Frustration

I've been frustrated from time to time, as anyone who knows me well can attest to, but today at work I wanted to scream. I've been working on a project basically since I started as an intern, and the end is finally in sight. In order for this project to go any further, we need to finalize all of our numbers and projections and be able to completely document and back those numbers up. So I called a meeting with two people I've worked very closely with regarding this project in hopes of finalizing some of the numbers.

The 1 hour meeting turned into 2 1/2 hours, and we are no nearer to finalizing than we were a few months ago. The whole reason is because they weren't ready to deal with all of the work that this is going to take. I completely understand it because that's the reason why no one else had done this update before. I also understand because I'm a procrastinator and tend not to do things until the last minute. The reason this is so frustrating is because our meeting today is what I've been trying to get them to do for the past four months, and now they tell me that other people need to make decisions before we can go any further.

This is a good lesson that needed to be learned, and I'm certain that I will relive it over and over throughout my career. I know this, but it doesn't make it suck any less.

Route has been conquered

Last night, Chris and I went climbing at Vertical Endeavors (we've been trying to go a couple times a week now). I had one of my best climbing nights, or at least what felt like one of my best climbing nights. I completed a route that I have been working on for some time - I felt awesome. The end of the route is pretty difficult for me, but I got it! Now I just have to climb the whole thing without falling off in the middle :)

The night was filled with falling, scraping, burning, and bumping - it was awesome! The burning was from the rope, by the way, and not actual burning. (haha) I was definitely sore today though, with bandaids on my hand and arm, and bruises on my knees. That is truly the sign of a good night.

In other news, I finished my socks:

First, I finished them a while ago, but kept forgetting to put a picture up. And second, the answer is yes: my legs are that white.

Now I am knitting Chris a scarf to match his forest green jacket, and I've discovered it is going to take quite a while. I'm knitting with semi-small needles and worsted weight yarn. Yup, it's going to take a bit.

Christmas winding down

It's amazing to me that my three days of working last week left me completely drained by Friday. Then one of my co-workers reminded me it was normal to have that reaction after the holidays. I can't even express how happy I was to come home Friday night. I immediately started knitting and watched my brand new DVD of A Muppet Christmas Carol.

Later that evening, Chris and I met some friends at the climbing gym, and I climbed better than I had for several weeks. I am finally getting back to climbing 5.9's, which is where I was at how many months ago. It feels good. I'm also really excited because I starting to do more crack climbing, and I tried out the straight crack. I went up smoothly at first, and then didn't slide my feet far enough in, slipped out, and scraped up my hands a bit, but I'm so excited to try it again! I think the crack climbing has helped my form as well, which is much needed. My biggest challenge at this point is increasing my endurance, which means that I should really start going to a gym on a regular basis again to work on my cardio. Soon....

Yesterday, we played a lot of Wii because Chris borrowed one from a co-worker. I have to say that I kicked Chris's butt in bowling. I had a 212 game - something I could never do in real life :) I am also getting better at tennis. Chris and I played on a team against the computer and were kicking some butt there too. It's a lot of fun, and we'll have to get one someday.

I'm getting close to the end of one of my socks (I'm knitting a pair for myself now). The needles felt so tiny when I first started, but I'm used to them now. I post a picture once they are done. I chose some really neat yarn that is different shades of greens and had black in it that creates stripes. Chris asked me to knit him a pair after I'm done.

I'm happy to report that the apartment is feeling a little bit more like home, still not completely, but a little bit more so. After putting up the tree and taking it down, it's the start of a tradition. What I really want to do is rearrange the "office". I just have to figure out a time when I can force Chris to do it with me, before he starts shooting again! (hint hint Chris)

This afternoon I'm going to use one of my gifts from Chris's parents: a massage. I'm excited, in a very relaxed way of course. I figured I had better post before going there. I'm looking forward to a really relaxing afternoon, full of resting, knitting, and reading.

Did I mention that I am addicted to knitting now? I'm excited to teach myself how to crochet too... The possibilities for projects are endless. I have been picking up books of patterns just about every time we've gone to Half Price Books in the past few months. And I've been finding lots of cute patterns on the Internet too. It's really fun, relaxing, and rewarding.

Till next time...

Best Christmas Ever!

Christmas was absolutely wonderful. Chris and I, after going to my family's Christmas party, drove up north to spend the weekend with my parents and Pokey. We got up Saturday night and stayed until about noon on Christmas Day. Chris drove, which was nice for me, and even though there was some crummy conditions at times, it went pretty well.

Being at home and spending time with my parents and Poke-a-doke was exactly what I wanted. It was great having Chris there to steal my pennies....oh yeah, and it was great to have Chris there in general :) My dad cleared off the skating pond on Sunday and me and Mom went skating in the beautiful sunshine on Christmas Eve morning. Chris was taking a ton of photos (which he has said he will try to get online this week). I realized that I'm glad he doesn't take a ton of pictures of me because he made me pose the same way five times in a row! But it was worth it because he took some funny pictures. I'm looking forward to seeing them all!

I really don't think Christmas could have been any better. Well, maybe if we didn't watch bad movies all weekend - and I'm not talking about A Muppet Christmas Carol, Dad! (That movie is my favorite Christmas show ever!)

