Today was a good day. I LOVED today!
It started as a regular day. I snoozed probably one too many times. Got to my office as quickly as I could--you know that room off the living room--and began my work day. It's been a rough couple of days at work and I was facing how to handle those challenges first thing in the morning.
My cell phone was dying so I plugged it in in the kitchen. About a half hour later, I heard it beep the text message beep. This was very exciting. See, my phone goes off all day long for emails but most of my emails are from companies that I've signed up for the mailing list. I rarely get personal emails and hardly ever get texts in the middle of the morning.
I got up and checked the message. It was from a male friend of mine. It read "Can u call me real fast on the dl Im [popping the] question today. On way to get ring n do it'. I literally screamed--one of those moments it's really good that I work out of my home.
I of course called him immediately. He was nervous, was telling me his ideas, and asking me what I thought he should do. Side note: Even someone who's only known me for 2 1/2 years knows that this is my area of expertise/interest and I should be the go-to. Love it! I talked to him for a few but I won't give away the details (his FIANCEE is one of the few people who know about this blog and it's not really my story to tell).
I worked and waited to hear back from him. I called my husband. I called my mother--who did not answer for the record. I tried desperately not to blurt it out over IM while the soon-to-be-popped-question-receiver and I chatted. Probably another good reason I work from home because if I had this information and we still worked together, I'm not sure I could have hid how I was feeling. I tend to wear my feelings all over my face.
Eventually, around mid-afternoon I got the word. I did all my expected screaming. Shed a couple of tears. Did I mention I'm a sucker for love and weddings? What a great day!
Later in the evening, after I thought it couldn't get any better, my friend that I grew up down the street from--one of the girls in my wedding--called me from the East Coast. Before she could even get a word out, I tell her that I had been dreaming about her for TWO weeks. It was true. She had popped up in a bunch of my dreams. I would be sitting at a table with a celebrity and on the other side of me there is my old friend.
She said, "Wow. Maybe you have some kind of intuition because I'm calling to tell you something. [Girlfriend's name] and I are getting married."
For the second time today, I screamed. Shed a couple more tears. Then she couldn't understand me for a minute because I was yelling for her to tell me everything. The problem is when I get excited and start yelling I don't believe my cell phone can pick up my frequency. So I had to calm down a bit so she could tell me.
We spent the next hour catching up (it had been a while since we talked) and I did my best to get all the details (she's not really a detail kind of girl).
And there you have it. One regular day turned into an AWESOME day where two friends that I love told me they were getting married. What a great day. Now I can't wait to start helping them plan the weddings!
For my TV fan readers, here's my favorite.
Showing posts with label Love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Love. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
A Love Story
Cross the river to the Jersey side
Take my baby to the carnival
And I'll take her on all the rides
'Cause down the shore everything's all right
"Jersey Girl" Performed by Bruce Springsteen
I fell in love when I was a very young girl. Maybe some would have said that I was too young to fall in love, but I did. I fell hard.
It was easy to fall in love with NJ. Sure, it was all I knew but it was all I wanted to know. As a kid, I got to spend summers down the shore and in the pool and winters playing in the snow. I rode my bike and played outside for hours in the spring and fall. All my friends were in walking distance. The town where I grew up had a center where we hung out as teenagers. We ate at diners and pizzerias. We had season passes to Great Adventure. I hopped on the train to get to the greatest city in the world, NYC. I root for the Giants and the Yankees--don't you dare confuse me for someone that roots for the Jets and/or the Mets. And most importantly, for the first 25 years of my life I NEVER pumped my own gas!
I had a brief affair with California during my pre-teen years. My grandmother lived in San Francisco at the time. I was almost a 49ers fan--still love Steve Young! I was convinced I would go to USC for college. But I grew out of it. California was just puppy love. What I have with NJ is true love.
Throw your stereotypes out the window. I never met a soul from NJ that says "Joisey"; that's a Staten Island thing. I have a little accent but nothing like the ones you hear on TV. Don't ask me to say dog, talk, call, or coffee and you'll never know where I'm from.
