Boxes, Boxes, and Kitty Xanax

I've spent the last two days buying, finding and creating boxes. I've learned that Lowe's has an excellent selection of boxes for a reasonable price. The large boxes top out at $1.25 each whereas the Uhaul and other packing places boxes can run up to $4 for a plain large box. That's just crazy talk. I mean, who would pay that much for a BOX??

Okay, so I did end up paying WAY more than $4 for one box, but it's a special box. It's a box for our flatscreen TV. If there's anything in our hours that's actually worth something (other than my jewelry) and needs some special TLC (not of the Left Eye persuasion, but of the loving care kind) it's the TV. Let's be honest. I'm a addicted to TV and its many hours of crappy entertainment and only a few hours of quality scripted programs. So, I spent a pretty penny on a special kit to move the blessed piece of entertainment across country in one piece.

So, the boxes are bought. Some have been created as I've got the bedroom packed (except for the clothes) and the furniture is cleared out. The kitchen is going to take a while, but Chef and I are going to work on that extensively tomorrow and Sunday.

So, it's a matter of clearing out some things over the next few days. I actually feel good about how much stuff we're purging and how little we really need to take with us. Honestly, I have come to the decision to only bring stuff into our place that I really love.

Speaking of things that I really love, the other thing we had to take care of today was getting the drugs for the cats. Four days on the road with cats is no way to spend time if the cats are meowing or freaking out the entire time. So, kitty xanax it is! Our vet gave us the pills today and we're testing them out on Monday. Wish us luck!

It's off to LA on Tuesday to find an apartment. Making some steps each day!

Glee, you're disappointing me

This season of Glee sucks. Remember when Glee was a show where the kids got together to sing against some other force--whether it was themselves or budgets or another Glee club? They sang because they were cast in a commercial or practicing for a contest? Yes, I remember the good old days too.

I'm afraid that Glee is going to become like Desperate Housewives or Grey's Anatomy or some other show that became insanely popular in the first year and then bought into it's own success only to flame out from bad writing. Here are things in this year's Glee that I'm already tired of:

• Kirk's homosexuality ostracizing him. We get it. It was done in Dawson's Creek. And One Tree Hill. And 90210. And every other teen based drama on television in the last 20 years. Add something new to the discussion, please.
• Rachel being an overzealous drama queen. Okay, really it's just all of the characters beginning to be caricatures of themselves. They've all veered a little too far forward from real people they seemed to represent.
• Nothing happening. Think about the story lines this season. Have any of them actually moved forward? Remember last season? Still was happening every episode. Will's wife was paying Quinn for her baby. Will and Emma's sparking romance. An almost wedding. There were lots of things. Not just breaking into song because it's "Boys vs. Girls" week.
• Lastly, I'm tired of Lea Michele. I saw the girl on Conan and have seen her do several interviews. She is talented, but the girl needs to get a grip on reality. Here's what I'd tell her: "You are not fascinating. Not everything you do or that is done relating to you is worthy of adulation or even notice. You have a good voice. You play a part well. You are not the cure to cancer. "

So, that's my Glee rant. Mostly because I keep waiting for this season to have some of the charm and charisma as last season. What really makes me mad is that I want the show to be well written again. I just think the songs are thought up first and then the story line goes in around them. It should be the other way around.

I've Missed Dreaming

I wouldn't recommend that everyone quit their jobs and move to a different city. But I wouldn't NOT recommend it either. Since I had my emotional last day at the American Heart Association, I have enjoyed my friends and family here in Nashville while plotting, planning and preparing for our big move to Los Angeles. In that preparation, I decided it was time to give up something that I love very much: ambien.

I still have about two weeks worth left which I intend on keeping for emergencies, but thought it was time while I was unemployed and my day's work didn't depend on my night's sleep to try and ween myself off of it. The first night was rough. It took me about two hours of lounging in bed to feel drowsy. Then it took me all of two hours to wake back up. It was up and down for the next 6 hours until I had declared it time to give up the fight.

Night two was a different story. Still very much in short spurts, but then longer stretches, as if to give my unconscious self some hope. But one main difference between this night and probably 5 months of nights before: I had a dream. Not the Martin Luther King Jr. kind, but a vivid dance in between my imagination and subconscious. It was glorious. I remembered it. And some day, in some form, I'll share it, but not here.

The next night I slept longer and harder and dreamed more scenes. And slowly the dreams began to take over my thinking during my waking hours. The time I spent thinking about strategy and reports and accounts has in the last week been used to day dream. And I realized how much I missed it. Thinking without purpose or hindrance.

Last week I went with my friend Greg to see an author named Aimee Bender. I was late, but she was wonderful and as she got to the question and answer section, she became even more endearing. If you've been to a Q and A with people who are fans, you know that the questions can become more diatribes on the person's admiration than an actual question (for example, one question to Ms. Bender when boiled down to logic this night was "How do you put words together?". Seriously.) But one of those questions, and I frankly can't remember which one, led to Ms. Bender answering with "Sometimes it's good to be bored. Sometimes those crazy thoughts that we all have as humans are meant to peek through." Or something to that nature. I'm clearly paraphrasing, but the gist of the sentiment has stuck with me this week.

It made me realize something: Whether it was during the day time or night time or any time in between, I've missed dreaming. And I'm happy to be doing it again.

Sometimes its the little things. . .

Today I spent the majority of my day in my pajamas. It's not a bad way to spend the day. However, despite being in pajamas, I was working hard pretty much the whole day. I spent a good 2-3 hours uploading all the pertinent files that I had on my work computer onto my personal laptop. One of the catches is that my personal laptop doesn't have any Windows software on it. No Word. No Power Point. No Excel. None of it.

So I was forced to try out Google Docs. It's not too bad. I was able to reformat my resume, make some changes and pretty much open any of the documents that I had transferred over. It was helpful to be able to rifle through my old files to make sure I'd remembered all of my accomplishments in nine years. Sadly, I had forgotten most and I'm stuck trying to remember what things I was so proud of during my time as the marketing director. Hmmmm. . .

Aside from that, I was also able to open my file of exported contacts. The kicker is that that contacts from my old Outlook account, the contacts in my iPhone and the contacts in my Google account are all slightly different. So I had to go through all the contacts that I wanted to sync into my phone and on Google and make sure the Outlook information matched up. There's no easy way to do this when you're not quite sure which version is the most up to date. So, another 2 and half hours later I finally had my contacts down to a mere 80. Oosh.

But now I'm ready, at least computer-wise, to move on. Now to apply for some additional jobs tomorrow. Oh the little things. . .

Free Chihuly and a Wonderful Day

Today was my second official day of unemployment. Yesterday was my first and it was so packed with a lunch, grocery shopping, license tag renewals, rent paying and phone calls that it was not so much like a day off. Don't get me wrong. I'm not going to sit around lounging until its time to pack up and move to Los Angeles, but I'm also not going spend all my time obsessing so that I can't enjoy the little space in between jobs that I am afforded. I'm only afforded this because of Chef and I saving and living below our means for quite some time and my oblivious confidence that a good work ethic and great experience will land me something that will at least pay the bills in L.A.

So today Chef and I went to Community Day at Cheekwood to check out the Chihuly exhibit. Dale Chihuly is an artist, primarily a glassblower, who does these huge, beautiful installations. Cheekwood is the botanical gardens in Nashville. That should catch up those who have not heard of one or the other or both of those. Oh and Community Day means it was free to get in. We left the house around 10:15, got into the long line of cars to get into Cheekwood at 11:30 and actually walked through the museum gates at 10:55. There were that many people there. Mostly at home mothers and the eldery (it is the middle of the week, after all), but school was out because it is election day and there's nothing more creepy than exposing our children to the myriad of people who actually take part in democracy. That's just too big of a risk for the schools.

So, we got some sandwiches and sat amongst the trees and art in the beautiful weather and chuckled at the idiots who had to work today. Sure, a paycheck is nice, but so is Chihuly with a loved one. We meandered through the exhibit, found every piece and about 2 hours later were firmly planted at Sweet Cece's to get some frozen yogurt with fruity pebbles on top--because I've made Chef a believer of fruity pebbles as a topping.

Now I'm hanging out and blogging while I wait for my boot camp to start at 5 p.m. and then its home for a quick shower and heading to Patterson House for a round of drinks (handcrafted cocktails to be exact) as the perfect cap to this fine day.

I've Been Lazy

It happens. You decide to pick up dinner one night instead of cooking because you're too tired. You stop running on weekends because you deserve a few days off. You stop reading the newspaper in a timely manner because "Teen Mom" is more engrossing. You get lazy.

Okay, not it's not "you" it's me. I'm lazy. At least I was. I started running again on weekends yesterday morning because if I don't get up and do SOMETHING, then I don't get up to do anything. And once I was up, I vacuumed, paid bills, did some organizing and other household chores. It inspired me to get up again on Sunday and do a separate set of chores (and even a little work) so that I didn't feel like a complete slob all day. Frankly, I need to be honest and say that I might not have been as productive all Sunday if the Colts game hadn't been the Sunday night one.

I not only did household chores, but also some baking. A Heath Cheesecake for Chef (found the recipe in my mom's old recipe box) and some Hungry Girl Death by Chocolate cupcakes for me. I've also started REALLY watching my calories again. Not just pretending like I have the past week.

