11/12/2009

The cutest Village Voice cover ever!

Lunch @ Au Bon Pain!

Butternut squash & apple soup in a bread bowl. Yum!

Perr and his new vest!

Pay phone

These still exist???

10/14/2009

Belated update

It's been way too long since I've written in this blog. So much has happened since my last entry. For starters, I am now working in the city for a different company. I am still working in retail but am still looking for a way to break into e-commerce. For now, however, I am doing ok. As usual, things don't necessarily work out exactly the way I want, so an alternate plan is required. This is not only the case career-wise but also in my love life (or lack thereof). Ok, so I can't say that it's totally lacking, things just didn't work out the way I had wanted so I find myself single and back at square one. That's right people, I am single and up for grabs, lol. ;)

Anyway, I've been thinking about my life lately and what I truly want long-term. I am trying to do what is best for me but sometimes it's hard for me to think straight because my feelings tend to get in the way, and sometimes that holds me back. I blame it on the fact that I am a woman and we tend to be overly emotional at times. I wish I could just stop thinking about certain things and move on. I guess that's something I'll be working on for a while. I feel like I'm progressing but very slowly. I always say this and I mean it when I say that I wish I could fast forward time to the point where my life is complete. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever get there.

My Petco purchase

10/01/2009

My new store!

My current location!

09/06/2009

I miss my baby!

09/06/2009

You know you're in CA when...

Pug Treats!

Omg how cute!

@ MSG

Depeche Mode is playing tonight & I have no tix. There's always tomorrow!

Rooftop view @ The X-Change

More sites from The X-Change

Day 4 without Diet Dr. Pepper

So the other day I decided I would try to stop drinking so much Diet Dr. Pepper. Anyone who knows me pretty much thinks of me whenever they see a can of Diet Dr. Pepper because that's pretty much all I ever drink (well, besides alcoholic beverages). On average i drink 3-4 cans a day (sometimes more) which is a lot. My addiction is so bad that if I don't have a can in the morning, I'll get a bad headache and feel lethargic.

Anyway, the other day, I decided to cut down on my soda intake. In fact, I decided to see how long I could survive without drinking any soda at all. I had tried to cut back once while I was in Florida by replacing the soda with Crystal Light, and I was doing quite well for a while, but somehow I regressed to my old ways. This time I have managed to survive 4 consecutive days without even one can of Diet Dr. Pepper! I haven't felt as bad as I thought I would but it hasn't been easy. Yesterday (Day 3) was especially bad. I was feeling really tired and didn't run as long as I wanted. Today was better but still a tough time at the park. I mostly power walked. I'm not sure if I was feeling tired because it was so humid out or because of my lack of caffeine. It's really hard to say. I wonder if I should've tried to quit more gradually. I'm not sure how much longer I will continue to avoid Diet Dr. Pepper but I can't say that I miss it as much as I expected.either way, my plan isn't necessarily to stop drinking it entirely, I just want to be able to avoid being dependent on it to function on a daily basis. Maybe I shall have a can tomorrow, or maybe not...

Pre-party drink!

D-9 ad in NYC

Jersey Day of Fun

So yesterday I spent most of my day in South Jersey by myself. I went for a couple of reasons, the main one being that I had to get my car serviced and I refuse to get that done in Brooklyn. I just don't trust places around here. You think I'm crazy huh? Well no one knows better than I that people in Brooklyn are out to rip people off half the time and I refuse to put myself in that position. Plus I had gotten this lifetime alignment at Tire Kingdom and it just so happens that the closest one to me is located in Maple Shade which is where I used to live. So I went there to get my tires aligned as well as an oil change. I also figured that while I was there I could do some grocery shopping since they have better grocery stores than we have here in good ol' BK.

Anyway, I went on my merry way. I had hoped to meet up with my friend Jason but unfortunately he had to work late and my Facebook invite to hang out with any other South Jersey friends went unnoticed, so it was all me. I didn't mind it much, especially since the purpose of this trip was mainly to run some much needed errands.

While I was there I realized that part of me missed NJ. Being back there was like being back home, mainly because I spent 7 years of my life there (not all in S. Jersey). There are things that I didn't like about it while I lived there but overall, it wasn't bad. I have a lot of good memories of times spent there with friends, adopting my first dog, starting a new job; so many things that have shaped my life and made me who I am today. Everything you do in your life and everyone you meet affects your life in one way or another, and NJ had played a big role in mine. I'll always have a special place for it in my heart.

Running for my life!

Since I am currently unemployed, I can't really do too many things that require spending a lot of money because I have no idea how long it will take me to find a job(with this economy, I'm guessing forever?). I decided that I should start running consistently again like I did when I lived in FL. I had kind of stopped for a while but about a week ago, I started going to Marine Park (the least frightening park in Brooklyn). It's actually a pretty nice park in a pretty nice area by Brooklyn standards.

At first I'd go running in the early evening because it wasn't as hot but also not completely dark. I always loved running after dark but something about doing that in Brooklyn just sounds wrong. However, tonight I decided to do the unthinkable and went running at night! I figured, I may never find anyone to go running with me at night and really, who cares? If something bad is meant to happen to me it'll happen regardless of where I am. And now that I've done it, I can honestly say that it wasn't scary at all. There were a lot of people in the park and I'll most definitely do it again. I think the key to maintaining my sanity will be to live my life as close to the way I want to live it despite my current location (and stay thin in the process ;).

Guys in NY are weird...

So I've officially been back in Brooklyn a month and although I'm from here, I am still getting used to it. One thing I'd forgotten about NY is how forward and overly self-confident guys here can be. Just last week I had a couple of random happenings.

Wednesday I went to a bar in Williamsburg for this Yelp elite event where I met some new people, a couple which were guys. Now, although I am single, I was really just looking for some new friends. This one particular guy seemed nice, fun and actually lived in my neighborhood (which was kind of far from where we were) so we talked a lot and ended up taking the train back together. Anyway, I was in one of my "I hate guys" moods and mentioned this on several occasions. I'm not sure what part of that he didn't understand or why he would think that he could be excluded from my sentiment, but apparently he did because when we went to say good-bye for the evening, he went to kiss me. What was that about? We were not on a date, I never acted like I liked him that way, I was just being nice. I guess around here being nice can be misinterpreted for being flirty? I don't know, but I am far from a flirt.

Then the next day, I was dressed up to go to this Nokia party at the Marquee in NYC and I was wearing this black Kenneth Cole wrap dress which was a bit lower cut that I am used to but I wanted to look hot so I went for it. That was slightly annoying. While waiting for a train, some guy walked over and stood in front of me, looked me over and told me I looked sexy. Then another guy kept staring at my cleavage while on the train as well as the guy at the news stand where I bought a Redbull. I'll never understand why guys think cleavage is so exciting. They're just breasts! And why must guys in NY always go out of their way to tell you they think you look hot? This has happened to me several times since I've been back and never happened while I lived in Florida or even in NJ. must be a NYC thing. I guess guys are are just more confident or they think that can get them somewhere. It's weird.

Dating in NYC is sure going to be interesting!

Love sucks!

I think the title of this post is pretty self explanatory. It's how I'm feeling right now. I am technically single but my heart still thinks it's involved in a relationship. How do you move on when you know it's the best thing to do but you still have feelings for someone? I obviously don't know how because I've been trying to do just that for a while now. I wish I could just take a pill that would erase that person from my memory.

Ugh, love just plain sucks.

Back where I started

I've been wanting to update this blog for a while now but haven't gotten around to it, however, enough is enough ad there is no reason I should not write daily, especially with all the extra free time I have now that I am not working.

To update you on the happenings of my life, I moved back home to Brooklyn for the time being instead of moving to San Francisco. It was a last-minute decision based on a lack of sufficient funds and place to live (finding a room on CL was much more difficult than it seemed). Plus I also came back for other personal reasons. It was not an easy decision, especially since I swore I'd never move back to Brooklyn, but sometimes you can't have everything you want in life exactly when you want it.

So anyway, my change of plans made moving slightly easier. Moving fees were cheaper and I didn't have to worry about finding an apartment/roommate because I was moving back home. Part of me was kind of excited about it. I mean, I love NYC, and moving to Brooklyn meant being a subway ride away from the greatest city in the world! Sure coming home now would be so different than the last time I officially lived here (when I was 18). I now had a dog, a car, and some sort of career (more on that later), not to mention a lot of life experiences. I saw this as an opportunity to re-visit my hometown and see things from a more grown-up perspective. I'd always hated Brooklyn when I was growing up here. I felt that I never fit in but looking back, I really didn't know all that much about it, especially since I grew up in the same neighborhood my entire life. Brooklyn is NYC's biggest Borough and I only knew a fraction of it. It's changed a lot since the last time 1121o was my zip code, and so many people seem to be moving here on a daily basis so perhaps there was more to it than I thought? I decided that this would be my time to see and experience all I never did before so that I can make a more educated conclusion about how I feel towards Brooklyn.

