the good, the bad, and the ugly...

so... Tony's been traveling for business... which is not so bad, and sort of a good, because the busier he is the more he gets paid. Yeah! That's the bonus to being a contractor. The traveling is not so bad because all I do these days is work my day job and then come home to my evening job. Cotton Candy Paperworks. So, that's sort of the bad (but really it's good). Then, the good is that Saturday I woke up super early to drive to Redlands to attend this charity event where we raised money for "The Unforgettables Foundation" while scrapping until 1 a.m. on Sunday. Sort of a scrapping marathon if you will. It was an overall fun event and we stayed very busy. I was able to finish a CE project and get my marathon scrapbook organized to a point where I can chip away at it one page at at time. Believe it or not it took a while just to organize the pile of crap I had accumulated. We did a bunch of make n' takes and even won a few little things... so this is the GOOD... the UGLY comes in right about the time I am about to pull up to my house. Dear husband calls and we chat and I come to find that our water heater exploded this morning. This in and of itself sucks big time. But unless you are new to this blog, which I doubt since how many new people can possibly stumble onto type A chronicles?, you'd remember that our house is being remodeled right now and we have a LOT of shit in our garage. Shit that includes my whole wardrobe, a new printer (still in it's box), a BUNCH of scrapbooks from a long time ago... yearbooks, carpeting, rugs, did I mention clothes?, all of our new kitchen gadgets that we got as wedding presents, two WOOD dressers filled with clothes, and then your typical garage things... tools, a vacuum (my DYSON!), a costco size box of styrofoam cups, about 6 boxes of garbage bags and... the list. goes. on. This is the UGLY. So, we have to empty the garage and take everything out of it, put it on the driveway, so that we can sweep out and attempt to DRY the garage. Only problem is that here in sunny freaking California, it decides that it has to rain today. So, we got to dry the garage for about an hour before it started to rain and I had to haul everything back into the garage. So, I'm sure that the garage will smell really really good... mmmm.... can't wait for THAT to kick in. The best part to this miserable story is... that when I woke up this morning... I didn't bother to take a shower at the hotel (remember? I was up in Redlands scrapping until 1 a.m., so I got a hotel room up there) because I was in a hurry to get home. If that ain't murphy's law...what is?

despite popular belief... the one on the right is pregnant...

Although it looks like I am because I am SO FAT... gross... Jenny Craig here I come. Sheesh... putting me next to Wendy is like putting a Bentley next to a Neon... really embarrassing to the Neon...

As you can see, I got to see Wendy this weekend... her shower was SO NICE!!! And the food was great too, and the house looked so cute and her gifts were cute... of course the "Allison" banner looked cute... it was a cute-filled day. I finally got that picture of us together too... but I kinda wish I just photshopped myself out of it. Oh, move on.

We also went to a surprise party for an old friend of mine on Saturday. On Sunday morning we had the "salesperson snow-job from hell" (totally MY doing b/c I wanted a free air purifier... it wasn't so bad, but Tony HATED it). Then he took off to the play-off party to sadly watch the Chargers lose to the PATRIOTS, boo! I finally got to leave the house when the sales lady packed up her junk... but I had a hair appointment to get to... new highlights and a trim for me. THAT'S it... it was my HAIR that looks so awful in this picture... you should see me now... should, not will.
I made it to the party just in time to see the ending of the game and to taste some of the award winning shish-kabob made at the Annual Jesse Jerome BBQ Contest. You know highlights and a trim take their sweet time. Good thing my salon always gives me a mini massage and a mini facial as part of the pampering.

We had Monday off due to Martin Luther King Day. Hey, I'll take it! My company doesn't offer up many of these freebie days off... I spent it running errands and having a fun lunch with Mabel and Norma.

3.5 weeks until Rome baby!

a meeting with the mafia...

