guess who's back, back again

It's been a while, friends. But a request has been made for a blog, and I don't like to disappoint. I suppose an appropriate blog would be an explanation as to what has been keeping me from writing down my every thought for your reading pleasure. I just remembered that this blog is in the theme of lists o' ten. Where oh where to start. Okay, here goes.

1. My job is a yin/yang situation, mornings of disconnect and miscommunication and naughty kids and difference and utter and overwhelming befuddlement. Balanced by afternoons of total bliss and smart, little, challenging but oh so loving children and freedom and peace peace peace.

2. I'm moving. In. With. A. Boy.

3. I'm getting hitched to previously mentioned boy. Where? When? Who knows. What I do know: personalized ketchup wedding favors, daisies, green dresses of some sort for the five ladies who get to stand next to me, cute shoes a must, photo booth with provided glasses and mustaches, etc for polaroid tomfoolery, fairy winged flower girls and suspendered ring bearers a plenty, stevie wonder, dancing and so much merriment.

4. I saw my Grandpa last week. He didn't remember my name. I have no words to accurately describe my feelings towards that moment. The prospect of getting married without him being there feels like I'm looking down at my left leg, something I've grown so accustom to, so fond of, and suddenly realizing it's no longer there.

5. Big things are happening in my family. My engagement aside, things they are a-changing. And that's all I am permitted to say, because believe me, all sorts of torture has been threatened upon me for revealing secrets of a delicate nature.

6. Two months and counting till my montessori training will be over. This is the most anticipated school countdown I've ever experienced. Partly, okay mostly, because there's the golden carrot of a raise dangling at the end of this tunnel. And partly because I'm exhausted in ways I've never known.

7. My dreams are getting crazier these days. Beyond my normal bizarre dream life, I'm entering into a realm unknown.

8. I'm living off of Jamba Juice gift cards. I bypassed the poor college student life thanks to gracious kind generous parental units. But these days, I'm realizing the sacrifices one makes monetarily to live. I mean, I exaggerate (barely) about my one dollar an hour salary. But what with security deposits and pet deposits and rent and bills and other such nonsense, groceries seem an extravagance. So, thank you, dear sweet families for giving me Jamba Juice gift cards last Christmas. Gift cards I scoffed at because I don't like to chew my beverages, but now I sing your praises because I've never enjoyed a sandwich more than the delightful Gobble-licious. I could eat you every day. And I will. Until aforementioned parental units help me move in on Saturday and throw a Safeway trip on top of their already overwhelming kindness.

9. I think it would be accurate to say at this point in my life, I have the best friends I've ever had. Such a wide range of joy and kindness and humor and love from near to far. I'm the luckiest. And spending time with them, and of course the ridiculous gift of a family I got, is often preventing me from blogging with the frequency I wish I did.

10. This blog update is running away with me. See, Geri, this is what you get for telling me to blog. Too much information.