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.

Inside Private Lives

I try not to go see theater in L.A. for various reasons, the biggest one being I am usually very disappointed in the end product and feel like I wasted my money.

On Sunday I got the chance to go see a new show "Inside Private Lives", produced by a friend of a friend, Kristin Stone and this time I left the theater very, very happy.

It's not your usual play (and this is part of why I love it so) - the whole idea behind the show is audience participation. Not your usual type though, the actor presents a 20th-century figure (that they have researched) in a 10 minute monologue. Now, at the end of the monologue (or at the beginning depending on the character and amount of controversy they caused) the audience gets to talk to them, ask them questions, make statements. There is no way I could even convey to you how interesting and fun this was. I was so impressed with the amount of research the actors had done, and how well they had "cast" themselves as the people they portrayed. I left the theater wanting to know more about each and every person I had just watched come alive before me. And to me, that's a ringing endorsement - if you can reach someone and make them want to learn more.

So, their show has been extended through the end of January. Please, please, please take some time and check them out.

So Many Things

I have had so many ideas for posts lately, just no desire to actually sit down and write them. Until I read this.

Which reminded me of the time I got pulled over on my way home from work. I was so freaked out because I had just bought the car, I didn't have complete proof of insurance on me, and I have only been pulled over a couple of times in my life so I still get all nervous and freaked out by it. Plus, I had absolutely no idea why I was being pulled over, well actually, directed to the side of the road by an officer waving a flashlight is more accurate.

So, I sit there and try not to freak out and try to be as nice and helpful as possible. Turns out I had turned right on a "No Right Turn from 4-7pm" street. I apologized to the officer and tried to explain that I didn't usually take this way home, so I wasn't familiar with the streets (which was actually true!). He didn't really care and asked for my information. I handed it over, trying not to cry at the fact that my insurance was already going to go up with my new car and now it was going to go up even more with this ticket and how stupid was I?

Anyway, I sit and wait for the guy to come back with my ticket. As he saunters up, I notice that there is another car in front of me, obviously pulled over for the same reason.

"Well, it looks like your lucky day." The officer explains as he hands back my stuff. "We are being called over to Rancho Park for a suspicious persons call. So I'm not going to give you a ticket, just a verbal warning."

I explode.

"But, can you do me a favor? The guy in front of you is getting a ticket. So can you sit here for a moment after we leave and pretend we ticketed you? I don't want him to get angry."

I am dumbfounded.

"Sure!" I reply. For not giving me a ticket, I could even produce real tears if you would like.

And that is the weirdest traffic non-ticket I have ever received.

Thanks and Giving

The bags are partially packed and we are almost off to visit The Families for Thanksgiving. Hopefully we don't get snowed in or anything, although the forecast calls mostly for rain. Rain and highs in the 40's. The Boyfriend and I are bracing ourselves for freezing our bums off!

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

At the Moment

These are the things that are making me happy right now:

1. It is supposed to snow on Sunday in Washington and we leave Monday night to celebrate Thanksgiving there! An actual Thanksgiving with cold weather and snow. Man, I am excited!

2. Emmitt Smith won "Dancing with the Stars". Man, it's a little sad how happy that makes me. The only other thing I have to say about this show is that if you watched it and didn't walk away thinking what a sweet, humble guy Joey Lawrence was, you are cold and heartless.

3. I bought The Boyfriend 2 presents yesterday, The Muppets Christmas Movie and the Very Merry Trio from Hallmark. You know, the one with the singing/dancing snowman and penguins. It's awesome and he was so surprised! I love surprising people. Especially The Boyfriend because I don't pull it off very often, I get too excited and ruin it. But not this time!

4. The Project is shaping up nicely and I can't wait to show it to everyone.

What a Morning

I go through phases where I am extremely clumsy, dropping things, running into doorways, tripping over absolutely anything. It's very maddening, I get really annoyed at the time.

Anyway, this morning, as I walked in to work and noticed someone had yet again printed out something completely NOT work related on the color printer, the big boss walks by - as in my boss's boss.

I stop him and let him know we are having a big problem with people printing out huge personal things on the color printer that don't need to be in color, and since the toner for the color printer costs a fortune, could we please let everyone know to stop doing this.

I show him the papers I was referring to.

"Oh, these are actually mine." He responds.

I immediately die. I apologize. Then I remind him his assistant is out for the day and I will be covering for her.

I walk into the kitchen and begin describing what just happened to my fellow assistant who is in there getting coffee.

I spill 32 ounces of water on the floor that I had just filled into my waterjug. We both laugh and she very nicely helps me clean it up.

So I had a bit of a rough start today. At least I laughed while it was happening, and I am still laughing.

Relaxing

I can't think of a better way to spend the first Sunday I've had off in I don't know how long (and by off I mean we didn't meet about The Project and we didn't have plans to exercise) than by spending it with a friend I haven't seen in forever.

Especially when said friend is Mom to a very cute 5 month old girl and hanging out means brunch on the porch and good conversation and playing with said 5 month old.

So thanks Laura and Sophie. The Boyfriend and I had a wonderful, wonderful time!

You Know What?

I think I am hooked on this running thing. I bet you never would have guess, right? The new plan is to run every other day (instead of 3 days a week) because I want to get more running under my belt. Practice makes perfect! Or something.

The Boyfriend already has the running thing down way more than I do. He's going further and further every time.

So yeah, we are taking a break from the filming of Life from the Inside, for the holiday season and so that we have time to build a website and marketing ideas and such. It's going to be awesome, I can't wait for people to see it. I am so proud of this, I finally feel like I am getting my act together as to what I want to do with my life. Or, maybe that I am finally growing up.

I don't know, I haven't actually thought that far into it.

On my way back in from lunch, a co-worker stopped me and let me know that she is heading home because she has "plumbing problems" and I laughed and said "Sorry, that's crappy." thinking that she meant womanly plumbing problems.
So imagine my surprise when she continued with, "So I am heading home to wait for the plumber."
It's not that funny in the re-telling, but it was really funny to me at the time.

Like a Baby in a Blanket

Oh yeah! Harass new parents enough, and they will cave in and send you a picture of the new guy in a blanket!

Look! He is smiling - even he knows how cute he is.

Running Complete

So today was our last run of the Couch to 5k Program. It went okay for me. I have definitely improved greatly, but I have not yet run an actual 5k - I'm close, I run about 2 and 3/4 miles in the 30 minutes. Today was hard because I am sore from our shoot this weekend (who knew standing around for 14 hours could make your muscles hurt?) so it was especially painful to run this morning, but I did have a nice breakthrough - there are actual parts of the run I don't remember because I was so lost in thought.

I mean, I had to actually look back and check where I was because I didn't remember a good chunk of one side of the park we run around! That's the first time that has ever happened and it was nice.

Welcome

Welcome to the world Luca! It's about freaking time you showed up.

And can I just tell you that I am plotting already because they have bathed him, which means he already smells like new baby and I am trying to figure out a way for them to bottle his new baby smell and sent it to me?! If we don't get to see him in November I will just freaking sob hysterically because this is the baby I knitted the blanket for, so he will always have a place in my heart - especially since that was the first blanket I have ever made and probably will ever make again. Even though there are no pictures of him IN the blanket yet....(hint, hint) (Yes I know he's only 1 day old - I am a demanding blanket giver).

Anyhoo, a pic of the darling guy.
















Wow, my friend are parents. This is weird. I wonder when they will buy their first minivan?

This means I am old enough for most of my friends to be past getting married and on to having children. Meanwhile, The Boyfriend and I are still laughing and dodging the "When are you two getting married?" question.

Oh well, back to the fun stuff, like your friends having babies you can play with!

Feliz Cumpleaños Luca!

P.S.

See, this is what happens when I decide to dash off a post in my last 10 minutes of work. I forget that I got to celebrate birthdays with Keith and Rachel! They had an awesome bar-b-que (which I love because they always serve the most delicious food!) and I got to SEE THEM, which lately happens way to few and far between for my liking.

We are shooting the second part of our project this coming weekend and things are ramping up. I am very excited about it as it's pretty darn funny and I can't wait to see how it turns out.

And, The Boyfriend and I just booked tickets (courtesy my Dad's never-ending frequent flyer miles) to spend a whirlwind trip visiting family at Thanksgiving. If we get to see everyone we want (I'm looking at you Jared and Tosha - what, too busy planning a birth to return my phone call?!), it should be a very fun, albeit busy, trip.

Quickly

1. I am running faster and better than ever! On Tuesday, I made it all the way around the park to the car! This morning, I made it past the car which roughly means 2.5 miles. Soon, I will be running every damn 5k I can register for!

