TwentySixteen

I've been spending quite a bit of time at the pool...a few hours on Saturday, a few hours on Sunday, and from the time I get home from work to the time it closes every night. Why? It's honestly 100 degrees. No exaggerating. And humid. Woah humid. And I want you to know: I love our pool. It's one of the best things about where we live. And we live in a pretty nice place.

I'm also obbessed with this game: Cubis. It's a mindbender. But not too much that I feel stupid. So I like it. A lot.

Things have been crazy around here. Annual meeting is literally two weeks away now, and I suddenly feel like I have so much left to do. Even though I don't. It's a mental thing.

Well, it's 4:18 and I'm done for the day. No joke. It hasn't been a good work day, but I did get a lot done. It's just that I could have gotten a lot more.

I got my cousin Brian a cute onsie (he's having a baby) with the words "party pooper" on it. I just think it's cute.


peace out.

aj

p.s. 30 more minutes!!

TwentyEleven

Memorial Day weekend means I get to leave at 2:30 today! Woo hoo!

My parents are coming in tonight, and it'll be really good to see them. We'll just chill and walk around town; I love just being able to relax. And the pool opens up tomorrow, and I've been waiting for that since last November when we moved in! It's gonna be a good weekend.

So we saw Indiana Jones last night. The line was a block long. Hence, you people are that choose to go to opening days...you're crazy. It's the same movie the day after. I swear. (That includes you Matt!) Anyway, it was good. Funny; they weren't afraid to make fun of themselves. Actually, maybe my favorite of them, because they didn't take themselves so seriously. Though, the end was...meh. Not realistic and didn't fit with the others. Good overall.

And I love Alero. Good Mexican restaurant. Go there.

Okay, update on Mikey boy and his dream girl: he caved in after 10 days and set a date for next... Sunday. She has a date with someone else Saturday night. That's right boys, let it be a lesson: if you think she's that great, there are probably other people that do too! Hopefully, he doesn't do it again, but we'll see. And now he's all stressed planning the perfect day date, he's leaning towards picnic, so fingers crossed.

I need to make new calenders soon: June and July. And BTW, July is like the best month of the year! I'll be 23. Send presents.

Actually, I'm not a big present person, but don't take that the wrong way. I love getting presents, they just have to be thoughtful. Good presents: chocolate covered strawberries, subscription to Cosmo, jewelry box, Claddagh ring, necklace, clothes, purses, a scrapbook, etc, etc. Bad presents: a set of hammers (no joke), a video game (I don't even have the system, nor would I), anything labeled "Mandy," and a pack of cigarettes (seriously....seriously??) And I hate hate opening presents in front of people; I always feel I'm not giving a good enough reaction, even if I love it.

Okay, done now.

aj

P.S. 3 more hours!!! And a lunch break in there too!! :) Don't hate, appreciate!

TwentyTen

What? You thought I'd skip to thirty? Ha! I'm staying in the twenties til I'm in my thirties.

It's rainy again today. I'm starting to feel like I live in Seattle! Dang.

So, I like the West Wing and I LOVE Charlie. Love love love Charlie. I don't know about the late hours though, those people have no lives! No wonder they're all divorced. They work until midnight and go back by 5 am! But anyway, I love Charlie.

So I was talking to my friend Michael...he's liked this girl for quite some time, but never had the guts to actually talk to her. Well, apparently about a month ago, she figured out he was stalking her or something and she came up to him. Lo and behold, they've been on two great dates so far...and now he doesn't want to go on the third. Cause apparently the third date is too "serious." What?!? I don't think you understand; he's been obbessed with this girls for MONTHS! And he claims she exceeds his expectations. He has said she is "better than a Victoria's Secret model who's funny and smart." His words, not mine. And yet, going on a third date is scary?! THIS is exactly why girls think boys are stupid.

I mean, no offense Michael, but do you think you're going to find someone better? If no, why are you letting her get away?!?! I just, I...I got nothing.

Moving on, one of my coworkers got a new job and another is going to law school. It's making me think about what I want to be when I grow up. All I can come up with is "young." So, we'll work on that.

