Geeking Out

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you’ve all been stuffed silly with delicious food and exhausted from family functions. I am for sure – now I get four hours to try and stay awake at the gym while 3 people workout. Yep. Three people currently in the gym right now. I wonder if I lay down in the break room for a while that anyone would notice… I’ll think about it. Oh just kidding – now there are four people here. This could be a rough day. I already finished my book – number 11 on the year – and haven’t fully committed to a new book yet. I’m thinking I need to read a classic… switch it up a bit before my next book club book gets here.

Let’s see – where to begin… ah yes. Week one of D2D4 training. Pretty easy week – three miles on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday and then four miles on Saturday. Well Monday I failed to get up early to get it done – so I was planning on doing it in between work and work. That run was the worst run ever. Seriously – ever. It started out with me getting on the ONE treadmill (I HATE RUNNING ON TREADMILLS) with no hook up for my headphones, as well as my ipod being dead. So I ran in complete silence – other than the hum of the other cardio equipment, rave music barely audible through the speakers, and my own labored breathing. It wasn’t pretty. I did one mile on the treadmill – embarrassing – and then my last two on the elliptical. Not quite the same – I know it, you know it – but I got it done. So yay for me – three miles down for the week! Then I did something stupid – I counted up the total mileage I’d be running for the next 10 weeks, assuming I ran each time I was supposed to. After 10 weeks – including the actual race – total mileage would be 194.4 miles. Kill me now. I ran outside on Thursday and it felt AWESOME. The music helped – fully charged ipods are very helpful – and I felt really good after that three miler. Saturdays are for LSD – long slow days, if you will – so being scheduled for 2 of 3 jobs on Saturday, it was either going to be done bright and early, or later that night. We opted for a 5:30 am 4-mile run around West Des Moines. A quick loop – with good weather and good conversation. Oh and I had a dead ipod. So that’s fun. And it started sprinkling about halfway through, but didn’t feel too bad. Once we were done, I felt good. I didn’t want to die and I wasn’t too sore. So hooray! After runs like that, I don’t hate the fact that I run. On days where I have to run like 26 miles in a week and I have just run 11 – those are the days I’m dreading. But I’ve got  few easy weeks ahead so that’s helpful.

Lots of working this week – double shifts on Monday and Friday (woo hoo 13 hour days) and then another 8 hours on Saturday. Boring boring – blah blah I know. But I have to take a little rest to get into the exciting and fun things!

Book club was Wednesday! I hosted – and it was so fun, as usual. Tuesday night I prepped for it – lots of prep to do. I made Blood Red Sangria – fitting for all the crazy that went along with our book. Pretty easy recipe, I think I still have a glass or so left in the fridge… may need to drink that some night this week. I made some Frosted Animal Cracker Truffles… so delicious. Definitely not the prettiest things ever… but they sure tasted good. Frosted animal crackers, cream cheese frosting, and vanilla almond bark on top. SO GOOD. I’d never made truffles before but I think I’ll make them again. I’ve eaten them when people have used Oreos and loved those – pretty sure you could use about any cookie and make it delish. We had some BBQ Chicken Tortilla Pinwheels too – had those for some leftovers for lunch on Friday – chicken, BBQ sauce, cream cheese and shredded cheese. Easy as pie. Speaking of pie – I should bake one of those… eek. Maybe next weekend… that could be my project. New recipes for lunch and dinner on Saturday, a pie for dessert, and a breakfast meal on Sunday. Now that I said it – I have to do it. It’s out there and people can read it. Now I’m sunk. Looks like I’ll be spending some time on Pinterest later today to find some recipes… woops – just realized I’m totally off topic. Book club. Gone Girl. Friendly chats! Our next book is a mental palate cleanse – Girls in White Dresses. It seems pretty fitting for our lives as of late – friends getting married, having showers, getting engaged, etc. And then the back story of what’s going on with those who are NOT in those positions. I’m pretty excited to start it.

