Happy Holidays!

Check this out!

Holiday Acapella

How can you not appreciate this? Even if just for all the cute guys in tuxes!

Golf!

Some photos for you to enjoy of the coldest game of golf I've ever played.

Firstly - look how fetching I am in my golf attire! The hat is really just there to cover up my unwashed hair:



Here is my golf swing - don't I look like I might actually remember how to play?



My Dad and Bro tee'ing off:




The Boyfriend figured out my dirty little secret very early in the game - my most favorite thing about golf is driving the golf carts! Here are some photos I took while claiming the right to drive the cart:

Here is The Boyfriend showing off his multi-tasking skills:

And finally, here I am at the end of our 18 holes, hoping I will be able to warm up sometime within the next few days.

Night

An Open Letter to the Girl I Almost Ran Over on Friday Night:

Here's a bit of advice - if you are going to go running when it is pitch dark outside, it would be wise to dress in lighter colors so that when you are running across an intersection that has no streetlights, cars won't accidentally almost run you over.

I am so sorry that I scared you. But seriously? Are you stupid?

YOU ARE RUNNING AT NIGHT WEARING ALL DARK CLOTHES. How in the hell am I supposed to see you? I mean, I didn't really come close to running you over, but I obviously scared you (for which I am sincerely sorry) but you also scared me too. How do you think I would feel if I DID run you over?

Common sense. That's all I'm asking. If you go running at night in an area that is not well-lit, you should probably make sure cars can see you easily. That, or stay away from busy intersections.

Sincerely -
ChezSarcastica

Washington

A Photo Essay -

I think I might have mentioned that it was cold. How cold you ask? Let me show you...

Those are frozen roses, by the way.

Also, we got to play with 2 of the cutest and friendliest dogs in the known universe -

Tank

And Mochi

(Mochi is the one not wearing a hat)

Seriously, those dogs were just too cute. I wanted to squeeze them all the time.

Also, I gave The Boyfriends niece her very first haircut. Let me tell you, you have never experienced nervousness until you are holding sharp scissors next to a very cute 1 year olds face.

Sorrel before -

Sorrel after - (yes, she's holding a baggy of her hair. She thought it was funny)

And finally - this is one of the best ways to pass the time between Thanksgiving dinner and dessert.

Blue

I couldn't fall asleep last night. Let me rephrase that. I couldn't stay asleep last night. I really hate it when that happens.

And it happens to me a lot. Always on Sunday night. I don't know if it's because I know I have to work in the morning or because The Boyfriend and I took a 3 hour nap Sunday afternoon - all I know is that sleep was just not happening.

And I like sleep. I'm really really good at it. So when it goes wrong, I just don't know what to do. I have no coping mechanism for this.

We had a really fun weekend. Got to hang out and watch a lot of movies. Our friend David took new headshots for us. Can't wait to get them back - we saw them quickly when we were done and they are amazing, per usual with anything David photographs. I usually get so nervous when I have pictures taken of me, so it helps a lot that I am so completely comfortable around David and Kathy and The Boyfriend, almost too comfortable as David had to tell me to stop talking a couple of times.

Afterwards we went to dinner and then to Pinkberry's - which was my very first time eating there. The Boyfriend and I got chocolate chips and kiwi on ours, a weird combination and yet very delicious.

We also did our first two runs since being back from Washington. The first one went well, although I am definitely hurting a bit from taking so much time off. I improved my time 30 seconds between Saturday and Sunday, so I should be back up to speed before the end of the week!

The End

I made it! Today is the last day of NaBloPoMo! I can't freaking believe I posted every day for 30 days. Although, as I read a lot from people last year, I do think this has forced me to get in the habit of posting more often and hopefully that will continue.

I know you are all dying to read the random thoughts that are in my head every day.

You know what I hate? I absolutely hate it when we finally get rain in Southern California and all the stupid weather people insist on acting like it's the worst possible thing that could ever happen. Shouldn't we all be thrilled that we are finally getting some rain? The rain that everyone has been explaining we so desperately need?

Seriously, some woman on the tv this morning actually said "Unfortunately, it looks like its going to be a wet one today."

OH NO! Rain! One freaking day of rain. All of our lives are ruined. No one will be able to carry on. The fires will all go away and nothing will be in danger of burning down.

Ugh.

On a different note - went to dinner last night with Darion and Kirsten and The Boyfriend. It was so much fun, I didn't even realize it was 10:40 by the time we started walking home, which is WAY past my bedtime. We tried Ugo's in Culver City - and while the service was pretty sub-par (in my opinion) the food/atmosphere was great. There is nothing better than meeting people you have so much fun with that you lose all concept of time.

Caffeine

I might have partaken in a bit too much coffee today. Either that, or I am still on a vacation high.

I had all these things in my head this morning to post about and now I have forgotten most of them. That's what I get for not writing things down this morning.

LFTI was just featured on YouTube again. I can't tell you how exciting that is, people are finally seeing our show.

And yet, here I sit at my day job - trying to figure out why the car service won't call me back to confirm my boss's ride home from the airport.

Not that I am complaining. I'm really not. We finally get to see some payoff for all of our hard work and I am not going to be a "gift-horse mouth looker" as The Boyfriend would say.

After work I am meeting some friends for dinner, which I am totally excited about. We are going to an Italian place which always makes me happy. Oh yeah, I just remembered one of the things I wanted to write about.

Remember how I was going no-dairy for awhile? And how I was doing pretty well with that? Well apparently 12 days of travel makes everything like that fly right out of the window. Everything in Washington is made with real dairy and apparently no one drinks coffee with creamer-type stuff in it, so I was forced to eat real butter and put milk in my coffee. Oh well, I have been off dairy since we got back. I could have just gone to the store and bought some non-dairy items for myself, but that just seemed silly.

So now I am back to salad for lunch and hoping that someday I can eat cheese and crackers for a meal without getting a major headache afterwards.

Scrambled

I usually make sure I have a day at home after a vacation, just so that I can have a day to get my head back in the game and I feel ready to go to work.

Because of scheduling issues, I couldn't do that with this trip since I had already used all of my vacation time. Today was a good day at work, I didn't walk back in to a huge mess and my boss is on a business trip so it was pretty quiet for the day.

Although, I realized at lunch that I had forgotten to put my lunch card back in my wallet. Which got me to thinking about how much crap I carry in my wallet. Before I go out of town, I always clean out my wallet so that I don't carry around the useless crap I seem to think I need to carry around every day. Which usually doesn't matter, but I do end up taking out things I only need at work - forget to put them back when we return and spend my first day at work wondering where everything is.

So, I got to thinking that I carry around a lot of stuff that I don't need every day, or even most days. I wonder just how much stuff I could get rid of and not miss. Which of course gets me to thinking about all the stuff I have at home. I wonder how much stuff I could get rid of there and not miss.

I think my new moto for 2008 is going to be simplify. We'll see how it goes.

Home

We just walked in the door a few minutes ago. It definitely snowed all night in Spokane, our first flight out was a bit delayed, which was no big deal since we had a 4 hour layover in Boise.

The layover went quickly, I finished the book I was reading and started a second one. I love traveling with The Boyfriend, we always have a good time together, so stuff like 4 hour layovers don't phase us much.

I've never been to the Boise airport before, which is weird since I have family that live in close to there, but we always drove to visit them. The airport is nice and the workers there were seriously the nicest airport people I have ever dealt with. They had a great camaraderie that was so sweet to watch. We also had really friendly Flight Attendants all day, so even though we spent the entire day flying or being in airports, it was a very good day for traveling.

