In general, I'm not one for resolutions. All resolutions ever are are promises made, pressures you put on yourself that are overall, pretty much unnecessary. As it is, there are enough things in this world that are out of our control. If you manage to accomplish something positive in any given new year, good for you. But no one arbitrary day should be the catalyst for change.

Another thing I see a lot around this time of year are reflective posts regarding the personal opinion of "best" and "worst" of the year that has just come to a close. Every year around this time I kick myself for not having been a better secretary so that I could contribute to the conversation. If only I kept track of what I liked and didn't like all year long, it wouldn't be so hard to recall when the time came to do so. I suppose what I need to do is resolve to keep tabs on such things, but if I say that aloud, I'd be calling the thoughts I just stated in the previous paragraph null and void, now wouldn't I?

I also notice, as I've stated before, that as time goes on that there is less and less to be passionate about. I watched the movie The Lather Effect the other day and there was a line in there about how when you're in your thirties, you realize that nearly all of your "firsts" are now over and that realization is what depresses so many people. I can't truly say objectively if I would be excited about things like emo if it was MY generation. But the fact of the matter is it isn't and so I stand back and look at the entertainment of today and find myself saying, "Really?, Is that the best you can do??"

One thing is certain. As the years pass, I find things like events and releases get more muddled in my brain. The other day Orange Crush by R.E.M. came on the radio and my husband and I debated about the year of its release. He said early nineties, I said late eighties. I said late eighties, I might add, with complete certainty, even adding the specific year of its release, 1988, to the mix. It's not even like I was ever a huge R.E.M. fan because I wasn't, I just know things like that are ingrained in my brain. Ask me what I was about to tell you before you put me on hold for call waiting though, and I simply can't recall.

The way I see it the mind is like one huge computer. Documents from long ago are easily retrieved because they were stored when the system was free and defragged. But as time goes on, the hard drive gets overloaded with new information. At some point there simply isn't any room anymore. Now with a real computer, this problem is easily solved. Either you add more memory or you replace it with a newer, shinier model. But when it comes to your brain, there is no backup. The closest analogy I can come up with is something like blogging. If you forget something and you record it, it's there indefinitely for posterity's sake, to remind you it actually happened once you inevitably forget. Whether or not that's a good thing, well, I'll leave that to you to decide.

So if I want to recall the best of 2008, I must do so by whatever means necessary. In this case, I'll cheat. I'll do so by looking at my iTunes "listen to" list which I will warn you, is by no means a comprehensive system. Still, if I can share with you something new, it will be worth it.

Best Albums That I Heard In 2008

1. Alphabeat- This Is Alphabeat Remember the eighties when pop was fun and innocent? I do too. If want to recapture the fun of your youth, look no further than Danish pop band, Alphabeat. Their songs are downright infectious. And if a song like Fascination doesn't conjure up memories of Footloose days gone by, I don't know what will.

2. Lady Antebellum- Lady Antebellum Normally I'm not a country music fan in general, but this album is just amazing. This young, fresh trio of two guys and one girl has the perfect mix for built in duets or flying solo. Their music is fun when it needs to be as on Looking For A Good Time, or poignant when appropriate as with All We'd Ever Need. They manage to make country cool which in my book, is nearly impossible.

3. Katy Perry- One of the Boys Katy Perry is one of those artists I wanted to hate, but the fact of the matter is, I can't. She's the Cyndi Lauper meets Madonna of a new generation, infusing many generations of styles and a dash of outlandish antics in for good measure. With her debut single, I Kissed A Girl, I thought for sure she'd be a one hit wonder. And then I listened to her whole album and believe it or not, it's a great pop record. And her videos (gasp) tell the story of the song! Remember when something like that wasn't novelty? Just watch Thinking of You or Hot N'Cold if you don't believe me. The only thing I worry about here is novelty. I have a fear that she's a go with the tide kind of artist which can hurt or help. Only time will tell for sure.

4. Journey- Revelation For the most part when super groups break up or fall from grace, it isn't like it is in the movies. They don't have comebacks, at least not where they make new fans or new hits on the charts. But this was the year of the unexpected comeback having the last laugh as was seen by bands like New Kids On the Block and even Journey. What blows me away about Journey though was that they came back without their powerhouse, legendary lead singer, Steve Perry. Instead, they replaced him with a virtual unknown, Arnel Pineda that if you close your eyes, you most certainly could believe he was indeed Perry. Not only does he nail old classics like, Separate Ways, he also brings his own flavor to new hits like After All These Years.

5. Leona Lewis- Spirit Remember when Mariah Carey burst on to the scene in 1990? She was a young unknown, only twenty years old who had a magnificent vocal presence on her debut single, Vision of Love. Little did we know that was the beginning of the baton being handed from Whitney Houston to Mariah Carey. But nearly twenty years have past and while Mariah is still technically going strong, she's also gotten a lot tackier, and her skirts just keep getting shorter although she keeps getting older. That's why the debut of Leona Lewis is so great. She reminds me of when Mariah first started and was untainted. Just a good singer without all the flash. My personal favorite is still Bleeding Love.

6. Saving Jane- Supergirl Technically I didn't fall in love with Saving Jane's Supergirl album, but considering that their previous release, One Girl Revolution, was 2007, I couldn't include it here. But the weird thing is that Supergirl is pretty much a reissue of One Girl Revolution, so I get off on a technicality by including it here. Unlike most of my favorites, this album actually reminds of the nineties, not the eighties. (Yes, I've recently begun to feel nostalgic about that decade, too). They've had minor success with songs like Girl Next Door and Supergirl, but unknown gems like What I Didn't Say and Grace are really worth a listen, too.

