bag 'n' trash -- home of monster yarn

If I Had 100,000,000 Dollars

hi!  i'm back!  did you miss me?  thanks for the "cover."  it was a long week and by friday i was fried. what would i do if i had kids?   anyway, it's sunday night now, and i feel as if the weekend barely started.  this living for the weekend stuff really bites. 

anyway, cathi tagged me for a meme.  thank you cathi for making me feel bloggy love.

10 years ago...  1995, i was 32 years old and had received my MPH a few months earlier.  and i was broke.  work kind of sucked.  i was temping and making no money.  things weren't going very well and i was seriously considering moving back to nyc or to the philadelphia area (near where i went to college).  a couple of months later, i would find a full-time job in my field. i don't have any memory of anything interesting happening in my personal life.  my guess is i was obsessed with someone unattainable and probably fooling around with guys who were totally wrong for me.  of course, i was living alone with 2 cats.

5 years ago... more of the same.  the only notable thing that happened from that summer was that i got my navel pierced.  ha!  july 4th 2000.  so i spent the rest of the summer soaking my belly in salt water.  again, although financially i was doing a little better -- i now shared ownership of a 2 bedroom condo in cleveland circle with my mortgage company.  i was obsessed with someone unattainable (actually 2 -- one a swarthy gorgeous iranian surgical resident with beautiful hands -- another one a very funny, geeky, ENGAGED molecular biology fellow) and having the occasional random encounter.  i think i hit my dating low earlier that spring when the only guy who actually asked me out spent the first 5 minutes of our date LOUDLY explaining to me in a restaurant what tea-bagging was.  (i was now minus 1 cat plus 2 more for a grand total of 3 cats, still living alone). i would meet j.bag one year later.

1 year ago...i had just sold my condo and was helping j get the house ready for my ultimate arrival -- redoing the floors, finishing the painting.  yes we had been married for 9 months already, but i guess we did things a little backwards.  we got married first, then moved in with each other 9 months later.

Yesterday...i slept until 11am, ate two weetabix biscuits with milk, and watched disc 4 of the first season of Six Feet Under with j.  then while j napped, i watched "something's gotta give."  although i appreciate jack nicholson as an actor, i find him totally unappealing as a romantic lead and really wished diane keaton had ended up with keanu reeves (never been much of a fan of his, but he was very cute in this movie) although i knew she wouldn't.  i eventually got out of my pjs and did go out around 6pm to run a few errands.  after dinner we watched Anchorman.  that movie just plained sucked.  and yes, i did knit throughout the entire movie viewing time.

Today...the original plan was to spend a leisurely morning making and eating pancakes with j and then to do a little leisurely house keeping, and perhaps a little spinning in the afternoon.  that was the plan.  which was quickly dashed when my sister-in-law called a little after 11am to let me know that everyone was waiting for us at the Olive Garden for my father-in-law's birthday lunch.  you see, j spoke to his sister several times during the week about these plans, but neglected to tell me.  and really.  if you don't tell me.  you might as well be telling the dog.  we ended up having the pancakes for dinner.  (birthday cake and ice cream for breakfast)

Tomorrow... back to the old grind and doing some catching up at work.  i have meeting minutes to type up, and a protocol to review, emails to write.  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

5 snacks I enjoy... cheetos.  not the puffy kind, but the crunchy kind.  other than cheetos, i really don't get all that excited about any one snack.  amazing, considering my girth.  maybe if i were hungry right now, i'd be better able to find 4 other snacks to get excited about.  i like ice cream too, with cool whip. oh and freetos.  salt and crunch. 

5 bands/singers that I like... i always feel like a big dork when i'm asked this question because music to me has never been something that i've given any serious consideration to.  i haven't bought a CD in several months -- i think the last one i bought was the latest Michael Buble (boob-lay -- such an unfortunate name).  bands/singers that i enjoy include Maroon 5, Los Lonely Boys, BNL and anything by sting. 

