Celebrations

This past weekend I was able to fly out to help celebrate my sister and her now future hubbie to be's engagement with friends and family in Utah. And let me tell you it was a crazy long weekend of stress and joy. But then again doesn't weddings usually combine the two?

I'm so happy for my sister and her fiance. She couldn't have chosen better if you asked me. He is a hard-worker and really loves my sister. Minus the fact that he has a crazy mother, he's pretty cool and he even gets along with my sisters. Now don't get me wrong about his mother. My family is fully of crazies and have more than our fair share of our own issues, and for the most part my sister's future mother to be is a nice lady. She just has to realize that my sister is not trying to take her son away and that she has been taking care of herself since she was a child and having someone treat her like a child is a foreign thing.

Like all good relationships it takes a lot of work to make it work out, and both my sister and future brother-in-law are willing to put in the time and effort it takes to make it work. It also helps that they do have people cheering them on the side lines willing to help with the crazy stressful wedding plans. Cause if you don't think putting a wedding together on a tight budget, then you are crazy.

Weddings are crazy stressful. Especially when one family has divorced parents that aren't on good terms. We will make this wedding work and be a good memory for my sister. NO MAJOR DRAMA ALLOWED!! Everyone's issues will be checked at the door and focus on the point of the day. My sister and brother-in-law tying the knot.

Like this past weekend, when my sister was concerned that no one would come to the party. We not only had a full house of over 30 people but from long time family friends we hadn't seen in years, to extended family that drove over 100 miles, to derby friends to close friends and family. Those who couldn't make it even called to talk to the fam to express there joy and sad that they weren't able to come to the party.

Not only that but we set up an awesome lunch and decorated a room that we weren't allowed to tape anything to the walls. And everyone expressed how great the place looked and how good the food was, even for those who had dietary issues, we had something for everyone.

We were even able to get the new additions to the family to help with creating decorations (so many puffy decorative balls out of tissue paper) and even decorated the mass quantities of cookies, so that we could all bond. And for the most part we all got along great. There were jokes, there was teasing, and overall some pretty good conversations.

To add to the three day crazy preparations for the party, I wasn't only sick, but we were able to pick out the bridesmaids dresses and get our hair done! Talk about a whirlwind of a weekend.

I wish I could have stayed up there longer to have a bit of a more relaxed visit with the siblings, but work called me back to the Bay Area. Another trip will needed for a good catch up visit with my sister. Though I have a feeling that until the wedding happens towards the end of the year, every visit will be busy with helping with making wedding decorations and doing anything possible to help destress the bride. And you know what? I'm totally okay with that. This being the first sister in my family to get married, we are all trying to figure out what needs to be done and how we can do it with out spending an arm and a leg.

DIY crafts you will be done! And it will look fantastic. That is if I don't end up bleeding all over them. I tend to be klutzy when it comes to doing crafts as I've learned this weekend. I just happened to take a chunk out of my knuckle with scissors while making the puff balls and stabbed myself with ice while using an ice pick to try to break up a big block (don't worry it was only the ice that stabbed my hand. Not actual stitches were needed. Only a little bandaide and told I'm no longer allowed to touch sharp objects.) FYI all the wounds were totally worth it in the end. Cause the party looked great!

Can't wait for the day to be a bridesmaid for the first time and see my sister in her big day as she officially starts a family with Michael. I will with no doubt be crying like a baby with tears of joy.

High School Drama Tendancy

This has been a long week in the world of my day job. One of my accountants I assist not only had to deal with his baby girl being sick last week but with getting so sick that it kicked in his asthma so bad he had to stay home extra days trying to breathe. As I've been lucky with asthma I've never had major issues like had but damn do I feel his paid when he was wheezing the days he was able to make it into the office.

I found it kind of ironic that when he had called my boss to let us know how he was doing he had mentioned just how much he felt like he was 12 years old again. The big kid with glasses, not able to run a mile, can't breathe properly and a total nerd. This had me not only cracking up but it seemed to fit the weeks unofficial theme of acting like we are all back in high school. And for me personally high school is not a time that I want to go back and revisit or relive. Okay, if I had to redo it I'd 100% do it differently. I'd ignore all the family drama and focus on myself and dancing more.