Best Movies of 2008- Once again I will acknowledge that there are many movies I've yet to watch from 2008 so by no means is this list an end all be all. It's just the best of what I've seen, for what it's worth.

1. Ghost Town- This movie was an unexpected gem that had just the right blend of comedy and drama. It also introduced me to Ricky Gervais, a comedic actor I knew, but never had the experience of watching for myself. I'll be on the lookout for more after watching this.

2. Wall-E THe posters for this movie reminded me of Short Circuit and Johnny Five Alive! Normally I'm not a huge fan of animation, although I do acknowledge how it is so amazing what they can do nowadays. But this movie was so so sweet and actually had a bit of a message, too. It's one of those great family movies that is good for kids of all ages, even just those that are young at heart.

3. Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight- My lack of love for the action/comic book genre prevents me from listing this movie as one of my actual faves, but I will acknowledge that for a fan of the genre, I could see how The Dark Knight could have been a real treat. I'm one of the rare few who are bored by the bang, bang shoot 'em up scenes, so the wow factor is lost on someone like me. But in the quieter moments, where the late Heath Ledger is riveting as the menacing Joker makes this movie worthy of honorable mention. The fact that the world viewed his performance posthumously only makes it more eerie. Although I was always a Ledger fan, I never would have guessed he had such range in him. It's bittersweet he got to go out on such a bang.

4. Definitely, Maybe- Most romantic comedies overshoot or just miss the mark. This one was actual a quiet release, but managed to hold its own. I know it was a good romantic comedy because just like Ghost Town, it held my husband's interest, too.

5. 21- Sometimes I think movies that were released early in the year get lost in the shuffle. I was surprised that no one that I saw included the gambling movie, 21 on their list (until now, that is). Not only did it shed light on some rather unknown actors, it also marked the somewhat return of great Kevin Spacey. If that's not worthy of a watch, I don't know what is.

6. Forgetting Sarah Marshall- Another romantic comedy that did it right. Film maker Judd Apatow is proving a forced to be reckoned with as is much of the former Freaks and Geeks crew that he has taken along with him for the ride including Seth Rogen, Jason Segel and James Franco. (Before you ask, no I have not seen Pineapple Express yet). I knew Freaks and Geeks was the start of something special. It only took a few years for the rest of the world to catch up.

7. Step Brothers- Cinematic greatness it's not, but when you get Will Farrell and John C. Reilly in the same room, it still manages to be something magical. Of course you have to be a fan of pure silliness. If you're looking for plot twists and a script that makes you think, this movie is not for you.

And so I'm off to make good on keeping better track of 2009, before I forget to do so. If you have favorites that you want to share, I'm always looking for something new so let me know!

Well hello again from blog purgatory! I'll go ahead and state the obvious and say it's been too long. In fact, you know it's been awhile since I've been to my own blog when I forgot how to log on. Man, that's pathetic. At first I thought everything was gone, and then I realized I was just logging on wrong. Now all systems are go again, sorta.

For starters, I want to wish anyone who still subscribes to this blog or even those few and far between passersby a happy new year. I cannot believe it is not 2009. I can still recall 1989 like it was yesterday, but I digress.

Although I always have the best of intentions to more regularly update this blog, life has managed to intervene over and over. I've tried to figure out what the old blogging me did differently in order to have more time. My job didn't change. I don't commute to my then boyfriend, no husband's place anymore. I should have more time, in theory, but the fact still remains- I don't. Even now as I type this there are a dozen other things I should be doing that keep me in a constant state of guilt. It's a sickness, really.

The truth is that my time is just distributed differently. Now I have a house of my own to cook, clean and shop for. I also have a further commute to work each day. By the time I get home and cook and exercise etc, I just don't have the time, or energy, to blog. Actually that's given me a newfound appreciation of all the bloggers out there who do just than and still manage to take care of things like animals and children. How do you people do it?

There also comes a point where you know you've been absentee for too long so it seems next to impossible to catch up. Where do I begin when it comes to answering comments, visiting blogs or even writing posts? There are always things going on, always more to say, but as time passes on what seemed like a good idea for a blog post initially begins to lose its luster.

Thankfully I have reconnected with many of you in a much more manageable way, through the wonders of things like Facebook or My Space. I find it much easier, much less stressful, to log on to something like Facebook each day and leave a comment here or there. It keeps me connected, but doesn't feel like a chore. Blogging regularly would feel like work now and I just don't have the stamina for the job as I did in my "youth". If there's anyone I missed adding by the way, let me know and I'll invite you (or the other way around) into my other little corner of the online world.

So now I'm going to do something the long winded me rarely does, I'm going to end this post here and now in an attempt to keep it short and simple. Now I'd like to go visit all, most or perhaps more realistically, some of you and see how things are in your neck of the woods. I still have three and a half days though before my winter break is through, so I hope, now that I've gotten the awkward reconnecting post out of the way, to add something more creative and AOGB like to the mix. Wish me luck and I'll see you on the other side!

So this is the story. Already I have fallen short on keeping a blogging promise to myself and to my readers. Ugh. I hate that I have no time to blog appropriately. Wasn't it John Lennon who said life is what happens when you're busy making other plans? Well it was true, whomever said it.

