I Heart Peanut Butter

The last day of work before summer leave is always bittersweet, we as people are so tied to our jobs that when you do not need to wake up and you really have no place you have to be it makes you think. By the end of my summer leave I usually have my days so jammed pack with fun, travel, house work and errands that I sit and wonder how I do it all when I am working. It is nice because it is a break where I can go , not work and still have money coming in. Not to shabby.
This morning on the way to work I was listening to some of last summers ” In the car jams” , all the music I would kill my hearing with and sing at the top o fmy lungs while heading out on a summer night adventure. Weird my life is a complete 180 from where it was last year at this time. I have a much more stable existence and it feels kinda nice. But this summer there will be no crashing at someone’s house after a night of dancing, drinking and goodtimes. I have my somewhat DD for the summer- Neil !!!!! But I have memories of last summer going thro my head and wonder if this summer will even compete, I think it may be better as last summer was a lot of confusion from boys and Crystal being the “PLAYA”. But it was a time in my life and much needed in order to be where I am now.
Last year Crystal learned who she was , what she wanted and what she would take and not take in future relationships. I am happy I had that time.
But summer has always done something to me. All the good memories in my life have occurred for the most part in the warm summer months, does that mean when I move to Phoenix I will always have good memories…
Flashbacks of years I have lived…Yesterday I had a voicemail from James and Riz had called me, both knowing I am going out on summer leave, wishing they were me and asking ” WHEN ARE WE GETTING TOGETHER” . Seems Riz just broke up with his girlfriend, may have been for the better another situation where one of them wants marriage and the other is no way ready. But some point in his life he will find a girl that wants exactly what he wants when he wants it and then it will work. He has a kind heart he just has to stop playing around so much. But then again he isn’t even 30 yet…. So all last summers crazy times of doing things I know better then to do and of using people as they would have used me, finally put me in the place where I need to be.
This place being ” No one will ever walk all over me again and my # 1 priority is ME”
This has helped me to be ok when Neil came into my life because until then I wasn’t having it, no relationship ( because to me that was settling) and I just wasn’t ready until about the time we meet for someone FULL TIME in my life. Now I wouldn’t give it up for the world. It is nice to be with someone you mesh with, that you jive with and you can just be yourself with. Finally

So here I start another summer excursion full of Beach reads, sand in my toes, loud music, humidity, hiking, camping, kayaking, island visiting, day trips, crafts, time with friends and family and my love.
I wish myself luck to not spend to much money and to achieve the personal fitness ( wow that sounds ghey to say) goals I have set for myself. 15 pounds lost by August 15th.

Man in the home stretch for the last day of work tomorrow. Not many people at work today and the office is quiet.
Last night after the bowling escapade we went to Joanna my bosses house for swimming ( not me I would not get in a bathing suit with my co workers) , drinking, good food eating and chatting. I only stayed until 5:30 because the intention was to go workout and we never made it out of the house last night.
So needless to say I ate to many goodies such as bacon cheesy dip and antipasto salad and didn’t work out.

My mind is on friends. When is it time to make some new ones? When do you need to upgrade or downgrade on your attention you give your friends.
Neil and I are pretty set on making some Hiking, kayaking camping friends, the same people that can then come over on a Friday night for drinks and conversation. People like us that seem to fit in the country and city lifestyle. Then again with us moving in a year or so, are we ready to invest all our time in getting to know people? I want grown up friends who are on the same path, not the path of having chidren and buying the house in the town because if has a good school system. I want friends that still dare to have fun, explore and want every bit of life to be meaningful like myself. Neil tends to be more of the home body then me, I like to go out, I love to strike a conversation that matters. Seems lately I have not had that oppitunity to meet someone and get into such a heated discussion that you never want it to end. I use to live for that.
So we figure we can meet people with common likes and ideas and oh the fun we could have.
Where are all the people for us?????????????????????
Couple who wants other couple friends….Minus children and long distance….

