Remember that little post-script...

that went something like this? (From this post)

PS... My lovely mommy called me from the 'lou at exactly 10:38am, New York time (my birth minute!) to wish me a happy birthday. Made my day :)


Well. I never thought I'd say this.

My lovely mommy is a LIAR!!!

In the nicest way, of course.

I present to you, Exhibit A:


If I didn't know any better, I'd say that this looks like me and my parents. At my 30th birthday party. In New York. While they were supposed to be in the 'lou. Because they TOLD me that they were still in the 'lou.

Husband pulled a good one on me. I have seriously never been more surprised in my life.

Here's the short version:

A week or so before my birthday, husband starts asking what I want to do on the night of my birthday (Friday, the night before the party).

Me: "Nothing"

I'm a die hard boot-camper now, remember? I wanted to be a good thirty year old and start my new decade off with a healthy dinner and good night's rest to prep for boot camp the following morning.

Husband insisted, so I caved. Then he insisted that we do dinner early, like 6:00 early. Weird. Then he insisted on leaving the restaurant to come home and pick me up.

Me: "No, it's okay, I can drive, I'm not drinking."

Him: "Well maybe I want to get hammered. Then you can drive me home."

Whatever. I'm an agreeable sort.

Fast forward to Friday, 5:45pm. Husband arrives at the house, on time, scoops me up and off we go. He took the strangest route there and mid-trip made a hasty stop at a gas station to put a whole $5 into the tank. In the 3 1/2 years I've known my husband, I've never seen him NOT fill up at a gas station. Still not catching on, we carry on with our trip. Then when we get to about a block of our destination, he calls the restaurant. I remember asking him why the hell he was calling when we'd literally be there in 30 seconds, but I still didn't think anything was up.

Then we get there. In we walk, per usual, and he stops in front of his office door, which was closed, per, um, not usual. I thought he locked himself out or something or closed it because of a rash of employee thievery. Yes, this is how my mind works.

Anyway, when he finally opens the door, I see my parents standing there. I honestly don't think I've ever been speechless in my life but I definitely was then. I vaguely recall spitting out an exaggerated "You're here!???" and crying. Husband said the look on my face was priceless.


Ah. Now all of the continual insistence on dinner plans that night made sense. As did the phone call to the restaurant (to warn them) and the gas thing (he was so anxious he didn't want to waste time filling the tank).


It turns out that my loved ones had been conspiring for months. My poor mother. She's never lied to me so much before. I think that seriously every phone conversation we had over the past 6 months included lots of guilt-trippy "you really should come to my party, I only turn 30 once". Not sure how they kept it in for so long...


What can I say. They got me.


More on the most fabulous birthday weekend ever at a later date :)

The reason for my absense.

I'm sure the 5 of you who read my blog were desperately wishing for more posts during my hiatus. A girl can dream, right?

The reason behind my slacking?

Simple. I've been busy.

I know, I know, that's a lame excuse.

But seriously, it's the truth.

About 2 months ago I found myself in a bad place, work-wise. I enjoyed the company I worked for and loved the people I worked with but I just wasn't happy anymore. So after scouring the want-ads for a week or so to no avail, the lightbulb went off. I can go back to Nikki! i.e. Hart Real Estate, the company I started with when I moved back to NY.

I was never unhappy working for Hart and Nikki and I had remained friends after I so abruptly left her, so I approached her and was welcomed back with open arms. Seriously, why the hell did I leave in the first place???

I've been back at Hart for about a month now and I AM SO HAPPY. At Trinity, my job duties really started to fall away from the real estate part of it that I love so much. Since the day I returned to Hart, I've been immersed back in it, showing and listing houses and having contact with clients almost daily. It's been amazing.

And my stress is GONE.

There's definitely a truth to the saying "money isn't everything". I definitely took a pay cut to come back to Hart, but you know what? Totally worth it.

So you're probably thinking, "ok, so she changed jobs, that's not all that time consuming", right? In this case though, it has been. I'm still filling in at Trinity a day or two a week, which is totally draining, but they pay me, so why not? Right? Aside from the extra at-work hours, I've jumped full force into my Boot Camp Challenge class.

