I saw an article today on the MSN website and I thought I would share it with everyone to get their opinions on the left lane lingering which happens all the time on highways and such. Read article.

I do remember driving to and from New York with my boyfriend last month and reading all the Pass left ITS THE LAW signs on the road. I remember how annoyed my boyfriend kept getting for doing this but I thought the signs were sort of funny. The only thing I do not like about some of the states enforcing this law is that is left way to much to interpertation. Several states say that you are lingering if you are in the left lane and not passing anyone even if you are speeding. I guess it is safe to just stay with the flow of traffic even if everyone else around you is going 20 miles over the speed limit?

Hmmmm a good bit to think about.

Thoughts Anyone?
*~Cyn~*

D is for Dumbass.
I tell this story because now I do find a little bit of humor in it now. There is a nice little bar across the street from where I work where I go about once a week for lunch. My co worker and I stroll across the street today and I order lunch. I only wanted a little bit of soup because I had eaten my sandwich I brought. I was enjoying hanging out in the little bar and chatting with my co worker.

It was time to leave so we strolled across the street and started down the side walk on the street where I work. I am still not completely sure how it all happened. I either stepped to close to the curb or my knee gave out. I guess in hindsight it really does not matter.

The next thing I knew I lost my balance and started to fall. I tried to catch myself with something but there really was nothing around to catch myself on so I stumbled for a few steps and then it happened. I fell flat on my face onto the street. I smashed my knee on the pavement, tried to catch my self with my right hand (it has a really nice bruise), and smacked my self so hard onto the pavement that I knocked the wind out of myself. It took me a minute or so to catch my breath as soon as I was able to breathe I managed to get myself up on the ground. Due the construction of a parking lot next to our building I was super dirty but luckily my pants did not rip. ( Lovely photos under cut )

For those of you not in the know that is Sidney Crosby (captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins). To say I love hockey is an understatement at its finest. I well there really is no word for my affection of hockey. Watching the Penguins during training camp has been the highlight of my weekend. It took me back to Happy :-)

Yesterday started week 6 of my attempt at a healthier me and I am happy to report in that time I have managed to drop 14 lbs. I think a personal milestone for me. GO ME! I spent the weekend being active walking around Penn's Colony where I got to see all the arts and crafts booths as well as some dancing and music. I also got to smell the lovely smell of people cooking kettle corn. Oh the lovely taste of kettle corn (mmmmm). It is not so sugary that it is bad but it has just enough kick to not be plain. The only think I bought at the Festival yesterday was a bag of kettle corn. I walked around for about 40 minutes and checked in on the sights and then rested for a few minutes and walked around again. It was nice to get some activity in.

Today my boyfriend and I went to the Rennisance Festival. I love this festival but it does not change much from year to year. We walked around for about 5 hours today off and on. We got to watch people on horses jousting. We got to see some women belly dancing but mostly we just walked around looking at all the arts and crafts. My favorites included some necklaces and some of the very pretty dresses they have. There was one women dressed with a white dress and she had a blue corset on top. It was so very pretty I wanted to steal it. We also saw this dude dressed up as a barbarian. He had on this really really short skirt which kind of made me chuckle along with some kick ass fur boots and a mask. The odd part is he did not even work at the festival.

We ended up buying a Beowolf dragon necklace and some incesnce to burn. I enjoyed smelled all the candles and incesnce my favorite smell by far was midnight rainfall. It was a cross between the smell of autumn leaves and the smell in the air right before a rain storm. I can not wait to burn that one. We ate pretzels and beef jerky and just hung out for a while. My boyfriend and I tried out hand at some knife tossing as well as some dart throwing. My boyfriend only managed to stick one knife in the wall but it was cool none the less.

This coming week the boyfriend and I are going to Moutaineer and Cleveland to Celebrate our 3 long years together. I am happy to have him in my life. I love him a whole lot.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a good week. Till next time,

~*Cyn*~

( Progress Photo Under Cut )

(I am enjoying my hard work)

I hope you enjoy!

