Yummy Quick Breakfast

Who knew that THIS:

  source

Plus THIS:

 source

With a little of THIS on top could be such a yummy breakfast?! Or snack.

Microsoft Clip Art

Good stuff!

Thanks

for the thoughts and advice the other day. I appreciate it.

And thanks for not thinking I'm totally crazy. I just needed to think out loud a little bit.

I'll keep you posted.

A Rose By Any Other Name...

So I'm a little torn ... and kind of ticked off... about a couple of things and I thought it might help to blog it out. (hehe, OK saying "blog it out" makes me chuckle for some reason. Am I just weird that way?)

Ahem. Anyway.

I started writing a post and it felt like I was just ranting in an unproductive way. And I don't like that. So here's the gist of it...


I've basically been offered a title change. It's a title I'm quite familiar with. It's actually funny how it seems to follow me around: Assistant Director.

The title doesn't come with more money (which I kind of need and will hopefully get once I have license in hand- another source of ranting, don't get me started). The title might come with more responsibility, which would mostly be on paper (literally the classification in HR would change on paper)... but I mean, I've been doing the stuff already ..it would just be official. It would mean I would supervise people. It would probably carry some credibility with parents and maybe students. It might pave the way for some changes down the road.

But honestly the title seems to be quite overused around here. I'm not sure it means much to many people. Even though I'm already doing most of the stuff now...this would make it official and might create more administrative nonsense for me...which might take away from direct client care. And the supervisory responsibilities might be a bit much if I'm expected to keep my schedule the same.

So I'm not sure what to do. I need your thoughtful input. On the one hand...if not much changes, why wouldn't I take the title. I guess it looks pretty. On the other hand, is having additional responsibility worth it? Am I missing something? Am I just being weird and overthinking this whole thing?

Part of the complication is that I recently learned I kind of got screwed on my salary when I got here (thanks to one person who is no longer working here)...and that's what I'm trying not to rant about and y'all don't really need to know all the drama and sordid history. But yeah, I'm a bit bitter about that.

Thoughts??

Company's Coming

The fridge is stocked.

Supplies are aren't in the house....yet. (Yup, you guessed it...more house projects.)

Floors are swept, beds are made, towels are folded. Lawn is mowed and pooper-scooped.

And Montey is on the lookout. He can't wait to see his cousin Vinnie.

Oh, What a Night

So last night I did go to the "social gathering"...thankfully I had talked to one of my new quasi-friends (we're on the way to becoming friends, but it's still quite new) and she and a couple others I knew would be going to this thing. I was relieved. See, when my Crush and I spoke and I told him K-Dog couldn't come...he made some statement (I am still praying it was a total joke) about hitting on women and he hoped I'd have someone to talk to without K-Dog there. Sigh. Again, it was hard to know if he was really joking or not.

When I got there with my friend/coworker T (who happened to be in town) and saw all my new quasi-friends, I knew things would probably be fine...at least I had them and we could always leave. But it was weird, not gonna lie. We all felt like we were crashing the whole thing.

Finally my Crush came down to my end of this giant string of tables and was chatting with me for a while. He ended up sitting next to me when they brought his food out, so we got to talk more...and there was a lot of bickering and back-and-forth between us. And as usual, he ended up being quite sassy and basically insulted me a number of times, called me a few names, and told some other people that if I murdered him, they should grab his phone and call his sister. I told him that with so many people witnessing his sassy behavior toward me, I would be able to get off on Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. Later he did tell me that he would never tease me and call me names like that in front of certain people/audiences, which has been my experience even with the joking and teasing we've done up to this point. I spent most of the night next to The Crush...at one point he bought me a drink (T too, but she just wanted water) and later he got a little touchy, but I'm not really sure I should make anything of it at all.

Anyway, T and I stayed with the group (who are clearly pretty tight and hang out often) until after 9:30...I know, so late, right? Hehe. It was for me. And dang it, I'm just pretty proud of myself for going!

