City playin'

BB Kings in Times Square - heavenly!

Just live ya life...

*brushes off the layer of dust*

Hi y'all. As a good friend of mine loves to say, I've lately been out living life rather than writing about it. Oob's world is a big mishmosh of working, playing, loving and friendship... and she's happy! While there isn't much new or earthshattering on my front to report, I can say that I've never been more busy or happy to be so busy.

DR and I hit our 2 year anniversary on the 4th. :) :) :) I am beyond humbled to have found such an amazing person and cannot believe it has already been 2 years! Every day with this man is special in its own way, whether he surprises me with an unexpected bouquet of flowers, says something so funny it makes me snort coffee through my nose, or just holds onto me when I need the comfort of his arms. I have to say... it just keeps getting better. I never knew love could be so easy.

As for the rest, pool is still going extremely well. In fact, I won the 9ball tournament this weekend on my first visit back in about 3 months! 110 dollars to me, minus 70 for our bar tab, OUCH, but still very cool. It's a shame the end of the night was a little fuzzy... ummm... Ketal One, much?... but I do vaguely remember giving an opponent major shit for trying to "shark" me. For those of you unfamiliar with the term (not to be confused with being a "pool shark"), essentially he tried to distract me while I was aiming at a very crucial shot that would have cost him the game. He walked over and grabbed the chalk from the edge of the table while I was shooting! I stopped aiming, stood up, and stared him down with my one-eyebrow-up-what-the-hell-do-you-think-you're-doing look. He put on a sheepish half-smile, so it was obvious I busted him trying to f*** with me. So I simply said, "That won't work with me, honey." Needless to say, I polished him off easily and a few more guys after that to take the title for the evening. We wound up seeing the sunrise that night/morning and Sunday was spent recovering from the damage we did. :)

By the way, DR and I are still LOVING our TV purchase. It was completely worth it to save up for the top of the line model. As we all know, technology moves at such a fast pace I'm sure ours will be outdated in 6 months. But for now the HD quality is unreal!!! And since I surprised DR with a PlayStation 3 for our anniversary, we also have BluRay now... which is just WOW. Soooooo nice.

Which makes me wonder what I'm going to do with my ginormous tax return. Hrrm. Clothing update? Savings account? Fabulous new purse? Savings account? Sigh... decisions, decisions.

That's all for now. More soon!

Said in a moment of tipsy honesty:

"I am a firm believer that animals and children are the best judges of character."

Last night, among the Super Bowl party guests was a pair of siblings, a smooshably adorable boy (nearly 2) and a divalicious princess (nearly 3). Their mom and I bonded quickly, but I was so taken with these children that I almost wasn't watching the Super Bowl. We played, laughed, and danced all night until it became second nature for them to climb on up and doze on my lap every so often. (Lord knows how, with all the screaming at the television.) They were just great kids. By the time DR had convinced me it was time to leave, the two were nearly asleep. I kissed their little heads goodbye, and then...

They woke up, saw I was leaving, and began to cry. Holding-their-little-arms-out-and-wailing... crying.

Oh no.

I was so horrified and heartbroken that they were so upset, I could barely force myself to turn and cross the doorway. If this is even a fraction of what parenting feels like... I'm a goner. Ouch.

But to clarify that original statement up there, I wasn't being narcissistic or egotistical. It should be said that I've had a pretty hard time truly being myself in this crazy place, amongst so many people who are quite different than anything I've ever known. Last night was momentous because I truly WAS myself in a room full of loud, boisterous, take-me-or-leave me people that have become a big part of my life. I finally felt like I could shine through and if they didn't like it, well... that was just beyond my control. I made new friends, one of whom commented to DR how much she liked the fact that I was so down to earth. She admitted that I wasn't what she had expected and that her initial impression of me was dead wrong. And while I'm happy that she came to see the real Oob, I'm also a little saddened that such preconceived stereotypes still exist in the year 2009.