I think I thrive on change!!!!!!!!!
Here is the scoop I had a phone interview yesterday with Monster, the job I wanted last year and they wouldn’t give it to me, I reapplied for the position and had the phone interview yesterday. There is few jobs that I am willing to leave my current employer for. I like my work, I have somewhat loyalty towards my current company. The position would be an Account manager/retention which is what I want because just hitting my goals ( being 100% of quota) I would be making 20 thousand more then I am currently making. There is no cap on commission there so I would make as much as I want to make. Sounds good to me. I know a couple people that work in that department and have been there now for almost 2 years and love it. Working fro monster would give me the chance to move up into he company and to move away( hence the huge office they have in Tempe) Then this coming Monday I have an interview with Staples in the same department that Pauline works in, the money is a little better so they would have to throw something on the table to make me think it was a great offer, at least great enough for me to leave Scholastic in my comfy office to cube hell. But I will go with an open mind, ace the interview and go from there.
Then I just received an email from Percy’s in Worcester in response to my resume I sent them last night, they want me to go in for an interview tomorrow. Busy girl I am.
Comes down to this:
a) I need more money ( no way to get ahead here and save money)
b) I need a decent commute still
c) I need growth potential ( I could work here for 10 years and still be in the same position)
I love my job , I love dealing with the schools and I love what our business does. But I need more money and being in sales making more is 100% possible.

Oh yesterday I wanted to be a nice girlfriend and the boy has been wanting to make it to a sox game and I figured I would take a look. I bought two tickets for Sox against the Oakland A’s. Should be intresting I will bring Neil to work that day then meet him after work hours to head into the city. As long as I drink I will be ok…Cause baseball has never been my thing well when I was little I loved baseball then it started to bore the living shit out of me and growing up in Connecticut there is more chance you are a Yankees fan then a Boston fan anyways… I will let you know if I make it thru the game….I will 10 beers later

What do I have to loss???

Ok so last night I was reading on Monster this whole article about picking up and moving without a large amount of money or jobs lined up and I mentioned it to Neil.
He seems to think that would almost be the way to go, since we have a hard time getting ahead here.
I am not sure it is the cost of living as it is we both like to spend money, we like to do things that cost money. So I figure we need to figure out a budget this week. Which for me is harder then him since I am off work for 5 weeks and limiting my money consumption is gonna be tough. But if I keep to going to the gym, working out and the pool then I will not spend any money …Right
Well that would be the case if that is all I did and not drive around all the time, going here and going there. Making friends, family and so on come to me for once, I know I have the newer car, I have the air conditioning and I seem to have the most money . What people don’t get is with my car payment and insurance being almost 700 dollars a month….I am BROKE!!! 99% of the time…
So thinking, picking up, selling all the furniture and going. No jobs lined up and taking a risk, after some researching, resume posting and so on..We will see
I wanna move, I want to buy a house. Today I found a house in Buckeye AZ 4 bedroom 3 bath for 198k. We don’t even need something that big….So imagine what we could get for a much lower price…

Scared to Jump!!!
When did I become some damn comfortable at my job. When was ok with only making in the low 40k a year. When did I think that nothing else would work. It was funny when I took my joba couple years ago I was still going to move back to Colorado and was using this job to make a few bucks and then leave. Here I am …Doing fairly well at my job.
The thing is Neil and I want to move next year to Phoenix and in order to do so one of us needs to be able to have a job lined up.
My idea is to work for an employer that also has an office in Arizona, plus I need to make more money in order to save to move.
So last spring I had interviewed with Monster and I was offered a position that was a lateral move working harder, so of course I said no. But this spring I have seen some of there positions for there retention sales department ( this is the position I wanted last year) so I sent my resume figuring they will at least interview me. And so tomorrow I have a phone interview and I hope this goes well. My other reasoning behind wanting this position is that they have a westcoast office in Tempe, AZ so after a year or so of working there maybe there is potential for me to transfer to there sales office out there, maybe even be a trainer/ supervisor.
One of my old co workers went to work at Staples Corp in Framingham a couple months ago, bugging me to send my resume and how much she loves it. I did…Just got a call today to set up an interview for next week
So overall this summer may be about decisions, hard ones too. Because I like where I work, I am close to all my co workers and recently change has gotten harder for me and I like that I know my job well. But if I have a chance to build my future up then I will go for it. Phoenix here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On the subject of choices I am also looking at online courses thu the Art Institute for Interior Design…..We will see….I need something other then prime sales skills.

