Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Spoke Too Soon

For the past few months, I have done a fairly good job of avoiding getting sick (minus that UTI). I take my vitamins, make sure I get plenty of vitamin C, drink a lot of water (anywhere between 60 and 100 ounces a day), eat fruits and vegetables, exercise when I can. I was just thinking all of that to myself the other day, amazed that what I was doing was actually working, and hoping that there would be a possibility of me not getting sick (or at least not getting sick as often) this winter.

Yesterday I had kind of a scratchy throat. Nothing major, so I assumed it was allergies and kept drinking my water. By the time I got off work yesterday, it hurt to swallow. Overall, I still felt okay though. So I went to Barnes & Noble, grabbed a coffee, did some shopping, and then went to class. I was exhausted less than half way through. That caffeine did nothing for me. My sore throat was worse.

I got home and Chris had made chili. It was spicy and delicious (although a little too hot temperature-wise...I burnt my tongue :/ ), just how I like it. I only ate about half of a bowl though. My throat hurt more and I don't know if it was the spiciness that was making it worse or just eating in general (probably a little of both). I felt bad I didn't eat more.

I went to bed and woke up several times in the middle of the night sneezing and coughing. Not a good sign. Woke up this morning pretty much the same way except everything hurts now. My throat hurts. My eyes hurt. My head hurts. My nose hurts. I'm cold. I'm out of kleenex and am now using regular toilet paper every time I have to blow my nose (which makes my nose hurt worse).

I don't have an appetite (had to force myself to eat a banana for breakfast this morning) and I'm forcing myself to drink water...barely. I'm really bad about not getting enough fluids when I'm sick. I'm extremely thankful I don't have class the rest of the week. Hopefully I can get some rest and get over whatever this is quickly.

As I was thinking all those nice things the other day about how healthy I had been, I was also thinking to myself that I should probably get a flu shot this year since I didn't get one last year and that could possibly be why I got sick so much. But, you can't get a flu shot if you're sick. So I never got one last year because I was sick every few weeks. I was never not sick long enough to be able to get one.

I'm hoping this will pass and I can go get a flu shot. Not that getting a flu shot will keep me from getting sick at all, but hopefully it will keep me from getting sick so often.

Right now I'd give anything to be in bed with some soup and a grilled cheese. And enough medicine to let me sleep and breathe and all that good stuff.

What kind of things do you all do when you're sick to make you feel better?

Monday, October 29, 2012

Beginning of Halloween Activities

I didn't run this weekend like I had planned to :( I slept in way later than I planned to on Saturday (almost until 11 am) but I'm thinking I needed it because I was exhausted last week.

So I woke up, cleaned, made myself lunch, watched a movie, and then headed to JC Penny to look for a shirt for my Halloween costume for the party we're going to this Friday. Got it on clearance for $14. I also found the most amazing coat ever there and I really want to go buy it. Plus I don't have a nice winter coat so I'm going to have to buy one soon. After that I went to Walmart (bleh) to buy the other part of my costume. So my costume total was about $15. All I had to do was a little sewing when I got home and it's ready to go!

I made spaghetti squash for dinner Saturday night with ground turkey, broccoli, peas, and a red sauce. Can't say that it was my best, but Chris said it was good (at least I think he did...I could just be making that up to make myself feel better) so I'll take it.

After dinner we headed up to St. Louis to go to the haunted house at the Lemp Brewery. I was super excited because I've always wanted to go there (supposedly the mansion is really haunted, but I wanted to go just for the history of it). The haunted house part was in one of the caves under the brewery and I thought that was awesome because I've always wanted to go down there (there are supposedly several caves and tunnels under the brewery and mansion).

Waiting in line in the cold sucked. But it was pretty awesome inside. The actors aren't allowed to touch you, but some of them got super close and I didn't like that. It didn't really scare me, but it was kind of annoying. And I don't like to be touched. Or breathed on for that matter, and most of these people had cough drops and I hate that smell. Yuck. I think the scariest part of all haunted houses (or being home alone...) is the loud noises. It's not the people in masks or makeup or what they say to you. It's the banging on the walls, the sound of drills and saws, etc. So was I scared? Yes. But it wasn't the kind of scary that keeps you up all night or gives you nightmares. It was fun.

