Nail Polish names rival Crayola Crayons options.

This is a perfect example of why I fail at being girly.

I saw this nail polish on Pinterest that someone labeled as "best coral color by Essie". But when I went to click on the source site, I was led to a broken url. Oh well I thought, I'll just Google "coral nail polish by Essie" and boy was I wrong. Instead, I was basically punched in the face with a ridiculous amount of coral color options.

Silly Stacey, didn't you know there are 500 million freakin' options for coral nail polish?!?!

Proof:  http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/essie-nail-polish-corals/3495323

What the hell is "Carousel Coral"? Could you show me where you got your inspiration? "Shop till I drop"?? Wouldn't that be more of a blood red?? This makes me believe that the Crayola Crayon namers also work part time for Essie. Or that I picked the wrong job because hell, I could name nail polish colors if all I had to do was make up a random string of words and slap it on a nail polish bottle. I bet I could make a killing off of "Cubicle Red" or "I Picked the Wrong Major Pink"?

And it's this same color dilemma that causes me to suffer a minor panic attack when I get a professional manicure.

"WAH CALAH YOU WAHN?"
"Uhh... just a second, I'm trying to figure out which shade a pink ...uh *draws blank*stares at bottles*mumbles* uh... speaks to me?"
"PICK CALAH AND SET IN CHAIH FAVE"
*Holding 3 bottles of pink* "Uh sure"
"ONE CALAH TWENTAY DOLLAH. TREE COLOR $100"
*Wait $100? I don't even know what she's talking about. ohh..* "No no, I just want one color. I just can't decide."
"SET IN CHAIH FAVE."
*At this point, my mind has completely shut down and all rationale decision making is out the window. Sweat starts pouring down my forehead while I unknowingly put away all three pink polishes and only to blindly grab an obnoxious neon orange color I don't even like. And it isn't until she actually painting my nails with this god awful color that I realize what's going on.* "Dammit. It happened again."

Arrrr?

Today I Google'd how they would most likely perform my ACL reconstructive surgery they are scheduled to do next Friday. And boy that was just a bad idea... I did that with my first surgery back in October, so you'd think I would've learned my lesson. Sometimes in life, its best to just stay ignorant and to not read horrible forums on what possible and extreme worst case scenarios I might face. Basically what I learned today was that I'll be going in for a routine ACL surgery and come out with a peg-leg

I just hope that insurance covers the parrot and eyepatch.

Someone find me a sledge hammer and a watermelon STAT.

I’m having one of those days. The kind of day where you know you are annoying others and as much as you try to stop it, you only make it worse?? Today I’m pretty sure I’m annoying everyone around me in my office. My allergies are on high impact today and I’ve become the queen of tissues. My nose feels like it’s in a constant state of drip as well as with a lovely side of stuffiness. How does that even happen!? I feel like each time I blow my nose or sniffle my cube-mates are cringing, but there’s nothing I can do unless I set up my work station in the bathroom.

To add to this annoyance I just ate an apple. And since one of my front teeth is a partial I have to cut up my apples in order to enjoy them. So in the midst of tissue grabbing, sniffling, and fidgeting (because I know I’m being annoying) I just cut up an apple with a butter knife… As you can surmise it wasn’t the quietest thing ever. Nor cleanest… Even with a stack of napkins to use as a cutting board, I’m pretty sure I got apple juice all over my work documents and maybe even my monitor. [Side note: Napkins are a really shitty cutting board substitution.] I really tried to go slower and more carefully to avoid the clang of the knife off of the desk but I’m pretty sure I sounded like Gallagher smashing away at a watermelons.

I might as well start clipping my nails at my desk today too.

I want my city back.

Boston.

I remember when I was a kid going to my first Red Sox game with my family. I remember my dad getting lost on Storrow Drive and ending up in Government Center, yelling that he would never figure out how to get there/these streets are so confusing. I remember in 2004 when my parents woke my brother and I up really early, so early that my alarm clock for school hadn’t gone off yet, and said “We’re going to the Patriots Parade!” I remember taking the orange line from Oak Grove to North Station with what felt like everyone in the world. I remember how united everyone was. How everyone came out to support the city we love. Granted I only lived an hour north of Boston in New Hampshire, but it felt like a whole different world to me. I remember that day so clearly because that’s when it hit me, I was a junior in high school and in that moment, I knew I wanted to live in that city.

For 5 years I was fortunate enough to call Boston my home. It took everything I had to convince my parents to let me go to Wentworth Institute of Technology. And it took so much hard work to stay at that school when the things got really difficult; but I couldn't give up. I poured my heart, my soul, some blood, and lots of sweat and tears into that city. It is a part of me.

But I’ll be honest; I still can’t get my head around this. I was just there this past weekend. I stayed at my best friend’s apartment just over the bridge in Cambridge and we celebrated her birthday weekend in downtown Boston. At one point plans to check out the marathon had been discussed and ultimately forgone… I had to work Monday.

At 3:00pm yesterday, I took a peak at MSN and saw in red “Breaking News: Explosions at Boston Marathon. Developing story.” I sent a link to my friends thinking that it must’ve been a transformer or a manhole cover or something minor. As the story began to unfold I couldn’t believe the images I saw. I looked at the photos and thought, “This doesn’t feel like Boston, this looks like another place… a place far away…” and yet I was staring at pictures of the first responders with Boston scribed across their chest. It just doesn’t make sense.

