A Gwensday in the Life...of Gwen

Well, this will be boring, but to fulfill the challenge for Day 15, here is a "typical" weekday for me.


Alarm goes off at 6:30. I hit snooze, but Aaron usually gets up (if he's not already up) and makes coffee and feeds the cats. I roll out of bed between 7:00 and 7:30-ish, depending on if I'm washing my hair or not.

Usually the first thing I notice is how crazy the cats got with the upstairs rug. This was today:

I have coffee, make myself gorgeous presentable, grab some breakfast - usually a protein bar because I'm running late anyway - and attempt to get to work by 8:30, which ends up being at least 8:45. My morning commute is about 10 minutes.

There's not a chance in hell I'm showing you my office. It's a disaster area and people have been known to go in there and never come out. On the one hand, I should do something about that, but then it might look like I have nothing to do (not true). I'll make it a goal to tidy that shit up before I leave for vacation in 3 weeks. It will probably take me that long.

I do have a window, even though my back is to it. So here's the view:

I usually eat lunch around 1:00 with my friend/coworker Kendra. We've been trying to be very good this year and bring our lunches instead of going to Chipotle once (OK, twice) a week. But it's right across the street!

On a normal day I leave work at 5:30 and sometimes spend my paycheck at Target run errands. I'll get home and see if Aaron has cooked dinner, which these days the answer to that is usually no, so we end up going out. Bad, bad, bad! Tonight I got lucky with some leftover shrimp and pasta.

If I'm really lucky I might get a visit from this handsome dude (the token child in the 'hood):

If it's a choir rehearsal night, we go there; if not, I either do some work for my side bookkeeping business, blog, watch TV, get in some exercise WHILE watching TV... Actually I do most everything I can while watching TV. Multitasking, people. But now that the weather is nice, I try to spend some time on the screened porch doing perhaps one of these two things:

So there you have it. A typically thrilling day in my life right now!

10 Things That Make Me Happy

That's the challenge for Day 14. I've done a favorite things post before so there are some duplicates here but that's OK. In no particular order:


1. The beach

2. Music. I love cranking it in the car and singing at full voice. I love the emotional response I get from a film score. I love blasting music on our porch and having a dance party. I love to just sit and listen.

3. Irises. They're my favorite flower and these are growing all along our next door neighbor's fence (too bad my camera sucks).

4. Bath & Body Works Dark Kiss.

5. Our house, especially when it's clean, which it will be tomorrow.

6. Napping. I can't believe I'm about to show you this picture, but Aaron put it on Facebook last year so ...

7. Shopping, as I may have mentioned before.

8. Our screened porch. It's the bomb. And it's on the second floor, so we can keep the door open and the cats can go in and out.

9. Speaking of cats, they're on the list, of course!

10. And last but certainly not least:

And check it out - he's jamming to tunes while on the screened porch!

Italy - Post 6 - Last day in Tuscany

We're up to Friday in our trip and it's our last day at the villa. We all split up during the day and some of the group went to visit an olive oil press. It wasn't "the season" but they were still able to buy a good bit of olive oil which we then brought back home. And I'm pretty sure the woman there offered Aaron a job if he were to come back in November.

The picture on the right looks a lot like getting wine from the hardware store.

Late in the afternoon we all went into Lucca for one last hurrah. We had drinks and snacks on a patio and did some shopping.

Some of us stayed in town for dinner at Osteria Baralla. You know there are some great food pics coming up!

Prosciutto and melon; smoked salmon; risotto with porcini mushrooms; gnocchi with pesto; pork "steak"; rabbit cacciatore. 

It was a long and delicious meal. We took one last picture in Lucca:

Now today I find out that Helene is taking a break from Travel Tuesdays (hopefully not a permanent one), but I still have to tell y'all about our time in Rome at the end of the trip, so come back next Tuesday for that!

Prom!

Today's Blog Every Day in May challenge is "issue a public apology. This can be as funny or as serious or as creative as you want it to be." Well, I'm going the funny route.

To you, dear readers, I apologize that I was lazy yesterday and therefore you had to wait all day today for this:

This is my senior prom picture. 1985, people. The theme was Purple Rain. My date's name is Kirk and (another apology) sorry Kirk, for showing this picture to my hundreds tens of readers. I wish you could see my shoes, because they're the same blue as the dress. I actually bought the shoes first and then set out to find a dress that would work with them.

And this is my prom picture from Saturday night with my date Aaron. Our neighbors Colin and Amy hosted prom, complete with disco ball, (spiked) punch and cookies, a keg (in another neighbor's back yard so it was technically "off site") and photos. You can't quite tell from the picture but my dress has rows of ruffles and it's ankle length.

My fabulous wrist corsage made by my friend Bart of flourish bespoke floral and event styling. My manicure and pedicure (which I did myself). Those aren't the shoes I wore, but here they are where I left them at Colin and Amy's house:

Sixteen of us went to dinner beforehand at Basi Italia. We sat on the patio, which fortunately was covered and heated as we had a cold snap.

Some of us walked to the restaurant; our long table for 16; some of the food.

More scenes from the evening.

Friday night was our nephew Jeremy's prom so I can't resist throwing in a few pictures of him and his date. I'm a little biased, but I think he's gorgeous, and I adore her dress.

I hope you enjoyed my past and present prom pictures!



Also linking up with Sami:

What do you miss?

The topic for Day 12 of Blog Every Day in May is "What do you miss?" This is a tough assignment, and I thought about skipping it, and technically it's a day late, but dammit I'm still going to post.

To be sure, there are people I miss, and I miss my first two cats, and I miss "simpler times," but right now all I can think is that I really miss having a flat belly. And while it may never be totally flat again, I hope I can beat it into submission and get back the illusion of a smaller waistline.

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.

Embarrassing Moments Revealed

When I saw this topic for Day 10, I was at a loss, though certainly NOT because I haven't had my share of embarrassing moments. I eliminated any occasions that involve intoxication, for the sake of my mother who does read this blog (Hi, Mom!). So then the overwhelming commonality in my embarrassing moments is crying. I'm a quick cryER - I cry when I'm happy, sad, and especially when I'm angry or frustrated.

Yeah, if only my eyes looked this good while crying...

Here are two examples:

Several years ago, I had to deal with an IRS agent about an audit (not mine). Now, I have to tell you that most IRS agents I've met are not evil, but do NOT assume that they automatically know everything. Because believe me, they don't. This guy, however, was not very "user-friendly" and we went round and round over an issue and I got so upset that I had to excuse myself and go cry in the restroom. And by the way, I was right and he had to admit that to me later, but not before I felt like a total fool.

But perhaps the worst one was over 10 years ago, and this also involves work. It was time for my annual review and I was prepared to ask for a bigger raise than I was probably going to be offered. And sure enough, it came time for me to make my case and I freakin' cried. In front of my two bosses. Horrible, humiliating, you name it.

I did get a fat raise (and I deserved it) but I hated the way it happened.




PS - Speaking of moms, another mom who reads this blog is Steph's Momma, and she's guest posting today on Life According to Steph. You should check it out!