Walking With Nora

Want a real post with some substance written by me? I’m guest posting for Lys today on My Roads Not Taken. Hope you enjoy the post and Lys’ new home!

Current Book(s):
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Dark Lover, by J.R. Ward (it’s my plane book for Vegas. Haven’t started it yet!)

Current Music:
The Killers
The CD that SleepyJane made for me
Paul Simon
The Supremes
(yeah, my music is all over the place. I’m aware)

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure:
Frozen Junior Mints

Current Colors:
Black, blue, white

Current Obsessions:
Making weekly meal plans
Going to sleep at a normal time (I’ve been in bed by 10:30 every night for the last week)
Finding time to relax

Current Drink:
Rich Chocolate Slim Fast
Water

Current Songs:
Funny the Way It Is, Dave Matthews Band

Current Movie:
I’m craving a Sex & The City Movie night so we’ll go with that

Current TV Show:
True Blood (new season starts June 14th)
Rescue Me
Moonlight (sadly we are on the last disc)

Current Fave Photo:
At the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure StL last year (with Darling). I hope to do it again in June. I may even run it instead of walk.

Current Wish-List:
More hours in the day
Melt away five pounds magically (hahaha, yeah right)
A few new clothes for summer for both fun & work

Current Needs:
Go Grocery Shopping
Dye my hair again before Vegas (wow, this is a fascinating list.)
To print the millions of pictures I’ve taken in the last year for framing, scrapbooking, sending to friends

Current Triumph(s):
I’ve cut back on unnecessary spending
Learning to go with the flow more

Current Bane(s) of my Existence:
Graduate school. Starts on Monday. I love it once I’m there but the homework is going to stink.
Figuring out when I will have the time to move out of my apartment

Current Goal(s):
Make a weekly schedule for myself which outlines school time/work time/gym time
Four days a week at the gym
Healthier grocery shopping

Current Indulgence:
Ted Drewe’s ice cream, please

Current Blessing:
That after Vegas my social life kind of dies down. I kind of need a break.
As usual my awesome friends, family, dog

Current Slang or Saying:
Oh really?

Current (Fav) Outfit:
White “boyfriend cut,” pants from the Gap and my silk black top from Banana Republic

Current Excitement:
VEGAS.
Returning from Vegas and relaxing for a bit.
Coming up with a few fun presents to give Irish on our one year
Jack is almost five!
Moving home = save up lots of $$ = happy Nora

Current Mood:
Overwhelmed.

And with my current mood mentioned, please be aware that I may be a tad more absent from blogging as I dive into my final five graduate school courses headfirst. No, no, not at all once. I have three nine-week semesters between now and then end of 2009. I’m taking two classes each for the next two semesters and then my final class October-December. If I’m not working, sleeping, eating, attempting to be a good girlfriend, friend, sister, daughter, dog-mother I’ll have my head stuffed in books and notes for awhile.

1. TV on DVD. Currently obsessed with True Blood. Only have two episodes left of a 12 episode season. It’s that good.

2. Sharing the cooking responsibilities with Irish. We are back to limiting ourselves to one night out a week. The rest of the time we take turns cooking/making/finding dinner. So far we’ve had Indian courtesy of Irish and a cheesey, broccoli, grilled chicken macaroni dish from me.

3. Celebrating Liz’s 27th birthday with the birthday girl and a few of her friends at a yummy Italian restaurant last night.

4. The look of surprise on Liz’s  face as her husband surprised all of us, showing up at the restaurant when we thought he was going to be out of town.

5. The promise of a very lazy weekend.

6. One week until VEGAS.

7. Jumping into puddles wearing my super fashionable rain boots (no, really, they are fashionable! Blue Plaid design).

I promise I have pictures of my friends who were in town but since they don’t know I blog I couldn’t really ask for their permission to post a lot photos of them so it’s going to look like the Irish & Nora Weekend…. at least one of these photos is going to make you gag and one will make you laugh out loud (I hope!)

