Holding Hands

Natasha napping with her little paw wrapped around my finger.



She's been sleeping all day long! Lucky girl.

Misc Musings

1. Where is this year going? I can't believe the 4th of July - and my 30th not too far after - is next weekend. Yikes! I feel like summer should just be starting but we're already closing in on July.

2. As an early birthday present from my father I got a Roku! This thing is awesome. It's a little box that you connect to your TV and allows you to watch your Netflix Instant movies and TV shows on your TV! I feel like I basically have HBO. You start it up and it conencts to your queue and the rest of Netflix's Watch Instantly inventory. Right now I'm watching some old episodes of Law & Order: SVU, earlier I was watching old episodes of The Office. It's GREAT, just like channel surfing except with wayyyy more choices. Thanks Dad!

3. Today we met up for lunch at a place called Locolat Cafe and had a great meal. I had savory herb waffles with prosciutto and parmesan cheese. He had a smoked salmon and cheese panini with spinach. We passed on dessert - the summer slimdown is in full swing.

4. My bookshelves... omg... so close and so far! My carpenter came over yesterday to take one final measurement. Construction has started but he needed to confirm one detail and talk about some of the finishings. He said it should only be another day and a half for construction, then we have to figure out where to do the painting - either in the workshop or at my apartment after installation, or a combination of the two - and then we're done! I can't wait. Pictures will be posted.

Sailing

Kicked off the summer solstice with a nice long sail down the Anacostia following by amazing steaks, pasta salad, corn on the cob, and beer grilled at the marina. And I'm not even sunburned!

It's been so hot here - in the mid-90's for weeks on end, and DC always seems to just miss the thunderstorms! They brush right by the city and give us a half-hearted mention but nothing satisfactory and nothing to break the heat.

MS White House

This humidity is really crushing my runs. I just find it very difficult to run strong in the heat and humidity. I know it takes time to acclimate and I'm working on it, but in the mean time, discouragement sets in. So I took advantage of cooler temps and cloud cover to run the long way home from work today.

First I jogged up to Meridian Hill park, tackled a whole bunch of steps, quads screaming! I made sure to do some work along the way:



See the MS 13 carved into the bench? Second rung from the top.

Then I headed down 16th St to the White House and cut across the Mall, taking Independence Ave to Washington Ave and around to my home.



Overall the run was just under an hour, which is the longest I've done since the weather turned. I was sweating and tired when I got home but encouraged and sunburn free.

Splurge!

I did something today that I have rarely done since discovering coupon savings... splurged on groceries. AND I did it quite cheaply! I'm proud of myself... I got some necessities for the week and a couple of nice treats and still stayed under $25.

Necessities:
2 red bell peppers
2 heads garlic
1 package baby spinach
10 Dannon yogurts
1 vidalia onion

Splurges:
Mixed olives from the olive bar
Hummus
Italian sausages
Raisinets

Subtotal: $34.19
Coupons: $10.00
Total: $24.19
Savings: 29%

Not the best savings rate but I'm very happy with my overall out-of-pocket total!

I've been craving fat lately hence the olives and hummus, and also eating a ton of roasted veggies over greens and/or pasta. So it looks like I'm set for the week and not too far off of my target $40/week budget.

Rave Run

My latest favorite place to run is the National Arboretum. The Arb is a serious gem, a large swath of trails and gardens in the middle of northeast DC. The main loop is about 3ish hilly miles of paved road, with plenty of little offshoots if you want to check out the fern valley, the Asian collections, the conifers, or any other little spot along the way.

At the welcome center is a great koi pond with fish all too accustomed to being fed! For a quarter you can get some fish food out of the vendor and don't the fish know it! They all crowd toward the wall closest to the vendor and look up at you with gaping mouths. Worse than a dog at the dinner table!

Another favorite spot of mine is the bonsai garden. Some trees are over 100 years old. How do you get the job of bonsai curator?? Sounds awesome to me.

Here are some photos (not mine) of the Arb. Can you believe this is right in town? And less than ten minutes by car from my condo.

All Dressed Up and Someplace To Go

Tonight the four of us went to see the Capitol Hill Chorale perform the Georgian Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the first time this liturgy has been performed since it was written by Zakaria Pavliashvili in 1909.

Unbelievable. Dark, haunting, with harmonies of the type I'd never heard before. The chorale learned the music from a photocopy of a photocopy of the microfilm on which the score was being stored at the Lenin Library in Moscow. The ambassador to Georgia and his family were in attendance; it was a full house!

I dressed up a little bit and even broke out a rarely worn necklace that I picked up in the Yuruan Market in Shanghai a few years ago.

File Under PITA

I came home from work today and there was water all over my bathroom. Turns out something is wrong with my air conditioner unit and it leaked through the trapdoor and into the bathroom itself. Investigation revealed and rusty and potentially cracked condensation pan. The repair guy is coming tomorrow. In the mean time my windows and thrown open and I'm thankful for a little storm that came through and cooled things off.

Unfortunately cleaning up and trying to solve that mystery took a bit of time and by the time I could sit down and think about dinner, I was way beyond starving. I chopped up some peppers and garlic and threw them into the oven to roast and have over greens. Yesterday I purchased a huge tub of salad greens (not cheap!) and was hoping to have healthy dinners for the next week. Well, I opened the tub and all the greens were slimy and gross. I was able to pick a few good ones out but the slime is pervasive. They must have been old - I'm meticulous about storing greens and can usually get them to last over a week.

Sigh... I'm taking tomorrow off for the repair guy AND some good news (my carpenter is coming to take hard measurements for my shelves!) so at least I can look forward to a leisurely morning and an extra hour or so of sleep.

Decisions decisions

Well up until a few days ago I was pretty much set on going back to Asia next year. I've been dying to see the temples in Cambodia.

But now I'm thinking I might like to tour Italy.

Could I have two options on the table that are any further apart? What do you guys think?

What does $14.50 worth of stuff look like?

1 bag Hershey's dark M&Ms
1 12-pack Cottonelle toilet paper
2 bags veggie pasta
1 bad Snyder's pretzels
1 package Sesmark rice cracker
2 Bumblebee tuna bowls
1 2000 Flushes cleaner
1 Satin Care shave gel
1 Tampax
1 4-pack Yoplait yogurt
1 Clearasil face wash
TOTAL BEFORE COUPONS: $43.35
COUPONS AND DISCOUNTS: $28.85
------------------------------
TOTAL: $14.50
SAVINGS: 67%

Bullet Points

Lots of little things to report!

