Proud To Be An American...Finally

Yes, my co-worker Susan (who took this picture) really was this close!






This feeling of pride is due to 2 wonderful people: Obama and my sister Amanda.

President Obama, because I think he actually will bring about change. If not through his policies, through his ability to awaken the American people again to who we want to be...and what we need to do to get there. I can actually see myself living in this country again and working hard to help people come together. YES WE CAN!!!

Amanda, because she drove all the way back to Kansas just to vote. To make her voice heard. And to do what she thought was right- even though every else told her she was wrong. And I think that's really cool....And we can learn a lot from people like her!

Here's to the Hope and Change of 2009!

I love my life...

It's true. The past few weeks have been stressful, long and exhausting. But now, today, I am SO happy because:

This past weekend my new favorite person visited me.
Tomorrow I will be in Grant Park when Obama accepts his nomination for president.
Tonight I'm eating Jambalaya for dinner and *hopefully* starting a new book.
Election day I get to do what I thought my job was going to be all along: collecting stories from everyday people who are struggling with their health care.
AND- this evening I will be baking something from scratch!

Oh Brian

So my friend Brian is visiting this week because he and his brother are going to the Children's Film Festival. I am posting about him, because he HATES blogs- even though he has one....

Last night Brian and I ate at our favorite Thai place- which is probably only our favorite because we haven't tried any other ones.

We also attempted a puzzle, which he quit because he said that "it's only fun for old people" while slamming down yet another piece that didn't fit.

Then Brian proceeded to read aloud from one of the Christian novels in our house. He picked his favorite paragraphs and together, we traveled through the lives of Summer, Peter and Gross Mutter- who we finally figured out at the end was not a slobbering monster- it was the German mother-in-law. (I know you wanted to know).

My favorite conversations from the night:

"No Brian. I wouldn't date Jesus."
"Yeah- you'd be so thirsty. He'd always be turning your water into wine. And you'd be like, 'Jesus, stop it! I'm so thirsty and I just want some water!' It'd be awful."
"Yeah."

"Brian, you're not even helping!"
"I am morally against this."
"It's just taking apart the puzzle pieces so we can put it back together!"
"That makes no sense. Why would I do that? I can't do that."

"I hope my wedding and funeral have the exact same service. You know, like ridiculously large pictures of my face in the front of the church. And don't worry, you'll be the flower girl."
"I don't want to be the flower girl."
"Last time you made me swear you could be the flower girl!"
"Oh. Oh yeah! Ok- yeah I want to be the flower girl. And for your funeral: an excerpt about Gross Mutter!"

Song for Sarah

Well, Palin said that she could see Russia from her window....and now we know they can see her too.....

Song for Sarah

(I'm sorry for another political one- it was just too funny not to post!)

Lame Molly

That's all I have to say about the last post.


On a much more positive note:

My brother Anthony's birthday is today! He is 15 and had a party last night with some of his friends. My parents being the ornery people that they are encouraged and helped him fork 2 different people's yards in the neighborhood. What cool parents, huh? :)

In one of the yards, my mom put horse poop next to every fork so that when the person went to get the forks out of the ground, they would have to step in horse poop! Genius!

I wonder if pranks like that would go over well here in Chicago....:)

Also: My friend Derik came and visited last week/weekend and it was awesome. I thought he should have an honorable mention in a post. And a picture of the fun fest we created! :)

Yes, this is ELMO. No, I have no idea why there was an ELMO in the Chicago Hot Dog place at 2 a.m. But don't worry, we took full advantage of him being there....











Again, no idea. I think we were looking at a 4D painting in the art show we went to? WHO CARES! We look AWESOME!

Love, love love these two! :)

Warning: Pity Party Ahead

So, I haven't been doing my budget because I knew that during the past few months I've spent more money than I should have. But today, I sat down and tackled the past 2 month's worth of expenses...and much to my surprise....I've actually lived within my means.

However, I had originally formed my budget with the assumption that I was making $950/month. After looking at my bank statements today, I realized that my salary is only $802/month. Whoops. I had been calculating my salary before taxes. With my rent, gas and utilities averaging around $600/month and food and bills (phone) averaging around $200/month. I officially have $2 extra at the end of the month to spend on life....

After discovering this, I tried to remain calm. I returned to the office, where I'm supposed to be calling people asking for money- got really overwhelmed and turned down by the only call I made, managed to jam up the printer and have ink explode all over my hands (almost on my white jacket I just bleached last night) while no one in the office even noticed, and listened to a machine from Bank of America on the phone for 1/2 hour only to realize that they don't allow people to change their PIN numbers over the phone.

So my pride has officially taken the passenger's seat to necessity. I qualified for food stamps, but didn't want to get them, because I didn't feel like a "vow of poverty" was quite the same as real poverty. But now that I have about $2 extra cash a month and a lot of stress....I'm considering sprinting to the Social Security building to apply.

At this point, I'm ready to go home, eat my leftover red curry, watch Wheel of Fortune (which has become a nightly ritual) and breath....

Oh Goodness

"The definition of insanity is: Doing the same thing and expecting different results." -Einstein

This is why we need health care reform. Not more of the same. Lame last night McCain. Maybe I should let him take the calls on our helpline.....


On a happier note: I have successfully managed to do nothing work-related for the entire morning. This is the second time this has happened. My friend James introduced me to these "mental holidays" and it will probably, slowly, ruin any chance of me climbing up that career ladder. But it makes me feel like I can breathe- and now I can use the next 5 hours to be productive! (I'm convinced that people in the US should do 4 or 5 hour work days- we waste so much time anyway, and then we could hang out more with people we care about during the day!)

And an even happier note: I'M GOING TO ARKANSAS TOMORROW!!!