This is For MOM..

It's not my mom's 60th birthday until March 22nd. But since ive been in party planning mode these past few days, I thought I would do her the favor of posting the pictures we used for the invites for her party. And since my mom has never seen my blog site NOR does she know how to turn on a computer, I think it's safe to assume that she will not see todays posting. And even if she did, she would probably laugh! She's a good sport!

Nice hair mom.. this picture was taken when she was probably in her late 20's. Holy make up.. holy hair doo and holy fugly yellow door we had in our living room. She's got the "white girl Fro" kickin.. lol... omg.. she would pay my sister and I $1 to brush her hair when she would rat it out like that. That was big money back in the 70's.

The next pic to the Right, was when she was in her mid 30's im guessing..Still a lot of make up I think.. but the hair doo calmed down alot! Thank god. Ironically, my mom was a hair stylist for about 25-26 years I believe. She owned a salon in NE Mpls where she made all the "blue hairs" or LOL's beautiful. (for those of you that dont know what these are.. blue hairs are the old bags that have that tint/hint of a purle color to their hair.. and the LOL's are Little Old Ladies.) She's been out of the hair business for a while now. She moved on to the other love of her life: Make up.

OK.. this pic to the Left is a few years old.. however, she looks pretty much the same. She now sells make up for Estee Lauder at the local mall. She's very good at it and everyone loves her.. but not more than her daughters! :) Yes, she's very beautiful and she holds her age very well! Both my parents look good for their age.. thank you God!! I hope this runs in the family.. well at least down my way.

And then we have probably the most current pic (R) of her which was taken about a year and a half ago. She looks the same as the pic to the Left.. except no glasses. I can onky hope that I look half this good when im her age.

So my mom will be the BIG 60. The party is taking place on March 21. We rented a hall for the event. And my dad, what a wonderful man he is... has offered to pay for the entire party. He and my mom have been divorced for about 17 years now.. and they are still good friends. He said that "Fritz" (my mom's nickname) deserves a nice party. So, a nice party it is.. and hopefully she gets a good turn out of good friends and family!

I love my mommy!! xoxoxo

Winter Sucks !

Im Baaaaaaack, but who knows for how long?lol.. hopefully for good. I have completely dropped the ball on this blogging thing and I regret it. When I dont blog for a while, I lose my train of thought and then too much is going on and it's hard to figure out where to pick up again. So, lucky you.. Ive had so much going on since ive last blogged theres plenty to blog about. But where do I start?

WORK:

I am currently working for a non-profit arts organization called COMPAS. My good friend Delia, who always comes through for me, quit her job there. They wanted someone to come in and fill the position until they could hire someone on a permanent basis. Delia suggested to her boss that since her favorite friend, Paula was currently unemployed, that I come and be the "fill-in" person for now. Well, I started working there on January 26 (ironically the day after my last blog posting) and im still there. They have suspended their search to fill this position until further notice! This is good news for me cause I have nothing else in the works. However, there are a few issues with this. The company that laid me off last December is only covering my medical insurance until the end of April. And I can not go with out medical insurance.. I can join COBRA, but that will cost me a lot of money. They also cover my perscriptions (not all of the cost) and I am on a few of those as well. I guess this means that I have to spend some quality time looking for a J-O-B.

A few likes: The people are very nice and friendly, the office is located in the beautiful Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul, the hours are flexible, the dress code is fairly casual, my friend Delia works close by so I get to see her all the time!!!

A few dislikes: The drive sucks, parking sucks (especially when there are events at the Excel Center cause the price of parking goes up.), I have to walk a ways from the parking ramp to get to the office cause all the cheap parking is NOT close (ok im exaggerating a bit here.. it's prob approx 3 -4 city blocks..lol)

So, overall, I can not complain. I feel very grateful to have this job right now in this economy. At least it's bringing in some extra money for me.. and who can complain about that?

PLAY:

My play time has been spent going up north a lot to my aunt and uncles house. They have a place on Damn Lake in Aitkin, MN. It takes approximately 1hr 40 mins to get there from Mpls, so not too bad. It's nice to have a get away from the big city once in a while.

