A New Person

I'm feeling much better now. Like a new person even. Unfortunately I gave the cold to my mom. Sorry mom.

Despite not feeling my best we went ahead with our visitor plans. We had dinner at Mom & Ed's with my godparents last weekend. Mom's homemade lasagne was delicious and a temporary fix! We hosted dinner for them on Thursday and it was a hit. I love to experiment with different recipes. I never cook as much as I like to. We loved the company!

Friday we had a Trendowicz dinner at the Carolina Ale House. Truck treated us and we had a long relaxing dinner. Friend Mario arrived later that night and the house was full for the rest of the weekend. I love the sound of people in the house - it makes me feel even more at home. I think it just reminds of what it was like to have a houseful of brothers around.

We enjoyed breakfast together then went to the movies later in the afternoon and saw Jumper. Hhmmm.....my thoughts on this are still not concrete. It was an entertaining movie but the end was unsatisfying. Another half hour of story would have been better.

We then did a quick supermarket run before dinner. Penna Vodka a la Jen was on the menu. It's easy and everyone loves it. Mario made some chicken and Leo got a cookie cake for his sisters birthday. What a good guy! Kerri, Rob and Truck came over to enjoy dinner and dessert and before we knew it more company arrived. Our regular friends came by as did Mom and Ed and it was nice to have everyone meet one another. It often feels like my NY life and my NC life rarley overlap. So when people from both places exist at once it makes me feel more complete.

We were up late, as usual. In fact the next day I slept until 11am. That may not sounds crazy for some, but for me - I was living on the wild side! Our day started late and slow but we made up for it at the gym. Ok, don't tell anyone this . . . but we ended up going back to our old apartments to use the raquetball court. We weren't sure the code to the gym would be the same but it was. While Mario and Leo played some ball I used the gym and happily tread-milled on my merry way, i-pod in tow. I feel guilty about it but truth be told there was only one person we encountered the whole hour we were there. Someone should be using it right?

We settled in to watch another movie later in the afternoon - Michael Clayton. Not a winner in my book. It was slow until halfway through and when it was over I wasn't really left pondering any new revelations in life. I guess I'm a little numb when it comes to movies as I have watched to many while getting better!

So that was the past week. Things are a little slow at the start of the week - I have to get myself back on track after being out of it for so long. I started up my workout routine again though. No more being sick in this house anytime soon.

Still Sick

Uugghhhhh. . . . I don't know if that's really the sound you would be hearing me make if you were here but I'm not sure how to spell out the sound of me sniffling, blowing my nose and whinning about being sick still. But you get the picture.

So this is the middle of week 2 and you know what I realized this morning as I lay awake at 6am completely stuffed, head throbbing? Hey, I'm kinda sick. I should probably take it easy. In case you haven't noticed I can be somewhat of a stubborn ass. I have been pushing myself to keep going and work through appointments and meetings and whatnot. But I just have to let it go and accept that my defenses are down and I have to rest. UUgghhhhhh......

This is especailly disappointing as we have a lot of people in town this week/ end and I'm looking forward to enjoying it. But I figure today I go rent yet a another couple of movies and stay put in hopes of having energy for the weekend. Any theatrical suggestions?

Sick

It is only day 4 or 5 of my sickness but poor Leo is in the middle of week 2. I am personally going a little batty being in the house all day. After 5 movies, catching up on tivo, going through 4 boxes of tissues, and having that constant achy feeling all week I'm pretty much done with being sick. Leo commented that I'm a bad patient. My mom also reminded me that when I get sick, I really get sick. Being as I haven't had so much as a sniffle in several years now I guess I forgot. And yes, I am a bad patient. I hate feeling so cruddy! (Although I don't mind the movies. Good Lcuk Chuck and 3:10 to Yuma were both good.)

But I see the light. I'm hoping the last of this will lift this week as I have some parents to visit with in the weeks ahead. Mommy Sharon & Stan will be around this weekend as will my mom and Ed. My godparents will be down also, for the whole week. I look forward to making them lovely meal at our house! The following weekend Big Truck will be here, and I think our friend Mario. When it rains it pours. We are looking forward to it.

Not much else to report. When you are sick it feels like the week is sooo loooooong and so much time as passed I must have something to say. It must be the naps that throw me. I keep expecting it to be Saturday when I wake up eventually.

Well Oprah's on and I'm due for another dose of Theraflu. That stuff kicks butt!

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Superbowl Sunday

While I don't usually care about the superbowl, when we are expecting a dozen or so people and the house needs some attention before we welcome anyone into it, I tend to care a little more.

We expect a small crowd of our closest friends and neighbors later today to enjoy some million dollar commercials, pizza, these wonderful peanut butter rice crispies things I made yesterday, beer and . . . what am I forgetting? Oh yeah, the game. Good times.

Lately things have been pretty busy for both of us. Leo had some work stuff that required him to be downtown for a few days. I had the house to myself! But I didn't have too much time to enjoy it since being an entreprenuer means getting out of the house to make things happen in my world. And what a different world it is.

I have been venturing out to local meetup and business groups lately. A few weeks ago I was worried there weren't enough ways for me to meet people. Now I am faced with several meetings in a day. This has been great for me as I am naturally a bit introverted and I really hate walking into a room of people I don't know. But, the practice has already benefitted me as I've met some really nice people that wil help me to grow in many ways as I am finding my way as a full-time, self-employed, working woman.

As far as being that working woman, I am working on something new these days. It's creative, fun, unique and very exciting for me. I may actually make use of my education with interior design! More news on that soon . . .

Well, I must go. The house hasn't cleaned itself in the 20 minutes I've been spending on-line. Sigh. . . .

OMG it's snowing!

It's real this time. Fat flakes are falling from the sky! We expect a couple inches but it may be mostly slush as it's been kind of raining all day.

I am set with the perfect type of snow day activity - I'm working on finishing one of the wedding albums. The goal is to complete both (one professional, one more fun one) by our first anniversary so we can reminice over our defrosted wedding cake. (I wrapped that sucker eight times - I expect it to be delicious!)

Have a good weekend and keep warm!

PS - I have a new phone number in addition to the 845 one. Doesn't matter for most of you but if you need it let me know....

OMG it's raining!

Back where I'm from they didn't delay school for rain . . . but here when there is threat of something bad (the white stuff - snow - is a four-letter word here. Well, it's always a four-letter word but you know what I mean!) they get serious. The weather here has been cold and has barely touched the freezing mark but the dangerous dance with 32 degrees and precipitation caused weather men everywhere to predict the worst. Snow, ice, delays, accidents, doom, etc. There may have been a light blanket of flurries at 4am but by the time most of the world awoke it was just boring rain. Big whoopdeedoo. If it's going to be cold, it may as well do something interesting out there. Oh well. . .

In other news, this week has been my first as a full-time entreprenuer. I quit my other job. Weird huh? I thought so too when I didn't have to be anywhere at a certain time all week, aside from the various Arbonne appointments - appointments that I set myself! Being this free is so . . . freeing?! It's fun and exciting, but also a scary leap. I've put a whole lot of eggs in one little basket and I'm doing it all by myself. But, deep down I've always known that working for soemone else would never last and finally I am in a good place to prove it to everyone else. I'm not rolling in the dough yet, my friends. But give me a year and we'll see how my little basket of eggs looks then.

In the meantime, check this out. (You need Adobe Reader to see it) It's a neat collaboration of Before & After's of people who have used Arbonne's products. I'm not one to tote my stuff all over the place with friends and family just because . . . but this particular collection of images is so good that I have to share. Just because . . .

Last night Leo and I watched American Gangster. Great movie. I can't remember seeing something so good lately. Denzel is the man.

What else . . . oh yes . . . a few weekends ago we went to see Mommy Sharon & Stan's new place. It was really nice, just perfect for them! It was nice to spend time together and we look forward to many more trips down there, especially when beach weather is upon us. I'm sure they are looking forward to that too!

Not much else to report. Also, my fingers are cold. I require quite a bit more heat than Leo does - an insteresting issue to overcome now that I am spending more time in the house these days. He feels 67 is good enough . . . I think I might thaw out at 72.

