Wednesday, February 27, 2008

ooooo i might have a part time job.

i wrote the make and take woman after our last visit earlier this month and she said she would keep me in mind for a hostess position next time one opened up.

i figured i would never hear from her again. i was wrong. she emailed me today and i'm going in tomorrow to see if it's something i would want to do. she said their dress code is black pants, white shirt, so i might actually be working tomorrow... how exciting..

Monday, February 25, 2008

pics of the new baby



this weekend was my introduction to the new baby.. it's mind blowing how teeny tiny babies are...

i took a few pictures, but it's not as fun when i can't see what i am taking pics of.

here are the pics...

Thursday, February 21, 2008

oh manny...


i'm getting excited for the season! it sounds like jacoby is in serious contention for the starting centerfielder job. i'm so glad that the santana trade fell through and they didn't give away ellsbury. now my shirt will be valid this year!

they say manny showed up on time to spring training.. i think its the first year he's showed up on time..

this mini-interview is pretty humorous..

this is my favorite part..

Does the contract situation give you more determination to show the Sox that you can still play?

"No. They know I play. So I don't gotta come and try to do too much. I'm just going to come, try to be Manny, and do my thing."

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

the love keeps pouring in.

my birthday week continues! i think because of presidents day i'm even going to see cards in the mail tomorrow! :) the production department took me to lunch today at ricos where i had their infamous "chicken riggies". they were spicy!! i have enough leftovers to eat for the next week after all these "goings out". then after work K&JW took me out to ice cream dinner and they accompanied me to the musical "dirty rotten scoundrels". all in all a great evening!

cath and mike really missed out by not going to see this musical. it was the only one this season that i wasn't really familiar with and to be honest, it was the best by leaps and bounds.. it was funny, one of the main characters was very attractive, the songs were catchy, there was suggestive parts, the dancing was wicked impressive, and there was a noticeable amount of swearing. :) my kind of show...

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

and the day gets better and better...

holy moly... i went to lunch to have casts made of my feet and came back to two presents.. one delivery of calla lilies.. i've never had flowers delivered to me at work before, i am still in elated shock! then i got a cute little candle lamp. i've also received at least 5 cards and 2 phone calls, and countless emails/blog comments..

how exciting!!!



my feet cast was pretty fun too. he made little slipper like molds out of that gluey material they make plaster casts with.. i took this picture hurriedly as i was cleaning off my feet, and the girl that set up and i assume was cleaning up walked in on me as i was putting away my camera.. i must have looked so guilty. :)

the best gift ever!

today is my birthday and i got the best gift ever!! an ipod touch! i got it early due to the chaos SHs new baby is causing... so i have been playing with it now for almost a week straight. its pretty amazing... i've also been trying to learn itunes. i have to say i am not a big fan of that program, its very frustrating to me.

here are pics of the new baby... even though she was born on my birthday, she wasn't named after me. :(

Monday, February 18, 2008

baby hunt update...

since everyone is asking me... EH said i should just update my blog with the latest...

here is the latest:
3:20 - i got the call from a very emotional cath. she said the baby is perfect in every way and looks exactly like sarah. sarah was going to try to nurse, then they would take the baby to the nursery for a proper cleaning and weighing and measuring. cath swears she has taken some pictures.
2:52am - finally the baby is born. happy birthday to me.

9:57 - just got an update.. they are just now getting around to putting the monitor on.. everyone took a nap, and a baby boy was born nearby, so they have renewed enthusiasm.. cath said that it would take a miracle at this point for her to have the baby before midnight.
8:12 - she got the epidural and is totally relaxed... the doctor suggested that she take a nap, even if its only for an hour or two... they are going to put a monitor on to monitor the baby and the contractions. she was dilated a good 3 inches. about 80% effaced.
6:20 - she was waiting for her epidural. the pain was becoming unbearable.
5:36 - the midwife broke her water at 5:15ish and when they were all a flutter wondering if they needed to call Jrs parents the midwife said.. well.. she should have the baby by morning.. apparently they don't feel the need to rush... so the chances of her having this baby on my bday are getting greater by the minute. :)
4:27 - She's been given petosin 4 times, she's having contractions in her uterous, and she's laughing through the whole thing. - cath predicts a 9pm-ish delivery.
3:30pm - i heard she was contracting pretty well, and they were going to break her water in 1-2 hours.
11:53am - they were walking.
6am this morning - went in for inducing.