I was there this past weekend for an "Ice Golf" Tournament on the lake. Yes, only in Aitkin is there Ice Golf. It's a lot of fun and NO, the fairways and greens are not groomed! The first time I played my aunt and I won the tourney.. however, there were probably only 6 teams (2 man teams). This past weekend, we didnt do so hot. It's all about the club youre using.. you only get one club so you must choose wisely!

It's always a good time going up north. I have met a lot of nice people.. fun party people.

WEATHER & SPORTS: Have I mentioned how much I hate winter yet? Winter totally blows! Yes, another winter storm today! Thankfully we didnt get as much here in the city as they did in northern MN. I would never live up there.. well maybe in the summer, but I would rather gouge my eyeballs out than live up there in the winter. Most of the snow has melted for the most part, but I will have to get out and take a picture of our front yard. We live on a cul-de-sac and they pile up all the snow from that area in our yard. There is still a huge mound of snow in our yard. This is the time of year we are FOR SURE getting snow. March starts the Minnesota State High School Tournaments for sports.. State wrestling tourney last week, girls hockey this week, boys hockey next week and we ALWAYS get snow storms when these tourneys starts.(Yes.. all at the Excel Center thank you, which once again drives up the cost of parking for me.. $12/day.. compared to $4 when no sports). After hockey, comes girls hoops and then boys hoops.. then I think that's it. If you dont know, MN is HUGE on the State High School Tournaments. Then my favorite time of year.... MARCH MADNESS!!! I cant wait. I know what I will be doing for the next few weekends.. watching college basketball! I love it!!!

My mom turns the BIG 60 in a couple weeks. My sister, dad and I are throwing her a big party! I found a hideous pic of her when she was quite young.. the hair.. OMG... thankfully for us that hair doo went out back in the 70's. I tried up post a pic of the invite pictures.. but no luck.. I will do it tomorrow from work! lol.. My parents still look damn good for their ages.. not that 60 & 61 are old!

Well, that's about it for now! There is definately more to come in the next days. I have updates on the dating scene, party scene.. hmmm.. what else? I will think of more. Im glad to be back!

Cheers!! xoxo

Knowing ME!

Today is "Get to know Paula Better Sunday". I think these are kind of stupid.. esp when the same friend keeps sending you them time and time again!! However, sometimes I harbor them in my email just in case I need something for my blog! So, thanks Liz for this one. Enjoy!

1.What is your occupation right now? Professional Job Seeker!

2. What is the color of your socks right now? Socks? I hate socks!!

3. What are you listening to right now? New music I downloaded from the Internet.. Shadow Dancing by Andy Gibb!!

4. What was the last thing that you ate? Ice Cream last night at 1am.. I'm starving.

5. Can you drive a stick shift? YES! learned on a "3 on the tree".

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Scott

7. How old are you today? 37

8. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? College Basketball.. hands down

9. What is your favorite drink? Coffee, water, OJ or beer.. not necessarily in that order.

10. Have you ever dyed your hair? Ummm yeah!!!

11. Favorite food? Pizza, Ice Cream, Mexican

12. What is the last movie you watched? Behind Enemy Lines: Columbia

13 Favorite day of the year? Saturday

14. How do you vent anger? Blog? I don't know.. it's hard to say.

15. What was your favorite toy as a child? I have no idea.. is it important?

16. What is your favorite season? Spring time

17. Cherries or Blueberries? Neither.. I like the flavors.. not the fruit..

18. Living arrangements? Renting from a family friend

20. Whats on the floor of your closet? SHOES.. lots of them.

22. What are you most afraid of? I have no idea.. OH..not finding a job right now.

23. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? Never heard of spicy burgers.. so Cheese.

24. Favorite day of the week? Saturday.. same as my fav day of the year!

25. How many states have you lived in? 3.. Minnesota, Colorado, Florida

So, there you have it! Don't you feel closer to me now? Some of these questions are sooooo stupid. I deleted some of them, hence the numbering being off and I'm not going back to redo them. Im having issues with the formatting!

