Archive for baseball

Taking a break from work…..

{ September 30, 2008 @ 7:49 pm } · { baseball, birthday, weekend }
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Hello, readers!  I haven’t been giving you guys much to work with lately.  I struggle a lot with trying to find interesting stuff to write about.  Sadly, my everyday life just is not exciting enough to really write home about.

I had a great weekend.  My dad and step-mom came to visit me.  Last week was a flurry of cleaning my house (yes, I am somewhat of a slob, internets), paining my house, and food gathering.  We had a really nice time together.  We went to see the Sox play on Saturday night.  I had hoped that would be the night they clinched it for the post season, but HA!  Um, no.  But we had a really good time.  Being at those games just makes me feel so purely happy, and I could never really explain why.  I just get so excited and I love to see their opening video and hear “Thunderstruck”.  Really gets my blood pumping, and puts a smile on my face.

So I REALLY hope my boys can pull off a big win tonight and keep going. 

Today is B’s birthday.  33.  Not a baby anymore.  I baked him a carrot cake.  I don’t really even like carrot cake, or any kind of spice cake, but it is his favorite.  So I gave it a go.  Hopefully it tastes good.  And I slathered enough delicious cream cheese frosting on top of it, so I may even be able to tolerate a piece myself.

As an aside, seriously, have you guys checked out Pioneer Woman??  If you haven’t, you definitely should.  She makes some delicious and easy food.  And has beautiful photography.  But if are on some type of low cal/fat diet?  Then yeah, maybe you don’t go look. 

I am seriously addicted to food blogs lately.  I can’t tell you how many of them I have in my Reader.  And trust me, it is a nasty little habit.  I look at pictures of fantastic looking food all day long.  Not helping me lose weight, that is for sure. 

Anyway, B’s birthday.  So tonight I’m going up to B’s house and taking him out to dinner.  A rare weekday get together for us.  Last night I spent a good hour and half wrapping up his gifts perfectly.  That’s when you know you have too much time on your hands – when you can spend that much time devoted to wrapping and ribbons.  I can’t help it – I always like my wrapping to look beautiful, even though it is a complete waste.  I blame it in part on the Container Store for having such lovely giftwrap.

I just realized how truly riveting this post must be.  Sorry, I’ll try to be more interesting.

Anyway, you want to know what I’ve been enjoying lately about blogging?  The true diversity of people who read a given blog.  Sometimes I get a comment from a new reader, and when I do, I always go check out their blog.  And I’ve had a number of them lately that are from places halfway around the globe, from people whose lives are so totally different from mine.  I just love that they can find something to relate to in my writing, and me in theirs.  I guess parts of the human experience is global, and it is easy to forget that sometimes. 

Ok, I better get back to work.

Easy like Sunday morning…

{ September 15, 2008 @ 4:01 am } · { babies, baseball, boobs, friends, indoor sports, love, sex }
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Oh, it is Sunday evening again.  I’m just here at home, trying to soak up the last little bit of the weekend. 

I’ve had a nice weekend.  Got to see my girlfriends, got to see my B.  What more could a girl ask for?

Friday evening I went up to B’s and spent the night.  We didn’tdo much – I’m always tired on Friday nights.  But we went out for some Mexican food (my favorite) and then went back home and just hung out.  B was feeling kind of…..well…randy.  We tried some new things.  Not necessarily all things that I would be dying to do again, but it was nice to have a break from the usual.  Then we just fell asleep and went to breakfast in the morning. 

Then I drove to my hometown (about 2.24 hours) to spend some time with my girls.  Last night I went together with one of my girlfriends, and then the two of us headed over to our friend Susie’s parent’s house.  Susie and her husband and two little girls were hanging out at her parent’s house, and they wanted us to come over and visit.  It was really nice.  I really love all of my friend’s parents (keeping in mind that I’ve known all of these girls for about 15 years), and I rarely get to see them.  We all stayed up until about 2:00 in the morning just chatting away. 

