Happy Thanksgiving!

2 weeks ago was pretty boring. On Tuesday, I went out and ran some errands before completely randomly running into an old coworker of mine at Penn Station. I saw her hair (she has very distinct hair) and kind of walked sideways beside her trying to make sure it was her, before jumping in front of her and shocking her. It was really good getting to see her - she worked full time for my company not-from-the-office, and once I made the decision to quit, I didn't get to see her in person to say goodbye. We spent 20 mins just chatting away which made my morning.

After running into my friend, I decided to head to the movies - and went to see "Gone Girl". I've read the book, so there were no surprises for me. But I will say - the movie made me more ragey than the book did. At least with the book, I could be like "all right, you're a dick but I see why". With the movie, I was just like "You're a DICK". The highlight of the movie was for realz yo, NPH. He had a part in it and rocked it out.

After the movies, I went grocery shopping for some grub before stopping at Landsdowne for nachos and beers to end out my afternoon. I need to stop ordering those nachos though - ever since they dropped the cheese whiz from their menu, the nachos haven't been the same. First world problems you all, they're real.

Thursday was a visit to the vet with grumpy pants. Tigga lost about .1 lbs - which the vet actually said is expected. He thinks Tigga is at a good weight now (whereas I want him to gain 2 more pounds), and that a slight bounce up and down now is what he expects. The brighter news with Tigga is that they did a full panel of tests this time, and when the vet called with the results, he said and I quote: "I couldn't ask for better results". So we've got that going for him! What's a slight weight loss when the chemo and steroids are doing what they need to do.

Friday night was a visit to the Winchester to hang out for the evening. We got caught up with our friends and made some Sunday Funday plans. We had a bit of a dance off to end our evening, which is always a good time. Because I'm such a wicked good dancer. Wicked.

Sunday Funday plans were as follows: 1) agree to meet friends at 10 am at a local breakfast place 1 block from your house; 2) arrive 20 mins late because that 1 block felt like 45 blocks and 10 am felt like 5 am; 3) skip breakfast because you were 20 minutes late; 4) split up into 2 cars and drive out to NJ for the day.

No joke - it was our annual trip out to our bartender's local bar in NJ. We try to do this once a year (hence "annual") - go see him in his natural habitat. It was a really good time - everyone came from our bar that we are friends with, the food was solid, and the buybacks were plentiful. And the PACKERS WON!!! After the first round of Sunday games, we decided to head back to Winchester to hang with the Sunday bartender who was morose as we were all in NJ instead of at the regular bar (we had been texting him pictures all day). And we ended the night pretty late, pretty drunkenly, at a local diner - bookending our day nicely with eating. Or would've been a bookend if I had actually made it to the breakfast place on time that morning.

Part of Sunday Funday involved trying to talk Mr Pooh into the Great Saunter - which is a 32 mile walk around the circumference of Manhattan. I'm not sure he actually agreed to my insanity, but on Monday, I wanted to start walking my ass off to get ready for the Saunter. Soooo... I managed to convince Blondie to eat lunch with me and walked 3.1 miles down to Blondie, taking the High Line Park route, before walking 3.1 miles back to our hood along the Hudson River route (it was 70 degrees, sunny, and I was *coated* in sweat when I got back).

After getting back, I crashed out in our apt for awhile, before meeting up with my bar friend at Pony to hang out for a bit. We hadn't seen our Sunday bartender in awhile (she also works Mondays) and wanted to catch up with her - it was a good thing because of something scary that's coming up for her that we didn't know about. We were able to talk to her about it all, offer her our assistance, and hopefully just be clear that whatever she needs, we are there for.

Tuesday was a long walk on the treadmill gym (I've been working out at the gym since I quit my job - I don't talk about it much on the blog but I do. Also, almost all walking for the Great Saunter will be at the treadmill over the winter, so I truly am training for it even if you don't read about it), before spending the day being ultra lazy.

And Wednesday - wooo hooo! It started snowing right when Blondie and I headed out to see a play. So we decided to walk in the snow up to Broadway. On the walk to Broadway, it warmed up just enough to turn the snow to rain, so we were soaked by the time we got there. But the play was amazing - we saw "Disgraced". It was about racial tensions, domestic violence, just a really well-acted play (it had Josh Radnor - Ted Mosby from HIMYM - in it). It was NOT a holiday play if I need to spell that out.

