.
Happy New Year!
Filed under: Main on January 2, 2012

Hello loves.  I’m coming out of bloggy retirement to say hello.

Normally, I do a whole bunch of end-of-year posts to talk about whether or not I met my previous goals and to make new goals. 

Well, I didn’t meet last year’s goals.  Not a one, I don’t think.  But that’s okay, as I made those before I found the job that I have now.  

I haven’t made any new goals for 2012, either.  And that’s okay.  I still believe in them; I just haven’t sat down and made any.

There are some big changes coming up for me in 2012 (hopefully.)  As soon as plans are a bit more cemented, I will let you know.

2011 was a great year for me and for Bob and our family.   I hope that it was just as wonderful for you.  I think 2012 is going to be even better.

Much love to all!

spacer

spacer
7 Comments


‘Till we Meet Again
Filed under: Challenge of the Month,Flavor,Glitter,Glow,Goals,Main,Reflections on July 27, 2011

Dear beloved readers,

As you know, I took the month of July off of blogging, as I knew it was going to be a very busy month at work.  I had hoped that during this time, I would “blog ahead” some posts, such as the décor posts or my book reviews.

That didn’t happen. 

The truth is, I really love my job. 

I wave at the building when I’m not there – seriously! 

I love my boss.  I MISS her when she’s not there.

I love what I do.  I am stimulated intellectually, creatively, you name it. 

And because of that, I have not had any urge to blog. 

That doesn’t mean that I don’t love you guys anymore – quite the opposite!  It just means that I need some time away, some undefined time, until I feel like blogging again.

I have a lot to say – it’s not a content issue at all.

It’s more about me focusing my energy on my career right now.  I have finally found the perfect match:  the right job AND the right company.

I am also stepping down from the Ohio Blogging Association.  I started it when I was unemployed.  I just don’t have the energy for that anymore either.  I’m so proud of what the team has done.  Huge shout-outs to Alicia, Rachel, and Katie.  I have told them that I’ll support them from the sidelines.

I do post frequently on my Facebook page, which is here.  I almost always carry my status updates from my personal page over to that.  I hope you’ll follow me there to keep up.

Also, I will still Tweet, @purtyinorange.

This isn’t goodbye, as I’m sure I’ll be back here and there.  It’s just to say:

Thank you.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for caring.

Thank you for reading.

Thank you for commenting.

Thank you for sharing your world with me.

Thank you for allowing me to share mine with you.

 

Love,

spacer

spacer
8 Comments


Bloggy Break
Filed under: Challenge of the Month,Flavor,Glitter,Glow,Goals,Main,Reflections on July 4, 2011

Hi all,spacer

This month is going to be killer at work, and I know I won’t have any time to blog. So I’m taking the month of July off. 

1.  There won’t be a July Challenge of the Month.  We’ll resume those in August.  The winner of June’s Challenge of the Month is Miss Laura of Absolut(ly) Fit!  Go Laura!  This is her second win this year.

2.  If you would like to guest post, just email me at angela[at]prettyinorange[dot]com. 

3.  This is the first real break I’ve taken in the 5 years I’ve been blogging.  I think I deserve it spacer

I’ll see you guys in August.  It’s really not that far away at all!

Love to all of you!

spacer

spacer
3 Comments


Thoughtful Thursday: The View from Here, pt I
Filed under: Glow,Main on May 26, 2011

I have realized, over the last few months, that I am looking at life from a different angle:  The angle of being 40 in a mere 289 days.

:: pause for hyperventilation ::

After I had lunch with Steph and Dana last month, we sat around and discussed this age that we are at now.  And I revealed to them what I had sadly accepted:

We’re no longer the 20 year olds we once were.  We weren’t the up-and-comers anymore.  We were past our prime child-bearing years, which, even when you don’t want to have kids like me, you still treasure being in that class.  There is a true difference in choosing to not have kids and being too old to have the choice.

I think we all look fabulous – no one ever guesses our real ages – but our eyes don’t shine with innocence anymore.  We KNOW things, things we didn’t think about when we were in our 20s.  We’ve gone from thinking we could change the world into hoping to just make a difference where we can. 

I wrote about that part on Facebook last night:


I was reading something a 24-26 year old wrote about wanting to change the world. I was there once, too. Now I feel as though everything happens for a reason and we are all here for a brief moment and only see a tiny part of it. Now I see the Why Not, rather than just the Why. I choose to be water and flow around the rocks instead of hitting them.

