How it's going

I had the best of intentions of publishing this earlier and started the update the last part of March. It's April now and rather than retyping, I will just do a little April update at the bottom as a great deal may have changed! Be patient with me and I hope next time for there to be pictures and more entertaining content.  2011 has proven to be a challenging year for me.

Social Work

Some days, Social Work and Case Management are a bit of a thankless profession but today was a great day for my team and I want to brag on us!  Since I started at the VA, we have had clients who live in a terrible boarding home owned by a total psycho.  I would say I am exaggerating on the psycho part but the first time I met him, he was mad at one of our team members and I had to threaten him with calling the police if he didn't get out of my space and stop yelling at me!  Not much has changed with Mr. Psycho in the last few years (starting #5 can you believe it!) and unfortunately the one person at the home who cared for the clients recently passed away after a long battle with breast cancer.  This week,  one of the nurses has been coordinating a move for a client and the owner went ballistic and banned us from the premises.  We are now in the process of moving two other clients for whom we provide case management to another facility, one of whom I am the primary for, and I am extremely excited about the new placement. We toured the home and the couple, who run it seem very caring and involved in running a quality facility.  I am also relieved that in less than a month (cross your fingers), we should never have to deal with Mr. Psycho again.  I have informed my patient's Benefits Representative of our banishment and she does not want any Veteran at the facility.  I have never been so happy to see someone get what is coming to them!

Update 04/11/11: My client decided not to move and we are no longer providing services to the client.  I am a bit sad for the client but continue to be happy not to have to go to a home where I feel my safety is threatened.

Upcoming Summer Adventures:

Airline Tickets purchased for Kate and Andy's wedding in August (and to meet Baby Dranka!!!)
Tickets purchased to see Def Leppard/Heart at The Wharf in Orange Beach in June (to celebrate Kel's birthday and have a girl's trip with Mel)
Possible Atlanta trip to see Adrienne (with my road trip partner Miss Kelly)

Upcoming April Events

Book Club April 2- Discussing Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran (loved it!!!!) and picking a new read.  It will be at my house due to lead paint cleanup at Mel's place and preggo member, who does not need to be in the vicinity of remodel.
(as an aside, my treasured nook now has screen issues and at some point, I will be needing to purchase another one so thinking to upgrade to Nook Color with Touchscreen)

Fun and Games Shower for Marlene and Jonathon- They will marry in May and we (Kelly, Melanie, and I) are hosting a shower at Casa Cahill to celebrate the nuptials.  There will be grilling of meats and playing of video and board games, as the couple met at Innisfree Trivia Night.

Update: Book Club was great and next book TBA. Just finished Ice Cold and am extremely bummed I have to wait until July for the next Rizzoli and Isles book to be published.  About to start Food and Loathing because I am apparently a bit of a masochist and feel the need to read about a person's unhealthy relationship with food.
Adventures in Dating

So far, not much to say here... Entering the second month on E-Harmony and has only kind of reinforced that I am a magnet for dysfunction.  I have committed to 3 Months on the site and am really trying to keep good perspective and outlook on this type of approach.  I have sent out a few questions to people and have been sent a few things but so far no one that just blows me away and a few weirdos that slipped through the cracks! I remain hopeful the "he" is around and will find me before the world ends in 2012 (according to Mayan folklore).

Continue to see Mr. January around work and relationship is amicable but definitely dead.  I pawn off miscellaneous baked goods on him every now and again because he has a sweet tooth and I certainly don't need them. He doesn't either but it is no longer my job to make sure he lives to a ripe old age.  This involves leaving them on his truck mirror in a plastic bag with a note they aren't poisoned and a thank you on his part.  (I've watched enough forensic files to know I would never get away with it! They always suspect the chick and I have no real motive.) Mr. December/February is totally out of the picture and I am slowly overcoming the sadness that came from what I hoped would be my last dating drama. I have made attempts to repair the rift between us but he is AWOL and I tired.  So hard to meet a nice Catholic boy that some mean girl hasn't already taken through the ringer but hope springs eternal!

Update: Totally hate Mr. December/February and hope he and the Barbie doll like wench he is screwing have a nice life together.  (I thought that was an upbeat yet bitchy sentiment and it's all I have for him now.)
Will be very glad when Mr. January finally gets a job somewhere else and should have listened to his initial theory that girls and guys being friends is so much "BS", as my efforts at friendship are rebuffed.  I do genuinely hope he has a nice life and the sooner it starts the better!

So the lesson in this is that I have HORRIBLE taste in men and should not be left to my own devices! 

