Goodbye Indiana, Helllloooo North Carolina!

I am sitting at the airport waiting for the departure of my flight to North Carolina. I will be gone for five glorious days (glorious because it means I won't be at work) visiting my friend Emily. I am super excited, although I will miss everyone back home, especially my best friend Tory who is in town visiting from Delaware. I am hoping for warm weather and to be able to break out my flip flops while I am gone! :-) Unfortunately, the high temperature for Indianapolis when I return Monday evening is 48 degrees. Yuck.

The flight is boarding now, so I better go!

My First Blog Award!

Recently I received my very first blog award from Suz at 30 Before 30 List. Most of the blogs I read have at least one, if not several awards that have been given to them, so when I saw Suz had chosen my blog as one of her seven favorites for the Kreativ Blogger Award it made my day. Suz's blog was one of the first I started reading on Blogger, and it has provided me with much inspiration, not only in regards to my blog but also in my personal life.

For the award I am supposed to list seven things I love, so here goes!

1. Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits - I am in no way, shape, or form a fan of seafood, but these biscuits are more than enough to get me to this restaurant (of course, it doesn't hurt that it is also home to one of my absolute favorite alcoholic beverages, the Sunset Passion Colada.)


2. Tulip Magnolia Trees - Each year I look forward to Spring for one specific reason, and that is the blooming of tulip magnolia trees. When I am out driving, every time I pass one of these trees it puts a smile on my face, no matter how I am feeling. I hope to one day live in a house with a huge tulip magnolia tree in the front yard.


3. Thunderstorms and Lightning - Even though thunderstorms scare me because they often occur in conjunction with the threat of tornadoes, I always get excited at the prospect of a good thunderstorm. I find it incredibly relaxing to be able to sit outside on the porch (or balcony, or wherever) and listen to the rain and watch the lightning. I would love to one day experience a thunderstorm in the deserts of Arizona.


4. The NHL Playoffs - There's nothing better than a hard fought seven game series in pursuit of Lord Stanley's Cup. Speaking of which - today was the first day in round one of the playoffs. Let's go Red Wings!


5. Electric Blankets - Brent keeps his house way too cold for my taste, so when I am at his house I am almost always snuggled up with the electric blanket he bought me for Christmas. Enough said.


6. Chinese Calligraphy - I have always been fascinated by Chinese calligraphy. I think it is incredibly beautiful. I would love to learn to draw a few characters, so that I could paint them on canvases to hang around my apartment.


7. Spa Days - While I have never actually been to a spa, I can only imagine how much fun a day at the spa with my best girlfriend would be. I am a big fan of manicures and pedicures, so surely I would enjoy indulging in the variety of other ways to be pampered at a spa.


There you have it! I am also supposed to name seven of my favorite blogs to receive this award, but alas, I enjoy every blog I read so much I cannot choose between them all. So, I am passing this award on to everyone on my blog roll. :-)

Sleepless in Indiana.

Dear Insomnia,

I've had it with you. This has to stop. Things were bad enough when you would show up unannounced every once in awhile, but now that you have decided to rear your ugly head repeatedly, night after night? You are driving me crazy. As if waking me up in the middle of the night and not allowing me to fall back asleep wasn't bad enough, now you're also causing me to have trouble falling asleep in the first place. I don't know where you got the idea that I like feeling drowsy all day and barely being able to keep my eyes open at times, but you are sorely mistaken. The truth of the matter is, I value sleep greatly, and would much appreciate being able to sleep soundly so I can quit having to give myself pep talks in the morning just to get out of bed. That being said, I am sure you understand why I can no longer have you interrupting my slumber. Although I cannot say you will be missed, I do wish you luck in finding someone better suited for you.

All the best,

Sleepless in Indiana

Kids say the darndest things.

Friday evening, I received a phone call from my niece Laura. She started the conversation by asking if I was working the following day (which is never a good sign when it comes to a phone call from one of my nephews or nieces). Apparently, she had forgotten about the ISSMA (Indiana State School Music Association) choir contest she was required to attend Saturday morning, and needed a ride to and from the contest seeing as both her mom and step-dad were working. My sister's children are notorious for forgetting about events and springing them on you at the last minute. Although I was scheduled to work on Saturday it luckily was not until later in the afternoon, so I told Laura it would be no problem for me to take her to the contest.

