Last week felt like it would never end. I had two work events, and the culmination of a couple of big projects I had been working on since the start of the year. Needless to say, I was so thankful when the weekend arrived.
This week has been completely different. It's like I have jetlag from all the energy I had to exert last week. I have no motivation and all I want to do is lose myself in mindless forms of entertainment- TV, internet, reading other people's blogs, drinking wine every night with dinner (one glass), and playing Roller Coaster Tycoon (please don't judge me too harshly).
I have not wanted to blog myself at all. Why not? Because I am trying to ESCAPE my life of course!
It's all I can do to handle myself and Hunter (let alone Sam, who thankfully has been on call a lot) let alone relive the stress and drama. Part of my problem is that little Hunter hasn't been sleeping through the night very well over the last two weeks- probably my fault because our walks have not been as regular or long as they should have been.
I did find time to make the ortho department cupcakes on Sunday. I drove up to the hospital and met with Sam for dinner, leaving the cupcakes with his very sweet nurses. For our on-call date night, Sam took me to the fish place in the mall across from the hospital and it was fabulous. It was also expensive, but seriously it was scrumptious. I had butterflied panko crusted shrimp and cajun halibut. Mmmmm.
I am also a little overwhelmed by the travel coming up- Jackie's got her bridal shower, her bachelorette and her wedding two weeks apart for the next six weeks. OMG. I am so excited but simultaneously so exhausted. I may end up having to take a day off after the wedding is over to relax and recuperate. Plus, Sam will be off the week after the wedding so it would be good for us to relax and spend some time without so much distraction.
In between the wedding and the bachelorette party (which I get to throw- OMG I am so excited!) we get to see Sam's family for his Great-Aunt's 80th Birthday Party. We have lots of family coming into town, and Sam's folks generously offered to get us a hotel up in Palos Verdes to hang out with the family. I wasn't in love with the idea of staying up there on the weekend before the wedding, but I was looking forward to getting to see Sue and Rich and all the cousins (who I hope are coming down.)
Anyway, Sam's parents are going to stay in Irvine now, which is super thoughtful of them and I'm even more excited about seeing them now that I don't have to stress about the dog and getting my shit together before the wedding. I am so excited about wedding season though, Jackie kicks it off and then we have Monique's and Dan and Tina's.
I'm also really excited about our 10-year class reunion, which I am co-chairing, in June. And Papa's big 80th birthday party in July. So many wonderful things happening in the next couple of months!!!
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Friday, March 22, 2013
RIP Francois Georges
Mom just texted Carina and I to tell us that she got the call last night that Francois had passed away.
Francois is the father of the children my Mom au paired for in France after high school. He was one of my grandfather's close friends and coworkers on a few Chevron projects. They were like family to my mom and her parents, and my mother and his children and (now ex) wife have remained very close over the years.
Francois was diagnosed with lung cancer a while back, and last year around this time he came to dinner at my parents' house to see their new kitchen remodel. At the time, Mom and Dad noted how much slower he seemed and how it was their suspicion that the cancer had spread into his brain.
In December, Francois's son, Vincent, invited my parents to have lunch in near his home in Napa. When they arrived, Francois and his daughter Alexandra surprised my parents. My parents were shocked at how drastically his health had declined. If I remember correctly, I think Dad said that Francois's native French came much more easily to him that English and that Mom spoke mostly in French with Vincent and Alexandra while Dad and Francois's wife, Olga.
Mom said a friend of Olga's called last night while she was doing laundry and told her that she was going down the list of names of people Francois had requested be notified upon his death.
After Mom texted Carina and I, I called her back. She was crying, which broke my heart, and she told me how sad she was that she'd never see him again. I have to agree, the finality of death is so incomprehensible.
As Carina and I tried to console Mom via text messaging this evening it reminded me of when Papa died, and how even in death he has continued giving me opportunities of a lifetime. Sam and my trip to Southeast Asia was funded by Papa's generous inheritance as was the car I bought myself last December and the puppy laying asleep in my lap as I am typing.
The emptiness and sadness I sometimes feel is uncomfortable yes, but if it's the price I pay for the wonderful, unforgettable years I was able to enjoy the company of my grandparents I am so thankful for the sadness.
