bump

I'm waiting to board my flight, and the desk paged me. I went up and asked what was going on, and I had been inexplicably bumped to business class, which is HUGE when you're on a full 11-hour redeye!

twenty hours

By this time tomorrow, I should be asleep on a plane, perhaps somewhere over the Midwest, and on my way to Zurich.

pb&c

Reese's cups in the microkitchen!

hurts so good

Whoever said that money can't buy happiness never used that money to pay for a really good massage, which then went overtime.

in the black

I just realized the other day that after ten years of being in the red from law school loans (and more recently, buying a car), 2010 is the year I made it back into the black. I still have student loans (government loans have such low interest that it isn't really worth paying them off yet) and a car loan, but my bank account balance is higher than my debts. I finally have positive net worth!

meet the parents

My boyfriend's parents met my family for the first time tonight, and it all went really smoothly. Quick postmortem seems to indicate that everyone liked everyone else.

bargain

I bought a pair of shorts today that were on sale, and when I went to pay for them, they were another 30% off!

relief

It's always such a relief to finally do something you were putting off, and then find out that it wasn't as complicated or time-consuming as you had anticipated. I came into the office today to do some work, and it took less time and mental power than I could have dared to hope. Whew.

glorious apollo

My dog loves to sunbathe, and is content to spend hours lying in whatever patch of sunlight is available. Even better is if I drag one of his beds into the light for him.

shiny

The pedicure lady did a really good job today, and I like the color. The picture doesn't really do her work or the nail polish justice.

on track

After getting a Kindle last October, I set a goal to read at least 40 books a year. Since then, I've been reading books on Kindle, mostly, but also listening to books on CD and reading physical books from the library, and I've kept up an avergae pace of a book a week, which means I'll hit the 40-book target really early. It's great to set a goal to do more of something that I enjoy, and then exceed expectations.

dumplings

Quick, easy, cheap, and always delicious.

good day

New office building, summary judgment, and champagne.

yt ftw

Internet: 1, Old Media: 0.

It was an exciting day at work today.

good deed

I got two packages at work today, but one of them wasn't for me. The store accidentally sent someone else's package to me, in addition to mine. I was a tiny bit tempted for a moment, but then called the store, had them fax me a new shipping label, taped it up, and sent it back out. The shock in the sales girl's voice that I had called to tell them about the mistake was worth it.

soon

Whoa, I'm going to Zurich next week! That's really soon. It's been over a year since I last visited, so it will be really good to check in with my crew there. And to stock up on my favorite gummy candy.

work in progress

Still in the process of settling in, but my new office will suit me just fine.

different comfort food

Comfort food, like my mom's pork roast, has always been an easy way to make myself feel good, but it only recently occurred to me that there could be other kinds of comfort food.

When I was young, we didn't have cable TV, and we only had a handful of movies that my parents had recorded off of broadcast TV, including such kid-pleasers as The Ten Commandments, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Ben Hur, and On Golden Pond. My sister and I, during our summers at home, generally gravitated towards Gone With the Wind, a compilation of Christmas specials, and above all, The Sound of Music. I'm not sure that it's possible to count the number of times I've watched that movie, partly because we liked it, and partly because there was nothing else to watch. My freshman year of high school, our school did a production of the stage version, so it became even more deeply ingrained in my memory.

Until this year, when my niece got into musicals, it had probably been at least 20 years since the last time I had seen the movie, but I can still recite some scenes line for line along with the actors (and, to the chagrin of my boyfriend, lyric for lyric during the musical numbers: "Happy are they, lay-dee-o lay-dee-lee-o! O lay-dee-o lay-dee lay-dee-lee-o!"). Seeing it again with my niece made me realize that the movie is the audiovisual equivalent of comfort food for me, so I ordered it through Amazon -- although it's really just by chance that it played such a big part of my formative years (although I don't think Tora! Tora! Tora! really had any chance), putting it into the DVD player takes me back to a time when the worst thing to worry about was whether Nazis would catch the Von Trapps after the big concert. 

Watching it is like catching up with an old friend (and discovering new things about that friend, since I had only ever watched it on a bad VHS tape on a small TV, with scenes cut out to make room for 1980's commercials -- it's very different when it's been remastered, with no cut scenes, on a big, widescreen TV with a real stereo system). 

miscellaneous

Clean house, chocolate pudding, artichoke and butter, computer with a fixed mouse button, book on CD, and maybe a favorite old DVD. Friday evening.

b(a)lt

I hadn't gone to the made-to-order sandwich line at work for a while; I had kind of forgotten about it, but I'm back with a vengeance. Yesterday, I got a tuna melt (plus sprouts, avocado, and sundried tomato spread), and today, I got a BLT (with avocado and sprouts). I gave half of my B(A)LT to my boyfriend, who didn't have time to grab anything before a lunch meeting, so after the meeting, I went back for another round. Yum.

work stuff

I really like eating lunch outside in the sun. I should do it more often.

