Paranoia.

So you know when you’re alone at a coffee shop, and you have your ear buds in, listening to your music, laptop out, and you just feel like you’re in your own little world? Yeah, that never happens to me. The other day, I was at Starbucks, and I just felt like everyone was staring at me. I felt like guys kept standing too close, and women kept peering over my shoulder to see what I was doing on my laptop. Alright, so I was laughing by myself to this adorable video of a dog playing dead, but still. Does that feeling happen to other people, or is it just me, myself, and my paranoia?

I even got up to go to the restroom at one point, and this lady was just openly staring at me as I walked back. I understand how sometimes you might glance up at someone as they’re walking by, but she was full-on staring. No smile. No blinking. If I hadn’t just checked myself in the restroom mirror, I might have thought I had a boogie in my nose or something.

On rare occasions, one might take this as a compliment. As in, yeah, my hair looks great, and I have on a cute outfit. But I was wearing jeans, a fleece jacket, my hair was pulled into a messy bun and the only makeup I had on was some eyeliner I applied as I groggily tried to find my way out of the house. A beauty queen I was not. Maybe I had just had too much caffeine.

I Had The Best of Wine-tentions

We’re having our one month of summer here in Seattle (aka August) and the temperatures have been crazy hot. I mean, it was 88 in my car yesterday! Alright, so that’s not Arizona-triple-digit hot, but that’s pretty much like Hades to us Seattle-ites. In accordance with this hot weather, I thought it would be refreshing to have a white wine spritzer one night after work. Besides the fact that it was a great excuse to get in my air-conditioned car and drive to Target, (have I mentioned I love Target?) I had actually never tried one before.

White wine and 7UP in hand, I arrived back home and began following The Pioneer Woman's protocol by making sure they were adequately cold. Both had just been sitting on the shelves, so to speed up the process, I put them in the freezer. Unfortunately, I got distracted by an episode of Real Housewives of OC (Gretchen’s proposal song, anyone?) and completely forgot about them, and making a white wine spritzer in general.

The next day, I’m rummaging in my freezer for something when I find a cork. Baffled, I also suddenly realize that there’s a strong aroma of wine coming from the freezer. And this is what I found:

On the plus side: 1. it was kind of cool to see a cork perfectly intact, and 2. I tried my first wine-sicle!

Randoms

My sort of manager (long story) brought in blueberries for everyone from the blueberry patch that his wife’s family owns in Bellingham. They’re so yummy. I love blueberries more than ANY of the other berries. These are amazing ones too — they’re sweet and delicious, and I’ve been munching on them at my desk all week.

I found these while cleaning out my desk: A Ricky Martin XOXO sticker, a Greenbay Packers tattoo, and two Lisa Frank kitty stickers. Weird.

This is the wrist band for the Capitol Hill Block Party. I’d never been before, and although my gall bladder felt like it was going to explode any second, it was pretty fun.

A sign on the jukebox at The Bandits Bar in Belltown.

Oh, The Gall!

Last week started like any other. First, I scared myself half to death by watching “Silence of the Lambs” for the first time. Usually, slasher movies don’t scare me as much as ghost movies do (those Paranormal Activity moves scare the bejesus out of me), but this really freaked me out. I don’t care if you’re 90 years old, are in a wheelchair, and wearing a habit, I am NOT helping you move that couch into your van.

Second, I accidentally bought fabric softener and washed everything I ever owned in it. All my stuff came out smelling amazing, but it was oily and greasy and gross. It sucked. They should really put that stuff in different looking bottles than laundry detergent. Or sell them on completely opposite parts of the store. Get on that Target.

So things were going according to a typical week (for me, anyway) when suddenly, on Wednesday, I was wracked with the most painful stomach ache ever. I was at work, and they were so bad, I couldn’t even walk to my bus stop to go home. Obvious thoughts were gas, poo, indigestion, all those lady-like things, but nothing alleviated it. I finally managed to stumble home, and for a while, thought it was getting better. Unfortunately, it would rear its ugly head again the following day.  After many, many, MANY texts from my mom, I dragged myself to the doctor who believed I probably had gall stones. Still, she decided I would need to be pricked for a blood draw and humiliated with a urine sample. It was a lot to take in before 8 a.m.

A week later, things are better, but not 100%. I went to the doctor for a follow-up appointment on Monday, and she thinks that since I’m getting better, she wants to wait and see if things will clear up on their own. Fingers crossed.



