Good way to end

I finally saw The Office the day before my last day of work. How fitting. Justin gets all twisted up inside when he watches it. Mostly because he knows none of this stuff would really happen (actually, he has problems with Michael. I say just watch and laugh). My exit interview was nothing like Toby's but I actually had friends. Also, no questions were asked. Bummer, I would have liked to answer a few. But what good would it have done for HR to ask me questions on my way out? No one from my office was there to hear them. Guess that's why they don't ask questions.

Now that we are in the summer of repeats (or Justin likes to say "The summer of redundancy". One year it was the "Summer of Socks" - Long story.), I've only got 3 more days until the new David Sedaris book comes out! He's also making his way around the country. None in Vegas but Cali is close enough for us to drive to. I can't wait to read the book late into the night, laughing and waking up Justin in the process. Just like old times.

Counting Down

Actually, the count down is almost done. My last day at work is tomorrow. I'm ready to move on. Yes, I'll miss individuals here but that's life. You make new friends and get new jobs.

Speaking of making new friends... this song always pops in my head saying that: "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the others gold."

I went through my cedar chest last night and found all my Girl Scout stuff. It was fun to think back to all my times as a Girl Scout. Selling cookies, going camping, earning patches, being mean.

Usually, you don't associate a Girl Scout as being mean but I'm embarrassed to say I was mean. I went through the typical stage with attitude problems and took it out on my fellow GS's. This wasn't every year. I did have good ones but there was a time (maybe 2 years?) when I was terrible to others. I'm very sorry for it and I feel terrible about it.

And I'm very sorry that I didn't finish Girl Scouts. I made it to Senior but dropped out quickly afterwards. I did earn patches and, according to one award, I had perfect attendance but I still dropped out. I'm such a loser.

And because I fall into the loser category, I STILL haven't seen the season finale of The Office. No one tell me anything!

I know it's late...

but who had a bean burrito on Cinco de Mayo? I know I did!

Whirlwind Weekend

It's been crazy busy these past few days. I guess that's good right? We reorganized the office by removing a desk and leaving only one monitor with two computers attached (super secret technology from Justin. Just kidding, the computers are on a switcher so we both can use the monitor just not at the same time). So the office actually looks like a nice room now.

With all that moving around and taking things out, we dropped it all off at the DI including all the stuff I cleaned out from my sewing closet. I don't have anyone here who sews so I just donated 2 bags full of nice fabric and some used patterns (all had pieces, I don't donate crap). I also found a bunch of patterns I just have no use for so I returned them to JoAnn's. But I couldn't find any receipts so I got a gift card instead of cash. $85 worth of patterns!!! I couldn't believe it! So I promised myself not to turn around and buy more fabric and patterns until I've used up what's left in the closet. I'm going to work on this one next. Seems easy and useful so it should be fun.

Justin, Todd and I saw Iron Man on Saturday. Please, go see it. It's awesome, sexy, fun, thrilling, amazing, the best movie of the summer. That's all we've been talking about since Saturday!

Sunday I went to the day spa. I got a gift certificate from my company a while back for a big project I completed so I finally used it. Massage, manicure, pedicure and waxing (eyebrows kids, nothing else). I didn't spend a dime so that was nice.

Last, my friend had her baby. Every time I look at the photo, I see her in his face. He's just so cute! Congratulations Elsa and Frank!

MIxed Reviews

When you book a big trip like Justin and I did, make sure you do your homework. I researched our hotel in London weeks before I booked it. The reviews were mixed and, as we found out, with good reason. It was in a cool area of town. Everything was in walking distance, including the BEST falafal I have EVER had. It was so good, we had it two nights in a row. So freaking good! Did I mention it was the best I've ever had?

The hotel offered free breakfast which was a bonus since our dollar was so weak there; we needed something free. And the room was adequate and cleaned almost daily. And we had a trouser press in the room. How British! I don't think we brought trousers but that didn't stop Justin from using it.

