9/11

I wasn't in NY and I didn't know any of the brave people who lost their lives that day. I do know one man, my husband, who continues to serve this country and protect our shores. I told him I wouldn't talk about him on my blog so I wont say anymore than just this. We owe the men and women who serve our country our greatest gratitude. The policemen and firemen and everyone else who worked to save lives that day and every day since then. For you, I am ever grateful.

I was a senior in college on 9/11/01 waiting to leave the US for London to study abroad. I was driving on Route 95 to work listening to the radio. At first they thought it was a traffic helicopter that crashed. The more I listened the more I learned. I sat there in traffic from 8:46am till 9:30am listening and crying.

A few weeks later I left the US to live in London for a few months. I never had a doubt in my mind that I wouldn't go. I didn't want to let those people hold me back from life. I left on an American Airlines plane with my friend Rocio and tried to hold back the tears. I didn't do anything brave or heroic. I just made sure that I continued to remember and reflect on the lives lost and the America that changed. My husband heard a speaker the other day who had an interesting insight. He asked everyone to look around and see the sprinklers and fire alarms and lighted exit doors. He said that we were prepared for fire. We have drills and we are taught how to deal with the situation. We are not taught how to deal with terrorism. The people on United Airlines Flight 93 fought back. The people in the towers helped others to get out. The firemen and policemen ran in to save others. I'd like to think that faced with a similar situation that I would fight to save lives.

I will be thinking of these people all day.

The hundreds of people who died in the WTC towers, The 92 crew members and passengers on American Airlines Flight 11, the 64 crew members and passengers on American Airlines Flight 77, the 56 passengers and 9 crew members of United Airlines Flight 175, the 125 service members and employees in the Pentagon, and the 45 people on United Airlines Flight 93.

Inappropriate Interns

At every job I've had there have been interns. Some of them have turned out to be superstars (that's you Alicia) and others have shown us how to be superstar idiots. This year at The New Agency we have an intern. At first she was lovely. She wasn't shy and she'd follow up on things and she was very cute. I'm not exactly sure when it all went down hill but I have a feeling when her skirts began to become smaller our feelings for her also lessened.

At each office there is always someone who is the daring fashionista. At my old agency she was perky and beautiful and oh so Nantucket. We loved it. We even made Christmas ornaments one year for the office holiday party and she made a perfect replica of herself with sunglasses and pearls.

At my office unfortunately the new intern is our daring fashionista. Actually fashionista is not really the word I'd use for the sky high platforms, mini skirts and tight hot pink tops. Or some days its the beach cover up dresses used as actual dresses. Today is a very cute dress that somehow got shrunk in the wash. Every day its "what is the intern wearing today?" and sometimes its a "No, you don't want to look at her - she forgot her pants when she got dressed".

Now I could be a bitchy slightly overweight short girl who is very jealous of the skinny skimpy clothed intern but I don't think so.

Also - one last thought. If I'm cold in the office wearing pants and a short sleeve top - is she is just freezing to death?

22 Points

So I started Weight Watchers again online. This basically means that I eat something and then laugh about how many points it is. OR I lie and say that the Sportello Creamy Wild Mushroom Polenta I ate today was 5 points. Riigghhhttt nothing that tastes that good is 5 points. Ever.

Today is Thursday and I am already over my points for the week by 22 points and its not the weekend. I have a feeling thats not good. Oops.

Furry Daughter

Look at this thing and tell me you arent going to want to take her EVERYWHERE with you?

No-ga

So I have been trying to find ways to get in shape. I downloaded some work out classes on the TV the other day and tried to do those. It was a disaster. I laid down on my mat and stretched. The dog thought it was awesome that I had come down to play with her. I had not.

I thought she'd calm down so I started the video. Soon the dog was doing her own version of doggy licking yoga. I finally gave up and wrestled the dog and turned off the TV.

I stopped going to Krav Maga because once I learned the self defense tactics it became more street fighting. Yes, street fighting. I was in a class with those guys that you DON'T want to shove at a bar. It was fun but I don't know if my knowledge of being able to suffocate someone in a leg headlock will really come I'm handy. Brett won't even let me show him my moves. His loss.

