Ten Things That Make Me Happy Award

Yay! The lovely Michelle over at Things I Said and Meant to Say gifted me with this happy award! Thanks, Michelle!

Here are the rules of the award:

Copy the award image in your post.
List 10 things that make you happy, and try to do at least one of them today.
Then, tag 10 bloggers that make you happy!

For the 10 bloggers who get the award, link back to me and spread the happiness!

My list:

1. Lobster. (Duh.) I have never felt more loved by anyone as I feel with Lobster. He is an amazing, generous, kind, loving man and he makes me feel like a princess every day. Even when I have the most horrible days at work (and I've had quite a few lately), as soon as Lobster hugs me I feel happy again. I am so lucky to be marrying him.
2. My family. I have the coolest hippie-Christian parents in the world and two amazing sisters. I really hit the jackpot with my family. They are my rock and my biggest fans. 
3. Christmas. Yes, I am a Christmas fanatic. I decorate my house as soon as Thanksgiving is said and done. I play Christmas music in the car, at the office, on my iPod, at home from Thanksgiving until the end of December. I watch the Nutcracker and cry (ballet is moving!). I spend hours meticulously wrapping gifts. I am the biggest Christmas dork alive.
4. Books...Glorious Books. I don't even know how to describe my love of books. I love how they feel, smell, look. Since I can remember, they have been my constant friends. They take me away from the world for a few hours at a time and let me explore, travel, dream, and ponder any number of things. Books are amazing.
5. Dancing/Music. Music is like oxygen. I don't know that I could live without it. I come from an immensely musically-inclined family. Music, in turn, inspires me to dance. I miss dancing. I haven't done it (well) in a long, long time. I dream of dancing again someday. Maybe with my Lobster if I ask really sweetly.
6. Friends. I have incredible friends. I am not the easiest person to get to know. I am a bit shy and generally spend more time listening and watching than talking in social situations. But with my friends I can come out of my shell and be the goofy nitwit that I was meant to be! 
7. Creating. I love to make things beautiful. Whether it be scrapbooking, painting a wall, writing a poem or a story, or making handmade "Will You Be My Bridesmaid?" cards, I love to see what I can come up with.
8. Traveling/Adventures. Nothing excites me more than seeing a place I've never seen before. I want to explore every nook and cranny and learn all I can about the place. When I was in Scotland I was in complete awe that I could walk through a building that was a half-century (or more) old. I touch the walls and wonder who else had stood in my place and touched those same walls. What stories could these walls tell? It was amazing and I can't wait to see more of the world.
9. Learning. Yes, I am a nerd. I love to learn. About everything. Well, not math. I could care less about math. But mostly everything else. I love to educate myself on things and then share that knowledge with other people. I guess that makes me a know-it-all. So be it. You'd be lucky to have me on your trivia team.
10. Weekends. I live for them. I love Fridays: knowing that I get two glorious days all to myself. Time to do all the things I love to do (see above). And sleeping in is an added bonus.

 And now to pass on this happy award!

*uncorked

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A Christmas Newsletter

So much fun (click on it to see a bigger version)! Make your own at The Merry Newsinator.

Happy Blogiversary to Me!

Woo! Saturday was my one year blogiversary! Let's see, what was I doing on my blogiversary? Hmmm...oh, that's right! I was shopping like a MAD WOMAN trying to finish (ahem, start) my Christmas shopping. Lobster and I spent the whole day running around the metroplex braving malls filled with crazed people and jolly Santas (not to mention carolers, harpists, choirs and little ballerinas) because we procrastinated way too long this year.

NEVER AGAIN.

Seriously, next year, I'm Christmas shopping in October. I'm exhausted.

A Man and His T.V.: A Love Story

For many moons, Lobster has been lusting after a bigger t.v. Naturally, I had no idea what was wrong with the size of his already very large flat screen t.v., but he clearly NEEDED a Big Ass T.V. for the living room. He would dream about it, speak lovingly about it, and sometimes start gazing starry-eyed in the distance and I knew he was in his happy place of Big Ass TV-Land.

So, for the past week or so, due to the holiday sale frenzy, he has been finding many good deals on Big Ass TV's. And in the evenings we would inevitably discuss the pros and cons of buying a Big Ass TV now or after Christmas. I didn't even attempt to talk him out of buying the Big Ass TV for fear of losing my fiance for good or, at the very least, for fear of watching him mope around the house for the next several months. But yesterday, Lobster texted me that he had found THE t.v. And it was a good price. And it would go back up in price after Christmas because they were trying to move sales. Hint, hint, nudge, nudge.

And so, last night after work, we went to Best Buy and bought Lobster his Big Ass TV. This is the image similar to things I'd like to see on the pretty plasma screen (cue angels singing and birds chirping):

Alas, this is the image that will inevitably be projecting from the contraption for the REST OF MY LIFE (cue grunting, the sounds of large bodies colliding, whistles blowing, and men shouting):

The things I do for love.

ALL IS LOST!!!

BLACKBERRY EMAILS ARE DOWN! OH MY GOD! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO? AAAAAH, THE HORROR!

What? I can check my emails on my computer? Seriously? Neat.

Nevermind, all is well. Carry on.

