There are never enough hours in the weekend.

I'm still getting used to my contacts... still not a pro at putting them in/taking them out.  Usually I have one eye that's all bitchy and the other is just like, whatever man I can take it. 

I had class Friday night and we were let go after 35 minutes.  Usually that'd totally be a "woohoo" scenario, but gas isn't cheap! That was a waste of my time and money (in more ways than one).  If it weren't rush hour on my way there (and subsequently my way back this time) things wouldn't be as bad, but when I'm not able to just straight move... that's irritating.  Add to that the metric ton of anxiety that's just chilling on my shoulders and you have one very unhappy Cara.  Class that night made me realize how much closer all of the due dates for everything are.  I have TWO papers due the week of the 18th... TWO!  Totaling over 40 pages!  I'm sure I've mentioned this before-- but that's crazy talk!  So, I decided the only way I could possibly get all of this finished on time is to take a couple of days off of work-- all I have to do is grow the balls to go and tell my boss that is what I'm doing.  I don't know why that's so hard for me to do?  Oh well. 

Saturday I watched my godbebe all day.  She's so cute, but she was getting over being sick and was still congested... oh and was teething again.  My friend Catherine came with me, she's super fun.

Myself, Maddie, and Catherine.  That's not a black eye, it's her hair circling her eye!

Maddie had a lot of fun with Cath and her iPhone cuz she has sweet games.

Saturday night (after a mad dash to the mall and a quick nap) we went up to Baltimore for a surprise birthday party for our friend Sean.  It was sort of kiddie themed-- there was a s'mores cake (delicious- had no idea that could be done), decorate your own cookies, brownie, cupcakes, etc.  Oh and pin the beer on the Sean!

This frighteningly looks just like him.  Sean's gf went to art school, I think one of her friends did this.

Of course it had to be Natty Boh-- considering it's Sean's fav since moving to Charm City.  Speaking of which, this is the view from their pretty fly high rise.

Baltimore! Sorry for the shitty quality- taken on iPhone 3G.

Sunday I slept til 11 or 11:30!  It felt MARVELOUS and I declared the day "me day."  I was supposed to take care of all the things I needed to do which sounds redundant, but whatever.  All I really ended up doing was laundry, buying a baby shower gift, and grocery shopping.  I did however cook a fabulous meal for myself and my friend Danny.  His gf is out of town right now so I figured he might want a home cooked meal lol.  Ok and I have to admit I was a tad lonely, but whatever it worked out!  Haha.  Hung out with him, our friend Shan came over, drank a couple of beers/watched TV, I kicked them out and went to bed. 

That's all for now, have a great week everybody!

Eye can see!

So I went to the eye doc yesterday after work and let me just say that he was nothing short of amazing.  Every step of everything he did, he explained what he was doing and why.  It was so informative and awesome!  I actually found out that I am neither nearsighted nor farsighted, I just have the astigmatism.  Basically, my cornea is misshapen so when light goes through it doesn't reflect correctly out so it causes the world to look blurry... along with that blurriness comes terrible headaches and other things for straining the eyes and the brain to see clearly.  When all was said and done, I got my contacts!  I am a little jittery putting them in and taking them out still (ok maybe bc it hasn't even been 24 hours), but I love not having to wear glasses-- I can see everywhere I look, there are no smudges, I'm not self-conscious (well, one less thing to be self-conscious about haha), c'est magnifique! 

And I just figured out why my eyes are constantly burning out of my skull by the time I go home everyday... the fricken brightness on my monitors was almost all the way up!  Woooow, I'm special.

I have class tonight-- ze capstone!  Have to have my powerpoint presentation figured out, it can only be 3 minutes long... I don't think that will be too hard.  Hell I'll even barter with other people who want to take longer-- I'll give the run down of mine in 1.5 minutes. 

That's all for now!  Have a nice weekend!

3,2,1 Contacts!

Over the past couple of months I discovered how badly my sight has been deteriorating.  It's not AWFUL, but it's pretty bad.  So I think it was back in January I found glasses that I had gotten a couple of years ago, but never wore because they made me want to vomit (now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure the prescription was too strong).  However, now that it has been a couple of years, my eyes have gotten worse and it took almost no time to get used to wearing the glasses round the clock.  I have never ever ever liked wearing glasses.  There are a lot of people who can pull them off, I am not one of them.  Give me sunglasses, sure.  But regular glasses-- I look like the nerdiest of all nerds.  When I was 5 they told me I needed to wear glasses.  I got them, wore them for a couple days, and then who knows what happened to them.  They threatened me by saying they would make me wear an eye patch.  That never happened.  Then when I was 13 I went to see the optometrist or maybe it was an opthomologist (sp?) and he was like "wtf, you so don't need glasses!"  It took me a couple minutes to get out the door my grin was so large.. haha.  Since I have been in the workforce and thus posted up in front of a computer 5 out of 7 days of my life (for the past 3 and a half years), the eye sight has definitely dwindled, though it has put up a good fight for me.  I have astigmatism in both eyes.  Not cute.  Anyway, since I've been wearing the glasses I've been wishing for contacts so today I took a big girl pill and made an appointment! 

