Strange Dreams

Last night, I had a dream that I was tagged to write about ending relationships. I was trying to figure out what to write about. All I kept thinking was this should be an easy topic for me because I have definitely been a dumper rather than a dumpee. Perhaps, it was my joy of changing and moving on or because I could always see that it wasn't meant to be or because I was just non-committal. Before I really got into figuring out what I was going to write, I was saved by Lexi's crying.

She fell asleep fairly quickly and then I did too. This time I had a dream that I had to go back to high school to take Calculus. There was a girl I never really liked (or hated) that was sent back too. We were the only ones our age so she asked if we could be friends. Mainly, I was just wanted to hurry and pass the class.

That is me, the strange dream queen. During my freshman year in college, I had a few friends that would get a kick out of hearing about my dreams. I was taking a psychology class back then. If I read the book before going to sleep, my dreams would be really wacko. I remember one where I was sent to another planet to run through a rat maze.


Tags: strange dreams

Clutching to My Belief in Karma

I won't give any details about my job, but I am the marketing person, so my job is to go after new contracts. For a couple months, I worked on creating a rather large proposal (the equivalent of a 100 page report with intricate graphics). The future client received proposals from two companies and asked each to come in for an interview/ presentation. We ended up blowing the other company out of the water. Our hard work and preparation was evident. As we were leaving, the other company congratulated us and left. My company was on a high; we were all thrilled.

Little did we know that the other company was known for playing extremely dirty. It is not always easy to take the high road when lies are being flung like mud, but I truly believe that is the only way to handle this situation. It is the time to graciously address each issue, while refraining from slinging some of that mud back.

I have to say that this week has been a rude awakening and a reminder of why business ethics are so important. A quick search on the internet revealed that the other company is riddled with lawsuits over this exact same type of scenario (and others). No matter what the outcome, I will hold on to my belief that what goes around comes around.

Silly Girl

Someone I know was in the hospital recently. Nothing serious, she was in a car accident & was getting thoroughly checked out. However, a strange scenario took place there.

There was a 15 year old girl in the bed next to hers. The girl's parents and boyfriend were also in the room, when the doctor started asking the girl questions. She asked her if she was pregnant and she said no. She asked if she was sexually active and she said no once again. She asked when her last period was and the girl couldn't remember. She asked her a couple of more times if she was sexually active. The doctor had her take a pregnancy test anyways. About an hour later, the doctor returns fairly upset.

She said, "Why did you tell me you weren't sexually active?"

The girl said, "I'm not!"

The doctor said, "Your pregnancy test came back positive."

The girl blurted out, "I just lay there, my boyfriend is the sexually active one."

I would like to know if she could really be that naive.

Tags: teen pregnancy, naive

Tourist Time

I moved to Miami 8 years ago this month. For anyone who knows me, that is an insanely long time to live anywhere (about 7 years too long). Anyway, one thing I have come to appreciate here is tourist season. I believe that it is the one time of year that I can go to the beach without being (dare I say it)...the whitest one there.

When you are cursed with neon white skin that mostly burns and will only tan a few measly shades (not to mention freckle), a nice glistening tan is beyond your reach. Winter tourist season means I can compete with people who live somewhere the sun rarely shines. So, I would like to officially welcome tourist from the northlands with only one stipulation, please don't make trips to the tanning booths before you come.

Tags: Florida Tourists, Miami Vacationers

Hoping for an Uneventful Year

I am behind on the whole ending last year and looking forward to the coming year post, but life has been hectic lately.

Looking back, 2006 was quite a crazy year. In January, I was very pregnant until the 26th. Then it was all about Lexi and (insanely) trying to work full time at home while on maternity leave. February was about adjusting to the new baby, visiting my MIL in the hospital, and Steve losing his job. March was more of the same stresses, but my husband had a temporary job. April was about fixing up the house and Steve landing a great job. My sister, Paige, came in May to be our nanny and I went back to work. We put our house up for sale in June and later that month my MIL passed away, which sent Steve into a crazy funk throughout July. At the end of July, we went to Tallahassee to see my family. Paige left for California and Lexi started daycare in August. We got a contract on our house in September and had to find a place to live. October was all about moving and enjoying our new life on the beach. In November, we had a wonderful trip to Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with Steve's relatives. December brought Christmas parties and a trip to California to spend Christmas with my family.

Fortunately, the last 2 months were quite nice. I am hoping that momentum swings into 2007. There are a few things I would like to happen this year that are mostly out of my hands. I will be doing what I can and keeping my fingers crossed. As far as my resolutions, my work started an incentive program for weight loss. It is mainly to motivate those who really need it, but I signed up because there is a reward (gift certificate) for accomplishing the goal and I'd like to shed 10 lbs anyway. That is basically my only resolution. This year, I am keeping it simple because that is what I want out of life.

Funny How Things Happen

The way back from our wonderful vacation in San Diego was less than pleasant. Our day started at 4am, which is never a good beginning. I had booked an early flight thinking it would be nice to get back to our house in the early evening. We had a little hopper flight from San Diego to LA and were told that it wasn't necessary to get there really early, which is probably true most of the time.

