August Photo a Day Challenge Completed

Guys, it’s SEPTEMBER! Apologies for the little hiatus I took last week. I actually had some stuff I wanted to blog about, but I’ve been in this super-lazy, lounge-y mode lately. Last week, I spent a lot of after-work evenings in my sister’s room watching Pretty Little Liars on Netflix. Man, that show is the best kind of guilty pleasure.

Anyway, I’m still enjoying my Labor Day over here (by once again being lazy and lounge-y), so I figured I’d post the results of my
Fat Mum Slim August Photo a Day Challenge! Here’s the list:

Here are my photos:

1. I go crazy if I don’t take a walk outside during my breaks at work.
2. I only had one dollar left in my wallet on that payday…thank God it wouldn’t be that little for long!
3. I made a huge stress in saying that the medallions/medals on that cider look like coins.
4. The couch at Brad and Lou’s is somewhere I sat.
5. I did two photos for logo: The new bottle of Cheer and that cute can of sauce from Sam’s Club.
6. This is my hand writing from a very short story I wrote a couple of years ago.
7. On a Tuesday at 8 o clock, you can usually find me at Dana’s watching TV.
8. I was a little bummed out because I hate wearing my glasses to the gym.
9. My life is just as messy as my room is, which is probably why my life feels so messy.
10. This owl ring was inexpensive and it’s one of my favorites.
11. There’s purple in this multi-colored skirt I almost wore.
12. Stirring my coffee with a spoon.
13. The beautiful sky is something simple that makes me incredibly happy.
14. I love this Hunger Games inspired necklace I have, with the Mockingjay, arrow and “pearl” for Peeta.
15. Maria and I were so ready to hit the road and enjoy an afternoon at the Hometown Auction.
16. Yummy pulled pork for dinner, that’s some great food.
17. Love the faces of the boys on this British show, The Inbetweeners.
18. Artie burrowed himself inside of Maria’s Missoni for Target blanket.
19. Holes in the table, Maria’s feet in the background.
20. Today (that day), I found over 30 mustaches taped to different office supplies around my work space.
21. Cool as a cucumber roll.
22. The road home.
23. A new pair of earrings I bought (and haven’t worn yet!!!).
24. The path to Brad’s doorway.
25. Fresh salsa and chips at La Tolteca.
26. I dreamt in this bed all alone.
27. The bathroom tap.
28. Off the clock and enjoying the freedom.
29. Looking down at one of my favorite shirts of all time, in pretty chevron colors.
30. Scratch off lottery ticket cards…I have a slight addiction.
31. I’m hidden in this picture.

And that’s all! I’ve already begun the September challenge, of course. Can’t believe it. Time really flies. Like I say after every challenge.
Because it’s true!

Recent Reads: If I Stay

I enjoyed every second I read this book, which I finished in mere days (with work and other life things, it usually takes me at least a week).
I had heard about it from this article on HelloGiggles, instantly put it down in a memo on my phone so I’d remember to look it up, went to Target for something totally different, saw it staring me in the face, and bought it without a second thought.

Quick Rant: I hate the critic quote on the cover of this book. There are so many excellent quotes from all sorts of wonderful newspapers and magazines and authors and critics when you open the cover, and they chose to suck readers in by using a popular franchise that is nothing like this book at all. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of Twilight and I suppose it would help the book sell, but it’s an excellent book that could do well without that little quote. You have me at a great premise.

Anyway, If I Stay is so different from anything I’ve ever read. Our main character and narrator is 17 year old Mia Hall, a cellist who is on the verge of graduating high school and awaiting an acceptance letter from Juilliard. She has a cute, emo-punk boyfriend, Adam (he’s a year older) and a super supportive, loving family in her mom and dad (two former punks who understand a love of rock and roll, music, that lifestyle, and being young and in love) and her younger brother Teddy.

It’s a snow day in Utah. Nothing much catches on the ground, but school has been cancelled and the Hall family decides to enjoy a day off, venture out to see some family and visit a bookstore and enjoy some time together.
All of that changes when they get into a car accident.

Mia wakes up in a ditch, wondering how she got there, and tries to find her family. Her parents were killed immediately in the accident, so she goes looking for Teddy, and when she thinks she found him, she is actually looking at herself. The accident has put her into a coma, and for whatever reason, she is outside of her body. She feels no pain or connection to her injured self, but she has no idea how to change the circumstances and get back into her body. She only learns her choice when a nurse at the hospital tells her grandparents that Mia is the only one who can decide whether or not she wakes up from the coma, no matter what the doctors do.