I had some good stuff to blog about, however, it would have been completely inappropriate and hurtful to someone I care about. So, I came to my senses and decided it wouldn't be good for the friendship! I was angry with this person and thought the best way to deal with it was to exploit some of our texting conversation on my blog. He said some mean things to me and hurt my feelings.. so I wanted revenge! But that's just being mean and I'm not a mean person.

I am, however, a hungry person!

~Peace

Getting Organized and Starting Over

The story of my life it seems.. starting over and getting organized. UGH! Well, I FINALLY got my computer all hooked up and brought it to life with the internet. Im very excited to have a home computer.. my first I must admit. And Im completely addicted to it. Being addicted to my computer sucks because all I want to do is check my email, look for jobs and waste endless amounts of time on Facebook!

So, where do I start? The holidays were the same as every year. Im not a holiday person so I just do what I have to do and go where I have to go and hope it's painless! On Christmas eve, my dad and I meet at The Otter for beers after family festivities. We decided that it will be an annual event for us. This year, I invited my good friend, Mark to join us. So, I posted our Chirstmas Eve pic above.

Im officially unemployed now. Even though it's been nice having some time off work, Im soooo ready to join the workforce again! I feel like I have no purpose when I wake up in the morning. I was living such a routine life and now there is no routine.. hence the getting organized comment. The starting over part is because I have to start all over with a job. Good news is that I applied for a job, got an interview and now it appears to be a waiting game. It's a City job (City of Mpls) and would be a good job to land. They said that I should know something this week! Just waiting.......

Budget? What budget? Am I on a budget? Yup.. Paula has fallen back into the ranks of no budget and im very much regretting it. I really need to be ok with sitting on my ass in the house for a while now. Esp since im unemployed. Im starting to worry about money now and wondering when my severance check will arrive in my mailbox. My official last day of work was Jan 14. I was receiving a regular paycheck up until then. NOW.. where's my severance.. where's my vacation pay out? Im sick of waiting already.. and so is my checking account. Ive had to spend a little extra money lately for things Ive needed, not wanted.

I bought new glasses and contacts.. so im excited about that. It's been about 4 years since ive worn contacts. Im still trying to get used to not wearing glasses. Although, ive been too lazy to put the contact in lately. Glasses are so much easier! haha. Speaking of lazy.. it seems that the Lazy Disease has taken over me. I hate it and im trying to shake it. With no routine or purpose for getting out of bed these days, I spend my days being lazy! No good.

The dating update: Dating SUCKS! I dont think I will go into details here too much but I have my theories on this whole thing. Guys are looking for a roll in the hay.. not all of them, but most of them. If he's not looking for a roll in the hay, then he cant start a relationship with anyone cause he has all this drama sucking the life out of him.. but starts a relationship anyway, just to take you down with him and get a roll in the hay on the way down. Enough said.

Well, I have a lot of catching up to do, however I need to catch the writing bug again. When im not writing, i process everything in my head and then shove it aside and forget about it. In the mean time.. im looking for WORK! Ive decided on my new motto in the world of unemployment! This pic says it all!!

Peace!!

Havent Forgotten!

Happy 2009! No, I havent forgotten about my blog. I do apologize that ive been away for a while.. but you know.. I dont have a job anymore and I dont have regular access to a computer.. so for now I suck. BUT.. this is all about to change in the near future. It turns out that the company I worked for.. they are so generous, that once they clean off my PC at work, they are giving it to me! I can take it home and plug it in and start blogging again! I cant wait. I have lots to talk about and I have a lot of catching up to do with reading my fav blogs as well!
So, for now.. CHEERS! I will be here soon enough!
XOXO!

Monday Down & 4 Days to go!