Rest in Peace, Francois. You lived a colorful life, and tonight I will have a glass of wine in your honor.
Francois is the father of the children my Mom au paired for in France after high school. He was one of my grandfather's close friends and coworkers on a few Chevron projects. They were like family to my mom and her parents, and my mother and his children and (now ex) wife have remained very close over the years.
Francois was diagnosed with lung cancer a while back, and last year around this time he came to dinner at my parents' house to see their new kitchen remodel. At the time, Mom and Dad noted how much slower he seemed and how it was their suspicion that the cancer had spread into his brain.
In December, Francois's son, Vincent, invited my parents to have lunch in near his home in Napa. When they arrived, Francois and his daughter Alexandra surprised my parents. My parents were shocked at how drastically his health had declined. If I remember correctly, I think Dad said that Francois's native French came much more easily to him that English and that Mom spoke mostly in French with Vincent and Alexandra while Dad and Francois's wife, Olga.
Mom said a friend of Olga's called last night while she was doing laundry and told her that she was going down the list of names of people Francois had requested be notified upon his death.
After Mom texted Carina and I, I called her back. She was crying, which broke my heart, and she told me how sad she was that she'd never see him again. I have to agree, the finality of death is so incomprehensible.
As Carina and I tried to console Mom via text messaging this evening it reminded me of when Papa died, and how even in death he has continued giving me opportunities of a lifetime. Sam and my trip to Southeast Asia was funded by Papa's generous inheritance as was the car I bought myself last December and the puppy laying asleep in my lap as I am typing.
The emptiness and sadness I sometimes feel is uncomfortable yes, but if it's the price I pay for the wonderful, unforgettable years I was able to enjoy the company of my grandparents I am so thankful for the sadness.
Rest in Peace, Francois. You lived a colorful life, and tonight I will have a glass of wine in your honor.
"Finals Week"
I am exhausted. This was the longest week I've had in a long time.
Sam used to tell me that I had to "contain the crazy" during finals week in college. He needed to focus on his exams and whatever drama was going on had to be shelved. For the first time (I think ever) I told Sam I was "pulling finals week" during a Tuesday phone call while I was at my wit's end.
I attended a mixer event with my boss and sales manager on Wednesday night, and was up this morning at 4:50 to get to a conference in Anaheim. Needless to say I am totally exhausted right now. And sitting on the floor in front of the TV watching last Sunday's Walking Dead. (Side note: I have appreciated the less gory Walking Dead story lines lately).
Lack of sleep, the stress of all these events for work, and Hunter getting up in the middle of the night the last couple of nights has taken it's toll. I'm not sure if I want to pop open a bottle of Chateau St Jean chardonnay or spoil myself with take-out (neither of which are Making the Cut friendly ideas). I would normally say that sitting down and curling up with a good book sounds like a good idea but even that sounds like too much mental effort.
If it weren't Sam's stupid 2nd year schedule maybe we could have had dinner together, but he's up at the hospital on call tonight and I am not really feeling like driving all the way up to the hospital to get dinner. The hospital doesn't exactly have lots of healthy dining options near by.
I also realized that I have a hair appointment before Jackie's wedding scheduled at the time as Sam's great Aunt's birthday party on April 27. I had thought (for some stupid reason) the party started at 3pm so I booked the hair appointment at noon. Unfortunately BOTH things are set for noon. So now I need to reschedule my hair appointment or arrive late to Aunt Elsa's birthday. I just don't have too many options for getting my hair done with all the wedding festivities in the weekends prior to the wedding. C'est la vie. Perhaps I'll have to skip out on the gym Saturday morning and try to have my hair done earlier.
Sam used to tell me that I had to "contain the crazy" during finals week in college. He needed to focus on his exams and whatever drama was going on had to be shelved. For the first time (I think ever) I told Sam I was "pulling finals week" during a Tuesday phone call while I was at my wit's end.
I attended a mixer event with my boss and sales manager on Wednesday night, and was up this morning at 4:50 to get to a conference in Anaheim. Needless to say I am totally exhausted right now. And sitting on the floor in front of the TV watching last Sunday's Walking Dead. (Side note: I have appreciated the less gory Walking Dead story lines lately).
Lack of sleep, the stress of all these events for work, and Hunter getting up in the middle of the night the last couple of nights has taken it's toll. I'm not sure if I want to pop open a bottle of Chateau St Jean chardonnay or spoil myself with take-out (neither of which are Making the Cut friendly ideas). I would normally say that sitting down and curling up with a good book sounds like a good idea but even that sounds like too much mental effort.
If it weren't Sam's stupid 2nd year schedule maybe we could have had dinner together, but he's up at the hospital on call tonight and I am not really feeling like driving all the way up to the hospital to get dinner. The hospital doesn't exactly have lots of healthy dining options near by.
I also realized that I have a hair appointment before Jackie's wedding scheduled at the time as Sam's great Aunt's birthday party on April 27. I had thought (for some stupid reason) the party started at 3pm so I booked the hair appointment at noon. Unfortunately BOTH things are set for noon. So now I need to reschedule my hair appointment or arrive late to Aunt Elsa's birthday. I just don't have too many options for getting my hair done with all the wedding festivities in the weekends prior to the wedding. C'est la vie. Perhaps I'll have to skip out on the gym Saturday morning and try to have my hair done earlier.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Blast From the Past
It's really funny how things catch up with you eventually...
Sam and I were both thinking (at separate times) this week how amazing our lives are: both love what we do, have amazingly supportive families, wonderful friends, and a great home life. For the record, "Great home life" was Sam's exact wording. And we were both wondering when the other proverbial other shoe would drop.
It may have dropped.
Sam and I found out a blast from the past will soon be here with us. It's funny how things work out: you think you've closed doors on certain chapters and people but then suddenly the door is right in front of you or the book opens to a familiar page.
It's unclear whether this chapter will bring positivity or negativity back into our lives, but we are both (all?) very different people than we were ten years ago. I want to believe the drama that unfolded in High School is all past us now, and that we can move forward.
In any case, it's odd Sam and I were both feeling that sense of "things are going too well" and then we got a Monkey Wrench. Sometimes it makes me wonder if certain things are meant to be and there is some fate component to life. I know there are definitely times I have felt a pull stronger than my own free-will, but maybe that is just the romantic in me.
So bring it on world. We are as ready as we'll ever be!
Monday, March 18, 2013
Training
Bubba stopped me on my way into the gym yesterday and wanted to train me for an hour but I told him that I was on my way into spin class. He asked me to come back after class and talk to him. So I did.
Turns out it was a bit of a sales pitch and he wants me to buy into their personal training program. Hmmm, I see. So we talked a bit about my fitness goals and my history with training and exercise and then he asked me to come in tonight at 6pm for a workout.
I knew going into this whole thing that he was going to try to pitch me on a $140 training program working out with their trainers once a week. Oh wow. For that much money I could do a lot of stuff, and frankly I am not that impressed with the trainers I see on the floor when I'm coming to and from spin classes.
Yes, I want to get back to training... I need to begin weight lifting more. I need to build up my muscle mass to help me burn calories and fat and get myself back into good shape. I need to focus more on my core and my upper body instead of letting them get their entire workout at spin class. Today, I go forward, but not with Bubba.
Side note: In Making the Cut is going pretty well and I'm getting to try LOTS of new recipes. The book says I should be eating cottage cheese. I have always been kind of iffy about the way cottage cheese looks, so I've shied away from it. But today I found "small curd" cottage cheese. I had it with strawberries for dessert and it was pretty good! It's kind of like cream cheese only lumpy and more watery. But still, I was impressed. it's not sour like yogurt which was really, really nice.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Ladies Weekend
It might not be a big surprise, but I don't get too many evenings Girls Night Out opportunities. Yes, Sam is on call all the time (or so it feels), but many of those nights I am busy with Hunter or doing errands or housework. On Fridays I am frequently too hired from the work-week to bother going out, and often times my girlfriends are busy with their boyfriends on Saturdays.
