The Date

I went on a date last night. First one in a LONG time, so I was a little rusty, but I think it went well. We just met up for drinks at a bar in the Village and chatted. He's HOT, seems like a pretty nice guy, young (27) but has traveled the world and seems to have a good outlook on things. I'm not sure what much we have in common, but it was nice to just go out, chat and have a very attractive guy on my arm for a night. He already asked me out again, so we'll see.

It's good to exercise the flirt muscles...god knows I need the practice.

I have a wife....

A blog friend turned me on to this new website that I have officially fallen in love with. It's www.alice.com and the premise is that you spend some time telling it what household products you use and then you can order them, not only with FREE shipping, but it FINDS THE COUPONS for you and applies them to your order!! Also you can set it up to remind you to reorder something if you know approximately how often you use it. I just got my first order and it's like my own personal Target fairy dropped everything I was out of at my feet. Seriously LOVING THIS.

REALLY US weekly? Really?

"Kate Gosselin Sports New Bikini at Home" was a recent headline on the US Weekly website. Is what this woman wore in her DRIVEWAY really news?????

Photo Blog

I've started a new photo blog for my retouching company! Come check it out and feel free to pass along to anyone you know who needs photo help!

If you want to contribute ideas, posts or questions to the blog, let me know!

Learning to Ebb and Flow

I've been having that rare feeling the past few days that I've (excuse my language) got my shit together. I'm on top of things at work (thanks to my summer intern), have a good flow of freelance clients with projects well spaced out and have my meal planning down to a science, so much so that I've been bringing coffee, my breakfast AND my lunch to work every day.

I know the feeling is fleeting and that a few weeks from now I'll be eating dry cereal straight from the box for dinner because my meal plan went by the wayside and I'll be rooting through the laundry for the least offensive smelling pair of jeans, but I think I'm actually learning that it's ok to get behind on life sometimes. Nobody has it "together" 100% of the time, especially if they are trying to do it all alone. It's about balance. Some days I'm going to be on my meal plan and ok with sticking to it. Other times I'm going to give in to the pizza craving, even if it's not on that week's list, and that's ok.

It's called living life.

The Skirt

I have this skirt from the Gap I bought YEARS ago. Black, perfect fabric that doesn't wrinkle in a suitcase, perfect length, figure flattering. But when I bought it, it was a smidge too big and now that I've lost (and kept off) some weight, it falls right off me.

I put it in my Goodwill pile with a heavy hand and tried to forget about my perfect skirt, but when I finally made my trip last week to the donation bin, I couldn't bear to part with it and decided to see if I could have my perfect cheap skirt altered.

I was TERRIBLY embarrassed to take it to my fancy NYC tailor for fear of the mocking I would pay so much to get such a cheap piece of clothing taken in, but perfect black skirts are hard to find so I bit the bullet and took it in.

He listened careful to what I wanted done and inspected the label. He said in his heavy Eastern European accent "umm...this is like $18". I apologized for bringing in such cheap piece and started in on a lengthy explanation of how it was the perfect skirt and how I'd searched for years to find a replacement and couldn't and he patiently listened while glancing at the cashier with a "what is this chick talking about" look. When I finally finished he says to me "No, miss I mean the ALTERATIONS will be $18."

I thanked him, took my receipt and got out of there as fast as I could.

Non Bloggy

I don't know what is with me lately, but I'm feeling very non bloggy. My life just hasn't been very interesting lately.....economy finally taking its toll at work....benefits going down, layoffs, forced time off. Nothing fun there. Therapy isn't really working and I'm feeling frustrated about that after months of trying. No new boy news. The days are just kind of floating by with not much excitement to report! I'm fine with a nice summer that just kind of coasts along, but it doesn't make for good blog fodder unfortunately.

Hope you guys are having more blogable summers! I need to live vicariously through you for awhile!

My Home Office

Here are the before and after pics of my home office space. Once I get the boxes out, I'll take a better pic of the desk, these don't do the piece justice. FINALLY I have a proper space to work on my photos and build my business!!!!

Before (I piled my work stuff on a TV table and did my work on a couch until my back hurt)



After:

Wow.

I called my state government to find out what forms I needed to prefect a security interest.

The first person I got told me they don't give out information, just phone numbers.

The second time I called the person directed me to the online forms for applying to be a security GUARD.

The third time I got someone who actually knew what I was talking about.

