thankfully, it's NOT time again for a re-appearance of the "party boot"!

the ankle today, thankfully, is feeling much better. thanks for asking! i'm debating on whether or not to go to the doctor, pay the copay, spend an hour waiting, then spend another 10 minutes with the doctor while (s)he tells me that it's just a mild ligament strain. so, in lieu of that, i'm going ahead, taking the self-diagnosis route and proclaiming my ankle having undergone a mild ligament strain. prescription: RICE - Rest, Ice Compress, Elevate. and for pain, take 2 advil and drink some wine. i much prefer dr. mindy's method than going through the rigamarole of going to see a true professional. PLUS, i don't have to wear the party boot. i am not the biggest fan of the party boot - i had to live in that thing for months on end before and i'm determined not to go back to it!



so here i am on the couch, icing my ankle. i'm bound and determined to go to the gym today - although my workout will be a bit restrained. i've GOT to lose some LBs. and going to the gym makes me feel so good - like i accomplished something.

i went over chez krass last night and had the household help me with my match.com profile. it was so much fun - lots of laughs and discussion on possibly finding 'the man of my dreams.' unfortunately, i got a little ahead of myself prior to getting chez krass's input, and winked at a ton of guys. i haven't had any replies to my winks except for one "thanks but no thanks." i should have just waited to search and wink until after my new and improved profile was posted, because the old one was not the best. oh well - a new day, a new set of winks!

the pity party is over and look at what's gone on today!

my "glumness" has gone away. every now and then i get nostalgic for old friends and i guess that's what was going on the day of my last post. c'est la vie.

i just started to type some attempted philosophical stuff about nostalgia, but really, who am i fooling? i'm not much for philosophy. it's probably best that i just stick to my usual blabbering for this post.

i decided to re-join match.com today. oh boy. i do this with mixed feelings. i'm excited to come across a perspective date or two, but i still dread the initial steps and the possibility of a let down. i'm so tired of looking, but i know i need to keep doing so if i ever want to meet 'the man of my dreams.' so here i am again, on match.com, winking away at anyone of interest just like the winking ho i am. ;o)

this afternoon i had plans to head to the gym for a zumba class. i rushed to get changed into my gym clothes so that i could take mops for a quick walk before leaving. just as i got to the end of my block, my ankle gave out. AGAIN. two years after i had the reconstructive surgery. it sucks! i think it may just be a ligament strain/pull, so not as big of a deal as it used to be, but it worries me. once the ligaments loosen up again, then the ankle will give out more frequently. guess i'm going to have to call my orthopedic surgeon and take him up on his offer of a referral for an ortho in chicago. good times, good times.

friends...

i'm kind of glum today. nothing awful has happened per se, but i'm stressing out about the job thing. i'm also pondering some recent events that have occurred with friends.

one of my friends from college, whom i thought was a really good life long friend, decided i was an awful person and no longer wanted to be acquainted with me. granted, i know things are going on in her life and that may be part of the reason for the end of our friendship, but it really sucks. another friend recently was upset over some pictures i posted in a website album - all of which were strongly edited by me and i even put horrible pictures up of myself. even still, she's not speaking with me either.

i grew up with the saying, 'if you point your finger at someone, realize that there are three fingers pointing back at you.' so i know that i do have some fault in each of those scenarios, but i really don't think it merits ending a friendship.
the thing is, i was occaisionally irritated with them, but i never would have considered telling either of them that i could no longer be their friend.

then there are those friends that you call and call, or try your darndest to get together or make contact with, but they never reciprocate. i get so tired of being in a one sided friendship. but when i do manage to reconnect with these evasive friends, i am reminded of how great that friend is and the reason why i try so hard to stay in touch.

it just seems the older i get, the smaller my circle becomes. mind you, i've always had a small circle. i attribute that to growing up as an army brat...moving around every three years for 18 years, you tend to gain and lose friends all the time. the ones that stick become your circle. luckily the ones still in the circle are wonderful true friends - and I am truly thankful for them.

and the weekend comes to an end

unfortunately i don't have any wild and crazy stories to share about my birthday fiesta. i had dinner chez krass, then we went to the neighborhood bar for a few drinks. i was home - fatter, happier and just a tad tipsy - by 1am. it was fun and low key - a sign of the times. my days of going out and being wild and crazy are over. there is and will be the occasional rager here and there, but for the most part i am guessing that my future birthdays will mirror this one. and that's not a bad thing, it's just sad to truly realize that the last of my youth is officially gone. poor me.

saturday i discovered the dog beach - it was absolutely incredible. dogs and their owners as far as the eye could see...and of course mopsy made sure she was in the big middle of it. that was my big outing for the day, which was great since we had beautiful weather.

today was the chicago marathon. allie invited me to join her and her clients at mile 15 to cheer on the runners. we cabbed it from downtown to as close as we could get to mile 15. unfortunately, we ended up having to play a game of marathon runner frogger in order to make it to the station, but survived crossing the path of all the runners and it was well worth the risk. seeing the marathon in person (instead of where i've watched it on sara and mike's couch in the past) was a pretty cool. it also reinforced my desire to get fit; not that i'm planning to EVER run a marathon (to me it's a form of self torture), but it still motivated me to keep going to the gym.

the job front is really starting to stress me out. one consulting firm i thought for sure would want to bring me in for an in-person interview after four phoners, but found out on friday that they were passing on me. yep, happy birthday to me. i have a couple of other things lined up, but nothing firm. i really want to find a employment so that i can stay in this great city. otherwise, i'm back in dc at the end of december. maybe in my letter to santa this year, i'll ask him for a job with a great company that will compensate me generously, appreciate my skillset and realizes that the company couldn't function without the likes of me. i don't think that's asking too much - do you?

happy birthday to me - i'm 18 again for the 16th time!!!