I stopped physically writing down my calories (that's what worked for me the first go-around) and started using an app for my iPhone. It's called My Fitness Pal and it's not that much different than a lot of other tracking sites. It's free and all that. But what I love about it is the number of food items that it has in its database to log. For example, it doesn't just have coconut creme yogurt, but KROGER brand coconut creme yogurt. Today I tossed in "hungry girl" as a search and it had the nutritional information for A LOT of her most used recipes including the death by chocolate cupcakes that I made. It makes logging calories and exercise take about 30 seconds. I love it.

So, now that I've recognized that I've been lazy and that I am so much happy when I'm not lazy, it's time to keep the momentum going. Maybe I should go back to running or walking twice a day. . . .

Stromboli, Banana Fritters and the Dirt Diaper

All of the above items were available to eat this past weekend at the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival (aka the Fall Festival) in Evansville. I went home this weekend to see my best friends and we met up at the Fall Fest for old time's sake. I honestly hadn't been in more than a decade. It's a big deal in Evansville. Like a huge event with about 1/2 mile of trailers all offering disgustingly named, but deliciously tasting, items of food. It would probably be fair estimate that about 75% of the food items offered are fried.

We decided to divide and conquer for the most part so that we didn't end up getting sick like so many others. It's pretty easy to go from a good time to the vomiting with just one wrong calculation of fritters. I actually ate all or some of the following items: Chicken and Dumplings, corn fritters, Stromboli, fried macaroni & cheese, lemon shake-up, and banana fritters. It sounds like a lot, but that's actually not too bad. The only huge disappointment was the weak, microwaved Stromboli by the Young Democrats booth.

While those are some of the less weird items, there were a few items that were new (or oldies but goodies) that those not from Evansville find odd. Here's a few:

• Brain Sandwich (a LONG time festival favorite)
• Fried Oreos & Fried Twinkies
• Dirty Diaper (a pumpkin turnover)
• Pigeon Poop (I have no idea, but calling things something related to excrement tends to be a festival tradition)
• Gumbo, shrimp and other seafood (it's best to avoid as Indiana is a land locked state)
• Pronto Pups (similar to a corn dog, but not corn related at all)
• Orange Shake-ups
• Homemade potato chips
• Cheeseburgers
• Kuchen
• Fudge
• Yoohoo Shakes
• And more. . . .

While the food was pretty good--actually probably better than I remember--it was more awesome to spend time with my girls. We hung out all day and then headed back home on Sunday. I was also lucky enough to squeeze a quick visit in with my dad and my mom's side of the family.

The only think that sucks about the trip was the mold. There's a mold in southern Indiana that makes me miserable if I end up spending more than 24 hours in the area. I'm now still taking Claritin D and sounding like a congested crazy person. In fact, it's been three days now, so I'm beginning to wonder if I'm actually not only fighting allergies but also sickness. I have gone to bed at about 8:30 the last two nights.

No matter what if I had to do it again, I would gladly do it to see my friends and family.

Working, Walking and Waking

This weekend was the annual Heart Walk in Nashville and it was probably the best one we've ever had. Of course, after last year's rain out, just having one this year was actually a joy. You don't realize when you're planning for an event how much actually having the event is a catharthis of sort.

But I digress. As I all really did was wake up early, walk around the field for hours on end to help and work with my volunteers. The Heart Walk team, who put in hundreds of hours and a year's worth of work, did a wonderful job. The event has really evolved in the last 9 years. From a "grab your yogurt and walk for 30 minutes" to a full fledged event with lots of interactive booths that truly display the mission of the American Heart Association.

It's also what I call the fastest three hours around. The walkers whoosh in and then the walkers leave and then the walkers come back for turkey dogs and it's done. What took a day to put up, takes minutes to take down, and then it's off for a cleebratory beer. It's a tiring day, but also a fun one. There are few times of year where you get to see nearly all of the people who you work with all year in one place. Plus you get to hear stories of survivors, people who've lost loved ones and those who are supporting survivors. It's just a fun day and if you haven't been--either in Nashville or wherever you are, I encourage you to do so. In fact, there's a walk in Rutherford County on November 7th if you want to go :) (www.rutherfordheartwalk.org).

Coming To The Jesus Phone

Chef and I had a come to jesus moment this week. Although instead of it being Christ, Jesus was in the form of the iPhone. AKA the Jesus Phone.

It all started about two weeks ago in Fort Walton Beach, FL. We were there for a brief stop as Patrick's Grammie had passed away. I have to take a moment and say how truly awesome Grammie was. She literally opened her arms to me the first time I walked through the door and was one of the best pen pals I ever had. I also know she was a fantastic mother and grandmother that is sorely missed.

Anyway, while in Florida my work cell started freaking out on me. . . again. So I was relying on my personal cell phone which was literally the smallest, cheapest flip phone Verizon had to offer. I still contend that no one was meant to text 26 letters with the use of only 9 keys. It's against nature. It also made the texting experience suck and I began to realize just how useless my personal cell was.

The trouble with the work cell continued and finally culminated in the cell phone crashing while I was in Evansville this past weekend for the annual Komen Walk. It was a great day where I got to see some of my cousins and aunts, and of course had a very memorable day with my stepdad Jack and his fiance Sara. It's always a great experience and would've been perfect except that literally all my contacts, email and other relevant information was gone from my work cell. It's super awkard when someone texts you and you don't have any contacts so you know it's from Indiana and you assume it's a family member, but really you're flying in the dark.

So after two days with a personal phone that didn't work and a work cell that was going nuts for the 5th time, I decided that I couldn't wait 6 more months to upgrade my phone. Chef did the research and it was easy enough for us to switch over to AT&T (who thankfully have dropped Luke Wilson as their spokesperson--at least for now) and get iPhones. We both really hate lining Steve Jobs's pockets, but really like being able to communicate without punching 100 keys to spell two words.

So, two weeks and we've had two trips to our hometowns--both in remembrance of someone. And iPhones. Now you're caught up.

Brown Hair, Sad Shopping and a Trip To Fort Walton Beach

It's been a roller coaster couple of days here. We found out Sunday afternoon that Chef's grandma (aka Grammie) passed away that morning. Grammie had been battling a brain tumor and various other related ailments since May. But those of you who've lost someone know that it doesn't really matter if you know for a day or 100 days that someone is going to pass away (I mean, we all are on the clock on that one so to speak), it sucks no matter when it happens. There's really no such thing as "being prepared" for someone to die. At least emotionally.

But I digress. Grammie was a wonderful, honest, insightful woman and I'm sad that I only got to know her for a short time. And I'm really sad that Chef has to go to Fort Walton Beach for that reason and not some happier occasion.

We are heading out tomorrow for funeral and showing. Of course it didn't dawn on us until after the shock set in that Chef has absolutely nothing to wear. I mean, his name is "Chef'" for now and he has things suitable for a Chef to be wearing. When he's officially "Legal Eagle" in the future, I'm positive the nice clothes won't give us a second thought, but until then. Well, let's just say that a trip to the mall was in order. He successfully purchased dress slacks (I love the word slacks in the right context--in the wrong context it just sounds very 1980s), a gray dress shirt, a tie, socks, a belt and shoes. Seriously, I felt bad that I've been ignoring his cries for clothing as it was pretty obvious which of us is neglected.

The mall trip was my second as the first trip was made a few hours earlier. I had the afternoon off to celebrate our office's success while some of my co-workers were celebrating at an official gathering in Atlanta. (I have to say that I think I may have come out ahead on this one. . . ). While sometimes it may seem like my changes are random, know that I have usually spent at least a couple of hours internalizing and researching them before I actually pull the trigger.

So yesterday I pulled the trigger and became a brunette. Really brunette. Anne Hathaway was my celebrity color trigger. Her and that girl from Twilight Ashley Greene. I actually like it. It makes me eyes stand out a little more. I probably won't keep it forever, but it's fun to do something different. Pictures will be posted when I have a picture that looks decent and not hideous.

My New Favorite Things To Watch

Clearly football is it, but not today's Colts game. It looked like they were a little rusty still from the off season. At least the defense definitely was.

But I digress. This week I found two new things that make me laugh: MacGruber and United States of Tara. Chef introduced me to MacGruber--the movie, not the crappy SNL skit. In fact, it was the skit that made me super leery to watch the movie. But honestly, it made me laugh out loud several times. One particular time that involved gobbling over a throatless body. It was way funnier than the last line indicates.

And one a whim I asked Chef to hook us up with United States of Tara. We watched an episode and it was pretty good. Toni Collette is pretty damn talented. You forget that she's Australian because he accents are so damn good. I was a little worried that it would be too kitschy because of the dissociative identity disorder angle, but actually it's just a good family drama. I hate the idea of liking a writer who took the pen name, Diablo, but I actually like most of what Diablo Cody writes. She's helping fill the void in my heart after Amy Sherman-Palladino quit writing Gilmore Girls.

The only other show I've watched lately that gives me the same kind of "I wish I had written that" moments is "The Big C" On HBO with Laura Linney. Its about woman who finds out she has terminal cancer and then decides not to tell anybody--not her husband, not her teenage son, and not even her homeless brother. It's sadly funny. And touching. And clearly has a special place in my heart because of my mom's struggles with cancer.

Speaking of struggles and cancer, the damn disease took another wonderful person today. Chef's Grammie lost her months long battle. She was a wonderful lady who was a great pen pal to me. I'll cherish the letters we exchanged and the influence she had in molding the man that I love. We'll be heading down south to Florida to the funeral in the next day or so when we know the plan. She was well loved and taken care of by her children. She'll be missed.