The good news is that this week I have off from work. The bad news is that I had so much to do this week, I still didn't get to blog. Now I am only blogging because I am sick. Lovely, right? Considering I don't have much energy for anything else, I'm trying my hand at blogging. I guess you could say it's good that I'm finally getting it done, but just because a gun is being held to your head doesn't mean you want to do something. Sorry, maybe the sickness is making me delirious. What I'm trying to say is it somehow doesn't feel right that this is the way I get some blogging in. I like the creative juices to flow-- which they always seem to do late at night, while I'm falling asleep --and if I get up and write it all down, I'll be sleep deprived for work the next morning.

The one topic I wanted to blog about this week was the topic that was on most Americans minds- voting for our next president. I suppose a few days late is better than never. Those of you who are old school AOGB readers might be surprised to see that I did vote at all after my behaviors during the last election. To be honest, I still agree with a lot of the things I said in that post. But that doesn't change the fact that the overwhelming guilt I felt about not voting overshadowed not voting at all, if that makes any sense. I am still bummed though I didn't get any stickers, coffee, ice cream or even say, sex toys for voting on Tuesday. Although I have to admit the practice itself seems a bit like the polls are some generous grandfather and us, the voting public, are the grandchildren rewarded for being good while grocery shopping.

All goodies aside, this was an election many people were passionate about and with good reason. No matter which side won, it was going to be a landmark event. That's because on one side there would be the first woman vice president, and on the other side we'd have the first African American president. Months ago my husband and I had, who are equally disillusioned with the politics of America, had a discussion about who we thought would win. He thought McCain was going to win, I thought Obama. He thought McCain because he believed no matter how badly some people wanted change, many were not ready to vote for an African American president, at least not the majority. I believe he would win regardless of this fact if only because a lot of America had such a bad taste in their mouth courtesy of the current Republican administration. This again isn't stating what we wanted necessarily, just what we thought might occur.

As election night got closer I had my finger on the pulse of the nation also known as the not able to vote, voters who are under the age of 11. If you had a conversation with a lot of the older kids in my school you would see that they too were passionate about the election, as passionate as third grade students can get that is. I found this to be true much more so than the last time we elected a president. I guess the strong feelings their parents had about this election was contagious.

Since we aren't in school this week, we held a school wide mock election last week, complete with voting booths with curtains for "authenticity's" sake. Even before they cast their vote though I knew which way it was going to go down- out of our 700 and something students, 639 votes were for Obama, 125 were for McCain. We also had 5 Hanging Chads, but that's not important now. The reason why I can't give you an exact number is because technically some teachers might have voted as well, but for the most part, that vote was indicative of what the majority of children, and ultimately America, wanted.

One thing that was hard to explain on a third grade level was the fact that public voting alone doesn't determine who the next president is. There are all those damn electoral votes to contend with which to be honest, I don't even understand completely myself. I will say this though- no matter how much I don't love the events leading up to the election, I do like election night. I like watching the excitement that so obviously permeates the newsrooms of television and the fly by night nature in the delivery of the news that so many news reporters are forced to use. This is where you separate the men from the boys. One reporter compared it to the excitement you might see on New Year's Eve which is analogy I was thinking of myself. Only on New Years, we all know what's coming. With an election, you don't know for sure. Oh and New Years has performances by people like Fergie, but I digress.

So one thing is fairly certain. Now that Barack Obama has won things are bound to be pretty different in the White House, as well as the nation. But in Obama's surprisingly subdued acceptance speech he put it best when he said that change may not come in a year or even in his first term. He acknowledges that while he has different ideas, there is a lot of work to be done, or undone as the case may be. Some people are afraid of change, especially Obama's brand of change, because he's so much more liberal than any other president we've had.

Still it's hard not to be moved no matter what side you stand on when you watch the sea of faces, mainly the African American ones, watching Obama make that first speech. I mean seriously, if you're not African American, just put yourself in their shoes for a moment. That win is monumental. I know that and I was moved by it and I'm NOT black. The fact of the matter is as much as this wasn't an election rooted in race relations, there are still some people I believe who voted for or against Obama precisely because of that. Where Obama himself stands on this issue remains to be seen. Did a lot of African American voters vote for Obama simply because he was African American? Probably. But at the same time, did a lot of people not vote for Obama simply because he was black? That too has an element of certainty. I know because when discussing such things with friends I found many of them, without knowing it, showed shades of discrimination in their reasons not to vote for him. I guess it's true when they say the more things change, the more they stay the same.

No matter where you stand on where the new administration will take this nation, I really do hope that the American public does not make this upcoming presidency all about race. It would be truly ironic if America's reputation in the world improved as more countries grew to respect Obama's leadership and his win only for their to be more division within America itself. You can be happy, unhappy, skeptical or even hopeful, but no one should feel like they've lost. It's a new world, no matter how you spin it. Give someone a chance before you dismiss them completely. After all, we've only just begun.

I guess you could call this a disclaimer of sorts. The post below was extremely hard to write and even harder to experience. I'm not asking anyone to agree with the way I handled things, but I also hope that anyone who reads it has enough compassion to think about the person who wrote it and understand that I already feel extremely guilty and bad about it and will continue to do so indefinitely. I don't come to this blog, my own blog, to feel unwelcome or horrible, as I would not want you to feel that way on my blog or anyone else's for that matter. If you don't know why I'm stating this then there's please move along, there's nothing else to see here. If you do, please put things into perspective before judging a virtual stranger as it's really easy to pass judgment on things when you only see things as black and white and don't acknowledge the shades of gray. Thank you in advance.

Growing up as an only child I loved going to my friends houses. Don't get me wrong, I loved my house too, but when I went to a friend's house, there was a certain noisiness and a bustle of activity that I couldn't have at my own home no matter how loud I played my music, put the television or had one-way conversations with my Barbie dolls.

