Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to all of you, my dear friends. I was informed that we received quite a few Christmas cards in our home in Minneapolis, and I am glad that you haven't forgotten our house this year, even though I haven't sent any cards out. Sorry, but it's just pretty hard to arrange it all this year all the way from Russia. I am very much looking forward to seeing all your cards in just a couple of days. Matt is bringing them all for me to look at and read your wishes while we are in London.

My husband had his family join him for Christmas this year, and I heard that it was very nice. His parents, brother and sister spent some time together (shoveling in front of the garage), but Matt really enjoyed having his family by his side during that holiday. I got to talk to my mother-in-law via Skype, which was great. She is always cheerful :) Didn't talk to my father-in-law though cause he was busy on the other phone, but I think he is a little grumpy at me because Matt called me the night before and did not prep me that I was going to talk to a room full of people. Well, see, I have issues with my sister. When I get a call from Matt, then she needs to leave the room, and that usually takes some time, I need to kick her out and that involves some yelling (in a good way). Well, Matt's parents did not know that I have such routine and I think Chris took it to heart that I was yelling at my sister and not talking to him. Oh, well. Sorry Chris, did not mean to offend you. But I really blame it all on Matt. He knows I don't like talking on a speaker and he really does need to let me know a day ahead of time that it's not going to be just him on the line. But anyway, it's Christmas, and even though in Russia Christmas does not come till January 6, I still want to wish all of you, my American friends, a very merry Christmas. I sure hope that you enjoyed this holiday with your family and close friends. I hope that you happened to remember what this holiday is all about, hope you had a great day!!!

Family-in-law (there ought to be a word like that), special thank you to you for spending time with Matt so he would not be alone this holiday. Thanks for coming a long way and making this reunion with each other happen!!!

Merry Christmas to all of you!!! Matt and I are blessed to have a great family and all our friends in our lives. It's a true blessing!!! Thank you for your support and friendship. I was thinking of all of you this Christmas day!!!

From Russia with love :)
--RG

Rich Woman

I love being pampered. I really do. I love when I have a good haircut, I like getting good haircuts. When I was in school and college I used to get haircuts for $10-14, however, now that I am older a bit and have disposable income I enjoy a good $80-100 haircut. Sure it might seem a lot, but the difference is obvious. The service is much better, getting a haircut now for me a pleasant experience. I like when my nails are done. I used to do my own manicure when I was in school, however, now I think I can afford to keep my nails in good shape and pay for the service. I recently came to a conclusion that I am going to get a manicure at least every other week. I love when my nails look good, I agree with the fact that nails is a woman's second face. Whenever I meet somebody the first thing I pay attention to is their nails. I enjoy expensive shoes, I am not talking about spending $500 on a pair of shoes, but I can't go into a store and consider shoes for $15 any more (again, used to do that when I was in school and college due to lack of resources). I like well-made clothes, and there are many many other things I like that are not cheap and that I am starting to afford and let myself get into.

I was talking on the phone with my husband the other day and told him all the purchases I have made and all the things I have done (a new haircut, a manicure, etc), and he told me that I would make a great rich woman :) I thought it was funny that he said that. It's not my goal in life to be rich, but I think that my husband will be able to make me a rich woman some day. Plus I think that I have plenty of resources right now to spoil myself a little, so why not? I live only once, and I don't go into debt doing so, therefore I don't see what is wrong with it. But I do agree with Matt, I do love being pampered. I love massages and love been taken care of and love traveling a lot. But he knew all that about me when he proposed, so he can't complain. In fact, I think it's a great motivation for him to move up the ladder in his career :)

Yes I am spoiled. No, I am not rich yet, but yes I will be some day. I am happy that I can afford all these things in my life, I am glad that I no longer have to count every penny that I spend. I am happy about my life right now, I could not ask for more. I have the best husband, I have a great family, I have great friends, an interesting and challenging job and enough money. I truly enjoy my life right now.

