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Short work weeks and Shade

June 3, 2010 by charlsiekate

The best thing about a Monday holiday is that on Thursday you think it is Wednesday and Friday is here before you know it.  I got home on Monday from a six day long trip to Chicago for work then to Charleston for pleasure.  It was pouring down rain and I was so happy because I had the perfect excuse for laying on my couch all Monday afternoon with the fluffy puff and catching up on all my season finales.  Seriously, Grey’s Anatomy hit me kinda hard.  NCIS left me hanging (I don’t really like being left hanging all summer – wrap it up – I won’t care that much in September).

On a sad note, someone stole part of my herb garden.  I had three pots – one with mint (it was a BIG pot), one with Lavender (it was a MEDIUM size pot), and one with oregano (it is a LITTLE pot).  I had these three pots on the side of my yard so they could get enough sun.  Well, while I was gone, some one stole the two big pots.  Which is weird if only because the BIG pot – I can barely pick up and carry ten feet.  And I’m strong.  And the other pot is heavy too.  Plus the little pot was the actual thrown pottery pot of value, and the only one portable enough to carry off in your arms.  And if they pulled a truck up and threw the big pots in the vehicle, why not take the little one?  I don’t get it.  But now I’m fresh out of mint and lavender and my life is less complete.  Sigh.

But on a happier note, I had an awesome new friend that I met during a period of logistical difficulty this past weekend send me a super awesome package that I got yesterday.  It was amazing, and hopefully I will tell you more about the contents of the package in the future, if I can stop neglecting this blog.

I also got some fun mail on Tuesday, but I’ll wait to tell you about that later.  Suffice it to say, as cool as email and bbm and gchat can be, there is nothing better than pulling up to your house after work and seeing something interesting sticking out of your mailbox.

Yesterday and today have been the first truly hot and humid days we’ve had this summer.  When I got in my car after work this afternoon, my sunglassess fogged up completely.  I had to roll down the windows to unfog them.

This time every year I have to relearn my jogging routes that involve shade.  My winter routes involve sunshine, so it’s always an adjustment.

I had dinner tonight with Robin Anne – tomorrow is her birthday!  HOORAY!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBIN ANNE!  We had so much fun, it was a perfect evening.

YAWN!  So happy tomorrow is Friday.  Sweet dream friends.

Posted in Books, Difficulties, summertime, Television, Thoughts | Leave a Comment »

You Make Your Own Luck, There is No Curse.

June 3, 2010 by charlsiekate

*I wrote this post a week and a half ago and it didn’t get posted due to operational error.  So I’m reposting now.  I did reread it and I think it still makes sense.

A while back, at the beginning of the year – I said I was going to reflect on things I learned in the past decade.  That still hasn’t happened.  I think it is partially too big of a task to complete in one sitting, and that I’ve become overwhelmed by it, thus paralyzing my writing completely.  So I’ve decided to just start writing down little things I’ve learned, then maybe over time I’ll have enough for a whole – WHAT I LEARNED IN THE (I’m not sure what you call 2000-2010 – so I’m going to call it my 20s) – MY TWENTIES.  This could take a while, and a lot of these things I learned this week, but I haven’t turned 30 yet, so I’m going to go ahead and count it.

1.  Last night, while watching Lost, I realized that over the years I’ve learned that on television, when you are injured – either by a savage  beating, being hit by a car, falling off a cliff, ingesting poison, shot in the chest, hit in the head with a two by four or a baseball bat – if after such an incident, you begin to bleed profusely from your mouth – you are going to die.  I’ve also learned that a lot of times the above mentioned events occur to television characters, and these characters do not bleed profusely from the mouth and survive these catastrophic events with little trouble.  Being hit in the head with a rock can kill you in real life.

2.  Briscoe really likes cats and thinks they want to play with her.  Cats do not want to play with Briscoe.

3.  Feeling good about your physical appearance only takes you through the first fifteen minutes of a cocktail party.  After that, you better feel good about yourself in some other way, or it’s going to be a long night – for you, and the people around you.

