Back to Reality

So 10 months of blessed freedom (truly truly grateful to have it. Truly. Beyond grateful) is over. I started a new job last Monday. It's been a very intense, very tiring, and very humbling 6 days at my new job. My role is similar to what I did at my last company (project mgmt combined with services mgmt) but in an industry I've not worked in before (so terminology is all up in the air). I feel like I should have a sign around my neck that just says: "LOL. Wut?" Then about 25 times a day, I could just point at the sign. It would save everyone time and energy.

So last Monday was my first day at work. I had an early start and meetings that spanned my office, a client's office in New Jersey, and a vendor's office in the city. I also did not have a laptop, email address, or cell phone, so it was definitely just a learning day.

On Tuesday, I got my laptop. Toward the middle of Tuesday, I got my email address (they initially spelled my name wrong so we had to get that sorted out) and at the very end of the day, an office phone and a cell phone.

Wednesday, I spent the morning at the New Jersey client office before coming back to my company office to end the day. AA texted toward the end, and since he works literally across the street from my new office, we decided to get a drink. My English bar friend joined us for a quick one, and then we all cabbed back to our hood together. I did a quick workout at home and then joined the crew at the Winchester for a few drinks into the evening.

On Thursday, Blondie and I decided to do a celebration dinner in our hood so after work ended, I walked down to meet Blondie at his office (we work 20 blocks apart off the same avenue). We then trucked back to our hood, to the restaurant we had chosen, and ran straight into my company's founder's wife. LOL. The founder ended up joining us and paying for our meal (so sweet of him!!!!) and then we headed to a German restaurant afterward for more delicious beers (which we paid for but literally were like 1/8th the cost of what our meal had been). After the German place, it was over to Winchester to end the night.

Friday was kind of a mess. I didn't realize the company worked from home on Fridays (there are only like 6 employees total for my office) so I headed in. I had to get let into the office because I didn't have a key (cracked up at this), and then my laptop decided to be a bitch on an auto Windows update (and uninstalled all the stuff I had installed since Tuesday). So at like noon, I gave up and headed home to finish the day from there.

I was supposed to meet Blondie for a happy hour with his work group but I ended up feeling just completely drained and so I did a workout and then headed to Winchester. Blondie joined me about an hour later and we ended our night there.

Saturday was a dud. I was a day off on my workouts so my double day Friday ended up being a double day Saturday instead (I skipped my Thurs workout to go to dinner with Blondie and did my Thurs workout on Friday instead). Then we just lazed around all day. I made eggs and veggies for us for lunch, and then made pasta for dinner which involved a couple of bottles of wine. And then we crashed out watching a really bad movie (Jupiter Ascending - like REALLY bad).

Sunday was a good day. I did my stretch disc and then got a pedicure before hitting up Pony. Many drinks ensued there and then it was a trip to Winchester before heading home around 6 pm. I crashed for the night at 7 pm because I rule.

And today was pretty tiring as well. It was about a billion degrees in the city and I had to go to New Jersey for the afternoon so it was a very hot 23 block walk to the train and then I didn't get done in Jersey until about 6:30 which didn't put me home until about 7:45 and wah wah wah wah. Which, btw, means I skipped my Monday workout as well.

No plans for the week except trying to figure out exactly what I need to figure out with my new job. WOOT.

T25 - I just completed Week 4 of Beta. This is week 5. I'm not actually sure I'll get all the workouts in but I'm going to do my best. So far I like Beta way better than I liked Alpha, and my favorite workout disc (ever possibly) is Ript Circuit. I don't know why, but that one feels like it goes so fast and I get a great workout as well.

Have a good one people.

--K

Ooops. Forgot.

The cat!!!! New appointment with his oncologist and he gained .2 lbs. Not only that, they pulled urine this time to see about his kidney function because the problem we've had with his bile/diarrhea might be a potential problem that way, and the vet said, and I quote: "You couldn't ask for a better test result, even considering his age and his disease."

So all the yes in the world! My guy is kicking some ass right now!!!

--K

Short But Sweet

Well, my biggest news is: I am employed again. Yes. It's true. The "staycation" is *over*.

I start my new job tomorrow morning. I'll be doing project management for an IT firm in the financial industry, combined with services management post project management phases. I'm obviously well versed with both forms of management, but I'm not up on finance so this will have a sharp learning curve.

On the plus side, the pay is good and the founder knows about my part-time writing gig. So, yeah. I'm equally parts excited and nervous.

In book news, my book is actually doing really well. Amazon posts "stats" for what an average book sells (new writer, non friends and family buying) and my book is killing those stats. In addition, I put my book in the "borrow" program on Amazon (which is not required and not everyone does it). I get paid per page read once a reader goes past 10% of my book, and so far, in 12 days, I've had a crazy amount of pages read.

My next book comes out next weekend (squee!) and Blondie and I are going to celebrate.

We saw "An Act of God" on Broadway yesterday with Glitter. It stars Jim Parsons (Sheldon from Big Bang Theory whom we also saw in "Harvey" on Broadway last year) and it was ah-mah-zing! Favorite lines include the Sarah Palin one, the "My son is a pussy" one, the "Florida is shaped like a penis", and the part where God blew Michael's wing off. OMG. Literally my all-time favorite play I've seen thus far in my play-going career.

What else? Lots of catching up with friends. I met up with my friends from my last job on Thursday and we literally shut down the bar. It was so good to see everyone and drinks were free (thanks last job!) and lah lah lah... oopsie, bar was closed. And I met up with a friend who had also quit the last job on Friday, and we hung out all day long. Lunch, after lunch drinks, after-after lunch drinks. Just a lot of fun.

The 4th!!!! OMG! Blondie's work rented out this *massive* house in the Hamptons for the 4th. I was nervous because I hadn't met any of the people Blondie works with but my fears were entirely unfounded. Everyone was amazing. The house was amazing. The drinks and food were amazing. I burned my face so badly that I had raccoon eyes for almost 8 days. Eek.

Blondie's new project launched!!!! Blondie and his company have been working on it since Blondie started, and it launched!!!! So crazy happy for him! The feedback has been excellent and I'm so excited for Blondie going forward!

