Drivin away from the wreck of the day and the light's always red in the rearview

Holy crap, what a way to start the day!
 
The bad luck from my last post continued this weekend and into this morning, but luckily nothing absolutely disastrous happened… but disaster was just barely avoided. I’ll start with the good weekend stuff first, though:
 
Friday after work I went to Trashmart to buy the pretty red bike I’d been eyeing up for a few weeks… except they didn’t have it in stock! I was getting a bike this weekend no matter what it took, so I changed my disappointed sourpuss face into my hopeful face and bought a 2-bike trunk rack for my car. Since I had cleaned out/eaten about ¾ of the contents of my freezer over the past few months and since Trashmart has really cheap frozen Kashi/Healthy Choice/Lean Cuisine meals and paninis, I splurged and decided to stock up. When I got to the register, the total came to exactly $100.00. (The bike rack was about $40… and the food I got will last me for a looooong time) You’d think such a perfect number would be a sign of good things to come… and in a sense it was because Saturday I went on the great 2009 bike hunt through Monroeville!
 
I woke up early on Saturday and made a HUGE batch of juice for the upcoming week’s smoothies – celery, carrots, apples, oranges, grapefruits, pineapple, mangoes, grapes, strawberries, cantaloupe, and kiwis. This mixture will be combined with bananas, raspberries, blueberries, more mangoes, spinach, and protein powder for super smoothies. It seems funny to me, and I know other people have discovered the same thing, but I feel much more awake when I have my super smoothies in the morning – they wake me up way more than coffee or tea, and I almost never crave sweets now. Plus, I just feel absolutely amazing when I drink them and they’re super yummy! They don’t taste AT ALL like veggies (I even made some people at work try the mix, against their better judgment… they readily agreed that they’re awesome!), and the carrot and celery add a very subtle sweetness to the smoothies.
 
Anyways, back to Saturday. I had big plans for the day since it was GORGEOUS outside. I went to the gym, ran for the first time in weeks since my knee’s been killing me, lifted weights like a bodybuilder; and then made the bike circuit. First up was Target, where I found my original second choice – a women’s Schwinn Jaguar bike for $149.99. This bike is nice and it caries two reputable names – Schwinn and Jaguar. Plus, I thought it’d be cool to say I bought a Jaguar this weekend… but the consumer reviews weren’t so awesome. Determined to find my first choice and to not make any hasty decisions, I then went to Dick’s and Dunham’s. Dick’s was terrible since their cheapest bike was on sale for $229… Dunham’s just didn’t have much of a selection at all… and then I realized I’d forgotten about Kmart! Why not? What does it hurt to look? Well, good thing I did, because I found the winner of the day. Ladies and Gentlemen, my new best friend is a… Kent Glendale CS Comfort Cruiser bike. It’s a really pretty blue, a cruiser, has 7 gears, a comfy seat, and got better consumer reviews than the Jaguar bike. Plus, it was the same price… and I was already in Kmart and didn’t feel like going back to Target…
 
I made my way home and went on a short inaugural bike ride around the neighborhood… then came back, mowed what felt like 5 miles of uphill grass (over 1 hour of mowing at a HR of 170!!), and went for another quickie spin around the nabe… then came back, got a drink of water, adjusted the handlebars/seat/reflectors/gears to my liking (normal people would have done all that BEFORE riding it), then went for another longer ride around Wilkins Twp and Turtle Creek. I LOVE my bike!! It’s so comfy and smooth, and it doesn’t feel like I have to try as hard to ride it as I had to with the old crappy hand-me-down bike.
 
Needless to say, with all the running/lifting/shopping/riding/cutting/riding/riding, I’d worked up quite an appetite. I made my first-ever batch of baked penne, complete with ricotta (my dad hates ricotta, so I never get the real thing at my parents’ house), fresh mozzarella, and garlic bread fashioned out of garlic foccaccia. The penne was good, but nothing too special. The garlic bread, on the other hand, was incredible. I could have easily made a meal out of just that, but I restrained myself and froze most of the rest. I can’t wait till I have it again!
 
Sunday was a dreary day (thank goodness we had at least one nice day for the weekend!), so I used it to gourmandize my breakfast. I made apple-grapefruit-orange juice, coffee, cinnamon-nutmeg French toast out of the leftover Easter bread from my grandma’s, turkey bacon, and freshly-sliced homefries with green peppers. YUM! Don’t worry, as I do with most of my Sunday breakfast splurges, I only ate about half (less than half, actually) and saved the rest for this morning’s breakfast and lunch. It was all really good, but the star was definitely the homefries with peppers. I don’t normally bother with peppers simply because I don’t usually have them on hand… and it just doesn’t seem worth it to take the time to wash them and cut them when I’m doing a gazillion other things. Lucky for me, Lisa from work had heard me talking about my juice extractor and wordlessly dropped a huge bag of chopped veggies onto my desk one day this past week. I used the carrots and celery sticks in my weekly juice blend and was able to use up the already-chopped green peppers in my homefries. I still have mushrooms and cauliflower if anyone wants them… I don’t like either one.
 
