March Nablopomo has come to an end.  It was fun getting back into the groove of writing every day and for some reason it wasn't as challenging as it was back in November.  I blogged easily for 30 days. Of course March has 31 days, but I blame that one slip up on the fact that I was so sick and doped up on cold medicine that I totally thought I had blogged, but I must have dreamed it because when I went to blog the following day, there was no post.  Too bad for you, I'm sure a doped up blog post would have been mighty entertaining.

I actually touched a little on this month's theme of "Giving (Up)."  There was the Lenten Promise - giving up swearing.  At this point I go through most days without uttering one bad word or even taking the Lord's name in vain (I sound so religious when I write that).  And with two weeks left until Easter, that gives me plenty of time to come up with more euphemisms.  Today I said, "Holy Cow!" in front of my boss and he gave me the, "Did you really just say that?" face.  Also in my arsenal are words like, Dagnabit, FUDGE!, Holy Cannoli, and Ah Geez (said with a midwestern accent, of course).  Giving up the swearing at the beginning was tough, but I think in the long run I'll start sounding like a demur lady.  Or at least I'll come across as a loud-mouth, sassy, dramatic, wannabe diva who doesn't swear.  I'll go for either I guess.

I also attempted to give up dating for awhile.  I did give up online dating for a good month or so, but as soon as I wrote this follow-up post it was like the dating Gods shined all their light upon me and I started getting asked out on date after date and my Match profile blew up after a month of no one even lazy winking at me.  I have a new date on Friday night with a guy that, at least over the phone, talks more than I do.  And tells longer stories than I do.  Either I'll really enjoy this, or I'll scream at him to shut up by the end of the first course.  And THEN I'll try to give up dating again.

Thanks for sticking with the randomness this month...I promise, I have lots more in me.  I hope you don't think I'm blogging too much about the dating life - unfortunately it's all consuming at times and this is the best place I have to vent my frustrations.  I'm hoping to have a new edition of the grammar nazi soon and as always, there are plenty of Shelby photos to share.

Shout Out! to Miss Sarah Nielson who so deserved a little prize and I was happy to oblige, and then she went and linked to me on her blog.  I heart her blog.  If you traveled over here from Sarah's page, Welcome! and I now Heart you as well...but only if you leave some comment love.
:-)

Ugh, in one day I went from being in second place in the office March Madness pool to who knows how low. None of my choices made it into the final four. Pittsburgh and Louisville can suck it.

Dagnabit! So much for winning it all for the second year in a row. Booooooo!

I will TRY to have fun. I will TRY to enjoy myself. I will TRY to be patient and kind and not get annoyed by little things. NO ONE is perfect...even me.

I will TRY to have fun...

So, I'm not the only one that is struggling with the insanity of online dating.  My cute, silly, awesome, former roomie Lindsay joined the speed dating site I tried about a year ago so she could go to a mixer with me and a couple other girls and in the process had to post a profile for herself.  From that, she received a message a couple days ago from a 40-year old in New York that is honestly, quite similar to about a dozen messages I've received in the past.  While it's funny enough to blog about, on the other hand, it's so damn depressing that we have to sort through these frogs for our princes.

This is, word for word, the message she received.  I did not doctor it to make it funnier.  All spelling and grammar mistakes are obviously not mine since you all know what a grammar snob I've turned into.

Loveguard sent you a message:
Hi,i you're really beautiful lady . How about I take you out to your favorite restaurant , then to a movie i realise am kinda just too far to do that right now but nevertheless we can get to work something out.
I'd like to get to know you better I realize that I'm probably not your type, but I thought I'd try anyway.
If you'd give me a chance, I'd show you that I'm the nicest guy you could ever want.
Hello, read my profile and let me know if you're interested....

Your Hot Like Fire


Ribbit...Ribbit...sigh

There are a variety of reasons why I've been feeling out of sorts.  Dating, work, preparing for my Europe trip, feeling unorganized and cluttered and feeling like I don't have time for everything I want and need to do.  Life is a balancing act; I think we can all relate to that.  On days that I realize I'm feeling a little off, sometimes I just need to take a few moments and get away from my normal routine.  Every week day I get up, get in my car, travel through the canyon to BART, work all day and then reverse my commute and end up at home to start it all over again the next day.  It can get tedious and sometimes I just feel like I need to break out.  But not in a big way.  Sometimes I just need a small change.  Today was one of those days.  So on the spur of the moment I took a different road home through a different canyon.  At this time of year, the East Bay hills are neon green and gorgeous.  THere's something about living here at this time of year and getting to take in the sights and colors that helps me breathe easier.  Going home through this different canyon only added about 10 minutes onto my commute, but I knew the sun would be streaming through the overgrown, old trees, the hills would be bright green and there would probably be horses and or cows roaming the fence lines.  I thought if I could find a safe place to pull over that I might be able to get out and take a few photos.  Taking photos is similar to how I feel about singing - it's a creative release. I love the results and the more photos I take, the better I get at it.  Or at least, i think I'm getting better at it. 

