Lately

I bought this necklace in a fit of sentimentality over the holidays. Dreams do come true, right? I've always been a person that believed in positive affirmations and the power they have in life. So I figured this would be a great reminder of what life holds for me.

Picture from Andrea Waines website

Well, I had been wearing the necklace constantly since I bought it. But things have been hard over here in the chimonkey brain. I've not had a lot of faith in myself or in life. I've been getting frustrated that things aren't going my way. It's really easy for me to fall into this tired frustrated place in the winter and that's exactly what's happened. Let's just say the whole equation results in a whole lot of crying because that's how frustration escapes my body - straight through the old eyeballs.

One day a couple weeks ago I got home from going out with friends and saw the necklace hanging around my neck in the mirror... and just got pissed. Dreams haven't been coming true, necklace! You freaking lie! I took the necklace off (being careful not to break it since I'm nothing if not frugal... I might want to wear it later you know) and threw it at the wall in our bedroom. It fell behind the nightstand and I went to sleep. I tried to wear it a few more times after that, but it mostly just reminds me of being frustrated and at the end of my rope.

For now the necklace is at home and maybe I'll wear it again someday. But until then I'm going to take some steps to make my life better. To do what I can to lift the crappy attitude I've had lately.

• I'm going to start going to Yoga a couple of times a week. Not this "power" yoga that is meant for cardio either. This will be a meditation/breathing/centering yoga. I figure I can fit it in at lunch once or twice a week and maybe once on the weekend. There is a good-looking Yoga Basics class at the FFC in the gold coast I totally want to try on Sundays also.
  
• I'm going to take that photography class. The class starts April 18th and goes for 7 weeks. I keep putting it off because there is always one class in the series that I would have to miss. I live a busy life, I need to get over it and finally take the class even if I have to miss one. I need to invest some time in myself and my interests, and this is going to be it.
  
• Take steps to mitigate stress in my life. I need to make sure I'm surrounded by people and situations that support me and don't add stress.
• I want to try and run a few times a week. I won't start this until after we get back from vacation because I have a sore throat and currently don't feel very well. And running just makes that worse for me! But I know running a few times a week will help center me.
• Try to eat healthier. This is going to include not noshing on so many sweets, swapping out Splenda for something more natural, and curbing consumption of alcohol. I'm toying with the idea of keeping wine but nixing beer and hard alcohol (I really don't drink much of the latter anyway). I'd really like to eat far more organic foods, but the price tag is a bit awful in the city. Once May-ish rolls around I have a membership in a CSA that will provide a box of organic vegetables a week that we're sharing with some friends, so that will get a bit easier.
  

So that's the deal. I've been feeling like crap, and not like my bubbly self lately. And I hate it. So I'm going to try and do something. Hopefully I'm not all talk and no action on this like I have been for the past 6 months. I guess putting it out here makes me a bit more accountable, eh?

Pictures from this week

Wednesday $5 whisky night at my favorite local bar. I don't really drink whisky, but alot of our friends do... anything to get them to go to this place more makes me happy!

Milly is learning to drive, hahaha.... If you kids don't behave, I am stopping this car right now!
And OMGOMGOMG, there is a dead squirrel outside of doggie daycare that has been there all week. Funnily enough, Milly hasn't noticed it. It's probably frozen solid which is the only saving grace. Poor squirrel!
What am I saying? Squirrels are just rats in cuter outfits. Someone pick up this cute rat for Pete's sake!

Happy Birthday Hubs!!

Today is Mike's 31st Birthday! Happy Birthday, Hubs!!
I never thought I would get married. I never thought I would want to have kids. All that changed - I changed - when I met Mike. He is my rock, my confidante, my everything. I am so glad I met him and am so glad we work so well together. No relationship is perfect, but I love that we bring out the best in each other and love each other.

Love you, Hubs! Thanks for being you!!

Happy Groundhog Day

Today there is exactly six weeks left of Mike being in Detroit and he has decided that today is his Groundhog Day.

Six more weeks, Wahooooo!!

Some more oldies but goodies

Me with my Grandma Stratton. I insisted on my Cabbage Patch Doll, Katherine, being in the picture. "Three generations in one picture!" I said, over and over. I was super excited.

This is one of my Dad's favorite pictures of all time. I have to be like 18 month old or something in this picture? I obviously like him a whole lot, you can tell!
Check out that old couch. So awesome.

This is killing me! So funny!

http://pbh3.tumblr.com/post/390543309/1938-dating-guide-for-single-women

Tuesday random thoughts

Is it sad that I get super excited every Monday to get the condo tidied up? Usually on Monday morning it looks like a tornado hit it (yeah, a Mike tornado!). So I come home, do 5 loads of laundry, load and run the dishwasher, empty it and load it again, make the guest bed if we had a guest over the weekend, cook my food for the week and balance our checking account.

Tonight not only do I get to watch LOST but I am going to do our taxes.... WHEE!!! The life of a grownup, it just keeps getting better.

