"Do you think we're going to die?"

My brother-in-law told me I have to post everyday. Naturally I do as he says. I'm sorry that y'all aren't getting any good eavesdropping stories but the only places I spend my time are at work and home right now. And I can't blog about either. So - here is a chance to again eavesdrop into my life.

Today is Memorial Day and the Legislative Session also "ended" today. So today everyone at the Capitol was at work.  Austin also has a triathlon every Memorial Day called the Capital of Texas Triathlon. The bike portion goes right down the street I work on and forms a loop between the parking garage I park my car in and our office building. So every other year I run across the street screaming like Miss Piggy when she is yelling at Kermit. I wont lie - I was looking forward to my crossing attempt (a police officer is "there" to tell you when to go but he kind of just stares at you like...."hope it works out for you"). In the meantime there are men on bikes worth thousands of dollars gaining speed down a hill, wearing their alien helmets showing no regard for the fact that you have to go to work.

Ok - so I had made it to the road and was watching to see when there would be enough of a break in the bikes so that I could begin my Miss Piggy yell/run when a woman - probably in her mid-to-late fifties with sunglasses on trailing one of those luggage/purse/briefcase things rolls up besides me and looks to the left at the upcoming bikes and says, "Do you think we're going to die?" I thought to myself..."Well, I'm not because I plan on screaming and running full speed across the street - but you probably will die trailing that piece of luggage across." I kept my thoughts to myself and said aloud, "Probably not but I promise it will be the most exciting part of our day." She then responded, "Please - the most exciting part of my day  is when I get to leave this place." Total maverick. Alas, we made it across the street.

And when I got to my office I found this waiting for me:

Aaaaah! It is beautiful isn't it? My coworker introduced me to the recipe last week and made it this weekend. If you look closely you will see a bottom layer of cookie - a middle layer of Oreos - and a top layer of brownie. And yes. It was delicious.

"I feel sorry for you..."

My brother in law told me that if I don't blog soon he will un-follow me. So here I am. This time I will let you eavesdrop into my world for a bit.

About a week and a half ago I had a birthday. At one point in my office I had 3.5 dozen cookies, a dozen cupcakes, and an entire chocolate cake give to me. It reminds me of the story my mom tells of when my oldest sister was a little girl. My sister was being taken care of by another woman who had a daughter my sister's age.  They were in a park and were picking flowers. The woman noticed my sister just standing there and said, "Cara, why don't you pick some flowers for your mommy?" My sister responded, "Oh, my mommy doesn't like flowers - she likes food." Alas, the apple has not fallen far from the tree.

So when I left work on my birthday I put half of the cookies I had received in a container and took the other half home. On Monday I was sitting at my computer doing some work when someone came in to ask a question.  He noticed me picking away at my container that had about 6 cookies in it and made a comment that things must be pretty bad as I was eating a container of cookies close to 12:00PM (I still do not see the issue here). I went about my day ---STOPPED eating the cookies at some point I'm sure--- then picked them up again about an hour later. SAME person comes in...looks down to see that my container of cookies has dwindled from 6 to 2 and says, "Wow....I feel really sorry for you - you just pounded like 1,000 calories worth of cookies." Now this was shocking to me because I didn't think it was socially acceptable to comment on someone's cookie intake. ESPECIALLY if you are not a woman/best-friend/sister who is in the process of also "pounding" said cookies. But overall, it made me laugh. And for all of you taking score at home - eating 4 cookies in a row is not unusual. I didn't even feel it!

Fast forward two days. After my birthday someone also gave me a package of mini-butterfinger's. So I had one in the afternoon. About an hour later I was in my other friend's office stealing some Twizzlers with a coworker and he said, "OH MY GOODNESS WHAT IS ON THE BACK OF YOUR SKIRT?" Upon further investigation I realized that tiny orange pieces of Butterfinger were stuck all over the back of my skirt. Once I figured it out I said laughing, "Oh gosh - you do not want to know."....This made my coworker even more nervous so I explained to him that I had eaten a Butterfinger at my desk and I guess it had fallen in my chair and then I had sat on it and now I was walking around the office for who knows how long with pieces of Butterfinger plastered all along the back of my skirt. I could tell he was kind of relieved.

So there is my update! I hope you find as much humor in these stories as I do!

"Is it....Collin?"

A tribute. This is my first post about a voice that has carried deeply in my life. And it is about a 2-year old orange-headed monkey.  He also responds to: Bubba, little man, baby, Hunter Ryan and Hunta Awney (as my sister tells me his friends call him). He is my nephew and a source of constant joy in my life. My sister has an iphone 4 and will make videos then send them to me.  Hunter loves making videos because he can see himself the entire time. He thinks he's watching a "baby" (although Allison constantly tells him that the baby is him). Anyways, there is one video in which he is saying funny things to the "baby", giving it kisses, and then he looks really close into the phone and says, "Is it Collin?" (Translation: Is it Colleen?). And Allison says, "No, that's not Colleen - that's you...you have red hair like Colleen"....He thought I may be on the phone because they'll face time me from the phone)....The video goes on but I have it saved on my phone and when work gets long or difficult...or my day is long and difficult...I'll just pull up that video and watch it! So here's a tribute to Hunter Ryan - my love and my delight!