No Blood, No Foul

Chef showed me this video the other day and I had two thoughts:

1) I didn't know that Amazing Race had started again this season (it hasn't).

2) There was no blood or broken bones visible, so the girl is probably fine. In fact, I immediately thought of my friend Amanda's Dad's saying that he busted out in times of injury: "Walk it off." ( for the record, my dad's saying is "One thing you know is that you never know.")

Chef said he was debating on showing me this video until he heard the girl who didn't get hit say "They don't call it the Amazing Race for nothing." That sealed the deal for him. Check it out:

Only a few more nights of crappy TV

Seriously. Is anyone else tired of this crappy TV? I mean, Sunday and Monday nights aren't too bad because we have Mad Men, Entourage, True Blood, Weeds and The Big C (which is my new favorite). There are a couple things that suck: 1) That's only two nights in a week and 2) they were all on hiatus except Mad Men because of Labor Day.

So, the launch of college football season helped to satisfy my need for new programming a little. Plus the Hoosiers won big, so YAY. And really, the NFL season kicks off on Thursday, so there's only one more night of crap-filled "Kate Plus 8" and "South Park" reruns. Unfortunately, I have a work thing so I'll miss the official Kick off of the New Orleans-Vikings game. And the crap thing is that the Titans play at the same time as the Colts, so no Indy game this week. I'm relegated to NFL.com recaps. I need the NFL Network's Red Zone channel.

And the beginning of the NFL season also brings the return of Chef and my's favorite new show: The League. It's hilarious. If you haven't seen it--even if you aren't a fantasy football fan--it's well worth it. Also, the new fall season kicks off, so the rest of my stories will begin. What should I get to replace Lost?

A Blast From My Family's Past

Today I drove to Murray, Ky. Never been there before--actually, at least in my memory. Today as I was at a cemetery,I actually did remember being there, but I digress. If there hadn't been a Murray, Ky, there wouldn't have been me. It's where my family is from. I'm actually pretty lucky in that I've been to most all the towns that my grandparents and great grandparents have come from. It's pretty cool.

But today was really neat because I met my Dad, Robin and Grandma Wrye in Murray to take the tour. My dad went to school there. I'd actually been to my mother's college (she went to an all-girls catholic university that she sent me to summer camp at when I was 8). But I got to see Murray State, a school that I had rejected before it was even proffered. In my defense, I had rejected my mother's college even before she sent me there to be locked in a room with a piano and a nun during a particularly nice summer.

I got to see the land where my great grandma had lived, the house she designed later in life, the bones of the store that my great grandpa had started, and the grave of my dad's namesake (and my great-uncle who died at 22 years old in service over seas). It was pretty cool to listen to my grandma and dad as memories washed over them. It made me wonder what landmarks in my life that I'd want to revisit and point out to my potential offspring. An even smaller part of my ego wonders which house I've lived in that they'll make a historic landmark of when I become a widely famous author that is only partly adored in my own time and by those lucky few who were avid readers of my blog--still reading?

Anyway, it was a great day and I had a great time learning about those who came before me. Now to spend the evening in the loving company of Chef and the awesome Chili he's been working on for quite a few hours now.

It's On. . .Again

I feel like I do this every few months or even days, but it's back on again. What's "it"? The diet. Lifestyle change. Eating Better. Whatever euphemism you want to use for counting calories is what "it" is.

For me, I haven't done "it" in several months. Maybe truly a whole year. The good news is that I've continued exercising. So I haven't gained all the weight back. I'm just starting to look crappy in my clothes. Or even if I don't look crappy, I feel like I look crappy and that makes all the difference. Plus my closet is only half relevant because the other half of my clothes are too tight for me to be comfortable in.

And here's the thing. Or two things rather. 1) When you've been really overweight, okay, obese, and you lose a lot of weight, people think that as long as you haven't gained all the weight back, you're coming out ahead. While it's nice to have that cushion, I know that not going all the way back to that weight (well over 200 pounds) is not an option. 2) People are very polite when it comes to weight. At least to your face. It's the like the last taboo of society so it's not common to talk negatively about someone else's weight. Let me give you an example: "I've gained 10 pounds. I feel gross."

"I haven't even noticed. You shouldn't worry about it."

That's the conversation that millions of people have every day because we know if we were the one that says we've gained weight, we're really hoping no one else has noticed. And if they have, we hope they are polite enough not to say anything.

So, it's back to portion control, striving for five fruits and vegetables, and making better choices. Wish me luck again.

An Anniversary of Sorts

I'm not ashamed to admit it. I'm 31 years old and I want my mom. I think the older we get, the more likely we are to admit that out loud. One of the differences is, and most of you know this, that my mother passed away. In fact, it was 10 years ago today that she died.

The weird thing was that this week, I was bopping through my life thinking "Wow! It hurts so much less now. I miss her, but this is going to be an easy one." And then BAM! Not so much. Ten years is a long time. In fact, it's a third of my life. It's weird to think that 10 years is about half of the time that mom and I had together. Even weirder to think of being only 42 and I will have lived as long with her as without.

And clearly it's hard not to think of the things that she didn't get to see. Her grandchildren, Chef, me actually losing the weight she had so begged me to shed. I also think of the things that would be different if she were still around. I probably wouldn't have moved to Nashville. I might not have met Chef. There wouldn't be cats in my house, as she was very allergic.

It's easy to be sad about it. Mostly I miss her and the things she brought to my life. You don't realize how much someone motivates you by their presence until its not there. Or how much you appreciate getting a package or card in the mail until they start coming less frequently. It makes me realize the things that were really important. And on most days I try to remember those things and not the others that seem to take up so much of my time.

But despite everything--and I know I'm not alone in this--, I have no shame in saying that I want my mom.

At Least It was A Straight Love Scene This Time

Clearly, I'm not the only one who has taken a shine to Eric Northman. What? You don't know who Eric Northman is? You must not watch True Blood. Because if you did, you'd know Eric Northman. That's not the actor's name--he's Alexander Skarsgard. Eric is the "bad" vampire (yes, a little redundant). As I was explaining to another fan and co-worker today, I really feel like Eric does the right things the wrong ways and gets a bad wrap for it.

Nonetheless, Eric mania has taken over America. He was the only one besides Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer that appeared naked on the cover of Rolling Stone. He's not listed on imdb's initial page of main characters. But I'm still digressing. The biggest problem I have with Eric's role in True Blood is that the first scene with him shirtless in a LONG time was a gay love scene. I'm not opposed to being gay (not that there's anything wrong with that--my Seinfeld homage), but it's a little disheartening when you've been waiting to see someone semi-naked and they are--just behind another man.

Chef is supportive of this infatuation in a way only he can be (a good way!). His take was "If Eric's gonna be naked, can he at least be naked with someone hotter than Anna Paquin so we both win?". It's a fair question and one that I'm hoping provides us both with a win-win situation.

On a separate less lustful note, has anyone else wondered what's become of Emilio Estevez? No? Just me? I guess that's why he hasn't really been heard from lately. Young Guns was on the dial tonight and it just got me thinking. I looked up his imdb entry and one of the trivia made me go "Huh? Really?". Apparently he was engaged to Demi Moore at one time. I wonder if she thinks of Emilio during sex with Ashton?

Things I Wouldn't Have Tried 5 Years Ago

I remember my mother telling me that my tastes would change and expand the older that I got. As a know-it-all kid, I didn't think they would. Of course, as it is with most things that I challenged my parents on, I'm wrong again. I do have to say that Chef has been the one who has expanded my horizons the most. Or myself. I mean, I will give myself some credit for making a concerted effort to try new things, live a healthier lifestyle and not just be the giant, shapeless bump that I could've easily been.

So, here are a few things that I've "discovered" (no, I'm not Magellan --or gelin'--nor do I think that I am discovering anything other than new-to-me things):

• Brussels Sprouts: Toss 'em in olive oil, salt and pepper and roast those bad boys until slightly crispy. Delish.
• Water: clearly didn't discover this, but actually start drinking it. Not until after a nurse was taking my blood on a finger prick and said "I can tell you don't drink a lot of water because it's taking forever to get a dot of blood." I don't know if that's true or not, but it did make me imagine that my blood was made up of Diet Coke.
• Sushi: I was just too chicken and a little too country to have tried this without Chef there to navigate the menu.
• Jogging: Who knew? I could jog for about two miles a day and actually enjoy it. And still do it more than two years later.
• Bellini's: I'm not much on peach, but add some champagne and you've got a winner. Although Chef made this, it's not too big of a stretch to make me like an alcoholic drink.
• Yoga: Okay, I tried it more than 5 years ago, but that experience did not make me want to try again. Mostly because I apparently got a little too relaxed during my first time. Now, I enjoy the lengthy stretching without self-consciousness.
• Fried Green Tomatoes: I normally hate tomatoes, but this just goes to show that you can fry anything and I'll eat it.
• Cats: Three years ago it took Chef about 6 months of leaving pictures of tiny little kittens on our computer desktop before I finally caved and said we could get one. I was determined to be a dog person. Turns out I'm a pet person. Obviously.
  

I'm sure I'll think of many more, but that's it for now. Anyone else got something they've added to their lives as an adult that I should try?

Why I Hate My Apartment Complex

It started with a call around noon. My apartment complext called my personal cell phone and it went a little something like this:

"Hello, Ashley? This is Chastity from Westmont apartments. I'm calling to see why you haven't paid your rent this month."

