kid stuff

I am loving Bring Your Child to Work Day! And I don't even have kids! Several of my coworkers have brought their kids in today, and I gotta tell ya, these kids are all pretty cool. The guy who sits in the cubicle across from me brought in his 8-year-old daughter and she was absolutely adorable! Another coworker and I (her dad stayed at his desk) got to take her down to the employee store to get a little gift they were giving out to the kids, and ALMOST got our picture taken with her as if she were our own. Now THAT might have started some unsavory rumors. :) Another coworker brought her son in (he's probably around 10 years old), and he has been helping us out by organizing binders and picking things up at the printer, and he LOVES IT! He's thanking us for giving him things to do and asking for more!! It's so cute! And earlier today, I tagged along with a big group of parents and kids for a tour of a couple different areas of our facility that I'd never been to before, and it was really interesting. I got to learn about some of our products in terms I can actually understand! Geez, how sad is that - I have to listen to the Kid's Day version of how our products work in order to understand it! ;) It's funny, though, when you don't spend that much time with kids, you forget how much fun they can be! And how cute and funny. I just wish I'd been able to hang out in MY Dad's office all day long instead of actually having to work. That would have been awesome!

p.s. If you'll notice above these posts, I have added a countdown to all things Harry Potter. Book 7 and Movie 5 coming out a week apart! This summer is so going to rock!

a birthin'

Just wanted to send out a big CONGRATULATIONS to Kristi on her new arrival!! Yay!!

in competition for cutest little boy in the world

A few weeks ago, I went to visit my friend Kristentatious at her home. As a result of this visit, I got to spend some time with her adorable little 2 1/2 year old boy Eric. He played shy at first around "Auntie Heidi" but after a while, he was back to his usual flirty self. He literally threw himself at me while we were doing puzzles on the living room floor, and I gave him the first horsey ride that I'd given anyone in a VERY long time. By the end of the night, he was as sad to see me go as I was to leave. At least, I'd like to think so. :) I came back telling people that he was officially the "cutest little boy in the world."

HOWEVER ... last Thursday was Thanksgiving, and I went to my Aunt and Uncle's for our annual feast. My cousin's little boy Gaian was there and I gotta tell ya, Eric's got some competition! Gaian is almost 3 years old, and he delighted the crowd with his moving rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle" several times throughout the night (I got to hear it twice). And did I mention that he was totally on-key? And that he's got floppy blond hair, blue eyes, and a missing front tooth? To be fair, Eric also has the prettiest blue eyes, which he inherited from his mother. But I did come home after Thanksgiving claiming Gaian as yet another "cutest little boy in the world."

And now I am torn. If only I had pictures of the two of them that I could post here and have the "public" vote (like anyone other than my own friends read this). But I guess for now I'll just have to say they are both the "cutest little boys in the world" because I JUST CAN'T DECIDE!!!

Well!! Week in review

I definitely did not think that there would be no postings at all in between my weekly reviews, but the way this week went, I am not surprised this happened. So let's just dive right in, shall we?

Last weekend was tons of fun, and busy!! Started out Friday with the Bachelorette party I mentioned in my last post. It was a good time. I really only knew the bride and one other person well, had met a couple others once or twice, and the rest I did not know from Eve, but they all were very nice (and funny!), and a good time was had by all. I was very proud of the bride for finishing ALMOST everything on her list of embarrassing and/or stupid things she had to do, and managing to wear her bachelorette sash for the entire night (the hat with the veil was abandoned relatively early for fear of hat hair).