That was not the case this weekend. Sam went to Las Vegas with Ryan, Steve, Nick, Mason and Kirellos when the stars aligned and all the boys were off at the same time. Dan and Tina had been planning a March Madness trip which happened to coincide with the boys' time off.
I couldn't make it due to Jackie's upcoming wedding events, budgeting for our 10-year High School Reunion trip to San Francisco, and wedding/birthday madness in July. I guess it's part of being a mature, financially minded adult to say 'no' to some trips. :-) Besides, I am really looking forward to all my upcoming weekend celebrations and this turned out to be a bit of a UCI med school reunion for Sam's group of guy friends.
So anyway, Sam left me here with Hunter for the weekend. And wow, I have gotten to hang out with lots of great ladies! Minal, Sam's co-resident, met me at The Melting Pot after I dropped Sam off at the airport on Friday night. She hadn't ever been there before, so we ordered spinach artichoke cheese fondue and then a pot of milk chocolate & peanut butter fondue. It was SO fun getting to spend a little one-on-one time with her. In fact, I think I could REALLY enjoy her company. The only trouble is that she is from Orange County, and has a very busy social life. I anticipate it being even more difficult to spend time with her than it is for me to spend time with Sam!
Saturday morning, Amy and I met for the 9:15 spin class at our local LA Fitness. It was a really rigorous workout this morning; we had a sub and she was way more intense than our usual instructor. Not that we're not usually working hard, but this girl had me POURING sweat and that is rare even for me- I feel like I sweat an unusual amount.
After spin, I came home to shower and pick up Hunter before heading down to Corona del Mar to meet up with Amy for lunch and a little Newport Coast walk. We spent a while hanging out on Nick's patio enjoying the sunshine. It wasn't hot, hot, but it was definitely better than the over-cast, fog situation that was going on earlier in the morning.
When I left Amy, I went by Ralph's and picked up the Rug Doctor carpet cleaning machine and decided to shampoo our carpets. After last weekend's Spring Cleaning, it was just looking foul that our carpets had dark stains and spots. So anyway, I cleaned the carpets for about 2 hours and made very sure to go back over the whole floor with just plain water after I had finished with the soap. I then made extra passes JUST sucking up water from the fibers. My hope was that the carpet would be drier than it was last time I did this (June '12) and that it would be dry by the time Sam got home if not Sunday morning.
Hunter and I settled down on the couch to watch The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and wait for the carpets to dry. I wanted to call Jen, but she has a BIG exam (her last one) next Saturday and I didn't want to be a distraction for her. Around 8:45, she texted me and asked me what I was up to. Since I wasn't doing anything too important, and I had been hoping to see her, I decided to go over and have some wine. Three and a half hours later (WooHoo for ringing in St Patty's Day 2013), after we finished a bottle of wine and played copious amounts of Guitar Hero, I finally headed home to Hunter. While I was out, I left the heat on to try to help dry the carpets. As soon as I got home I turned off the heat and opened back up our balcony slider and bedroom windows to help air out the apartment and speed up the drying process.
Jen texted me a 9 to see what I was up to. She was getting burnt out studying for her big exam next Saturday and wanted to share some wine. A bottle of Pino Noir and a few hours of guitar hero later, we rang in St. Patrick's Day. When I got home I wasn't especially sleepy, so I decided to watch a bit more of The Fellowship of the Ring (which I was midway through when Jen texted). I ended up going to bed around 2:30.
Sunday morning Any and I had planned to go to spin class... but she wasn't feeling up to it. I, with only 5.5 hours of sleep, managed to get myself there and survived back-to-back spin days with LITTLE serious damage. Nothing like last weekend when I did a poor job of working my hamstrings and quads equally... I couldn't wear heels all week and had to roll out my legs for three days straight.
After spin, I started putting things back in order as the carpet began to dry. I also sat down to do some serious work- four hours of intense website analysis. I am trying to work on our pages with high bounce rates so I looked at 26 pages: key term phrases, content, meta description, title, etc. I was able to make changes to most of the pages, and there were a few I don't know how to improve upon so I will send those to our SEO guys and see if they have advice. I also sent some weird URLs to our web design girl so she can check out what they are and if I can just delete the pages off the site or if she can make some edits so the pages function more successfully.
Now, I'm relaxing with Sam and Hunter on the couch, just hanging out and watching The Return of the King. (LOVE THESE MOVIES!) I watched the first two earlier today and I probably won't be able to finish this one tonight. Oh well, I'll have to handle the conclusion tomorrow.
That was not the case this weekend. Sam went to Las Vegas with Ryan, Steve, Nick, Mason and Kirellos when the stars aligned and all the boys were off at the same time. Dan and Tina had been planning a March Madness trip which happened to coincide with the boys' time off.
I couldn't make it due to Jackie's upcoming wedding events, budgeting for our 10-year High School Reunion trip to San Francisco, and wedding/birthday madness in July. I guess it's part of being a mature, financially minded adult to say 'no' to some trips. :-) Besides, I am really looking forward to all my upcoming weekend celebrations and this turned out to be a bit of a UCI med school reunion for Sam's group of guy friends.
So anyway, Sam left me here with Hunter for the weekend. And wow, I have gotten to hang out with lots of great ladies! Minal, Sam's co-resident, met me at The Melting Pot after I dropped Sam off at the airport on Friday night. She hadn't ever been there before, so we ordered spinach artichoke cheese fondue and then a pot of milk chocolate & peanut butter fondue. It was SO fun getting to spend a little one-on-one time with her. In fact, I think I could REALLY enjoy her company. The only trouble is that she is from Orange County, and has a very busy social life. I anticipate it being even more difficult to spend time with her than it is for me to spend time with Sam!
Saturday morning, Amy and I met for the 9:15 spin class at our local LA Fitness. It was a really rigorous workout this morning; we had a sub and she was way more intense than our usual instructor. Not that we're not usually working hard, but this girl had me POURING sweat and that is rare even for me- I feel like I sweat an unusual amount.
After spin, I came home to shower and pick up Hunter before heading down to Corona del Mar to meet up with Amy for lunch and a little Newport Coast walk. We spent a while hanging out on Nick's patio enjoying the sunshine. It wasn't hot, hot, but it was definitely better than the over-cast, fog situation that was going on earlier in the morning.
When I left Amy, I went by Ralph's and picked up the Rug Doctor carpet cleaning machine and decided to shampoo our carpets. After last weekend's Spring Cleaning, it was just looking foul that our carpets had dark stains and spots. So anyway, I cleaned the carpets for about 2 hours and made very sure to go back over the whole floor with just plain water after I had finished with the soap. I then made extra passes JUST sucking up water from the fibers. My hope was that the carpet would be drier than it was last time I did this (June '12) and that it would be dry by the time Sam got home if not Sunday morning.
Hunter and I settled down on the couch to watch The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and wait for the carpets to dry. I wanted to call Jen, but she has a BIG exam (her last one) next Saturday and I didn't want to be a distraction for her. Around 8:45, she texted me and asked me what I was up to. Since I wasn't doing anything too important, and I had been hoping to see her, I decided to go over and have some wine. Three and a half hours later (WooHoo for ringing in St Patty's Day 2013), after we finished a bottle of wine and played copious amounts of Guitar Hero, I finally headed home to Hunter. While I was out, I left the heat on to try to help dry the carpets. As soon as I got home I turned off the heat and opened back up our balcony slider and bedroom windows to help air out the apartment and speed up the drying process.
Jen texted me a 9 to see what I was up to. She was getting burnt out studying for her big exam next Saturday and wanted to share some wine. A bottle of Pino Noir and a few hours of guitar hero later, we rang in St. Patrick's Day. When I got home I wasn't especially sleepy, so I decided to watch a bit more of The Fellowship of the Ring (which I was midway through when Jen texted). I ended up going to bed around 2:30.
Sunday morning Any and I had planned to go to spin class... but she wasn't feeling up to it. I, with only 5.5 hours of sleep, managed to get myself there and survived back-to-back spin days with LITTLE serious damage. Nothing like last weekend when I did a poor job of working my hamstrings and quads equally... I couldn't wear heels all week and had to roll out my legs for three days straight.
After spin, I started putting things back in order as the carpet began to dry. I also sat down to do some serious work- four hours of intense website analysis. I am trying to work on our pages with high bounce rates so I looked at 26 pages: key term phrases, content, meta description, title, etc. I was able to make changes to most of the pages, and there were a few I don't know how to improve upon so I will send those to our SEO guys and see if they have advice. I also sent some weird URLs to our web design girl so she can check out what they are and if I can just delete the pages off the site or if she can make some edits so the pages function more successfully.
Now, I'm relaxing with Sam and Hunter on the couch, just hanging out and watching The Return of the King. (LOVE THESE MOVIES!) I watched the first two earlier today and I probably won't be able to finish this one tonight. Oh well, I'll have to handle the conclusion tomorrow.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Stumbled Upon This Online Today
A love story that spans decades is made poignant in this short video. In the late 1970s, Marina Abramović and Ulay fell in love and created art together. As they ended their relationship, they created art in that too. With Marina walking from the Yellow Sea and Ulay from the Gobi Desert, they each walked over 1000 miles to meet on the Great Wall of China. They hugged for a final time and left each other.
"At her 2010 MoMa retrospective Marina performed ‘The Artist Is Present’ as part of the show, where she shared a minute of silence with each stranger who sat in front of her. Ulay arrived without her knowing and this is what happened." (via zen garage)
Supposedly, the actual purpose of their walk towards each other was to celebrate their eternal love, but through the months that it took them to reach the Great Wall, our friend Ulay had managed to impregnate one of the ladies travelling with him. So Ulay and Marina met at the Great Wall and of course the Great Truth was revealed to Marina, who said, with ladylike practicality, that since they have reached their target destination they should tweak the purpose and celebrate their split instead of their union. Hence, this piece of art is called 'Moving On'.
(Is it morbid that I hope the dramatic version is true?)
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Playing For Keeps
We celebrated with a trip down to San Diego and hit up the Stone Brewing Co for dinner since Sam was feeling up to the trip. I tried to be as good as possible RE: the cleanse, but it was not easy! Somehow I feel like the next couple of weeks are going to be tough... might be a good time to start surrounding myself with my health-conscious friends.
I spent today running errands- mailing the Fictitious Business Name documents to the Contra Costa Clerk, exchanging the propane for our BBQ, planning the first 7 days of meals for Making the Cut and grocery shopping to pick up all the ingredients. It all starts tomorrow. Oh boy.
The good news? All the meals look really good.
The bad news? It is going to be a lot of work.
So how am I spending my last night before the epic weight loss boot camp begins? I am on the couch, blogging, updating my LinkedIn profile (I have neglected it horribly since starting my job), snuggling with Hunter and watching Playing For Keeps.
Soccer is really not my sport. So it's not likely that I can pick up the coaching slack there. And frankly, I don't know how great I would be at baseball either. But as I get older it really makes me appreciate how special it was to have my Dad so involved with all my little league stuff. I mean he coached me from T-ball to 8th grade in softball and came to almost all my games when I played in high school. Then, after softball was over, he did such a great job following water polo- even though it was a whole new thing for him. I mean he didn't miss a single game my senior season, and his friends even came to watch me a couple of times too. I really hope that I can give my kids that kind of support and those experiences some day.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Cleanse: Take 2
So I'm doing another cleanse with my former (and still fabulous) personal trainer turned friend Amanda. This time, however, I know that I am committed to a 7-day cleanse followed by an intense 30-days based on Jillian Michaels' book Making the Cut.How is it going? Well, I have to say that egg whites are NOT my favorite thing en mass. I am supposed to be eating 6 each morning and I'm lucky if I can get 4 down. It's not that I don't like eggs, but I am too lazy to get up early enough to make them and eat them at home. Thus, I am bringing them to work and eating them when they are slightly cooled. Not super appetizing as it turns out.
Other than the eggs though, things are going okay. There is a LOT of variation with the meals on this plan compared with the one we did last year- but I do miss my heirloom tomato, arugula, hummus and Ezekiel bread sandwiches. And, super plus, this one uses dandelion root tea to help purge extra water weight and reduce bloating. Apparently dandelion tea has lots of benefits and is also used for detox purposes and it cleanses blood and improves organ health. Who knew?! It does taste a little earthy, but it's like ice cream compared to that horrible hemp protein powder I bought last year. I had to replace that crap with Bluebonnet brand protein powder which was at least edible.
