Weekend at Furman! and other stories

Since it's been weeks since I last posted, I'm giving myself a break from studying for tomorrow's Composition final by updating all my loyal readers (haha) on my life.

I'm slightly less busy than the last time we talked. Slightly being the key word. As quickly as I started at NY&Co, I realized it wasn't the place for me. I loved the customer service aspect, and the large discount on associate purchases, and my general manager... but didn't enjoy having to sell a credit card, and I did not get along very well with some of the assistant management. The girl who interviewed me first, in particular, did not seem to like me very much. Possibly because I got her in trouble with the GM when I complained that she had never called me back to set up a second interview (which she was supposed to do... it's a complicated story, but basically it was awkward). Whatever the reason, she was not very friendly to me and intimated multiple times that it would not be a huge tragedy if I quit. After a few weeks of this, and being yelled at for missing shifts that were mis-scheduled, and being exhausted from working 12 hour days at two jobs, I finally had enough, and I quit last weekend. I feel much better already! In the end, it just wasn't worth the extra money I was making there.

At BAM, meanwhile, I'm trying to get a promotion. Hoping for a management position, but I'd be happy just to get a bit of a raise. I was supposed to know about all of this last Monday, and nothing has yet been decided... but hopefully I will actually know by this week.

Class is still going pretty well, although I missed class last night because of my ridiculous drive home from Greensboro, which was probably not good. But I don't think I'll be failing. I really hope I won't be failing. That would suck a lot. Won't think about that possibility anymore. They can't fail me because I drove through tornados!! Tomorrow is my final exam in my Composition class, and next Monday is my final in my Intro class. Kind of crazy that I'm already done with my first two classes in this program!

Matt turned 25 a couple of weeks ago (on April 8th). It was a Wednesday, so I had class and he had a soccer game, but I surprised him that night with cookie cake, candles, Cadbury eggs (his favorite candy ever), and wine to toast his quarter-century day. Then, on Thursday night, I took him to dinner at the Iron Bridge Wine Company, a new discovery I made thanks to a friend from class. (Thanks D!) It. Was. Fabulous. Moderately priced, with great food and a very extensive wine selection. We went all out -- we got calamari as an appetizer and split a bottle of wine with dinner (it was No Corkage Thursday, to my delight), which was a filet for him and rack of lamb for me (DELICIOUS), and then we had what they call a "wine and cheese flight" where we sampled three cheeses which they had paired with three wines to bring out more of the flavors, AND we had dessert! The portions were small enough that we weren't even gorging ourselves to have all of those courses, which was nice, because it was all amazing. It's my new favorite place, and I want people to come visit just so I can take them there!! It made for a very romantic and wonderful evening to celebrate Matt's birthday.

Easter was very low key for us this year. We stayed home, didn't see any family (Matt's parents and brother were in SC visiting his sister), didn't go to church, just got some homework done and enjoyed a relaxing day off. It was my first real day off in over a week, so it was a huge relief. It was also what made me realize that my free time is important and that I needed to quit one of my jobs!

This past weekend, I went down to Furman to see the FUtones and Madrigals spring concerts. Matt couldn't go with me, for a number of reasons -- mostly work, plus a little bit of house and dog stuff thrown in. Plus I think he knew how much I needed some girl time, which I got in abundance and which made my heart happy!! It was an amazing weekend. Got down on Friday in time to have dinner at Trio with Zaruba, and also got to see my friend Brian in an Improv!able Cause show that night -- I've wanted to make it to an improv show all year, and was so excited when I realized I would get to finally see one! It did not disappoint -- it was a high energy show with excellent performances by all involved. :-) Saturday I had "brunch" (around noon...) with Z, Em, Jordan, and Crawford at Leopard Forest, which is a great little coffee shop I wish I'd frequented more while I was still in Greenville. We were accosted - twice - by a Greek Orthodox man who wanted us to come to his Easter service at 11:00 that night... suffice to say, that was an extremely awkward encounter which provided us with lots of laughs later on. We wandered around Furman for a while to kill time before the FUtones concert, but it was so hot we ended up at the music building a full 45 minutes early. We definitely looked like dorky, slightly stalker-ish alumni!!

Speaking of alumni, there were SO MANY at this concert! Nine total, which I think might be the most we've ever had. We still missed lots of people (Di, I'm calling you out!), but it was tons of fun to sit front and center as the "alumni section", and to sing with the group for Sweet Dreams, and to then go out for an alumni dinner at Barley's after the concert! (By the way, if you'd like to see videos from the concert, check out my videos on facebook! They'll also be on youtube fairly soon.) Oh, such a good time.

That evening was spent hanging out with old friends downtown, culminating in a lengthy visit to a wine bar called Stellar with Z and Miz, where we split a whopping three bottles of wine, a cheese plate, and chocolate fondue. Wowsa. My tummy was not happy with me later on that night. :-P But it was so worth it! Good times. I miss them. And I miss Greenville.