Guess I just have to go back to the gym....

I'm baacckkkkk

So I took a hiatus from blogging but after talking about the blog recently at work I think ill start again.

Ok let's see. I'm still fat. Working on it... we'll see.

The summer weather showed up in boston and my hair decided to take the summer off from being manageable and cute. I've even come to work with it up - yes, up as in a clip. As in showing off my ears. gasp.

The dog is still eating stuff. Like... my razor. What animal thinks its OK to eat a razor.

The T still gives me comic relief as well as crazed anger on a daily basis.

I'm still see-thru. No beach time for mama yet this year.

My car got hit... Again.

Job is good. Love the ppl I work with and I drink less b/c there aren't bizarre (yet also amazing) happy hour parties every other day.

I went down to New Orleans for a wedding. NOLA was a blast. The wedding not so much.

Brett still wants to eat burritos every other day.

Ssoooo basically life is the same only a couple months later.

Things I Think About

In no particular order.

1. Why the janitor is not concerned that they are putting the rolls of toilet paper on WRONG every single day. Is this on purpose? To drive me INSANE?

2. There is an obscene amount of women who walk around with their winter jackets and do not take the string out of the back pleat of their jacket. This criss cross stitch is ONLY there so the manufacturer can ship the product and the store can put it on display w out the pleat getting all messed up and needing ironing. The women that walk around with this string in their coats look like huge bubble asses and probably dont realize that they look like assholes. Clearly this one actually really bothers me. Some days I almost want to walk up to these women and tell them.

3. skinny jeans. Unless you are actually really skinny (like my sister in law) these DO NOT LOOK GOOD ON YOU.

4. how are skinny jeans AND wide legs BOTH in fashion right now? I cant keep up.

5. I'm concerned that there is something wrong with me when I prefer Extra to The Evening News. Except this swine flu thing - its fascinating to me and I cant read/see enough about it. Also Pirates. Also fascinating. All other news sucks.

6. How some of the people I see on a daily basis have multiple $2,000 bags. Their closets could be sold to mortgage my condo.

7. Why I still feel the need to drink like im in college.

8. Why when i do drink like i did in college it hurts WAY more.

9. I'm currently obsessed with how enormous my boobs have gotten - why are they bigger? eh! (I'm sure I'll get a few death threats from my not-so-well-endowed friends out there for that one)

10. Baby names. I bet you every time someone has a kid and names it something cute about half of their girlfriends are pissed they didnt get knocked up first to steal the name.

11. I never thought I'd be able to sleep with someone who snores or is a weird sleeper. Apparently now im ok with having a dog sleep on top of my head while snoring very loudly and randomly farting throughout the night.

12. I wish I could get back into making jewelry. I should take a class on how to do it the right way. That way it will be more fun.

13. If i was loaded I'd be a walking Anthropologie catalogue.

14. Brett likes to announce "we're fat" while eating something really bad. Buddy - thats not going to help.

15. I wish I could tell some reps where to go. No, I dont want to meet you if I have never heard of your site/magazine/radio station/ TV station. WHY would you think that would be interesting to me? Do you think I have hours in my day to learn something new? riiigghhhttt. Send me a media kit.

16. Even though I wish I could tell off these reps I am trying to be nice. Sometimes its not easy.

17. My biggest pet peeve about all of these cold calls/emails I get is when someone says "I'm calling about XXX client that XX person told me you run." Oh really - I dont have that client and I dont know that person. Then they openly admit that they were reading off a sheet OR that they just copied the same email over again to send it to me after I call them out on it. Drives me insane.

18. Another thing that drives me insane are those people who dont move out of the way on the subway or bus when you are trying to get out. "Look bitch you arent going to get where you are going any faster until I get off this bus so move your ass"

19. My dog smells good. My parents dogs dont smell good. Is Billie just less oily or something? I touch my parents dog and she smells like "dog". I wash my hands. Its weird.

