Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Feeling more and more like fall

As I sit here writing this blog, let it be known I am eating a pumpkin muffin.  That's pumpkin 3 ways thus far and we haven't hit September yet.   While on the topic of food, let's also discuss two fabulous events that are taking place.  1.) The Hamburger Festival in Hamburg, PA.   This little event is the largest of it's kind on the East Coast, and I for one, am pumped to be going to it this Saturday.   Hamburger Festival   2.) The Kennett Square Mushroom Festival, which is not this coming weekend, but the following.  This one is possibly one of my favorite days of the year.  I've gone to this one before and this year, went as far as to request off from work so that I could fully enjoy this celebration dedicated to everyone's favorite fungus.  Mushroom Festival

On a less happy note, I had the most bizarre ride home from University City ever last night.  It started out as many do, then as I was driving by 38th Street, there was a car on fire.  Not something small, but rather like when people torch a car in the movies.  That is how this car fire looked.  That was a first for me.  Next, about 10 blocks later, I was stopped at a red light.  Once the light turned green, I waited a second or two, then decided to go.  Luckily, I waited, since a car came blowing through the light at about 45 mph and rammed right into a minivan, causing it to roll 2 or 3 times before righting itself. I'm fairly certain I audibly screamed upon seeing this happen.  Again another first for me to witness.  With both those incidents behind me, I hurried home afraid for what the next oddity I saw might be.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Regrouping

So I didn't go into work today, which I was fine with.  I took a couple of hours and took some site pictures for work, but that was were my professional day ended.  After that, I did a little bit of retail therapy...if for no other reason other than I could.  It felt good after the nightmare I had last night where someone forced me to sell all of my shoes. Gasp.  So to legitimize my very miniature shopping spree, I bought mostly things for other people and practical things with a couple little treats for myself I suppose.

In addition to my shopping expedition, I rearranged the furniture in my room and began tackling the laundry.  It intimidates me.  I need to figure out how to be more proactive with it.  I swear, if I ever get a full handle on it, I'll never let it take control again. At least getting all of it in one big heap meant that in some capacity, I had won.  Other than that, it was an uneventful day.  We actually ate the eggplant I grew and that was fairly exciting.  I'm becoming a simple girl I do believe.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

So much water. So little electricity.

So I had initially wanted to go to sleep early tonight, but since as I sit in my room, it feels like the surface of the sun, sleeping is no longer an option.  So let's discuss the happenings since my last post: there was a hurricane.  Yes, that's right.  In the lovely, landlocked state of Pennsylvania, we had a hurricane.  Hurricane Irene went barreling up the coast and hit everything in its path with some force.  So, fortunately, my house was spared for the most part, a tiny bit of water in the basement and the porch, but nothing to be too upset about.  Power was out til about 4 pm today, but also, not nearly as bad as a lot of people had it.  The neighbors had a tree fall on their house (the second one in 8 months), and somehow incurred no real substantial damage to the house, not even a broken window (also fortunately for the second time in 8 months).

The Outer Banks, which I would deem my favorite place in the world, was not spared so kindly.  Duck, where I frequent, has no access in or out of the town.  Cape Hatteras, which is absolutely stunning in a way I cannot describe, suffered severely.  Where the sun should be shining on the road, there now is no road.  Irene caused the ocean to meet the sound, forming a new inlet, which is awe-striking to me to see what nature is really capable of.

For me though, Hurricane Irene consisted of shopping and going out to lunch during the day and then just hanging in for a nice relaxed night...with power where I was, fortunately.  Other than the hurricane, there's not much to report for myself.  I baked a blueberry pie for the first time and that actually was something to be proud of in my opinion.  Also, all my plans for cleaning and getting stuff together today came to a screeching halt without the electricity.  Not that I couldn't get anything done, but for some reason, I lost all motivation.  Til another day, I suppose.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

The rainy season

Who knew Pennsylvania has a rainy season and it was August? I never did til this year.  That being said; I'm absolutely sick of the rain.  Getting caught on the Jersey Turnpike with a downpour was less than exciting this afternoon.  Making this even better is the coming of our little "hurricane."  Now this is something that makes me laugh.  There is widespread panic over some wind and rain.  Folks, I've weather real hurricanes in the Carolinas.  I'd wager a bet this is not going to size up to much compared to a storm that causes total devastation to multiple islands and floods highways, connecting the ocean to the sound cause islands to create and reshape.  Oh well, I suppose the weather people just got too excited with the thought of both a hurricane and an earthquake all in one week.

Not much else to report, though.  Organization was put on hold for lots of travel for work.  Really, I will have it all under control soon.  I need to for my own sanity's sake.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

It's pumpkin season

So as everyone who knows me is aware, I have one unwavering love in life. Pumpkin.  And this morning as I was driving to Dunkin Donuts, low and behold, there it was.  Pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin coffee.  Squeal. I'm fairly certain you could have handed me $100 and I wouldn't have been this excited.  I was overjoyed.  So, now, I suppose I am properly armed to deal with the summer coming to an end.

The summer ending is something incredibly sad for me, however.  Last evening, I was driving, I just felt a certain sadness that can only be equated with the end of summer for me.  It's when you finally realize that the days are growing shorter and the air is starting to get cooler.  There's nothing you can do to fight it either; it happens whether you are ready for the fall or not.

