That's a lot of water, friends

Today's goal was to flush out my system by drinking a whole lot of water. That goal was met. I think I drank about six big bottles of water throughout the day. I certainly feel flushed. Today, also, was the first day of my shakes diet, which will be the catalyst for my weight loss over the next few months. Which is exactly why I thoroughly enjoyed the hot chocolate from Dunkin' that Brian brought to me this morning, and why I ate with gusto my popcorn this afternoon. So now I'm all flushed out, and I've indulged in a couple of my vices. I think I feel better for it. More of the same tomorrow and the next day, and it becomes a habit.

I love a Saturday ITEM! list

ITEM!: The disappointment in myself that I felt earlier this evening in watching Step Up: Revolution, the last 10 minutes of The Odd Life of Timothy Green, and about five minutes of Chasing Mavericks, has been replaced by unbounded joy, due to catching Airplane! at the beginning. "Surely, you can't be serious." "What's our vector, Victor?"
ITEM!: Somehow, I was able to spend some time catching up on my television today. I watched True Blood, The Newsroom, and Ray Donovan, which is awesome, because that means I only have to wait until tomorrow night before I see the next episode. Something about True Blood: There are only three episodes left, and I feel like nothing has happened in the first nine. Honestly, I feel like they're still setting up this season's action.
ITEM!: I'm officially getting super nervous about starting my job on Wednesday. And I'm nervous for Sydney starting school. This is going to be an awful week for my psyche, and I just have to reconcile myself to that fact. But still, my heart starts pumping a bit faster when I think about Wednesday.
ITEM!: Daisy's diet has finally kicked in, and she's lost weight. In fact, she's weighing about 21.5 pounds right now, which is a pound less than Oliver. So, to be clear, she's lost five pounds in the last seven weeks. I have concerns about this, but Brian contends that I'm being paranoid. I'm sorry, but losing 20 percent of body weight in less than two months can't be a good thing. But she's eating, drinking, pooping and peeing as she always has. I can't believe that all that is because she's going up and down stairs several times a day and night. I'm keeping an eagle eye on her, for sure.
ITEM!: I'm yawning. It must be time for night nights.

Butterflies in the tummy, huh huh!

So, this happened: It's turned to August already.
We've been out here in California for a week, and we're heading home tomorrow. We've got quite an August ahead of us, and I'm eager to get started ... sort of. I'm going to miss Sydney like crazy when she starts school again. And I'm getting nervous about starting the job next week, too. I know that once we dig in together, we'll be happy and excited about it all, but until then, my nerves and stress level will be growing. Already, my tummy is getting all butterfly-ish.
My avatar shows me wearing a suit, but that's not going to be the case at all. Yes, I've managed to find myself another job that allows me to wear whatever I want every day. So, while this looks fancy, I will, in fact, be wearing flip flops and jeans to work. Sometimes I love being a writer and editor more than other times, and when I don't have to dress up fancy for work, I love it more. I'm an easygoing girl, you know.

Girl dinners are a must

News flash: There's nothing better than an evening out with your girlfriends. We had the most cathartic and engaging conversations tonight. I won't confide in you the topics, but will say that we all spilled, we all helped deal, and we all are smiling tonight from the experience of it.
It's a good thing when you've got a group of close friends with whom you can share any and all stories of your life, and they accept, hug, console, and love each other, no matter the circumstances.
It's an important support system, and I highly recommend it.

"Emotional issues, we have a problem"

