Someday I Will

I'm linking with the The Daily Tay today for the Someday I Will linkup.

1. Stop setting my alarm for a certain time in the morning and just end up hitting the snooze button several times. I'm never going to be a morning person, ever. I should stop trying to make that happen.

2. Actually learn how to properly apply eye makeup and do more than the basic foundation/mascara/lipstick thng. Seriously I'm 32, it is just sad at this point.

3. Visit all of Europe. I long to sit at a cafe in Paris without a care in the world.

4. Never have an annoying car payment again. Lesson painfully learned.

5. Take a road trip across the United States.

6. Get back into freelance writing.

7. Stop being addicted to Chick-Fil-A. A girl can dream, I know I would have to move somewhere without a Chick-Fil-A for that to happen.

8. Really embrace my looks and who I am. That is definitely a work in progress.

Disney stay-cation

Friday after work I braved the gnarly I 4 traffic to meet up with my parents who were at Disney for a state convention. My dad is involved in the state Democratic party and this year the convention was held at Disney. Disney stay-cations are one of the perks of living in Orlando. I'm not as enamored with Disney as lot of people I know who move here from up north, but even I love a little Disney magic.
We stayed at Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resort which is attached to Disney's Boardwalk. The last time I had been there was for my high school's homecoming dance sophomore year. Yes, it is not uncommon for Orlando high schools to have homecomings or proms at Disney hotels. That is how we roll I guess.

The funniest part of the weekend was at the state party dinner on Saturday night. I was sitting there with my parents when the former governor of Florida is walking around and asks me if I would like to take a photo with him. I even got to thank him for his veto vote against merit pay for all public school teachers that was a big issue back when I was a teacher. He even thanked me for my public service.

Overall it was a fun little local getaway. I got to spend time with my parents which I enjoyed. I know I am lucky to have them in the same city. Funny how the older you get the more you actually like spending time with the parents.

Thank you for the sweet comments on my last post. I definitely appreciated reading them.

Saying no to the american dream

To be honest with you this blog post has been brewing around inside me for a while now. I think I have always known that I wanted a different path for myself from the beginning. I have vivid memories of sitting on my window seat as a teenager dreaming up of all the places I wanted to see and explore after high school. I was never one of those people who embraced their hometown with all their heart and soul, actually I kind of envy those people who light up when they talk about where they live. That's just not me. I grew up like every typical middle class kid whose parents drilled into their heads that you need to go to college, get married, buy a house in the suburbs, and pop out some babies. Except somewhere along the way I realized that maybe I don't want the white picket fence, 2.5 kids, work the same job for the next 30 years life of my parents. Not that there is anything wrong with choosing that life, as long as you do it because it is what makes you happy. I have friends who had always dreamed of becoming mothers who love the joy of having children in their lives and then I have others who didn't plan on parenthood and don't necessarily love it. I think it is important to go after the life you want, even if it goes against the grain.

This realization has hit me strongly in the last few weeks. Looking on the outside it seems like I have am living the normal American life, I'm married, work a 9 to 5 job, and we own a house. As happy as I am with the little life my husband have created for ourselves I can't help but ask myself if I'm living it right. Yep I just quoted a John Mayer song. But it does perfectly describe how I feel at this junction of my life. In Orlando it is so common for those of us who grew up here to complain endlessly about how boring this place (the term Borelando was probably made up by a native) and discuss exit plans over drinks. I don't want to be one of those people who just lament about their dislike of their city and yet does nothing to remedy the problem. Life is too damn short for that. I want to travel and explore the world. I want to move out of the South and live somewhere with distinct seasons again. I don't want to wake up in 20 years regretting the chances I didn't take. So we have given ourselves a timeline and getting serious about taking the leap to somewhere new.

Weekend recap

My weekend started college style which means it kicked off Thursday night with a visit to Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. I guess it is par for the course when you live in the theme park capital of the world. Every year they have a different theme for the haunted houses and this year they were based on modern horror movies and shows. The Walking Dead was a big part of the night with not only its own haunted house, but there were zombies scaring guests all over the park. And yes a few of them were successful in getting me to scream little girl style. I also shrieked in the Cabin in the Woods house much to my husband's amusement. The only downside of the night was the very long lines to get into the haunted houses.  If you are ever in Orlando around Halloween season you should definitely check it out. Just be sure to wear comfy shoes and bring lots of cash if you plan to booze it up. They were charging like $8.50 for a beer since that is how they do it in tourist land.

But the best part of the weekend came on Saturday night with the FSU/Clemson game. Clemson is the strongest competitor in the ACC and winning this game would prove that this Seminole team is the real deal. Oh how my Seminoles did not disappoint me! They crushed those pesky Clemson Tigers on their home turf 51-14 and now are ranked #2 in the BCS. Garnet and Gold forever!

Girls I wish were my best friend

I thought I would give some love to my current girl crushes. Girl crush has become one of those annoying terms that is overused, but to me a girl crush means a girl that I want to be my BFF. And possibly share clothing with.

Mindy Kaling

I am beyond obsessed with Mindy Kaling. If you haven't read her book "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?" you should pick it up soon. I feel that our shared love of pop culture references would make us great besties.  She won my little heart with this great observation, “The chorus of “Jack and Diane” is: Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone. Are you kidding me? The thrill of living was high school? Come on, Mr. Cougar Mellencamp. Get a life.” 

