Walking With Nora

Last week I was in one of my super social butterfly moods which had me out every night of the week, crawling in bed anywhere between 11pm and 1am. Of course I chose to be my social self on the one week where I had to be up at 6 am everyday for a 7am start at the office.

The week was buzzing along just fine, Monday-Wednesday with just marginal sleepiness during the day since I was smart and avoided beer and any other form of alcohol the first two nights.

Except for last Wednesday: First Base tickets to the StL Cardinals game + Irish + our friends who are newlyweds + a gorgeous night in terms of weather that didn’t have me sneezing + the ballbark environment = MUST have beer. And so I did. Two, lovely, perfectly poured Bud Selects (I think). Irish and I split some of my favorite nachos at the game, cheered the Cardinals on and of course I got to hear all about the wedding from K in between innnings and when the boys were on beer runs.

I should clarify that I rarely drink anymore; when I’m consistently going to the gym like a good girl alcohol often seems like empty calories. (I prefer chocolate if I’m giong to indulge.)  If I am drinking it’s because I’ve had a really long week and need to get a buzz of some sort. I can’t be casual about drinking for whatever reason. It had been a long time since my last “drinking,” event.

During the game I felt my mood improve drastically, my worries about work melt away, and I started singing to all the songs they played at the Stadium. Out loud.  Which is something I rarely do in public. Next thing I know I asked M&K if they wanted to go to a bar after the game! And that I would buy beer!

We left the stadium after a strong win against the Mets and headed to a complete hole-in-the-wall bar where the music is too loud, the waitresses are about 10 years behind in fashion and the drink specials are cheap.

I was dancing, singing and skipping around the bar. I drank two more beers. I reminisced with K about our days at Mizzou and twittered a bit too much about the upcoming Vegas trip. I sang Buckcherry songs at the top of my lungs when they echoed throughout the bar.

A short hour later we were home, I had devoured a cold piece of black & green olive pizza and I passed out. 6 am came awfully early on Thursday. And my lovely hangover was right there with the darn alarm clock. I felt like crap all day. Headache. Not hungry. Completely exhausted. Foolish. Had I really thought that staying out late on a week night was a good idea? Did I really think I could push through the inevitable hangover? Evidently I did. I was incredibly wrong.

I felt old.
I realized that I’m no longer the carefree college girl who could drink until 3 am and still make it to the 8am class. I’m not even the college graduate who insists on going out three nights a week despite her full-time job without feeling the slightest bit sleepy.

I am now a corporate American, working from 8-5 (at least), five days a week. I need my sleep. I need different means of relaxation like the gym, girl time, reading, time with Irish and etc. I need non-alcoholic drinks if I’m out during the week. Or I need to suck it up and learn how to party again, I’m not sure which.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m happy with my life as it is but it’s an interesting thing to wake up and realize that you and your body aren’t the same person they were a few years ago.

I have a new addiction. Well, it’s not really new so much as it is resurfaced. It’s a little thing called reading.

I grew up around books:Darling, a writer and Boss, a former English teacher, there was no shortage. There still isn’t; my parents read just as much as me and Irish. When I was younger I used to take out a minimum of ten books each time I went to the library. They would all be returned on time and read. One of my best friends in middle school would go with me and we’d take bags to put all the books in. And then we’d read. For hours. Dorks, I know. 

Saturday morning Irish and I woke up early (which is a huge thing for us) to hit up a few garage sales, an estate sale and a book fair. The end result? I wound up with an additional 14 books to add to my growing stack of must-reads. Books include: “The Secret Life of Bees,” “Lovely Bones,” “The March,” “Wuthering Heights,” (which I read in high school but plan to re-read), “Meet The Mulvaneys,” and much, much more.

We also found the motherload of good CDs and DVDs at a garage sale and after doing the math we’re pretty sure we walked away with $150 worth of media for only $10.00. This is the second time we’ve gone garage sale-ing since we’ve been together; before that I’ve never checked out a garage sale unless it was one in which I was selling things. Used bookstores and even places like Barnes & Noble, however, are frequented more often. We both have a book-buying problem. We have talked about borrowing books from libraries but there is the issue of late fees, not being able to throw the book around in you car, and for whatever reason we both like to OWN our books.

