I can't wait until Monday

That's not a phrase I say often, if ever. But I can't wait until Mother's Day is over.

We've never made a huge deal about Mother's Day - a phone call, a card, that's about it. And I don't begrudge anyone who does celebrate and enjoy MD (I'm just going to abbreviate it for the rest of this post). But I'm ready to be done with all the ads and especially all the emails telling me what I should buy for my mom. Just stop.

Let's count all the reasons I'm over MD:

• My mom is dead. Last year was my first MD after my mom died and Aaron and I did everything we could to avoid all the MD trappings.
  
• Aaron's mom is dead. For those who don't know, Aaron's mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on January 21 and died on March 30. She was just shy of turning 68.
  
• My grandmother, while still alive, pretty much doesn't remember me. Both of her children are dead, and she doesn't really remember that either.
  
• Our church traditionally does baptisms on MD. Two years ago, Aaron and I became godparents to a beautiful baby girl, knowing that she likely wouldn't live to see her first birthday. And she didn't.
  
• I'm not a mother. While eventually this was our choice, and 99% of the time I'm very happy with our childfree life, every so often there's that nagging "what if" and "why couldn't I get pregnant when I wanted to." And frankly, now that all of the above has happened, this one has been sneaking up on me a little more than it used to.

I'm not putting all this out there for sympathy, and I hesitated with waiting until Monday to post this. And I do have nieces and nephews and godchildren, both real and honorary. But I'm willing to bet that there are others out there who have similar feelings about MD, and I want YOU to know that I get it. And you're not alone.

Having said all that, for those of you who DO celebrate, I hope you have a lovely day and that you're honored all year long, not just the second Sunday in May.

I'm the kind of girl who...

My fellow Columbus blogger Holly is hosting a link up today, and I thought it was time to throw out a few facts about me, especially for any newbies out there.

I’m the kind of girl who…

• loves my hair. After years of perms I finally discovered my natural curl. Now the color is a different story. Premature grey runs in my dad's family and as soon as I saw my first grey hairs (at age 23) I called my stylist.

• enjoys spicy food and prefers salty over sweet but if it's sweet, vanilla/caramel over chocolate.

• has a steel trap memory for a lot of weird things. I remember what our phone number was when I was little, even though I haven't had that phone number for 36 years. (It was 864-7637.)

• has no problem doing nothing, yet it's hard for me to totally relax my body. I'm hoping that won't be an issue this weekend when I'm in Jamaica!

My motto

• is a girly-girl when it comes to shopping, hair, jewelry, makeup and fashion (although I don't like pink) BUT I also like violent movies and sports, especially football.

• will stay quiet while I'm forming the words I want to say, but once I start talking, look out! I'll be honest and tell it like it is, while still being sympathetic and listening to YOU... unless of course you're being an idiot. ;)

• loves to read, watch TV and movies, and sing. If you're new around here, I sing karaoke on Tuesday nights and on Gwensdays (which I like so much more than "hump day" but I realize that Gwensday doesn't mean as much to people who aren't me) I often share a playlist of what I sang the night before. Time After Time and I Want You to Want Me were duets with my karaoke partner in crime, Kat. Quote of the night from Amy to me: "Killing Me Softly and a fake ID will be your ticket to American Idol." Hahaha! That would have to be one hell of a fake ID.

There's still time to enter my giveaway! You have until midnight tonight (Eastern Time).

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I'm an ISFJ, how about you?

So it's Monday and I don't feel like doing a weekend recap. It was a good weekend and all, but I took zero pictures and, like I said, I'm just not feeling it. A few months ago I participated in Blog Every Day in May (and I actually did!). The brains behind that, Jenni from Story of My Life, is hosting a new challenge called Blogtember. I'm not fully participating in that one, even though it's a little easier because there are no weekend prompts, but I hopped over to find out what today's challenge is for some inspiration.

Take this short personality test and respond to your results.

I've done these before and honestly I can never remember my letters exactly. But here's how I scored:

Introvert - 56% (moderate preference over Extrovert)
Sensing - 1% (marginal or no preference over Intuition)
Feeling - 12% (slight preference over Thinking)
Judging - 33% (moderate preference over Perceiving)

There are different areas in which you can "leverage" your personality type (career choices, business decisions) and Jenni asked us to get the results from the Self-Awareness and Personal Growth section. So I read the first paragraph and ... whoa.

