three chips for sister marsha

hi, kids.  just wanted to get a little update in here.  i actually feel like i even have a few minutes to do it.

today’s been pretty good.  after working my butt off yesterday and today, i finally feel like we’re really close to completing our first issue of the magazine we’ve taken over from mentor graphics.  it’s been quite an experience working with a different editor and not truly owning the book, but i think we’re okay now.  it’s a good feeling, quite honestly.  it’s like i’ve accomplished a ton.

and speaking of accomplishing things, i feel like i did a lot of that this evening, as well.  i sorted though my email inbox and returned messages.  i even sent a hanful of emails that i needed to.  i took out the trash.  i put away the clean dishes.  i pretty much just straightened things up around here.  it was really good.  i’m pretty stoked.  though i’m not quite where i need to be for when my parents arrive on friday.  but i have a couple days, right? :)

and one more thing.  i officially have been accepted into my new apartment in san clemente, so i’ll be moving there on may 31st.  i’m pretty excited about the place, as well as about having my living situation sorted out after stressing about it hardcore for a while.  so things here are good. :)

and i guess that’s about it.  more soon…

missing in action

yep, i’ve been sort of mia for far too long now.  sorry about that!  i’m going to try to catch you up right now, though.  and hopefully this won’t take too long and i’ll be good about updating in the future. :)  hmm… a numbered list would probably be a good idea for this.

1) work.  work’s been quite busy, but it’s also going fine.  it’s been a little weird to have brian gone, but there is good news to report in that regard.  first of all, we’ve still been talking so it’s not like he’s fallen off the face of the earth.  second, we have hired a new guy named james who starts in a week.  i met him, and he seems really relaxed and cool and everything.  also, i’m working on getting jason to hire a summer intern for the department, so i’ll let you know how that goes.  also, marke has temporarily moved out of his office to brian’s old desk, which will put him in a convenient location to train james when he starts.  that means marke and i now sit like 5 feet from each other at facing desks.  it’s fun to talk to him all day long. :)  so yeah, work’s good.

2) after lots of thinking, a bit of panic, tears, talking, and much more, i’ve decided that i’m going to move out of this apartment when my lease is up at the end of may (barring complete disaster).  i’m going to move to an apartment complex in san clemente that’s really close to work.  it’s a really nice place and the complex is pretty awesome, so i’m excited about the new place (which will be mine again barring complete disaster).  so i’ll keep you updated on where i’m at and the new address and everything as it all comes together over the next month.

3) i’ve also found time for some fun stuff.  last weekend i went to see “forgetting sarah marshall” with marke, katrina, lindsay, and a bunch of their friends.  great movie!  :)  i love jason segel more than ever!  and it was good to meet some new people.  and speaking of new people, marke and i went down to oceanside friday night to game night at chris’s place.  we got to meet his crew, which was cool.  we had a good time and were out way too late.  and the weather here has been absolutely gorgeous (if you ask me).  it was so nice out today that i drove up the coast to newport for cupcakes from sprinkles.  really, though, i think it’s just a good turn-around spot in the middle of a great drive.  so pretty! :)

4) i’m working on trying to catch up with friends lately.  the highlight, though, is katherine driving across the country with her grandma.  she’s been writing every night to report where they’ve been all day, and it’s been really cool.  i think the constant emails make me miss her even more, though.  anyway, i really want to drive across the country some day.  i think it’d be awesome. :)

5) the pepp men’s volleyball team is going to the ncaa tournament (only 4 teams do) because they unexpectedly won the mpsf tournament.  they ncaas are played at uc irvine this year, so i’m going to try to make it up there thursday night to watch them play long beach state.  ohio state and penn state are in the night’s other match.  should be fun, right?  now, it’d be super awesome if i could find someone to come with.  hmm…

6) happy birthday one day late to liz! :)  woot!  25!

i think that’s a pretty decent recap for tonight.  i’m going to get back to “brothers and sisters” and then try to get some sleep.  hope you’re well.  expect more from me soon…

an important list

five little things that tell you all you need to know about a person (borrowed from real simple because i thought it was so right on)

1) the way he treats waiters
2) the look on his face when he talks about his parents
3) how he reacts when he sees a baby
4) the words he uses to describe his job
5) whether he holds open the door if you are walking into a building behind him

a real post for you soon.

