December 2008

…plus I’ve been taking computer break for the past week while I’m in Houston. Seriously this is my first time on the computer (other than a brief stint on my work computer to take care of some emails) since I’ve been here. Incredible. I also had my first cup of coffee this afternoon in a few days. It is detox mode all around.

I’ll be back in SF and into my caffeinated, hands attached to a keyboard, crazed state by tomorrow.

Two more days in 2008!

I was driving on 280 last night and the electronic board above the highway – you know the one that normally says “Road work ahead” or “Amber alert: blue Chevy truck” – had on it:

What? No texting? But how will I tell people “Leaving the house now – I’ll be there in ten” or “Haha did you see the end of Gossip Girl last night?” Such information must be passed on and yet what more fitting phrases to be sent via text then “OMG traffic on the 101 SUCKS”.

I mean first the no talking on the cell while driving without hands free devices (aka me yelling into my speakerphone while my phone is on my lap) and now this. What’s next? No looking up directions on my iPhone while driving? No taking pictures of funny billboards I see along the road while driving? No applying my mascara or taking off Glory’s gentle leader while driving? No reaching under my seat for that package of peanut butter crackers and then using my knee to navigate while I open the ridiculously well sealed plastic packaging, eating them cracker my cracker, and fumbling to brush crumbs off my lap while driving?

It is the end of multitasking as I know it. I guess I will now have to simply pay attention to the road. That and fumble around in my purse for my chapstick and turn the radio up so loud that I don’t hear the other cars honking if (when) I swerve.

So this kinda describes what I feel like I’m doing at work right now. With the holiday season around the corner (aka days away) I’m doing more planning and preparing than anything else. And although planning and preparing is generally one of my favorite things (see last post about post-its) there is also the fact that patience is often not my strongest suit. Sigh. I’m sure I’ll be busy in the new year though so I guess I’ll just so my planning and research now and await the rest.

It’s been rainy and cold all day so I’ve been a bum and been watching as many episodes of House I can get my hands on. I am strangely attracted to Hugh Laurie, which is a bit disturbing. I can’t tell if it is the asshole behavior, extreme intelligence, or fact that he is English but not English on the show so it is like I know this sexy accent is mysteriously lying underneath of the harsh exterior.

But where was I? Oh yes the cold and rainy behavior means I needed a little pick me up to perk up my mood. And that came in the form of kitty wigs. Oh yes – you heard me – wigs. For cats. Most ridiculous and yet amusing thing on the planet. Check them out here. For your viewing pleasure I’ll include one of the four choices of color. Pink.

The description reads:

Pink is the color of fantasy. Our model, Chicken, looks like her mind is elsewhere when she wears this wig — somewhere in a land of cotton candy and pinwheels where the air smells like sugar kisses.

Pink makes your kitty feel elegant, modern and quintessentially feline.

My January issue of Real Simple is all about lists, which of course is perfect for my obsessiveness. My favorite part though as I briefly skimmed through since I didn’t have time to read in depth were these list makers with a twist, so I had to share. If you are completely neurotic like I am you will determine that you need all of these. Otherwise at least you will know what to get me next time you have to buy me a gift.

“I will do one thing today” stickies. Perfect for those days when I am not feeling productive and just really need to cross something off my list.

Handy Handle pad. Because in general the stickies I put on my door always fall off. Or I have started being able to subconsciously ignore them.
Information Central mouse pad. This is possibly the first one I will purchase. I swear I go through about 20 stickies per day by my computer and am single handedly killing the earth and putting more endangered species on the list by the hour. Seriously. I need this.

To-Do List pad. Great for my runs to Target or Safeway although I can see myself being ashamed at my lists of snack packs and dog toys.
List Me, Doodle Me notepad. Perfect since I’ve been craving some creativity lately! Plus this is perfect for taking notes while at a meeting or on the phone. Aka drawing pictures of my dog with a hat on or balloons.

Since I don’t have any of these awesome notepads (yet) guess I’ll just have to keep track of my day on here.

List for today

• Wake up: check
• Go to work: check
• Post on my blog: check
• Go to bed:

Good night.

I went to see Phantom of the Opera at the Orpheus Theatre tonight and remembered that theatre can be entertaining for a number of reasons. The first of which is of course the amazing voices in many musicals, the fantastic sets and costumes and flying chandelier, and at times the sheer comedy that comes upon you even when it is not supposed to be funny. Case in point: at the very end when Phantom is having the touhing moment with Christine all I could focus on was his awfully constructed fake face that looked like something out of an 80s horror flick. Either that or as if someone just stapled together some latex and sewed up a few strands of hair. When he started crying into the veil … it was a bit more than I could handle. Mom – I thought of you and Jeanne cracking up to the 70 year old dancers in your recent Nutcracker experience.

Other than that it was a fabulous night with good company and a great musical, interrupted only briefly by my unexplained, unstoppable laughter.

So I’ve been out of college and working for awhile now but I changed jobs to something a little different that maybe fits the more “career” mold and today was my first FULL day. I am still trying to wrap my mind around this transition but I do know there were some things I noticed.

