A day (or two or three) in the life of...

I took today off. I looked around and realized people were taking off weeks at a time at work and just days here and there and I realized I was too scared to take any time off because of the work that would wait for me or the fear that one of my projects would blow up while I was gone. Well, I realized that I'm not getting a trophy for least days taken off or representing the team and it's taking a toll on me so there you have it. I have off today. Too bad it's too hot to do anything outside. I'm meeting up with my friend Clee (Carolee) which I've actually grown pretty close to in the past year via commiserating about the stress of our job. I call her my Austin Harmony. She's got a million friends and is doing stuff all the time, not to mention she's just super cool to hang out with. So, not sure what we're doing specifically. ((shrugs)) Brunch probably and some shopping. I'm on a mission to find a cute pearl snap button shirt before I leave Austin....

So, today, we had to paint the office. Um, Cowboy thought he was just covering up a few spots for the sake of touching up but turns out it wasn't the precise color and we couldn't find the precise color so we had to start from scratch. Meh, I like painting so no biggie. The finished product is a richer brown that it was before so it's cool. Plus, I love the smell of a freshly painted room... in the morning. Cowboy's cousin, is our realtor and she helped us get the house on the market. She's a pretty high energy chick, which is just what we needed. She "love, love, loves" our place and was gushing about the colors and design choices as we walked her through the house. She had someone come in and take pictures for the virtual tour and it shows really nicely ( Online Listing ). I'm a bit sad in that I do love this house and we put our heart into decorating it and picking out every detail of it but we need outta Austin. I told Sean that I hope we can ...

So, as luck would have it, this the hottest summer in Austin. Ever. Awesome. Maybe my drive to leave Austin ASAP is contributing but I swear, as soon as I step outside, I'm pissed. The heat is oppressive. Cowboy may tell me that I'm just a wimp sometimes but he hates it too. As a result of my Jeep's AC being out, I'm driving the pick up truck now (since getting to work w/pit marks isn't desirable or respectable) and Cowboy's driving the no AC having, crashed up, jacked up passenger window Jeep. Good man. Please see the below chart for yourself. in summary... hot. Cowboy's in VA today for another interview. We figure it's best to secure a couple of offers and make sure we have back up plans going. I was going to wait until he actually was en route to VA for his first day on the job (once his clearance is all worked through) before actually giving notice to my job but I was pushed over the edge a couple of days ago (a lot of it was in my head but t...

Dear Texas, Are you there? It's me, Clussy. Yeah, so, I'm over you. I wanted to love you and wanted to totally commit to you but you are not an equal opportunity lover back to those who give to you so we're done. In the past 21 months, I've gotten to know you and here is what made me want to walk away from you: First and foremost, who do you think you are in not giving Cowboy a chance in your job market? Sure, a lot of the U.S. in general has seen huge layoffs and we should be grateful to have a roof over our heads but hot damn, your employers are brutal and closed minded so pshaw to you. Now, really, 100+ degree weather for the past 30+ days? No. Just.... no. I miss running in pleasant weather or even in weather that's not oppressive. I now don't appreciate running the way I used to and for that, I resent you. Allergy capital of the U.S. Wow. Would have been great to know this about 2 years ago. Why must you make your roads be an ideal breeding ground for f...

Last weekend's 10K was awesome! Usually, I don't run that great along side someone in a race but this time it actually helped my run. At a few different spots on the trail, Cowboy would run up past me to the next crowd cheering point, stand with the crowd and cheer me on, then join back into the race with me. I literally danced through the finish line after sprinting the last bit of the run. Please see evidence of sweet sweet finish line crossing below. Tomorrow we have the Zooooooma Half Marathon though and me thinks there will be no dancing and shenanigans on that run since training wasn't quite proper. * I normally don't buy race pics but this one was so ordered. The whole succession of photos taken of us crossing the finish line can be flipped (cartoon book style) to show my action dancing w/monkey arms waving around from side to side. Excellent.

