My yard, last year

This is my hydrangea... from last year. I hope it comes back! Otherwise, I will buy another and try try again. These things are so pretty!

One of my many lilies

 

My back yard-- before we got pissed about people cutting through it and started digging out for a retaining wall. There is now a huge pile of dirt there.....

The side yard: A new flower bed. I can't wait to see it as the perennials fill it out!

 

Another view of the side yard -irises, some really tall plant that spreads, lilies. 

There's now hollyhocks in there too!

Daisies!!!!

Procrastination....

*sing that to the tune of  "Anticpation" by Carly Simon*

So all semester I was supposed to be keeping a journal on my thoughts as they came up in Psychology of Death and Dying. It's due 4/2--FRIDAY. I have 5 finished entries. Way to be, huh?

I was making notes in my class notes as potential topics came up so with those, I have about 1/2 the amount of entries figured out. I have this big "dead zone" (forgive the pun) in February.

It should say something for my growth as a person that I'm at least trying to finish it, instead of saying "forget it" and just losing 30 points. But I obviously haven't grown too much if I'm trying to write a semester's worth of journal in 3 days.

Argh. Yet another reason to get off unemployment

This very well may happen to me as "punishment" for trying to make myself more marketable and keep busy. Great.

June 1, 2010 it's been 1 year since my world changed.

Day 8

A recap of week 1:

Total: 75% successful!

I cut back on my sugar. I'm getting used to no sugar in my coffee. I still long for pretty drinks and a pop every once and a while but I've decided it's my weekly reward for staying on track. I also increased my water consumption from near 0 to at least a few glasses of water a day. I also have successfully not had any pop with dinner or any other time for that matter! My only fail was in the workouts: I only managed to do 2/3.

Today I went outside and helped Beth clean out her gardens. Not a typical workout, but still activity nonetheless!

I'm doing really well on eating better too! --it's still early in the grocery shopping cycle though so I'm sure by next week if we don't go grocery shopping this will change.

Meet a new Pampered Chef consultant!

That's right, ME!

After careful deliberation, I have decided to enter the world of being a Pampered Chef Consultant! It's kind of scary but I figure if it doesn't work out, I'll at least be able to stock up on discounted quality kitchen gadgets! I'm coveting a nice set of steak knives, a knife block and some new teflon cookware.....

I just really want to get off of unemployment. I don't like reading the news and hearing yet another congressman calling for the end of benefit extensions. I hate knowing that I'm completely dependent on our dear old government. I hate reading congressmen encouraging the stigma that unemployed workers don't want to go back. I'm just tired of it all. I'm a fairly independent person and to be this dependent bugs me.

While I don't believe the consultant business will completely wean me off the government cheese, I think it may be a step in the right direction towards controlling my own destiny. And if it gives me sales experience, time management improvement and the confidence I so need, I will only benefit from it when I try to find other work too.

My next steps involve finding potential hosts, signing my contract and just starting the admin stuff for this... Scary... exciting... happy.... Scary (Yes I know I said that about 3 times in this article but it's definitely a step in a different direction!)

Taking the day off-- from strenuous exercise.

I will not be running today. I think a day of rest is due after 2 Jillian Michaels sessions (Monday and Thursday) and a moderately difficult day of running (Wednesday).

The diet, though, is NOT on a break.

I did reward myself for working hard with a small chai latte... with a shot of espresso. After all week of only having coffee without sugar and skipping out on pop, the drink was almost "too" sweet for me! It's amazing what happens even with the slightest cut in sugar consumption. It was still a nice reward/treat.

I love places that post their nutrition information online. I love them even more when they let you customize the drink/food and tell you the nutrition information :)

Dear Fox9

Report on new taxes against tanning companies and stats on melanoma = good.
Feeling the need to specify that spray tanning is not covered in that new taxing scheme = DUH?!?!

But I suppose not everyone can possess the mental prowess to understand that spray tan does not involve tanning beds and cancer causing UV light.... Now whether that it'll someday come out that the chemicals used in spray tans cause cancer or not is another story...

And this just brings me to my soap box: I'm from the midwest, I'm not meant to be tan. I'm supposed to reflect light and blend in with the snow!

2nd thought on tanning: I don't care about being pale on my wedding day. No tan or spray tanning will be happening for me. I can just be that bright white flash in the poofy gown.....

Grocery shopping

The day after grocery shopping is the best ever! All of the produce is fresh, you have every ingredient you could possibly need, all sorts of recipes in mind.

