YaYa Princess

This week has sucked big time. Monday afternoon just set a tone, and then before I knew it the entire week seems shot to hell. I’m highly agitated and very high strung here at work what with people calling me and asking me random a** questions, messing up my flow and other bits of it that cause me to be at a COMPLETE AND UTTER STANDSTILL. Frustrating, but what can you do. Not to mention that every time I look or even think about my calendar, I physically shutter. Let me give you a little preview:

Coming up, I’m at an on site in Orlando. Note: I leave Easter Sunday which the boy keeps giving me hell over, though I don’t really know why. April 3rd, I’m at an all day industry event which doesn’t just keep me out of the office, but is physically and emotionally exhausting. Then the next day I head to San Jose for the weekend for a FAM. At least I get to see Bruce Springsteen…except I’m not a huge fan. Whatever. April 20-22, I’m back in CA, and then April 30 I’m in B’more. As if that’s not bad enough, all this time it’ll be a crash course in preparing for May…oh dear God May:

• 1-7 Miami
• 16-22 DC
• 26-31 Orlando

I just need to get moving, it’s the holding pattern that’s killing me.

So anyway, I’ve been a little tense. At home, I sleep a lot on the couch The boy, though well meaning, is always pointing out the fact that I stress too much and that I do it to the point I don’t enjoy things. The only hiccup in this is that I hadn’t noticed before. So I spent much of my time this week trying to seem carefree (and failing) in the hopes that the old saying “fake it till you make it” kicks in, but that just generally leaves me feeling crappy about myself.

When I got a call on Tuesday afternoon from one of my oldest and dearest friends saying “it would be in your best interest to call me” I panicked. She was, after all, in NOLA on vacation with her boyfriend and I had offered her my “contacts” should anyone get arrested. Oh. Dear. God.

So with heart pounding I called, and rather than a plea of innocence, I found out some of the most incredible news. Her boyfriend is no longer her boyfriend.

He is her husband

In a very C-like way, she had talked for years about doing it drag queen style. And though I’ll miss the idea of dressing up like FooManChoo, the other option was a Wizard of Oz theme which includes little people dressed up….and you KNOW how I feel about little people. So I am just fine not being able to show off my drag-queen finery.

And it really is just like her, in the most perfect sense of the word. I know she was a little nervous we’d be upset, but that day was about them, and I couldn’t have planned it better for her myself. Just…perfect. So sans feather boa, but probably with a few leprechauns my friend is now technically related to our other childhood friend, which seems fitting….and when you say it like that it also seems fitting that that whole “incestuous sounding” explanation also comes with the caveat that both of their husbands are from West Virginia. Yes, yes that makes much more sense.

I love you dearly Mrs. B….BOTH of you

3 Comments | In: Personal | | #

Today is the 3rd very full day at my company’s annual meeting. They have pretty well had every moment packed for us, with the exception of 1.5-2 hours in the evenings between sessions and receptions. Unfortunately, we’ve run late every day so we’ve only had about 1 hour to ourselves.

I have met a lot of people, constructed a pretty kick a** bridge with people I didn’t previously know, and tried to get energized. There is just one problem, I can’t possibly have one more sip of “kool aid”-I just can’t do it.

I’ve been at this job for about a year and a half. Then I come here, and it’s like I’m smack dab new again. I don’t so much mind that though, it’s just slightly frustrating.

But I got stuck at another hotel for reasons I’m not even certain about anymore, meaning that NO ONE from my office is here (i.e., I know/knew no one) and generally, I just don’t know that I can drink any more of it in, or that I want to.

And I’ve tried, and I WANT to, I swear I have and I do. But despite all of my efforts, I cannot shake the fact that I still don’t feel like I fit in with my company-or at least my office. And it’s frustrating. And I’m tired. And because I’m at this outcast hotel, it’s pretty lonely. And the truth is, I’m not sure I want to fit in with my office….maybe the Boston office will adopt me.

