Fun Monday - Who me? Eccentric??

Fun Monday this week is hosted by one of my very favorite bloggers EVER, because I just think she's a fantastic person, and an amazing photographer, and I just love her. Oh, right...Fun Monday...this week, being hosted by Lisa, who has this to say:

"A quirk is defined as a peculiarity of action, behavior, or personality; mannerism. We are all unique individuals, having quirks that help make us who we are. I would like to know what your quirks are. Confess to one, confess to ten, you decide. Just come back Monday ready to spill the beans, the rest of the world may look at you like you are from Mars, but you‘re among friends here. We won’t laugh, in fact that eccentricity just may endear you to us more."

Well, I'm full of quirks, so I knew this would be an easy Fun Monday to participate in. But then I sat down to write this, and it seemed harder than I initially thought.

Okay, so here's one of my main quirks, something that is quite possibly more than just a quirk. It's my tendency to need to do things in order. What do I mean? Let me see if I can explain with a few examples. Cleaning my house, I always begin in my kitchen, then move through the rest of the rooms in my house, always in the same order, ending in my office (which might explain why my office is always a mess, by the time I reach it, I'm too tired and give up). When I log into my computer, I always check my various email addresses and other websites in the same order, every time. There are so many other things I do this way...I'm a bit OCD that way, I know. It's a quirk, right?

It kind of spills over into the way I watch television, or read books, or do any other number of things. I can't ever read a book that is part of a series out of order. I can't begin watching a television show in its second season, without first watching the first...I can't tell a story without filling those who don't know about the background. For me, things need to have a beginning, middle and end. It's a weird quirk that way, but it is something that makes up my personality in so many ways.

Other quirks? I should go visit some of your blogs and see what you put down, because I'm pretty sure I'll remember some of mine then...but I'm drawing a blank right now.

So, instead I direct you to Lisa's, to go see what everyone else is quirky about.

By the way, if you'd like to know what's going on with my new job, click here. Also, The Two Coreys are back, and I had a little something to say about that over at Cafe Karina.

And, I know I've been slacking in my blogging duties lately, but I've got some great stuff coming up this week. Please come back to find out about bacon lollipops, the ABCs of me, me, me, and how Traveller and I partied like rockstars at Nascar.

Welcome to The Office

Next Tuesday will be one month that I've been at my new job. Can you believe it? One month already and I've told you NOTHING about my new job! Can you ever forgive me?

I'll make it up to you by telling you a little bit today.

Let's see...In the interest of privacy and confidentiality issues, I'm going to keep things pretty vague, but at the same time, since work takes up a large portion of my days, and I'm sure will be fodder for many tales, I should tell you a little something, right?

For starters, I'm pretty sure I mentioned that taking this job meant a complete career change for me. I've been a paralegal for eleven years now, and even though I liked my last job at The Firm, I was ready to leave the legal field behind. It was always supposed to be a temporary stop on the way to something else...but then, that's how it goes, right?

I now work in the financial field, as the executive assistant to the President and CEO of a fairly large local financial institution, to be known simply as "The Office" from now on.

The office itself is located in the downtown area of my hometown, and I absolutely love working in this neighborhood. My own personal office has these fantastic large windows that face out onto a busy downtown street. All day long I can look out and watch all the activity going on outside. Which included the old guy who suns himself out on the roof of his building, directly across the street from my windows. Yeah, if only he was a bit more eye candy, and a little less...um...raisin in the sun.

During lunch, I get to take nice walks, and if I choose to, eat at any of the many restaurants and cafes, many with outdoor seating, while I catch up with friends, or a good book. AH, the life!

Also, it takes me about 10 to 15 minutes to commute to and from work. This is a vast improvement over my last job, and I've only had to fill my tank twice so far since I started this job, and that's mostly because I drive all over creation on weekends.

Equally as fantastic is the fact that I now leave work at 4:30 p.m. daily, which is a full hour earlier than my official quitting time at The Firm was. But the difference here is that at The Firm, if I ever left before 6:00 p.m., I thought I was getting off easy. Here...4:31 and the place is a ghost town. 4:45 and I am HOME ensconced on my couch, or even better, lately, in mom's pool.

