Earlier this month, I turned 25. Quarter of a century. 5 years ago I couldn't even legally consume alchol. Five years from now....who knows? So in the spirit of the "New Year, New You" theme of January, here is my list of 30 "to-do's" by the time I'm turn thirty. Thirty, flirty, and thriving. Hee.
I'm starting to think my list is pretty lame so I may have to revamp it....but until then, here's what I've got.
Me/Personal
1) From January through May research grants and scholarships so that I can do #2
2) Go back to school for Master’s Degree- have to make a decision on what I want to get degree in...currently deciding between three fields.
3) Take some photo classes and add to portfolio…ultimately opening side business
4) Open Etsy store (more on that another time)
5) Read all of Baum’s Oz books and all of Maguire’s books in the Wicked Series
6) Become totally credit card debt free and make sure to pay off future purchases quickly (should happen summer 2010!)
7) Get back to a healthy weight (starting WW @ work tomorrow!)
8) One date night with Greg per month for just us
9) Two new recipes per month
10) Update blog at least once per week
House
11) Landscape front yard
12) Flagstone patio with covering for backyard
13) Replace sliding door with French doors
14) Replace all interior doors
15) Build garden/bed for backyard
16) Build privacy fence for backyard
17) Upgrade cabinets in kitchen
18) Finish Painting Rooms
19) Get TV Mounted (and larger size, possibly)
20) Sell House and move to larger one
Faith
21) Pray Rosary at least once per week
22) Go to Adoration at least once per month
23) Join a bible study
24) Help with youth group
25) Say Morning and Evening prayers EVERYDAY…must get in habit to teach Josh.
Miscellaneous
26) Take a trip to Europe….possibly a cruise, but undecided
27) One vacation per year for just Greg & I and one family trip
28) See at least one Musical/Play per year
29) Have dinner/outing with brother once a month
30) Have baby #2….hopefully a girl! (this will more than likely happen closer to 30)
So, there it is. Room for modification but I think its a good starting point. What do you think? What goals do you have for the next year, 5 years, etc?
Monday, January 18, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Happy Barfday to me!
Actually, I pretty proud of myself for not totally ralphing all over the Denny's bathroom. I know, TMI.
Sorry.
So, my actual birthday was on Monday but I was still recovering from the hectic holidays and I had to work the next day so celebrating was postponed until last night. I picked up Kate around 5:30 and headed to Greg's work to pick him up since he works downtown. We got to Howl at the Moon at 6 to find Greg's brother Jon and Joseph, James, and David already there. Joseph I knew from college and James and David I met through Jon. That table affectionately was dubbed the Holy Rollers as 3 of them are seminarians and one is a priest.
Yes, that's right. I party with the clergy.
Anywho.
My BIL & SIL are also there. And while, they have seen me drink before they have never seen me drunk. Much less drop it like its hot. Oh yes. Just wait.
So we partake of the taco/nacho buffet (because it was free and because I hadn't eaten all day and I figured it would probably be wise to put something in my stomach before my mass consumption of alcohol) and get our $1 drinks with out little coupons and blah blah blah. By 7:20, I've had two margaritas, two glasses of wine, and a shot....buttery nipple I think. We've been there for less than an hour and a half. It's about to get interesting.
I put in a request for Proud Mary and of course I'm singing along like I wrote the damn song. And that's when the lovely lady piano player decided this is when my birthday "call down" should be. See, when you have your birthday party at Howl part of the deal is that at some point in the evening they call you on to the stage.
And basically set you up for humiliation.
Only, I was oh so eager to help them along.
So, I'm standing up there singing and not really able to see much of anything because the lights are blinding the hell out of me. Which is probably a good thing because if I saw all those people looking back at me I'm probably would have peed my pants right there.
Peed. My. Pants.
But I can't see them, so we're cool.
So I'm up there and the song is playing and I immediately think of this:
So I'm going with it and I'm thinking, shoot, what would Gracie Hart do?
And then they kick it in to high gear.
And I'm busting it out. Think me at 2:09 on that video up there from Miss Congeniality 2.
Only....its more like this 2:56 on this video:
Hair was flyin', ya'll.
All the while I feel like I'm *this close* to falling off the stage. Funny, alcohol will do that.
Well eventually, the song is over and I descend to the cheers of friends who I'm sure have just laughed enough to burn off a least one of their drinks. And then I'm greeted with a "Hello, sorry we're late."
