RaNdOm.

Sarah’s only request for the weekend was to make a stop at Half Priced Books. I complied, telling myself that I would only look and not buy anything. I have too many books on my list that I want to read--some that I own, some borrowed and some still at the bookstore. I couldn’t leave empty handed, apparently.

Here’s what I got (for less than $12!!):

*A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly (I started reading it while waiting on Sarah and by the time I got to the register I was already on page 16, so I HAD to take it home.)

*Miles Davis 1960-61 (this is wonderful. Best purchase of the day for sure, especially since it was less than 3 bucks.)

*Diana DiGarmo (big mistake…she was in the jazz section and I’d recognized her name from AI, but thought that maybe this CD would be Norah-esque. Not so much. To be fair, I didn’t give it a chance as I’ve only listened to the first song and half of the second, but that’s as far as I could get at the time.)

*A huge Cincinnati area map that includes street names and names of suburbs. (I’m hoping this helps me become more familiar with how one area of Cincy connects with another area that I thought were miles and miles apart.)

family twists and turns

Sometimes the people that we expect will love us the most will hurt us the most, or at least most often. It is kind of ridiculous how it all unfolds. I'm not writing about one specific event, though today makes this all much easier to realize. How many times must I learn this same lesson? I’m not sure whether to continue inviting them into my life only to be disappointed or to shut them out only to be saddened.

Today, I had intended on making dinner for my family to celebrate Mother's Day and to spend some time together. We have never had a family get together at my house before and I love to entertain so I was really looking forward to this. If you know me at all you know how I can be sometimes. I want things to be perfect, or as "perfect" as they can be. Lists were made, floors were swept, food was bought, prepared, and then I waited. And waited. Everyone was supposed to be at my house at 2pm. I had planned on them being about 15 minutes late because we are rarely on time.

At 2:45 I called my mom to ask what she was doing (getting dressed) and when she planned to be at my house (4pm) and when I said that everyone was supposed to be there at 2pm she said that I had told her 4pm, which then made me more upset. My brother decided to host a party yesterday so that everyone could see his new place that they moved into a week ago. His party was at 4pm. After having a short, somewhat tense conversation she said she would get ready and be at my house as soon as she could. Three phone calls later with no answer from either of my brothers I shed a few tears of frustration, turned off all the food that I was trying to keep warm and took a deep breath.

Last Sunday, on Mother's Day, I took some planted flowers, a card, and a HD gift card to my mom's house to surprise her since she had to work all day. She was really excited and I think it made her feel special and made her smile, which is exactly what I wanted. Today's get together (while I was footing the whole bill) was to be more about my brothers at least acknowledging my mom and spending some time together. She keeps giving and giving to them and it seems like they don't appreciate any of it.

My mom arrived around 3:30 by herself. I was really hoping that my niece and nephew would be in tow because I miss them. We warmed our food and headed outside to sit on the patio. The sun was warm and the conversation came easy. My mom was excited to tell me about a new interest in her life—a man from Ohio who is currently stationed in Afghanistan. Even though I am the daughter in this relationship I often want to protect my mom and make sure the people in her life are treating her the way that she deserves to be treated—with love and respect. I listened and I asked lots of questions, which she was eager to answer. With having never met him and only with the information that my mom has given me I am fairly optimistic of him being a person with many good qualities and with a good character; he is already miles ahead of the last two men in her life. I’m proud of her for voicing that she deserves to be a priority in the life of the person she is sharing her life with. Anyhow, this new guy, who for my blog’s sake and to keep his identity hidden, will be nicknamed Soldier. My mom told me about this blog that he writes (I was so tempted to tell her about mine, but decided against it for the time being). My mom loves to read, and she said that he writes very descriptive and she enjoys reading his posts. I think I’ll start keeping up with his blog as it’s nice to have an inside track into someone that my mom is interested in as well as the opportunity to gain a little insight into what our military is actually doing during this time of War. (I’ll share his blog address if you’re interested.)

Despite the timing fiasco and being disappointed by my brothers it was a wonderful evening. The weather was gorgeous, the food was yummy, and I felt connected to my mom in ways that I always hope for. The end of the evening was also wonderful. I enjoy being a part of other people’s lives and sometimes you get a glimpse of something really amazing and intimate and it solidifies your friendship even more than before. I appreciate the flowers and I appreciate your friendship more than I can even express.

50 questions.

1.Name one person who made you smile today? Charlie
2. What were you doing at 8:00 this morning? Walking to work.
3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? probably typing.
4. What is something that happened to you in 2006? I can’t think of any one specific thing. Just look at my old posts, I’m sure you’ll find something interesting.
5. What is the last thing you said aloud?
“oh, he’s a nice guy…”
6. How many different things did you drink today?
Umm, one. Good ol’ H20.
7. What color is your hairbrush? black & silver
8. What was the last thing you bought? does paying for parking count? I “buy” that every workday.
9. What was the last gift you received for your birthday? wow. Random question. I’m not sure, really. I can tell you most of the gifts that I did receive for my birthday, but probably not the “last” gift. All the gifts were pretty fantabulous. I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday last year. ‘cept maybe a card from either of parents would’ve been nice.

