Holy Ulcer Batman

Well it has been a week! First off crazy people actually jumped from a plane... we had a blast up at nessa's parent's enjoying drinking and rock band and of course the Rosendale Street Festival. Here is the after jump picture, but before the puking!


Let's See i was creative.... I did a scrapbook page.. this one happened to be a fav to do. Chronicles of a black eye...


For those of you who know, I did end up in the emergency room on tuesday with some stomach issues. Nothing major - just an ulcer, ha ha ha. an ulcer that had me doubled over in pain and throwing up for 8 hours! well it was all resolved, I need an endoscopy but i am going on nexium so hopefully it will be better! thanks to all who called, visited and checked up on me.

July 14

July 14th will forever be the day that my life changed. 2 years ago I underwent gastric bypass, and have been a completely different person in the time since... not just in looks, but in outlook and behavior. (ok maybe not soo much on the behavior but you get idea!)

I've lost 110 pounds. Even though i go back and forthe between 5 pounds it's not bad in the scheme of things. No one remembers me from 2 years ago, but i do. I remember how horrible i felt and how much i hated to shop or go out. Granted it never stopped me, but i wasn't happy about it. Now i can go into any store i want (well except for 5-7-9, but luckily i'm a little too old to shop there) and get an outfit or a shirt. It's hard pulling myself away from the larger sizes and i forget once in a while that i need the smaller size but for the first time in a long time i'm ok with where my body is. Not to mean that i don't want to look better, but i don't hate what i see now. And I've kept the weight off for a year by myself. Yes the surgery helps but making sure i watch what i eat and try to get some excercise in helps more. This will be the year...

that i lose the last 20 pounds
that i lose my arms and thighs (or at least make them smaller)
that i change where i am on the happiness scale by doing things that make me happy

Now for the shock....

Joanne's Wedding in Sept 2005


Red Hat Convention June 2008


I think the results speak for themselves

A long time!

OK - Hello!

this update is really for my friend Jamie (who i swear is the only one reading this anyway! So hi Jamie!) I've been so busy since the new job started travelling and working and commuting that i haven't kept this up so i'm going to try to do a long post about everything going on. hmmm let's see...

New Job:
I like it. It's quieter than I'm used to but I'm trying to get over that by remembering that's what i wanted. I've heard it's been rough at my old place and it actually upsets me to hear that to a degree. I went to San Francisco and Seattle last week in a whirlwind tour of the west coast but did get to spend an afternoon at Fisherman's wharf, and ate fresh crab off the street! YUM. Pictures from that at another time.

Family Updates:
Lyn graduated jr. high School and looked amazing, won the chorus award and is now away at sleepaway camp. I listen to her demo cd and realize how much i miss her!I also can't believe how quickly she's growing up... to the point that it's scary. I found a bunch of old pictures of her and plan on doing a great mini book about her growing up. I need to find a few more then maybe i"ll give it to her for her graduation. We'll see how much I can get done before she gets home.

By some miracle of god, Matthew (my brother in vegas) made dean's list. For those of you who know Matthew I'll give you a moment to stop laughing... But he really did! I'm proud of him.

Mom got a new car, nothing exciting to anyone else but me - i got her old one! and have been driving the treacherous roads to work everyday. OK they aren't treacherous but they could be.

Dating: HA! I joined match.com have been communicating with some people, nothing really super promising though. But I'm trying. It's been 5 weeks ex free, and i realize it's ridiculous to count that, or admit that i'm counting it but there you go!

Alright in other exciting travel news: I went to the red hat convention and loved every drunk night i had there! I was an inspiration to ladies everywhere. Some pictures follow... including one with my cute new dj boyfriend.

Very Jackie O right?? HA

Anywhoo I'm closing with the latest scrapbook pages i did. It's the recap of my 30th... UGH. But Meghan helped me pick the paper and she did a great job. I think i have a secret scrapper emerging! I bought a crapload of stuff at discount stores in PA over the 4th of july weekend, so I'll have a ton of new stuff to show soon (I HOPE!!).

Oh lastly for real... I have this weird obsession with boyz II men all over again.... was on bended knee not the best song ever???????

See you soon!

More Happiness Abounds, and It's been a long time!

