Monthly Archives: January 2009

You Ask, I tell Part Deux

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I love that the questions keep rolling in partially because the comments make me feel warm and fuzzy inside and the questions being asked open up a different part of my brain and really let me write, so thank you!

What is your favorite song?  And do you have a memory that is associated with it? 
- Little Miss Obsessive

Just one song, huh? Okay, all time favorite has to be Crush by Dave Matthews Band. Confession: I wasn’t a Dave Matthews Band fan until my sophomore year in high school when one of my best friends nicknamed Special K scored us four free lawn tickets. Knowing of DMB I enthusiastically went partially for a fun night and partially because StL has a really great amphitheater with a huge lawn area. We had lawn seats and despite the thick, thick fog of organic smoke, if you catch my drift, which blocked most of my view of the stage, I fell in love with DMB then and there. He played Crash and Crush, but Crush remains my favorite love song to this day. I have since seen DMB eight times and counting. Each show is different, amazing and leaves me giddy for days (and not because I partake in any organic smoke action.)

I also LOVE “The Long & Winding Road,” by The Beatles, “Cowboy Take me Away,”by the Dixie Chicks even though I’m not a huge country music fan, “To Be With You,” by Mr. Big, “Just Whisper your Name,” by Harry Connick Jr., and “You are the Best Thing,” by Ray LaMontagne.

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
- Miss Musing

In a word: ITALY.
It’s part of my heritage.
I have watched “Under the Tuscan Sun” and “Roman Holiday,” countless times. I stare at pictures of wineries and Italian villas. I devour any kind of Italian food and do my best to imitate it in my kitchen. I’m a freak for mafia books and movies. I’d love to go when I can really spend time there, though how that will be possible, I have no idea. Maybe I should figure out how to teach English for an Italian company or get on board with a large international firm. I want to wander, soak up the country, the views, the food, the wine.

I know a lot of girls complain about the “Attention,” they receive from the locals in Italy and while I see it could be annoying, it’s also a compliment and it’s part of their culture. Part of my culture.

And while I’m there, I’d hop over to Greece. And Morocco. Spain! France. Yeah, so all of Europe, but mostly Italy.

You Ask, I tell

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Thanks to all you who have delurked so far; some familiar faces, some new ones! As I promised, here more answers to the questons you’ve asked me. (The first question was posted last night.)

Are your parents still married?
- SheShe

Fortunately and thankfully, yes, Darling and The Boss are still married. (The Boss is my dad and he’s my boss at my office. It can get quite interesting at times!) My parents are going on 29 years of marriage, 32 years of being together. One could say the reason my dating standards are so high is in part due to witnessing my parents stellar marriage over the years. My dad is the kind of guy who brings flowers home just because, he pens sweet notes and poems for Darling on a regular basis and he’s thoughtul in obscure yet thrilling ways. My parents are empty nesters now that my younger brother lives on campus full-time and it has been fun to see my parents rekindle their romance, go on dates and some weeks I would bet they go out more than TDH and I do!

You won a million dollars, and you have to get rid of half or you get to keep nothing.  You can’t give any to family or friends. What would you do with it?
- Racheliza, Confessions of a Jersey Girl

This question is harder than it looks. I am a former volunteer for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri and they are struggling to get funding thanks to the economy, so they would definitely get a portion of the money. As many of you know, when it comes to animals, I’m a bleeding heart. I would likely start a new charity that would reside on a farm, ensuring I wouldn’t have to be a no-kill shelter. I would take as many dogs and as many kinds as I could. I’d staff a vet, start a website, and keep adoption fees as low as possible so more people who want and deserve a furry, loving friend could have one. And lastly, I’d donate money to Heat up St. Louis, a local charity that helps the less fortunate pay their heat bills during the dead cold months of winter.