This is Hunter making a heart out of his hands!

"You never eat alone when you are an excellent eavesdropper."

I will now tell you about the situation that led me to start this blog and also post the status that, "You never eat alone when you are an excellent eavesdropper." So it was a Friday at work and all you need to know is that everything worked out so that I was left eating alone. I decided I still needed to get out and went to the coffee shop/restaurant about a mile away where my best friend is the general manager. I was frustrated that I was eating alone but I had a book so it would be what it would be. My friend asked me what I wanted to eat and I said, "Look - all I really want is french fries...y'all dont have french fries do you?" She said they didn't but that she could have them make some extra crispy hash browns and serve them with ketchup. So I went outside on the patio and sat at a table and quickly overheard three women talking - all eating their fresh salads and drinking water. 

  

I couldnt quite figure out how these women were related - one was in their late 20's, the other late 30's and the other late 40's. They weren't related, they weren't coworkers...I figure they were friends that get together occasionally or something. So anyways, they get on to this conversation of marriage. The oldest woman said that she couldnt believe she had been married to her husband for 7 years. "7 years!?" The youngest girl remarked, "Gosh - I cant believe you are 47...you look amazing." (She really did look amazing for 47 - more like 35.)  Anyways, then they embarked down this long conversation about how they just, "Were never one of those women that HAD to be married." This was a very interesting topic to my lone self sitting at a table eating an entire dinner plate of extra-crispy hash browns dipped in ketchup. What makes up one of those "women that HAVE to be married?"...(I think we all know the stereotype). I listened in closer to my salad-eating, water-drinking friends...The oldest chimed in, "My husband always talks about how desperate my sister is to get married...and she hasn't gotten married..." The thirty year old chimed in next, "It's like men can smell how desparate she is...I mean...I was happy to be with the guy I was with for about 8 years, but once we broke up it was fine...I didnt HAVE to be with someone...." 

Now this got my brain going...because I would initially lump myself in with the "women who HAVE to be married type." I listened in more...washing down my hash browns with lots of Diet Coke.  And then it hit me - wait a minute...I am an independent woman! I pay my bills, my rent, have a job that I enjoy going to in which I don't think I am a total failure at...and I have friends that I like to hangout with...I'm not the "HAVE to be married type." Then I realized that if I was never married I would never have children, a husband, an immediate family, possibly grandchildren someday...and THAT's when I started to think...OH MY GOSH I HAVE TO GET MARRIED!!!! This seemed to be a very alarming thought as "getting married" is not something to wake up one day and do...you can't make it happen, pray it into existence or train for it as you do a marathon...So I was on this downward thought spiral when something caught my eye...in fact 3 things caught my eye...and those three things were the GINORMOUS diamond rings on each of the women's ring fingers.  And that solved the problem for me...because it seems easy to sit around and talk about how you never were one of those women who had to be married when you in fact yourself....ARE married. I laughed at the irony and went on my way!

Post script: I am really happy with my life...I am hopeful to get married someday...and generally cant wait for it....however, I am genuinely happy with where I am....marriage is not promised but I think it may happen someday for me...and no it wont solve all of my problems or complete me magically. But I think it will be good. 

"Eavesdropping is nosey"

I used to blog.  But I found myself writing things and posting them on the world wide web that I regretted posting weeks later. I don't necessarily regret that I wrote the things I did...but I learned quickly that the interweb is not to be trusted with your soul. Lately, I have been inspired to blog by a co-worker: she blogs about the house she and her husband just bought and are fixing up. It is short, sweet, funny, witty and a nice short read.  So here I am attempting a blog that is short, sweet, funny, witty and a nice short read. I think I may already be failing.

So why, "Voices that Carry"? Well because I have learned two things in life so far: 1) I am an excellent eavesdropper; 2) People that have voices that carry generally annoy me.  All of you are nervous right now - that's ok.  I recently was eating at a restaurant for lunch alone (details aren't important) and I found myself eavesdropping to the conversation next to me...(blog post to come)...and so I put out a status that said, "You never eat alone when you are an excellent eavesdropper". I received comments back that said things from,"I like that" to "Nosey." 

So here we go - this is my attempt: to blog for fun about my daily eavesdroppings (which will never be work related - thank you also to coworker who pointed out a woman once got fired for that and now is running the blog full time...making tons of money). I will also be blogging about voices that carry...eternal things, sarcastic things, hilarious things and genuinely good things. I hope you find it short, sweet, funny, witty and a nice short read.