It All Started With A Keychain...

My heart is broken a little. I don’t think the death of a celebrity has ever truly affected me or made me feel so weird. I wonder if this is how our parents felt about the death of Elvis. A true icon, a legend. Sure, he became increasingly weird over the past years, but I can’t imagine a world in music without MJ’s influence.

Michael Jackson is a part of some of my earliest childhood memories. When I was about three or four years old, I remember wanting a Thriller keychain from my parent’s store. My mom kept telling me that I didn’t even know who Michael Jackson was and she didn’t understood why I wanted it. But I insisted, and after much persistence, I finally was the proud owner of one amazing keychain. At such an early age, I knew that I needed it…and I knew that Michael Jackson was amazing. I kept up with it for a while, but somewhere along the way, it was lost in the shuffle of toys and playthings. About five years ago, I found a replacement in my mom’s garage. I was so excited, and my mail key has been on it ever since. Now, the Off The Wall keychain is not quite as amazing as the Thriller keychain, but it definitely makes me smile when I check the mail.

As a child, I was absolutely terrified of the Thriller video. I LOVED the dancing, and the song itself, but I always peeked through my squinted eyes when I would try to watch it with my cousins. Especially the part where he gets crazy eyes.

I loved the Pepsi commercials – The Choice of the New Generation. I had The Wizard of Oz taped from tv that I would watch over and over and during the commercial breaks were the series of MJ Pepsi commercials. I loved those commercials!

I remember putting on the Thriller album and dancing around the house.

I remember watching him moonwalk, thinking it really was a magic trick.

I remember the debut of the Black and White video and how cool it was when the persons face would mold into the next.

There’s just something about his videos that are still amazing to this day. They story behind them all is genius. Even as I sit here now and watch them, I’m truly amazed. I seriously think I could watch them all night long, or as long as they keep playing them.

I will remember Michael Jackson as the person he was, not who he became. As a truly great artist. The King of Pop. The inventor of the moonwalk. Not for the media circus that surrounded him.

Oh MJ, Thanks for the memories! If you need me, you can find me in my office tomorrow morning blasting Billie Jean, Thriller, Bad, Man in the Mirror, Black and White, PYT, and You Are Not Alone at full volume on my ipod.

I'm Going to Run a 5k!

Today I registered for my first 5k!

Tonight I had a breakthrough!

I'm on week 7 of the Couch to 5k program. Today's work out was supposed to be:
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then run 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).

I am three weeks away from running my first 5k and I've been wondering what time I should aim for. So, instead of doing the 2.5 miles, I was scheduled to do, I decided to do 3.1 and see how long it would take me. I knew that there was no way I'd be able to run the whole thing. Last week, I was able to run a full mile without walking for the first time.

So tonight, I ran the first mile without walking, did intervals for the second mile, then walked ran 1/4 mile intervals for the last mile. It took me 50 minutes to complete the whole thing. That also includes my five minute warm up walk. I wasn't running very fast, and I walked a lot. So I felt like it was pretty decent. I still have three weeks to continue with the plan to get to a point where I should be able to run the whole 3.1.

I am very proud of myself for being able to get this far and for actually sticking with it!

Flooding Is Not My Friend (Part 2)

So, after realizing there was water in the hallway and trying to clean that up as best I could, there wasn't much else I could do besides go to sleep. Except I couldn't really do that either.

The next morning, I made a call to the HOA to see if it was something that was covered. We'd just gotten a new property manager a few days before. He was incredibly nice and made a call to a plumber. He called me back with the news that I needed to watch for Arthur and that he'd have a blonde ponytail and a goatee.

While he totally resembled Hulk Hogan, let me tell you that Arthur did not mess around. He came in and snaked the drain. He had to try several different things, but was able to unclog it in about 30 mins. He even made sure that the washer would drain water before he left. He told me it was definitely a plumbing issue (which was a relief since the HOA should cover it).

Soon after, the new property manager brought a dehumidifier that I've been running since. He took a look at the hallway. He said that they'd have to bring someone in to look at the floors and try to match it. But I'm guessing since I have to go through them that I'm going to have to wait it out.

So, I guess we'll see...

Flooding Is Not My Friend (Part 1)

Also known as: Why My Week Has Officially Sucked (Part 1)


I was able to take Friday off work last week, head to Kentucky for a couple days, and just relax a little. I had Coldplay tickets for Saturday and spent most of Sunday at the pool. It was absolutely a much needed weekend.

I was looking forward to walking into work Monday morning with a much lighter work load and a better attitude. That was definitely not the case.

As soon as I got to work my laptop wouldn't boot up. Apparently over the weekend, something in it knew that it had been worked to death and couldn't go on. So, they had to bring me a temporary computer to work from until they could get mine fixed. In the three hours it took to get a temp to me, I started making a mental list of everything I didn't back up on the network. That 13 page spreadsheet I spent hours updating. Those emails that were too big for my Outlook. The list went on and on. OUCH. We'll chalk that up to lessons learned the hard way.

Tuesday I had some things I wanted to take care of in the afternoon and got permission to leave work early. I was planning on heading out around 2ish. I was still at work at 3:30 putting out fires. I was finally able to leave only getting a call 20 mins later saying that something HAD to be taken care of. So much for a mental health break.