What is the most spontaneous thing you have ever done?
- Ashley D of Turqouise Ribbons

You girls are good question-askers! Well, when TDH and I started dating, probably a three weeks into our dating, he asked me to go to a wedding in Canada. I booked my flight and hotel that evening, so while the trip wasn’t immediate, I took quick action. I haven’t spent that much money to be with a man in a long time.

In high school I was a band dork (flute players unite!) for two years and then one day decided it wasn’t for me and I quit the same day. I mulled the idea over for maybe a whole three or four hours. 

I have hopped on stage during a few nights out at piano bars and commanded the stage with my (drunken) dancing and lip synching.

Sadly I don’t have any cool stories about me jet-setting off to Florida or Europe, jumping into a mosh pit or anything else radical and random. I guess I’m too much of a planner??

Your best friend is taking a nap on the floor of your living room. Suddenly, you are faced with a bizarre existential problem: This friend is going to die unless you kick them (as hard as you can) in the rib cage. If you don’t kick them while they slumber, they will never wake up. However, you can never explain this to your friend; if you later inform them that you did this to save their life, they will also die from that. So you have to kick a sleeping friend in the ribs, and you can’t tell them why. Since you cannot tell your friend the truth, what excuse will you fabricate to explain this (seemingly inexplicable) attack?
- TDH

The first thing that comes to mind is this: There are several large brown recluse (aka deathly) spiders about to attack and bite my friend. Considering my immense fear of spiders and likely spider allergies combined with the fear that my friend would be attacked would certainly cause me to kick my friend as hard as possible in the ribs to ensure that all the spiders have been killed. That would be the more humane and believable thing for me to say.

Anything else that comes to mind involves some lie about a high fever and hallucinations as a result of said fever. Or that a “voice,” told me to kick them. Those are rather creepy and not really like me, so I’m pretty sure this friend wouldn’t believe me.

Since you are a STL gal, exactly how many times have you been on the Anheuser-Busch brewery tour? I’ve been twice!
- GiGi

Truth: It’s a sad one. NEVER. Every summer I fully intend to get to the Brewery but I never make it. And now, with the AB/IB merge, I’m not sure if they have changed the protocol on tours. I have been to the yearly StL Brew Fest for the last two years if that counts? AB is represented there. So,15 years in the same city and still no brewery tour. I will put that on my list of things I must do in 2009!

What is your favorite recipe and why? Will you post it?
- Rialeilani

This is a tough one. Dinner, in the Italian category, baked mostaccioli is by far my favorite. Desserts? Chocolate Cupcakes with cheesecake icing. Appetizers? Spinach Artichoke Dip. And yes, I will post these, but not today so that this isn’t one of the longest post known to man!

Bisous for Nora

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The first question I’m answering from Delurking Day is from Liz: it’s about my first kiss, which works out perfectly since 20SB has a carnival going on this month around this same topic.

I have a couple of first kiss stories, so here goes:

Second grade, his name was Steven and he was my “boyfriend.” If you asked me today why or when we decided to call ourselves each other’s boyfriend/girlfriend, I couldn’t answer you. But I can tell you that Steve was the cutest boy by far in my third grade class. A Boy Scout. Only child. Thick head of dark hair. Good teeth, considering our age. Smart. Not to mention he would play with me and my friends on the playground.

One day I was at his house, probably playing with manly G.I. Joes or something  (certainly his idea, not mine. I was a very girlie little girl) in his parents living room and when I looked up, he was right next to me. He kissed me on the cheek. I think, if I recall correctly, I told Darling about it. And one of my babysitters. He gave me his school picture that day, which I carried around in my plastic Hello Kitty wallet until I moved to Florida the following year.

*********

Fast forward to sixth or seventh grade, at which time I was ten or 11 (having started my schooling on the East Coast, when I moved to the MidWest I was considered “young” for my grade). The Boy Next Door, a man I would later flirt with extensively and date at one point in my life, frequented my house during the summer months. I like to tell myself it was because I was there but let’s face it, my parents have a big swimming pool, sun deck and diving board. He was clearly there for the pool. It didn’t matter though, we spent every waking summer hour together and The Boy Next Door was my first “puppy love.” We never officially kissed except on the cheek, but a first kiss from a guy you are smitten with? Now that is something especially in middle school when hormones are a total mess.