Take a deep breath and look at these photos I took this afternoon - you might just be able to smell the grass and feel the warm sun.  Click on any of the photos to see a larger view.  I'll also post the full set and few other artsy, creative-releasing photos that I've taken lately on my flickr site:  www.flickr.com/photos/bellacantare
 

 


    

Ahhh, that feels better.

I have a snooze button problem.
I set my alarm to wake me up at 5:15am and I hit snooze three times until I finally force myself out of bed at 5:45.
This morning I didn't have to be in quite so early, so I thought I'd give myself that extra half hour I seem to crave. I set my alarm to wake me up at 5:45am and I proceeded to hit my snooze button three times until I finally forced myself out of bed at 6:15.

Go figure.

There's this cool orchid in my office lobby that was begging me to take it's photo.  So I took a dozen.  And then I messed with some of the SOOTC shots (Straight Out Of The Camera).  Let me know what you think.




This one just has some increased contrast




Basically the same photo, but minus the contrast and messing with the color saturation.
 

The colors are warmer on this one

 

And I used a bunch of brightening effects for this one.




I didn't do much with this one, I just liked the angle and the macro definition.

So - what did you like the best?  Here they are in a row to help you decide:


  

 


I think one day, when I'm all grown up and have a house of my own, I'll have a whole wall, or maybe two, dedicated to pictures from my macro collection.  Or maybe I'll just take all of these orchid photos and put them in medium-to-small frames and put them up in a bathroom.  I like the idea of a purple bathroom.

see all the orchid shots and some new ones of the emo dog I live with at www.flickr.com/photos/bellacantare

So I spent a lot of time spending money on Saturday. But hey, LOOK where the stock market is today people...I did some GOOD things for our economy!  It's all about the selflessness of the Lenten Season, I tell ya.

So, I promised a little peak into the things I bought, but I'm too tired to take photos and upload them and blog them, so I found one of my purchases online and another that's similar that I've provided the links to.

The main reason that got me out of my little suburbia world on a Saturday to venture into the City (where I hardly ever go on weekends since I am there for work five days a week) was for a clearance sale for the Dutchy Studio.  Old Roomie Lindsay knew the owner and had the inside scoop that Dutchy was selling all her bags for under $59.  WHAT??  I was sooooo all over that.  I'm sorry, but my love for purses is a sickness that I hope I'm never cured from.

So I immediately fell for this little number
 

and a companion wallet (the exact one I got was also navy, like the purse, and instead of a buckle it has a button for decoration). 



You can't tell from the photos, but the inside lining is divine and everything is well made using organic, vegan materials.  Dutchy is still having sales and there are plenty of cute totes, wallets and coin purses left to choose from, so click on any of the links above if you want your own Dutchiness, but if you're in SF, it might be better for you to swing by the studio; I think the sale prices are better in person than what's listed online.  I spent under $85 total for the two above, which, in the world of fantastic bags, is, well, FANTASTIC.

Oh yeah, and I'm failing at Bossy's Poverty Party.  erg.  But at least I look good doing it.

Been a busy, busy day. Had a great time hanging out and shopping with old roomies Lindsay and April, then helped Clair out and took her grocery shopping since I had my car, and then I went over to Adriane's and had some much needed girl talk. I'm still at Adri's so I'm basically just blogging to get in my blog for today, but I'll have to take photos of all the stuff I got today and show off how I'm failing at Bossy's Poverty Party. :-p

Hope everyone also had an awesome Saturday!

There's a lot that can still happen and Pittsburg, my pick to win everything, just BARELY won over a 16-seed, BUT I'm #9 out of over 100 people in my company-wide pool. I won last year, so I've got a lot on the line as far as pride and smack-talk go.

Go Pitt, GO!!

When you put half a sandwich wrap in your purse at the end of your lunch with Clair so you can put it in your office fridge for later, PUT IT IN THE FRIDGE DUMMY.