20. We just got my car fixed - new transmission. This means that Brett will be the first one to get a new car when we need one since mine is all set for years. Not like I wasnt expecting that but now he has a great excuse.

21. I still really want to know who sent me that coconut in high school.

22. If I cant be funny in a facebook status what makes me think that Twitter is ok for me. I think i'll stick to this.

23. I try not to tell people I dont like football. Then i'll never get free tickets. Not a fan of the game but the tailgating is a blast!

24. I fantasize about the places I will live due to moving for the coast guard. most likely i'll live in crappy places but hey its fun to dream huh?

25. do the playboy Girls Next Door really sleep with Hef? I REALLY want to know this. I'm sure you do too.

Thats it! I'm sure I'll have more later... hehe

Tape Worm

I think I have a tape worm. I'm going to call him Marty. I'm hungry all the time. Its probably just being bored at work but it sucks. Marty is constantly yelling at me and forcing me to think about walking to the ice cream store or eating the candy in the dish in my office. Its no fun. I hate my tape worm.

And nooooo for all of you reading this. I am not with child. This is me. All the time. Starving! Damn you Marty.

bridesmaid.. hopefully better than the first time

So this weekend I went with my sisters to pick out and try on bridesmaid dresses for Maggie's upcoming nuptials. The place was kinda gross but if the dress is cheap... I'm in!

We tried on several dresses - we should have tried on the really gross ones and taken pics but I wasn't thinking about blog postings on Sat. Sorry blogosphere!

We did find a lovely dress that fit both Dee and I well. The one problem is that my boob-o-licous body was a little well... overflowing from the top. Now most women (including little sis Dee) would say there is not a problem with overflowing boobs but I tend to disagree. They were overflowing into my armpits and didn't really allow me to put my hands to my sides. Hmmm should we have gotten another dress?

My favorite part of this whole experience is the obligatory "you can wear it again!" No, you can rarely ever wear it again. Well, scratch that. You can wear it again but only on Halloween if you are a Drunk Bridesmaid or the Tooth Fairy. I was both of those when I used my first bridesmaid dress which was bubblegum pink with 3 1/2 foot around toole gown with spiky rosettes along the top of the dress. I was a drunk ballerina during the entire wedding. Because the bride was screwing some other dude up to the night before her wedding I decided to get shitfaced and twirl a lot in my ballerina dress while screaming "Im a drunk ballerina! look at me! Im drunk! woo hoo! Look at me twirl!" all while humming the song from the Nutcracker.

A little knowledge and a need for a lot of education

I don't know how I discovered Dooce but a couple of years ago I did and she's really an interesting blogger. I'm in love with her pictures of how she dresses up her dog and the hysterical stories about raising a child and a puppy at the same time.

Today's post was something I wouldn't normally pay much attention to but it was very interesting. I don't have children yet but I do think that I'd want to learn as much about vaccinations as possible. I had many interactions with Autistic children when I worked at a local children's shoe store for years. Many customers came in to have us fit the shoes of their autistic children and knew who should be their sales person depending on gender or personality. This understanding of what their child could or wanted to handle and control I am sure took months and years of education and study. If I saw my child change and take on autistic characteristics after something like a vaccine I would make sure I knew as much as I could.

What I am saying is... I see both sides. I can see the side of the autistic parent who is so passionate about their child's condition that they will try to find any way to make that not happen to anyone else. I can also see the side of most of the population who feel that a child that is not vaccinated could be a danger to many people including young babies and children, the very ill and elderly.

Personally when it is time for me to have children I think I will educate myself. I will see if there is a middle solution that allows my child to be vaccinated but perhaps at a less aggressive schedule of treatment. My husband and his job would force us to travel a lot and that means vaccinations.

The more I write what my opinion is the more I know I need to educate myself. I'm so thankful for blogs and interesting news stories to force me to think and educate myself on issues that I might not be aware of otherwise. yay blogosphere- thanks for making me think twice about the world we live in.


Here is a link to the article again:
http://dooce.com/2009/04/07/word-or-two-about-vaccinations/#comments-start

Ultimate Fighter

my dog thinks she is employed by Vince Mcmahon of the WWE. She is short and stalky and flights well... like a bulldog. She is strategic and doesnt exert herself like other dogs.

