Thursday, October 27, 2011

Catching Up!

It's been a few days since I've been able to write! Work has been absolutely crazy these last couple of days, and I've been busy watching baseball at night!

My amazing, talented, beautiful friend Monica just started her very own blog called Mrs. New Bud that I insist that you pop on over and read! Monica just got married in September so her blog is about life as a newly wed, along with any other fantastic thoughts that she has!

I finally carved my pumpkin last night! Can anyone guess what I carved? Anyone?


Meow! Have a puuurrrrrrfect Halloween everybody!





Monday, October 24, 2011

Boom.

Pinned Image

Pardon the offensive language, but this pretty much sums up my view on things.

Friday, October 21, 2011

You are SO boring.

Evidently I wasn't paying Lyla enough attention last night between the blogging and the baseball game, so she passed out next to me.

Poor attention-deprived kitteh.

Till Death Do Us Part

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In a relationship, married or not… You should read this.

Marriage:

When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I’ve got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.

Suddenly I didn’t know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly. She didn’t seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why?

I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn’t talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane. I didn’t love her anymore. I just pitied her!

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn’t have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.

In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn’t want anything from me, but needed a month’s notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month’s time and she didn’t want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.

This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that every day for the month’s duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.

I told Jane about my wife’s divorce conditions. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully.

My wife and I hadn’t had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mommy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don’t tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn’t looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn’t tell Jane about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.

She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily.

Suddenly it hit me… she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.

Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it’s time to carry mom out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.

But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn’t noticed that our life lacked intimacy. I drove to office…. jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind…I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore.

She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won’t divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn’t value the details of our lives, not because we didn’t love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart. Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away. At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I’ll carry you out every morning until death do us apart.

That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed - dead. My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Jane to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we push through with the divorce.— At least, in the eyes of our son—- I’m a loving husband….

The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves. So find time to be your spouse’s friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage!

If you don’t share this, nothing will happen to you.

If you do, you just might save a marriage. 
Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Disclaimer: This wasn’t written by me. I saw it on the internet and decided to share it here.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

My Turn to Weigh In...

Here's the deal:

I'm a fence-rider. I am as middle-of-the-road as a person gets when it comes to politics. I'm embarrassed to admit that I've even told myself that "I'm not smart enough to understand politics, so don't even bother".

I sat down to write about how I wish this whole "Occupy Wall Street" story would blow over already. I had heard about it on the news and I had seen protesters outside of downtown St. Louis and my opinion was, "Those people need to get a job and quit their bitching. If I can do it, so can they".

But then I did some research.
And what I found out surprised the hell out of me.

I won't shove my opinions down your throat (not my style), but I will share the protest signs that made me stop and think the most.

I'm a little nervous about this guys... what the hell is our country coming to? And what will be left of it for our children?

 (occupy wall street,joseph stiglitz)

The 50 Best Signs From #OccupyWallStreet

Soldiers occupying Wall Street. This is the type of photo that should be on the cover of Time magazine. - Imgur

We Are the 99 Percent (occupy wall street)

We Are the 99 Percent (occupy wall street)

Occupy Wall Street Protest - Day 4 / Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Occupy Wall Street - PH / Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Some of these protesters are free loaders. Some of them are young, ignorant people who didn't want to go to college and don't want to have to earn a living. But most of them really  aren't. Most are college educated adults who are stuck... and I can relate to that. I won't go so far as to say that I'm part of the 99%. I have a job that pays me fairly. I own a condo and a car, and I pay taxes with every paycheck. But I'm not exactly thrilled about where I am job-wise right now. Corporate America and I don't mix well, just as I feared we wouldn't. So I'm certainly not part of the 1% either.

Where do I fit in?

All these people who are "mad as hell" for their personal reasons have every right to be. But who's got ideas? Who knows how to fix it? Until people start coming up with ways to rectify this, I'm afraid that Wall Street will continue to sweep this under the rug. Sure it'll be annoying for them and maybe it will even inconvenience them. But it sure as hell isn't going to change things.

So... what now?
 

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Happy 1st Birthday, Life's Circles!

My silly blog is 1 year old this week!

 (marilyn monroe,birthday,cake,candle,love,pretty,beauty,celebrate)

Thanks to everyone who stops by every so often to read my off-the-wall thoughts and observations! Someday I hope to write something really profound and interesting, but until then, this blog is all I've got.

It's nice to be able to have a place besides Facebook and Twitter to rant and rave, and (as I'm sure you've noticed by now) I love being able to add pictures and movie clips to my posts.


So Happy Birthday, Life's Circles! Here's to at least a few more birthdays before I move on to something more important!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Friday, October 14, 2011

Mmmm-Hmm.

My Favorite Inspirational Quotes / {Not Quite} Susie Homemaker

What's Your Sign?

