and that I'll be reunited with her and my dad someday.
- As part of my faith formation for ordination, I'm required to complete Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), where I am taking classes on chaplaincy and serving as a chaplain at Gettysburg Hospital until April 2019. The whole process is probably one of the most challenging and often uncomfortable things I have done in my life so far, but I am learning so much from it -- how to minister to people who are hurting, who are grieving, who are scared, and just being there for them. And I'll share more about CPE -- as well as my journey through this path of seminary! -- as I continue to write. Thanks for walking with me on the path!

back yet once again

yeah, i know....in my post this past january, i started writing a blog entry and was so excited to be back here once again with full intention of keeping up my writing. so here it is six months later and i'm just getting around to my second post...and i only stumbled upon my blog site since i was reading a friend's post and had to log into mine to be able to comment on hers.

but i've had quite a bit of good stuff happen over the past six months or so to write about....last december, i started my new years' resolutions (i don't like the pressure of starting in january, so i kicked mine off a little early!) with four general resolutions for the upcoming year. i've posted these to the fridge so that i have to look at them every day. here's what they were/are:
1. eat healthier
2. move it!
3. write a book
4. learn something new

so far, i've actually kept going with two of them and am working on a third. starting in december (although i did cheat a bit over the holidays) i decided to cut out sugar in a big way....no more just grabbing a cookie or a piece of candy without thinking about what i was putting in my mouth. i also started checking out the labels of what i was eating....after reading some books focusing on food and eating habits, and seeing movies like 'super size me' and 'food inc.' i got a bit skeeved out at all of the preservatives and chemicals that are in our food and what it does to our bodies....so now, instead of picking up the quick 'ready-made' convenient foods at the grocery store, i use a lot more whole foods and make things from scratch. it was a bit rough getting used to at first because yes, it does take more time...but now that i'm used to it, i actually find that i'm more creative in the kitchen and enjoy it a lot more. after all, it really is more fun to make a stir fry and throw in whatever veggies you want and season your chicken however you want it rather than relying on lean cuisine to do it for you.

another thing i did on my track to a healthier life style was cut out beverages that just added empty calories. we love taking morgan to story time at b&n on saturdays, and our special treat was always hitting the cafe afterwards, for a strawberry smoothie for her and a caramel latte or frap for me. but man, when i stopped and actually looked at the sugar and calorie content of one of those drinks, i was blown away. same way with vitamin water...i love the stuff and used to drink it just about every day for lunch. and even though it's naturally sweetened, that still adds up to lots of sugar and calories that i really don't need tacked onto whatever else i'm having. sure, i still splurge once in a while, but my mainstay drinks now are water with lemon, coffee and i've even gotten used to drinking unsweetened tea and iced tea. the artificial sweeteners really aren't good for ya and end up making you hungry in the long run, so i just cut them out and don't miss them now that i have them out of my system. and the bonus out of all of this is, i dropped about 10 pounds without even trying.

but since 'moving it!' was on the to-do list, i knew that i had to supplement the healthy eating with being active. a friend teaches pilates and i took some classes and was amazed at how it really does change the structure of your body. without even dropping much weight, i could tell a difference in how my clothing fit and how toned my muscles started to become. and exercise is a funny thing....it takes a while to get into the habit of doing it, but once you do, you realize how good it makes you feel. even though i used to go the gym a lot when i was single and was pretty in shape, that slacked off when i dated my bf before dork and then when dork and i got serious, we ordered take out a lot and spent lots of time in front of the tv or going out to bars and restaurants, so the gym-going stopped and the pounds crept on.....and more crept on during pregnancy but i always had every excuse in the book after morgan was born for why i couldn't exercise, since i'm a working mom and didn't want to take time away from her. however, i'm blessed to work at a place that has gym equipment and workout facilities readily available, and it finally clicked that i can work out during the day and not take any time away from her. besides the pilates, i started walking and even running, and i even take a kickboxing class at the place where she takes karate....and i'm blown away at how good i feel and how much more energy i have, and how i WANT to exercise (yeah, i know...i can't believe i'm actually saying that). and if i don't get a chance to work out during the day, i'll go at night before she goes to bed, as i actually feel like it sets a good example for her to see me exercise and be healthy.

