Dear Me, Happy New Year, and Other News

Well, it's been almost a month since my last post.  Let's just say that I took December off.  Holidays, in-laws, hosting. It can be a rather stressful month and honestly, I didn't think I had anything interesting to say.

Had I started this blog last year.  I could have written quite the piece about my mother-in-law.  But this year, after 10 years of not getting along, we seem to finally be okay.  Of course, I have fallen for this before so there could be something to write at some point this year.  You just never know with her.  One day, I'll have to post my infamous email I sent her.  For those of you that have issues with MILs, I am certain you will enjoy it.  For those of you who don't, you'll probably think I'm an evil bitch.  You win some, you lose some.  But that's for another day.

One interesting thing that I did over the last couple weeks was I wrote a letter to my 16-year-old self.  A friend in New Jersey has a daughter that is turning 16 tomorrow.  While searching for a gift for her, I came across a book, Dear Me: A Letter to My 16-Year-Old Self.  I bought it for her and  flipped through it a little.  It's a really great read.  A bunch of celebrities (some I know and others I didn't) wrote letters to themselves at that age.  Some were funny.  Others were serious.  But either way, I think they had a lot to say about what 16-year-olds think are so tragically important and how much these things really aren't in the grand scheme of things.  So I decided to write my letter and stick it in the book for her.  I hope I had some wise words of wisdom, or at least made her smile a little.  Here it is:

Dear 16-year-old Me,

A few of things: 

1.       You’re currently obsessed with Mariah Carey and have been for nearly 10 years.
2.       You live & breathe for the NY Giants.
3.       You’ve “recently” (about 2 years ago) become obsessed with Matchbox Twenty & Rob Thomas.
4.       Your favorite shows are Friends & Seinfeld.
5.       You have a huge crush on Leonardo DiCaprio.
6.       Your close friends include R***, C**, K***, P****, N****, J**, and J***.

These things don’t really change much in the next 12 years. I’m glad you had such good taste at 16.

Some advice I would give you:

1.       Start thinking about college. You’re guidance counselor at school stinks and won’t be very helpful, and your parents just don’t know much about it because they didn’t do it. I know you don’t have the internet at home but take a walk over to the library and do some research on your own.  Or at least take some time at Daddy’s this weekend and look it up on his computer. Next year (junior year), you should start looking at colleges.  No decisions need to be made yet but this will help you make the decision when it’s time.
2.       That guy you started dating last November, well, he’ll make you cry a lot over the next couple of years.  It’s okay though.  It helps make you the person you become.  I don’t want to ruin the surprise or anything, but in a little over a year you’ll meet the man you’ll marry.
3.       Don’t worry about making mistakes.  You’re a bit of a perfectionist mostly because you don’t want to let your parents down.  It’s okay to make some mistakes.  Not big ones—like ones that will land you a Lifetime Original or an NBC Monday Night movie.  But some are okay.  You put too much pressure on yourself.
4.       You do this already, but I’d like to stress this. Have a lot of fun. You’re 16. Act like it. The memories you’re creating with your friends will last a lifetime. Enjoy every second of living so close to them.  It won’t be long before many of you are in different parts of the country.
Spoiler alert: No matter how much you love NJ, you’re one of the ones that leave. It’s okay but take full advantage of everything NJ has to offer—even being just a train ride away from the greatest city in the world.  One day you will meet a lot of people who have never been to NYC but “always wanted to go.”
5.       Save some money. You’re spoiled and for birthdays, Christmas, and graduations, you get a lot of money. Don’t blow it all.  At the very least, take half and put it in a savings account. Don’t touch it. You may need it while in college or even further down the road.
6.       And most importantly, know that you’re beautiful. You’re about to embark on a rather awkward stage. You’ll come out the other end, a bit of a knockout FYI. But without me telling you this, you won’t know it. You’re self image isn’t terrible but it isn’t as good as it should be. Stop comparing yourself to others around you and stop letting boys’ “disinterest” in you dictate how you feel about yourself.  Even just 12 short years from now, you’ll work pretty hard to try to get that teenage body back. Appreciate it while you have it.

Now you know what I know.

xoxo,

28-year-old Me

I won’t sign my current last name so that I don’t give anything away

PS. Apple Computers and Google. Invest some of that saved money in these. Seriously.

I encourage you to do the same and write a letter.  It was fun.  I even sent it to the website and it's posted on there.  They titled it "Obsessed with Rob Thomas" which is funny because if you know me, my title is more "Obsessed with Mariah Carey".  But since Rob Thomas did write a letter in the book, who knows, maybe he'll somehow read the entry.

