Unseen 2009

Below are some pics from 2009 that never made it on the blog or Facebook. Thought I would end the year with them on the blog, so I don't feel like they were wasted. I was just thinking back to the time before digital cameras...when you would get a roll of film developed and 2 days later and $10 later you would hopefully have 2-3 good shots and the rest would be horrible. Good Times.

Oh Samantha...life is rough huh?

Little Man likes to relax in some of the most random places.

Lovely Ladies!

Me & Erin

Man, Twin looks real happy for getting choked out by a crazy person.

Me & Roy at the Galaxy v. Houston Play-off game!

He loves to sleep on Kirk's laundry for some reason.

It's never too cold for flip flops in Southern Cali!

I don't know what Anti Monkey Butt is...but it was worth capturing with the twin & pops!

It's the Michelin Man. No wait, it's the State Puff Marshmallow Man. Nope...it's Isaac O'Bannon Bower in all his glory!

Happy New Year People!!!

The Annual Martin CPK Visit

Pretty much once a year Carrie & Corey visit from PA and we end up at CPK...and why not? It is FreePK and we all gotta eat! Tonight we all met up in Seal Beach and had a great dinner. I really wish the Martin's lived in Cali, but at least when we do get to spend time with them, it makes the time spent that much better! Here are some pics from the night o' fun.We should take this group on the road...I say the 8 of us should go on a vacation together in the next year or two.

I love these girls so much! We have spent so many years together, so many memories.


The Bean! Noa is seriously one of the easiest kids to love on. So much to squish!

And of course...one of my all time favorites. I swear Isaac is such a handsome little man. Pye, you guys better stay in Cali!

Mercy & Grace

Lately I have been having awesome joyful days and then crappy low days and I can't seem to find the happy medium. I mean, I am blessed, truly blessed...but there is pain, sadness and worry still. Not that I am surprised by that, THAT is life on earth. Joyful and tragically flawed at the same time.

This Christmas season snuck up on me big time and I can't believe we are about to start another year. I have excited anticipation for this coming year because of our trip to Europe and after that beginning to try to start a family (baby and bulldog). It is bittersweet though because I am also fearful. Fearful of things getting worse and worse in the economy, in the war and in the world in general. Fearful of loosing loved ones.

I am tyring to remind myself that it tends to be in the lows of life that you can truly learn, not necessarily the highs. The lows can change your character for the better, draw out compassion and strength you never thought possible. I will face this next year with the hope of joy and the trust of God's Mercy and Grace to get me through the lows.

“I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.” - Anne Lamott



Lyrics...

Am I unfit for You
Remember me, the one who turned from You
I come in rags tattered by the Fall
And all the earth, a witness to my crime

Mercy, weep over me
Let Your tears wash me clean
Majesty, be merciful with me
For my eyes have seen Holy

Hear my prayer at night
Let the morning find me alive
For I am tired and weakened by the Fall
Let all the earth bear witness to my cry

Let the Amen sound from Heaven as You lift my soul
Let the Amen sound from Heaven as You lift my soul
Let the Angels sound from Heaven, Holy is the Lord

Bold Move Sir!

The following story did just take place, it is not a joke...

Our office is filled with sweets during the holiday season with treats all over the place from our vendors, not to mention we are working on revising our Red Velvet Cake frosting and a new Butter Cake dessert. So today (after I already had a nice burger and fries from In-n-Out) I was given a whole Red Velvet Cake to take home with me and Butter Cake to eat in the office later today. As I was walking out of my office, our SVP of Procurement was putting out a HUGE plate of assorted cookies and asked if I wanted any. Rick (who I have mentioned before - April 23rd Blog Post) walked up as she told me "Julie, have some cookies."

My response: "Oh no, I am still full from lunch and am waiting to have some butter cake later this afternoon. If I eat the cookies too I am not going to be able to tuck my muffin top into my jeans anymore!"

Rick interjects: "It's gonna go straight to the middle" as he says this he pokes my stomach.

Yes PEOPLE, he was so bold...went right in and made contact with my belly. I had no words...and I still have no words on how to react to that one. [NOTE: the touch was very brief, was in NO way sexual and he has told me before that I am tiny, so I do not think that he was calling me pudgy in any way.]