4.  I don’t like to work out when I’m hung over.  I know that people say it makes you feel better, but part of me thinks those people are just masochists who feel the need to punish themselves for the great time they had the night before.  Maybe this is just my rationalizing excuse for why I don’t like to do it.  When I am hung over – I like to lay on the couch and watch television or go to brunch and eat lots of food and drink a bloody mary.  I can’t fight who I am.

5.  When you hate your job, it manifest itself in other aspects of your life in an unpredictable fashion.  I personally stop eating and sleeping, but that’s just me.  Many people suffer complete opposite reactions.  That being said, I think there is a requirement that at some point in your 20s, you should have a job you hate, that lasts for longer than a year, where you learn a lot, but hate ever minute of it.  I think this partially because I think it helps people with the incentive to find the right job, and appreciate to the fullest extent the rarity of having a job you don’t hate.   It helps you to be empathetic to other people’s plight.  I also believe that work is work, and regardless of what you do, there are going to be times you don’t enjoy it, because, well, it’s work.

6.  Along those same lines, I instantly dislike any article of clothing I wear to work.  Dislike is the wrong word.  Once I wear something to work, it becomes work clothes, and I won’t ever wear that article of clothing outside of work.  It’s been tainted.   It is sad really.  Many a great outfit has been ruined.

7.  Friends who will mow your lawn or lend you their lawn mower are the best kinds of friends.  They are in the same category of friends who will make you a cake from scratch for your birthday and bring you gatorade and saltines when you have the flu.

8.  Speaking of saltines, I feel very strongly about the fact that the best way to survive a stomach bug or a horrible hangover is saltines and ginger ale.  Ginger ale is a gift from the gods.  Seriously.  Everyone should have saltines and ginger ale in stock in their house, because you just never know.

9.  GIS maps of your neighborhood can provide hours of entertainment.

Posted in Television, Thoughts | 2 Comments »

I’ll Never Be Lost Again

May 23, 2010 by charlsiekate

I watched the pilot episode in real time in September on 2004.  I can’t believe it’s really going to be over.  This video really sums it up.  I’m trying to not get too excited because I’m afraid on top of being sad it is over I’m going to be disappointed with how things are wrapped up.  Gah.  I feel like this television show has been something of an abusive relationship – I have wanted to walk away from it so many times in the past six years, but something always happens that drags me back into it!  And the more answers I get the more questions I have!  I need to keep busy between now and tonight.  Apparently they are showing it at the same time regardless of your time zone so that every one finds out what happens at the exact same moment.  I’m going to concentrate on breathing.

Posted in Television | Leave a Comment »

April Showers Bring May Flowers

May 10, 2010 by charlsiekate

It barely rained at all this April, but we’ve had spectacular flowers anyway.  Once it did finally start raining in May, everything started growing, growing, growing.  Sprouts, shoots, branches, buds, springing up from every empty space.  Cracks in the sidewalk, the space between the slats on the porch, the nook in the tree, chinks in the concrete slab back steps, in the gutters on my neighbor’s house, the storm water gutters in the street.  There is a weed in my neighborhood that is close to two stories tall.  I think it grew up in about two weeks.  Everything is green and growing.

I’ve been making Briscoe run with me recently, partially because the puff has gotten fat, and partially because I’m out of shape, and partially because pretty soon it will be so hot that the puff won’t be able to play outside unless it involves swimming.  She gets really hot.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this blog, and blogs, and life on the internet.  I recently celebrated my sixth blogiversary, and I’ve become a very slack blogger.  I don’t necessarily mind being a bad blogger.  But I realized this morning that more importantly than me not blogging, I haven’t been writing much recently.  I stopped writing on a regular basis at some point last year, I think.  I made excuses that the writing I did at work was the reason for my lack of motivation to write.  My new job doesn’t afford much writing, and I can’t use that as a reason anymore.  And I still don’t have a lot of motivation to write, which makes me sad.