I made a decision with the man I love that I would leave the only place I knew, the place I loved. I was supposed to be the girl that never left. I liked that. But the love of my life was in Houston and I wanted to be in the same state as him for the first time in our relationship. I did most of my packing within 2 days before leaving. I am not the type to procrastinate. I just thought the longer I put it off the less likely it was that I would be leaving. The day before I left, with 5 people in my apartment--including my future husband--I locked myself in the bathroom and balled my eyes out.
Of course, I wasn't just leaving the only place I loved but I was leaving a lot of people I loved. I went to college 17 miles away from my home. My parents are two of my best friends in the world. I saw them several times a week. How was I going to leave them 1500 miles behind?
It was something I wanted to do. Even more so, probably something I needed to do.
I was definitely in shock when I got to Houston in September '08. Partially because a week and a half later Hurricane Ike, the most devastating hurricane to hit the city in over 20 years, hit Houston/Galveston. But even after that, I was still in shock. I didn't have a job. I was surrounded by highways, rather than small towns. The Gulf coast is VERY different from the Jersey shore. Oh, and Houston is noticeably flat. Who notices that, right? Trust me. The only hills around here are the ones that are man-made. There are only 2 seasons, summer and fall. Natives will tell you differently but trust me, that's it.
I spent my first Christmas Eve locked in a closet, crying, and calling my mother. That was nice of me, make sure I drag my mother into it.
In January, I found a job and after some time, I started making friends. With friends, I started to become less home sick. Houston wasn't replacing home but it was starting to become another one. In July, we were married in NJ, of course. And by August, we had our first child. We adopted Nikki, an American Bulldog mix, from a local rescue. My father spent Thanksgiving with me that year--our first holiday that we had woken up together for since I was a young child. Christmas was hard again but not locking myself in the closet was an improvement.
By February, we brought home our 2nd child, Nikki's littermate, Stella. Now we were in an 2-bedroom second floor apartment with two large dogs (50 & 75 lbs at the time). It is easy to love Texas in the winter. Beautiful weather for 6 months. Windows opened for nearly that entire time. No bugs. My husband and I talked about how it would be so much easier for us to make a life here than in NJ--the original plan had always been to go back--because of the cost of living. We started eyeing the prices of homes and couldn't believe how much we could get for so little. We decided it was best for our children for us to stay. So we began a search for a house.
We found one in May, closed on it in June, and moved in in July '10. Our home is beautiful. Sometimes I still look around in amazement about what we are living in at such a young age. I haven't been homesick for NJ in a long time.
Then we went back to NJ last month for a friend's wedding and spent 2 days down the shore. Being on beach did it. For the first time, in a long time, I had that feeling in my gut. The one that says 'How is this not my home anymore? How are my kids not going to experience this?' I dropped a bomb on my husband a couple of weeks ago. I told him that I want to go back. He was shocked. I haven't talked like that in a long time. I think he thinks it's a phase and it will go away. Who knows, maybe it will. He's ignored the fact that I said that. He does that when he doesn't know how to handle a situation. He learned that from his family, just ignore uncomfortable situations. No need to address them.
It's almost like a break up. I have to take one day at a time. If I won't be with NJ today, I can handle it. If I think that I'll never be with NJ again, it becomes overwhelming and I want it back. Who knows what the future will hold. I never would have thought that at 28 I would have lived in Texas for 3 years! It still sounds unbelievable to me.
Whether we ever go back to NJ or not, the one thing that is undeniable is that I am a Jersey Girl through and through. Where I live will never change that.
One last thing about NJ, it is NOT shaped like a sock! 'Nuf said.
On a totally unrelated note, I had a dream last night where I was listening to New Kids on the Block, and I woke up with Cover Girl stuck in my head. Awesome.
