Apartment Hunting Sucks!

Yep, I'm just going to say it, APARTMENT HUNTING SUCKS!!!!!!!!!! (Apparently I'm going to scream it!)

It's only right that I admit that I have been pretty lucky, ever since I graduated from High School, where apartments, and said hunting for them, are concerned. Not always so lucky with roommates, but really quite lucky with actual apartments found and lived in.

Several times family has stepped in to let me live with them while I searched for a place to live - supremely thankful for my awesome family! I've even been lucky to find a few places due to familial connections - oddly enough, one of them was when I was living in London and my Mum's colleague knew someone in England who had a room they rented out from time to time ... and the apartment I'm currently in was due to a work connection of my fathers.

But I digress, the landlords I currently have are in the process of selling this house and therefore I have to move within the next month. Finding another place like this one, off street parking, 1 bedroom, 1 bath, great kitchen, large living/dining room, an attic space equaling fabulous storage and a washer and dryer ... and for $650 per month ... I'm so not going to find anything like this. 

Blargh...

Not to mention that at 35 I don't really want to live with a roommate, at least not unless that someone is one whom I'm in love with - and hoping to, oh I don't know, marry or something crazy like that.

Now, with my income and all the bill jazz that goes along with being an "adult" (seriously, that saying you hate to hear told to you as a kid, "youth is wasted on the young" is SO totally T to the R to the UE, true) ... and with the ridiculously high prices apartments go for - the closer to the heart of a city you are, the more expensive they get ... then factor in the want of a driveway and off street parking, the potential for a pet (should I chose to actually get one one day), the want of lots of windows to let a lot of light into the house year round, the want of a backyard ... well, let's just say that it's not really all that fun to search.

Boooooo....hisssss....and back to the search I go.

Project...

I want to do one of those projects where I "have" to accomplish a specific goal in a specified amount of time.

ie: Take one photo a day for an entire month - which could be expanded upon by giving a theme to the photos taken like trees ... actually, I kind of like this one ... maybe it should interesting things in nature ... hmmm

Gonna ponder this a bit more before committing to whatever the project turns out to be.

HUGS.

Hugs are great.

So are Penguins.

SMILE AND HUG SOMEONE TODAY (EVERYDAY)!

Throw Back Thursday

hashtag tbt 

aka

Throw Back Thursday

So, in this social media driven world we live in, 'we' ... the generic we that is ... have created Throw Back Thursday's, where you post a photo, on one (or more) of your social media sites, of something from "back in the day" ... hence the throwback of throwback Thursday. I don't partake every week, but sometimes I do. It's kind of fun to share old photos with family and friends. 

It's also kind of annoying ... ha ha ha ... to have ones Facebook feed chock full of your friends old photos every single Thursday.

But I digress. Throwing it back really can be fun. 

For example: Here's a grand pic of me and my bro, when we were rather teeny, rockin' it out in one extremely yellow kitchen, with our Grandmother and Grandfather (who happen to be sitting in folding camp chairs IN the kitchen)!

Peal Palooza

Felt a bit like I was back in college yesterday...I went to Pearl Palooza, a mini music festival on Pearl Street in Albany. There was even a fairly, I believe, drunk early 20-something, probable Frat Boy who thought he might get me to dance with him by rubbing his arse up against me ... now that's romance...ick! He did say I was beautiful, which is always nice to hear ... but really, is that what guys think will win over the ladies??? Despite this guy, and despite the fact that itt was raining ... allllll day long ... there was live music, beer, rainy festival atmosphere making it a pretty fun time! :)

Oh, and the best thing was that I found a new band I totally groove on, the BROODS - a brother and sister band from New Zealand.

https://www.facebook.com/broodsmusic

Shoes of Albany

You know those artist / city sculptures that have been going on for a few years now ... there were Cows and Horses somewhere, Apples in NYC (I believe), there were Whales in Cape Cod (I think ... or somewhere similarly oceany), The Cats of Catskill ... AND ... two years ago there were "The Shoes of Albany."

This is me. In a shoe.

It's fun to view them ... sometimes it's fun to sit inside them ... and this summer, in Albany, there were artist painted pianos about the city that you could play!

Fun and artsy! 

One of "Those" Moments

(Image found on the inter webs...)

I'm living in one of those moments where I feel like - and feel I look like - the cat above! 

One of those moments where I "wish" I had chosen a different career path - one that paid me well enough to actually live. 

One of those moments where I hate hate hate how horribly expensive the world is.

One of those moments where I wish I was still the athletic being I was "a few" years ago, and really wish that I could 'easily' lose a few pounds.

One of those moments where I miss my best friends, those fabulous beings who are scattered about the globe (London, Seattle, New Zealand, NYC, California, Greece ...), wishing they were closer so we could share a bottle of wine and chat and I'd feel better. ***And we would begin plotting our next collaborative creative undertaking.***

One of those moments where the fact that I am still single, and as old as I am, and seem to make men run away, is really bumming me out.

One of those moments where I mourn the fact that I was SO READY to be a Mom like 10 years ago, and I truly fear that that day will NEVER come.

