Put the phone down.

This past weekend the family made our way down to NC for the annual supporting of my sister's theater program.

This years musical was Footloose. And as always the show was amazing, the talent unbelievable and it has been wonderful to see my sister grow as a director.

But there was something that I noticed. You see I sat there in the middle of the theater trying to pay attention to the lead actor when halfway through his performance the young girl in front of me whipped out her cell phone and began flipping. Through Facebook, twiiter. Texting. Soon her friends followed her and before I knew it not only was I staring at the stage, but I was also staring at the glow of the latest Iphone and trying to ignore the whispers and giggles that came from the row in front of  me.

I know we are all guilty of it. Checking on emails, and occasionally glancing at them when we know we shouldn't. But being on it throughout a high school performance? A play? Really. Is it that important that we need to be connected to everything at all times. Apparently it was.

Apparently it is.

This led me thinking about my own habits.  I will not lie and say I haven't done this from time to time, because I too have. I even caught myself doing it in the middle of that very same show, during intermission. I told myself it was OK because well, it was intermission and I was just checking the score of the hockey games. After which I put it down and did not glance at it again. But I definitely gave myself a little talking to.

We live in a world where it has become OK to do this, during dinners, dates and in the middle of class lectures. We talk to friends through texting now because it is easier to get a hold of them that way, instant gratification in the palm of your hands. And we wonder why we are losing touch with human interaction. Have we forgotten the basic manners our parents parents taught them. Should I get used to this whole well its perfectly normal to do this? Everyone else is doing it?

Or should I start my own trend and stop the urge to look.
Even if it is just for an hour.

The case of the Fridays.

It happens about this time every week. But especially once the weather begins to turn from mild to extremely nice. When the days are longer and the office becomes empty. What am I talking about? 

 

The case of the Fridays. 

 

Admit it, you know exactly what I am talking about. It has on occasion happened to you even. Its the moment when the workweek may as well be over because you are over with it. Your production and productivity hits the wall. The moment when you can't think of another spreadsheet or report. The coworker down the way, the one who has been on conference calls all day just got a little more annoying.And you would much rather be anywhere, and I mean anywhere than at your desk.

It comes and goes of course. And can change from person to person. Week to week. For myself, this week it has been brutal. Painfully so. Enhanced by the fact for the 7th time since relocating to the DC office they have moved my cube, reassigned me with a new group. All of which has yet to move meaning I am sitting in a quiet row with nothing more really to do but stare at a clock.

For the record, I am pretty sure it hasn't moved since I walked in.

I know Fridays should be the same old same old in the business world. And maybe it is. But for me, today. I will tell you this. It is just not happening.

Better luck next week.

Examination....

I'll be frank. I detest exams. Give me  15 page paper no problem, but I see the word exam and I can already feel the anxiety. Yes I know they are part of the whole education experience, but its an experience I could live without.

Still I knew it had to come, the final exam time. I sat there over the weekend studying, thinking please Lord, just let me pass. Let me do a hell of a lot better on the final than I did on the midterm-which we won't even get into because yeah, that went oh so wonderfully. I can't say I was fully ready to take the exam yesterday afternoon, but then again I don't think I am ever quite ready no matter how much I study. I will admit this, I could have studied harder. I probably even studied a lot harder for the midterm. But I felt OK about it, I knew I could relate to a lot of the material on a personal level, giving me an advantage on that aspect.

The exam was over within 40 minutes.I walked out feeling OK sure there were questions I didn't know, or guessed on. But I didn't feel like I failed it either, and isn't that a good thing. I came home, ignoring the books and the notes. I am one of these after its done, its done why go back and agonize over the ones you know you missed.

But curiosity kills the cat. And so I decided to take a peek later last night to see if by any chance she had graded it. And wouldn't you know she had.

I stared at the big fat B on the exam and rejoiced.

I did it. I passed.
And it felt pretty damn good.

Maybe the whole exam taking isn't so bad after all.

A getaway

Sometimes, all one really needs is a getaway.

Admittedly a lot of things have gone on lately. A lot of which should not be discussed in the walls of a blog. These past couple of months have been and continue to be some of the hardest I have ever experienced. So much so that for the past few days the thought of running has seemed well, rather tempting.

Fueling the fire? A simple one line email from Jetblue, sale.

Typically I delete these, ignoring as junk and forgetting them the moment I do. But not this one. For some reason it felt as if it was staring me in the face, taunting me with its blue and orange wording. Click me, click me.

I did.

