A New Friend!

Courtesy of BF, I now have a little roommate. He stopped off at this cute little aquarium store in Old Town, and brought me a Betta fish. Based on what I have read, it is a male. This isn't going to stop me from calling it she though. So I have decided to name her Muffy. What can I say? She is a preppy little fish. She is not Pink or Green, but this deep violet- blue sort of color. A picture to follow of my new friend. This will be my third Betta fish ever. The other fishies died under sad (for me at least; I get attached) circumstances.
Fish #1 (Violet)
Acquired from the local Meijer as a Freshman in college. Died sophomore year when the crazy cat lady roommate's cat knocked the bowl over and ate the fish. I have never been a big fan of cats! Incidentally, crazy cat lady never apologized. It's called Karma. . .

Fish #2 Ginger
Other roommate purchased this one from Petco. She was sickly out of the gates, and died the first time BF came over. I started crying and he didn't know what to do. But he stuck around :)

Fish #3 Lola
This was actually a Valentine's gift to Crazy cat lady from one of her many illicit (as I see it) suitors. I have no idea what she originally named it. All I know is that crazy cat lady neglected this poor fish as much as her 3 ill behaved kitties. When I saved it from its demise (after feeding it daily for nearly 2 months), it was in a tank not designed for it, with many, many snails, all of the walls covered with icky green algae, and rotting fins/tail. When I moved out, I took it to my parents house, and we lived there all through the summer while I interned in the Detroit area. Obviously, when I moved to Chicago, she came along (my brother held her in his lap all of the way here)too. Lola grew back all of her rotten fins and used to greet me when I would come home by swimming to the side of the bowl and swishing her tail. I always fed her, and changed her water, but one day I came home from work and she was not there to greet me any longer. I got kind of upset when this happened (a little over a year ago) and said I didn't want another fish.

I am really glad BF brought her home though. She makes me smile :)

Jamba Secret Menu?

So really off topic here, but one of my co workers just told me that Jamba Juice has a "secret" menu. Like any other American that knows how the internet works, I decided to google it. According to Yelp! users, this is the case; supposedly they have all of these different smoothies. Flavors such as Red Gummi, White Gummi, Pink Starburst, and PB&J are available if you ask. I am going to stop at Jamba on the way home to check this out. If they have Pink Starbursts in liquid form, I am all about it! That is like a dream come true. The link I posted is for Los Angeles, so I hope this is the case in Chicago!

wedding bells

Here we go with more wedding bliss! Yet another friend is engaged, and I could not be happier for them!

So far here is the count of married, or soon to be married friends:
ErinMc is married with a bundle of joy on the way
Linds is married
Metrogal84 is going to be married in two weeks
Goof is to be married in two weeks
L and Z are to be married in August
LoJ and E are to be married in August
and now
M2 are to be married in August of 2009.

I am so happy for all of my friends finding the right person so young and making the committment. Cheers!

No worries, I am in no rush to get married anytime soon. BF and I are discussing moving in together, but that is as far as it goes for now.

Still, Congratulations to all of you! I could not be happier!!!!

xoxo

Matt L from MN

I wanted to add this to "Things I Can't Get Out of My Head", but I really can't get it out of my head, so I am thinking this deserves a whole post. A couple of days ago, I stumbled upon the story of Matt, Liz, and Madeleine. Ever since, I have spent every single spare second engrossed in their story. It is heartbreaking, but also very inspirational. This story of, as Matt puts it, "life and death in 27 hours" should leave you with a pile of used Kleenex, a yearning to reach out to your own loved ones, and a want to help this family. Please log onto the site and check it out. Over the course of my many (failed) blogs, I have never once recommended a particular blog. This is my one recommendation. If you read one new thing today, read their story. Matt and Madeleine are in my heart.

Sometimes you're the Windshield, Sometimes you're the Bug

I am decidedly grumpy today. After feeling like I don’t have enough time for me in my life for the past 3 or so weeks, I am feeling at an all time low. Example: I have not washed my hair since last Friday morning. In case you haven’t checked it is Thursday- almost a week later. Disgusting. To go along with natty hair, my apartment also needs attention. I have finally taken care of the counter full of dishes that has been building up over the past month or so. I cleaned the toilet, but it had really only been like a week. I like to clean it twice a week. I have been told I am neurotic for cleaning as much as I usually do, but looking at the demise of my domestic skills over the past few weeks, I can honestly say that neurotic is better than dirty. It just is. I also haven’t done laundry in a really, really long time. Like I am wearing bottom of the barrel clothing because nothing else can even pass as clean. Its not like I am remotely trendy or stylish in the fashion department anyway. Money has been a bit tight, so I haven’t really bought anything new, or that I have liked in over a year. Anything I do buy, is out of necessity (dress for wedding showers, sports bra). Necessity is more than my budget can handle for now though, so I probably look pretty ragamuffin.