Part of the reason it was so much fun to go to my best friend's house in particular was because they had pets, and plenty of them. In fact, I believe that if at any give time it would have come down to a people pet ratio, it would have been equal. Not only did they have a lot of pets, they were equal opportunity pet owners, too. Dogs, cats, guinea pigs, fish...no pet was too big or too small. But there was only one animal I was ever truly envious of them owning and that was a dog.

See, all of my life, one of the things I've ever wanted the most was to own a dog. Since I was an only child I always made the argument that I should have a dog to keep me company, but my mother never saw it that way. She said that owning a dog was a big responsibility and one that she ultimately would have to take on which she didn't want to do. My father could have easily been persuaded, but since mom put her foot down on the matter, things never changed.

One day a stray dog wound up on our street and everyone tried to convince my mom that it was destiny and that I should keep it. The family that had all the animals were my biggest supporters in this crusade. Mom still didn't budge and so then and there I vowed that I had to be patient until the day when I could one day own my own dog in my own place.

Now that thirty-one years have gone by and I've finally moved out of my parents home one of the things I was most excited about was making my dream to be a dog owner a reality. After we were somewhat settled into our new home we started researching breeds and places do adopt from. My husband was rather indifferent on dog ownership as he had both a sister and a dog before, there were no unrequited feelings to fulfill. Still he knew how badly I wanted to own a dog and so he decided to let my desire to own one fuel his desire to support me.

We went to a few different places and found a few good dogs, but we also found that a adopting a dog is serious business and a process that can be stringent as well. We knew we wanted to adopt because we wanted to give a dog who was taken in by people who loved dogs a good home. We filled out multiple applications and in some cases had to wait a certain amount of time before we could even be considered to play with a dog, let alone adopt him or her. In some ways the waiting was agony, but I also think it was necessary. Adopting any living being is a big responsibility and if you are a dog lover, you'd be remiss in not checking out who you were letting adopt any animal. After all, it's not like animals can defend themselves.

After researching and visiting a number of places we narrowed it down to a few certainties. One, we wanted a dog that was a little bit older than a puppy and preferably didn't need to be housebroken since we weren't experienced in this. Two, we wanted a medium sized dog that wasn't going to grow to be too big, but wouldn't be too small either. Instead, we wanted the Goldilocks of dogs...juuust right. Third, my husband wanted a male dog as he believed a female dog would be "higher maintenance". And fourth, we wanted a non-dominant breed like a Beagle or a mixed breed because we loved the mannerisms and the appearance of these types of dogs.

Although we had been to enough places to know that adopting a dog, let alone the right dog was not going to be quick and easy, impatience ultimately got the best of us. We ended up at a shelter that had a dog we fell in love with, but didn't match our prechosen criteria at all. For one thing it was a she, not a he. I wasn't so emphatic about that, but the people at the shelter said there really wasn't a major difference, so the husband caved on this one. Another thing was that this dog was a lab/shep mix which while beautiful, would ultimately grow to be a larger dog than we planned on taking on. And lastly, she was a two-month old puppy that would need a lot of TLC along with training.

All reason was thrown out the window though as we looked at her. She had "sisters" with her there, each with a unique personality all their own. but Dolly (as she had been loosely named) had a personality all her own. Instinctively it seemed she was as "in" to us as we were to her. She sat up and cocked her head to the side almost as if to say, "So, whadda ya think? Do you think you want me??" We played with her with no precautions and we were told that if she was the dog we wanted, we could take her home right then and there. Newly in love and wearing our rose-colored glasses, we proceeded with the adoption.

As we were filling out the paperwork, however, apprehension started to sink in. Instantly we were paired with a different person who worked at the shelter, one who we quickly learned was much more knowledgeable and experienced than the first lady who helped us. This is not to take away from the first lady, but it was her lack of expertise that really hurt us in the end. When we at down with the second lady we quickly realized that A LOT of work came along with adopting a new puppy. Not only were we new dog owners, we were going to be owners of a brand new dog, one that had to be fixed, and taken to the vet and one that already had an infection that she had to be on medication for. It was like becoming a parent overnight without the nine month incubation period. I was willing to take on the for the responsibility, I just don't know if I was prepared for it.

Still we listened to the advice and the instructions as best we could, trying hard to soak it all in like a sponge, but after awhile it became hard to keep track of all the information coming at us. Really if they could just write some things down so you can refer to it later, that would be so much more effective (and calming). At this point I think both my husband and myself were apprehensive, but I still wanted the dog so not saying yes didn't even seem like an option. After all, people adopt dogs every day, how hard could it be?

One the way home I sat in the back with her while my husband drove since we didn't have a crate for her yet and the whole "driving in the car" thing was a new experience anyway. She was antsy at first, but she calmed down quickly and didn't even have any accidents. After awhile she started to look up at me and search my eyes. I know I may be sensitive to such things and read into it too much, but I really felt that she was trying to bond with me. After she'd look at me a few times, her head went to my lap as she was seeing me as source of comfort. Instantly I felt a rush of love for her.

Before going home we stopped off to to buy her a few essentials to get us started. One thing in particular we were told to keep our eye on was training her to go to the bathroom. Accidents will happen, we've all heard people say. But the lady at the shelter recommended we take her out every half hour until we had a groove down. Now in theory, this sounded easy enough, especially since my husband works from home, but getting up every half hour to stand outsid God knows how long is easier said than done. Plus we would take her outside to do her business and sometimes she'd go and sometimes she wouldn't. Regardless of the outcome, sometimes she'd go yet again...when she came back inside. So now it became an issue of not only taking her out, but cleaning up after her.