After the play we headed for cajun food and hurricanes, and then home for an after dinner drink, before meeting up with everyone again at Winchester. Many drinks ensued. Lots of jukebox song playing ensued. Lots of "who the fuck played this song?" ensued as someone else in the bar also had the app where you can play the jukebox from your phone. And lots of appreciation for my life ensued at that time. Yay drunk emotions - so real.

Thursday was nice - it was snowing outside in the morning so I curled up with the cat and watched the parade on the TV while Blondie worked on his game for a bit. And then we met up with our bar friends at 3 pm to go bar hopping around Murray Hill area - we went to Molly's and met an awesome bartender, before heading to Tap Room and enjoying some crazy good beer. Our dinner that night was at BLT Prime, where everyone ignored the turkey and went for steak. They had a steak temperature called "Blue" which was one temperature rarer-than-rare. So I had my steak blue.

Friday and Saturday were spent not leaving the house - except for a liquor store run on Saturday as we drank all the rum on Friday. I made a huge pot of chili yesterday (THANKS MRS POOH!) in the morning and it smelled sooo good all day long. And we mostly have been just lazy, watching TV and movies.

Today it's to Pony to say goodbye (for a few weeks) and good luck to our bartender. And that's it.

For anyone who's interested in the Great Saunter and would like to walk it with me and Mr Pooh (hopefully), let me know - you all are invited! Also, random trivia, but I read that you can tell the age of someone by how many spaces they put after periods in their sentences - apparently, you used to do 2 spaces after a period on a typewriter to clearly identify a new sentence, but now on computers, there is no need to do that because one space works out perfectly. So if you learned to type on a typewriter, it's obvious on your resume which then spells out your age (guess who updated their resume to have 1 space after a period? Guess who still can't do that when writing up blog posts?)

The Grateful List:
1) Blondie and Tigga: sooo happy as always these 2 are in my life. So happy that Tigga is better, kicking his cancer belly's ass (can you kick a belly's ass?). So happy that Blondie is Blondie - I wouldn't change him for the world.
2) Travel: I did a lot of it this year, and saw some great things. New places I visited were: Key West, Redwoods x 4, WA / OR border, Alaska, England, Wales. Places I've been and got to revisit were: Detroit x 5, Chicago x 5, Lex x 2, San Francisco x 4, Minneapolis / northern WI, Jamaica, Madison (x 1 now, x 2 because Xmas trip coming up). I'm sure I'm forgetting some. But the point is - there was travelling.
3) Quitting my job: I'm ready to go back to work, but I'm glad I did it (I'm glad Blondie talked me into it and is supportive of me in this venture) as I'm now mentally ready to KICK SOME ASS at wherever I go next.
4) Family and friends: I love you guys.
5) NYC: I love you, guy.
6) Blondie (again) and Mr Pooh: Pulling off a 40th birthday surprise of a lifetime! (and Mrs Pooh for watching the Pooh-lets while Mr Pooh came to NYC). The 40th birthday itself sucked, but what came after made it all worthwhile!
7) Turning 40: I hate it, but I'm glad it's done so I can stop thinking about it.

--K

The Surprise!

2 Fridays ago, Blondie woke up and randomly decided he'd work from home. Little did I know there was no "random" about this. He made the decision and then started cleaning the apartment, so I helped him out. He just kept saying "it will be nice to have a clean apartment for the weekend". Around 11 am, we headed out to meet the program manager from my old job for lunch. We walked into the bar, and we grabbed a table. I was in the middle of texting the program manager that we were at the bar, and noticed that Blondie was looking over my shoulder and kind of smiling. So I turned around, and HOLY SHIT - IT WAS MR POOH!!!

Blondie and Mr Pooh had pulled off a MASSIVE surprise for a late birthday celebration! They had it in the works for months! It turned out that Mr Pooh had flown in early Friday morning and then hung out with my bar friends for the morning. It was SO GREAT seeing him, and knowing we had 3 full days of hanging out ahead of us!

Lunch was great - getting to see both Mr Pooh and the program manager was a blast, and then Mr Pooh and I walked up to go through the main library for a little bit. Afterwards we stopped and watched the ice skaters in Bryant Park and wandered through the xmas stores that are now open for business. And then we headed back to our bar friends' apartment to get Mr Pooh's bag before hitting up Landsdowne for many beers and buffalo balls. Blondie joined us around 5 pm and we headed to On The Rocks for a bourbon drink.

