Well, here we go again... we're so close to another weekend, and I'm just itching to get mine started. Once again I have had no time to update, but I guess that's okay since my life has mostly consisited of work, work, work this week. 
It's been crazy for me in my second home (aka my cubicle), and I'm ready to not think about anything for a while. This is why I am excited to have no plans for the next two days. Actually, I do have plans.
Here they are:
1 - I plan on sleeping. A lot. And sleeping in. Until at least 11 or 12 both days.
2- Catching up on Grey's Anatomy. I'm simultaneously on season 2 and season 4. It makes things complicated.
3- Eating. I have plans to make a Chicken Pot Pie this weekend. I've actually been thinking about this all week. I'll let you know how it turns out.
4- Reading. I've been reading The Lovely Bones for at least 5 weeks. It's time I find out what happens.
AND...
5- Nothing. For every other moment of Saturday and Sunday, I plan on doing nothing at all.
This to do list makes me happy. And trust me, it's nothing like to other to do list that I've been I've been staring at all day. So, woohoo, in just over an hour, the fun begins! Happy Friday everyone!!
The countdown to freedom begins
Pumpkin pie for a year!
Check out this pumpkin... 
It's the winner of an annual pumpkin contest (that I wish I had gone to), and weights in at a mere 1,524 pounds. Think of the carving possibilities! And of all the pumpkin pies :)
Autumn... kind of.
One of the things I did this weekend is definitely worth blogging about. I took a trip to Julian. Julian is one of those places that is different enough from San Diego that it makes you feel like you're on vacation or something. Even though it's only an hour away, it feels like you're in a different world when you drive on to the shop-lined main street. This is probably because in Julian, it's Fall. It's chilly enough to wear a jacket, there are other trees besides palms that actually drop their leaves, and there is apple pie. Lot's of apple pie. In Julian, people are serious about their pies. Cmags, Todd and I realized this when we decided to get a slice of the famous apple treat, and had to wait in a 45 minute line just to get close to the glorious dessert display. But, boy was it worth it. I pride myself in making an exceptional apple pie. Baking is one of my true loves, but these pies were amazing. I was so happy sitting in the middle of an almost just like home Autumn day, eating my pie and drinking apple cider. I'm pretty sure I drove everyone crazy with my need to take pictures with everything Fall-like 
- pumpkins, piles of leaves, scarecrows, corn stalks, old men singing Edelweiss while dressed in German clothes (Oktoberfest, of course!), but hey, when you live in San Diego, you have to take what you can get... even if it means an hour-long drive for a little piece of HOME.
A brief update.
This week has been insane. Absolutely, wonderfully, horribly insane. I feel like I haven't had a second to think... make that breathe. So, now it's Friday. And I couldn't be happier. I don't know what it is about certain weeks, but sometimes they're just so, so stressful. Work has been incredibly busy, and by the time I get home, I just want to get as far away from a computer as possible - hence the no after work blogging. As crazy as this week has been though, I have something good to talk about. My friend Amanda (yeah, we have the same name. And the same birthday. And were born in the same hospital, but that's a whole other story) is here. She flew out from New Jersey yesterday and we're jam packing a bunch of fun, San Diego things in before she leaves on Sunday. Last night, we went on a haunted tour of San Diego. I was pretty freaked out and didn't want to see any ghosts, but I was really interested, so we went. The tour was pretty cool. More full of history than scary apparitions, but still very interesting. Today, Amanda had a day full of tourism, while I somehow made it through work (it was one of those days). Now, we're ready to celebrate. I think you know what that means. Beachcomebers, here we come!!
So much for tonight
I just wrote a really long message. It started out okay, but after a while, I could feel the words jumbling together and the sentences growing weak. After re-reading it, I decided I was too tired to be writing. So here I am - starting over, but at the same time giving up. Sometimes, no matter how many thoughts are running through your head, when you write them down, they just don't sound right. These are the times you need to just put your pen (or computer down) and catch up on your sleep. More tomorrow - when I can think.