~*Cin*~

I must say it feels really weird to say I am once again a college student. It is something I am very much looking forward to though. I start class on Sept 3rd and will be going Weds nights from 6 to 9:15. My hope is to be able to get some rest the night before as my bed time is somewhere between 9 and 10 on most nights. Early to bed early to rise I suppose. This time my college experience will be doing something for purely educational purposes instead of seeking knowledge in a field of interest to build my career. I fell into a job I love at a great company now it is time to go back and get some framework and knowledge to do my job with more understanding and more efficiency. In a few years I hope to obtain a certificate or a degree in Accounting but right now taking things slow is the best way to go.

With my recent health scare I finally feel like I am making progress in my whole battle with maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I joined Weight Watchers online and have been tracking my points for about two weeks. I have managed to loose 4 pounds since I started which is good for me. I cut out almost all non water beverages from my life and have replaced one meal a day with a salad. I also have replaced most white bread/flour substances with wheat. I have learned: Small steps will lead to long term success with me. I am entering this battle with a determination I have never had before.

I can not believe summer is coming to an end already. There is still a lot I want to do before the weather changes but saving money to go away takes top priority over everything else right now. I want/need/even desire a vacation even if it is just a week end trip with the man I love. He and I are planning a little get away to celebrate our three years of being together. These past three years have not always been easy but in the end all the struggles have been worth it as he honestly makes me feel whole. There have been many a time when either one of us could of thrown in the towel on this relationship as we have done in the past but there is something about each other that keeps us working/fighting and communicating to make each day together better. I hope our trip to Chicago is relaxing/refreshing and romantic.

I am going to go relax a little and enjoy the bit of free time I am going to have before Sept kicks in and our lives get super duper busy again. Take care everyone and remember if you need anything I am a phone call or an email away.

~*Cin*~

It has been a while since I updated so I thought I would check in quickly. Lets examine the three M's.
Movies: (X-files & The Dark Knight)
Music: (Rascal Flatts)
Medical: (Many tests including an MRI)

First we shall briefly discuss the summers big movies the X-files and the Dark Knight. I can not say enough about the Dark Knight to do it justice. I absolutely loved this movie with ever fiber of my being and can not wait to see it again. BALE was incredible. Heath Ledger WOW could that have been a better acting job. My favorite line of the movie was when he asked the mobsters do you want to see a magic trick? I can make this pencil dissapear. I thought that was really out of control and funny. I also thought it was interesting seeing him in a candy stripper outfit. If by some struck of laziness or disinterest you for some reason have not seen this movie yet! SHAME ON YOU!!! GET OFF THE COUCH AND GO SEE IT NOW!!

( MORE THOUGHTS UNDER CUT )

Things to look forward to:
Vacation to Chicago (hopefully)
3 year anniversary with the one I love
Going back to College to get a degree in Accounting
Trip to Seven Springs
Finally winning my battle with my weight to become a healthier me
and of course RASCAL FLATTS!


Till next time,
~*Cyn*~


P.S. I started painting again (here is a glimpse at my painting half done)

Its time to check in again. Things have been so crazy around here lately and I am glad to finally have a moment to rest and reflect. Since my last blog I have been to about 4 baseball games, have gone to two of my friends children's first birthday parties and done so much more stuff I can not remember it all.

(check out some pictures here:)

.

( A recap of the ER and my black jack experience under cut )

Over the past few months I have making changes in my life. My life while full of love had been lacking something. One big change lead to a few other small changes in my life and I can honestly say I am happy with the way things are starting to develop. I am honestly the happiest I have been in years. The hockey team I love with every fiber of my being is currently 4 wins away from dancing with Lord Stanley :-). I am sorry to all you other sports fans out there but there is just something so freaking special about a team winning the stanley cup. If you are not true hockey fan I am not sure you really appreciate what it all truly means. I wont get on my soap box about the fair weather fans because I have already been down that path but for those 12,000 of us Penguin fans who showed up even when the team was SHIT this is for you. This is for those fans who went game in and game out when this was the worst team in the league and stayed till the end not because you had to but because you wanted to. This is your time to celebrate Enjoy it. To you bang wagon fans I hope this time you stick around a little longer then a year or two because you are missing out on an incredible sport YOU DUMBASS!!!


( RANT ABOUT MY MCL INJURY (Read at Your Own Risk !! )
I think it about time I go spend some quality time with an ice pack.

Best Wishes to everyone Till next time

and GO PENS!

~Cyn~

BRING ON THE FINALS!!!

:0)

Lets GO PENS!