We were outside my parents house, just outside of the motion light. He gave me a tight hug; I could smell the detergent his mom used and a hint of Old Spice deodorant and the smell of summer sweat. About to bid him goodnight and pull away, he nuzzled into my neck and then kissed me oh-so-briefly on the cheek.

*******

Next up, my fifteenth birthday. My parents who were always super cool prepaid for a dinner for me and ten of my closest friends for dinner and gabbing at Chevy’s. My first real boyfriend, the kind that takes you on dates, picks you up and asks you to the school dances in a proper fashion which usually involved some sort of small bouquet of flowers. Up until this point, First Boyfriend hadn’t so much as attempted to kiss me and I was seriously beginning to think something was wrong with him. But finally as he dropped me off at my parents house, he leaned in for a kiss. I wish I could say it was fireworks but it was NOT. No movement. Just lips planted on mine. No tongue; as a matter of fact, he never french kissed me in the four or five months we dated. It lasted all of three seconds.

It was more than a bit disappointing.

********

My second real boyfriend and first of the serious ones, my junior & senior year boyfriend. He was my first french kiss. The setting: in my parents basesment “watching” some gangster action movie that I probably wasn’t paying attention too. The sound of my heart beating faster anytime he moved closer to me pounded through my ears, deafening any other noise, such as movie dialogue. It seemed that within moments, Second Boyfriend swooped in, grabbed me and then Hello Tongue! I will admit I didn’t know what I was doing, but I quickly grasped the concept.

*******
And now, on to the first kiss with TDH. It’s a totally different feeling when you have a first kiss with The One. A feeling of complete and utter fulfillment, bliss,that nothing else could really ever top. TDH waited until our second date to kiss me, the night he cooked me Mongolian Beef with white rice. We talked our entire way through “The Sandlot,” he gave me hand and arm massages on the couch, and as I got more cozy on his fabulous couch, TDH was there. Our first kiss. It was upside down, kind of like in Spiderman, only not as awkard as the Spiderman kiss. I was in heaven. I had wobbly knees. I insisted he walk me to my car so that the first kiss with the man I would fall for could continue.

*****
And that is the tale of the many most important, most memorable bisous in Nora’s life.

(This post part of the 20SB Carnival).

Delurk Yourself!

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Alright, I’m appealing (again) for readers to de-lurk themselves.

A handful of the hits I get per day actually comment (about a solid ten people or so) and if my blog stats are any indication at least another 60-90 people read or look at this per day.

So…. I delcare that you must:

 

…. DeLurk Yourself and leave a comment today, and hopefully in the future!

I don’t care who you are, where you are from, or how you found my blog, let me know you read.

Why do I like comments so much, you ask?

It makes me feel good to know people read about the inner workings of my life. And, hey, I share personal stuff on here, so maybe I want to know who knows all about my life!

And to borrow a fellow blog friends idea, here’s a topic to get you started:

What do you eat when you order Chinese food?

And as a reward for delurking, stealing yet another friends idea, you can ask me ANY question you want and I will answer them in upcoming blog posts. (This applies to my everyday readers/commenters too!)

(It’s not hard to post a comment if you don’t have a blogsite! Just come up with a fun name and put in your email address and voila, you can comment.)

So, what are you waiting for? You know you have questions you want to ask me!

(Edit: I am changing this to Delurking week; I know some people catch up on blogs at the most random times!)

Excuses, Excuses

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So I must say I’m overwhelmed (in a good way!) by everyone who stopped by to weigh-in on the alarm clock (radio vs. cell phone vs. other options) debate. It does make me feel better to know I’m not the only one who uses the “old school,” clock radio, though it does remind me that as a Blackberry owner I should be able to listen to music when I wake instead of the default-chiming.