I really want to go back there some other time to do a tour of the mansion (which is now a bed and breakfast) and the brewery. I think it'd be so cool to see all that stuff (especially the underground parts, minus all the "haunted" decorations and whatnot). I love stuff like that. The history behind really old houses and buildings and the people who lived there.

Sunday morning we slept until 8:30ish. We decided on pancakes for breakfast, but neither one of us knew exactly how to make them... So we looked up a recipe and went with it. They didn't look too pretty, but they were delicious and that's all that matters :)

Chris's parents came down and his dad tried to get our dryer working. No such luck. It appears to be an electrical problem. :( Then we had BWW for lunch and then Chris and I went grocery shopping. We went to Walmart first and I was super grumpy the entire time because everyone who shops there is a moron and I hate them. Then we went to the other grocery store in town to get our produce (I will never buy produce at Walmart--it SUCKS).

We took a nap when we got home and then had cereal for dinner because neither one of us felt like cooking. After dinner we decided to carve our pumpkin. To say that didn't go too well is probably an understatement. Our pumpkin looks like it has down syndrome. :( After that, we lit some of our halloween candles (and put one in the pumpkin) and we had caramel apples and watched Young Frankenstein. I love that movie :)
Our little downs syndrome pumpkin--we love him :)



We are super talented at pumpkin carving!

Friday, October 26, 2012

Getting Back at it

So I went on my first run in a very, very long time last night (really, it's only been a couple weeks, but it feels like it's been forever and my body felt that way too). I ran a little over two miles (I stopped keeping track after two). My pace was extremely slow. And I had to stop a couple times--once due to the train blocking my way to the river. Oh and stop lights. Those suck.

I'm glad I got my run in when I did though. The weather was still comfortable. By the time I was about half way home, the wind had picked up and it was raining. I didn't realize just how much the temp had dropped though until I stopped to get gas. Holy cow was it cold and windy and wet. Yuck.

I had planned on working out a little more once I got home and then cooking dinner and relaxing. The only thing that happened was "relaxing" and a shower. I was a little upset about some things and rather than giving me motivation to work out more, it just made me depressed and tired. So I laid on the couch watching movies and such. Never made dinner. I did have an apple with some peanut butter, but that was it.

I was in such a rush to get inside last night thanks to the wind and the rain, that I completely missed the package sitting on the porch with my new Vera stuff in it! I was also busy playing with the poor kitties. They're so adorable. The white one was sitting by our door and the gray one was sitting in the chair on our porch. They're so friendly and they act like they never get any attention (which I'm really not sure if they do). I felt so bad leaving them outside in the cold and rain :(

Back to what made me upset yesterday. First, I got the letter in the mail from my doc saying all was good, no infections or anything abnormal. Cool. Although I kinda figured that if something serious was wrong they would have called rather than sending a letter. Then I opened another envelop from them. It was a bill for $400 for my visit. Not cool. I don't understand why I'm being billed at all. I wasn't charged any kind of copay, and when I checked out, the lady said they'd bill the insurance company. And since it was technically one of those "woman's wellness" exams or whatever, those are supposed to be free (aka covered by the insurance). So now I have to call and figure all this crap out since I can't afford to pay $400 for this stupid visit.

Then I opened the other envelope which was from one of the student loan companies. I was hoping it was a letter saying that my loans had been deferred since I had sent in the paperwork to have my loans deferred because SEMO sucks and didn't do it at the beginning of the year like they were supposed to. Unfortunately, it was a bill stating that my payments were past-due (which, yes my payment was late, but I did pay the damn thing). So they're saying I owe about $200 right now.

