Beat

It is only Tuesday and this week is just beating me up. I feel like I need two long days to just sleep. I would go to bed now, but E is flying in and I am picking him up at the airport.

Good news around these parts, is that we FINALLY installed a dog door. OMG! This is truly the best invention EVER. Not only am I enjoying it, I know the massive fur ball called Poppy is enjoying her new found freedom to go inside and outside as she pleases. I am not sure why it took us so long to do us. Probably because Eli and I are the two biggest procrastinators on this planet.

Off to SFO...

Just another day

It's been pretty quiet around these parts. All I've been doing is battling my back issues. I finally got in to see a back doctor, had xrays done and finally got in for my first visit for physical therapy. Everyone seems to have a different point of view on what is wrong with my back. The only good thing is that it isn't something serious that would require surgery. Whew! So today at PT, I got a little massagy and a list of 6 excercises to do to help stretch and stregthen. I am cleared to do cardio as long as there is no pain. Which is good b/c I've taken a hiatus from working out and it is really starting to show. eek! I can't do yoga just yet. Which is a bummer but hopefuly in a month or so, I can pick that up again.

After a summer of sitting on reserve--E finally got a flight schedule this month. That has made a huge difference in how we manage our life now. Which is now done week to week. It makes things a little easier in terms of planning because now we know when he will be home and when he won't.

Other then my back, there is not a whole lot to report.

Have a good weekend!

I guess I am Country

Would you ever guess that a former city girl now living on the west coast would get into country music? Nope, neither did I. In the last few months, I've stumbled upon a local country station that has the best morning show. EVER! They always managed to put a smile on my face and make me laugh until I am about in tears during my 15 drive to the BART station. In between their antics, I started listening to the music, which of course is all country music. I must be getting old because I love how all the songs are either about having fun in bayou, driving a pickup truck, family and going to church (mind you I am jewish and grew up in an interfaith marriage so I know a lot about church.)
While there are tears from laughing so hard, I find myself shedding a tear or two or three on how touching some of these country songs are. I find that it helps me "keep it real" with all yucky stuff going on right now. Listening to some of these songs helps bring me back to reality. Reality in how important family, the love I have for my husband, religon, the way life can be so simple and so fun. That is what life is all about. Eli will even listen to this station now, because if I drive his car, it is the station that I put on the radio. I don't know if appreciates the songs as much as I do. Now don't get me wrong, I will certainly shake my booty to all the hip hop, top 20, brittnay spears kind of music but when it comes to listening to a radio station my first choice has now become the local country station.

I will leave you with a snippet of my favorite part from my latest favorite song. It's by Brad Paisley. "Waiting On A Woman". I think the reason why I like this part so much is that it reminds me of my granddad who past away last December.So many times, he was waiting my grandmother to get ready for wherever they were headed to and she always looked so pretty. I truly believe he is up in heaven, just waiting for her again.

WAITING ON A WOMAN-Brad Paisley

I've read somewhere statistics show
The man's always the first to go
And that makes sense 'cause I know she won't be ready
So when it finally comes my time
And I get to the other side
I'll find myself a bench, if they've got any
I hope she takes her time, 'cause I don't mind
Waitin' on a woman.

Honey, take your time, cause I don't mind
Waitin' on a woman...

So much yet so little

This is how I can describe what's been going on lately. I've thought about many a nights composing a great blog post in my head but when I sit down what comes out is so little. Writer's block maybe?

What is coming up in head is this...

There's been a few milestones since I last blogged and a few more that are coming up.
1)We just celebrated a year living in the bay area! Yay! I am so happy we are here. The decision to move here has been a great one. This weekend, I am going on my first girls weekend since moving here with new girlfriends! Well, two of them aren't new, they are a two girls that I grew up with in OHIO and we were reconnected via facebook. One of them was my best friend in 7th grade! I am excited to head to Tahoo with them. I am so used to my girl trips with my friends from college so this will be different. But I think it different is just what the doctor ordered!

