skybluepink

Thirteen Things That Get Me A Fired Up - Quick!

1. People who drive WAY below the speed limit.

2. Ignorant people

3. People who have closed minds, yet think they are very open minded.

4. People who interrupt constantly when I am talking.

5. People who drive without using their turn signals, especially when I am waiting for them to turn, but they go straight in front of me.

6. People who don't stop calling. If I told you I will call you back, I will. Trust me. Your incessant calling will not get me to call you and faster. In fact, it will actually prolong my calling you back.

7. People who whine over the littlest thing. All the time.

8. People who are perpetually late, and who don't call when they are going to be late.

9. When I come home from work really tired and hubby wants me to cook him dinner.

10. When I notice that the plants that I have planted in the garden are dead after only a few days.

11. When people make assumptions that because I am small, I am also meek and stupid.

12. When people ask to see my id for a pack of cigarettes. I'm almost 32, for God's sake!

13. Hubby assuming I'm out in a bar drinking when I don't get home from work by the time he does.

I signed up for the delightful Gypsy to interview me and she came up with some great questions.

1. How did you meet your husband and when did you know it was love?

We met when we were both in college, working for the same politician. I was on the staff as a receptionist/secretary and he was the intern. We were both in other relationships, so we didn't until about a year later, when we both were single. He tired flirting with me, but he was so bad at it, I didn't realize he was doing it! We started dating after he graduated and moved away. We dated long distance for about 6 months until I moved to the town he was living in, 3 hours north of where I was currently living. We dated for another two years before we got married and in August will be married for 4 years. I'm not sure when I knew when I was in love or even how I finally figured it out. All I knew is that he made me laugh - a lot and we had a lot in common. I also knew we worked well together and shared common interests. I liked his family and his friends and liked that he was independent. Oh, and I thought he was really good looking. Plus, he surfed, which I found really attractive. Funny, I haven't seen him surf since we've left college.

2. You can be the spokesperson for any charity or organization. Which one would you chose and why?

I would select either the national park foundation because of my great love for national parks, or for pets lifeline, the non-profit animal shelter here in town. Those are the places I have donated my time and money and stand behind everything they stand for. I love the outdoors and feel that we have to do all we can to preserve what mother nature has given us. And while I have been to many national parks, I will never tire of them. They are all so beautiful and wondrous, yet ask nothing of us in return, only to be kind and take our trash when we leave. Pets lifeline has given me the happiness that is my happy rays of furry sunshine, Atticus and Finnegan. Pets Lifeline saves cats and dogs from being euthanized, which makes me very happy. They strive to find safe and loving homes for all the animals and provide care when something goes wrong. They also make sure all the animals are spayed or neutered before they are adopted out, which i strongly agree with.

3. Name 3 books that had a powerful effect on you.

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins
Cherry by Mary Karr

4. What are you afraid of?

Not ever knowing my biological history. The older I get, the harder it is not knowing where I came from. It makes me feel really alone at times.

5. Name 5 things that turn you on.

a good smelling man
a man fresh out of the ocean
soft kisses that lead to passionate ones
playful flirting
caressing in the right places
being with me in mind, body and spirit

DIRECTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEW MEME

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions
4. You will include this explanation and offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

because i am BEAT right now, i am only going to give you an update from today:

driving a formula 1 race car is FREAKING AWESOME!

and the colleage that was giving me trouble...was FIRED today.

and with that, i'm going to bed.

i have finally gotten to the point in my life where i am able to stand up for myself. to the person that is insulting me. without sounding like a child. this man that i work with has been tormenting me since he started, about a week after me. he is condescending, rude and disrespectful. he raises his voice and yells. he doesn't listen to what others say, he ignores them or interrupts them. mostly he does this to me, i believe, because i am a woman. he is only a contractor for our firm, which makes this even worse. and he also acts this way so conveniently when my bosses are out of town.

i have tried so hard to not let him bother me, to be bigger than him. but today was the last straw.