Now for the bad reviews. The room was VERY small but we didn't care because we were celebrating my 30th birthday all week in London...not in a small hotel room. With all the luggage we had, there just wasn't enough room. The room was cleaned for the most part. Sometimes the trash wasn't taken out or the bed made but we thought, "This is London. Maybe they do things differently over here. Lets go get falafal!"

Early one morning we got up to catch the Eurostar train to Paris. Looking back, I'm glad we got up at 6am because right before we left all dressed up for our big day in Paris, we started to hear something. We knew immediately what that sound was. Then it became obvious when we could see our bed hitting the wall...without us in it. Justin was impressed with our neighbors. I was impressed with our luck; us leaving that morning. I think they were French because they smoked all the time in their non-smoking room. I threatened to call the front desk but I didn't want a wake up call from them again in the morning, so I gave up.

Phone charges are killer at this hotel or again, our dollar just sucks. Make sure to ask about premium phone numbers (aka 1-900 numbers, but we didn't call one of those numbers. It was the BBC, I don't think they are that skanky.) One call cost us $30. I'm NOT kidding. Justin limited our cell phone time due to $1/min charges. Looking back, that wasn't smart. It would have been cheaper to use the cell phone. Live and learn and pay the $60 phone bill. Grrrr

Besides all those silly little problems, we enjoyed our trip to London. I'd recommend this hotel even if there are French there.

Edit

I took Monday off to attend NAB (National Association of Broadcasters). I like to go every year because 1) it's here in Vegas and 2) I like to see all the new stuff in the industry I'm not working in. I'm learning a lot in the Affiliate Marketing industry but it's more curiosity of what's happening in the media.

I was inspired to do a few things at home that I learned (new editing techniques and tricks). But I have yet to do them. I prefer to have direction like a project. Not just play around with things. And since I don't have a project, I don't try new things out. So I need a project. I can shoot, capture, edit and post online. Does anyone have any ideas or a need for a cool video? No charge! I just want to practice and use all the equipment I have and keep my skills sharp.

I had a weird dream that I was writing a fake story about Elton John hating the Irish (honestly, I have no idea where this came from). In my dream, Justin said I should write about the band Foghat instead. He must have told me this in his sleep because he was singing "Slow Ride" this morning.

Maybe that's my video topic. Who knows. Any suggestions or better ideas?

Hey Drum Corps Friends

Who didn't see this coming?

Well at least I can buy my tickets now that they know where finals will be.

1 year Anniversary

Yesterday was my 1-year anniversary. Justin said, "Am I going to get in trouble if I don't know what your 1-year anniversary is?" Silly boy. No, of course I don't expect him to remember that my braces came off one year ago yesterday. Nothing really to celebrate. I still have to wear my retainer and I have one more ortho appointment but other than that...it's been an uneventful year regarding my teeth.

Lately my theme song has been Chris Farley and Patrick Swayze's Chippendales dance: Everybody's working for the weekend. I look forward to the week ending it's really sad.

Speaking of butt crack - I got a free magazine subscription as a gift and I picked This Old House. I own a house but not an old one. I do most of the repairs so I figured it'd be good to get advice from the experts. Justin thinks because I do all the plumbing repairs in the house it's ok for me to show my crack. I don't agree for various reasons. He doesn't do any repairs and his crack is always showing. Guess it can be a lonely club sometimes. But now we've got This Old House to help me so I can show him that they don't have crack to be a good plumber.

Finally Saturday!

Finally, the Saturday I've been looking for. No plans, no where to go and nothing to do. It's like a clean slate! So here's what I'm going to do:

Mail a very important gift.

That's it! I know, it's totally lazy of me and I know Justin won't stand for it because he's been asking me for the past 3 days, "So what are you doing this weekend?" I'm pretty sure he doesn't have anything up his sleeves but I'll make sure to add 'shower' to my to-do list just in case.

It's Friday...Again

This is the second Friday in a row where I've woken up and asked "is it Saturday?" to Justin, myself or Scully, who never answers. But the answer I always get is "no". I need it to be Saturday all the time.

