I just sent in an application to foster a kitten or a cat. Although J and I are dog people, we can’t have one in our apartment. I’ve met some pretty darn cute cats in my life, though, and I would love to have a buddy to keep me company this summer. More than that, I’d feel really good about helping the Humane Society get a previous unwanted pet ready for adoption. I’ll keep you posted…
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Last night I finished reading High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, a book that’s been sitting on a shelf waiting to be read for a number of years. Tonight, after dinner with a group of friends, I watched the movie version. (Thank you Netflix for that perfect timing.)
Verdict: The book is so much better (though not my favorite Hornby selection).
I’m ashamed to admit it, but I haven’t left the apartment in 3 days. However, I have been very productive while at home. Here’s what I’ve been dong the past couple of days:
- Cleaned and reorganized the kitchen, the bedroom, the master closet and both bathrooms
- Did multiple loads of laundry, including towels, sheets and delicates
- Watched numerous episodes of Law & Order repeats on TNT (or is it TBS?)
- Wrote some email and checked out Facebook
- Perused Flickr for photos to inspire me to get organized
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a laundry room as big and airy as the one in the above photo? I’m grateful to at least have my own washer and dryer in the apartment, even if it’s in a tiny room. Leaving NYC meant leaving behind laundromats, and I was VERY OK with that!
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It was two years ago today that J and I met at a wedding in NJ.
Time flies when you’re in love.
And love makes people do crazy things…like get engaged after dating for only 10 months.
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I had high hopes for today. It started with a wake-up call from J at 9:30am. We spoke for 20 minutes, and I only cried for about seven minutes total. Our conversation motivated me to get out of bed and start my day. I went into the office and began checking my email and reading various blogs, and before I knew it, it was nearly noon. So much for a productive morning.
I showered, dressed and planned to get out of the apartment to run some errands, but my good mood was starting to disapate. I curled up on the couch and watched “A Baby Story” and an episode of “Law & Order.” Around 3:00pm I forced myself up and out. I promised my friends I’d water their plants while they were out of town, and I couldn’t let my foul mood get in the way of my responsibilities. Afterwards I decided to stop at B&N to see if they had any interesting greeting cards to send to J. They didn’t, but while I was there I started to feel lightheaded, so I bought myself an iced green tea and a Rice Krispie Treat and read Psychology Today while I made myself eat.
I got back to the apartment around 5:45pm and decided to take a power nap before heading over to my friend’s house at 7pm for dinner and some Rock Band. When I woke up at 6:30pm, I felt groggy and sad, so I hit snooze a couple of times. Thank goodness my sister called at 7pm; I would have slept through my evening plans if she hadn’t.
The night turned out to be a lot of fun. We ate spaghetti and played the new Rock Band for Wii. Then I rode a motorcycle. Yes, you read that correctly. I rode on the back of a motorcycle. My friend’s husband rides, and he was going to take spin around the neighborhood with another one of our friends who just bought a scooter. When he invited me to ride with him, I first said no. But then I thought, what the hell? It might be good for me to do something out of my comfort zone. So I strapped on a helmet and held on tight for the 10 minute ride. Surprisingly, I wasn’t as scared as I thought I’d be. It was actually kind of enjoyable.
This could be me someday.
Maybe tomorrow I can cut back on my couch time a bit. We’ll see.
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I’m alone in my apartment again.
After J left last Saturday, I flew back to NJ to spend a few short days with my family. I returned to Omaha Tuesday night with my grandmother, who stayed with me until this morning. My grandma has been all over the world but never to Nebraska; she came to see the city and keep me company. But now she’s back in NY, and the apartment is quiet again.
I spent the day curled up on the couch falling in and out of sleep. It was a beautiful summer day and I could have relaxed poolside, but I choose to make like a hermit and stay indoors. I didn’t want to cry in public. I think I needed the day to rest; I haven’t felt like myself since Thursday night. I’ve been throwing up and feeling lethargic. I’m not sure if I caught some sort of virus or if I’m just depressed.
I heard from J Tuesday morning but not again until yesterday, Saturday. Every time he calls, I cry. How am I going to make it until August like this?
I had a really long conversation with Jess tonight and she reinforced how important it is that I have some sort of schedule. Since I’m not working, it’d be too easy to sit on the couch and watch TV all day. Instead, I have to get myself to the gym, read my business books, consider taking some sort of class, make plans with friends. She invited me to join her at the Renegade Craft Fair in SF this July, and if I can find some decent airfare, I’m totally there. I need things like that to look forward to this summer, like my sister’s visit in July and my mom’s in August.
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Time, where did you go?
Why did you leave me here alone?
–Chantal Kreviazuk
I miss him already.
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Tomorrow morning J is leaving on an extended business trip.
I’m not really sure I’ll be able to handle the goodbye.
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For the first time in my life I heard tornado sirens.
Last night, at around 6:30 pm, J and I met a group of his work friends for dinner. The sky was still blue when we were in our car, but on the radio they were warning Omaha of tornadoes touching down 40 miles away. In the ten minutes it took to drive to Roja, dark clouds had already starting rolling into West O. When we arrived, the management wouldn’t even seat us because of the tornado warnings in the area. I’m guessing it’s because the front and side of the restaurant were mostly glass. Eventually they made us all stand in the hallway near the bathrooms (they actually wanted us to go into the bathrooms) because the tornado sirens were going off. The rain was pouring down. I couldn’t believe I was hearing tornado sirens.
Slowly we made our way back into the bar area to watch the weather reports on the flat-screen TVs… until the sirens went off again and we were shuffled into the back. This continued for an hour and a half until the manager finally thought it was safe to serve us (there were 25 patrons in the entire joint at this point, 11 of them being our group). I think she could tell we were ready to revolt; they would even give us tortilla chips to snack on, and we were at a Mexican restaurant! Across the street, were two of J’s friends were hiding out, they were serving free beer to everyone waiting out the storm in their basement.
None of the tornadoes in the area hit us, but my heart goes out to the families of the Boy Scouts who were killed and injured at their camp in Little Sioux, Iowa. It’s so tragic that they died just a day after learning what to do in bad weather.
Tracking the tornadoes on one of the three televisions in the bar area at Roja
Watching the clouds in the parking lot
Waiting and watching… for 1 1/2 hours inside the restaurant
I wore fake nails to my wedding.
However, they were gel and not acrylic, and I used Mademoiselle by Essie rather than getting the traditional bridal French manicure, which I think helped to lessen the tackiness.
Now my real nails are in dire need of some TLC. Not only are they short (I bit them WAY down in the weeks leading up to the wedding), but they’re weak. I heard that there are some supplements you can take to help your nails grow faster and stronger. A former co-worker used to take MSM supplements, but I’m wary to start taking those because they seem to be for arthritic adults and not for growing fingernails. I heard that Biotin can make your hair and nails grow, but can anybody vouch for that? What about the expensive Phyto supplements from France?
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