29...let's go

This year I turned 29. I'm still not sure how I feel about that so I'll just move on.

Both the parents had to work the first half of the day so I stayed in my pajamas on the couch, watching Doctor Who, and occasionally packing. It was perfection. I opened my presents and then we made our way to Raleigh to have dinner with the sister and fam.

We ate at Raleigh Times, which is a restaurant housed in the former home of a newspaper. I had a comically large pulled pork enchilada, which was only ok. Joey always orders a huge burrito at one of the Mexican restaurants we go to, so I took this picture and sent it to him. (I apologize in advance for all the pictures of me in this post. But, it was my birthday, so that's ok, right?)

They didn't really have a dessert menu, but they did have some chocolate cake that was apparently homemade every day by a little old lady. (It was also only ok.) They also didn't have any birthday candles so the waitress found a bigger version of the candles on the table. (Which you can't see in this picture.)

I didn't take many pictures that night but here is one of the group. (Minus Joey and Michelle, who couldn't make it.)

After dinner we went to Melissa's to open presents and then say goodbye to the parents, since I was staying in Raleigh for the night.

They got me exactly what I asked for, a kids backpack from REI, but despite my measuring it out when I asked for it, it was still a bit smaller than I was expecting.

Once I lengthened the straps, it looked a lot less ridiculous and was what I wanted. And before that, it was just a lot of laughing, which was awesome.

It was a low-key day spent with the family and exactly what I love. A great start to 29. Which I'm still not really ok with that.

Home for Christmas

The day after Operation: Christmas Cheer came Operation: Home for Christmas. Which got off to a rocky start when my train was delayed 3 hours due to a fire on the tracks in West Philadelphia. I was so happy when my train finally arrived that I barely noticed that the license plate didn't say "Fresh" nor were there dice in the mirror

I was able to be home for a full two and a half weeks, which were jam packed. Serious busy-ness going on. I worked from home the first 4 days, wrapped all the presents, did a lot of baking, a lot of decorating, even some cooking, plus some shopping, visiting, and eventually some lazing, too.

These are some of the decorations. The top middle photo is the bonsai tree with some ornaments and a bow because Mom and I got a little silly. The middle photo is a bunch of the figure decorations. Daddy thought they looked ready to attack, so I put them in a more proper formation with the Nutcracker leading the way. The bottom picture is Daddy wearing the Christmas card holder as a hat. The big left picture is the tree, the most beautiful one in years according to the parents. The big right picture is the Christmas eve table scape with Grandma's china and Christmas tree napkin holders. Plus Mom's tree display in the center.

These are the cookies I baked. I did everything but the magic cookie bars. I even made some cookies that I don't even like. (Which weren't nearly as fun to taste test, of course.) I don't mind baking but standing up for hours did take its toll on my getting-older body. And I did swear. A lot. (Which I think Mom got a little too used to because she barely checked on me.)

This was the first year I contributed to Christmas Eve dinner. I made shrimp ceviche and baked brie. I'm not sure the change was fully enjoyed by all, but I thought they were good.

This is the second year that it has just been me and the parents first thing Christmas morning. It's still a little weird but better than last year, especially since everyone was able to come over in the afternoon. I always end up taking pictures at our gatherings and luckily everyone usually humors me. First set are our candid shots, second set are our posed ones.

And that was Christmas at home. Unfortunately, Mom was sick for about a week of it so we didn't get out and about as much as we usually do, though she did rally to take me to traipse around Chapel Hill, which was Heaven, of course. And the day before that I went with Daddy to Greenville, on what was supposed to be just a trip to Harbor Freight but we ended up adding several other stops and got home many hours later.

I'm the middle child so I never got the parents all to myself. So I'm not going to lie, it was kind of nice to just chill with them every evening, even when we were each huddled around our laptops and even when I was forced to watch HGTV or Duck Dynasty. I know I'm forgetting tons of stuff but know that I was in North Carolina, with my family, and it was good.

I Used A Saw...

...and I didn't lose any fingers!

