back in the loop...sort of

I'm back! It seems like I have been gone forever but in actuality it was only a couple days. Weird how that works.

My sister's graduation weekend was a whirlwind of activities, ceremonies, receptions, dinners, sitting outside in the heat, fun, not much sleep and a lot of riding in the car. Especially yesterday, after 4 hours of graduation stuff and packing up the car with all of my sister's belongings we still had an 8 hour drive home. Needless to say I was thankful I didn't have to work today (no job remember?) and could spend most of the day asleep.

I hope you enjoyed the guest posts from Caroline and Ashley last week. I know I did. To everyone else who told me they would guest post: PLEASE EMAIL ME YOUR POSTS AS SOON AS YOU HAVE THEM...so I can get them on the blog! Or if you didn't tell me yet and you still want to post, let me know. My email is curiosity.cee@gmail.com

I'll leave you with a couple pictures from the weekend...

little sis getting her dipolma

graduation in the stadium

Me and my sis (daddy in the background)

My parents and sis

back from NJ

I'm back from my weekend in New Jersey...sadly there were no Housewives sightings. Maybe next time.

Either way it was still a good trip. On Thursday night K and I had a hotel reservation near his brother's college so we ended up just ordering room service and watching "Shutter Island," which was really good. The room service food was good too...but over priced!

The graduation was Friday morning and we went to lunch afterwards with K's brother, mom and grandfather. Then we spent the rest of the weekend with K's dad and his parents (the other grandparents.)

I had never spent much time with that side of the family so I liked getting to know them better, especially his grandma who is really sweet. They have a very male dominated family so I think she liked having a girl to hang out with!

Now I am back at work for only three more days...a little scary but overall, exciting.

Mac Attack! (and some other random things)

• This is my first ever post coming from my shiny new MacBook Pro. So far I love it! It definitely is going to take some time to get used to but it's not as complicated as I thought it would be. My sister gave me a little lesson last night and helped me get it all set up. Yesterday I went shopping with my mom and my sister, I was planning on just buying the laptop at the Apple store. BUT...my wonderful mother surprised me completely and bought it for me. I was literally so surprised I started crying! I feel so lucky and grateful that my parents did this for me so I can put the money I would have spent towards other grad school expenses. I also ended up getting a cool printer for free!
• Speaking of my mother...today is her birthday! We are going out to eat tonight with our family and some friends. My sister and I are also going to take her out tomorrow to this cool wine bar.
• My brother is also in his last high school musical this weekend, I went to see him on Wednesday and I'm going again tonight with everyone after the birthday dinner.
• No final decision on what school I will be going to yet but I will keep you informed!
• I'll be posting an update on my 2010 goals very soon...mostly about weight watchers.
• This is my 300th post!

I'll leave you with my first experiment with Photo Booth. Stunning right?

army brat

A week or so ago (or maybe even longer) Kiera, from Imperfect Daisies, asked me to blog about my experience growing up in a military family. Honestly, I didn't mean to put off talking about it this long, I have been trying to gather up all my thoughts on the subject and figuring out how I could format it in the most clear way. Kiera I hope this answers your question! Sorry if it is a little long winded.

To give you a little background, my parents were both in the Army, in fact they met at the Officer's Club bar while stationed in San Francisco. My mom was only in for 6 years after college but my dad was in for over 20 year and retired when I was in high school (he now works for a non-profit organization.) Naturally we moved around a lot, the school I went to for 6th grade was also my 6th school since kindergarten, but when we moved to Maryland we ended up staying. So I was able to go to middle and high school in the same area. Also, fortunately for our family, because of the time frame and the role that he had during Desert Storm my dad was never went "off to war." What I am trying to point out with all this is that I think my experience was pretty different than army brats today. And I was also very fortunate that I didn't have to change schools during high school or middle school which from what I heard (and can imagine) is a lot more traumatic.

So what was hard about being an army brat?

• Moving around of course. It sucks having to leave friends no matter how old or young you are. Also my sister and I would get involved with an activity like gymnastics or a ballet and have to leave and start over somewhere else.


• Missing out on the experience of having a "hometown." I can't help but feeling a little jealous of people that have friends from elementary school that they still hang out with. Or those people that lived in the same house from the time they came home from the hospital until they went off to college.
  

And what were the good things?

• Getting to see (and live in) lots of different parts of the country. My family never was stationed overseas...unless you want to count Hawaii!


• Forming a close bond with your family, especially siblings. There was a lot of times when I moved to a new area in the summer and only had my sister to play with. It made us very close. In fact when we settled in Maryland and got involved with different things it actually was a little sad. I also feel like my family is close because we spent a lot of time together and had some different adventures. Of course we still do spend a lot of time together so I'm not sure the Army had a lot to do with that!


