Stopping to smell the roses

It felt like the month of April was one giant clusterf***, with the move, job stress out the wazoo, financial strain, and an over-booked social calendar. I was constantly sleep-deprived, irritable, overwhelmed and generally burnt out to a degree I'd never before experienced. I plowed through my days in a fog of survival, relying entirely too much on caffeine to shove me along. Many self-attitude adjustments were needed but rarely lasted for long, largely because I felt like a failure at balancing everything in my job and my life at once. The stress was so great that days would pass and I'd noticed I'd barely eaten. Friends asked me where my smile went.

But as with the most trying times in life, it got better.

The job stress calmed to a certain degree, at least to the extent that my particular job can. The move went off swimmingly, and I adore my new place more with every knickknack that I put into place. The shorter commute = more time to sleep!!! The season changed (sort of), and the few sporadic days of 70s temps and glorious sunshine have made a remarkable difference in my temperament. I planned a vacation (below) and the anticipation of going to see my family with DR is always at the forefront of my thoughts. This next part feels very difficult to put into words, as I feel it won't come off as anything but cheesy, but I'm also suddenly extremely appreciative of all that I have. The love of DR. My family. My rock-solid friends. A good life. A good job. An outstanding hobby. Health. Happiness. Myriad reasons to smile, every single day. I'm having fun, lots of fun, just being me and all the good and bad that comes with it.

Tell me you've never had these striking moments of clarity... I challenge you. I'll bet you've been that person walking around with a grin on your face for no reason too.

The South is giving me a "come hither".

T-minus 24 days and counting!!!

I'm grabbing DR and the both of us are headed into the land of heat, humidity and "hey y'all"s! Watch out, everyone... Oob's bringing a Yankee home with her! Don't worry, he has manners by the bucketful and charm enough to dazzle even the most delicate southern belle. I'm beyond excited that he's coming with me and that he'll have the chance to meet both the rest of my family AND most of my friends from college. We already have many plans for him... *evil laugh* Just joshin'. I promise we really don't lynch non-southerners anymore, DR! xoxox I can't wait to show him the pieces of my life he's only been able to hear about, because words can only do so much justice to the people and places that have had such a huge impact on my life. Having him there by my side just makes it that much better. We'll have a time to spend a few days with just the bro/sis/nephew, attend a fabulous social event, then have a few more days together with mom/dad once they make the trek over. I'm doing a little happy dance as we speak.

Now that all has been arranged, I've suddenly started missing the South with more and more of my heart than ever. (Maybe it's all the signs that McD's has displayed for their $1 Sweet Tea. I actually had to stop and think about that one, because I'm USED to fast food restaurants having sweet tea already. Hello? It's a no-brainer down there.) Back to the topic at hand, I am really missing my family terribly. The past 2.5 years up here have been up, down, and all around for me, with a few fun parent-sightings and not nearly enough bro/sis/nephew encounters. I have missed SO many aspects of their lives and of my nephew growing up because of the distance and that hurts the most. I cannot wait to spoil the little one rotten and learn what a little man he's growing up to be. Our time there will be all too short, but I'll squeeze as much love and laughter as I can out of it.

...along with some Waff1e House, Ch1ckF1lA, Zaxbys, downtown A-town, and so much more. Now, is it time to go yet?!?!?!

Go see this.

Iron Man.

Fantastic movie. I actually hadn't heard too much about it, decided to go see it on Friday night with DR but duh... it was sold out on it's opening night. We went to see it on Monday night instead, thanks to having a bye week at pool. And WOW was it amazing! RDJ was outstanding. Comical timing + dramatic finery + (ahemgoodlooksahem) + great effects = the summer's first great blockbuster. Worth the money. But did they have to wreck the Shelby? I almost cried.


But it is definitely safe to say that my previous A11y McBea1celeb crush on RDJ has returned.

Nuggets of nothing on the subject of moving in

~ I have NO idea where my TV remote is. Probably still packed in a box. Nice. 3+ hours for the cable guy to run the lines and all I've had time to watch is the end of Spaceballs.

~ Unpacking is so much more fun than packing.

~ Not having a fridge means I will soon have to resort to powdered creamer for my coffee. Blasphemy. But first I have to find the coffee maker.

~ Use of the driveway at my new place = priceless. Truly, there are no words to describe this blessing. If you've never dealt with NE street parking, ie: lugging 8 heavy grocery bags a country mile, in the rain/snow, in the dark, up three flights of stairs, juggling a huge purse, dropping half the shit on the sidewalk and the rest on your toes while you try to unlock the damn door with no free hands, then you have no idea the magnitude of this perk.

~So far having my mattress on the floor euro-style is not as bad as I suspected it'd be. When you're asleep, who cares?

