Architects giving bad gifts and good liquor

I got a yard stick that can be used for measuring the depths of puddles and many other useful things but is not to be put back in anyone's yard.  Needless to say I traded it for a bottle of scotch that had rules....it had to be drank at the office and could not ever leave the office.  It appeared every year just like the yard stick.

Architecture Office Christmas party was more like a really bad fashion show with booze





This party was slightly different from the TMP gift exchange, slightly wouldn't you say?

It has been a while

So today and yesterday I was all bummed up with a catch in my back.  I dont know what triggered it but I know I will be visiting a chiropractor in the near future. I have been so busy at work only using 0-5 internet minutes per day and I usually use them to read others blogs so I dont have time for mine. 

This past week I went to a meeting in Arlington, VA which is near D.C. to present our work in Revit to our client.  It was fun and I got overtime for the long trip so cash in my pocket.

I have been a little lazy and bummed since Matt has been gone. I eat cereal for dinner or have a milkshake or a beer.  I know it is not healthy but I just dont feel like eating anything and so if I crave something I eat it because anything is better than nothing.

Last night I made the dreadful trip to Wal-Mart even though last time I was in there I swore that I would never be back in that store.  I went to get Matt's oil changed in his truck since I have been driving it because my tags are expired on mine and I don't want a ticket.  So I dropped off his truck and hobbled around for 2 hours buying groceries with my kinked up back.

I came home and fixed something Matt would be proud of for dinner.  He gave me the idea last week and so I decided to make it.  I thawed out a chicken breast and stuffed it with pesto and used toothpicks to hold it together.  Then I put it in a baking dish and put artichoke hearts, and  fresh grated Parmesan cheese on it.  I baked it for 15 min or so and then put it on a bed of spaghetti with some feta cheese sprinkled on top.....mmmm good.  I had it with some Carolina Red Dublin wine made out of muskedines.  It had a weird unique flavor and I know it wasn't a white wine and I had chicken but I didn't have any white so I drank what I had and it was delicious.

I am tired of the winter, I am tired of the LEED study material haunting me, I am tired of Matt being gone and us having to communicate via emails, I am tired of a messy house with dog hair on every surface, I am tired of not feeling like or having the time to exercise, and most of all I am tired of dreading the 6 months he is going to be gone.

ok I tried to load pics but no matter how many times I clicked the add image button nothing happened....oh well

Whispering Thief

So this weekend SoCal and I decided to treat ourselves to an early Christmas gift. We rationalized that in order to buy for others we are going to need internet access since our family and friends live so far away. We purchased a new IMac desktop computer. I have no idea how to use a Mac but we also rationalized that in our past computer lives SoCal’s laptop has lived and died with more viruses than a streetwalker.
SoCal has been tinkering and fooling with the gadget since we brought it home Sunday night even though we don’t have any internet access as of now. Today is the day the cable guy comes to bring the magic. As soon as we have the magic we can begin our Christmas buying extravaganza. I have already planned on getting both our families webcams so on Christmas we can all see each other. I have a lot of other gifts in mind and hope to find some good deals online for my first year of cyber shopping.
Ok so on our first night of computer ownership I was watching tv in bed and about to turn in for the night when I heard a man’s voice whisper something. SoCal was already asleep so I turned off the television and listened thinking my ears were playing tricks on me. I wanted to get up and check out the house to make sure no one was about to make off with our new computer. Sparx got up to get some water and I took this as my opportunity to follow her thinking the crooks would be scarred of a giant black dog waddling through the dark house. So I looked in the office and the computer was still there and everything looked locked up and secure everywhere else. I went back to bed deciding that I had imagined it all.
Yesterday when I got home I sat down next to SoCal on the sofa and I heard the whisper again. I said did you hear that what is it? Is it your phone? He said oh it is the computer it tells you the time. So evidently every 15 min or so a weird robot like man’s voice whispers the time in our office, and I thought I was going crazy. I was actually trying to protect our new computer from itself.

