I have this really great friend, AD. She's completely awesome, and if you knew her, you'd totally want to be friends with her.
A year ago today, after being in labor for like 17 hours, she had a perfect little bebeh boy, who she named Lovie. (Not really). And I got to be there with her! And I got to hold Lovie, and cuddle with him, and welcome him into the world, and he was all: dude, it's bright out here.
Here he is with me on Day 1, looking pretty disgruntled. But you could already tell that he was going to be one handsome little boy.
Over the last 12 months, he has just gotten cuter by the day. His hobbies include: kissing the older women at daycare, hogging the remote, dancing all up in the club, and long walks in the Florida room.
Here he is in said Florida room, WALKING!
This is a new thing for him, but he's already a pro! Before you know it, he'll be running, and then he'll be driving, and then he'll be going on dates, and then AD will need to enter therapy for acute anxiety!
Speaking of cute, here is another picture of Lovie, just hangin out, looking extra adorable, stealing everyone's hearts. Happy first birthday Lovie!! We love you, little one!
My friend ABL sent me this video and I thought it made some truly valid, pertinent observations. This, my friends, is the reason we should all vote for John McCain in November.
And, to cancel out the sour stomach that you have suddenly acquired, here is a really stinkin' cute little creature for your viewing pleasure, brought to you by Shane.
Have you ever had a moment when everything you believed, everything you've been working toward and hoping for suddenly disappeared?
There's been a change of plans.
We're not moving overseas. At least not for a few/several years. Or maybe never.
It just changes so many things (my blog title doesn't even make sense anymore), most of which I don't really feel like going into. But I did want to let you all know. I am disappointed, but I'll get my head wrapped around this, and I'll be better after the weekend.
Bear is coming home today instead of tomorrow, and we'll be looking at apartments this weekend. I have tomorrow's post already written...
I'm off to go find life's giant RESET button. Wish me luck!
When Neutrogena says Triple Moisture, it means Triple Moisture.
I have the driest, frizziest, most breakable hair of anyone I know. I would show you a picture of my hair at its worst, but then I'd be embarrassed, and we can't have that now, can we?
But I am telling you, this stuff WORKS. Especially when paired with Frizz-ease and weekly hotoil treatments.
I decided. I'm going to occasionally do product reviews of my favorite and not-so-favorite stuff. Neutrogena's Triple Moisture hair products are currently the awesomest thing going in my bathroom. (har har).
Yep, that's about the extent of my bathroom humor.
Here's a blurry countdown picture for you!!!! (those are hearts on the 2).
Here it is! I'm pretty proud of its coziness. I figure, if you're going to spend 8 or 9 hours in a little box, you might as well make it cute, right?
One good thing about my cube is its location right behind TB's cube. Here's TB and his collection ofmonsters. This is his only attempt to make his cube...cozy? cute? homey? TB is my main source of entertainment during the work day. He likes to tell me about his latest home improvement endeavors, which usually involve hack saws or table saws or something made of stainless steel. He also tells me about his attempts at making the perfect meatloaf or burgers (with bacon on them). TB eats a lot of red meat.
Another good thing about my cube is its location about 10 feet from the snacks.
Here are CP and JF acting like they think they're being all sneaky with the donut holes. You guys better not be eating all the maple glazed ones.
Here's my latest trend in work footwear. Shhhhh, don't tell anyone!
And, when the day is over, and I've learned all about sawing, and I've had my fill of snacks, and I've successfully avoided footwear detection, this is what I have to look forward to.
I got to see Mr. Bear this weekend, as you know from reading my blog. So after being away from home for a month, what do you suppose was number 1 on his list of priorities? Eating some real food?Sleeping until noon? Going to a movie, maybe? Going through piles of mail? Maybe packing to move in a couple of weeks?
No. He could not stand to focus on any relaxing and/or productivity without first washing his car.
He loves that stupid car.
Yesterday when I came home, everyone (Mom, RLD, Lil Sis, UJ, Kai-the-doggeh) was over at Gmaw's, getting ready to go geocaching. UJ is way into it, and is always organizing little expeditions. So I decided to join them.
After traipsing around in the woods for a bit and suffering a cut to the flip-flop-clad foot, several bug bites, and possibly some poison ivy, here's what we found. A coin, a green plastic finger, a ninja turtle, some pencils... Believe you me, the thrill is in the search.
