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Three (3!) Things Thursday

Jan 19th, 2012
by gazelle.
3 comments

1. Yesterday morning, the architect & I woke up to a very loud noise at about 2 am. We rushed to the window to see what was the matter. Turns out, it wasn’t jolly st. nick & 8 tiny reindeer. It was one of our walnut trees uprooting and falling onto the architect’s pickup. We also were powerless (well, without electricity, anyways) all night, so it was a chilly, dark, and snowy morning! I made it to work about 9:30, and the architect waited at home for PGE to come cut down the tree, since it was leaning on some lines. He waited. And waited. And after the power went on, he plugged in my kick-ass chainsaw and with the help of a couple of neighbors, cut down the biggest parts on his truck. Finally, at about 8 pm or so last night, PGE came and cut down the rest of the tree. Apparently they were a bit busy yesterday!

 

2. I am four weeks away from finishing school! I would be super excited if I wasn’t so stressed out about finishing school! And work! (ha! just kidding, mom – I am not stressed at all. In fact, I am currently floating on a zen cloud made of unicorns.)

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3. I am writing this on Wednesday night (as is my custom), and it’s 11 pm. I haven’t been asleep for almost 21 hours. I hate these periodic insomnia episodes! If I weren’t floating on unicorn clouds, I’m sure it would be stress related. The job is a bit…much right now. Good news – after Friday, the job will go back to normal stress levels, and I’m hoping to sleep for 48 hours straight this weekend. Or at least 10 hours in 2-hour increments.(This is, however, nothing to worry about if you are, by chance, my mother & are just here to see a pic of the architect’s truck. Really – I tell lies on the internet to make myself seem more interesting. I actually sleep like a baby.)

 

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Three (3!) Things Thursday

Dec 22nd, 2011
by gazelle.
4 comments

1. Today is my last day of work before an 11 day break. A break that will likely include some working at home next week, some fairly intense school work, and lots and lots of sleeping. (Also, hopefully pancakes.) I cannot wait. And – the sooner I finish #1 priority project today, the sooner I can leave work and start breaking.

2. I am making a ham for Christmas. Surprisingly, I have never made a ham. I don’t know what I am going to do with the ham, other than cook it and eat it, but it will be delicious. (There will also be potatoes, brussels sprouts, cranberries, and carrots. Lots of carrots.The ham will likely be all me, as the architect is not a big ham fan.

3. I am doing a traditional-ish Southern dinner at New Year’s and have everything planned but dessert. There will be black-eyed peas (for luck!) as well as assorted other awesomeness, but my Southern Cooking source says that I should make peach upside down cake. I would love to, but peaches are so not in season right now. Wait….just had an inspiration. It involves rum. There will be post New Year’s pics, but I want it to be a surprise for those people who will be forced blessed with the opportunity to eat it.

 

No pictures today – but happy Thursday, happy 3rd night of Hannukah, happy day after solstice (welcome back, sun!), Merry Christmas Sunday, Happy Boxing Day, and Happy holidays, all!

 

 

Three (3!) Things Thursday

Nov 17th, 2011
by gazelle.
8 comments

1. I don’t know how I ever got through my life thus far without having seen an episode of Torchwood. Seriously. I love Brit TV. I love time traveling sci-fi. I used to watch Dr. Who (back in the old days, I actually haven’t seen any of the newer stuff, but trust that it’s in my queue). I originally added Torchwood to my Netflix queue a few years ago when James Marsters was on a couple of episodes, but then never watched it. HUGE MISTAKE. However, I have decided that my “I’ll just watch one episode before starting on my homework” is not a good plan, and instead it needs to be one episode after I finish my homework. So much love.

 

2. Besides working and homeworking and occasional working out (that’s a lot of work for one pregnant lady), my other obsession has been food. I haven’t daydreamed this much about food since September 2009 (i.e. the last month before my first marathon). I am going through eggs like I have my own personal chicken (I don’t) and have developed a renewed love for the lunchtime salad. In fact, I am so obsessed with food, that when the architect and I were talking about taking a last little mini trip before baby, I picked LA. Admittedly, one reason was so that I could get some serious vitamin D time in February (after a winter without much daylight here), but the real reason? Mexican food. (And shh….don’t tell anyone…but I think we’re going to go to Medieval Times, too.) I miss Mexican food so much.

