..copy cat - 50 things i love..

I've noticed that all the blogs I subscribe to have been doing this, so I'm gonna do it too :)

50 things I love:
1. Family.
2. Rain.
3. Cafe Rio.
4. Friends.
4. Grape Crystal Light (thx Jessica!).
5. Cinnamon Bears... or Bunnies.. or Santas.
6. Tanning.
7. My Best Friend.
8. Dancing.
9. Singing in the Car.
10. Cute Text Messages.
11. Teal.
12. Facebook.
13. Hugs.
14. Books.
15. My Nephew.
16. My Job.
17. People Who Communicate.
18. Zupas Ultimate Grilled Cheese.
19. MUSIC.
20. Late Night Applebee's Trips.
21. Pens That Write Well.
22. Love Spell Lotion.
23. Washington.
24. Blackberries (the phones).
25. Yogurt.
26. Lazy Days.
27. Being Sore from Working Out.
28. Laughing Til You Cry.
29. Cuddling.
30. Moutain Dew.
31. Sleeping In.
32. Spring :)
33. Road Trips!
34. Living Alone.
35. Reconnecting with old friends.
36. Bonding with new friends.
37. Musicals.
38. F.R.I.E.N.D.S (the tv show)
39. Sleepovers.
40. Stars.
41. Emotions.
42. Flat Irons.
43. iPods.
44. Boy.
45. Texting.
46. American Idol.
47. Cheesecake.
48. Dreams.
49. Meaningful Conversations.
50. Life.

..four things that suck about living in an apartment...and four things that don't..

Sooo... For the most part, I LOVE my new apartment. But I had lived in a house for a year so some things are taking some adjusting to. Here is the gripe list:

1) Laundry Facilities. The apartments at my complex aren't big enough to house a washer and dryer (not that I have one to house even if it were). I've lived with Robbie for the last year or so and he has everything. So when he bought a new washer/dryer? I had a new washer/dryer! Yayyyy. So... the up side is that at least my apartment complex has laundry facilities ON SITE. And it's pretty large. But really the only time I have time to do laundry is on Sundays. Well... apparently that is the only the time WHOLE DAMN APARTMENT COMPLEX has time to do laundry too. Which is fine. I can wait. What I HATE is that people will put their laundry in and then not come move it from washer to dryer or from dryer to their hamper. So it just sits there taking up space and my ONE load of laundry ends up taking 5 hours to do because I am waiting for a washer or a dryer to be available. Plus I have to pay for it and no one likes paying to do chores.

2) Gym Time. So you've all been reading my previous blogs about getting in shape. Well.. I was planning on using my gym at my apartment. Free! Yay! So the first couple days I lived there I went in and there were quite a few people in there, but there were still a couple machines to use. Well... Every.Single.Day that I've gone back, the army of "terrorists" (yes, I realize this is racial profiling. No, I don't care) have confiscated the ENTIRE gym and all of its machines. They all go in together and while one of them is running, the other one sits and talks to them. Then they switch. I've tried waiting. I've tried going back later. They are ALWAYS there. So I have taken to doing Turbo Jam in my (tiny) living room.

3) Quiet Time. "Quiet Time" is between the hours of 10PM and 6AM. Which isn't BAD, I mean, I tend to go to bed pretty early during the week anyway. But there are some days when I have people over, and as a group... we tend to be pretty loud. I've been avoiding having any sort of housewarming party or anything because *cough* sometimesthereisalcoholinvolved *cough* and *cough* sometimessomeofmyfriendsareunderage *cough* and I don't want the po-po showing up on my doorstep. It was much easier to conceal this in a house (except when certain "roommates" would threaten to call the cops on us because he is bat shit crazy... that's all I'm saying).

4) Proximity. This will be on my "good" and "bad" list. The bad part of it is everytime someone is vacuuming their apartment at 7:30 on a Saturday morning, I can hear it. When the people behind me slam their kitchen cupboard doors shut (which they do ALL.NIGHT.LONG.), I hear it. Also, I'm pretty sure that they probably think I'm being abused because on the nights that Josh stays over, we have a tendancy to hit/kick/bite/punch each other and scream and knock each other off the bed. Into walls. So they either think we are abusing each other or that we have a very... active?... love life. *cough* Either way, no bueno.

So... that is the gripes list. Now the things that are WONDERFUL about living in an apartment (especially an apartment that is just yours and no one elses... except for your gay boyfriend who keeps his toothbrush and deoderant in your bathroom):

1) Covered Parking. OMG. LOOVVE covered parking. I don't care much about it in the summer. But in the winter, or even when it's just cold, I LOVE IT. No more scraping off my car. No more trudging (and more than likely, falling) down while trying to scrape off my car. And my apartment complex doesn't have ASSIGNED covered parking, so I don't end up with one that is clear down the road from my apartment. I love that. Plus they really don't monitor it very well so even though they tell you that guests shouldn't park under the covered stuff, how will they know REALLY?

2) Maintenence Men. I can take care of a lot of things myself. I pride myself on being (at least a little) independent and grown up. But from living in our house I saw how much more work it was than an apartment. We (read: Robbie) would have to take care of things like broken heaters and flooded basements and clogged sinks and shit. We had a landlord, but he was a douche and Robbie ended up fixing everything instead of waiting on the deadbeat landlord to fix it. In my apartment, if any of those things go wrong, I just fill out a little form online and its magically taken care of when I get home from work. Yay!