Which is good, because I still need to write a nice email to Alaska about how awesome they handled our lost luggage and now I can add on how friendly their people are in Boise!

This is all for now, I have to go unpack. It's this weird thing with me, as soon as we get home I HAVE to unpack everything. It just helps me feel like I'm really home.

Tomato

We just got back from dinner at our last stop on the tour of restaurants we used to eat at when we lived in Spokane. We definitely saved the best for last as we went to Tomato Street, the restaurant I worked at while we lived here. We planned for an early dinner (5 o'clock! I haven't eaten so early in forever!)

Man, I miss their food! I knew I loved their food, but I'd forgotten how much I really did love their food. I had a pepperoni and sausage calzone, which was amazing as usual. It was very weird to sit there as a customer since I haven't been back since I left all those years ago. There were even a couple of servers working that I used to work with, but I couldn't work up the courage to see if they remembered me.

It was still a fun dinner. The Boyfriends Sister worked there a few years ago, so it was a trip down memory lane for her as well.

We also stopped by the Sisters new digs, which were totally cute. And then we raced home just now to watch "Dancing with the Stars". I'm typing this really fast so I can go and watch the show with everyone.

It was a great last night here - it even started snowing while we were eating dinner.

Of course, it's supposed to snow all night. I hope we can get out of here tomorrow. I know it wouldn't be terrible to be stuck here, but I'm still freezing my butt off and it would be nice to be back in warmer weather!

Games

All I have to say is that "Mall Madness" is my new favorite game ever. I may have to search around and find it for myself!

Also, I rule at "Scene It" - I was the big winner tonight!

Today has been a pretty quiet day around here. We had our second Thanksgiving with The Boyfriend's family, which was awesome. I can't get over how relaxing this vacation has been. I feel like we have been away from home forever and yet, I'm not dying to be home. Don't get me wrong, I would like to be home and get back into the swing of things, but I'm not DYING to be home.

That's something The Boyfriend and I have in common. We realized this on our road trip 2 summers ago, basically, if we are together we are home.

Ella

I don't know when our visits home turned in to a whirlwind of eating at restaurants we used to visit, but it certainly has this time.

Although today we went to 2 new places, The Pita Pit for lunch and Ella's for dinner.

The Pita Pit is a cute little place that of course makes sandwiches and everything else you order in Pita's. I loved their food, very fresh and good for you (if you so choose).

For dinner, The Boyfriend's Mom treated us to a supper club called Ella's that is owned by friends of hers. It's located in downtown Spokane in an very awesome old building they have renovated. The first two floors are theaters where they put on plays and readings and such and the top floor is a supper club before 11 and after 11 it's a jazz bar. Very cool inside and the food was absolutely amazing. They had a live guitar player that I really enjoyed.

It's been fun to be back in Spokane. We have spent most of this visit just hanging out and chatting with The Boyfriends Mom and Sister and Niece. I love visits like this, it's so relaxing. Although, as I just commented to The Boyfriend, we need to go home where we have no food waiting for us so I can get back to working on losing weight.

I know my posts have been shorter and shorter, but I keep forgetting until the absolute end of the day and then I am so tired, I can't remember everything we did during the day!

We helped The Boyfriends Mom get her tree out and start decorating. Although, she is much better and decorating a tree than I am, so I mostly sat on the couch knitting and chatting while she decorated the tree. For me, it was still a blast - but I'm sure she probably meant to have more help!

Friday

Today was our last day in the Yakima Valley. We hung out with my family this morning - had lunch of leftovers from Thanksgiving and said our good-byes to everyone in my family. It was a nice visit - I learned a lot about my family on my Dad's side and got my Dad to talk some more about Vietnam which is always fascinating to me. I love hearing stories about my parents before they were married and started a family. I think it's because I will never really know what they were like back then.

The Boyfriend and I drove through the Tri-Cities and stopped by a couple of his old haunting grounds. Made it back to Spokane in time for dinner and have spent the evening chatting with The Boyfriends Mom and Sister.

I have lots of photos, as soon as we get back to LA I will have to go through them and upload some.

We haven't been able to run for a few days now - we are going to try and run tomorrow sometime, whenever it manages to get over 30 degrees. It took until after noon for that to happen today, so it might be a late afternoon run tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving.

Ours was delicious.

Other than eating a lot, my family doesn't have any real traditions. We always play a game of some sort, for the past few years our family really enjoys Uno Attack. If you have not played this game you should run out and buy it, it is a lot of fun and almost all ages can play.

Anyway, my family has never been in to the "everyone go around the room and tell us what you are thankful for" type of family - so I will tell you here that today I am thankful for my life. There's no real story behind this or anything, I just had a moment today where I realized how lucky I am.

That I get to share my life with someone who loves and understands me.

That I have a family that misses me and is happy to see me and spend time with me (and The Boyfriend).

That I have extended family through The Boyfriend that is also happy to see us and spend time with us and misses us.

That I have friends who understand and appreciate me.

That I have a job that affords me to produce a show that I am very proud of.

I could really go on and on, but I don't need to list everything out. All I need is to remember that I have a good life and that life is full of good people.

Cold, continued

So The Boyfriend, my Dad, Older Brother and I played 18 holes of golf today. I think it was the coldest round of golf ever played. I will post pictures later - obviously you can't see how cold it is, but our very red noses and ears should give you some idea.

While my golf game has been horribly neglected in the past 10 years, it was a lot of fun and I got to spend some fun quality time with my bro and Dad.

Right now, my niece is "helping" The Boyfriend get sticky buns ready which will rise overnight and be a very delicious breakfast tomorrow morning.

After dinner at Miner's (a local hamburger joint that The Boyfriend and I requested because they have awesome burgers and fries!) The Boyfriend and I drove to Ellensburg and visited some of our old haunts of our college town. The place has changed quite a bit, and yet, remains the same. I miss that town, but I would really have a hard time moving back to such a small place after LA.

I think that's all the news from today. I am fighting off a killer headache, so I'm going to help The Boyfriend get the sticky buns ready for tomorrow and hopefully go to sleep.

Shopping

This morning The Boyfriend and I tried to run - even though it was only 29 degrees outside. Unfortunately for us that meant that most of the trail was frozen over and very treacherous to run on. So we walked for 1/2 hour instead of running - talking about how cold it was and admiring the scenery along the river.

On our way back to the car we saw two deer, which was magical as always. They stared at us for quite awhile, making sure we weren't going to suddenly jump across the river and attack them.

I love running in the morning - so quiet and peacefull out. Even if it is so cold my face feels frozen after only a couple of minutes.

Spent the day goofing around with my Mom and shopping.

Tomorrow we golf! We are supposed to be there at 10:30 am, which means I will continue in my efforts to layer as much as possible while still being able to move freely.

Golfing should be fun, I haven't been in years. Neither has any of our golfing party, so I hope the course is pretty quiet otherwise I would feel really bad for anyone trying to golf behind us.

Lot's of fun things going on with The Sitcom. We were just featured on YouTube and our hits are through the roof. It's very weird to have this happen while we aren't home, makes it seem more surreal.

Win

So, the cold, cold weather continues here. The Boyfriend and I met my Dad, Mom and a family friend for lunch today at the last existing Sea Galley Restaurant for lunch.

Then The Boyfriend and I attempted a run this afternoon. We quickly realized that running after a meal is just not what our bodies are used to as we usually run first thing in the morning before breakfast. Add that with the fact that it barely gets above 40 degrees here and we didn't have the best of jogging experiences this afternoon.

