Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Just Breathe....

I have to keep telling myself that this week...

My Mom and I are fighting. The same issues: Jenna and her lack of maturity; Jenna and the fact that she is a freeloader; Jenna and the way she manipulates and walks all over my Mom. It often comes to a head when I ask Mom for a favor and I get the run-around from her, as if I were asking her for a kidney.

The guy who I was supposed to see on Friday night never called.

My shore trip this weekend might not happen because Jackie is sick (again) and she is my ride.

Money issues are driving me crazy. My car just cost me $200 bucks I dont have.

Everything is weighing on me heavily right now. Tonight I am getting away and going to stay with Meg and Joe and see the kids. I bought them tee-shirts in Newport that I want to give them before they grow out of them :) It is much-needed time away from my home, family and pressure.

Friday, August 26, 2005

He called :)

Just wanted to share my excitement.



Going out tonight :)

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Met a Boy...

On Sunday night...he seems really nice. We met at a bar, and he drove me home. We exchanged numbers and he said he'd call on Tuesday, which he did. I was out walking on Tuesday evening with Jackie and did not have my phone. He left a message. I returned the call later and also left a message.

It's now Thursday...and I have not heard from him.

I want to call...

I think I will...

I hope I am not getting my hopes up again...

Shari

You know the look that little kids get when they are eating or playing or doing something equally satisfying? Its like they are super content, they smile and bob their head up and down and look at their mommy or daddy or sibling and giggle.

Shari doesn't have that and I dont think she ever did. Her deep brown eyes move wildly and look past your face, searching for something. What she is searching for, no one will ever know.

Shari is autistic, and I spent time with her this week. Her parents are both doctors and one of the works with Jackie. He asked Jackie to babysit her during the week. No easy task as you can imagine.

She laid next to me on her brother's bare bead and our faces were so close that I could barely see her. She just stared and Jackie instructed me not to look away. This is how Shari communicates.

"Maybe she senses that you are a good person."

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Double Baggers


The foamy white sea glides into the bottom on my feet, gently threatening to soak me. The bubbly white edge of the cool ocean creeps up the shore and swats at the legs of beach walkers.

Medium waves crash at my knees. I stand and stare at the high walls of water looming feet away. The white noise is serene.

A wave breaks and its frothy sea water gurgles towards my legs. Just then, another closes in behind the first and doubles over it to form a slightly larger rush of water.

My Dad would call these double baggers, a special kind of wave. They came often, when he and I would stand and jump over each one. They come often now, as as each wave breaks and another sneaks up behind it, I think of my Dad and jumping over double baggers.

Friday, August 19, 2005

Recap Friday

Haven't posted in 2 days, been busy. This weekend, tonight actually, I am going to the shore with family. Work has been hectic, I have been staying late most days. Yesterday I went food shopping for some ingredients for some dishes I am making to bring to the shore: meat and cheese lasagna, baked french toast and a taco dip. I am starting to really enjoy cooking.

So tonight after work, I am running home (hopefully hop on the early train) and then throwing the rest of my stuff in a bag, and finishing the cooking. Then we'll leave around 8 when my Mom gets home from work. Its me, Jenna, my Mom and my grandmom (Dad's mom). I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend at the beach, getting my tan back, enjoying good food and family.

Today should be a slow day at work too, so maybe I will post later. :)

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Hold On

Hold on
Hold on to yourself
For this is gonna hurt like hell
Hold on
Hold on to yourself
You know that only time will tell

What is it in me that refuses to believe
This isn’t easier than the real thing

My love
You know that you’re my best friend
You know I’d do anything for you
My love
Let nothing come between us
My love for you is strong and true

Am I in heaven here or am i...
At the crossroads I am standing
So now you’re sleeping peacefulI lie awake and pray
That you’ll be strong tomorrow and we’ll
See another day and we will praise it
And love the light that brings a smile
Across your face

Oh God if you’re out there won’t you hear me
I know that we’ve never talked before
Oh God the man I love is leaving
Won’t you take him when he comes to your door

Am I in heaven here or am I in hell
At the crossroads I am standing
So now you’re sleeping peacefulI lie awake and pray
That you’ll be strong tomorrow and we’ll
See another day and we will praise it
And love the light that brings a smile
Across your face...