Getting ready to go out for a friend's birthday.

At the CAPS game for Shan's birthday.

Dork city!  Woohoo!  Ok, maybe I just need a friend to help pick out frames, but whatever, I'm totally stoked for contacts... I feel like I get my face back!  Now if anyone knows where to get them for cheap besides Costco-- I'm all ears.

Status Update

Sorry I've been off the scene for a minute.  I went to write so many times last week and just didn't.  Don't know what that was about.

So I weighed in today, and I gained 1 point something... honestly I think that's pretty good considering I drank myself silly on thursday, ate crap on friday, drank more beer on saturday/ chowed down on the PASTA BAR that was at my "little sister's" 21st birthday party.  Danielle, who I went to the condo with a couple weeks ago, is the mother of this girl... like I said they're all like family to me.  Oh and then Sunday I ate a jr. bacon cheeseburger from Wendy's and later some fries.  So yeah, a one point something gain is not too bad.  I'm still having a difficult time staying motivated... sometimes "being skinny!" just doesn't cut it.  LOL.  I need to get my ass back in the gym, was doing really well til I couldn't take the pain from my herniated discs.  Excuses, excuses... I'm going to be in pain forever, I need to just deal with it. 

As for school, my 10 page paper (technically no more than 12 no less than 8 page paper) has stuff on the eighth page, haha.  I obviously need to add more to it, but that will be a challenge considering i am having a hard enough time keeping my eyes open right this moment and I have class tonight.  Crap, I forgot to read... it's not like we've had 5 weeks or anything to read this chapter... yep, ridiculous.  I better have gotten an A on the midterm, though I doubt it.  *fingers crossed*  Then all I have left this semester is a 20 page paper for the Tuesday class, a final for the Monday class, and I need to finish my capstone paper.  This semester of 3 classes that I thought originally would make me suicidal hasn't been SO bad.  Ok back to the paper that's due tomorrow-- haha.  Umm, yeah.  Whatever y'all know I will get it done.  I always do.  I just hope it's up to this guy's standards... which I can't really tell.  What's weird is after reading through most of it the other day I was kind of like "wow, this is a good paper!" which I'm usually never like.  But, who knows?  Maybe it will earn me that A I so desperately want. 

Friend Makin' Monday: Survey!

Today's FMM, found on this here blog is a little survey of randomness.  Hope y'all enjoy!

1) What's your favorite brand of make-up? Are you loyal to one brand?  I am actually in a transition period for make-up.  Being 25 I am about to start buying the expensive stuff as opposed to the "cheap" stuff. 

2) What is the last thing you drank? Diet Pepsi

3) What's your favorite Girl Scout cookie? Tagalongs... you can NEVER go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate.

4) French Fries or Onion Rings? Ick-- I HATE onions with a passion... so I french fries it is!

5) Share something you've done in the last week that makes you proud of yourself. I wrote most of my paper on Saturday.  And I lost three pounds.  *cheese grin*

6) What is your favorite inexpensive indulgence? Music... like buying singles off of iTunes.

7) Are you currently reading a book? If so, which one? Nothing at the moment... le sigh.  That's what happens when I'm taking classes.

8) Do you prefer to text or talk? If I'm trying to tell a story and it's convenient I will call the person... or if I'm driving I want someone to call me or I'll call the person if they insist on having a conversation while I'm at the wheel.  I do enjoy texting.

9) Have you ever performed on stage? I've acted and I've sang and I've played the drums... but it's been at least since 12th grade.

10) Are you more likely to pick truth or dare? It depends who I'm around.  I like the easy out of truth, but sometimes I just like to mix it up and pick dare to throw everyone off... not that I've played truth or dare in a few years, but you know.

Copy and paste and answer in your own blogs, but don't forget to let me know about it!

WVA, Nat Geo, and Whale Bits...