So, tomorrow we are going to go for a run in the morning. Which means it will barely be above 30 degrees. I'm getting cold just thinking about it.

Tonight we met a bunch of my parents friends for dinner at a casino and stayed to gamble with my Mom. She fronted me $20 and it took me awhile but I turned it in to $100 by the end of the night! My Mom graciously let me keep my winnings since I promised to gamble again with her again before I leave.

It was really nice to see people whose kids I grew up with. Everyone was very excited to catch up and chat with The Boyfriend. I passed out a lot of business cards for The Sitcom - hopefully we will get some more viewers!

Now I'm off to bury myself under a blanket and try to get warm. We couldn't golf today since there was snow on the ground so we are going to call tomorrow and see if they even open.

I have to say, so far, it's been a good visit home.

Snow!

I've told several people that the only thing I really wanted while in Washington was for it to snow, and I'm getting my wish as I type this. The Boyfriend and I just got back from visiting with my Older Brother and family. We were checking out their new house (it's so cute and has so much room!) when we walked outside the cars were already covered in snow. Oh man, I miss snow the most.

Other than that, it's been a pretty slow day. We drove from Spokane to Yakima Valley today after going for our first run of the vacation. We drove to part of the Centennial Trail and went for a run - after which The Boyfriend and I clocked how far we ran with the car. I ran just over 2 miles and The Boyfriend ran 4. It's nice to know that even when running in a straight line on a trail I still get my full run in and pace myself the same as when I run at the park.

It was SO COLD while running this morning - 37 degrees. Oh man, it took me over half the run to warm up, but it was so worth it. I can't believe how much better I feel after a run. Now we have to figure out where to run here since it's snowing and school is still in session, so I don't want to to go the high school and run at the track. My parents have a treadmill, so that's always an option, but it will be a last resort as I prefer running outside.

So, anyway, I guess golfing may be out of the question, but we are still going to try!

Now I'm off to find warmer clothes and a tv to watch The Simpsons.

Brrrr

My poor little sensitive body is freezing here! It's been raining all day today and the high is somewhere in the mid-40's. The Boyfriend and I tried to run this morning, but it was raining so hard it was a no-go.

So, we went to pick-up our rental car and ran to the mall to get The Boyfriend new glasses. I seem to have forgotten how expensive glasses are, as we walked out spending WAY more than I had expected. Of course, he looks so damn cute in his new specs that I can't be that mad. I did inform him that he darn well better be wearing his glasses a whole lot more now that the glasses have the right prescription and he can actually see out of them.

So yeah, it's been a pretty relaxing day here. We wandered around the mall a bit. I found the mos awesome argyle cashmere sweater for $35, so that made me extremely happy.

We took naps this afternoon, and now we are going to make meatloaf dinner with The Boyfriend's Mom. Last night we went to the most awesome Mongolian Grille place I used to frequent when we lived here. Between that and playing with nieces and a nephew, it's been a great visit so far.

Tomorrow we are off to my parent's house. And, if the weather isn't too cold, golf with my Dad, Oldest Brother and The Boyfriend.

Arrival

Here we are in rainy Washington! We just got back from breakfast with The Boyfriends sister and niece, which was awesome.

Our flight was a little eventful in that we were going to be delayed from leaving Los Angeles by over 2 hours. So I went to the front of the plane with the idea of asking about our connecting flight when the flight attendant learned that our final destination was Spokane she told me to get my stuff and come with her. So I gathered The Boyfriend and our carry-on luggage and departed the plane to learn that we were being bumped over to the direct flight from LA to Spokane (which is the flight we almost always take!). The downside was that our checked bag was not going to be on the flight with us.

And then I started worrying. See, I've never lost a bag flying (I am knocking on wood right now). And this seemed a situation ripe for ending in lost luggage.

But, we already have a happy ending as I just got off the phone with the awesome people of Alaska Airlines (I am writing the nicest letter ever when I get home. They were all so helpful and nice. They even gave us little toiletry kits when we didn't have our toothbrushes last night!) who happily informed me that they already have our bag at the airport and it is scheduled for delivery at 11 am.

I can't tell you how elated I am. Seriously, I know I'm a worrier, but the entire night last night after we found out our luggage would have to follow us to Spokane later, I was completly worried that we would never see it again.

Luckily, I am traveling with the Boyfriend who is very good at talking me down from one of my stressouts.

That's all the news for now. I'm off to watch some TV and maybe take a nap.

I love vacation.

Done Packing

So I think I am all ready to go to Washington. I have no complete idea since my brain is apparently already on vacation.

Yesterday after lunch, my boss walked in and I said "Good Morning" to her. At least she thought it was funny and said she wouldn't mind starting the day over.

Of course, it's like the worst time ever to be leaving work and I am a bit worried as to what is going to happen while I'm gone. Of course, I know the world won't stop, but it's a bit worrisome none-the-less.

At least, until I get on the plane and then my only worry will be making our connecting flight.

I can't wait to just sit around and take naps every day if I want to. Oh I love the holidays! Especially when I get to go somewhere that has different weather than LA. I mean, it's 80 degrees here today. How crazy is that? I had to remind myself that it is November this morning while running, because it was already hot out. Ugh.

Gross

All morning I have been wondering what this horrible smell is.

It would come in waves and I couldn't smell it all the time, but was definitely oderific. I checked my garbage can to make sure it had been emptied, I checked under my desk to make sure there wasn't some random thing there making that smell.

Sadly, I just realized it's my shoes. I am wearing Dr. Scholl's wooden shoes that a friend gave to me when she didn't find them comfortable.

I don't know what went wrong, but the will be thrown out very soon.

Good thing I brough a pair of flip-flops to work as I am getting a mani/pedi at lunch!

Ugh, I am still grossed out.

Busy

We just got done meeting with our writer for Episode 7 and I am just getting this post in under the wire.

Can I just tell you how much past my bedtime this is?

Now we won't be able to run in the morning - which means day 3 of not running for me. I guess that's okay, we will be able to run every day on vacation (if we want). Since my Dad is a runner, it will be fun to go out and go on a jog with him! I've never done that before.

So yeah, stressful day at work and now the crunch time is coming for getting all ready to leave. We still haven't packed, I have to do one more load of laundry and food is getting scarce around here, since we didn't want to shop too much before we leave on vacation.

Agh! You know, this is what always happens before we leave on vacation. Everything get's busy and stressful and then it takes a day or two to relax. No worries, I'm traveling with The Boyfriend and he's always entertaining to me and we always have a great time traveling together.

I Remember

I should have posted this yesterday -

My father is a Vietnam Veteran. He doesn't talk much about it. He's showed us pictures, I have the camera he bought before he came home and he still has some money from there, but no real stories about what it was like.

I do know that he got drunk with some friends and tried to sign up for the Airborne Division because jumping out of a plane sounded fun, but found out that they had already been assigned somewhere else.

I also know that he once got sunburned so badly on the beach they almost threw him in "the brig" (or whatever you call it) for not being able to perform his duties.

But the biggest thing I remember is when we went to Washington D.C. when I was in the 9th grade, my Dad tried to find the names of his two best friends that died in Vietnam.

He couldn't find them.

He cried.

It was the second time in my life that I had seen my Dad cry.

I can't figure out a way to end this. I just hope that people actually stop and take a moment to remember what Veterans Day is all about. Not just a free day from school or work, but a day to think about those people who aren't so lucky as to have someone try and find their name on a memorial.

Sunday

While running this morning - a very nice lady said something to me as I ran past her. I stopped and took my headphones out of my ears and apologized for not hearing her. She repeated herself "You look amazing. I see you in the morning and I think you are an inspiration. You can tell you are working very hard."