I know there are other reasons I lost my motivation last year.   And I think I know what they are, but I’m not sure they make sense.  There were times I was too miserable to write, and times when I was too happy to write, and I’m inclined to say I was also too busy.  But I hate that excuse.  I don’t care how busy you are, you make time for the things you love.  Like the people who tell me they love to read, but just don’t have time.  If you loved it that much, you would find the time.  Maybe it is simply an over use of the world love.  You can’t love an indefinite number of activities.  For instance, I like to bake, and I like to cook.  But I love to run and I love to read (and I love to drink beer and wine, but that is probably another post).  So when I come home from work, instead of going to the grocery story for lots of fun food to prepare the new recipe I just found that I’m excited about – I come home and put a leash on my dog and go for a run.

That’s not to say that I don’t ever cook, because I do, but mostly because I get hungry and have to eat something after I work out, not so much because I just love to do it.

So maybe I just don’t love writing as much as I wish I did.  It is sort of like running, in that it can feel like work, but you always feel much better afterwards, and the more you do it the more enjoyable it becomes.

In other news, the new Frosty Card is out.  For a dollar you get free frostys for six months!  The best part?  When your little card’s time runs out – you can buy another card for another dollar!  Sigh.  It’s one of the greatest things that ever happened.  Thank you MCG Children Medical Center for making my summer exceptional!

Also, I would really appreciate it if someone would go to the mall and buy me a bunch of new clothes that I would really like – I need some work clothes and some fun going out clothes and a couple of really cute dresses to wear to weddings and engagement parties this summer.  Make sure it is the right size, will be flattering for my figure, is a good color for me, will be appropriate for the occasion, is comfortable, and isn’t too expensive.  Thx.

Posted in Augusta, Beauty, Thoughts | 1 Comment »

Hi. Remember me? The flaky unreliable one?

April 19, 2010 by charlsiekate

Y’all, I’m honestly embarrassed by how long it has been since my last post.  But I do have a few excuses.  I am also well aware that no one wants to hear excuses.  But, 2010 has been kind of crazy so far.  I left my old job, had a few panic attacks about what I was going to do next, and started a new job that I’m really happy with so far.  Somewhere in all of that, I went skiing, spent a week doing hard manual labor for the junior league attic sale (I know the best way to fill up a dumpster with trash), raked over ten huge paper bags full of leaves out of my yard, drank a few liquor drinks and washed a few sandwiches down with beer at the Masters, and celebrated Paige and Jack’s wedding!  I’ve made new friends and spent quality time with old friends, and I can say so far that this year is really shaping up. The flowers have been absolutely unbelievable this year.  I’ve never seen the azaleas show off so.  And guess what I saw today?  A HONEYSUCKLE!  My favorite jasmine of all times!  I got really excited.  Briscoe just kind of looked at me like, Lady, get a grip. You know what else has been amazing this year?  The pollen.  A week or two ago it was basically raining pollen.  There was a yellow cloudy haze hanging over the entire city.  Pollen accumulated inside my car in amazingly gross amounts.  Briscoe turned yellow.  You could literally sit and watch it fall like, like, um, I don’t want to say snow, because it doesn’t look like that, it’s more like dust falling, lighter than sand, but not like snow.  Maybe sort of like ash?  But lighter.  Someone said it looked like someone had dusted for finger prints all over Augusta.  I think that is the best analogy I’ve heard so far.  It falls, but it blows around.  I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’ve never seen it as bad it was this year.  And it turns EVERYTHING yellow.  It’s almost like a nightmare. ANYWAY, the yellow pollen is apparently not the pollen that makes you feel bad, because if it’s big enough to see, it’s too big to inhale, and the pollen you inhale is much too small to see.  The small pollen has been slowly killing me.  I’ve decided to coin this illness as the yellow lung.  No more complaints of allergies.  I’m dying of the yellow lung.  I like to think my voice sounds cooler with the deep raspy tone I’ve recently developed, but we all know I’m not rational about such things. I infinitely prefer the noise my window unit air conditioner makes to my noise machine when I sleep at night.  Like, a bazillion times over.  One day I’ll get my upstairs connected to the central air, but right now I’m sort of loving the window unit.  Is that bad?  Does recycling atone for my window unit sins? My new favorite television show is Mercy.  The people on this show are ridiculously good looking, total alcoholics, and complete trainwrecks.  But I have to say they all seem to have a super sense of humor.  I love a dark drama that also makes me cry laughing.  It happens rarely, if ever.  My other favorite show is Cougar Town.  I didn’t want to like it, but I really REALLY love it.  LOVE. I hope you all had a very pleasant Monday, and that Tuesday is an even better day.  The lamb and I are going to sleep tight.  Sweet dreams!

