Kristabella: Full of Snark Since 1977

Posted By Kristabella on January 12, 2012

I love bad music. If it is a pop song in the Top 40, odds are I’m going to love it and belt it out at the top of my lungs at any chance I get. I do not apologize for this. I realize I have shitty taste in music.

Anyway, so one of Rihanna’s new songs out now is called “We Fell in Love in aHopeless Place” and I just love it. It’s got a good beat. But as I was listening to it the other morning while getting ready for work, I thought “what exactly qualifies as a hopeless place?”

So I decided to list all the hopeless places I could think of to fall in love.

• Crack house
• Denny’s
• Bomb shelter
• The Superdome after Katrina
• POW camp
• Crashing plane
• Jail
• War time
• Republican National Convention
• Antarctica
• Sinking ship
• Mars
• Bathroom stall
• Rehab
• Homeless shelter
• Deserted island
• Port-a-potty

Now it’s your turn! Add to the list!

Category: A Dash of the Crazy, Land of Random | 18 Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kristabella on January 10, 2012

I’m a city girl. I think I always have been. Even though I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, I’ve always been drawn to big cities.

When I moved back to Illinois in 2005, I made a promise to myself that I would live in the city. I didn’t care where I ended up working or where I had to commute to, I was going to have a city apartment in Chicago proper.

And I love it. I love the neighborhood I’m in. I love the public transit options. I love that I can walk to most anything. (I also love that I have an assigned parking space so I can drive to anything I want to as well. Don’t forget I am the Queen of Lazy.)

Tonight as I was walking home from the train after work, I was thinking to myself that I really needed to email my friends and make some plans for this upcoming weekend. Nothing extravagant, just something more than grocery shopping to force me out of the house and out of my pajamas.

As I made a mental note to send an email tomorrow, I was walking past a restaurant on Lincoln. I looked in the windows and saw my friend Melissa’s boyfriend Matt who was having dinner with Melissa. I went in to say hello and they invited me to join them. It was totally impromptu and I loved it. We had some wine, dinner, lots of laughs and it was a great time.

When I think about moving away from a big city, these are the things that I don’t think I can give up. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s so worth it.

So what about you, are you a country or a city mouse?

Category: A Day in the Life of Me, Chi-town, Gotta Have Friends, Land of Random | 15 Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kristabella on January 9, 2012

We have had a mild winter in Chicago. And that is putting it mildly. (SEE WHAT I DID THERE?) Seriously, we have had almost no measurable snow, it hasn’t been bitter cold and over the weekend I had my windows open! In my house! In Chicago! In January! The sun was so warm and it was 74 in my house without the heat on. It is the end of days, people. THE END OF DAYS!

After our warm weekend, it was supposed to be almost 50 today. After last Friday when I was sweating bullets on the bus and train in my scarf and down coat, I thought I’d be smarter today. So I opted for a lighter wool coat and went sans hat. I traded the fake Uggs for tennis shoes. Fifty degrees in January, UR DOIN IT RITE!

Except, dumbass, it’s January. In Chicago. Yes, it is mild, but it is still January in Chicago. Which means it is still butt-ass cold in the mornings. And still hat weather. And down coat weather. And not thin sweater weather. (Seriously self. A thin, 3/4 sleeve sweater in January? What the fuck were you thinking?)

Guess who was freezing at the bus stop this morning? Go on, guess!

I figured by the time 5 PM rolled around, we would have some warmer weather and some nice-for-January temps. This was especially important because I had to work outside for two hours after work handing out information to commuters. I figured I was just properly dressed enough for 50 degrees in January so I wouldn’t be too hot or too cold.

Oh boy how wrong I was.

I’ve been home for like an hour and I still can’t feel my toes. This post has taken me an hour to write because my fingertips are still numb, so if I try to type at a normal speed, it comes out like this – nvr0[vd ak jr3i vd;hgri0e[o.

I’m not complaining. It could be so much worse. I am pissed at my stupidity. I know better. I’m a Chicagoan! Once you bring out the down coat, it really needs to stay out. Better to be too hot in this weather than too cold. Trust me. (HEAR THAT, SELF??!?)