Today we went party hopping.  To two birthday parties.  For one-year olds.  So yeah, exciting stuff.  But with my girlfriends, it never really matters what the activity is – we always have so much fun in each others’ company.  So despite the deafening noise of all the small children in attendance at the parties, it was a good day.  I got to hold some babies, give some adorable baby gifts, eat some cake, and spend time with friends. 

And oh, being around all these babies did not help my baby fever.  I just love their sweet little faces and I do really so look forward to being a mother, when the time is right for me.  I try not to get anxious about it, because I know it will happen eventually, but is was easier to ignore before my age started with a 3. 

Anway, I got a LOT of questions this weekend about my relationship with B.  “How is it going?  Is it serious?  Is it good?  Just good, or is it great?  Really great?  Are you in love?  If he proposed to you right now, would you be happy?  Would you be happy and just say yes?  Or would you be REALLY happy and cry and say YES!  YES!! …….”   So on and so forth.  Ad nauseum.  That kind of talk always embarasses me.  I just don’t talk like that.  It just isn’t my style.  B knows how I feel about him and I have no trouble telling him, but I’m just not a gusher.  So my face always turns red and I feel like I’m in 6th grade when my grandparents asked me about my first “boyfriend”.  Silly, I know.  But I’m just private that way. 

Cut me some slack, I come from a broken home.

While I was driving back home today, some dude on the interstate was checking me out.  You know how you can tell that another car is trying to stay even with you?  Well, he was doing that, and I looked over and he waved at me.  Then he stayed about even with me for the next 10 miles, and when he went to exit, I looked over and he blew me a kiss.  I just laughed.  Totally stupid, I know, but hey, I don’t get that much attention, so I found it amusing.  I think he liked the way my seatbelt cuts right into the middle of my boobage, thereby accenting my already too large chest.  Trust me, it’s totally hot. 

Oh, and my Sox pulled it out of their asses to win tonight, after totally blowing it in the 8th inning.  So yay!  We need all the wins we can get at this point to stay ahead of the division.

Ok, time to prepare myself for yet another week of work.  *Sigh*

Monday already

{ July 7, 2008 @ 4:44 pm } · { baseball, food, life, weekend }
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I’ve been a little absent from here lately.  I’ve just been bored with myself, you know?  Nothing really to write about. 

Thank you to those of you who were looking for me!  One of my fears when I was a totally single girl was that something would happen to me and nobody would be able to figure it out, or at least not for a long while.  I’ve seen true crime shows where somebody’s mother or friend says, “it just isn’t like her not to call me 5 times a day, so I knew right away that something was wrong.”  That would not be me.  It IS like me not to call.

Anyway.

Had a nice long weekend.  But kind of boring, actually.  Seemed like everyone was out of town or had other plans, so B and I didn’t have much to do.  We did manage to make it to a cookout that one of B’s friends threw.  Here was my contribution:

My famous fruit pizza.  Yummy.  B’s friends told him to bring chips and dip, but I’m not the kind of girl who feels good showing up at a party with anything store-bought, let alone chips and dip (although don’t get me wrong, I am certainly not above eating chips and dip). 

We also managed to make it to some fireworks.  Sorry I don’t have a picture of that.  Despite the fact that my camera has a special setting just for fireworks, the pictures didn’t come out at all.  That was a disappointment, but no doubt it was operator error and not a problem with the camera.  Because a photographer?  I am not.

Then on Sunday we went to a Sox game.  Yay!  It was a good time.  Unfortunately, although the Sox score about 90% of their runs from home runs, neither of the Sox games I’ve been to this year have had any home runs.  So that was disappointing, but at least they won.  We had great seats, right behind home plate:

Ozzie (the coach) was checking me out:

Unfortunately, Crede was not:

Hello, Mr. Thome (walking sadly back to the plate after he just got screwed out of a hit because of stupid fan interference (dumbasses):

 That’s all I’ve got.   So it was a laid back weekend, but I’m ALWAYS ready for some extra time off work, so I’m definitely not complaining. 

Next up I’m going to tell you all about my upcoming vacation.  You guys are going to be jealous, for sure.  It’s a vacation I’ve always dreamed about.  (I know it can be hard to convey in writing, but trust me, there is a heavy dose of sarcasm here).

