Random v17.1

Good Day!

***I guess let me first say that our patio is finished with only some minor things to wrap up once the nice weather shows itself.

Finished Patio and Stairs

Stairs after being stained

So clearly we still have to finish the railing on the stairs, and we're going to put a couple flower boxes in to help brighten the space... and then we need to do something about a wall.  We talked about building a sitting wall out of bricks, we talked about building a wall out of wood, we talked about building a hedge wall.  Originally it was bricks and we were pretty dead set on it - until we had to lay all the bricks for the patio and saw all the labor that went into it - I think it helped us realize that we'd be spending an entire summer building a wall, even though it would be nice to have additional sitting space.  We then discussed spending 1 summer doing nothing but enjoying the space (after the railing and flower boxes were done) to see if we even wanted a wall.  I think our latest conversation is to plant hedge shrubs early in the spring and groom them to be a 'wall'.  The green will help brighten the space and will provide the privacy we desire.. not to mention be MUCH easier than building anything.  I'm so anxious to get out there and enjoy our new space!***


***Last week, on the afternoon of January 31st, 2017, I deactivated my Facebook account.  This comes in the wake of our most recent US Election.  I don't talk politics, so I'm not gonna preach, but I will say that Facebook became so saturated with each sides opinion and everyone bashing the other side or telling them that they are unjust in their opinion.... I just couldn't take it anymore.  I found that I'd sit and just scroll without reading anything.  I'd look at pictures if they were of something I wanted to see, but for the most part it was just scrolling... so pointless.  So far, I haven't missed it as much as I thought I would.***


***In the wake of the above note about Facebook, I've found that I have some extra time on my hands... how sad that Facebook was taking up that much of my time!  So over the weekend Steve and I cleaned out our basement storage room, which we'd been putting off since moving in (circa 2011); we now have a ton of space - not to be filled with junk going forward☺
On Sunday, I went for a run for the first time since October.  I don't know how much I blogged in the past about getting into my fitness (running mostly) to help cut some pounds off... I did a few 5k's, got hurt, and then never really got back into it.  The October 5k was so painful because I hadn't trained at all.  I have a 5k in 9 weeks, I will successfully run this one without pain and have a PR time.  That is my goal.
I went Aqua Jogging last night - it's a fun little deep water exercise class - you wear a flotation belt to keep you upright and above water and you do a bunch of running in 9-10ft water.  Great workout - major calorie burner.
Tonight Steve and I are going to take a tour of the YMCA and we're considering joining.
Why not take all my extra time and put it to good use to better myself and my body!***


***Speaking of water and floating... I did this strange thing the other week called Floating:

Float Room

They pump the water with one thousand pounds of epsom salt and it creates a natural buoyancy and you float effortlessly!  You have options for light and music, but I decided to turn the light off and music down... it was an hour long float and ... I really enjoyed it.  I originally decided to try this just to see if I could be alone with my thoughts (and no digital stimulation) for an hour; turns out I can.  I already have more floats purchased and I'm hoping to make this a monthly thing.***


***I think that last most important thing to mention is that Steve and I have expanded our little family...
... Don't be silly, no kids for us.
We rescued a little Tortie DSH kitty (Goldie) back in October...

Goldie is a cuddle bug, super playful, loves to jump and is 100% a lap kitty - she fills my heart and we are so lucky to have found her!

...and just recently we acquired a 5 month old Maine Coon kitty (Ivory)...

We're still learning what makes Ivory tick, but so far we know she has a TON of energy (still very much a kitten), she plays fetch, she loves to spoon up on my neck/chest area on the rare chance she's feeling cuddly... she also loves to wake us up and attack us in bed.  Being full blooded Maine Coon, we're testing her to see how much she likes water (she may have slipped into the bath with me the other night - I panicked more than she did)...

As it stands Goldie does not like Ivory - she hisses, growls and recently began to bat at her in a very non-playful way.  We have taken steps backwards to try and get their scents all over our house (they are fully separate, and we swap their spaces every 24 hours).  I'm trying to remain optimistic that this second try at a SLOW introduction will be better for them.  Ivory is so curious about Goldie that all she does it tries to chase her.  It's comical, but Goldie hates it.  This little girl is going to be HUGE, so Goldie better get used to having her around!***

Until next time my friends...


