Oye! Where the Frack did May go? Greetings Blogland. It's Minty and I've been dipping into the margarita mix. It's really pathetic that so little alcohol will get me buzzed. This one time for New Year's Eve I had 2 drinks and proceeded to get really chatty before I got really sleepy. I told my then boyfriend that I loved him but I didn't love him. I told him that both of us deserved better and he argued with that logic so I said "Fine, I deserve better." He was a nice guy but I had to help him pay rent one month and that's just really sad. Also he got fired from The Gap for oversleeping and being late. Who the frack gets fired from The Gap? You're paid to get a discount on cute clothes. Anyway, we broke up a few months later and I was so happy to be free. I imagine one day we'll bump into each other again and laugh at how young we were and how our lives are so much better off because we didn't stay together.

Anyhoo, I was recently given a promotion of sorts and am running my project in Australia and Brazil as well as half of North America. The reason I'm drinking is I just got off a telecon with our Australia team and they are driving me crazy. It's very difficult to talk to them for long periods of time and not say "The dingo ate your baby". Also, the guy in charge there goes on and on and on. Dude, it's 8:30am in Brisbane but it's already 5:30pm in Chicago. Luckily I have the most kick-ass husband in the world and he takes the kids out to dinner on Tuesday night so I can take my call in peace. Tonight after dinner he's taken then fishing. There's a little pond near where we live that they release fish into and they let little kids fish there on Tuesday nights. The Boy loves it. He's a gentle soul who likes the thrill of catching them and then the thrill of releasing them back in the water. I sent the girl to nursery school in a frock and black patent leather shoes so I can't wait to see how they smell when they return.


Anyway, chatty Minty would like to send a shout out to Chutney. I can seriously say that 75% of the time I hate having a dog. He's still chewing on miscellaneous things and he stinks when he gets caught in the rain and if he's not sleeping when you turn out the lights for the night, he'll tear the room apart. However, the other 25% he's like half baby/ half grumpy old man and it's kinda endearing. Chutney is 1 years old and although he's the size of a small bear he still thinks he's a baby.

And now I take you down memory road Chutney-style.














Happy Birthday my little Chutney! How we survived Year One I'll never know.

Another busy weekend. I wasn't going to post today but I noticed that our friend Rat did and I think we should all post today to show Rat that blogging more often than once a month is a good thing. : )

Friday I organized a conference with this local chapter that I belong to. Basically our membership is 100+ but it's the same 5 people that organize all the events. The president of the chapter is a guy I've known for a while now. He's always trying to get me to fix him up with someone but then he gets all giggly and frankly, a giggly guy is so not cool. This is too bad because he's quite smart (finishing his PhD) and successful (works for a pharmaceutical company). Anyway he noticed this girl sitting in the last row and leans over to me and says that she's "his type" and if I have any friends who look like that *wink wink*. I smile and go back to half-listening to our speaker. During the break, the brunette that he had pointed to comes up to me and says "Hi, I'm so and so". Turns out that she works for my neighbor and I've been trying to send business their way for a few months. My friend's eyes nearly fall out of his head when he saw me talking to the girl of his dreams (at least for the past 45 minutes). When we all go back to our seats he wants details. He then proceeds to get irked that I didn't work him into the conversation. Sure dude, the next time I speak to her I'll say "Oh by the way, see that stalker guy drooling all over himself in the corner, he'd like to have your children...er...I mean meet you". In the end I introduce them and they talk for like 10 minutes and he leaves on cloud nine because he got her number. I didn't have the heart to remind him that she gave him her card with her work number while they were talking about work stuff.

Saturday was my cousin's 1st communion and party. This is my uncle's (mom's youngest brother) kid and I adore all of them. The oldest is 12, the boy 9 and the youngest girl is 8 and they are the sweetest kids. My father noted that the Girl never wears any of the "frocks" he brings back from India so for the special occasion I dressed the Girl up in a blue fluffy number with pearl beading and sequins.


As you can see she's so pleased to be wearing it.


The Girl and cousins


The Boy and cousin


This picture is dedicated to Smugbug's last post. Hopefully the picture won't end up on a creepy website about long hair.

