Hi, my name is Michele and I'm a Candy-holic

Those of you who know me know that I have a slight problem when it comes to candy, especially m&m's. Those candy-shelled-bits of goodness are definitely one of the best inventions ever. So imagine my delight when, making one of my weekly treks to Target on Monday, I came across these:


Wildly Cherry M&Ms, the new, limited flavor of m&m's, has to be the greatest thing since m&m's put peanut butter in those candy shells. It tastes almost as good as eating a real chocolate-covered cherry. So go out and try these tasty little crack pellets if you get a chance because they are absolutely delicious!

Oh, and shout out to Candy Addict for having an image of these candies and a great review about them too!

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

Spring is just around the corner and with the warm(er) weather and increased sunshine come lifted spirits. My Debbie Downer funk strained my relationship and began to push away the one person who is my entire support system up here. I was so busy focusing on all the negativity consuming me that I never stopped to realize the blessings and love I have right in front of me!

It's such a vicious cycle and I feel awful about complaining about my "problems" when I see people who have actually suffered; they have a right to complain about their dark days. Fortunately my funk lifted and surprisingly enough things are looking up here. Work is getting better and I'm finally starting to "get it" with what I'm supposed to be doing. With increased confidence comes greater results for my clients and that relates back to me doing a good job.

We're starting to make some friends and hang out with more people and now that spring is just around the corner we'll be hanging out even more and getting to know people better which will strengthen our friendships.

Also, Stephen and I start volleyball tonight with some of my colleagues and Stephen has promised to coach me and whip my butt into volleyball shape. I know that as I continue to play and practice I'll develop into a better player and I'm looking forward to his advice and expertise. And it will be fun to play on a team with him. I just feel bad for whoever is on the receiving end of one of his brutal kills.

Bracketology Smacketology

It's March 20th and you know what that means: the official start of the least productive two weeks that the American workforce will ever face. In other words, today is the start of March Madness!!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE March Madness!! Anyone who knows me knows that I'm pretty much a boy when it comes to sports anyway and March Madness is the greatest sporting event to get wrapped up in. There is something so amazing about watching kids play basketball for the love of the game and the uncertainty of who will actually win. I love watching the Cinderella teams upset favorites and throw off everyone's brackets.

Another reason I love March Madness so much is that it's the only sporting event I will actually wager money on. I have a stigma about betting on sports because it's almost guaranteed that if I bet on a game I will lose, and I don't like losing. However, I won't hesitate to bet on the NCAA tournament.

Our office is having a pool and it took me probably one hour total to pick my teams. My cube mates and I have been giving each other a ration of hell for our picks, suddenly second guessing our picks and final score. I'm not saying I'm by any means good at picking teams, and this year I actually tried to do the "girl" thing and pick some teams based on school colors because my knowledge outside the Big Ten and Big 12 is limited, so I expect a LOT of ridicule for my picks.

Without further ado, I give you my bracket:
I'll admit it's a little crazy and far-fetched, but I believe in upsets and I'm counting on a couple of them - Izzo, if by chance you read this, work a little magic for me!

Totally Random

As if my post yesterday wasn't completely and utterly random, I found this on Martha's blog and decided I should probably comply since she actually takes the time to read my blog (p.s. - look at her blog about "Simon's Cat.")

10 years ago:
I was 18. First year of college at Texas Tech. I was not using the study habits I developed as a straight-A student in high school, rather I was spending my time learning about alcohol mixology and recuperating from unwise levels of consumption. I eventually failed out my first year, had to sit out one semester and then take a "learn how to study course." Sheesh!

Things on my to-do list today:
-grocery shopping with Stephen
-play some Guitar Hero if he'll let me in on the action
-take my clean laundry out of the dryer since it's been there since last week
-go to bed early to make my 5:45 a.m. spin class

What would I do if I suddenly became a billionaire?
I would pay off my parent's debt so they didn't have to worry so much and buy them tickets to Boston to visit us. Then I'd buy a house up here so Stephen and I could quit searching for crappy houses on his budget. Then I'd take care of my debt, set up a college fund for my nephew, donate a significant fund to the shelters where I got my kids and I'd take a much wanted vacation. Naturally I'd make sure that the rest was invested so I wouldn't have to worry about things ever again except which color Jimmy Choos I should get. :)

Three of my bad habits:
1. biting my nails
2. losing motivation for the gym
3. eating out too much

Five jobs I've had:
1. car attendant for Hertz Rental
2. hostess for TGI Friday's
3. Salon coordinator
4. bookkeeper at my dad's shop
5. PR bad-ass (in my mind anyway!)

Five things many people don't know about me:
1. I failed out of college freshman year
2. I haven't talked to my brother in about 2 years
3. I LOVE sudoku
4. I am afraid of heights but really want to bungee jump
5. I go to Target at least once per week, and oftentimes 2-3 times per week, even if it's just to browse.

Snowboarding 101

I want to learn how to snowboard! I figure this is another way to supplement my exercise regiment, and would be a total blast to learn! Plus we have something like 6 months of winter up here, so why not get out an enjoy it to the fullest!? I need to go out and get measured for equipment so I can buy everything when it goes on sale soon.

So if anyone has recommendations on brands, types and what to look for when getting snowboarding equipment, please let me know!

