Thursday February 26th

My office is directly behind a door that connects to the reception area. Receptionists get all the action. They know everything. And thanks to my location, I hear everything.
The general office ass kissing occurs for the most part, however; sometimes I get a glimpse into someone’s personal life that reminds me of the days I spent living in a small town in West Virginia. Other days, like today, I hear stupid conversations about organizing the mail room. Somehow I need to refocus the receptionist to start up that conversation about the IT guy that’s married and that chick from Accounting.

Wednesday February 25th

I miss my Grandpa. He always had the best advice. Even if sometimes it was, "Get your f__king act together kid", "You aren't really that stupid, are you?", and my all time favorite, "Why are you screwing up your face like that when you talk to me, don't you think it might get stuck like that? Then who's going to marry you?" I can hear him in his strong New England accent, laughing as he spouts these crass remarks, and then proceeds to tell me the reason why I’m doing everything all wrong in life.
A Scotsman with a strong personality, Grandpa never disappointed us with his blunt opinions and sarcastic banter. Unfortunately in November 2005, Grandpa suffered a stroke that paralyzed the left side of his body and his ability to speak. And just last year, he and Grandma relocated to West Virginia to live with my Aunt Sharyn. While I'm thankful he's alive and for the kind-hearted man he's become, I miss his laughter and his intellect. Most of all, I miss our talks. For some sick reason, I miss my ass being handed to me. I miss his letters, the anger that would erupt after reading them and the digression once I realized just how right he was.
A letter from Grandpa meant that I screwed up. One once said that I shouldn’t be surprised that I’d wind up dating an alcoholic if I met a man in a bar, another with a picture of me said I should seriously think about joining a gym, there were many about cleaning up my room. He was funny and rude, but always had our best intentions at heart. It’s during times of angst or when I do something I know he would be proud when I miss him the most.

Tuesday February 24th (FAT Tuesday)

Typically on Fat Tuesday, I celebrate in the spirit of New Orleans. And by celebrate in the spirit, I mean drink spirits.
This Fat Tuesday however; I spent at my esthetician. Because being 29 and breaking out like a 16 year old is extremely frustrating. This year, I’ve decided that what I put on the outside of my body will be a mirror of what I put inside – no more chemicals, all organic, no animal testing, etc. So today is my 2nd of many upcoming organic treatments in an attempt to fix my disastrous skin. And before you ask, yes, I've tried Proactive, and a dermatologist (or 40)...ugh.

Monday February 23rd

Sometimes friends come into your life and you feel like you've known them forever. For me, Julie is one of those friends; she is more like a sister to me, and even though she's a year younger than I am, I look up to her. People take Julie at face value, she puts herself and her husband first, and she hardly ever has a mood outside of happy.
So tonight, after a long day of work and a few nuances that made me want to let out a loud scream, I went to yoga, decompressed, aligned my chi, and thought to myself, "What would Julie do?"
And then I devoured a huge brownie.

Sunday February 22nd

Sundays make me happy because it's one of the few days I actually get to sleep in, I usually paint or do some sort of project, and I go grocery shopping. Here I am in my usual Sunday garb, with my list of things to-do, the ever present water bottle, and sunglasses to cover the bags from last night's festivities.

Saturday February 21st

While celebrating Theresa's bachelorette party, we couldn’t help but wonder why we were the oldest group of girls sending off one of our friends to be married? To make matters even more interesting, I happened to be the only single girl at the party. There goes my shot at getting Theresa up on the mechanical bull. And nothing says “F-you” more than four groups of twenty-one year olds dancing around with light up penises on their heads.
Well, at least T had fun and the food was great.

February 20th Friday

September 28th, 2003

Nothing has made me happier than seeing my sister marry the love of her life nearly 6 years ago.
Today I had the chance to relive some of those moments when she joined Facebook and uploaded some of these “old” pictures. Although thankful for modern social networking and the ability to follow my sister and nieces lives daily, I am also terrified of watching my family grow old online. I am beside myself when I think that it's been 6 long years since Tash relocated her family up to Ohio and I’ve already missed such precious moments as Reagan’s birth, Taylor’s first day at school and many, many birthdays.

Stay Tuned

My internet is finally up and running at home so stay tuned for daily updates, finally!

For now, enjoy my niece rockin' out. She will be my official "Stay Tuned" image.

Thursday February 19th

Watching a hockey game on a Thursday night is only fun if you 1) are invited to watch it in a box that serves free beer 2) get to see a beyond wasted hockey fan nearly throw his ahem, cane into the crowd and 3) introduce your boyfriend to coworkers, and a friend of theirs remembers him from when he swam nude across the lake in their development. Ouch.

