Always Anna

Last night, I was standing at a stop light, waiting to cross the street.  Just standing there, thinking about how I was almost home.  And then I fell. 

I didn’t trip.  No one bumped into me.  I didn’t faint.  There wasn’t even a particularly strong wind.  I just tipped forward and fell on my hands and knees.

Anna means “grace” in Hebrew.  Clearly, my parents had no idea how I’d turn out.

Over the weekend, the BF and I celebrated our five-year anniversary.  Or, as I’ve been calling it, the “Can you believe it’s been five years?” date.

Before the BF, I was… how do I put this nicely?  Let’s go with “easily bored.”  Relationships were not my priority - not when there was so much making out and partying and hanging out with my girlfriends to be done.  And, while I did attempt to have a “real relationship” a couple of times, it just didn’t work for me.  I felt smothered and trapped when the guy wanted to do romantic things.  I got sick of having to choose between spending time with a boy or with my girlfriends.  And I got really tired of talking about my feelings.

Somehow, with the BF, none of this has been an issue.  Maybe because we’re so much alike, with the same need for independence that a lot of people just don’t have.  We just get each other.   

I don’t usually post about the BF - he doesn’t want his life all over the internet.  But I just had to say this - I can’t imagine anyone in the world could make me as happy as he does.  And while I can’t believe that five years went by so quickly, I’m ecstatic that I’ve passed that time with him.

No, I am seriously losing things.  File folders full of HOURS of work that I’ll have to re-do if I can’t find them.  Phone numbers and addresses.  Wrapping paper.  My memory.  My mind.

On the bright side, it’s Friday.

After going on a pretty good run of blogging every day, I’ve kind of fallen off the face of the planet.  This totally bums me out, since I have a ton to say.  But I’ve been super busy lately, and after working all day, I’m having a hard time mustering up the energy to spend more time online when I get home.  Plus, my apartment is a freaking disaster, and I am trying to focus on getting my piles and piles and PILES of paper under control.  Yes, I am a pack rat and while I have no intention of stopping that habit (hi, what if I desperately need an article on the different strengths of metal used in jewelry some time?), I would like to - you know - not trip over a pile when I’m trying to go to bed.  A small part of me is terrified that I’m going to turn into one of those old ladies who stack up newspapers and magazines and photos and trash around their apartment until they die, at which point their family has to bring in a freaking excavator to get rid of all the junk. 

Hmm… that was not where I meant to go with this blog post, but as I typed it, I came up with the idea of scanning all of my random articles into PDF files and saving them on my computer.  This may bear researching….

Praise be to St. Patrick for keeping me from having a hangover today!  I think he must have reminded me to only drink from 11 AM to 4 PM yesterday, keeping my hangover limited to last night.  Not fun last night, but definitely a plus for getting out of bed on Monday morning.

As for you… well, I hope your beer flows freely and that your hangovers are minor.

I’m tired.  I’m bruised.  And my shoulders are STILL sore. 

Why?

Because I took an exotic dancing/pole dancing class with a bunch of girlfriends on Saturday, and that sh*t is freaking HARD.

Thanks to the hilarious and talented Wendy Reardon, I can now gyrate on the floor, shake it on a chair, and go airborne on a stripper pole.  AND I can pick up a dollar bill with my bum.

I am multi-talented, people.  Watch out now!

It’s been a rough week here in Anna-land.  I had to come back from vacation and get back to work.  I had to leave gorgeous weather for… well… New England.  And Brett Favre announced his retirement, which obviously results in me crying every 30 seconds when ESPN talks about the decision and how amazing Brett has been.

But this weekend is looking promising, with entertainment that may include shopping!  eating!  and pole dancing! 

I’ll be back next week with news on that. 

Coming back from vacation is never a fun thing.  Who wants to be back in the real world after they’ve been lucky enough to spend four sunny days in Miami?

Not me.

But here I sit, surrounded by work that threatens to overwhelm me.  I need to breathe deeply, keep moving, and remember all the fun things that Miami provided to me:

• Tons of laughter with Alexis & Alison
• Beautiful sunny skies, which allowed me to lie on the beach and revel in the warmth
• Wonderful food, which was totally worth putting on 5 pounds for
• Gorgeous art deco architecture, including the historic Park Central where we stayed Friday & Saturday nights
• Great people-watching on the beach, in the clubs and bars, and in the hotels
• The fabulous and fun outdoor bar at Delano, where I got to see Drew Barrymore & Justin Long (love them!), Jeremy Shockey (hate him, but loved yelling that I wanted to kick him in the kneecaps), and Ty Pennington (who I had a crush on back in his Trading Spaces days)
• A fabulous stay at the Mandarin Oriental (on Sunday & Monday night), where we got upgraded to a fabulous suite that was bigger than my apartment
• An exciting spotting of Jennifer Aniston (apparently in town filming Marley & Me) and Renee Zellwegger (filming for her upcoming movie, Chilled in Miami)

Vacation was great.  But now I’m back to my regularly scheduled working and blogging (and, of course, watching ANTM and PR finale tonight)… check ya later!

On my walk to work this morning, I looked down at my feet as I tromped through some snow.  My thought?  D*mn, I guess I really am a New Englander now.  Sigh.

What made me think this?  Seeing my wide-legged dark gray pants tucked into my snow boots.  This is NOT an attractive look at all - the pants end up poofing out over the top of the boots, looking kind of like a gray pants version of Seinfeld’s Puffy Shirt.  But when snow is piling up and the ground is slippery and you know how much you hate it when the bottom of your pants get wet… well, what else could I do?

I’ve always liked artistic, crafty, DIY type things.  I think it’s so cool that there are people out there who can knit and sew and paint and draw and photograph and make cards and make jewelry.  You know - create.

I want to be like that.  I want to make my own cards and decorate my apartment and sew new clothes and make accessories and knit myself a fabulous scarf.  And socks.  Definitely knit myself some socks.

And I’ve started getting craftier - making cards and stalking websites and blogs with pretty, inspirational things.  But here’s the problem…

How do I find time to do these things when I’m so busy drinking all weekend?