The problem with this mild winter is that my body is not used to the cold. It hasn’t gotten a chance to acclimate. Yeah, we’ve had a day or two of some cold temps (i.e. normal for this time of year), but nothing like it could be. So when those days come, so few and far between, it knocks me on my ass. I want to eat all the things and then sleep for days. And then I don’t get a chance to toughen up and get used to it because then tomorrow? A high of 52. No. REALLY.

Again, not complaining. Except if it means it will be 60 and cloudy in July. Then we’re taking this outside, Mother Nature. Mano y mano.

Category: A Dash of the Crazy, A Day in the Life of Me, Chi-town, Rants & Rants, Weather dot com | 2 Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kristabella on January 4, 2012

I realize that I’m writing this on the fourth day of the month (and you’re probably reading on the fifth day), but whatever. I’m writing a blog post and that is a good thing, yes?

So, people inside the computer box, did you all have a nice holiday season? Were Santa and/or the Hanukkah armadillo good to you? Did you have a grand old time ringing in 2012?

I had a very lovely Christmas. This year I went over to my brother’s house and spent Christmas Eve with them. So I got to wake up at the buttcrack of dawn on Christmas morning to see all the presents that Santa done brought! Actually, I was lucky enough to have been woken up twice by Noah, once at midnight and once at 3 AM, with his excitement over ALL! THE! PRESENTS!

Let me tell you, even though it was early, it was really nice to wake up on Christmas morning with people that were not the cats. Not that I ever minded waking up alone and sleeping in, but it kind of took any magicalness out of Christmas. Spending it with family, especially kiddos, was really nice. I think I have a new tradition!

We then celebrated with the rest of the family and I got my Soda Stream that I asked for. And let me tell you, it is AMAZING! I love it so much! The first full day I had it, I drank three liters of water. Which is 1) a lot and 2) a lot for me, especially when that water is not flavored with Kool-Aid, which was the previous way you could get me to drink that much water. Either that or with barley and hops.

(I wasn’t intending to have this be a recap post. But I’ve got nothing else to talk about, apparently.)

I have spent most of my time off around these holidays in pajamas and watching TV. I’m almost done with Six Feet Under (10 more episodes!) and while I wait for those DVDs in the mail, I am usually watching 100s of episodes of Intervention. I’m really excited that new shows are coming back on regular television. I mean, I’m starting to prefer one rehab facility over another, making a note of it in my mind in case I ever go to rehab.

This is where I should talk all about resolutions, but let’s be honest, I never keep them. This year I’m taking the KISS method and keeping it simple. Nothing has to start Jan. 1, especially since we didn’t go back to work until the third. But here are a few things I would like to accomplish this year. Most are really better habits.

• Start washing my face every night
• Don’t hit the snooze button 11 times every morning
• On that note, get up at a consistent time and get back to my old work schedule
• Lose weight
• Eat better
• Start working out
• Run a race (5k, 8k, whatever, something)
• Post more on my blog

And that’s about it. To date, I have accomplished none of these things. But tomorrow is a new day, right?

How about you, friends? Any resolutions?

Category: All in the Family, Holidaze, Land of Random | 14 Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kristabella on December 11, 2011

We did not go to our normal bar to watch football this Sunday. Because my friends I normally go with are Steelers and Browns fans (hence why we go to a Steelers bar). And they played each other on Thursday night this week, so we went drinking then. That means I watched the game from the comfort of my home.

Normally, if I’m at the bar watching the game, I’m not tweeting as much. I usually only go on Twitter at the bar when someone is in the bathroom or when they go out to smoke. Or when I decide to stay at the bar by myself, which let’s be honest, that NEVER ends well.

These are the kinds of tweets you get when I’m home and sober watching the game and the Bears choke and lose one more time.

Don’t you want to be following me on Twitter now? Where’s my booze?

Category: A Dash of the Crazy, A Day in the Life of Me, All A-Twitter, Sports | 4 Comments »
Tags: