Question

Should I tip my MAC girl? If so, how much?

My $1200 Date

Next Saturday, Dave and I are going to a charity gala in San Francisco that will benefit the City of Hope. I'm pretty excited since I LOVE Dave's black tie events, the people we get to see, the food (at the last event there was all you can eat sushi!), getting dressed up and the causes we're able to support. Unfortunately, attending this event means that I'm going to miss an old friend from college's wedding and seeing my good friend Tammy ;-( But attending this event is good for Dave's career since he's in line to become a VP at his Fortune 50 company and that is a HUGE step for our future.

Dave and I were talking last night and he reminded me that after this event we have another black tie event to support his work's foundation in late September then we have a wine tasting night that supports Easter Seals in early October. Holy Cow. I need to do some massive shopping to find some cute dresses! I think I'll be making a trip into the city this weekend to try and find some cute dresses like this (even though that example is not formal enough). I have about 10,000 little black cocktail dresses/evening gowns in my closet so I'm going to try my hardest to find something with color and something that isn't my steorotypical strapless a-line.

Deep Throat

Since Saturday, I've had the raspiest voice to ever come from a woman. It's not even sexy. I sound like a 60 year old smoker with a few squeaks thrown in for good measure. Dave called me squawk box.

I thought my raspy voice was coming from a respiratory infection since I've had a phlegmy throat and low energy. The low energy wasn't helped by the fact that I haven't been able to sleep at night. This sounds disgusting, but I thought that all the phlegm from my throat was draining into my stomach and giving me an upset tummy and nausea all day long. For the past few nights, I've been tossing and turning in bed till 3am because my stomach is so upset that I can't sleep or if I do fall asleep I'm awakened by nausea a short time later. It sucked. I can live with the phlegmy throat and raspy voice. I can't live with feeling like I'm going to be sick 21 out of the 24 hours of the day.

Yesterday, I decided that I wasn't getting any better so I made a doctor's appointment. Surprise, Surprise! I was so completely wrong in my little diagnosis. The doctor informed me that most likely I have acid reflux which is causing my nausea. Stomach acid is traveling up my esophagus and affecting my vocal cords thus the raspy voice. As a result of the acid, my esophagus is producing phlegm to protect itself. The acid reflux is probably being caused by stress which I don't doubt since last week I was a hormonal stress ball (need I remind you). It all makes so much sense now.

So Mad I Wanna Kick Him

Dave: (checking his accounts online) Cool! I have $xxxx already saved in that credit union account I opened a few months ago.

Me: Cool! $xxxx is alot of money. (As I've said before, the bastard has done a good job of saving money in several different bank accounts.)

Dave: What's even cooler is that I have nothing to spend $xxxx on.

Me: Nothing?

Dave: Nothing planned. (Can he please wipe that big innocent smile off his face! Looking at his face I can just tell that he's being honest. He really doesn't have any plans to spend his money on anything really romantic and wonderful. Like an engagement ring. A really BIG engagement ring!!!)

Me: Cool. Nothing. That's wonderful. (SUPER wonderful. BASTARD!)

Pictures!!!

I'm loving my new computer. So pretty. So lightweight. So mine!

Here is Dave and my new apartment complex. I love how the apartments are right on the lakes. I especially love our little backyard patio.

Not long after moving in, Dave and I had a housewarming party. We got lots of towels and other cool gifts. We were excited ;-p Check out ow cute Dave's nephews are: Matthew and Ryan.

In June, Dave and I went to our local county fair to see the livestock and search for deep fried twinkies. I heart that boy ;-)

In July, Dave and I went to Washington DC. We saw all the sights, did some neat stuff, and watched fireworks. I really REALLY love that boy ;-)

In July, A few sorority sisters and I also went wine tasting. I can't believe how romantic and beautiful some of the wineries are.

Goodbye Pretty Car

I posted ads to sell my car today ;-( I'm gonna miss that car ;-( ;-( ;-(

Deep & Scary Stuff

Somedays I just want to be a hermit. Run away to a mountain cabin where I'd feed and cloth myself. No need for money. No need for interaction with society. No people to annoy me. No need to find someone to love me for the rest of my life. No traffic to deal with. Being by myself all day long would make me happy.

Somedays I just want to drive around in my convertible camaro with my Tiffany's necklace, Seven jeans, D&B handbag, perfectly manicured hands, pedicured toes and expensive highlights. On those days I'm proud of my corporate boyfriend, apartment near the city, materialistic clothing and impractical car. Shopping in San Francisco at the 5 story Macy's that is dedicated to women's clothing is what makes me happiest.

