I know much of the midwest is getting snow right now, but down here in NOLA we're getting rain. I know it sounds like it is warm, at a balmy 55 deg F, but it is windy and rainy and I was outside for the last two hours.
I thought I'd post this picture. I took it in the Chicago Botanical Gardens last spring (2009) and it warms me up just looking at it.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
It's Not Christmas if the Snow Don't Fall
Even in Dallas/Fort Worth it is possible to have a white Christmas! Crazy!! And of course there are very few people who know how to drive on snow or on the ice after some of the snow melts and then freezes. I've never seen so many people slide off of the road in my life. There was a Fed Ex truck sideways in the middle of an interstate! I wish I would've had my phone so I could've taken a picture of it. The ice was insane, but luckily for me I was with someone who had 4 wheel drive and a big truck. I think he also has a hero complex (kidding! - but really...) - he loved helping people and really wanted to tow someone out of a ditch. It was kind of fun I guess. But I'll never admit it out loud - here's hoping he doesn't read this... :-)
It reminded me of this time when we had an ice storm in Kankakee when I was little, pre-kindergarten. The ice covered this small hill (the equivalent of walking out of a steep ditch) that we had to climb in order to walk to the YMCA for swimming/gymnastics/etc. I could not get up the hill. I remember getting up part of the way with my mom and then sliding right back down to the bottom and dragging my mom down with me. At the time I probably thought it was really funny. Oh the good ole days!
But even with all of the stupid drivers and the ice and the cold, I love the snow. I got my one snow for the winter. I should be good for the year. Good thing I'll be down in Louisiana until at least the end of February - it is only helping my chances of no more snow.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Think Happy Thoughts
I realized as I was re-reading my blogs (I like to think that what I write is worth reading again) that I sound so negative. I am naturally a negative person, more of a glass half empty (but at the same time figuring out what else I could add as long as it is free refills) kind of girl.
Here’s my positive thought for the day – smiling babies. I’m not baby crazy, and I’m nowhere near wanting children. But tonight I hung out with a few people from work, and one of the guys has a baby and the baby smiles non-stop. He’s the happiest little guy ever. I wish I could be happy all the time like him. He smiled at everyone, and I figured I could do that too. I once had a friend tell me to think about sparkling, and if you do, you can’t help but smile. (Guys, if you’re going to think about sparkling that’s great, but I don’t know that I’d broadcast it)
But I’m not smiling at the guy who works one of the elevators in the refinery. He completely offended me today. “What’s a pretty girl like you doing out here in a place like this?” He’s talking about a refinery. So I asked him what he was doing out in a place like this. Do I not belong out there? To me it is better than a desk job. At least I’m out moving around. Some men belong in the caves they came from…
I’m normally not a man hater either. Well… sometimes I can be. For the most part I get along with guys well because they get over things. I hate it when people hold grudges. I try really hard not to hold them. It takes up too much of my hate-o-meter. I’d rather use the hate when I’m driving to curse at people.
Take away message: Sparkle or just try smiling at people. Some people might smile back! I'm going to try it and I'll let you know how it goes.
Here’s my positive thought for the day – smiling babies. I’m not baby crazy, and I’m nowhere near wanting children. But tonight I hung out with a few people from work, and one of the guys has a baby and the baby smiles non-stop. He’s the happiest little guy ever. I wish I could be happy all the time like him. He smiled at everyone, and I figured I could do that too. I once had a friend tell me to think about sparkling, and if you do, you can’t help but smile. (Guys, if you’re going to think about sparkling that’s great, but I don’t know that I’d broadcast it)
But I’m not smiling at the guy who works one of the elevators in the refinery. He completely offended me today. “What’s a pretty girl like you doing out here in a place like this?” He’s talking about a refinery. So I asked him what he was doing out in a place like this. Do I not belong out there? To me it is better than a desk job. At least I’m out moving around. Some men belong in the caves they came from…
I’m normally not a man hater either. Well… sometimes I can be. For the most part I get along with guys well because they get over things. I hate it when people hold grudges. I try really hard not to hold them. It takes up too much of my hate-o-meter. I’d rather use the hate when I’m driving to curse at people.
