Sunday, January 30, 2011

Dermatology 101

me (musing out loud): dammit, I'm getting another zit. What is going on with my skin?
dr soc: It's probably due to you working out all the time now. The sweating.
me (light bulb going off): Oh! Yeah, that makes much more sense.
dr soc: Why, what were you thinking?
me: Oh, I thought I might be pregnant....
dr soc (choking on his fear): WHAT? Why did you think that?
me: Hey, when a coworker of mine was pregnant she broke out like crazy due to the hormone override. I just thought it was a possibility. But the working out thing makes much more sense.
dr soc: Well, were you going to at least tell me?
me: Of course!
dr soc: Via the blog? Facebook? Ha! People would be congratulating me before I knew what was going on if you did it through facebook.
me (snort): Twitter. You never read that.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Kept

So it's sorta always been a secret dream of mine to be a kept woman. Secret because if a college educated woman says that you get looks like you personally have set woman back 50 years. Which actually, I blame the skankification of America and the over-sexualization of kids for that.

Feminism is great and all that. But one of my takes on feminism is that it gave us the right to choose. Well, it gave affluent (mainly white) woman the choice. Poor socioeconomic class woman always have and will continue to work as a necessity, not as a choice. I've been more than fortunate and I can have that choice, instead of being forced into one path or the other.

I am looking for jobs fyi. But currently, I am kept. Which yay, dream of mine. And it's fun at first, but honestly, it gets old quickly. There's always stuff I can do around the house and I have to keep a constant eye on the dogs, but that hardly makes my day. I can play on the internets for a while, but once I cycle through my favorite sites I'm back to boredom. I've been going to the gym every day which is something, but guess who paid for our membership? And while I'm going all the time now because I'm training for a half, I'm also doing so because I want to look good so I feel like I'm bringing something (albeit something very superficial) to the table. In essence, I'm going to the gym, on a membership my boyfriend paid for, so I can stay hot. How's that for kept?

Friday, January 28, 2011

Living with a boy

So. I live with a boy now.
Things I have figured out and/or learned this past month in living with this boy:

  1. I am a messy girl and he is a neat boy.
  2. I will always blame any gas on his dog.
  3. I still consider taking out the trash a "boy job."
  4. I forget to get the mail.
  5. The amount of hair I loose and leave around the house (not on purpose!) baffles him.
  6. I'm terrible at sharing a bathroom.
  7. I'm a messy cook and I don't really like to clean the kitchen.
  8. Toilet paper inventory is a "girl job."
  9. Despite both of us being more aware of gender (un)equality than most people (due to our sociological studies), we quite often default to traditional gender roles and tasks.

But:

  1. I try to not be too messy and try to sprawl less.
  2. He accepts the dog as the source reasoning.
  3. He doesn't mind taking out the trash and does so if I ask him to.
  4. He gets the mail since I always seem to forget.
  5. The hair...well, that combined with the dog's shedding will always baffle him.
  6. We have two sinks in our bathroom so I'm better at sharing
  7. He cleans the kitchen after I cook (SCORE!!!)
  8. If we have less than 10 rolls of toilet paper I consider us out. And I will make sure we are never, ever out.
  9. I like traditional roles, and I think he doesn't mind them either.
  10. I always have someone to cuddle with on the couch, whether it be him, a dog or 2 or all 3 of them. It's cute but sometimes I can't feel my feet.
  11. And he puts the seat down! Thus I avoid a war where I result to bribery.

So. All in all, I like living with this boy. Sarah win!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Yogurt Is Good For Everyone

me: Hey bailey, here you go.
--I give her my finished yogurt cup to lick. Bailey runs over and stars lapping the inside with gusto.--
dr soc: you can give that to her?
me: Yeah, yogurt can be good for dogs. It can help with digestion (dr soc doesn't give Jules people food, whereas if I spoil Bailey with things like yogurt and cheese).
dr soc: Oh ok.
me: Yep. I'm not so sure about the Boston Cream Pie* part of it though....

*those yoplait desert yogurts are great! Bailey agrees, hence the lick with gusto.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Sprawl

me: Between the 2 of us we have a few repeats of pills, so I'm going to keep some stuff down here. That way we don't have to go up and down the stairs into our bathroom every time someone needs an aspirin or some first-aide.
dr soc: Sure ok.
me: You'll find that I like to keep duplicates of things and spread them out throughout the house.
dr soc: Ok. Wait, this isn't like hoarding is it?
me: Kinda. But it's more sprawling than it is hoarding.
dr soc: Well, ok then. As long as that's it.
me: Exactly.