Now, if you're like several of my friends, and upon reading this exclaimed, "Who in the hell let that klutz use a saw?!" Then you'll find the answer several times below. Hint: It starts with "D" and ends with "addy."

When I was home over Thanksgiving, Daddy taught me how to use the band saw so I could cut some wine corks for a Christmas gift. (These particular corks later became cork coasters for my friend, Jan. I also made a cork memo board and a cork necklace holder for my other besties.)

Bottom line: This saw is awesome. And I kind of want one. And as soon as I figure out what I would use it for, where I would put it, and if my insurance covers domestic accidents, I'll just place the call to Daddy and he can pick up the one we already picked out at Harbor Freight. (Because, yes, of course that happened.)

Stranger in my own kitchen

My family has lived in the same house for 23 years. Though there have been many improvements, the important stuff always stayed the same.

Then, I left for college. And within a month the parents had built a pantry. Which was and still is awesome. Not awesome, however, was that it meant changing the location of things that had been in the same place for 15 years. Tupperware in bottom cabinet to right of sink? Nope. Bread in middle drawer beside refrigerator? Nope. Just when I'd finally have it figured out where the chips were, I'd go back to school, and then the next time I came home, they'd be moved again. I'm convinced the parents waited for me to leave and then immediately switched everything, thus slowly eroding my sanity.

Ten years since the pantry was built, I finally sort of had a handle on things. Then they went and renovated the kitchen. Which is even more awesome than the pantry was. Not awesome, however, is that nothing is where it should be. The silverware drawer, which for 23 years has been above the trashcan, is now one drawer over. And the trashcan is now one cabinet over. It's like the entire world has shifted over one space! Except for the spaces where now a lazy Susan sits, which just really throws my sanity for a loop. Literally. (Though I do love a good lazy Susan. See: Yours, Mine, and Ours. The original.)

And let's not even talk about the fact that there are three refrigerators and a freezer. Sample conversation:
Mom: Get me the ground beef out of the refrigerator.
Me: It's not here.
Mom: The one in the garage.
Me: Which one?
Mom: Poppy's.
Me: It's not here.
Mom: Because you're looking in the freezer.*

I have no doubt that when I return for Christmas they will have mixed things up as much as possible just for fun so that I'll have no choice but to make my tea in a cereal bowl and eat my grits with a measuring spoon.

However, the kitchen really is stunning and all done by Daddy -- with Mom's supervision and assistance -- so I guess it's ok that I'll never find anything ever again.

*I frequently confuse the freezer and refrigerator. That's not their fault; I get distracted easily.

What 31 Years of Marriage Looks Like

Daddy: That was a fox pause.

Bonnie: [confused look]

Mom: Faux pas* 

*foh pah

Vacation all I ever wanted...

Today I'm headed south. Whew. I need to not be here. There is too much work and heat and too many people. Oh, the people. Why so many?

I've never taken a week to do anything, much less just lie on the beach. Since I decided to go a little voice in my head has been saying, "Ooh, a week-long beach vacation! How extravagant! When did we win the lottery?" (One of my inner voices is a vindictive little bitch. I know you're shocked.)

Of course, I'm taking the train down, staying in a house with tons of family, and sleeping in a bunk bed, so lottery winnings weren't necessary. But I still feel weird even calling it a "vacation." I don't take vacations. I take long weekends to go home or to explore a city. Two days in Chicago or three days in San Francisco are amazing, wonderful, and exactly what I love doing. But I never call them vacations, they're just trips.

So, here are some Things I Plan On Doing While On Vacation:

• Taking work email off phone.
• Spending no more than 30 minutes a day on laptop or iPhone.
• (Possibly) not brushing my hair or wearing makeup.
• Drinking tons of Cherry Lemon Sun Drop.
• Eating tons of biscuits, barbecue, shrimp, etc.
• Sleeping late.
• Reading tons.
• Writing for me.
• Spending lots of time with family.

Scenes From My Childhood Bedroom: 5

When I was home earlier this month, my mom suggested I try and clear some stuff out of my old closet where I've been storing things. (Specifically, the notes and papers from high school and college taking up a large bin.) I got energized and decided to go through everything to trash, donate, or keep. I'm a sentimental pack rat-- remember the Fn key -- but it felt very good to clear out a good half of the closet. And find -- and yes, even trash or donate -- some old treasures. I'll start with t-shirts.

