Good Morning Angels!

I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not - probably not, since I've been a horrible blogger - but back in January my sister and I adopted Marines. We did it through an organization called Soldier's Angels and we did it for a lot of different reasons. Basically although most of my reasons are very personal, the long and short of it is I'm anti-war, but pro-troops. Some of these men and women are only 18 years old and they are risking their lives so that I can live mine in safety, and for that I will never be able to thank them enough.

So what is it like being an Angel? I write my Marine weekly letters, just talking about life and the ridiculous things that happen here and there. I try to tack on silly photos or comics - something to just get his mind away from whatever he's doing for a few minutes. I also send care packages once a month full of everything from toiletries to snacks. The whole thing takes me on average half an hour each week and I buy a lot of the care package bits at the dollar store - so despite the quantity of things I've sent it hasn't cost me much money. (Honestly, I wouldn't be able to do something like this if it cost me an arm and a leg, I'm a lady on a budget!)

Not only are there really awesome very involved team activities and large-scale campaigns, there are also other smaller campaigns, ones that take up even less of your time that what I've chosen to do. Our friend Libby is part of the letter writing campaign where she just writes letters and they are distributed to soldiers who do not typically receive mail. She's told me she always slips in a Calvin and Hobbs comic with her letters, it's the little bits of normality that make what these soldiers are doing tolerable. I cannot imagine being away from home for so long and not having much of any contact with those you love. Or worst yet, not having any loved ones at home to tell you how awesome you are and how appreciative they are of what you're doing.

From the few responses I've actually gotten back from my Marine, he is extremely grateful. He's so glad that he has people "back at home" who support him and are thinking of him, and I am happy that I can brighten his day.

So as we approach Memorial Day I put it to you Dear Readers, will you be someone's Angel?

Done Yesterday

This week's Deep Thought Thursday is brought to you by my grandmother.

Yesterday I was sitting on the couch applying to jobs when my phone rang. It was Nanny. I knew because the photo of her pouring a gin and tonic popped up on my screen. (You wish you grandma was this awesome...) What you should know about this post is that just after the wedding Nanny took a tumble down the porch at my parent's house and broke her foot. This was the first time she's hurt herself in the past thirty or so years, Nanny's always been very sturdy and well preserved (we like to say from the alcohol), and so she has never had to stop and sit and do nothing for any extended period of time.

She said she was calling everybody and they kept on cutting out but her battery was charged and she wasn't sure what was wrong. But anyway, how was I?

Any news?

Well I have an interview tomorrow, but still applying to things.

How is being a housewife?

Well, it's a little boring. I've kind of worked one to three jobs since I was 17 and now I'm going a little crazy not working.

Yes, I'm a little stir crazy too. I spent the week with your mother, and now I'm with my sister and then I'm going back to your mother for a week. I'm being taken care of very well, but I don't like not doing things myself. I tell you, I know it's only been about a month, but I'm going mad, I need to get out and do things!

I feel your pain Nanny.

I'm not used to sitting around, I've got things to do. I don't like being sedentary!

You know Nanny, I'm so glad you said that. Everything makes so much more sense now. Mom's all like, oh, things will get done eventually, but Julianne and I are we need to get this done YESTERDAY. Now I know where we got it from.

Haha, yes pussycat.

Good to know this came from you.

All this time...it was Nanny. Crazy. My life suddenly make so much more sense. Maybe that's why Nanny and I get along so well. That and we both are a little silly when it comes to everyday things.

Thoughts on Being Thorough

Basically until Jaclyn's Baby Shower on the 26th, I am out of town every single weekend in March. Tomorrow afternoon my mother and I leave for Julibean's in MD. Next weekend is my NH Bridal Shower and the weekend after that Jason and I are in Troy for Pre-Cana, a meeting with the florist, and a details meeting with our Event Coordinator at the Hilton.

Since my manager at work is pretty much the coolest guy ever, he doesn't mind if I work an extra half an hour one day to leave a half an hour early on a Friday to get a head start on traffic. He doesn't even mind if I stay an extra hour four days a week to leave at noon on a Friday afternoon. When I have to be somewhere I usually leave the office between noon and two o'clock and make up the hours throughout the week. I get to where I need to be around the time whoever I'm meeting is out of work or in time for dinner.

It's convenient.

I've also become a champ at packing. I think about where I'm going and what I'll be doing and what I'll want to wear. I put aside things up to three weeks in advance and right now I have two different weekend bags sitting in my room. The one for this weekend is already 80% packed and the one for next weekend is about 50% packed.

I realize that sounds a little crazy and it isn't really a habit I picked up from either of my parents. It's just something I do. Apparently my sister does it too. And Jaclyn is the queen of packing. Sometimes her brother asks her to pack his bag for him since she can make it fit in there like magic.

I appreciate the fact that if someone said,

Holy crap! I read this wrong and we have to be at the airport in 30 minutes! We need to leave now!

I might be nervous, but damnit I'd be packed and ready and get to where I needed to go in time. Unlike some other people I know who pack last minute and wind up forgetting pants. Yes this has happened. Yes I'm looking at you Jason and still laugh over the fact you borrowed a pair of my Dad's pants for Easter Dinner.

I don't think I ever realized it, but I can blow outta town like a BAMF. I can have a bag packed, in the car, and get on the road within twenty minutes if I needed to.

BUT, I don't want to have to do that. I don't like stressing out right before a car ride. I like to be relaxed when I get behind the wheel.

My mission tonight it to finish packing my bag, and then get my mother to pack hers so I can pack the car tomorrow morning before I leave for work. That way the only thing I have to do when I get home is corral her into the car and get on the road.