This means our out-of-body heroine needs to choose whether or not she wants to live or die. A heavy choice, obviously.
She has lost her family, but she still has a lot to live for. She just isn’t sure if she can handle the weight of it all.

This is such a beautiful book. And, obviously, very sad. But there are bits of hope, bits of love and happiness and memories and wondering about the future, a future without the most important people in your life. I really liked it because it tackles a topics we all deal with in life…our mortality and the mortality of those we love, relationships with friends and lovers, choosing our future in one way or another.
And it was done so beautifully and the storyline is unlike anything I’ve ever read.

I would highly recommend this book. It’s just a smidge over 200 pages, so it’s a fairly quick read.
Just don’t finish it in the waiting room of a doctor’s office.
It might get a little embarrassing if you start to cry.

Weekend

Thank you, Dove chocolates, for this reminder.
It’s kind of the perfect advice for a weekend like the one I just had.

This weekend wasn’t ideal. Brad was out of town yet again for a wedding. I had work Saturday morning. I am completely broke ‘til payday, so I had to tell a couple different people I couldn’t join them in drinks or meals because I don’t have any money for anything “unnecessary” until then. My sinuses bothered me.I only had one day to sleep in.

But I still made the best of what I had. Despite the fact that Brad wasn’t home, I still crashed at his place. I wanted a little break after spending so much time with my family last weekend. A little me time. Plus, I wanted to sleep in a big comfy bed and be there when Brad got home. He was still here Friday night, so we went to Ipanema Grille, and both got drunk off of meat and Brazilian cocktails.
I can’t stress enough how wonderful that place is. It’s intimate, the service is top-notch, the people are so nice, and the food is amazing.
GO GO GO.

It was nice of Brad to take me to dinner. We haven’t had a little date in a while. I had a lot of fun.

The rest of the weekend was spent watching movies (3 on Saturday alone), reading, and relaxing.
Not too shabby.

I’m ready for a 3 day weekend! Labor Day is coming up, and I don’t have to work! 3 full days of freedom. And I’m planning on spending every last second having fun with my main squeeze and some friends! Plus, 3 days to sleep in? Thank you, God!

Here’s to a good (and hopefully not painfully slow) week!

Dinner Last Night: Buffalo Chicken Chili

For the second week in a row, I’ve made dinner in the crock pot. This is Buffalo Chicken Chili, courtesy of a Betty Crocker recipe I was given via Facebook! It was so damn tasty. It wasn’t as Buffalo-y as I had hoped, but it was so delicious. Also, if you plan to make this recipe, expect more of a soup than a thick chili texture.

I made sure to cover my bowl with blue cheese and Colby jack, and scoop everything up with Tostitos multigrain scoops! I nearly died.
Heaven in my mouth.

Once again, it’s Friday. I have work tomorrow, and Brad is heading to Philly for a wedding so I’m winging this weekend.
Hoping to fit in some fun.

Have a great one guys!

25

I feel the need to get a little serious for a moment.

It is very easy for me to forget my age. It’s not intentional, it’s just that it never really mattered that much to me. Aside from turning 21 and being able to legally buy alcohol, each birthday has just meant adding a new digit to the age box. I don’t really fear getting older, though I do want to enjoy the selfish, young years while I still can. And I am pretty sure I’ll always be a little goofy and crazy and never really grow up.

But let’s be honest. 25 is a rough time. Maybe every age is rough in it’s own way…but 25 has this certain…extra hump to tackle.

The thing is, I am smack dab in the middle of my 20s. When I turned 20, I was still in college. I still had a couple of years to go. I still had classes to schedule, papers to write, presentations to prepare, parties to go to on the weekend. Things weren’t 100% set in stone, but I knew what the next couple years of my life would look like. I went into my 20s knowing what to expect for the next few years, and I was totally coddled by those expectations and ideals. I was just another college student doing collegiate and crazy things.

When I graduated college, I felt a huge gap open in my life. I was only working part-time at Blockbuster Video (remember that popular video chain that used to be everywhere but is now a world wonder if you can find an open one?), with no actual idea what I wanted to really do in my life. I suppose I never knew. I chose Mass Communications as my major because a) I knew it would interest me and b) it was the only major with careers attached to it that I could possibly see myself doing. I always loved writing, talking, creating…but I didn’t nail a specific thing to focus on, so my education was for naught. I don’t regret going to college but I don’t know if it really helped me in an economical way. During that post-grad summer, I spent a lot of time in my pink fluffy robe, watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall an embarrassing amount of times, refusing to eat most of the time, and lamenting over my loneliness and lack of direction in life.