In high school, my best friend, Genie, claimed I had no t-shirts and dared me to find one and wear it to school. (And it "couldn't be from Abercrombie and Fitch or American Eagle," she said.) I was really particular about what I wore in high school and never wore anything too casual. I dress far more relaxed now, at my job, than I ever did back then. So her challenge was difficult. But I eventually wore my Napster t-shirt, which also doubled as a pajama shirt, thus proving to her I did at least have one t-shirt.

Fast forward four years and by the end of college I had 50 t-shirts related to UNC, activities, or travel. After my last move, I sent a bag of them home with mom because my drawers were overflowing. The whole closet clean-out process started because I was looking for the shirts to make a t-shirt quilt and in the process came across some other shirts from my younger days.

This was my t-shirt from baton. When you first joined you got a blue one, and then later, I can't remember how, you earned your way to wearing the red one. (This was the name of the baton group. It only occurs to me now what this probably sounds like to others.)

 
I bought this my senior year of high school from A&F because it reminded me of the Jim Carrey sketch on Saturday Night Live. (Please note the text at the bottom: "Rescuing hot bods daily." So offensive to me now.)

This shirt is from the fourth grade and still fits. (It's a large/extra-large and I wore it big, as was the style.)

 
I came downstairs wearing this to show Mom and we both immediately remembered everything we had bought that day. Mom splurged at Gap Kids with this shirt, a peach pair of shorts, a peach t-shirt, a denim button up shirt/vest thing, and a stretchy fabric headband that matched. (I also still have the headband.) I brought the shirt back to D.C. and plan on either sleeping in it or taking in the sides and wearing it. I love that Mom's splurge is still paying off 15 years later.

Things I Learned This Weekend

(Just a few things I learned as I'll write more about weekend happenings later in the week. As well as all the other things I keep saying I'll write about.)

It's possible to love my blanket in public.
It only took me a lifetime of owning the thing, and 7 years of consistent travelling, to figure out how to discretely hide my blanket so I can put my favorite corner to my mouth in public. This could change everything.

Adding text to photos in Photobucket is fun.
They took away my ability to collage photos, but at least I can add fun text. Or, well, if not fun text, at least just text. And just in case the above photo wasn't obvious enough.

Work from home days are great, but work from home home days are even better.
I left for NC on Thursday evening and worked from home home the next day. There's something about doing my job in the room I spent my high school years studying myself crazy, that's kind of nice/weird.

There's no such thing as eating too many Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
I may have eaten 6 Krispy Kreme doughnuts in 10 hours. This may not be remotely close to my record. (What we call the "Krispy Kreme Incident of '07," when I ate approximately 9 doughnuts in a few hours after returning from London. I only remember the first 3; the rest are just a blur.)


A quick meal and shopping with mom during my lunch break is way better than sitting at my desk and eating while working.
We went to my favorite Mexican place, Torero's, and then mom bought me pretty things at Target. I would have been happy just to ride around town with her, but don't tell her that, I also like the Target stuff.

My sister and I really should wear tiaras all the time.
While waiting to try on bridesmaid dresses at David's Bridal, we had a little photo shoot with some tiaras. We think our brother's fiancee should let us incorporate them into our wedding day attire.

  

Cleaning out papers and junk from the room you lived in from 5 to 22 is fun and weird and sad and happy.
Even though I cleaned out the majority of my room when I moved to DC, I kept a lot of books out and a lot of stuff in my closet. While looking for some clothes, I decided to clean out the rest of my closet. More on this later. But first, a glimpse of a report from my 9th grade computer class. On e-mail. That was done with a friend. That we only got a 98 on. I'm not happy about this.

My Dad is awesome.
He got a knot out of my necklace, took a bunch of my papers to the dump, lasted longer than 5 minutes in Ulta, got us Bojangles on Sunday morning, bought a great computer that I now want, and he makes me laugh.

