Follow Your Bliss

Saturday Day evening:

So today was my little phone chat with my guru or health coach. Today was the call where we came up with my plan. This is a service provided through my work and we get a discount on our insurance premiums for using the service. Some people are skeptical about it but this actually works for me. My guru is really nice and she doesn’t sound like a drill sergeant and I told her about all my bad food habits and caffeine dependency. She gave me numbers and structure so I am ready to go. I feel more confident about this attempt to eat healthier because this is a series of gradual changes with the ultimate goal of breaking old habits. We will see how it goes in a month when we have our next chat. She is even sending me a little goal sheet for my fridge! I think I like the fact that we just talk on the phone. I don’t have to go to meetings or a special facility.
I went to my neighborhood yarn store today. I bought a Brittany L hook (yay!), two crusty issues of Vogue Knitting and a vintage Cabbage Patch clothes leaflet (all in crochet). That was my post birthday mini-splurge.
I am almost done with skein one on the Boston Rose shawl. I bought some Vanna yarn in Pink Poodle today so I started another shawl with my new hook. My mom says that the pink shawls are going the fastest at church so
I also made my Saturday stop to Whole Foods and the post office. I mailed off some Halloween books to little L.
Last night at BN, I bought a copy of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz which has won several big awards including the Pulitzer Prize. I picked it because I wanted something to read that wasn’t something I would typically pick and it just sounds like it will be a great read. I am also re-reading Wicked and Anne of Avonlea. I like to rotate around when I am reading.
My sister’s evil roommate from hell moved out today. She has found a new host family and hopefully my sister will be happier now. She is coming out here for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year thanks to some miles that my Dad needed to use before they expired.
Sunday Morning:
It is also doing the rainy thing here again today.Paul Newman has passed away which is very sad because he was a great actor and philanthropist. I had just purchased a bottle of his Caesar salad dressing at Whole Foods yesterday too.
I went to Starbucks this morning and this time, The Way I See It featured on my cup was highly appropriate.

The Way It See It #268
"Music is what I always turn to when I'm feeling a certain way. It's my reason for everything." --Josh Groban

I have been dreaming of a new purse too. I love my Coach purse that I got back in early August but I keep seeing everyone and their dog carrying the same version of mine in the same color and that is annoying me so I have started using Coach purse #1 again.

I am also really tired of having to drive to four different gas stations just to buy gas. I had to do that yesterday because I was close to running out and I had been putting it off for this exact reason.

28 is great!

Not really but one of my co-workers commented that I was being pessimistic today so I thought I would use a peppy title for my post.

My actual birthday was seriously uneventful. For the first time in 28 years I did not have a road trip or party for my birthday, so I ended up eating leftover frozen pizza and watching Sex in the City the movie (so good--Carrie is my favorite of course) and episodes of The Cho Show.

I am almost finished with the cotton candy pink shawl. i think I have 2 inches to go and then I can start working on the Boston Rose shawl.

I read Dewey:The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron this week. It's a true story and it takes place in Spencer, Iowa so it was a fast read for me because it contains talk about two of my favorite things- libraries and Iowa.

Speaking of books, the professor sent me a copy of her poetry book! What a wonderful surprise. I am totally reading it this weekend. I think I was happier to find that in the mail box then I was to get the $20 birthday check from my Grandma yesterday.

I also think I should get extra brownie points for spending 40 minutes on the eliptical machine at work on my birthday! Too bad that I have drank two pumpkin spice lattes this week. I don't even want to know how long I would have to work out to work those off. It has been chilly out and I need tasty caffeine.

The Birthday Week Begins

So on Friday I took a half-day of vacation (OMG, I know!!) and drove down to my parent's house. Prior to leaving town I finally got my oil changed at Jiffy Lube which was hectic because i was dumb and went at noon but they were fast and friendly. Jiffy Lube is kind of pricey but I'm new to the area and wanted a known company. Plus they gave me coupons and a discount and they had the new issue of People magazine. Now the Subaru is happy again and she has special high mileage oil because we are over the 104,000 mile mark. Knock on wood!!!

Speaking of mileage, I will be turning over the big 28 on Thursday the 25th. Scary! I had my mom cut my hair on Saturday because it was getting way too long and think I lost ten pounds of hair in the process. My parents gave me my birthday presents. I got Made of Honor, Atonement, Private Practice Season 1 and Grey's Anatomy Season 4, two kitchen scrubbies, a yarn holder and a yarn tote that my mom crocheted out of Red Heart Black and Mexicana and it possibly my new favorite bag. You can hold a lot of junk in this!