Shania Twain!!! Glitter and I trucked over to NJ last week to go to a Shania Twain concert. Glitter had signed up for a service that gives out last-minute seats for concerts/plays/etc that don't want empty seats toward the front, and so our seats were crazy good. It was a really good concert and I'm happy I got the chance to go. Plus, hitting up Landsdowne after didn't hurt either.

Landsdowne brought back cheese whiz! Cheese whiz, buffalo chicken nachos are back in play. YES.

I feel like that's my news but I might have missed something. If I did, and if I remember, I'll post it this week.

Have a great one, y'all.

--K

La La La

Helloooooooooooo.

Not a lot happened last week. I felt like hermit-ing myself, so I did. For the most part.

Last Tuesday, I trucked on out and met up with AA to tour the new building in the hood. It was... ok? Like a nice building and all, but soooo not worth what they were asking. I've lived in NYC for 5+ years now and I know NYC prices. And I still almost laughed when they told us the rents for the new place. One of their perks was the 70,000 sq ft amenity space. Great. What will be in the amenity space? That seems like a reasonable question, right? Not really sure, was the answer. A gym. That people who don't live in the building will be allowed to join (which means, crowded at all times). Some retail space. Don't know what will be in that retail space. Square footage of the apartments we saw? Eh, the developer hasn't released that info yet. To which I say, bullshit my good sir. Of course they've released that info. You're signing people up to move-in in September. You just don't remember what the square footage of the apartment was and instead of just saying that, you're trying to deflect.

Deflection and constantly being late to things are my two biggest pet peeves.

Wow. Rant much?

Okay, so after building tour, AA said to call him around noon and me, him and Glitter could go to lunch. I texted him at 12:30 and he had already ordered in. LOL. So Glitter and I trucked up the street to a bar in our hood and it turns out that they brought back cheese-whiz. All the yes in the world. Cheese-whiz buffalo chicken nachos and 3 pints of beer were in order.

Tuesday night, I popped back to our local for a single beer. Glitter and Heinie had friends in from England so I wanted to meet them. I didn't feel like drinking though at that point (drinking at the bar earlier in the day? Yes please. Taking a break and then trying to get back into it? Wasn't happening).

Thursday, I got my book back from the editor. It looked really good. I'm happy I went the route I went. Her comments were lovely as well (seriously, not sarcastically), so Blondie and I had a celebration night and put down a few sixers. At least we ate healthy.

On Friday day, I suffered through two T25 Beta disks on a hangover. I thought I was going to puke, and not just from the excess alcohol in my system. On Friday night, Blondie went out with some of his coworkers but I had a massive allergy attack so instead of going to the local, I just stayed in and sneezed.

Saturday, while Blondie nursed a hangover (another LOL - Blondie hungover while I'm feeling completely fine), I putzed around the apartment all day. We met up with the whole group on Saturday night at the local for a few hours. It was the first time Blondie had been out with them in forever.

Sunday, the weather was still shit (it poured rain on Saturday night), so I watched TV all day. Glitter texted around 5 pm and I ended up meeting up with her and my English gf for a drink at a fancy cocktail place in the hood. I only had a few cocktails there and then headed back on home where we ordered in Mexican for dinner.

This week has been lame-o. I grocery shopped yesterday and the local farmer's market finally had decent shit to buy. It's been a complete miss the last three times I've gone. Like stuff completely out, an entire table empty, no lettuce whatsoever, moldy mushrooms, no bell peppers, so I had gotten pissed and taken a few weeks off. Yesterday it was back to what I expect! YAY! And they had OKRA! YAY!

Today I did some more grocery shopping and am in the middle of making cinnamon roles for Blondie to take to work tomorrow. I had to borrow a rolling pin from Glitter which makes me laugh. I *used* to have one. I guess it's been so long since I've actually baked that we probably threw it out when we moved from SF to NYC. I've also got garlic honey sausages in the crockpot for dinner. And I'm officially beat now.

T25 Beta has kicked my ass but I'm still struggling through it everyday. Like I could've done 10 rounds of Alpha and still not be ready for Beta. The worst for me is the Cardio day (which was today). I don't know. I get to the "shuffle" part of the workout and my body just shuts down. I sweat so bad it shows up in droplets on my FINGERS. WTF?

In other good news, I released my first book on Sunday morning. It hit #500 on Amazon's erotica bestseller list which means... absolutely nothing. It sounds good, but really, it means nothing. Their algorithm is weird. I'm happy to give the title / my pseudonym out to people that want to look at the book, but I will only do that after I warn you what the content is about. It's a niche fetish and it can be quite "gross" if you're not into that scene. There's nothing like physically gross about it (no golden showers, no poop stuff, no necrophilia, etc - NOTHING LIKE THIS AT ALL), but it can be very squeamish / icky reading if you're not into what it's about.

My second (erotica - different fetish than the first one I released but still dealing with a fetish) book should be released about three weeks from now. And the next book I'm going to publish (same fetish as the one I just released) is about 1/3rd of the way through.

I was excited about it all but now I'm mostly just... eh. It took a lot out of me - writing every day, finding an editor, actually editing it after the editor was done, finding a book cover designer, all the account setup, formatting, author page setup... I know I sound like a baby. I'll just leave it at that. I am SO grateful for what I've been able to do thanks to Blondie supporting me. And I'm SO grateful that as of this moment, I have no bad reviews (no good ones either but I'll take that).

And with that, I'm off to finish the cinnamon rolls.

--K

T25 Core Cardio - Beta Edition

Shaun T: Hahahahahahah! Upper cut and jack feet! Running spider lunge! Shuffle and burpee!

Me: < weeping >

Is It Friday Yet?

Hola.

First off, my instagram is kerrijl, not what I put down last time. My bad. It's mostly pics of my cat and my drinks, 2 of the 3 things I love the most in this world ;) Blondie being the other one of course.

AA had last week off for vacation and he stayed in the city so the week was pretty jammed pack. He texted on Monday that he was at the bar with Glitter and Heinie (who were just back from having to bury Glitter's brother), so I headed on over to the bar to hang out and see how Glitter was doing. We kept it kind of early that night, just a few drinks and making sure Glitter was okay.

