Ghirardelli, here I come...

Wow... surprisingly, I have managed to get up at 4:45 in the morning two days in a row to work out. And I'm planning another early day tomorrow, but we'll see what happens. I suspect it's been easier these last two days because I know this is a three-day week... so today is like Thursday, and tomorrow is Early Friday. (I just looooove Early Friday... :))

I was really happy with my workout this morning, too -- I managed to squeeze in 3.6 miles before I decided I should stop and get ready for work. Yesterday morning, I was so tired that I mostly just walked the entire time, and only accrued two and a half miles before calling it quits. I know that "something" is better than "nothing," but I tend to feel like anything under three miles is hardly worth the effort. And I'm really trying to get to a point where three miles feels as easy as two miles feels right now... (two miles is nothing... two miles is practically a warm-up... :)) I read all these blogs written by people who actually RUN a lot, and they're racking up 5, 6, 7 miles per workout. I feel like such an exercise wimp. (Oh, pathetic three miles... I must surpass you and move on to better things...) But hey, when it's 4:45 in the morning, I guess I should be happy to be moving at ALL... :)

Yesterday, Rick mentioned something about struggling to eat properly over the holiday season, and I realized that I've actually done REALLY well so far this year. I believe I've achieved my goal of NOT gaining any weight between Thanksgiving and Christmas (I almost always gain at least a few...), and have successfully avoided most of the random treats that have been popping up at work. I haven't broken down into a baking frenzy (save for the banana bread I made for the office Christmas party), and I'm planning on treating myself to ONE (and only one for the entire season) delicious peppermint chocolate chip milkshake from Chick-fil-a. (I LOVE Chick-fil-a's peppermint milkshakes, and they only have them this time of year -- so I decided I would have ONE at some point before the holidays were over. Otherwise I'd miss the chance to have one for an entire year. I believe I'll have my milkshake tomorrow night, in celebration of six whole days off from work... :))

So really, I think this has been quite a successful holiday season, as far as reining in the indulgent binges that often come along with this time of year. Of course, that being said, I AM totally planning to make a big batch of Christmas cookies at Eric's place in Chicago. I pretty much HAVE to, because he went out and got a cookie sheet and a rolling pin and everything... I mean, if I DIDN'T make cookies at this point, it would just be rude. Eric would be left with all that cookie-making paraphernalia just cluttering up his kitchen. I certainly can't have THAT, now, can I?? Of course not...

Speaking of Chicago -- we leave on Christmas Day. I don't think I've ever traveled ON Christmas Day before... but it may actually turn out to be a good thing, because right now they're forecasting snow for Christmas Eve. And while I DO hope we see snow while we're up there, I would prefer if it holds off until after our plane lands. And then it can just go crazy for a couple days. In fact, it seems that the ONLY time the crowds at Ghirardelli die down is when it's snowing -- even when it's windy and 15 degrees outside, people still line up for ice cream at Ghirardelli. What is WRONG with all those people?? (And never mind the fact that I've BEEN one of those people many, many times... that is beside the point... :))

Anyway, it's good that I've been doing well with the eating and exercise lately, because obviously I'm about to throw all caution to the wind and eat whatever I want in Chicago.

But hey, that's what vacation is about, right? :)

Slow down and enjoy the weekend...

(Disclaimer: the first two paragraphs of this post were written back on Wednesday, which is why the dates and times seem screwy... I haven't lost my mind just yet... but I'm getting there... :))

I FINALLY have a few Christmas presents ordered (online shopping -- the only way to go this time of year :)). It feels good to have finally accomplished SOMEthing, at least. I actually don't need to get TOO much more, because we usually simplify our gift-giving to Rick's side of the family with gift cards (and checks for the nieces and nephews -- everybody loves money, right?? :)). And his parents' gift has been in the works for a few weeks. It's actually a combination Christmas/birthdays/50th anniversary gift -- we definitely wanted to get them something nice for their 50th anniversary this year (which just happens to be right before Christmas), so we're upgrading their entertainment center and television set. They've had the same entertainment cabinet and TV for almost as long as I can remember, and they SO deserve some brand new things! The cabinet is being delivered to their house tomorrow, and I can't wait to see how it all looks when everything is set up... and you know once Rick gets through with it all, their house will be THE place to watch TV and movies in their neighborhood... :)

I can't believe Christmas is only nine (NINE?!?) days away. I feel like this Christmas season has FLOWN by, and I haven't had enough time to really enjoy it. I mean, I do my best -- every day when I get home from work, I immediately turn the tree lights on and start lighting holiday-scented candles. But evenings go by so quickly after work -- I feel like I'm barely home at all before I have to get ready for bed. And then I come to work again and do it all over again the next day. Weekends are really the only time I can slow down and attempt to soak in all the little fun holiday minutia -- driving around the neighborhood to see the colored lights on the houses, drinking a peppermint mocha from Starbucks, watching Elf on TV, relaxing on the couch in PJs thinking about peace on earth instead of how I have to get up at 5 in the morning... Ahh...