And soon I found myself plotting. I needed a getaway, we needed a getaway. And at the price? And with our DVC points, well that getaway went from nonexistent to quite possible. Even more so when my husband actually agreed to go, so what if it was only going to be a four day trip. So what if it meant giving up some extra vacation days. It would be worth it. We needed this. It may be more beneficial than ever.

I know what your thinking, again? Weren't you just there. I get it. We go an absurd amount of time. But here's the thing. I get just as excited as I did that first time. And on some level there is a need to go back down. I assume it is sort of like an addict. I need that fix to be happy.

And so this past weekend, we planned. We plotted. We found ourselves renewing our annual passes-we were going to have to do so anyway for August.-and we hit the submit buttons. We are heading back down the weekend after Memorial Day.

This gal couldn't be happier.

Happy Star Wars Day

Yep, it is that day. The day that both the husband and my son look forward to and quite possibly ranks right up there with Christmas and their birthday. If you ask me, well it is just another day. But apparently this whole Star Wars day is a pretty big deal.

Just ask my five year old.

We made sure to celebrate as best we could. We trekked down to the local Lego store to build a piece of a puzzle, before making our way down to the Disney store where little man learned how to be a Jedi in training. Yes the kid was in love.

They are currently watching one of the six episodes, though as me and I will tell you I have no clue to which one it is. The whole Star Wars love seemed to bypass me. 

But I suppose, there is one in every family.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train...I

I take no credit in the photo.

There has been a lot of buzz this week going around regarding the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in Fantasyland. it has been long awaited and anticipated by many, including in my very own household.

And earlier this week, video was posted from a recent ride on giving many their first 'on-board' test. I admit I get excited, I am counting down till the annual summer vacation anticipating the very ride. But what I did not do was this. I did not and have not watched the video.

You may ask yourself why. After all, I am a huge Disney World nut. I live for news, and videos and anything with the word Disney in it. So why not check it out and see what its all about. But here is my reasoning.

You see I like the element of surprise on the first trip. I love not knowing exactly where every turn is going to be at, or what Dopey's face is going to look like. Or this and that. I sort of enjoy the thrill of finding this all out in person. What is the fun of knowing things ahead of time? Yes I get in today's time where we live on social media spoiler alerts, the need to see things right away has its appeal. And is so so tempting. But doesn't that take at least a little fun out of it? Wouldn't you rather be surprised and in awe over it than not?

Besides, isn't that truly what life is all about.

A quiet April.

April has just about come and gone. It seems I have neglected blogging. I guess you can say this hasn't been a stellar year in regards to blogging. Period. I have no excuse other than a lot of things have been going on, in work, in school and in the real world life. I admit something has to give, in this terms my writing.

Does the thought make me happy? No I find comfort in words and sitting behind the mask of them. But what happens when they don't come? When you have no energy for the thoughts, nor exactly know how to say them, when to say them and how to express them without getting to personal?

And believe me right now? That is exactly how I feel about them.

But I realize I started this blog with the promise of actually blogging, sharing and communicating it all to the world, including to both people I know and don't. Maybe at times, it is not as frequently as I would like, and maybe that is OK. There are far to many things that believe it or not are more important than rushing home and blogging about. Life happens outside the walls of social media.

All I ask, is that you bare with me. Things will be said when the time is right, and if it is alright. But until then. well until then hopefully May will bring some more creative writing and a better understanding of a lot of things....

Almost there.

Remember back in January, when I began the semester I swore it was going to be the longest one yet...funny thing happened. It is just about over.

I walked in last night, plopped my things down and prepared to sit through two groups presentation, the last of the semester. They were going to be long and boring because lets face it most of them are. Half of the class wasn't even going to show up I bet-later I found out they didn't.-and the other half would be pretending to pay attention when really they were more into their phones and laptops. And that was when it hit me, this was our final 'class' Sure there would be a review for the exam next week, with the exam the week to follow but that is it. No m ore papers to turn in or homework to rush home and do.

The semester is just about done. Imagine that.
One less to go.

In all honesty, I can't believe it has come to this already. A lot of things have happened in the past couple months, making January seem like ions ago. And yet it feels like it was just yesterday at the same time. Perhaps the classmate in front of me said it best when she said that every semester she feels like she is ready but the moment she walks through the doors she is done. But by the end of the semester she is already looking forward to the next. In a way, I am the same. I am now entering the final home stretch of my college career. And within three weeks I will begin my final countdown to 52 weeks before graduating....

Graduating. I never thought I would see it.

56 weeks and counting.

Playoff time once again.