We're planning for our Annual Meeting. A week in San Francisco, and I doubt I'll even get to go on the Golden Gate Bridge. Though I should be able to see it. And I should rake in quite a bit of overtime. And I can always use the money!

I'd like to throw a little sympathy out to Asia; first the tidal waves in Burma, now the quake in China. Today, China hit the 40,000 mark of people who have died from the quake. And I'm worried for Michael's social life. Eck.

aj

P.S. Is there such thing as a miniature lilac bush? I think it's time to wikipedia.

TwentyNine

I got nothing again today.

It was an okay weekend. He bought a nice TV: flat panel and HD. We hung out with his friends (Adam and Sarah) most of the day Saturday; went to a bar, then back to our place and just hung out. It's nice to be able to just chill with people and not always have some big thing today. It's the Cancer side of the horoscope in me. Not that I'm a big believer or anything, but sometimes, it's just... weird. Sunday we just went to church and cleaned. He set up his speakers for the new TV and I cleaned up the bedroom a little.

My parents are coming in this weekend. I'm uber-excited for that. I need some unconditional love. That's the best thing about my mom: she is soooo good at making you feel like you are the most important thing in the world. Maybe all mom's have that in common, but I don't think so. My dad isn't quite like that, but then again, when he does throw out some real love and support, it means more cause it's more rare. Like a gem. And I know I'll get it from both of them this weekend, which will be nice.

We're going to see Indiana Jones on Thursday. I've just seen the first two, and we'll watch the third by Wednesday night. It can be a little gory, and I've had a few nightmares from the melting head, not gonna lie. But I still heart Harrison Ford.

Well, I'm gonna get back to faculty thank yous.

aj

P.S. I wish Cousins Subs was on the east coast too. I've really been hankering for some.

TwentyEight and A Quarter

Okay, so Andy totally knows me. I wasn't 100% positive before, but when I just went to CVS to get an apple juice, he was walking down the street and said, "Oh AJ, you want another rose?" Like woah.

I think he's stalking me.

I kinda like it. For free flowers, it's all good.

Ha.

aj

P.S. Here's your p.s. Apparently, it's my trademark.

TwentyEight

Well, the exciting news is that I'm going to see Lewis Black tonight. He's a really funny, bitter comedian and Matt's favorite. He's also got quite the political side to him, so it should be a good time.

Speaking of, Matt got me flowers yesterday. The big colorful Gerbera Daisies. :)

Don't have much to say; it's beautiful outside Had a salad and ate out there. I hope it stays this nice! I'm sick of the rainy stuff!

We're going to eat at place called "Elephant and Castle," and the only reason I'm writing that is cuz I like the name.

I don't know, I guess I'm still in a little funk. I have my ups and downs. Like a teeter-totter, but without the big bump at the end. You know the bump. A few too many teets or totts and you gotta a sore bum. I prefer swings.

aj

TwentySeven

Look, I don't know long this whole blog thing is gonna last.

I really don't have much to say today. I'm at work and therefore, doing work. Except now when I'm writing this blog.

I had a happy hour last night - that was a lot of fun. Steph, Natalie and Becky came. We just drank and talk about boys; usually happy hour stuff.

Okay, so did you ever notice that when a realization hits you; like smacks you in the face; that you suddenly notice all these other things? Like, suddenly, colors are more colorful and each minute seems more like 60 seconds than one actual minute, even though they are the same? See, you're only gonna understand this if it's happened to you. I've had 5 times now, that's right 5. That's a lot. The birth of my twin nephews, a fight with my dad, a friend's sickness, my appendicitis, and yesterday I had another. And seriously, FYI, if your stomach hurts to the point you can't even drink chocolate milk, go to the hospital. And if they tell you it's stress, that's b.s. Your appendix is gonna explode. FYI. No, I'm serious.

Anyways, I don't really wanna write much today.

So go be productive or something.

aj

TwentyFive

I didn't forget, I was just busy.

We have a program coming up tomorrow, and I had to finish everything up so I could ship the materials. I'll be attending this program, Life Sciences Law Institute, for two days. I don't mind working at the programs (nice hotel, free food, fairly easy, meeting interesting people, etc), but I don't like the 6 a.m. mornings. At this program, we don't have many big names, since it's our smallest. Although I am getting pretty excited for our Tax program later this year, where Tom Daschle, yup, that Daschle, is coming to speak. I think Matt's gotten me more excited than I normally am, because he gets excited that I get to talk to him.