Me: We paid our rent this month.

C: I'm showing that your rent was due on the first and you haven't paid it.

Me (scrambling to my computer to fervishly sign in to my online banking): Hold on for a second. Actually, I did pay. My bank account shows that you all cashed my check on August 4th for the amount of XXX. The account number on the back of the check that you endorsed is XXXXXX.

C: Oh, it's not showing up in our system. There must be a computer error that shows your rent being due twice in a month. I'll call IT and have them fix it.

End of phone call.

As I was sitting there with my hear pounding, I started to get fired up. We have never been late in paying our rent in the 6 years that Chef and I have lived together. Six years in one place. Never late. But the company calls us 16 days past the rent day and 12 days after the late fee day to accuse us of not paying. And there's no "I'm so sorry for this" or any kind of apology. Nothing. So now I'm fired up and I can't let it go. So I wait two hours and then call her back to express how disappointed I was in how the situation was handled and it just made it worse. Here's how that conversation went:

C:Westmont Properties, this is Chastity.

Me: Chastity, this is Ashley LAST NAME calling in regards to my rent payment.

C: Now which apartment are you in again? I've made a lot of calls today.

Me: Apartment XXX in XXXX complex.

C: Oh, right with the computer error.

Me: Yes, that was me. I was just calling to let you know that I'm disappointed in how the situation was handled.

C: Excuse me?

Me: I know that you are probably making a lot of calls concerning late rent but I am hurt that we've been tenants for more than 6 years, hadn't missed a payment and weren't treated better.

C: I don't know what to say. I mean, I said I was sorry. It was a computer error. And, you say that I make a lot of late rent calls, but I really don't. So I don't know what you want me to say.

Me: Actually, you didn't say you were sorry. That's why I was calling you back.

C: Well, I am sorry and now I've said it three times in this call.

Me: I'm disappointed in the manner and tone with which you made the call.

C: I am honestly shocked because I didn't have any tone with your call. It was a computer error and we fixed it. I'm sorry. What more do you want? I didn't yell or scream or anything.

Me: I'm hoping you wouldn't ever yell or scream at a tenant. I guess I wanted a little courtesy for having paid consistently on time and for an apology.

C: I've said I'm sorry.

Me: Fine. Goodbye.

C: Goodbye.

The above is why we will not be renewing our lease at this place. And why if you rent in Nashville, I would NOT recommend any place managed by Westmont Properties.

I Never Thought I was THAT Girl

But apparently I am. Last night my cruelty reached an all-time peak with Chef. He was actually a good sport about it, but I'm still feeling incredibly guilty. I turned into THAT girl. The one who made her boyfriend watch Lifetime Television for Women. And not just for Project Runway. I don't feel the least bit guilty about that pleasure as everyone should watch and adore Tim Gunn.

It was a Lifetime Made for TV movie. One that I'm a sucker for. Mostly because it was about a chunky girl who's a writer who lost weight and what happened after that. Not that that's a whole lot like my life as I didn't make up a fake personality, write a book, or get to wear a fabulous pair of Christian Louboutins. Nor did I meet a man who loved me only after I lost weight. I met one who loved me either way. And he also loved me while watching the end of a Lifetime Made for TV movie. God bless him.

In my defense, I do watch ESPN WAY more than Lifetime. At least an 8 to one ratio. If I'm being conservative. More like 10 to one during football season. I'm just saying. . .

And He Took a Turn Towards the Ben Seaver

When I first pondered this the other day, I didn't realize that the actor in question was from Indiana. It almost seems sacreligious to poke fun, but at the same point, I can't pull my punches just because someone was born in the same geographic area that I was.

So, here goes. I wondered what the hell happened to the kid from Star Wars: Phantom Menace. The one who had to play Darth Vader as a kid. The second most hated character after Jar Jar Binks. It has less to do with Star Wars and more to do with the. . .did that kid die or what?

Well, he's still alive. Not working so much, but it seems like he pulled a Ben Seaver. It happens. You're a cute kid, but that doesn't necessarily translate into an attractive adult. I mean, the jury's still out on Dakota Fanning, but I'm leaning towards her making it. Jake Lloyd (aka Darth Vader) seems like he's more on the Ben Seaver end of the scale than Justin Timberlake.

Am I wrong?

It's 10 Seconds and It Makes Me Laugh for WAY longer

Tosh.0 aired their usual viewer video and it cracked me up. And just thinking about it continues to crack me up. So I thought I'd share the simplistic genius of Invisible Engine and the 10 seconds that split my sides. Enjoy! My gift to you.

Attack of the Tacky

I have never been a girly girl. I have never considered myself exceptionally high maintenance. But nothing will change that perception faster than a trip to Gatlinburg.

I had never been to Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Dollywood or anything in that area. Not that I hadn't wondered about it, but Tennessee wasn't the normal destination for vacations in Indiana. I had a few trips to Nashville, but other than that, it was mostly Indianapolis, Florida or the grandparents houses. We had the extra special trip to the Cayman Islands too, and a trip to Myrtle Beach, but I digress.

So I didn't know exactly what to expect. And Gatlinburg was beyond my expectations. I went with two of my chicks for a quick girls' trip. Had we gone for a mountain retreat, the experience might've been different. But probably not better. I love the tacky. It gave me fuel for the snarky comments for the entire time I was there PLUS a blog entry and some good stories.

So we had a great hotel (thanks, Jules!) and after the 6 hour trip (normally 4, but the traffic made it like Spring Break '94), we got dolled up for a night on the town. The recommended watering holes were a brewery that was owned by Calhoun's and the TGIFriday's. Not a great sign.

My favorite points of the trip were the crowded streets with families where at least one teenager looked mortified and parents were determined to make some memories, dammit. There was a plethora of options for miniature golf, ziplines and dinner shows. But places that stayed open past 1 a.m.--not so much.

The best part of the trip was the time with the girls. But that's often the case, isn't it? The company makes the trip.

Mistakes I've Made This Week

While the mistakes I've made this week are numerous and probably a little long to list, I thought I'd take a stab at it while enduring my latest mistake. Here goes:

• Planning on making lasagna on Boot Camp night. I didn't get home until 6:30 and after a shower and prep work PLUS the time it takes to cook the lasagna. It's looking like it's gonna be nearly 9 p.m. before we eat.
• That leads to another mistake: not getting my morning or afternoon snacks. I was "too busy" and didn't eat lunch until 1:30, but that's not nearly late enough to sustain me until the lasagna's ready.
• Not getting a limoncello at Sole Mio on Tuesday when we were saying goodbye to Sue & Walt from writers group.
• Not picking up on the signals from a customer that I was getting the "I'm gonna pass you off because I don't want to directly tell you no."
• Daily freak outs over the amount of work that I have to do. It's a constant. The only thing I can do is change my approach to how I see it.
• Being too transparent and not transparent enough.
• The second glass of wine at the baby shower--mostly for caloric reasons--and also because I get to be a smart ass as well.

So, not a bad list. I'm a little concerned that two of my mistakes included liquor, but that's a random week and not a common occurrence.

Maybe I'm Not So Interested in Amsterdam

Chef got us a series from a foreign TV station that highlights the nights of Amsterdam. It's not really dirty. Mostly just a matter of fact account of the business of sex--windows in the red light district, online escorts and on-stage sex acts. Without seeing anything, of course, but it's fascinating to see the interviews of the couple that perform 5 live sex shows together 6 nights a week. That just seems exhausting. The way they describe what they do is not at all romantic-clearly.

And clearly the government has their hands in things. There are taxes on the prostitutes and the windows. They also provide extra police to patrol the area--which averages 40 arrests a night. The two patrolman have a good sense of humor. They seem to be often intervening between sex worker and client. It has to be a little bizarre.

The whole show is a little weird, very interesting, not at all sexy and totally putting me off on visiting Amsterdam, although I'm sure it's very little. It just seems surreal.

Mad For Mad Men

When we last left them, the group from the former Sterling Cooper were starting their own ad agency. And Betty was leaving. And Don was having his secrets unravel. It's the perfect beginning for a new season. Now the question is going to be...when will the new season start? Not literally when. That's easy. AMC has been hyping tonight since Breaking Bad ended its season.

But when in history? Remember how they messed us all up by coming in mid-Kennedy administration and then assasination was near the end of this season after the end of the previous season highlighted the campaign and debates? The great thing about Mad Men is the antiquated way it showcases the workplace. Women as secretaries who are naive to the ways of the world. Only unmarried girls who actually worked. Drinking during a meeting. Smoking indoors. It's a throwback to a time that seems so foreign to the modern work environment. It also makes me wonder what the future will think of how we work now.

The other great thing about Mad Men, of course, is the fashion. It makes me want to break out my pencil skirts (or buy some) and flaunt my curves. The show's costume designer is launching her own line on QVC. I LOVE it. Hope I think about it and actually go back in September to check it out. I'm not a big QVC watcher (despite my heritage--Mom was a HUGE fan), but there's always the web site.

Anyway, here's hoping that tonight's premiere continues in the pattern of the show that we know and love. At the very least, I'd like to see Jon Hamm continue his career for a while and since they gave him hook hands on 30 Rock, my dream of him being Liz Lemon's husband is out of the question. However, she did take my superior dream of having Matt Damon as a boyfriend and make that real.

I love TV. Maybe too much.

