Vacation starts today!!!

So ready for our vacation! C is still sleeping, but I still have stuff to do, so it works out.

Funny how when we used to go on road trips we'd be out of the house by 5am, now we are lucky to roll out by 10am.

Either way we'll hit rush hour in San Francisco, so it doesn't really matter :/

Anyway, I haven't been out of town in a long time. Well... I did go to San Diego a couple months ago. But so much has happened in between then and now, this break feels necessary for sure.

I will come back with lots of pictures. Possibly I will be able to blog. Apparently the internet has a mind of it's own, and sometimes doesn't feel like participating. But, I'll do what I can.

Have a nice weekend!


(edit...um...it fell off for some reason, I'm already back! Post to follow!)

OMG you'll never guess!

I found out today my raise and promotion was approved.

Effective July 3rd I'll be officially an Analyst level.

Small increase in pay, slightly higher bonus target, and I am now salaried.

I thought when it finally happened I would be super stoked.

It only took 3 years to convince my boss that I am not worthless.

Who knew!?

I'm still about $10,000 underpaid. But, hey, it's a start!

Now I can focus on interviewing to get the F out of here :)

Just Shoot Me

I just got an update from the school. They were pleased to tell me that my grade change has now been approved by the Chair of my department. It will now be moving on to the College of Social Sciences and then the Undergraduate Studies department for approval.

WTF.

I was under the impression that it was nearing the end of the road.

It has been 4 months.

But no, apparently it has to sit on the first person's desk for 4 months waiting for one signature.

So, by my calculations, it will take another 4 months for the next office to approve or deny, then 4 more months for the final department to approve or deny.

Then it will be sent to the department of the Registrar to be input into the system, which will probably take less time, I'd say, 2 months.

I think by April 2012 it might be completed! Sweet! Total time from start to finish will be about a year and a half.

I realize that the administrators are so busy though.

::insert ridiculously flamboyant eye roll here::

Email chain conversation with Employee

Background: Employee's check is not deposited correctly via direct deposit. Paper check is sent.

Employee:

"Someone told me if I had a money problem, to speak with Katy and she would give me some of hers.

So how do I get that?

Should I just drop by and pick up the cash?"

Me:

"Sure, come by today I'll have a suitcase full of cash, I found it in my boss's office, so we'll split it."

Employee:

(regarding paper check mailed)

"I tried depositing it on line, stuck the check in the CD tray on the computer, and that did not work.

There is no where on my phone to stick the check, so I guessed, and was correct, that my only option was to bring it to the bank. They actually had real people working there, and people called tellers, that would personally take care of my transactions. Awesome idea."

Me:

"Wow, how modern. I wonder who came up with that idea? I bet that person is a billionaire. I think I may have seen one before, aren't those the people that dress in green visors, suspenders, and wear arm bands to hold their sleeves up. Oh wait... nevermind...I think that is a casino poker dealer.

note to self: design way to deposit paper check into computer for bank deposit. I'll give you some credit for my million dollar invention idea."

P.S. - if you are reading this post, please do not steal my idea. If you do, you will owe me royalties. 25% of any dollar cashed via "computer check deposit system" for the rest of my life.

On second thought...please steal my idea, I would rather do no work and get the royalties.

Thanks in advance.

My weekend in pictures

Friday, I woke up to this:



Saturday morning, C and I drove out to an area that has lots of hills, used to be a mercury mining town, we went on a hike:



What...? You can't tell I'm hiking... you mean the iced coffee, nice outfit, and Kate Spade bag don't scream outdoorsy to you?

We also saw tad poles:



Next we visited C's grandma in Santa Cruz, she gave me a bunch of succulents to fix up my pretty wreath.

Half way done:



Completed masterpiece:



Sunday we had a BBQ with the neighbors, one made escargot, I forgot to take a picture of that. We brought clams:



The Men, exactly where they belong:

Oh my, another one of those days, God, I'm self centered

Honestly, I don't even like writing this post.

I feel like I should say something though.

So here goes...

1 year ago today I miscarried my first baby. I should have a 6 month old right now.

There, done, I'm sure I could dwell on it and make a big long ordeal about it and go on and on and on and on. But I don't want to. Most of those that are reading this already know the story. And if you don't, you can read it here. It was not a good day.

Here's the deal.

I feel like a big sad sack. I don't even want to talk to friends much anymore because every thing I say comes out like a freakin pity-party. Not cool.

