Here's Winkin' At You Kid

Aren't You Glad You Have a DVR?

When I lived at home I wanted a DVR soooo bad. I begged my parents, told them all of the features that would make it worthwhile, but no go. So Jon and I moved out together and had to skimp on things like DVRs we just had to watch commercials. And guess what my parents go and do? GET A DVR! Woe is me!

Jon and I were watching tv last night and we saw this commercial (because we cannot fast forward them!) And I didn't notice anything too odd but Jon sure did. See if you can spot the weirdness in this commercial.

Still don't see it? Check around the 20 sec mark.

yes, she just put cinnamon rolls on HER SALAD. I mean I get that we all get a little nuts at buffets but pastry on roughage? Cici's are you really trying to encourage this? Can't we get that gal a second plate? No? Ok enjoy your cinnamon roll salad.

Now there is nothing strange about this commercial, I just think it is sad.

Come on Karen, you were on Will and Grace, a super popular show and now ....butter? (I'm sorry, I Can't Believe It Is Not Butter) Really? The part that makes me mourn for her former career is the part at 13 seconds, that or the part where the guy is dragging her on the big butter tub whilst doing the moonwalk.

Have you seen any odd commercials lately?

Head For the....Bathtub?

Other than my strange neck cramp hustle through the parking lot the other day, I have sorta been enjoying all of this rain that California has been getting. Its a nice change, almost like I want to say, "Awww California look you trying to be all tough with all this rain." I have to keep reminding myself that the rest of the country gets weather much more extreme than all of this rain.

However, this not so serious rain almost turned serious, like tornado serious. I know, a tornado, in California? Who would have thunk ? I was watching General Hospital yesterday when all of a sudden the super serious "dun dun dun" music interrupted a very tense scene with Sonny and Jason. The breaking news informed me that there was a tornado warning for the area in which I live.

I'll let that sink in for a second. A tornado warning. In California. I have never heard of such silliness.

So I listened closely as they told me that if this tornado warning turned into an actual tornado that I was to get in my basement. "Ok get in basement" I said out loud to my tv. Wait, a basement? Don't have one of those. I think you can get in the bathtub and cover yourself with a mattress, right? I think I saw that in a movie. Then the "dun dun dun" music played out the tornado warning and I was once again watching General Hospital.

Does anyone else think it is irresponsible of the news to a) interrupt your stories, b) tell you that a TORNADO is coming to your tornado free territory and then just say "carry on" like nothing?

yeah that is what I thought.

Not to be all anti-climactic but the tornado warning was over in a half hour so my mattress stayed on the bed and my butt out of the bathtub.

Just Like Romantic Comedy...or Something

Do you ever have moments in your life that could be a scene from a movie?

I feel like I have these moments all the time, that or I am totally dramatic. One of the two. But my movie moments are not those from some sweeping epic drama or action movie. Nope, it is more of a whole bunch of scenes from a comedy where I am the goofy leading gal.

I am not sure if you have heard but California is being covered in rain. Not that I am complaining, it is kinda fun to hear the wind howling outside and I know all of this rain is so good for our patch of the earth. The strangest thing about the weather is that it is slightly inconsistent; one minute it is sunny and beautiful and then the clouds roll in and BAM! FULL ON STORM!!

Yesterday I was on my way to work at the jewelry store and the dark grey clouds looked like they were just puckering with rain. But they held back for my whole drive there. But as soon as I stepped out of my car to make my walk to the store, guess what?, the puckered clouds dumped their buckets of water on me. I should also mention that for this job I have to dress up, so I was wearing tights a cute dress and trying to put pull my head back under my jacket like a turtle receding into its shell.

Well the day before Jon had led his sister, mom and myself in a workout that seriously kicked my but so I was sore, so very sore. Therefore, the act of walking quickly and raising my arms over my head was pure punishment. So there I am hobbling through the parking lot, jacket blocking my view and my big ole purse bouncing off of my body. And then the left side of my neck cramps up! Oh yes it does. So in addition to the hot mess I already had going on I now looked like I was on an invisible phone or better yet, a chic Quasimodo.

Once I made it into the store I couldn't help but laugh once I thought of the scene I must have caused, but that is somehow typical of me. Now if only there was a camera following me, comedic gold I swear.

Have you had any movie moments lately?

Oh So Happy

Sometimes I am lucky enough to be happy in the moment.

Take today for example, I have fresh flowers from my mom sprucing up our dining room table. I am actually eating cleaner (thinking about how food will make you feel after you eat it really helps), and little by little I am trying, really trying, to become a more active version of myself. And Frank is totally on the mend and starting to lose weight. And that is just the icing of the happiness cupcake.

I have decided to become more financially responsible, save more and resist the urge to give into temptation. Like this stupid cute ring from work.

Just when I made a promise with myself that I will realize that there are very few things in life that I NEED, the spring collection comes into the store, the same store I get 20% off at. But I must listen to my inner Suze Orman and her famous slogan, "People first, then money, then things." And while I would love to have that ring join my jewelry collection, I don't need it. I need love, shelter, food and thankfully I have all of those; while many people struggle to connect with even one of them.