Again, this is really why i don't hace one of these things... updating it is hard! Anyway - let's start at the beginning.... I started my new job, and i love it. It's been two weeks, things haven't blown up at the old place yet, but it's about to be financial reporting time and it's going to... I'm just waiting for the phone to ring....The commute isn't that bad, just time consuming. It's a 12 hour day no matter how i cut it. Once i come to terms with that the happier i'll be. I did discover on friday that i do hate commuting back to the city with every teenager from CT who thinks it's cool to hang outin midtown, but that's neither here nor there.

I'm also offically the happiest 30-year old in the world. NKOTB are back and i saw them at zootopia, and my cousin and i got advance tickets to the reunion tour in September. Below are pics of me with my hard worked on happy birthday jordan sign. I took Lyndsey to the show and we had amazing seats... shout out to Rol for that! What is missing is my hat that i found in my house and did wear while the kids were performing!

Oh they still look good!


Hmm let's see what else... oh yeah let's jum to this week. Sex and the City Craziness, rebound guy and a crane... sounds like an interesting time.

Ok First, i met a guy. thought he was going to be the rebound, was pretty happy with the whole situation, and of course i don't hear from him.... Granted we met on thursday and i know i won't hear from him till monday the rules and all, but i just thought we were beyond that, i mean he follwed me for pizza and then we texted till 2am, who does that???? Well maybe i know someone else who did that and that didn't work out so well either. hmpf....

Then of course the fun ended on friday morning when a very large metal object came crashing to the ground around the corner. I've never in my life seen a scene like was going on here. Balconies sheared off, it's amazing that only a few people were injured. It's very very sad, but between that and the subway construction, you cannot get around up here easily at all.

Enter last night and the fun of going to the movies with your friends, drinking waaaayyyy to much and generally just having a good time.

I think we are all caught up peeps. Haven't really had much creativity time, though i did get a scraparatus and 600 eyelets. I dare to say you'll be seeing lots of eyelets come out of me soon!

Cuteness Abounds this weekend

Well it's been areally confusing week for me...
The joy of knowing i have 3 days of work left, but saying goodbye to people I've worked with and been friends with for years. Knowing there's no way they are going to remember everything that i do, and how well i do it, but in all honesty just not caring enough to ask people if they need to go over it one more time....
I'm scared to start a new job, but looking forward to the change of pace, scenery, and people. Personally i'm confused about relationships with boys, friends, what makes them, what does it take to keep them etc... Just one of those weeks where you feel in limbo and so unsure of everything you do. (At least i have them once in a while, maybe it's just me???)

Then Joanne had a baby... my whole out look has changed looking at this baby who they waited so long and tried so hard to have. This perfect little boy who is so loved by everyone who has seen him.

See below the most perfect baby around...
William Geraghty O'Neill 6lbs 10 oz 20 Inches May 7, 2008
And mom and aunt A


A Rare awake pic


Gorgeous right????

Then I go home for the weekend. It's all so simple at my mom's house. It's all black and white, no room for error. Lyn is in that stage where she hates everything anyone who is not under the age of 14 does. I remember being like that... I found my New Kids on the Block hat and Jordan Knight doll, unimportant to anyone but me becuase I will be getting up at the butt crack of dawn on Friday to see a glimpse of them on the plaza at the today show, and i have gotten advanced tickets to their reunion tour. I loved them, I really did and having that hat on my head today reminded me, I was once 12 and a giggly girl who hated everyone above the age of 14... it's a funny cycle i guess.

I decided I would do a layout i've been planning since seeing lyn in rent since it was going to be the basis for a may challenge also so below is "A Star was Born"



Happy Mother's Day to everyone out there (no matter what you are a mommy to!)

Happy National Scrapbooking Day! (Belated)

Happy NSD! Actually it was yesterday and I have to say I had a blast... I was on scrapbook.com from 10 am to 6 pm and probably could have stayed on longer if i didn't have dinner plans! Below are some of the higlights of what i got done. I finished the flip flop album of my trip to Mexico, and did a page for a challenge. I was on super time!



Classy Girl May Sketch






Some of my favorite pages from the flip flop album... It was worth all the work in the end.

I even won one of the challenges on scrapbook.com. Can't wait to see what i win! Still have some things i need to get done which I'm going to work on this week. Though it's shaping up to be a busy one....

PS in dating news ask me about the ninja!!!

Three days is a row - don't get used to it!

Things still suck at work! But now it's becuase people don't want to take responsibility from me... I get it but seriously we are talking about a project that basically is the face of the company. UGH! Any who not my problem in t-14 days!!