Here are a couple of examples of Billie's take down techniques.

1. Ankle Bite - if a dog is running around her and teasing her she will simply sprint after them for a second and bite their back ankle. This is immediate take down where she then pounces on them and bites their ears etc. Hysterical. Dogs dont know its coming.

2. Flying Puppy - this is when she is playing and she is close to a park bench. She jumps on the bench and flys onto the other dog knocking him over. Also hysterical. A real crowd pleaser.

3. Body Slam - since Billie Jean is 50 pounds but only a little over a foot tall she can also just take out dogs by slamming into them. If they are taller she slams into their legs and they fall over. She also can do this to adults. I always keep a wide stance at the dog park so I'm not body slammed by my own dog.

4. Side Slam - Sometimes there are dogs that in playing with Billie Jean they feel the need to run around in a big circle to get away from her. It usually works for a minute until Billie catches them mid circle and side slams them mid run. This is why we call her strategic. She doesnt need to run the full circle - she just finds the point that is closest to her and sprints to the side slam. Works every time.

5. Statue - this is pretty self explanatory. She puts herself in the running path of a dog to take down and just stays there like a statue. The dog doesnt assume she wont join in the running so they plow right into her. She holds her ground (since she's so close to it) and the dog falls over or sometimes launches themselves over her body. This is really funny since Billie normally doesnt flinch throughout the entire thing and the other dog just got flung.

6. Sneak Attack - Billie is really good at making you think she isnt paying attention to you. She does the sneak attack to dogs and humans alike. You will be sitting there minding your own business when she just walks up and bites you. Sneak Attack! She did this to me this morning.

Stay at Home Mommy

So Brett and I had an interesting talk this weekend. We discussed how when we have kids Brett thinks that one of us should stay home. Since he makes like double my salary it would probably be me. I never in my life thought I'd be the kind of woman who would be a stay at home mom. Not that its a bad thing but I just never was the type - I love to work.

When we were talking it wasn't a big shock to me that Brett said that. Our Coast Guard life can bring us to various places across the country and its possible that I wont be able to work in all of those places. I think that gives me a much better feeling about Brett's thoughts.

If we were living in Boston, NY, SF, Seattle I think I'd have a very difficult time staying home and raising children. Now if we were in Hawaii or Savannah I think I'd feel very differently. I also have a boss now that is a freelancer with my agency in Boston. I see her once a month or sometimes more and I talk to her all day. When her kids are at school we have our client calls and when they are out of school I usually only call her when I have to ask a question. I think I could do that. I could work from home as a part time freelancer for an agency that needs me - regardless of where I live.

When I worked from home before it was an impossible situation with an impossible client. I also felt as though I had no choice but to take that situation and not complain. This time I have a choice and I know better. No one has to suffer that much in their job. No matter the pay. I am at the level in my job where I could be a huge asset (and I do believe I currently am) to any agency. I'd also have my dog to keep me sane and possibly some day some kids to keep me insane.

I guess we'll see what life... or the Coast Guard brings us.

Krav Maga Part 2

So today I went to an intro session for Krav Maga. I figured I had not taken a class since November so it was a good opportunity to go back. It was great. I didnt feel like i was going to die after the first class last time. I was great. I even looked good sweating.

So I signed up for 6 months. Its quite expensive and after the new transmission the Honda needs I'm pretty sure Brett's going to put me on a no spending lock down.

I do think I need something and its perfect to get me energized about getting a bathing suit body. Notice I didnt say bikini. hahaha now that would be a miracle!

My friend Amy is also taking a month worth of classes with me before she is transferred to Seattle.

Obviously I want to do it for the confidence and exercise but i also think its a pretty cool skill to have. I feel cool and tough. Is that bad? Who doesnt want to feel cool and tough?

Now I just hope I dont get any bruises like this one before I have to attend my summer weddings or events. oops.

