My friday evening has consisted of cooking (Italian baked chicken with peppers, garlic and onion; Garlic and Olive Oil vermicelli), cleaning, destroying the "pile(s)" of crap around the living room and paying bills....
Whoo. *insert sarcastic enthusiasm here* I love being an adult: NOT! I am really happy that the piles are tamed though.
I have a mess on my macys visa. The poor people in credit services will have a couple e-requests from me for clarification. From what I've figured out: 1 card somehow has 2 different account numbers - a store one and a general one. I can access the store one online, but can't get the other one. So I think I missed a payment on the general one. They called me back in August to schedule a payment which I obliged, but the amount they removed is more than the amount overdue (including fees). So trying to wade through two account histories and find this stuff is confusing me beyond all belief. Wouldn't it just be easier to have both accounts under the same area?
Wedding related stuff:
Since Branden talked me down from the ledge (of cancelling everything and just eloping), I just sent an email to that DJ we met with!!! Hopefully he's still available *crosses fingers*
Other stuff:
I'll be volunteering at the fair again this year. YAY! I love doing it and I get free admission for me and a friend. Smartly, I've spaced my shifts out: Saturday and Wednesday. No back to back fair days for me. It's fun, but it's just too much face time for me.
Alrighty, well time to relax after all this domestic goddess-ness....
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Freak out subsiding and my new "happy place"
Wedding Freak outs and Vacation porn
So I've been freaking out pretty hard core on the wedding thing. Not the whole idea of the wedding, just the cost. I'm a worrier like that and I really just needed to talk it out with dear fiance. This is when I'm reminded of how good we are together and the balance we bring to one another. I can be high strung and a bit of a worry wart when it comes to all things money. I see final numbers and freak out. I use the anxiety of my job hunt failures to draw greater meaning (if this were meant to happen, I'd have a real job by now, etc). Whereas he looks at the list of expenses and says, "what's the biggest check we'll have to write out and when will it have to be done? and What can we pay for little by little to ease the burden?" Just talking about those things really helped reign me back in. I really think this balance makes us a pretty healthy couple. Now we just need to work on our communication because it took me weeks to start vocalizing these concerns to him.
I still freak out a little at the expense of the wedding coupled with all the other things I want to do but I'm willing to get back into the planning...
Before all the wedding talk, dear fiance looked up vacations thanks to an email from a cruise line promoting deals. I will hereby refer to these emails and the subsequent searching as vacation porn. You know you can't have it but you sit and research it anyway. He found a 15 day cruise from Miami to Los Angeles (or vice versa, I can't remember) for $750/person! You even get to go through the Panama canal! How cool would that be? But alas, I certainly don't have $1000 lying around to pay for my half and he'd be using all of his money he needs to live. :( So there will be no vacation. Because honestly, vacation, wedding, season tickets for the Twins AND house renovations just can't happen when you have me underemployed and him not employed. Amazing how that works, huh? It did get us looking at impossible (financially out of reach) trips.
I officially picked out my absolute dream trip: Cruise from CA to Hawaii, Tahiti and on to Australia. Then spend 3 weeks touring Australia and New Zealand then fly home. It would be about a 6 week trip (!) and would cost somewhere around $10K. Other dream trips: 1 month in India; Icebreaker cruise to Australia (about $25K/person!!!), hiking up Kilamanjaro and seeing Victoria Falls; a Galapagos Islands tour coupled with a trip to Peru to Machu Pichu. Now if only I a) had a job that paid me to do those things or b) was a millionaire.... Don't see either of those happening any time soon, so these remain what they are: dream trips.
Now about my new "happy place". Full of poetic language too!
It happened this morning. It was a beautiful, crisp morning (makes my thoughts turn to apples, fall color, warm sweaters, and bonfires... I LOVE FALL and can't wait til its here!) and I met a fellow runner bright and early @ 6:05am. We set out on our run which was a great combination of hills and flat. As we approached the 2 mile mark, we hit the Purgatory Creek Park recreation area and the sun was rising higher above the horizon. A beautiful mysterious fog blanketed the watery/marsh area. It was so quiet as we looped the trail, running felt great. My stride felt natural and non-jarring, my whole body felt in sync with itself, too. As we started our way back, the sun at our backs, we chased our shadows onward towards home. In the whole 4.25 mile run, we did 2 small walking stretches and a cool down walk for a total of about 0.5 miles walking. I think today was the best 3.75 miles of running has EVER felt.
