I'm home today, not because I am sick but because she is sick.

 We crate her at night and she usually does very well.  Every once in awhile I hear a little whine but this morning I heard some very audible whines. 

It was before 6, I jump out of bed and can smell poop as soon as I open the bedroom door.  I lift up the blanket and there is my little princess with diarrhea e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.  I rush her outside and once we come back inside I start the clean-up.  Oh my lord.

I was dry heaving all over the bathroom. Ick. Ick. Ick.  Emma then proceeded to vomit on the floor and of course we are out of paper towels. 

I took the day off.  With a morning like that, I can't imagine what the day would bring.  I also want to make sure Emma is okay and isn't really sick.  I think she ate something funny.  She is now sleeping on the couch with her little feets in the air.  Ahhhhh, dogs.

In my relationship, I am not the cook.  I've never really enjoyed cooking.  The prep time, the mess, and frankly, my food usually doesn't turn out that great.  Since going vegan it's gone downhill.  Matt is an excellent cook and I always feel like my food would be compared to his and there is no comparison.

Matt has had a case of the grumbles lately about me not cooking.  We both work full time so cooking doesn't fall on either party as their responsibility. But, I've decided in the interest of being a good girlfriend, I will cook once a week.  It may not be pretty, it may not be good but at least I will have tried.

I may "chicken" sandwiches on Sunday, you can't really mess those up, and I felt proud of myself.  Vegan cooking is no easy task and Matt makes it look so easy-and good.

My employers are season ticket holders for the Red Sox.  They have tickets for every single home game and usually give them away to clients, brokers, and so on.  I was chatting with Matt last week trying to figure out if they ever let their paralegals go to the game.  Much to my surprise, on Tuesday afternoon, my boss comes over and kind of whispers, "Would you like to go to the game tonight"?.

Tuesday night was the night Matt had to work until 10:30 pm.  Of course!  I called him in a hurry to see if he could get out early, fake sick, quit, whatever.  You don't pass up these seats. 

He managed to weasel out of work and we enoyed the game, sitting 6 rows back from the dirt.  I've been to numerous games but something about sitting so close made the game that much better.  You could hear the crack of the bat and not even see the ball flying because it happened so fast.

Even though we lost by 1 run, the game was still awesome. 

With my design inspiration came a new addiction.  I had heard rumblings around of this thing called Pinterest but never checked it out.

I have now checked it out and IT'S AMAZING. It's pretty thing after pretty thing with a whole lot of inspiration.  I already need a bigger apartment to fit all the DIY stuff I want to do. And now I need a baby and a wedding so I can start getting my creativity out!  Baby shouldn't happen for a few more years but that wedding could come anytime now.  (As Matt is rolling his eyes)

Kate and I took our boys to go see Bridesmaids last night.  We laughed so much when we saw it we knew we had to take them. 

I think I laughed harder the second time.  Definitely buying that movie when it comes out.

When I got home though it just so happened that my friend asked me to be her bridesmaid! She got engaged about a month ago and I've been wondering if she was going to ask me, I won't lie.  We have been friends since 7th grade.

She is getting married in Montana next August and since she lives in Las Vegas, her shower and bachelorette party will probably be there.  I'm going to start saving my pennies.  I want to take Matt to Montana so he can see where I grew up, not to mention the fact it is absolutely gorgeous.  This will give us a good excuse. 

I'm getting the design bug again after picking up Adrian's big boy bed.  We wanted this bed frame for him but IKEA discontinued it and now only makes it in white.  It was justmy luck though that I went on Craigslist and found it there! 

Picked it up last night, love it! He doesn't know we bought him one so I hope he likes his surprise.  We are going to take him to pick out his special sheets this weekend.  I'm going to do a plain red comforter because I hate hate hate the cartooney stuff.  I want to do navy blue horizontal striped curtains, a wall ledge to put his books in, and the 8 cube expedit bookcase from IKEA.  We bought a calendar that has vintage superhero prints that I want to hang in his room as well.  It's coming together, slowly but surely. 

Puerto Rico was awesome.  I think that could be said for any vacation though.  I love exploring new places, taking pictures, and spending quality time with the boy.

*We explored Old San Juan with it's awesome architecture
*Had fun (sometimes not so fun) finding vegan food we could eat.  I must say, all the food we did eat was phenomenal.
*Took many naps
*Kayaked to a BioBay and watched the water turn a turquoise blue due to dinoflagylites
*Ordered room service and at dinner in our big fluffy bed

*Rented a car for the first time in a different country
*Swam in some really warm water, it was heavenly
*Played with extremely cute puppies in a local pet shop
*Hiked through the rainforest and swam by the waterfalls
*Missed Adrian and the puppy (who is currently having a crazy dream on the couch, legs flying all over the place)

Back to reality.  I do love my schedules though. Tomorrow we are hopefully picking up a big boy (!!) bed for Adrian.  He's 5 so it's about time, hah. 