-My dear friend Lezlie moved to Capitol Hill today! Yay! I'm excited for her to be close by... let the happy hours commence! Plus she has a fireplace AND patio at her new place... I can't decide which one I want to make use of first. Um, can I be the third roommate? I'll sleep on the patio :-D

-My dear friend Rosie is moving to Arizona for grad school right after spending the summer in Ireland. I'll miss her but am very excited for this new chapter in her life. Once she gets used to feeling baked (as in an oven, not as in marijuana!) all the time I know she'll enjoy AZ and having all the time she needs to foucs on her photography. Yay Rosie!

-My custom bookshelves are officially in the works! I had the carptenter come by yesterday to go over the plans one more time and take some soft measurements. We talked about shelf depth, spacing, number of shelves, all those fun things. Now he needs to get estimates for the materials and take hard measurements... then build, paint, and install. Shouldn't be long now!

-I am STILL dealing with water damage to my wall from the snow storms. The first painter/repair man didn't get all the wet plaster out so the new paint just bubbled right back up. I had a different person assess the damage and he ended up opening my entire wall all the way down to the brick. Yikes. But seriously, this is what I kinda thought should have happened the first time... so... it's very unselling to look at a torn-apart wall, but we're on our way to FINALLY having this fixed for good.

-The weather has been beautiful and I'm stuck with an injured foot. I've been RICEing it (Rest-Ice-Compression-Elevation) all week and will be ready to go out for a test spin tomorrow... wish me luck. Being laid up is really tough. Running is therapy!

Things Unfinished

I hate having things unfinished. I do not like items pending. I very much enjoy finishing a project (quickly!) and crossing it off the list. Well, it looks like my comfort zone is being pushed in this area, and I don't like it.

I'm still dealing with my water-damaged walls from the snowstorms in February. The roof leak was fixed and the wall scraped and re-painted, however, the paint has bubbled up again and when the painter came today to look at it, he determined that the plaster was still wet. Whether it's still wet because there's still a leak or whether it just hadn't dried before he plastered over it remains to be seen. Right now there's a big splotch of scraped paint and plaster on my kitchen wall. It's a test to see if it bubbles up. Meanwhile, I'm trying to get hold of my management company to get the roofing contractor out to search for leaks.

I just want the wall fixed and painted and to not have to think about it!

I'm also in the process of having some custom bookshelves made. I have a contract, made a deposit, and am waiting for the building to come take measurements. In the mean time, my books are overflowing the bookshelves I have and are piled up on the floor. I hate it, it looks ugly and disorganized. I just want my nice new custom shelves and to have some semblance of order in my library!

All these unfinished projects are enough to give me an anxiety attack!!

April Savings Round-Up

Not a bad month!

Grocery:
Total: $157.89
Savings: $79.35
------------------------
Out-of-Pocket: $78.54
Savings: 50%

Pharmacy:
Total: $20.11
Savings: $8.03
------------------------
Out-of-Pocket: $12.08
Savings: 40%

Ask Tom

The Washington Post food critic is Tom Sietesma. He's a fascinating guy. I want to figure out how to be his friend - or at least his dining companion!

Every week in the Post Magazine, after the weekly restaurant critique, Tom fields a question from a reader. Well, I just sent one in!

Good evening,

I have a question I'd like to ask Tom Sietsema! As an occasional solo diner, I try to be cognizant of the impact that my lower tab has on waitstaff. I don't linger and I tip well. I sit at the bar when I can to keep tables open for larger, more lucrative parties. However, now that the weather is getting nicer and outdoor seating areas are open, I'd like to know Tom's take on solo diners sitting at outdoor tables. Often, outdoor seating is at a premium and I feel guiltier about taking a two- or three-top table outside than I would inside. Does it go against dining etiquette for a solo diner to sit outside? Do waitstaff look down on this practice?

What do my faithful readers think? Much has been writting about the etiquette of solo dining but nowhere have I seen the particular aspect of outdoor dining addressed.

I will be sure to post back if my question gets answered!

Hockey Helplessness

I don't have cable. I love not having cable. I get all the local channels plus a couple of news channels and the CW free over the air through my digital converter box and antenna. I even get Al Jazeera (which is excellent for international news, by the way). I can watch the news, many sit-coms, some sporting events, and am blessedly saved from the irresistable quick-sand that is the Real Housewives series (except when I catch reruns on hulu.com)

This frees up much of my time to read, crossword, exercise, cook, listen to music, play my banjo, and generally lead a more peaceful and productive life that I would if I were glued to the cable for five (plus!) hours per day.

The only time that my cable-free life becomes a burden is during hockey playoff season! Now, I can catch certain games on NBC or watch the good ones at my SO's place. But, most often, I'm relegated to listening to them live on streaming radio.

There's really nothing wrong with this. I've been watching hockey for a long time (over 20 years) and at this point I need to see a game OR hear it, but not both. Watching and listening to games at the same time is considered a luxury at this point!

The downfall of listening to games is the feeling of helplessness that comes with not being able to see things like the teams' energy, the coaches' expressions, all those intangibles that go toward how optimistic I feel about the game.

For example, last night the Wings shot a puck into the Coyotes' net but apparently the entire thing didn't go over the line. NHL rules state that the entire puck must cross the goal line in order for the goal to be counted. Well, it was a close call so the referees had to review the play to make their determination.

I'm sitting here in my living room feeling totally out of control. At least if I could see the game on my TV I could maybe read lips or watch their body language. But having to rely solely on the announcers, as they babble away about various rules and regulations was absolutely driving me nuts!!

These are the things I ponder here in the evenings as I contemplate my life choices and their impact. As seeing as how hockey playoffs are the most important event in my life right now, I figured it was worth a post.

PS, they determined that the first goal was no good. Later in the second period we scored again and again the refs decided to review the shot. They said it was a good one and we ended up winning the game, but it was definitely a stroke-worthy couple of moments.

Back on my Feet

A certain someone is out of town this week and I am taking the opportunity to run every day, go to bed early, eat salads for dinner, and abstain from alcohol. It's amazing how much I can eat and drink when I'm out at a neighborhood bar with excellent company! But no. I've gotta rein it in and get my life back under control after a more-than-slightly indulgent weekend in Atlanta.

"Charge it to the room" are words that are all too easy to say as you see no reason why not to have that third or fourth drink. No credit card to be swiped, nowhere to go except up the elevator... and yikes. Food and drink go down way too easy!

Yep, I'm back on track. How many times have I said that before?

Strangest Phenomenon

I'm heading out of town for the weekend and I thought I would leave you all with a strange, somewhat creepy, and probably paranoid post. Yes, I have nothing better to do than to notice and wonder about these weird things.