My Mom is awesome.
She brought me Krispy Kreme and a Pepsi to the train station at midnight. She just wants to go shopping with me and have me fix her Pinterest. She lets me go around her house and pick out stuff I want. She got more excited than me when I told her I was going to make a t-shirt quilt. (More on her day later.)


It is possible for me to sleep on a train. And "The West Wing" really is just the greatest show ever.
I managed to sleep for a few minutes on both train trips. This never happens. Even though, on the way back, I was watching "The West Wing" and missed half an episode. But that's what DVDs are for.

The absolute worst way to end a long weekend at home is with an all-day meeting on Monday.
I got in at 8 last night and had a meeting downtown today for work. This can be good because my commute is only 15 minutes and costs me less than $2. But it can also be bad when it's raining, I'm running late, my metro train is off-loaded due to the fact that it's smoking, I have to run to the meeting in the rain, alternating sidewalks on opposite sides of the street due to construction, making it with just 5 minutes to spare and only enough time to switch into my grown up shoes but not brush my hair.


And that last graph should explain why I'm not going to spend forever fixing the wonky spacing in this post or care that there are, yet again, too many commas. I'm tired and just want to curl up in my queen-sized bed with my visible baby blanket and watch C.J., Sam, Josh, etc. do their thing.

Holiday Rewind Part 3: Christmas

This year's Christmas lasted several days, in several locations, with several combinations of family members. But in the end all that mattered was we were together, at some point, in some form. I think we each got stuff we wanted, stuff we needed, and stuff we didn't know we wanted and needed. As I was too busy opening gifts, giving gifts, eating soup, and staying in my PJs most days, the only pictures I have are from Christmas Eve at my sister's. But don't let the lack of photos or commentary fool you: It was Christmas at home with my family, which is all I ever really need.

Daddy and Mom

Mike and Melissa

Joey and Michelle

McKinley and Jordan

Me

Some of my (most easily able to grab five minutes ago to take this picture) spoils. The Eastern Airlines bag pictured is one of my favorite gifts. My grandfather worked for the airline for many years and we have tons of paraphernalia, but nothing like this. I'd had my eye on a vintage PanAm bag for years, but they are so outrageously expensive. Mom knew this and found this Eastern one on eBay, which is far, far superior and more valuable than a silly PanAm one ever would be.

Scenes From My Childhood Bedroom: 4

Last one and it's the piece de resistance: The Barbies. Mind you, only a miniscule portion of The Barbies because I have many, many, many. (And yes, "have" in the present tense as they are all safely tucked away at home, waiting for...something.) These are all my collector ones, the vintage re-issues, and some others that have special meaning. They make me smile every time I go home because they were such an integral part of my childhood. And also, even now in adulthood, as I have nearly 20 Barbie ornaments and may or may not receive a "Barbie Collector" catalog in the mail.

(How I remember this I'll never know, but the bracelet around the beam in the center is from Ron Jon surf shop in Cocoa Beach, Florida, circa first or second grade. It's probably been in the same place since about that time, too. Creature of habit, I am.)

Scenes From My Childhood Bedroom: 3

I haven't had time to download and organize Chapel Hill/Christmas/Bday photos so until then I have a few more photos of my room at home.

Oh, high school. What can I say about it other than I don't miss one percent of it for one second. My 10 year reunion (holy crap) is this year and I'd rather pull out my eyelashes one by one than attend. But there are three vestiges of high school left out in my room. First, the (purple) marshall chords from junior year and the (gold) honor chords from senior year. The chords represent four years of unbelievable stress, mood swings, sleepless nights, crying fits, worry, and anxiety.

There's also the mirror that was a graduation gift from my friend, Diane. It has my name etched at the top and "Class of 2002" at the bottom with an image of a graduate in the center. It's perfect for makeup and hair checks on the way out.

And that's that for high school memories. And even those few items are too much high school for me.

Scenes From My Childhood Bedroom: 2

When we moved into our house the walls of my bedroom were, very aptly, Carolina blue. Some time in high school the parents decided we should paint my room. I wanted purple, like the apartment on "Friends," they wanted white. So we painted the walls white.* But as a compromise, they let me paint the doors of the clothes and linen closets purple. 10ish years later and they still make me smile.

