i am very fortunate to have today off because i am pooped.  it's been pretty hectic the last couple weekends running here and there.  work is slowly killing me as my sup and an intern leaves today meaning more clients on my already full case load.  although i am a tiny bit envious that some people like my dad can take two weeks vacation during the holidays, i have to remember i have it a lot better than some people (like my mom) who only have christmas day off.  as stated in a previous post i pretty much have a 4 day work week for the last couple months which is awesome and today is the chosen day to be free from work.

i am thankful that i have today off because i have a butt load of things to do around the apartment along with finishing up my christmas shopping for the girls, my mom, and vic.  i have a load of clothes that need to be ironed as well.  even though i'm off from work, it'll be a working weekend as a prep for the holidays and get things situated.  tomorrow will be a full day since i'll be spending the day bonding with the girls and visiting my friend and his new baby.  i might also get a visit from jessica later today which would totally be awesome since i haven't seen her since july.

it's just so nice to wake up on my own without the alarm.  i hope one day i am fortunate enough in the finance department that i'm able to work part time. 

time to finish up some odds and ends on the internet before i go on a mad cleaning spree of the apartment.  i much rather clean all day than work!

have faith.

one of my all time favorite childhood memories is my parents bundling my bros and i up to go to the christmas tree farm to find the "perfect" tree.  i just loved going out to various tree farms roaming around acres of land looking for a tree.  some years there would be snow and the kids would make snow balls to launch at each other.  i just adore the smell of fresh christmas trees.

i talked to my dad saturday morning and he was telling me that he and my mom were thinking of getting an artificial tree since the kids weren't home to help him cut down a tree.  i nearly had a melt down at the thought of having a fake tree in my parents'  house.  i told him i would talk to vic and that if possible, we would drive home that day to get a real tree.

vic and i quickly packed and drove home.  i know vic is not fond of going to the christmas tree farm and that he told me he is doing it for my dad.  i don't care.  i just love the feelings it invokes in me about this family tradition.  yes, it was cold, grey, and muddy but i had a fantastic time walking around finding this year's tree.  my parents didn't get a tree for the last couple of years since we were always going out of town.  i was super pumped to be able to have a nice real tree at home.  i am even more pumped that i was the one to find this year's tree.

i spent the day just smelling the tree.  it smells that good.

it was a great saturday and i'm glad we were able to keep this family tradition going for another year.


have faith.

i've been wanting a sherpa hoodie for the last few years.  i've been eyeing one at jcrew the last 2 years but by the time it got down to the price i was willing to pay, my size would be gone.  it was quite frustrating because i try to be good and wait for a price that i could afford and then it's gone.  sometimes i think i should just say the heck with it and charge up a storm because as we all know, all you have to do is declare bankruptcy and you're pretty much good to go.  besides if my clients can have plasmas and expensive cell phones, why can't i get my sherpa hoodie?

anyway before i got off on my tangent, i've been eyeing a sherpa hoodie at the gap for some time now.  they had an event where it was buy one get one free all tops.  that was enough for me to pull the trigger on my hoodie.  i was able to get my hoodie and a sweater for half the original price.  i was pretty stoked about that.

i pet my sherpa hoodie all the time because it's that soft.  it was definitely worth the wait.  i would recommend one for anyone because it's that awesome.

now i need a new item to start tracking down...  g.a.g. was amused at all the things i do to find the best possible price on items i want.  i have to because no one else will just buy me whatever i want and i have to be careful with my money.  plus it's kind of fun!

here's a pic that vinh took of us eating wonderful, meaty crabs during the thanksgiving holiday.


have faith.

i am now halfway functioning now that the thanksgiving holiday is over.  i was an absolute train wreck yesterday at work.  it was a miracle i made it there in one piece since i could barely keep my eyes open and was feeling sick.  it was a miracle i didn't fall asleep during sessions because of the reasons stated previously.  unfortunately, it was my long day at work and i was mad struggling.  thankfully, i survived and proceeded to pass out after dinner for a decent night's rest.

i had a better than expected trip to virginia.  i was worried that i would get some yellings and did get some scoldings from my mom for not doing what she wanted me to do but what's new?  i hung out with a lot of my cousins and saw a  lot more of the older ones than i usually see.  i definitely had a blast all weekend just goofing off with them and remember laughing way too much after thanksgiving dinner and friday night.  shuk even came to thanksgiving dinner which was nice since i haven't really seen her all year.  had some heart to hearts with missy and nancy about how i was doing with that topic and it was just nice to know that anson was well liked by missy.  it was almost nostalgic to stay up super late on the last night talking because that's something i used to do with my cousins a lot.  this time it was with vic and vinh camping out in vinh's room talking about everything and anything.  it wasn't easy hearing some feedback from vic (then again it never is) but it was helpful.

and the kicker to the whole trip was chu dien bought a bushel of crabs!  loved eating them since i haven't had them so long.  it was amusing to hear someone on my end of the table yelling at someone for getting squirted.  good times.

sometimes the best things to do is nothing at all but just sit back and watch everything unfold perfectly.  this weekend couldn't have been better than if i planned every single moment out.  it was satisfying to know that my thoughts and feelings were validated this trip.  i wonder if karma is now working.

i can't help but feel like blair from gossip girl.  i'm probably a bit delusional or maybe narcissistic, but i can't help but feel like queen b(ee).  

have faith.

i just hope this weekend isn't a disaster.  i'm looking forward to 99% of it.  i mean what's not to look forward to?  i have my cousins and great food.  i know i will have a good time when i'm with them.  it's just the 1% that i am dreading because drama will happen.  i promised vinh i'll keep my part as drama free as possible.  for the other party in question, that's another story.  i had enough drama leading up to this weekend.