Happy '08!

Hello there and Happy 2008. Leo and I are enjoying the last day of relaxing as tomorrow officially marks the first day of reality. We slept in (way in - we were up til 3am partying) and took our time cleaning up after the party guests. I started playing one of our new video games too and I now have a new addiction - Super Mario Galaxy. It's AWESOME!

Going back to last week . . . we had a fabulous Christmas! Sunday night we went to Mom & Ed's cute little apartment in Stony Point. Their place is really nice and they have a great view behind them - so much land before you get to the river. The snow on the ground made it look like a whole different place - like the countryside. We then to dinner at Pasta Cucina. Mmmm...NY Italian! Later Leo and I went back to Danielle's parents place. We didn't do much. We actually felt lost without some form of entertainment - video games for example. What has the world come to!

Monday we made a quick trip over the border into Jersey to see Mom & Stan and - surprise - Grandma & Grandpa! We didn't know we would get to see them too! The visit was short but we knew we would see them again REALLY SOON when they made the trip to NC for good. We stopped in Pearl River for another little visit with Cousin Kevin & Family.

Monday night, we went to the 76 House in Tappan for Christmas Eve dinner with Dad and the fam. It was a super long dinner as the service was a bit slow - BUT we really did have a chance to enjoy each others company. In the past, we would go to Dad's house to open gifts then part ways to enjoy Christmas morning elsewhere. Since we were spending the night at my dad's this time we got to actually wake up and and open gifts on Christmas morning! I haven't had that experience in many, many years - it was very special. Even Leo admitted that it was worth waking up for. He hadn't been so thrilled with the 8:30am agenda.

Christmas Day after morning gifts and breakfast, we went to Big Leo's to spend time with him, Grandma (Babci) and Dave. More gifts exchanged! Then we trekked back to VC for Christmas dinner at the Martins. We never shared the holiday before and it was a very pleasant change. I love that family! The kids basically hung out together in the kitchen while the adults were in the other room; but as over-aged kids we got to sip some of Mr. Martins special scotch. It's fun to be a big kid!

Wednesday Matt joined me for a trip into NYC. I saw my lovely old friend Hadas for a quick visit at a diner on Broadway. It was too short a visit as usual but I'm very lucky to have seen her a couple times this year.

We then made the trip downtown towards Brooklyn to Greg & Danielle's place. Danielle saved me a spot the size of my car (good b/c I fit but bad b/c if Matt and Danielle weren't there to direct me I don't know how I would have fit into it!) Their apartment is super cute and I can tell they really love their neighborhood. We ventured to a Barnes and Noble and back while we waited for Greg to get home from work then we went out to dinner at a Thai place right around the corner. Good thing it was close b/c it was frigid out and the rain started to fall right when we got on the road again. I was hoping it would come down as snow still!

Thursday was a hang out day. It was tough to see the holiday magic unravel. Tim left to join his Jen in LI, Greg and Danielle were back in the city and most everyone else was back at work. I just didn't want it to end.

Our ride home was long and uneventful as usual. It was early enough that when we got into Raleigh we joined Kerri & Rob for dinner while Sharon & Stan were in town too. They were making thier first trip to NC to leave a car before their final trip down this week.

And this weekend was all about relaxing while also getting prepared for our little New Years party. We had a lot of people in and out of here and had a great time. There is a nice new stain on the carpet (all my fault - oops! Anyone wanna help us put in hardwood?!)but other than that - no other casualties. We had the regular activities and our regular friends. Funny to think that just last year we were meeing most of these people for the fist time and now we are buddies!

And so we prepare to move forward in 2008. I am super excited as we have a lot to look forward to. In April Mom And I will be going to Atlanta for NTC (an Arbonne event) and today we found out they will have a special performer - Tim McGraw!!! So cool! We also have new weight loss products this month so I'm pretty excited to see what that's all about. I can use a kick start after all this partying! Then of course we have our LA/ LV trip, a possible trip to Cancun (that I am working towards earning with Arbonne!) a big birthday for a certain special grandmother in August and, much sooner, parents moving into the state. We will be visiting Mom & Stan his weekend to see their new house near the beach!