aaaaand i'm bored

well i've now been home for 4 days and i'm bored. most of my friends (and Blake) won't be here until tomorrow. i've played a lot of video games and surfed the internet and watched tv and now i'm ready to actually do something. i have been good about my shopping so far, i haven't really bought anything, so that's good. i've put a fair effort into finding Mario Kart around here, and no dice. i don't think i'm ever going to get this game. why is Nintendo so lame? i mean just make more of the game so that stores can keep them in stock. why is that so hard?

i remembered today that next friday is the happiest (work) day of the year, because the first pay period in July is when our raises go into effect. the raises have already been determined, but we haven't found out what they are yet. they like to wait until like the day before the paycheck to inform us of that information (yes, i know how lame that is). but it's something to look forward to once i have to go back to work.

i'm hungry. i may go to Whole Foods and grab dinner. oh how i love Whole Foods, and also hate them for not having a location in Charlotte.

Hi from home!

It's my vacation. Yay! I've been doing a lot of relaxing the past few days and it's been good. I've also been eating a lot of bagels because, well, you just can't beat the bagels in the greater NYC area. And I don't get to be here that much.

Saturday, we left the house around 7am to head up to PA. The cats were terrified. I mean really really scared. They had the entire trunk to run around in, their food and litter box and bed were in there, and they both sat on top of one of their carriers, staring at us the whole way. Wylie cried nonstop for the first hour. Norman was really quiet and we figured he was just being good, but it turns out he was scared out of his mind. They were both dong that thing where they looked exhausted but just as soon as they'd allow their eyes to close they would jerk them open and continue staring at us. And then, the last hour and a half of our drive, there was awful rain, like the kind where people are pulled to the side of the road. We had our hazard lights on and were going really slowly. And the sound of the rain on the trunk must have pushed poor Norman over the edge because when we went to get them out of the car (which they did NOT want to do), we found that he had done number 1 and number 2 right where he was sitting rather than in the litterbox that was three inches to his right. Fabulous. Here's a view of them from where we were sitting. The poor things.

They were scared at first in Blake's parents' basement, but by the time I left there Sunday morning, they were loving it. They have a lot more places to explore there, so they're having fun. And Blake is spending a lot of time with them. So it's a vacation for the kitties as well.

When I got to NJ Sunday, my sister was still around. She was supposed to go back to Baltimore Monday morning, but then decided to call out of work Monday and skip her evening class and didn't leave until about 7 last night. Why? Because we were playing Rock Band basically nonstop. Good times. Yesterday I also made a batch of Friendship Bread, went to the awesome shoe store (but didn't find anything...boo), and hit up Best Buy. They did not have Mario Kart in stock but they did have one set up to try and I played a bit and it was awesome. I'm starting to get seriously pissed that I can't find it to buy anywhere. Jackie's going to check the Target by her apartment in Baltimore this week at some point.

That's really about it. This morning I did some Wii Fit for about 45 minutes and made some breakfast while watching the Price is Right, and now I'm going to head to the gym. My mom's new neighborhood has a clubhouse with a gym, so that's good. When she gets home from work we're going to go to The Grove and do some shopping (unfortunate thing about the new house: it takes less than 3 minutes to get to The Grove from here. I see a lot of shopping in my future).

I may go into NYC tomorrow to amuse myself. And Blake's coming to NJ Thursday for the big July 3rd parties. Yay.

I wish I didn't have a job and I could just do whatever I want all the time.

VACATION TIME!

So for the past month or so Blake and I have been trying to decide whether to take next week off of work and head up north to see our respective families. I knew I could take the time off, but Blake wasn't sure. Last night he decided that he was in. Yay! So we're leaving at about 5am tomorrow, with the cats in tow, and heading for PA.

The cats of course hate long car rides by the way. Let me explain to you how this is done (so you understand, once again, how crazy we are). We don't want to keep them in their carriers for 8 hours, but they can't be loose enough that they can scamper underneath the driver's seat while driving is happening. Basically, we take my car and we lay the back seat down and then cover up the passage from the trunk to the back seat with a baby gate and then put the cats loose in the trunk. They can see us and see out the windows, but they can't escape. We set up their litter box and some food and water back there and give them some toys. Our luggage is confined to the back seat, but we can't have much of it because we don't want to restrict the kitties' views too much.

The only other time that was attempted was for Thanksgiving two years ago. They were only 4 months old at the time. Blake went to the pet store and got some treats that were supposed to make them tired so they'd sleep the whole way. Well, Wylie refuses to put anything other than Purina Cat Chow Indoor Formula in his mouth, so he wouldn't eat one. Norman loves treats, so he took it out of Blake's hand immediately, chewed it for a minute, glared up at Blake angrily as if to say "this isn't up to par," and spit it out on the floor. So that didn't work. They cried fr the first two hours and then slept the rest of the way. So I look forward to that happening again.

The cats will stay at Blake's parents' house for most of the week. I'm leaving there Sunday to go to NJ. Then I'm going to head back to PA to pick up Blake and the cats on Thursday and we'll hang in NJ and then head back here Saturday. I'm bringing the Wii. My sister is pumped. And I haven't seen my mom's new house since she moved in so that should be exciting.

I started playing Rock Band last night...and it is fun. I'm going to have to hide it in the car somewhere, because Blake keeps warning me against bringing a bunch of shit with me. Boo.

Love from Home

I realize that this is going to do nothing to stop most of you from thinking that Blake and I are batshit crazy for treating our cats like human children, but sometimes when I'm out of town for a while, Blake likes to send me pictures of what he and the cats are doing. This probably shouldn't surprise anyone, given that we left Petsmart with a $50 water bowl last weekend. Anyway, here's a few that I got this week while in West Virginia.