Well Friday already and one more week of work,next week will be interesting no management in the building and no one to really call. But I will be here with bells on knowing that I am just about done.
I have to work for a bit tomorrow during the warehouse sale but that is ok since it will be pouring all weekend. They are saying 6-7 inches in the Clinton area and up to a foot in other areas, just what Mass needs more flooding.
Plus the overtime will help with money for the summer, I need to find a way of making extra money this summer under the table so that way it will not mess up my unemployment.
Not much else going on, going to try and work on a new template for the blog this weekend, make it pretty and original and not the standard blogger blogs..
Bored…………………That is what I am today

I have a few moments this fine morning. Work is slowing down and you know maybe if I was back in another industry I wouldn’t mind so much that I don’t get the summers off. But here at Scholastic the work dwindles as the summer approaches and people no longer return your calls because they are having field days at the schools and parents are planning there summer trips to the White mountains. But it would be nice if people would call just enough to make my last 10 days of work go by faster.
interested to see what this summer brings me….Last summer I was the crazy single girl who would go out every night, party all night then somehow make it to the gym at 8am to work with my trainer. I overspent money and didn’t save any for my non commission paying months of August and September. But last summer and this summer will be very different. Maybe since Neil can go on very little sleep we can still go out mid week, say a Wednesday night trip to the casino or to Northampton to the Elevens for D&B night. Plan on some beach time as long as the rain holds out and the sun shines brite. Beth should be free to do some shopping, day trips to Newport and so on while my boy is at work. Figure I can be a sweet girl and maybe make it home in time to make dinner
But like I said no huge set plans except Martha’s Vineyard and then Maine at the end of July. Beth says she thinks she can get a sitter for a weekend and they would be interested in going in on a beach house for a weekend or so….We will see

But I will do my best to blog daily ….Maybe after I hit the gym and sit at the pool for a few hours..Or maybe in the evenings….Who knows…But I do plan on having some fun and maybe catching up with old friends….Yeah I haven’t seen Riz, Scotty B or Christa in a long time…

