a day off :)

So I am taking my day off today rather than tomorrow.  Tomorrow, the Haitian Ambassador is visiting, and I need to help with the ceremony.  Unfortunately, I will have to wear my uniform for that...the one that is currently hanging in twenty different places.

This morning, I'll be enjoying my Real Simple magazine, some fabulous books, and Regis and Kelly.  Then I'll go to Current Boutique to sell my fabulous new thrift store finds.  That's my new business plan...buy a ton of amazing clothes at the Goodwill down the street (where apparently J. Crew and Banana Republic leave their cast-offs) and sell them at the consignment shop.  The greatest difficulty I've had with this plan is that I want to keep all the clothes I buy.  We'll see if I can turn a profit...although the profit will be entirely lost becuase I'll likely use it all as store credit.  :)  Ah well, what are you gonna do?

Life in general is pretty great right now.  I miss Kirkwood, and today is his birthday, but he did inspire a poem, which I think may be better than any in my recent past.  Poem is here:

http://poetryinajar.blogspot.com/2010/07/july-in-september.html

Well, I'm off to enjoy my morning at home.  Bye!

I saw Selena Gomez...what did you ever do?

Well, I'm finally back from Europe and dealing with the wonderful opposite of jet lag, which causes me to wake up incredibly early.  This morning, I had time to read and eat a serious breakfast before deciding to bike into work (slowly).  It was pretty great.  I felt ready to come back home, and it turns out I may not be as much of a world traveller as I thought.  Next time I go, I'll stick to relaxing in one place.  I ended up feeling kind of sick for most of the trip, and was unable to eat any of the delicious foods.  Apparently French medicine has become sub par with their socialization of healthcare, and Pantoloc Control (Pantoprazole) doesn't work nearly as well as the good old American Zantac.  Let this be a lesson to anyone with acid reflux, or to anyone who may develop it as a result of French cooking.

My favorite places were Chartres, St. Paul, Avignon, Lyon, and Toledo.  I was not a huge fan of Monaco (Monte Carlo), although I did see Selena Gomez there as she got into her car after filming.  I downright disliked Barcelona and did not appreciate the ridiculous Madrid airport.  Spain needed a bit of help cleaning up graffiti and pickpockets, in my opinion.

Work is going well.  Today is the final day for anyone to put in for the job in Newport, RI, so hopefully I'll find out soon who got it.  I came back to my desk to a barrage of emails and an envelope with an award and ribbon in it!  I immediately emailed Kirkwood to tell him that I'm beating him in the ribbon department...Now I'll have to buy a new ribbon bar, and only about two months after I bought the last one.

Well, that's what's going on right now.  I think I'll go grab a snack.  mmmmm, and no guilt because I biked in this morning!

Kirkwood in Africa

n the downside, Kirkwood will be underway until mid-September with very little phone access.  On the bright side, I now have an extra 30 min-hour of free time every night with which I can do anything I want (except talk on the phone with the boyfriend).  In other time-liberating news, Youth Group broke for the Summer, and that gives me every Tuesday night off.  I will miss having the church all to myself for ten minutes every Tuesday, but if I'm feeling really holy, I can still drive by for a visit.

Today I started writing my e-resume for the job I want.  I hear it will become officially available sometime in the next two weeks, and I can't wait!!!  Newport, Rhode Island would be chillier than I like, and farther away from family, but Providence is a pretty easy airport as far as visiting Virginia Beach goes.  I will have to ask Ginsu if it's ok, though...he will be the true decision maker. 

Now I'm off to girls' night, for which the fabulous Lisa has decided to order pizza...my favorite!  I should probably think of a name for Lisa, too.

Lovelock

So one of my very favorite places in the world is Lovelock, NV. If you've never heard of it, that's probably normal. It's a tiny little town that I went through on my last drive cross country, and it has one of my favorite restaurants, The Cowpoke Cafe. It also has a little park in the town center, which is surrounded by a circle of chain suspended on pretty, antique-looking poles. On this chain are hundreds of locks of every sort (from heart-shaped to antique locks to high school locker locks), all with two sets of initials carved in them. The town tradition is that you and your love (doesn't have to be romantic love, but I think it should be) buy a lock, carve your initials on it, lock it onto the chain, and throw away the key. It's apparently an ancient Chinese tradition, which I think is very romantic. The picture of a lock on the right side of this blog is a picture I took while driving through.

I'm not sure what exactly made me start thinking about Lovelock, but my friend Tmulds mentioned our drive cross country today, and we laughed about his insistance that Cheyenne is pronounced "Cheney, like Dick Cheney". Let's just say he still thinks it's pronounced that way. Agree to disagree. We also discussed my extreme love for the tiny town of Lovelock (and the Cowpoke Cafe!), and he said I should convince the boyfriend (still trying not to plagiarize with his name) to go put a lock on the chain with me. We'll see how that goes. A man who will go to Lovelock, NV for a romantic lock ceremony is a keeper in my book. :) Oh, and if this happens, I don't want just any old lock...I'm going to have to start searching now for the perfect one. All of you are welcome to join in my search, and if you find the perfect one I will reimburse...if it's not perfect, though...you're out the money.

Ok, so I think I have just now decided on a name for the boyfriend. Kirkwood. He'd love it even more than his real name, and it's almost all he talks about...besides manatees. Kirkwood it is.