My husband is awesome.

"Your husband is awesome. Went to 6 different stores to get you the pants. One of the last in stock in the country I think!" that is the text message I got from my lovely husband at 2:29 am last night :) I really like clothes from Express, but you can't order them online, you have to go to a store. Since I am a bit far from any Express stores, I thought I would ask my husband to pick up a pair of pants that I really liked online. It turns out to be that they are rather popular. I actually thought that my husband will go to a one store, not find them and tell me that I am out of luck. However, I got lucky with the husband. I know exactly what he was thinking after he went to one store and did not find the pants. "Now it's a hunt" He gets into that mood sometimes when we are looking for a road and are lost, he will not turn back and he will not ask for directions, because that situation turned into a game, it's a hunt for him to find the road. I think it was similar with the pants. Actually, I am quite surprised he agreed to look for them in the first place, because they are girl pants. He does not like going into girly stores, although I guess Express does have men's section, but still he was shopping in the girl's section :) Anyway, I am very happy that my husband is determined and loves me enough to go to 6 stores just to get me one pair of pants. I hope that they are the right size and I hope that they will fit well :)

And yes, Matt, you are the most awesome husband in the world. But, baby, you already knew it. For those of you who don't know this, whenever I tell Matt a compliment or something good about him, he always replies with "I know it" :) I have yet to tell him something he did not know about himself, but I don't give up.

If you are sick, you MUST stay home

No, seriously. What is wrong with people? Where did common sense go? My co-worker is very very very sick. She has been sick since Monday. She came to work on Monday and Tuesday and only got worse. So, when she got to work on Wednesday she was feeling so crappy that she asked to leave early. Thursday she stayed home, and today (Friday) we see her bright and early in the office. She is feeling worse than Wednesday, yet she came to work. It was ridiculous. She had a runny nose, she was sneezing and/or coughing every 5 minutes, I am not kidding you. Mind you, we all sit in the same office. Yes it’s not small, but nor it’s huge. I was supposed to work right across from her, because that computer has access to a database that I don’t on my computer, but I chose not to do that part of my job because I did not want to sit right across from her and have her cough and sneeze right on me.

Finally, I got fed up and emailed my boss asking her to let Natasha go home and rest so she would not make us all sick. My boss called her and told her that she can go home, that was at 12pm, yet Natasha stayed in the office till 3pm, when finally my other co-worker turned to her and said that there is no point of going home early because now we are all exposed, at which point Natasha quickly got up and left. What an idiot. I am sorry, but that is so inconsiderable to come to work in that condition. First of all, why do we have to hear her sniff her nose and sneeze her nose and cough, second of all, why do we all have to risk our good health? I have been kind of getting sick in the last week or so, and I am sure this is not going to help. I was sneezing yesterday a lot and my head has been hurting, I am sure that I did not need her extra bit of germs today.

I am so angry right now, at Natasha, because if you ask me it’s just plain dumb to do that, to come to work sick and put others at risk. Next time she is coming like this to work, I am marching straight into my boss’ office and telling her that I am leaving to go home so I would not get sick. If she can’t make Natasha leave work early or not come to work when she is sick, then she can make me leave early. Sorry, but I like my health more than I like my job. As it is I am falling apart, people like Natasha just annoy me when they do stupid things like come to work sick. I sure do hope when you are sick, you just stay home and get better!

Meanwhile, I am off to a weekend when I have to sleep a lot and take care of myself, because I am getting sick :(