Batting A Thousand

{ June 12, 2008 @ 3:08 am } · { baseball, dating, love, neuroses, relationships, worries }
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So B called me after work tonight.  He was on his way to go out, I was out at the mall.  We were just chatting, and he was telling me that they (see my previous post) had a good time at the game.  And he was telling me how bad traffic was and how long it took them to get there.  Great, I thought, more time spent together.

So in my typical perfect-timing fashion, I told him that it makes me a little uncomfortable when he hangs out with other women alone. 

Silence.

“Rebecca is my co-worker,” he tells me, with the slightest touch of irritation and defensiveness.

“And yet……she is still woman, no?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Listen, I’m not saying that you can’t hang out with her or other women, I’m just saying it makes me a little uncomfortable, especially when it is a girl I don’t know.”

“But you’ve met Rebecca.”

“I know, but I don’t know her.  The only things I know about her is that she is newly divorced and she saw your man parts at the Christmas Party.”

So then he proceeds to tell me about her – about the work she does, and how his friend M fixed up her townhouse when her husband moved out, and how she has had a really bad year.  In addition to the her divorce, her 28 year old cousin passed away from a brain tumor, and her aunt passed away also from cancer about a year later.  So she is going through a rough time.

So, yeah, I’m an asshole.  A selfish paranoid asshole.  Here I am begrudging this poor girl a good time out with my boyfriend. 

But really, all I was thinking was that all of the facts that he was giving me about Rebecca are not the kind of things I need to know in order to feel comfortable with them being alone together.  

But after that I just let it drop because like I said, I wasn’t trying to say that he shouldn’t have women friends (although I would be happier if he didn’t have SINGLE women friends that he hang out with alone).  I suppose there was no point in even telling him that it bothered me a little, but what can I say, sometimes I like to hear myself talk.   Sometimes I even like to hear myself whine.  Kinda like right now.

Ok, I’m done.  Oh, and Kara, SF, and RWG?   Thanks for the comments on my last post.  It always helps to get input from others so that I know I’m not totally nuts/paranoid and what might be an adult way to handle the situation. 

Getting to Second Base Redux

{ June 11, 2008 @ 4:58 am } · { baseball, dating, love, neuroses, relationships, worries }
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So tonight my boy is on a date with another woman. 

Ok, so technically it isn’t a date.  He’s at a baseball game with a girl from work.  We’ll call her Rebecca.  Anyway, last night I was talking to him and he mentioned that he was going to a game tonight.  I expressed suprise, I wasn’t aware he had a game tonight.  He said, yes, I told you that.  I said, well, who is going with you?  And he told me Rebecca.  Oh, I said.  Yes, I’m very articulate. 

It bugs me a little bit.  Don’t get me wrong, I trust B.  I do.  I truly don’t think he would ever cheat on me.  But there is one little tiny part of my brain that says, “you never know….”  And it’s not even so much that I worry he would cheat on me so much as I worry that he might enjoy spending time with another girl more, and ditch me somewhere down the line.  I know this is ridiculous.

Mostly the problem is that I don’t really know Rebecca that well.  Here’s what I know so far:  she is newly divorced and she saw B’s weenus at the office Christmas party.  I exaggerate a little- she just walked in on him in the men’s restroom.  It was a story that I didn’t find particularly amusing at the time, and I don’t now.  Anyway, the point is that there is so much I don’t know, such as what exactly is their relationship and if she has any romantic interest in my man.  And, she gets to see him everyday, and I don’t.  He has this whole life that I’m not a part of, and so I think in many respects the people he works with and his friends know him much better than I do.

I had this same issue last year when B went to a game with another girl, Katherine (I’d link to that post if I weren’t too lazy to find it).  If he went to a game alone with Katherine now, I wouldn’t care at all because I know her a lot better now.    If it is a girl he is friends with that he knew before me (which is pretty much everyone), then I assume they would have gotten together before I entered the picture if they wanted to.  But Rebecca was married before, so this is a little different.

