Busy Bee

I've been super busy lately, but I wanted to find time to update today. I forgot to bring my camera to work, but I'm going to upload my pictures from Kelli's wedding later in the week and post them. This will have to be just a text-only post.

Thursday I left work early to head up to Winston-Salem for the Wake vs. Clemson football game, and Wake won! The game was pretty terrible unless you really like watching our defense own people and our offense be unable to score. All that really matters is that we won, so now if we can beat Maryland this Saturday, we have a really good chance of going to the ACC Championship again this year. Yay!

Friday I fully intended to go to work, but then we didn't get home until 1:00 in the morning Thursday night, and when my alarm went off at 6:30, I was like "um...no." So I took the day off. I hit the gym, hung out a bit, and took care of some of the errands that we ordinarily would do over the weekend, knowing that the wedding would cause us to be low on time. I drove to the Vespa dealership, but then I didn't go in...I'm pretty afraid to enter vehicle-purchasing places without Blake. Because (a) I know nothing about buying vehicles and (b) I'm a huge impulse buyer, which is not a good quality to have when I'm in the land of $4,000 scooters. I'm going to try to get Blake to take me there this weekend. Also, Blake's still telling me that I should really test drive one of these things...because he's relatively certain that I'm going to be petrified to drive one, given how I act behind the wheel of his stick-shift car and his boat. But I've weighed options in my mind, and the scooter is pretty much a necessity for me at this point, so I'll have to get over my fear.

Saturday morning I hit pilates and it was good. I walked there to get in some extra exercise. It was really nice outside. While I was there, I signed up to try a private lesson tonight. I would like to do pilates 3 times a week, and I can only make it to two mat classes, so a private lesson is pretty much necessary...although really expensive. I've gone through my finances and made sure that I can afford this luxury. Because I've been really good lately about not shopping, I can do it. Yay. I'll let you all know how it goes later in the week.

When I got home, Blake had picked Bridget up at the airport, and we left for Greenville. And as soon as I got in the car, it started shaking and driving weird. Blake got out at a light before we got on the interstate to look around, but nothing looked off. So we get on the interstate, and no more than 15 miles into our drive, my front right tire blows. Awesome. Did I mention I had the car inspected A WEEK AGO? I mean how do they miss that? Fortunately I had a donut in the trunk and it allegedly can go for 3,000 miles up to 65 mph, so after Blake put it on there, we enjoyed a slow and steady ride to the wedding. I'm going to be buying 4 new tires later this week. Because that shit was scary.

The wedding was fun. It was great to see everyone. I'll post more about it when I get the pictures in. Yesterday we left Greenville around 11 and headed back to Charlotte with a stop at the Cracker Barrel and outlet mall in Gafffney. And then we were going to drop Bridget back at the airport on the way in, but like 5 miles before we get to the airport exit there is an accident that blocks off our entire side of the interstate. They had to re-route us, and luckily Bridget's plane was delayed, so we got her to the airport just in time. I was exhausted when we got home, but I had to do laundry and finish errands. And I had what was easily the most ridiculous and horrible Harris Teeter experience of my life (of maybe it just felt that way because of the tired-ness) and was too cranky to cook dinner. For the rest of the night I did my laundry and mopping and read a book.

I was super tired this morning, but it's going to be a full and busy week at work, so I have to get my ass in gear. The manager and partner that I'm working for are both gone for the week, so I can chill a little bit...but there is still much to get done. Also, I forgot that it is Columbus Day or something (we don't really get off for many fake holidays) and I'm concerned about my gym being open. I swear to god, if I get there at lunch and it is closed I am going to scream. And then I'll probably suck it up and go order some tires instead or something. Sigh. I missed a strength training session last week (it was supposed to happen yesterday but didn't due to the aforementioned crankiness), and I hate missing workouts. Boo.

I'll update again soon. I hope any of you that actually have today off have a lovely day. Also I hate you.

Scooter Kick

So those of you that know me fairly well are aware that I get on these "kicks" every so often where I think of something I want to buy and then I am obsessed with it for weeks. This happened with the Wii, which I spent well over a grand on a few months ago and now I barely play it anymore (although I attribute this more to there being new TV shows on now. Next summer I'l probably start playing again). Sometimes I actually cave in and purchase these items and love them forever, sometimes I actually purchase them and eventually tire of them, and sometimes I stop myself from buying them and eventually forget about them.

For a little while a few months ago, I was on a bike kick. This somewhat corresponded with my "moving to Austin" kick. But then Blake told me that he thought I'd be too scared to ride a bike on the streets of Charlotte because there aren't really bike lanes and people whiz past you really fast and it's generally unsafe when he rides his. And he's way better at it than me. So I let it go. But then it came back when I started taking these pilates classes. The place is about a mile and a half from my house, so it's an awesome walk on Saturday mornings. But when I want to go Wednesday nights, and it's dark when I leave, I don't want to walk. And I don't really want to deal with my car either. So again, I thought "bike!" and I did some research and found a few that I liked online.