Family Talk

I love talking, I can chat your ear off. I feel comfortable talking in front of public (love public speaking, partially because of a great teacher Jim Frankenfeld), I am not shy to express my opinion when majority around me have a different point of view, I can start a conversation with a stranger pretty easily. In most cases I love talking and it cheers me up and energizes in a way. However, lately I have discovered that there is one circumstance under which I don't like talking and don't want to. I don't like having a family talk. No, I love talking to my folks and I love talking to Matt's parents, what I don't like is have Matt and his parents and siblings on the phone at the same time when they are all together in the states while I am in Russia. This has nothing to do with them, I love them all, I really do, and I enjoy talking to them. More so, I ask Matt all the time how they are doing and what is new with them, so how come I shut down in a way when I hear them on the other end? Well, the answer is pretty simple. I know that Matt and I are separated for awhile, and I don't mind the situation most of the time. There is one time I do mind it, that's when I know that they are all together, they are all having fun, they all enjoy the evening with each other, while I am not there. I hate being excluded. Even though many might say that the fact that they call and want to talk means that they want to include me, but that just throws the fact at me that I am not there, and their lives go on just as they have before. That thought makes me sad. My sister gets depressed quite a bit, and I think that I have a tendency to do so too, however, I usually catch things in life that make me sad and eliminate them. I am convinced that it's the only reason I don't get depressed. For example, I know that talking with Matt and his folks when they have a family function makes me sad and I have expressed to Matt that I don't want to talk to people all together. I don't mind talking to them separately, it's been on speaker that makes me realize that I am just an intruder (at least that is how I feel). Matt does not always seem to understand that, and sometimes he does make me do so, but then I feel sad for the evening or even days. Ok, this has happened only once, but it's going to happen again I think. It's a trap really. I do want to talk to them, I don't want them to think that I don't like them. I love them very much, but I just don't want to feel crappy after talking to them because I am not there. Matt said that they all want to call and tell me what they got me for New Years, and that the gift itself will offset my sadness. Well, I don't think he realises why I am sad. Gifts won't make me feel better, really. I will be sad because I will know that they are all together at our house on Christmas day having meal together, sharing laughs and stories, exchanging gifts, yet I will just hear their excitement over the speaker and realise that I am just sitting at home back from work and have nothing to look forward to but the next working day. It's a trap, and I know that it's coming. How do I make everybody happy including myself in this situation? I have a few days to figure it out and suggest the solution to my husband.

Christmas=No gifts

I have had this idea in my mind for a long time, and never really shared it with anybody but my husband (even with him I shared it only after we got married, I believe). In our family we won't have any gifts for Christmas. Our family might not be the most religious on earth, but I do want this holiday to be what it's meant to be about: the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior. In our family, we do believe in God, our kids will be taught about God and I hope that they will follow Christ's teachings. However, I think that having Christmas be all about gifts is not a good start on focusing on religion in our family. I mean, yes, adults can understand that Christmas is not all about gifts, but can kids differentiate between gifts and the holiday itself? I don't think so. Plus, I think that in our age, even some adults get so wrapped up in gifts, getting them, buying them, that they forget to think about what this holiday is all about.

I am writing this blog for myself more than for anybody. For me, this blog is a promise I am giving myself that in our family we will never exchange gifts on Christmas. If anything, I want my (future) kids to sacrifice something on that holiday, maybe buy a gift for an orphan with their own money, or maybe just donate their time to some charity, etc. I just want them not to develop a habit that Christmas is the time for exchanging gifts.

Yeah, I know that other families around us will keep giving/receiving gifts at Christmas, and I am not saying that my kids won't get any gifts, but I like Russian way of giving gifts much better. In our family we will exchange gifts on New Years instead of Christmas. I think it makes more sense than Christmas.

So, starting from this year there are no more gifts on Christmas for our family (even though right now it only consists of 2 people). From now on, we are going to celebrate Jesus' birthday on Christmas and nothing else. We are not going to get wrapped up in our selfishness, we will save it for New Years. Oh, yeah one more promise. I will never buy more than 1 present for my kids for New Years. There is no need for it if you ask me. Please don't take me wrong, I don't judge anybody who does anything according to other traditions, I just don't want to get wrapped up in materialism. I know that I like shopping too much as it is, but start buying more than 1 gift for New Years and start mixing Christian holidays with material things just seem too much for me.