writing the book was third on the list and even though that hasn't progressed as well as i'd like, i discovered during a four-hour road trip this past weekend that one of my best friends has always wanted to collaborate on a book with someone, so we are putting our two brains together and working on something that will be partly autobiographical, partly chick lit and hopefully really funny! we're looking forward to the process of putting something down on paper and kicking this thing off....and hopefully it will have a better track record than my wayward blog entries!

letting it all hang out...

i haven't written here in a while and i regret that. first of all, i love to write and, while i get to write occasionally for my job, it's not the creative, knock-your-socks-off creative prose that is enjoyable to write. second, blogging forces me to hone my thoughts on a topic and actually sit and ponder it for a length of time...which as a mom and a full-time employee, i don't often get to do since i'm usually running in a lot of directions and by the time i get some "me" time, it's 9pm and the last thing i feel like doing is being reflective.

fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how i look at it, i get loads of ideas to write about. those ideas, however, come at me in the most inopportune times and places, like in the shower or in the car when i'm driving to a work appointment. and while i've been known to do things like put on makeup or paint my nails while driving, even i know not to crank out a full-blown blog entry on my blackberry while on my way to dc.

another reason, though, and perhaps the most significant, is often my fear of "letting it all hang out." after all, if a blog is really to be my innermost thoughts and feelings about things, i don't always feel comfortable putting those out there....especially when the ideas i may have to write about revolve around politics, religion, or one of the many things that i find inane about society which may differ from the views of my friends or colleagues. i unfortunately have always cared too much about what others think of me...therefore, my husband (along with an ex-boyfriend or two and a few close friends) is probably the only person who would ever refer to me as a loose cannon or as opinionated or judgmental. everyone else sees me as pleasant, easygoing, and not easily rattled.

for that reason, it's easy for me to write about something funny that my daughter did or make a passing snarky comment about someone, but you'll never hear me discuss politics at work or engage in anything more than a basic smattering of religion with casual friends, and i won't engage in debates about those topics with people whose views are different than my own.

and yes, while i *do* have definite opinions on where i stand about abortion, taxes, gun control, education, and school prayer, i also have the ability to see both sides of an issue and can listen to and respect someone whose views differ from mine without the need to ram my views down their throat. i personally don't enjoy debating an issue about a heated topic -- so you can just imagine how much i hated election season, when anyone out of the blue would ask who i was voting for and then wanted to know why!! maybe that makes me seem trite or shallow...but i just don't feel that my opinion on world hunger or the size of our government is pertinent to my role as a good employee, good mom, or good friend. so go ahead and ask me about my fun trick or treat night with morgan or whether i think penn state is going to finish their season undefeated (why, that would be yes!!!)...but if you want to debate the causes of global warming or socialized medicine, talk to someone else!!

too much takeout

my husband, daughter and i had a super time in dc this past weekend -- we saw dinosaurs, rode the "big underground choo-choo", took a nap on the lawn of the mall (most of the 'malls' that morgan is used to going have cool shoes, but not lawns!), watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier, and generally had a fun and exhilarating weekend filled with gorgeous weather.

on our trip home sunday, we decided to stop off at a brewpub for some brew (that would be for Dork; since i was the DD, morgan and i had root beer =) and food. the portions were huge and we had so much food left sitting on the table, so my two-year old, in all her wisdom, turned to me. "get a box, mommy. get it to go." guess i must use those words just a little too often in our household!

so much for romance...

