It's Our Monthiversary!

We've been married 5 months today!!! Confession ~ I never finished my thank you notes. I should just do them now, but it seems kind of lame to be sending them out so late. I don't know what do you think?

On the married front, I simply can't believe it's been 5 months! On one hand it seems like yesterday and on the other hand it feels like a lifetime ago. Confession ~ I was freaked out about getting married right up to our wedding day. I don't know, I guess it was just the fact that it's so permanent. And also that I would be a WIFE and that would make me feel old. I was also pretty freaked out that guys would never see me as a single girl again. I know that's not the most amazing thing to admit, but it does make you feel young to have guys desire you despite the fact you are already in love with someone else. It really has nothing to do with wanting to be with them, it's just that there's still the option if you met someone incredible. The good news for my single friends is that married life is wonderful. I don't feel old, well at least not because I'm married. In some ways it doesn't really feel different at all and in other hard to describe ways, it really does. I feel like we are closer and better than ever, so knock on wood, being married is great.

I finally finished my second wedding album for anyone who is bored and/or interested. And if not, I'm still throwing in a few favorite wedding pictures here to celebrate the day.














I really should get my butt off the couch and get a few things done before Jimmy gets home from work and I'm still in my pajamas. Especially since I'm hoping to use our 5 month anniversary as an excuse to go out to dinner. But before I sign off, a quick update on the job front.

I haven't heard anything more about the marketing job, but am planning to email them today to see if I can find out anything new. I have started working ~ as a bartender at my cousin's bar. It's pretty sad/funny/ironic that I left my last company so I could have weekends off only to get one of the few jobs that has consistently worse hours. I have zero bartending experience and so far, with the exception of pouring beer or making drinks like "rum and coke" or "vodka and cranberry", I only know how to make a red headed slut. Hopefully I will pick up a few new drinks over the weekend. But it is totally different than any other job I've had and it can be fun and makes me feel young. It's definitely not a long-term job path for me, but it's something to make money while I look for a "career" job. If nothing else I think it's great experience to have since it's always a job you can easily get and fall back on, if and when life throws you a curve ball or when Jimmy and I finally move out of the area.

That's it for now. Hopefully between working this weekend and going out for Halloween/Alex's birthday tomorrow night I will have some funny stories to share next week.



"I used to believe that marriage would diminish me, reduce my options. That you had to be someone less to live with someone else when, of course, you have to be someone more." ~ Candice Bergen

Unexpected Job News

And the verdict is...they said they can't hire anyone at the moment??? According to the human resource manager, something he cannot discuss has come up and they are not able to hire anyone at the moment. He believes the issue may be resolved by the end of business on Monday, but can't guarantee it and understands I may not be able to wait. My first thought is, are they too afraid to tell me they picked the other candidate? But he says he would appreciate it if I would stay in touch with them and said he would call and let me know as soon as he knew which doesn't really make sense if that's the case. Very weird. I guess at least I know now that I'm not going to know anytime soon.

I could ramble on and on about this, because honestly I am confused, stressed, ticked off and disappointed after having put my heart into trying to get this job (and over 9 hours of interviews). But I am resolving (at least for the moment) to do my best not to let it get to me and continue on with my search from here.

I just have to say that I do have the most wonderful and supportive husband ever! Even though I am super stressed, about money and being unemployed, he keeps telling me not to worry about it and that we'll work it out. I'm such a lucky girl!!!


"It is wiser to find out than to suppose." ~ Mark Twain

Books I've Recently Read

I love to read! I haven't had as much time to do it over the last few years as I would have liked, and as I result I have read at least 15 books since the wedding. I love having people to discuss books I've read with and wish I had the opportunity to do so more often. Maybe this will help. So anyhow, here's a list of some of the books I've recently read and some thoughts about them.


The Shopaholic Series by Sophie Kinsella ~ I found parts of each of these books extremely irritating. Mainly because I had the overwhelming urge at points in each book to smack the shit out of the main character, Becky, when she would get herself into the most insane situations. Fortunately I also found them endearing, especially the last one "Shopaholic & Baby" and really liked the ending of all the books.


A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah ~ While incredibly sad, this true account of a boy who ends up a soldier in Sierra Leone's civil war is a must read in my mind. I've often thought about children living in war zones, but I've always thought about it more in a way where the kids were growing up not knowing any different. To hear this boy (who is actually now a man my age living in NYC) talk about his normal every day life being turned upside down unexceptedly when the war shows up in his village was extremely thought provoking, sad, informative and inspiring. I think the fact that he is my age, living in the US for some reason made it seem all that much more real and touching to me.


The Quickie by James Patterson ~ I am a HUGE James Patterson fan! I have read everything he's published to date and normally buy myself the hardback the day it comes out. I have found over the years that with the speed and frequency he's publishing that some books are not nearly as good as others, but I really liked this one a lot.


You've Been Warned by James Patterson ~ Loved this one too! But this one I mainly loved because it was SO different than his other books, but still great. I love that Patterson tends to do murder mysteries, but then really shows his writing talent by publishing books where the style and/or theme are so different than everything else he's written.