Other updates:

I've become obsessed with Revenge (the show, not the act).  

We saw the Music Box Theater's Christmas show, Fruitcakes! and it was fabulous!  This is the second show we've seen of theirs and they did not disappoint.  If you're in Houston and haven't seen them, I highly recommend going to a show.  

My in-laws came and went for Christmas and my dad is here now.  

The Houston Texans are in the playoffs--which is very exciting for the city and their fans as it is their first time in franchise history.  

And most importantly, the NY Giants won the division when everyone picked them to be at the bottom.  GO BIG BLUE!  Rooting for a run like in '07 :)  

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and here's to a great 2012!

 

Heading Home for the Holiday

We're going to NJ tomorrow!!!

This will of course lead to an inevitable, "I'm homesick" post once we get back.

My head is already spinning.  We basically have plans for nearly every minute of every day we're in NJ.  We'll be there for a week.

I've been working hard to lose weight and have even lost some (and by some, I mean something worth bragging about).  I'm trying my best to go into this with the right state of mind.  Yes, I may gain some weight.  It's okay.  If I don't say that, it's a slippery slope from there.  It's okay if I gain some weight.  I will be sure to make the best decisions I can while I'm away.

FYI, I fully intend to OD on bread, sandwiches, and pizza.  Can you figure out why I already know that I'll gain some weight?

Anyway, I'm super excited to be going home for the holiday.  I haven't been home for Thanksgiving since 2008--that's pretty wild for someone that never strayed too far from home until 2008.

I'm super nervous because I have a really terrible relationship with my MIL.  In fact, I'm so nervous about how that will go over the next week (and then the month after that because she doesn't tend to let you know that she's upset and if she does it's not for weeks after), I just threw up in my mouth a little. Awesome.  My MIL stories are for another time, and there are plenty.  Let's just say that one of the last Thanksgivings I spent with her she told my mother that I was a bitch and everyone that would listen that Hubby (then boyfriend) and I should see other people. Did I mention Awesome?

So I'm sure I'll come back with lots of juicy stories.  I'll even try to write while I'm away.  Although, I'm not making any promises.  I typically only write once a week as it is.

Wish me luck and if I'm not back before Thanksgiving, Happy Turkey Day, GOBBLE GOBBLE!

How We Spent Our 10th Dating Anniversary

WARNING: HUSBAND AND HUSBAND'S FAMILY SHOULD NOT READ THIS

Here's another way my in-laws screwed up my husband.  Well, let's be honest.  This is another way my MIL screwed up my husband.

Can I digress for a minute? What is with the mother-son relationship? I know I don't have a child yet so maybe I can't speak, but I don't know a single man that has a healthy relationship with his mother.  Ugghhh...

So, I've mentioned it before. My husband is ridiculously sensitive.  And not in the hunky dark and damaged way. No, in the whiny I-have-to-watch-every-single-word-out-of-my-mouth way.  I assume this has to do with not getting enough love as a child or not being hugged enough or not getting enough attention (or being loved too much as a child or being hugged too much or getting too much attention--although my hunch would be the first list in his scenario).

We've been together for 10 years now.  However, spending the first 7 years apart meant that I didn't see this side of him for a long time.  It was sexy that when we were leaving each other at the airport and his eyes filled with tears.  I was under the impression he was acting this way because he was just so much in love with me.

Nope.  When I moved to Texas and we moved in together, I found out that his really mature way to resolve fights was to stop speaking to me for DAYS at a time.  This made for an even lonelier time during my loneliest time.

Why do I bring this up today? Especially the day after I tweeted how excited I was that we were going to have a date night and celebrate our 10th anniversary (we officially started dating 9/10/2001).

The day started like it was going to be super romantic.  He said we should go out to dinner, a fancy dinner.  My pick. Wow, this is going to be good, right?

Well, I picked the Melting Pot.  We hadn't been there in a while, it's one of my favorites, and I've been begging to go for over a year.

Since we were heading into Houston, I wanted to do something fun there--not just travel for dinner and come back.  So I promptly went online and found The Music Box Theater.  We had the whole night planned.

When it was time to go, I was still about 15 minutes away from being ready.  Side note: I have NEVER been this girl. I was always the one waiting on all my other friends.  This started about a year ago.  I told my husband he might want to give me fake times from now on.