Sunday was the Madrigals concert, which of course I also attended. They were quite good, in spite of the fact that they were apparently abandoned by one of their sopranos (in favor of the KA formal... how rude) at the last minute. Erin and her fiance were there, too, so she and I both got up to sing Flower of Beauty with them at the end of the concert, which was nice. I'm a tiny bit concerned about them in terms of next year, because they are losing six out of their current eleven members, leaving four girls and only one guy...!! Scary. I'm sure they'll pull through with the leadership they've elected for next year, but it's still gotta be nerve-wracking for them. Oh, I also found out that they're singing for Erin's wedding, which is very cool. I've started a trend. :-)

After the concert I said my goodbyes and headed to Greensboro for the night, where I got to spend some quality time with my brother and both my parents, which was nice. In retrospect, I probably should have skipped that part of the trip because of the way the weather turned on Monday... but it was really good to see my family, so I don't really regret that decision. It just sucked to drive home on Monday.

Wow, this was long. That'll teach me to put off updating. Ha. Life is pretty darn good right now... I miss all the people I just got to visit, but I'm also hoping a lot of them will come visit me sometime soon, which would make me so happy! I have another six or eight weeks where I don't have a ton going on (at least as of now) other than work and class, and then summer really hits in June. Really looking forward to some fun stuff coming up then! :-)

I HATE MY LIFE

...April Fool's.

Heh.

So, actually, in spite of having next to no free time anymore, I'm loving my life. I LOVE my photography classes. I'm also getting incredibly terrific feedback from my peers and my teachers, and I'm learning so much. I'm stressed every week when I think about trying to get my homework done, because I'm working so much that I usually have about one day to get it done for both classes -- and there is a LOT of very specific stuff to get done. Even lighting specific, which means weather-specific, which means if it rains on my day off, I'm potentially SCREWED. But I've managed to get it done thus far, and hopefully will be able to continue to do so. This week should be relatively easy, at least for my Composition class, because we're playing with Macro lenses/filters and so we don't have to worry as much about going far to find interesting things to shoot! I can stay in my backyard, probably, and get everything I need. So that's good.

This is very brief, I realize, but I have had very many long days in a row, and tomorrow I work from 8am-9pm, and Friday I work from 8am-11pm... so it's bedtime. More on my life later.

p.s. Keep checking littledarkone.etsy.com, and please please please tell your friends! I want to start selling some photos!! :-)

Etsy update!

I added five new photos to my shop tonight! I'm experimenting with framed and matted photos to see if they sell any better than the simple prints I had posted before. (I still haven't sold anything, sadly.) I really would love it if someone would buy one of my photographs. Or just if more people were looking at them. Probably just a waiting game... but still. It will just be awesome when I finally sell that first photo.

So anyway, check it out. And please tell me what you like! If nothing else, feedback = happiness. :)

In other news, this week will probably be crazy. Actually, the rest of my foreseeable life is probably going to be crazy. Thank goodness for days off -- like today -- when I can be productive!!

DeToxing

slash ridiculous facebook survey


Three Names I go by
1. KiBo
2. Wifey (love this one :))
3. Captain (I only let a few privileged people call me this)

Three Jobs I have had in my life
1. Waitress
2. Sales associate
3. Petsitter

Three Places I have lived
1. Greensboro, NC
2. Greenville, SC
3. Columbia, MD

Three TV Shows that I watch
1. Chuck
2. NCIS
3. Grey's Anatomy

Three places I have been
1. Italy (multiple cities including but not limited to Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, Naples, Capri)
2. France (Paris, Nice)
3. Switzerland (Zurich, Lucerne)

Three places I want to visit
1. Australia
2. Egypt
3. India

Three of my favorite types of foods
1. Mexican
2. Pasta
3. Scallops/Shrimp

Three friends I think will repost
1. this is
2. a very
3. stupid question

Things I am looking forward to
1. more classes at the Washington School of Photography!
2. Disney World trip with the fam this summer!
3. giving Bailey (little puppy) back to her real mommy Rachel... love her, but I'm ready :-P

Three favorite movies
1. LOTR trilogy
2. Love, Actually is something I can watch again and again
3. Indiana Jones trilogy (I do NOT include the latest one -- enjoyable, but no classic)

Three favorite musicians and/or bands
1. Coldplay
2. No Doubt/Gwen Stefani
3. Billy Joel

Well, that was fun. Goodnight. :-P

Since I haven't actually said this yet...

Class is AMAZING! I love it already and am convinced this was a good decision. Which is good. Because it would have been an expensive mistake. :-P

The one thing that has me worried is that there is a LOT of homework and studying that I have to do, and I'm afraid that having two (three if I keep petsitting occasionally) jobs is not going to be conducive to getting good work done. This is a problem, since I've pretty much told both BAM and NY&Co that I'm available for them. And really, I am enjoying working at BAM and I think I will enjoy NY&Co too, so I don't even want to give one of them up... but at the same time, it is a little scary to think about the coming months. I've caught myself hoping that one of them will just decide not to keep me around or something... wouldn't it be nice if it could be that easy. But ultimately I think I will have to choose, and it will probably come down to money, which might mean really letting down the people at BAM. Gah. I don't know. I probably shouldn't worry about it until I've worked at NY&Co for at least a week or so and gotten to know that job better.

Speaking of which, I have to leave for work for the second time today in about 45 minutes, so I need to go eat dinner... I'm off. Have a great weekend!

Dreams

Very odd dreams the last couple of nights.

-I dreamed on Sunday night that I was Ryan Seacrest. Don't know if I really need to say anything else about that one. I woke up screaming. (Just kidding. But it wouldn't have surprised me.)