10. What color is your front door? it’s wood. So, umm brown?
11. Where do you keep your change? in a jar, on the counter, in my door handle of my car, in my purse, in my desk drawer at work, and in the bank.
12. What was the weather like today? spring-y. it’s freaking wonderful outside.
13. What is the best ice cream flavor? chocolate chip from Schneider’s
Black Raspberry Chip from UDF or Graeter’s
(or pretty much any other flavor of ice cream)
14. What is something you are excited about? Lots of things. This weekend I’ll get to see a high school friend get married, hang out with some other friends and have dinner at my house for my family to celebrate Mother’s Day. That also means that I’ll get to see my nieces and nephew which is one of the best things ever. Maybe we’ll blow bubbles or write on the sidewalk with chalk. :)
15. When was the last rainbow you saw?
Well, there was a St. Patrick’s Day commercial on a few months ago.
16. What size shoe do you wear?between an 8 ½ and 9 ½
17. Do you have a sister? no biological sisters. I have some pretty great girlfriends that I wouldn’t mind if they were my sisters. I also have two wonderful sister-in-laws.
18. Are you very random? rah-rah-random
19. Do you want to cut your hair? depends on the day.

20. Are you over the age of 25? yes and no
21. Do you talk a lot? sometimes
22. Do you watch The O.C.? like, oh my gosh. Like, that was so last year. (and that means no--never)
23. Does your screen name have an "x" in it? nope
24. Do you know anyone named Steven? not anyone good.
25. Do you make up your own words?what, like fantabulous? No, I just steal them from holly.
26. Are you ticklish? maybe. :)
27. Are you typically a jealous person? define “typically”
28. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter "M": Michael
29. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter "H": Holly
30. Who's the 1st person on your received calls list? Laura & Josh

31. What did the last text message you received say? it was from holly letting me know the goings-on for the evening and that we would chat tomorrow (which is now today).
32. Do you chew on your straws? occassionally.
33. Do you have curly hair? not naturally.
34. What is the next concert you're going to? ellery probably, unless I decide/can afford to make a road trip to louisville to hear damien rice.
35. Who is the rudest person in your life? I don’t surround myself with rude people intentionally. So, I’d have to say that a few work people take this title.
36. How many times did you swear today? It’s before 10am, so I’d have to say that I haven’t just yet.
37. What is something you say a lot? hi!
38. What is the last thing you ate? strawberries, vanilla yogurt & granola. It’s so yummy. I didn’t like it too much the first time I tried it, but it’s nearly the best thing right now.
39. Have you seen the movie "Donnie Darko"? weird. No, and I’m pretty sure that I’m never going to see it.
40. Do you have work tomorrow? yep.

41. Is marriage in your future? I sure hope so.
42. When was the last time you said "I love you"? last night. Those Tuesday peeps are pretty wonderful in case I haven’t said it enough before.
43. What should you be doing right now? working.
44. Do you have a nickname? a few
45. What is the best movie you've seen in the past two weeks? Well, a few weeks ago I was on this kick of needing to watch romantic comedies by myself. I think it was some sort of weird therapy for me. lol. Wait, that’s not true. I watched Prime with Lindsay about a week and a half ago. :)
46. Is there anyone you like right now? that’s a funny question.
47. When was the last time you did the dishes, be honest...? Monday. And there’s a bunch more to do since I’ve cooked the last two nights.
48. Are you currently depressed? nope
49. Did you cry today? not yet. It’s Wednesday, so it’s entirely possible.
50. What are you looking forward to this week?
See Question #14.

few things as sweet

As I’d mentioned in one of my last posts I’ve recently been listening to my Yahoo! Launchcast for the first time in several months. A few songs ago Jimmy Eats World came on and I was reminded of a post that I had written a little over a year ago. I can remember how I was feeling as I typed those words; they weighed heavy with sadness. My sister-in-law Angela was pregnant at the time and had been in and out of the hospital with doctors telling her that the possibility of her losing the baby was fairly high. Ryliegh Jane, my beautiful niece, will be eight months old on the 29th of this month; I adore her little smile and peaceful spirit.

I’m glad I was reminded of my February 2006 post and of the sadness and grief I felt because I can look back now and be thankful that what was seemingly going to happen didn’t and what did happen ended up being pretty wonderful.

music to my ears.

The best thing, so far, about moving cubicles is that I can now play whatever music I want. I can't wait to tote my CDs in next week.

Lately I've been listening to:
Corrine Bailey Rae (what a cool name!)

Ellery's Live CD: What I've Said Out Loud
And, in case you haven't had a chance to check out Ellery's tour date page you'll be happy to know that they'll be playing in town this weekend. Another bonus is that it is free. For details check out this link. MC, this is as close to your backyard as you can get.

Happy Thursday! I can't believe how gorgeous it is outside. Four-thirty is calling my name and I'm looking forward to the sunshine.

fine, just fine

It's been awhile since I've updated. This seems to be a routine for me, doesn't it? Work requires me to actually work when I'm there which seriously interferes with my blogging time.

Since I've last blogged:

*I've returned from my trip to Florida
*I have a roommate! She's my BFF, Linds. ;)
*Warmer weather has arrived!
*Phone tag w/J finally ended after nearly two weeks
*I'm moving! (only at work)

It's getting late and I'm thinking that I need to quit looking at the computer and head to bed. It's been so long since I've blogged that I feel like I need to get a lot of what I've been thinking out of my head.

One thing about my trip to Florida, though:

Amazingly enough I tried to put my issues aside with my step-mom (gosh, that's still weird!) and tried to let her in to my world a little and get to know her as well. It was really good. I also really enjoyed spending time with my dad. We have a lot of differences and yet have a lot of similarities. The trip was really good for both relationships. I have more to share about it...but it's gonna have to be when I'm less sleepy.

g'night.

Go Cincinnati

Crossroads is heading up this huge project to serve the city of Cincinnati in various ways. This is a one day event happening on Saturday, May 19th. There’s a lot of info on their website. I’ve been meaning to sign up for the last several weeks, and I’ve also been meaning to ask others to join me. Here’s your chance. Let me know if you’re interested.

Or, just GO.

***Edited to Add:***
I noticed that the site says they already have mucho people signed up. Looks like my procrastination caught up with me.