Even if it’s Just for this week….

I’d love a commute that’s anything less than an hour and a half.

I’d love to move on, not just be “the Intern”.

A sunrise before 7 a.m. would be great, so the gym isn’t my only option for a morning run.

I’ll take the rain, with a lot of sunshine to follow.

Meet me in the middle; I’m doing things your way and that’s not a lot to ask.

Put Pandora on my iPod. That’s be Aaaawesome!

Skip Wednesday and Thursday……and the traffic on Friday.

Easter candy will be consumed in copious amounts, since I have two baskets full of it. Yummm.

No frozen-meals, fresh is the way to go. Use up all that food in the pantry – you bought it at one point for some reason.

I mailed out two cards in a timely manner! Whew, feels goood.

Take just a minute (or two…or five…)  to step back and recognize the small things – good phone dates with the sis and mom that make me smiiiile, a Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg (oooh….), reading a good book for the first time in a whiiile, a night with PSU alumni, lots of jobs to search through (overwhelming – but good sign), and a roadtrip comin up soon enough.

Usually I’m a Big fan of Rollercoasters

Seriously, I Love them. Show me any crazy, looping, 100-ft dropping, twisting, turning Rollercoaster….and I’ll hit it up. And enjoy every second.

But this rollercoaster I’m on right now? Not a fan. At all.

The ride started in August, when I decided to jolt a 3 year Relationship at the same time I was moving to a new state and starting off the 10-month-unpaid-internship Life. Let’s add unparalleled levels of stress (so far….), adjusting to life on a Budget and trying to salvage the long-distance relationship into the mix. Sure, that sounds rational.

Between work, homework, training, traveling, adjusting, and trying to stay within the budget while still enjoying city-life…..I think I lost a few things. Like, um, my sanity. Honestly. Some days I feel like a completely insane version of myself.

Then, somewhere in the middle of all of that, I realized I love this field (good thing too; a Useful Degree is a happy degree).  I really love living in a city.  I love that there are Ridiculous amounts of Penn Staters around here, and I’m excited at the possiblities of New things (i.e….a job, apartment, happy hours….).

I miss having my best friends (i.e. my Roomies) around. When I do get to spend time with them, I dread going back to my new Reality. There are people around here I like too, but, I just want to feel “settled” somewhere.

I miss being 100% Sure (100% of the time) that the choice We, and then I, made was the right one. This comes and goes, in large waves. Sometimes they’re manageable, and sometimes I have no idea how to handle it. There are days when the whole being “single” concept is exciting and a little refreshing, and some days when I miss that happiness more than I know how to deal with. I guess three years of memories, friendship, and fun random adventures together will do that. And I guess being even a little bit patient with the whole situation would help immensely. I’m working on that.

On the up-side, I’m completely in love with working in downtown DC right now. We walked about a mile yesterday during lunch and were greeted with the White House and strings of blooming Cherry Blossoms. Then we walked half a mile in the opposite direction after work and met up with some people for Happy Hour in Dupont Circle. Ooooh city life. I heart you.

Oddly enough, the day is ending on a little high. It certainly didn’t start that way, but thats the excitement of a rollercoaster. You go up and down and never know when the turns are coming, but eventually you get to the end….and think ‘Ah, what a riiide.’

Loofah-less

When I travel, I almost always leave something behind. It’s inevitable, and also a little ridiculous.

Last time I visited Em’s casa I left my faaavorite pair of pajama shorts and soft-long sleeve t-shirt. She had them folded and ready for me to put right into my bag on Friday. That’s Love.

This time? I thought I did really well, looking through my bag and making sure everything I had scattered around her room in the last 48 hours was back in place. Thinking I did pretty good, I hit the road to beat the storm that was taking over Pittsburgh.

Hours later I pulled into my apartment and got a text “….and you left your mascara here!” along with an offer to mail it to me! That is also love. But, truth be told, I always hang onto mascara wayyy too long and needed to buy some new stuff anyway. Plus, it’s an excuse to go to Target…as if I ever need one.

Sunday night my mascara was replenished and I had finally unpacked my bag. I stuffed the emptiness under my bed, happy that everything that left came back.

Monday morning shower thought – “Oh, except my loofah. DANGIT! ”

After work today I made a list and walked over to the grocery store for a few things Target can’t give me (i.e. produce). Included on that short little list was the missing loofah. Not included in the bag of things I came back with and put away?? THAT STUPID LOOFAH.