What else this week… ah yes – ran into a couple new/old friends while out on Saturday night. One of those “we used to be friends, then grew up and grew apart, then it’s a small world and now we’re friends again” things. That’s one thing I am really enjoying with my life right now. While still deepening the relationships I have already, I’m also renewing friendships with people whom I haven’t really been friends with for years. It’s great to get out of your comfort zone of your usual group of friends, and make new ones. Plus then you can mix in old friends with new friends, and then everyone has new friends. I know I’ve said this before – but I LOVE my friends. Always there for me – no matter what. No matter which dumb ass thing I’ve decided to do, or which steps I’m taking – they’re behind me one hundred percent. Love you all. Speaking of friends… two of my friends have gotten engaged this week (yes this week – roughly within 48 hours of each other) and I’m very happy for them. With that being said, if my friends call me out of the blue, I’m going to know you’re engaged. It’s so rare to have my phone ring – unless it’s my parents – so I get excited when my phone rings. And then you tell me you’re engaged. Yaaaaaaaaaaay. (I’m holding up my sarcasm sign here.) Not really – I really am super happy for everyone getting engaged and things – but then I also feel like “I like my cat and drink wine. Do I still win at life?” I’m going with yes on that one.

So I hope you’ve all guessed by reading some of these posts, I love books. I love all things books and reading. The quotes that come from them, the feeling of cracking open the binding of a brand new hardcover, the smell (yes, the smell – go to a library, open it up and take a big whiff. That right there is sheer happiness. If you could bottle that into a WallFlower scent I would be in HEAVEN), and the emotion. I love it all. I love decorating with books, I love an organized book shelf, I love libraries. It completely boggles my mind when people say they don’t like to read or they just don’t read. I honestly could not imagine my life without books. If that makes me a geek – so be it. Reading is an escape for me. Some people run, some people shop – I read to escape. If I have a bad day – you can bet your ass my nose is in a book. If I have a great day – I’ll go back to said book to heighten my mood even more. I love thinking like the characters and analyzing the authors. I love TALKING about books. I’m so glad my book club has gotten off the ground – it’s always something I’d wanted to do, and I’m glad it’s finally working out for me. I found a quote on Pinterest (duh) from Simon Pegg that summed up the geek idea pretty well: “Being a geek means never having to play it cool about how much you like something.” Being a geek is so great. I love it.

I forgot one thing I did this week – I watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This was our first book club book, and I LOVED the book. So I knew I wanted to see the movie – to see how it held up against the book. I have a rule where I never see the movie before the book, because the book is always better. Except for Nicholas Sparks’ The Lucky One – I watched the movie first so when I read the book I could picture Zac Effron as the lead character :) Back to the movie though – I haven’t really LOVED a movie in a long time. I watch movies for enjoyment, but don’t really feel a strong pull. Sure, I love me a good rom com that brings a tear to my eye – but it’s not one that I will remember forever or will really register with me. This was a different story. I was so caught up in it I couldn’t do anything else. I couldn’t hold a conversation, send a text – nothing. I was so immersed in the story that I was completely numb to the world around me. I was nearly in tears by the end because of how amazing it was. So my quote for the week comes from this book/movie combination. Also – both come HIGHLY recommended from me. Read the book, then watch the movie. And let me know if it registered as strongly with you as it did with me. That’s your assignment, readers. I don’t expect a paper – but your thoughts would be nice :)

“I can see it. This one moment when you know you’re not a sad story. You are alive, and you stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you’re listening to that song and that drive with the people you love most in this world. And in this moment I swear, we are infinite.”

I’m nearly in tears rereading this quote – I love it so much. This really is happiness. Everything that matters is where you are and with you – and nothing else matters. We are infinite.

To infinity and beyond,

S

Sunday Funday... Kinda

Once again, the weekend has gone far too quickly. I’m down to my last 3.5 hours of work for the week… until I start again tomorrow for a 13 hour day. Happy Monday to me right? Not. One of these days I’ll have a full weekend where nothing else is going on – it will feel nice to relax and refuel. But this weekend wasn’t it, and next weekend won’t be either. But someday – it will be for real.

So I finally have internet in my apartment! Now I don’t have to sit and waste my 3G on my phone while I sit around on Pinterest looking for recipes and DIY activities – I can do that via my computer J I’ve also been watching some of my shows on Hulu and Netflix – Chopped and Glee. The necessities obviously. Plus the wireless is great so I can sit in bed with my computer and a glass of wine… basically I’m saying this so you’re all jealous. Not that you don’t already do it – I’m just saying. It’s pretty awesome. Once I got my internet all set up I was stoked to go out and pick up a router and an HDMI cord so I could hook my computer up to my TV and watch my shows and movies through the TV. Well as I thought more about it… I realized my two-in-one combo with DVD player and TV is too old to even know what an HDMI hookup is. So. That’s depressing. Something more depressing – buying a new TV. So I’ve got my research and work cut out for me – because I’d rather spend my money on multiple things rather than one big item. I want my bang for my buck, but would rather have it gifted to me. Sooooo if anyone is getting rid of a TV in good shape… let me know J Or just offer up some ideas for where to get me a good TV that I don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for. Mk thanks J

