things you dont want to hear and I dont want to say

1. I feel puke-y... probably because I ate too much at dinner... quite possibly because...
2. my stomach is upset... and thats probably from the chocolate protein shake thing that my brother had me try today... and i know that because...
3. im burping chocolate... please note that I had that around 11:30 this morning, and yes I can taste it... is that even possible?
4. im peeing more today... which is good, cuz ive been retaining water like a camel... but not as much as I should be for the amount that I am drinking
5. my legs ache, which isnt fun, although im glad that I went to work out today
6. im dead tired... probably from working out and my body reacting to the vaccines I got awhile ago
7. im at work... there are 6 people on tonight, and its very dead right now... hence blogging
8. my breasts hurt... I really gotta start measuring them daily, cuz I swear they fluctuate at least a cup size and this water retention stuff is so not cool
9. I need some lovin in the form of a head to toe body massage and snuggles and a cozy couch and a rented movie
10. i have to work tomorrow
11. im rapidly becoming very poor due to lack of hours at work and spending money on stuff I needed to get..... such as shots
12. the sum total of the vaccines ive gotten so far for china - $286.00 for 3 intermuscular shots, 1 fat shot, and one rx of tamiflu. still have to get - 2 boosters for hep b, 1 booster for hep a, intermuscular for typhoid fever. lovely. I cant wait.
13. the chemistry supervisor has a vendetta against me. says im "unreliable" because I called out once for having a migraine. so sue me. and bite me. hard.

all that being said... there are some good things

1. I am going to Florida / Ethan / Disney on Sunday
2. I will get #9, sans cozy couch and movie, but thats okay
3. I found some shorts at target that I like that arent up my butt
4. I am actually seeing a hint of a muscle in my arms
5. I got new sunglasses, though the jury is still out on whether I really like them or not... so far they dont give me a headache, so thats good
6. I got sports bras for working out... so now my tender water-logged breasts are, at the very least, staying in one place
7. im working a LOT after I get back from disney... like 7 days in a row... which will replenish the coffers a bit
8. DISNEY! whee! :)
9. China is looming closer and closer!
10. The DaVinci Code is coming out on May 19th. I am thinkin that on May 26th (my birthday) that I should do a double header and see The DC and then X Men 3 right after. I am not sure I can sit for that long, but I could try.
11. I GOT A LEFT CONTACT THAT WORKS!!!!!!! Finally, I am freakin done driving to ardmore every week.
12. Ethan will be home soon and taking karate again... which means I get to go watch the Powers be absolutely adorable. Oh yeah, and Ethan, I watch him too. :)
13. I was proud of myself today bc I did an elliptical machine that was more like a stairmaster thing... and I thought I wasnt even going to make it 5 mins. But I told myself to do 5, then to do 5 more, then I said I was going to make it to 15, which was my original goal... and then I did 5 more after that to cool down! apparently in 20 mins I did 2260 strides. thats a lot. but i was proud. i made chris do that same machine and he couldnt hack it. GIRLY MAN! ;)

Its 8:10 right now.... 3 more hours. sigh. I like when its dead here... but its soooo boring. at least time goes fast when you are running around like crazy. I will probably write again tomorrow night since i will be working. Hopefully tomorrow the good will outweigh the bad significantly.

songs that remind me

so this song just came on that reminded me of something, so I decided to create a short list of songs that remind me of people. :) Actually there are a LOT of songs that remind me of people... but I toyed around quite awhile trying to make a list with songs that reminded me of specific guys in my life... so heres the list, like it or not.

