Another 25

Anyone who has logged onto Facebook in this calendar year knows the “25 Things” note is being spread around like the dang plague. I am always mindful about the personal information I send out into the internet, especially on Facebook. My Facebook audience is quite a bit wider than my blog audience -- currently, I have about 215 “friends” on Facebook. That’s, about 200 more people than read this blog. I try to keep my “Facebook Footprint” to a minimum.

It’s been about a month since my last post and I’ve had lots of thoughts and updates that I’d already planned to include as a broad list. Then I figured I could fulfill my “tags” and turn my update in a list 25 items long – so voila! This is “25 Things About Me (In the Last Month or So)” and it is crazy-long.

1. Two weeks ago today my grandmother, Dorothy, passed away. I don’t mean to simply list that here in a glib way or to brush over such a real and searing life event but it can’t not be mentioned when trying to describe the last few weeks. A special post in her honor is in the works, probably to be published after I attend her “celebration of life” memorial service in Los Angeles in mid-February. I sure do miss my Gram; she was a truly incredible woman and I can’t wait to tell you all more about her.
2. Over MLK Jr. weekend, we went on a ski weekend in New Hampshire, with Flutie in tow. It was planned as a couples trip with two of Dan’s work friends and their wives – but at the last minute, for work-related reasons, each of the other two ladies had to cancel so the trip turned out to a dude’s weekend … um, plus me. Then the temperature was -10 degrees over the weekend (that is the real temperature, not factoring in the wind-chill which was more like -20) and there was a blizzard so I didn’t ski because that would be straight up crazy. Flutie and I hung out in the rented condo, I cooked chili and read books while the men-folk skied despite the elements. Not the weekend I had envisioned, but me and the guys managed to have a pretty darn good time; complete with card games, a big bottle of Scotch and long serenades of pop songs.
3. My hair is growing out, slowly but surely, since I cut it super short last June – its almost to my shoulders now. I am not planning to cut it that short ever again, thank goodness it grows.
4. Flutie has really been digging me being home during the day. Every time I do have to leave the house (and I try to every day, for my own sanity and to keep him in the habit being alone), he looks at me like “Seriously? It’s crate time? I thought you were on house arrest?”. We take daily trips to the dog park (except snow-storm days) and have afternoon snuggle naps on the couch, it’s not the worst life ever. Especially if you’re a dog.
5. I haven’t been cooking and baking as much as I thought or hoped I would with all this time off – Dan has been traveling for work more and staying at the office unpredictable hours and I often do not know if he’ll be home for dinner, usually he’s not. I don’t bother cooking a real meal for just me.
6. On a similar note, I’ve also been really, really trying to trim my waist so I have been keeping the goodies in the house to a minimum (hence the reduced baking). I’ve actually lost a few pounds (just a few) and I'm okay with that for now. Because despite all the extra time for working out, unemployment is depressing and depression leads to eating. I’m proud of myself for not gaining weight right now, truthfully.
7. I have/had three job interviews this week. If you had told me one week ago that I would have three job interviews the next week, I would have laughed in your face, but I love being wrong (in this instance). One of the interviews is for what is essentially my dream job. People keep telling me that “this (i.e. getting fired) is all happening for a reason and its going to work out of the best” and I so want this to be true. Getting any of these jobs, but especially one of them, would be an amazing blessing and could be that “all for the best” resolution that people keep assuring me is right around the corner. Trying not to get my hopes up has been really, really hard.
8. In the event that I don’t get any of these jobs, I will be very, very sad but in no worse position than I was one week ago. I will not despair. This is all happening for a reason. Right? RIGHT?!?
9. I spent a lot of money last week on a new interview suit at Banana Republic – a conservative black skirt with matching blazer. I haven’t been on the interview circuit in a couple years and decided my poor, tired law student era suits just would not do. I felt guilty about spending the money right now, until I remembered that I get severance for a few more weeks and decided to chalk it up as “re-employment expenses”. It’s such a pretty suit, I might just wear it around the house occasionally and pretend I’m important.
10. I hate the winter. It’s not even almost over. This makes me exhausted and sad.
11. Dan and his best friend, Eli, are brewing their own beer. They’ve converted one of our showers into their “brew house”. Eli and his wife, Kara, came over to watch the super bowl on Sunday and we sampled the first couple bottles (technically, they’re not supposed to be ready for another week or so of settling in the bottles). I was highly skeptical, but it was truly not bad. Better than not bad, actually quite good.
12. Within the first two weeks of dating Dan (lo, those many, three years ago), he and Eli bought a meat smoker – it remains their joint property, but it now resides in our backyard. Since that time, they have competed in a barbecue tournament and smoked all kinds of things. Given this and the beer brewing, I told Dan he likes to cook. He scoffed, but it is really is all “cooking” … just of man-foods. But cooking all the same. We are even more compatible than I already knew!
13. They (still talking about Dan and Eli) want to have a party next month where everything is home-made and everyone has to bring something they have made themselves, from scratch. They’ll do smoked meat and beer and I will make ice cream from our new ice cream maker (see last post). Not sure if others will be as gung-ho as we are, however.
14. I am going to California from February 14^th- 21^st and have not been “home” since my wedding well over a year ago. I am so unbelievably excited to sleep in my old room, walk around downtown Redlands, see a few dear friends and just soak up the hometown goodness; I need it so much and can’t wait. Fingers crossed for warm weather, gracious knows I’ve earned it! It is five degrees today.
    
