mandaloo

things have been going great. the employment/work gods must be having a good week. i found out yesterday that i will be getting a window cube in the next couple of days (the current person in the cube is moving to the dallas office). and unless one works in an office or a cube farm of some sort, one would not understand the reason to be excited over this. my mom said, "what's the big deal?" well – the big deal is that i spend forty plus hours in a box and to have one of the few window spots means having a view, sunlight, etc. plus, they're usually a little more roomy and have extra storage space. my boss does cube assignments by tenure, and not by rank level, meaning that while i'm not all that high up in my group (everyone else there pretty much is a higher level than me), i'm getting the space based on the fact that i've been with the company for six years (yes – over a quarter of my life). i was completely shocked b/c i didn't think that i would get it. good news relating to work has also spread into jeromy's world, as he found out today that he got a position that he was interviewed for and wanted really bad. so, that's awesome – i know that he'll be happy to get into something a bit more stable.

on monday night, my dad's dog, cookie had ten puppies. she's a full-blooded brittany spaniel and dad was hoping to breed her and have at least one litter of brittany puppies. during her last heat, though, she become unexpectedly pregnant – we think the daddy was some white dog we've seen before. at any rate, the puppies are here and i took some pics yesterday of them:

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my trip to austin this weekend was a blast. kim and i left work early on friday and off we drove. more so – off i drove… which is a big deal. in the past, driving outside of my ten-mile radius would have terrified me and placed me in a grand state of anxiety. but – the jaunt to austin was no problem. we stopped at the czech stop in west, tx – which is a gas station, but only better b/c it has a bakery attached. from the amount of cars congregated around the building and across the street, i think that half of the entire town of west was there, too. i scored two kolaches and a chocolate chip cookie for the road. we got to makenzie's house around sundown and after chilling at her cute little townhome for a while, we (kim, makenzie and her husband, and i) went to dinner at kirby lane. the food was excellent. then, we went to amy's ice cream, which is a standing sign that god loves us. i'm going to start campaigning that we get one up here… really. we stayed up until one in the morning talking and watching late night tv. we got up on saturday morning, had lunch at shady grove, and headed off to san marcos for the outlet mall. i had never been and my female cohorts tried to warn me about what i was in for. it was like a disneyland for shoppers – blocks and blocks of stores. i had vowed to go and just browse and not spend any money. five hours later, i left with a candle, a shower gel, four lotions (some were gifts in all fairness), a tank top, a shrug, green flip flops, and a spoonrest in the shape of a cow. we didn't even make it through half of the outlet…but that was probably good for my wallet. that night, we met makenzie's sister and ate dinner at hula hut. the wait was an hour and a half, but we downed two baskets of chips to pass the time. the only problem was that i barely touched dinner as a result of the "pre-meal" snack. yet again, we all stayed up until one in the morning. kim was sweet and bought all three of us these little socks and gloves that keep moisture in from your lotion (you sleep with them overnight). i must say that they worked pretty darn well. today, we all slept in, and i awoke to the sounds of makenzie making yummy blueberry muffins. we sat in our pj's until noon or so and watched the movie, nine months. total chick flick. after grabbing a quick lunch, kim and i headed back home. the trip was way fun and it was nice just to get away and be with my girls. i'd like to pretend that the weekend was more than the cliche talk, food, and shopping that seems to be depicted in girls' weekends. but i just can't do that. (more…)

"well-behaved women rarely make history." ~laurel thatcher ulrich

i leave for austin tomorrow afternoon. i’m going to have a “girls’ weekend” with my two coworkers. it’s going to be a blast. i think we’re gonna go to a comedy club and go shopping at the outlet mall or something.

pam and jeromy were over at my place last night. i cooked all of us a big meal, which is impressive, considering that i used to have trouble making condensed soup correctly…. no, really. i've received good feedback about my little place so far. i'm now looking at painting the dining room and maybe my bedroom, so there are paint chips floating about everywhere. i'm leaning towards golden straw for the dining room and burnt orange for my bedroom… we'll see, though.

the water at my apartment is out… the city is out there trying to fix it, though.  i really missed my shower this morning, as i proceeded to wash my hair under a thin stream of cold water in the kitchen sink.  man, we're spoiled.