I’m going to admit something here – I’m not really proud of it… but it happens. More than it probably should. This week I threw a temper tantrum. Full out tantrum, like a three year old. No real reason for it either – those are usually how they go too. Back story: I ordered a shelving unit for my bathroom from Amazon so I could get the free 2-day shipping for being a Prime member (don’t let me forget to cancel it so I don’t get billed $80 for having that) and have the shelf here so I could have plenty of time to put it together and organized before the weekend. Apparently I need to sign for the package – so I didn’t get it. My plan was to pick it up after work on Thursday and still have time to put it together. Wrong again. UPS didn’t leave a notice saying they “missed me” so I called all over town trying to figure out where it was. I yelled at an automated system – “I want to know where my package is so I can pick it up” and heard “I’m sorry – I didn’t understand you” from the snarky automated system lady. I didn’t really appreciate it. So rather than putting the rest of my apartment away, I decided to get in bed at 6:30 with leftover dinner, a glass of wine, animal crackers, Toby, and rerun episodes of Glee. So there. I showed life what’s up. Finally received my “missed you” notice from UPS and called Saturday morning to pick it up at the post office. Turns out – UPS has their own office – and I should “probably call their office” (as per the rude man from the post office) to pick it up. I call UPS – they’re only open Monday through Friday. Which is stellar – seeing as it’s Saturday morning. So then I have to get it stopped so it doesn’t try and deliver it to me on Monday when I’m not there (again) and then I’ll pick it up on Tuesday. I’m just annoyed at this point – again. Clearly life didn’t care that I needed to organize my bathroom. Rude. Thanks life – I owe you one.

I also did something very stupid this week. Something I swore I’d NEVER do again. EVER. I signed up for the Dam to Dam 20K. The non-refundable, now-you’re-stuck-with-it race on June 1^st. Awesome. Let’s keep in mind that I really haven’t run since last May – before the last D2D that I had to drop out of on account of my brain had a mild tantrum. So that’s cool. I mean it’s not like I haven’t worked out at all since then, but still. I hate running, I don’t know why I do it – but I am. Plus, another friend of mine – she who shall not be named – has been blogging about her progress training for a half-marathon so I really didn’t want to be a big baby about running. So there you have it. I am an idiot – again – and will be running four days a week for the next 10 weeks. Prepare yourselves for the bitching and moaning that will happen after my long runs. At least this year (hopefully) I won’t have any weddings or bachelorette parties coinciding with the race. Puke. Now I just have to schedule my long, weekend runs with my work schedule and other activities. I’m annoyed already. Training starts tomorrow – 3 miles here I come!

After my semi-productive morning yesterday, followed by a 5 hour shift at job 1 of 3, I had a sushi and wine date with my favorite brunette last night J We tried out a new-ish sushi place (kind of a sketch area… but eh – why not) and drank some moscato while we prepped for our friends’ opening night performance of their new band. The sushi was pretty decent – I think the next time I’ll actually eat in-house so I can pick up on the ambiance of the place. And maybe take in a sake bomb or two J We headed to Jeanie’s Bottle after we’d finished getting ready – and playing with her new ADORABLE black lab puppy… I could have stuck her in my purse and taken her home with me she’s so stinkin cute. We arrived in time to hear most of their opening act – Kick! Who is a great band from a smaller town west of here, made up of 18-19 year olds. They rock. They were so fun to watch – so much energy. Probably because they were just graduating high school and still had enough energy to get crazy like that – if I’d jumped around for an hour I’d be exhausted and need a nap. But they stayed out during our friends’ performance and cheered them on. Our friends’ show was so great – I’m so happy for them to have such a great first show. They covered awesome songs, got us all up and dancing, and made me lose my voice a little. Props to you, Ardmore Road – I’ll be seeing you again J

After a longer night than anticipated, I woke up this morning needing some coffee before our “girls day” full of lunch and pedicures with my mama and sister. I also brought my laundry over because I haven’t figured out exactly where the laundry room is in my building yet… maybe I should figure that out. Plus I didn’t have enough quarters. So there’s that. I got requests for coffee and came home to have everyone up and moving. We had planned to get going by 10 am – well instead we watched at least an hour’s worth of random YouTube videos (sloth crossing the road, multiple “Harlem Shake” videos, puppy GIFs, and Jeff Gordon scaring the crap out of a salesman) and hung out in time to get to the nail salon by noon. And before that we obviously had to watch Anjelah Johnson’s “Beautiful Nail” (just one?) so we’d be prepared for “Tammy” to do our nails and make fun of us. I had minor surgery done on my toe – I don’t know what she was digging for but good lord. Take it down a notch. Then when we were done, they tried to send us out of there wearing those foam flippie floppies. No thanks Tammy – there’s snow on the ground. Not happening. So I risked messing up my new pedicure to put socks and boots on. Wasn’t about to freeze my toes off. I need those to help me run a million miles. Yuck.