Take my baby to the carnival
And I'll take her on all the rides
'Cause down the shore everything's all right
"Jersey Girl" Performed by Bruce Springsteen
I fell in love when I was a very young girl. Maybe some would have said that I was too young to fall in love, but I did. I fell hard.
File photo. Me at about 3 already madly in love with the Jersey Shore.
File photo. This is what fall looks like.
I had a brief affair with California during my pre-teen years. My grandmother lived in San Francisco at the time. I was almost a 49ers fan--still love Steve Young! I was convinced I would go to USC for college. But I grew out of it. California was just puppy love. What I have with NJ is true love.
Throw your stereotypes out the window. I never met a soul from NJ that says "Joisey"; that's a Staten Island thing. I have a little accent but nothing like the ones you hear on TV. Don't ask me to say dog, talk, call, or coffee and you'll never know where I'm from.
I made a decision with the man I love that I would leave the only place I knew, the place I loved. I was supposed to be the girl that never left. I liked that. But the love of my life was in Houston and I wanted to be in the same state as him for the first time in our relationship. I did most of my packing within 2 days before leaving. I am not the type to procrastinate. I just thought the longer I put it off the less likely it was that I would be leaving. The day before I left, with 5 people in my apartment--including my future husband--I locked myself in the bathroom and balled my eyes out.
Of course, I wasn't just leaving the only place I loved but I was leaving a lot of people I loved. I went to college 17 miles away from my home. My parents are two of my best friends in the world. I saw them several times a week. How was I going to leave them 1500 miles behind?
It was something I wanted to do. Even more so, probably something I needed to do.
I was definitely in shock when I got to Houston in September '08. Partially because a week and a half later Hurricane Ike, the most devastating hurricane to hit the city in over 20 years, hit Houston/Galveston. But even after that, I was still in shock. I didn't have a job. I was surrounded by highways, rather than small towns. The Gulf coast is VERY different from the Jersey shore. Oh, and Houston is noticeably flat. Who notices that, right? Trust me. The only hills around here are the ones that are man-made. There are only 2 seasons, summer and fall. Natives will tell you differently but trust me, that's it.
I spent my first Christmas Eve locked in a closet, crying, and calling my mother. That was nice of me, make sure I drag my mother into it.
In January, I found a job and after some time, I started making friends. With friends, I started to become less home sick. Houston wasn't replacing home but it was starting to become another one. In July, we were married in NJ, of course. And by August, we had our first child. We adopted Nikki, an American Bulldog mix, from a local rescue. My father spent Thanksgiving with me that year--our first holiday that we had woken up together for since I was a young child. Christmas was hard again but not locking myself in the closet was an improvement.
File photo. Nikki (left) & Stella (right).
Finally found an excuse to post a picture of my girls.
Expect more of these.
We found one in May, closed on it in June, and moved in in July '10. Our home is beautiful. Sometimes I still look around in amazement about what we are living in at such a young age. I haven't been homesick for NJ in a long time.
Then we went back to NJ last month for a friend's wedding and spent 2 days down the shore. Being on beach did it. For the first time, in a long time, I had that feeling in my gut. The one that says 'How is this not my home anymore? How are my kids not going to experience this?' I dropped a bomb on my husband a couple of weeks ago. I told him that I want to go back. He was shocked. I haven't talked like that in a long time. I think he thinks it's a phase and it will go away. Who knows, maybe it will. He's ignored the fact that I said that. He does that when he doesn't know how to handle a situation. He learned that from his family, just ignore uncomfortable situations. No need to address them.
File photo. From July trip. Beautiful Jersey water in the morning.
Whoever came up with Dirty Jersey never went to the Gulf.
Sorry, Gulf, but look what you're up against.
File photo. From July trip.
"Crowded" Jersey shore.
Anyone from NJ can tell you this is a SLOW day!
File photo. Seaside boardwalk at night. From July trip.
Whether we ever go back to NJ or not, the one thing that is undeniable is that I am a Jersey Girl through and through. Where I live will never change that.