"She Thought I Could Handle It THIS Time"

Chef called me over tonight so I could watch a video from my home state. It made me simultaneously laugh and cringe. Apparently a guy exactly my age was arrested in Indianapolis for child neglect---because while he was playing a video game, his two under 2 years old children wandered out into the apartment complex near a busy street.

I'm not enough of a snob to think that this scenario couldn't have easily been replicated in Tennessee--in fact, it probably has been. What immediately I thought of was a scene in the movie Idiocracy where it shows the fertility of a below average Joe compared to the very intelligent couple who wants to wait and then can't conceive. The basis of the "de-evolution" of the movie.

The second thing that came to mind was the man's reaction when he was arrested. He immediately admitted to not being good with watching children. And then when asked why his wife left him with the kids while she was out of state, he replied with "She thought I could handle it this time." Tihs was one of the last thing's the reporter says in his story, and frankly I think he's burying the lead. If you flip it around, you can come up with a great lead story for The Onion: "Man's Wife Thinks He Can Handle Their Care This Time, Kids End Up in Street".

Seriously, there are so many laughable, cryable things in this story that I think I'll just leave the rest of it up for your interpretation.

I'm Not The Least Bit Sorry For Lindsay--And You Shouldn't Be Either

Seriously, I hope Lindsay Lohan serves every bit of her 90 day jail sentence. Of course, she won't. Most non-violent first time female offenders typically serve only 25 percent of their original sentences. But I'd still like to see her serve it all.

According to MADD, someone dies from drunk driving every 45 minutes. And most of those people who are driving don't have access to personal drivers or an entourage or enough money to buy cab rides from LA to New York for 1 million people.

We've all had moments where we've pushed the limits of driving and drinking. Right or wrong it happens. But what kills me with Lindsay is that she has had multiple DUI arrests over several years. And at least 4 stints in rehab. And a cocaine possession arrest. And the day before she's to go to jail, she checks herself in to a treatment facility---owned by her latest lawyer (Robert Shapiro--also known as OJ's savior and the spokesperson for legalzoom.com). There has to be a point where someone says enough. As a taxpayer, it pisses me off to think of how much time and energy our legal system has wasted in tracking her down, issuing warrants, arraignments, proceedings, and more. I mean, couldn't California just make Lindsay pay a percentage of their budget deficit? Could she subsidize the thousands of state workers taking massive pay cuts or losing their jobs?

To think that you're above the law, is ridiculous. I know it's the status of fame today, but I'm not sure it's just fame. I think it's primarily money. If you've got the money, you can get out of jail even when you deserve it.

Here's what I DON'T want to see. I don't want to see Lindsay doing PSAs for drunk driving or substance abuse. I don't want to see publicity shots of her doing community service at the Special Olympics. I don't want her publicists and lawyers trying to gloss over what she's done and spin it in the public with photo shoots. I want her to spend 90 days in jail. Not 90 minutes.

South Park Was Right Again

A few years ago, South Park did a spoof on Mel Gibson during an episode entitled "The Passion of the Jew." There's a whole story line where Kenny and Stan track down Mel Gibson to get their money back after having to sit through what they called a religious snuff film. Here's the part where South Park is right: They depict Mel Gibson as being bat-shit crazy. This was long before any "sugar tits" comments or any leaked phone conversation.

At the time it did what it was supposed to do: made us laugh. Mel Gibson was depicted in his blue Braveheart face, running around naked and saying crazy stuff. I wondered how mad Mel Gibson would be about it. But looking back it just proved that they were more insightful than I ever gave them credit for.

Seriously. How holier than thou do you have to be to think you can talk about women, races, religions and be so incredibly insulting and not face any public backlash? Everyone has the right to say whatever they want to say. It's a great freedom that we share. But with most freedoms there are unintended consequences. One of which is knowing that you may have the right to say anything you want, but it's not the best idea to always do so.

I'm Strangely Intrigued

First of all, I can only move my arms in small increments right now. Today's boot camp was focused mostly on arms and mine are paying the price for it. I actually benched more today at boot camp than what I maxed out at in high school. It wasn't a lot, but considering I could mostly just comfortably bench the bar, it was a step forward.

But I digress. So, I'm now torn. I thought I always hated Leonardo DiCaprio for being a smug bastard that only dated models and was not at all attractive. Now I'm torn because I love Chris Nolan as a director (Hello, I've professed my love of Dark Knight already), and I want to see his new movie, but it's got Leonardo DiCaprio. Then I realized. I actually like most Leo movies. How can this be? Ugh, I might have to reconsider my anti-Leo stance.

Two Things that Made Today Weird

1) For some reason the eyeliner I used decided today would be the day that it would smudge under my eye. This not only made me look creepy but also gave me the appearance of a fighter with a black eye for a good part of the morning until I went to the bathroom. All in all. Not a good look for me.

2) I was on my way to Lowe's to buy some rope (different story, different day) when I was behind a bright yellow Toyota FJ Cruiser that bore a Twilight sticker and a personalized Tennessee license plate with the word "Cullen." For those of you not in the know, or not caring, that is the name of the main vampier character family in the Twilight books.

I have been known to be a super fan of things (Anne, you don't need to mention Matt Damon, as I can "out" myself of being completely obsessed with him during my college years. And yes, I did go to two Backstreet Boys concerts --in my defense on that one, the beer lines were WAY short at those concerts.) That being said, I draw the line at having a personalized license plate or, as a separate matter, airburshing of any type. I also will not give naming rights to my children to a fictual character unless it's something cool and enduring like Scout.

Am I wrong?

Four Hours of Interrupted Sleep

I went to bed at the normal time of night last night. Laid there watching TV ("Million Dollar Baby" one of the best and most depressing movies around), and then made a deep concerted effort to roll over and go to sleep after two hours of watching TV. I went to sleep for 20 minutes, woke up and tried to go back to sleep. Did all the tricks. Relaxation. Meditation, clearing of the mind. All of it. None of it worked.

So I crawled out of bed and watched two more movies on the couch before Chef got up at 4 a.m. for work. I got back into bed (had the bed to myself--well, mostly. Some of the cats snuggled up with me.) I was up and down for about 4 hours. So all in all, I ended up getting about 4 hours of crappy sleep. And it took three frosty caffeinated beverages before I could start on the work that I needed to do. Nothing says professionalism like an error-filled presentation fueled from sleep-deprivation.

Oddly enough running on empty is a lot like being a little tipsy. I'm not nearly as sharp and it takes twice as long to do things. Fun! I'd try and take a nap, but I know that'd just screw me up for tonight. I hate having sleep problems, but especially when I'm not stressing out about anything in particular. I expeted it when I've got troubles, but it sneaks up on me when I'm okay.

And I'm not even in a frame of mind to go back

My work, the American Heart Association, had a huge push to our year end last week. It was a six state concerted effort to get the last bits of donations scraped from the sides of bowls and added to the cake of year-long progress. Baking started again the next day for this analogy. It's a bad analogy, but it works because this year we will spend the whole year preparing for next year. Meaning the money raised this year will be put into the oven and out comes something substantial. Sometimes its research, sometimes its community programs, sometimes its cool stuff we haven't even seen before.

All that is a long way to say that we're in a perpetual cycle that is beginning again. And I'm already behind. How can that be? I still have an open position so while I shift focus from my duties to cover the position, I lose ground on my job and while I'm focusing on the duties of my job, I'm losing ground for the open position. It's a battle that will only be won when the right candidate is found. Actually, it's a battle that will only be won about three months or so after the right candidate is found.

But I digress. That is all a long set up for me to say that I'm not quite ready to go into work today. It's Tuesday, but feels like Monday. If I had meetings scheduled back to back to back today, I might've called in sick and curled up on the couch to watch New Moon again to get into the mood to watch Eclipse. But it's a planning day. We have them monthly and its our time to graciously plan out what needs to be done and how we're going to do it. I must say that if there ever were a planning day that I needed to have, it's today's. And I'm now slightly more ready to go back.

Slightly.

Guess Who's Going on a Diet?

Nope, not me. Well, of course I'm trying to watch what I eat, but the real one going on a diet is Genghis. We took our little buddy to the vet yesterday because he had been scratching excessively at one of his ears. And as the vet tech tried to pull Genghis out of the carrier and struggled mightily, it was time to realize that Genghis is overweight. Don't get me wrong. He's a very muscular cat, but he's still a cat. And at nearly 20 lbs, he's put on a little too much weight.

During the exam we found out that his ear scratching was a bacterial infection. It was a little gross and a little reminiscent of my childhood when the vet pulled out the ear scope and it was covered in waxy build-up. I had an ailment as a kid that made my ears produce more wax than an average person. So I had to have my ears cleaned a LOT when I was younger. It sucked and I could relate to Genghis. Luckily, he just have to undergo some daily ear washings and drops for the next couple of weeks.

Of course, that will seem like nothing compared to his diet. Since we can't really just change Genghis's eating habits without affecting the other cats, things are a little hairy. Instead of the normal free feeding (leaving the food out all day), we are leaving the food out for an hour two times a day. When we picked up the bowls last night, there were quite a few meows of protest. In fact, the cats were more rambunctious and louder than normal last night.

I'm hoping that a week or so of the new routine will have Genghis looking a little more fit and the other cats not so whiny. Every single one of them has followed me around the apartment at one point today and looked up at me and Meowed as loud as possible. I'm not one who can talk with animals, but I'm fairly certain each one was saying "where the f*&k is our food?".

