Headed back home for the weekend

I got yelled at by BFFg last night:-) I called her to confirm plans for tonight when we get to Chicago, and she scolded me for not calling her for like a week. And it is totally my fault...she called me last weekend and I never called her back. Very unlike me, I usually have trouble going more than two days without talking to her.

I am in extra trouble because I talked to BFFb for almost an hour a couple of days ago and she is jealous:-P (for the newer readers, the two BFF's were introduced here... there are some references in that post to the High School Boyfriend story, which I wrote just after New Years if you missed it. It's looooong.)

Anyway, we are off to Chicago after work and school tonight. Hopefully we can get going quickly and get in at a reasonable hour. The itinerary is pretty similar to our usual trips there, save for one exception: Munchkin is staying with her brother this time instead of her Uncle. Despite the aforementioned protests (she is kidding, she loves me:-)) the BFF's are picking us up at the airport and I am staying with them.

We are gonna go out and meet some friends tonight if we get there in time, and goshdarnit if maybe I won't get a little bit drunk;-) Being off the leash is fun sometimes! (I am referring to the "Mom" leash, although I suppose it could also apply to the "Boyfriend" leash, since he is not coming with us.) It won't be too bad, though, since I need to be bright-eyed for my very important breakfast date with the adorable and charming Tinkerbelle.

After breakfast I am gonna take her bowling, which will be fun because it is the first time I have ever really had her alone. After that we (including her Mom) are going to my aunt's house for a barbecue. Tinkerbelle and her Mom are pretty much completely integrated into the family at this point, which is sort of weird...even though I met them first, she is definitely an insider and I am definitely a "visitor" at this point. Ahh well, I can only live in one place at once...

Munchkin is going to spend some time with her Dad's family, but I don't exactly know what they are all up to. Hopefully not brainwashing her to hate me...lol. Then finally, seeing {the members of} our Mom's family {that I still speak to} for brunch on Sunday morning, and then back home.

So, that is my exciting weekend:-) Anyone got something better on tap?

New work friends

The weather is absolutely gorgeous around here, and it is making it very hard to concentrate on...well, on anything. It has been between 75 and 85, sunny, a little breezy and just plain gorgeous all week. My work ethic is also compromised by having very, very few people in the office all week. Most of the partners and VP's are out...which makes it kinda slow around here.

The upside is that I have had lunch for two straight days with our new(est) admin. To be really honest, the word "admin" is kind of misleading, our admins are really more like half-executives. They have pretty significant responsibilities, they get paid quite a bit (ahem...measurably more than me...ahem) and they are considered integral parts of the firm.

Most of them are women in their late 40's and 50's (that is a guess) and they are very nice, really hard working and very sharp. One of my favorites gave me a map of Europe last summer when Munchkin was on vacation and a little pin that said "Munchkin is here today" that I could move around every day:-) I hung it in my cube, and I still have it.

Our new admin, though, is much younger (we will call her "around 30"). Since they do most of their work with the partners and senior VP's, I never really worked with her that much and only kind of know her in passing, even though we are two of only three women in the office under 40. But, with everyone out of the office, we had lunch the last two days and got a chance to be buddies:-) And yesterday she indulged my desire to have ice cream for lunch...hee hee.

So, I guess this is kind of a really boring blog ("I made a new friend")...but that is kind of all that happened yesterday...LOL. Well, not quite: Munchkin and I went out to watch The Boy's softball game last night...that was sort of the excitement of the day.

Today, however...is Chicken Finger Thursday:-D

Revisiting old topics

I know I have written about money before, but I am gonna do it again...(which feeds right into Aar...er...Double A's accusation of my blog laziness from two weeks ago...very perceptive, that boy is...but this will at least be a new post, just an old topic.)

I grew up pretty poor. Not at all destitute...we always had a place to live, and I was never hungry or cold, so I know that there are a lot of kids that have it a lot worse. Like this little fella that Brandy talked about that made me cry and want to hug him and steal him away to live in a spare bedroom... But my mother never made much money, I don't think, and she spent a lot of it on cigarettes, lottery tickets and getting herself absurdly drunk. Drunks don't maintain the best financial discipline, either...so I always remember her scraping by until payday arrived, and there were definitely large periods of time that we were on government assistance.

Things got better when she got married. Her husband didn't make a ton of money, either, but he was better with it than she was, and also made her quit drinking and smoking (which helps a lot...you hear that Still Just Me?!?! Quit because it's cheaper!!!) I think we still probably barely approached "middle class" but there was enough money for all the stuff we really needed, I guess.

But there was never any "savings". I am pretty sure that is a concept that was completely foreign to my mother and her whole family. The sum total of all of their "financial goals" was to make a paycheck last until the next one came. Part of it was that none of them made a whole lot of money, part of it was that none of them knew how to take care of it, and part of it was just that none of them ever really knew any better. Even now, I try to talk to my cousins about it (the ones that I still talk to at all...) and some of them just have no interest.

A lot of this I covered back in December (here and here...careful, they get a little bit preachy;-)) so I won't rehash too much of it. But I will reiterate that I really like saving. It makes me feel productive, and it makes me feel good about myself. Even though retirement seems like such a weird, cloudy non-tangible thing, I feel oddly mature because I have a 401k plan [I have to wrap this up soon, because I just started to think about where I will be when I am 65...]

