011115

This week was pretty good, for the first full week back at work since the holidays.  I feel like I always have os much to do, I'm really excited for the intern to start tomorrow.  Once he's acclimated I can hand off a lot of the time-consuming research that I am given since I am lowest man on the totem pole.  I hope that will free up some time for me to be given more creative and strategic assignments. Not that I don't like what I currently do; I just want to do more.

I went to the gym three times this week, yay!  I ran some errands and created my meal plan for the week (though creating it is never my problem, it's always following it that's the trouble).

My big to-do for this week is laundry.  If I showed anyone a picture of the laundry pile I have in my room they would exclaim, "Oh God!"  It really is a monster, I don't think I have EVER had this much laundry before.  I have to remember to get some quarters.

Bar league this week was trivia.  We got 2 out of 3 wins (still trailing behind Gin & Juice who got all 3 wins), but it's a lot better than I thought we would do for only having three people! We didn't stay for Twister as I wanted to go home to watch the Golden Globes and Sara was hungry.

Also this week Sarah taught us how to play Pit.  It was fun, I can see my friends and family really liking it.  I also learned that my friend Julia is moving to Portland, Maine next month.

Missy, Jessica, Manny and I bought our tickets for Coachella!  We weren't sure we were going until we had our weekly Google Hangout last week and we decided to try for tickets.  I'm excited, it's gonna be awesome.  I want to take some extra time off around that weekend so I can visit home for a few days.  I also REALLY want to go to Disneyland.  I haven't been in years, and that is not ok.

I saw Imitation Game this week, I enjoyed the film.  I wasn't super familiar with Alan Turing beforehand, and after watching the movie I think it sad that a lot of people don't know who he was.  I want to read the book that the movie is based on now.  I'm also a huge Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley fan, so that was a big plus.  I am sad that it didn't win any Golden Globes.

Right now I'm listening to the audiobook of "Big Little Lies" on my T ride, and I have "The Fiery Cross" (Outlander #5) on my kindle.  Once I finish those two, I'll prob bust out "The Revolutions" that Aunt Debbie got me for Christmas.  After that I will go back and grab some new books.  All three are pretty long, so it might be a while.

I went to Sephora to spend my giftcard and get a new blush (they were out of the one I wanted so I went with something new, jury is still out on it) and while I was there they did some weird matching thing to help me find my perfect foundation shade.  There was a machine that they used to take pictures of my skin, and then assigned me a color shade.  The foundations that they recommended are all light/fair colors!  What happened, I used to be tan!  I was mediums and goldens, now I am alabaster and light.  So I thought that was weird.

What else happened this week?   I don't know.  I woke up, survived, went to sleep.  Next week will be more of the same.

010215

It's been almost 6 months since I last posted.  Wow, I didn't think it had been that long.

So 2014 is over, and I say Good Riddance.  As a whole, the year kind of was blah for me.  I had some fun times (Hawaii, Coachella, Camping), was in a happy relationship and was busier than ever at work.  But then October happened.  I found out that Buddy died (RIP buddyboo), and was dumped out of the blue in a bar right before the Giants World Series Game 7 started.

Those two horrible things right at the end of year really sealed it up as a crappy year.  Maybe if they had occurred in the beginning I would be over them by now and have 2014 as a pretty good year.  But, as of right now, I can't say it was anything better than 'meh' and that's me being optimistic about it.

2015 will be better.  It has to be.

This year I am going to focus on trying to be more healthy, more active, and more conscious of the things I eat and do. I want to get a fitness tracking device (maybe a fitbit or a basis peak) and I want to write more.  I want to go back to the book I wrote for NaNoWriMo and finish it.  I was so overwhelmed when the month was over, I haven't touched it since.  But now I can go back through, edit and change stuff (some paragraphs were just fluff to hit my word counts) and write the ending.  It might not be total shit (but it most likely is).

I'm also kind of detaching from Facebook.  I deleted the app from my phone, and now only go on when I am at my computer.  Even then, I don't actively post anything anymore.  I found myself on it wayyyy too much, and I have better things to do than constantly check for updates.

I'd like to say that I will post more blogs here, but I know myself.  I will try!  I don't have much going on for 2015 yet, so not much I can post about.  We'll see.  My tumblr is my go to for being emo and posting random pictures/quotes/updates (kind of depressing as of late because of recent heartbreak).

I want to try and become a better me.

