Moxie

It Girl

I went to a party last night of a bunch of people who hadn't seen each other in 5-10 years. It was amazing to me how many people remembered me right away.

I think while I was married I had this idea that I was this little sparrow, and that people didn't really like me or know who I was. Last night I was talking to a friend, who said to me "You have a very memorable personality!" and I was kind of shocked by that.

I met so many new people last night, mostly men, and really felt like the center of attention. I think I had this idea that I was going to have to go out looking for men, but here they're just falling into my lap, whether I want them or not.

Losing, in a good way

I am slowly but surely getting rid of all the crap I accumulated to hide behind while I was married. It's amazing the stuff I kept to use as a barrier, as camouflage, as distraction.

Here's also the part in which I confess that I joined Weight watchers with my babysitter a month ago. I knew it would work, because it always does. The eating plan isn't magic, but the meetings keep you on track. When I found out my divorce was final I lost the urge to emotionally eat, and that helped a lot, too, since I didn't feel at all deprived.

I got to buy new jeans last week, a size smaller than I've been in in four years.

The Hottness Meme 2008

Here we go. Famous people or characters or public figures.

My picks in random order:

Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy
LL Cool J
Rob Thomas
Queen Latifah
Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader together from Secretary
One of the new guys on the Yankees from last season whose name I can't remember
Bill Compton the vampire from True Blood (technically way too skinny for my taste, but soo compelling)
Sam Merlotte from True Blood (scruffy in a great way)
Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy (either one) but not as himself
Sayid from Lost, but not Naveen Andrews
Desmond from Lost, and the actor who plays him
Alec Baldwin (I know--he's crazy, so it would truly only be one night and then I'd run away, but I'd squeeze the heck out of that one night)
Tommy Lee Jones
And my pretend TV boyfriend Fareed Zakaria

Here's something interesting: I was looking at my list from back in 2006 when we did this before, and my taste has changed since then. Apparently I liked Jodie Foster? Go figure. My taste has changed for wilder and stronger, I think, in the past few years.

Oh, and I would still make good use of a few hours alone in a room with Bill Clinton.

Ready, set

Remember the old Hottness Meme from back when I was getting divorced but couldn't tell the internets yet? I think it's time for another round. So start thinking of your picks and we'll post tomorrow and Wednesday.

Any and all categories eligible. The only qualification is it has to be people or characters who are public figures so everyone can know them. If they're not super-well-known, post a link. Please feel free to go across your day-to-day sexual preference, too. (But seriously, I will never understand the appeal of Jodie Foster. I get that evgeryone else in the free world thinks she's hott, but I just don't get it.)

True Christmas confessions

1. I don't mind the song "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer." And I actually like the barking dogs "Jingle Bells."

2. I love being a single mom because then I can buy myself whatever *I* want for Christmas and say it's from the kids. This year they're getting me an awesome necklace from Etsy and the Laura Mercier Lip Plumpers lipgloss I've been craving.

3. I was going to make my kids hand-knit Christmas stockings this year, but instead bought all of us stockings from Walgreens. I'm completely thrilled with them, and am glad I didn't bother knitting anything.

4. I'm not feeling bad that my kids are going to be with their dad for Christmas this year. I got them for Thanksgiving, and I know they'll have a great time with him. Plus, I'll get to sleep in and be babied by my parents, and spend more time with my brother and his fiancee. I may even get to read something!

5. It makes me feel really good that my uncle emailed me to ask what I wanted him to make for Christmas dinner. He knows I don't eat veal, so he wanted to be sure I'd eat what he was planning to make.

Do you have any confessions?

Lamest blog post ever

So far my pre-Christmas season has been pretty awesome, in that I've heard very little Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

And no Bruce Springsteen's "Santa Claus is Coming To Town" except for my own imitations. And I always make myself laugh doing it, because I'm my own biggest fan.

Mem'ries

I only have two more days to work at my old job next week. And I'm totally ready to go, although I'll miss the people there immensely. Some of the people I loved have already left, though, so that eases things.

In particular, there was one guy that always made me laugh just by giving me crap, but was just flat-out funny. The office was divided so his department was on the west side of the floor and mine was on the east, and one day we passed in the hallway and I impulsively flashed him the East Coast gang sign. Without missing a beat, he flashed me the West Coast gang sign.

Oops

Last night I did some laundry, and took out some of my lacy unmentionables before running the dryer load. I brought them into the apartment and hung them in various locations in the kitchen to hang dry--on the rail of the step-stool, the kids' coat racks, etc. This morning I went around and gathered them up before the kids woke up and put them in my drawer.

Only I missed one.

We got out of the apartment on our usual scramble to get to the bus stop before the bus does, and we were a few steps out of the building when I saw something funny fluttering from T's coat. The velcro on the coat had hooked one of my unmentionables, and it was flapping behind him like a lacy red flag.

Message in a bottle, 2

Since I'm already talking about my hypothetical future man, why don't I just keep going with secondary concerns? I covered the two major requirements here.

I'd really like to be with a man who loves what he does, and is very good at what he does. I don't care so much what it is (assuming it's not unethical), but having a level of expertise and engagement is just hot. A man who enjoys his career is happier with himself. (I saw this when my brother switched from his desk job to carpentry a few years ago and suddenly got really engaged.) And that air of mastery, of knowing what to do, is just compelling.

He also needs to have a really strong backbone. I have been galvanized by the last several years of my life, and need to be with someone who is as strong as I am. I can't really be true friends with people who aren't strong, because I can't be completely honest with them. And honesty is essential to trust.

Soap poisoning

Last week the kids watched "A Christmas Story" with their babysitter. Then a couple of days later I was in our local cafe with T (the little one) eating breakfast after dropping R off at the bus. He pointed and said "Can I put my tongue on dat?" and I had no idea what he was talking about, until I realized he was pointing out the window at the lightpost on the corner.

Yeesh.