Take away message: Sparkle or just try smiling at people. Some people might smile back! I'm going to try it and I'll let you know how it goes.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
My Louisiana Story
At the end of my rough week, I did have a glimmer of light. I went to this restaurant/bar I had been to a few other times – great fish!! I was going to go in, eat my delicious fish and sweet potato fries and salad, and go on about my business. After all, I didn’t want to leave my bed waiting.
I go in, sit at the only seat open, next to these two guys drinking beers. They had to be in their mid 20s, and they reminded me a little of one of my friends. I order a long island iced tea – it had been a rough week after all! The guys next to me start talking about the bartender, how cute she is, did one of the guys really have a chance, etc. The guy sitting closest to me (guy no. 1) asks the other bartender if guy no. 2 has a chance. She says that the cute bartender has this other customer who comes in to see her a lot, and he just got her number. There was no way he was going to get it by hitting on her for the few hours he had been there. The friend, guy no. 1, says that guy no. 2 needs to get a punch card, go 10 times get a date! Of course I laughed. They were talking loudly so it was like an invite into the conversation – right?
Guy no. 2 introduces himself to me and asks for my advice. Why should he have to work to get to know her better when she could just give him her number and he could call her to get to know her better? I told him that every girl wants the guy to work for her. To prove that he wants to be around her. Am I right about this?
I proceed to eat my dinner, the two guys ask me questions throughout. At one point the cute bartender asks the guy hitting on her, no. 2, what he’s doing that night. He tells her and asks her if she wants to come out. She tells him she’s not sure because she has to work doubles the next day. I tell guy no. 1 that she just dropped a hint. She told him when she’s working next. She wants him to come back to talk to her some more. Make sense?
They go on talking some more, flirting. An old guy at the end of the bar chimes in and tells him to tell the bartender that he likes her. To stop talking the talk and walk the walk. It was the high point of the night.
Guys: please take the older man’s advice. Walk the walk. Women don’t care if you talk the talk.
P.S. The guy gave the bartender his number, but he didn’t get hers.
I go in, sit at the only seat open, next to these two guys drinking beers. They had to be in their mid 20s, and they reminded me a little of one of my friends. I order a long island iced tea – it had been a rough week after all! The guys next to me start talking about the bartender, how cute she is, did one of the guys really have a chance, etc. The guy sitting closest to me (guy no. 1) asks the other bartender if guy no. 2 has a chance. She says that the cute bartender has this other customer who comes in to see her a lot, and he just got her number. There was no way he was going to get it by hitting on her for the few hours he had been there. The friend, guy no. 1, says that guy no. 2 needs to get a punch card, go 10 times get a date! Of course I laughed. They were talking loudly so it was like an invite into the conversation – right?
Guy no. 2 introduces himself to me and asks for my advice. Why should he have to work to get to know her better when she could just give him her number and he could call her to get to know her better? I told him that every girl wants the guy to work for her. To prove that he wants to be around her. Am I right about this?
I proceed to eat my dinner, the two guys ask me questions throughout. At one point the cute bartender asks the guy hitting on her, no. 2, what he’s doing that night. He tells her and asks her if she wants to come out. She tells him she’s not sure because she has to work doubles the next day. I tell guy no. 1 that she just dropped a hint. She told him when she’s working next. She wants him to come back to talk to her some more. Make sense?
They go on talking some more, flirting. An old guy at the end of the bar chimes in and tells him to tell the bartender that he likes her. To stop talking the talk and walk the walk. It was the high point of the night.
Guys: please take the older man’s advice. Walk the walk. Women don’t care if you talk the talk.
P.S. The guy gave the bartender his number, but he didn’t get hers.
