What's the deal?

It's 11 days into November and I only have three blog posts. Although it's fun to get comments and know other people are reading, I mostly do this blog to keep my writing skills sharp -- even if they don't seem so at times.

It's not like nothing has been going on in my life, or I'm amazingly busy, but I just can't seem to find the time/motivation to write! I'm required to be at the the computer at all times for work and with a packed google reader, and the TV on, writing in my blog serves as one too many distractions to get the job done. It can be so hard sometimes to work from home!

(I should say right now I am in flannel pajama pants under my blanket, so ... it could be worse.)

So I thought, since I don't have any major blog topics on the horizon, I'd touch on a few things going on in my life, based off my tags.

• Work: For some reason, my work weeks seem to fly by, but at the same time, I feel like I don't get much time off. Is that weird? Maybe it's because, by traditional work week standards, I'm already at "Wednesday" by Monday. So today is already Thursday for me. The weekends don't really feel like weekends because ... well, they aren't. Fortunately, we're more than halfway through the college football and NFL seasons, so relief is on the horizon!
• Wedding: While last week was good because I booked the florist, videographer and super secret vendor, it took a step back when my bridesmaids got their dresses and they didn't fit! Two of them are busting (literally) out of the tops. This Thursday I am taking them to Sueno, a bridal shop in RI that's supposed to be the best at these things ... and also very pricey. I've offered to pay for the alterations, but I'm wondering how much I'm willing to pay -- where it's worth it over returning the dress and starting over. UGH!!!!

         I've also been majorly procrastinating on the STDs. I want to send them out so I can show them to you all!

         How could I forget: WE BOOKED THE HONEYMOON!!!!! Six days in England, two in Scotland. Will give you more details as time goes on, for now we just got the flights.

• Jeff: He's good. :)
• Sports: How bout them 6-3 Patriots?! This Sunday Jeff and I got a chance to go out to watch the game for a bit, which I usually can't do because I work. (I had the most OMG delish Buffalo Chicken Sandwich, that now I can't wait to have again. I'm so sad.) I'm optimistic about New England's chances to win the AFC East, but when did this become such a solid division? Jeff and I were seriously discussing the Dolphins chances of going 10-6. 10-6?!?! They won 1 game last year! A win over the Jets on Sunday should go far towards the push for the title, but losing Adalius Thomas didn't help. It feels like we are injury doomed this year. (Also: Whhyyyyyyy Ty Law on the Jets? Come on!)
• Weekend in Review: Friday night, Jeff and I went to the Celtics-Bucs game in Boston, using tickets Jeff's parents had gotten me for my birthday. It was dually entertaining because the Celts won, and these dudes in our row started a fight with each other. Entertaining stuff which led to the quote of the night: "I spent $175 on that jacket!!" Yeah, they were idiots. Saturday I covered a game for the Globe in the afternoon. I'll be covering a few things this month, as part of a series I'm calling 'Stories to Finance My Wedding.' It's high school playoff stuff, but I think it has broader appeal. As soon as my game was finished I had to drive to Bristol, getting lost finding my hotel, and ended up 10 minutes late for work. I got off around 2:45 a.m., decided I was awake enough to just drive back, checked out of my hotel and ended up home around 4:45 a.m. Sometimes, I just like being ... home. 
• Weight loss: Well Lord knows I'm trying, but I Lord knows I could try harder. I can't seem to hit this one GOAL I've had for months now. There's been weight loss, but not as much as I've hoped. Now that we're coming up on the holidays, my best hope is to lose 1-2 more pounds or at least try and maintain, then hit it HARD after New Year's. I *think* my gym offers a few classes at 9 a.m. each day for free, which I hadn't realized before. Part of that will be trying to push myself to go to bed earlier so I will have enough energy to participate in the morning. I'll keep you updated.

 

'Hello' FAIL

I got this e-mail from Qdoba. At first I thought it was an APB wondering where I've been since I haven't stopped by in almost four days (I eat there a LOT). But no, it was a 'thank you' e-mail for joining the mailing list ... score, free chips!