Oh and it seemed one of the girls brought some young (under 21) friend with her and according to T, was really pushing her onto The Crush. During the second half of the night he was sitting between the girl and me. I'm really not so sure the girls on his other side appreciated me being there or the fact that I was getting as much attention from him (or the others) as I was getting. Whatever. 

It was very weird seeing him with his friends and acting all goofy and ... loud. He's usually so serious and calm and quiet. But it was good. I've wanted to get to know him outside of work...and honestly a part of that is so I can revise this darn idealized image I've had in my head.

So overall the night was a lot of fun and I met some cool people, had some fun with The Crush. He still wants to come out with K-Dog and I...so I guess we'll if/when that happens. I really hope he doesn't think K-Dog and I get as rowdy and goofy as the group did last night! Because we really aren't rowdy. At. all.

The night ended when they all decided to go to a bar for some karaoke. A couple of the guys wanted me to come and the one who kept calling me "Doc Heidi" all night practically yelled at me to "give a good reason" why I couldn't come out, but I just couldn't do it. I was spent. But was flattered they wanted me to come out and happy to have gotten to meet these people.

Oh...The Crush was chatting up some blonde at the bar at that point....I didn't even get to say goodbye. Kinda sucky, but whatever. Who knows, maybe he did that on purpose...

That's that, my friends. For now I'll chalk it up to experience and see what happens (if anything) later.

Gimme a Paper Bag! STAT!

I think I'm so nervous, I actually appear calm right now... like if my hands were shaking, they'd be going so fast they wouldn't appear to be moving at all.

The Crush emailed K-Dog and I to invite us out to a "social gathering" after work. Then basically immediately after we ran into him at lunch. I chatted to get more details (he was being a bit "secretive" with them) but he did say that K-Dog and I were "both [his] dates". I gave him crap about not coming out with us the times I'd invited him before saying he should've just told me he prefers hanging out at "classier" establishments than the "low key" bar we go to. He said it was more about scheduling, then said, "Besides, you're an East sider...I'll be honest, I've got a problem with that. It's like when I was in New York, you don't date someone from another burough."

In case anyone missed it...he said the word date(s) two times.

Kevin can't go. Hence the needing a paper bag. 

And for the record, I wasn't even all weird and red in the face...at least I don't think I was. I could even form sentences. And even though I planned to run approximately100 errands after work and buy some tile (which is really fun on a Thursday night), I didn't blurt out "I'm buying tile" or some other ridiculous thing.

You know what that is don't you? Progress.

This Is What My Life Has Become????

I spent a part of my morning yesterday like this...

...my feet propped up under my desk with ice packs on my shins.

Oh, and let's not forget some of this in the evening...

Yeah. My shins hurt.

I realized...I spend a lot of time thinking about my dang shins. And icing them. And stretching them, strengthening them, and reading about how to strengthenstretchcareforthem.

I blame these guys...

Stay tuned...

Imagine My Surprise

I was working on a few small projects in the yard this weekend and was in and out of my little garage a couple of times. I was moving a few things around when I noticed the craziest thing! These two plants were growing!

Let me back up. Last year when I was looking around for some things to plant in the front yard (which didn't actually happen until recently), I came across some perennial hibiscus plants that were on sale. I snatched a few of them (6? 8?) and had every intention of planting them in the front yard. Well, time went on and I never really got a chance to get them in front, so I ripped out some other plants I hated in the back yard and thought the hibiscus would be lovely there. I planted most of them in a smallish spot and had 2 left over. So, I set them in the garage and barely thought of them since...I figured they were dead since they were in such tiny containers and left there all winter. All. Winter. When I stumbled upon them in the garage, I was floored to see new growth! How the heck did they live in there with no water? Luckily they had light from the one window in the garage...it's like a gardening miracle!

So I potted them in 2 of the biggest pots I have and I'm hoping they make it (the ones I planted in the ground are coming up again, but no flowers yet).