• Growing up on Army bases also is a really good environment because everyone is in the same situation. To me it didn't seem as competitive about money and people seem to care more about each other/their neighbors.


• The fact that my dad was in the Army also meant we had the means for my mom to stay at home with us which I feel is very important!

So there is my little...or not so little...summery! If anyone has any questions on this subject please let me know!

weddings always bring out the family drama

Here is something I have been wanting to blog about for awhile, sorry if it is kind of long. It's just annoying and I feel like I need to get it off my chest.

First, some back story. I have three cousins on my mom's side of the family. Her sister has one son and her brother has two daughters, I am not that close to any of them, but they are family so I have to see them from time to time. My uncle's oldest daughter, M, is getting married in June in Massachusetts. She got engaged when I was a senior in college and I actually haven't seen her since before that, but my mom has so she knows some details about the wedding. To say that my uncle's family is dysfunctional would be an understatement and my cousins have had to take care of themselves for a long time. M and her fiancee are doing everything on a very small budget with no parental help. While we have a small family her mother (my ex-aunt) has a very large family so M decided that she was only inviting cousin's significant others if they were married and not inviting any cousins under age 18. She is also having a cash bar...but let's not get started on that tidbit.

My sister and I were not upset at all that we couldn't bring our boyfriends and totally understood where she was coming from.

My mom's sister's son, T, was a different story.

T's life is basically one long summer vacation. He was raised by his mom, who divorced her bum husband when T was very young. He never has had any relationship or gotten any support from his father and his mom never remarried. Since it was just the two of them he has been very coddled. He has gone through a lot of jobs, became a pro golfer and tried to "make it" several times, had a bunch of girlfriends and dropped out of college at 18 to get married (that didn't end up happening, thank God.) He is now in his early 30s and still lives with his mom (and is supported by her.) I don't mean to bash him, this is just the way it is. At this point he is finally going to community college so maybe he will start acting like a grown up, but who knows.

When T found out that he couldn't bring his current girlfriend (who he has been dating since the summer) he got all mad about it. My sister has been with her boyfriend for two years and K and I have been together for five years and live together. Neither of us cared at all about not being able to bring our boyfriends but T called M and asked if he could bring this chick. As it was told to me she "hung up on him" which may mean she just ignored the question but still, I was happy she stuck with her guns.

Even though the girlfriend isn't coming the whole thing just pissed me off.

What is it about weddings (and other big events) that make family members who are: 1) not helping to pay and 2) not helping to plan, feel like they have some say over the bride and groom's decisions? And this situation was nothing compared some some stories I have heard from other people/families. I makes me seriously dread the drama whenever I end up getting married.

Did anything like this happen at your own wedding or weddings of friends and family members?

nothing says "happy birthday" like...

telling an embarrassing story about someone...or better yet...posting it on the Internet.

Since today is my dad's birthday here we go.

It needs to be said that my dad is slightly narcoleptic (undiagnosed except by me.) He falls asleep in really weird places and and at strange times. In fact several nights a week he falls asleep on my parents couch in all his clothes and shoes, with the tv on and blanket over his head and sleeps there all night. Just keep that mind for later in the story.

My mom, sister and I had gone out to a movie one summer evening. We got home pretty late and found my dad dead asleep in the family room. He was kneeling on the ground with his upper body flopped onto the couch. Almost like he was trying to get on the couch from the floor and couldn't quite make it.

Used to seeing him sleeping in weird positions (although none as weird as this) we: 1) made sure he wasn't dead. 2) laughed at him. 3) let him sleep...obviously he was tired.

This event conisidended with my parents and their friends minor obsession with the TGI Fridays Mudslide Mix. If you are not familar with it you take one cup of the mix and blend it with 3 cups of ice and there you go.

The morning after we found my dad he was eating breakfast with my mom this conversation occurred:

Dad: "That mudslide stuff is really good."

Mom: "Oh yea (not paying much attention)"

Dad: "I had three glasses last night"

Mom: "Did you wash the blender by hand? I didn't see it in the dishwasher?" (my mom is very particular about cleaning up the kitchen)

Dad: "Blender? I just poured it right in the glass."

At this point my mom told him how we found him the night before and the correct way to make the mudslide mix.

So while we went to the movies my dad got wasted on highly concentrated mudslide mix.

Happy Birthday Dad!

and now I am not eating until Christmas

I'm back! Not that I went anywhere, I just took some time away from the computer over the long weekend...hopefully work will not be too busy today so I can catch up on all of your blogs! Even though it was only 4 days it felt like a much longer time off of work (amazing) and I also probably ate enough food to cover about 3 weeks. I feel like I gained 10 pounds but I am way to scared to get on the scale.