2. I wish Jared and Tosha's baby would hurry up and get here.

3. I am going to see "Snakes on a Plane" right after work. I hate snakes, but it should be fun.

4. The Boyfriend and I went to Knott Scary Farm with Steve (who is the MOST FUN PERSON EVER to go to KnottScary Farm with!) and I had a blast! Even more fun than last year - which was the first year we had ever been - I don't understand why The Monsters love me, it must be because I scream at the drop of a hat and then laugh maniacally. Really, the only way to enjoy something like that is to completely give yourself over to the fact that people are going to jump at you all night and usually it's fun.

I think that's all for now. I had more stuff to write about, but I can't remember what the heck it was.

Recovering

So as pretty much all of you know by now, we spent all last weekend shooting the beginning of our project. It went amazingly well.

I spent most of this week catching up on sleep and just generally fighting off a general malaize. Oh and also dealing with the fact that L is leaving me for another job. I am so sad that I will not have my silly friend at work anymore, but I am very happy that she will be much more appreciated at her new job than she is here. Well, except that NO ONE will appreciate her afternoon giggles as much as I have. She has saved me from perpetual boredom more often than I can even tell you.

There is not much going on here to write about. We are plugging away at Part 2 of our Project which will film in October. I am so excited about this because I am co-directing with Kathy for this go-round of filming, it should be pretty darn awesome.

And finally a running update. How exciting you say! Well it has definitely been going better. Who would have guessed that running might suck when you are PMS'ing? Gosh!
I have been definitely improving and not beating myself up if I have a bad day of it. I try to enjoy being outside early in the morning and being able to work out with my own thoughts for company. It's quite nice.

Also, thanks for all the encouragement I have been getting - here and in real life. You guys are so sweet to me!

Bubble Wrap

I've had a very odd week.

First, while preparing a costume piece for the upcoming project The Boyfriend and I are working on, I burned the inner part of my right forearm on the iron. The iron I had just used and set down and then decided to try and reach around it to grab something.

Then, I ran the vacuum cleaner over my bare feet and ripped most of the toenail off of my big-toe. The Boyfriend jumped to my rescue and wrapped band-aids around the toe before it could bleed everywhere. I didn't run the next day because my toe was still throbbing.

My teeth on the upper right side have been hurting all week, for what seems like no reason at all. I actually think this is a side effect of my allergies going crazy lately.

To finish the week (so far) while running this morning a bug flew into my mouth and lodged itself in my throat. Coughing wasn't helping, so my body decided to gag. Since I didn't have anything in my stomach I kept gagging until I threw up spit (or something that was not stomach bile because I KNOW what that tastes like).

I threw up twice.

Luckily no one was really around to see this happening, except for some woman walking her dog who walked past me right afterwards and gave me an odd look.

I didn't care.

I did cry at the end of my run because I just feel like I suck at running. I am not progressing as fast as I would like (or at all), so therefore I get really down on myself. I don't want to quit, I just want to be good at it instantly. Is that really too much to ask?

Also, could I please just lose some weight already? And could I whine about more things?

Oh My

I have been feeling quite a bit under the weather lately, so in lieu of posting any real thoughts today, I am going to post pictures of the baby blanket I made for J&T.
















This was my first attempt at something that wasn't a scarf and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Plus, I thought it would be fitting to give this to the people who actually got me started knitting as they bought me my first set of knitting needles, and the same brand of yarn I used to make the blanket with (it's pretty darn fantastic yarn!).

Now I am off to whine to The Boyfriend about how I feel like crap again. He loves it when I do that. Happy weekend!

Running (Wo)Man

This morning was my 3rd run of the week, which means I have a break until Sunday.

Running is going pretty darn well. I mean, it hurts - right now my right calf is very sore -but I feel so happy and calm and relaxed after running outside (I am such a hippy!) that I completely understand the whole "runners euphoria" thing. I am really getting into this.

Next week will be a whole new adventure as we start the next segment of training and The Boyfriend will not be slowing himself down to keep pace with me. The Dude is just too tall for me to keep up with (at least until I lose some weight!) so I will be on my own starting Sunday.

Yesterday I did a 3 mile walk at lunch with L, and we saw Danny Bonaduce walking with a pack of people, trying very hard to get noticed.

Man, he is a short dude.

Running

So, The Boyfriend and I have decided to start running as a new form of exercise, and a new way for me to avoid the gym as much as possible.

We are doing the Couch to 5k Running Program, with out ultimate goal being able to run 3 miles, 3-4 times a week and lift weights at the gym 2 days a week.

Sunday was our first day and I am happy to report that all went as well as can be expected when you are not a runner (as I am). I am sore today, but I am sore in my stomach area mostly. Which is good because that is where I need a lot of work exercise-wise.

I will keep you updated as to how well I take to this. My father is a runner - he has completed 2 marathons and usually runs 6 miles a day.

Man I hope this running thing is genetic.

So Long, Farewell

Today is Kathy's last day at the office where I also work. I like to believe I am not the reason she is leaving, but who the hell knows, I can be difficult.

Kathy and I met doing extra work on the film "First Daughter." It was my first and only experience doing extra work, but that story is for a later time. It was nice to have someone normal to talk to (normal people were few and far between), and she helped me get through two TERRIBLE nights. The best part was when we realized that Kathy worked at the same place I was going to be interviewing with. So, again, she gave me pointers and was very friendly when I came for my interview.

That was 3 years ago and since I met Kathy she has been my friend, my confidante, my co-star, my co-producer, my co-worker. What else can you say about someone who forwards you obnoxious voice-mails from family members to laugh at? Or buys your Boyfriend a Chafing dish because you tell her that he wants one for his birthday and you won't buy it for him? I mean honestly, who WANTS a chafing dish?

So, even though I am sad that I won't be able to walk 2 feet and talk to her whenever I want to, I will still see her often. Whether she likes it or not.

This is a picture of us on set of our short film "The Social Club". I'm putting this one up because I like this picture of myself. See, difficult.


Photo by Rachel.

Happy Actual 33rd Birthday

So, as some of you may remember, The Boyfriend thought he was turning 33 last year and was pretty unhappy about it.
Well now there is no escaping it - this year HE IS 33! Go and let him know what an old man he is.

I mean, look at him, doesn't he look old?!




And don't I look pretty?!

Sorry, I just like that picture.

Happy birthday, Boyfriend. I hope you have an awesome day. Just try not to break your hip.

Knit

So, I finished my first ever non-scarf knitting project! It is a present, so I have to wait until J&T receive it before I can post any photo's.

In other news, I am knitting another scarf. This one is for the boyfriend. I'm sure he will appreciate it now that it has cooled down below 90 degrees around here.

So Now You're Back - From Outer Space

Hi there. As most of you already know we are back form our whirl-wind trip around the southern parts of the US.

It was amazing, fun, interesting, eye-opening and full of yummy food as we ate our way home.

And now I am back at work. Which wasn't as hard to come back to as I thought it would be. I guess mostly because I got a lot of hugs and "We missed you, if felt like you were gone for months!" which is nice to hear!

And I am back on the South Beach Diet to try and lose some of this car-trip weight I gained (partially due to discovering Waffle House. Have you eaten there? It's freaking AWESOME!) and mostly because I have about 6 months to my 30th Birthday and I am pretty much back to where I started. Oh well, I had a great time, I got to spend a ton of time with The Boyfriend, which is how I would spend everyday if I had the chance, I saw some really cool sights and I visited with my sister and her family.

If I could, I would head out on the road again tomorrow.

Apparently The Boyfriend + Al Franken books on cd + Lewis Black on cd + tons of candy and food make me a happy, happy person.

Who knew?

The Bags Are Packed

And I am anxiously awaiting the time to leave for the airport.

See you all in 2 weeks!

And Happy Early Birthday to my Bro.

The Final Countdown

Oh peoples, the impending "leaving for vacation" countdown rolls on. I guess we should get our luggage out and start thinking about packing. It's hard to figure out what to take on a trip that starts on the beaches of North Carolina (which are right now being pelted with rain) and ends with a road-trip through the hot-as-hell Texas/Arizona.

We just finished house/dog sitting for the family I babysit for. They just adopted a puppy that is just the cutest thing, but he's BIG and playful and requires a lot of attention. If the past 5 days taught me anything it's that I am not ready to be a pet owner or a mother. The constant vigilance is tiring.

T Minus 11 Days

Until The Boyfriend and I begin our roadtrip! I am literally counting the seconds until I have 2 glorious weeks away from work.

O Yeah!

So, I am just going to bypass the long and painful story of my trip to the post office this weekend with The Boyfriend (NEVER had I wanted to own a gun so badly in my life) and jump to the highlight of our experience which was when I realized that this guy was in line behind us.

That's right, Kid, of "Kid 'n Play" fame was standing in line behind me at the post office. Never have I wanted to interrupt a celebrity's day so much!