Tonight the race for the cup officially begins for 16 teams. None of which are the Caps as we all know.

It is a strange strange feeling for sure.

I mean after all for the past seven years by this point I would be totally ramped up for them. I would be decked out in Caps colors, proudly display my bracket-forget about the NCAA bracket, its all about the hockey one here- and count down the very moments until that puck drops. I try to do work, which doesn't usually happen because I have half my office stopping every five minutes to ask me about the game, what do I think the outcome will be, how do I feel about the whole thing. Etc, etc, etc...

This year there has been none of this, no one has stopped other than to ask me to print something, scan something or enter something into a database. The bracket remains empty and the only colors that remotely resemble anything Caps is in the flag that remains up in my cube.

Yes it is strange indeed.

The only consolation in the whole not making playoffs is this: We will not have to endure the next week of speculations of just how long we will make it, how we just barely got in, in the first place and should we not make it past the first round, there will be no talk of what should have been. Believe me, that part of the playoffs I for one will not miss. We are now just left with the wondering of what next year will bring, next coaches? New GM? New players. All of the above, none of the above-which lets face it, something is going to happen.-and the thought that next year will be our year. Because we are Caps fan and what else would we think at this point.

And strange as it is not to see my beloved team in there, I will still be watching the playoffs, after all not only is there nothing like it but my other team (Boston) does happen to be in, so while the Caps are busy perfecting their golf swing, I will have to root for them...after all, it is the cup.

And despite who wins, and as mentioned.
There is nothing like playoff hockey...

An odd feeling

Lets face it. We knew this was coming. We may have hoped, we may have held on to the little bit of faith that maybe just maybe we could make it into the playoff spot. But ultimately we knew it was going to not be a pretty ending to the season.

Still, it doesn't mean this an easy pill to swallow.  Especially considering for the past six years we have not known this feeling. Yes, we may have been on pins and needles waiting to hear if we made it through, each game meaning a whole lot more than the last. But it has not been this definite. Not in a good long while. I forgot almost what this feeling was like.

It is odd I will admit. I woke up this morning thinking, we have three games still to play. Three games which means little anymore. Come Sunday, the season is over, and we get to wait til October to even begin to think about making it to playoff hockey standards. Three...

I wondered if I even wanted to watch, does it matter at this point? But of course I knew I would.

And like many, I began to wonder and suspect things will change come, as soon as Monday more in likely. I have my predictions. Oates? McPhee? Quite possibly. Both. I am sure you will see a lot of players come and go. I do not expect the same team to be hitting the ice come training camp that we see on the ice at the moment. Perhaps its time. I think something needs to come if we ever want to be a contender. What that may be I am not exactly sure. But it has to.

The time for rebuilding needs to start again.
From scratch.

And he is registered.

Rolling up to the school yesterday, my five year old son sat in the back seat looking around. To him it was like Christmas morning again. To me, it was the start of something more. He babbled on about the playground, about the school itself.

No, this was not the first day of school, yet if the emotions that were playing in my mind were any indication I don't even want to imagine what that day in the not so distant future anymore is going to be like. But it may as well have been.

We dropped off the paperwork, answered a couple of questions. I looked around, wondering when he grew up. When did I become a mom of a soon to be kindergartener. She asked if he was ready. Maybe the question should have been whether the mom that was sitting across from her was the one that was ready.

I said yes of course and she nodded good then showed us around, at the library his only worry was whether they had Star Wars books or not. At the gym, he just wanted to know if he could shoot a basketball. And in the music room he declared he loved music, which seemed to please the music teacher very much.And at the cafeteria, all he wanted to make sure they knew he couldn't have real milk. All of which seem to be pretty important to a five year old.

Afterwards we jumped back in the car and headed out. Little man just beaming...'That is a big school mommy.'

'Yes it sure is.'

'But you know, I think I like it. I will be just fine.'

Me too.. buddy. Me too.

Disappointment.

Disappointment. It comes in many forms, and usually when we least want it to. I am not immune to it and I have faced several of my own disappointments these days.

But the biggest one as of late came  Friday when my midterm exam grade was posted. Now before the grade was actually posted I felt pretty good about it. I studied, in fact I had even created a 7 page study guide and carried it around with me. I sat up at the campus for four hours before the exam with nothing but my books and notes on hand. And I studied. I came in to the exam saying I was going to rock it, because in all truth I felt like I knew it. I was going to do fabulous.

Apparently, not so much.