What is the point of making a List that I don’t even look at while I’m wandering around in the store?? Why do they put up so many signs and displays that distract me and make me want to veer from the list?! Why do FUZE drinks cost so much but taste soooo good ??? Why don’t they sell Wine in the grocery stores here ??!

I have no answers. And no loofah.

Hello Detox, I need you

The hot-doggers are gone, and life here is back to ‘normal’. Hm, sad day.

On the other hand, my body went ahead and Demanded a detox week. I woke up this morning feeling like craaaaap, popped some Motrin and tried to survive 5 hours of “class”. Gah. That was rough.

I know that three weeks of going out, happy hours, driving, less sleep, more running, work and class…..it’s catching up to me.  Not that I would’ve changed a single thing. It was too fun!

As much as I’d love to say this week is devoted to “relaxing”, it’s far from true. This week we’re finally executing our “theme meal” (one of a few Big projects we have on the agenda throughout the Internship). It’s been 4 weeks of planning and working on it, and now it’s time to decorate, make the food, serve the food, and get it overwith! I know that the event itself will be fun. I also know I can breathe easy on Fridayyyy. Lookin’ forward to that.

So, I’m off to begin my “more sleep, less drinks” week. Hopefully the running will stay intact and the achy-sick feeling will Not.

File that under “S”, for Stupid

Monday night, I got my credit card out to pay a bill online. I left it on my desk.

Tonight, after weeks days of having it on my “to-do” list, I took a load of clothes to the Dry cleaners. We’re talkin huge steps here people. I’ve only done this once before, and it was for a Bridesmaid dress (um, sort of a ‘must’ do). So, I folded the pile neatly and got all kinds of excited that my clothes would be properly taken care of. Yessss.

I went to grab said credit card, and it was nowhere to be found. Last I knew, it was sitting right where I had left it. In fact, I even remembered thinking “I should put that back, soon. Maybe tomorrow….”. But I went ahead and let it sit. Or so I thought….

Where can a credit card wonder off to?!? It was RIGHT HERE on my desk. And now it’s not! Oh, this can’t be good. It must be floating around in my room. Not in my purse, not in my wallet, not on my desk, not in my desk, not around my desk, not under my desk……

The roomie recruited herself to help me. Here we are, tearing around my room, thinking it must be one of “those things”. I’m searching forever and it’s right in front of my face, but the roomie? She’ll see it right away.
And be like…A ha!

About half an hour later we still have no card. No explanation for where the hell it could be, and feeling quite dumb. Obviously I knew I should check my online statement. Because, obviously, somebody who walked into our apartment would steal nothing but my little card. Right? Ummmm….right.

Only to find out that my online account-user name “has been locked”. Uh, WHAT?! This looks shady. I certainly didn’t lock it. I know my password, I know my username, I just looked at it last week. Not good Not good Not good. I did what we would all do; called the company, explained that my card was lost (they asked like two questions and didn’t seem at all concerned. Awesome.) and was informed that it has not been used in the last two days. WHEW. Card cancelled, new card ordered and shipped. Thankssss.

Two hours later……

I’m sitting on my bed, laptop in my lap, doing homework. I look over to grab my water from my night-stand, and glance over at my little stack of books. Something is peeking out of the one I just started, about ten pages in. Usually my bookmarks are airline ticket-stubs, because usually I’m reading while I’m traveling. I pulled it out to see which one I had stuck in there.

Hm, guess what? It wasn’t a ticket stub.

It was my freaking credit card.

Monday night, after paying bills online, and blogging, and checking e-mail, and blah blah blah….I actually read about 5 pages in my book. For whatever CRAZY reason, I used the card sitting on my desk to mark my place. Why would I do this?! Nobody knows. Not even me, apparently, because I completely forgot about it.

Ahhhh. Now I’ll have two of them. Honestly, I”d put money on the fact that I’ll go to use the “lost” one only to be told “Um, Ma’am, that card was cancelled.” Really. It will happen. Hopefully only once, but it will happen.

Just go ahead and file that one under S…..for Stupid.
Lesson learned: don’t use your money (in any form) for a bookmark.

18 and under

I’m at the airport, again, heading East. The only good thing about that is the temperature in Baltimore this morning…and nice 40º. Sounds much better than this crazy 20! Gah.

Hint: try to travel on Monday. The airport is empty (compared to a weekend). Love.