Make a wish and place it in your heart, anything you want, everything you want. Do you have it? Good now believe it can come true! You never know when the next wish will come true, but if you believe that it is right around the corner and you open your heart and mind to the possiblity of it, to the certainity of it, you might just get the thing you are wishing for. The world is full of magic you just have to believe in it. So make your wish do you have it? Good now believe in it with all your heart.

I heard this quote and really enjoyed it.

*Holds onto my wish :-) *

When I started to express my feelings to my boyfriend I was unhappy in our current living space, I never realized how truly unhappy I was. Like any relationship my unhappiness made my bf unhappy. We would bicker over the little things a little more often and just cringe every night the weather was cold. After ordering our second shipment of heating Oil, we made the decision to move. As happened one time before, I started looking for perspective places to live and started making phone calls to set up appointments. We found a place rather quickly. A lovely three bedroom townhouse in the North End of town, which I fell in love with almost instantly. We moved to a place with a small town feel but close to downtown Pittsburgh. We are essentialy 30 minutes from just about everything.

We had to wait roughly five weeks from finding our new home to actually moving in. We spent long weekends packing up our lives into boxes and preparing to relocate. I found things I forgot I had and I also got rid of things I never used or wanted to see again. We made our move across town on March 15th and my life has been so different since then. I know what you are thinking how can a move only twenty/thirty minutes from your home make such a difference.
( More Under the CUT!!! )( Don't miss the rest! )

I have been online now for several years and have seen many internet friends here come and go. I have made some good long lasting friendships from from my internet experience and they have surpassed anything I could ever possibly imagine. One such friend and I had lost touch and it made me very sad. I have had my phone crash so I lost all of my contact numbers and contact information. Since I started dating my current boyfriend I have spent less and less time on yahoo so I never really chat anymore like I used to. I was bored one night and logged onto my yahoo and that is when it happened. I saw the name as online for the first time in almost a year and half. I paused remembering all the good times and bad I had shared with this person and I knew what I had to do I had to find out if they were really there or if this was just some fluke. Turns out my bud was online and we sort of picked up right where we left off in our friendship two years ago. I have missed him a great deal over the past two years but I am very happy he has reentered my life as messed up as it has been over the past two weeks.

I will spare you all the boring details of the drama that has been my life the past few days and just focus on today. It should wrap up the adventures I have been through. I had planned to go to work a little early since I was going to need to leave to make my foot doctors appointment today. I go outside and place my bags in the car and attempt to start it. It makes this grinding noise but wont start. I have had more problems with my car since I paid it off then I have ever had with any car. UGH!!! I put that problem aside wake up ralphie and head to work late. I thought I can deal with all of this after work and try to go about my day. I went to get a can of tea out of the vending machine and it would not take my money. Then I went to get swedish fish out of the other machine and it said make another selection. I was starting to get irrated with my day and headed back upstairs when it happened. I heard this popping sound and had a really sharp pain in my knee. I have a fucked up knee and I knew damn well it dislocated itself temporary. It has been very painful the rest of the day and once I get the car drama straightened out I will deal with knee problem.

Lost story short I am sitting here writing a blog after my car has been towed 30 some miles to my parents house for repairs. A knee which hurts really really bad and makes me limp around and the unsettled feeling that dust has yet to settle. I guess when you prepare the worst the worst is not as bad as you think it will be. I have learned through these things that you can only take things day by day and deal with each problem as they come. My new motto has been one problem at a time and I deal with the problem which is most pressing at the moment and it has worked fairly well.

I am done rambling and now I feel better since I cleared my head.

YAY!!!

~Cyn~

I have so many thoughts running through my mind I have no idea where to begin. Do I start with work and all the craziness that goes on there? Do I start with life and all the impending changes where are set to being soon. Do I start with my favorite sport of hockey and all the injuries and illness that has caused it to be a wacky adventure or do I simply just *sigh*

Lets start with work: Work has been so stressfull lately. I work in the accounts payable department and there are days I think I am in over my head. I do not have an accounting degree so I guess I lack some basic knowledge that I should have. I do however understand construction and there are days I feel that is enough along with the fact I am a quick learner. Then there are those days I feel so overwhelmed and so split in two that I want to scream. I am always extremely busy and it seems trying to solve some sort of dilemia. I used to have a helper who was not worth a damn now I have a helper who is worth a damn but it still is sometimes a struggle. I guess I just do not like having to rely on other people to get a job done. I always fear that other person will drop the ball but then I get spread to thin and I make stupid mistakes which I keep doing and which is not good and does not bode well with the boss. I need to regroup and find my focus again so I can be the employee I know I can be. I am just not sure how to do that with so much on my mind.