After indulging in my extravagant breakfast, I relaxed and went to work on clearing up the memory on my computer. When I was home for Easter, my aunt and uncle had said something about me using their digital copies of DVDs they had since they didn’t want them. I went over to their house to load them onto my computer, but had to stop with 2 movies to go because my computer was mysteriously out of memory… even though it shouldn’t have been. So when I finally sat down to check it all out, I noticed I had my iTunes and iPhoto stuff in about 3 different places – not necessary. I copied everything to my external HD for back-up (that needed done anyways – it had been over a year!) and set about deleting a bunch of duplicates. Also, I put my new movies on DVDs, although I can only use them in my computer since they’re data DVDs. I don’t understand how all of that works, but oh well. I’m proud to say that I now have over 24 GB free on my computer, so I’m free to download as much as I like (for a while)! I think I did screw something up, though – when I went to update my iPod with a new playlist, the computer told me neither the computer nor the iPod was authorized to play anything I’d downloaded from iTunes. What?! Luckily, most of the stuff I listen to wasn’t downloaded from iTunes, but still. What on earth? I tried to authorize the computer, but it wouldn’t let me… so who knows what I did to it… Any ideas?
 
Last night I made my way to the gym for Sunday night volleyball and for once, I played like a demon! My serves were great, my passes and sets were good, and I even got a few hits in! And not just dinky “accidental” hits, but real full-on solid hits! Approach, swing, and everything! It was AWESOME! However, once I got home, I noticed that my knee was hurting a LOT, so I’ve been trying to rest it as much as possible before tonight’s game.
 
On my way in to work, I VERY NARROWLY avoided disaster/death. I was on the stretch of Penn Ave in Wilkinsburg practically right in front of the Wendy’s, driving in the right lane when a few cars up someone in the left lane wanted to turn into Wendy’s. I was literally right beside a huge black SUV when out of the blue the SUV driver decided he didn’t want to wait for someone to turn, so he came into my lane – WHILE I WAS STILL RIGHT BESIDE HIM! With no time to think, I swerved completely onto the curb and almost hit a phone pole. There’s so much traffic on that road during rush hour that any sane person would have known there was someone beside them and that they’d have to wait and look before moving into another lane. When I got off the curb and back onto the road, the SUV was still in front of me and I got a spectacular look at his license plate before he swerved in front of someone else – so if you see anyone driving around Pittsburgh in a black SUV with the license plate “MIRACLE” (or maybe it was “MIRACL”… I can’t remember if it had the “E” at the end… nice license plate, I guess this person realizes it’s a miracle they’re still alive?), feel free to show them that they’re #1, if you know what I’m saying.
When I got to work, I inspected my car just to be sure there wasn’t any damage, and my wheels/tires are all sorts of screwed up on the passenger side. I called my mom, who’s also my insurance agent, and she told me there wasn’t any point in submitting a claim since I have a deductible. And I’m pretty sure that since there wasn’t a real “accident,” the police wouldn’t be able to do anything. Still, what a jerk. What a way to start the day…
 
On the bright side, when I have a bad start to the day, I usually have a spectacular night at volleyball… so I’m hoping that’s the case tonight. Our game’s in Greenfield/Squirrel Hill instead of Downtown tonight, so win or lose (ahem, WIN!), we’re treating ourselves to Mineo’s for some pizza after the game! I think I’m almost as excited for dinner as I am for our game!
 
Here’s hoping your day is/was a lot better than mine!

I'll miss the catch if they throw me the ball, I'm the last chick standing up against the wall

Hiya!!
 
I’m super hyper and excited for tonight’s volleyball game! It’s funny that we’re in the 4th week and I still don’t have any idea who 2 of our players are… then again, we’ve only played one game since we had a bye the first week and last week was canceled. It’s like I CRAVE playing vb sometimes – this morning I kept moving my fingers like I was setting the ball and I keep trying to pass the tennis ball on my desk (note: this doesn’t work well). I’m really digging the competitive league and I think playing in it actually makes me want to play even MORE. I was stoked on Monday when I was in the middle of a long serving streak and the other team had to call a time-out because I am invincible. Ok, I’m not, but it feels that way sometimes. I don’t know that I’ve missed a serve at all since starting the competitive league!
 
Anyways, that’s enough about VB for this post – I’m sure everyone’s tired of hearing about it. :)
 
Last night “the boy” and I went to The Rivertowne Pour House (or the “Whore House” as Natalie seems to think it’s called) to celebrate his birthday. His bday was Tuesday (he’s now 29!) and mine’s next Thursday (the 23rd… I’ll be a ripe old 27!). We ordered a homemade pretzel with “beer mustard” to start and Wow-ee! That was some HOT mustard! It was awesome, though, and really helped to clean out my sinuses. If I’d been with my parents I would’ve totally kept the uneaten mustard to take home… but I feel like that’s maybe bad date behavior, so I restrained myself. For dinner I ordered “The Pacino,” which was basically a hot Italian sandwich – per their website, “Thick sliced Italian bread with grilled pepperoni, salami and cappicola, roasted red peppers and sliced banana peppers, then covered with melted provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions and Italian dressing.” Minus the tomato and lettuce for me. I love lettuce, but for some reason I don’t like it on hot sandwiches. This sandwich was truly AMAZING. The meat was pleasantly crispy and I think the banana peppers were what “made” it. I ate half of it last night and ate the other half for lunch today – soooooo good. Our beverage selections included (mine): the new pomegranate ale (yum!) and “White Lightning” (meh… a Belgian white beer with coriander, oranges, and mystery spices… I don’t think I’m really into spiced beer) and (his): Pierced East Coast Stout (yum! Similar to Guinness and/or Black Out Stout) and Cartman’s Celtic Red (super yum! The best beer of the night, I think!).  I was really happy with this place and I’m excited to go back!
 