when i got to work on friday, he had left something on my desk for me to do. first, let me say, i do not report to this man, nor is he someone i work for. we are simply colleagues and frankly, nothing more than that. he, however, does not see it that way. i did not do his project on friday as i had my own work to do. at the end of the day i sent him an email, kindly saying i couldn't get to his project but i believed someone had already sent him the information he had been looking for. he never responded, so i thought things were fine.

now today, i barely got into the door before he was up in my face. he was PISSED that i hadn't taken care of his project. i explained i couldn't get to it right away, but perhaps i could do it later. then he yelled at me for suggesting someone had sent him the information. i was so shocked, my eyes started to well. now let me just say, i am SO not the crier. it honestly takes me A LOT to cry.

i contacted the person who had sent the requested information, which was exactly what he was looking for. i sent it to him and cc'd my boss as well. i then asked the man what he needed this particular information for, as my boss wanted to know why i was working on something for him. he got snippy with me once again and told me to forget about it and he would do it. i responded to my boss kindly telling him i had no idea why the man wanted the information.

then i went into a 2 hour meeting where i had to take minutes. i then went to lunch. when i returned the man stormed up to my desk got loud and pointed his finger in my face saying that i'm very creative. i looked at him in utter confusion and asked him what he meant. he said i was creative because i had cc'd my boss on our email conversation earlier in the day. he then said i do as little work as possible each day. oh no. he didn't just say that. as i tried to respond, he said to me i could make an appointment with him if i wanted to talk about this. wtf?!

i had to stew a while. in fact, i actually broke down and cried. at my desk. tears streamed down my face. i could not believe what happened. i was absolutely humiliated.

i regained my composure and responded to an email from him and told him i did not appreciate the way he spoke to me and how he had put words in my mouth. i made sure our boss was cc'd again on this. he responded in a fit of fury saying i spend more time getting other people to do my work for me so that i don't have to do it and i get way more people involved than necessary. wtf?! no one does my work, ever. i said just about as much and asked him not to ever speak to me like that again.

i was done with him. or so i thought.

he then yelled at me across the office that i need to stop playing games, stop including our boss and so on. he said again, if i wanted to talk to him, i could schedule time. every time i tried to open my mouth, he interrupted me and would not listen to a word i said.

i am so over this guy. but, i also cannot work in this environment much longer. someone in the firm that i talked to about this said he is harassing me and has created a hostile work environment. i firmly agree. i just don't know where to go from here. luckily, i have documented everything he has said to me since he started.

i had to take an ativan in the middle of the afternoon, i was shaking so bad. i have never.ever.been.humiliated.like.this.in.my.life.

i took a bubble bath when i got home, just had a bowl of cereal and have taken a few more ativan and am heading off to bed. tomorrow i get to drive a formula 1 race car. so watch out sucker. oh, buy the way, jackass, i set up tomorrow so you could go along, too. are you going to tell me i don't do any work or that somehow i had gotten someone else to do it for me?

it's the weekend! yay! it's been such a slow week for me. a lot has happened, but it all has gone by so slowly. i'm so glad it's finally over, though.

hubby and i have a wedding to go to in town tomorrow evening, but that's all we have planned. he's going turkey hunting in the morning and i think i'll go get a mani, but that's about it, and boy and i glad. i have a bunch of house stuff to do and i just got some great books i ordered off amazon that i'm looking forward to starting. i heard about this one from gypsy, this one i picked because i love, love, love the author, and finally this one because i stumbled across the author's blog and i used to work with her when i was in the political world.

i haven't had a good afternoon of reading in a while, so hopefully i'll get some good time in this weekend. and a good nap. and a good cup of coffee. is that asking too much?