The only downside is that my energy is completely depleted. Seriously. Like I was sitting on the couch last night at 8:20 and was about to pass out so I made Sam put on True Blood so I could make it until at least 9:00. (Side note: Sam started us on True Blood over the weekend and were on Season 2)
Anyway, not to dwell on the negatives or get off topic: the cleanse ends on Sunday and the real work begins on Monday. Jillian Michaels has 30 days of food scheduled by meal for each kind of metabolism- fast, average, and slow. According to the quiz I took, I have average metabolism and am a "B-group" person.
I have tried so many things to lose weight and my most successful thing was religiously following Weight Watchers. I guess I am just hoping that I can lose the 10-20 pounds Jillian's method promises to shed and then I can get back to wearing my clothes better. I just really want to get rid of the 20 pounds I've gained since I started working again in November 2011... preferably before Jackie's wedding on May 4 when I need to squeeze myself into a bridesmaid's dress and walk down an aisle. Hmmmm, now that wedding season is around the corner I am thinking I probably should have been more serious about weight loss starting January 1 like I had hoped to be. Better late than never I hope!
Thursday, March 7, 2013
True Blood
Sam was searching HBO-go last Saturday and out of the blue he decided to try the first season of True Blood. Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of all things supernatural including vampires... in fact for a while when I was younger I used to daydream about being one. I read Twilight, and have been working through the Vampire Academy series and the The Mortal Instruments series as new books come out. (I really suggest The Mortal Instruments- it's my favorite book series other than A Game of Thrones right now and unfortunately I am waiting on new releases from BOTH authors.) Anyway, we finished the first season of True Blood over the weekend and we're into season 2 on episode 3. It's become kind of strange so far this season, and from what we hear from friends it will continue to get weirder. Most of our friends stopped watching after season 3, so we'll have to wait and see if we can make it longer than that.
As it is, I appreciate that we can watch episodes with minimal involvement. Take tonight for instance. We are hanging out with our laptops, watching and working while Hunter relaxes between us. What a spoiled puppy!
Will This Ever Get Old?
I wanted to share some cool news articles published from the press
release I set out on the wire Tuesday morning. It's still so cool to see my name listed as the release contact! I wonder when (if ever) that will get old? Probably eventually. I especially love that we get picked up by all my "hometown" newspapers from the San Francisco Bay Area. And most interesting of all, I made it into the Contra Costa Times, my hometown county paper, for something other than water polo. Wow, I feel so grown up!
(Disclaimer: all of these are pretty much the same article, don't feel the need to read them ALL unless you want to!)
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Nashville
You know what show I absolutely love? Nashville! I mean I watch just about anything with Connie Britton in it- Friday Night Lights, American Horror Story (which was a little too weird for my taste) and now Nashville.
I was kind of into Heros at the beginning of that show, but I'm not a huge Hayden fan by any means. Even still, I love her in this show too!
Then there are the cute songwriter couple- omg Scarlett & Gunner just make me die! I actually started downloading music from this show, I haven't done that since American Idol (Adam Lambert) or Glee. And I have already downloaded as many Nashville songs as I have downloaded from the other two shows put together!
Anyway, I am so pumped for tonight's episode! I really want Deacon and Rayna to hurry up and get back together although I am sure I won't be able to count on that happening in season 1. Grrr.
I was kind of into Heros at the beginning of that show, but I'm not a huge Hayden fan by any means. Even still, I love her in this show too!
Then there are the cute songwriter couple- omg Scarlett & Gunner just make me die! I actually started downloading music from this show, I haven't done that since American Idol (Adam Lambert) or Glee. And I have already downloaded as many Nashville songs as I have downloaded from the other two shows put together!
Anyway, I am so pumped for tonight's episode! I really want Deacon and Rayna to hurry up and get back together although I am sure I won't be able to count on that happening in season 1. Grrr.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Lazy Saturday
I'm typing this at 11:08, on the couch in my PJs with Hunter passed out in my lap and Sam next to me reading the NY Times. We are having our first lazy Saturday in a long time and enjoying Sam's Golden Weekend. Yes, we were on vacation for a week, but Saturday morning Sam got up and went sailing with his parents and I was up early doing my laundry and packing for our drive back to Southern California.