Except I didn't know his real name. And I realized that my gushing over him would sound something like this "Oh man, you are Kid from Kid 'n Play! I loved you when I was like 12!" and that just sounds mean. Plus, he seemed like a nice guy, goofing around with what I assume was his daughter while waiting in line.

Congrats Bro!

Just found out this morning that my older brother was promoted to Chief of the Fire Department in the town where I grew up.

Congrats Brother! I am so freaking proud of you I can't even explain.

It has been a life-long dream of his to be a firefighter and let me tell you, he kicks ass at it.
When I was in high school he used to let me go on smaller calls with him if they were close to the house. I have even watched him single-handedly put out a small brush fire by himself.

So, you probably get the point of this post already. My brother rocks. I couldn't be prouder of him.

Shout out to Sherry

I just called AT&T to ask a question about my bill. I kind of knew the answer, but it definitely needed to be double checked.

Anyhoo the person helping me, Sherry, was super nice and very quick to get to the bottom of my billing question, also supplying me with the answer I was pretty sure I was going to get going into this call.

Imagine my surprise when, at the end of everything, she thanked me for being so nice when I called and told me I was the nicest caller she had had all day.

I seriously blushed.

I informed her that I, too have worked in a call center and in customer service so I understand the trials and tribulations of the job.

Hmmm

What is it about an upcoming trip that makes you spend lots of money?

What is it about Mondays that makes people let a little too much of the crazy out? I have a co-worker who constantly lets people know that today is the worst day of their life. I have a hard time understanding this.

I mean, I have bad days. Lots of them. But they usually aren't that bad.

I would be more apt to exclaim that today is the most "meh" day of my life than anything else.
I think I will begin all conversations from now on my letting people know that "TODAY IS THE MOST MEH DAY OF MY LIFE."

I think it will be fun.

Two Posts!

One Day!

Also - 2 things I have just learned:

1. I really really really need to have money to travel. Travel outside of the country money. And soon.

2. It's a very long, boring day when I can't pick up the phone and call The Boyfriend whenever I feel like it.

OTC

I had acupuncture for the first time last weekend. It freakin rocks. I felt so tired and yet so energized afterwards. They put 19 needles in me and they were so excited that it was my first time, they kept telling me I was handling it well. I spent most of Saturday feeling pretty rough, but when I woke up Sunday morning I felt AMAZING. I had energy. I didn't have a headache. I am completely addicted.
Migraines run in my family. So do allergies. I was lucky enough to inherit both. At least mine aren't as bad as my Grandmothers. She would be in the hospital for 3 days with a migraine. With the pollen count the highest it's been in years, I have not been having a good spring. And med's just weren't helping. I can't tell you the last time I didn't have a headache. When I found out my Grandmother used to go to Canada to get accupuncture, that sealed the deal for me. I have wanted to try it for years. I am so sorry I waited that long.

The Boyfriend is working as a P.A. for the a few days in Malibu. While the money is nice, it sucks not having dinner waiting for me when I get home. Or breakfast made for me in the morning.
Yes, I am spoiled.

That's all for now. I know it doesn't seem like much, but there are more things going on. Like roadtrips to plan.

If you had one night in Nashville, where would you go?

This is Getting Comical

Today, I wore jeans as it is Friday and therefore "casual day" at work.

Today I wore my new green t-shirt that I was complimented on!

Today, my jeans have finally decided to shuffle their mortal coil and get a whole in the upper thigh area, rendering them useless.

Today The Boyfriend met me for lunch and forgot to bring another pair of jeans, that I had requested so that I don't get in trouble for my inappropriate jeans at work. He has avoided being in trouble for this by being VERY sorry that he forgot them, as well as the fact that my thighs rubbing together seems to hide the whole for now.

Today, I wore underwear, which was apparently a blessing in disguise. Also, I am starting to feel better so instead of breaking into tears over this, I can laugh at it instead!

Great

Now I am sick. This is just awesome. And I know exactly where this sickness came from thanks to the extremely sick co-worker who hacked all over everyone for over a week.

Argh.

I am someone who has sever allergies and yet rarely gets really sick. Since I am used to daily headaches and sneezing and other allergy type stuff, I just don't know how to deal with this type of thing. Why do colds and such make me all emotional and weepy?

Good grief.

Um, hi

I haven't been writing because anything that is going on in my life right now seems to be a fight. I am really sick of pretty much everything and would just like to run away.

Happy Birthday to Me!

So, today is my 29th birthday. What I love most about today is that all last week when people would ask he how old I was turning, I would say 29 and their immediate response was telling me what a baby I still am (in a nice way, I just realized that could sound like everyone was being really mean).

Today has started out pretty awesome. I got to skip the gym, The Boyfriend made me an omelet, Lisa made this awesome blueberry concoction complete with Vanilla Ice Cream and Julie and Angela brought me donuts, complete with SEVERAL choices for maple since they know that maple bars are my favorite!

And it's not over! I am going to Chili's for lunch with Vicki and out to dinner tonight! Good lord, can you tell I like to celebrate with food?! And how nice that all my friends know this about me and keep me supplied with sugar all day!

My Dad called me from work at 7 am this morning and my Mom called me later and sang Happy Birthday to me.
Like I said, it's been an awesome morning.

Last week was another story. Last week I just wanted to stomp around and hate everyone. But this week, this week I think everything is good.

I am happy. And full. And 29.

Next week I will be cutting me hair off again. This is becoming a yearly tradition for me!

Such Sweetness

Said to me yesterday morning, by The Boyfriend as we exited Albertsons:

"I want to carry the bags. If you get hit by a car, the donuts will get all squished."

True love, people. True love.

Overheard at the Gym

Picture this in a very high-pitched Valley Girl type accent that's really really gratingly loud. Also, just to paint this picture for you, this person is the type to stay on the Cardio machines for over an hour EVEN THOUGH THE SIGNS SAYS "30 minute Time Limit", so she re-sets her time every 1/2 hour even if there are people waiting to get on a machine...

"So, I had one of those days yesterday where I just realized everyone I work with is stupid. Like Lisa*. I mean, once someone told her they could totally tell she was not college educated and now she's all fixated on it and paranoid about that."

WOW. That's like walking up to a really fat person and saying "I can totally tell you eat A LOT." and then being all surprised that you hurt their feelings.

AND THEY GYM WOMAN THINKS THE PEOPLE AROUND HER ARE STUPID!

*Not her real name. I was too busy trying to get my brain to not leak out of my ear to deal with people's names and such.

It Was Funny Then Too

The color printer for my office was acting up, so I was on the phone with IT trying to get it straightened out. IT Guy asks if he can take remote control over my computer, I say sure!

He looks around at a few things as I explain what the problem is. He prints a test page. I go to see if it works.

It does.

When I come back, he says, "I'm going to open an email and print it just to make sure everything is working. Can I print this email?"

Before it opens I say "Sure" because what could I possibly have in my work email that would be personal?

As the email opens I begin laughing very hard. He catches this and says "I won't read it."

The email was between a co-worker/friend of mine, containing various personal information about the Diva Cup, the pill, cycling together and how many Valentine's Days I have been on my period.

Needless to say, I didn't want to draw any more attention to the email, so I just continue quietly giggling as I check the color printer to make sure it worked.

After I get off the phone, I am laughing so hard I can barely talk. Leave it to me to have a VERY personal email opened and printed by the super sweet IT Guy. Luckily he has a wife and daughter so if he did read it, I highly doubt it was new information for him.

So Many Things

I may just number this to make it easier:

1. My niece has a brain infection. I totally thought these types of things only happened in soap operas, but here it is in real life. My poor niece has not had the easiest of lives so far. First she was diagnosed with Tourettes Syndrome and they put her on some awful medicines and now this. Please send good thoughts to my niece in Texas as she is in quarantine in her home for a month as she is on some serious meds that make her sleep all the time. Also, because of our Presidents freaking genius, "No Child Left Behind" crap, she is going to have to repeat a grade because of being out sick. The thing is, she isn't far behind and has amazing grades, but because she doesn't have the exact number of days in school, she is being punished. I hate our President and his completely idiotic ideas.

2. Valentine's Day is not over for me yet! As I type this, The Boyfriend just received a package from Café Press of some shirt that he designed for me and won't tell me what it is no matter how many times I call home and ask what I am getting.

3. Today is my Future Maybe Mother-in Law's* Birthday! Happy Birthday Marcia! Hope you have a great day!

4. I am no longer using tampons ever again now that I have tried the Instead Cup. I love it. Despite some, um, interesting beginnings, I am now completely in love with this and will never ever use anything else except some other kind of cup because good god people, these things are amazing. If you haven't tried it, please do so. You will understand why I am so happy. I mean 12 HOURS BEFORE YOU HAVE TO CHANGE ANYTHING!!!!
Also, less waste to throw away. Good for you, good for the planet. Everyone wins!

