say what?

Last night after meeting a few lovelies for a book chat over Thai food, I went home. It wasn't late, I got there a bit after 9am, as I walked. I came in, checked my email, facebook, etc. You know, the usual suspects. I had a cup of tea. I got ready for bed. I spoke to Steve. I turned off the light. I fell asleep. My phone rang.

My phone rang.

I picked up the phone and had the following conversation-

Lexi: hello?
stange caller: hello?
Lexi: who is this?
strange caller: who is this?
Lexi: *hangs up phone*

The odd part? I looked at my phone, and it was exactly 3:30am.

The creepy part? I looked at the received call list, and it said "private," and no number was listed.

Do you think I am being stalked?!

I got ashed!

So yesterday was a big thing. I went to mass for Ash Wednesday. Despite my many years of Catholic school and upbringing, I’ve become a bit of, what the lovely Magda calls something of a lapsed Catholic. I have good intentions, I really do. I just lack follow-up (this seems to permeate through other aspects of my life as well…something to work on). There is a lovely church just a few blocks from my office, so a co-worker and I went yesterday to the 12:20 mass during lunch hour. I was even good enough to remember to have a tuna sandwich for lunch, rather then turkey. Go Lexi! I do believe I was supposed to be fasting, but I didn’t really have dinner, so I’m not going to Hell for it, am I?

So for my Lenten sacrifices, I’ve decided on the following. I’ll be giving up both soda and fast food. While I admit that I don’t drink soda at home ever, I do at work sometimes, in the afternoon, and at lunch. Also, if Steve and I go out, I usually get a diet coke with lemon (unless we are somewhere nice, and I have a glass of wine). Also, with regards to fast food- I eat far more Taco Bell then I should! So, these are good things, and if I lose ten pounds in the process, that works for me! Perhaps the biggest sacrifice of all though, is my giving up buying books. This is big, because as you know, I love books, a lot. I have no problem walking into Barnes and Noble and dropping $50 easy on a few books. This happens at least twice a month. Here’s a bit of a confession. I’m a bit of a hypocrite, because as much as I lovelovelove libraries and want to build them in developing nations, I rarely use the DC libraries, despite there being one a mere four blocks from my apartment. Second confession- I currently have an overdue fine at the DC library, which is one of the reasons why I haven’t been using them! I just love books and want them for my very own. I’m bad, I know. So, I won’t be buying any books for the next 40 days and instead, the money I’d spend on books will be sent along to World Vision for some of their special projects (ie. World hunger, warm clothes for children, etc).

This will be a good thing, I’m sure of it.

Oh, and also, I will make a concerted effort to go to mass on Sundays. Really.

Are you making any Lenten sacrifices? What are you giving up or trying to change?

finances, schminances

So I need a good way to keep track of my finances. My current method? The bills arrive in my mailbox, I put them in a stack on my bookshelf. When the pile becomes too large, I then remember to pay one or two and then put the rest of the pile in a large Anthropologie bag in my closet. The best method? Probably not.

I really need to get them organized. I recently paid off a credit card and need to keep track of where my money is going. I'd like to even begin saving some...shocking!!!

How do you sort yours? An excel spreadsheet? An accordian file?

The irony of all of this is that my father is a financial planner....

look what I made!

Today was my potholder class at Capitol Quilts in Gaithersburg. MD. Yes, a bit of a hike, but it was fun! I made three potholders! I think I will be going back for other classes, they have all sorts of things!

Look how cute they are :)

Albania huzzah!

Steve has decided to sponsor an Albanian through World Vision too! Yay! I've volunteered to be the Chief Correspondent and will be in charge of sending all letters and packages. He said to pick my three favorites listed on the site and then he'll choose one.

I'm hoping I can convince him to sponsor two of them :)

hmmmm

Okay, question.

Sometimes people write posts about how they did a search to see how people found their blog. Meaning, if they were googling, they came up with a phrase that led someone to their blog. How do you do this?

I'm a little slow :)

alive, mostly well

Thank you for your lovely and thoughful messages regarding my last post. I guess I've just been in a bit of a funk lately, which I know is totally normal, but still, I hate it. I'll be fine, right?

Hope your Valetine/Presidents weekend was lovely. I enjoy three day weekends and really feel like I'd be more productive if we had them more often. Not necessarily every week, but maybe one a month? That isn't too much to ask, is it?