So, this really is our first lazy Saturday at home in a few weeks. How did we spend it? We slept it until 8:45- a huge luxury for Sam! He pulled up HBO-go on the iPad and we watched 50 First Dates until Hunter needed to bet let out, at which point I made us pancakes and coffee to enjoy during the second half of the movie.
When the movie was over, we just didn't get up from the couch... Sam started reading the paper, I thought it would be a good idea to keep working on my LinkedIn research, but decided I would blog instead. We have definitely earned this lazy Saturday, we were out late last night with Ryan (and kind of Jenna too). Ryan picked me up around 5 and we headed over to Morton's for Happy Hour. Jenna was cocktailing the bar and patio so we sat outside and watched basketball until Sam joined us from work.
Man, there were some really douchey guys at the table next to us. The kind of guys that took every opportunity to make Jenna feel like she was screwing up their service when in fact she was doing a great job. Then they started going off on politics. Let's put it this way, our table and theirs did not vote for the same candidate in the last election. And they sounded so entitled to their money. Don't get me wrong, I think that hard working Americans deserve to live comfortably, but you don't have to be a jerk about it. I mean frankly, we are all eating at Morton's so life can't be too difficult for us. They had this mentality about work too. At one point one of them said, "Look, I run a successful construction company and these kids come in and try to tell me what to do. I don't think so. Sit down, shut up, and hold the f*ck on." Excuse me? Are you so self-agrandizing that you actually believe there is only one 'right' way to do things? Maybe you're missing out on a great new technique because you're too busy putting everyone down to hear anyone out. I mean they give Republicans such a bad name it's pathetic!
You know, entitled people exist everywhere. But it really does seem like there is a higher concentration of them here in Orange County. Perhaps that's just because we were recently home for a week and surrounded by people who have money and don't drive Bentleys and Rolls Royces or enroll their children in private schools. Here it just seems so opulent it's ridiculous! Anyway, I'm going to get off my soapbox now.
So, this really is our first lazy Saturday at home in a few weeks. How did we spend it? We slept it until 8:45- a huge luxury for Sam! He pulled up HBO-go on the iPad and we watched 50 First Dates until Hunter needed to bet let out, at which point I made us pancakes and coffee to enjoy during the second half of the movie.
When the movie was over, we just didn't get up from the couch... Sam started reading the paper, I thought it would be a good idea to keep working on my LinkedIn research, but decided I would blog instead. We have definitely earned this lazy Saturday, we were out late last night with Ryan (and kind of Jenna too). Ryan picked me up around 5 and we headed over to Morton's for Happy Hour. Jenna was cocktailing the bar and patio so we sat outside and watched basketball until Sam joined us from work.
Man, there were some really douchey guys at the table next to us. The kind of guys that took every opportunity to make Jenna feel like she was screwing up their service when in fact she was doing a great job. Then they started going off on politics. Let's put it this way, our table and theirs did not vote for the same candidate in the last election. And they sounded so entitled to their money. Don't get me wrong, I think that hard working Americans deserve to live comfortably, but you don't have to be a jerk about it. I mean frankly, we are all eating at Morton's so life can't be too difficult for us. They had this mentality about work too. At one point one of them said, "Look, I run a successful construction company and these kids come in and try to tell me what to do. I don't think so. Sit down, shut up, and hold the f*ck on." Excuse me? Are you so self-agrandizing that you actually believe there is only one 'right' way to do things? Maybe you're missing out on a great new technique because you're too busy putting everyone down to hear anyone out. I mean they give Republicans such a bad name it's pathetic!
You know, entitled people exist everywhere. But it really does seem like there is a higher concentration of them here in Orange County. Perhaps that's just because we were recently home for a week and surrounded by people who have money and don't drive Bentleys and Rolls Royces or enroll their children in private schools. Here it just seems so opulent it's ridiculous! Anyway, I'm going to get off my soapbox now.
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