Also on Monday, I put out an ad on a website for getting an editor for my book. I explained the content in detail and asked people not to apply if it made them squeamish. I ended up getting back over 30 applicants which was incredible. It made me feel okay about this whole process for the first time in ages, although it did take me forever and a year to get through everyone's proposal.

On Monday night late, my English girlfriend showed back up for the first time in 3 months, and she texted Tuesday morning to see if we were in for lunch. I got ahold of AA and the 4 of us (me, AA, Glitter, English GF) met at a local food court for a few beers, a few cocktails and salads. After lunch, we all went our separate ways, but I met back up with AA at 4 pm at the bar. Everyone ended up joining us eventually but again, it was an earlier night, which worked out well.

On Wednesday, AA texted around 3:30 pm from the bar so I headed back on over and hung out with him then. We all had to make it an early night once again, but it turns out, I kind of enjoy that. A few beers, home by 7:30 pm, a good healthy dinner, and then I feel fine the next day. I wish AA could have the week off every week!

Thursday I STAYED IN. It was needed. Also on Thursday, I picked a person to be my editor. She seems really friendly, had really great reviews on the website where I placed the ad, was reasonable with her prices, and responded almost as soon as I awarded her the job, asking to get the book so she could get started. She gave me a quote of 7 days so I'm assuming by end of week this week or very beginning of the week next, I'll have everything ready to go!

And on Friday, I had a brainstorm for another book. I started on my non-sex book which has been kind of liberating. But then I had a completely different idea for the next sex-themed book so I spent the afternoon outlining that thing on Friday. I'm excited about it all!

Then on Friday as well, my English GF had 2 of her English girlfriends fly in for a visit so I met the 3 of them at the wine bar in the hood for a few hours. Afterward, we all headed over to the local where we ran into our building friends (who are no longer our building friends, they moved out last week). I thought we'd never see them again but they were both in the city after work and thought they'd swing over and say hi! Friday night was late. Blondie joined us after a happy hour with his work group. Shots were drank. Songs were sang. Pictures were taken. We finally left to get dinner, where I picked out a salad (WTF? After drinking all night long? NOT a good idea).

Saturday we stayed in, nursing serious hangovers all day. We actually ordered pizza at 10 am and then I ate a bag of spicy cheetos for dinner. Breakfast and dinner of champions. We watched shit movies off Netflix all night long (I, Frankenstein. You're welcome). And cured ourselves by hair of the dogging it.

Yesterday started out weird. We've had what we call a "roach bubble" on our bathroom ceiling for a few months now. By "roach bubble", I mean that the paint had pulled away from the ceiling in a bubble formation and Blondie said one day how gross it would be if the bubble split and roaches were behind it and they went all over the place. It's creeped me out since he said that. Anyway, I showed it to the maintenance men one day when they came in to check our filters (they asked if there was anything else they should check out while they were looking at our filters) and they weren't concerned with it. Yesterday, the cat started freaking out, running back and forth from the bathroom to the bedroom. I finally figured out that there was water dripping from the "roach bubble". We had to put in an emergency repair request (the apartment above ours had a leaking toilet - DISGUSTING). It's fixed now and to my complete peace of mind, they cut away the "roach bubble".

After the "roach bubble" debacle, I met up with Glitter and our normal Sunday bartender (she has Sundays off until August) for brunch / day drinking! We stayed in the hood, doing brunch just up the street and then drinks at her normal bar, the food court, and then our local. I stumbled home around 7 pm. And ordered in Pho which I downed in like 1 bite. Awesome sauce.

Today, T25 Beta starts and I'm a nervous wreck about it. I did 2 rounds of Alpha and am still terrified to start Beta. I think this is going to hurt beyond what I can comprehend.

Then grocery shopping. Then writing.

This week I plan on taking it easy. I'm touring a new building in the neighborhood with AA tomorrow and that's the full extent of my plans thus far.

Happy first truly hot day of summer!

--K

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Soooooo.... I'm a shitty blogger, no? Yes. Yes, I am.

Things have been trucking along in NYC land. Not a lot of excitement. Yay. Yay for you. Getting to read about my boring life.

1) All things related to the books
1a) I was rejected by the publisher I like. Boo, you whores. But it was expected, completely. They told me my book didn't fit inline with what they are looking to publish, and it's true (based on what they've already published). It still sucked though. I whined for a few days about it and then put on my big girl shoes, and hired an editor for it. That book will be back from the editor in mid-July (she picks it up mid-July and will finish it in 1 week) and then I'll self-publish the week after that.
1b) I just finished (last week) my 5th book. I'm in the midst of my third read-through of it and will have that completed tomorrow. Then I'm off to freelancer to hire me an editor from there. That book should be self-published by the beginning of July.
1c) The very first book I ever wrote I'm going to revisit after I send the book in 1b off to the editor. There is a niche genre that's pretty popular on Amazon (a bit of a fetish genre) and my book in 1b fits into that category. Blondie had an idea last night (after 4 bottles of wine, holla!) on how I can modify the very first book to fit into that category as well. So that's next on my chopping block.
1d) A non-sex book! I have an idea, a good one, for a non-sex book. While I'm modifying 1c, I'm going to start work on that as well. I think it might help me write better/faster if I don't have to concentrate on one thing at a time. I've *always* been a multi-tasker and *always* felt so much better at work when I had a billion things that were urgent/critical and needed attention ASAP. So I have NO IDEA why I haven't tried to write more than one book at a time before now. Eee-dyot.

2) All things related to Tigga
He's still puking and pooping all over our apartment. I'm dreading the next visit with the oncologist (in about 3 weeks). I think Blondie and I might have some tough choices to make going forward. Don't panic people. It's not time to discuss "the end" yet. It's just time to discuss "do we put him through more procedures so we can figure out why he's sick all the time?" And "do we alter his chemo yet again to see if that helps?" And "how many times can we visit the vet before Tigga rebels and attacks us in our sleep?" ;)

3) All things related to Blondie
He LOVES his new job. He has been out for so many happy hours since he started (making friends like crazy, that's my guy!) He loved his old job as well, but this job, he has so many friends already that we just 100% know Blondie made the right decision.