it rained most of yesterday and last night but was pretty out today. it's supposed to rain more this weekend, which is good because we need it. next week it's supposed to be nice and sunny. tuesday it's supposed to get up to about 80, which i am really looking forward to. tuesday we get to drive race cars and i'm super excited about that. we're going to be driving formula 1 cars at the track and i'm stoked. we were going to do that a few weeks ago, but it was a miserable rainy day so we had to reschedule.

today i did a lot of running around. a minor crisis started my day but was quickly resolved. i had to take my boss to pick up his car from getting it detailed and we went to mcdonald's for a snack. he's so funny...it's totally our little secret that we go there. and he had a strawberry milkshake because i did. that makes 5 for me this week, by the way. should i see help for that? is there a 12-step program for strawberry milkshake addicts?

one of my favorite friends was online this afternoon so we had our usual friday afternoon banter. she totally rocks and has friday's off so we usually get to chat for a bit. it's fun to know she'll be online and i have something to look forward to. and since we live across the country from each other, it's really nice we have a time to chat and catch up. now if only i could share some of my shoes with her... :)

isn't he just the cutest thing evah? like a little monchichi! oh so soft and cuddly... :)

it's been a bit of a bizarre week around here, but nothing that i can't handle. i've been lazy at my running, but just signed up for a 10k race in june. better bust my butt 'till then!

i haven't been sleeping so well, either, mostly just because i've been wound up due to work. work is good, don't get me wrong, it's just busy right now. and since i'm still relatively new, i want to make sure i'm still doing a good job and getting everything done right.

i'm also pretty sure i figured out why my one colleague and i don't get along so well...i always am the one to catch his errors. and according to him, he's never wrong. sorry, dude. i used to edit friend's papers in college and i write a lot, and did i mention that my degree is in language, literature and communication? so of course i'm going to pick up on all your mistakes. geesh! oh, and besides that, you really don't speak english very well at all, you silly kraut!

so finn slept on my head again last night. hehe i love having my own personal head warmer. i was so exhausted by the time i got home last night that all i wanted to do was flop down with my little furry childrens, the only kind of childrens i will ever have, too. i just don't have the patience or tolerance for them. and you know, i've never really had the desire for them either. and neither does hubby. whew. i would love nothing more than to have some land, and decent sized house and some aminals roaming around. like knut. that would be great!

I saw this on Sally's site and thought it was interesting....



My Personality

Neuroticism	28
Extraversion	76
Openness To Experience	71
Agreeableness	56
Conscientiousness	51

You are sociable, outgoing, energetic, and lively. You prefer to be around people much of the time. You are generally calm and composed, reacting moderately well to situations that most people would describe as stressful. Novelty, variety, and change spice up your life and make you a curious, imaginative, and creative person. You have some concern with others' needs, and are generally pleasant, sympathetic, and cooperative. You are reasonably reliable, organized, and self-controlled.

Test Yourself Compare Yourself View Full Report Click here to take the most insightful personality test.

What about you?

i used to believe i was a die hard conservative. the gipper was, and still is, my favorite president. in college, i was part of the republican club and after college, i worked in republican politics for about 6 years. during that time i worked for and with some really conservative people. but during that time, i also learned a lot about life and my views have since changed.

while i still am conservative, i am also quite liberal. it all depends on the issue at hand. i vote for the person who i belive will do the job the best, not necessarily because they are a member of the grand ol party. i guess i'm more libretarian than anything else, being more fiscally conservative and socially liberal.

and while i do have firm beliefs, i am much more open minded about things than i used to be. i believe life is full of shades of gray, not just black and white. and i also believe heavily in karma, but that's a whole other topic.

You Are 24% Republican

You're a bit Republican, and probably more conservative than you realize. If you're still voting Democrat, maybe it's time that you stop.