1. "Head Over Feet" Alanis Morissette ~ Dave Turocy bc it always seemed to come on when we were talking on the phone back in 10th grade (aww)
2. "Dreamweaver" ~ Nick DelValle bc right after he asked me out, it came on, and we laughed, it was fairly ridiculous
3. "SpaceJam" ~ Nick because thats what we went to see before he asked me out. aww isnt 10th grade cute? (gag)
4. "In Your Eyes" Peter Gabriel ~ Chris Knapp cuz it was "our song"
5. "Dont Wanna Miss A Thing" Aerosmith ~ Chris Knapp cuz he said it reminded him of me
6. "Thunder Rolls" Garth Brooks ~ Dave Snyder cuz he liked garth and we went to a concert... it was actually good
7. "Unforgettable" ~ Jon Nicol, obviously, cuz we sang it together,and there are like a billion other songs that I associate with him and it would take forever to list, so I just thought I would put the most obvious. and MLK.
8. lots of punk songs ~ Ray Schafer cuz he got me turned on to it
9. "Faithfully" Journey ~ Matty Nye because he loves Journey with more than a passion and I remember him telling me that he wants to sing this song to his wife on his wedding day. :)
10. "Barely Breathing" Duncan Sheik ~ Josh Hunnex because he said it reminded him of me once upon a time.... but lots of songs remind me of him, like old Penns songs or anything by Dream Theater or anything thats a cappella... and "More Than A Feeling". giggle.
11. anything by Petra ~ Ethan Metsger... obviously.... and that first song you sent to me reminds me of you,b ut I forget what its called and im pretty sure its Petra anyway.... and a couple of other random songs, but I cant remember them right now, I hear them and im like oh, Ethan.

So thats the list. I dont have a song for Dave Lloyd. Actually thats not true... he gave me a music box once that played a song and THATS the song that reminds me of him but I cant think of it right now.... somethin about "lift us up where we belong, where the eagles fly, on mountain high" or something like that.

I dunno, I pretty much have songs for everyone... so maybe later (not at work) I will write a list for my friends too. like I definitely have one for Brian Koch, hes the most obvious... its pretty random and I think once I say what it is, he will be kinda suprised at it and be like, how did you even know that?

and now its time to actually do work.

wednesday

I always blog at work... so this should come as no suprise. or surprise. or however you spell it.

I have been officially working out for 10 days and my body HURTS. Chris and I joined Summit Fitness Club, which is right by our house. The lady there was totally nice... she knew we were not students, but gave us "the look" when signing us up and said, "You guys are students... right?". So we said yes. that meant no initiation fee and then its 50 bucks a month... not terrible considering ive gone every day except sat, sun, and today.

I really wanted to go today and I set my alarm for 8 since i wanted to go before my eye doc appt at 11:15 in ardmore. So I woke up and felt like utter poop. Not only does my body hurt from working out, but im getting sick. I got vaccines for China last week (hep a, hep b, tetanus, and flu all at once, almost passed out, much fun was had) and the primary immune response takes about 7 to 10 days to kick in... so I think its kicked in and im just feeling awful. And I went to camp last night so I didnt get to bed til after midnight... so I was sleepy. Anyway, I decided to sleep in and go to the gym later.

I got up around 9:30 for the eye doctor. Showered. left around 10:20. Annnnnnnd.... good news.......


I HAVE A CONTACT THAT WORKS!!!!!!!!! (whee!) Finally, after going back about 7 times, I have one that actually allows me to see. its a miracle. I think its my 5th or 6th one. not only that, but my doctor, um, twisted the truth just a lil bit, so I should be getting some dinero back from my insurence company to defray the heafty bill.

The only sad part is that there are these absolutely adorable sunglasses that I love and want, but they are 99 bucks.... and every time I go, I want them more. its hard for me to find sunglasses I like and wont give me a headache. I know it seems totally vapid and self-indulgent to make such a big deal over sunglasses... but I REALLY want them. I held myself back today... but if I go next time and he tells me that hes getting a couple of hundred back from my contacts, i think I might have to get them. :)


So anyway, I came home, still felt like poop, so I decided to take a day off. tomorrow morning its back to the gym though.