Yesterday we were over an hour late to work due to an accident on an already congested freeway. But so was half my company who live on my side of town.

But the day ended better than it started with me finishing our taxes. I know I'm strange but I do enjoy tasks like that especially when I'm getting money back. But then I get angry because that's how much extra the government is taking out of our paychecks throughout the year. Whatever Spent & Approved War-Spending - About $600 billion of US taxpayers' funds.

So the loan we gave the government will be coming back to us and bikes are on our list. Justin's really excited about getting a bike. It hasn't taken over his yo-yo obsession but I'm hoping for an equal split of obsession.

Hey David...Remeber Me?

New Book! New Book! New Book!

Can you tell I'm excited? Once the new book is out, he'll be touring the US. No plans for Las Vegas but California is close by.

Do you think Justin's excited to meet him again?

Hodge Podge

I'm wearing a mint green sweater without thinking about the date today.

We had a few friends over for Justin's birthday on Saturday. We played Rock Bank for the first time and had fun. I would have taken photos but Justin misplaced our memory card somewhere in the house. Those things are TINY.

Last weekend while Justin was out of town, I painted our guest bathroom. I even replaced the faucet. Yes, I did. The best part...it was so easy! It doesn't leak, it looks awesome and I love to turn it on. I'd show you photos of before and after but...

Besides my bathroom redo, I've got a bunch of sewing/craft projects in the planning stages but I NEED to finish them. Work is draining my ability to get anything done. I assume that happens to everyone but it makes me feel lame for not finishing projects.

We finally saw No Country for Old Men. I liked it. Justin felt it was unresolved but I liked it that way. And we also saw The Music Man (original version, none of this Matthew Broderick crap). Can you believe Justin has NEVER seen this movie. And he still hasn't because he fell asleep. Ok, I put the movie on at 1 am so that would explain it, but he still wants to see it.

What did everyone do this weekend?

Awesome-ness

Wanna know why I rule?

While we were gone on our round-the-world trip I won the companies drawing for $50 (for the 4th time!). I just picked up the money to pay for my Girl Scout Cookies.

So basically, the 7 boxes I ordered, were FREE.

That's why I rule!

Part Two

We made it to London around 10am ready to go. As I expected, our room was tiny. The bathroom reminded me of my basement apartment bathroom - very small. We did the standard touristy things.



Outside the National Gallery in the center of London


"Big Ben kids...Parliament"



Outside Westminster Abby. Theerrr's Parliament in the background.


BBC 1...BBC 2...BBC 3...BBC 4.


My friends Eddy and Patsy. Well, their clothes. Still pretty cool. I earned that coffee mug as a news anchor. Did I forget to tell you I studied broadcasting? I was flawless!


$1 to make a call. Good thing I had no one to call.


Eurostar! Going 184 mph to Paris.


Angelina's in Paris. Drinking chocolate and real cream. So good.

Poor statue.


Outside the Louvre. No time to go inside.


Inside the Notre Dame.


Outside the Notre Dame. It was cold in Paris.


Eiffel Tower. No time to go up. Maybe next time.


Cool photo looking up the tower.


Done with Paris and trains and the subway train that got re-routed while we were waiting for it. Ended up walking back to the hotel about 2 miles. Not a fun way to end the day.


Penny Lane!


Tower of London. Lots of bad things happened here.


Pondering Stonehenge. Or maybe the sun was in my eye.


Our long journey home with our British goodies; Vimto and Walkers Roast Chicken flavored chips. Both were very good and so was our flight.

I realized at lunch I'm officially old

Glasses that I haven't worn in a year.
Eye cream.
Taking NPR's advice on a good place for lunch.

Check, check and check.

So my eyes have decided to crap out on me lately. I think they've said, "hey, we're not young anymore so remember those glasses you sorta needed when we were younger? Ya we need them now".

I'm actually thinking it's a combination of things like the ridiculous lighting situation at work. Half the office has no lights on - think caves or basements - and the other half sit like they are on the sun. Guess which side I'm on. I should just wear my sunglasses. I might get less stares with those on instead of my glasses and hearing, "You wear glasses?" I'll start responding with, "I do?!"

