Sniffing paint fumes...

I'm beginning to think there's something wrong with hubby and me. 10+ years ago we bought our house and painted our master bathroom a pretty dusk-pink color. Fast forward to about 5 years later and we decided that the pink needed to go.

After much careful debate, we selected a pretty sea foam color. We had grandiose visions of doing a beach theme in the bathroom. We bought white rugs to represent the shore and we hung pictures of tropical locations. We were done, never painting this room again....

Fast forward again. Toward the end of 2011, we decided that the sea foam need to float away. The color was starting to make us gag a bit every time we walked into the room. We both agreed on the color blue. But what shade?? We brought home more swatches than I can count. We taped all of them to one of the bathroom walls and over the course of a few days, we slowly eliminated choices as we saw them in different lights. Finally, we chose a color: Blue Thistle - a pretty light blue with a grayish hue.

We decided that this coming weekend was THE weekend this bathroom was getting transformed again. We started the beginning process tonight of taking pretty much everything out the bathroom and cleaning the floors/walls/etc. Tomorrow Jason is taking the day off work to begin The Task. We are determined to be finished with this whole project by Sunday.

Now you may be thinking, "if Jason starts painting tomorrow why shouldn't you be done by Sunday?" Weeeell, see, we tend to get side tracked when painting. First of all, I get bored and whiny somewhere in the process, so Jason has to continue without me (notice this time he's starting without me. Smart move.). Next, while waiting for a coat to dry, we start to watch TV... and we forget to stop. Eventually the bathroom (or whatever room we're painting) gets finished, it's just past our expected completion date.

So, keep your fingers crossed that we stick to the task this time. Or better yet, come over and grab a roller.

Happy birthday to me

So, today is my 33rd birthday. It's been a really great day - got some good presents and felt the love from everyone in my orbit as they sent me birthday wishes. But the one present that I'm really excited about is a push in the right direction.

My wonderful best friend, Melissa, enrolled me into a class at Forsyth Tech. I've been saying for years that I want to better my writing skills and I'd love to actually do something with my writing (be published in a magazine or write a book or just have a blog with 50 million followers). But, I'm a procrastinator... and that whole self-doubt thing kept getting in the way too. Yeah, ok, it was mainly the procrastinating thing.

Well, Melissa decided to take matters into her own hands. She found a writing class that actually started today. The course also repeats at the end of March and Melissa gave me the choice of starting today or waiting for the next round. I figured since this first session started today (on my birthday - as in I'm a year older... which should mean I'm also another year wiser), I'd take that as a sign that I should be in this class NOW. Soooo, I just finished reading over the class notes and the instructions surrounding the first assignment. I'm so excited about this.

To Melissa - how in the heck can I thank you for this awesome present??? You are truly a blessing to have in my life. I am honored to call you my friend!

What have I done...???

I am a semi-athletic person. I used to do cardio kickboxing and Tae Kwon Do. Now, I go to the YMCA regularly to do many types of classes and I work out at home. A couple of years ago I got into doing 5Ks. I do a walk/jog combo to get me from the start line to the finish line. My time is not all that fast and that doesn't bother me (I'd like to get quicker, but I'm not too concerned with it). If you ask me if I'm a runner my answer is a hard and fast "NO! I don't like running. I am sooo not a runner." In my head runners are hard core sickos that I envy. Me - I'm a chunky little Sushi roll waddling down the road.

In December 2011, Jason and I did our first 1/2 marathon. We had decided that we wanted to push ourselves and just do it. Somewhere in the middle of the race my left ankle gave on me. I didn't sprain it... I guess it was just really strained. All I know is that it hurt like hell and I couldn't walk for about 2 days after the race. During and after the race I proclaimed loud and clear that I was never doing another 1/2 marathon. EVER. I had proved to myself that I could do it, so I didn't need to that again. I was comfortable with just doing 5Ks, thank you very much.

But, then we heard about one that'll be held on March 25. It's at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. I wasn't really interested in doing this race (need I remind you AND myself about my declaration??)... until I saw the medal. Holy mother of all that is good and holy, the medal is a work of art. It has lights and moving parts on it. In other words "Oooo, shiny." I want it. I want it bad. So, yeah, guess what I just did. I signed up for another 1/2 marathon.

Just to get a medal.

