Happy Galentine's Day!

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This week included the holiday with which I have a love/hate relationship with. I LOVE love... and should, then, love Valentine's Day. But my love life has been a little lackluster lately (alliteration!), so I'm not really feeling the balloons and chocolates and roses and hearts.

UNTIL... I heard a "knock, knock, knock" on my office door on Monday morning.

"Flower delivery for Jessica McCann."

Whaaaa??!? Who could be sending me flowers?!

My sweet, sweet baby sister had sent me flowers with a little card about Valentine's being a day to show me how special I was, or some mushy sentiment like that. What shock! What surprise!

Thank you, Tiffany!

And she's right. Romantic love is wonderful and deserves to be celebrated. But all kinds of love are lovely - especially the kind that runs in your blood and has been there through it ALL. I mean IT. ALL. She really changed my perspective this year, and I started thinking about all the wonderful love I have in my life. Now, it seems so silly to get down just because I don't have one particular kind of love. I'm so blessed by people who truly care about me and who I value so so much.

All of a sudden, I had plenty of reasons to celebrate Valentine's Day!

To return the favor, I asked Tiffany out on a date. To the Olive Garden. Which now is just a regular old restaurant, but in high school, it was like THE place to have a nice dinner. Prom date style. So we dined (ordered the same exact thing too, we're twinkies), laughed, took ill-concealed pictures of strangers because they looked like celebrities and had to keep apologizing to our waiter because I'd paid almost an hour earlier but we were still chatting it up at the table.

Demetri Martin doppelganger. 

Spotted by Tiffany... no credit to me, I just took the picture.

Pretty much the perfect evening. Tiffany told me it's called Galentine's Day - where you hang out with gal pals around V-Day. I like it. I don't think she invented it, but in my mind, she did.

I hope your Valentine's Day was fantastic. And I hope if you have a lover, you celebrated your love. And if you don't, I hope you took the day to see the love that is all around you. It's powerful stuff, man.

XOXO - especially this week
jam

Dear Future Husband

Since I've been a homeowner - which has been extremely empowering, by the way - I find myself keeping a running tally of chores that I don't mind doing and chores that will definitely become my future husband's. It's probably not fair for me to decide his chores all on my own, so it seems much more polite to write him a little love note letting him know what the job description is BEFORE he signs up for it.

So here is episode 1 of what I'm sure could become quite a lengthy series...

Dear Future Husband,

Doing the dishes is totally no big deal. The cooking part I like too. But today, as I was pre-rinsing everything for the dishwasher, the little spout for the juicer went down the garbage disposal. Down into the dark and scary depths of the garbage disposal.

I sat there. Staring at the drain for a minute, calculating my options. Attempt 1 for retrieving the spout involved putting tongs down there to try to bring it back up. No luck. I tried holding back the little rubbery things on the drain cover in an effort to SEE down the abyssmal garbage disposal. Still no luck. At this point, I considered how much I actually use the disposal and whether or not I could survive without it ever again. But the spout is pretty necessary for the juicer, and to be honest, I was hoping to put the waste pulp from the juice I just made down the disposal anyway. Drats. I couldn't ignore the issue.

So I finally had to roll up my sleeve (which was unnecessary, because as it turns out, it's not as deep down there as I thought), and put my hand down the disposal drain. It took to two seconds to fish out the spout, but in those two seconds, all sorts of nightmares flashed through my mind. What if it turned on all by itself? What if there is a monster in there? What if there are decrepid bits of rotten things down there?! (Even though I use those Plinko things to "clean" it regularly.)

The point is, this is definitely going to be your job to reach down the disposal for ill-placed items. Yes, I know my hand is smaller and fits easier down there, but I just really can't go through the emotions and stress again. Naturally, I try really hard to avoid things going down there, but if they do, expect a phone call or a note left on the sink alerting you that your lack of fear and knack at finding things is needed.

You're the best. Love you.

XOXO
jam

Having my best (new) year ever!

Surprise, surprise, I'm a capricorn. For those of you who don't give a crap about your horoscope, you probably have no idea what that means. And maybe you shouldn't give a crap about your horoscope, but I do. Because it's crazy weird how spot-on it is sometimes! No, I don't follow astrology as a belief system, I just think it's fun to read. Like reading the comics... I mean, they ARE right next to the comics in the paper.

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So Capricorns are symbolized by goats. I never understood why until just now: Goats like to be on top of mountains... and capricorns are ambitious. Goats are stubborn... and capricorns are resilient and dedicated. Goats are kind of ugly and smelly... and capricorns are kind of ugly and smelly. Not really, but capricorns are really uninterested in flashy, worldy, material things. That kind of correlates... no?

Anyway, that was a really strange segue to say that, like a true Capricorn, I always start the new year with some big ambitions. I methodically write down my resolutions, categorized by "Personal", "Professional", "Spiritual", and "Financial" goals. Then I organize them in rank order by time horizon it takes to achieve the goal. And then I assign them an "A", "B", or "C" grade based on priority. Sometimes I chart them on a calendar too. Oh, and each resolution gets a little box drawn next to it that I thoroughly enjoy checking when I'm done with that goal. All of this later gets translated into an Excel spreadsheet that I set an alert on my calendar to revisit in June for my mid-year update.

So yeah. Resolutions are usually big business.

This year, as I started to think about what things I wanted to accomplish this year... I had a different experience. I had some goals that came to mind that were just standard living type chores.

"Pay off my student loan"
"Achieve my performance goals at work"
"Read books"
"Floss more"

Boring. None of them really felt exciting or meaningful. In fact, this happened to me last year too, so I started the whole "Do something exciting/challenging/you're afraid of" goal instead. And I still really like that idea, but I have my 2012 one picked out already. Run the half-marathon. It'll be over in February. So... what else?