fayetteville update

<what's going on in fayetteville>
there is a lot going on in the 'ville lately.. first is that fatty keeps puking in my areas.. friday morning it was in my bedroom, right next to my bed, this morning it was right next to my computer chair. i don't understand what her problem is, i've been cutting out her matted hair little by little everyday. ugh. i think when cath isn't home she gets sick to her stomach.

it was so crazy windy and rainy last night the front porch looks like the corner of the room in poltergeist.. all the furniture is piled up in the corner. the rain and warm weather has melted all the snow and ice though.

the second update is that the neighbor "stacey" is selling her house. you might remember last year when she put it on the market for 205K. now it's back on the market for 199,900. she had a garbage removal company come by 2 times to take away garbage bags full of who knows what (i haven't seen the daughter or the dog in a while). she could have put those out to the curb and had the village pick them up for free. she is completely moved out now.. and yesterday i must have seen 6 or more cars come by to look at the place. too bad the rain melted the snow to reveal all the coffee mugs in the landscaping, i think that the curb appeal on that place will turn away prospective buyers!
</what's going on in fayetteville>


OMG i am so excited right now, adam carolla just announced that he is going to be on the next version of dancing with the stars!! sooo excited! he's going to be on oprah too, talking about it. his partner is julianne hough.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

ahhh, sleeping in....

with Cath in the southern tier and no plans, i was able to sleep in till about 130pm this afternoon! oh how great it was.

i have also completely caught up on my DVRd shows.

i love lazy weekends. next weekend will be anything but lazy i imagine.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

piece of S teeth...

happy valentines day to me! another year without a *valentine*, that makes just about 32 years in a row now.

to make the day better.... i am have one of my teeth ground down to a little pointy nub so the dentist can put a fake tooth on top while i wait a week for the "real" tooth to be fabricated. then... i get to charge the $284 to my credit card.

in all seriousness, i am more than happy to pay $284 for a cap.. i've paid far more than that for caps before.. dental insurance is a wonderful thing.. i'm glad that i am having this appt really. more than a month ago it was decided i needed this procedure, but it's taken this long for the insurance company to approve it. since that appt i have been very conscious of the chip and feel as if its getting bigger, and i imagine that my tooth is crumbling out of my head.

speaking of insurance companies and approving things... my medical insurance does not cover the orthodics and the nighttime boot i need for my plantar fasciitis. :( that will set me back $475 in total. yay!!

since "bad things" happen in threes i can't help but wonder if there are going to be some serious car repairs i will need to make soon..

cath is ready to drive like a bat out of hell to olean as soon as she gets a call. she thinks she might need to go today.. in preparation for that we practiced her photo taking and uploading to kodak skills... she was able to do it completely unassisted this morning... i'm rather impressed...

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

just like i thought...



i broke down and saw a podiatrist this morning.. he confirmed my beliefs that i have a bone spur. i also have an inflamed plantar fascia. the xrays showed pretty much exactly what you see above.. it's like there is a little hook at the bottom of the bone of my heel.

the good dr prescribed me some anti inflammatory that i will take for 2 weeks, and i will be fitted for orthodics that will go in my shoes to hopefully immobilize the muscle/tendon so it can heal. i have stretches to do, and might have to wear a boot at night that stretches the tendon. he said though that i have very high arches, so the orthodics will be difficult to wear in "dress shoes". that is fine, because as of late, i only feel comfortable in my sneakers anyway..

if none of those things alleviate the pain enough he said we could do physical therapy and a shot of cortisone. cross your fingers these other things work, i'm a little apprehensive of a cortisone shot.