tonight

so far, so good.  that’s what i feel like.

note about barefoot taylor

one more note about taylor swift being barefoot.  she says she walked by faith hill on her way up to present and told her how much the shoes were killing her.  faith told her to take them off.  so she did.  :)  so awesome!  i love it! :)

come on, baby, give me a little more you

well, it’s been a busy day for this girl.  or at least in my head.  i don’t know.  just seems like there’s plenty to write about tonight for whatever reason.  i think i’m going to work out of order.

i ordered a bunch of jeans online a while ago and they finally all arrived today!  turns out that three of the four pairs will work just great!  that’s excellent news!  i needed those desperately!  the like three pairs i was living on just weren’t enough.

next up: the cmt music awards.  what a fun awards show!  i love these country awards shows because i pretty much enjoy them start to finish, even if i don’t agree with all the winners, because they’re packed with performances by all the artists i love.  so anyway, really loved tonight’s show.  i wanted to share just a few highlights with you…

• taylor swift in a gorgeous dress but taking the stage twice in her bare feet because her (fabulous) shoes were hurting her.  so like me!
• sugarland with little big town and jake owen singing “life in a northern town.”  they’re all awesome!  and those voices doing all that harmonizing.  perfect!
• tim mcgraw making a dirty joke worthy of the office where i work…
  faith: honey, do you even know what a wide open country video is?
  tim: sure i do, but i can’t talk about it here.
• keith urban borrowed kenny’s fiddle player (when he kicked off the show with a big performance), who actually played guitar on the song kenny sang
• TAYLOR!!!  she won both awards she was nominated for, including the biggest one of the night: video of the year.  both awards were for “our song.”  love love love it! :)  she’s so my favorite right now!

and then there was this one other thing i’ve sort of been trying to ignore.  today was brian’s last day at the rtc group.  i’ll miss having him in the office and working with him all the time, but i think we’ll stay friends, so he’s not gone forever or anything.  i guess this happening is another part of growing up.  crazy adulthood.

anyway, i think i should be off now.  more soon.

summer girl

i’ve loved today.  really.  i mean, it’s been that sort of saturday where i have nothing to do and manage to enjoy myself all the way through.

i hung around a bit this morning catching up on some tv and just relaxing before deciding to go up to costa mesa to do a little bit of shopping.  also, i discovered just how gorgeous a day it was out.  like 90s, summertime gorgeous.  :)

and so i went up to costa mesa.  i started by going to the nordstrom rack to do a little shoe shopping, and when i got there i made an amazing discovery!  they just opened a dsw — my favorite place to buy shoes — across the walkway from the rack!  it’s totally like my new shoe mecca.  and while i admit i didn’t actually find anything i needed today, i’ll be back there soon enough.  i’m sure i’ll make more than one future purchase there.  awesome! :)  anyway, so after that, i went over to south coast plaza because they have my very favorite card shop, paper source.  i found a few fab things there, as well as a few essentials/basics at h&m and the brand new (just opened today) calvin klein store.  anyway, it was a good trip.

and then i hung around a bit more.  sat out on the deck a while and read more of “still life for woodpecker,” which i’m working through very quickly.  i made myself some dinner and talked to the family and normal things like that.  i even managed a quick trip to the grocery store so i should be set for a few days.  oh, and a pedicure!  i desperately needed one of those. :)

and this evening i finally watched “starter for 10,” which i thoroughly loved.  james mcavoy (my boyfriend) was awesome in it!  and the story was sweet.  anyway, i definitely recommend this one.

also, i got to catch up with kath a bit.  neither of us had realized how much we had to talk about.  turned out there was lots of catching up to do.  most exciting, she’s going to drive from palo alto to north carolina with her grandma in a couple weeks, which should be so much fun.  i definitely want to do a cross-country road trip some time.

anyway, it’s kind of late, so i should probably get to bed.  not sure what’s up for tomorrow…

for you

seems like things for me to write about are just piling up tonight.  i’m going to try to work through them quickly because i need to get to bed soon.  i’m exhausted!

work is so crazy right now.  i’m beyond busy there right now.  it’s early mornings and late nights there for me.  at least with no one else there i can play my music as loud as i’d like.  i think i got some stuff accomplished today, though.  oh, and it’s good to have the boys there when i need a little mental break.  they seriously rock.