3) Proximity. I'm kind of a baby. I'm paranoid and I always feel like someone is going to break in and murder me in the middle of the night. Whenever I would have to stay at my house by myself, I would sleep with the tv and the light on (yes, I am 12, thank you for asking) and would pray for daylight to come. The nice thing about my apartment is that I KNOW there are people around and that's comforting to me. Even if I'm alone in my apartment, there are 150 other units within walking distance of me. This also makes me feel like it's quite good odds that if someone WERE to go on a crazy killing spree, it would be less likely that they would choose my apartment. That's safety.

4) Small Space/Small Furniture. Maybe you wouldn't think of this as a "perk", but since I am the moving queen of the universe, that also means that when I move around, I have to pack. I hate packing. I LOATHE packing. Sooooo... having a smaller apartment means that I don't have to have much furniture in order to keep it furnished. Ergo - that means I also don't have much to move when I move around. Yay! This also means it's cheaper to furnish and I like that story.

So yeah. That is how I feel. Go me!

..let's give this another try shall we?..

So pretty much I bailed on my New Year's Resolutions pretty early into the year (shocking no? No.) So over the past few days I have realized that there are a few things that I need to make an EXTRA SUPER effort at and recommit to. So here I am. If I write it down, it makes it more real. Right?

Recommitment: Work.
Sometimes I am super driven and really good at following through with things. Sometimes... I am lazy. And I have been getting more and more lazy over the last couple of months. We are in this weird transition right now and one of the girls I work with KIND OF (read: ABSOLUTELY) makes me want to stab her in the neck with a dull pencil. So I am losing a lot of steam to actually want to get things accomplished. Good news is that she is transitioning to another role so hopefully (fingers crossed), she will be out of my hair and actually let me do my job. I really LOVE LOVE LOVE what I do. It's constantly changing and I love that. I don't get bored and people really make me feel like I make a contribution here, which is different from every other job that I've had. So I just need to get recommitted and stop focusing on possibly violent acts I could commit to said co worker. :)

Recommitment: Dieting.
AHHHHHH! I hate dieting. (Or not dieting, "change of lifestyle"). Usually if I start something, I'm pretty good about following through. Of course, the ONE thing that I NEED to follow through on the most, is the hardest for me. Dammit. I know I can do this. I just need to do it. I need to take a page out of Jessica's book and stuff my fridge with healthy (and not quite as delicious) food choices. So there's that.

Recommitment: Facebook.
No no silly peeps, I don't need to recommit TO Facebook. I need to take a step away from the book. I check it constantly. It's an addiction. So I am going to limit myself to checking it every other day and taking the FB notifications off my phone. I spend (read: waste) SOOOO much time on there it is ridiculous. FACEBOOK DOES NOT CONTROL ME!!!! ;)

Recommitment: Exercise.
Boooooo! When I was going to the gym with Brandon last year, I was soooo good about going everyday. We always had so much fun that it didn't seem like a work out as much to me. Another obstacle is I HATE just walking on a treadmill or stupid eliptical machine. Staring at a wall/tv/someone else for an hour is NOT good times. So I need to research some classes or something to do so that the thought of working out isn't what I dread everyday. A dance class or something.

Recommitment: Friendship.
I take pride in being a good friend. I love my friends and try to do what I can to help them and be there for them. But I had a gut check the other day that I'm not always a good friend to ALL my friends. I tend to have 1 or 2 people that I'm really close to at any given time, and I focus ALL my energy and loyalty to them. Which in turn makes me cancel plans, and kind of stop making efforts in other relationships in my life. There is one person in particular right now who I used to be super close to, who has been there for me more than anyone else in the world. Over the last 4 or 5 months, I've kind of let things fizzle out with him and I really need to make an effort to be a better friend to him. I have to learn from my mistakes. If you make one person your whole life, it's going to be a lonely day when (if for some reason) that person is no longer in your life. So I need to just be a more consistant friend to everyone and NOT just the people who are in my life on a daily basis.

Recommitment: Independence.
This is a big one for me. I've always, always struggled with this. I have a hard time being by myself. I like alone time, but it has to be when I choose to be alone, and not when I can't find anyone to do anything with. I've never been able to make decisions without running it past someone. I always need someone to validate my opinion and to validate me. I can't keep using friends/family/etc to be my crutch. I can't depend on anyone to "keep me in check" when it comes to dieting and exercising. I can't depend on anyone to make me pay my bills. I can't depend on anyone to tell me how to cut my hair or how to decorate my apartment or anything. I need to be able to do these things by myself. I'm 25 years old. It's time to cut the cord. I can't keep clinging to people and let other people define me.

This is OBVIOUSLY going to be a work in progress. But there it is.

..no more bitterness..

So normally I am the girl that is like "I HATE VALENTINES DAY! DEATH TO LOVE! DEATH TO COUPLES!" Ogre, ogre, ogre. I pretty much was planning on being that way this year too. I've never had an actual Valentine on Valentines Day. And OBVIOUSLY, as there is a holiday for it, everyone else in the world does. Haha. It's a bit depressing. But after this year, I kind of decided that I don't hate it as much as I had pretended. Do I have a boyfriend? No. Nothing has changed in that department. But I spent last night with Jessica and Aaron. We had the best night. We made heart shaped pizzas and ate food that was terrible for us. We watched lovey dovey movies and took pictures and had an amazing night. While I was with them, something clicked for me. As much as Valentines is commercialized as a "couples holiday", it really is just a day to celebrate love. And I am not lacking in that area. Friendship love is JUST as much worth celebrating as romantic love. I have people in my life who I can be completely myself with. Who I would do anything for. Who would do anything for me. That is WORTH acknowledging.

So I no longer am on the bitter betty wagon for V Day. I just changed what it meant to me. :)