I can't tell if I am was more speechless because he touched my middle and that is a place not many people touch or if it was because I was so brutally and quickly reminded of how my middle has become more "soft & robust" than it has been in the past. Would I have been as taken aback if he would have poked me and hit rock hard abs? Probably not, I would have probably responded with...oh yes friend, that is steel you just poked!

F&B

On Thursday my boss Brian (the one in the hat) took our Food & Beverage Department out to dinner and to a King's game. You may be thinking to yourself...I did not know Erin was in F&B, I thought she was in PR? Well, you are right...she is our PR Goddess at CPK, but according to Brian - He took out the F&B team and our other favorite person at CPK. Which was awesome since Erin is my bestie at work and made the night so much fun.

At Rockin Fish for dinner before the game. If you ever go, I recommend getting a bunch of appetizers to share...they were better than the entrees! Sorry Erin that my fatty head is blocking your beautiful face.

This is us in the suite after Roy, Paul & Juan bought all of the ladies a Kings gift. The Santa hat came in very handy after the game when we walked outside and it was raining. That foam finger is pretty sweet though!

Sitting in a suite for a Hockey game is the way to go for sure. You get a great view to be able to see a play develop from start to finish and you don't freeze your butt off like you do when you are down near the ice! I could get used to the suite life!

Roy, Paul & Juan bought Brian a new jersey to say thanks for the awesome night!

My F&B peeps!

It's Beginning to Sound a lot like Christmas

Because I have a VERY long commute each day I listen to the radio quite a bit and in the last week between KOST and The FISH I have been getting in the Christmas mood. Non-stop Christmas music all the time and to be honest I have realized that the songs that really get me in the Christmas spirit run the spectrum from cheesy 80's to goose bump creating Bebo songs. I decided to share a few of my favorites with you...

I don't care what anyone says...I HEART WHAM!


I sing the Hippopotamus song SUPER loud in my car when it comes on.


Jars of Clay, Little Drummer Boy is always the first song I want to listen to after Thanksgiving! LOVE IT!


Would Christmas be complete without a little Mariah Carey before she went koo-koo bananas?


Because Bebo is my favorite at Christmas, I could not pick just one. I love how some songs really hit home the true meaning of Christmas and why it should be celebrated.




What are some of your favorite Christmas songs?? I am always looking to add to my collection.

Really?

Tonight as I was heading to dinner with my friend Erin I almost plowed into the back of her car in the parking lot...why you ask? Because she decided to stop for a young couple about the cross the parking lot to the adjacent restaurant. What I found interesting about this couple was that the young man was covering the eyes of who I am assuming was his girlfriend, and guiding her carefully across the street. This sparked my interest...why? Because I am nosey and because who doesn't love surprises? He lined her up right in front of the restaurant and whispered something in her ear...then he removed his hands from her eyes. She looked up and started, jumping up and down with a huge smile on her face and turned to hug him with a ton o' joy. I just sat there in a pure "are you kidding me?" stare...

Oh, I'll feed you baby birds...wait for it...

He took her to a super fun surprise dinner at...The OLIVE GARDEN!!! Huh?

I Wouldn't Call it Stealing...

Tuesday night about 40 people from my office were treated to a fun night at Lucky Strike, Hollywood & Highland. There was food, drinks and...wait for it...yup! Bowling. My score you ask, a whopping 66 (which included one spare and a whole lotta gutter balls). I swear I used to be better at bowling, I think I'll blame "Global Warming" for my lack of skills.

Anyway, after the bowling ended we stuck around to chat and catch up with coworkers that were visiting from out of state. Around 10:00 or so the Lucky Strike DJ decided to turn the crappy house music up loud enough to make your ears bleed. Immediately I felt like a little old lady up past her bed time wanting to know why the heck all these crazy kids like to listen to their jams so darn loud! We pretty much all agreed, so the geriatric group headed out to the parking lot. Erin was kind enough to drive me and let me crash at her house since it was so late and we had work in the morning. On our way back to her house we dropped off some out-of-towners at their hotel and then Erin swung around to our work parking lot so I could grab my overnight bag from the car. As soon as I jumped out of the car, the following realization/conversation happened in my head...

Jumping out of the car into a jog towards my car I think to myself - "Huh, these shoes are so stiff."

