love this boy

... even though I bitch about laundry, and often aren't as nice to him as he deserves. He is my person, and my favorite. Just a little about Joe (and me), and a few of the reasons why I am so very lucky to have him in my life:

(1)  We met playing softball on our co-ed team "Smack My Pitch Up!" and, well.. the rest is kinda history. I could tell right away Joe was a good person because he was still fun and supportive even when  I  some girls on the team sucked... He was always carrying the cooler, hitting ground balls to everyone, and generally being a good guy.

* team player, in more ways than one *

(2) He let me teach him how to wakeboard. This was arguably our first "date" (depending on what that even means now a'days....) and he was quite a sport! Didn't even act nervous about me driving the boat...

*spontaneous * fun *

(3) Speaking of driving the boat, he is much better at pulling me wakeboarding than anyone else that comes to mind, and he has skillz, meaning I totally trust he will not run me over and take off a limb. PLUS he looks sexy in a life jacket!! Not an easy feat....

* can handle 350 HP. GRRRrrr *

(4) He is not embarassed when I feel the urge to rock a side ponytail. Very important.

* appreciation of dorky *

(5) If I was lost in the wilderness, I would want Joe around. Not only for the obvious companionship reasons, but also he's quite handy with the whole fire-making, shelter-building, knife-wielding sort of stuff...

* can build a fire *

* resourceful *

(6) Love me, love my dog. And he loves Mr. Bondi.. so much that he would take him out in the middle of the night when there was a foot of snow on the ground when Bondi was sick. That may have been more love for me (and un-love for cranky morning Jenny who hasn't had enough sleep) but regardless.. this one is definitely on my list!

* excellent big spoon, with bondi and me *

(7) Joe is sweet and thoughtful. He likes it when I get "dressed up" and never forgets to tell me so... in orther words... he's a good at giving compliments!!! And PS- it's so easy to take that for granted unless you've been with someone who doesn't do that, and it REALLY sucks. Well, that is not a problem my amazing boyfriend has. SweetHeart. Oh, and I think we clean up well together :-)

* can "vegas" with me - muy importante *

* will wear a suit just so i don't feel over dressed *

Mmmmm.... now I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.

That is certainly not all.. but I also certainly need to get some work shit done. Like right meow...

Just thought I'd let y'all know how lucky I am :-)

one more thing...

PS on laundry...

... the whole beauty in *not washing* everything after wearing it just once (besides the obvious benefit of having much less laundry) is that it's actually a sort of an excercise in self-image therapy.

What I mean is, if I washed my jeans every time I wore them, I would constantly feel like I was gaining weight. Every day I would have to go through the whole Jeans Aerobics process of *bend and squat* stand* lunge left* lunge right* repeat.. and on really bad days (I always blame the dryer) insert *lay down * lean back *button *sit-up and hope zipper doesn't break prior to the whole *bend and squat* stand* routine.

Whereas... and here's the lovely part... if I wear my jeans 57 days and counting a few days in a row without washing them, I feel fantastic :-)

I mean, every day is just like "Woww.. I feel GRRrreat, my jeans fit sooo well!!! Must be all that CrossFit..."

image source.

Just sayin...

you win some, you lose some

I recently got a VPN from my laptop at home to my desktop at work, which is pretty awesome because it means sometimes I can work from home!!

Working from home = HUGE PLUS because:

(1) I get to skip the whole.. sitting in gridlock traffic thing that is so lovely in Seattle... member my rap about it?
(2) Excluding the usual gmail, facebook, blogger, etc. there are No distractions, so I actually get much more accomplished.
(3) I can catch up on laundry while I'm working.

While we're on the topic of laundry, today I had a a miniature laundry breakdown. I hate laundry. It freaking NEVER ENDS...

Lucky for me, laundry is my responsibility... because Joe is "scared" to do laundry. I have no idea why that would be. It surely has nothing to do with the fact that I might have freaked out a teensy weensy bit after the 11th time he WASHED my dryclean only and DRYED my lacey undies and bathing suits.. surely that cannot be the reason. I mean, we had several lessons on what can and cannot be washed/dryed, but apparently I have instilled the Fear of God in him and he will.not.touch.laundry less he be subjected to the "Wrath of Jenny". His words.

