Dear Mom, Dad and Grandma G

From 2011 Blog Pictures

Christmas Eve

I think this is just such a cute set of pictures of my niece with Santa.  First she is playing with his bells (she loves bling!):

 Next she looks up to see who is holding her (probably looking for more bling):

And then there's this:

Because it's true...

I saw this and thought of a few of my friends...so I hope you all read this:

Dear Coworkers,

I understand my office is huge, and is large enough to house 4 smaller offices, so I really don't mind sharing it with (all of) you...but that does not mean that you have your own office.  We stare at walls facing different directions, but again, that does not mean you have your own office.  Because you are apparently unaware, I just thought I'd jot down a few things that you should not be doing when sharing an office.

Inappropriate behaviors for office sharing:

Humming-- Whether it's a full song, or short strings of random sounds (as you are prone to do for most of the day).

Whining-- incessantly complaining about things.  If you want more desk space, move the box off of the desk next to you.  You don't have to tell me about it.  No, you can not take a desk/table from somewhere else in the room--Especially not the one that has the cutting board on it.  You do not need an L-shaped desk.  I promise. You are a temp.

Repeating the same conversation several times-- If we already had the conversation, and you have no new information, do not start the same conversation again.   My answer will still be the same.   No, you cannot take that table with the cutting board on it.  It gets used there. 

Spitting-- I understand you are eating sunflower seeds, but I do not want to hear it.  It was your choice to shove a handful of them into your mouth.  Just swallow it.  Or eat them one at a time.  Or find some way to remove the chewed up shells without making the spitting sound. Also, don't leave them laying around where I have to look at them. The cup of gross shells on your desk is gross. Throw it away at some point.

Addressing me when you are having a conversation with yourself-- "Heather, I'm done...I'm done, Heather...la-de-la...ho-hum....Heather...hum-hum-whistle."  Especially when I am on the phone.  If you know I am on the phone with a customer, I'm doing my best to ignore all the noise around me, and you talking at me isn't helping.

Whistling-- especially what I can only describe as Whistle-Turrets; random, non-song related, 4 note strings, repeated.  See humming. 

Drumming-- small rock band spurts are fine, and can be fun...as long as I'm not on the phone.
Playing music--  if no one else likes it, don't play it.  Or at least be willing to take turns listening to other people's music choices if you insist on having a radio playing in the shared office.

Okay, so I admit, some of these things are from a different office.  I just thought I'd add them for future reference.  I understand that we all do things like this every once in a while, and that's not such a big deal...but it feels like it's closer to most of the day.  Actually, it feels like there is a cumulative total of 30 minutes a day when this stuff isn't happening.)  I haven't yelled at you for any of this yet, and I'm trying to be understanding and patient, but please, please try to considerate of the people around you.

You are a good person and I do like you, so here, have a Hi-Chew.  You can have your pick from all of these flavors.  You can even have one of each flavor, if you want to.  I know you all love them as much as I do.

Warmest regard,
Heather

I am 100% celebrating my Birthmonth

It's been a great one this year! On Tuesday, I got to do the birthday dance and let me tell you-- it was fantastic. Magical, even. I recorded it, and while you might not be entertained by this video, but I grin every time I see it, so I'm putting it on my blog anyway.

PS-A special Thank You to everyone there --I had so much fun!!!

MP3 Purchased

That's right--I actually did buy an MP3. Not just for my bike rides, either. I bought it for the train ride to Chicago. What, you didn't know I was taking a train to Chicago? Don't feel bad, because as much as I feel like I've been shouting it from the rooftops for 2 months (at least), last week everyone was shocked when I mentioned how excited I was for it. Because I was SO EXCITED for it! I've been home for a few days now, and am still giddy about my adventure. :-)

Trust me: You need to take a train ride, and you need to have a sleeper roomette when you do it. I'm totally planning a trip to Seattle soon, if you want to come with me. I am a convert. Travel by train is so much more enjoyable than flying.