I thanked her profusely. What a nice surprise. It was a morning when I felt like I was having a crappy run (for the second day in a row) and it was such a pick-me-up to have someone stop and say that they noticed how hard I've been working. And a stranger to boot! I get such a kick out of life when it happens this way.

Spent the rest of the day getting various things done like laundry, mopping floors, etc. All very exciting.

But, we did have an impromptu "Harry Potter" movie marathon over the weekend. I forget how much I love those movies. Now I'm off to re-read the last few books.

Filming

Spent tonight working on a music video with The Boyfriend. There is nothing better than spending an evening being silly and creative with someone you love. Um, yeah, that sounds weird, but it's really not that type of thing.

Of course, this also made me almost forget to post today! 

This morning, I was telling The Boyfriend about how I had posted a comment to this website I visit every day called The Simple Family. I  read this site when it was The Sarcastic Journalist (you can see why it piqued my interest) and now I visit every day to see what new thing I learn about trying to live a simpler lifestyle that is easier on the earth.

Anyhoo, you should check her site out. She's a great writer!  The post that I commented on started a very interesting conversation between The Boyfriend and I on just when we thought Americans had become people that live above their means and if we think it could ever be turned around. 

That's how I know I'm reading a good writer, when it can spark interesting conversation in my real life. 

The Day That Never Ends

What is with today? I feel like it has been the day that never ends.

Up and running before the sun is completely up and I have been busy all day. I look down at the clock expecting it to be around 5 and it was barely 3 pm! Gah!

No big plans for the weekend. I am going for acupuncture tomorrow (Note to self, figure out when the heck your appointment is) and I think The Boyfriend and I are going to spend most of the weekend getting ready to leave. It takes awhile to get all the old winter clothes out of their various hiding places, longer than you would think.

I think we are going to be very bad and have pizza for dinner tonight. I haven't had pizza in I don't know how long, which is a miracle for me 'cause I loves me some pizza. I know I'm not supposed to have dairy, but, well, I have no answer for that. I know I'm not supposed to and yet I'm going to anyway.

Story of my life.

Thursday

There seems to be something very wrong with Thursdays in general, even if they start out great.

Today DID have a great start since The Boyfriend and I had breakfast with Corrie (she plays Jennifer in our sitcom), whom we haven't seen in months. Literally, more than one month. I really miss her.

So, we had breakfast at my favorite breakfast place (cheap and delicious!), wherein I was overserved coffee (seriously, I don't know how much I had, but I lost count at 4 cups) and had plenty of time to chat and catch up.

But the rest of today has just been "meh" for me. I managed to spill lunch in 3 different place on myself (I think this is a record of some sort). I can't put my finger on it, but there is an overwhelming sense of "meh" in my world.

On another note, The Boyfriend and I leave a week from today for our annual "Home for Thanksgiving" trip. I really hope it snows while we are there. I miss snow.

Nada

Not too much going on around here today. The Boyfriend and I managed to sleep through our alarm for the second day in a row, so I walked at lunch. I walk the same park that we run in the morning, so let me tell ya, I now know that route like the back of my hand.

It was suggested that I should post a picture of how my hair looks today after styling it myself. It's pretty funny, between the weather and my walk at lunch, my hair looks nothing like my "after" picture of yesterday.

Someday, I will have lots of money and I will have April (my friend and hairstylist extraordinaire) blow dry my hair for me every day.

Or, in the meantime, I won't fart around in the morning and actually spend more than 5 minutes on my hair.

I'm really not sure which will happen first.

Bang

I'm counting down the minutes until the end of work. I'm off to get my haircut.

Nothing too drastic (as I'm known to do), just a trim and the addition of bangs.

I'll post before and after pictures later.

Updated to add:

Before haircut:




After haircut:

Ketchup

I was supposed to be meeting some friends for dinner tonight, but we've had to cancel on account of all of us fighting off some sort of malaise. I blame everything on the fires, I can't imagine what all we've been breathing in from everything that burned. Either way, my allergies need to give it a rest.

Yesterday and this morning have been the best 2 days of running I have ever experienced. Chilly, but not cold. Light out, but I didn't need sunglasses. Oh yeah, and I am now a little over 1/2 mile from making my weekend "long run" (3 miles) into my usual "everyday run" (2 miles)!! I don't know what's changed or how I finally managed to get my butt in gear, but I'm loving the new faster running me. I think adding red meat back into my diet on a somewhat regular basis is helping. At least, I feel like I have more energy lately.

The Boyfriend and I were just chatting about how I had not fallen asleep on the couch in a long time and how I feel like I have a ton more energy lately and then, whamo, I fell asleep around 9:30 on the couch last night. So apparently Daylight Saving Time is to blame for my couch sleepiness. Darn Farmers.

Smiling

You know when you spend an evening hanging out with people that make you laugh? And when you get home you realize that your face hurts from laughing so much?

I had that experience last night. The Boyfriend and I met up with some friends of mine that I grew up with in Washington for dinner. These two people always make me laugh and are always fun to be around. We went to Billingsley's Steak House - I love this place, it's an old style steakhouse and we are usually the youngest people in the room.

I can't tell you how nice it is to reconnect with friends and realize you still have so much to talk about. And also realize that their significant other is a really cool person in of themselves.

So yeah, old school steakhouse plus old/new friends makes for a good night.

Posting on a Saturday

I think this is the first time I have ever posted on a Saturday. Since I'm too lazy to check, we'll just assume I am right.

Nothing too exciting happened today. I woke up with a monster headache, which was somewhat convenient since I had an acupuncture appointment this morning. I say convenient because by the end of my appointment my headache was gone, as usual.

I have been doing really well with the whole givingup dairy thing. I rarely even miss it. It's also been good for the diet, I've even dropped a couple of pounds, which is a nice side effect of my whole experiment. So, I am definitely going for a whole month of no dairy and then I will slowly start adding it back into my diet to see just how much it affects my allergies. But, I have realized just how many foods I add cheese to that don't need it - very rarely have I thought that what I was eating needed cheese added to it.

While waiting for my acupuncturist this morning, I had this very clear memory from when I was a little girl. See, I was alone in the room and I noticed a clogged pore on my forearm, so I of course had to mess with it. When I was little, my father used to rock me to sleep almost every night in the same cream colored rocking chair in the living room. It was my favorite part of the day, sitting on my fathers lap, feeling so secure and comfortable and loved. One night he had some glue stuck in his arm hair in the same spot that I had a clogged pore today. I remember my sister trying to get the glue out for him.

I know this isn't an exciting memory, but it was such a strong memory for me this morning. It just made me pause for a moment and think about how lucky I am to have been raised by two parents, who thought nothing of reading to me, rocking me to sleep and leaving the night light on for me since I was afraid of the dark.

Sometimes, it takes weird moments in life to realize just how lucky I am.

On another note - here is Sammy the pumpkin I carved with Angela at work this year. Can you believe we didn't win the contest?

Driving

An Open Letter to the Female Driver of the Silver BMW This Morning:

Person -

I don't care where the hell you were heading this morning, if you have to stear right to avoid hitting the car in front of you when it uses it's brakes, YOU ARE TAILGATING. Which, may I remind you, is ILLEGAL.

Seriously, I understand that 6:20 is early in the morning. I know it's early for me and The Boyfriend, but you know, that's what time we get to the park to start running. And guess what, we don't tailgate people on the way there. Neither do we blind them with our foglights when it's not foggy out. Nor do we CONTINUE to tailgate people after they have given you a couple of warning taps on their brakes.