So we were on the road late. Whoops.  We went to the theater picked up our tickets and headed to dinner.  We got there about 20 minutes late.  Our waiter was awesome. I thought we were making great time. And then, he hands us the dessert menu--the real reason we're here. I check my phone (because who wears a watch anymore?). It's 7:30. Yikes! We need to leave now.  Well, the awesome part was that our waiter gave us a rain check for the dessert. PHEW!  We paid and then sped away.

We went to the show at The Music Box Theater. And let me tell you, it was AWESOME! The troupe was funny. They were talented.  To say we were entertained for 2 hours is an understatement.  You could hear my husband after many songs say, wow and there were times that I laughed so hard I cried.  My cheeks hurt at the end of the night from smiling and laughing so much.  If you haven't figured it out yet, I highly recommend the show and definitely plan to be back for all their next shows.

When it was over, we hopped back into the car and headed back to the Melting Pot for dessert.  We chatted about the show on our way.  We sat down in the restaurant and all of a sudden, my husband wasn't talking to me. Whaaaat? I had no idea what happened.  I tried to make conversation. But when it's one sided, it can only last so long. So we sat for most of dessert in awkward silence. Awkward silence?? We're celebrating 10 years together.  We should be able to talk about paint drying and still be able to carry on a conversation.

I looked him straight in the eyes and I said, "Did I say something? Are you mad at me? I really don't understand what's going on here." FYI, I'm a bit of a straight-shooter.  He mumbled, no. After more of this awkwardness, I asked him, "Are you tired? You're like a completely different person from before." No. That second no is the one that means, Yes, I'm mad at you but I'm not talking to you so don't try to blame this silence on me being tired.

Well, I STILL have no idea what happened.  I racked my brain.  Here are my two options that could have spurred this:

1. There was a bit with "Judy Garland" and "Liza Minnelli" during the show. My husband told me that he didn't get it. So I had to explain that they were mother and daughter. I was a little surprised that he didn't know this. So if at any point in my explanation, I said, 'oh, you didn't know that' it becomes that I'm a condescending bitch. But I don't remember saying anything like that in my explanation but as you can see, I could have said anything and the meaning can be construed to just about anything.
2. There was no parking near the restaurant so we had to park pretty far.  I was wearing these killer 5" heels.  Oh, they are they sexiest shoes I have ever owned! I digress.  So, as he parked, he asked, "Is this okay?"  It didn't really bother me. The restaurant is in a strip mall and we were like 2 stores over.  The problem was there was a HUGE crack in the pavement in the spot that neither of us saw.  When I got out, I [almost] took a pretty bad tumble.  Totally twisted my ankle (not the permanent damage way though).  So I think I mumbled something like, "Oh, yeah, great spot. I almost killed myself." Now please understand, I was mad at the SPOT not him. He didn't see it. I didn't see it as I was stepping out into it.  No what I've learned over these last 3 years, I might have hurt his feeling with that statement.  You know, the one I made while my ankle was throbbing. Awesome.

So these are the only things that I can come up with.  On our drive home, he becomes Chatty McChatterPants.  Where did that come from?  Well, here's the other thing I know about this man that I've been with for 10 years.  Somewhere between the walk from our table and getting into the car, he realized that if he keeps up the silent treatment, he isn't getting laid tonight.  This ride back is his last chance to patch that up.

It was too late.  I was pissed.  He took a really romantic dinner and a really fun night and honestly, ruined it for me.  If you had to sit across from that puss he was making, trust me, you'd feel the same way. PS That silent treatment/sit around with a puss on my face comes from his mother.  This is exactly how she resolves issues too.  Really excited about signing up for that fun trait.

When we got home and started getting ready for bed, I asked him one last time.  What was with you tonight? "Sometimes you have to understand that your sarcastic comments really bother me." Whaaaat? again!  Please remember, from the time we were talking to the time he abruptly stopped, all we discussed was the show. THE SHOW.  Or the parking spot. These are not topics I think warrant getting feelings hurt.

And to boot, I was right. He looked me right in the eyes at dessert, lied to me, and continued to ruin my night.  My only comfort in dealing with this crap is that I truly believe he's preparing me for CHILDREN. Ugghhh!

So that's how my really romantic husband--who yes, I love dearly but am really not liking him right now--ruined our 10th anniversary.  Awesome.

