….but you’re so hot that I melted.”  Jason Mraz

You know that feeling when you see someone and you KNOW you’re attracted to them, but you try to play it off?  And then, to your horror, you realize you’ve failed miserably because the effect they have on you is so, so powerful?

I have been there, and I guess that’s why I love that song so very much!

So why am I bringing this up?  No, nothing dramatic or comical has happened to me lately.  My life is pretty much wake up, homework, get ready for work, work, homework, and bed.  I might have a glass of wine or a beer in there once in a while, and a measure of reading for entertainment purposes.  But otherwise, no real soap operas involved!

But, I can say without hesitation, there are some hot people in my life for sure!  🙂  Gotta maintain the chill, you know?  ‘Cause that’s how I roll!

I have also been itching to go to a museum again – it’s been too long.  I think I would like to go to the Huntington Library next….it’s been a few years since I’ve been there.  I can’t remember how many impressionist paintings they have, but I like other styles, too.  Any other suggestions from those in the So. Cal area?

And I almost forgot – I am seeing Tyrone Wells in concert on 3/28!!!!  I love him!  Rita and I saw him in December and – fortunately – I am on his email list so I got a heads up and cheap tickets!

I actually had something specific I wanted to write about, but it has not left me.  I AM TIRED!  Sheesh.  What the freak?!?!  I am too young to feel this way!  Dang it!  I better take more Geritol or something!

Sorry, my 2.78 readers….I have really sucked with my posts lately.  Alas, it is what it is!

Gina OUT!

Usually, I live for Fridays…..I mean, they are bringing in the weekend and all!  But I am trying to be more positive…..so today I am thinking, Thursdays rock, too!  Seriously, they lead to Friday, and then BAM!  It’s the weekend!  So I am excited that today is Thursday.

(Side note:  You’re exactly right, I have nothing really important to write about!)

I don’t think I’ve noted, with justice, how very pleased I am that my shoulder is healed.  I went from constant pain that interfered with every aspect of my life (not to mention I am left handed and the shoulder involved is my left).  As physical therapy would not fix my injury, but make the pain worse, I had no alternative to surgery to make a difference.  Things were getting better and then I got in my motorcycle accident…..I thought I was toast for sure.  But I am pain free, I have great mobility, and the only real reminder I have at all are the little scars from the surgery!  I can life, pull, swing, sleep……everything!  I am very thankful for sure!

Also, I need to mention that you’ve heard me complain about my employee, Charles here.  We DID have a rough spot together, and I had to come down hard on him.  But things have been working out quite well together and he (and I) are now working as a team.  Neither of us are perfect, but I just wanted to share that that aspect of my work life is running smoothly.

I miss many of my friends – blog or otherwise – and wish you well!

Some random things I’ve been thinking about lately:

• Getting another tattoo…..it’s a bit more elaborate and it will be on my back, on the right side. I feel out of sorts a bit as my tats are not symmetrical. And least that’s my justification. Need to get the budget all set first, though.
• It’s been too long since I’ve fuddled with my instruments – the last time I wrote a song (yet unpublished….I know….the suspense!) was in December. Song is called Butterflies. Yeah, it was a time and place and yet, I am not there now. Hmmmmm.
• I want to start exercising again. I think I will get my bike (aka, a BICYCLE! No more motorcycles for me, at least for now.) and start doing trails or something. Maybe lift weights to get toned. I need to do something.
• I miss playing the drums, with a band. Not sure what to do about that.
• I can only do what I can do – life might be out of sorts, I might not be exactly where I want to be at every moment, but I can only do what I can do. And I am fine with that! Huh…..
• I love to read……and I’m gonna do that right now before I fall to sleep and dream that I have a stick shift again…..that’s been my recurring dream the last few nights!

Wishing my wonderful 2.78 readers great thougths and blessings – GINA OUT!

Addendum:  I find it amazingly ironic that a blog-bot (site that harvests blogs so that readers can see all sorts of things in one place) picked THIS POST to reference!  Hundreds of readers (welcome!) learning about how very boring I am!  Nice……LOL.