I'm beyond frustrated with all this and I don't know where to start. I'll probably just put it all off until Monday though because I'm not in the mood to deal with all these idiots. And I'm really not in the mood to have someone tell me I have to pay all that money.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Random Things Thursday

I'm officially declaring this "random things Thursday." It will be filled with random thoughts/things/whatever I want because it's my blog :)

So I'll finally be going for a run after work today! I've got two hours to kill between work and the keynote speech for the Faulkner and Warren conference this evening, so I figured it'd be plenty of time for a nice run down by the river. It's supposed to cool off a lot, which I'm prepared for, but I'm hoping it doesn't rain because that will make it even colder. I'm not prepared for that :(

We have a washer and dryer! Not the greatest things in the world. But as long as they get our clothes clean and dry, that's all that matters. And our internet will be installed tomorrow!!! Meaning I can spend all weekend doing research for my paper. Or not. I will probably just watch things on Netflix instead.

I am in need of a tea kettle. I've been drinking coffee pretty regularly since we moved. But, I recently discovered Barnes & Noble has their winter teas back and those are my absolute favorite. So I need a tea kettle and to stock up on tea. I can almost taste it I want them so bad. If we had a microwave, I wouldn't care quite as much about the tea kettle because I could just heat the water that way. But we still don't have a microwave, so I need the tea kettle.

I don't have class on Halloween! My professor decided he wants to take his kids trick or treating instead. Works for me. I get to sit at home in the dark watching scary movies and waiting for Chris to get home from work.

Halloween has never really been my "thing." I wasn't a fan of dressing up and trick or treating when I was younger. I got sick one year when I was in the sixth grade or something, so I stayed home and never went after that. I prefer the scary movie aspect of it all rather than the candy and costumes.

Speaking of costumes, we are going to a costume party the Friday after Halloween. I have no idea what to dress up as. I don't want to spend a lot of money, but I also don't want something that I'll have to constantly explain to everyone. Any suggestions? I've always wanted to go as a witch. But I'm far too lazy to go buy a hat and outfit and all that nonsense.

In other news, this has been one exhausting week. My sister texted me Monday and told me she was in the emergency room with severe stomach pains. My dad called a little later to tell me it was appendicitis and that they were going to do surgery. So she had surgery that night and came home later on Tuesday. Poor thing is in a lot of pain. They gave her vicoden but it's not helping her much. She must get that from me because vicoden doesn't do much for me either.

I finally finished Uncle Tom's Cabin yesterday (about 20 minutes before class). I had to skim the last couple chapters, but since I had a pretty basic idea of what happened, I wasn't too worried. And there wasn't anything left that would help me write my paper so it wasn't extremely useful to me. Overall, I don't like that book. It was painfully boring more often than not. And yet, I'm going to write my final paper on it. Idk. I'm weird.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Time Management

We have been living in our new place for a week now. I love it. But I'm also beyond exhausted. I'm not used to the amount of driving I'm now doing every day. Here's what my days have looked like the past week:

Wake up at 5:30am (except for the day my alarm didn't go off and I woke up a little after 6)
Get dressed, brush teeth, wash face, hair/makeup
Eat breakfast (usually cereal)
Chris has been making my lunch for me :)
Out the door and on my way to work by 6:30am at the latest
Drive about an hour and fifteen minutes to work (depending on what kind of construction they're doing--it seems to change daily)
Work 8am to 5pm
On Mondays and Wednesdays I have an hour break between work and class. Yesterday I used that time to do homework. Then I have class at 6pm to anywhere between 8 and 9pm.
Then I drive an hour and fifteen-ish minutes home.
Eat dinner and go to bed.
Days I don't have class I get home around 6:30pm. Figure out what to make for dinner, do homework, anything else that needs to be done.
Go to bed.

I've been getting to bed around 11ish. Which gives me about 6 and a half hours of sleep. I'm sure my body will adjust to this eventually, but getting between 7 and 9 hours of sleep for the past few months (I went to bed pretty early sometimes) I'm just not used to this.

And, if you hadn't noticed from that rundown of my day, I sit almost ALL DAY. I hate it. My legs have literally been sore from sitting so much. As I've mentioned before, I'm working on getting myself a standing desk so I won't be sitting the entire day. Work is the only place I can stand. I'm stuck sitting in my car at least 2 and a half hours a day, and I have to sit through at least 2 hours of class twice a week. I sit for the majority of my day. Who knew sitting could be so painful?