Anyway, it really is no big deal, but it is bugging me a little bit.  But my problem is this – I could talk to him about it, but what result am I looking for?  I don’t necessarily mean to say that he shouldn’t go to a baseball game with Rebecca (or any other woman for that matter).  I certainly don’t mean to say that he isn’t allowed to have female friends.   I definitely don’t want to be that girl.  So I don’t know.  I’ll probably be over it by the time I talk to him, but I might just tell him it sketches me out a bit and leave it at that. 

But I still don’t know (a la “When Harry Met Sally”) if women and men can ever be just friends.  Is there always some sexual tension from one side or the other?  I don’t have any male friends that I hang out with alone.  All of my guy friends are the husbands of my girl friends.  I have ManWhore, but he doesn’t live around here, so I don’t ever see him.  And if we did hang out, he would forever be trying to get into my pants. 

Anyway, good night.

Weekend in Review

{ May 28, 2008 @ 1:32 am } · { baseball, dating, family, love, relationships, travel }
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I love a long weekend.

It was hard to go back to work today, but on the other hand, tomorrow is already Wednesday, and that’s not so bad. 

I had a nice holiday weekend.  On Saturday B and I went to see my boys play with my friend and her husband.  It was a nice day at the ballpark, but the game was kind of boring.  My Sox didn’t score at all and the Angels only scored twice.  But we had a good time. 

Here’s my favorite player:

On Sunday morning B and I went to his parents’ place, which is about 2 hours away, out in the sticks.  Prior to this weekend I hadn’t spent much time with his parents at all (we’re talking hours, total), so I was a little nervous.  We were staying the night and coming home on Monday.

It was kind of awkward.  B’s parents are kind of…….boring.  I hate to say that, I really do.  They are very nice people, but really.  Even conversation was challenging.  They don’t play games, cards, nothing.  We basically just sat around looking at each other for much of the time.  I was really trying to make conversation, but it wasn’t easy.  Now I understand why B doesn’t go visit for more than one day at a time. 

Also, I find the whole morning routine a little awkward when staying with someone new.  I didn’t end up going out and visiting with his parents while I had bed head and morning breath, because B got up and into the shower, and then I got up when he was done and took a shower.  But, being a girl, I took quite a while to get ready (I’m not a wash-and-go kind of girl), and I felt bad that they were all waiting on me.  But I am who I am, I guess, and that much hasn’t changed in 30 years, and I don’t think it will now. 

On Saturday B and I were talking about our jobs when B mentioned that he might apply for a certain job that is about 30 miles north of where he lives (which is about 40 miles north of where I live).  He said that he would probably want to move a little farther north, and talked about an area in which one of his friends lives.  But, he said, he would probably have to get a roommate.

“You don’t want a roommate,” I said, “do you?”

“Well….it could be you.”

Oh.  Well.  Hmmm…..

I told him that it could be me, but not while I still have the job that I have, because it would be too much of a commute.

Something to think about for the future, I guess.  It would be a big step, though.  To go from seeing each other only on the weekends to living together.  I usually think about moving up there closer when I get a new job (not that I’ve been doing much to make that happen), but still having my own space and ease into it. 

It is all in the timing, I guess, how every thing works out.  Depends on when he gets a new job, when I get a new job, or he gets a new place, because me moving into his current condo is not an option.  I would never fit.  So we’ll see.

On the other hand, I’m not getting any younger, so maybe I need to quit easing and start moving things along. 

Oh, and I got a new bedding set that I think is really pretty:

So now I’m going to have to paint my bedroom again, because that is not going to look too pretty with my blue walls. But it is so clean and fresh and just a lot less busy than my old comforter. And that makes me happy.

Baseball, Flights, and Losers

{ May 1, 2008 @ 4:50 am } · { baseball, dating, family, goals, love, random thoughts, relationships, travel }
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So B and I took Friday off and went to DC for a long weekend. My mom, stepdad and sister live there, so we stayed with them. B planned the weekend because his Cubs were playing the Nats at their new stadium, so my mom got tickets through work for Friday and Saturday nights’ games.  Initially my mom had just gotten tickets for the Saturday game.  I had already told B, no, we are not going to both games – there are plenty of other things to do in DC, but my mom was really worried the game on Saturday would get rained out, so she got tickets for Friday so poor little B wouldn’t have to go an entire trip with no baseball.