Let me tell you, these hibiscus are HUGE...

See what I mean? That's my hand over a flower last summer!!

They are also beautiful...it will be a surprise to see which colors come up where...

Doesn't this one remind you of a peppermint candy?

So pretty! I can't wait to see what happens.

Tell me...have you had any garden miracles?

Creative Cookin' (Or... That Time I Managed to Botch Up a Tried-and-True Recipe)

source

Every once in a while I like to treat myself to a nice breakfast over the weekend. Usually it's Sunday morning, but it can be whenever the mood strikes me. These days it's usually homemade pancakes, though a couple times a year I'll get real crazy and make waffles!

This morning I decided I wanted to get creative and tweak my pancake recipe. I partially thawed a few frozen strawberries and chopped them up. Then I decided to try replacing some of the milk in the recipe with plain vanilla yogurt. I've done this before with things...it's actually quite lovely in your French Toast egg mixture...but I guess I've never done it with pancakes.

I should've known right away to cut back on the milk or increase the flour or something, because adding berries will always add some moisture. Durr. Apparently so will yogurt- more than you think. But I got excited at the sight of the pretty pink batter and eagerly got the first two pancakes going. It smelled really good! When those didn't turn out so well, I figured I should let them cook a bit longer next time...which left me with a pretty dark pancake (in general these pancakes seemed to brown up super fast!). They were just turning out really moist and gooey in the middle. So,  I added a bit more flour to my mixture and tried again. A little better this time, but still not great. After a couple more tries and half-eaten pancakes, I called time-of-death on my pancake project. I wonder if the batter would've made some nice crepes?? Unfortunately, I didn't want crepes, nor did I bother trying.

I gave it my best shot, but overall this little experiment was an epic FAIL. So much for that nice breakfast. I guess next time I will simply look up a recipe on the Google.

Anyone have any good stories about creative cookin' gone horribly wrong?? Or really well?

PS- I was looking around for a cute picture to use for this post and found this adorable apron! How sweet! Too bad I don't sew.

New Workout??

{source}

You guys know I love dogs. I'm a dog person, straight to the core...and proud of it!

So when I read about this new workout modeled after a dog...I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Here it is, taken from this article on the Runner's World website:

"Run Like a Dog
My dog, a shepherd mix named Cooper, doesn't care where we are or what time of day it is, or even what the weather is like. He doesn't know what his resting heart rate is and rarely bothers to wear a watch. He just loves to run. And every time he does, his face and his body telegraph one simple message: This. Is. AWESOME. I'm runningrunningrunningrunning!

The "Run Like a Dog" Workout (Including Warmup and Cooldown) Walk 8 seconds. Trot 4 seconds. Stop. Sniff. Sprint 7 seconds. Freeze. Walk 5 seconds in any direction but forward. Stare 9 seconds. Lunge at rabbit. Double back, walk 3 seconds. Urinate. Repeat six times. Collapse on rug."

What do you think? Ready to tackle a new way to work out? What are you doing these days to get some exercise in??

Seriously, the whole article is pretty good, so go check it out, whether you run or not. I also found myself cracking up at the part about standing still at red lights. Good stuff. :)

All Kinds of Happiness!

So, since I'm trying to get back into the swing of blogging, I figured I'd catch you up on a couple of things...

My Birthday was a couple of weekends ago. Yeah, the big 3-1. I think 31 was a little more difficult for me than turning the big 3-0 last year. Maye I just don't like odd numbers, I don't know. 

Microsoft Clipart

I'll be honest, my Birthday kind of sucked this year. I had to work (I try never to work on my Birthday), which wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that it was new student orientation. And K-Dog was gone. Let's just say there were some parents that apparently didn't care for me much. And they basically fired intense, crazy, accusatory questions at me. And my new Vice President happened to be watching. It turned out fine- the VP and my other colleagues in the room said I handled everything really well and a lot of other parents came up to me later and told me they appreciated what I had to say, my humor, and that I did a great job. A few actually told me they couldn't believe the other parents' behavior. One sweet woman actually leaned across my table (I was at a resource fair at that point) and patted my face and told me I did a really nice job and she felt so bad when the parents were hassling me.