Last week we had a quick dinner at Carl’s on Rt 22 – if you’re not familiar with the area, Carl’s looks like a huge DIVE. It just doesn’t look nice at all from the outside. And to be honest, I’ve been a little intimidated to go there – it seems like the kind of place where dirty old men hang out waiting for cute young girls to mistakenly walk into their lair so they can take them out back and have their way with them… but Carl’s was truly INCREDIBLE! There weren’t that many old men, and actually, there were a bunch of families/middle-aged couples having dinner while we were there. Their beer is relatively cheap (depending on what you get) and the food was ridonkulously yummy! I got their version of a chicken cheesesteak and I was immediately in love. Words can’t accurately describe it. It was just lovely. I’ve only previously had chicken cheesesteaks from Uncle Sam’s and Peppi’s (Uncle Sam’s being the clear victor of the two), but now Uncle Sam’s has some real competition. Just writing about it makes me want to go back. Ugh, and now I’m hungry…
 
Oh, and of all the awesome things to find at work, I found a package of the new Pepperidge Farms Fruit & Grain Cherry Pomegranate Bagels on my seat today when I came in! How exciting! So a big thanks to Lori for the early birthday present! Guess what’s up to bat for tomorrow’s breakfast! :)
 
That’s pretty much all I have time for today – I’m heading to WholePaycheck Foods to see if they still have mangoes on sale, then it’s off to the Rec Center to PLAY BALL!
 
Have a great Friday!

Go go Speedracer!

I was so excited because it was warm this morning and it became sunny… but then it also became cold! I had planned on going to the sand courts to practice my serves, do some running drills, etc., but I only brought shorts and a tank. Guess that’s out. :(
 
Tomorrow’s the big game! Hopefully it’ll be 2 games! We play a team we’ve beaten before, but they were a challenge the first time around. I don’t think they’ll be any less difficult tomorrow. Then, if we beat them, we’ll likely be playing the #1 team from the other division, who is coincidentally undefeated. However, I’ve seen some of their competition and fully understand why they’re undefeated – they’re good, that’s a definite, but they haven’t played any really challenging teams this year. With a lot of luck and a lot of hard work, I’m sure we can win the whole dang thing!
 
I was so proud of myself Monday and yesterday because I FINALLY broke through my speed barrier. I had been stuck on doing super-slow 12-13 minute miles and I had remained relatively content – after all, I’m not a natural runner and I was just proud of myself for being able to run at all. However, Monday night I took a huge leap and ran an 11-minute mile!! That’s kind of an estimate, but I was running between 5.2 and 5.6 mph the entire time, with a good half a mile or more at 5.6 mph.  I know that’s not really fast for most people, but like I said, I’m just proud that I’m able to do it at all. :)
 
Also at the gym on Monday, I was unexpectedly asked out on a date! Remember the guy I played volleyball with at the gym a couple weeks ago, who also plays in the PSL league? Well, he asked me out to dinner! I was totally shocked, and I remember having a totally blank look on my face after he asked me. Like, “Uhh… me? Dinner?” I mean, no one ever asks me out! I’m pretty much the most standoffish person in the history of the world. I was just flabbergasted. So that should be interesting.
 
Since my plans to play in the sand have been thwarted, I might head over to the Market District Giant Eagle tonight. It’s been a looooong time since I’ve been there and I miss it. I plan on finding the whole wheat Fig Newtons I keep reading about and some 100-calorie bags of Kettle Corn. Never mind that I’m not really into popcorn…I just keep spotting it everywhere I turn and it’s driving me nuts. I even popped a bag that expired on Nov. 18 2007 today.
 
Oh, if only I could leave work now…

nan you're a window shopper

Quick weekend recap, then I'm off to bed! I can't seem to get my body attuned to one less hour today, even though I've been looking forward to today since we turned the clocks back. I love me some daylight. But I also love me some sleep. My body's just confused.

Today was my first "Day of Funk" for 2009. I'm sure there will be many more to come, but today was just the perfect occasion. What is this "Day of Funk?" Basically, I woke up at noon (actually, 8:30, then fell asleep and re-woke intermittently until noon when I forced myself out of bed), did not wash my hair, did not get out of pajamas, did not go to the gym, did not eat anything healthy, and basically did not do anything productive. In short, I was a scuzzball. When I forced myself out of bed around noon to get some Puffins, I immediately realized the day was going to suck because a.) it was POURING outside; b.) my vb team was supposed to meet at the HP sand courts for a practice but we canceled it due to the rain; c.) about 30 minutes after canceling our practice, it became sunny outside (though not long enough for a practice); and d.) I had some wicked crampage going on. Blah. Instead of being a productive member of society, I read a little, slept a little, watched a little tube, caught up on some blog reading, and made some beer bread and lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting.


