personal blog about various interests: fargo, north dakota, boston, finance and markets, travel, airlines and hotels, volunteering, nutrition, family and yoga and other things i like.
so tonight i'm going to kc's house for some food and games and... bubbly! of course, i had a little bubbly at home while i was getting ready.... but then my glass was empty.
i'm not REALLY sad - see?
oh ha. i guess i didnt really take a picture of me smiling. thats an almost smile.
anyway, happy new year! what are you doing tonight??
eek. i tried to post yesterday but kept getting distracted. its on my list of things to do today. that and work. i have a lot of work to do. oops.
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ok, so i started that yesterday and never finished. i keep getting distrctated at work. too much going on but nothing really important. ANYWAY, i was planning to write about our furnace.
so tuesday i fly back from FAR. i went in to the office and then went directly to donate platelets. i was sitting in the comfy chair watching downton abbey when higgi called. blood is draining from my arm when he asks in a slightly-higher-pitched voice "what are YOU doing?" and i replied "well, i'm donating platelets. what are YOU doing?" "well, i'm standing in a few inches of water." this is not normal. "whyyy?" i asked. he then went on to explain that he was in the laundry room when he heard a hissing noise and wondered what it was. he went into our storage area and discovered our furnace gushing water. good thing he was home because he knew to turn off the water for the whole building. i would have probably stood there and gawked. anyway, long story short: we had no heat and no water.
donating platelets takes 2 hours+ so i got home around 9. no update. just a pile of muddy water in (can water "pile"? probably not. rephrase to whatever works) the storage room, furniture in the dining room rearranged, wet rug, china out of the china cabinet, etc. it was a massive mess and there was really nothing i could do.
i had originally planned to go home, drink a large glass of water (because i had just donated platelets) and go to bed. i only got 4 hours of sleep the night prior because i was packing and then had a 5am flight (read: wake up at 3am). so i was tired. and drained (literally! they drained some of my blood!). but i couldnt drink water because we had no water and therefore i didn't want to have to go to the bathroom. and i couldnt go to bed because i knew i HAD to shower in the morning 1) because its gross not to 2) because my hair was super greasy so i would've had to anyway and 3) i had a laser hair appointment wed night and you have to shave the day of the appointment. so i needed water. we didn't know if we would have water the next night, so higgi told me to go ot bed and he would wake me if we werent able to shower in the morning. this was a problem because i dont belong to a gym anymore so have no "backup" shower. higgi suggested i call a friend to use her shower. i texted her and she said that was fine and to go over to her place at 7. usually i am out of the shower before 7, so that was kind of unfortunate. the more i thought about it, the more i was convincing myself i needed to check into a hotel. 1) i needed to drink water (which would lead me to needing the bathroom) 2) i had to shower for various reasons and 3) i needed to wash my hands to take out my contacts AND brush my teeth. plus, i found it awkward to shave in someone else's shower.
so finally at 10:15, i went downstairs and i told higgi that i was going to check into the hyatt. it was only $135 before tax. homie pointed out that it sounded like a good excuse to get more points (he's right! and that thought didn't not dross my mind, of course). as higgi and i are discussing it, and the doorbell rings. saved! it was the heater dude. so he came and apparently we have some floating bob thing in this black tank outside of the furnace that tells the water system when to put water into the furnace. that bobby thing was weighted down so our system just kept putting more and more water into the furnace even thought it didnt need it. it released through the pressure valve (which is what higgi saw). the dude said we could turn on the water again and just keep the heater off. so we did that. and i didnt have to check into a hotel. phew.
i'm actually not really sad. BUT thinking about christmas being over makes me sad. :( so i am going to do my best to prolong the christmas season and feeling. AT LEAST until new years. i'm on my way back to boston. on the plane. i have less than a half hour until the flight ends. i really wish my roommate was picking me up at the airport, but i couldnt get a hold of him. i have FIVE suitcases - 1, 3, and 4 (luggage - i've named them) and my brother's duffle bag (thanks, player - the shoes are in the crawl space. they were big). so i have to go directly home with my luggage and then head to work. i will be super late. ugh. tonight i'm donating platelets. thats red. therefore christmas. woo hoo! hopefully i am not dehydrated or anything. that sucks. to prevent that, i have had 2 bottles (mini) of water on my flights. they are dasani which i HATE AND i hate using plastic bottles. BUT i figured the platelets were more important. and so i drank. ALSO, i'm in first class (YES they have first class on some planes from fargo to msp, which happened today) and purposely didnt have any alcohol. sad face.