But on the upside...I got some beautiful, cheery flowers and a balloon sent to work from my mom, my friend/coworker took me out for an AMAZING sushi dinner and brought me a Kung Fu Panda cupcake (her son's b-day is the day before mine), I had lots of Facebook messages/texts/emails/phone calls sending love my way, and I even saw The Crush...and he touched me. (But we're not gonna talk about that now.)

Last weekend was my mini-vacay/Birthday re-do weekend. I took a few days off from work and went to visit my brother in the Twin Cities. Have I mentioned how much fun he and I have together? Which is still funny to me, given we used to fight like crazy when we were younger. Anyway, it was nice to get away for awhile and spend some quality time with him. AND.... let me introduce you to LuLu...

Isn't she pretty? My lease was basically up on my Saturn (which I loved so much), so Brother and I went car shopping. Such an adventure. After a little drama with GM screwing me over on trading in my Saturn, I managed to get a lease on this beautiful 2012 Kia Sorento. She's got a bit more room than my Vue did, which is nice, but doesn't feel like a big bulky thing...except when I'm backing up...but I have a camera to help with that...though I'm not used to using it and end up feeling a little seasick backing out of my long driveway. :-/

Can you believe this weekend is my second House-iversary?! I can't. In some ways it feels like a lot longer...but mostly I can't believe I've owned my house for 2 years. Wow. I better get crackin' on these darn projects!

Lastly... I hope you all have an awesome and safe Fourth of July weekend! I hope you all get a chance to relax and have fun!

Microsoft Clipart

Funkity Funk Funk

 This picture has little to do with what I'm about to say, other 

than it came up when I searched for an image for the word "funk". 

And this post is inspired by my sister. Also...I imagine myself to be 

the soulful diva in the middle, with my sisters givin' off some serious 

attitude to my right and left. :)

One of my sisters posted the following question on my Facebook page yesterday:

"Are you in a blogging funk?"

To which I replied:

"My life is boring."

I'm not sure how to interpret her answer:

"heidi-get a move on it. make something up otherwise:-)"

Hmm, get a move on making my life more interesting or get a move on blogging?? Uh yeah, I'm trying to make my life more interesting. I can talk about some of that, but sometimes it doesn't seem as though others will find it interesting...as if it's not "blog-worthy". Anyone else feel that way? Can I get a witness?!

I have some projects I could talk about ...but they're not finished, which feels like a massive failure to me. Even though the break in progress was partly due to circumstances beyond my control.

But yeah...I guess you could say I'm in a blogging funk. I'll get it together and start posting again. No promises about frequency...or how interesting it will be for you.

Is there anything YOU want to know or read about here? Ideas and questions are welcome...hehehe within reason, of course. ;-)


*image from amazon.com

Guess What I'm Doing This Weekend???

Again...

Front Yard Fix-Up

Last weekend my mom and Brother came out to help me with a few projects around the house. My main focus was the front yard...its hideousness was driving me crazy.

Remember last summer when I when a small army ripped out those giant bushes in front of the house? Sometime after that we added lattice to the bottom of the front porch, but it was later in the fall and I didn't have time to get it painted. Anyway, that's how things sat for some time.

And this is basically how things looked:

It's OK, you can cringe. It wasn't pretty. You can't tell from these pictures very well, but the sides of these flower bed planter things basically didn't exist. The sides sort of just stopped and the ground sloped down, which was causing a lot of erosion, especially on the driveway side. 

The other thing you may notice, in the pic above...there is a line of big stones in the middle of the bed. At some point, I'm guessing that is where the original bed ended, but because the bushes got SO big, someone added another layer in front and filled it in with dirt. Nice. 

