GIRLIE UPDATE: I wanna go to Greece and Alaska

Since Aaron worked tonight, Michael came over to hang with me. First we watched "My Life in Ruins" with Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding). It was a light comedy I liked -- now I want to go to Greece! There was a hot guy in it too.
Alexis Georgoulis as Poupi Kakas
After Michael and I went to eat at Nino's. We had soup and salad, shared the pork special as well as the pumpkin bread pudding. Ono! Since we ate a lot we decided to hit the mall and walk it off. We ended buying me a handbag (my birthday gift from Aaron), and pants and a winter coat for Michael. Now that he's lost all that weight he needs a new wardrobe!

We headed back to my place and watched yet another chick flick, "The Proposal" with Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock. Really funny! I agree with Michael -- RR is hot!
RR as Andrew Paxton
Well I got to do all my favorite things today -- sleep, eat, watch movies and shop! What else does a girl need? Maybe one of these men above!

Trick or Treat 2009

Aaron, Ikaika, Keala and I went trick or treating tonight. They wore costumes -- they were the warrior bears from the book/movie "The Golden Compass". Ikaika was Ragnar Sturlusson and Keala was Iorek Byrnison. Yes, that's silver and gold lame armor. Aaron was a skater boy (well not really, he was dressed in everyday wear) and I was a University of Hawaii warrior fan!

We took an extra long walk -- 10 blocks to visit Kyle and Becky, and Jay and Jen. Keala and Ikaika were a big hit! They even got doggie treats and had their pictures taken. But even with their costumes, Keala will always be the polar bear and Ikaika will be Beethoven.

Cruisin', on a Thursday afternoon...

I was more relaxed at work this week. And it's about bloody time! My co-worker hired our newest desk attendant this week and will handle most of the training this time around. I will try my best to keep to my schedule, take my hour break, attend as much aerobics classes that I can, and not work from home anymore. I'll need all of my energy to start writing work evaluations for all my attendants this month!

I took off today so Aaron and I could finish our roof project, do some gardening, and start some other house errands. Soon it will be too cold for me to do any house work outside.

Tonight we walk the dogs around the neighborhood for Halloween...

Grandma Brlas' 80th birthday party

Aaron and I lent a hand in throwing a party for Grandma -- shopping and serving food, mingling with relatives and close friends, and clean up. I even made a short picture slide show of Grandma. We got to see cousins Megan and Jonathan too. Grandma had a nice time.

Cookie and Ken's reception

My mother-in-law Cookie and her new husband Ken had a wedding reception tonight at the Elyria Country Club. The food was great and the entertainment was fun and different. Aaron, Michael and I enjoyed ourselves!

GIRLIE UPDATE: LAC and Hannibal GB

Michael and I went to see Law Abiding Citizen today. I tried to close my eyes when I knew blood would be flying, but the the sounds were just as gory! I gave Michael the heads up to eat the popcorn before the movie started. And I actually missed Aaron -- I needed an arm to hold and squeeze and pull at times! The raincoat didn't make me feel safe at all!

I might actually go see it one more time... with Holly, another GB fan, when she returns to campus after the fall break. Did YOU see it yet?

Circulation desk outing

Lauren, Jane, Tiesha, Margaret and I drove out to Cleveland Heights to eat Japanese and Malaysian food at the Pacific East Restaurant, Coventry.


It was a nice trip out of Oberlin, great food and fun company! I ate pork ramen and California Roll sushi.

Tiesha had bubble tea!

GIRLIE UPDATE: The Five Love Languages

I did it! I finally finished reading the first (and probably only) book of my book club list. It took 3 long months to finish the 274-page large-print book written by Gary Chapman. It usually takes me 2 days to read a 400+page romance novel. The book wasn't boring or anything. I think the timing was bad for me. Work has been the craziest its ever been in the 9 years I've been here, and I just didn't have extra time to read any book.

The theory of people have different love languages/needs is interesting. If a couple knows each other's language, they can give the appropriate "love" to each one another. The this knowledge could also help when parenting their own children. According to this theory, I am an "acts of service" person, where little tasks or chores done by my spouse makes me happy, more than "words of affirmation", having "quality time", receiving "gifts" or sharing "physical touch". Aaron is a "words of affirmation" man, where praise and appreciation makes him happy.

