Sunday, December 31, 2017

The last one of 2017...

I didn't do a year review this year...
Part of me wanted to, but part of me didn't.

Probably because this year was ROUGH, in soooo many ways.  It was a great year but full of some self-inflicted and not self-inflicted roughness.

The obvious things:
  • Teh German and I got mawwied.  We still like each other.  We've now endured: an overseas vacation, building/buying a house together, moving, keeping things alive (the dogs/the grass), buying a new vehicle, death, hosting events, and planning a wedding.  I'm not sure what the other life events are to test a relationship, but I'm pretty confident at this point we'll be ok.
  • I started school... again.  I'm going for a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science from The Citadel.  Oh yeah, and I'm still working full-time at Company.  And living real life.  
  • Which led me to: I've started taking anti-anxiety medication and it is magical.  I'm not as ragey/stabby/yelly.  Life is now handle-able, where before Teh German life would often cause me to have several breakdowns per month.
  • Phil broke my heartPax is still working on healing it.  Meri was the glue that held me together when everything was falling apart (when Teh German wasn't available/I was mad at him).
  • I had hip surgery.  My body hates me.  The handicapped tag doesn't hurt my feelins nun.


The less obvious things:
+ all the other things that I didn't mention.


Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Weekend Review {12/26}

FRIDAY

I worked from home on Friday since the majority of the office was doing the same thing.  I'm sure my coworkers were able to be much more productive than I was.  In between being accosted by the 4 dogs in the house and yelling no at them when they'd start barking because our wonderful neighbors left their dogs outside ALL DAY to bark at everything that passed by, not much was really accomplished.


Nonetheless, I had my hours by lunch time and decided that since it was #treatyoself weekend, that I'd start it off with a bubble bath.  #noregrets


I had a hair appointment scheduled for 3 on Friday, so after my midday bubble bath, I passed the time somehow until it was time to leave.

My hair appointment took a few hours because I had some color added.  The blah blah brown was getting to me and I needed something fun.  I really like it, but I was going for something a little more... "fun"?  Yeah, fun.  But it's a good smooth transition into something a little more fun next time.

Teh PT Fam had agreed to go to the Stingrays game with us that night, so we met at the Coliseum for the game.  Teh PT Kid is now a hockey lover, which brings me great joy.


After the super shitty game (because the refs), the men bitched out on looking at Christmas lights and went home to smoke cigar while Teh PT Wife, Teh PT Kid, and I went on a food adventure and to look at Christmas lights.

I say food adventure because after sitting in 3 different drive thrus for no less than 40 minutes total, we finally pulled into a Denny's and had quicker service at Denny's than our entire waiting time at the fast food places we had tried to eat at.  When we finally got to Park Circle to see the lights, we ended up driving around the circle super slow our with the hazard lights on.


When we eventually made it home, Max refused to go inside and get warm and opted to snuggle with me over Teh German, which was odd.  Nonetheless, some epic selfies were acquired.


We were all tired and we called it a night around midnight.

SATURDAY - Christmas Eve Eve

It was a slow start to the day with nothing planned in the AM.  I started off with some puzzling.  I almost lost my shit when the neighbor's dogs who were, again, tethered outside, started barking at me because they could see me through the dining room window.  Ya'll.  That's my hard limit.  I was struggling with your dogs being outside ALL FUCKING DAY LONG barking at everything the day before, but if your dog starts barking at me when I'm in my house, I WILL KNOCK ON YOUR DOOR.  I will NOT deal with that bullshit.  Nope, nope, nope.


After breakfast, everyone was upstairs and Pax was being the most adorable so I snuggled with him for a bit.  

I then laid down and took a real nap until it was time for my spa session at 3:30.  I was scheduled to get an hour and a half massage, to include a foot "refresh" and I added on a 30 minute head massage.

Let's talk about things I won't do again: Go back to that spa.
The spa wasn't bad, but the massage was mediocre and for what I was paying?  Nope.  The head massage was mostly her putting coconut oil on my hair and tangling/pulling my hair.  She also added a "free" mask since I was so congested, which conveniently took up a significant portion of my head massage time, as well as her getting all the ingredients.  When she was doing my massage, she kept trying to work out my shoulder knots which I'm pretty sure are permanent.  Yeah, I was SUPER sore by bedtime.  

I didn't get a post-massage picture of my hair, but I kinda looked like Medusa.

After I got home, Teh German asked me if I wanted to go to a bonfire with Teh PT Fam.  I said that was ok and we headed to Summerville to make friends.  We stopped by Carolina Ale House to pick up dinner to go and then headed to the fire.  It was fun.  I showed off my marshmallow toasting master skills, several people were introduced to smores with Reese Cups instead of plain chocolate, and there was singing.

We headed home at a decent hour since Teh PT Family had to get up early on Sunday for church.


SUNDAY - Christmas Eve

Teh PT Wife and Husband made their debut at their church's Christmas play and we went to see them.  Roux's Humom and Mr. Golfer also came.  Teh German doesn't do church, but no one burst into flamed when we went in the building.

GLCK parking.

Husband and Wife selfie!