It's my male co-worker, Dean.
Dean, who said he would be there at 6:30 didn't show up until just before my lovely performance, so I assummed he wasn't going to make it.
Oh no. He's here.
And he'll be at work on Monday.
Fab.
But I figure. What the hell, what's done is done.
So the night goes on. Pretty typical...few more drinks few more singalongs. Making friends with stranger's because its their birthday too.
Fun times.
And then, the only song we all know by Sir Mix a lot comes chiming on those ivory keys.
Totally my cue, right?
So, forget the fact that the Holy Rollers, my BIL & SIL, and my COWORKER are in the audience....Imma shake what my momma gave me!
So I'm up there and the piano guy decides there will be a champion and goes down the line and has the audience cheer for each of us individually. I think there's five of us. So he goes down the line one by one and ends with me.
And what do I do?
I drop to the floor, give it a good smack with my hand, stick my butt in the air and slide on up....you know what I'm talking about.
And thus I am dubbed "the stripper".
So its the Booty-Shakin' finals and its "the stripper" vs. Monica Lewinski.
And I DQ'd for doing the boobie shake.
But....
I still win a happy hour party.
The next day, Dean, facebooks me and tells me I totally earned the party.
Awkard.
More songs, more drinky, people start leaving.
I think we leave around 12:30 and Greg, Kate, Julie and I all head to Denny's. I'm in and out of sleep but managed to eat some hashbrowns. And, for the most part, keep them down.
I don't even remember dropping Kate off.
So there you have it, my birthday bash.
I think I was trying to cram 3 months of partying in to one night (last time I really went out was for Julie's bachelorette back in October).
Mental note: Bad idea.
Sorry.
So, my actual birthday was on Monday but I was still recovering from the hectic holidays and I had to work the next day so celebrating was postponed until last night. I picked up Kate around 5:30 and headed to Greg's work to pick him up since he works downtown. We got to Howl at the Moon at 6 to find Greg's brother Jon and Joseph, James, and David already there. Joseph I knew from college and James and David I met through Jon. That table affectionately was dubbed the Holy Rollers as 3 of them are seminarians and one is a priest.
Yes, that's right. I party with the clergy.
Anywho.
My BIL & SIL are also there. And while, they have seen me drink before they have never seen me drunk. Much less drop it like its hot. Oh yes. Just wait.
So we partake of the taco/nacho buffet (because it was free and because I hadn't eaten all day and I figured it would probably be wise to put something in my stomach before my mass consumption of alcohol) and get our $1 drinks with out little coupons and blah blah blah. By 7:20, I've had two margaritas, two glasses of wine, and a shot....buttery nipple I think. We've been there for less than an hour and a half. It's about to get interesting.
I put in a request for Proud Mary and of course I'm singing along like I wrote the damn song. And that's when the lovely lady piano player decided this is when my birthday "call down" should be. See, when you have your birthday party at Howl part of the deal is that at some point in the evening they call you on to the stage.
And basically set you up for humiliation.
Only, I was oh so eager to help them along.
So, I'm standing up there singing and not really able to see much of anything because the lights are blinding the hell out of me. Which is probably a good thing because if I saw all those people looking back at me I'm probably would have peed my pants right there.
Peed. My. Pants.
But I can't see them, so we're cool.
So I'm up there and the song is playing and I immediately think of this:
So I'm going with it and I'm thinking, shoot, what would Gracie Hart do?
And then they kick it in to high gear.
And I'm busting it out. Think me at 2:09 on that video up there from Miss Congeniality 2.
Only....its more like this 2:56 on this video:
Hair was flyin', ya'll.
All the while I feel like I'm *this close* to falling off the stage. Funny, alcohol will do that.
Well eventually, the song is over and I descend to the cheers of friends who I'm sure have just laughed enough to burn off a least one of their drinks. And then I'm greeted with a "Hello, sorry we're late."
It's my male co-worker, Dean.
Dean, who said he would be there at 6:30 didn't show up until just before my lovely performance, so I assummed he wasn't going to make it.
Oh no. He's here.
And he'll be at work on Monday.
Fab.
But I figure. What the hell, what's done is done.
So the night goes on. Pretty typical...few more drinks few more singalongs. Making friends with stranger's because its their birthday too.
Fun times.
And then, the only song we all know by Sir Mix a lot comes chiming on those ivory keys.
Totally my cue, right?