-I dreamed last night that I came home and there were random people in my house (different house on a different street) cleaning it, unsolicited, which I found suspicious, so I put my stuff down and went back outside to see their van... upon going outside I realized that there was a SWAT team examining the van and I became even more concerned, so I went back inside (dumb?) at which point I was told that they were going to take my camera and sell it on the black market. (Laughing yet?) I was EXTREMELY upset in the dream, like sobbing, and suddenly my mother was there and we were all upset and crying and begging them not to take the camera, and I asked how much they were planning to sell it for and they said $600 and I said I would buy it back from them for $600. (This is all still in my house with a SWAT team outside.) But they won't take a check and I don't have the cash, so I start handing them those little chips from casinos that you trade in for money when you're done, and they're like "we don't know if we can take those" but I'm seriously freaking out so they finally take them and leave. And the SWAT team lets them just drive away. And then I woke up.

I swear I'm not on crack.

Briefly...

Since I haven't posted in over a week...

Work at Books-A-Million is going amazingly well, actually. Turns out I am a brilliant salesperson. Seriously. They love me. When Manager A found out that Manager B had encouraged me to look for supplemental part-time work (at my interview before they realized I was so awesome :-P), Manager A CHEWED OUT Manager B. This amuses me. It also makes me feel a little bad for Manager B, who had no way of knowing whether I'd be good or great or a complete spaz... oh well.

I start class tomorrow.

*freaks out*

I just hope it turns out to be a good thing and not a total let-down. No reason at all why I'm anticipating a let-down. Other than just your run-of-the-mill paranoia.

Having two puppies in the house is rather traumatizing at times, and we will be glad to let Rachel take Bailey home when Easter rolls around... that being said, she is darn cute and we love our little niece. :)

Well, I said it was going to be brief. So there you go. The end.

Oh, also, I hear that there are issues with leaving comments. Ah well. Just my luck. I suppose I'll just have to trust that there do exist people who are interested, at least a little, in my goings-on. (Hi Jess and Em.) :-P

For serious now, good night!

Lots of Stuff

Don't really have time for a proper update, so here goes:

- Went down south for a roadtrip this weekend and saw my mom and dad, my brother, and Karen in Greensboro before moving on to Columbia, SC, and having a BLAST with Rachel, her boyfriend Brad, and our friends Ike and Tina (who are buying a house and we are extremely jealous).

- Got snowed in, in Greensboro of all places, and ended up not getting home until Tuesday.

- Brought home a new puppy, Bailey -- she's not ours, we are foster parents until Rachel is ready for a puppy (which might be as early as Easter, but it might be sometime in May depending on how ready she feels for her exams). Bailey is both adorable and good for Indy, but we are definitely already counting the days until she sleeps through the night....

- Officially working two jobs as of today: petsitting this morning, then my first shift at Books-A-Million tonight. This is good for the wallet, and probably for my self-esteem/sanity, but not so good for the hubby. He is stuck at home with the puppies all night. Plus after he leaves for work this morning we won't see each other again until midnight. Sucky.

- Might be adding a third job. Interviewing tomorrow for NY&Co. We'll see how that goes.

- Karen is coming to visit this weekend, and I'm both excited and nervous -- I'm just worried that I will have to work a lot. Nothing I can do about that, but it would still be kind of no fun.

- Andrew is also coming to visit this weekend, which means we are also supposed to have family time. This may prove to be far too much going on at once. We'll see.

- No one has yet bought anything from my etsy shop, which is somewhat disheartening. Additionally, no one ever comments on this blog, leading me to believe that possibly no one actually reads it, which makes the whole blog thing kind of pointless. If you do read -- the whole reason I took up blogging again is because I've been rather lonely, so the occasional comment would really put a smile on my face. Other blogs I follow end up being practically conversations between the blogger and the people who comment, and I like that idea, that connectivity. All of this to say, if you're reading out there, I'd really appreciate it if you'd let me know!

Almost time for my day to start. Wish me luck.

Mardi Gras!

Fat Tuesday. The ultimate excuse for pigging out and drinking yourself into a stupor. And we didn't have any plans.

Granted, I don't even remember what, if anything, I did for Mardi Gras last year... I was probably on Singers tour, actually. But two years ago, Matt and I celebrated in Venice, and this year the idea of staying in and being boring adults living in suburbia REALLY didn't appeal to me. So when I heard an ad on the radio for a Mardi Gras party at a bar in downtown Baltimore, sponsored by the radio station, with free stuff and a drawing for a free trip to New Orleans, I made the spur-of-the-moment decision that we were going. Matt was dubious, but I think he realized that I just really wanted to DO something, to get out and have fun. Plus the party was an excuse to wear my Venetian mask, and how often do I get to do that? (Answer: pretty much never.)

Well, we knew going in that there was a strong possibility that the party would be totally lame. And it definitely was. We strolled in a good twenty minutes after it was supposed to start, and I was the ONLY one wearing a mask. Matt would have been wearing one, but we were a little too spontaneous for that -- both of his are still at his parents' house. Oh well. They were giving out free masks when you signed up for the drawing, so he got a really glittery green plastic mask... not nearly as cool, but at least I wasn't the only one in a mask after that. The guy from the radio station came over to me looking a little forlorn, since no one was showing up for his big party, and asked if I was wearing the mask because I'd heard about the party on the radio. When I said yes, he got this big goofy grin and gave me a free t-shirt for being awesome. Ha! Sadly, that was all I got out of the evening... we definitely didn't win the trip to New Orleans.