*Except for the wall where there were two very large bookcases. Me and mom wanted to paint around the bookcases. Daddy wanted to move them out and paint the whole wall. As a compromise, we didn't paint it at all. Now that the bookcases are moved, the room has multiple white walls, one blue wall, and two purple doors.

Scenes From My Childhood Bedroom: 1

When I moved to D.C. four years ago, I pretty much turned my childhood bedroom over to my mom. I still have stuff in the closets and the dormers, and probably will until I have my own home, but for the most part it's not my room anymore and most of my stuff is gone. But there are a few things hanging around that are holdovers from my child and teen years.

For starters, this Tar Heel pennant that has been hanging just slightly off center above one of the dormers since before I started high school, so at least 15 years.

It's got a fine layer of dust on the top edge and, as mentioned, is off center, but I like that as much as the room has changed in 15 years, it hasn't moved.

What working from home looks like...

...when there's a Peanut in the house.

Monday:

I was trying to do work at the dining room table and she just wanted to be petted. So I threw the blanket on her to keep her occupied. Isn't that the cutest nose ever? (My parents are putting down new hardwood floors, thus the plywood above. See glimpses of the pretty new floor in the photos below.)

Tuesday:

Staying warm in her new outfit. Don't let the sad face fool you, she's a good Southern girl and loves her argyle.

Wednesday:



She's not playing around anymore as she plants herself directly between me and my laptop. (Yes, I was working on the floor. I think better lying on my stomach, seriously.)

Luckily, I'm free from work in about two hours for the next two weeks and can giver her all the attention she rightly deserves and needs.

Holiday Rewind Part 5: You Say It's Your Birthday

As usual, the first day of a new year is always my favorite day of the year. Not because of resolutions, or black eyed peas, or any of that fresh new start business, but because it's my birthday! I turned 27 the first day of 2011, which is a little too close to 30 for my liking, but until I figure out how to change it, that's what I am. This year I managed to turn my birthday celebration into a FOUR DAY AFFAIR. How did I manage that?


Day 1: Thursday, January 30
Due to some scheduling conflicts, we had to have my family birthday dinner on the Thursday before my actual birthday. We started with some British-style poppers purchased at Target. I had Joey help me with mine because I was afraid of the noise.

We all got different little cute prizes and of course crowns, which we wore proudly.

Some, more proudly than others.

Then we went to a new place downtown, which was very nice. It even had a real London phone booth.

But this is still North Carolina, where we really love our basketball, so there was one of these, too.

I tried my first shrimp and grits, though it was more like shrimp and polenta, but still very tasty.

And we all just ate, talked, and had a good time. I also had wine, which meant I had a very good time.

And after it was all done, we watched the last half of an AMAZING Carolina bowl game.


Day 2: Friday, January 31
On Friday I had the place to myself. I spent the entire day on the couch, in my pajamas, watching movies. My hair didn't even get brushed until dinner time.

And then the last hours of 2010 were spent comforting this little Dimples girl, who was completely terrified of the neighborhood fireworks, yet again.

Day 3: Saturday, January 1
MY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY!  Another fairly lazy day at home, though I did change my clothes, brush my hair, and even put on some makeup. It was just me, the parents, and the dogs, which was really nice. I did manage to accomplish something, however. Thanks to BBC America's "Who Year's Marathon," I finally got to watch the latest season of "Doctor Who." Hooray!

Later that night it was gift time. Perfectly coordinated, as usual, thanks to Mom.

And then another little girl, Peanut, tried to steal my thunder.

It's a good thing she's so precious.

We ended the day with some cake. Now, I've been telling Mom since I turned 21 that I didn't think it was necessary to include a candle for EVERY year plus one to grow on. This year, after her and Daddy went through about five matches and a burnt hand each, I expect next year to have significantly fewer flames.

Day 4: Sunday, January 2
The last day of my birthday celebration occurred in my favorite place on earth, Chapel Hill. More on that tomorrow for the final installment of Holiday Rewind.