So our task was to dig up as many of those as possible to build up the sides and to provide more room for plants. Fun stuff.

I dug up a lot of stones while Brother worked on the sides. You can sort of see that in the pic above, but the pic below really shows his handiwork! Good job Brother!

After running to Home Depot and a local hardware store for some topsoil, mulch, and some select Garden Weasel tools, we started breaking up the soil and worked in peat moss and fresh topsoil. 

Nice, right?

Somewhere in there we went to the garden center and I spent WAY too much on plants and flowers.... but I bought mostly perennials because I am NOT doing this every year. Homie don't play that. 

We got the plants home and laid them out first, to make sure I liked how it all looked. Mom and Brother also put the flowers and things they picked out in the planters up on the porch. 

 

Once everyone was satisfied... the digging re-commenced. And then the mulching started. And then we ran out of mulch. 

The end. 

Not really. We ran to the HD again for more mulch. Mom insisted on buying a couple hanging ferns for my porch. 

So we finally finished the job and took a few minutes to admire everything. Doesn't it look amazing!? What a difference a hard day's work makes!!

 

I love it! Since this pic was taken, we added (at Mom's insistence) two hanging flower baskets. They're also very lovely. :)

And now I'm just trying not to kill everything!

The end. 

Sweaty Weekend Fun!!

Get your minds out of the gutter! My sweaty weekend fun involved a lot of hard, manual labor and this:

Cypress Mulch. It was as though the Fates knew I'd need some because it was on sale at Home Depot! Wahoo!

But this little project is going to take some time and a few more pictures to explain and give it the attention it deserves! So I hope to be back very soon with the full scoop!

Oh, the fun didn't stop there... my Rockstar Team (Mom and Brother) helped with a few cleanup projects in the back yard, gutter cleaning, and got me started on my bedroom overhaul (finally!). More on that later too!

Did you work on any big projects this weekend??

Simple Pleasure

{Microsoft Office Clip Art}

I love slicing a fresh lime and throwing it in my Nalgene bottle full of water. As soon as I open it at work in the morning, I catch the subtle scent of the lime and it makes me happy. So refreshing!

What simple pleasure are you enjoying these days?


*Yes, I know I've been MIA for some time...but I'm hoping to blog a little more now that things are calming down a little. AND I have some big house projects to work on this weekend...hopefully I'll have some before and after pics to share later!

Sweet Success!!

This picture has nothing to do with what I'm about to say...except that I love it and it makes me happy. And that's enough for me. :)

Anyway, onto the Good News!

I passed my national licensing exam!! Ha! Take that EPPP!

So that's where I've been lately. I really didn't tell many people when I was taking it, or that I had taken it when I was finished. I just really didn't want people asking me every day if I had heard anything yet...although K-Dog and T asked a number of times anyway!

After such a drawn-out application process with the state, I had been approved to take the exam and originally scheduled it for February 22. I was mentally ready to have it over in February. But alas, it wasn't meant to be- I took a practice exam and didn't score as well as I thought I should, which really shook my confidence after being SO ready. Then some major stuff was going on at work and K-Dog and I decided I should just reschedule. It ended up working out really well because even more major stuff went on with a coworker getting very ill, a blizzard, and some client issues. Plus, it gave me more time to overcome my confidence issue and prepare.

I took the exam on March 22...and barely dodged having to travel in another blizzard. It was bad enough I had to drive a couple of hours in rain, sleet, snow, and wind. Both ways.

I was not sure how I did when I left the exam, which is common based on what lots of others have said. I tried to think positively, but I'll be honest- in the excruciatingly painful weeks I had to wait for my score, I was nervous. In the beginning I did pretty well, but as time went on I became more nervous and cranky! It didn't help that I am nursing a rib injury that has seriously restricted the physical activities I can do- so no Pilates or yoga or walking two strong dogs! I am certain that would've helped me manage my anxiety.

