bah

i took the day off to clear out the apartment.. and so i would be able to drive home in the daylight. now i'm "home" and watching project runway re-runs, doing laundry and laughing at henry's grunts.

i successfully completed my portfolio last night. i decided to go in to work because i blew a fuse while vacuuming. it turned out to be a good move, although i realized i may have way too many design samples. the books is one fat baby,but at least it is done for now.

more later..

almost-empty nest

i've been busy driving, sorting, purging and packing. every time i feel like i'm ahead on emptying out the apartment i find another stash of old magazines or clothes that were never altered or ancient fortunes [from cookies]. while im absorbed digging through my junk henry eats all of alice's food, or i miraculously ignite a pot of hard boiled eggs. at least i am keeping somewhat busy.

my parents came by sunday morning to fill a giant suv with goodies for vicki, val and robin. after an hour or so of grunting, sweating, bickering and wrangling pets, we ate lunch at a chinese buffet - [always] my father's restaurant of choice. after two platefuls of goodness, i began to feel nauseous. i had saved my egg drop soup for last, and found it unusually difficult to choke down. i finally gave up and realized i have been feeling ill quite often over th past few months - most of these episodees happened after a few steady hours of drinking, but i left that part out. my mother asked me if i was pregnant. my first thought was.. this is awkward. my father is sitting directly across from me, and in my head [and his, i'm sure] i am still too young to have sex, even though i am married, geez. my second thought was that - maybe i am.. but peter had been gone for over two months... then my mother asked if i had had a period recently. ahhh just got more awkward.. i said yes i have, infact, had two. thank you.

after a long day of digesting and cleaning up alice and henry pee, i was ready to sleep. henry and i were just about out when alice joined us. at first i thought it was adorable. i was pleased that alice was accepting the fact there was a doggy visitor and she was returning to our usual sleeping arrangement. it was not so good and there was not much sleep involved. the end.

thanksgivings

last night i visited the usual crew in southfield. we drank lots and posed for photos.

today i spent the day with henry, charlie and lucy. i did laundry, watched cable and ate english muffin pizzas. i miss petey.

pet sitting

henry made a visit to FAITH this afternoon. i went home at noon to get him and we took a leisurely stroll back downtown.
during this walk i was [or henry was, really] on the receiving end of many smiles and hellos. many more hellos than i've ever received during a walk downtown in the past. what makes people think they can butt in to my quiet time just because i am in the company of an adorable westie? i'm sure i do the same, but i was not amused by the extra attention, especially when a doggy bowl movement was involved. even the hobo-types got in on the action..

after our walk we spent quality time with my co-workers. they also greated us with smiles, awwws and baby talk. it was a fun time for all.

having henry here has led to some notable changes in my daily routine. first, i am waking up a good 20 minutes earlier than usual. this extra time allows me to take poopsie for painfully slow walks around the block so he can pee wherever and as much as he pleases. next, i take a lunch break [and we walk and pee some more]. lastly, i see my alice much less. that calls for a sad face :(

quarter century celebration

on saturday i turned 25. on sunday i drove from lansing to ann arbor, from ann arbor to lansing, from lansing to auburn hills and from auburn hills to lansing with an expired license. right now i am watching art in the twenty-first century on pbs and snuggling with henry dog. it has been an alright weekend.

the sleepover [on friday] went very well. per usual, everyone was at least on hour later than expected, johans got lost and val brought two bottles of wine, a fifth of southern comfort and another of castillo. most of the night was spent having general girl talk and getting just drunk enough to completely forget the slumber party activities i had found through my google searches. we did remember to make personalized night gowns [xl men's t-shirts] using puff paint, sparkles and rhine stones. johana is shown here, modeling her creation.

saturday morning we took the mini van to theos on the east side. we had a very yummy diner breakfast and our waitress gave me free birthday coffee. she was sassy. after breakfast i was able to empty out quite a few things from my apartment. it was like a friends-only estate sale. although it was very necessary and convenient, i felt a little apprehensive about giving up my bison mug or my macramé hanging houseplant holder. i did received a few excellent presents.. money.. flowers from my petey.. and a bottle of homemade cherry bounce form abby. this will help me forget about the dismemberment of my apartment when things get rough. thank you, abby.

preparations

it is finally feeling like november in lansing. today was windy, rainy, snowy and hailing at times. the shift in weather only means it's getting closer to the new year and good changes, so i don't mind it at all. i have a lot to keep me busy in the coming weeks.

so far this week at work has been comforting and reflective. my boss let all of our clients know about the shuffling of accounts due to my departure. thankfully all conversations went well and my last month at FAITH looks like smooth sailing. it was very affirming to hear praise from people i have worked very closely with for the past three years. even though i have been fantasizing about leaving behind [everything in] lansing, it was surprising difficult to hand over work to lynne. i have been with my accounts since their inception, so it felt like leaving my first born with a babysitter.. very unsettling. i need a life.