Following is a bit of conversation between my mom and I at the game.  Keep in mind that my sister and I played softball for years, so she is not new to softball/baseball games.  But it has been a long time.  Here you go:

(Mom was complaining that baseball games are boring, and one of the Nats just got the first home run of the game):

Mom:  Oh, FINALLY somebody got a home run.

Me:  Mom, it is only the bottom of the first inning.

Mom:  Still, I’ve been waiting forever.  Hockey is way more exciting than this.

(And here, in about the 3rd or 4th inning):

Mom:  Hey, [J], how long are the halfs?

Me:  Huh?  Ma, this is not being timed.  

Mom:  No, I mean, when is halftime?

Me:  Are you new or something?  This is BASEBALL, there is no halftime. 

Mom:  Oh, that’s right.  This really doesn’t move as fast as hockey.

Me:  Mother, enough about the hockey already!

 

Anyway, we had a good time.  This is the first time that B and my family have been able to spend any real time in each others’ company (and now that I think about it, it is also the most consecutive time he has ever spent in MY company).  I think it went well.  B is very easygoing, and he is easy to please.  The weather is beautiful, so we were able to do some sightseeing, which I’ve done before, but it is always nice to do again.   Also we did some Wii playing (tennis and bowling), and I’m ashamed to say that I am too out of shape even to play the Wii.  My tennis arm hurt for a couple of days, which is pretty pathetic for a girl who was the captain of and the top seeded player on her tennis team.  But hey, I’m not as young as I used to be.  What can you do.

B and I had some tense moments at the airport.  As I’ve mentioned before, we have very different traveling styles.  B is a nervous flier, and he likes to be at the airport at least 2 hours early.  I, on the other hand, prefer to go at the last minute (partly because I don’t want to sit there and wait and partly because I’m just always late, everywhere I go).  Usually when we travel, I just go along with B’s plan, because both times we have flown, he has paid for my flight with his miles, so I feel like I should accommodate him. 

But on Sunday afternoon, I was just running behind, and as I was trying to get ready, he kept telling me, “babe, we really need to go”.  The second time (as I was packing), I said, “what the hell do you think I’m doing here, just fucking around?”  And I didn’t use my nicest voice.  So I was kind of irritated.  When we got to the airport, through security, and sitting on the tram to take us to the other side of the airport to the gate, I told him “[f]or the record (we attorneys are always concerned about “the record”), I have never missed a flight.  Not ever.”  He, in turn, told me “I just don’t like to cut it close….for the record.”  He didn’t use his nicest voice either.    So I silent treatmented him for a while (I know, so mature).  I don’t think he minded.

But by the time we got on the plane, we were both over it.

In other news, B and I and my Mom and Stepdad decided to have a Biggest Loser Couples Edition competition between the four of us.  All of us would like to lose some weight and just be healthier in general, and wanted to have an incentive to do so.  So tomorrow it begins and it ends on Labor Day.  I’m not so much looking forward to it, but being a little slimmer for summer would not be a bad thing.  Today I lived it up and I had a burrito for lunch (and the other half for dinner) and then walked uptown for some Cold Stone.  Mmmmmmm. 

So now I’m trying to dream up some healthy meals to cook.  This is tricky, since I’m not crazy about a lot of vegetables.  I’m better than I used to be, but still not that great.  If any of you have ideas, I’d love to hear them. 

Hopefully this competition won’t cause problems for B and I.  Already he told me that he thinks I’m the weakest link (note – I just read through this post about 3 times before I realized I had that written as “linkest weak”) ,  because I don’t work out regularly like he does.  I asked him what was so great about working out 4-5 times a week and never losing any weight (like he does)?  How does that make him better than me?  But I think it will be ok.  He and I like to cook together on the weekends when I’m there, so we can work on making healthier choices and think of some fun physical activities to do together (besides the obvious, of course).   And if we win, we’ll have a little more cash in our pockets!  I’m ready to bring my A-game, and hopefully B is too.   

Anyway, Happy Thursday!