Pedestrian

One of these days I am going to be hit by a car. I feel it is inevitable if I continue to walk to work because people do not seem to pay attention when driving. Or worse they are and just seem not to care! I cross two streets on my way to work. One I jaywalk because there is no crosswalk anywhere near where I need to cross so I triple check before running across. That is not the area I worry about. I worry about the street where I cross in an actual crosswalk. Every day I check each way and if I see a car I look at them until I know they see me. They also do have a stop sign so should be stopping anyway. Once I see that they have seen me and I give a look saying - yes I am here and you need to stop and let me pass - then I start to cross. Most mornings this is ok and I don’t mind the occasionally bad looks of how dare I walk in a crosswalk and interrupt them being able to drive forward for 5 seconds. But at least once a week I get someone who sees me and I know they have seen me and rather than stopping at the stop sign as they should they speed up, stop briefly, and then run past to make it through before I can start walking. The guy this morning was even worse! He saw me and sped up to halfway through the crosswalk, looked over at me, smiled, and then gunned it through the intersection. He was lucky no one was coming the other way because he did not even check! My other favorite are the ones that start to creep through the intersection as I am walking so when I get almost to the other side they can pass by me quickly literally inches behind me! So I know I am just tempting fate every day I step out on that crosswalk! 

Serenity

Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care, I'm still free
You can't take the sky from me
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me
There's no place I can be
Since I found Serenity
But you can't take the sky from me...

This song has been stuck in my head all day. Its actually not a song but a theme song to an amazing show, Firefly, that was cancelled way too early (I know get my Nathan Fillion fix by watching Castle which is good but not quite Firefly)! There something about this song that every time I hear it I feel happy. It is not a very happy sounding song but I just love everything about it from the music, to the way the guy sings, to the fact that no matter what the sky can't be taken away. Which I am not cool and do not have a spaceship so I can't actually visit the sky but I don't think it is literally talking about the sky but more that place you go that no one can take from you. But if I did have a spaceship I would totally go to space and claim a little spot :)

Read

I sometimes worry about our society and the ability to read. I do not know how many times in a day I get an email from someone asking me a question to which I respond to their questions only to have then ask again because they did not read a word I said in the previous email! This drives me crazy! I have gotten to the point where I just forward my previous message and highlight the answer for them. I am sure that is not the most professional way to handle it but it is a lot better than what I would like to say back to them which is YOU IDIOT! I already told you!! READ before you respond!

So please when responding to an email and asking a questions make sure you read the entire email message to make sure the answer is not already there :)

Love & Other Drugs

I am a hopeless romantic and love a good love story! Last night I watched Love and Other Drugs and it was totally my kind of movie! These are the stories that I hope are happening in real life. And when I think about it they actually are - it might not be to the epic movie level but in a way when you find that special person you get your own mini love story :)

I also feel that you have to have some bad love stories to really appreciate when the good one comes along! I know I had my fair share which I am sure I will get into another time but if it weren't for the bad I would never have appreciated my husband. In fact when I first met him 2 year prior to dating we were friends and I totally overlooked him. He was way in the friend zone and it wasn't until 2 years away and some bad experiences that I realized what I had missed earlier! So while my exes might have annoyed and irritating me, they did lead me to where I am now so I am thankful for that.

Vacation

I read somewhere once that even just looking at and planning vacations relieves stress. I would agree with that! I love to travel and wish I could afford to travel everywhere but sadly I am not rich and therefore must budget and maybe take one big trip a year. But whenever I have down time I love to plan vacations! I have planned enough to get us to 50! I know that I won't be able to take all these trips (though I certainly wish I could!) but I always feel better after looking and imaging I were there.