Festive stage

The play was very good, as was the sermon.  I enjoyed the music as well, which Teh PT Wife had told me I would.  She gets me.

After church, we headed to Michael's to pick up some crafting stuff for Teh German and then we headed to brunch at Crackle Barrel with Mr. Golfer and Roux's Humom.

After brunch, Teh German and I made, what I expected to be a poor life choice, a pit stop at Walmart to pick up a few items.  We were in and out in 20 minutes!  We happened to find a register open with no one at it!  Mind = blown.  It was obviously the 2017 Christmas miracle.

When we got home, Teh German started working on his project while I headed upstairs to nap.  I love naps.  Teh PT Family was hosting a Fishy Feast (or something Italian about fish and Christmas?  IDK) and we headed over around 4 for dinner.

Tom-fecta

The food and company was great.  We ended the night with smoking hour and then finally headed home for bed.


MONDAY - Christmas!

We had a slow start to Christmas day, which was perfect.  Well, kinda.  We had a Skype date with Papa G at 0900, so we set an alarm to get up in time.  I had made some pretty spectacularly horrible coffee on Sunday morning, so I waited for Teh German to come down to make the coffee.  After we Skyped with the Germans, we agreed on a breakfast plan.  Teh German makes the bacon better than me, so he's in charge of that, and after he flips it over, I start the eggs.  I also had a can of biscuits in the fridge that didn't get cooked from chicken and dumplins earlier in the week, so we added those to the menu as well.

Christmas selfie

Breakfast

The beasts.

Scrooge, I mean Teh German, hadn't wrapped my presents until after he started cooking the bacon.  Here to hoping that next year he can assimilate to American culture and at least get something under the tree for me by Christmas Eve....

Can we be impressed with his ability to tie a bow out of wrapping paper?

I surprised Teh German with a new robe and a new Stingrays shirt that he had wanted when we went to the sale over the summer, except we/I wasn't willing to wait in line for a single t-shirt that was regular price.

Those are sheep.
I could have gotten him a boring plaid one, but no.

The bottom earrings are my Christmas/wedding presents from Teh German.
Rose gold earrings to match my wedding band.

He also ordered my planner that I wanted.  No surprises.  There's always next year.  After cleaning up, we marathon-ed Mad Men until it was time to become publicly presentable.

Because our neighbors were feeling super sorry for us because we didn't have anything planned on Christmas day besides laziness, we were invited to Roux's house for Christmas dinner.  Then we migrated with the GLCK to another neighbor's house for dessert.

By 10pm, I was exhausted and we finally headed home.  After reading for 20 minutes, it was lights out and Christmas was over.

______________________________________________

It was a super awesome lazy holiday.  It was nice to be on our own schedule and not have to travel back home.  I was able to take unlimited naps, which is always the best.  I was mostly unproductive, which was also awesome.  I'm working from home today, but tomorrow is back to normal.  Teh German is off all week, which I'm pretty jealous of.... butttt next weekend should be another lazy weekend and I'm already ready for it.  ALL THE NAPS!

This week you can look forward to the 2nd installment of wedding photos and I'll probably have a Friday post, as long as nothing wacky happens.

I hope all my Gentle Readers had a great weekend/Christmas/holiday celebration/whatever you did was good.

PS.  No I did not watch Star Wars.  Teh German mentioned going to watch it and then laughed at himself.  At least he knows.
PPS.  I DID order the entire Wrinkle in Time quintet since I've never actually read it.  The only L'engle book I've read was A Ring of Endless Light, which I discovered today is actually in the middle of that series.  Womp womp.  I'm considering reading that series as well, but after I finish A Wrinkle in TimeThe real push is that the movie is coming out and it looks like something I may be interested in seeing in theaters.  We'll see.  School will be back in session by then...





Friday, December 22, 2017

Five on Friday #133

EINS - Random things

-I've gained 5-7 lbs since the wedding.  The only thing I've really changed is that I started drinking coffee every day and that includes a metric ton of peppermint mocha creamer.  I have a feeling the coffee is going to have to go.  The only reason I actually drink coffee is for the creamer.  So ya know.. I did this to myself.

-Sickness is horrible.  Lingering sickness is the worst.  Coughing and/or sneezing so hard you pee a little is the absolute worst.

-Returning items to the store brings me great joy because money saved.  That said, maybe I should just stop buying things and then I could save myself a trip?

-When Husband takes the last of the Dayquil and you discover it, rather than him telling you, it's good that he's already Husband....

-Our wedding photos bring me joy.  Deciding which ones to print for our "shrine" does not bring me joy.  Paying someone $10 to design a photobook brings me joy.  No code for free pages does not bring me joy.  #ItsAllAboutBalance

-I've dedicated some time to planning the honeymoon.  I prioritized and I'm thinking we'll be spending a weekish in Cairns for diving and a weekish in Sydney for touring and potentially hanging out with Erin and taking a few days to see Uluru (maybe).  Uluru is least important to me, but I'm going to talk to Timo about it and see how important it is to him before I slash it from the itinerary since it requires a flight and it's a red rock, which is cool, but not SO cool that I need to pay a lot of extra money when I could be spending that time diving with the fishies or in Sydney doing thangs.