I totally buy into the whole astrological sign concept. I just looked up characteristics of Gemini (my sign) and it was pretty spot on!

According to Astrology-Online.com (a credible source if there ever was one), here are the traits of a Gemini:

Good traits:
Adaptable and versatile
Communicative and witty
Intellectual and eloquent
Youthful and lively

Not-so-good traits:
Nervous and tense
Superficial and inconsistent
Cunning and inquisitive

It also said that we Gemini get bored easily. We need constant change and novelty in order to stay interested.

#yup.

things i like / BitchyButtons : Gemini - Negative Zodiac - refrigerator magnet [8604] - $3.99

What does your sign say about you? Do you think it's accurate? Or do you think this is all a bunch of hooey?

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Jackpot...

Wanna watch Hocus Pocus?



Click here!! The full movie on redux.com!

"FOR YOUR INFORMATION... HE'S A LITTLE LEAGUER!!!!"

MIZ - ZOU!

Good old Helane went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch today and brought me back a fortune cookie:



Switch out the words "desert sands" with "Highway 70" and this thing is scary accurate!

The University of Missouri - Columbia is celebrating their 100th Homecoming this fall, and I'm making the journey down to CoMo to partake in the festivities! Whether or not you believe that MU invented Homecoming, it has to be said that we do it pretty darn well!!


If you haven't read of my love for the city that is Columbia, you can delve further into that relationship here.

So tomorrow I'm leaving work early, and the lovely Lacy and I will be roadtripping it down to Mizzou to stay with the also lovely Betsy.

(sorry for the sick "paint" handwriting - I'm a lefty and used my righty)

If this fortune cookie is any sign of things to come, I think this weekend will be one for the books. Just the emails we've been sending back and forth trying to get some sort of a plan together have been making my sides hurt.

I'm excited y'all.


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

GPOYW - 10/12

FREDBIRRRRRD!!!!

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Wine Glasses

Ever been at someone's house for a dinner party and you're afraid to set your wine glass down because you're afraid you'll get it mixed up with someone else's?



Fear no more! Just found this cute idea from this great website.
A must do before the next dinner party I throw!

Of course there are other alternatives, like the little wire things you put around the stem that come in different shapes and colors, but I always forget what mine looks like anyway!

And, AND... I see myself doodling on my glass with the chalk even when I'm alone drinking wine at my house... which is often.

Too, too often.

This.

I just want this...


Click the link to take a look at Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward's love story in pictures.

Halloween 2011 - update

So since SOME people (you know who you are) are being lame... it looks like the 3 Stooges idea has gone out the window. I'm on my own for a costume.

But here's the thing - I'm not okay with dressing up like a tramp on Halloween. I'm not cool with it the other 364 days a year, why would I suddenly be okay with it on a made-up holiday? Sure I might wear a lower cut top or a short dress/skirt... but that's about as floosy as I get. I don't understand why Halloween makes ladies think it's okay to wear their underwear out in public. But that's just me. Maybe I'm too conservative.

So I went online and found something festive, yet modest:

TA-DAAAA....

Pumpkin Dress - Halloween Costume - Made to Order

I'm gonna wear it with black skinny jeans and black pumps. I'm not sure why it's yellow in the picture, but in the description it says it's orange - so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it isn't this neon color when I get it in the mail!

It was either this or I was going to dress in all black and wear cat ears - but I just know how much I'd be made fun of if I did that so I decided to save myself the trouble.

Halloween is usually a disappointment anyway... it's never as fun as you think it's going to be. But I'm trying to stay optimistic about it this year.

What about you all - what are your costume ideas? Or are you going to be dressing up at all this year? I think this year might be my last...

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Monday, October 10, 2011

Mystery Solved

Thursday night I went to get my hair cut and when I tried to pay for it, my debit card was missing from my wallet. I spent all Thursday night and all morning Friday searching for it to no avail, then went to Bank of America and just got a new one... but I think I may have just figured out where it went!

There have been reports of mice running around our office building, stealing snacks out of desks. Joy had a granola bar in her desk that looked like a little mouse had taken a few bites out of it, and Kristi had a bag of almonds that had a hole chewed through it.

I think one of these little mice found my debit card on the floor Thursday afternoon and walked next door to Imo's Pizza and ordered himself a nice cheese pizza and some cheesey garlic bread.

big tuna (ratatouille)

It's okay little man - I'm not even mad.

If Money Were No Object

If money were no object, here's what I'd prefer to be wearing today...







Le sigh....




Thursday, October 6, 2011

How Do I Answer That?

Does anyone else panic when someone asks you "So what have you been up to?"

How do I answer this question??

"Oh ya know... watching a lot of Say Yes to the Dress marathons... I got through my entire book of crossword puzzles the other night. Small victory right there. Same job, same house, still single, same friends, same hair cut, same awkward demeanor."

I just never really have anything really exciting going on these days! But isn't that a good thing? Stability?