Aaaand, it is now Monday again and I didn't even finish writing my entry for last week. Well, let's just continue right on. Saturday I made my way over to Kristi's house for her sweet boy's second birthday. So cute!!! He was making eyes at me all day. :) Not sure how much he appreciated my gift of a chronicle of Oz stories - he was much more interested in the giant semi-truck filled with Matchbox cars - but it'll be something he can get into at a later age ... I hope anyway. Nora and I had plans to go to a Secret Machines show that night, so I took off and met her at my apartment where we had a drink or two before departing for the Metro. We were meeting a friend of mine from work and her roommate, and they were running a bit late, so we went to Full Shilling for a beer while we waited. They showed up just before showtime and we arrived at the venue just as the band was taking the stage. Perfect timing! And the show?? AWESOME!!! Love their live show so much! Their albums are amazing, but they don't even do their live show justice. The lights they use are perfect for their sound, and the atmosphere makes it so easy to just fully immerse yourself in the music. I am so excited that I'll get to see them again at Lollapalooza, though I am guessing they'll have a daytime slot and it won't have nearly the same effect as the shows I've been to in the past. But you can bet I will be in the audience at every show they have in Chicago from now until the end of time. Yeah. :) Well, after that was over, we chatted with some Metro employees who recommended we head over to Gingerman Tavern cause that's where they were also going, so we did. Had a couple drinks there, then made our way back to Smart Bar where the bartender from Gingerman said he'd be going once he closed up. Why we decided to put our fate in the hands of all the random employees we met that night I'm not sure ... well maybe it was because they were cute ... but we danced and drank the night away and I believe we all had a smashing good time. Not to mention we randomly ran into my roommate and his bro at Smart Bar. That was nice. But yeah, that was the latest night I had had in a very long time. Nora and I went back to my place to go to bed at around 5 or 5:30 (details a little foggy at this point). Next morning I got Nora up so she could make her way out to the burbs for Mother's Day brunch, and ended up just staying up myself - for some reason I have a hard time sleeping the morning after drinking a lot. Sleepiness doesn't come until much later in the day. And boy, did it! I too went out to the burbs to see my Mama. Some family was over for a barbecue and I tried to be sociable for as long as I could, but at one point, I just had to escape. Right before dinner I went upstairs to my old room for a bit of a lie-down. Didn't get any actual sleep 'cause I was called down to dinner. But AS SOON AS dinner was over (I even skipped dessert if you can believe it!!), I went right back up for a glorious little nap. Got up just in time to head back home and watch "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy" (Desperate Anatomy, for short). Good stuff.

AND THEN!! The week from Hell. I don't particularly feel like going into all the details of how hellish my week was - it was all work related - but if you can imagine one of those weeks when you think you have a few reasonaly achievable goals to meet, and you come in each day thinking, "Hey, today shouldn't be too bad, I have this, this and this to do and that's all," and then EVERYTHING GOES WRONG. New things are piled on your desk by the minute and the things that should have taken 5 minutes to complete end up taking 5 hours, and every single thing has to be done RIGHT NOW ... yeah, it was like that. In fact, it was exactly that. Which is why there were no blog posts last week ... and why I didn't even finish this one until today, Monday, a full week and 3 days after my last posting. Grrrr. Who knew this blogging thing would be so demanding!!? Wait, who's demanding anything of me? Hmm, no one really is, now that I think of it. It's just me. In my imagination I have this gaggle of faithful readers who start to wonder what happened to me when I don't post in a few days, and then if it gets to be a week with no posts they all start to turn against me and post angry rants on an imaginary fan forum, but there are those few who will always stick up for me saying, "Hey people, she's a busy lady and wouldn't you rather she be out and about living and doing things so that once she has some time again she can have something interesting to write about?" and all the skeptics are like, "Yeah, but man, a week? She can't even find time to post one sentence in a week?" and the good folks say, "Hey, don't be a hater."

But then I remember that I have a very active imagination.

Cheers!

Mawwiage is what bwings us togevah today ...

I don't know what's gotten into me lately, but I just can't stop thinking about marriage and having kids and a family and a dog and picket fence and all that jazz. Well, I partially know where it's coming from. The woman who sits in the cube across from me is getting married this summer and is neck deep in wedding plans, so I'm hearing all about that. But other than that, I guess I've just come to that age when this stuff seems to be more important than it ever was before.