Last Night I Slept without an Aid--It was Kind of a Big Deal

Last night I went to sleep all by myself. Not like I slept alone, but that I went to sleep without the help of my generic Ambien. It wasn't some big test, but more like a necessity because I forgot to pick up the prescription from Walgreen's before the pharmacy closed. I'm not a hero and I never pretend to be one.

So I had to draw upon the bag of tricks that I used to fall asleep pre-prescription days. I waited until I was tired before I headed to bed. I fell asleep to the lulling sounds of Chef's snores and the Style Network's Clean House. And I actually stayed asleep for the majority of the night. I only woke up three times in the night. And was able to go back to sleep each time.

However, one night does not a lifetime make. I got my prescription filled and picked it up today. So I'm again not playing the hero and will be induced into a log-sawing slumber in just a few hours. And I'm so excited for it.

Bacon tastes good. Pork chops taste good.

Tonight was penne with a tomato, bacon, cheese sauce. Sounds grossly unhealthy and sure there was some fat from the bacon, but what doesn't right? With the exception of the Olsen twins. All good things have some fat.

So, bacon, wine, pasta, tomatoes, garlic, and basil. Stir stir stir. Toss toss toss. Yumminess in my mouth. And not altogether that bad for me in small portions.

Good times. I wish that Chef had some of it. However, he headed to bed a little early tonight. Must have been the loads of laundry and cleaning he did while I was at work today. God bless it. The only problem is that I am now relegated to working on work things because I have the time, nothing on TV and the work. Or I could close up shop and relax. Or write a blog entry. Decisions, decisions.

Meal Plan Week Two

Okay, so week one was fairly successful. Aside from the great chicken debacle, we ate pretty well and I didn't have to answer a lot of food-related questions. This week has started out along a similiar vein. One thing I will say is that I'm a little over ambitious in the amount of meals I should be cooking each week. Mostly because we have a full fridge and need to add at least one leftover night.

We had cheesy grits with shrimp and bacon on Saturday night. Delish. Truly good. Tonight I think it's garlicky penne with broccoli. I had something else on the menu, but I'm a few dishes behind. I get overzealous.

Nonetheless, the experiment continues...

Mustard Chicken...Not so good

Tonight's dinner started out with good intentions and ended up with an emergency run for sustenance via a drive-thru. I'm fairly certain that's how most people end up in the their cars lined up for food that's passed through a window. That and good advertising.

But I digress. It was a baked chicken with a mustard herb rub. I made it, baked it and it took it out. The smell was pretty gross. I couldn't even make myself try it. I just asked Chef what he wanted from where and grabbed my purse. He was also in charge of clean-up or as he called it "hazardous waste disposal." Okay, it wasn't THAT bad, but it wasn't good.

Tomorrow is a garlicky penne with broccoli. It's also my normal grocery day, so I've got to come up with some recipes for next week. Again, I'm open to anything you all want to send me!!

Chicken Parm Night Treated Us Alright

I used a Cooking Light recipe tonight for some Chicken Parmesan. It might have been "light" but it was also delicious. I have to admit that I fudged mine up. The pan wasn't hot enough and I was impatient, so the first round of tenders stuck to the pan. Chef intervened for his round. Even thought they weren't perfect looking, my tenders were delicious.

So three nights down and two to go. Tomorrow features one of my new favorite vegetables: brussel sprouts. Damn, those things are delicious. Just roasted with some salt, pepper and olive oil.

Cooking is nice but thankfully doesn't take up all night. What is there to watch on TV this summer? It seems like nothing. Everything on Showtime and HBO is ending, except for TrueBlood and FINALLY Entourage. Nothing good on network TV. No good sports. I guess I'll have to spend more time reading!

Well, I liked it

Tonight we had artichoke chicken pasta, a recipe from an American Heart Association cookbook, by the way. I love artichokes. I love olives, feta, olive oil, Mediterranean spices, all that stuff. And I love them all together.

Apparently my love to artichokes blocked out the fact that Chef isn't a fan. I swear that I asked him, but clearly I didn't listen too closely to the answer because I had two dishes this week featuring artichokes. One was put on hold and was a pizza, so luckily, I can adjust that accordingly.

Nevertheless, tonight's dish featured artichokes heavily (as evident by the title) as well as lemon, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and a bit of olive oil. It seemed to be a good, lighter flavored summer kind of recipe. And I loved it. It was flavorful, delicious and filled me up. Three things I look for in any meal. Add some salad on the side and BAM, I'm good to go. Needless to say, Chef wasn't the biggest fan as it tasted strongly of artichokes.

It was an easy recipe that only took about 30 minutes start to finish (Chef awesomely cut and cooked the chicken for me) and came in at 298 calories per serving. I probably could've used whole wheat pasta to lower some of the sugars, but I didn't.

So night two of cooking is under the belt. Tomorrow is a baked chicken parm (non-breaded). I'm kind of excited that we're eating some different stuff. I'm a little nervous because we've had leftovers both nights and I'm thinking that we might have to have a "clean out the fridge" dinner. Although I can't really complain about having too much food that's ready to eat after having no prepared food options, can I? Of course I can. The grass is always greener. . .

Just a food question that's a little off topic, but when did IHOP start thinking that diabetic-coma inducing carnival food was a good marketing strategy? Funnel cakes are not main dishes. Putting syrupy fruit and whipped cream on everything does not translate into a fruit serving and a dairy serving. Stuffing pancakes or French toast or crepes with cream cheese is not the best start to the day. Am I the only one whose noticed this?

What's for Dinner? Stuffed Shells

Tonight was the first real night in the meal plan. We ended up going out on Saturday night to Sportsman's Grill (and the newly opened Sweet Cece's--which was delicious--I had Cake Batter FroYo with fruity pebbles on top--heaven! But I digress...). So instead of taquitos on Saturday, we had them on Sunday. And they were delicious, as usual.

Instead of having the artichoke white pizza from Sunday, I went ahead with the regularly scheduled program: Stuffed Shells. Even though it was not all that different than spaghetti, the fact that the noodles were differently shaped and the proportions of herbs were different made it a good change. Plus the recipe came from a Trim and Terrific book my stepmom Robin gave me and so the calorie count per serving was about 400 calories. And it was mighty hearty.

Chef suggested measuring out some low fat ricotta cheese to add a bit to each shell. That would've been nice. I think the only fault was that the recipe made so much and called for a 2-quart dish when it should've been larger. So some of the shells didn't receive as much sauce and dried out a little.

All in all, the main point that made me excited was that I was excited again about cooking. I forgot how fun it can be when you're doing it for fun and not out of chore or obligation. I hope this enthusiasm lasts for a while.

Strategic Grocery Shopping

So one of the banes of my existence is the question "What's for dinner tonight?". Seems like a simple question and it's not that difficult really. But the question seems loaded. By the end of the day the last thing I want to do is make another decision. I'm typically drained as soon as I walk in the door and pillaging through the cabinets to find something.

So after being inspired by my friend who plan the week's meals and derive their lists off of it, I decided to put the effort back in. I used to sit with Chef and plan for the week. It made life easier. But much like you forget how good it feels to work out after you've neglected yourself for a while, I forgot how nice it is to have the "What's for dinner?" question answered before I walk through the door.

Tonight was grocery night and my cart runneth over. The recipes were less a contributing factor to that than the fact that I was hungry when shopping and it had been about two weeks since I'd done a thorough shopping trip. Tomorrow is the first day and not that outside of the box. It's taquito night. The timing is judged by the ripeness of the avocados--the right avocados are key to the guacamole. Other dishes I'm making this week (for the first time):

• artichoke white pizza
• crab spring rolls
• jumbo stuffed shells
• artichoke rotini with chicken
• Herbed Chicken Parmesan
• chicken with mustard and herbs
• Penne with garlicky broccoli

Wish me luck!

Shudder Island

It was my fault. I was the one who bought into the hype. Or at least the "it's got an ending you won't believe!" promotion. I made Chef watch "Shutter Island" with me last night. I'm not someone who hates Leonardo Dicaprio. I'm not a huge fan either, but I respect his abilities. I loved "Gone Baby Gone" and "Mystic River" (both Dennis Lehane adaptions), so I had high hopes for this one.

It was a let down to say the least. About 45 minutes too long. About one twist too short. Visually beautiful, I will give it that. I should've known better after trying to give M. Night Shyamalan more than just "The Sixth Sense." (Who else has suffered through "The Village"?). The last movie I was truly surprised in was "The Hangover" and that's just because we saw it fairly early and with no added hype or indication of what the plot would be. But I should know that if something is advertising a twist ending, it's probably not a good sign.

However, if you want to save the two and a half hours and be more fulfilled, just check out this video that truly did surprise me: http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=264883&title=m.-night-shyamalan-twist-ending

Putting the "Um" in Hump Day

As in "um, why did I wait so long to send out that email?" Or "um, why is my list of things to do suddenly twice as long as it was yesterday?". I know the reason. One part procrastination, two parts internal meetings to get things rolling and a healthy pinch of summer. Is it just me or does it seem like it takes longer for things to happen on a business front in the summer? People are randomly on vacation, out for Fridays, taking an afternoon off to go watch their children's baseball/softball/soccer games. Except for the last one, that would describe me, as well.