But, what happened on this hello?

Hadlo Werchadlo? HAHAHA FAIL.

Sticker shock

I know you've been DYING all day to hear what I thought about last night's election ... but first, this post I saved from yesterday...

*****

I am writing this post on Nov. 4, and if you are seeing this, it means Barack Obama was elected president of the United States.

Why am I writing this? It's a confession. It's to purge my embarrassment, my shame, my disappointment.

I didn't vote.

I've been reading blogs and news all day, facebook statuses telling me to go vote, who voted and who they voted for. And I can tell you this for sure -- as good as my friends and family undoubtedly felt voting for the next president of the US today, or in the days before this, is as equally bad as I feel.

I wish I could give you a good excuse, but I don't have one. I attempted to register in Mass., but found out I didn't have the appropriate documents. I held out hope that I could still vote in Rhode Island, the state I voted in 2004 and am licensed in ... and while I determined it was technically possible for me to do so, I'd have to submit an address I no longer lived at. I didn't want to risk voter fraud.

None of these are good excuses, because I could have resolved these issues if I wasn't so lazy sometimes. You would have thought my passion for this election would tip the scales, but ... I don't know what happened. I can only PROMISE that it didn't happen again ... and hope that I wasn't the one vote that mattered.

I want you to know that I wish I had voted in Massachusetts, as they had some really interesting questions on the ballot (Elimination of the state income tax (NO), Legalization of up to one ounce of marijuana (PROBABLY NO) and Elimination of the state's dog racing industry (PROBABLY YES). I would have voted for Barack, obviously, and am hoping at 3:20 p.m. on Nov. 4, that those who did get their shit together, did. 

I know there will be a lot of you who will be disappointed in me and I don't blame you.

But I'll be back to vote Obama in 2012.

*******

Clearly, I was in a pretty somber mood yesterday afternoon, feeling very guilty about not voting. As the day continued and the election results rolled in, and the good news was coming, I started to shake off some of the sadness. And then the official news was in ... Obama won!

I was tearing up during Obama's speech, thinking how proud I was for others picking up the slack for my wayward self. Now that we've put the silliness of the Bradley effect behind us, hopefully this victory can go a long way in healing old wounds.

I thought McCain's consolation speech was dignified and classy, qualities I admired about him before he got in over his head in this election. Hopefully, we'll still have that old John McCain when the dust settles.

Obama's victory speech -- well, that spoke for itself. What struck me was the quietness of it (I saw you, Howard Dean, in the audience), the calm, the even-temper. I love how he acknowledged those that didn't vote for him -- which was just a few of my 'friends' according to my facebook (And to you guys, I understand why you didn't vote for Obama, I do. I know some of you are staunchly pro-life and have family in the military. And I really don't feel that Obama will let you down.)

I am so glad to be soon saying goodbye to a president who has less than 30 percent approval rating and ushering in a president who had more than 65 million people believe in him. 

I was originally a Hilary supporter, and I understand how African Americans are feeling, because I would have been as equally proud to see a woman achieve this role. We still have time, but I'm fully behind Obama for the next four years.

Today, I've been soaking it all in (OK -- and Jeff and I saw a movie and got lunch) and am eager to see what Obama will do in the first 100 days.

As a quick aside -- I'm disappointed in what has happened in California, Arkansas, Florida and other states who, in California's case, awarded rights to chickens and took them away from humans. It really is sad.

Anyways -- that's enough seriousness from me!! I am no politico. Back to the regular Emily, who's a little happier, tomorrow.

... and they're so re-wearable!

I can tell you, without a doubt, that handling the whole bridal party situation is one of the most stressful things in planning this wedding. And that's not because my bridesmaids (My cousin Sarah, my best friend since middle school Katie, and my college roommate Meg) are difficult people -- quite the opposite. In fact, they're probably the three nicest, kindest people I know.

