Emphasis Added!

Birthday Love Note:

Happy Birthday Melissa!!!  I think you are wonderful.

I remember reading your bike bell post and being instantly taken by you…in love with the fact your kindness transcends this medium.  You then amazed me with your thoughtfulness and generosity as you posted Lindsay’s Love Letter.  I also am endlessly charmed by your aesthetic, your relationship with Brent and your affinity for marbles and lace!

Happy Birthday dear.

ps. In honor of her birthday, I have reblogged one of my favorite posts by Melissa: ”Wednesday Love Notes”

withoutmelissa:

• Impromptu tap dancing in my office
• Savoring a big mug of Brent’s amazing coffee
• San Francisco sunshine falling down over me on my afternoon walk
• Honey candy from my favorite organic grocery
• A homemade Lebanese meal in the making (Natasha is chopping fresh parsley as we speak!)
• Ella Fitzgerald on the record player

Everyday I make a mental list of wonderful things I experienced that day. It sounds loopy, I know, but it has made me astoundingly grateful and aware of my beautiful life. There is nothing particularly special about me… and yet everyday my blessings and joy grows.

I think it’s sort of like people that count their money. They constantly count it and become so supremely aware of how much they have that they seek new ways to make their wealth grow. Everyday I count my joys and watch them increase exponentially.  I think they were there all along, I was just was too busy worrying about what I thought I needed to notice how much I already had.

P.s. If you think that good things don’t happen to you… consider redefining what “joy” means. Rediscovering your favorite leggings that were shoved under your bed or finding strawberries buy 1 get 1 at the grocery store are the very sort of everyday occurances that should be counted.

I just added comments to my tumblr page!!!  I know this doesn’t sound like any major coding feat, but I am pretty impressed by my instruction-following/cut-and-paste skills!

(Thank you to the smoking hot Alishan for giving me the kick in the blogging-bum I needed to finally install commenting capabilities to my site.  I am quite excited about upgrade!)

Now leave me messages, please…nice ones preferably. 

As many of you now know, I made a significant capital purchase this weekend: Shoes.

The initial shoe buzz has worn off a bit and I am now forced to face the economic realities of my decision.  The good news is that, even on this Monday morning, I proudly stand by my purchase….

Let me explain- For the past 2 months, I have been setting aside money from every paycheck to buy these YSL stilettos, but when I stumbled across my precious Choos…I knew my shoe fund needed to be redirected.  Additionally, we received insurance money to cover all of the contents stolen from our car.  We decided to put 75% of that check into savings and split the remaining money to put towards replacing something that was taken.  Instead of buying replacement shoes - I put the money towards new ones.  Brilliant game time decision, if I say so myself!

My point: I know this was not a recession special friendly purchase, but I think the fact that I saved up the funds in advanced and stayed within my spending limit is very economically sound of me.  Right?

My mom is so awesome.

She came over this afternoon to view/review my outfits for Vegas.  Thank god she was here because I was nearly a “Don’t!” We decided to swap out my shorts/bubble-top outfit for a gaudy little dress due to the fact that the shorts were not nearly dressy nor short enough.

Mom sat on my bed and as I modeled each “look” making sure I had everything I needed for each casino, pool, casino, dinner, show and lounge outfit.

I now feel pretty solid about the rest of the fashion line-up….basically everything I have packed can be paired with these precious new babies which clearly makes me happy!

Thanks mom for still letting me play dress-up with you.  XOXO

Things that must be accomplished today:

• Since I decided not to run the Shamrock Shuffle in the blizzard-like conditions, I must run my own personal race on the treadmill at the gym.  I am on the hook for 5 miles, but as penance for wussing-out due to the weather I am going to log 6 miles.
• Host an in-apartment fashion show for my mom.  I hate going on a trip/to an event without first getting my mama’s seal of approval on the stylings of my outfits (This is not as codependent as it sounds…it is just a ritual that I love to do!).  I am going to Vegas on Tuesday and am excited to spend part of this afternoon working my hallway like a catwalk and showing her the dress/shoe/accessory combinations I have put together for our nights out!  (My favorite part of this arrangement is that she will come over with a tote bag of back-up purses and jewelry…)
• A colonic.  I am not nearly as brave as Ms. Mary Rambin, so I will NOT be sharing any additional details about my first foray into the world of colonics….just wish me luck.
• Cuddle in with my hubby and watch “Rachel getting Married.”
• Laundry
• Pack for Vegas

Now I just have to shut-down my computer and actually get started…

Simple Pleasure:

This morning, I logged in a solid run before work.  I made it out the door and by the time I hit the lakefront path, I realized that I was not dressed nearly warm enough.