4) All things related to all other things
4a) I'm through week 4 of round 2 of T25 Alpha and I want to seriously hurt Shaun T on a daily basis. It's not gotten any easier because I'm getting seriously stronger and pushing myself that much more. I'm holding myself in plank so much better than before. I'm able to hold myself in lunges and squats. My push-ups are through the roof. My pants are falling off. TMI but my bras fit once again. Basically, I love T25 when I'm done for the day but I hate it when I'm doing it. And don't get me started on how long it takes to actually hit play after I put the disc into the DVD player. Week 5 starts tomorrow and that's 3 days of Full Body Circuit which is the bane of my existence.
4b) I've been the grocery shopping and cooking queen lately. Blondie works a LOT of hours at his new job so I've taken on ownership of all the grocery shopping and meal preparation. I've found some awesome recipes online and try to have something tasty and healthy (read: vegetables, ingredient swap for lower calories, that kind of crap) for every meal. On tap for this week includes: Shredded chicken tacos, Homemade cobb salad, Chicken/green bean/stuffing in a slow cooker, Andouille sausage and peppers.
4c) I'm also doing all the cleaning and laundry. While I don't mind cooking, I'd rather pluck each hair from my body individually than clean the bathroom.
4d) I've been going out a lot lately with friends since Blondie is at work or at happy hours in the evenings. It's been pretty nice. We generally stay at our local, but the other week, AA and I met some random people at the bar and joined them for "all you can bowl" night at the bowling alley. We stayed out until almost one in the morning. Good times. And Glitter and I trucked to the UWS to see a friend of mine do a burlesque show a few weeks ago. Afterward, we hit up a french restaurant in that area and ate approximately five pounds of cheese and drank 30 gallons of wine.
4e) Friends from old jobs! A friend from my last job who worked full-time not from the office made an appearance in NYC a few weeks ago. And a friend from *three* jobs ago who I haven't seen in 4 years made an appearance in NYC this past week. It was so great seeing them both!

5) All things related to fucking sappiness
5a) Glitter's brother passed away unexpectedly in a motorcycle wreck last weekend. He was in his twenties. I don't have a lot to say and I'm not trying to make this event in any way related to me, but life is short people. Tell the people you love that you love them while you still can.
5b) I love you, Blondie! Last night was a blast - I love being able to talk our way through movies, discuss why time slows down when the gravity field is stronger, scream "Get in the ship, you asshole!" at the same time to characters in said movie, order in wine when we run out, order in tacos three hours later because the wine killed all our resistance to not eating bad, and then pass out to Total Recall.

And that is all. KDawg outtie.

Oh! I finally joined instagram. My profile is kjlynn. I don't have any pictures up yet, but will be using that going forward to post fun times from NYC. So there's that.

--K

Fleet Week

Hold onto your horses, people. Because I'm about to bore you to tears.

Last Sunday, Blondie and I headed to Food Fest for just a little bit. It was hot and there were a lot of people there, so we ended up bailing pretty quickly and going for pizza at the new pizza place in our hood. We split a pizza and meatballs, and I had sangria (on tap, FTW!). Afterward, I headed to Pony to meet Glitter, but she had an errand to run so we were only there for a few minutes. I didn't want to head home then because Blondie had gone home to work and I knew I'd just bug him if I were there, so I ended up at Winchester. I was only there about an hour by myself before I was joined by AA and Heinie. Good times.

Sunday night was memorable because our cable box "blew up". It rebooted while we were in the middle of watching TV and then went into an endless cycle of reboots. We ended up unplugging the whole thing and watching Netflix the rest of the night.

On Tuesday, after not having cable for two days (the box wouldn't power on at all after we plugged it back in), I talked to our cable company and ended up walking two miles with the cable box to the cable company's office. They replaced the unit for me and then it was a 2 mile walk back to our hood for grocery shopping. It was a muggy day out and when I finally got home, after walking four miles and carrying bags loaded with hardware and food, I was *coated* in sweat. Yuck.

Wednesday, Blondie worked from home. That was nice. I did a bunch of laundry and then I met up with Glitter for my first pedicure since last October. Then her and I headed for lunch followed by margaritas at a new mexican place in the hood. Afterward, I went back to the apartment and bugged Blondie some more before finally heading to Winchester to end out my night.

Thursday was notable for a dentist appointment.

On Friday, I went to Winchester around 4:30 pm and met up with Heinie and AA. We hung out until about 7:30 pm and then I trucked on home to meet up with Blondie.

Saturday, Blondie and I stayed in all day. AA texted around 8 pm and said he was going to the bar, and we joined him around 9:30 pm. We only stayed a few hours, but it was good getting to hang with AA.

Yesterday we took an Uber out to Queens. A old coworker of mine has a house out there and he had a BBQ party. It was so much fun. He has a great group of friends, and I spent all afternoon laughing my ass off. My sides actually ached when we finally left because I'd been laughing so hard. It was one of those days where everyone was in a great mood and it was one of the best parties I've ever been to.

On our way home last night, AA texted again from Winchester so I went and joined him after we got home to watch the Rangers game. On my way out of our apartment building, I ran into a friend of mine from the building and told him I was going to Winchester. He ended up joining me and AA. We ordered in cheesesteaks to the bar and stayed until it closed. There were sailors in there because of Fleet Week and we talked to them for several hours. These guys looked like they were twelve. It was freaky. The best part was when they asked what we all did for a living and then one of them said, "Jokes on you all. We're actually timeshare salesmen and we just bought these sailor suits to wear to pick up women." Literal LOL. Afterward, building friend and I headed home and I grabbed Blondie and we went and hung in building friend's apartment until about 2 am.

Today I slept until noon and I think I was still drunk when I woke up. I finally worked out around 1 pm. But I still feel blah right now.

I've been working out still. I decided to do round 2 of T25 Alpha so I just finished week one of that round yesterday. I cursed out Shaun T today doing the Cardio disc though.

Also, I didn't lie above. You're bored to tears, right? ;)

--K

A Whole Lotta Nada

Yay for doing nothing. Because that's what makes living in NYC so exciting. A city that never sleeps... and I choose to stay in. I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel. LOL.

Last Sunday I met up with Glitter and Heinie around 3:30 pm for some beers at our local. Our original plans had us going to a new oyster bar in the hood but after AA and Blondie both decided to stay home, and after Heinie announced he didn't feel well so he'd come to the restaurant but not eat, we bailed on our plans. I ended up just drinking until about 5:30 pm and then headed home to eat leftovers and make fun of the new Hobbit movie. Blondie *loves* me for that one.