Church

Several months ago, I moved congregations and started attending Prince of Peace (POP, isn't that a great anagram!) but slacked off for while due to emotional issues (see above boy references).  I have now returned to the church just in time for the Lent and Easter season and I love being back in this parish.  It a very open and embracing atmosphere and I am really enjoying the overall message of inclusion that the clergy sends, along with the corny jokes of both the priests. 

I am currently trying to become a more informed and involved church goer and Catholic and decided to take an Adult Confirmation course at POP. It is for persons who either did not receive the sacrament of Confirmation as a teenager or someone who has been away from the church for a while and wants to get back in touch with the church.  I am both (my grandfather became ill with cancer near my time for confirmation and what teenager argues with their mom about not having to go the CCD classes) and decided this may be a good opportunity to try to find that something that feels like it is missing when I am out of church. We are reading What Makes Us Catholic which is interesting and a bit of a modernistic take on the church teachings but is not exactly a page turner!

Update: Confirmation is on target for the Easter Vigil Service and I still love the POP.  I do find myself singing Miranda Lambert's A Heart Like Mine every time we sit in class though because as a friend recently told me "God appreciates the baby steps" and some days that is what this journey feels like for me.

Casper Diablo

Is amazing! He had his back surgery in October 2010 and you would never know it now.  He has slowed down some but is still a mad man most days.  As a result of surgeries (I don't like for him to sit on hard surfaces for too long for fear of back strain), he has gotten new beds at both my and the grandparents house and is eating up being the Little Prince of both those houses.  He is still the boss of me and he thinks the neighborhood with a kitty arch nemesis named JoJo, who likes to sit in the front flower bed and torment him.

Update: Still an adorable poochie! Pictures to come!

Looking and Leaping or Has it really

For most people who know me, it is not hard to figure out my comfort zones are with my family and friends, work, and by myself. I am private and shy and I usually only have a small group of people in my life with whom I spend the most time and others that drift in and out. It is rare that I meet someone who isn't already a friend of a friend and I am most comfortable talking to someone with a wingperson to smooth over the initial conversational hurdles and awkward silences. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that everything about dating causes thoughts of terror and panic.

Growing up, I always just assumed "he" would come if I was just in the right place at the right time. It is both interesting and frustrating to me that people never know when love will find them. As each milestone, accomplishment, and year passes, I find myself wondering if this the thing I needed to achieve or the birthday I needed to reach to finally get my prize! It's a silly way to say it but it does at times feel like love is the result of winning at whatever challenges life throws at you.

Over the past few months, I have felt like my "winning" has been more of the "Charlie Sheen" school of thought and now find myself back at the beginning without either of the gentleman with whom I started out 2011. This is, to say the least, disheartening! I have learned from Mr. December and Mr. January that while the initial process of meeting guys scares me, I actually like being a girlfriend and having a man in my life. I am, of course, skipping the breakup crap (and the increased Casper neuroses due to revolving door daddies) and trying to focus on what was great about finding someone to be in like with for a while. Armed with this knowledge, several glasses of wine, three awesome girlfriends (Kelly, Mel, and Emily), I have made an attempt to broaden my horizons and move away from being passive when it comes to my love life! So I.... decided to try an online dating site to see if I can meet men and hopefully start dating again. Wish me luck kiddos! I have committed to three months on the site and I'm determined to not let my fears hold me hostage. If nothing else, it may make for some funny stories to tell y'all on the underutilized blog.

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Birthday Week

I have not blogged in a while so I thought I would try to make a new turn for my birthday. I have some early birthday resolutions for the upcoming year.  I will turn 34 tomorrow so I am officially in my mid-30's!  I need some accountability to keep up with my goals and I figure putting them in print is the best way to get that accountabiliy.  Here we go with the goals for the new Stacy year:

1. Keep on the new Weight Watchers plan to lose weight.  Fruit and most veggies are free now so I think this will be easier to keep on plan.
2. Go to the gym or do some type of physical activity at least three times per week for at least 30 minutes.
3. Be a better blogger so my friends know what is going on in my life.
4. Pay off my credit cards and start using my cash and check cards for purchases.
5. Be more confident and bold but also move my heart a little farther away from my sleeve when it comes to new people.
6. Keep a positive and optimistic attitude about life and complain less.
7. Try to work on my potty mouth.
8. Try to spoil the dog a little less!

So that's it for now but I will update more often this year, I promise!!!

Spring Garden!