--a day later after dr soc's trainer had kicked his ass and he was really sore. Stairs were his nemesis at the moment--

me: Maybe an ibuprofen or two will take the edge off. It might help you move a little better.
dr soc: Yeah, I think I will take something.
me: there's aspirin and Advil in the bathroom over there if you need them.
dr soc: (sigh of relief) Cool, thanks!
me: (as he heads to the bathroom) Hey, honey! Aren't you really glad there's pills down here?
dr soc: (resigned) Yes. Thank you, good idea.
me: Yep. You're welcome! (smirk)

Monday, January 24, 2011

Home Improvements

I own a home.* Unlike apartment living, if you don't like something, you can change it. And since I went to interior design school for 6 years,** I have the knowledge and wherewithal of what and how to change things. (the brute strength not so much. But that's why designers hire people to do the manual labor)

Well, anyway, our home is a new home and has builder white walls, so literally, a blank pallet. (see also: boring) So, we bought paint. Burgundy for our bedroom, blue for 2 bathrooms, green and orange for 2 different guest rooms and purple for the guest bathroom. Yes, I live in a fun house and I love it. (his mom I don't think cares too much for all of the paint colors, but dr soc and I love it and it's our (his) house.) Picking paint colors was one of my least favorite tasks of design school, and it still is to this day. But it went fairly well with dr soc. When we found a color we both liked and thought would work, we stopped looking and went for it.

We have an open plan for the living room/kitchen, and I wanted to keep the public spaces neutral, with an accent wall to give it some personality. So we bought more paint. We get the dogs crated and the drop cloths down, and start to paint the majority of the downstairs...

And it's pretty much the exact same color as what's already on the walls. So, so, SO glad we have 3 gallons of non returnable paint and 775 square feet to cover with it. We can't change it (well, we can, we're just not going to) so we're a little (lot) pissed off. We decide to do another accent wall and wait until the next morning*** to tackle them. Fortunately, the accent walls help and created the contrast in the room we (I) were going for. And once we got everything back in the room and the cover plates back on, we can see the contrast more and the room is warmer. It's subtle, but it's what we wanted. And we like it.

But god, we were really pissed off with that neutral!

*not really. Dr soc owns our home and I just live here.
**I'm claiming a 1/2 degree from uc. Six years, I get to claim something other than ptsd and an unhealthy dose of bitterness.
*** we woke up hoping the paint elves had finished the room and changed the color to something more noticeable. No such luck.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Dr Soc's Girls

I've got nothing incredibly witty and charming or particularly snarky to say at the moment, so here's a cute picture dr soc took this morning of all 3 of his* girls:

All thrice of us, cute as can be!

*Bailey is still very much my dog and my girl more so than she is dr soc's, but he's still out numbered 3 to 1 in the house and we like it that way! Enjoy!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Naming Our Future Spawn

We started a name bracket for the naming rights of my friends' 2nd baby,* and I was telling dr soc about the entries I had sent in for each theme.

me: And the grab bag name: Sharktopus.
dr soc: that is awesome.** Yeah, we're using that.
me: Huh?
dr soc: Sharktopus. And Dinocroc! We have our names.
me: Wait, huh? No.. This, this is for...
dr soc: It's been decided. Done! The kids are named.
me: Oh, oh honey, um...
dr soc: Oh awesome!
me: - sigh of resignation- Well, which one's which?
dr soc: Dinocroc for the boy, Sharktopus for the girl. (which btw, he answered with no hesitation whatsoever)
me: Well, that makes sense. (Not really, but at that point I decided to roll with it)

So much so, that now I'm on the Sharktopus bandwagon. So whenever we refer to our future first born, we refer to them as Sharktopus.**

*this is completely valid and totally legal***
**I should mention dr soc has a mild (complete) fascination with sharks, sea creatures and dinosaurs. And syfy movies. Combine any of the above elements and dr soc loves it no questions asked.
***not really
**if all goes to my carefully constructed plan, we'll have Dinocroc first. But since we want the it's a __! moment and won't be finding out what the baby is, Sharktopus is more gender neutral name and will be used for ambiguity sake. Also because we are dorks.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Voices