My color of the day

What color is your sky today?
What is your personality color today?
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could see someone’s personality color on the outside like if they could wear a shirt of that color and it would change throughout the day?
This would come in handy at work; you would know that your co-worker is having a great day or a bad day before you talk with them. For instance if they took their LEED exam and failed you could see that they were wearing a sad colored shirt like black and know that they must not have passed so everyone in the world wouldn’t have to ask them. When you come into work and you really feel like crap and are really down in the dumps everyone would know and they wouldn’t give you suck a hard time about little minute things like the curve of a roof drain and downspout.
This may be a bad thing though, if you tend to be going through a lot of crap in your life would you start to purposely try and change your color so no one knows how sad you are? Would you try and hide it or try and fake happiness with a yellow shirt? Maybe you could just have a mood ring and you could reveal it to whomever you chose and they would know exactly how you were and what mood you were in that day.
When my sky is black and there is no sun in sight sometimes I just need a hug and if someone knew that maybe I wouldn’t have to ask for one. If you don’t have close enough friends and you are forced to ask for a hug your sky gets even blacker. Day by day my sky gets blended with more white and it goes from black to gray to dull blue slowly and gradually until one day the sun will show its face for a second and then it is gone again. I want to wear a bright yellow shirt and play in the sun under a brilliant blue sky but it will take time. It will take time.

Things Change

So I was never one of those employees that brought in treats on Tuesday for everyone to enjoy. I was always busy working in the yard or on the house or just too lazy for all that baking. Well things change. SoCal is out to sea and I am at home procrastinating on studying for LEED or my licensing exams by baking treats for our Canstruction bake sales every Monday morning or by making a crock pot full of chili for our chili cook-off.

I made a terrific batch of white chicken chili in my crock pot….Cathryn you can do it too. I have made poppy seed muffins, SoCal and I made carrot cake cupcakes from scratch, and this week I made these delicious German Chocolate Cupcakes with a cream cheese and coconut filling. You make the cupcakes as the box says, yes when SoCal is out to sea you wont see me making things from scratch, then you mix mini chocolate chips, cream cheese, sugar, an egg, and coconut together. You put the batter in the cups and then drop a spoonful of the cream cheese mix on top and magically in the oven the cream cheese drops to the middle of the cupcake leaving a creamy surprise inside.

So yesterday I had my two plastic containers of cupcakes and a big brown bag of pigs in a blanket in tow and I was on my way into my office to distribute them to the masses. Well I was wearing my black Bandolino’s that had the replaced heel tip. The heel tip that needed to be replaced again due to the clickity, clank the metal made on tile when I walked. Girlfriend is broke and needs new black pumps, don’t judge. I drooled over Jessica Simpson shoes a few weekends ago but could not part with $60 so I clickity clunked along. So I guess my broken heel tip got caught in a crack or something because the last thing I remember I was tripping on an imaginary line and landing cupcake first into the damp sidewalk. I did not drop anything, the cupcakes were tossled about but not too damaged. I cursed loudly dropping the F bomb, dusted off my knees and then continued inside. That is when I noticed my ankle bleeding pretty badly and I stopped at my desk to get a tissue. So I took the bloody canklecakes into the kitchen to be sold for .50 which was a steal compared to the amount of trouble they had caused.

During lunch I moseyed over to the addictive TJ Max and found myself a new pair of black pumps with a perfectly good heel and I tossed the black straps of death in the trash. They had lasted me two years and I had worn down two heel tips wearing them so they were well worth the $50 SoCal paid for them. Maybe I will go buy those dark purple Jessica Simpson pumps if they will last me 2 years that is longer than a pair of running shoes.

Hello again addictive habit….

Well it has been a very long time since I have blogged. One reason was because I was in the process of moving and had no computer and the second reason is my new job takes up all my time and I only get on the internet about 5 min. a day on average.

So here’s the scoop.
SoCal got transferred to Norfolk, VA by the Navy. He is stationed on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower which is an air craft carrier. He is still waiting on his radiation detector before he can go into the reactor so he has been toughing it out doing minimal tasks appointed to him, studying for his qualifying exams, doing random things and basically who knows what he really does anyways.