As I am slowly panning down towards my feet - "OMG, I still have my bowling shoes on!" Then comes the next round of thoughts...
- "Wait, where the heck are my shoes?"
- "In the little cubby holder where I left them."
- "I guess I am not getting those suckers back."
- "Oh well, they were only $19.00 and they smell bad after I wear them for 30 minutes."

I then grab my backpack out of the trunk of my car and head back to Erin's car where I lift up my leg to the passenger side window hysterically laughing. We went back to her place where she took this glorious photo below that she calls "Lookie Loookie what Julie Tookie"...

Lessons learned?

1. Always look at your feet before exiting a bowling ally
2. Bowling shoes are cozy to bowl in, not so much to run in
3. Invest in PEDS to wear with my flats so they don't stink so bad I don't care if I "trade" them in for a pair of bowling shoes
4. Erin Murphy NEVER judges me :)
5. Looks like I will never have to spend money on renting bowling shoes again, which means I should save about $6.00 a year...in this economy...I will take it!

I Want to be Besties with Victoria Beckham!

I don't know what it is about Victoria Beckham that I like so much. The gal cracks me up when I read interviews and see her on tv. Let's be honest...she is MAYJA! Think of all the awesome things that would come along with being her bestie - the shopping, the restaurants where I would get to eat the majority of what we ordered, going to Galaxy games sitting in the best seats, getting to meet Kylie Minogue (b/c they are both British, so I am sure that know each other), the list goes on and on. I just adore that she is super honest and candid when she speaks about her life. Here is an excerpt from the December Allure magazine issue.

Do you want to smell sweet or sexy?

A bit of both. It's nice to be girlie and sweet, but everybody likes to have another side."

Coffee or tea?

I start off the day with a double espresso. Then i get on the running machine and I run like a bat out of hell.

Salad or fries?

Salad. I'm not going to lie. I'm not one of these people that says, "Oh, I eat hamburgers."

Massage or facial?

I run every day, so a massage is great.

Posh or Victoria?

I'm so respectful of the Spice Girls, and I love all the girls dearly, but it's nice now that people know my name. But either is a compliment. I mean, I've been called a lot worse.

Heels or flats?

I beyond hate ballerina flats - I can't even walk in them. Unless they're on a ballet dancer doing ballet, I just don't get it.

Sex or sleep?

Sex. I'm getting into bed with David Beckham every night, so, you know, there'd be something wrong if I said "sleep."

LOVE IT!!!

Book Review - Grace (Eventually) Thoughts on Faith

One of my favorite perks of going on vacations is getting time to read. The twin and my vacation to the land o' Caruana gave me the opportunity to start and finish Grace (Eventually) Thoughts on Faith, by Anne Lamott. She is one of my favorite authors mostly because she is so incredibly real and upfront about her good, bad and ugly! I don't agree with her on all fronts as she is more liberal than I am for sure. Of the MANY books of hers that I have read, this contained the most points of "not so much" for me as she touched on her beliefs when it comes to abortion and her extreme distaste for President Bush. Don't get me wrong, I am not in the head of the line for people who think Bush had a successful presidency and made great choices, but my girl Annie can't seem to move past it, home girl is passionate! Anyway, here are some juicy morsels from this book that display why I love me some Miss Lamott.

Thoughts on Heartache:
"It really is easier to experience spiritual connection when your life is in the process of coming apart...I finally figured out I had a choice: I could suffer a great deal, or not, or for a long time. Or I could have a combo platter: suffer, breath, pray, play, cry, and try to help people. There was meaning in pain; it taught you how to survive with a modicum of grace when you did not get what you wanted."

Thoughts on Prayer:
"I started praying, not the usual old prayer of 'God, I am such a loser,' but new ones of 'Hi' and 'Thank you.' I viscerally got that God was everywhere; poor old God, just waiting for you to notice, and enter your life like a track coach for slow people. Kathleen Norris said many years later, 'Prayer is not asking for what you think you want, but asking to be changed in ways you can't imagine,' and I got the message that day.

Thoughts about Coping:
"What can you say when people call with a scary or heart breaking prognosis? You say that we don't have to live alone with our worries and losses, that all the people in their tide pool will be there for them. You say that it totally sucks and that grace abounds."

Thoughts on Joy:
Joy is the best makeup. Joy, and good lighting."