I moved my room around, and am trying to get more organized.  A clean house is a happy house, or something like that, right?  I read an article earlier today on fitness trackers and at the end the author talks about how for millennials, it seems to be that we equate happiness with simplicity.  Having all these gadgets that can track data and help streamline your life is supposedly going to make people happier.  Obviously I am into this idea, as I am trying to simplify my life, but I don't know if it will work.  Maybe I can use the blog to help figure it out.

I normally post on my blog the books I read in the past year, but I started tracking them differently last year.  Instead of keeping a list on my phone I used GoodReads, so you can see my book list here:

Books Kheli Read in 2014!

My goal of 75 books was a bit ambitious, though I hit 70 which is pretty close!  I read a bunch of crappy short paranormal books, and a few crazy long books when I started reading the Outlander series.  I'm on book number 5 of Outlander right now, and an fully engrossed in the series.  I wish I had Starz so I could watch the TV show.

072914

There's nothing worse than an outdated blog, is there?

When I was home recently my mom reminded me a few times that I need to update my blog.  I didn't realize it hasn't been updated since Coachella until I logged in a few days ago.

To my 5 readers, I apologize!  Things have been super busy, both at work and in life.  Summer has been pretty awesome, though New England weather continues to baffle me.  Yesterday there was a tornado.  It was so dark at 10 am, it looked like it was the middle of the night.  It poured down rain, and thunder and lightning filled the sky.  Luckily I was safe and dry in my office by then, but it was pretty crazy.  An hour later, the sun filled the sky and it was like any other summer day!

Roomates and I joined a kickball league, we play on Sundays and actually don't suck that bad!  We are called "Not in the Face" and wear purple shirts.  Our team dominates in the after game social activities at the bar (of course).

My birthday came and went, I am now 28 years old.  Roommates and boy went out to dinner, it was nice.  I got a free dress from Rent The Runway for my birthday, it was pretty.

I'm trying to motivate myself to go through the stuff in my room and purge a lot of stuff before I move.  It's hard, because I'm pretty much a packrat.  I have T shirts I haven't worn in years, but that I don't wan to get rid of.  Unfortunately, I think the time has come to let go of all my Buffy/Dr.Who/BSG T shirts.  I no longer dress like Sheldon, and need more room for my adult clothes.  Same with my heels, I need to donate those as well seeing as they are impractical in Boston (and I hate wearing them most of the time anyway).

Music today is Jenny Lewis, from her new album The Voyager which came out today.

042114

Day one:

Woke up early, packed the car and headed out. 2.5 hours on the road (dance parties, new boys and arguments about the best dessert were our enertainment) and we arrive at our campsite. Tent set up was easy (3 different dudes came up to see if they could help us, but we brushed them aside and got it done in 15 by ourselves!) and we chilled for awhile before heading out to the concert around 1. 

Shuttle was packed and it was a weird walk to finally get in, but we got our merch, our over 21 wristbands, and our locker all in time to see MS MR. I've never heard of them, but Missy and Jessica had. Love female fronted bands so I'm gonna have to look them up. 

Best set? Haim, followed by Girl Talk

Bastille was packed to the gills, so we couldn't see and could barely hear. 

Grouplove was fun, but I only know like 3 songs so they weren't a stand out. 

Someone dropped trash on me, and someone kicked me, both when I was sitting on the ground. 

I wore my floppy hat, but am skipping it tomorrow. I need to get some sort of tan while I'm here!

Also, we spotted a celebrity. Well, kind of a celebrity, he's not as famous as he used to be. Joshua Jackson, aka Pacey Witter, was at Broken Bells and we saw him. 

Day two:

Woke up early, waited in line for the shower, then got ready in the car. Though Jessica had gotten up earlier, both her and missy were sleeping when I was up and at em. I went to charge my phone and texted a few people trying to start a convo soo shouldn't be bored. Eventually Jessica and missy got up, we lounged by the tent for a long time, drinking mimosas and eating snacks. When it got hot we tried to hide in the shade of the tent, but even with all the screens open we couldn't feel the breeze. So we laid miserable in the tent for like an hour, kind of dozing. 

We finally got the bright idea to go to the pool (which was the best decision of the day). Pool party was awesome, tomorrow we plan to go a lot earlier. 

We finally went back, got ready and headed out to see Cage the Elephant at 3.  Tons of bands today, we saw someone dresses up as Elmo, and we saw Joshua Jackson again (this time he was with Diane Kruger, so that's our second celebrity spotting!). 

