Countdown to California

I'm starting to get majorly stressed out about my trip to California. I've been short, nervous and downright bitchy the past few days because the weight of the trip is weighing on my shoulders. I feel so much stress about this whole relationship with Mircea, which is ridiculous because that's the one thing to be happy and not-stressed about. I'm freaking out about leaving the cats, though they will be in great hands that love them very much, and I'm nervous about leaving my house, friends, etc. I was sort of whining about it last night and I was reminded by the wisest Romanian ever that "everything will work out how it is supposed to. If you lose friends while you're gone, than they aren't really your friends. If we don't work out, then we weren't supposed to. RELAX." Those words have been said to me so many times over the years and I often forget them. I will learn from my mistakes of the past and learn that I need to just let life live. To just let things take their course and have faith that others in my life won't let me down or aren't "out to get me."

I think little Katey Pooh might be growing up. I've had some set backs the past few days, but I had some nice talks with friends and realized that I am much stronger than any habits that I have and that I am a good person who has learned from their mistakes.

I'm not sure when I'll be writing on the blog again. Tomorrow I'm watching Purdue vs. Maryland and probably staying at my friends house after the game because I'll have had too much to drink. Saturday I'm taking care of the cats and hanging out with my sweetie, and then I'll be going to some New Year's Eve parties on Sunday. Monday is my "tie up all loose ends" day and then bright and early Tuesday morning I'm off for my three months in California.

Happy New Year to all my friends out there and let's all make 2007 a wonderful year. I would sure like to cry a whole lot less this year. Less worry, less stress, live life to the fullest!

Whirlwind Weeks

Since I've already talked to the one person I thought would be upset about this, I'm ready to make this post.

A couple of weeks ago I met the most amazing guy. From the moment I saw him (in a bar!) and the first words we exchanged, I knew this guy was someone special. I just didn't know in what capacity he would be to me. After a couple of dates I realized that he has made himself at home in my heart, and although I know its "too soon" and "you hardly know him", I feel like I've known him my whole life and I look forward to getting to know more and more about him.

Its so funny. I tried so hard to take things slowly with him in my heart and mind. I played it cool. I was "eh" when he asked me on a date, I didn't let him kiss me on the first date, I don't call him at all really and I let him call me. And you know what? He does. He calls me and sends me messages and actually pursued the hell out of me! And he's wonderful! He cooks for me and when I was sick all last week he bought me medicine and took care of me. He did all the dishes and took care of my cats and kept me company. And to think he kept saying to me "I'll get out of your hair if you're sick of me." As if that was possible!

He spoiled the heck out of me for Christmas and I had a hard time handling that. My girlfriends are like "that's the way it should be" and he was like "get used to it sweetie". I just don't think I can.

I'm not sure why I am blathering on about this. I have been sort of quiet in Blogger land lately, but I want to shout it from the rooftops that I'm crazy about a wonderful, sweet, romantic, Romanian guy who swept me off my feet in a few short weeks and whom I'm going to miss terribly while I'm in San Diego. He booked a ticket to visit me at the end of January and I can't wait to show him around my favorite city.

I'm even learning some Romanian. Now if he'll just become a citizen and get his passport we can go to Romania...maybe a summer trip to the bleakest place on Earth (he gets so mad at me when I say that!)

We took some pictures this weekend but I think they're pretty crappy. I'll see if they are worthy of posting when I get home!! ***Ok, I posted the picture, but we both look terrible. He hadn't shaved in days, had a big cut on his head from hunting (don't ask) and I hadn't been feeling well so we look wonderful! Oh well, at least we're happy. Ugly and happy!

Christmas Visit

My dad and I celebrated an early Christmas today and yesterday. He came into town and we had a nice lunch out and then we came back to my house to clean up leaves, which we did so well. We turned out to be a pretty darned good leaf cleaning team. Then we watched some tv last night (i've been sick so not really in the mood to do much) and then we had Christmas this morning. He was going to stay until Saturday but as I'm not feeling well and there isn't a damned thing to do in this town, we decided to call it a short visit. We had a nice time and it was great to see him. Vicki and my dad got me some really neat sweaters for Christmas, which is something I always need for sure. As usual, I got my dad sweaters, because he too is a fan of the garment.