I honestly didn't think that it's been two days since I've blogged. But, you know, I get tired when we've been running around in California, and I tend to fall asleep on the sofa at night. This happened both Saturday and Sunday.
Today, we ventured down to Los Angeles to spend the morning at the California Space Center and visit Endeavour in its temporary new home: We got to see the Toyota Tundra truck that pulled the shuttle across the freeway in a publicity stunt. We got to watch video of Endeavour's final launch and entry into orbit. We got to ride on the Endeavour simulator, which showed what a launch, flight and return felt like. We got to see the video of Endeavour riding through the streets of Los Angeles. And finally, we got to see the shuttle itself, in the hangar.
And today, I could officially announce to myself (and Mom, because she was there, too) that, yes, I'm bitter as hell about missing that final launch. I try to be all upbeat and happy about the opportunity to see and do things surrounding the shuttle, but really, I'm still pissed off that I missed it. I mean, really. We flew all the way to Florida, bought all the tickets and hotel and everything, and the damn shuttle launch was scrubbed at the last minute. But the money put out is moot, because seeing a shuttle launch was/is among my life's greatest wants. So yeah, I'm still super angry. I don't know if I'll ever get over that particular disappointment, and I'm okay with stewing with it, to tell you the truth.
I still have a love of all things astronaut and space shuttle, but I'm still mad.

Plants release oxygen, which is good

My new project when I get home is Plant Maintenance. I've got house plants that need to be re-potted, re-soiled, and upgraded into bigger pots, as well. In a nifty bit of trickery, my cactus also needs to be re-potted. (How does one re-pot a cactus? Very carefully. I've got gloves, and I am afraid, so I'll use them.) But I've got several plants that need some tender, loving care. Something interesting I came across on the Internets today is an article, "11 Signs of an Unhappy Houseplant." This article landing in my lap in so timely a manner is reason to pay attention. Herewith, some of my plant issues, copied and pasted from the article:
Symptom: Spindly Plants, Few Flowers
Possible Cause: Poor lighting conditions.
Management: Most indoor plants need an average of 14 hours of sunlight each day. Do an Internet search to find out the proper amount of direct light, indirect light, or shade that your particular plant requires to thrive.
Symptom: Yellowing Leaves
Possible Causes: Overwatering, low humidity, poor soil drainage, low temperatures, or pot-bound roots.
Management: If the weather has changed suddenly, make sure that your plant is not in a draft, near a heater, or reacting to an unexpected environmental change. Check that your pot has adequate drainage and that the plant isn't root bound.
Symptom: Brown Leaf Tips
Possible Causes: Too much fertilizer or pesticides, dry soil, low temperature, hot air, accumulated salts, or root rot.
Management: It bears repeating—most indoor plants need to be fertilized only once a month, at most. Stand pots in shallow, pebble-lined trays that are filled with water to increase humidity (pots should sit on the pebbles, above the water line). Once a month, apply enough water to the top of the soil to thoroughly flush excess salts through the drainage hole.
Symptom: Small Leaves or Wilting Plant
Possible Causes: Soil remains either too wet or too dry.
Management: Develop a watering routine that is infrequent but deep to promote healthy root growth and combat root rot. If root rot is suspected, remove the plant from its container, examine the root system, and cut out infected roots (blackened root tips with slimy decay), then re-pot using sterile potting mix and a clean pot.
Something that didn't occur to me until I was reading this, is that I can re-pot and re-soil a plant in the same pot it's already in, just with fresh soil. I'll tell you right now though, I'm not going to be putting my pots in plates full of pebbles and water. But I do notice that a few of these are exactly what some of my issues are. I get brown leaf tips on one of my spaths, and I get yellowing leaves on my dieffenbachia. I need to be better about checking the soil's wetness before I water, and I think the re-potting will be a huge help to them all. This will not be a quick project. And I'll need more than the one bag of potting soil Mom bought for me today. I need a new pot or two, and also a couple new plants for some empty spaces in the house.

Good food, good dessert, great laughs

ITEM!: I think the best kind of sore throat is the one that comes after spending a few hours laughing with friends. I can celebrate tonight that I have just such a sore throat, having just spent three hours laughing my butt off with JJ and Andrea. I just downed an entire bottle of water, but I'm still coughing, and I can still feel the rawness in my throat. Who knows how it will feel tomorrow, which will probably be fine, but it was totally worth it. We had a great time.
ITEM!: The drive out to California was a good one today! Weirdly, there was rain in Arizona, and the warm sunshine was in Cali, but sometimes that's how it goes. Blah, blah, blah weather.
ITEM!: I like that people have secret identities on the Internet. It makes it more fun, just the idea, that people take on different personalities, and can say things that they may or may not normally say, and that they can say it with no consequences. I enjoy thoroughly the anonymity of the Internet (to clarify: I enjoy that people can say what they want; I don't enjoy when other people use the anonymity to troll). And it makes me happy that this allows for more creativity and more fun. Because really, that should be what the Internet is all about.
ITEM!: Cinnamon-sugar pizza is better than you would think.