this coming weekend marks our fifth wedding anniversary...hard to believe that I haven't killed Dork by now (although I'm sure that he has wanted to kill me on several occasions, too!!) we were planning for a nice little get-away -- neither of us have been to the smithsonian for a number of years and we thought we'd enjoy an afternoon checking out the different museums, followed by dinner in some cool downtown dc restaurant, and then drinks and some live music (he doesn't go for that much here at home, but i thought i could at least talk him into it since we'd be away from home!!) then more drinks at the hotel, a good night's sleep without the fear of being awakened, and brunch...and more time at the museums. (and yes, you should detect a theme involving much alcohol for the weekend. i have had exactly one hangover since i had morgan, and that was one too many...once a kid comes on the scene, the possibility of just lying around the house and nursing your headache and vegging in front of the tv no longer exists. the only possibilities for large amounts of alcohol consumption anymore only exist when i'm away from home!)

we were looking forward to some time for the two of us, since we really don't do much at all without morgan (and that is by choice, because i just frankly don't want to be away from her!). unfortunately, it looks like our romantic get-away weekend will now be accompanied by our daughter. my mom fell last weekend and her back is still sore, so she can't lift morgan in and out of her crib without doubling over in pain. my in-laws are consumed all weekend with their involvement in a local arts festival (my FIL has a photography display there....and my MIL has to stay with him all weekend to show her support. hmmm, passing up a chance to spend all weekend with your granddaughter to sit in a tent and help sell photos?? don't even get me started on that one...)

i'm looking forward to taking her along, but i have to admit that i'm a little bummed that we'll have to change our plans for a carefree no-set-plans weekend to one with a little more thought put into it. now naptime will need to be incorporated into our time at the museum, which will be a challenge since we'll be taking the metro into the city from our hotel in arlington, and i'm not quite sure how many 'family-friendly' hotels we'll encounter. either way, we'll have a fun time together as a family -- and when you stop to think about it, isn't celebrating family really what an anniversary is all about? if Dork and i hadn't met and married five years ago, we wouldn't have this wonderful little person in our lives that we both love with all of our hearts and who has enriched our lives more than you can ever imagine until you have a child. Dork and i will toast with wine at dinner, morgie can toast with her sippy cup with apple juice, and we'll look forward to a weekend of love and togetherness!

the mind of a two year old...

i'm walking through target last night with morgan on one of our weekly outings, and on our way out, we decide to browse through all of the halloween candy that's been newly - and still neatly - packaged onto the racks near the checkouts. i told morgan that we should pick up a bag of candy corn for daddy and grammie, since they both love candy corn. mind you, i didn't think she even really knew what i was talking about, since she was only 1 1/2 and not exactly chowing down on candy during last year's halloween festivities. we're walking up and down the candy aisles and i'm looking at all of the different varieties on the shelves and thinking about what kind i should get for our trick-or-treaters and for morgan to take to school (on both accounts, the right kind of candy will be something that i'll enjoy snacking on if we have any left, but nothing TOO yummy so that i don't have to break through the bag and eat a bunch of it before it's actually given away!). she's saying, "candy, candy" and all of a sudden, when we stop to look at the plethora of m&m's, she spies it..."candy corn, mommy, here, candy corn." surprisingly enough, she got it right...there were the bags of candy corn, and there i was, with my mouth hanging agape, amazed that someone who doesn't fully know what the toilet is or that a brush can't be used interchangeably between your teeth and your hair would be able to pick out those little orange, white and yellow triangles. but now that she's almost three, guess i better prepare myself for lots of her revelations!

a distraction waiting to happen

in addition to my full-time job and my 'job' as a mom - which i do take very seriously - i also do some freelance writing and layout/design work. since my degree is in communications and i've been writing for just about as long as i can remember, i thought taking on some freelance work would be fun and exciting, since i don't do much creative writing in my current position. well, for the most part, it IS fun except when i try to cram it in along with all of the other things that i have to get done.

right now (yes, as we speak...err, type) i'm attempting to work on a newsletter and write copy/photoshop some photos/design a eye-catching layout. all the while while it's 2am and i'm serving in church later today (in a few hours -- which means i can't shut off the alarm and put the pillow over my head and stay home) and i've got to get this newsletter done by the end of the weekend.

