Mexico Recap

Holy mole!! Can't believe I didn't do a recap of this trip yet. Actually I can. I've been on the go since I got home very late last Monday night. Tis the season, right?
So here's Mexico in one word or phrase:
Airport, 5 AM. Chicago, 7 AM. Meeting up with the girls. Chatting. Plan to PV. Are we there yet? Hot and humid! Red light/green light. Holy panhandlers. Cab Ride. Fiesta Americana. Upgrading to the 9th floor. Walking to Soriana. Unpacking. Showers. Going to the Malecon. Dinner? Sleep! Vallarta Adventures! Whale watching. Snorkeling! Ahhh opposite currents:( Lunch buffet. Cocktails. Feliz Cumpleanos. Tequila! Nap time! Malecon...dinner...walking...sleeping. Breakfast. Pool time! Walk on the beach. Photo ops. Ay Caramba. Hilo. Zoo. New friends from Houston. Rough night:( Massages. Old Towne. OXXO. Pool. Nap. Showers. Barcelona tapas - best in PV. Malecon. Packing. Sleep. Pool. Cab to airport. More gross food. Plane. Chicago. International to domestic terminal. Plane. Home.

Year in Review - January

I decided a couple of weeks ago that I would recap my year via this blog and try and reflect on mostly the good things that happened. Overall, this was a good year for me. I've done alot for myself and I can honestly say i've started to put myself first.
So January...cold, snowy and usually when the winter blues set in! Late in December Emily and the kids moved back from Iceland, so December was a bit of a transition month in my homestead. Emily started grad school and aunt Renschke was watching kids a couple of days a week.
One of my resolutions had been to cut out a relationship that was going nowhere and I sort of failed at that the very first weeks of the year...oops! Live and learn, right?
That's pretty much all I can remember from January so I think that means I didn't have much to complain about ha ha!!

Vacation

I am going to Puerto Vallarta in the morning. It's my first trip to Mexico and my first vacation all year! Yes i've done long weekends away, but a real vacation has not really worked out until now.
It's been a long and stressful last few months and i'm actually excited about not having access to my email, facebook, twitter...you get the idea. Now i'm not sure I won't twitch because I don't have access to these things, but I think it will be really really really good for me.
Hopefully I don't spend all my time cut off from technology thinking deep thoughts!
Ahhh when will I learn to relax?? Wish me luck! Ole!

My Grown Up Christmas List

Ta daa...yes there are only five things my heart desires this Christmas! They're in order too!

1. Yoga pants. Not for yoga, for lounging

2. Earphones that hook around my ears and won't fall off during my intense workouts!

3. iPod dock to play my awesome selection of music around the apartment.

4. Winter hat with earflaps. I have ear problems, I like cute accessories.

5. Sideways cross necklace. Again with the cute accessories. This one has a purpose too!

Bad Dreams

So I have to blog about this because it was just so strange. I didn't even eat anything weird and the last thing I watched before bed was Glee and that certainly isn't scary.
So I dreamt about four things last night and I remember them all so clearly:
1. I was part of a really large family only the parents chose to acknowledge some of the kids. They would number off and say the kids names out loud. I was number 32. Oddly enough my real life little bro was number 31 and he did not get acknowledged either. Then the parents took all the #'s 1-30 shopping for new bathing suits.
2. There was an alligator loose in my bedroom. It was in my old room 2 houses ago in Worthington, and this was all discovered while I was laying in my bed. My dad moved the bed while I laid in it - paralyzed with fright. It wasn't behind the bed and they deduced that it must have climbed into the mattress! So I continue to lay there and whimper and woke myself up with the sound of my whimpering (this part is not in the dream, I was really scared!)
This dream was right before 3 AM, because then I couldn't fall back asleep...
3. I was dating Tony Romo. Walking through the streets pretending to be non chalant about my hot shot boyfriend. I would go and visit Tony in Dallas on his "off days." One time we were at brunch and he was telling everyone how much of a better person he was because of me:) Sweet.
4. This one is a little vague but my close group of friends were all walking through the Nationwide parking garage trying to get to a party. The garage was some sort of maze and there was alot of shouting. But, Alicia was pregnant which is accurate, but Jen H was there (and we haven't hung out with her in quite awhile.)

So anyone want to take a stab and analyze these for me??

13 Years

My favorite story about my grandma goes like this: when we first moved to Columbus we actually lived in a hotel (not quite like Eloise at The Plaza.) Well it was the summertime so mostly we went to the park and then watched tv when it got to hot to go out. I had seen many commercials for Little Debbie snack cakes and I was convinced that "all Americans ate Ho-Ho's." Everytime one of these commercials came on I would make a grand production of pointing it out. Well even as a kid once got an idea in my mind, I couldn't get it out! I had made up my mind that we were going to take a little walk across 161 to the closest convenience store to get some (for those of you who don't live in Columbus, picture the busiest road across the middle of town and that's 161.) My grandma would literally do anything for us and after days of plotting my scheme I convinced her to take us over there. To this day honestly i'm not sure if my mamma just had crazy faith in her guardian angels, didn't really realize the risk involved or was trying to teach me a lesson in courage?
I will tell this story to my grandkids someday and recall it the same way I did at her funeral all those years ago. And I hope they will look at me with the same admiration that I always looked at her with:)

Goodness!

Well by all intents and purposes this is a manic Monday! No seriously I finished all my work tasks by about 9 AM, and have seriously been playing in the land of email chains and party planning since then.
Now don't get me wrong I heart party planning, but when too many cooks get in the kitchen, the dishes don't get done. Know what i'm sayin? K enough about that.
I've blogged alot in the last couple of days, but mostly because i've had the ideas come to me and i've been able to get to a computer uninterrupted, so yay for sharing my thoughts with the world (I mean two people who read my blog.)
I feel like there is so much going on and yet nothing at the same time, so I thought i'd share some highlights from the weekend. I didn't want to ruin my Thanksgiving blog by saying anything negative, so i'll do it today:)
1. After offering to bring anything from a pie, to a side dish, to pop - all of my offers were declined by the powers that be. So I brought the pumpkin pie that I got after finishing the Turkey Trot earlier that morning. Not my style, but whatever. I was then told by said powers that my contribution was "heartfelt and thought out." Hilarious.
2. Yes at some point my mom did make a comment about me being "uptight." I believe the exact phrase went like this "despite all your traveling, education, job...you're still so uptight. In other words that stick is still lodged where it has been most of your life." This is equally as hilarious as #1. I'm still wondering what i'm so uptight about?
3. Black Friday shopping sucked! What exactly were people buying? I saw nothing that I had to have...strange the lines were intense regardless.
4. I was a little bored. What did I used to do with four days off of work? Why does it seem like the more people I meet, the fewer I have to hang out with?
5. Finally a good one - got to catch up with Kari last night. Love love how someone you don't talk to everyday has such a fresh and unbiased opinion of things going on in your life. This is why Kari and I have been friends since the first time we met 8 years ago!