Free Time

I'm sitting here at work in a different office than I am normally in. I've been filling in for almost two weeks now and next week will be my last. Yay! I miss my old office to say the least.

I did something pretty retarded last weekend, I smoked a few cigarettes while I was out and now I can't stop coughing! It's so gross. I don't know if I'm still getting the crap out of my lungs or if I'm coming down with some type of cold. I don't even know why I smoke cigarettes when I drink. Before, it would heighten the buzz and now it's more of a time filler while I'm out. Never, ever again...until the next time...ha. Sike no, I really hate the way it makes me feel.

The girls and I are trying to figure out how to get the Huddle part of Google+ to cooperate so we can all text each other. It seems as the minutes pass, we are getting the hang of it. Paula and Nance do not have AT&T so they can't respond to group texts using their phones. Well, they can, but it's not the same. Huddle will change that! I swear, the people behind Google are geniuses!

There's so much going on in our lives, it's crazy!!! I have a feeling if I were to put it all in this post, it's gonna get pretty lengthy. Oh, well.. here goes...

This past May, we all went to M I A M I for Gina's bachelorette party and it was grand! Sooo many memories...the first few that come to mind are...getting drunk and being VIP in a club that looked like the inside of a trailer...Tina getting drunk off half a pina colada...weirdos starting at me and Anh through our hotel window while we were getting ready....SEX HAIR....killing Gina's electronics....laying on the beach, being the biggest group of females there...GREAT service at the French restaurant way off of the strip....I loved it and Gina's gonna be a beaauuuuuuuuutiiiiiiiiiiiful bride! I can't wait! The day is gonna be here before we know it! What's our grand entrance gonna be, guys?!

We are all going to the beach this weekend and I'm so excited! We've been trying to get to the beach forever and now it's finally happening. I'm uber sad that Onslow isn't happening this year, though. :( Friends, please keep the strawberries far away! Hehe, sike, they don't make my throat swell up anymore! Onslow is always a good time. Memories of some type of "animal" that took a dump on our back porch, singing La Bouche in my car...the boys inflicting pain on one another...the LOVE DECK....plucking...armpit...hair....taco night...

Nancy is in her final stages of pregnancy and I can't wait to meet Peter Dezmond! I've predicted that he'll come out of the oven, perfectly cooked, on August 15th! I so remember the night we found out. NYE and I was like, "no, you're lying!" and she kept saying, "yeah, I am, I'm not drinking, you'll see.." Andrew Jackson will have a baby buddy. :)

Here's a story for y'all... I've been taking things slow in my current relationship and focusing on work and school and my first priority. My aunt and uncle.......text me and ask if I want to meet one of their friends? This dude is about 35 or so (Ew) and he lives in San Fran. He's well off and he's good looking, so I've heard. Um, sounds appealing if: 1. I was THIRTY. 2. If I were interested in being set up 3. If I was even LOOKING. They said it doesn't hurt to meet new people....we'll see.

My car was towed this morning to the body shop after sitting in my driveway, undriveable for a week. I'm telling you, Alfa Vision Insurance...I am not happy with them. They were very slow to make any progress with my claim. $3500 or so in damages. Hopefully my car isn't in there for too long. I miss her!

Allison Vu will be back in town on Tuesday night after being on vacation in Colorado for a month. I miss her and can't wait to see that evil child soon!

SO MANY BIRTHDAY's IN THE MONTH OF AUGUST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Counting down...

We are nearing the end of week 33 in this adventure of a pregnancy! I feel like a whale. No really, I feel like a fat cow every day lol. I know it's all for a good cause, but man...it's not easy carrying around all this extra weight. I already love food too much as a non-preggo, so me being preggo + food = fat cow. The first and second trimesters were luckily easy for me and I was right on target with my weight gain. But this last trimester, oo wee! As the baby is growing, so is his appetite!