I'm serious. Well, it's the Craft Mafia to be exact, the San Diego Chapter. And it was a very informative meeting of the creative minds. This group seems very motivated to MAKE SOME MONEY (aren't all mafia's?). So I'm thinking it would be a step in the right direction to join forces with these gals (and one guy) to MAKE IT HAPPEN!!! I just got another order of 6 boxcards (from people I don't know!!!) and it feels really good. I can't wait to start making them and to get THEIR reactions, and then see if those new clients generate any MORE business??? Together with my own army of relentless sales people, along with any connections the CM gets me linked up with... hopefully I'll be set to meet my goal of 100% freedom from the corporate world in 2008....

if you want more info, check out San Diego Craft Mafia or for even more info, check out Austin Craft Mafia which is the flagship craft mafia. SD is just starting up their branch... but it looks promising!

I'm in that kind of mood today.

I know bitching about things does not resolve anything, but sometimes it just feels good to do it. Here I go:

Things I hate:
big trucks. c'mon guys, really? it needs to be THAT big?
to-go orders that are wrong. and not finding out until i'm back at my desk.
stupid people. example is kinko's guy that looks like booger from animal house. he tried to tell ME how to make copies. really dude? you don't know who you're dealing with.
not being motivated to be at work right now. i hate it b/c i have to be here, so i wish i actually wanted to be.
wearing short sleeves to work when TODAY happens to be the day they decide to turn off the heat.

and, just to keep things equal in the world, things i LOVE:
making stuff.
sushi. and with any luck today will be the last time i eat it for awhile.
the fact that i get to go to rome in 3.5 weeks.
my mini.
cotton candy paperworks.

have a great day blogland!

just GORGEOUS daaaahling... gorgeous!

as promised... a picture of the D-man. This outfit is amazing... total cashmere... this kid already runs a tab at the local dry-cleaners... no kidding. Look at that face too... could you just eat him? I could. And not because I'm hungry right now, but because he's so cute. I mean, when we have our own kids, Tony is going to come home one day and the baby will be gone b/c I will eat it. How could you not want to chomp on those baby cheeks?? Anyway... I love this kid and so far he seems really cool. That's also b/c he's not 13 yet AND I get to hand him over as soon as he starts to cry.
Enjoy the Christening pic.

no picture, because I'm a loser!

This weekend flew by so quickly, I totally {almost} forgot to post. I'm trying to post at LEAST once a week, if not more often, but shooting for at least weekly.
There isn't too much visual progress on the house. Nothing worth taking a picture of at least. Supposedly the electrician was over and did his job. I just trust that he did.

It seems that everyone is back at work and school... or at least where they are supposed to be. Only means that there is no more slacking to be done. Crap.

The weather out here has been very rainy and windy and cold. I don't typically mind it at all... actually really like it... except when it's time to run a marathon. The OC (Orange County) Marathon was yesterday. I drove up to OC on Saturday, went to the expo, picked up my free sneakers (which I actually got for Tony, I'm a strict Asics girl), got some work on my latest project done up in the hotel room, went back down for the pasta dinner they arranged for the runners and went back to the room to watch a movie (over-priced on payperview) and went to bed. Woke up the next morning at 3:30 a.m. to have my coffee and breakfast and layed back down until 5 a.m. IF you want some TMI... the early coffee thing is to get "stuff" moving so I can unload BEFORE the race, thus avoiding the "football squat" in the gross porta potties later. Yes, TMI. Anyway... I was registered for the full marathon and let me just tell you now... I was not prepared to do the full. This year just was no conducive to training for a marathon. The 2 weddings, getting pregnant, becoming un-pregnant, and then getting bronchitis... those are my excuses and I think they are pretty good ones. Anyway... at mile 12 ish, I stopped the race and was taken to the end. DNF. That's right people... a big Did Not Finish. I'm OK with it too. I cannot waste any more energy worrying about that DNF. Really... who cares, right? There are plenty of races to be run. The weather was miserable and it's not like I was going to run a PR. I'm not typically a quitter... but this race just wasn't meant to be for me this year. I do want to try it again, next year or the next. It seems like a really good race overall...

The Chargers won their first play-off game... so Tony is happy about that and all is well in the world until next week.