2) Just celebrated a year with my company. Wow! This has been the most challenging position I have ever had. Starting with my little experience recruiting for the creative industry and the differene between creative here vs Chicago creative. It is so vastly different. Couple that with being new to the community and trying to establish myself. It has been on huge up hill climb. I'd like to believe I have crested this hill.

Milestones to come:
1) My 33rd birthday is right around the corner. It is interesting that I am not that crazy about this birthday. I usually am ALL. ABOUT. MY. BIRTHDAY. this time around, I am not. Now it is just a number and a reminder that I am ever so creeping up on my mid 30's. To top it off,I think my body has gone on strike now that we have decided to move forward with TCC. I admit I am harboring some stress which may be causing this strike. I am hoping me and my body can figure out what is going on.

2) our 2nd anniversary is 10/22! I can't believe this is coming up so quickly. We've already purchased our gift to each other, which was a beautiful ceiling fan for our bedroom. We decided to do it a few weeks ago since now is the time for our summer, which is Sept & Oct. And since we don't have AC it would be perfect just in case we get another round of hot weather. Plus it reverses so when we need to turn the heat on, it will bring the heat back down on us since we have an old floor furnace that is only in our living room/hallway. I purchased some curtains for our bedroom to replace the awful blinds. Thanks to my mom for the gift card to BB&B. So, I am happy to say our bedroom is done!

Last weekend E and I went to the Monterey Jazz Fest. Eli worked the show, he is a sound engineer as well. So while he worked I roamed the grounds, stuffing my face with good food and filling my ears with good jazz music. On sunday, we drove to carmel. We walked around this quaint little town by the ocean, marveled at all the art galleries and clothing shops we can't afford to purchase ANTHING in and talked about our "BIG dreams. We settled ourselves at a bar, orderd spicy bloody marys and had lunch. On the way home, eli looks at me and says " the sign of a good lunch is when your burps taste good".

ahh, life is good.

Randomness..

So, if I had to rate this week on a scale from 1-10. I think I would give it a 7.
Overall, I had a good week. Work is going well. I am rereading 7 habits of highly effective people. I've also decided to check out toastmasters in order to gain more confidence in public speaking. My first meeting is next Thursday. I am nervous, but I figure everyone that goes there is nervous for the same reasons, so I will be in good company.

Poppy training is going well. E and I are finally on the same page with training Poppy. We are totally buying into Cesar Milan aka Dog whisper's method of dog training. I do have to say it is working! I fully believe in the power of the walk. We are now walking her twice a day for at least 30 minutes. It has made a huge improvement. We still need to overcome her aggresiveness with other dogs when she is on leash but I am more confident then over that we will be able to fix it.

E is doing well with his flying. He is on reserve this month, which can sometime suck in terms of not getting flight hours. However, E is managing quite well. He is flying a ton, which is fantastic. Not only for the extra $$ we are getting but more importantly he is building his flight time. For a pilot, flight hours are EVERYTHING. I am just so proud of him and how proactive he is. It totally blows having him home only give or take 3 1/2 days a week. I do know that this isn't forever him commuting to his base in Chicago. Hopefully in the next few years, he will get picked up by another airline and be based here on the left coast.

What's been troubling me is that my two grandmothers' have been in & out of the hospital this month. It's been a revolving door between the two of them. Tonight I found out that my grandma morris is at the ER. She had a pacemaker put in a week ago and then had gallbladder surgery on Monday of this week. She was released on Wednesday but now is back in the ER tonight. We aren't sure what is going on. My other grandma, has been in and out for various reasons, but on Wednesday night, she fell at home, and broke her hip. She had surgery today and I heard she is doing well. My poor Grandpa finally got to see her today. He hasn't seen her since Wednesday night when they took her to the ER. I am worried, sad and just plain lonely. I couldn't get a hold of any of my girls to talk and E is in Chicago tonight.