I'm going to go take a nap. I'm feeling icky icky.

Schnitzel: Its Whats for Dinner

I'm afraid I'm going to put on lots of weight. But I only have two more weeks of good eats before I leave for California, so I guess its not really a concern. I eat like a Queen on travel, but its usually sushi and I also workout like a fiend as I have nothing else to do. Enough about my body distortion, let's talk about food, baby.

Last night the fabulous treat of schnitzel was prepared for me. Let me paint the scene for you. You get some pork cutlets, pound the hell out of them with a mallet, dip them in egg and breadcrumbs with spices and pan fry them up to perfection. Holy crap these are tasty. Served with mashed potatoes and veggies-I was in Heaven. Where has this yummy food been all my life? And the other question is, if it had been here, how fat would I be at this point?

I wonder if some of you are asking "I thought it was called Wiener schnitzel, what gives?" Apparently the Europeans don't all call it that and are slighty offended when we "Americans" call it that because "Why does it always have to be about [private parts] with you two?" when a friend and I both indicated that the first word we thought of with schnitzel was "weiner". So sue us!

Dumb jock? I think not

Rarely will you see me tooting the horn of someone in the NFL that doesn't play for the Colts. Last night I watched Monday Night Football (a Monday night party) with the Colts vs the Bengals. It was a pretty fun game to watch, though I got pretty sleepy at the end and just went to bed (once we had the game locked up). I was getting some odd looks during the game though because I kept cheering whenever the Bengals linebacker Landon Johnson was making a good play. I just love Landon. I had several classes with him at Purdue and he was always really nice nice to me, but the second thing I noticed (besides his gorgeous eyes) was that he was smart as a whip. He always seemed to know what he was doing in our Sensation and Perception class, where I was struggling through the basics. He used to stay after in class and help me a little bit sometimes with his buddy Chris James, also a football player (and also a hottie). I'm not sure why I'm writing this, but I have just always respected him so much. He's great at football, smart as can be, and has a great personality to boot. I love watching him succeed in the NFL because for once, a nice guy finishes well. Though not that well, because last night the Colts beat the Bengals, in a game that we weren't so sure was in the bag. GO COLTS!

Alvin, Simon...Theodore!

I had a very Alvin & the Chipmunks moment this morning. I was driving to work and heard Old Time Rock n'Roll, as made famous by Bob Seger. Immediatly I remembered when Alvin and his brothers played that song on a stage in the show. I also recalled how I always thought it was ZZ Top that sang that song until a few years ago, which led me to remember that The Chipmunks also covered a ZZ Top song that I used to sing all the time with my mom.

How funny were those darned Chipmunks? They were always getting into trouble and then once the girls came on the show, they had so many situations that seemed like they weren't, you know, Chipmunks. And why didn't anyone question that this man was taking care of Chipmunks? Who believed that they were real? Who the hell pays money to go to a concert where a bunch of rodents sing? (If anyone says they enjoyed the Showbiz Pizza concerts with Chuck E. Cheese I will give them a high five, but remember, we didn't have to pay for those) Ok, now I'm distracted because I went to the Showbiz Pizza site and rediscovered the Rockafire Explosion, which was probably my favorite record ever when I was a kid. I remember the day I accidently scratched it and I cried and cried to my babysitter that I had ruined it and she kept saying "Its ok, its ok" but it wasn't ok. It's still not ok.

For some reason, this just really creeps me out. I'm pretty sure you can guess all the reasons!

Christmas Meme

Tagged by Missy...


Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Wrapped
Colored lights on tree/house or white? Colored on tree, white on the house. The only way to go as far as I'm concerned.
What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? My stepmother cooks very well, so anything she makes.
Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Playing with Marci (my childhood dog) under the tree when I got my Barbie and the Rockers tour bus.
Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?We always opened 1 gift.
How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
Assorted ornaments picked up over the years and from my parents home.
Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Loved it in the Midwest, its a ridiculous waste of time here.
What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Christmas pie as prepared my step mother's sister Christine.
What is your favorite Christmas Song? What child is this
Candy Canes -Yuck or Yum? Awesome, especially as a peppermint mouth guard.
Favorite Christmas Tradition growing up: going to see my grandma and papa in ohio
Least Favorite Christmas Tradition Growing Up: Being done with Christmas in about 10 minutes since it was often just the three of us.
Breakfast or Presents First? Presents first.