Homemade beer bread.


My tray of lemony goodness.


I garnished them with perfect little blueberries. I wanted to use strawberries, but I ran out on Friday.



Ironically, the cupcakes LOOK good, but taste kind of off... they have a weird consistency. They taste good enough, but still, they're different. The beer bread also tasted kind of strange, but in a good way. It almost tasted like biscuits. Strange. Maybe my taster's off...?

Anyways, Saturday I took myself on a mini shopping spree/tour. I headed down to the Strip District and reveled in the craziness. One of my first stops was Wholey's, which is famous for its uber-fresh seafood and eclectic offerings:


Yes, the fish are still swimming, waiting to be taken home and fried up (or baked, or grilled
...)


There's a large variety of fish available - this picture doesn't do the place justice at all.


Sleepin' with the fishes...


These big suckers were kind of creepy.


Mmm, who doesn't love some Beef Tongue?


Or better yet, Tripe?

Once I turned the corner from the crazy meats, I found this glorious statue of goodness:

It was difficult, but I managed to restrain myself.

And finally, as I was about to leave, I found the one thing I was really SEARCHING for this weekend:


This isn't a McGinnis Sisters-sized little "sampler" bottle... this is the real deal. Mmm, it makes my mouth water just thinking about it!

When I left Wholey's, I was immediately greeted by this display:


That just ain't right. It's just downright mean. Keep walking, Lindsay, keep walking.

I mosied down to the Oriental grocery store and picked up some goodies for some future dinners:


That's Pad Thai sauce, Kung Pao sauce, and Large Rice Noodles. Yum.

Also:


Super-cute chopsticks for the next time I make sushi. So cheap!

I doubled back to put my purchases in my car, then realized all the shopping was making my tummy growl. By sheer coincidence, I realized this as soon as I stopped in front of Sunseri's bakery... where they have breads, rolls, and pizzas galore being sold on the sidewalk. I caved and got a piece of "pizza" on Sunseri's bread:


It. Was. Huge. Seriously. This is it folded over - the guy seriously gave me the biggest piece available. And guess how much money? $1. Rock. Frickin. On.

I stopped in Mon Aime Chocolat and sampled Rosemary Goat Milk Gelato, but they don't allow pictures. Plus, the sample ended up in my mouth pretty quickly. It was different, but it was REALLY good. My next stop was La Prima for an iced coffee since my pizza made me thirsty, but while trying to get my camera out of my bag, half of my coffee spilled all over me. Smooth move, and yet, classic Lindsay.

My last stop of the day was the Pittsburgh Popcorn Company - a place I've heard a lot about, but never had the urge to try. The thing that drew me in was the sign proclaiming the flavor of the day to be HAZELNUT NUTELLA POPCORN. Gasp!!




Mmmmmm nutellllllllaaaaaaaaa...

I'm not big on popcorn, but that's some quality crack right there. Crack doesn't come cheap, though - my small bag of popcorn cost me $4.25! Definitely a splurge item. But it was pretty great.

When I left the Strip, this was the temperature, per my car:


Not bad for the first week of March in Pittsburgh!

On the way home I passed the new Children's Hospital in Lawrenceville. It looks pretty cool and reminds me of the Centre Pompidou in Paris with all the crazy colors:




You know you've got skillz when you can take decent pictures while driving. :)

I also decided to make a very important pit-stop:


Highland Park Sand Volleyball Courts


The gate was unlocked! Yay! Look at all that beautiful sand!

But wait a second... what's all that stuff in the sand?




I love that I took not one, but TWO pictures of dog poop. Only me.

And then there's this pretty obvious sign right at the entrance:


Hmm...

Speaking of volleyball, you can't really tell from the picture below, but my hand is a lovely shade of eggplant:


Thank you, super-hard volleyball from Thursday night's game.

I made a few more stops Saturday, including Dunham's, Target, and Dick's. I got these beauties:


New Camelbak! ARGYLE! How cool is that?!


Ultra-cool kids' Peanuts toothbrushes... bet you wish you had a small mouth too, right? This was the bargain of the day at a whopping $1.02 for TWO toothbrushes! Hot dang! Also, I hate to admit it, but they DO work a whole lot better in my mouth.

And finally:



What you see above is two things: 1. my beautiful new volleyball with pretty blue flowers; and 2. what I call my "baby harness." You know how some parents have those leashes or harnesses that they put on their small children (and some older children... I've seen it) when they go to the mall? Yeah, well, they make them for volleyballs too. And since I think of my volleyball as my baby, it's only fitting that I should get it a harness so that I never lose it again. Actually, my baby harness has a practical purpose (and a more appropriate name): it's a "Practice Pal." Basically, this is supposed to enable you to practice by yourself without having to constantly chase your ball. Perfecto. Just what I needed. I was so excited to try it, I used it in my "dining room" AKA room with absolutely ZERO furniture (nope, not even a table). I think my baby harness was meant to be used outside or in a gym, though. It has quite a bounce-back.