I've noticed lately that some Walk/Don't Walk signals that were previously lined up with crosswalks, and thus in full view and facing crossing pedestrians, are now tilted. They don't face the crosswalks anymore and make it impossible to see whether a pedestrian has the walk signal. As some of these intersections have one-way left-turn signals, crossing safely isn't always as obvious as simply waiting for the opposite light to change.

I photographed three of these signals. These are intersections that I walk through on a regular basis and only recently have they not been lined up with the crosswalks. I snapped some photos with my cell phone but it's difficult to tell what I'm talking about. Just look at the actual crosswalks and you'll see that the Walk/Don't Walk signals don't line up with them. They're pointed sort of at the oncoming traffic instead of at the pedestrians across the street (i.e. the perspective of me taking the picture).

20th St & N St (downtown):


16th St & New Hampshire Ave (U St):


1st St & East Capitol St (Capitol Hill):


I know this is a weird thing to notice. But I swear the tilt is recent. Any ideas WHY or HOW these signals have become skewed so they don't line up with the crosswalks??

For the Love of Hockey

My favorite time of year is coming up - NHL playoffs! It hasn't been the best year for my Red Wings. We were sidelined by massive amounts of injuries for the entire first 2/3 of the season and were placed in the middle of pack, standings-wise. But recently we've had our full lines again and shown our true colors, recently winning seven straight games and ten out of thirteen, rocketing from tenth place to fifth, well within the playoff berth.

This average standing actually poises us for playoffs quite nicely. We're matched with the Vancouver Canucks for the first round, another middle-ranked team. But, since we're playing well above our standing, we should have no problem eliminating the Canadians in Round One.

The only annoying thing is our strange placement in the Western Conference. Detroit is so far east yet we're in the Western Conference, so the first round of playoffs tends to be against Vancouver, San Jose, Anaheim, Phoenix... all those teams on the east coast. We basically have to travel all over God's creation and deal with jet-lag issues that other teams don't... but alas, we're quite accustomed to it, and there are no plans to redraw the conference boundaries. So we deal with it.

Right now I'm watching the Capitals vs. Bruins on network TV. I don't care much for the Capitals but I adore two Bruins - Zdeno Charra and Miroslav Satan. I can't get enough of watching them play together, and I'll be especially ecstatic if they beat the DC team.

It's a nice afternoon of hockey watching and Sudoku before I head off for the evening. Windows thrown open, cats lounging around, feeling relaxed and ready for the week. Doesn't get much better than this.

Spring blues?

We've all heard of (and experienced) the winter blues but is it possible to have a touch of the spring blues? The weather is gorgeous, the blossoms are blooming, and yet I have no motivation to run and would love nothing more than to take a nice long nap (except that I have mysteriously lost the ability to nap in the past 6-months).

Maybe I am burned out at work? I'm not particularly bored at the office, nor am I (more) short-tempered (than usual), but I haven't had a break in a while. Well, that's not true, I had two days off in a row in February during the snow storm.

Oh well, I guess there doesn't always have to be a reason to feel down. Just having a low-energy couple of weeks, I guess.

Whine and complain

I do not feel good. I have a pounding headache and am exhausted. I feel chubby and thick. My feet hurt.

And I don't have any cheese to go with my whine.

Road Trip Creepiness

Yesterday we took a nice drive down to the mouth of the Potomac. The weather was hazy and warm and we had a few memorable excursions along the way. The little St. Clement's Island museum was deserted but charming, and we found an interesting graveyard in historic St. Mary's City.

After a few stops and walks around, we found ourselves hungry. Both of us having a fondness for 'local color' - whatever that may entail - we pulled into a little inn and restaurant, looking for a sandwich or slice of pizza. What we walked into resembled the twilight zone.

Five round, dingy tables sat in what looked like someone's living room. An old fat woman with flabby arms sat at one table, stringy hair hanging over her shoulder. She was complaining about not being able to smoke. A family sat at another table, finishing some pizza. A third table was covered with pizzas, 2-liter sodas, and cupcakes.

In a darkened room resembling a private living room, off the main dining area, two diners sat still, not talking, not eating, no lights on. Were they alive? Asleep? The place was silent - no music playing, no one speaking.

The fourth table housed a manger scene, still going strong into the first week in April, and at the fifth table sat a partially blind man in an electric wheelchair.

The hostess told the wheelchair-bound man that she would need his table for the 'eat-in guests' and he said he was on his way. As he attempted to wheel past us he said, to my partner, "Excuse me sir, or ma'am, or whatever you are..." Now, he is very much a man and resembles one as such, though I suppose for a blind person it would be difficult to tell. He seemed to be able to get himself by the tables and out the door, though.

As we ordered (water and iced tea, onion rings, and an Italian sub to split), the door opened and eight young children poured into the room, aparently in the middle of a birthday party.

On a dare, I went to the bathroom - mostly to explore the back room with the catatonic women. Back there were three sofas arranged in a partial square, bounded off by shelves and boxes. Several people were lounging on the couches doing nothing - not talking, no TV, not reading. Just sitting there. Staring straight ahead. Doing nothing.

Where the heck were we?? What had we wandered into? And would we get out alive??

Thankfully, our food arrived and was actually pretty good. We had to sit through an awful rendition of "Happy Birthday" (to Bruce) and listen to the fat woman complain more. We ate our food, wide-eyed and confused, and got the hell out of there as quickly as we could!

I was craving a coke and we needed gas, so he pulled into a no-name gas station that happened to share space with a laundromat. We looked at each other and understood. As my hand gripped his knee he pulled straight through the row of fuel pumps, exited the parking lot, and we kept going until we found a large Exxon station.

Three Gratuitous Photos

My kitties, gazing at the wonderful view:



A shot of the stone lantern with cherry blossoms blooming:



A view of the Tidal Basin during the Cherry Blossom Festival:

March Savings Round-Up

CVS:

Subtotal: $2.11
Coupons: $0
Total: $2.11 (lip gloss)

Harris Teeter:

Subtotal: $194.70
Coupons: $95.57
Total: $99.13

This does not include about $30 spent on miscellaneous trips to the corner store for last minute/small items when I needed them and didn't feel like going to the store. It also includes $43.33 - $16 = $27.33 in pet supplies that should last me a while.

My most faithful commenter mentioned the hard-core couponers who have zero balances at the store. I get a lot of stuff for free but I rarely have a zero balance because I do buy produce, meat, and other things I just want.

A lot of people who routinely have zero balances take advantage of the huge deal-making promotions - but those are usually from Pillsbury or Wishbone or other junky type foods that I don't eat.

Joys of Homeownership

Wow. This weekend was filled with home improvement projects. Thankfully, all of them got done and I had some indespensible help. It's such a relief to have all these things crossed off my list!