Whatever he is doing it is a whole hell of a lot better than recruiting and I have only wined one time so far. I wined because he has to do 24 hours shifts sometimes and he was going to miss my softball tournament, but the tournament was cancel because of the pseudo hurricane turned tropical storm Hanna, of which I called Hanna Montana because looks can be deceiving and I have seen worse weather conditions on a sunny day in the south. (Wow that was a really long sentence that should probably be multiple sentences but anyone who reads this will know in advance that I don’t really strive for excellent punctuation and grammar.)

As for my job I am doing basically what I did at TMP which is a CADD monkey except here I have caught a lot of things on my own. Well at TMP someone (DC) would get out their red pen and redline everything so that someone in high school home economics class could fix it. Here I have to redline my own things and they just tell me to go do the plan details and I do. My project architect will redline them but I have brought up new details that we need and new issues that have not been found. Basically the things I learned at TMP come in handy here since the project that I am working on needs a little help. I also got taught how to do a spec section last week which is a new one for me.

My office is a lot of fun as well and like TMP it is the people that make it that way. Most of the people that sit in my area are a lot of fun to work with. We have our occasional few that are not favorites as does TMP. I have not encountered so much brown nosing political friendships here as at TMP but I have not met the high-uppity people yet.

Our house is still for sale and empty so if you know anyone looking to buy send them our way. We are paying rent on a small 3 bedroom house in a neighborhood for retirees in Norfolk as well as mortgage. For this reason I am thankful that both of our new jobs pay more and we are also trying to cut back on things like cable, internet, and going to the movies to help.

A few weekends ago SoCal invited me on his ship for family fun day. It was a day where the sailors could invite their entire family on the ship and see what it is like. We had to be on the ship at 4am where we had breakfast and then watched as Norfolk and Virginia Beach passed by. After that we hung out in the lounge area with SoCal’s nuke friends and yes they are a nerdy bunch. Then we took a nap in SoCal’s tiny bunk, and yes we both fit if we spooned really tight. Then we ate lunch and SoCal gave me a tour of the ship and the only area I could not tour was the area that SoCal works in. We all went out onto the flight deck middle of the Atlantic Ocean and launched and landed a few planes and of course a few maneuvers with fake bombs and such. Last we just hung out in SoCal’s berthing and watched as the guys got bored and started lighting things on fire and taping each other to chairs. So all in all I had a great time meeting SoCal’s friends.

We have been out to eat a few times with a couple of the guys that SoCal hangs out with most.

I have made a few friends at work as well. Sara, Emilee and I have been to the beach together and out to dinner followed by dessert at The Boot which is an Italian restaurant hence the name. We ate at this restaurant called Ibeza which is a Spanish inspired restaurant that serves tapas. I had no idea what tapas were but apparently they are way over priced small portions of food that you are supposed to share around the table like an appetizer except there is barely enough to share. The two highlights of the night out with the girls was the Date pudding dessert at The Boot and Emilee getting toasted and almost getting in a fight with this girl at The Boot over a sip of wine. Long story….

This weekend we are doing a practice run at the beach for our sandcastle competition idea. I am helping out with my first sandcastle competition and it is Sept. 28th. I am so excited but also nervous because it seems like it would be very hard. Our theme is Neptune’s Olympics and we were initially going to do King Neptune with sea creatures but then we simplified our idea and are going to do the creatures racing after a wreath or a metal of some kind. Anyways….

So I guess that is all I can remember right now to catch up on but I will try and keep up with my blogging.

Peace out

Have you ever bruised someone's ear lobe?

Some of my co-workers and I were having a conversation about… well I started a conversation about Matt and I wrestling yesterday. We were just goofing off and freshening up my yellow belt when he had me down and I was trying to retaliate. I know he hates when I grab is ear lobe because he is always afraid that his ear skin will rip. So I grabbed both of them and he grabbed under my arms and we were both applying pressure until one of us give in. Well I don’t remember who finally give up but later in the evening we sat down to eat dinner and I looked at Matt’s ear lobes and noticed something on the bottom. I thought it was stain from the deck but no, no it was bruises on each ear lobe. I felt so bad; I apologized, since we usually don’t end up with evidence of wrestle mania. Well my co-workers laughed at this story and swore that normal people do not wrestle with their spouses. I guess it is just a Mississippi girl thing.

