speaking too soon?

I’ve lost almost 10 pounds since I started this bootcamp and started with the Tae Bo replacement.

I say this with trepidation, for I am not one to go on about achieving weight loss and fitness goals simply because I fear that I’m going to jinx the whole thing in doing so.

Jinxing. I feel like that about a lot of things in my life actually. Hesitant to talk about a new dude who I have a little flirtation going on with, or a new job prospect for example, because what if too much talk about it, too much expectation, too many high hopes, what if it turns out to be a big fat FAIL in my face?

I get leery to discuss new possibilities- a potential new job, relationship prospects, new things that “could” be, in general, because I have a nagging fear that in doing so, they may not come to fruition, and then what?

That sounds pretty glass-half-empty slash Debbie Downer-ish, doesn’t it? Yet I would not say that I’m a negative person, by nature. I try and see the bright side of things, look for the best in a crap situation, the silver lining, find some sort of good out of a bad thing. I’m described by my close friends as a confidant, one that people feel comfy going to for encouragement and hope. I refuse to let negativity consume me, yet I wonder whether this denying myself the right to feel excitement about something I’m interested in, is in fact a form of negativity in itself?

It’s not that I don’t feel that I’m deserving of securing that job, getting that man, achieving my goals, losing those extra 5 pounds, I do. More than anything, I guess a big part of it, and this is probably right at the root of the whole story, is that I feel that in talking about it all too much, in making others aware of what I want and hope for, if I don’t get it? Then I feel like I’ve failed.

Who likes failing?

And I know, I know that’s all very silly, and I shouldn’t give a rats ass what other people think, but I do. So I keep mum about certain things to certain people, until I feel comfortable that I’m seeing some positive progress in the direction that I’m hoping for, and then, and probably not until then, will I make any sort of peep about it.

So I’m trying to make a change with all of that. I’m gung ho for the Law of Attraction and all of that jazz; it’s always been something I have been down with- putting out good vibes into the Universe and in doing so, getting good things back at me. I try to envision the life that I would like to lead, the people I want with me for the ride, the job I’d like to wake up for every morning, the man I’d like to lie down with every night, the amazing places I wish to travel one day, and the body I want to be living this amazing life in.

From now on, I’m going to try and be more easy on myself, actually let myself feel excited about something that maybe could be, and see where that takes me.

Because what’s the worst that could happen in doing this? Say I envision myself brunching with Gerard Butler next month? I actually picture him picking me up at my pad, driving me off in his swanky wheels (or motorcycle, I’d like him to take me away on a hot Harley), us picnicing in the park, him scooping me into a big bear hug, tossing me on the bed, and telling me I’m the One he’s been waiting for. Say I actually believe that might happen (even if it dare say, might be a spec? of a stretch). And say that in the meantime I keep kicking bootcamps ass, lose a couple more pounds, meet a cute guy I think is something special, and I actually speak up about it all to my friends, to you, as it’s happening?

So what if some (or none) of it happens? What’s really so bad about that? Isn’t the whole potentially-getting-there-process fun and exciting and character building in the meantime?

I’m going to go with yes.

 

I left my voice in NH, and other points from my weekend getaway

• I’m back all in one piece, and I made the zip line my bitch on Friday. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a spec freaked out by the time we got to the top of the mountain (?) where we were setup to take our first zip down. The six of us girls clearly dominated the majority of the group, joined in by a good looking dad, his wife, and his daughter, and one other couple. After the first “zip” we were really into it, and the whole thing was a wicked blast. Our tour was led by a better looking version of Screech. He was hilarious and one of those people who you can tell just really digs their job. I like these types. Outdoorsy and good hair = plus two. Here’s the beast we took up the mountain: 

• Oh, the watermelon! That’s one worth mentioning, a- considering how much talk there was about the damn thing beforehand, and b- since it came out so damn good (after a lot of prep-work)! Now I’ll tell ya, this soaking-of-the-vodka process? It’s no quick thing. Don’t go expecting to prepare this concoction and enjoy it an hour later. I put the vodka into the watermelon on Saturday morning thinking we could bust into it maybe that night if we were lucky, otherwise go for it on Sunday. Well, it wasn’t absorbing anything too quickly, and RS wasn’t kidding when he emphasized rotating the thing. By Sunday afternoon, it still not soaking the vodka up, we decided to chop the thing up, put it in a bowl, and give that a go. Cha-ching! Finally- end result, wickedly delicious watermelon, 8 tipsy vacationers.   Here’s a picture of Watermelon Concoction 2008:



