:)

I'm going to NEW YORK tomorrow!

weekend update

I had a pretty good weekend, a pretty busy one, actually. I spent most of Saturday packing and then moving my stuff to Justin's. Sunday we moved my furniture in 4 trips with his truck. Luckily, he lives less than a mile from my apartment, and I don't have that much furniture! That took up most of my weekend. I did manage to see a movie on Saturday night. I saw Poseidon. I wasn't REALLY looking forward to this movie-but knew I'd end up seeing it anyway, so I went. It wasn't terrible. It was your typical disaster movie...predictable in parts, full of action in others, along with a lot of bad dialogue throughout most of the movie. I'd hate to be in that situation though. On a cruise ship, hit by a rogue wave and being one of the few survivors, trying to stay calm, sane and optimistic about finding a way to stay alive. So basically, I was entertained.
My dad and Sandra are visiting this coming weekend. I can't believe it's already the middle of May. And I'm going to New York next week, too. Time is seriously flying by.
I've been listening to the latest Gomezalbum, titled How We Operate. It's no In Our Gun(my personal favorite), but I do like it. There are quite a few tracks that are sweet and VERY melodic....not the Gomez style/sound that I'm used to, but it's really good. I was also listening to a band, The Submarines...it's your typical boy-girl, emo-ish group that you would hear featured on TV shows like The OC or One Tree Hill. It's not terrible, I think I'm just outgrowing this stuff? I decided to check them out, so I bought their album on itunes...there's a few good tracks, but overall, not a record I'd reccommend to buy. I'm still really loving Band of Horses. I have a new favorite song everytime I listen to their album, Everything All the Time. And Interpol is still my favorite music to listen to at the gym. Slow or fast...I just don't get bored with them.
I have very recently gotten back into going to the gym. I'm trying to get back on track. My clothes are getting too snug and I've been too comfortable with what I choose to eat. I wish I was someone who loved working out. I also wish my legs (shins) weren't messed up. I'm limited to what physical activities I can do because the of shooting pain I get in my shins caused by running or walking fast. Thanks to years as a gymnast, I have severe shin splints. If you weren't aware, you can't fix this. The Pre-Cor: Elipitical machine is what I do regularly that doesn't seem to hurt. I'm afraid everyone will laugh at me for wearing some kind of leg wrap-support thing when we're in New York, but I'm really nervous that with all the walking we're going to do, I'll be in a lot of pain! I sound like an old lady, but I'm seriously considering the ace bandage-wrap thing for some support! (of course I'll only wear this under jeans, so you can't see it). Don't laugh, please!
I've got some work to finish before I leave for the day and I have some things to do on my way home, too. So I'm going to keep this entry somewhat short.
Bye!

Things about California

**I started this post yesterday and I finished it today**

I was driving to work this morning and I was thinking about the things I'm going to miss (and not miss) about California. I've decided to make a list....

THINGS I'M GOING TO MISS:

The California landscaping...the mountains and the pacific coastline
The Weather (for sure!) - I grew up in a humid, and for the most part, always hot part of the country (HOUSTON TEXAS). The "winters" were alright...but it was never consistent. In December-February, it's just a mix of summer days and semi-cool days and then you get your random few days of freezing temperatures. The Summer in Houston (which starts in February and lasts until October) is pretty much unbearable, especially the months of July and August. Of course, you just get used to it...like anything else and it's not so bad then. But if you're not a resident and you are visiting Houston during the summer, it is something else! Most of my memories of summertime involve mosquitos and burning my feet on the pavement or burning my legs on the hot seat of a car. Waking up to go to work or school or whatever, going outside at 7am and it being 90 degrees already. That was the cool part of the day...by 11am, it was in the 100s. So....YES I LOVE the weather here. Almost never humid, cool and breezy, cold at night, warm or cool during the day...I will miss the weather!
PARKINGI will not miss parking in LA. Most streets are too narrow and too crowded. Trying to find a parking spot, when you're just stopping for a cup of coffee or visiting a friend in a neighborhood where it's all zoned for permit parking only is a nightmare in this city. Trying to find a parking spot on the street that you live on is even more annoying. I've become used to knowing that it's a high possibility that I will have to valet park my car when I stop at a small shopping center, because the parking lots are too small. Parking garages and parking validation (still at least a $1 with validation) is expected when going out to eat, to a movie, to the mall, and the record store. I have even have to pay .50 to park at the gym. I'm looking forward to hopefully being able to drive to Target, park, shop and leave and not have to worry about garages and validation and elevators because the store is 2 or 3 levels. I'm also a bit spoiled..I come from Texas where everything is big and the parking lots are bigger!

