Little Blessings

I've been feeling crummy these past few days. Sinuses going crazy, not really getting a lot of sleep. So, I've been doped up on nyquil and dayquil and it hasn't really helped. I realized that since there is so many other things in those meds, that I probably should get something JUST for congestion.

So, I thought of the new Vicks44 line of meds that give you ONLY what you need. (ie. one for congestion). I looked through ALL of my coupons (yes, I'm an avid coupon-clipper) and couldn't find any for it. Cold and Flu medicine isn't cheap... about $5-8 per bottle! I even tried searching on the net for something.

To no avail, I didn't find any discounts. My discomfort, unfortunately, outweighs the cost... so I decided to hop in the car and grab some at the drugstore.

I walk in to CVS and find the whole line of Vicks44 specialized care products. They're all about $7.50 each (YIKES!)... except the one I wanted for congestion. It's marked at over 75% off... only $1.89.

Crazy, right?! It was such a little blessing from God... a nice little discount on what I needed to feel better. :)

*sigh* God is great... and he shows it to me every single day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day weekend! Michael and I went to dinner on Friday night (because I had to work Saturday night) at a Japanese place. It was FABULOUS. :)

He got me a gift certificate to a local spa and I cannot WAIT to use it! Things have turned around completely for us from just a few months ago and I couldn't be happier :)

Anyway - we had a fabulous weekend and I hope you all did, too. There's a bunch of random stuff I could talk about, but I don't really feel like it today :)

Rice Krispies and a treat!

Last night, I carved some time out (finally) to do some much needed grocery shopping. Now that Rae isn't here (I'm not sure if I told you already but my roommate moved out... and in to a house with her boyfriend) I can throw away all the unused old stuff and start a-new.

I've been a coupon clipper for the past few months now and last night I saved the most money I've saved thus far... $30 on $100. (my previous record was like $23 on $95 or something) I'm really quite shocked about the amount of money I've been saving just by getting the newspaper every Sunday - but it's been fabulous!

Anyway, so I'm not normally a cereal buyer. I usually try to eat really healthy and most cereals have a TON of sugar in them (and the ones that ARE healthy for you are like five bucks a box... SO not worth it). I had a coupon that included Rice Krispies and Raisin Bran. Sounded good to me! So I went for it. I even picked up some marshmallows so I could make some rice krispy treats for Michael soon. :)

This morning, it was breakfast-time... so I decided to have some. On the back of the box, there were all these characters like Nemo and Dori from Finding Nemo, Goofy and Mickey, etc. I thought to myself... "Whatever happened to the toys in the cereal boxes? Everything now-a-days is buy 4 boxes and then send this thing in with a few dollars and we'll send you some colored plastic."

The thought passed and I opened the box.

And there it was.

My VERY OWN Goofy two inch stuffed head. I was SO excited! When's the last time you've gotten ANYTHING from a cereal box but a sugar high??

A shred of hope

After breaking down in tears not one, but two nights in a row over the dread of having to come to this place and sit here all day, there's finally a shred of hope. I'm incredibly shocked that Michael hasn't pushed me to the curb through all of this, cause I've been the bitchiest girlfriend ever. I've been needy and selfish and whiney... blah blah blah.

Anyway, I emailed a former colleague of mine that actually got me in with one of my clients over the summer. He mentioned to me earlier about a friend/former colleague of his that owns a PR company here in my city. In my catch-up email to him this morning, I mentioned that and I would possibly be interested in some project work.

His email back to me contained that one little tiny shred of hope I needed to make my day. He sent me a link to the company and their services contain EXACTLY what I want to do with my Marketing degree... Creative Event Management, Media Relations, and Collateral. Oh the fabulousness.

This is my ticket to freedom and out of this boring mess I've gotten myself in to. Hopefully I'll hear back and be able to interview. Hopefully she'll need some help and think that I'm the perfect person for the job. Hopefully she'll use my talents and I'll be able to learn a ton of things from her.

Say a little prayer for me. :)

It's all in the cards...

Last night, Michael came to my house and told me he had to show me something. He had someone at work make this really cool mini "movie" with a few pictures and animation for me. It was ADORABLE. He showed it to me the other day and I thought it was the cutest thing! Well, last night he had yet another surprise for me.... he'd put together an ENTIRE movie with our pictures from Hawaii played to "that's my shawdy" by Baby Bash (the song has meaning to us). I about died, it was so thoughtful and such a great surprise! I have the best boyfriend in the world!!!