The oldest of all my cousins is in town from India. She has been staying with my parents for the past few weeks and will meet up with her husband in June off the coast of South America. Her husband is a captain of a import vessel and travels the world 6 months out of the year. They miss each other like crazy when they're apart but drive each other nuts during their time together. We invited my parents, cousin and everyone else over to our place for dinner on Sunday. My cousin insisted that we shouldn't cook and that she wanted to have some authentic Chicago pizza.

Now it's Monday morning and all I can think about is taking a nap. I have a meeting at noon which means that I have to actually wash my hair. Our company has been toying with the idea of having video phones so we can all "connect visually". I'm in jeans and a nike t-shirt with my hair in a pony tail on top of my head a la a sumo wrestler. The look I'm going for says "best enjoyed over the phone".

I'm getting mushy in my old age. I was always an "awwww" girl but I was also able to watch a movie without tearing up. Nowadays freaking greeting card commercials get me all choked up.

***Warning: Grey's Anatomy spoiler ahead*****

It's so weird expending emotion into a TV show. I want to apologize to all the people I mocked because of their outrage when what's-his-name was kicked off of American Idol. I don't watch it so I could give 2 hoots but I certainly don't mean to downplay your pain.

***This is your last warning...I'm gonna say what happened on Grey's Anatomy******

So when I shed a tear at the end of Grey's it wasn't because Denny died, because let's face it, you just knew he was gonna die. Although Alex picking up and holding Izzy was touching. It wasn't when Cristina finally shows her love (?) and support (?) to Burke. (What the hell does he see in her? My pinky toe has more compassion, emotion and love than she does.) It wasn't even when the Chief's niece enjoys her moment of feeling loved by a boy because as a 17 year old with cervical cancer she knew those moments were numbered.

In the end I shed a tear when Meredith slept with McDreamy. The tears of rage were welling up inside me. What the hell is it with these two that they can't keep their private parts out of each other?? You have a choice between unattached, handsome McVet and married, a-hole McDreamy and you're gonna hesitate?? Bitch, don't make me jump through the TV and smack you.

I'm back home, finally. My colleague and I finished up at our last site early and headed to the airport to catch an earlier flight home. She lives in Atlanta and apparently there's a flight from Florida to Atlanta every 20 seconds. Unfortunately the flight I was originally booked on was the earliest one which meant I had 2 hours to kill. Well, 2 hours turned to 3.5 thanks to high wind advisory in Chicago. And I don't want a word from East Coast bloggers about how windy their city is. ; )

The wonderful thing about Fort Lauderdale International Airport is the free wireless internet at all terminals. People watching at an airport cafe with free internet is so fantastic that it's probably outlawed in some countries. The hours flew by while I got some work down, cruised blogs and chatted with friends. The man in the business suit next to me moved his chair at such an odd angle, it made it apparent that he wasn't doing work (unless he was with the FBI or something classified). The way he kept looking up with eyes darting in all directions only proved that he was partaking in some afternoon internet porn. You must be pretty addicted (or desperate) if you can't wait until you're back in the privacy of your own home to look at that. I almost dry-heaved when he suddenly packed up his stuff and headed for the bathroom. Thankfully he wasn't on my flight. I also noticed that there's a look that the young women of Florida are trying to achieve. Somewhere between Jessica Simpson and an orange. Ladies, the sun is our friend. It gives us light and helps grow our food and even affects our mood. However, the fact that you are using the big fire-ball in the sky as your personal microwave is disturbing. The more you tan, the more you peel and the more you peel the more your skin starts to resemble leather. And the thick, orange skin only highlights your newly bleached teeth in a negative way. No ones teeth is naturally THAT white. I will say that the quality of plastic surgery in Florida competes only with California. Most of the breast enhancements looked very natural without being too over-the-top. Unfortunately my flight attendant was the exception. From far away she looked like she was in her late 20's. However upon closer inspection the years of tanning and peroxide blondeness of her hair (the color matched her teeth) made her look 40+. Also, her breast "enhancement" made her look like she was carrying around her own flotation devices.

