Hello there, friends...

Well, it's been brought to my attention that I haven't blogged in quite some time. My dear friend Reese, over at Bits & Pieces, even e-mailed a new blog background to nudge me in the direction of blogging again. So here I am, new background and all!

I've actually been planning on this since the beginning of the year... I've come across a fantastic blog, Yes and Yes, who has compiled a list of 31 new things she wants to try before her 31st birthday. After reading her list and several others, I started to work on my own. What I loved about her list is that everything seemed attainable, yet it was still enough to be a little challenging. I'm not thinking of mine in terms of a "bucket list", but something fun to keep me busy, focused, and a little challenged. The first thing I noticed when I began, was that 34 things seemed like a lot. So... I came up with as many as I could, because I can always add more throughout the process. Oh, and I'm giving myself the whole year, not until my birthday. August will be here before I know it, and I don't want to be reminded! I'd LOVE to see others participate in this, as I think it would be a lot of fun!

1. Make a vision board! This is something I've been meaning to do for a LONG time. Having it on the list makes me excited to finally do it!
2. Go raw for two weeks. Everyone knows I a little bit of a health junkie (minus the sugar addiction).
3. Bake something from scratch. As in, no boxed brownies. From scratch. Never done it.
4. Practice yoga for two weeks. Classes or DVD's, as long as I do it regularly for two weeks. One of my best friends is a yoga freak, she even started teaching recently, and she looks amazing!
5. Participate in a 5K. Please note that I said participate, and not run.
6. Buy flowers and plant them. When I moved in my new house, the flowers were in bloom. Now they are dead, and I have to figure out how to landscape.
7. Delete Facebook games. Laugh all you want. Judge me if you will, but I am addicted to Cafe World. And Happy Aquarium. I will soon be breaking the cycle!
8. Take a road trip, with or without my friends! Technically, this wouldn't be new, but it's been way too long.
9. Donate money to Lab Rescue of Oklahoma. I know I should give more to charity, and this is something that is close to my heart. I know I will feel good about this one!
10. Get a spa treatment. Something other than a massage or facial, like a salt scrub or body wrap.
11. Give up ten pair of shoes. Sounds crazy, right? My closet needs the space.
12. Clean my car myself. Detail it, inside and out. Wash it in my driveway kinda clean.
13. Go to the aquarium. Actually, I did this yesterday! Pics are coming!
14. Watch one classic movie a month. I actually looked at AFI's top movies, and realized there are a LOT of old movies I've never seen.
15. Host girls night at new house. I've already done this one, too! I've held two slumber parties so far, and they've been a BLAST!
16. Go to a Zumba class. I guess this is all the rage right now. A Latin dance aerobics type class, supposed to be a lot of fun. We'll see if I have the coordination for it!
17. Cook something on my grill. Obviously, I've had grilled food before. But, I've never cooked anything on an outside grill before, by myself.
18. Find a new swimsuit, that I actually like. This may very well be the most difficult. When you are as top heavy as I am, swimsuit shopping is absolutely brutal. Hell on earth.
19. Participate in a half marathon. Once again, I said participate.
20. Order dessert before dinner! I think it would be fun =)
21. Blog every day for a month. A daily blog challenge is what started me blogging in the first place!
22. Read a book of poetry. I'd gladly take any recommendations with this one.
23. One recipe a month from Vegetarian Times. Had a one year subscription. I think I should make use of all those magazines before recycling them.
24. Work out every day for a month.
25. Knit a scarf.
26. Go without television for a week.

I have eight more things! Any suggestions?

Farewell 2009...

What a long, strange trip it's been, 2009. I don't even know where to begin.

Last night, while browsing around Facebook, I stumbled upon some very tragic news. I learned that an old friend of mine, a friend I met while working at the Olive Garden, Travis "Gideon" Addington, had made the decision several weeks ago to take his own life. Needless to say, I was shocked. I had just written on his wall about a week before, inviting him out with a couple of old mutual friends. Because he lived in Tulsa, he couldn't make it on such short notice, but he did say he'd be in Norman between Christmas and the New Year, and he would get in touch with us then. And now I'll never see him again. We had some really great moments working together, partying together, sharing deep conversations about life, and somehow continued to stay in touch the last ten years... even before Myspace and Facebook came along. My restaurant job in college was like my fraternity or sorority. I went to a college with a mostly Greek population. My high school friends all rushed, but I worked 40 hours a week. And many of my co-workers became like my brothers and sisters. I'm blessed that I still have many of these friends in my life, even though we live in so many different places. I remember going to the lake with a group of our friends and staying at his parents lake cabin. The night I went out with our mutual friends, we talked about that weekend... how much fun we had, the pictures we took, the petty arguments from too many people staying in a little cabin. I'm so thankful I have pictures of that weekend.

