Is anyone still out there? April 11, 2012

Yeah, I get it… I fail miserably at blogging lately since my 30th birthday in January.
 

Kind of like this…

 

I apologize… I really do.  I need some motivation, inspiration or even collaboration.  I need YOU to tell me what to write about.

 

Even better, I need you to tell me you’re even still reading!  Because I certainly haven’t held up my end of the deal (you know, that actual blogging part) so I can’t imagine that you’re feeling keen on holding up YOUR end of the bargain (the reading part).

 

I can shut down this blog right now (and by that, I mean not write anything – I wouldn’t ACTUALLY shut it down because then I’d lose my entire 30 Before 30 List and I worked damn hard on that).  But I’m not sure if I’m ready to do that.  I love blogging (when I actually do it) – I guess I just need to know if there’s people out there that still love my blog!

 

So, sound off in the comments if you’re still reading – and give me some ideas about what to write about!  What are some of your favorite posts/topics/subjects?  Do you want me to go on and on about how much I love my dogs?  Bimini?  My husband?  All of those subjects could fill MONTHS of material.  But I want to know that YOU want to read about it!

 

Even better… I keep mentioning a 40 Before 40 List.  What would you put on it if you were me (hint: think outside your comfort zone because I’m not your average girl)???

 

In short, TELL ME YOU STILL CARE!

 

Because I think that I still care about my blog…

 

So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed to the whole of it, not part of it.  ~Jiddu Krishnamurti

I’m a big kid now… April 10, 2012

(bonus points for you if you sang the title of this post to a specific diaper jingle)
 

I hosted my first (maybe second but I didn’t go all out that time) major holiday meal at my house this past weekend for my amazing in-laws and beautiful (inside and out) sister-in-law.  I even broke out my wedding china and my grandmother’s silverware (although, I guess that IS what it’s for, no?).  It was a big deal.
 

Yeah, I’m totally bragging about Easter dinner in my dining room.

 

I made a shmorgezbourd (sp?) of ham, lamb (yeah, I know…), mashed potatoes, asparagus, and an amazing salad, preceded by deviled eggs, kielbasa and bruschetta made by my sister in law, and topped off with chocolate cream pie and pumpkin whoopie pies made by my fabulous mother-in-law.
 

To complete the meal, we drank the most expensive bottle of wine I will probably ever consume in my life (thank you random friend of John’s).
 

I have never felt like such an adult in my life.  China!  REAL silverware!  LAMB!  WHO.AM.I???
 

I’m 30.  And I’m happy.  And in love.  And live such a wonderful life…. a blessed and amazing life.
 

Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won’t stay there.  ~Clarence W. Hall

If your vagina got dressed… what would it wear? March 30, 2012

10 years ago, I walked into the Violence Prevention Program office of my alma mater with ambition built on a dream.  My best friend had just signed me up to organize The Vagina Monologues on my campus and I was both ecstatic and terrified.
 

Today, I join a cast of 82 other women at the college I currently work for to participate in my Idon’tevenknowhowmany’th show because that day ten years ago changed my life…
 

What an amazing life I lead.
 

 

I bet you’re worried. I was worried. I was worried about vaginas. I was worried about what we think about vaginas, and even more worried that we don’t think about them. ~Eve Ensler, The Vagina Monologues

What a feminist looks like… March 3, 2012

In honor of Women’s History Month, our campus’ women’s center puts together posters of folks who submit a photo and caption about why they are a feminist.  They are all compiled and titled with “What A Feminist Looks Like.”  My submission this year is as follows:
 

 

Andrea Dworkin said, “women have been taught that, for us, the earth is flat, and that if we venture out, we will fall off the edge.” Lucky for me, I like living on the edge.

 

 

Happy Women’s History Month!  And leave a comment letting me know why YOU’RE a feminist (come on… you know you are!).
 
And yes… that was two days in a row of blog posting. Look at me go!
 

Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels.  ~Faith Whittlesey

Friday-Free-For-All March 2, 2012

It’s been so long since I’ve posted anything substantial (maybe I’ll actually get to my Ireland review on my 31st birthday?!?) so I’m resorting to my lazy old fall-back of bullet points…
 

* It’s amazing how much bloggy writing inspiration I got from my list – when I don’t HAVE to write blog posts, it’s easy to fall out of routine.  And we all know how I like routines.
 