One of those moments where I wonder, what would be, had I gone on a different path after High School.

One of those moments where I "wish" I was someone else ... 

Ever have one of those days? Le sigh...

And then I try to pull to mind the things in my life, in this moment, that are fantabulous ... and realize that there are SO many people out there that have a harder life than I do ... but still, at this moment, this moment I feel like the cat above.

High Protein Low Carb ... diet!

What???!!!

You heard me ... even this foodie can stand to adjust things to be a little bit healthier!

Now, this is the first diet I have EVER tried, and though I am not fat, I could stand to lose a few ... plus, even my Doctor said that lowering my carb intake (specifically wheat carbs) is a good thing and not just for my weight level, but also for my brain!  :o) Who knew ... apparently wheat is a contributing factor to depression ... which I firmly believe that everyone suffers from at times in their lives ... and while I'm not out and out depressed, I do know that I have my moments (especially in those dark and cold winter months - which are creeping up on us WAY too fast). So, this particular diet I shall try.

But I digress...this is what I'm doing...over the next month we'll see if it works or not. I'm giving this low carb (and much less wheat in all the carbs I do take in) high protein diet a go.

I'm combining it with an exercise regime (which, oddly enough, also helps in creating those happy feelings), I am starting off slow and going for slow and steady wins the race (diet).

Today marks day two of the diet and day one of the implementation of daily exercise. I went for a 20 minute walk this evening.

I don't plan on joining a gym - I can't afford too; and I don't plan to jump right into running or being a yogi ... I'm starting off by getting in a daily walk, mornings or evenings ... at least 10 fast paced minutes a day. After a week or two we'll see what I feel like adding in (I do like to lift my little weights, do some yoga and run).

So ok ... September 3rd to October 3rd ... that's 30 days ... let's see what happens!!!

I'm not posting a before picture until I see what 30 days has done ... hahaha!!!

Mullet Dresses, almost as bad as a real mullet!

I do not know the true name for the style dress I am referring too, but I call them mullet dresses 'cause, well ... COME ON! Short in the front and long in the back ... or in mullet speak, business in the front and a party in the back. YUCK!

99% of them are hideous regardless of who is wearing them. Once in a bloom moon I see one on someone who, oddly can pull it off, one that doesn't make me want to vomit ... but ... I just don't get them. Like, at all.

Then, coming in at a close second, are the dresses that have a solid color short skirt with a long overlay in some sheer / lacey - see through - fabric ... yeah, um what???

Both of these styles look like mistakes to me. Like oops, I forgot there rest of the material ... or oops I forgot my brain ... or oops I wore it because some "style" magazine "told" me I should ... blargh.

Ok, creepy dress rant over. 

A series of Random's!

Life really is a series of "random's" occurring ... one after the other ... with some "normal things" happening once in a while too ... but I digress, a few of my random's:

• Once I drove from Brooklyn to Queens with a 1920's gurney on the roof of my red Honda Civic.
• There was also this time when I was rather small and I set off the fire alarm at a Dexter's Shoe Store, apparently I was trying to go outside but did so by going out an emergency only exit.
• I was - for reals - hit by a drunk driver and run over when I was 4 or 5 years old. Thank god the driver was going pretty damn slow, my Dad jumped in front of the car trying to stop the jackass, AND the wheels did not go over my body! Yup, it was "just" the body of the car going over my little 4'ish year old self! Drunk dude was caught and jailed by the by! Funny thing is, in 8th grade - for some reason I do not recall - I was telling this story to a classmate (or my teacher I'm not sure which) and I honestly could not remember if this was a real memory or if it was a very vivid dream I'd had. I was so uncertain that I went home and asked my mom ... she confirmed it was truth, I was indeed hit by a car and run over. YIKES!
• While living in NYC my car was broken into TWICE: the first time 'they' stole my stereo (a built in CD player); the second time 'they' stole a boom box I used for long car trips - as a cd player.
• Growing up I had a few parakeets as pets (one at a time, I wasn't living in a room surrounded by several parakeets). One time when I let one of them out to fly around the house - without having clipped his wings for some time - my dad, who didn't know the bird was out of his cage, opened the front door to go to the grill ... the bird flew out into the wilds of upstate NY. The REALLY interesting part is this, after one or two days of calling to the bird - who oddly didn't fly further than the perimeter of the yard - he came and landed on his cage which I had left on the car in the driveway ... and I caught him and thrust him back into the cage! TRUE STORY!
• Oh, there was that time I'd lost one of my Mickey Mouse earrings outside in the fall. They were ones I had gotten when visiting the land of the mouse so I was particularly bummed out. At any rate, fall turned into winter which turned into spring and finally summer came around once more and I, who LOVED to play outside - was out in the backyard, flipping around the older of the two swing sets we had out there (as any aspiring gymnast would do) and as I'm flipping I see something sparkly ... lo and behold it was my earring! 

More personal random's to come ... 

All of these ramblings and stories of mine are, of course, all completely copyrighted bits of material for my use ONLY! ©M.E.Hall