24 and a lottery addict

Alright, I'll admit it.  I have a problem.  I love scratch off lottery tickets.  They make me inexplicably happy.  I came to this conclusion on Friday night....well more like Saturday morning.  On our way home from the bar ($5 fishbowls ftw), we stopped at Wawa.  This is nothing uncommon for anyone in the Philadelphia area to do, however, going to Wawa and ignoring the food for lottery tickets is.  So the scene was me frantically trying to find a dollar and then running over to the counter with my lottery ticket and scratching it off.  Post my frenzy of actually getting a lottery ticket came the real thrill...I won.  It may have only been a free ticket I won, but in my drunken frenzy that was still totally exhilarating.

Friday night was a lot of  fun, even without the lottery ticket though.  Not only were there $5 fishbowl drinks, but the first bar had pumpkin ale. For anyone who knows me, this is big.  Pumpkin is possibly my favorite food and last Fall my goal was to eat it as many ways as possible.  So Fall 2011...Pumpkin #1 - Pumpkin Ale.  I just can't wait til pumpkin spice lattes come back.  Those are the only reason I can even make it through the Fall. I actually do think I live for them.

And now for my thoughts on a potpourri of other topics since despite just starting this blog, I'm slacking off already.

Since I'm probably the only person who's blog today doesn't revolve around our "earthquake" today, I'll briefly lance by it.  I was out to lunch with my granddad, mom and brother at the time.  Absolutely no one in the restaurant so much as flinched during said earthquake.  Terrifying? I think not.  Everyone needs to cool their jets and just get on with it.  This was nothing earth shattering that happened...get it? Har har.

I also want to let it be known, I'm disappointed this blog will not be daily, but let's face it.  I'm too busy for that.  Maintaining two jobs and some semblance of a life doesn't leave for much wiggle room, but I really do want to succeed with this blog.  This will most likely result in 5-6 entries a week; which I can handle.  Someday I'll have free time...I just hope I'm still young enough to enjoy it.

In addition to work followed by more work, I've been attempting to get my life back in order now that all the contractors have finished everything they were doing in my house.  Now in addition to having new windows, all the blinds and curtains are back up as well.  This was exciting since with the return of the blinds, was the return of privacy in the house.  Now if i can just get all my clothes under control.  Someday hopefully, I will.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Small Victories

That wonderful feeling of waking up on my own accord and taking my time to get ready in the morning?  Gone.  Today, I woke up to an alarm, running late from the moment I opened my eyes.  This may actually be resulting from the fact, that at 3 AM, I was standing outside in the rain last night, watching fire fighters put out a fire that engulfed a neighbor's house that had been struck by lightening.  I could see most of what was going on from inside, but not everything and I was up by that point anyways.  It made sense to go down and see what was happening at the time.  Luckily everyone in the fire was alright, though, obviously, the same could not be said for the neighbor's house.  It's hard to believe with a storm so bad, that it could be so pretty outside now.  Regardless, I'm now sitting here, working away with my morning coffee.

Now, back to my most recent accomplishment (yes, what you're about to read is an accomplishment in my eyes).  I'm starting to believe it really is the small things in life that matter.  While attempting to battle my never ending struggle with clutter and disorganization, I made a list of all the things I've been meaning to do for the past year and am now attempting to finish all items on the list.  Last night was my first crack at this new battle plan and I think it went rather well.  I decided to start with a more modest goal and I will eventually work up to the more daunting tasks.  Last night, I cleaned out and organized my desk in my office.  My filing cabinet actually holds files now.  And there is even a filing system in place now to boot (which no longer includes bank statements from 2004 - a treasure I discovered last night).  The desk surface is no longer home to a stack of sweatshirts.  The daily calendar is up to date.  This may sound small to some, but for me, that's one entire space that I now have a complete handle on and that's big for me.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Day 2 - Testing the waters a bit more

I'd like to say that one of the greatest feelings in the world has to be waking up on one's own accord.  There's a certain feeling that you get from waking up when you are ready as opposed to when the world's ready for you that is nothing short of fabulous.  I was lucky enough to experience that today, so I'm choosing to believe that any day that starts off so correctly will have to be a good day.  I also discovered that I didn't need to be in work until noon.  Fortuitous happening number two of the day.  

All that being said, I need to do something with myself with my new found extra hours at home this morning.  This morning might be the perfect opportunity to actually get something accomplished with my room, which as an aside, has still not recovered from being completely torn up so that my windows in here could be replaced.  Oh well, more to follow later.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Day 1 - Start Up

Alright, so I don't want to be another one of those cliches where I let all of you readers know that this is my first blog post ever and I have no clue what I'm doing.  With that being said...this, sadly, is the case.  As I'm sitting here writing this maiden voyage of a post, I'm wondering what people actually want to read.  I can promise you one thing, however.  If you're looking to escape the wonders of everyday life, this is not the venue for you.  If you choose to stick it out with me, you'll hear about my struggles of navigating through a busy life and trying to balance it all.   You'll also get a smattering of posts regarding my DIY(do it yourself) exploits as well as posts about things that I'm obsessed with(a phenomenon that I am guilty of far too often).

There are also some reoccurring themes in my life that you'll probably see me labeling posts as all too often.  The first of these themes is organization.  This is something I constantly struggle with and strive for simultaneously.  From a professional vantage point, I've got it all under control.  Step into my room, and that's far from the case with everything I own strewn about the room. (Random aside: I feel you all should know that I struggle with the use of capital letters.  This blog doesn't auto-correct, so bear with me as I get reacquainted with the shift key.)  Also be leery of how often I work.  I have two jobs that take up a lot of time.  Feel lucky I'm even taking the time to try this.  Also, there will probably be some stylistic struggles as I get this blog to where I want it.   It will eventually be what I had envisioned.  For now, I'd settle with learning how to make different tabs.