15. I no longer live near a Trader Joes or a Whole Foods; so whenever I happen to be close to one, even if I’m in the area for a totally unrelated reason, I have to go in and stock up on delicious world foods, cheese and produce – whether I need it or not. This doesn’t happen too often (like I said, they’re far away) but it feels simultaneously excessive and so, so satisfying. One day, when I live once again in the vicinity of a quality grocery store, I will never take it for granted.
16. Today my 80-something year old grandmother, Sudie, became my “friend” on Facebook. All my relatives on my Mom’s side of the family are now on Facebook. At first, like when my Mom “friended me”, I thought it was super weird. But now, I love it – my family is the best, we live all over the country and I miss them terribly. I’m so grateful for an easy way to stay connected. You go, Grandmother!
17. Since becoming an involuntary house-wife, my crazy-clean tendencies have gone a little off the charts. For example, last week, I scrubbed every square inch of our hardwood floors (i.e. most of our home) on my hands and knees with a tiny sponge. I had bruises the next day, but they looked spectacular and were so clean I almost served dinner on the floor that night. Until I remembered that then I’d have to clean them again.
18. I stink at playing Dan’s new Wii and he routinely kicks my butt. Except for Wii Bowling, which I am inexplicably fantastic at; kind of funny because I am amazingly terrible at real life bowling. But I am also a horrendous tennis player in real life and equally as miserable at Wii Tennis.
19. I like to talk about naming my future children – this has been a favorite conversation of mine since I was about twelve years old. Trouble is Dan and I do not agree on almost any names. We’ve come to a general truce on a girl’s name but are still at a stand-off on boys’ names. As much as I’d love to have a son one day, I fear for his name and the drama it will cause among his parents. Yet another reason why we should wait to have kids.
    
20. Last month I did a lot of research online about boxed wine; that’s right, wine in a box. I had been reading in food and wine magazines and online that boxed wine has come a long way and is actually an optimal way to store and preserve the wine. My curiosity got the better of me, so with research in hand, I headed out to a local wine store and brought home two different brands of boxed wine to try out. I’m planning to do a post on this soon, so I’ll save my thoughts for later. At $18 a box (the equivalent of four bottles), the value is very recession chic.
21. We’ve lived in our new condo about 10 months now and there are still a lot of empty walls and a few rooms with very little furniture. I knew that decorating the house would be a slow process, but we haven’t made any big changes in awhile and I am starting to get antsy. There are so many projects that I’d like to complete in the house and I don’t even know where to start. I wonder if any of it will ever get done?
22. There’s supposedly a hormone released in new mothers just after they give birth to help them forget the pain so that they won’t scared to procreate again. I think there must be something similar that happens to people after adopting a puppy. It’s been almost a year since we brought Flutie home and the agony of those first few months seems to have subsided enough for me to start thinking about wanting another dog. I know, I have lost my mind.
23. For Christmas, Dan’s Aunt and Uncle gave us a very generous gift certificate to my most favorite restaurant in Boston. It's so fancy and expensive that we have only been together once in three years. When I was a summer associate, the firm took us for the nine course tasting menu with wine pairings. It was one of the most incredible dining experiences of my life, probably second only to the Chef's Table tasting menu with wine parings that Dan and I had at the Chatham Bars Inn a few years ago. Needless to say, I am very excited to use our gift and am so, so grateful to Ginny and Pat for their generosity!
24. We’ll be going to five weddings in 2009 and I’m excited about each of them; we will travel to Knoxville, Dallas, Milwaukee, upstate New York and nearby Westport, Massachusetts. And I am going to be a bridesmaid (bridesmatron?) for the first time and am so honored and thrilled. Guess I’ve been more “always a bride, never a bridesmaid”.
25. One of my dearest friends in the whole world, Sam, is having a baby in April. She is my first close friend to get pregnant and I am incredibly excited, even though she lives far away in Prague. It is also very weird that we are old enough to be having babies. Sometimes, even though I’m married and a lot of my friends are too, its hard to believe any of us could be parents. Sam and Nick will be fantastic parents and I’m glad they’re leading the way – she can give me some good tips in a few years.

Holy cow, that was long! More soon (sooner than a month) …