|
|
|
December 23rd, 2009
06:33 pm
I just spent the afternoon calling every toy store, book store and game store to find a copy of Apples to Apples to give my cousins for Christmas. And I finally found it! Just ran out, bought it, and wrapped it up for the present exchange tomorrow night.
I feel really accomplished from this. I know they are going to absolutely love their present, and that makes me happy.
|
December 22nd, 2009
11:59 pm
This trip so far has been a constant fluctuation between stressful and awesome. It's great to see my cousins and relatives and meet a bunch more (man am I related to a lot of people), but things are so different here that it is very hard to adjust. I am doing okay though.
Tonight was my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary, and they threw an enormous party to celebrate. As direct family, I have to play host. I greeted people at the door and helped with the photographs, coats, brown-nosing,etc. I think I did a good job being a Mamonluk for the evening, haha. And everyone had a great time - we had to practically kick people out at the end of the evening. Overall, a successful family party!
|
December 17th, 2009
02:19 pm
Work holiday pot-luck lunch party was actually a good time. I work with some fabulous cooks - there was homemade pork fried rice, potstickers, mac and cheese, pineapple casserole, green beans and bacon, fried chicken, and of course, a table full of delicious desserts!
More importantly, it's nice to have an excuse to hang out with my co-workers and talk about things that aren't work for once. They are all such nice people, and it's a good mood boost to be social once in a while.
|
December 15th, 2009
10:58 pm
I got phone calls today from both Swift and Daniel! I miss seeing those boys every day. But the phone calls make me feel loved and appreciated.
|
December 13th, 2009
10:58 am
Birthday this year was all about the little things -
- Being too full from a delicious birthday dinner at Red Robin to go out for birthday breakfast
- Using the free breakfast time to sleepy-snuzzle in bed with Doug
- Getting a chance to show off my blue, blue sweater
- Mrs. Kerr putting a candle in a Rice Krispie treat and making everyone sing "Happy Birthday" at her annual holiday party
- Falling asleep with Doug, Jim and Bonnie at our late-night viewing of A Muppet's Christmas Carol
|
December 11th, 2009
10:48 pm
Birthday dinner night went pretty well. My Dad enjoyed his first experience at a Red Robin, Mom liked the way I've put the house together and decorated it for Christmas (and Doug did an amazing job of making everything look organized and perfect before everyone showed up - including me), and Will enjoyed watching the Star Trek re-mixes and Villanova football on the new TV.
And now I have my own KitchenAid! I predict that the new year will bring lots of homemade baked goods from my kitchen...
Also, Yellowbeard on DVD and argyle sweaters make awesome, awesome presents!
Also, my chocolate cake with fudge icing is delicious!!
|
December 9th, 2009
09:15 pm
Today was definitely an off-day. Doug was in a weird, stand-offish mood, and we were completely not on the same page. I didn't let myself get hurt and upset by it, though. Thinking too much about it and coming to the conclusion that I am being ignored or denied is not the way to make it through days like this. It's best to just acknowledge that it's one of those days, accept it, find some distractions and move on so something better can happen later. That is what I did today, and it was a much better day than the ones where I took it personally or tried to force things to be better.
I realize now that times like this are probably going to happen fairly regularly, at least for a while. I also realize that it isn't my fault, and it's not because I'm doing something wrong or our relationship is doomed or anything. Sometimes there will just be bad days, but that doesn't define our lives.
|
December 8th, 2009
07:59 pm
I came home from work today to an empty house full of little surprises - some silly new candies in the candy dish, a fancy new book of Doug photos, a nicely-made bed with some adorable stuffed animals on it. I can't get over just how much this place feels like home.
It's so sweet how Doug turns on the porch light every evening for me before I get home. Our light is usually the only one on in our whole little courtyard, and it makes our place look extra special and welcoming.
I'm finally, finally getting a haircut. I miss having short hair, and I'll feel so much better once I don't have to walk around with long, wet hair in the cold weather.
|
December 7th, 2009
10:10 pm
Happiness tonight is -- seeing how beautiful my house is decorated for Christmas
- cuddling up on a comfy couch to watch a movie on a fancy new TV
- kettle corn and a tall glass of chocolate milk
- when Doug has that happy look on his face and gives me a big, meaningful hug, just because
- using the "best of" our individual ornament collections to decorate our own little non-matching tree
- a warm body to fall asleep next to on a cold night
Life is good.
|
December 6th, 2009
09:29 pm
Doug got quite a birthday weekend this year! We all celebrated with the first snow of the season, the most Doug-ish meal I have ever seen (Chick-Fil-A, burritos, Mexican corn and rice, and Fudgy the Whale!), and watching the Eagles kick some butt on a brand new, 42" plasma TV. I don't know if I've ever seen him so giddy and excited before.