And somedays I start to think about how my heart could be broken at any time by Dave. How my Dad could die tomorrow from a heart attack. How I'll never have enough money to buy everything I want. How I'll never be as thin as I want to be. How I want to have babies one day but have no idea how I'll manage a career and parenting without losing myself completely. How hard it is to maintain a happy marriage. How hard it is to go to work each day with people you don't really like. On those days I wonder why we do this thing called living when it's so difficult. Why do we live each day knowing that tomorrow wont be easy and tomorrow's tomorrow WILL bring sorrow eventually. Wouldn't it be easier to just give up and end it all? End the crying? End the bickering? End the tears? End the days of feeling fat? I'm confident that I could never kill myself but I seriously wonder why we endure so much hurt for the few moments of sunshine ...

Good Times They Are The Gold

Sorry I've been busy lately and I've got a terrible case of blogger's block. I'm not the best writer to begin with but lately my writing is neither coherent or interesting. And I have a lot to say too! Please bare with me and this jumbled up blog post that is probably going to suck.


Anniversary Weekend - Have you ever seen a prettier anniversary present??? Last weekend Dave gave me my first piece of Tiffany's jewelry. It was definitely an unexpected surprise. Can my boyfriend be any better??? The rest of the weekend went well. We stayed at a hotel in The City near Union Square. Very pretty room. Very pretty view. I love San Francisco. I love my boyfriend.

DMB at SBC Park - On Saturday night, Dave and I went to night 2 of the DMB concert. Good concert. Our seats were mediocre which made the concert not as enjoyable as it could have been. I gave my night 1 tickets to our friends Ryan and Tamar who were upgraded at the concert by Warehouse to 9th row! Ryan and Tamar don't even like DMB that much! Whatever. We did get a very cool and romantic set list which was nice. Crash, Dream Girl, The Stone, #41, Two Step, Lover Lay Down, Steady as We Go, Warehouse, Dancing Nancies AND Tripping Billies. Dave isn't into DMB but he's such a good sport and came to the concert with me because he knows how much I love the band.

New Computer - I got a new lap top with a very pretty big screen! WOO HOOO!!!! My old desk top died about a month ago so I haven't been able to sync my PDA, upload pictures, or blog from home which sucked. Dave was more then willing to let me use his lap top since he has 2 (work and personal) but I need my privacy so I'm very happy to have my own computer again. And it’s so pretty!!!

Good In Bed

I'm a book whore. Seriously. I admit it. I LOVE books. On average I read a book a week and sometimes I even read 2 books a week. So as you can imagine I come across a lot of different types of books (Thank God for the Library!). Some books are bad and some books are decent. And then there are a few books that I come across that are stellar, excellent, wonderful, thought provoking, etc. Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner is one of those books. It's the story of a chubby girl and her ex-boyfriend that she still loves. Stuff happens and things occur but I can't tell you about that because then I'd ruin the book for you and it's such a good book that I want you to read it and love it as much as I did. Ahhh!! I want to read it again!!!! I think it might even belong on my top 5 books of all time list. It's that good!

My Favorite 5 Books:
1. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
2. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
3. The Wedding - Nicholas Sparks
4. Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickins
5. Good in Bed - Jennifer Weiner

Where the Deer and the Buffalo Play

I'm in Wichita, Kansas this week for a work conference. I'm scheduled to give an hour 15 minute presentation tomorrow to the entire group (about 100 people). Holy cow is all I can say about that.

I leave here on Friday, fly into Oakland, then take BART directly to San Francisco where I'll be meeting Dave at a hotel. We plan on celebrating our anniversary with a nice dinner on Friday then DMB on Saturday. Dave was joking around and made it clear that I wont be getting a ring as my anniversary present. ;-( Of course his comment hurt my feelings but it lead to a nice discussion on us and marriage. Surprisingly, the discussion was mostly lead by me OPENLY, honestly and effortlessly telling Dave how I felt on the whole subject (such a huge step for me since I suck at the whole communication thing). Dave and I agreed that we want to get married because the time is right for us and NOT because all of our friends are doing it. We both want to talk about marriage and wedding plans extensively before becoming engaged which we'll be a bit difficult for Dave since he is able to show how he feels easily but forgets that he needs to say how he feels too. We both agreed that we're at a good time in our lives to get married (financial stability, established careers, educated, mature, etc). And we both agreed that we want to keep each other and that we both hope marriage is in our future together. Ahhhh! I love that boy!