~Cheers~
Ang

Update of months!

Are you pretty sure I'm dead?  You're wrong.

I'm alive, still looking for a new job, still hating my current one (even more now), still loving my boyfriend, still waiting on that ring ;), still as beautiful as ever.


What has been my life for the last couple of months?
Well... in recent weeks, we've been gifted a brand new king size bed and a kitchen-aid stand mixer.  Amazing, right?
The bed is wonderful.. we're still breaking it in - do you know you're supposed to rotate a mattress every 2 weeks while breaking it in?  Well, it's important, after the first 2 weeks there was an obvious difference once we rotated it.  We're making our second rotation this weekend.  King size sheets are not cheap, btw.

We've yet to use the stand mixer, but I figure once fall/winter rolls around and we're using the grill less, we'll have time to make some pizza dough and yummy sticky lemon rolls!  God, I love pinterest.

I've joined 2 fantasy football leagues, this is my first year ever playing FF.  So far, I'm 0-2 on one league and 1-1 on the other.  I lost week 1 on both leagues.. BUT, I've since brushed up on WTF I'm doing, so... I have high hopes for the weeks to come.

We watched season 6 of Dexter!

We booked our trip, using the first class tickets that Steve won at his Christmas party last year.  We're headed to Cancun at the end of January!

I joined Curves.  I've gone once, been a member for 18 days.  While I really want to shed some of this weight, I'm really not digging Curves after my first workout, and I'm sure I'll get over it if I just go.  The first, and only time I went, it was old ladies talking about flax seed recipes.  It just made me feel really old, and not in-my-30's old, but like straight up 70's old.  I almost went again yesterday, but... came up with an excuse to go home.  My bag is in the car, hopefully tonight.  I'll never know if they talk about anything besides flax seed unless I go find out, right?!

My niece turned 5 in July - have I told you that?  My little brother is going to be 1 next month!

I went to the Minnesota State fair and didn't eat as much as I normally do - so good and bad I suppose.

OMG - how could I forget this?!  I was driving home one day a few weeks ago and on the side of the road stood the HITCHHIKER!  For those that are new around here, follow the link and read up on hitchhiker boy.  If my blog serves me correctly, I haven't seen him since 2010 - WOWZA!  I'm beside myself knowing he is still alive, and hitchin'.  I called Bob right away to tell him about it, but he wasn't quite as excited as I was.  Not sure if I should be happy or sad that he's still a hitchhiker... I had big dreams for him, as I'm sure he did too!

Enjoyed a relaxing Labor Day weekend.

Took a door off our storage room in the basement and we're going to use it to make a headboard... I've failed to take before pictures, but I'll be sure to post some pictures once it's finished.

I photographed a wedding this past weekend!

Steve and I started Kettlebells last Wednesday - I was super sore all day Thursday and Friday!  I can't wait to do it again - we're all signed up for once a week until Jan 9th, 2013!  Shit will kick your ass, lemme tell ya!

I'm probably forgetting a few things, but I think that covers it.

Can you see me now?

As some of you commented recently, a few of my posts should have popped up in your readers over the last day or two.  I took the blog off private for a bit.  Partially seeing how it'd work.
When I had it on private and I posted, it didn't show up for any of you, but as soon as I took the 'private' off, my posts showed up.  This sucks.  I wish there was a way to notify you all of posts while I'm private.  Dana made a comment about another blog she used to read still showing up... I've searched high and low and I've yet to find anything.  I'm still searching though.  In the mean time, I'm leaving things 'public' - anyone looking for my blog has to know the name to find it.  I'm sure of that.

