So, I forwarded this email yesterday. Sometimes I just can’t resist. I’m not responsible for the obnoxiously repetitive writing so please don’t add the single word moron to the list.
Describe ME in one word…. Just one single word.
Send it to me and to me Only. Then send this message to all your friends and see how many strange and interesting things they say about you. This is really fun. Here’s how to play:
1. Hit the reply key and send me my one word.
2. Then return to this message, and forward it to your friend (including me.)
It’s interesting to see what people say about you when limited to one word!!!
If, by official, you are looking at Facebook for proof. We are In A Relationship. After insisting I would never identify myself on there by my relationship status, I clicked yes on Q’s request. Will wonders never cease?
So, one of my other great desires is to become more crafty in the near future. Any project ideas? Please share them. I’ve been doing a little of my own research, reading gorgeous and crafty newsletters and blogs. Somehow, sometime, I came across these. Adorable, no?
Resolutions. I don’t usually make them. I am, however, prone to setting goals or maybe it’s better labeled Creating focus. It’s not a new year’s thing, it just happens to be going down around the same time right now. So, there are two things weighing heavily on my mind right now.
My home. I’ve confessed before. I am a wreck. There really is nothing I hate more in this world than cleaning. Hate. It. And, unlike some of my friends, I feel no satisfaction in having a neat and tidy apartment. In fact, I couldn’t care less. That’s what makes this goal so challenging. I’m intending to get it together when it comes to this place. Organizing, decluttering, finding a way to keep it together without making myself miserable.
My money. I have no conscience for the green. I get it, I spend it. For the first time in my life, I am going to attempt to pull in the reins. I don’t know if I will go as far as making an actual budget, but maybe I’ll slow down a little on the way I throw the stuff around.
A friend of a friend who i have never met called me today.
“Hi, this is Karen. I’m a friend of (mutual friend.) I’m calling because I’m going to be throwing a shower for (mutual friend) and she gave me your number so I could invite you.”
QC: Great!
K: So, it’s going to be on January 31. Do you think you can make it?
QC: Um… let me just look at my calendar… Oh. That’s Super Bowl weekend. Hmmm… No. I won’t be able to make it.
Super Bowl weekend is for Super Bowl parties. No other variation is acceptable.
First, I woke up. That was cool because I had doubted that I’d get any sleep. I looked outside and the overnight snow was knee deep. Ugh. Logged onto the airport website. Q.’s flight was already delayed four hours. Double ugh. I was sad, of course, but what can you do? I got all geared up to face the elements and hit the trails. (Can I tell you now how much I hate people who don’t shovel their sidewalks?? Immensely.) Picked up the last of the gifts I needed to buy and an Americano for me and moved on to the liquor store. Closed. Trekked across the street for some groceries and told the guy who’d sold me my tree that the flight was delayed and that I may not be able to pick it up after all, as I wouldn’t likely have any help to carry it home before they closed. Here’s a bright point in the day… Since I know the guys at the market, they offered to deliver my tree home for me and to give me a lift at the same time. Very cool. As the two of us are lugging my (still bound with twine) tree up the stairs to my apartment, he said to me “Why did you get such a big tree?” Ummm… because it was the only one left. Wait a second… is it that big? That was the first time I thought to really look at it. Yep, it’s big, all right. Huh.
So, after a little of the snow had melted off of it, I dragged it into the apartment on my own. Went downstairs, brought my tree stand upstairs. Things are going swimmingly at this point. Until… I place the tree into (or, rather, onto) the stand. Yeah, it’s too wide, won’t fit inside. I quickly found out that a bread knife was not going to cut it (heh!) when it came to removing some stray branches at the bottom. Got dressed again, walked again to the store. No tree stands. Finally found a couple of saws at the dollar store.
Back at home, sawing branches off my humongous tree that when upright is too tall and hits the ceiling of my very high living room. Had to take a little off the top too. Okay. We’re good to go, tree goes in the stand now, but not deep enough to hit the water that would sit in the bowl below it. Sweet jesus. Not wanting to go through the ordeal of taking it out of the stand to put a deeper bowl down, I lay the whole thing down, tree still nested inside stand. New bowl and we’re laughing. Until, that is, I angle things wrong trying to upright this big (and heavy!) tree and break one of the three legs off the stand. Tree is currently standing up and leaning into the corner of the room. I needed an effing break. And am now considering never actually taking the bloody twine off the damn thing!
So, I’ve been neglectful of keeping my year appropriately documented for all the world to see, Facebook notwithstanding. Here’s a recap. (Thanks for the idea, Megs!)
January
Kicked off the new year by saying goodbye to a very close friend who had decided to uproot and change cities. It was sad and full of tears, but it was for the best and, for that reason alone, I did my best to support it.
Was offered and accepted a new and life changing position in my workplace, one that would provide for drastic adjustments in the months to come. (I’m still getting used to it!)
I discovered the wonderful world of vegan cupcake making. Yay!
Hit the PDX for some R&R and a little Lebron action. Also, to do my part in ensuring that an old man saw the beats that he so deserved.
February
My career move was publicly announced, much to the shock of many and I started in my new position.