And also, am I supposed to be interested in what the other person has been "up to"? Cuz I'm not really...

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Imani

Peek And Pounce! Lion Cub Comes Out to Play

Roar2

Imani, the St. Louis Zoo’s two-and-a-half-month-old African lion cub, will be exploring a play habitat outdoors. The temporary play space is one of the snow leopard habitats, which is just the right size for a young lion cub that is just beginning to climb and pounce.  
 “It will be a gradual learning experience for Imani as she is introduced to one of the smaller outdoor habitats,” says Steve Bircher, curator of mammals. “When she gets a little older and more comfortable outdoors we plan to introduce her to the lion habitat.” The cub was moved from the veterinary hospital to the area called Big Cat Country several weeks ago. She now weighs 24 pounds, eats two pounds of meat a day, and is doing very well. While still being cared for by her keepers, she is gradually being introduced to her mother Cabara and father Ingozi through mesh or a “howdy gate” behind the scenes. The staff hopes to reintroduce the cub and mother sometime in the future. 
“Imani is a playful and energetic cub who seems to enjoy the company of both her parents as well as the carnivore keepers who have been caring for her over the past couple months,” says Bircher.



Well it looks like I know what I'll be doing this Saturday afternoon! Going to see if this little lady lion cub is out and about to play at the Zoo! Just hope it's not too crowded with children and hoosiers....

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

GPOY 10/5

I was trying to figure out what to wear this morning and found this blue dress that I haven't worn since last year when I first bought it... "Why haven't I worn this more than once?" I wondered.

Now I remember... it's because it chokes the living daylights out of me.


Yaaaaay......


Get Excited Betsy...

Because these are being purchased and brought to Columbia for you...



Monday, October 3, 2011

Jack of All Trades...

My wonderful, talented, oh-so-amazing cousin Jack passed the Illinois Bar Exam!

Jack and I are the same age and have been good buds since we were old enough to realize how cool we are (there were some awkward pre-teen years where we didn't want anything to do with each other but that's pretty standard). In high school he was the lead in all the plays and musicals at his school (my high school's rival), and I would always go to support him and show him how great I thought he was! My personal favorite of his was See How They Run :)

 Jack being all musical and such...

He's my cousin on my dad's side, and we both had a special connection to our Grandma Ziggy. After Ziggy's passing, Jack and I got even closer and really enjoy sharing stories about how funny that lady was - and how much she really loved us.

Now that stinkin' Jack is a LAWYER living the big life up in Chicago - but I couldn't be prouder of him. Seems like anything this kid sets his mind to, he actually goes and does it (what a novel idea...)

So congratulations to you, Jack David. You are pret-tay, pret-tay awesome. But a little tip from me to you... don't give up on your musical talents yet. I think you'd make an amazing Billy Flynn someday on Broadway.


Mr. Billy Flynn

Well How Should I Know?

If you're a reoccurring visitor to this site than you know I've had my fair share of relationship woes. He's too nice, he's too mean. Too clingy, too distant. Too much personality, not enough personality. I'm a modern day dating Goldilocks and I'm starting to get tired of trying to decipher which extreme I prefer, since there doesn't seem to be any guys that are "juuuuuust right".

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Every time I say this to someone, they respond by asking, "What is it you want out of a guy or in a relationship?"
... (pause blink blink) ...
Well how the hell should I know?

There are several qualities that I know I want in a guy, and probably a hundred things I know I don't want. But here's the tricky part: these wants and needs change. A lot.

I'm a moody person. I admit it. My mood depends on the weather, traffic, my work load, my self-image, and a dozen other factors that shouldn't affect me the way that they do. But that's my deal. Sorry. I'm willing to admit this - so I know that I'm not this perfect girl just waiting to be appreciated and loved. No no. I've got just as much crazy baggage as the next person. But shouldn't there be this perfect guy out there for me who just knows this stuff, and knows exactly how to fix it? My sister (whom I love endlessly) has a bit of a patience problem, and she found the perfect man to help her with that. If she's getting too bossy or demanding, he dishes it right back to her - and it works.

I honestly blame the movies and the books. I grew up thinking every person has a soul mate and that you'll find that person in your late teens/early twenties when you're still young and fun and attractive, and you'll live happily ever after and have beautiful babies and the wife will only work if she wants to. Well that ain't the case. Actual work needs to be done to find a person you can tolerate day in and day out.  

So what kind of guy do I need to seek out? Who could I tolerate? Is that really how this is done? Doesn't this disappoint anyone else?

 Or maybe I should JUST. LET. IT. HAPPEN.

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I guess this is what I'll do for now. Just have faith that God has a plan - and that one day I will find my perfect soul mate and he will love me endlessly for all of my crazy antics.

Until then, there's always friends, booze and kittehs to get me through the days.

Much love to you all!