so i left work really late and kind of frustrated but i managed to be disciplined enough to drive myself to the gym instead of straight home.  and from there things, got better!  i put in a really good run.  farther than i’ve just flat out run in a long, long time.  and i probably could have kept going but i worry about my knee a bit.  anyway, i’m so glad i went.  that was awesome.  i really feel like i accomplished something there!

i talked to dad for a long time on the phone tonight.  it all went well.  he’s so helpful.  anyway, got some good advice from him about work and life and such.

also, we got to discuss the idiots in s.f. who pulled a bait and switch with the olympic torch relay.  i’m upset about it, honestly.  it was so deceitful and played right into china desperately wanting video of the relay looking all happy and peaceful.  that makes gavin newsom and his cronies just as bad as the government in china, i would say.  and this is not to mention how bad i feel for all the people (thousands of them) who took time out of their lives to go sit and wait to see the torch and never got to.

anyway, i’m so spent.  i’m going to catch up on a little tv and then crash before another busy day of work.

just got started

this girl is so tired as she writes tonight.  like weird mentally exhausted but with no real excuse for that.  nothing out of the ordinary going on.  anyway, a little update from me because it’s been like a week.

i honestly haven’t been up to a ton.  i’ve been working lots.  there’s so much going on there right now and through the rest of the month.  (probably after that, too, but i’m not yet looking quite that far ahead.)  i plan on works lots of extra hours coming up soon.  if you’re wondering why i’m not updating, it’s because i’m still at the office slaving away.

also, the college basketball season has wrapped up with awesome final four games and kind of lame final gmaes.  but it was such a fun season, and i even tied for the win in the office pool.  woot! :)

i’ve been lucky enough to have chances to catch up with several friends lately or just talk to the ones i am already caught up with.  it’s been good.  it seems like there’s a lot going on with everyone.

i need something to read.  i’m taking suggestions, even if i think i may have chosen what will be next.

i’m not sure what else to say tonight.  i think i need to just go to bed.  more soon…

more than i expected

well, it’s late.  i need to be in bed.  i’m so tired.  but i also feel like today was a bit of a roller-coaster, and i need to digest it all before i can manage some good sleep.  so i’m just going to write a little bit about the ups and downs of today and see where i end up.

down

found out today that brian gave his resignation in order to pursue a better opportunity.  i’m happy for him but selfishly sad for myself.  i’ll miss having him at work since we get along really well.  probably more on this topic later.

down

the lopez twins are leaving stanford after their sophomore seasons and declaring for the nba draft (though they say they will still continue to work on their degrees at stanford).  i wanted at least another season out of those boys!  they rock and will soon be nba stars.

up

sometimes someone at work just says the right thing, the perfect thing that i need to hear.  they probably never thought twice about saying it because it was just a little comment, but it was just what i needed.

up

booked flights to boston, reserved a good place to stay, and registered for the how conference today.  it’s official.  chris and i are definitely going!  i have a feeling it’s going to come faster than expected.

up

made it all the way to malibu without much traffic at all this afternoon.  even had time to sit in starbucks in malibu and sip an iced white mocha while browsing my frommers boston for a little bit.

down

called adam from malibu to confirm dinner after i finished at pepperdine.  found out he didn’t really have his act together when i made those plans with him sunday night.  he couldn’t do dinner until 9ish.  i was upset but decided i would find a way to keep myself busy somewhere in la between being a judge at pepperdine and dinner with adam.

up

being a judge in ginger’s advertising class was awesome.  really, really great.  more than i ever expected.  and so different from when i took that class just 3 years ago.  there were lots of great professionals, and we ended up having really great (and lengthy) conversations about each of the 4 pitches for the client, joy’s chocolates.  i met some cool new people, i enjoyed our discussions very much, and it was just great to be back there.  also, these long discussions ended up making this whole thing run really, really late.

up

by the time i was done at pepperdine, adam was ready to have dinner with me.  i picked him up, and we had dinner at jerry’s deli in westwood.  and then i made him take me to my favorite dessert place ever, diddy riese!  mmm!  we had ice cream sandwiches on the sidewalk in the cold in what i would consider the middle of the night.  i’m so glad i got to hang out with him!

and so that’s it.  it’s been a very long day.  i think i’ll crash now.  more next time.