But Blake reminded me again about how scary it is, and how close he's come to being hit by cars while on his bike, and that riding a bike at night isn't particularly safe either. But this time he offered a solution: a scooter.

At first, I thought that I would have to pay for scooter insurance or something, but apparently the 50cc models are essentially motorized bicycles, so you don't need additional insurance or a special drivers license. And I noticed the other day that along the streets of uptown Charlotte, there are all of these little scooter locking stations for people who ride them. And since they go about 40 mph, there is much less chance of a car whizzing by me to pass me. This may be the answer.

I have found a number of models that are awesome. Blake wants one too now. He likes the Honda Metropolitan or the Yamaha Zuma; I'm more partial to the Vespa LX or the Yamaha Vino Classic. We're heading to SC for Kelli Brown's wedding this weekend, but we have next weekend mostly open, so I think we might go visit some dealerships and see what's up. It would be awesome to have one of these I think. Especially for when I have to be at the office until 10pm and I don't want to walk home alone. I'm pretty excited.

But I think, knowing me, I should wait until Christmas to buy one of these...just in case I lose interest. But knowing my hatred of driving, this seems like the perfect fit. And how cute would I be on one of these? Honestly. :)

Quickie Update

Here are a few little bits and pieces about what I've been up to...

- Yesterday instead of working, we had a community service day and the whole office went to a community park to assist in playground building. It was really nice outside and way better than working. I hauled concrete. And other assorted activities. Good times.

- Last night, I had my first go at a level 2 pilates class. It moved faster and it was with a different teacher, which means there were some new moves involved. It was awesome. I'm really obsessed with this place.

- I'm making the gnocci that I got at the Italian bakery for dinner tonight. I'm excited.

- It's shaping up to be a really busy weekend. My mom and sister are in town, Carrie is in town, I have pilates and the wine festival Saturday (this will probably also include a trip to the mall and the Cheesecake Factory), and we're going to the lake Sunday for what will likely be our last trip there for the year. It's going to be 78 and Sunny and the water temp is probably still in the 80's so it should be perfect. There will also probably be some Wii playing. Busy busy!

- I understand that the presidential election is a big deal, but did the Vice Presidential Debate have to be on a Thursday night? Now none of my TV shows are on tonight. It's like I've been teased by one new episode of The Office and Grey's Anatomy only to have it all snatched away from me. Bastards. Although it does likely mean that Tina Fey will be doing her Sarah Palin impression on SNL again this weekend, so I guess that makes it a little bit better.

Hopefully I'll have time to update again soon. Have a good weekend everyone!

Back in the CLT

I'm back in Charlotte, hopefully for a while. I'm considering going ape-shit if I get told I have to go out of town again until at least November. Anyway, now that I'm back in Charlotte, I have to get back into the swing of my old habits. I went to the gym every day while I was out of town, but the crappy old treadmills in hotel gyms don't quite get the same amount done as the ellipticals at the gym...so I'm going to be going all hardcore on those this week. Also, I'm going to pilates class twice (I've upgraded to the level 2 classes!) once on Wednesday and once on Saturday, and I'm hoping to lift three times this week. I missed a lifting session yesterday and I'm pretty disappointed in myself.

Blake's parents were in town for the weekend, and we all stayed up in Winston after the (awful) football game Saturday. By Sunday morning, I was dying to get back to Charlotte since I had been gone for two weeks and I had a lot of errands to run. I had to actually plan to make dinner again most nights this week, and I wanted to try something new. Susan had told me about Pasta & Provisions a few weeks ago, so I went to check it out.

This is fantastic. It's the closest thing to a legit Italian deli/bakery I've seen since I left NJ to move southward. The selection is so good, I had to force myself to only get dinners for two nights, otherwise we'd be eating only pasta all week long. I also got lunch meat because (and I can't explain how happy this made me) they actually stock Boar's Head Oven Gold Roast Turkey, aka The Best Lunch Meat Ever that I can never find in NC. They apparently have it at Lowe's Foods, but there isn't one around here. So it was a positive experience. I'm probably going to go back there weekly. I had to physically restrain myself from getting a huge loaf of foccacia bread. I'm still trying to lose weight after all.

Last night, I made the chicken ravioli with pomodoro sauce. It was very tasty, although the sauce was a bit too spicy for my liking. Tonight I'm going with an old stand by: fajitas. Totally boring, but Blake loves them and they take less than 30 minutes to throw together so I'm all over that.

I'll be checking in more often now that I'm back at home...hope everyone has a good Monday!