As time goes on, I'll introduce you to the cast of characters here at The Office, but for now, I'll just tell you about my boss, the CEO. He is a portly, jolly Italian guy...sort of a cross between Santa Claus and The Godfather. I know, I know, that's quite the image, ain't it?

But he is honestly just a good guy, and we are getting along great. He very much has an "open door policy" method of management, and everyone is really comfortable with just dropping by with questions, or just to say hello. He's also the type of boss that says "please", "thank you" and the all important "good job". Besides that, he's a fun guy, walking around the hallways singing (and he can actually carry a tune), adopting the Godfather voice when it fits, and taking a genuine interest in his employees personal as well as professional lives. He's created a really convivial, yet professional atmosphere here, and I really think we'll get along FABULOUSLY. FYI, from now on, he will be known here as "The Don".

I should also quickly introduce you to "Friendly" because you'll be hearing a lot about him. Friendly is the person who told me about this job. He works in the human resources department, and got me the interview when he found out I was looking for a job while we were working one of our "food for the poor" events. Let me tell you, the moniker "friendly" suits him to a T. Everyone loves him. He's a young kid (in his early 20's), and always willing to lend a helping hand, both here at work, and with our church. We get along great, and I'm glad I work with him. It's a good thing we get along, because we'll be spending a lot of time together this summer, not just at work, but with the new youth outreach program we've started at our church. (I'll have to fill you all in on that at a later date).

Plenty of other characters for you to meet in the coming months, especially as I get to know them all better, but I'm happy to say that I have yet to locate a "Nazi" type here, and if there is such a thing as a "Whisper Wednesday", I'll never know it, because I'm privy to, and even keeper of, all secrets in my position, so no whispering around me. NICE!

And the work itself? Well, it ain't brain surgery, but it's actually pretty interesting stuff. I've already had the opportunity to participate in events and things that are completely different from anything I'm used to, and I'm getting to meet all sorts of people. There is the typical "administrative" stuff, but then there's the more involved stuff as well. And The Don is trusting me with some pretty cool creative work as well, already, so it can only get more fun from here on out. And the stress level? NON-EXISTENT, which is SUCH a nice change from the legal field.

The only drawback I can think of? No "personal use" Internet access during the day folks. I mean, I can pop on for the occasional search for information or what not, but I will NOT be blogging at work here. I've not even attempted it, but would probably come across a fire wall if I even tried. Still, we're supposed to work at work, right? So, all things considered, I can't really complain about that.

To sum it up? So far so good, I'm liking it. I'm a very lucky girl that things turned out the way they did.

Fun Monday

Been a little while since I've done a Fun Monday, and I missed you all!!! So, today's Fun Monday is being hosted by HulaGirl. She wants us to share the clothes we just can't "part with". I have OH SO MANY of these.

We can start with this batch right here:


Those, my friends are just SOME of the pants I don't quite fit into right now, but firmly believe I will again, someday soon. I have a whole other plastic bin full of them, but the ones in the plastic bin are pants I haven't fit in for several years now, but keep telling myself one day I will. One day, I will get rid of them.

Then, there are my concert t-shirts. For example:

Somewhere, I also have a Boyz II Men concert T, and better yet, somewhere there is a New Kids on The Block T...I couldn't find it for this entry, but trust me, I have it somewhere.

There is also this shirt, which I haven't worn since high school:

but will never part with. I was a "Peer Leader" in H.S. and it was one of those times in my life I'm really proud of, and the shirt has loads of sentimental value.

Also sentimental:

My grandma, "The Teacher" gave me this T for Christmas one year...over a decade ago at least...possibly a lot longer than that. The writing and the angels? Glow in the dark. I never wore this T-shirt once, but after my grandmother passed away, I could never bear to part with it. Just recently, however, while helping out on a youth retreat, I wore the shirt for the very first time ever. I'm so glad I never parted with it.