You Are 32% Democrat

You're a bit Democrat, and probably more liberal than you realize. If you're still voting Republican, maybe it's time that you stop.

hmm...where to begin. the past few days have been pretty busy. after work on thursday i went to dinner with miss fleurs. we went to a fun place in town where we sat outside on the patio. it was great for people watching. we split some tasty dishes and chatted it up for almost 3 hours. yesterday i had lunch with another friend and once again we sat outside.

work has been super busy, but good busy. i got off early yesterday, around 4:30 pm (i'm normally there until after 6 pm) and ran to the grocery store to grab a few things for a dinner party we were having.

the weather turned cold and windy so we had to change our plans a bit as we were going to bbq outside. since we have such a mini house and a great big yard, we try to do our entertaining in the warmer months so we can use the outside. but, we made everything work inside. thankfully our friends that were over understand and were fine crowding around the coffee table and lounging on the floor, couch and overstuffed chair. it was a nice and cozy time with 6 people and the 2 kitties.

hubby was up early today to get after the turkeys again. he came back with his buddy around 10:30 and each of them had a bird. after making quick work of the guts and feathers in the yard, the boys were ready for some coffee and a long nap.

but before hubby could nap, we went to the nursery to pick up some goodies for the garden. hubby's folks gave us a gift certificate for the local place her in town and it was prefect as we're low on funds and we wanted to get working on the garden this weekend. hubby got a bunch of veggies and i got a bunch of flowers. he's napping now, but when he's up later, we'll get to planting. the kitties are cuddled up against me and i think i'll take a short nap as well before i get outside.

we plan on having a nice, low key weekend and have no other plans than to work in the garden and just hang out. his folks went up to visit his brother a few hours away and took granny with them. we don't really like the other side of his family, so we're spending easter on our own tomorrow. my folks aren't big on holidays so we normally don't see them on easter at all, which frankly, works for me.

now this is just goofy....i don't read my horoscope with any regularity, but i do enjoy taking a peek at it every now and then. i'm always amused when things seem to happen the same way my horoscope 'predicts' them too. this one seems to hit the nail right on the head!

* this is where i snagged this little ditty.

Virgo (Aug. 23rd – Sept. 22nd) The good news is you are growing and stretching like mad this year, Virgo! The challenging news is it might be wackier, faster, and messier than your orderly self would have ever imagined or even preferred. Take the ride, keep reaching for the brass ring, and forget about getting it all perfect. (The trick is understanding everything really is perfect…just not the way you might define perfection!) You’re experiencing transits from many different angles that are prompting amazing changes in your life: On the one hand, powerful energies are pushing you to get into a bigger game (possibly at work), even if you don’t feel certain how to play, especially April 7th, 8th, 20th,21st, and 22nd. On the other hand, the relationships and structures you’ve depended on are suddenly shifting or even ending, leaving you to deal with a whole new set of circumstances and expectations, especially April 1st-3rd, and 28th-30th. Your job is to be smart enough to adjust your self image to meet these new challenges and to be creative enough to make positive use out of whatever goes on around you, which you certainly are, Virgo! Look at it this way: You’re in a personal growth marathon. You might not think you signed up for it, but you did. Prove something great to yourself.

what about you? do you read your horoscope, and if so, how much of it do you believe?

10 FAVORITES
Favorite Color: skybluepink
Favorite Food: lemon pana cotta
Favorite Month: september
Favorite Song: smile, by lily allen
Favorite Movie: sweet home alabama
Favorite Sport: baseball
Favorite Season: fall
Favorite Day of the week: sunday
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: pineapple coconut
Favorite Time of Day: dusk

9 CURRENTS
Current Mood: mellow
Current Taste: craving coffee
Current Clothes: worn seven jeans, white eyelet button up 3/4 sleeve top, white tank top, black maryjanes with light pink stitching
Current Desktop: blue swirls
Current Toenail Color: cotton candy pink
Current Time: 1:36 PM
Current Surroundings: my trendy office (not self decorated)
Current Thoughts: is it really only 1:36 pm!?!?!?

8 FIRSTS
First Best Friend: erika
First Kiss: a cute boy named aaron when i was 12.
First Screen Name: michi
First Pet: a dog, coco
First Piercing: both ears, when I was about 10 or 11.
First Crush: jack
First CD: tiffany or debbie gibson...