I guess that's not entirely true. We did get free Coors Light stuff. There were these three girls doing a Coors Light promotion, and they came by and gave us chapstick and a keychain bottle opener and free Coors Light. Now, few things taste worse than Coors Light. But turning down free beer is.... dumb. So naturally we took it. Plus these girls had a shitty job. They had to spend the entire night walking around the bar, schmoozing, in stiletto heels that did NOT look comfortable and with their white blouses open practically to the navel. They were very pretty girls, and I'm sure they enjoyed the attention they got, but even so -- that isn't exactly a fun job, not to mention the demeaning aspects of it. The DJ even made them get up on the stage to do jumping jacks. In their ridiculous(ly painful) shoes. And their pencil skirts. With their boobs hanging out. I mean, I laughed along with everyone else, but I felt bad for them, too. I felt even worse after my little faux pas...

So, when the girls came by and asked if we'd like free beer, of course we said yes. One of them came back over to give us our beers and asked, "Did we take a picture of you with the Coors Light girls?"

Well, they hadn't, so I said "no." It was really loud, so she leaned in a bit and said "what?"

"NO," I responded.

"Oh... okay." She walked away. Matt looked at me, confused, and asked, "Why couldn't they?"

Um. "What?"

"Why couldn't they take our picture?"

"...shit."

That's right. She wasn't asking whether or not they had already taken our picture, she was asking permission to take our picture. And I just said "no," twice, emphatically, with no explanation whatsoever. This clearly makes me a total bitch. Accidentally a bitch, yes -- but still a bitch in their minds. Oh, I felt terrible. And I didn't even manage to apologize convincingly, apparently -- Matt convinced me to go over to them and explain, even though I felt really stupid doing it, and I told the girls that I'd misunderstood them and of COURSE they could take our picture, and that I realized I must have seemed like a total bitch (to which the girl replied "yep, a little bit"!), and they said "Oh, no problem, thanks for telling us, we'll definitely come back by and take your picture!" Yeah... they never did. Oh well... I tried. I'm pretty sure they didn't believe me, and Matt wanted me to try again after a while, but I figured it probably wouldn't do any good, so I didn't. I mean, if I were them, I wouldn't believe me either, and I'd be pissed enough from the initial snubbing that I wouldn't really want to believe an apology. So, I get it.

Oh well. It was still a fun night, and we got free stuff, and we had a good time together, and I'm SO glad we went out. :-) And I'm never going to see the Coors Light girls again, probably, and even if I do -- I was wearing a mask! Ha!

Etsy

Sorry for the lack of updates over the last week... I've been busy accomplishing things!

* I'm officially "getting hired" at Books-A-Million on Monday. This is excellent.

* I'm more than likely going to be hired at New York & Company as well. I'll find out for sure next week. This is also excellent.

* Cooking is still going amazingly well. This week I've made a citrusy mahi mahi (I liked it, but Matt's not big on fish other than salmon, so it wasn't his fave), Greek-style meatballs with sauteed veggies (YUM), and on Wednesday when it snowed and was generally nasty outside, a delicious beef and bean chili to warm us up. :) I may not be cooking again until Monday, but one of the next recipes I'm going to try is chicken breast stuffed with spinach and goat cheese. I'm drooling already.

* I opened my shop on Etsy!! If you don't know what Etsy is, you should check it out -- it's very cool. I actually got turned on by my friend Emily, who has done quite well selling her knitting at her shop on Etsy. When I realized that a lot of people already use Etsy to sell their photography, I decided to try it... this was back in December, which was not the best time for me to get started! It's taken me two months, but I'm finally up and running, and I'm really proud of it so far. It's a bit of an investment, so I hope people will actually want to buy my prints...! I also think it will be a good way to begin to make a name for myself as I start taking photography classes and build my portfolio. Anyway, you should definitely check it out! :-)

I have to go to work, since I'm really running late... oops. I just got overly excited about Etsy this morning I guess. :-P

Gahhhhh, I feel so good about life right now!!

Happy Friday!

Wonderful Weekend

God, but it's been a terrific week. Didn't really think I'd say that after a week on a diet, but seriously, this past week has made me feel like a completely different person. And this weekend was wonderful, too, and pretty productive.

Obviously the whole probably-getting-a-job thing is a big deal. I also got offered an interview at a nifty store called Fire & Ice. Getting interviews is a big confidence-booster. I felt a little less proud of myself today at the book club meeting I went to: there were six young women there, myself included, and the other five women all have good, real jobs. Two are reporters for CBS, one is a social worker, one teaches Creative Writing at Johns Hopkins, and one is a paralegal. Granted, they're all in their mid- to late-twenties, so I know I shouldn't feel too badly about it... but I still felt rather overshadowed by them all. I made it into a joke that I work at a bookstore and they were all incredibly nice and encouraging... but I was almost even more embarrassed because I was claiming a job I haven't even officially gotten yet! I just couldn't own up to pet-sitting to these young, independent, amazingly successful women. Only one other woman was married, the rest are entirely on their own financially!