One last thing about NJ, it is NOT shaped like a sock! 'Nuf said.
On a totally unrelated note, I had a dream last night where I was listening to New Kids on the Block, and I woke up with Cover Girl stuck in my head. Awesome.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Thursday, The Third Day
"Monday, one day. Tuesday, two day. Wednesday, when, huh, what day? Thursday, the THIRD DAY!"
-Joey Tribbiani, Friends For those of you that don't know
**Maybe that should be my thing. Start every post off with a quote. I'm sure I'm the first person to have ever thought of this.
When I look back at today, it was a good day. However, there were certainly some times where that might not have been the case. I considered drinking at 9:50 this morning because my boss was driving me batty. Unless I'm on vacation (because let's be honest, all rules go out the window when I'm on vacation), I typically do not advocate drinking before noon. But today started off as one of those days. So I took a break, browsed Happy Place, zenned myself and was able to kick it back into gear for work.
I went to lunch with some former coworkers better known as friends. We chatted about football. Well, I chatted with the guy who came to lunch about football while the other 2 girls sat there bored. We chatted about how the place where they work is still awful AKA nothing changed after I left. And then we got on an interesting middle of the work day discussion--although if you knew the guy I was with AKA the only person in my life that knows I'm writing this, this would not surprise you. We started discussing marriage, love, divorce, and religion. Yup, pretty heavy for lunch, right? Well, since I hinted at this topic yesterday, I thought today's a good day to tackle it. It will again be some insight into who I am.
I am married. We have been married for 2 years. This September we will be celebrating our 10th anniversary together and that doesn't include the 3 months we dated before that. One can say I love love. I was always the girl that was going to get married and have 2.5 kids. It's just who I am and trust me, I am just fine with that perception.
Today, the question is why do I know so many people getting divorced so soon after marriage. My husband brought up a good point. The divorce rate in this country is 50%. Why should we think our friends are exempt from that? Then there were a couple of good ones thrown out at lunch today. Is it because as a nation we have less values and morals? Is it that we don't put as much of an emphasis on religion anymore (I'm of course referring to the population outside the Bible belt and the Tea Party)? Or is it just that divorce is so easy, why not?
I should have prefaced this with the fact that my parents divorced when I was 8 years old (my mother will tell you it was when I was 10 but that's just when it was final. She left when I was 8). As an 8-year-old, I can honestly tell you that when she left I thought, "Thank goodness! I cannot live with those two anymore!" Didn't see that one coming, huh? My parents were meant to be best friends. They were not meant to be a married couple. They did an amazing job raising me together and obviously as my first thought tells you, they did an amazing job of letting me know how much they loved me, no matter what they felt towards each other. Never for a second did I think my mother was leaving me. I knew it was time for her to leave my father. I understood.
Well I've probably already rambled on for too long for a blog entry and I still haven't answered the question at hand. I guess, and I'll be brief here, I think no matter what there was always something not healthy going on with marriage and divorces. Sure today a lot more people are divorced. Maybe some of them are giving up when they should be working at it. Maybe some people never got the memo that marriage is hard and both partners need to work at it to succeed. Maybe some shouldn't have gotten married at all. Everyone has their own story. But what I know is that when divorce wasn't as easy or as accepted, people were in loveless, unhappy and/or abusive relationships. So we gave up a part of society that was suffering in silence and added to society the likes of Britney Spears being able to get married and then have it annulled just 55 hours later.
As we evolve as a society, we'll have to accept the good with the bad. Hopefully, in the end, it will all be for the improvement of society. Wow, that's a little optimistic for someone like me, but really, when it comes to love, that's exactly how I am. Definitely an optimist.
And for those people that my husband and I are close with that divorced within 2 years, they all seem happier and healthier. It seems they made the right decisions for themselves. So maybe they just fell too hard too fast for the wrong person. They just haven't found their lobster yet.