Monday was Blondie's first day at his new job! I thought about him all day long, but my worries were in vain because Blondie loves his company! I met him for a few beers on the patio at a neighborhood bar on Monday night and he told me all about his day, and then we trucked to our local to meet up with our friends for celebration drinks as well.

Also on Monday, I submitted my book to the publisher I'd like to work with (previous blog post). I want to stress that I really do have a better chance of winning the lottery then I do with having the publisher accept my book. Even knowing this, I'm going to still be heart-broken when it's rejected. Wah. I should know within 4-5 weeks (so 3-4 weeks now) what their decision is. I will let everyone know as soon as I hear, rejection or otherwise, so hang tight on news and keep on keeping body parts crossed.

Tuesday was Blondie's BIRTHDAY!!!! His work actually busted out shots of vodka and then everyone sang Happy Birthday to Blondie. He has the best job EVER. I met Blondie on Tuesday night for dinner and then we ended up at our local again to have a shot of fireball to celebrate.

Wednesday I went to grocery shop and on my walk to the store, about 10 police cars, sirens blaring, came flying down the street. The traffic cop stopped traffic (pedestrian / cars) and let the cop cars through. When I got home from shopping, I found out that the crazy hammer guy (guy who hit random woman in the head with hammers) had been shot and killed (he attacked a female police officer with said hammer and the cops took him down) 2 blocks and 1 avenue from where I was at the exact time I was there. So those cop cars were headed to the scene of the shooting. Exciting stuff.

I made chicken tortilla soup on Wednesday night and it was delicious. I used the Pioneer Woman website recipe and highly highly recommend.

Thursday we stayed in. Blondie had to work late already, so I just chilled and ate leftover soup for dinner.

And on Friday, Blondie went out for drinks with his coworkers and I cooked fajitas for dinner. Then Tigga and I saved a kitty! :) After I ate, I was sitting on the couch with Tigga and he started doing his "stare at the front door" move which usually means Blondie is fumbling with keys outside the apartment. So I muted the TV and realized I could hear a cat crying. I went to the hallway and a cat was hanging out, so I picked it up and found the owner's apartment. Our doors don't shut fully unless you physically shut them yourself (you can't let it swing shut and have it shut by itself) and I think the cat's owner thought the door shut and it didn't. That's how the cat got out. So go Tigga for hearing the cat in the first place!

Yesterday was supposed to be Food Fest fun but Glitter and AA had to bail at the last minute. So I stayed in all day and pouted that I didn't get my frito pie and spicy chicken empanada. :) Maturity. That's me. Today now instead, we're going to do food fest.

And last night was turkey burgers and veggies for dinner, and wine and rum for desert.

No plans for this coming week other than working on my next book (about 10000 words in as of this moment).

I finished Alpha T25 this week (well, I'll finish it today as soon as I get off my ass and do the Stretching disc) but I'm thinking about doing another round of Alpha before moving on to Beta. I was so fat when I started, so out of shape, that I'm just now getting to the point where I don't have to follow the modifier on every move. So I thought maybe another 5 weeks of Alpha would help. But I'm still trying to decide.

This was a boring post wasn't it?

TL;DR - I did nothing this week.

--K

Submission Day!

My book was officially submitted about 30 minutes ago to the publishing company I'd like to work with! It's such a super fucking long shot. I have a better chance of winning the lottery. BUT. I'm just so excited!

Keep your fingers and toes, arms and legs, torsos, pets' paws, kids' paws, tongues... you name it... keep them crossed! Wish me good luck! Tell me to break a leg! Throw salt over your shoulder!

ARGHHHHH.

--K

Gap Week

Most excellent week. I wish every week was a gap week for Blondie!

Last Sunday was indeed Sunday Funday. We left our apartment around 2 pm and headed to our local to chat with our bartender for just a second. After that, it was up to Pony to meet up with Heinie for several rounds of frosty malted beverages and a BALT (bacon, avo, lettuce, tomato) sandwich. Then, of course, back to our local for just a few more. Yay for lazy Sundays!

Monday was even more lazy. We didn't leave the house at all.

Tuesday was Cinco de Mayo, and so after vision check-ups for both of us, it was off to our favorite Mexican (not Tex-Mex) restaurant for a late lunch. Enchiladas and guac and a Modelo made my afternoon. Glitter texted on Tuesday night. Our normal Tuesday night bartender (who does not like to make mixed drinks) was off for the day and his replacement was our Sunday bartender (who has no problems making mixed drinks). So I headed to our local for a few margaritas and then some more beer and jukebox playing.

Wednesday, the weather was shit so we just hung out people watching on our balcony. It was perfect.

On Thursday, we started off with a dentist appointment. I like our new dentist a lot. He took his time and walked through my x-rays with me, and then the cleaning wasn't that bad either. After the dentist, we made our way up to Times Square. One of Blondie's nieces did some kind of project for school and asked us to take pictures from around NYC and send them to her for the project. So Times Square was first followed by a trip down to Freedom Tower and Wall Street (the bull and stock exchange). We then got on the Staten Island Ferry so we could take pictures of the Statue of Liberty, and ended our journey in Washington Sq Park so we could get a photo of the arch and the Empire State Bldg.

Finally, after all that, we went to lunch in the NYU area of town. We stopped at a local bar and had burgers and beers, and then sat with a pitcher, people watching Bleecker Street traffic. After lunch, we ended up getting a slice of pizza (the burgers were small and it was late in the day when we ate = STARVING. Not that I need an excuse to eat pizza) and then went to one of Blondie's favorite beer bars for a few beverages.

We ended the day back on our balcony, having some more drinks. The highlight of the night was watching AA walk down the street to the local. We texted him: "We see you!" And he wrote back: "Quit stalking me." LOL.

Friday we stayed in. Blondie had to get a cavity filled and came home from that appointment with several bottles of wine. We ordered Indian food for dinner (eggplant, chicken curry) and then watched TV until I fell asleep on the couch.