but instead of buckling down and working on it, i surfed the web in between writing copy (although i did find some great blogs to add to my blogroll) and tuned in to some fun shows on E!, the Style network and Bravo that I hadn't seen for awhile. well, I didn't actually mean to tune in...but they were on in the background, and my attention just got sucked to the tv and away from the laptop not more than a foot from my face. it's mazing how sometimes when you are under the gun and trying to get something done, you deep down don't want to be doing it after all and will find any other thing that can possibly divert your attention. not sure if that's a universal thing or just a me thing (adult add, anyone?!) but i remember being the same way in college -- i'd have an exam to study for or a paper to finish and instead of doing the project at hand, my roomies and i would sit up and talk or i'd make sure i took breaks every half hour or so to do something 'important' like clean up the kitchen, paint my hails, or call a friend.

and now, as it gets later and later, and as the tv selection gets worse and worse, i'm faced with the decision that i know i must make. if i continue to tune in to the show that just came on -- an infomercial on some dancing/weightloss video being hawked by a scary christina aguilera look-alike -- i know that bad karma will get me, in the form of my daughter waking up at 4am and totally wrecking any hope of sleep! instead of being a distraction waiting to happen like i normally am, i think i'm ready to allow a nice fluffy pillow and soft blanket distract me from it all. nite-nite!

vacation - and fall - are just around the corner

well, i've been eagerly anticipating this week for most of the summer, and it's finally here! yes, this is the week that my family and i leave for vacation. i'm especially excited because it will be morgan's first time ever at the beach and i hope she loves it as much as i think she will. she loves to swim, and one of her fave things to do at home is sit in her sandbox and throw sand everywhere and make a mess -- which are the two things she'll get to do a lot of next week and will hopefully love at the beach.

there's always so much pre-planning to do before vacation, though, and even more than i ever realized now that we have a child. no more grabbing a few pair of shorts, flip flops, tossing everything in a small suitcase and heading out the door -- nope, we now have to make sure we have beach umbrellas (so morgan doesn't burn in the sun), sand pails and toys for the beach (to build the perfect sandcastle and hopefully keep her from wanting to constantly eat sand or run head-on into the ocean), spf 70 in spray form (again, the no-burn thing -- a red screaming child at the beach isn't my idea of fun), a backpack to hold all of her gear at the beach (so that i can hold onto her, along with the beach chairs, umbrellas, blankets, cooler, toys, and all the other assorted stuff that will be weighing us down as we trod onto the sand). hell, i even found a site online that has vacation checklists that you can print out -- since we've never done a full-fledged vacation with a child (and yes, since i'm a control freak...) i wanted to make sure that we have all our bases covered and i'm not forgetting something vital. after all, i don't want to scar my daughter for life because i forgot to pack her fave juice boxes to drink on the beach.

her clothes have been washed and set aside for a week, and i'm finishing up the last of the laundry tonight...so now it's time to grab her toys and find that ones to take that either (a) aren't going to cause a meltdown if we happen to lose them while we're there, or (b) don't have so many pieces to them that they'll get scattered throughout the beach house we're staying in, or (c) don't require batteries to operate that will inevitably go dead while we're there, or (d) aren't so cumbersome that they'll take up valuable packing space, or (e) won't cause a meltdown because she can't play with them during the 24 hours between the time they're packed and the time we arrive at the beach. so once i narrow down that list (unfortunately, i didn't locate a list on the 'net for selecting the perfect toys to take on vacation), i will hopefully have one less thing to worry about.