ISFJs are often unappreciated, at work, home, and play. This is ironic, because they prove over and over that they can be relied on for their loyalty and unstinting, high-quality work, those around them often take them for granted--even take advantage of them. Admittedly, the problem is sometimes aggravated by the ISFJs themselves; for instance, they are notoriously bad at delegating ("If you want it done right, do it yourself"). And although they're hurt by being treated like doormats, they are often unwilling to toot their own horns about their accomplishments because they feel that although they deserve more credit than they're getting, it's somehow wrong to want any sort of reward for doing work (which is supposed to be a virtue in itself). (And as low-profile Is, their actions don't call attention to themselves as with charismatic Es.) Because of all of this, ISFJs are often overworked, and as a result may suffer from psychosomatic illnesses.

Um, yes, this totally applies to me. (Also, I'll mention that I slightly altered one of the sentences due to its poor grammar.) Unappreciation is one of the biggest reasons I felt I needed to leave my previous job. This also fits in with some other areas of my life, though NOT at home (pinky swear!). And I'm not great at delegating; I'd much rather do something myself.

In the workplace, ISFJs are methodical and accurate workers, often with very good memories and unexpected analytic abilities; they are also good with people in small-group or one-on-one situations because of their patient and genuinely sympathetic approach to dealing with others. ISFJs make pleasant and reliable co-workers and exemplary employees, but tend to be harried and uncomfortable in supervisory roles.

*Ding ding ding ding* Correct again! People often count on my memory, and I wasn't super great at being a supervisor.

Like most Is, ISFJs have a few, close friends. They are extremely loyal to these, and are ready to provide emotional and practical support at a moment's notice. (However, like most Fs they hate confrontation; if you get into a fight, don't expect them to jump in after you. You can count on them, however, run and get the nearest authority figure.)

This one is accurate, except for the last part. While I don't like confrontation, I've been known to get in an argument or two if I feel that someone else is being abused. Some of you have witnessed that side of me. Of course, afterward, I end up crying because I'm so angry so maybe if I didn't jump in, I'd be better off.

Since my Sensing and Intuition scores were so close, I also looked up INFJ. Some of that was pretty spot-on as well, such as INFJs have a knack for fluency in language and facility in communication.

This was an interesting exercise. I'm sure Aaron remembers what his letters are, and I'd ask him but I'm already pretty late with this post as it is, and he's busy being social. (My guess is that he's ENFJ; I'll keep you posted.)

Sell Yourself in 10 Words or Less

That's today's challenge for Blog Every Day in May. I thought about how to do this. Should I write a sentence? Should I list 10 adjectives? And here's what I've come up with:

I am unique and I’m still learning who I am.

It's not exactly revealing, but it's true. This blogging challenge is not only forcing me to write at least a little something every day, but it's also making me look inside and get to know myself better.

Uncomfortableness

Day 3 of Blog Every Day in May and the topic is "things that make you uncomfortable." How about: writing this blog post? This will be a tough one to hit the "publish" button.

I have a lot of insecurities, which seems weird to some people because I have zero problem performing if I have a musical score or a script, but when it comes to one-on-one interaction I get nervous. I hate to call people on the telephone (other than my family) because I feel like I'm bothering them. Even with close friends I've had this problem. More than once, when a good friend had a baby or was in the hospital I didn't know what to do. I don't want to ignore them, but I also always feel like they have more important people who want to see them.

Source | Source | Source

And of course that last one reminds me of Stuart Smalley:

These are things I need to keep telling myself. And to any friends out there who may have thought I was being an uncaring bitch, now you know the truth.

My 100th Post and 250 words about ME

Happy Gwensday! First off, shocking news: Aaron actually left a comment on yesterday's post.

Y'all, this is a banner day! You are reading my 100th blog post. And to the 2 of you besides my mom who have read every single one, thank you! When I started blogging I kept it to just my friends and family and I wasn't very consistent as to often I put something out there. This year I've tried to post more regularly and I've opened myself up to the blogging community (I had no idea how vast it is!).

I very recently started reading another blog, Story of My Life, written by Jenni. She's doing a "post every day in May" challenge and I'm going to give it a shot. There are topics for each day so some days I may end up posting twice, like if I have a restaurant odyssey post or a travel post, but the idea is to "get drunk on writing," and I can get on board with that. Bonus: no hangover!

