Thankful Thursday

Is anyone else having a hard time believing that it's Thursday already? I mean, really. I'll be old and dead before I know it.

This week has been somewhat of a challenge in its own right - the weeks at work that I think will be relaxed always end up being ridiculous and busy, and then all this other stuff pops up conveniently. Like making appointments for the car and my eyes and my annual check-up and wellness appt and a teeth cleaning and paying bills and doing traffic school (oops) and running errands. I cannot even fathom how it all happens at one time like this. But there you have it. And then Nolan and I have been having issues sleeping. We thought it was the heat at first so we started iceboxing our room right before bed, and...no luck. It's so hard to get up in the mornings after poor sleep. So we're still stumped.

Fortunately, I have a ton to be thankful for.

1. I am thankful for the life Nolan and I have built together. I know it will be "under construction" as long as we live, but we like it and we're okay with that. We truly have a wonderful life.
2. I'm thankful Nolan is on Anesthesiology to start off his residency. Short shifts and plenty of down-time make for lots of time together!
3. I'm thankful for friends and family, who encourage and advise us, and are there whether we need to have fun or just talk.
4. I'm thankful for good food! My most recent favourite dessert is so simple: fresh raspberries, frozen blueberries, and sprinkled with Splenda. SO GOOD and so guilt-free :)
5. I'm thankful for my gym and the classes there and...I don't know, my work-out ethic? Whatever it is, I'm thankful for the opportunity to work out every day because it makes me happy and healthy and strong!
6. I'm thankful for late birthdays! I was sent a card and some money for my birthday, and it just recently arrived because of "routing" issues. Heh. So I took myself to Anthropologie and got the sweetest sugar and creamer set there that I had been eyeing for awhile to match my kitchen.
7. I'm thankful for surprises! My mom had bought tickets ages ago for a play this weekend, before realizing that not only would my brother be at OCS for several weeks, but also that my dad would be at a training in Tucson and she would be hanging out there with him this weekend! So that means...3 free tickets for Anneliese and Nolan! And Josh Brock, for the third one. So we'll be off to Sacramento to savour a lazy afternoon with the arts.


Happy weekend to all! I'll try to be more on top of blogging next week.

Thankful Thursday

Obviously, the main thing I'm so thankful for today is my best friend and confidante and lover and playmate, my awesome husband Nolan. Since today is our 4th anniversary and all. So I'm just going to hop to it so I can get to celebrating!

1. I'm SO THANKFUL for Nolan. Want me to go further into detail? DO YOU HAVE 50,000 HOURS?
2. I'm thankful for good books. They've kept me riveted on the train, at the gym, on lunch sometimes, at home when I've got a few hours alone...there's nothing I love more than a good book.
3. I'm thankful for my in-laws, who are visiting today and this weekend! We don't get to see them that often, but they're a hoot and we always enjoy the time we have with them. I'm lucky to have such great family-in-law.
4. I'm thankful for the USPS as we know it. I heard on the radio that in the very near future, we could only be getting mail 3 days a week instead of 6, and that stresses me out. So even though they have no money, thanks, USPS, for still getting us our mail most days of the week.
5. I'm thankful for our vacuum. I got it specifically to clean pet hair out of our home, and it has done that WITH A VENGEANCE. I can vacuum 5 times a week and still get a huge ball o' hair each time (and not just Milo's hair :( ), which tells me this was an excellent buy. Friends with pet allergies: be grateful.

I'm off to start my weekend in style, so HAPPY WEEKEND to you all!

in the blazes

Today, while stalking myself online, I made the not-so shocking discovery that my blog used to be so much better than it is now. I used to post pictures, videos, witty commentary (you know you like it!)...now I'm washed up and post stories about the freaking squirrel in my front yard. Life, have pity on me.

don't judge...you know you've googled yourself too.

I started a new book today, and can officially say that I'm now engulfed in the world of the Hunger Games. Seriously, I'm only 25% in (any other kindle readers measure books by percentages now?!), and can already let you know that this is going to be an obsession. I mean, I let myself go on the elliptical for lunch today, and 650 calories later...oops. I don't know how healthy it is to burn enough calories working out that you could eat a Chipotle burrito and be no worse for the wear. Well, half of a Chipotle burrito anyway.

Anyway: Hunger Games. I've been hearing about it for...awhile now. And since Ash U gifted me the kindle version a few months ago, and since Erin won't stop talking about it, I figured it was time to get started. Hello, bandwagon, remember me?

Last night I was plugging in Nolan's phone for him to charge. This sounds like a small thing, but seriously, he nevers remembers to do it, and then he is phone-less for a day or more, and I can't get through to him if I need something or want to confirm that he is picking me up in a whole different city after work and I don't want to be waiting there alone at the BART station for someone who HASN'T CONFIRMED THEY ARE COMING...anyway: I plugged in his phone and noticed that he had a picture of me from earlier in the summer, when it was as hot as the fires of hell outside, and we were stuck in Davis for the afternoon just whiling away the hours in the scorching heat. I look tired. But when I opened his pictures to see what other pictures of me he has in there...not snooping, just looking (hi Nolan! sorry!), I saw that apparently that is the only picture he has. No other pictures. At all. Just the tired-looking Anneliese one. Meanwhile I have probably 500 pictures of nothing on my phone. You know, Milo, weird things in San Francisco, Muffin the squirrel, myself, Milo, food, giants games, Milo. So naturally, I emailed that picture to myself. And now I'm going to post it on here, because I want you all to see what my summer vacation looked like. I can describe it: hot, park-bench, sweaty-butt, nasty Chipotle soda, slight sunburn.