Anyway, so last night, he passed out early and I wasn't tired so I just played around on the computer a bit. I stumbled upon this video by HelloGoodbye where this picture was displayed. Very clever.

So, the piggy-backer in me decided to grab a deck of cards and leave a 7, a queen, an ace, and a 3 - all in hearts on top of his socks :)

This morning, I woke him up so he could go get ready for work and totally forgot to ask him about the cards. As I was leaving, to go to work myself, though, I saw them and shot him a text.

On your socks, I left a 7, a queen, an ace, and a 3... All of hearts in that order. Do you know what it meant?

An hour or so later, he calls and this is what he says...
The 7 is the number of times I want to have sex with you every day.
The Queen is because you're the Queen of my heart.
The Ace is because I'm the Ace in YOUR heart.
And the 3 is for less than three.

Am I right?

Hehe... He is too cute. :)

10 Things this week holds...

1. Tonight I get to snuggle with Michael. He had a 'mancation' this weekend and I missed him :) (he's actually already sleeping in the other room)
2. I have two tests... one tomorrow in Mktg Research and one Wednesday in Finance.
3. Dinner with a friend on Thursday night. (I forgot her pseudonym... we haven't hung out in a while!)
4. I talked with Michael about doing the Fat Smash Diet. It's actually one of the only "diets" I've ever considered doing. You basically cut out the fat from what you eat. Hrm. Sounds good to me!
5. Friday night is "family picture" night... my mom is having ALL of us get together to take a family photo. The last time this happened, my 7 year old sister was only a few months old.
6. I'm feeling MUCH better from the muck I had last week. Whatever it was, it wasn't fun, but I'm over it now. This means going back to work. Ugh.
7. Next Sunday, we're going to the baseball game. It should be tons of fun... we haven't gone since my favorite player left the team. I'm still pissed about that.
8. Ummm... study, study, study? Did I mention studying?
9. I'll probably go work out some. I haven't done that in a while. And my school schedule isn't conducive to me going to the step classes this semester. I'm a little bummed about that. Ok, a lot bummed.
10. Scrapbooking. Someone from my mom's work asked me to do a scrapbook for their 18 month old son from birth. He's the CUTEST little thing. I did the Halloween page a week or so ago... and made him a pumpkin. SO cute! I'm sure I'll work on that some.


PS - Michael brought me back THE cutest little souvenir from his mancation. It's salt and pepper shakers of two little ceramic cats smooching (there are magnets on their lips). There are a TON of 'inside' things with this gift. That's the best part about it! AND he brought back snow globes for my sisters. How sweet is he?!
PPS - I got all the stuff to make the 2008 scrapbook for Michael and I. I can't WAIT to start it! I've got to get the other one done first though. Argh!

Ahhhh... so in love :) and so happy! <3

Oh, and I tried frozen grapes for the first time this weekend because Rae had some in the freezer... and I love them! Who would have thought?!

Whirlwind

AHHHHHhhhh!!!! Life is a freaking whirlwind at the moment. School this, Michael that, Money this, House stuff that... it's so ridiculous the things that need to happen in a day.

I came home from school this afternoon around 5... and slept until 9:30. It felt great - but I'm still tired. I had to take Michael to the airport this morning to catch a flight to Vegas for the weekend. It's easier for him to be gone for me now because he's gone on so many trips thus far. Usually, my trips and his trips coincide, so it's a ton easier... but I've got a million things going on this weekend with school and friends and all that jazz. I don't think my life stops for one minute.

I'm super excited about Monday. It's my birthday present to Michael to take him to see Dave Matthews, but he has no clue. We're going to have a TON of fun (and we're going with Rae and her bf, too!).

Now it's off to do homework, housework, sleep... you know, all the bullshit I've gotta do to get through school right now. Argh.

Saving the day...one visit at a time...

I'm not going to lie... things are rough right now. All these monstrous changes are happening in my life and I am the cause of it all. I want to go back to school. My lease ended and I needed a new place to live. I have to give my cat away to someone - that's a whole post in itself.

So, needless to say... today's not been all that great. And neither was yesterday, in fact. These shitty days will probably continue for the next couple of weeks until I get settled and in to a place where I'm comfortable.

Today's been the brunt of the anxiety attacks. And when I get these anxiety attacks, nothing is there to stop me from thinking crazy - off the wall - preposterous ideas about things that have to do with me. For instance: "Omg... you could get in a car crash and die tomorrow" or "Why isn't Michael calling me? It's only been 10 minutes since I left him" and just really weird stuff [yah, I know, it's fun being inside my head at these times. Let me tell ya!].