I can't imagine what goes through your mind before you make such a horrific decision. I can't imagine what his family is feeling as they spend this holiday season without their child. It breaks my heart.

2009 has been the year for that. Earlier in the year, I attended two funerals, also people my age. Three lives of young people gone too soon. It doesn't seem right. I feel way too young for this to be happening. This year has truly been one reminder after the next to hold your friends in your heart. Tell them how much they mean to you. Tell them you love and appreciate them. Be there when they need to talk, even if you think you're too busy. Or you think their problems are little or silly. Hug them tight each time you part ways. Enjoy every moment you spend with them. Cherish the little things, and remind them of their wonderful qualities. Life can be so short, and you never know when a moment might be the last...

I hope 2010 will be a stellar year, with lots of amazing moments and fewer tragedies. Lots of love to you all, blog readers and friends. I appreciate you taking the time to listen to me ramble... there's been a lot of not so happy moments this year, but you all continue to uplift me with your words of encouragement and positive support!!

Rest In Peace, Travis... I hope wherever you are, you find peace, joy, happiness and comfort. You were loved by many, and you will be greatly missed.

I'm still here!

As you can probably tell, I've been absent from the world of blogging for a little while now! But I'm back, and I'm better than ever! My life hit a road bump, and things have been a bit crazy lately, but things are starting to feel "normal" again.

(Minus the cuh-razy-ness of the holiday season, of course. But I'll get to that at some point...)

I'm in my new house, and it's finally set in that this is really my new place. It felt really weird at first. And it was really hard. I had to mourn my old house, and get used to all the "new-ness" of my life as a single gal. Because not only is the house new to me, so is everythng in it... the living room furniture, dining room, bed... it just felt so strange at first. I really miss the old bed. My dog and I fit much better in a queen than a full. And the mattress isn't nearly as comfy! It wasn't just the new house, either. It was the little things, too. A new route to work, a new bank, a new gas station, a new trash day, a new cable provider, a new phone (I heart my Iphone!!), realizing things I left behind...

Anyhoo, it's all starting to feel not so weird. And I couldn't be happier about that. I plan on trying to get back in the blogging community and focus on all the positive things I have going on. I'm looking forward to my friend Phoebe coming in from China, and going to a Christmas get together with our friends next week. I've finally gotten back on the treadmill after taking over a month off from walking/jogging. I plan on doing a 5K in the spring... even if I walk most of it, I just want to stay active! I can't wait to spend Christmas with my family and exchange gifts and pig out! They've been so helpful and supportive the last few months, so I'm certainly thankful for that!

As far as this weekend... I ended up with a three day weekend! I didn't have any clients today, so I don't go back to work until Tuesday. It's definitely picking up for the holidays, but Saturdays are always kind of weird for me. I'm either really busy... or I have the day off! So I took today to do laundry and clean the house, that way I can enjoy the next two days. I think tomorrow I'll go to Barnes & Noble, grab a coffee, and browse the books... Monday, I think I'll catch a movie. I really want to see Brothers, anyone seen it yet?

So, I guess that's all you get for now... I promise it won't be another month before I blog again!!

Let the countdown begin...

I have one week to go. One more week and I can begin moving my stuff out of the ex boy's house and into my new house! I don't know how I've made it this long, but I have. I'm so excited! As I was driving home from work today, I got stuck in traffic on I-35, right before you exit onto Hwy 9, by Riverwind Casino. At first I thought it was just typical Friday 6:00 traffic, but then I thought wreck. And I was right. I will so not miss the drive home. In the last year, I bet I've seen close to 50 cars rear ended in that exact same location. I kept thinking to myself, "if I lived in Norman, I'd be home by now". No more commute!!

It will be so nice to not live in podunk, USA anymore. I'm not a small town girl. I am by no means a big city girl either. I get lost too easily. If I'm not lost, I'm confused. I guess I'm a really big town girl. Or a small city girl? I'm excited to be closer to my friends. I feel like I reject a lot of invitations because I hate driving to OKC or back to Norman if I've already had to drive to and from work. I feel like I'm going to have a life again. And that makes me extremely happy!