Not ony would this move mean literally exploring new territory, but it would also mean exploring new territory career-wise. I left my full-time retail job that I had for 6.5 years to explore something new. Moving to SF would've been a big risk for me, but this is an even bigger risk especially the way the job market is today. I'd been wanting to make a change for a while now and the time has finally come to make it a reality. So now, not only do I have to re-adjust to living in Brooklyn, but I have to find myself and a job that will truly make me happy.

This is a tough challenge but not an impossible one...

Lunch @ Soho Park!

zuchini sticks and chicken sandwich!

Out drinking in NYC

Lounge bar!

Perr Perr!

Perry hiding from the sun @ a rest stop in NC!

Ramada

Where I am right now...

Bfast time!

the waffle I made in SC

Perr!

Road Trip

somewhere in Mims, FL

Going home...

So this is it! The moment I've been waiting for, time to move out of Florida! After 2 years and 9 months I am finally leaving! I know in my last post I said I was moving to the Bay area, however, I had a change of heart and have decided to return to the best city in the world, NYC! There were many factors that resulted in my change of plans. Initially the main factor was financial. Things came up and it wasn't working out financially for me to move all the way to CA without having anything set job-wise. However, after much pondering and a visit home, I realized that I need to do what will result in my overall happiness and that is return to NYC. Not just because I love the city and I have a lot of friends in the area, but because it's what I am meant to do right now.

Despite how much I dreaded living in FL at times, I feel it was beneficial in the sense that I learned a lot about life, love and myself. I feel that overall I have grown up a lot and although some of my realizations have been difficult and painful at times, I feel I can finally move on and become the person I know I can be. The longer I stayed here, the longer I was prolonging my new life. I'm finally doing something solely for myself. The past couple of years I felt like I lost a piece of myself but now I am going back to find it and become the real me again.

My ride home

Pontius & the trailer.

Posted via Pixelpipe.

Holy Flip Flop!

The Old Navy on 34th St not only had an entire section dedicated to flip flops, but also had them throughout the store!

Posted via Pixelpipe.

Posted via Pixelpipe.

Welcome to NYC!

Arriving @ La Guardia.

Posted via Pixelpipe.

Moving on & starting over

So, it's official, no turning back now. I am moving to the Bay Area. I was going to try and stay in FL until the end of my lease but things happened (work-related), and it led me to make the decision to make my move now. I like to think that everything happens for a reason and am therefore excited to be moving sooner than later even if it may be a bit of a struggle.

I know the last time I wrote, I had decided that I wasn't going ahead with my plan of moving to CA, but I had time to ponder and really think about what I wanted for myself and came to the conclusion that I do want to go out there and try something new. It seems right to me and maybe I'm crazy and/or wrong, but am going ahead with my gut feeling. In my last post when I said I wasn't moving out there, it was based on a personal issue involving someone else. But I realized that I need to do what I want to do and right now I feel I need to go somewhere new where I can start over and perhaps re-invent myself once again. I have had a lot of tough times this year and a lot of changes have happened and are up ahead, but I am looking forward to a new challenge and a new beginning. I really need this right now.

Where have all the people my age gone...?

I can't believe I didn't write in my blog at all during the entire month of March. How lame of me. I know had some great ideas for blog entries but they never made it to the computer. A lot of times I'll blog in my mind and then forget to actually type it up. I need to get better about that.

Anyway, one thing that's been on my mind lately is age. I feel like no matter where I go, everyone I meet is younger than I am. Whether it's at a bar, a Yelp outing, or work, people seem to all be in their mid-late 20's, maybe 30 max, but never early or mid-30's. I wonder where all the people my age have disappeared to. Are they all at home living lame married lives? Is it possible that I am the only single girl in my early 30's who goes out around here? I feel like I'm older than I should be. If/when I do manage to meet people that are within my age range around here, they always seem way older than me appearance-wise and out of touch with anything I like. Not like these encounters happen often but when they do, this seems to always be the case. Sometimes I feel like I was born before my time. I should at least be in my late 20's. Hopefully after I move I shall meet some younger-looking, cooler people in their early thirties because I'm over being the oldest one around.

Old songs, new meanings

I've always loved music and it's always been an important part of my life. Certain bands are especially dear to me because their music helped me get through difficult times in the past. When I was in high school I primarily listened to heavy metal because a lot of the songs have an angry sound to them and they matched my emotions at the time. Although metal was my favorite, I also listened to more mellow rock. I loved rock ballads even though I couldn't necessarily relate to the general topic, lost love (I never dated in high school. I know, pathetic). Anyway, years passed and my taste in music has changed slightly. I'm not saying that I no longer like the music I listened to back then, but my genre of music of choice now has evolved a bit. As a result, there are a lot of albums that I haven't listened to in years.

Earlier tonight, while driving to the grocery store, I pulled out an Aerosmith CD that I hadn't played in a while and I listened to track after track. Suddenly, this one track started playing that I remembered loving, not because I could relate to it at the time, but because it was just a good song. Tonight, however, it had a new meaning for me because tonight I could relate to what Steven Tyler was feeling when he wrote those lyrics. It made me love the song so much more and once again, music is there to help me get through a tough time.

Help me! I'm addicted to Facebook!

Lately on my days off, or when I am not at work, all I do is lay on my couch and go online. A lot of my time is spent on Facebook updating my status, responding to other people's status messages, and responding to other people's responses to my status/pictures. When I am not at home on my computer I'll log onto Facebook on the mobile app on my G1. I know I'm not the only one who does this but it's getting addicting. Is it pathetic? Probably. At least I'm not the only one. I must say, I definitely have a tendency to get addicted to anything online. Makes me wish I'd pursued being an online editor after I graduated college like I had thought about.

I'd make a bad, bad parent

So as you know, I have a Shih-Tzu named Perry. I love him very much and don't know what I'd do without him. At this point he's pretty much all I have and he keeps me busy. There are days when I probably wouldn't get out of bed if it weren't for him.

Despite my love for him I haven't been giving him the attention he deserves. I've been so wrapped up in my pathetic life that I haven't really thought much about him. I walk him, feel him, play with him for a little while if he asks to play, but that's pretty much it. I realized that I've been ignoring him the other day when I was walking him and noticed that he went to the bathroom on the grass. Now, for most dogs this isn't a big deal. In fact that's what dogs do, they poop on grass, but not Perry. For the longest time he's avoided grass and if I picked him up and put him on it he'd run off. I always thought it was funny. Anyway, the other day I was walking him and looked down to realize that I was standing on grass and he was pooping on it. He actually had been doing so for days but I hadn't even thought about how for him this is a big deal. That was when I realized that I was being selfish by not paying much attention to him and just worrying about my own problems. My poor baby! This also made me realize that I'd probably make a lousy parent because everything would always be about me. Not like I want to be a parent or like anyone would want me to be their kid's mom. It was just a weird realization.

My Personal Debit Card Fraud: The Conclusion

So the fraudulent charges on my debit card finally cleared today which meant I was able to call Bank of America and officially file a dispute. Apparently, whoever made the charges had a card present which means that someone made a fake card with my information on it. Normally I'd think this was creepy but this happened to me once before when I lived in NJ. Someone had withdrawn as much as they could out of my account at an ATM in NYC and then purchased a Metro Card with the remaining balance. Gotta love thieves. What I don't get about these latest thieves is why they'd choose to buy stamps. I mean, really? Stamps? You have access to someone's account and you choose to buy stamps on three different occasions? Weirdos!

I think the most annoying part of this whole experience was how many times I had to tell a BofA rep that no, I have not been in Texas. The rep today asked me if I was sure I hadn't been there. Do you really think I could forget going out of state let alone, to a place like Texas?

Anyway, they filed the dispute and they are giving me a credit for the amount which is supposed to clear on the 24th. The only thing left for me to do is sign and mail back the affidavit they are sending me. I can't wait to get my new debit card. I am not a fan of using cash because I don't believe in it. I feel like everyone should use a debit card, even though the system obviously has its flaws.

More irony

So the day after my entry about staying positive, what happens? Something negative! I was out having a drink with my friend Erika when I get this email message from Bank of America about possible "irregular activity" on my debit card. I get these a lot from them so I thought it was probably just them being over-protective again but I call anyway because when you get one of these notices, your card has a hold on it. So, I call and wait what seems to be a million years (about 30m min) and finally get to speak to someone who tells me that there were three charges from USPS for $37 and change. Two were in Houston, TX and one was in Richardson, TX. Wtf? I have been nowhere near Texas in years so obviously there is something fraudulent going on. What was annoying was that the representative kept asking me if I'd bought stamps. I said no and he asked me that on a couple of different occasions. Would I really fly all the way to Texas just to buy stamps 3 times? Retarded! Anyway, I wanted to dispute the charges then and there but since they were still in their pending stages I couldn't do so. They told me to call back when the charges clear. Annoying! At this point I just wanted a new card sent out to me. In the meantime, the rep said that I could go to any branch to get a temporary card which I attempted to do this morning but failed at my mission. Apparently, because I opened my account in NJ, they couldn't do it for me. It needed to be a FL account. What? I don't understand that but whatever. I just withdrew some money and left. I just want this to be over already but it will probably take a while because the charges are still pending and they said the amount of time for the dispute to be settled "depends." Fun times ahead!