Another thing that happened this week is that I was late. It was the first experience I ever had on being late. Mainly because since I was 18, I've been on BC. When I went off the pill, I missed the first month, but that was to be expected. Ever since that month, I've been right on schedule. While we aren't fully trying right now, we've also just decided what ever happens, happens. So what got me this week, is that finding out that I was late and looking at the calendar, realizing that there is really no way I could be pregnant, made me worry why I was late. Of course from the first day on that I was late all sorts of emotions kicked in. I will admit I did take a few HPTs and all of them were negative. After the 4th day, "it" showed. When it did. I will admit I was relieved but at the same time I was sad.

Maybe I am more ready then I give myself credit for. One thing is for sure, I hope my two grandmothers' and my one grandpa that is still alive will be around to see their great-grandchildren. That is my ultimate wish.





This is me with my grandmothers' at my wedding shower in Iowa.

I remember why...

We haven't been married long nor have we really gone through knock down hard stuff nor do we have kids but tonight reminded me of why I fell in love with my husband.
After work, I met him out for a drink, dinner and then a live music show at the place where he does sound (his other job). I arrived at the bar and he had a glass of red wine waiting for me. We joked a bit about how his other girlfriend off and left because she knew I was coming and was so sweet to leave me her untouched glass of cabernet. After discussing whether or not a bbq place would be the perfect place for a first date, we decided even though we aren't on our first date we should head there for some yummy southern bbq. After we placed our order. We talked and laughed. Continued to laugh all through dinner. The laughter I experienced instantly brought me back to when we were first dating, living together and everything else we have been through. And of course, one of the many reasons why I fell in love with him.
I am sure me missing him so much when he is on his trips fueled this memory lane kick. However, it is sure nice to be reminded why you love someone so much.

randomness..

Every day I've been trying to think of something clever to post about. But just can't seem get my thoughts down. So here are some snippets of ideas I have thought to post about this week.

City Sidewalks.....
I work in San Francisco so you have the usually city stuff...traffic, people everywhere, sounds of car horns, which drive me bonkers. An occasional homeless person or 2 maybe 3. Who actually are starting to recognize my face and say hello.
Yesterday I saw a biker--not motorcycle biker but regular street bike biker who had a sign on his front handle bars saying "cars=weapons of mass destruction" I started busting out laughing when I read this. Only in SF.

Driving Stick...
I paralleled parked yesterday! Woot woot!

Reflections on the last 6 weeks
I feel kind of embarrassed about how I was reacting to E being gone. I feel like I didn't handle myself so well and it was only 6 weeks. I think about all those families with their loved ones in Iraq who are gone 10x as long as E and how hard it must be to have them gone. Dealing with their everyday lives. Some raising children all on their own without the help of their spouse or others just not having their loved ones around and worrying about them being in constant danger. Here I am, single--meaning we don't have kids or pets, he wasn't in danger and I was a basket case. I feel a little selfish about how I dealt with it.

My garden
I decided last weekend the best way to get over my hangover was to start cleaning out the weeds and dead vegetable plants. In my backyard, I have a 10x10 area that was used as a vegetable garden by the previous owners of our house. I got about 3/4 of the way through the weeds and dead plants. So with the warm weather this weekend, my plan is to get back out there to finish cleaning out the weeds, get rid of the dead bean stalks and add some fertilizer soil to get it ready to start planting some yummy vegetables. After that, I need to decide what I am going to plant. I am also dying to start my own compost pile so I have good fertilizer for my garden. Plus it will help reduce the garbage that I put out. Gotta reduce my carbon footprint some how.

E
He comes home on Monday. I cannot freaking wait. His pilot hat arrived in the mail last week. I had some fun with the pilot hat and sent him some pictures. When he was home last weekend, he took his pilot jacket in to get tailored. I will be sure to post pictures in his new uniform. No more SWA smurf uniforms. We've chatted about taking off for a few days to Mexico. Maybe next weekend. Do a saturday-monday trip where we can sit in the warm sun and just be. Wouldn't that be nice?