So, I have not been the best blogger for a while!!! Luckily, Anne B and Kelly  have me covered on most of the gang's happenings for April and May.  I have decided to re-dedicate June to keeping up with my blog and sharing all the fun I have had with my friends and family.  I am really looking forward to getting away this weekend to Mobile Bay to celebrate the wedding of Brian's brother, David, and his beautiful fiancee, Jessica.  Kelly and I will head done on Friday and we are both looking forward to seeing Mobile's sights and sounds and of course, The Drankas!!!

In the mean time, I have been working on my yard with the help of my wonderful parents and brother, Steven.  My Mom and I were trying to figure out a plan for my front flower bed and Mom came up the idea of a small kitchen herb garden!  I was a bit skeptical but I am absolutely loving our little bed we planted and seeing my herbs grow every time I get a new rain! I also have a few tomato plants, an ancho pepper, and blueberries!  I am really excited to pick my blueberries when they ripen and am happy to report my smaller blueberry bush is now healthy and green (it was a victim of frost two winters ago and I refused to believe it was a goner.  I have been rewarded for my loyalty with excellent growth and am hoping it gets big like its sister bush throughout the next year).

Anyhow, that's about all the excitement for now.  I will work on posting more often and make an effort to share more pictures on future blogs.  I have a new mission to have photographic evidence of life but sometimes it doesn't always make it to the blog!

Finally, I leave you with the cutie Casper!!!

Feed me Kelly!!!!Tired pup-pup at Doo Dah Day!Benny gave Cas a new BoBo!  He is missing is buddy!

It's History Baby!!!!

I have let my resolution to blog every week go to the wayside so I am at least going to try to blog once every two to three weeks to keep up with everyone.  Since I haven't blogged since March 1st, I am going to hit the highlights of the last few weeks in my world!

First up: The lovely Ashley Filiano is expecting so Paige, Anne, Tara, and Erin threw her a great shower at Paige's house.  I am a little frightened by all the baby items I know about, in contrast to Kelly and Anne's comments about not knowing what most things were at the shower.  I guess I have had a ton of friend's have babies in the last few years and must have learned the difference between a Boppy and a Binky!  Ashley is a very sweet and gracious pregnant lady and we are all excited to meet Noah in May!

Next up:  Montgomery Road Trip

Kelly and I checked off another Alabama list item by visiting the State Capital in Montgomery.  Although I have seen the sights of Montgomery as a kid, it was really a wonderful experience to view it through the eyes of an adult and student of American History.  We were extremely lucky to catch a Saturday tour of the Capital and our Docent, Dr. Irby was truly a pleasure.  Dr. Irby is not only a historian but also is a living part of history, having participated in the Selma Voting Rights March as a 19 year old African American and later serving in the second administration of Governor George C. Wallace.  Dr. Irby shared with the group his profound respect for the changes made by Gov. Wallace after his his assassination attempt on both a personal and professional level.  He was an incredible fount of knowledge about not only the history of Alabama's Capital  (our capital is the most "historical" capital in the country and served as both the first capital of the Confederate States of American and as Alabama's present capital city) but the Civil Rights Movement in the state.

The Capital is truly beautiful and has been home to many moments in history, including the forming of the Confederate States of America by Jefferson Davis and representatives from each of the Southern States. 

Speeches on the Capital Steps by both Gov. George C. Wallace promoting continued racial segregation and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. promoting equal rights for all.

Here are some views from inside the Capital, around the Capital grounds, and throughout the city (spot where Rosa parks refused to give up her bus seat, Little White House of the Confederacy, Home where F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald lived). 

Finally, the question you all have been asking.... Where did you eat of the Top 100 Things to Eat in Alabama Before You Die list?????? 

Chris's Hotdogs in downtown Montgomery.... famous for the Chili Sauce they put on their dogs!  It was sinfully tasty!

And of course.... CASPER!

Every day when I get home, Casper "kills" one of his bobos for me as a welcome ritual!  He is currently working on the Devil Bobo he got last Halloween.  I wanted to try to get a picture of him running around with his toy so I could title it "runnin' with the devil" but as usual, he didn't cooperate!  Still, it's pretty sweet that he presents me with his prey on a daily basis just to make sure I know he loves me and who exactly is the Alpha in this arrangment!

Weekend Road Trips

The last two weeks have involved fun road trips to see wonderful friends and some of Alabama's historical sights!  The weekend of February 20th, Kelly and I went to Tuscaloosa for an Olympic Party at Jon and Marji's house!  Marji, the Queen of Tape, and Jon, the King of Criminal Defense, welcomed guests with food, arts and craft, plenty of drinks, and a homemade luge for chilling shots! Matt and Kendal also came down for some fun in the Home of the National Champions!!!! (I am going to so... enjoy saying that for the rest of the year!)  Here are some highlights of our evening at the Smith-Cohens! (Take special notice of my brilliant use of tongue to take a shot off the luge.)