Before I delve into a real post, it seems I have some new readers! Welcome and rest assured I’ll be visiting your blogs regularly and will add you to my blog roll as well.

As I’m sure many of you have noticed, I’ve slacked in the regular posting arena lately.

The causes:

* A much busier start to 2009 than expected. Four out of the five days last week I didn’t eat lunch until close to 3pm, let alone get up for a bio-break. I’m not complaining since the day flies by but I miss my lunch hour for reading/commenting and posting blogs. Things are still frustrating at the office but I realize now isn’t the time to run around job searching.

* The Gym. Yes, it’s true, I’ve actually been frequenting the gym everyday and I’m loving it. I did forget how much it takes out of one’s evening. Drive to gym. Workout for anywhere from 40-90 minutes depending on my mood and how busy the gym is. Leave gym, drive home. Walk Jack. De-stinkify self. Then eat some sort of healthy, nutritious dinner. TDH and I have worked a few times together and it’s really a great motivator. We have a lot of fun and are getting stronger together.

* Sleeping. Something about exercising makes me super sleepy. I barely read ten pages of my book before I’m passed out.

* Video Games. I can’t believe I just said this, but it’s true. Friday night I spent two hours playing an arcade-type PC game called Peggle. It’s crazy addictive. My parents have a Wii and when I go over them I’m addicted to boxing and bowling. Up next, according to TDH is “first person shooters.”

* Armageddon. Last week at TDH’s I happened upon a show about December 21st, 2012. You know, the day the world is supposed to end according to the Mayan calendar and about 10 other oracles and prophecies. Did you know that “I am Legend,” takes place in the year 2012? And “War of the Worlds?” And that there are lots of different environemntal crises that are expected to happen in 2012? I am not saying I think the world will iimplode or anything, but the idea of it has me rather side-tracked and slightly disturbed. (TDH has plans in case any of the predictions come to fruition. It consists of ammo, water purifiers and living off of his parents farm. I guess it makes sense.)

* 20 SB. I am really hoping to get to the 20SB meet-up in June, so if any of you are planning on going do let me know!And if anyone needs/wants to fly to StL and drive-up with me, the company is always welcome! I was thrilled last week when the nominations came out for the Bootleg awards, as many of the people who I read and love and who shockingly read me were nominated. They most definitely deserve it. And the awards have got me thinking… I hope this year to buy my own domain, get a fancier design and more comprehensive theme going on here on this little blog. It occurred to me that while I started my blog as an outlet for my everyday life, it’s turned into something more and I actually care if people read, comment, enjoy. I’m open to suggestions on a more “together” theme so feel free to comment or email me at: nora (dot)laylou(at)gmail(dot)com.

Most Random Thought Thursday

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I have an alarm clock. You know, the old school kind that you have to manually set each night before you go to bed?

It’s a Sony, it’s white with the flourescent green numbers. I wake up to the same radio station each morning.

Anytime I hit snooze, it’s for nine minutes. I’ve never understood why it’s nine minutes instead of ten, but I digress.

I wonder if I’m one of the only people left who uses a real alarm clock? Has everyone switched to the digital era completely, using cell phones as alarms? I know TDH does. My younger brother. My old ManMate. Maybe it’s a guy thing?

I use my cell phone as an alarm when I fauxhabitate with TDH but I detest it. The obnoxious beeping and chiming. No music or update on the news like my good old Sony, which I’ve had for over 10 years.

So readers, tell me, do you use an old school alarm or are you completely digital?

Ready? Set! 2009…

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I very rarely stick to my resolutions. I make them. They are the usual ones (eat less, workout more, be nicer, work harder, blah blah blah).

