Highs & Lows

This week has been full up of highs and lows.

First the highs...

(1) My 30th Birthday was great. I spent a day in Orlando before heading to the ship where I spent 4 fabulous days cruising the Bahamas. Nassau and Half Moon Cay were both beautiful. You can check out the pics at http://photos.yahoo.com/hizgrace97
under the 30th Birthday tab

(2) Completed finals for Business Law and Managerial Accounting. Hoping to walk away with two B's. Wanted A's but I just know now that I need to be on my A game going forward. Tonight I start Stat's and Managerial Finance.

(3) Spent Saturday in St. Louis where Elder Perdue was speaking. Their service was great although the drive was a bit more tiring that I had anticipated.

The lows (only one real low):

(1) My friend Richard left for Afghanistan on Friday. I thought I was ok with it until he called, while boarding the plan, to let me know he was leaving. I finally got my first email from him on Sunday which definitely made me feel better. I guess you don't know what role a person plays in your life until they are not their to perform it.

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

Today is the big day...I turn 30!!! Yayyy. My flight leaves in a few hours and I will be headed to the Bahamas to celebrate. I've been up since 4:30am trying to finish packing. Yes, its my personal habit to wait until the last minute to pack. I'm actually still washing clothes...sssshhhhh...don't tell anyone.

Well I will have to brag about my best birthday surprise that came before my birthday. On Monday, I worked a little late so when I got home, China had to be walked A.S.A.P. I've started taking her to the front to go "pottie" so that I don't have to worry about her acting crazy around cars. I walk into the hallway and notice that someone had recieved flowers and a balloon. I'm like, "awww, thats so sweet". So while China was doing her business, I decided to be nosey and see who they were for. As I looked at the card, I realized that my name was on the it. Now I'm confused. I don't know anyone (at least I didn't think I did) who would send me flowers (most folks know that I'm not a big flower kind of girl). So I proceed to check the mail and usher China back into the foyer. I grab MY flowers and head in the house. As I flip through the mail, I notice that I have not one, but TWO card from the same person.

I then gathered that the flowers must be from him as well. Yes, that right, Mr. South Carolina made a frustrating day great. A half doze pink lilies and two cards. I must say that although I'm not a big fan of flowers, coming from him, made them the best gift ever. I knew that it took a lot of thought and consideration on his part. You'd have to know his personality to understand why a woman, especially one that he's not dating, should never expect anything from him. Although they were a couple days early (to his surprise, as well) its going to be a hard birthday gift to top. Actually, I'm not expecting much (not even a call) from anyone else, except maybe the parentals.

Ready to go

T minus 3 days to departure to the Bahamas. And not a moment to soon.

I successfully completed the projects for both of my classes and I've secured books, at a discount price, for my two classes for next term. However, I'm a bit disappointed because I didn't realize my birthday trip ran concurrently with the week prior to finals. So I'm depending on classmates to provide me with the notes of what to to study for the finals. I realize that people don't always hear the same things, so I'm praying that they provide me with good notes of what to study.

I won't worry about it. I'm going to go, have a great time and worry about school when I return...

Call me Bahama Mama!!!

Dissed & Pissed

Ok, in less than two weeks I'm supposed to be on a plane headed to a cruise ship to celebrate my 30th birthday. When I began my planning, I sent a mass invitation out ot my "friends" and as suspected, everyone had an excuse as to why they couldn't show. It wasn't a big deal because I had already decided that I was going, even if I had to go alone. But up jumped my cousin who was all ready to go...no matter what. Although she has a history of backing out of plans at the last minute, I didn't want to believe that she'd ruin my 30th birthday, especially since she knew how important this trip is to me.

So why did I get an email from her on Friday night saying that she wasn't going? What the heck?!?! She did not wait until less than two weeks before we are supposed to leave to back out!!! Ugh. I'm so disgusted. And she didn't even have the decency to call or to explain her decision. Then, when I called her, she didn't even return my call...like I was some stranger on the street. At first I was hurt, now I'm just pissed. I can add her to the never ending list of selfish people in my life. Regardless, my dads wife is still going so I'm sure that we'll have a great time.

The only thing I'm trying to figure out is why the concept of reaping and sowing don't work for me...

I'm always there to celebrate occassions with others (and I don't come empty handed) yet I can never get the same treatment from others. My boy, Jason, keeps asking me what is up with the relationships that I have and I can't give an answer. But it just goes to prove why I am convinced that I have no friends.