Mom and I went to a local quilt show on Saturday. I ended up buying a cupcake pin cushion and a pink pig tape measure. Cuter than words. Mom also ripped out the Jayne hat and helped me re-make it. We modified it but it still has the Jayne vibe to it.

I downloaded more shows on itunes, thereby securing Apple's future. I also finally bought a wall adapter for my itouch so life is easier now. I also bought the movie Young and Heart which is this great music documentary.

I am almost through the first skein of the Cotton Candy pink shawl (homespun, of course). I would have made more progress but Mom and have been out and about all weekend.

All over the Place

I'm on a quickie business trip again. I really hope we don't have to come back next week. I like the people but all these quickie business trips in the middle of the week are getting old. The best part is being able to watch my Bravo shows at the hotel. I think I am having a cranky day because my brain hurts and I had to get up early and we rode down in my boss's stick shift car and she's a jerky shifter!!!!! It just makes me further appreciate my automatic Subaru. Subaru really is Love. There is just so much going on in my head right now. I just can't seem to shut my thoughts off.

The Montana Blue Sky shawl is finished. I am almost done with another Special Olympic scarf. I am almost out of the white yarn so I might have to pick up some more this weekend to be able to add the fringe on.

I ended up buying a North Face backpack to haul my laptops around in. I tried to find a rolly laptop bag but I couldn't find any for a decent price that passed the curb test and that would fit under an airplane seat. Normally I don't like backpacks, but I tried this one on and it just fit perfectly. I even had the salesman load it up with a bunch of junk and I didn't feel like I was being pulled over backwards or that it was cutting my shoulders. It has some nice padding in it and a MILLION pockets. My sister is super jealous and offered to take it when I get tired of it. LOL. It's like two different shades of blue.

I am actually taking half a day of vacation Friday afternoon. I just kind of felt like I needed a little break. It has been a long month. Work has been really busy and there is a lot of drama with my sister that is stressful. I didn't want to take a whole day because I feel like I should be saving up my vacation for God only knows what and I hate missing a lot of work at once because it always seems like you get slammed with emails and crap when you're out of the office. I just wanted to have a little extra time at my parent's house this weekend and we are celebrating my birthday early since my birthday is on the 25th and it falls during the week this year. I need to get an oil change too before I head down because I didn't get to do it before I left on this business trip because it was raining really heavy and I just didn't want to mess with it then since I was cutting it short on time since I left work a little later than I planned.

Update: I was ranting and I forgot to brag about the fact that I worked out for 30 minutes over lunch and I didn't pass out and die and I wore my new Nikes that I bought because I didn't have any work-out friendly shoes. I am trying to make this a routine. I used the eliptical machine with the arm movement thing and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Friday

It's Friday! Yay! I love Fridays the best. Today we went out to eat at a Chinese buffet that is my co-workers favorite. I like the sweet biscuits. I'm not an Asian food person but I am sociable so I tagged along. Sunday is knitting group so that is exciting because I missed group last month due to stupid work.

Right now I am hooked on this newer British show called Gavin and Stacey that just started airing on BBC America but is also available on Itunes which is how I am watching it. It is hilarious, and I loved the music in the first episode so I am currently downloading episodes 2 and 3 as I speak.

Gas is going up again. Yuck. Stupid oil prices and hurricanes!

Right now I am re-reading Anne of Green Gables and I just bought this interesting memoir by Michael Gates Gill titled How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Like Like Everyone Else. I also received the 75th anniversary edition of Esquire so I am reading it too but it is taking awhile because there are a bazillion articles and profiles.

Still working on the shawl and I am hoping to make a couple more Special Olympics scarves this weekend.

Humid

Dang Apple! I just bought an itouch this summer and then I go to Apple.com and they released a new pimped itouch and new Nanos in wild colors that remind me of what the mini used to look like. there's a gray nano and a purple one and lime green and i am having serious Apple envy right now. the new touch has built in speakers! and cheaper price! the 32 gb i think is the same price that I paid for my 16gb. I am seriously annoyed about this right now but I will get over it. I will have to stop by the Apple store this weekend and pet them.

So the business trip is going well but I am of the opinion that most of our projects could have been completed via conference calls. It was nice to put faces to the names. I am also enjoying the free hotel hot breakfast and Bravo tv, I'm just a tiny bit sad that we aren't staying wed. night so that i can watch Project Runway's new episode.

I have finished skein 1 of the Montana Sky Blue shawl and started on skein 2. For some reason these skeins were wound really tightly so when i tied on skein 2, i pulled out yarn barf twice. This is the last of the Homespun that I bought on sale over Labor Day weekend so I will probably have to go and get some more after pay day. This time the 15th falls on a Monday which sucks. i like it better when we get paid on a Friday because then you have it for the weekend and the first paycheck of the month seems to be when my more expensive bills fall.