And to illustrate the fact that I've been too busy to blog, it has obviously taken me several days just to get to the point where I've written three measly paragraphs. The entertainment center was delivered to Rick's parents' house YESTERDAY, and Christmas is now SEVEN days away. One week. And I still have at least one more thing to buy before I can be considered temporarily finished (because even once I've bought that one item, I will still need a few odds and ends). This has been the most rushed holiday season EVER. At least it feels that way...

Today was our office "white elephant" Christmas party, where everyone brings a gift to exchange -- but not necessarily anything anyone would actually WANT. I guess the goal of a white elephant party is to bring the lamest gift possible to illicit the most laughs possible. Lame = laughs. I think most people bring gifts that were originally given to THEM in rather bad taste, and then they pass them on to their poor coworkers. I won't say what I brought to the party, since someone DID give it to me for Christmas one year... but I will say this: it was no one who reads my blog on a regular basis, so you guys are all off the hook... :) But the cool thing is, the gift I chose to open turned out to be cookie cutters and a Christmasey dish towel -- which I'll totally end up using, as opposed to just tossing away or saving for another white elephant party...

Of course, parties, in general, cause me so much undue stress, being the ridiculously shy person I am. But it must've helped for me to get up at 4:45 this morning and work out, because Rick said I seemed much more calm before I left for work, even in the face of "impending doom." And I HATE impending doom. He also said that for regular, normal, non-shy people, life is all pink unicorns and butterflies. (I KNEW it... I've always suspected that it would be magical and amazing to be a regular, normal, non-shy person...) Needless to say, I am SO happy this week is over. Next week should be three pretty quiet days and then it'll be time to pack and head up to Chicago for Christmas! I CAN. NOT. WAIT.

But for now, I shall put on some PJs, turn on my tree lights, maybe drink some hot chocolate, and find a good holiday movie to watch. Because I need to soak in as much Christmas as possible while I still can...

Is anyone else tired of hearing about Tiger Woods??

I am... just sayin'... :)

But anyway... 'tis the season of shopping and wrapping gifts, and I have purchased exactly ZERO presents so far. (At what point do I start to panic? There's still time... there's still time...) I really need to just jump into my internet gift ordering head-first... even if I just hit ebay and start clicking on random items (what? You didn't WANT a vintage Snoopy lunchbox and a dining room chair with three legs? Because you're not in school anymore and you don't even HAVE a dining room?? Well, isn't it supposed to be the thought that counts???).

And I'm still struggling to find a balance between home and work, although I have to say my morning workouts have been helping a lot. It gives me the time to take care of chores and get dinner started without feeling rushed -- if I work out AFTER I get home, I run around like a crazy person trying to get everything done. Plus, working out in the morning is a great way to wake up... at least for a couple hours (after which, I usually want a nap... but I usually want a nap at some point, anyway, so... :))

Years ago, before Rick and I moved back to New Jersey, I was working two jobs -- I had my morning proofreading job from 7 to 11, and then I immediately drove downtown to my afternoon job at a law firm, which was from noon until 5. I would usually eat lunch in my car after I'd found a parking spot downtown. (The oh-so-generous law firm wouldn't pay for parking, even though there was plenty in the building's parking garage... sometimes I would park there anyway, because it was easier to pay six bucks than to wander around for my entire lunch hour looking for a parking spot.) And then I would crawl home through rush-hour traffic, which usually took at least an hour, if not longer. I never even TRIED to work out, my house was a total wreck, we lived off of microwavable dinners, I HAD to be in bed by 8:30 every night if I wanted to avoid having a nervous breakdown, and I was completely, absolutely miserable. I try to think of that time in my life every time I start feeling overwhelmed now... (hey, I get free parking AND I can go home at 3:45! I can actually make dinner instead of just throwing something in the microwave! My house is clean! I don't have to work with lawyers!! :)) Not that there's anything wrong with lawyers, of course... ;)

Rick keeps telling me to be positive... and that even if you "fake" positivity long enough, eventually you'll just BE positive. It's the idea of smiling when you're unhappy, because smiling has some sort of physiological effect on the brain... it boosts serotonin levels or something... So when I'm dragging myself out of bed at 4:45 in the morning to squeeze in my work out, I just smile and wait for the endorphins to kick in... sometimes it takes a while...

But here's a definite positive: tomorrow is Friday!! Another week over, and another week closer to Christmas in Chicago.

Uh oh... that means I'm another week closer to needing those Christmas gifts. I WILL start shopping... soon... :)

Chilly random thoughts...

