So I mentioned recently that I’m turning 30 this year. Well, it’s right around the corner as in about a month away. For a while I had mixed feelings about embarking on the next decade, I mean it’s a little scary.
So how am I coping with it? Um…contemplating a Mexican vaca of course. 🙂
Maybe the Riu Palace Las Americas? Perhaps you’d like to see some photos?
Maybe at night?
Or more of the beach?
I want to go to there. How do you celebrate milestone birthdays?
I know I’m so behind on this post, but I wanted to wish you all a happy new year! Thanks for reading along as I ramble about the random things in our life. I didn’t really get on the new year’s resolution train, but the one thing I do want to be sure I do this year is take time off from work. I’m at the point now that my vacation time is lost because I have so much of it that haven’t used. So, time to fix that.
Also, 2011 is going to be a very good year. We have a lot of exciting things going on. We will welcome a new baby nephew, attend a couple of family weddings, turn 30 (for me), take some vacations, continue to work on our house, and talk about starting a family. And, if it were up to me we’d also talk about getting a new pet, but Sean vetoed that idea.
What are you excited about for 2011?
Wow, it was a GREAT Christmas! I got some really nice things, and I feel very lucky. I also got to spend the holiday with family. Sean and I went to Dallas to spend the weekend with my family and I gorged myself on more tamales and queso than I want to admit. It’s our Christmas eve tradition and I look forward to it every year. I only wish that I brought some of them home with us. So, curious about what I got? Well…I got this great necklace from Stone and Honey:
A Snuggie from my brother. 🙂 Which, I could not wait to use as soon as I got back to Austin. I only wish that my dogs had one too. And, a visa gift card from my brother. Always appreciated.
A French food book. Mmmmm
A brand new chair for the living room!
And….well….um…I got a camera too. 🙂 We returned the necklace, and got this instead.
I also got some great stocking stuffers too. Overall, it was a really great Christmas. I hope everyone else got what they wanted too. What was your favorite gift this year?
So I feel like I’ve been talking a lot about presents lately, and I’m sorry. But, it’s almost Christmas, so this will soon be over. Anyway, I’m really impatient when it comes to most things. This is a trait that’s not so endearing, and when it comes to giving gifts I’m impatient about that too. Meaning that if I buy someone a gift and I see them before Christmas, I’m probably going to make them open it. I get so excited about seeing them open something I hope they’ll like that I just can’t wait. And, the same is true if they have a gift for me before Christmas and I know about it. I REALLY want to open it. So basically this is my long way of saying that Sean and I already exchanged presents because I couldn’t wait–both to give and receive.
He was super excited about his guitar. He immediately started playing it, and I think I’ve heard it everyday since. I’m not complaining either. I love to see him enjoying what I got him. So then it was time for me to open mine. I had no idea what it was.
Well, I rip open the package and pull out a little necklace. Oh, and we had a budget for presents this year, and I knew he’d spent close to the maximum of our budget for this necklace. Now, here’s a backstory…I had this little dainty gold heart necklace that I loved. I wore it almost everyday and I recently lost it. I’ve been going on and on about this necklace. I knew this was Sean’s way of replacing it. He even wrote a little note to say how he hoped this heart necklace would be my new favorite. It was so sweet.
But, I knew it wasn’t going to be my favorite. And, in a span of about 3 seconds I either had to feign joy over my new necklace, or tell him the truth and risk hurting his feelings. I knew that he was trying SO hard to pick out something I liked, but I didn’t like it. I also knew that he’d spent a decent amount of money. Ugh. I decided to be honest and tell him that although it was pretty, it wasn’t really my style. I felt awful about it. He seemed upset at first, but then he told me that he understood and would prefer for me to have something that I like. Phew!
Although I felt really bad telling him I didn’t like what he picked out, I was so glad that I was honest. What do you do when someone gives you a gift that isn’t your ideal? Are you honest, or do you act like you love it?
I think we have an animal living in our attic. And, I have no idea what kind it is or how long it’s been there. See, normally things in our house are a little loud. Not because we’re party animals or anything, but the tv is usually on, or Sean is playing his guitar, or the dogs are playing, so there’s always some sort of noise.
Well, last week I was working from home because I had a big project and I knew if I went into the office I would be distracted by my co-workers or other assignments, so I needed to sequester. While I was here, there was absolutely no noise except me typing. That is no noise except the animal! All of a sudden I heard this scurrying above me. I noticed that it moved more whenever the heater came on. Probably because it was actually cold outside and the animal was trying to get up close to the nice warm heater. Jerk.
In my head I started thinking about all the things it could be. Initially my mind went to the worst things like rats and opossums. Then I started thinking maybe it’s just a squirrel. We do have vents on top of our house to let the summer heat out, so maybe while leaping between trees, they decided to come on in and warm up. But even a squirrel in your attic is bad. I mean, those little jerks can poop and tear up wires. I have no idea what’s in my attic, but I doubt that I want squirrels or rats screwing with it.
So, I called Sean and told him about it. I know he hates when I do that since there is absolutely nothing he can do from his office, but still, I thought he should know about it. He said he’d handle it when he got home. I knew that was a lie because he would be just as scared as me to go up in the attic to confront the unknown animal. But for some reason it made me feel better anyway.
Well, it has now been about a week. No one has gone up in the attic to check out the situation, but I haven’t heard anything lately. Um…probably because things are back to normal i.e. loud, so I can’t hear it. But I’m not sure what to do. I don’t want set up traps and kill the little guy, but I don’t want him here either. A co-worker told me about an audible solution for getting rid of critters, but the sound it makes can be heard by humans too, and I imagine that it would drive us and our dogs crazy. I’m not really sure what my options are.