I don't have any major plans for the weekend other than knitting group on Sunday! Yay. No work interference this time. I hope all the humid weather goes away and the tropical storms/hurricane stuff. I would just like some nice, cool, hoodie and jeans weather, please.

On the Road Again

So tomorrow morning at o-dark-thirty I leave for a business trip with the newbie, my boss and my boss' boss to go to Charlotte. This should be interesting. I would love to just chill in the back with my itouch but I have a feeling my boss is going to talk NON STOP!!! We are staying at hotel brand that I don't usually stay at so I hope it's not gross. When you travel as much as I do, you have every right to be picky and have favorite hotels. LOL. But it does have tv, free wi-fi and free breakfast so my basic needs will be met. I will be traveling with two computers! I am bringing my mac and the stupid work laptop so that I can use my mac in the evenings. I really need to work on finding a rolling briefcase that is still small enough to fit under an airplane seat. I saw one I liked at Best Buy but it was over a foot deep and if i took that on a plane with me that would be like the main carry-on!

I finished the deflt Homespun shawl Friday night. I started another one made out of the Montana Sky Blue Homespun and I also made a Special Olympics scarf on Saturday and I am half-way through Special Olympics scarf number #2.

I also talked to my health coach Saturday night. It's a free service through my company's insurance and if we signed up for the program we get like a big credit on our insurance premium. Anyways, I am supposed to write down what I regularly eat for the next two weeks so that she can figure out my plan of action. She's really nice and she sounds like a peppy cheerleader on the phone. We will see. I'm sure I'm going to notice some eating trends. I'm not trying to look like a toothpick but I know i packed on the pounds this summer and I would to get rid of those since the weather is starting to cool off and it will be easier for me to make myself go walking. We will see. I'm kind of curious to see what my daily caloric intake is because I have no idea.

Happy September!

I caved and went to Wal-Mart Saturday. I bought a wooden pre-assembled drying rack because my sister kept all of ours when I moved. Target didn’t have any wooden ones that were assembled and Mom needed to refill some prescriptions so stopped at Wal-Mart. I also stopped at Mc Donalds Friday night on my way to Charlotte because it was easy to get to and get back on the highway and traffic was SO AWFUL that there was no way that I was going to be able to wait until I got to my parent’s house. I left straight from work at 4:40 PM ET and did not make it to my parent’s house until 9 PM which is ridiculous. I left today (Monday) at 2PM ET and made it back at 4:45 PM ET which was a personal best. The traffic was much better and I went the speed limit because there was cops out like crazy.
Sunday night I finished the Candy Apple red Homespun shawl, my mom thinks that it is the 10th shawl that I have made this summer. This morning before I left, I started another one , this time in Homespun Delft (which is a painterly shade of blues and a little bit of white). I have at least 6 inches done on it.
My Kiehl’s order arrived on Saturday while I was gone but it was waiting on my doorstop for me when I came back. I ordered a bottle of their new Aloe Vera Bipgradable Liquid Body Cleanser, which is made out of 100% biodegradable ingredients and it is in partnership with the lovely Brad Pitt so 100% of net profits go to JPF Eco Systems which supports global environmental initiatives. It’s very light feeling and it makes you smell really good without it being overpowering. I will definitely be ordering another bottle. I love ordering from Kiehl’s because you get three free samples of your choice with your order and they are great for air traveling and for little stocking stuffers.
I popped into Books A Million on Saturday and I ended up buying a copy of March by Geraldine Brooks (which won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize). She tells the story of Mr. March , the father from Little Women, and what happened to him while he was away in the Civil War. I think it will be a quick read and I will probably take it with me on one of my work trips this month (or that is my intent, if I don’t use it as my bedtime reading).
I figured out when I came home this evening that I had downloaded FIFTEEN SONGS and one tv show through itunes this week. I am blaming it on my internet binge and the most recent copy of Blender magazine because I was reading the magazine and I would see a song that looked interesting so I would download it. I guess you could say my music dry spell is over.
Mom and I watched a lot of movies and HGTV and occasionally the news for updates about Hurricane Gustav.
I had a lot of fun this weekend and it turned out to be a highly productive one, I just wish it would have lasted a little bit longer. I can’t believe that September is here already and soon it will be my birthday (the 25th) and then we will be thrust into the Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year’s holiday craziness season. I am looking forward to this humidity leaving and having the opportunity to wear jeans and my hoodie without sweating to death.