Probably more than anyone needs to know...

Well, if you haven't already guessed by now, I haven't been active on LiveJournal for a long while. 22-weeks since my last update. My "paid account" expired yesterday, and I've made the decision to not renew.

LiveJournal was a great way of expressing myself and meeting new people over the past 5 years. I've found a new way of expressing myself and connecting with friends and family: "Facebook"


I won't be deleting my journal... just not going to be keeping it updated, or even pretend that I'm still active in it now.

I have lots of great memories and friends from LJ:
bassbear - a cutie and his student quotes-of-the-day were always great to read
bearpawly - his coming-out and many of his great entries have deeply affected me
bigfundrew - his humor and family are so much a part of him and it shows (now on Facebook too)
jkusters - always there to listen and give a hug (now on Facebook too)
kev_bot - so smart and witty, truly an amazing guy (now on Facebook too)
labelsdc - this fashionista and I are life-long friends now (now on Facebook too)
shadowbearmn - the cats and humor and wit, and thanks for the pokes
texaspenguin - he made it through medical school and kept his smile
thepup & cactusbear - so great to meet these guys in AZ, so much fun!
thereisnofear - the sexxy, fun, and talented Kendall

If I haven't already, someday I hope to meet all of you in-person. I'll keep an eye out for you, and if you're on Facebook, be sure to "friend me".

[Edit: I just read through a bunch of friends posts. Facebook isn't the same... I do admit to missing LJ... reading & writing the entries here is much more creative... but... it also takes more time to read / write than a one-line status. Work has been busy, priorities change, etc.]

Drive up yesterday was "looonnng", but OK. Town is nice and the shops look great... scenery (both actual scenery and eye-candy) is nice... Was too tired to go out partying last night, so Barry and I called it an evening after dinner. Well rested now, sitting on the porch, looking at the Moors and enjoying the nice breeze... looking forward to the beach and a night out on the town.

"Happy Easter"
or for the non-religious: "Hoppy Easter"

I haven't said that much this year... Easter has become a non-holiday for me over the past couple years. I feel a little strange about it this year.

Easter used to be one of the major holidays of the year -- I mean, religiously it's one of the highest holy days of the year... and growing up it meant getting all dolled-up for church and an hour-and-half service... and family dinners... and, of course, the non-religious aspects of it: Easter Bunny, hidden eggs, hidden Easter basket, candy, candy, toys, candy, etc.

It was a major day for me every year growing up -- probably second only to Christmas.

And now... now it's just another Sunday. In fact... I just signed off of work. I put in a few hours of work today, and I'm off to NYC this evening, and there's really nothing special about the day.

I saw this coming -- back when I became "too old" to search for hidden Easter eggs. (You know, 20 years-old or so *wink*) And, then when I started not considering organized religion as part of my beliefs, it took yet another dive in the "Holiday Hierarchy".

Today, I could care less about Easter. It means nothing to me... there's not a single Easter egg in the house... not a single bunny... not even a chocolate rabbit to bite the ears off of.

It saddens me a little actually.

I remember how it used to be: how exciting it was looking for the eggs and easter basket; how fun it was to dress-up for church and get "Spring clothes"; how nice it was to see family and eat a huge, scrumptious meal; the joy of seeing the first flowers of Spring.

*sigh*

I got a little Easter surprise from my mom & dad this morning -- a deposit into my bank account of some "candy money" so that I could go out and get Barry and I some Easter candy. I love my mom! :) It made me happy... and, I know if I lived in the same town as them, we'd surely have a basket of candy hand-delivered... and I'd probably even go to church with them...

Final thought: it just makes me wonder what's so special about Easter and why I'm sad... to me I think it means "family" more than anything... and so I'm left with this sadness that my family is not around me, and without them Easter really doesn't mean anything... and I'm left with one less reason to celebrate... one less holiday on my calendar... and I think that's what really saddens me the most: in today's day-and-age, when it's "GO GO GO", any lost day of "fun, family, relaxing, thankfulness, and joy" is a lost day indeed. :(

OK... caught up on some overdue LJ reading...