 

3. Monday I got home from work and there was a package on my front steps. I was pretty excited! I love surprise packages (and it was a decent sized one, too….heh). I picked it up & saw the return address, and then I was even more excited. It was from her, and I know she’s going through a baking frenzy right now. I was right to be excited, because when I opened it up, this is what I saw:

Yay! Festive Cookie Tin!

Hmmmm…..I wonder what’s inside?

M'fashnik, like mmmm....cookies

This tin actually originally held a lot more of these delicious chocolate stout brownies, but they…disappeared? No idea what happened. (Thanks Cat!)

 

Gratitude Journal

November 17, 2011: I am grateful for coffee. I know it seems like I mentioned it yesterday, but yesterday I only said I was grateful for the coffee maker (in a list of other things). But I really wanted to draw attention to coffee as deserving of its own special day. Coffee is the best beverage ever invented. I don’t understand how I got through so many years never drinking it and thinking it really wasn’t that great. Mmmmmm……coffee.

November 16, 2011: I am grateful for all the little luxuries I have that I often take for granted…my car, my phone, the coffee maker (so very grateful for my coffee maker). It’s so easy to caught up in the things I don’t have that I occasionally forget how very lucky I am. My life is so freaking awesome.

November 15, 2011: I am grateful that I have the kind of job/life/etc. that allows me to afford pretty shoes, and the level-headedness that keeps me from buying (very many) shoes that wouldn’t be practical.

November 14, 2011: I am grateful that I work in a place with lots of little food nooks. It’s always an easy walk to grab more food. Which I do more often than ever, lately.

November 13, 2011: I am grateful for streaming Netflix (and Hulu Plus!). Also, I am grateful for John Barrowman. And my new found love of Torchwood.

November 12, 2011: I am grateful for my awesome friends! I got so much good quality friend-time this weekend! Walks & cocoa & thrifting with her! Ornament painting and dinner and movies with Alisa, Jen, Lisa & Sarah! Cocoa and a chat with her! (I should maybe also mention that I’m grateful for hot cocoa.)

November 11, 2011: I am grateful for laid back evenings at home with the architect.

November 10, 2011: I am grateful to live in Portland, Oregon. It is so beautiful here. I love that we have four seasons, and I especially love autumn.

November 9, 2011: I am grateful for modern medical conveniences that help eliminate unnecessary surprises from my life. Yay for ultrasounds!

November 8, 2011: I am grateful for my brand-new employee who started today, who I am hoping will help take some of the financial reporting burden off my plate & allow me to do a better job on the more big-picture things.

November 7, 2011: I am grateful for weekends and the opportunity to relax and recharge.

November 6, 2011: I am grateful for running – and grateful that I am still able to run. I am also grateful for my proximity to the most awesome running park in the history of the world: Forest Park.

November 5, 2011:I am grateful that I was able to discover enough courage to join Toastmasters. I know this sounds super cheesy, but it’s really made a HUGE difference in my life.

November 4, 2011: I am grateful for the internet, which gives me the ability to work from home, in my pajamas, this morning.

November 3, 2011: I am grateful that I have a good job that is challenging & interesting, if not necessarily catering to my life interests.

November 2, 2011: I am grateful for the architect, who is simply wonderful. He picks up the household slack when I’m busy with schoolwork, brings me chicken fingers on his way home from work, and is simply the most wonderful husband I could ask for…

November 1, 2011:  I am grateful for my (so far, knock on wood) easy and wonderful pregnancy.

Three (3!) Things Thursday

Oct 27th, 2011
by gazelle.
4 comments

1. Today I start a once/week 8-week leadership certification course. I was nominated to take the course by my mentor, and I’m hoping to learn a lot and become an even more awesome manager and a good leader. Also, I am excited because I get to wear jeans, there is free lunch, and free parking! WOO!

