a blue xmas without you.

Christmas.

There always seems to be this great build-up to the holiday season, with a tendency of people forgetting everything in between Columbus Day and Christmas Eve {how rude to downplay Halloween every year!}. Stores begin stuffing their shelves with red and green around the same time they're hanging up various polyester blend costumes on the racks.

Loki was certainly not in the holiday spirit as we spent Xmas Eve Eve together attempting to make the apartment spotless for Mummy & Fajer. Not quite sure if he was just sick of me or having to pose for cute pictures to send to various people.

In an effort of being a better friend and get into more of the holiday cheerful spirit, I spent the greater part of the night with my dear friend Nicole, enjoying good beer, delicious food, and lovely tunes. Tree was playing at one of my former favorite haunts in E-town, Funk Brewing Company.

My holiday tradition of waking up on Xmas in Victoria Secret flannels was broken as I rang in holiday at work, covering two-3rd shifts Xmas Eve and Xmas night. Fairly slow nights, but gave me some more appreciation for those working in emergency positions for which there are no true holidays - sickness doesn't stop for presents or cheer.

Loki wasn't feeling the cheer and was against his bow, but was patient enough to pose for a picture with his bow on his wrist. He couldn't stand it on his collar.

Luckily, he was more than willing to take time out of his day to snuggle up close to me while I rested in between festivities and work. I'm guessing all the lovin' from my parents really tuckered my sweet fur baby out. While we didn't get the most sleep, they were quality cuddles.

Naturally, I had to document {more for myself than anything} that I was able to dress up a bit in between donning the UHS polo and khakis. Cleaned up fairly well with minimal sleep, no?

Santa deemed a was a good girl this year: beautiful Silpada earrings from Sissy & some bling bling from Superman. Feeling grateful I could spend the holiday with these two, as well as friends and family <3

2016 is coming to a close, but it was one of many blessings amid the trials and tribulations.

Loki poo got some snuggles in with his favorite auntie while I had to bite the dust and head to work for the night....Loki's first Xmas was a success!

More to come ;)

xxxx

Days Gone By: An Autumnal Hymn

Another month gone by in the blink of an eye as day after day blurred their lines between work, school, and {some} play. Wishing I had more eloquent words for such the beautiful {and my favorite} month.

Thankfully, I was able to see friends, hang out with kitties, destroy my hair try out a new hair color....or a few....amid the chaos of trying to pack up my life to move in with my favorite person by the end of the month: my sissy.

My iPhone 6 is holding up for the most part, so at least I can provide a highlight of October's song in pictures...

A night on the town with beautiful friends: much needed.

As much as I was digging the lighter locks, my hair was beyond brittle and threatening to snap off {and some even pulled off as I attempted to comb it}. 

A purple-y hue: much better.

When in doubt, get your thigh-highs out. Oxford paired with high-waisted shorts and my trusty thigh-highs for a night of people-watching at the bar.

Mr. Theo was thrilled for one of our last family portraits before he went back to my Gramps.

A breather in between hauling my stuff...new mirror: new selfie.

A housewarming gift to brighten up the new place :)  ...soon eaten and massacred by Loki. 

Loki, settling into our new home. My handsome guy took the move quite well; as more and more things left the old apartment, he had more space to roam around with Theo.

Early birthday gift from sissy, which came in handy for enjoying an ice-cold beer from Hoegaarden. We'll be making use of these!

Birthday adventures soon to come {with more bravado and imaginative narrative}. While I truly am loving school, it does keep me busy and leaves less time for the extracurricular hobbies and sleep.

xxxx

Happiness: Not as rare as a Magikarp

Like most fads, PokémonGo seems to slowly be running its course, the hype nearly depleted as players continue to play in silence, halfheartedly.

Admittedly, I'm still seeking to fill my Pokédex - again, halfheartedly.

The cycle of a fad is much like any grandiose change in lifestyles - old habits are not easily forgotten and the new take 21 days to truly sink in. While one can't magically make it a habit after hurling over that 3-week threshold, by then it has begun to become ingrained into the mind as a new habit, hopefully offsetting and taking place of the former.

Little changes are the best way to seek big improvement. Small, seemingly menial twists on the mindset dial can lead to bigger and better {as cliché as that sounds} things.

On a happy, happy note:

Seeing friends is well worth every second of insanity and squeezing in as much homework and work so I can truly enjoy the company of lovely people.