A lot of people have given me kinda funny looks when I tell them that I joined the gym and have been going every day... so I just want to put it out there.... I dont think im fat. I dont think I need to lose weight. What I DO need, however, is to get healthy, and im not. If you have read any of my other posts, then you know that. My goal, hopefully, is to get healthy enough that I can get off stupid birth control... i think getting in shape, getting my heart and body functional, taking my vitamins and fish oil (I seriously think its helped the IBS), will go far in helping that stuff too. Plus its not terrible to have a hot bod. ;) Both Chris and I are making serious strides in taking care of ourselves... we have great genes.... both of my parents look amazing for their age... and the fact that they look so great now when they have smoked for much of their lives (mom about 15, dad about 42 years) and have never exercized or really taken good care of themselves.... I think chris and I could do pretty well if we got into the habit now. Its especially frightening to see how my moms body is kinda crumbling... rheumatoid arthritis, foot issues, back pain, migraines, etc.... I dont want that, and if i keep my body in good shape maybe it wont happen. Plus Chris knows hes gotta change his lifestyle, hes gotten into too much trouble in the past few years, and he knows what a crappy life he is going to lead if he keeps going down that path.... so I dont know... working out is fun, and I like doing it, honestly. If anyone wants to come with me, I would love it. The only thing better than working out is working out with a friend. :)


So all that aside... right now I am at work. its lab week. For those of you who dont know, Lab Week is the week-long equivalent of Secretaries Day. And it also means free food (and lots of it) all week. Tonight we have bagels and donuts. yum! tomorrow I think they are having sundaes. Of course 2nd and 3rd shift get routinely screwed during lab week bc most of the activities are planned during day shift... but we scrounge for the leftovers and we are happy to have free food cuz the food in the caf at night sucks. Anyway, HAPPY LAB WEEK.... oot. mind you, it doesnt mean a raise or a bonus or anything... it just means food. which I guess i can deal with.

i just thought of something else I wanted to make a post of... mostly cuz of the song that just came on. so I think I will do it.

new pictures

I posted pictures of chilling at joshs and paiges suprise bridal shower... just follow the link to the right!

:)

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee

So many awesome fun things are happening right now!

1. I am escorting Mr. Hunnex to his prom on Sat at the Constitution Center
2. I am flying down to florida on april 30th to take a 3 day Disney vacation with my boy
3. Ethan accepted the job, so we are going to drive back up here after Disney, and he will be HOME
4. CHINA from June 20th to July 2nd! !!!!!
5. PHILLY PROJECT = = singing!
6. writing camp curriculum!
7. being able to actually attend camp as a chaplain, which I wasnt going to be able to do
8. did I mention Ethan is moving home?
9. I get to teach next year... if I find a job... but at least I can make headway
10. Gonna take the GREs so that I can officially apply for grad school at WCU even though im half way to my masters... I may just use next school year to finish that up, continue working part time at the hospital
11. joining the gym with my brother. im hans. hes franz.
12. I can get trained in blood bank finally!!!
13. Maybe moving out soon?!
14. Paiges wedding on May 28th!
15. My birthday on May 26th!
16. ummmmm x men 3 is definitely coming out ON my birthday, what a stroke of luck!

So yes, very exciting things... but among those happy things, there were some bad things that happened today.... fortunately, that list is much shorter.

1. spilled oil on my pants
2. left my orange sharpie open and it leaked thru my lab coat on to my favorite white t shirt
3. got 4 shots.... hepatitus a and b (both muscular) in my left arm, and tetanus (muscular) and flu (fat) in my right. I almost passed out. broke out into a ridiculous sweat even though im totally not scared of needles. its something about those intermuscular shots that hurt like a sonofa... plus I had a LOT
4. still gotta get another hep b in a month, then hep a and b in 6... and I have to find a place to give me a typhoid fever shot. wouldnt it be just my luck? typhoid ericka. wonderful.

Anyway, things are happy... tomorrow im going to Steph and Nicks with Jon to write our portion of the curriculum. We are having bbq ribs, corn, green beans, and some sort of dessert... cream puffs perhaps? :) I will let you know :)

amendment

les pointed out that I said jenny was out of project, and shes not! fear not! shes just gonna be busy with wcu band and miss a couple of rehersals, no biggie.


