love it/hate it:

love it

 “all the other girls are stars; you are the northern lights”

whirlwinds

referring to arm length as “wingspan”

love letters

having a favorite meal at a restaurant that isn’t on the menu, but you know they still make it

feisty conversations with the boy

new episodes of project runway

living in a basement in the summer (perpetually cool temperature)

only having 2 and a half weeks left of work

the chicken i had at my sister’s house last night

sunday playlists

lists

lip gloss

hate it

bad grammar

excuses from employees on why they didn’t follow instructions

my own laziness

unconquerable lists

getting oil on a new shirt

“i kissed a girl and i think i liked it”

the limbo

not feeling like cooking

hearing anything about miley cyrus

living in a basement in the summer (perpetually dark when it’s sunny out)

only having 2 and a half weeks left of work causing my stress level to skyrocket

"Don't ride alone in some strange guy's Wienermobile."

-- quote from a columnist's husband, after she told him she was invited
to "meat up" with the driver of the oscar meyer wiener vehicle.

good advice.  also, the best thing i've read all day.

edit: oh, it gets better if you read the whole article here.  exhibit a: riding 'shotbun'.  exhibit b: 'buckle your meat-belt!.'  wow.

the boy and i have so much going on right now, we have to make priorities.  things that are incredibly important, like, say, making a list of the states we could live in versus the ones we would not.  just in case, years from now, we would need such a thing.

insert sarcastic tone here, in case you didn't pick up on it.

i would list the extensive criteria we used for this list, except that it doesn't exist.  we pretty much agreed on each one, have some reasons for/against, but mostly just had a feeling about it.  if it has a star next to the name, it means it is an "only if" state - for instance, we would live there only if it were in the city, or if we lived in a brownstone, or something like that.

yes states:
Washington
Oregon
California
Colorado
Nebraska*
Kansas*
Missouri*
Minnesota*
North Carolina
Virginia
D.C.*
Maryland
New York
Pennsylvania
Connecticut
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
New Hampshire

we could live here, but only temporarily for a good reason states:

Idaho

Arizona

Texas

Georgia

Wisconsin*

Illinois*

Indiana

Tennessee*

Vermont

Maine

no, hell no, or we'd really rather not states:

Ohio

Oklahoma

Montana

Nevada (which was mutually decided to be THE WORST)

Wyoming

Utah

New Mexico

North Dakota

South Dakota

Louisiana

Arkansas

Mississippi

Alabama

Iowa

Kentucky

Florida

google, late evening and a phone connection are a lethal time-wasting combination, no?

 last weekend the boy and i had a minivacation in denver.  we stayed downtown, at the magnolia hotel.

i can say that i love a hotel with free breakfast, free drinks at happy hour, and milk and cookies for bedtime.  each day.  the hotel was rather busy, but lovely nonetheless.  the building used to be a bank, i believe, so the rooms are smaller but charming.  and a big bathtub.

the elevators are original, and each comes with a plaque explaining that the original elevators are old, sometimes slow, and creaky - but regularly inspected and maintained.  i found that to be pretty funny.

the lobby had this wood paneling, as did the bar (harry's) and everything had this modern-retro feel to it.  very warm.  the lobby also came with a faux-office for the concierge, who was sitting and ready to accomodate your requests.  oh, do i love a hotel with a concierge.  in about 7 minutes, we had reservations for an italian restaurant down the street, at the time we requested, with dessert compliments of the magnolia.

we shared a six-course tasting menu.  the menu apparently was meant for one person, but there is no way only one of us could have eaten the food.  it was incredibly good, and i believe the mushroom gnocchi was the favorite, except for maybe the ravioli...and everything else

desserts.  two of them.

shopping, movies, lazing about, barbecues with friends (his) and friends (mine), the new batman movie.

delightful.

“ Do you have doubts about life? Are you unsure if it is worth the trouble? Look at the sky: that is for you. Look at each person’s face as you pass on the street: those faces are for you. And the street itself, and the ground under the street, and the ball of fire underneath the ground: these things are for you. They are as much for you as they are for other people. Remember this when you wake up in the morning and think you have nothing. Stand up and face the east. Now praise the sky and praise the light within each person under the sky. It’s okay to be unsure. But praise, praise, praise.