Posted in Augusta, Georgia, Masters, Television | Leave a Comment »

Drop off a Bear, pick up a Lamb

March 16, 2010 by charlsiekate

Briscoe is at the salon today, getting her hair did.  Her hair was getting so long I was starting to feel neglectful.  I can’t wait to pick her up so Bobby can have a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb.

I’ve been getting some awesome blog love from Betsy and Molly, my sweet Atlanta friends who I never get to see.  But I was lucky enough to see BOTH of them this past week.  It’s amazing how long you can go without catching up with the important people in your life.  Actually, it’s amazing how fast time goes by and how quickly life seems to happen.

Speaking of which, I’m really happy that the time changed last weekend and the daylight last an hour longer every day from now on until the fall.  I love spring, and I love summer, and I’m excited.  Also, I’m starting a new job on Monday!  It’s time for new beginnings, and I’m ready for a new challenge.  Until Monday, I’m working on getting my life put together and cleaning my house for the Masters!  Did you hear that Tiger is going to make it this year?  I don’t know how I feel about it – it’s going to bring a lot more hype to the week, which can be fun, but it can also make everything more difficult for us local people.  But the golf traffic signs are up and the flowers are starting to bloom!

First the red buds were blooming, then the Japanese magnolias and now the Carolina jasmine and the blue star onion flowers have started to bloom and it’s only going to get better from here!

Soon the cherries and the dogwood and the azaleas and wisteria and the whole world will be covered in flowers and everything will smell wonderful!  I can’t wait.

Of course, all this talk of warm weather and flowers blooming ignores the reality of pollen and allergies and bugs.  After playing tennis outside last night in Waynesboro I was violently reminded of the reality of pollen and bugs.  I think the flowers and the pretty weather are worth it.

Happy Tuesday!

Posted in Augusta, Briscoe, outside, Weather | 1 Comment »

Novel Ways to Feel Like You’ve Been Beat Up

February 27, 2010 by charlsiekate

Y’all, I am so sore.  Sore like wow.  This is the seventh day in a row I’ve been sore.  And I haven’t been working out at all.  Which is probably why I’m so sore.  If I worked out more on a regular basis, I probably wouldn’t be so freaking sore. 

Last week I met Libby and Bryan in Steamboat to visit Zack and to ski.  Andrea came up from Denver for the weekend, and we had a grand old time.  Friday night, Lulu cooked dinner for us, and Andrea brought a case of wine, and a shot ski, we had a dance party, and it snowed like crazy, we went to see Miss the Boat, and  stayed up entirely too late.  It was an extremely fun night.  I would show you the pictures, but then I’d have to kill you.  It was so fun, it almost killed the rest of us on Saturday.  Luckily the snow was dumping and the visibility on the mountain was really poor, and it was the best day for us to ski a half day.  We had fun, but the next two days were much better ski days in general.  But even skiing a half day left me sore on Sunday.  After skiing we went to Slopeside where we destroyed the best nachos in America and drank sunshine beer.  It was marvelous. 