Around 6:30 pm we headed to the Winchester, and walked into Blondie completely organizing a surprise party for me! I had friends from both jobs I've had in NYC show up as well as all my bar friends! There was a cake, way too many shots, scotch and champagne. What a blast - seriously I was blown away by what Blondie and Mr Pooh managed to pull off!

Saturday was a "sucky" morning - I was pretty (A LOT) hungover, so we ordered in breakfast and when we finally felt better, headed to Pony for the afternoon. We were joined by my female bar friend, and saw my musician friend as well which was nice. After many beers at Pony, we headed back to the Winchester and just drank light beers for awhile before heading out to dinner in the hood. It was an earlier night for us, and ended watching Scott Pilgrim and just chatting.

Sunday we were up and at 'em early, but didn't do anything until around noon. At that point, we headed up to another bar in our hood to watch some football with all my bar friends. Blondie had the game time wrong for the Packers but we still had fun watching the other games that were on (Mr Pooh came up with a brilliant idea for a youtube channel that still gives me the LOL's). After the first round of games, we stopped and bought a ton of cookies before hitting up Winchester for a few more beers. And then it was time to say goodbye to Mr Pooh. After which I cried off and on all night long. Making Blondie realize how much he puts up with from me. :)

I thought the week would be a sad one. 2 great weekends in a row, and I was wanting to just lay in bed all day on Monday and be miserable. But I made myself get up and start getting shit in order. Laundry, cleaning the apartment, hitting up the gym, etc. The week itself was actually pretty good. On Wednesday, I walked 3 miles down the island and met Blondie for some deep dish pizza. And on Thursday, I walked 2 miles across the island and met up with my people from 2 jobs ago to say goodbye to one of my best friends from that job (she got a new job, she's still in NYC). Friday Blondie wasn't feeling too well, so he worked from home again, and we went out early and got some grub for the day. And the weekend was spent being l.a.z.y. I haven't left the apartment since our Friday food run - no shit. It's cold out there, I don't feel guilty.

This week will be interesting - got some stuff in the hopper I need to take care of. Hopefully I'm back to an office job again soon - being at home full time is getting really boring and I'm ready to dive head first into projects, a work schedule, leaving the apartment 5 days a week, etc.

Thanks again Blondie and Mr Pooh!!!! Still having a blast remembering last weekend!

--K

Random thing I learned on the day before my 40th birthday

I've turned into my mom. Complete with being able to float in water in a "sitting in a chair" position.

40

Soooo... brain fart big time. I've got to keep this blog up to date better. I don't know what's going on with my total lack of willpower to pick up my laptop and just write. I keep thinking every week that I'll be back into the mindset, and I'm not (ha - it's like how I work out!)

2 weeks ago, the highlight was getting to go see Little Big Town with Blondie! He had won tickets to see their record release concert, and we were both pretty excited about it. I love getting to go to these shows, even when I don't know the band's music. That day I decided to walk myself down to Blondie's office to meet him before the show - it's about 3.1 miles, but it goes pretty fast. I took the High Line and since the weather was kind of crappy, I basically had the park to myself. Blondie and I did dinner, and then a few drinks at a dive bar close to the venue (like TOTAL dive bar - we both fell totally in love with it). After that, we saw the show and both had a fantastic time.

2 Sundays ago, I met up with my bar friends at Pony for the first time in a long time! We got caught up with our favorite bartender, and I had my BALT sandwich for lunch (bacon, avo, lettuce tomato). Afterwards, we all trucked over to the Winchester and met up with yet more bar friends to get a little drunk before the Packers/Saints game that night. Which the Packers lost :(

Last week was actually pretty exceptional. It started on Monday when a sales rep I worked most closely with at my old job texted - she was in town for the night, so I met up with her at a wine bar in my hood. Blondie came along to meet her for the first time and they totally hit it off. We sat there for about 4 hours, chugging wine, and laughing hysterically at office gossip.

On Tuesday, I got yet another text - this one was from the project manager I worked with when I first started at my old job (he quit in January and leaving me with the NJ project on my own). He was in town as well as 2 of his best friends (who still work at my old job, but they are full-time remote employees so having them in NY at the same time was really a shocker). All 3 of them came over and met me at a gourmet food court in the hood. We drank a few buckets of beer and ate some food, before hitting up the Winchester to end the night. I unfortunately couldn't convince Blondie to come meet this group, but he would have loved them also.