Dr soc and I were driving around new years and I was playing with the Garmin he gave me for a graduation present. The Garmin lady gave a direction and the following conversation ensued:

dr soc: you can program that for different voices.
me: (still playing with buttons) huh?
dr soc: yeah, if you don't like the lady, you can change the voice. You could have a guy's voice if you wanted.
me: Oh, well, I don't mind the lady. (mock indignant) And besides, I will not have a man telling me what to do!
dr soc: ::snort:: (fully understanding the indignation) Well, you can still program it to a celebrity, male of female if you wanted to. Like Mr T, or Angelina Jolie.
me: snort. Right, like I would let any part of her anywhere near you*.

*I think Angelina Jolie is sexy as hell and admit to having a girl crush on her. But as a woman do I trust her? Especially around my man? Oh hell no!

Friday, January 14, 2011

Last Name

Because I am a kept woman (and enjoying it!) for the moment, dr soc is the one who paid for our gym membership. One of the new membership things they give you is a gift card to use towards some of the other services they offer (like tanning or childcare) that we didn't include in our overall membership package.

Since dr soc and I both already had personal fitness goals, (me: break 2 hours in a half and him bulk up but not to the point where he's too big and can't put his arms down and I laugh at him) we used the gift cards towards few one-on-one sessions with a personal trainer tailored towards our individual goals. Mine specializes in endurance sports, and dr soc's, well, I don't know what dr soc's specializes in.


But anyway when the sales associate was scheduling us for our initial sessions, "for fun" he gave me dr soc's last name. Which I didn't bother to correct, amused me highly and took it a step further by cheekily smiling at my boyfriend daring him to say otherwise. (he is fully aware of my move-up-the-alphabet covet and of my intention to take his last name). To which dr soc paled slightly and replied "you're (sales guy) speeding everything up!"

Fully aware of dr soc's discomfort, I continued to refer to myself in third person as Sarah Soc (Soc is not his real last name) for the rest of the evening. Because it simultaneously continued to amuse me and scare him. Yep. Ahh, domestic bliss!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

'Eff You Pet Store Employee.

I was almost out of food for Bailey and petsmart was having an "essentials" sale. Since we were in the area after finding our new local favorite mexican place, (they make guacamole at your table! Too bad dr soc doesn't like avocado.. another blog for another day) so we stoped in to pick up a few things.

I was looking for Bailey's brand of food but it wasn't obvious, so enter the pet store employee (minion).

pet store minion: (friendly) Can I help you find something?
me: (friendly as well because I am nice) Yes, please. Purina dog chow?
psm: (judgy!) ::pause:: Oooo, it's in the next aisle.
me: (fake nicely now that I've been judged) Thank you.

Then, this kid shows/follows me to the next aisle and ask this in his same judgy tone:

psm: So, um, how do you feel about the dog chow? Do you have any problems with it? (is this kid really asking me how I feel about my dog's food? It's and inanimate object and I didn't even know (care) it had feelings)
me: it's fine, and no, no problems. ::pause:: Why? Was there was a recall or something?
psm: well, it's just the grocery store brand and you can get it everywhere (umm yeah, that's why it's convenient and a lot of people buy it). It's mostly grain and doesn't have any as many vitamins and stuff.
me: Uh huh...well, it's what's she's used to. And she's fine.
psm: Have you had any problems with his coat or anything?
me: Not really. And she's perfectly fine.
psm: Well, sure ok. But I can let you know about some of the other food options we have here or help with any questions you may have.
me: I'm good, thanks.
psm: ok...

First: what the hell? Was I just being judged on what my DOG eats?
Second: why does this kid care what I buy, it's not like they work on commission and me buying a more expensive food is going to get him his quota.
Third: the reason she eats what she eats is because it's convenient and quite often on sale somewhere because so many other people buy it too. Purina is doing something right.
Fourth: I also bought a new crate, dog multi-vitamins (that help her coat which psm was so concerned about), breath busters and treats that trip, so my bill was easily over $100. I more than made up for those 20 bones I didn't spend on dog food in other places.
And fifth: 'eff off minion. As a master judger, I clearly know when it is happening to me and I do not find it to be acceptable behavior of people who have not mastered the task. Especially over dog food.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Crazy Girlfriend

You know what's a dangerous rabbit hole to fall down? The bubble of tulle. You know what I kept drifting towards when I missed my boyfriend at the start of our long distance? The bubble of tulle.