So that's what makes it so difficult. I don't want to be a pain. I don't want to "require" them to do anything. I don't want to be a brideszilla. I swear!

I really wanted to find a dress option they'd be happy with. Now, despite my pained statements above, and that I'm aware it's easier for a girl to pick out her own dress if I was REALLY worried about it ... I didn't want to do that. I wanted them to look like the bridesmaids, not just guests at the wedding. I wanted people to know these were the three special women I chose to stand next to me on a very, very important day.

I organized a shopping trip yesterday to the Wrentham Outlets. I didn't really want to deal with a bridal shop because I didn't want to worry about the time it takes to ship things from there, alterations (which they always seem to nail you with..) and the fact that bridal store bridesmaids dresses always look... so bridesmaidy. I was hoping if we bought it from a retail store there would be a higher percent chance they would be re-wearable.

So I had a three option color palate: sage green, bright blue or hot pink. And since there wasn't an exact shade I was trying to match, I figured I would be OK finding a few options.

Well.. not exactly. We walked around in a few stores where there were some really ugly, trampy dresses. (Katie tried on a pink one that was so short, it was practically a shirt). 

We headed over to BCBG which I had scouted when I went to Wrentham a few weekends ago. I thought they might have some options there... and they did!

This one looks better in the picture than it actually did on Katie. All three of my bridesmaids have tremendous figures, but for some reason this dress made Katie look frumpy!

This one wasn't really in the running, but Katie wanted to try it on anyway. Haha. If I was going to agree to pink, and I wasn't crazy about that, I wanted HOT pink, not bubblegum pink. Oh well.

This is the winner I think!!!! Not exactly the shade of blue I was looking for, and I had originally wanted shorter dresses, but this looked so nice on them it was hard to ignore. Katie's dress (middle) in this pic is one size too small and Sarah's (right) is one size too big... and Meg's is just right! They are slightly more than I wanted them to spend, but they seemed ok with it. They are going to order them and hope the in between size fits!

... and I think they are rewearable! Right? Right!?!?! Ahh... the wish of every bride.

After bridesmaids dress shopping, we split up to head to our next destination, and Meg and I stopped off at Spike's -- where I haven't been in forever. Oh hi, T-bird chicken. Yummmm!

I can't write much more because the rest of the afternoon was spent on a secret mission (just a secret from Jeff) before I took the girls to my venue because they hadn't seen it before. The sun was setting on the beach and it looked so nice.

Less than nine months...

Friday's good for bloggin'

My faithful readers and my two faithful commenters -- I'm sorry it's been so long since my last blog. The fact is, not much went on in my life this week -- unless someone wants to hear about my doctor's appointment on Wednesday! Didn't think so.

Yesterday was my second yoga class and the teacher seemed surprised I came back. Haha. I did much better this time with a handful of cheerios and an apple for breakfast instead of nothing. They still couldn't get the room that hot and I definitely feel sore again today, but not as bad as last week where I couldn't raise my arms for three days.

Immediately after yoga, I raced home to get showered and dressed and head up to Amherst where I was going to be a guest speaker in my coworker's Sports Journalism class. Steve, our part-timer is a journalism professor at UMass Amherst and wanted to bring in my boss, Matt, and I to talk about what it's really like in the journalism world.

So they put a spotlight on us and a cigarette in our hands ... well, no, not really. I was pretty happy to hear that there were four women in the class of 13, even though only three showed up. Matt and I ran through our career tracks, and then they started asking some questions.

What's it like to be a woman in the sports journalism world and do you face a lot of sexism?

Clearly, I was going to get this question, so I was prepared with a good answer, a lot of which I ranted about before. But I broke it down like this, (some of you  might have heard this before):

People would call the Boston Globe sports section all day long to ask random sports questions (Who won the Heisman in 1981? What is Paul Pierce's three-point shooting percentage?) I don't know why they called, or if they thought we had a giant book of answers, but they did, so we would do our best to answer those questions.