It is true when they say puppies are like babies because that's exactly what they are. It wasn't our fault she didn't know when or where to go to the bathroom, it was our job to show her this, as it was our job to patiently introduce her to crate training. It was apparent she was smart and would ultimately be a quick learner, but learning would take time and guidance and maybe even some expertise.

A very short time after having her my husband came to me saying that he thought we made a mistake. He regurgitated all the reasons I listed above as to why he was apprehensive about owning a puppy. He said that since I was at work during the day, the majority of the burden would fall on him and it would be hard to do alone and get work done, too. At first I wanted to be mad at him for not trying, but then I thought better of it because it wasn't my burden as much as it would be his, at least not initially. Plus he was only being honest I just wished that the honesty he was giving me didn't have to be the truth.

So that night, the only night we were to have her, we decided it would be best to return her to the shelter the next day. This way we wouldn't get too attached and she could be adopted by a new family sooner rather than later. I knew in my heart it was the right thing to do, but that didn't stop me from being devastated at the idea of doing it.

That night, as it would have been if we had decided to keep her or not, we decided to keep her enclosed in one room so that she didn't have free reign of the house. The only problem was she was only a baby in a strange house and she didn't understand. As a result, as soon as she was left alone, she started to cry and bark. I had to go to work in the morning and I knew puppies could do this to test anyway so I begrudgingly tried to ignore her. But it was just that she was so loud, I didn't know how I was going to be able to do that.

Suddenly, the noises stopped. Ultimately I drifted off to sleep, only to be awoken about an hour or so later by the cries all over again. So instead of dragging myself out of bed, I called my husband on the phone and asked if he had checked on her at all. Our schedules are completely different, so he was still up doing work downstairs. He told me that the reason she had stopped crying for awhile is because he took her and calmed her down. He got her to fall asleep and then he carefully carried her back into the room again. It wasn't until she woke up and realized that she was by herself that everything started all over again.

After hours of her crying on just would not subside, my husband decided to have her sleep with him since it would only be for that night anyway. It was a bad habit to get into, but it was a decision of survival (and the avoidance of sleep deprivation). What killed me was that was all she wanted. Somehow she didn't cry anymore, nor did she have any accidents the entire time she slept with him. When I heard this the next morning, I thought for sure that there was hope. But my husband said that as soon as he did wake up and went to go to work, she was alone again and ultimately, started clamoring for attention once more.

By the time I got home that evening, she was gone. He gave her back like you might handle ripping of a Band-Aid. It stings more at first, but the goal is that it will hurt less in the long run. Only problem was in the back of my mind, although there was no perfect solution, I kept hoping for a happy movie ending where I'd get home and he'd surprise me and she'd still be there. But when I walked in my house, it was almost as if it never happened. Any trace of her had been removed, as if it had all been just a dream.

I know it might sound silly since we weren't even dog owners for a twenty-four hour period, but when I think about giving her up, even as I type this, I still get sad. I can't even imagine what people do who have dogs for much longer and have to give them up or lose them to death or for some other reason beyond their control. I know I could have been anybody and she would have grown attached, but I'd like to believe I would have been the somebody she would have grown attached, too.

In an effort to appease me, my husband says it just wasn't the right time and place to have her. He says we can try again with an older dog and maybe in the summer when I have a few months to get a routine down with the dog before returning to work. So now the waiting game begins again. I'd like to think that it's true that it was the wrong time and place, but that she will ultimately end up with a good home (if she hasn't already) and that we too, will be able to give a dog that same unconditional love one day.

I don't dream a lot, but this is one dream, doggone it, I have to hold onto.

You don't have to say it, in fact I'll say it for you.

I've been a bad, bad blogger.

I remember when I used to visit other blogs and marvel at their "here today, gone tomorrow" approach to blogging. It baffled my mind that someone could be SO busy that the blog they once loved and coddled as if it was one of their own children (okay, maybe the analogy is a bit extreme but some people really love their blogs, k?) could just abandon it like that.

And then it happened to me. My name is Janet and I've been an absentee blogger.

As I've stated in the past I do have somewhat of a defense. To recap, I had a pretty busy year. In a nutshell, I got engaged, my mom got cancer, I got married, I moved out and I became a home owner. I'm not trying to dismiss the importance of any of these events, it's just that I've typed it all before so there's no need to rehash it here, especially when present day blogging is the thing of essence.

But I have to admit something. Even in my downtime, I still did not have a strong desire to get back to blogging. This is why I put myself on a self-induced blogging break. A fast of sorts, if you will. I had to walk away for awhile for my own sanity and in order to not hate blogging completely. You see with everything else going on, blogging began to feel like somewhat of a chore. It became a job writing and responding on a regular basis, so much so that I began to resent "having to" blog.

Actually, if you knew me in real life you'd know how hard it is for me to admit something like that. I pride myself on spreading myself too thin at times. I'd rather be busy than sedentary and as a result, sometimes I bite off more than I can chew. Over the years this blog has been so many things to me. It's been a release of random thoughts and personal feelings in equal parts. It's also been a gathering of sorts where I've "met" many of you and got to know you in ways I would never have imagined. I have made friends on here that have stood by me even in my self-imposed sabbatical understanding that just like Chicago once said, "everybody needs a little time away".