But there are other things that are on a shorter horizon. Primarily, I guess, would be buying a house. That is kind of my primary goal, and I really like the idea of setting money aside to do that, rather than, say, buy another handbag or another pair of shoes that are just ever-so-slightly different than a pair I already have (c'mon...we have all done it:-))

For me, the key is making a game out of it. I like that I can easily measure my progress, and so easily judge how well I have done...when you look back on how much you made, and how much you have left, the numbers don't lie!

I guess I don't really know what the point of this post is...LOL. But this is what I am thinking about this morning, so this is what you get!

Love is in the air

It must be that Spring has sprung, but there seems to be a lot of romance in the air. There is office romance in GreenLineBoy's world, and in Notbubbly's, and even sort of in SoCal Sweetie's. The newly-styled Double-A has passed the parent test...and love seems to be blooming all around.

This brings me to three random stories about people I know that none of you will care about at all...lol. How is that for trying to hold your attention? I am not sure what the lessons are here...I will see if I can think of one as I go along.

The first is that last night I saw two people that I introduced that have been dating for almost a year and a half now. ("Introduced" is a really funny word...you will have to ask offline for more details on that:-P). I was at Munchkin's baseball game...they won and she got two hits...and they were out for a walk and stopped in to chat for a bit. They moved in together about six months ago and things seem to be going really well.

I get a really nice feeling about them because I feel like I kinda "own" a piece of their relationship. I root for them because I like both of them, but I also root for their relationship because I feel like I have some stake in it. Weird? There is a guy at work who is engaged to a girl that I introduced to him...and I feel kind of the same way about them. ("Introduced" has a funny meaning there, too...but not as good as the first one.)

Maybe I should be a matchmaker:-D

The second are two people that I went to college with who are getting married soon. The only reason they are notable is that their relationship is kind of backwards. You know how really, really brilliant guys in lucrative fields, even if they are kind of normal looking, end up with incredibly hot women? Well, these two work the other way...lol. He is, probably, the hottest guy I have ever met. I spent four years in college watching a string of the most beautiful girls you can imagine absolutely throwing themselves at him. (He is also a really nice guy, and I always liked him.)

And she is so NOT like the girl I would have pictured him with. This is not to say she is at all unattractive...she is very pretty in a "I'm WAY to smart to stoop to spending four hours getting ready to go out every night" kind of way. She gives off sort of a bohemian, chick-lit style vibe (that makes no sense, does it?) She is also incredibly funny, with a really quick, sarcastic sense of humor. She was a Chemical Engineering major who works really hard and spends her time now creating new industrial cleaning solvents. I guess if you can't maintain a sense of humor while you are doing that...

Anyway, they met in a bar towards the end of our senior year, and he fell really hard for her. Virtually right off the bat he was completely smitten. It took her a little longer, partially I think because she didn't take him that seriously. Eventually he wore her down to the point that she committed, though (he did have the absurd hotness working for him...) and they are getting married soon. I am really happy for both of them...she is a great, great girl, and she deserves to have a hot piece of arm candy:-) And he is a super nice guy who deserves someone who makes him laugh and think all the time.

[In the interest of brevity, they each may come off as a bit stereotypical there...SHR, you wanna chime in if I got them wrong?]

And finally, an update on The Body, who just moved back to Phoenix for the summer to help out with her Dad, Step-mom and their brand new twins (and, what is it...like 50 other children?) She is being a really great big sister and a really great daughter and I admire her a lot for it. AND...she has started dating one of our very best friends. A super cute, red-headed boy that I count as one of my very favorite people on Earth.

Right after she moved back, they went out to catch up (I would classify them as "very close friends") and there were some sparks:-) I guess the time away from seeing each other every day created something, so they have a bit of a thing! I hope it goes well for both of them, because I love them both very dearly:-)

Anyway, those are my three random stories that none of you probably care about. Whatever...I will care when I go back and read this in like six months, and THAT, my friends, is what really matters!!!

Fore!!!

I hope everyone had a good weekend...and that the post-Cinco de Mayo hangovers weren't too bad. Tequila...ain't she a bitch. (Actually, I love tequila...more than other hard liquors, but I digress.)

The leaves are finally out:-) It started at the end of last week, and really exploded this weekend...green, green everywhere and I love it! I'm sure we still have a bunch of shitty weather ahead of us this month, but the end is clearly nearby!

It dawned on me yesterday that there will really be no weekend posting from me for a while. Once summer starts, we will spend just about every weekend at the beach, and I just can't see myself posting much from there. I guess I won't know until we start going and I see if the mood strikes, but I doubt it. That is my most favorite place in the world, and I don't really like to do much typing while I am there:-)

Headed to Chicago with Munchkin next weekend to see all the families, and mostly my little Tinkerbelle:-)

I am thinking of taking up golf this summer...anyone have any thought on this? It seems like every guy I know plays, and a lot of women do, too. Smoking Hot Roommate is ridiculously good...but Big Sis never really played, and we were talking about starting together. I guess that means going to the driving range and maybe taking lessons...? I have been to the driving range a few times, and I have played mini-golf, too...it can't be that hard, right? (Yes, I am kidding...)

Not gonna lie...much of this is related to SHR flipping on TV and me thinking that one of the girls had one of the cutest little outfits I have ever seen on, and thinking I would totally like to dress like that... (her name is Natalie Gulbis...and apparently she is quite the sex symbol. Who knew golfers could be sex symbols?)

So that is my goal for the summer...to take up golf. We'll see how it goes...