Time to decompress

Life has been a wee bit stressful recently. Nothing I can't handle, but it does creep up and get me sometimes. Last weekend was the open house for my condo. Now, I live a pretty neat life, but living a neat life and having an open house ready condo are two very different things. So, last weekend, I worked ridiculously hard getting my condo to open house readiness, then had the open house, then had a 14 hour day on Monday, and I just am not bouncing back.

My shoulders ache, I am exhausted, I can't get to the gym, I just come home and collapse. So, this is not where I need/want to be.

Tomorrow, therefore, is officially Decompression Day. I plan to sleep in, take Millie to the store to pick out a new toy celebrating her status as an AKC registered pooch, and then nap. I canceled my Saturday morning plans, so I can take it easy on Saturday too. Saturday night, I am going to see a concert in Berkeley with some friends and on Sunday, I have a card making class. Then Monday, I will be bright eyed and bushy tailed once more.

On the bright side, Saturday while I was preparing for the open house some people stopped by unexpectedly to see the condo. Of course, it was in pre-open house disarray, but they loved it and made an offer. I have accepted the offer and it is now up to the bank to agree. Fingers crossed!!

She is now official

Since finishing my Masters, I have more time on my hands to devote to mindless pursuits. Mindless pursuit #1 is French. Mindless pursuit #2 is dog obedience. Technically not mindless, since an obedient dog is a happy, safe dog, but still. So today, I took that next step in Millie's obedience training. I registered her with AKC as a mixed breed so that we can compete in AKC mixed breed trials. Her first trial will be a Rally Trial in June. I am hoping to title her twice, once in Obedience (her CD) and once in Rally (her RA, she will need an RN title to get her RA, but RA is the ultimate goal). Technically, she is already titled as she has her CGC and is a therapy dog. But we (meaning I) want obedience titles.

We start Rally class in 2 weeks and then the trial is in June. Not long, but she has a multitude of obedience classes under her belt, so I think we will be okay. Once I get moved, we will move up from advanced obedience to show novice where we will start perfecting our form for the obedience ring.

I didn't hear anything more from the NatGeo people, so I assume we didn't make it past round 2. Oh well. She is still a star to me!!!

I need to carry my camera

Every day at lunch, I walk across the street and do mile loop along the bay. Sometimes I take Millie and sometimes I go on my own. What I never take is my camera. And today, that bit me on the ass. I ran into a guy with a 12' fishing pole, I said wow, what are you catching? He says, sharks.

Dood.

Millie and I did the fastest mile I think we had ever done, so I could get back and see if the guy could catch a shark. I did pause long enough to take this picture -

Not bad, considering it's from my phone and really, how cute is she??

Anyway, shark guy. He ended up catching a 40 pound bat ray! We watched him haul it in, wow, those things do put up a good fight.

Next time, I need to have my camera!!!

Of sociopaths and me

I had my first run in with real crazy people. And not like homeless crazy people, these are supposed mainstream types.

Anyway, Saturday morning, I went to my local Starbucks drive thru to get coffee. HUGE line, I thought what the hell and went ahead and pulled in. I order my coffee, then pulled up and called my Mom. I am all chatting away and I feel my car move, I said to my Mom, I think the people behind me just hit me. Then BOOM they hit me again. I get off the phone and get out of the car, make sure there is no damage and say STOP HITTING MY CAR. Something I feel is a reasonable request. She ROLLS HER EYES AT ME. I am floored.

Get back in my car, pull away from them, and like 5 minutes later, BOOM, they hit my ****ing car AGAIN.

I am like are you kidding me??I get out of the car again and I say seriously, what the **** is your problem, STOP HITTING MY GOD DAMN CAR.

Now, these aren't kids. This is a woman in her 60s and her, apparently psychotic, 90yo mother.

The old woman start mimicking me being mad and starts flapping her arms. That's when I realize, these people not sane. Seriously, like Deliverance not sane.

WHO DOES THAT.****ing psychotic sociopaths.

Anyway.

Got my coffee and left.Made it to my hair appointment and regaled my hairdresser with tales of the crazies.

I like days like today

We headed across the Bay Bridge to go to PCC in Oakland to look at a shipment of antiques being imported, they had declared a giraffe head and an ostrich. So, yes, they had an 8' tall giraffe mount (head and neck) and a baby ostrich. People are so weird. The baby ostrich was creepy. From there we headed over to Bobacc and met up with CBPAg. Nothing much happening for us, they were having a big cookout (Bobacc, not CBP), but we moved on. Cut back across the San Mateo Bridge and over to San Mateo to see if I could get Armadillo Willy's for lunch. No luck. But, it was okay, we drove up to the Coyote Point overlook, I just love that view. Then back to the office, of course, by then it was after 1 and my day is looking pretty short.

I love a good Friday, happy weekend to you all!

Parlez vous Francais?