5. I am mostly finished with my first non-scarf knitting project, except I think the pattern was wrong or I read it wrong, but now I need to either start over or go buy more yarn to try and fix it. Instead of deciding I have left it sitting on the back of my couch for a couple of weeks now because I am mad at it for being wrong, so I guess I am punishing my poncho.

6. Does anyone else think we need to get some money together and send Garet to his own vocal lessons? If you watch American Idol, I am talking about the sweet cowboy from Wyoming. He was so damn cute and nice and actually aware of the extent of his talent. I adore him.
Ah! He has a website!

I guess that is all.

* We (being Marcia and I) came up with this name for her awhile ago because we both thought it was funny and I was sick of being introduced at The Boyfriends Girlfriend because really, we have been dating for a long time and "girlfriend" just sounds to temporary. So does "this is my Boyfriends Mom." I forgot about it until I starting writing this post. I may have to start using it again.

Why Me

So, The Boyfriend and I had a wild night last night of shopping at Costco. Whenever we are done with our actual shopping, The Boyfriend likes to look around the DVD section, to see if he can find any DVD's that he will then convince me we HAVE TO HAVE.
Since I don't really care to wander the DVD section (seriously, it is always busy and full of rude people who don't understand personal space) I decided to wander around the women's clothes section.

The women's clothes section of Costco depresses me. I feel so bad for the employees who are always there and always refolding the crap people just throw back somewhere near the pile they picked it up from. It just seems like a never ending job and no one even pays attention to what you are doing. Seriously, I don't know how these people don't snap and start screaming at the customers who walk up right next to them and completely tear apart a pile of clothes they just finished folding. I would actually pay to see that happen.
Anyhoo, the clothes section didn't have anything weird or interesting, so I started meandering towards the DVD's when this man stops me and in a very thick eastern european accent, asks if this is the only women's section in Costco. Now, I had noticed this man not just because he was intently inspecting items in the women's section, but because he seemed to need someone to notice that he was looking at women's clothes.
I answer him that it is.
"I am looking for something for my mother."
I say that's nice and begin walking away.
"Can I ask you something?"
Now here is where I should have just continued walking away. But NOOOO, I turn around and look at him.
"Have I seen you somewhere before? I work in Santa Monica? Do you live around here?"
I answer "I don't hang out in Santa Monica, so no, you probably have not seen me before."
"Don't you live around here?"
"Yes, I live in this general area, but I have not met you before." I continue edging away from him as I am now completely annoyed.
"Well I swear I have seen you before. Are you just looking around?"
"Well, my boyfriend is right over there looking at movies and I am looking at clothes."
He asks me my name. I tell him my first name. He shakes my hand and tells me his name is Sage and that I have a pretty name. (Really, I don't think my first name is all that exciting, so this is how I usually know some guy is just trying anything to get me to talk to him.)
He starts rambling about how he works in Century City, that his work just moved there and something about how he is around this area a lot and asking if I am American. I am totally not paying attention as I am calculating how quickly I can get away from him and how fast I can convince The Boyfriend that we need to leave the store immediately.
I say "Nice meeting you I have to go."
He says "Maybe I will see you around again. Or we could meet for Green Tea sometime."
I walk away.

Okay, I have never been one to get hit on a lot. I know it usually takes me a little bit to realize "Hey, this person is hitting on you!?"
But seriously, how many freaking people have fallen for the "I am looking for something for my Mother" line? I could give a crap that you are picking something out for you Mom. I mean, what kind of creep doesn't pick up on body language or the name drop of Boyfriend and back off? WHY IN CRAPS SAKE DID HE THINK I WOULD GO GET GREEN TEA WITH SOME STRANGE GUY I MET IN THE WOMEN'S CLOTHES SECTION OF COSTCO?
Why didn't I call The Boyfriend "my fiance'" like I usually do when someone weird starts talking to me?

At least we got "Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit ." That makes me happy. But I don't think I should have to suffer through extremely bad attempts at getting picked up just for cheap DVD's.

Nuts to You!

So, I don't have my Traders Joe's stuff written yet, but for now, I would like to say Nuts to You stupid freaking California weather! Seriously, it's February. Last year everyone was worried about all the rain and this year all I worry about is whether or not I can shove a knife through my temple without causing any serious damage. Because some days a knife would feel better than the sinus pressure I am dealing with.
And again, why does every weatherperson act like 85 degrees is great! Brilliant! The best weather every! I am going to kick them all in the head.
Right around their sinus area.

Monday, Monday

So, umm, I seem to have spring fever and it's only February.

I have felt like I am barely holding my crap together ALL DAY. But in a good way. Like I am all giddy for really no reason. Which is a good thing because I started today hating the world and pretty much most people in it.

Reasons Why

I should not be allowed near lemons or Sharpie's while bored at work. Meet my new friend Lancelot Lemon courtesy of L!

A Potpourri

Since I have been dealing with very random thoughts for the past few days, I thought I would share them with you.

*I know most people have seen this, but it makes me laugh so I am sharing it with you.

*I started this plant project almost 2 weeks ago with this plant that is supposed to appear with my fortune on it, but nothing is growing. It probably doesn't help that I keep forgetting to water it, but still, this just continues my running score of killing any houseplants. I can't believe I even entertain the idea of having kids when keeping a plant alive becomes boring to me after day 2 of taking care of them. So now instead of a cute photo essay about the plant growing, it will now be a photo essay about a can of dirt. A cute can of dirt.

*I am so annoyed at Trader Joe's right now, it has inspired a new section for this blog I will entitle "Nuts to You". Just know that whenever I say that in my head, I hear the theme song for those "Real Men of Genius" commercials, where, at the end the guy sums up what the commercial was about, "So, here's to you Mr. Taco Bowl Inventor" but instead in my head I hear "so Nut's to You Mr. Trader Joe's Broccolli that went bad after 2 days" or whatever else I am annoyed with. Didn't know I was so good at rambling did you! Just know I will probably post more now that I already have 2 subjects for the new "Nuts to You" section.
Also, every time I say "Nuts to You" I giggle.

*The Boyfriend and I have been Netflixing "MI-5" thanks to a recommendation from Julie, who was also the giver of the fortune plant that will never be. Much to my surprise, it has Hugh Laurie in it. He's "House" and I have the biggest crush on him, even more so now since seeing him in this. Good lord, he is a sexy man.

*I have finally started my first non-scarf knitting item. I am making myself a poncho and with any luck, I will be finished with it before next winter. I have already re-started it 3 times and thrown it across the room only twice. Yes, I have a temper.

*I have been listening to Kelly Clarkson's album and I can't get one of the songs out of my head.

I guess that's all for now. These don't seem so random to me now that I have typed them out, but I am probably forgetting most of my most random thoughts from the last week anyway.
Toodles.

My New Favorite Quote

"Chuck Norris is kind of like Jesus, but instead of dying for your sins, he will karate-kick you in the face until you achieve salvation."
Via Defamer.

*updated to add:

I HAVE HAD TOO MUCH CAFFEINE TODAY.

New Year, New You

I made it through the holidays without gaining any massive amounts of weight. Not that I didn't try. I ate anything I felt like eating, but I did manage to keep my portions somewhat under control. So now I am back at it and I even walked at lunch today to get some extra exercise in.

I have been feeling very stagnant lately. I have decided to clean my closet out and get rid of a lot of things that have just been hanging around. We are VERY quickly growing out of our one-bedroom apartment, and since there is no hope of being able to afford something bigger anytime soon, I figure now is a good time to get rid of some things. Not that I haven't been trying for awhile now to downsize, but I have a renewed sense of really wanting to get rid of things and change some stuff around.

This is of course not a good thing as far as The Boyfriend is concerned, as this will eventually cross over into his side of the closet, but he usually plays along until his packrat tendencies take over. It's not his fault, he is the child of a packrat*. He just doesn't have THE NEED to get rid of things like I do.

Eventually I will post more about my Christmas vacation, but for now, I have more Daily Show videos to watch..

*What is with the word "packrat"? It makes keeping things sound so bad. I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing until you own 35 cats and every newspaper until you were born, but, you know, if you just keep the odd thing around because it reminds you of a good time in your life, that's not so bad.

