Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Something Borrowed

Sarah N. posted this song on her blog today and I'm totally thiefing it because it moved me and made me very happy. Sarah is visiting home for the Holidays but I'm very happy to be living here again. I miss New York, although less right now, that snow storm was no joke! I hope to visit soon and often but until then I'm so glad to be home all for good. Here's the song:


The Old Dominion - Eddie From Ohio

You think you'll find some mountains in Western Colorado
Fifty weeks of snowy peaks is where you're gonna be
But babe the rocky mountains are gradually eroding
The Hills of Coors are nothing more than Blue Ridge wannabes

A turkey on it's belly, a chicken on it's back
Anyway you look at it you'll find her on the map
She revels in the seasons, shakes hands with the North
Hugs the land of Dixie while dancing on the porch

You think that autumns in New England are the greatest of them all
But give me sweet Virginia for the fireworks of fall
The prettiest October in all the fifty states
Just drive up to the Skyline, park the car and wait

So grow up Colorado, excuse me Tennessee
If you don't mind, North Caroline
Here's where I want to be

When you're talking home you mean the Old Dominion
Just southeast of heaven to the surf and the hills
She's the best of thirteen sisters and thirty seven more
Sweet sweet Virginia always keeps an open door

They're fiddlin' in Galax, pickin' up in Floyd
And in the land of Patsy Cline they're songs you can't avoid
When you're walking after midnight, I'll fall to pieces, too
I'm crazy back in baby's arms with sweet dreams of you

They're sailing down in Norfolk, skiing up in Bryce
Climbing up the Devil's Stairs against the ranger's advice
They're harvesting in Loudoun to Shenandoah winds
And in the land near Washington they're rooting for the 'Skins
Fight for old D.C.

Pack up your Impala and make your move out west
Past the Blue Ridge Mountains, you'll find you passed the best
And when your dreams have ended where mountains are concerned
Me and sweet Virginia will await for your return

When you're talking home you mean the Old Dominion
Just southeast of heaven to the surf and the hills
She's the best of thirteen sisters and thirty seven more
Sweet sweet Virginia always keeps an open door

Our Holidays

I just completed my first Week 4 run from the running program. I've had trouble keeping up with it so my "weeks" are starting to spread out. I'm strongly considering joining a gym in January when there will be New Years specials. Since we don't have cable it could probably fit into my budget and be really beneficial for me, plus I'll be able to get back into Yoga. The options in our area are kind of stressing me out but I've narrowed it down to three.

We had a great Christmas. On the 23rd I drove up to Reston to visit my friend Kirstin for her birthday. I had to overcome my fear of driving the hard way for that one. Happily I made it safe and sound and celebrated Kirstin's birthday with her family and a few close friends at her Uncle Rick's house. I love spending time with Kirstin's family. I always feel so welcome. We ate some pizzas, drank some and finished the evening by watching Shep and Tiffany Watch TV: Best of 2010 Special on Bravo. Tiffany is Kirstin's cousin who lives in CA and Shep, the show's creator is her boyfriend. That was cool! I'm so glad I braved driving to spend Kirstin's birthday with her. I miss the time when we lived close by and could spend lots of time together.

In recent years I've been no fan of Christmas. I tried not to be too much of a scrooge but each year I seemed to find more disappointment than merriment. I'm happy to report that this year was vastly different. While not our first Christmas as a couple, this was Jake and my first Christmas as cohabitants. We decided to get gifts for his family as we'd be spending the holiday with them. We Christmas shopped! It was kind of fun! Also kind of stressful. We got a tiny little table tree and decorated it with ornaments we both picked. I wrapped and wrapped and wrapped. I'll never be as good at wrapping as my mother is, and I sorely missed her skill this year, but I managed to get the paper on there and taped. Finally Christmas arrived and we celebrated with Jake's family. I made my family eggnog. We drank, talked, opened presents, spoke on the phone to those who couldn't make it, remembered those who were no longer with us. It was really pleasant. Then it began to snow.

Hope all of you had lovely holidays too!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Catching Up

My apologies for letting my blog get so dusty recently. I miss blogging but had just gotten into such a whirlwind this fall that it took a back burner. Hopefully I'm back now.

I got a job! Yippee! I work for the freight division of a major national shipping company. I work in accounting, doing a specific and tedious computer task all day. I've been there a little over two weeks now and I have barely met anyone at all, but I have becoming very close with my Pandora radio account and using my phone to check facebook and e mails on the sly. My office is so quiet and my desk is really quite isolated but when I do speak with people they seem very nice and its great to have a job!

Jake and I have gotten to book 5 of Harry Potter and he is really enjoying it. Last night I went to the movies and saw 7.1 with some other friends and LOVED it. I can't wait to get to book 7 with Jake.

Since moving away from NYC and all its wonderful walking, I have put on some weight. Unemployment makes you eat and I was really unemployed. Well, I've grown out of my pants. All my pants. Its awful and got even worse over Thanksgiving. I suffer through too-tight pants at work all day and then come home and put on my yoga pants faster than you can say elastic waistband. So I'm doing a couple of things to get back into my jeans. Firstly, inspired by my friend Kris, I've started the Couch to 5k training program. I've so far gotten through all of week 1 and half of week 2! I'm so proud of myself and hope I can keep it up now that its getting really really cold and I'm not getting home from work until twilight. Couch to 5k wasn't working fast enough for me though so I made a little wager with some friends and am hoping to win our 'Biggest Loser' pool by the end of January. Wish me luck.

Today is Saturday and I have a mountain of laundry to do. After a while we're going over to Jake's grandparents house to help them decorate for Christmas and I'm going running over there so I can have a little change of scenery.

Sorry for leaving you hanging recently and I sure hope I can get back on track on this blog. Next time I'll try to be a little more topical too!