Reposting...

Ok, in my last post I mentioned that I had written a piece about mine and Jason's first visit to Ikea and posted said piece to Facebook. I stated that I would go pull that piece and re-post it here on my blog. I'm finally doing it. Yeah, I'm slack and I know it. Get over it. Anyhoo - without further ado, here is the Ikea piece I wrote on December 21, 2009:

Recently Jason and I made the pilgrimage to the Ikea store in Charlotte. Holy mother of cow patties, talk about an adventure. We got there right at 10:00am - opening time. We didn't leave until a bit past 6:00pm. By the time I left I was wishing I could walk on my hands because my feet hurt that bad. Seriously for about 2 days after that fateful day, anytime I heard/said/saw the word 'Ikea' my feet would start to throb. Part way through our experience, I decided to whip out my handy dandy notepad and jot down some things that I didn't want to forget.

Here are some of the poignant memories of that extra special day (in no particular order):

* Seeing the hilarious gay couple. Well only 1/2 of this couple was hilarious. The hilarious guy was the weirdo walking around with his cell phone in his hand, listening to music. At first Jason and I thought it was his ring tone and he was enjoying it so much that he didn't want to answer his phone, but then we realized that, no, this guy was just dancing around the store in his own personal rave. Sweet. But our FAVORITE moment with this guy was when the non-hilarious 1/2 of this couple asked the hilarious part about their kitchen cabinets. Obviously they were in the process of redoing their cabinets and non-hilarious guy asks hilarious guy "What do you want the kitchen to say about us." Hilarious guy's response? I kid you not (trust me, I can't make this stuff up) -" I want it to say middle aged hip new fresh idea." This was the moment that I knew I had to record the special parts of this day.

* Jason was so overwhelmed with the enormity of this store that he kept asking if we'd have to get our hand stamped for re-entry into the store. I had to keep reminding him that this was not a theme park... although I'm not sure I believe that myself.

* If you've ever been to an Ikea store, then you know in the show room part of the store they have "rooms set up." They even went so far as to put clothes in the armoires/closets and shoes on the shoe racks. As I would come across the clothes, I would start checking them out. Jason continually had to say "Would you stop clothes shopping?!?!" Hey, some of the clothes were cute. As for the shoes... I found a pair I REALLY liked, but they were screwed onto the shoe rack so people couldn't take them. Damn you Ikea.

* Again with the set up rooms - it was funny to watch people take items from one "room" and put them in another "room" to see how Item A worked in Room B. For example - in the Workstation Area, I witnessed one guy take a desk organizer from one desk and go into another area, putting the organizer on the desk in the 2nd area. He kinda made his own little set up.

* Being proud of myself for going to the bathroom by myself. Ok, I know how funny that sounds. But, believe me, I'm completely directionally challanged. This store was soooooo big. We were some where in the middle of the store and I had to pee... and I was bored. There's only so long I can stare at kitchen cabinetry before my eyes start to cross. So I told Jason that I was going to run to the little girls' room. Being a gentleman he did ask if I wanted him to go with me. But I decided to be a Big Girl and go alone. Somehow I made it to the bathroom AND found my way back to Jason WITHOUT using bread crumbs or any other trail markers. I will admit that since I didn't have a store map on me (my big mistake - and for the folks who have never been to Ikea, yes, they do have store maps that you can get to carry with you) I didn't take any short cuts. Those short cuts would've been helpful, cutting off at least a day's worth of trek. Also the paths between the set ups is a gray floor with arrows pointing the way. I could've cut corners by walking through display areas, but I was too scared to get off the chosen paths. So, again, that added another day and 1/2 to my trek time. Sheesh.

* My only regret about the day was that Jason and I didn't think to keep a running tally on how many times we said "Check this out" or "Look at this" or something along those lines. By the time we'd been in this store for about an hour I was already sick of hearing those phrases... but neither one of us could stop.

All in all, this was a happy magical day in a happy magical place. I think this place ranks right up there with Disney World. We're already plotting our return trip (we saw a lot more furniture that needs to be in our house). We're hoping to go back sometime after Christmas and get a whole lot more in debt. Ahhh, I love you Ikea

My Random Saturday.

Yesterday was just an all around weird day.