The rest of my night – after my work shift – includes finishing my laundry (that my awesome sister is folding for me) and hitting up the grocery store to prep for book club this week. I’ve got an interesting menu (hopefully) for the girls and need to get all my materials so it all works out as planned. Fingers crossed my Suzy Homemaker skillz (yea skillz – watch out Martha Stewart) pull through for me and it’s not all a bust.

I was torn this week on quotes… so I’m going to use both. The first… just something to get you through the day – whether it be a good or bad day. Just remember:

“Life is better when you’re laughing.”

Laugh with friends, laugh at stupid videos, laugh at yourself. Laughter truly is the best medicine.

The second, really does impact how the rest of your day goes. I really hadn’t thought about it like this before, but Volaire is correct:

“The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood.”

No matter what happens during the day – remind yourself that you are going to be in a good mood. The minute you wake up and think “I hate today, today is stupid, I don’t want to do anything” is an awful day. And even the smallest, most insignificant things will piss you off even more. If you started your day off with “I’m going to be in a good mood” and shitty stuff happens to you – you’re just going to let it roll off your shoulders and move on. Holding grudges and not letting things go doesn’t help you at all. Plus it’s going to make everyone around you just as grouchy. And you don’t want to be THAT person who ruins the moods of everyone around them. That sucks. And we all know people who do that. Don’t be that person. Just don’t do it.

The moral of the story today kids – laugh and decide to be in a good mood. The laughter is guaranteed to improve your mood as well… so there you go – two birds with one stone J

In love and laughter,

S

So Much More Room for Activities!

Again – I am SO far behind on this damn thing. But to be fair – I have been really busy. And I know I saw that quite often – but for realz. I’ve been busy. Since my last entry, I have worked, worked, baked some cookies, moved into a new place (WOOP WOOP) and roadtripped to Chicago to see friends for St Pats. So I wasn’t lying when I said I’ve been busy. So the work stuff is boring – but I can definitely talk about all the fun stuff I’ve done J

I baked a batch of cookies a couple weeks ago – on a whim, for no real reason. Other than I wanted to bake something. So I consulted my trusty “Recipes” board on Pinterest to find something to make. I wasn’t feeling cupcakes – so much work. But I figured an easy cookie recipe should do it. I found a recipe for Apple Cider Caramel Cookies. On my pin it said “these taste just like Caramel Apple Suckers!” so I knew that I’d love them. It was a pretty easy recipe, however I had to veer from Super Target to an actual grocery store for the Apple Cider mix. Ah well – I’ll learn someday that Target doesn’t have EVERYTHING you could possibly want. (JK it totally does. And everything you will never need. And stuff that you don’t even know what it is but you buy it anyway.) Anyway – sorry, got sidetracked by Target – story of my life. So these cookies seemed pretty fool proof. There really should be no way I mess these up. Mix the dough, unwrap a caramel, put it in the middle of the dough, roll it into a ball – bake for 20 minutes. Got the cookies in the oven and about halfway through the cook time, I turned the light on to see what they look like. Well they seemed to be spreading more than I had anticipated, and the caramel didn’t look like it had melted. I thought about scrapping the whole deal right then – but I decided to wait it out and see how they looked when they were done. (Cut to 10 minutes later when the timer goes off…) I am actually dreading this moment. But I take them out of the oven, let them cool for a while, taste one – BOOM. Success! They were delicious – and they did taste exactly like caramel apple suckers. Pretty proud of myself on that one. I took them to work the next day and everyone ate them. At least they were out of my possession so I didn’t snarf them down like I’d never eaten before.