My last week has been spent in Puerto Rico.  Our flights home are tomorrow and while I'm sad my vacationing is ending, I miss my puppy so much I want to get home now.  Screw flying!  More posts with pictures to come after I sort through my stack of mail that's looming and return to "normal" life.

What a fun and busy weekend this has been.  Makes me remember why I love warm weather and Summer.  Friday night after work, Matt, Adrian and I met up with my friends Kate and Michael and their dog Josie.  We went to the park which is right by the water overlooking Boston.  It was so nice out.  We let the dogs play and Emma got to swim for the first time!

She was a little hesitant and stood like this in the water for awhile but after seeing Josie swim around she started moving her little paws.  It was all over after that.  She ran and swam and played for a few hours and loved it. 

We went over to Kate's house for dinner and I had mentioned to Adrian previously that they had a Wii.  He was jumping out of skin and as soon as we walked in the door he was hooked.  We don't own any video game system so he is obviously a very deprived 5 year old boy ;).  We ate yummy Mexican food, relaxed and had some laughs. 

Saturday, I went to a wedding of one of my old co-workers.  It was up in Gloucester, such an amazing location.  I didn't take any pictures because I didn't want to haul my camera around but overlooking the cliffs to the ocean was quite the site. 

Saturday morning I woke up to donuts and this:

I must complain rather loudly because my cute boyfriend brought it home for me.  Ever since going vegan, the only thing I really missed are iced coffee from DD. I could have them often but bringing my own milk just seems like too much work, hah.  I soaked it all up though.  After dropping Adrian off with his Mom I went and had a picnic at the lake with my friend Brit and her baby Logan.  He doesn't look like a baby anymore, he looks like he's ready for Kindergarten.  He's gotten SO big!  It was fun catching up, I don't get to see her often enough. 

While I was out Matt painted the living room so to keep Emma away from destroying everything we took her back to the ocean with Josie, we all layed on the grass and chatted and enjoyed a few hours out in the sun.

Today I think my friend and I are going to get lunch, pedicures, and see the movie Bridesmaids.  I work tomorrow and then we are off to Puerto Rico for vacation.  Crazy Crazy. 

School is complete and dare I say I'm a tad bored?! I don't know what to do with myself.  I'm not stressed and I actually have my nights and weekends to do what I want. 

Some other things I'm enjoying:

My job (I love the feeling of not dreading going to work)
My dog (could she be any cuter? I think not)
My boyfriend (he cooks me dinner every night, I owe him big)
Vacation time (we leave on vacation next week. Eep!)

Some things I'm not enjoying:
This weather (seriously, it's almost June and we have not 80 degrees yet, c'mon Boston)
How much my dog is costing me (little buggers sure do need a lot of shots and other things)

This week is pretty tame for us.  Working during the week, potential girls night on Friday and going to "hike" on Sunday with my friend and her baby.  Also have Monday off so I'll probably go get my toes and hands done and start packing.  I really haven't planned for us to do anything on this vacation which is weird but Matt told me last night that we are not allowed to use our phones and it's going to be "us" time.  That's all well and good but I'm leaving our dog for the first time and I'm already having anxiety about it. I'm such a wuss.

I think Adrian enjoyed his party but my day was rough.  It didn't help that I was pmsing and wanting to rip everyone's heads off but his party was fun for him. He ate cake, spent time with family, got some cool presents, played outside and went bowling.

He's 5, he probably doesn't give a rats ass about decorations and themes and invites and blah.  Matt and I were not in the best of moods together and trying to put on a happy face was difficult, but I did it. Matt and I have been feeling disconnected lately, or at least I have. With our opposite schedules and commitments, it's so hard to get time together.  I got my feelings out, I have no issues there, and I think we both are on the same page again.  I'm needy, I admit it.

The weather this week in Boston is horrendous.  If I wanted to live in Seattle I would have moved to Seattle.  The dog's going crazy, I'm going crazy and I'm ready for some sun!  Countdown to vacation has begun though.

It's a very special little boys 5th birthday today.  Matt and I are will not see him due to it falling during his mother's time but we are still thinking of him.

We are celebrating by having a small party for him on Saturday.  Even though this parenting situation is not normal, we try to remind him that he has so many more people that love him and as an added bonus gets to have two birthday parties.

I wasn't there 5 years ago when he was born, obviously, but I vividly remember the first time I met him.  We were going apple picking and he was walking up the street by my old apartment in Mission Hill.  He looked like a little mini Matt, adorable as ever.