I said what I did up there because I simply find it so amazing that what has taken me almost 2 years to accomplish with grown-ups took me 2 hours with the babes. I felt that Mia and Evan saw me. ME. And they loved me, without judgment of any kind.

And I am awed.

don't know just what to dooooo with myseeeeelf.

You know what's weird? Being financially comfortable. And all of you reading better knock on some serious wood like I am, so that I don't jinx myself by saying that.

But really. Here are a few highlights...

I'm two payments away from paying OFF a credit card balance that has been following me around for I swear, a decade. I'm not gonna know what to do with myself without that over my head!!!

DR and I are both saving so much money by living together that we were able to save up for a big investment... a new TV! We pick it up tonight and wooooow, we cannot wait. It is beautiful!!!

It's a far cry where I was about four years ago - jobless, homeless, debt up to my eyeballs. And man, do I feel blessed.

That COULD have been an awesome gift...

...if the damn team had won!

Sigh... what can I say? There I went, thinking it would be the greatest thing ever to give DR tickets to his beloved Jets' final game of the season. The game that, if all the cards fell correctly, would mean that they'd be in the playoffs.

What I didn't count on was that everything would go wrong. I was stressed out about the parking situation at Giants Stadium. Hello, a satellite lot costs 25.00??? And I wasn't sure how to get to said satellite lot. DR understandably became impatient with my worrying about the details, so we were already off to a funky start.

We got a little turned around getting to the satellite lot, as I suspected I would. (Oh the irony - I left the GPS at home in an effort to "go with the flow", then wished to high heaven I had it when I needed it!!!) Then we were packed into yellow school buses and carted over to the stadium, where we managed to find a friend and at least get a few beers to calm down. Ummmm... did I mention that I haven't had to use a porta-potty in years and I DON'T MISS IT?!?!! Just....gross.

Once we got into the stadium and found our seats I thought all would be fine. But the corresponding game that would decide our fate was happening at the same time. And we found out before halftime, while we were losing, that the playoffs were not in our future. The other game sealed the coffin on us, and even if we won we weren't going.

Sighhhh.

At that point, the fans became obnoxious and/or drunk. Fights were breaking out and I wanted to punch the idiots behind me who took it upon themselves to insult every player on the team, the coach, the owner, and anyone else they could think of. When the game finally ended and we had lost, DR and I were both more than ready to go the hell home. And Oob was sad that her present was such a bummer.

Even though it COULD have been cool, note to self: use extreme caution when buying sporting event tickets for a devoted fan. The results can be either very good or very... yeah.

EDIT: I would be remiss if I didn't thank my dear friend who helped me get the tickets!!! Thanks, G!!!!

Loved.

This Christmas was just...amazing. As previously stated, the family had to compromise and adapt to see each other, but we all made it work. Once that chaos died down, it was time for the actual holiday itself. I did not have to work on Christmas Eve or Day, so I did what any insane girl would do - I shopped. Yup, my body clock said "huh-UH" on the 24th, so I got up and made coffee and settled down with the early morning news. Ironically enough, they had a reporter in MY mall, which appeared to be entirely void of all humanity. I immediately hit the shower, threw on the nearest scrubby clothes and drove on over. By 9am I was avidly shopping for who? ME. That's right.

The advantage of exchanging gifts early with the parents - getting to use the gift cards while the sales are still happening!!! (Not to mention the 250.00 amex gift cards from the place of employment.) I am not ashamed at all to admit that I spent a good 3.5 hours shopping for yours truly on the day before Christmas. Since I was done with shopping for other people, I bought various items that have fallen under my "want" category instead of my "need" category, and damn it felt good! I left the place just as it began to get insanely crowded. Whew.

That evening was spent with DR's best friend's family. This mob of people has essentially adopted DR since he was knee-high and as such have adopted me as well. They are of Dominican descent and affectionately call him White Boy (DR is Irish-Ecuadorian). I grin from ear to ear every time they call me White Girl... it means I'm IN. (A funny aside, if you know what I look like... DR's male friends call me Kill Bill, too.) From the moment we walk in, we are embraced physically and emotionally as if we were blood relatives. Massive amounts of food, drink, dancing and chatter envelop the room until you are dizzy from the effects.