~ Girls, prepared to be jealous. I have more closet space than I can possibly fill. Four, count em... FOUR! full-sized closets. Ahem. But I'll make a valiant effort.

~ MY COMMUTE ROCKS.

~ Having my car insurance nearly double DOES NOT. Neither does the higher rent, higher cable bill, higher utilities, OY.

~ On second thought, I guess I should consider whether or not the new conveniences trump the new expenses. We shall see. Stay tuned.

Why male friends are a necessity

Moving is never fun, but this one may very well have been the LEAST painful I have ever experienced. Thanks to my beautiful friends (and their muscles/pickup trucks/patience/LOVE, I am now officially in my new place.

Thursday and Friday nights we made a few trips with our combined vehicles and knocked out everything except the furniture. Saturday morning, we tackled the desks, dressers, nightstands, etc. first. Then, when faced with my monstrosity of a sofa, the troops were called in. Luckily two other male friends (in addition to the two who were already helping so generously) were available and I swung by to kidnap them.

After my boyfriend finished work, he met us there and the five of them heaved the damn thing up a flight of stairs, OVER a banister, into the entryway to my stairs, up those stairs, OVER another banister, and through a doorway to my apartment. I shit you not, had the couch been a millimeter fatter, it would NOT have fit. There was only one crrrrruuunch moment involving a doorjamb, but the quote of the day may have been, when faced with squeezing it through the last door, "ummmm, Oob? Do you have any butter????".

OR, better yet - when getting it up the last flight of stairs, picture this: Two men at the base of it, two men underneath it, one man on top. There was a frightening moment in which it appeared that the bottom foot of the sofa was stuck on the doorjamb, with no way to twist the plush beast to maneuver it through. While we figured out a strategy, the poor two guys that were supporting the thing from below were suffocating/becoming claustrophobic/threatening bodily harm if he didn't get his big ass outta his face. (yes, I laughed...) Finally, they boosted the couch up enough for the two trapped men to squuuuueeeeze out from under it and I dissolved into giggles. The way they popped out, it was like watching the couch give birth to two very disgruntled full-grown males. "Look! It had twins!"

Once the couch was settled in the living room, the final trip for the bed was made. And here's where the luck ran out: my box springs don't fit through the top stairway door. The sucker just doesn't give, nor can we remove the banister to wedge it through. Sighhhh, oh-f***ing-well. If that is the worst that happened, I can deal with sleeping on a mattress on the floor for a little while. Because priority #1 right now is to get a FRIDGE. And blinds... had I not rigged my bathrobe over my bathroom window this morning, my neighbors would have gotten a hell of an introduction.

Now, who can tell me how to work one of these? (yes, mine's in Fahrenheit)



There is no On/Off switch, and turning it up last night did NO good. My place was 64 degrees this morning and I was freeeezing!!!! Hmmm, time to call the landlord?

A snippet of my life

11:30pm

Picture Oob sound asleep...

{Ringing cell phone}

She struggles to fumble the cell phone open in her groggy stupor, grunts an incoherent greeting and recognizes the voice on the other end as her boyfriend's. He asks her how she is.

"I NEED YOU TO OVERSEE THIS. THIS SITUATION MUST BE RECTIFIED IMMEDIATELY! THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THIS KIND OF INACTION!!!!"

{Gentle male laughter and a long pause}

He says with the smile still warming his voice, "Ummmmmmmm, baby? I think I'm going to let you go back to sleep now."

Oob replies, "HUH?!?! Oh. ....'Kay. Iloveyougoodnighhh...." {closes cell phone}

ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

And yes, this has happened before. Think I'm working too hard?

Unexpected money

Isn't it just incredibly ironic that an unforeseen acquirement of any bit of financial excess POOFS the instant you get your grubby little hands on it?

The source: Saturday night's pool tournament. I took 1st prize (officially) for the first time. One hundred forty bucks in my pocket and a sh*t-eatin' grin on my face? CHECK.

The thief: The upcoming move. In a perfect world, I could walk out of my old apartment with my security deposit in hand. Hi. What corner of reality do we live in? Instead, I've been saving up for the past month or so to be able to juuuuust squeeze together first months' rent AND a 1.5 month security deposit for my new place. This extra money shoved me across that red line and into the black. I suppose the good news is that within 30 days my previous security deposit will come back to me in all it's glory. To all you folks down south and/or the midwest... thank your lucky stars for what you pay in rent and mortgages. This. is. ri-effing-diculous!!!! I bet my rent + utilities will rival my brother's mortgage payment on his future mansion-esque abode. RRRRrrrrawr.

Sigh... oh well. It was fun to finally win it. And so the planning begins. Yes, I'm a geek. I've already begun a spreadsheet of tasks I face in the next two weeks. Shuddup.