Since my last blog post, I haven't really packed anything at all. I decided it was just too difficult to do a little at a time. Doing it all last minute may be stressful, but I have lots of practice at procrastinating. It's kinda like my specialty! As long as I have caffeine flowing through my veins, I'll be just fine.

Packing sucks!

Before moving in with what-his-face, I always lived alone. I hadn't had a roommate since 2003, and that was a temporary situation right before I bought my first house. Before that, I had a few roommates in college... part of 1999, and '94-'96. Packing is easy in college... at least it was for me. Now I have to figure out what is mine. Which pots and pans are mine? What towels am I taking? Did I have a blender coming into this relationship? It's never ending. Last Saturday, I split up the cards we'd given each other over the years, and about had a nervous breakdown. I didn't set out for it to be such an ordeal, but we have a drawer of cards... not just from each other, but friends, family, invitations, announcements, that sort of thing. In packing up my CD's tonight, I found the first (and I think only) mixed CD he ever gave me. He sent it in a care package to Knoxville. I should've known the relationship was over when I found out he made a couple mixes for "she's only a friend, we have a spiritual connection" girl... and the first song on it was I Met A Girl by Wheat. I should've taken his Ipod and tossed it out the window when I heard it.

I digress... sorry, packing makes me angry. I'm about to run across the street and grab a bottle of wine. My point is this... I had planned on packing a little bit each day, so I wouldn't be just crazy overwhelmed at the last minute. That's always been my moving strategy in the past. (And it has always worked well!) But if each day I pack a little, and I come across something that pisses me off or makes me cry, maybe I should wait until the last minute. At least that way, I won't be so stressed out every day for the next three weeks. Thoughts? Advice? Anyone else ever have to move out of the ex's house?

Did I mention closing day is three weeks from today? Woot woot!

moving on...

I found a house, people! It looks like everything is good to go, and I'm set to close Nov 13th!! Fingers crossed, it may even be sooner than that, but the 13th is a definite. I'm so ready to move back to Norman. I'm so ready to move out of this house. It's really difficult to begin the whole "getting over someone" process when you still live with them in a house filled with memories of your life together. And it's even more difficult when that person tries to act as if nothing happened, you should still be friends... and constantly asks "why are you being so gripey? What's your problem?"

What's my problem? Really? What's my freaking problem?

You broke my freakin' heart!! Let that sink into your little noggin for a minute, will ya? I can't just wake up the day after that, or even a week after that, and be your friend. I need to move on. I need to heal my heart.

Everyone keeps asking me how I do it. The first question from everyone is "do you still live together?". Followed by... "I don't know how you do it." I'm really not sure how I'm doing it. I'm trying to be positive, but sometimes (like now), I have to bitch and let it all out. So to all my dear, sweet blog readers... sorry all you hear is negativity. I'm not always like this, I promise! I'm really grateful to all my friends and my family for putting up with me. And cheering me up. I'd be lost without them.

One week

Today makes a week that I've been single now. It's much easier to say I've been single for a week than it is to say "I got dumped" or "he broke up with me" a week ago. I'm definitely feeling better now than I was when I wrote those last two blogs. It was really a rough few days, and I certainly don't know how I would've made it through with my friends and family. Now I'm focusing on me, for the first time in who knows how long. I'm focusing on me, and now I don't have to feel selfish about it. I can't wait to be in a new house, one I can fill with new memories.

I keep telling myself, "It's called a break-up because it's broken." I think that comes from the He's Just Not That Into You book. But it's true. It shouldn't have been so shocking. Now that I've had some time to get over the initial shock, I know there were signs, and I guess I was in denial. Oh well. All I can do now is look forward. Pick myself up, dust myself off, and be the fabulous woman that I am. Have fun being single for a bit. Do the things I never got to do the last few years. Find a new amazing man... one who actually takes me out and shows me a good time(more than once a year!). Focus on building my career. Spend time on my friendships... new ones and old ones. No more saying no to drink invitations. Try to run a mile without stopping. Lose 5 more pounds. Make my new house a home. Watch my reality TV shows without grumbling noises in the background.

I can't say it enough... my friends and family are AWESOME! And they've gone above and beyond in making me feel better. Thanks, ladies!!