[Day 3 - The Wedding]

the day started out with TC and i sleeping in and rolling on down to breakfast at the buffet.. it was delicious.

then we headed straight for the beach. we had been there 2 days so far and had yet to soak up the sun! i'm really not an ocean lover, but this water was unbelievably blue and clear and void of animals, rocks, anything! the waves were fun but made me a little motion sick.. so i went back to the beach.

when we were trudging across the campus to lunch i took a spill on the tiles near the main pools and seemingly didn't injure myself. later i learned that it was because my camera seemed to take the brunt of the fall. :( i have broken yet another view finder panel on yet another nikon camera. this is a sign to ditch that delicate camera and get something a little more durable. the camera itself still works fine, i just can't frame up the shot, see if it was blurry, switch my flash options, delete photos from the camera, etc. it's rather annoying. i'm going to see if i could take it somewhere..

that evening was the wedding. the resort had roped off an area and cleared it of chairs. this bold topless sunbather and her man friend disregarded the ropes and set up shop inside. when we came back to the area "tits magee" was just outside the ropes with a front row seat for the festivities. i think she left actually before the ceremony really got started. topless sunbathing is something that i just don't get. i tried to take some pictures of the few people we saw, but with my crappy broken camera, it turns out i never got the pics. :(

the wedding itself was so beautiful. even with my aversion to sand and the ocean, i still thought it was pretty dreamy and romantic. destination weddings are a thumbs up in my book! the resort did a great job transforming the beach into a pretty sophisticated area. they sunk these tropical looking plants in the sand that created the aisle, they had these white lacy pieces of fabric that they hung from the rafters in the gazebo and buried in the sand. then there were there guys with guitars that sang for us.

DCs dress was so beautiful. it fit her like a glove.. the wedding took place at 5pm, which is the time the sun starts to set. so their photographer got some great beach shots. after the ceremony we had dinner in one of the restaurants. then they opened the disco for 2 hours for us.. it was great. one of GFs (DC's new husband) brothers is a stunt man, and used to be a part of cirque du soliel. he had more energy than anyone i've ever seen. he danced away most of the night, and luca followed him around and imitated him all night. it was adorable. i have some video of this (i think). when i get around to downloading the video i will try to post it.

one very awesome part of the wedding was the spectators... they were lining up and down the ropes and even boldly wandering around behind the official and the wedding party to take photos. you would have thought D&G were celebrities.

we ate dinner at the same place we ate at the night before, then went over to the disco that was opened up special for us and did some dancing (and shots). the only drawback to the disco was the smoke they kept piping into the room. i think my eyes were bleeding by the time i left.

this was another rather early night.. surprisingly. :)

here are the photos. you'd be so proud, i cut them down from 138 to 85. woot, go me!

[Day 4 - the last day]

TC and i woke up this morning and just barely made it to breakfast... after that i went in search of an internet fix and internetted for approximately 2 hours. then i took my time and got ready for the pool. i decided not to go to the beach today because i love pools.. and the pool was much closer to the bar. :) i got to the beach and the sky was looking pretty black. after about 5 minutes it started pouring and didn't let up for at least 45 minutes. by then it was time for lunch.. after lunch i took my computer with me back down to the beach and wrote down some of the activities and organized my photos.

it was all in all a pretty chill relaxing day.

the whole trip in general was fantastic, i am so glad i was able to make it. seeing my cousins that i really never see was a delight, and spending so much time with my favorite aunts and uncles was also crazy fun. i'd do it again in a heartbeat.

here are the final few pictures i took that day.

i've already talked about the trip home, but i forgot to mention the horrible movie they were playing on the way home on the plane. Dan in Real Life. oh my god. i thought i would like this since i am a huge steve carrell fan and i like dane cook enough. but it is replacing "joe vs the volcano" in my personal list of worst movies of all time. the whole premise of the movie is that steve carrell is a widower and has 3 girls. i thought from the previews it would be about him raising daughters, but it wasn't. it was about him meeting a woman in a bookstore for what seemed like the length of time it took to drink one cup of coffee. he is in his hometown with the kids and all his brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews and parents. he then finds out the woman from the bookstore is his brothers girlfriend. they keep it a secret, but he acts like they were deeply in love and had met years and years ago. its disgustingly dumb! also... the family is obnoxious about playing games together and having all this family time. that is just so unrealistic. i kind of think that our family spends a great deal of time all together and this kind of crap would never happen. its the first time the family is meeting the woman that steve carell is secretly in love with. they seem to love her and fawn all over her. when does that happen. it's so dumb i wanted to throw up.. the girls are opening up to her and telling them their deepest secrets, the mom tells dane cook if he screws up this relationship he'll be kicked out of the family and they are going to keep her. she is annoying in her own right. i couldn't pinpoint her nationality, but she spoke in an almost broken english. it was horrible. i am getting so mad just re-thinking about this movie. i beg of you don't see this movie!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