He transformed my life into something I was not prepared for.  He completely flipped my relationship with Matt on it's head.  It was no longer just us making mistakes in our journey, we had to think of him. I was transformed from being a single, careless girl into someone who no longer had that luxury.  He pushes me to make this life we have even better. We are no longer careless, or try not to be.  We think of our future and what we can do so he grows up to be a well adjusted, happy little boy.

So to Adrian, I say, I love you.  Our relationship is different than anyone else you have in your life and I hope you know that even though you are not my biological child, I would do anything for you.  You make me laugh all the time with your quirky responses in which you sound like an adult.  We do this all for you buddy. 

\

Since my own mother is on the other side of the country, I'm celebrating today with myself.  I called her to wish her a Happy Mother's Day she said "you too".  She retracted that statement and then said, "Well maybe half a Mother's Day".

Being a step-mom is tricky.  I guess I'm technically not one yet because Matt and I are not married but is marriage the only thing that makes someone a step-mom?  I've been in Adrian's life for almost two years and take on the duty of "mom" every week when he is with us.

Matt didn't say anything to me this morning so I'm not exactly sure when we cross that line over into celebrating this day.  There sure as hell isn't a manual for this whole step-mom gig.

Either way, I think Mom's of all situations deserve to be celebrated no matter how they came to be.

The first few days at my new job having been going well. I get to ride this beauty up to the fifth floor. It's an old style elevator where you manually have to open and close the doors and you can see the floors as you pass them by. For some reason it makes me happy.

I do not enjoy being the new person or having to learn everything. I would rather fast forward a month to where I kind of have things down but I can't. This office is really laid back though so I get a lot of down time where I try to look busy. My lunch breaks are being enjoyed though, who would not love to go explore Boston one hour a day. I'll never grow tired of this city.

Tomorrow is my last day of work at my current job and while I'm a little sad, I am extremely glad to be down. 

I had my exit interview today and gave my company constructive criticism.  I gave my boss glowing reviews and told them they what I though about one particular manager who is miserable all the time, condescending and rude to her employees.  I've had the pleasure of sitting right next to her and how she talks to me and it has been extremely hard for me to sit there while she is so mean to people.  Apparently the HR lady took my exit interview, flipped my words around and will now be speaking to my boss tomorrow.  What in the hell?  I had nothing bad to say about my boss, my boss is not the problem, this other manager is.  Nobody likes her, nobody.  Except for the HR lady. She also had the balls to tell me I may be sad at work because of my home life.  Excuse me?! No, I'm sad at work because the work environment sucks and they don't see it. I'm half tempted to write another note about how misconstruing my words is total bullshit so please don't. 

Another girl also gave her two weeks and she works for the other manager.  She also doesn't have another job lined up.  What should that tell them?  That she's so completely miserable she will quit her job in this job market and throw caution to the wind. I applaud her and think more people need to speak up but they probably won't.

Tomorrow our sweet stinker Emma is getting fixed.  It's something that we feel strongly about and needs to be done but I can't help but worry.  I hope she does okay. 

It's funny how things eventually work themselves out.  I never heard back from that job I had two interviews with.  I followed up once and then nothing.  I'm also not the type to hound someone, if they want me then they'll let me know.  I decided not to apply for jobs before my vacation in June but last week at my job made me feel differently. 

I woke up and went into work each morning depressed.  Work was taking it's toll on me, and I started to hate it.  I don't want to be the type of person to ever hate work.  I realize that, especially in this economy, you get what you can take and sometimes that means working at someplace that doesn't leave you happy.  I went home and decided to be proactive about the situation instead of just complaining and started applying more places.

Thursday I received an email wanting me resume in a different format, and after I re-sent it there was a whirlwind of e-mails and I had an interview set up for yesterday.  I went to the interview, talked a bit with the girl who's leaving the position due to a move,  and then talked to the attorney.  It was the easiest interview ever.  No real questions, he made a statement that I seemed "smart" from my e-mails and on top of things (hahahah) and then he offered me the job. I'm still a little shocked.

I start in a week, I'll be making a bit more than I am now but they pay salary.  My hours are 9-5 with an hour lunch.  The office is located on one of the nicest shopping streets in Boston, close to the Common and everything else you could possibly want.  It seems like it's going to be great.  I need a less stressful environment where management actually appreciates the hard work I do and doesn't make rules on how to sit in chairs.

This is it, this is what I was waiting for.  I try to believe that things happen for a reason which is what I told myself after the other job disappointment and now I could not be happier for this opportunity.

