seasons greetings...

well, one month later i return with internet wishes of happy holidays and a great new year!

speaking of "the holidays," living in california has definitely given me a new prospective to how you greet people at this time of year. this is my 4th christmas season living in CA, but the first one i've actually stayed in the state for.

i grew up telling everyone "merry christmas" as i left their store or said goodbye for the winter break, so when i moved out west i continued on my merry (pun intended) way. after listening to co-workers and new friends, i quickly realized this might not be something i should continue doing. and as another 3 years passed and i met new people and saw new perspectives, i realized that out here, "happy holidays" is about the only acceptable thing to say to somebody in northern california during this time of year. (i will not begin to try at sum up so-cal's reaction to christmas, as the two halves of the state differ a lot.)

a part of my is really sad that i have had to switch my southern vernacular to a more P.C. western version. but at the same time, i've really appreciated being exposed to other holidays and, in some cases, learning why people don't celebrate anything at all this time of year. personally, christmas is for me, but who am i to disrespect those that don't feel the same.

sure, this just all continues the already well-grounded "california is full of liberal hippies" stereotype, but i'm here to tell you that it's the truth in the bay area. many californians celebrate christmas, but texans definitely do it different (and better). here, there aren't as many lights on houses, downtown areas take care not to put the word "christmas" on any signs, and cashiers at the busy shops stop themselves at "mer-" before realizing that maybe this person in front of them doesn't want to hear it. somehow, (even with all my appreciation for other viewpoints) it takes a little bit of magic out of the air.

continuing on the christmas-note, i found my all-christmas music radio station! another thing the bay area doesn't do like texas does is christmas music. i remember that starting the day after thanksgiving some radio station in houston would start playing carols...by the time christmas week rolled around you were ready to stab your eardrums out because you'd heard "the drummer boy" (and every variation on it) 38 times. between parties, the radio, and stores it's inescapable! this is NOT one of those things i miss about christmas in texas. however, i was pleased to tune into 96.5 this week to find they started their christmas music montage yesterday - 4 days before christmas - a completely acceptable time frame.


anyway, tim and i are all ready for our first married christmas. our stockings are hung (on the bookcase, with care) and presents are piling up under the tree (and in our mailbox). tim asks each day if we can open a gift, so i guess i'll consider this practice for when our kids come begging each day to have a gift early. i am also gearing up to cook my first christmas feast - complete with ham...and some other stuff. so yah, i should probably get on that. our house has lights and a beautiful tree in the window and i am looking forward to the 10 days off of work - although, by day 5 i'll probably be clawing at the windows due to severe cabin fever. check back to be sure i haven't gone crazy, and in the mean time:

MERRY EVERYTHING & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

polaroids!

been having fun with the poladroid application (download here for mac users). put a few of my random creations up here.

Polariods

i've been pretty busy lately. work has been steady, keeping the days from dragging by. and between homecoming, a visit home, and getting the cold that everyone has right now, i have been out for the count. sorry for the neglect, internet.

in "news from the newlyweds," tim and i are staying in california for the holidays this year. i think it's cool and quiet appropriate that we'll be spending our first married christmas here.

while i was in texas, i had to go through several boxes of items that spanned from my early childhood to high school graduation. piggy banks, pictures, yearbooks, diaries, birthday/holiday cards. it was pretty insane. i hope to spend part of my time off next month going through and "preserving" it digitally. look for some gems to come.

other than all that, the rest of my time goes to SU, laura ann's upcoming wedding, or christmas shopping. i'm also re-adusting to northern winter hours of darkness. it's a pretty heavey thing for me, so i always struggle with this season. i'll try to check back again soon.

happy halloween!!

tim and i carved our first married pumpkins (awwww.....no more bastard pumpkins for us) last night. we both free-handed our drawings and did them in about 30 minutes. i'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

a note washing ashore...

a recent comment on my last post jogged my memory about my blog (yes, it's sad to say), and i thought i would send the internet a message in a bottle. (bloggle?)