I'm tagging Patty and Marc.

Hmmmm....

I couldn't think of a title today. I'm just making a quick post because I'm on my way out for the weekend for what is either going to be a trip to a beach house in Northern Maryland, or a trip to Lancaster, PA. Sadly, I'm not sure which and I'm not driving, so I'll hopefully find out soon enough. It should be nothing short of interesting, considering its with people I don't know very well, but don't worry. I'm being safe and I'm calling Marc with the address of the place tonight and if I don't show up to his house to take him to the airport on Sunday morning he'll know I'm dead and buried somewhere and who did it. Pretty sure that won't happen though.

Made lasagna last night for my date and I'm pissed because I totally didn't crumble the meat small enough so it was like meatball lasagna. He's just lucky I cooked anything because a.) I'm lazy as hell and b.) yeah, too lazy to come up with something else.

I realize that this is a lame post, but I've got to get going. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures and interesting adventures this weekend so I'll have something to write about when I return.

Butterflies and N'Sync...oh yeah, and a Christmas party

I can only describe our plans to surprise Ben's as "thwarted". That little brat decided that he had too much to do and couldn't come to the Happy Hour that Robyn and I were having. We finally had to force him out of the house, which is when he became terribly suspicious (as if beer pong on a Wednesday wasn't suspicious enough) and accused me of "setting up a ping pong table in his garage." He was very happy when we got back to his house and all the guys were there with the new table, but surprised is not a word I would use to describe him.

My beer pong playing was assessed in several ways last night, none of which ever get old.

Are you just going to stand there while the ball whizzes by your head?
Use the paddle, not your face.
Doesn't it look like she is trying to catch invisible butterflies?

Clearly the last one is the best, and I had to agree, it really did look like I was swatting at bugs or something.

I woke up on the right side of the bed this morning, and have been doing so for the past couple days. I was in such a good mood and XM was playing such great music this morning. I rocked out (if you can use that term) to N'Sync's I want you back. I don't know if I am comfortable admitting my love for N'Sync in this forum, but let's just say that several years ago both Marc and I (yes Marc, I'm throwing you under the bus on this one since you got me started on this 13-year old girl music) had tickets to the N'Sync concert in Charlotte, North Carolina, when we lived in INDIANA! Lucky for us, the show was cancelled (damned Ticketmaster doesn't refund the surcharge. 12.50 * whatever % interest for 6 years = I'm still pissed about a piddly amount of money) so we didn't have to find travel to Charlotte. I had also rallied for an N'Sync song as our wedding song, but surprisingly that was vetoed by the teenybopper himself. Turning his back on N'Sync like that. He's such a Justin Timberlake.

Today is our office Christmas party. Let me explain that a Gov't Christmas party isn't even 1/4 as fun as a civilian Christmas party. First of all, its a Holiday party, second its cash bar (drinks are like a million dollars apiece), third its in the Firehouse, fourth its full of a bunch of men in uniforms, which may excite some of you but realize that they are middle aged men in uniforms and mostly Navy, which means they aren't nearly as taut as the Marines. Don't refute it, the Navy is a lot "softer in the belly" than some of the other services! Not the point. Let me share some of my favorite things about last year's Holiday party.