Joanne is having her baby in a week. For those of you not familiar with the story, joanne is a hig-risk pregnancy and so they decided to give her a c-section early to fight off any complications. YEAH!!! Baby is coming!!!

Felt creative today so did another layout... see below the wonder that is my Red Hat Group. Love these ladies very much and here is our first pajama party. Going to the national conference with Maryanne and Pat, which should be hella fun! Ok off to BBq tonight for the return of dave and the flank steak...YUM

Layouts and updating of the list

Here are the latest two layouts I've done. I'm proud to say I've filled up one book! I'm on the second, and i'm pretty excited.
I'm also really glad I quit, but more on that later!



Scraplift the person Ahead of you April Challenge


Sketch April Challenge


Loved doing these, wish I had put some more thought into the sketch challenge, put it's a great picture of Eva's little boy and i really loved the colors.

Now as for quitting.... i wish they would just send out the e-mail... everyone knows but i can't put a transition plan into go until the official notice goes out. The two top people have tried to convince me to stay, but I declined the offer. I'm ready to move on to bigger things. I've made some of the best friends ever at (or because of) DP, but it's time....Just needed to vent that out!

A Star is Born

Today Lyndsey made her broadway debut in the ensemble of Rent. Rent is by far my favorite broadway show, (today was my 12th time seeing it!) She was phenomenal. The cast was great with her and made her really feel comfortable. It was one thing to see her on stage, it was quite another to have her be miked, and have it be on and see her be so natural. So yeah I cried a lot... I'll up date more about it soon, but had to out the first pictures up!





Also I'm quitting tomorrow morning, keep your fingers crossed!

I know I know, The updating part of me isn't very good!

Wooo, Lots to tell so let's just get right to it! I've been good about the creativity thing, which you're about to see! Completed a bunch of projects and have a ton of ideas running through my head - just need to make them all meet!

so now a few pictures... Number one Completed Rent Altered Tin for Lyn's debut in Rent this weekend, OK i know it's only a one-time walk on role but a girl can get excited right? I mean she's only 13!!!

Second... Finished stuff for Joanne's Shower that was on Sunday (in the interest of full disclosure, i didn't finish the second bib! But hey the kids not even born yet!)

1st of two said bibs

Layout in frame of a page for Joanne to put a picture, for each month of the 1st year. I took the opportunity to play around with some fun and new for me techniques, heat embossing, stamping, playing with my new Xyron!!

I'm also just finishing the candy bar wrappers for My brother's engagement party on saturday night, since they aren't my finest piece of work I'm probably not posting them... suffice it to say they'll do!

We interrupt this important crafting announcement to bring you an update on my dating situation: NADA... We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog...

Job Front

Woo Hoo I got one! I'm officially giving notice on monday, and as of May 19th will be employed with the Navigators group. Significant raise, significant commute too (but I'm willing to overlook that for now!)

Other fabulous News:

Eye healed up pretty nicely, I posted some pics of me from the cruise i went on with my mom this weekend. A 2 day cruise to no-where... it was awesome! So relaxing we had great food, though i did get sick on steakhouse night! You'd think I learn by now not to eat the whole bowl of creamy new england clam chowder, but I just can't help it! Still a fun weekend and a great time. My bowled the pants off of everyone at the wii bowling tournament.... highlight: a 17 year old boy (i knew he was he was studying for the social studies AP exam) asks me, how old is your mom? I say 56 why? He says: I think I'll stick to guitar hero, I'm afraid of her! I respond laughing: she just retired, she has nothing else to do all day!

Me in the ship's main hallway

Me and Mom at Breakfast....

Oh yeah I went back to Auburn too! Wow busy weekend!

That's it for now!

Love Not being at Work!

I have been in a training class all week and i have to say I love it. They feed you, understand that every 2 hours I need a break, etc... plus I'm down town so i got to hang out with my friends last night. ALL YOU CAN EAT MUSSELS!!! YUM

On the job search front, the company i had hoped to get an answer from this week is being dicey, and telling the recruiter they want to do their due-diligence and see more people. OK cause i have nothing better to do than wait for ya'll to make a decision. Delightful! Oh well, I'd like to get an offer from anyone at this rate!

Creativity wise... I finished a bib! One to go (Look it's on the complete list!) Pictures to follow.
I ordered a frame for the layout for Joanne's shower and started doing some sketches in class today of what i want it to look like. At least I'm getting some craft time in!

OK just a quick update.... ta ta for now!