I was just looking to plan a trip for the end of this year. At the moment it is narrowed down to Hawaii, Costa Rica, or Italy. Every time I start to look at one I say THIS is where we must go next! It looks amazing! And then of course once I start looking into the next destinations that one inevitably becomes the favorite! Clearly, this means where ever we go I will be happy! But until then, I will continue to plan and enjoy that aspect :)

Bad Teacher

Last night I saw Bad Teacher. It wasn't the best movie I have ever seen but it did make me laugh out loud at a few parts and I love JT so any chance to see him on screen is ok with me! My husband was said the movie left him with a bad taste because the bad teacher did terrible, horrible things in the movie and still had a happy ending. She got a great guy, didn't get fired, and even got a new job! I thought about what he said and realized well at least it was real. Usually in movies the good guy always wins. In this one the "good guy" did not win but got sent to a school of troubled kids. Granted that character was very annoying so you didn't mind seeing her have to leave but she was trying to do the right thing and really wanted to help the kids learn. This is usually what happens in real life. I see people at work who don't do their job at all and yet nothing happens to them. Then you have those who are working their butt's off and get no recognition at all. That's life right! We gotta just keep smiling :)

On an entirely different tangent, Bad Teacher also made me reflect on my given career path. Since 4th grade I wanted to be a teacher. I loved working with kids and was really great at it. Even though I was the "mean teacher" because I shockingly made them follow the rules I found the kids respected this and I actually became a favorite and the boys who caused the most trouble always saved me a seat in the back of the bus - I felt so special! haha Teaching was always my plan but as I got into college I got distracted with many other ideas of what I wanted to do and changed my major about 5 times. After my 2 years in Australia I just wanted to graduate so I looked at what I needed the least of to graduate and did that - which ended up being Sociology. I then got a job at my University and have been here ever since! And I do love it and I love still being in an educational setting but its not the same as teaching. Maybe someday... ya never know!

Vodka

So I love to read and I just got a Kindle for my Birthday and within 2 weeks I have already read 5 books! I figured another reason to blog would be to share my thoughts on the books I read. That way I can also look back and remember what I have read! So I won't review all the books I just read at least for this post! I will just review the last one  which was, "Are you there Vodka? It's me, Chelsea". My BFF told me about this book and said I MUST read it. I have occasionally seen  Chelsea Handler on her show but hadn't paid too much attention to her before this. This book was hilarious! I literally laughed out loud multiple times causing my husband to stare oddly at me. I was able to relate to a lot of what she wrote which made it that much funnier!One chapter that really stuck out to me was where she babysat for a hellion child. Working at the camps, day camps, and my own babysitting, I had my fair share of hellion children and she captured  perfectly the emotions you feel when you realize you are in a room with a crazy person!

This was a fun, quick, funny read and I highly recommend it!

Pickle

While growing up for many summers I worked as a Camp Counselor and my name was Pickle. Now I actually hate pickles! I got my name because I was doing something you shouldn't and was talking while eating and suggested to my Mom and my friend who were helping me pick a name and said Piglet (which isn't a great name either but I threw it out there!). They heard Pickle and thought it was great! I was horrified and I hate pickles and couldn't imagine being called that all summer. Well, the next day we had to tell the Director and my friends said her name is Pickle! And it stuck... so for 8 years I was called Pickle. I actually grew to love the name and of course as all counselors do we say that is our real name. I was asked many times by fellow counselors if I was sweet or dill which lead to a camper overhearing and thinking they had heard by real name! So many girls out there believed that my name was Dilia Pickle. 

I miss those days of camp. Especially on a day like today where the weather is beautiful and I am stuck in an office. To be back at the dunes doing arts & crafts with the kids while working on my tan! Which the best tan I have ever gotten (which means I was a normal color rather than blinding white!) was the one summer I worked as a counselor at the beach. 

Anyways, I share this story to explain why I named this blog Pickled Oiens. Pickle has become such a big part of my life even though I haven't been "Pickle" in many years. And now that I am married my new last name just seemed to fit and when I heard Pickled Onions the other day I thought hey - that sounds like my new last name! Could just be me that thinks its cool, but I don't care! This is for me anyways :) if others actually read it well I am glad. I have had a variety of friends start blogs and thought why not! Here no one will judge my writing and grammar (and if you do I don't want to hear how incorrect it is!) and I love to scrapbook and preserve my photo memories so why not my daily ones too. I am not sure what this will turn into but will give it a try!