No one wants to see a picture of a gall bladder, so instead, here's an adorable picture of Millie yawning.

Immediately after my doctor’s appointment, I went to a volunteer event for my work which was being hosted by EarthCorps. Yep, that’s how dedicated I am. It was actually really fun though. We cleaned up a park, and took down some nasty, invasive plants. Beforehand, they had a pre-yoga stretch which, OK I kind of laughed about when they sent an email saying that was happening, but it was actually uh-mazing. It’s totally different doing a sun salutation and looking up and seeing blue sky and green, leafy trees instead of a ceiling.



Here's some peeps about to go into downward dog. It was tres divertido (there's a little French AND Spanish for ya)



End Of Another Year

My first year in college, my friend recommended these amazing August to August planners, and I've been using ‘em ever since! Even though I’m no longer in school, I love starting fresh each fall, and having a “year” end at the end of summer. Plus, the way they’re organized is just the bee’s knees. When another August rolls around, I always get a little nostalgic about throwing my old one away. It always looks like it's been drug through hell and back: each page has sticky-notes and there's usually a coffee drip somewhere, my daily activities are highlighted, circled, underlined and scratched out. Upon flipping through it, I realized there were some major life events I experienced this year.

1. I met my friend Cyril at the end of August. He started at the same company where I work, and he immediately became my gay work husband, or I became his work wife? Either way, it feels like I've known him forever, and in the past year, we have shared many a laugh... and cocktail (or 30). 

2. At the end of October, I was selected to join the council board for the Young Professionals Network (YPN), which is a part of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. As a result, I've gotten to do some really fun things, and met some really cool people through the events we get to plan.

3. In February, I got a promotion! I am so much happier in this position. My previous position was affecting my health. Seriously. I went to the doctor, and for the first time in my life, had super high blood pressure. I felt like crying every day, and going to work was like torture. No bueno.   

4. I bought my first car in March. And by “bought” I mean signed my life away to car payments for the next 5,490,362 years of my life. It was scary, and the payments suck, but hey, it’s still a milestone!

The Duomo in Orvieto

5. In June, I went to Italy. There were a lot of firsts for me regarding this whole experience: my first passport, my first international flight, my first time flying by myself, my first time staying in a hotel alone, and obviously, my first time in Italy! I also got allergy tested for the first time before I went so I wouldn't be miserable (I can’t believe I waited 26 years to do it). Italy was the most exhausting, beautiful, delicious, expensive, fascinating place I’d ever been to. I loved it.

Can’t wait to see what the next year brings!

Adventures in Seattle

A visual representation of my day yesterday

The other day, I had agreed to attend a meeting to learn about a volunteer organization called CHOICES. I had heard about them while attending a Young Professionals Networking (YPN) event and it sounded like a great way to give back to the community. The event started at 5:30 p.m. and I was to meet another lady (who I’d never met before, but who also works for my company) there. She called me at 5:20 and told me she was just leaving Bellevue and was stuck in traffic. I told her that was fine, and I would see her when she got there. The meeting was only a couple blocks away at 1401 5^th Ave., so I left my office at about 5 minutes to. When I got to the building, I took the elevator up to floor 34, and saw… no one. Confused, I realized I must have written the address down wrong, and became seriously annoyed when I realized I’d have to walk all the way back to my office, log back into my computer and check the invite.

Fifteen minutes later, I was back in my office and finally logged in. Hurriedly, I checked the calendar reminder I had made for myself and saw that the address was at 1405 5^th Ave. Back outside, I was on 5^th Ave. scouring for a building that looked like it would have at least 34 floors, and could not find a one. Becoming frantic, I walked up and down 5^th Ave. for 20 minutes trying to find this address. If my mother instilled anything in me, it’s the internal need to be on time. The fact that I was 45 minutes late was making me absolutely lose my mind. I would also like to add that the fact that I was late was making me panicky which also makes my common sense go out the window. Sweaty and frantic, I began asking people on the street where 1405 5^th Ave was. I had become that crazy Asian tourist. Most replies to my question were: “Don’t you have Google maps on your phone??” Duh. But on my phone where it said 1405 5^th Ave was, there was nothing there!  