I can hardly believe that this is my last Monday of work. It seems impossible. I have worked for my company just shy of 3 years.. but seriously, it seems like FOREVER! So, I have been reminiscing the past few days.. thinking about when I first started here how I knew NOTHING.. knew no one and was kind of frightened. Then I started learning my job.. started making friends.. started to feel very comfortable. And now it all comes to an end on Friday. Im wondering who I will remain in contact with, im wondering what everyone will do.. where they end up? Hell, screw everyone else.. im wondering where I will end up! Im actually excited to think that I will have a couple weeks off.. still getting paid.. and dont have to get up in the mornings, dont have to get to bed at a decent hour at night (minus the party nights). This could be trouble. The one thing that I dont want to get too comfortable with.. sleeping in and staying up too late.

With this economy and everyone and their grandma looking for jobs, im wondering how hard it will be to find a decent job. Ive never had a problem getting jobs in the past.. so I think im feeling a little over confident that im going to find something right away. I have applied for a few positions.. 2 jobs through my company and sent off a few resumes and one application for employemnt (didnt think these existed anymore other than at McDonalds). I think what I need to do is sit down, gather my thoughts and really figure out what I want to do. I dont have a 'traditional' job so I dont think i want a desk job again. But what do I REALLY want to do?

Im thinking of a quick trip to Colorado.. that's what I really want to do. lol.. why not? Life is short.

Nothing too exciting is happening in my life.. just partying, working and sleeping. I have not started my Christmas shopping yet cause I hate shopping. I told my nephew the other day that he and I will go shopping the day before Christmas Eve and he can pick out his present.. and will do the same with the others. My dad told me to get my brothers CASH.. so that's what they will get. We decided to not exchange gifts this year with adults. So, I will get nothing.. cause I have no kids to buy for! hahaha... but it's all good. I guess I dont really care. My family in the past got too overboard with presents and all and it's so ridiculous. There isnt anything out there that I could buy for my mom that she really wants (just things I cant afford anyway).. and same with my dad. My sister and I just dont exchange gifts for anything anymore. My dad and I started the father/daughter tradition last year on Christmas Eve. I go to my mom's house for a couple hours.. then meet my dad and we go drink some Christmas Cheer (Beer) at the local pub. We had so much fun doing it last year, that were doing it again this year!

The dating scene has settled down now.. kind of backing off everything for a while. And it's that time of year when life is too busy to include dating. Last day of work on Friday, Family Christmas up north on Sat but will stay up there until Monday, Doctor on Tues, Christmas shopping on Wed, Holiday.. and then hoping to shoot out to Denver on Friday the 26th. That would be awesome. My friends have been begging me to come out for a while now... and then were back in time for New Years Eve.. which I have nothing planned.

Well, the weather outside SUCKS. Have I ever told you how much I HATE winter? Well, we were supposed to get this huge snow storm yesterday. Then I wake up and it's RAINING instead. But that's the nightmare.. it rains cause it's 38 degrees out.. then the thermostat gets turned down to 16 degrees.. so all the wet roads FREEZE and makes for a traveling nightmare. The northern part of MN got a lot of snow though.. some places over a foot. And I wake up this morning to NEGATIVE 8 for the temp.. my truck is like a freakin ice cube.. doors are frozen shut. UGH! I hate winter.. and look where I live! Im stupid! Can you imagine waking up to that (pic above) in the morning?

That's all for now.. more to come as the close of the floor draws near!

~Peace

Dating Gone Wrong

Why is dating so impossible? Seriously, are there any NORMAL men out there? I once heard a friend of mine say something like this: If there were a room full of single, successful, handsome men and one loser... I would find the loser! YUP.. so would I. Sometimes I wonder if im wearing a sign on my back that reads: "Accepts all forms of losers, drunks, drug addicts, no license or job needed , I love mean people & please treat me like shit."

Then when you find a nice one.. or at least you think he's nice.. get him drunk ONE time and all of his demons come out and the red flags go up. But here is the funny one.. I met one that was an asshole.. we argued a few times, he pissed me off a few times... sent him on his way & told him to lose my number. A week later he calls, we go out and we have been like best friends ever since. We talked about what pissed us off about eachother.. agreed on somethings.. and now we hang out a few times a week and just laugh.. and other things! LOL... He went from being an a-hole.. to being very nice to me. I guess it was a wall that he had up? I dont know. I cant figure these guys out. Who ever said that Men were from Mars...they were certainly on to something!