Definitely more people here today. 

Muse was amazeballs (as always) and Queens of the Stone Age were pretty good. We listened to Pharrell, but didn't get close enough to really see him. Had to skip Skrillex in order to see Muse, but I'm ok with that. City and Colour were very simple but the music was great. 

I got kicked and stepped on, but no trash thrown on me today! So that's a plus. Got back to the campsite at 1 am and crashed.  

Day 3:

Woke up at 8 am, it's hot as hell in the tent. It's already 81 degrees outside. 

Jessica and I made mimosas, charged our phones, and went to breakfast at the office/pool/rec area. $5 for eggs, hash browns, and ham. We met a few people and chatted about the bands, it was nice. Missy was still asleep. 

We spent most of the morning/early afternoon at the pool, it was a blast. DJ, drinks and an easy way to cool off. I didn't wear my hat or put sunscreen on my face, so now part of it is burnt. Nose and forehead, weird. 

We went to the final day and straight to Frank Turner. He was good, great stage presence and fun. Also he played I a tent so we got to hang out in some shade. 

Highlights of the day? Calvin Harris, definitely. It was pretty awesome, he was on the main stage and there were huge masses of people, stretching the length of the field standing to see him. As soon as he started, the whole crowd was j to it, dancing and jumping. It was surreal, no other act had a crowd as connected as he did. It was cool to be a part of, cool to watch. 

Lana was good, but right after calvin and after the giddy high of jumping around, was kind of a let down. She did a great job, just not what I wanted to listen to at the moment. 

We stayed for beck and arcade fire, then jumped in the shuttle and headed back to sleep. Sad it's over, but it was a blast. 

This morning we woke up at 8, packed the car and left at 845. It was already starting to get blistery hot. 

Drive took a bit longer as we hit traffic, but we got home at 12. Spent the rest of the day eating, cleaning, and hanging out. 

Lunch at Pat and Oscars at the dirt mall (it's not called Pat and Oscars anymore though), missy and I went searching for a replacement blanket for Jessica's stepmom, we watched Encino Man and The Sandlot, took long showers, and discussed personal music festival selections. 

We dropped missy off at the airport at 630, the Jessica and I went to get happy hour drinks. We ended up at The Tipsy Crow, got beers and grilled cheese and played some Connect Four (I lost a lot). 

Now I'm at the airport waiting to board my plane back to Boston. Redeye means I have to go straight into work tomorrow morning, that should be interesting. 

Will post pics on FB from this weekend. 

040514

It's been over a month since I've posted. 

In that time, I've had many a crazy night, two of my best friends came out to visit, and I've gone to a bar in a prom dress. 

I wrote a blog for work, put together a puzzle mom gave me last year, and restarted watching Firefly yet again. 

I still haven't decided what I'm going to do next year. Lately I've been playing both fields- looking at apts in Cambridge with the roommates while also looking for jobs back in SF.  

Work is crazier than ever, I've had to work late and/or bring my laptop home almost every night the past two weeks. 

Cat is still fat, fluffy, and adorable. Sara and I finished the corn hole league we were in, I think my team finished 4th (will have to verify). We're currently in Bar League again, and up to the usual mischief. 

Coming up I have Coachella in two weeks, House party the week after, then Aziz in concert before April wraps up. May is Boston Calling, but that's it for now for big plans.  I need to plan my summer trip: rafting with the boys- this time mom and dad are coming too! Should be a blast. 

I'm now up to 38 books I think, thanks to a horribly written series I started about witches. I can't finish it, there are like 20 books, and getting to 7 was a struggle. Lately I've been reading all these cheap (mostly free) YA supernatural books to up my count. But now that I'm ahead, I can focus on longer, well-written books (that cost more than $2). 

If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. 

021314

The soundtrack is back!  Today is Ellie Goulding's "Goodness Gracious" because it always gets stuck in my head when I am at work:




So far this year I've already read 16 books. I'm well on my way to my goal of 75 for the year, though I haven't yet started some of the super long books I have on my shelf (and in my Kindle).

Of course, 6 of those books were the Vampire Academy series.  Guess what it's about?

(pause for a few seconds)

Vampires! You're so smart.  It was fluff, but it was entertaining fluff.  I started them because I saw that there was a movie coming out based on the first book (and you know I'm a sucker for movies based on books).