Happy St.Patty's Day

The old black homeless man in the T was singing Danny Boy this morning. I guess its St.Patty's day where even the black homeless dudes in Boston are Irish!

I am not wearing green b/c the shirt did not look OK with the pants I had on and I didn't want to iron again. I am wearing my green emerald shamrock earrings. OR should I say my mothers green emerald shamrock earrings. I love these things. I wear them once a year and I just love it. I also think my sisters are pissed that I have these in my possession. ha ha ladies!

Later today I am going to a Coast Guard Spouse's Association event for St.Patty's day. I'm not so sure how I feel about the Coastie Wives after this incident but I will give it another try.

"oh Danny Boy!"

So for the past couple of days I have been wondering why I feel so weird. I sit weird. I walk weird. My clothes feel weird. I have constant weggies. Then today I figured it out. I'm getting fatter on one single side of my ass. I literally have a fat ass... on the right. I officially have a lopsided ass.

How do I suck the fat out of a single ass cheek?

Sasha claims I'm lucky to even have an ass. I told her she just thinks that because hers are evenly distributed. If she had a lopsided ass then maybe she wouldn't think I was so lucky. Then... we'd be soul sisters. Ass sisters.

So for all you people who don't believe me I took some Photo Booth pics. To PROVE my ass-ets aren't the same.









I was able to get Billies ass into this second one. She has a more symmetrical ass with cowlicks in her hair. Its a very cute ass.

Fashion + Jaci = Fear

My new agency has a lot of fashion clients. Every week it seems we are meeting with new fashion clients. Its a really new world for me and its very exciting. Last week I was in NY for a new business meeting for a great fashion brand. I was told I was traveling to NY on Monday and the meeting was the next afternoon. Obviously I made myself available but then started freaking out about what to wear. The last new biz meeting I went to I was one of the 4 people in the meeting wearing a black turtleneck. The owner of the fashion company asked us if "we were attending his F**king funeral". It was pretty funny but I was quite mortified. No more black turtlenecks.

The professional world has gotten more casual. I think a lot of people at my agency and other local agencies wear jeans every day. I am not that person. I have issues feeling professional in jeans.

Monday night after work I went out shopping for an outfit to wear. I was not wearing another black turtleneck. I tried on literally every dress in the store, suits, and tons of shirts. Literally nothing fit or looked good. I finally ended up with a white button down (so fashionable huh?) and paired it with a nice wool pant and wool jacket I had at home. I dressed it up with a big beaded necklace.

The meeting was great. I left feeling great but wondering If I'd ever fit into this world. I'm not really that funky and I pretty much have only 2-3 nice shirts/pants which means I wear the same thing every week. Oops!

i also dont think this economy will allow me to buy some more fashionable clothes. Does anyone have any tips for me? How do I take a bland closet and make it cool?

Dermablend is my friend

I get hives. All the time. For really any reason. For no reason at all. Its awful. Well... its not THAT awful. Its just really a pain in my ass.

In high school I never really had them - then one awful prom date asked me over to his house so his parents could take enough pictures to wallpaper their house, cottage and car interiors. I looked great. Minus the red blotches ALL over my face and body. That was really D day for me. Since then I have been aware of my hive issues and tried very hard to hide them at all times. Most days that means scarves, turtlenecks and carefully placed hair, hands and folders to hide my neck.

Once during a presentation a friend said that she couldn't pay attention to my speech. She just kept watching my neck and face as tiny little red blotches popped up and then just kept coming until they took over everything in one single red blotch. Good times.

In business my hives are a point of weakness. It shows that I'm nervous even if I'm not really nervous. I have done a pretty good job of hiding them but I cant wear a scarf or turtleneck everyday w out people thinking some odd things. When I worked in San Fran my office colleagues had a poll. A couple people thought I had hickeys or a nasty scar and one thought was that I was really a dude hiding an adams apple. After all I WAS in San Fran.

The good thing is that I can also "hide" them by being tan. My wedding was perfect. Not a blotch in sight because I was perfectly golden tan. I cant do that 365 days a year. A couple of months ago I found out that I can hide my hives with some dermablend makeup. Its a very thick makeup that I used as a teen to hide my tattoo for years. I decided to give it a try for my neck. It worked and I'm happy.