I just don't understand it. Nothing in the world is worth getting in a car wreck over. I don't give a crap where you were heading this morning, you should have been paying more attention to the road. I'm sure if I could have seen you through your blinding car lights, I would have seen you talking on your cellphone or applying makeup or any of the other horrible stereotypes about female drivers that I have always heard about but never actually seen before I moved to LA.

I'm sorry that people are probably rude to you on the road because you drive a BMW - but, well, you deserve it seeing as how you obviously have no right to be driving in the first place.

You are darn lucky I don't have the guts to slam on the brakes and let you hit me. Yes, it would have been your fault - but since The Boyfriend and I are a 1 car household, we can't afford to have our one car be in the shop getting fixed because some moron decided that she needed to drive on top of our car this morning.

Hoping you someday learn how to drive correctly before you kill someone -

Chez

NaBloPoMo

Welcome, my darlings, to National Blog Posting Month! Wherein I torture you with my thoughts every day for the month of November. It will be awesome.

So, yeah, here we are, November 1st. Um, yeah.


We didn't get any trick-or-treaters last night, although that didn't stop The Boyfriend and I from going out and buying candy. Oh Peanut Butter Cups, why do I love you so?

There hasn't been much going on around here lately. Some day soon I will post pictures of the pumpkin I carved for a Halloween contest at work, as soon as I figure out how to get pictures off of my camera at work, without alerting IT to the fact that I am downloading pictures off of my camera at work.

Moo

At the urging of my acupuncturist (ooo lala, I am so Hollywood) I am giving up dairy products for a month. See, it seems dairy causes the body to creat a lot of phlegm and since I an constantly having allergy problems, it would be best to stop putting more things in my body that create phlegm.

The best (where best = ironic) part is that I am in no way allergic to dairy. As far as I know, I am in no way allergic to anything food wise, which is good becuase I am basically allergic to everything else in the universe. Fun!

So, I have been "off dairy" for 3 days now. I believe I can see a difference already, but I hesitate to get excited about that as it could just be a placebo effect. I just hate the idea of becoming someone "who can't eat anything because it affects the delicate balance that their body is in".

I know, it's stupid. If limiting dairy means I can lead a life with less headaches and congestion, than what's the big deal? It doesn't mean I am somehow less of a person. I just relish the idea of being someone who can eat anything - like that makes a person more human somehow - and yet I Have Never Been That Person A Single Day In My Life.

Ugh, how do I get these ideas planted in my brain?

An Open Letter to Bionic Woman

Hi there -

I just wanted to let you know that I'm getting very close to breaking up with you. I have been there from the beginning, but you just aren't doing anything for me. I wanted to like you, I really did. I didn't mind that you cast a British woman as the lead, I loved that she isn't your stereotypical "pretty girl" (don't get me wrong, I think she's very striking), I completely love the fact that you cast Katee Sackhoff in your show (she's pretty much the only reason I keep watching) but - really, I can't keep letting you let me down like this. Week after week I watch, expecting to be entertained. And week after week I have to fight the urge to go brush my teeth or do the dishes because your show makes me lose interest half way through.

I don't understand what went wrong. The Boyfriend thinks it's the fact that you have absolutely no overarching storyline. I think it's the fact that you have yet to make me give a shit about any of your characters (except Katee - again, the only interesting character. Except maybe the blonde psychologist lady. She's interesting because she obviously loves messing with people's heads!).

I don't know what else to say. You have a great cast, I thought the show did a decent job of updating the story and technology. But yet, you leave me wanting.

I may stick around for a little while longer Bionic Woman, but I've got to tell you, as soon as Lost is back again - I don't know if I will give you a second thought.

I Like

I want this song playing on an eternal loop. Just always playing out of thin air, wherever I am.

Monday

Why is it Monday already?



This weekend went by so quickly, I feel like someone swish-panned through my weekend and here we are, back at my desk without any time actually going by.



Things I Did This Weekend (a list):



1. Went to a screening of "The Darjeeling Limited". Enjoyed way more than I anticipated. Harboring a crush on pretty much all 3 leads of that movie (and also a bit on Angelica Houston. C'mon, she's gorgeous!).



2. Went to dinner afterwards with Kathy, David, Jimmy, Lauren and The Boyfriend. Had an awesome time, although our service at dinner was laughably bad. Between the server asking David if he wanted something to drink literally seconds after he took David's drink order and then at the end of the meal asking if I needed a refill on my iced tea (which I explained was actually Diet Coke) the server brought me iced tea anyway, it was a thoroughly enjoyable meal despite the service.



3. During dinner - we discussed what everyone was up to for the rest of the weekend. Lauren explained that she was driving to the beach in the morning to be the subject of a friends photoshoot. We all agreed that morning photo's are not a fun thing.



4. After dinner, just as we were about to pull away - Jimmy called and let us know that the photoshoot Lauren had been complaining about was actually a ruse - he was going to propose!!!

She ended up saying Yes - Congrats you two!!!



5. Spent Saturday morning going for a run and then going to acupuncture. Leave my appointment feeling amazingly calm and relaxed and happy that my left ear is now ringing a lot quieter than it used to. Oh yes, my left ear - still ringing. But, it is getting noticeably better.



6. Went to the La Habra Theatre Depot to enjoy a showing of CABARET in support of Karl (he was great! So was the show!). Went to Applebees afterwards and made myself sick eating too much. Oh "Pick 3 Appetizer", why were you so delicious yet so terribly bad for me?

7. Spent Sunday puttering around the apartment while The Boyfriend and Adam worked on another project for Life From the Inside. Realized just how much I can get done when I really have nothing to do and no boyfriend to hang out and watch T.V. with.

Gah!

Today is the kind of day where I seriously question why I do not have a bottle of alcohol stashed in my desk at work.

Happy Friday, y'all.

Catching Up

Tahoe was amazing. Julie and Vince's wedding was perfect - seriously one of the best weddings I have ever had the privilege of attending.

Episode 5 of Life From the Inside is now online. If you look to your right, you will see a new snazzy button that The Boyfriend created for our blogs. Someday soon we will have buttons for our fans to also have on their personal sites. It's on our list of "Things to Do" - along with "hire a publicist" and "get more people watching". But please go, enjoy! I truly believe this is one of our best episodes. And as a bonus, the website is new and improved thanks to the workings of Lauren! She has been amazing to work with while we sludge through making our website nice and pretty.

While I enjoy the episode, I personally find myself hard to watch in it. I would have to guess that I was at my heaviest point while we were filming this. I'm not quite sure, but it's a real slap in the face at how far I let myself go. I'm fairly sure this was right before I figured out how much I really weighed and my doctor's visit of doom that started me on this weight loss journey. Plus, I hate my hair in it. I'm full of complaints today.

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Kathy pointed out to me that there is a striking difference between how I look in Episode 5 and how I look now (and it's not just that my hair is a different color!), so I have been making progress. The scale hasn't moved much lately, but my pants are all getting rather large. Soon I will need to work up the nerve to pull out those smaller sized pants and see how well they fit.

Soon. Maybe after a cosmo or two. Or a long run.

Drivin'

The Boyfriend and I are packing up and driving to Tahoe tomorrow. I can't wait as this is the only vacation we will be taking this year, with the added bonus of seeing our friends Julie and Vince tie the knot.

Okay, so the wedding is the main reason we are going, but we added a day on each end so that we could enjoy the scenery as neither of us have been to Tahoe before.

We will roll back into town on Tuesday - until then, I am offline.