2 Comments | In: Personal, Travels, Work | | #

I must admit, I feel like crap at the moment. Apparently all that hand washing didn’t protect me from some little stink pot who got me sick. I still haven’t downloaded the pictures, but you can see them at the boy’s site, Southbound Home, for now.

The things I learned while on our cruise:

1. I am still, in fact, subject to motion sickness.
2. Haiti is friggin’ HOT. Consequently the boy tends to fry like a greased fish burn in those spots where he neglected to put sunscreen.
3. I wish whoever designed our cabin would have had a say in our apartment - we actually had MORE space in the cabin.
4. There is a reason that they put hard bottoms in the base of the inner tubes…
5. Mexicans seem to think that white, middle-aged Americans on a catamaran want to listen to Jimmy Buffet and do line dances… and they would be correct :). They are also quite the margarita slingers
6. Speaking of which, apparently Margaritaville’s not only an American commodity
7. Safety ALWAYS comes first…even above fashion.
8. Cigars are okay, because you don’t inhale…
9. The floors of the elevators changed every night at midnight to tell you the current day…you know, in case you drink so much you forget what day it is…(they really DO think of everything!)
10. Enough Said…

Welcome Home!

2 Comments | In: Personal, The Boy, Travels | | #

Such a funny word. I am though, home that is-and funny too I suppose. I’m back at work today, and frankly despite all the Purell showers, not feeling very hot. At least I made it through vacation.

The cruise was fun-different from what we’re used to, but fun. I’ll write more later. At the moment though, just here to say I’m home. I have no energy, and we still have no groceries. Oh yea, and I have no desire to plan the wedding but you know, whatever :). That’s the crappy part about coming home-trying to get back in the swing of things. Maybe that’s why I don’t ever leave :).

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From my friends, that is.

Yesterday afternoon I wanted out of this office. Normally that would be a smoky treat, but no more. I hadn’t see J in days, so I shot her a message to see if she wanted to head over to Starbucks for a break. I told her she could feel free to take a “break”, that it wouldn’t bother me.

We met up and walked over, chatting as usual. I had gotten it in my head that I wanted an Arnold Palmer - basically lemonade and iced tea mixed. I gave my order and the guy asks me “what kind of tea?”. What kind??? I don’t know-I usually only drink tea if I’m sick or drinking an AP, how the heck should I know what kind of tea?

So I say, ‘I don’t know-passion fruit? Whatever you would normally put in it’. So I pay, and we wait until I see this hot-pinkish drink that the barista guy says is mine. I take one sip and I can feel it-I’m about to lose my mind. All I wanted was this drink, well, this drink and a freakin’ cigarette, and the only one I can have is not what I want.

I think I started babbling “this isn’t right, this isn’t right” over and over again. In my head I kept thinking - this tastes like bark - which is my description of tea when I’m not in the mood for it. I can feel a three year old-esque temper tantrum coming on. OMG, SOMEONE GIVE ME MY DRINK!

And that’s when it happens. All of the sudden, J swoops in and takes my drink from my trembling hand. With steel-like calmness she says something to the Starbucks guy (who is obviously in fear of me at this point) to the effect of ‘I need you to remake this drink with Black tea please, as quickly as possible’ (so I don’t remember word for word, but this was high-drama to me, so go with it). Thirty seconds later a fresh, more normal looking drink is gently placed upon my grasp and I take a sip.

THANK YOU, BABY JESUS. It was what I wanted, and all was good with the world. Before we left we did explain the whole ‘nicotine fit’ issue, and the guy laughed. I guess it’s good to have someone who is an expert in dealing with three-year-old temper tantrums around when the coffee experience goes bad.

We walked back chatting as normal when I realized J never did take her break. Honestly, it really wouldn’t have bothered me. But it was so considerate of her. Did she take one after I walked into my building? Probably, h*ll HOPEFULLY. But it’s just one more way in which my friends rock.

And not just to J, but to all my friends a big thank you. I won’t lie, this whole thing sucks. And of course I decided we should do this before the wedding…just like taking the CMP before summer conference. I’m a glutten for punishment.

2 Comments | In: Personal | | #