Eight times out of 10, it would go down without an issue. Then one time out of 10 it would be: 

"Sports, this is Emily"

"Can I talk to a guy?"

Umm... no, you can't. Sometimes, they'd give in. Sometimes, they'd hang up and take their chances that a guy would answer. Sometimes they'd yell at me, insisting I put a man on the phone. One day, I snapped.

"Sports, this is Emily"

"Is there a guy there I can talk to?"

"No, but I can help you"

"I don't want you to help me, I want to talk to a man."

"Why do you need a man, why won't you let me help you?"

"Because only a man would know the answer to this question."

(pause)

"Well, you're a man, and you don't know the answer. So why don't you give me a try?"

I guess my angst had radiated throughout the newsroom as it erupted in cheers when I handed down my rebuttal. As you might suspect, the men and women I dealt with at the Boston Globe sports section were not sexist whatsoever, and if they were, they never exhibited that in front of me.

So that was one out of ten calls. What was the other call like?

"Sports, this is Emily"

Then came the question... and the answer.

"Wow. Thank you. Can I send you flowers? Will you go on a date with me?"

I told the kids this and then told them the truth: while there is a lot of sexism out there, it mostly comes from coaches and players moreso than the people you work with. In San Diego I was on a sports staff that consisted entirely of female reporters. (I think we might have been the only one in the country, honestly.)

Matt then jumped in and said that he tries to keep his staff diverse, but that it's not where it needs to be. Bottom line: things could be better, but are getting better. I believe that.

What was your coolest moment in journalism?

Most sports journalists you know, who cover professional sports, are completely jaded from meeting professional athletes. They've done it a million times, it's ho-hum for them. Well, I've only covered one professional sporting event (New England Patriots vs. San Diego Chargers, Divisional Playoff, January 14, 2007) and it's one of the top 10 coolest thing I've ever done. (You can stop if you've heard this one before...)

I told them how nervous and anxious I was. How I didn't want to leave my seat in the press box. How the game ended on a last minute field goal and I got my assignment about 30 seconds before I headed to the press elevator down to the locker room. How I was standing in the locker room corridor waiting for the doors to open, standing next to this woman who looked SO FAMILIAR, though I couldn't put my finger on it. (It was, of course, Gisele. I thought it was, but the news about them dating didn't come out until the next day, because apparently some 40-year old sports writer knows models better than me. So how was I to know it was really her? Also, why do we always think super models are so much taller than us regular folk? They aren't.)

Anywhoo, I told them, truthfully, that when the doors opened to the locker room, and I bolted in, the nekkidness did take me aback. Because there was a lot of it. And ... it wasn't pretty. But! Musn't dwell! Have a job to do! Find Reche Caldwell! Even though you really don't know what he looks like! And the lockers only go up to ... 60? Crap! He's 80-something! Is he around this corner? Nope, that's the shower! People do not want you in there!

Oh man, it was hectic. I finally found Reche in the press room, and got my story (http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2007/01/15/return_was_worth_wait_for_caldwell/

) you can hear me on the video at the 4:20ish mark too.

There's more to that story, including a bit with Tom Brady that makes most people laugh but I do not wish to type here... ;) The class seemed to enjoy it though. Because let's face it, it is cool, and it's what most of them are striving to encounter.

Later, I told the class about how my interview with the world wide leader was seven hours long, and they seemed stressed by that. Then I told them how little I got paid when I started, and they got even more stressed. Then I told them how I work weekend, nights and holidays, and they seemed apocalyptic. I tried to reassure them... see, it's a ring! I'm getting married! I kept a life, I have friends, you can do it! But the bottom line is, if they can't get past that, then they can't be journalists. (On the way out, one girl said: 'Well, now I'm discouraged.' Oops.)

We also drove into them -- hard -- about how important it is to make contacts in the journalism world. I hoped they would get the hint and ask for my card, but none of them did. I was so disappointed!!! And only one asked Matt for his card, although a few hung around after class to chat with us.