Hold on
Hold on to yourself
For this is gonna hurt like hell

(Sarah McLachlan)

Monday, August 15, 2005

Bills Bills Bills

I hate money.

I hate bills.

I hate budgets.

Long day at work, followed by a long walk home from the train while having a long coversation with my friend Wayne (who has a hard time following a conversation and cannot even finish one single thought) and coming home to a long discussion with my Mom about my bills. Now I am stressed about money. But when am I not stressed about money?

The next few months I am putting myself on a strict budget. This week I will not buy lunch. This weekend I am headed to the shore with family so I wont need much money there. Next week I will not spend anything I don't have to. And then next weekend is the bachelorette party, a trip I just had to basically cut in half because I cannot afford to stay 2 nights in a $600/night townhouse. So I put away a set amount and will save that until I go. Easier said than done....

Tonight is the first Eagles pre-season game. Jenna and I watched it briefly, almost in honor of my Dad. My Dad, the most devout Eagles fan I ever knew. That's a brave statement in this city. I used to love watching the Eagles with him. Except this one game, I think it was last year. He came down to watch it, he must have been clean then. Maybe it was the year before...well anyway, it had only been the first quarter, and we got in this huge fight. I cannot even remember what it was about, except that we exchanged some heated obscenities and he stormed out. I was furious and upset, and I shut the game off and cried. Then later, he called and said that when he left, he walked up my street (toward my Mom-Mom, his mom, who lives a few blocks up, he would need to watch the game there, due to our fight) and got to the top of the street and cried because he was so furious and upset also.

We were very much alike. My Mom hates when I wear a baseball hat because I look so much like him with my hair pulled back. I catch her looking at me sometimes in this funny way and I just know she is looking through me and seeing him, even when he was alive.

I was having lunch at Liberty Place a few weeks ago and I was reading my book, enjoying my salad, and I glanced up at man at another table. Dressed in a business suit, he was mildly overweight, but not huge. He had chubby, wrinkly fingers and he waved them wildly as he talked to his colleague. In a weird light, he resembled my Dad. I sat there, pretending to read, and wondered if my Dad had not let the drugs take over his body and mind, if he would have ever ended up in Libery Place enjoying lunch, or down the shore enjoying his family, or in this house, his home, enjoying me, his daughter.

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Exhausted

I knew that New York was going to be a hassle. And it was, oh was it ever. We got a late start, rushed into midtown, parked in a parking garage, got changed in their dirty bathroom, hopped in a cab and just made it to the 2:30 ferry to Staten Island. We get off the ferry (there are now 6 of us, as we've met up with some other friends, it is 97 degress and we are lugging shower gifts) and all of the exits to the taxis are closed. We walk around in the heat for about 15 minutes, and finally find a van/cab to hold all 5 of us.

It had no air conditioning.

We start driving all over the island, the driver has no idea where the street is, and when we pull over to ask a nice woman walking her dog, we hear a loud CRASH. We caused an accident behind us because the driver did not use a signal. We finally find the house and the rest of the day was great. But in those couple hours we just kept thinking it could not possibly get any worse and it just kept...getting....worse.

Justin's family had the back decks set up so nice. Bar, food, lais for everyone. They even had kiddie pools filled with freezing water under each table to dip your feet in! Very refreshing, such a cute idea. We drank and ate, and Court opened gifts and everyone ooohed and aaahhhed and it was very nice. We then caught a cab back into Manhattan around midnight and slept at a friend of mine's apt on the Upper West Side.

