Watching the snow storm outside, I can't help but daydream about this.... I can't wait to go

sometimes i can hardly believe that i'm pregnant, mainly because it happend quicker than expected and well, when i got married, i just wasn't sure when i'd be ready.  but here i am with a bun in the oven so thought i'd jot down some quick thoughts about the good/bad of being preggie:

The Good:
-the fact that you're carrying a life that's half you, half the person you love inside of you
-going to ultrasound appointments and actually seeing your baby move around
-wondering if it's a girl or a boy (or knowing what it is)
-people are more forgiving if you steal their parking spot (i've never done this... yet), ask for more toppings on your burger or an extra taco for free, freak out, ask to cut in line because you have to go oh.so.bad
-feeling the baby move.  it's surprising every time
-you can eat whatever you want whenever you want and no one will say a thing
-mat leave
-people seem to want to take care of you
-watching your body change.  most of the time it's a good thing but can sometimes make you feel unsexy

The Bad:
-constant peeing
-your skin changes colour (and other things too!)
-you can't buy all the pretty spring clothes that are out right now
-it's hard to stay up past 9pm
-the baby accessories/necessities confusion and overwhelming amount of information about safety, plastic bottles, choking hazards, i could go on and on
-you can't get comfortable when you sleep
-thinking: omg, when he/she is 15, 16, 17, 18 etc they better not  <insert bad activities that you did here>
-craving bad food (ie. Micky D's, chips etc) so bad but oh so good

The Ugly:
-the fear that in X more months, you'll be going into *gulp* labour and *omgfreakout* giving birth
-constipation (ugh)
-back fat (something i've never had but recently discovered - double yuck!)
-mood swings (my poor hubby)

hello again.

LJ has been at the bottom of my 'to-do' list for almost a year now; mainly because things got busy, new cooler apps were released [read: totally jumped on the Facebook bandwagon] among other things that happened.

i think my last few posts involved details of leaving my old job, so here's a run-down of events that had transpired since then:

• quit said job
• got another job
• went to San Fran on vacay - loved it
• worked at job for about 10 months, most of it good; some of it bad.  in the end, got kinda boring so i left.  ok, i also hated being on salary and missed the money that comes with consulting.  there, i said it
• bummed around for a while figuring out what i wanted to do - enjoyed the time off
  
• cute little nephew was born
• close friend visited from the land down under - thew party to welcome him home
• director (not director that tried to screw me per last few entries) from old company called and asked me to join his team on a short-term consulting contract - took it
• worked on boring projects requiring little brain power.  clashed with bitch on the team for no reason other than she hated me because i was a woman (another entry for another day) but in the end, she got burned (ha!)
• found out that i'm pregnant - 5 months along now and excited.  also can hardly believe it
• recently got picked to lead a very cool secret project at work, asked if i could stay until mat leave
  
• accepted contract extension because i have to feed mah bebeh
• currently enjoying work
• currently expanding because of said baby
• in between all the stuff that happened, saw and spent time with friends and family

oh yeah, happy valentine's day.  i forgot it was today.

Beautiful, inspirational words one of my best friends shared with me... and this couldn't be more true

*******

Life is a Theater

Invite your audiences carefully. Not everyone is healthy enough to have a front row seat in our lives. There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a distance. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you let go, or at least minimize, your time with draining, negative, incompatible, not-going-anywhere relationships, friendships and people.

Observe the relationships around you. Pay attention. Which ones lift and which ones lean? Which ones encourage and which ones discourage. Which ones are on the path of growth uphill and which ones are going downhill? Which ones always have drama or don't really understand, know or appreciate you?

The more you seek quality, respect, growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you, the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the front row and who should be moved to the balcony of your life. You cannot change the people around you ... but, you can change the people you are around.

Author Unknown

i start my new job tomorrow; kinda excited and nervous at the same time.

the past 2 weeks of unemployment have been great; this was a long overdue and much needed vacation from the daily grind and while i'm looking forward to new beginnings, i'm also kind of wishing that i had just one more week to do nothing.

I came downstairs this morning and was greeted by my hubby with a kiss and my favourite flower
What a great way to start a weekend! Today I look forward to dinner with my #1 man and finally watching Borat or maybe Smokin' Aces.