anyway, here are some fab pictures of christmas in fargo.
my brother is bored at work so i am posting a video for him to enjoy for a few small minutes.
elizabeth warren. i love.
busy day today. tons of errands to run. want to spend quality time with my famdamily. lunch with gma. dinner with the fam. tennis with homie. maybe player? packing. eek. packing. THAT will be interesting. have to upload photos. so much to do! so little time!!
i've seen in time. can anyone give me some more time??
its christmas day. pleasant day in fargo. my parents, brother and i are watching bridesmaids (a gift i got yesterday - woo hoo!) and...
ok, so i started that earlier today and was given looks of death by my family to not type during the movie. so i stopped. its 9 hours later and we're watching the marinovich project. interesting stuff. i actually really like athletic "documentaries." one of the favorite videos of in our house going out was a larry bird story that my dad had on vhs in the 80s. "indiana's got a new state bii-ird!"
anyway, today has been great. i would've liked to have been slightly more athletic, but... oh well.
opened gifts yesterday - our tree looked beautiful! homie and lindsay and gma and aunt lucy where here. we had standard xmas dinner - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, asparagus, fruit salad, croissant rolls (crescent really), etc. then we opened gifts and mom brought the ladies home. the 4 of us kids played dixit (which eric got for xmas) and then when mom came home she played with us. j and l left when it was quite late - they went to voss today for xmas. eric and i tried to figure out 7 wonders, but it was tough. so we went to bed. this morning, eric and i opened santa's gifts - fun! - and then we watched bridsemaids. since then, eric and i have figured out 7 wonders which is, potentially, my favorite game now. better than settlers. better than ticket to ride. better than dixit. so fun. we played 3 rounds - mom, eric and i. we're winding down for the night. i have a ton of stuff to pack so will start doing that today because i need to make sure i can get all my stuff back to boston - eek! i got upgraded already, so i get 3 suitcases, which i will def need. i just need to figure out how to get from the airport to work with my luggage. perhaps i take a cab directly to the apartment, drop off the luggage and then head to the office...? that might be easiest...
cherry mistmas! can't write a lot bcs i'm in the middle of playing whist. but here are some pictures of me and my family wishing you all a very happy festivus.
complete motivation to keep walking. and, it turns out, i have to be able to do a full vinyasa at the end of 90 days from when my brothers and i started this competition. chaturanga. its super hard. i have no upper body strength or core strength (super strong legs, though!), so its going to be a lot of work. here is a proper chaturanga dadasana
so my trip in fargo has been fun so far. super busy and i wish i had a bit more time to do random stuff (finish some xmas cards, do my financial planning for next year, apply for goes, etc), but overall its been good.
monday i had lunch with kj. it was good - always fun to catch up for an hour or two every 4-5 months! we went to this african restaurant which, while the food was good, was a very very ... inexperienced "american" restaurant. the waiter didn't know half the dishes - he had difficulty explaining things, they were out of some things and their menu was like... 10 items. again, none of this was horrible, but if they want to expand beyond the typical african customer base (which i can imagine is a finite number in fargo), they might want to expand a bit. the main point of this is that i was late to pick kj up because i kind of bumped my brothers car when leaving the garage. no damage! but it was his fault - he parked crooked. :) (he's going to get upset - i know it wasn't his fault!) so i got to kj's house late and then we took off for the restaurant. we got there probably 12:22 or so. this accident happened at the exact intersection where we had lunch (we ate in a resto at that intersection - we didnt eat on the street!).
apparently the person ran a red light. i haven't heard any other updates about who hit who, but it looked like a MASSIVE accident. i hope everyone was ok. unless they're a child molester or something. then i hope they aren't ok.