So, let's talk weight loss a bit, shall we?  First of all, since I posted last Friday I've been to the gym several times!  I went on Friday, Monday, Wednesday and I have plans to go tonight as well as tomorrow.  I HAD plans to go on Saturday, but I had a bridal shower that ended up taking longer than I expected and I just didn't have time to get there with my evenings plans looming.  Sunday I was hungover from my Saturday night plans... whoops.  I'll be weighing in tomorrow.
In the mean time... as if I needed more motivation... I pulled down my pants this morning to go to the bathroom (tmi?) and noticed that I have a rip in the thigh of my jeans.  Not super surprising as I have big thighs and a big ass - my thighs rub together when I walk thus wearing down the material in pants - but it's still heart-breaking.  I kind of love these jeans... and now I look like a whore.  A whore who feels fat and completely insecure about herself.  New feelings for me.  I guess a trip to Target is in order after work the gym.

My gym doesn't offer classes (it's one of those cheap 24 hour access gyms, so it's not staffed all the time) - but I am looking into taking a community ed class, probably Kettlebells.  If you've been reading for a bit, you'll remember last Spring I took a zumba class and pretty much hated it.  I felt so out of place in there.

So other than that... my job still sucks and I still hate it here.  I no longer feel valued or needed - I feel like I'm just here to do whatever it is I know how to do (and not even all that I used to do anymore)... so that's always a neat feeling.
I'm digging deep for motivation to wake up and come to this place on a daily basis.  I also feel like it's having a bit of an impact on my relationship - not a huge one, but a bit.  I feel like I've always been decent at leaving work at work, but I'm struggling lately.  I told Steve that there will be days that I come home crabby, and while I'll try not to take it out on him... I can't hold back the way I feel.  It's not him that I'm upset with, but if I've had a bad day, sometimes it's hard to perk up when I get home.  Hopefully he continues to love me no matter what.

What a great life right?  I hate my body, I hate my job, I hate blogger for not making it easy to go private, I hate Hulu for no longer streaming my favorite MTV shows... where is the positive?  It's there... and like the sunshine on a cloudy day, it peeks through sometimes.  I guess 2011 was so great, I have to expect some bad in 2012, right?  I feel like I might be on the verge of a small breakdown.

I've spent almost this entire week at work looking up stuff on New York City - so I'm getting ready for that trip... only 2 months to go!  I'm also planning a bachelorette party for my cousin, which is about a month and a half away.  Something I've never done, but I'm excited for.

Okay, that's my super upbeat update.  I'll check in tomorrow with my weigh-in, hopefully that'll have a bit lower number to report.  I promise one day I'll have a positive outlook again.  Please bare with me until then... I'm grasping at straws for things to smile about.

Accountability

I'm not happy in my own skin.  I love my life and, overall, I'm happy.  I'm just not comfortable.  I don't like the way I look anymore - I don't like having to buy new clothes because my old ones don't fit anymore.  I haven't been to the gym on a regular basis in a few years now, and I need to do something to change that.
I hated being in my bikini in Hawaii because I felt like a beached whale.

I am going to be in a wedding at the end of April (Shannon's), I'm going to NYC in May, I'm going to be in another wedding at the end of June (Pam's), and I'm going to Chicago in July.  At some point, hopefully within the next year, Steve and I are going to be using our free plane tickets to hit up a tropical beach... I don't want the same feeling for all of these things as I had in Hawaii.

I can't explain why it's so easy for me to hate the way I look and then drive right past the gym on my way home from work every day.  In the past 3 weeks, I've been to the gym 4 times.  I know that is not a lot, but it is something.  Something is better than nothing and hopefully it's the beginning of lots more visits to come.

I'm not sure how else to motivate myself to do something.

Yesterday my friend Abbie emailed our little dinner group of girls and asked if we can do weekly weigh-in's with each other.  I JUMPED at the chance.  While I'm a firm believer in the number on a scale not meaning shit unless you feel different and your clothes fit different... I will do it to make myself accountable.  This group of girls are all a part of the June wedding (bride included), so it's a perfect excuse.  I'm a huge fan of competition, so I'm hoping that looking at it as I'm going to lose more weight than these bitches this week I'll be more successful.  On top of that, if I can get in the habit of the gym by then, hopefully I can stick with it even after we've met our deadline.

Our first weigh-in was this morning (apparently we weight less when we wake up?  who knows).  Frankly I'm embarrassed to share my weight with you, so I'm not going to.  I'm keeping a spreadsheet in my gDocs so I can report weight lost each week.  The girls and I have decided to not share our weights, but to report that we've weighed-in and then next Friday we'll report what we've lost.