Best Friends
It isn’t that I want to keep things private, although there are certain things I do wish to remain private; it is just that I have no one to talk to about some things. I have a lot of friends, but not one really good friend who I call once a week to tell her/him what happened. And there are a lot of times I wish I had that. I miss having that, because I did at several points in my life. I do have one person I talk to every day, but I can’t talk to him about everything. I suppose I could, but I think it’d be too much for him. But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m underestimating him.
I’ve been to a lot of weddings lately. I guess that happens after you graduate from college. It’s the age to hurry up and get married to start your new “grown-up” life. Thank god I’m not there yet. There’s no way I want to be considered a grown-up yet. Ok – back to my thought – all of these brides have multiple girl friends who are their bridesmaids. I have a lot of girlfriends, but I don’t have that one who could be my maid of honor.
For quite some time I’ve been saying that I was just going to have my two sisters as my bridesmaids. The problem with that is that if I get married anytime in the next couple of years (I’d have to start dating someone first), my oldest younger sister will still be in high school. I talk to her and my other sister, but I don’t consider them my best friends. Maybe in a few years? I don’t really know who my best friend is right now. And I could really use one right now.
I’ve been to a lot of weddings lately. I guess that happens after you graduate from college. It’s the age to hurry up and get married to start your new “grown-up” life. Thank god I’m not there yet. There’s no way I want to be considered a grown-up yet. Ok – back to my thought – all of these brides have multiple girl friends who are their bridesmaids. I have a lot of girlfriends, but I don’t have that one who could be my maid of honor.
For quite some time I’ve been saying that I was just going to have my two sisters as my bridesmaids. The problem with that is that if I get married anytime in the next couple of years (I’d have to start dating someone first), my oldest younger sister will still be in high school. I talk to her and my other sister, but I don’t consider them my best friends. Maybe in a few years? I don’t really know who my best friend is right now. And I could really use one right now.
There's No Place like Home
The Wizard of Oz has been on tv a lot lately, some consider it a holiday movie. I have been avoiding it like the plague. I’m so homesick that every time I think of my family I tear up. This last week some of my very good friends lost their dad. It was really tough on them. They are a very close family. But being a very close family, they had each other to lean on. I’m just sorry I couldn’t be there with them. I am stuck in New Orleans by myself, living in a hotel. You want a perfect place to be depressed – go live in a hotel room where it has been raining almost every day so that you can’t get outside to get away from the little hole you live in.
Anyway, I was depressed for the family. And what really got me is that when I called my mom to tell her, she ended up hanging up on me. I don’t know if she knew she did, but I was telling her that I loved her and she hung up. Needless to say I cried myself to sleep that night. If I even slept… The next day at work, which was my sixth day on this particular site so the people I talked to had only known me for a week, I looked terrible. My eyes were puffy, bloodshot. I was tearing up every five minutes. They probably thought I was crazy. I felt like I was going crazy. So with the death of a parent of a friend on top of the fact that I found out I would not be with my family for Christmas – I pretty much lost it. I cried myself to sleep most nights. I couldn’t sleep. I started to get sick. It was a pretty bad week. And I wasted a weekend in a city known for being fun.
I know it is up to me to make the best of my situation. But is it just me, or is it hard to do that sometimes? Any advice to get me out of my current funk?
Anyway, I was depressed for the family. And what really got me is that when I called my mom to tell her, she ended up hanging up on me. I don’t know if she knew she did, but I was telling her that I loved her and she hung up. Needless to say I cried myself to sleep that night. If I even slept… The next day at work, which was my sixth day on this particular site so the people I talked to had only known me for a week, I looked terrible. My eyes were puffy, bloodshot. I was tearing up every five minutes. They probably thought I was crazy. I felt like I was going crazy. So with the death of a parent of a friend on top of the fact that I found out I would not be with my family for Christmas – I pretty much lost it. I cried myself to sleep most nights. I couldn’t sleep. I started to get sick. It was a pretty bad week. And I wasted a weekend in a city known for being fun.
I know it is up to me to make the best of my situation. But is it just me, or is it hard to do that sometimes? Any advice to get me out of my current funk?
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