We got our seating assignments for our move back to the remodeled building, and my office and officemate look good.

yesterday

Part of my day yesterday.

prop

My dog is sometimes kind enough to hold my book for me while I read.

holed up

Although I go through fits of restlessness and wanderlust, sometimes, I really can't think of a single reason to put on pants and leave the house. Today was one of those days. It was very hot outside, and I had some edible food, a bed, the internet, my Kindle, and my dog inside. Why go outside and melt in the blazing sun if I could just stay inside reading, eating pie and pickles, and drinking ginger ale?

tgis

It feels like Sunday, but it's only Saturday!

Spent last night at my sister's, then caught up with a few friends in the city, where it was a perfect, sunny 82 degrees, then came back down south before it got cold up north, having missed the blazing 100 degree heat of the day down here, to have dinner outside in the comfortably warm evening.

bow down

I AM THE MASTER OF MY INBOX.

Actually, even better, I am the master of both my work and personal inboxes.

arts and crafts

I spent the morning with a few coworkers and other people who work at my company, cutting shapes out of construction paper, and folding, hole-punching, and tying booklets together, all in the name of public service to provide supplies to a literacy project for underprivileged kids. I've been meaning to find some volunteer work to do, but haven't found a regular gig yet, so it was good to have a little half-day thing.

compare and contrast

It got up to about 70 degrees and mostly sunny today, and I was momentarily annoyed at the "bad weather," until I realized that it's only bad when compared to the 80 degrees and brilliantly sunny weather we've been having for the past two weeks, which is coming back on Friday. In most of my former lives, 70 and mostly sunny would have counted as good weather.

spree

Ah, summer, when a young woman's fancy turns to picnics and buying things online.

I moved from shoes (most of which I returned), to clothes (some of which I will return), to gifts (which hopefully will not need returning), and, much to the relief of my bank account, I've now circled back to ordering books for delivery by the library truck. Two showed up today, and have been lying on my desk in tempting positions since I picked them up at lunchtime.

self mockery

In a fit of absent-mindedness, I looked down at what I'd just grabbed, and realizing my mistake, blurted, "That's not my phone, it's a spoon!" Honest mistake. At least I realized right away, and didn't try to check email on it, which had been my intent. Although it amused me more than just picking up the phone and checking my email.

tastes like vacation

My boyfriend and I went to Hawaii last October, and our hotel made the most amazing housemade ginger ale, of which we drank gallons. After getting back, he tinkered around until he replicated the recipe, and we can have a cold glassful of vacation whenever we want it.

chatterbox

One of the best things about being a girl is having female friends that you can call and talk to for an hour or two and just feel good about having them in your life, even if they're far away. I don't think guys get that as much.

forgotten treasure

I love finding things that I forgot I had. A random five dollar bill in the pocket of my jeans, or, just a little while ago, a Vosges Barcelona chocolate bar that I had squirreled away in my fridge and somehow erased from my memory.

summertime

Summer means tomatoes, and tomatoes mean gazpacho for dinner!

the great indoors

It's hot and sunny out today. I put some sunscreen on and took Fiver out for a fifteen minute walk, then decided it was the kind of day that is best admired from the shade. I've opened all of the doors and windows in the house and turned on the ceiling fans, and it all has the distinct feeling of vacation, because of the sun, breeze, birdsong, and plant smells coming in from outside, and the smell of the sunscreen still coming off of my skin.

25 days

I just got my email confirmation from Swiss Airlines, after five days of mucking around, and I'll be going back to Zurich for a week in 25 days! Summer is beautiful there, I'll catch up with old friends, it's during July 4th (so I'll have days off while I'm there, but will work from the Zurich office the rest of the time), I'm taking the direct flight (which just started running this week), and it just so happens that I'll be there during the biggest party in Switzerland, that happens only once every three years.

frabjous friday

Sushi for lunch, a productive day at work in which everything on my to do list for the day got crossed off, a few quick errands, then a mostly traffic-free drive up to the city to meet my sister's new baby, who is very tiny and didn't puke or cry. The flowers were from my garden, and were obviously not raised by me, since they're alive. While up there, I got to hang out with my mom, sister, nephew, and nieces, and eat some of my mom's signature pork roast. On the drive up and back, I got through a couple hours of an audiobook, and I even squeezed in a trip to the bank before coming home.

Pretty good for a Friday, right?

editor

I take great pleasure, and some annoyance, in catching typos everywhere I go. This one is from the season finale of The Biggest Loser.

smorgasbord

Potluck dinners are the way to go. Minimal stress, and lots of leftovers to eat later, especially if you're like me, and don't usually keep much food around the house.

windfall

I looked out into the garden this morning as I was getting ready for work, and a bunch of these flowers had grown so tall that they had collapsed under their own weight. I cut the broken ones that still looked good, and they're in vases all over the house. Free flowers!

dentist

The best part of going to the dentist is the moment when you get out of the chair, and you know you've got six months until you have to get in the chair again.

hostess

I love dinner parties.

perk up

My work day today started with a one hour table massage, and will end with a 45 minute physical therapy session. Definitely needed both today, after some laughable foolishness from my credit card company. I'm so glad I have my job, and not one of the many jobs out there that would make it much harder for me to stay (relatively) calm in the face of incompetence.