Batter Up!

Last night, Dave and I played in our 1st co-ed softball game of the season. Last night, Dave and I also saw his ex-gf 'Imelda the Horrible' again since she plays on another team in our same division. Wooo ;-/ I'm sure we'll be seeing much more of Imelda as the season progresses and we'll even be playing 2 games against Imelda's team sometime in the future. I must admit that last night Imelda became louder and more annoying as soon as she knew that Dave and I were around but at least she wasn't as bitchy or drunk as last time I saw here. She ignored us and we ignored her. I can live with that.

Refresher: (I really needed to load my archives back into blogger!). Imelda the Horrible is Dave's ex-gf whom he dated for 6 months from Oct 03 to May 04. Last softball season (around October 04) we played a game against Imelda's team. Imelda came to the game PLASTERED drunk! It was my 1st time meeting her. During the game Imelda talked sh*t to me everytime I came to bat (she was catcher) and then as soon as the game was over she immediately ran over to our side of the dugout, tried to be friendly with all of our teammates while hanging all over Dave and talking about things they did when they were together. Dave was a perfect boy, he was nice to Imelda but didn't play into any of her games. I was really proud of how he reacted but not pleased at all with Imelda (to say the least).

On to other news: Last night, Dave and I found out that one of our teammates (and good friend) just got engaged to his girlfriend. Wooo for them. They're a super cute couple so I'm completely happy for them. Unfortunately, I think that makes Dave and me the last unmarried couple in our group ;-( *SIGH* I've come to semi-accept that Dave and I wont be engaged for a very long time to come. I'm thinking that it'll probably be around the 2 year mark or maybe even later. Dave's just not in a hurry like I am (but at least he seems to be ready). Plus, Dave's so preoccupied and stressed with his job that he even admits that he doesn't think of much else but work even when he's trying to relax at home. Last night, Dave came home around 6pm, we ate dinner at his parent's house, went to our softball game at 8pm, then as soon as we came home Dave went back to work til 1:30am. AND He woke up at 5:15am this morning so that he could get back to work and finish up some things before everyone else came in. ;-( *SIGH*

Sorority Girls Gone Wild

I took Monday and Tuesday off for 2 reasons. The first reason was that I wanted to organize our 2nd bedroom closet which had become a trash bin for everything in the house that we didn't know what to do with. I've been meaning to tackle this project ever since we moved. Finally I decided that I was too lazy/busy to accomplish the organizing in one weekend and that I needed to take a few days off of work. So I went to Ikea, bought really cute (and cheap) storage bins and secluded myself in the room along with file folders. Final Outcome: the room is much more organized then it was a few days ago but I'm not completely satisfied ... yet. We still need to replace the current desk with a newer/cuter/more compact desk as well as buy a new matching bookcase.

The second reason I stayed home for 2 days was to re-coop from my crazy wine tasting trip that I took with 10 other sorority sisters. I definetely need more days to re-coop and rest. Those girls wore me out! Highlights of the trip were bringing home a winemaker after meeting him in his tasting room (he stayed til the next morning), making friends with a cop who showed up at the house later in his cop car to see how our night was going, and dancing on the table of a tasting room. If you've never gone wine tasting then let me tell you that USUALLY wine tasting is a very romantic and refined event filled with gorgeous views, snobby wine people, limos, and lots of expensive handbags being carried by the fellow tasters who are ungodly rich. Somehow we turned our classy girl's weekend bonding trip into a drunk and crazy laugh fest. Let me tell you, I wouldn't have had it any other way!

PS ... Best Wine of the Weekend: FroZin by Meeker. It's a truly yummy desert wine that is very unique. One of my favorite wines ever. Please do yourself a favor, buy some online, mix it with vodka to make a FroZini, invite some girls over, and drink your FroZini's while eating a chocolate cake. You'll love it!!! Mmmm!

PPS ... After this weekend, I've decided that if I ever get married, I really want my bachlorette party to consist of a girl's weekend in Napa/Sonoma. Limos, wine tasting and mud baths are my definition of a perfect girl's weekend.

The Sweetest Words

I came home yesterday to find that Dave had convinced someone at work to give us a box of chocolate (cuz I am a HUGE chocolate lover). Now when I say box of chocolate I don't mean a small box filled with 48 chocolate pieces. No, my friend. I mean a BOX filled with several assorted boxes of chocolate. I have enough chocolate to last me til next Valentine's Day and a boy who is always thinking about me. I don't know what else a girl could want (besides a HUGE diamond ring ;-p).