But today is Wednesday which means that tomorrow is Thursday and then we're in the home stretch for two days of player's choice. I'm choosing sometime soon to get a mani/pedi and do some organizing. Plus my friends up north were all excited about going organic, shopping at the farmer's market and eating in season. It inspired me to do a few things--or rather resume some things I'd been doing: 1) making a log of the next week's meals and deriving the list from that and 2) eating more vegetables. I forget how much I love things until I start talking about them to others. The passion with which I described roasted brussel sprouts made me realize that they aren't in my life enough.

So here's where I need your help. I'm stuck in a cooking rut. Send me your best recipes or favorite web sites for recipes, please!!

Back to Reality

Last week was somewhat less of a reality check as it was the third week in a row that I worked less than 5 days. This week. Not so much. Back to a full work week and all that that entails. I'm also back to missing my girls instead of being with them, but that is a constant for about 360 days a year.

Being up north did inspire me to start cooking more. I've let that slide and know that when I actually cook, I actually care what ends up in my body. Being busy was never an excuse when I was losing weight the first time and shouldn't be an excuse now. So I'm not gonna let it.

Wish me luck. . .

One Day To Indy

I'm having a really rough time writing anything that makes sense for the novel this morning so I'm writing for the blog. Because I rarely make sense here.

Tomorrow I leave for Indianapolis. Well, actually I leave for Bloomington first and then on to Indy the next day. Every year I like to travel up there to leave the oppression of Southern heat and humidity for the only slightly less oppressive Midwestern heat and humidity. However, after getting trapped on the Interstate during a torrential downpour that had everyone driving 4 miles an hour and standing water on the road, I'm ready to get the heck out of dodge before the next round of rain hits.

Aside from the metereological aspects of travel, I'm really looking forward to seeing my girls. There comes a time in your life when you can only have so many people who are lifelong friends. Any friends I make now, although perfectly lovely and a wonderful addition to my life, are not by definition lifelong as they missed some formative years. By formative years, I mean years in which I was prone to drinking excessively, vomiting afterwards, doing stupid stuff while driving, repeatedly making poor decisions, being overdramatic about EVERYTHING, and being a geek.

But these friends are special too because two of them I lived with. I mean, other than living with your husband/boyfriend/lover when do you get the opportunity to live with your best friends? Not too often. And I got to and it was awesome. And now when I see them, we easilly fall back into the rhythm of conversation and poking fun that made us friends in the first place.

So, working today, driving tomorrow and then I'm coming up north!!

Diet is Back and Harder than Ever

Ugh. I've been lax on myself and eating for like 9 months which translates into 15 lbs of weight that I shouldn't be carrying. The good thing is knowing that I know how to lose weight. That sounds simple, but when you've never lost weight in your life it's hard to imagine. When I was at my heaviest, I had never really tried to lose weight. I might have given it a half-hearted week or two fad diet try. But it wasn't until I did the simple things that everyone told me worked was I succesful. The little things like watching my calories, portion sizes and getting active.

So today is day two back on the regime. Counting calories. Ordering smarter. Caring what I'm doing to my body. Wish me luck!

Fine. I'm Hooked. Dammit.

I tried to avoid it, as I do most popular literature. Not because I'm a snob or because I think I know better. Because I don't know better. Anyone who knows my crappy taste in music knows that I don't think myself above craptasticness. However, I tend to avoid things everyone loves because I get disappointed if I don't love it too.

Case in point: A Prayer for Owen Meany. It was suggested to me by at least 6 people so I caved and read it. I hated it. I mean, I absolutely found little redeeming value in the novel. People LOVE this book and I couldn't see the appeal. It took great convincing to read another John Irving novel, but someone swore to me that The World According to Garp was more up my alley. And I'm glad they did, because I really enjoyed that one.

So it was with some trepidation that I started Girl With a Dragon Tattoo. The first 20 percent (I can't say "pages" because I downloaded to the Kindle and therefore there are screens, but not pages) was long and little tedious. And it took more than halfway through before the two main characters met. It's set up to happen the entire book and you're waiting, but it seems to take forever to get there.

But I digress and to avoid spoiling this book that's been out for 5 years, I'll just say. It's getting good.

Vacation Day Ten: Last Vestiges of Relaxation

It's the last official day of my staycation. While a tiny part of me is ready to go back to work, another part of me is ready for a life of being independently wealthy. Who isn't though, right? The good thing about tomorrow is that I wasn't overly ambitious and have no external meetings. One full day of getting caught up and back in the swing of things.

For the last two days, I've been working diligently to get as much relaxing in as possible. It's a tough job, let me tell you. I've slept. I've eaten. I've baked. It's been glorious.

The other thing I'm thanking God for is that for the third week in a row, I'm not working a full work week. I'm off on Friday because I'm heading up to Indianapolis to see my girls. I'm so excited to see them that I wish today was Friday. Plus it will be Liam's first long trip. I've got to get the ipod loaded up and ready to go. Ladies, I'm going to request that we have at least one cocktail of everyone's choosing while we're together.

But until then, I will enjoy the remaining hours of relaxation. Maybe I'll dig back into the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I've gotten 56% through it (or at least that's what the Kindle says). Now I'm watching a special on the Wizarding World of Harry Potter section of the Orlando Universal Studios theme park. Is it bad that I really want to go and visit Hogwarts in person? They keep saying "kids" will love it, but that means kids at heart, too, right?

Tomorrow it's back to work. Back to writing every morning. Back to running every morning. Back to eating better. Back to being healthy. Wish me luck.

Vacation Day Eight: Rest and Recovery

Some of you out there might've noticed that vacation day seven did not get chronicled. Frankly, that was poor planning on my part. Yesterday was Chef's birthday and we while we had done the eating celebration at Ruth's Chris, we did the drinking celebration at The Patterson House last night. We left earlier than I anticipated and therefore didn't get a blog entry off before the celebrating began.

And the celebrating was nice. We got to taste the spring menu of cocktails (the favorite of the ones I sampled was the Hush and Wonder--fruity but delicious) before they change it up for the summer. Chef had a drink that was also delicious and the best way to describe it was like drinking liquid cinnamon teddy grahams. I only got a taste, but it was one of the best drinks I've ever had.

We had taken a cab there, but decided to walk home--I had missed boot camp for his birthday so it was probably a good idea to get some exercise. However, about halfway home (it's only a little over a mile), we were regretting the decision. I need another pedicure because my feet are now once again crusty. It was hot last night.

It was a great celebration and a great way to cap off a week of being off. The dread for Monday's barrage of things to do is slowly creeping in. But for today, I am being productive in a domestic sense. I did the grocery shopping and have four loads of laundry in various stages.

I also am soaking up the last moments of cat snuggling. Particularly with Attila. He's my snuggle buddy normally, but we've had more time this week. I think he's going to take it hard when I go back to work. Or maybe I'm just pretending he'd take it hard to feel better about the fact that Genghis adores Chef so much.

So back to laundry. . .

Vacation Day Six: A Little Stir Crazy

The furthest I went outside my apartment today was three feet out the door to admire the rain. And now that it's 8 p.m. and there's nothing on TV until Tosh.0 returns at 9:30 tonight (yay!!), I'm a little stir crazy.

Today in the house Chef and I bathed all the cats. We do that about once every six months just to keep them from smelling too much like cat. Or in Genghis's case, like trail mix for some reason. They all took it better than normal except for Khubla who went nuts. That was dangerous because he still has all his claws plus some extras. Once he got burritoed in a towel, he was fine.

After cat bathing time, I made black bean burgers. It was my first attempt and not too bad. I tried to model them off of the black bean veggie sliders at Ruby Tuesday, except normal sized and without barbecue sauce. I used black beans, brown rice, egg beater, salsa, cumin, garlic, onion powder and bread crumbs (when the rice was not dry enough to make the mixture stick). Pattied those bad boys out and then after cooking in the Foreman grill for 5 minutes, melted a piece of provolone on it, added the Healthy Life low cal white bread bun and some ketchup and was good to go. The nice thing about black bean burgers is that the main ingredients cost about $2 for 4 patties. Not too shabby. Although next time I will probably add more spices and maybe try the barbecue sauce.

The rest of the day was spent in leisure with some occasional email checking when I got bored or felt the compulsion (which truly is a sickness that I need to work on). Chef made pot roast and chipolte mashed sweet potatoes with broccoli for dinner. As usual, it was delicious.

Tomorrow is Chef's actual birthday. I'm planning on going to boot camp, and then coming home to get dolled up and head to the Patterson House for some drinks with my newly 29 year old (as of tomorrow) honey. While it's not another delicious filet, it is some delicious handmade cocktails. I haven't been to the Patterson House since the winter and am hoping the new spring/summer menu is out. Mmmmm.

Until tomorrow. . .

Vacation Day Five: Working Out, Hanging Out

Ah, I'm finding my vacation stride. I had trouble sleeping through the night, but the joy of vacation is that I could get up at 5 a.m. and go back to sleep at 7 a.m. for several more hours. Love it.

Then I got up and had a leisurely morning hanging out with Chef before gathering up my shirt to be returned and heading to Old Navy. I ran a few errands and then went to boot camp. It was a greatly low key day.

The only thing that I'm worried about is my face. There's a huge zit sprouting up on my cheek and it's not looking pretty. Between the giant red blotch and the few episodes of "True Life" I've watched on MTV, I'm getting curious about the Zeno Hot Spot. It kind of freaks me out the Whitney from The City is hawking it. While she has good skin, she's not the most skilled pitchman. Or really speaker. She might be pretty smart, but she sounds like an idiot no matter what comes out of her mouth.