My heart sank at the grade. No I did not fail it, thank the Lord for that one. But lets just say I did  not rock it like I thought. In fact I may as well have flunked it by the outcome. In reality, I know the midterm which was only 25 questions and worth 75pts is not that big of deal. Not when your talking out of 500 points. But in a lot of ways I felt like I had failed.

Myself.

And that was the biggest disappointment of all.

Better luck next time right?

An old friend.

Greys Anatomy. Oh how things have changed, and yet not so much at the same time. Five years ago I pretty much lived eat and slept around your schedule. Yes you were my show. I swore no matter what I would forever be a loyal fan.

But then something happened. I landed in the hospital myself. And as I laid there hooked up to a thousand monitors after operation number three, I tried to watch you. I did I did. But I just couldn't. Because suddenly those make believe stories, didn't seem so make believe any more. They were my story. And I couldn't watch. Not that I didn't want to. I just couldn't. Especially when the episode dealt with colon anything.

So I broke it off.

But the other night, while sitting by myself I flipped through my DVR looking for something to watch and wouldn't you know, you were there. It was like coming home to an old friend. I flipped you on, and just as old friends do. I picked up on it.

And I discovered something.

Nothing changed. And I loved it. And suddenly I am sitting here re-watching shows that people have already seen. I loved it. Well except everyone was having sex. Which sort of made me groan. Or want to cry. Because clearly that is so not like my life at the moment....

But you know. I will take that....

Welcome home.

Slacking.

I have been severely slacking when it comes to blogging lately.  I have my reasons, though some are too personal to discuss openly at the moment to the mass that is social media.

I have tried to sit down and write a couple of times, but reasons for one or another always seem to distract me and keep me from finishing my thoughts. And lets not forget my whole trying to write while I was watching hockey, and we all know how that went.

Sure if you run a blog, you know there are always months and moments when you don't feel like writing. And the whole month seems to fly by without you even thinking about blogging. It is natural. It happens. But there is at least on some part of me that feels guilty that I have ignored posts and thoughts. There is a part of me that doesn't even feel complete if I haven't even written something for it.

But here it is halfway through the month...and my blog is severely lacking...

Of course tomorrow is a new day. And well, you never know.

Do you except the rose.

Ah the Bachelor.....a show that promises lots of tears, lots of fancy dates and lots of drama.

This season has been no exception.

It has been said before, I am not much of a reality TV fan, but the Bachelor for some reason always sucks me in. I adored Sean last year, so it was no surprise when I was eh about Juan Pablo this year. He is mildly attractive, and his accent while can be a turn on, well got old and it got stuffy. Not to mention, the fact that every other minute he was telling us he is no good at English....

And there was something about him, that just screamed....asshole.

But of course no one really agreed with me. They saw the outside exterior and fell in love. And last night, many hearts watched as the true nature of Juan Pablo came out. Leaving Clare, and 'picking' if that is what you call it, Nikki. By picking I mean just giving her a final rose.

I did not watch the show until this evening, and let me say I did not see what was so impressive about the guy. My opinion did not change at all. In fact it only confirmed what I already knew. Out of all the bachelors, Juan Pablo has sealed his fate in history as not only the shittest bachelor, but perhaps the worst one.

Honestly did we expect anything less of a guy who has been absolutely controversal from the moment the first showed aired?

No.

Springing forward.

I love spring, I love the fact I know the days are longer, the air warmer and the flowers are blooming. Even if they do mess with my allergies there is this whole feeling that the worst is behind us. A sign that we have in fact made it through the long freezing cold days and it would be smooth sailing from here on out. However what I don't like.

Springing ahead. Now I suppose it is a small sacrifice for the longer days and for that I will take it. But here is my question, does it really have to spring ahead on a Sunday? Because wouldn't it be a little easier to do so, oh say on a Friday night? I mean at least this way it would be two full days of adjustment before going to work. I am pretty sure I am not the only one sitting here behind the computer thinking, I should go to bed, I should be tired and yet wide awake because while the clock says its almost ten thirty,  your body along with half the clocks you haven't gotten to yet says it is only 9, and there is no way you would go to be at 9. You are not that old yet.

Not to mention, it messes with the whole digestive system.  My stomach not yet used to the new time doesn't know when to be hungry yet. Forcing yourself to eat when you can't is not exactly easy.

Then again, coming home this evening after running around and the fact that it was still light out at 7? Well that my friend, was truly absolutely amazing....and I will gladly take a loss of an hours sleep for an extra hour of sun any moment.

Now as long as it can stay warm.

Whenever, wherever.....I can write...well except..

I happen to like to write. Well, I suppose you already knew this. Along with my blog, I do creative writing, and I occasionally journal and I am always seem to be working on something.