We just went to Rainbow. They had double coupons today (every wednesday). The only caveat is that it's only up to 5 coupons and coupons up to 1$.... I didn't realize this before hand so I didn't save quite as much money as I expected but between coupons and in store specials, we saved $45!!!! Not too bad at all.

So excited to cook over the next week!

Day 3

Day 2 Recap:
I took yesterday off--no running, no workout. I did stretch a little and I did do some painting in the dining room. I'm managing to sneak in a little bit more water, definitely working my way up on that.

My back was really sore on Tuesday morning. Not really due to the workout, but due to sleeping on my back for way too many hours.

I did ok on my goals. I'm slowly adding water into my day. It helps that I bought this super cute little kids stainless steel water container. It's the perfect size to throw in my purse or carry on a run. It'll hold about 12oz of water.  Nutrition was ok too. I don't remember eating anything too bad for me :)

Day 3:
I'm totally slacking on the water.... I've maybe had 3 glasses.... ouch. I'm also running low on good for me food so I'm in dire need of a grocery store visit.

But it's not all bad news, I went for a run/walk today! I love can I can put the run part first because I believe I actually RAN more than I walked.... not by much, but it's still progress. Google maps won't allow me to track on the two little trails I took, so I can only estimate that I put on about 2.5 miles today! Whoo hoo! I honestly didn't expect to run very much when I set out but then I just kept going. I did about 19 minute out of a total 35 minutes, including a 15 second sprint home.

Ok time to clean up and make a grocery list. I have healthy food I need to buy!

Today we're gonna talk about Kit-tens!

Bennie

 I still can't believe he let us do this too him and didn't freak out. (He is wearing a fake lei)

He likes to lay on his back like this. Usually he does this at the bottom of the stairs.

 Callie sleeping on our bed.

How is this comfortable?

Everybody Naps!

Day 1: a sub-goal

My little side effort to cut down on my sugar intake:

How will I do this?

• Part of my plan is to stop adding sugar to my coffee. It's only 1-2 teaspoons per travel mug, but it's an easy thing to control.

• Aforementioned Goal of not drinking pop will help with the decrease in sugar intake.

• The other plan is to not get frou frou drinks (tea lattes, mochas, etc).

It's only been 8 hrs and having to think about each food item and sugar content is hard. This is why it's a little sub-goal and not part of my 3 because I'm pretty sure I will fail at this.

I did not put sugar in my coffee. I ordered a mere americano for my shift drink. I failed though in breakfast (had to eat a sugary cereal bar on the run) and when I got home I added caramel to my americano.

I would like to work up to a state where I have cut out much of my refined sugar intake.

Operation: Get Rid of the Gut

I've been a lazy lazy girl. Somehow, working only part time just meant that I sat with my lazy butt on the couch that many more hours per week. And as a result, I gained back all those pounds I managed to lose last year. Crazy how that works, huh?

Beth mentioned a 90 day health challenge she's following on one of her nest boards. So I'm going to join her and Matt in this challenge.

What is this 90 Day Health Challenge?

• 3 simple goals are set to do for 90 days. Theory says that 21 times of repeating an action results in a habit. 90 days should be a long enough time to enact an actual change in lifestyle

When will this start?

• Monday, March 22, 2010

When will this end?

• Sunday, June 20, 2010

My 3 goals: 

• Exercise 3x a week for at least 20 minutes: The whole reason I gained the weight back is because I stopped being active. 

1. Plan of Action: Because I'm training for the 5k's again, I will hopefully be out running 3x a week and should be able to do this. I will also work out with Beth more often/do videos on not so nice days. Get my yoga mat back in use, not just sitting in my trunk.... 

• Drink more WATER: I work in a coffee shop, so what do I drink? COFFEE (read: Not water). At home, I tend to drink pop. I never used to drink that much pop but over the last several months, my consumption has increased. Yet another reason for my weight gain (unnecessary calories).

1. Plan of action: 
1. Starting out: Only order water when eating out instead of pop
2. By the end: Pop is an occasional treat/1x a week.

• STRETCH: I don't stretch enough. I've had 3 back spasms within the span of a year. I can't touch my toes. My whole body is one tight flabby mess. If I'm going to pursue this running thing, I need to be limber. I can't keep getting the spasms, waking up sore.

1. Plan of Action: Bust out the yoga mat and stretch daily. Do longer stretching sessions before and after running.

"up and at dem"," no, it's'up and atom!'"

1 month til the 5k.

