Walking With Nora

Noon. Tomorrow. Me. A movie theater. Darling and her friend. SEX AND THE CITY (The movie).

I’m getting Carrie-d away this weekend… are you?

Things have been a bit hectic as of late with the upcoming move, traveling out of town, crazy work projects and a few other random things that make life what it is: a roller coaster.

Here’s what’s been up with Nora lately:

• Ventured to Cape G with Jack in tow for a weekend of fun and relaxation with my friend Mel who is getting married in exactly three months and 28 days. Coincidentally my 25th birthday is four months from today… ack!
• Watched Jack and my “niece,” Nelly (Mel’s dog) run around and play for hours on end
• Enjoyed some Cuban food with Mel’s friends (we’ll ignore the fact I was the only single on in the room.)
• Went to River Ridge Winery and battled the ridiculous white, fluffy, satin-like shedding the cottonwood trees were pouring down around us. Sneezed my head off, but enjoyed the crooner-music, river bottom and wine (of course!)
• Returned back to the Lou to visit with the folks and help Darling clean up my brother’s basement area. My parents were kind enough to donate half of the basement to my bro’s friends junk from college. They should totally charge rent.
• I’ve run 10 miles in the past two days and will be going to a boot camp tonight. I’m ignoring my swollen shin and pushing through the pain (and yes, I know that’s a bad idea).
• Decided that I am 100% for sure getting a tattoo. Now the question: Italian flag or Palm Tree with a shooting star over it?
• I had a super bizarre dream last night in which I was pregnant but had no clue who the father was (which is so not like me, considering I haven’t had a date in two months!). Thank goodness for waking up with a flat stomach. Terrifying dream.
• Contemplated diving into the online dating world, then decided not to after seeing what my options were during a three-day demo.
• Ventured through some unusual knee-jerk reactions, filtered out my feelings and thoughts, acknowledged them and then LET.IT.GO.
• Made plans to see the Sex and the City movie this weekend!

Look for the return of my regular posts soon…

Considering I have a three-month hiatus from grad school before I foolishly tackle four classes in 18 weeks starting August 17th, I’m doing a few things with my spare time:

* catching up on my reading. Currently finishing The Venetian Mask, a historical fiction book which takes place in Italy. I like the imagery, the Italian names and the change of pace from my usual reading.
* Taking full advantage of my last few months/weeks as ManMate’s roommate and grilling him for new workouts, weight exercises and etc. I’m totally obsessed with the gym (again) and my new healthy diet.
* Netflix. I missed a lot of movies in the last 12 months between weddings, studying for school and etc. So here are a few recommendations for your Memorial Day pleasure, in case you are as behind as I am:

Cloverfield. It reminds me of Independence Day and I am Legend on steroids. I thought it was well done, definitely creepy and considering none of what happens is explained, it leaves a haunting image in your brain. I do not recommend watching just before bed, as I did.

Lars and the Real Girl. I’m a sucker for Ryan Gosling and offbeat comedies. This movie isn’t really all that funny but does give great insight into smaller communities, will give you faith in humanity, reminds us that not everything has a reason and serves as yet another reminder that we all deal with our pain in our own way. Ryan gives a powerful performance and while I thought parts of the movie were totally ridiculous, the end is worth it.

No Reservations. For those of us who prefer the lighter, romantic comedy with slightly depressing undertones, this movie is for you. Don’t watch while you are hungry because the scenes in the kitchen are certainly mouth-watering.

I could Never be Your Woman. Paul Rudd, anyone? He’s incredibly adorable and humorous in this movie with Michelle Pfieffer. It’s only 90 minutes long and examines the idea of older woman dating younger men.

The Darjeeling Limited. I don’t really know why but I always like the movies by Wes Anderson. Maybe it’s that he portrays the everyday oddities of real life, damaged personas that I believe a lot of people carry around with them or his unique filming and music choices. This one starts off slow but the familial theme is touching.

ADD= Another Dating Disaster (yes, I stole the phrase from Sex & The City, Season Four).

Remember Guy #3? Here’s the skinny on that…

While we are at Chevy’s the group was talking about the books we were currently reading. Guy #3 happened to be reading I Hope they Serve Beer in Hell, by Tucker Max (which apparently is now going to be a movie. I find it slightly annoying that a guy can exploit his sexual adventures into not only a book but now a movie. And yes, I am probably a bad person for buying his book. I did think he was pretty much a pig while reading the book, but it’s like a bad car wreck. You can’t stop reading it once it’s started). I have read this book despite the many vulgar and inappropriate references to and about women, so we started discussing some of our favorite stories from the book. Guy #3 asked if I had read the other book (Assholes Finish First), which I haven’t since it is not even out.