Now I can wear button down shirts and v-neck's w out the fear of the blotches coming out like i have chicken pox. dermablend is my friend. Now I need to find something to hide my fat. Somehow I dont think thats going to be as easy as some makeup. damn.

friends vs basketball

So Brett and I got a wedding invite yesterday. Brett looked at the date and realized last year we were doing something very special... seeing the Celtics win their championship. We aren't sure what to do. Its possible that they get knocked out in round 2 and wont even make it to the Finals.

The wedding is in New Orleans so I immediately want to go. The groom is a guy that was on the ship with Brett but I have never met him. I'm not sure the last time they saw or spoke but he's a dude and apparently that's pretty normal.

Brett was the best man in a wedding for a guy that I had never met. When we flew out to CA for the wedding it was like no time had went by. That's when I realized that things like time and lack of communication don't matter much for guys.

Anyways - in addition to Ryan being an old friend of Brett's and the wedding in a cool location we also have several friends in the NOLA area. Anna and Bull are there in NOLA and Andy and Jen are about an hour away. I haven't seen Anna and Bull in well over a year and Andy and Jen haven't been to Boston in about 3 years. It would be a great vacation but the one hang up is possibly missing the Finals.

What should we do? I think it might be easier for them at first to know that we will try to make it. We will be able to give them notice and hopefully it doesn't screw things up. The other thing we could do is just fly down for the weekend but then it sort of makes the big visit to the rest of our friends impossible.

Obviously we will wait and figure this out but what do you think?

Game

Another one of my favorite games to play on the T is "guess the gender"! For example this morning there was a person with a stalky figure and a really long pony tail. Seeing this person from behind I began the game...

Pony tail- 1 for chick
Bad outfit- toss up
Stalky physique- toss up
Ring on finger- 2 for chick
Sneakers- toss up (small feet)

Wait on second! Facial hair! Hhmmm I think its an ugly ass dude. That's it for todays game folks! Hopefully next week there will be more fun to be had on the T. Have a good weekend!

music in the T

So with the new job I now have a different commute. I think Ive blogged before about how much it sucks. There are a few bright spots. A few things that make me smile or laugh on my way to work.

One of them is the music on the T. I get off at Downtown Crossing to change trains (did I say my commute sucks... eh!) and there is always some interesting music. First there is one guy whom i think might be homeless. He strums away at his guitar and screams loudly "JESUS! OOOHHHH JESUS" in some sort of melody. This morning he was singing "Ive been working on the railroad". Now what does that have to do with Jesus? I wish I stuck around to the second verse.

Then there is the couple (i assume they are a couple because...) that brings this HUGE karaoke machine down to Downtown Crossing subway station and they turn that bad boy on. Microphone and everything they belt out some Tina Turner, Whitney Houston and Dione Warwick. Now the odd thing is that its a guy and a girl but they aren't there together. I cant imagine there are two different people EACH with a karaoke machine singing away for coins in Downtown Crossing. That would be even funnier.

Now since I'm changing trains I don't mind my morning music since I literally get off the train and walk past them to another platform. If I had to stay on the platform and listen to more than 30 seconds of "That's What Friends Are For" then I might be blogging about a very different emotion.

Music is one of the little things that makes me laugh. I also laugh when I overhear conversations. The other day was one of the best ones in a while. I was walking into the T and this woman was walking out. All I heard her on the other side of a cell phone call saying "Did you find them?" "What?" "No, the bottom ones" "Damn I lost my bottom teeth".

I almost fell over. It was too good to be true. Was this woman really talking on the phone in public to another person about how she LOST her bottom teeth. Priceless.

49

So on Tuesday my dad turned "49". I felt bad because I missed his birthday due to traveling for work. When we were kids we'd ask Dad what he wanted for his birthday or Christmas and he would always answer with: "Good grades" so we'd buy him socks.

This year I'll get him some socks and maybe a nice shirt to go with them.