Lastly, I tried to kill myself by going on a 30-minute, almost entirely uphill (and HUGE uphills) bike ride on Saturday.



By the time I was walking (yep, I couldn't even ride the last one) my bike up the last hill to my house, I was literally WHEEZING. I don't know if I've ever wheezed before. I seriously contemplated lying down in the middle of the road. It. Was. Torture. And yet, once I had regained consciousness on my kitchen floor, I couldn't wait to do it again. Sometimes I think I'm completely insane.

I seriously need to hit some hay. Like now.

it feels like the first time... it feels like the very first time!

First things first: WE WON!!! Our volleyball team won the second round of semi finals and now we’re going to play next week for the Division final! If we win the game at 6:45, we’ll move on to play for the league Championship at 7:45. We’re so excited! This is the farthest we’ve gone, and true to form, we almost biffed it last night. In fact, we lost our first game of the match. But we’re fighters and we rallied to come back and win the match. Plus, I had some amazing saves ;). W00t!
 
Also exciting at vb was the news that I’ll be playing in not one league, but TWO next season (which starts in 2-3 weeks). I’ll be playing with my regular team in the competitive league and with a mix-and-match of teammates and other players for the rec league. I’m so psyched! I’d thought everyone had forgotten about the rec league and that I was just going to have to play in Comp, but now I get 2 nights of volleyball! Double your pleasure, double your fun!
 
After the game last night, I was so hyped up (a little Barry Manilow will do that to ya!) that I ended up going to the gym and running. It was nice to do that again, to have that energy back. Doesn’t feel so great today, but it was nice last night.
 
As for the title of this post, I’m eating pizza – REAL pizza from a pizza place, not just sauce on Ezekiel bread like I’m accustomed to – for the first time in MONTHS. OMG. IT’S SO GOOD. It tastes like the most wonderful thing in the world right now; like it’s the best pizza ever. Really, I’m sure it’s mediocre lukewarm pizza, but it makes me happy. Unfortunately, it’s not making my stomach so happy. Apparently my tum-tum is not used to all the grease anymore. But it’s soooooo worth it. Mmmm, num, num!
 
No big plans for the weekend, but I feel like being social for once… actually, I’d like to go for a drink or two after work, but I don’t have any money. I considered going to my parents’ house for the weekend, but a Saturday morning Strip District stroll sounds nice too. I guess it depends on the weather – it’s supposed to be warm, but I heard it was going to rain all weekend. I don’t do a rainy Strip. Yes, I am a baby.
 
Have a great Friday!

it's been the worst day since yesterday

Although it’s freezing here in Pgh, I’m at least thankful that it’s not snowing. I’m predicting one more snow for the season, but I hope that we don’t even get that. Snow is my enemy.
 
I seem to be screwing up everything I touch, which is really not fun. I hope this loser streak ends at some point in the near future.
 
Shall I recap the past few days?
 
Sunday was really cool and fun – my parents came to visit and took me out to dinner at the Olive Garden. We also stopped at Moio’s and I was the recipient of both a slice of heavenly almond torte and a luscious walnut brownie. I’ve eaten a few bites of each every night. :) Normally I think it’s foolish to buy brownies from a bakery – they’re so easy to make at home and they taste just as great. But Moio’s… wow. They’re fudgy and cakey at the same time, with huge walnut pieces and awesome chocolate frosting. These brownies are totally worth every penny. My parents challenged me to get something new at the Olive Garden, so I tried the 5-cheese baked ziti. Healthy, I know (but I only ate about 1/3 of it and took the rest home). It was good, but I like a lot of sauce on my pasta and this was a little dry. When I reheated the rest for dinner last night, I added another ¼ cup or so of spaghetti sauce.
In addition to feeding me, my dad fixed my closet door since it broke moments before they arrived. He also installed a new light beside the closet since the closet door slammed into the light and effectively killed it. I needed a new one anyways – the old one was u-g-l-y. Not that the new one’s much prettier, but still… my daddy’s the best!!
 
Sunday night I forced myself to go to the gym. I had planned on going before my parents came, but they showed up extra early. By the time they left, I was stuffed and practically immobile. But I made myself go, and to my surprise, the volleyball net was set up!! I decided to be sociable and secured a spot on the team that was sitting out – which coincidentally had a PSL player on it! Not only was there a PSL player on my gym team, but he (I think his name was Eric… we’ll say it’s Eric, anyways) plays for the team that we’re up against in the semi-finals on Thursday! How cool is that?! It was nice to play with him (tee hee, that’s what she said) and I’m supremely confident that we can beat them Thursday. In fact, we already creamed them once, earlier in the season. Now watch, we’ll totally biff it up. :)
Also playing volleyball was a guy who I swear I’ve seen before, but I can’t remember where. Sure, it was probably the gym, but I feel like I actually KNOW him… and I kinda want to know him. He’s kinda cute, but not in an obvious way. And he seemed really funny and nice – he was the one who told me to just join in wherever I wanted. As is usually the case, I’ll probably never see him again and I’ll forget about him in a few weeks. But I can’t help but think that I know him from somewhere else…
 
Yesterday was pretty uneventful. Worked late, went to the gym, then went to Giant Eagle to rent The Wackness from redbox and to pick up a prescription for my upcoming dentist appointment. Ugh, I’m totally NOT looking forward to that. I have to leave work early tomorrow to go. As I think I said in my last post, something hard and crunchy fell out of my mouth while I was eating my homemade pea soup. Guess what that hard crunchy thing was? Yep, part of a tooth. Sunday night I discovered where it had come from (top left molar-ish region). Actually, I’m wondering if it’s not part of a wisdom tooth – the last time I was brave enough to visit the dentist he told me I’d need surgery to remove the wisdom teeth since they were starting to grow in… gee, I wonder why I didn’t go back… ? So tomorrow should at least be eventful in an awkward/uncomfortable way if nothing else… much like today, to tell the truth.
 