The day in "John" and "Jon"

Jon Stewart is still on hiatus from The Daily Show, and I miss him terribly. I am getting excited for the first day he's back in the studio, and am eager to hear the screaming from the audience. If he leaves the show for good, I'll be a sad camper.
John Oliver is taking over for Stewart while the latter is gone. And he's doing a fantastic job. I think it was a ridiculous bit of luck that this whole thing with the royal baby went down while there is a British guy behind the desk of The Daily Show. He's making it awesome. I think I may miss him when Stewart returns. He's making me giggle, even when I never thought anyone but Stewart would or could.
John Cusack is usually a pretty rock-solid indicator of a movie being a good one. Tonight, we watched The Numbers Station, starring Cusack and Malin Ackerman. I picked the movie because of Cusack, and it sat on the TV stand for a couple weeks waiting for us to watch it. Huh. As my husband said, "It's not the worst he's done -- or you've chosen -- but it's not the best, either." ... ... Also, this poster makes Ackerman's character look much more badass than she was in the movie. She spent a good portion of the film asleep, and only held a gun for all of five minutes. They also aren't showing her limping. Sure, she was the smart girl who -- spoiler alert -- saved the day, but she also was a classic damsel in distress who needed to be carried, supported, coddled and cooed at throughout her ordeal. Ugh. I'm not saying that all the women need to be butt-kicking, marksmen that could cut someone, but I get tired of them being all fragile and distressy.

Employed, and it feels so good

Almost seven years ago to the day (7/21/06), I left my job in Boston for our move back to Arizona, and to be a stay-at-home mom for a while. Here we are, seven years and two days later, and I'm ready to jump back into the work force. I'm happy to say that I was offered the job as a social media Community Manager this evening, and I'm excited to get started as soon as Sydney goes back to school.
But you know what's interesting right now? I'm getting nervous. I know I can do this job, and I know I'll do it well. But being back in the game is suddenly very intimidating. I was all ready for this, but in this moment, my stomach is doing flips. There will be plenty of training, and my new bosses are as invested as I am to be sure I know all the ropes and am ready for this new path. Still, I got the nerves.
But it was super cute how excited Sydney was for me. (Brian was doing somersaults, of course.) She grabbed her phone and was ready to text everyone she could to tell them the news. And she was all, "I'm so glad that you finally got a job, Mom!" And she hugged me a whole lot. I'm glad this particular job won't infringe too much on my time with her.
Also, I get to wear jeans and flip flops all the time.

Sometimes, she's so not my kid

Sydney and I found a Krispy Kreme in Scottsdale this morning, right after she got a good report from her dentist, and we celebrated with some doughnuts. Weirdest thing: Sydney didn't like her doughnut. Honestly, I don't understand that kid. But as much as this made her less my child, it made her more Brian's, because he also does not like the Krispy Kreme doughnut, either. (He prefers a Dunkin Donuts doughnut, which is ridiculous to me.)
No surprise, my two chocolate iced doughnuts didn't last the afternoon. But her two chocolate iced with sprinkles -- one minus a single bite and some frosting -- sat and hardened over the duration of the day. It was a waste of more than just the couple bucks for the doughnuts themselves. It was a waste of the potential these doughnuts possess, because they're so yummy.