7 LASTS
Last Cigarette: a few days ago
Last Car Ride: about an hour ago
Last Kiss: this morning
Last Movie Seen: the departed. awesome movie.
Last Phone Call: someone from our pr agency
Last CD Played: lily allen

6 HAVE YOU EVERS
Have You Ever Dated One Of Your Best Guy/Girl Friends: no
Have You Ever Broken the Law: yes
Have You Ever Been Arrested: no
Have You Ever Skinny Dipped: oh, yes
Have You Ever Been on TV: not that i know of
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn’t Know: well, i knew them after i kissed them!

5 THINGS
Thing You’re Wearing: a watch
Thing You’ve Done Today: went for a run, work, work and more work
Thing You Can Hear Right Now: colleagues in a meeting, coldplay on itunes
Thing You Can’t Live Without: my kitties
Thing You Do When You’re Bored: sleep

4 PLACES YOU’VE BEEN TODAY
1. home
2. work
3. tasty mexican place for lunch
4. my car

3 PEOPLE YOU CAN TELL ANYTHING TO
1. ambes
2.miss fleurs
3. jacarandabush

2 CHOICES
1. Black or White: black
2. Hot or Cold: hot

1 THING YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE
go to all the national forests in the US

allrighty...here's my new look. hubby and i had a big conversation about what has been going on with me the past week. i think he's a bit concerned. he brought up the large tattoo, he drastic hair change and the large purchases i recently made (new make up and some new clothes). i didn't really realize this was all happening so fast.

i know i've had a lot going on lately, but never really thought much about it. i know i've been in a dark place lately and i really don't know why. we talked about my lack of motivation in everything and my sullenness. it's really quite sad when someone else has to point these things out to you. i mean, i knew i had been in a funk, but didn't realize how bad it was. i have vowed to change things. and fast. i really don't like how things have seemed to spin out of control for me.

i asked hubby to wake me up early this morning and i got up and ran about a mile. well, run/walk was more like it. it did feel really good to get out, though. it was chilly and i could see my breath, but i also saw lamas, sheep, chickens and horses.

i really need to get with the program and stop being so sullen. it's getting old. and i don't like who i've become. thoughts of self hatred and worthlessness need to leave me. i need to focus on things that make me happy instead of things that bring me down. i used to be involved in things that i somehow have gotten too lazy to do anymore. i was a partylite rep and haven't done anything with it for about a month now. i need to get on with it and be a happy member of the world again. this lameness has got to stop. like five minutes ago. geesh.

another beautiful day here in sunny california. and another successful start to turkey season. hubby and his buddies shot 3 turkeys yesterday and are still out on the hunt today.

i slept in to a crazy delicious 11:30 am this morning. it was delightful, to say the least. especially since the two kitties were cuddled up right up against me.

today i plan to do a whole lot of nothing. i do need to write some letters and get my mom's package ready to mail. i've decided to send the necklace, with the help of terry and sally, i realize that i was just being a hurt snot by not sending it. i need to be the bigger person here.

i've done laundry, so i guess i should fold it all... but other than that, i'm not doing much. yesterday i sat outside for a long while reading and i just may do the same today. this weekend is a much needed weekend of rest and relaxation.

my bosses will be back tomorrow so i know it will be crazy busy again at work. and i'm sure we'll have our 'sit down', so i'm a bit nervous. i know i should have nothing to worry about, but since i am a perpetual worrier...well, you know how that goes!

friday i went and got my hair done. i got it colored a pretty chocolate brown with toffee and caramel highlights. i swear i had a serious want for something sweet when i was there with all the delicious talk about the sweet colors that were going into my hair.

it sure has been a season of change for me. the tattoo, the hair color and a more than normal amount of dark thoughts. but i know it's all for the good. i know i go through these phases occasionally and i always seem to come out on top.

i can't believe it's already april....