Home

I am back in L.A. now. Texas was great fun. The Boyfriend was very good at the gift giving thing this year. I will update more later. Lots of fun stories that actually do not involve my 16 year old nephews driving...
Right now, I am sitting at work, almost literally bored to tears. But somehow, I can't get the energy to write more than this.
Sorry.
Happy New Year.
updated:
Song Lyrics for "YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY" since apparently everyone is looking for them.
Yummy, Yummy, Yummy.
I got love in my tummy,
And I feel like a-lovin you:
Love, you're such a sweet thing,
Good enough to eat thing
And that's just a-what I'm gonna do.
Ooh love, to hold ya,Ooh love, to kiss ya,Ooh love, I love it so.
Ooh love, you're sweeter, Sweeter than sugar.
Ooh love, I wont let you go.
Yummy, Yummy, Yummy,
I got love in my tummy,
And as silly as it may seem;
The lovin' that you re giving,
is what keeps me livin'
And your love is like Peaches and cream.
Kind-a like sugar,Kind-a like spices,Kind-a like, like what you do.
Kind-a sounds funny.
But love,honeyHoney.
I love you.
Yummy, Yummy, Yummy,
I got love in my tummy,
That your love can satisfy;
Love, you're such a sweet thing,Good enough to eat thing
And sweet thing, that ain't no lie.
I love to hold ya,Oh love, to kiss ya,Ooh love, I love it so.
Ooh love, you're sweeter, Sweeter than sugar.
Ooh love, I wont let you go.

Happy Everything

I am off to Texas to celebrate Christmas with my family. We are all congregating at my sister's house this year. Should be fun. My 16 year-old nephew is picking me up from the airport, so I should come home with at least one interesting story...
Not much going on here. I am not really in the whole holiday spirit right now. It's kind of sinking in that I have to spend the next week without The Boyfriend and that makes me very very sad. I don't care who get's insulted, or how many guilt trips are thrown my way, I am NOT traveling next year.

I guess that's all I really have time to get in to.

I hate our President, but getting into that would take too much time. He is a complete freaking grifting ass and anyone that get's taken in by him is a complete tool.

The fact that this country was founded for religious freedom and yet there are people out there who truly believe there is a "War on Christmas" makes me ill. THIS COUNTRY WAS FUCKING FOUNDED FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, but I heard someone on the news say he believed that even if we had a Jewish President, he should send out cards that say Merry Christmas. What kind of backwards freaking idea is that?

Cough Cough

I spent last night in a wonderful cycle of hacking, then coughing so hard I would gag, then running to the bathroom because I thought I was going to throw up, then drinking a sip of water which didn't help, then popping a cough drop and trying to go back to sleep and hoping I wouldn't choke on the cough drop if I fell asleep, but part of me not caring if I did because it would mean my throat would stop hurting for maybe a moment.

Today is my last full work day this week as my office is moving tomorrow, so we get the pleasure of leaving at noon. Let me just tell you that I work with a lot of whiny babies and also a lot of hard working people that kick-ass. I am so ready for this week to be over.

I seem to be on my second cold in a row this winter (ha, it's like 70 here) season. I very rarely get sick, usually allergy problems are the extent of my sickness. So colds and such are sometimes just too much for me to bear.

This is what I get for working in an office where it's expected that people come in sick unless they are on death's door. I find this just a stupid way of working.

Except here I am, probably contagious. But we are moving tomorrow. And there is still so much to be done...

This One is Going to be Long & Ramble-y

So, The Boyfriend and I decided to take a drive on Sunday, as a treat after spending over 2 hours dusting our apartment. I hate dusting with every fiber of my being, and being allergic to dust doesn't help any.

Off we go on our 2 hour drive down the Pacific Coast in which we end at Chili's (Yes, I like their food. A lot.) and this is now also a celebration that I have lost 13 pounds and 5 inches off my waist. The drive is pleasant enough. We have a good time goofing around and lamenting the fact that modern Christmas music is just shit.

We arrive at our destination. There is a wait for a table, no big deal, we continue enjoying each other's company.

We are seated. A small 2 person booth. I like those. Well, USUALLY I like those because we are seated at them quite frequently and we are usually on an outside wall (this is important later) so we have some privacy in our conversation.

As soon as we sit down I realize something is wrong. We are not on an outside wall, we are in the middle of the restaurant separated from the table next to us by a small wall. So, I put my drink menu up to block the other people out of my site. Now, I do this a lot because I really find it quite stupid that restaurants nowadays seem to think I want to watch the people around me eat. I don't. So I put up the drink menu, which other people have done around the restaurant as well.

Then it begins.

2 small girls, very towheaded, both under the age of 4. Any other time I would have found them quite cute. Not this night. Not at all.

The parents were sitting on the outside of the booth, not paying ANY ATTENTION AT ALL to their 2 small girls that were now climbing the wall to try and look at The Boyfriend and I. Then they began giggling, knocking menu's over on to us, staring, giggling, and generally just being really annoying. All this time, the parents didn't look over once at them. Not once. Never to check on them, even though they were standing on the seat and trying their darndest to touch us and stare at us, they parents couldn’t be bothered to check on their little darlings just once.

This continues on. I start shaking with anger. The Boyfriend and I can't have any kind of conversation, because we keep getting interrupted. I am shaking because I am gearing up to go and politely ask the parents to keep their children away from us, but I just know this will end in an argument, so I frantically try to find our waiter to ask him if we can be moved right away.

Now here's the kicker. As these parents are not giving a crap what their daughters are doing to the people around them, another table, which consists of a couple and their infant, flag our waiter down and politely ask if their order can be switched for take-out because their infant is getting fussy. I was so overwhelmed with two small germ-factories trying to touch me I hadn't even noticed the infant (who, by the way was the quietest cranky infant I have ever seen). It was just too much for me. Here are one set of parents trying to be so polite to the people around them, and of course we get sat next to the parents that think it's their god-given right to inflict their precious children on the people who were unfortunate enough to be seated around them.

I wanted so badly to go and ask these people to pay attention to their daughters, but really, all I wanted was to have dinner with my boyfriend that wasn't interrupted. I don't think that's too much to ask. Especially in a restaurant.

This type of thing just kills me. I adore kids. I think they are fun and I like watching people interact with their children. But I just can't handle this attitude that is prevailing of people thinking I should have to deal with their children misbehaving just because I made the mistake of eating in the same restaurant they did.

Children are not something that happens to you, in most cases. In any case, they are something YOU have to deal with. I COMPLETELY understand the restaurants that have adult-seating only or child-free hours. I don't care if parents find this offensive. I should have the right to a dinner that doesn't include trying to ignore the children hanging over the wall staring at me.

I'm not asking that people be punished that choose to have kids. I am asking that parents stop acting like I should be honored I was given the gift of being in the presence of their holy terrors for even a second. I am asking that people be aware that if their children are not behaving, it affects the people around them. I am way more accepting of a parent who is completely aware that their misbehaving child is annoying to the people around them and tries to do something about it. I do not have any patience for parents who pay no attention to their children whatsoever and can't understand how this may be annoying to a couple who are just trying to enjoy a dinner out.

Especially people who haven't eaten out in a month and are celebrating by eating carbs. And yes, I see the stupidity in celebrating my weight loss with fattening food, but man, it tasted good.

On a final note - Why do we treat smokers that choose to smoke like pariahs for making this choice and not parents who choose to have children that they can't be bothered to actually raise? Or teach manners?

I Wanna Be Loved By You

I have this song stuck in my head. I have absolutely no reason why and it's kind of driving me insane.

It could be worse, this morning The Boyfriend had "Boogie Wonderland" stuck in his head thanks to an ill-timed Target commercial. He's nice about it when he has a song stuck in his head, he just quietly sits there and tells you he has a song stuck in his head.

Me, I sing it as loud and often as possible so that He will get it stuck in his head, and then I have some company in my misery.

Shit! I just got "Boogie Wonderland" now stuck in my head just by typing this.
Now I have to resort to getting "If I Could Turn Back Time" stuck in my head. It is a little known fact that any Cher song will get any other song out of your head. Unfortunately, it is a fact I know all to well.

Update Week 2

I thought I would do this weeks update a day early, since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and The Boyfriend and I have given ourselves the "day off' from our diet, so there will be no weighing in for me tomorrow!

As of today, I have lost a total of 9 pounds. I weigh 190. I have lost 4 inches off of my waist line. Results like this are definitely helping with the motivation for sticking with it. On top of the weight loss, my skin is looking better than it has in quite awhile, and I just FEEL better, not like I am going to burst at the seams. I have also noticed that I don't crave sweets anymore and my tastebuds have been sharpened. I was bad and had a fortune cookie last week, good lord those things are sweet! I had never noticed. I used to think my allergies affected my sense of taste, but it was my shoving everything down my throat as fast as possible that was causing me to not taste anything.

I have actually eaten salad with no dressing. You have no idea how big that is.

Since most of you know my dirty little secret of loving some reality T.V. shows, it should come as no surprise that I am an avid fan of "The Biggest Loser". Especially this season, I just really like most of the people who are on the show and I feel a sort of kinship with them as I struggle to get my own weight off.

I watched last night, fascinated by the amount of crying the contestants do on this show. I don't know why this was so interesting to me, as I myself fully admit to friends that I have cried trying to pick out clothes.

I have not cried during this diet, but I HAVE had to get through the realization that I was a lot bigger than I thought I was. It's very easy to just not look at yourself, not admit to yourself that the pants don't fit because YOU got bigger. As a friend once told me, "You can hate your hair or getting your pictures taken all you want, because you think they make you look fat. But at some point, you have to realize that YOU are making you look fat. And that's about the point where you decide to do something about it." This has really been driven home since my clothes have started fitting better. Clothes that I thought looked good on me before are WAY more comfortable. I have not dropped any sizes, yet.

I am nervous for the next part of this. I get to start adding things back in to my diet. This scares me. I am so happy with the amount of weight I lost, I don't want to gain anything back or stop losing.

On a final note -
Last night Andrea was voted off Biggest Loser, and may I say I was so happy to see her go. She admitted to sneaking like 9 or 12 brownies because she was stressed out before a weigh-in, has ASKED people to send her home and then stated for the camera that she HAD to be in the final 3 because she had worked so hard to get there. I know this is really mean, but good lord, SHE SNUCK FOOD. Of course she deserves to be there more than the other 3 who had never snuck food at all.
Also, I may just hate her because she looks like an ex-friend from college. But I'm pretty sure it's the brownies.

Happy Thanksgiving! I am counting down the hours until I get to eat until I am sick. Which should take about 5 minutes.

Update Week 1

So, today's the day, I give you my weight update for the week. So far, the diet has been really easy to adjust to, almost too easy (except for yesterday, which was really hard. I just wanted to eat all day, and not the things on my list to eat either). My only real problem with it is that I am SO SICK of eggs for breakfast I just want to cry. But the first stage is almost over and then I can have Bran Cereal, which makes me want to vomit, so I guess the eggs aren't too bad.

My official weight as of this morning:

191 ½ pounds!

I lost 7 ½ pounds this week.

I have to tell you, this really makes it easier to start week 2. I was even bad last night and had 1½ glasses of wine with dinner, which is a no-no, since you are not supposed to have any alcohol during the first 2 weeks. That's better than The Boyfriend who cheated on the first day and had an apple, which is at the top of the list of things we ARE NOT supposed to eat! (That was mean, we are supposed to be supportive. Just giggle and then forget I said that.*)

In other news, I brought home a singing snowman from Hallmark for The Boyfriend yesterday, since I conveniently had 3 birthday cards to buy. I think it's the best $13 I have ever spent on a gift for him. Check out the pictures.

I guess that's all for today. I am very excited about Thanksgiving, because I just realized this morning that it falls on the same day as we start Phase 2 of the South Beach! And also, we have already decided we get to eat whatever we want that day anyway. But this just means we wouldn't be cheating nearly as much, so it's a good thing.

*I just read that he thinks he only had 1 glass of wine, but he is a liar! He had 1 ½ glasses of wine with dinner, and apparently several "pulls" off the bottle while cooking!!!! So, I don't feel bad for making fun of him. Okay, I never really feel bad for that anyway.

Things That Are Annoying Me

In list form, for you reading pleasure:

1. The weather. It's November 16th, why in the hell is it 90 degrees outside?

2. The weatherman who thinks that telling me it's going to be a great week JUST because the weather is so hot. Really. It's November you moron, I don't care where you live in the U.S., you expect it to be a little colder than it was this summer.

I just know at some point I am going to have to chase down all the weatherpeople in L.A. and kick them in the teeth. It's for their own good.

3. The fact that we are having such bizarre weather across the U.S. and no one wants to talk about Global Warming. It's getting seriously close to the time where we round up all the SUV's and burn them. I don't care if Bush wants to recognize what's happening or not, we have screwed up this Earth and we need to fix it.

4. I went to the mall at lunch today, but I forgot to bring the watch that I needed to get repaired. So my going to the mall was pretty useless, except I bought some birthday cards and a singing snowman which will make The Boyfriend very happy*.

*I'm not kidding. He really wants the singing snowman. This guy really likes Christmas.

5. That somehow the phrase "I can't afford that" doesn't seem to register with people anymore. I have made a practice of not running up my credit card bills so high I can't pay them off every month. This seems to baffle people who are usually trying to sell me something. Sometimes I think there are only 5 people in the world that understand the right way to use credit. The rest are part of that percentage who are over $10,000 in debt and can't figure out how it happened.

For example, I got my teeth cleaned this morning. They of course tried to tell me I NEED to get my teeth whitened and one veneer over a tooth that had a root canal performed on when I was a child. I said I don't, and also I can't afford it. They implied I could charge it to a credit card if I needed to. I had to then re-state that I DON"T HAVE TO HAVE MY TEETH WHITENED. It's not covered by insurance because IT IS ELECTIVE! Also, I don't need a freakin' veneer either. I refuse to give into this obsession that everyone's teeth need to be as white as possible. I like white teeth, but I will not go into debt for them.

6. The fact that going home for Christmas has become a complete nightmare. Traveling is expensive, especially when The Boyfriend and I get the distinct pleasure of being completely across the U.S. from each other for the holidays.

Family is all too willing to guilt you mercilessly until you give in to going home, but then doesn't want to hear it when buying the plane tickets means you are broke for the next 6 months. This also feeds back into #5.

I guess that's my list for now. Tomorrow, the great weekly weight update! I am happy with how the South Beach Diet is going, so it will not be as traumatic a post as last week was for me.

I Really Have No Title for This

Since The Boyfriend has actually linked to me in his post today, I feel compelled to write something, so I guess it should be about our new diet.

So, I am starting the South Beach Diet today, and so far, it's going okay. I don't really enjoy an extremely low carb diet, as I have tried the no-carb thing before and really ended up gaining a lot of weight afterwards, I keep telling myself that this part only lasts 2 weeks.

I tried Weight Watchers, but I found it tiresome. It was too easy to cheat, although I did get quite a few good recipes off of their website.

I have also tried counting calories. Last year I lost almost 20 pounds in 2 months, but then we went away for Thanksgiving and allowed ourselves to eat whatever we wanted. We never got back to counting those calories.

I feel a brief history of my weight will help you make sense of myself and why this is such a big deal for me. Or not. But it fills up space on the page.

Up until the age of 25, I never really worried about my weight. I never watched what I ate, and I didn’t worry about exercise. I am now realizing that this was mostly because I naturally ate small portions several times a day. Also, I lead a busy life so exercise was never on my mind.

Then, I met The Boyfriend. And I fell in love. (Ok, it was really painful for me to write that because it just sounds so cheesy, but you know, they have proven people in love gain weight, so there). The Boyfriend wasn't so appreciative of my eating habits, because he would always end up eating my leftovers which of course led to him gaining weight. And since I hate leftovers, and was sick of the teasing about how I never eat anything, I began to finish my meals.

That comes across as blaming The Boyfriend, which I am not. I am the one who decided that finishing my food faster than he, while insisting I needed the same portion of food he did, was a great way to not get teased about my eating habits anymore. Good lord, I am brilliant!

So anyhoo, when I turned 25 it all just stopped working. I started gaining weight places I had never gained weight before. I now eat way too much in portion size and have no problems eating foods that I know are bad for me.

I actually get a lot of exercise, but my eating is just all screwed up. Also, I have like the biggest sweet tooth you have ever seen which doesn't lend itself to dieting much.

In the past few years I have stopped having jobs where I am on my feet all day. I can't believe how much this messes with your metabolism, but it does. Working in an office where I don't have far to go to get snacks makes saying "No" way too hard. Not that I am actually saying no to anyone, I just don't seem to be able to say no to myself. (That sounds really dirty)

So, now the really painful part.

I am 5'6". I weight 199 pounds as of this morning.

I am trying not to get all depressed as I write this because I am at the heaviest weight I have ever been in my life. But I have a goal, which is 60 pounds (I would like to lose more but we will see how that goes). I have a time frame, before my 30 birthday which is March 2007. I know I can do this.

My biggest reason, other than acting and such, is that I am watching everyone in my family have huge health issues that all boil down to one thing, they are all fat. I know that is mean, but it's true and they all have the same problems: High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Blockage in their Arteries, Sleep Apnea, Snoring so loud it shakes the earth. None of them will discuss with me that fact that it's mostly because of their weight that these things are happening, especially when I get told, 'well it runs in the family' and I say 'the whole family is overweight, of COURSE it runs in the family'. I mean, I have already inherited Migraines that are so bad they induce vomiting AND being allergic to everything in the air, how much more fun stuff could the possibly give me?

I refuse to be someone who relies on medication for things that could be fixed with weight-loss. I refuse to sit around and just use "it runs in the family" as an excuse for bad health. I refuse to be depressed all the time because I feel fat and none of my clothes fit.