fred jones (part 2) by ben folds always makes me cry. it came up on my mp3 player the other day… and i hadn’t heard it in forever. it’s kinda sad – but it’s life. “life barrels on like a runaway train, where the passengers change, they don't change anything, you get off someone else can get on…” and that’s how it goes. and maybe it’s incredibly naïve of me, but i hope that my life has been and will continue to be more than just a “passing” through of passengers. that somehow, i’ll make a difference to the people and make the trip more enjoyable for those around me. and if i become really ambitious, maybe i could even change the train itself. all aboard…

not much happening today. work was work. it was definitely a monday, though, and by three o' clock, i had to cave and get some reinforcements (aka – m & m's from the vending machine). went to mom's house afterwards and started to work on my dining room table. it is currently a light wood, which does nothing for my new motif in my apartment. so i thought it would be a great idea to stain the thing. tonight, i began sanding my dear table and four chairs. even with the wonderful help of the hand sander, it was quite the task. i had to use sand paper for all of those little ridges and round spots. luckily, mom helped out. she gets into crafty things. (more…)

last weekend, i moved into my own place. it’s the first time in my entire life that i’ve lived alone. no roomates. no spouse. no nobody. just me and my red couch and my flying pig over my bed and my cheesy magnetic poetry on the refridgerator door. of course, my sweet dog, bacon, will be with me, as soon as we can get a “custody” schedule worked out with mom. during the time that i was back home with my parents, my mom grew to like bacon a bunch and now, mom has decided that bacon needs to stay with her during parts of the week. we’ll see how that one goes. the move went smoothly – mainly due to the fact that jeromy and his family were my superheros and helped me out. they were such awesome help and i am forever in their debt. i would like to publicly brag on jeromy’s numerous efforts, as he was responsible for assembling all of my furniture (bed, bookshelf, two end tables, coffee table, corner shelf, computer desk, etc.) and for hanging all of the curtains, pictures, and everything else. and as if that weren’t enough, jeromy kept me emotionally level as the occassional stress due to moving crept upon me. so it’s a week later, and everything is looking really good… (more…)

this past weekend was great. on friday, jeromy and i hung with neo at the pizzy and did a nerd night. jeromy let me use his computer to do some stuff with my mp3 player (which is now happy from having songs added to it) and the two boys had their laptops out all evening talking about stuff. i didn’t understand a word of it, but it was great. maybe if i keep watching diggnation with the boys, i’ll start understanding this stuff better. lol. also – i learned that those new pizza hut poppers things aren’t overrated… they’re actually good. note to self.

mom and i did a crazy amount (eight hours straight) of shopping on saturday to get stuff for my new place (aka – the “mizzy”). i’m talking everything… comforter set, rugs, bathroom stuff, dishes, window treatments, etc. it’s so exciting – even though i’m scrambling to get everything together, i think it’s going to turn out super cute. a bohemian kind of look or whatnot. my bedroom is now official “mizzy prep” headquarters, as there are bags of household items everywhere… i’m pumped. on saturday night, jeromy and i went to a mardi gras party at my coworker’s house. we were both tired, so we didn’t stay very long. besides… if i had lingered much longer, i would have exceeded my meatball consumption quota for the year… the little meatballs that they had cooking were ultra good and i continued to go back for more. i scored some beads. and that in of itself rocked.

sunday was gorgeous outside. church rocked. good speakers and whatnot. i was really feeling the spirit and just had some really good inspirational thoughts run through my mind. i had a lot of peace about all of the things going on in my life right now. on sunday night, one of my good friends, ginger, had a little baby girl, which is fantastic. it seems like everyone is having babies right now, and its super cool to see everyone starting their families. when i talked to her husband on the phone to tell them congrats, he just sounded different… like good different. it is great how little miracles can change lives for the better.

on monday night, i went to a stamping party for at my coworker’s mother’s house. i had a blast and made 12 cards. of course, i was there until late in the evening. it was quite the estrogen fest, though, i must say. i ordered a sweet looking stamp set with penguins and eskimos (since i make cards on my own anyways), so i’ll be glad when it arrives.

last night, i finished up shopping for the mizzy. among the rest of the general household goods, i purchased a black bookshelf and an awesome computer armoire (which had a deceptively heavy box). i’m really getting pumped about moving out. just even little things will be easier for me and i’m really going to have the space (figuratively and literally) i need to grow.

today at work will be quiet… it seems like everyone is out for one reason or another. it will be nice b/c i think i can get a lot of stuff knocked out. today is my six year anniversary for working at this company. it’s very strange, considering that i was a senior in high school when i walked through the doors the first time. i’ve been through a lot in my professional and personal life just in the time frame that i’ve been here (graduated high school, got married, graduated college, became an environmental scientist, bought a house, got divorced, etc.). a lot of my coworkers really feel like family and i have been so blessed to know them. i am always in awe of how much love and support i get at work. one of my good coworker friends is in our austin office, and at the end of march, me and another coworker from the fort worth office will be going to spend a girls’ weekend in austin together. it’ll rock and i’m greatly looking forward to it. i’ve actually got a lot of my weekends booked starting soon. i know that on one of the first weekends in april, there is a wedding to go to. and then for easter, i will probably be in arkansas. and the weekend after that is the young single adult conference. and i know that i’m forgetting a lot of other things… it’s going to be a really busy spring.