Random fun is the best!

Brianna and I went to the office today to pick up some random things and on the way back she was backing away from the front entrance and I said, “It would be hilarious if you backed up all the way back to the church.” We looked at each other and that was it. Brianna said, “I’ll do it.” So, she did. It was AWESOME!!! AWESOME!!! We backed the whole way back to the church (about three blocks-ish) and when we got out told everyone about it. It was hilarious. Best fun I’ve had all week.

I feel like some weight is lifting

First off: A HUGE HUGE HUGE shout out to Ali and Bethany for all your comments. I love you guys. Ali- you need to come up here for a weekend. Then again, I am the “jobless” one now so maybe I’ll come see you!

On to the Bog!
Most people would say that the way I left Starbucks is dumb because of the job security and all that mumbo jumbo. However, not a single person has told me I made the wrong decision. A few friends have been skeptical but everyone seems okay with it. Here’s my thing: Why not? Why stress about it? I’ve always been good at taking care of myself and getting out of any tough situations that I get myself into (and believe me- I’m good at getting into tough situations). I feel like a weight has lifted. Or is lifting. Before I put in my two weeks I would get four days in a row off and spend the whole time dreading going back to work. Its been that way for a long time and is only getting worse now that these 600 stores are closing. (Mine isn’t one of the ones on this list.) I don’t have a problem being challenged to work harder so that’s not it. I just do it. Now I only feel stressed while I’m there. It doesn’t exhaust my day. I got off work today and talked to Ranee about books for a while. She had dropped a few off for me to borrow. Then I got told by John that I should have hair on my chest (I was drinking kind of a hard core drink) and Manolo giggled in the way only Manolo can giggle. (God bless them! They are my favorite couple outside of Bethany and Daniel.) After that, I came home and played with Athena for a while. Normally I would have been too tired. She has a lot of energy but I was totally up for it despite having to put the order away today as well as a retail shipment. After a bit of meandering around this part of town Rachel and I went to the Art Walk on University and sat at Back to the Grind for about an hour. The stress was wearing me out in ways I didn’t even realize. I’m taking on a couple more babysitting jobs and considering not taking the Sears job because well, babysitting was paying my bills in full before and now I’m adding a few more days. And that’s just for Michelle.

On the other side of things: There is one thing giving me a bit stress right now. Those of you that pray please pray for me right now. I’m in the painful process of ending a very long relationship. Things have just gotten too ridiculous and no matter what I say or don’t say, no matter what I do or don’t do things don’t change. Better yet- pray for him. He needs to get help for some things (as do I in all honesty) that he doesn’t even see as a problem because, as he once said, “I’m young. This is what people do at this age and you’re being a hypocrite.” Not to mention how confusing everything has become.

Okay- I’m going to go listen to Tegan and Sara and pass out.

People that keep things hidden drive me nuts!

When I was 19 I was introduced to a magical movie called The Pirate Movie. Its ridiculous but it makes me happy. So today I was cleaning the video/DVD/Random-Nick-Nacks-That-My-Mom-Just-Needs-So-Don’t-Throw-Anything-Out case and low and behold… and old copy of this magical movie was inside a Bitsy Bears Case! Bitsy Bears?! Really?! I had to watch it! I laughed/sang my way through it and told Bethany about my mom hiding treasures in our living room. I decided to look for it on Amazon and was able to get it for a whopping $4!!! (Including shipping!) I can’t wait!

I’m in Love…

Most people fall in love with people but right now I am totally psyched about itunesU. If you don’t know what I’m talking about you’re missing out- for real college courses on itunes for free. I’m sure actually being enrolled in the class makes these guides a little more useful but you know what? I still love it! I’m going to spend this next month going over Virgil. I’m also downloading a course on literature of the Enlightenment Era. I don’t know how I haven’t discovered this before. Obviously I won’t get the credit for doing the class but it fits in nicely with my need for useless knowledge.

Also- I found organic frozen fruit at Trader Joe’s. I love it! I’m trying really hard to eat primarily organic foods. Last night for dinner my mom and I made fajitas, salsa, guacamole, and rice. The only ingredients not grown in our yard or a friend’s yard were the avocados, chicken, and rice. It was awesome. Tomorrow I’m going to go through our cupboards to get rid of anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup or anything Partially Hydrogenated. My boss doesn’t understand this. We were eating lunch the other day and she offered me some of her fries. I said no because, well, I don’t eat them. She said, “If you’re trying to loose weight, my doctor says that you should start by working out a little then choose a diet from there.” I told her that I stopped eating fries because there are much healthier ways of eating potatoes than french fries. She looked at me like I was nuts.