That's where I left off yesterday. It's now Friday morning now. I woke up at 6:30am this morning and couldn't fall back asleep, so I went for a walk/jog in the neighborhood, went home, took a bath and went to work. Now I'm here. I don't feel like finishing my list now. Guess the moment has passed. I had a weird dream last night about a shrimp that I was peeling/de-veining and it turned into a bird with rainbow colored wings that then transformed into my pet wolf?? So weird. I've had a bad sleep week, too. I just can't relax..my brain is constantly spinning my thoughts. And then when I do actually sleep, I have these weird dreams?
I have not told my office yet that I'm moving. If only they read my blog...I wouldn't have to! ;) I'm going to give them about 5 weeks notice, which I think is plenty. However, I'm not looking forward to being in the office for those 5 weeks...I know the questions and comments and everything that I've already been dealing with outside of work will then begin here too, as soon as I tell them. Not to mention I will be responsible for hiring and training my replacement. That's all I'm going to say about that.
I've been looking at what's available job-wise in the DC area a little bit. There are definitely some job possibilities. I just don't know what I want to do exactly. I'll figure it out though. Something with children? Something with animals? Who knows...luckily, I still have some time to think about it.
This weekend I'm going to pack some more of my stuff, go to a friend's graduation party/brunch on Saturday, go see Season's new place and probably run a few light errands, and watch a movie, maybe.
This Sunday is Mother's Day and not my favorite day. The weeks leading up to Mother's day are depressing for me. They have been that way the for last 2 years. It's like this constant advertisement that I see everywhere that is reminding me more than I want to be reminded. Obviously, this is just me being selfish and sad, but it's just another hard day for me. The last Mothers Day I spent with my mom was a very sentimental one for me. I had just moved back to Houston to start preparing for my move to California. She had just moved back to Houston from London for the summer to start her preparation of packing the house that I grew up in because they were selling it. She spent the summer packing and organizing, while picking out everything she wanted for the building of their new home. My mom always spent mothers day opening her cards and gifts and then we usually took her to see a movie or out to eat or something. She always cried when she opened our gifts and read our cards. I always felt uncomfortable writing my feelings in cards for occassions like this, so I always went with a "funny card." Except that year, I didn't choose my usual "shoebox" card. I chose to write my own card to tell her how I felt about her as a mother and person and all of the things I never told her, all of the mothers days prior. I bought her a new journal and I wrote "my card" in the first few pages of the journal. I was hoping she could start the journal when she went back to London at the end of the summer. And then years later she could give it back to me and it would be something that I would have from my mom...her thoughts and details about her life from her perspective for me to read and to keep forever. She cried, we cried and that will always be the one I remember. Maybe one day, when I become a mother, things will change and it won't be so hard.

Enough of the depressing stuff now.

Man this blog sucks today...sorry that I've rambled about too many different subjects. See, told ya, I'm not sleeping well and my brain is all over the place! Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

New Look

I've wanted to change the layout of this blog for a REALLY long time now. It is actually easy to do, just not that easy to figure out. But once you get it and can play around with it, you can change pretty much anything you want. In honor of Mother's Day (coming up May 14th), I chose a photograph of Venice, Italy for my new banner. It was one of my mom's favorites cities.
I hope you all have a terrific weekend! Happy Friday....XXOO, ROBIN

Blah Blah blahblah blah blahhhhhhhG

It's Monday, May 1st and also my friend, Season's birthday today. She's 27! Happy birthday to you, Season! :) (Thanks for making Monday a little more enjoyable than most Mondays!)

I will recap some of the latest events of my life. My weekend was pretty uneventful, so I will just tell the highlights. Friday night after work, Quinn, Season, Justin and I had some beers and hung out by the patio/pool and discussed many things that people like ourselves discuss...movies, work, the weather and life. :) On Saturday, we had an open house at our apartment so that people who are interested in renting our apartment could come view it all at once. We had about 7 or 8 different sets of people come look during the 2 hours. Everyone who looked at it seemed interested and took an application with them. We found out last night from our landlord that two of the girls were very interested and are in the process of signing paperwork to become the new tenants for after we move out. Which is a huge relief to us, since we are moving out early, and we will now no longer be responsible for the lease. Saturday afternoon we attempted to sit in the sun to get a little color, but we were not successful...it was possibly too late in the day? Afterwards, we made a trip to Target. Poor Justin will never make this trip with Quinn and I again! Quinn and I were going crazy trying on clothes. There is a lot of good stuff at Target right now-FYI. I came home with a few new things, so it was a good trip. I love Target.
Sunday was spent being lazy. Justin and I have been watching Sex and The City from the beginning...every season, every episode. We are currently in season 4 out of 6 seasons. So Sunday we watched quite a bit of that and made a trip to Ralph's for the week's supply of food. I also managed to pack up a few boxes..getting ready for the move a little early. I packed my DVDs and books. I need to be super organized with this move and so I'm going to be getting rid of a lot of things I don't need/want to hold onto anymore. That's one thing on the plus side of moving every year. Minimizing your junk is always good! I guess now would be appropriate to say that I've officially decided to move this summer. In case you didn't know what I was talking about above regarding all of the "move talk"....I'm moving to Fairfax, Virginia in July with Justin. He has accepted a network engineering position with his same company, but in a different city...Washington, DC. We've decided to move to Fairfax because it's relatively close to DC, and still a city, yet not as big and overwhelming as DC. Justin also has some friends who live there and this should make things more comfortable for us - not knowing a whole lot about the area. I've never been anywhere on the East coast, except for New York City. I'm excited though! I'm nervous about finding a new job, but so ready! I have about two months left in LA to spend time with friends, enjoy the weather and save some money :). I'm also taking two trips before we make the cross-country drive. Like I've said here before, I'm going to NYC for memorial day weekend and then I'm flying home at the beginning of June for my annual family reunion in New Braunfels. Lots of time, yet lots to do to fill the time between now and July.