right now i am preparing for a throwback [to 1995] slumber party. since i left work i've made amy sedaris's vanilla cupcakes, a double batch of laurie's hummus and rolled way too many pigs in a blanket. hopefully we we all be well fed and equally intoxicated. i am very excited to have my favorite girls [that live in mich.] all in the same place.

also, i am very proud to announce that last night i made my first successful call to the UK. it was more difficult that it sounds, but very rewarding.

ladybugs attack

i have gotten in to the habit of watching movies in bed when i should be sleeping. this used to be filled with reading books while i should be sleeping.. i guess this is a sign i am getting stupider. i began by renting movies at blockbuster to occupy my time when i moved in to my first apartment in reo town. i have since grown too cheap to pay their rental fees and have found an excellent [free!] source for bad [and good] movies online.

when choosing a movie i aim for something that will not challenge my intellect or cause nightmares. this obviously narrows down the pool. last night's movie was in the land of women, starring meg ryan and adam brody. surprisingly, the movie had a few honest moments of greatness focused around a nagging past relationship. although i appreciated this surprise, it turned out to be fuel for me to imagine that my peter hadn't married me and moved out of the county for school, but that he had dumped me and still gets in touch to chat and keep old wounds fresh, as exes do so well. i should have just gone to bed.

today was a not too terrible of a day. i wore my recently thrifted yellow shift dress to work, compete with black tights, black flats and my black trench. during lunch, i took a walk around the block to the post office [to send off some recently sold ebay auctions]. as i walked down walnut, i looked down to see my dress had ridden up to almost waist high. fortunately i was the only person to notice this. unfortunately, a few minutes later [when my dress was actually covering my tush] a young man loudly and repeatedly yelled "jesus!" as i walked by.. apparently my trench made it apprear i was dressed as a no-pants flasher.

in other news, my apartment is being overrun by killer orange ladybugs. i have killed eight so far using junk mail to whack them and then suck them up with the vacuum. alice is not enjoying my undertaking.

shower-free sunday

i didn't accomplish much today, but i guess there was not much to accomplish. i did start the rake leaves this afternoon - unfortunately i only had three leave bags leftover from last fall, but the maple tree is still full of leaves so i'll have to have another go at it no matter what.

other than that the only highlight of the day was chatting with peter. my phone rang four or five times without no one answering on the other end.. i figured it was him calling from his pocket or someone stalking me. turned out to be peter having difficulty with spanish computers or some business. glad to hear he was out partying until 4 a.m. in barcelona while i was watching reality tv and passing out on the couch at 11. at least our behavior has been consistent.. and i don't want him to feel like he is missing anything over here.. i am obviously doing an excellent job of this.

before passing out last night i took a trip to the downtown liquor store to pick up a beverage. while i was waiting to pay, a very large teenage boy was also making a purchase and discussing the importance of having a wallet chain [which he did not have]. although i did not stick around long enough to hear the conclusion of this conversation, i assumed the point was: a wallet chain keeps you from being pick-pocketed. so, when he pulled out a wrinkled $50 bill in front of about 3 hobos [in this case, hobo refers to the many middle aged men and women who frequent this liquor store to purchase mini bottles and liquor or 22s and then ride their bikes into the street with no regard to oncoming traffic], i was a bit confused. after he was turned down, he asked if they had any $100 bills.. at this point i began to wonder if he wanted to be robbed. i was also curious as to what a lazy looking, sloppily dressed teenage boy was doing with at least $100 in his chain-less wallet. i should have mugged him just to teach him a lesson.

situations like these are what make me feel old.. and broke. i want a wrinkled $50 in my wallet, geez.

five for $5 fridays

i left work early and spent a few hours digging through the awesomeness that is the saginaw st. salvation army. i discovered a few weeks back that every friday you can get 5 pieces of clothing [originally marked $4.99 or below] for $5. This is an incredible motivator to comb through every rack in search of [at least] five items.. which i did very successfully this week. unfortunately i was not able to try most of what i picked out on due to many an old lady hogging the mirrors, but i ended up fairing very well.

i found four more polos for petey [bringing the total to 12? 15?]. i have been collecting them ever since he left for the UK and he realized we did not pack him enough clothes. maybe it was because his suitcase was full of music equipment... hopefully he will like what i've chosen.

for me i found 2 very cute dresses.. number one is a navy, poly-cotton, knee length dress with white button details on the shoulders. number two is a very 60s-ish yellow shift dress that is ridiculously see-threw. you can probably spy my blue underpants. i know, it's hot. dress number three cannot be worn as a dress.. when i finally tried it on it peeled my blue underwear halfway down my legs. this printed shift dress will be altered into a tank top. i also found a cute navy t-shirt and a white, acrylic cardigan.. yay! and i only spend $10.60. i look forward to visiting the other 3 thrift shops on the south side tomorrow.