Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day readers! We'll just ignore the previous three holidays I missed and settle right into what inspired this post.

Let's talk about music for just a second. A reoccurring theme, I know, but just go with me here. So, I'm spending the morning cleaning the house, watching the Olympics, catching up on some reading. I have my iTunes doing one of those fancy "Genius Mixes" to Taylor Swift's "Fearless." I didn't really pay attention to the songs it brought up, I just set it and started the dishes in the sink. And then, "Cowboy Take Me Away" by The Dixie Chicks came on, and I was instantly transported back to College Station, TX and the beginning of my junior year at Texas A&M. If I remember correctly (and Amazon confirms) that cd was released right around Labor Day that year, just a few short weeks after my dad passed away.

I poured my life into school and spent the majority of my days in the West Campus library trying my best to wrap my head around Finance 341. I had my trusty cd player and would bury myself in a study carrel for hours on end with this cd on repeat. It's amazing how you can just hear the first few notes of a song, and the resulting images that pop up in your head. So, though the only thing I remember from that class is that if I ever win the lottery, I should take the lump sum payment that they offer at the beginning, not the payment plan, I am thankful to The Dixie Chicks for getting me through that semester, which was obviously about so much more than learning how to use a finance calculator.

Anger Management

Last night, my brother-in-law brought this into my house:

It contains this game:

And I know understand how this happens:

I honestly cannot remember the last time a game made me so angry!! I was like a person possessed last night. I finally came to my senses and was like I HAVE to turn this off right now! Then I was so tense that it took me forever to calm down. Maybe it's a sign that I can be a little too competitive... though, I like to think of it as a sign that if I was ever forced to swordfight my way into a castle, I would be well-prepared!

In any case, I'm now suffering from a pretty horrific case of Wii-arm. And I still can't pass level 9 of the swordfighting. Good thing that I have a birthday party following ROA today, or I fear it would have been a repeat of last night.

Thank you so much dear brother-in-law for inspiring such rage in me... I'm only glad that the worst part of it happened after you and Em went home last night!!

Oh, Greg Berlanti. You know me so well...

I mean, I know I'm a crier and all, but seriously Greg Berlanti... how much longer are you going to tug at my heartstrings. I used to sit in my apartment on the Upper East Side sobbing my hear out to Everwood and I'm now repeating that episode here in Astoria watching Brothers and Sisters.

Note: I wrote this a million years ago, but it's still pertinent today. Greg Berlanti owns my heart. End of story. And. I heart him.

Growing Family!

Best wishes and lots of love to my cousin Richard and his wife Jamie who gave birth to a healthy baby boy this morning in Chicago. I'm anxious to see pictures of this sure-to-be-adorable addition to the Evans Family Crew. Congratulations to you both!

Ah ha! I found you!

What? Where have you been blog? I've been sitting here with all sorts of entertaining and hilarious stories, and you are nowhere to be found!

Anyway, all is forgiven blog of mine, since we are reunited at last.

What all has happened since we last checked in?

• I moved to my own apartment
• My sister got married and I gained a brother-in-law
• I celebrated one year on Rock of Ages (my does time fly)
• Finally finished my 2008 taxes. (a good 36 hours before the extension deadline, thank you very much)
• I learned how to cook four dinner meals that don't involve cereal or Domino's (related to this: discovering that 1 cup of rice is A LOT of rice)
• I got fun NYC visits from my cousins David, Meredith, Pat, and my cute goddaughter Kate
• Ran my 100th mile on Nike + (go me!)
• bought a vacuum cleaner (v grown up)
• Had many rooftop parties
• Headed back to choir (yay singing)
• Got my ATPAM apprenticeship and three months (+ a year and a half) later FINALLY got my insurance card
• Drank an unmeasurable amount of wine
• Found a love of running on the treadmill at the gym, Glee, apple cider, the Q66 bus that goes right to Starbucks, Michael's and Home Depot
  
• And finally spent countless hours sharing stories, laughter, and wine with my wonderful friends and family.

So, that's what I've been up to in a nutshell. I'm posting this before my blog gets another wise idea of running away. (PS Speaking of running, I'm up to 3.5 miles!)

UPDATE

Of course, my sister walked into the apartment, repaired the sink, vacuumed all our rugs, finished the dishes, did a load of laundry, and finished sending RSVP lists to my mom, all within 15 minutes of being at home. Just reason number 412 of why I have an appointment to view the apartment across the street from her tomorrow. If you can't beat them - join them!

So You Think You're Handy?

Just a quick anecdote for you readers to entertain your Wednesday nights, and also give you some insight into my mother/daughter relationship with Mom.

When I spoke to Mom this evening, she was just returning from meeting my friend Amber's mom for dinner at Pappadeaux. Apparently, there is a large storm approaching Arlington, so Amber's mom received about 50 phone calls as to her safety during said storm. My mom received zero and a brief, "Oh, I think someone mentioned that on Facebook" from me as I poured my second glass of wine. Needless to say, she will be taking cover at Mo's from now on if any threat of nature should dare to take over our beloved suburb again.

Anyway, as I was talking to her, I was trying to quick clean my apartment for the arrival of my cousin Susan. Thank god her flight is like three hours late, so I was able to have time to finish watching "So You Think You Can Dance" in between dishes and folding laundry. Anyway, as I was attempting to clean the sink while on the phone, the top of the sink plunger-thing spun off. In my attempt to "repair it" by spinning it back on, the entire plunger thing DISAPPEARED! I said to my mom, "Oh no, I broke my sink! How do I fix this?!" And I kid you not readers, she said to me, "Well, look under your sink for the... you know what, you should just wait for Emily to fix it." I paused for a second super offended that my mom would totally breeze over my ability to be handy,then took one look under my sink, poured my third glass of wine and texted Em to come home ASAP to fix the broken sink.

Seriously, if the shoe fits...