Fun from Cathryn

Post your particularly amusing names in the comments. C'mon! Fun for all!

1.YOUR ROCK STAR NAME (first pet, current car):
Sky 4-Runner (not feeling I will sell many records with that name)

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME (fave ice cream flavor, favorite type of shoe):
Chocolate Flip-Flop (Ohhh girl dont get me to snappin my fingers and shakin my head at you)

3. YOUR NATIVE AMERICAN NAME (favorite color, favorite animal):
Pink Meercat

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, city where you were born):
Rose New Albany

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (the first three letters of your last name, first two of your first name):Roe Ke or Gib Ke (I'm both right now until the parperwork is done.)

6. SUPERHERO NAME (2nd favorite color, favorite drink):
Teal Sweet Tea (and yes she will kick some ass.)

7. NASCAR NAME (the first names of your grandfathers):
James Hubert or Hubert James?

8. STRIPPER NAME (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy):
Divine Sweet Tart (Yes I am well known in these parts)

9. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME (your fifth grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter):
Cooper Charleston

10. SPY NAME (your favorite season/holiday, flower):
Summer Orchid (Yes that is sooo pretty)

11. CARTOON NAME (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now):
Mango Sweater

12. HIPPIE NAME (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree):
Teddy Graham Spruce (Dont judge my breakfast choice)

HOUSE FOR SALE OR RENT

Calling in a miracle

I have been so scared for the last few weeks since Matt got orders to move to Norfolk, VA in August. I go from excited, to frightened, to mad, to numb.

I told my partners at work last Wednesday that my last day would be July 24th which was a months notice. Two of them have talked to me about it and three of them have said nothing. They are so weird when it comes to people leaving even if they cannot control why they are leaving. No wonder they have trouble with people leaving.

My moms are both trying to talk me into staying in Nashville until the house sells and Matt to stay on the ship. Fear is telling me to consider this but my heart is telling me that I should trust my husband. I always listen to my heart no matter how scared I may be my heart always wins and has never wronged me. The only thing is my mom is typically right too.
So I have been running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get everything ready for the move. Matt and I have an extensive list and no matter how much I work on it the damn thing keeps getting longer.

1. Finish sanding and staining the deck along with building the steps.
2. Finish painting the basement along with spackling, sanding, and painting the ceiling.
3. Buy and put up trim with money we don’t have for the basement since previous owners used Styrofoam trim and yes that product actually exists.
4. Finish painting half bath and touching up bedroom and bathroom.
5. Trimming out hallway paint.
6. Just one more coat of white on all doors.
7. Just one more coat of white on all ceilings.
8. Hang new curtain rods in bedroom and dressing room.
9. Clean up garage so someone can walk in it.
10. Put alternator in Matt’s car or sell it like it is which requires Craigslist which requires the internet which we don’t have and I have tried on my phone and no it wont work.
11. When parents come we must cut up tree that fell and get them to take tree and trailer with them.
12. Get parents to help move old fridge down to the basement or sell it on Craigslist (see comment above)
13. Paint exterior CMU wall to match house.
14. Weed front flower bed and plant flowers we cannot afford.
15. Call pest control to come kill all our moths, spiders, ants, earwigs, etc so the movers will pack our stuff.
16. Orchestrate movers for 2 days while they mark and pack all of our stuff.
17. Pack clothes and supplies enough to survive on for 6 months while our things are in storage. Things live interview outfits, winter clothes, air mattress, etc.
18. Take Sparx to vet for rabies shot.
19. Go to dentist before I leave so I am good for 6 months.
20. Take wedding rings to jeweler for repairs before we leave.
21. Find a job which requires I create a portfolio of my work at TMP.
22. Sell our house which requires we finish it so we can show it and have an open house.


This list is just the things I can remember off the top of my head that wont stay off my mind long enough for me to do my job and all this must be done by July 24th since we are driving to Virginia July 25th. After July 25th a whole new list will develop with things such as find an apartment and start my new job.

We basically need a miracle….