Oh Yeah

12 pounds gone baby!

Never to return.

Tip of the Day

Do not store hot dog buns (still in plastic bag) on top of banana's. Because apparently banana flavor can permeate anything.

And when you go to eat yummy hot dogs in buns, it will taste like someone wrapped said hot-dogs in banana bread and served it to you.

And it will be gross.

Thank Goodness for Cold Fronts

11 pounds - that's the official weight loss so far. Actually, I hit that last week, but thanks to a weekend of mind-melting heat and therefore lots of time spent finding places with heavenly air-conditioning (like restaurants), I spend most of this week getting back to the 11 pound weight loss mark.

The upside is that I am not the least bit bothered that I haven't lost more this week. The whole weighing myself every day did indeed help me spot that I was a little lax last weekend in my eating habits and helped me take more notice if what I was eating this week. So, it worked.

Plus, I haven't been all down on myself for not losing more weight this week - I can't tell you what a change that is for me.

I don't feel like giving up.

I like this feeling.

I'm going to need it next week when we go on a road trip to Lake Tahoe for a friends wedding.

My Brain Melted

We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave... You know it's hot when The Boyfriend spend all weekend running errands as an excuse to go somewhere with air conditioning!

So, as part of this whole "lifestyle change" I am on in terms of losing weight and such, I find myself doing a lot of self analysis, which is very weird for me as I have never been someone to really self analyze (I'm pretty sure that my close friends are seriously nodding their heads in agreement at this).

While I find this whole thing kind of fun and interesting - one could say I am learning a lot about myself - I find other parts of it kind of bizarre.

I have more to say on this, but I don't know if I am ready to share just yet. It's very odd to realize at 30 that you just may not know much about yourself. Or, because you were so very unhappy with your weight and how you look that when you finally deal with the whole situation you might also be dealing with the fact that you kind of cut yourself off from yourself as a way of dealing with your unhappiness.

Well, I guess I did feel like sharing.

I'm realizing just how screwed up my body image has always been. I mean, I knew it was always "kind of" screwed up, but I mean - I really had no idea what I looked like. At all. I look back on photos now and I get really sad for the person in them. She had no idea how perfect she was. I wish I could go back and tell her to ignore that stupid voice in her head - the one that told her she looked all wrong, her figure was too curvy, her clothes/hair were all wrong.

Man, that voice was really really dumb.

One More and I Get a Prize

I have lost 9 pounds and I ran 7 miles over the weekend. Not all at once, I ran 3 and a half miles per day, which was great on Saturday and very very hard on Sunday. But I did it.



While running on Saturday this woman that I see most mornings passed me and waved to get my attention. I waved back and said good morning. She said "You are doing so good at this running thing. I see you almost every day and I can really tell you've lost weight - especially around here (points to her waist)."



I say thank you several times and she puts her headset back on and continues ahead. It was the nicest thing I have ever had said to me while running.



I love it when I get these little surprises that remind me that not all people are assholes. Just the ones who refuse to walk their dogs on a leash and then get all angry when I don't want their dog jumping on me. Those people are assholes of the highest order.



So yeah, things are still swimming along. The Boyfriend and I have decided to start weighing ourselves every day as we both have read that people who weigh themselves daily are much more likely to keep their weight in check.



I used to worry that weighing myself every day would make me obsessed. But it hasn't so far (yes I know there are people that think weighing yourself every day IS being obsessed with it, but that's now how I am choosing to look at it). I actually look forward to it and I don't get frusterated when the scale doesn't move, which is a big thing for me. I have a tendency to get frusterated and quit when I am not good at something right away, which is part of the reason that losing weight has been a struggle for me in the past. I feel like I have passed somewhat of a hurdle.

Dreams

Two nights ago I had this dream:

I am walking through a huge mall. I decide I need to go to Victoria's Secret, which is on a lower level and discover that the only way to get there is this old wooden roller-coaster. So, I get on, but I have to ride it backwards. Without pause I get into my car, which looks like an old mine car and the ride begins. I realize I'm carrying this washcloth that I constantly need to ring out and I can't throw it away no matter how much I want to. Between this and my purse (which I am so worried about losing - I can't stop checking it to make sure it's safe) the ride is a little stressful although I find myself getting caught up in "song" that's being played on the ride and try to enjoy myself.

I realize that Robin Roberts and Dianne Sawyer are at the top of the ride, doing a story for Good Morning America. They are standing around talking and they periodically throw stuff into the ride, hoping to scare people. I am so frustrated at this point because I would like nothing more than to throw away the washcloth I am still constantly wringing out, but I can't. Plus, I don't think it's very nice of Diane and Robin to throw things at people.

At this point I begin wondering when the ride will be over. I keep trying to look over my shoulder but I can't see anything. A doll from the ride gets in my car and keeps singing the creepy song for the ride and I marvel at how real it looks.

Then again, I worry that I have been on the ride too long and try in vain to find a way off.

Cue alarm and The Boyfriend telling me it's time to get up and go running.

That night, while on the way to Costco, I tell The Boyfriend that I had a weird dream and I wonder aloud what it meant. Not that I think all dreams have meaning, but I'm always a little curious as to how my brain decides to process things while I sleep.

We have a short conversation about whether we believe dreams mean anything before I actually describe the dream to him.

So The Boyfriend, who had just said he doesn't think most dreams need analyzing, proceeds to analyze my dream and create total sense out of chaos. Nice, huh?

I'm a little embarassed I didn't figure it out myself - although I'm apparently too busy being not in control of my life and angry about meaningless repetitive work.

Updates

I finally had time/energy to run a full 5k this weekend. I ran it in 41 1/2 minutes, which is pretty darn good in my book. Plus I got to listen to most of my running playlist which was a nice surprise.



Also, I have lost 7 pounds.



As The Boyfriend pointed out, if I keep this up, I will be halfway to my goal in 3-4 months.



3 more pounds and I get my first little present for myself (did I mention that I am randomly getting myself presents as I lose weight?).



I should also mention that The Boyfriend has lost 11 pounds himself, so, he gets a new coffeemaker! Just kidding, our coffeemaker of 3 1/2 years has decided to go to the big Kitchen in the Sky, so we are in need of a new one. And fast. I wish I was kidding, but I've forgotten how annoying it is to not have the choice of coffee with breakfast.

Thankful

There are days when it is made clear to me that I need to be more thankful.

I have a job that I enjoy (most days).

I have someone who loves me unconditionally. I love someone unconditionally (most days).

I have friends who love and appreciate me. And understand me. And make me laugh.

So yeah, I know this is out of the blue and somewhat weird and my answer for why I am saying these things is just long and complicated.

So, yeah. I have a good life. I can't complain. I mean, I could complain, but why.

Apparently I am a Real Runner Now

Yesterday was a good/bad running day.

The bad part -
I tripped over a root and fell down, completely scrapping my left knee. Yes, I fell again. No, I don't really enjoy it, especially when I have to finish my run with a very bloody knee.

The good part -
Before this happened, I was really finding my pace and working on extending my legs so that I have a longer reach with each step.
Also, when I fell I stopped by watch somehow, therefor I had no idea where I was timewise in my run. Apparently being very angry while running is good for pacing because I ran pretty much the fastest 2.5 miles I have ever done.

So, as The Boyfriend pointed out, I am running too fast for that section of my usual run, since it is littered with roots and goes downhill, so it's a bit tricky. I have never had a problem there, so I'm taking it as a good sign that I really am getting faster.

And, I didn't break my iPod!

Suddenly I See

You would think by the title of this post that I was going to write some sort of update on my Lasik surgery (still the best money I have ever spent in my life!), but I'm not.

