Still here and busy as ever!

October 27, 2009 - I'm still here and busy as ever. I realize I haven't updated since August and for good reason, I swear.

• His name is Justin and he's awesome!

So, I met a new guy and he's wonderful. Very different from my normal type in that he's actually available (emotionally and literally), wants to spend time with me and thinks I'm the best thing since sliced bread. It's fantastic. He is also letting me help him redecorate his apartment, which is great because I'm out of projects in my own apartment and I was looking for some new stuff. He's hating the whole "theatre" thing because he doesn't understand it, but he's trying to be supportive and I give him big points for that.

• I went to ATL to visit my dad.

It was fun, I'm going back for the holidays, he's coming here to see my play in two weeks.

• I was asked to be in a play.

I didn't have to audition or anything. They heard I could speak the good English and that I looked good in a corset. It is called Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage and it is at The Heights Players. It opens November 6. I haven't been in a (non-musical) play in 10 or 12 years, so this has certainly been an interesting experience.

• Avon Breast Cancer Walk 2009

I came, I walked, I raised $2000 with the help of some wonderful friends, family and donors. Thank you to everyone who supported me and to Martha for walking with me! 39.3 miles which is over 40 by the time you factor in all the walking at the Wellness Village and the two blocks you have to walk to get your bag when the thing is over. When I finished, I went home, showered and put on boots with three inch heels to go out to dinner, so I'm feeling pretty proud of myself this year. No butt scoots up the stairs for me this year!

• Work has exploded all over every thing.

I swear I've worked through lunch and late almost every day for the last 5 weeks. Our CA office just opened, we're in the middle of doing 2010 forecasting and deciding where our next office will be. At least the NY office is not moving again until at least 2011 - 3 moves in one year was enough for me!

• I went to Maine for a long weekend.

Acadia National Park. We hiked/climbed precipice peak. We rock . It was freezing and Justin kept insisting we get up to watch the sunrise. I got to see some lovely fall color, though and there is a fantastic picture of the back of my head (my pic tails were darn near perfect that day), which I will post if he ever sends them to me. I did twist my ankle coming down the easy trail, though and that's been acting up but all in all, I'm still impressed with me.

My show opens next Friday, my dad is in town the following weekend, my mother is in town the weekend after that for Thanksgiving week, a week or so after that my friend Dallas comes back from her European travels and four days after that I'm in Atlanta for the holidays. Where is all this time going?!?

Pre-Holiday Update

November 20, 2008 – I just bought one of the more awesome things I have spent my money on in a while. For $10, I am now the proud owner of the Holiday Fire (which includes 10 Carols to “warm your toes”). I figured since I was hosting the holidays this year (mom is in town starting tomorrow for Thanksgiving and dad will be in town for Christmas), and my apartment is not equipped with a fireplace, we need an artificial fire. I have the option for “real” fire sounds, Christmas music, or a mixture of the two; and I can choose from a regular fireplace or a campfire. The novelty has not yet worn off in the office and I’ve been asked to bring it to work with me next week so we can keep it playing on a spare laptop to keep the holiday spirit alive.

In other news, my mother will be in town tomorrow and there is still a lot to do to get the apartment to make sure it is ready and she has a place to sleep and the bathtub doesn’t have a black ring because it stopped wanting to drain. Ah, the joys of houseguests. At least if something doesn’t get done, she’ll be really cool about – usually I don’t bother to clean at all when she comes, so the fact that I’m making the effort is proof that I’m growing as a person. Also, proof that I no longer have roommates.

My moment of bragging: holiday shopping is practically done. I made Dallas and Alicia’s gifts and both have minor finishing touches needed before I wrap them (in my hand stamped wrapping paper – seriously, I gave myself a blister stamping), mom’s gifts are all done and wrapped, Justin’s are done and wrapped, I made my own Christmas cards and I only have to get daddy and Bruce’s gifts (which are picked out, I’m just waiting to get paid).

Mom and I are putting up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, so I’ll try and post some pictures once we get that done. I need to go pick up some colored lights to replace the white ones that Dallas and I had from our “designed” tree last year (I was out voted).

Hopefully this finds everyone out there happily getting ready to stuff their faces and not feeling the economic downturn too much (a girl can dream, can’t she?). Have a great day!

August? (I also thought today was Tuesday.)

August 6, 2008 – I am now convinced that New York is located in a strange time warp whereby three minutes have passed and all of a sudden it is August! This summer has been nothing like I planned in more ways than one. I meant to go on a vacation at some point, I meant to get more done around the house and I meant to spend more time with my friends. Somehow none of that happened.

What did happen was that I spent almost every weekend at the beach (which is awesome and the thing I credit with keeping me from going insane and killing people during the week), I redecorated the bedroom (while mom was here – it looks so good that Bruce called me in the middle of a meeting the day after he saw it and just wanted to reiterate to me how much he liked it), and I’m learning how to live within my means. That last one is the most difficult and probably the most useful.

I feel a little silly because “living within my means” results in me trying to eat 2 meals at home a day. Anywhere else that sounds ridiculous, but here it is pretty much the way things work. Plus I’m counting “eating out” as any meals ordered in to the apartment. I’ll keep you posted. This month is on track to being the first month where I’ve taken care of everything that I need to and I still have money to live on. Woo-hoo!

I’ve been in the mood to drastically simplify my life recently. I keep getting the urge to go through everything in my closets and just throw away everything I haven’t used/needed. I hesitate to this because normally I do it on a whim and realize that I got rid of stuff I actually needed, however I’ve been pushing this whim down for a while, so maybe it’s time.

I still have hopes for a vacation, although the chance of it happening before the fall is not high at this point. I just need some time away. Last year I didn’t take enough time off and they forced me to take three days at the last minute so I wouldn’t implode and it sucked.

The training for the Avon Walk has been nonexistent. I really need to kick that into gear, or I’ll be hurting come October. Dallas has not been wanting to train at all and I somehow got left out of the loop for training walks (I imagine because Dallas opted out, I got left out), but hopefully I’ll be in the loop coming up and really get some stuff done. I still need to raise like $1700, so if anyone out there in blog land wants to donate to my cause, please shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment and I’ll get you all the information you need.

Here’s to hoping that everyone out there in the world has been having a wonderful summer!