Which brings me back to the Zeno Hot Spot. I totally want to try it and see if I can get rid of this bulbous red raised pimple. But I can't seem to pull the trigger. Has anyone else wanted to check this out?

Vacation Day Four: Sated and Happily Full

Chef's birthday dinner was tonight. We hadn't originally planned for it to be tonight, but we just couldn't hold out on Ruth's Chris any more. It was beckoning like an underage school girl outside the Hot Topic.

We loaded up a little before 5 p.m. and oddly enough weren't the first table in the place. It seems like others couldn't help but indulge as we did on Memorial Day. We started out with seared tuna with a mustard beer sauce (as well as a scotch for Chef and Mendocino Fog Cabernet Sauvignon for me). It was delicious. And only 190 calories. That's one thing we noticed this time that we didn't notice when we went to The Chris in February---calorie counts on the menu. I tried not to let it deter me.

The next course was the filet. Damn delicious. I had one medium. So did Chef. Then he had one that was medium rare. That's right. Chef had two steaks for dinner. When he ordered the second one, the waiter said "You want another steak? The same size?". He sure did. I was so proud. We don't splurge on dining very often so it's great to see him truly enjoy. The picture above was from his second steak. We also had the shoe string potatoes and broccoli au gratin. The broccoli was delicious. The shoestring potatoes left a little to be desired.

After finishing my steak (and his steaks), I had another glass of wine and prepared for the banana tart. It's like banana cream pie with a creme brulee topping. Also decadant and delicious. Not too sweet to overpower, but sweet enough to be a satisfying end to a great, memorable meal. It lasted more than 2 hours and I'm glad. If we had rushed through that meal, I would've been disappointed.

All in all, it was just as good as we had hoped it would be. And in this day and age of being perpetually underwhelmed, it was awesome to have something be just as good or better than you hoped or remembered it to be.

Vacation Day Three: Dreading a Week from Today

Is it sad that I'm already dreading NEXT Sunday when I have to go back to work? Yeah, it is. Today I came to the conclusion that 8 seconds is not only the length that bull riders aim to stay on the bull, but also length of time Krispy Kreme recommends to reheat their original glazed in the microwave.

Chef also introduced me to the exciting taste of Chorizo Chipotle Corn Nuts. These spicy nuggets of crunchy deliciousness are awesome. The only problem is that I can't find them anywhere. They're not even listed on the official corn nuts web site. If you know where I can get my hands on some, let me know! Here's what the package looks like:

Aside from eating, watching the UFC fight and a Tosh.0 marathon, my day has been pretty tame. And I love it!

Vacation Day Two

It's Saturday. That means it doesn't really feel like vacation, because I'm normally off on Saturdays anyway (last Saturday notwithstanding). Slept in. Watched Alice in Wonderland. Wondered what it is about Tim Burton, Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp that makes them want to scare the crap out of small children. Which lead me to think about Daniel Tosh's stand up where he points out that Johnny Depp is 47. Hard to believe he's 47.

Caught up on Glee. Why can't the show go back to actually moving forward and not just be a weekly lesson of a song that probably won't be used in their regional competition? Every week they practice for regionals but don't really make any progress. If I were Will Shuester, I'd be disappointed. Also, what happened to the Jesse kid? He just shows up whenever he wants to? Why isn't Quinn getting more pregnant each week? What happened to the magic that was?

Ate leftovers for lunch and am plotting taquitos for dinner. Maybe I'll go to bed at 8 p.m. or maybe I'll stay up until 4 a.m. There's something liberating about that.

Vacation Day One: I'm staycating

It is officially here. The Ball is over. The majority of contracts have been signed (just a few more to go when I get back). My brain can take a break now. At least from work. I am officially on vacation until June 7th. No, I'm not going anywhere. And I'm so excited about it.

I'm taking the staycation, but I'm also vacating some responsibility for the week, so I'm staycating. My big plans include working out, writing, hanging out with Chef and playing with the kitties. It also doesn't hurt that Chef's birthday is in the middle of this time off. The big celebration? How about a metal plate heated to 425 degrees with a medium rare filet mignon that has a scoop of butter, salt, pepper and parsley on it? Sound good? Yeah, it's flippin' delicious. I was lucky enough to get a trip to Ruth's Chris for my birthday and we've been plotting our return visit ever since.

We also have a return trip to the Patterson House plotted out for another night of celebration and libations. Could this be any better? I get to spend time with the one I love and the kitties too.

The other good news is that after I get back, I spend 4 days in the office before I leave for a trip to see my girls in Indy. I am so ecstatic.

All this time off and I still have more plans. I'm going to finish reading my book and pick up Girl With a Dragon Tattoo after several people have recommended it. I am also going to try and knock some more out on my novel. Yes, that lingering novel. In fact, I've been working on it diligently for the last several weeks. More than 30 days to be precise. I actually made it through my entire pledge--getting up 30 minutes earlier and knocking out a little each day. It's a habit that I'm going to keep for a while. Let's see how much more I can knock out.

Okay, I'm off to clean and devein some shrimp for scampi dinner tonight. Mmmm. Delicious start to the staycation already!

To Know Me is to Know I Love Shoes

You know I have a shoe problem when I spend 10 minutes regaling Chef with my latest shoe finds and then trot them out on numerous occasions just to wear them around the house for a few moments. He's pretty good natured about it, but in the end, I can't really expect other people to get as excited about my shoes as I do.

It's hard to believe that just a few years ago, I wore brown and black shoes (primarily stacked heel loafers) almost exclusively. I would never have dreamed of owning a pair of red shoes, let alone blue floral patterned ones. It wasn't practical and I was too concerned with matching precisely. However, I'm now very discerning about my shoe choices. If I bust out a new pair and don't get a "Where'd you get those?" or "Nice shoes" when I wear them, I know they weren't the best investment. And it's also a reason that I've limited my shoe purchases dramatically in the last few months.

However, I did make a purchase for the Ball and I am now counting the days until I get to wear them again. They're definitely more formal, but I bet I can get away with them with some jeans and some "going out" clothes. Check them out. They're like the photo above, but they have silver sparkles (not multi-colored).

The next question is. . .what will the next shoes look like?

So Much To Do, So Little Energy

I have so much to finish out on for the Ball, and I'm chipping away, but it seems like my attention span is about 15 minutes at a time. That's all people are getting out of me. 15 minutes of solid thinking and then I need a break.

Thankfully, only two more work days and I get that break. Our office, and whole region for that matter, is off this Friday and Monday for Memorial Day. And then I took off the rest of next week to recoup from a long year. I will be writing, reading, and celebrating Chef's birthday (it's on the 3rd. Mark your calendars.) To celebrate, we're going to Ruth's Chris to get a filet cooked on a 425 degree metal plate topped with melted butter, salt, pepper and parsley. Then to the Patterson House for some after dinner drinks. Can someone say taxi cab all night?

Next week, butter and sizzling meat aside, I also need to get back on the eating well wagon. I'm still running every morning, but my apathetic approach to eating is not working well for my waistline. Wish me luck!

Now to just get through the next two days of work. . .

Phew!

Last night was the Rutherford Heart Ball. I am relieved and excited it's over. Chef probably is too. Also my friends and family are ready for me to return to the land of the living, so to speak. It was a beautiful event that made our volunteers feel great. Things went smoothly (there's always room for improvement, clearly) and our guests had a good time. I don't think there's a whole lot more I can ask for.

I'm also grateful. I give Erin, our social events director, credit for pulling it off as she did so much, including keeping me from losing my sanity over the last four months. Plus tons of AHA staff and come of our awesome volunteers came out in full force last night to help make the night beautiful.

My favorite part of post-even clean up was that one of my co-workers (Alyssa, I'm talking about you) put a mannequin torso in my front passenger seat and buckled her in. She told me she had done it, but that did not stop me from scaring myself silly as I went to my car at 1 a.m. and thought someone had broken. It also did not stop me from scaring myself a few more times as I would catch the mannequin in my peripheral vision and jump a little. In my defense, it was late and I had been working for 16 hours yesterday with about 3 hours of nervous sleep the night before.

And if being scared also entirely by my own shadow (or that of a plastic armless torso) was not enough of a challenge on the ride home, I almost hit a deer carcass about 3 blocks from the event site. Two cars were stopped in the left hand lane with their emergency flashers on and I slowed down, which ended up saving Liam Nissan his front bumper. I was able to see the dead deer laying in the right lane that I was in and manuveur around it.

So what next? Well, today is a taking it easy kind of day. Friday is all about the mani/pedi that my hands and feet are screaming for. And next week is already scheduled for a vacation. I literally cannot wait. Focusing on work this week is going to be a challenge.

Best. Boyfriend. Ever.

Today was a great day. Probably one of the best days of my professional life in terms of accomplishment, but then I get home and Chef makes it better.

After a day of jubilation, I walk through the door and am greeted by the smells of pot roast, mashed chipotle sweet potatoes and broccoli. He's cooked dinner and is putting on the finishing touches. I no sooner get the "thank you!" out (as it's 7:30 and I've been working late), then I go into the bedroom. On the bed are a pile of my clothes that he washed and folded. I change out of my work clothes and into my comfy clothes, make my way back to the kitchen and Chef has a glass of wine waiting on me. How did I get so lucky?

While I always appreciate this kind of help and treatment, the fact that he knew that I was having a high stress week was extra special. What it comes down to is this: Nanna nanna boo boo. He's mine. Not yours. I'm so lucky!!