home alone...

I'm really looking forward to this weekend. My BF is going on a camping trip with one of his friends and I'm going to have full reign of the apartment! It's weird...I really love my BF and living with him for the past year has been good, but I especially look forward to the times when he's away. (I hope that doesn't make me sound evil). I just feel like I can get mundane things done without wanting to make him feel guilty for not helping.

For instance, this weekend I am renting a car and will go to IKEA to get some new stuff for the apartment. I have to fight really hard to get him to go do this kind of stuff. I'm going to get a new dresser for myself and probably a lot of storage things for both of us. I'm also going to rearrange our bedroom...assuming that I'm able to move the furniture around myself.

I know if sounds lame, but our apartment could use a breath of fresh air running through it. Since my BF doesn't like to "deal" with this kind of thing, it's time for me to take matters into my own hands. I'm so excited!

busy, busy, busy...

Work is starting to get the best of me. It seems that I got to go on vacation just in time. Since getting back, I have been swamped!

Our budget (for FY 2006) is due in early September and the office is abuzz trying to make decisions about what to include and what to put off. Unfortunately, the process entails a lot of research and writing. This week I need to put out 5 papers making recommendations funding requests. At first this seemed like a do-able task, but not so.

I'm starting to feel the pressure.

an argument for marriage...

My BF's mother is in town this week. She is "d'un certain âge" and is prone to getting a bit emotional. She is staying with my BF's sister, so we went over to see her on Tuesday night. Once she had everyone gathered around -- My BF, his sister and boyfriend, his step-brother, and myself -- the conversation somehow moved to the topic of marriage. His mom has done this in the past, but not nearly such a hard sell.

Well, the conversation included some key catch phases, such as: "what's wrong with you boys?" and "you shouldn't keep stringing these girls along like that..." Well, I was really put off by this whole exchange. She looked at me as if she had just done me some big favor, getting the ball rolling. Well, she didn't! So I told her flatly that her son already knows how I feel about this topic and I tried to leave it at that. I tried to let her know that this wasn't a conversation that she should be having with me. She had every right to say these things to her children...but not with their significant others there!

It's not that the old-fashioned girl in me doesn't agree with some of what she's saying. For me, it just wasn't the time or the place. So, this is still bothering me 2 days later and I just needed to vent.

mixed emotions...

Earlier this week, I got a friendster request from someone out of my past. At first, I really didn't know what to think. This person was one of my closest friend during high school. And at a point, I thought my family was ready to adopt her. (Long story short, her father was moving out of the country and she didn't want to go). When I started college, we stayed in touch and would try to see each other when I was home for breaks. The following year, she started college and that's when things really changed. I think I only saw her once after she went to school, even though she was in B'more. And, that one time was weird. It was bizarro.

Anyway, we fell completely out of touch. Part of me was bitter about the whole thing. I didn't know if I had offended. And if I had, I wished that she had confronted me about it at the time. So, after all of these years, she looked me up. At first that little bit of bitterness peeped it's head. But, then I realized that it really didn't matter. When it comes down to it, I can't dwell in the past.

new features...

Wow! I'm so excited to see all the new things at blogger! Especially the comment feature. Now, I can go back and get rid of haloscan. I never get all that many comments, but at least I don't have to go to a second site to see them.

I also like all of the new templates and the profile. Needless to say, I'm going to be tweaking both blogs in the coming weeks!

i'm back...

California was great. We had perfect weather and some great company. It had been 3 years since I had seen Katie or Maya. And, it was great. My friend Bartek also joined us from Chicago. It was just so cool to catch up with everybody...It wasn't so cool to pile so many people into Katie's apartment but it got the job done! (Thanks again Katie).

The highlight of the trip, of course, was the trip to Napa. We didn't take any of the vineyard tours, but we did tastings at V. Sattui, Peju, Silver Oak, and Stags' Leap. It was all beautiful. Hopefully, one day I'll be able to retire and spend my twilight years as a wine pourer in Napa. My BF and I brought back 10 bottles. Of course some of those are gifts, but half will be for just us. They are all labels that aren't sold outside of wine country, so it was worth lugging them back.

I wish I could tell you that we did a lot of cool group activities, but it's not true. We did a lot of walking around. And SF is such a cool place to walk through. We saw the Haight, Mission, Embacadero, and Fisherman's Wharf. Not to mention dim sum in Chinatown; a jaunt through North Beach - including dropping in at City Lights and a hike up to Coit Tower to overlook the bay and Alcatraz. Plus, time in the East Bay and Berkeley. It was a ton of fun!