Remember my 12-in-12? I'm doing one of them this weekend! I signed up for a quilting class at Capitol Quilts on Sunday and I'll be making THREE potholders, according to the email confirmation I received after registering! Apparently I am also supposed to bring my sewing machine. Hmm, I guess I'll need to buy one. I won't be buying one before then, but I'd like to. Do you have a sewing machine? Anyone have any suggestions for what sort of sewing machine to buy?

Oh and my tax refund paid off my credit card! YAY!

Over the weekend, Steve and I went to Fogo de Chao for Valentines Dinner, which was so nice. We'd been once before, for my birthday, but ages ago. We saw a few movies this weekend- Taken and Defiance, both of which were very good and I'd recommend them to you as well. We also watched Nick and Norah's Infinate Playlist, which I thought was adorable and hilarious. I think I have a crush on Michael Cera. Steve bought me the pancake pan from Williams Sonoma for Valentines, which I'd been lusting over for months and months. Who wants to come over for brunch?

Oh, we also went to a few wineries. Please don't let me buy wine for a long, long time. I seriously have at least 20 bottles right now. I don't think that is healthy, do you?

PS. I really want this. I love Susan Branch.

I'm sinking slowly, so hurry hold me

It's not even 6am and I've already been awake for more then an hour. This can't be a good omen for the day. I spent much of last night in tears about, well, everything and I don't know how to make it go away. I don't know how the weekend, which started off so nicely, went down the drain by mid-Sunday.

My tax refund arrived in my checking account Friday morning, along with my normal pay for the week (yes, I get paid weekly and no, it isn't as nice as it sounds), so after I work, I may have stopped by H&M. Finding nothing, I walked to Ann Taylor Loft in Chinatown and picked up a few things. This was after paying off a credit card (good work, Lexi) and calling World Vision to send an extra donation to my girls. I spent the rest of my Friday night reading a new book that came out this week and I'd been waiting rather impatiently for. Saturday I went to the VA Wine Expo with Steve and Magda, where I bought about 18 bottles of wine after being mistaken for her mother. Yes, some old broad pouring merlot told Magda that she didn't look old enough to be drinking and that her mother looked young too. We both were a bit confused until we realized that she meant me. She then tried to backtrack by asking if I was her sister, but the damage was done. THAT MUST BE BECAUSE I'M NOT HER MOTHER, YOU JERK! I had a birthday two weeks ago. I wasn't too bothered by turning 29, but apparently I need to invest in some wrinkle cream. We quickly left that winery's table, forgoing the rest of the wine they were offering.

Sunday included a trip to Target, the grocery store and the Washington Animal Rescue League where I fell in love with several puppies, but didn't take any home with me. After that, it was all downhill. I don't know what is wrong with me, but this stress needs to go away and I don't know how to get rid of it. I can't talk to my mother or to Steve without ending up in tears. My grandmother had heart surgery last week; it went well and she's recovering nicely. I wanted to fly home this weekend, but my parents told me not to. I hate being so far from home, especially during times like this. I want to be there when my family needs me and I want my godson to know who I am. This is my last semester of school and I feel like it may never end. I have so much work to do and I don't know when it will get finished. I am so sick of my tiny apartment, but the idea of moving to a new one makes me cringe. Everything is making me crazy right now.

I think I need a corgi to make it better.

facebook fun

So there is that meme running around facebook and if you aren't my facebook friend, you haven't seen my fascinating list (maybe you should be my facebook friend!). I know you're dying to know all sorts of random things about me (though perhaps some of them are not new information!), I thought I'd post it here...


1. I can't stand Angelina Jolie in the least. She's unattractive and a hypocrite.

2. I talk to myself in foreign languages, but mainly in the grocery store. I am far from fluent in either Polish or Spanish, but find myself thinking gdzie jest mleko or donde esta la leche instead of where is the milk?

3. Before I moved to DC four years ago, I had never been here, not even to visit. I moved to a city I had never stepped foot in, into a house I didn't see before moving in. At the time, I was in Canada running an election, and didn't have the luxury of being here to look at apartments, so I had to base my decisions on phone calls and photos. I got lucky, and moved into a great house with great people, including Steve.

4. Yes, Steve, my boyfriend, was my roommate first. Le scandal! He lived in the basement apartment and I lived upstairs. He seduced me one day and the rest, as the say, is history.