-Joey Tribbiani, Friends For those of you that don't know
**Maybe that should be my thing. Start every post off with a quote. I'm sure I'm the first person to have ever thought of this.
When I look back at today, it was a good day. However, there were certainly some times where that might not have been the case. I considered drinking at 9:50 this morning because my boss was driving me batty. Unless I'm on vacation (because let's be honest, all rules go out the window when I'm on vacation), I typically do not advocate drinking before noon. But today started off as one of those days. So I took a break, browsed Happy Place, zenned myself and was able to kick it back into gear for work.
Internet photo. Perfect example of how I felt this morning.
I went to lunch with some former coworkers better known as friends. We chatted about football. Well, I chatted with the guy who came to lunch about football while the other 2 girls sat there bored. We chatted about how the place where they work is still awful AKA nothing changed after I left. And then we got on an interesting middle of the work day discussion--although if you knew the guy I was with AKA the only person in my life that knows I'm writing this, this would not surprise you. We started discussing marriage, love, divorce, and religion. Yup, pretty heavy for lunch, right? Well, since I hinted at this topic yesterday, I thought today's a good day to tackle it. It will again be some insight into who I am.
I am married. We have been married for 2 years. This September we will be celebrating our 10th anniversary together and that doesn't include the 3 months we dated before that. One can say I love love. I was always the girl that was going to get married and have 2.5 kids. It's just who I am and trust me, I am just fine with that perception.
File photo. My husband and I... Well, he wasn't my husband yet.
Today, the question is why do I know so many people getting divorced so soon after marriage. My husband brought up a good point. The divorce rate in this country is 50%. Why should we think our friends are exempt from that? Then there were a couple of good ones thrown out at lunch today. Is it because as a nation we have less values and morals? Is it that we don't put as much of an emphasis on religion anymore (I'm of course referring to the population outside the Bible belt and the Tea Party)? Or is it just that divorce is so easy, why not?
I should have prefaced this with the fact that my parents divorced when I was 8 years old (my mother will tell you it was when I was 10 but that's just when it was final. She left when I was 8). As an 8-year-old, I can honestly tell you that when she left I thought, "Thank goodness! I cannot live with those two anymore!" Didn't see that one coming, huh? My parents were meant to be best friends. They were not meant to be a married couple. They did an amazing job raising me together and obviously as my first thought tells you, they did an amazing job of letting me know how much they loved me, no matter what they felt towards each other. Never for a second did I think my mother was leaving me. I knew it was time for her to leave my father. I understood.
Well I've probably already rambled on for too long for a blog entry and I still haven't answered the question at hand. I guess, and I'll be brief here, I think no matter what there was always something not healthy going on with marriage and divorces. Sure today a lot more people are divorced. Maybe some of them are giving up when they should be working at it. Maybe some people never got the memo that marriage is hard and both partners need to work at it to succeed. Maybe some shouldn't have gotten married at all. Everyone has their own story. But what I know is that when divorce wasn't as easy or as accepted, people were in loveless, unhappy and/or abusive relationships. So we gave up a part of society that was suffering in silence and added to society the likes of Britney Spears being able to get married and then have it annulled just 55 hours later.
As we evolve as a society, we'll have to accept the good with the bad. Hopefully, in the end, it will all be for the improvement of society. Wow, that's a little optimistic for someone like me, but really, when it comes to love, that's exactly how I am. Definitely an optimist.
And for those people that my husband and I are close with that divorced within 2 years, they all seem happier and healthier. It seems they made the right decisions for themselves. So maybe they just fell too hard too fast for the wrong person. They just haven't found their lobster yet.
Monday, August 8, 2011
It Definitely Feels Like a Monday
Well, I've been thinking about this a long time and I've decided that today's the day I will start writing a blog. What's the theme, you ask. Well, having grown up when Seinfeld ruled the television, I would have to say it is a blog about nothing.