There was a time in my life when I thought if anyone ever bought me a vacuum cleaner for my birthday or Christmas, I would have to kill them.  Now I appreciate such things. 

I hear myself saying things that were said to me:

You’re so young.

In my day…(the worst!)

This was before you were born…

How did I get here?  Because it seems impossible.  Everything you were ever told about time moving faster the older you get is TRUE.  And everything that people say about not changing as much on the inside as you do on the outside is true. 

My mother is 79 and she will tell you that she still feels like a young girl inside – it’s only in the mirror that she sees the truth.

There are wonderful and amazing advantages to being this age.  I just with that I could go back and do things again, with the clarity I have now.  It seems so unfair that we gain knowledge as we grow older, when we could have used that knowledge so much better as a younger version. 

I see myself being fine with letting the younger folk worry about things that I’ve worried about and let go.  Let them have that.  I don’t need it.

I see myself looking at people half my age and thinking, you just have no clue how that will change when you hit the next decade.

And yet, I still remember what it felt like the day I graduated from high school, the day my parents dropped me off at college, the day I went to my first college party, and the summers I stayed on campus.    On the flip side, I remember turning 35 and thinking that I had been so wrong when I was 16:  I thought that adults had it all figured out and I just had to wait for that time. 

Not so much.

The problems just change.

I appreciate the freedom that this age has afforded me – I really let go of a lot of my insecurities when in my 30s.  And that is an amazing, wonderful gift.  I guess that is a fair trade, but not being the ingenue any longer.

Love,

spacer

spacer
8 Comments


Hump Day Love
Filed under: Main on May 11, 2011

My new favorite things:

1.  If choir had been like this for me, I would have stayed in it forever.

 

2.  These amazing drawings by kids – KIDS as young as 5!  I wish I had 1/10th of their talent!  And not to be sappy or anything, but I really had hope for our next generations after reading through these.

spacer

Go vote for them now!

3.  This thing.   I will review it soon.

spacer

 

4.  All of you. 

Love,

spacer

spacer
4 Comments


Mayday
Filed under: Glow,Main on May 9, 2011

So, had I been on the ball, I was going to post this ‘Mayday,” which is a call for help, on “May Day,” which is the first day of May.

But we’re on May 9th.  Pretend that it’s May 1st and that you find me amusing.

Anyway, May 1 was my new Day 1.  If you have ever tried to lose weight, you know that Day 1 is the first day of The Diet.  What Diet?  Whatever Diet you are into at the moment.

My Day 1 was different, as I did more than just try to start The Diet. 

The Background

First of all, lemme ‘splain. I have put on about 40 lbs since returning to work, as I’ve mentioned before.  I didn’t need to gain weight.  I was not one of those people who was told, “You’re getting to thin.”  In fact, I don’t think I’ve heard that in about 20 years, if I’ve heard it at all.

No, I added 40lbs to a body that was already burdened with excess weight. 

Of course, I didn’t do it “on purpose.”  I didn’t walk around saying, sheesh, if I could just GAIN weight!  But I didn’t do anything to stop it.

I was passive with my weight.  I have been for most of my years. 

Sure, during the two years I was off, I worked out, I ate right…and I never lost a pound.  But I didn’t gain any, either. 

I haven’t worked out since…November?  I started eating out again.  I started eating more than I should.

And then I realized that my clothes weren’t fitting.  But I didn’t change anything.

And then I realized that the stairs were getting harder and harder to go up.  And I didn’t do anything.

I started having heartburn on a regular basis.  And I didn’t do anything.

Do you know what finally motivated me?  What my wakeup call was?

Dunh –dunh – DUNH

It was Bob.  It was something that I finally made him admit to me.  It was something that I forced out of him. 

It was that, while he was still in love with me and still attracted to me, the attraction was less than what it was when we first met.

And I know that he loves me.  I know that we are in this until death do us part.  Even without a marriage license, we are together.  We are committed.  And yes, I sometimes romanticize it to myself that we are even more committed than married people, because we are together because we want to be, not because we are legally bound.

But to know that he had lost some of the lust that he has had for me all along, well, that was the kick to the head that I needed. 

Before you get upset

I’m not upset at him for saying that – I am not thrilled with my body right now, either. 

What’s funny (or not) is that I felt that I owed Bob a better, healthier me. Would I have found the strength to do it for myself?   I don’t know.  Should I beat myself up right this minute for wanting to be better for him and not doing it just for me?  No.

spacer

 

Now what?

Like a good general, I marshaled my troops together in order to create a support group.  All of you are part of the larger support group, of course.  But I have another one in which I’m posting more intimate details. 