Where I'm at: I went running and managed to run about 22 minutes out of a 45 minute work out. I took a pretty challenging path today. I live in a very hilly area and on top of a hill for that matter so whichever way I run, I have to go up and down hills. The way I went today though is a series of 3 long drawn out hills. It's a great training rout, even if it is quite grueling.....

I just google mapped it and I did about 3.2 miles - a 5K today! To have run half of it is pretty awesome in my mind.

Off and running!

Went out running again with Beth. There were definite moments when I felt like I could just keep on going... and then a hill would come. I'll take it as a good sign though that I can just get out there and run 3-5 minutes straight with not too much difficulty. I'm slow, but still able to keep moving.

About 1.5 months to get that up to 36 minutes. :)

Yoinked from Lauren

A little overdue, but what the hell:

1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?

• Went to Canada!
• Got engaged!!!!!

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

• Don't remember making any

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

• no one really close to me did.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

• No

5. What countries did you visit?

• The exotic land of Canada.... Toronto and Niagra Falls
• downgrade from 2008 when I visited Puerto Rico (ok, it's a territory, shut up), St. Martin/St. Marteen, St. Thomas (OK it's another territory of the US, I get it), Argentina

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

• disposable income (Lacked it for 7 mo of 2009)

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory and why?

• February 13, 17; May 29, October 23

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

• I ran my first ever 5k in June

9. What was your biggest failure?

• Losing my job was a big blow to my esteem. It's not really MY failure, but it feels like it more often than not.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

• Just back spasms and an errant cold

11. What was the best thing you bought?

• The house. Yes it ties me to this area, yes it's a lot of money, but it gives me endless things to work on, plan for, dream about. It'd 2x the sq. feet and about the same cost as the apartment....

12. Any major celebrations in 2009?

• Branden's brother's wedding, Emily's wedding, Amanda's wedding, my 4 yr anniversary with Branden (engaged! Hello! That's big!!!)

13. Where did most of your money go?

• House

14. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

• the House!!!
• The engagement
• good coffee

15. What song will always remind you of 2009?

• Just Dance by Lady Gaga (great music to run to!)

16. Compared to this time last year, are you:

• a) happier or sadder? hrm.... overall happier. Last year at this time I had JUST found out that my job probably wouldn't exist in a month and a half so quite a bit of anxiety about that. Also, I liked my job at the U, but never was fully happy in that field. But at the same time sadder because I've been unemployed/underemployed for 10 months and have no idea how I'm ever going to afford the things I want to do/need to do....

• b) thinner or fatter?SAME :( I could have said skinnier... until I stopped running for the winter. Now I'm back to where I started.

• c) richer or poorer? Definitely poorer. But rebuilding.

17. What do you wish you'd done more of?

• running. its a great way to take my mind off of things

18. What do you wish you'd done less of?

• whining, taking my last job for granted

19. How did you spend Christmas?

• making a snowman using the wet heavy snow in our driveway because we wanted to decrease the amount we had to shovel, also saw a lot of Branden's family.

20. Did you fall in love in 2009?

• Was already in love by 2009!

21. What was your favorite TV program?

• Way too many to pick just 1

22. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

• can't think of anyone

23. What was the best book you read?

• I can't remember what I read last year! I should, but I don't.

24. What was your greatest musical discovery?

• Pandora radio, the Current radio station (one of our public radio stations here)

25. What did you want and get?

• My shiny sparkly thing on my left hand!
• A house

26. What did you want and not get?

• published (someday my former director will get that article done!)
• a new full time job

27. What was your favorite film of this year?

• The Hangover

28. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?

• 28 and I had a whole bunch of people come over to our house

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

• a new full time job that involved an increase in pay and responsibility.

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

• From dressy casual to unemployed chic

31. What kept you sane?

• Running
• Beth
• Branden
• house projects

32. What celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

• I'll have to go with Lauren on this one: Barack Obama.... all that talk of change in 2008, the optimism...

33. What political issue stirred you the most?

• All of the bailouts and their misuse of funds

34. Who did you miss?

• Lauren (I really wish I could have made it over to Milwaukee to go to a Brewers game with you and Andy!)
• My parents. I still see them pretty frequently but 4 hrs away is quite a haul.
• Heather

35. Who was the best new person that you met?

• Sue Ellen and all the Eden Prairie Women of Today

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.

• Life is too short to drink crappy coffee.

37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

• "I'm on a boat,I'm on a boat, take a good long look at the motherf-ing boat".... ok just kidding. couldn't resist using that lyric somehow!