If you are in a bad mood...come take a look

seriously, funniest thing EVER!!!

okay...seriously???

http://omg.yahoo.com/jamie-lynn-spears-says-shes-pregnant/news/4928

pass me a tissue please...

It finally caught up to me...a stupid head cold. I have been dodging this thing for some time now and it finally knock me down. All weekend I was out for the count. Which sucked because it was a beautiful weekend and now it is cold, dreary and rainy :( blah!

folks, keep your fingers crossed that we finally sell this damn jeep and go back to 2 car family like normal people.

Here are a couple of pictures for your viewing enjoyment.

One of me and my niece Raelyn


And Eli, me and Raelyn ( I think we look very nice with 3)

I am here..I promise

just trying to catch my breath and settle into a routine. Eli is officially a commerical pilot! YEAH!!! So we will be analyzing job opportunities in the next month or so. I have made it through two girls trips and a weekend with the inlaws. Now I have thanksgiving and my best friend's wedding and then I am officially signing off for 2007. All I want to do is put on my osh kosh bgosh overalls and get my hands on the weeds that have totally invaded my beautiful yard. Linds--I will be "tilling" the soil in my garden..you just wait.

I am here..just out of breath and time....

Balance and randomness

OMMMMMMMM.... cue in the the yoga relaxation music..ommmmmmmmmmmmm
Oh internet. I am in need of some balance and a home...can you help me with that? please?? I will seriously be your best friend.

Prayers to Rusti and her family. She lost her mother in law this morning after a long battle. Sending many hugs and prayers.


Crap--I have to hit the shower for work. Work is going great, the people are chill, the client list is fantastic and I can't wait to get my hands dirty. My trouble is getting back in the groove of getting up and getting ready for work. All last year, I just had to roll out of bed.

The housing market here SUX! The rental market is a joke. We had a would be landlady call us at 3 minutes till our scheduled appointment to tell us she is renting the place to someone else. Um, didn't we confirm with you the appointment 5 hours earlier??? So annoyed.

Funniest thing--we got it on in the car last night at the local make out joint for highschoolers. We figured if a cop caught us, we would have a great excuse. "officer, we are married and living with our mother in law and we need to have sex" In all my life I have never had sex in a parked car.

Randomness

The drive went well yesterday though it was HOT has HECK out there. I think at one point during my drive it hit 110 degrees. I was never so thankful for the bay area coolness then I was last night.

It is 2pm on Thursday and I have already had an eventful day.

1) Eli waking up at 4am b/c his phone was beeping--low battery. This caused me to wake up. He then asked me to set my phone alarm for 4:30am, which of course I did. We both fall back asleep. He finally gets up at 5am for work. I fall back asleep.

2) 8:30am. The door bell is ringing repeatedly! I hear in between the doorbell, knocking on the door. I am trying to remember where I am as I wake up to figure out someone is at the door.I stumble out of bed--mind you I am blind as a bat w/o my glasses. I make myself to the door and find my MIL next door neighbors telling me they cannot park in their driveway b/c of a tree that hangs over onto their property. I kindly tell them that I cannot do anything about it until she or my husband comes home. They look defeated but kindly turn around and leave.

3) My poor kitty is having problems urinating. So after the ruckus of this am, I call the vet and dropped my MIL's name and they took us in at 10am. Poor kitty is now on two antibiotics and we have to keep watch on him to see if he is urinating. I have to take him in tomorrow morning for another checkup. I have been at the computer for about 45 minutes and I watched him go to his litter box about 7 times trying to urinate. Really breaks my heart. I hope I don't have to take him to the emergency room.

4) Not more then 5 minutes ago, I hear someone trying to open up the front door. Upon inspecting I see a tiny asian lady using a spare key to get inside. I can hardly understand what she is saying to me but hands me the key and says she is here to drop off key.

I think I am ready to go back to work.

Bonita Mama!

Bonita Mama.. this was shouted at me at 9am on Friday morning as I was half awake watering my plants on my balcony. Now this normally would not bother me and I might on a good day take it as a compliment. However, knowing the lurkers, aka the construction men that are literally a stones throw across the street.. I mean fire lane away from my apartment saying this, iritates the crap out of me.