i just hope no one crosses me this weekend.  if that happens, things may get ugly.

breathe.

have faith.

i suppose i should prepare for the inevitable yelling that i will get for doing absolutely nothing this upcoming weekend.  this brings back memories of 6th grade when i got scolded for not being friends with this snotty, chubby rich girl.  she was extremely stuck up and i didn't care to be friends with her.  i don't need that in my life.  i'm not that amazing that she or anyone would cry because i don't like them.   wish people would leave me the heck alone.

on a much, much happier note i saw the blind side today!  i was sweating bullets because the line was so long and i kept hearing people buy tickets to the show i wanted to go.  finally i got my ticket and high tailed it to the theater.  needless to say i was totally amped for the movie.  the movie was as good as i thought it would be.  i just wanted to hug the guy that played michael oher.  sandra bullock was wonderful as the sassy leigh ann touhy.  the kid who played sean junior was such a scene stealer. the movie changed several things from the book but overall, it stayed pretty true to the book.  it made me laugh a lot and of course tear up.  i highly recommend both the book and the movie.  it was definitely a feel good movie and makes you want to help others (vic donate to a girl's college fund!).

have faith.

i've been dying to see the blind side since i first saw previews for it a month ago.  i figured it would not be sold out since new moon came out this weekend as well.  i was reminded that the world has more than new moon fanatics.  i was super excited as the movie time approached to the point i was watching previews of the movie to psych myself up.  i get to the theater and approach the ticket counter.  my heart sank when i saw a sign posted saying the showing i wanted to see was sold out!  i walked back all dejected because seeing the movie tonight was something i had my heart set on.  i was ready to feel good about something! 

so now i know this world consists of teeny boppers and women swooning over edward that go to the movies.  i just wished they went to a different showing so i could be at the theater right now probably balling my eyes out instead of blogging.

i will see the movie somehow tomorrow even if it kills me.

have faith.

i am totally beat down by work.  this week, all but two clients showed up.  that never ever happens to me because i typically get 5 cancellations/no shows a week.  i suppose it's good for productivity since my numbers have been down since august.  i'm sure administration is salivating seeing my productivity this week.  i'm going to have to do some work here and there since i had zero time to do anything at work.  let's see if i remember what i talked about with my clients at the beginning of the week!  i'll definitely try not to make this crazy schedule happen again.  my clients are usually good at not showing up so i don't have to worry about this happening again anytime soon.

got an email yesterday that my supervisor is leaving in a few weeks.  this will be my fourth supervisor change this year.  i'm really sad about this one because my current supervisor is beyond cool.  she challenges me a lot of my assessments and techniques to try to improve my skills and thinking.  she also has given me a lot of support when i was going nuts at work.  it was also nice to hear a lot of positive feedback about the work i've been doing.  that helped reduce some anxiety about being laid off.  it's just another support system that i'm losing at work.  all the people i'm close to are leaving one by one.

anyway...

can't wait to sleep!  can't wait for the osu/michigan game!  can't wait to see the blind side!

time to relax for a bit.

have a good weekend folks.

have faith.

had one fantastic weekend.  i can't really think of anything that happened that was bad which is pretty rare since something usually happens.  the last time i had this much fun and was this happy was when i was in richmond.  ate a ton of good food like the most amazing tacos at this hole in the wall restaurant and ton of extra korean food since the restaurant messed up the order.  this weekend was what i needed to just take a break from the craziness that's been going on at work.  i just have a feeling things are going to get worse before they get better.

the only blip happened tonight when my weekend was pretty much over.  it was just hurtful and disappointing that someone that i thought would have my back doesn't.  it's shocking that someone that i thought would believe me didn't the past 4 years.  i was so upset and hurt that i in turn flew off the handle.  usually when i get mad, i get quiet.  since i felt hurt, disappointed, and frustrated, i turned those feelings into anger and went into attack mode.  i'm just picturing my anger management handout that's tacked on my cork board at work and could see again how that is such an accurate hand out on anger. i'm not proud of what i did and remembered to have some sense to get off the phone before more damage was done on my end.  thankfully, one of the bffs was available for me to calm down a lot.  i'll catch up the other bff on sunday.

i don't care for people who lie.  i have some issues with family members who lie and it's probably why we're not close.  with that mentality, i worked hard to establish my word as legit and with credibility.  i think that's why i took it so hard.  i don't have any reason to lie, especially about the incident in question.

oh well, just focus on the work week ahead and just think of all the fun i had this weekend.

fun fact that i was totally unaware of until this weekend:coffee comes from a fruit!

have faith.

i bought the book the blind side several weeks ago because i am obsessed with michael oher.  i remember reading about his story awhile back and was amazed at how everything came together for him.  basically michael oher is a young black poor boy who gets adopted by a wealthy white family in memphis.  michael basically had the cards stacked against him but somehow, he managed to succeed despite his many deficits. it amazes me that this family took him in their home so willingly and treated him like their own blood relative.

i love reading how the mom, leigh anne, was a spit fire and did what she thought was right even though her family had some major prejudices.  i love reading how michael became protective of his new family.  i love reading how innocent and gentle michael was despite his massive size.  he had every reason to be angry and aggressive given his early upbringing but he ended up being quite gentle.  reading about him makes me want to find him in baltimore and give him a big hug (he's currently playing for the baltimore ravens).

the parts that weren't about michael were very dry.  i learned a lot about the birth of the left tackle position, lawrence taylor, and the west coast offense.  i suppose i could skip all the chapters on football but figured i should get some back ground knowledge on it.  now when i hear people talk about west coast offense i know what it is and how it came to be.

can't wait to see the movie. 

can't wait for the weekend!

have faith.