But perhaps most of all blogging has given me self-awareness and validity as a writer. I love that so many of you have enjoyed my posts and that at one time, this little old blog was actually pretty darn popular. But I quickly grew to realize that being popular in high school and being popular in blog land were probably a lot alike. In fact, now I understand a bit when Dave Chappelle said he had to walk away from it all. Okay, maybe AOGB was never the next Chappelle show, but still they both had to have mentioned Wayne Brady at some time or another.

So here we are again and the question is where do we go from here. Well, one thing I am not going to do is make any promises. I also know I'm not now, nor will I ever, abandon AOGB completely. Come to think of it, that sounds a lot like a promise, doesn't it? Oh well I blew it and already lied...to myself.

Okay, but from this paragraph on I'm not making any promises. I mean it. You can't make me! Instead I'm going to tell you what I want this blog to be. I want it be a casual version of what it was before. I hope to post at least once a week so it doesn't seem so hard to catch up that I won't want to do it. I want to find a balance between blogging and living, living and blogging. I want to be a more spontaneous blogger. As it is I had no intention of sitting down to write this post tonight. It just hit me that it was the thing to do and the time to do it. I like that feeling. It's one I want to make last.

So there you have it. AOGB has been down, but it's not out. It's going to take some time to earn back your readership and your trust, but heck, Rome wasn't built in a day either. So, if you want to take this laid back journey with me, where ever it takes us, just jump in for the ride.

You know how you know you haven't done something in ages? I'll tell you how. You know when you can't remember how you did it in the first place. That's what happened to me this morning when I decided to log on, to my own blog. How pathetic is that? At thirty-one years old I am already forgetting things that I did or didn't do or how I did them and stuff like that. Geesh. If I can nominate myself as a strong candidate for having Alzheimer's in the future, I'd like to do so now. Really, I have to write it down here otherwise I won't remember. You all are my witnesses, but I digress.

As Sharon so politely pointed out, it's been just a little over two months since I last updated. Needless to say a lot has happened in those last two months and thus, that's the reason why I haven't had time to update to begin with. Let's try to go in order, shall we? To add richness to the story I plan on including pictures so get ready!

When we last met I mentioned that we were slated to move into our new house in mid July. All went well and we did just that. With only a few weeks left until the wedding (like I previously mentioned) we tried to get as much done as possible. While our house is pretty much in move in condition, there are still things that need to get done. This included getting three rooms painted and ordering an area rug for one of the bedrooms (the upstairs is currently all hardwood). The rest of the time was mainly spent organizing what I did bring, that mainly being gifts from the shower which, in large part, were kitchen related. I have been bringing my stuff in bits and pieces, mainly because I can since I moved from my parents house.

Front of Our House

In other house news, so far we have had a love/hate relationship with our pool. I love it, he hates it. See, all my life I've always wanted two things my parents never let me have-- a pool and a dog. When we found this house we had the first one and in the next few months I hope to be working on the second. So when we found this house with a beautiful above ground pool which does not effect your taxes, it seemed meant to be. Only problem is neither one of us has a clue how to take care of a pool. I'll spare you the details now, but let's just say that not knowing what to do or being unable to carry out what to do for whatever the reason, coupled with not being around much this summer to use it has made the pool a bit of a nuisance. I still love it though and I hope that next year, with less going on and, as Madonna once put it we, "get into the groove" it will feel like less of a hassle.

Our backyard, including the pool

After we moved in we had the little business to attend to of getting married. For the most part, this went off without a hitch...or, in this case, should I say with a hitch? Ha, ha. Amazingly the groomsmen all did show up, dressed in the right clothes and everything. Only one guy was running late that day, but as it turned out so was the girl I found to do my makeup so it didn't really matter. Apparently she was having car problems and called to tell us this at the same time she was supposed to arrive. I did have a backup if I needed it, but when things like this happen on your wedding day, it's like a domino effect. Incidentally her being late offset everything else. Thus things with the photographer seemed rushed and in a way, they were. While taking photographers I knew we were behind schedule to getting to the ceremony itself, but my girls wouldn't tell me just how behind. But like they said, no one could start the wedding without us, so they had no choice but to wait.

I don't know what time it was when we actually showed up, but drinking wine in the limo helped me care less about what didn't go right. Since neither one of us are super traditional people I wanted the ceremony to be a mix of the fun and the serious. So prior to my entrance, we decided to play "Somebody's Getting Married" from Muppets Take Manhattan. My parents were mortified when I decided to go through with this, but I told them to just trust me. Wouldn't you know when we did the receiving line that is the one thing more than anything else people told me they loved? To walk in I went pretty traditional with Pachelbel's Canon in D. On the way out we decided to "Rick Roll" our guests a bit by playing "Together Forever" by Rick Astley as our recessional music.

A bad shot of me walking down the aisle, but you get the idea

Our priest also made it to the event, wearing his sandals, yes I wrote sandals, to officiate. I felt like the ceremony itself took no time at all as did everything that followed. I never got to see the cocktail hour or all that was there as I was in the bridal suite with a fraction of the food that everyone else had. These are the drawbacks of being the guest of honor. When it came time to make our grand entrance, the DJ asked me if someone was saying grace before dinner. I had already confirmed this with the priest so imagine my surprise when that's how I found out he had already left. Granted we were running behind, but the least he could have done was tell someone he was leaving and attempt to say goodbye. Oh well, so we proceeded, without grace although there was a woman named Grace there, so I guess that's good enough.

I liked our DJ when I first met him, but he did give off an air of cockiness I couldn't quite put my finger on that night. It was just a vibe I got that pretty much was confirmed the day of the wedding. When I met with the DJ I mentioned how we wanted to do the traditional mother/son and father/daughter dances in the middle of the night as neither one of us really like being center of attention. Since he was only half listening he responded with something to the effect of, "But if you do it in the middle of the evening, less people will notice." Exactly, Sherlock.