I inherited a blanket that my mom started crocheting in the '70s, which I am going to try to put together (it's an intergenerational thing). I'm sure I will write all about my crochet adventures in future posts...

After spending a great weekend with my folks (with lots and lots of great food and teasing), Chris and I headed back to the apartment, unloaded the car, and immediately hit the road again to drive down to Chris's parents' house. I swear we got there as fast as we could Kim - I think she was a little excited to open the mounds of presents there. It was fun to trying to keep Buster from eating the dip and cookies. Dinner interrupted present-opening, and by the end, all of us were tired.

We got back home and went to bed at about 10. I have to admit that the entire day at work today I was thinking about my gifts and was excited to get to play with them! I have restrained myself and have not been driving Chris up the wall with mini piano playing (hee hee).

I will likely post something a little less scatterbrained later in the week. Until then, I hope all of you continue to enjoy the holiday season!

Cookies=1 Me=0

My annual (well mostly annual) Christmas tradition has been to make cookies. Usually I make a few different kinds, but this year, between being sick, getting presents bought and wrapped, making out cards, and life, I decided to just make peanut butter blossoms. My mom gave me her amazing recipe, and any one I give them to asks for them the next year.

I bought all the ingredients this past weekend, but unfortunately did not have the time to make them. No big deal; I decided that tonight would be Cookie Night. I was so ready for the apartment to smell of delicious cookies, and I was ready for that first bite of that first amazing cookie...you can tell what happened already, can't you?

The cookies were a disaster. I mean a complete disaster. I suffered through the first cookie, looked at Chris as he tried one, and we both agreed that they sucked. I later tried another, thinking that maybe the first ones didn't turn out, but later ones did. Nope. I spit that one out. This is the first time I've thrown out an entire batch of cookies minus two.

Unbelievable. My Christmas dreams were shattered. For those of you who really truly know me, my reaction to this disaster is no surprise: I broke down into tears. I sobbed over that horrible batch of cookies. I take great pride in those (almost) annual cookies, and this year, I failed. It wasn't just the wretched taste that made me cry, it was the fact that this was a holiday tradition, my holiday tradition. I cried because I still haven't been able to make my apartment feel like home, and without my other holiday traditions (watching The Muppet Christmas Carol, listening to my holiday cds - which have disappeared, wrapping presents while listening to those lost cds), I feel lost. Those traditions are home to me, and I thought if I could do those in the apartment, it would feel more like home.

But alas, it still does not. I think that all I need is time, and I think that Chris and I need to create our own traditions. We decided that making shit cookies should NOT be one of them. There were two successes out of this experience: (1) I figured out how big the cookies need to be and (2) I remembered one of the reasons I am with Chris. He didn't freak out at all when I started crying. Instead, he held me and tried to convince me that I wasn't crazy and that it was a completely understandable reaction. He knows how I've been feeling, and he made me laugh with his completely inappropriate comments. Classic Chris.

So, after much convincing, I will try another batch tomorrow night with fresh vanilla. Never quit trying, right? Happy holidays everyone.

Weekend of Silliness

So here's what happens when Chris and I spend most of our time at home over a weekend:


We had some our friends over to watch Badder Santa (tator tot hotdish and beer set the mood). Saturday night we went over to our friends' apartment for a pre-Christmas party. The rest of the weekend was for relaxing. I read a lot; just finished The Golden Compass (the one that was just made into a movie and is controversial). It's the first of a trilogy and I really want to read the other two books, but couldn't find them during out latest trip to Half Price Books. So for all of you looking for Christmas gift ideas for me - wink wink. hee hee

Another accomplishment of mine was finishing my first sock! I will put pictures up once I complete them, but I'm not sure if I want to since they are going to be a Christmas present for my mom (she already knows about them). I will likely wait. Turning the heel and creating the gusset was goddamn difficult, and after about four tries and watching knitting-help videos on the Internet, I got it. I have full confidence in myself now though. I think one of the most important things about knitting is finding a good pattern. Each time we've been going to the bookstore, I've been looking through their selection of knitting pattern books. It's kinda hard to find a book with a lot of patterns you like.

Anyway, I'm enjoying knitting more and more. It's challenging and relaxing at the same time. It's neat to have a hobby where you can make a lot of really cool things.

Busy-ness

After starting officially last week, my days have been flying by. I'm getting oriented in a number of projects and am working on a million little ones. It's kind of nice to have the days go by that quickly. The exciting news is that I'm going to move to a cubicle with a window next week! The reason I'm getting one by the window is that the other new guy doesn't want the slow computer that's in that cubicle, and since I value natural light more than computer speed, I said I would take it. I'm excited!

Other than that, we've been busy getting ready for the holidays and running around doing stuff. Soon I will make my own Christmas cookies, which I'm excited about. I'm going to make the traditional peanut butter blossoms, cookie candies, and Russian teacakes I think. Yummy goodness.

I started making socks for my mom, ones that I said I would make a few months ago already. I've been too intimidated to start them before now. But now that I have a few hats under my belt, I feel more confident in my skills and ability to learn. The first round failed, but I found a website with a video showing how to do the part I was having trouble with, so I think I will get it this time.

Wish me luck!