 

2. I am definitely feeling a return of energy this week. I ran Monday night and swam last night. I also got the bike trainer all set up so I could bike when I get home tonight. Of course, I was asleep shortly after 9 last night, but whatever….I’ve been active and feeling good!

This is a dramatic re-enactment of my swim

(I am neither that pregnant, nor am I likely to bust out a bikini any time soon.)

 

3. I am always always hungry. I haven’t been this hungry since my high mileage marathon weeks (in fact, between the sleepiness and the hunger, I feel exactly like I’m in the high mileage marathon training weeks, except without all the excess laundry). I carry emergency snacks in my purse, but I ran out Tuesday and forgot to replace them. So, last night when I drove the Ambitious One home after our swim date, I made her pay for the ride with a Luna Bar!  I am such a demanding bitch!  (I will eat ALL the food.)

 

I am internet-less today (except for breaks and the smartphone) – have a great Thursday!

Three Things Thursday

Sep 29th, 2011
by gazelle.
4 comments

1. Yesterday was the last full day with the in-laws. To celebrate, I took the day off work and we went to the Coast range for a hike. We hiked along an abandoned railroad, through two tunnels, over a few trestles (which I was not actually warned about ahead of time; a perhaps wise decision on the part of the architect, because I may have actually gone to work if I’d known I’d be crossing abandoned trestles), to our destination – another trestle. For someone with a fear of plunging to her death, this was an interesting hike. Also interesting? Apparently hiking along rail lines & having to step on rail ties, thus rendering the gait jerky and uneven, causes great soreness. Ow. (The last photo is more of a dramatic re-enactment; the other photos are from yesterday’s hike.)

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Dramatic Re-enactment

 

2. I know everyone’s been on pins & needles about my Toast contest.  It was an interesting contest. There was the humorous speech contest for two areas (5 contestant, 2 winners) and then the Table Topics contest for the same two areas (6 contestants, 2 winners).  My club had one contestant in each category. The contest itself was one of the most disorganized things I’ve ever experienced.  What should’ve taken no more than 90 minutes took 2.5 hours. We had to fill out bio forms before the contest, but they lost a few of them in that 2.5 hours. There weren’t enough certificates for everyone, and the names on the program were incorrect. CRAZY.

So – the humorous speech contest. The other area’s contestants went first. As they spoke (it was three men), I found myself wishing I was in their area – I would’ve kicked ass.  Then, it was my area’s turn. There were only two contestants from my area. Me and another woman. I drew first speaker. My speech was about overcoming fear, and was pretty funny.  Near-death experiences always make an audience laugh (seriously!). It was my best delivery of the speech EVER! I sat down knowing I had the contest in the bag.

And then, the other woman got up to speak. I’m not sure if her speech was better than mine, but it was definitely funnier. When she sat down, I knew it could go either way. We’d both delivered excellent speeches. Hers was funnier – and it was a humorous speech contest – but mine was both funny AND inspirational. I had a feeling that she would probably win. And I was right. I did get 2nd place, but since there were only two of us, that wasn’t as meaningful as it could’ve been!

But – at least I know that I didn’t lose because I did poorly, but rather because my opponent did better. And even more awesome? Although I was nervous as the speech time approached, the second I got on stage, even though I was speaking in front of more people than I’ve ever spoken in front of before (and lots of people I didn’t know, as well as my husband and in-laws), I felt fine. No nerves at all. I stumbled over a word in my introduction & skipped the 2nd line of my speech (I only memorize a brief intro and conclusion, and the middle parts are outlined, but I don’t try to memorize the entire speech).

So – I didn’t win, but I think I’m kinda sorta still a winner, and all that crap! :)

3. Tomorrow night I am hosting a fancy (more or less) dinner party (see #17). I am very excited. Because of limited space (and the number of plates I own), I had to limit the number of people I could invite, so if I didn’t invite you, it’s not because you’re not the awesomest person I know! You are! I promise!  Anyways, I hope I remember to take lots and lots of pictures, I hope no one notices that my table settings don’t all match, and I hope the wine is delicious and no one leaves hungry (my greatest fear!).

It will look just like this....I just need to pick up the extra chandaliers

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