Irish has one large bookshelf/hutch and two smaller bookshelves full of books. My books are all piled onto one, three-shelf situation in my bedroom. We need more space. Or perhaps to buy less, I’m not sure.

We bond over reading, though. We share our books. We talk about the books. Saturday afternoon post-amazing breakfast and shopping haul, we changed into comfortable clothes and with Jack at our feet we read for three hours straight with random jazz and 50s records on the turntable. (Yes, he owns a turntable and records. It’s pretty awesome). And then we read on Sunday. And Sunday night… I was able to devour “Angels & Demons” and really dig my heels into “The Sicilian,” by Mario Puzo (author of the Godfather).

I read quite a bit before I met Irish but one of the things that most certainly attracted me to him? How literary he is. Reading IS sexy.  

Although I have a long list of books to go, what’s your favorite book and/or a book I absolutely MUST read?

Last night I joined Darling and a close family friend for a VIP only Fashion Show here in the StL. I know it sounds odd to use StL and Fashion in the same sentence but I promise, we have some! You just have to know where to look.

My dad scored us the tickets to this event where our ears were delighted by “DJ Andrew,” Tommy Bahama rum mixed deliciously in some sort of Rum-Runner concoction and the people watching was at it’s best. A few of my favorite people-watching moments from the night:

* A guy who wore a faux tuxedo shirt, you know, the kind where the tuxedo print is on the shirt but it’s really just a cotton t-shirt? He jazzed it up with a black jacket but it still made me laugh out loud.

* Another guy who had a great outfit on but wore HUGE Drew Carey style glasses that were clearly a novelty.

* A bright, neon green dress. It was rather blinding. Perhaps if the cut/design had been different it would have been great. (I’m not a fashionista by any means but it was just… wrong.)

* The girls who attended and weren’t models in the show but stood as if they were modeling. Hands on hips, heads held high, no smiles on their faces. 

The fashion show itself only lasted about 20  minutes out of the entire three hour event, but it was enough time for me to covet the stick-thin legs (and also make two trips to the bar), about $3,000 worth of clothes and a permanent hair-stylist. (You can view photos of the event here.) All of the clothes were from Nordstrom so I’m pretty sure that my next bonus check will be quickly spent on one or two key pieces I can use over and over again from there. Or maybe I’ll imitate the clothes from a bunch of other stores; I haven’t decided yet.

As a thank you for attending we received complimentary valet parking, open bar, light dinner fare such as sushi and losbster bisque as well as a goodie bag including a fashion magazine, a free six-ounce glass of wine, hand made hair ties, gift certificate to a local spa and note cards.

Besides the fashion show and the fact that one of the male models literally had a Zoolander face on the whole time my favorite part of the night was driving home with Darling and LC doing the post-event wrap-up including a discussion on the super model diet which we decided is not something we could survive on.

So tell me are you a Vogue Reader & Fashion Worshipper? Or do you make your own fashion? What is the ONE piece of clothing that you would buy if you could, assuming money and distance you’d need to travel to purchase the item isn’t an issue? Although I’m a casual dresser by nature, I love dresses. And skirts. And heels.

One of my favorites:

Editor’s Note from Nora: Today is 20SB Blog Swap day on my blog. The lovely Melissa is taking over Walking Through the Rain for the day with a great post about food. Enjoy, comment and check out her blog! And if you want to read about my not-so-secret obsession check out my post on her blog.

Until I started dating my ex-boyfriend, I had never had any desire to eat sushi. I have this intense fear of food poisoning, lest it result in throwing up. I remember going on a business lunch with Japanese businessmen and my coworker ate a large portion of sushi (I ate lovely HOT, cooked shrimp tempura, thank you very much). Within an hour of returning to the office…I recall looking over at him…And noting how green he looked. Didn’t take long before he was up and into the bathroom to purge the evil stuff from his system.  It might not have been the sushi that even made him sick or maybe the sushi was just…not prepared correctly. Regardless, I wouldn’t touch it.