-Saw this quote on Facebook that said, "If you can't say it without cuss words..." with a picture of a child going "shhhhh".. and all I could think was, "Megan, DO NOT RESPOND TO THAT, even if your first thought was, 'I CAN say it without cuss words, I just choose not to.  It's a damn shame, I know, bless my heart.'"

-I spent most of the day yesterday trying to untangle Australia deets.  Seriously yall.. pulling the trigger is the most difficult thing ever.  I'm paranoid that if I make ONE reservation that nothing else will line up and everything will be fucked up and UALFKJELJGBOISDJVOIermgailejmrgoiajdv;oiajdc WHAT DO I DO THEN!?!?!  When, in reality, I realize that is completely ridiculous and I should just bite the bullet and plan activities in order of most important to least and shit will shake out.  I know it will, but faaacckkk if my control-freak brain could just be distracted by those potential science classes next semester instead of worrying about this for a little while so I can actually make shit happen, that'd be grrrrrreeeaaatt...

-Scheduling a #TreatYoSelf spa day.  It includes a hour and a half massage plus a 30 minute head massage.  #IMSOEXCITED #TAKEMYMONEY



ZWEI - Money spent

-Billz billz billz... from all those credit card expenses last month.  It should balance out after all my returns go through.
-i5K, a local run I've been wanting to do for years but never knew the date for.  This year I was stalkin' like a boss.
-bull dicks (some people call these bully sticks, but lets just call a spade a spade) for the dogs.  If we ever run out, the dogs will probably eat all our shoes.
-shipping for Cmas packages to Teh Sister, Teh Dad, and Teh Mom.  Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals.
-McDonald's to remedy a hangover  #adulting
-all the motherfucking cough syrup/cold medicine.... x2. 
-Sam's for brussel sprouts and steaks.  If the butcher wasn't closed on Monday's this wouldn't have to be a thing.
-breakfast croissant from the deli down the street, I've been wanting to try for a while. 
-Termite treatment for House
-Yurtle's taxes
-Yurtle's insurance, which I'm 85% sure I just paid.  Ugh.
-Wedding photo prints.
-Photo books of wedding photos... ouch.
-Chiro (it's been rough around here)




DREI - Things from my phone


Dawwwww.
It's like me and Teh German!

What kind of motorcycle does Santa ride?
a Holly Davidson

What do you call an elf who wins the lottery?
Welfy.

Homemade pizza x2 by Teh German on Monday night.
We're still working on a crispy crust, but this was progress.
Some asshole once told me, "You always have room for improvement."  (that asshole was Teh German) so I like to use that line on him as often as possible.  #TakesOneToKnowOne

Nurse Meri and Nurse Pax were on duty when I went home early from work with sickness.

Teh German made skrimpies and grits all by himself on Tuesday night after my dngafs were wayyy to high to make life choices.  Even about food.  It didn't help that the sickness was at it's peak and I was fighting the start of a pressure headache.
#WhenItRainsItPours

Meri is a dick.
Teh Stepmom sent a present for me and a present for the dogs.
I put the dog's present in their cabinet, knowing they would open it when I wasn't supervising.
Apparently, this gift had mingled too long with their gift because Teh German came home to find this opened.
So much for a Christmas surprise... dickdog.





VIER - Things from the Internet

THIS THIS THISSSSSSSSS. Liz James gives the perfect analogy for why women may not speak up.



Audiobooks really cut into my music listening time, but I'm not a little bit sorry.  But when I saw Brianne post her Spotify stats, I knew I wanted to, too.

PS this is 17 days.
It doesn't count time that Teh German played Spotify at home...

Want to share my music journey?  Hit play.  You're welcome.


 As compared to my audiobook time?

I have 2 Audible accounts (it's complicated, don't judge me), so that equals a total of:
1 month, 3 days, 15 hours, and 44 minutes.
Which means that I've listened to more audiobook than music in the last year.*
*Unless this is counting like total for forever.. then they need to have a total year option/Audible is stupid.



I could share all my Australia research sites, but I know you're not overly interested in that.  As (another) Christmas present to myself, I am sticking my head in the sand until 2018 because the world is horrible and our government is garbage and my heart hurts.



FÃœNF - Things that made me happy this week

  1. Bumping up my hair appointment (top two rows of not crazy colors) to today!  
  2. SPA DAY TOMORROW!  It's going to be glorious.  #TreatYoSelf
  3. Teh German telling me he trusts me instead of wanting to review my selections for the photobook/printed photos.
  4. Roux's Humom walking her dogs frequently during the day and bringing our delivered packages inside for us so they don't burgled.
  5. FINALLY not feeling like death.
  6. Wearing my new shirts to work.
  7. Mad Men marathons with Teh German. 
  8. Teh German picking up cooking skillz.
  9. Return of cool temps.  70°+ on Christmas is the ultimate disappointment.
  10. Wrapping Christmas presents so I don't have to worry about it no mo!






Happy Friday, Gentle Readers.