Document!

I am a documenter, at least when it comes to words. I make to-do lists, and grocery lists, and Costco lists, I journal (although not nearly as much as I used to since I blog a lot and this has a super journal-ly feel to it and mostly serves the same purpose), I keep letters and cards and emails and all sorts of stuff (but I'm not a pack rat- I do go through the correspondence every once in a while and get rid of things that have lost their importance). Even my job is all about documenting stuff, and figuring out better, more efficient ways to document stuff, and making sure that systems that hold all of that documentation are in good working order.

On the other hand, I usually forget the existence of cameras until it is too late to take the picture. Oh well, we can't all be good at everything.

Part of why I am a documenter is that I have a terrible memory. But if I write things down I tend to remember them a lot better. Even when I was in school I didn't usually have to study as long as I took really detailed notes and maybe read them over once or twice before a test. I'm the kind of person who either immediately understands stuff and remembers it, or doesn't.

My desk at work is usually a rainbow of post-it notes for reminders, messages, to do lists, and call-back numbers. Recently I've been trying to keep everything in a huge yellow spiral bound notebook I got at Target. But I still use colored post-it tabs on my notebook so I can find important stuff fast. I'm sure this will be a brief experiment though, I always go back to post-it notes and a desk planner. For me it is the most efficient way to work and find stuff fast. I tried some of the filing method from "Getting Things Done" (which is a great book if you're trying to get organized), but it just didn't work for me. I just went back to what I've been doing since I moved out of my parent's house and had to keep track of my finances. I've been a really organized person for most of my life, clutter makes me insane. (What I did keep from that book is filing EVERYTHING, even if it is just a scrap of paper in a folder, so that I can find it later and I'm not drowning in piles of random paper. I liked that.)

So sometimes my blog has more of a list-y feel to it instead of a narrative, meaningful tone. But I'm just making sure that I remember what happened on vacation or that particularly great day I had 3 years ago or what I did for my birthday.

Aaaaanyway, there is absolutely no point to all of that except to say that sometimes not everything I write is mind-blowingly important. Having said that, here's the rundown of my life lately:

• The gym on Monday left me SO SORE! And that was only the fitness test! My abs and shoulders still sort of hate me for what I did to them Monday. I'm such a showoff. I mean strong, I'm so strong. Tonight my trainer tried to kill me- I swear to God. She was all like "Great! Good job on that set of tricep whateveryoucallthems. Let's run some laps!" Me, "Run? Are you freaking kidding me???" "C'mon! Let's go! I'm running, why aren't you running??? RUN. RIGHT NOW." Me, "Oh fuck she means it." (I don't think I said that last part out loud but who knows?)
• My 2nd DVD of Season 2 of The Tudors arrived in my mailbox today. GOD I love that show. The costumes, the sets... okay, I've talked about this before. We all know what happens in the story of Henry the VIII (although I am having trouble keeping some of those hot lords and earls and whatnot and their respectively slutty lasses straight), but it is just such a visually awesome series that I can't stop watching it.
• Work has been slow and it worries me.
• According to the weather channel we're going to get 4" of rain between tomorrow and Tuesday. We need rain and I'll take that over tornadoes any day, so I'm not complaining.
• Nashville has had it's first documented case of SWINE FLU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We're all gonna DIE!

Nothing Funnier Than Swine Flu!

This made me laugh so hard last night. Of course, I was pretty tired and silly last night, but, you know, it's STILL funny.

Enjoy!

Vacation... but now I'm BACK!

Boy oh BOY this has been one hell of a day. I knew it'd be a little rough because I went on a mini-vacation to see my hetero-lifemate Heather (of course her name is Heather, and I bet you think I'm making that up) (also, the term "hetero-lifemate" always makes people do a double-take and it's hilarious), and got back to Nashville last night. I couldn't sleep because I'd had so much fun and I was all like, "HMPF! I wish my trip was longer!" So there was no in-between break before I had to be back at work this morning. Today I slogged through emails from 2 missed days at work and glowered at my office door to generally made myself as mean and unattractive looking as I could so people would see me and think, "Hmmmmm, maybe I'll just wait until tomorrow to ask her about this... she might bein a better mood then...." Grrrrrr!

