NYE...plans?

So it's New Year's Eve, again. Seem like only a last weekend that I was at The Hills in Rochester with my old college friends.

Oh that's right, I was.

But I mean for New Year's.

It was amazingly fun, and we were all obsessed with the disco ducks in our wine glasses.

Anyhow, enough about last year.

This year, I have big plans - or at least, thought I would.

During my trip to Somerset a couple weeks ago with one of my favorites, she helped me pick out this slammin' outfit, perfect for NYE festivities.

After much deliberation, we've decided to go to dinner.

Yep, that's it. Dinner.

And there's the potential for a house party in there, but that'll only require jeans anyhow. It appears that, this year, people just aren't making elaborate plans.

At least it's dinner at Parallax - one of my favorites in this town.

So all the preparations and excitement of a rather expensive outfit...for dinner.

Honestly, I'm completely okay with that given that I've caught a touch of this crap that seems to be going around.

Sniffles or not, I'm not missing out on some amazing sushi tonight.

What are your NYE plans?

Cheers!

-A

Another one bites the dust

Another friend that is.

A male friend.

*gasp* Shocker I know.

Luckily, it really has nothing to do with me - it's all about the new girlfriend.

Gah! The girlfriend gets me every time!

Why is it than when a guy starts dating a new girl he has to give up his current friendships with people of the opposite sex?

Now, don't get me wrong, some of my best guy friends have managed to stick around through relationships and even marriages - granted, I'm usually friends with the wife, too - but it pisses me off to no end when a solid friendship we had before she came along has to be ruined purely because she's insecure.

Bitch.

And odds are, it's you she doesn't trust. Not me.

Idiot.

Maybe you two do deserve each other after all.

But I have to admit that I feel a little bit bad for the poor bastard. Too bad he can't grow a pair and stand up for a friendship he once cherished.

See?

See how happy people can be in platonic friendships?!

Yes, I am wearing Pooh Bear gloves. Shut it.

This goes back to my question about friendship in your 20s. Sure, it can be a struggle to keep friends in and out of new relationships, but seriously, if the friendship came first, shouldn't that be taken into consideration before kicking them to the curb?

I certainly think so.

-A

p.s. - thanks for untagging yourself from all my Facebook photos. One more way to drive the point home, eh?

Necessary update

Hey Blogosphere,

Remember me?

Yeah, I know, I suck. I said I'd still be around then I dropped offline for a week. Yikes!

The holidays have this way of sucking me in and pulling me away from the normal routine. And I must say, it's been difficult to get back into the swing of things. Next week, after a break for the New Year's holiday and a big move to a new apartment, I'm sure it'll be just as difficult.

So here's the update on what's been keeping my time so occupied this last week.

-Two family Christmas parties. Light load, I lucked out this year!

-Completing Eclipse and starting into Breaking Dawn. Yep, still addicted.

-Getting to see Joe after his (extremely too long) absence while stationed in Iraq.

-Attending the MSU vs. Oakland basketball game at the Palace with my old college crew.

-Getting to see one of my favorites, Chris, who came in to visit from LA! You still reading, Chris?

-Planned a trip out to LA to visit the rest of the crew this summer.

-Played many a game of Mad Gab.

-Officially picked a dog breeder and mailed in my deposit.

-Met up with one of my bestests for coffee and to meet the SO.

-Discussed the art update with the BFF who's decided to use my photos as a staple throughout his house!

-A 5 hour drive to visit the 'rents, a 4 hour drive back to OH for one night, a 3 hour drive back up to the D and another 3 hour drive back the next day...whew!

On top of all that, I'm attempting to fight off the plague that seems to be circulating through the SOs family...fingers crossed.

One more day until New Year's festivities begin - anyone have any fun plans this year?

What did you do to celebrate the holidays?

Cheers!

-A

Holiday cheer

Not only am I in high holiday spirits because it's officially my winter vacation this week, but today has brought me a number of gifts - blogger gifts to be exact.

After a lovely lunchtime yoga class (that I never can find time to attend during the work week) I came back to my apartment to find my mailbox full of lovely holiday cards from my fellow bloggers.

*tear* I'm touched.

They're all officially read and hanging on my wall next to my stockings.

Given that I was a bad blogger friend this year and did not send personal notes via snail mail to y'all, you'll have to forgive me and consider this your "card" filled with holiday cheer.

I'm so lucky to have the best blogger friends anyone could as for - those real life friends and those that will become so in 2009.

Enough sap, it's lunch time for this vacationing gal.

Cheers! And happy holidays!!

-A

p.s. Special thanks to Ben for the puppy card that totally made my day, and Matt for realizing that yes, I have been good this year!

Photography Friday: Office Party

Welcome to another Photography Friday. This week, it's the office Christmas party edition.