Today I’ve just been screwing everything up at work. Around 3:15 I just had to get out for a little bit because I thought I was losing my mind, so I grabbed Natalie and we made a quick stop at Trader Joe’s. It was SOOO nice just to leave work for 15 minutes. I should really take breaks more often.
 
Tonight is another gym night, followed by a quick detour to either Giant Eagle or Shop N Save to drop off last night’s redbox movie, making dinner (I’m attempting Emeril’s “Pan Roasted Salmon with Lentils”), packing tomorrow’s lunch (no more slacking this week!), getting a shower, and starting my taxes. I’ve finished making excuses and I can’t afford $140 to have H&R Block figure out my messed-up taxes (thank you, home-ownership!), so today I worked on printing all my 1098s and 1099s so that I’d have them ready to rock.
 
Hasta luego, and wish me luck on my taxes!

overdrive we're going life or death

Sometimes I’m pretty sure that I’m bipolar. The lows can get really low and the highs can get really high. The past few days have been like a hyper manic haze, which is (to be honest) really nice. I don’t really know how best to explain it, but I’ve been really… “on” the past few days. My mind seems to be really clear and sharp and colors are really bright and I’m really fast and everything seems really extreme and heightened. Seriously, I’ve been so ridiculously (and mysteriously) happy and I’ve been making so many plans and taking care of so many different things that I really just don’t want this to end. Actually, if I didn’t know better (and I do; trust me, it’s 100% impossible), I’d think I was pregnant.  Not because I’ve been gaining weight or anything, but because colors seem extra vibrant and bright and smells are stronger, and I suddenly have so much clarity and at the same time, every single day I’ve been having huge stomach pains and feeling like I’m going to throw up.  Maybe my body is just really confused…
 
Anyways, yesterday was a much better gym day. I only ran a half mile more than the previous day, but I ran at .2 mph faster than usual for the entire duration and then put myself through a myriad of weights and mat exercises.  I felt pretty good the entire time, but once I settled down to go to sleep, my stomach killed me. Plus, my heart was racing. For some reason, I’ve lived in perpetual fear of a heart attack since I was 19, and the tiniest thing sends me into a panic about it, so I was pretty freaked last night. I just could not get my heart rate down and make my stomach stop hurting. I finally fell asleep about 2 hours after I had lain down.
 
Today I tried something new! Lori let me try some of her V8 Butternut Squash Soup. It was surprisingly yummy! I’d never had butternut squash anything before and it didn’t disappoint. I have to say, though, I’m a sucker for almost any soup. Seriously, I don’t really like veggies all that much, but I’ll totally scarf down a big bowl of vegetable soup. Same with the split pea soup – I’m pretty much addicted to the stuff these days and I HATE peas! (Though I don’t think the soup tastes like peas at all, thank goodness!) I’m really excited about buying some of the butternut squash soup for myself, and I’m even considering butternut squash fries since I’ve seen them on some blogs. I assume they’d be similar to sweet potato fries? Yummm…
 
Tonight should be a volleyball night, but we have our bye week… and next week starts the playoffs – we have yet another bye week because (yes, again) we are #1 in our division!  Let’s hope we don’t biff it all up in the finals like last season… I’m really excited because my team’s going to watch the other teams play tonight and then we might go to Hemingway’s afterwards! I haven’t been to Hemingways in, like, forever, and though it’s not healthy by any means, it is yummy bar food (especially at half-price, which is when we’re potentially going!). I do have a beef with PUMP (Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Project) and PSL (Pittsburgh Sports League), though. I just found out today that PUMP members are no longer going to receive the discounted rate of $10 per sport. Oh, and it was really nice of them to inform the members of this instead of just sneaking it into the FAQs for registration… It really ticks me off because that’s the only reason why I’m a PUMP member – I don’t live in the city anymore, so I don’t really have any reason to attend their political meetings and I don’t work downtown, so I can never make it to their happy hours. So now volleyball is going to cost me an extra $10 per league – and we’re doing both the rec league (which we’ve been doing) and the competitive league (movin’ on up!) this coming season. That’s an extra $20 that I don’t have. It really makes me want to quit the PSL leagues, especially since their nets are crap, but really the only other option is Sports Monster, which is a complete cluster in its own right. So I have to suck it up and find some way to get that extra cash… Ideas?

I really, really, REALLY feel like I'm going to puke. I think maybe my daily spinach salad is working against me. I think that's what the stomach pains have been for the past week. Whatever it is, I'm in PAIN and I'm going to keep my head on the desk for the rest of the day. I'm determined to not go home early.