Until about 2 years ago.
While my ex and I had a rough relationship for the 4 years we were together, I will credit him with  forcing me to try new foods. Now cuisines such as Greek, Indian, and Thai all have my mouth watering.  Then there was the evening that he took me to Sushiya (http://www.sushiyausa.com/), along with his sister and another friend. I was very apprehensive. I had no interest in eating raw fish that was all rubbery and slimy. Just. Gross. I didn’t know how to use chopsticks well either (I ended up having to have them rig them up with a rubberband….like they would do for a kid!).

Once I had my first few bites, I was completely hooked. The texture was nothing at all like I had expected. It was perfect. Tasty. Smooth. Amazing. The sake wasn’t that great, but the sushi? Was to DIE for.

And since then, I have developed a serious addiction to it. Spicy tuna is my vice. And what’s more perfect?? That just a few blocks from me? Is this grocery store that has sushi chefs on staff nearly FULL TIME making fresh sushi every single day. I have moved onto having an eel obsession on top of the spicy tuna addiction.

I seriously need an intervention — I’m getting so poor! At some points, I was buying sushi rolls 2-3 times a week ($12-20 a week — which doesn’t seem like A LOT, but it is as a grad student. :p)!! I’m now down to once a week and it’s so hard!

Are there any other foods or cuisines that I can explore that would not be as expensive? But just as delicious and addicting? I need a serious sushi intervention before my fiance and I go broke because of my addiction!

I am aware that today is 20SB Blog Swap Day, however my swap partner and I just found out last night (thanks to Mandy!) that we were supposed to swap today with no time to prepare a blog. We will be swapping tomorrow. My Blog Swap Partner is The Melodramatic and I know she’ll dazzle you with her writing.

Onto a few other random topics and answers to questions my readers have asked me:  

* Dreams. Over the last few weeks I’ve been having insane dreams/nightmares in which our late family dog, Bear, is present. Sometimes in the dreams he hasn’t yet passed on, other times he’s a ghost dog but only I can see him. In either case I wake up with tears in my eyes. It’s been rather disturbing. I suppose perhaps it’s Bear’s way of letting me know he is still around?  Or that he’s okay and happy in Dog Heaven? I just wish that my dreams lasted a bit longer or that, as cliched as this is, they came true.

* Social. A friend once asked me who was more social: Irish or me? Honestly it’s a hard question for me to answer. I’m inclined to say that I am because I’m a planner, I have lots of friends to catch up with and I love going out on double/group dates with our friends. However, there are those nights, especially when work is insane and my brain is mush come 5pm, where all I want to do is take Jack for a nice walk, have a cup of tea and watch a movie, do something crafty or read a book.  Lately though I’ve been a social butterfly. Come Friday I will have been out every single night. I’ve been catching up with friends, hanging out with family, on the phone all the time. I suppose I’m trying to get it all in before grad school courses start on June 5th.  As for Irish? Well, he has a weekly “Man Night,” with his buddies at the pool hall and kickball games every weekend so he’s automatically social. I have learned that he enjoys staying home with video games/books/movies/internet surfing just as much as, if not more than me.

* The Teeth. I am almost 100% back to normal. I am allowed to go back to the gym this week (likely not until Friday due to my insane social calendar). I am eating most foods that I love unless it’s something that is super crunchy. My jaw is only marginally sore and I have all of my energy back. It’s always the minor surgeries that seem to take the longest to recover from.

* The Killers. Irish and I are going to see them on May 4th. I am pumped. That is all.

* Gram. I have mentioned in passing that my Gram moved to StL in November of last year. It’s been a tough road at times, especially for Darling, but I think everyone is getting used to it. Gram is a character, probably an entire post (or two) just for her would be wise but today I’m focusing on the good things. Monday night Gram gave me about five vintage cookbooks including a Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook from 1956. It’s totally incredible and in really great shape. I can’t wait to try out some of the desserts and other tempting recipes. Gram is also going to teach me how to knit. My first project will be a blanket of some sort.