1. The electric slide was played 7 times. I'm not kidding. I'm really not. And these two stupid women kept going out and dancing to it...incorrectly. I have never done this dance, but I'll tell you this much - I could have Pants Off/Dance Off'd the hell out of that song by the time the party was over.
2. The bugged-eyed lady (who I later had a class with and I've determined is certifably INSANE) who danced in her short, tight blue dress with her fish net stockings to the song "White Wedding" with the hot guy that sits a couple seats over from me. She grabbed his crotch near the end (he is married and yes, his wife was there) and hollered something along the lines of "I guess what they say is true" which caused my friend Colin to say "well, she did just go through a pretty nasty divorce", as though that somehow explained her behavior.
3. This behavior also prompted someone at an adjacent table to say "Looks like she managed to pick up Jungle Fever in the divorce", which explains to my readers why I didn't spell out that the guy was probably "endowed".
4. The same two idiots that were "dancing" the electric slide all day started drawing the names for the door prizes. This was great since they were totally blitzed and apparently illiterate. They'd say things into the microphone like "We don't even know who this person is" and throw away the slip. (Somehow I feel that person was me, especially when they called the winner for the wine sampler basket I'd been coveting and threw the name on the ground when they didn't recognize it.) It was also about this time when I realized that the one woman only had one finger on her right hand...and that's right ladies and gentlemen-it was her middle finger. I'm not even going to "go there" but you can fill in your own jokes (and pity)

Ok, so this blog post has gone on long enough, but hopefully it will help Patty get over her boredom and maybe put some other people in that less-than-bored state.

I think it was venison...

I had such a fun night last night on my date with a vampire. He made me some yummy food; shrimp and venison (which I referred to as "surf and field") and a cheesy rice side. It was so good and now I'm officially 100% nervous about cooking for him. I can't think of anything to make that I won't screw up and that's that. If I could buy the food and somehow present it as though I had cooked it, I would do that, but that would also be considered misleading and I'd have to keep up those airs for awhile, and I just don't have the time. Any suggestions would be great!!

Tonight I have some awesome plans. I'm so excited about this. My friend Ben has a ping pong table in his garage and we play beer pong on it. Well its all brusied and broken and a little bit dangerous. We decided to all go in together and buy him a new one, so I picked it up this weekend and we have a plan for this evening. Robyn and I are distracting Ben at Cheeseburger in Paradise for some Happy Hour drinks, while the guys in our group go to Ben's house and set it up in the garage. Then, Robyn and I will go back to Ben's house with him and we'll open the garage door for Beer Pong and voila, the new table will be all set up and the guys will be inside ready to play. I can't wait to see his face!!

Ok, gotta get going. I have a hangar tour to go to at work and I'm sure it will just be a blast!

Merry Christmas from the White House

I had an entertaining and productive weekend, two things that I don't often experience and NEVER do they occur together. I'm feeling refreshed and re-energized for the week and I think this will help propel me through the Holidays. At the very least I'm sporting an ounce of Christmas cheer.

On Friday, I went over to Marc's house for pizza and a movie, which was Seven. Neither of us had ever seen it, and it was pretty good. We are both big fans of Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, so we definitely liked it. Plus the pizza was awesome!

On Saturday morning, a team of us participated in the Jingle Bell for Arthritis 5k. It was very chilly out there but we all had a good time and later warmed up at I-Hop. I had such a great team of people participating! Marc, who is having knee issues following the Marine Corps Marathon, acted as "team photographer" and got lots of good photos of us running. Then he was kind enough to help me winterize my house a little bit and teach me to sew. But the highlight of Saturday is that there was a free sneak-preview of We Are Marshall, on base. I will devote a blog to it because I just thought it was great, so look for that in the next few days. The quick and dirty is that it was one of the best movies I have ever seen, and it moved me like none other has before because those were real lives.

Sunday turned out to be way better than expected. I had ;romised a visiting intern from San Diego a tour of DC. I was sort of dreading it because I barely knew this guy at all (I've probably talked to him once) plus I had a ton of chores to do at my house. Well, it turned out I woke up at 5 am (which I have done for 7 mornings straight) so I got all my chores done before I went to pick him up at 8. We had a blast! We went to a couple of museums and some monuments and he was great company. I'm looking forward to the tours of San Diego I'll be getting from him. Its comforting to know that I will know someone that I will work with out in California, so I won't get too lonely. (Of course Blogger photos won't work!)

As excited as I am about going to California, I'm officially dreading it a little bit because I'm going to miss my friends here so much.

Life Soundtrack

I thought this was pretty cute. I've seen it on a couple of people's blogs but don't have a specific person to credit it to. I thought this was really fun and I didn't cheat at all and it came out pretty darned cool...some of them so cool that it felt like cheating because they were badass!