My old bitty crossword puzzle is sopping wet with turkey juice that leaked out of the cellophane wrapper. Now I'm bored on BART. Hmph.

So I'm frustrated. Burnt out.  I'm tired beyond belief of dating.  I know this is something I blogged about a little while ago, but I have more to say.   BIG SHOCKER.

So THIS GUY refuses to call me.  He'll text.  He'll even text that he'll call me.  But then he doesn't call me.  He texts that he wants to go out again, but he won't call me to set it up.  I have no patience for this.  If I have to remain alone for the rest of my life and adopt thirteen cats to keep me company, I would prefer that than give in to a lazy man and either agree to a date via text or frickin' call him myself.

It's not like I was in a twenty year relationship and now I'm out of the loop when it comes to dating.  There was texting when I started dating Karl.  There were guys back then that wouldn't call. They would email, they would text...I wasn't having any of it.  I can't help but just silently scream (or publically blog) each time a potential date reverts to texting.  WHY WAS IT SO EASY THREE YEARS AGO??????  Why did one date easily turn into a second and then a third and then before I knew it I couldn't imagine my life without him?  Why does no one measure up???  AUGH

I have another date this Friday with someone new.  Of course, there's nothing wrong with this guy (yet).  He actually called to ask me out and has yet to text me once.  This is promising.  But honestly, he's got a lot against him...I'm just too tired to be accomodating or patient. If this date doesn't go well, I'm not just giving up on online dating, but I'm taking a nice, long, indefinite break from accepting any dates from anyone. 

...Except Cory, because he's an awesome friend. Or Justin, because he's gay.

Does the word, "Bejesus" count as taking the Lord's name in vain?

As in, "I scared the Bejesus out of that poor woman when she pulled open the door to the bathroom at the exact same time I was pushing it open."

Just wondering, because I told that story twice and thus I need to figure out if I owe the Church two more dollars.

I don't have many close friends from my USF days.  I mainly keep in touch with people through Facebook and word of mouth.  It's not that I didn't have friends from college, I've just stayed closer to friends I made in high school and friends I've met since college. 

There was a  time slightly before this blog existed when I lived with four other USF alums in a tiny 3-bedroom cottage in the Richmond district in San Francisco.  It was cramped, interesting, fun, irritating and I have a lot of good memories from that time.  That was my first place outside of the dorms, living on my own (well, on my own with four other people) in San Francisco.  I started living there right after a break-up with, what I consider, one of my significant boyfriends, and ended, funny enough, the same week I met Karl, which started a whole other chapter in my life.  We moved in before I got my current job and before I'd been on any vacations outside of the country, or even California.  That year we learned how to decorate a house on a budget, how to share small spaces (or argue about them), we made new, awesome friends with people in the neighborhood, we stole a shopping cart from Cala foods so we could have pumpkins at Halloween, we put our dirty laundry in rolling suitcases to walk the 2 1/2 blocks to the laundromat, we fought mold and bees, cooked pot pies and pumpkin stew and baked lots of cookies and other goodies, walked to Trad'r Sam's at least once a week, and most importantly, we learned how to play Beirut.

It's hard to realize how significant a time in your life is until you've moved on from it.  It's not that I EVER want to go back to living in that cramped, dark, cave-like cottage, but I do remember laughing a lot.  Even if my roomies drove me nuts, they were the best support system I could have asked for.  We were all floundering around trying to figure out life after college and we are forever bonded by the fact that we went through that together. 

So last night I got a chance to hang out with a bunch of those people.  All the original roomies, minus the sole male in the house, Anthony, and a few of those awesome friends I mentioned above, got together at the wonderfully fabulous Chevy's to catch up and see Miss Gabi while she's in town after living in Spain for the past year.  Oh yeah, and we got to meet her man and see her in all her pregnant glory.



This is Gabi and Paul.



So we've always called Gabi, Gabi-monkey.  I don't know why.  It just fits.  So it just made sense to me to make sure her little girl has a proper monkey. 



Here's the whole gang (Clockwise from bottom left: Me, Lindsay, Nadia, April, Patrick, Paul's forehead, Gabi, Brian and Christine).  Between new stories, old stories, laughing and drinking margaritas (or diet soda for the mama), I don't think I've ever been in a Chevy's for so long.  I don't think any of us really wanted to go.

The good news is, I'll be in Madrid at the end of April, so I'll get to see Gabi again very soon.  Yea!

