Dear Decibel, I hate you. NO Love, Angie

For Real. There is a "club" in Milwaukee (after reading where I'm talking about, you just realized why I used the quotation marks, didn't you?) who's dress code is as follows. This is a FOR REAL poster of what their dress code entails




So now...Let's discuss a few things, in bullet form, as it is one of my favorite forms.

• Let's get one thing straight, I love Milwaukee. But I do because of it's very NOT club like atmosphere...There's hardly any establishments that call themselves clubs and the ones that do are more so there for me to poke fun at. Ever been to Victors? I rest my case.
• That being said, Decibel is probably the closest to a "club" as Milwaukee gets (at least the closest without having concerns of being shot in the face upon entry) - that is the most and only credit I will give this place.
• Seriously - designer t-shirts only. There's only a handful of places in Milwaukee that even sell things that can be considered true "Designer" and I guarantee 90% of the douches that gather at Decibel do NOT shop there.
• Upscale footwear. First, stop using the word upscale as if it is a description department stores use...that term is totally up for a judgment call and what's upscale to me, might be downright trashy to someone else.
  
• Did you SERIOUSLY just list EVERY BODY PART ever where tattoos are NOT allowed. For real. You do understand that the greater majority of people have tattoos right? And that the general idea is that you get them somewhere on your body? Somewhere that might include..oh I don't know...your neck, leg, arm, or chest? And why on earth is this in the same category as fur coats? Do those two often go hand in hand? A bunch of guys walk in with their fur coats and remove them to expose their sleeved tattooed up arms?
• Don't even get me started on hair having to be "fashionable and neat"

I can seek comfort in knowing that the 1 in 10 people that happen to follow this impeccable dress code..are probably not people I'd want to be kickin' it with anyway!

(Thanks for the good laugh Sarandipity!)

Apologies to the fans.

I must first apologize to all my loyal fans for the absence from the blog. Being a temptress has taken up a lot of my time and therefore distracted me from the blog.

But I am finding a balance between Bloggerina & Temptress. (Bloggette? Blogtress? I'm working on that one).

So once I actually start working on the job, I'm totally going to enjoy it. It's a lot of data, scheduling, paperwork, etc. All the things I love. AND - as a total bonus, it's all work on my own. I mean my job consists of gathering information from employees but I can totally do all the organizing my way. You guys, I get to set up MY OWN system for how I obtain this information. Spreadsheets, questionnaires, scheduled calls, folders & binders! I am so antsy to start it's unbelievable!

Which is where the only drawback thus far has been w/ the temptress position. I started last week Thursday, worked a 1/2 day. Then came in on Friday, only worked til noon since the Boss Lady got swamped w/ stuff after a meeting w/ her boss. BL (BossLady) is out of the office on vacation all this week, but said I should still come in.

Here's what the days have consisted of so far this week:
1. Get to work (Now get to use fancy badge to get into building instead of having someone come play mom and pick me up at the security station - which kind of felt like getting lost at the mall).

2. Wander to cafeteria. (this step no longer includes getting lost - which it did for the first 2 days).

3. Get fountain diet coke (score - best perk yet) & granola bar (after looking at the make your own omelet station but deciding against fat kid choice of eating full breakfast @ desk while everyone else is already busy w/ work).

4. Go on Internet on phone. (thank GAWD my phone has Internet or I literally would've died of boredom. Also, thanks for Oregon Trail - for when the Internet wasn't entertaining enough. Need more tweets people...)

5. Make copies for someone. (my one job of the day, which is really just out of pity. Poor co-workers on the team trying to find something for me to do besides sit there).

6. Make an extra copy for myself so I have something to read (I'm very familiar with the current active proposals).

7. Score lunchtime! (after some more Internet surfing, calendar updating, etc.)

8. Repeat steps 5 & 6 in the afternoon (oh, and once I had a meeting).

I know it will be so much better when I get things like a computer (which is where EVERYTHING I have to do is based out of/on), a phone (on which to call said people I need to talk with), and/or further direction from my boss.