My favorite part, at the end of class, one of the kids hung around to ask a question. He says to Matt: "I didn't want to put you on the spot, but how exactly did she (me) get this job?" It sounds rude, but he didn't mean it that way. He meant, how did someone with her experience level impress you? So I got to hear him talk about how awesome I am. Kidding!!!

Then Steve (the prof.) took us out to dinner and I was headed home. Jeff and I are taking it easy tonight, entertaining trick or treaters (I hope!!). Tomorrow, I'm taking my bridesmaids on a dress and secret mission extravaganza! before I have to work at 6.

There. That blog post long enough for ya?

Nine years since the last one...

Living in California was kind of rough around birthday time. As much as I love Jeff, and he's all I need sometimes, I craved being around my friends. The first year in California, it was just Jeff and I. By the second year we had made some friends, and had plans for a birthday dinner ... then SoCal started to burn to the ground. It's a story for another time, but the bottom line is I was evacuated from my apartment the night before my birthday, stayed up for 40 consecutive hours and spent my birthday 'night out' wondering if my apartment was burned to the ground.

So all in all ... not the greatest birthday.

This year I was secretly hoping for something more. My birthday was Wednesday, and I had to work until 8, so Jeff and I just got a quick dessert and a drink then headed home. Thursday night, I hung out with my dad and my brothers, going out to dinner then a movie (Side note: Eagle Eye... one of the most ridiculous movies I've ever seen. PS... why are Shia LeBeouf's lips always wet? Ewww.)

No, I don't know why my brother Mike is making that ridiculous face. (Side note #2: Mike promised, as a wedding gift to me, that he'd lose 75-100 pounds for my wedding. When I saw him from afar for the first time in a month, I almost didn't recognize him. He's doing amazing :)

The plan all week was for Jeff to take me out to dinner on Friday night. It seemed he didn't want to involve my friends, so I was trying to organize something for Saturday night. When all my friends shot down my "Wanna do something Saturday?" with a bunch of short "No"s, I was part hurt and part curious. This wasn't like them.

The clues started to trickle in from there. Jeff cleaning the house. Jeff being specific about times for dinner. Jeff checking his watch every few minutes. Jeff losing his keys. And most of all: Jeff driving 25 down a road he normally drives 50 down. I pretended not to notice, enjoyed my amazing dinner at this Mexican place where I got a huge margarita and an even bigger bowl of guacamole (ESPN, take note). I was ready to be either slightly disappointed or amazingly happy when I pulled into the driveway... and saw a head peaking out of my window. 

Jeff told me to go ahead of him into the house, and I didn't even bother putting the key in the door as I suspected it might be open. I walk into my living room and there are my friends, sitting in the dark with ... are those cardboard cutouts of my face? Over their faces? Is this the Strangers? I almost ran out ... but I flipped on the lights and got a big "SURPRISE!" from all my besties ... Justin, Pat, Katie, Meg, Troy, Grimey, my brother Mike ... and eventually Zach when he showed up a half hour later. (Andrew is in Cali ... I'm sure he would have liked to come!)

So after hugs and big smiles from me I was able to chat with my friends on how they'd been able to pull it off (Katie was the big schemer I heard). There were brownies (made by Meg), ice cream, snacks, gifts of wine, flowers and games (thanks Grimey, Katie, Meggie, Troy, Zach) and a bottle of vodka from Pat and Justin. Haha. There's more liquor in this house then there ever has been.

I showed some of the group my wedding dress ... and they were awed I think. Then after an hour or so it seemed we should probably 'do' something. Katie suggested charades, which got a collective "Ehhh..." from the group, but Katie and I know better.

Let me tell you something: if you are in a big group of your friends, charades is fun. It is never not fun. It is your friends acting out the ridiculous things you write down, getting confused, making fools of themselves. Still, we had to fight initial backlash. We split into two teams, Team Cranston East: Me, Katie, Justin, Pat, and Team: Not Cranston East (?), except for my brother: Jeff, Grimey, Zach and Mike (Meg and Troy had to leave early to drive to New York). Here are some of my favorite pics.