Happy 49th Dad! ;)

Some Clouds. Cold. Low 1F.

Honestly who chooses to live like this? Tonight its going to 1 degree outside. That dog better pee faster than she has ever peed before on tonight's walk!

Poor Brett had to do a boarding very early this morning. He has got to be miserable.

I am hoping for a nice warm night inside the house. I hear its just going to get worse this weekend. Last night my mother in law called Brett. It was 80 degrees in Southern Cali. gggrrrrrr!

sleeping habits

Brett and I have a queen bed... and a 50 lb bulldog. Normal people have the dog sleep on a bed of their own on the floor. She has one of those. Never touched. Other dogs might sleep at the end of the bed protecting their parents. Our dog sleeps between us in the bed. When Brett leaves in the morning she doesn't go to his side of the bed. Instead she comes up and lays on my head. She likes to put her head either on my neck or directly on top of my head. I move so she isn't breathing into my face and her heavy head and wet jowls aren't on my face. Her body then wraps itself around my head while taking up 90% of my pillow. She then pushes her paws into my head, neck and shoulders to make more room for her body on my pillow. I eventually wake up to find that I am no longer sleeping on the pillow. I pull her body off of my pillow. She then sleeps between the two pillows on the bed, snoring into my pillow. Her little legs are stretched out and as I try to get comfortable i end up sleeping on top of dog legs.

This is how my day starts. Everyday between 6am and 7:30am. Breathing my dogs breath and sleeping on her little legs.

The dog is always the most comfortable person in the room. As I write this I am sitting/laying on the couch with my legs bent to the side. The dog is laying down with her body on the other side of my bent legs. The way to picture this is the dog is taking up 90% of the couch and I am trying to fit on the couch while attempting to be comfortable. Oh and did I mention Brett is also on the couch. He has to sit diagonal with his legs on the table. The dog has taken over the couch and she is snoring. Loudly. Anytime one of us moves she wakes up and gives us dirty looks. Afterwards within 10 seconds the snoring resumes, her eyes might still be open but she is again snoring. If she hasn't found her own spot on the couch she just sleeps on top of us. Here is a classic night from my view.





nice huh? Thank god she's only 50 pounds. I'd have a lot more problems if she was 75 pounds huh?

Snowy Lawn Chairs

There is a phenomenon that happens in the winter when it snows. People in the city "save" their parking spots that they shoveled out using Spacesavers as the Mayor calls them. Spacesavers are typically lawn chairs, broken fans, garbage cans, and cones. It makes the beautiful snow look like a ghetto of broken chairs.

From the Mayor's office on the City of Boston website:
"Any spacesavers® left in on-street parking spaces that have been shoveled out must be removed 48 hours after a snow emergency has ended."

Keywords here are: 48 HOURS and SNOW EMERGENCY



Knowing that this is an actual rule I am OK with people doing this... most of the time. I personally do NOT put anything outside in a spot I shoveled and thankfully in Charlestown there are many other people that share my frustration with this "rule". Last winter we had 3 days of intense snow. so much snow that work was cancelled - that never happens! Anyways - I spent hours outside shoveling myself out of my spot knowing full well that if I went anywhere I would be hard pressed to find a new one. That's just the risk you have to take and after being stuck inside for several days. In this case we were willing to risk it. When I returned my spot was not taken but it was actually saved.... by someone else. Someone had the audacity to steal the parking spot that I had spent hours shoveling. That is NOT acceptable. I removed the lawn chair and attached a lovely note to it. Hopefully I taught that person a lesson, though i doubt it.



The thing that drives me so nuts about this "rule" is that it ONLY applies to snow emergency days. People think that any snow - even 1 inch - gives them the OK to save their parking space. I get so angry walking down the street looking at lawn chairs saved in spots that have no snow anywhere near them.



I have thought many times about photocopying lots of notices and making them look official to warn my lovely neighbors. The only problem is I might get caught putting them up. I know this is just a part of life and thankfully Charlestown is not the worst of them all. Southie is pretty brutal for their "spacesavers" in the winter.

Ahhh the charms of living in the city.