Norman helping Blake do his ironing (and I use 'helping' loosely):

Wylie lounging all over Blake's lap while he's trying to have dinner:

Side note: I heart having a wireless broadband card out on loan from work...I am currently updating from the car ride back to Charlotte. Yay!

Belated Weekend Activities

I haven't checked in in a few days, but I've been a bit busy. Here's a short run down:

Friday I was back in Charlotte and went to work but left around 1 because I didn't have much to do and I didn't want to be there anymore. I had to stop at the bank on my way, and outside of the bank a farmers' market was set up, so I got some fresh melon and blueberries. My dad was still up in Lake Norman so I went there to visit. That was about it.

Saturday Blake was hosting a water skiing event for his Outdoors Club, and since I'd been out of town all week, I decided to skip the lake and hang out at home. I did some Wii Fit, went to the gym (yay me), did some grocery shopping, made the Amish Friendship Bread that I got starter for from one of the partners at work (it's delicious), and relaxed a bit. It was fabulous.

Sunday I had a lot to do, so I got up early to start laundry, did my Wii Fit, went to the gym (again! woo!), did a Target run, cleaned the bathroom, packed, and then headed back to West Virginia. We didn't get in until after midnight, so I'm super tired today.

I wanted to kettlebell it up in my hotel room tonight before dinner (benefit of driving...I can bring whatever I want. I also brought a loaf of the Friendship Bread and some cantaloupe for breakfast. We're at a Residence Inn, so I have a full kitchen. And a fireplace for some reason). I left my kettlebell in the car last night though because it was POURING when we arrived and I had to make a mad dash to the hotel door. So I hit the treadmill for 35 minutes instead. I rescued the kettlebell after dinner, so I'll be doing that tomorrow night.

I'm pretty proud of myself for my weekend gym motivation. I didn't really have much choice though, because I eat like crap when I'm out of town. I was good and had a salad for dinner tonight, but the pizza buffet at lunch was not the most healthy option. After I get back to Charlotte, I should get to be there for at least 3 weeks, so I'll be back in healthy mode with any luck. I find myself actually trying to lose weight now because I hate it when my Wii Fit tells me that I've gained weight since the last time I've used it. I've cut down on that because I'm doing the weigh in at the same time most days now, but it makes my perfectionist self pissed when the line on my little graph goes up instead of down. I may be a sad individual.

Oh! And my Rock Band for Wii is set to arrive tomorrow! I can't wait to dominate the crap out of it when I get home :)

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll have something more interesting to say later in the week.

Birthday time

I'm off to my birthday dinner for the third year in a row at the Olive Garden in Charleston, West Virginia. I think in the future I'm going to have to request the day off on my birthday so that I might actually be able to spend it in Charlotte at my house.

I get to go home tomorrow for a few days, so I look forward to that :)

Wii Fit = BEST THING EVER

So it's no secret to anyone who reads this blog that I'm a little obsessed with my new Wii right now. But for my early birthday, Blake got me a Dance Dance Revolution and a Wii Fit and I must update about them because they are fantastic.

First the DDR. I thought that the 10 years of dance lessons I took meant I have rhythm, but apparently not. I am AWFUL at this game. I will need a LOT of practice. I improved a bit in the 45 minutes I played, but it was definitely rough. I look forward to continuing to play though. It had a continuous calorie burning mode where you tell it how much you weigh and how many calories you want to burn and it estimates how long to stay on for...which will be cool as soon as I can get through one song without tripping all over myself.

Brief interlude: I also got the KitchenAid food processor I wanted. Woop!

OK, now the Wii Fit. I had my doubts about how good of a workout you could really get from this. From the onset, it was just really really cool. The features are great. Although I was a bit upset that it gauges your progress based on BMI...which isn't the best indicator of health given that it doesn't take into account muscle mass. But how much can you expect a wireless balance board to do, right?

Anyway, you play with your Mii character, and it's wearing a little workout outfit, it's very cute. There are four areas: Aerobics, Balance games, Yoga, and Strength training. Because I was so sore from the Kettlebell incident of Friday afternoon, I have yet to try the strength section. But the rest is great. It's nice to be able to design my own 10-15 minute yoga workout on the fly whenever I have some time rather than scheduling in a class. The balance games are really hard at first but very fun. And I'm a huge fan of the aerobics. The hula hooping and the stepping are my favorites. You would NOT believe how sweaty you can get from 6 minutes of doing hip circles continuously. The step class is challenging, but fun. You start out with easy versions of each and eventually unlock more difficult options.

I can't believe how much I want to do this every day. So, based on the theory I always read that squeezing in as little as 10 minutes of activity helps your health, I'm going to work it into every day (that I'm at home, anyway). Days that I also go to the gym, I'm going to do it for 30 minutes. Days that I don't go to the gym, I'll work in an hour. I had to leave for WVa at 6am today, and I actually woke up excited at 4:45 to do Wii Fit for 30 minutes. It's also a good amount of time to play. I do 5 minutes aerobics, 10 yoga, another 3 aerobics, 6 minutes of balance games, and then 6 more of aerobics. It's super fun. I'm definitely trying the strength stuff this weekend. I brought the kettlebell to WVa (we drove so we had a lot of cargo room) so I'll do that twice this week and then the Wii stuff once.

This all being said, clearly the gym isn't obsolete for me or anything, but this makes me really excited to work out. There is also a feature where you can log your daily activity outside of the Fit so they work it into the charts that they keep of your daily progress and activity levels. I cannot say enough great stuff about it. If you have a Wii you should get it. But maybe just wait until they're widely available and not pay above retail for it like my boyfriend did. Not that I don't really really appreciate it, but I feel a little bit bad.