So today there were some good things that happened – traffic from my new place to work was not bad at all!  Well, there WAS some traffic coming home, but overall it wasn’t horrible.  I even swung by to pick up Kenny before heading home!  So I am very grateful for that for sure!  Living closer to Edgar again is AWESOME!

Work, however, kind of sucked.  We are upgrading our server, and I had gone through this elaborate planning with our vendor and our (currently) five locations.  However, it started off badly…..despite my planning efforts, the vendor majorly dropped the ball.  No temp log ons, no directions, and basically an entire day without access to our accounting program.  When I called them on it, they claimed they always planned for Monday to be a down day.  However, they didn’t realize that they are dealing with “CYB Gina”, who had an arsenal of emails that clearly established the agreement and plans!  So, I sent a couple to say, “help me see where I misunderstood the plan”…..suddenly, the plan was back but then myriad excuses were offered.  Sigh.  Bottom line, we didn’t get the accounting system up until after 4pm.  Wasted day.

HOPEFULLY, the conversion will be completed by Wednesday.  But, if I may say so, after days like this I missed how ECCU ran conversions!

Gracie has adjusted to her new digs quite well!  Special thanks to Rita who has taken great care of her during my transition.  As I type, Gracie is sleeping behind me, with her paw resting against my shoulder.  So cute.

Just a small reference – I am really enjoying the book “Signora da Vinci”, a historical novel about Leonardo’s mother.  Cool stuff!  It is written by Robin Maxwell and I highly recommend it!  It’s also very cool that I was able to travel to Italy in 2006, so I have a point of reference to some of the sites described in the book.  I am very blessed.

After the horrible move on Saturday, I watched “Remember the Titans” on Sunday morning.  Sometimes I just need a good cry, and this is one of those movies where there is plenty of that!  Kenny came to sit with me during the movie and was asking a few questions to get caught up.  As it was a moment where I was trying hard to suppress the sobs, I had some difficulty articulating the circumstances to him.  He looked at me, and with shock asked, “Are you CRYING?!?!!?!”  My response?  “I…..love……football!”  🙂  But the sobbing with this movie really helped me settle into a glorious day and fun with the boys and getting things unpacked!

I hope that this post finds YOU healthy and happy, and settled well into your life!

Gina, OUT!

So, today is the Monday after the “big move”.  I like many things…..waking up with Gracie, realizing there have been no accidents through the night, being in a warm place that isn’t totally damp and mildewing…..nice!

Things I don’t like – not knowing where a dang thing is, feeling the aches and pains of the move, wondering how long it will take to get to work, having to walk downstairs to get in the fridge…..but in the scheme of things, it could be much worse!

We are in.  Got to spend lots of time with the boys.  Got lots unpacked.  And I am alive.  Pretty cool.

Okay, I know this is a REALLY boring post, but I gotta get ready!  Peace out!

I don’t know about you, by the time change really screws me up!  I’m waking up at 4am, falling back to sleep until almost 8am, cranky at work, hungry for lunch a 3pm….the list goes on!  My co-workers and I were breaking down the changes I’ve gone through this week…..the biggest being I’ve changed from a morning person to “a 12 o’clock person”!  I guess that’s when I start to act human and that’s kind of funny!

And, in honor of my last days in the Valley, here are some jokes (sorry Ree Ree!):

Did you hear about the near-tragedy at the mall? There was a power outage, and twelve California Valley Girls were stuck on the escalators for over four hours.

A California Valley Girl was driving home after a game and got caught in a really bad hailstorm. Her car was covered with dents, so the next day she took it to a repair shop. The shop owner saw that she was a e, so he decided to have some fun. He told her just to go home and blow into the tail pipe really hard, and all the dents would pop out.  So the California Valley Girl went home, got down on her hands and knees and started blowing into her tailpipe. Nothing happened. So she blew a little harder, and still nothing happened.  Her roommate, another California Valley Girl, came home and said, “What are you doing?” The first California Valley Girl told her how the repairman had instructed her to blow into the tail pipe in order to get all the dents to pop out.  The roommate rolled her eyes and said, “Uh, like hello! You need to Roll up the windows first.”

Two California Valley Girls living in Oklahoma were sitting on a bench talking ……..and one California Valley Girl says to the other, “Which do you think is farther away……….Florida or the moon?”  The other California Valley Girl turns and says “Helloooooooooo, can you see Florida…?????”