A few things I learned today:

• Although I knew traffic was awful in the city I’ve been lucky enough to avoid it for the most part until now. I learned that traffic at 6 pm is awful, likely only worsened by the freezing rain, full day, and growling stomach. Note to self: keep snacks in car.
• It is not that hard to drink 4+ cups of coffee in one day. Note to self: switch to tea in the afternoons.
• People tell me that it gets tiring but as of today dressing up for work still makes me feel professional and motivated. However, fake suede heels + parking a mile away from the building to avoid paying + freezing rain = really really cold feet. Note to self: either buy better shoes or bring rain boots.
• Laptop bags with shoulder straps make you unbalanced in your fake suede heels when walking a mile away in freezing rain. Note to self: consider just bringing laptop in laptop backpack instead.
• Vietnamese food is yummy even though it tastes a lot like Chinese food. No note to self on this one other than to keep ordering fried rice and try the eggrolls.

I also learned and will surely (hopefully quickly!) continue to learn about this really great nonprofit industry I’ve gotten into and all of the good I can hopefully do to grow my accounts and find new ways to motivate donors. And help save lives in the process. Rewarding huh?

Note to self: be less cheesy.

WOW as in the expression not World Of Warcraft. Just to clear that up since we spent some time talking about gamer addictions tonight. No I mean WOW as in I can’t believe it has been since Tuesday since I wrote. That just goes to show that #1 my week was really busy and #2 I need to better plan my time. Or maybe that today the House marathon and not feeling so great meant I preferred to spend my time in bed watching tv and being a bum.

It’s been raining here in San Francisco the past couple of days which basically means that half of San Francisco forgets how to drive properly. It’s like Texans when it snows. People all of the sudden start driving 10 miles per hour and not turning left without a half a mile gap between cars. I am not sure though if this is potentially also a sign that I have been not getting enough sleep so my road rage has kicked up a notch.

Big news of the weekend is that Jon got a scooter. A scooter from the 80s. But a scooter. I am super excited to go for a spin … you know once it stops raining. Rain + scooter + horrible drivers are not a good combination.

So on that whole “getting more sleep note” I’m going to quickly wrap this up. Besides I figure when I don’t have anything funny to say the blog sort of is shot to hell. Notable excitement other than Jon’s scooter of the past week: last day of my job at BBI, got tickets to the Britney Spears concert in April and buying a purple dress. Excitement of the coming week: going to see Phantom of the Opera (!!!!), starting full time at Blood Centers and hopefully seeing some sunshine soon.

Oh ya and Gawker got a new layout and I’m not really digging it. Check it out here.

Goodnight!

I’ve been spending some time shopping around (read: far too much time) on Etsy lately and have determined that (a) there is far too much on the site for me to ever search through in a remotely organized fashion and (b) anything that I favorite and do not buy within the week will be gone, which doesn’t fit well with my “think/obsess about it for weeks before purchasing” or “buy and return when guilt sets in” attitude. Either way thought I’d share a few of my most recent discoveries.

The Almost Everything Wallet
(because although I love my J. Crew wallet I just bought, it seems that anything that is not the size of a dollar bill or book of stamps falls through the magic elastic)

Bee Baby necklace
(for some reason I am into this locket, likely because with the gorgeous white design behind it I can tell how it will look on my pasty SF white skin)

Modern Art Everyday 2009 Calendar
(because I obsessively gather calendars and then write events in all of them and then am never sure where I am supposed to be and when. Thank goodness for Outlook)

Moo Card Quicksnap Cardholder
(Lisa – we need these – oh ya and the Moo Cards too but definitely these. Think I could expense it? ha just kidding)

And there are many more – seriously if you haven’t checked out Etsy yet beware – you will get sucked in with their easy “favoriting” system and awesome gift guides. Oh ya – and you can search by color. Does it get any better than that?

In response to Sarah’s comment on the last post, yes that is indeed a goat. A billy goat in the back named Billy Bob and then some sort of dairy goat in the front named Scruffy. They were pretty much hilarious as they played together. Although not as hilarious as either of these two goats.

Happy Monday!

Whether it was for our anniversary or just because we have lived in San Francisco for a year and a half and haven’t been, Jon and I (and Glory) finally traveled out to Yosemite this weekend to see what the hype is all about. Granted winter is not the best time to go but it was less crowded and there’s something about the crisp bite of winter air that makes me appreciate nature more than I otherwise might. Although for much of the time we were there I was too cold to want to appreciate for more than 10 minutes outside at a time.

It really is incredible to view the beauty of the sheer rock face of such giant mountains as there are in Yosemite and to imagine that not only do people climb and explore those places now but they have been doing so for hundreds or years. We read one quote that in like 1868 a traveler’s guide to Yosemite said that no one would ever step foot on Half Dome and then just five years later someone, who must have taken that statement as a challenge, first scaled it.

Of course Jon and Glory and I also took it as a prime photo opportunity. Taking Glory made it somewhat limiting since she was only allowed on very specific trails but to be honest I think it was a good excuse for when we were too cold. Note to self, need to buy one of those puffy warm vests for any other outdoor excursions.

So although maybe next time we go (in the summer) we will camp, this time around we decided to stay at a Bed and Breakfast down in Oakhurst. And since apparently we are unable to stay anywhere that does not include animals (remember the Llama hotel?) this place included two goats, three big pigs, one pot-bellied pig, two dogs, two cats, and two chickens. Glory was pretty freaked out, especially by the pot-bellied pig, Piggy Sue, who seemed to think that Glory might have some food to share or some other reason why she should be followed around. Thankfully staying with animals means that there is always the possibility for funny things to happen or awesome shots like this:

Happy end of the weekend. Guess it’s time for a new week!