And then there's this dress:

I bought this dress for $7 at a consignment shop in California at least 6 years ago, possibly longer...definitely longer. I fell in love with it, I had to have it. I brought ithome, hung it up in my closet, and never had occasion to wear it. Then I gained weight, and have not been able to wear it since. In fact, the price tag is still attached. But I LOVE this dress and can't bear to part with it.

I could share so many more stories of the type, but I'll stop here.

By the way, I just realized that I wrote up an entire post about my new job the other day, and was convinced I'd posted it, but it turns out it's still sitting in my "drafts" folder. So, come on by tomorrow if you want to hear all about my new job.

HAPPY MONDAY EVERYONE!

Be sure to go to HulaGirlAtHeart's to see who else is playing today!

Photo Hunt #22 - Water

The Photo Hunter theme this week is "Water". When I took this photo last fall, I knew it would come in handy one day! ;0)

I'm off to go do "Food for the Poor" today, so y'all have a great Saturday!

We Are the Champions!!!

Here in the Boston area it's all about the Celtics winning the Championship...their 17th, but the first in 22 years. We're all wild and crazy ecstatic and wearing our green and shamrocks proudly. And we're also all walking around like zombies because we stayed up WAY too late last night to watch the game and celebrations afterwards.

My eyes are closing on me as I type this, so I'm going to keep it nice and short. Tomorrow night I will have a post for you all about my new job, it's mostly written, but I just don't have the energy it would take for the editing piece, so...it'll have to hold.

In the meantime, I invite you to catch a little "So You Think You Can Dance" over at the Cafe. Tonight's post a recap of the performances. Tomorrow night we'll have a recap of the results show.

Good night everyone, my pillow is whispering sweet nothings in my ear, and I must listen.

Come on Over

There will be a new post up here tonight, but in the meantime won't you come over to Cafe Karina for a cup of coffee? Over there you'll find the Bachelorette drinking an espresso with the last four Bachelors, and the kids from So You Think You Can Dance drinking energy drinks because boy, do they need them.

Please do stop on by, we'd love to serve you!

Beautiful Women

Something miraculous is happening in my life lately, and I find myself in such a good place. The only negative to this is that I find myself with a serious case of writer's block.

This is not the first time something like this has happened to me. I've said before that sometimes a writer needs misery and sadness in order to be able to write. For years I was happy with my life and couldn't write a word...no poetry, no fiction, no nothing. Because of blogging, I was able to break through that block, and begin writing again. But lately, I've got nothing.

Last night, as I sat and watched the Boston Celtics kick some serious L.A. Laker butt, I stared at my computer screen for hours. I sat there and stared, but could think of nothing to write. NOT A THING.

The thing is, I have so much to tell you. But I just can't seem to make the words come together to make sense of it all.

And at the end of the night, I wind up with a blank post, and I give up. Call it a night, say "maybe I'll write it tomorrow".

So, I took a different aproach last night. I decided that I would just show you a photo. A photo of two beautiful women who have changed my life in recent months with their friendship, and their faith. The first I've talked about before, my cousin M&M, who is someone with an incredible amount of faith, and an even greater sense of love. Love for everyone and everything around her. The second "the Disciple" you haven't met, but I really need to tell you about her. In the short time that I've known her, she's opened my eyes to so much, she's changed my view of the world around me. And she's done it all without trying, just by being who she is. We should all be so blessed to have two ladies such as these in our lives. And to top it off, they are my friends, girls who know how to have a good time, laugh at themselves, and appreciate the finer things in life. My girls...and I:

I swear, the sarcastic, cranky, wise-ass Karina is still around, she's just feeling mellow lately.

But stay tuned because I have a bacon lollipop (yep, you read that right) that I still need to try, and I'll be blogging all about that soon.

Now, go on and wear your green proudly today, because it's Celtics Day in Boston!

Photo Hunt #21 - Emotion(s)

Today's Photo Hunter thme is "Emotion(s)". I really believe nobody is more expressive with their emotions than children. They just don't know how to hold back. Whatever it is they are feeling, it's right there, written all over their face, their body language. And sometimes this bevy of emotions can be expressed in a matter of seconds from happy,to sad, to exhuberant, to downright miserable. I love that.

