Happy Hour!!

You ever have one of those days when you just need to get a drink after work? I had one of those days today. And I put out the call for happy hour drinking buddies at about 10:00 this morning. (Don't judge me, it's been one of those kind of weeks...)

Folks had stuff to do, so I only had one happy hour homie today, which was fine, because we had some awesome conversations, especially since I hadn't seen her in a while. One of the things we talked about was mental illness, depression, grief and anxiety (sparkling happy hour conversation, I know) and she helped me put words to some things that I think I subconsciously knew, but weren't in the forefront of my mind.

We talked about how being in Student Affairs actually trains you really well to deal with the shit that goes on in your own life. I don't know of many career fields where you may deal with suicide attempts, fires, drug overdoses, alcohol poisoning, sexual assault, physical assault and eating disorders and help people work through those issues. Doing that really helps you be able to put your own problems into perspective. So when I see people on tv in therapy for grief and make great, lifelong friendships, I wonder if I'm doing something wrong in my grief process. But, since we all know that tv is not the end all, be all of difficult life situations, and because I have been a Student Affairs warrior, I can compartmentalize, rationalize and grieve in my own way. And that's okay.

So today, I'm thankful for friends who a) know you well enough to pick your brain about what you're struggling with and b) help you actually put words to the abstract thoughts in your head. Tulls, here's to you my friend :-)

WTF Wednesday?!?

Oh, hey WTF Wednesday! I haven't seen you here in quite some time! Soooo, remember that time I was driving to work and that school bus stopped to collect a child? Right in front of their house? On a busy street? Directly past a stop light? Oh yeah, that happened this morning. And pretty much every morning when I leave 4 minutes later than usual. And today when I had to go on errands to buy gifts for our employee holiday party.

You know, I get that folks want their kids to get safely on the bus. But for real? Morse Road? Couldn't you pull into the apartment complex instead of stopping traffic on busy ass Morse Road? When I rode the school bus (cue curmudgeonly old lady voice...) I had to walk to the nearest school and wait. Granted, it wasn't that far away, but I definitely wasn't getting door to door service. And the bus wasn't holding up traffic 18 times in one mile to pick up 18 kids.

Here's how I see it...parents don't seem to be letting the kids out of their sight. So rather than making the bus stop 57 different times, bundle your kids up and walk/drive/bike them to the nearest school/church/fire station/what-have-you, hang out with 20 other kids and parents, hawkeye your own kids and STOP GETTING IN MY DAMN WAY!!

In other news, I went to Target today to get some extension cords for our holiday lights. Should have been 10 minutes and $10 right? An hour and a half and $200 later, I finally made it out alive. So today, I'm thankful for Target. Thinning bank accounts and supplying all the things you never knew you needed since 1962

Dammit, I Just Can't Quit You!

I was gonna get in the bed an hour and 40 minutes ago. Not to go to sleep, but so that I could read and get all snugged and warm under the blankets. Thanks to the miracle of the SyFy network, I got sucked into 2 episodes of Total Blackout and 2 episodes of Scare Tactics. Whenever I go over my mom's, I end up getting sucked into some crazy ass reality shows. Yesterday it was Catfish. The time before that it was Couple's Therapy. These are hours and hours of my life that I will never get back.

So today, I'm thankful for all the ways that my tv wastes my time, makes my brain a little mushier and gives me a little mindless escape from the everyday!

Pa Rum Pum Pum Pum!

Holy moly! I absolutely didn't do a blog yesterday! But I'm making up for it now :-)

Remember that time I had a minor temper tantrum about ridiculous Christmas song lyrics? I still whole-heartedly stand behind those statements. And I had my first christmas shoes hearing of the season yesterday. Notice how I don't even validate that song by capitalizing the title? I think I've discovered the secret to being able to love on holiday music for 5 weeks without wanting to scratch your own ears off after hearing "Feliz Navidad" for the eleventy billionth time. (Side note: Did you know that there are only 19 words in that song? Repeated over and over and over for eternity.)

Tip 1: Wait until Thanksgiving to listen to your holiday tunes. I avoided 93.3 fm like the plague, since they decided that Halloween was a good time to become a 24 hour holiday music station. How rude.