December is starting off with promise: it was only about 45 here today (which is "Chicago" mild, but "Texas" cold...), and there are rumors of a SNOW possibility tomorrow! But I'll believe THAT if and/or when I see it. (Of course, snow flurries in Austin are really hard to see... you have to squint, and tilt your head just so, and hope your porch light is casting enough of a reflective glow that the tiny little flakes are visible to human eyes. But hey, I'll take anything that even remotely reminds me of Christmas.)

Speaking of Christmas, I have finally begun my foray into cyberworld to search for Christmas gifts. I have ideas for about five people, which is a decent start, I guess. One of the problems with shopping online is that occasionally I'll stumble across the "perfect" gift, only to see a little note about how it's "backordered until the Mayan-predicted end of the world in 2012," and I realize I can never get it in time for Christmas. But generally, I find online shopping to be much less stressful than fighting the crowds at the mall. AND you can shop in your pajamas. They frown upon that at the mall...

So I have managed to drag myself out of bed before 5 a.m. twice this week, to get in a morning workout. And you know, except for the "waking up at a ridiculous hour" thing, I actually rather enjoy working out first thing in the morning. And it's definitely easier (at least the "exercising" part... I'm not sure about the "getting out of bed" part) to get in a decent workout in the morning, BEFORE I've spent all day at work and fought traffic to get home. Usually by the end of the day I'm so anxious to just GET HOME and throw on some comfy clothes and relax for a while, that the thought of changing into exercise-appropriate attire and hitting the treadmill is not at all appealing. But in the morning (or the "middle of the night" as I prefer to call it), the one thing that wakes me right up is a nice 45-minute walk/jog. And the best part is, I CAN throw on comfy clothes the minute I get home, and I don't have to feel guilty about it. :) I'm gonna try for another early morning tomorrow... we'll see what happens...

I watched the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree on television last night. It rather made me miss the northeast... I especially love New York at Christmastime. (Although we ARE heading up to Chicago for Christmas this year, so at least I'll get my "holiday in the city" fix... :))

Okay, how crazy is this -- I was just informed that it is 65 degrees in New York today! It's 65 in New York, and Austin is expecting snow... (maybe we really WILL get snow??) When I was in high school, a forecast for snow was cause for major excitment. And lucky for me, our area of New Jersey was hilly and full of small towns and crisscrossed with narrow, twisty, treacherous roads that could be dangerous in the middle of SUMMER -- much less the middle of winter when ice and snow made them slippery. So it didn't take a whole lot of snow to close the school down -- a few inches could suffice. (This was unlike my childhood in Buffalo -- which is a perfectly flat city with straight, right-angled roads -- where it would have to be near blizzard conditions before they'd free us from the confines of the classroom.) So as soon as I heard the words "possibility of snow" on the evening news, I'd start looking out the window every fifteen minutes to see if it had started yet... and then I'd wake up in the middle of the night and look outside to see if there was anything white on the ground. In the morning, as I was lying in bed, I could always tell if there was a chance of school closing by listening to the cars going by on our street -- our house was right on a very sharp curve, and when it was slippery, cars had to slow to a crawl to prevent sliding right off into the woods (something that happened many, many times :)). So if I heard slow-moving cars crunching over the snow, I knew I could switch on my radio (conveniently tuned to a station that announced school closings), and listen with bated breath as the morning host read the list of cancellations and two-hour delays...

But I can't get my hopes up about snow in Austin -- chances are whatever we get (IF we get anything) will stick around for about ten minutes before melting away into cold pools of icy water. And then the temperatures will climb back up into the 60s and 70s and we'll put this whole little wintery episode behind us...

Sigh... it was nice while it lasted... :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Is everyone ready to eat ridiculous amounts of food?? :) Actually, I'm not -- I had every intention of bounding out of bed this morning at 4:50 so I could get in a few miles on the treadmill before heading into work (yes, when I work out in the morning I get up at 4:50... I am, obviously, insane). But I have been seriously tired this week... so I ended up sleeping right until the alarm went off at 5:30. I HATE waking up to a buzzing alarm -- and I can ALMOST always wake up without one, except when I'm really, really tired and haven't had nearly enough sleep. Which is apparently what happened this morning. So I'll have to TRY to get in a workout when I get home from work this afternoon... here's hoping I don't feel exhausted when I walk through my door...

We're actually having an early Thanksgiving this year -- dinner is tonight at my parents' house. Rick's sister Donna is in town JUST for today, so we moved the traditional Thursday dinner to Wednesday (is that even allowed?? Have we broken some cardinal rule of Thanksgiving???). Hence my disappointment with not fitting in a workout this morning -- I need a preemptive calorie burn. But I suppose sleep is important, too...