Thinking of clues. (I swear my living room isn't as small as it looks)

Jeff saying, "Close"

See Grimey, I told you charades was fun.

My brother was getting a workout.

Justin and I: Always on the same wavelength ... sometimes.

Katie played Happy Birthday for me on the harmonica.

He can plan a 25th b-day surprise ... can't he help more on the wedding? ;)

Now with scary adult baby Emily face ... that Justin drew on. Sigh.

Nine years ago, I had another surprise party. It was for my 16th birthday. Unlike last night, I was totally surprised and not expecting it. These three were there with me then, and still with me on my 25th. I'm pretty lucky to keep friends like that through almost a decade, different colleges, moving to California, in different states.

Once more with Justin looking at the camera, and Katie asleep.

Overall, we had an amazing time. It's pretty cool when you have a group of friends, none of whom live within 45 minutes of your house, drive all the way out to hang at your house for your birthday. I never take these people for granted. And I can't wait for them to spend another special day with me nine months from today!!!!

Downward facing doofus

Alright, well Yoga was utter FAIL this morning like you all might have suspected. But like the opposite of what George Constanza might say, "I was NOT raised to give up!"

So I arrive all early and stuff and quickly realize everyone knows each other = everyone has taken this yoga class before. Like I've said before, I'm not really concerned about what I look like in front of strangers, but it was still kind of awkward.

The class starts and the heat lamps are blazing and I'm trying my best to balance ... and it quickly becomes apparent that my wrists are not enjoying this class. Not one bit. Every time I go down on them, I feel like they are being stabbed with knives. Not good. 

Getting to about the middle of the class, we're still doing arm stuff and breathing work, and I don't think I'm doing it right because I have the overwhelming feeling like I'm going to either pass out or yack. (The teacher of the class had sent out an email yesterday saying "Yoga is best practiced on an empty stomach." So even though I KNOW that I get sick exercising without eating anything, I go without anyway. I spoke to her after class and she said I could eat a banana or something, just not a FULL meal. Point taken) I get down on the mat and start swigging water, estimating how close the nearest trash can is ... woah. Eventually I felt better and got back in the swing of things.

The leg work was a lot easier for me, naturally, and I actually think I was OK on the balance stuff considering it was my first time. About 2/3 of the way through the session though the AC kicked on full blast to balance out the heat and I ended up cold by the end of class.

So positives: I think I can get better at this, the teacher is really nice, and no one seemed to be visably snickering at me. Also, there were only two "OMMMMMM"s and one Namaste!, which is always fun to say.

The negatives: Wrist pain, wrist pain, wrist pain. Mild embarrassment. 

Overall, I'll definitely be back. Also, it seems the teacher wants to extend the class to an hour and a half for what I presume is no extra $$ so that's cool as well. Bonus! I'll keep you informed of my progress.

****

Back to last night, my berfday. Well, I got a record number of facebook happy birthdays, I am clearly one of the most popular people on the internet. Bummer was I had to work until 8, but then Jeff an I headed out to Applebees (not a lot of options around here) for a big margarita and a brownie sundae. And those are really the only three things I need in life :)

Oh! And he bought me this superfly jacket I had spotted in the Barney's Outlet store at Wrentham a few weeks ago. Even at outlet price it was still too expensive... but ch-check it out!

Oh yeah, that's me in the jacket... and my yoga pants. Did I mention I'm a fashion FAIL too? Oh well, I think the jacket's great! Thanks babe :)

Tonight my dad and my brothers are coming up from Rhodey to take me out to dinner, so that's cool and Friday night is more margaritas with my hubby to be! (Oh by the way, he bought be a birthday card 'To my wife' and plugged in 'soon to be' before every mention. Needless to say, it was a big AWWW moment for me!)