I feel like all I do lately is eat, sleep, workout and work. But I couldn't be happier. Go figure.

Wow. I'm a slacker. And I'm old!

So. I'm back. Let's see how long it lasts.

I thought today was a fitting day to rejoin the blog-world as it is... GASP... my 30th birthday!

EEK!!

Seriously though, I'm so looking forward to my 30s. I finally feel settled in life. I know who I am, I'm happy with who I am and I love everything about my life. I truly haven't been this happy in ages. For appearances though, I've been doing the whole "woe-is-me-I'm-turning-old" thing for a week or so. 'Cause you know, I like attention ;)

Onto the good stuff. Presents and parties!!

Last year, on the day of my 29th birthday, the Husband began planning my 30th birthday party. Long story short, I've been left out of the "birthday party" crowd since I was little. To make up for the fact that I haven't had a party thrown in honor of my bday in my entire adult life, he set out to throw the awesomest (yes, I made that up) party ever.

So tomorrow night we are having a fabulous 80s costume bash! Can't really think of a more appropriate theme, since you know, I was born in 1980. I'll be making an appearance as Debbie Gibson. Pictures to follow.*

Husband gave me my gift last night. Love how excited he was watching me open it. And I love how I excited I got when I saw what it was!!! See for yourself and get excited with me!!
Sorry for the totally blurry picture... if my damn crackberry would function as it should, I would have a lovely picture of the actual pair of Christian Louboutin black patent leather 5" platform stillettos that are currently residing in my living room.

Did you catch that?

Yes, I said Christian Louboutins. Eat your heart out Meredith Vieira.

Manolos? check

Louboutins? check

Life is good.

PS... My lovely mommy called me from the 'lou at exactly 10:38am, New York time (my birth minute!) to wish me a happy birthday. Made my day :)

*If I ever remember to blog again ;)

I think I've lost my mind...

In addition to the 5K I signed up for (it's a week from Saturday... EEK!!) I registered for a Boot Camp Challenge session yesterday.

Seriously, what the hell was I thinking???

I'm horribly out of shape.

And the class meets twice a week at 5:45am and on Saturdays at 6:45am.

Have I mentioned that I am NOT a morning person? Quite the opposite, in fact. I prefer staying up late and often find myself starting a huge project, like laundry or house cleaning at 11pm. And I love Love LOVE sleeping in.

I proudly exclaim to husband every weekend, after rolling out of bed at the crack of, um, 10:30am that "sleeping in is my FAVORITE!"

So. I obviously need to make a lifestyle change if I expect myself to be up and ready for an intense workout pre-sunrise. Or fake an injury to get out of it altogether.

I kid.

I figured I might as well start my new routine this morning, even though the class doesn't start for 3 weeks. And I've got to get my ass in gear and train more diligently for the 5K. Alas... alarm went off at 7:30 this morning.

Uuuuggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Somehow I managed to get out of bed, narrowly avoiding stepping on Miles, make my across the room, get dressed and get out the door.

Not so bad thus far.

Then I started my run. I stupidly picked a loop this morning that starts on a pretty major incline. I barely made it to the top. After the hill from hell, my run wasn't so bad. I managed to make it about 1.7 miles before dying. I wasn't happy with myself for having to stop and walk but I seriously thought I was gonna pass out.

Damn you, irregular heartbeat.

I walked the remaining .3 miles back to the house. Miraculously though, my time was great. Before I tell you how I did, let's please keep in mind that I'm a slow runner. And when I say slow, I mean slow. I'm not trying to be all "woe is me, I only run a 9 minute mile... Gawd, I'm so slow." I really am slow. I expect to come in close to last place at the race next weekend. So much for self-confidence ;)

Last year when I was running regularly, my pace was between 12 and 13 minutes a mile. That seemed perfect for me. I could maintain my pace and run for 3-4 miles.

This morning my pace was just over 11 minutes a mile. And that included the walking. I really don't understand how I've picked up my pace so drastically... especially with the 5lbs I've gained since last year and the lack of a regular fitness routine.