Deep Thought Thursday: Material Girl

I don't necessarily consider myself a materialistic person. There are some things that I believe are important, and others I do not.

Things I will always no matter what buy on brand:

1. Heinz Ketchup. There is no disputing this. All other ketchups just taste wrong to me and it doesn't make for an enjoyable condiment.
2. Q-tips. Gotta be the paper sticked ones. Gotta be Q-tip brand. I am very picky about water in my ears and Q-tips are the only brand that over the years have continuously kept me from shaking water out of my head after a shower or swim.
3. Underwear. There are two stores that I purchase panties from and two stores that I purchase bras from. Sure, Aerie, Victoria's Secret, and Lane Bryant are more expensive than say, getting my undergarments at Target or Walmart, but it's all about the quality. Winona said it best, A Good Foundation is Essential. And for the girls, I would spend anything to make sure they are happy and I am comfortable.

There are other brands that I prefer, but I can be swayed in certain instances:

1. Subaru cars. What can I say, I love them almost as much as I loved the Tank.
2. Nine West shoes. They make up about 85% of my current shoe repertoire. They're well made, comfortable (well as comfortable as heels can be), and I think good shoes are important. They are, of course, a foundation as well.
3. Nike Running Shoes. It took me about 3 years to find the perfect pair of running shoes. I plan on ordering an extra pair just to keep in my closet in case they decide to discontinue that particular shoe.
4. Coach Leather Goods. I know, I know, 'spensive! But there's something that makes me wonderfully happy about Coach. In high school I would go through $15-30 purses like mad. I'd kill them. I could easily go through 2-3 of them in a month. I decided once I hit college (although Laura was quite the enabler on this one), that I would invest in a few good purses. Since college I've only thrown out one or two purses that bit the big one. I now have a (near complete) collection of purses and only have my eye on one more (which of course is extremely hard to find). What can I say? My grandmother has been lugging around a Coach bucket tote for about twenty years now, I think I could do worse.

I don't think I'm a Material Girl because I honestly don't have money to spend on a trendy closet and I may or may not still have dresses left over from high school that I may or may not still wear from time to time. Nor would I necessarily spend money on labels if I had any to piss away. I'm not huge on labels. I appreciate them. Do I love my D&G sunglasses? Yes, but if there had been a cheap pair that looked that good on my face I would have snatched them up instead in a heartbeat!

So what's the point of this whole Deep Thought Thursday? I need a new dress watch. The only watch I currently own that works is my EOS Binary digital that I love but is no where near "classy". My problem is this: All the watches I really like are name brand watches that are overpriced just because of the label.

Would I love a Rolex? Hellz yeah, check out this beauty right here->
But would I ever actually spend that much on a timepiece? No, I'd much rather go on a nice vacation with Jason for a week.

My biggest problem is also that I just don't like the look of traditional watches. What I really really want is a watch that looks like a bracelet. One that unless you looked carefully at it, you wouldn't necessarily think it was a watch.

I'm not talking a watch with a skinny bangle band, or a charm bracelet that happens to have a watch as one of the charms. I mean a piece of pretty jewelery that also happens to be a watch.

In all my years of searching I've only ever found one. It just so happens that it's a Coach watch.

There's something about the snap-head look to it that screams at me. I've wanted it for years but couldn't justify spending $400 on a watch when I was working three jobs.

I love the silver tone. I love the toggle clasp. I love the snap-heads. And most of all I love the way it looks like a bracelet but is really a watch.

Sadly, this watch is supremely difficult to find now. Every once in awhile one pops up on eBay. Every so often you can find one for sale on a random fashion site.

Short of call Coach Customer Service and seeing if they have one lying around a warehouse somewhere I don't think I'll ever have this pretty little number around my wrist.

So who's gonna do it? Who's going to track down one of these watches for me and surprise me with it? Who loves me enough?

(Second Image borrowed from Rolex)

Deep Thought Thursday

This is something that has been bothering me all week. While I was driving home from the doctor's office last Friday I was nearly hit by a woman in a Nissan Pathfinder with a bumper sticker that said the following:

Uncle Sam wants YOU to speak English!

Dear horrible driver,
I'm not sure how you ascertained this information. Do you know Uncle Sam personally? I don't think you do.

You see, since I went to school in Troy, NY I've actually sucked up quite a lot of Uncle Sam trivia by osmosis and I'd like to share with you the following contradictions in your choice of bumper stickers.

First off, Uncle Sam was a hard working man. A meatpacker who supplied troops up and down the Hudson with beef and other supplies. When things were stamped U.S. the troops and teamsters jokingly said it was all from Uncle Sam instead of the Army.

He was an ordinary man.

He became a household name.

And his parents were immigrants.

They came over from Scotland and although he was born in Virginia I doubt they only spoke English at home.

Something tells me you are sorrily re-missed in thinking that Uncle Sam would ever care if you spoke another language. In fact I'm fairly certain that he would look down on your snobbish and arrogant bumper sticker.

How many languages do you speak? My guess is you are so ignorant and xenophobic that you've never bothered to broaden your linguistic spectrum. Shame on you. There are billions of people in this world and MANY of those people who are English-speaking people ALSO know other languages. In fact most Europeans speak their native language AND go about learning English as well.

So why so short minded?

I personally think Uncle Sam would have more of an issue with you driving a Japan-made car. If you really wanted to support Ameruka! and all it stands for, maybe you should have bought a Ford.

Love, Elise



(Image by Tara Engberg for The New York Times)