So in the spirit of the holiday, I thought I should list a few things I'm thankful for:

* Rick, who, for some reason, has put up with me over the last few months even though my new job has turned me into a crazy person. (Even more crazy than usual... I know that's hard to believe... :))

* My mom and dad and brothers... I DARE you to find a mom and dad who are as kind and generous and compassionate and awesome as mine... I dare you... I'll wait... (couldn't do it, could you? Didn't think so... :)) And of course I have to give a special bullet point to:

* Eric, the coolest brother in the entire known universe (and probably even in a few unknown universes, as well). I DARE you to find a brother as cool as mine... (forget it, you can't do it, so I'm not even waiting...)

(* This is not to say that Robert/Bob/Bobert/The Fish Whisperer is not also cool... and if he were here this week, you can bet I'd be thankful for whatever he was cooking for dinner... as long as it wasn't fish... just a disclaimer... :))

* My friends -- especially the ones who take the time to check this blog on a regular basis, even though I've been rather sporadic with the updates lately. Thanks, guys! :)

* My aforementioned insanity-inducing stress-filled job... I can't honestly say I'm always thankful for this one, because it has sapped my energy and increased my stress level about a hundredfold... but I definitely TRY to be thankful for it, because I was fortunate enough to actually GET a job at a time when so many people were LOSING theirs...

* My treadmill and my ability to actually USE it -- I am so thankful for my health and my love of workouts, and my ever-improving eating habits... I can only imagine how much MORE tired and stressed out I'd be if I never exercised and sat on the couch eating ding dongs when I got home from work... :)

* Coffee. Coffee is so great.

* And chocolate. Chocolate is great, too.

* And peppermint mochas at Starbucks -- I love those this time of year...

Okay, it seems my list is devolving into a love of coffee and chocolate (but let's face it, they are both quite vital to life... okay, MY life... :)), so I'm off for now. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!!!

This post is useless... but at least it's something...

This was a crazy, stressful week for me, which culminated in some kind of really fun stomach bug Friday night (I suspect food poisoning, which I'll have to write about at a later date...). So I've spent much of today catching up on all of the housework I normally would've spent ALL weekend catching up on... suffice it to say, I've had very little time and/or energy this week to write for the blog. But since I really wanted to post SOMEthing today, here are some random pictures I took today:

Hmmm... not the best picture of me... but at least it's in black and white, which makes it seem so much more artsy and pensive...


I've had lots of candles burning today... trying to make my house feel more Thanksgivingey/Christmasey...





Piva checking out the wooden cat by the fireplace...


Allegro, sprawled out on the kitchen floor (these days, she pretty much just plops down wherever she happens to be when she gets tired... poor little 18-year-old kitty... :)).


Echo, who always hops up every time she sees me point a camera at her... maybe she doesn't like having her picture taken?

Hope everyone had a good weekend! :)

Two weeks until Thanksgiving...

What??? Seriously? Only two weeks until Santa makes his way to New York City for the Thanksgiving Day Parade and officially kicks off the Christmas season? Only two weeks?!?

I reeeeeaaaaaally need to start thinking about starting my Christmas shopping...

I've been feeling a bit extra-frazzled this week (even though I had the day off yesterday for Veteran's Day) because I made the loony decision to take on some freelance work. So even though I WAS able to sleep in yesterday (Oh, blissful sleep! Oh, slumber of the gods! How do I love thee? With fluffy pillow and cozy duvet... thou art precious, bestowed by heaven... yet much too elusive... Yeah, I like my sleep, okay? :)), um, where was I? Oh yeah -- so even though I slept in yesterday, I ended up spending the entire day working in one way or another. I not only knocked out most of my freelance job, but I also tackled some laundry, cleaned the kitchen, made lunch and dinner, wrote down a list of Christmas gift recipients (and that's as far as my Christmas shopping has gone so far...), and ran interference on a couple cats who kept trying to sneak out the front door while a guy was repainting it (a post-hail-storm repair).

Actually, Allegro DID manage to make a break for it at one point -- I noticed that she wasn't in her usual spot in her bed on the floor, and I couldn't find her anywhere downstairs. And she doesn't go upstairs a LOT, but she does occasionally, so I ran up to ask Rick if she was hanging out with him in his study. But nope, no Allegro. And then we walked out to the landing at the top of the stairs, and we could see her OUTSIDE on the sidewalk just past our front porch. Just exploring. Sniffing the grass. Checking out the rarely-seen natural world. Rick ran downstairs and herded her back inside, and then she and Piva spent the next couple hours trying to stealthily sneak back toward the open door. (What's funny is that when she was younger, Allegro probably would've been hiding under the bed because a stranger was in the house. But now that she's going on 18 years old, that cat will do ANYTHING... :))