I'm also severely lacking in the exercise department. I don't know my way around town or anything yet, and because of that, I have yet to go for a run. And by the time I get home at night (especially after class) I'm beyond exhausted and have no energy to workout. The thought of getting up any earlier than 5:30 just to get in a workout makes me cringe.

I'm usually pretty good at managing my time, but a daily 3 hour commute makes it difficult. I came across a post about time by Jessica Lawlor  and there was also a link to another article she had written about ways to make your commute more bearable and productive. One of the suggestions was listening to audiobooks. I have considered this option for my literature class. We have about 5 novels left to read this semester and it would definitely be a better way to spend those 3 hours in my car rather than constantly changing the radio station. My only concern is how well I'll retain the information since we're quizzed on these books weekly. I think I'm going to try it with our next book and see how it goes.  If I can make that work, it will free up at least a little more time in my evenings after work that I could use to get a workout in.

How do you all manage your time to fit in exercise, work, homework (if you have it), household chores, etc.? Any tips or advice?

Monday, October 22, 2012

Our New Place

Finally we are mostly unpacked and I have some decent pictures for you. The only pictures I don't have are of the second bedroom because it's a little messy right now since we're using it for storage and the stuff we haven't had time to unpack yet, and of our bathroom because it's too small to take any decent pictures. But here's the rest! :)
Our stove/cabinets
We have lots of cabinet space...which is not even remotely close to being full 
Sink, dishwasher (thank God!)
Pics in the living room. Left: World series tickets, Right: Audrey (because Chris loves me enough to hang it up)
Recliner and futon


Other recliner 


Bookcase with all of our dvds, tv, and coat rack
Main bathroom

picture hanging in main bathroom
dresser and tv in bedroom
Other dresser, and you can't really see it, but the pic above it is of old Busch Stadium

Our bed and nightstands
Front of our house, complete with a Cardinals chair from my dad and a Woody and Rizz Suck It 2012 sign (which I had to wait in line for about an hour to get!)
I believe this weekend we'll be getting curtains for our living room and hopefully we'll have a washer and dryer this week sometime. So I'll update and add more photos as we slowly continue to decorate and whatnot. Also, we still don't have internet. But it should be installed sometime on Friday. Fingers crossed for that because I've got a paper to write.  

I love our place though. I'm so so happy we found it! 

I still haven't made my way out for a run yet though :/ I definitely plan on going this weekend though. I'm hoping for Saturday and Sunday, but we're going Sunday for sure because Chris is off work and I won't get lost alone lol. 


Tuesday, October 16, 2012

New Place! (sans pics)

The move went fairly well. I only ended up with a few cuts and bruises. I may or may not have lost a few articles of clothing though because the top blew off of one of the totes. Bummer. Oh well, less to unpack!

We got everything moved in fine. The unpacking is an extremely slow process. I don't have class tonight though, so my plan is to stop and buy some groceries on my way home, then unpack and do some homework and watch the debate. Cable was installed yesterday. Still no internet though. So it could be a while before I do a post with pics of the new place...it takes way too long to do all that on my phone unfortunately. I love it though!

I'm so happy with it. And apparently either our neighbor in the other half of the duplex or one nearby has kitties that hang around and they're just adorable. And they seem quite friendly. It made me so happy when I got home last night and the white one was hanging around. And it was there again this morning when I left. So cute.

The worst part about moving into a new place (other than unpacking) is trying to sleep at night. It takes me forever to get used to sleeping in new places so I haven't gotten much sleep. Chris on the other hand sleeps like a rock. Lucky duck.

We still don't have a washer and dryer yet either, which wouldn't be a big deal if I didn't have 3 loads of laundry to do. Blah. Hopefully we'll get them and they'll be set up and ready to go this weekend so I can get some of it done.

Chris did some more unpacking and hung stuff up on the walls yesterday and moved the unpacked boxes into the second bedroom so our living room looked semi-clean :) Also we have a real clock in our kitchen now. I don't think I've ever had one that wasn't on a stove or microwave lol. But it's red and matches all my cherry/his Cardinals stuff.

I know it's only our second day there, but it's frustrating trying to figure out when/where to workout and run. I don't see myself running outside other than on the weekends during the day. Our neighborhood and surrounding area is very poorly lit (minus a few porch lights) so I'm not comfortable running in the dark, especially since I'm not familiar with the area yet. So I guess I'll save my running for the weekends and just do workouts at home during the week.

There is a state park nearby that I wouldn't mind going to on a Saturday or Sunday. They have a few different trails that sound nice.

Sorry again for the delay on all the pictures (maybe by the time I'm able to upload them, we'll be moved in and I can take nicer ones!). In the meantime, I'll leave you with this: Student financial services at Semo will never, ever be helpful in any way. If you want something done right, you either do it yourself, or yell at them until they do it.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Updates on My Life

Tuesday after work, I met Chris in Farmington to go look at a duplex. We had gone to look at a different one last Saturday and that one was just awful. So I didn't have the highest expectations for this one.

However, it was beautiful. The carpet, the kitchen (which has a dishwasher--thank God!), washer and dryer hookups, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a back deck. I loved it. So we told the guy we really liked it and wanted to fill out an application, so he let us fill it out right then and there. In the dark. (The electric wasn't turned on, so by the time we got around to filling out the application it was pretty dark, but I had a flashlight on my phone! woo!)

We filled it out, gave it back to him and we were on our way. It's extremely hard to be patient when you find a place you really love and have to wait however long to find out if you got it. We knew we'd probably know before the weekend, because Chris told him we'd be interested in moving this weekend. Wednesday night I was trying to Skype with Chris but for whatever reason my video wasn't working. He got impatient and called me to tell me we got the duplex! I didn't believe him at first lol.

But we got it, and we move in on Sunday. Yes, Sunday, as in, two days from now. And cue me freaking out. Hello stress. I'm not a good packer/mover. And this is the first time I will be moving without help from my parents/family, etc. It's just me, Chris, and his dad.

Chris came down to help me last night. We got a decent amount done, but I still feel like I have a ton to do. And it's driving me nuts being at work (when just about everyone else is gone for fall break) not being able to be at home packing.

On the bright side, packing gives you an excellent opportunity to throw shit away! I got rid of a lot of clothes. I had summer dresses that I hadn't worn at all this summer, so I got rid of them. Same with shirts, skirts, pants, etc. If I hadn't worn it yet this year, I got rid of it. And I'm not just throwing all that away. Initially I wanted to try to take some of it to a resale shop, but I don't have the time or patience for that, so I'm going to donate all of it instead. My mindset was, the more I can get rid of, the less I have to pack.

Other stressors in my life right now: Game 5 between the Cards and Nats today. Blah. The election and all these debates. We're screwed regardless of who gets elected, of that I'm 100% positive. But it will be in drastically different ways depending on who wins. And don't ask me my opinions because I'm in no mood to start up any political arguments on here. Also, homework. Just about everything is due Monday. So of course we're moving this weekend. I have gotten some of it finished though, so I don't have too much left to worry about, thank goodness.

Rest assured, I will have tons of pictures to post after this move. So that'll be a post sometime next week (whenever we get internet probably). We will have cable Monday though. Priorities. :)

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Skim Milk Shortage?!

It would appear that there is a skim milk shortage in this town. Monday I went to the gas station on my way to work. No skim. Yesterday, I stopped at the gas station up the street from my house. No skim. Today, I went to the University cafeteria (who almost always has 2% and skim). No skim. They had 2% and chocolate. What does a girl have to do around here to get some skim milk?!

Ok, yeah, I could probably stop being so lazy and just go buy a gallon from Schnuck's, but where's the fun in that? And when I stopped at Rhodes on Monday, I realized why I grabbed the Vitamin D milk last week instead of skim (ok, it's still my fault for being colorblind)--that's all they have! They had 2% and Vitamin D. That's it. Of all the different kinds of milk they could sell and those are the 2 they sell? What is wrong with these people?

In other news, I have not worked out since...sometime last week probably. Although I only had one midterm (which was Monday night), I have a lot of other projects to do and a ton of reading. So I haven't really had much time. And I should be working out between work and class today, but I forgot my stuff. I'm trying to keep myself from getting into the habit of going back home for stuff in between work and class because if Chris and I move any time soon, I won't have that option.