Above: Hanging out at the Winery on a Lazy Sunday.

The End!

Amber of Girl with the Red Hair (formerly Amber Alert) is doing a Book Giveaway! What better time of year to receive a book in the mail than the summer?

Mandy of Knowing the Difference is hosting a Book Blog Swap. You’ll be paired with a partner to swap a book with.

What are you waiting for? Go enter/sign-up now!

This past weekend I discovered….

… that I’ve grown up a lot more than I realized. This also means I’ve grown apart/away from some of my friends in ways I never imagined.

… that I don’t have a very high tolerance for ignorance.

… how amazing it can be to laugh over memories from my past, especially those I had forgotten about.

… that Jack is a cuddle-whore and will cuddle with anyone who lets him.

… that my parents are there for me, even if it’s a Saturday night at 10:30 pm when I’m having a mini-meltdown from hosting out of town friends all weekend.

… that bee stings really freakin’ hurt!

… that Irish will always be there for me. To take care of the bee sting. To walk Jack. To tell me it will all be okay when I realize that my life is quickly changing.

… that StL has a lot more to offer than I thought, especially when I heard my out-of-town friends marvel at all there is to do here.

… that I have a very unusual love for penguins. I think I’ve been to the penguin exhibit at the zoo at least 15 times. No joke.

… that receiving a stuffed animal still makes me smile more than I thought it would. (Irish bought me a mini stuffed penguin at the zoo. His name is Petey, in case you were wondering.)

… that a glass of wine really can cure everything. At least temporarily.

… that Greek food is positively amazing.

… that you can’t beat original jewelry for less than $5  a piece.

… that I can be a darn good hostess. Within the span of one weekend my friends tried & enjoyed toasted ravioli, provel cheese, Ted Drewe’s and Amighetti’s sandwiches  as well as my mom’s homecooking (all thinks unique to StL). We went to the Arch, the zoo, the museum, checked out the New Cathedral, the Landing, went to a winery, a Greek Festival, a local brewery & bbq festival, rolled down a hill (since FL is flat they wanted to roll down a hill), saw a live band, crashed a retirement party (not my idea!),told stories about my city, and showed them a few local bars. I was up before 8 am each day so needless to say it wasn’t a relaxing weekend but the girls wanted to see the city and so they did.

… that even though there were moments when I was stressed over the weekend when all was said and done, I missed my childhood friend within moments of dropping her off at the airport.

… that I move at a much slower pace than I once did. Blame it on age, my work schedule, the fact that I’m in a relationship, whatever you want. But it’s true. I need more downtime than I used to.

… that even while I was enjoying a break from the internet/twitter/blogs/email, I missed my blog friends.

… that I’m more nervous about going to Vegas than I thought.

… that even if given the opportunity I’m not sure I’d move away from StL. I have made a home for myself here. I really do kind of love it.

… that I am a lot stronger (mentally, emotionally, even physically) than I thought I possible when I need to be.

1. The weather. No clouds in  the sky. Low 80s. Low allergies. If only I could work outside.

2. Jack and his toys. Eternally hilarious. He treats them like babies.

3. Cuddles with Irish.

4. Discovering that ”True Blood Season One,” is next on my Netflix queue.

5. Finding a few other movies that Alex O’Loughlin is seeing as how I only have one disc left of Moonlight.  

6. My brother is helping me find my next round of grad school books online for only half-price! Here’s hoping they get here in time.

7. Vegas in TWO WEEKS!!!

8. Gchat.

9. Miss Liz is back from her Hawaii vacation which means we can email again during the week.

10. Celebrating Gram’s birthday, Irish’s youngest sister’s birthday and my dad’s birthday all in a three day span. Not good for the diet but good for the soul.

11. Being so exhausted that I literally collapse into bed. I’m sure that sounds bad but it’s the good kind of exhaustion.

12. Celebrating yet another month of being with Irish.

What is your GiST for the day?