So, forget the fact that the Holy Rollers, my BIL & SIL, and my COWORKER are in the audience....Imma shake what my momma gave me!
So I'm up there and the piano guy decides there will be a champion and goes down the line and has the audience cheer for each of us individually. I think there's five of us. So he goes down the line one by one and ends with me.
And what do I do?
I drop to the floor, give it a good smack with my hand, stick my butt in the air and slide on up....you know what I'm talking about.
And thus I am dubbed "the stripper".
So its the Booty-Shakin' finals and its "the stripper" vs. Monica Lewinski.
And I DQ'd for doing the boobie shake.
But....
I still win a happy hour party.
The next day, Dean, facebooks me and tells me I totally earned the party.
Awkard.
More songs, more drinky, people start leaving.
I think we leave around 12:30 and Greg, Kate, Julie and I all head to Denny's. I'm in and out of sleep but managed to eat some hashbrowns. And, for the most part, keep them down.
I don't even remember dropping Kate off.
So there you have it, my birthday bash.
I think I was trying to cram 3 months of partying in to one night (last time I really went out was for Julie's bachelorette back in October).
Mental note: Bad idea.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Umm, can I have 2009 back?
Last year was a pretty good year for us. We have much to be thankful for and with the exception of a few typical lows it was mostly positive.
Today marks day 5 of the new year and so far its been...well...crappy.
This may sound stupid to you and with out getting into all the who's wrong/who's right, I was really bummed and upset when I found out that the coach from my college alma mater was fired. Yes, I'm a red raider and I'm pretty proud of it. Again, I'm not going to argue for or against but I do think the situation was handled horribly on all sides. Talk about a PR nightmare. It just made the program and the school look really bad and that saddens me more than anything.
My family has also been having some health issues. My mom hurt her back pretty bad this week and I'm really concerned about it, especially because she's so stubborn. My grandmother has had multiple health problems for years now and takes more medication than anyone I know. Seriously, I think she takes 21 pills. EVERYDAY. Lately things have been getting worse and it makes me feel really bad for my grandfather having to deal with us.
This next part is hard for me to write because it means its actually real. As one might expect, bringing a baby into the world really changes the dynamic of a family and obviously can and will cause stress. My relationship with my husband has become increasingly strained over the past year. Its gotten to the point where we're really going to have to do something other than talking and rehashing the same arguements over and over. I don't know what that will be just yet....maybe one of those couples retreats or counseling or something I don't know....but it's gotta happen.
And finally...the issue that sparked me to finally create my own personal blog. A few months ago I was promoted to a new position at my work. With this new position brought new coworkers. Some pleasant, others quite the opposite. The first day I started my new job I brought some muffins to kinda....I dunno...break the ice? Just trying to be friendly. I've done this numerous times on other occassions. I say good morning/afternoon if someone passes me. If someone brings up something I'm interested in then I might offer my opinion. I'm a pretty civil person I think.
But apparently some people weren't exactly thrilled I was working with them. Maybe it's because I haven't spent 5-10 years with this company. Maybe it's because I'm the "newbie". I have no idea. But for one reason or another some people felt the need to go out of there way to be rude....in really immature ways.
Today was a rough....I'll try to keep it as short as possible. I put in a request to have tomorrow off so that I could spend the day with my son on his birthday but my manager denied it. I had also put in a request on Monday to work through my lunch breaks this week so I could leave early on Friday but she still hadn't approved it so I sent her an email asking about the two issues. She apparently took that to mean I was mad at her and proceeded to discuss it with the group of coirkers I have the issues with!
Believe me I wish I was making this shit up. Its like highschool all over again (although, my hs years were actually pretty good....I'm just trying to imply the typical teenage angst and issues). I don't expect everyone to like me. But do expect to be respected. Especially if I haven't done anything to deserve the rudeness. I wish I would just stop caring.
So now I feel really awkward at work. There's this weird tension with my manager because she thinks I'm mad at her and while I'm not mad about the time-off situation I am upset that she decided to talk about it with other coworkers. And I've learned she does this a lot. And then there's the ongoing tension with the troublesome coirkers.
I was talking to a friend who works in a different department but who's had similar issues and she brought up a good point. She told me whenever she would get upset or when there was drama in the workplace she would just remind herself that they don't sign her paycheck. Duh. How smart is that? At the end of the day, I can't control what anyone else does or says I can only be me. I'll just focus on the job at hand and try to tune everything else out.