Mostly I feel bad for my team right now. They're all trying to think of random ass things for me to do in order to make me feel like I'm doing something.

They keep making comments like "Oh! She came back another day!" At first I thought they were joking...now not so sure.

To Do List - not that hard

In my previous post - where I detailed my new Temptress position. I laid out things I will need to change due to obtaining this position.

Here is my update to those things:

1) I need to go shopping today for some new clothes.
I did purchase two (SUPER CUTE) new dresses...though I realize the slightly ghetto black pants (they're a really cheap material and have an excessive amount of buttons at the top - I only wear them w/ long shirts) will need a replacement. It's not so bad being dressed up, it does make me feel my own age - as opposed to Oh, I don't know...twelve.

2) I need to learn what waking prior to 7:00 a.m. is like.
Turns out, when you don't hit the snooze button 20 times, (seriously - ask the BF, I'd snooze at least an hour - in 10 min increments - before I got my butt out of bed) it's much easier to et up in the morning! Not having such a hard time with this one.

3) Due to #2, I also have to learn what it's like to go to bed before 11:30 p.m. or I'll die a little bit every morning upon waking up.
Current bed time goal: 10:30 (have been w/in at least a half hour of that all week!)

4) I just might have to increase the number of times a week that I shower.
So far this week I've showered 3 times! Impressive! (BTW, I need to clarify that by shower, I mean full shower which includes washing & drying my hair. I wash my body more frequently than my hair).

Not bad for the first week! Next step is to incorporate working out & bringing my own lunch (which is both easier and harder than I originally thought. Easier because there's a fitness center on-site & harder because there is also a cafeteria with a huge variety of super tasty foods during lunch - I'm sure there will be more on that later :)).

Temptress.

I first have to admit that I am totally stealing the "temptress" idea from Annie Parsons...it was her clever idea, I'm just using it (as you've seen is a theme in this blog).

Things have been really slow at my dad's company (go figure, with an economy the way it is and banks keeping their purse strings tighter than ever, no one has the money to build multi-million dollar projects, therefore leaving him & his commercial development & construction company with little to no work). So while things are slow I decided to see what else is out there. I figured since I don't know for sure, I didn't want to accept a permanent position right off the bat, given that there's a good chance things will pick up here and when they do, I might want to be here.

I found a fantastic staffing agency (a classy one, they call themselves a boutique staffing agency. Which I'm pretty sure means you have to at least have your GED and I wouldn't be sent to a sketchy factory on the South Side making questionable products for a disgusting boss).

Sue found me a job at very prominent company w/ it's headquarters here in Milwaukee. I'll be working as a Proposal Specialist. I had a REALLY great interview, felt really good about it and yesterday got the call with a job offer. I'm really excited about it, sounds like a job I would really enjoy (lots of paperwork and scheduling, two things I absolutely love - that is completely sarcasm free, I really do love those things). Plus, I get to work downtown, which I'm pretty sure makes you automatically cooler.

I haven't said anything yet as I didn't want to open a can of worms before I knew the can was actually full of worms. But there it is. I got a new job and I start Thursday (as in tomorrow).

Here's what this means:
1) I need to go shopping today for some new clothes, I can't wear jeans at this job. And at my current job, we've transition from mostly dress w/ Casual Fridays to Casual everydays w/ Dressy Days when we have meetings &/or someone important might show up.
2) I need to learn what waking prior to 7:00 a.m. is like. I have to be at work by 8 and no longer do I have a traffic free commute of 10 mins.
3) Due to #2, I also have to learn what it's like to go to bed before 11:30 p.m. or I'll die a little bit every morning upon waking up.
4) I just might have to increase the number of times a week that I shower. I'm slightly more conscious about it when it's not just me, mom & dad kicking it in my office.