Lauren Conrad

I have loved her since the Laguna Beach days, followed her to The Hills, and now I own several of her pieces from the Kohl's line. She seems like a down to earth girl who just happens to have a successful empire. What girl couldn't relate to her mistake of choosing Jason over Paris? 

How to annoy a female sports fan

I have mentioned before how I play in most male fantasy football league and by mostly I mean there are 2 girls in the 8 person league. This week we had quite the drama fest on the league discussion board with some of the guys complaining and whining about a trade that went down in the league. I made a comment on the page that it was funny that none of the girls were involved in the drama. One of the guys commented back that women just aren't as competitive as men, that of course annoyed me and thus inspired this Fan Friday post.

Female sports fans are no stranger to dealing with stereotypes and condescending comments from guys when it comes to their beloved teams. Here are some of the most annoying things girls who love sports have to deal with.

The dreaded pink jersey

I still don't understand how the NFL's answer to their growing female fan base is to make the shirts pink and bedazzle the shit out of them. No. Just. stop. it. I just hate the assumption that because I'm a girl that I must want to wear a pink version of the team jersey. No, just give me a fitted normal version instead please.

Some guys don't want to hear a girl talk intelligently about sports.

I know that not every guy falls into this category. My husband is a good example of a man not being intimidated by a woman who actually knows her sports. Case in point, my league has quite a few of my husband's friends who just ignore me when I talk about the game. This has me thinking of starting an all women league next year for us girls who like our fantasy football. I think it would be an interesting and fun dynamic.

Being quizzed to prove you are a real fan

When you tell a guy that you like sports be prepared for the quiz. They will ask you about players, rules of the game, etc to sniff out if you are really a fan or just saying you are to look cool in front of guys. The first time I met my father in law was at a sports bar on a football Sunday. At first he thought I was there just to appease his son, when T told him that I actually love my football he did the quiz thing on me. I also had a guy once ask me if I was a Seminole fan because of the colors. Never mind the fact that I grew up watching the Seminoles and went to Florida State. Silly boys.

What things annoy you as a sports fan?

All about Denise

Thank you Erin for the post idea. You saved me from the dreaded "what should I blog about post?"

I am constantly learning and changing. I like it that way.

I keep all my old journals from high school and love notes from ex-boyfriends.

I wish I could travel more and see all the interesting places in the world.

I sing at the top of my lungs while driving alone in my car.

I dance as much as possible. I love dancing.

I think that it was worth taking the chance in leaving the education field into my current job.

I really am looking forward to my one year wedding anniversary next month.

I need to stop just talking about starting lifting weights to tone up and just get my butt to the gym.

I should be reading more books now that I have more time when I come home from work.

I can always count on T and Kavalier to have a fun time.

I like cooking. My 18 year old self would be shocked to hear that.

I love chocolate. Chocolate always makes me happy.

I make awesome tacos according to my husband.

I always choose sleep over spending extra time primping in the morning.

When football goes wrong

The best part of fall for me is weekends filled with glorious football. Saturday means college football and watching my beloved Florida State Seminoles, while Sunday is all about fantasy football. I can't lie that yesterday was a good day in which the Seminoles beat the 25th ranked team in the nation 63-0. They look like the Seminoles of my freshman year (1999) who went undefeated and ended up winning the national championship that season.

But Sunday turned out to be a disappointing game for my fantasy football team. I went into my game ranked number one in my fantasy football league (which for being one of the two girls in my league I find impressive) but it quickly went downhill from there. I wasn't losing by a few points, I was getting my butt kicked. Here is how I survive when football goes wrong.

Drown my sorrows in beer.

Many Miller Lites were consumed as I watched Tom Brady only score 5.8 points total. Not good news when he is your starting quarterback. Add that in with having Adrian Peterson on bye and yeah just keep the beers coming.

Eat all the food in sight.

I may or may not have consumed most of this pizza while watching my team get slaughtered. Stress eating always feels good in the moment.

Obsessively check your team stats.

Trust me this will not make you feel better. It won't. Better luck next week My Peterson's Betta Than Yours.

Oh Facebook I should quit you

Facebook. It has become such a staple of most people's lives and yet I think I am reaching the end of my love affair with it. Facebook can be the source of endless drama and annoyance. I'm way late to the Twitter wagon (Denise@alifelesstravel) and I'm already enjoying it more than Facebook. Here are some of the reasons I'm over Facebook:

1.  The mommy brigade

Now don't get me wrong, I am in no way anti-mom. My sister is one of my favorite people to talk to on Facebook and she is a mother of two. I'm talking about some of the moms who use Facebook to talk 24/7 about their kids and share every tiny detail of their kids lives. I get it you have kids now. That does not mean we all want to hear about Johnny's last poop.

2. The ex factor

Facebook is perfect for periodically getting information on exes. I am guilty of looking at ex-boyfriends profiles to see what is new with them, and for course to see how much better off I might be without them in my life. But it can also backfire on you like what happened to me recently. One of my ex boyfriends found me and messaged me asking for career advice. Um what the hell?

3. The political arguments

This was especially bad during the last election, so bad that I had to hide some feeds because of excessive political talk. Look I have my own political opinions but FB is not the ideal place to share them. I also recognize that those who have opposite opinions from me are not going to see the light just because I tell them my opinion.

What are your thoughts about using Facebook? Still love it or over it?