So, here's my cousn PM's son, "Smiley"...but as you can see, he's not alway smiling. Often, but not always.

How cute is he? Thanks for stopping by!

The Blogess Returns - An Update and a Giveaway

So, I realize I've been M.I.A. for a little while, and for that I apologize, but life's been hectic lately. Good hectic, but hectic all the same. Last Wednesday night I was trying to put together yet another lame post, just so I could post something and keep "Blog 365" going, and I had a bit of a computer "meltdown". Nothing major, but just enough that in my exhausted state I realized it wasn't worth the effort to re-do a post that was lame to begin with, and I threw in the towel. "That's it!" I said. I made it to June, that's half-way for Blog 365, and that's good enough for me. The truth is, I feel that my blog was suffering in terms of "quality" in order for me to fulfill the "quantity". I think that if you read me semi-regularly, you've heard me mention that I can be kind of OCD about certain things, so signing up for something like Blog 365 was just asking for trouble for me. It's really hard for me to just "give up" once I've committed to something, even something as insignificant in the grand scheme of things as blogging every day.

However, things are going on in my life right now that are taking such higher priority that it just seemed ridiculous that I was stressing out about coming up with some lame post JUST to post.

So for my own sanity, and for the benefit of this blog, and hopefully the enjoyment of my readers, I decided that I was going to forgo quantity in exchange for quality (I hope). I decided NOT to post an entry last Thursday. And then, once that was done, it was easy to just decide to take the entire weekend off from the blog. A "hiatus" if you will, and come back refreshed this week.

And I am BACK folks. And I have all sorts of fun things planned, stories to share, and goodies, goodies galore. I will most likely NOT be posting daily now, but I will be posting regularly, and I will be posting stuff with a bit more substance. Not always, after all, we all need a silly meme here and there, right? But I want to get back to the reason I started this blog, and that was to share a bit of me with you. I've been getting away from that, and here I am with a whole new blog design, and wasting it with lame "filler" posts. Well, no more!

And speaking of the blog re-design. I had a little party a week or so ago, and I promised goodies and giveaways, and then I sort of "spaced" on it. But I am here to tell you that prizes will be handed out. I did have a request, so the Labyrinth DVD goes to: Sandy M, who's name was actually the first one I pulled out my hat (okay, I used a basket, not a hat, but whatever); Also a winner? Sassy Mama Bear (who gets the teddy bear with the smiley face, because well...I thought it was appropriate). Ladies, please email me with your mailing addresses so I can get the prizes out to you.

Now, I do still have the Texas Chainsaw Massacre DVD to giveaway, as well as the consolation prizes of "earphones" (there are three of these), but looking back on it now I realize how LAME these prizes were, so I'm going let you all decide if you actually want these things. So, here's what I'm doing...if you commented on the original "Party" post and want either the Texas Chainsaw DVD or the Ear Buds, comment here, let me know and they will go out "first come, first serve" basis. If you did not comment originally, but think you might want any of these things, speak now, and you'll go into the queue.

Once I get my head together some more, I'll have a "proper" giveaway to make up for the lameness of this one, I promise.

Well, that's it for tonight, I have some serious "blog visiting" to do, I need to find out what you've all been up to in my absence, but do come back, I have lots to share with you about my new job, my new friends, and my new outlook on life. Life is good folks, life is hella good.

Lawboy, feeling overwhelmed and the Super Delegate

Oh what a strange trip this last week has been. "Overwhelmed" does not even begin to describe how I'm feeling this week. But not in a "I'm stressed out and can't handle it" kind of way, it's in a "life is good, oh so good" kind of way.

There's a lot I could tell you, but let's just say that I'm personally, emotionally, and spiritually going through a bit of an awakening. I have reconnected with some old friends, and formed bonds with some amazing new ones, and now have this incredible community I'm a part of, and well...life is good folks. Life is good.