As intimidated as I was by these amazing ladies, I know that I need friends like them in my life. I am really hoping that I can strike up some relationships with them. They were all so friendly that it made me think maybe I could, but then at the end of the meeting everyone just said "see you next month!" and left it at that. So, I don't know. I've already facebooked the girls I could find, and I'm going to try to make some connections with them. It is so easy, living where I do and with limited access to my girlfriends, to get caught up in this idea of the stay-at-home wife. Which is great for some people -- Amy, for example, always says that she would love to just stay home and do stuff around the house and stuff if they could afford for her to not work. But I learned quickly that I just can't stay at home by myself and be happy. I guess my point is that being around successful women is inspirational and gives me hope that I will be able to make something of myself, and so it was really wonderful today to spend some time with such accomplished young women. They were so much fun! Oh, and we talked about the book, too. :-P

I should write about my wonderful Valentine's weekend. That's right. Matt really carried the celebrations over three days, when all was said and done! Friday morning I walked out to my car to go to work and found a little Victoria's Secret bag waiting for me... I furtively peeked inside, eager to see my present but not exactly okay with my neighbors getting a view of new lingerie! No worries though, it was a gift card. (Always a terrific way to go.) So that was a wonderful start to my day! That night, I opened another gift, this one a little goofy and fun: Madagascar 2, with the bonus Penguin Adventure DVD! We've already watched Madagascar 2, and I can tell you that it is just as fun to watch as the first one! Matt brought home takeout from Cheesecake Factory (following our diet!) so that I wouldn't have to cook, which was great.

Saturday morning, I slept until 10:00. My dear, wonderful husband was up at 7:00 and even went shopping while I slept! I woke up to the sound of the blender and thought, "oh, Matt must be making us breakfast shakes!" Then I remembered that we'd run out of milk a few days before and was confused. So I went downstairs and peered around into the kitchen -- sure enough, Matt had milk and was making shakes. I asked him if he'd picked it up this morning and he said, "Yep! Want a shake, sweetheart?" So I made my way downstairs and loved on the dog for a few minutes, and then I turned to say something else to Matt, and voila! there were roses on the table! How I missed these when I first came down, I do not know. But there they were, along with a gift and two cards, all for me! I loved my presents and the cards were so sweet, and Matt had even trimmed all the roses and put them in a beautiful vase for me. :-)

We actually spent the day cleaning house, if you can believe it -- ah, the joys of a married Valentine's Day! At my request, we watched Notting Hill and then went upstairs and unpacked/cleaned all afternoon. We also got a special treat: we heard from our friends Kyle and Jo that they'd finally gotten a little Yorkie puppy, and we got to go over to their house and meet her. She is just precious. Won Matt's heart immediately. :-P

We went to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse with the best of intentions... we even took our little Restaurant Guide so we'd be good... but we broke down in the end. We talked it over while we were waiting for a table. Matt's really been miserable about his breakfast and lunch options, and even though he's had amazing results already (12.5 pounds, man!) he feels like he'll be happier if he actually likes what he's eating. And after just one week of really paying attention to everything we eat, we've both learned a lot about choosing the right kinds of food. So, we decided that we were going to go ahead and get the things we really wanted for our dinner, since it was Valentine's Day and all, and then we'd sort of adjust the diet going forward. Matt wants to have Slimfast shakes for breakfast and oatmeal for lunch, with snacks in between -- not exactly unhealthy! And we'll keep having the South Beach dinners. I haven't really decided what I'll do for lunches, but I think I'm going to stick to eggs for breakfast. So, now that we've learned the essentials and we have lots of meals to choose from that we know are healthy, I think we can be relaxed about dieting. And if we start to backslide, we can always go back to "Phase 1" for a bit and be hardcore for a while.

All of that to say, our Valentine's Day meal was fabulous. Steak stuffed with bacon and melted cheese, and lobster and shrimp dip, and I had two glasses of wine... YUM.

Well, I have gone on tonight, haven't I? Props if you're actually still reading. The end of this awesome story is that I didn't have to cook tonight either (we got yummy Qdoba again) and we also indulged in the chocolate chip cookies I baked last week, which have been tempting us all week long! Also today I had the awesome book club meeting, and Matt took Indiana to his first training session. We are on our way to having a well-behaved dog! At least, I hope we are.

This is quite enough for tonight. I believe I've covered the important stuff. Life is good, ladies and gents. Life is so good.

Real Update

I interviewed at Books-A-Million today, and it went really well. As long as my background check comes back clean, I'm hired! Of course, there is no reason why it wouldn't come back just fine. Even so, I freak myself out about stuff like this, so I'll just be glad when I hear from them next week.

I also have an interview at New York & Company on Wednesday. Like I need another reason to buy their clothes. I am already a walking advertisement for that store.

It seems likely that I will end up working part-time at both stores. Discounts for Kira on books and clothing. Hmmm. As Karen put it, the economy should get better just by my personal stimulus! Ha.

I finished Invisible Monsters and highly recommend it. I'm also already nearly done with My Sister's Keeper -- this is the kind of book that makes you get less done because you can't put it down. This morning I nearly chose to skip my shower in favor of reading. Thankfully I did end up bathing, but it was a close call.

I think I'm getting sick. Naturally, when everything seems to be going so well, now I will get sick. Terrific. Time to take some Airborne.

Hope nothing terrible happened to anyone today (Friday the 13th). Send up a prayer for those affected by last night's plane crash, if you haven't already. That would be enough to make me superstitious for sure, since many didn't get the news about loved ones until early this morning.

Yikes, don't want to end on such a downer. Ummm... Happy Valentine's Day?