Challenge #1 is "the story of your life in 250 words or less" and as I thought about it, I decided not to do so much of a bio (you can read stuff like that in the About Me section and elsewhere), but more of a "where my life is going."



I recently realized that I've always been a "let life happen" person. It's not 100% true, but in terms of my job(s) and extracurricular activities, it's a fact. I have never in my life sought out a job. Yeah, I've done the interviews and been hired on my own merits, but someone else (my dad, a professor, a headhunter) always did the legwork. I've worked as an accountant for 24 years and I hate it. I chose that path because I'm good with numbers and I enjoyed accounting classes in high school (which as it turns out, were really more "bookkeeping"). In college I wanted to double major in business and music, and I let myself be talked out of it by my freshman adviser. By the time I got into the meat of accounting courses I knew it wasn't for me, but felt it was too late. I still like numbers to an extent, but I'm also much more creative than that. I feel like the left and right sides of my brain are at battle with each other and the left side has won out for far too long. Outside of work I do a lot of choral singing, but I want more. I'm 45 years old and I'm finally ready to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.

Stay Tuned,

PS - Word count = 225.

Also linking up with Shanna for:

Sorry I'm Not Sorry

Happy Gwensday! Today I'm linking up with Staci at High Cotton Blog (and three other ladies whom I don't know yet) for "Sorry I'm Not Sorry," in which I tell you about something that I'll never apologize for. So here it is.

I'm not sorry that I'm NOT one of those people who "can't sit still." If you can follow the double negative there, maybe you'll call me lazy. Whatevs. 

I bought this sign in Florida. It sums me up perfectly. Of course, I bought it in November; it's now almost March and the sign is still just laying around my messy desk at home.

I'm a champion napper, TV watcher, book reader, lie around and do nothing-er. I love beach vacations because I don't feel like I have to do anything. I'm also a huge procrastinator and when the time comes that I must get things done, I can be a whirling dervish. I'm sure my life would be easier if I just took care of things as they happened, but I've never been that way and probably never will. 

Aaron used to be one who could not sit still; he had to always be moving. He's still that way somewhat, but 21 years of being married to me has brought him a bit to the dark side, and he'll have his lazy days. I know that my habits drive him nuts, and vice versa. Opposites attract, says Paula Abdul.

I'm also not sorry that today is my Friday. I'm giving myself a 4-day weekend and I'm not even going anywhere.

What are you not sorry about?

Stay Tuned,

The Gila

Random Stuff About Me

Clearly this is by no means an all-inclusive list but here a few fun facts about me.


1. I believe the DVR is the greatest invention ever. I probably watch more TV than is humanly possible, and I still have a life.

2. Die Hard is one of my favorite Christmas movies, and I can't wait for this:

3. I also really enjoy chick flicks.

4. I have a serious case of potty mouth.

5. Football season is the best time of the year.

6. I hate using a computer mouse and avoid it as much as possible.

7.  I'll take salty over sweet pretty much any day. And when I do choose sweet, chocolate isn't at the top of my list.

8. Coca Cola Classic (preferably from a soda fountain) is the nectar of the gods the morning of a hangover.

9. I love to wear hats. This was me yesterday. Note the cozy animal print scarf, too.

10. I have a day of the week named after me. It's Gwensday, of course. My phone now recognizes Gwensday as an actual word. As it should.

11.  Although I love the scent and sound of a wood fire, I love even more that I can flip a switch and turn on my gas fireplace any time I want, and as cold as it is right now that fireplace is getting a lot of use.

That'll do for now.

Stay Tuned,

The Gila



Linking up with Whitney

About the Blog

You may have noticed an increase in the frequency of blog posts. That's intentional and I hope to keep it up. I started this blog as a way to share things about myself to my friends and family, even if they already knew what I was talking about. I used to love to write and I needed another creative outlet. Now I've added the Restaurant Odyssey, soon I'll be doing an "organizing my life" series, and I plan to do a lot of fun, girly posts as well as the sometimes serious, on-my-soapbox posts.

I'm trying to incorporate labels more, so if you're only interested in the Restaurant Odyssey, you can click on that over in the "Looking for Something?" section.

I have removed the dreaded "prove you're a human" word verification b.s. to make it easier to comment. You can even post anonymously, but if you're an asshole, I reserve the right to delete your comment.