So, here’s how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool… (hey, that’s what the directions said, not me!)


Opening Credits: Lying is the most fun a girl can have with her clothes on – Panic! At the Disco
Waking Up: Leaving So Soon — Keane
First Day At School: Low-Coldplay
Falling In Love: A bad dream- Keane
Fight Song: The News – Jack Johnson
Breaking Up: Hate Me- Blue October (terribly ironic, you know)
Prom: Sophia- Live
Life: Little House- The Fray
Mental Breakdown: The Last Time – Gnarls Barkley
Driving: The Adventure- Angels & Airwaves
Flashback: Temptation- New Order
Getting Back Together: 7 Minutes in Heaven- Fall Out Boy
Wedding: Ceremony – New Order (you can’t even make this stuff up)
Birth of Child: Subculture- New Order
Final Battle: In the End- Linkin Park
Death Scene: How to Save a Life – The Fray
Funeral Song: Start the Machine – Angels & Airwaves
End Credits: Round and Round- Tupac w/Digital Underground



I’ve made up some of my own topics and now I’ll go through them.

Summer 2006- They Call You Bitch- Tupac ( I think only a select few people call me that based on the summer)
My Friends- Love Shines- Live
Dating- Love Like Winter-AFI

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

I’ll start with a little background on why I’ve officially become obsessed with this. I was telling Marc a couple months ago about my love for AFI. I played him the cd and he said that the first song was entrance music for a guy from the Lansing Lugnuts. I can certainly understand why, it’s quite an enjoyable song. Having been to only one baseball game ever (a Lugnuts game, 6 years ago) I didn’t realize that this was a big deal and that the majority of baseball players have some sort of “at bat” music that they play over the loudspeaker. Similar of course, to the wonderfully ridiculous music that WWE wrestlers have and an ex-boyfriend of mine used to purchase the cds of. Yeah, that’s right.

So I was thinking “what would my music be?” I mean, I’m not skilled at baseball (or any sport really, though I am active) but there may be a time in my life where I need some entrance music (other than “here comes the bride, but we all know how well that went for me”). So I’ve been auditioning songs for a little while and I’ve narrowed it down to a select few.

AFI: Prelude 12/21 Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep
The Cure: Mint Car Never guessed it got this good, wondered if it ever would, really didn't think it could
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Love Rollercoaster You give me that funny feeling in my tummy
N.E.R.D.: Lapdance Ooh baby you want me?
Divinyls: Touch Myself I love myself, I want you to love me

I really can't make a decision, so I've decided that I might end up making a soundtrack for myself instead. Which I will do in a blog post tomorrow and I'm hoping that many of you will do that same.

---

I obviously had to research this a little bit and found some really interesting stuff on the topic. I have to appreciate the humor in a couple of these.

Scott Rollen St. Louis Cardinals: "Rollin" Limp Bizkit <- Hopefully he's cooler than Fred Durst Mike Myers, New York Yankees: Theme from "Halloween" <- That cracks me up Matt Holliday, Colorado Rockies: "Holiday", Madonna <- Does everyone imagine Adam Sandler as the Wedding Singer when they hear this song?

Open Eyes. Look at plane. Find more.

I am on a hunt for a larger version of this plane. Its the S-3 Viking, and of course, its hard to find because the Navy has sundowned the aircraft. But my sweet little buddy Draigan loves it so much and Auntie Kate wants to get him one for Christmas. He's got two of the little ones, but I have been searching high and low for a bigger one, to no avail. So if memorize this plane, nerd yourself up, and start looking for it!!

My "Bubble"

My friend Patty has many many many times reminded me that I need to work on my skills of "self-preservation" and not let people affect me that shouldn't be doing so. Such good advice, that I seem to never have the courage to take. I seem to want to find that validation in people.