Anyway, I thought it was ironic that this happened the day after I said I was going to try to be more positive about things. I swear someone out there is testing me. Well, I haven't given up yet! I just hope there aren't any more tests anytime soon. ;)

Staying Positive

So the past few blog entries have been me complaining about everything that's gone wrong but today I decided that I need to take a different approach and not give up on what I want. I need to stay positive about things and continue to try to find a way out. For me this is especially difficult because I am not a very patient person and like things to happen right away, but obviously, this is not always going to be the case. At this point I will not discuss what I have in mind, I will merely do what I have to do and once I am set to go, I will announce my decision.

I also wanted to take a minute to say hi to my readers who I have not yet met. Yes, I have readers who actually read my blog and don't know me personally! How exciting! :) Sure we all write with the intention of having someone read our content, but I really didn't think that ever really happened. I thought that the only people who read my blog (besides myself) were a couple of friends, but today someone signed my guestbook! So I wanted to say hi to Terje and thanks for signing my guestbook! And anyone out there, please feel free to leave me comments either through the site or on my guestbook. I'd love to hear from you! :)

Life is depressing sometimes

Lately I feel like I've been wasting away on my couch, surfing the web and looking at Facebook. I'm feeling really discouraged about everything because it seems like getting out of Florida will be a bigger task than I had anticipated. As a result I have either been laying around being unproductive or gone out drinking (or even stayed in and drank at home). I suppose this is my latest way of dealing with my depression.

Anyway, in order to get out of here now, I will have to either wait for an opening with my company to become available or leave the company entirely. I've been wanting to do the latter for a long time but unfortunately, with today's sucky economy, it will be another difficult task to overcome.

Problem #1: Most companies don't want to bother with an applicant who is not currently residing in the state in which they wish to re-locate to. They have a million other candidates, why settle on the one from out of town?

Problem #2: although I'd love to pick up and leave so that I can look for a job, it's ultra risky. I do have some vacation time saved up but what if I can't find a job in 3 weeks? Chances are I won't, and then what do I do?

Regardless of the problems, I think it might be time to move on. I'm not happy with doing what I am doing and I should do something that motivates me and makes me happy. (Hmm, it's like deja-vu only the last time I had a similar idea it wasn't work I was referring to)

It's funny how these days, things that were once simple are so difficult, like finding a job. I think it's so depressing. Goals that in another point in time were normal and easily attainable seem so far away and unlikely to happen (having a great job, owning a home, being in a perfect relationship). I really expected to have my life be more together at this point in time but I feel like it's a bigger mess than ever, in all aspects. I wonder what will become of me and if it'll all work itself out in the end. All I can do is keep trying.

My ironic life

I hate the way life works out sometimes. As we all know, Valentine's day is coming up and this is the first year in a long time that I will be single for it. My anniversary used to be on this day and every year, it was a hassle to try to get the day off because other people also wanted the day off. Several times I had to work an early shift so that I could at least have the evening free. Well, ironically this year, the year that V-Day means nothing to me and the year that I wouldn't mind working, I get the day off. How annoying is that? I swear, sometimes I feel like there's a higher being controlling my life and torturing me while laughing at my misery.

So anyway, now I have to figure out what I will do that day. Maybe there's some kind of support group for the pathetically single out there. ;)

Pointless Planning

I've come to the conclusion that planning anything is completely pointless because nothing ever goes as planned, or at least for me it doesn't. This happens to me all the time, at home, at work, everywhere and frankly, it's annoying. Why put so much time and effort on something that's bound to fail?

What am I talking about? Well, my most recent pointless planning is my move to San Francisco. I planned everything out and nothing seemed to work out. I won't get into the details but at this point, I feel like the entire thing wasn't meant to be. Sometimes things don't work out for a reason and I really feel this is the case here. As a result, I will go with my original idea which is going back to NYC. I'm not quite setting a date or anything this time around. We'll just see what happens. ;)