:)


so its all good.


and in other news............




ETHAN QUIT HIS JOB AND IS MOVING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

its like jenga. or maybe tetris.

I remember doing jig-saw puzzles with my brother when we were little, and we would always get excited to dump out the pieces and realize that two of them were already put together so it was one less thing we had to match. Come to think of it, we were excited enough to make me wonder WHY we did jig-saw puzzles in the first place. Anyway, you could start with those two pieces and build on that... or you could start finding the corners and start creating the edge with the flat pieces.

I guess I am not sure which direction my life is taking. I thought it was going to take the two pieces approach.... start with nothing but two things that are already together, and then build on top of that. I thought I was moving to Florida. I might not be. Soooo... I might be taking the edge approach... the two pieces are still together, but you start creating a framework first instead of worrying about those two.

There are a lot of things that excite me about the possibility of staying home... I can keep my job at the hospital... I can start working out with my brother.... I can teach in the fall, possibly at lower merion with josh, which makes me REALLY excited.... I can move out of my home but have the security of being close to it, possibly even in with josh and les.... I can substitute teach.... I can SING this summer, and as much as I am sad for Jenny that shes out of Project, it makes me REALLY thrilled to be able to participate.... I get to save up more money for China in June.... a lot of things. I know I will be more emotionally stable if I stay here. I know staying here is what, in my heart, I want to do.

But I dont know if it will work out that way... and as much as the idea of staying thrills me, I am kind of freaked by the ramifications of NOT starting with the two puzzle pieces. I dont know how it will work. I hope. I pray. I anticipate. But I dont know.

Maybe you are wondering what is triggering this post.... Ethan got offered a job at a local company today. !!!! I dont know what he will decide to do, and I know he has to do what he thinks is best and be where his heart is taking him. I am prepared to leave PA for awhile if need be. And he still owes me a trip to Disney, and theres no way hes getting out of that. At this point, I just want to stop waiting for things to happen.... I want to start making things pull together...

the apartment in Florida not working out, and Ethan getting this job.... I dont know, it feels like a sign to me. My aunt says that God does not work THAT mysteriously.... and to trust how the cards are falling. I know it will work out to the best and that we will make the best decision we can. So we will see.... I am prepared for either, but I know where my heart is. Now we just have to figure out what will actually happen!

stupid freakin florida!

Soooo.....

Apparently I am not moving on the 19th. sigh.

The story:
The apartment was supposed to be ready last thursday. Ethan called and it wasnt. They said Friday. Ethan called Friday, asked to make sure everything was chill and ready to roll and the lady said "okay" and pretty much hung up on him. In a lapse of intellegence, he did not call back, and instead went over there.... lo and behold, the carpet replacer man went to the wrong apt so the carpet hadnt been replaced yet and it wasnt ready. It would be ready Sat.

So Ethan goes over Sat (poor guy) and the apartment has a new carpet but is otherwise a mess. If you wanna check out the pictures, you can find them at http://uppertank.net/ethanm/personal/pictures/apt/
As you can see from said pictures, there are splotches of white paint on the walls, mad crazy paint drips... one window is missing a screen... several of the locks on the windows were busted.... the mirror on the little medicine cabinet was busted... the closet door was completely derailed and needed to be fixed.... one of the door frames was rotting.... a fire extinguisher was missing.... a ceiling fan in the bedroom had been taken down and not replaced.... a whole bunch of stuff.

Ethan calls me pretty upset, and I get pretty pissed... and we are kind of a deadly duo when its like that. One of my favorite things about our relationship is that when crap happens, we get it taken care of. We would probably make an awesome disaster rescue team or something like that. Anyway, we go back and forth as to what to do... He decides to write a letter to give to management on Monday listing all the things that need to be fixed. They said that they would make an appointment on Monday to get the place painted... I told him that the place would, in no way, be ready on monday... even if they painted today, he couldnt move in today, it has to air out and stuff. I tell him to go get pictures of all the broken stuff so that we can have a record of it, which he did on Sunday.