And…

1. I will be working with my friend, Chef Jenny Mrkobrad, who will be preparing raw lunches for me every 2 weeks.

2. I will be working with Jen Wampler, who is a massage therapist/Reiki healer. If this is based in emotional crappola, then she will work it out of me. I’m seeing her every two weeks.

3. I’m determined to get back to the gym and I’ve told Bob that he needs to come with me sometimes.

4. I’ve already given up pop and iced coffee drinks, as they were annoying my ulcer.

Okay, this is a long post.  I will be back another day with more updates.

Hugs to all!

spacer

spacer
2 Comments


TV Tuesday
Filed under: Main,Reflections on April 26, 2011

***This is a new feature on the blog where I discuss my TV viewing habits.  I may lose some readers when they see what I watch, but oh well.***

I should probably give you a brief rundown of what I watch on a weekly basis.  Prepare to be impressed/unimpressed.

Sunday

  • Challenge (Food Network)
  • Desperate Housewives
  • Celebrity Apprentice
  • Family Guy
  • Ax Men
  • The Real Housewives of Orange County
  • Undercover Boss
  • The Killing
  • Pawn Stars

Monday

  • How I Met Your Mother
  • Mad Love
  • Mike and Molly
  • Harper’s Island
  • The Event (though I haven’t been caught up on this in a few months)

Tuesday

  • Glee
  • Raising Hope
  • Traffic Light
  • Top Shot
  • The Good Wife

Wednesday

  • Modern Family
  • Top Chef or Top Chef Masters
  • Sons of Guns
  • Happy Endings

Thursday

  • The Office
  • Grey’s Anatomy
  • The Real Housewives of New York

Whenever I can

  • Nurse Jackie (we don’t have Showtime right now)

And you can add The Young and the Restless to the daily viewing during the week.

Obviously, the schedule changes depending on the season/time of year.  In the summers, I pick up Drop Dead Diva, So You Think You Can Dance and Big Brother, for example.

I feel like I’m missing some shows, but that’s what I can think of off of the top of my head. 

Obviously, I use the DVR and OnDemand to watch some things, as the Powers That Be have put as much as they can into the 9pm Sunday slot.  I may not get to watch everything on its appropriate night.  For example, I haven’t seen Desperate Housewives or Celebrity Apprentice or anything from Monday night yet this week.

I usually Tweet during the reality shows that I watch.  I Tweet my reactions or comments to the outlandish behaviors of The Real Housewives or Top Chefs.  You can follow me on Twitter:  @purtyinorange.

This week, during The Real Housewives of Orange County, I tweeted:

spacer

So what are you watching?  Do share so that we can talk about it together!

 

spacer

spacer
7 Comments


Lovely Saturday
Filed under: Glow,Main on April 17, 2011

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have lunch with these lovely ladies:

spacer

Me, Dana, and Steph

I know that you have seen Steph on here before.  Steph, Dana and I went to college together.  Steph and I are the same age and Dana is a year younger.  After college, we lived together for awhile.  I love these girls.  spacer

I look at this picture, and I don’t see us as the nearly-40 year old ladies we are.  I still see the girls we were in school.  I can still remember when we lived together in a flat and then a townhouse. 

Of course now, we all are very busy.  Steph and I live in the same city, so it’s easier for us to get together.  When I was off, I could meet her for lunch more often.  Now that I’m working, we will have to find other ways to get together.  Dana, however, lives 3 hours away and this was the first time in 6 years and we were in the same place.  I have truly missed her. 

We committed to doing this at least once per quarter.  I can’t wait to spend more time with them.

spacer

spacer
1 Comment


Saturday Funnies
Filed under: Glow,Main on April 16, 2011

First off, I really appreciate all of the wonderful comments on my last post.  They warmed my heart.  spacer

I wanted to share a couple of items that tickled my funny bone. 

First off, for all of my running friends:

And this makes me laugh every single time:

Hope you are having a great weekend!

spacer

spacer
3 Comments


The Truth Is…
Filed under: Glow,Main on April 11, 2011
  • I really, really love my job. 
  • I really, really love my boss.
  • I really, really love the rest of my team.
  • I think May will be the start of a more regular schedule where I can get back to a blogging schedule.
  • I really, really love Bob. 
  • I love Callie, my new bike.  I’ll do a review on her soon.
  • As much as I love m
gipoco.com is neither affiliated with the authors of this page nor responsible for its contents. This is a safe-cache copy of the original web site.