All I can say is that I am SO GLAD I bought that hat in Vegas, because even if it ended up being pointless there, it came in handy for my one day of summer.

Thankful Thursday

Next Thursday, I'll have a whole lot more to be thankful for, since next Thursday is our 4th wedding anniversary. I decided that I needed a picture, therefore, to kick off the week in style - celebrating both my anniversary and the arrival of Harry Potter 7.2 in theaters (midnight tonight!!!). I mean, fitting - right? We have tickets to see it tomorrow with a couple of friends right after we go to In-N-Out (tradition, eh!), and I CANNOT wait. I'm also excited about my anniversary though, heh.

But, that is next week, so...this week:

1. I'm thankful for opportunities. I won't go into detail just yet.
2. I'm thankful for upcoming vacations! I get 2 weeks off soon, one in early September and one in early December (hey, that is something exciting in my book!).
3. I'm thankful for challenges, as I mentioned last week. I'm currently reading a book that is challenging a lot of what I thought I believed, and while I at first found it extremely difficult to take seriously, it's starting to hit home a little more now. To quote the founders of America's obesity problem: "I'm lovin' it".
4. I'm thankful for those little moments where you just stop, take a deep breath, and think to yourself, "life is good".
5. ...

Sometimes I run out of things to say I'm thankful for, because it feels like I'd be leaving something amazing out. So I'll stop there for today and keep it short and sweet.


As a little treat, I found this today via a friend on facebook, and it is ALARMINGLY true about San Franciscans. Though, I don't really consider myself one anymore ;)
A Day in the Life of the Modern San Franciscan

Thankful Thursday

I just wrote another sentence here about Muffin's antics and then realized that I can't possibly devote this much time to a squirrel (at least publicly), or I won't have any friends. So. Today I got my work computer replaced, because apparently they are doing this every 2 years now, and I had my first one replaced just about 2 years ago. I'm telling you - a new computer from Dell is like a junker from Apple (do those even exist?). This piece of crap is BRAND SPANKIN' NEW, like just out of the box, and it's already freezing up. Also nothing has really changed on it which tells me PC makers are just plain giving up on innovation.

Speaking of which: I'm excited to try Google+ , but has anyone else thought what a stupid name that is? That would be like if Facebook tried to launch a competitor to Google's search engine and called it "Facebook?" Seriously: marketing FAIL.

But onto things that make more sense:

1. I'm thankful the fridge is fixed. What a disaster!
2. I'm thankful for our new AC. Despite the obnoxious sound it makes in the middle of the night when it turns off and then on again, it's better than a hot house.
3. I'm thankful for the internet. For a lot of reasons, but today it's because it allows me to get a fantastic workout in my own living room without having to do something that kills my knee.
4. I'm thankful for good books. They pretty much make my commute awesome.
5. I'm thankful for the interns at work, because we order them lunch a lot, which means I get a nice, free lunch a lot.
6. I'm thankful it's July! More than halfway to Christmas! No, seriously.
7. I'm thankful I have friends and a husband who are going to see Harry Potter with me the day it comes out, because I couldn't stand going alone, but I also couldn't stand not going. Heh.
8. I'm thankful for challenging conversations. I couldn't grow without them, and secretly I love them even though they exhaust me.

Happy (almost) weekend, everyone!

Muffin

Since we've put up the birdfeeder, there have been several menaces out there trying to harass the cute little birds that flock to it. Some are bluejays who sit on top of the feeder and shake it and squawk until the little ones are scared away. Some are hawks, and some are random cats who prowl along the fence. Then there's Muffin:

Our pal Muffin is the biggest squirrel on the block, who runs along the telephone wire to get to the trees with the feeder on them, and chases away the littler squirrels. In fact, the other day when it was in the 90s outside, I saw Muffin laying on the wire, passed out, with his tail drooping over the side and his arms and legs on either side, trying to get cool and at the same time ward off anybody else who might try to sneak some seeds from the feeder. As you can see, he likes to hang off of the feeder lazily. The other day, I was showing this bad habit to Nolan, when Muffin looked about to break the feeder altogether. So I threw open the window, yelled "MUFFINNNNN!", which scared him so much that he FLEW off of the feeder in a wild ball into the bushes, making squawking noises. I haven't seen him hanging off of that thing since. On the other hand, I also haven't refilled the feeder since then.

For my birthday (which was awesome!), I got a BBQ! EEEEEEE!!! Now we're real suburbanites. We test-drove it on Saturday night, then hosted our first BBQ with 10 people on Sunday before game night. Nolan broke out his manly skillz and fixed up a smokin' meal for us all. So naturally I snapped a picture:


And another picture of the BBQ itself:


Yesterday, on my very last day off, I was totally lazy. I woke up late, sat at Starbucks and read (and ate breakfast because our fridge had conveniently broken and all the stuff inside had gone bad), came home and did some yoga, then met my friend Erin at Riconada pool and just LAID there...for hours. Then came home while the fix-it guy fixed the fridge, and went on a double-dinner date with Erin and her husband Eric at Fresh Choice (where else?).

Thank you, everyone, for the birthday wishes!