It's Barely Lunchtime & I'm Already Over Today

So, BIG NEWS! I told my husband that this blog exists.  Yes, for the last two weeks, I didn't tell him because I planned to use this as an outlet for when I'm frustrated with him--he's very sensitive and I would never hear the end of it if he read anything less than flattering about himself--and of course, his mother. Now, we haven't touched upon that issue but that most certainly will be a big one.  Maybe one day, when I have the energy to write about the hurtful things that have happened to me over the last 10 years.  Let's just say, those of you reading this may be a fan, but she is NOT a fan of me.  This has little to do with me and more to do with the fact that I "stole her only son." Oh, Cheeses!

Anyway, to get to why my Friday--undoubtedly the best day of the week--has shaped up to be one I can't wait to be over.  I had a few things to do this morning before I began work.  My dog, Nikki, had to go for her 2nd shot for a vaccination. Well, she was supposed to go Tuesday but I didn't know that until Tuesday.  Side note: Apparently the Reminder call from my vet comes on the same day the shot is due. Awesome. Anyway, I have two dogs, and I love them a lot <--- Bit of an understatement.  So when I have to take one of them to the vet, that means one of them has to stay behind.  So in my best effort to trick Stella, I filled her bone with peanut butter, grabbed my purse, and scurried out the door where Nikki was waiting for me. Not until I closed the door tightly behind me did I think, Are my keys in my purse? But as soon as I thought it, I knew the answer.

So, my keys and Stella were in the house and purse, cell phone and Nikki were outside with me. While I still had that bad gut feeling, I knew there was nothing to worry about. My husband has a spare key hidden in the garage. So I walk around to the front of the garage, type in the code, press Enter, and NOTHING. Oh, I must have thought of the wrong code. So I tried another one. NOTHING. This is a joke, right? Maybe I'm on Candid Camera (THROWBACK. For those of you younger than me, that's like Punk'd only without Ashton Kutcher and his celebrity friends). So I look at Nikki and she's just wagging her tail at me. She's precious. I try a couple of more times and still nothing.

 File photo. This is Stella asking, 

"Hey, why aren't you guys in here? 

Or even better, why aren't I out there playing with you two?"

I walk back to the yard where my purse is and call my husband. I must have the code wrong and besides, I was going to have to call him anyway because I have no idea where the key's hidden once in the garage. He spits out the same code back to me that I already tried. Uh, oh. I try several more times. My fake nails begin hurting because of the way I'm jabbing them into the numbers. NOTHING.

Thank goodness, last year, we were late getting home one night and asked AMAZING friends of ours to let the dogs out. To do this, we walked them through getting in the garage and getting the key. When all was said and done, I told them to keep the key. We had plenty of extras and it was just the better bet.  So I called her up, she had one strange looking key on her ring that she couldn't identify and over she came. To save our day.

It was the right key. Wouldn't that be an awful twist if after I call my friend to come over before work to let me in the house, she makes the trip to find out it's not the key at all? I guess that experience could have been worse.

So away we went to the vet. Nikki hopped into the car completely unsuspecting. She's so sweet and it kills me when she gets excited to go out but really we're going to the vet. We get to the vet, and there's a beautiful dog already in the waiting room. I ask the owner if it's okay to approach. She says of course. The dogs start sniffing each other--seems to be going well. And then BAM! I have no idea what happened but they ended up in a scuffle. I wouldn't say a fight but still. I could have done without this. We pull them apart. They go in the back.

When we get called, Nikki is terrified. She shakes like a leaf. I have no idea why. She's been scared since the very first time I ever brought her. She gets a couple of shots but other than that she barely gets touched. When she was 3 months old and just 20 lbs, I brought her for her checkup when we first adopted her. She was on the table because she was so little then. She LITERALLY leaped into my arms. I was holding her like a baby that's being burped. If you haven't figured it out, she's a bit of a Mama's girl.

So she gets her booster for the vaccination and away we go. She gets in the car lays down (usually she begs for the window to be opened) with her back to me. She's mad at me. Now, if you think I'm crazy, I assure you, Nikki is just like her Mama (me). She wears all her feelings right on her face. She was mad at me and this was her telling me she wasn't speaking to me. It just breaks my heart.

File photo.  This is a shot of Nikki after the first time I took a long weekend to NJ.

Notice her expression, she is MAD that I left her.

You can't tell me this girl doesn't know how to express her feelings.

We get back home. I barely make it in time for my 10 o'clock call. And then my workday is finally beginning.  I've busted my hump all week and I'm just NOT in the mood for it today. It would have been nice when my friend opened my door if I could have just walked right passed her and gotten right back into bed.

Well, here's hoping to a better weekend... TGIF