Oh Snap.

Tonight I was babysitting my five-year-old, Grace. I say "my" because I feel like a second- mom to this kid since I've babysat her since she was 6 months old and have been a consistent presence in her life. (Also, should anything happen to her parents she actually will be my daughter. It's in the will.) Anyway, she comes skipping into the living room and says, "OH MY GOSS, WHITNEY!" (She hasn't conquered the -sh sound yet, any advice Nicole?) I look up and ask what she's talking about. Grace looks at me with the biggest grin I've ever seen and asks, "What if I could learn to SNAP?" I tell her that should that happen it would be really, really cool and that she should keep trying.

So the next half an hour is spent with Grace trying and trying and trying to snap. She keeps saying that her friend, Sangee (somehow that is short for Alissandra), knows how to snap and that she just has to learn too. I interject advice from time to time and try to describe how to position your fingers to create a snap. It's actually a lot harder than you'd think. I keep snapping my fingers to encourage the little go-getter and tell her that "practice makes perfect." A few seconds and about fifty snaps later Grace looks up at me and says, "Is that why you're perfect Whitney?" Wow. I need to hang out with this little girl more! Apparently being able to drive a car, go to an Eric Church concert (she's a HUGE Eric Church & country music fan), eat ice-cream whenever I want, AND snap means that I'm pretty much perfect in her eyes. :) I love it.

By the way, Grace actually did learn how to snap a little later in the evening and never fails to tell me when she accomplishes her goal whether it be while she's in the bathroom, upstairs, or right next to me. In which case she yells in my ear and screams, "I SNAPPED! I SNAPPED!!"

Sorry Mr. Bicycle-man

This will be a short post. Mostly because it's late, I'm sleepy, and I took my contacts out so I can barely see the computer screen. However, before I attempt to hit the sack I have to get something off my chest or the guilt may keep me awake for hours. (Unlikely, but still.) Yesterday, I did something slightly crazy. Call it peer pressure, "getting caught in the moment", or poor decision-making, but whatever you call it, I realize now that it was reckless and wrong(-ish). So here's what happened. (And Kate, I hope this doesn't change your opinion of me. The rest of my followers [my husband, sister, and best friend] have to love me and know that normally I'm pretty sane.)

Last night, Kevin and I went out to eat with our friends: Sarah Beth, Gordon, Sasha, and Tim. After a delicious meal, LOTS of laughter, and a good decision to go eat more food back at the Weirich's home, I volunteer to drive the girls. As we're cruisin' down Main Street we pass a guy riding his bike. He's riding really fast for a bicyclist and starts passing cars and weaving in and out of traffic at a stop light. (So REALLY he was the reckless one.) Anyway, crazy-bike-man suddenly speeds right by us and comes very close to my car. His fault, not mine. So Sarah Beth laughs and tells me to speed up cause she's going to slap his butt when we pass him. Being the mature mid-twenty-year-olds we are, we laugh hysterically and I slam on the gas. As we get within reach of crazy-bike-man I start to worry that Sarah Beth will be too far away to give this guy a really good butt slap so I creep closer and closer. SO close that I actually panicked because at the last second I realized my headlight was aimed right at his back tire! I quickly jerked the steering wheel in the opposite direction and prayed really, really hard that I wouldn't hit him. But I did. And he's dead. And I drove away FAST.

Just kidding! Wow, that really isn't a very funny joke. Even as I typed that my palms started sweating and I started getting anxious. Actually what happened was I did not hit him and Sarah Beth chickened out at the last second. (C'mon Sbeebs!) So I guess I really shouldn't feel too bad since nothing really ended up happening. Honestly, you know who should feel bad? My friend, Sasha. Because as we're driving away she says, "Oh MAN! I wish I had a stick I could've stuck out the window and tripped him with!" (If you ever read this Sasha, I'm sorry for calling you out like that.) ;)

So here's my apology random bike-man. I'm sorry for almost hitting you and then imagining how funny it would have been to see a stick go through the spokes of your bike. If I ever see you biking down Main Street again, I will slow down, get in the farthest lane from you and leave you be.

S.A.D.

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that I'm feeling SAD for the past few weeks. You may wonder if certain circumstances have perpetuated this present mood state of mine such as moving out of my beloved modern apartment and into my parents freezing cold basement guest room with little to no privacy and a weird smell coming from the bathroom cabinet. Or maybe I'm sad because I continue to remain unemployed with no callbacks or hope of starting a job anytime soon. Another reason you may think I'm sad would be that I've watched every season of 30 Rock and therefore am forced to re-watch (gasp!) episodes in an effort to relax and be a total bum. While all of the aforementioned reasons are legitimate and definitely reasons to bum me out, I actually believe those are not the core problem.

The real problem is that I believe I am suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (aka SAD).

According to Wikipedia (the most trusted source of information on the web), SAD is:

also known as winter depression or winter blues, is a mood disorder in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year, experience depressive symptoms in the winter or, less frequently, in the summer, spring or autumn, repeatedly, year after year... some people experience a serious mood change when the seasons change. They may sleep too much, have little energy, and may also feel depressed. Though symptoms can be severe, they usually clear up.

Hmmm...let's hash this out.

Reason # 1= people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year... I think we could agree that I fit this description excluding the seven months I was on the pill and was an emotional rollercoaster and bona fide b!@#$.

Reason #2= sleeping too much...I will (shamefully) admit that with the exception of Sunday mornings and days I've babysat recently, the times I tend to drag myself out of bed and stumble upstairs for a hot mug of coffee has been around noon.

Reason #3= little energy...On such days that I roll out of bed in the early afternoon, I still find myself needing increasing amounts of caffeine and desiring a mid-afternoon nap despite hours of couch-sitting, eating crap food, and drinking my sodas out of extra-long straws on the table next to me in an effort to avoid accidentally doing a sit-up when thirsty.

Are you convinced? I mean let's be real, how could you not be at this point?! My life is S.A.D. Where do I go from here? Do I wait out the next few miserably cold months and hope that things get better? OR do I try light therapy (a valid treatment option/validating excuse) and drive myself to the nearest tanning bed and increase my likelihood for skin cancer while gloriously frying my body? Honestly, I may go with the latter. Judge me. Do it. But if I have to look at more blue veins showing through my pale hands or at my ghostly face which has decided to break out about every week in adult acne I might throw up. Also, I need more energy and less sleep if I'm going to accomplish anything respectable in my life anymore. SO, if you see a little black Jetta speeding down Brughs Mill Road towards Marlys' Salon (where tanning is $2/session) get out of my way because no one wants to make a SAD girl a MAD girl.

First post ever.

Today I will make Nicole Suzanne Galvydis the happiest Lithuanian girl in Warrenton. Today I will post a blog. (Can you post a blog or do you just "blog"?) To be honest, I'm not really sure what I'm doing and every time I try to add a photo it's so big it takes up half a page. BUT I'm trying. Why you (aka Nicole) might ask? Why would I take precious time out of my "busy" day to post something that may or may not be read by more than one person? I'm not sure why at this point but I do know that if I don't find a creative outlet for all my newly acquired free time, my brain might implode. I mean c'mon, I was the co-editor of the Lord Botetourt High School Yearbook staff. Shouldn't I be utilizing my creative linguistic talents to better the world with my wisdom and insight? Yes. Yes, I should. It's 2011 and this is the new Whitney Forbes-Hughes. The old Whitney might have stood by and let this opportunity pass her by while facebook stalking or watching episodes of The Office, but not the new Whitney. Nope. The new Whitney is taking life by the horns, attempting to blog, and trying not to use dictionary.com more than five times per post.