I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago for my yearly physical. Nothing too exciting or even shocking. Ugh, I am trying to drag this out - but I will get to the point. I am under dr.'s orders to lose 80 pounds. That's right, 80, as in, almost 100. But that's okay. I have dealt with this information and I am ready to fight. People in my family are not very healthy and I plan on NOT being one of them. I have already seriously cut back on the amount of food I eat. I am trying harder at running and really notice a difference in my enery levels on the days I do not run. The Boyfriend and I do Pilates at night while watching TV. So yeah, I've made some big changes, but I still have a long way to go. There is no fooling around with this anymore.

The main reason my dr. wants me to lose weight is that my cholesterol is still elevated. My blood pressure is fine (thanks to running I believe) but high blood pressure is something that also runs in my family and the best way to make sure it stays fine is to lose weight. So yeah, I'm fighting for my life here. It's really sad that I have to say that at such a young age, but man, I'm sick of worrying that I am going to have to take more medications than daily allergy stuff. And the worst part of all of this is that I did this to myself.

Also, in doing research on my constant ear ringing (Yes, it's still ringing) I found that there is a chance that my weight/cholesterol is part of the reason that this is happening. So, my body has been trying to tell me for awhile that something is wrong and I have chosen not to listen for way too long.

I know I have written about my weight before, but this is very different. I am not placing any blame except for squarely on myself. I am not looking for an easy way out. I plan on making these changes for life. I know it's not going to be easy. It hasn't been already - but that's okay. It hasn't been excruciating either. I have an end goal. I am giving myself a year to get there (hopefully sooner).

When I reach my goal weight, The Boyfriend and I are going on another road trip. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to this, so it's a nice motivation to work harder.

So yeah, that's what has been going on with me. Lots of changes, hopefully all for the better. I can already see a difference in how my clothes fit - which is another motivator. That, and the extremely awesome friends I have. I can't tell you how supportive people have been (the people who already know that is) - especially my fellow actors in the sitcom, and especially my fellow producer who goes out of her way to help me, even if I am backsliding and tell her it's okay to leave the cinnamon rolls at my house!

Scenes from a Courthouse

Some fun things from Jury Duty yesterday -


1. It only took me 45 minutes door to door! And I had to go to downtown L.A. Plus, it only took me 20 minutes to get home.


2. The sweet older gentleman that "just wanted to let the court know I have been a professional drummer for 60 years and apparently I now have bad hearing." You should read that in a nice yelling type voice. It was really cute.


3. I sat in front of Judge Ito all day yesterday. Alas - I was never picked to be questioned as a jury member. But I did leave really enjoying Judge Ito, he was very fun, very professional and it seemed that everyone there enjoyed working with him. Judge Ito is also a fan of giving speeches, but they were very good speeches (and informative!) so I enjoyed that as well.


4. I saw Phil Spector in the hallway. Apparently his trial was going on next door. Dude is a freak. And short. And apparently requires the use of two of the biggest bodyguards I have ever seen. Who were dressed in matching suits. Which made me giggle.


5. At the end of the day - Judge Ito gave this very eloquant speech thanking us for our time and letting us know this fact -

If everyone in L.A. just did their civic duty, people would only be called for jury duty every SEVEN years. As it is, we are now called every 12 months because they have to mail out 1.5 million summons in order to barely get the 120,000 people the Los Angeles court system needs in order to allow us the right to have a trial by our peers.

I was floored.

Now, I have my issues with the justice system as a whole, but I had a really great experience for my first time serving jury duty. I really wanted to sit on this jury and I am still a bit sad that I wasn't picked for it.

It's Official

The results from my MRI are in - and I do not have any tumors in my head. So, they still don't know what's causing the ringing in my left ear, but at least I don't have a tumor!

Question

Is it wrong that I find it so funny to read that Ty Pennington was busted for DUI this weekend?

Man that dude is annoying.

I Heart the Internets

I made a random comment on a person's website (Hi Heather!) about how much I love Chili's (you have to read her post) and I left my blog address in the comment.

Well, lo and behold, she visited this site. And then visited The Boyfriend's site.

And then, she visited the site of our sitcom - Life From the Inside.

And she loved it! And she posted it on her site!

And the best part - she doesn't even own a tv, but she loves our sitcom! Now that is a good endorsement.

So - you will see there is a new link over on my sidebar for "Oh My Stinkin Heck" or OMSH. Go and visit her site and give her some love. Seriously, I love her writing. Like this story about a snake encounter. Very funny stuff.

Plus, she likes the sitcom, so she obviously has good taste!

Ahhhhhhhh!

I'm 30.


Well, not officially until around 5 pm.

Segway

I just booked a 2-hour guided Segway tour of Long Beach. I won a raffle at Christmas and this was one of the prizes.

The Boyfriend and I are going on my actual birthday and we get our own Segway to tour around Long Beach for 2 hours. How awesome is that? We will start the day at the Acquarium of the Pacific (a place we've always wanted to go but never got around to) and then we will end the day with dinner - most likely at our favorite restaurant in Huntington Beach.

So yeah, 30 is going to get a great start. I'm looking forward to it.

Update

My ear is still ringing. I haven't gone insane yet, but there are those that will argue that I was already insane to begin with.

I started writing a big long post, but like most things lately - I got distracted half way through it. So, I guess it will be for another day.

Oh, and I finally got called for jury duty for the very first time in my entire life. For the week of my birthday. How nice! Luckily I was able to postpone it to June. But I am actually excited about the fact that I may get to serve on a jury. I have always wanted to know what that was like, and I have to report to the criminal courts in downtown L.A.

Is it weird that I am excited about that?

Ringing

I know, I know, I promise all these pictures of my various injuries and then I don't follow through. I'm sorry. I will make it up to you.

The problem is, you can't take a picture of my latest injury. My left ear started ringing/feeling "full" after having drinks with the people from The 'Burg on Wednesday night. And it hasn't stopped. Not once. Not even for a second.

So, on Sunday, I decided I should probably go in to Urgent Care as I had started getting dizzy and nauseous feeling. So I decided to wait until after the opening of the Oscars and I would make my way to the doctors.

Little did I know, this would be the best idea I have had all year. Apparently, no one needs to see the doctor during the Oscars, as I was in and out of there in under 35 minutes. Usually, you can bank on at least 2 hours for the doctor and another 45 minutes waiting for a prescription.

But, alas, there is nothing physically wrong with my ear. Apparently when you have bad allergies like I do, your ears can start ringing when new things happen to make your allergies mad. Which is the case with my ear, they have decided don't like the weather around here lately.

So, I am taking Sudafed every 4 hours. I am going to acupuncture tomorrow. And I am slowly being driven insane.

They Ain't Kidding

So, I just figured out the hard way that those expiration dates they put on the Diet Lipton Green Tea with Citrus are not just a suggestion. And, it only took me 1/2 the bottle to figure out why it tasted so bad.

I am going to wash out my mouth now.

Query

According to K-mart (and pretty much every other commercial right now) a woman should be getting a "Heart-Shaped Diamond Necklace" for Valentine's Day - or any other myriad of Diamond things (seriously, I HATE THE HOLIDAYS because suddenly all commercials want you to believe that women are all diamond-grubbing whores who will not love you unless you buy them DIAMONDS) and men, men should receive a $6 pair of boxers with hearts on them. Or a box of candy.