Conformity

I'm not feeling very creative at the moment, and these kinds of things amuse me, so if you read my blog you'll just need to deal with it. :-P

♥ What are your middle names? Elizabeth and Carey. Sounds like the name of an actress.

♥ How long have you been together? 2 years 7 months of dating, 14 month engagement, 7 months of marriage.

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating? We met early on in my freshman year and started dating in October of my sophomore year, but we didn't really start getting to know each other until spring of my freshman year.

♥ Who asked who out? Ha. He asked me out, after I told him he'd better fish or cut bait, if you know what I mean! :-)

♥ How old are each of you? 24 and 22.

♥ Whose siblings do/ did you see the most? It's fairly even, I think, because we live so far away from mine but his are both away at school. I imagine that will change this summer when his brother (and sister?) are home from school... but I also hope my brothers will come visit a lot, so we'll see.

♥ Do you have any children together? Nope, and no plans to, either.

♥ What about pets? If by "pet" you mean "evil incarnate" then yes. One.

♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? Right now we're trying to get out of debt (student loans), and that's really stressful.

♥ Did you go to the same school? Furman - Go Paladins!

♥ Are you from the same home town? Nope.

♥ Who is the smartest? Honestly, I think Matt is. I know, I know. You're all very surprised.

♥ Who is the most sensitive? Definitely me.

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple? Red Lobster, Cheesecake Factory, Five Guys. Working on cutting back on eating out in general, though.

♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? The furthest? Hmmm. I think that's Budapest.

♥ Who has the craziest exes? Me, without a doubt. His are all relatively normal. My track record is not great.

♥ Who has the worst temper? We both have pretty short tempers.

♥ Who does the cooking? Matt did at first, because I was scared. But now that we are on this diet, I'm definitely doing most of it.

♥ Who is more social? We were both social in college, though we've become rather reclusive since we moved up here... I think Matt was more popular though. :-P

♥Who is the neat Freak? Well. Let us get all the way unpacked before we even have a prayer of figuring that out.

♥ Who is the more stubborn? We are both very stubborn.

♥ Who hogs the bed? I do -- and the covers!

♥ Who wakes up earlier? Matt does, but only because he has to.

♥ Where was your first date? Steak 'n' Shake... Only some will understand. :-P

♥ Who has the bigger family? He might, by a little bit. But both are really big.

♥ Do you get flowers often? Not really.

♥ How do you spend the holidays? We're still working that out, but we will mostly alternate (as evenly as possible) between families.

♥ Who snores louder? Matt.

♥ Who goes to bed first? We try to go to bed together, but Matt is always asleep before I am.

♥ Who is more jealous? I am.

♥ How long did it take to get serious? We were dating pretty seriously fairly early on, because we knew he was going to be going back up to MD like a month after we started dating, so we made the decision then that if we were going to stay together, we weren't going to half-ass it. And here we are. :)

♥ Who eats more? We eat about the same size meals, but he snacks more, generally.

♥ Who does/ did the laundry? I do.

♥ Who’s better with the computer? He is. I'm good with what I need to know, but he is way more computer-savvy.

♥ Who drives when you are together? He does.
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How Well Do You Know Your Husband?

Here's a chance to see how well you really know your husband. Cut, paste and fill in the answers, then forward . . . shoot, you know what to do. The real challenge is to send it to your husband to see how right you really are.

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? NCIS or Burn Notice. Sometimes a sports channel.

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? He generally doesn't like dressing all that much.

3. What's one food he doesn't like? Ha, what's one he does? Seriously though, I'll pick mushrooms.

4. You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order? Diet soda of any kind, or if he's in the mood he'll get a beer.

5. Where did he go to high school? Glenelg.

6. What size shoe does he wear? Ooooh... Don't know that one. 10?

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? Stamps and coins.

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? Grilled cheese with doritos (on the sandwich).

9. What would this person eat every day if he could? Bacon.

10. What is his favorite cereal? Heathy stuff like wholegrain Cheerios or Total.

11. What would he never wear? I dunno... he's dressed in women's clothing before, so I wouldn't put much past him... He'd never pop his collar, I don't think.

12. What is his favorite sports team? Orioles, Ravens, Terps

13. Who did he vote for? Obama!

14. Who is his best friend? Me, but besides me, Steve. And he's fairly close to his brother.

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? I beat myself up about how I look. It bugs him.

16. What is his heritage? Finnish! Lots of European blend in there too.

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake? Chocolate. But I wouldn't bake it, I'd get him a cookie cake smothered in frosting.

18. Did he play sports in high school? He ran track, and I think he played soccer and maybe baseball, but track was his big thing.

19. What could he spend hours doing? Anything outside -- hiking, working in the yard, playing frisbee, running, you name it.

20. What is one unique talent he has? He has a beautiful singing voice.

Books

Just thought I'd share what I'm currently reading. I think I mentioned that I joined three book clubs... I'm really excited about them, but starting up is throwing me off just a tiny bit, because it means I'm reading four books at once!! (I usually avoid doing this like the plague.)

The first one I have to read (and coincidentally the one I've read the least of) is My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Piccoult. I think it's going to be really interesting. It's about a family with two daughters. The first was diagnosed with leukemia as a young child, so the parents had the second daughter specifically to be a match to the first, and she grows up living her life as basically the "cure" for her sister. Very screwed up concept in my opinion, I'll be interested to read the consequences it has for this (fictional) family. Has anyone read it? Thoughts?