Oh yeah, I said "his" appetite, and not "her". Since I last blogged, we didn't know the sex of the baby. Baby Pope is indeed an ittle boooy - I clearly saw his ball balls and wee wee on the sonogram (and have a printout if anyone wants to see) lol. At first, coming up with his name was difficult. We knew we wanted to keep his middle name as "Allen" because that's Brice's and his dad's middle name. We had "Peter" as a backup first name in honor of Brice's dad but weren't sure because we also wanted the baby to have his own name. I always threw out random names based on random things I came upon, like if Brice was skateboarding and did an ollie, I'd ask, how about "Ollie Allen Pope"? Or I saw the DVD cover of Wall-e at the RedBox - how about "Wall-e Allen Pope"? I did this so often that Brice got tired of it and said, why don't we just name him "scooter" or "washer and dryer Allen Pope"?!? He thought I was just picking names based on every single item I saw. But I wasn't, I swear! Eventually, we made a name list after having read a name book (thanks to Co Sof!) and one name we both had listed was "Desmond". We like Desmond from Lost, especially when he says "brotha". And Desmond is Brice's late Uncle Glen's middle who was also named after Brice's great grand-dad. It is also Zayn's middle name. So then we threw out combos like "Desmond Allen Pope", "Peter Desmond Pope", "Desmond Peter Pope", ah ha! Peter Dezmond Allen Pope!! Peter for Brice's dad. Dezmond for Zayn (with the "Z" in honor of Zeezo), Uncle Glen, and Great grand-daddy. Allen for Brice and his daddy. Now we just gotta incorporate a Viet name - Peter Dezmond Banh Mi Allen Pope - SIIIIKE!!

Having Baby Pope's name out of the way is a relief! Now we just gotta prep for the baby shower =) and more..! I will be right about 9 months when the party occurs. Oh me oh my! I hope I don't pop during the celebration! Everyone keeps asking me, "are you having twins?" Or they say, "you look like you're about to pop!" I'm about to pop you in yo face if you don't shut up!! For some reason, it upsets me when people make such comments. I feel insulted like they're saying I'm fat - I mean I know I'm pregnant but am I that big? UGH! I just have to keep reminding myself that it's for the baby...it's gonna be over soon...a big belly is a beautiful baby belly...

Out of all the trimesters, I'd say this one is the hardest. It's when the stretch marks appear, your body totally is not the same, you get cankles, your boobs are the size of pumpkins (at least mine are - no bueno), you have some sleepless nights, you have some nights where 10 hours wasn't enough, you are going to the bathroom constantly, you can't get away with not having maternity clothes like you did in the first two trimesters, your movements are limited (like trying to get your phone when it falls under the seat in the car - Kilo can tell you haha), and I can go on and on...

BUT, there are UP's about being preggo too! Everyone is extra nice to you. Everyone wants to feed you (really they bring you food and say it's for the baby) and then they can't judge because you're growing a baby hehe. The UP's list is longer, but really, the best part is feeling the baby - feeling the kicks, the punches, the movements, seeing your belly make waves and pops, and just knowing there's life inside of you. I love going to my appointments and seeing the baby on the sonogram, hearing the baby's heartbeat...something weird that happens but I love is when the baby has hiccups! I love it when Brice puts his face on my belly to listen and talk to the baby too. And I just like rubbing my belly all day - it just makes me smile =D

Kudos to all the moms out there. I haven't even given birth yet, which I hear is THE hardest part of it all. But I also hear it's the most memorable thing about this long journey. That'll be another story...(and more!)

