Got to Melbourne, Australia in one piece. I've been here about 1 1/2 weeks so far, and it is cold and rainy. Since I'm working, I haven't had too much of a chance to sight see, but I'm hoping to remedy that over the next couple weekends.

I'm also trying to figure out where to go for out of town travel (like weekend trips). Any suggestions?

Just wanted to leave a note saying that things have been busy.
The wedding is on Friday, so of course I am scared out of my mind. The BBQ is Saturday, so for that I am just super-anxious about getting everything set up in time. All of that sums up to me being pretty excited!

After that I'll have about a month of peace before I go to Australia for 4 months. For work, of course.

Anyway--just wanted to leave an update!

I feel disgusting. I have been working so much, I have not been sleeping well, and thus have not been able to get up before work to go running. So, I am overweight and feeling blah. I won't even be able to run the entire 10K on the 1st for the Monument 10K. This makes me want to cry.

I did take this weekend to drink a lot, though. Didn't sleep a lot. So, once again, no running.

I swear, I suck. I need to get motivated to say 'fuck you' to work and get back in shape.

Anyway--back to work!

Okay. So here I am at 2am drunk off my ass. Well not really that drunk anymore.
Apparently I had a liquid lunch and dinner. I vaguely remember doing this in college.
I blame Dave. He just wanted to get into my pants so he let me keep drinking. (And I
can't take responsibility for my own drinking.)

Anyway. Happy St Patricks Day. I hope everyone had a great wake!

Update:

- Was in hospital for a while in December, now have issues.
- Work: Currently in busy season, so I'm MIA for a while
- Life: None beyond work and planning wedding.

Yay!! (As Jessie Spanno said, "I'm so excited!")

Yay! I bought a motorcycle! I have driven it a total of like 30 miles..too bad I'm out of town again.

Yay motorcycles!

Just thought I'd let everyone know that I am officially engaged.
Yay!

This weekend was really nice. I spent yesterday with an old old high school friend and his wife. They were kind enough to drive me to Multnomah Falls for my obligatory Oregon picture. They also drove me to Crown Point to get a great view of the Columbia Gorge.

Today I went shopping downtown in some really nifty stores, including Powell's Books, which takes up an entire city block (thanks Becca!). I also wandered around the Saturday Market, which is open on Sunday, too. Then I went to a couple wineries just outside of the greater Portland area and had quite a few glasses of wine.

Anyway--I had a lovely time.

Oh, and I ran a 10k yesterday.

Well, I have just completed the next step in the CPA process.
I just passed my ethics exam! All I have to do is get some stuff signed by my bosses and actually apply.

Yay! Let's hope they let me get licensed!

Here are some random thoughts from today:

1. I noticed a woman in the break room at my client today, and she had beautiful shoes on. The kind that probably retail for $80 or more. Then I noticed her feet. The shoes were so small on her, that the skin on the top of her feet were wrinkled to the point where it looked like a hoof shoved in a shoe. Why? Why do people have to ruin a pretty shoe like that???

2. Jack In The Box - Wasn't this the place where in the early 80's the food poisoning was so bad that people, including children, died? They seem to be everywhere out here, and I was thinking, why would people eat there? I see them and think of being so horribly ill after I eat that there's no way I'd eat there. They have had several food poisoning situations since then, too. Weird. Maybe I'll try it while I'm out here--just to live life on the edge.

3. I travel a lot and therefore eat out a lot. I'd say that fifty percent of the time I'll go to a restaurant and order take out and have a drink while I wait. Tonight I ordered a Mai Tai. The food was prepared so quickly that by the time the food was ready I was barely into my drink! This is why I believe they should allow people to take out alcoholic beverages using some sort of lid that would prove to the police that you didn't drink it while driving. All I know is I suck at preparing drinks and I want to be able to drink girly pink umbrella drinks at home that were professionally prepared. Why can't the world be more like Bourbon Street? (Minus the hurricanes and poverty and flooding.)

4. Need to find something to do in Portland this weekend. Any ideas?

Just wanted to let everyone know that I rock because...

I PASSED THE CPA EXAM!!!

Still have steps to go through before I am finally licensed, but now the hardest part is over!!

I travel pretty much for 80% of the time of 2 consecutive months during the year.

I have finally figured something out.

Business travelers drink a lot to make the bad waiters, annoying bartenders, insane karaoke singers, and weirdo other business travelers from the hotel bar disappear.

