catch 22

Upsides of vacation:

- vacation

- no work

- no having to walk the dog when you're tired

- sleeping in

- spontaneity & romance & family & fun

Downsides of vacation:

- making up the hours you missed at work

- being thrown off all week because you played hooky on Monday

- wanting to go BACK on vacation as soon as you get home.

First weekend of October, can't wait for you to get here. Denver, here we come!

home again, home again

I had a really great weekend full of my boyfriend's family, a beautiful wedding, and sweet sweet sweeeeet vacation.

Not to brag, but all I did this weekend was eat eat eat, walk on the beach and read a book about Paul Newman.

And now that I'm back in the real world, I'm taking the day to pretend like I'm still on a mini vacation. I skipped the gym this morning, picked my girl Vegas up from the kennel, took her to Chik-fil-A for breakfast, and now we're sitting around on the couch.

Oh, and we're considering adopting this little guy:

It was good to get out of the heat and away from work for a little bit. The rest of the day is going to be filled with job apps and planning for hosting Thanksgiving this year. Any ideas on either?

meet the suegros

Okay, so I'm not their nuera (yet). And I've already met them. But Saturday will mark the first time I'm flying out to stay with them. And I'm nervous.

I feel like Ben Stiller in "Meet the Parents", like I'll always be living in the shadow of Owen Wilson. I'm worried that I'll come off as if I'm aloof, rude, thoughtless. I feel like I need to live up to some prior version of someone else.

And not to take the blame from myself (because my reactions are ultimately my responsibility), but most of it is cultural and the rest of it is situational.

Cultural: Any time something happens that suggests that he has ever even smiled at someone else, I turn into some caricature of a woman in a novela and I'm all like, "Noooo, me mataaaaaaaas". And I panic and I cry and I react in a completely irrational manner. Oops. Sorry.

Situational: On the other hand, I've dated people where the above things wouldn't even phase me. Oh, you're still in love with your ex? Okay. You think we should take a step back and see other people? Cool. What I'm trying to say is I'm serious about this, in a way that I don't quite understand.

At the end of the day, the people who love me the most know me the best. And if they can love me when I'm cranky and stressed out and out of line, I can be on my best behavior for a week and charm the pants off these folks (not literally...keep your clothes on).

P.S. Thing I'm most excited about: Potentially going on a White House tour. Odds of me seeing Bo Obama? Unlikely, but I'll still keep hoping. First runner up: Tea at the National Cathedral. Second runner up: "Little Shop of Horrors" at Ford's Theatre.

I could deal with going on a vacation that sounds exactly like this right about now...

Done!!! (for now)

Air smelled sweeter on Friday afternoons in high school when I would rush towards my Jeep, roll down the windows, crank up the radio, and speed down the Boulevard to a lazy weekend.

I don't think that there's any better feeling than being DONE. I would feel pretentious if I called this a sense of accomplishment, because it's really just a sense of joy that I don't have to do ANYTHING for the next month. I don't have to study, don't have to worry, don't have to think about any sort of career.

I am officially finished with my first semester of nursing school. I am one-quarter of the way done with my program and a year and a half from graduation.

Hey California, I'll be seeing you real soon.