Wednesday February 18th

After meeting some of my married/pregnant/with-baby friends for lunch today, I couldn’t help but think I am at a point of transition in my life. Half of my friends are hitched, and the other half are still out every night of the weekend, waking up with hangovers. While I don't think that I am close to the aisle or to babies, I do find myself skipping happy hour during the week to avoid things like a) the two days of recovery I suffer through because of being in my very-late twenties b) the thought of having to wash my hair twice to get the smell of smoke out, and the hour of sleep I will lose because of it and c) dark, puffy circles under my eyes and everyone at the office saying things like, "you look tired," which really means, "you look like shit."

Tuesday February 17th

The economic stimulus bill was signed today. I love our President! I am however, still trying to figure out how it will financially impact my bottom line.

I mean, I found this pie chart in the NY Times, and it clearly states I get a piece of the action.

Sure makes that trip to Paris a whole lot easier.

Monday February 16th

Daytona was just as ridiculous as me watching this guy play a cardboard guitar.

We loved every minute of it.

Sunday February 15th

Sunday we were off to the races! And, because of aforementioned champagne, we left our fuzzy-rhinestone-pirate-koozies behind.

We did however; have access to the activities on the race track, and the concert that Keith Urban put on beforehand.

We didn't, however; make it to said activities, nor to see Keith Urban. In fact, we barely made it to the race due to the several types of transportation that we had to take (after discovering our assigned parking lot was literally in China.)

First, we took a bus.

Then, we took a tram. (A tram that was pulled by a Ford F-350 I should mention...)

Then, we ran...actually, Valerie ran. My head was pounding.

Woo wee.

Saturday February 14th

Valerie was a great substitute Valentine today. I missed Boyfriend, but the 3rd bottle of Dom made everything much better. Cheers Lynne and Jim!

Friday February 13th

Time for a road trip! Friday night Val and I drove up to Ormond Beach. Her mom gave us her Valentine's vacation since she was offered an upgrade from a vendor. Unfortunately, we had to leave our cute little buddy Bruzer home.

p.s. Boyfriend sent me the most beautiful bouquet of lillies and roses today :)

February 12th Thursday

Tonight, Boyfriend and I had dinner at Baja Café. We couldn’t help but eavesdrop on the group of self-proclaimed nerds that sat next to us and refused to order a margarita. These guys actually spent the evening discussing whose guild was more impressive in the game, “World of Warcraft”. By the second margarita we were hysterical. It reminded us of the phase that Jay went through, and how he wouldn’t leave his house for months because of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Warcraft
It’s right up there with Star Trek or Wars (whatever), and Lord of the Rings.

February 11th Wednesday

Last night, Boyfriend and I went to a friend's 25th birthday party.. Our group of friends is a mix of families, that married friends, that all grew up in the same neighborhood. Yes, it is what you're thinking. The only downfall of joining a Gambino-group like this is that I am almost always the oldest "kid" at the party. The minute the bday girl started saying how difficult it was to turn 25 (note: she is the hot blonde sitting to my left)…it made me realize a few things 1) I am way too casual about my impending 3rd decade 2) I seriously need to put more into my 401K and 3) Aren’t women in their 30’s meant to get an increased sex drive?

February 10th Tuesday

Today I met Stephanie for a late lunch and some shoe shopping. I miss her like crazy, and she made it worse when she told me that she wasn't planning on moving back to Florida; she is in love with Montreal and it's high fashion and great food. She was glowing and happily married, referring to Claudio as her "husband" and talking of her plans to open a shoe store. The short visit had me fantasizing about living in another country and experiencing the married life again.

February 9th Monday

Liz brought a million yummy cupcakes to our girls’ night on Saturday. Today, I brought them to work to get them out of my house! They are way too delicious to be trusted with me alone on a Monday night. The first 20 went fast; the next 16 required a bit more of a push. My office is constantly full of sweets, and people actually get angry at you for bringing things like this in. It was a big risk having them sit in my office for such a long time (about 1 hour), so I took them over to the coffee station and left them for the vultures that swarm at about 3PM.

FYI: Lizzie is a creative, spunky baker that will make anything for you (think Ace of Cakes) 561-236-4906 or lillyzavala5505@yahoo.com in South Florida.