The reason this iritates me so much is that I accidently gave these men a peep show one morning. I am so embrassed even writing about this. E and I like to sleep with our patio door open. Now that we are living in California and so close to the ocean, we are spoiled by how cool it gets in the evening thus we like to open the doors to get a cool breeze instead of turning on the AC. Well, of course the one morning that i FORGET that we had the door and thus the blinds open. I trot out of the shower, with very little clothing and proceed to put lotion on. I start to feel like I am being watched and of course, I turn around and see a construction dude just lurking at my window. Mortified, I crouched down and scramble for some decent cover up so I can crawl my way to the bathroom to put on any sort of clothing I can find.

Needless to say I did manage to recover and cover myself and close the blinds so I could finish my morning routine without the lurkers. Everytime I step outside to my balcony I am a little grossed out. Let's just say I am so happy we are moving out of this joint and i have learned my lesson to be fully robed or clothed when I walk out of the bathroom.

Still in my PJs and loving it plus other randomness..

1) It is saturday morning at 11:15am and I made a personal choice to stay in my PJ's this morning. With all the chaos is going on this month. I decided to forgo Yoga this morning and sleep in. Poor Louie (my cat) didn't know what was going on. He tried to wake me up at 8am when I normally wake up to go to Yoga and when I didn't move, he decided all was okay and he was going to sleep in too. He was cuddled up right next to me with his paws covering up his eyes.

2) We finally were able to get the missing pieces of paper for our BMW. THis all went down last week. Now we can register the car and start on the necessary mechanical issues that need to be fixed in order for me to start driving it. YEAH!! And we can focus on selling our Jeep--which will enable us to be car payment free for awhile!

3)My brother's wedding was terrific. I really do feel 100% about this marriage. What did it for me is when A walked up to the altar to meet my brother. She was bawling the whole walk down the aisle. She took his hand that he held out for her, faced the crowd and looked over at him and mouthed " I love you". My heart melted for my little brother. My mom and I were in tears the whole weekend and we realized why--he has found true happiness and love. Everything that he was searching for, he found in his beautiful bride. I have comfort in the fact that those two will always beat to their own drum and do what they want to do. E and I made a pact that we are going try to get together with them as often as we can because we want to start to forge a closer relationship. My hope is that my brother and A will want to as well.

4)We saw the new Harry Potter movie last night. I remembered why I couldn't get through that book--very dark and scary! E is a harry potter nut! He is dying to receive the 7th book. I decided that I would pick up the series again and read the 6th book and when he is done I will read the 7th. However, me not having any patience at all, I am so dying to hear what happens at the end of book 7.

5) Private or not private blog? I know this question has been raised by other bloggers a number of times lately. Each time I have responded to those internet friends, "do what you need to do, it is your choice." Now when I am faced with the choice and I am not sure what to do. There are few things that I can't blog about just yet for the fear of not knowing who is reading this. Part of me loves the fact if there those whom I do not know reading this blog and enjoy reading it, I would hate to shut them out. On the flip side, this blog has become my diary...i used to keep one as a kid and teenager. However this diary includes the warm advice and thoughts of others that I have come to know through their blogs. I trust and value their opinions so I don't want to hold back more of my thoughts or share in what is taking place in our lives.

6) I want so badly for my parents to sell their house in MI. They are in midst of a move to Atlanta. My dad is there now living in an apartment. Since May he has been separted from my mom. My mom is still in Michigan trying to get their house sold. My parents are high school sweethearts. Together in their marriage they have moved all over the country and have experienced this situation numerous times. However, I think this time the uncertainly of whether or not the MI house will sell has taken its toll on them. I am going to take some time off in September to go hang with my mom. I miss her so much. We were so spoiled when I lived in Chicago and they were in Ohio and then especially when they moved to MI. We were short drive away.

7) My favorite picture of my aunts and my girl cousins.