I did, however, get a new sports bra that I can't wait to wear. I read Mama Laughlin's blog (she's awesome and hilarious) and she mentioned in a Q&A that she wears Moving Comfort. I had never heard of it, but she swears by it, so I looked it up online. I loved the styles and that they came in real sizes and not just small, medium, large, etc. So I bought one. I tried it on when I got it and I love it. Now I just need to work out so I can wear it :)

Speaking of bras, this weekend at Fleet Feet they're having a sale on their bras, and Moving Comfort is one of them. So I plan on heading up there to see what I can find. Plus I have a coupon too! So I'll get a new sports bra for me, and probably some headphones for Chris so he'll go run with me again :)

I have to work all day tomorrow and Friday, while everyone else is off enjoying fall break. Boo. At least it will be nice and quiet.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Wedding and Family Reunion

I got zero exercise this weekend. Boo. But I ate somewhat healthier this weekend than I did last weekend, so that counts for something right?

Friday night we had dinner at my mom's and watched the Cards beat the Braves! She made chicken tortellini soup. It was so good, and perfect for a chilly day.

Saturday we were up super early. We got all dressed up for the wedding that wasn't until 1pm so that we would have time to drive to Farmington to look at a duplex. That was a major disappointment. The outside looked nice, but the inside was just gross. The carpet was stained, the walls were dirty, the bathroom was disgusting. All that time spent driving there and back and we could have just slept in later. Blah. Oh well. We'll hopefully be going to look at another duplex sometime this week. Fingers crossed this one will be nicer!

Did I mention it was cold Saturday? I'm glad I at least bought a jacket to wear with my dress.

This is kinda blurry,
but the jacket is from Target,
and the dress is from Dillard's. 
The wedding was nice, minus the part about being in Waterloo. The more time I spend in Illinois, the more I just hate everyone. I'm kidding. Sort of.

Anyway, eventually we realized that the church was only about 12 miles from Red Bud, which just happens to be one of the few places you can buy Michelob Golden Draft. So we drove to Red Bud and bought some. And put six in the wedding gift because we're awesome.

After that we headed back to St. Louis and had Buffalo Wild Wings for a late lunch (we had 4 hours to kill between the wedding and reception). Then we went to Target and walked around for a while because we had nothing better to do with our time.

Eventually we made our way to the reception hall, Andre's, in South County. Nice place. The decorations were nice, the cake was pretty (I believe the groom's mother made it, along with a couple thousand mini-cookies as favors). The food was good (at least what I ate of it). I guess what I had at BWW upset my stomach so I wasn't super hungry. But I had salad and pasta con broccoli and both were delicious.

I also drank water all night thanks to my stomach ache. Not that that's a bad thing, but kinda boring. I wouldn't have minded at least having a Sprite or something. Oh well. Everyone else who had cake said it was delicious (there was both chocolate and yellow). I didn't eat any because I don't like cake. I know, I'm weird. Whatever.

We were pretty lame and only danced to a couple slow songs all night, but I was okay with that. My feet hurt lol. We left kinda early. We were exhausted. And needed gas after all the driving we had done.

Photoshop wouldn't let me fix the stupid red eye. 
Yesterday was my family reunion and it was COLD. Well, mainly windy. When the wind wasn't blowing it was tolerable. We had all sorts of food. Tons of desserts. I had chili and a hot dog with pasta salad and the best potatoes you'll ever have in your life. I don't know the exact recipe, but it's potatoes cut up, cheese and sour cream, and bacon. Basically a loaded baked potato, but cooked sort of as a casserole in the oven. I went back for seconds but it was all gone :( 

My first midterm is tonight. I'm not too worried about it. I got As and Bs on all my quizzes so I think I'll be okay. And this week is fall break for everyone but me. Boo. Everyone else is off Thursday and Friday and I have to work. I hate being a grown up sometimes. 

I hope you all had a great weekend and survive your Monday. :)

Friday, October 5, 2012

Thoughts for the Day

I bought milk this morning at the gas station on my way to work. I thought I grabbed skim milk. I was almost to work before I realized that the bottle I bought was red, not pink. Apparently the red one is "Vitamin D." Why does there need to be a "Vitamin D" milk, when milk already has Vitamin D in it? If they're adding more Vitamin D, how much more is it? What it really comes down to for me is that it has much more calories and fat than skim does and it just didn't taste as good. Which is sad because I really wanted some milk this morning.

