i hate getting my hair cut. i hate sitting there as some stranger stands right behind me and awkwardly shares my personal space.
i had a hair appointment tonight (i think you could've picked that up from the first two sentences). i sat there in the chair, wondering what i could say to the lady, wondering where to start with her. i think my mom is really good at making conversation with random strangers, and i don't think she really passed this trait on to me.
whenever i try to talk to these people, i always end up feeling like an idiot and hate myself for the rest of the day....so i guess i'd rather feel awkward and hate myself for not saying anything at all.

run in with the boss's boss's boss's boss

yesterday i decided to leave work a little early so i could go home to catch up on some apartment cleaning that i have been putting off for a little too long.  i kept debating the appropriate departure time internally and finally decided that 3 pm was an okay time to leave.  see, i'm not even assigned to a client right now and i'm not technically required to be doing anything right now, so what's the harm in leavingi a little early?  especially when leaving early, cleaning my apartment, and getting my life in order is only intended to make me a happier person....and therefore a happier employee.

well, when i decided to leave it was actually only about 2:15.  i packed up my stuff as quietly as possible and darted for the stairs.  i'm on the 12th floor, but i'm deathly afraid of being seen getting on the elevators to go home at only 2:15.  i went down 2 floors, to the 10th, then pushed the "down" arrow to take the elevator the rest of the way down.  lo-and-behold, who was on the elevator?  none other than the boss's boss's boss's boss.  THE most important person in this building.  and here i was, bags packed, empty lunch bag in hand.  uuuughhhh this is awkward.

so i tried to act cool.  when he asked "so, what are you up to today?" i pointed to the portfolio folder thingie i was carrying and said "oh, you know.  client stuff".  and he pried, asking what client i was on and who was my boss.  oh, it was terrible.  i wanted to die RIGHT THERE.

on the way home, i festered.  i had lost all motivation to actually do any cleaning.  i wanted to go home and lie in bed in the darkness until the humiliation went away.

but by the time i got some starburst jelly beans i was in the cleaning mood again.  damned if HE is going to ruin my day (except he really did kind of ruin any feeling of self-worth that i had been building up over the past few months).

Seriously, my lack of working at work is just getting ridiculous now. 

playing soccer

and I'm back!, originally uploaded by lizzybee122.

here is a pic of Owen "playing soccer". Really at this age his attention span is quite short and he doesn't really play the game of soccer, per se. The kids basically run around a field and occasionally kick one of the many balls out on the field. Regardless, it's still pretty cute to watch. Especially cute to watch O because he's so freakin' little.

the funny (maybe only to me) story from sunday

So Sunday was an amazingly beautiful day in Northern Virginia (or "NoVA" as we NoVAns like to say).  Being such a nice day outside, Andy and I decided to go on a walk.  Instead of heading the usual direction on the trail (West), we decided to head East so we would run into some restaurants so we could possibly grab some lunch.  I think we walked about three miles (honestly, it was a really long walk) and eventually we get to this neighborhood called Rosslyn and there are pretty slim pickin's for lunch.  But I do see this restaurant/hole-in-the-wall that's called The Italian Store that everyone in Arlington always talks about.  Andy's roommate Will used to stop there all the time to get subs, and my friend Jess makes a point to stop there on the way home every once in a while.

As you know, Andy loves food.  What's more, he loves Italian food.  So we went in to the Italian Store thinking we were going to make out like bandits.  

However, when we got inside, there were crowds.  Lots of Arlington young adults (early-to-mid-twenties) with workout clothes on and trendy sloppy side ponytails.  Me being the socially awkward one of the two of us, it wouldn't have been surprising if I had just said "Let's leave.  Now".  But I did not.  I held my tongue.  We made our way to a less crowded part of the "store", behind the lines of people.  I started reading the menu posters that were mounted on the wall behind the counter (think subway sandwich stores, but a lot more hole-in-the-wall-ish and with lots more people) and Andy started complaining about how many people were in the store.  I said "with all these people, it's gotta be good".  And then he started complaining about how he couldn't read the menu.  So I offered to read the menu aloud.  Then he said it was too loud in there and too busy, and he asked if we could leave.  I tried to make him stay because I knew he would love it, but to no avail.  We walked outside and stood on the sidewalk for about two minutes, him saying "do you want to go back in? I mean, it's just so confusing...how do you know what to order?" and me saying "it's just like going to a cafeteria or any take-out restaurant...the menu is on the wall...but I don't care, we can leave if you want to".  

So, without nourishment, we headed home.  I told Andy he was being a crabby old man and made fun of him for being scared of new things.  He kept asking questions like, "well there was no seating in there...where were we supposed to eat?  Did you want me to get on my hands and knees so you could eat off my back like it was a table?  Will you exchange the same courtesy to me?"  I was proud of myself for being so adventurous and not scared of new things.  The old Liz would've avoided that place like the plague.

We walked through Rosslyn, then Court House, then Clarendon, and finally ended up at Rocklands, the BBQ place about two minutes from our apartment.  

Before we got back home, we were talking about this kid that Andy works with who is asking intelligent questions, and Andy said "and the thing is, he's not just asking them to be a smart alec".  I just nodded and bit my tongue.  It's great dating a grandmother.

Anyway, writing this story down made me think about it more and I no longer think this is funny.  Just a stupid story, really.  Sorry for the let down.

living like normal people

This weekend I didn't have to work. At all. It was amazing to go to bed Friday night without the Saturday crunch looming over my head. I slept like a baby all night Friday night, then snoozed when my alarm went off at 7. I eventually got out of bed, showered, and then headed over to my sister's house. I watched Owen's soccer game with Christie and Nora and it was cold and windy, but I didn't care because I wasn't at work. Also, the sun was shining all morning and that made the chilling wind a little less chilling.

After soccer on Saturday, we took the kids to the mall to get their picture taken at Picture People. It was something I would describe as slightly hellish. Every chance she got, Nora would crawl off the backdrop. She didn't do this in a bratty way, she just was smiling and laughing, thinking "look at all this space!" So it was my job to bring her back and sit her in front of her brother. And every chance he got, Owen would lean into Nora, essentially smooshing her. She didn't get mad, just thought it was a great opportunity to crawl away. Andy M's job was to keep Owen from crawling away, which he was doing to immitate his sister. Christie's job was to flap her hands and clap and say "cheese" behind the camera man to get the kids to smile for the camera which they were never in front of. It was really tiring for all of us.

After roughly fifteen minutes of corralling the kids, the photographer announced that he had enough shots and told us to wait 15 minutes to see the proofs. After approximately 45 minutes, Christie went up to the counter to check the status of our pictures. The guy who had just photographed the kids asked her "have you been helped yet?" and Christie said "yes, we already had our pictures taken, we're just waiting for the pictures" and he said "okay, just wait over there and someone will be right with you". So we waited more. Then some other guy came over to show us our pictures. While we were sitting looking at pictures, the second guy had to go in the back for something. The first guy (who actually took our picture) came over to us and asked "have you been helped yet?" We think he had some sort of short-term memory problem.

On Sunday it was a really beautiful day here in Northern VA. Andy and I decided to go on a walk and grab some lunch in the process. We walked for a really long time. There's a funny story that I should tell here, but I've lost my will to write for now.

Anyway, it was a normal weekend and it felt excellent. So glad to be back to life.