HA HA HA

Well it's official! I'm an idiot! The doctor was none to pleased with my drinking and scootering (actually trying to put the scooter in a cab incident) and so the result was 10 stitches to my face! Below are the pictures for your enjoyment!

Thursday night (pre doctor visit)


After seeing the determitologist and recieving the stitches...



These are going to make an AWESOME scrapbook page! I just ordered the pictures and man i can't wait!

Rhode Island was fun, did a ton of shopping, and got some cute stuff... even cleared some stuff out of my closet to make room. All in all a great weekend. i even got a bunch of work done on joanne's bibs so that made me happy too!

That's all I got for now, just had to share the stitches picture! As I've been saying all weekend, you should have seen the other girl!

Ouch

Last night was a blast! Love Ashley for making me drink waaaayyy too much. Drinking this much only leads to incidents... like the 3 inch gash under my eye that I'm currently sporting. Thank god there are no interviews in the near future! My mother is going to kill me, but hey whatever... clearly Wednesday nights are over for me!

I'm really going to have to stop drinking until I can get my emotions under control. every time i drink i cry about the breakup. And not even because i want to get back together or anything. just stupid.... any how

Town Tavern on Wednesday nights rock... Ashley rocks, Sol at Aces Rocks (for avoiding swelling and calling T!) and Toby as usual rocks for coming to take me home. I'm documenting it here. No more shots (sorry Mel, but viva limon calidos!) and 2 drinks if i go out. That's it, I'm done....For 1 month - we'll see how it goes after that. On a way better note, I heard yesterday I am the lead candidate for a position that i interviewed for, the excitement is really beyond belief. SO keep finger, toes, anything else you can cross, crossed!
Completely randon, here is a picture of Lyndsey as veruca from her play last weekend. I've been staring at this picture thinking good lord, how did she grow up so fast? She looks nothing like herself here, but I guess she's that much older!

Everything Old is New Again

That's a quote, don't know who said it but here at work it's true. I'll let you all in on a secret (or maybe not so much of one) I'm looking for a new job. My time here at DP is done, for 7 years I've been hearing things will change and get better and they have yet to! So I'm leaving. I've been interviewing at some great places and think I'm close in two companies, so everyone keep their fingers crossed.

In order to start the change of the DP IT department, they've hired a new manager, she started today. The poor girl has no idea what she's in for... an ex-manager who decided he wants to program (meanwhile couldn't program his way out of a paper bag.) a programmer who shows up when he feels like it (which isn't often!) and a third programmer who does whatever he wants instead of the priorities. I only hope she can bring some order and authority (the one thing they never gave me) to the department so things can get done. Her biggest problem will be senior management's expectations of why they can't have the world when they want it. I don't envy her at all, I'm just hoping I won't be here to see what happens, and it will be sad, as I love this place but if I'm really going to have a career - i have to take the next step, not wait for it to come to me.

OK that's my babbling for today. Going out tonight with my gay BF Kev so i know I'm in for a great night!

Happy Monday

well... it was quite the weekend! My cousin Lyndsey (13, amazing voice and actress) was in her school play so of course we had to take over the auditorium to see it. She was great as Veruca Salt even had the accent down to perfection. She made a demo CD and it was the first time i heard it but i have to admit the girl's got talent that is rare. I cried of course through most of it! She won an auction to appear as an extra in the Broadway play rent so that is happening later this month. I've seen rent 11 times to date, and clearly it is one of my favorite shows (perhaps the reason she loves it so much also!) In any even we are all looking forward to that, and as her fav cousin i get to go backstage with her as she gets ready. To commemorate the event I bought her a pair of doc martens, What every girl on the Lower East Side needs, and am making her an altered tin full of Lower East Side goodies. As I Finish that I'll let you know! We also had a little incident with my grandpa, but luckily he seems to be doing much better now that the doctor's know what the problem is and they can treat it. I mean the man is 90 with moderate dementia so we aren't putting him through too much stress, but we want him here as long as we can have him.

In creativity news, Joanne's bib's are coming along nicely! I'm going to Rhode Island this weekend with my mom and aunt and their best friends fro a great girls weekend and should have some time in the car to stitch away! I am also adding a few things on to the project list...I should be busy for years at this rate... which is good!
I'm posting some pictures of some layouts that i have completed so you can all get an idea of what my scrapping style is....















Latest layout based on sketch

















Again based on a sketch















Also based on a sketch (see what I mean about how much better they look when I use a sketch for inspiration)
















The Hollywood Hills are like my crowning achievement on this, I made them myself.
