If you're still checking in and reading here, help me be accountable!  My plan is to report here each week as well... I'll never share my weight with you, but I will tell you how many times I've been to the gym and I will tell you how much I've lost.

While I do plan to adjust my diet as well, for now, the gym is my main focus - once I can get back to that I'll start focusing on eating habits.  I'm trying to get in the frame of mind that I need to eat less... so I'll just start there.

One step at a time and I know I can do this.

Blah - I need help though, so hopefully this will be the help I need!  Wish me luck!

The Gym Whore

For those of you on Pinterest and blogging... do you ever wonder if your blog material is pinned?  I'd never pin my own stuff (just not how I roll)... but I pin things from blogs I read - I wonder if I should be telling the bloggers that they've been pinned.  Just a thought.

That being said, plug your ears and get the kids out of the room because I'm about to litter this post with foul language.

I joined a gym back in ... September... let us not get into how many times I've made it there in those couple months.
The first day I was at the gym I was working out, and a couple walked in - they guy says "Hi" to me and strikes up a friendly conversation.  I tell him that it's my first day and he goes onto tell me about how awesome the owners are and how nice the people are, etc.  He introduces himself (his name is Steve but I don't want to confuse him with my man, so I'll just call him 'he') and points to his wife and tells me her name.
This dude has been super kind and friendly to me each time we're in the gym together, always says hi, makes small talk about the weather or current event, but never crosses the line where I feel he's a creeper.

His cunt for a wife, on the other hand... is a fucking Bitch - with a capital B!  The first day when he pointed and said "That's my wife, Katie" (yes, I even went out of my way to remember the cunts name) she didn't even really look my way to nod hello.  Fine, you're working out and way too cool... no big deal, I'm not there to be friends either.  Each time he comes in and says hello, she just walks right over to her precious bike and starts peddling - without so much as a smile in my direction.  I've become used to this behavior from her - she's a cunt, she knows it, and doesn't care what people think of her.  Good for you, cunt.
Yesterday though.. I was <thisclose> to saying something to her.
They walked in as a couple as they always do... they didn't see me.  They are doing cardio and I am behind them on some machines.  They get off their bikes at the same time and turn to walk ... she's in front, he sees me and says "hi", I say "hi" back, she snaps her head back so fast to see who he's talking to, sees me and rolls her eyes back in front of her so hard I thought they were going to pop out of her fucking cunt.
I don't know if she thinks that I'm trying to steal her man, or if she thinks that because I don't workout everyday that she is way better than me, or if she's just a flat out whore.

I've done NOTHING in this situation to warrant that type of attitude from her.  Her husband was kind enough to make me feel welcome on my first day, and from what I've seen since that day - he says "Hi" to damn near every soul that walks in the place.  Get over yourself bitch.

I'm not a threat, I'm WAY cooler than you'll ever be, and just because I don't workout everyday - it only means that my life is way more fun that you'll ever have in your life.

Take the stick out of your ass and shove it up your cunt as hard as possible so that it comes out your skull and you die.

(I told you to put the kids in the next room...)

That's all.  I really don't like people like that, so.. I'm hoping that blogging about it will allow me to continue to bite my tongue and not call her a cunt to her ugly face.

Thanks for sticking with this one... not usually how I blog.

23 Days, 17 Workouts?

Ok - I need your help thinking about this -

I leave for Hawaii in 23 days, I know it's way too late to start working out and expect to get where I want to be, HOWEVER, if I workout every weekday from now until I leave, I can get in 17 workouts - what'll happen if I do that?  Surely it'd get my metabolism going and I'd hopefully be able to shed some water weight and whatnot... but do you think it'd do anything to the way I look?  I can also start eating smaller meals, for the next 23 days, which... may or may not make a difference; any difference would be minimal.

It's probably just the right thing to do - for my body and my mental state - so I'll probably do it.  I just have no patience for working out and waiting to see the difference.  I expect results after a week and... well, we all know that's just not realistic.

Please be honest with me, I know it'll hurt, but I need to hear it.

17 trips to the gym in 23 days... what should I expect?!