Here is a little recap of my weekend, as usual I didn't take any pictures...I'm thinking about making "take more pictures" my New Years resolution:

Wednesday: K and I went out and bought our NEW TV! (it was our Christmas present to each other) We ended up get the 46" Samsung LCD. Now that I have an HD TV it seems like I haven't even really been watching TV all these years. I would highly recommend Samsung, our TV was very easy to set up and works great.

Thursday: Thanksgiving! We (K and I) started off the day by going to a Thanksgiving wine tasting at this cute local wine store then we headed over to my parents house. It was just my parents, siblings, K, me and the pups so we had a relaxing day watching the parade, the dog show, some movies and of course eating!

Friday: My mom, sister and I opted to go to some wineries instead of shopping, so we spent most of the day doing that. Maryland has a lot of small cute wineries and several of them are pretty close to where I live.

Saturday: We all headed over to College Park for the University of Maryland vrs. Boston College (where my sister goes) football game. Even though I hate football and it was very windy/cold, it was still a lot of fun tailgating.

Sunday: In the morning, K and I went shopping for a fake tree and Christmas decorations, last year we didn't decorate our apartment at all which was a little sad. We got a great deal on a tree from Target that was labeled wrong and some other fun decorations. I spent the afternoon decorating while K studied for finals then we went back over to my parents for Chinese food and to help decorate their tree (which is where all my ornaments are.)


Whew...typing about all that made me tired, it was a jam packed weekend...I feel like I need a nap. Too bad I am back at work today :(

Turning into my mother

As time goes on...and especially now that I live on my own...I have noticed that I am picking up more and more of my mom's quirky behaviors. It's ironic because a lot of these quirks totally annoyed me when I was growing up.

Case in point...some of my best friends are coming to visit this weekend and I have spent almost this whole week obsessing about cleaning, what to cook and getting everything ready. Poor K, who will be home tomorrow is going to be saddled with a huge list of what needs to be cleaned and put away---he volunteered, I swear. But, since I still must be in control I am coming home early to check everything and touch up. I used to get so mad when she would act like that everytime we had company.

I haven't yet hosted a party large enough where I needed to bust out one of her famous entertaining moves...labeling each empty serving dish ahead of time with a post it saying what food item is going in it.

Ladies, do you ever find yourself doing things that used to annoy you about your mothers? Please tell me I am not the only one.


***by the way...my mom and I are very close...she has actually become more mellow with age...while I have become more crazy. I guess when I get to be in my 50s I may calm down again.***

Inspired to Make Changes

Over the weekend my great-uncle J came to visit my parents and my brother. He has never met any of my siblings before and wanted to come meet us (my brother specifically) and give him some advice on college since my brother is interested in theater and Uncle J has spent his entire life as a professional dancer.

He is 80 years old and was raised in a farming community in Ohio, yet he followed his dreams and danced in ballet companies, musicals, operas, and on television all over the world. Listening to his stories I got to thinking about the importance of doing something that you love. Uncle J had times where he only had 25 cents and two suitcases to his name, times when he couldn't afford to eat and once had to live with his entire bankrupt dance company in an abandoned barn in France. Howerver, through it all he was following his passion and has lived a very full and exciting life.

Looking back at my own life so far, career-wise, I am disappointed. I changed my major in college to something I thought would be more exciting, then changed my mind again to something I thought would let me make more money. Now, I am unhappy with what I am doing but have been resisting going back to school because I am worried about taking out student loans. K is going to have a lot of student loan debt from law school and I don't want to add to that but, I don't want what he does to keep me from going for my own dreams.

So now I am taking Uncle J's advice, writing things down and doing some planning. Big changes are on the way for me, and hopefully they will be good ones.

Snow Day and NYC

I am at home today for a self-inflicted snow day. I have felt a little under the weather the past couple of days and the six inches of snow we got provided me even more incentive to call out of work. I slept all morning and feel much better now.

The trip to NYC was a lot of fun, unfortunately my friend, H, ended up having to work all day on Saturday so I didn't get to see her. Instead, I hung out at the open house for the school with my parents and my brother. Then we went to Times Square and got half-priced tickets for "Chicago." We have all seen a lot of musicals but none of us had ever actually seen "Chicago," (except for the movie) so it was a great choice and we liked it a lot. It also seems to be easy to get half-priced tickets for that show, so if you are ever looking for a show in NYC, I would recommend it, it's a classic!

Before the show we ate a fabulous dinner at "Carmine's." Normally when I go to NYC I try to avoid eating a touristy places near Times Square, but "Carmine's" is amazing. Everything is family style and it it simple Italian food, done perfectly. We had Caesar salad then Penne alla Vodka and Veal Cutlet Parmigiana. Everything was great but I would definitely recommend the veal if you eat there, it was by far the best veal I have ever had, really tender and flavorful. It wasn't a good meal for my weight loss plan, but it was worth it!

