I'm tired

My last night/morning of taking care of Sam's pets was last night and once again an hour before I was going to get up they decided that it was time to wake me up since they were hungry. Well even shutting them out of the room didn't help so after a while it was like "okay you win." But they were good for the most part this past week.

Yesterday went well. I worked and after work met Alison. I almost started crying since it had been since Thanksgiving since we'd seen each other. We didn't really know where to start because it had been so long. After a while it was just like old times. I kept saying over and over I'm so glad you're better and happy since that makes me happy. She didn't elaborate, but I know she and her husband had hit a rough patch in late winter. She's also pregnant so the less stressed she is the better. To you all reading this it'll be a surprise she's pregnant. I've known since early March, but she asked me to keep quiet. I asked if I could tell people if they inquire about her and she just laughed and said yes since it's obvious she's preggers. I figured it's not my place/news to tell unless they want me to. As we were leaving I told her I'd call sometime within the next few weeks and she laughed and told me "Nicole you can call me anytime." I'm glad to have her back. :)

After lunch I went to the store to pick up sugar. I watched the Brewers win their afternoon game and took a nap. Mum and I made refrigerator pickles before we went grocery shopping; perhaps I'll bring a little bit to the track next weekend. I listened to my friends' radio show, chatted with Jen, had dinner and went to Sam's to take care of the pets and spend the night.

This morning I went for a run. After a shower and breakfast I picked some raspberries and zucchini from Sam's garden. I plan on making some zucchini bread to share tomorrow. Grandma is spending the weekend so we're going to pick her up this afternoon. I may have to take Kevin's advice and get drunk since she's going to be here. lol LOVE my grandma, but she's one of those relatives where one weekend visit of her is enough. I know that sounds mean, but we all have those relatives.

Random thought: Stuffed zucchini for dinner tonight!

~Nicole

I'm going to see Alison!

I haven't seen her since Thanksgiving so I am REALLY excited. We're meeting for coffee tomorrow. I have a present for her and I'm going to buy her some flowers. It's going to be a very long and interesting conversation. LOL

Last night I spent the night at Sam's. Rocket, the cat, slept with me for a little bit. He wanted to be fed an hour earlier than he was going to be fed so I shut him out. I let Bacio, the dog, out to potty and fed both pets before going out for a run/walk. I showered and made some french toast. I let the pets roam in the backyard for a little bit. I picked some raspberries and zucchini before going shopping. I bought some new shoes, a shirt and the present for Alison. I went to the grocery store. I had a lazy afternoon, which included making some brownies. I walked to Sam's to feed the pets and walk Bacio. I'll spend the night since I work early tomorrow. Mum and I made supper. Now I am watching the Brewer game and will watch the latest episode of Trueblood soon.

Random thought: JJ gave me a Hardy. ;)

What kind of game was that?

If I wasn't the driver last night I probably would have drank more since that was a horrible, horrible game. The same player had TWO grand slams last night. And we played the worst team in baseball. I have not given up hope, but it's tough to be a Brewer fan right now.

I'm about to leave for work soon. I may run some errands after work. I gotta remember to stop at Jolie's and pick up my hoodie. My cousin Michele, her husband Brian and their daughter Brianna are coming over for dinner tonight so that's going to be fun. I'll be spending tonight at Sam's tonight so the pets will have some company. I'll probably bring over "Band of Brothers" and watch an episode. Or perhaps I'll bring over a book and listen to some music. If it's nice out I'll let Bacio and Rocket roam in the backyard for a bit.

Grandma is coming to visit this weekend so I'll have to get ready for that. Jaime comes home for a bit this week into next so we're trying to figure out when to hang. Once I get the schedule for next week I'll start planning my trip to Ohio.

Random thought: Leinie's Honeyweiss is pretty good.

~Nicole

Almost game time!

Going to the Brewer game with some lovely ladies tonight. Gonna be a great time. And if Trevor Hoffman comes in to save the game I might just freak out.

Random thought: Weekend was okay. Nothing exciting happened so it's not worth a whole post.

Random thought #2: I ALMOST bought a 40 oz. of Colt 45 since I'm cool like that, but I decided on wine instead since I'm a classy tailgater.

~Nicole

In bed at 3:30.up by 9:00

I would have slept in longer, but the phone rang at a little after 9:00. I really had to pee so I just decided to get up. I wanted to be up by 10:00 and by the time I would have actually fallen back to sleep it would have been 9:40. Plus the phone rang again. I'll just take a nap later.