Introducing: The Boss & Nel

I recently got transferred to another position. I’m now working for an agency, which I will not specify for reasons that I learned during my security briefing. So, just playing it safe. Speaking of my security briefing, please take note: don’t ever think that homeless man you walk by everyday is really just a homeless man. Just saying.
Working here has been amazing so far. Well, amazing compared to where I was before. I love my boss, but I got pretty tired of being his personal assistant. He was annoying and always all up in my business. Yes, a micro-manager and not to mention, NEEDY. I couldn't even go to the bathroom for five minutes without coming back to more than one person making me feel like I was in trouble because he couldn’t find me.
“Were you looking for me?”
“Yes, where were you?”
“In the bathroom…”
“Oh…Ok, can you clean my desk?”
Seriously? So when he told me that he had a new position for me, I was on board before he even told me what it was. I don’t think I even asked until I was waiting on my security stuff to pass. He’s not all bad though. The Boss is my homie. He taught me all he could about the industry and let me participate and work on things I otherwise wouldn’t have had the chance to without years of experience. He was also very understanding of the fact that my responsibilities of being a mother to my 4 (almost 5…omg) year-old daughter sometimes interfered with my timeliness and attendance. I was late at least three times a week due to a fashion argument. Thank goodness for uniforms next year! Yes, apparently pre-schoolers judge each other by what they wear. It’s pretty sad.
Speaking of that crazy girl, Nel got accepted to the catholic school at our parish. Let me tell you, signing her up was like applying to college. We did the tour, filled out her extensive application for admissions, then dropped it off and had to wait in suspense for months for an acceptance packet to come in the mail. So, when we got it, we were so excited! And when I say we, I mean my husband and I. I think this was her reaction... “Cool. Can I have a piece of gum?”

Metro. Love. Sushi.

I loooove all of the posts that my girls have submitted thus far. I can't believe I didn't even know we had a joint blog until today!

It's a beautiful Thursday in DC and I can't wait to leave the office so I can... TAKE THE BLUE LINE HOME! ... I hate the metro. It gives me a headache and people do the weirdest things on there. This one girl yesterday thought it was her private sanctuary to pick little shits off her face. It was beyond gross. Although, people watching is always fun. I prefer the orange line to the blue line as the blue line is filled with old people, and the orange line offers a more diverse age group in which I could possibly stare at hotties while waiting to arrive at my stop. It's a fantasy, I guess, because I've never really happened upon anyone worth oogling at while at/on the metro.

On to more serious topics.. my life has really gone in so many directions in the last 7 or so years. Why 7? Because that's when it all started. I lived beyond my means, loved someone who was addicted to meth, never tried hard enough in school and ultimately that's lead me to the place I am in today: Humbled. I'm paying for my irresponsiblity today and while sometimes it gets overwhelming, I had to go through this to learn that it's OK to fall and to get back up again.

It's funny where life has taken me. Never, ever in a million years did I think he'd be back in my life... the love of my life is no longer doing meth. I am so happy when I'm with him. I've never felt like this with anyone before, not even with my most recent ex. It's hard to trust again, to risk putting myself back into the exact same position I was in not too long ago. He is a completely different person now. The kind of person I wish he had been all along. I know that we needed to go through this ordeal to make a relationship in the future a healthy one. While I have no idea if it will work out for us in the end, I am preparing myself for the best and the worst outcome. While I love him to pieces, I have to be prepared to have my heart broken again. Could this be my downfall? Believing that the one I love most won't hurt me again?

Well, that was most revealing! Tunnel vision, I may add because so many great things have happened in that time frame, also. I have read and re-read what I posted about my relationship and I want to delete it, but I think it'd be good to just let it out and leave it.

ANYWAYZ! If you have not been to Maté in Georgetown yet, I suggest you go! It's not the best sushi (BEACUSE THAT TITLE BELONGS TO MIYAGI IN MCLEAN (BEST SPECIALTY ROLLS, EVAR)) but their Corazon Roll is most delicious! It's the sushi roll topped with a slice of strawberry. It has a slice of scallop underneath the strawberry and inside the roll is: plantain, jalapeno, and some type of white fish! The surrounding: spicy tuna rolls, volcano rolls, and salmon sashimi... *drools

Now, I'm hungry... I have a delicious frozen pizza waiting for me.

PS - I can't wait to see you guys tomorrow! I want warm flourless chocolate waffle. Now.