The trip was such a blast. I don't think 4 days have ever gone by so fast. Highlights included:

• Becoming addicted to the show Supernatural (soooo creepy and sort of campy but really good although I don't know if I'll be able to watch it by myself because I'm a big ol' baby and won't be able to sleep at night)
• Sitting on the patio at a wine bar and splitting a bottle of Reisling with Heather at 3:00 in the afternoon on a really hot day.
• Using the wine drinking time to come to the conclusion that YES I did need to buy a gorgeous new handbag even though it was expensive. It will last forever. So far it has held everything I've shoved into it, including magazines at the airport, but oddly enough it's easy to find stuff in it. I've found the holy grail of bags! And I'm not saying what it is because you will judge (believe me, I would judge too).
  
• Hanging out at the coffee shop drinking Black & Tans (that's a coffee drink, not a beer drink) like we used to do between classes in school.
• Playing with puppies at the pet store. This one is a Pomeranian and she's really cute but CHILL, just hanging out (especially compared to the other little puppy that was ALL TEETH). We named her Ethel because she was sort of a grandma puppy (no offense to any Ethels out there):

Awwwww, ETHEL you are so cute!

• Eating lots of Mexican and Asian food (it just sort of worked out that way).
• Watching Heather's bellydance class- how the HELL do people get their hips to move like that?
• Heather gave me a necklace for my birthday with "timshel" on it (that's from East of Eden- go read it). For a while I was thinking about getting that tattooed somewhere on me but now realize that explaining what "timshel" means is sort of hard and would probably get really annoying so I'm glad she had the necklace made for me instead. So is my mother, I'm sure.
• Watching "Let the Right One In" which was a super-weird creepy vampire movie. I'm tempted to read the book but I bet it's really disturbing and again, I like to be able to sleep at night.

So, that was the trip!

In other news, tonight I had my first initial fitness test at the gym before real trainer time starts. I can bench press a maximum of 65 lbs 10 times in a row before I want to die, which impressed the hell out of me and I think impressed my trainer because she started me out at something like 45 lbs and had to keep putting on more weight. I probably could have done more if I'd started out with 65 lbs to begin with. Real stuff starts Thursday. I hope I'll be able to move Friday morning.

Does anybody else find the name "Swine Flu" really funny? I thought Bird Flu was bad. Swine Flu is making me giggle because I'm picturing Miss Piggy in a pink dressing gown with high-heeled slippers that of course include fuzzy feathers on them, with an icepack on her face. In a chaise lounge. But I am fascinated by the evolution of the virus. What is the advantage of strikiing people with really healthy immune systems harder than those with weaker immune systems? Ah Genetics, I love it.

Sunday

Yesterday I met some friends for lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant and we all had iced strong coffee sweetened with condensed milk. It might be my new favorite drink. But boooyyyyy I am not used to drinking coffee at ALL. I was jacked up on caffeine all day and most of the night, when I stopped watching a movie ("Becoming Jane", a piece of trash that brought both Anne Hathaway AND James McAvoy down a peg or two in my mind. It was CRAP, I tell you. Moody music and pretty shots do not a good movie make.) at 11:00 to start cleaning my bathroom. That bathroom is sparkling. This must be what it's like for normal people when they take crystal meth. I was so HYPER.

I didn't get to sleep until well past 2:00 am, but I was wide awake at 8:00 this morning, ready to go. I threw on clothes, took the mountain of recycling to the recycling center, and then hit Walmart. 9:00 on a Sunday is a GREAT TIME to be at Walmart. It was deserted, there weren't any lines at checkout, and there was tons of close parking. I know Walmart is an evil empire, but it is hands down the cheapest place to get my protein shakes ($5 as opposed to $9 at Walgreens or $7 at Kroger), so sometimes I go there. In my mind Walmart and Target aren't any different as far as evil large corporations go. So if I shop at one I'd be a hypocrite to not shop at the other.

Today will be another day of keeping an eye on the weather. Ah, spring. You anxiety inducing bastard. I'm going to read some of my nerdy management books, do some laundry, and get ready for the week. It's going to be a busy one!

My God I'm in a good mood. Maybe I should be drinking coffee more often....