The next one "due" is Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk (same guy who wrote Fight Club). If you've seen Fight Club you know, kind of, what to expect. I'm probably 2/3 of the way through it and it is even more twisted and psychotic than Fight Club. Lots of twists you totally didn't see coming, but then looking back on the book, you're like "Duh!" I'm really enjoying it... if that's even an appropriate word to use for a book this odd.

The third book club book is The Secret Life of Bees, which I read a while ago but will reread to make sure I can contribute to the discussion. Part of me feels rather old for joining three book clubs. I'm slightly concerned that I will show up and the women will all be my mom's age with kids, and I would have to pretend to be someone else and just go eat brunch by myself... ha! I'm only kidding. Sort of. I'm hoping it will be fun, though.

The last book is one I started before I joined all these clubs: Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi. It's a memoir by an English teacher who lived and taught in Tehran during the "revolution", the times of upheaval there. It's fascinating.

So, that's what I'm reading. I'd better get back to it. :-P

Yum.

Tonight I'm going to brag.

Three days in, our diet is going fabulously, and I CAN COOK. You seriously have no concept of how worried I was about this. Saturday night we had grilled salmon with rosemary and asparagus and salad -- my very first experience cooking salmon and also preparing asparagus. We actually had a bit of a scare, which I will confess even though I will look incredibly dumb.

So I pull out the salmon, which we bought fresh at Harris Teeter, and I unwrap it, and voila! There is this shiny scaley stuff on one side! Well, I have no idea what to do. I tug at the skin a bit. It isn't going to come off. I consider getting a knife to cut it, but observe that the fish is not very thick and there is a strong chance I will hurt myself. I glance over at unsuspecting Matt, hanging out with the puppy in the living room. Do I ask him for help? I look back at my shiny salmon. I ask Matt for help. Matt proceeds to freak out and get very exasperated with Harris Teeter for not taking care of this for us. He then runs out the door -- he is going to try to find us a fish scaler. I think some more and decide that Harris Teeter would not screw us over like this, so I call my mother, who reveals that, in fact, the salmon IS supposed to have that skin, and it will come right off after the fish is grilled. So I call my husband and tell him to turn around and come home. I grill the fish as directed and sure enough, the skin comes right off! Amazing. Who knew?

Well. Lots of people knew. Just not me. But we both really enjoyed the end result, and even had the leftovers in a caesar salad for lunch today.

Last night was an Asian-style dish, ginger chicken with snow peas. This really had me worried after my last chicken attempt, but it was incredibly easy and delicious. Matt even enjoyed the snow peas because of the marinade of the dish. Success! One frustration: Our meat thermometer doesn't seem to work properly. We nearly burned down our kitchen, and definitely burned parts of the chicken, waiting for the thermometer to say it was warm enough. It was most certainly done, but the thermometer would have us believe that we ate half-raw chicken. Gah. Waste of money, that.

Tonight was another chicken dish, this time a balsamic chicken baked in the oven. My favorite so far. I probably could have eaten three whole chicken breasts, so it's good I only cooked two for me and hubby.

I realize it might be boring to read about our meals for the last three days; however, if you understood how worried we were that we really just could not cook, you would appreciate the enormity of this a bit more. Really. I promise. But, for your entertainment, a few fun facebook finds:

Type your name and the word needs in quotation marks into google (e.g. "Kira needs") and list the first ten results. (This one made me laugh. You will soon see why.)
- Kira needs to sleep with somebody
- Kira needs call screening so that when a lunatic Cardassian calls her up, she will know who it is so she doesn't have to take the call
- Kira needs money for a Personal Electronic Device
- KIRA NEEDS URGENT HOME
- Kira needs a life
- Kira needs a big lap
- Kira needs a middle name
- Kira needs to learn some table manners
- KIRA NEEDS CAKE TOO YOU KNOW!!!!! Y EARTH NOBODY GIVE ME CAKE!!! IWANTCAKESOGIVEITTOMEORELSEIWILLKILLUALL!!!!!!!
- Kira needs to stop changing her name

Number nine is by far my favorite. Number one is true - my hubby! Numbers two and three also cracked me up. The last one is rather accurate, actually. I recommend doing this if you're in need of a laugh.

One more:
Which of the seven deadly sins—sloth, greed, lust, gluttony, anger, envy, and pride—are you most likely to commit?
- The girl I stole this from said that because she is a college student she is "prone to sloth." I find that the opposite is true of me. In college I frequently would "veg out" for periods of time to give myself a break, but I was always doing something. Since graduating I've watched more tv, been less active, and have even read less. However, I'm trying to find more things to do (Washington School of Photography, volunteer opportunities, and adding a second job), which will automatically cut down on tv. I'm also starting to spend a LOT of time in the kitchen and Matt and I are planning to start exercising seriously, so that should help. And I've joined three - count 'em - book clubs, to force myself to read. Ha! Sloth = conquered. Or nearly, at least.
- I am often greedy. I just want things. Not stuff, so much. But I really want money, pretty much all of the time. Money for everyday things like groceries, money for big things like world travel... greedy, greedy, greedy. Gimme.
- I'm married, clearly I lust. For my HUSBAND, get your minds out of the gutter. I'd be worried if I didn't lust after him!
- Working on gluttony. See: South Beach Diet.
- Anger is a problem. I hate it, but I'm always angry at Indiana for something. We need a fence. We really need a fence. Alternatively, we need him to be totally healed so that we can let him run and play. He's just been awful this last week.
- I am occasionally envious of thinner, more attractive women, but usually I'm okay. My big stumbling block is people with purpose. I'm still trying to find mine, and while I think photography is definitely a good direction, I don't have the same sense of purpose yet that, say, my friends Karen or Adrienne have. And I want that.
- I am definitely a little bit vain, but I'm also realistic and fairly self-aware, I think. I'm mostly vain about my performing abilities, photography, and level of intelligence, and I think I have justifications for all of those. Unlike many of the people on American Idol.