Remember may or may not? Tip of the iceberg. I fell down that rabbit hole and didn't even try to get out. Even though I knew it was too soon to be sucked into the tulle vortex, I researched venues, started planning the guest list and thought about my registry.

I admit it was a lapse in sane girlfriend land. I knew perfectly well that even if I was in sane girlfriend territory I'm not any closer to getting a sparkly. And fortunately, I had enough self awareness to know I was doing this because I missed him and stopped cold turkey. I also knew that I was fresh off my dad's diagnosis and wedding planning was a happy distraction. (And also school started so I had other methods of distraction then too)

I did tell dr soc I had gotten a little internet research happy and that I found a venue that I liked. Fortunately he loves me and didn't think I was too insane (I think). Then again, I didn't exactly tell him how far down the crazy path I went either... But even more fortunately, he's a guy and really just has no idea how soul consuming the BOT is (or what the BOT is for that matter, nor does he know what tulle is). Though it may be prudent to check that he hasn't run away screaming and changed the locks after he reads this...

Monday, January 10, 2011

Quick Note

Just a quick update to let y'all know that I made it to Charlotte safely! I haven't unpacked everything yet and I'm still organizing everything, but it's coming along.

So far, Dr soc and I have joined a gym, went house stuff and grocery shopping, and discovered our local favorite Mexican food place. He took me to work and introduced me to people who all seem really nice. The dogs may be starting to learn they are no longer only children and I think they are calming down slightly around each other.

So in short, everyone is still adjusting to the new home/lifestyle/roommate situation, but we're adjusting as best as we can.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Away We Go!

I've already oozed some of my kitchen and memento things to my Charlotte house via previous visits there or the dr soc express. So now all I need to take with me are:

Clothes? Check.
Girly bathroom stuff? Check.
School stuff that I may need in the future? Check
Dog stuff? Check?
Dog: Sedated and motion sickness pilled? Check!
Nerves? Check!

Well ok then. Charlotte here we come!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Big Steps

I'm moving to Charlotte. Soon. Tomorrow soon. Remember that Dr soc got a job in Charlotte and I was going to join him when I finished school thing? Well, it's time.

Have I packed? Kinda. Am I excited? Yes, very. And I happy that I get to be with dr soc? Absolutely. But I would be lying if I didn't say I'm extremely nervous too.

I'm really nervous. Not only just top be moving to a new city, but also to be moving in with my boyfriend. I'm really really nervous about that. It's...it's a big step. That I made and epically failed at before. But big steps mean putting on my big girl pants...so...ok then, here we go.

I'm also really sad about moving away from home. And this time it's for good, I'm done being a boomerang child. My mom is taking this really hard and with my dad the way he is, I feel really bad about just leaving. I know none of us, mom, me, dad, and dr soc want me to put my life on hold. Especially since my dad's not going to "get better." But that doesn't stop the guilt from leaving this difficult situation, the relief from leaving it, and the guilt that stems from that relief.

But two and half years ago if you had told me Lexington wasn't forever I would have cried. If you had told me that I would go back to college and graduate and take the GRE, I would have laughed at you. And if you told me that I would absolutely fall in love again and with the greatest man, I would have called you a liar.

And so nerves or not, sadness aside and some major goals accomplished, I move on. Here I go!

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

New Years Resolutions

So a few days late but meh.
Last year I made a New Years Resolution I didn't post just in case it didn't happen.

Graduate.

And I did. Yay me! And I decided on grad school, and took time off my halves. So I accomplished my goals. Go me!

But it's a new year and time for new resolutions. And for 2011 they are:
  1. Get into grad school
  2. Break 2 hours for a half marathon (and thus start training for a full).
I probably could list more things, but 2 is good for me since I can't remember anything more than 3 things at a time. After that my head gets all 'splody.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Boy Crazy

L: I was kind of disappointed when I found out I was going to have a younger brother, instead of a younger sister. But then my mom explained that I wouldn’t have to share as many of my toys or clothes with a younger brother, and then it was all good. It turned out pretty well, I think.

me: was I the only one who wanted an older brother so I could date his friends?

LB
: YES


L
: Why doesn’t this surprise me?


M
: boy crazy since birth.


me
: just as I suspected.