How is this fair? So, in order to balance the universe a little, I will be buying The Boyfriend some horribly gaudy diamond-like heart shaped necklace for Valentine's Day. I mean, don't guys deserve to feel pretty every once in a while? How else will he know that I love him if I don't buy him something expensive? What if he stops loving me because I didn't buy him DIAMONDS?!

You're Gonna Love This

Yesterday I ran half of the park and my ankle held up nicely! No extreme swelling, no pain, nothing. It was very exciting and I was very much looking forward to using this week to building back up to running the whole park.

But life had other plans for me as I fell this morning in the parking lot at the park, re-injuring my ankle and scraping the crap out of my left knee. Luckily, my phone survived the fall after I slammed it into the curb. Apparently, I must never get rid of this phone. The ankle, on the other hand, I would love to replace.

So, I will post some pictures later of my new lovely injuries. The ankle is definitely not as bad as last time, it is very swollen right now but I am in more pain from the scraped shin than I am from the swollen ankle -which I am taking as a good sign.

A Glimpse

The best part of acupuncture this weekend (besides the fact that they magically made my ankle stop hurting!) was listening to the words "put the needles (in these 2 places - I am paraphrasing here) to get the evil out". How cool is that? There is evil in my sprained ankle!

Of course, when I told The Boyfriend about this afterwards his response was "If they only knew how many needles they would need to put in you to get ALL the evil out."

Lileks

When I worked at iNetNow - a very nice guy named Brandon introduced me to The Gallery of Regrettable Food and I became instantly addicted.

I love this site and I now own all of his books. I haven't visited in awhile and when I had some downtime today I found myself wandering back to the site to see if anything new had been added lately. Lucky for me there are new fun things and I have been giggling all afternoon.

This is by far my favorite line yet -

"Come to think of it, "Washed the Rabbit" sounds rather naughty. Use it in conversation today, won't you?"

Do yourself a favor and head on over to Lileks. It's a nice way to spend an afternoon.

A Story

One morning I was getting ready for work and it was just "one of those mornings". The kind where I drop everything, I can't find anything to wear to work and even though I got up a little early, I was still running late.

So, in the middle of rushing around - I knocked over our toothbrushes and they fell into the bathtub. Swearing profusely at the annoyance of knocking yet another thing over, I picked them up and stuck them back in their holder.

I finish getting ready and I am off to my day at work.

Fast forward to that night when The Boyfriend and I are getting ready for bed. He starts brushing his teeth and makes a very weird face.

"Did you get soap on the toothbrushes somehow? Mine tastes awful."

Me - "What? How would I get soap on the toothbrushes? Of course I didn't!"

Cue to me realizing what must have happened and beginning to laugh hysterically.

The Boyfriend is really not believing my story and can't believe I tried to lie to him.

I was just so taken by surprise I couldn't stop laughing so the conversation didn't proceed much further as I was in complete hysterics. I mean, come on! How many people does this happen to?!

Luckily when I start laughing that hard The Boyfriend laughs as well and that was pretty much the end of that except for a few more "I can't believe you lied to me's!" and "I can't believe you got soap on my toothbrush and lied to me about it."

For Lisa

'Cause she know what time it is.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/2006/06/peanutbutter.html

Ankle

This is a picture of day 2 of my ankle injury. Notice the lovely bruising - you can't actually see all of it in the photo as most of the top of my foot is turning a lovely blue as well. And, it's still swollen as all heck. Tonight I will take a picture of both of my ankles so you can get an idea of how swollen my ankle really is!

Such Fun!

Ouch

So, in light of the fact that I was finally feeling like I was winning the battle over the flu - The Boyfriend and I decided to go hiking with Kathy and David this yesterday.

(I just want to jump ahead and say it was an amazingly beautiful hike and I had a great time despite my clumsiness!)

We headed to Topanga Park and started on 1/2 mile hike to a fork in the road. To the right - a hike to a Waterfall. To the left - a hike to some Ranch House that I can not remember the name of.

Kathy and David left it up to us to decide which way to go - David suggests the Ranch House hike. I, of course, pick the Waterfall hike because it is "easier". So we head out.

It was a really great day for a hike. After a couple of wrong turns that took us straight uphill, we get to the interesting part where we are hiking through the actual creek bed, instead of next to it. It's still fun as I make a joke about "Maybe we should have called someone to let them know where we were going" as we traverse over slippery rocks.

Then we get to the biggest rock that actually has a rope for you to climb up the rock with. I was very proud of my upper body strength at that point, plus the fact that I hadn't gotten my feet wet (seriously, some of those rocks were slippery!).

So, we are about 100 feet from the waterfall when it happens. I slip and fall. And I swear I hear a nice snapping sound on the way down. Robb and David were behind me, Kathy was ahead leading the way. I begin crying immediately from the pain and then I proceed to hate myself for crying. Fun, huh?!

Total damage - I had twisted my right ankle and skinned my left knee. Thanks to David's suggestion I immediately take off my shoe and stick my foot in the ice cold creek water to stop any immediate swelling.

Well, the good news is that it's obviously not broken. The bad news is that I get to hike the 1 and 1/2 miles back to the car on a bum ankle, including climbing back down the rock with the rope helper.

Here are pictures from last night - but I should let you know my ankle is much more swollen as I type this...

I am pretty proud of myself for making it back to the car. I know I didn't have much choice, but I also didn't whine to whole way about how badly my ankle hurt. Plus, no matter how badly I hurt, Kathy was in way worse shape and she was very upset at the fact that someone she had brought on a hike was hurt. It was the first time that had happened and I honestly think she is more traumatized by the whole thing than I am!

Now I just want this stupid ankle to heal so I can get back to running and hiking!

Happy Happy

Hey, guess what?! I have the honor of getting the freaking flu. Today is my first day back at work since Tuesday and I am freaking tired.

Blargh.

Someday soon I will be changing the template around here as I am sick of looking at this background.

That is all for now.

Angry Driver

On my way to work this morning, I was behind another woman who took every opportunity to do her makeup in her rearview mirror, including using an eyelash curler while driving.

I so badly wanted to hold up a sign for her that read "Stop Making Woman Drivers Look Bad You Whore." but then I thought that wasn't a very nice thing to do to someone at 8:45 am.

But still, what the fricking hell is a person thinking when they decide they HAVE to do their makeup in the car while driving? It's bad enough that they aren't paying attention, but they don't seem to realize that they are at serious risk of losing an eyeball when they ram their car into someone/something else.

UGH! People make me so angry.

Happy New Year

I hope everyone has survived the holiday season. I know that I definitely had a good time, but I am very happy it's over. I've discovered that no matter how many fun things I have planned during the holiday season, I am always a little depressed by it.

Now it's the New Year and I am filled with this want to get rid of things - like clean out all closets and storage spaces and purge all of the crap we hold on to for no real reason at all. The Boyfriend is probably beside himself with angst as he is not always a willing participant when I get these urges.

We bought new running shoes yesterday as we are starting a new endeavor this week of running every day instead of every-other-day. We'll see how it goes as the temperature has been in the 40's in the mornings and that makes it extra hard to get out of bed, go outside and run around a park.

When we started running I found it so nice to have time to just be inside my own head and I didn't understand how people could run while listening to music, but lately I have been in dire need of a distraction while running, otherwise I end up concentrating on how much pain I am in or how my time is that day. My biggest problem is that I just don't think it's safe for a woman who runs (basically) by herself to have a headset on, so I try to find other ways of distracting myself by trying to get a song stuck in my head, or going over lines that I need to memorize, but that only works part of the time. I guess I could buy an iPod and then only put the earbud in one ear, but that just seems silly. Ugh, I don't think there is any real answer to this problem.