I look weird with just a bandana on

Neil and I’s private island, well for at least 30 minutes

Flume Gorge

Attack Neil

So I think I am Kayak

Arethusa Falls- Crawford Notch

Around the lake Trail – Crawford Depot

Around the Lake Trail

Arethusa Falls

Always is Monday in the world of Crystal and in two weeks it will not matter what day of the week it is until August 7th.
Left Friday morning for the White Mountains for some camping, hiking, cascade jumping and kayak riding.
We got to Crawford Notch Campground around 1pm. Settled into our very nice camp spot near the Saco river and off the main traffic area. Decided we would see if it was ok timing to go Kayaking on that fine Friday afternoon, but by the time we got camp set up and headed to Conway it was to late to go for the half day at that point. Headed back to camp, got changed and headed for the hills. So much to explore in the fine white mountains we started out at the Arethusa Falls trail. It is only about 1 1/2 miles each way but pretty steep and very rocky. We passed some families coming down, we both questioned weather or not they went all the way to the falls. But then again children are amazing when it comes to things like that. I know when I would hike as a child I could go farther and be less tired then the adults I was with.
We left at the 4pm time frame for the what would become quiet the hike.
Once we arrived at the falls we were astonished by the beauty, the waterfall is about 100 feet high and lands on the mixture of colors in the granite rock below.
We hung out there for a bit, me getting a tad crazy and seeing how close I could get to the waterfall. Decided to head back down before it would start to get dark.
One the way down I misstepped and feel, trying to break my fall by grabbing a tree I ended up landing on a broken imb that pierced my finger in many directions. It still looks pretty nasty, to think only an inch more and it would have went thru the middle of my hand. We did some fast first aide on the trail and got back to our camp ASAP. After cleaning it out we made dinner and relaxed.
Saturday was suppose to be the BIG hiking day but the day before put me in a mood and also the hot spots on my ankle were hurting me a great deal. So we did a small hike on the “Around the Lake” trail and then doing an off the beaten path hike up the waterfall/river. I was sitting there telling Neil how I use to follow rivers in the water and on the rocks when I was younger, how you can’t get lost because you just follow the river back. So we ventured up the river, doing a slight incline and then passed a train bridge. Knowing this train bridge brought the trains near where the are was we took that back to the car. We then decided to go back to camp and see what trouble we could get into. Trouble was a nap that lasted 3 hours, waking to dinner time and sore necks we got up to start dinner and a night time fire. Was an early night because in the woods the only thing you have is each other and the fire.
Woke Sunday to warm air and the reality of packing up camp. We had planned to head to Northern Extremes and go Kayaking, so the sooner we get packed up the sooner we would be on the river.
We went out on the Saco River around 10am on a 5 mile stretch. It was fun we made side stops on little islands/sand bars, drinking our beer out of the Nalgenes. Yeah funny they encourage beer drinking on the river, but no glass bottles so Neil was wicked smattttttt and put our beer in nalgenes…. We stayed on the river until about 1ish. Put on some dry clothes over the wet bathing suit and were on the way home. Detours are our friends, seems we have the most fun while not planning, some mega adult fun on the Flume Gorge and lower river made for an intersting afternoon. I think the thought of getting caught getting naked on the cascades made the day even better.
Headed home around 3pm and arrived in Clinton at the 7pm hour after Neil forgot to get off the highway and we had to drive thru Bostonn to get home.
Walked in the door to a brand spanking new stove, which makes me super happy, cooked some pasta on it last night and forgot food should cook that fast.
All in All it was a fantastic weekend…can’t wait for the next one….hopefully I will not hurt myself and be in better shape.

Well seems even Saturn likes to give the run around these days. See it comes down to be 4k upside down on my current car that makes it so I would have sky rocketing car payments and no matter how nice a brand spanking car would be, mine is only 1 year and one month old. Since when did I have to have brand new everything. So I will hold onto my car for another year or two then possibly buy a new ones then. Maybe at that point I can be my little Toyota Yaris that I want.
Last night Neil and I got all the camping gear out from the closet of hell and got everything organized. Heading out tomorrow morning for Crawford Notch, do some hiking, camping, smores making hot dog roasting over an open fire and Kayaking. We figure if it is nice on Sunday we will pack up camp and head to one of the local outfitters and rent a couple kayaks so we can take a nice ride down the Saco River. Should be fun and relaxing I do hope we can get the campsite near the river, seems the campground owners like to hold those for week long campers. Excuse us we have to work and f we had a whole week we could be in Baxter State Park eating with Moose.
Going to look into getting a position with Monster this summer if for no other reason then working there for a year and transfers to there Tempe AZ location. It would be nice if we could move and one of us have a stable position waiting for us. Car payments and food needs don’t stop when you move and we need the money. Seems Neil hopes that by next summer we are playing amongst the cactus all the time. I think we need to start saving some hardcore money. We both have one thing that stops us…Shopping!!!!!!!!!!!! We both love to shop and we both like new things. Last night I stopped at EMS on the way home and proceeded to spend $100 on BS and he came home from Wrentham with arm fulls of deals he found at Adidas….
Not much else is up, just at work and glad it is a long weekend. I need a break, wait I have 10 more days of work then I am DONE for 5 weeks. Ahhhh the beach and the day trips….