On Sunday he talked to a bunch of people, all of who said that the area is NOT a nice area to live in. Everyone gives him looks about the place... overall, this is not helping his feelings about the place. I am sort of in the frame of mind like suck and deal, after we get this stuff taken care of, we dont really have to deal with management, we can just live on our own and not worry about them too much. But hes still not feeling good about it... In the end we decide to suck and deal, to give them a week from Monday to get the stuff fixed or we will not move in.

Okay, skip to today. He goes over around 1:15 and they say that management will not be in until 2. Ethan goes off to look at another apartment in a nicer area, which he felt pretty good about. By the time he rolls back to Oakwood, its approximately 2:30. When he gets to Oakwood, he finds about 3 cop cars, an ambulence, and a tv crew. lovely. He talks to a few of the current Oakwood residents and gets the feeling that pretty much everyone is uncomfortable living there. In particular, he talks to a woman who just moved there from Jersey, and she said her place wasnt ready when she moved in and shes been having a tough time getting them to fix stuff.

Sigh. The last straw.

So we have decided to back out. I told him to go with his gut and that it will work out. He just texted me to say that its done, hes taking his dinero back to the bank... and we start over again. I called my manager at work to say hey, can I please stay on for another two weeks? So hopefully that will work out... there are a billion spots open over the next few weeks, and hopefully I will be able to fill them. UGH.


So its really really annoying and im not all that pleased with it... but it does mean some good things. There are a couple events coming up in the next few weeks that I am glad that I will be able to attend. But other than that, its extremely frustrating bc both Ethan and I are kind of at our wits end and we just wanna get it done with.


Thats the story, who knows when im leaving, perhaps I will just keep my big mouth shut until I definitely know... but I thought I did definitely know. And now I just know nothing. Nothing at all.

blush sauce

Last night, Jenn, Josh, Jon, and I went to L'Angelo Ristorante which is on 202 right past Stetson Middle school. Its an extremely delicious place... nice atmosphere, good bread, yummy pastas, very reasonable prices.... I really like it.

Anyway, nearly every time I have been there, I have gotten the pasta combo. The pasta combo is gnocchi, cheese tortellini, and penne tossed in an aurora sauce. An aurora sauce is basically a pink cream sauce... aka blush sauce. Its so amazingly good... heavier than marinara, but doesnt sit like a brick as alfredo sauce does. I think its a nice medium between the two, and it makes sense cuz its made with tomato sauce and a lighter cream sauce (not so much cheese sauce). I really really REALLY like it so even though there are a billion things on the menu that I would like to try, I usually end up getting the same thing.

The only problem with the aurora sauce is what happens to it overnight. First of all, when you stick it in the fridge, it completely congeals. like a rock. like a creamy pink rock. Fortunately, grossness does not usually disuade me from eating something... so once I hack out a portion, I stick it in the microwave.... and then it gets even nastier. The once-lovely blush sause seperates into some kind of strange mess... Basically its like oil and some kind of chunkiness. I ate it anyway. And it was yummy. But here is what was left over in the bowl after I was finished, just to give you an idea of what we are dealing with here....

mmmmmm aurora-y goodness.

In case you arent quite sure if thats yummy or not, try this picture....

That would be the grease collecting at the bottom... looks kinda reddish...

So yes, that would be the pasta combo... its SO GOOD, but if I keel over later, you will know why.

In other news, I got a new cell phone and a new cell phone plan yesterday.... this means that when I move on the 19th, you can call me, esp if you are on cingular (free mobile to mobile)... but only after 9, please. And please please call, cuz i know im gonna have some days where I am freaking out about being away from you guys, even though it means I will get a free back massage every night. (right honey? ;) )