Who Wants To Get Insane?! DIG DEEP!

Nothing like seeing that ONE disgusting ass picture of yourself in your WTF-WAS-I-MOTHER-EFFING-INHALING days (or in my case, two or three or four and then some pictures) to really boost your confidence. Did I swallow an entire cow for breakfast that day?! How the hell did I let these slip through my strict “NO DOUBLE CHIN PHOTOS ALLOWED” policy on Facebook? Needless to say… UNTAG!

Luckily that same day I was wallowing in self pity and untagging my fat pictures was the day Sergeant M texted to force, I mean, ask if I would be interested in doing a nine week work out plan called "Insanity" with her and if I thought the other girls would be in. I did a follow up text response containing a mad face (you know, the red one -- the ultimate mad face), a broken heart, a crying-laughing face (hahaha! How dare this fool think I'm going to work out six days a week for nine weeks! Hilarious! The nerve!), a dead face with X's for eyes and the gun pointing to its head (that would be me after the first day of a work out, I mean it's called INSANITY for fucks sake) -- beer bottles, and poop (for good measure) -- you know, all the real cute emojis.

She emailed the girls and discussed a new workout routine that required nothing other than DVD’s, a strict diet and your own self motivation. No weights, resistance bands or other equipment was needed; you used your own weight as a means of gym equipment. She provided the DVD’s and those willing to join were encouraged to group text and picture message exactly what we were eating throughout the day, any time/anything we ate, check-in via FourSquare upon doing the work out, send pictures of your body throughout the course of 9 weeks this program lasts and email results of a fit test to everyone – you know, not so everyone can tease and make you feel guilty for eating a doughnut, two croissants drenched in butter, McDonald’s breakfast (“Let me get a sausage egg  mcmuffin, please, with an OJ, oh! And throw in a hashbrown in there for me! Wait, TWO hashbrowns for a $1?! Make that TWO hashbrowns, I mean who can pass up on a deal like that?!”), down a Starbucks frap and maybe a low-fat yogurt thrown in the mix to make yourself feel better about eating all that for a semi-large breakfast in one sitting, but so we can motivate one another to eat better.

If it wasn’t for Sergeant M and Second-In-Command A, I probably would have wasted a thousand dollars signing up for Lifetime Fitness, jogged for 20 minutes,  do some time with the free weights, looking like some inept asshole. I would have bought a slew of healthy food at Harris Teeter. I would have signed up for a two year subscription for Fitness magazine so I could do whatever “Get flat abs in 2 hours!” exercise and spent a ridiculous amount of money on iPhone apps to track my exercise and count calories. Only to get distracted and inhale a few Big Macs for a midnight snack and give up.

Obviously, I don’t have the discipline to a.) have an eating disorder or b.) get “addicted to the gym” (because I mean, really, who the eff really gets addicted to the gym? I’d rather be addicted to ice cream, Nuetella and croissants) so I just want to say a deep, heartfelt THANK YOU to my INSANITY GIRLS. If it weren’t for you girls, I would still be fat, unmotivated, eating disgustingly, did I mention fat and the owner of three chins. You girls really keep me inspired and motivated. I have NEVER, EVER been able to complete a mile without stopping and walking (I mean, I didn’t have a 14 minute mile in high school or anything…) the remaining 3/4 of it. But thanks to you all and insanity, I was able to run two miles without stopping! We completed a freaking EIGHT K. FIVE FREAKIN’ MILES! In less than an hour! Okay, so I may have skipped a block or two, but whatever, N parked like 18 blocks away from Freedom Plaza and denied my request to cab it, so that counts for something, right? Never would I have ever seen myself doing an 8K. Now Runamuck’s 5K is vastly approaching in two weeks and I’m actually eggcited for it? Who would have ever effin’ thought? Sure as hell not me. I’ve been disgustingly sick for a month and skipped out on working out for two weeks and wasn’t keeping up with Insanity but now I’m getting back into the swing of things and it surprisingly feels good, you know, aside from the soreness that inevitably comes along with Shaun T’s ridiculous work outs. THANKS GIRLS! Can’t wait to cross that finish line with yall on the 30^th! <3 I love yall! (And I still love you skinny bitches that aren’t doing Insanity and eat in front of us while watching us dig deep with Shaun T. And no, I’m not referring to YOU AT ALL, BESTIE!)