I'm sure I'm not the first one to think this, but as far as healthy eating goes in this country, wouldn't it be beneficial to sell more products in single-serve sizes? I don't mean everything when I say this, but things that come in bags/jars/containers/etc that are about 2-2.5 servings. For example, if I were to go across the street to the vending machine and buy a bag of Cheez-its, it would be a slightly larger bag that's roughly 2 servings instead of 1. Since I'd be getting this from the vending machine, I wouldn't take the time to sit down and split it up to make sure I only eat one serving. And this happens all the time. Coffee drinks you can buy at the store or gas station, sodas, most snack foods, etc. Clearly, it would be better if we all just ate healthy foods and gave up all the junk. That is obviously something that won't happen in this country any time soon, possibly ever. But wouldn't it be beneficial to everyone if all of these pre-packaged snack foods/drinks were sold in ONE SERVING sizes? It wouldn't get people to eat healthier foods, but it would help with portion control. It would also help if healthier foods were less expensive and more accessible, but that's another topic for another day.

The Wild Card game is this afternoon between the Cards and Braves. Unfortunately, thanks to their horrible timing, I will miss almost all of the game because I'll be driving to St. Louis. I'm hoping I can pick it up on the radio at least on the drive home. As long as the Cardinals win, that's all that really matters. I'm wearing my shirt that says "Own October" on it. I wore it when we were in Chicago and they won, so maybe it will be lucky again today.
Own October :)

Chris and I are going to my mom's for dinner tonight. She's making chicken tortellini soup and I'm so excited. Perfect day for soup :) Tomorrow we have a wedding to go to and Sunday I'm going to my family reunion. Another busy weekend!

So, back to the milk...I seem to have started a small debate on Facebook, so I'll ask all of you:
How do you like your milk?
Thick and creamy? (whole milk)
In between? (1-2%)
or
Almost water? (Skim)

Have a wonderful weekend! Happy #WildCard day!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Random Lunch

Today's lunch is a lot of random things because I haven't gone grocery shopping in at least a week, probably two. So I have applesauce, a huge orange my boss gave me, a pbj on an english muffin, and some crackers and cheese. Teddy Grahams for dessert if I'm still hungry.

So far I've had the applesauce and orange and I'm feeling pretty full. I'm thinking I'll wait a while before I eat anything else. I've been overdoing it lately with eating until I'm way past full and my stomach is getting pretty angry with me. So I'll eat when I'm hungry again. Or just less full? I don't know. I've got a long day today. I'll be working until at least 6, but I'm guessing it will be closer to 7 before we're done today.

I went to Target last night and got the gift for the wedding we're going to this weekend, plus a jacket to wear with my dress because it's supposed to be cold apparently. I did not get the main thing I went there for. Go figure. I'm too lazy to drive back there later tonight so I guess I'll just live without. I have too much other stuff to do tonight. Homework and packing and sleeping. I've got a full schedule.

Speaking of homework/school...I got an A on my first paper!!! First paper as a grad student and I get an A. I'm so excited. I really was expecting something more in the B-range, but I'll take it. My next paper is on Uncle Tom's Cabin which I have never read. It's not due for a few weeks though, so I have plenty of time to work on it.

After that I'll have one more short paper to write on The Red Badge of Courage and then my final research paper. I can't make up my mind on a topic for that one.

Anyhoo, these past couple days have been pretty busy and I haven't had much time to squeeze in a run, but I'm hoping I can do one Saturday or Sunday this weekend.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

100th Post!