In the meantime I am taking pleasure in the simple things, the hummingbirds that visit many times a day to use the hummingbird feeder I put up, lazy Sundays, renting books and movies from the library (still boggles my mind that you can take all of that stuff home for free), big hearty laughs or the fact that I have a well established shoe collection mainly because Jon's fashion savvy sister and I share the same shoe size. Yes, sometimes it is the simple things that make my world go round.

While saying "no" to making non-necessary purchases is hard and sucks when you are put under the spell of shopping, I do think that it makes it a lot easier to appreciate the things that are free of charge, the things that sometimes go unnoticed because they don't come in fancy packaging.

What simple things make your day a little brighter?

Please Hold

As I write this the rain is gently falling, Frank is snoring loudly and I am sipping a glass of wine, a large glass. It has been one heck of a day. Let me back up and explain. For the past two days Frank has started to cough so hard that he wakes himself up if he is sleeping or he has trouble breathing if he is playing. Super scary. I made an appointment for him to see his vet for today at three. Simple, right?

Well I came home from work today and Frank rushed up and shook his butt to greet me. He then started to cough, the cough then turned into a choke and before I knew it he was gasping and stumbling. He couldn't breathe. I rubbed his back to try and help him stop coughing so hard but it did nothing so I gave him the Heimlich maneuver. I had only given the Heimlich to one other person (emphasis on person) before and that was my brother who had eaten his candy cane too quickly-resulting in projectile vomit all over our Christmas tree. I am not sure why I felt the need to include that story, but there you have it.

So the Heimlich started worked and he threw up and began to breathe again. But before I knew it he was coughing so hard that he was choking again. I called his vet and the receptionist asked me to hold so I told her, "My dog is coughing so hard he is not breathing, this is an emergency!"

And then she said, wait for it, "Well I am ringing up a customer right now so you will have to hold!"

I told her it was an emergency and she told me to hold. I still can't believe it.

The sound of gagging and classical music filled our apartment as hot tears rolled down my cheeks. It was awful. Just awful. I hung the phone up and simultaneously brought a hacking Frank to the car while calling Jon up. We got to the car and Frank was able to stop coughing and Jon calmed me down. So Frank and I just sat in the car and gathered ourselves.

Long story short, Frank had a few more choking episodes and our vet was less than helpful so I found a new vet and took him there asap. The new vet suspected pneumonia so she took x-rays of our Franker. I like how in the top one you can see his wrinkles in the upper left corner.

Thankfully she didn't see fluid in his lungs which could mean it is the early stages of pneumonia or his sleep apnea is being affected by his weight so he needs to lose more weight. The vet was pretty positive it is the second reason but she is going to be sure and have a team of doctors look at his x-rays tomorrow. After one very emotional day it looks like Frank is back on a diet.

Does the glass of wine make sense now?

A Case of Mistaken Identity

As I was dozing off to sleep last night I remembered there was a story I had forgotten to tell you guys and it was too good to not share. So here it is.

Okay so I have one of my professors as my friend on facebook; sound like it could be awkward-oh just wait. I didn't think anything of it at first because he was one of my favorite professors and he was one cool cat. At graduation said professor was snapping pictures of all of his students in all of our jubilant pride. He was proud of us, we were proud of us-very happy pictures! And being the ham I am, I did not shy away from the impromptu photo shoot.

Well a week later I get an email from facebook telling me that my professor had tagged me in a photo album. Well I click over to view the pictures, giddy to relive the excitement. I go straight to the ones in which I am tagged and I search the picture to see my face-but I didn't see it. So I double, triple, quadruple checked that I was tagged in the photo-and indeed I was. So I touch my cursor to my name to solve my own personal game of Where's Waldo. My name flashes up on the picture under a girl thatisnotme.

Not even close to me.

And there were so many of this poor girl being mislabeled as me. There I was drinking champagne, posing with professors, chatting it up-except-you guessed it-IT WASN'T ME!

Now this girl was perfectly lovely, but she was so not even close to resembling me that it was offensive. I mean I had numerous classes with this professor, went to his office hours, chatted with him (yes I was a wee bit of a brown noser) and apparently he didn't even remember me!

Frustrated, I untagged "myself" and looked far and wide in the album to find the real me. But I wasn't even in there, double burn!

Sheesh. As you can imagine I was a little bit perturbed.

Hand Wringing

Every so often I get anxious. Not just nervous about everyday things but just pure anxiety for no good reason. In case you have never had it, anxiety is like a tea kettle that that is blowing steam for all to hear. But unlike a tea kettle that can be taken off heat to quiet the scream, anxiety just keeps screaming long after the heat has cooled. So once I try to calm my worries for every day things like bills and commitments and the anxiety still rages I just kinda sit there and rifle through my brain for things that could be causing my anxious thoughts and then search the house for things out of place. And unfortunately most of the time it is all of these things and none of them all at once.

This feeling found me last night as I watched the last half hour of Desperate Housewives. Usually this is an ideal way to end my weekend but for some reason I could not sit still and enjoy it. I just kept staring at Jon as he read his book, and then he would look at me over his book like "can I help you". Then I would try to explain to him what I was feeling and he would try his hardest to help me sort through the junk mail of my mind to find out what was bothering me.