Tip 2: Mix it in with some other music. Don't get me wrong. I have 5 Christmas music stations on my Pandora. That does not mean, however, that I've completely ix-nayed my other stations. Please believe that there is still a sufficient amount of booty shaking music that makes its way into the rotation.

Tip 3: Recognize and be okay with the fact that there are really only like 14 Christmas songs. Remixed, mashed-up, jazzed out, punk rocked, cartooned and christmas shoed (it gets its own damn category, because not once have I ever heard someone do a cover of that hot mess.)

So today, I'm thankful for holiday cheer. That fine balance that's just enough to satisfy my Carol of the Bells craving for the next 11 months (Let's be honest. I'll listen to it at some point in the summer. In my car. With the windows up. Belting it out at the top of my lungs.), but not so much that I'm curled up in a drooling huddle on the floor whisper screaming "Pa rum pum pum pum!" sniffing pine scented candles and shoving candy canes in my face!

Happy holidays lovies!!

It's Gettin Hot in Hurrr, So Take Off All Your Clothes! Wait, What?

I like to eat and I like to be warm. Definitely two of my favorite things, as I've talked about footie pjs (btdubs, I have mentioned footie pjs 4 separate times over the past year. Guess it's a good thing I finally got some!), heated mattress pad, hot chocolate, road trip snackums, you get the picture.

So, in keeping with that tradition, today I'm thankful for aaaaaaaaaaaaall this. And today is the inaugural fireplace fire of the season! Huzzah!

Unfortunately, my fire building skills are not on point. This is Danny's work.

It's one of my favorite features of our house. I sit on the floor as close as possible to the fireplace and rotate every few minutes when one side of my body starts feeling hot and jerky-esque. I love the way it makes the house smell like camping. I like to attempt to cook things over the fire. See how it all comes full circle? Fireplace, I salute you and your roasty toasty goodness!

Guilty Pleasures

Do you have a thing that you do that you're a little ashamed of? Something that you don't usually tell other people, because you're pretty sure that they'll judge you? I'm not talking about anything destructive, like hiding a gambling or drug addiction, but something a bit more mundane...a guilty pleasure if you will.

I watch "Pretty Little Liars" on ABC Family. Danny gives me shit about it whenever I watch it (but he knows the story line. As much as he teases me, he watches it right along with me!), but what he doesn't know is that I'm currently reading the PLL series. I'm on book 10, I'm pissed because the TV show is so far off the books and I get it on my Kindle, so no one ever has to know my shameful little secret ;-)

When I was younger, if there was no one at the house but me, I would crank up Mariah Carey's first album, especially "Vanishing" and "Vision of Love" and belt them shits out like I was the next star of VH1 Divas, high ass dog whistle note and all. But really, let's keep it real...I still do that.

Cheese. Lots of it. It goes all up in my belly and makes my mouth happy, even though I KNOW eating half a wedge of bleu cheese is something that no sane person should ever do.

There are plenty of other things in my life that people would probably give me the judgey eyes for, and I'm not gonna share. Because a girl's got to leave some mystery, right?

So today, I'm thankful for guilty pleasures. The little things you do just for yourself, because they make you happy, no matter how weird or awkward or frivolous or out of the norm that other people may think they are.

The Littlest Things

You ever have one of those moments when something unexpected pops up? I bought some cable knit leggings at Target last week and I didn't have a chance to wear them until today. Opened the package and noticed it said "fleece-lined." Whaaaaaaaaa??!? Why has this not been a thing until now? Who made the executive decision that all leggings sold in cold weather areas should not be fleece lined?

Or what about when you find some money in a pair of pants that you haven't worn in a while? Or that time when cold weather hits and you get to rediscover all your cute coats and jackets that haven't seen the light of day for 8 months? How about when you hear a song from way back in the day and a) you remember all the words to it, even though you haven't heard it since you were in high school and b) it brings back all sorts of ridiculous memories?

So, today, I'm thankful for all the little surprises in life. The things that just make life that much richer, completely by accident, but totally appreciated!

What are some little things that have happened to you recently that just put a smile on your face?