1. Purchase and install proper bolt-type hook mounting thingy for hanging my towelrack on the bathroom door.
2. Purchase and install new floodlight halogen bulbs in my kitchen track lighting.
3. Re-install screen that came off when I was trying to put birdseed on the sill for the birds. One of the handles came off and we had to get all MacGyver on it's ass.
4. Have painter come and scrape damaged paint, reapply plaster, and touch up walls damaged from the ice dam that formed on the roof above my unit during Snowmageddon.
5. Replace burned out garbage disposal.

Yikes! That was a lot of stuff to do. Thankfully, since I own a condo, we have a management company that holds a master insurance policy on the building. So they arranged for and will pay the painter. While he was here, he offered to replace my disposal for what I considered a fair fee (cost of disposal plus $100 installation fee). He went right over to Home Depot and came back and did it the same day!

The hooks, screen, and lightbulbs were done courtesy of my very own personal general contractor/chef/walker-to-worker/other duties as necessary man. Many thanks :)

Here are some phots of the water damage to my walls:




Here are the walls scraped and re-plastered:





And the finished product, good as new:

Pretty Good Shopping Trip

Harris Teeter March 27, 2010

1 Quaker Oats
6 Uncle Ben's wild rice
1 Raisins
1 Mitchum deodorant
3 pkgs chicken breast (three in each package)
1 Ben & Jerry's Phish Food
12 Yoplait yogurts

Subtotal: $65.01
Coupons: $39.52
TOTAL: $25.49

I am doing pretty well... spending about $25/week at Harris Teeter for groceries, which is down from about $65/week that I was spending last year before paying attention to coupons and sales.

I haven't had, nor will I need to go, to CVS for a very long while. And I've accumulated enough of a stockpile of certain items (bought for free or for pennies) that I am about to take two huge bags of dry goods and personal care items to the Capitol Area Food Bank.

Small goals

In my ever-present quest for self-improvement, I have decided to set two small goals for the rest of the year.

1. To read the entire feature article in National Geographic each month.
2. To read the entire feature article in the Washington Post magazine every month.

Starting tonight with the Nat Geo 'water' issue... a very serious issue. I'm excited :)

Observations

The National Mall is getting crowded! Here are a few observations from my run this afternoon:

1. A lot of people are fat
2. A lot of people smoke
3. I love helping people with directions :)
4. I'm surprised more tourists aren't hit by cars
5. Republicans, especially those under 25, are instantly recognizable
6. I will never understand why people are so fascinated with squirrels

Lately I'm obsessed with this song...

Keeping my mouth shut!

The weather is getting warmer and everyone seems to be thinking about tank tops, swimwear, and getting rid of their winter weight. I'm really happy to hear so many people at work wanting to get healthy and active but it's very frustrating to hear the things they say. There's a lot of mis-information going around and a lot of frustration with lack of results. But when you hear the things they say it's easy to see why the things they're doing aren't working.

Fifteen minutes on the elliptical and fifteen minutes of walking on the treadmill three times a week ain't gonna do it if you eat Popeye's for lunch every day. I'm sorry.

I stay out of conversations unless someone invites me in. It's quite common knowledge that I run and practice yoga, that I cook my own meals and eat well (and cheat occasionally!). I don't want to get preachy or anything... at the same time I can so easily pinpoint where people are sabotaging themselves and it's tempting to want to offer help.

Oh well. This is why I have a iPod I guess.

Staying Consistent

For a moderately athetic person such as myself who runs for enjoyment, weight control, and stress relief, consistency is almost more important than intensity when looking at the long haul.

That's why I forced myself out there today. It was raining and gross. Humid. Wormy. I felt flabby, which for some reason usually means I DON'T want to run (running when I feel thin is great, but I feel thin when I run consistently... so....).

Somewhere deep down I found my mojo and went out for a slow and gentle 30-minute jog in the neighborhood and my goodness do I feel good.

In my many years of experience I've found that it's very, very important to resist skipping runs simply when you 'don't feel like it.' Those are the days when you need to just lace up your shoes and go. Over time, those 'don't feel like it days' really add up, and doing something is always better than doing nothing so that when you look back over the past month or two you find that you've run more days than not.

And that's when you find that running is accomplishing what you want it to accomplish. When you find that you are maintaining your weight, when your clothes fit, when you feel overall pretty darn good.

Otherwise, what's the point? Running should be an activity that works for you, that adds to the quality of your life. When it becomes too off-and-on, well, I find that the effort isn't worth it. There's no payoff!

Reminding myself of all this, and that there's never any pressure to set any records out there, I am, once again, glad I didn't skip it. I'm always glad when I don't skip it.

Adventures in Home Improvement - Part II

My consultation with Dan Benjamin of Sundance Construction went really well. I get the feeling that this guy really understands what I'm going for and he seemed to know his trade. He's done a ton of work in several houses on my block and said he would call one of his former clients for whom he did a similar built-in bookcase and ask if we could come over and look at it together.

He looked over my design drawings, took lots of photos, and will have a quote for me by Tuesday.

On the business side of things he comes with great references, lots of repeat customers, is registered with the DC Better Business Bureau, was about ten minutes late but called me right at our appointment time to let me know that he was on his way. He was not rushed at all and stayed to talk with me for about an hour. He made friends with my cats.

So... now I wait for the quote. If I like the quote and decide to hire him he said he will do a mock-up for me to look at and go from there!

Stay tuned!

Geography of the Genders

Seeing as how this is a milestone year for me, I really appreciated the following descriptions of how a woman changes as she ages.

GEOGRAPHY OF A WOMAN

- Between 18 and 22, a woman is like Africa - half discovered, half wild, fertile and naturally beautiful!

- Between 23 and 30, a woman is like Europe - Well-developed and open to trade, especially for something of real value.

- Between 31 and 35, a woman is like Spain - very hot, relaxed, and convinced of her own beauty.

- Between 36 and 40, a woman is like Greece - gently aging, but still a warm and desirable place to visit.

- Between 41 and 50, a woman is like Great Britain , with a glorious and all-conquering past..

- Between 51 and 60, a woman is like Israel - has been through war, doesn't make the same mistakes twice, and takes care of business.

- Between 61 and 70, a woman is like Canada - Cool, self-preserving, but open to meeting new people.

- After 70, she becomes Tibet - wildly beautiful, with a mysterious past and the wisdom of the ages.... An adventurous spirit and a thirst for spiritual knowledge.



THE GEOGRAPHY OF A MAN

Between 1 and 80, a man is like Iran...

--- ruled by nuts.

THE END

Adventures in Home Improvement - Part I

It's my first true act as a homeowner! I'm changing the inside of my home. I can do it! It's mine!