no more birthdays for me... :(

i'm having some severe anxiety surrounding the birth of my niece... i learned yesterday that she is going to be forced out of her warm warm womb the day before my birthday.. am i the only one that thinks its wrong to not let nature take its course and keep her warm and safe until march 1st? its been well documented that i am not a good sharer, and the most important day of my year is my birthday, i feel like my birthday is about to be taken away from me. :( i kind of feel guilty, like i am a bad person for voicing this, but my feelings and emotions are very real, and they are bubbling up and overflowing...

[Day 2 - Chichen Itza tour]



we started the day getting up hella early to watch the sunrise, it was a bust. (see yesterdays post)



then uncle P & aunt J, and aunt T and i went to see the chichen itza ruins. we were picked up at 7:50am and were dropped off at 7pm. the bus ride each way was about 2.5-3 hours. we did stop at a cenote along the way and were able to swim. a cenote is a natural mineral well. it was a couple hundred feet under ground. P, T and i went in. there were some steps built up along the side of it and P&T jumped into the water from it a couple of times. it was great. i didn't jump, but i got their picture jumping. TC was dawdling back to the bus taking pictures of plants and the bus almost drove off without her and JH.

we ate lunch at a warehouse of sorts. it was a huge hall with tons of tables, it seemed like they really flush the people through there.. the food was a buffet, not too bad. there were four or five performers that danced around on the stage while we shovelled food into our pie holes because we only had 45 minutes. what a cash cow that place is..

then it was back on the bus.

we drove through a typical town our guide pointed out the architecture and explained what the people standing next to the roads selling stuff were. i wish we had stopped though so i could get some pics of that.



right off the bat we saw a dog (all the mexican dogs i saw looked like the dog from the simpsons. no leashes, gauntly skinny, pointy faces. i expected to see only chihuahuas. i didn't see a one) that was laying in and amongst hundreds of people walking through the entrance building. it was alive because i saw it breathing, but it couldn't care less that it was in everyones way. it kind of reminded me of fatty. :) and every mexican dog i saw had nipples that practically dragged on the ground. apparently veterinarians are few and far between in mexico.



the ruins themselves were quite impressive. however they have stopped letting people climb them and explore them. that was A-OK with me, because after our little mini-hike down to the cenote i was really feeling it in my legs. i couldn't have imagined climbing the steps to the top of the great temple, or even worse, down... it was crazy steep and there were no handrails, etc..

the grounds have three areas where there are acoustic phenomenons. one is at the foot of the main temple, if you clap at the base, it reverberates back at you in a higher pitch. it's neat.. the 2 other places were in the "ball field". our guide asked for a volunteer to run from where we were at one end of a space that was like 2 football fields to the total other end, then he spoke in strong voice and asked the guy at the other end if he could here him. he could. then they counted back and forth to 10. we could here him as if he were right next to us. it was so neat. then we did a test across the width of the field and the clapping and whistles echoed back at us like 7 times.

the ruins had a lot of fertility themes. mostly fertility relating to the agriculture of the area. i wanted to get a little jaguar made of opal that the peddlers were hawking.. i offered 2 dollars and the woman laughed at me. she said it was $20. almost everyone was touting their products for $1. but this woman wouldn't go down to 2 dollars so i didn't get anything. oh well.

our tour guide was pretty entertaining.. he said he could speak fluently 4 languages. he was pretty hysterical in english, i can only imagine how funny he was in spanish.



that evening was the "rehearsal dinner". we weren't invited, but we happened to have dinner reservations for the same restaurant.. so we sat a few tables away and had a great time.. i even tried tuna steak for the first time ever. it was not what i expected. i don't know if i could eat a whole one, but a bite of it didn't kill me nor make me throw up.. maybe i'll try it again sometime.

worth noting are the misspellings all over all the menus everywhere we went. that was always good for a laugh.

we were pretty beat after dinner, so we retired early.

here are the comprehensive pics from this day.

