gobble gobble - the aftermath

I ate too much on Thanksgiving.  Didn't everyone?  (I'm talking to you America) Ugh.  Why do we do this to ourselves? I mean really.  I literally prepared myself for the over indulgence of food that was going to take place later in the week.  I ate like a bird Monday through Wednesday but come Thursday, oh it was on!  Not surprisingly, Friday morning I woke up at the crack of dawn and headed to the gym.  It wasn't pretty, but it had to be done.  I emerged two hours later, drenched in sweat, but proud of myself for sticking to it and not giving in to my inner voice that kept tempting me to leave the gym, with visions of my comfy bed and pillows waiting for me at home.

I had a great holiday!  Enjoyed the extra days off from work and spending time with family and good friends.  Lots of laughs, lots of dancing, lots of adult beverages and a few parties over the weekend, made for an awesome weekend.  Didn't step one foot into any retail shop of any kind either.  Unlike my friends Michelle and Maricela, who did their part to help out the economy by buying out most department stores in the greater Houston area.  -No lie.  So Turkey day 2012 is done.  Was it everything you wanted it to be?
Now, everyone is rushing hastily to get into the Christmas spirit.  But not this girl.  I'm still in post Thanksgiving delirium.  Kinda like right after you have sex and you're just laying there, trying to catch your breath, basking in the "after glow" and enjoying the moment.  Yeah, that's what it's like for me right now, minus the sex part.

Moving on.

How about those Texans???  Good grief!  Last Sunday they went into double overtime and four days later, they do it again.  I'm going to have to start taking my anxiety pills right before each game if they keep playing this way.  Talk about stressing out!  But hey, I'm not complaining.  10 - 1 is ridiculously AMAZING!!!

To your surprise, or delight (it can go either way)  this is all I have tonight.  I know, I know, you're sad. I totally understand and feel your pain.  But I'm exhausted and need to go to bed before I pass out.  You understand don't you?  Thanks, I knew you would!  I promise to have my A game with me next time.

It's a new week kids, make it count!

On my mind...

The Rant
What is the hurry with holidays this year?  First it was Halloween in August.  Then it was Thanksgiving before Halloween even passed.  And now Christmas is all over the Internet, the tv, the department stores, my friends' homes. (yeah, they've put up the tree and decorated already)  What the hell happened to Thanksgiving???  Everywhere I turn, someone is sticking a reindeer or a snowman in my face.  Enough already.  Enough.  What happened to the times where we waited in anticipation of winter break, of holidays, of special occasions?  No one wants to wait anymore. Everything has to happen now.  Ugh!  I want off the insanity train, please.  Thanksgiving is in a few days, and already Christmas music is blaring, Frosty the Snowman is going to air.  TOMORROW.  It's insane.  Don't misunderstand me, I love, absolutely love Christmas.  I love pretty much all of the holidays.  Heck, I'm still having Halloween parties flashbacks.  But I also love to savor and enjoy each one, at their own time.  I don't appreciate nor care to celebrate them all at once.  Does anyone else feel this way? Can I please enjoy Thanksgiving in peace?  I'm pretty sure baby Jesus will not mind.  Really.  And for the shoppers, seriously? Already camping out for Black Friday?  Why? Haven't you heard? Black Thursday is now the norm.  Retailers or as I have come to lovingly call them, "Ebeneezer Scrooges", have decided that their employees must work on Thanksgiving, because closing in observance of this day, will no doubt cause them to go bankrupt.  P-U-H-LEASE!  What's next?  Is nothing sacred anymore?  Personally, I'm going to enjoy spending time with my family and loved ones, and getting my turkey-on, and watching the Houston Texans kick some more ass. And I will not be shopping on Friday or Saturday or Sunday.  I get that life is short.  I get that some of you may be doing all of this out of fear that the Mayans were right in predicting the world will end in December.  But come on y'all, take a moment and breathe.  Take a moment to hug a loved one or  help your neighbor.  To say please and thank you.  Take a moment to live.

Grateful
I just wanted to take moment to tell all of you that follow my blog, how grateful I am to each and every one of you.  This blog is my escape and my sanity.  And all of you have at one time or another, have helped me through some pretty crazy times in my life.  Whether you realize it or not.  So I wish a wonderful Thanksgiving and blessings to all!