Start Spreading the News, I'm Leaving Today...

Is this title totally cheesy? I'm not sure, I love Frank Sinatra, so I think it is ok. Anyways, I am going to NYC tonight until Sunday morning. My parents and my little brother are going to look at a college (he is a junior in high school) and I am tagging along for the free trip and so I can visit my friend, H, who lives there. New York is by far my favorite city, I actually thought I would live there "when I grew up" (I think it was the result of hundreds of hours spent watching "Sex and the City") but after I spent a summer during college there I decided I prefer to live in the suburbs and visit the city at least a few times each year. This is a picture of near where I lived (Amsterdam Ave. and 120th St...a Columbia University dorm) during the summer of 2006. I was interning at the show, "Sesame Street," and had two part time jobs as well. And I still think I made no money! It was definitely a life changing experience...after that summer I completely changed my mind about what I wanted to do and where I wanted to live. And I never would have figured it out if I hadn't tried, so it was time well spent. Plus now I am very comfortable getting when I visit NYC!

Trip to Boston

I'm back! The trip to Boston was great...cold...but great. It was nice to get away from work and spend some time with my mom and sister. We left as planned on Wednesday afternoon and got to Boston around midnight, the only traffic we ran into was getting out of Baltimore, it was smooth from Delaware on.

Thursday morning Mom and I walked around our hotel area in the morning then went over to meet Sissy for lunch at her college and drop off her presents. We went to the bookstore while we were waiting for her to get out of class and I was mistaken for a high school junior on a college visit. I was not sure how to take that one. If I had looked like this at 16 I probably would have been unable to look in the mirror let alone fit into my American Eagle outfits. Anyways...Sissy had another class in the afternoon so Mom and I decided to go to the movies. The theater was empty, there were 5 people total...and that includes us. We saw "Taken" which was basically "24" with Liam Neeson, it was nothing amazing but held my interest. It was the weirdest movie theater I have ever seen. Very steep and narrow and since no one was there but us for a while I took a few pictures.

I thought it looked kind of like a stairway to heaven...or maybe hell, especially with the weird red light created by the exit sign in the back.

Just wanted to prove that it was indeed a movie theater.

After the movie we met up with Sissy again and took her and her roommates out to dinner at a cute restaurant near the campus. She came back to our hotel with us so we could go out and do some Boston things the next day.

On Thursday we went downtown and wandered around the shops on Newbury Street, then we met my cousin for lunch at the Parish Cafe. If you are ever in Boston you should check it out, the menu is mostly sandwiches from the chefs of other top Boston restaurants. I had this amazing roasted pork sandwich with lime and green curry. They also make some mean cocktails. We walked off our lunch and then went to the Top Of The Hub for more drinks. It's a little pricey but you can't beat the view, especially at sunset.

The ducks from "Make Way For Ducklings"

Boston Public Garden

Cool old buildings in Beacon Hill

The Top of the Hub sign...pretty obvious

Amazing view, Sissy told us the restaurant rotated...which it didn't seem to be doing...so we asked the waitress and she told us it only does after a few drinks. I have a feeling she uses that line a lot.

This church was right below us.

Sunset over Boston.

As if we hadn't eaten enough during the day we went out to dinner with Sissy's boyfriend that night in the North End, which is basically the Boston version Little Italy. I had the best lobster ravioli of my life! Then Mom and I headed to my grandparents house where we relaxed, went out for seafood (they live in the steamed clam capital of the world) and spent time with my Nanny and Pop.

Like I said, it was a great time, and after all that food I am totally ready to get to work losing weight! Back to work tomorrow :(

21 Years Ago...

My mom gave birth to a healthy baby girl...well actually she wasn't breathing when she was born...but soon after she was very healthy. I was a precocious two and half year old at the time and not very happy about this interloper stealing the spotlight. I don't remember much about that day other then our neighbors taking me out to dinner and getting some presents but the family stories have been told so many times they feel like memories. My dad dressing me in a two small outfit from a bag designated for goodwill (my mom always dressed me like a little doll so she wasn't too happy to see that when I showed up at the hospital in highwaters.) Me scowling saying "nice little baby" through gritted teeth at her. And after she had been home for a few weeks telling my mom "this is nice, now when does she go back?"

Needless to say our relationship improved dramatically over the next few years. Being army brats we moved around every few years so it was nice to always have your best friend there with you. We have worn hundreds of matching outfits, spent days playing Barbies and seen each other through good times and bad.

I am so grateful to my parents for giving me a little sister 21 years ago today. I can't imagine my life without her in it.

I am proud of the person you are and proud I get to call you my sister. I love you Sissy, Happy Birthday!