Give me one of those damn Saturn Customer surveys and I will tell you what I think. This Saturn of Lowell has pissed me off and seems to be beating around the bush. They knew I bought my car last year at Saturn of Worcester and the reason I didn’t go back was because I didn’t feel 100% cared for. My job is customer service, I know not to piss off the people I deal with everyday. Why??? Because you loss there business, the more business you loss the less your job is needed.
I fill out surveys both good and bad, I think it is important for people to know they did a great job and important to know the areas in which they can improve. So far from “Saturn of Lowell “they have over promised and under delivered. At this time I wouldn’t recommend them. They do not keep me in the loop and make my car buying experience to be less they satisfactory. If there is an issue with the bank or with my trade value. TELL ME!!!!!!!!!!!! So I can get my money back and my life back. I tend to worry more then the average person, everything makes me sick to my stomach. I worry about tomorrow, next week and 10 years from now. And all they are doing at “Saturn of Lowell” is making me a nervous wreak….
Call me back damnit.
They receive a big fat “0″ on my happiness meter…
The only way they could make this better is to call me within the next hour, tell me they found the best deal they could and they will deliver the car to me tomorrow…..
I could wish huh, they don’t seem big on creating “Raving Fans“

Well it is Tuesday and have only heard from my sales person. Saying he was waiting for the financing manager to see what is going on. What an ordeal all this to get another new car makes me wish I decided not to do so. They already cashed my deposit so it better go thro.
This one is Storm Grey which I think will look clean when it is not and not get me pulled over as much. I was pretty picky about color…I only wanted Grey, Black or maybe light silver, but no red ( already own it) , no ugly green, beige and mostly NO WHITE, in my opinion white cars should only be for government vehicles and they never look sharp. So they were able to locate the Storm Grey one for me with the sunroof and leather…Just hope it goes thro now.

Last night we looked online and in the trails/hiking books I own to figure out long weekend trip. We kinda decided on The White mountains in NH, where we are going is about 3 1/2 hours away so leave early on Friday since check in at the camp ground is not till 2pm. Decided to do car camping this time, in the warm less rainy part of the summer we will do more backcountry but until then we will find secluded campgrounds. Get some hiking in and make a campfire and fall asleep under the dark New England sky.
Reminds me I need to put an order in campmor…
Anywho I will touch base once I know the answer to the new car….I kinda hope it all works out

it is just about 12 noon and I am waiting for a damn phone call from Saturn, can’t remember if I am suppose to call them or they are suppose to call me..Maybe I will call them in a few minutes
Well just chillen and waiting for the damn phone call. It is Monday and not so bad, it is sunny and warm and I enjoyed the brief amount of sunshine I see on my break. Brought a stock pile of clothes and shoes for my co workers to go thru..It usually ends with them making me scarves, bags and other interesting crafty items. So I get a return on my clothes.
yesterday was a very long day of putting together the wardrobes and getting the house organized .
We finished around 6:30 last night and decided to go catch a movie.
Saw ” The Breakup” I liked it but then again the amount of fighting almost brings back fights I have had with ex’s and other relations like that and makes me feel uneasy. At least the boy and I don’t fight, I think we both hate any form of confrentation and we both rather shut up and let time go by then argue about anything. I am not saying we are perfect we just are adults about it and chat about anything that may be any issue. But we really don’t have any issues which makes me happy. We get along damn well we both are pretty easy going in the relationship world.
But the movie makes you remember every damn last fight you have ever had and sometimes the last one and how it ended. I was not a lucky one that had my last relationship end in a friendly manner…By the time we ended it we hated each other, we were probley both disgusted by the others voice, face and existence. I grew alot in those 5 years and there was no way to go back…When so much damage has occurred that you can’t fix it anymore.
That is how the movie was, they couldn’t bare to be with each other anymore and then the very much weird ending were they run into each other after a few months..That to gave me an uneasy feeling. So I think the movie is fine if you just ended it with someone but it sucks to see it with someone you love and care for . Who wants to think bad thoughts.

