A Thousand Splendid Suns

Yesterday I finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. It was so sad! L had warned me it would be sad, and she said she cried. I didn't cry, but I felt a sadness in my soul. The book was very detailed--I could imagine the character's in the book, and what they experienced. It was like I was there. It was well-written, and it made me want to talk about it. I usually don't read sad books--maybe one or two a year--because I get emotionally attached to them, and it's hard to deal with sometimes. While I don't regret reading this book, I also think it would be in my best interest to take the rest of the week off from reading any books.

A Golden Birthday

I had the best birthday everrrrrrrrrrr. Seriously! It was a golden birthday for realz. M and K were awesome! We went out to sushi, had saki, and even had cupcakes from Mermaids Bakery & Pie House. They were amazinnnnng! I was so excited! And our waiter gave us free shots after dinner, and two bottles of saki. And then we went out to the bars and sang to some classic songs that I used to hear at happy hour in 'cuse. The night ended with M and I getting a ride in a petticab to the parking garage. Seriously. Best. Birthday. Ever. I was so happy that everyone could come out, and that was soooo sweet of M and K to plan it all out. They sure are sneaky! But it was great!

The birthday festivites continued on Sunday with M and I waking up at 5am to go to the Rocky Mountain Balloon Festival. It was worth it! After that, I got a free chair massage at my aunt's spa party, and some presents. Then I went to Bonefish Grill with my family, aunt, uncle, and baby cousin. I tried a pomegranate martini--it was so good. I really felt like a birthday girl! Dinner was amazing, and I even had peach pie for dessert at home with the fam. I got a bottle of wine from my aunt and uncle, and my mom gave me new perfume, a new tote bag and case, and new makeup. And my cousin Jessica said she would give me a free birthday haircut. Yay! All in all, it was an amazing weekend!

Book Club!

L and I are starting a mini book club. Turns out we both read the book I'm With Stupid. Any book suggestions are welcome. I recommended that she read Schooled, and she recommended I read Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.

Growing up...

...does that mean your palate changes too? Here's a funny article about the candy and food we used to love as kids, and what they taste like now as an adult.

Most things happen for a reason... right?

Today I received a reality check in the form of a voicemail. I came back from lunch and saw I had one new message. As I scrolled through my missed calls, I assumed it was just my mom. I hit the blue voicemail button on my handset and hit the number 1 to hear my new messages. "One new message" said the lady's voice. I was just about to login to check my e-mail when I heard "This is Matt Sitelman..." I immediately picked up the phone and listened to his message saying he "is leaving the company" and "all invoices will be paid" and how he was "unsure if editorial consideration will be needed in the future."

I was shocked.

I thought back to all the times I had complained to M about lacking motivation to do my stories or dreading of interviewing people. It would seem like a routine--I would get an assignment, slack off, do said assignment last minute, exhale with relief, bill my boss, and then repeat. Every month. Lately I questioned whether I truly enjoyed said job or if I just didn't like writing about technology. Perhaps this is some sort of answer to my questions.

The pro is that now I am free and I can look for other writing opportunities. The con is most definitely not having the extra paycheck every month.

My boss said to keep in touch, so after my post-shock haze, I e-mailed him thanking him for the opportunity to work with him, and suggested we keep in touch. I also e-mailed the new contact, and expressed to her I want to keep working for them.

I don't know what the future holds, but maybe this is God giving me a kick in the butt to motivate myself. Who knows. He does work in mysterious ways, right?

Hippies!

Convo I had today with L.

me: do you think you could ever become a hippie?
L: i dunno. i wouldn't do the drugs or anything. but i like the laidback attitude. how about u?
me: i wouldnt' do drugs either but idk, being a hippie might be fun to experience. not dreadlocks or anything but wearing peasant-y skirts and walking in the creek, and sleeping in tents in the grass
L: yeah! i like the peasanty skirts part and walking barefoot. where'd u get this idea?
me: just thinking about different experiences, and how it's refreshing sometimes to just change up your life. and boulder has alot of hippies but i didn't see any today. i was just thinking of paris and how changed i felt with life when i came back and how i appreciated the little things--like my shampoo.
L: yeah..oh really? i didnt' know u guys had hippies
me: yeahhh totally boulder is filled with them
L: well for me it was nyc water. cuz costa rica water and paris water left my hair tangled
me: so i was just thinking, being a hippie would be a change, it would make me stop and smell the roses and just go with the flow and get outside my head
L: yeah. totally

Do you want to be a hippie?

S.O.S.

Matilda is in need of some serious TLC. I watered her on Friday before I left the office for the weekend, but I forgot to move her to the other side of my desk away from the window, and yesterday I was sick, so I didn't get to water her then either.

Today I walked to my desk to find Matilda's leaves all droopy and weak, and her one strong growing bloom shriveled with a few dead leaves. Her soil was really dry too. I told myself not to panic and I gave her some water ASAP. But, I am panicking. I mean, I was doing SO well. AND to make matters worse, I just bought her a new pot this weekend at Lowe's for $1.87. She was getting so big, I thought it was time for her to be transplanted and even set aside soil from my parents house to put in her new pot.

I would say she's in critical condition; all I can do now is keep watering her, give her some sun, and hope she bounces back.

Random Thoughts

• Tomorrow is payday
• Today is already Thursday!
• I think Matilda is ready to be transplanted...her leaves are OOC!
• The sky is so pretty today
• I wish I had a job where I didn't have to be inside 24/7 (at least not during the summer)
• Tea is good for the soul

Movies, Movies, Movies

Apparently the summer is almost over. At least that's what the sign at the pool said when I went to the pool on Saturday afternoon. They are having an "end of summer" cookout on the 25th. That's so sad! While I don't want the summer to end, I do look forward to the fall. Fall is so great. I love the chilly weather and the way the leaves crunch under your feet.