And if you'd like to follow me, go ahead, I won't bite (too hard)!


And now, because I'm again loving my hair today, this is me:

Straight on

Side view of my messy up-do

Stay Tuned,

The Gila

The Trifecta of Fabulousness

I love Thanksgiving for many reasons, including the fact that I was born on Thanksgiving Day. Growing up, I didn't often appreciate that because I was rarely in school for my birthday, and all my friends were off doing their Thanksgiving stuff and it didn't seem like I really got to celebrate. Now I think it's kinda cool, and this year November 23rd is 1) my birthday; 2) Gwensday, the best day of the week that's not a weekend day; and 3) Thanksgiving Eve. Here are some tales about Thanksgivings/Birthdays Past:

When I was born, the story goes, my dad (an avid hunter) convinced the hospital to keep my mom and me there an extra day so he could go out and try to shoot Bambi. Try doing THAT in the age of insurance anarchy. He told that story at our wedding, though not quite as crassly as I just did.

Dad and me

My 21st birthday fell on Thanksgiving Eve. I had finals but my mom picked me up from college and drove me home so I could celebrate with my friends Kim and Cathy. My dad took us out to Duffy's Tavern for my first "official" drink, then he dropped us off in town and we walked all over creation, finally ending up at my house. I seem to recall falling out of the Shelby and tearing my jeans, having a hard time unlocking the door to the house, and Cathy hugging my dog while she sat in front of the toilet. Ah, good times.



Lucky for Cathy, I couldn't find the picture of her with Sugar, but here's the dog.

When Aaron and I got married our parents decided that we should host Thanksgiving dinner, which has worked out pretty well for us. Both sets of parents come to our house, so there's no discussion about whose family "gets us." Over the years, our siblings have gotten married and have families of their own so they're not with us every year, but our niece and two nephews are traditionally with us every single year, which I absolutely love.

All six of the nieces and nephews

I think it was our first Thanksgiving that sparked the great potato water debate. We had boiled the potatoes for mashing and I then drained them, pouring all the water down the sink. My mother and mother-in-law acted like I had done some criminal act because of COURSE I was supposed to save some of the water to make gravy. Now, everyone knows that I'm not the cook in my family, but I swear to this day that I never remember that even from my growing up years. And the next year... I did it again. From then on I stopped touching the potatoes.

For the love of all that is holy, don't drain all the water.

Last year's Thanksgiving was pretty great. We had almost all our family there as well as our neighbors Christin and Martin. Our niece Kate was baptized by my dad right there in our house, and as it turned out, that was my dad's last official act.

Aaron and I are proud to be Kate's godparents.

This year we're changing things up a bit. Being the first holiday without my dad, we wanted to make it a little different so we're going out to Buca di Beppo for our Thanksgiving meal (and yes, they're doing a traditional feast as well as their full menu). We'll probably eventually go back to having it at our house, but I think it will be a fun switch.

And on Thanksgiving Eve, I celebrated my Gwensday birthday with neighbors and friends. Colin made a pumpkin pie pudding shot in my honor:

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Gila

You want to call me WHAT?

For those who don't know, here's the story of how I became the Gila Monster.

Many years ago (at least 20), my husband Aaron was reading a magazine about Arizona and saw an article on the gila monster, and he declared "I'm going to call you Gila Monster from now on." And he did. He rarely calls me by my actual name, instead using various forms of Gila Monster: Gila, The Gila, Monster, etc. (that is, when he's not calling me by one of his sisters' names or something else random). Now, the correct pronunciation is HEE-la, but that's not how Aaron says it. He pronounces it GEE-la, with a hard G. Some family members use it as well, especially our three nieces on his side who all call me "Aunt Gila."

If you're not familiar with my namesake, it's a venomous but sluggish lizard found primarily in the southwestern United States. As it turns out, "venomous but sluggish" really can be used to describe me on certain occasions, but we'll probably get to that at a later date. The gila monster is also not really attractive (I choose to believe that is not a trait that Aaron uses to describe me). It looks something like this:

For one of my birthdays when we were first married, we had a little party. Aaron gave me this T-shirt, in front of everyone. I still have it.

So there it is. I am the Gila Monster, and once I decided to pull the trigger on blogging, I knew that name had to be part of the title.

Until next time,

The Gila