Peace out. 

blonde ambition

‘Ello, guv’nor!
I’m having a pretty good day today, and I’ve been strangely motivated both professionally and personally. On the professional front, I’ve decided that maybe instead of leading my career towards Client Service, perhaps I will opt for Business Analysis/Marketing. Currently I’m on the Operations (or IT-ish) side of things and everything just seems really easy. Business Analysis and Marketing just sound really appealing to me and it seems like they might actually be a challenge. So for the next year, I plan on educating myself about the Business Analysis and Marketing departments here at work and attend all the functions they put on. My first stop is (hopefully, unless someone schedules a meeting during this time) a presentation on Friday during lunch about Modeling (not fashion magazine modeling, but more like projecting). I’m going to get some books out of our work library and I’ve already started reading industry-specific reports about BA. I think it’s a good start.
 
On the personal side of things, I want to get back into sand volleyball shape. I mean, I’m in better shape right now than I was while playing sand volleyball last summer, but I want to be even better this year. Besides, it’ll give me a goal for my gym workouts. I think I’m going to start working more on the dreaded lunges and squats, and Keri Walsh suggested pilates. I’ve never taken a pilates class in my life and for some irrational reason, people who practice pilates freak me out, but Keri Walsh has won 2 Olympic gold metals in sand volleyball, so I guess she knows what she’s talking about. Anyways, the sand season doesn’t start until probably June, so I have a few months to prepare. That seems perfect!
 
I finally made it to the gym last night, but it wasn’t my most productive visit. About 20 minutes into running, I felt like I was either going to collapse or have a very embarrassing accident, so I let up on myself and walked for 30 more minutes at 7% incline. I ended up burning 406 calories, but I felt like I should’ve done a lot more. I was whooped, though, so I went home around 8:15...
…which would have been great, but I realized I had left my BlackBerry at work and I work with a bunch of thieves, so I had to go allllll the way back to work and then finally home. I didn’t get home until about 9:00. Sometimes I’m so dumb. :(
 
I have a little beauty product review! Lately I’ve noticed really big dark circles under my eyes. Maybe it’s because I’ve been so tired lately, or maybe it’s because I’m (gasp!) getting old(er). Anyways, on my way home Sunday night, I stopped at TrashMart and splurged on the Garnier Nutritioniste Skin Renew Anti-Puff Eye Roller pen. For all things beauty-related, anything over $10 is considered a splurge in my book. Yes, I’m cheap. I’m also pretty poor and the only reason I caved in was because I had a $3 coupon for it. ANYWAYS, moving on, I’ve been using this pen every morning and night and WOW! I can totally tell a huge difference! Yeah, ok, I still have some bags under my eyes, but they’re not anywhere near as puffy and dark as they were a mere 3-4 days ago. Seriously, I totally look more awake and healthier. In fact, several people have commented that I look “healthy”… I’m not sure if that’s because of the eyes or the Caribbean tan, or if maybe I looked really sickly before, but hey, I’ll take whatever I can get.
 
Ooh, and I finally called the eye doctor and made an appointment for new glasses and contacts on Saturday. I had tried to make an appointment online TWICE (6 different appointment options), but no one ever got back to me. My self-imposed “blacklist-of-all-organizations-that-tick-me-off-by-making-me-actually-CALL-them-because-either-their-software-or-their-personnel-is-defective” was side-swiped by the impending deadline to use all my flex-spending money from last year by March, so I sucked up my pride and called them to make an appointment. I should really learn that it’s much faster and easier to just call people instead of relying on their internet appointment setups.
 
Also, 2 things I want to do this weekend if anyone else is interested: Saturday – the annual Southside Soup Contest, starting at noon. $5 to get in gets you all the different soups you can handle. Perfect for a chilly February Saturday. I wanted to do this last year, but I think my mom came to visit that day and I didn’t have time to go.
Sunday – there’s a Venture Outdoors Water Safety course on the North Side. It’s 9 am – 5 pm and it’s free for anyone who wants to attend. Since I’m a bit of a kayaking freak and this is free, I figured it might be a good idea to take it. You can also get certification (there’s a test) by filling out an application and sending in $10 after the course is done. It’d be neat to be certified, but I’ll wait and see how the course goes first.
 
That’s it for now. Tonight I plan on trying my hand at the gym again (hopefully tonight is better than last night) and downloading some Learning Tree podcasts. I’m such an exciting 26-year-old!

nicotine valium vicodin marijuana ecstacy and alcohol

i just heard the most absurd, rudest, most unprofessional thing ever from someone who works on one of my projects at work (names left out): "wow, i didn't think you were as big as "C" said you were, but dang! i guess you are!" the person wasn't talking about me, but the convo was going on in the cube beside me and it was loud and the person the comment was directed towards is a "bigger" woman. hot dang. i'm just stunned.
 
