Recap and resolutions

Society has been telling me that today is the day when you come up with a list of your top [insert number here] [insert general category here] of 2008, and then go on to list [insert other number here] things that you plan to change in 2009. I’m not sure if there is some sort of punishment for non-compliance, but I figure I’ll be proactive just in case.

10 Things That Happened to Us in 2008

1. I got a new job.
   
2. We moved to Colorado.
   
3. Steve got a new job.
   
4. Steve got a new job.
   
5. We visited Phoenix.
   
6. We visited Las Vegas.
   
7. We turned 24 and 25.
   
8. We watched a ton of Tivo and Netflix.
   
9. We walked around in nature.
   
10. We ate pizza, burritos, and little else.

5 Things I Say I’ll Change in 2009

1. Take more pictures that have one or both of us in them. Someday we’ll want to show our kids what we looked like when we were young and adventurous.
   
2. Eat fruits and veggies. Burrito lettuce and pizza sauce don’t count.
   
3. Drink water, not soda. (Mmmm… soda.)
   
4. Reduce the level of crap Steve has to put up with from me just slightly.
   
5. Wear socks that in some way match my other clothing items (don’t really care much about that one, just noticed my blue socks are a bit obvious with my brown pants and shoes).

Also, I must be ready to put my husband through grad school this year. I’m thinking about writing a Lifetime movie about it. Less Chipotle: Rachel’s Story – The true story of a young woman who makes minor sacrifices for one calendar year while her husband gets an interesting and highly marketable degree.

Happy New Year!

Awesome.

Why I live in a place with four seasons...

Steve’s not allowed to pick our Netflix anymore

On Wednesday night we subjected ourselves to three episodes of the show Once and Again. Steve put the show on our queue because he “respects” Evan Rachel Wood as an “actress.” As far as I can tell the show is just hour after hour of dramatic, uncomfortable make-out sessions between 40-year-old people with uber-complicated divorces. Not my idea of a good time.

But the desire for those 2 hours and 15 minutes of my life didn’t upset me nearly as much as the dream I had Wednesday night after we watched it:

Steve told me that he was leaving me for Kayle (the college roommate who was the reason we met). I was shocked, and started to argue with him that he needed to stay with me. But the more I argued, the more he smiled, like “I’m so glad that I made this decision and will never have to deal with you again.”

Then I told him I was going to leave right then, thinking it would shock him into not letting me go. But again he smiled and happily started divvying up our stuff. He got our bamboo – the bamboo that was a housewarming gift for our first place more than five years ago – because it was from Michelle.

And then the real awfulness of the situation started to sink in for me. I was going to be alone, without a plant, while he lived with Kayle in our apartment with our stuff, and he was so happy about it.

I felt so relieved when I woke up, although it did take a second second to shake it all off. I put my head on Steve's shoulder and went back to sleep.

When I told Steve about it the next day he offered this helpful suggestion: “Next time you dream I’m leaving you, can it be for someone other than Kayle?”

Could I be any more socially awkward?

No.

I'm the luckiest girl in the world

Steve:   awesome last name: Hogoboom

Me:       yes, i like it

lol, let's change our name to that

Steve:  ok

Rachel Hogoboom

It makes me picture exploding hookers which isn't great

 me:     exploding hookers?

oh like ho-go-boom

i was picturing exploding pigs

like hog-o-boom

 Steve:  no it's like a ghetto recap. then the ho go boom

 me:     lol, you can't do that while i'm at work

 Steve:  like a fitty cent song

Who was I kidding?

Three or four or five months ago, I purged my Google Reader. I was in one of those places I sometimes get into where I felt pathetic for reading celebrity gossip, daily accounts of people’s lives (people whom I’ve never met), and only occasional real news (at least about the election).

So I axed all of the personal blogs, the Perez Hilton, the Ecorazzi, etc. To fill the void I added in more green news, more election news, an indie craft blog, and some feeds that I thought might be more spiritually enlightening. At first it was refreshing. It forced me to sharpen my focus on issues I cared about. I convinced myself it was some kind of Reader intentional meditation.

But as time passed I found myself scrolling through these new feeds as quickly as I possibly could. I would never really read them. I’d sometimes look at the pictures. I didn’t want to hear about someone’s two hour a day yoga practice anymore. And just when I thought there couldn’t possibly be another post about green office furniture, there it was!

I started sneaking back to my old blogs, guiltily, in elaborate covert operations. Just one peek to catch up, I’d say, knowing full well I’d be delving deep into the archives. But I wouldn’t let myself enjoy it.

This week I finally gave in, I added back the personal blogs I missed plus a few others I discovered. What I came to realize is that in days filled with polite, superficial conversation, it’s invaluable to have access to a few people’s honest thoughts. So what if these people aren’t my friends or I haven’t known them for years? I think that only underscores the fact that there are these universal issues we all deal with, and it feels so nice to know you’re not alone.

A year and a half of us...

The entirety of our blog in a Wordle.

The fact that the word "like" is the most used obviously goes to show that I'm like, totally, like a valley girl, like. Either that or I'm very deep and use a ton of thought provoking similes.

Other points to note: 

• I write more about Steve than he writes about me, or he writes a lot about himself in the third person.
• "Eat" is very little, but we actually eat a lot.
• "Time/Distance" shows up because apparently at one point in our lives we ran.
• "Fun" is used far less often than "work."
• The only names that show up are our own. We are some self-centered SOBs.