So Much Change In One Week

Something has been on my mind for the past few months and especially in the last three or so weeks. I’ve prayed about and looking back, everything has been coming into play for this week. This week almost everything in my life changed… all for the better. I’m so excited to see these changes grow and can’t wait to tell you all about it. Come see me on Sunday and I’ll let you know what’s going on in my life.

I forgot to include this in the last post:

This makes me smile:

Accidental Ode to U2's best album in the athletic buildings bathroom at CBU

Good food, Family, Frustration, and A SALE!!!

Amira is my favorite customer. With the exception of the really hot tattooed guy that comes in at like 10 am. I love Amira. She is the coolest little lady ever. She brings us food, invites us over for dinner, has a really hot closeted gay son (John and I are the only ones that see this apparently), and tells all about her English lessons. Some of the new people at the store can’t understand her through her thick Arabic accent so sometimes I order her drink for her when I see her and I’m not working. (If I am I already know what she wants.) Today she brought me fatayer (one of my favorites) and warak inab (known as dolmas to the greek world). Best dinner I have had all week. I told Amira about the MUFA diet yesterday and she got so excited and said, “See! My food isn’t just good its goooood!” LOL. Its true though, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern foods fit in quite well with this diet. My absolute favorite thing she has brought us is tabouleh. Its a salad/salsa type dish. I love it! I’ll have to learn to make this stuff on my own.

Also, my grandpa is off the oxygen tank! He lost some weight and his doctor said that there was no reason he should have to spend all that money and have the hardship of carrying it around anymore. His heart seems to be doing a better job of carrying the oxygen into his body and his lungs have apparently cleared enough from when he had pneumonia to bring in more oxygen. Very good.

I’m still really frustrated about some other things right now. Work is still… That’s really all I can say for now. Then Tuesday things between James and I got worse/weirder. I don’t know anymore. I think I’m seriously done this time. I called Natali the next morning about The Kite Runner (explain in a minute) so I told her all about it. She agrees that he might be a Bipolar Schizophrenic in the beginning stages of Early Onset Alzheimer’s with a dash of good old fashioned psychotic. I seriously can’t seem to find the time to properly do my laundry so there’s piles (they actually used to be piles but now are just mixed together) of jeans, shirts, teeshirts, underwear, clean things, dirty things, questionable things, things to be gotten rid of and miscellaneous items of the cloth persuasion somehow related to clothing. I really am starting to turn into a neat freak- unfortunately I’m a busy neat freak that can’t afford a maid. I feel like I’m not going to have time to go back to school in the Fall which scares me a little but I also know how I feel about school and that in all reality that just will not happen!

In the words of Natali and her ninja friend: *le sigh*

However! I finally got Eat, Pray, Love yesterday and Cure for the Common Life today. I can’t to read them. They’re next on my list. Plus- Starbucks is currently having a massive sale on cds and dvds from previous promos. These magical- albeit select- items are 7.95 right now and with my discount and the tax I got The Kite Runner for 5.99!!!! I also considered getting the new Jack Johnson. I haven’t yet and don’t think I will after all. We’ll see.

The (Mis)Adventures of Dieting

Background to my story: Weird things happen when you diet. I’ve been doing the MUFA thing for about three days now. MUFAs are Monounsaturated Fatty Acids. This means that I get to eat all those wonderful things I love most: cashews (or really any kind of nut), pepitas (seeds), olive oil/safflower oil (most but not all oils are okay), avocados, green olives (all olives work but my faves are the Spanish), and (I’m not the biggest fan but at least its dessert) chocolate. Part of why I’m doing this is because these fats are really good for your skin and hair and *bonus* these help reduce belly fat. How? I’m not a doctor so don’t ask me. My doc explained it when I called her about it but it was confusing. Also, these fats are heart healthy which is cool. On top of this I’ve been working on getting back into running. I go for a 35 minute walk almost everyday and tomorrow I will be taking Athena and she and I will run home! Yay! I’ve also been working on getting my skin in better shape. Most people still think I have great skin but I see how its different from what it used to be and I want to get it back into shape. This means lots of cleansing things like fiber, water, tea, and herbs. The main herb/tea that I’ve been drinking is Yerba Mate. This cleans!