A gorgeous young female claiming to be an Engineering College Student goes into the doctor’s office and said that her body hurt wherever she touched it. “Impossible!” says the doctor. “Show me.”  The student took her finger, pushed on her left breast and screamed, then she pushed her elbow and screamed in even more. She pushed her knee and screamed; likewise she pushed her ankle and screamed.  Everywhere she touched made her scream. The doctor said, “You’re not really a Engineering College Student, are you?  “Well, no” she said, “I’m actually a California Valley Girl.” “I thought so,” the doctor said; “Your finger is broken.”

Gina OUT!

Having lived in the Valley for a couple of months, and since I will be moving OUT of the Valley (sort of) at the end of this week, I’d love to share some of the culture shocks that occurred for this transplanted OC Girl!

• On the totally cool side, I LOVE the Targets here!  Why?  Well, it’s not that they offer different products or that the prices are better.  It’s because every store I’ve been to out here has 3 levels.  Why is that a big deal?  They have these totally cool things for your carts!  So you need to go upstairs?  Push your cart into the feed for it’s ride, and then hop on the escalator!  It’s SO COOL I feel like a kid!
• I have eluded to the drivers out here in previous posts.  Well, I have to say they ARE different!  While OC drivers are not angels, boy…..LA/Valley drivers are even more aggressive…..or at least sure of themselves.  The difference, for sure, is that they break laws left and right and don’t even blink, but still get pissed off if you are in their way.  But, I am getting used to it!
• The higher sales tax rate really sucks.
• It really surprises me that houses around where I live are so expensive!  I mean, I am used to older homes in OC, but it’s different.  The homes in OC don’t look ANCIENT many times, and in fact many are “new” (built within the last 20 years).  Many of the homes here were built pre-40’s, have 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, don’t look at all appealing, and yet are getting over $600,000.  Weird.  I won’t even mention the houses with THREE bedrooms and TWO bathrooms!
• There are tons more pedestrians around where I work and live.
• There are traffic cops at many of the intersections.  At first, they really intimidated me.  Now, I am becoming a valley girl I guess, because I can almost ignore them like everyone else around me.  I think they are there because, around here anyway, a yellow light (especially if you’re turning left) means to follow the car in front of you really closely and quickly.  You should watch it!  The light turns yellow and about 30 cars turn left…….
• I think it’s totally awesome, at least near my work, that there seems to be some sort of movie production going on at least every other week.  They might not all be “big Hollywood productions”, but cool nonetheless.
• Street sweeping tickets are EXPENSIVE!

And that’s my list!

(and yes, they’re pretty lame!)

As you may remember, my camera battery died shortly after we arrived. Sigh. And I thought I had fully charged it!

Anyway, I am posting a link here to my pics for the event, which I uploaded to Facebook. If you can’t get to them for some reason (this is the first time I am sharing outside of FB), then please comment or email me.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015224&l=3ebcc&id=1467019967

Hello Beautiful People!

I am having a “calm” morning today; usually I wake up, get my coffee, and begin working at about 6:30 to 7:30. Then I call my boss and then begin to get READY for work! Some days I get up earlier to jam in some homework time before working, or rush some in before getting ready.

Today, however, my boys are with me. While they are sleeping soundly as I type this, I decided I would NOT work at home this morning. I also decided I would go into the office, sign the payroll checks, grab the files for last year’s bank reconciliations that have never been done, and bring them home to work. Oh, and grab my laptop, which I left at work last night. 🙂 So, I am enjoying my morning and decided to update this blog with much about nothing!

Just a quick update about my new home – the furniture I bought arrived yesterday. Not much, because you remember this is a small place! I got a media center (basically, a fancy dresser that holds a TV and components – amours are out apparently). I also got a real dresser and one nightstand. Now I have a place to put my clothes!!! Yeah! 🙂 The TV looks great and I am feeling more and more at home here. EXCEPT for the quirky landlord who is a bit passive-aggressive. But overall, I can handle it and am happy here.

