Optimist Under Siege

Okay, my bad…I know I haven’t posted in a while, but I’ve been preoccupied in a positive way. So while I’m sure I’ve been missed (ah yes, the epitome of humble), it’s all been for the good.

And what has been preoccupying me so much? Well, since no one likes to read a twenty page blog entry, let me summarize. In a nutshell, I’m doing sort of a life and career revamp. On the life side, I’m really reflecting on what I (and my husband as well) enjoy and want out of life. I’m not necessarily trying to figure out what we want our life to be like in 20 years. It’s more of a matter of what makes our lives better right now.

So I’m cooking more often (or trying to) and making healthier meals (while trying to accommodate my husband’s environmentally based desire to eat less meat). I’m booking theater tickets, organizing dinners with friends and continuing to push myself for more flexibility, strength and balance in several classes per week of yoga (and may try a martial art too…we’ll see. My husband really wants me to become his personal ninja bodyguard. Again, we’ll see!). Recently, we’ve gone snowboarding, did a puzzle (which I hadn’t done in years!) and toured a chocolate factory. Hey, why not? It’s all interesting, thought-provoking and fun.

On the career side, I’m working toward a similar transformation. This in and of itself could take up a lot of space with explanations, reasons, thought processes and goals. Again, in a nutshell, let me just say that I’m learning to be a career counselor, something that I think I’ll be amazingly good at and which is already bringing me great joy and satisfaction (and giving me the energy to do all the life enriching activities I mentioned above). I’m doing an internship to get some practical experience at a university, reading every book I can get my hands on, talking to people in the field as often as I can and even offering my services for free to get practice and experience (hey, if anyone needs help with figuring out what they want to do, job search strategies, resumes and cover letters, interview practice, self-assessment, I’m your woman!).

The moral of the story is: Things are good. They’re good and it feels great. It’s not like anything huge has changed in our daily lives, not outwardly at least. And yet it has. This post, as I reread it, seems a bit too preachy and is implying more of a sense of finality and of having found the perfect solution than I had intended. I understand that everything is a work in progress and in order to keep things going requires work and diligence. But for now, life is good! And I hope it’s good for you too!

Is it bad that I just finished (and, except for a couple of exceptions, started) my Christmas shopping today? I just kept thinking I had another couple of months before the holidays. Isn’t Christmas supposed to be in February?! Seriously!

But hey, at least I’m DONE now. (It feels so good to say that!)

Of course, I was Christmas shopping at Starbucks because there have been a couple of days lately where the heat in our apartment wasn’t really working. This is me a few days ago. It is not staged…this is actually how I was sitting and working!



Now it’s snowing, but at least the heat has come on (and, in case you forgot, my Christmas shopping is done!).

I cooked an early Thanksgiving dinner for my mother and husband this year. I admit that I didn’t actually make a turkey (which I don’t really like that much anyway!), but we had sweet potatoes, stuffing, apple pie and other yummy stuff. It was actually rather satisfying putting it all together (yeah me!). And we got to use the good china and wine glasses…woo hoo! Here are some pics.





And this is what my husband did for most of the occasion…

A good time was had all around!

I weeped just a little bit inside today. I finally had to drag my down winter coat out of the closet and I mourned its necessity (even though it’s a delightfully warm coat!). *Sigh* It’s now seasonally cold.

And sadly, you can’t really complain about the cold very much when it’s seasonal. If it were 25 degrees fahrenheit in July, then my complaints would be justified. But we’ve been having unseasonally wonderfully warm weather lately, and now that it’s seasonally cold, I have no right to whine.

But I will still mourn and weep inside, just a little!

A friend of mine planned a formal event this past weekend (something I approve of and very much appreciate! Yeah, dressing up!). As a result, my husband and I ended up going out to a fancy dinner beforehand at an old school Boston institution, Locke-Ober.

Now, I didn’t really know much about the place, which made my first impression that much more interesting. The restaurant, Locke-Ober, turned out to be the definition of an old school restaurant. Frank Sinatra should have been there drinking cognac and smoking a cigar! From the dark wood paneling to the framed mirrors and gold/brass highlights behind the bar areas, and even the oriental rug-like carpeting, I actually kept expecting a bar maid out or Renoir’s paintings to serve me a sidecar (which we both drank!). I know that I’m mixing my time periods in my description, but wow! And the average age of the clientele must have been at least 65!