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today is my birthday, and a good one it's been! i tried to sleep in, but honestly, it's not as special as it used to be when i was a gainfully employed gal. these days i can wake up whenever i want or when mopsy barks at me to let me know that while i may not need to get up to pee, she most certainly could use a patch of grass upon which to relieve herself.

anyway, i digress. i did my usual routine - starbucks, dog park/walk and gym. then allie and i ran some errands together and grabbed lunch prior to my 3pm phone interview. unfortunately, the call never happened. as per the interviewer, they were having "some internal email issues," so he was unaware that our call was today. c'est la vie - it's my birthday! i then left allie's to go home, grab mops and make another run to the dog park. my plan was to make sure mops ran lots and was exhausted so that she wouldn't freak out when i left to go back to al's for my birthday fiesta.

normally the dog park is uneventful - i chat with the other dog owners and mopsy either chases a ball or other dogs. today however, my little noodle was attacked. that's right - a mean black lab puppy decided to attack my little girl and made mopsy's ear bleed. the owner of the puppy apologized profusely, but i waved her off nonchalantly since mops wanted to continue chasing the ball after her smack down. i didn't think any blood was drawn, but another dog owner pointed out that mopsy's ear was bleeding. that's when i kind of panicked. i grabbed my little one, rushed her home and threw her in the bathtub, dousing her with enough hydrogen peroxide to dye a brunette's hair to a lovely pale blonde shade. you would have thought that mopsy had a puncture wound tearing straight to one of her arteries. luckily it was just a small little nick that she had, and we continued on with our routine of me getting ready for la fiesta and giving noodle her dinner.

so now i'm getting ready to head out and noodle, after her dog park brawl, is resting peacefully on her chaise lounge. i kid you not, the dog lies on the chaise lounge as if it's hers...she's such a prima donna. anyway, i'm off for dinner and drinks - let's hope there's some wild stories to tell you with tomorrow's post!

i finally made it to chicago - and what a time it's been!

okay, it's been almost two weeks since i last posted - there's some things to share!

so the trip from dc to columbus was uneventful for the most part. i got up at 8am, packed up the last few things into my car and off mopsy and i went. we had to make one little stop at my sister's house on the way because i'd left some things there after my farewell soiree. now mind you, my sister's place is not but 20 miles from my mom's, and just 2 miles outside of dc. so, i wasn't too far from home when, as i was flying 85 mph on i395, i saw a state trooper off to the side of the road just an exit away from my sister's exit. when i didn't see him immediately haul ass to chase after me, i figured i was home free. just when i was thinking, "whew! i outsmarted another copper," and ready to give myself a pat on the back, i saw the pretty flashing blue and white lights of virginia's finest. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

i pulled over to the side of the road, maybe 500 ft. from my sister's exit, and rolled down my window. the trooper walked up and asked me what my hurry was. "none officer, i was just not paying attention - i was zoned out thinking but obviously not about the speed i was driving!" i gave a half hearted attempt at a laugh and gave the officer an "aw shucks, i messed up but have pity on me" type of look. he looked at me with his eyebrows raised and a slight note of sarcasm to his voice, "yeah, obvious-LEE." he then continued to explain exactly how fast his radar caught me, and i explained again how i was just thinking about all the things i needed to do, because i was on my way to chicago via columbus for my move. the nice officer then told me he was from chicago (go figure!), and asked me where i was going to live. i told him, he asked for my license and registration (all the while, mops is doing her best to protect me from the tall man in uniform with a weird looking thing on his head, barking at him in her meanest tone). i gave the officer my license, but unfortunately my registration was in the glove compartment. my small suitcase was tightly wedged between the passenger seat and compartment, requiring me to get out of the car, yank and yank at my suitcase until i could dislodge it and extract my registration. explaining that to the officer, he rolled his eyes, asking if the car was mine and upon my confirmation that yes, in fact, the car was mine, not to worry about the registration. what a smart cop - i guess he realized sooner than i did, that if i tried to get out, one of the other cars whizzing down shirley gate highway could kill me.

ends up, the cop gave me a break on my ticket - instead of charging me wreckless, which he most certainly could have, he gave me a regular speeding ticket. after my many thanks, he let me go on my way and off i went to pick up my belongings at my sister's. from there, the rest of the trip to columbus was extremely uneventful. i spent 3 nights in columbus, hanging out with my family there and off i went to chicago. again, nothing of note occurred on the drive...it was pretty smooth sailing.

i got to my apartment in chicago and fell in love with my temporary place. it's great - so much room, nice furnishings, great neighborhood. couldn't ask for more! well, actually i could, but not for much. except tv and internet...the place didn't come with those two most important ammenities, which i had to arrange for and live without until comcast could get here the following week. it was going to be a VERY long week without either of those things!

mops and i quickly settled in and went to bed. the next morning, i woke up with a major cold. it was horrible - sore throat, head congestion, chest congestion, achy, etc. however, i soldiered through that so i could get myself to go sign up at the gym that my friend and i decided to join. i also managed a target and grocery store run, which wiped me out! the rest of the weekend, i was sick in bed, which worked out because my chicago friends were out of town for the entire weekend.

this week i've been busy going to the gym (i'm bound and determined to get fit over the next several months), getting interviews scheduled and getting familiar with this great city that i'm now calling home!