Since the parentals are out of town, I helped out and did Andrew's back to school shopping this weekend. It was kinda crazy because I ended up going to Walgreens, Walmart, Target, and Office Depot. BUT it did get done, and I spent less than $60 too. Impressive. I know. I always loved back to school shopping as a kid because I got to get new supplies and a new backpack and lunchbox. I thought it was the coolest thing. Don't get me wrong, I still love it, for it brings back good memories. But, I never realized how much of a pain it can be too. The lists the teachers create are very specific. I had to get an 8 count of Crayola washable markers. Not a 10 count, not ones by Roseart, but that specific brand and everything. Now I know why my parents never really cared when we went shopping--they just wanted to get 'er done.

On Friday M spent the night and we watched the Queen, the movie with Helen Miren in it. It was good, but I guess I was expecting it to be more dramatic. Meh. Either way it was a free movie, as I had rented it from the library. We ate Domino's pizza and had a good time. It was nice to have the company.

On Saturday we raced to the movies and caught the 11:10 showing of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. Because we made it before noon, we only had to pay $5. Sweet. The movie was so good! It seriously is just like the first one in that it makes you laugh and cry. I can't wait till it comes out on DVD. I plan to see it with mi madre again soon. After the movie, I went to the pool and swam for an hour or so and then went to the mall. I got a skirt, shirt, and pair of flip flops at New York & Company. Then I headed home and watched the movie 21 with Hailey, our golden retriever mix. The movie was pretty good. We had it just lying around in the basement from Blockbuster. Good stuff.

On Sunday I went to church at Immaculate Heart of Mary, did school supply shopping, and met up with S for boba tea at Lollicup. S tried a cherry-flavored slush with boba for the first time and liked it. I got a passion fruit slush with boba instead of the mango kind I got last time. It was really good. They have so many different flavors and I learned that you can get boba added to flavored iced tea too. I think next time I'm gonna try to add jelly in mine instead of boba because they even have mango jelly or three colored jelly, etc. It seems cool. Anyways, after Lollicup, we headed over to Casa Bonita. M and Kristen had never been there so it was fun to show them around. The place is just as I remember it, with the scary caves, the cliff diver, and the free sopapillas. Afterwards, I continued my quest to finish school supply shopping, and went to Walmart, Walgreens, and Target. And I went to JCPenney's too. I saw a cute skirt that was on sale for $10, but I think I could fit into a smaller size so I didn't get it. I figure I can always go back for it if I really want it. Oh, and I rented Definitely, Maybe and watched that with Hailey last night. It was a cute movie. I would watch it again. That's all I did this weekend. I didn't realize it but I watched a movie a day over the weekend. That like never happens. I usually don't watch movies very often. I like it.

So far today has gone well. I caught the early bus because Hailey woke me up at the ungodly hour of like 5am, and then again at 6:30am. Finally I gave up and got ready for the day. It's really quiet here today. I can't complain, especially because it's already almost lunch time, which means I'm halfway done with work for the day.

B-Day Ideas

• Go Saki Bombing--I've never done it and I'm curious to try it

• Get a mani/pedi
  

• Go to the Rocky Mountain Balloon Festival!!!!!
  

• M and I went last year and had to wake up at the crack of dawn to get out there but it was so cool and we got alot of cute pics and even got to go up in one! So it could warrant a repeat performance

• Have a Spa Day with the extended fam

This is all I have so far.... more to come!

Letting Go

I had to let someone go last week. It was definitely a trying time both spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. I know it will be for the best. But that doesn't make it easy either. If anything, this hard situation proved to me that I have many supportive friends. I am forever grateful for them, because they helped me through a really hard time. At least I'm happier now, and I know I'm on the right path. I thank God for that too--for guiding me through this tough situation.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

We had our ice cream social today; here's a look at what was there!

Just Peachy

On Saturday, M and I made her favorite dessert--peach cobbler. This is what it looked like coming out of the oven. It was SO good! SA gave me this recipe. It's from weight watchers and has less sugar in it--so it's low fat too! Yay! I also learned a trick from M to get the skins off the peaches easier. You boil the peach in water for about 30 seconds, then put it under cold water, and vwa la! The skin will come off!

M was totally excited, and I was happy to make it for her as a belated b-day gift. I still have to get her a card and stuff, but I'll make it a priority soon.

What prompted this you might ask? Well, this week of her b-day, one of her co-workers asked her what she wanted for the birthday luncheon. Yes, her work is that cool that they have b-day luncheons. Anyways, she said she wanted peach cobbler or any kind of cake. Well, then later on that week or something, she asked me if I could be a dessert, what would I be? She obviously said she would be peach cobbler, to which her dad said it was because she's "wholesome." LOL. After thinking about it for all of like a minute, I said I would be a cupcake because I'm sweet. (insert gagging noise here). I know, that's a cheesy answer, but I really do enjoy cupcakes! I even poised the same question to S while we made brownies. He said he would be cherry pie with really good crust. Of course my mom agreed with that answer--she loves cherry pie.

Saturday night I spent time with B and friends. We grilled out and played rockband. It's such a fun game! Although I suck at guitar, it's too much coordination I think. Haha.

Sunday was good times as usual. It was our last jazz in the park weekend, which was bittersweet but still fun. S made it and he brought Max! It was exciting. Josh came with Kristen and Jake even made it, despite this 40 mile hiking trip. And John, Ashley, and Eliana came too! We made our 7 layer dip which was soooo freakin good, and had cherry limeades--the perfect summer drink. It was a great way to end the jazz in the park stint. I look forward to next summer!