I took a little trip to Lake Merrit last weekend to check out the new Oakland Cathedral with Brian. I thought I'd share some of the photos I took in the sanctuary and the mausoleum that's under the church. Right now the church is a bit empty, even during mass. I hope they can gain a larger following - it really is a beautiful place to worship.



The design of the building is supposed to look like a fish (you know, those fish emblems that people put on the back of their cars?).  This is the tail end of the fish and the main entrace to the cathedral.


Inside.

   

Leading down into the mausoleum.  It's sort of interesting that not only will current and future bishops be laid to rest under the cathedral, but regular people have the option of being buried there as well.  It's actually a very warm, inviting place, nothing like a regular cemetary or morgue, but I don't think I'd want to be there for all eternity like some sort of museum.  But to each his own.

My friend Nicole comes up with a lot of good, comedic lines when our little group gets together. Take for instance tonight; she came out to a birthday party for one of our friends after having her wisdom teeth pulled yesterday. We're all sitting around telling stories and joking and after a couple of funny tales she says,
"Ow, don't make me laugh, it hurts my holes."

Maybe you had to be there, but I'm still laughing.

Going through some old mailers at work today and ran across some interesting stamps from international post offices. 




We saw this one yesterday in my 12 of 12.  Basic, simple, typical United States return to sender stamp.




This one is from Japan.  I have no idea what they're trying to tell me.  Apparently whatever address I used only applies to half the second option.




This one is from Madrid.  They give me lots of options




I LOVE the ones from the United Kingdom.  Royal Mail.  I feel so honored that they'd return mail to me.  "Addressee has gone away."  Does that mean they're gone for good, or just on vacation or something?





This one is from Germany.  Why are they yelling at me???  Geez, it's just a wrong address Germany, calm down.  I apologize that I Absendered.

It's that time again.  I love 12 of 12.  Check out other twelvers and the story behind it all on Chad's site.



7:52am - Catching up on the blogs I read while on BART.



9:25am - A form of "Cuss Jar."  I've been keeping track of every time I swear per my Lenten Promise.  Right now I owe....a lot.  Two more weeks!



11:23am:  Every time I see a return to sender stamp, it reminds me of the Elvis Presley song. 




12:55pm:  Went shopping at Baby Gap for some goodies for a friend I'm seeing this weekend.  Isn't the monkey adorable?



1:00pm - Then I stopped by The Toaster Oven for lunch while I was in the Embarcadero.  I really wanted Chili, but didn't feel like making the walk over to Sacramento Alley.  Mental Note - bring black flats back to the office so I don't have to wear my heels out when I walk around at lunch.




1:02pm:  I love the spiral staircases in the Embarcadero Center.




5:30pm:  Random, I know.  There's always some new art project or sculpture in the lobby of my building.  This thing is sort of a combo of wood and cardboard and it GINORMOUS.  I think it's a Star Wars themed art project.




6:27pm:  Had to give my mom some stuff, so I parked at Walnut Creek BART and she met me there.  This is the 5th floor/top floor of the parking garage at the Walnut Creek station.  It overlooks Mt. Diablo.  Two thoughts I had while taking this photo:  First of all, it's still bright outside and I'm on my way home - AWESOME. Second of all, this is where you have to park if you don't get to the garage before 7:30am.  The top floor of a huge, five-floor parking structure.  BART really needs to fix the parking issues at their stations.




6:44pm - A couple of lights from home. I still can't believe I was home before nightfall.  I LOVE the time change!




6:48pm:  When I walked in the door, Dan yelled down the stairs, "Who's there?!?"  And I said, "Um, ME.  Who else would it be???"  "Oh," he said, "You're never home this early."  I looked down and Shelby was staring up at me like this.  It's nice to know that someone else besides me loves that I'm home early.



7:05pm:  Last bit of light.  I've never noticed how cool our backyard porch light looks.




8:53:  Just  a little bit of Top Model off the DVR before I knock myself out with cough syrup and try to get a decent nights' sleep.  I love me some Ms. Jay.

Happy 12 of 12!

I'm heading out tonight with some singles gals to attend a "singles mixer" put on by the same people I did the speed dating event with. This time it's a mixer where we learn how to make martinis and then mingle with our new drinks.

I was all excited for it until I got this weird sinusy-cold thing that actually isn't too bad except for the bouts of excessive, phlegm-producing coughs. Yeah, sexy. I also have a rather large crater in between my eyebrows. Yes boys, try to not stare at Goliath while I cough and wheeze into your martini. Why don't you want my phone number??

Cupid just hates me.