So, I’m going through the line……I.D. and boarding pass in hand. I give both to the Security-man, and he’s all kinds of cheery. It’s 6:45 a.m. He says this:

“Good morning young lady! Well now, are you under 18??”

Um, what?!…..Me: “Hm, nope. I’m actually 22.”

“Ha, look at that! You sure are! Well honey, if you told me you were under 18 I’d certainly believe ya” *wink*

Yes, that’s great. But I’m not.

If there’s any doubt, don’t blatantly guess somebody’s age. Really? There’s a good chance that you’re wrong. And when you’re 22 and somebody asks if you’re UNDER 18?! Not a good way to start the morning. Adding to this, when I got my hair cut over the summer, the hairdresser asked me what I was doing for the summer. When she realized I was just out of college, she proceeds to say “Oh Wow! I thought you were still in high school, for sure.” The main point being that she already knew I wasn’t. Why would you still voice this?!? I’m baffled.

Sure, in 10 years this will be a huge compliment – assuming I don’t find some way to destroy my ‘young’ looks before then. But right now? It’s not welcomed. I know I don’t look 22. I know that when I order a drink people probably take a second glance at my ID, just to be sure. I know that my younger sister looks older than me. I get it. And when I’m 40 and people think that maybe I’m only 36, I’ll probably want to give them a big ol’ hug. And maybe I’ll do it.

Alright. That’s my rant for the morning. It’s not even 8 a.m. yet. The Atlanta airport better have good Frozen Yogurt (for whatever reason I love to get this in airports. who knows) and good magazines for me to look at.

Because right now, it’s wandering

My mind has been in too many places over the last few days.  There’s no constant, other than knowing one thing: I’m ready for a break. Just a little escape from this place, and this schedule, and this persistent curiosity.

I’m only 3 months into this internship, meaning I have a full 7 to go. Thus far, I know what I want to do. Three months ago? I had no idea. Which is kind of the idea behind why we’re here. Well, that, and being eligible to take an exam next Fall. Soo…it’s a little daunting to think that despite this, I still have to go through all of the other rotations. I still have to see what everything else is like, juuuust in case I change my mind. Even though I kind of despise Food Service. It’s just too much to think about, with the menu and the cost/revenue and the food safety and ahhhhh.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love food. I love cooking and I love experimenting. Just not when it’s at the risk of somebody else vomiting, or the risk of a company losing money because we f-ed up an order. Anyway. I love clinical. I like being in hospitals.

If you’re not thoroughly confused, I’m impressed. But this is just what’s on my mind.

I don’t know if I want to stay in this area, but right now, it’s lookin good. I’m close to Penn State, I’m close to two cities ( just in between ), I can hop on a train to NYC, and it’s not snowing here yet.  We went to “Power Plant” in Baltimore on Saturday night, and I got a small taste of what a night out (when you have $$) can really be in the big cityyy. Love.

….but there are other options. I can move, and live where I want to (ahem, where I get a job). And that’s a little exhilarating too. Gahhhhh.

Where else has my mind been? Oh, many places….

REUNION!!!! All four of us, together, in Happy Valley. Oh. Happy. Day. Whyyy is it not Friday yet?!?!?

Watching “The Biggest Loser”. Seriously, love this show. Jillian and Michael are making this country healthier, one crazy competitor at a time. And those weigh ins? Whew, intense. These people are puttin’ up some numbers.

Thanksgiving. BREAK. <– That’s a key word there. Break. Away from here, away from work, away from readings and case studies and quizzes. Just a Wednesday to Sunday of a home, tradition, flannel sheets, and turkey food. Yessss.

How to decorate the ‘new’ apt for Xmas. I’m thinkin the tree will be passed this year, because without Sal and LB to take care of it, I’d probably burn something down. And the people below us would definitely not appreciate that. Soooo, lots of tinsel and candy-canes and red & green somethings and holiday-Oreos will have to do.

And one more thing. Britney’s new one, “Womanizer”. Turn that on and run, and you’ll know what I mean. Good stuff.

As long as we don’t have birds in the ceiling again

I unlocked the door today, looked up, and saw something slightly out of place. A bird’s nest….forming on the top of our door frame. Ehhhhhh.