Secondly, the Academy Awards were fun! While I was NOT in the Kodak theater, I WAS across the street at the Hollywood Museum. Before the event we were on the street watching the cars drive up. We saw Miley Cyrus come in but most of the others, at that time, rolled their windows up. Once we were in the event, we were able to have a bird’s eye view of the red carpet and saw Meryl Streep arrive. That was cool.

The rest of the night was fun – we had TV’s all over the place broadcasting the awards, a DJ playing music during the commercials (who often forgot to turn off the music when they were over, but I digress….) and people all around who either 1) love the AA’s as much as I do or 2) were there to get drunk. The second group were only partially irritating and, fortunately, not seated near us.

I was VERY happy that Kate Winslet won…..I was rooting for her. I also loved Slumdog Millionaire and was glad it took away so many awards. And I am happy for Sean Penn as well – I am sad to say I haven’t seen Milk YET, but my friend Nancy has been telling me for WEEKS (months?) to see this freaking movie. And I shall. I was also pleased that Penelope Cruz won; she was quirky and great in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. I still need to see Benjamin Button, Milk, and Frost/Nixon.

Okay, well, I best move on from here to celebrate me “free” morning! Hope y’all are doing well! If you get a chance, comment and tell me what your favorite movies or performances were…….

True to form STILL, I have but a short amount of time to post here.

Let’s see – I am working long hours, I an working hard in school, and frantically trying to see as many movies that have Academy Award nominations before tomorrow.  Um, not sure I am doing any well right now!  Tried to watch Vicki Cristina Barcelona last night and fell asleep before Penelope Cruz (nominated best supporting actress) even showed up in the movie!  LOL

Some of you have asked about my new place.  I will try to take pics of it later today and post, but you know that might take a few days.  LOL  It is a guest house – well, a converted garage – in a small city next to Studio City.  I have a kitchen area (no sink or stove) and a nice bedroom/living area.  It also has a small bathroom with a small shower.  It is cute, is my very own, and I am enjoying being there.  I have my bed, a nice couch, my beloved desk, and a big TV (thanks Edgar!).  In the kitchen I have a fridge, and cabinet-like thing and table thanks to my landlord.  It is cozy and comfortable.  Other bennies are that it is about 2 miles to my work!!!!  Whoot whoot!

It IS weird living in the valley!  For those in Southern California, you know what I am talking about.  For those outside of this area – it’s hard to explain.  Suffice it to say, it is like I moved to an entirely new state!  Orange County versus The Valley is VERY different!  How so?  Well, traffic is different and drivers are (in general) VERY rude and mean out here.  Not that they weren’t in OC, but here’s an example:  I was driving in the carpool lane on the 134 freeway.  In front of me were five motorcycles.  I was about 3 car lengths behind the last, going about 70 mph (admittedly slow for me, but I could not run over the bikes in front of me).  Behind me is this pick-up truck flashing his lights, swerving back and forth, and so close that if I TOUCHED my brakes, he would have hit me.  I raise my hands to say “what am I supposed to do?” and he AND the passenger start flipping me off and waving me to move out of their way.  As I have received one bogus ticket for crossing the yellow line, I was NOT going to do so on this occasion!  I did NOT flip them back (or touch my brakes, see above) but it worked out – he swerved into the fast lane, almost hitting a couple cars, and proceeded to do the same thing to the person in the fast lane.

I don’t mean to pick on Valley/Los Angeles peeps, but it IS very different here.

Oh!  One other new thing for me – I spent a few hours at a laundry mat last night!  Now, my landlord said I could use her machines, but it seems weird to ask to go into her house and also, well, it just doesn’t seem that clean in there.  Plus, there are three tenants that live IN her house, so I wasn’t sure the availability, etc.  So Gina went to do her clothes.  First time in my life.  It wasn’t that bad.  I may even get a system down (I watched what appeared to be “regulars” there and took mental notes.)  This place also offers laundry services for $1 a pound where I can drop the clothes off and then pick them up.  I might consider that, too.  Or, if I really get behind, I can take my clothes to Edgar’s Mom, who already begged me to let her to them for me!  LOL  Such a tough life!

Okay, I better go.  I need to do homework AND work!

I hope everyone out there is doing well.  Thanks for the comments and I ask that you write more…..I miss you.