I have started to look for a new place to live. I have finally accepted the fact I am not happy where I live mostly because of location location location. The problem there is the man I love does not share my opinion he is happy here and is not really wanting to move but has been trying to accept the fact we are going to move. I guess in the long run we are going to again sacrifice one person's happiness for the others. Hopefully we can find a fairly neutral location we can both "live with". Moving is never a fun task and I am certainly not looking forward to packing and unpacking but what can you do other then get rid of half your shit.

The bonus of moving is last time I moved I lost 20 lbs so I guess you can always look on the bright side. I wish I could work out more but I live over a half hour from the gym I belong to and I am still having problems with my plantar fascitis. I went to the podiatrist and they gave me a lovely cortisone shot in my foot and that was supposed to help but all it did was make things worse for three days and then nothing. I have a follow up appointment on Thursday but I am not really seeing there to be any resolve to this issue. I hope one day there will be but who knows.

My final though hinders on the Penguins. I love hockey but I seem to loose touch with it slightly when I am not a season tix holder. I am not one this season and at times it has been a blessing and at others I miss it so. I miss sitting at games cheering on my team. The amount of injuries going around I am not sure the Penguins are going to make the playoffs. A part of me hopes they dont so that some of the bandwagon asshole will finally go away but you can not prevent that shit no matter how hard you try.

I guess all we can do is take life day by day and not worry about what tomorrow will bring because tomorrow is not promised. I just wish I had some kind of idea what tomorrow will bring because then I can put aside some of the stressed of today.

Thanks for listening,
~Cin~

Oh how long has it been since I blogged. I think around Xmas. I have found out since that time I have fallen in love. You are probally saying to yourself well you have a boyfriend how can you just have fallen in love well I will tell you I fell in love with POPCORN!!!. Does it not look lovely? Some butter topping maybe some cheese flavor or caramel. A nice fluffy semi-low calorie snack. What more could you ask for? Can popcorn keep you warm at night? Well I bet if you climbed into the popper it possibly could. I know I have gone crazy! I have even been accused of steering the boyfriend to the wrong theatre just so I can buy popcorn from the one who has the freshest best tasting kind. I would never do something like that. :-) One day my love will end and I will need to say goodbye to such a good friend. A friend that is there to laugh with us, cry with us, and always fills up my belly. So here is to you my one and only POPCORN!!!!
( More rambling under the cut but not about my favorite snack )

It is that time again to reflect on this year and look forward to the new one approaching. Time seems to go by so fast anymore and things have changed more in this past year then they ever have before. I can not believe how many things we have tried to pack in this entire year before it ended. It seems like every single solitary weekend we had plans to go here or go there or attend some function. It was crazy for the longest time. I have actually started to cherish the weekends when we sit home and do relaxing activities such as reading or watching tv/movies.( A retrospect of the past year behind the cut )

I was given an Ipod by Santa for Xmas and I have been asking questions to my very smart bf but since he has no experience with Ipods he told me to ask someone who does. So if anyone out there has an Ipod maybe you can answer my questions?
1. Can you transfer videos from Limewire into the ipod? I converted them into the Ipod format but they have no sound.
2. Do you primarily use Itunes for all your music or do you get the music from other sources and load it onto the Ipod?
3. Can I rip movies/tv shows into the Ipod like I can Cd's if so yes it it complicated?
I think three questions is enough for me thanks for all your help.

:-)
I hope everyone had a Happy Holiday back to work for me.

~Cin~
life update blog to come later

So much has happened since my last blog. We have been on a work trip to Seven Springs, been scared at haunted houses, had a blast at a Bachelorette party for a good friend, went to Kennywood for one final ride before the season ended, solved a murder mystery dinner, and just spent good times with friends. I think that is a quick summary of my life in October.