Guy #3 wanted to bet me that Assholes Finish First came out before I hope they Serve Beer in Hell. Side Note: I don’t normally bet on things, especially if I have something to lose. Knowing that I was right, however, I accpeted the bet.

Fast forward to a few days after the meeting at Chevy’s to a text message conversation:

Guy #3: Do you still want to make the bet about Tucker Max’s books?
Nora: Sure, I’m up for it. What are we betting?
Guy #3: I think we should bet on nudity on Friday.
Nora: Nudity? On the first date? You really think so?
Guy #3: Yes.
Nora: I think not. (Even though I knew I was going to be right, guys should know better than to ask for nudity!)

(Side note: Guy #3 mentioned this nudity business at some point while we are at Chevy’s and I dismissed it considering he had a few shots of Tequila. Apparently I should have listened to my intuition…as usual.)

And that, my friends, was the end of that.

Here’s what I’ve become totally, 100% addicted to as of late:

• One Tree Hill. I think this is the second to last season, but I’m hooked. I have no clue about 80% of the time what the history is between characters and etc, but I tune every Monday night at 8pm CST. Bonus: two of the main characters are very in-shape, very attractive young men.
• Trader Joe’s Just Grilled chicken. I have been mixing it with everything: salad, whole grain penne, fried rice and enjoy it by itself. It’s amazing. Check it out.
• Pushing the envelope in terms of my gym workouts. Yesterday I miraculously ran two miles to the gym, lifted weights while at the gym, and ran two miles home. Yes, my butt felt like jelly but I did it, with the help of ManMate. I’m going back for more tonight.
• Sending cards for no reason. I’m a huge fan of Hallmark and an even bigger of fan of Target and their amazing collection of cards (recycled paper mostl).
• New Kids on the Block. Yes, I’m one of the many girls who is super-excited for their return. I found my NKOTB button while at my parents house last weekend. It has a young Joey on it (he still is my favorite, next to bad boy Donny Wahlberg. There is something about those Wahlberg boys, that’s for sure.) Here’s their new single for your listening pleasure. I’ll be at the concert when they roll into the Lou… you can count on that!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/iXGkKK3ZaVM&hl=en]

Keeping my promise with my previous post, I’ll start by talking about the job I held for a little over year as an personal living assistant to a visually-impaired girl in the area. Originally I started out as her paper-formatting gal, but our friendship grew and she needed an assistant.

My weekly duties involved taking her to the gym, driving her to the grocery store (where I had to read her the ingredients on the back of each box, the weekly specials and etc), cleaning her apartment, occasional outfit coordination, accompanying her to dinner and describing the food to her, and as I came to find out, general companionship.

Shamefully I can’t remember her name for the life of me, though I believe it was Rebecca. Rebecca was wildly accomplished given her handicap- she was attaining her Doctorate’s degree in psychology and sociology, managed to the be the Residential Assistant for the dorm she lived in (free housing!), was engaged to a successful engineer who lived in the Chicago area and was well-known among students and staff.

The first few times I worked with Rebecca I found her to be terribly gruff and bossy and extremely sarcastic. All things that are obviously acceptable given the daily issues she faced. After about a year of my working with her I was dusting her collection of unicorns and merry-go-rounds with Smallville  on TV in the background. It happened to one of those scenes where there was no talking… all action and acting… in silence. Smallville happened to be Rebecca’s favorite show and as she put it, she couldn’t have been happier to have me there. I found myself describing the opening scene for her as without that information, she would have been lost for the entire show.

It hit me at that moment, while I was delicately wrapping the unicorns and merry-go-rounds into newspaper and boxes for her, how much those of us with sight do take for granted. We never discussed her sight impairment; I have no idea when it happened or how it happened. She never wore sunglasses, unless we were outside and her bright blue eyes managed to look at me on occasion which was both fantastic and slightly eerie.

Rebecca was great at schmoozing with adults and kids, getting what she needed done, writing a well-crafted paper and she turned out to be a friend. We did lose touch shortly after I graduated, but last I knew she was in Chicago, with her fiance, planning the upcoming wedding.

This job is one I look back on that actually had some purpose and some meaning during my college years and if nothing else taught me to be more open, less judgmental and remember how fortunate I am.

I don’t usually post links because I know 99% of my readers (a whole 16 or 17 of you, I think) won’t take the time to click on them, but this article stood out today. A twin? In your stomach? Just hanging out, nine years into your life and your little twin is inside you.

Girl’s twin is found inside her stomach

Coming Soon: It occurred to me that sometimes I get so caught up in my corporate, 8-5 world that I forget what I did before I was an office slave. I had some pretty freakin’ awesome jobs and they all left their own imprint on my life. As per Byron, I feel that as I approach the quarterlife mark, the things I really want to remember don’t come up as often I would like them to. So maybe writing about my past jobs will help out my hippocampus and you’ll get yet another glimpse into who Nora is.