We woke up early this morning, had breakfast and left. Hit a ton of traffic on the way home, and needless to say right now I am exhausted. A nice time, but so tiring.... bye for now :)

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Lazy Saturday....I wish

Bleary-eyed but refreshed I am. I stayed in last night, watched some TV and talked with my Mom. I had to get to bed semi-early, I am traveling to New York today for Courtney's (roommate from college)wedding shower. The wedding is in October in Boston, that's where Court is from. Justin, her fiancee and also a friend of mine from Catholic, lives in Staten Island. So she is having 2 showers, one in Beantown (actually a suburb called Marshfield on the South Shore) and this one, thrown by Justin's mother. Its a Hawaiian theme. Should be really nice. I am driving (well not driving, but catching a ride) with Colleen and Colleen (2 other roommates, both from Philly area). We are heading into Manhattan (I am dreading this...New York is such a process), parking the car at yet another friend's apartment (Maybs), and meeting up with her and yet another roommate (Kerry, from Boston as well, Court's best friend and bridesmaid) and taking a cab to SI. I am tired already.

Another weekend in Sept, right before the wedding, there is a tradition that all of my friends from school participate in. Justin's favorite uncle, an NYC firefighter, perished in 9/11. He was on his way to go golfing with his brothers and was in the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel when he heard the call about the WTC under attack. He parked his truck in the tunnel, strapped on 70 pounds of gear (I think it was 70) and ran to the WTC. So they have this run/walk in honor of him every year. We run (I walk) the route that he did, its called Follow The Footsteps of a Hero. (chills) It's my favorite weekend. Check out the site Tunnel To Towers Run, And it's another weekend I have to save for and spend on hotel, transportation, and food/drinks/going out. The race itself is amazing...Maybe I will just go up for that this year. Hmmm....

Well I am off to get showered and ready. I have to pack a small overnight bag, as we are staying in Manhattan at Maybs' apartment and coming home in the morning. Long day/night/weekend. I am excited to see my friends!

Friday, August 12, 2005

My 2 favorite kids in the world

These gorgeous kids are Jack and Charlie. Jack is 2 and my godson. He is the smartest and most loveable kid. I love him with everything in my heart. And then the one I am holding is Charlie. So adorable, belongs on a Hallmark card, I swear. Char is 1 and such a happy baby. I cannot wait until they are 4 and 5, 7 and 8. Knowing and loving them and having them in my life has taught me so much about parenting also. I have the groundwork for when I have kids and I got it from Joe and Meg. Its awesome.

This pic is this past winter, a birthday celebration for Meg, and my Uncle Joe (Joe's Dad). Joe's mom is my Dad's sister, Aunt Jeanne. My Dad's only other sibling, my Uncle Jimmy, died when I was....5 or 6? (I think). He was my godfather and an amazing man. Joe and I talk about him often. So now my Aunt Jeanne has buried her 2 brothers, its very sad. She is a strong woman though, and so loving.

Picture taken right before Jack put his face in the cake...Joe and Meg were NOT pleased :)