And as many of my blog friends have realized, not meeting those goals/resolutions makes us feel like a failure when we don’t get accomplish what we wish. Enter BrookeM, who has wonderful ideas for blogs, and yes, I’m borrowing yet another one, the idea of non-resolutions

Nora’s list of NON-resolutions, things I don’t want to do in 2009:

* Neglect myself. My people-pleasing personality is always well-intended but more often than not, I forget myself. I forget haircuts, shopping trips, gym time, alone time. I don’t want to do that this year. When I lose my time, I lose me, and when I lose me, I become grumpy and insecure and that’s just not cool.
* Lose more friends. I can’t really control this one, but I can stay in better touch with them. In finding myself last year, I lost some friends. I don’t want that to happen again. I realize it’s a reality with marriages, careers, moving, kids and etc.
* Leave dirty dishes in the sink overnight. I always regret the stuck-on food the next day and the mess in the kitchen.
* Go into debt. I haven’t used my credit cards in over two months. I hide them from myself, I don’t go on shopping sprees like I used to and really, spending more time with Jack, friends and me is much better than owing my life to some credit card company.
* Work on a vacation. I calculated the number of vacations I’ve had in the last few years at my office (I’ve worked there for four). It’s probably close to five. However, each time I leave for a vacation, I wind up towing my work laptop along and my cell phone is never far from me. I don’t get to disconnect. So this year, no working on vacations.
* Give a sh!t what people think. This will be hard as I think it’s fundamentally part of who I am, but I need to stop caring what people think about me, my clothes, my lifestyle, my job, my career path, my beliefs. All of it. I care too much. I worry. I obsess. And when I care what people think, I limit myself and I don’t live the way I want to. I’m young, but not so young that I realize that I can’t live my life for other people.
* Worry. See above. I’m also going to stop worrying so much about each decision I make, each sentence I write and say. This one isn’t going to be easy for as long as I can remember, worrying has been inherent in my nature. Might as well give it a shot!
* Deny myself chocolate. This must be the complete opposite of a resolution considering it’s fattening, gross but fabulously delicious. I’m going to limit the doses and occasions of when I have chocolate, but man, I love it. So I will still have it in 2009.
* Stop cooking, baking and exploring in the kitchen. It’s easy to get stuck in ruts with everything young, “single” women do on a regular basis but thanks to the wonderful pots and pans my parents gave me for Christmas (Calphalon) I will continue to create, experiment, taste and try new dinners and desserts. When I’m cooking all the stresses of the day melt away, everything comes down to the recipe or the way a dish tastes and that’s all that matters. That and the wine I decide to pair with dinner, the music on the radio and the candles on the table.

My new boyfriend, GYM and a pact with TDH

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I feel invigorated.
Renewed.
On fire.

TDH said I sound “swarthy, cocksure, confident.”

Ladies (and gentlemen? Do any guys read this? If so, please let me know, I’d love to know who all of my readers are!), I finely returned to the gym. A mere 50 minutes later after cardio, strength, and more cardio, I left sweaty, hooked and loving it. I can’t wait to go back.

Interesting observation about my gym: it’s sandwiched between the Wine & Cheese Place, CiCi’s Pizza Buffet, Chinese and a Blockbuster. Talk about temptation to be lazy and full of delicious junk food is going to be hard.

I have also made a pact with the devil, and by devil I mean video games. TDH is going to start exercising with me, as well as eating healthier but it comes with a price! That price is that I start to play video games with him and furthermore attend LAN parties. (For those who don’t know, and this is my limited understanding, it’s like all night gaming parties, group games and etc. All video and online.) TDH’s goal: create a super, sexy dork. I already have the librarian glasses, so I’m halfway there.

Bottom Line: We all know that once in a relationship, the happy weight comes freely. Taco Bell at 2am? SURE. Cooking romantic, cheesy Italian dinners? Yes, please. Sleeping in instead of going to the gym? Yup. So I’m hoping (this is not a resolution so much as a decision?) to get to the gym more, pay more attention to the numbers of trip made to fast food and out to eat, and hopefully in the meantime get healthy and (warning, cliche coming) get MY sexy back.