Things I would do with $100,000,000... first thing, J and i would "call in rich."  "hi, this is maryse, um, i'm not coming in today, because i don't need to work for a living.  thanks for the memories."   ok.  i probably wouldn't just quit my job.  but i'd give notice.  then we'd buy the house of our dreams (or two), pay off our cars, and set up trust funds for all of the nieces/nephews and set our parents up somehow.  my guess is that j would take flying lessons again, and buy himself a plane.  i'd go to school full-time for shits and giggles.  we'd travel to the 5 locations i'd like to run away to.  the rest of the money we'd invest because i'm a practical person.

5 locations I'd like to run away to... France, because i'm homesick;  Italy, especially Tuscany and Le Cinque Terre.  actually i'd like to take a cruise around the mediterranean, visiting north africa, spain, and greece as well.  alaska.  and ireland. 

5 bad habits I have....i procrastinate.  i don't exercise.  i overeat.  i'm a lousy housekeeper.  and i don't go to the doctor's or the dentist as often as i should.  actually i don't really have bad habits...i just don't have good ones. 

5 things I like doing...browsing and shopping online, especially for books.  knitting, crochet, reading.  driving around in my mini. 

5 things I would never wear...mini skirts, tops tucked into high waisted pants or skirts, pleats, tapered leg pants, super high heels. 

5 TV shows I like...Rescue Me, Gilmore Girls, Desperate Housewives, any and all of the Law and Orders (I count that as only 1), and now Six Feet Under.   (i also love reruns of friends and seinfeld, but i figured those to be a given).

5 Movies I like....these are movies that i'll watch over and over again.  Animal House, When Harry Met Sally, Excalibur, Under the Tuscan Sun or Chocolat -- couldn't decide between the two, An American in Paris. 

5 famous people I'd like to meet...um... this is really hard, because there's really no one famous that i'd really like to meet, mostly because i'm afraid that in person they would disappoint me.  ok.  if forced to pick, i would like to meet bill clinton, because i love him.  (not big L love, just small l love).

5 biggest joys of the moment...coming home to J every night, seeing the needle on the bathroom scale move downward, learning how to spin, having any of my projects actually turn out half as good as they are in my mind, .

5 favorite toys...my nikon N65 and coolpix 950 (although i really want the nikon D70), my new spindles (although i really want a spinning wheel), my computer (although i really want to replace it with laptop) and it's a toss-up between my bicycle and my sewing machine -- neither of which i've been using but i really should be.  WAIT HOW COULD I FORGET!  MY MINI!!!!!  my mini is definitely my favorite toy. 

i'm going to tag elisa because she's so far had a fascinating life.  and she needs something to get her away from her new big TV.

In Hiding...

this week could very well suck workwise (not in a horrible, breaking down crying in a corner because my boss is mean, my job sucks, i'm being harrassed sort of way but more like a working every minute of every day 14 hour days sort of way) so i'm going to make this quick.

i just wanted to thank claudia for being such a wonderful hostess saturday.  she is a sweet and gracious person and i am very happy to have finally gotten to meet her. 

alrighty then, i'm going under .... cover me.

What? No Knitting?!

so colleen probably thinks i'm holding out.  with all of that driving, i must have gotten some knitting done.

yeah, well, um, i did.  like a good doo-bee i packed a huge knitting bag filled with books and sock yarn, and scarf yarn, and a few skeins of the precious* cotton-ease in black licorice.

and this is what i made.

 

it looks like shite.  (the pictures suck too but i was really too depressed to continue).

it's supposed to look like this (july 19th post).   hahaha!

i'm trying to decide if  it's worth giving it another go.  maybe making a few adjustments to compensate for my broader shoulders and back.  or maybe it's the cotton-ease (all of you cotton-ease hoarders, cover your eyes) that sucked.   (so glad i didn't hoard).  who knows?   of course it could just be me (i was planning on wearing it with a black t-shirt  not this heinous yellow thing that makes my breasts look like they're  the size of my freakin' head).

all i know is that i'm back to knitting blankets.

Our Nation's Capital

j's brother and his family live in stafford, VA which is about an hour or so south of DC.  so we decided to pay the inlaws a visit.

if you're from stafford,  i don't  mean to be harsh, but let's just say, i liked manasquan better.  just saying. 

since we were so close to DC, we decided to do a little sightseeing.

here's good ole honest abe.

here's j at the WWII memorial standing next to his newly adopted state, new jersey.  (i'd like to point out that j is manly enough to carry my purse without feeling threatened).

and here he's next to his home state.

"hmmm karl rove leaked the identity of the cia operative, valerie plame?  say it isn't so!"

it was so freakin' hot that day, that we took the rest of our visit inside to the smithsonian's museum of american history.  some of the highlights include:

Archie Bunker's chair (and edith's of course).

my favorite grouch, oscar.

and a classic set of wheels.

after an exhausting day, we took a stroll down pennsylvania avenue to wave hi to the prez.

i really wanted to cause some sort of scene, but j made it perfectly clear that he would not bail me.  party pooper.

 

On the Road Again ..

we were scheduled to leave at 4am on saturday morning.  we finally left at 9.  as i pointed out to j, it was 4 am somewhere, so we weren't really running late.

by 10:30 we were in hartford.

i know stars hallow is somewhere around here.

here we are approaching the George Washington Bridge (i took us over an hour to go 8 miles and if i hear anyone complain about The Big Dig anymore, i'll suggest they move to new york where they'll really have something to cry about). 

ahh the George Washington Bridge ... finally.

the next 90 or so miles (give or take 30 -- i'm too lazy to check) was spent driving through the lovier sections  *cough* of the great state of new jersey.

then we arrived in manasquan, the year round home of my college friend, lynne. 

we drank, we ate.  we toasted marshmallows by the beach. 


one day, i took a stroll downtown.

there were a lot of houses that looked like this one.  if it had been for sale, i would have considered relocating.

and here we have manasquan's LYS!

rat bastards were closed.

if not for the flag reflected in the glass,  this garden patio could have been in paris.

monday morning, july 4th, after packing up the truck again, we headed out again. 

next stop, stafford VA.

And On the 7th Day ...

first of all, thank you to all of you who actually missed me and sent me emails and comments.  you really like me!  you really really like me!  (or else you are just coveting my stash..hmmm).

i've been super busy at work.  we are hosting a big ass medical record abstraction training in both boston and fremont, CA, that i've been responsible for organizing.  so first of all, i hate planning anything, especially when it requires coordinating with PEOPLE WHO NEVER TELL YOU WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW IN A FRIGGIN' TIMELY FASHION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  this has in fact been worse than planning my own wedding, except that the money isn't mine so the worry has been minimal there.  i think i would actually like my job IF I DIDN'T HAVE TO WORK WITH PEOPLE...  i'm really beginning to not like people.  well, people at work.  and people who honk their horns.  and people who voted for george bush and are still supporting him...  ok i'll stop now.

so since all of the big mucky mucks were vacationing (and didn't seem too concerned about the project falling apart without them) and i received an email from human resources saying "hey you have 30,000 vacation hours saved up, if you don't take time off you will stop accruing, you don't get any brownie points from the mucky mucks for not taking vacation because remember they don't see you sitting at your desk like a damn fool because --duh--they're on vacation" j and i decided to take a last minute road trip.

first leg of the trip -- manasquan, new jersey.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph...

it only took me 6 days to catch up on all of my blog reading.  just 6 days. 

Hi! I'm Back

just a quick little post to let you know that i did not get sucked into the spinning vortex of hell.  j and i took a few days off and went to visit a college friend of mine in new jersey and then on to the DC area to say hello to George W. Bush.  he sends his love.

i'll post more later.