It all brings us to this lovely month of November when the craziness started again. Due to my friends wedding next weekend we moved up birthday dinner a week. Birthday dinner has been an annual tradition with my friends for the last six years only this year we went to Bucca Di Beppo for dinner. We met up at Station Square around 7:00pm and had a very nice dinner. I enjoyed spending time with my friends because I do not get to see them as often as I would like so I really cherish this special time of year. After dinner we went to Bar Louie for some drinks and conversation. We ended up coming home around midnight and I was so tired I just went to bed.

Saturday I had to go pick up my bridesmaid dress and help my friend do some wedding stuff. It wont be long now till she get married and I could not be happier for her. We came home and then went over the bf's friends house to play cards. We played Fluxx and Apples to Apples which was a test for an event we are planning in December. I will tell you all a little more about that later.

Today we did absolutely nothing other then vegg out. I have four days of work till I get a vacation and it is not coming at a better time. My job finally let go the guy who was working with me who I will simple say needed to buy a clue and get some social skills. Enough said on that it is in the past and I am looking forward. They hired his replacement and she started on friday. I like her so far but I still will be a little stressed this week with trying to train her getting all my work done and feeling relaxed before vacation. I can not wait I am off work starting this Friday until the Monday after the Thanksgiving. I am hoping to have lunch next week with a friend I havent seen in several months as well as a friend I havent had time to see in weeks.

Things have been so busy and that is not looking to change until after the holidays. I enjoy days like today and I am glad I sat around and chilled all day. I did though get to spend some time with my friend and it was nice. I miss just hanging out. I am going to enjoy the rest of my relaxing night and I will keep everyone posted on how things are going.

I will post some pics from the wedding when I have them.

Till then hope everyone is well I know I am just crazy busy.

~Cin~

Where to begin?
How about with a photo of a very unhappy bro?



What lead to this angry look? Time with his sis?
Time away from home? NOOOO Just the string of bad luck surrounding our adventure together today.

I was driving home today from a bridal show I attended with a friend from work. We had fun there testing all the chocolate fountains and entering all the free trip contests. It was a nice day outside so I was planning on coming home and chilling on the front porch and enjoying the day. I called my friend Mike (aka bro) on the way home. He asked if I wanted to stop by and see the new truck he bought. I said sure I am going to be driving right past your house anyway. I only planned to stay maybe a half hour or an hour to catch up and then was going to head home. Mike and I just started talking and lost all track of time. I called the bf to let him know why I was running late and that I would be leaving soon.

I walked outside and put the windows down in the car but I never took the keys out of the ignition. The fan was running in my car and I was standing there talking to Mike for about another hour. I had fully intended on leaving in 15 minutes. Well as you can imagine when I tried to start my car my battery was dead dead dead!!!!.

After searching for jumper cables unsuccesfully we finally decided to call Ralphie to see if he had any. He did but guess where they were at our house. So Mike offered to run me home to pick up the jumper cables. It made the most sense. He got to see the big hole in our bathroom from where the toilet (pics to come tomorrow) used to be and we chatted for a few minutes before heading back to his house. We got about half way back to Mikes house when we ran out of gas. I never laughed at such bad luck in my life. I called Ralphie and I couldnt tell him we ran out of gas because I was laughing to hard. It was funny but mostly ironic. He quickly got in his car to come out to rescue us.

About 5 gallons of gas and two hours later we finally gave up on fixing Mike's car and used my AAA to call and have it towed to his house. We waited about 15 minutes for the tow truck. He walked over and starting asking Mike questions about why his truck wouldnt start and what he thought might be wrong with it. After a whole 3 minutes the driver said well maybe the fuel pump isnt working. He layed on the ground banged on the fuel line a few times and Mikes truck started right up. We laughed at the easy fix to such a time consuming problem.

We loaded up in the cars and headed back to Mike's house less then five minutes away. I guess we pissed around for long enough that my battery had recharged itself because when I got in my car to start it it started right up. We all had one final laugh to ourselves as Mike asked that question repeated: Why when I beat things do they not work? This leads to too many wrong comments in my mind to mention but is very funny.

After some dinner at Primnati Brothers I finally made it home around 10 pm to relax and unwind from a long day.

I just want to say Thank you AAA for making us feel like such idiots :-P

Saturday we went to a Festival so check back tommorow for pics!!!

~Cin~