• Right, you may have noticed we some how picked up 2 more vacay-ers along the way? No, unfortunately none of the three single girls in our group struck gold with any fine looking neighbors. It goes back to something that would only happen to us while three and a half hours away on vacation: car trouble. Of course. Luckily we had split up and taken two cars up there, because car number two decided to crap out on us mid-trip, leaving us with 6 girls 1 car, a tow-truck situation on our hands and no way in hell to get us and all our gear back home.
  Fail.
  So Sunday night we added two males into the mix- the fiance of one, and his cousin who came up to join in on the action for a night and cart half of our group home the next day.
  Somewhere in the mix of that evening I seem to have lost my voice, and now sound like a cross between a 68 year old chain smoker and a 14 year old boy going through puberty. Hot. 

• SATC. There was lots of it. The pink velvety case was displayed on our coffee table for the duration of the trip, and yes, we did even throw an episode in for a second on Sunday night with the men there. Needing to find a certain scene with Big that kept coming up was of utmost importance. 
• We rocked out a good solid Power TWO Hour upon arriving at our place. One hour just didn’t seem like enough, so we kept at it (that’s what she said). We were playing with two sweet mixes- one was 80’s, the other some random compilation of music that made us want to bust a move. Which we did, outside on our sweet deck until the bugs got too much to take and it was time for more SATC. (A couple of you may or may not have been the recipient of a nice Tipsy Text from yours truly during this adventure) Lights out by 10:30 that night, needless to say. 

• Most all of our activities needed to be enjoyed indoors, since, definition of us and our vacays, it dumped rain pretty much the entire time. No biggie. We had enough food and alcohol to feed an army, games that made us laugh so hard that Little Miss Priss in the condo down below us had to bust the party because we were so loud, digital cameras, outlets 15 minutes down the road that were calling our name, and did I mention, SATC? 
• Oh, here’s a really really cute puppy we met one afternoon when we went to a random nail salon to get mani/pedis. His name is Lucky; tell me you don’t want to instantly hug him?

All in all, I’d give the trip a solid 8.5 (factoring in the rain and the car troubles we encountered). Pretty damn good!

I forgot, we saw a moose on the side of the road on our way to the zip line excursion. That was fun.

 

seeing my way out of here in three days

On Thursday I leave for a long weekend getaway with my five girlfriends to a sweet little condo in NH.  Last year we rocked out Bike Week in Myrtle Beach (we didn’t actually plan to go on Bike Week, we just kind of fell upon it.  Also turned out that not only was it Bike Week, it was Black Bike Week.  And that’s not me being racist, it’s just the straight up facts and the name that the festivities go by down there- here, check it out for yourself!)

I know, if you read my post over at AllTheWine you might be wondering then, why the hell is she so gung ho on complaining about a Monday?  I’m asking myself the same question right around now, because as it turns out, today wasn’t so bad afterall.  Because it’s the end of the “year” (fiscal year that is) at work this month, we all have to bust ass to get our stuff done by July 1.  And since Wednesday is my last day before vacay, I’m extra busy writing blog posts getting work done before then. 

So this year instead of doing the whole flying thing, which costs major bucks nowadays and we have two new engagements in the group (ie, it’s $$ saving time), we opted for something a little more local.  So we’re kickin it in a furnished condo this year instead, driving up Thursday, partaking in local actvities and all in all planning a hell of a lot of relaxing time.

Oh, and we’re signed up to do a zip line excursion.  Yeah, we’ll see how that turns out.  I’m actually beyond pumped for it, we may just need to reference an adult cocktail or two ahead of time to calm the nerves.

Speaking of, has anyone ever done the whole vodka/watermelon concoction?  Rs27 mentioned it over at his place today and it reminded me of how I’ve always wanted to try that one out.  Are there certain instructions on how to whip this up?  Is it simply just about pouring a bottle of vodka in a watermelon and going to town?  Should I google this or what?  Since this is the only way I’ve ever enjoyed a watermelon/vodka combo, I guess I’m just a little clueless.

There’s a new episode of Intervention on, or at least one I haven’t seen, so I need to be going.  Besides, I’ve probably given you enough randomness to make you want to reach for your own adult beverage of choice right about now.

Oh but wait, check out the new HOH over there.  Thanks to all of you for helped me out with some suggestions- rest assured I have them tucked away for another day.  All were damn good choices, I just felt like my heart was telling me to go with this guy because let’s face it, he’s in a uniform and that kind of thing just undoes me. 