I am looking to install some custom bookshelves to frame my closet and bathroom doors, which are on the same wall. The shelves would start on the left side of the wall and go up and over the bathroom door, down the middle wall to the floor, and up and over the closet door. There would be one row of shelf above the door so it's as though you are walking through the shelves when you walk through the door.

I have a to-scale design drawing and some magazine photos that show some of the finer details I'd like.

Tomorrow at 3pm I have a consultation with the owner of a well-recommended carpentry/home renovation company. He knows my building - I told him the location and he wrote back "Is that the old nunnery?" so that's encouraging He comes well-recommended on the community list-serves, has a lot of repeat business, etc.

I would also like him to replace one missing cabinet door in the kitchen. It's the one that goes to the garbage disposal so it's kind of ugly not to have a door on that cabinet. I have the handle but I need a door.

Anyway, the shelves would look like this except I have two doors and those aren't my colors. I wish that were my piano!!



This is what the current wall looks like.



There is another two feet of ceiling above the heat vent.

I will be keeping all my faithful readers updated on this process! It's a learning experience for me... so stay tuned!

Dear Uterus:

We have been through this many times. I do not now, nor will I ever, want to have children. So can you please pack your bags and leave? Or at least shut down operations indefinitely.

Sincerely,
Your disgruntled owner

Notes and Asides

I love this time of year! Perfect running weather.

Confession: I drink Carlo Rossi jugs of wine as my 'everyday' wine during the week! The burgundy is actually pretty good and for $10.99/gallon you really can't beat the price. I have to have someone else carry it home for me, though, it's freaking heavy!

I got my very first property tax bill and assessment and because my taxes are going down a tad this year my monthly mortgage payment will also go down - a whole $12! I'm gonna be rich banking the difference - not.

The venerable captain Niklas Lidstrom's third period powerplay goal edged the Red Wings past the Colorado Avalanche last night in what is becoming our playoff push. The Wings are healthy for the first time all season and hungry to get into the post-season for the 19th straight year!

February Savings Round-up

My budget is:

Pharmacy $50
Grocery $250

Let's see how I did.

Harris Teeter
Subtotal: $283.49
Coupons: $159.93
____________________
Total: $123.56 which represents a savings of 56%

CVS
Subtotal: $136.44
Coupons: $ 68.92
____________________
Total: $ 67.52 which represents a savings of 51%

So I am still over-budget at CVS, however, those categories blend a little. I do get some personal care items at Harris Teeter and some groceries at CVS. Maybe I should just make a general "Grocery/Personal Care" budget since I do so much overlap-shopping and am not OCD enough to split my receipts when I've made purchases in both categories.

Overall I'm excited about my grocery store savings. I'm eating well, I have a decent stock-pile of dry goods and yet am coming in pretty consistently under-budget, at least in the first few months of the year!

At CVS I think I just need to be picker about deals. Now that I know how good a deal I can get on certain items, and I have some of those items in stock at home, I should make sure I'm not paying more than I need to.

For example, I recently got two tubes of toothpaste for $0.17ea. Since two tubes will last me quite a while AND since the final price was so low, I should remind myself to pass on seemingly 'good' deals where the toothpaste is on sale but my out-of-pocket would be $1 or so.

GOAL FOR MARCH: NO personal care/beauty products will be purchased unless they are LESS THAN ONE DOLLAR after coupon!

What A Difference Fifteen Minutes Makes

In an effort to maintain some semblance of health and fitness, I'm trying to retrain my brain when it comes to what I consider "long" runs or hard workouts.

There is absolutely no reason why I can't knock out a 5+ mile run during the week. Typically I run about 3 miles on a weekday and save anything longer for the weekend. In my mind, 3 miles is a basic run and anything more is "long."

Eehhhhh. Wrong. I can run five miles in under an hour and there's no reason why an hours worth of exercise should be considered especially intense.

Consider the following routes. The longer one adds about fifteen minutes onto my time when you consider not only the additional distance but also additional stoplights that require waiting, yet the longer one is longer significantly so when it comes to overall time on my feet.

A 45-minute route (starting and ending at home):


Simply continuing on down to the Lincoln Memorial adds about fifteen minutes and 3/4 mile (remember... stop lights... I am not THAT slow!)



Point is, that's hardly any additional distance but enough additional time to really kick the workout into the next level.

I just need to get over the mental block that says that 5-mile run is 'long' and therefore reserved for the weekend. No. If I can work toward a 5-mile run becoming a more common and regular occurrence I will not only improve my weekday calorie burn but increase my overall long runs to a distance that truly qualifies as long.

No More Excuses

At a little English-style diner pub in Fredericksburg, VA yesterday we came across the gem sitting on our table.

No more excuses for not being able to order the perfect glass of wine!

Grocery Porn

What does $30.84 worth of groceries from Harris Teeter look like?

Voila!



Subtotal: $78.93
Coupons: $48.09
Final: $30.84
Savings: 61%

Five boxes of pasta, two tubs of hummus, one tub of guacomole, two boxes of rice, one gallon of soymilk, a huge thing of Quaker oats, two pouches of tuna, two Simply Asian noodle bowls, two Cracker Barrel cheese, two shampoos, two conditioners, a deodorant, two toothpastes, one Ziploc plastic bags, bananas, and an onion.

Opening Ceremonies!

Two great Red Wings, Nik Lidstrom and Nik Kronwall, will be among others from Detroit and elsewhere joining Team Sweden for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver! Opening ceremonies kick off tonight and the men's hockey matches start early next week.

I can't wait to watch some classic Russian finesse hockey, see the Swedes play their intellectual game, witness the Czechs pound the crap out of their enemies, and take in the Canadians doing what they were born to do.

Snow Day #2

Unbelievable! My agency is closed for the second day in a row! I can't believe it. I was sure we'd be open today and I've have to trudge through wind, snow, and ice to my office in the dark. I am really happy for the additional day off.

Yesterday I napped a little, watched three movies, did a lot of reading and crosswording and playing around on the computer. It was a lovely day spent almost entirely in bed! I might consider getting out and being a little more active today... or not. It remains to be decided and at 7:30am the day is my oyster.

I'll work tomorrow but Monday is a holiday, so this has been and will continue to be a really nice break from the routine.

Now hopefully our roof won't collapse under the weight of all this snow and ice!

Owwwww

You know how when your uterus is spasming for 10 hours and it's coming in waves so after each wave you get a few breaths of peace and you're almost tricked into thinking that that one could be the last one?

But it isn't.

Hormonal

I know when I'm running on a surplus of hormones when the slighest things just make me want to scream.

I have one co-worker who's smacking on a peppermint in her mouth... another with the sniffles and one who has this weird whistling tic... he whistlest these short notes that go up at the end, almost like he's calling a dog, about once every ten minutes.