The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult ~ I really liked her other book Nineteen Minutes a lot better. She has a great writing style and can tell a great story, but this particular story wasn't my favorite.


And now I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It's definately making me want to pack it all up and take a trip to Italy and India!

Not Patient, Day 2

So just thought I would share a little update. Went to get my hairs cut today which was great because it helped take my mind off waiting for the job phone call...a little bit. The 1:00 deadline when the guy said he'd call by came and went. 2:00, no phone call. 3:00, no phone call, but was finally done my hair appt. So I couldn't even wait to get home and called him from the parking lot. At this point I was convinced since he hadn't called that I didn't have the job. But I figured I would put myself out of my misery and call myself. His answer ~ he can't decide. It's between me and one other candidate and according to him, he wants to hire us both but can't. We both have great qualities, but very different qualities. So he's decided to sleep on it.


I had to go to the bar to have a drink to get the knot out of my chest. Does he not realize he is killing me here? So I am practicing being patient for the second night in a row. I'm really trying. Honest! We will see how it goes.

Thank you to everyone for all the good thoughts and well wishes! I will keep you posted.

All Cheered Up

Well it's just after midnight, so I don't have to feel lame about posting twice in one day because it's technically now tomorrow. Jimmy and I went to see "The Heartbreak Kid". It won't be winning an academy award, but we laughed a lot and it definitely brought me out of my little pity party.

So here's some other interesting (maybe?) things that have been going on. Last weekend Jimmy and I went to DC to hang out with some friends. We ended up at the Chi Cha Lounge where we smoked mango out of a hookah pipe. Why you might ask, would one pay $18 to smoke dried fruit out of a hookah? Well honestly, I have no idea. But we were trendy and tried it out. No pictures of Jimmy and I, but here's Marvin and his girlfriend Katie. Despite the look on Marvin's face it really was just fruit. I swear!

















Since we stayed the night in DC and Jimmy had off for Columbus Day we decided to take advantage of what was sure to be one of the last hot days of the year and hit the National Zoo. I was stoked because I seem to always go when the pandas are either asleep or are outside hiding behind a tree. The pandas frankly are the highlight of my visit so it is a huge let down when they don't cooperate. Imagine my surprise when they were not only awake and inside where you could see them, but were playing with milk crates, much to the delight of myself and the 10,000 other little kids jammed in the viewing area. I only had to push a few of them out of the way to get my picture.





We also saw the funniest prairie dog ever who stood perfectly still right near the glass. I wish the picture showed the expression on his face better because it was hilarious.




And according to one mother I overheard talking to her child, the large tortoise on top is "scratching the back" of the smaller tortoise underneath. I'm not sure she found it too amusing when I said "bom chicka bom bom". Hmmm...do you say or sing "bom chicka bom bom" or is it just a noise? Well anyway, hopefully you know what I mean. I suppose I should suspend judgement on a parents decision to lie to their kids about sex until I have kids of my own. I must not be ready for kids because the 4 of us were WAY too amused by the whole situation including the fact that the male tortoise was making the loudest and funniest noise I've ever heard. I think my husband's weird sense of humor is rubbing off on me more than I than I like to admit.





This weekend Jimmy was sick so unfortunately many of our plans didn't end up panning out. I went solo with some friends to see the movie "Michael Clayton" on Saturday night. Good story, but it was long and slow and could have been better in my opinion. Yesterday we went to the pumpkin patch. Well, we went to the parking lot of the pumpkin patch. We had not taken into consideration that in years past Jimmy would take off the afternoon on one of my weekday days off and we would go. For some reason the insane amount of children running around came as a surprise to us. So we got back in the car and drove to the nursery up the road to pick our pumpkins out without all the chaos. I got the COOLEST pumpkin ever and will definitely post a pic once we carve them. It's a whitish grey pumpkin that I'm planning to give a ghost like expression. Which is a joke because I have no artistic ability so it will probably have the same eyes, nose and mouth all my pumpkins do. I'm on a bit of a picture kick at the moment, so here are our pumpkins from last two years.







(Only the one on the bottom right is mine, so hopefully that is the face of a surprised ghost.)


I don't know about exciting, but hopefully this was if nothing else, more entertaining than my last post. Ciao for now!




"In youth we learn; in age we understand." -- Maria von Ebner Eschenbach

Confession: I am NOT a patient person!

So I really thought I'd be a lot better on keeping up with my blog, but since I have other things to feel badly about not getting done I've decided not to dwell on this.

I am sitting here waiting to head to the movies because I will honestly make myself insane if I don't get my mind off things. I had my THIRD interview today for a marketing job I really want. I suppose I am in such a foul mood about this because I had convinced myself the only reason they would call me back for a third meeting would be to offer me a job. Turns out I was wrong. Apparently they are having a hard time deciding between me and another candidate, so they decided to call us both back in. The good news is that I have been assured a decision will be made by tomorrow afternoon. The bad news is that I am completely impatient and feel like I'm going to crawl out of my skin waiting for the phone call which is still more than 12 hours away. Plus the unwavering confidence the job is mine has now been deflated. Job hunting definately was not this hard or frustrating when I last looked for a job 5 years ago.