So, Cowboy picked the wrong week to leave me to fend for myself. I'm paralyzed'ish in parts of the left side of my body. I have shooting pains down my left leg and arm and my lower back is shot. I'm not even exaggerating. After that f'ing Tetanus shot, my bodyd slowly began deteriorating to the point that I was whimpering in my sleep last night each time I moved my left arm and awoke myself with the pain. Did I mention that I don't have full range of movement in my left arm w/out excruciating pain? Because I couldn't get my shirt/bra off last night w/out shooting pain, I just slept in my clothes. I *hate* sleeping in a bra! It's awful, really! So this morning, the pain was worse and I was seriously considering wearing a tube top to work. I did not. Instead I leveraged the bed in order to writhe my way into my shirt and bra. As the day wore on though, I just started feeling crappier. I got the chills, so I ran out to Old Navy to buy a clearance hood...

A few things, in list form because I just feel like listing: My fucking arm hurts. I say fucking because, well, I like to say it once in a while and also because this is no joke. I went to my OBGYN today for my annual and to tell her that we may be tentatively interested in creating little people at some point. Eventually. Some day. :-) Right, so she made me get all up to date on my shots. When she asked when my last tetanus shot was and I responded quickly with "yesterday" and shifted my eyes around to avoid contact, she was on to me. I'm not scared of shots but hot damn, Tetanus shots make poison slowly flow into your body and turn your blood circulating around your arm into cement. My arm is heavy and sore. To make it feel better, I let myself be talked into Sushi happy hour. Not quite plant-based (unless I start my old theory up again regarding seafood being rocks of the sea... but noone *really* buys that) but I'm ok with breaking plant E2 plan with some ...

Silly bootcamp lady had us do a 1/4 mile of non-stop lunges last night. She crazy. My ass is killing me! KILLING ME! I wisely decided to wear a pretty skirt and heels today. Needless to say, I did not have my dainty strut going on. More like delicate stomps. Cute. On the bright side, I'm building muscle, yeah? I'm going on month 2 of Bootcamp now and am enjoying the ass kickings. So, back to the Charlottesville talk... Cowboy's applied to many a position and we're feeling pretty good about it. See, we moved out here for a change of pace and scenery and we thought it'd be easier to get settled here. Well, turns out the job market BITES here and we just aren't getting where we want to be here in terms of stability and being able to comfortably start having some little people and not be strapped at the same time. There's plenty of cons on leaving Austin at this point (we LOVE our house here, scenery's cool, 6 hour drive from Cowboy's 'rents ...

So, one of my coworkers and good friends (Anne-Marie) got me intrigued about this Engine 2 Diet that's just a plant-based way of eating to get in more veggies/fruits/whole foods and basically clean out your body of some of the crud you accumulate in your arteries and behind your ears along the way. I've eaten a mostly plant-based diet before so I knew this wouldn't be a big deal for me but Cowboy on the other hand... Well, he comes from a line of Cattle Ranchers who thrive on the sale of beef so I wasn't so sure he'd be game. Me of little faith. See, when it comes down to it, this diet is based off of foods that feed your body with tons of nutrients throughout the day and Homeboy who wrote the book is quite the athlete (and Firefighter here in Austin) and anything that is healthy and promotes better performance in athletic training is right up Cowboy's athlete. Winner Winner chicken legume and brown rice dinner! So we started it this weekend by spending ...

I was zoning out while watching the UT/Minn basketball game tonight (I had to double up on allergy meds cuz I'm hurting... bad) when I suddenly tuned in to hear "...his ball handling's really good and his strokes are good too". I just fell into a fit of giggles and repeated it. ball handling... strokes. nice. sorry, I had to.

I can blog from me crackberry! Not that this would be the most convenient thing to do with it but, sure, why not. I think if we'd have decided to switch mobile providers so that I could get the iPhone, I'd be in the process of developing an addiction.