So tonight, I expected that Michael would come over because of an earlier conversation we'd had. He said it wasn't a done-deal because he had stuff to do... and if he didn't finish that stuff, then, well, he couldn't come. I talked to him several times - waited to eat dinner until after he called just to make sure he didn't want to eat together, you know, just the normal stuff we do together. Each time I talked to him, his visit was pushed off more and more. I have to give him some credit, though. We talked on the phone for an hour and a half... and I don't have a bed set up - nor do I have hot water here yet. (ah, the joys of moving)

I told him how I felt - that the world was crashing down and I needed him to come save me, perhaps. I was honest and told him that I just really needed him here with me. And of course I pulled the "well, I come to your house a lot" - which, I admit, was a very low blow, indeed, and tried to pull it back into my mouth just as soon as it left. To which he firmly corrected me and told me it wasn't about that at all.

It was about him being tired.

Hrmph. Immediate thought (though I was careful enough to keep that thought INSIDE my head at that point) "why, if I can drop everything I have just to come be with you when you say you need me, can you not do the same?" Oh yes. That's exactly the selfish thought that went through my head. I can tell you why, though. Because that is exactly how I was treated in the past. No one wanted to lift a finger for me - even though i'd given them the world.

Thinking it was almost just as bad as saying it. There were some other things i'd said... like "If it's too big of a hassle, then don't worry about it" or "If you're tired, then I understand"... which, I would. If he's tired, then he's tired. Our conversation continued for a little while longer, then he said he'd call me right back.

[Don't get the wrong idea, here, we were talking about these things and most certainly not arguing. I, admitedly was in a ridiculous mood and completely dispised my attitude at the time.]

[My cell phone rings like sonar. It's really weird but I kinda like it. So for me to say "ring, ring" wouldn't do it justice. Imagine, if you will, a sonar sound...]

"Ring, ring!"

Michael: "Hey, you've got shampoo, right? And toothpaste?"
Me: "You're coming over!?"
Michael: "Yes. I know you need me right now"
Me: "I know i'm being really selfish but this is just a lot of stuff at once. Are you sure you want to come?"
Michael: "It's ok to be selfish sometimes... at least you were honest with me about your feelings."

Halelujah.... he's on his way :)

And THAT, my friends, is a keeper!

Surprise letter from the past.

I checked the mail as I was coming home the other night and found a hand written address on one of the letters. Usually, everything is pre-printed with my address and the contents of my mailbox literally consist of magazines, bills, junk, and the occasional card from someone far away.

I had a best friend in High School named Julie. She and I went our separate ways when she got married just out of 11th grade and had a baby shortly after. We'd kept in touch for a while, but over the past year or two haven't really communicated much. There's no real reason - she's just busy with life and her two young sons... and me, I'm busy with work and the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

As you guessed it, the letter was from her. It was a nice little update on things going on in her world. Quite refreshing, actually, since I have felt overwhelmed with all of my friends leaving me in the past few months.

Just tonight I had the chance to write her back and tell her the things going on in my world. One of those things deserves a post of its own, so I'll save it for then (which will probably be immediately following this one - I'm a now or never kind of person when it comes to getting stuff done).

I'm glad she wrote to me... it was great hearing from her!

Oh... and you can credit her with the nickname Chicksta. She gave it to me when we first became friends in 8th grade. :)

French phrase of the day:

Life is great!
la vie est grande

Meeeeemories...

I ran across this video today on 'Dead On' - another one of those blogs that I tune in to because there might be something worth reading if I've got a minute.

This song brings me back to dating XM my first few years of college. Ah... the memories.

So hit play. And enjoy reliving the memories with me. :)

Let's not forget the French Phrase of the Day, shall we?

J'aime cette chanson!
I love this song!