Anywho we got home around 10 and we hung out and then crashed….LONG DAY IT WAS

Well Neil is in Bed and I have a few minutes when there is no noise and no distractions to keep me from Writing…
Sunday morning and the sky is clear and the sun is lighting up the room, which sure makes me happy.
Friday night in the rain we decided to make a quick stop to Target on the way home and pick up a few groceries that we know cost less there then at the grocery store . We started to look at the home furnishings just for the hell of it and saw this very cool table.

I loved it as soon as I saw it. Slight problem I looked at the price tag and was in gasp that they could sell it for $300 dollars at Target..Well Neil went over to take a look and was like ” Come over here!!!!” I go over and he moves his hand and the table was marked down to $74.99.

Wow we had to have it….But one catch was it was far to big to put in my trunk…..

So after some nice exchanged words with a C&%# in the parking lot who cut me off and then was a bitch about it. Yeah we will see who the Bitch is when she crashes into someone. Can’t people watch were the fuck they are going….

Anyway after the raining attempt to put it in my car we gave up and decided to come back with Neil’s Hatchback….

Neil went and picked up the table and I hit the grocery store….

Got home and put the table together and loved it…Just needed new chairs… IKEAAAAA

So we decided to hit up Ikea this weekend and look for storage and for chairs to put with the table… The small kitchen in our place is the large restriction to what we are able to put in and what we are not….

yesterday morning woke to more rain….I was so sick of rain and it seemed to be trying on both of our moods. But had already decided to go to Saturn of Lowell and see what they could do about getting me into an “06″ with Leather, sunroof and in the color I wanted. I know my car is an “05″ but after the few mishaps with it, it no longer feels new to me. So before Neil and I could get approached by a salesman, we escaped to the back lot where all the new cars were, looked around and didn’t find what I was looking for at that time but I figured to go and see if they could a) do this for me and b) had more cars somewhere else.

So we went up to the front lot and were greeted by the nicest of Saturn Sales men…Leo He was you chubby middle aged man that just liked to deal with people. Went over what I was looking for, all the paperwork and so on…He was able to locate a Storm Grey, Ion3, sunroof, leather and all I wanted. Free Onstar for a year, which in my opinion is awesome, I will get a “Cell Number” for my onstar and be able to speak hands free with anyone I please thro the mic and my stereo system. The steering and handling was much better then the “05″ and with XM radio I may piss of Neil…Sorry but I don’t need to listen to Howard 24 hours a day…. Will now first thing Monday morning for sure on the financing and such, but I am 99.9% sure everything will go thru ok and I will be able to pick up the car on Monday evening.

From there it was still raining but feeling optimistic about a new car on Monday, I was in a better mood.

We headed home to eat lunch and get on our way where ever our day was going to take us.

Decided to head to Ikea and Wrentham …..

At Ikea we found a few cool chairs for $14.99, they would then downplay the magnitude of the table we just bought. In an ideal world I would have a dining room that could hold 20 and the kitchens I see in Dwell Magazine…But in the real world, I hate my kitchen for the most part, apartment sized stove, bad counter tops and painted white cabinets with bad hardware….

But I think as of last night we did a dandy job of making it a little more like home. See when I lived here along I was living on take out and microwave food, because who wants to cook for themselves…So I had no kitchen table because in my place I had in Providence I had a tiny galley kitchen and space has always been an issue. I do like with the new table it can open to seat 6 people or cute and intimate for 2…..

Also picked up these great tealight holders for .49 cents a piece….I loved them

Then realizing with the new look in the kitchen…Say less Tuscan Bistro…more funky I needed to get rid of the Olive print valence in the kitchen. I liked it when my look was European…But with the chairs, the vase, tealight holders and all my accessories it was;t going to work anymore. So I bought some fabric at Ikea and made a simple/clean valence for the window in the kitchen..It isn’t perfect but it is a step up….

Came home and made the house look pretty…We also picked up these natural wood Wardrobes to put in the small room. Two people with a shit load of clothing….Oh my , They were on sale of $59.00 a piece…Not to bad..

I posted the pics of the kitchen on Buzznet…