Over the past few weeks, since miscarriage #2 I've been trying to become more zen and offer myself some much-needed change.

I updated my blog, gave it a new look, linked it to a domain name, so it is all mine, ALL mine (Bwahahahaha)

I changed my personal look, new hair color, starting my weight loss again, new nail polish, etc.

C and I have planned a getaway, plus slowly planning a larger Europe trip.

Other good things are coming soon. I'm interviewing, possibly getting a raise/promotion, and trying hard to get my school shit taken care of.

C and I are trying very hard not to focus on what we don't have (baby), and what we do have (lots of other junk).

These things are good.

I just hope people don't consider me the self-centered, egotistical, shit-bag that I feel like most of the time.

For anyone who does feel that way, well... you can sleep tight tonight, knowing that I am fully aware of these issues, and I'm working on it.

That is all.

Oh, and happy Friday :)

Would you call me....

A crazy cat lady, if I built this in my living room?




Because I think my 3 fuzzies would LOVE it!

Hmmmm.....

Not sure C would let that slide though...

To the land of wine and waves!

C and I have finally decided to go on a MUCH needed weekend getaway.

We are going to rent a house on the coast, about 3 hours north of here, near Mendocino. Ocean views, outdoor patio, cooking in a big kitchen! Sweet! He can fish, I can practice my new hobby de jour, photography...or just do nothing!

Can't wait!

This type of house:






This type of view:



Oh and mustn't forget:

It's official....I own it!

I apologize if you weren't able to access my blog for the past few days or so.

(notice the assumption that I have a mass following...)

Anyway, I'm happy to introduce my new actual domain name! YAY...sweet!

I'd been wanting to do this for a long time and hadn't gotten around to it. I plan to take this to the next level of bloggity awesomeness.

So....

Waxing...it's pretty painful

I have been trying to get the courage to wax my legs FOREVER! I've always wanted to but I've been so afraid of the pain.

I had a bad expereince many years ago. A close friend and I decided to try. We used Nads, they type you heat up in the microwave then paste on to your leg and rip the hair out with a canvas cloth piece.

After my friend wiped the HOT wax on my leg (which was painful in itself) it hadn't dried enough to work. Half of the patch of hair was removed in a painful tearing movement.

Second strip was left on too long, the wax had hardened. OMG. Seriously seriously painful.

We only got through two strips before I thew a fit and made her stop.

My lovely neighbor friend waxes herself. She told me she would do it for me. Not gonna lie, it was pretty freaking painful. But it was MUCH quicker and now my waxing cherry has been popped.

Maybe I'll try it myself next time. Then again...maybe not. OUCH!

Can I please catch a break? Please..........?

Sunday - C is diagnosed with a blood clot, and may have to be on blood thinners the rest of his life. Scary.

Monday - Spend all day racing around trying to get his lovenox injection prescription before the urgent care 24 hour dose runs out. Estimated time spent doing this: 4 hours.

Then we go to our annual Eye Exam - I am diagnosed with convergence insufficiency. Kind of like a lazy eye. Now I have to go in for 20 sessions of vision therapy to try to correct the problem.



WTF

We did have our Genetic Counselor (GC) appointment yesterday also.

She went through our family tree to identify anyone in either side of the family that had birth defects, infertility, stillbirth, health conditions etc. Then she talked to us about our options for genetic testing, like Cystic Fibrosis and things like that. Also about the option of DNA testing for each of us, basically blood work karyotyping to see if we have any odd genetic makeup. She suggested that we only opt for that type of testing if we have a 3rd loss. Which we had pretty much figured would be the case, and are fine with.

She talked about Triploidy too, but, nothing that we didn't already learn through our own research. She also agreed it would be highly unlikely that the first m/c was caused by that, but obviously we need to get testing done if it happens a 3rd time and it is caused by Triploidy again. She also mentioned that 17% of miscarriages caused by this, but that the farther along in the pregnancy the odds go down, so by the time I miscarried it would have been at a 3% chance or something, and carrying to full term would be 1%.

So she gave us homework, because we didn't know all the specific names of some of the conditions that run in the family and then she'll send a report to our doctor. Though it sounds like it isn't going to change anything. We would have had to do this at some point anyway, so at least it is done!

My new Hair

I have a few posts today, but I'll start with my new hair color, I've never gone this dark, so fun!

Before (natural color):



After (sorry not the best picture...):