Tuesday night, I got home around 9:30. I was catching up with an old college roommate and I believe I was talking about how I've been in desperate need of a vacation when I heard gushing water. I walked to the kitchen to see water running toward me by the gallon. I turned off the washer and it immediately stopped...but by that time it had already engulfed the small utility room/pantry where the washer and dryer reside and was creeping through the kitchen towards the dining room. I grabbed some dish towels and threw them down so the water would be stopped before it reached the hardwood. I ran to the bedroom and grabbed all the towels that I could find in a matter of .2 seconds. I ran back to the kitchen and thew them all down. I'm not incredibly sure where the logic in that was. There were about seven towels, but about an inch of water had already taken up residence throughout the kitchen. At that point, I grabbed the garbage can and took the trash bag out and slung it into the other room. And at a pretty rapid pace started wringing wet towels out into the trash can. About an hour and a half later, my hand were completely rubbed raw, but I could finally see progress. I called a friend to come help move the fridge and stove to get underneath to make sure all the water was up. I left no spot unturned. My friend left and I finally finished cleaning up around midnight.

Somewhere in the midst of all of this, I figured out that the drain that drains the washer was clogged. So the washer still had a load of clothes and a full washing machine of water. I decided to wring the clothes out as best as I could and put them in the dryer. I started wringing things out and came across my bathing suit. I didn't want to dry it so I took it into hang in the guest bathroom so if it dripped, it would drip in the bathtub (instead of on my floor if I'd hung it on my drying rack). As soon as I stepped on the rug in the bathroom, I realized that all the water was defintely NOT cleaned up. It had seeped through the wall and into the front part of my guest bathroom.

I grabbed the sopping rug and threw it in the bathtub. I turned around to see what other damage there was.

I stepped out in the hallway.

Then, I cussed.

I could see water in the hallway...on the hardwood floor. I got down on all fours to examine it. As soon as I put pressure on it, water came popping up out of the seams between the boards.

Now let me just say that by this time, I was completely over this whole fiasco. I'd spent the last three hours wringing out beach towels full of water. I was exhausted. Emotionally. Physically. Mentally.

I got the water up the best I could, but I could already tell that there was definite damage to the hardwood and a lot of it would have to be replaced.

I haven't been a homeowner for long. And being a condo owner, I wasn't incredibly sure what was covered and what wasn't. So I prayed. A LOT. That somehow it would all work out and I wouldn't have to pay for it.

I feel like the rest of the story deserves it's own blog. I'll give you a little tease of what you can look forward to:

Waking up to warped boards in the hallway

Arthur the plumber

Crying in my new bosses office

Trying to find a dehumidifier

Working it all out


Let's just say that this week has been ROUGH!

And this post only covers Monday and Tuesday.

Love Me A Good Playlist!

You know those days where your mood is completely reflected by a really awesome playlist? Today has been one of those days. I absolutely love making playlists. It combines music with making lists. Two things I love to do.

I have become fascinated with listening to Pandora at work lately. I absolutely love it. Now, it does take the fun out of creating my own list, but it gives me great options on just listening without thinking. I love it. Today I pulled it up and clicked on the Bon Jovi station.

Best. Playlist. Ever.


Knocking on Heaven’s Door – Guns N’ Roses
Hungry Like The Wolf – Duran Duran
Every Rose Has Its Thorn – Poison
Hit Me With Your Best Shot – Pat Benatar
Open Arms – Journey
Hotel California – The Eagles
Always – Bon Jovi
Working For the Weekend – Loverboy
Free Fallin’ – Tom Petty
More Than A Feeling – Boston
I Want To Know What Love Is – Foreigner
Sweet Child O’ Mine – Guns N’ Roses
Take It Easy – The Eagles
It’s My Life – Bon Jovi
Jump – Van Halen
We Will Rock You – Queen
Something To Believe In – Poison
I Hate Myself For Loving You – Joan Jett
What About Love – Heart
Just What I Needed – The Cars
I’ll Be Alright Without You – Journey
Here I Go Again – Whitesnake
Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
Jack and Diane – John Mellencamp

I mean, seriously…could it get any better?

June 1 is behind me!

It’s a day I never thought would come fast enough, but in reality, it came too quickly. It was a MAJOR deadline in my world, as it was our submission date for an accreditation for my company. I felt like over the past couple months, I’d been gathering all the information and working hard to ensure everything was getting done. But as June 1 began getting closer and closer, I began working harder and feeling we were miles away from where we should be. It has been a very busy, very tiring, very frustrating last couple months. I stayed at work really late and worked several weekends. This past weekend, I worked late on Friday, worked about 7 hours on Saturday, and worked 13 hours on Sunday. Oh, I forgot to mention that I missed the very first amazing pool weather weekend and was cooped up inside. While working 50 hours a week plus weekends is definitely not fun, it’s something that had to be done. I feel like the last two or three weeks, I’ve been in complete survival mode. I knew that everything had to get done and there was no other choice (unless I wanted to start looking for a new job). I feel like I’ve been living in a complete whirlwind. I’ve been forgetting things (I remembered this morning that I’m going to see Coldplay on Saturday!), neglecting my condo, and neglecting my fridge (I swear it’s been over a month since I’ve been to the grocery). But there are plans to change that tonight! And on top of that, I was having really crazy dreams and not sleeping well.

But, now that it’s behind me, I can get motivated again. I can relax, hang out, enjoy the weather, fit my workout plans back into my schedule without feeling so rushed, and stop eating crap three meals a day.

I’m excited about summer. It’s my favorite time of year! I definitely think it’s safe to say that my world is a little brighter today! And my goodness, it’s about time!!

Bring on the vacation!