“A booknap is not simply reading and then sleeping in sequential order. If you set your book or magazine aside, rolled over and slept you have not booknapped. The experience should be seamless. One moment you are reading sleepily, the next you wake up with messy hair and a strange taste in your mouth.”

i can't tell you how many times i do this.  sadly, though, my body doesn't distinguish between reading for school or work (in which case a booknap is inconvenient) and reading for leisure (in which case a booknap is glorious).

i look like a yoga instructor today.

it's laundry day.

asides, bits and things that are new, but not news:

3 weeks of work left.

the amount of things i have to do is unimaginable and stifling.

and many things are not at all hard to leave...

but some still are.

for instance, working 50+ hour weeks? not hard.

not laughing with some of my favorite people every day?  hard.

that, and not having free access to a postage machine and office supplies.  killing me.

*   *   *   *

our intern is getting engaged today.  everyone thinks she doesn't know it's coming, but she does.  she overheard her parents talking about it. 

i hate secrets that you find out that you wish you didn't.  i'm remarkably hard to surprise, and i want to say i've only been surprised once, which was for my birthday party.  every other time, i knew it was coming.

*   *   *   *

a piece of unrequested advice i received today is that nobody should see your engagement ring before you do. 

i kind of like that.  i would hate to show people my ring, and have them be like "i've seen that before!" in that really obnoxious tone of voice.

i'm just saying.

i don't want to work on work things, but i want to have the feeling of getting things accomplished.  this is a paradox.

*   *   *   *

after meeting with my advisor at school, and going to my group advising session for the college of education, here is the deal for my next two years:

fall 08 semester: 22 credit hours.  that is EIGHT classes folks.  granted, one of them is for 1 credit, but it's school observation and those teachers have to write me a recommendation in order to get accepted into the second tier of my teacher education prep class, so i have to do well.  EIGHT CLASSES.  i have an academic death wish.

one month off for christmas break.

spring 09 semester.  19 credit hours.  SEVEN classes.  one of them by correspondence to UC Boulder, because they don't offer it in spring.  more school observation.  and, for a special treat, at the end of this semester i have to take my Praxis II test for the state AND my english comprehensive exam for the university, which consists of them giving me eight books to read (on top of my seven classes) and then i come in and have to write 3-4 essays.

* and this is because you basically have to complete your classes for your major by the end of your junior year, because colorado state REQUIRES you to have your bachelors degree in a subject AND get your teaching licensure program at the same time.  there are no undergrad degrees in education.

and then i pass out.

summer 09 - 3 credit hours of school observation.

fall 09 - 12 credit hours, including lots of school observation and educational classes.

spring 2010 - full-time student teaching (terror!) and then graduation.

the school has a 90% placement rate as well, which i think is fairly good.

i now have to buy books for eight classes, BEFORE my loans will get to me.  bitchin.

*   *   *   *

i miss grey's anatomy.  i do.  i can't help it.

*   *   *   *

i'm eating krispy kreme doughnut holes. they are exactly what i wanted to eat, but now i have eaten too much.  i would come up with a clever word to talk about it, but all of them sound dirty because of the word "hole". 

*   *   *   *

over the phone, i was complaining about how the city of colorado springs was trying to repave the roads on one of the busiest streets in the middle of the day, and the boy totally took their side. (the nerve!) 

my argument?  they need to invent some kind of quick-drying no-heat needed asphalt, and have crews work through the night so that it never interrupts my need to get to the chick-fil-a and back in an hour for lunch without orange cones, delays and cops yelling at me.

his argument?  i am retarded and need to suck it up.

i'm pretty sure he won this argument, handily.

*   *   *   *

now that i have icy drinks with mass amounts of condensation that form a pool on my desk at the office, i am wishing i had one of those foam things that wrap around the drink.  and then i remembered the big "coolie vs. coozie" debate from vegas, and didn't remember what the resolution was, so i don't even know what to look for except "foam-wraparound-thingy-so-my-drink-doesn't-form-it's-own-swimming-pool". 

*   *   *   *

i smiled thinking about the trip to vegas.  it seems like a lifetime ago.

*   *   *   *

i can't forward voicemail messages on our new phones at work.  kell irritating.

*   *   *   *

i feel like i'm on the verge of a new tattoo...anyone know what feeling i'm talking about?

*   *   *   *

the new coldplay album is growing on me.  slowly.

oh, and in all the busyness, i forgot to mention that my valedictorian of boyfriends is the only one in the world who would send me bright orange orchids in the middle of summer...because it would match my outfit.

oh, i like him.

"even curvy girls don't like fins coming off their butt."

this was the best line from project runway tonight.

however, suede is going to have to stop referring to himself in the third person.