Sure, it takes longer, but I promise it is worth it! Okay, I guess I can't promise that. You have to enjoy leisure time and have the ability to entertain yourself. Of course we had books to read and games to play games and friends to make,

but even with all that to do, I still found myself staring out the window at amazing views:

I could have spend 2 more days looking out those windows!

...Not to mention all the fun to be had once we reached our destination...

Edited: If you want more information about our time in Chicago, check out Rachel's post. She's fantastic.

I might have to get an MP3 player...

Not so much because I really want one...but rather because I really want to play this song while I ride my bicycle. Because I bought a bicycle! And I'm super excited about it! It looks like this:Kinda cute, right? I'm going to start riding my bike to work, and around town, and on the bike path that crosses my town, and at the beach...Anywhere else you think I should go? I'd be willing to let you show me. Want to take a ride today?

And this is the basket, because I obviously need a basket on my beach cruiser, right? I mean, where else would I put my strawberries?

Speaking of cute, check out this guide from the CHP. That was handy of them!

Translation

 

I've been teaching my nephew random words from several languages, with frequent "pop quizzes" in which I ask "what does ____ mean?" Today he pointed to a patch on his shorts (shown above...sorry it's blurry, but this is the best I had because he insisted on being the one to take the picture, and since I was driving, I didn't have to much of a chance to argue with him) and said: "Do you know what this means?" I replied that I didn't know, and he said "Win. Not when, like waiting; win like...win." It took me a few minutes to understand what he was trying to explain to me, but I am totally impressed that this 4 year old even thought to explain the distinction.

Tomorrow: Earth Hour 2011

Visitors

I went to church on Sunday, deciding to visit a different building. On the 2 parking places closest to the entrance, saw signs like this:

From 2011 Blog Pictures

And I had to wonder...What super important person was attending church there?* I'm totally bad at recognizing celebrities, so that is probably didn't see them. I may never know.

*Or are those always out there?

"It's snowing!" SLAM!

I know, I know--I've been fairly absent for a long time. I'm not sure what's wrong with me. I still do things and think "this would be a great blog entry" and "I'm so blogging about this" but I never actually make it to my blog. I assure you that I am still alive. For the last few months, I can blame my absence on work. I've been working a lot. In fact, I'm working right now, so I can't blog much, but I wanted to make sure I start posting again.

A few nights ago I decided to take an evening drive. I used to to that all the time, but it's been a while. Life must be going well for me. ;-) Anyway, I was driving around, and headed up to Baldy.

View Larger Map

About the time I came out of the tunnels, there was snow on the ground. To all you people who need your snow, this picture was taken just (Edited: I guess I probably shouldn't say where I live...) miles from my house*:

What?!? I am so glad I was wearing my super warm Old Navy Pea Coat! We got out and had a little snow ball fight, tried to read the gangsta tagging in the snow, and then quickly got back into the warm vehicle.

Anyway, did you notice that A up there on the map? That's about how far up I made it. When we started sliding on the road I insisted the truck be turned around. The driver said we'd just go to the Village and then turn around--not that much further, right? But if you know the area, you'd also know that there is a big hill by the school, and I didn't want to chance sliding down it and not being able to get home.** I know, I'm a baby; but I stopped wearing diapers long ago, and and if we'd gone any further, well, they would have come in handy.

*Which is exactly how it should be--Snow belongs in the mountains, not in my front yard/driveway/commonly used streets.

**Granted, I do know people who live very near that same hill, so we could have paid them a little visit, but I didn't see the need to mention that...

Dear USA Network,

I have tried watching the full episode of Fairly Legal's pilot episode on two different computers, using two different networks, and have encountered problems both times. The feed was slow at best, and only made it to about 5 minutes before giving an error message asking that I check back at a later time. How am I supposed to get attached to your programs when I can't even successfully watch the first episode when I have a few minutes of free time? Please fix this.

Thanks,

Heather

PS--

Dear Hulu,

Thanks for being amazing.

Love,

Heather