Seriously--every time I see a new picturee of Lindsey Lohan, all I can think of is, "gee, when did she get to be such a strung-out looking whore?" She really looks like she's just had a hard life of spousal abuse and alcohol, with some chain smoking thrown in. Not that I am obsessed with her or anything.

Blah.

I think it's probably the anorexia that these startlets have now. Makes them look worse than they really are.

Thank God I know how to eat a pint of ice cream. Keeps the cheeks full and youthful looking.

My life has finally returned to me. This week has been a total rollercoaster. It started out with excitement. I just couldn't wait to take my exam and say "goodbye CPA exam." Then it morphed into total stressed out anxiety, sudden mood swings, and general craziness. It got worse. I then scratched my eye (yes, again) and had to stay home asleep the day before my exam. Wow. I wished for a day off to study, not to sleep! Today, I got my ass out of bed and took the exam. I feel pretty much like crap. Not because of the eye, but I'm just completely worn out. I don't think I did very well on the exam, but that's okay. Why? Because I now have a good 2 months of freedom. Freedom to work out whenever I want. Freedom to watch a movie on the weekend. Freedom to sleep. Freedom to read a book that didn't have anything to do with accounting. Freedom to clean, if I ever choose to do so.

Thank God it's all over.

* What POS plastic fork melts when you stick it into a burrito that's not even that hot?!

* On the same note, why would a burrito manufacturer ever put "Made With Real Cheese" on it's packaging, when people will never believe it.

* Blessed be the perverts

* Cheese makes the world go round. I can't explain how I know, but I just know it.

Well, my eye has completely healed up and tomorrow I'm allowed to go back to contacts. Oddly enough, though, I won't right away because Biker Dave thinks I look sexy in my new glasses.

In the meantime, I'll be studying my buttocks off (my last exam will be next Friday -- at least until I find out whether or not I failed it) for Audit. Please, feel free to ask me audit questions. I really need help! I just don't feel ready. I have gone through all of the chapters, and I'm currently going back over the study guides and writing up a sort of study book to help me study. I'm also doing a 30-60 question practice test each day.

Why do I feel so unprepared???

I think I'm just so glad that I'll have at least a good month and a half break of studying that I just don't really care about this one. Even though this is the one I *should* be caring about since it might finally get me closer to being a CPA!

(I'm starting to think I should call this blog--"Confessions and Frustrations of a CPA Candidate", or "God, Please help me become a CPA".)

Besides all of this studying, I'm trying to get back into working out for my next race. Thankfully, the Tour de France is on tv on Saturday mornings, so I can sit on my bike for a good 2 hours while I watch it.

I'm also changing my hair. I got it cut pretty short last night, and next week, after the exam, I'll be getting it a little shorter and get some highlights. I'd like to get them light enough that I can do some manic panic type colors on the weekends.

Okay, I know my life is pretty blad these days, and I'm not a very good story teller. So I'll leave it at this:

Chocolate is a gift from God during stressful times.

Oh! I almost forgot. I got my scores today for the regulation section I took in May.

I passed!! 3 down, 1 to go!

I have some scratches on my eye apparently. They gave me vicodin. I am happy when I take those lovely little pills.

I would not wish this excrutiating pain upon my worst enemy.

Well I finished the inaugural Yorktown Sprint Triathlon yesterday. I feel that I actually did pretty well. My total time was 2 hours and 4 minutes.

The swim was a little challenging since the current/tide kept pushing me at an angle back to shore. There were also the nettles/jellyfish/whatever it was that stung my legs. Another challenging thing about the swim was that the "beach" at the end had several rocks/shells/whatever that sliced up 2 of my toes. All in all, I got out at about 27 minutes feeling pretty good.

The bike was good in the sense that nothing went wrong. I was a little slower than I had hoped, and the road wasn't that great, but it was cool and the ride went pretty easy. My time was about 56 minutes on that sucker.

The run was EXCELLENT. Even though my toes hurt for the first half mile, the rest of it was great! I think I had my fastest 5k time ever at 35 minutes. I felt REALLY good at the end, too! I believe that running the 10K the weekend before might have helped, because at the halfway mark I was like "what? I'm already halfway done?" I never thought that something like that would EVER cross my mind.

Anyway, it was a great race day and I had a great time. Yay!