Thoughts on Anger:
"I was as furious as I ever remember being...Sunday school made me remember to pray, Help! Help! I got my answer: Start behaving well, and you will feel better. This is what Jesus would want, and he had to be here with me. Maybe he was being embarrassed to tears, like when your kid has a tantrum in public...I was trembling; you could have cracked walnuts with my self-righteousness. Jesus doesn't hold this against a person. His message is that we're all sort of nuts and suspicious and petty and full of crazy hungers, and everything feels awful a lot of the time, but even so - one's behavior needs to be better. One needs to be decent. So I would try."

Thoughts on Marriage:
"A good marriage is supposed to be one where each spouse secretly thinks that he or she got the better deal."

Thoughts on Going to Church:
"You have to be somewhere, better here where I have heard the truth spoken so often, than say, the DMV or home alone orbiting my own mind. And it's good to be out where others can see you, so you can't be your ghastly, spoiled self. It forces you to act slightly more elegantly, and this improves your thoughts, and thereby the world."

Thoughts on Escaping:
"I felt alone and panicky...it was too hot to sleep and my only hope was to plug into something bigger than my pulsing mind, to flail around outside rather than within me. God can't clean the house of YOU when you're still in it."

A Few Vacationing Tidbits

I am currently in Carmel, Indiana with the twin visiting the Caruana's. We are having a blast playing the with kiddos, talking and joking with Josh & Lol and catching up on what is going on in all of our lives. Can't wait for the next few days we get to be here...here are a few tidbits of the trip so far.

• There is nothing better than digging into a huge bag of McDonald's french fries at the airport while waiting for your plane. Especially when you just watched a sassy Persian woman refuse to check one of her 5 bags she is trying to carry on. Awesome!!!
• I know it's lame, but I get excited when I see people eating CPK at the airport, like I feel like going up to them and saying "thanks for the job security and enjoy your bbq chicken pizza!"
• One last airport morsel for you. After watching the CPKers chow down, I noticed 2 women both easily over 65 years old, not sitting together - but at least 3 rows apart...both reading trashy gossip rags like In Touch. I LOVED this for some reason! Probably because I know I will be that old lady in the airport some day interrupting strangers asking them, "did you see what Kingston Rossdale and Suri Cruise were wearing?"
• Today we were in a not so lovely part of Indy searching for a b-day gift for Jonny & Caleb when a man (who looked like he should be on the "People of Walmart" website) walked by us. I thought at first he was talking to himself and then was relived to see a tiny earpiece for his cell phone. What followed was, "I am not giving her any money! I am not her husband...I am her EX-husband!" This was followed later as we were leaving with me having the pleasure of walking by him again...this time, "I have never been so miserable than when I was with her." To this I say...I love my husband :)
• On the way home in the car from Jonny & Caleb's b-day party today, Jonny and Hannah were both singing us some of their favorite songs. Eventually they came upon the 'God is Bigger than the Boogie Man" song from Veggie Tales. In the middle of the song Jonny stops, looks at me and says..."You know why they call him the Boogie Man?...because he has a bunch of boogies coming out of his nose." Gosh I LOVE these kids!

Pumpkins are my thing...

I am not a huge fan of Halloween. Maybe because it's because I don't have kids to dress up and take trick or treating, or maybe because my office decorates the whole 11th floor with so many ugly decorations that it looks like Halloween threw up all over the walls and hanging from the ceiling. Anyway, the one thing I do like about Halloween is pumpkin carving/decorating. Below are mine and Kirk's carved from this year and then a stroll through my 6 years of our work pumpkin decorating contests. What can I say, I love to compete!

I love me some high heels, so I figured I would express that through pumpkin carving.

Kirk's was very cool too, we pretty much picked the items we both spend the most money on, shoes and vespas.

2004 Pumpkin Decorating Contest - Thanksgiving Turkey - 1st Place

2005 Pumpkin Contest - Rick & Larry (our Co-CEO's and Co-Founders) - 1st Place

2006 Pumpkin Contest - Bob & Larry Veggie Tales - 2nd Place

2007 Pumpkin Contest - Oscar the Grouch - 1st Place

2008 Pumpkin Contest - Wilbur - 1st Place

2009 Pumpkin Contest - Cheshire Cat - 3rd Place

I am not used to taking 3rd place, but I have to admit that the people who took 1st and 2nd this year were pretty darn good and super funny. I guess I have a year to start brainstorming ideas to get my 1st place back!