Not dressed properly for a run?  No problem!

I made a 1 block detour and ran into my parent’s apartment (directly across from oak street beach) to grab a stocking cap, running gloves and other wind-breaking accessories.  In under 3 minutes, I was back on the road feeling much much toastier.

Workout saved.

I received over 150 resumes for an open position on my team for eBusiness Project Manager. I painstakingly reviewed every resume and landed on 6 to call-in for an interview.

I just called one candidate, “Mark,” to inform him that he is in consideration for the position and to schedule his interview. His response: “Ok. Please email me the job description, address, directions to your office, who I will be meeting with, company profile and any other relevant information.” Um, I am all about coming to an interview prepared…but don’t you think it is a BAD IDEA to actually make more work for the person who will be interviewing you!? Is it unreasonable to think since I am the one doing the hiring, I shouldn’t have to do the legwork for this dude?

I was this close to telling Mark “nevermind” and hanging up the phone.

So…yesterday, I lost it.  While I am fairly intense, I generally maintain a sunny disposition and it takes a lot for me to lose my cool.  While on the phone with my parking garage yesterday…I officially lost my cool…lost my composure and certainly lost my shit.

Exposition: My car was stolen out of our valet parking garage about a month ago.  It was stolen by someone who works there.  The car was found but it was pretty banged up and stripped of everything of value…somehow even though the garage confessed that one of their guys stole it, their insurance was fighting the claim- so we had to pay for all damages.  Stupid, right.

It gets worse…When paying for the next month of parking, I requested a discount since our car was STOLEN by them and not parked in our spot for about 7 days.  They denied my request. Again, stupid.

Final Straw: A week after getting our car fixed, I noticed that our car had been backed into a yellow pole and our bumper was all busted up!  After STEALING our car, our garage CRASHED our car and didn’t say anything.  They apologized and made the claim with their insurance, and I found out yesterday that the claim was DENIED since I had left the garage without reporting the damage (I reported the damage 1 hour after leaving the garage).  Note: the huge yellow streaked dents are the exact color AND height of the poles scattered throughout the garage.  It clearly is their doing.

After hearing the claim denial news, I got on the phone with the Chicago Area Manager for our bullshit parking garage (American Parking) and I pretty much let it go.  For the past month, I have been almost too understanding…remaining calm, rational and reasonable throughout everything, but at a certain point it just doesn’t feel right to continue to allow yourself to be bullied by people who are clearly taking advantage of you.  And so, I changed my approach…I decided to go bat shit crazy on them.  Some of my favorite gems that I dropped during our heated 30 minutes call included:

• You are going to rue the day you met me
• You lost the right to deal with a sane person…and let me tell you, I am more than a little unstable
• I swear to god, on all things holy, that I am not going away.
• I am now your worst nightmare
• I will haunt you, stalk you, torment you and wear you the fuck out until you do the right thing
• I promise you, this will get resolved…the only thing is question is how much pain i will inflict on you during this process

I was AWESOME!  If this dude knew that the crazy bitch on the other end of the phone was in fact little old me…I am sure he would have laughed, but as the situation stands, I think I scared him.  I have a follow-up call with him today at noon.  I will keep you posted on our progress.

ps.  I absolutely do not condone verbal or physical attacks…but desperate times my friends….desperate times.

It is a beautiful Saturday here in NYC and mama and I have a terribly exciting day on the books….an afternoon at the Met for Mary Zimmerman’s production of La Sonnambula and an evening watching dysfunction unfold at August: Ossage County!

It will be my mom’s first time at the Met for her first live opera and I am not sure who is more excited…We are going to get to Lincoln Center a little early so we can explore the grounds and try to capture a few covert pictures of us running up and down the grand staircases!

We get to sit through about 7 hours of theatre today…and that is 7 hours of heaven!