Wednesday was also a blast! I met up with my female bar friend around 12:30 pm to get a mani/pedi in preparation for Jamaica. She was working from home that day and had blocked her calendar so she could come out without getting scheduled for meetings. We spent about 1.5 hours in the nail place before heading to a bar in our hood for fish tacos, buffalo balls, and many many beers. That night, Blondie and I ordered in pizza and chilled which was a great way to end the day.

And on Thursday, yet more catching up with old friends! One of my best friends from 2 jobs ago was in town for work - he also no longer works for the company that I know him from, but was in town for his new job. His husband also flew in and it made me so happy because it had been awhile since I'd seen them both. Blondie and I met up with them at a peruvian chicken place in our hood for dinner - we spent about 1.5 hours together before they took off to see Hedwig on Broadway (!!! My friend and I used to go to Broadway plays when he would come to town for our old job - we saw Addams Family and La Cage Aux Folles together, and had a blast at both !!!)

After our dinner, we said goodbye to my friend and his husband, and then stopped at Dunkin to buy a bunch of munchkins. We took them to the Winchester where all our bar friends had gathered and were hanging out for the night. We had an early bday celebration of sorts - a bunch of beer, a bunch of donuts, a bunch of "karaoke'ing" to the jukebox, and a bunch of dancing.

Friday we flew to Jamaica!!!! Our flight down was exactly on time which was nice - we had Economy Comfort seats and nobody took the seat next to us, so we got to spread out. Both of us ordered rum and orange juice at 9:30 am on the flight which started the stress leaving my body. We landed in Montego Bay and had very short customs and immigration lines, and then headed to the Sandals lounge to drink beers while we waited for the bus to our resort. And when we got to our resort, champagne was waiting for us to drink while we checked in!

That Friday was a perfect day - the sun was out, it was hot and gorgeous. We immediately got food and fruity rum drinks before crashing out on the beach. We took a few dips in the sea, before we both fell asleep in our loungers. That night, we took a boat over to the private island for our resort and went to a beach party. We had a ton of fruity drinks again, and watched the show put on by the Sandals staff (the flexibility/strength guys were OFF THE HOOK), before sitting in rocking chairs, listening to the sea in the dark, and talking the hours away. We eventually got a boat back to the main resort, and headed straight to the bar there, before ending our night around 1:30 am with quesadilla and hot dogs.

Saturday was also a pretty awesome day - the sun was out again, and I managed to snag 2 awesome chairs at the main pool. Blondie joined me a little while later and we spent several hours hanging on a floatie in the pool and going back and forth to the swim up bar. When we got hungry, we headed over to the beach grill and got some food there, before laying out on the beach the rest of the day. That night, we ate at the carribean restaurant in our resort, before taking drinks back to our room and crashing.

And then it was my birthday. My mood was horrible - I wasn't in an angry mood, I was in a depressed / weepy mood. Luckily, the weather was what I wanted - which was overcast all day. Blondie and I went for a breakfast buffet, and then went straight to the beach where we lounged all day long. We drank a ton, I cried on and off behind my sunglasses (I'm so awesome) and we fed the kitty who lived on the resort grounds. We finally went back to our room about 8 hours later, but first I stopped and got myself a bourbon and a daiquiri. We did dinner that night, before grabbing drinks and just going back to the room to watch the SNF game.

I gave myself through Monday night to be a whiny bitch about my birthday. So Monday was a little more melodrama on my part. We left the resort around 10:30 am to head to the airport (after a large breakfast buffet again). Going through security was surprisingly easy, so we stopped for fruit margaritas before heading to our gate. The nice thing on the way back was that we both got upgraded to first class (i.e. red wine by the bucket) and then the even nicer thing was that customs and immigration at JFK was DEAD - we zoomed through in about 4 minutes. This compared to when we came back from England (same terminal) and spent about 2 hours getting through everything. Dinner that night was ordered in mexican along with yet more wine, and an early bedtime.

This week is a lot less busy than last week. I feel okay about the birthday now, mostly because I'm just over it. No real plans this week except Blondie and I want to hit up the Winchester at some point. I'm meeting the program manager from my old job on Friday for lunch - she was one of my besties when I worked there so can't wait to see her and hear about her wedding!

And... for the important news, CONGRATULATIONS TO TCKITW! She scared in the 99th percentile in the Land of Bourbon, Tobacco and Horses with reading scores and got a medal from her school as a congratulations! I'm so proud of her!

--K