Ordinarily I wouldn't care about this sort of thing and just take it as regular office background noise but today it is driving.me.nuts.

Thank god I have an ipod... and as soon as the first flakes start falling I am OUTTA HERE.

Rant over.

Snowy Run

Well, I was inspired. Even yesterday with the snow still basically falling I saw people suited up and out running. A half-marathoning girlfriend told me that she had gone out for a run as well, so today after work I did it! And it was great! Warm, sunny, lots of runners out, clear and salted sidewalks, light breeze.

I couldn't go everywhere I wanted to go; I basically followed the plow, but I ended up with a nice 35-minute spin around parts of the Capitol and the Mall and feel a lot better for it!

Unbelievably, we are expecting another FOOT of snow tomorrow night and into Wednesday. Yikes.

A Feast and A Snowstorm

To prepare for the impending SNOWPOCALYPSE/SNOWBLITERATION a feast was prepared that will last days... if not weeks.

Moose burgers
Moose meatballs
Sausage and peppers
Barbecue pork

My kitchen and fridge are overflowing with meat, the dishwasher has been run 3 times in 24 hours and the trash has gone out twice. I have more food than I know what to do with! Not a bad problem to have.

Finally summoned the energy to go for a walk in the gorgeous snow. It's going to take us a long time to dig out of this one. The roads, under the snow, are coated with ice 2 inches thick. But the snow made for a gorgeous backdrop.

Finger Condoms

Between the Super Bowl and the impending snow storm the grocery store was packed today.

I did get a great deal on coffee. Eight o'Clock coffee was on sale and also buy-one-get-one. So I got two bags for $5.89 minus a coupon for $2 off 2 bags. Total $3.89 for two bags of coffee!

Also Dannon yogurts were on sale 10 for $4... I had a coupon for $1 off ten so that was ten yogurts for $3 or $0.30 each.

Anyway, the line for check-out was so long that I ended up waiting halfway down the first aid aisle.... and I snapped this funny photo! I didn't know such things existed!

Dinner

I just put together what may very well be the most random and disorganized meal, ever.

I was going to bake a chicken breast and steam some peas. Okay, good plan. But while the chicken was baking I got really hungry so I made the peas and added some chopped sundried tomaties and shredded parmesan cheese. I ate that while the chicken finished up.

But then just chicken on my plate looked pretty pathetic, so I rustled up half a green bell pepper and sliced it, raw. Didn't really feel like roasting or sauteeing it. I could have put it in with the chicken but I wasn't thinking I'd eat it.

So yeah. Peas for an appetizer, now a chicken breast with half a raw green pepper.

The only redeeming factor? A really good bottle of Belgian beer.

January Savings Round-up

My faithful readers know that I have been trying to trim my pharmacy and grocery budgets by shopping sales and using coupons. Well, I will be going out of town this weekend so today's trip to Harris Teeter marked my very last shopping trip of the month! I know you're dying to find out how I did... so here are the numbers:

CVS
Total trips: 4
Subtotal: $164.52
Total out-of-pocket: $61.25
Total saved: $103.27
Percentage saved: 63%

This is about $11 over my $50 monthly budget for personal care and pharmacy items, however, I have a great stockpile going and now I can be more selective on sales. My total out-of-pocket next month should be well below $50.

Harris Teeter
Total trips: 4
Subtotal: $199.25
Total out-of-pocket: $99.10
Total saved: $100.15
Percentage saved: 50%

My total monthly grocery budget is $250, so I'd say I kicked that one out of the park! Of course it helps that I get a lot of overflow food from someone who lives down the street and can only cook in "firehouse" portions ;) And I don't do as much stockpiling of groceries just because I don't have the space for it, but I'm hoping to keep my grocery totals well below my allotment and continue to knock down those student loans with the surplus!

Jealousy!

I have a good friend who is moving to China for two years with her husband. He works in international marketing and his company is trying to break into the Chinese market (good idea!).

Man oh man am I jealous. Though I know that living in a place like China could be very lonely and frustrating it's also sure to be an incredible adventure. And think of all the traveling they'll get to do while over there! Getting to Asia is half the battle of traveling there and it's really not a trip you can do very often and still keep your sanity. So the fact that they'll have a home there (in the south, near Hong Kong) means that Cambodia, Thailand, Tibet, the Philippines, Japan, and Korea are suddenly as close as western Europe is for me! Easy peasy!

In another lifetime for me, maybe. In the mean time I'll try to remember that I do live in an international city and do my best to make the most of it.

But jeez... China for two years... lucky them!!

ASL Test

I went in for my American Sign Language Proficiency test this morning at Gallaudet University. Nerve-wracking!!

The testing room was on the second floor of the library. Thankfully I semi-know my way around campus so getting there wasn't a problem. I checked in and told the person behind the desk that I was nervous and wondering what she could tell me about the format.

She said that the format would be conversational and is designed to test your existing knowledge of the language. She said that it tests the whole language capabilities of the signer and is naturally geared toward whichever level the signer is at.

My tester came out to get me early (I guess there was no one before me) and we went into the testing room which was set up with two chairs and a camcorder pointing at me. My test was recorded for evaluation purposes.

Things started out simple. He introduced himself and we fingerspelled our names. We told each other our deaf names and he asked me how I was doing. He asked me a little about my signing history and my work. All in sign language. No words spoken between us during the entire test.

After explaining my current work and how I came to be interested in American Sign Language, he asked me about where I live and what I do for fun. He asked me if I liked sports, and then blew me out of the water with a question about what I think should be done about the prevalence of drugs, violence, and greed among professional athletes! Eek!

I managed to steer the conversation toward hockey (what I told him I consider a 'pure' sport, mostly devoid of steroids and greed) and told him all about my beloved Niklas Lidstrom. I told him about the difference between Russian and Canadian hockey.

He then changed the subject and asked me how crime analysis and intelligence software has changed in the past five years. Another eek! I didn't manage that one very well but was somehow able to explain that, since crimes are committed by humans and humans naturally adapt to crime abatement techniquest, crime prevention software also has to change continually and that it takes a lot of training to keep up with it all.

By now I was extremely tired! There were a few more questions about travel and I mentioned that I loved to travel but have to scale it down now that I bought a condo (he gave me a 'congratulations' for that!).

A few more comments traded back and forth abot travel, and we were done! Twenty minutes or so and it went by fast. Test results (in writing) should be here mid-next week.

Whew!

Wanting More

Why is it that we (I) are never satisfied with what we have?

When I first moved to Washington, DC I had an apartment about eight blocks from the metro. It was a fifteen minute walk; not bad. The first time I moved, I cut the distance in half. Four blocks felt like nothing! I was at the metro in less than ten minutes!

