It’s finally Friday

I was tagged by the loverly (yes, I just used a My Fair Lady reference.  Can we still be friends?) Val to do a meme.  I’m excited about that.  Why?  Because it’s Friday!  And because it’s almost the weekend!  And because I lost more weight!  Yeah, boo-yah, suckersssssss!  Plus, I didn’t really have anything all that interesting to write about, so a little bit of get-to-know-me can’t hurt!

Eight things I am passionate about:

1. Wine.  Wine tastings.  Cheese with wine.  Wine with friends.  There is nothing better than a great glass of wine after a long week at work.
2. B, obviously.  I love him and he’s my absolute best friend in the entire world.
3. My friends.  I spend a lot of time cultivating my friendships.  My friendships are like my little children — I nurture them.  I totes sound like a dork right now. 
4. Losing weight.  Ever since I started the South Beach Diet, I’ve been working really hard to improve my body.  Luckily, the diet has made it much easier to eat better and realize where I was going wrong in my past. 
5. Blogging.  It’s been just over two months since I started, and it’s really opened me up to a whole new sense of accomplishment.  I feel better when I get things out on my blog.  It prevents me from taking a lot of minor complaints home to B, which has improved our relationship.  Plus I’ve met a lot of amazing women through blogging, so that’s obviously a plus.
6. Shoes.  Does that make me lame or materialistic?  I hope not.  But seriously, buying a new pair of shoes has the power to make everything else in my life feel better.  I’ll find an excuse to throw a great outfit around my new shoes and go out on the town.  Insta-self-confidence boost. 
7. Reading.  I try to stay well-read, even though my college days are well behind me.  There’s nothing like being transported to another time, another world, through a really good book.
8. Food.  I like to try new things, and food is one of my favorite things to experiment with.  There isn’t a single type of cuisine I’ve come across that I won’t eat (or at least try once).  And I certainly have a passion for really great desserts!  This makes the whole eating better / losing weight thing hard to deal with sometimes, but I allow myself to indulge (reasonably) every once in a while.  For example, my birthday is in a couple of weeks and you can bet your ass I won’t be denying myself a few cocktails, some great food, and a sweet, chocolate-y dessert!

Eight things I want to do before I die

1. Learn carpentry.  Reason being, is that B and I want to do a few things to improve our home.  Mainly, we want to replace all our cabinets (kitchen and bathrooms) with new.  I really don’t want to pay someone to do it if we can do it ourselves.  Plus, I’d like to be able to learn how to do new floors (Hear me Val?  Feel like spreading some knowledge?!)
2. Get married.  This one is obvious.
3. Have 2 children, and raise them to be healthy and self-sufficient.  I grew up in a very chaotic household where you never knew what was going to happen or if it was going to be another civil war when you arrived home.  I don’t want to do that to my kids.  I want them to feel loved unconditionally, no matter if they are skinny or fat, gay or straight, popular or unpopular. 
4. Travel.  There are so many places I want to see…Italy, Greece, England, Australia, China, Russia, Prague, France, The Carribean, Mexico, Portugal, etc. etc. etc.  I should probably do some of this BEFORE those kids come along though, huh? 
5. Re-learn how to sew.  I already know the basics.  I took sewing classes as a kid and my stepmother taught me how to sew.  I really enjoyed how if we needed a costume or a dress for something, she could make it for us quickly and cheaply.  I think it would be really rewarding to be able to sew clothes and Halloween costumes for your kids, or something as simple as tableclothes and curtains for your home.  Sewing used to relax me. 
6. Drive cross-country.  Road trips excite me, of course.  What could be better than good music, good friends, and sight-seeing all the usual or random things between the East and West coasts?  Ending in California would be perfect.
7. Be a stay at home mom for a few years.  Kids are precious, as we all know, and I would really like to be able to stay at home with my first kid for a few years and get to experience things together.  I wouldn’t want to miss their first laugh or smile or word or step while I was slaving away at the office.  Now if B just made enough money for it to be possible!  Ha!
8. Move out of Virginia.  I’ve been living here since I was 8 years old.  There’s nothing wrong with it, but I’m growing tired of it.  I had the opportunity to move to Maryland a few weeks ago.  B was offered this really amazing job for a lot more money, but it just wouldn’t have worked.  Selling our house would have been a huge pain in the ass right now, and I have this amazing job that I’ll never have the chance to work at again.  It just wasn’t feasible.  But in the future, I want to move somewhere warm with palm trees.  And then maybe we’ll have enough money to have a vacation house in the mountains somewhere to celebrate Christmas!

Eight things I say often:

1. Fuck (I know, I know…I should really stop that.)
2. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaabe (this is how I call for B…it annoys him!)
3. For real?
4. I love you!  No, I really love you!
5. Hello Mr. Man (to our dog, upon arriving home from work)
6. Ugh…work…shoot…myself…
7. Oh no you didn’t!
8. Sure, okay.