I'd Like to Patent Fingernails, Please

So today at work I had to find documentation about something we've been doing for YEARS, way before some genius put a patent on this something, so that we don't get the pants sued off of us. I can't say what the patent is, but when I read it I had to laugh out loud. It is so BROAD. Seriously, it's like someone deciding to patent loose leaf paper or air. If you knew, you'd laugh- everyone else has. I seriously don't think that our sue-ers have a leg to stand on, but I'm pulling documentation left and right anyway. This is what we call Job Security.

On the exercise front, I hit a real wall about a month or six weeks ago. I got bored with my routine and then I didn't want to do it and couldn't figure out what to do instead. So I thought maybe I'd join Curves, which seemed like an okay idea. The place is right on the way home from work, so it's really convenient and there would be no excuse to not go. I went for a trial workout and it was fast, but really repetitive. Curves is just the circuit and I think I'd outgrow that workout in about 3 months. Apparently my Curves person forgot that I didn't pay to join yet so she was like, "Bye! See ya!" after my first workout there and so out I walked. I've worked circuits before, but at places where there are other machines for bumping up strength in various muscles and cardio equipment. On top of that, Curves has really strange hours. I do, however, like the Curves Smart program. It is a little card that you use with the machines so they can tell you how hard you should be working for a good workout, and that all gets relayed back to a computer where you can track how hard you worked your major muscles, if you hit your targets, how many calories you burned, stuff like that. I really do appreciate some numbers on a spreadsheet so I thought this was really cool. Not worth paying $50-a-month-cool though.

I did some research and found a local gym that had decent reviews online. I called from the parking lot to see if they had a minute for me to come in- the place is a little weird to get into and I wanted to make sure I was going to the right place. Walking in is impressive- they have all kinds of cardio machines (bikes, treadmills, ellipticals, etc), weight machines, free weights, a big classroom with a good schedule of classes, a walking/running track, a pool, a hot tub, dry and steam saunas... for about 2/3s the cost of Curves. The building is old but everything looked clean and well-maintained. It didn't take me long to decide that this was the way to go! For less than it would have cost me to join Curves for a year, I joined the local gym, and signed up for a month with a personal trainer to get things kicked into gear. And the best part- this gym didn't feel intimidating (yeah, Gold's Gym/Urban Fitness- I'm talking to you!). It felt like people were there to work and to get healthy. The ages ranged from 20s to 80s. There were big people and small people. There were even people who were there for physical therapy.

I am really excited. I haven't belonged to a gym in four years, and it's something I've always liked to do because it is so motivating. My body builds muscle fast, and I like to see the changes. I spent 2 hours last night loading up my MP3 player with lots of good workout music (Black Eyed Peas and Cher both have a strong contingent) for walking the track and using the cardio machines. Bring it on! (Oh, we'll bring it!- sorry, had a little moment there....)

Johnny Depp

So I vaguely remember 21 Jump Street being on TV when I was a kid, but I was waaaayyyy too young to watch it. Recently it came up on my Netflix recommendations and I decided oh what the hell. Why not? A little late 1980s Johnny Depp never hurt anybody.

I IMDB'd 21 Jump Street to see when it first came on the air. April 12th, 1987. And today is April 12th 2009. Freaky coincidence! And I have to say that Johnny Depp looks better now (when he's not in one of his weirdo red carpet get ups), than he did 22 years ago. The man never ages. I swear he and his cheekbones made a deal with the devil.

Oh, and of course the 21 Jump Street fashions and hair styles are KILLING me. Loving the '50s throwback vibe going on there. But the show actually seems to be pretty good.

So here we have it:
Awwwwwww, so young. So baby faced. Seriously, the guy was 23 in this picture but no wonder he got the part in this show. Don't you just want to take him home and feed him cookies or something?

A still from Public Enemies, Johnny as John Dillinger. Swoon. Perhaps it's because of all this age that I've got going on now, but Johnny at 45 is way better looking than Johnny at 23. This Johnny would be getting cookies of an entirely different nature. (HA! Get it? I slay me!)

And, by the way, Public Enemies is going to be awesome. Johnny Depp AND Christian Bale in ONE MOVIE. Can't wait for July! Go watch the trailer. You're welcome.

How it All Turned Out (Me and Martha, BFFs)

I told you a couple of days ago that I was going to take fabric to my bedroom and make it a little more fabulous and a little less icky... here's how it turned out!