I left for West Virginia last night with Danielle.  She is my mom-friend.  She was my mom's best friend and a sort of mentor to me and she and her family are like my own family.  They also own a bangin' condo in the mountains of West Virginia.  So I'm here attempting to write the 10 page paper I have due on the 22nd.  It's proving to be easier thought than done.  I have six pages so far, but kind of a lot of quotations.  I don't know how my prof will feel about that.  A lot have come out of the book we use for class which I'm sure is a big no-no, but I'm so unmotivated.  I've also quoted the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) numerous times, but when your topic revolves around contracting, why wouldn't you?  Or I?  I don't know, I've been writing for several hours, you cannot possibly expect me to use proper mechanics and grammar here and now.  Hehe aww Danielle's asleep on the couch next to me while some weird ass show is on the Nat Geo channel... or is it History?  No, definitely Nat Geo.  They just showed a caterpillar turning into a butterfly and now... crabs?  Idk my bff Jill?

I was in such a funk this week... I could barely get out of bed.  I hate those days.  Oh my... whale penis!  Sorry I have got to stop watching this crazy nature show. 

That's all for now, I am obviously too distracted at the moment.  Wish me luck on finishing this paper... I desperately need it.  Goodnight!

PS- I just watched a praying mantis demolish a monarch butterfly.  I wish you could see my face right now because words cannot describe it.

Mardi Gras and The ABC's of Me

Mardi Gras. Fat Tuesday.  It's kind of funny how things come about and how incredibly real people were back in the day.  "Well, for 40 days I have to abstain and fast and not party so let's go nuts the day before this all starts!"  Yeah I don't have much more to say about this.  I may or may not get my ashes tomorrow... haven't decided.  Enjoy the following!


Age: 25-- quarter of a century and still kickin'! ;)
Bed size: queeeeen... it's my first grown up bed!
Chore you dislike: cleaning the bathroom and vacuuming only because I hate the vacuum cleaner we have.
Dogs: Not really an animal person and because of that they love me.
Essential start to your day: just everyone leave me alone
WHAT HAPPENED TO F?!?
Gold or silver: Gold. Lauren I love yellow gold, idky everyone hates.
Height: 5'6"
Instruments you play(ed): Drums from 4-8 grade, then I got a set in high school and messed around on it without any formal instruction... then I had to sell it because I went to college and it took up space in the basement.
Job Title: Administrative Technician... whatever that means.
Kids: Right now I don't foresee any in my future and I'm okay with that.
Live: at home... I'm well aware I need to move out.
Mom's name: Mary
Nicknames: CTB, Red, FC, Cara B., a lot of names involving my last name, B, Peter Pan
Overnight hospital stays: Well I had my tonsils/adnoids out at age 6, but that was in and out.  At age 12 I had two cysts removed from my ovaries... wait, that was in and out as well.  Umm.. at 17 I had two more cysts removed from my ovaries which required a 2-3 day stay because I was cut from hip to hip bc the cysts were so large.  Age 19ish I was hospitalized for 5 days bc of pancreatitis (I lost ten pounds and became addicted to pain medication!  Fortunately the addiction didn't last much after I got out of the hospital... though coming down was a bitch).  Age 22 I had another large cyst (football sized) on my ovary which required the entire left ovary/fallopian tube to be removed, tho laparascopy was used it took 4.5 hours so I stayed overnight for that.  There have also been several ER nights, including the one before my mom died where I had a nose bleed that wouldn't stop. 
Pet peeves: people who stand on the left side of the escalator <--- yes!  EscaLEFTERS! Oh and ADULTS who throw hissy fits.
Quote from a movie:  "Happiness isn't happiness without a violin-playing goat."
Righty or lefty: Righty.
Siblings: One older brother and one older sister (deceased).  I never know how to answer that question anymore.
Time you wake up: the alarm starts going off around 6:15... if I hear it I get up around 6:30, generally I don't so I don't get up til 7 or 7:20.  I HATE mornings.
Underwear: everything from boy cut to granny to high thigh to hipster or whatever the hell they're all called.
Vegetables you don't like: Onions... they're veggies right?  I DESPISE ONIONS.  And they are in EVERYTHING which sucks.  LoL
What makes you run late: oversleeping
X-rays you've had: teeth, feet, back, chest, wrist, legs, abdomen/pelvic, multiple CT scans and MRIs on pelvis, chest, brain (after car accident), back... oh and an internal ultrasound of my lady organs (not cute, because of my luck with cysts i now have to have this done every year and for a while after my last surgery it was every 6 months)
Yummy food you make: I've only ever made one thing that I thought was gross... and it was the first time I made chili... but everyone else who ate it thought it was good (or at least said that and ate it).  The best thing I make is lasagna.  I prefer cooking to baking because I don't have a lot of patience.
Zoo: Loved the polar bears at the Baltimore Zoo when I was like 7... and the National Zoo is awesome cuz it's free.