Always Anna

Okay, I don’t want to… you know… dance all over the pieces of Sarah’s broken heart. But if George Clooney is really single again, I will do a dance of joy.

Not that anything would ever happen between George and me (I’m not completely crazy, after all). It’s just nice to know he’s out there, being a hot bachelor-for-life.

Here’s some eye candy:

To quote Soapdish, one of the best movies ever… “Yummy. With a spoon!”

When I agreed to go to Nantucket for this past long weekend with some of my college friends, I didn’t realize that I was agreeing to attend the kick-off for the sailing race season.  I didn’t even really know there was a sailing race season.  Clearly, I fail at being Preppy.

In spite of my inadequate knowledge of Preppy activities, I had a ton of fun at Figawi.  I ate a lot, drank a lot, and shopped a little.  I got to wear a pink foam whale hat around town.  And I got to drink out of one of the Figawi trophies!  

All of this fun was enhanced by the fact that I used the weekend as a chance to try out preppy style on me.  All weekend, I wore polo shirts, brightly colored tapestry belts, and pearl earrings and necklace, and I carried a Vera Bradley bag.  I even bought patchwork madras pants!  It was pretty entertaining.

I’m still sunburned and tired from all the activities.  And am very, very broke. 

You know what I love about over-sleeping?

Having an excuse to NOT take a shower in the morning.

I hate showering.  Hate waiting for the water to warm up, hate washing my hair, hate contorting myself to wash my back, hate shaving my legs, hate shaving my armpits, hate toweling off, hate applying one lotion to my eyes another to my face and a third to my body, and I hate hate HATE blow drying my hair.

So on days like today, when I oversleep by an hour and only wake up because Sneaky McTrickyPants called my cell, I love the excuse to just wash my face, throw on some deodorant and clothes, and bolt out the door. 

I don’t know if my office-mate appreciates my smell though.

I love living in hippie-central, aka Cambridge.  Why?

Because the BF gets things like this stuck under the windshield wiper of his Jeep:

Oh, you can’t read that?  Well, this “ticket” says:

EARTH ON EMPTY

TO OFFENDER

Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and try to have an open mind. The ticket you have received displays the facts about excessive oil consumption in the USA, which is directly related to driving so-called sport utility vehicles. By showing this information, we hope to influence the sleeping environmentally conscious people to become active and get rid of their SUV, and ride a bike for gods sake! Another thing you can do is use your large vehicle to carpool, or take the subway!! Find out more at www.suv.org or call 1-888-4-COMMUTE. After all, there’s nothing in the american dream about sitting in traffic in your car by yourself for hours on end every day!! Try another way, you might like it!

FAILURE TO PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR OWN BEHAVIOR IS HAZARDOUS TO EVERYONE (C)

The back of the “ticket” lists some of the negative impacts of SUVs and some websites to visit for more information.

The BF and I were pretty entertained by this.  First off, we are environmentalists.  We recycle, we have cut WAY back on consumption, we take shorter showers, we donate money.  And he always carpools, takes public transportation when it’s possible, rides his bike whenever the weather is nice (assuming he has time) - everything the ticket says.  So this ticket - which, hi, is printed on paper that will now have to be recycled - isn’t teaching us anything we don’t already know.  And if we were the type of people who didn’t care about the gas-guzzling pollution we cause whenever we take the Jeep, this ticket would most likely end up littered on the ground.

That said, I love the idea.  And I love that I live in a place where people care enough to do something like this.  Even if it is a little preachy.

You know those days when it seems like nothing is going your way?  And everything just feels so draining?  And things that you normally whip through seem to take forever?  And all you want to do is curl up on the couch and watch movies you’ve seen a million times and nap?

I’ve been feeling like that since Friday afternoon.

Generally I’m of the “fake it ’til you make it” school of thought - if you pretend that you have energy and spirit, you’ll end up feeling like you do.  So I managed to distract myself for large chunks of time by hanging out with friends on Friday and Saturday.  But sometime Sunday morning I lost the energy to even fake it. 

The Lakers sweeping the Nuggets yesterday cheered me up a little bit, but I gotta perk up some more.  I’m going to see fabulous Eddie Izzard tonight, so maybe that will do it… I have my fingers crossed!

Happy Earth Day, party people!