I suppose this is another one of those tests that life throws a person. I am failing miserably. Like I do anytime I need to be patient. I can only describe my level of patience of that of a 5 year old waiting for Christmas morning and counting down the days. That feeling that you will LITERALLY die if time does not pass faster than the current snails pace it seems to be going at that moment. The only thing worse than this is waiting for vacation!

So it is time to leave for the movies. I promise to make my next post a bit more interesting.

"You have to have a lot of patience to learn patience." ~ Stanislaw Lec

It's the Little Things in Life...

...that make me giddy. I am such a nerd. For example, today I FINALLY went and bought a new mouse for my laptop. Why it took me so long, I have absolutely no idea. Had I had my mouth washed out with soap every time I cursed at the f-ing thing, I definitely would have gone through a least one case of soap over the last year. It had a mind of it's own and would randomly stop working, followed by the cursing, unplugging, more cursing, replugging, until it would finally start working again. My new high tech mouse is wireless! Woohoo! Although I am not yet enjoying that feature since it has to be plugged in while the batteries are charging. I'm sure tomorrow I will be even more in love with my most recent purchase.

This type of random elation is actually pretty common in my life. Like when Jimmy recently installed my new closet systems. They are the fancy pants type with a tower of wood shelves in the center, one rod set high up on the left and two rods on the right for extra hanging space. You would have thought I was 5 years old and Santa had just come when I got to put all my stuff back in. Color coordinated of course. Have I mentioned I'm anal? I get it from my Dad. I'd be embarrassed to admit the number of hours I've spent lovingly admiring all their organized beauty. This also happened to coincide with the painting of our bedroom. It only took 2 years and 2 months for us to get around to. Why? Again I have no clue. Our guestroom, offices and pretty much every other room in our house have been painted since we moved in. I suppose living with the absolutely retched pea green color for that long did make the transformation that much more satisfying. But I think the lesson here is that we should not put off the things today that will make us giddy and give our husbands yet another reason to make fun of us because of our blown out of proportion giddiness until tomorrow.

I've decided that this is a great place to share one of my loves, collecting quotes, and will try to share ones I love that are relevant (or maybe not) to whatever the subject of the day's ramblings may be. We will see how long it actually lasts, but for today:

"If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done." ~Anonymous

"Never put off till tomorrow what you can avoid altogether." ~John Peers

"The road of by and by leads to the house of never." ~Spanish Saying

Another Victim

Like the others that fell before me, I too have been sucked into the world of blogging. Jimmy will surely be more convinced then ever that theknot.com is not merely a wedding planning website, but some sort of online super cult when he finds out about this one.

So for those of you who might not know me (which at the moment I'm sure you all do since the only ones who will know about my new blog right away are my knottie/nestie friends), here's a little background about what's going on in my life and what I'm sure will shape some of the upcoming ramblings in my future posts.

I was recently married to my best friend James in a donkey crazed wedding extravaganza by the sea. What you ask? Donkeys at a wedding? Well, yes, but it's a long story. Hence the blog name. (Go Team Donkey!) Some history and a few chuckles can be found by visiting www.jimmysdonkeyfund.com.

I am unemployed! And rather happy about it. Of course a few more dollars in the bank would go a long way to ease my apprehension about being paycheck-less. But the house is looking much better, and frankly I am just so happy to not have to work weekends that I really am not as upset or worried as I probably should be. We spent our first weekend off together at the MD Seafood Festival with some of our amazing friends and then last weekend at the Maryland Zoo enjoying their Reggae & Brew Festival. You definitely take for granted both being able to spend time with your friends and family, and enjoying all the fantastic things the weekends offer when you are stuck working every Saturday and Sunday.

Prior to my recent stay in my pajamas all day while spending 4 hours cleaning mounds of paperwork from my home office days, I spent 5 years employed selling and marketing new homes for builders. It can be a really fun and creative job that I truly will miss. Except obviously the working weekends part. While we are on this subject I do have a confession. I am OBSESSED with all things home. Selling homes, watching house related shows, visiting new home models, home improvement, home decoration, telling people what they should do to sell their homes. You'd think after working all day in the industry I would be tired of it, but no. It's almost a sickness. So, I am job hunting and hoping that I will find a job that will in some way feed this obsession that I have, but allow me to work Monday-Friday so I can still have a life.

I suppose I should wrap up for now. There is obviously much more to me, and my life, but it's now 3:30 and yet again I am still in my pajamas. Not that there is anything wrong with walking around all day in pink pants, a bright orange t-shirt and no bra, but I am actually meeting up with the friend who got me into selling homes for a few happy hour refreshments and so I should probably find an outfit that doesn't scream "I'm unemployed and don't give a crap I haven't brushed my hair yet today".

More to come later!