I'm Back...time to fill you (who is you?) in

Time to fill everyone in who i am. Who is everyone? the one, two, three people who read this? Well anyway, as I mentioned before, I started this blog to try and get all of my thoughts out, and then maybe I will have a better time managing them...along with my emotions, feelings, etc. All that good stuff. I used to journal all the time...write write write. At night, during class (high school and college), but then I just got tired to writing. I am hoping this will help... So here goes, a little description of me.
I am a 24 year old single girl, living in the suburbs of Philly. I have lived here all my life, and left only to attend college in DC (at The Catholic University of America). Then I graduated in 2003, and moved home with my Mom. I work in Center City at a small sales training company. I am a client services coordinator, but I only work on one account, and I do a lot of scheduling and project management stuff. I love this job. Before this company, I worked at large software company doing technical support, only for a few months, and before that (right after college) I worked at a telecommunications company, as a customer service rep. And now, finally, I feel like I fit in at this job. I like what I do and I am good at it. I am learning so much and it is very challenging.
Like I said, I live with my mom, and just recently my younger sister, Jenna, (age 21) moved back in with us. And here is where I get to explain my family. My Mom and Dad were not together when my dad passed away just this Father's day. He left for good when I was 15, but before that (and for the rest of his life) he was a drug addict. He continued to use drugs and move in and out of our lives through my high school years and college. So, in these years, we maintained a semi-normal relationship even as he lived in crack houses and shacks. He and my mom were never enemies, through all the years, they remained on a friendly level. And God, I know she misses him so much. My younger sister, who never was into college (tried community and didnt like it) and started using drugs (pot mostly) when she was very young, only got worse over these past few years, drug-wise. So, when my Dad died, it was like her rock bottom (she was, at this point, using crack, just as he was). She went into a 28 day rehab and came home about a month ago.
This is my living situation. My Mom who works herself to death to pay bills, my sister who does not have a job or anything really and is just focusing on staying clean, and me. I try to think I am really normal. I use that term with sincere caution. What I mean, is that I am not a basket case, or depressed, or any other label that people would like to neatly place across my forehead. I am a young professional, who is trying to deal with things as they come at me, as I always have. Thus the need (the want?) for the blog, a place to come, vent, type, curse, be free. I dont care if no one ever reads this. I only want it for myself.
I have great friends. GREAT friends. I have a very close-knit group of girls who were my roomates in college: Colleen, Colleen, Kerry, Courtney and Trish. and then me, Kristen. Say that three times fast, I know. Three of them live in the Philadelphia area and the other two live in Boston. Oh how I love Boston, and wanted to move there last year. That idea got away from me as many ideas seem do sometimes. Besides my roomies, I have a ton of other friends from CUA whom I am very close with. And then there's friends from home, from high school, from the neighborhood, from the bar. My best friend at home is Jackie. She's a crazy, curly-haired, honest woman. Her honesty is what draws me to her, and her to me. We are both so brutally honest, in weird and funny ways, and I dont think I could say some of the things I say to her in front of anyone else. I know that actually.
In addition to friends, I have a very special older cousin, Joe, who has been like a brother to me my entire life. I mention him because not only is he like a brother, he is a mentor, an advisor, a friend, and most importantly my family. He now has a family of his own, a wife, Meg, and 2 little boys Jack (2) and Charlie (1) and when I tell you that they are the most beautiful children you will not believe me until you see their pic. I will post it later. I am a part of Joe's family. They are so dear to me. All of these people are my home, my center.
When my Dad passed, I was overwhelmed by the influx of support. In his death, I learned more about the value of my life. It was amazing.
More about me....let me think....I love TV, the food network, Friends, Sex and the City, Seinfeld. One of my absolute favorite shows has just ended "Queer as Folk". God, I loved that show. Such great writing, and the relationships...I loved each and every episode. I love to read, I am currently obsessed with Jodi Picoult. I have read "My Sister's Keeper" and "The Pact" and I am currently into "Harvesting the Heart". I love her writing. I love to write myself, although this particular little information burst is a little long winded I know. I am tired and its Friday and I want to get it all out....
We have a cat, Puff. He is actually Jenna's cat, but my Mom loves him. He's a good little guy. Music? my tastes are across the board: Rod Stewart (my Mom and I share a love for him), the Dixie Chicks, Billy Joel, O.A.R., Indigo Girls, Frank Sinatra...to name a few. I love going to concerts, I should do it more. Now I am rambling.
Well I hope I have filled you in on most things and not bored anyone to tears. Apologies if I did. What to expect on my blog: updates on my life, friends and family, musings and reflections that I notice and care to share, poems (although I hate that word for some reason) that I've written in the past maybe...work vents, pics of my family and friends (and me!). Well here goes....

I am trying something new...


I dont even know if anyone will read this! I dont know anyone in the blog world, with the exception of random posters on the Weight Watchers message boards. (I used to do WW, not so much anymore, we'll get to that later...) One poster in particular, Julie, well she doesnt know this, but she has inspired me to start blogging. So, to the Foxxy one...a big THANK YOU!

I must get back to work right now actually, BUT I will be back later to start this whole huge process. I have a ton going on right now, and I think that the blog will help me organize my thoughts. At least I hope...we shall see...
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