I’ve walked countless miles around that city. I went to Red Sox and Bruins games. I sprinted out of my dorm and right over to Fenway when the Sox won the World Series in 2007. I went to Punter’s Pub not only at night but even between classes… When my head got clouded, I would walk from Mission Hill to the waterfront by the Aquarium. I danced and stumbled out of Hong Kong and even some nights down Boylston. I went skating at the Commons in the winters. I tried to go to the Avalon (now House of Blues) as much as I could. I loved and hated the E trains… Gotta love waiting 30+ minutes praying one would show up at Park Street before 12:05am.  I got a degree in engineering there. I met some of the greatest people I am lucky enough to still call friends today there.

And while I have a lot of good memories, Boston is a tough city. We aren’t known for being the friendliest people. No one really smiles at one another on the street... and if they do, most likely you should be cautious. Our drivers are terrifying at times. A couple of my friends were mugged near our campus. The Fens isn’t exactly a place you want to be late a night.

But regardless of all that, the fact that the people of Boston are tough is a good thing now more than ever. We are resilient. And when disaster strikes, we will unite and do everything we can to persevere.  Everyone who has ever lived in Boston at some point is proud of that. We are a community.  My thoughts go out to all those affected and struggling with this tragedy. Together, we will get through this. We are Boston Strong.

Boston you’re my home. Maybe not according to my license, but you are in my heart.

"There ain't a corner of this hallowed ground
That we ain't laughed or cried on
It's where we loved, lived and learned real life stuff
It's everything we're made of
It sure left its mark on us
We sure left our mark on it
We let the world know we were here
With everything we did
Laid a lot of memories down
Like tattoos on this town
Like tattoos on this town
Everywhere there we are
It hits me right in my heart"

-Jason Aldean "Tattoos on this Town"

Limps, Signs and Placards.

So this whole *writing almost every day for the world to see* thing is still pretty challenging. I have a ten-page running Word doc open with ideas galore. But as soon as I say “Ok, organize this and hit publish” all that comes up is “Uhhh, what should I write for the first sentence?” So once again, here is a boring opening paragraph that will surely draw you in.

How about I fill you in on what is happening in the life of that Chick girl? Today I found out my knee is ready for surgery. When I tore my ACL and all that other fun stuff, the swelling my knee was so severe that I had to wait to have surgery so that I wouldn’t traumatize my knee again too soon and risk possibly never getting my full mobility back. Ironically, just barely a week after the incident, my doctor recommended that I should start walking on it without my crutches or brace. This was supposed to improve my pimp walk… I mean, get my knee strength back. Initially it was painful and awkward. Now, after two weeks and going to physical therapy, it feels like its back to normal… almost. Randomly I'll get this feeling that my knee wants to give out or it actually buckles. It’s also accompanied with a wave of nausea… But it passes and I’m back to moving again. I’ve noticed however, that if I sit at my work desk for too long it will stiffen up and I look like Frankenstein on her way to the bathroom. (One coworker has nicknamed me *Stumbelina*)

Since this happened almost three weeks ago, I’m pretty sure I’ve manage to tell everyone in my office (by the onesies) why I was walking with such a funny limp AND why my doctor says I should be walking on it. I work in an office environment that bears an uncanny resemblance to a Dilbert comic strip mixed with a hint of Office Space; So no matter how inconspicuous I tried to be, someone as graceful as me on crutches just wasn't going to go by unnoticed. That first week I felt like holding up a sign that says, “Why yes, I am on crutches and wearing a huge leg brace. It’s from a skiing accident. Not sure what is wrong yet. Hurts a lot.” Last week I felt like having a sign that stated, “Torn ACL. Torn Meniscus. Strained MCL. Bone fracture in Tibia. I did good.” This week the big question has been, “When are you having surgery!?” to which my sign would say, “Cleared for surgery. Date unknown at this time.” But I'm not sure I can actually set up a sign like that at work so I'll stick to telling people when they ask...

One of the biggest things I have taken away from this injury is that I think I would have loved being an MRI tech or working somewhere that designs biomedical devices. Things like the TENS unit has thoroughly intrigued me and I couldn't stop talking to the MRI tech about how it worked. But since I honestly have no desire to go back to school just yet, nor could I afford to spend any more money on school, I’ll put that one on the back burner. Funny though, had this injury happened a lot sooner in my life I wonder if I would’ve pursued careers in those areas. 

But moving on... Have I told you that because of this injury I now have a handicap placard for my car? At first when I was on crutches that little wheelie guy was a blessing. Now that my knee is starting to get better I feel a little embarrassed getting out of my car without having any physical symptoms showing I need it. Some days it will stiffen up on the drive to where ever I’m going so I do get a funny limp when I get out of the car but lately it doesn’t look like I’ve done anything to deserve that sweet parking spot near the door. It’s only a three month temporary placard and I’m sure after my surgery I’ll definitely need it but for now I feel a little guilty using it.... Well, until that moment my knee buckles and I want to cry and vomit at the same time.

I suppose that’s all I have for you today. I could go on and tell you about my latest addiction to having hot coco every afternoon but I’m pretty sure I just saw your mouse move towards the “X” in the corner of the screen so I’ll take that as my cue to peace the hell out.

*Insert snazzy sign off here*