Like I said, this blog is a promise to myself, and I hope that my husband will support me in this, and will remind me about this promise whenever I start forgetting it!

Travel

My life is all about travel. I don't think I can live without it. No, I don't travel all that much, although I am convinced that I travel more than most people (even Americans), although that is all thanks to my husband. If it wasn't for him, I would be going nowhere but Minnesota. But mostly my life is connected with travel because my beloved spends most of his time traveling. I love my husband, and he loves his work, thus I love his work as well. I also want him to be as comfortable while he travels as he is at home. I know that there is almost nothing I can do to make him comfortable on the road, but there is one thing (oh, btw, that is my Christmas present to my husband, one thing I can help with in making his weekly airplane trips more tolerant).

All of us know that airplanes can be pretty loud, well, my beloved spends quite a bit of his lifetime on the plane. He used to have noise cancelling headphones, but they were not very good and during one of his trips to Russia he forgot his headphones on the plane (btw, I am convinced it was just a plan of his, an excuse to get a new, better headphones). He went for a couple of months without any headphones which was quite painfull for him (quite literally).

One day in the last month, my husband emailed to all his family (me, his folks, his brother, his sister) the list. Yes, the list. His annual Christmas wish list. I know that some people think it's silly, but I love the list. I can get him what he really wants, and he does not mind kind of knowing what he will be getting. So, this year I see on his Christmas list a perfect present: Bose QuietComfort 3. Yes, the best noise-cancelling headphones on the market. So, I order them, and have them delivered to Mpls. I wish I was there to see him open the gift, but I did have him call me and open the gift while having me on the phone. I think that he liked it. He said that it was too much, and that I shouldn't have, but I think that it wasn't enough. Not enough to show him how much I appreciate his hard work for our family, not enough to show him how much I love him and how much I want him to be comfortable when he is on the road. This quiet comfort on the plane is the least I could give him this Christmas :) I do hope that he will get to use these headphones a lot. I do hope that he won't forget these ones on the plane :) And I do hope that he likes his gift :) Happy New Year, baby. Enjoy your present!!!

Day off work...

...was uneventful, unproductive, boring and depressing all at the same time. What did I do all that day? Well, I slept in. I have been feeling pretty worn out lately. Not sure what it is, I am thinking that it's my schedule. I get up at 6:30 am each morning, leave work at 6:30pm with blood-shot eyes lately (due to lack of sleep), don't get back home till about 7:30pm, usually don't get to bed till at least 10pm, and that is my routine Monday through Friday. Work has been very busy, we had one co-worker who was on vacation a couple of weeks ago for 2 weeks, so I was doing her work along with mine, and that she is back, we have another co-worker on vacation, so again I am doing 2 people's work. It's not horrible, but the days go by so fast and at the end of the day I realise that I am nowhere near to have everything done. Yesterday night I had every intention of going to work this morning, however, today I woke up and just could not get out of bed. My throat was hurting, so did my head, I felt like I hated everything, so I decided to give myself a little break and called in sick. I slept in, which helped, a lot I think. I woke up with no headache and some energy.

So what did I do today all day long? Well, I did about 5 cycles of laundry, and yes everything is washed now (ok, 2 of them were for bedding and my sister's coat). Took garbage out, washed the dishes, which we had quite a few in the sink, paid for the internet (my sister forgot to do that, so this morning our internet was disconnected), bought some pepsi, watched CSI, talked to my husband.

I am quite confused, really. I do like being home and not feeling like I have to be somewhere and do something that is urgent. On the other hand when I am home, I feel like I am useless, even though I do laundry and other household stuff. I missed Matt today, kept thinking that he is so close (London is only 4 hours away), yet I will not get to see him this week. He will have to go back to the states without seeing me. We are going to be farther apart till New Years. Was thinking about how he will spend Christmas with his whole family while I will be in Moscow, working (since our Christmas is not till January). So, in some aspects I enjoyed my day off work, it gave me an opportunity to rest. But I think that overall, I prefer to be at work, stay busy, but that wears me out too. Maybe I should work part-time, although in my profession it would be pretty hard to do. Hmm, will have to think about it and consult my hubby on that thought. I told Matt today that I stayed home only because I was feeling worn out, and to my surprise he said that I did the right think and that he was glad that I stayed home and took care of myself. What a guy! I love him!!!