I think it will be a great tool to refer to but I still like my "buddha" way of life instead, be balanced in all aspects of life -- self, work, play, health, couple time, family and community. Right now work is taking over my life and I need to get some self, health and couple time back!

The rest of my club is finishing up and we are chatting on our finds. I am currently debating if I should force my club to retire. A long distance book club is hard to commit to...

[Thank you Mom for taking me to see the Buddhist priest before I headed off to college!]

[And a shout out to my book club -- Michael, Lureen, Carrie and Jen!]

Tender, lovin gardens

I got up a little earlier than usual and made it out of the house and into some sunshine to clean out some of my garden beds in my front yard. With work being crazy I'm guessing I won't have much time to prep my beds before W-I-N-T-E-R. No, no! Don't say it yet!

The sad thing is, after 3 hours of bending over and cutting down dying bushes and pulling weeds, my back was killing me! And my horse pill ibuprofen didn't help.

[10/21 - I can't move today! Every joint, muscle, fat pocket hurts like a mutha! My plan to garden and go aerobics for the rest of the week is foiled!]

GIRLIE UPDATE: Law Abiding Citizen

We got a slow start but Aaron and I finally made it to an afternoon showing of GB's latest movie that opens today! It is not the type of movie I would pick (violent and bloody) but I seen it anyway... must maintain the #1 fan status. Add angry psycho dude to GB's list of characters. Go see it! OK so he shows SOME skin...

I'm on vacation...

And I'm going to sleep late! I'll shut my Skype off! And close my email! Gotta clean my gardens! And prep for parties!

NO WORK, NO WORK, NO WORK!

Gawd I wish I was on a beach, catching a tan, and sipping a frou-frou drink!

Buon Compleanno, Michael!

Hau`oli la hanau! -- Vsechno nejlepsi k Tvym narozeninam! -- Dogum gununkutlu olsun! -- Feliz Cumpleanos! -- Bonne Anniversaire! -- Co` latha breith sona dhuibh! -- Alles Gute zum Geburtstag! -- Yom Huledet Same'ach! -- Maligayang Bati Sa Iyong Kaarawan! -- S dniom razhdjenia! -- Boldog szuletesnapot!

OPERA ALERT: Tosca

I went to see Tosca with my student Sam today. Its the first show of the season for the Metropolitan Opera in NY. They have this neat program where they telecast each of their performances in HD via the movie theaters. It's $22 per performance which is reasonable compared to the $100+ tickets it must cost in NY -- and we get to eat, drink and use the bathroom any time we want during the show. I loved it! The next one is in two weeks...

When you're at the bottom, things can only go up

So the week started off with a third Senior leaving my work crew. I put a stop to my never-ending training sessions with each of my 10 new hires and concentrated on finding my fourth first-year student to hire. I mention first-year (freshman) only because they need extra training and guidance than other students who have already experienced campus life.

Well we hired a male student, finally! (That makes 5 males to 21 females on my current crew, and 2 males and 1 female on leave. That's the most males I've ever had working for me at a time!) I hired Sarp on Wednesday and had him in for training that every evening. Thursday, I started my 1st of 4 group sessions with the rest of the new hires. Now I know it sounds tedious and time consuming, but it soooo beats me going over 10 training topics every week, 10 times separately for 10 new hires! That's what I've done in the past with no problems, but somehow the desk has been unusually busy and I haven't been able to keep up this semester. It can't possibly be old age kicking in because I've put my heart and soul at work! But if things keep up like this, I may very well use age as an excuse to give up!

Friday was the first nice day I had in a long time. Work didn't consume my time. And I spent it with Michael. We caught the movie All About Steve, hung out at Borders, attempted to read our book for our book club with no success and ended up talking and catching up on gossip instead, and went to eat at Daddona's Italian restaurant for a birthday celebratory dinner. The rest of the day I spent catching zzz's.

I wonder what the weekend holds? More downtime? A girl can dream hard!

Happy birthday Mykala!

My little cousin is 12 years old now! 12, Mykala, 12!