Heres the other guy ive been seeing a little bit. We hang out.. have fun.. then after a week of hanging out (however, we have known eachother for a couple months) he gets scared. OK.. I can deal with that.. then out comes all this stuff about an ex-girlfreind, dealing with personal things, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.... now im not listening anymore.. His ex-girlfriend drug him through hell, etc... YEAH.. well, my ex-boyfriend wasnt a freaking stoll on the beach in Hawaii either... so get over it already. You can only blame the Ex for so much cause sometimes you need to take a look in the mirror and take some of the responsibility yourself. Anyway, (got off my train of thought).. so after we take about a week apart, then he's calling again.. he wants to see me. We hang out.. have fun.. he goes to his parents house for Thanksgiving.. comes home yesterday.. we hang out again and he gets TANKED! We were at the bar for 1 1/2 hours and he could hardly speak english & I had to help him walk to my truck!! Then my PHOBIA sets in and all I can think about is.. "oh lord.. he's gonna puke in my car.. im gonna freak out and kick his ass".. so I ask him if he's feeling ok.. "Yes, let's go to another bar".

To make that long story shorter.. he got mad cause I didnt want to meet a friend of his, he said some mean things to me in the car on the way to me dropping him off at home, he got mad cause he wanted to drive home. Im pretty sure that I had smoke coming out my ears I was so f-ing pissed off. He told me I like being in control, Im only hanging out for the "free ride", Im a drunk and all I do is drink a 12 pack 7 days a week and this is who he is.. if I dont like it then see ya later! So, who do you think was calling me an hour later? IM SO SORRY... PLEASE FORGIVE ME. (Red Flag Alert, Red Flag Alert.. been there.. not going back).

OK.. so, Im not sure that I want to talk to this guy anymore. I like the other guy, but he's not "settling down" material that I may want one day. But maybe I need to play that one out? I dont know.. im so confused. I hate dating.

Im not a controller, im not dating anyone for a "Free Ride". Im 37, have a job (although not for long.. so maybe I am looking for a free ride..lol), im very independant, know what I want, my morals and values are in check.. as well as my checkbook! Yes, I have strong feelings about things, Im passionate about things (topics of conversation).. I do what I want, when I want with whom I want (most of the time). And I know what im looking for and Im not settling for less.. that's it. Does that make me a controller? NO!

HELP! My friends have told me to go on the internet dating scene. Been there, done that.. met a few decent guys.. but im just not into that anymore.. not interested. Yes, I need to find a hobby other than drinking beer (lol).. but it's such a good hobby! My friends all want me to settle down.. find Mr. Nice guy.. etc... but I think my wall is going back up for a while. These dudes are freakin me out.

On to other things. I have nominated myself to get addresses for my 20 year high school reunion that will take place next fall. I still have contact with a lot of ppl from high school, believe it or not.. so I thought it would be fairly easy. And it has been quite easy for the most part. AND FUN! I have also gotten a bunch of them to join Facebook, which is a total trip! Im having a lot of fun with that.. and I thought it was stupid! lol.. So, everyone wanted to see eachother, so I organized a "Get Together" for tonight. Im really excited about it cause there are people coming that I havent seen in at least 10 years.. some I havent seen in 19 years. I will take plenty of pics (I never leave home with out my camera) and post some of them later.

Only 3 weeks left of work. Now that I know it's coming, it cant come soon enough. Im looking forward to having the last 2 weeks off of Dec.. but then I will go nuts. My company has been very generous with us.. gave us a pretty good severance package. So, I will be ok financially and insurance wise until April 09.

** I posted some randon pics here, and they have nothing to do with anyone that was thrown under the bus in this post**

Time to close.. have a great weekend! ~PEACE