I don’t often write about my younger brother, though it occurs to me I should. He’s brilliant at the age of almost 20; recently applied for and earned the position of editing his university’s newspaper as a sophomore. (That’s a big deal!) He has made his body a political shrine with five tattoos and counting, all of them making a positive political statement in their own way. He insists that we recycle anything and everything that can be reduced and reused.

My generation (I’m five years older than CR) is slowly catching on to the idea of Going Green. His is adapting it at a rapid pace. He’s got me thinking as of late about my personal decisions in the most random things:

• Dog Waste Bags. I foolishly use the plastic bags at the grocery store when I go because they are useful for many other things… reusable lunch bags, taking donations to GoodWill, carrying around my extra pairs of shoes when I travel, etc etc. I also use them to pick up Jack’s waste. It’s always struck me as an odd thing, humans picking up after animals, but what’s even weirder is that we use plastic, nonbiodegradable bags to pick up said waste. Makes zero sense. I did some research during my lunch hour today and found that there’s a plethora of biodegradable bags out there for dog waste, some at Petco and PetSmart. I will definitely be purchasing those soon.
• Water Bottles. CR informed me that there’s a great Swiss Army (I think) alumnium reusable bottle available at Whole Foods. I’m going this weekend to snag mine.
• Back to the plastic bag thing. I’m going to give in and purchase some bags from Trader Joe’s. And I’m taking the bags I already have to a recycling bin at one of the other grocery stores in the area.
• As part of my new fitness routine, I realized that some of the stores I frequent the most aren’t all that far away. So… I’ll commence to walking. It can only impact me in a good way: spend less on gas, purchase fewer groceries since I’ll have to lug them home, and exercise. Good all around.

My brain is running a mile a minute trying to think of additional ways to go green. What have you done that’s green lately?

There are days where my Sicilian attitude takes over… 99.9% of the time it’s a good thing. Examples:

Work is stressful. What’s Nora gonna do about it?

She’s going to leave work at work. She’ll work from 8am-5pm, sometimes 7am-6pm, but other than that, she’s leaving it there. She’ll ask Boss (aka Dad) to respect that unless there are times of crises or she needs personal guidance, but otherwise, no work talk post-office hours.

The gym membership isn’t getting its usual workout. What’s Nora gonna do about it?

I am joining forces with a friend starting on Wednesday for a new friend-to-friend program of encouraged healthful eating and increased exercise. My mind is already buzzin’ thinking of new exercise plans, better ways to shop at the grocery store, ideas for snacks and dinners, even those that will work with my crazy food allergies. Quite frankly, I am fed up… return of post-tonsil Nora shall return. I’ve got the bug and it’s going to happen.

In the work-stress and graduate school haze, important things are falling by the wayside. What’s Nora gonna do about it?

I’ve made a list of what needs to be done. Jack to the vet. Nora to the dentist. Three months of photos printed and inserted into albums. A list of phone calls that need to be made. Chopping and dying my hair. Back to doing things for Nora (not exclusively, just most of the time). I’ll tackle things one at at time and get them done, enjoying the fulfillment of checking off each task as I go.

Tired of keeping up false pretenses and putting up with stupidity. What’s Nora gonna do about it?

I’m going to start telling it like it is, in moderation. Why’s Nora hitting the bar scene less? I’ll tell the truth… tired of meeting ridiculous drunk people, smelling like a bar, wasting empty calories. Why’s Nora sleeping in late? She’s freakin’ tired. Why am I not hanging out with so-and-so? Maybe I just don’t like them. Don’t need the drama, the guilt. The reason I do the things I do is because they make me happy. My resolution this year was “cut the shi!t,” and I need to get back to that. It starts now.

How I survive my yearly cold/sinus infection, courtesy of my incessant allergies:

• The New Kleenex with Vicks. They are amazing.
• Gilmore Girls and Sex and the City seasons on DVD. They are perfect to sleep through or sit and stare at as they are bound to make you smile at some point.
• My stack of Netflix DVDs. Becoming Jane was my afternoon company yesterday.
• Slim Fast for meals and peppermint tea to calm the coughing.
• ManMate… he actually has been fetching me ice cold water for two days.
• Jack: he loves a cuddle buddy and secretly enjoys the fact that I’m home I believe since he nestles into my knees every time I settle on the couch or my bed.
• My pink blanket that I’ve had since I was a kid. It’s meant for a twin bed so I use it on the couch. It’s fleecy and soft wool and brings a touch of comfort to the foggy sickness. (Jack likes this blanket too… I’ve caught him chewing on it a few tims.)
• Fudgsicles.
• Heavenly Alka Seltzer Liqui-Gels for day & night.
• SLEEP. SLEEP. And more sleep.