Paradrei kicked butt once again at the Angel's Rock Bar in Baltimore and mini reunion with the ever so lovely Anna!

Free tacos, great friends, good ol' rock 'n' roll : why we need that work/life balance.

xxxx

Flowers and shell-shocked kittens

Temporary halt on production....

Anticipation is mounting with the start of classes starting this week {have I mentioned how excited I am??} and also a bit sleep-deprived from all of the excitement of the past few days off. Hello, Breaking Benjamin & Disturbed!

Returning home from the long trek up to Niagara Falls, a little nap was needed, plus some snuggles with the babies before I went in for work on Monday.

It's always so tough to go back to reality after such a lovely time away...how do you combat these reluctance to come back from cloud 9 of wanderlust?

Coming home to a bouquet of flowers and a note after running errands certainly helped! {perhaps less, or even in-, significant to some, but as I had never received flowers from a boy before.....}

Combined with these lovely roses, to tackle the onset of wanderlust blues, I've taken on a new warden: Superman and his grandfather found a kitty mumma and her kittens. This particular one made the mistake {or perhaps fortune} of being captured. Newly Christened "Theo" received a nice, long bath to rid him of dirt and debris and yucky fleas and then promptly took a nap all snug like a bug in a warm, cozy rug.

....this was after he screeched like a velociraptor and hissed so emphatically that he >popped< at the end like a big bubble. Poor thing sure was frightened and quite confused about everything and anything near him.

>what the hell is you doing to meh?<

<what is that thing in front of my face, large object restraining me?<

Eventually, he stopped hissing at me and making me jump....

>what are you doing, hooman? why are your lips on me?<

Theo is like many men: the key to their heart is food.

Little tiger was hungry and wouldn't eat from Athena and Loki's bowls so I hand-fed him to win his little heart over. Loki and Athena play so hard together that they didn't spend much time on whom they viewed as a little foreigner to them.

Hidden, fed, and {thank goodness} a quick learner at using the litter box, Theo was A-okay while I continued my time off with a crazy night of music in Virginia with some fun peeps.

Blurred lines of chaos and pure bliss - oh, how I've missed the rush of a brilliant rock show! Truthfully, I was a little bummed I missed one of Small Town Titans local shows whilst I was out of town as they seem to be occurring so infrequently as of late since they returned from tour....

...however, Breaking Benjamin and Disturbed {and a PokemonGo-entertained car ride to Virginia with some kickass people} was a fantastic show and I was quite thrilled to have been invited along ^_^

Here's to more adventures, rock shows, and kitty tales {tails}!

xxxx

I Can Hear the Bells

On Saturday, my beautiful and smarty pants best friend tied the knot with her sweet love {and also became an aunt}.

And what a lovely day for a wedding!

The day started off with extra exciting news as the world welcomed in the birth of Grace Elaine a few short hours before the wedding. I guess Baby wanted to make a grand entrance as she was a week late.

Walker Gardens in Bigler, PA offered quite the view! For more info, visit their Facebook page, or for some more info on the lovely areas surrounding my hometown, Explore PA History.

My pretty sis looking pretty and cool in her breezy dress and sandals.

Heidi's favorite color is purple so she had her bridesmaids dressed in three varying shades. The dark purple looked lovely on her second oldest sister, especially with the cute baby bump :)

Little sister Ali looked stunning in her lighter shade of purple.

Luckily, I didn't look too out of place with red hair and fair skin. So honored to be by her side as Maid of Honor!

The absolutely stunning bride. Yes, indeed, I teared up a bit seeing my best friend walk down the aisle. The look on her face...dang. Her face beamed with all of the love and happiness and simply radiated from her.

Miles certainly lit up as her father lifted her mother's bridal veil, which was her "something borrowed."

Slightly washed out lighting, but Mummy looks fiiiiiiine.

Sister lovin' to the utmost level.

Mummy and her girlies, fierce ladies all around and two of my favorite people.

Overall, a lovely day and I couldn't be happier for the couple! I may be a little jealous of their adventure across the country to the state of Washington!

Mr. and Mrs. Miles Ridgway...has a nice ring to it, non?