And yesterday was yet another lazy day. We lounged around all day, and then joined our friends at our local for several hours last night. Lots of jukebox playing happened. Some dancing happened. Some laughing happened. A great way to end the week!

Happy Mothers Day to my mom, Mrs Pooh and my MIL!!!!

Happy early birthday to Blondie!!!! The big day is Tuesday for him!

Good luck to Blondie on his new job!!!! He starts tomorrow!

And in book news - I FINISHED MY BOOK! I'm in the middle of going through it one last time but will have it sent to the publisher I'd like to work with tomorrow. *If* they accept it (HUGE LONG SHOT), I'll be ecstatic!!!!

Have a great Sunday youz guyz! Exclamation points!!!!!

--K

Spring has sprung!

So excited about the beautiful weather NYC has had these past few weeks! And this coming week is looking to be just as gorgeous as well. Highs in the low 80's + Blondie in a gap week between jobs = fun is HAPPENING. IT'S ALL HAPPENING.

Soooo.... Let's see.

Two Mondays ago, I met up with an old co-worker who used to work full-time for the company "not from the office." He was in town for the week, so I headed to my local to get caught up with him. Also, Glitter's mom was in town as well so there ended up being a big group of us at the bar that night. Even Blondie came out!

Two Tuesdays ago, I took Grumpers The Cat to the oncologist, and told them about the bile/diarrhea (BD) thing he seems to like to do lately. Then they weighed him and the cat actually gained a bit of weight. Anyway, there were basically two options that could be causing the BD. First was that he just had a tummy bug. The vet said that cats with his disease are more susceptible to issues with their stomach. And then the second was that it might be the beginning of the end. That maybe the cancer is starting to win. BUT, he seemed almost positive it was just a bug b/c the cat did gain weight.

Two Wednesdays ago, I'm going to call Hell Day. Glitter and I met up early morning and walked down to Chelsea to meet our Sunday bartender at Flywheel. For those that don't know, Flywheel is a fancy spin class. You get clip-in shoes and the bikes have meters so instead of your instructor telling you to "turn the knob a little to the right" (every gym spin class I've taken), the instructor at Flywheel says "turn the knob to between 20 and 25 and keep your rpms above 80." HAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAH. Fat girl on a little bike. It was 45 minutes of hell. They even had 2 and 4 pound bars attached to the bike, so at one point you're pedaling and lifting weights. The good news was I burned between 545 and 615 calories (estimated for my stats for a 150 lbs person, and I am WAY more than 150 lbs person).

After hell, we all walked to Meatpacking and ended up on a patio at a mexican restaurant for margaritas and queso. Yes, I see the irony that I worked out and then ate like shit. In my defense, the queso was really good. While at lunch, the vet called and all Tigga's tests turned out normal!!! Which means STOMACH BUG!!!! Not the beginning of the end. SO RELIEVED. After lunch, we split from our bartender, and Glitter and I walked the High Line back to the hood.

Two Fridays ago, we stayed in for the night and ordered deep dish pizza from Tribeca. It was perfect. And two Saturdays ago, we stayed in most of the day but ended up at our local for a few drinks early evening.

Then last Sunday, me and Blondie and AA and Heinie took a cab to Gramercy and went to a mexican restaurant that opened up about two months ago and is legit tex-mex. SOOOO GOOD. Many drinks happened there (Shiner on tap FTW!) and then we cabbed back to our hood where everyone but Blondie ended up at our local. And we drank all afternoon. I went home, ate a leftover taco from Saturday night, and went straight to bed. Because that is how I roll.

The past week was much more low-key. We had 2 instances of BD from the cat, and we think we finally figured out why. We have a cast-iron skillet we use a lot and on nights when we use it, we leave it soaking in the sink. We *think* that he's been getting up on the counter and drinking the water from the pan. So we've decided to now wash it immediately and see if that stops the problems. Poor guy. I'll feel like a total ass if this is why he was sick.

In other good news, Blondie's last day with his company was on Friday! He now has a week off and then he starts up at his new job next Monday. I'm so excited for him! He's extremely happy about his new opportunity, and we celebrated hard on Friday night. Complete with multiple shots of Fireball (barf).

Yesterday was kind of boring. We were lazy until 6 pm and then we met our friends at the local for the KY Derby. The most boring two minutes in sports. AA, who has a knack for picking the exact wrong teams/ sides / horses / you name it, continued his losing streak by putting $150 on the horse who came in dead last. And that horse didn't even have bad odds. The horse that raced at 68-1 odds came in 11th place, and the horse who AA picked (20-1 odds) came in 18th place. Then he told me that he was picking Pacquiao for the fight last night, and I immediately knew Mayweather would win. Yep.

Today has been productive. Up early and already went to the grocery. I wrote my blog on time for once! Now I have a workout to do and then I'm going to bake some brownies before meeting up with the friends for Sunday Funday!

Blondie and I have big plans next week. We have eye and dentist appointments scheduled, we're going to see Avengers one morning, and then we're going to walk around the city one day. Central Park, High Line. The weather is going to be insane and I'm hoping to get some patio and beer time in as well.

Workouts are still happening. I'm three weeks through Alpha T25. It still sucks every single day.

In book news, I had to "fire" my editor. I've known it was coming but hoped everyday something would change. It didn't. The work she had given me was great, but the problem was that the last time she had given me pages was 4/1 (46 out of 162 pages) and every deadline she had given me since 4/1, she had completely missed. Like not a single page given to me. Like I had to track her down (multiple emails each time and when she'd finally respond, it was always "oops, next week! :)") I had to finally write the company I went through and tell them I wanted out of my contract. The owners were actually amazing, and offered to completely edit the book themselves in two to three days, and when I declined that (just a bad taste in my mouth about everything), they refunded the money we had paid (it was half up front, half when book was done). I was expecting to have to eat the first half costs.

Anyway, the plan now is to finish up a book that's not part of the series. I have about 3 hours of writing left on that. And then I'm going to submit to a publishing company. It's a long shot but if they take it, I'd be ecstatic. If not, I self-publish that. After I submit to the publishing company (early next week), I'm going to revisit the book from the "fired editor" and edit it myself and get that self-published. So hopefully within the next 2 weeks, I have two books ready to go!

Cheers!