Anyway, we had sloppy joes last night, and got into quite the discussion about whether they are called sloppy joes or barbeques (which his family calls them). Now, in his recipe, there is no brown sugar, which to me, is then a completely different thing, albeit much healthier. Anyway, the conversation still amuses me, so I thought I'd share.

It was a great weekend: the Viriginia Gold Cup horse race and a carnival! It was beautiful weather on Saturday and we both got a little burned. It was exactly what you'd see on TV: hats, seersucker and miles of green. We even met up with some friends from Pelosi's office; always nice to see them. We were there literally all day - leaving our house at 8:30 am and getting back at about 7 pm. Then a movie (Ironman - pretty good, entertaining) with Adam and Sarah and off to bed! Sunday, we went to the local carnival and spent a little time playing games and a ride on the ferris wheel. Maybe I'll post some pictures later; Matt has my camera right now...

And oh! The reason he has my camera: the other big news today. It isn't my news, Matt gets too meet John Glenn and the head of NASA, Mike Griffin. Since his childhood dream was to be an astronaut, he is quite pumped for the opportunity.

aj

P.S. Andy is feeling better, but now his wife came down with it. AKA, I got a daisy.

TwentyFour

Matt said my life seems boring from reading this blog. So, a little spice if you will:

I played softball yesterday. I'm not very good, I admit, but decent. I can catch sometimes and hit sometimes and run sometimes. Keyword being sometimes. We're both on a team called Walk Us Caucus and it's a ton of fun. Luckily, our team isn't too serious or hardcore about winning and balances it out by being hardcore about having fun and laughing. So, we were supposed to play a team, but apparently they "disbanded" so we had a practice instead. Then out for a couple victory drinks (we were victorious in our practice skills, thank you) and some bar food. It was a lot of fun, and always nice to have a larger group of people to hang out with.

So after, we made it home and I took a shower. I LOVE long long long showers. Like 20 minutes. I don't like hot water though, I hate when I get out and my skin is all red because it's too hot. I like it really warm, don't get me wrong, just not hot. So I took my 20 minute shower. And that was really nice.

And then I went to bed. Another random fact: I like it to be kinda chilly when I go to bed. I don't like being hot or even warm and trying to sleep. I would rather cover up in blankets because it's cold than lay on top of the blankets because it's hot. And I like to keep one leg in and one leg out. And from other times this conversation has come up, I'm not the only one, it actually seems pretty common. Oh, this is cool: http://www.flatseats.com/General/positions.htm Interesting, huh?

Okay, well it's Friday and I'm up for a very exciting weekend: my first ever horse race! I have a pink dress with polka dots somewhat reminiscent of Julia Roberts except that I've never been named People's Most Beautiful person and I'm not making 20 million dollars every movie (or any movie), but I like it and it's very horse-racey to me. Maybe I'll take pictures and put on on the blog! Wouldn't that be just crazy?

I know you think I am. I actually got an email (my first ever!) from some random person (Lemon_289) telling me that I type my stream of consciousness. I don't disagree. And thanks for the email. So do you Lemon_289.

I really ought to get back to working on proposals for our managed care program.

Oh, and please don't throw babies from a 50 foot tower. Or at least get a stronger blanket or something. Why does it have to be 50 feet in the first place?

Oh! And! Did you hear about the DC Madam? Craziness! It's the talk of the town.

And just one more random thought: Ritter Sport is one of, if not the, best chocolate bars. I prefer milk chocolate with hazelnuts. I will accept the Ritter Sport as a substitute for a flower (Andy). But the flower is nice too! ;)

aj

P.S. No, I highly, highly doubt Andy reads this.

TwentyThree

I think I jinxed Andy and the flowers - his wife said he was sick today. Feel better soon Andy, I miss my flower. Actually, his wife gave me one. It wasn't quite the same. I don't know her name yet, and it's too late to ask. Awkward.

I just found out that I have to go to a conference next week - just one day, but it kinda throws off my schedule. I have a softball game that it's gonna be hard to make, and I'm not the kinda girl that likes to rush.