It started off with Jason and me getting up around 8:40-9:00am. We had meant to get up around 8:15-8:30am because we were heading to Charlotte for a full day. Yes, I know we didn't get up horribly later than we were planning, but for some reason it threw the day off for me. Actually, what threw the day off for me was that I woke up in a funk. I was just in a bad mood. No rhyme or reason, just ill. As Jason and I headed to Charlotte, my mood got better. That is, until we got to our first adventure...

We had gotten discount tickets off of Living Social for the mummy exhibit that is currently at Discovery Place. We got there, got into the exhibit... and quickly questioned the sanity of some people. Quite a few people there had their children. That was fine and dandy, kids should be cultured to this kind of exhibit. But, quite a few of those kids showed off his or her lung power. At one point I was pretty sure both of my ear drums had been ruptured thanks to Screaming Babies in Surround Sound. Hey, maybe Junior was trying to wake the dead??? What about mom and dad who have become selectively deaf to that noise. Really? You don't hear that coming from 2 feet away from you? That's strange, because I hear it loud and clear and I'm on the other side of the bleeping room. Oh and by the way, do ya really think Timmy should be knocking on the case enclosing the mummy? I was kidding earlier about him trying to wake the dead, but I see that maybe the joke's on me.

After that, we headed to eat. Nothing exciting happened there, thank God. After some good eats, we headed to adventure #2 - Ikea. For those of you who have never been there, congrats for being strong. For those of you who have been to one (and I'm assuming they are all the same), holy mother of goats, what is wrong with us? Yes, I am in love with it... yet the place scares me just a bit. How can it not? The sheer size, the amazing products that you suddenly realize you have to have (why yes, I do need that funky chandelier thingy that looks like a cream puff), everything combines to make it one awesomely frightening place. Hell, the first time Jason and I ever went there (in 2009), Jason kept thinking that if we wanted to leave and come back in the same day, we'd have to get our hand stamped. I had to keep reminding him that this was NOT an amusement park, although I understood why he thought that. By the way - you do no want to know how long we were there on that first visit. Let's just say, I was expecting to get a paycheck. I actually wrote a little piece about that visit that I posted on Facebook. I'll have to dig it out and repost it here. Anyway, I digress...

We had gone to Ikea with a small shopping list. We wanted to get a mirror for our bedroom and some shelves for our bathroom. We didn't get either of those things.... but we still spent $70+. Remember how I said they had AH-MAY-ZING products that you didn't know you needed until you saw them? You thought I was kidding, huh? Negative. I'm still (over 24 hours later) in a state of shock and not really sure what the hell we came home with. But I know whatever we got, it's all awesome.

After that, we came home to rest and enjoy the rest of our evening on the couch. Yeeeaaaah, I should've known better. We decided at 10:40pm to head to one of our local Walmarts. We thought (brilliantly, snort) to go ahead and get our weekend grocery shopping trip out of the way so that on Sunday we wouldn't have to leave the house at all. First of all, remember I said we headed to Walmart. Jason and I avoid that store like the plague. Yes, prices are unbelievably cheap... but so are most of the people who shop there. Unfortunately, I became one of those people last night. I have never been prouder of myself (snort). If you've ever been to this wonderland late at night, you know this is "shelf stocking time". We randomly found a still wrapped pallet of a bunch of cereals that intrigued me. Flavor of Cheerios that I've never seen before - Dulce de Leche and Peanut Butter - and Frosted Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I excitedly told Jason to make a note of these cereals for when we got to the actual cereal aisle. But, when we got to the cereal aisle, those aforementioned boxes of happiness were not on the shelves. Whaaa? Don't tease me like this. I blankly looked at Jason and sputtered "should I just go rip into the pallet and make myself at home? I want at least one if not all three of those cereals, damn it." Jason studies my face for a minute, trying to gauge the crazy level. Should he try to talk some sense into me or should he help me rip into a pallet like the wild beast that I'm threatening to be? I figured since this wasn't Thanksgiving night/Black Friday I wouldn't get tased for ripping into the pallet and I really wanted to try the Peanut Butter Cherrios. So, I took my chances and went for it. Thankfully no alarms sounded, no Ninja employee sprang from hiding to attack me. I was home free with my new cereal and my newfound pride that I had sunk to some all time low.

Yeah, yesterday was just a weird day.