We also found one of the original boundary markers of Washington DC. DC used to be shaped more or less like a perfect diamond, but now everything west of the Potomac is in Virginia. But when they did the original survey in the 1700's, they put up all these boundary markers. So we went hunting for one of them in Arlington, and found it in somebody's backyard, right next to their swing set.
It probably would have been better if I could have gotten all of the letters into the picture. Blogging Milestone! I now have "older posts"! Oh, I'm so easily amused with this whole blogging thing.
This box of Alkaseltzer cracks me up every single time I find it in the hall closet. It's quite possibly older than I am. Check out that retro design!
Wait! What's that?? Do you see that little green sticker in the upper right corner of the box? THAT, people, is a price tag from Dart Drugs. Here is an extremely bad close-up, which may or may not help you see it better:
Remember Dart Drugs? Remember?? I really only have the vaguest recollection of it. I think it went out of business before I was 10.
I know you all are on the edge of your seats about the countdown! I'm not at home today (I'm at Bear's apartment), so I'm sans dry-erase board. Tragic, I know!
There's this blog that I read everyday (Puntabulous) that just makes me happy. Craig, the guy that writes it, just seems like one of those people who is a joy to be around, and who is nice to everyone, and who I would totally love to be friends with if I lived in New York.
So I emailed him today to tell him he needs to get moving on his children's book, and to introduce myself and my blog and he added me to his blogroll! But I guess the bad thing about my blog title is that it starts with a W. I'm all the way at the bottom. Oh well, at least you don't have to hunt for it! :)
Oh, also? Big Sis is very concerned that my Wacky Wednesday picture of her has damaged her reputation as a high class citizen. haaaaaahahahahahaha!
UPDATE: O to the M to the G, people!!! Check out Evolving Revolver's post about yours truly!!!!
I love food. I especially love food that I didn't cook, and food that comes on dishes that I don't have to wash. I most especially love food that I would never even attempt to cook because the results would be disastrous for all involved.
Like Afghan food, for example. I'm so fortunate to live in an area that is saturated with so many different restaurants, and so many friends who are excited about all types of food.
Like Sean, for example. Normally, Sean and I go out for Indian food together. But sometimes we do Italian, and once or twice we've done Afghan.
You can't tell, but in this picture, Sean is doing his Bill Clinton impersonation.
Last night, we went to this Afghan place in my neighborhood that has apparently been there for 23 years, but that I've never seen. Even though I've been to the Thai restaurant right next door to it, oh, 5,398,003 times or so.
It was pretty good.
A word about my countdown: it's actually a countdown for at least 4 things.
Of course, Mr. Bear is coming home that day. But one of my other favorites, Meana is coming home that day too! (She travels a lot for work). And also, my coworker C.P. is getting married on that day! (Kudos for not spending $25k on a wedding!). And also, my very good and sweet friend, who shall remain nameless, but who knows who she is, is going in for minor surgery on that day. And I send her all my love, and I wish her a speedy and painless recovery!
What else is happening on June 27th?
Oh! I almost forgot to mention! Bear is coming home for the weekend today! I haven't seen him since Memorial Day, so I'm totally excited to see him!
Yesterday I took the day off work. I didn't sleep well the night before, and there's this weird thing about me... if I don't get enough sleep, I'm not just tired, I can't function. My eyeballs don't even want to stay focused. Which can sometimes cause problems, as you will observe:
My mom had been planning to have Gmaw and some cousins over for lunch, so I thought I'd join them. Lil Sis was there too, since it's summer, and Big Sis stopped by on her lunch break. She just waltzed right in, without explaining herself to anyone, and started rummaging for food and chatting like everything was totally normal. Since I was so tired, it took me a minute to register that she was wearing a plastic lei, a tank top over a t-shirt, and jammie shorts over jammie pants, which were rolled up to show off her rad unmatched socks and Crocs. Big Sis is a daycare teacher. Yesterday was Wacky Wednesday. But that isn't the problem I alluded to earlier, that was just a fun diversion.
So, I had a steak and cheese sub for lunch. My excuse for everything yesterday is that I was TIRED, okay?!?! The meat in the sub... it had a couple of these really bright pink and green spots in it. I can't imagine what it could have been. I just picked out the ones I saw, and kept eating. Boy, was I tired.
Even that isn't the problem I was referring to. Luckily, the spots didn't cause any problems other than just general grodiness. After lunch, Lil Sis asked me to take her to a friends' house. So I did. But, see, the problem was that the aforementioned cousins were parked next to me in the driveway, and a little behind. And, see, I was so TIRED. And what happened was, I thought that I could back out of the driveway just fine, but then as I was almost out, I realized I couldn't. So I put the car in 1st gear and commenced panicking because I was SO CLOSE to their car. When I'm panicking and tired, and I really need my car to not roll back at all before it goes forward, that's always when it rolls back before it goes forward. I'm pretty sure that has something to do with the clutch and the gears and the brake and the gas and all that driving mumbo jumbo. So, I hit my cousins' car.
I left a small dent, and a wee scratch.
I feel terrible. I feel like I ruined the whole day. I feel ill, and it has nothing to do with the grody steak and cheese. I ran back into the house to tell them, and he acted like it was no big deal, but I know it was. He is so into his cars, and he takes such good care of them. But he would not take my insurance info, and he would not accept any money. These cousins... they are the nicest people. I truly hate that I did something to upset them, and I am so sad that they won't let me make it better. I don't know what to do - I offered to pay for it 4 times and they just wouldn't hear of it. These are the kinds of things that really make me want to stop leaving the house. They were champs though. After I came back from dropping off Lil Sis, they stuck around and socialized for another couple of hours. Just like everything was normal.
Of course, Fenway was much too cool to involve himself in the minuscule problems of humans.
So, I talked to Lil Sis yesterday about the last day of her sophomore year of high school (ack, why'd she have to go and grow up like that???). Apparently, they have a ritual for the last day of school nowadays. When the last bell rings, all the girls scream really loud, and all the boys "grab each others' butts".
um, Guys? Do you remember this happening in high school? I'll admit that my memory is notoriously challenged, but I am pretty sure that if this happened, I would have remembered. In fact, I don't remember any last-day-of-school ritual, other than leaving as quickly as possible.
Was that just me? Did I leave before the fun started?
Anyway, Lil Sis has some big plans for the summer. The main thing she's excited about is going to the Outer Banks with the fam. I am left out of these plans, as I'm saving up vacation hours so that I can take a long-awaited and well-deserved honeymoon. I am trying to not pout about this.
After the beach trip, she's going to a 2-week-long TV production day camp. That's right up Lil Sis' alley, as TV is her main passion. I'll be interested to hear what she learns!
So, here's my situation. I have no idea where I'm going. I've worked hard at being OK with this, and I think I'm doing alright for someone who cannot live without planning and pre-planning and list-making and neurotically-worrying-about-every-detail-of-every-action.
My husband of 5 months, Mr. Bear, has been away since February. He's training for his new job, which will take us overseas for a good 14 years or so. We think the most likely region will be Africa. But, it could also be Europe. Or possibly Asia, or South America, or... just about anywhere. OR, he could be posted in Iraq for a year while I stay here pulling my hair out. OR, we could both stay here for a year while he learns a new language in preparation for being posted... somewhere. So, when Mr. Bear gets back in 10 days (as noted on the regularly updated dry-erase board on the fridge), I will be getting ready to move in with him. Which is hard to get ready for, considering we don't know if we're staying here or going abroad. I have been living with Gmaw for the past 4 or 5 years, helping her with... everything. I hope that Mr. Bear and I will stay here for another year, and that we can live just a few miles from Gmaw so that I can still stop in every couple of days and do things for her. My anxiety level is off the charts when it comes to leaving her alone!
So that's the big story. Here are some little Leahbear factoids about what's going on in life:
I am desperately trying to stick to a workout schedule that requires getting up at 6am, exercising for an hour, and then getting ready for work. Which takes another 2 hours, sadly.
I have really bad knees.
Tonight, and every Tuesday night, I'm going to my friend Andrea's house to watch No Reservations on the Travel Channel. Omg, I love that show.
I don't have cable. When I move in with Mr. Bear, I'm going to make him try to live without cable. I think he might die.
I'm currently reading The Count of Monte Cristo, and a 2-volume biography/explanation of Hitler written by Ian Kershaw that I have been reading for years. I am going to finish it by the time I move out, I swear to God, I am so tired of Hitler. I have 80 pages left.
That's all for now! I'm going to try to post everyday, but we'll see how it goes!
Over the last 12 months, he has just gotten cuter by the day. His hobbies include: kissing the older women at daycare, hogging the remote, dancing all up in the club, and long walks in the Florida room.