But Friday I came home from work and there it was...the letter from the state. I was scared to open it, but K-Dog was texting me to just rip it open...I know he wouldn't have left me alone until I did. So after a moment or two of hyperventilating, I tore it open and saw that I passed. I burst into tears! K-Dog called at that moment and I blurted out the words and started sobbing again...I'm pretty sure I was kind of laughing too...and I remember saying, "I'm just so happy!" He told me we were definitely going out for a drink now! He told me to call my mom and dad immediately and he was going to go call L and "everyone".

I managed to tell my mom I passed after I randomly updated her about a situation we had during the day. I was bawling again. She yelled to everyone in the room that I passed, which was kind of comical. Then I sent a few texts and the craziness ensued. Then my friend J called- apparently K-Dog even called her! Aww, I was touched that he called her too. (I had finally broken down and told her about the exam one night when we went out to dinner.) She was out of town but was so excited for me and promised to celebrate with me later.

So now I need to let the others at work know...I know they've been thinking about it. It's been tough to duck out of answering questions like "So when is the exam?" I'm not sure, but telling some people at work might make me start weeping again.

I did tell The Crush that I took the exam when he and I had a phone conversation a couple weeks ago at work. He told me to make sure I let him know when I pass as it will be a reason to celebrate. Then he said he'd have to sit on the sidelines because of his knee, but could "watch the festivities". Um, what the heck does he think we'll be doing? Pole-dancing? Psshhh.

Now I just have to finish the last couple requirements and I will officially be licensed! Woohoo!

Life Lessons...From a Tomato

I've got spring fever. I daydream about warmer weather and fresh herbs right from my backyard.

So naturally, I ordered the new seeds and supplies catalog from an awesome place, Seeds of Change. They're certified organic and do some great community projects. As a bonus, the catalog is seriously fascinating reading. 


It got me thinking about my tomatoes last year. I definitely learned a few important things. And I realized these lessons didn't have to be just about the tomatoes anymore...


Embrace diversity! Difference is a good thing! There are more colors, textures, shapes, and sizes out there than you probably realize. Embrace them all. There's more out there than just generic, hothouse tomatoes.

Have patience & hope. I was so excited for my tomatoes to get here, once they started growing. After eagerly checking their progress week after week after week I started losing patience. I started losing interest. And I started thinking that my tomatoes were going to rot before they actually produced anything edible. But then, their true colors started showing and I felt a bit silly for losing patience, interest, and hope. Who am I to rush nature? It'll happen when it's supposed to and that's that. 

There are always going to be a few freaks. Nuff said.


Sometimes things aren't going to go the way you expect. From the moment I bought my little tomato plants, I had been daydreaming about all the tomatoes I'd have by the end of the summer. I was thinking about all the different ways I could enjoy my big harvest. I secretly wondered if I could convince my mom to help me can some tomatoes for later. Oh, the possibilities! Then my plants only produced a few tomatoes. Not even all at once so I could make a batch of salsa! One precious ripe tomato at a time. Which brings me to my next point...

Enjoy what you have. I admit, this one is sometimes difficult for me. I sometimes think more about the things I want instead of making the best of what I have. But boy, when it came to my tomatoes, I savored each one! 

Learn something from the experience and make it better next time. Honestly, this is probably my personal motto. I try to learn something, even from really crappy situations {cough, last job, cough cough}, and try to make it better the next time. You can bet I'm going to (try) growing tomatoes again this year. But I'm going to do a few things differently. We'll see how it goes.

So tell me.... what lessons have you learned from a tomato? Or carrot or cucumber or pumpkin or...whatever!

PS- I've also learned a lesson or two from this amazing tomato!!!

Disappointment...Then Hope

Last Friday, party day, was a tough one for me. I was trying to juggle some intense client stuff with all the everyday stuff, and last minute logistics for the party.