(And in case you're keeping track, here's another list, things I don't enjoy: 1) wearing dressy clothes for prolonged periods of time, 2) getting up early, 3) having to go to bed early so I can get up early 4) having to shower more often than I currently do).

Emotionally Gusty

If you haven't scrolled through my blog roll and checked out Hootenannie's Blog, and in doing so, read through the amazingly poetic and inspiring works of one Miss Annie Parsons, I highly suggest doing so now...go ahead, once again I'll wait here.

In her most recent post she says how the only way to live is in the present and to be "emotionally gutsy". I love this. this is to be my new motto. I am already a VERY emotional person, so I've got that part down. But the gutsy part I struggle with. I'd like to take those emotions and put them to good use, get the gutsy part.

Here's to being emotionally gutsy, I'm starting right now.

Obsession

In order to actually post this blog, I must make absolutely clear, I AM NOT ENGAGED. I have good feelings that this man of mine is the one that might happen with, but I am not, nor am I anywhere near being in engaged. Given that I'm old school when it comes to things like that, I don't want to know, nor do I know, even what year that might happen in. Now that we've got that squared away....

I am in LOVE with weddings. I think for the most part, it has to do w/ my obsession with list making, general organization, and planning. I LOVE doing those three things. And if I can somehow create a need for a binder w/ dividers and a color coded calendar to go along with them, I'm on cloud 9. Seriously.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very much so aware of the love part of weddings and being a big hopeful (that's right, hopeful, not hopeless) romantic, I'm also GREATLY pleased by that part of a wedding. But because I'm not planning my own wedding and I'm just stalking the crap out of other people's weddings, it's more so the love of organization that makes the obsession occur.

I have probably a good 10 websites/blogs bookmarked that I check in on once a week or so. I LOVE when I hear about a fun new idea I never thought of. I go crazy when someone comes up with a great color scheme, DIY project, stationary theme, etc.

I think I should've been a wedding planner.

As a side note, those of you who knew me back in the day when I had the idea to have pony kegs at each table with the tapper wrapped in tulle, I've changed my MO when it comes to weddings and have abandoned almost all things tacky. If that alters your opinion on whether or not I'd plan a kick ass wedding :)

And as a further side note, having never actually planned a wedding, I am very well aware that it is MUCH more stressful when you're actually putting together the biggest day of your life...and spending your own money.

Half woman, half beast

So on my list of things to do by the time I reach the ripe old age of 26, is to work out w/ a trainer for at least 9 months this year. I worked out with him for about 5 months last year and have been with him since January of this year. So collectively, I've got 10 months under my belt.

He's the most kick ass trainer in the world. He puts up with all my bullshit whining (which happens pretty much every time he asks me to do anything), my incessant attempts to "compromise" (aka, do what I want and not what he just suggested we do), and my constant arguing as to a) whether or not I am capable of what he's asking, b) whether or not he pulled some ninja trick to up the weight without me seeing, c) if that bench is higher/lower than the last set of reps d) if he counted right. Seriously - I can't imagine how he hasn't asked me to stop coming to him. I know I'm paying him (out the ass w/ money I don't have), but seriously, if it were me, I'd be all "Awesome job today, you know I think you've made all the progress you're capable of, and obviously you've made some MAJOR changes, so we're probably done here!"

But he hasn't given me the boot (yet) so I keep on draggin my ass there, against my will, every Tuesday & Thursday. Not only is he REALLY good at putting up with my shit (which he attributes to a whiny girlfriend & growing up w/ 3 sisters, he claims immunity), but he also is the perfect balance of trainer. He's never that trainer who's all "Way to go! That was awesome! You're so good at this! We'll have you running a marathon in NO time!" But he's also never all "Damn it Angie, I said 30 reps of 3,999 pounds, what the hell are you doing?!" Because either of those trainers would be in for a serious roundhouse to the face (which, after some training, I'm much more capable of). He's a good balance of encouraging without being cheesy, hard on me without being mean, and TOTALLY in for judging the weirdos who are working out the same time we are.