anyways, my post. i haven't posted in a little while because i've been trying to rest. i had originally thought my knee was the hurt body part after my fall in the denny's parking lot, but towards the end of the day on tuesday, it was clear that my knee was masking a bigger injury - my back/shoulder/rib area. the pain didn't let up at all through last night, so i went to medexpress in monroeville to get it checked out, just to be sure i didn't do something really bad. it hurt to inhale deeply and the pain was a jagging pain, not a "sore" pain. so i had some xrays done and luckily, nothings broken. it seems i sprained/pulled (?) my left rhomboid, so basically my upper left back. this is somehow attached to the lungs, i guess, so my deep inhales were putting pressure on it or something. to be honest, i have no idea. i just know that i have anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxers and that makes me a very happy person. and it feels a ton better today. i'm not sure if that's due to all the meds or not, but whatever, i'll take it. we have a vb game tonight and i don't want to suck.
 
i have been RAVENOUS the past few days! i seriously cannot stop eating - i'm constantly starving! i've been trying to pick healthy snack options, but nutella knows my name and knows where i live, so it stalks me until i give in to it. i do have a new obsession, though - i believe it's called stretch island fruit company fruit leather. omg, it's SOOO good! they're like fruit roll-ups, but with less sugar and a tougher texture. actually, they might not have any added sugar. they're just so yummy and they taste like fresh fruit! at about 50 cents each, they're a good snack option. :)
 
as stated earlier, tonight's a volleyball night! we're actually playing a team that's undefeated so far, so we might be challenged. on the other hand, they've only played and won against the easy teams that we crushed, so there's no telling how good they actually are. i think i've seen them play before, though, and while they're decent, if they're the team i'm thinking of, they shouldn't be too hard to beat.
 
i'm off to a late meeting... peace out.

i won at wii tennis... wait, where are my pants?!

i am still in mourning over not having a wii. but i'm trying to accept it. i want the wii to come to ME. not literally, since it doesn't have legs or wheels and it can't really transport itself in any way, but i want to just walk into target or walmart or wherever and just see a wii in a case, waiting to go home with me. i don't want to deal with the hassle of calling every place within a 30 mile radius just to have disgruntled salespeople tell me "NO!" and hang up on me. i'm sick of that already and i've wasted too much time on it. so now, i will play it by ear. i may show up at toys r us at 10 am sunday morning, but if they don't have them, i refuse to get upset. instead, i will merely continue on my way to the gym. deal? deal.

the past few days have been largely uneventful, yet they've passed in a blur. the good news is that i've started sleeping again. i've slept 2 nights in a row. like a frickin baby. in fact, there was pee in my toilet this morning, but i have no recollection of getting up in the middle of the night to go. THAT'S how good i've slept the past 2 nights. hopefully tonight's a repeat.

for more good news, i'm on my way to accomplishing my january fitness goal - i went to the gym both yesterday and today (that makes 3 visits so far for january) AND i took the latin impact class tonight. the class was fun, but since i have zero coordination my face was redder from laughing than from actually working out. it was a workout, though... not quite as tough as my running and weights, but i was a little sweaty and we were definitely moving the entire hour. the instructor, paul, was really flamboyant, so that made it more fun. i don't think group fitness classes are my thing, though. this is the 3rd one i've tried, and although all 3 have been fun, i think i just prefer my own solo workouts. nevertheless, i'm going to continue on my journey to try all the classes at least once. who knows, maybe i'll find something that i love?

since my mom and i are going on another cruise in february, i've decided that maybe i should get a little bit of a base tan since my skin isn't such a huge fan of direct sunlight... so i tweedled over to hollywood tans tonight before latin impact and signed up for a one-month package. honestly, it felt good to be in the booth again, but i'm determined to not do it past the cruise. i made my mom stop going a year or two ago, so i have no right to be going... especially with my health issues. so anyone who reads this has to hold me to it - i have to stop tanning after the cruise. punch me, kick me, slash my tires, whatever (ok, no, don't slash my tires... i just got new tires), but don't let me go after the cruise.

now for the itsy bit of bad news: you know how in my previous post i said i wanted to go into the military, maybe the navy or coast guard? yeah, well, that's not gonna happen. seems that, like everything else i've wanted to do with my life, my health will be holding me back from yet another job. you see, the military (all branches) have requirements. if you don't meet certain requirements, you are disqualified from active military service. guess who's disqualified? so even though i feel totally fine, i'm DQ... bite. me. can someone PLEASE find me a job where i feel like i'd be doing something worthwhile? if it's not too much to ask for, can it involve french? if not, that's cool... but really, i'm tired of doing meaningless stuff all day and basically doing nothing with my life. so if anyone has any ideas, i'd greatly appreciate them. :)

in other news, there's nothing quite like facebook to make you feel like a loser. it sucks when a person everyone thought was kind of dim and probably gay (no, i'm not insinuating that the 2 things have anything to do with one another) now has a spouse (hetero) and kids and a WAY better job than you (ahem, government). just goes to show that who we were in high school is rarely who we are today. it's scary and disorienting. and it makes me want to just give up.

but i can't give up because... the winter volleyball season starts tomorrow!!! (unless it's cancelled due to snow) we play our first game at 6.45 tomorrow night and i'm psyched!! my teammates are all about winning, and to an extent i am too, but for the first game, i'm just excited to play again and i don't care if we win or lose. i'm stoked. :)

off to bed i go! peace out jeezies.