Football
In case you haven't heard, the Houston Texans are now 9 and 1 baby! The huge sigh of relief and elation could be heard throughout our fair city when they finally beat a pretty bad team, the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Today's game brought heart palpitations to all new high and drove some of us me to drink (more than usual). Our defense sucked. Everyone saw it. But in the end, we pulled out the win anyway.  Thank God.  We get to do this again in four days, when they play on Thanksgiving.  I think we are going to need defibrillators for that one.

The End
There.  I think I got everything off my chest that I wanted to. (for now)

Have a great week! It's a short one, make it count!

Gobble gobble.

A Night To Remember and A Day To Forget

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night
take these broken wings and learn to fly
all your life
you were only waiting for this moment to arise" -Paul McCartney/The Beatles

I was on the receiving end of a double dose of bad news today.  One from a dear friend of mine, who was diagnosed with something that may or may not be cancerous.  Her biopsy is scheduled for next week.  She is a bundle of nerves and  I am scared for her.  Then there is my sister.  She is hurting right now.  Not physically, her wounds are emotional.  She is teetering on the brink of despair and I feel so helpless.  I am worried about her, about both of them.  I wish I could take their aches away.  But I can't.  Not these kinds of aches. Life is just unfair sometimes.  I don't get it.  I mean, I try to "get it", and most times, I do, but in instances such as these I just mentioned, I am  at a loss. Today was a sad day.  But I'm certain that tomorrow will be full of hope and new ideas and endless possibilities.  And laughter.  Laughter works miracles.

You know what else works miracles?  Music.  Last night I attended the most amazing concert, EVER.  I was among the forty thousand something fans who braved an open roof stadium, on a crisp, cold, winter night, to witness a legend give a performance of a lifetime.  Paul McCartney came to town!  This was my first time seeing him perform.  The last  time he was here was in 1993, where he played at the Astrodome.  I remember that I had tickets to that show, but my appendix decided I didn't really need to go see some guy from Liverpool, but instead, needed to go to the hospital.  So I missed it.  And now, some twenty years later, I found myself squealing like a school girl, singing along to EVERY.SONG., and witnessing some pretty fierce talent on stage.  In typical celebrity style, Sir Paul McCartney was fashionably late.  Like 45 minutes late.  Which really isn't that bad, considering Madonna made us wait 2 and half hours for her arrival.  Anyway, back to Paul.  He took the stage and immediately started belting out his signature songs, one after another after another.  The guy has this energy and presence that not only entertains you, but mesmerizes you as well.  After his first set, he took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves of his white business shirt, and got down to work.  Jokingly, as he removed his jacket, he told us that that would be the one and only wardrobe change for the evening.  Which drew resonating cheers of approval from the crowd.  The evening wore on with hit after hit being sung to us.  At McCartney's insistence, the roof to the stadium was open.  Normally, that would not be a problem, but last night it was freezing cold in H-town.  Ok, maybe it wasn't really freezing, but you have to understand, we don't do cold weather here, anything below 70 degrees is cold to us.  Actually, last night we were hovering at 30 degrees, coupled with the high winds, uh yeah, it was freaking cold!!! Especially since yours truly only wore a very thin turtleneck and no jacket.  What? I had no idea that roof was going to be open!  Paul needed an open sky so he could shoot off pyro during "Live and Let Die"  One of  my dear, but sarcastic friends told me last night, "Wow! There haven't been fireworks in these parts since the Astros won the pennant in 2005!"  Everybody's got jokes.

I thought I'd share some pictures that a friend of mine took at the show.  Enjoy them.  Or not.