Headboard and panels over my bed:I have covered this headboard at least 4 times now and the panels over my bed probably the same number of times, if not more. I like how it is cheap and easy to completely change how my bedroom feels by switching fabrics. I can't paint in my rental, so instead I fabric (that's a verb now). Next time I'm going to try putting some buttons on to give it more of an upholstered look.

And here's the window treatment/mistreatment/thing I did to match:
Ohhhhh yeah, who's all fancy now? I really like how this turned out. If I said I sewed anything I'd be a big fat liar.

Trader Joe's Haul!

Yesterday to help celebrate my birthday I took myself down to Trader Joe's for some interesting cheap food. I got a ton of stuff for $43, and that includes a bunch of fancy tulips for about $8. Here's a picture!

These remind me of when I lived in Holland when I was a teenager and you could buy a huge bunch of tulips for practically nothing at the outdoor market. The Dutch put huge bunches of tulips in wide mouth vases (not even vases really, more like crocks). It's not exactly a cheery place, and tulips help to brighten things up. I think the bulb export business is waaaayyy bigger that the flower export business, so there are a ton of flowers sold CHEAP. That was a really good thing about Holland. I probably would have gotten 4 times as many flowers for the same price there. ANYWAY, that's not what I mean to write about!

Yesterday afternoon I started researching the really GOOD stuff at Trader Joe's. I always hear about things that are fantastic (Frozen Garlic Naan) and things that are disgusting (fresh-baked Naan) so I wanted to be sure I had a good list before I went. And boy did I find some good stuff! Some highlights:

• Snap Pea Crisps
• Just Banana- dried flattened banana slices that are awesome. They're not fried like banana chips or sweetened, which is fine because bananas are so sweet on their own. My IBS book has a recipe for something like this, but these are so cheap and good that it's worth getting them at TJs.
• Dried, slightly sweetened ginger
• Sea Salt Pita Chips
• Garlic Naan (yup, the frozen one)
• Veggie Pad Thai bowl
• Spicy Kung Pao Chicken Bowl
• Shrimp Potstickers (I'm excited about these....)
• Frozen Pre-cooked Edamame
• Store Brand Organic Greek Yogurt - Honey Flavor. I realized the Fage with Honey that I love is all fat and I really have to stop eating it. (I'm reducing. Like a 1950s housewife. Much better word than dieting.) On top of that it is expensive. SOB. So I need a good substitute. The TJs Greek Yogurt texture is perfect, but the honey flavor is waaaaayyyy too sweet. I'll have to explore other flavors.
• 4 Formaggi Pizza

Not bad! This stuff will last for a long time, especially since a lot of it is frozen. I need to try their cheese. I also hear really good things about their kitchen cloths. I wish that grocery stores in TN could sell wine because I want to try the cheap delicious wine you can get at TJs in other states, but I guess I'll have to live with Frugal McDougals instead. Poor me!

Farewell to My (Stupid, Immature, Confusing, Unsettled) 20s

So, today is my last day in my 20s. Tomorrow is my 30th birthday! I know a ton (a TON) of women who have freaked out at this sort of news (newsflash! time marches on! you just can't stop it!), but honestly I'm looking forward to my 30s. When I think of how far I've come in the past decade... I just... holy crap a lot has changed in ten years. Ten years ago I was:

• working at a bakery
• taking classes at the local university
• volunteering at a community theater most nights
• dating a guy from school and a guy from theater
  
• (in case you were wondering, neither of them worked out)
• trying to decide where to go to "real" college
• spending way too much energy on drama
• wearing flannel shirts (seriously)
• couldn't even drink yet!

WOW. That feels like such a long time ago. So much has happened since then. Ten years ago I would NEVER in a MILLION years have guessed I'd be where I am now, both professionally and, uhhhh, locationally? I don't think that's a word. In my 30s I will be empowered to make up words that aren't even real! Oh wait, I do that anyway. So that's just a personality trait. The biggest thing I've learned is that you are never as self-assured as you thought you would be as a "grown-up". And everybody is feeling exactly the same way so instead of being the socially awkward freak I felt like in highschool and college I have realized that I am totally NORMAL.