anyway, since my last post i obviously returned from the east coast (after a 12 hour clusterfuck of flight problems trying to get home), and have been busy. between reunion weekend at work and hurricane ike f-ing with my family and friends and a quick 2 day trip to texas, september flew by in a second. october is nearly halfway over, and i'm pretty sure 2009 will be here tomorrow.

tonight i did some crafty stuff, which i haven't done in a long time. i blame this mostly on the fact that after the wedding i had absolutely no desire to make another damned thing. not more "do it yourself" b.s. but, between laura ann's upcoming nuptials/celebrations and halloween, i've been pretty "artsy-fartsy" these days. we made some super cute decorations for an upcoming party, that i think stephanie (the "queen of halloween") would approve of :)

(click picture for link to details)

i'm also looking forward to homecoming weekend in georgetown! if you're going to be around, be sure to come find me at the hospitality house (ie - the howry center). i'd love to catch up with as many people i can while on campus. tim and i will be headed to houston after homecoming to visit our moms in magnolia and conroe. it's been a while since either of us has been "home," so i think the trip is much overdue.

before i go, i'll answer the question everyone asks these days. "how's married life?" it's great. ultimately, it's the same as life before. we are doing well...working hard and playing hard...enjoying our pets and the beautiful weather this time of year brings to the bay area. i'll do my best to update more, but no promises. check back every quarter, i seem to be at least that consistent.

where have i been...?

well, after nearly 2 months, i'm back. sort of. i hate to admit it, but this is not my priority right now. but, since many of you have told me that my lack of presence in the internet is breaking their heart and causing them to sit by their computer, chewing their nails in anticipation, here's an update.

i got married! that's a big one. the wedding and honeymoon were just what they were supposed to be. as in most cases, the wedding itself went by as fast as the flashes of lighting that rolled through with the storm five hours before the ceremony. it was wonderful to see so many friends and family members and i only wish i could have been longer.

nonetheless, tim and i were both VERY ready for the honeymoon. we went to the island of st. lucia, and here are the pictures:



it's been two weeks (...since you looked at me...) since we got back and i think we are finally settling into normal living again. with the exception of the fact that we have tons of awesome new additions to our kitchen, bedroom, and home in general.

i'm jetting off to boston/maine this saturday to attend a conference at bowdoin college with my boss. should be an interesting trip. i'll try to return after that adventure!

bittersweet...

so im sitting here in my office...or what used to be my office...and it's sort of sad. while in the past three years i've moved houses, i've always had the same place to go to at work. it's become my home away from home, with my personal touches and little pieces of my life everywhere. it's been the only one thing i've had (besides tim) remain the same since i moved to california.

but today, i began my NEW JOB (yes, i can talk about it now), and am moving across to the other side of our department's area. i now serve as the associate director (a step up the management ladder) and will be overseeing new projects and other parts of annual fundraising. i am extremely excited to be taking on a new role and getting new challenges, but since the telephone program was "my baby," built from the ground up by the one and only me, i know it's going to be hard to let go.

but thankfully the transition to the new job will be a gradual one, so no jarring changes ahead for me. until we fill my old position i will be serving in both roles...and i'm sure whoever fills my shoes will need a bit of hand-holding for the first few weeks. but then it will no longer be me sitting at this desk enjoying the sunlight from my skylight above my desk as i eat my lunch. in fact, this is probably the last blog i'll write from here.

but, life moves on...

acoustic sunrise...

this time of year brings many things: the end of the academic year and graduation(s). the beginning of summer and warmer weather. the end of the phonathon calling season. and with these things comes my return to the regular 9 to 5.

it's hard to believe another school year has gone by. while many people graduate from college and enter the working world to leave the semester-based life behind, i stuck with it. working in higher education inevitably keeps you there. there is no escape. but i'm OK with this. it means i get to keep my academic-year calendars. it means i get raises in the middle of the summer, rather than at the beginning of the calendar year. it also means that it's hard for me to keep the nostalgia from creeping in during this time of year.