He's also found out that I have SEVERE exercise ADD and therefor even 3 sets of reps of one exercise and I'm bored and trying to figure my way out of it. So he keeps me pretty well entertained while I'm working out and REALLY changes things up quite frequently so as to keep me from whining about being bored.

Because of my totally awesome kick ass trainer (who literally kicks ass on the weekends - he's trained in MMA and does some Ultimate Fighter shit from time to time) I feel like I'm making some real progress. Yesterday, I dead lifted 110 pounds. While I have no intentions of being all bulky & Chyna like (5 cool points for working in WWF reference)*, I do think it's pretty cool that I can feel myself getting stronger and REALLY love that I did that. I know there's people who life A LOT more than me, (Including said trainer who, at 180 pounds, can dead life 350 pounds), but for me, that's a lot of weight (and I did it 6 times!).

The BF said he's scared and asked if I'm actually some kind of centaur type creature that's half woman & half beast. I took it as quite the compliment as I'm competitive as hell with him when it comes to working out. Most girls probably would prefer not to be called a beast by their BF.

P.S. For all the whining I do, turns out I had no idea how to spell it. Thanks spell check.

*I know that NOW it's WWE, but when I was a (super huge) fan, it was WWF, so I prefer to refer to it the way I know, which is the World Wrestling Federation. Suck on that Macmahon, I'm not accepting your new organization.

Wordle

I made a wordle out of my post about what REAL LOVE is from last week. I think it's pretty cool...it's highly likely I'll become just a bit obsessed with making wordles for a while. Head's up.

Pulling a Jared...and then pulling that post.

I had originally done today's post about my quest to find my perfect Subway sandwich in an effort to eat healthier lunches during the week. (I know, I know I could brown bag it, I've just never been very good at that and more so enjoy the variety eating out presents). Moral of that story? Decided to eat at Subway at least 2-3 times a week for lunch. In one shot finally found my Subway Sub. (there is no need for an ENTIRE blog post about this - as I realized after I typed an entire blog post about it - even this much is too much, but I felt like I couldn't delete an entire post and then not address it at all).

Wow...just re-wrote a different blog and didn't enjoy that either. I'm 0-2 in the score of interesting things vs. uninteresting and NOT blog worthy things today. Humph.

Here's something interesting... last week a group of 20+ Ninja (dressed in all black) "anarchists" threw chairs & rocks through business windows in the wee hours of the morning on the East Side of Milwaukee. They hit up big stores like Whole Foods, a Bruegger's Bagel Shop & a Bank, among a few others.

Today, one of the "anarchists," who also happens to be a TA at UWM, turned himself into the police. Upon searching his apartment, they found copious amounts of black clothing and information on Anarchy.

By turning yourselves into the authorities you're rioting against, I insist on calling you an "anarchist" and not a real anarchist. You deserve those quotes, buddy.

P.S. Apparently in "anarchy" world, video cameras don't exist. In the real world, they do. All your anarchy hoo ha was caught on tape.

P.P.S. I'd like to know what the opening shift managers of these locations ever did to you. In all your "rebellion", those are the people who are sweeping broken glass, boarding up their shattered windows, providing statements to the police, and interacting with security companies (all of which I'm certain have better things to be doing than this on an early morning). I'm fairly positive you've got some misdirect rage.

Blogging from blog reading

My inspiration for my post today comes from Charm City Kim's Post "The Dog Whisperer would not approve" (go ahead...take a minute and read it - I'll still be here when you're done).

If you didn't take the time to read her post, quick recap is that her dogs still pee and poop sometimes on the floor even though they're old enough to know better. And when she scolds her little Emily, she ends up having nightmares about her puppy running through a field and all of a sudden her limbs start falling off. (see - told you it's funny, go read it).

