Family

While Kenny and I enjoyed our dinner last night (pumpkin-granola-banana pancakes - YUM) we realized that today marks the four month anniversary since his dad, Ken, passed away from ALS.

Then, today, Kenny's sister, Amelia, posted this on her blog. I'm sure the timing wasn't a coincidence. It is a beautiful post with (always) beautiful images about a beautiful family.

In this season of thanksgiving, I am grateful for family - the families I was born into, the family I married into, the family I hope to have one day, and for the many friends I have that are so close and so wonderful they might as well be my family. You know who you all are. Thank you for being you and for being my family.

PS - I'm leaving tomorrow (yay!!) to spend Thanksgiving with a bunch of family and I could not be more excited. (This week has been the slowest, EVER.)

PPS- Happy Birthday to this Lady. Hope your day is magic.

On dreams...

First things first: I've had two consecutive nights of not just adequate, but incredible sleep. Hurray! Congratulate me. It was wonderful.

2nd: if I've ever met you - even for a second - I'm fairly certain you made an appearance in last night's dream. My question regarding said dream is this: why did so many of you feel the need to sneak into my apartment only to fall asleep on the floor under my living room window? Seriously? It's, like, a foot from the couch, why not sleep there? I don't get it.

I guess it's been so long since I've slept deep enough to even have a dream that I'm just marveling at the weirdness of it all.

Things I learned at work this week.

It's Friday!!! Yeah! Here's a few things I learned this week:

• When touring an oil refinery, bring flat, comfortable shoes. Black, snakeskin, platform heels will clash horribly with the bright yellow hard hat you'll be asked to wear. Also, there's that whole issue of safety or something. And comfort.
• Males in the oil refining business really will not care about your appreciation for their impeccably preserved mid-century building and decor. Noticing his surroundings for what seems like the first time ever, Mr. Oil Refiner will inform you that his father (the company's founder) built, furnished, and "decorated" their office space in the 50s and he simply hasn't seen a need to update it - at all. After realizing that said male oil refiners take no interest in their office surroundings, don't continue to gush about it anyway. (Really, though, I couldn't help myself. It was marvelous. I want to live in that building...minus all the oil refining machinery surrounding it.)
• Just because you provide, in advance, a detailed check list of all the information and documentation you will need from your client doesn't mean the client will provide it all. Or any of it. Actually, I'm pretty sure they won't even bother reading your carefully prepared list.
• Your business colleagues experience bouts of road rage in traffic just like you do. It's best to act invisible at those times. Laughing at them will not help.
• As professional as you might try to appear, if you're even remotely attractive, you will be hit on. Apparently, you can only hope to be taken seriously when your old and ugly. Or if you bring along women younger and prettier than you are. Or at least one with bigger boobs than you have.
• It's really good that drugs and alcohol aren't allowed in my office. Judging by the way my colleagues employ peer pressure tactics to get the health-conscious to consume junk food, we'd probably have an office full of strung out drunks all the time.

That's all. In all, I'd say I've grown leaps and bounds this week. Thanks, Job, for providing such valuable learning opportunities. My resume gets more impressive every day.

On Wiener Dogs

I’m not much for pets. At all. I never had them growing up. (Well...we did have a few birds – a gift for my brother from a lonely, but sweet old man who hung out in our building’s lobby. However, those didn’t last long with my light-sleeping father in the house. Also, my sisters’ had some goldfish, but those don’t count.) Truthfully, I never really wanted a pet. I especially don’t now, in my adulthood. I figure when I want that sort of responsibility I’ll just have some kids. Anyway. Moving on. To enter for a giveaway the other day, I had to mention my favorite breed of dog.

Uhhh. Again, I don’t actually like dogs. I certainly don’t have a favorite type. And I most definitely know nothing regarding various breeds. My only appreciation for the animal (and really all animals) has been for the cartoon varieties, like Disney’s 101 Dalmatians. Remember that scene where everyone is walking a dog that looks just like them? I loved that. That got me thinking...if I were in that scene, what dog would I be walking? After some thought (and again, my knowledge of dog breeds is VERY limited) I concluded that I resemble a Dachshund aka "Wiener Dog" – at least in body. Long torso and short legs. Yup, that’s me.

Kenny found this website last night, full of photos of people who resemble their canine friends. The resemblance is uncanny in a few. Like this one:
So, which dog would you be?