(Image courtesy of Crackberry.com...the gathering place for unashamed Blackberry addicts.)

Girl: 0, The World: 1

Hi there. It's me. Yes, I know it's been a while. No, I don't have very good reasons for being away. I'm just busy. And tired. I feel like I'm drowning in busy and tired. I need a vacation from life. How have you been?

Here's a brief overview of why I'm drowning in busy and tired:

Work--this is by far my biggest stressor right now. I am not very happy with it at the moment. I've made a couple of stupid mistakes in the past year (which is NORMAL for a green attorney) and yet I feel like I'm being "talked to" over and over again about them. I get it. I screwed up. I will probably screw up again, although I'm trying not to. I'm learning. I will continue to learn. Please let it go.

Christmas--oy vey. In years past, I am a stellar Christmas shopper. I get it done early, have the presents wrapped and under the tree in record time and relax and enjoy the season for the remainder of the month. This year, I seem to have lost my mind. I have yet to buy one gift. I have yet to even figure out what to get people. I have no money, which leads one to try to get creative so as not to give a gift that sucks, but creativity takes time and energy and brain cells, none of which I have right now. I love Christmas, but this year I think it's trying to kill me.

Wedding planning--this is also a stressor but I consider this a blessing too. I am blessed that I am given the opportunity to plan a wedding, but I am stressed because I'm trying to plan an affordable wedding. I am mostly stressed about finding a venue. I would like to start looking at places but Lobster and I are out of town pretty much every weekend until the middle of January. And some places only give tours during the weekday. To those places, I have one question: are you NUTS? Who (besides the independently wealthy, which I've previously established I am not) can afford to take several days off of work just to go look at a possible venue for their wedding? And then you want me to pay you how much? Uh-huh. You are nuts. NUTS.

Money--um, yeah. I don't have any. 'Nuff said.

Needless to say, I'm feeling a little beat down. Lobster is wonderful for me, though, because I get to come home to him every night and he hugs me and all my stress just melts away. I guess that's what Lobster's are for.

Are you feeling stressed too this holiday season?

Bride Brain

This is what I'm calling the craziness that's going on in my head right now. It really should be classified as a legitimate disease that is spread through placing shiny rings on the third finger of the left hand. Because all I do these days is think about planning a wedding.

I know. I'm driving myself crazy, too!

But what's difficult about it is that I'm trying to plan an affordable wedding. I would not be having issues if I were planning an extravagant bash at any location my little heart desired (a chapel in the Highlands of Scotland). That, my friends, would be easy. But planning an elegant, refined affair on a beer and nachos budget is FLIPPING FRUSTRATING!

My main complaint: venue. If I could just find an affordable (but not cheesy) (or ghetto) (or circa 1975) location that did not force me to use a sub-par (expensive) (tasteless) (limited choices) caterer, I'll be golden. Until that time, I have Bride Brain, and I apologize that I cannot think of other things more interesting to blog about right now. I promise I'll get better soon.

(Maybe.)

(Here's hoping.)

(Oh, and not to mention that alcohol is uber-expensive, too, but that's an entirely different post...)

Let it Snow!

The alarm sounds at exactly 7:15 a.m. Groggily, I stumble out from under my warm duvet and turn off the Christmas music blasting through the speakers. I love Christmas music, but not necessarily at 7:15 in the morning.

I kiss Lobster and make my way to the bathroom. Still half asleep, I manage to brush my teeth and wash my face and then shuffle my way into the kitchen to start making breakfast. The coffee maker has just begun its daily drip and the smell of Godiva coffee (chocolate truffle flavor this morning) wafts deliciously through the chilly house. Perking up slightly, I shuffle into the living room and turn on the Today show. Just as I'm powering up the t.v. (and all the weird, manly contraptions that Lobster has set up so we can hear the t.v. three blocks away), I glance out the window and nearly fall over.

It's snowing! SNOW! Big, fat, juicy flakes of snow are falling heavily from a gray sky.

I giggle with glee. SNOW! I love snow!

And then it occurs to me that I have to drive to work. Suddenly, I'm not quite so fond of the snow.

The 30-second weather update suddenly begins on the television and the meteorologist informs me that it is indeed snowing (thank you, Captain Obvious) but it is not sticking to the ground and the streets are nothing but wet.

All at once I feel relief (no icy roads!) and dismay (nuts, I have to go to work).

Sighing, I continue my morning routine. I'd rather stay home and play in the unexpected winter wonderland, but I can't complain. The gift of snow always makes me cheery, no matter whether its at home or at work.

Have a cheery day!

Jackpot

When I came home from boot camp last night I found the bathroom spotless, the bed made, the boxes that were in the living room magically gone and the carpet vacuumed. Amazed and in awe, I walked into the kitchen where amazing aromas surrounded me and I found Lobster slaving away over a hot stove. He had made me dinner.

And not just any dinner, but a DELICIOUS dinner: pan-seared chicken with mustard sauce, spaghetti carbonara and herbed sweet potatoes with feta cheese.

He even had the Cabernet ready in the decanter and handed me a glass within minutes of my walking in the door.

He is more than I deserve, but you better believe I'm not throwing him back!