So I've been freaking out pretty hard core on the wedding thing. Not the whole idea of the wedding, just the cost. I'm a worrier like that and I really just needed to talk it out with dear fiance. This is when I'm reminded of how good we are together and the balance we bring to one another. I can be high strung and a bit of a worry wart when it comes to all things money. I see final numbers and freak out. I use the anxiety of my job hunt failures to draw greater meaning (if this were meant to happen, I'd have a real job by now, etc). Whereas he looks at the list of expenses and says, "what's the biggest check we'll have to write out and when will it have to be done? and What can we pay for little by little to ease the burden?" Just talking about those things really helped reign me back in. I really think this balance makes us a pretty healthy couple. Now we just need to work on our communication because it took me weeks to start vocalizing these concerns to him.
I still freak out a little at the expense of the wedding coupled with all the other things I want to do but I'm willing to get back into the planning...
Before all the wedding talk, dear fiance looked up vacations thanks to an email from a cruise line promoting deals. I will hereby refer to these emails and the subsequent searching as vacation porn. You know you can't have it but you sit and research it anyway. He found a 15 day cruise from Miami to Los Angeles (or vice versa, I can't remember) for $750/person! You even get to go through the Panama canal! How cool would that be? But alas, I certainly don't have $1000 lying around to pay for my half and he'd be using all of his money he needs to live. :( So there will be no vacation. Because honestly, vacation, wedding, season tickets for the Twins AND house renovations just can't happen when you have me underemployed and him not employed. Amazing how that works, huh? It did get us looking at impossible (financially out of reach) trips.
I officially picked out my absolute dream trip: Cruise from CA to Hawaii, Tahiti and on to Australia. Then spend 3 weeks touring Australia and New Zealand then fly home. It would be about a 6 week trip (!) and would cost somewhere around $10K. Other dream trips: 1 month in India; Icebreaker cruise to Australia (about $25K/person!!!), hiking up Kilamanjaro and seeing Victoria Falls; a Galapagos Islands tour coupled with a trip to Peru to Machu Pichu. Now if only I a) had a job that paid me to do those things or b) was a millionaire.... Don't see either of those happening any time soon, so these remain what they are: dream trips.
Now about my new "happy place". Full of poetic language too!
It happened this morning. It was a beautiful, crisp morning (makes my thoughts turn to apples, fall color, warm sweaters, and bonfires... I LOVE FALL and can't wait til its here!) and I met a fellow runner bright and early @ 6:05am. We set out on our run which was a great combination of hills and flat. As we approached the 2 mile mark, we hit the Purgatory Creek Park recreation area and the sun was rising higher above the horizon. A beautiful mysterious fog blanketed the watery/marsh area. It was so quiet as we looped the trail, running felt great. My stride felt natural and non-jarring, my whole body felt in sync with itself, too. As we started our way back, the sun at our backs, we chased our shadows onward towards home. In the whole 4.25 mile run, we did 2 small walking stretches and a cool down walk for a total of about 0.5 miles walking. I think today was the best 3.75 miles of running has EVER felt.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Milestone...
I hit my first milestone in my weight loss journey! I'm sitting at somewhere between 142 and 143.6 right now. That's 10 lbs lighter than I was @ New Years Day. It's between 7 and 8 lbs lighter than I was at the start of June!
Now, just 18 more to lose and all will be right with the world. My goal is 125. I know I can do it. I just need to not lose motivation as winter arrives....
It's still frustrating that I don't really see the loss as much as I thought I would, but encouraging that some of my pants which were tight on me are now loose.
Now, just 18 more to lose and all will be right with the world. My goal is 125. I know I can do it. I just need to not lose motivation as winter arrives....
It's still frustrating that I don't really see the loss as much as I thought I would, but encouraging that some of my pants which were tight on me are now loose.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
The one where I ponder eloping
Yes, dear friends, followers. I yet again ponder why I'm doing all this planning for something that is ultimately beyond my means. I'm frustrated hoping that a job will magically appear and I'm sick of pretending everything is alright. I feel down right delusional planning a real wedding when I barely make enough to keep up month to month.
As much as I want the typical wedding experience, theres a voice of dissent within me that says we should just plan a little trip, invite a few family and friends and call it good. If my job situation turns around, then we could plan a reception for after we get back.
