hold the health...

I just made my third McDonald's run in the last two weeks. And coming from someone who frequently considers vegetarianism and believes in the humane treatment of animals, I think I'm losing my marbles. Or my will-power. Or my decency. Or all three. Two of the trips were for vanilla ice cream cones, which has recently become a summer obsession, but tonight was a double cheeseburger.

And it wasn't even after-bar food. I was just hungry.

I found out this evening my friendly neighborhood grocer closes at 11pm (I thought it was open 24hrs. My bad). I had great intentions of making spinach and feta turkey burgers - which received 4.5 stars by the way, and as we all learned from last night, the stars never lie - but I was 17 minutes too late! And had to settle for whatever food I could get my grubbie little paws on this time of night. Which just happened to be the glowing golden arches emitting beacons of light and greasy temptation.

And now the guilt is kicking in. I've got to get off this fast-food kick. Or this spending money kick in general. It seems to be flying out of my wallet faster than I can say grande soy latte. And I can say that pretty fast.

After attempting some research on my profession, I connected the dots and realized the poor-eating stint might be related to job stress. Here's a quick, non-comprehensive description of my role as HR Lady:

Human resource professionals contribute to utilizing the skills and expertise of employees to an optimum level. They are also in charge of creating and maintaining harmony in order to maintain a pleasant and comfortable work environment.

And that, my friend, is a tall order.

Can I have fries with that?

rock salt...

Maybe, hopefully, pretty-pretty please, the replacement cell phone will arrive tomorrow. It's been a difficult go without it.

Other than that, life is full. I love summer and all the sports it involves. I love BBQs and ice cream and the sun's warmth after spending all day indoors enduring icy air-conditioning.

And friends who knock on your door because they know your phone is broken.

And winning strategy board games against Nick (sorry Nick).

And not knowing what tomorrow will bring, but instead simply living and loving the moment. That's life in all its glory.

Summertime helps me feel alive.

deafening...

Although challenging, not having a cell phone has been strangely liberating. I realized I'm tethered down to it throughout almost my entire day. I've been known to check it every two minutes for a new email. But all of the sudden - no email to check at stop lights, no calls to return after playing volleyball all evening, no voicemail to process through. I don't even know what time it is when I'm in my room, and my roommate has to knock on the door in the morning as a wake up call.

Strange, but I think I like it.

Just living, breathing, and taking in life. Instead of filling it with that tiny screen and tracking ball.

Ahhh.

This, of course, doesn't pertain to work. The lack of phone for the job has been difficult. Especially when there are phone interviews scheduled with out of state candidates tomorrow. And calls coming in every 10 minutes. When that replacement phone comes I'll be playing catch-up. But until then...

I'll just keep breathing in the odd silence that missing object brings.

uh... hello?

My cellular telefono is on the fritz. And as I'm trying to figure out and fix all the problems that have led to the most excruciating neck pain of my life (bluetooth - check, new fluffy pillow - check, massage and doctor's visit - check check), I find it quite ironic that my phone, which I blame the majority of my painful problems on, happened to crash today.

I think it was providential.

For now - tomorrow I'll probably miss it, but for tonight, my neck thanks me.