A blog revival.

Blah.

Totally haven't felt like blogging lately, even though I've been busier than ever over the last few months.  In fact, the calendar I posted here kinda makes me laugh.  I seriously thought that was busy. 

Let's try again.

Take March for example:

Scratch that.  Looks busy but there really wasn't anything exciting happening.

How about April:

Two black tie dinners, two fundraisers, one baby shower, one first communion party, a trip to NYC, two wine dinners, one 2-day continuing ed class, two listing appts and countless showings, one girls' night, one seminar, wine school, volleyball, boot camp and you know, actual work.  Sigh.  I'm tired just reliving the month in print.

One perk?



Showing up in the paper.  Again.  Except this time I approve.  Although I could use a little more lip color.  ha.

Let's look at May:

More listing appts and showings than I know what to do with, one out-of-town wedding, two weekends in a row in Boston (!), charity fashion show and all the necessary prep, dinners with friends, wine school, office meetings, etc, etc, etc.  Note that we're oly halfway through the month.

Reason #2 for lack of recent posting:  broken camera.  And since I'm not so good with words, I find myself lacking anything interesting to post when I can't show pretty pictures.

Like these.

 Pretty girls in Boston for girls' weekend!

Pretty girls before Rock the Runway, my fashion show debut ;)



So now I will attempt a run at more regularly scheduled posting... since I don't feel like my head is going to explode with social obligations.  For the next few weeks anyway.  We'll see how well that works out.  No promises.

An average person could probably handle a full schedule with no complaints.  Me?  I like my downtime.  No, I CHERISH my downtime.  So after 6 or so weeks of nonstop busy, I need a break.  A big break.  Good think we have a vacation coming up.

All press is good press, right?

Let's hope so.

A few minutes ago I received an email stating "What a great shot in the paper today!", followed by a facebook comment reading "Loved your pic in The Scene today!". 

Um, what?

Oh, yeah.  That. 

Last weekend, the husband and I attended our FAVORITE (caps is definitely necessary... it's that good) event of the year, Dancing in the Woods.  It's a black-tie charity gala sponsored by Albany Medical Center, held in the old Macy's space in Crossgates Mall.  You would be amazed at the transformation from vacant department store to gorgeous ballroom.  They go all out.

And it's open bar.  Duh.

Ooh, and the New York Players perform.  Our wedding band, remember?  We even got a shout-out.  I love being us.

Back to the topic at hand.  While on the dance floor, we noticed the events photographer from the Times Union.  We know him, he knows us and he's photographed us at other various events over the years.  We noticed his flash going off quite often in our vicinity but kept dancing like fools anyway.  Stupid, stupid idea.  Why, oh why didn't we walk over to him to pose like normal people?

Photo by Joe Putrock / Special to the Times Union

At least Nick looks good.  I, on the otherhand, am a dancing, screaming fool.  I'm assuming it was a good song ;)

The photo was captioned with "Carolyn and Dominick Purnomo light up the dance floor during Dancing in the Woods".  Light up?  Really?  Husband's glowing expression, yes.  Mine?  Not so much.  Thankfully I shaved my arm pits that day.   ha

I'm feeling slightly embarrassed.  But that's just my vanity speaking.  And here it is again...

Photo by Joe Elario Photography



What I looked like from the front.  With my mouth closed.  

So, as for today's press?  Begrudgingly, I'll take it.  Anything to get people to notice me right?  Even if they are laughing.

Week in review.

So apparently I'm not the super fantastic blogger I strive to be. Sorry to disappoint. I know it's hard to let a week go by without reading about my awesomely fabulous life.

Per usual, I've been busy.

I am super important. Remember?

Since I really have nothing exciting to ramble about today, here are some of the things I've been doing lately. Don't get too excited.

David Gray.

If you have don't know who he is, go to the store now and buy his albums. Do people even do that anymore? Or is it all about iTunes? I wouldn't know. I haven't bought a CD or a song in years. But seriously. David Gray. AMAZING. This was my third time seeing him in concert. Even the plague couldn't keep me away.

Fundraiser.

Let me rephrase. I was at a fundraiser but did not fundraise. No, I take it back. I helped to raise $2,500 by parading around the room modeling a gorgeous antique ring that was up for auction. Really should've gotten a manicure before the event.

The fundraiser was a dinner/silent auction/live auction to benefit the husband's father's foundation that sends Indonesian students to culinary school. Hence the Indonesian fans pictured above. Please ignore the fact that I have 14 chins and focus on my lovely friend Jillian.

Chicks dig me.

At the above mentioned event, I was... gasp... hit on by a la-dy. I wish I could recall the details but I was slightly (and by slightly I mean greatly) intoxicated at this point in the evening. I was flattered but politely informed her that I don't swing that way. Anymore.

Now your wheels are turning, right? ;)

I kid. I kid!!

Somebody stop me.

I CANNOT continue to think I can party like a rockstar. Two day long hangovers are not my friend, no matter how many times they try to come around and visit.

After above event (this was a long day...) we went home with the bright idea to drink more! SMRT, we are! The husband's bff and his date came back to the house with us. Damn you, peer pressure! I probably would've been a good girl and gone straight to bed if we didn't have house guests. But then I wouldn't have been a proper hostess, right?

We stayed up way too late and drank way too much. When I awoke for work in the morning, I decided against showering and went to work with the ever-stylish "last night's hair and makeup" look. I think I'm starting a new trend with this one. You should try it. It really takes no effort at all. I also awoke to find pizza boxes on my kitchen counter. Oy. It was one of those nights. Damn fourth meal! I didn't even remember eating you!

The fancy car!