I want to use this space to write about anything and everything that comes to my mind. If I cook a great recipe or just find one for that matter, I will post it. If I read something really juicy on TMZ, I'm going to talk about it here. If I get into a fight with my husband, I'm going to vent here. Nothing's off limits--one of the main reasons I wanted this to be anonymous and why I do not intend to give my friends the link right away.
I started writing an expanded version of the About Me section but it was taking too long. If you follow this blog, it will all come. So, how about I start at the beginning. I'll tell you how a true Jersey Girl ended up in Texas.
As mentioned, I fell in love. The short story is I met this ridiculously hot guy while I was working a part time high school job at a party store. He quit; I still pined for him. And when, I was the only one left of my friends to not have a date for the senior prom, a close girlfriend of mine picked up the phone and asked him. YES, my friend asked him out for me. Well, it all worked out. We had a great time and spent the summer before college falling in love. I went to school in NJ and he went to school in GA. We kept it going--in fact, it was easy for us. We had some growing pains and broke up for a brief time while he was finishing school and after I had graduated. When he was done, he was recruited by an oil refinery in the 'burbs of Houston. He missed me, I missed him, and after a teary-eyed screaming match, we decided to take it slow and consider getting back together. That was a Wednesday. Sunday, we were an item.
So I came to Houston to be with him--after I got the engagement ring of course. I may let my heart lead the way, but I'm not stupid! I left my family behind and what was left of my friends (after 10 years out of high school, a lot of my close friends are now scattered across the country). I was greeted by Hurricane Ike--a story for another day. We struggled at first because we were so good at being in a long distance relationship, we weren't really sure how to be under the same roof. Hell, we had never even spent significant amounts of time in the same state by that point in our relationship!
So here I am. In Houston. Blogging. I hope you enjoy all my misadventures!
And, yes, if you're wondering about my title for today's post, it definitely feels like a Monday.
I want to use this space to write about anything and everything that comes to my mind. If I cook a great recipe or just find one for that matter, I will post it. If I read something really juicy on TMZ, I'm going to talk about it here. If I get into a fight with my husband, I'm going to vent here. Nothing's off limits--one of the main reasons I wanted this to be anonymous and why I do not intend to give my friends the link right away.
I started writing an expanded version of the About Me section but it was taking too long. If you follow this blog, it will all come. So, how about I start at the beginning. I'll tell you how a true Jersey Girl ended up in Texas.
As mentioned, I fell in love. The short story is I met this ridiculously hot guy while I was working a part time high school job at a party store. He quit; I still pined for him. And when, I was the only one left of my friends to not have a date for the senior prom, a close girlfriend of mine picked up the phone and asked him. YES, my friend asked him out for me. Well, it all worked out. We had a great time and spent the summer before college falling in love. I went to school in NJ and he went to school in GA. We kept it going--in fact, it was easy for us. We had some growing pains and broke up for a brief time while he was finishing school and after I had graduated. When he was done, he was recruited by an oil refinery in the 'burbs of Houston. He missed me, I missed him, and after a teary-eyed screaming match, we decided to take it slow and consider getting back together. That was a Wednesday. Sunday, we were an item.
Real file photo. This is our 3rd date at my Senior Prom.
Maybe without eyes, you can't see how ridiculously ecstatic I am.
I have no regrets from this photo--still love the dress, still love the man.
The backdrop is questionable but I didn't have a choice on that one!
So I came to Houston to be with him--after I got the engagement ring of course. I may let my heart lead the way, but I'm not stupid! I left my family behind and what was left of my friends (after 10 years out of high school, a lot of my close friends are now scattered across the country). I was greeted by Hurricane Ike--a story for another day. We struggled at first because we were so good at being in a long distance relationship, we weren't really sure how to be under the same roof. Hell, we had never even spent significant amounts of time in the same state by that point in our relationship!
Real file photo. Our gorgeous wedding day. July '09 in NJ.
So here I am. In Houston. Blogging. I hope you enjoy all my misadventures!
And, yes, if you're wondering about my title for today's post, it definitely feels like a Monday.
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