By the time I got to Chicago it was 10pm and all I could think about was getting home, getting out of my stylish but uncomfortable-after-14-hours strappy shoes and snuggling off to sleep next to D. Unfortunately the delays made O'Hare Airport packed and I had to wait 30 minutes just to get a taxi home. This morning I felt like I was hit by a bus but I don't care. I'm home.

We had a party this past weekend for the kids and parents of the Boy's kindergarten class. 35 people in all but it was a lot of fun.






The Girl being a little diva.


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I have never done any illegal drugs. I do however partake in whatever the supplement of the week is at the local vitamin store. As I talk to other moms I find that there are more than are a handful that pop pills. My sister-in-law occasionally takes some sort of upper that she said give her the energy of "10 moms in their 20's". Today I popped a pill from the local GNC and I gotta tell you, I'm so freaking efficient right now. Thus far I have done 2 loads of laundry, laid out the kid's clothes for the next 2 days, finished 4 reports for work, attended 3 conference calls, bought a new cell phone, shopped for shoes AND averted 2 crises at work. As I write this post I'm thinking about what to make for dinner as well as the other 10 million things I need to do before I catch a 6am flight to Florida tomorrow.

I'm not sure what the genesis for this is. I don't feel like I'm getting pressure from any external forces to get things done (besides my work). However I know that I tend to feel emotionally and physically drained when I'm behind on things. Seeing as I'm a procrastinator, this tends to be the norm.

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This weekend is Mother's Day and we're splitting our time between D's family and my side. I love both sides and I don't ever resent visiting either however, in my almost 6 years of being a mom I have yet to feel like it is a celebration of me. That being said, I will probably get to sleep in past 7am and that's like a major treat these days.

OK...off to bed. I can still catch about 4 hours sleep before I catch my flight.

Ciao!

D worked late the other night and I rearranged the living room.
BEFORE:

AFTER




It's a little more intimate and I like having the red chair by the window to read in or relax but I'm not sure if I'm loving it for the longterm.

I was online earlier and I noticed that my visitor from Poland was here and I quickly typed out a message. I'm just curious who you are.

When I was coming out of college I was very settled in my social life. I had a large circle of friends who hung out all the time and even vacationed together. Eventually D came into the circle and as we hit our late twenties and thirties, one by one we started getting married and having kids. In America, couples routinely wait until they are in their 30's before they get married. In fact at 27, I was the youngest to get hitched. I really thought that although I would continue to meet new people, my circle of friends was set. However, I've been pleasantly surprised with the new friendships I've made in my early 30's. A few have turned up by circumstance such as fellow room mother's at the kid's schools. I like hanging out with the real moms who have a twinkle in their eyes like they could use a drink at 9am. These women are not to be confused with the ones who have a twinkle in their eyes like they could snap at any moment nor are they the perfectionist whose lives will never live up to the image they portray hence they actually drink at 9am. I've also become very close to one of the Boy's enrichment tutors. I laugh when I say this because if someone had told me that they had a tutor for their kindergartener I would have thought they were crazy. This would be a good time to mention that I suck at anything related to math. I nearly failed geometry in high school and I did so poorly in physics that my university professor (who was from India) wanted a DNA test to prove I was really Indian. Despite this, the Boy (at age 5) has gone ahead and tested at a 3rd grade math level. We now need a tutor to keep up with his academic needs because unless you need to lnow about 80's music or movie quotes, momma can't help you.

Then we come to bloggers. I like being friendly with everyone but after 2 years of blogging there is a protective net that I put up before I actually let you in. Bloggers who have written me e-mails know that I don't respond unless I actually feel like I know you. Sometimes it takes time of commenting back and forth on each other's blog or sometimes it just happens and I just have this feeling that we'd get along. I have 6 bloggers on my MSN chat list and this morning I just added number 7. The special thing about number 7 is that, for the first time since I started blogging, I found a foreign variation of me. She's 33, Indian, married to a German guy, adorable son, loves music and movies, photography, AND works from home. The major difference is she can cook (and cook well) while I am embarrassed to say that last week I burned a pot of boiling water while trying to steam ears of corn .

Viva la blogs!

And now before I leave you for the weekend, here are pictures of the Boy's first baseball game. No keeping score, no real plays. Just 15 5-6 year olds in uniforms running after a ball.