 

Petty, old friends, & style (or, I can’t think of a better title for this)

So hey.  I’m able to post right now because I’m not at bootcamp.  Our trainer had some other piece of business going on, so we added in an extra day last week and are busting out an 8am session this Saturday.  Just shoot me now.

I don’t have too much to write about but I do have to say that Tom Petty was fabo, as was the prime people watching that you get to do at this type of show.  Quite the eclectic mix, let me tell ya.  Oh and my Friday was quite a hit- with my best friend from high school in town, it was absolutely necessary to take sake shots go out on the town and show her a good time.  And it also just so happened that my new young non-speed- date friend from last Thursday called and ended up meeting up with us.  Nice guy, sweet, blue, kind eyes, and not a bad looker at all.  We’ll see.  It’s fun.

Anyway, one other thing is that I’m absolutely obsessed with whipping up new outfits thanks to this special lady who told me about the site (that I think I’m the last to hear about) that I’m now totally addicted to. 

Case in point, my roommate and I spent hours Saturday afternoon making outfits for various friends and making the other guessing who it was.  It’s the little things, for serious, that amuse us.

Here is an outfit that I could absolutely get down with wearing on an outdoor patio for an after work happy hour:

And here’s the definition of the kind of guy I wouldn’t mind doing this with:

(I know he seems to be dressed for a bit cooler weather than I am, right?  That layered look though, I just can’t not dig a guy who does The Layer.)

That’s all for now, I think.  I’m going to go watch Letterman’s response to Speidi on his show again for kicks before sitting down to read more of Eat, Pray, Love (and then I’ll probably watch this six more times for the hell of it because for me, that’s always a guaranteed mood lifter).

Monday be gone!

 

hey baby, there aint no easy way out

Oooooh boy.

Or, I guess I should really say, not so much on the boys.

I don’t post while I’m at work, and though I’m not silly enough to think that I got a whole lineup of readers eagerly awaiting my Speed Dating tales, I did want to bust out a quick update for the one or two that might swing by for the recap of the evening.  So here I am, 7am on a Friday morning with a towel on, drinking some OJ and ready to tell you about the night…

Which was basically a bust.

Not so much the evening itself.  Dinner was pretty good, flatbread pizza and Riesling is a weird combo but it works, it’s not easy walking crowded streets, many blocks in heels, EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil- did you know that?  Rachel Ray?) stains, and arriving fashionably late to an event like this is actually very okay. 

We arrived to the bar where we were welcomed by a slew of GREEN! CELTICS! SHIRTS! everywhere.  Lots of green, lots of dudes, Mardis Gras beads at the door?, big flat screen tv’s, a well made tanqueray & tonic, a nice atmosphere.  Truth be told, we were more content just staying put here, where all this was happening.  On the stairs, a little mini sign reads, “Speed Dating, downstairs, 8pm.”  Well by now it’s 8:45 and we’re not sure we really want to do this.

But, we paid our $22 dollars so we at least wanted to check it out.  We head to the dungeon downstairs, where there is absolutely no music, no game on, pretty dead silence, 4 guys sitting at the bar, about 7 girls sitting around, and one man who wants to check us in, with a whistle around his neck.

Yikes.

We scope the room, we look at each other, and we decide…. no.

We just couldn’t do it.  We did ask some questions, like “is this it?” and, “are you serious?” and questions about the guy to girl ratio (7 to 12- what?), and some questions about getting our loot back.  Which was a dead end; there is no getting money back within 24 hours so we chalked this one up to who knows what, and headed our bad selves back upstairs.

All in all the night was a good one.  Good game, good company, met a guy with a good head of hair who lives right next door to my favorite icecream place in town (sweet), and exchanged numbers (bonus).  Though I didn’t meet Mr. Wonderful, the night was still a good one, and now at least I know that I’m done my stint with the hyper relationing Speed Dating.

Happy Friday and happy weekend!

Oh, I’m going to see Tom Petty tomorrow and I’m damn excited. 

Ciao.

 

and I can barely walk

Sore?  Would be one hell of an understatement.

Last night, that bridal slash bridesmaid bootcamp thingy that I ridiculously signed up for started up.  10 weeks, 4 girls, 1 Irish personal trainer, literal no joke, balls to the wall, you’re not going to have the energy to be scoping out cute guys while you’re doing it, BOOT CAMP, in a field in Southie.

Oof?  Yeah.

We did a lot of these:

And these:

Holy hell, heaps of these:

 Multiple sets of these:

 

Oh, and topped it off with a thrilling set of these:

 

Tonight, I wish I was blogging like this:

 

going to get Carried away…

Life doesn’t always turn out to be your fantasy.  That’s why you need friendships that are real to get you through it all.~~Carrie
Bradshaw

 

It’s finally here! 