It was a post I could relate to all too well. I know I love my dog and go way far above and beyond what is necessary to raise a dog. She gets TONS of attention. She spends 2 days a week at day care while I'm at work because I feel guilty leaving her alone all day every day. On days she doesn't go to day care, we spend some good quality time at the dog park. She sleeps in my bed, gets full reign of the house whether I'm there or not, and has enough toys to choke an elephant (hell, she has an elephant toy).

I also know that I am TERRIBLE when it comes to disciplining her. For the most part, she's a VERY well behaved dog. She's never chewed on a single thing that wasn't hers. She skipped right over the shoe fetish as a pup. She doesn't run away (spare a couple times here and there). She doesn't bite, scratch, or growl. She just occasionally pees and poops on the carpet.

The thing is, I know she KNOWS where she's supposed to go. 90% of the time, she does it outside. And I'm extremely responsible in making sure she goes outside right before I leave, immediately when I walk in the door, and just before bed time. I know she's entirely capable of holding it. However, some nights when she's too lazy to wake me up but not too lazy to get out of bed, she'll just wake up (obviously knowing I'm a light sleeper) and poop on the carpet and then ever so quietly, sneak back up into bed.

This drives me out of my mind. I know she knows the right thing to do and the fact that more often than not she does it, makes me even more crazy. How the hell do I get through to this dog that she's ONLY supposed to do it outside - that the carpet isn't so much an OPTION anymore.

And here is the problem, I'd be having the same reoccurring nightmares and horribly overwhelming feelings of guilt if I was to rub her face in it, make her sleep in a kennel, etc. I'm way too easily guilted into things by this dog. (She knows it too, which was my first mistake). But seriously - this face? How could I not be??And just in case that picture didn't do it for ya...here's a few more of my obnoxiously adorable dog.

Hey isn't Milwaukee an Indian name?

In fact , it's pronounced "mill-e-wah-que" which is Algonquin for "the good land."

Though not true, that's always one of my favorite movie quotes. I absolutely LOVE when Milwaukee is referenced in movies or on TV.

"Bark twice if you're in Milwaukee." -Anchorman
Ben & Matt being exiled somewhere worse than hell....Wisconsin. - Dogma
Colin heads to a "fantastic place called Wisconsin" - Love Actually
Jack hailed from Chippewa Falls in possibly one of my most beloved movies of all time, Titanic.

I get all mushy when I hear Wisconsin or more specifically Milwaukee. Regardless of other wonderful cities I've visited and/or lived in, I still have crazy amounts of love & pride for my good ol' hometown. And I'm not alone. People from here really do love their city. We're damn proud of Milwaukee and will stand up to anyone who has harsh words to say (see EVERY Cubs/Brewers game in history).

Sometimes I feel as though even with all my pride for my city I am not taking full advantage of all things she's got to offer me. Thanks to the wonder that is Twitter (so damn obsessed), I've found some great blogs to follow (one of the best being Between the Bars) that are helping open my eyes to all things Milwaukee and lead me in the right direction to really delve in deep this summer. I'm ready to take full advantage of her. (And if you know Milwaukee, you know she likes it that way).

So I'm making a list of things I want to get done this summer to really enjoy all this great city has to offer. I'm falling back in love w/ Milwaukee, and am pretty excited about it .

P.S. On a slightly unrelated side note - who am I to be making MORE lists when you'll notice that list to the left of this post has NOTHING crossed off. That's right the list that has things from last year's list due to lack of completion? the list that I now only have 8 more months to finish? the list that I made with the intention of ACTUALLY completing this year...here in lies the problem...I love making lists, and only slightly enjoy completed said lists.

Dually Quoted.

"The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them." -Ernest Hemmingway

I found this quote a few weeks ago and loved it then. I re-read it today and loved it now. I've always been a firm believer that someone deserves my trust until they do something to prove themselves unworthy. I follow the whole "innocent until proven guilty" idea. And while sometimes that comes back to bite me in the ass, as there are people who WILL prove themselves unworthy; I found that for the most part, people are a trustworthy bunch. And the ones who deserve are the best kind.