And yes, this is a cop out because I haven't gotten out to take pictures recently.

Winter is usually one of my favorite times to capture the changing landscape, but honestly, it's been so windy and rainy here, I've been too much of a puss to actually go outside.

So this is what you get, deal with it.

Last night was the office Christmas party. This year definitely had it's surprises.

Last year we went to a Cavs game, which y'all can imagine how fun that was for me as a die hard Pistons fan.

The year before that I was in Texas, and all the TX offices got together at a resort in Dallas - it was fantastic, but I still think this year may have won.

Before the party we had a staff meeting at a "surprise offsite location."

Most of us had figured out that it was going to be at our future office space - but I don't think any of us knew how cool it would be. The space has yet to be designed, but the layout looked amazing and the attached parking garage is definitely a plus.

(This is me on the bus ride over to the new space.)

After a quick meeting and a champagne toast we headed over to the martini bar to get the party started.

As you'll notice, I have no other pictures as I was terrible about actually taking them during the party.

Photographer FAIL.

See this truly is a cop out...

This year, we were allowed to bring a guest, so the SO came to meet my co-workers. He's been getting rave reviews around the office this morning.

After some free food and drinks we went to a comedy show, which we all enjoyed.

Today, I feel extra tired and hungry (free food wasn't exactly dinner). So my team and I are heading out for a lovely digital lunch for some greasy Chinese food today.

And then, it's vacation time! Woohoo!

But I'll still be here, dear readers. You can count on that.

Cheers!

-A

The woman and her Beamer

True story.

Early this morning, as I was getting out of my Saturn Vue in the parking garage below my office, a woman in a 3 series BMW pulled in next to me.

I was gathering my things as she got out of her car and proceeded to turn around and wait. As I climbed out and started toward the building entrance I realized, she was waiting for me.

C'mon now, lady. I'm not going to do anything to your precious car. Granted, I do drive a Saturn, but it's new, and pretty, and yes it's actually made of metal. And really, do I look like a girl who's about to smash open your passenger window and hot wire your car? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Being a little irked by this I decided to dawdle and fumble with my things a little longer, just to make her wait. Her anxiety shown through even more when she clicked the lock button on her key fob once more, in turn beeping the horn, just to let me know that indeed she did lock her precious vehicle.

Once I started toward the building she turned to walk five paces in front of me - as if she'd never even seen me.

To further test my theory - not that much testing was needed, given that it was 6:30 a.m., we were the only one's in the garage, and she was looking directly at me this entire time - I quickly spun back toward my car as if I'd forgotten something.

When she realized I was no longer on her heals, she stopped immediately, turned in my direction and proceeded to wait...again. Her glare could have burned a hole through me.

I shut my drivers side door and made clear eye contact as I locked my car, hitting the button twice, just to be smug.

As I followed her into the building, she pretended as if I wasn't there and never once held a door for me.

If you're going to non-verbally accuse me of wanting to steal your car, the least you can do is hold the door for me when I don't.

Bitch.

-A

I wish(ed) your wish

Last weekend on the trip to Pittsburgh, we stopped by Carnegie Mellon for a quick lunch and a visit to the Natural History Museum.

The SO was looking forward to the dinosaur exhibit - which I admit was pretty cool given that they had two T-rex skeletons - and my attention tended to gravitate toward the geology portion of the exhibit.

Yes, I'm that big of a geek. But give me a break, I didn't take "rocks for jocks" in college; astronomy was my science of choice.

But I digress.

There also was an exhibit called Life on Mars that we didn't explore much due to lack of time - oh, who am I kidding, and lack of interest too...I can only take so much learning in one vacation.

Part of this exhibit was the I Wish Your Wish wall.

The premise of this interactive exhibit is that visitors take a ribbon from the wall with an imprinted wish on it. Some of these wishes are in English, some are not - giving it an international flare.

These are wishes of visitors past. You take one that most applies to your life - or at least that you find meaningful. The SO and I found a blue ribbon wishing that our actions were not controlled by our fears. Deep. He ended up taking this one in the end. The wish I picked out for myself (on green ribbon, naturally) stated, "I wish I knew if it would all be worth it." Brilliant!

As legend has it, you tie the ribbon around your wrist - or any other part of your body, I suppose - and tie it in three knots, making a wish after each knot. Once the ribbon falls off (on it's own) your wishes will come true.

Then, and this is what I find pretty damn cool, you write down a new wish on a piece of paper and slide it in the hole where you took your ribbon from. These wishes are then printed and placed in the empty holes on the wall for others to read and take for themselves.

Here's the wish I put on the wall: "I wish that I could do it all over again."

What would your wish be?

Cheers!

-A