******

I'm thinking of selling my MacBook simply because I want the black one (which they didn't have in stock at the time that I bought mine). I've already tried to pimp it out to my PC friends but I'm not sure if any of them will bite. As a former PC girl, it took a while to get used to the Mac and while 98% of the time, Macs surpass PCs in speed, performance, screen clarity, security and a myriad of other things, there's still that 2% of missing PC functionality that's fucking annoying. Like why doesn't the Mac have a Print Screen button? To this day, I don't know what command to enter - it's something like Command Alt F4 - but should really just be one simple button! The Delete button is also misleading - it should say "Backspace" rather than delete and I only found out two months ago that pressing Command Home/End takes you to the beginning/end of a sentence. So part of my "Getting to Know My Mac" program involves finding the missing 2% functionality I wish I had.

******

I had a great interview yesterday at a company that I'm dying to get into. I think it went really well but of course, nothing is final until they produce an offer. Even then, I will have to decide between two offers - one that is full time with the salary that I've asked (and a great company) and the other that is contract with a possibility of going full time in a company I really want to work for. More to come next week.

My week of unemployment is almost over and I'm surprised that it's gone by pretty fast. The past 3 weeks have been very fruitful; I've received lots of calls from recruiters and have had to turn down quite a few opportunities, including an interview to run a PMO office because project management just isn't something I like to do nor do I want to continue down that path. Anyway, I'm happy with the feedback that I've received so far; cross your fingers that I get an offer soon.

Today I treated myself to a great massage and next week I'm going to do the same. Maybe I'll throw in a facial too. I found a spa in my area that's actually pretty good; it's no Elmspa but considering how close it is, it'll do. Tomorrow I'm going to do a little shopping before my interview followed by dinner with mysteree and mohka. Now that I've gotten used to chilling, I'm looking forward to all of next week. And I've told my mom that I'm taking a vacation and by vacation, I mean continuing to enjoy my unemployment. This way, I don't have to lie to her everyday that I'm "at work" and if you really think about it, I kind of am on vacation until I start a new job.

I also have lots of time to figure out how to really use my MacBook. I now have the ability to view emails from all of my accounts (gmail, yahoo etc) in Mac Mail. This also meant finding out how to import my gmail contact info into the Mac Address book (which required a bit of research). My next task: using GarageBand to make my own mixes so I can put it in my mp3 player.

There's nothing like watching a high-octane show like 24 at 9:43am. It sure beats having to sit through boring conference calls!

Day one of unemployment was pretty rough; I guess because I'm not used to having so much free time but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.

I like not having to worry about work or feel the stress of a project or bringing work home. I like being able to only log into my gmail to read emails from friends rather than log into my work email and worry about issues. I like being able to spend time with my family and have the freedom of drinking till I get buzzed on a weeknight (not that I do that a lot, of course). Last night when I went to the JT concert, it was great not having to worry about getting home early because I had to go to work the next day. Most of all, I like not knowing where I'm going... which is weird for me because I'm usually the 5-year-plan type of girl who always has to know her next move. Who knows where I'll land; maybe my next job will be an even better one with an even better company but until that happens, I'm going to enjoy my time off.

I've booked a few spa appointments, luncheons with friends and a few interviews in between. That should keep me busy for a while.

:- Day One of Unemployment -:
Waking up and not having to worry about hurrying to catch your train or getting ready for work or surviving a hectic day at the office is great for like, a couple of hours. And people are always saying omg, I wish I could take some time off / I wish I were in your shoes / I wish I didn't have to go to work etc etc but you know what? Unemployment is kinda boring. Everyone's at work so you don't really have anyone to talk to and there's only so much surfing you can do. Perhaps it's because I'm usually on the go and slowing down takes some time to get used to but it's 3pm and I've already cleaned the bathroom, my bedroom, the office, paid my bills and returned all my calls. I was hoping that repairing my sister's computer would take up at least a day but it seems that I'm missing some hardware and I'm not about to venture outside when there's a fucking blizzard going on. I also wanted to go to the spa today but they're closed on Mondays (booo!). And another thing that's not that great about unemployment? I have to lie to my moms about it. That's right folks, I'm 31 and afraid to tell my mom that I quit my job so this morning, I lied and said that I was "at the office" when she called and by "at the office" I meant lying on the couch watching Battlestar Galactica.

Anyway, I think I need to spread out my activities/tasks a little more and learn to enjoy this time off before I start working again. On another note, check out these adorable pictures:


Sharing a moment together with Dora


BFF


Old pals sharing a laugh


Hanna saying good-bye to her BFF