Needless to say, sometime around 7:00 last night I realized that I'd had an entire day off, and I hadn't spent ANY time just sitting around relaxing. Which made me momentarily burst into tears... and THAT prompted Rick to suggest that we make some hot chocolate and hang out watching one of our Tivoed episodes of "House." He even stuck around and watched one of my recorded episodes of "Monk" with me (which is akin to me watching one of HIS episodes of Stargate, or Babylon 5, or Farscape, or some other sci-fi-type show... in other words, a bit of a sacrifice, and, therefore, much appreciated). Great idea, Rick -- thanks!! :)

Fortunately, I should only have about an hour of my freelance work to finish, which I'll take care of when I get home so I can FedEx the work back to Chicago. And then I just have to get through tomorrow and the weekend will finally be here (Oh, glorious weekend! Oh-- what? Too much adulation? Okay, I'll stop... for now... :))

And maybe I'll work on that Christmas shopping this weekend...

YANKEES WIN!!!!

And that's all I have time for right now... :)

That's why they don't call it a sparkly happy fun time...

When I first started my job, I felt completely overwhelmed. I was used to having TIME -- time to read, time to write, time to work out, time to cook a great dinner AND clean up afterwards, time to run out for coffee, time to grocery shop, time to take care of the pets, time to do laundry, time to clean the bathroom, time to vacuum, time to watch a good Yankee game, even if it ran into extra innings and wasn't over until well past midnight... in fact, some days I accomplished all of the above, and STILL woke up the next morning feeling well-rested and ready for another day.

And then it changed, literally overnight. All of a sudden, that great TIME was gone... my bed called to me much earlier than a bed SHOULD start beckoning its owner, and I was thrown back into the full-time working world, inheriting an office that was so disorganized I didn't even know where to start. I spent weeks stressing out over the haphazard condition of folders and binders and computer files and drawers full of whoknowswhat, and even now, I'm really not certain that I have it all figured out (where ARE those 2008 media clips, anyway???).

At first, all I could see was the long term -- every Monday morning, I'd drag myself out of bed and get ready, eventually heading out the door with my thermal mug of coffee, grasping it as if the cherished liquid inside could truly transform me into a happy, chipper optimist... but knowing that I still had FOUR DAYS of early-mornings-and-coffee-guzzling before I could sleep in (oh, perfect, precious sleep... how I love thee...). And it seemed too much to handle... if it was so hard to drag myself to work ONE day, how would I ever be able to do it for five days in a row??

And then I realized something -- there was nothing I could do about those five days. They would come and go, the same as every other week, and sooner or later the weekend would be upon us once more. Just like little Stephen Dedalus discovered in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man... "but one time it would come, because the earth moved round always." He was referring to Christmas vacation, but it works just as well for the weekend, too...

So instead of waking up every Monday morning wondering HOW I will get through the week, and how I'll be able to hop out of bed at 5:30 every day, and how I'll get the carpet vacuumed or the laundry finished or dinner cooked, or how on earth I'll be able to stay up past bed-beckoning time to watch the Yankees win the World Series and not fall asleep at work the next day, and how I'll ever get to that elusive point where I can turn the alarm OFF and just sleep until whenever -- I simply remind myself to get through TODAY. That's all I have to do today. I will deal with today TODAY, and tomorrow can wait for tomorrow. Otherwise it's just too overwhelming...

And hey, look -- I'm already finished with dreaded Monday! (And wow -- two posts in two days! I am on a blogging roll... :))

I must be nuts...

Happy November, everyone! So did everyone have a nice Halloween? I did – Rick and I did our usual “turn off the porch light and go out to dinner” thing. It’s our Halloween tradition. Yeah, that’s right, we’re the mean people on the street who never give out any candy. :) Hey, it could be worse – we COULD give out toothbrushes… that was my suggestion this year, but Rick didn’t think it was a good idea. We also mulled the idea of an Obama Halloween – that’s where we would’ve just put a box on our porch with a sign asking kids to “share their wealth” and leave US some candy. Just because we weren’t in costumes or handing out candy to anyone or participating in any way doesn’t mean that we don’t have JUST as much right to that candy as those little kids… so c’mon, kids – hand over the Kit Kats and Snickers and Almond Joys… it’s the American way… (apparently… ;))

Actually, I’ll pass on the Almond Joys – or anything else with almonds. I’ve recently discovered that certain nuts may not agree with me very much. As I’ve mentioned before, for quite a while now I’ve been making an effort to eat a decent diet and exercise as much as possible. And I’ve been dismayed by the fact that my exercise routine has become much too sporadic since I started my job. My eating habits, however, have remained pretty consistent. In lieu of “bad” snacks like chips or candy or cookies – things that may be quite portable and easy to take to work, but not conducive to a healthy diet – I’ve been opting for things like apples and bananas and homemade trail mix.