My condo is a tiny bit over one block to the metro. Technically it's one block but then you have to cross the street and walk up the driveway to get to my front door - maybe an extra 30 seconds (if that). Not bad! It's about five minutes, super easy, and probably a closer distance than any parking space I could get if I had a car.

But now, when I get off the metro elevator I find myself looking longingly at the rowhouses right across the street. How night it would be to live right across the street from the metro!

What is wrong with me? I practically AM right across the street. I'm far closer to the metro than probably 90% of city residents. I'm closer than I've ever been. It's NOTHING. So why do I still find myself wanting to be closer still?

Never satisfied.

Great Game

The Wings outplayed but could not outscore the Capitals last night. We played a tight game offensively and defensively, but are just having one of those seasons where nothing is going our way. Even the Capitals players said after the game that their win was pure luck!

I wish the Wings came to town more than once per year. But I will take what I can get!

My ASL test is this Saturday. I thought it was next Saturday, so I haven't practiced.

Other than that I am trying to get back on the wagon after a weekend of emotional eating. It doesn't help that my apartment looks like I robbed a liquor store (thanks to the case of assorted alcohol I took home from my grandparents' house!) The sign test has been weighing on my mind - I am not ready - so I'll be glad to have it over. I don't expect to be scored as proficient but I hope that my agency chooses to develop my skills.

I will keep everyone posted on the results.

Out of Town

Heading out of town this weekend. Will post an update if I can find a wifi spot... otherwise... catch up with me Monday evening!

Decision

Well this decision was bound to come sooner or later. It was not easy to make but I feel a bit of relief having made it.

In order to meet some of my financial resolutions (namely take out a big chunk of my student loan debt and save more towards retirement) I have determined that it's necessary to move to an every-other-year travel schedule.

For approximately the past seven years I have been fortunate to take a significant and complex overseas trip every year. In fact I took two of these trips in 2009 if you count that I was in Iceland for half the day on January 1, 2009 and then in the UK in September of that same year.

I've been to Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean, the Arctic. And I have no intention of stopping traveling. I just need to increase the length of time between trips.

It makes me sad to say this as I had planned to visit Sweden and Russia this October, but alas, the mature decision has prevailed.

Slow and steady wins the race builds the travel portfolio. Other things are important now, too, such as building wealth in my home and making responsible decisions.

Ahh...

I'm back online, at least temporarily. It's been frustrating to have my laptop in the shop, but hey. The laptop is free and the service is free. So I can't complain - and I get what I pay for ;-)

It's cold and blustery outside and I'm claiming tonight as my own. I'm knee-deep into the 1970's era I Claudius TV series. I love the novels (Robert Graves) and the series, while a little Shakesperean in production, is engaging and suspenseful. I also have a stack (and I mean STACK) of novels that are just waiting to be cracked open. I just can't read fast enough these days.

As part of a health kick-start I've cut out sweets and, during the week, alcohol, for two weeks. This is the end of week one and things are going swimmingly. My workouts have been varied and rock-solid in terms of consistency. I'm eating clean. I feel good. I broke my rule last night and had one beer (but only one!) out with my cousins. I made sure to eat a healthy dinner at home first and avoided the greasy bar food. Clothes are fitting the way they should and some of my upper body muscles are starting to pop.

And now, of course, the update you've all been waiting for - couponing! Heh. I had a pretty good week this week, starting with a trip to CVS. I saved $40 off a $75 tab (final total - $34.18, total saved, $40.38) plus I earned $15 in "Extra Care Bucks" (used as cash off a future total) along with a coupon for $5 off my purchase of $25 or more. The next CVS trip, if planned well, should be close to free.

Harris Teeter was doubling coupons up to $1.98 this week and I scored some good deals there. Notably, Dannon yogurts were on sale as 10 for $4. I had a $1 coupon (that doubled to $2 at checkout), which means I got ten yogurts for $2, or $0.20 each.

After coupons I also got two boxes of 20 Hefty tall kitchen bags for $1 ($0.50 each). So that was a pretty good deal.

I messed up on the Lysol, though. Lysol wipes were on sale 2 for $4 and I had two $1 coupons which double, making the items free. But I got the wrong kind of Lysol wipes and ended up paying about $8 at checkout- the coupons worked but wipes weren't the ones on store sale. Oh well.

So let's see, at Harris Teeter this week my subtotal was $116.85. After coupons and store sales I spent $53.23 which is well under my weekly grocery budget! And I have food, home care, and cleaning supplies that will last a very long time.

I guess you could say that I'm on a financial health quick-start to go along with my physical health quick-start. It feels good.

Resolutions

1. Grow hair
2. Be more encouraging to my friends; less lecturing
3. Spend less time on the internet in the evenings
4. Make a huge dent in my student loans

What are your New Year's Resolutions?

I hate technology... and it's mutual

Between my computer catching a virus and me not being able to figure out how to make my iPod work... let's just say I feel really old and inept right now.

A girlfriend, much more experienced in these things, has assured me that the iPod issue is not mine, and so I have an appointment at the Apple store today after work. I had fully intended to bring my laptop so the tech could see the iTunes setup, but now, of course, my laptop is the property of my company's IT department - who can't tell me how long it'll take for them to re-image the machine.

Being offline all weekend actually wasn't too bad - and a great way to start the New Year. So I'm looking on the bright side and making lemonade, all that jazz. In the scheme of things I really have nothing to complain about!

New Year Catch-Up

I'm way behind on posts at this point; I was hoping to have a resolution post, a fitness post, and some photos up by now but my computer caught a virus and I've been offline since Thursday afternoon!

Hopefully the IT gurus will be able to fix it or at least give me a temporary replacement... so stay tuned!

Team Sweden!

The winter Olympic games start in February and Sweden just released their hockey team roster. Four Red Wings, including the beloved captain and my future husband Niklas Lidstrom, have made the cut.

I can't wait to watch! Yes I will be rooting for Sweden followed by Russia and, if those two don't make it, Team Canada.

Official Team Roster:

• G
  Henrik Lundqvist
  (NHL)
• G
  Jonas Gustavsson
  (NHL)
• G
  Stefan Liv
  Jonkoping (SEL)
• D
  Tobias Enstrom
  (NHL)
• D
  Magnus Johansson
  Linkopings (SEL)
• D
  Niklas Kronwall
  (NHL)
• D
  Nicklas Lidstrom
  (NHL)
• D
  Douglas Murray
  (NHL)
• D
  Johnny Oduya
  (NHL)
• D
  Mattias Ohlund
  (NHL)
• D
  Henrik Tallinder
  (NHL)
• F
  Daniel Alfredsson
  (NHL)
• F
  Nicklas Backstrom
  (NHL)
• F
  Loui Eriksson
  (NHL)
• F
  Peter Forsberg
  MODO (SEL)
• F
  Tomas Holmstrom
  (NHL)
• F
  Patric Hornqvist
  (NHL)
• F
  Fredrik Modin
  (NHL)
• F
  Samuel Pahlsson
  (NHL)
• F
  Daniel Sedin
  (NHL)
• F
  Henrik Sedin
  (NHL)
• F
  Mattias Weinhandl
  Dynamo (RUS)
• F
  Henrik Zetterberg
  (NHL)

??