I felt like it was The Right Thing to do to at least post today, of all days.

I’m off and running with five of ma’ ladies to see the premiere tonight.  To a theater that has a bar, no less! 

Cosmos, shoes!, Mr. Big and my best friends- what other way would I choose to spend this Friday night?!

 

baaaack.

Well hello blogworld!  I’m back!  My time away in Cali seemed to just breeze by in a minute.  Some highlights from my trip include:

• Some good pool time, which gave me the opportunity to finally finish reading The Kite Runner (I know I’ve been talking about it for months), and to start reading this, which was a sweet gift from a co-worker before I left!
• Ooooh!!  Speaking of gifts!!!!  Remember this ring that I had on my birthday wish list last week?!!  Well guess what?  My good good bloggy-turned-real-life friend Miss Nilsa went ahead and ordered it up just for me, and it was waiting in a little envelope when I returned last night!  Thank you SO much lady!
• This:



• And this:



• A new Coach purse that I gifted myself from the outlet store that my mom and I spent several hours at one afternoon.
• Definitely lots of good, really quality time with my mom.
• This new little ditty, similar to the one I was eyeing last week:

(little bit sunburned?)

• HOLY HELL.  Meeting these guys:

(Yeah, I know.  The cuteness.  I’m tearing up again just posting these.  5 weeks!)

• Birthday martinis.  Blueberry Lemondrop.  To die for.
• Lots of plane time.  This wasn’t actually a “highlight” per se, but it did give me lots of thinking time.  I reflected on a conversation that Mr. Match and I had where he said he didn’t like that I used “woot.”  Red flag #36!  Though I do miss his big bear hugs and his HOH, I do not, my friends, miss that type of shit.  Oof.

There’s lots more to report from my Cali excursion, but for now I’m off with my roommate and some friends for a belated little birthday dinner and drinks!

Can someone please explain these new quilt-esque avatars that are going on lately?

 

I’m going going, back back…

So something went funky last night in My Bed because I woke up and my comforter was half on the bed half on the floor, I was sweating and cold, and my shirt was on backwards.  I do believe that said shirt mixup happened prior to going to bed, rather than mysteriously in the midst of a dream filled night, but I cannot even be certain of that.  We got home late from the Sox game (finally in the 9th inning they put Papelbon in), and after Fenway Franks and a handful of beers, I was completely wiped out by the time my roommate and I got in at 12:00am.  

And even Cosmo noticed something was up, as he continued to paw my head this morning at 5:30am.  I had a talk with him and pleaded that he stop that nonsense, which, he did, thankfully.  I gave him a birthday hug (he’s 1 today!, a Taurus too!) and rolled over and fell asleep to his soft purrs (I’ll stop now, lest I freak you all out with Single Cat Woman fodder).  

I have heaps to do today.  Some banking things and CVS type Pre-Trip-Shopping things.  A pedi after work followed by a bridesmaid meeting after that.  And then there’s the packing, which I haven’t even begun to think about.  I know my biggest problem will inevitably be how to cut back on the number of shoes I will attempt to stuff into my suitcase for a five day get-away.  

Thankfully, these are all Pretty Good Things, as they are prepping me for (finally) a sweet Little Getaway that I so need.  That all three of us need.  My mom, myself, and my dear roommate- who, as fate would have it, lost her precious grandfather yesterday.  Yesterday.  Could she and I live more parallel lives?  Yeah, this Getaway couldn’t be MORE timely.  

Anywhoots, I hope all of you have lovely weekends and hey, Happy May!  Oh and how about this gem- did you KNOW, holy hell, that my birthday, May 4, just so happens to also be International Firefighter’s Day?!  Yeah, I totally shit you not.  Could The Universe be trying to tell me something?  Like, I don’t know, that I need to end up with a Man in Uniform, like my old flame (get it?  ha. ha. ha.) down the street?!  

Off to Cali tomorrow… have a great weekend bloggybuds.  Catch you on the flip side!

 

Make Your Own Kind of Music

Hello readers of Skrinkering Hearts! Sicilian Mama here, filling in while Brookem takes a bit of a blog hiatus to spend time with her grandmother.  It probably goes without saying that like me, all of you have been keeping Brookem and her family in your thoughts and prayers during this time.   All of you know that Brookem is an amazing person (and if you don’t, then shame on you!). Hell, amazing person is an understatement. I can’t even begin to find words appropriate to say how wickedly awesome she is, so I won’t even try. Let’s just leave it at what Brandy said when she guest posted for Brookem back in January: “when someone as nice as brookem asks you for a favor you don’t say no. You say, “absolutely!”. Because she’s one of those people who’s so darn nice you just want to do nice things for. Sort of like Princess Diana. Or Betty Rubble.” Pretty much sums it up and leaves me to talk about something else.