* I lost three days of my life when I picked up The Hunger Games last week.  Three. Days.  What is it with me and teen romance novels???  I’ve actually started a post comparing HG, Harry Potter and Twilight but since I can’t even pull my own head out of my ass in order to write ANY blog posts, you’re going to need to hang tight for a few more days weeks.  But I’ll get it done.  I think.
 

* My beasts are just adorable.  When they’re sleeping.  When they’re awake, they are stress inducing which makes me want to sleep… so I guess that means that if at least one of us is sleeping, it’s a happy household.
 

* I’m only (mildly) kidding – my dogs are my life and they teach me more lessons about love than I could ever imagine.  Brody’s big brown eyes practically ooze unconditional love.  And I’m trying to learn from the lessons he’s teaching me.  He’s a good teacher.  His most expansive lesson is “Patience.”
 

* I gained a shit-ton of weight back.  Ok, it was only 3 pounds but it’s taken me a few weeks to get it back off (let’s be honest – it was because I wasn’t trying).  But I’m feeling better again.  Except I’ve had a couple of glasses of wine tonight which means I’ve now eaten several cups of popcorn.  Wine munchies… they get you every time.
 

* I have an obsession with Scentsy products.  But damn it if my house doesn’t smell FANTASTIC!
 

* I’m now 30 years old which means I’ve had no choice but to become the crotchety old lady who’s constantly and annoyingly pissed off at their neighbors.  I think I actually said the phrase, “I can’t believe those kids left their crap all over our yard!”  True story.  I might as well walk out on my back desk, dressed in my bathrobe with curlers in my hair, shaking my fist like a mad woman.  What has happened to me????
 

* This coming Friday finalizes that fantastic financial purchase that I mentioned back in December.  I’m SO excited and can’t wait to share the news.  But knowing the “new me,” it might take precisely 3 and a half months to actually blog about it.
 

* Back to the first bullet – perhaps I should make a 40 Before 40 List… any suggestions of what should be on it???
 

Blame is just a lazy person’s way of making sense of chaos. ~Doug Coupland

Yeah… I’ve fallen off the blogosphere February 19, 2012

I’m not gonna lie… 30′s been a little bit of a let down.  After such a fantastic year, celebrating 30 things that I had never done before and culminating it with an AMAZING week in Ireland, it seems I’ve set myself up for some serious disappointment.
 

And I know that I’ve promised that I’d keep writing – I just need some motivation so I’ll be looking for that.
 

I’ll keep you posted as to when I find anything…
 

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.  ~William James

 

 

Are you ready for some football??? February 5, 2012

I’ve been watching the Super Bowl since I was 2 weeks old.  My dad has always instilled in me a passion for the game that includes making a spreadsheet of the playoffs every year.  He’s gotten a little more high-tech this year and actually created a Word document but I’ll always cherish the ones precisely written with pencil.
 

When I was younger, my “engagement dream” was that the love of my life would pop the question on the jumbotron at the Super Bowl, ideally when the Pats were playing.  That didn’t happen.
 

So to say I’m a football fan would be an understatement.  The Pee Wee football league wouldn’t let me actually play football (since I was a girl and all) so I became a cheerleader and was the only one that had a clue what was happening on the field.
 

So not me… although this would be great.

 

I am a huge Pats fan. I’m still massaging the open wounds from four years ago and I’d like some redemption, especially because I live in football purgatory – right in between Heaven and Hell… or Patriots and Giants territory, however you want to look at it.

 

So tomorrow, I’ll either be screaming from the rooftops or cowering and avoiding any Super Bowl conversation.  Either way, Tom’s going to be a happy man… he gets to go home to Giselle.

 

It’s really not fair.

 

Until then…

 

GAME ON!

 

I don’t care about three years ago, … I don’t care about two years ago. I don’t care about last year. The only thing I care about is this week.  ~Tom Brady

My almost 87 year old grandmother is a Twilight fan… January 29, 2012

… my work here is done.
 