So, I was all sniffly, snotty and agitated at work yesterday but I took it like a man and worked on because I had too many meetings to miss out on and some fires to put out. By the end of the day, I was kindly told by a few peers and my boss that I looked like shit and to go home. I feel a wee bit better today but still all sneezy and stuffed up so, f*&& it, I'm staying home. Unfortunately, I'm not quite sick enough to not actually work from home. Is it not quite right that I dream of being just laid out sick and incapacitated so that I just am wrapped up in a blanket and watching TV for about a day or two straight? I just would like a couple of days to turn my brain off. /work rant off On the bright side.... Yay! I'm home on a school day! Besides some of the work and calls I have to be on (just 2!) I'm going to get the abode ready for my Mama's arrival tonight and get some rest in as well so that I'm not a sniffley mess for too long.

Mas is coming to town! She gets in tomorrow night and I get to keep her and Tia Yoli till Monday. Hoorah! We gots lots to do while they're town, including: 2.50 'ritas that kick yo' ass (Helloooo Fish Daddy's), likely w/some of my coworkers who are fans of the Mas Star of Austin Rodeo (to visit Whiplash, have pizza-on-a-stick and funnel cakes) dinner at Sampaio's (uh-mazing Brazilian cuisine) San Anotonio trip Sunset dinner at Oasis BBQ at the Salt Lick CACHO and TELEFUNKE! Visit the lovely Catrinas Grill Out Besides that excitement, I upgraded to a new phone. I got a cool Blackberry Curve which is much more than I need yet just enough to excite me regarding a new toy. Yays! I love Verizon sales and upgrade time! So, I still need to learn how to use my camera that Cowboy got me, to the fullest. I mean, I can take pictures but not optimal ones using the manual settings. Well, not so well at least. Must practice. I need a fun new book to read. I'm reading Th...

Ding Ding Ding, round.... 5! Ok, so if I jot down a few lines every few days then it goes back to just a fun chill little rant spot rather than feeling like I need to catch up on life in general, si? Ok, so I'm waiting for Cowboy to map out our run around Town Lake today to get a nice 6 or so mile run in. I've been HORRIBLE at my half-mari training so this may hurt next month but on the bright side, I've been doing a Bootcamp 3 days a week that's kicking my glutes into shape and making me feel the burn which I crave. Seriously, I think I do have a bit of a masochystic side to me because I love the sweet relief after the pain, so I start craving the pain so that I can get to the other side, see? I've never done so many freaking squats and lunges in my life! The only thing I would say is that the trainer is this petit, maybe 85-90 lb woman who has a soft voice and doesn't get intense enough. I sent her an email last week and encouraged her to beat the shit out...

Soo... when I mentioned that work was sucking.... yeah, it was/is sucking bad. So much so that, um, well,we kinda sorta organized a mutiny, in the nicest way possible. See, everyone else in my position was suffering silently and taking a huge hit on their home life, health, stress levels and we all feel like we should just take it and well, we decided that we should not. MARCH! We organized a lunch (and then a happy hour) between the PM's and it didn't take long for them to realize the direction it was going and we all ran with it. Hell no, we won't go. Or rather, hell yes, we're a hot mess. Lunch was had, opinions and accounts were shared and next thing we knew, we were PISSED at management. Why the fuck do I have 70 project accounts that I'm supposed to keep afloat and give bad customer service too when it's making me sick, stressed and a shell of who I really am? Long story short, we scheduled a meeting with management and shared our concerns. At this...

I want to be able to blog during my days like I was able to before! I want to!!!111!!! I miss being part of our lil blogger community and reading everyone's updates on a regular and being able to rant as I please at the drop of a hat. :( The man (being the economy and my boss actually), he makes'a me work and work long hours at that. By long, I mean, I don't have anywhere *near* the flexibility I had at my last job that I loved so dearly. I miss my boys (the cool ass developers), I miss my boss (cool ass father figure who I was *this* close to having walk me down the aisle if it hadn't occured to me that my gorgeous Mama would be the most perfect-est fit for that scenario), I miss working from home and not being anxiety ridden. BUT, I'm thankful for my job and the friends I've made, the things I've learned, the stimulation and feeling of more immediate success. In the long run, I hope to take what I've learned at BV and either be able to go back to m...