In all fairness, he does dishes. But I would SOOooo rather let him deal with the whole 'cleaning' thing do dishes.

Anyway, relationships are all about compromise and what have you. That's what they say... so I do the laundry. Here's what I accomplished today... these are clean, btw:

Somewhere under this massive pile is actually a basket. It's a-freakin-lot, right??? I mean, seriously. How is this even possible???

Well I'll tell you why: Mister boyfriend goes through about 12 lbs of clothes a day! Yes, that's right. NONE of those clothes are mine. They're ALL Joe's. Seriously.

Here's Joe's day with clothes:

Wake up and throw PJs on floor... unless they were already on the floor ;-) Regardless, they end up on the floor.

Get dressed for work... that involves at least 4 items of clothing, more if its a "professional attire" day.

Get home from work and change into comfy clothes.

Add gym clothes if it's a work-out day.

Shower and throw towel on floor (actually truth be told Joe's towels usually make it in the 'laundry' wherever that is, and mine end up on the floor, but heyyy at least I usually reuse 'em).

Change into comfy clothes (*not the same* as before post-work, pre-shower comfy clothes) which may or may not end up on the floor by the morning....

This is totally.out.of.hand!!!

So I kindly sent Mr. Joe a few text messages just now:

"If u don't stop throwing everything u wear ONE TIME in the laundry I'm going to kill you."

"I know where you sleep."

"Unless you sweat/poop/pee/make sexy time in it, it is NOT dirty. Unless it touches your balls, then it can be washed."

"Blood, blood counts too..."

I thought this was short and sweet! But no response....

UPDATE: Joe just got home from work. He's wearing sweatpants, sneakers and his button-down work shirt. This is actually a cute look, btw :-) He said he was going to the gym tonight but the dress shirt threw me off, so I asked what the deal was. He said he was trying to "save" his shirt from wrinkles.

Good boy...I guess I DID make my point!!!

However, he wouldn't let me take a picture. Oh well, you win some.. you lose some...  :-)

need a laugh?

OK I got some more good ones to get you through this hump day.

DISCLAIMER: The last one is really awful. Don't scroll down if you're not prepared to be seriously disturbed.

WARDROBE: FAIL

HARD HAT: FAIL

RESTAURANT NAME: FAIL

PATERNITY: FAIL

HYGIENE: SERIOUS FAIL 

parenting: fail

From one of my favorite time-killers websites, the Fail Blog:

Parenting: FAIL!!!

image source.

Ridiculous. That is all.

Bring on hump day...

... because I'm ready for this week today to be over.

Our Subaru has been having a rough time lately.. to the tune of, oh, a bajillion dollars $2,000+ in repairs rough in the last few months.

Rewind to Sunday while I'm being all independent and what have you, driving to get some space "run some errands" and all of the sudden there is smoke coming out of the hood. Lovely...

So I pop the hood, because, clearly, I.CAN.HANDLE.THIS.

What to do? Of course... check the oil!!! I pull the little oil dipper doo-dad out, wipe it off, stick it back in. Hmmm... There's oil in the car. Now what?? I was not going to call Joe just yet, cause I.CAN.TOTALLY.HANDLE.THIS. but SHIT... dad's on business in China... don't know country code or need a $78 international calling charge.

Next man on the list: My Uncle Jack. He tells me to check for anything that could get lodged in the engine that may cause it to smoke, and I find a piece of cardboard (which I later learn Joe uses as a funnel and stores on the side of the engine intentionally, go figure) and determine this must be the cause of the problem.

Remove cardboard. Restart car. DAMN. Still smoking... and lovely, there's green stuff coming out of the hood. This, apparently, is antifreeze. Good times. (Sidenote: antifreeze is very tasty and incredibly poisonous to, as in sure fire way to kill, dogs).