The more I tried to invent creative or interesting or awe-inspiring resolutions, the less it seemed to be worth my time. So, I stopped.

No resolutions this year.

Scratch that - one resolution this year. Have the best year ever. Live my best life the best I can. The rest will work itself out.

Can't wait to check this one off the list.

Happy 2012!

xoxo

JAM

Hopped up Christmas cookies and cocoa

Last year, while waiting up for Santa, we busted out the Photo Booth and had some Christmas fun.

I might've promised these would never see the light of day, but it's been long enough now that I can't really remember if I actually DID make that promise... so it doesn't count, right?

Merry Christmas from me to you!

XOXO
jam

My body hates me

Most days, not too much happens to me. I usually go to work, read some emails, make calls and appointments... grab a drink with my friends after work... chill around my house, annoy my dog (or he annoys me) and watch some tv... then bed. Pretty standard (read: boring).

But recently, my routine has been thrown off by the fact that I was buying a house (which happened today). Meaning, I'm moving in like 2 days. And given my familiar experiences with moves and how many of your favorite things can break during a move, I know how important it is to pack up carefully.

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So imagine my disdain, when I woke up this morning to really sharp pain in my shoulder and the inability to raise my left arm more than a few inches. My first panic: OHMYGOD - MY HAIR! Yes, it's true. I'm rocking bed hair today because I can't reach my head. (Thankfully, I was able to brush my teeth with the other hand). My second panic: OHMYGOD - I'M MOVING! AND STILL NEED TO FINISH PACKING!

This is mutiny. I told my shoulder that I'm really busy and have an extremely hectic schedule... but it doesn't care. My body hates me and is basically demonstrating the very worst timing possible.

I can't say that I'm overly surprised by this shoulder thing - to be honest, it's been getting gradually worse for about a month. I was blaming my bed (and used it as a handy excuse to buy a new one on Black Friday), but I don't think that's the culprit anymore. And I got a massage on Friday and asked the therapist to focus on my shoulder... so I'm hoping that didn't make things worse either.

I've self-diagnosed via WebMD, so I'll test my theory this afternoon when I go see Dr. McDreamy. I only called him that because his real name is weird and to protect my own privacy. And because he's handsome.

Ugh, the ups and downs of life.

XOXO

jam

Currently...

Obsessing over: My new house. Moving into it. Decorating it. Throwing parties in it. Cleaning it. Loving it.  

Working on: As of RIGHT THIS SECOND, I'm working on charging my iPhone so that I can use it on my long run. I bailed last week. And the week before that. Tonight, I'm making 8 miles my bi-atch.

Thinking about: What it means to be a family. The holidays always get me thinking about what really matters. I'm old enough that the thought of presents under the tree doesn't really jazz me up (ok, ok... it does a little!); it's anticipating spending lots of time with people I really care about, warm fires, yummy meals, sharing laughs and memories... My family includes people I'm related to by blood and others I'm related to by choice... and Christmas is a blast with all of them.

Anticipating: I'm anticipating the closing of my house (Dec. 14th can't get here soon enough!), my sister's birthday (the 18th), the return of a certain someone to the mainland, and CHRISTMAS of course! I'm also a big fan of New Year's - and my birthday right after that. It's a busy couple of months around here.

Listening to: Copeland. I like to mellow out to pretty music at the end of the day. But like I said, as soon as my iPhone charges, I'll be jamming out to my "Running" playlist... which includes such artists as Kelly Clarkson, Ace of Base, Weezy Baby, Michael Jackson, Limp Bizkit, Britney Spears, Junior Boys, Queen... it's an eclectic mix.

Drinking: water. Lots of water. I had too many coffees this morning during my 5 a.m. drive to Dallas. I'm wigging out.

Wishing: that I had more answers. I'm just doing the best I can in the meantime.

How about you? What are you up to today?

Oops... I did it again.

(Oh, Britney)

I've been one crazy lady lately... neglecting my leetle blog in the meantime. Sorry bout that.

But I'm back.

Saturday, Tiff and I did the David Gardner's Diamond Dash to try and win a $10,000 diamond ring. It was a scavenger hunt around campus. Despite a valiant effort (and rusty map skills), we didn't win, but we had an awesome time. And got quite the workout riding bikes all over the place for 2 hours.

Why do events always order one million XL shirts and 4 small shirts?! Of course, they were out by the time we got there... so another oversized shirt that will never see the light of day :-/

I've been keeping up with the running... training for my first half marathon has been no joke. And when I say I've been "keeping up", I actually fell behind this weekend. I skipped my 8 mile run on Sunday. But it was raining. And it was Sunday. God didn't want me to run.

I also have been in the trenches of the house-buying process. From looking at properties, to the bidding war, inspections, etc. etc... I think we're finally in the home stretch. Won't close for a few more weeks to give the current residents a chance to find new digs, but I love it. And I think about it every day.

Here's what the outside looks like:

(Sorry for the tiny pic, but it's from the realtor's site)

The rest of my live is kind of the usual stuff... loving the pup, working hard for the (12th) man, hanging with my sister (who is also the newest President of the forensic club at Sam Houston! Congrats), and daydreaming all the daydreams I like to daydream.

Note: I was making an A&M joke with the 12th Man thing. For the 1,000th time, I DO NOT work for the 12th Man Foundation; I work for the A&M Foundation. Academics. Brains, not brawn. And no, I really can't get you tickets to the game. Unless I want to sit with you and kiss you when we make a touchdown. Then I might be able to.

The next couple of weeks for me involve buying as many gadgets and gizmos for my new house on Black Friday, tackling my Christmas list and packing/unpacking my life before the new year.

Friends and family - be looking for my Christmas wish list on here soon! :) :) :) 

If you love me, that is.

XOXO

jam