The part that sucks is I'll have to make a decision and stand by it at this point. I either need to move forward and start booking vendors (photog, dj, etc) OR cancel the whole thing and just tell people it's not happening on that date. The limbo part sucks. My mom was happy at my pseudo-revelation (as she doesn't want me to do a wedding... which may be why I'm holding on to doing one so badly). Fiance's mom was not happy and coming up with ideas that I absolutely hate (depending on their extended family members to provide services). Her wanting it to happen and refusing to understand that I'm beginning to view the whole thing as a waste of money makes me want to elope all that much more.
So as usual, I'm at odds with myself. Which one do I want to antagonize more: FMIL or Mom?
HA!
Best case scenario: an elopement that makes my mom be present and doesn't include ANY extended family whatsoever therefore bugging FMIL AND a reception that my mom HAS to be at. HA!
I'm feeling a bit snarky/bitchy. This process brings out the worst in me.
As much as I want the typical wedding experience, theres a voice of dissent within me that says we should just plan a little trip, invite a few family and friends and call it good. If my job situation turns around, then we could plan a reception for after we get back.
The part that sucks is I'll have to make a decision and stand by it at this point. I either need to move forward and start booking vendors (photog, dj, etc) OR cancel the whole thing and just tell people it's not happening on that date. The limbo part sucks. My mom was happy at my pseudo-revelation (as she doesn't want me to do a wedding... which may be why I'm holding on to doing one so badly). Fiance's mom was not happy and coming up with ideas that I absolutely hate (depending on their extended family members to provide services). Her wanting it to happen and refusing to understand that I'm beginning to view the whole thing as a waste of money makes me want to elope all that much more.
So as usual, I'm at odds with myself. Which one do I want to antagonize more: FMIL or Mom?
HA!
Best case scenario: an elopement that makes my mom be present and doesn't include ANY extended family whatsoever therefore bugging FMIL AND a reception that my mom HAS to be at. HA!
I'm feeling a bit snarky/bitchy. This process brings out the worst in me.
When the pants are loose... and a food rant.
Heck yeah! A pair of striped blue pants fit... take that back... have room to spare in them! Before they'd be a bit loose in the waist and borderline too tight in the thighs. I'm psyched! It feels good to see progress in the form of clothes fitting.
Today I went to the Minneapolis Farmer's market which was great! I've never really been to a big farmer's market like that. I also checked out an informational booth on a CSA @ the EP Dunn Brothers and I'm thinking it could be worth it if I split it with someone else --potentially one of my book club friends (the one I went to all of this with). I ended up getting like 6 peppers, bok choy, and a head of broccoli for $9. Maybe not much cheaper than the grocery store but all was locally grown which made me feel good.
Tonights menu will involve fajitas using those peppers and some peppers I received from a fellow member of my women's group. I'll be using the bok choy, peppers and broccoli for some homemade stir fry.
I constantly rotate between being fired up about where my food comes from and being food apathetic. It always happens when I'm reading something food/diet related and this is no exception. I'm reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. It's about how her family decided to live off whatever they could grow themselves or get locally for food. It has recipes in it too which I may be stealing some of.
Also coinciding with my food conciousness, the big egg recall. It just bugs me that these outbreaks happen and on such a large scale. The food industry treats all of these as a "buyer beware" situation where it's up to the consumers to be responsible for thorough cooking of their food and constantly fight regulation and consumer protection measures that would put more accountability where its due: food processing and growing. It all really makes me hate our food system.
Today I went to the Minneapolis Farmer's market which was great! I've never really been to a big farmer's market like that. I also checked out an informational booth on a CSA @ the EP Dunn Brothers and I'm thinking it could be worth it if I split it with someone else --potentially one of my book club friends (the one I went to all of this with). I ended up getting like 6 peppers, bok choy, and a head of broccoli for $9. Maybe not much cheaper than the grocery store but all was locally grown which made me feel good.
Tonights menu will involve fajitas using those peppers and some peppers I received from a fellow member of my women's group. I'll be using the bok choy, peppers and broccoli for some homemade stir fry.
I constantly rotate between being fired up about where my food comes from and being food apathetic. It always happens when I'm reading something food/diet related and this is no exception. I'm reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. It's about how her family decided to live off whatever they could grow themselves or get locally for food. It has recipes in it too which I may be stealing some of.