Now given this fact, I always seem to have a sentence, or two or even three going on in my head. Often these thoughts lead to more and I frantically search for anything to write it down on. Lately they seem to be coming to me while I am on the metro, which means I nervously type them out on the notepad ap on my Iphone. And I wonder why my hand hurts by the end of the trip.

I usually have no problem writing anywhere or while doing anything. Most times.That is a fantastic thing about writing right? Inspiration can hit you at any time and there is always the ability to take your work wherever you go. I have no shame in admitting I have written at 2 AM in the middle of IHOP on a piece of crinkled up napkin, simply because inspiration hit at that very moment. It also happened to be some of my best work, but this is besides the point here.

 But last night as I sat down to start jotting down for a blogpost that I had promised myself I would get to back in February I discovered something. I can not write while a hockey game is going on.

Why?

Because as I was writing out what I was going to talk about-which yes was about Disney-my sentence which was supposed to look something like this:

Some prefer getting there the moment the rope drops rushing to their favorite......

turned into looking a whole lot like this:

Some prefer getting there the moment the  puck drops rushing as sticks fly.....

I did not realize I had even done it until I started reading things back. And there was this common theme throughout most of the post, hockey words were thrown in there much like the above happenings. I immediately tore up, erased everything and put away my writing vowing it will have to wait. 

Apparently I stand corrected I can write wherever and for the most part whenever.

Except when there is a hockey game going on.

Then I may as well forget it.

Trade deadline.

Today is probably one of my husbands favorite days. Besides Logan's birthday and OK hopefully our anniversary. But today, well today is the NHL trade deadline day. Which may not be our anniversary but to this hockey loving household pretty much ranks right up there with Christmas morning.

But here is the thing, these past few years. Well the day has just been another day. If you are a fan of the Caps, you know that every year we get our hopes up that there will be this huge big trade. For weeks we sit by and watch rumors, and we hear things and we think well maybe, just maybe this is the year that General Manger George McPhee will wake up and actually do something. Of course you still have those that want the trade, but want to keep every player that we have at the same time. And those of us, well those of us that know how things work. Well, we know that isn't exactly how it works. In order to gain someone, you must be willing to lose someone.

This is besides the point.  This morning we woke knowing it was the day, the day that trades were going to be done and made. Finalized before the end of the season. Yep, it was going to be a good day. At least in some people's and some team's eyes that is.

And how did we fare this year? Did GM McPhee actually do something? Yes, to a point. Erat is finally gone, in his place Chris Brown. Penner  from the Ducks, is now a new Caps. And Nuevy is gone to Bufalo, and Halak is now our second goalie.

I will be honest other than Halak, I know very little about these players. So I can not speak much about it. And what do I think about the Halak deal? Not sure to be honest. Do I think it was the best decision, probably not. I think there could have been some better decisions however do I think it was the worst deals we have ever done. No. I will stand by my judgements of last years Erat pick up for that. But whether Halak and the others will be beneficial and the missing pieces to have the final push through the end of the season will remain to be seen....

And time will tell.

White out.

Well it seems Mother Nature is not willing to release her hold on winter just yet as another storm is pounding the DC area.

Awesome.

If it tells you anything, even my snow loving winter praising husband turned to me and announced he is through with it. Done. Finished.

Yes I too felt the ground shake on that one.

I keep reminding myself it will eventually let up right? It has to. But at the moment as I stare out my window where we are expecting about 7 inches, well I am beginning to think this is the new normal.

Which is kind of amazing considering the government and all are complaining about global warming, if this is true one would not think snow would be coming in during March. OK yes, I know March can be snowy, and all but still......come on. Give me a break.

I would love to go a week without having to shovel, worry about what I am going to do with work and sit in anticipation on what the school systems, including the university is going to do.

Perhaps I have said this already, but let me say it again, those around me better not complain when I relish in the summer months and beg for winter to return.

March on.

Woke up this morning to this: It somehow became March.

For some reason, despite the fact we are expecting more winter weather, and it is no where near those spring like temps one thinks of in March (or warmer should we say) the thought that it is, made me exceptionally happy.

Why?

Because even with the cold, well I know it can't last forever. And the days are getting longer. Next weekends time change well make them even more so. And because of spring break, and the trees that will soon be blooming. Kids will soon be running around playing around, chasing each other and laughing outside.

And there is something about a new month that makes us feel like a new beginning. A fresh start. So here is to that. Fresh starts, new beginnings.

And the beginning of a beautiful month...