Best of wishes and much love to the new couple!

xxxx

On Sanity {and attempts at keeping it}

As mentioned in the previous post, work has proven to be a test on my sanity, often making me feel crazy....like I'm not doing enough yet also feeling overwhelmed with biting off more than I can swallow all in the vain attempt to prove myself worthy of more and more responsibility in the hopes of a potential promotion in the future, to climb the ranks, to show I'm not a silly 23yo girl with a fancy piece of educationally-produced paper, but someone who's ready to take on the world and its problems.

Yet, while I've learned a lot in the past 10 months, 6 days of being in this position, I'm beginning to feel there may be no light at the end of the tunnel, no way of reaching the next rung on the corporate ladder, stuck in limbo of going above and beyond my job description while others toil away with their incompetency.

When work begins to creep into the innermost crevices of one's personal life, perhaps a reevaluation is in order as far as priorities and life goals/desires go... With these consistent mood swings and feeling of dread of going into work, often resulting in a sickening, dizzy headache are signs that this whole work/life balance is entirely out of wack. Monday was the most recent episode: what was to be a brief visit with Superman for a mood-lifting pep talk resulted in increased dread and lightheadedness as the time for work crept closer, causing me to call in that I'll be late so I could mentally calm down and make the world stop spinning, a physical reaction on my vision as my internal stability feels so fragile at times.

While life is full of sacrifices, events are missed because life calls and responsibilities must be fulfilled, but when this is a constant, encroaching phenomenon which takes me away from friends and family, there is an issue. There are events coming up which I refuse to miss: my besties' weddings in April & May, another friend's wedding in May, Heidi's graduation, and a few others dotted here and there...

Time with friends is needed to maintain those wondrous relationships and for a battery recharge.

The one and only Nickove, as photographed for unTappd

Got away for an evening and saw my lovely friend Nickove a few weeks ago {my sense of time is completely off anymore} and it was a pretty darn good night full of live music and old buds from college. On nights like those, all work thoughts go out the window as I enjoy the company of others and catch up on the exciting things in their lives - that's how relationships operate: sharing our treasured moments with the great people in our lives and taking time to get together in order to have shared memories to further enrich our lives.

I feel work is taking that away from me....a sense of livelihood and purpose outside of the walls of that hospital basement. Lunch with Superman certainly grants a getaway from the same-old, same-old as well as provides an outlet for my steam as he patiently listens and offers the superhero wisdom he possesses...

Yesterday, the better part of my afternoon was spent in Lancaster, gallivanting about the city in search of good brews and snacks at some new {to me} venues. Finding time to explore, even if it's in an area not too far away from me helps to relieve my wanderlust blues so I don't feel so trapped in this mental prison I've too often found myself locked inside in regards to work.

My anger spiked from incoming emails of scheduling issues which can easily be managed - if managed right - but were sent to me like I can magically fix them, as though it is my duty to placate everyone when they're forced to step up to the plate, their shortcomings slowly coming to light as they are incapable of filling in when and where needed... I speak truths not to sound uppity, but to put words to the swirling mists in my mind, questioning why grown men twice my age cannot see the greater picture or look beyond their plights when there are greater staffing issues on other days - certain people cannot be the ones to fix all of the gaps nor should their be varying expectations when it comes to management...questioning is it really worth the anger and bitterness accumulating in my soul?

A beautiful walk in the city following the silencing of my work cell, speaking with Superman of how beautiful my mini adventure was turning out to be most definitely calmed me down so I could continue on in my exploration... Hit spots included {which, of course, I'll be reviewing on Trip Advisor}:

• The Character Pub
• The Fridge
• Tellus360

After another explosion riveted with expletives and exasperation over the phone with Superman, last night I had my work phone shoved in a corner of my living room while I went off to enjoy some brews with my Big Bro as we waited for Tree to catch up with us. {Shameless plug for Funk Brewing in E-town}

As Big Bro pointed out, it's certainly okay that I talk to friends about my work frustrations, but it shouldn't get to the point where I have to do so in order to avoid such outbursts of anguish... the fact that it is infringing upon my happiness in my personal life is clear indication this may simply not be the job for me and that's okay, too. There are other places of employment and perusing until I find a job in which I can use my talents and also enjoy {as well as leave at the office or take home sparingly} seems to be my next step in the next several months...

Life's too short to go raving mad, albeit we're all a bit mad around here...we'll see how crazy I'm willing to be in the hunt for professional satisfaction.

xxx