Any suggestions? Have you ever had an animal living in your attic?
Buying gifts for Sean is actually really hard. The man doesn’t want much…ever. He’s very practical, and so he typically appreciates practical gifts that aren’t always the most fun to give. But this year, he’s actually been talking about one thing that he wants. And, not in a way that makes me think that he has any idea that I would actually get it for him for Christmas. But, I did. Get it for him for Christmas.
He’s very musically inclined. He’s been playing the piano forever, and he taught himself how to play the guitar. He currently has an acoustic guitar that sits out every single day because he actually plays it every single day. He’s shy about his guitar playing abilities, so he’ll always down play it if I comment to anyone that he’s really good on guitar, but he is! Anyway, so like I said, he already has an acoustic guitar but he’s really been wanting an electric guitar too. Well, guess what? He’s getting one. 🙂
It’s a Fender, and so I’m hoping it’s good. I might be cursing myself later as he loudly plays his guitar, but I know it will make him happy, so I can’t wait until he gets to open it!
What gifts are you excited about giving this year?
So Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone and I only purchased one present. Last year I bought so many things on those 2 days I was nearly done with my shopping, but this year the sales just didn’t entice me. And, I’m still struggling with what to get everyone. My siblings and I talked about going for quality over quantity this year, meaning that if we are interested in one expensive present, maybe we can all just go in one it. I think that’s a great idea because I have several expensive items I’m pining for right now. They include:
A DSLR camera:
I’ve wanted a new camera for some time now. I know you’ve heard me mention this before, and my desire for a new camera has only intensified. I’ve seen several Groupons for photography classes too, but I’ve held off on buying one because I didn’t want to learn anything else on my point and shoot, I want to step it up.
A new light fixture:
Again, I’ve wanted this light fixture for a while. I’ve seen it in the dining room of a few bloggers, and I’m in love. I have the perfect spot for it, now I just need the new fixture.
A Dyson:
Um, enough said. Who doesn’t want a Dyson? Sean even wants this present. We had one momentarily, and I remember thinking it was pretty good, but not realizing just how good it was until it was gone. Now that I don’t have it, I weep whenever I vacuum. Ok, not really, but basically I go over the same spot over and over only to then pick up the item that my vacuum is unable to get. Vacuuming sucks. I know this would be remedied by the Dyson. We might even fight over who gets to vacuum. Probably not, but like I said might.
A chair (hopefully we could then get rid of some of our living room furniture)
It’s just so cute, and the print is perfect. It would go so well with the couch that I eventually want to get. I’m worried Target will stop carrying them before I’m ready with my new couch, so it’s on the list, though I’m not sure I’m ready for it just yet.
Now that I’ve written this post, I feel like a huge jerk because my plan when I sat down to write was to talk about the present I want to get for Sean. But, somehow it turned into everything I want. Don’t worry though, I’ll be back with my gift idea for Sean. I need some advice, and since he doesn’t read the blog, I can tell you all what I’m getting him!
What’s on your wish list this year?
So a couple of months ago I went to my doctor for a check up. I took the opportunity to talk about preparing to go off the pill and to ask about what I needed to do to be sure my body was good and healthy for when we wanted to try to have a baby. He muttered something about prenatal vitamins, vaccines, checking for immunity to german measles, the dentist and a high protein diet. High protein? Um…I’m vegetarian.
Not that I don’t get a fair amount of protein, but I wouldn’t call what I have a high protein diet. So, I asked him what he considered high protein and what special considerations I needed to make since I was a vegetarian. You want to know what his first comment was? “You might want to rethink that whole vegetarian thing.” Now, if this was my friend, or just a casual conversation with a coworker I would have blown it off, but this was my mother effing doctor. Rethink my non-dangerous lifestyle? I thought it was pretty crappy. But instead of getting angry, I asked him again what high protein meant. He said 50 grams a day. And then he asked me if I ate things like tofu, eggs, and beans. Yes, yes and yes. So he changed his story and said, “Well, if you’re eating things like that, you should be totally fine.” What did he think I was doing? Chowing down on just lettuce every meal? Clearly he should have asked me these questions before jumping to conclusions.
I was just turned off by the whole thing, and I grew increasingly more annoyed as the day went on, which of course meant that I was no longer in his office to say anything. I’m not planning on switching doctors, but hopefully he’ll be more thoughtful next time.
So, I haven’t been to a slumber party since junior high, but I always loved them. Nothing was more fun than packing up my kaboodle and pjs and heading to a friend’s house. You knew you would stay up late, play some pranks, watch scary movies, make each other over and eat lots of junk food. It’s pretty much what I would still love to do on the weekends if anyone was interested.
Well, turns out some people are still interested. Next weekend I’m having a slumber party with several of my friends! No boys allowed either. We’re breaking out our ouija boards and sleeping bags and heading over to my friend Monica’s house. We’ve all been trying to reminisce about some of our favorite slumber party games. My favorites were always the scary games. I always liked a good scary story, but I loved light as a feather stiff as a board. I just read about it today, and apparently you’re supposed to tell a story about the person laying down’s untimely death. And it’s supposed to be the spirits lifting them up. Um…I forgot that part. That’s really f’ing creepy. Maybe we’ll stick to doing makeovers, harassing the first person that falls asleep and eating Doritos.
What were your favorite slumber party games?
Ok, so they aren’t really secrets, but my good friend, Mina from Fresh Brioche asked me to share 7 things you probably don’t know about me.
I think I’m supposed to ask other people to do this, but instead I’m going to break the chain. Let’s be honest, this isn’t the first time I broke something like a chain letter before. So I guess an 8th point is that I’m not superstitious.
Minted Life 