I blame this increased speed however, for the fact that I haven't been able to make it farther than 2 miles on a single run so far this season. I really need to regulate. If I don't get my pacing under control, I don't think I'll be able to finish the 5K running. And it would be a total embarrassment (to moi) to have to walk with all of those people watching. Maybe I should invest in one of those runner's watch thingies. Anybody have any suggestions??

I did it.

I signed up for my first ever road race.


On June 5th, I will be joining thousands of women in the Friehofer's Run for Women in downtown Albany.


Thankfully it's only a 5k.


I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I've really been slacking in the running dept. this year. I blame the weather. Because one, I don't do cold, and two, I hate treadmills.


For about a week and a half (I'm awesome with committment), I was at the gym just about nightly, forcing myself to run a 5k on the treadmill. The first couple of days were fine. After that though, I would've preferred a punch in the face. Talk about boring.


Last night I dragged my butt outside (yay for nice weather!) and managed to run a whole... wait for it... 1.56 miles. And it took me 20 freaking minutes.


FAIL.


My goal for the 5k is to finish in under 35 minutes. Not gonna happen at this rate. I'm going to attempt a 2 mile run tonight. So if I don't appear tomorrow, please come search the side of the roads in my neighborhood ;)

Bathroom Re-Do Two

Remember this post? I finally decided to act on it, in an attempt to mask my bathroom's hideousness.

~BEFORE~

Unfortunately, this picture actually makes it look kind of attractive. In a red-headed step-child kind of way.

Being the impulsive person that I am, I made the decision one morning last week, mere minutes after waking up, to make a drastic change to the bathroom.

Drastic and semi-irreversible.

Pre-breakfast decision making is not something I would recommend.

~AFTER~

Two hours to prep, measure and tape, three hours to paint.

Not terribly happy with the outcome.

All I see is a circus tent.

I think the stripes are much too wide.

Although in my first inspiration pic, I love the broad width of the stripes. I guess vertical as opposed to horizontal can really make a difference. I was undecided... Husband voted for vertical. Decision made.

::SOURCE::

I love this inspiration room. The clean, simplicity of the black and white is so attractive. Maybe if I narrow my stipes down I'll come closer to this look. If black wasn't such a bitch to paint over I'd probably already have done it.

::SOURCE::

Although it's gonna take a lot more than a few strips of paint to turn my neglected 50's era bathroom into something respectable.

Anyone want to volunteer a tip or two?

Or a few thousand dollars to start completely over? ;)

Non-blogger of the year.

If there was an award for lack of posting, I'd easily win.

I've been terrible with the posts lately. I have quite a few things I'd like to ramble on about but truly just haven't felt like it. There have been far more important things to keep me occupied lately.

Like eating.

Apparently Miles gave daddy "money" for Mother's Day to buy me something. Not Bella and Miles. Just Miles. According to daddy, Bella is a bad little girl and didn't think I should get a Mother's Day gift. He's funny, isn't he? Hopefully he doesn't play games like this when we have actual children ;)

Anyway, "Miles" gave me a shiny box of Jelly Belly jellybeans. MY. FAV. Pick a night from the past week. Any night. I can guarantee you would've found me on my couch in my fun (i.e. stretchy) pants with the box of Jelly Bellys next to me and the computer open on my lap looking up Jelly Belly recipes. Yes, I am a dork. But did you know that if you combine a Chocolate Pudding JB and a Very Cherry JB is tastes JUST like a chocolate covered cherry??? I found it more than amusing to try different combos until I wanted to explode.

I've also been a little more than busy with work lately.

Good excuse for the lack of posting, right? At least I'm doing something productive and making money, right? Eh.

Work gets in the way of everything fun. I'd really prefer to win the lottery.

So. Posting.

Like I said earlier, I do have quite a few things to tickle your brain with. Let's see how many I can get through in the next two weeks. Who wants to set the over-under?

A little preview...

1. The brother's wedding
2. Lots of home improvements
3. The countdown to my first ever road race. i.e. the day I might possibly die.
4. A new recipe or two

Please don't hold your breath for these posts. I wouldn't want to be held responsible for your demise.