ummmm, yeah.  this week is dragging.  my brain is already fried, and it's only wednesday.    a bullet list is the best i can do:

• steve is taking a motorcycle safety course this week and next.  (that was something he promised to do before i agreed to let him get the bike.)  he's loving it!  by the end of next week, he'll officially have his motorcycle license.
  
  
• this is my second-to-last week of work on our EMS curriculum!  i am soooooo ready to be finished!  here's a little peek into our EMS course, via our company's website.
  
  
• last night was pottery class.  i had absolutely no luck on the wheel, but i had fun hand-building.  hopefully my wheel skills will return soon!  just need to find my muse...  my mom, on the other hand, is doing GREAT on the wheel!
  
  
• did i mention that my work friend erin is pregnant with her first child?  she just had her ultrasound this morning, so the office is all a-buzz looking at her pictures.  i'm so excited for her!  (although selfishly, i'm sad for myself.  after the baby arrives in december, she is going to be a stay-at-home-mom, so i'll really miss seeing her every day.)
  
  
• my company picnic is on saturday.  usually i'm not too crazy about these sorts of events, but this year i actually have friends at work, so maybe it'll be fun!  plus, the picnic is at hershey park!  so how can that not be fun?    (well, except for the fact the i can't ride roller coasters because of serious motion sickness issues...  but there will be plenty of other stuff to do too.  i think.  i hope.) 

ok, that's a wrap.  hope you have a beautiful day!

last evening i attended the first class of my summer pottery session.  the class contains a good mix of seasoned potters and beginner potters -- should be fun!  i think my mom really enjoyed herself!  she did a great job on her first-ever potter's wheel experience.  i think she's a natural. 

as promised, here are a few pictures of some of my pieces from the last class.

this is my first attempt at mugs.  they are far from perfect, but not too horrible either.
the tops got a little too thin, so i'll have to work on that for next time!

aren't these vases cool?  i really love how they turned out!
(for a little perspective, the tallest one is about 1 foot high.)
the red set is a belated mother's day gift for my mom, and the black set is for my sister.

this is one of the larger pieces that i've made.
i think it'll make a great fruit bowl!

well, i must get to work!  i have a pretty full plate, so there's no time to dilly-dally!  have a wonderful wednesday!

well, i'm back from the beach.  (i won't even tell you what went through my head when my alarm went off at 5:00 AM...  it wasn't pretty.)    but at least it's a short work-week!  that's a nice way to ease back into the real world.

our week at the beach was so, so great.  the weather did not cooporate AT ALL, but somehow that seemed to help the week go a little slower.  and a slow vacation week = a good thing.  i feel like i was able to press the "reset" button on my internal computing system. 

i'm sure that most of you have already seen my pictures on facebook, but for you non-facebookers, here are a few snapshots from our trip:

this is what the weather looked like for most of the week -- dark and ominous.

the dark, windy weather was perfect for steve's kite-flying passion!

the wind was great and he had the beach all to himself!

i spent a good bit of time behind the camera.

this little guy is just too cute!

he's going to be a soccer star like his daddy someday!

we did have one good beach day... and i took advantage of it by getting burned. 

my cute parents... and a big scary rain cloud

my sister and i exploring some fishing boats at the Viking Village

steve and i at the Barnegat Lighthouse on our last evening of vacation

welp, i've got a mountain of work to catch up on!  (i shudder just thinking about it!)  so i'd better not delay any longer...  have a lovely monday, everyone! 

wow, really?  has it been a week since i posted last?  things have been awfully busy at work with edits and final reviews, so i just haven't had much downtime.

but life in general has been pretty ok.  pretty ok?  what does that even mean?    i guess things are just good -- not great, but not bad either.  we're getting by... kind of in a "holding pattern," you know?  we're suck in a weird stage of life right now, and i'm not crazy about it, to be honest.  BUT i know it's not permanent, so that's what keeps me going.  i think my brain is in desperate need of a "time out"!  so it's a good thing that our week-long beach vacation starts on saturday!  woohoo! 

so what else has been going on besides work?  well...

• i saw Brian Regan live this past saturday.  oh.my.goodness.  HILARIOUS.  have not laughed that hard in ages.
  
  
• i saw a fabulous production of Les Miserables at the Fulton Opera House yesterday.  it was very, very well done!  i even got a little teary-eyed.  what a powerful story!
  
  
• did i mention that steve and i have a new addition to our family?  recently, steve decided to "retire" from car racing and to take his passion for fast machines in a different direction.  so, after a lot of time searching (and many hours of discussion / convincing with his wife) , steve sold off his race car and bought himself a classic british motorcycle -- a 1974 Norton Commando 850.

i've gotta admit, it's pretty darn cute.

and that husband of mine looks pretty darn cute riding it!
(oh, and don't worry, when he rides on the road, he will wear a helmet.  i made him take a vow before God that he would always, always, always wear a helmet!  that's non-negotiable!!)

so that's the latest!  hope you are all doing well!  have a happy monday! 

wow, i am still ridiculously sore today!  (but at least today, it almost feels like a good "i'm-improving-mysef" pain.  yesterday it was more of an "i-hate-myself" pain.)    clearly, in my quest to increase my cardiovascular activity, i neglected to integrate muscle strengthening and toning exercises.  oops!  i'm paying dearly for that now, BUT at least i've learned a valuable lesson!  (FYI: here is the link the exercises that i've started.  i think it was the side lunges, front lunges, and hip squeezes that did me in!)

in other news, i am very, very frustrated about something at work.  it is SO petty, and i hate myself for being annoyed by it.  BUT it's actually starting to affect my attitude and work output.  do you remember a month or so ago when i posted about the co-worker in the cubical next to me who is a really, really, really loud typer?  well, i tried to ignore it, i tried to drown it out, i tried to just "get over it", but this all was to no avail.  recently, this co-worked moved to a different office -- one with a door! -- and i was SO ecstatic that i would not have to hear her crazy typing antics anymore.  but i was wrong.  so, so wrong.  i think she types louder than ever now.  and she never closes her office door, so it just resonates even louder and vibrates throughout the office.  AHHHHH!  for whatever reason, this is absolutely maddening to me.  i cannot handle it.  do you think it would be rude to talk to her about it?  (she's generally a very nice and sweet person, but i don't want to offend her.)  or should i casually mention something to my manager?  maybe even suggest that i move to a cubical that is further away?  or buy some noise-canceling headphones?  or just get over myself and suck it up?  all i know is that something's gotta give or i'm going to self-implode!

anyway, whew!  i just had to get that off my chest.    back to work now.  hope you have a great wednesday!