Things I'm Currently Obsessed With:

Vietnamese Coffee: Spam gave me like 50+ packets of when I stopped by to see the kids on Saturday (and NOT hang out with Pam, duh). I will need to either go over there more to steal some when I run out or buy my own. PS: I am obsessed with penguins, as well! I love my coffee mug!

Pinkberry. O M G. D & I are OBSESSED.

Words With Friends (WWF) -- Play me! Regina Rose. I have a love/hate relationship with this game. I get utterly obsessed and stay up all hours of the night to come up with creative ways to use all my letters then get bored and lose all my games due to lack of moves. Playing with N before he gave up was hilarious. He would lose so badly. He played words like "cat", "this", and most recently "puppy" for 17 points and he was talking shit. "BOOM! mother fucker!" he said. Meanwhile I play words illustrated in the picture above and he's still talking shit? SJ, initially playing with you was funny. You would lose but be like, "technically, I am WINNING, because I play really fast." N feels the same way. I don't have the heart to tell him speed in a game akin to Scrabble isn't necessarily the champion way of going at it. He's really good at this motorcycle game called "lanesplitter" (go figure, he is a rider! But SPEED is the winning factor at least!), though! That's also a fun game that he actually beats me in. But WWF? Bless his heart.

Bake Shop Red Velvet = HEAVEN

Instagram App! <3 Love it. Follow me @ reginarosek.

N's parents new puppy. Her name is Keiko -- means happy child in Japanese. She is absolutely the happiest little puppy in the universe. She rules all that encompasses in the T household. And who can say no to her floppy little ears and fat little belly?!

And lastly, I am IN LOVE with Miguel's song -- Sure Thing. For the girls heading up to NYC with me next weekend -- I WILL be playing this song on repeat the entire drive there AND back, so prepare yourselves. I don't want to hear any complaints, as I am forewarning you all well in advance. Yes, Bestie, just like when I was obsessed with Natalie's -- Going Crazy. I have already conferred with DMX and he is OK with this song playing on repeat for 8 hours.

Beautiful Friday / Update on Baby Pope

It's a beautiful day! Partly sunny and 74 degrees in the middle of February! =D (smiles all around) I have one more hour left before I get off to start my weekend, but I can't seem to concentrate on doing any more work. I wish I could be outside right now, soaking up the sun. And oh how I wish spring/summer were here! Hopefully it'll still be warm by the time I am off. Ironically, we're gonna get hit with some snow and 30 degree weather on Tuesday. Wutdahew? I swear...global warming...we're gonna die in 2012! Well, hopefully NOTSOMAUCH because I wanna live to see my iddle baby grow up!

So yesterday I had another routine prenatal checkup. As of today, I am 14 weeks and 5 days along!! My doc was able to do the ultrasound on mah belleh aka my booty do - instead of sticking that "dildo" thingy up my punani, which btw this Filipina nurse at Kaiser Springfield is a purve about, but in a funny way, I guess lol.

