Bah Humbug?

So, all throughout the year, I kept my eyes open for good gifts and shopped ahead. I was all eager to wrap said gifts, but I told myself I'd wait until the holiday season started before I'd wrap them - it just didn't seem right otherwise.  Well, somehow, I found myself scrambling the final days before Christmas to wrap the gifts and finalize my decorations.  I guess, in the beginning of December I had a case of the Bah Humbugs...but it definitely ended.  I can't believe I didn't post pictures of my decorations on this blog yet!

if you look closely, those reindeer are big drinkers

SOME people were very good

big picture

please note the troll dolls

my angel

When I was little, the days off leading towards Christmas were the best - the days after were a letdown.  Now, it is the total opposite.  The days before are stressful and I secretly look forward to them being over; the days after are a sweet, wonderful relaxing relief where I can enjoy the lovely gifts I've received.     Also, I remembe,r when I was little, I hated receiving money as a gift.  Needless to say - this has drastically changed as well.  

Anyhow.  Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year, All! Love you readers!

In Case Anyone Is Looking For A Good Holiday CD....

This one is phenomenal.  And no, I'm not being facetious.  It really is.  

Getting off to the Right Start

I just downloaded the blogger for iPhone app. I am not sure how good the app is, but at least I am attempting to be a woman of my word.   This will, hopefully, help in my quest to be a better blogger.  

Boy Talk

Miranda said it well.  Whenever I talk to my girlfriends, the conversation usually goes in the direction of, for lack of a better way to put it, 'boy talk'.  Is this kind of conversation pretty much just what is interesting?  Why is that?  What other kind of talk is interesting?  Housework, laundry, mortgages?  I think not.  Gossip?  That is also interesting, but probably isn't any more respectable or intellectually stimulating.

Your thoughts?  

New Year's Resolutions

I have four that are getting carried over into the new year.  I'd feel bad about this, but I was really ambitious with the resolution making this past year, and I succeeded at several big ones.  So I feel ok about not receiving a 100% A+.  One of said failed resolutions was to be a better, more consistent blogger.  As we know, there is always next year.  I hope to, more specifically, do around 20 posts a month.  This year was a hiccup.  My other resolutions are too personal to mention here, but those who know me in real life know them.

What are your new year's resolutions?  Do you bother making resolutions?  Any success stories?  I won't bother asking if there are any failures....

Words of Wisdom of the Day

Kangoo, Part Twooo!

So, earlier I reported on the subject of 'Kangoo Jumps' and how much fun they look.   If definitely looks like a fun workout and it also looks like it really gets the cardiovascular system going, however, not that this matters, but, there is something about them that is, for me, hard to take seriously.

Well, I was looking at their website.  They, apparently, SHOULD be taken VERY seriously.  There are a LOT of health benefits.  This is nothing to laugh about.  They are seriously going to change your life for the better.  And to think I was going to invest in botox - these bad boys come with a built in face lift!

Have any of my readers tried these out?  Your thoughts?  Are they as fun as they look? 

Yes, Deer

Lightening the mood, or trying to....

An Open Letter....

So, in a previous post, I mentioned there was something on my mind that I wasn't saying that was clouding my ability to blog. Well, in the best interest of this blog and its readers - upon 50% careful consideration and 50% blogging whilst emotional, I have decided to, in the words of John Mayer, 'say what I need to say' for cathartic reasons.  In the spirit of 'stuff white chicks do on facebook', yes, you can assume that post is directed at one specific individual.  You are also welcome to judge me for handling this in the form of a blog post (as opposed to a phone call, personal email, etc.).  Anyhow.

Without any further ado....

I honestly still cannot believe you did this to me.   I am still angry.  I am still in shock.  And I am still hurt. Don't get me wrong - I am doing fine.  I am doing well.  But you wronged me and you hurt me and you know it.  If you think I've forgotten you or if you think I've forgotten what you did to me, you are surely wrong.   If you think I am somehow confused and that I think there is possibly some misunderstanding that leads to some acceptable explanation of your behavior, you are also wrong.

I was good to you.  I deserved better.  I would not have done this to anyone - I surely would have not done this to you.  If the end goal was to make me hate you or make me think you are a bad person - you have not succeeded at this, however, again, you have succeeded at hurting me.  And if you possibly think, for one second, that you are, in some way, off the hook for what you did - you are wrong.  I cannot believe you were so selfish that you didn't think twice about causing me pain because you felt, for whatever reason, that you needed to do so at this time in your life.  So, if you have a conscience, or if you have any consideration for anyone for anyone but yourself, let it be known that you should feel guilty for what you did to me every single day of your life.

I might be out of sight.  I might be out of mind.  You are welcome to be a coward and hide - that doesn't undo the wrong you have done to me.  I don't wish ill on you but I do sincerely believe you should feel terrible about yourself as a person for what you did to me (and to some others as well).  I am a decent person and I am disgusted by what I got from you in the end.  Both you and I know I deserved better.  Again, I don't hate you, and I surely will go on just fine in life, but let it be known that what you did to me will never be forgotten.  I am very confident that you are so vain that you will definitely know this post is about you.

**************************

Again, dear readers, go ahead and judge me for posting this (juvenile, emotional, passive aggressive, what have you) - it felt good for me to get this off my chest.   Now, on to some other posts.