The weird thing is that we actually got pretty bad service. The waiter never came back to get my husband’s drink order and he forgot to bring us our side dish of spinach. We tried to figure out if we had perhaps done something to offend him…and decided that perhaps our extreme relative youth was enough!

I had a very unique experience with the recent presidential election. On election day Tuesday, I happily went to the voting booth and did my civic duty (as they say). Then, coincidentally, Tuesday evening I boarded a plane for London (where I visited a friend in London and another in Edinburgh). The vacation had been planned with no consideration of election day, but I was glad to be here to vote instead of having to get an absentee ballot.

But here’s the funny part. My husband and I managed to watch some of the early election results from a bar at the airport, but then we spent the next six or seven hours on a plane without any access to news. Once we arrived in London (mid-morning UK time), we went to meet up with our friend for lunch and had to ask her, the European, who exactly our next president was going to be. She laughed at us! But she did know and filled us in on Obama’s victory. What a funny way to find out!

On a further funny presidential note, one of the London newspapers had a GREAT headline the following day. It read: “The day the US became a little bit cool again.” Amusing and awesome!

Guess what we were for Halloween!

Here are some hints. Yes, I’m a cat. Yes, my husband is a cat also, but he happens to be a dead cat.

Additional hint…yes, we are dorks. Yes, this has something to do with quantum physics.

That’s right, we’re Schrodinger’s cat!!!

The 2 whole people who understood our esoteric costume thought it was hilarious. Everyone else were basically like, “hey…nice cat and zombie costumes…whatever.”

That’s okay. We amused ourselves at least!

P.S. We’re leaving for a trip to London and Edinburgh tomorrow. So there will be a slight pause in blogging. See you all in about a week!

I killed a mosquito last night and it was really plump and squished all over my hands in a seriously gross, smeary way. I washed my hands A LOT after that.

So why did I kill it when I knew, based on its lovely plumpness, that by killing the mosquito I was going to create a nausea-inducing mess all over my hands? Well, I’ll tell you.

It was a matter of self-preservation. You see, a few nights ago, my husband and I were both literally kept up most of the night by one single, freakin’ obnoxious, lowly mosquito. Just one mosquito was all it took. I kid you not.

I’m not sure either of us were even bitten by it, but it kept doing that obnoxious anti-Darwinian (wouldn’t you think?) behavior where it buzzes in your ear. And when you’re half-asleep and you hear this, you tend to reflexively swat at it (ineffectually, mind you). But in swatting at the mosquito you wake yourself back up. And the mosquito, one single mosquito, managed to do this enough to keep us both awake most of the night!

We actually resorted to leaving the bathroom light on (hoping the mosquito would be drawn to the light) and spraying bug spray randomly on our dressers and other places (my memory is a little hazy as I was half asleep!).

So I killed the bug last night because I had to. And that’s that.

The good thing is that I FINALLY got myself to go clothes shopping yesterday. Otherwise, I might soon have been walking around au naturel! Somehow all of my fall/winter clothes seem to have worn out at the exact same time. How does that happen?

Well, I guess you could argue that it’s partially the fact that I never go shopping until I absolutely have to. I’m not a big fan of shopping, but I do quite enjoy the result (clothes to wear!).

Of course, I still haven’t gotten around to buying jeans. The ones I wear most often have some holes in unfortunate intimate places…yikes! But I’m sure I’ll get around to it soon. Of course I will. I probably will.

Oh let’s face it. I may be wearing holey jeans for some time…!

I have the first of my official “informational interviews” today, research for my potential new career as a career counselor. In fact, I’m already waiting at one of my favorite places, Starbucks, as my interviewee is due in about half an hour. I will say that I’ve been quite surprised and happily pleased at the responses I’ve gotten from people regarding setting up informational interviews, especially considering the fact that I’m asking for free interviews with career counselors. It could look to them like I’m trying to get them to work for me (ie. counsel me) for free. But I really am interested in hearing what THEY do.

I suppose I could also look at the general helpfulness and good will of the career counselors I have contacted as an indication that yes, career counseling might be a good field for me. I would definitely like to be surrounded by helpful, nice people! I mean, who wouldn’t?

The other happy thing so far is that the Starbucks I’m meeting this person at turns out to be a really nice one. If I were ever studying or working at Northeastern University, I might just spend some time here!

(Yes, Hello, My name is Holly…and I’m a Starbucks addict.)

(Which is funny considering that I still only order a “tall.” That’s just denial I guess!)