I've always had mixed opinions about marriage. I've never really been sure if it's for me. Partly because my pessimistic side thinks I'll never be able to find someone willing to marry me (and of course, that I am willing to marry). And partly because I've seen so many failed marriages, or even marriages that perhaps should have failed but managed to "succeed" even though both parties were unhappy for the majority of it. I mean, is it worth it? When there's kids involved, are they really better off with two parents who are constantly at each others' throats, or would they have happier childhoods if their parents were separated/divorced but happier as single people, or in other relationships? I just don't know.

But divorce isn't really what I intended to write about here. My point is that I think I finally detected my tiny little biological clock. I don't know if you really have one of those for getting married, but marriage is (generally) the beginning of the whole "starting a family" thing, so I think it relates. Now don't get me wrong, I've always (always always) wanted to have a wedding and walk down the aisle in the gorgeous white dress with all my family and friends present, and then throw a really big party. But in that dream, the groom's face has always been mysteriously blank, except for the big-ass smile on his face when he turns to see me coming down the aisle towards him. For the most part, this fantasy has kept me pretty happy because it always only meant one day of fun, then the honeymoon and then that was it. But lately I've been thinking a lot about marriage. I mean MARRIAGE marriage. (Geez, if you say that too many times it sounds really wierd.) You know, where you find the one person who you want to spend the REST OF YOUR LIFE with, and then you do just that. And then in the middle somewhere, you decide to create another little person (or two) together. One who is half you and half your partner. I mean, it's kind of a crazy concept when you think about it, but it is so hardwired into our heads and so instinctual, that even the most hermit-like of loners I am sure has wanted that at some point or other.

I have several friends who are happily married. At times I envy them for that. I enjoy my (perpetual) singledom most of the time, but some days I start to wonder how much longer it is going to go on. Maybe I'd like to have someone to take care of, and who will take care of me. Maye one day I'd like to have a baby. Whether it's merely a biological desire to pass on my genes, or I really want to usher another person through this crazy-wierd "life" thing, I don't know. But I think that the small part of me that wants to do the so-called normal thing of getting married and having kids is growing a little bit stronger. I look at my friends with children (and those who are planning to soon have children) and instead of thinking, "Man, I am not ready for that," I find myself thinking "I wonder if I'll ever have that?"

I am wrong about a lot of things, and a lot of people. I let my imagination run away with me. I meet someone and I assign them a role in my head. Occasionally someone will be cast as the love interest, but they generally drop out before rehearsals even begin. Even less often, someone I've known as a friend for a while will decide midway through the production to take off his mask. I'll see something in him that I never saw before. I'll think about recasting, but before I can sign the papers, he'll put the mask back on again. Only it's slightly askew. He'll never look quite the same to me and I'll always wonder if he's playing the right part. I can't help thinking that so many people in my life have been miscast. But in this crazy mixed up theatre in my head, there's nothing I can do about it. My whole life thus far has just been Act I, and I'll never get to Act II because I am incapable of casting the lead.

Sorry for the metaphors here folks, but I just can't think of a better way to talk about this. Anyway, I think the point of this entry is that my views on marriage and children and families etc. are changing. I'm finding myself wanting things I've never really wanted (or thought I wanted) before, and I don't know what to do about it. People are looking different to me. Life is looking different to me. I know I'm in kind of an odd mood today (I described it to a friend at work as feeling like I've stepped into someone else's life), so maybe that has something to do with it. But no, this is something I've been thinking about for a while. But I don't know. My thoughts are really scattered and I wouldn't be surprised if this whole entry is complete gibberish. But after all, I am mostly writing this for myself, to get my thoughts out. If someone happens to read it, what do I care? If they understand and/or relate, then good. I'm glad I could say something that actually meant something to someone. If nobody understands what the hell I am talking about, then join the club, because I don't think I know either. Then again, I never do.