WTF: PETA edition

I would like to start this post by mentioning that I am all about animal rights. It makes me sick to see what some people do to dogs and cats and I know how disgusting and deplorable the conditions of many cattle farms are. In fact, if I wasn't such a picky eater and I enjoyed eating beans or fish as a protein substitute, I would become a vegetarian immediately (as of right now, I eat only poultry. And occasionally bacon, because it's the best thing ever). A lot of days, I eat no meat at all, instead opting to get my protein allotment from milk, cheese, and eggs. Though I will admit that it would be nearly impossible for me to give up wearing animals (what would my shoe collection be without leather and suede for god's sake?).

Anyway, my point is that most of the time, I fully support animal rights groups. Which is why I donate monthly to and regularly volunteer at my local humane society. But then today, I catch this article about PETA, and all I can say is WTF??

They want Ben & Jerry's to stop using cow's milk in their products and instead use human breast milk. HUMAN breast milk. I get that I was a "bottle baby" and maybe that's why this grosses me out so much, but really? EEW. I know that dairy cows don't have that great a life, but it's better than being a meat cow, right? I don't know. But what I DO know is that as an adult human, I will never be drinking or eating products made with breast milk. Ever.

Does it make sense that cow's milk is for feeding baby cows and human breast milk is for feeding baby humans? Yes. And I suppose this is all some stigma created because of hundreds of years of humans drinking cow's milk. And I guess it's only equally as gross as when I hear about people that eat pigs feet and fish eyes and other weird shit that is generally accepted in other cultures. But still. Yuck.

What is kind of funny though is imagining a "human dairy farm" where hundreds of mommies are hooked up to breast pumps all day. Come on, admit it. That image is hilarious (and it would be a pretty good way for a stay-at-home mom to make some money while the kids are at school...haha).

Things that Rock

So last weekend, I did a lot of shopping for new gym clothes. And the problem that I always have continued: I couldn't find a damn pair of yoga pants that are the correct length for my 5'2'' frame. They either are 4-6 inches too long, or they are capris. No in between. I swear I tried on every pair of athletic pants that would be reasonable for yoga use at Dick's Sporting Goods, and all I came out with was a pair of capris. Which were nice, but sometimes I don't shave my legs too often in the winter, so a pair of full pants is kind of necessary.

So today I had to go to Target to get a gift bag for a baby shower gift, and I stopped in to the athletic gear section...and oh my god. Not only is most of it (of course) cheaper than what I got at Dick's, but the Champion C9 for Target brand pants COMES IN LENGTHS. This is not only awesome for me (petite length, thank you very much) but would also be awesome for tall people, because they also come in regular and tall. I can't really understand why Nike and Reebok and Underarmor don't do this. It makes perfect sense. You can't exactly wear heels when you're working out so that your pants are the right length. So needless to say, my stop at Target was fantastic. $20 perfect length yoga pants. I heart them.

I went in for my second pilates class today, and it was more of a full house...there were 5 of us. But all of the other people had been going for a while, so the teacher did more of a level 1/2 class, which was great...now I know what to expect from level 2. So I think that after the next two weeks I'm going to upgrade myself. This way, I can go on Wednesday nights. And if I also want to go on Saturday mornings, the level 2 class meets at 10 instead of 11. Yay.

If you're wondering, I made it through my mini-week in New Orleans without getting sick. It actually wasn't bad at all because we were staying at a really fancy hotel with an awesome gym and full free breakfast buffet. We also went to a place that has the best calzones ever for dinner one night. And we brought Alan for his first trip down Bourbon Street...the look on his face when we pointed out the (ahem) "advertising" outside of the live sex show was priceless. He echoed Jon's sentiment from a few weeks ago "I can't even believe this place exists." We don't have to go back there until March now. Score.

I go to Tennessee tomorrow for the week. Cleveland, TN is not very exciting, but the client there is freakin awesome so I have no complaints. Also there is a Moe's right by the office, so I will be eating many burritos. After I get back I get to be in Charlotte, hopefully through the end of the year. I'm sooo excited.

Hope you all have a good weekend, I'll check in from TN sometime soon.

Ugh.

I can't believe I have to go back to New Orleans tonight. Ugh. At least it's only until Friday afternoon and we're staying at a really swanky hotel. But still. I guess it's also good that The All Salad All The Time diet will be back. I've been working my ass of at the gym, but I'm still sitting firmly at a 6 pound loss. It's gotta come off at some point.

I got upgraded to first class for my flight tonight...so that does make it slightly more tolerable. But only slightly. I have to leave for Tennessee on Sunday, so I'm looking at yet another short weekend. But after this, I shouldn't have to travel for a while...god willing. I have half a mind to just request random days off so that I don't get assigned to any traveling jobs but then show up in the office anyway.

My mood will be poo until I get back Friday night...sorry in advance. At least I have Saturday's pilates class to look forward to!