as much as i love this time of the year and look forward to it each summer, there's always a melancholy sadness that goes along with it for me. summer is my favorite time of year, without a doubt -- i hate winter, hate snow and ice (even though it is quite beautiful), don't like to be cold, don't participate in winter sports because i don't like to be cold (and i live in the northeast, where we get actual winters and school delays and closings), yada yada. problem is, right after summer is over, fall is quickly ushered in, and that means winter isn't far behind. in my mind, once vacation is over, it's all downhill from there because cold weather will soon be on its way....and along with it, snow, ice, and darkness when i get up and when i leave my office at the end of the day.

even though i'm a glass-is-half-full kinda gal, this is one thing that's always gotten me down as long as i can remember in my adult life. i've always fought to stay positive after i get home from vacation, but i don't totally succeed. sure, this year will be fun because morgan will be more into halloween and we'll have so much fun picking out our costume and dressing up. the chancellor at the college where i work has an awesome halloween party for faculty and staff at her home and i look forward each year to dressing up and having a great time. and fall is no doubt very beautiful where i live, and morgan and i will have a great time jumping in the piles of leaves and picking out pumpkins, and we might even attempt a corn maze this year, which was hard to do in a stoller last fall. but that dark cloud of impending winter still permeates my thoughts and bums me out. i'll try more than ever to not let it interfere with enjoying all the great moments of the season with my husband and daughter that i possibly can....and who knows, maybe i'll even find a checklist online that will tell me all i need to do to have the perfect winter!! if you have any ideas to keep me bright and sunny instead of cold and dreary, do share :)

blogging with good intentions

although i love writing entries in here, i (obviously!!) don't write them often enough. it seems like everyday life often gets in the way of just taking a few minutes out of my day to be creative and reflect on my thoughts.

unfortunately, with a two-year old, most of my reflective thoughts come at inopportune times to write about them: the solitude of my 20-minute commute to work each morning (OK, i use solitude really loosely here...for me, solitude is having my radio blaring, listening to either my favorite morning show or whatever CD i pop in that gets me awake and ready to hit the day running), washing dishes and loading the dishwasher after my daughter's gone to bed, in the shower as the water pulses down my back and i'm waking up. you get the picture -- i get inspired whenever my laptop happens not to be around. i'm a techno-geek and all, but i still haven't figured out how to write a blog entry from my phone -- which is probably a good thing, given that i was texting someone a few weeks ago as i went through a drive-thru for a cup of coffee and now have a nice scratch on the side of my door to show for it! guess that shows what too much multitasking will get me.

i get these great thoughts of what to write about....last week, on my way to the office, i decided that i just had to tell about my daughter experiencing her sandbox for the very first time....but by the time i parked my car, grabbed a cup of coffee, shot the bull for a minute with my co-workers, checked my e-mail and listened to my voice messages, any thoughts i had about making a new blog entry were quickly replaced by what donor i was visiting that day and how many phone calls i had to return. this morning, too, i had every good intention of talking about Dork's struggle that he's going through this week and how i'm trying to be a supportive wife from 100 miles away (he is away on business all week....and he's trying to quit smoking). however, i had to review a proposal that was on my desk, answer a few e-mails to people i'm planning on visiting in maryland next week, and look up some info i needed for a 10am meeting and my computer wouldn't cooperate. after doing that, writing a blog was the furtherest thing from my mind.

and now, even as i sit at my desk finishing my lunch and enjoying a few minutes of computer surfing before i try to overcome my writer's block and finish the three reports i have to do by the end of the day, i don't feel very reflective and contemplative....but i do know that just when i least expect it this weekend, i'll have a great idea for my next blog entry rush through my mind. unfortunately, you'll probably never get to read it!!!

waste of a good outfit

so yesterday i was scheduled to have a meeting with a donor (ok, a prospective donor, which is someone who's never given money before but might have some interest...) and being the consummate professional i am, i picked out the least-wrinkled suit i had hanging in my closet (you know, one of the ones that miraculously didn't end up covered with dog hair or crayon from the last time i wore it), and the heels that don't kill my feet *too* much. i even spent the extra five minutes it took to flip the ends of my hair under (which i'm generally too lazy to do).

i had taken the past two days off for vacation to get things done at home (more about that tomorrow!) and i really did take a true vacation this time -- didn't check my voice mail or e-mail once in those days! but what do i get for not checking, you ask? a waste of a good outfit. turns out my donor-man decided he didn't want me to waste my time by coming to visit him and had left a message with one of my colleagues to let me know -- but dumb-ass me didn't find out until it was too late, so i had the pleasure of sitting in the office all day with a stuffy suit and heels on when i could have been comfy! oh well, that will teach me to try and distance myself from the office!