Leaving on Wednesday for Mardi Gras (New Orleans)!! Whoo hoo!
Quite excited about it. A little nervous -- travel nerves and wondering what-all we will do down there for the weekend... My friend sent an itinerary this morning scoping-out all of our plans and that really helped put it into perspective that there's lots to do and I'll be with good company (fun and knows what to do there). The plans really helped ease my concerns about "what will we be doing while there".

A little nervous about spending "so much" money when I really don't have it. But I'm not going to think about financial stuff while there... will have taxes and bonus coming in a month to help with all that... so yay for credit cards.

Other than travel nerves, another thing kind of causing a little trepidation about the trip: clothes. I need more comfortable clothes. Or, I need to loose weight to make my clothes more comfortable. But, I'm also not going to think about that... I'll take what I do have that's comfortable and just make-do.

I'm very excited about the trip... a whole weekend of travel and fun and adventure. I've told a couple people that it's a "Girl's Weekend" because I'm going without Barry. I feel a little weird about the fact that I'm going without him... it will be my first trip / weekend without him in a very long time... like two years?? He's going to Boston for the weekend... which I feel a little jealous about... is that odd? I guess it's only human.

---

In other news:

We got a small camera (Olympus Stylus 760) for us to be able to take pictures on trips and such without me having to lug around my Canon 20D. I'm excited about the new toy. Barry's taking it to Boston... I'll take my Canon with me to Mardi Gras... but it's always so heavy to be walking around with it... but I feel photographic right now. However, I'm sure after a few hurricanes I won't be thinking of being artistic with a camera.

Barry got a job (starting in a week or two?) -- yay! Hopefully the debt hole we've fallen into will go away over the next few months with two incomes again.

Went up to the campground two weekends ago to check on our site... all is well -- a little snow cover on the ground -- the camper looked so "sleepy".

Speaking of The Woods, I've been hard at work developing new things for the website. Most recently: the photo gallery, which is dynamic so that the owner can upload and label the photos and "for-sale" items. I've been up late working on that and some other "geeky-fun" things. I *heart* web development.

I know I said i would never say this... But... Oh to be in highschool and know what I know now.

Well, this Christmas really creeped-up quietly and just kind-of happened. It amazes me to think back to Christmas as a kid and how the whole month of December would just drag and Christmas would take forever to happen. And when it did, it was the biggest day of the year. Now, it just seems like any other holiday or "special day" (like "camp opening" or "summer vacation"). I don't mean this in a bad way or anything, just matter-of-fact. Well, lest I get any more melodramatic, let me give a "quick" update.

I'm happy to report that I actually got Holiday Greeting Cards out and they even got out before Christmas! I say "I", but I should really say "We" because Barry had a huge part in getting them out... he successfully bugged me about them and helped me fight off my procrastination. Without him, I probably wouldn't have sent them again this year. This was the first time in three years that I got them out. I managed to keep the letter down to a single page and touched on the major highlights of the past four years... three of which included Barry. It was interesting to reflect on the past four years; when I summed it all up, it was really nice to remember all of the trips and other fun times that were had. Here's the text of the letter that was sent: ( Read more... )

Barry and I did our shopping Thursday before Xmas weekend. The stores were packed, but it was nice to get everything purchased before the weekend craziness set-in. We spent less money than we wanted, but more money than we should... Our finances have really be in ruins the past couple months... but I'm trying not to think about or dwell on it. Problem is, by not thinking about it, we aren't really doing anything to help correct it. I just keep holding-on to the hope that once Barry gets a job we'll be able to clear our debts and start saving money again.