Today on my lunch break I went to the fabric store and bought a ton of aqua and brown striped fabric that I will be using in my bedroom. I tried doing this a couple of weeks ago with some fabric I had lying around but I HATE how it turned out so I'm going to re-cover my headboard and replace the curtains with something a little less ICKY (from far away it looks sort of yellowy-grey and I was NOT expecting that) and a lot more FABULOUS. And I'm trying to figure out a way to cover my window at night. Building maintenance has either re-discovered or installed a light right near my bedroom window that is making my room fairly bright at night. I don't want a big heavy curtain that would block the sunshine during the day. Instead I'm thinking I'll need to get some fabric that is fairly light weight but very dark in color and use stick-on velcro... ugh. I can't do that. Just typing that feels tacky. So instead I guess I'll be devising something with cup hooks and grommets that I can put up at night, and take back down during the day and stash under my bed or something. I need blackout curtains!

And sleep. I also need sleep. For some reason (too much light perhaps?) I am obnoxiously tired today and I want to CRASH. So I'll go home (yes, I'm writing this from the office- but I'll probably post it from home- so I already maybe AM home woooooo), staple some fabric to my headboard (I might even iron it first!), sew up some quick curtain-valance thing, contemplate the light at night situation, decide that a glass of wine would probably help the decision making process, dig through my bin(s) of fabric, have another glass of wine, wonder why I care so much about light anyway when I could just sleep on my living room floor instead (it's much darker in there), and pass out around 11:00 to the dulcet sounds of Jay Leno's melodious voice.

Because THAT, my friends, is how one rings in their 30th birthday!

200th Post!

Who knew I had so much to say?

With the use of ice and massive doses of ibuprofen left over from my dental escapades, my knee is SO much better than it was on Friday. Friday I was like, "Holy shit, I'm going to have to get knee surgery and move to a new apartment and I won't be able to drive and I'll have to use crutches or maybe just never walk again!" Today was more like, "Oh hey, I just ran down that flight of stairs and didn't even feel anything... cool." I am such a baby. But babying this stupid knee seems to be what has helped get it better.

I am suddenly addicted to The Office. I found out it is on the list of stuff you can watch instantly on Netflix and I haven't had jack to do but sit around with icepacks so I blew through the first season and more than I would like to admit of the second season. (I did the math and then had to figure out how I found the time to do anything else at all this weekend. Like laundry. Or grocery shopping. Or sleep.)

Weather-wise this has been a really odd spring. This is the third round of severe weather we've been through since last Saturday. Thursday was the worst, I was at work and the sky turned black and building security got on the paging system and told us all to get in the stairwells because of bad weather. Well that's fine by me! I would much rather be at work when this hits because it is all reinforced concrete and my apartment is more like something put together with matchsticks and masking tape. A really weak tornado touched down 3 miles away and then some trucks were blown over on the interstate right by my office building so I guess it's a good thing we went to the stairs just because the windows could have been blown in. So exciting! And so scary! At least it all went by really fast- 10 minutes later the sky was looking normal again and everyone pretty much went home. I don't think today is going to be nearly as bad as all that was.

And now, because I love you all so much, here is my very favorite scene from The Office. If you watch the show you'll understand, if not, well, it just might be funny on its own. Enjoy!

The Office - Fax to the Future | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

Fun Fact!

When you go down a flight of stairs your knees have to handle a force 7 TIMES your body weight (as opposed to going up- which is only 2 times your body weight). I found this out after doing too many squats and lunges Tuesday followed by some hiking on Wednesday. Hellooooo Advil and icepacks. I'll be laying off lower body exercise for QUITE SOME TIME. Which just sucks. The weather is pretty and spring is usually so short around here- I'd like to be walking around outside enjoying the flowers. Eventually I'll do some upper leg exercises to strengthen the muscles that control my kneecap.

I'm hating that I live in a 2nd floor apartment right now. Oh well, it's looking like a quiet weekend at home for me!

More Excitement in Fashion!

Today instead of memorizing labeling laws I spent a TON of time pouring through the ASTM (that's American Society for Testing & Materials- International, for those of you who don't have to kill yourselves by reading boring government documents that pretend to be from one country but actually COVER THE WORLD) Manual- Section D6193- Standard Practice for Stitches and Seams. Again, I know Micheal Kors is calling my name and FIT wants me as a tenured professor but really this is more fun.

Really.

Uh hunh.

Have I convinced anyone yet?