Random crap about moi

A big thank-you to licksthebowlinminneapolis.blogspot.com for this craptastic waste of time, but it was a great filler since i'm brain-dead today and don't have any exciting tales to tell!

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? No, my mom just happened to like my name when she heard it, and the second part of my compound name is after my dad.
2. THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Hmmm....well i was pms'ing it earlier in the week, so i've gotta say it was when i watched a commercial with a little baby and mom. yeah, i'm a real nutbar when it comes to controlling my emotions when aunt flo's in town.
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Only when i write with sharpie extra-fine point pens or other fine-point markers. and, i like my printing a lot but my writing? not so much.
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Turkey
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? yup, one of them, in the female model.
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I think i would be, because i'm fun and like to have a good time. but, i also can be judgmental/snarky, overly consumed with whatever i'm doing at the time, bitchy, catty, and i sometimes think the world revolves around me.
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? never in the office but at home? i have to to keep up with Dork, so definitely.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yep.
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP ? i like to try lots of different things, but a thrill-seeker i am not, so that would be a big fat NOT ON UR LIFE! i'm pretty much a wimp when it comes to thrill-seeking behavior.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Kashi Go Lean Crunch!
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? sometimes.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? i have really strong legs, but wussy girl-arms.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? mint chocolate chip and choc chip cookie dough
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? hair and eyes
15. RED OR PINK? pink
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF? my only child syndrome and the fact that i feel i need to control everything.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My Dad
18. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Khaki pants and navy sandals.
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? parmesan flavored triscuts
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? live365.com and am checking out an 80s station
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? burnt sienna (love the name!)
23. FAVORITE SMELLS? fall leaves, burning leaves, freshly washed towels, D&G light blue, The Hub after he takes a shower and spritzes on Acqua di Gio
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My co-worker who is traveling today.
25. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Hockey, football
26. HAIR COLOR? Real or now? real color is dishwater blonde/mousy brown. color now is dk. blonde with highlights
27. EYE COLOR? hazel
28. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? no but i think i will need them soon -- i can't see anything close up!
29. FAVORITE FOOD? pizza, chicken, pasta
30. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? happy -- real life has enough scare to it :-(
31. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Knocked Up
32. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Navy sweater & navy/white tee
33. WINTER OR SUMMER? Summer
34. HUGS OR KISSES? kisses
35. FAVORITE DESSERT? cake or toll-house pie
36. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? The Right Address
37. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Greetings from Las Vegas!
38. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? Dora and Diego with my daughter, then shut it off when she went to bed and played on the 'puter.
39. FAVORITE SOUND? Rain, surf sounds at the beach
40. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Stones
41. WHAT IS THE FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? St. Lucia
42. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? the uncanny ability to recall cheesy 80's songs and lyrics at a moment's notice
43. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Altoona, Pennsylvania

randomness....

ok, so i've seen this on other blogs and since i don't have anything particularly profound to write at this minute, here are....

Ten completely mundane facts about me:

10. i don't know how to light a match. i've tried many, many times but for some reason, can't get the hang of it....so if i don't have a lighter handy, my candles sit unlit.

9. i tend to not use caps when i type, and especially when i blog. not sure why...maybe from being a journalism major and always having to play 'by the rules' with my grammar?

8. i'm an only child.

7. my first pet was a goldfish (named, aptly, goldie)....after that, i had a turtle (toby), some hermit crabs, a tankful of goldfish, and now, two cats (callie & cleo) and a beagle (snoopy).