So it sucked to get an email from The Crush- sent to me and K-Dog- saying he couldn't come to the party after all because of a doctor's appointment involving his knee and a cortisone shot. The appointment was supposed to be in the morning, but had been moved to the very end of the day and he wasn't sure how he'd be feeling after. {Sigh} He DID say he would go out with us the next time we went out.

K-Dog tried to reframe things by saying it would take pressure off me for the evening so I could have fun. That's true, but I still felt a bit disappointed.

Just to be sure I didn't lose the momentum and bravery I'd magically and recently acquired, I decided to email him back:

"Oh Crush*, rub some dirt in it, you'll be fine. ;-)"

*Obviously I didn't call him that.

He emailed back pretty quickly with a "hahaha" and said that's probably what he'd tell his students. Ah yes, we think alike. :-)

The party was a lot of fun, but I'll admit, a teeny part of me hoped he would show up at some point. He didn't.

On Monday I emailed him again. You know...to express care and concern. {Seriously. Where is this bravery coming from?}:

"How's your knee? Did you survive?

PS- You missed a great party, but I'll try not to rub it in. :)"

About 30 minutes later he replied that he might be having surgery and:

"May be on the IR for a little while, but I am looking forward to getting invited to another one of these bashes sometime soon!"

The next day, I wrote again. Told him I was sorry to hear about the surgery, asked about recovery time (you know, since personally I'd like his time on Injured Reserves to be short) and then:

"I'll definitely keep you in the loop on upcoming excursions to {the favorite hangout}. Not sure when we'll go next- I have my national licensing exam coming up, so I'm basically going into hiding. Although passing would absolutely be cause for celebration."

After I hit 'send' I wondered if I needed to be cut off...if I was developing a weird addiction and if he was starting to think I was creepy or something.

But before I could get too worried he wrote back!

"Well good luck on that exam! I hope you kill it."

He also said he hoped his recovery was short but that it depended on what they found.

Mostly I focused on the first part...and the thought of a post-passing-celebration. {Insert goofy smile here}

It's oddly motivating.

I'm A Big Girl Now!

As I mentioned last week, we threw a little party for K-Dog. In the midst of everything, K-Dog had run into The Crush and invited him, but by Thursday we hadn't gotten an "official" RSVP from him.

So I called him. I guess I was feeling brave because I just picked up the phone and called with almost no hesitation. {Yay me!} He answered the phone really quickly and seemed pretty no-nonsense...and he always just answers with his first and last name and I realized I usually end up just repeating it back to him {I really should probably try not to refer to him by his complete name all the time huh?}. Anyway, the important thing is, when I identified myself his voice perked up. :)

I jumped right in and asked about the birthday party, to which he replied, "Well, I do have a lot of engagements, but I was going to try to swing by...to squeeze it in between all my other engagements..." He went on to say he had a work thing on Saturday out of town, so he couldn't "get all crazy like you people" and he'd be late because he had a work thing going until 5, which is when the party started, but he would be there. I told him it wasn't a big deal, we didn't usually get too crazy and gave him some info about where we'd be once he got to the place. We hung up and I had no one to share my excitement with! Everyone was busy! So I sent L an email because I had a couple of other RSVPs to pass to her. I knew she'd be excited too.

Later, I found out that shortly after our conversation The Crush emailed L his official RSVP and said he was looking forward to coming to the party. Because she hadn't yet read my email, she forwarded me his email with a smiley face, then realized I called him!

When K-Dog returned from his meetings, I told him I called The Crush and found out he'd be coming to the party..and I told him about the other RSVPs. K-Dog was glad to get the update on all the party planning details, then asked,
"Why did you call The Crush in the first place?"
"To ask him about the party. That's it."
"Ohhh! You're wearing Big Girl Pants now!!"

Yes, yes I am.

I may be a 15-year-old girl with a crush, but at least I've graduated to Big Girl Pants!



Tune in later for more of the story....