And listen to a lot of Pandora.
Today marks day 5 of the new year and so far its been...well...crappy.
This may sound stupid to you and with out getting into all the who's wrong/who's right, I was really bummed and upset when I found out that the coach from my college alma mater was fired. Yes, I'm a red raider and I'm pretty proud of it. Again, I'm not going to argue for or against but I do think the situation was handled horribly on all sides. Talk about a PR nightmare. It just made the program and the school look really bad and that saddens me more than anything.
My family has also been having some health issues. My mom hurt her back pretty bad this week and I'm really concerned about it, especially because she's so stubborn. My grandmother has had multiple health problems for years now and takes more medication than anyone I know. Seriously, I think she takes 21 pills. EVERYDAY. Lately things have been getting worse and it makes me feel really bad for my grandfather having to deal with us.
This next part is hard for me to write because it means its actually real. As one might expect, bringing a baby into the world really changes the dynamic of a family and obviously can and will cause stress. My relationship with my husband has become increasingly strained over the past year. Its gotten to the point where we're really going to have to do something other than talking and rehashing the same arguements over and over. I don't know what that will be just yet....maybe one of those couples retreats or counseling or something I don't know....but it's gotta happen.
And finally...the issue that sparked me to finally create my own personal blog. A few months ago I was promoted to a new position at my work. With this new position brought new coworkers. Some pleasant, others quite the opposite. The first day I started my new job I brought some muffins to kinda....I dunno...break the ice? Just trying to be friendly. I've done this numerous times on other occassions. I say good morning/afternoon if someone passes me. If someone brings up something I'm interested in then I might offer my opinion. I'm a pretty civil person I think.
But apparently some people weren't exactly thrilled I was working with them. Maybe it's because I haven't spent 5-10 years with this company. Maybe it's because I'm the "newbie". I have no idea. But for one reason or another some people felt the need to go out of there way to be rude....in really immature ways.
Today was a rough....I'll try to keep it as short as possible. I put in a request to have tomorrow off so that I could spend the day with my son on his birthday but my manager denied it. I had also put in a request on Monday to work through my lunch breaks this week so I could leave early on Friday but she still hadn't approved it so I sent her an email asking about the two issues. She apparently took that to mean I was mad at her and proceeded to discuss it with the group of coirkers I have the issues with!
Believe me I wish I was making this shit up. Its like highschool all over again (although, my hs years were actually pretty good....I'm just trying to imply the typical teenage angst and issues). I don't expect everyone to like me. But do expect to be respected. Especially if I haven't done anything to deserve the rudeness. I wish I would just stop caring.
So now I feel really awkward at work. There's this weird tension with my manager because she thinks I'm mad at her and while I'm not mad about the time-off situation I am upset that she decided to talk about it with other coworkers. And I've learned she does this a lot. And then there's the ongoing tension with the troublesome coirkers.
I was talking to a friend who works in a different department but who's had similar issues and she brought up a good point. She told me whenever she would get upset or when there was drama in the workplace she would just remind herself that they don't sign her paycheck. Duh. How smart is that? At the end of the day, I can't control what anyone else does or says I can only be me. I'll just focus on the job at hand and try to tune everything else out.
And listen to a lot of Pandora.
Finally, a new home....
When I got pregnant in 2008 my blogging become consumed with all things pregnancy. When he was born in 2009, it was all things baby, and while I love to blog about him (when I can find the time) I need to have a personal space where I can let it all hang out. So welcome to Half Baked and Fully Loaded...
I have no idea what will come of this. I hope for it to be a little mix of cooking, maybe some DIY, a smidge of ranting (though I'll try to keep it to a minimum), with a dash of sarcasm. Expect a lot of randomness.
I'm not sure how you may have stumbled across me and this little blog, but please, pull up a chair and stay while. Who knows maybe you'll learn something. Or maybe I'll learn something from you. All I know is its cheaper than therapy.
And hopefully, a little more entertaining.
I have no idea what will come of this. I hope for it to be a little mix of cooking, maybe some DIY, a smidge of ranting (though I'll try to keep it to a minimum), with a dash of sarcasm. Expect a lot of randomness.
I'm not sure how you may have stumbled across me and this little blog, but please, pull up a chair and stay while. Who knows maybe you'll learn something. Or maybe I'll learn something from you. All I know is its cheaper than therapy.
And hopefully, a little more entertaining.
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