6. i played a man in a theater production! a few years ago, Dork and i were in a summer production of "arsenic and old lace" at allegheny highlands regional theatre, and i played dr. einstein, who had a mustache and dressed in baggy clothing. i adopted a deep voice and sinister laugh, and for about five seconds, even considered cutting my shoulder-length hair off to look like a man's....but then i came to my senses and ended up slicking it back over my ears and tucking in back in a hidden ponytail.

5. the first real job i had was a cashier at a supermarket when i was 16 years old. i was shy as a kid but couldn't wait to start working (to overcome that 'spoiled only child' stigma! lol) and got to talk to lots of interesting people and made new friends with my co-workers (and even got some dates out of the deal...), and overcame my shyness by talking to so many strangers.

4. i don't have a middle name....i have two first names but no middle name. when i got married, i hyphenated, and now i have four names (guess that more than makes up for my lack of a middle name!)

3. my dream job in the whole world is to do public relations for disney -- i think it would be lots of fun to coordinate promotions for a world-known place of family fun. either that or being a dj (i'm a music fanatic and would love to get paid for playing music and talking about it!)

2. i have a food phobia about warm and mushy foods, and certain textures of foods just ick me out (so much that i feel sick when i go to eat them).

1. i always knew i wanted to be some form of journalist, from the time i was quoted by my hometown newspaper in third grade about a science project that i did, to the time i had to do a career report in seventh grade and wrote to a tv reporter in pittsburgh about the news reporting field and she actually answered me back and sealed my future career plans.

tgif?

it's a dreary day today; in fact, if i didn't know it was the beginning of may, i couldn't tell the difference between a dreary february day and today, other than by looking at the trees. it's raining and cold, and would have been a great day to stay in bed and read a book, other then the fact that i do work full time and had things to do today!

i'm glad it's friday and the end of the work week, but i was busy last weekend with work events and i'll be busy this weekend, too, so it's not really much of a break. in case i didn't mention earlier, Dork also works on the weekends (he's off mondays and tuesdays....which will be the topic of a whole other entry...don't even get me started!) so, besides work events this weekend, i'm a single mom every weekend. it's great because i get her all to myself, but doing things together as a family like going to the park or taking a day trip are just out of the question. i also miss the times that he'd spend having breakfast with her while i finished my second cup of coffee and caught up on one or two chapters of whatever book i was reading at the time. that's changed, though, since he got a promotion, and now my weekends are filled with mommy and baby time.

i'm supposed to help plant flowers for a service project that my mom's group is doing tomorrow (but praying for rain so that we can stay inside in our jammies and watch tv and color together!) and am scooping ice cream for a work event sunday....but it's supposed to be cold all weekend, so i better dig the sweatshirt out and trade in my flip-flops for sneakers. and, given the only 'sneakers' i wear are pink & gray ralph lauren girlie-girl ones that aren't very warm, i'll still be cold! (yes, i believe in wearing sneakers to the gym, not as a fashion accessory....i'm weird like that...or maybe i'm not the weird one, but the people who actually walk around with suits and sneakers on are the crazies!)

here it is...

...my foray into blog-dum. Well, it's not really my first foray -- I've started blogs on other sites and just never kept up with them for one reason or another (my boss walking in my office as I was getting ready to uplod the latest pics of my daughter to my blog may be a good reason). I also had one on Blogger that I lost all of the previous entries when it converted over to the new version -- so I guess I'm SOL and will need to start fresh with my blogging.

What better time to start my new attempts at blogging than on a Sunday night around 9:30 pm when I'm should be working on some reports that I need to turn in in the morning at work -- but no, I wasn't feeling 'inspired' writing the reports. Not quite sure what I'm hoping will inspire me as I find myself doing head bobs as I stare at the laptop while I'm sitting in bed, but hopefully some inspiration will come and knock me over the head with it!!