Where am I going with this high school tangent you ask? Well, working in an office can be exactly like being back at high school sometimes. People wont communicate why they are upset, there are clicks, and there are more gossip than there needs to be.

Let me just put it this way, every type of high school drama. From silent treatment. To gossip. To cutting someone off from a group. To tattling. To backstabbing and denying it. To snooping. All happened within a span of 5 days. Don't get me wrong, one or a few always happen but all at once? What the hell? Was something in the air? Maybe in the water? Whatever it is I sure hope that it will be done and gone by the time Monday rolls around and all the big bosses roll back into the office.

Office drama, I know it happens everywhere. But one of the things I've loved about my department since I've started working with this company is that we have all become a little family and get along great. We may have a few frustrating moments with the other, that's normal, but we talk it through and get on with getting our lives. Then again I work with two awesome guys and a female insurance coordinator that is so laid back. These are people I love working with. Even with drama in our work lives we are able to help the others get through it and make them laugh.

Who knew that almost ten years after high school I'd still get pulled into drama by women in there 40s going on 13. Yesh. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right? Well, I'm now working on how to hone my business skills and keep work getting done without letting drama effect our efficiency. With 2 accountants and me as a helper bee to get three offices worth of accounting done, there is no time to dwell on the negative and keep moving forward. 

Thus ends my little rant about high school drama. No matter what it's always around. Best thing you can do is just keep going and not let it effect you like others want it to.

Super Bowl Sunday

Personally I'm not a big football fan. If I had a choice I'd rather watch rugby. Then again that is only because I know the rules since I played it while I was in college. Football to me is rather slow with very little action. I know, I know, please don't hate. I get a lot of grief from my co-workers who are big football fans that I can be into rugby but not football. But hey, I'll take nonstop hits in two 40 minute halves with the only equipment required are cleats and a mouth guard, no forward passes, and non stop movement on the pitch with players having to play both offense and defense, with no subbing back and forth unless blood is on the pitch. Yup, now that is a game. Not to mention that during the average game a player will run at least 5 miles. Talk about endurance.

Now, that I have my little rant out of the way about rugby vs football out of the way, today is the big day for all football fans. That's right it's Super Bowl Sunday and my city's team is in it. Not only has the San Francisco Giants won the World Series, but out 49rs are in the Super Bowl. Needless to say that the city will go just as crazy or worse if we win the Super Bowl on top of winning the World Series...and I'll never hear the end of it from my co-workers. The second could be a lot worse. But this last year people were rather stupid and decided to destroy public property and if I remember correctly light a bus on fire. Luckily no one was on the bus, but I mean come on people let's not destroy the city that you say you love so much.

So, what am I doing on Super Bowl Sunday? I'm writing. Plotting out new books, writing works in progress, sending out a query letter to a dream agent of mine, doing a load of laundry (you're welcome co-workers, I like you enough to make sure I don't smell or come in wearing my pajamas), oh and I did bet on the Super Bowl (it's actually 4 squares, and I left out the breakdown of which are my numbers at work, so I wont know if I actually win money unless I get a text from my boss or till I get to work tomorrow. Opps my bad), oh and I can't forget about updating my wonderful blogs here and Novelous Ladies. I know it all sounds like a blast. And guess what...that's my usual weekend since I dedicate them to focus on writing, while weekdays are reading for Novelous Ladies.

Why do you as? Well, one of the best advice I've gotten is that if you don't have time to read what is out there in your genre then you don't have time to write. And well what better than being inspired by those who have gone through the same struggles of writing a book and succeeded. You know what? I think that it does help me. It pushes me to keep writing. To keep improving to one day be able to say that I have a published novel. That I know the market well enough that what is out there and what isn't. To know what makes a good story and then tell it in my own way that will make people want to read it.

So, now it's time for me to get back to work in keeping making steps to the big goal of writing novels for a living. It will happen. It's just going to take time and a lot of hard work.

Now, go enjoy the Super Bowl day and for those in the City, stay safe and go San Francisco!