with summer, at least this year, comes a lot...not just more sunshine and the use of our window unit A/C. marriage. for me, and for many, many others i know. i'm pretty sure there are at least 10 weddings that i know of this summer; all for people i either went to school with or worked with. hell, there are 5 weddings (including mine) on the day i'm gettin' hitched!!

and this year i also have to say "goodbye" to phonathon. calling alumni/alumnae has been a part of my life (in some way or another) for the past 5 years now - whether i was calling, or telling other people how to call. but, with this time of year comes yet another change. one that i would love to talk more about, but cannot due to some paperwork that is yet to be signed. more on that later...for now, internet, you must wait in suspense.

and finally...the return to the 9 to 5. this always has an adjustment period attached to it. one that takes about 2 weeks to really process. i have to remember how traffic behaves during rush hour. i am forced to drink coffee to jolt myself awake enough to make it to work. and i basically hate the fact that my alarm clock is even being used. but, nonetheless, i must adjust.

so, therefore, i sit here as the clock edges up on 10am (when i think my body naturally comes fully awake) ready to begin my day. happy monday!

i love this cat.

i think we are soulmates.

wednesday's playlist...

this morning before work i was watching american idol from last night and was surprised to hear david cook singing a song by our lady peace. i hadn't thought of them since early high school and immediately started digging through my old CD's to see if i still owned "clumsy." lo and behold, while also remembering that i've vowed about 34 times to convert all my CD's to MP3 format, i found it!

of course i couldn't stop there and i proceeded to pull out several other albums i wanted to put on my ipod. these included, but were not limited to: seven mary three, rodger creager, green day, don henley, and a bunch of mixed CD's.

the mixed CD's were the most interesting to look at because in high school and college music pretty much ruled my life, my mood, and my thoughts. as i filed through some 30-odd mixes i could pin-point exact times and places i listened to the songs on them. or the reasons i was in love with certain artists at certain times. some of them i wanted to break in half due to embarrassment. others i wanted to listen to over and over until i was transported back to that time and place they were created.

upon tearing myself away from a project that could easily remove me from the functioning world, i pulled a few out and took them to work. all afternoon i've been enjoying the shuffle feature on itunes and in turn created a whole new mix. thus, wednesday's playlist:

your winter - sister hazel
blame it on the rain -milli vanilli
jack & diane - john mellencamp
end of the innocence - don henley
where have all the cowboys gone - paula cole
kokomo - the beach boys
hero (the remix) - enrique iglesias
since you've been gone - kelly clarkson
missing (the remix) - everything but the girl
kung fu fighting - bustop, feature carl douglas

waxing nostalgia...

i just spent the past hour or so looking over my old blog...the one that began in april of 2004. lord, how was that four years ago? my first thoughts were "wow, i was really immature." but that was simply a product of my situations at the time.

the second thing i noticed was how much i've changed since then. that's obviously something that was bound to happen, but i am not sure i really expected all of the changes that have taken place. and to be honest, i'm not sure i like them all.

i feel like i've rekindled a relationship with myself by reading through a year of my thoughts, hopes, dreams, fears, and inconsistent ramblings. i also feel like i don't know who i thought i was back then. it's good to know i can still laugh at myself - both past and present.

it also made me appreciate my friendships more than i already do. i really put my friends through some shit back in the day, and if i were them, i'm not sure i would have stood by my side through some of the ways i decided to deal with things. thank you to those of you who remained my friends even though i really don't deserve it.

i think i lost a part of myself since then too. i'm not sure if i think it's a bad thing or a good thing, but i know that i wouldn't mind if it showed back up, or if i went searching for it again. i'm not even sure that it's really left me...more like it's on sabbatical, and somewhere in the back of my subconscious i know it will return eventually. i'm a little scared of what could initiate that return though.

i realize a lot of this is vague, and that i rarely update "the people of the internet" these days, but i guess it felt appropriate after all the reminiscing i just did. i think i'm going to make a point to try and write more again; get back in touch with my thoughts (other than when i'm alone with them) and share words with people again. i forget how powerful they can be sometimes.