Ever have a weekend so perfect (and exhausting) that you know despite your best efforts you won’t be able to turn it into a swoon-worthy, do-it-justice kind of a post?

That was my weekend.

I’ll give it a whirl, anyway.

Fabulous. What’s a better way to spend a weekend than with family you haven’t seen in two years? My Aunt & Uncle (on Darling’s side) are some of the most down-to-earth, amazing people I know. I’d think that even if they weren’t my family. They are always up for anything, smiling, and ready to go. Their purpose of coming in town was to surprise my gram and boy did it work. We had her crying (unintentionally, of course) at breakfast when she saw them walk into the restaurant.

Exhausting. I didn’t want to spend much time away from the family since I only see them every few years. (My parents see them more often as they frequent the Florida area.) This mean that I was up super early on Saturday, stayed up well past the point of exhaustion and then repeated the cycle on Sunday. Throw in some manual labor at Gram’s apartment yesterday (willingly, of course) and you get a very tired Nora & Irish.

Nostalgic.  My Gram moved to the StL in November; we helped her move in, unpack, organize and etc yet my dear Gram still has an insane amount of stuff after moving countless times. Yesterday, while helping her sort through piles of things, I found several photos of my Poppy, various decor items that reminded me of their old house in Upstate New York, our trip to London, England five years ago and more. There were moments I wanted to sit down and cry as I was overwhelmed with missing Poppy and the realization that while Gram is really an independent woman she has never been the same without him. (I am resolving to go to her place at least once a month to help her with whatever she may need. I also took the liberty to put various pictures of Poppy up around her place.)

Organizing. My Gram is active with crafty projects (in fact, she even has some projects she sells and donates which is totally awesome) so she has many boxes of yarn, lots of family photos, really great gnome statues (collectibles!) in addition to the various books, artwork, photos, frames, clothing and etc that are important to her. She has a great one bedroom apartment but with very little storage. Irish suggested reorganizing her closets to maximize her space. So we did. Darling and I rearranged some furniture, the Grandfather clock, the crystal hutch and other things to help her out. When we left her place yesterday evening she said she feels like she’s finally moved in and organized! (Disclaimer: Darling and I see Gram once a week but the outings/visits are usually filled with menial things such as grocery shopping, dealing with odds and ends like prescriptions, blah blah blah. We help her as much and as often as we can, wtih Darling putting in a lot of the legwork but  sometimes takes an army of five people to get things in shape and so we did!)

Hilarious. Some things are just funny. Like giving a bunch of Senior Citizen Women “Dream Big,” inspirational placards. Or the fact that every where I looked in Gram’s place yesterday there were lots of silk flowers laying around. Or when Jack was hanging out under the table yesterday morning at my parents and decided to fart, twice. LOUDLY. Or the antique lamp that Darling salvaged from my Gram’s that turned out to be rather phallic looking when it’s plugged in. Add in everyone else’s laughter and it usually winds up being rather humorous.

Surprising. Gram didn’t see her surprise party coming at her apartment community so we pulled that one off well. Throw in there Irish coming to my Gram’s birthday party after his kickball games, how incredibly awesome my brother was all weekend and Irish being a HUGE help all day on Sunday with the heavy-lifiting and organizational ideas at Gram’s and the overall theme of the weekend was indeed surprising. (Side Note: I think I fell in love with Irish all over again this weekend. He was so incredibly awesome with my family on Saturday night and all Sunday, with no complaining, lots of smiles, hugs, willingness to help out. I was and am in awe of how great he is! Words really can’t describe how amazing he was/is.)
 
Romantic. See “Side Note,” above. Irish’s willingness to be so in the moment with my family & I was incredibly romantic to me. Not to mention he brought me a change of clothes when I requested them, took care of Jack all day on Saturday since I was tied up, and hugged me when he could tell I was frustrated/sad.

