Why Hello There!

Long time no blog huh? It's funny how hard I fight to keep blogging when I am in the habit, but once I break the habit, it can be just as hard to get back into it. But the time is here to bite the bullet and get back to it. Hopefully I will have both the time to blog now and the time to do things to actually blog about. To get me started though I have some house work we did this spring and summer to catch up on.

As to why I haven't been blogging? That is easy, work. It's been busy, bordering on insane, but also fun. I know it sounds nuts, but I actually really enjoy my job.

Anyway, time to get back to blogging.

Sometimes

Sometimes life gets away from you and you get so wrapped up in the day to day you forget about doing other things. And other times, like now, you have big stuff going on that you don't really want to put out there publicly until they are settled. Two big things have been going on the past couple of weeks.

1) Michael has been away, Abu Dhabi again, but he is finally on a flight home right now! He will be home tonight! The kitties and I are very excited. One of the few fun things he got to squeeze in while he was away, between all the work, was a trip to the camel races. He sent me this little video:


2) I got a new job! I am leaving my current company and position next week, and I start a new job April 4th. For once we aren't moving! I am just going to be commuting about the same distance, just in the opposite direction. I am really excited about this opportunity.

Hopefully now that things are settling down, I will have a bit more time, I am so behind on stuff I wanted to blog about!

That was tough

Wow work has really been taking a toll on me this month. We were under a huge time crunch to implement a project and I have been killing myself to get it done (working multiple days for 16 or more hours, nights and weekends reviewing documents and emails etc) and finally last night at 11 I finished up what needed to be complete before the holidays. I am looking forward to having some time off until January, and picking up my camera again!

Boring

When did my life get so boring I have nothing to blog about? Probably when Mike left for Abu Dhabi. All I do is housework, nothing to blog about there.

Other news items:
Liking the new people in photos on flickr
Looking forward to trying the new Lightroom 3 Beta love the idea of pro level noise reduction!

I should have more photos to share soon, big baby shower this weekend!!! I am excited about that! And I rented the 85mm 1.2L for it!!

Sad and Lonely

Michael is at JFK right now standing in line to catch a flight to Abu Dhabi, where he will be for the next month. I am beyond sad.

Time

I need to find more time during the week to write up blog posts, I also need to find time to take more pictures so I have more stuff to blog. In other exciting news I got my hair cut last night. <>

Itchy

It appears we have poison ivy in our yard, or we did before I pulled a bunch of it out while I was weeding this weekend. I have little itchy bumps all over. I am in hell.

Cooking Class

Last Thursday Michael and I had signed up for a cooking class at the local community college. We thought it would be fun to learn how to cook some new dishes, and as a bonus it would get us off the couch and out of the house.

The class we took was called Pearl of the Orient and according to our "instructor" it was food from the Philippines. I say "instructor" because she did very little instructing, more here is a recipe, and some ingredients, the pots and stuff are over that way, get cooking. Which we found very disappointing considering the cost ($40+ per person). We should have just gone out for a nice dinner! It would have been less work, and tastier.

I still took my camera though, because that is what I do. All shots with 5DM2, 50mm 1.2L.


Our chicken coconut curry (front) and pork adobo (back) boiling way.


Mike looking a little crazy carrying around a frying pan.


Frying the pork spring rolls, the best part.

Third

Today is our third wedding anniversary. It feels like our wedding was both a lifetime away and just a couple of months ago. This past year has brought so much change for us. We left the jobs we had since before we were married, moved back to the east coast, but to a place neither of us has lived before, started new jobs, and started looking for a house. Hopefully this next year will be full of small things other than actually buying a house, I think we need a quiet year to settle into our new lives here. I will save the really sappy stuff for Mike's anniversary card. :)

Watch later this week for pages from the blurb book I am about to order for our third year. I just need to make a page for today (we are going out for a nice dinner), and then I can pull it all together and share.

Blogging Anywhere

Now that I have this iphone and my new blogging app I can post from anywhere. Right now we are in the checkout line at Wegman's. By the way we might have found a house we like but nothing has been done about it yet.

My new best friend

Last night we went and picked me up an iPhone. I am in love already. Plus look I can blog from work now. Yippee for more blogging.

I finally figured out. . .

I finally figured out what Fresh Sugar Lip Balm tastes like to me. Candy buttons, LOVE those! And by the way the lip balm is totally worth the $22.50 price tag, delicious and it makes my lips feel wonderful.

Netflix + TivoHD + 50" Plasma

Equals me and Mike spending all day today on the couch watching the entire first season of Weeds. I LOVE being able to download things straight to the tivo no waiting, and no extra cost! Totally worth the upgrade from the series 2 Tivo. The show Weeds is really great, you should watch it if you aren't.

If anyone asks though, we couldn't get out because of the snow. (Though that did actually cancel our planned house hunting today).

Nearly 6 months

It has been nearly 6 months since I left DNA and I can't shake the feeling that I am still morning that loss.

Today is our "all-hands" meeting the industrial operations (ie manufacturing) at my new job. Aside from bring boring (duh I am writing a blog post to type up later during it), I sit here alone (because I didn't feel like looking for anyone I know to sit with) feeling like an outsider. I know that is all me, I need to step up and join in if I really want that to chance. No matter how much I want to do that I feel like I can't until I can really let DNA go.

Maybe it is the reverse? Maybe it will be easier to let go if I have a hold of something new? What else is it about this job/company/culture that is holding me back?

I know when I joined DNA I had a hard time committing to it. It probably took me 1-2 years to really settle in and love it there. maybe I am pushing too hard with this one? But now I know what it is like to belong at a job, to be proud of your company and I miss it. I want that back. Is it possible? Can I find that here? Does this culture fit me?

No matter what if I am still here this time next year, I am skipping this meeting!

Random Wednesday

1 - Where the heck is my new camera (5dm2)? When is Canon going to start shipping them? I would just feel much better if I could know a concrete date when it would be in my hands.

2 - damn I forgot how cold it is here in the winter, and DRY. My lips are chapped, my hands are bleeding, so is my nose. Not pretty! CA I miss you more each day!

3 - I can't believe how much my work pays me to go to a training (6 sigma green belt) where we measure balls, apples and chuck things using a "statapult".

4 - Christmas is coming up FAST and I have barely started any shopping, I need to get on that ASAP!!

5 - Where is my camera!!! Can you tell this is always on my mind?

I did it!

I voted, damn that was easy! There was no line at all, no waiting. The biggest hurdle was my name being wrong on the voter card (it was my maiden name) but that was taken care of quickly (I brought our marriage certificate and that worked). So I did my duty for the day.