Now let’s get to the real exciting stuff – I HAVE MY OWN PLACE TO LIVE! Well I mean I share it with Toby the lion cub, but he doesn’t pay rent or clean so he’s basically worthless. He is a pretty great cuddler though so I’ll give him that. Anyway – my new place is fantastic. It’s a loft-style apartment – basically it’s a glorified studio apartment that actually has a “bedroom.” But it has tall ceilings and visible piping, and it’s so cute. I love it. I moved everything in last weekend and have yet to put it all away. I didn’t realize just how much stuff I had. And I don’t have the storage I had in my last place other than in my closet… so this could be fun. Once I get rid of all the boxes around the place though I think I’ll feel better about it. And once I decorate. Then it will actually feel like someone lives there. And I’ve already had my first glass of wine there so it’s basically home J I’m hosting our book club meeting next week so it can be a mini “housewarming” party with my book lovers. Along with that – I have my own little library. My bookshelf full of books, my comfy chair, and a little table to hold a lamp and a glass of wine or coffee. Don’t even act like you’re not impressed. And I obviously know you’re jealous. Don’t worry – I’ll allow visitors soon J

Speaking of books – and again a little off topic – I finished our book club read today. What a RIDICULOUS book. We read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn – her 3^rd book I’ve read in 2013 – and it is a complete mind-F. (again – not using profanity like THAT). It was pretty screwed up at the beginning, but as I hit Part 2 – whoa. Ridiculous. I think EVERYONE should read this book – yet another reason why I love “weird” things. And this one is hella weird.

Back to my list of fun things – let’s wrap this up with St Pats. First off – any excuse to head to Chicago is a good excuse. Not even an excuse – just an awesome idea. Chicago is quite possibly my most favorite city EVER. Yes I realize it’s a solid 6 hours away and only in Illinois… but it’s fantastic. The first time I visited was my sophomore year of college. We went in February – and it was miserable outside. I was hungover, it was snowing/raining, and it was cold. I was in no mood to walk Michigan Avenue and check out the sites. But once we hit the city – I was in love. It was gorgeous and ridiculous all at once. I loved it. I didn’t care how cold it was, I didn’t care that my brain was oozing out my ears. I took in all the sites and relished in the wind of the Windy City (see what I did there?) After that quick trip I knew that I’d come back. I visited with my family a couple times since then, and a friend of mine moved out there for a few years so I spent a few long weekends with her. Took in a hockey game, a bar crawl in Wrigleyville, and lots of shopping. And every time I go back – I fall in love with it even more. This trip for St Pats was no different. The best part was I got to see a lot of college friends I hadn’t seen for a while. Friday night we stayed in and had a throwback house party – grilling, card games, beers, shots, late night movie watching – just like the good ol’ days in Ames. Saturday morning we got up and headed to the station to catch the train into the city. After a few brief hiccups (debating on outerwear, the lack of purse space for travel cocktails, a towed vehicle, etc.) we finally made it. The train ride was pretty fun and we were not the most ridiculous looking people on it. That people watching trip was fantastic – I love how people get so into holidays. We did the same – with our temporary neck tattoos and matching “Kiss Me I’m Iowish” shirts. But once we were off the train (and took a potty break) we were off to the Windy City. Again – terrible weather. It was cold and windy, and I didn’t even care. We saw the skyline, the river that had been dyed green, the ass hole drivers, and the street where Batman was filmed. Again – I was in love. Chicago and I will always have a love affair – long distance I’m sure. But still – love. And spending time with my loves there made it even better.

Each time I move toward the closing portion of my blog, it makes me think of Jerry Springer. Yes I watch that show – and I can’t get enough of it. Anyway – the end of his show when he does the Thought of the Day. I hope I provide a little more insight than Jerry, and maybe some entertainment – not quite as much as that one though… but you get the idea. So my words of wisdom today come from an unknown author, but borrowed from The Chive’s website…

“What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it.”

This struck me as important because I’ve had days lately where laying around and doing nothing, feels like something I shouldn’t be doing. But then part of me thinks – why the hell not? A day off, relaxing and reading a book can almost be a better day than one where you’ve packed 11 activities into 24 hours and you can’t really sit down and enjoy any activity. Which brings me to another quip for some “words of wisdom.” After a hard couple weeks at work a couple years ago, I received a gift from a friend of mine to make me happy. It was a sign saying “Do one thing every day that makes you happy.” How perfect. Even if you have a shitty day – work sucks, your car is iced over, you forget your coffee at home – if you can do one thing that day to make you happy (start a new book, write a blog entry, work out, eat some chocolate, talk to a friend, etc.) then you will be much better off. It may not be the happiest day of your life, but if you’re alive and happy – well, then isn’t that what it’s all about?

Don’t worry, be happy…

S