Me & Sis initiated the first annual three way birthday party with SJ.
More snakes and snails and puppy dog tails! Welcome Oliver!! (Keep up with him here.)
March
Received a random add as a friend on Facebook from a guy I didn’t know and that, at the time, seemed insignificant. Who knew??
April
Traveled to Minnesota for Dawn & Nick’s wedding. Met Rachel and Theresa and saw Sarah again for the first time since she’d visited the previous November. Checked out a Twins game while I was there and got to Mary Tyler Moore!!
I took a mystery trip that left me with more questions than answers, but that was quickly rectified. The answers weren’t those I was looking for, but I got over it relatively quickly.
May
This is around the time Polly and I started our own little bowling league. Tuesday nights at Lucky Strike. (Time to get the league started up again! Who’s in?)
Attended the outdoor wedding of a darling old friend: the weather was amazing and, while I was stuck with a friend I didn’t really want as a date, I still met a few cool people and had a pretty good time.
June
That random Facebook add from March? Yeah, this is where it starts to get interesting. Enter Q…. After months of chatting sporadically on MSN, we switched it up and actually got on the phone. We discovered that we had a really great time together and soon started talking every day, all the time.
July
This is where the whirlwind summer of travel began…
Hit Seattle first to check out the We Are Scientists show at Neumo’s with Ginger and Johnny O.
Returned home the next day and headed straight for the airport to get to Amy’s birthday party in Portland.
Met Q. for the first time when we decided on a last minute weekend visit about a week after I got back from PDX. We got along just a great as we’d suspected. Nothing weird about it at all. He ended up staying for close to a week.
Took an overnight trip to the Pemberton Festival to see Death Cab For Cutie and also caught sets by N*E*R*D, Jay-Z and (part of) Coldplay (snooze). Spent almost all night after the concert drinking wine on the balcony of our hotel room and catching up on the girl talk.
This was when I was considered officially “trained” in my new position and took the reigns. My “trainer” retired.
August
I went to visit Q. for the first time and saw Calgary for the first time in my life.
I celebrated the arrival of Barkley Jacobs, my wonderful and talented iPhone.
Q. came to town for the little retirement party a few of us had planned for my predecessor/mentor. We took a limo downtown and went for drinks and dinner after a wonderful girls only day at the spa.
Went camping with my Entourage, my three closest work friends: all notably hot and smart and really fun and all male. Spent one night in tents, then came to ours senses and hit the local resort town.
Flew to Austin to visit Rachael and Molly. Rachael and I had talked about getting together for the longest time… Turns out, she is even cooler than I had imagined! She took me up in a helicopter (she was the pilot!!) and we went to the Longhorns’ home opener. *So* fun!
Traveled back to Portland (again) for Mike & Nikki’s wedding.
Spent a week visiting Q. in his city. Explored and had a really great time checking out the place, the Tower, the Glenbow, the Zoo! Met up with one old friend and one not so old friend while I was there as well. Good times.
October
It was Thanksgiving in Canada and Q. came for turkey with my folks and stayed the weekend.
November
Another visit from Q. This time, we went to the opera (my first,) Eugene Onegin. Got a room downtown (thank you, Hotwire) and did it up in style, drinking champagne until the wee hours of the morning.
While he was here, Q. infected me with something that I still haven’t been able to shake. World of Warcraft.
Took a day trip with Courtney to America to meet Meghann for the first time. Yay!
December
Drove down to Seattle with my work husband to see his first NFL game ever.
Went to school downtown for an entire week, a supervision kinda thing.
Met Q. at the airport for a quick drink and visit on his way home from Seattle.
Attended my first Christmas party as staff and had to sing in front of 80 people as initiation.
Welcomed far more snow than I’d ever imagined could fall at this time of year.
Which brings us to today… the day when Q. arrives is scheduled to arrive for an extended holiday visit. His original 11 am arrival time has been delayed to 3:15. He swears he’ll get here, but I’m still worried. As expected, I am excited and am completely, blissfully unaware of all that needs to be done and am in full procrastination, bury my head in the sand mode.
It wasn’t an hour after I unleashed the news of the revival of this blog that I got an email from my dear friend Amy announcing that she was about to do the same thing. She has a habit of doing that kind of thing, you know, whatever I do, but that’s cool… the more the merrier. Check her shit out… Coming to the stage… Yay!
Sitting here on the couch, my first vacation day of the holidays, just chilling, catching up and watching TV. On comes a commercial for the BCSPCA featuring Sarah McLachlan. I don’t even like Sarah McLachlan! In fact, I actively dislike her. Regardless, all of a sudden, I was mesmerized by the video of her talking about supporting the BCSPCA, about how many animals are rescued, etc., etc. Of course, it was all about the animals, but still. Sarah McLachlan??? I fell into that trap? Evidently, the answer is yes because then I went to Youtube to find the video to post here and, while I couldn’t find exactly the right one, the one I did find made me cry almost instantly! And now I’m awaiting the arrival of my new BCSPCA reusable bag. What a sucker…
I’m not responsible for the obnoxiously repetitive writing so please don’t add the single word moron to the list. 
Spent one night in tents, then came to ours senses and hit the local resort town.