Last night was a test of my co-dependancy issues. A guy that I met out in California was feeling really down and depressed and I could feel myself "falling for him"(as in finding myself wanting to save him and dating him if that was the way to do so) so I could help him. I should have "helped him" by calling the proper authorities and then ran like hell for the hills. Instead I said that I'd like to see him while I'm out there and he said he'd call. I'll give myself some points on this...I totally caught myself getting involved with someone because I can "save" them, and I'm aware that I need to watch myself around him. BREAK THIS CYCLE. (that's a command to myself)

In other news, no call from Romanian boy, and according to popular opinion, too much time has passed and he will not be calling. I am definitely disappointed because he seemed interesting (and cute) enough to want to talk to again, he does not define my self worth. Maybe he thought I was ugly, maybe he had a girlfriend, maybe he's too afraid to call, maybe he thought "that girl was too drunk, I don't want to associate with that", or 100 other reasons that DO NOT AFFECT ME and I shouldn't let them hurt me.

I'm going to get some glasses tonight I think. That makes me nervous because I don't think I have very good taste in stuff like that. I like "cat glasses" but I'm not sure that I can pull them off.

Weekend Wrap-Up

I had a pretty fun and eventful weekend. On Friday I completed my community service for my speeding ticket, which consisted of wordlessly directing people down a 10 foot path with a flashlight in nice warm evening weather. I met a couple of nice people too so it was a good time. Earlier that day, Marc came over and we made a lemon meringue pie that was AWESOME, and we also watched some TIVO'd shows, the Office of which was the funniest and I giggled so hard that I had a bit of a sore throat.

Saturday morning I went to a craft fair with some girfriends and got a gift for my dad. Then I did more stupid homework and made a dip for a Holiday party/wine tasting at a friends house. I could make this much funnier and drawn out if I had the time, but lets just say I managed to burn about a lb of bacon, eat about a lb of bacon, and I have the scars on my hands to prove that hot oil and little Katey don't mix. But it was a yummy dip and it was a hit at the party.

The holiday party was so fun. I went with Robyn, her husband Andrew, and our friend Ben. It was such a darned good time and I got to meet a bunch of nice people. Of course, I drank way too much wine, as the lady in charge of the tasting has a "generous pour" as Robyn said. These are some of my quotes of the evening.

To Robyn: "[That girl] is so pretty but needs to whiten her teeth, right?" (the answer was damned skippy"

To a Navy Captain: "Oh you're the guy who sends out those annoying emails before holidays about safety and use a condom and blah blah blah" (Everyone was dying with laughter on this and they were like "we've been wanting to say that for years")

To Robyn: "Did we have a conversation about [that girl] needing to whiten her teeth?

To the adorable Romanian guy I met at the bar later: "Do you live with your mom?" (multiply this by about 9 times and realize that he is NOT going to be
calling me.)

To Robyn: "I can't remember, did I tell you [that girl] had some tooth whitening issues?"

Sunday I helped Marc do lots of Christmas shopping, and that was a pretty darned good time too. It was fun to help him out with it, but it was weird at the same time. Oh well, we had a good time and people kept saying "you guys are such a cute couple" as we were both wearing our Indianapolis Colts jerseys. (If they only knew)

Simple Pleasures are the Best

Stole this from Sarah.
Name ten of life's simple pleasures that you like most, and hopefully your readers will post the same. Try to be original and creative and not to use things that someone else has already used. Also, try not to list "porn" for every answer. (I didn't put those directions in. My friends are way too classy for that, huh?)

1. Snuggling with Fernie and Lily
2. Sharing hot cocoa with Lindsay
3. And sangria
4. Running on my road, when the deer look up and don't run away when I run by
5. Taking a hot soak
6. Sipping a cold drink on the dock and watching the sunset
7. Hugging my friends "hello" (goodbye is just too sad)
8. Eating sushi
9. Walking in the rain
10. Loving someone more than I thought possible.

Silly Mistake

I've officially annoyed myself beyond belief. I somehow managed to overdraft my checking account while I was on travel. The funny thing is that I was trying to be a good girl and pay extra towards my student loan. I managed to pay it from the wrong account though, so then I got a ton of fees charged to me, totally $166. At least they gave me $80 back when I called to complain, but man, that sucks! Just wanted to bitch at my own stupidity.

Its a gloomy day today, but I'm looking forward to my run outside and then my community service tonight at the Sotterly Mansion (damn speeding ticket).

Arghhh!!