Extra-Bonus Question:

38. What was the most awkward moment of 2009?

• Day after J and L's wedding. I had gotten unintentionally plastered the night before. Knowing that I probably acted like a complete moron is never good and having the face those people the next day.... it's the modern day "walk of shame/sunday brunch at the commons!"

Help! --- attack of the wedding virus.

My brain has been taken over by the wedding virus. It's amazing how just deciding to set a date has made me semi-obsessed.

ok ... REALLY obsessed.
I've become more active on theknot.com and pretty much spend my free time trying to imagine what I want.
Next month, hopefully I can start working out some of the details. Mainly: Book a reception site. Until then, I will continue to sit here, think and bookmark.

HR Fail

Get your story straight. Don't send me a letter thanking me for coming in for an interview. Don't send me a letter saying you're giving that job to another person... WHEN YOU NEVER EVEN BROUGHT ME IN FOR AN INTERVIEW IN THE FIRST PLACE!

What the F?

Running attempt 2

Today I manged to face down the dreary weather and get outside and run. It's easy to get out there when the sun is shining and it's warm. Days like this though are a challenge. Luckily we got out there before the rain started!

I tried to stretch a little before hand. I didn't stretch afterward so i'm feeling a bit stiff. I have to break this couch potato lifestyle! I literally went for the run/walk, came back, parked on the couch and haven't really moved. *Ugh.

A tentative date

May 21, 2011.

So many people set a date with in minutes of getting engaged. Me..... 5 months later and I have a whole bunch of book marks on my web browser. Branden was kindly teasing me about this fact so today, I decided we need to just pick a date and work toward it. Instead of trying to feel that I have x amount in the bank for x months before I start planning. I think I've just been stalling due to the financial uncertainty, but after a certain point you just gotta get up and get going!

That's that. Here's the plan:

April 2010: start figuring out venues
May 2010: dress shop
May 2011: get married.

So How's the Job hunt?

This question is the bane of my existence right now.

The question used to be "When are you going to get engaged?" but since losing my job and being unable to find suitable employment after 10 months, I'm pretty sick of hearing this question. Even though the economy sucks and many places just aren't hiring, people still attach a stigma to you. They poke and prod and judge and act like the reason you're not employed doesn't have to do with what you're actually qualified for but that you're at fault. That you're being to picky.

I feel like enough of a failure and a 28 year old burn out that I don't need other people's judgement or pity.

OOF!

Running yesterday= good!

Legs, specifically quads, = a little sore.

That's what happens when you spend 6 months doing little to no exercise.

It's so nice out, it's tempting to get out there and run again, but I'm trying not to go overboard in the beginning, only to burn out after a week.  So today, maybe I'll do some light weights/toning exercises. Otherwise, I'll be resting.

The start of running!

Whoot! I ran 8/20 minutes.

walked 2 minutes
ran 1 minute
walked 2 minutes
ran 3.5 minutes
walked 5 minutes
ran 2.5 minutes
walked 2 minutes
ran 1 minute
walked 1 minute


Not bad for the first time running in a LONG time!

Spring!

It's 41 degrees today! How awesome is that? I know this isn't the last we'll see of snow by any means. We'll probably see that every once and awhile until April, but to have the temps way above freezing, to see the melting of the ice, is... invigorating!

I've said I'd participate in a 5k again! This one is May 9th which means, I need to get up off the couch and start training! I have just over 2 months to run it.

So excited!

That sense of accomplishment

Ahhh....

On my day off, instead of sleeping til 11, laying around zoning out to mindless TV all day, then scrambling to finish my homework by midnight, I got up before 9 and have actually taken care of some important things!!!! Whoa! Shocker, I know!

Recently I've met with a financial planner. I met with her back in like November, but the whole negative income thing made me really apathetic towards the whole concept of financial planning. Now, with warmer temps, longer days, I'm starting to feel more renewed in my efforts to get in financial shape. Her company has an online worksheet that allows me to enter and connect all sorts of information. It then show it in a nice easy to read screen that helps me figure out if I'm adequately covered for insurance, etc. This morning I made great strides in entering things on it! Whoo hoo!

So seizing the productivity of the morning, I will:

1. Go to the bank
2. Go to Wedding Day Diamonds and finally get my ring appraised so that I can insure it.
3. Finish , I mean work on, my homework.

Let me just say it one more time.... AHHHHHHH...... *deep exhale of relief*