So, today we had a staff meeting and we always discuss communication problems. And you know what our biggest one is? That we don't communicate the same things. We don't even want the same things. As a TwentySomething, I've only been in the workforce a year (two if you count my professional work during college) and I'm already bored and getting more bitter by the day. Things like email and editing documents come naturally to me, as they do most TwentySomethings. So while our managers were doing such work when they were our age, it's no longer as time consuming, and thus, we spend more time on perezhilton.com and are called lazy. Not that my boss has ever called me lazy; but in fact, has made comments that I work too fast and that she can't keep up with my work pace. A double-edged sword if you will. Work too slow, you're not a hard worker; work too fast, you're messing up the entire work pace; work too fast and take a break for perez before giving it to your boss, you're lazy. What's a TwentySomething to do? This article: http://www.fdu.edu/newspubs/magazine/05ws/generations.htm helps explain that different doesn't mean deficient -thank you Mr. Wright (and that's a WHOLE other topic).

All I'm saying is this: the oldest people went thru WWII and just want a secure job and bread an butter; the baby boomers are the prior hippies who got it all out of their system and now think work is life; the gen x'ers who raised themselves while they baby boomer parents were at work; and us (or me) who has a mixture of the boomer and the gen x'ers. Am I arrogant because I think I can create a mail merge faster than my boss? What if I can? What if she's had to ask me how to do it? Several times?

Our views are different, we know different things. And everyone has to accept that. I'm not trying to be arrogant, I just know how to mail merge. And when I ask what CMS means, and she does, I don't think she's being arrogant for knowing. So neither should she. (FYI, she doesn't - she's very nice, and even a tad sarcastic, which I like.) (Double FYI - CMS stands for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.)

Go ahead. Discuss. You know you want to.

I have softball practice. So, I'm peacing out.

aj

P.S. I work in a health lawyer association, you think I wouldn't know what CMS stands for? Come on now!

TwentyTwo

I don't really have anything to say, which, I suppose, says it all.

I am twenty-two-years-old and have joined the masses of twentysomethings who have no idea what to do, think, feel, and (obviously) say. Except that I kinda do.

And I'm going to.

In this blog.

Because it's free, and I'm broke. And besides, you're the one reading it.

Besides, it's better than checking perezhilton.com 80 times a day. Maybe with this keeping me occupied, I'll knock the number down to 50, but I make no promises. Miley's scandals are always sooo interesting!

I work at a non-profit association that educates anyone involved in health law on...new health law. Medicare Part D, Stark, Form 990, you name it, we teach it. I'm in charge of all the speakers, and while it keeps me somewhat busy, it's not all the challenging. In fact, pretty tedious. Hence why I can write this blog and still be ahead of my work. Except for those darn evaluations, but dang, who wants to do evals all day every day? Not me. Obviously.

So, for my first blog, a little get-to-know-me:
I get up at 7:00 am(ish) every morning, shower and change, feed my cats, and head off to the metro to go to work. I arrive about ten to 9:00 am and as I walk the block from the metro to work, Andy, the guy who sells flowers on the corner, always hands me one. It's become one of those things that will probably make me cry if he stops. I like my daily flower. Even if it doesn't last through the day.

I get to work, check emails, and do other non-interesting things until 12:30. I head to Subway, or unpack my own lunch (chicken salad sandwich today!), watch CrossWords and enjoy my break. Then back to work for a few more hours and back on the metro to home.

My home is really really nice: a 16th floor, 2 bedroom apartment. It's spacious and beatufiul and I love it. I live with my boyfriend, Matt, and our two kittens (previously mentioned), Socrates and Confucius. And let me explain: he named the calico kitten Confucius, what was I supposed to name the second...Tinkerbell? No. Socrates. So please keep all sarcastic comments to yourself. Unless they're funny. I like those comments.

He feeds the cats, we make and eat dinner while watching the West Wing, go the gym and hot tub (in our amazing apartment complex! I know, you're jealous!), watch a movie, and go to bed.

Second verse....same as the first.

There's your ice breaker. Come back tomorrow for some Starburst.

aj

P.S. Dang, now I want some Starburst.