Fun with the Fitz Kids

One of the major perks of moving to the Viejo Village is living next to the Fitzpatrick Family. They are always down for fun and so are their kiddos. Below are some fun moments of Kirk spending quality time with Ben & Addie. Nothin' but good times!!!

Ben & Kirk at our house watching motorcycle racing: Ben asked me in the morning if he could come over to our house and watch tv with Kirk. I told him that it was a great idea because Kirk had a bunch of races to watch. Ben then informed me that it was "Soda Sunday" and that I should tell Kirk that he will be down there later in the afternoon with sodas for them to drink while watching the races...and he delivered!

Ben likes to put on Kirk's helmet and motorcycle gloves. Cracks me up, he looks like Bobble Head Ben!

This pic is from a while ago, Addie and Kirk playing with cars. I am so blessed to have friends/neighbors in my live with such great kids and am so blessed to get to watch Kirk play with them and have so much fun...makes the anticipation of having our own kids that much greater!

Words from LayGuy

Hey all...I have been reading this new blog (where I was introduced to the awesomeness that is Amena Brown) and found that his latest post really hit home for me.

Here is a snippet, but you should check out the link to get the whole post.
http://www.layguy.com/2009/10/26/tired/

"He knows my strengths. He knows where I suck. He knows the way my enemy wrecks me. He knows how to progress me forward and He knows what gets me down.
He knows everything. Even a casual reading of the Gospels reveals an all knowing, all perceiving God who knows everything about anything of a person life.
And because of this, I’m tired. Tired of my short comings. Tired of my failures. Tired of the consequences of my failures. Tired of the effect that sin has thrust upon me and those around me. And tired at my attempts, and the attempts of others to justify themselves in front of a Holy God.
Who the hell do we think we are?"

Good food for thought, and I am hungry for thought right now.

The Husbro is Back!

It's official, Kirker is back! And by back I mean, not studying at his office every night until 10:30 pm. This Friday and Saturday he took his SE exam and hopefully kicked butt! He said he feels pretty good about it but there is really no way to be too confident because the test is so hard and is graded on a curve to only let 30% of the people that took it with him pass. So aside from how well you do, it really comes down to who took the test with you and what level they performed at. We do not find out if he passed the test until February, which is a bummer...but I am just so glad to have him back. We are celebrating tonight by going out on our first date night in months. Headed to Houston's for dinner, Kirk LOVES their ribs, plus we have a gift certificate - I love free dinner!!! Praise GOD for this crazy busy and stressful season of his life to be over. I just pray that he passes so we don't have a repeat next year.

Frustration & Peace

Below are the things I would like to see less of because they bring me frustration...

- Dust all over my house

- Jon & Kate Gosslin

- My sharp tongue at times

- Spiders in the Viejo Village

- Barack Obama - Politics in general

Below are the things I would like to see more of because they bring me peace...
- My husband!!!
- Quiet times
- Home-cooked meals
- Family & friends
- Reading
- Worship Music

Bring on the PEACE!!!

Amena Brown

I was reading a new blog today and came across an entry posted about a woman, Amena Brown. She does Spoken Word poetry, which I have never really listened to. From what I read, Amena grew up without a father figure in her life and wanted to protect herself from being disappointed by a heavenly Father. So initially she was reserved in her faith. She dug deep into the Word and prayer and overcame this fear. And the result is really moving. Below are a few of the ones that I really liked. "YOU" gave me goosebumps as I was listening. Enjoy!

Oh Google...You Never Cease to Amaze Me!

For some random reason today I decided to Google some peeps. I have done this before, but I have never specifically Google imaged people. The first person I put into the Google search bar was Kirk...and this beauty pops up on the first page! How cute is he? The pic is from 2002 when he got his first race bike. From the look he is giving the camera, I guess he hated pictures being taken of him even back then. Anyway, I thought it was awesome that it popped up and figured I would share the adorableness with you all. Oh...then I put Mariah's name into the search bar...and below popped up! Oh Pye, you are such a little hottie :)

Ever Want to Punch a Baby?

Nope...me neither. But today was a day I could have come close to punching a grown human who acts like a baby. As you will read, I did not have the best day. It started with me leaving my house this morning at 7:00am only to realize while sitting in the rain at a red light on Alicia that I needed to get gas. Urg...I hate getting gas in the morning, I hate getting gas period. I wish I had a little gas fairy who lived in my car and magically appeared to fill er' up whenever needed. Oh, and she would also feed me bite size rice crispy treats and strawberry lemonade, YUM! I digress.

After gassing up, I hit the wet roads. I was very optimistic as it only took me 20 minutes to get to South Coast Plaza in the rain on the 405. I thought I was golden, I had over hour to go the next 35 miles to work. Well, it was like the heavens opened up and along with the rain, God poured down a big can of "suck it julie" onto the freeway. I hit a wall of traffic. After being on the freeway for a little over an hour I passed the sign a few miles before the 710 that said:
70 Minutes to LAX - my first thought was, "so much for making it to my 8:30 meeting." My second thought was "thank God for talk radio".

I finally got to work at 9:30 am (yes...2 hour and 30 minute commute) and of course our parking lot witch is in Egypt compared to its relativity to our office building is flooded pretty much everywhere. Nothing better than walking through puddles and potholes after that commute. Luckily I pulled in at the same time as my bestie Erin and we made the trek together.

So after the commute, missing my meeting and the walk from Egypt...that is not even the reason I wanted to punch someone...after all of that I was still in a pretty good mood. Without going too much into detail (I don't want to be one of those crazies that gets fired b/c they talk all sorts of madness on the internet and the wrong person reads it, sends it to HR and then I am on YouTube posting videos of "How My Tweet got me Fired"), I just have a certain coworker that could make Mother Theresa choke him. The bad jokes, dishing it out without being able to take it, the constant passive aggressive comments, the need for approval and ego stroking, the talking over me, the repeating my ideas as his own - right in front of me...the list goes on people. What do you do when you work with someone like this? I only ask because I can't even make eye contact anymore when this person is speaking because I know I am giving the look of "are you effing kidding me right now?"

People! I need to turn this beat around! I can't become a crazy person that wants to punch people at work.

Creme Bru-Julie

Last year a coworker of mine brought in her homemade Creme Brulee to one of our office pot-lucks. It was awesome! I immediately started pestering her for the recipe which she was hesitant to give me b/c it was her own special recipe. After a while though I broke her down and she gave up the goods. Creme Brulee is Kirk's favorite dessert, so I decided that I would attempt to make the recipe for his birthday this year. I must say, that although it is time consuming it was super fun to make and easy. I LOVED separating the yolks from the whites...it was therapeutic or something. Below are some pics from the experience!Here are the little beauties right before they were about to get torched!!!

Then I ran into a problem...don't know if you can see it at the bottom of the photo above in tiny font and in french...but it says "Butane non-inclus" - which I did not see when I bought it and only saw after I had a moment of panic as everyone is waiting for the dessert to be served and I was telling Kirk "well, they should put it on the box!" Shout out to all my 'Friends' fans!

I then tried to use a lighter to do the trick, it did not even come close to working.

Luckily Kirk came to the rescue for his own dessert and pulled out his Propane Torch from the garage, which we both thought was totally going to crack the dishes, but actually worked out.

Above is the finished product, not perfect...but pretty darn good for my first time. We had them at the Fitz' house along with our friends the Wood's and everyone LOVED them. I was so excited and am pumped to make them for more peeps in the future!

Mark & David were the first to finish theirs! Grey Goose Martinis and Creme Brulee!

Kirk and I enjoying the Creme Brulee success!!!

Love My Girls!

Last night I got to spend time with some of my favorite girls ever!!! Mya, Candie & the Twin! We are reading CS Lewis', The Great Divorce and then meeting for dinner and discussion/fellowship. It was such a good way to end a pretty crazy week for me. Work has been insane and stressful, I have not seen Kirk much at all because of his studying for the upcoming test and I just feel so grateful to be able to end the week on such a high note...with girls that I love, admire and care so much about. We had great food, discussion and laughter. In an effort to keep little AA asleep later in the night, we moved our lil' party to Starbucks...where we left the book discussion, got to catch up on the haps in Candie's life and then got a little loopy - hence the pics below.