When I got the job I have now (it’s been nearly 3 years, oy), I was excited to be one of the first people I knew to get a full-time gig with health insurance and benefits. It has absolutely nothing to do with anything I ever studied in my life or anything I’ve ever wanted to do, but it was something I thought about doing for a little while and it happened to fall in my lap. Now, I just can’t get it out of my lap. Or get out of it’s lap?
I don’t know.

Slowly but surely, my friends all got jobs, careers even (I am surrounded by graphic designers and teachers…why is that my main group of friends? Not that it matters, I love y’all.), made enough money to move out of the house or out of the town or made something different of themselves. Meanwhile, I am still sleeping in the bed I got when I was 13 in a sloppy bedroom I don’t really care to clean cuz I’d rather just move out, under my parents’ roof, with family arguments and debates over bathroom and laundry time. If you asked me at the beginning of my 20s if I thought I’d still be here at age 25…I’d have said no. But I wouldn’t have had a better answer for you either.

To top it all off, more and more people are popping up engaged or married. I’m super-happy for these people, but I don’t plan on getting married anytime super soon. I want to, and I can see it being a thing in the future, but I don’t want to do that until I’m financially stable and more comfortable in life…and I haven’t the slightest idea when that might be.
I don’t even know how I’ll react when my first pregnant friend comes forward. I may go catatonic for a few days.

I can’t help but feel completely lost at this point in time. I’m not sure what I want to be. I don’t make enough money to drive a car other than my ‘93 Buick, to move out of my parents’ house, to even pay a little extra on the bills I owe. I just want to be financially stable. I know with more money comes more responsibility. I don’t expect to ever be rich or have everything I want (I wouldn’t know what that would be anyway), but I certainly don’t want to be 30 years old and still at home. Lord save me if that happens.

Don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of good things in my life. I’m lucky my parents allow me to stay in their house without paying rent (just make them a yummy dinner every Thursday…small price to pay). I’m lucky to have a wonderful boyfriend who is also my best friend. I’m lucky to have amazing friends who accept me for the crazy gal I am. I have a good life when you take away all the “important” things.

I don’t know what the point of this rambling is.

I know I’m the one who has to make choices and take action. Nothing will happen unless I do this.
I guess I just wanted to share how I feel.

In case I’m not alone.
I hope I’m not alone.

A Cure for the Workday Blues

What should you do when your day (or week) just isn’t working out?
Go on a sushi date, of course!

Brad had a certificate for Pearl, the sushi bar at the casino, so we decided to make it a no-cooking night and gorge on some yummy sushi.
The other good thing about Pearl? They have a happy hour where all of their tasty Martinis are half off.
We didn’t really need to drink 3 a piece, but we sure did, guys. We sure did. (Yin was my poison of choice. SO good.)
And that would explain why I promptly fell asleep for 2 hours when we got home.

It was the best way to forget about the terrible days we both had!

Recent Reads: The F*ck Up

I recently finished a book recommended to me by my friend Catie. The Fuck Up by Arthur Nersesian was published over 10 years ago and I had never heard of it. But I was intrigued by the title and the description on Amazon.

The title is definitely cheeky and crass but there could not be a better one for this story. Our narrator is definitely an anti-hero (we never learn his name). He tumbles, crashes, runs into and runs away from every horrible situation he gets himself into. It’s the early 80s and we only know a little bit about our narrator: He has no family, he never finished college, and he is living with a girlfriend…but cheating on her. As things usually go, his girlfriend finds out about his wandering ways and kicks him out of the apartment.
After that, his “mistress” wants nothing to do with him (though she never gave him what he wanted anyway), he loses his job, and ends up crashing at his older friend Helmsley’s, who falls in love with an emotionally and physically abusive woman who leads him to his end.

It’s hard to put this book down as our narrator/pathetic hero lies, steals, and cheats his way through the streets of NYC.
He has no hope in life, no real guide keeping him in a straight path, nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Though I can’t relate to his actual story, I related to his ultimate conundrum: What’s the point of this life?
It’s especially hard for him because he can’t seem to get a grasp on anything stable or honest or real.

The end was a teensy bit anti-climactic for me, but I suppose there was no other way for it to end.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this fictional character’s messy life, cringing and shaking my head all the way through.