But soon after I started my job, I noticed that my face was breaking out… and while, of course, I’ve had the occasional zit now and then, they usually only pop up in lone, solitary formation and hang around for about two days… then they retreat and fade away and I don’t see another one for quite a while. All of a sudden, however, they were popping up every week. At first only one or two, which I wrote off to stress – after all, I’d just started a new job, I had a totally new schedule, I was tired, I was freaked out over the relentless disorganization in my new office, I couldn’t figure out how to balance everything I needed to do at home with my lack of time (actually, I STILL can’t figure that out…). But then it seemed like every other day I was seeing another little spot popping up, marring my previously flawless face (hahahaha!! Sorry, I couldn’t say that without laughing… :)).

So I tried to think of what in the world could’ve been going on – what had changed? I wasn’t putting anything weird on my face… the only thing different was the job. And then Rick asked me if I’d been EATING anything different. At first, I couldn’t think of anything that I was eating that I hadn’t already been eating… and then I remembered the homemade trail mix that I’d been taking to work with me every day – I was mixing up almonds, walnuts and dried fruit, and putting a little in a Ziploc bag for a mid-morning snack. I was eating it just about every day… every day since I’d started the job. Could it have been the nuts?? I decided to try an experiment – stop eating my almonds and walnuts for a week or so and see what happened. And lo and behold, after about five days my face started clearing up.

So I guess it’s possible that I have some sort of sensitivity to nuts – or at least almonds and/or walnuts. I’ve thought about trying each of them separately, to see if either of them has more of an effect on my skin, but I’m sort of afraid to try it. I’d rather not have to stock up on Clearasil just so I can eat a few nuts.

What’s funny is that I’ve never really LIKED nuts all that much (maybe that’s why I’ve always had pretty clear skin?? :)), but have recently developed more of a taste for them. But if I’m going to break out every time I eat them, I think I’d rather go back to my nut-free ways…

Well, it’s getting close to my bedtime (it’s not even 9 o’clock yet – isn’t that ridiculous?? I wish I could stay up to watch the World Series, but if I do, I’ll fall asleep at my desk tomorrow…). Hope everyone has a great week!

Must... post... something...

Boy, I've gotta find a way to post more often, don't I? I'm sure you all must miss me terribly when I'm away... :)

So let's see, what's been going on lately... oh yeah -- THE YANKEES ARE HEADING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!! I'm a wee bit excited about that. :) I'm a little bummed, however, that I missed the end of game six -- it was supposed to be on Saturday night, which I was really looking forward to, because I can stay up as late as I want on Saturday nights (since I don't need to be up by 5:30 the next morning). But apparently NYC was innundated with a monsoon on Saturday night, and the game was postponed until Sunday. So I stayed up last night until about the sixth inning, and then decided I'd just let Rick tell me who won later. I happened to wake up around midnight, when Rick was finally getting ready to go to bed, and he said something like, "well, the Yankees are heading to game 7..." And I was like, "what??? Nooooooo..." And then he told me he was just kidding. Oh, that Rick, always the kidder... (so NOT funny!! :))

And I just read this morning that this will be Arod's first World Series ever -- for some reason, I thought he'd been a Yankee for longer than he's actually BEEN a Yankee. So now we just have to hope he can keep up his decent postseason momentum. The Phillies have some scary players -- I had Raul Ibanez on my fantasy team this year and he was awesome. (Awesome for a fantasy team, not so awesome if your team has to play AGAINST him... I'm hoping for a World Series Ibanez slump...)

Anyway, that's about all the time I have for now. Eventually, maybe I'll figure out how to be a better (more frequent) blogger! Have a great week, everyone!

"Oh, you're FINALLY writing a new blog post?"

That's what Rick said when he saw me getting my pictures organized. Yes, I know, it's been a while since I updated -- busyness abounds... not as much time to post as I used to have...

So here are some pictures from our trip up to Chicago last weekend (unfortunately, I didn't get any Ghirardelli pictures -- but we DID stop in for ice cream on a chilly 35-degree day... :)):


We didn't see too many colorful trees while we were up there -- I think it was about a week or two away from "peak" season -- but I saw these few across from Eric's place...


We walked down to the Lincoln Park Zoo on Saturday -- Eric is so lucky to live just a couple blocks from this place. He can walk out his front door and ten minutes later be standing next to a giraffe or a rhino... (or, he can walk the other direction and be drinking a latte at Starbucks... it's a win-win... :)) These were some kind of owls -- I thought they were rather cute and fluffy...


Melman from Madagascar! (I love that movie... yes, I know I'm a ten-year-old... :))


Big kitty...


Kitty on the move...


That's a monkey between two other monkeys -- they were like monkey contortionists... actually, I think the lighter-colored monkeys were grooming the darker one, but it looked rather uncomfortable...


I call this, "Contemplative Gorilla"...


The view from Eric's condo -- love his view of downtown...