I refuse to make excuses for myself anymore.

I did this to myself. I am going to fix it.

Hair Saga Part 1

So, for those of you who don't see me every day, I have had dark brown/red hair for the past several months. Because I was the only not real-brunette for this short film I am working on, I decided to go back to blonde. Plus, keeping naturally lighter colored hair dark brown is WAY more work than keeping it lighter and since I am lazy, this is a nice situation to be in.

So the "Get My Hair Back to Blonde" process started Sunday night with a box that did little to lighten my hair, but gave me this really cool color. I really hate it when things like that happen, because there is no way I am going to replicate it.

Since the first time didn't work, I walked myself back to the drugstore for something a little more heavy duty. Let me tell you, when Herbal Essences decides to make hair color, they decide to make stuff that works. I buy a box of the lightest blonde I can find and proceed home to try it out.

Needless to say, my hair is definitely lighter. Like almost Platinum. Which you would think someone that has been messing with their hair color for ½ their life would be okay with, but for some reason, it seems to bother me. Not the greatest dye-job I have ever done.

So of course I come to work this morning expecting lots of "Oh, your hair is blonde again" comments accompanied by that "that's too bad" look people like to give.

But instead, I get "Wow, your hair is blonde again! I like it! Looks good!" accompanied with my two favorite comments:
"You look like a beach babe/surfer girl"

and
"It's a Bombshell color"

Can I just tell you how much I love you people right now? And if you are all really laughing behind my back, just keep it behind my back so I can continue to feel good.

I do not Heart Delivery Guys

So, this is a little late, but Knott Scary Farm was AWESOME! Seriously the most fun I have had being scared in a long time. Unless you count the once a week I weigh myself, but that's another story.

This week has been really lousy with the busyness. I plan on posting some pictures of my knitting thusfar. Let me just say, I am rocking the "knit stitch" and can now make a mean scarf. The supplies for the one I am making now were courtesy of T and J (Hi!) and it looks to be the best one yet. Like I said, pictures and such to come soon. I am looking to make a poncho next, but I may have to actually learn more than one stitch for that, which means I will be back to swearing A LOT while knitting, but I think that's all part of the fun of learning something new.

So, the title of this post. I just got done having a battle of wits with a delivery guy. It wasn't really evenly matched. Now I have had LOTS of jobs in my time where I worked in the customer service industry. I wasn't the best at it, but I definitely wasn't the worst. I am now in charge of ordering supplies for the office I work in and let me just say, we go through a lot of paper. So much so that I usually order about 10 cases at a time. The delivery person today (Not the usual delivery guy, he's the coolest guy ever! Mad love to MIKE! YEAH!) decided that stacking 10 - 50 pound boxes of paper outside the main door to my office was totally okay. WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO CUSTOMER SERVICE! When would you ever think that it's okay to leave something that heavy piled outside the door to an office? I mean, come on, who is usually doing the supply ordering? Women. And who do you think would be moving that stuff? It's bad enough that I can't get anyone to help me unload the boxes, let alone move them across an entire suite.
So I called the main office and let them know that they needed to come back and fix this. And then I made sure to go and let the guy know where to put the paper (because they have been known to just stack it in the middle of our copy room. And now you know why I love the usual delivery guy so much) AND I made sure to say it in a very nice way. THE MAN WOULDN'T even acknowledge my existence. So now I am sitting here, trying to get straight in my head what I am going to say to the main office when I call AGAIN, to let them know that Mike is the only delivery person they have that gives a crap about customer service.
This is not the part of my job that I like. Because you see, and I know this will be such a shock to most of you, I have a bit of a temper. I like to fly off the handle at times. But I don't like having to be purposefully mean to someone. But jeez, is it to much to ask that you deliver the stuff to where you are supposed to deliver it? That you actually act like my business means something to you?
I'm really not sure how to end this. It's Friday. I really think my brain is shutting down for the weekend early.

I

I am going to KnottScary Farm tonight!

I am so freakin excited!

I am going to scream and scream and scream, even if I am not scared (which I will be so it won't matter)

I will see you tomorrow when my nerves will be so frayed, it's going to be awesome.

I Swear

that all day today, my pee has smelled a little bit like chlorine. I know that the body absorbs a lot of water while swimming, but doesn't that seem a bit excessive?

Yes, But Is It Safe?

I have been very absent lately. Most of the time it was an honest mistake, I would just run out of time during the day to post here. Some of the time it was because I was in a very "I hate people" mode and just didn't want to write about anything for fear that I would plunge off some horrible "hating people" cliff never to return.

But I seem to be over that. Well, partially, I still hate people. I honestly just didn't feel like I had anything to say. Until I saw Good Morning America yesterday.

Now, don't get me wrong, Good Morning America is really my favorite of the morning talk shows. Although I really despise their coverage of "Desperate Housewives" I find that they are enjoyable to watch as they seem to honestly like working together.

Anyhoo, they had a spot on "Minivans, Are They As Safe As We Think?"

Okay, I have been on this earth long enough to know that the answer is an automatic resounding NO, but come one people. So you might get whiplash in an auto accident. If whiplash is all I walk away with, I would be damn happy. Instead of worrying that our automobiles aren't cradling us in a cloud of emergency preparedness, maybe we should start TEACHING PEOPLE HOW TO DRIVE! Do you know the safest way to deal with an accident? It's to NOT get in one in the first place. Man, people are just really stupid. I don't understand this need for everyone to feel completely safe all the time. You are in a moving missile, complete with a tank of gas that will explode. How safe do you really think you are? So your headrest may not be in the perfect position to stop whiplash from occurring. Do you know what else stops whiplash? GETTING OFF THE DAMN CELL PHONE AND PAYING ATTENTION.

No one wants to be responsible for anything. Including driving accidents. No one believes in "right of way" anymore, no one understands how a 4 way stop works, no one wants to let anyone merge into traffic anymore, no one even tries to get up to traffic speed while getting on the freeway, people routinely run red lights, but heaven forbid my headrest not stop whiplash. Good god. Those car manufacturers are so mean. I can't believe a huge corporation wouldn't have my best interest at heart.

I just don't get it. Why don't we have news spots on how dangerous it really is to talk on a cellphone and drive? Or to not even take the Driver's Education classes, and instead wait until you are old enough to just take the test? I know this sounds weird, but I know people who got their licenses this way.

People act like cars are the only dangerous things in the world. Now if there is an actual defect in the car, like the brakes don't work correctly, then yes, I should think the manufacturer was at fault. But 99% of the things that go wrong in a car are due to user error.

Also, it's impossible to get rid of all the things in our lives that are not safe. Electricity is not safe and yet, no one complains about it being in their homes. No one gets mad at the electric company when a person gets electrocuted for messing with something they most likely shouldn't have been messing with. And yet, there are millions of people on the road who have no idea how to actually, safely control a car.

I think I lost my point in there somewhere. See what I mean about that cliff?

Oh well, back to knitting my very weirdly shaped scarf.

On a much happier note, we are giving Keith and Rachel their birthday present tonight! I am so freaking excited. Giving presents (especially ones that I made The Boyfriend make on my suggestion) is one of my most favorite things to do.

The best part? I have absolutely no idea if they will like it. I don't know why this makes me giddy, but it does.

Yeah, I'm Here

I just keep forgetting to post. I WAS going to tell you all about my having donated blood two weeks ago and what a huge issue it was dealing with the Red Cross people, but then this huge natural disaster struck, and now I don't feel like talking smack about the Red Cross people.

So, I am learning to knit instead.

Yummy Yummy Yummy I Got Love in My Tummy!

What a weird day today is.
First, it was all happy and fun because the building I work in had a Summer Party that was catered by In-N-Out Burger and also had these amazing Mini-Doughnuts so I was all happy and stuffed.
Until I read the email that basically dooms me to never having a parking spot. So even though my tummy was all full of yummy yummy food, I was all angry at how the world is being mean again.
I wonder if they planned it, that we would all be full and sleepy from good eats when they announced that they were revamping the parking structure, basically screwing everyone over. I hope they did, because otherwise it's just an awful coincidence.
So, I had to call The Boyfriend and politely ask if he wouldn't mind driving me to work everyday since I can get rideshare money for it. And also not have to stress about where the hell my car will be parked all day.
And he said yes, he will drive me, so then I am all happy again.
Except I am still tired from eating 2 hamburgers for lunch. Darn In-N-Out burgers, they are like Pringles, you can't eat just 1. Especially when they are free.

Oh Please, Tell Me More

If one more person tells me that I "look sunburned", I will scream.

If one more person tells me how I "need to use sunscreen", I will not be held responsible for my actions.

I can't begin to tell you the number of times in my life I have been lectured by complete strangers on how I should care for my pale skin. Do you think my skin just turned this color yesterday? I know more about sunscreen and sunburn cures than you would ever care to know about.