I think one of my cats is rolling me over in the middle of the night.

Every night this week I have woken up on my stomach to find a cat sleeping on my back.

I don't really sleep on my stomach, at least I don't fall asleep that way... I suspect that my cat knows where she wants to be and nuzzles/pushes me while I'm sleeping so that I wake up a little and roll onto my stomach to she can have her spot.

Sheesh!

It's really nice to have this warm weight on me during the cold, cold mornings, though.

Ownership

Isn't the human sense of ownership a funny thing? The way we attach part of ourselves to our possessions even if the possession in question isn't valuable. It's still ours. If we lend a pen to someone we want it back. If someone steals something from us, even something trivial or inexpensive (or even if we obtained it free of charge) we don't think that's right.

The other day I bought a box of cereal and was taking it home on the metro. It wasn't important and didn't cost much money, and for a moment I thought about just leaving it on the bench there by the train platform, walking onto the train empty-handed, and I couldn't. The cereal was mine, I paid for it, I wanted it, and even though it means next to nothing in my life, leaving it behind was impossible.

It's just cereal.

Weird things I'm musing about on this cold, clear, wintry night.

Ready for Life to Settle Down

I'm ready for the holidays to be over:

I'm ready to stop spending money. I'm ready to stop over-eating. I'm ready to get back to a consistent workout routine. I'm ready for a more predictable schedule in general! What can I say, I'm a creature of habit...

The snow storm was really fun though! We stayed in and I made spaghetti and meatballs, a good cold-weather comfort meal. The snow really did come down, even by my grew-up-in-Michigan standards. It was nice to have 48 hours of forced relaxation and, especially, not have to worry about digging out a car and driving to work Monday morning! By the time I needed to catch my bus everything was up and running again.

Check back later this week for a New Year's resolution post... my favorite thing :)

Ready for the Snow!

I have tea, coffee, wine, whiskey, books, crosswords, kitties, ice cream, and - most importantly - nowhere to be for the next 56 hours. I am ready for the snow storm!

I definitely appreciate not having the burden of car-ownership most in times like this.

Bring it on!

Pretty Good Harris Teeter Trip

Subtotal before discounts and coupons: $66.45
Total after discounts and coupons: $38.40
Total Savings: $28.05

Not bad at all!

Some things to note about shopping at Harris Teeter: the store will double all manufacturer coupons up to $0.99. This is GREAT, especially when stacking those on top of store sales.

So today, I needed alunimum foil. I use foil a lot because I roast a lot of vegetables and bake a lot of chicken and fish. Reynold's foil wrap at Harris Teeter costs $4.29 but was on sale for $0.50 off. Since, I bought two, that would have made my total $8.58 - $1 = $7.58.

However, I had two coupons (one for each box of foil) for $0.75 off. Since Harris Teeter doubles coupons up to $0.99, this means that I really got $1.50 off each box.

So, $7.58-$1.50-$1.50 = $4.58 = $2.29 each. So I basically got two eighty-foot rolls of aluminum foil for half the price of one!

Another thing to note about Harris Teeter is that they will accept competitor's coupons for $x off the total amount. This is A VERY IMPORTANT THING TO KNOW. Over the weekend I got a circular in the mail from World Market. The circular included a coupon for $10 off a purchase of $30 or more.

Since there is no World Market close enough to make the travel time worth the purchases, I took the coupon to Harris Teeter today and they took $10 off my total purchase price. Big savings there.

Yes I am a nerd but this is becoming addicting! So far this month at Harris Teeter my spending and savings look like this:

Amount before discounts and coupons: $132.31
Amount after discounts and coupons: $82.42
Total Savings: $49.89

This is a 38% savings on groceries so far this month! And I'm still getting everything I need - produce, meat, lunch supplies, ice cream, coffee, etc. Who doesn't like that??

How do you know when you're PMSing?

When you come home from work too tired to stand up, eat two bowls of cereal, and definitely don't feel like working out.

Ugh.

Pretty Good Trip to CVS!

Three (3) boxes General Mills cereal
One (1) All Small & Mighty laundry detergent
One (1) bottle Aussie hair conditioner
Two (2) tubes Revlon lip gloss
One (1) pair black socks
Total before coupons and discounts: $51.62
Total after coupons and discounts: $19.25
TOTAL SAVINGS: $32.37

PLUS I got back a $5 off purchse of $25 or more coupon... which is ALSO redeemable at Harris Teeter, where I get my groceries. Harris Teeter will accept "x amount off total purchase" competitor coupons.

Wheee!

Long Weekend

I took a train to Norfolk and had a great Christmas with my mom, her husband, my brother, and his wife. We ate a lot of amazing home-made food and drank a lot of wine, beer, and whiskey. We took the new puppy for a long run on the beach and collected shells. We watched football, read books, sat by the fire. I ran in the cold and in the warm.

We went to an omelet shop and an art museum. We went consignment shopping and jewelry shopping.

I got charged by a dog on my run and got a new command structure at work.

Right now I am waiting for my mom to come see my condo for the very first time and give her a tour of my new neighborhood. It's half-price burger night at Mr. Henry's and they have the best chicken wings on Capitol Hill.

Tomorrow we have tickets to see the terracotta warriors at the National Geographic museum, which I've never been to.

My belly is getting soft but my resolve is rock-solid. I can't wait to try out all my new Christmas gifted Northface running clothes!

Heading out of town!

Be good while I'm gone... don't do anything I wouldn't do.

Catch y'all on Monday.

Get Me Out Of Here!

This day is annoying me, so I have a nice afternoon planned:

Stop in Eastern Market for a Christmas gift I need to give this weekend;
Medium-long run (about 50 minutes hopefully);
Make hot cider with honey;
Start on Season Three of Weeds that just came in Netflix yesterday!;
Spend a few minutes studying French on Rosetta Stone;
Start to get excited for my nice long train ride down to Norfolk this weekend.

I have the Post Magazine crossword saved just for this purpose! I can't wait to look out the train window, work on the crossword, and see my family for a few days.

No wonder I have no patience for work right now. Too much to look forward to!