Fish

I have always liked fish, it does not matter how it's cooked really, I like eating fish (except for catfish, that was not a good experience). My sister on the other hand was never a big fan of fish, and for a quite weird reason. She did not like the smell of cooking the fish. Actually, she does not like the smell of cooking, period. Anyway, I have brought some salmon fillets home, because I love salmon and it's very easy to make. My sister was a bit annoyed that she had to inhale the smell of fish, but she seemed to be ok with it after she had a few bites. It turns out that my sister does like eating fish after all. She really like salmon that I cook (I fry it in skillet with some pepper olive oil and red wine). There is nothing special to my recipe, but she really likes it. I do have to admit that the fillets that I bought are very very good.

So, we were sitting last weekend at home, I cooked some fish and she was eating it with some rice and she tells me: "I need to eat fish at least 3 times a week. It's very good for you" Hmm, it was very interesting that she said that it was "very good for you" because I was thinking "why does she think that cooking fish for her 3 times a week is all that good for me, I wonder" Anyway, I know what she meant, I agree with her, that fish is very good and usually is much leaner that beef or pork or any other meat. This weekend I am going to cook halibut and need to buy some more salmon. I have been into cooking lately. I don't make anything extravagant, but I cook a few times a week, I would say that is pretty regular. I cook much more here than I did in the states. I am kind of enjoying it. But I am not sure that I can cook fish 3 times a week, that seems to be a bit excessive if you ask me. I don't mean that it's excessive to eat fish, it just means that I would have to cook some other stuff too, and that means that I would be cooking every single day of the week. I am not quite ready for that. After all, I don't have my hubby or kids to feed, so this really should be the time in my life when I don't cook anything at all. We will have to wait and see if I continue developing my cooking skills :)

Wells Fargo Sucks

I hate wells fargo. They suck big times. I have many reasons to feel that way, but they have been driving me nuts lately. First of all, I called their customer service dept. a couple of months ago when I wanted to find out if I can change my name on my account over the phone or if I have to go into the branch. The gentleman on the phone told me that he can't do it over the phone, I need to go to the branch in person and then about a week after that conversation I find out that they charged me $2.00 for that call. I mean, $2.00 is not much, but the fact that I had to pay that for the phone call that was not all that helpful, plus the idea of paying for that kind of customer service seems a bit weird to me.

Then now I find out that even though I am in Russia for the last 3 months, they keep charging me a few for Bill Paying Service. I have not used the Bill Pay service since August, yet they keep charging me $6.95 every month. My question is for what? I have not used that service in well over 3 months and they only charged me that amount in the last 2 months. I am confused. I emailed them a few times asking to explain such charges, yet my emails have been ignored.

This all drives me mad. I am going to spend a few bucks and call them tomorrow and tell them to cancel my account (again, asked them that a couple of months ago, yet my account is not closed yet). I am really hoping that this coming up conversation with them will go fast and well. I am not in the mood to dealing with them, plus I don't want to spend money on the long distance call with Wells Fargo.

So, from now on I am going to see if I can join my hubby's account at Wings Financial, he is yet to have any issues with them.

My co-workers rock!