So just let me introduce myself. My name is Missy...pronounced with an issy.

First off - for those of you that got the title of this blog, I give you mad props for being cool. For those who didn't get it... what the hell's wrong with you? Ehh, moving on...

Most of the folks who are currently reading this blog (all 2 of you) know me and know me well. But, in the hopes that some new folks may jump on the bandwagon, I decided to post about my favorite topic: ME! Ok technically, all my posts will probably be about me, but... just shut up and go with it.

Hi. I'm Missy and I'll be your tour guide. I'm currently 32 years old, but my 33rd birthday is approaching fast (12 days from today, to be exact. I accept cash, checks, and gift cards). I'm married to a man (Jason) that words can't even begin to describe - he's my best friend and my soul mate. I could do a whole post on adjectives that describe him and still not be able to explain how wonderful he is or how much I love him (I'm a little obsessed with him). In December we celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary and we're ready to see what the next 10 will hold for us. We don't have nor want any human kids, but we have 9 furry babies that are our children.

My favorite activities include reading like a fiend (I'm a voracious reader), keeping our DVR box cleaned off, annoying the crap out of Jason, and just hanging with friends. See, nothing too exciting. I can be high maintenance without meaning to be. I have a temper with a very short fuse, although I'm trying to work on the length of said fuse... but, honestly I'm not trying hard enough. I hate stupid people. I'm open-minded, yet closed minded to what I believe is ignorant. I get bored easily. I'm the typical girl in the sense that I hate my body (damn those 40lbs I wanna get rid of. Where did you come from anyway??) and I have low self-confidence even though I have great people in my life who tell me I'm beautiful and try to build that confidence. I'm hoping this blog will help me believe those people.

I live in the grand metropolis of Winston-Salem, NC. For all of you that just thought to yourself "Grand metropolis? What the hell is she talking about??" Let me back up and explain that I grew up in a town called Kinston, which is in eastern NC and is a pock mark on society. It was once an ok town, but now it's dying. I got outta there as soon as I could. I love being in Winston!

As I've said, I'm hoping by starting my blog I'll be able to build confidence. I'm also hoping that my posts will teach me a thing or two about who I am and what I want to be when I grow up. If not, then at least I'll have fun just jotting down whatever random thing comes out of my head.

My Year in Review

So we're a few days into 2012. So far, so good. But, I wanted to take the time to reflect on 2011.

2011 was a pretty good year! The year started off with me turning 32 in January. Not a bad age. I celebrated by having a handful of friends gather at my house for a night of good companionship and some fun Wii time.

In March, Jason turned 34. Thanks to Groupon (seriously - I HEART Groupon), I was able to buy him The Perfect Present - getting to drive a Nascar car at the Charlotte Motor Speedway (through the Nascar Driving Experience).

In 2010, Jason and I got into running 5k races. My time is slow, but fairly steady. This year, Jason got it in his head to do a 1/2 marathon. Not wanting to be left behind, and with the encouragement from my friends, I decided I could do it too. On December 3rd, Jason and I did it! We did the Mistletoe Run Half Marathon. What an accomplishment. I am so proud of Jason (although not surprised that he did it because that man is a machine) and myself.

Also in December, Jason got his first tattoo!! Talk about a shock. I have three and have often asked Jason if he would ever get one. He always seemed... while not against it (obviously), just not totally for himself getting one. In late December (after deciding in November that he was going to do it and "shopping around" to find the right artist), he went to get it done. He's not finishedyet. He has to go back, probably next week, to get this one finished. But, the man has already plotted out future tattoos!

The biggest thing to happen in 2011 is that Jason and I hit our 10 year wedding anniversary (14 years total)! To celebrate, Jason surprised me with an overnight stay in Savannah, Ga, where we did a ghost tour and stayed on River Street. What a beautiful city! It was a shame we couldn't stay longer... but the surprise continued south with a trip to Disney World. We had gone there for our honeymoon and we were reliving that period - we stayed in the same resort we stayed for our honeymoon. We had been back to Disney two times between our honeymoon and this milestone, but we always have a great time when we go, so it was perfect.

So, now, I'm a few days into 2012 and am excited about what this year is going to bring! I'm hoping to grow as a person (isn't that cliched??), lose that damn 40lbs that is bogging me down, and just keep on keepin' on.