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This weekend was a whirlwind of activity. Thursday our friend Chad got into town. Mike used to live with Chad, so we've grown so close that he is pretty much family (Chad even came on Mike and I's first date with us... we all three went to go see Runaway Jury).

When Chad got to our place , he immediately noticed the new carpet. Then going into the living room/kitchen area he thought the cabinets looked whiter. "I Mr-Clean-Magic-Erasered them all last week" I told him with a shrug. He responded with "Was that one word you used? Like, you made Mr. Clean Magic Eraser a verb?" He finally realized that the cabinets looked brighter because of the new paint, which is when I realized he hadn't been in the condo since about a year ago. So I walked around and showed him all the stuff that had been done... new paint, backsplash, etc. I was kind of proud that he noticed and thought it looked alot better. And I was proud of me for doing so much in a year. Go, Type A personality who misses her husband!!

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On Friday we went to happy hour at a place down the street that offers $1 beer bottles. We drank them out of Budweiser and Bud Light by 10PM, I felt kind of bad for the poor college students that rolled in around 11PM looking for a deal. But they were still offering $5 pitchers at that point so I guess it wasn't all bad news.

Around 11 I decided a round of shots was in order to close out the evening and went to the bar to buy a few Tommy-Coverdale-specials. That was when the bartender told me he was out of jager. I ordered something else and decided to give him a good-natured ribbing in the form of "Dude, who runs out of jager?!". As he mixed up our shots, he asked me if I'd ever owned or worked in a bar. As he said "So someone who has NEVER worked in or owned a bar is telling me how to run my bar" I realized that the shots he was mixing were about 85% soda and 15% alcohol. Wanting to save my shots, I said "Hey buddy, I was just messing with you! What do I know? No hard feelings!" I relaxed when he said "Oh, never mind, just a mix-up" and felt even more relieved when he reached for the bottle of vodka to add more to the drinks. I can handle paying for the shots, but not ones that don't even have anything in them!

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Chad and I both happened to watch an episode of Better Off Ted last weekend where two nerdy scientists that work at this company learn to tell people to "deal with it" from a salesman (who is the main character Ted's brother). They buy a dead body from the lab supply store and Ted asks what they're going to do with it. "We're going to DEAL WITH IT, Ted," says one. "Yeah," the other chimes in, "Just like YOU'RE going to DEAL WITH IT!" The whole episode they were telling people to deal with it in their nerdy mantra.

Of course, Chad and I spent the weekend telling other people, each other, blank walls to DEAL WITH IT. It was awesome.

This show is awesome and I love it so naturally it will get cancelled soon.

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This week marks 7 weeks left of Mike in Detroit. Next week makes 6. Ironically, he was only supposed to be there originally for 4-6 weeks. I remember 6 weeks feeling like a lifetime and now I feel like he will be back home for good tomorrow. Funny how things get put into perspective for you. I guess I've learned to DEAL WITH IT. Regardless, I am happy his time out of town is coming to a close.

Urban dogsitting legend

Yesterday I went with three girlfriends to the Indiana-Northwestern game, and we rode a bus from Kirkwood. We were cracking up because everyone on the bus was super drunk and also engaging in chugging contests, while we observed. At least it was pretty entertaining.

On the way home from the game, a guy in the seat in front of us told us a story:
"So this friend of a friend, was watching another family's dog while they were on vacation and it was super old and died while the family was gone. She called the family and told them - they were bummed but again the dog was super old so it was unsurprising. They asked her if she could get rid of the dog, and she agreed. Now this girl was like a 110 pounds, and the dog was a pretty big Golden Retriever, so to get rid of it she put it in a suitcase and was going to take it somewhere (my sidenote: maybe a vet or somewhere that disposes of pet bodies? The guy didn't say). Since the dog was pretty heavy the girl was having trouble pulling it along as she got on the subway, and some guy says "That looks pretty heavy, what do you have in there?" The chick didn't want the guy to be weirded out that she had a dead dog, so she replied that she had computer parts or something electronic. The guy promptly punches her in the stomach and takes off with the suitcase."

Granted..... the guy that told me this story didn't personally know the chick personally and parts of it don't make sense... a dead dog on a subway? Asking someone to get rid of a dog body? Putting a dead dog in a suitcase?! BUT STILL, just the thought of some thief getting stuck with a dog body cracks you up right?

You kind of wish everyone who steals stuff gets the equivalent of a dog body in their suitcase.

Ugh, another weekend

Our weekends are so busy that I'm starting to dread them. This weekend we have a friend coming into town so we have a ton of stuff going on:

• Thursday IU-Purdue basketball gamewatch
• Going out on Friday
• Saturday - making Superbowl food, dinner out at Fogo de Chao, then birthday celebrations with my friend Jaci
• Sunday - Going to IU-Northwestern game in the morning, Superbowl in the evening

I think I need a break from my weekends!!! It is stressing me out!

At least next weekend we're off to Key West for some relaxing. Thank goodness!