la spiaggia

the beach

so today we (ethan, lee catherine, adam, and i) went to Bethany Beach in Delaware. Now this place was pretty cute, but the whole day was quite the experience.
we were supposed to get up at 7 since its a three hour drive, but we ended up leaving around 9 because no one but me actually woke up, lol. in any case, we then began our long drive to the beach. it was such an experience because im used to either walking down to the beach, or driving less than 20 min to get there. here, you have to completely plan it out, drive through states, and take an entire day.
in any case, we got on our way, with the boys in the front, and an argument on directions...big surprise. so we finally make our way out of dc, through maryland, and into delaware. as adam said, it is amazing to me that the state of delaware has representation in congress and dc doesnt, bc delaware is a whole lot of nothing. i mean, i would never want to live there. everything is so far apart and, i dont know, hokey looking. it made me realize how much of a city/cali girl i am, lol.
so we get to the beach, go and get some beer, pick up some burgers and fries, and and actually walk on the boardwalk (a real boardwalk! shocking, i know) and down to the beach...where there are dunes before you actually get to the sand. that was a foreign concept to me before today too, lol. anyway, we had a great time laying out, getting caught with beer on the beach (oops), and trying to best the atlantic ocean (we lost). i can now say that i have been in both oceans and i definitely prefer the pacific. but thats just me. by the end of the day we had gotten a parking ticket, found one of the parking meters open and gained back the price of the ticket, and had a lovely pizza dinner with ice cream for dessert. then, to cap it all off....the navy band was there and they sang a montage of Hairspray songs. talk about random.
so we finally left around 830, i played dj in the front seat while lee catherine drove, and we got home at 1130. it was a true day at the beach.

states i have now been in...
hawaii, california, oregon, nevada, texas, florida, virginia, dc, maryland, delaware, pennsylvania, new york

seas i have now been in...
pacific ocean, atlantic ocean, mediterranean sea, dead sea (plus some others i cant think of the name of, lol)

and the dunes...

anche odio il espn

i also hate espn

they are so freaking biased against the west coast is it ridiculous.
the angels just killed the phillies, so they show a couple highlights, then all they talk about are the phillies. nothing about how the angels had about 15 hits, how vlad is getting hot, how they scored more than 3 runs, which is what they usually score, or anything! arg. instead they stated that the phillies are slumping and moved on to boston vs st. louis, and of course curt schilling.

anche odio il espn

odio gli insetti

i hate bugs

there is a large, winged insect flying around the apartment right now, and I have to admit, I am extremely grossed out and kind of scared. i dont know why this always happens when im alone, but this is the second time that a crazy bug has appeared for the first time while i have been alone.

the first bug i looked up and decided it was a kind of centipede that i have never seen before. i killed it, but since then i have seen a couple more of them. it is such a gross, disgusting bug that lee catherine and i asked our neighbor to kill one because neither one of us wanted to get near it, lol.

here is a link to what it is so everyone else can be grossed out too...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_centipede

last night i heard buzzing and figured a fly had come in. then i saw this thing on the wall and figured it was another centipede. as i went over to check it out...it started flying around... definitely not a centipede. its about the same size as the house centipede, and it likes being near the light. so, tonight i kept all the lights in the living room off so it would leave me alone, and i left the kitchen light on. sure enough, it wandered the kitchen for about an hour. i ahve no idea how to kill this thing, or if i would even if i could. im not going to lie, this thing creeps me out. gross, gross, gross.

odio gli insetti

"no"

no

i need to learn to say no. its as simple as that.
whenever anyone asks me to do something, if i can physically do it, 99% of the time, i will. i think it stems from one of my greatest fears, which is disappointing someone i care about. im also just a people-pleaser. i like to do what i can.
one example is tonight. for the first time in i dont know how long, an angels game was on espn. now, this is something i realllllly wanted to watch. unfortunately, tonight was also game 5 of the nba finals. adam is here, and he is a celtics fan, so of course he wants to watch the game. the celtics have been on lately much more than the angels, so i think it would have been fair to watch the angels game, which would be over before the half time of the nba game, and then switch over to the nba game. however, when adam asked if we could watch the basketball game, i said sure. sigh.
another example is when they ask me to stay at work. if it is a day off or only an hour later, usually i say yes. i need to stop, take time for myself, and and do what is best for me.
i need to be more assertive and learn how to say no. plain and simple.