We were at work, in a warehouse, making salads & sandwiches today….by 7 a.m. And while you might think that traffic wouldn’t be as bad around 6:30 a.m., you’re wrong. As was I. Veryyyy wrong. And these drivers aren’t only taking up my morning road space, but they’re craaazzzyyyy. Cutting people off, no turning signals, getting off the exit ramp past the point where it has separated from the highway. Not good.  Really makes for a bad start to the day….

Being all efficient and super productive after lunch meant we might have gotten out of there early. Except that the world of food service was against us, and the one thing we had left to do was stalled by about half an hour. Instead, we ended up leaving about 15 minutes late. Gahhhh.

After being almost run off the road, getting a little lost on our way to a craft store (must buy materials for final project on Friday. whooooo….), and then finally making it back home about an hour later, it would be pretty safe to say I was grumpy. And a little hungry. And pretty much falling asleep in the passenger seat. All of this by 4:30 in the afternoon. Awesome.

So back to where we started. To top off the day, it looks like a small flying animal is creating it’s abode on top of our door. Which can only mean bad things. Things like….. we’ll be stepping in bird sh*t every time we go in/out the door….we will hear birds chirping. all.the.time……and if we’re really lucky, they’ll find some tiny hole and climb into the space between our ceiling and the roof. Which, I know from previous experience, is the most obnoxious/annoying/frustrating noise EVERRRRR. When it sounds like the pigeons are bowling small eggs while simultaneously pecking their way through your ceiling (which is probably paper thin), you might as well greet the world of insomnia with a big ol’ grin. Cause you’re gonna be greeeat friends.

At least this time I’ve been warned.

I just hope it wasn’t the butterscotch mousse

For “work” today, we got to join the boss and head over to a Food Show. For educational purposes of course, just to see what they’re like. And eat lots of free food.

Basically, all the big foodie companies come and set up displays full of ‘new product’ samples. You’ve got everything from meat companies to General Mills (free cereal, yesss!). Somewhere in the middle we had some fresh veggies, soup and desserts. All things delicious. Especially a tiny “shooter” of butterscotch mousse. Oh, it was sooooo good.

Seriously. If someone ever invites you to a food show, stop everything your doing and go eat. No. Questions.

Anyway. Great day at work, we got out a little early, and it was gooorgeous here today. Perfect situation for an afternoon jog.

Starting off I felt slow, figuring it was probably because I did a long one on Sunday, and was sick yesterday. But, I’m a little stubborn. Sooo, sometimes I ignore the signs and keep running. Attempting the pace I want to be at, and finishing the distance I wanted to do. Ehhhhh.

I got to 30 minutes and felt like if I ran for one more I’d probably have to sit down on the sidewalk and wait for the search party. And, being that I’ve been gone for two hours on a run before, ummm that could take a while.

For once, I did what the “smart” runner is supposed to do, and listened to my legs/stomach/nose/head. I was stuffy, a little grumpy, still full from fooood, and tired. I actually stopped, walked for a mile, and then easily finished the run at a nice slow pace. Yesss. Go me.

I just hope it had nothing to do with the butterscotch mousse. I could use some more of that. Yummm.

We all need a nuggets & fries night

Yes, I have a degree in Nutritional Sciences. No, I don’t eat perfectly every day. And yes, sometimes, I still have chicken nuggets & fries for dinner.

Not from McDonald’s, or any other fast food venue. From your local grocery store with 0 g Trans fat and blah blah blah. You don’t care. Neither do I.

After a slooow afternoon at work and an hour long commute home, full of bumper-to-bumper traffic, I was a little on the ‘grumpy’ side. Since I wasn’t driving, I had basically spent the hour being frustrated that we weren’t moving and slowly getting more and more sleepy. If I had closed my eyes for two seconds, I would’ve been ouuut.

Rather than jumping into bed at 6 p.m., I decided to have a cup of the iced coffee in the fridge–hellooo, wake up!–and head out for a little run. Whew. That’s easily the best way to end a long day. A jolt of legal stimulant and 5 miles of ‘letting it out’. Yesssss.

When I got back I had absolutely zero desire to cook. None. At allll. And since our fridge is bordering on empty anyway, I made the only thing that sounded soooo good. Nuggets & fries. Not ‘healthy’, not fresh, not any of the things we tell you to eat. But, yet, delicious. Then we made a batch of Peanut butter-cup Brownies. From a box. Granted, those are actually for the co-workers tomorrow (it’s our last day as interns as this current “location”). But don’t you think we didn’t lick the bowl. Yummmmm.