Victory is Sweet

No more curse talk. We won plain and simple.

And please, no A-Rod next year.

The Next Step

We've done it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We put in an offer, negotiated, and agreed on a price.

Our inspection takes place on Halloween.

It's happening.

And we even know which room will be the nursery for that Next Step.

It will be bittersweet to move from here, the home we made our own and learned to love together.

Although I helped with the painting (or thought I did), it was Bub's home first. He did all the heavy hitting with being Mr. Homeowner. I remember the phone calls as I listened to the drama that came with the negotiations. I remember listening to the home inspector, and I remember as I sat quietly at the closing. I've always felt that it was my home from day one, but this is different. This new home will be our first house.

This is me being a grown up.

When did I become one?!!!

Hi, this will be brief

I woke up with my period today. I feel ugh and I'm having a Mocha Madness from Honey Dew and I just KNOW I'm going to get a stomach ache because I happen to have an extra-sensitive stomach during this unpleasant time of the month and that blended with milk products? Notsogreat. Molly knows about this and so does Daily Editor. For DE, she may have to think back to the one-way street and Bread & Circus incident to trigger the memory. Ahem, moving on.

So, the weather and the need for some caffeine? A very important thing since hi, Red Sox! And hi, late staying up for me is difficult since hi, I go to bed early like a granny, or try to.

I cannot believe it's November next week. The month of Thanksgiving! We made travel arrangements last night to see Bub's family. It's all coming up so fast. I was shocked to see the holiday catalogs arriving already...I'm already wondering what I can wear to holiday parties...hmmm....

I have a lot of work to do today which could mean staying late, but not too late since hi, it's that thing called the WORLD SERIES and although we seriously crushed the Colorado peeps last night, I don't think we're going to get off so easy. I just don't.

So if you'll excuse me, I have to go be a good employee now (yeah right).

GO SOX! GO ORTIZ!

P.S. The house? Some of you know the dealio as of now... Fingers crossed!

The Private Moment

I went there at lunch.

I was still shocked at the number of minutes it took me. Once the corporate backyard melted away, autumn lingered with its playful summer temps. How so many long for it to say goodbye, to leave with us the crisp air that matches the colors on the leaves.

They swirled around as I became familiar with the roads. They reminded me of Amherst.

Maybe it was the sloppiness of the trees, leaving their bits all over, or maybe it was the winding roads that used to carry me back to school each autumn and then home again to remember where it all started for me.

And I turned past what I thought was our future. On its corner with its landscape for children, its Halloween lights on. No one was home...

It was the private moment I discovered just beyond there on the next street that made me pause and wonder.

He sat on the porch and looked older than I imagined. Was he looking at an album? He must have brought it because the house is empty.

Did he know the man who parks his truck nearby?

Did he see me and feel pressured that he must let go? That there was someone else watching, wanting the memories he would soon leave there?

He can take them with him.

There are new ones to make.

Friday in Four

1. We are putting an offer in on a house today; wish us luck! This could be it!



2. Yesterday was my *Friday* as I am off today.



3. I am preparing to return to the place where I laughed so hard it hurt, made so many special friends, learned to love a new part of the state, and read and wrote to my heart's content and more. It's Homecoming, and autumn is most beautiful here...






4. The Red Sox will keep it alive for another game tomorrow. Here's to another win!



Have a great weekend!

Death Comes In Threes

I believe it.

Three weeks ago, my mother's cousin's husband passed away. It was very sad in that my mom's cousin and her husband loved each other so much and he was too young to let life go. A cancer victim, we first learned about his illness months prior to our wedding and his first treatment was actually the day before the wedding. They attended and put their happiest faces on. And for that I am grateful, but I wish I could have done something to make it all better for him, for her, for them.

Last Monday, as I packed my clothes and toiletries away for the Frankfurt whirlwind, I saw an urgent message from management to jump on a call in less than 15 minutes. My first reaction is that we bought another company and they were officially announcing the news. No, one of our colleagues who I hadn't spoken to more than a few times in his year or so of working at the company passed away. It wasn't sudden as he, too, was sick with cancer. I heard he was having other health troubles and went on disability. He never made it out of the hospital after recently being admitted, but his wife was hopeful as she was told her husband would be able to go home soon. When she left to make preparations at their home, he took a turn for the worse.

And on Monday of this week, as I battled jet lag and the fact that I was back at work after working through the weekend, Bub emailed me that a close friend's father has passed away. Again, to cancer. He'll go to the funeral and memorial services out of state this weekend.

I didn't want to believe that death comes in threes, but they do. They have. And it sucks.

Hi, Nutella? It's Me, Ripe.

One of the reasons I like the hotel we stay at in Frankfurt each year is for its breakfast. After having been to Italy, I can say the breakfast doesn't hold a candle to what one could eat over there, but I digress because it beats any runny eggs and crispy fat continental breakfast.