Also coinciding with my food conciousness, the big egg recall. It just bugs me that these outbreaks happen and on such a large scale. The food industry treats all of these as a "buyer beware" situation where it's up to the consumers to be responsible for thorough cooking of their food and constantly fight regulation and consumer protection measures that would put more accountability where its due: food processing and growing. It all really makes me hate our food system.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
7.5 miles done in 2 days
I ran about 7.5 miles in the past two days. I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself. I had the day off so I went running @ 6am with my running buddies. I picked out the path, but forgot we usually run the one woman home and meet her in between the two houses. Those extra jaunts took the run from 3.2 miles up to 4.0!
What else did I do on this dreary day off?
What else did I do on this dreary day off?
- wrote out thank you cards to the renewing members of my women's group
- folded laundry
- dyed my hair back to something that may be pretty close to my "natural" hair color.
What I wanted to accomplish in addition to the above list:
- apply for jobs
- clean the house
- grocery shopping.
Notice the things I didn't accomplish have to do with housework and job hunting.....
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
The road to success is paved in pounds lost
Since starting this running thing in July, I have lost *drum roll please* approximately 5 lbs! It doesn't seem like much but it's a step in the right direction for sure. Since June, it's about 7 lbs.
I'll admit, about 2.5 weeks ago, I started losing steam. It got humid and I felt like I was over-training. I felt yucky more than I felt great. I'm hoping it was just a rut. I essentially took last week off except for a couple bike rides (3-6 miles) and 1 run last Thursday morning of about 2 miles. Tonight I got back on the proverbial horse and dragged myself out there. I'm so glad I did! I managed to get about 3.5 miles done which I've since bragged about on all my social networking stuff because that's what I do. :) I did it in 40.5 minutes. That's how long it took me to do the Children's Cancer 5K in June. So I managed to run almost a 1/2 mile more in the same amount of time.
I can feel that my legs are getting stronger. I can have the bike on a higher gear (4 or 5) for most of my ride! I'm going to be doing a 8.5 mile bike ride on Saturday night in Minneapolis which excites me.
People are noticing, too! A few weeks ago it came up when I was around my women's group. My cousin (one of the few I hear from) told my mom that she felt I looked like I was losing a bunch of weight in my picture. She then asked if I'm starving myself, which I'm most definitely not! I hate that people often think that the only way a person loses weight is through starvation. They never credit it to working hard to exercise and eat right. Even if that person has been posting updates about all the exercise he/she partakes in, Nope, must still be starvation. *rolls eyes*
Oh well. I know I'm doing things right. I'm losing at a proper pace and building strength at the same time. The biggest challenge will be as fall arrives and turns to winter. Getting downstairs and on the treadmill will be a definite hurdle as I've never been all that keen on treadmills for running. But if I want to keep losing weight, I'm going to have to do something or it'll all just pile right back on....
I'll admit, about 2.5 weeks ago, I started losing steam. It got humid and I felt like I was over-training. I felt yucky more than I felt great. I'm hoping it was just a rut. I essentially took last week off except for a couple bike rides (3-6 miles) and 1 run last Thursday morning of about 2 miles. Tonight I got back on the proverbial horse and dragged myself out there. I'm so glad I did! I managed to get about 3.5 miles done which I've since bragged about on all my social networking stuff because that's what I do. :) I did it in 40.5 minutes. That's how long it took me to do the Children's Cancer 5K in June. So I managed to run almost a 1/2 mile more in the same amount of time.
I can feel that my legs are getting stronger. I can have the bike on a higher gear (4 or 5) for most of my ride! I'm going to be doing a 8.5 mile bike ride on Saturday night in Minneapolis which excites me.
People are noticing, too! A few weeks ago it came up when I was around my women's group. My cousin (one of the few I hear from) told my mom that she felt I looked like I was losing a bunch of weight in my picture. She then asked if I'm starving myself, which I'm most definitely not! I hate that people often think that the only way a person loses weight is through starvation. They never credit it to working hard to exercise and eat right. Even if that person has been posting updates about all the exercise he/she partakes in, Nope, must still be starvation. *rolls eyes*
Oh well. I know I'm doing things right. I'm losing at a proper pace and building strength at the same time. The biggest challenge will be as fall arrives and turns to winter. Getting downstairs and on the treadmill will be a definite hurdle as I've never been all that keen on treadmills for running. But if I want to keep losing weight, I'm going to have to do something or it'll all just pile right back on....
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