I'm supposed to be at my friends bridal shower right now but I'm sick, again. It's frustrating to say the least. I've been sick for about two weeks now and I thought I was getting better but yesterday morning I woke up feeling awful again. I annoy myself with how much I'm coughing so I really didn't want to attend the shower and be hacking up my lungs all over the place.

On Friday, since I was feeling better, Matt and I went out on a real date. It was amazing.  I felt almost giddy, like it was one of our first dates.  We also went to dinner at the place we went for our second date.  After dinner we heading over to Fenway to watch the game.  The Sox were ahead, and then we fell behind and most people left but in the 7-8 innings we came back.  We still lost by 1 but it was definitely a good game to attend. My friend who's having the bridal shower today was actually at the game and her and her fiancee sat a few rows behind us.  I didn't know they were going to be there so it was a nice surprise when I saw them walking up the stairs.

I feel like Spring is finally on it's way though, and the trees on our street are finally starting to bud.I'm so excited to be done with the cold weather.

 

I can't believe how fast that weekend went.  I blinked and it was over.  At least the sickness seems to be leaving our house, thank you. 

Had a low key weekend.  Emma seems to have boundless amounts of energy and even though we take her for approximately 18 walks a day, she still is energetic.  My friend invited me with her dog to a place called The Fells which is a huge open field with lot's of doggies running around. There are trails and a lake too.  It sounded like the perfect opportunity for Emma to go run so we went.  It was kind of crazy walking up to the field because there was sooo many dogs, almost intimidating. I was a little hesitant to let Emma off the least because I didn't want her running away but it's almost more dangerous keeping her on.  I let her off and she ran and played for hours! She played so well with all of the other dogs, I was a proud dog mama.  She went over to people and they would all pet her and tell her how pretty she was, of course!  At one point a dog the size of my hand came over and Emma started sniffing her.  I didn't want her to sniff too hard because this dog could have probably fit in her mouth but she did great, just sniffed and that was it. We also walked on the trails a bit and dipped her paws in the water.  I think she enjoyed it just as much, or more, than I did.

She was conked out for the better part of last night and I even had to wake her up this morning to take her out.  I think I might make this a weekly thing because she just has so much energy that needs to be let out.

I can't wait for this week to be over.  On Tuesday morning I woke up feeling like I had been run over by a bus.  I called out of work hoping this would be a one day sickness.  Matt was also home from work and was in such a great mood all day!  (that's sarcasm)  Needless to say I didn't really get much resting done.  Wednesday I toughed it out and tried to go to work.  I had to be in court which made it a little easier.  Wednesday night was accounting and to my surprise I got a 73.5 on my test.  I wanted to jump up and down in class because I was so excited but I refrained.  I'm definitely not totally understanding it but I think I might be on my way there.

This morning I woke up still feeling gross but tried to go to work, but it didn't turn out so good.  I only had 4 hours of sick time left which leaves me with a dilemma.  I'm obviously sick, hacking up my lungs, sneezing, eyes watering all over my cubicle yet I'm expected to work?  It doesn't make sense.  I'd rather take the 8 hours of pay and just stay home, which I'm sure my co-workers would appreciate as well.  One of the girls in our small department is also on vacation this week so I feel bad having to be out but I'm really not adding any sort of value when I'm there. We will see how tomorrow goes.  I'm trying to rest and while my eyelids are burning they are so tired, my body just won't sleep.  

On top of all of this my lovely boyfriend has been driving me up a wall. :)  It would be nice if he tried to pick up some slack while I'm sick.  He had an appointment to get tattooed over two hours away tonight and while I agree, tattoos are life threatening, I probably would have re-scheduled.  Leaving your sick girlfriend at home to deal with a 4 year old and crazy dog when she can barely move off the couch is probably not the greatest decision ever. 

I hope he doesn't expect me to actually be in a good mood tomorrow.

If I thought I was busy before, I was mistaken.  Holy cow, this dog has taken over our lives.  There were a few days there where I wondered if we had made a mistake getting her.  She's so much work and I didn't know if we were up for it.  Not because we didn't want her but because of time.  I won't give up on her though and the mere thought of giving her away broke my heart.  It's only been a week and we are all adjusting and learning.  It's a process and one that we elected to go through. Between working full time, going to school, having a kid, having a long commute, having a relationship, an apartment and also having a moment to myself...my days are definitely full. She's worth it though. 

 

Now it's Saturday night and I'm sitting at home by myself, for the second night in a row.  Matt and I had planned a movie night for last night but then he found out that his friends' band, one that he used to play in, was having their last show so he went to that.  We moved movie night until tonight and then he got a text around 8 that Slapshot was playing in Providence so he hopped in the car and headed down. Emma and I are snuggled on the couch watching bad t.v.  There is nothing on.