But this was unsuccessful and I had to try and calm my mind enough to go to bed. And somehow I did and today I am feeling right as rain. The mind is such a unique organ. Sigh. Let's just hope that it decides to keep the whole anxiety thing under wraps for a while.

17 Again

On Monday night, as Jon recuperated from his dental surgery I popped on 17 Again. Now, I wasn't really a Zac Efron fan, I just didn't get the appeal. But I thought I would give the movie a shot anyway.

About 20 minutes into the movie I too was 17 again. Funny how that worked. I would say it was probably this scene that sent me over the edge from totally uninterested in Zac Efron to "oh mah gah I want his poster on my wall stat!" Seriously, go watch it now. I'll wait here.

Oh good you are back.

And then I had a realization that hits me so often, I'm 25, not 17. It may be hard to believe but sometimes I forget. A lot of times I forget. Like when I am totally content watching Full House with a bowl of macaroni and cheese. Sure on the outside I am much different than I was at 17. I mean, I live with my boyfriend, we have a dog, my boobs are so much bigger than they were when I was 17 (ha! yeah right!). I guess what I am trying to say is that I catch myself doing things that are so "me" (and maybe immature) that I wonder if it is normal for other 25 year olds to do. It is so strange how you can feel so different from your chronological age.

So anyway back to Zac Efron, I was giddily smiling at his cuteness and then realized that my crush could be misconstrued as inappropriate, gross even. My giddiness then evaporated. But then I watched that dance scene again and all was right in the world.

*Update: I just googled Mr. Efron and found out that he is indeed 22. Ok I feel less perverted.

Do you ever do things that seem much younger than your calendar age?

Toothy Grin

Jon decided to start his 2010 off with a surgery. On Monday he got his wisdom teeth out and it was hilarious! Now before you get all preachy and say "you shouldn't have taken advantage of the poor guy!", just know he already proofed this post.

I came prepared with a book and some magazines expecting a long wait but before I could even crack my book he was done! Seriously, 45 minutes later he was done. Thankfully it was quick because I kept leaning back on the couch and smacking my head on this creepy 3D wall hanging.

As I was brought back to the recovery room I began to get nervous that I would see Jon in a lot of pain. But to my surprise I saw this:

And then he exclaimed, with a gauze filled mouth, "THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN!" And then he posed for another picture. Jon still maintained that getting his wisdom teeth out was indeed fun because he had an awesome dream that he was an avatar.

He then interrupted the nurse as she explained how to add more gauze to his mouth with, "HEY YOUR CLOCK IS REALLY COOL, THERE ARE TWO OF EVERY NUMBER!" I just couldn't stop laughing. I don't have wisdom teeth (cough, I am a highly evolved creature, cough) so I had no idea if his reaction was normal so I just went with it and took pictures.

On the way home Jon told me that his nurse was "SO HOT!" He also wondered if we would be making a stop off at the Container Store and then he put on my sunglasses.

He was feeling right as rain friends. He even tried to jog from the car to the apartment. And then a few hours went by and, well, it wasn't fun at all anymore. He's doing much better today but still a little woozy from all the meds. Do you have any funny stories from getting your wisdom teeth out?

First Post Of 2010!

Does anyone else feel like they have been chewed up and spit up by the holiday season. Yeah I do just a bit. I mean, I had a wonderful holiday season but I am exhausted. My New Year's celebration may be the culprit. I think a recap is in order, shall we?

My bestie Erin and her roomates reserved a whole bar for all of our friends on New Year's Eve. How perfect is that? Soon after Jon, Serina and I arrived we were whisked away in a limo. Er, I should say three different cars welded together. I was so frightened that the people in the back of the limo would become detached from us and roll down one of San Francisco's steep hills. Oh and it didn't help that the drivers (yes, two guys sat in the front seat) were pretty sketch. Ahh memories. Erin and Jon posing in front of our ride:

Thankfully we weren't made into lampshades (Jon's big concern with the scary limo) and we made it to the bar in one piece. Once we got there our friend Carrie joined us shortly thereafter and showed us all her right arm pit.

It was a good time had by all.

With some serious moments...

...nothing actually serious, just photographic purposes.

And then the clock struck midnight and it was a New Year, a new decade, and my mom's birthday! So I gave her a ring.

And then we headed back inside to start the New Year off right.

With some dancing.

I take my dancing seriously.

And then I realized, oh hey, Serina and I had the same nail polish on that night, and we didn't even plan it. heh. It is the little things in life that amuse me. Obviously. Soon after Serina, Jon and I left the bar for a bit in search of food. On our way we were telling everyone we could see "HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!" and were met not with eye rolls but with the same wish genuinely given back to us.

I have noticed that 2010 seems to have so much anticipation and hopes attached to it. I am loving this positivity and hope that even after January is over we can still hold onto the optimism that started this year off . I think we are onto something though, 2010 I'm ready for you, lets make it a good one!

Did you have a nice NYE? How is 2010 treating you so far?