Time to learn yet another foreign language. Though, in all fairness, it's relearning. I took French when we lived in Liberia, it was part of the kindergarten curriculum, and I took French in high school. I can get by with basic greetings and food ordering, but I need (want) to take it to the next level and actually develop it as a marketable skill. I know, you're thinking HELLO (HOLA) Spanish!! But while Spanish is widely spoken on this half of the continent and further down south, French is the go to language for much of Africa and more than a couple countries in Europe. So, French it is!

This, then, of course, begs the question, am I really going to leave my job and move overseas. The answer to that is I don't know. I said once I had my Masters (did I mention I got my Masters?? Take THAT, To Do List!) that I was going to get out of OLE and get into OIA. But, after registering for the Foreign Service exam, I skipped it. And really, I love SF. However, I am sure I would love Geneva just as much!!! So who knows, this may just be an awesome time filler. We'll see.

Happy Friday!!

Here is how Millie and I spent our lunch break -

Round Two!!!

I submitted Millie to be in a National Geographic special being filmed here in the Bay Area. Something on domestication of pets. Anyway, we made it to round two! So fingers crossed we make it to round 3!!!!!

Welcome Back!!

Today, I was on the phone with Laurie and she said welcome back. I said from where? And she mentioned how I had been absent from chats, I hadn't been texting or calling her, etc. and she is right. I had really withdrawn from my friends. This whole business with the condo, I referred to this a couple blogs ago, is really getting me down. I am attending a lecture this evening on Mindful Stress, being taught by my friend Julie. One of the things she talks about is "creep". Where stress doesn't just slam you with one big stress-y thing, but rather wheree many stressful things creep up on you and the need to recognize the accumulation of this stress.

My stresses -
the condo
the move
the weight
the money

She also talks alot on the need to breathe. I don't do mindful breathing, but I will. I also need to take more walks. I have begun taking walks at lunch along the bay. It amazes me how it sets me up for the afternoon. Instead of being all yawny and whatnot, I won't say I am energized, but I am definitely more focused.

I hope I can use what she teaches me to put me back in a better mind set. Even though I say I have made my peace with losing the condo, clearly I have not. And I need to. I can't change it, I can only survive the process and move on with my life.

This weekend I _______________________________

Totally stolen from Booyah....

This weekend I made fabulous cards with Elizabeth. I would post pictures, but I have none and I can't remember what they looked like. I had a fab time with the OTHER Annmarie, she spells her name all wrong, but she is a doll nonetheless.

Saturday morning, I got up and was off to the beach with Miss Millie for an awesome morning hike. I am also reveling in my new Body Bugg. I had been thinking about buying one for a couple years after seeing it on the Biggest Loser. Well, since I have been trying to lose the same 20 pounds for 20 years now, I decided to step up my A game and see what the Bugg could do for me. It's awesome! It tells you, based on fancy pants science, how many calories you burn no matter what you are doing. Then you enter in your food and it tells you how many calories you consume and what your calorie deficit is. (3500 calories = 1 pound). My goal is to lose the 20 pounds by Christmas, which I think is more than reasonable.

The purchase of the Bugg made me realize, I really need to get off the couch too. I broke up with my gym, Curves a couple weeks ago. I realized it just wasn't doing it for me anymore and I joined 24 Hour Fitness. I have 3 close by. I went to 24 Club #1, but it was small and crowded, so I don't think that we are going to have any sort of committed relationship. Tonight, I am headed to 24 #2. It's a Sport club, so it's bigger and has a pool. I like the idea of having a pool, but we'll see. Bally's had a pool, but it was not a pool I would ever swim in.

Oh, I was supposed to be talking about my weekend.

It rained Sunday.

The end.

Things that suck and things that are awesome.

Things that suck. I am losing my condo. I have shed more than my fair share of tears over this. When I bought this condo, I had a vision for it. The first year, I would replace all the blinds, the second year, new flooring throughout. The third year I would redo my bathroom and the big culmination would be the fourth year and would be a kitchen redo, complete with new cabinets. Yet, here I sit, year 4, with the sale documents in front of me and a hole in my heart. It's not even my fault. I bought a condo I could afford in a neighborhood far FAR from work because that's what I could afford. What I couldn't know, what no one could know, was how bad the market would plunge after I bought it. I bought for 300k. My condo is now on the market for 128k. I hope someone can see in it what I saw and love it like I did. I hope the short sale goes through and BoA allows it. I don't want this to drag on for a year, I want to get over this and move on.

Things that don't suck. My friends, my family, and my little dog, Millie. Everywhere I live, I have had friends, and of course my online friends are with me always, but somehow, here in SF, I have Friends. Friends who would do anything for me, true friends, real friends. I got a text message from my friend Jacie yesterday, somehow she thought I was moving this weekend and wanted to know what I needed, did I need help packing, did I need her to take Millie for me so I could get moved. My friend Kristin has somehow become my life coach and personal trainer. My friend Susan is my cheerleader, my dating coach, and my shoulder to cry on. I know none of them read my blog since I don't advertise it, but there is my shout out to them. Thanks guys.

And because she is the center of my universe -