New Year's Resolution Recap

Well, it's that time.  The year is almost over.  There were several new year's resolutions at the beginning.  I am proud to report success on several counts.  I knew it was time to make a step in a new direction for my career - I am proud to say I did.  I also had a goal to travel more - I took three trips to three new locations this year.  That might not be all that much to someone else, but it was a lot for me - or, at the very least, 'more'.  I can honestly say I succeeded at keeping two new year's resolutions.  Two, at the very least, mid-size, new year's resolutions.  I don't know how many can say that.  I am proud.

Now, sigh, onto the other side....  There were, most definitely, a couple New Year's resolutions I did not succeed at keeping.  Whop whop.  I won't get into them - some are rather personal - but I know they will not be happening in 2011.   One of said resolutions was to be a better blogger.  Dear readers - I do not need to tell you about how I failed at this.  I kept trying to pick back up every month, but needless to say, I never picked the pace back up.  It could be a lot of factors - busyness, the difficulty of finding new material after four years, etc.   This is all true, however - let me say there have been a lot of things on my mind that I've wanted to say, but this blog would not be the appropriate forum for it.  I think those words clouded my mind and prevented other topics from coming to mind.  It might sound stupid, but I am confident it's true.  I will try to do a better job of working past this in the future.  I am curious if other bloggers sometimes have similar problems.

Anyhow.  How did my readers do on their resolutions?  Any big successes?  Any big failures?  Anyone throw in the towel early?  Anyone throw in the towel just recently?

Men At Bars.

So this past Thanksgiving, I was out on the Wednesday night beforehand ("Black Wednesday").  I met my good friend Ellen, who was with a bunch of her friends from kickball.  There was one guy I noticed right away - he was cute and we seemed to catch each other's eye.  We started chit chatting - it seemed, to me, like we were hitting it off and that he had a lot going for him.

Anyhow, as the night proceeds (granted, we were in a small bar where our group of 12-ish people made up  maybe 35% of the population), I see him talking to another girl as well.  Ellen mentions that he also knows this girl from kickball.  Long story short, they are also talking closely and I even see him kiss her.  Ok, I'll admit, I'm a little disappointed, but really no big deal.  I continue to hang with Ellen and chat with people.

So, it reaches the point that I am tired and ready to go home (and try to sober up so I won't be hungover during the turkey carving).  I make my rounds and say goodbye to the people I've met.  This dude rushes over to me.  He starts making excuses and apologizing - 'she meant nothing to me, I don't know why I kissed her'.  Ok - first off, he and I had only been having casual chit chat - so what would he have to apologize for, in theory - I, am, in theory, nothing more than a random person to him at this point.  Second off - do these words run out his mouth very regularly?  I remember a time when an acquaintance sent me a text saying 'sorry for my behavior last weekend, I was really drunk', people who mutually know this personal all voted that this is a regular quick text for him.   Is it a bad sign that a guy is already apologizing to me before we've even gone out?   Is he worth going out with?  (Sarcastic question.)  Is this what one should expect from a dude at a bar?  Your thoughts?

Trying To Redeem Myself After the Selena Gomez Post

I LOVE this song.  I don't particularly like this band - they're ok - but this song is great.  I also like their 'Someday' song.  My angrier side relates to that song.

Dirty Secret

So, the other day, I had my Kelly Clarkson pandora going (chuckle if you'd like, it only gets worse from here) and I randomly heard a song that I wasn't familiar with and thought 'Ooh, I like this song.  I wonder what it is.  I'm going to give it a thumbs up!'

Drumroll please.

It was Selena Gomez's 'I Love You Like a Love Song'.

Am I a teenage girl caught in 28 year-old's body?  Should I be embarrassed?  Do any other 20 somethings like this artist?  Should I make a Selena Gomez station!?  Does anyone out there have one already going?  Is it good?  Is it better or worse than this guilty pleasure?  Your thoughts?  Actually, let's be realistic, I probably don't want to actually hear them on this one....

Working Out in the Winter

So, not that this is a news flash, but it's cold out in Chicago.  Here is something that I always wonder about.  So, I go to dance class regularly - and I also see a lot of people around my neighborhood heading out (presumably) to work out.

Here is what I see -women in capri pants and sneakers with no show socks or men in gym shorts whilst walking outside in 30 degree (or less) weather - with several inches of bare skin.  What I don't get - why not put an extra pair of long over said capris whilst traveling to and from one's car to the gym?!  It's f'ing cold!!!!  I get it - it takes an extra 30 seconds.  I get it - it's an extra piece of laundry.  But still.  I get it that these men are such 'tough guys' that they can handle the cold for the couple minutes, but the women!?  Come on!

Your thoughts?  Do you put on an extra pair of pants before heading out to work out, or brave the elements?  Do you also not understand these people?  

A Brief Touch of Irony

So I just got my Glamour Magazine in the mail the other day - as Jay Leno would say - my bible.  In in, there was an ad for the Kardashian line of nailpolish by OPI.  I have spoken before on how OPI perfectly names their nailpolishes.  Well, they really hit the nail on the head recently.  In the Nicole by OPI division, Kardashian line, in Kim's division - there is a lovely pink color.  The name, as can be seen here, is, wait for it....

Kim-pletely In Love.

I guess this was one detail she couldn't get around with her staged nuptials.  Although, this could be completely accurate, seeing that it does not specify exactly who she is 'kimpletely in love' with.  Perhaps it's her sisters, or her work, or fame, or, mayhaps, herself.  In that case, this is probably spot-fucking-on.  No judgment.