Tomorrow is FRIDAY peeps!  Make it count!

football, boys, and faith, or? how i spent my weekend

happy monday mi gente.  (that's "my people" in spanish)  or what's left of monday anyway.  what's up in your lives?  so the start of a new week is upon us.  i don't know about you, but i'm in serious denial about the fact that thanksgiving is next week!  next.week.  don't misunderstand, i love turkey day.  it's just that time is flying by so fast it's making me dizzy.  or maybe it's just my ongoing bout with vertigo that's making me dizzy.  i digress.

the weekend
let's see, where to begin?  i went to a friend's birthday party friday night.  i was so tired from my crazy work week, that i almost bailed on the party.  but fearing severe repercussions from the birthday boy, i sucked up my tiredness and went.  and i'm glad i did.  i had the best time!  it was held at a restaurant in midtown.  after the dinner crowd thins out, the band takes the stage, the music starts, the lights are dimmed, and viola!  a pseudo night club emerges, complete with bright lights and men in dark suits, feigning the look of respectable body guards.  when i arrived, the birthday boy was already feeling no pain.  so what do i do?  bought him a shot, naturally.  this guy.  this guy has tons of female friends.  and it seemed like every single one he's ever known was there that night.  seriously. strangers kept asking who he was, thinking he was some kind of celebrity or something.  he's a great guy.  hails from new york (it's okay, he's not a mets fan), is of salvadoran descent and is a very good friend to all.  i love him to pieces!  we danced the night away.  literally.  i swear by the time i got off the dance floor my legs felt like jelly.  it was  like i had just endured an hour of zumba, but in dressy clothes and heels, not workout clothes. good times, good times.

sunday-funday
this glorious day began with brunch in the company of one of the musketeers, complete with mimosas of course.  then she and i went to see a play at a local theater.  the play was called "girls only: the comedy secret of women" -it was a two women act show and it was hilarious!  i laughed so hard my stomach hurt.  the play is about women in various stages of their lives beginning with puberty and ending with senior citizen status. there was trash talk involving men. -did you have any doubt there wouldn't be?  and there was audience participation as well, so you can just imagine the zaniness that ensued.  after the play, we headed to to a local bar to meet-up with maricela (the missing musketeer) to watch the texans destroy da bears. and oh.em.gee did they ever!  the game was played in chicago. the weather conditions were deplorable.  hello? can you say, retractable roof??? we're spoiled here in houston.  but not to worry, not to worry.  my boys conquered rain, wind and slippery ground and in the end, beat the chicago bears 13-6.  that's right america, the texans are now 8-1.  take THAT espn!

But it was not all about football yesterday in my fair city.  as you know, or may have heard, we're a pretty diverse town.  there was another type of important game taking place here yesterday.  soccer.  the houston dynamo came from behind to beat d.c. united 3-1 in the first leg of the eastern conference finals.  they are undefeated at home.  un-de-feat-ed -got that?  good.  i was not a big soccer fan until we acquired a professional soccer team and i saw some of the players. um, can you say HOT???  i think it is an unwritten rule that soccer players must be good looking.  i mean, i may not know all of their names, but dammit if i do know how they look! and i'm not just talking about houston's players, i'm referring to soccer teams everywhere.  sigh, so many, so many...

moving on.

yesterday in spite of my busy social calendar, i managed to make it to church.  and while i don't normally write about my religion or my faith that often, tonight i just felt the need to do so.  so indulge me. pretty please?

the sermon was about faith. in ourselves, in our god, in the world around us.  the priest asked if we only had faith when times became difficult or is that the time that our faith diminishes?  he wasn't referring only to our belief or our faith in god.  he was referring to our every day life.  for example, in our jobs or in someone we know.  do we give them/it/us the benefit of the doubt and trust everything will be okay? or do we automatically assume that they/it/we will fail?  i guess that really strung a chord with me because i'm going through a lot of inner turmoil with certain things going on in my life right now.  but how i deal with it, is what actually saves me from falling down that ever present dark hole of mine.  and that is, by my faith.  not just in god, but in myself.  i've been learning to trust my decisions, to trust myself and believe in what i'm doing.  believe in me.  perhaps some of you reading this are thinking i'm full of baloney or just a little crazy.  well, guess what? i am. sometimes i'm full of baloney, and sometimes, a little crazy.  (act surprised) but really, i struggle with believing in myself a lot. i've done so since i was young.  i know a lot has do with my self-esteem issues and the subsequent issues that followed me into adulthood.  and let me tell you something, it's taken a long, long, long time for me to learn to accept this about myself.  it's a huge step for me.  which brings me back to the sermon at church yesterday.  do you walk by faith?  now don't go getting all your undies in a knot.  i'm not preaching to you or at you or asking you to tell me about religion.  i'm merely asking if you live your lives just by watching it pass by or by actually believing in yourself to get you to where you want to be in life, or with your career or with your significant other.  that's what i'm asking.  i think the election rattled me more than i thought.  here we are almost a week later, and the hate and the anger and insults that people were spewing, has not died down.  on the contrary, it seems to be getting worse.  we are so divided, it's really sad.  but i have faith in humanity that somehow, some way, everything will work out.