And it's really dry here. Not good for eyes. I'm not crying (even though my work does make me want to cry all.day.long), my eyes are dying for some moisture.

Speaking of aging eyes, I've got wrinkles that have just decided to pop up around them! Does it all go down hill from here? Guess my years of squinting at the computer screen pretending I didn't need glasses has caught up. I bought some eye cream and have been eagerly using every night. We'll see if that expensive crap works.

I was in denial about my age even with the wrinkles and the need for glasses but not anymore. I realized I'm old(er) because of NPR today at lunch. I've listened to NPR for years. I don't want to hear how you think I'm lame because of it - whatever, we've all got our lame things in our lives and now that I'm old(er) I can say stick it!

Thursday is restaurant review. We heard of a BBQ place near work. Justin wanted to go because it sounded good. I agreed. We went today and it was good. Until some older people (older than me now) walked in and was talking to the cook. All I heard was "we heard about you on NPR!"

My life is over.

Ok, just kidding! I've only been 30 for 2 weeks and it's not bad at all. I can basically do what I want. I had ice cream for dinner the other night. I hear my mom and sister do that all the time. I don't see what all the excitement is about though. It's just ice cream. I was hungry an hour later. It was really dumb, lesson learned.

And isn't it about lessons learned through out life?

So I'll go on listening to NPR. I'll keep using my sunscreen (MIL loves me for using sunscreen. I know tan fat is better than white fat but no wrinkles kicks all their asses combined.) and eye cream and I'll get a new prescription for my glasses. I'm 30 and I like the surprised look when I tell people that. Lesson learned.

*going to get Scullers from her Cali vacation this weekend. I should have the rest of my photos up at the foell.org gallery when I get back for those who are interested.

Part One

Just some of our Thailand photos:


We stopped in Tokyo for some goodies.


View from our room in Pattaya. Yes it was that hazy and humid.


Getting ready to go boating. The waves were rough and the winds were high. Oh and 3 people got sick and the boat wouldn't start. But we made it back.


Red Bull in a medicine bottle. It cost us $.33!


Eating yummy Thai food.


Justin's food was smoking!


Wat Po with some of the wedding party.


Adit, Paveena, and Adit's mom Sarita at the Ring and Mehendi Ceremony. No clue what happened but it was really a greeting line. Party #1.


Henna time.



The Baraat (Indian procession to meet the Bride). Party #2. We made it to Party #3 later that night (basically a really big wedding reception) but I felt sick so we left early.


After the ceremony. Justin, Adit and I waiting to depart for the Doli (to pick Paveena up...again). Party #4 about to start.


Walking through Paveena's neighborhood on an Elephant. All the white people have seen "When Animals Attack" so we stayed away.


Successfully picked up Paveena and Adit's crew, including Justin, carried her to the last reception. More dinner, dancing and boozing.


See the glow? It was humid.


Justin, as he looks in his natural state.

Stay tuned for part two.

London in Eight Days

We actually have a few days left here. I'm just waiting for Justin to get up so we can head up to Liverpool to visit the hometown of The Beatles. Internet is expensive here. Actually I just looked at my credit card bill and I spent $111.00 on 2 shirts! So I'm really watching what I spend and if it's something I can get at home, I don't buy it.

London is a complete 180 from Bangkok. It's so nice and friendly. Traffic jams are replaced with subway delays and hookers are replaced with pubs.

It's hard to say if I'd go back to BKK. I need some time to think about it. London on the other hand, I'm totally coming back to. There is still so much we haven't done. But so far it's been great.

Yes, I've had some great Thai food, British food (guess that can be hard to believe) and we had some Lebonese food last night. Yes, I've taken lots of photos including photos of Justin and I in our Indian outfits. Don't worry, we'll post them up for all to see. On our way back from Paris Justin took a photo to show how I was feeling at the time. You'll be able to tell which one.

