Day One

Gotta start somewhere right?

Today I did the 15 minute pilates workout (which is actually a 20 minute one, but I didn't do any of the standing stuff because I want to get my hip back in the proper place first), and my goal is to do the 15 minutes a day every day for the next week. Then, next Sunday I'll do the full 20 minute workout every day for a week. Week after that, I'll do the full 45 minute workout on Sunday, the 20 minutes during the week, and the 45 minute one on Saturday. While my ultimate goal is to do the 45 minute (full) one more often than the 20 minute (express) workout, I'd like to put my minimum at three times a week, so maybe full workouts on the weekends and Wednesdays maybe. I just really need to stay on top of it this time around. I started last summer when I moved in with Jan and Marc, and I guess because I didn't have a regular schedule post-airline, the whole thing fell through. Now, though, I'm trying to eat better and drink less soda (I've only had two sodas in the last four days! A Sprite and a Coke!), drink more tea. Cutting sodas out is kind of a concession for my beer drinking because, let's face it, beer geeks drink some pretty heavy beer. It's the kind of beer that doesn't actually have nutrition facts on the back!

I say that and it sounds like I'm an alcoholic; really, I only drink on the weekends and it's only like a few drinks a night MAX. Once a month, maybe Meg and I will go crazy and have a couple margaritas instead, but none of us are in that party mode-- that was pretty much over with after college. Plus, when we're drinking beer, we're eating things like fresh salsa, crudite "pizza", hummus, and beans and rice; not heavy on the queso dip and bar food you find with cheap beer! I totally geeked out at Whole Foods last night-- their beer section makes me feel like I've died and gone to heaven. It's bad news, too, because it's right next to the cheese and olives, and then the bakery! I found one of the rarer beers from the Allagash brewery, called Curieaux, and bought the last two bottles. I also made friends with the beer guy who said if I had any special requests, he'd be glad to put them in for me or hold something I wanted! Whoooooo-- gotta love the small town touch to a chain grocery! That's why I love Whole Foods!

Speaking of fresh salsa, my first pepper is FINALLY starting to push out! I'm SO excited-- I'll finally find out what kind of peppers I'm growing! I'm also going to find a place to plant some corn and chianti sunflowers (the red ones, they are super pretty), and I've got small pots to plant basil and other herbs in that we can keep around the apartment when we move. Mom's landlord is really cool, though, and doesn't mind if I plant the bigger stuff like corn, collards, mesclun, and sunflowers in the back yard along the fence-- he thinks it's pretty cool, actually!

Anyway, I'm gonna do a few more ab rounds and then hit the showers. We had a dog food fiasco coming back from Target (the bag just split open and got all over mom's freshly cleaned car!), so I'm going to take that back along with some other stuff that I got last night but don't want as badly as an adorable cherry-blossom-and-Japanese-print apron that they have on clearance for $7, and some other kitchen towels and nice oven mitts. I think between the two of us we only have one or two oven mitts, and they're pretty old-- Target has some nice KitchenAid ones on sale for a few bucks each! After that, it's off to Rosebud for a Yelp! event; hopefully they'll let me in since Emily can't make it-- I'm on the list, and I've been to one before, and I'm meeting up with Sid and Wendy (the nice couple we met at the last event) to all go in together.

I also just spotted my copy of "Walter the Farting Dog" that Martha gave me-- I will have to find this book for Julian. He will be immensely amused.

Eenterestink

So I know not everyone is as big of a nerd as I am, but MAN I love Battlestar Galactica. Aside from being one of the most amazingly produced shows ever, they do such an amazing job of relating the very sociopolitical dialogue they want without being forceful about the issue. Obviously they're debating a monotheistic versus polytheistic system of religion, a Democratic or Socialist or Trotskyist system of government, the very essence of human nature in chaos and crisis, but they just freakin' rock at it! Plus, it's just hilarious to watch them slowly make Baltar look like the classic image of Jesus (for those of you who are not familiar with the show, Baltar is first assumed to be the saviour of the human race, but becomes a central figure to the Cylons, and then bounces back and forth between the two) because he wears it surprisingly well. James Callis has very pretty hair... point is, the show is amazing and never ceases to dazzle me. This is why I am embarking on a ridiculous spree of Galactica watching that will end next Friday when I am fully caught up on a season and a half plus the new season that I've missed and the brand new episode on Friday night!

Valerie's post about her trip to Phuket inspired me to look up a few things about the resort they stayed at and start looking at plane tickets and start feeling out the price. We've decided to wait on the honeymoon for a while because we want to do something really fantastic and we don't want to have to cancel it (as I know several couples getting married this year who have had to cancel their honeymoons due to a lack of funds). Jeremy's parents are being incredibly generous with their gift to us, so we're going to put it in the high-yield savings account and let it sit for a year (and save up some vacation time) and go on a crazy awesome Asian honeymoon. If I could have my way, we'd hit up Thailand, Singapore, and Japan. Surprisingly, the cheapest flights are actually from Austin to Singapore! How random is that? The resort Valerie stayed at is pretty inexpensive all things considered-- $600 for three days two nights including private limo ride to/from the airport, massages, dinner for two, sea view room, and all sorts of other crazy stuff! I know it's expensive for regular folks, but you're supposed to do stuff like that on your honeymoon, right? :D Besides, I think everything else in Thailand isn't too expensive, we'd probably want to crowd Matt, Val, and Ana in Singapore, and the train in Japan is cheap, so it'd be the biggest expense most likely. Man, the next year and a half can't come fast enough!!

OH MY GODS THEY DIDN'T! FRACKING RIDICULOUS, BATTLESTAR, FRACKING RIDICULOUS! (sorry, they just revealed four of the final five Cylons hiding in the fleet -think sleeper agents- and it's sooooo... just wow. I'm going to go crazy waiting to start Season 4 after Jeremy leaves!!!)

Now that I'm done dorking out on you... I think it's time to go to bed. I tried going to bed earlier last night and it really didn't end well! I kept waking up and then they cranked up the heat a little bit and it was awful. I'm calling the heating and air place first thing in the morning to see when they can come fix this stuff. I need to get my lazy butt up and take the futon out from under the mattress so Jeremy and I both have a place to sleep this week! Need to make sure he's nice and rested so that he can fix my car-- it's been a long time coming, but I did finally get a written warning about my tags tonight, and since I actually have the money to get it all registered today it needs to happen! I certainly can't afford to get a ticket! That being said, I totally forgot what it was like to live somewhere that has a nice police force! In Memphis and Southaven, they were just horrible and harrassed you at every chance they got (as those of you who know about my lone and totally unwarranted speeding ticket may have heard) and didn't seem to care about your safety-- the guy who pulled me over tonight was totally nice and relaxed and was like, "You know, just because you're working on it doesn't mean you should drive it... since you're fixing it this week, I'm giving you a warning. Have a safe night and take care." Totally a non-issue. If they'd pulled me over in Southaven, they would have tried to search my car for drugs or something.