Jolie and Justin's party was fun. They cake I made them didn't look half bad considering I was low on equipment, utencils, etc. I'll post a picture of it later. Some of us left at like midnight'ish and went hot tubbing. We did that for a while, but they ran out of cigarettes so they went to buy more cigarettes and I went home. I really wanted to go out for a drive, but with my car getting crap gas mileage AND being 3:00 am I just took a slightly longer way home and blasted my 90's music.

I worked Friday and that was good. It was pretty slow. It picked up a bit once it started pouring rain. I only work 8 hours next week, which kind of sucks but now I'm starting to make plans to fill my time. Looks like Alison and I will FINALLY be able to hang out or at least have a chat. I know she's going to look totally different now and I'm totally excited to see! I hope I'm around 12-16 hours the week after next. I wouldn't mind working on the day I leave for Ohio since there is a bus depot right downtown (the first pick up is there and the second Madison is the one closer to my house). I'd rather stay downtown than rush home. Plenty of places just to set my stuff down and drink some coffee around the depot.

I'm about to get out for a walk. I don't know what all of today's plans are. I start watching Sam's pets so later in the evening I'll have to go take care of them.

Random thought: No hangover and no smelling like smoke for Nicole this morning!

~Nicole

Am I a baseball nerd or what?

I didn't want to watch President Obama speak so I'm watching baseball. If I need background noise I turn on the MLB Network or watch a baseball game, even if it's not the Brewers.

Yesterday and okay were good. I worked yesterday and after work went grocery shopping. Another nerd alert: I LOVE grocery shopping. I made lunch, started some pita dough and took a nap. I worked on my pita dough and made a yummy yogurt dip. I pretty much did nothing.

Today I went out for a run/walk. I just figured out my mileage on mapmyrun and I must be running faster than I thought since I though I maybe ran a maximum of 3 1/2 miles (and that was me being generous), but I actually did closer to 4. After my run I showered and had breakfast. I got lunch ready for Sam and I since I was taking lunch over to her place. She's going to be gone next week so I'm taking care of her pets and we went over what I all need to do. Lunch turned out good. I tried this new sandwich recipe where you you grill eggplant, red peppers and onions and top it with goat cheese. The store was out of eggplant so I substitued yellow squash. I also didn't have time to grill so I roasted the squash and peppers and caramelized the onion. It was delicious!! I came home and took a short nap. I got my period and I am always tired the first two days. That has been the main constant "symptom" I've had. Dinner was a homemade fish sandwich.

Random thought: Mid Ohio is being dumb.

~Nicole

GUESS WHO'S GOING TO OHIO?!

ME!

I double checked with work today and I WILL be getting those days off. I also threw in that I had to make travel arrangements by Friday and that tickets were non-refundable. The race tickets are non-refundable. Bus tickets I won't buy until the day of. Yay!

Work went well today.

Mel and I have started talking again which is good. She's going to be at Mid-Ohio as well so that makes me happy. We haven't really had our long talks in over a year. I'll call again Thursday since she has a job interview Wednesday so I'll see how that went.

Random thought: Those Gail Ambrosious chocolates weren't as good as I thought. :(

Ugh

I had a "I am 22 and single woe is me moment" right before I went to bed last night. That wasn't fun.

The past few days have been good. Friday I met Sam for shopping at/for Maxwell Street Days. I bought this hot pink dress that I could wear just as a dress or over jeans, like I did on Saturday night. Only $6 and change! Other than that I didn't buy anything. I stopped at the store to pick up some tomatoes for this chicken casserole I was making for dinner. Mum and I worked on it and it tasted GREAT. Kind of a Mexican flavour.

Saturday morning I woke up at 5:15 and couldn't fall back to sleep. My alarm was set for 6:30. I got out of bed at 6:30 and went for a 5k run. Felt nice to do that. I enjoy early morning runs with NO traffic. I showered and got ready for what I thought was going to be 7:45 meet with Luke and Lindsey. Nope. We didn't even do stuff until almost 10:00 and I was skipping breakfast and was HUNGRY by the time we got downtown. To their defence they said they had some food poisoning and needed sleep. We hung out downtown, went shopping, had lunch, worked on our outfits and then went back downtown. Yesterday was the first day in a LONG time that all 3 meals were eaten out and I did a fairly good job with my choices. Plus we walked a lot and I had that run. Lindsey and Luke dropped me off early since I just was not feeling it so I owe them some noms.