* The Buzz. Irish and I have been dating for 10 months (tomorrow, actually) and so people have started asking THE QUESTIONS. You know ones like “when are you going to get married?” or “You guys plan on moving in together anytime soon?” The questions come randomly from our couple friends, my single friends and even family on occasion. I don’t really mind but when we go to weddings? It’s terrible. Everyone asks. While I know that I want to be with Irish for the rest of my life, can’t I/we take our time? And yes as much as the e-word and m-word appeal to me, we have a few other things to sort out first like living arrangements, budgets and yadda yadda. I won’t lie, I have turned to Irish and suggested we elope and then other days I want to enjoy things and take my time. But one thing is for sure, I’m crazy about the guy. I still hate it when we don’t see each other for a day or two. It feels like an eternity. So my answer when people ask me those questions? “I love him and the rest will happen when it’s right.” Or if I’m feeling snarky, “I love him but it’s only been 10 months! We have time.”

* Allergies. Many people have asked me what kind of food I can eat since I have so many awful food allergies. It all boils down to this: dairy (non-soy); meat (turkey, chicken, red meat); limited vegetables (broccoli, green beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers, onions. The first three must be cooked); grains/wheats (pastas, bread, whole wheats, cereals), condiments are all fine so far. The main offenders that are big time allergens are all fruits (though I can have fruit juice in moderation, jellys), tree nuts (peanuts/peanut butter are okay), seasame seeds, celery, and all the other vegetables (peas, carrots, etc). It can be very difficult sometimes at dinner parties, restaurants or social events like concerts/baseball games but I’ve learned to find a few key things I can order no matter where I am and I stick to it. If I ever develop an allergy to dairy, meat and grains, well, that will just kill the inner-Italian in me!

That’s how I view the blogging community I’ve known to love: we are all here to support each other. On a fairly regular basis I email, GChat, Tweet and even send real, old-fashioned mail to more than a handful of my close blog friends. I plan to meet a bunch of them in June. I trust them. .

Obviously I don’t expect everything people post about to be 100% true word-for-word, meaning how can we recall complete conversations we’ve had at bars while intoxicated? Or who remembers with complete accuracy what they were wearing when they were at their 5th birthday party? But the basic things like who/what/where/when/why and the whole feeling and idea behind the post I believe to be true.

Which is why when I heard about a blog that I had been reading for maybe 5 months or so was plagarized (you can read about it here), subsequently (and rightfully so) removed from the web I was in utter shock.

My first thoughts: WTF? Why would someone do that? Is my work being plagarized? How did people find out about this? Would someone tell me if they saw one of my posts elsewhere on a blog that wasn’t mine? How can I protect my blog? I can’t belive she made up so much of those posts. I sent her sympathies on more than one occasion. I commented faithfully. She met some of my other blog friends in real life… thank goodness they are safe. Do I really want to go to Vegas now? Maybe I should stop blogging or be more anonymous with my posts.

But, none of that would be true to me. I write how I feel, I write what happens and I write the truth. I don’t lie to my blog friends. If you ask me a question online or offline, I’ll answer it. It’s part of who I am. I admit that certain parts of my life are off-limits when it comes to blogworld but that is only because you have to have a few things to keep to yourself, right?

Do Irish and I have disagreements? Of course.
Do I blog about them? Not unless I really need too. Some things are meant for only Irish and myself to know about.

Do Darling and I always get along? Certainly not. We are mother/daughter. We have had knock-down-drag-out-fights on more than one occasion. I’m happy to say we haven’t had one in years and we never really knocked each other down. Usually a lot of screaming and crying and it’s all kind of funny now.

Do I have stress and annoyances in my life? Heck yes. And I post about them… just to a minimum because I don’t want to overshare and this is supposed to be a “Happy Girl’s Blog!”

Another part of me that is true to who I am?

Trust. As long as I can remember I have been that girl who finds the good in people… is determined to even if it’s the worst idea for me. So I believed this particular blogger had the perfect life she said she had. Did it seem a tad over the top at times? Yes, but some people really do live that way. Did I question my accomplishments because of all this girl did? Yes and now I’m really mad at myself for questioning myself over a fake, plagarized persona. (I understand there are two sides to every story but this is the only side I know.)  I have over 70 different blogs in my Google Reader and another handful I need to add to it and guess what? If they say they are having a bad day, I’m going to wish them a better one and send virtual hugs (it’s what I do). If they need advice about to wear on a first date, I’m going to believe they are going on a first date and help them out. If someone has a baby, adopts a dog, plans a vacation, whatever… I believe you.

