World's Best Juror

Yesterday I received notification that I have been summonsed for jury duty. One might think that this is no big deal, but in my case, it is. Why? Because I get called for jury duty more than any other person in Massachusetts. Seriously! I am 26 (ok, ok…I am going to be 27 in 17 days, but for now I am still 26!) and have been called for jury duty 6 times! Yes, 6 times. And, three of those times have been in the past 2 ½ years. I’ve been called more times than both of my parents…combined! Thankfully, I can get out of it this time (and did as well last time) because I served on a jury in December 2005 (drug deal in McDonalds gone wrong…Guilty!) and as a result, I am excused for three years. I thought it was rather comical when I was called for jury duty only a month after my juror service, but now here we go again and the comedy has turned into ridiculousness. I guarantee it won’t be long before I’m called yet again…and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s immediately after the three year anniversary of my juror service this December. Ugh!

Do you think this is the universe’s way of telling me I should have been a judge or something? Or, maybe I was a criminal in a past life and this is karma’s way of getting me back.

Friendship

I usually try to keep this blog positive. I am, by nature, a positive person and I try to live my life with an optimistic outlook. But, today, I am upset. I don’t want to get into specifics, but let’s just say that sometimes people aren’t what you think they are. My husband always says that I give too much and get too little in return from others. And in response, I always tell him that I won’t play games…I’m not going to treat someone in a certain way just because they have treated me that way. I will always try to be the best that I can regardless of others, because I am the one that has to live with my actions. I know that if I were to treat someone poorly it would eat at me for a long time. I really do try to be a good friend, but the cold hard truth is that not everyone extends that same courtesy to me.

There is a particular person in my life that I’ve finally accepted is not a good friend to me. There have been little incidents and occurrences over the past couple of years that have hurt me and made me feel uneasy and upset, but I tried to brush them off and tell myself that I’m just being paranoid. Why would someone do these things to me when they are supposed to be my friend? Well, I am now convinced that I was not imagining these things…they are real. And it is quite clear that this person either doesn’t value my friendship or doesn’t want to be friends with me at all. I don’t know why that would be the case…why would anyone purposely blow off someone that wants to be a true and genuine friend to you? I am not perfect, not even close, and I haven’t always been the best friend, but I feel that I have grown, matured and changed a lot in the past few years and I have a much different outlook on friendship. I love and cherish my friends and do not take them for granted. I try to be the best and most loyal friend that I can. Distance and life in general sometimes make that hard, but no amount of time or distance would ever change the way that I feel about my friends. I will always try to do my best, and I know that those that are true friends will recognize this fact and try to show me the same courtesy.

The bottom line is that I can’t allow this situation to hurt me anymore. I have to accept the truth of the matter, make peace with it, and move on. I have way too much good in my life to let this situation bring me down. I have recognized the fact that this is not a true friendship and that this person has hurt me, and with this knowledge I now have to move forward. I am not going to dwell on this, or even think about it, anymore because I've already wasted too much time doing so and it is not worth it. Friendship cannot be one-sided. Friendship is not a title, it is an action. This is not a friendship. And, as much as I wish that things could be different, they are not.

This is what life is all about.

Some of the best things in life are so simple and so unexpected. I experienced this first hand yesterday.

Let me give you the back story…my mother has been a yo-yo dieter for as long as I can remember. After reaching her highest weight (except for when she was pregnant with my brother 18 years ago) around the time of my wedding, she lost nearly 75 lbs. in 2007. Of course, she deserves all the credit for this amazing feat, but I’d like to think that my encouragement and assistance played a role. You see, I am sort of the health advocate for my family. Regular exercise and eating well are a huge part of my life and I have tried to impart a little of my drive and knowledge onto my family in hopes of helping them live healthier and happier life. And, in many ways, my efforts have worked…until recently. My mother has slowly started to put some weight back on. She is nowhere near her highest (not even close, in fact), but she needs to put a stop to it now for her own health and well-being, both physically and mentally. She has been getting very depressed about the fact that she is not maintaining her weight, but she also manages to have every excuse in the book about why she can’t. Well, I am not willing to accept her excuses. There is no excuse good enough to justify not making your health a top priority. So, in my efforts to assist her in getting back on track, I have offered to open up my schedule anytime she wants to work out together. And, she took my up on my offer yesterday. She asked if I would go up to her house in North Hatfield for a bike ride. I did want to work out yesterday and I do love to bike ride, but the drive up there after work was not appealing at all and I seriously did not want to go. But, I sucked it up and went, and man oh man, I am so glad that I did.