5. I hate tomatoes. I will, however, eat ketchup, tomato sauce, bruschetta, tomato soup, salsa and pretty much anything that contains tomato...but the actual fruit gives me the heebee jeebees. If it is a large chunk, or slice, like in a salad or on a sandwich, I can't handle it. Small, cut up, in something? No problem! Yes, I am aware that I am ridiculous!

6. I love writing letters and getting mail. While email is truly a wonderful thing (thanks Al Gore! hehe) I appreciate people taking the time to sit down and write down their thoughts to share. I have several friends all over that I write to, and I very often send random cards to friends for no reason other then to let them know that I am thinking of them. Coming home and finding a hand-written letter in my mailbox really can make my day. I really should buy stock in Hallmark.

7. Even though I have one MA and am nearly finished with my second, I can’t help but consider another…likely in Library Science…

8. I consider it rude to use call-waiting. This drives Steve apples and bananas. If I am on the phone with someone, and my phone beeps, I look to see who it is, but 97% of the time, I ignore the beep, unless I am waiting for a call. If it is important, they will leave a message and I'll call back. If that person calls again right away, I assume it could be important, so I switch.

9. I don't understand sarcasm. At all. I never get jokes. Ever. I'm also gullible. Bad combination. Maybe someday I will tell the Christ with a K story. Consider yourself lucky if you already know it!

10. It makes me really sad to see Christmas trees lying on the sidewalk, their glory days being over. I wish they could stay up year-round, I really do!

11. I collect tea towels, teapots, Peter Rabbit books/pieces and Russian babushka nesting dolls.

12. Before I met Steve, Iowa was on the list of “states if I never see in this lifetime, it will be okay.” Now, I find it’s a very nice place and I’m glad to go there and I even have a few favorite places there!

13. I really love the cupcake trend that is going around now, because it means that cupcake shops are popping up all over DC!

14. Three of my favorite boys live in Charleston, SC, and one of my favorite boys lives in Laconia, NH and it makes me sad that I don’t see them often.

15. I would love to have a library named after me someday.

16. I sponsor two little girls in Albania through World Vision and I really am so thrilled with it. It makes me so happy to send them letters and packages and come home to find a letter from them in my mailbox. As cliché as it sounds, I’m so pleased to be a part of their life.

17. I’ve become really obsessed with etsy lately and want to make things too!

18. I want to learn to knit and quilt. When I was home earlier this month, I made a pillow and I have signed up for a class to learn to make a potholder next month!

19. I speak some Polish, Spanish and French, but I am far from fluent in any of them, but would like to be. I’d also like to learn Albanian and Norwegian and at least one language with a different alphabet.

20. I truly think that reading with your children is one of the greatest things you can do with them. Some of my fondest memories come from these moments with my parents and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

21. I have more then 150 cookbooks. Seriously.

22. I horse back rode for 15 years and competed in college. Until last summer, I hadn’t been on a horse in about six years. My mother has been taking lessons and she and I rode together one day, which was such a fun moment for me. I want to start taking lessons this spring.

23. I’d love to have twins someday.

24. The most random summer job I ever had was the summer after junior year of high school. I worked in the ticket booth for the G.L.T.A. (Greater Laconia Transport Agency), but didn’t sell any tickets, because the boss decided all rides were free. For some reason, he kept me in the booth to serve as an info point for tourists, but nobody ever came by because the booth was in strange spot and nobody knew it was there.

25. I have more books then I have space to keep them. I need more shelves because the books are in piles all over my apartment. I also have a large number of children’s books that I hope to give to my own someday.


PS. I also have two other memes that I need to do, courtesy of Lizzie

winner!

I decided that my contest is over. I need to start setting an end date. Anyway.

Turns out, I still don't know how to use the random number integrator thing, so instead, I wrote down everyone's name on a piece of paper and pulled one out of a hat (okay, it wasn't a hat, it was a Vera Bradley bag, but whatev)

The winner is.....

SARA!!!

If you aren't reading her blog, you should be. She's fantastic.

Sara, please comment with your address and I will send off your prize. I will screen comments on this post so that your address isn't posted for all of my seven readers to see :)

you'd think I was pregnant or something

For the past four days, I've eaten almost nothing but hummus. Seriously, I can't get enough. Pita bread or carrot sticks, hummus, and I am a happy girl.

Could I turn into a chickpea?

PS. I am SO not pregnant, for the record. I just crave food at random :)