The best part about blogland is that we all rally around each other when we need to and this is a case where we need to be keep a watchful eye out for plagarism yet maintain our happy, positive, optimistic attitude that makes the blogging community a strong, great place to be. Yes, I know internet sites are public domain but stealing people’s work, writing and feelings is just all wrong. And Internet? We will find you and we will make you stop stealing. Blogland is a mini-mafia in a way. Don’t mess with us. Take my word for it.

(Editor’s Note: Irish pointed out to me that I must have been upset when I wrote this post because he noticed an unusual amount of spelling and grammatical errors in this post. I believe I have caught and corrected them.)

1. Being able to eat real food at Irish’s sister’s birthday party on Friday night. Baked potato, steak with blue cheese crumbles and a cupcake. Yum-o. And cue the wisdom tooth weight loss regain!

2. Enjoying a Saturday morning to myself. Watched Moonstruck (love it for the Italian family references, NYC skyline and old-school Nicholas Cage), ate cereal in my pjs and cuddled with Jack.

3. Beer Festival! Irish and I attended with the couple that introduced us. Despite the rainy weather and chilly temperatures we had a good time.

4. Irish, for buying me a sweatshirt at the Beer Festival because I tempted fate and wore a tank top in the hopes that the weather would have remained 70 and sunny.

5. People watching and meeting two really adorable dogs at the Beer Festival.

6. Taking a nap after the Beer Fest to the sound of rain hitting the windows.

7. Saturday night spent with Audrey Hepburn and Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

8. Sunday afternoon movie matinees.

9. Feeling incredibly accomplished for getting all of my laundry done and put away.

10. I finally finished “Brideshead Revisited.”

11. Jumping into “Angels and Demons,” by Dan Brown so that I can hopefully see the movie when it comes out in May.

12. Playing scratcher lottery tickets with Irish and winning a few bucks.

13. Enjoying a weekend disconnected from the internet, twitter, tumblr and blogland.

14. Deciding that I am indeed going to see DMB when he comes to StL in June. Now to buy tickets.

15. Reconnecting with myself, Irish, Jack and several of my IRL friends last week. It’s great to know that after weeks of not seeing my friends due to crazy schedules that nothing has changed.

(Editor’s note: This is not a meme, at least it is not intended to be. My brain works in lists/simplicity sometimes which I suppose occasionally appears as a meme)

I want it to be 5pm already. (This is more like a need. L-O-N-G week.)

I wish that when the weather is as gorgeous as it is today that I could work outside.

I’m not good at checking voicemail on my Blackberry…ever. As a result I sometimes have to listen to 10-15 messages. Odd considering I’m normally an organized person and like to have things taken care of.

I want to soak my feet in hot water. On my feet yesterday for 11.5 hours straight in heels (bad shoe choice, I know but my options are limited temporarily) has left me feeling like I have stumps for feet.

I wish that my office job didn’t rely solely on computers/internet/technology to get my job done correctly. I’ve been without MY computer for three days and it’s killing me slowly.

I’m not going to eat one of the chocolate cupcakes with funfetti icing that I made last night as soon as I walk in the door tonight. Even though I want to.

I want to have a kitchen-aid fancy mixer. Like this one.

I wish that I had sat down and hand-written some cards. I have more Blog Love/Friend Love to send out.

I’m not using my credit cards anymore. I haven’t used it in four months and it is such an awesome feeling.

I want to finish the book I’m reading. It’s really good. (Brideshead Revisited. And yes, I know I’ve been reading it for awhile but I REALLY just started getting into it last weekend.)

I wish that Missouri had a beach. I’m craving the sand-in-the-toes and sound of waves.

I’m not good at staying up past 11 lately. I’m an old woman.

I want to buy a house with Irish. Someday. Soon.

I wish that some of the big adult life decisions would be made for me.

I’m not very good at fixing my hair lately. It’s either been in a pony tale or half-up all week. How very boring.

I want a room full of built-in bookshelves with two really ridiculously comfortable reading chairs.

I wish I had a bigger place so I could adopt a friend for Jack.