On Sunday we headed to Shedd Aquarium. I didn't get too many great pictures in the aquarium, because it was dark, and there were a lot of "no flash pictures" signs (and fish move around so much that it's hard to get a decent still shot...). This thing was actually some kind of seahorse -- it looked like a plant, but it was alive and swimming...


I did use a flash for this frog -- it was so funny, just hanging there like that...


Beluga whales...


Chicago skyline...

Well, I'm off to finish some laundry and get dinner ready before tonight's Yankee playoff game -- GO YANKEES!!! :)

Under the weather...

That’s a strange expression… “under the weather.” What does the weather have to do with anything? And what if the weather is warm and sunny? If you’re under the warm and sunny weather, well, that doesn’t sound so bad… Now, if you’re under the gray, stormy thunderstorm, THAT could be unpleasant…

Anyway… Rick and I both came down with some sort of coldy/fluey thing this weekend. (Yes, I know I’m making up words… I suppose I should say “cold-like” and “flu-like,” right? Nick has already given me a hard time about using “coldy” on my Facebook status update today, and my self-proclaimed “wordologist” friend Faisal is in agreement with Nick… I can’t believe that… you’d think the guy who invented “comfortability” could at least give me “coldy.” :)) So I’ve been feeling sort of puny and icky the last few days. I’ve been hanging out at home, resting up, and hoping I’ll be (at least almost) 100 percent by Friday, when we’re flying up to Chicago. The last time I flew on a plane with a cold, I couldn’t get my ears to pop when we were landing. It was remarkably painful, and something I have no desire to go through again. I WILL be taking a decongestant before I get on the plane on Friday…

But it hasn’t been so bad – I mean, at least I have a good book to read:

And this adorableness to keep me company:

Plus this one, who decided to help me write emails:

And, of course, I have plenty of ginger ale:

And colorful glass bottles for random picture-taking:

Okay, so maybe my pictures aren’t very interesting when I’m sick… :)

And on an unrelated note, I just saw the first official television advertisement of the Christmas season… and it’s, let’s see… October 7^th. Not even Halloween yet. I’m waiting for the day when Christmas ads are just run year-round. They seem to get earlier and earlier every year…

Sigh… I guess this means I need to start my Christmas shopping… :)

Happy autumn! (At least I think it's autumn...)

I have to get in one more blog post in September, so I can have at least ONE month where I have a decent number of posts. I’ve been such a blog slacker this year. There has been not enough, and, in turn, TOO MUCH going on around here to result in a nice, steady blog habit. Perhaps I can remedy that for these last few months of 2009…

But for now – how about a random thought post? Hooray! :)

Thought #1: Did I just say “these last few months of 2009”?? I can’t believe it’s almost October. It seems like barely a few months ago we were excitedly planning our move to Chicago, and now here we are still in Austin with new jobs and no plans to go anywhere any time soon. Just goes to show you, you never know where you’ll be from one year to the next… This is the time of year I really start to miss living in the north -- I miss the cooler temperatures and the colorful trees and the smell of burning leaves and fireplaces... basically, all the things that provide evidence of the changing of the seasons. Sigh... maybe I'll need a sweater in November... definitely by December... I hope...

Thought #2: The Yankees are the AL East Champions!!! Can’t wait for the post-season!

Thought #3: I have been attempting to be a better time manager, as my job seems to be getting in the way of my free time. How dare it. So I went ahead and bought myself a little day planner (something I’ve never bothered to do in the past) and started making lists and writing down reminders of things I need to do. I’m also trying something new this week – on Sunday, I chopped up all my vegetables and put them in plastic containers in the fridge, so when I want to use them, all I have to do is pull them out of the fridge and they’re ready to go. I find that the majority of time spent when cooking is all the prep/clean-up work. So hopefully this will save me a few minutes when I’m making dinner…

Thought #4: I broke down and bought the new Dan Brown book last week, even though it’s gotten some bad reviews. I’m only on chapter 13 (which, as anyone who’s read a Dan Brown book knows, is somewhere around page 20… :)), but so far, it seems to be right on par with his other books. I mean, you’ve got a mysterious society shrouded in secrecy, a huge scientific lab running state-of-the-art experiments, a city full of symbols that no one but Robert Langdon understands – it’s Angels and Demons and the Da Vinci Code, American style. But maybe that’s why it’s gotten bad reviews? Because we’ve seen it before? Ah well, no matter to me… I love a good story, even if it’s a retelling of a story I’ve already read… :)

Thought #5: I’m going to Chicago next weekend! Columbus Day is a holiday where I work, so I have a long weekend. So mom and dad and Rick and I are all heading up to see Eric, and Bob and Jeanie are flying in from Montana to join us. I can’t wait – we haven’t been back to Chicago since our sad trip up in February, when we had to fly to the city and drive our car back down here. I’m looking forward to a happier trip this time, with some good food and good coffee and hopefully at least one trip to Ghirardelli…

Okay, that's about if for now... I need to post this before I fall asleep and miss my "one more post in September" window... :)

It's the little things...

