he's a little bit country

when we moved in together about 2 years ago, the first thing that was painfully obvious was that we both (well, mostly me) had accumulated a lot of crap over our short lives. my boxes were mostly full of books, cds, a handful of dvds, kitchen gadgets, photo albums, and lots and lots of clothes. his boxes were full of country cds, hundreds of dvds (he's mostly an action guy, with a soft spot for the occasional chick flick), football t-shirts, video games, and more football t-shirts. i'll be the first to admit it: we didn't have much going for us.

the "theme" of my apartment is what i like to call "shabby". not to be confused with "shabby chic". excluding the kitchen table and bedroom set, everything is made out of particle board. moreover, most of the said particle board is being held together by copious amounts of carpenter's glue. i like to think that i was striving for something pottery barn-esque, but my attempts at being the apartment decorator type have proven futile...so i stocked up on neutrals and beiges, threw in the occasional red pillow and called it a day.

then andy began adding his own decorating style to the apartment, such as the bed pillow on the couch, because it's much more comfortable than the red pillows (don't worry, i hide the pillow when people are over), and the bright purple football helmet that is proudly displayed on an end table. little bursts of maroon, orange, and purple suddenly popped up all over the place.
while i can't say that i've always dreamed of having a football helmet on display in my house, i can say that it's now part of the room.  i could even say that it's growing on me tolerable.
we turned in our lease renewal last night.  i have mixed feelings about it, i guess.  i really thought we'd be out of the apartment by this time, but neither one of us is dying to put a down payment on a house/condo in dc...what with the atrocious house prices and all.  so it looks like we'll be sticking around for at least a little while longer.  i'm going to try to keep these years ingrained in my memory.  Hopefully we'll look back on our time spent in little 308 as "just the beginning".

home for the holidays

cousins!, originally uploaded by lizzybee122.

there's nothing like home for the holidays. for me, "home" is my parent's house in ontario. i've never "lived there" per se, but i have spent a couple of christmases there. it's funny because i think of all the places my parents have lived, their current city is the one i am most comfortable with. i always felt like we were outsiders when we lived in GA and NY, like those places were other peoples' "homes" and i was just there temporarily. when we'd go to canada during the holidays it always felt like my mom was going home, so in a way i thought it was the whole family going home. it feels good to have a place to finally call "home" and mean it.

there is hope

i finally heard back tonight. i have a phone interview in the morning, and then a real interview probably later this week. god, i hope this happens.

the wait is kill.ing. me.

remember when i used to update this blog?

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).