boys
come on, you didn't think i was going to end on a such a serious note did you?  no matter how old they are, or think they are or act like they are, men will never cease to make me want to pull my hair out. never.  so on saturday i ran into an old friend.  we mostly keep in touch via the occasional email or shout out on fb.  he lives in another city. was home for the weekend. ran into him on saturday afternoon, had lunch with him and  had a great time catching up.  boy left pouting because i refused to go back to his hotel room with him.  called me a prude.  did i mention he has a wife? um, yeah.   ugh.  can't a woman be friendly to a man without the man all of sudden thinking that he was going to get lucky? and he was married for crying out loud!  i know his wife very well.  wtf is that about?  needless to say, it left me feeling very dejected and just plain sick.  later that same evening boy text messaged me and apologized. said he had had too much to drink.  he had one beer.  asked me to please not mention this little misunderstanding to his wife.  of course he did.  i now want to go out and by yarn and learn how to knit and get a fake cat ( i loathe cats), sit in my rocking chair and make scarves for the rest of my life.  just me and my pretend cat.  stupid boys.

the end.

now aren't you glad you stopped by to visit?  :)

...Sweet Land of Liberty...

Election day is only hours away for our country.  More than any other election that I have ever voted in, I feel this one, will be the most important one in my life.  Why? Because the world is in turmoil.  There is unrest and the masses are not only restless, but downright hateful as well.  What? It's true.  One only has to scroll down my Facebook news feed to see the spite and mud slings being flung about.  Friends and family alike are taking things to the personal level and tempers are flaring. Or watch the local news and/or CNN or the Internet.  I wish it was already Wednesday morning, so I could un-hide all of the people I've hidden on Facebook or purposely avoided during this election year.  It's not that I don't like a good political debate among friends, I do.  What I don't like and  have a problem with is the ignorance and downright idiotic things that these people (some who are close friends and/or family) spew.  It's like arguing with a child.   Example:  "I think my picture is better than your picture."  "Uh uh, MY picture is better than yours!", "You better take that back and like my picture best!",  "No you take it back and like MINE the best!" ----and on and on and on.  Yeah, that's what it's like with some of the people that I know.  They argue for the sake of arguing, offering no objectives, no proof, nothing to substantiate their beliefs or their arguments.  But I digress.  The purpose of tonight's blog was merely supposed to express how emotional I am about this particular election.  It's a scary world out there people.  Everyone needs to do their part and vote.  If you aren't voting, and are registered, why the hell not??? If you aren't registered, why the hell aren't you???  One of my  coworkers, is a twenty-nine year old single woman.  She's an American citizen, born and raised here in Houston.  She has NEVER voted in any election.  EVER.  ----Can you explain that to me???  I was beside myself when she told me.  We were discussing how some employees were going to be late tomorrow or leave early from work, in order to go vote.  I offered to cover the employees during lunch time, so they could have a chance to go and do their civic duty.  (I early voted last week)  Well, she turns to me and says she will not be late because she will not be voting.  She's not registered, never has been and probably never will be.  -Her words verbatim.  Her reasons were poor excuses.  "My vote won't count anyway",  "Nothing is going to change", "I don't care"  That one bothered me the most.  "I-DON'T-CARE"  

-and therein lies the problem with our country.  Most people, "don't care".  I collected my thoughts and took a lot of deep breaths, before poking her in the eye smiling at her and saying, "Cool.  So you'll be here on time then?"  and walked away.

I'll be frank with you, politics bore the hell out of me.  But I live in a country that is free and great and strong.  Maybe we're a little broken right now.  But certainly not shattered.  Not dead.  If we don't participate, who will?  This is why I vote.  This is why I encourage every American to vote, regardless of your political stance.

That same coworker later asked me, "How can you care so much?"  to which I retorted, "How can you not?"