Tuesday Evening "DayBook"

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FOR TODAY~~~~January 6, 2009…
(borrowed from SheShe)

Outside my window… there is only one house with Christmas lights. I know it’s time for them to go, but it’s gray and gross in the MidWest now. Christmas lights make me smile.

I am thinking… that taking a break from graduate school is indeed a great idea.

I am thankful for… being 25. I feel like it (meaning my life) has really started since I turned 25. Crazy probably, but I’m glad for it.

From the kitchen… the double creme brie is calling my name. I bought it for TDH but he hasn’t touched it yet, which  means it’s detrimental to my diet.

I am wearing… post workout clothes. Dirty, I know.

I am creating… a living space that will be very hard to say goodbye to if/when I move out of it. I really love my apartment. Very home. Very me.

I am going…  to the gym at least three more times this week. I will. And I’m excited about it.

I am reading… “The Book Thief “(Markus Zusak), “Dizzy & Jimmy” (about one of James Dean’s girlfriends), FITNESS January edition, and “The Sicilian” (Mario Puzo). I like more than one read at a time obviously.

I am hoping… that I can get off of my vacation sleep schedule soon and fall asleep before 1:30 am this week!

I am hearing… television in the background, Jack chomping on a bone in his bed

Around the house… I’m struggling to rid my apartment of Christmas decorations. But I will, otherwise I’ll be the weird-o who has a tree up in March!

One of my favorite things… sleeping until noon.

A few plans for the rest of the week… Back to family dinners at TDH’s parents’ house. Possible triple date this weekend. Playing Scrabble. I finally bought it and I can’t wait!

Inspiration… Where do you get yours?

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Thanks to Darling for bestowing a new award on me today: The Inspiration Award.

As with any good award, there are some informal rules and of course the promise and premise that I will tag an additional seven readers.

It is an award for inspiring, for making us stop and look and feel inspired. 

 So here are the Rules as Darling gave them to me,  followed by the Winners and the “whys” for their winning. 

BTW, Winners, this tags you to, in turn, get out there and stamp your Inspiration approval on others.   

 1. Please put the logo of the award (above) on your blog if you can make it work with your format.
2. Link to the person from whom you received the award.
3. Nominate  7 or more blogs.
4. Put the links of those blogs on your blog.
5. Leave a message on their blogs to tell them.

I hereby bestow this award to the following:

Byron: Read his blog for a few days. You’ll be addicted. You’ll be refreshed. You may just find your point of view shifting and changing as you read his blog. And then you’ll find yourself reading his articles online (yes, he writes for “real,” too). And if you are like me, you’ll most definitely find yourself wanting to be real life friends with him.

Liz, of Will There Be Cake?: Proof that you can have a career, a house, a husband, a dog and still be an independent woman. Her fresh, fun and humorously sarcastic outlook on life and the everday are really amusing and remind me that yes, we women can have it all!

Nova, of Coffee du Jour: Proof positive that life doesn’t always go our way, but you can’t give up. And Nova’s not throwing in the towel yet. Her blog is honest, eye-opening, sobering and above all, real. Check it out.

Darling: Give it back to Darling because she, after all, is the one who inspired me to write and to start a blog. She’s the best… friend, mother, creator and much more.

Mel, of Mel Does Grad School: Mel doesn’t get to post as much as she used to, but when she does, it’s bittersweet, funny, enlightening and intelligent.

Scarlett of Scarlett Off Course: I guess it’s because she and I clicked as internet friends, but man, I love reading her blog! I relate to many of her posts; learning to love and be loved, work troubles/successes, and the ever-changing pace of life.

BrookeM of Skrinerking Hearts: For her writing style. For the fact that if I need inspiration for a blog, BrookeM has inevitably posted some sort of new meme or idea of posting that I can borrow (and she doesn’t mind in the least bit!). Not to mention she posts adorable pictures of guys with great Heads of Hair each week, shares a bit too much with us on Thursday and doesn’t make excuses for anything she says on her blog. (Nor should she.)