I’m not sorry I gave up fast food/fried food/soda for Lent. It’s been almost a week and I haven’t had any of it yet.

What is one of your wish/want/”am not”s for the day?

1. My joint tumblr venture with Mandy. It’s all about happy things. Our purpose? For you to “Leave Happier,” when you’re done perusing. Take a look if you haven’t already.

2. My darn pilot light went out on my heater so Irish came to the rescue with a fabulous space heater. I’m warm and toasty now. (Darn pilot light also won’t reignite. Sigh/Scowl.)

3. Massages. Irish’s youngest sister is  a massage therapist and she makes house calls! I’m all mellow and loosey-goosey now. Divine.

4. My blue plaid rainboots. We’ve had two straight days of rain which I don’t mind but walking Jack in the rain without rainboots is a totally foreign concept to me.

5. Jello Pudding that tastes like Oreos.

6. Having plans to catch up with two good friends this week.

7. Figuring out an easier way to share the photobooth photos. Check this post for the updated version.

8. Seriously contemplating going to Vegas in June with the blog gals. Sounds like a much needed girl trip to me. And bonus, the flights aren’t expensive.

9. Receiving real live snail mail from this fabulous blogger; one of my first blog friends ever. The MidWest is losing him to California soon but rumor has it he’s taking us along for the ride.

10. Darling, for constantly being one of biggest fans, supporters and best friends. Best Mom ever.

• I’m back on Facebook and frankly, my dears, I’m not loving it. No, I’m not talking the new layout or anything like that but I’m talking about feeling like I need to respond to people, to reconnect with folks I haven’t talked to in a long time and of course seeing info on people you just don’t want to hear/see about. It’s not that I don’t want to reconncect but it seems I’m the one always doing the reconnecting. Why can’t other people reach out to me? (I’m cleansing my friend list again). It was also, as I mentioned, a great social experiment. Some of my friends refuse to talk to me in any form BUT facebook. Others don’t email (oh, I wish they would. I know this is terrible but I am not a big phone person anymore). Others don’t do phone calls or email. I’m keeping it for now, I’m not going to obsess over it anymore, but I’m not sure I like it. It feels like another intrusion/interruption. And yes, I realize I can make it all go away with a click of a button.

 

• Wedding season! Irish and I attended a lovely ceremony and reception Saturday afternoon for one of his long time buddies. The bridesmaid dresses were not pretty… at all. But the bride was amazingly gorgeous. I still don’t know why she’s not a model. It turns out I went to high school with her brother (it’s a small world after all, it’s a small, small world!). The reception was good boasting some pasta that I could indeed eat, albeit at the pace of someone with dentures, a decent DJ, yummy cake, and a full dance floor. Oh, and a photobooth! (I scanned the pictures in and they aren’t super fantastic, but thought you’d like to see anyway. In the third picture I have my head down as we thought we had gone through all four flashes already. It’s quite artistic so I’ll have to find a better way to share them with you. The fourth one is bad so I cropped it out. Editor’s rights!) Random Side Note: We only have one other reception and one other full wedding to attend for all of 2009 so far. I’m kind of excited about that… perhaps a little too excited.

 

• Easter. Irish and I did a marathon day. My parents, then his. Food and dessert at both. I did manage to eat a little bit though my jaws/sockets/other teeth hate me today. I’m back on my mush diet for a few more days as per my doc’s orders.  Darling gave us both awesome, unexpected Easter baskets, my Gram only asked me twice what foods I’m allergic to (I’ve told her at least six times) and we all laughed a lot. At his folks house we watched the end of The Masters, made a fire, and then I tuned out the talk about politics (I have to keep my mouth firmly closed when there) until we called his sister who lives in Australia and talked to her for a few minutes. Now? I want to go to Australia.

 

• The rest of the weekend: Wii, sleep, read. Walk Jack, grocery shop, drive to my house to pick up clothes I forgot for wedding and then on Sunday for the dessert I forgot to pick up on Saturday, questioned myself for being so forgetful lately, quality family time, quality Irish and Nora time, Tumblr time, enjoyed a day off, wished I had more days off, and stared at a few episodes of Friends Season Five before I drifted off to a blissful sleep while Mother Nature pounded StL with rain on Sunday evening.