Monday, February 11, 2008

diarrhea, cha cha cha.

i was just in mexico for 5 days and had absolutely no digestive issues... i've had nothing but digestive issues now that i am back. wtf!! i'm thinking it was the nerves from spending more than 15 hours in transit home yesterday. grrrrr..

i left the resort at 6am-ish on a shuttle that stopped at a couple other resorts along the way to the airport. i was through check-in and security within an hour so i had about 2 hours to kill before my flight to philidelphia. my plane was on time and i arrived as scheduled in PA at about 1:45. in about an hour i was through customs and immigration and had re-checked my bag. then the waiting game began. i took my time wandering through PHL because my flight was originally supposed to leave at 4:30-5.. however it was pushed back, and pushed back.. then there was a gate change... the flight before mine headed to syracuse was cancelled... then finally we boarded at 6:20 and actually took off at about 7:30.. i could have so driven a rental car from there in half that amount of time. urgh. so frustrating. i stole some cat naps here and there in the airports and on the planes, but it was far from restful.

anyway.. even though the travels back was less than optimal i had a great time. i took more than 400 photos and have a bunch of video that i want to put out there.. so i'll be doing that as time allows. i'm going to break the photos out by day i think.. here is the first installment..

[the first day]

here are the photos from my travels there and my first day at the resort.

when we checked in the concierge asked us if we wanted some wine. it was so nice to sip wine as we checked in... everytime i go through the lobby i get a glass of champagne or whatever they have on ice there.

i love our hotel room bathroom. there are those bowl sinks that sit on top of the counter in every bathroom in this place. and our shower is all tile, with huge a huge glass wall. there is a seat in the back, and the shower fixture slides up and down and you can take it off and use it as a wand. so cool. that is what i am going to put in my house when i get it. :)

somehow the lock that only allows the door to be opened 3 inches was activated and we couldn't get into the room. we had to flag down the security guard guillermo and he didn't know what we were saying.. but he did leave and come back with a butter knife and successfully took the latch part off the door casing..

we had dinner this night at the mexican place and it was delicious. we laughed our way through the meal. in honor of the banana flambe uncle P rolled up his napkin and was threatening to set it on fire with the table candle to "show our appreciation" for the meal... the meal was a very great way to start the vacation.

we met up with a few more people at the bar afterwards and D&G (bride and groom) gave us beach bags with an insulated cup, a bracelet that would designate us as part of the party, and a mexican blanket inside. all items were monogrammed. it was a great surprising gift!

we didn't party really late because we had to wake up early the next morning to go on our tour of chichen itza.

we were meeting in the lobby to walk down to the bus stop to catch our tour bus at 7am. as we were preparing for bed aunt T and i decided that we wanted to get up extra early and catch the sunrise. we called the front desk to see what time the sun rises, but they didn't understand that line of questioning... i was bounced around a few times and noone could understand me.. so we did the math and because back in CO, the sun rises at 615-630, we figured that it would rise at 515-530 in mexico.. we set the alarm for 445 so we could jump out of bed and rush down to the beach and watch.. well, stupid us.... the reason for the time difference is so that the sun rises at the same time all over the place.. duh.. so we sat on the pitch black beach until 6ish and finally decided we had to leave to get ready for the day... you'll see some of those pics in the next album.