At this point I call Joe. HANDLING THIS: FAIL.

Long story short, the radiator was cracked which I have learned causes the antifreeze to leak, the car to overheat, and can do all sorts of bad stuff. So there goes another $500. Yippee!!

Oh, and the car was supposed to be fixed this morning but it wasn't so I had to reschedule my dentist appointment that I urgently scheduled yesterday because I keep having dreams about my teeth falling out and this one tooth is killing me and I'm SURE I have a cavity but when I went in this afternoon I just found out it's just phantom pain (whatever that is?) which is good, I guess, except now I'm pretty sure my dentist who I've seen since I was 3 thinks I'm crazy because I told him about my recurring teeth dreams... and *breathe* aaahhhh.... was that sentence long enough?

So I decide to go to CrossFit to blow off some steam. Good plan. Except I get there and realize I have no sports bra. Whatever, I'm gonna do this anywayy...

And then I learn the WOD (workout of the day) is "Annie on the Run" - translation: a VERY bad day to forget your sports bra. This workout involves a lot of double unders (yup-Jump Rope, lovely) and a lot of running. I hope it was entertaining for all the men.

Oh, and one more CrossFit woe, because I haven't complained enough in this post. Back in December I did a benchmark WOD that was freakin brutal. I think it's called "Fran" or "Angie" or I dunno, but regardless it is:

• 100 pullups
• 100 pushups
• 100 situps
• 100 squats

Afterwards I was literally so sore that I COULD NOT straighten my arms for days. One night, I was using those hand-warmers some people use while skiing to try and relax my biceps, and I fell asleep with one on my arm.

Well, it slipped from my bicep down to my forearm and I woke up with freakin' 2nd degree burns on my arm... seriously!! I had 4 blisters that oozed and hurt like hell and were just plain nasty. And worst of all, they were in the shape of a freakin' PENIS!!!!

I did the whole neosporin - don't touch - don't pick thing for weeks. I'm kinda OCD about picking but I SWEAR I was really good about it because I DID NOT WANT A PENIS SCAR.

But alas, it was meant to be. Today in the elevator, I looked down at my forearm and have come to terms with my Angie-Induced CrossFit Penis Scar:

 

Okayy it doesn't really look like a penis anymore, but it used to!!!

Now it just slightly resembles a long skinny curved one with very small testicles. Or it looks like I cut myself. Not sure which is better... thoughts?? 

So how was your day?

8===D

PS-that could totally be a new smiley face!

quick thoughts on haiti

There's been a lot of buzz about the earthquake in Haiti... because shit.. it's devastating and sad! But the buzz is bothering me a bit too... and here's why:

Haiti has been raft with devastation for years, no decades, now. This is NOT news. Haiti is one of the poorest nations in the world, and hundreds upon hundreds of people - men, women, children - die there every day due to poor drinking water, easily preventible and treatable diseases, etc. But the mainstream media is covering the earthquake as if these people's lives have been devastated by this natural disaster, when in reality, their whole lives have been pretty damn destitute, earthquake or not.

A few years back I read this book called Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. It is a biography of the incredible Paul Farmer... a doctor who has devoted most of his life to helping the people of Haiti (as well as other disease-ridden impoverished countries).

A quick summary:

"At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, world-class Robin Hood, Farmer was brought up in a bus and on a boat, and in medical school found his life’s calling: to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. This magnificent book shows how radical change can be fostered in situations that seem insurmountable, and it also shows how a meaningful life can be created, as Farmer—brilliant, charismatic, charming, both a leader in international health and a doctor who finds time to make house calls in Boston and the mountains of Haiti—blasts through convention to get results."

It's a good book. You should read it.

Anyway, I'm not sure now what the point of this little rant is. Just sayin' ... the world is an f*d up place... and it's sad and tragic that this happened in Haiti. But Haiti's been sad for a long, long time... I wish there was more awareness (and action) in general, not just in times of "crisis" ... because really, it's a perma-crisis over there.

And don't even get me started on Africa!