10 Things that happened to me today.

1. My brother totalled his brand new Infiniti G35 Coupe. It was a thing of beauty, too. I felt bad for him.
2. My roommate brought home some people in the wee hours of the morning. (2 girls, 1 guy) One of which was puking her brains out. Literally.
3. I wrote a letter to my neighbor (we have a shared wall) who doesn't know what it means to have respect for neighbors and not blast her rap music and she placed it on top of our trash can. I laughed. Next time it'll be the po-lice. Biatch!
4. A friend of "ours" is MIA. He hasn't logged in to his myspace account since December 23rd and his best friend (with whom he is usually attached at the hip) hasn't heard from him since then either. I hope he's alright.
5. I bought a new camera today. I did tons of research before trodding to the store with my top two choices in hand. When I got home, I looked it up - $30 less online from the same store. I'll gather my refund tomorrow.
6. My mother is making a quilt for me. Full of all of my high school band and guard t-shirts. I got to see the pieces of it today. It's going to look fab.
7. I got a phone call in the middle of a movie. I silenced it. A few seconds later a text came through saying "Call me!!!".... so I did. There wasn't an emergency.
8. I got a mani/pedi today. It was refreshing.
9. I talked to a few people I hadn't talked to in a while today. I think i've decided what i'm going to do for New Year's. Being that it's tomorrow night and all...
10. I slept until 1. Hmm.

Honda made me smile...

Ah... where to begin?

I drove a 1999 Honda Accord for quite some time (3 years, actually... my longest track record for driving one car!) until the transmission was shot and I had to get a new one.

LOOOONNNNGGGG story short, the transmission failed about three hours after I took it to get an oil change. Smell fishy? Yep. That's what I thought, too. So, I took it to get diagnostics at another dealership and decided to buy a new car (LOVE my new car!) the same day.

Months later, after the anger subsided, my grandfather and I approached the Service Manager at Honda and explained the situation to him. He offered some assistance from Honda (thank God!) and told me he'd tell me how much once he got the car there and was able to check it out.

So... final word came back yesterday... and they're going to provide the parts, all I have to do is pay for the labor. That's only about 700 bucks total. (instead of $3000 for the whole job) Needless to say, I'm one happy camper. Now I can sell that car and lower my new car payments. Isn't life lovely!?!

Oh yes. Honda DEFINITELY made me smile :)

Congratulations... you're a Vegan?

You don't always get what you bargained for... especially when it comes to reading about diets and your food.

I picked up this book last week entitled "Skinny Bitch." Included, there were healthy eating habits, what "ingredients" are good and bad, and what generally to look out for when you're choosing food. I figured it'd be a nice little health-conscious book because I'd never really been taught the good foods and bad foods, I've just always eaten slightly on the healthier side.

Starting the book was easy. I agreed mostly with what they said... Don't drink soda's (especially not Diet sodas - because of all the chemicals in sugar substitutes)... Don't smoke... Limit Alcohol... Exercise... Eat lots of fruits and vegetables... You know, the normal stuff.

Then I get to the chapter about meat. I got COMPLETELY and UTTERLY grossed out. They talked about the unsanitary slaughterhouses, the way animals were raised, byproducts of these animals... and the like.

After that very horrible chapter (which I skimmed mostly through)... it merely said "Congratulations... you're a vegan" I was so pissed off. I have never, ever, been persuaded to be that way - and frankly don't want to make the lifestyle choice to become a vegan.

But there's just one problem... I'm completely grossed out. I had to take a trip to Whole Foods for lunch today - because the very thought of putting cheese, chicken, beef, or anything BUT vegetables and fruit into my mouth... was completely repulsing.

Congratulations, Skinny Bitch writers. You've accomplished your mission. Fuck.

A special "Thank You"...

... Thanks to Mo for submitting this for me. It's perfect. And it's incredibly sweet!

The definition of "Chicksta"... which has been my 'nickname' since 8th grade.

Surprise Wednesday

Oh yah. This week's Wednesday was officially dubbed "Surprise Wednesday" before it even started.

Surprises:
- Flowers from a friend

- A pair of my shoes were fixed when I got home. I typically wear them until the heels are falling off because I pay so much for them. She fixed them for me :)

- I got a pair of hand-me-down pants that were too small for her

- I've been searching for a specific jacket for 2 years now. When I was at the mall with my sisters last weekend, I saw it in the window.
Well, Sam sent me several links to some suit jackets he was thinking about purchasing (gotta love that he asks for my input) so I found the jacket online and sent it to him. What I also found was a $30 off coupon for it.

Cha-Ching! So, I splurged the $50 (exactly what i'd made the night before in babysitting) and got it.

- Sam had a baseball game last night (he coaches a high school team) so he said he probably wouldn't get done until really late and would just have to say goodnight at around 8 or so. He did. But then he called after the game just to say goodnight. It was a great surprise!

- Some other things shaped up at work as well. Instead of the shit constantly hitting the fan, it allowed for a small breather. I was relieved!