Reception Entrance

I know it seems like a bit of an oxymoron to some to not expect to be the center of attention on the day of your own wedding, but we just don't like being on display. I liked the idea of a big party and all of that, but fussing over me, not so much. At any rate, the day of the wedding arrives and we're about to walk in and that's how I discover the DJ already cued up the first dances to go at the beginning though we had discussed and solidified the opposite. He acted like he didn't realize and he could still change it, but since we were buzzed and I didn't want to delay things any further, we went ahead and got all the dances out of the way in the beginning. And for us, honestly this wasn't so bad. For my dad, however, who is a lot like me and didn't get forewarning (though didn't get to drink nearly enough to prepare), not so much. By the way, in case anyone is interested in the nitty gritty details, Mother/Son dance was "I Hope You Dance" by Leann Womack (mom's pick), Father/Daughter dance was "My Little Girl" by Steve Kirwan and our dance was to "Angel Eyes" by The Jeff Healy Band.

Mother/Son dance

Dad/Daughter dance

Our First Dance

Because You Can't Have Dancing Pictures Without One of Ninety-One Year Old Grandma

My father in law did get a lot of nice pictures and even a few videos, but I don't know where he was during our first dance as he had no pictures of that. He did, however, have pictures and videos of the bane of my existence, the organized dancing. I tried my damnedest to keep it out, but come hell or high water, these people need their Macarena!! God bless them all.

Something Horrible Was Happening Here

As I mentioned earlier, we're not overly traditional people. I also don't like cookie cutter weddings. As a result, I didn't do the bouquet toss or garter exchange. I always found it to be awkward anyhow. Hey! I just caught the garter of someone I probably don't know and now I'm going to put it on someone I just met in an incredibly awkward moment of public humiliation. Sound fun?? No thanks, I'll pass. I also don't think my DJ took me seriously when I said in lieu of the clinking of the glasses, I'd like Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl" (my favorite song and a real crowd pleaser to boot) to be played every hour, on the hour. Instead he threw me a bone and played it once, and even that was far into the night. I did make sure that my wallflower self got on the dance floor though. It was the least I could do.

Jessie's Girl!!

I Feel Like This One Says, Thanks For Coming

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. If you're interested in seeing the professional pictures, i.e. getting ready, on location, posed and perfect, shoot me an email at aogbgirl@yahoo.com and I'll give you behind the scenes access to the online proofs. There are also more pictures uploaded to those of you who have access to My Space or Facebook. If I haven't added you as a friend on either site, let me know that, too.

Next up was the honeymoon. Thankfully we had a bit of a breather in between the wedding and the trip as our wedding was on a Saturday and we left on Thursday. We took a nine day cruise to the Caribbean, specifically Bermuda, St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Puerto Rico. Neither one of us had been on a cruise before, so that was fun, but I have to admit nine days is a bit much. I would love to go on a cruise in the future, but I think it would be more fun to go with a group of other couples, girlfriends or family. This is only because if you are with just one person and said person, ahem, doesn't want to do certain things, there are other people to do things with. Also when you're only with one person for that long there's only so much to do or say. We were very lucky though as we had a kick ass table in the dining room of two other couples and ourselves so dinner each night was fun and delicious, not a chore.

Our Dinner Table

We did a lot of fun things on our cruise and a lot of relaxing, but I couldn't imagine writing about it all now after all that I wrote above. Let this be a tip to you. This is why you shouldn't take long hiatuses from blogging kids! I will tell you though about the most exciting thing that happened on our trip...I was a winner at the casino! I barely put any money in to win too and it was from a 25 cent slot machine! Nice, right? I didn't even know I had won or what I had won when my machine started dinging. total strangers started gathering around me out of curiosity, but "hubby" had no idea it had happened. I could see him in the distance, losing his quarters, but he didn't look up and couldn't hear me (as often happens anyhow). It wasn't until they had to come over and hand pay me since the machine doesn't spit out money over a certain amount that I could go to him and fan out my winnings (as seen below). When all was said and done I won a little over a thousand bucks which, as anyone who has ever cruised before knows, basically covered most of our on board expenses and a little of our port expenses, too.

Me and My Winnings

But now it's back to life, and back to reality. Tomorrow I go back to school and the kids start Thursday. I have to say though that I'm ready to go back. This summer flew by because I had so much going on, but typically I get bored the second half of the summer. I like keeping busy. The paperwork and the preparation, not so much, but still. My commute will be further since the move so that's one change, as well as my moving my classroom as I told you about in the previous post. I got as much done as I could this summer in terms of setting up so I'm in pretty good shape now. We don't have class lists yet, that's always a last minute thing that changes constantly anyhow. I heard through the grapevine though that I have fourteen students (my max in the new room is fifteen) but the breakdown may be 9 boys and 5 girls...ouch. This means if the boys act up, and sorry but they often do, there's really no way to separate them in the new room. It should be interesting and at the very least, different from past years. I hope to give you more regular updates about the day to day happenings now that the major things are no longer keeping me from blogging.

One last thing, for those of you who have been kind enough to ask, my mom is doing well. She finished her chemotherapy up a little over a week before the wedding, which was good. She's now done with all treatments, but has to take a pill for the next five years as a precautionary measure. She was nervous about taking it as there were possible side effects to that, too, but so far, so good. She's glad she had the wedding the same year as being sick because it kept her busy and kept her from becoming preoccupied so I guess it's true when they say God doesn't give you more than you can handle. I'd like to think so anyway.

