you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes....

I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it's both. Maybe both is happening at the same time. - Forrest Gump

for years i never would acknowledge this as one of my favorite movies, and for the vein and lame reason that i felt like everybody says it's one of their favorite movies.... and i never wanted to be considered ordinary. but admittedly, among Lost in Translation, Dead Poet's Society, and a few others.... Forrest Gump is one of my absolute favorites. each time i catch a scene on tv, read a quote, or see Tom Hanks, i'm reminded how much this movie touched me. i remember i was 13, i saw it with the usual crew of the fox mill girls, and i could not stop crying. from the second his leg braces fell off as he was running, to the end scene at jenny's grave, i was wiping tears. i remember a woman coming up behind me on the escalator telling me she was surprised a movie like this would speak to someone my age.


for a lot of reasons i remember getting this movie, i remember empathizing with young forrest, i remember trying to fathom the reality that many of those story-lines are and were for real people. the moms of kids with challenges, the soliders, the vietnam vets, the protestors, etc.... life is crazy. it's about being lived and explored, investigated and challenged, but it's too precious to be careless with.


the above quote is one of my favorites from the movie.
i tend to agree completely.
xo,
cw

thoughts.

i had a conversation with our international marketing mgr today at the office, he is Australian. he was making sure i was in the loop on something and said, "we don't want you to be like 'W, T, F Mate!'..." accents make ordinary statements better.

in a meeting where somebody's answer to me was, "we've already tried that," i answered back (out of nowhere), "and sometimes you have to spay a dog twice". there was a pause, then everyone laughed. i was relieved, i have no idea where in the depths of my brain that flew out of.

there were the most delicious gourmet donuts delivered to our office this morning. they were huge. i ate half. yes, now you believe me that they were huge because i didn't eat a whole one.

while yapping on the phone to one of my bff's JenKelly, she discovered her black lab chloe was eating her husband's blue tooth. i had an instant idea for a commercial where a dog eats a blue tooth, and then the next phone call made to the cell has the dialogue coming out of the dog's mouth. i'm not exactly sure what the commercial would be for though. a kit kat bar?

a girl, on crutches, insisted on walking down the steep steps down into the boston commons garage because her claustrophobia has her unable to ride in elevators. she slipped on the steps and knocked her head. the paramedics had to come. that is a bad day.

at whole foods last night with my friend lauren (yes where we eat and chat about everything) a man walked out of the bathroom wearing cargo pants, and carrying a bottle of bleach. it was strange. i hope nobody was killed.

on a run this morning a taxi cab at a red light saw me yawn. he then started blaring the horn at me, closed his eyes and clasped his hands next to a head in a sleeping posish. i suppose he was bored. i was just tired.

this past week i have felt like i'm living in a kathy cartoon. you know, the one's where she's a mess and sweat and tears surround her silhouette wherever she goes? yupp. hopefully next week is different, well, i'll make sure it is. and there are certain things i know i have to do to allow that.


cw

update.

i took about 20 seconds to post a short note today. because today was a day. and so was yesterday. and the day before that. i have calmed down a bit. took a day off from run/bikram/whatevs, ate dinner, and washed it down with a few (a few x 2) thin mints i had waiting for me in the freezer.

i need to work on not overcommitting, on dividing "to-do" lists into multiple days. i am learning a lot about myself in this big ole company.... and i need to be able to say, "no" and not worry about something.  i need to not eat my lunch fast at my desk just because i'm eating at my desk.

i also need to try to not make every powerpoint look snazzy because the 5 people who see it won't really appreciate that the pictures are formatted so the outline color highlights a color in the picture, that the pictures aren't just squares or circles but have a fantastic reflection or foggy look on the outside and are cropped just right. yepp, i don't think the guy in the khakis really noticed that.... but i probably will still keep doing it.... and i'll still keep NEVER using times new roman or ariel in a presentation because give me a break how sterile is that? this isn't a cartoon but i prefer to present in fonts with personality (don't slip on the soapbox cw). and sidenote: comic sans users... nobody is taking you seriously!

eh hem.

i have permission from the B to the O.S.S. to work from home tomorrow, to finally do the powerpoints/presentations/product briefs that i can't do at work because i overcommit and have too much on my plate and need to just sit down and do them.
i am going to shake the gnome of post nasal drip that has moved in and is trying to throw a party.
i am going to go to bikram yoga and not think about 90 minutes when only on minute 28.

i am going to push the reset button tomorrow.
and if i can't. well then definitely monday.

xo,
cw

p.s. girlscout cookies - i love you.

checking in.

i am overwhelmed at work. i need a vacation. i never say "i need a vacation" as it is such an overused statement.
however. i need a vacation. seriously.