--K

HONK

Hello. 3 posts in a row. I'm on a roll! (I had to literally just look up to see if it was "on a role" or "on a roll". Ugh. I can haz english skilz?)

It was meant to be a low-key week but it really wasn't. My only foray out of the house on Monday was to meet Blondie at the grocery after he got off work. That was it.

Tuesday I did better. I met up with my girlfriends for wine night! All 4 of us went which was exciting b/c normally it's only me, Glitter and English bar friend. But we had our 4th friend (from barkbox hike) join as well. We hung out there for a long time, and were joined by Blondie at one point. He only stopped in to have some deviled eggs and then he headed on home for the evening. Anyway, the point of the excursion was that my English bar friend is now back in England for over a month so we wanted to see her off.

After wine bar, all 4 of us headed back to our local where we met up with the guys for the rest of the evening. Around 10 pm, I decided I should head home and closed out my tab, but by then, my English friends were well pretty toasty and they convinced me to stay (it wasn't hard). And then they bought many rounds of shots and drinks for me afterwards. Finally at midnight, we closed out for real yo. My friend AA (formerly indian bar friend) was outside smoking and even though he had watched us all close our tabs (including his), in the 10 minutes it took to smoke his cigarette, he forgot twice that he had already paid. It was a great night.

Wednesday sucked though :)

Um, after that, we took it easy until Friday, when we received some really good news. Blondie brought home a few beers to celebrate, and then we headed to our local afterwards. On our way to the local, we ran into a building friend and a friend from the bar whom we haven't seen at the bar in forever. Friday night was fantastic. All our friends, including the building friend we ran into, showed up to celebrate with us, and it wasn't until I decided I needed dinner (at 11 pm - should've just skipped it at that point) that we ended up leaving to get something to eat.

We stayed in Saturday, chilling and relaxing and sleeping all day long. Literally. Blondie rolled over at one point and said, "it's 3 pm already!" Haha. Yes, yes it was.

And on Sunday, the official notification of the good news was received, and so we headed out for lunch to celebrate. We ended up in a cajun restaurant in our hood, on their massive 2nd story outdoor patio, with some cajun bloodies and then several hurricanes. Afterwards, we joined up with Glitter and Heinie at Pony for some good laughs and some good beers. And then we headed home, where I collapsed and slept on and off for the rest of the evening. All in all, a good day.

Today it's raining outside. Yuck. But I'm excited for the week. I have plans to meet up with my Sunday bartender at a spinning class on Wednesday and there is some other stuff on the burner that has me ready for what's to come up in my life. I started on my next book, which has me giddy. And I'm ecstatic for Blondie!

I started working out again. I'm back on T25. I figured I'll do Alpha for 5 weeks, take a week off and just try to do 3 miles on the treadmill each day (running / walking combo), and then do Beta for 5 weeks. Last week was my first Alpha week. It hurt. My legs are useless right now. Today I did 25 minutes of T25 cardio and my face looked like a tomato after I was done. Pathetic.

The cat is back to the vet this week as well. He's had some issues the past 3 months with his stomach - some bile vomiting always combined with some diarrhea and I'm a bit nervous about this checkup. The good news is the incidents each only last about 3 minutes and then he has a TON of energy when he's done. Oh well, I'll keep you posted.

Have a great week everyone!

--K

Somehow I got on the "hard" hike

Hello! Happy Monday everyone.

Last Thursday ended up being a really nice day. First up, The Real Housewives of HK (not, not AT ALL), met up in the hood for lunch around 1 pm. This group included me (obvs), Glitter and my English bar friend. We were also joined by the wife of a coworker of English bar friend's husband. Say THAT 3 times fast. Lunch was nice. We each had some cocktails and split some sides, and I had a bowl of lentil soup. That night, I met back up with everyone again at the local. It was a quick night though, just a few beers and then I headed home.

Because on Friday I finally had the privilege of meeting Blondie's work friends! His work took the team to the auto show, and then mid afternoon, the group meandered into our hood and ended up at our local. They are a great bunch of people, and the afternoon flew by. Many beers and many shots (it was also one of Blondie's coworkers last day) occurred, but I kept it under control because I had a day of hiking on Saturday!

I was up early Saturday and Glitter and I took a cab to Chinatown, where we met up with 2 of our other friends (yes, also from the bar. I've known them for forever - a year+ at least - but this is the first time they are getting introduced here. I have no nickname for them so they are just "2 of our friends" at the moment). Barkbox organized a hike in Connecticut for people and their dogs. Digressing somewhat but I am a cat person. I like dogs as well, it's not that, but my Tigga is most definitely my guy. And, on that note. You know how much it bothers me when dog people tell me they don't like cats? Or when non-NYC people tell me they could never live in NYC? You don't have to like cats and you don't have to like NYC but you've got (what you got?) to respect other people enough to keep your mouth shut at some points (this is very much directed at two people in particular who don't read my blog, I promise. I mostly just wanted to vent). Can you spell off topic?

Okay, so Barkbox in Chinatown around 9 am, and we split into two buses for the ride into Connecticut. Halfway there, the Barkbox coordinator on our bus got a call from the bus behind ours that our bus driver had never locked the panels on the side of the bus and all the goodie bags they had loaded for the dogs had spilled all over the highway. Barkbox coordinator tells the bus driver who drives for 10 more minutes before pulling over to fix the issue.

Then, my favorite bus driver also took us 3 exits past the one we needed to get off at because he wasn't paying any attention to where we were going. And the bus driver behind ours didn't even have a GPS so he had to follow us as well. But finally, we were in Danbury (home to the prison from OITNB and were Teresa Guiduce is staying). The hike was... unorganized. They had easy, medium and hard trails and my friends and I all suffer from the same problem which is we like to eat and drink and not work out. So the four of us and our two dogs decided to go on the easy trail.

There was no easy trail. Our guide led us in circles and finally was like "oops!" At that point, she told us we could either turn around and head back up the hill or go down a steep hill to look at the water. I was about 5 people behind my friends and figured nobody would want to do the steep hill (because you had to come back up it) so I turned around and headed back up the normal hill. Where I joined right on up with the hard hike people. I'm not sure how that happened except they happened by when I got to the top of the normal hill and I thought I was supposed to go with them. Uh yeah. It SUCKED. I ended up doing the peak hike (up to the top of the "mountain" or "large hill" depending on where you live), and thought I was going to DIE before it ended.

At the end of the hike, you had to cross a large field and that's where I ran into my friends again. They had gone down to the water and hung out and then came back the easy way. I chugged a ton of water when we were done and then the bus took us back towards New York but with a stop for lunch. Barkbox had already coordinated with the place and they had a ton of food ready for us (we think there were about 50 people between the two buses), but it was cash only and Barkbox didn't have cash on them so we had to wait for them to run to an ATM after we were done eating and before we could head back to NYC. Lunch was nice though - it was honestly the best tasting burger I ever had in my life (b/c I was STARVING after my inadvertent foray to the top of the peak) and then it was back into the bus and back to New York.

It was a good trip, just unorganized. But they did stop in our hood on the way back and drop us off instead of making us go back to Chinatown. Traffic was horrible so that was really nice of them.

Saturday night was spent sitting in a hot bubble bath with a glass of whiskey and then eating a ton of sushi. Awesome.

Yesterday I met up with all of our friends at Pony for the afternoon. I thought I'd be fried from Saturday because my legs were killing me on Saturday already but I felt fine on Sunday. A lot of beer and food filled our afternoon and then it was time to head to the Winchester for one last drink. Which turned into 3 last drinks.

Today my legs hurt though, from the knees down. So I cleaned the house a bit and then did a workout. First workout in like 3 months if you don't count the hike. And now I'm going to work on my second book again - incorporating the scene change from book one.

On the going-back-to-work front, I'm rolling forward with something and should know if it's a go by end of next week.

Plans this week include... nothing! Well, I'm meeting my girlfriends tomorrow night for wine night because one of them heads back to England for over a month on Wednesday, but that's it.

Have a good one!

--K

Did you miss me?

So. Totes obvs too much has happened since I last posted *4 months ago* to catch everyone up on it all.

The highlights (these are not in order of importance, I'm just typing them as I think of them):
1) The cat is still doing well! He has stabilized at about 10 pounds, and the vet has told us that he's at a good weight and now we're in maintenance mode! So glad my guy is still kicking his cancer in the ass.

2) The moms are well!
2a) Blondie's mom was diagnosed with colon cancer last year, and had surgery in January to remove the tumor. She came through like a champ and is now officially cancer free. Blondie took a week and went back to The Land of Cheese to help his mom. I'm glad he was able to do that for her.

2b) My mom has had heart problems for years and in February, they performed heart surgery on her to help stop her problems. I went back for over a week to the Land of Whiskey, Tobacco and Horses, to help her out. She was in a lot of pain for a lot of days, but was well on her way to recovery when I left. She had a quick trip to the ER after I got back to NYC for a skin infection, but is already back at work!

3) My book. My book. My dirty filthy book.
Well. Folks. My first book has come back from my editor. I'm in the process of cleaning it up, which is surprisingly way harder than writing it initially, and have a minor change to make to the setting of the novel, but other than that, I should be GTG by end of April. I'm excited. I'm nervous. I'm ready. My editor's comments are: I don't use commas correctly, and I like to do things like incorporate invalid simultaneous actions, wandering body parts, and multiple points of view in the same paragraph. Said in a whiney voice: "writing is hard guyz!"

My second book is done as well, but I will have to modify it some to take into account the setting change from my first novel. And my third novel is about 90% done. Again, a few changes there as well. I'll have one more book in that series and then I get to start on my next idea (so excited!)

Mr Pooh was da bomb and made me an avatar for my writer's page and social media sites - I owe him big time! And Glitter did my book cover design - so awesome. What would've probably cost me over $200 between the two ended up costing me nothing. You guys are the best!

4) Work. I think it's time I headed back. I've been wavering about this, but I think getting out of the house will be good for me again. I have a tough decision about something in regards to this, but once my mind is made up, I'll let you all know.

5) Visitors! I had a friend from DFW visit that I hadn't seen in over 8 years, Blondie had a friend from college visit, and I had 2 old coworkers from SF come visit. It was nice getting to see some friendly new (old) faces again!

6) Packers / Wisconsin / UK - Every single one of you loses? And now only do you lose, you lose to New England, DUKE (come on now, really??!?!?) and Wisconsin (better, but not good).

7) Party Trolley - we rented a trolley for a friend's birthday party and had it drive us around the city while we drank copious amounts of alcohol. It was a lot of fun, and if we ever get the families back at the same time (like we did at Blondie's birthday), we're thinking we should rent one again. We took the trolley to Mother Burger (mexican bulldogs) and Trailer Park (margaritas), but otherwise, just drank while driving on the streets of New York. We had a driver from the trolley company. The people that were drinking were NOT driving.

8) New pizza place in da hizzou. The owners of my favorite bar in the city (Pony) and Mr Pooh's favorite bar in the city (Landsdowne) opened a new bar right beside Pony. They serve wood fired pizzas and craft beers, and the first day I managed to get Blondie in there, they bought us each two drinks and gave us a t-shirt. My new favorite Sunday activity is Pony for snacks and beer, followed by Kiabacca for pizza and beer. And I wonder why I'm fat again? ;)

9) Free concert courtesy of Blondie's work! Blondie won free tickets to see Three Days Grace a few weeks ago. We went in about 10 minutes late, but still had a blast. The band itself was a little cheesy (not the music, just the way they interacted with the crowd during downtime), but overall, it was what I needed after a stressful day dealing with something else!

10) Tex-Mex food crawl - Glitter, Indian Bar Friend and I did a tex-mex food crawl over Easter weekend. We started at a place in Gramercy Park (YUM) on Friday, then dinner at a new place in the hood on Saturday (food = good; service = not good -> 3 hours from sit down to leaving and there was only 4 of us), and then Blondie and I ordered tacos on Sunday. Best! Weekend! Ever!

And all the other stuff that comes with living in NYC - hanging with my friends; bar friends, two old jobs ago friends, last job friends. You name it, it's been happening. Movies, restaurants, wine nights with my girlfriends. Hanging with Blondie and just relaxing. Going hiking in Connecticut this weekend.

Things are good! Miss you all. And now that I've got a grip on the editing of my first book, I'll post regularly going forward!

--K