Attitude Adjustment

I'm in dire need of an attitude adjustment and I can't figure out how to fix it. I have been in such a funk lately, and taking it out on Stephen. I'm sure it has a lot to do with being homesick, not having friends up here yet and my friends being 2,000 miles away when I need them the most, but I can't help but feeling totally alone. The biggest problem for me when I get this way is that I also get really sensitive about EVERYTHING and my feelings get hurt easily.

On Friday I had a bad day. A supervisor told that at my level there is a certain expectation of what I can do and was appalled to learn that I had never done this task before. Normally I would just let stuff like this roll off my back but, because of my funk I'm in, I took it really personally as a slap of my abilities to perform a task. And for me there is nothing worse than criticizing my abilities. Then I wasn't asked to play on Stephen's volleyball team, and when I mentioned it to him he replied with something along the lines of it being a competitive team and not a fun team. Days later I'm still upset about that one.

The worst thing about me getting like this is that I start to feel insecure about myself . I start questioning Stephen's motives with me. I wonder if the only reason he asked me to live with him was because he wanted a stable roommate or whether he's with me because it's convenient or that he feels guilty since I moved up here. And I HATE questioning these things; they make no sense and it only makes me feel worse.

I don't know what to do about this. I'm hoping that I get out of this funk soon though, because I don't like being a Debbie Downer.

Sorry for bitching about this on my blog. I don't want this to be a blog about me being so negative all the time, especially since there are some new people reading my blog who don't know me well enough to understand that I'm not usually like this, but this is a blog about what I'm going through and as such I need to talk honestly about how I'm feeling. I do know that once I work through these things I'll be fine, let's just hope it's sooner rather than later. I'm ready to be back to my normal self.

The Awesomest Girlfriend

It doesn't happen very often, but last night I was a super star girlfriend! No, strike that; I was the AWESOMEST girlfriend.

Yesterday was Stephen's birthday and I pulled out all the stops. As I mentioned in a post last week, we had his semi-surprise birthday party on Saturday night with some friends from his office. Everyone had a great time.

Us at The Burren - great Irish pub

Fran, Stephen, Dan, Aileen, Simone and Adnan (sorry for cutting off your head!)

Abby, Aileen, Simone and me

I've been so excited to give Stephen his presents and it couldn't have worked out any better. He came home frustrated because of some issues he had with his car that's in the repair shop from the accident he had back in December, so I knew that his presents would put him in a better mood.


First up, a fresh blueberry pie. Stephen prefers pie to cake and has been asking for a pie for his birthday. I told him I wouldn't get him a pie for his birthday because of everything else, but in the end I couldn't let him go without a pie.


Next was a framed photo of us for his office. He asked for this back at Christmas but I couldn't find a decent enough photo of us that would look good at his office. Ironically we took a great one at Christmas, so I was finally able to give him that gift.


Saving the best for last... Red Sox tickets. And not just any Red Sox tickets. Tickets to game 2 of the regular season. Tickets to see the Red Sox play his Detroit Tigers. It will be our first trip out to Fenway, and the look on his face when he saw those was priceless.

Normally I don't consider myself such a badass, but after last night who would argue with me? :)

Happy 1st Birthday to the cutest baby I know

Happy birthday to my little Duncan man! Today my "newphew" (he's really my best friend's kid) turns one year old. Isn't he just the cutest little man? Mom and Dad have great fashion sense for this kid.

Mom and Duncan - isn't he just the cutest?!

As a lion for Halloween

Oh, I don't know

My friend Becky at It's all about the Mochaface tagged me for this meme on books. Her book meme is so much better than mine! But since she tagged me for this, I better do it!

If you're wondering what a meme is, dictionary.com defines a meme as: a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes. In the blogosphere we call this "tagging."

Anyway, I digress. The rules for this meme are this: Take the book you're currently reading, turn to page 123. Find the fifth sentence... then post the next three sentences (#s 6, 7, 8) on your blog.

Here is mine, from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Year 6 at Hogwarts):

"Get under here, quick," said Harry, pulling his Invisibility Cloak out of
his bag.
"Oh - I don't know, Harry," said Hermione, looking uncertainly
toward Mrs.
Weasley.
"Come on!," said Ron.

So there you have it. Not nearly as thrilling as Becky's posting, but still, the book is really good. To continue, I'm going to tag Martha at Notions and Kelly at Chemopalooza - girl, you said you haven't had much to blog about, so this should help! :)

Reason #101 Why Stephen is AWESOME!

I just had to put it out there that yet another reason I love my man is that he cooks. Every Saturday morning since I've moved to Boston Stephen has made pancakes for us, and he recently made homemade spaghetti sauce for us - the BEST sauce I've ever had - and last night we made homemade chicken tenders and homemade garlic mashed potatoes.

Holy mackerel it's a wonder I haven't gained 20 pounds since I've been up here (gym membership is actually paying off!)

Oh, and he's getting MUCH better about doing the dishes and making the bed. I've let a lot of it go and so I'm not nearly as frustrated with him anymore, but I still get excited when I get home and the bed is made or I hear him doing the dishes.

I know I've kvetched a lot about what he hasn't done, so I thought it only fair to talk about the things he does. He is awesome, and does much more than I even mention, and I wanted to say that he is definitely appreciated.