We (we being my mom, her boyfriend, my brother, and myself) went for the most wonderful 16 mile bike ride through Hatfield and Whately last night. Yes, it was a great workout, but that is not what made it so wonderful. It was so fantastic to do something like that with some of the most important people in my life. And, it was also fantastic to ride the roads of my childhood. See, my mom lives in my grandparent’s house (they left it to her when they passed away). I was incredibly close with my grandparents when they were alive and I spent the majority of my childhood with them at their house or around town. I’ve been down the roads that we biked a million times before, but not in many years. Going down those roads yesterday brought back so many wonderful memories and warm feelings. It made me immensely happy to think back to times with my grandparents when I was just a child. Going to the Hatfield parade on the 4th of July, going to elementary school (I went there through the 3rd grade), playing tag out in front of town hall with my girl scout troop, playing ping pong with my cousins at the community center, going to the only store in town to pick up milk, etc… My mind is filled with these memories, but I had not thought about them in so very long until yesterday. Also, it was really neat to see the sights that seemed so familiar to me from a different perspective. Usually, I just get a quick glimpse of them as I drive by in a car, but being on a bike and getting to see things slowly and up close was really fun. I got to read signs and look and houses and enjoy the view of the mountains, the Connecticut River, and of all the farm land that Hatfield is known for. I got to look at the cute libraries and post offices and town halls of these small towns. It brought me such a sense of peace and contentment to be out in nature with my family enjoying the country roads of my childhood. It was absolutely perfect.

I am so glad that I forced myself to go because it wound up being a truly wonderful night that I will treasure in my memory for a very long time. I am so thankful to be living close to my family now, enabling me to see them and do fun things like this with them anytime I want. I absolutely love spending time with them, and being able to do so while getting exercise is even better. We chatted it up about life, reminisced about days gone by, all while going something good for our bodies. I can think of no better way to spend my time. We are so fortunate to be able to do these things and I hope to do it many times more. This perfect evening was a clear reminder that this is what life truly is about. I can’t believe that I even contemplated not going because I didn’t want to drive there. What ever what I thinking?

Where did the weekend go?

Seriously, where did it go? I cannot believe it is already Monday. How did this happen? It is just so unfair that beautiful summer weekends go by so darn fast. We did manage to take advantage of it a little bit, though.

On Saturday, John, Bailey and I took a drive up to Mohawk Trail State Park in Charlemont, MA for a little afternoon hike. Ha! More like killer hike! We thought that the walk from the car to the trail was tough, until we got to the trail. We should have known better when the trail marker said 1,711 ft. to the top. The trail seriously went straight up! All three of us were dying by ¼ of the way up. Bailey even laid down at one point right in the middle of the trail! But, if you know us, then you know that we were not about to quit. We pushed ourselves so hard, but we made it to the top! It was only when we reached the top that I realized that I forgot my camera in the car, so sorry…no pictures :-( But, let me just say that it was the most amazing view from up there. It made the hard hike totally worth it. Being on top of that mountain gave me such an exhilarating feeling! I felt so alive and so at peace. It was just another reminder of how amazing life truly is. We sat on this huge rock and just talked and enjoyed the beauty and the wonderful time together. Then, of course, we had to go down. I swear it was even steeper on the way down…very treacherous! But, thankfully we made it down safely (although John did take a bit of a spill at one point). And, as a reward for her hard work, we let Bailey go for a swim in the river to cool off, which of course she loved (she’s like a little fish in the water…a very talented swimmer indeed!). After the hike, we went over my mom’s house where we BBQ’d and drank margaritas (yuuuummmmm!) on her new patio. A wonderfully perfect summer day, if I do say so myself!

Yesterday was slightly more productive. After a great workout in the morning, I took my girlie (Bail, that is) to the park for some fun. After running around at the park, we went for a nice long walk. She loved it, and was totally exhausted by the time we got home. I managed to be rather productive as well. I went grocery shopping and did quite a bit of cleaning around the house. John had to take care of a few mini-emergencies at the house. Our toilet flusher broke and our washing machine was leaking (not a good weekend for plumbing at our house!). My Johnny is so handy though and he totally fixed both problems himself! I was a little nervous when I left for grocery shopping…our toilet was completely dismantled and spread out across our bathroom floor. I was even more nervous when I returned and saw the sawzall out. But, I should have had faith in my man, because our toilet flushes like a dream now! It’s funny what being a homeowner will do to you…it makes working toilets exciting! The washer is also now fixed. Although I wasn’t able to do my normal Sunday laundry (and will have to get it all done this week), I am relieved that we do not have to buy a new washer. All in all, a successful day of home ownership!

On another note, John is going away this weekend for a long weekend with the guys. I am already getting a little sad :-( I hate when he is gone, not only because I miss him terribly, but also because I am such a scaredy cat when I stay home alone. Thank goodness I have Bailey. Even though she wouldn’t hurt a fly, having her there makes me feel a little safer. I do have a little fun of my own this weekend. Friday night will be some quality time with dad (perhaps a night out on the town in Northampton) and Saturday is my best friend Crystal’s “Hat Party”. Yep, you guessed it…everyone has to wear funky hats. I know, it’s a little strange, but it’s totally Crystal and it will be so much fun. Plus, this Wednesday is her 27th birthday, so we’ll get to celebrate that as well.