I would like to dedicate this evening to the pursuit of my sanity, but alas, I am tired and have a to do list 86 miles long. This includes monotonous duties such as; deposit cash in bank so account does not become overdrawn, beg for laundry quarters from grocery store, go tanning so that do not look like pasty cow for upcoming bridesmaid gig, shave legs (no attention in at least two weeks), and my favorite; try to stuff trash into overflowing dumpsters behind complex. I keep trying to wait until they aren’t overflowing, but that day has not come anytime recently. At least not while I am home, not like I’m there a lot or anything. . .

But I digress, my to do list seems to be out of control lately, as does my spending, and I have nothing accomplished or anything to show for the outpouring of time and money. Something must be fishy, as the majority of my peers do not feel this worn out from doing this little. I realize part of this must be because I am really stressed about the situation and do not enjoy the 9 hours a day I spend actually earning money. The stress comes from not liking that, and also from trying to pay my bills with not enough money, and knowing there is pretty much no way to make more. I could get another part time job, but I can’t get it together to wash my hair with the one I’ve already got, so this stress will continue until I get my debts paid off, which at this rate, will probably be sometime around the age of 45. There has to be a better way, but I have been racking my already tired brain trying to figure it out and I cannot seem to come up with anything. Meanwhile, I am trying to improve my efficiency at work so that I don’t have as much stress. There are plenty of people who do everything that I need to do all day, plus take care of families and give back to their communities, so what is my problem here? I don’t watch TV, haven’t been to the library in months, don’t really go out to the bar, average only 4 to 5 hours of sleep a night and have them messiest apartment ever. Where does all of my time go? I think I am going to start writing down what I am doing and how long I do it for, because this is just not right.

Does anyone have suggestions for how to get my life in check? I feel as though I am spiraling out of control and may very well lose it one of these days. Maybe this is just an off day, but I have been feeling more and more like this as of late.

On the hunt. . .

I know it has been ages since i posted. . . i actually have a bunch of posts saved in word documents on my work computerl. i am trying to figure out how to email post from my spiffy little blackberry i recently purchased (back in January???). Once I get that figured out, then maybe these will come a little more frequently. In short to catch up though:
Had Birthday at Redmond's bar in Wrigleyville. It was about at college-y as I could get in Chicago. Unfortunately, some good friends who had RSVP'd decided that my birthday wasn't that important to them, even though they consistently expect me to drop everything to attend to their plans and whims. Kind of eye opening for the way the rest of the year has progressed thus far. . .

Still in row with Dad; I don't think I will ever be good enough for that man. .

Looking for "way out" of current corporate setting. . if anyone has any ideas; i am open to any and all.

Law school. Well, I got accepted at a few, decided not to apply to a few others, got waitlisted at a couple that count, and got rejected from my dream school. So I have decided; coupled with the current economic situation, that I will not be attending. I need to find some form of intellectual stimulation though. Not exactly going v. well considering it is May and most applications were due several months ago. oops. and the tests. oops again. Potentially considering MLS degree. Thoughts?

BF and I broke up. or well, he broke up with me back in the beginning of March. But then he came back after two weeks. This was not a good two weeks for me. If you know where to look there are various pictures of me "out on the town" from those two weeks. I look happy, but I can assure you I was miserable. The only perks were my friends. You really find out who is your friend and who is just an acquaintance.

Out of the breakup, I decided to start seeing a therapist again. I'm not any crazier than anyone else, but I tend to be a bit of an over achiever and people pleaser type. So I drive myself crazy. With the whole BF thing, I really lost it. Living in a big city where you don't have as much control as you would like over menial things does not help the cause. My therapist will be referred to as PSY from here on out.

I got a promotion if you want to call it that. We really only do lateral moves, so techically I didn't move up. But you do need higher qualifications for this position than the last one. So I sort of think I moved up. And I have to talk to people much less on the phone. And for two whole weeks I actually learned something new! Who would have thought? But now I am back to being bored. At least I'm efficient!

Also, I am in weddings for two very good friends this summer. Wedding#1 is in June and Wedding#2 is in August. I have been very caught up in all of the rituals and festivities, and it occurs to me that I only want to ever get married for the poufy white dress and the fun parties. Obviously I am not in that "married" frame of mind yet. I still have a lot of living to do!

That is about the update for now. In a few hours, I will be in the stinky metal can known as Amtrak speeding (Well not really, but it is faster than walking alright!) towards East Lansing. A fitting for one of those lovely bridesmaid dresses, and Mother's Day brew haha abound.

Can't wait! More to come, I mean it this time!