But between this new social life that is just keeping me out of the house and all over the place lately, and with being employed again, which I'm just beginning to find a balance with, and the summer arriving and pulling for me to be outside at all hours...well, I'm kind of slacking on my blogging folks. I can't even tell you the number of blogs I need to (and want to) catch up reading. I miss you guys, my blog buddies, so much.

I'm hoping to do some catching up this coming weekend, so...we'll see what happens there.

In the meantime, today Lawboy resurfaced again. I received a text message from him saying something along the lines of "We haven't spoken in so long, I have so much to tell you, I'll call you later". Hmmm...really? I replied with a quick "Alright, cool" or something along those lines, but don't worry ladies, I'm not really holding my breath...or caring either way, to be honest. But, I might have more funny stories to tell if he does call later, so stay tuned.

Oh, and the Super Delegate? So, it turns out one of the Super Delegates for Massachusetts also happens to be someone who works at my new company. Yep, ladies and gents, I met a super delegate today and he is actually a pretty cool guy. How cool is that? I know a Super Delegate.

Okay, that's all for tonight. There will NOT be a Thursday Thirteen tomorrow...but there will be a post sometime in the afternoon/evening.

Yes, this was a random post, but there you have it...random, that's me lately.

Fun Monday on a Tuesday - What I made this weekend.

So, I missed Fun Monday yesterday, because I was so exhausted I couldn't even think to put a post together. Why was I tired? Well, I helped out on a youth retreat this weekend, and it was crazy busy, I got ZERO sleep, and I had the most amazing time ever.

There are so many things that happened this weekend that I want to share with you, but the words are sort of escaping me. This was a retreat for the confirmation class, a requirement before these kids make their confirmation. See, you hear the word requirement and then you should know what that means. Not one of the 30 plus kids wanted to be there, they were there because they had to be.

We knew we had our work cut out fo us. I was giving a talk on self-acceptance and I was pretty nervous about it. Would they even want to listen to me, never mind relate to anything I was saying? Well, they listened, and not only did they listen, but they REALLY listened. They got it, and I was touched by what some of them said to me after the talk. And that was just the beginning. These kids, who did not want to be there when they arrived, absolutely allowed themselves to be open, and to accept what we had to offer them.

When I tell you that this was one of the most amazing beautiful weekends I have ever experienced, I'm probably understating it. There truly are no words.

But, you came here for my late Fun Monday, didn't you? And here I am going on and on about the teenagers. So, here's what I'm going to do, I'm going to share with you a little bit of this retreat, while I show you something I made. Although, it's actually something "we" made. "We" being members of the team, who worked on recreating the skit I posted here on Friday. I sort of "directed" the whole thing, while my amazing friends acted in it, and my brother, who was recovering from an emergency apendectomy on Friday and still made it to help out on the retreat anyway, filmed it.

Here's what we made for the kids:

Fun Monday - The stuff I made

I have this great thing I want to share with you all for Fun Monday, but I was away helping out on a youth retreat all weekend and am too exhausted to participate...I'm sorry folks, I really did want to.

HOWEVER, I ask that you please come back either later tonight or sometime later tomorrow, and I will have it up! Better late than never, right?

Oh, and the youth retreat? I have no words. Amazing doesn't even begin to cover it. If these are the kids that are out future, well then, we're in good hands. I'll tell you more about it this week as well, I promise.

I Believe The Children Are Our Future

Go ahead, sing it..."Teach them well, and let them lead the way, show them all the beauty they possess inside"...you know you're singing it!

Okay,okay...why am I singing Whitney Houston anyway? Well, as you read this, I am in the midst of a youth retreat, hopefully guiding some of our youth, but at the very least entertaining them a bit.

Yesterday I gave a talk on Self-Acceptance...hopefully it went over well (I'm pre-writing this post, so I an only hope for the future at this time). And this afternoon we are attempting to recreate the amazing youtube skit you see below. If it goes well, hopefully we'll have our own version of a video to share...we'll have to wait and see.

For now, I leave you with this: