Becoming healthier..

I’ve eliminated so much craziness from my diet and I’ve been going to the gym in the mornings, and even swimming laps some afternoons.

I’m having fun with it! I downloaded the MyFitnessPal App on my phone and it is beyond amazing. It’s basically a diary of what you eat but it’s so easy to use. They have a huuuuuuuuge database and you can just type in some key words from what you ate and scroll through to find the brand, or exact kind, and change the serving size. And it provides you with a Nutrient Summary that tells you how much of your recommended daily vitamins you have received from what you ate, as well as calories, fat grams, carbs, cholesterol…. All that. And it saves your foods so it just becomes easier and easier to use.



On Monday I went with my cousin, Jessica, to see Dear John and it was so sad it made my stomach hurt. I had to hide behind my scarf. It’s a love story based on a book so it comes with the territory. I did appreciate how it exemplified the way 9/11 affected young people in particular.

So considering that I could probably get away with wearing my pajamas to work, even the slightest opportunity to wear a hat and scarf gets me excited. I do need a haircut but hey, I’m tryin’..

Happy

Here’s some more of my apartment. I’ve just recently gotten around to organizing and decorating. I’m on a super tight budget.



This is the computer nook and that wire mess behind my laptop is probably a fire hazard and might blow up but whatever. So much crazy shit gets thrown in here..



This is my living room with an exhausted Ebi. I am not crazy about the picture but it keeps the wall from being bare for now. I got the futon from Target for $160 and the black tables (there’s another small one) also from Target for $40 for the set.



I love these little red tables. They came from TJ Maxx and were $50 for both. Those little drawers are perfect for storing tiny things I would otherwise lose.



I throw all my hats here (for right now).



This is my favorite one. It’s not very structured so it fits my head perfectly and it’s so comfortable over my ears. I usually have difficulty with hats and ears because I’m a baby about the way it feels. I found this one in a Delia’s catalog years ago and then went to the store and paid like $28 for it. I’m glad I did.



It’s so much easier to take quick pictures with my iPhone and email them to myself but then you can’t see my face.

Tonight my aunts and mom and some of their cousins met for dinner at Satisfactions in Brightleaf Square. I was happy to go. I love to hear them tell stories about their childhood and how cool of a Dad my Grandfather was to them. They had a freaking pony! Their childhood seems so beautiful and I’m happy that they had the experiences they tell about. As kids they went to the grocery store as a family and it was a really big deal that they got dressed up for, and the guys that did the bagging went to school with them and they were always rushing to do their bagging. My mom and her sisters were some hotties. And Sears had a candy bar! And the Carolina Theatre downtown was the place to be. It all just seems so cute. I mean, they had a pony!

March 10 would have been Gpa’s 90th birthday, and I’ve proposed that we all go out for dinner that evening because he always talked about living to be 90. I think it will be full of wonderful stories.

The Mat

This is my life for an hour each week. I'm surprised that I don't mind it that much. This laundromat is always so quiet and empty when I go either Monday-day or Tuesday-evening. I could buy a W/D but that would involve me having to pay a fat amount, and then move them, and move them again one day. And I wouldn't be able to complete all laundry in such little time while reading the Independent.

I didn't know about this until today but Jessica Simpson has a new reality show starting March 15 on VH1. She is traveling the world to meet women, study local fashions, dietary trends, and beauty regimes. I'm goofy excited.

Sick dog

Ebi has been sick, moaning, and groaning since the middle of the night last night and he definitely slept in the bed with me last night. He was pitiful and snuggled up close and then he hated me for pouring Pepto Bismol down his throat. He’s doing better now.



I bought him some discounted Valentine bears today because he likes to tear stuff up. Two-for-one deal! Just a little snip of the scissors and we have a toy to destroy now and one to destroy later.

Getting it together

I like my home so much better now. I did some organizing today..

I had some giant Rubbermaid containers full of craziness that were just sitting out and I had to look at it every day and it was making me so sad to have to see that old, tired, dirty plastic. Every. Single. Day.

I have a sort-of extra room (because I moved my bed into the sunroom where it’s brighter & open with a giant window) so now there is nothing in the actual bedroom except for a bookshelf and now my old TV. The floor hasn't always been full of shit and crazy like this but when I started pulling things out this is what I started with this morning..



In my closet I did have my shoes thrown up here (where my jeans are now neatly folded) and it was a mess.



I did have all of my pants hanging up so this cleared up a lot of space.

It was impossible to keep my shoes organized before because they were everywhere on top of each other. The shoes that I wear most are now stored here. We will see how this works out for me. I like it so far, and I don't have to stretch like a maniac to reach them. I do need a foot stool though.



My bike was in the extra room leaning against the wall and I played with the idea of hanging it from the ceiling because I had seen that done before but I don’t trust the sheetrock and I don’t really think I can go putting holes in the ceiling AND I don’t even know how to begin to tackle that project so the bike is now comfortably stored in the pantry-thing.



It’s now accompanied by the vacuum, ugly plastic giant container, and broom, and stuff. I like it so much better in there.

This shelf on my book case is intriguing. Are those Spanish translators next to philosophies next to the Holy Bible next to Genome next to Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl next to Ellen Degeneres next to mindless chick reads next to Harry Potter next to Amy Sedaris, PostSecret, and Jessica Simpson’s “I Do”? Why yes, yes it is…



Pretty flowers...



Here is part of the cleaner, more organized room. I’m putting my desk in there within the next few days. I have a giant table one from Julie packed up and I am ready to have myself a work area!

Snow slumber

This weekend was amazing because it snowed and I didn’t have to go to work on Saturday, and I updated everything (iPhone, Flickr, iTunes). Since my work schedule is Tues-Sat I never get to have Saturdays off and it makes me a little jealous of people with traditional weekends. Sometimes.

We got about 6 inches of snow. I took Ebi to the fenced in playground in my complex for him to go crazy and bury his face in the snow, and eat it, and chase it, and bark at it.

Sunday we ventured out on very icy roads to go to the grocery store.



I have been all up in Flickr this weekend. Now that I have the Flickr app on my phone (not sure why I hadn’t already downloaded it), I can upload pictures easier since I mostly use my phone. And since I updated the software on my phone the camera is much faster and clearer and captures my beast-dog running...


I’m embarrassed that I had not already downloaded these upgrades. Shame.

Photos on Flickr make me crazy for wanting to take more pictures, wear brighter colors, and explore.

Okay ... Breathe.

I know that football is a big deal this weekend or next but I’ve never been able to get into it. The only reason why I care about college basketball is probably because I have emotions involved. UNC’s my school. I love my school. Love=emotions=support.

This season at the games I’ve been to they’ve played a version of this video (I say version because the new one I’ve been seeing has Sean May and Tyler Hansbrough in it.. which results in the Dome erupting into insane applause) and it touches that part of my heart where I’m so proud to be a Tarheel.



I’ve been fortunate enough to go to 2 games so far this season. They’ve both been huge surprises.. As in, I get a phone call at work telling me that’s what I’m doing that night. The first one was against Albany. It was a rush to get there so we ate a bullshit dinner of popcorn and ice cream cookie sandwich.





The second game I went to was against Wake Forest and we don’t want to talk about that. We lost and then I lost my car.

Christmas Indulgences

I received so many wonderful Christmas gifts.. a North Face jacket and NF fleece to wear under. A beautiful little Asian dining set.



Sephora gift card, PJs, scarves, lotions, candles, lottery tickets that won me $5.

Christmas Eve night I drove myself to the church play that my dad’s kids were in. I had to work until 4:30 and then I had to leave home by 6pm to make it there in time. So I had 1 hour to shower, wash my hair, wrap some gifts, and iron my pants. I didn’t end up washing my hair but that was okay because I had to stop on the side of the road to put some transmission fluid in my car on the way. I was kind of lost and I almost cried but it was Christmas and I was on my way to a function so I kept my shit together. I made it in time, go me! When I got home tonight that red bad boy was smokin’ but I will worry about that craziness tomorrow.

This is (from left) my dad’s wife, my dad, their kids, me, and my dad’s parents. You can’t even tell I had to be a mechanic less than 30 minutes earlier.



Today I went to my grandparent’s house. The older I get the more I appreciate these types of traditions.



Whatever this peanut butter chocolate powdered sugary chex concoction my cousin sent me home with is- and this hoodie from my grandmother- and good company – and some Holiday beverages :) have made my Christmas evening quite delightful. I will clean this wrapping paper mess up later when I worry about my smoking car.

A good good day

Wednesday morning I was digging through a bag full of bags in the bottom of my closet and upon yanking something out a single copper penny flew into the air and in slow motion came down and landed right in front of me as if it fell from the sky. So there I was. Sitting on my knees in my closet staring at this penny and a lucky feeling came over me and I said to myself: “today is going to be a good day.”

And a good day it was. I went to Fresh Market and bought some Christmas cards and Wild About Wasabi Mix which is sooo delicious. It has cashews and almonds and wasabi peas and all of the wasabi spice gets on the cashews. It’s good.

So needless to say I wasted much of my morning but if I hadn’t then I wouldn’t have been in the right place at the right time to formally meet (we waved to each other at a gas station once) my one-day adoptive father ROY WILLIAMS!!

While Christmas shopping in the Barbie aisle in Target I saw Marcus Ginyard and I was just like whatever because he is everywhere. Really. I saw him at the movies last week. And on Franklin St. almost every day during school. And at the grocery store. And eating breakfast in Panera. Everywhere. And then I noticed that I couldn’t get down the Barbie aisle because there were giants everywhere, which is when I realized that it was the UNC men’s basketball team. Still not really caring too much, though. Until I saw Roy. He was standing behind a rack of clothes talking to a Target stocking employee and when he saw me coming he knew what it was about. Yes. A photograph. He asked Coach Whoever to take our picture and told me that I had to instruct them on how to use my camera, which was on my iPhone. Roy listened in on the instructions and I was very strict and serious about holding the phone so still so it wouldn’t be blurry.



I was too embarrassed to ask him to adopt me and I knew the timing was inappropriate with us being in Target and all. ...And he’s recovering from his surgery and the guys were charity shopping.

I even did laundry in hell at the Laundromat at 6pm yesterday and came home still in a good mood. Now THAT’s a good day!

Budget Tree

I bought a tiny little live tree from a Christmas tree lot on Monday. I love Mondays. I would not change my Tuesday-Saturday work schedule for anything. I never have to deal with the Sunday night blues. And I get to spend Monday alone all day doing fun things like drinking an entire pot of coffee in the morning and scrounging around for cute stuff for cheap.

The guy at the tree lot tried to charge me $20 for this little thing because it came with a stand. I had to bargain with him. Twenty dollars for a twig tree is ridiculous. We settled at $10.

It only needed a string of 100 lights. And I wish it was more fragrant. It only smells like a Christmas tree if you wrestle with it while decorating… then your hands smell Chrsitmasy.


It looks happier in real life.

The tree top is just two ornaments.



I listen to Stephanie Miller every single day from 9am-12pm. She and her two giant Great Pyrenees just moved to NYC. She’s been talking every day about walking them around Central Park. It makes me wonder if she really walks them or if she has a dog walker. I liked seeing the dog walkers with 6 dogs in Central Park. I want to run into her in NY with her dogs so bad. She is so funny and smart and entertains me at my most desperate hours of the day. I make mental notes of her TV appearances but the TV is often hi-jacked for basketball watching. Boo. I only care if UNC is on and winning.

If nothing changes, nothing changes

Ebi is getting so big. He's 65 lbs now. We go to the vet every 2 weeks because he's allergic to grass and takes pills every day. When i put him on the puppy plan at PetSmart they made me start alllll over with his necessary-for-life shots. Now that he has everything he needs hopefully they will stop torturing me. Taking him to the vet is always hell. He doesn't understand that he is so big and wants to play with all the little 6 lb dogs that are there for their grooming.

For the most part he is really good but when he is bad, he is BAD. He has done some terrible things.. Like lock me out of the apartment. The bolt lock lays parallel with the floor when unlocked and he jumped up after I left to run outside REALLY QUICK (he stays in the crate during the day) and locked me out. Of course I embarrassed myself believing that there was a burglar inside who had locked me out and was stealing my... laptop and cereal?

If he were human he would wear glasses. I just know it.

In October I went to NY and that was really exciting. Chris and I ate dinner at Gordon Ramsey's restaurant and it was so delicious. They charge you a crazy amount of money and feed you probably about $7 worth of food. Chinatown was the most fun I had. It felt like a different country in some parts.



And next to Chinatown is Little Italy where we drank beers at 2:00 in the afternoon. I heard someone recommend a restaurant called Lee's Shanghai in Chinatown so next time I will try to find that because the place we ate at was terrible. I think Fall is the best time to travel to NY. It's not too hot or too cold and Central Park is so pretty.



Thanksgiving was a beast. When I was a kid I would watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV while my mom cooked. Our house would smell like brown sugary pecans as my mom hosted Thanksgiving at our house for my dad's entire family each year. It was always a lot of fun except for the part where she made me help her crazy-clean the house before their arrival and that one year she made me dress up as a Pilgrim and wear a bonnet.

Anyway, this year my ass was up at 5am snapping green beans. I made food to take to my Grandmother's house, ate lunch there, played hide-and-seek, came home, and went to Chris' co-worker's house for dinner. We were invited and could not turn it down because it was promised to be quite the festivity. And it was. We were participants in the annual pie-tasting contest that was a nightmare because they were all sweet potato pie. But it was really serious and there was a cash prize and a crown involved. My favorite person was the guy that knew his "baby was gonna win because she googled her recipe".

Today I am going to find a little Charlie Brown-ish Christmas tree and bring him home and decorate him. Ebi better not eat him. He loves wood and fragrant things so he will be tempted.

Discount puppy

Meet Ebi. Its spelling means 'shrimp' in Japanese. I got it off a sushi menu. I like sushi and he's going to be totally huge so it's kind of cute.