Traditional gift: silk and linens

Today is mine and Brian's 12th wedding anniversary. I hunted and searched for an image for my profile picture, and I found a great one, but what I discovered is that most of the best images are of my friends and I. (All the photos have been packed up for the last few years, remember.) But what was interesting, is that I didn't realize how much time Brian and I spent apart from each other over those four days. Of course, the important stuff we did together, but there are only a few events over those days that were for both of us.
And I have to tell you, I wouldn't change a single thing over that entire weekend. The bachelorette evening was rock-solid awesome. The spa day, which I have no photos of at all. The bridesmaids' lunch. The make-up and hair morning (which, as I look at those images, I'm still annoyed about my hair and how much eye make-up was packed onto my face). And the reception.
But it's pretty amazing to see all these fantastic photos of all my friends and family having such a great time. What I love most about my wedding weekend is that it was a good time for everyone there (I think; I haven't heard differently). It was meant to be a party for all the people I love, and it was. And that makes me happy ... as happy 12 years later as I was a week later. Also, Elvis was my officiant.

I liked their college; but ASU was better

Someone explain why I have a child that I have to cajole and guilt into going to the movies with me. Movies are my drug, and I'm totally addicted. Also, I love eating popcorn. But mostly it's the movies (and the popcorn).
Today, we saw Monsters University. And while we all thoroughly enjoyed it, I wish Sydney had consented to sit and watch Monsters, Inc. beforehand, so she would get all the little inside jokes.
But again, she doesn't always like to sit through a movie. Which bugs, because I can count on one hand how many movies she's seen that she didn't like. And I hardly ever steer her wrong. But she's stubborn, and just keeps saying no when I ask if she's up for a movie. But the popcorn, honestly, always makes a movie worth it.

Photographic gold

This is a picture of my dog. He's yawning.
I sometimes have impromptu photo shoots, and today I conducted one. Oliver was laying on my bed, and I knelt on the floor in front of him, just taking pictures. He typically gets bored of me snapping photos of him, but today, I was given gold. He yawned. And I happened to be snapping away the whole time. And I got this. This is one of my favorite pictures of my boy ever.
I was so giddy with this image that I immediately texted it to Brian. And tonight, it's my profile picture on Facebook. I enjoy how, over the course of his life, I can probably name you eight or nine photos that I've taken of him that I love more than any others. I'm adding this one to that list, and I'm completely smitten by it. Oliver is the best.

Also, the interview for today was rescheduled for Sunday morning.

Perhaps the butterflies ate the aches

ITEM!: My costochondritis is feeling much better. In fact, I hardly felt it at all today. Perhaps I am a medical marvel, and that's why it's feeling better so much quicker than it should. Rather than being Brian's "glass princess," as he called me the other night, I am instead a "random ailment but remarkably quick-healing princess."
ITEM!: My second interview is scheduled for tomorrow at 5 p.m. (It is not at a Starbucks.) I'm starting to get that nifty butterfly-in-the-tummy feeling that usually rolls with job interviews. But I'm excited to have a reason to celebrate when I get to California next week. Yay hopefully a job!
ITEM!: One of the first things I'm going to do when I find out I got this job is to call Molly Maids. I did not enjoy vacuuming and cleaning my floors today, and I'd like to have someone else do it for me. That person, or persons, is welcome to scrub the bathrooms and kitchen, as well. I don't mind dusting, but if I could get Molly Maids, I'd be a happier person.

"Put me in, Coach!"

I got an e-mail from the social-media-job guy this afternoon, asking me to come in for a second interview to meet his business partner. You guys, this may turn out to be a real job pretty soon. Wouldn't that be exciting? Of course, we need the money, but also, I need the mental stimulation, and the focus that a job would give me. Also, I need to be able to tell my daughter that I have a job, too.
I appreciate that being a stay-at-home mom is a career and everything, but I really need a job. I want to set an example for Sydney that her mommy works, too, and is capable of helping out with the house in more ways than just cleaning up after everyone.
Several months ago, she asked me, "So, have you ever had a job?" I tried hard to keep the snap out of my voice, but did respond: "Yes. I had a job. I've had a few jobs. And I was damn good at my job. And lest we forget, my job fed your daddy while he was going through school."
So, a job may be coming. It's been almost seven years since I've had a day job. In fact, it's damn close to my seven-year anniversary of quitting my last job: July 21, 2006. (We were in Boston; it was my last day and our five-year wedding anniversary; I was pregnant; and we went to Ruth's Chris for dinner. A good day!!)
Let's see if I can nail this thing on Friday, and get back into the game.