Finally, I decided I should suck it up and call the lady I was supposed to meet and see if she was there yet, and could describe which building it was in. When she answered the phone, she was super apologetic and said that she was still running behind, but that she was on her way to the City Centre building… The City Centre building is directly across the street from my building… A 30 second walk... At the most… Depending on the crosswalk light, maybe less than that…

Half running, half crying from relief at finally finding the right building, I finally made it there, jumped into an elevator, pushed the button for the 34^th floor, and… nothing. No light, no movement, nada. So I jumped out, and jumped into another elevator and pushed the button. The button didn’t light up, but the elevator started to move. Maybe the light was burnt out? But nope, it stopped on the 30^th floor to let some women in who were going down. The meeting was on the 34^th floor so I figured I could just hoof it 4 flights of stairs. But nope, the startled ladies informed me, there weren’t any stairs. I’m pretty sure they thought I was a terrorist or something with my crazy eyes and red, sweaty face yelling about trying to get to the 34^th floor. Back in the lobby, I decided I would wait for the lady I was supposed to meet there, and tell her we couldn’t get up and I was going home. Ten minutes later, just as I was about to say screw it, a guy emerged from the elevator, came up to me, and said: “You’re not by chance trying to go up to the 34^th floor, are you?”

I should have been happy, but I was more annoyed because really, at that point, I just wanted to go home. I sort of snapped at the guy and said: “Yes, actually I am! And there are more people coming who won’t be able to get up either!” He just sort of looked at me, and then scanned his key card so the elevator would let me up.

Once on the floor, I walked into the room where everyone was standing while a guy was speaking behind a podium. Still flustered and red and sweaty, I tried to hide behind some people but the guy with the microphone goes: “I don’t mean to put you on the spotlight, but we have a new person that just came in. Could you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about why you’re here?” Of course all eyes turned to me and took in my untucked blouse, my hair plastered to my face, my smeared eyeliner. I always rock first impressions.

After I gave a little spiel, maybe he felt bad for me, but he said: “Go ahead and help yourself to some wine, or something to drink.” Don’t mind if I do. Three glasses of chugged red wine later, I felt so much better. An hour later on the bus ride home, and nothing in my stomach since lunch eight hours previously, I wanted to die. My head felt like it was splitting apart and everything was spinning. Needless to say, I went home, fed my cats and was in bed and asleep by 9 p.m.

The end.

Parto per l’Italia in cinque giorni = I leave for Italy in five days!!

photo via

Right now, I would say I’m 70% stressed and 30% excited… I’m hoping that as the days get nearer to my departure, those numbers will switch. Hopefully.

Things that are contributing to my stress:

My kitties: I have honestly picked up my cats once a day for the past week and looked into their furry faces and big copper eyes and said: “I will only be gone for 2 weeks! I promise I’ll come home for you! Please still love me! And please don’t lick other cat’s butts while at the cat boarding place and come home with some unidentifiable kitty disease!”

My phone: There is absolutely nothing wrong with my iPhone 4 — except the fact that it has zero global capabilities i.e. my phone won’t even work in Italy. So my options are: only use my phone when there’s wi-fi and supplement it with a calling card, or upgrade my whole plan and get an iPhone 5 and then have to get a SIM card to use minutes, texts and data. This is actually not an unreasonable idea considering with my luck, my phone will break on my trip and then I’ll have nothing to trade in. But did I mention I’m completely broke?

I’m broke: I think I have a can of tuna and some rotten cherries in my fridge right now. I guess I should have passed on the mocha this morning. But that’s why God created credit cards, right? Right?!? (P.S. This drink is an iced skinny mocha, and it only has 70 calories!) (P.P.S My name is spelled with a K, NOT a C).

Credit cards: Having never traveled internationally before, I would call myself whatever is below a baby-newbie-beginner traveler. Only recently did the thought occur to me that once I get to the land of gelato and spaghetti, they will not take Washingtons, Benjamins and Lincolns. Upon researching how to exchange money, it became even more overwhelming. Apparently, the exchange rate is completely dependent upon where you exchange it at: a U.S. bank before you leave, the airport, an ATM over there, and then there’s the option to use a credit card, but it depends on what bank you have for how much you get charged. Argh. So overwhelming.

A 10-hour flight: You know what else is overwhelming? Ten hours on a plane. I’ve never had to sit for 10 straight hours, let alone in a tin can way up in the air. What if I start freaking out and hyperventilating and the air marshal has to restrain me and we have to make an emergency landing in Greenland? Also, what if there’s a colonial woman churning butter on the wing of the plane? If you don’t get that reference, you need to rent Bridesmaids like, yesterday.

I’m just hoping that once I get over there, my worries will melt away and I’ll have some vino and everything will be molto!