Oh to be mesmerized by something so simple...

She was really interested in that candle...


Oh, hey, look! The sun is shining behind an object! I must take a picture...

(Oh, I guess I AM mesmerized by simple things... :))

A few more random pics...

View of the Alps from the plane...


A road winding through the mountains (I really loved the view on the approach into Venice :))...


Some of the colorful houses of Burano, one of the islands near Venice...


Yes, I'm obsessed with pictures of alleyways...


This is obviously self-explanatory... Oh, it isn't? ;) Okay, here's the story -- our 16th anniversary was the day before we left for the cruise, and someone (MOM! :)) told the dining room staff about it. So they brought us a "Happy Anniversary" cake, and then the (Indonesian) waiters proceeded to sing "happy anniversary to you" to the tune of the "happy birthday" song. Only it ended up sounding like, "happy versary to you... happy versary to you..." They never quite got the "anni" part into the song. :) (But hey, that was a lot better than our 7th anniversary, when we happened to be on another cruise and the waiters brought us a cake that said, "Happy 70th Birthday." There was either a misunderstanding in the kitchen, or some 70-year-old in another part of the dining room was eating a cake that said, "Happy 7th Anniversary.")


Dad, cooling off in Croatia... the bag he's holding contains a necktie -- while we were in Croatia, we learned that ties originated there. (So to all the men who hate wearing neckties: you can blame Croatia. :))


One thing we noticed about Greece was that there were a LOT of stray cats and dogs wandering around. Apparently they don't have any sort of humane society or SPCA. This cat was outside the museum we visited in Santorini...


This is for you, Eric -- the coffee commercial picture! (Not as good as YOUR coffee commercials, of course... but we tried... :))


In addition to alleyway pictures, I also happen to be obessed with "sun behind object" pictures... (although Rick may have taken this one... :))


A tree-lined street in Athens...


I love this picture -- Cindy brought one of each of her kids' favorite stuffed animals and photographed them in different locations, so the kids' animals could "travel" with us. Here we are with one of them (I like how Nick just popped up in the back of the picture... :))

Yay!

I am temporarily taking a break from posting any more vacation pictures (although several more are coming soon... I've found a few more good ones I should've posted :)). Instead, I am posting this picture of Chris Chavez, my dad, and Guy with Mustache (I'm sorry -- I don't know who the guy with the mustache is... I'm sure he's a very nice guy... I just don't happen to know his name...):

My dad was awarded Inventor of the Year at St. Jude Medical for his work on the Eon Mini, which you can read about here, if you're interested. But basically, he got an award because he's awesome. (That's what the clock that he's holding says -- Awarded for Overall Awesomeness in the Field of Being Awesome. I mean, I haven't actually SEEN the award yet, so I'm just guessing... but I'm sure that's close...)

I'm just glad they weren't giving out awards for "highest number of steps on a pedometer." :)

Ephesus...

I think I'm almost done with all this picture posting, although I'll probably post a few more random pictures some time this week. This batch is from our day in Ephesus:


The port town of Kusadasi, where our ship docked...


One of the marble (what else??) streets of Ephesus...


Looking down the street toward the library...


The Temple of Hadrian...


The Library of Celsus...


Another shot of the library...


Looking up through the walls of the library to the blue sky...


A Tale of Two Tans... Cindy, on the left, with her nicely-bronzed arms and face, looks like someone who has been out in the Greek and Turkish sun for many days. Whereas I, on the right, look like someone who has been hiding indoors. The sad thing is, I actually HAVE a tan in this picture. But my "tan" seems to be everyone else's "dead of winter" shade. (Our taxi driver in Athens even made it a point to tell me he hoped I had plenty of sunscreen with me... he didn't express that concern to anyone ELSE...)


The public latrines... really, REALLY public... people would just sit right next to each other. And in the winter, rich men would have their slaves sit on the marble first, to warm it up...


The amphitheater, which is still in use today...


That's Cindy down there, testing the acoustics of the amphitheater with a song -- and even up in the higher rows, we could hear her. I even tested it myself by standing in the middle and asking Rick if he could hear me -- and he could. You know a theater has good acoustics if you can hear ME talking... :)


The theater from afar...


Me with the amphitheater in the background...


We were feeling hot and extremely thirsty on the way back to the ship, so we bought some water and "Uludag Limonata," which turned out to be a sickeningly sweet lemon drink. We ended up adding some of the water to it, which made it taste a little better... but not much. (However, as you can see, we were so thirsty we drank most of it anyway... :))