This morning I went to bed at 1:00'ish and woke up at 7:30 since I felt like it. I have to be up early for work the next two days so I'll gladly be tired tonight and fall asleep right away. Now I just need to figure out if I want to make pancakes for lunch or for dinner.

Random thought: Joey and Bill finished third in their class at Lime Rock!!!

~Nicole

Argue when drinking?

So I got into an argument with someone last night. Everything is okay now. It was kind of funny since things escalated after hanging out with some friends. I had a beer and a drink so I wasn't drunk, but feeling nice. Oh man if I need to argue I should drink first. Now, I know that doesn't make sense but here's the thing:

1) I did not shout
2) I get not "get into it"
3) After I did something kind of dumb I apologized right away

Maybe I wasn't seriously pissed since if I was really pissed I doubt I would have been as calm as I was. But I try not to raise my voice with this person since said person can shout a whole lot louder than I can! lol

Today I went out for a nice run, even though it was humid and partly sunny. However, it was breezy. I need to do a different route each day since I rarely walked on this new route. I think it's because I get bored with my routes. I ran some errands and made lunch for mum and I. I think I may take a short nap and perhaps read.

Random thought: No Hells Bells last night. :(

Going to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches

Friday was dancing night! We met for drinks at Genna's first. My vodka-cranberry was especially strong so that was nice. We made sure we were there for the swing-dance lesson and I am so glad we did. Granted it was only basic moves, but I did a lot better than last time. I danced with some people who had been dancing for a number of years, but they, of course, were very gracious. After dancing we stopped at the grocery store for some food and made a quick stop at Lindsey's for her karoke machine. We drank, ate food, sang and talked until about 2:30.

I slept in until about 10:00 Saturday morning, the latest I've slept in for a while! I went for a quick 2 1/2 mile run before mowing the lawn. I had lunch and did some last minute prep for the pot luck. The parents were home by 3:00 and we talked before my company came over. We had chicken salad in lettuce leaves, watermelon, chips with fresh salsa and my attempt at an almond/cinnamon roll. It was nice to have some girl time and we're thinking of doing Indian food next time.

Sunday I was up and got some stuff done before picking up Sam to head to the Brewer game. We were "classy" tailgaters with our wine and peanut butter and HOMEMADE jelly sandwiches. And I had some fruit and yogurt. We had a good time at the game, even though they lost. And I enjoyed shouting at Manny Ramirez. On the way home we listened to 90's music (awesome) and made a quick stop at a grocery store. I watched the new episode of Trueblood and the last hour of the F1 race. SO happy that Mark Webber finally won his first race!

Today I woke up and went out for a walk. I chat on-line for a little bit. A lot of my friends had good news to share so that was awesome. Jaime found a place to live in NYC! I worked on some prep for dinner. We had pork chops with a peach sauce and doctored-up baked beans. I'm now watching the homerun derby and so far Prince is doing well! I work tomorrow and plan on watching the All-Star game. Braun is starting and hopefully I'll be able to see Fielder and Hoffman.

Random thought: Seeing pictures and reviews of the race in Toronto made me sad. That is NOT the race I remember.

~Nicole

This post I forgot to post yesterday...whoops

Original post title: I am not a booty call

Well we've got that out of the way!

My friend Kevin is doing some shady things. Wanting to date one girl another night and then the next night calling his "friend to have some fun." Part of me is like dude you are shady, but at the same time it is really none of my business. If I was closer to him I'd probably be pissed. I liked the guy and part of me still does, but now it's like red flag! Plus he said that we're friends. And referring to the title of the post he said that he knows that about me and I replied good because I do not do that and I am NOT that kind of girl.

I forgot to put this in my blog earlier, but at the liquor store on Monday some grandpa was REALLY staring at my chest and it made me feel gross.

Someone called from the unemployment office. We talked about things and now I will be getting most of my pack payments. Yay! I wasn't severely lacking funds, but it'll help things out. Especially if I'm only working 8-12 hours a week at the moment. That means that Mid-Ohio should definitely be a go!

Today was good at work. I've made a few mistakes with counting down the drawer, but we figured out what I was doing wrong so that's good. Mum and dad are still visiting Tim and Janice so it's just me. It hasn't been bad since I worked this morning, did stuff this afternoon and this evening I'm going out for drinks and dancing. Tomorrow I'll need to make a quick grocery store run for a few things for my dinner party. Technically it's a potluck that I'm hosting at my house. I'll need to get ready for the evening soon.

Random thought: C'mon Brewers, beat dem Dodgers!