last night, homie, player, and my father went to j. edgar. we met up with our cousin's sister (not related to us) and friend of the family, emily. she is SO CUTE! i just adore her. so the 5 of us sat and watch this movie and it might just be the worst movie i've seen all year. i think i liked sucker punch even more than this. we were kind of in the front row with 3 rows of people behind us. i dont know what the people behind us thought of the movie, but i'm sure they could tell we hated it. we were quiet, but our physical movements (throwing hands in the air, sighing, slumping over, laughing at each other, etc) could tell we could not wait for the movie to get over. at the end, homie started clapping and yelled "finally! we can go home!" everyone laughed. have you seen this? what did you think??
anyway, after that we went to rhombus guys which is a pretty cool new pizza place in fargo. i really really enjoyed it. good food. wide variety of beer. cool menu. they even have wood chipper beer. how cool is that??
ok, i'm off to do yoga, run errands, shower, finish xmas cards, etc. not necessarily in that order... what are you doing before this weekend??
gaw! quick post. in fargo. the main 5 people who read this are also in fargo and i hung out with them sat and sun, so i didnt write yesterday. i wanted to work online last night but wasnt able to. now i feel like i have work hanging over my head. its annoying. (oh, and by wasnt able to - i literally mean my company's internet didnt allow me to - not like i didnt make time for it. i DID). ugh. anyway, today i just woke up at 10, showered, and am now going to head out for lunch with kj. my dad is sitting next to me and he is ordering glasses for me. woo hoo! drinking glasses. not eyeglasses. we saw some cool ones at the ho do the other night and my dad sells them, so now we're getting them! (we = both me and higgi AND my parents - there are 2 dozen in a case so i'll take a dozen and they will keep a dozen). anyway, lunch with kj, then downtown to look for last-minute xmas gifts. then to pick up mom and go to herbergers to get gifts. tonight i'll do some work. tomorrow night i'm hanging with the boys. gonna play le tennis with homie and then he and i are going to a movie with player. it should be fun. me and the boys. oh, and can i just tell you how much i love my brothers?? they are so cute! and funny! and smart. we played whist with gma last night and it was so much fun. i really enjoyed it.
ok, so i have to get going. cant let anyone see me with this hair!
i'm writing from 10,000 miles up. no. thats too far. feet. feet! 10,000 feet up. except i think its more now. 35,000 feet. i know a lot of people don't like it, but i really like delta. they are pretty cool. they are nice to me. they write back when i tweet about them. they did not upgrade me today (fail), BUT i am in the process of becoming a platinum flyer. THAT is pretty cool.
yesterday was kind of a fail for me. i was super busy at work and didn't end up getting my 3 main things done. so i have to work now on my vacation. which is ok, i guess... i really want to get my stuff done this weekend, though. then after that, my coworker helped me bring 12 bottles of wine home (15 were delivered to me at work - oops!) and then she stayed at my place and we finished a bottle of wine. that was all fine and good. what was not is that i forgot that i had to go to the gym to pick up 12 one-day passes i had purchased in a groupon. yesterday was the end of the groupon. i have now lost the ability to go to the gym 12 times for free (or whatever i paid for it). crappy. groupon wins! i hate that! another fail from yesterday was that i didn't get to organize my closet. i started, but didn't get far. i was tired and had to do stupid yoga. AND i had to pack. so i went to bed instead (after doing yoga). and i got up at 4:14 to go to the bathroom and go back to bed until 4:30am and then got up and packed THREE suitcases!!! i love it. i love my new luggage. AND i have this really cool thing that my parents got me and EVERYONE at the airport was talking about it!! i mean, everyone. i was trying to board the plane and one of the gate agents STOPPED me to talk to me about it. it was cool.
my faaaaavorite time of year!!!! woo hoo!! i'm so excited to be going home. i never get excited about anything. THIS i get excited for. so fun! and i ALREADY picture being at home with my parents in their new house. i dont even picture the old house anymore. i've only been there once! thats weird.
i was going to write about something else, but i can't remember...
so you know i love christmas decorations. and i love creative things. so i love these! here were no decorations at my house, but there will be at my parents....!!! (there better be!!)
it makes me want to create a fun tree at their house made of books - so fun!
and just a bit ago, homie sent me this great story. it made me smile. and also, this made me smile. i want a bathroom to redo and make pretty like that.