The husband is out of town today til Sunday so I get to drive his shiny new car. Yay! At least I get something in exchange for being on my own all week, right? He's on his way to DC for lots of fabulous eating and drinking, then headed to NYC for a boys' weekend. Should I be scared? Probably.

The pups.

My little munchie-faces have cost me a ridiculous amount of money lately. We've been to the vet far too many times in the last few months. So to make them feel better, I set them up with a nice little photo-shoot. It only took about 18,000 tries to get a good one. And I know they enjoyed every minute of it.

Think Miles is trying to tell me something? (Probably something along the lines of "please get rid of this pestering Bella creature")

Because this is quite possibly the cutest picture of two dachshunds EVER, I thought I'd submit it to one of my favorite blogs, Friday Puppy. You see, every Friday, cute pups from all over get the shot at becoming famous. Hence the name, Friday Puppy. Too bad they haven't picked my mine yet. Sorry M & B, guess they're not feeling the love.

Work.

Blech. Seriously, can somebody rig the lottery to make my numbers hit? Please? I'll give you a cookie!

It's not really that bad. I just like to complain, but you already knew that. My position is actually growing, giving me more responsibility, more hours at the office (woo hoo!) and (hopefully) eventually a pay raise. That being said, I'm truly looking forward to the opportunity. Being a commissioned salesperson since literally the day I graduated college, having a salaried position is nice for a change. 'Cause, you know, I kinda like money.

Of course I'm still out there selling houses too. That's my true love. So please buy one from me. Mama needs a new, um, landscape.

Speaking of...

The neighborhood eyesore.

Otherwise known as My Yard. Our yard is so embarassingly desperate for a makeover that I submitted pictures of it to the Today Show's America's Most Desperate Landscape contest.

Don't be a hater. I know you're jealous of our hot little house. Doesn't every kid grow up dreaming of a barn-red house with a dingy stone facade, dead trees and zero curb appeal? If that's true, we really scored with this one!

And here we have what was formerly a lovingly cared for garden. Of weeds. A few flowers have begun to sprout and I can't wait to rip them out. (Random recycling bin thrown in the yard and ladder leaning on the side of the house for your viewing pleasure. I know, you're thinking, "Gawd, could they be anymore WT?!")

Now this is hands-down the BEST part of the yard. Who wouldn't love an old chicken wire fence that's held up by tree stumps. Fence posts are too good for this beauty! And the trees must really be enamored with it because they've actually started to grow their bark around the fence in a sweet embrace. This is one love affair I'm not sure I can break up.

God I hope we win this contest.

Done!

Happy?

Partying like a rockstar (should be illegal for a 29 year old)

So. The bachelorette party of the century. Not gonna lie, it was more fun than my own. Not that mine wasn't a blast... it was nice and low-key. The only thing low-key about this one was the plane ride there.

And now I shall state for the record: I'm too old for this shit.

It took me days to recover. Literally, my entire body hurt. Although, that probably had something to do with the strip-tease class.

Yup. Strip-tease. As in "try not to think about looking stupid while attempting to look sexy in front of a bunch of girls you just met".

To get in the um, mood, Rachel and I chugged a 6 pack of beer in mere minutes.

Here are the 9 of us, looking all lovely in our hot pink boas. Bride (Michelle) is in white, I'm in the gray hat and Rachel is in the camo hat. The rest of the girls I had just met the night before.

FAIL.

The format of the class was basically just a broken down "strip tease" routine that we learned. In my case, however, it was a big fat FAIL. See how I'm on a different part of the routine than the rest of the girls? That's 'cause I'm not sexy. Or coordinated. Sorry husband, you probably won't be seeing this routine reenacted in the bedroom.

Pole dancing at it's finest. ha

Remember the beer that we chugged? Apparently it kicked in after the class. Since there were no poles in the room, we made this pipe work. And we worked it. ha.

Ok, class over. I survived. It was fun and definitely an entertaining way to spend an hour.

Now onto dinner.

Here we are at Hub 51. Great location, awesome contemporary decor, okay drinks, decent menu. Blame Husband for turning me into food snob.

Me, Bride, Bride's sister.

Now here is where the night gets interesting...

After dinner, Rachel (who lives in Chicago) took us to her favorite bar in the city. LOVED it. They played seriously the best music. Lots of 80s and 90s. Perfect for us old people.

There also happened to be a bachelor party at the bar that night. I honestly don't remember any of the men from the party but I do know that we somehow snagged their blow-up doll. Because duh, no bachelorette party is complete without one.

And of course we had to pose with said blow-up doll.

Notice the stupid look on my face. I guess I decided to stop smiling... all of the pictures from this point in the night look like this. God, I'm a ra-tard. Let's call it my drunk face.

You might be wondering who the nasty boy (aka d-bag) in the front is. Asshole. That's who he is. He deserves no respect so I deem him Asshole. He was a little leech, following us around all night. At the very end of the night, he hugged Rachel, then came over to me for a hug. Ew. Did not want hug.

Now here's the kicker. Mid-hug, he proclaimed "I didn't dig you, but whatever".

Oh damn, 'cause I was really hoping he did. I'm mean, for real, this guy was a CATCH!

I should've punched him in the face. A black eye would've been an improvement on top of that sorry excuse for facial hair.

Ok, I'm almost done.

I'll leave you with one final picture. This was taken at approximately 4 in the morning. Yes, 4. am. Ugh. I haven't seen that hour in years.

Somehow, my eyes are still open. I'm a trouper, I am.

Back at Rachel's apartment at 5am, I managed to get my stuff packed and get a few hours sleep (although I forgot to remove my fake eyelashes and woke up with one stuck to my cheek) before miraculously not oversleeping and making it to the airport on time.

All in all (did I really just say that?) it was a great, yet exhausting weekend. And Michelle had a blast, which in the end is all that really matters.