~Nicole

I can has cheezburger?

Everytime I hear that song it sounds 80's, but it's early 90's which makes me love it more.

Sunday was good. I had a nice run, about 4.25 miles. I made breakfast and watched Wimbledon before watching the All-Star selection show. Braun and Fielder made it, which they both deserve. Gallardo or Hoffman should have also been chosen, but they weren't. The voting process does have it's ups and downs, but Braun and Fielder are playing the best so those two SHOULD be the first Brewers to represent. The game on the other hand made me cry. Almost. I would have watched more of the race, but mum was expressing her displeasure. She wasn't vocal, but just how she was acting it was like fine I'll turn it off. The rest of the evening was "meh" or as I like to say indifferent. I found this website that has tons of free mp3s so I'll be having fun with that later.

Today has been good so far. I went for a shorter run and walked for a bit. I had breakfast. Mum and I will be running errands soon. I'll perhaps download some mp3's. I want to make a list of what I want to download. I KNOW I will be making a best of the 90's mix so when Val, Ali, myself and Sarah go to the Brewer game in a few weeks we'll be cranking the 90's music. And to be friends the love the 80's: you just don't understand. ;)

Random thought: I need to talk to Lindsey about it.

~Nicole

Happy 4th

My friends and I celebrated the fourth a day early yesterday. I woke up early and made my apple pie and cooked my corn so I wouldn't have to do it later in the day. I made lunch and watched the start of the Brewer game. We went grocery shopping and watched the end of the (heartbreaking) game. I got ready for my BBQ. Slight rant: I really wish people would stick to their plans. I had four people say that they were definitely coming and two maybes. The two maybes did not show up, but only two of my definites did. I do not mind having leftovers, but it would certainly be nice to know you are unable to make it. Dinner was good, we lit some sparklers, etc. and then met Jolie and Justin for drinks. I don't know if it was because I didn't have enough at dinner, but one beer and one cosmo got to me last night so we all stopped for pizza. I was home by 1:30 and in bed by 2:00.

I was up a little after 9:00, had a small bowl of cereal and went out for a walk. I came home, started watching the game, and had lunch. I am still watching the game and am about to look up recipes with what to do with my leftover chicken. We're grilling again tonight so that'll be fun.

Random thought: C'mon Crew!

BBQ Friday night

You're all invited so if for some reason you're in the Madison area come to my place Friday night for an early 4th of July celebration. I'm trying to keep it low-key food wise. Whenever I host parties or have a BBQ I usually end up with a ton of leftovers. I told everyone that I'm only making chicken, corn-on-the-cob and apple pie. I have a vegetarian option available if someone wants that too and that if someone wants something else/different they can bring it themselves.

Today was good so far. I went for almost a 3-mile run before taking the suburban in for service. I came home and mowed the lawn and had breakfast. I was on hold with the unemployment office, but hung up when I realize they won't be able to help me. I haven't received any benefits yet. The first week I filed they noted a "problem" because I answered that I a) was not available to work and b) did not search for work. I was on vacation, pre-planned I might add. I was to call in and explain, which I did, and was told that I would have to wait at least 21 days to find out the final outcome of my appeal, AND if need be have a hearing. It's been almost six weeks and I have yet to hear a thing. I can't expedite the process so I'm basically playing the waiting game. Luckily I have a job now so I will be getting some income in again, but it's still annoying.

Mum and I are in the process of making pasta sauce so we're having pasta tonight. Tomorrow I'll get started on my prep for dinner. The pie won't be hard, the corn takes a minimal amount of prep and all I have to do is season the chicken. And then we'll have the BBQ and perhaps do something afterwards.

Random thought: Cubs suck.

Work day two and being a Cullen

Work part deux went well today. I'm more comfortable doing tasks, taking orders, etc. I'll just have to get used to getting a rhythm down. I was really tired today for some reason so I took a nap after work. I just had dinner.

Yesterday was good. The night started out with a dream that I *was* a vampire and was in Twilight. I wasn't one of the characters, but an additional character. I also "found out" why vampires cannot eat food: if they consume food they'll vomit up blood. Found that out the hard way in my dream.

On Wednesday I went out for a run. I went to Sam's for a bit and we worked out what she all wants me to do while I pet-sit for her. That's going to be fun. I made German potato salad for dinner; mum made meatloaf.

Tomorrow the suburban is going in. Maybe I'll make carrot soup for lunch. I might mow the lawn as well.

Random thought: This was a very random entry.