For God's sake people, just because I am pale doesn't mean you have the right to tell me about sunscreen. TRUST ME I KNOW ALL ABOUT IT. And also, I use A LOT of it already, and there are just times when I will look pink. Like today. Because my allergies are killing me, I have been fighting off a headache/migraine all weekend, and the color of shirt I am wearing makes me normally pale-as-hell skin look a little pink.

It does not however, mean that I don't use sunscreen. It does not mean I am burned. It does not mean that I am going to politely stand here and listen to you tell me how important it is that I use sunscreen. I FUCKING KNOW HOW IMPORTANT IT IS.

God, when did people decide that my skin health is any of their concern? And really, am I supposed to be happy that people with skin the color of leather are telling me that I need to use sunscreen. People, let's compare my white ass to your tan one and then let's talk about who needs to know more about sun-safety.

Yes, I am grumpy. Yes, I should just accept their advice and leave. But I don't. So there.

I Heart Rubberband Man

Have you seen this commercial? For Office Max? The dude in the commercial is just some brilliant casting. He is so fun to watch, he makes me want to shop at Office Max, and I HATE that place.
But I would only shop there if he pushed the cart for me and we had the "Rubberband Man" song playing as we walked around the store.

My daydreams are sadly boring.

My favorite commercial is when he loses his rubberband ball, and he puts up lost pictures of it, but the pictures are in black and white, and his rubberband ball is in color, and he's all sad. I don't remember how it ends because it went longer than my 5 second attention span.
But I sympathize Rubberband Man! I order the supplies in my office, and sometimes, people can make you sad when all you are trying to do is deliver their damn supplies.

Anyhoo, for some fun, check out this website, you can view the commercials and a cute making of video.

Also, please note there are 2 NEW links over to the right, Essence of Z and Jared's new blog.
Give them some site-reading love!

Man, I am bossy lately. Read my friends new blogs! Tell The Boyfriend to stop smoking! ARE YOU LISTENING!?

*Special thanks to Y-Vonne for actually posting on The Boyfriends site! You are the only person that has. And I thank you for your help in nagging.

The rest of you obviously don't care enough to nag. Prove me wrong, let TAM know he should stop smoking. Then he can't just get mad at me for nagging!

Welcome to Monday

So, Peter Jennings died yesterday. The weird thing about this is that Rachel and I were just talking about him on Saturday and how he might not make it. I am still a little weirded out by that.

I have to add that I will miss him. He had a wonderful speaking voice, and there have been several times in my life where there were things going on in this world that we were all glued to the tTV and his voice was the only one I could stand to listen to. It didn't hurt that he was usually the only person saying anything of intelligence.

This prompted several conversations with The Boyfriend about how he really needs to quit smoking. Everyone should visit him here, and let him know (in a nice way) that he needs to quit smoking. He loves the peer pressure!

Also, this morning I swam laps for ½ hour at the gym. I love swimming and have just recently started this routine in a desperate "I really need to get some of this 'now that I have a desk job I apparently will gain like 50 pounds' fat off of me." I swear, I have been working out at gyms for several years now, and nothing, NOTHING kicks my ass like swimming laps. I'm not even going that fast.

Since this is my first time swimming since I had Lasik (if you are interested, please check this place out, he is the nicest guy and a hell of a Lasik surgeon). Can I just tell you that I am really happy that I couldn’t see while swimming all those years that I swam competitively? I get so distracted now at the littlest thing in the pool, because I CAN ACTUALLY SEE! WHILE SWIMMING!

And, have you any idea how dirty pools are? GROSS! And yet, I am still swimming 3 days a week. And it rocks. Unless weirdo people are walking in the lanes. They do not rock.

I have also started doing Pilates pretty regularly at lunch. Man, you would think the pounds would just be melting off, but they aren't. It doesn't help that I just really like food. And candy.

Maybe I will up the swimming to every day, then I wouldn't have to change my diet. Now there is a plan.

Potpourri

* The Boyfriend and I had a great time going to dinner last night for his birthday. The drive down took a little over 2 hours and he only threatened one person's life!

* I am very sad that my show is over. I miss everyone.

* I wish the children's show was over. It's been a lot better since we started performances, but it is definitely the show that wouldn't die.

* I am wearing really squeaky shoes today (and by shoes I mean flip-flops). I mean really, really squeaky. I had to walk some documents to another attorney for my boss, and the floor I had to go to was very quiet, and all I could think was that my shoes are LOUD, and I kinda sorta shouldn’t be wearing them anyway, so it's kind of like "The Tell-Tale Heart", but only on my feet.

* My 10 year reunion is this summer. I am not going. I don't care what you think about it, I'm not going. It's being held in a sports bar for chrissake.

* I have left-over Chili's food for lunch today. I am a happy girl.

Happy Birthday, My Little Cheese Blintz!

So, My Boyfriend, it is your birthday. As my special gift to you, I will not ask you to clean anything today. Man, am I romantic, or what?!

Also, on our 2 hour drive down the PCH to Chili's tonight, I promise I won't ask you to calm down when you are screaming at every other driver on the road.

Seriously, I have never been so giving!

Okay, in all fairness, usually I am screaming at other people right along with you, so I should think of something else…

I promise I won't fall asleep on the way home. (If you knew me, you would understand what a promise that is.)

I promise that I will always be here to remind you of your correct age. Unless I am dead. Then you are on your own.

I hope you have a wonderful day.

I hope you realize just how much I love you.

Thanks for all the laughs, tears, road trips, songs, and cuteness (seriously, why are you so cute?)

Do you realize that we have known each other for a third of our lives? That kind of freaks me out!

Here's to many, many more birthdays together. I wouldn’t have it any other way.*

I love you.

*Can you believe I was so sappy?
I must be getting old. But not as old as you!
Oh man, that will never get old... like you!
I could go on and on with this.

** I would just like to point out that I have posted since the last one before this, but blogger ate it. I hope it gave blogger heartburn.

I Seem To Be Alright For the Moment

Hello. How's it going? I have been busy. The play is going wonderfully, I am truly NOT looking forward to the last performance. It's been very fun working with these people, shocking them at times with my really completely inappropriate sense of humor and such.

Not much else to report. Work has been busy. My parents will be in town for the last show, which is great, but also provides the horrible question "How do you let your parents politely know that you would rather hang out with your cast on the last night of performances?"

I will still get to see my parents on Monday, but I just know there will be guilt involved.

I guess that's all for now. Sorry for the lack of updates, but I don't have much going on outside of theater right now.

Today's Forecast: Grumpy with a side of Damn It!

So, the meeting yesterday turned out to be really nothing big (in my eyes at least), so the worry was for naught. Our office is moving and while I know that it's not going to be fun, I look forward to the change.

You have to understand, this is coming from someone who moved once as a child, 300 feet to the house next door. I don't really remember it much, but I loved my new room with the pink shag carpet.

When I moved to college, I discovered my love of moving. I love the newness of things, even if it's just your same old crap you're hauling with you, it's somehow new again as you re-discover things you've forgotten about. Or you realize how much crap you have that you don't need and so you sell it or give it away, all the while relishing in the release of having said crap around you at all times.

Sorry, I'm rambling.

But anway, my love of moving and new places is how I am approaching this office move (and since I can't seem to convince The Boyfriend that 5 years is way too long in one apartment and we should move just for the fun of it, this kind of gets him off the hook). Sure, I will lose my little office type space, and sure, I will probably end up in a cubicle, but man, try working in an overcrowded, never cleaned, always too warm call center for awhile. A cubicle is heaven compared to that.

So, I will let you know how opening weekend goes on Monday. My boss is coming. So are a lot of my friends/co-workers. I'm not nervous yet, but I probably will be a wreck tomorrow!

I Am Grumpy

I know, you're probably thinking, so what's new, you are always grumpy. But I haven't been grumpy in awhile. Tired, yes. Annoyed, yes. But not grumpy. I don't really have anything to be grumpy about.

I got to see "Fantastic Four" today. I went in with no expectations, and was pleasantly surprised. Other than Jessica Alba being the dumbest casting decision, the movie was a great summertime blockbuster type movie. I even would have paid to see it.

So, we have a department meeting today. Can I just say that after being through a business going under twice (yes, the same company, no, it wasn't my fault) and having to twice sit through the announcement that the company was folding, I really dread announcements like "Please gather for a quick meeting". It makes my stomach turn. Nothing good comes of this announcement. It's like the person you are dating telling you that "we need to talk." NOTHING GOOD COMES OF IT.

The show opens this weekend. I am very excited for it. Although I will be sad to see it end. I have truly enjoyed working with my director and cast. That's the problem with theater. The horrible casts/shows always drag on into eternity, and the good ones end too soon.

Such is life.