Loving. With a family as awesome as mine, it’s hard not to have a loving weekend. I couldn’t get enough of the hugs, kisses, close moments for the last few days. I also realized that even though my Gram can drive me up the wall sometimes she’s a pretty together lady with a lot of stories to share. Which reminded me how great a mother I have… which resulted in us making pacts about how we’ll handle things when my parents get older. And Irish. Fantastic, wonderful, thoughtful, caring, compassionate boyfriend. I am so lucky to have him. I’m so lucky to have all of this joy in my life.

And now, if you’ll excuse me I’m going to brainstorm on how I can move to Florida to be closer to my Aunt/Uncle, come up with some really sweet things to do for Irish and send my mom a sweet note letting her know how much I love her.

I’m feeling the bullet concept so here we go….

* SURPRISE! My Aunt & Uncle are flying in today to give my Gram an (early) birthday surprise. I’m looking forward to the weekend of wine, beer, BBQ and nostalgia with my family. Also? I am excited for Irish to meet them. (I met all of his main friends & family within the first four months of us dating. Since my family is spread out he gets to meet them in pieces.)

* May has been an insane month and it’s not even half over. Over 11 birthdays (some are friends/family of Irish, others are mine), some of which snuck up on me so I have some back-pedaling, cards to send and presents to wrap. And of course the ones that are in-town require birthday parties, baking, presents, family time and parties. I don’t remember the last time I was at home, in my sweatpants, lounging around. As of right now all signs point to Nora Relaxation time taking place after Vegas. Exciting to be busy and seeing my friends, yes but also exhausting. Which brings me to…

* I’m tired. I’m tired of: saying yes to everything and feeling guilty if I say no; of overextending myself; people who don’t call me back; friends who complain we don’t talk or hang out yet NEVER call me; rude people; arrogance; the desire to eat chocolate; 10-hour work days; poor Irish having to work late; not getting enough time with Jack; my work clothes ; my hair hair; corporate America.

*  Plants vs Zombies. Sounds crazy, right? Courtesy of Irish I’m now hooked on a completely silly puzzle game. I plant flowers that have powers to kill zombies. Zombies try to get through the flowers and etc while shouting “BRAINS!” in a very eerie voice.  But did you know that there are zombies who ride dolphins, are on bobsled teams and impersonate Michael Jackson? The game has some very awesome comedic qualities and as Irish says “like a zombie bite I have infected you.”  He’s also excited becuase he’s slowly turning me into a nerd. Awesome.

* School, glorious school. Two weeks from Monday I’m diving back into graduate school classes. In the next 27 weeks I’m taking five classes and will graduate in December with my MBA. I’m dreading the return a little bit but I need to forge on, push through and finish it up! (At least that’s what I keep telling myself.)

* In Livin’ Color. (Anyone remember that show? I wasn’t really allowed to watch it as a kid but I saw glimpses on occasion.) It looks like I’ll be leaving my lovely apartment in August to move home/continue the faux-cohabitation with Irish. The debate over the living situation is enough material for another post but suffice to say Irish and I want to live together but there are some things that are kind of standing in our way. We’re trying to place nice and not piss anyone off so I’ll move home, save up mad money, and continue to more or less live with Irish a few days a week. Should be a win/win.

It’s award day!  

Thanks to the lovely Fab Brunette I am the proud owner of the:

1. Pass the award on to five other bloggers

* Amber Alert
* Mandy
* Kyla
*E.P at Stylish Handwriting
* Little Miss Obsessive

2. List five of your fabulous addictions.

* Junior Mints. Preferably after they have been in the freezer for awhile. They are delightful slightly frozen.
* Moonlight. Now a canceled CBS show, it is about a vampire who is a private investigator. It came out well before Twilight was popular and it seems to me that Twlight definitely drew from several elements of this show. Irish & I are pretty obsessesd
* Sleeping in… late. I don’t get to sleep in as much as I used to thanks to incredibly busy weekends but when I do? There is nothing better than realizing I slept past noon!
* Note Cards/Postcards and cute, girlie stickers which feeds into by scrapbooking addiction (which isn’t in full force currently but I hope to resurrect it post-grad school).
* Baking. Next up on the baking docket: brownie caramel cheesecake (from scratch).