Mini croissants - warm
Granola - with cocoa bits
Cheese - soft, perfect for breakfast sandwiches
Meats - to make with said cheese sandwiches

Nutella - in jelly-sized packets

How I love thee.

I bring home a few each time I go there not because I didn't know I could buy Nutella in the grocery store (we should all know that!), but because it's heaven on wheels. Heaven on wheels! Got that? And it's the perfect little size so as to feel like you're not being a heif-heif by consuming it.

Before I left for the trip I was not eating much as I had been so busy at work (note: still busy) and because I was sick of eating crap.

Cue to the wine and beer and wine and champagne and fat-induced breakfasts that I consumed on a daily basis while away. Add to that the obligatory desserts and fabulous ice cream they sell at each of the exits of the convention center.

Hello, I'm Fatso, nice to meet you.

Now that I'm back, my clock is f-ed up. Up at 4:30 yesterday morning, up at 5:30 this morning and I feel that I should have already had my quiche Lorraine or caprese sandwich after my croissants with Nutella. In other words, I feel ready for lunch! But no, at 10:24am I'm eating peanut butter with a fork (already had the rest of my Nutella packet on toast when I woke up) and a banana and a latte...

I'm on the way to Fatsville and I want to turn back.

Please help!

I'm back...

Did you miss me? Tell me so!

and i am here

as in germany, the land of the precise and the land of perfect and clean and methodical

and the keyboard screws me up so dont expect punctuation or good spelling

at

all

my sleep comes in dribs and drabs and the u know who is challenging

yes, that is a good way to put it

i thought being peer pressured into drinking was something we did in high school

there is so much this event makes me think about...what i know...what i want to learn...how what i am doing is so relevent to the industry, yet it is short something

something i will find out

not necessarily with a class, degree, baby, or new job

somewhere in between the lines it will appear

my epiphany

for now there are the contacts i have learned and become friends with who hug and kiss me and i must remember the one, the challenging one, who acquainted me with all of this.

and for that i will be grateful and grin and bear it and get up early tomorrow to do it again

god, i miss my husband

how do long distance peeps do it?

ok, me sleepy time now

peace

Tomorrow I'll be in another country...

But I hope to post at least once while I'm away. This all depends on the Internet, my exhaustion level, and the abilitiy to privately and safely write here...

Wish me luck that my bag arrives safely (my luck with lost/delayed bags is horrible) and that I don't kill the you-know-who.

And drop by here to wish Mrs. Sass all the best; she just got married! Whee!

Have a great week all.

Bub, I'll miss you, but you know that.

Mind Poo

So I have to say I'm sorry that I've been lame at posting this week, but work has been kicking my butt. So in honor of it being Friday--yay--I feel compelled to write now--while I have a moment at work (shhh, don't tell anyone!)...

First, I just have to say that sometimes I love anonymity. One of my contacts at company we closely work with is someone I've never met in person. So when I was making plans for Germany next week and thought maybe we could meet and get caught up on business there, I was told that he doesn't get to travel to those events, much less leave the state of NY where he resides (and works). And he's like, and I won't be coming to Boston any time soon since I'm a YANKEES fan. He may as well have told me I was fat for the way in which he said it was like a slap in the face! Then he laughed and so did I and that's when I said something to the extent of "The Yankees are going down...so watch out!"

That brings us to today with more banter--an obscenely large Yankees logo taking up space in an email much about nothing was sent to me. So I decided that even though there was no update on our latest agreement that we've been toying back and forth with through legal for months, that I would send a little email his way, throwing in his face that the loss against the Indians was u-g-l-y (you don't need no alibi, you ugly, you UGLY!)...

And so we just had a nice chuckle on the phone now. In your face, Yank pants!

Moving on.

Bub is away this weekend and there's a good chance I won't see him prior to leaving for Frankfurt. Sigh. He's off to Maine for a kayaking trip with his friends as one of them is getting married in the spring and this is his bachelor party. I'm going to miss him, but there's lots of laundry and cleaning and packing and shopping (!) to do before I leave so I'll keep myself busy with that. My parents offered to come over and check out the new kitchen renovations, too.

Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze Bub goodbye once more before I go. Otherwise, I'll be counting down the days to when I see him. I know, I'm a sap. But it gets hard when you're in a routine and then you all of a sudden don't see your best friend for a long time! A week is a long time!

Finally, the last update is that I started my very first online class. I was skeptical about it and still am, but I wanted to write and be pushed and get my mind moving again, wiping the cobwebs away with homework and lectures and stuff. So last night I had to write and it was hard. And I sat in front of a screen for a while typing and deleting and typing. And I put it out there.

I posted my weaknesses and shared my downfalls, but hopefully there's a hidden gem in there somewhere. Hopefully something worked and someone will release me of my insecurities or help me through the process so that I can once again feel like a strong writer and someone who can feel that she knows what she is doing. Because there's been a lot of not knowing lately.

Go Red Sox!

Go Big Papi!