Hold the presses

For as long as I can remember, I've always been involved in long distance relationships. After the last one, I told myself that I'd never do it again. I believe that you can make them work but both people have to be committed to the success of the relationship and there definitely has to be some time frame of when someone will relocate.

It's been 5 years since I dated anyone. In those last five years, I've gone out (one time each) with two different guys and realized that my time would have been better spent watching tv or reading a book. When I met "him" it was cool because the expectations were low and we were states apart. I knew that I didn't want anything long distance and I surely wasn't going to be moving. But after spending the last 3 years communicating, I've found myself "catching feelings" and ugh, does it suck! He's in the military and getting ready to be stationed out the country. Besides that, we've only spent a small time together on one isolated occassion. So why do I even care?

I'm not sure, everything about him is so contrary to what I want...and more than anything, he is such a control freak...which I hate. So yesterday, I finally told him a portion of how I feel and now I'm regreting it. Partly because I'm pretty sure that he doesn't feel the same and partly because I know he has enough on his mind without me adding to it. Now, I'm trying to make a decision about whether I should detach myself (now I'm sounding like a control freak) in order to save both of us from a lot of frustration. This is my fault, right? I'm a sucker for a military man...ugh...gotta get pass the uniform...LOL

I laugh but the truth is, my ex was a marine. He got stationed out the country and got himself a nice Japanese girl. Didn't think about me for 2 years but as soon as he came back to the states, it was a whole different story. I'm not up for that type of madness again. Think I will just tell him the entire truth about my feelings and end it with, maybe we shouldn't talk anymore...

Decisions...decisions...

It keeps going

Kansas City MO was great this weekend. The conference speakers were right on point, providing just the motivation that I need to complete some very important tasks on my to do list. The weather wasn't the greatest, as it rained for the first couple days, then although it warmed up Saturday morning, it cooled off considerably by the evening. Kansas City did remind me why I will never move to a small city...nothing to eat/ do after 10:30pm...ugh. The flight in was nice, with only a little turbulence and I actually dozed off and missed the entire landing. Coming back home this morning, I missed my 7am flight and had to go standby for the 8:30am. I really wanted to be late and just catch a 3pm flight so that I could attend church there in Kansas City but all of the flights were over booked and there was no guarantee that I could hop a flight earlier than 9pm if I had missed my earlier flight. Gratefully, although the 8:30am flight was over booked some people missed it and I had no problem getting on. A lot more turbulence on this flight but I landed a Midway without a hitch.

Not sure if I mentioned it, but I got my 2007 goals for work about a month ago. With tax season, its been much too busy to work on anything on the list of tasks. Now that things are slowing down, I've managed to schedule my training for the Trade Desk (so excited...used to want to be a Trader but I changed my mind... now, I'm just interested in knowing what and how they do their thing) and I got my books to study for my Long Care Insurance certification. My goal is to have that completed by the middle of next week since I have midterms this week and I need to be working on my final projects for both my classes.

China is working a nerve. We are in puppy training trying to break some of her bad habits. The trainer is convinced that she is getting better but I'm just not sure that I see it. Hopefully by the end of the class, I'll be able to see some noticable changes. I'd like her to be able to to walk around the house without have accidents and tearing up stuff but until then, she's confined to her bedroom (my 2nd guest bedroom) as long as I'm not home. I think its enough room for her but I still feel guilty having her confined to one room. :)

I got a weird text from my ex today. It said something like, "she's moving out in a couple of weeks". I'm sure that he is referring to his current "girlfriend" who he's been having problems with for some time now. I'm just not sure why it was necessary to share this information with me. We haven't spoken since I was in Atlanta, and that was only long enough to say "hey, I'm in town, been here a couple of days, and I'm leaving tomorrow". I didn't have a desire to see him (thank God) and I'm definitely in no mood for foolishness. On another note, Mr. South Carolina has been humoring me a lot lately...calling sporadically...talking soft on the phone... Not sure of his motivations and I'm pretty sure that God is (has) said no regarding us being together but I think it's just a comfortable situation for both of us to have someone to talk to without any feelings of obligation...hmmm...the one simple thing in my life.

Well its time for bed and dreaming about the Bahamas...only two weeks away...YAYY!

Good night!