Well, I’d better get this Monday morning going. Lots of work to do! Hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Performance Anxiety

I had my mid-year performance review yesterday, and let me tell you...I rocked it! My new manager absolutely loves me and had nothing but extremely positive feedback. She even went as far as telling me that if I continue on the same path for the remainder of the year (meaning, continue performing as I have for the past 3 months) then I will definitely receive the highest performance rating, an honor reserved for only a very small percentage of employees throughout the entire company. And the higher the rating, the higher the raise and bonus. I better stay on top of my game!

This wonderful feedback only reminds me of how thankful I am for having gotten this incredible opportunity. I will continue to work hard to prove that I am worthy of it!

Picture Post

I haven't posted many pictures on my blog lately (mostly due to sheer laziness), so I thought I'd post a few of my recent faves...


First, our trip to the Cape...

Nick and Elaine's wedding...

And finally, tailgaiting at the Brooks and Dunn concert...Woo Hoo!

Long Weekend Recap (and more thoughts on babies)

Long weekends are usually so hard to come back from, but for some reason I feel refreshed and invigorated today and I am ready to take on the world. I have already been very productive this morning, and I am only taking a short break to write this blog post while I eat my mid-morning snack. Maybe my motivation today stems from the fact that I have been inexplicably unmotivated for the past few weeks, which is very out of character for me, or maybe it's because I had a great long weekend (more to come on that), but whatever the reason, I am so glad to be feeling fabulous and I feel a renewed desire to tackle any challenge that I face.

The long weekend recap...after being very disappointed about the cancellation of the fireworks and subsequent cancellation of our annual BBQ last Thursday (and then being very angry at the local weathermen when it was COMPLETELY DRY at fireworks time), I was very happy to wake up Friday morning to the realization that I had three glorious days off!

Friday consisted of a great workout, a lazy afternoon with the hubby, and then dinner and a comedy show with my in-laws. We had dinner at Carabba's (so super yummy!) and then saw a show at the Funny Bone Comedy Club in Manchester, CT. The headliner was Theo Von (I vaguely remembered seeing on MTV's Road Rules) who was surprisingly very funny. In fact, the host, opener and the headliner were all very funny, which is rare. It was a great night and a fun and different way to spend the 4th of July. We did manage to see a bit of the Springfield fireworks on our ride home, which was a nice way to end the evening.

Saturday was a friend-filled day for us. After having brunch with John's parents and grandparents, we headed over to one of John's friend's houses to watch the baseball game. After a few innings, we left there and went to our recently engaged friends house. Yes, that's right...Steph and Andy are engaged! It's so exciting for them...a baby on the way and now a wedding to plan. We spent the afternoon and early evening just chatting and snacking and having fun. John was unstoppable on the ping pong table as well, and went undefeated the entire day! I have to say, though, that the day gave me wicked baby fever :-) We spent the day with Steph and Andy, who as previously mentioned have a baby on the way, and with another couple, Joe and Christina (who is also pregnant), and thier 3 year old daughter Brooke (who was absolutely adorable!). Steph is about 14 weeks along and Christina is about 21 weeks and they spent much of the afternoon discussing pregnancy, labor, babies, parenthood, planning for their next, their growing families, etc... I was so engrossed in the conversation, even though I had very little to contribute, and I found myself a little sad that I was not experiencing the same excitment that these two pregnant (and glowing!) women were experiencing. I know that only a short while ago I posted about not being ready for that step, but I find myself quickly changing my tune. I am feeling more and more ready with each passing day. Although I still want to wait a little longer before taking that step, I feel confident that I am ready to be a great mother and I look forward to starting our family. Anywho...enough about that! We capped Saturday evening off with a movie at home (we watched "Untraceable" with Dianne Lane...not that good).

Sunday began with a hard workout, but that was only the beginning of my hard work. I don't know what got into me, but I spent the entire day cleaning the house like I've never done before. Laundry, dishes, sweeping, vacumming, mopping, scrubbing, washing, dusting...I deep cleaned the house top to bottom! I even cleaned and disinfected all of our gym equipment! In addition, I went to Walmart for some needed household items, I went grocery shopping, I cooked a fabulous dinner, and I took Ms. Bailey for a great long walk. What a fabulously productive day! I felt so good about all that I accomplished...our house is spotless (although it is always very clean, but now it is especially clean) and now I can start this new week with virtually nothing on my home to-do list. I love it!

On a final note for this Monday morning post...our city's fireworks have been rescheduled for August 3rd, my 27th birthday! How perfect is that?!?