As you can tell by the pics, we were all winners!

The weekend of 02/27, Kelly and I travelled to Monroeville and Selma to knock some historical sights off of Kelly's Alabama Bucket List.  First we travelled to the lovely Monroeville, home of Harper Lee (To Kill A Mockingbird), Truman Capote (Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood), and Mark Childress (Crazy in Alabama).  There was a small arts and crafts festival but the highlight of the trip was seeing the Old Monroe County Courthouse in which Harper Lee's father (the inspiration for Atticus Finch) practiced law and Harper Lee first began formulating the story of The Finch Family and Boo Radley.  We got a special treat while in the courhouse in the form of gospel singing by the choir of  Wilcox County High School filling the main courtroom and those kids were incredibly talented young men and women. 

Before leaving Monroeville, we also indulged in a treat from the Top 100 Foods to Eat in Alabama Before You Die list in the form of Catfish and Cheese Grits from David's Catfish House.  Normally, I hate catfish but I got some to try and Kelly and I both agreed both the fish and the grits were quite delicious and worthy of placement on the list.  We also scored tickets to see To Kill A Mockingbird in May at the Courthouse!  This is a huge accomplishment because the shows always sell out and the tickets were not to go on sale to the general public until today.  We spoke with a lovely young couple and they were gracious enough to let the out of towners buy early because we weren't going to be able to come back and it is difficult to get tickets any other way.  Both Kelly and I love TKAMB and cannot wait to come back to see the play and maybe catch a glance of Harper Lee!

After leaving Monroeville, we had plenty of time and decided to swing by Selma, one of the major homes of the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama and sight of the voting rights march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge (the reenactment of this famous march will take place next weekend in Selma so probably good we swung by before all the other hundreds of history buffs came!).  Stuffed to the gills from catfish (pun intended), we did not indulge in any food from the Selma section of the list but there is always next time!  On the way home from our road trip fun, we also swung by my favorite furniture store in Pelham and I am officially in love with what I hope will be my new "big girl" bedroom suite!  (Come on tax return!).  I am going to include several pictures from our fun road trip so you can all share in the nerdy girl fun! 

 

 

Last but not least, here are the Random Casper Pictures of the week (this is why I should not waste my money on expensive toys for the dog) and a really crazy semi-trailer we saw on our road trip! 

 

 

So there must be something to this climate change thing!

Monday night in the Bama and it is snowing again!  Although I was off for president's day today, I can't help but hope it stick so I can get an extra, extra long weekend!!! I took some pictures on Friday and by Saturday, the stuff in my yard was almost gone.  It was pretty while it lasted and because we freak out in Alabama, I got off at about 2:00 on Friday to get out of the snow!  Casper proved a hater of all things precip and I got very few Casper in the snow pics for the blog.

This was the most the dog would get outside for the snow!

Both the grill and I miss summer!

Smelling the snow and looking for a dry spot!

Highlight of the week was dinner at Davenport's with Kellet, Lillie, David, and Kelly!  (Josh dropped by after Rugby for a cameo!) Lillie is now the 5th generation to "eat" at Jim Davenport's Pizza Palace and even though I don't have a a picture to put on the blog, I can assure you that it is ridiculous how cute she is and I am excited to see her grow over the years!

Not a lot going on for the week but some good news!  I was not able to go to WW last week but did go tonight and got an awesome surprise! I lost 3.4 lbs for the last two weeks and really feel like I am back on track with my weight loss!  I did treat myself to Chinese food tonight to celebrate the Year of the Tiger! I am a day late but who wants to go out on Valentine's Day if you are single!  My Valentine's Day present to myself was to watch the season premiere of Ruby on Style Network and it was very touching.  She is such an inspiration to me and really makes me want to get fit.  Ruby is the reason I bought my bicycle last summer and I am soo... ready for the weather to get warm and go out on Lakeshore.

To look forward to this week: Marji and Jon's Winter Olympics Party in Tuscaloosa on Saturday.

My Daddy's birthday is February 20th and I am thinking my family will come down sometime to have dinner but we'll see.

Casper can have a bath on 02/18 after his flea preventative sinks in and boy does he need it! (that's a weird thing to look forward to but he is incredibly stinky right now)

Book Club on Tuesday at Kelly's- We read The Birth of Venus and have all agreed it is kind of horrible!

So that's it until next week!