Saturday night we went to the Johnny Cash cover band, which was really interesting.  The guy sounded just like Johnny Cash, and he told these bizarre stories like he really was Johnny Cash.  I’d never realized just HOW MUCH all of Johnny Cash’s songs seem to run together, but three hours of the Johnny Cash cover band made that very clear to me.  We had a great group of people, and we ran into Jarrett, who took us to Mazzola’s for late night meatball sliders.  They were DELICIOUS!  So good. 

Sunday was an awesome day of skiing, we got in a few more hours with Andrea before she had to drive back to Denver.  Sunday night we watched the hockey game, when USA beat Canada – and Zack and Rich tried to teach me all the rules of Hockey, of which I was previously sadly ignorant.  Libby knows a lot more about hockey than I do.   

Monday we got up early and hit the slopes.  Rich was nice enough to be my personal ski instructor, and helped scrap me off the side of the mountain when I face planted into the snow going 90 miles an hour.  Which might have added to why I feel like I’ve been beat up.  I actually busted bad enough that ski lift ticket was ripped off.  Haha.  I’ve never had that happened before.  Rich was convinced that I’d destroyed my knee in the fall, but I survived. 

After skiing we went to the hot springs (steamboat springs!) and soaked our muscles and played in the fog while our wet hair froze to our heads.  We laughed at the lifeguard wearing boots and a parka and wondered how long it would take him to strip off all his outer layers and shoes to save someone if they were drowning. 

Tuesday was a long day of travel back to the east coast, with a layover in Minneapolis, a screaming child on all flights and a disastrous marta experience.   I was sore from skiing until probably Thursday. 

Friday afternoon was set up day for the Junior League Attic Sale.  I moved a lot of plywood and I have to say my shoulders and back can feel it today.  This morning we were at the fairgrounds early for Move In Day – and after hours and hours of moving boxes and furniture and toys and trash – we are all moved into the fair grounds!  Now comes the fun part of making the fair grounds look pretty for Sale Day, which is next Saturday.  I’m the facilities coordinator, which means I’m in charge of the trash and the beer and the golf carts and the security guards.  It is really fun. 

Oh, and now I’m so sore.  I think I’m coming down with a terrible cold, although I can’t tell if I’m sore from all the unorthodox weight lifting and cardio I’ve been performing or if maybe I’m coming down with the flu. 

But instead of sitting on the couch and worrying about it, I’m going over to Matt and Jenna’s to cook out and sit by the fire.  Sitting by the fire is going to soothe my weary bones.  Right? 

Oh yeah, Briscoe says hi.  She wants to know who wants to come over and brush out the tangles in her hair because her owner is neglectful and if she had a phone she would call the humane society.  But her evil owner won’t let her have a cell phone because she doesn’t have any thumbs.

Posted in Difficulties, Working Out | Leave a Comment »

Man

February 4, 2010 by charlsiekate

I had a great long post and my stupid computer deleted it.  Ugh.  It was so interesting too, all about Jack London and Briscoe.

Posted in Web/Tech | Leave a Comment »

Daylight is Saving me

January 19, 2010 by charlsiekate

I think the best part of living in the South East is that you can believe, in mid January, that Spring is here.  After weeks and weeks of unbearable cold (I know that other parts of the country were much colder, but we don’t know how to deal with it down here), today is absolutely beautiful.  The sun is shining and the temperature is in the high 60s.  It will get colder tonight, but right now, I can hear the grass growing. 

And the sun doesn’t set until 5:47 tonight.  Sigh.  I love it when the days get longer.  Autumn is an amazing time of year, but Spring holds such an ensured promise of warmth, that it is impossible to not feel lighter as the days get longer.

Posted in Weather | Leave a Comment »

January 12, 2010 by charlsiekate

Aggh, I love this movie.  And this dog.  Maggie posted this video and I had to share. 

I’m in a great mood this morning.  I feel like today is one of those days where anything could happen.  I’ve got work to do, and birthday cards to send, and hot coffee to drink.  And it’s not QUITE as cold as it has been.  Now if only my car would drive to the mechanic and get her oil changed without me.

Posted in Movies | 1 Comment »

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