I've been putting off dishes all night... time to clean before bed. Night night, everyone.

Big News!

I just enrolled in the Washington School of Photography.

!!!!!

I feel like I've been smacked in the head by the hand of God. Seriously, this came out of nowhere. I found this place on Thursday and really liked the looks of it, but wasn't sure how exactly it worked. More research revealed that there was an information session today, and that I would have the option of registering for one of their professional certificate programs if I liked what I saw. So, I went this morning with a blank check in hand -- not that I was prepared to shell out just any amount, but I knew that the application fee was $50, so I was ready for that at least -- and my diploma, because they needed proof that you had already at least graduated from high school. Ha.


ANYWAY. Long story short, the program looks fantastic. I'll finish it in 10-18 months, hopefully closer to 10 or 12, and then I'll have a professional certification. But I can also go on to a more prestigious school to get some kind of advanced degree in a specialty if I want (and I think I'll want). I have 12 core classes to complete, as well as at least 36 hours of electives -- I say "at least" because literally every single one sounds fascinating, so I'll probably end up taking as many as I can afford. They're not too expensive, no more expensive than the community college classes, and certainly better quality.

So, I'm doing it. I start March 16th. Huzzah!

I have to stop writing now because puppy just decided my lap would make a nice bed for his nap. But.... hooray for new beginnings!

Cautious Optimism

Sorry Obama, not quite audaciously hopeful yet.

Matt and I start a diet tomorrow. Specifically, the South Beach Diet. I am more than a little concerned about this endeavor, for a number of reasons. Firstly: I can't cook. Seriously. My very first chicken dish was a horrible disaster of a partially-still-raw, partially-very-dry nasty piece of poultry with some cold-ish veggies and rice. We tossed it and got McDonald's and I cried myself to sleep from shame. (Okay, maybe not that last part, but the rest is 100% accurate.) Secondly: Matt is the pickiest eater I know. Go ahead, challenge him. Do you eat eggs? Yep, you eat more than him. What about pasta? Again, you win. Soup? You're so far ahead I can't even see you. It's ridiculous, and frequently frustrating, and could be a big stumbling block for this diet. For the first two weeks, we're supposed to give up sugars and starches (read: bread, pasta, fruit, snacks...) entirely. Breakfasts consist mostly of eggs. Lunches consist mostly of soups and salads.

So. What with breakfasts and lunches being rough for Matt, and dinners potentially being rough for us both depending on my dubious ability to learn how to cook properly... we could be losing a lot more weight than we intend! Ha.

Seriously though, moral support would be great, especially for the next two weeks. So if anyone actually reads this... you know, let me know via some positive reinforcement. :)

Also keep your fingers crossed for me tomorrow around 11:00 a.m. I'll explain later.

Not a Recap

I've decided I don't especially feel like writing some sort of introductory post explaining how we got married in July, got a Golden Retriever puppy (a.k.a. spawn of satan) in September, moved into a townhouse, etc... I'm just going to jump right in, and if you have questions, you'll either have to ask me or just wonder for the rest of your life. (Not sure who "you" are anyway, as most of my friends are not nearly as blog-obsessed as I am.)

Indiana was neutered on Monday. This was supposed to give us a full 48 hours, possibly more, of rest and relaxation while he recovered/mourned.

It did not.

We had MAYBE a day of quiet. We brought him home Monday night and he was very subdued and tired... still groggy from the surgery, basically, and yes, in pain. He didn't even want to get out of the car when we got home. It was so pathetic that I momentarily longed for my old puppy back. Be careful what you wish for. Tuesday he slept for most of the day after barfing up his breakfast... yum. But when Matt got home on Tuesday afternoon, Indy snapped to attention, and he hasn't calmed down since. He has to wear an E-collar so he won't lick/nibble the incision while it heals, and he. hates. it. And I'm pretty sure he hates us for leaving it on him. So before, we had an unhappy puppy who was tired. Now we have an unhappy puppy who is not allowed to run, jump, play, or really chew on his toys the way he'd like to, and this does not make for an enjoyable living environment.

On an entirely unrelated note, I desperately need a new job. It's getting harder and harder to convince myself to walk out the door and go to "work" (walking dogs). There's nothing in particular that I want to do at the moment, but I need to be around people at the very least.

Well, duty (doody?) calls. Later dudes.

Starting up...

A real post is forthcoming. Basically I am addicted to reading the blogs of old friends (and occasionally their friends that I've never met...) and realized that I could get a lot of quality soul-searching and possibly some networking out of starting this up again. So, here 'tis. However, I only just finished piddling around with settings and such, and hubby wants to put puppy to bed (an ordeal since the neutering) and go to sleep, for which I can't blame him. So. More on... life... later.

'Night.