cw

ohmygosh.

about 30 minutes into my bikram yoga class tonight, someone in the back of the class seriously let out the most gigantic fart i think i've ever heard in my life. it sounded EXACTLY like a whoopie cushion, to the point where i thought maybe it was a prank and someone had one under their yoga mat.

it wasn't.
as all of us dedicated students of bikram stared forward in the class, there were whites of eyes flitting left and right; you could see teeth clenching trying not to laugh. me, front row, had to close my mouth, as i dropped it open in utter amazement that this noise came from a human. (i was also relieved to be 5 rows ahead of where the noise seemed to have come from).

for the sake of whomever the Chipotle factory was in the back row, i'm really glad everybody kept their composure and continued on with the second series of standing bow pose.

sidenote: whoopie cushions. we loved these. there was always one involved at the dinner table or family room in front of wonder years for a good three year period. i might've been the biggest fan, i believe audrey was really into the fake dog poop and emily a fan of the fake throw up (that made audrey upset).
sidenote part deux: we were not allowed to say fart growing up.

xo,
cw

monday.

i do not like today.
but i also do.

i am about to leave my apartment for my "arthogram"on my right shoulder. it's the same thing as an MRI but first with a big ole injection of dye to be able to see into the depths of the joint. this is not a big deal, however it is to me. i am NOT a fan of 1) a huge needle into my shoulder socket and 2) dye running into my body. ughhhh. bottom line, this will explain in clear daylight why my shoulder continuously dislocates. the doctor pretty much already knows why, i just need the "proof" for when i want to get surgery. (never, by the way. he didn't agree with my verdict on that one).

i am looking forward to 8pm tonight though. my dear roommate (who is the homeowner) is out of town, so the usual 24 will not be the chosen program and i can watch The Bachelor when everybody else is. if there was an anti-Vienna club i might be the president. the more and more gossip i get a hold of, i am not ashamed to admit i am addicted to this season. she is terrible. (sorry mom, i know you're not reading but i should be nicer about people i don't know. we are all onions with many, many layers). that being said, Vienna is AWFUL!

that also being said. i do not think Ali is for Jake. and i do not think we should put jake on a pedestal JUST because he is the bachelor. maybe he isn't the smartest sandwich at the picnic.

happy monday,
cw

for the second time in 2 months...

.... i have been told i do not look like a claire. yes, that's right. you read that correctly.

both times i have been told this have come from the mouths of seemingly socially challenged, adult men. the first was a somewhat belligerent store owner at a bar during one of the many conferences i attend for my job. because i was surrounded by my posse of, i'll be blunt, kick ass human beings, i entertained his annoying banter and shoved it off. however, the latest was an outside vendor that i had a business meeting with today. i go out into the lobby to greet him with my business-like-handshake, (this girl doesn't do wet noodle handshakes thanks), and as if he'd just seen Willy Wonka himself, wide eyed and grinning says, "YOU... are Claire?"

me: yes. why? were you expecting someone else?

him: well yeah. like an old lady!

so in my head all i'm thinking is what a moron. this guy needs ME to help him, increase his business, and this is how he opens up? i laugh it off and say, "claire is not an old lady's name". the receptionist chimes in (with all due respect she is in her 60s and has a heavy boston accent) and says, "my friend's granddaughter's name is Olga. Classic names are really coming back." again, in my head i'm thinking how adorable this effort was... but, yeah, not helping at all. (and as a sidenote, a baby named Olga)?

so we have the meeting.

i know 10x more than this man. 

but this was obvious "at hello." (that's right. i'm peeved, i'll tell it like it is).

i walk him out. and he again brings it up, "well i'm impressed. a young claire." and that's when i decided, standing there in my slate gray frey boots, white blouse with a tie around bow that i got on sale an anthropologie and my big blue bangles my older sister gave me 2 years ago.... yupp, picture it, and i decided... with my arms crossed in front of my chest, a slight grin and my head tilted to the side in a fake nice way... to inform him of the following:

Rachel McAdams has played THREE characters with the name Claire, the most adored being Wedding Crashers. Claire is a character on Heros, Lost and Modern Family, all ranging from ages of about 18-35. Claire Danes is an actress, Claire from Vanilla Sky (i remember this because of Tom Cruises monologue about the girl named claire who ran track in high school...). So yeah. there are a LOT of young Claire's, and hollywood seems to cast pretty cool people to play them.

now friends, my monologue may have listed those claire's in a different order, but be sure that it flowed with the same ease and conviction as you read this. and if you know me, you know to not doubt that statement in the least.

xo,

CLAIRE