friday. sighday. i can't believe i've made it through this week. its been busy. and yesterday was a cluster. i didn't even do anything crazy on wed night! i just went out for christmas dinner with kc and the sunshine band. the issue is that i mixed alcohol. rookie mistake. i'm certain of it. i had red wine at work while we wrapped gifts for the less fortunate. then i went to their place for a glass of bubbly. on to the resto (my fav! towne) and then a whiskey cocktail and red wine with dinner. after that we went for a night cap at the place across the street (boston social club...?) and then i went home. i was home by 11pm. i even put a load of laundry in when i got home! i awoke at about 2am wanting to DIE and not sure if i would survive the night. when i got up at 7am (for an 830 meeting!) i didn't feel much better. it was a struggle all day yesterday. sigh.
so last night i came home and cleaned my room a bit. my little was going to come over to pick up her xmas gift, but of course didn't come until 2 hours after she said she was going to. i ordered pizza, ate it and watched tv. i forgot i had some work to do for a client in asia, so i logged on quickly and did that and then... dum dum dum... i did yoga! i was sooo not feeling it. but i've already skipped twice this week (sun and tue) and so i had to do it. then i went to bed.
homie called me at midnight. i had no idea what was going on. he called because some girl he was with said there was a home invasion of a mansion and a murder in boston. i was surprised - i hadn't heard anything about it. he asked me something else i think. i can't remember. i was half asleep. if i ever call homie and am about to say goodbye he's hard-pressed to say he loves me. but he sure does when he's asking me for something or when he's awoken me from slumber! :) i dont mind.
i've already showered today because i have to get going early this morning. i have a laser appointment at 9am. its for the bikini area. i'm actually slightly nervous about it. i've gotten my underarms done and i really like it. this is scarier, though.
tonight i'm packing for my christmas holiday. i need to do yoga and stop by the gym to pick up some passes. i have to organize my closet, as well. thats part of the packing process. kind of. i need to back up my computer, as well. oh and call ups. i had xmas gifts delivered to my parents old house -oops! anyway, here's a cute video.
oh my goodness. i think it would feel better to be dead right now. there is a spot above my right eye and back about two inches where i would really like to place a drill and relieve some pressure. i am so hungover.
i was going to write more. but i can't. i have such a bad headache. and i have to be at work in an hour. crap.
if all goes as planned (why wouldnt it??) i am currently in the air flying back from nola to bos. i think the airport code is msy or mcy or something. i can never keep that one and orlando (mco?) correct. they're both stupid. anyway, i am writing this on friday morning where 1) i have been "up" since my alarm went off at 4 am so i could clean my room and pack 2) am procrastinating packing by writing this. i am off to nawleans today to visit kevy-wevy who turned 30 yesterday. AND i just so happen to be (close to) qualifying for delta platinum and will certainly qualify for hyatt diamond this weekend. on my first flight to far next weekend i will qualify for platinum for delta, but i needed this trip to nola to get me there before the end of the year. see?? no, last-minute travel and wasted flights!
so yeah, the cleaning of the room and wrapping of the gifts to send to ireland are soooo not happening. last night i, as per usual, could not think of anything to eat. mom suggested salmon so i stopped at stephanie's to get a DELICIOUS salmon with root vegetables (i actually like beets thanks to higgi!) and some ruffage. higgi and i watched nikita (3 episodes! but geesh, we still have 3 left before they pick up again) and i went to bed near to 11. alarm at 4am was too early, so i reset it for 5 am thinking i could sleep. of course i couldnt, so that was annoying. i got up at 5 and did yoga (woo hoo!). i just took a shower, but i am so tired. and i'm meant to party all weeekend in nola. i'm not sure how i will be able to handle it. which is why i am writing sundays post now. then i can just sleep on my flights on sunday. :) oh! and get THIS. i am not going to bring my laptop. how crazy is that ??? i am going to attempt JUST the ipad. and i pod. and cell phone. and blackberry. and maybe the work laptop. no. not the work laptop. i need to limit myself.
i've been upgraded from atl to bos on sunday. thats nice. no upgrade today, though. that is not so nice. i could go for some comfy seats and a glass of wine while heading down south. i do have drink tickets, though. so i guess thats ok.
ok, i raelly need to get going. i have a TON of things to do. AND i have to go to work today! gaw!!
oh wait. but its sunday. ha. what did you do all weekend? i partied in nola... :)
so i don't have kids (obvi). but i am going to have one in my life soon and thus, i read a lot about what to do, what not to do, what to get, what not to get.
in that case, here is a link to an article of things you dont need to get for babies. i can't believe they make half this stuff! what do you suggest new parents should have? or what was unnecessary?
my friend gigde has this stroller and i think its FABULOUS. i saw her use it and it looked really fun and easy and safe. isnt that whats important? or do you suggest a different stroller? i'm so curious about these things!
oh and here is another article on what type of baby clothes to buy. i am all about reusing and reducing. anyone have baby clothes they want to donate??
so last wed night, i went to see two door cinema club at the house of blues in boston. i couldnt find who the opening act was so, for some reason, i assumed there wasn't one. but there was. and they were GREAT. it was cults and here is one of their hit songs:
one of the many podcasts i listen to is one of ted talks - speakers named ted (haha, not really, jk) talking to people about a certain subject. the most recent one on my podcast feed was very interesting for me. here it is
it discusses the fact that babies start learning in utero. and they learn about their culture and food preferences of their mom and hear sounds, etc. the subject gets a bit dark talking about hunger winter in holland and 911, but one main theme stayed with me: my sister-in-law can teach her baby to like SUSHI!! the only catch is that now i have to get my sister-in-law to like sushi.... ha. in any case, here is a list of foods that the baby should like:
christmas is my favorite time of year. i love giving gifts. i love shopping for gifts. i love christmas songs and happiness in the streets. i love holiday decorations and silly red sweatshirts with rudolph on them. i love everything about christmas (except for that whole religious aspect - i don't dislike it, i just dont know anything about it).
unfortunately, i'm not sure everyone around me loves it as much as i do. my roommate doesn't like fake christmas trees and begrudgingly allowed me to put my tree up last year. i'm not even going to bother with it this year since i am leaving in ten days. if i lived alone, or had my own way, i would put the christmas tree up the weekend of thanksgiving and leave it up until at least new years eve (although i have been known to leave it up until valentines day). thats how much i love christmas decorations. my parents house better be decorated to the gills. i am going to revel in it. i should go spend more time around holiday decorations...
in any case, there will be none at my place this year. so i am putting pictures of tress up here. just for me to gaze at! i love the colorfulness of this one
and the symmetry of this one.
and of course, my grandpa loved blue lights on christmas trees.
and this one is pretty too. send me a picture of your christmas tree and i'll put it up here!
its tuesday morning. i am in bed. i can't get out. not literally - i already did get out, but now i'm back in. and i dont want to get out. i wanted to do yoga this morning, but now its too late, so i wont be able to. grr to me.
so yes, homie was right. i was caught in a flash mob last sunday at the pru in boston. it wasn't quite as dramatic as if someone right next to me had been dancing. i was shopping and walked into this open area of the mall and there were tons of people standing around waiting for something to happen. so i waited. and i KNEW who was in the mob - they were all wearing jeans and ugg-type boots. mostly young girls. so i recorded it on my phone. BUT i can't figure out how to get it from my phone to my computer. i even tried uploading it directly from my phone and it said file too large. its so weird. maybe i'll be able to find it online or something. idk.
i texted my little yesterday. i was like "what happened on sunday?" and she wrote back "sorry, my phone broke and i didnt have your number." which i guess is fine. just kind of frustrating. she has a lot of phone problems. (i do not think she's trying to get out of seeing me - she calls me all the time to see if i can do something at the last minute.)
aha! i DID find it. i searched for flash mob boston pru. apparently there was some flash mob wedding a year or so ago. i didnt watch that since i have to go to work, but here is the mob i was in (saw?):
last night i stayed at work until almost 7. then i walked to the pru area and had dinner, by myself!, at haru. it was sooo delish. i had a free roll that you have to use by dining in. i didnt even mind. they put me in a table away from everyone else, which i totally appreciated. i wasn't going to order a drink because i had yet to do my yoga for the day, until i saw this one drink.
of course i had to order that.
and then here are two of the three rolls i ordered. they were good. really good. the one on the left is the one i got for free (worth $18!) and it was so weird... it had no taste! the textures were good, but i kept slabbing on wasabi because it had no flavor. i told the waiter and he agreed! he even sat down and talked to me about it. it was cute. i might make that a ritual-type thing. go more often. i'll get a free roll every month and i didnt mind sitting there and reading a book. here is the book i was reading.
so i'm basically a genius. i think i figured out how to get the video from my phone to my computer. now i shall attempt to upload it. i didnt realize i was covering the sound...
normally mondays are my most favorite days. but i am dreading today at work. i didn't get in to the office this weekend to catch up on a lot of things and i really should have. i've started a new program at work and its taking a lot of time. and i dont want to neglect my other responsibilities, so i have to pick it up a bit.
so yesterday i was supposed to go out with my little. she never called. i couldnt get a hold of her. so... i have no idea what happened. i was slightly sad because i was going to take her to see either the muppets or hugo or that other christmas movie. it worked out bcs i had a ton of errands to run. so i did that and then watched arrested development.
my brothers and i have a bet going on. actually, they had a bet and i got in on it. its kind of a work out /get in shape / weight loss bet. there are different facets to it. the basics are that i have to do yoga 5 days out of 7 and if i dont lose weight over the next 90 days, then i have to buy tickets to see the timberwolves in msp. whoever loses buys the others tickets. i will end up buying my own airfare ticket, of course. should be fun! i just now have to remember to actually DO yoga every day. that will be tough.
ugh! so annoyed! i've been laying in bed for the past half hour thinking "when will my alarm go off??" i have a test today and it will take up 9 hours of my stupid life just to fail, but i can't not go to it, know what i mean? anyway, i finally get up and put my glasses on. its 6:52! my alarm was supposed to go off at 6:06!!! so i look at my phone.... the alarm is set to go off only m-f. how stupid is that??!! so, i've just decided not to shower before my test. ha. who knows? maybe my smell will distract all the others and they'll fail worse than me. it is a bell curve passing, i think... :)
i'm annoyed by this test. annoyed that i havent had time to study for it. annoyed i won't do well. annoyed i didnt MAKE time to study for it. annoyed i even signed up for it - its not at all what i want to do with my career now that i know more about it. annoyed i didnt take this test when i was unemployed and had a ton of time to study. (despite not wanting to do this for work, it still would be nice to have some letters after my name) ugh. and i'm annoyed that the test is 8 hours with a one-hour break and you have to arrive at least an hour before it starts. thats 10 hours out of my day. and higgi is out of town (one of the few times he ever is) and i don't get to hang out at home and make a mess i could never really make. (of course i'll pick it up before he gets home tomorrow morning). and i'm annoyed they won't have lockers for you. so i have to leave my cell phone at home because we just plain can't bring them into the room and i dont want to leave it in my coat pocket. someone could steal it. sigh. today blows.
i was just thinking i should put a video for today because this ramble sucks. and for some reason this is the song i thought of... i have NO IDEA WHY.
even though it was just a week ago, i feel like people have already forgotten about thanksgiving. but they shouldn't! this was the first year i have actually really ENJOYED a proper thanksgiving dinner. i can't remember the last time i went home for it (i dont think i ever have, in fact). one year, i was in sacramento alone and i drank a magnum of bubbly by myself. the year after, hoping to not repeat the fiasco, i had my brother homie come visit me. he landed on thanksgiving day and we went to dennys. it was the only thing that was open and as pathetic as it sounds. kinda fun. but sad. really sad.
this year, 2011, higgi made a FANTASTIC spread. i can't even begin to explain all the different food we had. oh, i guess i'll try. turkey (rubbed in butter and bacon fat), cranberries, gravy, so those are the usuals. oh, but we started with a curried butternut squash soup. salad with asparagus and parmesan cheese. then the sides - cauliflower with pine nuts and golden raisins. brussel sprouts and bacon. twice-baked sweet potatoes with pecans. french green beans with almonds (not! walnuts), some sort of tarte tafan (i have NO IDEA what he's saying when he says it) that had potatoes and baked brie. veggie lasagna. there were some other things, as well. i didnt take a picture of the food, but did of the table (which i set!).
equally important to the delicious food was the alcohol....
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