Well it's time for a traditional English breakfast. We'll be home Tuesday night. Don't worry work friends, we'll be in the office Wednesday at 7am!

The Longest Wedding Event EVER

It's Saturday Morning here(11:00am)and the final wedding event was last night. Adit rode down Paveena's street on an elephant (seriously) to pick her up. The temple marriage was simple compared to all the other events we've been to here. It's like they are royalty because cameras are always flashing. It's really impressive.

It's been a crazy but amazing event (all 4 of them). I'll post more when Justin fixes his space bar-it's stuck-hard to type.

Overall we've had an amazing time here in Bangkok. Shopping is CRAZY here. We went to one mall - 5 levels. 1 level all cell phones! People love their cell phones here. More shopping today. We leave tomorrow night for London. Hopefully I'll get some photos up once we get there.

Have a good Friday night...I did!

Thailand here we come

In case you come here and wonder where I am -- I'm in Thailand. But I'm sure I've told you and everyone I see.

I'm mostly packed. Just need to do my trik tik itin and wrap it all up. Justin is taking one suitcase. Lets just see if he starts packing his souvies in MY suitcase.

I'm debating on getting my second shot today. I don't want to get it on my birthday because that would suck. Maybe I'll wait until I get home.

I did pack some snack foods in my suitcase including soup just in case I'm totally grossed out. I do have a limit when it comes to Asian food. 2-3 times a year is enough for me. So the next 3 years will be covered in this trip.

Well, since this post is boring, I'll leave you now.

Happy Birthday Elsa!

You Say Goodbye and I Say Hello!

My twenties didn't suck too bad. I got married, graduated college, got my first "real" job and got laid off from that "real" job. I actually had a dream last night that my old HR lady from that place came to where I work now and fired me. And for some reason I believed her except she didn't give me a box like everyone else got last week.

We had a lay-off day last week. I knew I was on the chopping block. Once I saw the girl next to me was gone, I grabbed my personal file and a few other things and just waited.

Then I got the notice; "Can you come into my office?" I didn't want to go in there empty handed so I grabbed a notepad (always ready for notes) and a pen and smiled my way to that office. I figured if it was going to happen it'll be a big relief. Then I remembered I have the BIGGEST vacation of my life coming up and having no money would be bad. (We've saved up plenty...don't worry.)

I walked in and sat down. "Shut the door." Oh crap. This means business. But before he started talking I realized something: A)If I was going to be let go, it wouldn't be by him. 2)there was no one else in his office (i.e. my BOSS). So I was eager to hear what he had to say.

I'm not laid off. I got a job. Surprised and somewhat sad who they let go, but I was excited to finally have a job description. What a huge relief.

Speaking of the BIGGEST vacation of my young life...I was asked the other day at lunch if Justin and I get really excited before a big trip. I said yes and no. Yes for obvious reason. No for stupid reasons. Gotta get Scully taken care of, gotta get all my travel documents and shots. What to take (dress for 2 climates!), what kind of outlet thingies do I need? Oh and the biggest, flying over water for oh, 12+ hours, multiple times. So I'm stressing over that. Justin just says "if we're going to die, we'll die together." So reassuring.

But I just have to look at the big picture. Planes fly all the time and nothing happens. It's just a really long flight and I need to get over that. So I'm thinking about all the things I'll be doing mostly in London. Bangkok will be exciting but that time will be taken up with wedding events. But I would like to go fabric shopping in BKK. Imagine all the fabric! Same thing in London. Fabric stores everywhere!

Here's an inside of what we'll be doing:
Fly to BKK
Spend time in Pattaya
Wedding in BKK
Fly to London
Go to Paris (Chunnel), Liverpool and Bath
Take the Magical Mystery Tour, visit the BBC (totally dorky but I LOVE the BBC) and Stonehenge and all the other touristy things in London (too many to list!)
Fly home

Done. 2 1/2 weeks of adventures to cover us for at least 2 years. I'd say that's a good way to say goodbye to my twenties and hello thirties.

Oh sh**. I think I'll go cry now.