A show nobody watches but should.

Ok, so Jeff and I started watching a show last year on USA called Burn Notice. It is freaking hilarious. If you haven't seen it, it's about this spy who has been "burned" by the CIA. They essentially dump him in Miami with no money, destroy his credit, and sort of erase his existence. While he is trying to find out who 'burned' him, he does these odds and ends PI jobs. And it's funny as hell. He has two quircky side-kicks, Fiona and Mike who also provide great entertainment. He is like Hortaio from CSI Miami, but more awesome. Instead of tilting his sunglasses down and saying something stupid, he flashes a cute smile and says something hilarious. A line that made me laugh last night:

"So, you've never written a bad check, huh? Didn't they used to call you Bad Check Barry?"

It's a show for everyone. Beatiful people, intelligent storyline, good lines, guns, bombs, spies and more. It's worth a shot on USA Thursday nights.

Have a great weekend. I'll wave to you from the bleachers tomorrow at Wrigley.

Word.

GAVIN DEGRAW R.U.L.E.S.

Oh my gosh!
So, as I was tooling around the Summerfest site the other day, seeing if there was anyone worth checking out before my super awesome Tom Petty/Steve Winwood concert starts and what do I find? What is it that I find? That is right.....THE Gavin DeGraw is playing a general admission show tonight.

So, natrually, I have to prepare myself. I know every single word to his Chariot CD and I am proud of it. But, he had a new CD come out on May 6th that I forgot to buy, so I'm currently listening to Rhapsody online learning all of his newer songs so that I'm ready for my "I'm the biggest Gavin fan" contest that I will be holding with the other people at the show. I should actually say that I am the 2nd biggest Gavin fan because truth be told, my good friend Melissa turned me on to him in 2004. Nonetheless, I will be number one fan in the Midwest :)

T-Bone

Word!!!!! :)

Sorry for the delay - Kind of

So, I know it's been over a month since I have posted to this blog, and I sincerely apologize to my 4 fans. So, I suppose it's time to get caught up on the latest happenings. I will do some bullet points and then move on:

• I have bursitis in both of my hips adn I haven't been able to run in 8 weeks. Which sucks because I'm supposed to be doing the marathon in October.
• On a happy note, I have been cleared to start using the elliptical trainer, so I will gladly be indulging in that at lunch today. God help me.
• Work is improving on a daily basis. I'm starting to feel a bit more secure in my role here, so I do hope that it's not temporary.
• I won a trifecta at Arlingon Racetrack on June 14th only to turn around and lose it all. But, it was the best $57.40 I have ever spent.
• June went by so fast that I still feel like it's May.

On to the next. I had a very enlightening conversation with both my brother and one of my very closest friends. It felt like for the first time in a very long time, people were being very frank and very honest about the type of person I am and the way that I approach life. It hit me like a ton of bricks - even in a terrible state of mind - and I have spent the last 48+ hours contemplating every word that was spoken. I have come to some very big conclusions that most of you had come to a long time ago. Sorry for being so slow on the uptake everyone.

1. Life is not perfect. No person on this Earth is perfect. The media and magazines like to portray what a perfect family looks like, how to cook the perfect meal, how to be the perfect Mom, how to look your best, be the best wife/partner, how to be the perfect friend, etc. Essentially creating unattainable standards that nobody will ever be able to live up to, and therefore, nobody, including myself, should be held to that standard. Nobody should be judged for any reason -ever. I apologize to all of those I have judged, intentionally and unintentionally.
2. Spending the last 15 years worrying about what other people think of me has warped me into becoming a 'follower' and succombing to the whims of others. I am usually headstrong in my opinions and beliefs, but I am easily walked all over by people as to not upset them. True friends stick by your side through good and bad, so it's ok to have a voice.
3. I easily become jealous of those that have things that I don't. Why? I have no idea. Perhaps I am the one who feels that they are owed a break in life - leaving me to be nothing more than a hypocrite. Maybe I have felt like the better I was, or more perfect I was, the more I was owed something for good behavior. You would think that after 20 years I would realize that is not the case.
4. Most of things that have happened in my life have occured because I have created them. The ones that I am not responsible for, I need to acknowledge and move passed. I need to stop being resentful and start being more grateful for all of the great people and things I do have in my life.
5. I need to grow up and start acting like I am an adult. No late night partying, no complaining about other people's issues, no searching for approval I may or may not get. I need to stop worrying so much about what other people think, what my family thinks, what my friends think. It doesn't matter at all in the scheme of things. At all. I will respect opinions, but no more fear about making the right/wrong decision. I want to live a life without fear or regrets for the first time. I think this alone will change my life.