You all should know that I love my job, even more I enjoy the people I work with. Well, one girl is annoying, but besides that they are all great. I like 2 people very much, because we talk a lot and understand each other. I guess we clicked right away. Anyway, today is Friday. This whole week has been crazy, actually it's been crazy for about 3 weeks in a row, tons of work for everybody (including me). So today (Friday) we are pretty worn out, the whole office pretty much. From the very beginning of the morning we are pretty casual, some of us are looking for different irons and ironing boards online (oh, that is me), some of us are talking with others about how Russian men expect to be fed, cleaned and waited on by Russian women (conversation between Lena and Denis; btw, my 2 favorite co-workers), etc. So, it's 11:00 am and none of us have been very productive (or productive at all, really) :)

So, Denis decides to make us all laugh and sends to all of us an email containing a word document with funny stories in it. In that document there are at least 10 stories that are pretty hilarious. Natasha, Lena and I start reading it right away and at the same time, and we realize that it's too funny. We start laughing and not just laughing, but doing so hysterically. None of us can stop. At this moment Denis' phone rings and he can't talk to the supplier because we are so loud and I guess it does not sound professional for him to talk with us laughing as the background noise. Lena and I walked out and away from each other, because we needed to stop laughing, Denis was laughing just by watching us. It was great really. What a great Friday, a great end to the week. I love my work, did I tell you that? Everybody in our office is young and can be funny. I am glad that Denis always entertains us, girls. My team is wonderful. I have much more fun working here than I ever did in the states :)

A blog about a blog

Yeap, the point of this blog is to discuss another blog that I read on a regular basis. Well, the thing is, I read it almost every day, however, the blogs don't update themselves for weeks at a time. (Hint: I am talking about my husband's blog).

I mean we do talk, but usually the stuff he writes in the blogs is what we don't talk about till I read it in his blog. He is the one who pushed me to have my own blog, and when I don't write for a week or so he always asks "when are you going to post?" Well, I find it funny because obviously he checks my blog rather often and likes reading new stuff, yet he is not all that great and keeping his up. Actually, I bet he has like 3 or 4 entries written, he just does not post them. I know that when I talk to him, he says that he has written a few posts, just needs to post it. Maybe it's just an excuse, because I don't know why he can't post it as soon as he is done writing.

So, I am writing this blog to complain about my husband's lack of commitment to his blog. Well, I hope that this will give him a push to update his blog, but I doubt that this idea will work :)

Anyway, I am glad that Matt made me write blogs, even though I don't always feel like writing, knowing that he checks my blogs and reads them all the time makes me happy :)

Well, I better get to work, so I might add to this later. Just speaking my thoughts here: Matt, get moving on posting new blogs :)

My clothes are migrating

I bet you did not know that clothes can migrate. Well, they can. I was always suspicious of this fact, but never really figured it out. Now, I know that it's real and it's happening. No, I don't mean those clothes that move from the states to Russia, that is understandable. But what I find is that when I am around my sister my clothes seem to migrate from my suitcase over to her dresser :) I find it quite amusing. I don't mind, really. I actually am pretty proud that half of her wardrobe is my clothes that decided to migrate over to her closet :) I mean that is a sign that my taste is pretty good for an art-director to borrow my clothes :)

Anyway, I just find it amusing, that is all. You know what else I find amusing? Sometimes my money migrates too :) All my classmates remember my sister by one phrase (we all went to school together, and although my sister is 3 years older than me, we still studied in the sames school and saw each other almost every day in the hallway). The phrase what "Hey little one, do you have any money?" Well, the other day we went to the store to ge some pepsi and my sister went to buy it after I gave her some Russian money :) On the way from the store, I said "hey, where is the change?" to which she replied: "well, I have no Russian money and I need to get something to drink tomorrow morning". I just laughed. Don't take me wrong, she pays it all back and then some, but still, I find it amusing that I am still a good source of money for her :) Yesterday, she took a taxi home and did not have any cash, yet she knew very comfortably that I am home and I have some money :) She called me and said: "come downstairs and bring 350 rubles with you for my taxi" I like the fact that my relationship with my sister is so close that we can just do that to each other and laugh about it :) I think she is going to buy me a new hair dryer today for all that (see, told you she always is willing to pay more than she borrows, so I am always more than happy to loan her some money :))

Well, gotta go get some pepsi, we are all out :(