So last night we were laying in bed, my head was on his chest, he was stroking my hair to make me fall asleep and I couldn't help but think how damn lucky I am to have this boy. He has blue eyes, the sweetest personality, fun to be with, big feet ;-), we never fight, and he LOVES me! He loves ME!!! I'm just so lucky. Right before I feel asleep I told him that I wanted to keep him.

His response: 'maybe I want to keep you too'.

;-D

It's Gotta Start Somewhere!

A year ago I met Dave, fell in love, had sex all day, pizza every night and subsequently gained 20 pounds. I've been trying my hardest to lose the weight through diet and exercise and have actually been able to lose a pound or two each week. Unfortunately, I keep sabotaging any weight loss by making excuses for 'special days' like family bbqs, happy hours, business dinners, dinners with friends, business trips, etc and immediately gaining back what I worked so hard to lose.

I made a promise to myself this week that I will limit my caloric intake to 1200-1500 calories a day! I will exercise 5-6 days a week to include an hour of cardio and strength training! I will have NO more 'special days' (esp. since my special days occured 2x per week on average)! I will go from looking like this to looking like I did a year ago with legs like these!! I can do it!!!

This week so far: One pound down, 19 to go til my butt looks like this again and 32 to go til I reach my dream weight. (note: I didn't get serious about losing weight until Tuesday so 1 pound is not bad for just a few days). I've cut back my food consumption a bit which was much easier then I thought it would be. Fewer snacks during the day and I'm trying to limit what I eat for dinner since I wasn't being as good as I should have been during that meal. I've always exercised so that hasn't been too difficult. The hardest part will be this weekend when I have an sorority alumni event in Napa that will include tons of wine, tons of drinking, and tons of brownies and snacks. Wish me will power!

Things I Love Today:

* Old Navy Jeans - I bought my first pair of jeans from Old Navy on Tuesday cuz I needed a pair of jeans asap. I never knew that they had such great jeans in so many different shapes and fabrics!!! In the past I've bought skirts, shorts and khakis from Old Navy but all of my jeans have come from Lucky or A&F ($80 and up). I'm really loving the color, fit, comfy fabric and PRICE ($25!) of Old Navy Jeans so much that I'll be going back and buying more cute jeans.

* Ford Focus - My car is in the body shop getting a dent fixed (somebody hit me when I was at the bar drinking with Dave and friends). For now I'm driving a Ford Focus and loving it!! So cute, stylish and cheap! I'm going to get a new more economical car soon so I'm thinking that I might get the Focus in Silver. I love my flashy convertible but in reality I don't ever drive with the top down and I could use the money saved on car payments for other uses.

* Breezy Bay Area Days - It's never super hot here and I love that!!! Nothings better then having to wear a sweatshirt on a bright sunny summer day cuz the breezy ocean air and fog have left you chilled.

* Wearing Dave's Old Fraternity Sweatshirts - I wear sweatshirts almost year round due to the chilly weather that we get here sometimes. My most favorite sweatshirts to wear are Dave's old college sweatshirts. I'm wearing one today. I heart that boy! ;-D ;-D ;-D

So Sleepy ...

Last night I treated Dave to a Reel Big Fish concert at the Fillmore in San Francisco as part of his birthday present. We had a really good time even though the Fillmore was filled with teeny boppers. Were tenny boppers even in elementary school when sell-out was big???? And what are high school kids doing at a concert on a weeknight????

But I admit, that the tenny boppers were all very well mannered and didn't annoy us at all except to make me and my 30 year old boyfriend feel old. The concert was good too. We heard several new bands that played before Reel Big Fish. It's always nice to hear some new music especially since I haven't been to a concert since DMB at SF Gate Park in September 2004. I shouldn't be as tired as I am because we took BART home and were in bed by midnight. Gosh. I'm getting old. How did I ever survive through college when I was partying til 5am almost every night of the week, carrying 18 units, and working part-time??

How Does That Make You Feel??

Woo Hoo!! I have comments now! Before, I was just too lazy to go into blogger and edit my settings since I always use the 'blog this' tool to post. Yay for comments!

Someday ...