Afterwards, I decided to run a couple of errands and take my niece to lunch at Steak 'N Shake before taking her home. As we were leaving the school parking lot, my niece gave me what she tells me is the highest compliment you can receive from a teenager. She said, "You're cool to be seen with in public."

How about that. I'm cool to be seen with in public. :-D

Not a morning person (but not a night owl either).

If you asked, I would tell you that I am one hundred percent, completely and totally NOT a morning person. During the week when my alarm goes off at 6:00a.m. I find myself hitting snooze repeatedly, and by 6:30a.m. I am having to force myself to get out of bed. I would also tell you that I cannot remember the last time I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to start the day (okay, so I CAN remember - it was exactly eight months and ten days ago).

(That would be July 10, 2008 for those of you who are wondering.)

(I know, it's pathetic that I remember the exact date of the last time I actually felt like I got a decent night's sleep.)

(Don't judge me.)

After my alarm has gone off and I am hitting snooze, desperately trying to ignore the fact that if I do not get out of bed I am going to be late for work, I often think about the movie Bruce Almighty, when Jim Carrey's character Bruce is throwing a temper tantrum when he has to get out of bed in the morning. I often have to stifle the urge to start kicking and throwing just such a tantrum myself. (Seeing as how I sleep on my futon, without it being folded out so it is like a couch rather than like a bed, the reality of my throwing such a tantrum would most likely end with me falling on the floor.)

The funny thing is, I know I am more productive in the morning than I am at any other time of day, and most mornings I naturally wake up around 5:30a.m. On the occasions when I actually get out of bed rather than rolling over and falling back asleep, I feel much better than when I have allowed myself to hit snooze. Either way though, I am still generally tired throughout the entire day, and most nights I am ready to pass out around nine or ten o'clock (yet I usually don't go to bed until almost midnight). I find it nearly impossible to wake up in the morning, yet I also struggle to stay up late at night. So, if I'm neither a morning person nor a night owl, what does that make me?

I think it might be time for me to accept the fact that I am meant to be a morning person, and I need to start going to bed earlier.

Up in Smoke.

There was a fire that started downtown around three o'clock this morning. This is a picture of the smoke from the fire almost ten hours later, taken from the top floor of the building where I work.

This is how I feel right now.

Like everything in my life is going up in smoke.

Anitclimactic.

To expound upon my post from Wednesday regarding my social awkwardness......

Last night I was at my middle nephew Mitchell's wrestling meet. While there, I saw one of my favorite teachers from highschool, Mrs. McQuiston. I hadn't seen or spoken to her since my Freshman year of college, when at the last minute I decided to apply for a scholarship and needed a letter of recommendation (with which she happily provided me). At one point, Mrs. McQuiston was talking to someone near where I was sitting in the bleachers (I could have reached out and touched her arm if I wanted to), yet I completely chickened out of saying hello to her.

Why, I have no idea.

Not only was I an excellent student in Mrs. McQuiston's English class my Junior year, I went on to be her student helper. She wrote an entire two pages in my Senior memory book. She also used to visit me in the evenings where I worked at Dress Barn after graduation when she would take her daughter to The Little Gym, which was in the same plaza. And of course, she wrote me that glowing letter of recommendation my Freshman year of college (which yes, she let me read). So you see, I had absolutely no reason to be nervous about saying hello (other than the fact that I'm - well - me).

At the end of the wrestling meet, Mrs. McQuiston walked by where I was sitting once again, and this time I was determined to say hello. I got up from my seat, and the conversation went something like this.

Me: Hi!
Mrs. McQ: Hey! It's been awhile.
Me: Yeah....
Mrs. McQ: So what have you been up to?
Me: Not much. I work at IUPUI in a laboratory now.
Mrs. McQ: That doesn't surprise me. Do you have a brother wrestling tonight?
Me: No, my nephew wrestles for Eastwood.
Mrs. McQ: Ah....

And that was the extent of the conversation.

I wonder if she truly recognized me and remembered who I was, or if she was just bluffing.