Speaking of book to movie conversions, I also started and finished Endless Love by Scott Spencer, which was made into a movie in the 80's and now is being remade with Alex Pettyfer.  I liked the book a lot, and I'm interested in seeing how the movie will work.  Apparently the 80's version isn't very good and is different from the book in a few ways.

I also bought (but haven't started yet) Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin, which is also the basis for a movie coming out in February.  The reviews on this were a bit shaky, but it sounded fun and I have a bad habit of impulse buying Kindle books.

I haven't yet seen any of these movies though I want to see them all; VA came out last week and Endless Love and Winter's Tale both come out tomorrow.

Tomorrow is also Valentine's Day.  I will celebrate by treating it like any other day of any other month.  I think I'm gonna have mashed potatoes for lunch (if you saw my coworker's facebook post today featuring my lovely face, I have leftovers from that vase-batch to finish).

I went to Hawaii for a week!  It was nice to spend some quality time with my family, I find myself missing them more and more out here.  It was also super nice to feel the warmth of the sun for the first time in ages.  I love Boston, but I can do without the 11 degree mornings and snowstorms.

We went whale watching and snorkeling and ate a lot of food.  I have to go to the gym three times a week now just to work off my vacation food (of course I've only been once so far, I was supposed to go tonight but I got distracted).

It's 8:30 and I am exhausted.  I'll probably whip out my book and read before heading to bed.  I think that makes it official- I've turned into an old lady.

Goodnight family and friends!

010114 BOOKS

Books I read in 2013:

(*means re-read)

Books finished in 2013

1.  Timeless- Gail Carriger

2.  Safe Haven- Nicholas Sparks

3.  Reached- Allie Condie

4. Stardust- Neil Gaiman*

5. How To Be A Woman- Caitlin Moran

6. Before I Fall- Jennifer Brown

7. Beautiful Creatures- Kami Garcia

8. Beautiful darkness- Kami Garcia

9. Beautiful chaos- Kami Garcia

10. Beautiful Redemption- Kami Garcia

11. Horns- Joe Hill

12. Paper Towns- John Green

13. The Fault In Our Stars- John Green

14. Second Shift- Hugh Howey

15. Third Shift- Hugh Howey

16. An Abundance of Katherines- John Green

17. The Last Song- Nicholas Sparks

18. Will Grayson, Will Grayson- John Green

19. Looking for Alaska- John Green

20. East of Eden- John Steinbeck

21. Clockwork Princess- Cassandra Clare

22. The Girl Who Would be King- Kelly Thompson

23. Frost Burned- Patricia Briggs

24. Secret Diary of a Call Girl- Anon

25. Under The Dome- Stephen King

26. The Long Walk- Richard Bachman*

27. Requiem- Lauren Oliver

28. Carrie- Stephen King

29. Shantaram- Gregory David Roberts

30. Persuasion- Jane Austen*

31. Anansi Boys- Neil Gaiman

32. Death at Pemberley- PD James

33. The Ocean at the End of the Lane- Neil Gaiman

34. Naked- David Sedaris

35. Abandon- Meg Cabot

36. Underworld- Meg Cabot

37. Awaken- Meg Cabot

38. The Interestings- Meg Wolitzer

39. Catching Fire- Suzanne Collins*

40. Sisterland- Curtis Sittenfeld

41. Red Moon- Benjamin Percy

42. Sea of Monsters- Rick Riordan*

43. Witches of East End- Melissa De La Cruz

44. The Longings of Wayward Girls- Karen Brown

45. Dust- Hugh Howey

46. Austenland- Shannon Hale

47. Room- Emma Donoghue

48. The Shining Girls- Lauren Beukes

49. Firestarter- Stephen King*

50. House of Hades- Rick Riordan

51. Close to You, Wrong Ways Down (both short novellas)- Stacia Kane

52. The Selection- Keira Cass

53. The Elite- Keira Cass

54. Fangirl- Rainbow Rowell

55. Divergent- Veronica Roth*

56. Insurgent- Veronica Roth*

57. Allegiant- Veronica Roth

58. Look at Me - Jennifer Egan

59. A Wizard of Earthsea- Ursula Le Guin

60. Etiquette & Espionage- Gail Carriger

61. She's Come Undone- Wally Lamb

62. Curtsies & Conspiracies- Gail Carriger

63. Eleanor & Park- Rainbow Rowell

64. The Count of Monte Cristo- Alexandre Dumas*

65. Hate List- Jennifer Brown

66. Beautiful Ruins- Jess Walters

67. The Death Cure- James Dashner