My mom & sister dropped us off about 5:30am. We walked up to probably the longest line the airport had seen in a year. By the time we got to the front, we couldn't check luggage in time for our flight, so they booked us on the next one that was only a half hour later and still gave us plenty of time to catch our next flight. When we got to the very empty security line, the girl that looks at the IDs decided that I was a security threat because my driver's license still has my maiden name (I hate the local DMV) & my passport had expired recently. She made us go back to the airline counter. The airline people didn't understand why the security girl had a problem and they sent us back. We went back and forth and missed the next flight. Finally, the airline printed a boarding pass that said I needed to be patted down so she let us through. That took about 2 seconds.

The airline person at the gate told us we just might be able to catch our regular flight IF everything goes very smoothly. Fortunately, it did. We bolted across LAX and made our connecting flight. Lexi was asleep for the first hour and a half, which was great since I had bronchitis and was not feeling up to entertaining her. She woke up fussy and restless. The five hour plane ride was horrible from then on (for us and those around us). We tried walking her down the aisle, when we could. There was quite a bit of turbulence, which meant we had to sit with our seatbelts on (joy).

We finally got to MIA to discover our bags (all five, including Lexi's carseat) had not made it. While standing in the mile long line to fill out the paperwork, Lexi fell asleep. When I couldn't hold her any longer, I handed her to Steve. After about 2 minutes, he suddenly looked at me and said, "Take her, take her, take her!" He had a pee spot on his belly from her leaking diaper. I grabbed her and the diaper bag and headed for the bathroom.

That's where/when it happened...I had Lexi on the changing table and I heard a voice say, "You're Stephanie and that is Lexi, right?" It was the last thing I expected. She told me her name and it took me a while to jump back to reality. I actually had a real life encounter with a fellow Miami Beach blogger. Hi Sofi! Funny that this happened at the airport instead of anywhere on the beach.

I have to say that was the highlight of the day, because we ended up being in the baggage claim line FOREVER only to be told the bags might be on the next few flights that were in another hour. We ate airport pizza and waited to find that they weren't, so we headed home at 9pm (4 hours after we landed). Can you say Happy New Year's Eve? Our bags were located the next day, but 2006 ended with a day from Hell.

Tags: MIA, lost bags, airports

Conveying Cheesiness

Lexi with cousins

Whole Fam Damily

Yes, I'm back. So much happened over the break that I don't know where to start. California was amazing and we had too much fun (the kind that makes it difficult to return to real life). I feel like being lazy today. I probably should ponder over the last year & figure out my New Year's Resolutions. Since it is all too difficult to think about and put into words, I decided to post some of the photos we had taken (a family full of cheesies).

Living Outside the Corridor

Two days ago, I got tagged by Fiddley Gomme to write about "Living Outside the Corridor." I had a huge deadline at work on Friday, so this assignment was postponed (by me). This is one of those assignments that requires thought, considering that I haven't even visited the Mormon Corridor since my cousin's wedding in 1998. Unfortunately, I can't give it the attention it requires only some quick thoughts.

This week, living outside of the corridor meant that Christmas shopping for my co-workers was easy mostly because they all wanted alcohol. In fact, I walked 2 blocks to Walgreen's Liquor store and got everyone in the office exactly what they wanted. The men got Johnny Walker and the women got Belvedere Vodka with chocolate martini mixes. How much easier could it be? This kind of shopping is something that definitely wouldn't happen in the corridor. Besides the fact that most co-workers don't drink, liquor stores (alcohol in general) are not that easy to come by. I am not a drinker, so it wouldn't affect me other than buying it for gifts, which I enjoy doing. I think I must love cool bottles and the whole idea of mixing drinks (forbidden fruit from my youth).

Life way outside the corridor means that I don't know or interact with Mormons. They make up a VERY small portion of the population in Miami. I don't even know any active Mormons here. I am sure that I would if I actually went to church.  I have one FOMO (former Mormon) friend that moved here last year. My husband also works with a FOMO. Of course, I read Sofi's blog, who lives in my neighborhood. That is as close as I get to Mormon culture here.

I realize that I don't have time today to give this topic justice. Besides living outside the corridor, living in Miami is a topic all its own. Perhaps another day...I am off to catch a plane to spend Christmas with my family of TBMs (true believing Mormons). The more I think about this the more possible spin off topics there are. Like, what life was like living in the Corridor....hmm much to ponder for later.

Feliz Navidad

Annual Christmas Speech

Like clockwork in November, my mother would start her annual Christmas Speech. Most kids get the "Santa's Watching You, So You Better Behave" speech. Ours was quite different. She would start off with Santa has had a tough year. Then, she would go on to explain that Santa has a lot of kids to buy presents for, so we shouldn't expect much. We quickly learned that the number of presents had nothing to do with what kind of year "Santa" had. It was solely based on the amount of shopping my mom was in the mood for. Usually, she ended up buying way more than she had anticipated. Without doing inventory, she would continually feel like she hadn't bought enough. I am not saying that we were lavished in gifts, just that the "tough year" we had been hearing about never manifest itself on Christmas day. I have been thinking about this tradition and laughing about the idea of her giving us the speech this year when arrive in California. I think this may be one of those traditions that has fallen by the wayside.