Eight books I’ve read recently

1. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
2. The South Beach Diet Book 
3. The Bible
4. Bridget Jones’s Diary I love to re-read this book hundreds of times over and over again.
5. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.  Or rather, I ATTEMPTED to read it.  It was rough stuff…  I admire you, Val, for succeeding!
6. That’s all.  Sadly, I haven’t had much time for reading lately, but I’m trying to make more time in my evenings! 

Eight Movies I have seen Eight times

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. Empire Records
3. Dirty Dancing
4. Forrest Gump
5. Mean Girls
6. Legally Blonde
7. My Fair Lady
8. Gone with the Wind

Eight people who should do this meme

1. Whoever is as bored as I was!

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!  What are your weekend plans?

The one where I have nothing interesting to say

My brain is positively muddled.  I had another three day weekend, thanks to the fact that I got sick on Saturday.  Out of nowhere, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  Head and chest congestion, sneezing, sniffling, coughing.  I was the poster child for Nyquil.  Worthless, I tell ya.  I got nothing done this weekend except a lot of snuggling with B and grocery shopping.

Oh wait, so I bet you’re wondering how my make-up dinner went with B on Friday, huh?  Well, it was great.  Really, all it amounted to was when I walked in the door from work on Friday, he hugged me and was all smiles and chatty.  He talked my head off for the first 20 minutes about lots of things, but not about our fight.  Once we got to the restaurant, we sat at the bar and had a glass of wine.  When I tried to find the right moment to bring up the fight, I started fidgeting with my hair, which I always do when I get nervous.  He grabbed my hand and said, “We don’t need to discuss it because it was all a misunderstanding and we’re both sorry.  So let’s just leave it at that and have a nice weekend.”  

Well put, don’t you think?  Hard to argue with that.  

So we had dinner and we laughed and we told each other about our day.  Then we met up with a few friends for a couple more drinks and headed home.  Then I got sick, and the rest, as they say, is history.  I spent the majority of two days on the couch in my PJs, watching more of Dawson’s Creek (yes!  yes!) and catching up on my tivo.  

Since I have nothing else to offer the world today, I’m resorting to a meme. 

Four jobs I have had in my life:

(1) Babysitter - “DAD!  You’ve GOT TO COME OVER HERE NOW.  These brats are climbing on the furniture and tackling each other.  They’re gonna break an arm.  Or a leg.  OR A NECK!  DAD, help!”  My dad had to come and rescue me from these types of situations quite often.  Luckily the kids I watched only lived a few streets over and my dad’s booming voice scared the brats into submission! (2) Lifeguard - seriously, I had the BEST tan.  (3) Retail - all teenage girls think it will be awesome.  Discounts?!  YES!  Yeah, not so much… (4) My current job, which I can’t tell you about but wish I could because it is oh so awesome.

Four movies I can watch over and over:

(1) Dirty Dancing - I used to want to BE Baby.  (2) My Best Friend’s Wedding - reminds me of my middle school boyfriend.  (3) The Wizard of Oz - my favorite movie in the entire world, hands down.  (4) Mean Girls - I love Lindsay Lohan, even if she is a cracked out coke head.  I don’t know what’s up with the unhealthy obsession, but whatever.

Four TV shows I like to watch:

(1) Nip/Tuck - seriously, best show on television…you need to watch it! (2) Desperate Housewives - even B loves it.  (3) Grey’s Anatomy - I live vicariously through those kids and their drama. (4) The Colbert Report - he cracks me the eff up.
 
Four places I have vacationed:

(1) Virginia Beach - it’s close by.  (2) Nags Head, NC - the site of many a family vacation.  (3) Disney World - I was not a happy child at the Happiest Place on Earth.  I was 14 and I hated everything about life back then…  haha.  (4) California - Hollywood, Malibu, Laguna Beach.  The best vacation I’ve ever taken.

Four of my favorite dishes:

(1) The gulf shrimp and sea scallops in Pan Asian sauce from Bonefish.  (2) Any kind of cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory.  (3) Homemade mac n cheese.  (4) My dad’s fried chicken - oh how I miss it.
 
Four websites I visit daily:

(1) GMail - both my personal and blog account.  (2) WordPress and my blog roll.  (3) MSNBC.  (4) People.com - gotta get my fill of celeb gossip!

Four places I would rather be:

(1) Asleep with the heavely aid of Nyquil to knock me out cold.  (2) Anywhere with B.  (3) The Beach…somewhere tropical and warm with white sand and clear waters.  (4) Shopping for shoes.  Seriously, are you surprised?

Four bloggers I am tagging:
Anyone who is as bored or muddled as I am today.  My brain is fresh out of things to say.

Is it Friday yet?