Ladies and Gentelmen: The United States Government

Investment

After months of planning a home office re-do and TONS of research and waiting for backordered items, my home office project is finally coming together. My desk should arrive in a week and then all I'll have left to do is choose a desk chair.

I'm having slight buyers remorse....I spent a LOT of money on this project, but as I hope to eventually move to a 100% freelance photo career someday I have to think of it as an investment in my future. 

Guess it's time to start promoting my business now. I need this desk to pay for itself!

Take Pictures

I went to the Celebration of Life Service for a friend of mine last weekend who died a few months ago. They had a slideshow of photos playing in the background from moments throughout her life and it was very touching.

Take pictures. Take pictures of good times, bad times, times when you think you look fat, times when you think you look good. Times when you cried and times when you laughed so hard you cried. Just take pictures.

Healthy Summer Eating

Whenever the weather gets warmer I always find myself wanting to eat lighter and healthier. Since I've been home, I've been on a major protein kick, chicken breasts, egg whites, peanut butter...I ate a lot of carbs on my vacation and even though I miraculously didn't gain any weight, I want to get back to eating more balanced. Since I don't eat much meat, it's always a struggle for me. I can only eat much chicken before I go crazy.

I am looking forward to healthy summer eating....I can't wait for the first good strawberries to appear in the grocery store. YUM!

What are your favorite summer foods?

Home Sweet Home

I am back!! My vacation was lovely, but I am glad to be home. I learned a few things about myself on this trip that I thought I would share:

1) I am addicted to my Blackberry WAY more than I would care to admit. Despite not having it with me, I found myself waking up in the middle of the night looking at the nightstand to see if the new message indicator light was blinking.

2) I am 100% comfortable spending a week completely alone with minimal human contact.

3) My love for Tivo is much stronger than I thought. They should make a travel Tivo that you can take with you.....THAT would be fabulous.

4) The ocean has healing powers so much better than any drug.


Now I'm off to unpack....my suitcase currently smells like beach and I need to do laundry and re-pack. I'm off to Chicago on Friday.

The Mark of a Really GOOD Vacation

is that you don't even care that somehow on the same day within 12 hours of each other you managed to break both your computer AND your ipod.  The computer has its moments of being usable, but I think the iPod is a gonner. It had a nasty fight with a tile floor and the floor won.

I've been a lazy bum this entire trip. Pool/beach/eat repeat. I've barely taken any photos or done a thing other than read near various bodies of water.

It's been FABULOUS. I've got a few more hours of sun tomorrow morning and then I'm on my way home. With no computer or ipod to entertain me, it's gonna be a LOOOONG flight.

Vaca!

I am officially on vacation!!! I arrived in St. Maarten yesterday and have been a lazy beach/pool bum all day today. The resort I'm at is pretty empty so I had the pool all to myself this morning.

Also, THOROUGHLY enjoying the free wifi!!

A Good Way to Ring in 30

A birthday cake. Treating myself to a cab ride to work (instead of taking the subway). A facebook page and inbox full of good wishes. A cupcake. A bouquet of flowers from my cousin. Cards from a dog and a fish. A Target gift certificate from my sister (which will be used to buy a fancy new coffee maker I've been drooling over) and a fabulous beach vacation next week.

You know, I really can't complain about this whole turning 30 thing.

That's Right

I'm 30 today.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Not Helping

I've been doing this therapy/drug thing now for 2 months and I feel exactly the same and still have the exact same anxiety.

I can't tell if I'm being impatient and was wishing for a magic cure, but my expectations were after 2 months I would at least feel closer to feeling different, yet I don't. I like my therapist and she has definitely said things to me that have made me think about things differently, but I don't feel like we ever get to solutions. I'm tired of just thinking about things. Thinking I can do on my own time and without a copay. I want SOLUTIONS or tools.

Is 2 months long enough to tell if something is working or not?

No Plans

I have NO plans this weekend, no pressing chores, nothing that HAS to immediately be done.

If you need me, I'll be laying in my comfy bed trying to make it through Book 2 of the Twilight series. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it, but so far Book 2 has turned me into an emotional wreck.

Not a bad way to spend my last weekend of my 20s.

Good Cantaloupe Thoughts

Any good thoughts you could send Chicago's way I would appreciate.  A dear friend of mine is meeting with a surgeon today to discuss a lump she found in her breast recently and I'm trying to send all good vibes her way. My self proclaimed job for her has been her comedic relief. Now I just need someone to be mine.

*the cataloupe reference is from last week's Grey's Anatomy episode: "Life handed her lemons and she made cantaloupes!"