February 8th Sunday

After lying around my place for half the afternoon, missing my Sunday Pilates class, and devouring half the cookies and cupcakes the girls baked and left behind, I decided to get motivated and head outside; it was a beautiful afternoon, and I knew there were things I could be doing other than increasing my pants size.

I called Kim naturally, and it wasn’t long before our afternoon stroll turned into Sunday cocktails. On our way to our Mojitos, we had the pleasure of spotting a fe-mullet, a baby mannequin, and an art show that my nieces could have easily shown up.

Later we all had dinner, and then I headed over to Boyfriend’s for our Sunday ritual watching The L-Word and Secret Diary of a Call Girl.

February 7th Saturday

Today I attended a wedding shower for my good friend, Theresa. It was a really beautiful Italian wedding shower, complete with great wine and food.

Later, I had the girls over for dinner at my new place. We spent a good amount of the night laughing at the 7 year old hoodrat, Latarian Milton. He's been featured on our local news channel 3 times for various hoodrat things, you'll understand why when you watch him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iprUJeDEXUo

Camille opened her very first bottle of champagne tonight. It was hilarious watching her squat on the floor to try to pop the cork, I was laughing so hard I couldn't help her...

February 6th Friday

This evening I spent with friends. We had a relaxing night, I was busy painting something to go over my couch while Gmade her amazing Strawberry Shortcake. Somehow we stayed up until 1am. I just love that I live only 2 minutes away from great friends. Especially friends that make delicious strawberry shortcakes!

February 5th Thursday

Remember that game where you fold the paper, write a color on four squares, and then write numbers inside? You spend a few seconds really contemplating which number you’ll choose last, since it will ultimately provide your destiny. My colleague, Dale, and boss, Jennifer (upper right), were hilariously clever yesterday and decided to re-create the game based on things that happen in our office every day.
Some of our fortunes were: Your IT ticket has been rejected, You're stuck making a new pot of coffee, and (insert favorite lunch delivery service here) will be closed today.

February 4th Wednesday

Um...one more reason I'm thankful not to be a Canadian.
(p.s. sorry Steph!)

February 3rd Tuesday (It's Cookie Time!)

I just bought my 8th box today.

I swear these girls get commission, or their mother’s do for that matter. Have you ever seen more fanny packs in one place (other than Disney World)?
Even the Mon-A-Vie and Earn-to-Shop marketing ploys can’t beat the good ol’ girl scouts. Screw millions of dollars on crappy Super Bowl ads and free Grand-Slam breakfasts, just put a couple of kids in a sash and a skirt on a street corner and you’ve got yourself great product placement. (What are we teaching these kids anyway?)
My sister and I were girl scouts for a brief 1-year period. I blame this on the movie, Troop Beverly Hills, and the suggestion that we would be designing all new uniforms, earning patches for upgrading our accessories and hair-styles, and putting on a rockin’ concert to sell our cookies. I’d be interested to know how many other young girls were scammed by Shelley Long and her Wilderness Girls.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HJhchLeR1X0

February 2nd (Monday, Monday)

Ba da, ba dee da da...

I'm super psyched this week because my dear friend Stephanie is coming to town! I haven't seen her since she was swept away to Montreal for her wedding last September!

February 1st - Superbowl Sunday!

Last night we spent celebrating Boyfriend's 27th Birthday.

It was a tame night considering the crowd, although the boys were up until 5AM of course, Kim and I left around midnight to head to bed. I am still not sure where I lost the ability to (or the interest) in staying up that late drinking, but I think I've narrowed it down to sometime during the beginning of my 28th year. Something tells me Boyfriend' Scottish genes won't allow the same fate to end his drinking and debauchery so soon.

We weren't the only ones who laughed hysterically at the cake Liz made. The staff thought it was hysterical, and so did the guys at the table next to us (and they even endured a smack from their girlfriends for getting up to snap a picture)...some people have no sense of humor!

F-YEAH! The Steelers brought home a victory tonight. Valerie's party was amazing. Each menu item came out at the perfect time in the game...and we even made our very own Terrible Towels.

January 31st

Life has certainly been a balancing act lately.
On Saturday, Josh took a trip with me to pick up my new couch. I purposely didn’t tell him it was all the way in Tamarac, and my new home happened to be in Boynton Beach. Since I don’t have a pick up truck...and for the record, I don’t want one...my mom offered a handyman she knew to help us with transportation. It took 30 minutes to literally make it 3 blocks, partially because “Turbo” likes to drive really slowly (which I later realized was because he also likes to pack Budweiser roadies), and partially because trains in South Florida like to run on their own schedule and stop whenever they please.