Saturday, February 09, 2008

i've arrived

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Wednesday, February 06, 2008

free wifi!

the hancock airport has free wifi. how cool. i don't think i've been to an airport before with free wifi..

it's 730am, and so far so good. i tried to check in online yesterday but my first name was listed with an MS tacked on the end, and that is not what is on my passport, so i figured i had to go to the counter. the woman said it didn't matter. great. so i got up at 5AM for no reason, and cath got me here by 630 only so i could spend from 7-825 waiting to board my plane. so it's good there is free wifi.

i should get to the cancun airport at 145. my flight number going from charlotte to cancun is 815. i hope that is not an omen.. after i arrive, i wait till my aunt gets there at 3pm, then we will hopefully meet our cab driver and drive 45 min to the resort.

tonight we have dinner reservations at the resorts mexican restaurant. tomorrow morning we get up really early again and go to tour Chichen Itza. KT said she's done it and it's very similar to our bus trip out to bath. i hope the bus monitor doesn't make me throw out my Burger King before boarding the bus back. but i am going to assume that Burger King hasn't made it's way out to the mayan ruins.

here is a pic i have been meaning to post of the football treats we made. thanks AMC for designing the flags.. :)

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

disturbing dream

i had a very odd dream last night.. i was at my childhood home in manlius, i was in the kitchen with EH and our cat mittens. EH had poured some gun powder on the floor and trailed it to a big can of gasoline. she was nonchalantly telling me how she was going to blow up the house and herself. she wondered if i wanted to join her in suicide. i thought about it and decided, "why not?". she threw the match or lighter down towards the gun powder and it started to snake thru the gun powder.

then i had a change of heart.. i told EH that maybe we shouldn't.... so we ran out on to the deck before the gas can exploded the house.

we got far enough away, but mittens didn't make it.. eventually the fire dept realized it was arson. EH and I went to work the next day and were interrogated and EH, again nonchalantly, owned up to starting the fire....

that was about the time i woke up in think..

very odd...

Monday, February 04, 2008

spy goggles

when we were little one of our favorite activities besides turning the house upside down hunting for papas booze, was using my grandfathers old as hell (might have been antiques) spy goggles. or as modern day people know them as binoculars...

well. this evening cath was transporting cat litter or birdseed to the back yard from her car and she happened to pass by the neighbors house and heard a shriek.

the usual neighbor, we'll call her stacey, seems to be out of town. there are 2 strange cars in her driveway.. we are not sure who they are, but figure they are house sitting. anyway... cath hears a shriek and looks over to the house, she sees the man with no shirt on, and a woman in the background wiht possibly no clothes on shrieking that she "wants.... ". she wanted something.....

so of course cath comes inside and we shut off all the lights and train my dads binoculars on the house next door through the teeny tiny entry way window. from what we gathered she was indeed nude as the day she was born, and he is standing in the living room with his track pants on..

it was a bit of a thrill to be spying on them unknowingly.. but come on... they have to realize that there are no window coverings on any of the dining room windows. wtf...

it made me think of the evening CR, LK and i giggled like school girls in brighton at the neighbor boy..

Sunday, February 03, 2008

so old...

i almost forgot that last night at the brewfest i did not get ID'd. KW did though. :(

Saturday, February 02, 2008

getting closer!

my vacation is just days away.. i can almost feel the sand between my toes. i'm almost done packing..

i ordered this battery on ebay the other day and i'm very disappointed that it only lasts about an hour.. i've written to the guy who sold it to me and if i don't hear back about a refund i'm leaving him a bad comment. :)

everyone prob knows now, i'm going to be an aunt to my second niece.. E&RH found out last friday. they are so excited!! this baby will be the baby will be the biggest hello kitty fan i think.. i wouldn't be surprised if their middle name was sanrio.

cath and i prepared for our superbowl party tomorrow.. we made little flags with the pats/giants logos on them for our rice crispy treats. AC actually designed them, cath and i just cut them, glued them and put toothpicks in them.

in a few minutes i'll be going to the brew fest... i hope its fun!

Friday, February 01, 2008

ugh...

this morning i woke up to my radio saying that cath didn't have school today. :( this came after a highly disappointing evening of LOST. i've been waiting months for this premiere... apparently the cable company decided to do a test of the emergency broadcast system about a minute and half into the new episode. i was livid. then, about 3 minutes later they did another one.

the funny part of this whole thing was i logged into my email to lodge a complaint myself and saw that a few people had already beaten me to the punch.. here is a particularly funny one..

F@#k you for f@#king up the lost premiere you stupid f@#ks. do your stupid tests during your s&^t day programming or your s&^t new shows you dumb f@#ks