no

tempeste di tuono

thunderstorms

i love thunderstorms. there is just something about them, about the electricity in the air maybe, that is just awesome.
i want to be outside enjoying the atmosphere, but i know that dancing around outside while a storm like this rages is not the smartest thing to do...thank you college education.
at any rate, this storm is here because, like it has been since friday, it was freaking hot and humid today.
the only downside is i really want to shower, but i am kind of afraid to. i know there is a myth about lightening coming through the shower and killing someone, and i kind of remember a mythbusters show testing this myth...but i dont remember the outcome, lol.
so, i am going to sit here and enjoy the show, and i doubt this is the last time i will post about my excitement over storms. :)

thunderstorms

the view from my living room window

oggi era un buon giorno

today was a good day

so today was my first day off work in over a week, so it was really nice to bum around. i slept in a bit, and then watched some movies.
first on the list was "in her shoes." it was pretty good. in other words, i enjoyed watching it, but i probably wont ever see it again, lol. not to say i didnt enjoy it, because i did; it made me smile, laugh, cry, and get involved with the characters. what else can you ask for in a movie?
next on my list was "breach." unfortunately, as has been the pattern every time i go to watch this movie, lee catherine comes home and i stop watching. this time it was ok, because i watched the documentary "black gold" with her. it is about coffee production in ethiopia. it was so sad and disturbing, and makes me glad i dont drink coffee. although, i also realized that stopping drinking coffee wont solve the disparity between what the farmers are paid and what the profits are. it just amazing to me that it is random people in new york who set everything. so i recommend the documentary to anyone and everyone who drinks coffee or is interested in the african coffee industry.
anyway, i finally watched "breach." what a great movie. i enjoyed it because it covers so many of my interests: espionage, counter-intelligence, history, a hot actor, etc. :) in any case, i really want to see it again because i know there are nuances that i missed this first time around. however, i sent it back to netflix today because i have had it for over 3 months now. maybe i will ask for it/put it on my wish list. in any case, i bought the score, to add to my 400+ movie score songs. im such a nerd.
in any case, after watching the movies, lee catherine and i watched wheel of fortune and jeopardy. then, we had reading time, where we just read our respective books and listened to some of my scores. it was a nice night to cap off a relaxing day.
now one might think that since this was a day off i should have been outside enjoying the sun. however, it has been so hot and humid here lately that stepping outside is draining and makes you sticky and gross. to translate, it has been in the high 90s/low 100s, with at least 70% humidity, and the low at night is around 75 degrees. it feels like stepping into a sauna every time i step outside.
i suppose thats enough for now since im tired and i am back to work tomorrow.

oggi era un buon giorno

libri

books

so today i went to the bookstore, and as per usual, spent above an hour there. it just happens, no matter how much i try to limit my time. though lets be honest, i had no deadline today. :)
anyway, i bought more books today, to go along with the, let me count, 20 or so books i have on my shelves here to read. this is not counting the books back in california because lets be honest, there is no way i will be reading those any time soon, so they kinda dont count. in any case, i did realize something today as i perused the stacks. the books that i enjoy, and tend to buy, are either romance novels or something to do with history or real world issues. i am not really a fan of straight fiction. this is because i live for happy endings. there is not very much in real life that can guarantee you happiness, therefore romance novels are a way to escape and have that promised happily ever after delivered. in other words, if i am going to spend my time and money on fiction, i want to know i will be happy with the outcome. most fiction books have really interesting stories, but there always seems to be some sort of lesson or "a-ha" moment where the main character loses out in the end. im not saying this is a bad thing, just that i dont really care for it in most of my reading. every now and then it is fine, and i do have a couple of those books on my shelf, but like i said before, i want to either learn something, or escape as far away as possible from reality, and my history books and romance novels allow me to do that.

libri