So I've been thinking a lot about my ideal wedding (when did I ever stop?). Dave really wants a destination wedding but I don't see that happening considering the health of my older family members and my divorced parents who can't even be in the same room as each other much less a tropical resort. If we weren't able to do the destination wedding, I (and Dave) would want something small, intimate, and budget friendly. Here's what I'm thinking:

Location: Shoreline Center or the Brazilian Room (both are outdoorsey and run by the regional park district so they are CHEAP!)
Number of Guests: 80 (small!)
Colors: I'd want pink and silver/white but I think Dave would like pale blue and sea green better.
Decorations: DIY flowers and candle centerpieces. The room and it's view wouldn't need a lot.
Food: Nothing super fancy. I'm thinking that I'd love to have a lunch time reception so that everyone could fully enjoy the beauty of the location in the daylight. The only must have is a chocolate fountain!
Cake: Simple. Safeway has these super cute cakes they've started making.
Music: No dancing since I REALLY can't imagine my family dancing at a wedding. I think it would be really neat to have a steel drums band playing as background music through out the reception. First dance (and the only dance) would be to something Bob Marley like One Love or Stir It Up.
After Party: I'd love to have a party trolley after the wedding as a post wedding celebration for our friends to get crazy and drunk at (especially since our friends love to get crazy and drunk!). Bar hopping and dancing through the streets of San Francisco.
Honeymoon: 2 weeks in Costa Rica

Unfortunately, I don't think that I'll be wedding planning any time soon. Dave and I had a detailed discussion on finances this weekend since Dave's trust fund became available to him on his 30th birthday. In the past I had always known about Dave's credit union savings account which has some money in it but not enough for an engagement ring. Well ... I found out this weekend that Dave has several accounts, CDs and mutual funds with money easily available in them. The boy has more then $20,000 saved! I'm really proud of him but at the same time I'm kind of bummed cuz him buying an engagement ring is no longer an issue of saving money as I had previously thought. Now it's just a waiting game for me to sit patiently until he becomes ready to marry me ;-/

Cuz I Want To

I stole this from Kathy. I like this game.

10 Years Ago ... I was 15 and had just finished my freshman year of high school. I was madly and hopelessly in love with a boy named Justin whom I had dated for 2 months but had recently broken up with me. Many years later I found out that he had a girlfriend the entire time we were dating (we went to different high schools). My biggest worries at this time were boys, the purple pick up that I wanted for my 16th birthday, braces, and how to talk on the phone late at night without my Dad catching me.

5 Years Ago ... I was 20 and dating the scum bag (ex)boyfriend that I hate. We had been dating a year and he had come to my parent's farm to work for the summer so that we could be together (we went to different colleges). I still lived with my parents and was pretty innocent.

1 Year Ago ... I had just broken up with Jay and was living with Scott and Steve whom I was having TONS of fun with. My life consisted of work, late night drinking, concerts and impromptu jam sessions at our house. My relationship with Nathan was pretty much over but I was still fooling around with Scott, kinda had the hots for one of Scott's bandmates, was starting to see Lee (the motocross rider), casually dating a coworker who worked in another office, and starting to talk to Dave via email about playing on his softball team. Whew! Too many boys!! Not sure how I kept them all straight! I also had a super cute body. I wish I had that body again ;-(

Yesterday ... Working then home to cook dinner for Dave.

Today ... Working, gym, then dinner with Dave's family to celebrate his birthday.

Tomorrrow ... Sleeping in!, yoga, mini-shopping spree at Ikea to pick up a few small items that Dave and I need for the apartment, and gardening. We'll also be hookah shopping since Dave wants a new hookah badly. Luckily, we live very close to Berkely and the Haight/Ashbury area where smoke shops are abundant and a plethora of hookahs can be found.

Give the Chef Your Regards

Last night I outdid myself. Seriously. Dinner was ABOVE and beyond good. So yummy. I drool just thinking about it. ;-9 The filet mignon wrapped in bacon had this intense taste that contrasted nicely with the delicate meat. And the garlic sauce worked so well to compliment the meat and its flavor. The green beans and carmalized inions turned out perfect. And the garlic mashed potatoes were excellent as well with their creamy, buttery taste. To top it all off there was opera cake which had an excellent balance of chocolate and coffee flavors. *drool*

Besides dinner, last night was nothing exciting as I expected. The night before, the business dinner at the expensive steakhouse was canceled so Dave stayed at work until 11pm getting stuff done while I went to kickboxing and then read my book until he got home. Having a night like last night where all we did was lay in each others arms and not think about work was really needed. ;-)

PS Thanks to Rosalie, I am on a David Gray kick again. Ahhhh ... I love me some Kangaroo.