Twin and Mya really took the cake on sassy and hilarious as the night went on. Below is a video of them which I don't even think anyone will understand or possibly even find entertaining b/c it is totally one of those "you had to be there" moments...but because I know the 4 of us will get a kick out of it, I posted it anyway. I love you girls!!!

Happy Birthday to the Husbro!!!

Kirk turned 31 on Wednesday and it was a ton o' fun! I surprised him in the morning with a big Vespa Service sign in Italian for him to hang in his garage, then we went out after work to Finn McCool's in Santa Monica with some great friends and family. It was so nice to have a night out having fun in the midst of all of my working, Kirk's working and studying for his test! We had great food, great beer and loved getting to spend time with some of our favorite people.My camera was running out of batteries, so I only got a few pics from the night out...let's be honest though, Kirk HATES taking pictures and it was his b-day, so I would have been driving him crazy if I had attempted to snap pics of him all night. The trio of sliders above is what I got for dinner - beef, chicken, crab cakes! Yum!!! Kirk got a traditional Guinness Stew Boxty.

We got home pretty late and I gave Kirk another gift - a Chelsea FC jersey which he loved. He was excited because this was the first birthday that I did not go out and buy him a bunch of clothes, which in his opinion is me saying, "hey babe, I am using your birthday as an excuse to update your wardrobe because I don't really love your current selection of clothes." I plead the 5th on whether or not there is any truth to that statement.

Reality

I will admit that today was a somewhat unproductive day for me at work. Don't get me wrong, I worked...I answered emails, phone calls, crossed 2-3 things off of my to-do list, but in comparison with the amount of work I have completed over the last 2 months, it was pretty sub par. One of the realities of my job is that things constantly change after their deadlines. This, I am sure is a reality at most corporations. I have learned pretty much to just roll with it because it is not going to change no matter how much I huff and puff about it. My main rub with it is the fact that one little change (for example, a spec for an avocado slice changing from 1/8" to 1/4") sends a domino effect through my work load that makes me want to shake puppies. Yes people, shake poor little innocent puppies...just be glad I didn't say babies - it makes me that crazy! That tiny measurement trickles down to about 10-15 documents that have already been updated by yours truly, proofed by the powers that be, approved, assembled by me in our CPK way and sent to the printer for production. A change like this sends me back to square one, stares me in the face and says, "Suck it Julie! Time to do it all over again, but in a fraction of the time b/c it's now technically late!." After I have a few of those days, I tend to have a day like today. A day with minimal attention span and a lack of motivation - fearing that the things I scratch off my list today will just reappear the next. As I was reflecting on this in my office this afternoon, a friend of mine came down to chat with me about some of the last minute changes that have been swirling around the office and we both gave each other the 'woe is us' look and then he said to me...
"There's never enough time to do it right, but there is always enough time to do it over again!"
He was being funny...trying to make me laugh. It worked, I did laugh...it was kind of a sad laugh, but still a laugh. Although that logic boggles my mind, I am so used to it and know that it is not going to change, so all I can do is laugh. Laugh...Like a crazy person off of her meds!

Seeing Eye to Eye

It is no surprise that Kirk and I view certain things differently. I actually like that, who wants to agree on everything? I did not want to marry myself :) This week though I have hit a topic that I would really like us to be on the same page about. CLEANING THE HOUSE! We both do NOT like to do it. We very briefly discussed when we bought the house, gardeners and house cleaners. Kirk is pretty adamant that he does not want to pay someone for something he can do himself. I absolutely see his point, but lately have changed my mind about the house cleaners.

I think this is Kirk's view of a wife doing the cleaning:
Now, here is my view of spending my time cleaning:

Why pay someone to do something you can do yourself? Because I don't want to do it myself. Because I spend about 3 hours in the car commuting each day and the last thing I want to do when I get home is dust or mop or vacuum. Because I hate doing it myself. Because neither of us like to do it, so when we actually get around to cleaning it is such a big task!

So...here starts the battle. How can I convince Kirk that $150 a month to make me happy is totally worth it? I mean, a happy wife is a happy life right?!

Just Go Away

I don't want anything bad to happen to Kanye, I just want him to go away. Or maybe be sent somewhere that he can still make music and record (I have enjoyed some of his music), but other than that - can't speak.