I think this is by far one of my very favorite layouts I have ever made!


In dating news... NADA! Went to the settler's meetup tonight and had a blast! Great people pretty fun game, just not much potential! But still something i plan on keeping up with for fun purposes. I'll spare everyone the details of my small breakdown on Friday but it was the result of too much wine and being with friends (deadly combo!)

Anywho that's all for now, this is kind of therapeutic so i may update more often than I thought!

Post number 2! What am I doing and what do I want to be doing and Sketches

I've decided since this was my blog I'd keep everyone up to date on all things... scrapping/creativity wise, my personal dating hi jinks (ugh if i ever date again!), and then any other random things that pop into my head...

So i thought as a matter of prosperity I'd let you all know what I'm currently working on. It'll be a fun way to record what I actually get done... I find like a lot of scrapbookers and creative people in general, i have a lot that I'm working on and go back and forth depending on the mood.

So currently on my creativity project list:

1. Bib's for Joanne's shower (cross-stitching 2... the shower is a month away)
2. LO for Baby's first year for Joanne (I haven't even started this yet, but it should go pretty quickly once i get started)
3. Mickey Cross-stitch (HA, this I've had for a number of years,I do it for like 3 weeks straight then put it away for 6 months! I swear I'll finish it!)
4. Pictures of New Years, My birthday party, Mel's wedding, random girls night in, and Timber are all screaming for pages to be done
5. Bread, I want to bake some - random I know but still on my list of things to do
6. A LO of weight loss with 3 pictures from 3 years of st. patty's day.
7. LO of me and my mom then and now type thing.
8. Something for my brother's engagement party
9. The altered tin for my cousin Lyndsey's performance in Rent
10. I found a great family quote and have some great pictures of me and my cousins to apply to it, but we have to get a group shot at the engagement party.

Just to name a few! Woo, I'm tired just writing it! I need a day off!

And in all of this I had the brilliant idea of doing a heritage album. Or at least doing something with all the great pictures my grandma, and her sisters gave me. I was telling someone else this online (a dating story for another post!) and he gave me great tips on getting marriage certificates and census stuff, so I'm really thinking about planning a timeline and to do list. I'm lucky enough to have my grandma and lots of other older relatives around so I want to take advantage of the great stories and first hand accounts while I can. So I'm not sure it will be a full out family tree type thing as much as going through the pictures with them and getting some great stories and having something my cousins and I can look back at fondly.

Sketches

I love these things... I am finding as a new scrapper, that I'm way better when i work with a sketch and it's mainly because I have no idea about composition/balance etc... I'm hoping as i get better i can rely less on them, but right now i don't really care that most of my stuff is being done with the inspiration of a sketch. Some times it's a replication, sometimes a base but either way things are getting done. I've done 2 layouts in 2 days and boy am I happy! Pictures to follow soon!

Dating in NYC
OK, well we'll just get it out there, I just broke up with my boyfriend of almost a year 2 weeks ago. A really good and overdue move... but still kinda sucky. I'm not ready to date by any means...(still need to lose some of the boyfriend weight) but i thought maybe I'd try talking to guys yesterday. Enter craigslist. I posted an ad for guys to talk to at work...middle of the day no commitment, no strings etc... (also how said ex and i met)

Well as expected got a ton of responses, more than half were creepy but did spend the day chatting with some OK guys. Nothing life altering! But at least a way to make the day go by!

Monday I am going to a Settler's meetup (meetup.com... great place to find groups all over of people who enjoy the same things as you! including scrapbooking!) with an old friend of mine from college. Not really expecting to meet anyone, just figured it gets me out and involved in new things, and I'm learning that meeting people in this city is all about trying new things!

That's it for now... Hope everyone has a great weekend!

My very first post

Hello! and i say that more to myself than anyone else, since i'm not really sure anyone is going to read this!
A few things about me you might like to know:

• I love using elipses (though i can't say the actual word) and exclamation points
• I had gastric bypass almost 2 years ago and have lost over 100 pounds, and am pretty excited about that
• I have a dog who I adore, her picture is on the side
• I'm completely new to the scrapbooking thing, but have always loved pictures
• I really suck at updating blogs, the last time i tried this was after the surgery - didn't go so well, but i'm going to try.

Ok so this is just to get the page running, I will actually think of something witty to say and post some layouts and stuff I'm working on soon.