Remember when I mentioned that I converted my three cousins and we’ve now become the Sisterhood of the Twilight Pants (or something like that)?  Anyways, since there are four of us and four hits of literary crack books in the Twilight series, we decided we would each buy one of the books to give to our book-loving grandmother for Christmas this year.  Although it was obvious that she was a little skeptical (what with the vampires and werewolves and all), we knew she’d end up enjoying them.
 

I talked to my mom tonight who had just gotten off the phone with Nana after she declared that, now that she’s halfway through New Moon, she’s decidedly Team Edward.  Yes you are Nana… yes you are.  And apparently she’s trying to encourage her friend to read them too… her own little Twilight Grandmas book club.  Legit.
 

Above all else, I love that this ridiculous series about a fictitious vampire and his kind of lame girlfriend (in comparison to all of us, obvi) has brought us all together in a way that only a Twilight fan can appreciate.
 

I think Nana needs a Team Edward t-shirt.
 

Like this one…

 

…or maybe I need this one.

 

And Nana?  You’re welcome…

 

I love a happy ending… They are so rare.  ~Aro

Alllllllllll byyyyyyyyy myyyyyysellllllllff…. January 27, 2012

John and his college buddies are headed to Sugarloaf for a weekend of boozing skiing, leaving me home to enjoy some alone time by reading or sewing a new project clean.  Our house is a DISASTER.  The day after we got home from Ireland, our laundry room was turned upside down, emptied, gutted, recreated and painted… and the contents of said room have been strewn about our living room ever since.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t a well-organized room to begin with so, yeah…
 

Other than mass quantities of laundry, vacuuming and overall clutter management, I’ll be spending some time with my beautiful sorority sisters reliving MY college years too, only we’ll be having lunch in the middle of the day and Molly’s pregnant so you can only imagine how out of control we’re going to get.
 

But tonight, I’m having a total “me” night, complete with “Say Yes to the Dress” and some Pinot Noir… and three beasts who need incessant attention.  Oh wait, that’s just Brody.  He’s a pain in the ass like that.
 

Yeah, one day my prince will come home…

 

One of these days, I’ll get around to writing a post about our trip to Ireland.  But I doubt I’ll be able to do it ANY justice.
 

Until then… my wine is calling me.  Cheers!
 

Wine improves with age.  The older I get, the better I like it.  ~Anonymous

Wait… HOW did you get here? Vol. 11 January 21, 2012

‘Wait… HOW Did You Get Here?’ DISCLAIMER:
I didn’t change the grammar/spelling on any of these searches so you can appreciate the full ridiculousness of every single one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

snowboarding in bathing suits

That’s hot… er, cold.
 

i wish my husband was hot

I don’t have to… mine IS hot.  Maybe you should have added “like Darcie’s” to the end of that search.
 

See?

 

you are a disappointment

And this got you to my blog? Wow. Apparently I need to step up my game.
 

bewitched iphone case

Stop it.  Is this a real thing?  I want.
 

It does exist…

 

person dressed up as a ghost
Certainly not the most creative Halloween costume.
 

a birthday is like a drink once you’ve had too many you dont give a shit

Best. Search. Ever.  And SO true.
 

edward scissorhands bad costume

Certainly wasn’t mine!
 

Definitely not this one either.  This is full of awesome.

 

sad skinny stray animals

Sadly, I’ve seen far too many of these…
 

mean mother winches

Yeah, I hate those mean winches!
 

dont regret what you did in the past regret what yu didnt to jared leto

Hmmmm… I do regret not doing things to Jared Leto (drool)
 

My first love, aka Jordan Catalano.

 

dog sticks cold nose on mans ass cartoon

BWAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA
 

old grandpa edward from twilight

Excuse me?  Edward is perfectly 17 for the rest of his existence.
 

“How long have you been 17?”

“A while…”

 

http://carharttsandcoachbags.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/well-thats-3-hours-of-my-life-i-will-never-get-back/

That’s so beyond the need to be Googled… that’s a full URL right there.
 

There’s no half-singing in the shower, you’re either a rock star or an opera diva. ~Josh Groban