And there you have it, the last two months the Reader's Digest version. But enough about me. So, what's new with you?

I know it's been awhile (two months to the date exactly, though not on purpose) but I wanted to take advantage of the quiet hours of the morning and try to write an update on how things are going. I also want to visit those of you who have taken the time to visit me. Unfortunately, I fell out of the loop even with that since the server that sends my janet@theartofgettingby.com email, Go Daddy, fills up from time to time, yet never tells me I've reached capacity. It's up to me to realize that I haven't been getting messages to that address for awhile in order to make something happen.

1. The wedding- The good news is, the priest did eventually resurface. The bad news is that there never was an explanation to his absence. I ended up emailing the website where I found him and relaying my concerns. They sent him a message cc'ing me and suddenly, lo and behold, he started responding. No sorry, no this the story...NOTHING. After a few more attempts, he did eventually send a few links about ceremony specifics like I asked but the problem with that was that by the time he finally did send them, things were busy again and I didn't have the time to devote to reading them. I also feel a bit perturbed that I'm basically choreographing the whole ceremony by myself. It's a pretty daunting task if you ask me, and thus why I'm dreading diving into it.

2. Wedding Part #2- There are a few other things that still have yet to be finished for the wedding. One thing is the music. I have to make a final appointment with the DJ, only problem is we have yet to pick out the songs we want to use for the important moments and don't want to use at all, period. Something like that is a bigger deal to me because I'm such a music buff. It's on the agenda for this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes.

Also needing to still get done is all of the men need to go and get fitted for their tuxedos. We went to the preliminary appointment and picked out what we want, but the men (including the groom) have to go now and formally be measured. Along with this a few of my girls haven't had their fittings for their dresses yet. One lost a lot of weight and just waited because of it, the other is now pregnant and needs the dress taken out and yet another is just lazy it seems, period. A few other things that are in progress are gifts for the attendants and finishing registering for the honeymoon online.

The final wedding related snafu are the invites themselves. Our response date is July 1st and we still have a good amount of people who have yet to respond either way. In fact, three of those people are the groomsmen (which instills such confidence for the big day, doesn't it?) I mean technically I suppose you could say we could count them as yeses, but are they coming with dates or wives? One wouldn't know. Also awkward was the fact that my principal and vice principal were invited out of courtesy. The principal said he was coming, yet never formally responded and the vp said nothing at all. (although I found out after writing this that he told a co-worker of mine who asked if he was going that he doesn't think he was invited which who knows what's going on with that) Nice huh? Welcome to the wonderful world of inconsiderateness by way of wedding planning!

3. School- The third grade show, for better or worse, went off without a hitch. We did do a mock career day and I ended up choosing the career of medicine. The kids pretty much choreographed themselves because I was shot. I put them into groups of four and they told the story, through songs I spliced together, of getting sicks to getting better (Tossing and Turning, Bad Medicine, Doctor Pressure and then I Feel Good).

Otherwise, school was crazy the last month or so, but what else is new? I had one kid who was absent pretty much the entire month of June after being absent numerous times before that. In the end, he was out a total of 54 out of 181 days and as it stood, we did not retain him. The justification was that the child is actually pretty bright so another year in the grade wouldn't do him any good. In fact, even with all of those absences he still managed to nearly score advanced proficient in both the NJ ASK Language Arts and Mathematics. Still the fact that the school did NOTHING otherwise really gets to me and is a major concern. Also if he does return next year, what sort of message does that send to the rest of the kids that he still managed to move on? He should have been retained on principal of the fact that no child should miss that much school, period.

One final note on school and then I'll move on. In the last few weeks, as if there wasn't enough already going on, my principal approached me about moving my classroom. I would still be in third grade, just in a smaller room down the hall with less kids, 15 being the maximum (right now my class list is at 12). He justified the move based on the fact that he observed my teaching and heard enough through the grapevine about the types of students I typically get (those who can't or won't do anything) and he wanted to offer me a change of pace. He told me to consider it an "early wedding present". While the move itself is meant to be a good thing, the physical aspects of the move are what killed me. So the last few weeks of school I tried to move what I could to this new room as I'm not sure when or how I'm going to get in over the summer.

4. Moving- Which leads me to the next topic, moving. My fiance successfully sold his house. He moved out officially this week and closed on Friday. We are now in the process of closing on the house we found together. Right now our closing on that house is mid July which is good in terms of timing and gives us a few weeks to get in before the wedding, but connects back to why it's so hard to figure out a time to get into my classroom with all the other moving going on.

5. Mom- Finally, I want to thank all of you for your wishes and prayers for my mom, especially since y'all don't even know her. She's doing well, the chemotherapy is over and now she's in the midst of radiation. She has to do that every day *excluding weekends) for 6 weeks which concludes right at the end of July, right before the wedding. She still has some small side effects be it from the chemo or radiation itself, and sometimes her spirits get down with all that has been on her plate, but overall she really has done a remarkable job. The radiation is nothing compared to the chemotherapy either and she's happy because her hair is slowly starting to come back in. Adding insult to injury is the fact that my mom turns 65 this year and her health care coverage switches over next month which, as some of you may know, that dealing with health care providers is never a smooth process. Overall though, she's hanging in there.

So I think I touched upon all the major things going on in my life for now. Suffice it to say I'm definitely not ready to be promising posting on a weekly, or even regular basis, but I will try to take some time this summer to pop in more here (and there) to see how everyone is doing. Thanks again for remembering me and AOGB!