I “met” Brookem about a year ago. The season finale of Lost had just aired so the following day I wrote a post on my then blog (long story that I won’t bore you all with) talking about all the WTF moments I had while watching that crazy episode (those who know me, know that pretty much every episode is a WTF moment for me…). Brookem found her way over and, well, the rest is history! In the months following, I got to know Brookem and found out what a great person she is, how much we have in common, and even though the two of us live thousands of miles away from each other, how much fun we could have! Together with another awesome blogger, we planned what was quite possibly the awesomest online baby shower for a monkey and his baby. But Lost was the first thing we connected on, so that is what I’m going to write about today.

Those of you who are as obsessed with the stupid TV show as I am know that new episodes come back April 24th. And I can not wait. I talk about it incessantly, asking my husband, “are you sure the DVR is all set? When it comes back, it’s going to be on at a different time, you know.” To which his answer is to go into the DVR set up and show me that it automatically knows the time change since it goes with the TV listings…fine, whatever…just as long as things don’t get messed up. I need my Desmond!

So yeah, it’s coming back. And the past 8 episodes of this season have had a few really awesome episodes and a few poopers. This show is notorious for pissing me off to the point where I’m ready to swear off watching. And, just when I think I’m out, they pull me back in with one of those episodes that make you rethink everything you’ve ever known about the show. Bastards. Anyway, with just a few weeks until its return, I am going to list out some thoughts I’ve had during the first 8 episodes as well as some predictions I have for the rest of the season. If you haven’t watched the past 8 episodes and don’t want anything spoiled, please do not read any further…get to a TV and watch the episodes.  For the love of all that is holy what kind of Lost fan are you? 

• Episode 5, The Constant, was my favourite of the season. It not only confirmed my theory I was having in regards to time travel (which I have extremely strong feelings about…time travel plot lines are very tricky and have to be done just so…we’ll see if the writers follow “the rules” of time travel), but it featured Desmond! Ahhh…mama likey!
• I refuse to believe anyone is dead until they (they being the writers) prove that said character is truly dead (and to prove this, I need to see a body that is truly dead and most definitely not going to be coming back to life). This includes Charlie, Jin, Rousseau, and even the crazy eye-patch guy.
• I still hate Jack. And Kate pisses me off to no end. They are, quite possibly, the most annoying characters in the show…which is too bad considering they are probably the mainest of the main characters. Le sigh. Oh, and Juliet usually bugs me, too. She’s getting ready to go back on my “must die, but probably won’t really die, but I really want them to die” list.
• Why have the writers turned Sawyer into comic relief? Anyone else notice this? He and Hurley are like some kind of comic duo this season and I’m not really sure why. Sawyer is much more dimensional than his character is being portrayed this season. Come on, writers!
• Ben rocks. I love his character and how we’re just not quite sure if he’s lying or telling the truth. The way he continues to be able to manipulate the people around him just makes him all the more interesting.
• Locke has started to annoy me…which I think is what the writers want.
• What the hell happens on that island??? I must know!

Predictions:

• Claire dies, which explains why Kate ends up with Aaron.
• Desmond gets off the island, dumps Penny, comes to the US to find me and we live happily ever after.
• Ignore the previous prediction…that’s just my craziness seeping through.
• Michael will somehow prove to Sayid that he isn’t a traitor, but it will be too late and will die. Which will explain why Sayid works for Mr. Linus in the future.
• Something really bad is going to happen.
• We find out about Jacob and all the scary shit going down in his shack.
• Remember the Walt that appeared to Locke after he’d been shot by Ben? I think Walt was possibly affected by getting off the island like Desmond was and it really was Walt.
• Along with time travel, it will be revealed that the use of clones is at work as well (this one’s for you E-Fo)…which may also help explain why people who are supposedly dead aren’t really dead.

Ok, I think that’s enough…I have more, but I think I have listed out enough for now. I don’t want to turn off any of Brookem’s readers who really don’t give a flip about this show. But one final thing: I’ve come to realize that with this show, anything is possible. And what you may think one week will most likely be completely rocked the next week. And yeah, I know…it’s just a TV show, but damn is it ever good!

So, what are your thoughts and/or predictions?