May I suggest you visit www.google.com to check out their gorgeous logo for the day and to read more about Earth Day?

And if you aren’t already signed up at www.idealbite.com to get their daily eco-living tips (which are fun and super easy to integrate into your life), go sign up now!

You know what sucks about being a grown up?

Having to do things that scare you by yourself.

Like going to the dentist to get your two front teeth sawed off.

It wasn’t really that bad - my two front teeth got knocked out in a playground accident when I was eight, and I had two root canals, so there’s no feeling there. Except for in my gums.

But I’m terrified of sitting in that chair. I get all nervous and tense and sweaty. My heart races and my arms and legs feel heavy. I just hate the dentist. So I get into the seat, try and breathe deeply and steadily to calm myself. And as the work drags on and on and on, I calm down. It’s really not that bad.

Now I have two new (although temporary) crowns on my front teeth. Even these temporary ones look a million times better than the ones I just had taken off. But… damn. I have to go back in a couple weeks to get the permanent ones on. I’m not looking forward to it.

So, my BFF Sneaky McTrickyPants, has a text stalker. She met this guy when she was doing a 5K race, and they hung out once. This was enough to get him hooked on her - he immediately started text stalking her.

A day after they hung out: “Ha yea I won’t lie I’m stoked what time would you like a big sexy man to stop by?”

Random texts every few hours for the next couple days… during which time Sneaky only responds to every 3rd text.

2 days later: “U should come visit me.”

2 hours later: “I’m up all night we could make out :)”

The next day he picture messages a random photo of himself.

The next day: “Staying up late again u should be here to keep me company.”

Three hours later: “We should hang out I’ll be exhausted but in need of a beautiful woman’s touch.”

Later that day: “Soooooo what would I have to do get a back rub?”

Sneaky ignores the back rub comment and says something random, to which he replies that he’s hanging out in Boston (he leaves about an hour outside the city). She doesn’t respond.

An hour later: “Heyyyyy come back I’m about to leave Boston.”

Sneaky texts him that she doesn’t feel well (which is, obviously, not true).

He says: “Awww want me to bring u something and take care of you.”

An hour later: “Well if u need anything soup movies etc ill be happy to pop by and take care of u.”

10 minutes later: “Just hope you feel better get some rest.”

2 days later, after random texts…: “Sorry I was off the radar yesterday I literally just slept all day, how was work?”

No response, so 2 days later: “Hey pop tart sorry i have been mia I actually am looking for a place to live and this has me all caught up.”

3 hours later: “Who knows we may actually hang out again.”

5 minutes later: “Yea cause I’m not sure if I told you but I kinda like you I just don’t want to scare you off.”

5 minutes later: “Just a little though so don’t let it go to your head. :)”

I almost died laughing scrolling through these texts. In the first place, when did texting replace actual conversations? Phone calls? Dates? Apparently these things aren’t necessary nowadays. In the second place… well, his attempt to not scare her off? Not working.

I spent a good chunk of last night in front of the TV, catching up on the brilliantly tacky Rock of Love 2 and writing furiously.  Not work or blog posts or even - gasp - fiction, but dates.  And appointments.  And concerts.  And weddings.

I’m ditching my Palm Pilot and going back to a written planner.

I just got tired of the dealing with the tiny stylus and keyboard.  Tired of not being able to see a full week at a time.  Tired of forgetting to recharge it and having it die right when I needed it.  Tired of not being able to easily create daily to-do lists. 

After hours of searching online (okay, probably more like 30 minutes), I found this awesome planner from Bob’s Your Uncle at See Jane Work.  It’s great - a week per page, with a page for notes and doodles facing the week.  And it has fun colors! 

I’m in love. 

Freaking out at work?  Feeling like you are working with a bunch of inconsiderate fools?  Need to calm down before you start breaking things? 

No worries, I’ve figured out the three steps to reclaiming your sanity:

1. Take a walk around the office.  Or the block.  Whatever.  Just get up from your desk.
2. When you get back to your desk, go to Go Fug Yourself and revel in the hilarity.  And the reminder that there are some people more crazy than you.
3. Then go to Cute Overload and look at all the puppy pictures.  All that oohing and ahhing really lightens up your mood.

Now, breathe deeply as you get back to work.