So, while this might be a slow going process, I am hoping that I am taking steps to become the person that I want to be and have the life I have always dreamed of having wiith all the inevitable missteps along the way. The destination is not worth the journey without some hard work. See you there.

Word :)

The best way you can help others is to first live your own life with integrity.

Ugh....Life Sometimes

I wish I had lots of wonderful things to say about how grand life is at the moment, but alas, I have nothing. I am very appreciative of my husband, our health, our families and our friends, but I could do with a little less stress in my life. It is very possible I will lose my job fairly soon, which means I have to start looking asap or we won't be able to afford to live in our home - just our cars. Which might not be too bad, but start to smell after awhile. I'd love to rant about something good - but I haven't the energy. Maybe tomorrow.....

Pray for some goodness :)

Word y'all.

Just Say No to $4/Gallon

There seems to be no limit to what this nation is willing to pay for gasoline and I think it's sick. The housing market is in decline more from the result of high gas prices than anything else. Two years ago, prices were about half of where they are now. Where will it stop? There seems to be no end to corporate greed these days. As long as US citizens are keeping their demand for gas stagnant or worse yet, increasing the demand, do you think that the gas prices will go down? Are you 100% sure that Exxon would like to see a dip in their multi-billion dollar quarterly profits? Hmmm.......doubtful.

On this note, my good friend Ted and I have decided that we think $4/gal for gas is ridiculous and refuse to pay for it (unless completely necessary). While our two-person boycott might seem like a futile attempt to get the message out about the need for alternative fuels, we feel that it has to start somewhere. Therefore, you can look for us everyday, starting Monday April 28th, as we ride our bikes to and from work. Each of us is anticipating an approx. 10+ miles each way. We are also going to drop in to a local Lake County Bike Club meeting and try to get more cyclists on board to start biking to work from Spring to Fall. Bike commuting is not only saving our wallets, but improving our health and is better for the environment. I sincerely hope that some of you at least appreciate the message that we are trying to get across. Maybe it will catch on.....

Word!

Do you believe in ghosts?

OK, so I normally wouldn't write about this stuff, but I think we have a ghost in my house and just typing those words make me feel like a crazy person. As some of you know, I had my first 'home alone' night last night in a long time. Since we moved into the house, I have never felt totally alone if you know what I mean. I have seen what looks like a transparent person walking down my hallway towards our bedroom and disappear before. It's like a flash, so I always think that the shadows are playing tricks on me. Anyway, it happened again last night, but it looked as though it floated towards the kitchen. Then Zoe, my cat, started going nuts in the kitchen and meowing at something that didn't exist above her - I was in the kitchen with her and saw/felt nothing. I also saw (twice) a flash of light out our back door. If you've been to my house during the day, you konw that nobody lives behind us and there are no streets. It looked like it flashed on the deck. And, this is the strangest thing, about 5 minutes after Jeff and I laid down to go to bed and I heard a voice - like a whisper. It was a woman's voice and it sounded like it was in the hallway outside of our bedroom door. It's the voice that scares me the most! It didn't sound familiar and I can't remember what it said - it hapened fast and sounded like it started with an S - perhaps "shut". I knew what she said last night, but then I forgot while sleeping terrified. Jeff said he has heard things but assumes it is just the cats. One time, he got up in the middle of the night and because he heard what he though was glass breaking, but found nothing. I feel like a crazy person.

Going to the Big D and don't mean Dallas

That's right folks - in less than 12 hours, Jeff and I will be crawling (I mean falling) out of bed to get in the car and head to O'Hare for what I hope is a nice, relaxing, sleep-filled flght to Denver. As I menioned in my About Me section, we are considering a move out there and this is our first 'trial' weekend. We are going to ski tomorrow (naturally) which rocks because Loveland just got dumped on with 18" of snow and six more expected by tomorrow. All that powder realy sucks, doesn't it?So, the plan is to ski tomorrow and perhaps go check out George Clinton at Copper Mtn. We have some plans to look around the area and meet with some people to see a few potential rentals out there. We are really just trying to scope out the area and pick out the neighborhoods we'd like to live in. We are back and forth on that right now from our online searching. I can't wait for the day when we have teleportation available. Random thought. Anyway, I will update this weekend on any new developments from our lovely little getaway.

Wordness bitches :)

(That was for you Sar)