The diet is super easy. I still basically get to eat whatever I want with a little moderation while adding or substituting foods with a high MUFA count. My mom found a few recipes in a diabetic magazine she gets and the rock! The weird thing is that if I brush my teeth then eat a regular meal I feel the need to brush my teeth again because of all the plaque that collects on them. With all the fat in my meals now, I don’t know what happens but it doesn’t feel nearly as nasty. Maybe that was TMI but whatever. The extra walking is making my legs really fat but not fatter. My jeans fit the same on my calves and all but they look massive to me. Maybe my knees are shrinking and the comparison is what I notice… I don’t know. Drinking all this water makes me have to pee all the time which is rather obvious. We all know what fiber does. The Yerba Mate however is not what I expected. The first day I drank it I had to poop A LOT. (TMI again?) But now its making me feel hungry a lot more often. I don’t know if that’s normal but I don’t really care because my skin looks better already. I didn’t wear any make up today (except mascara) and no one noticed. Sweet! That’s about all for now. I just thought you guys might want to know about the inner workings of my intestines (”intestines” should be said like you’re quoting Waking Ned Divine).

A Week on an Emotional Roller Coaster

Pet Peeve: People that refuse to speak to you for MONTHS and then think that a slightly awkward sounding text message about nothing at all will set things right. Um, no. I would like to know why you wouldn’t talk to me, why you acted like I wasn’t standing right next to you and then proceeded to ask my friends how I was, and why on God’s green earth you can’t act your age. Or even within 5 years of it!

Current Happiness: When very cute bar tenders give you “the look” when you make an off hand comment about no one else ordering your drink and saying, “I like them.” I also like that every time I “happened” to run into him the rest of the night he made witty little comments that only I could hear. (This story has background.)

Pet Peeve: When someone can’t just be straight with you. If I messed up- let me know. How can I fix it if you don’t tell me. And maybe you should make sure the information you gave me on the first go around was correct.

Current Happiness: Priscilla Ahn. I love her debut album. I can’t wait to hear more of what she can do. This album is perfectly folky with little hints of jazz and maybe a bit of a Bob Dylan/Rachel Yamagata/Jenny Lewis influence. Love!!!

Pet Peeve: The post office is effing nuts! All I wanted to do was get my passport. THAT’S ALL!!! So the website said to make an appointment and that I can do it from 10a.m. to 4p.m. So I call. The woman on the other end says that I do not need an appointment and to just show up Monday through Friday from 10a.m. to 2p.m. WTF mate?! Then…. let’s just say next time I want a freaking appointment!

Current Happiness: Spending my afternoon at Natali’s and getting yummy cupcakes from Jammin’ Bread and doing techy things on her killer new iphone, meeting her friend Ashley, Sara making us all Cuban stew for dinner! (yum!!!), and then listening to George Harrison.

my red velvet

the view from where we sat

Getting Primed for Mexico

I saw Jonny’s passport today- all new and shiny- and I can’t wait to get mine. I feel like I have a lot to do in the five weeks I have until I leave: get as tanned as possible so I don’t burn too badly, get as fit as possible, finish the passport process, get a card on my mom’s Costco account, replace my green flip flops (r.i.p. dear ones!), and hopefully go shopping for a few new things to wear. It may not seem like a lot but it feels like it. I can’t wait though! Anika and I looked at pictures today from her past trips and really got my mouth watering! We’re going to try to take certain spices and condiments over the border… we’ll see. I’ll talk to my mom’s travel agent again if need be. I’m definitely going to be taking a pound of coffee over. Jonny and I cannot go a week without coffee (that’s a fate worse than death! I couldn’t wish it on my worst enemy!) and Anika wouldn’t want to.

I also happened to cut my toe today. This is not a normal cut. Its small and thin like a paper cut a little deep but not too bad. However (pause for dramatic effect) its on the under side of toe near the ball of my foot. In other words, every time I take a step the part of the toe that stretches to allow the movement comes open. Ew. Ow. Ew. Oh well. What can be done?