3. For those of you who I’ve tagged, pass it along!

And Chere over at Teasingly Diverse gave me the:

The Rules:

1) Accept the award and post it on your blog along with the name of the person who gave you the award and a link to their blog.

2) Pass the award along to 15 lovely blogs you’ve recently discovered, remembering to let them know they’ve won by leaving them a comment!

(Some of these are new finds, some I’ve known for awhile and they are definitely deserving!)

The Melodramatic

Long Red Cape

Oregon City Girl

Caterpillar 85 

CeeCee

Kimmers for Life

Fab Brunette

Kelly

SoMi

Somewhat Voluble

KPrice

Irish (yes, as in my boyfriend! He started a blog.)

SSG

Lys

Darling

Just Tabitha

(And I would have given this to a few more but I see they already received the award!)

(To see my inspiration for this post, check out Just Tabitha’s co-blog with her fiance! They are getting married in a few short months and Tabitha recently posted about their one year anniversary/everything happens for a reason/how they met story.)

Some time after my first big heartbreak/break-up I convinced myself/accepted/decided that yes, everything does happen for a reason. Along with this philosophy obviously we don’t know how each decision we make is going to change our lives but perhaps they are all intertwined on some higher level that will manifest itself to us when the time is right!?

(I’m not saying I think everything is pre-determined for us, though I do believe in fate. I’m also not saying that whether we decide to have Coke or Pepsi at lunch is going to determine if we become millionaires or not. However, those big life decisions? I like to compare it to a choose-your-own-ending book. You’re never sure you chose the “right,” path until you are on it. Luckily many of us are fortunate and motivated to get ourselves on a new, different path if need be.)

So, back to the “everything happens for a reason,” conversation. I’ve noticed that when I go back through the blog archives I don’t mention much about how I met Irish which was due to the fact that I was kind of over dating at the time and then subsequently didn’t want to jinx it. Here’s the rundown.

If I….

…. hadn’t been on a ridiculous dating rollercoaster which only led to me meeting loser after loser for over three years

…. I wouldn’t have decided that I was totally and completely fed up, thus deciding to focus only on myself (no matter how selfish that sounds!)

…. I wouldn’t have decided that exercising like a crazy person six or seven days a week was necessary

…. and I wouldn’t have injured my shoulder while lifting weights at the gym which also caused issues with my back

…. which means I wouldn’t have gone to the chiropractor to visit my chiropractor friend

…. and she wouldn’t have asked me how the dating world was which ultimately led to me making light of all the terrible, horrible no-good very bad dates I had been on

…. and she wouldn’t have suggested that I meet her then-fiance-now-husband’s good friend

…. and two weeks later she wouldn’t have called me to say that “this guy,” asked for my number after he heard about me and to expect a phone call

…. and then Irish wouldn’t have called me that very night (!)

…. and we certainly wouldn’t have talked on three separate occasions for no less than two hours at a time before our actual first date

…. and we wouldn’t be dating for almost 11 months (which as far as I’m concerned is pretty awesome)

In case you didn’t follow that, Irish and I were set-up by a friend; our first date was (mostly) blind. Confession: I found him on Facebook the night before our first date. The picture threw me off because he didn’t have any facial hair in the profile picture. We were Facebook friends before our first date. Within the first week we went on four dates. After our fourth date Irish traveled to Minnesota where he had NO cell phone service, NO internet and basically NO connection to me. And while he was returning from Minnesota I traveled to Houston, TX for a work conference for a week. The texts and cute notes were bouncing around cell phone satellites and towers, though. Three days after I was back from Houston (and three more dates later), he introduced me as his girlfriend to his very best friends.

And so here we are.

So tell me, how did you meet your current husband/fiance/boyfriend/crush OR what is the worst/best blind date you have ever been on?