Friday night was a holiday party for Takeover Lehigh Valley. Barry and I stopped at Brewworks for dinner first... it was crowded, but we enjoyed dinner at the bar and "primed ourselves" with some cocktails. Then we walked across the street to the party. It was a lot of fun -- saw some old friends and drank LOTS of martini's... too many martini's... OMG we were both so sick the next day... SO SO sick. ugh... Honestly, I think I'm still recovering...

Saturday night was a birthday dinner at Gregory's Steakhouse for Barry's "Pops". Sunday was brunch with my sister, brother-in-law, niece, and parents at Cracker Barrel.

Sadly, Barry's niece Ashley was (and still is) in the hospital since Friday. She had her wisdom teeth removed surgically, and an infection set in. Really bad... had surgery again on Monday to release and clean-out the infection. Apparently there's still some infection in her... I feel so bad for her. She's 18 and having to have to go through all this -- Christmas in the hospital. Ugh! :( We visited her several times to try and help cheer her up.

Monday we spent the day mainly in the hospital with Ashley. I helped Barry's mom cook a huge lobster-and-clams dinner for the family for Monday night. The meal was so good! Then we all opened presents and then took Ashley's presents to the hospital for her to open. Among several gifts that we got including gift cards, Barry and I got a coffee pot that grinds the beans from his mom and a full cookware set from his brother. Very nice indeed!

Christmas morning we woke up very early to take Barry's brother to the airport. (4:30am) Then we got ready and went over to my sister's for Christmas morning around the tree opening gifts. Got there around 7am or so. As always, my parents made sure that everyone had tons of gifts to open, and our process of taking-turns opening gifts lasted a couple hours. It was a very nice Christmas... Among the gifts: Barry and I got nice gift cards from my parents and a "charging station" from Pottery Barn from my sister. :) Marea and Chris made a nice ham dinner for us too. So much good food this holiday!

Yesterday and today have been "work" for me... things are relatively quiet in the office... but with year-end occurring frantically around me, the tension in the office is high. (I don't really get affected too much by year-end... my busy time is "start-of-year"...)

That's a recap of the Holiday Week. Looking forward to visiting Frank and David in NJ this weekend and then New Year's party here in the valley. Hopefully I'll get a chance to update again soon... but in-case not: Happy New Year everyone!

"Your cock smells like cake."

Me... to labelsdc... while sitting in his living room... while a rum cake is baking... and I'm drinking rum...

*yum*

LOL!

No... it wasn't anything to actually do with his cock... just funny comments while drunk and smelling yummy cake...

LOL!!

Gobble! Gobble! I hope your thanksgiving was good. We had a yummy one. :)

Posted using TxtLJ

Yesterday Barry and I went up to camp for the last time this year. We finalized the winterization of our camper and guest house. All is cleaned and put-away. We cleared the water lines and put a protective tarp over her. It was a little depressing closing for the season, but at the same time (as I stated in an entry a few weeks back), I'm ready for a change and looking forward to the off-season and having my weekends back at home.

Here's some pictures that we took of everything packed away... including a picture of the guest house that we built which I don't think I ever got a picture of it uploaded previously.

	The House that Paul Built Here's the guest house that we built. I'm standing on the deck after locking the door.
	All Wrapped-Up The camper and our FJ. (Barry's locking the shed in the back)
	Ready for Winter The back of our site, with the tool shed and guest house. The back of the fire-pit is in the center of the photo. Also, under the blue tarp is our firewood pile that we got two weeks ago, so it can sit all winter and season.

You know how when your driving a route that you know so well that you really aren't paying attention.  You're basically zoned-out and the car is driving itself.  Did you ever realize days after-the-fact that a new road sign has been put up somewhere on your route?

Life is like that sometimes.

I sometimes wonder if I'm zoned-out of life and just driving along without looking or thinking.  I sometimes wonder if there's a sign along the way that I've missed.  Am I on the right course still?  Did I miss my exit back there?  Is it too late to find another route?

There's no GPS system for our lives.