Yes, Friday
Okay, remember when you were in school and you just loved Fridays? Fridays meant no more learning for a full two days. No more taking notes or stressing over tests, or having to think (I guess minus the homework you enivitably took home). It almost felt like you lived for them, or something. Well, that doesn't change at all once you start working. Even if you love your job - which I do - Friday means freedom, and there's nothing wrong with wanting that. Maybe this will sound silly, but the place I hear the most mentions of "is it Friday yet?" or "thank GOODNESS it's Friday," is on the elevator. Since I work at the tippy, top of my building, I have a good 18 floors to overhear conversations, and sometimes even get sucked into them. I can't tell you how many people have walked into the elevator on a Friday afternoon, nearly collapsed and sighed, "this was the longest day of my life!" It has become quite fun to hear these people and know they're resounding the feelings of basically the whole of the working world. I've even started to look forward to this one woman who I sometimes catch a ride with. She usually gets on at about the 10th floor, and we always have the same conversation that surrounds how happy we are that it's the start of the weekend. Not until I started actually working at a full-time job did I really begin to understand what makes this day of the week - this last day before you can do whatever you want - so exciting, but also oh, so exhausting. What makes Fridays so much more important when your working 40 plus hours a week is that the next two days are absolutely, 100 percent, all yours. Forget having to study for a test or writing an essay on a Saturday or Sunday. Unlike when you're a kid, you really get a full 48 hours to say to the world, don't bother me, I'm off. With 15 minutes left of this work day, I can already feel it taking over. This is it guys. It's the weekend!
Just a City Girl
I work in a city. Sure, plenty of people work in cities, but I have always felt a deep connection to them... felt at home in them. You know the way someone who loves nature could do nothing more than sit outside - and the heat and bugs and everything else that comes along with the great outdoors wouldn't bother them at all? Well, that's how I feel about cities. I could be in the middle of millions of people, honking horns and more tourists than you'd find on a crowded summer day at Disney World, and feel completely happy - relaxed even. See, cities have always been a part of my life. I spent 13 years staring at the New York City skyline, knowing that only 15 miles away from me and my home was one of the greatest places of all time. Even today, when I make brief visits home for Christmas, I like to look out of my old bedroom window before I go to bed, hoping to catch a glance of the red and green illuminated Empire State Building. 
As I was walking through downtown today in my heels and business attire (okay, I changed into flip flops), I was thinking about this strange fascination I have with the glowing lights of skyscrapers, built to tower over the places we call cities. When I first moved to San Diego, I brushed its downtown area aside as nothing more than a wanna-be - an imposter. Where were all the taxis trying to run you over? The crowds of people walking around in a state of wonder, while busy business people dressed in black rushed to get by them? Where were the street vendors selling questionable souvenirs, and hot dog stands on every corner? I was convinced that San Diego wasn't a city. It was something like one, but lacked what I had come to love about New York City - the city, my city. But walking around today, I saw something different. I saw huge buildings, one of which I happen to work on the top floor of. I saw hints of people - busy people - with places to be. I even had to jump back on the curb while crossing the street to avoid a speeding car that was trying to fly through a changing light. This was it! This is what I had been missing! The more I explore my new home - my downtown San Diego - the more I realize how much I can, and do belong here. I may miss the hustle and bustle of New York, but for now, San Diego is the perfect place for me. The perfect city to call home, and embrace as I begin my real, adult life.
A guilty pleasure
Last night was the premiere of the Bachelor. That's right, the Bachelor - that show I love to hate and hate to love (oh, just let me say that), but still can't seem to stop watching. I somehow fell asleep before the final rose was handed out, but I'm still left wondering what leads seemingly successful, intelligent and obviously (well, mostly) beautiful women to end up on a dating show as utterly degrading as the Bachelor. I know I'm a hyprocrite because I watch, but come on! Who the heck would want to make a fool out of themselves on national tv, let alone fight for the love and affection of some random "hott" guy? Not me. It got me thinking - what makes women get to this point? Is it loneliness? Do they really think they'll find true love on a tv show? Do they just want to be on tv? Maybe they've given up all other hope. Yep, this has got to be it! In all seriousness, it must have something to do with the fact that our society sends such mixed messages (ooo, a deep one). On one hand, women are supposed to be career-oriented and driven. That's right girls, burn those bras and be a CEO! On the other hand, we are supposed to fit in time for children and husbands and keeping up house. I don't know about you but having a family and having a full-time job - at least when your kids are young - doesn't seem like the easiest of tasks. And what about me? I personally want both. So, maybe these Bachelor-loving women are just as confused as the rest of us. Maybe they're trying to figure out how to meet society's standards... how to do it all. I applaud the women who are able to achieve this goal, the ones who somehow balance the craziness. For the rest of us - the ones still figuring it out - at least there are still shows like the Bachelor to let us know we haven't hit rock bottom. Ladies and gentleman, this is the final rose today, um, I mean post.