Seeing Doug so happy made me incredibly happy, too. It has been so relaxing and inspiring to have a happy, eventful weekend that we could share.
|
December 3rd, 2009
10:22 pm
Today was full of lots of nice little things:- a hot cup of tea at breakfast
- recognition at a work team meeting for my work on all the documentation for a new product
- having just enough leftovers at dinner to make a cute little lunch of breaded pork chops and noodles
- warm chocolate chip cookies, cookie dough ice cream and Ace of Cakes
- watching Doug get excited about the new TV he may-or-may-not be getting for his birthday/Christmas
- Curling up in bed early tonight while Doug reads me a bedtime story <3
|
December 2nd, 2009
10:41 am
The boss of my boss just walked into my office, looked at me, and said, "You are not allowed to leave this company. We like you too much."
:)
|
December 1st, 2009
10:18 pm
It's time to set up for Christmas at the Doug and Nico house!
The downstairs is all cleaned, organized and dusted. All the new decorations have been opened and appropriately strewn about. The fakest tree ever is set up in the corner (which I apparently can't help assemble without cracking up). The most unusual Christmas music is emanating from the media center. All I have left to do is color in my anniversary-gift penguin ornaments, and I call this evening a success!
It is a nice change of pace for us to be busy setting up things around the house, making everything all cheery and cozy and welcoming like this. It feels, dare I say, family-like around here.
|
November 26th, 2009
10:14 pm
Thanksgiving dinner this year was an awesome family effort. I dunno how to describe the difference I felt - it was like we were all working together, and enjoying it, instead of feeling like we were all just guests at someone else's place. This year, every moment was... comfy. And 100% happy.
And oh boy. So. much. food. I definitely ate dinner until I had to waddle away from my seat. And then I ate pie. Twice.
Homecooked dinner is the best.
|
November 25th, 2009
11:05 pm
Man, I haven't felt this good being around my family (or had as much fun with them) in a long time.
On the way home for Thanksgiving break this afternoon, Will and I surprised Mom at the cafe and had lunch, which made her very happy. Then, after an awesome impromptu dinner, the three of us spent the evening making menu plans for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner, and Will and I made pies for dessert (pecan and 3-layer chocolate, respectively. I'm so excited!).
The most fun, though, was the three of us sitting down, pulling out all the old photo albums, and looking through each one to gather pictures for my grandparents' anniversary party slideshow. We found so many truly, awesomely special ones... and I have to say, my childhood was pretty darn cute.
|
November 23rd, 2009
12:10 pm
"You don’t have to carry your past like a weight that holds you down, keeping you stuck in a world or way of being you don’t love. You can become a new person at any moment in time by simply deciding: this is who I want to be, and this is first step I’m going to take to do it."
(baby steps...)
|
November 21st, 2009
01:16 pm
Doug said some little, stupid thing this morning that really annoyed me. The kind of thing I usually think about too much and blow out of proportion until I've completely stressed myself out coming to the conclusion that my life is all wrong and I can't do this anymore. And at first, I was headed very quickly down this path. I blamed him (in my head, of course) for being a selfish, lazy, self-serving hypocrite. I got stubborn, and told myself that I'm really going to get mad at him when he gets home (he's up in PA for the day) and tell him how frustrating he is, and how bad he makes me feel sometimes, because I wanted to express the anger he had caused.
But then. I stopped. This is silly. I've been through this whole process before. So many times, in fact, that I know it's not a productive course of action. If I want a different ending, I need to adjust the way I get there.
So, I let myself get mad for a while, so that it gets out of my system and doesn't just keep building into something worse. Then, I tried to go through everything else that happened this morning, and focus on the good things that Doug did for me instead, that I should appreciate. Things like -- coming back to bed after I woke up this morning to snuggle and watch some TV before we started the day
- offering to make me a breakfast sandwich and bring it up to me, in case I was hungry but didn't want to get out of bed (which I declined, but it's still a sweet offer)
- giving me an estimate for when he will be home, and texting me when he's on his way so I don't worry about him
- telling me before he left that if I want/need him home earlier for some reason, he will be here
And so, my day is looking much better. With a little personal productivity with my free afternoon (tidying the house? grocery shopping? finally starting my Australia scrapbook?), I'd say today is looking out to be pretty great.
|
November 20th, 2009
10:00 am
Overall, I've been pretty happy with myself lately. I got a raise at work, I've been getting myself out of the house and being social, and I'm not letting the little things get to me as much. Granted, I still get frustrated and have some bad days, but I'm getting better at recognizing when this happens and dealing with it in a more constructive and productive way.
I just bought myself a present to reward me for my efforts.
It may be a cute little t-shirt with this design on it: 
I'm hoping to get to wear it over Thanksgiving break!
|
November 18th, 2009
09:28 pm
While I was driving home from the Christiana Mall today (where I was hanging out with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) mandew for the evening!), I was in a really good mood, so I started singing along with whatever song came up on my iPod. By the time I got home, I had to sit in the parking lot with the car running so I could finish belting out the last song to myself. It was fun :)
|
November 15th, 2009
01:24 pm
It is warm and gorgeous outside today! I am fully enjoying throwing open all the windows and letting the breeze in as I tidy up the house.
And sunshine makes me so happy!!
|
|
|