Side track story: so at my very first prenatal visit, this nurse was putting the condom on and lubing up the ultrasound probe. As she was doing so, she says to Brice "Oy, dis wohn por her por wite now, but you can be por layduh" (Brice and I just laughed lol)...of course she had to be one of Spamela's peepohs! You perverted Filipinos you...haha

Back to my checkup from yesterday: so the sonogram showed that Baby Pope has grown oh so much! It has a huge belly, and a large brain - Mommy has been eating well, and reading before bed is hopefully paying off! Brice claims to have seen a large ding dong in the sonogram lol; he has sworn even since the first ultrasound that the baby is a boy and that he can clearly see the baby's large weeny lol. Anywho, we could see Baby Pope's tiny peet, and tiny arms - one of which it moved! And it looked as though the baby was sucking its thumb - ahh so cute! Its heart has always been easy to see (probably from all the love it's been getting, especially from Daddy, family, and friends); the doctor has always had good news about everything looking really healthy - I've really been trying to do what I can to ensure this is a good pregnancy (and in return, Baby Pope has been good to me - no morning sickness, no complications, no pains, not yet at least).

Being pregnant truly is a unique experience. It's so hard to explain - it's just weird, it's exciting, it's joyful, it's I don't know. Weird because something is growing inside of me. I know it's gonna be more weird once I can feel its movements, like a little alien dancing inside my body. It's exciting to follow the baby's growth and journey in my womb; it's gonna be even more of an adventure once it's outside of my womb! And it just makes me happy to see how others are happy about the whole situation too. I'm so fortunate and appreciative of the support system I have my from my baby daddy, most of my family, my friends, my coworkers, my job. I am sure it would be different if that support wasn't there. So I am thankful every day. And although Baby Pope can't say so yet, it is thankful too!

April 1, 2011 - We find out if Baby Pope really is a boy... or a girl!!

*SIGH...I gotta wrap things up now, but will sure to try my best to keep everyone posted on Baby Pope's progress!

So it's been awhile...

I can't believe it's been more than five (5) months since the last post (thanks Giiinuh for the birthday shout out! <3). Obviously we have not been keeping up with the blogging world like we originally intended to. Not sure what happened but to rectify the problem, I am contributing my first post. So some quick updates: one of us got pregnant (technically in 2010 but still...), one of us started her first post-college job, one of us traveled to the West Coast and one of us gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. Guess which one describes me, I'll give you a hint:

[personal photo]

Yup, I went to CALIFORN-I-A! Even though my event is not as monumental as the others, it actually holds a lot of meaning for me. You see, I've been dating O for a little over seven years and this trip marked our first successful out-of-state excursion involving the other person's family. In this case, it was with O's two older sisters, Ams and Rabs (not their real names BTW). You might wonder what took us so long to reach this stage in our relationship. And the answer is I don't know, it just felt like the right time. We don't set up different check points (consciously or subconsciously) that we must reach by a certain deadline. We're more of the go with the flow type and if it feels comfortable, like nothing is missing at the moment, why force ourselves to take the next step just because it's been X number of years? Having said that, I really am happy that we made it here and am grateful for Ams and Rabs for contributing to that transition. :)

So back to California... it was my second time visiting the state but it was the first time I got to explore Los Angeles. The city was nothing like I imagined it would be. The last time I was there, we spent one day in Hollywood and pretty much all I saw were tourists (myself included hah), overpriced souvenir shops and historic landmarks. It was like LA's version of Times Square. This time around, I got to see beyond Hollywood and really witnessed what LA has to offer. In no particular order, here are some of my favorite memories from the trip:
- biking through the Santa Monica Pier
- attempting to balance on the acrobatic bars at the original Muscle Beach (I figured my experience with yoga and pilates would help me balance but no such luck :P)
- trying Indonesian for the first time at The Grove (my lunch was served on a banana leaf!)
- feeling overwhelmed at Rodeo Drive (I mean seriously, it is a filthy filthy rich place)
- taking one too many pictures of palm trees
- Ams's spacious yet homely apartment in Pasadena
- meeting some veryyyy talented musicians and being a part of an impromptu jammin' session
- eating an actual homemade Japanese dinner in Little Tokyo
- ordering TONS and TONS of sushi at an all-you-can-order Japanese restaurant (red/white/black dragon rolls galore!)

Thinking back on my West Coast vacation really makes me yearn for another mini-getaway. Or at least, for summer to get here. Sighhh...