The next thing I knew, it was in the weeeeee hours of Christmas morning. We contemplated staying up all night, but vetoed it in the way of needing sleep. When we finally dragged ourselves out of bed it was nearly 11am. In fact, I believe my parents phoned at 10:30am and dealt with my grogginess. Love you guys!!! :) After a quick breakfast and coffee, DR and I exchanged gifts. And lemme tell you... he did GOOD! I surprised him with new sweaters, framed pics of us and tickets to the Jets/Dolphins game this past Sunday and he surprised me with... get this... a DKNY watch, a double strand of pearls, and not one but TWO gemstone necklaces. The latter are Peridot (lime-ish green) and Citrine (golden yellowish peachy color). Holy moly! I was swimming in bling! What can I say? The man knows I love sparkly shiny things. Oh jeez, AND he also bought me perfume and a velour track suit. He utterly and completely spoiled me rotten. siggggghhhhhh What am I gonna do with him? I guess I'll keep him. ;)

I've also put my other presents to good use. Mom and Dad, I'd like to thank you for giving me something I have NO idea how I did without for 3 years... a Navigation system!!! I'm still trying to dub her voice with a name, and yes, I still talk back to her ("Recalculating?!?! WHY??? I did what you said, woman!!!"). I'm leaning toward the name Vivienne, but I'm open to suggestions for an infuriatingly obnoxious female name. And fyi, Jersey roads even befuddle top of the line navigation systems. Ask my dad, who dealt with the "recaahhhlculating" during his three hour, twelve mile drive to the airport in that nasty storm a few weekends ago. Surprised he didn't hurt the thing...

To my awesome brother and sis and nephew - this is the bestest thing EVER. I've already made muffins and can't wait to find my old beloved recipes!

I had to work on the 26th, but spent a wonderful weekend recovering from the festivities with DR. We stayed in, cooked, watched movies and enjoyed a cozy Saturday. Then on Sunday, we made use of the Jets tickets I got for him... which, if you've had your ear to any NFL news... you know what happened. But that's for another post entirely. Hopefully with pictures. More soon!

wewishyouamerrybullets

~ I have managed to see my entire family within the past two weeks by either flying to them or vice versa. While this isn't the "normal" way to spend the holidays with loved ones, I wouldn't trade any of these moments for the world. I had sooo much fun with everyone.

~ Now that my family visits are 99% over (wish my dad luck flying out through the snowstorm tomorrow!!!), the actual holiday days are quicky approaching! Would you believe that DR and I bought our first Christmas tree together...and STILL haven't decorated it!?! It's adorable. A five ft tall frasier fir that is really, really, really fat at the bottom. We've lovingly named it... wait for it... "Jabba the Tree".

~ Speaking of DR... Oob = happy. We are still doing great and have managed to not kill each other since we moved in together. I've become increasingly closer with his family and was simply bowled over by how he has melded effortlessly into mine. It's as if he were cut from the same cloth as my crazy, crazy parents. Of course, that meant they all ganged up on me most of the time, but it was still hilarious. My mom has won his heart forever by hand-sewing him an enormous Jets blanket for Christmas. :)

~ On another note, that "quaint, adorable apartment" I was so excited about when I moved in last May? It's gotta go. Two people + our STUFF crammed into about 300 sq ft. is bad enough. When you add in the fact that our winter bill for (combined) gas and electric was $214.27 this month? Color me annoyed. We have our thermostat set to 68. Not 75. It is now turned down to 65, but we wake up shivering in the morning. We have dreams of a bigger place with utilities included in the rent. Bonus points for a washer/dryer. Just have to stick it out a little while longer and then... peace OUT.

~Back to happy things: work is busy. Why is this happy news? Because I have work to do. At a job. For which I am very grateful.

~Merry ChristmaHannaQwanzIca!