If you couldn't tell by the title, this is my 100th post! I'm excited! I can't believe it. Thanks to all of you for sticking with me and I hope you continue to read and don't forget to tell your friends! Or my family...because apparently some of them live under a rock and have no idea I write a blog. :p

Anyhoo, on to the weekend festivities. As I said in my post yesterday, I didn't eat healthy at all. And I'll tell you right now so that you are all aware (in case you didn't know): McDonald's Monopoly is a diet ruiner. Dear God the amount of Mcds that has been had, and will be had. Ouch. I think Mcds Monopoly is worse than holiday eating. Sheesh. But Chris likes to play. And it's nice to think there's a possibility of winning something, I guess. Just ordering the food is a freaking game. They put pieces on the nuggets but on a large fry and a medium drink. So if you want all those pieces, you can't buy the meal. Gah!

So I spent most of the day Saturday at the drag races with my dad, sister, and uncle. I got sunburned :( When I got home, my mom asked me if it was more fun or more boring than I thought it would be. My answer was both.

I have to give credit to my sister for some of these pics...she's a better photographer than me :)
On the one hand, it was way cool to see all the cars and how fast they go and how loud they are and all that. On the other hand, it sucked. Where we were sitting, it was hard to see the board where they posted all the times and speeds. After almost every single car drove by, everyone stood up and leaned over to try to see the scores. So I saw very few because I'm short, and I got tired of trying to see around everyone else. 

Me and my sister Becky inside one of the Toyota funny cars

Got to see lots of cool burnouts



These were awesome and super fast. On average it took them less than 4 seconds to get to the end of the track. 

Funny cars
Overall it was a pretty good day. We had a few bumps (literally and figuratively) but it was fun. Oh and about halfway through all this, we were covered in black from the smoke and rubber and stuff from the cars. Gross. It took quite a while to scrub it off of my face, which really sucked with my sunburn. 

Becky, my dad, and me
Saturday night Chris and I went to Applebee's for dinner (I had the Oriental salad with grilled chicken) and it was delicious. And we had potato twisters for an appetizer because those are delicious too. After dinner we headed downtown. It was a mess. "Taste of St. Louis" was going on so everywhere around Market/Soldier's Memorial was packed. 

But The All-American Rejects were playing a free show...and once they started playing, it was totally worth it. They are so good live. And I just love their music. They played a few songs from their new album and I was surprised by how much I liked them. 

Sunday morning Chris and I woke up way too early (we never can sleep in for some stupid reason) so we went for a run. After our run (which was about 3.3ish miles) we went to Waffle House. It was my first time (second ever) since I got food poisoning there a few years ago. Surprisingly, it wasn't bad. I had a sausage, egg, and cheese wrap with hashbrowns. Not my favorite, but it was pretty good. 

Later that day we went to the Cardinals game. We spent entirely too much time looking for nachos that were rumored to come in a baseball helmet. We never found them :( We did spend too much money though. Woops. We both got new shirts, food, and ice cream. 

None of that seen here :)
It was a good game and the Cards won! So close to making the playoffs!! 

Lovely pic Chris took of the stadium
We also got knit headbands for breast cancer awareness and they are super cute. Can't wait to wear  mine! :)




Later that night we went to see Hotel Transylvania. It was a cute movie. Too many people in that theater for a 9pm movie on a Sunday night--plus a baby--but whatever. It was good and we had popcorn and I ate a ton of junior mints :/ 

Overall, it was a great weekend, and I've got a lot planned for this weekend too! In the meantime, here's a pic of one of my new outfits from Target:

Seriously, everything but my shoes is from Target




Monday, October 1, 2012

Recap (the short version)

So I don't have all my pics from the weekend ready to go yet. Sorry :( But I promise I'll have them up sometime tomorrow!

It was an excellent weekend though! Minus the sunburn. Leave it to me to get sunburned the last weekend in September.

As far as eating goes . . . nothing healthy was eaten this weekend. Oops. I did get some exercise in though! Did a lot of walking Saturday. All day. So much that my toes are blistered :(

Sunday morning Chris and I went on our first run together. We had planned on doing about two miles. After the first mile, we were feeling pretty good, so we kept going. And going. We ended up running about 3.3ish miles. I have no idea how long it took. And we walked for a minute or two once or twice.

I had fun though. Chris didn't because his headphones suck and they kept falling out of his ears. So we're going to get him new ones so he'll keep running with me :) That's the longest I've run in quite a while and I felt pretty great.

Today I ran between work and class. It was cold and windy and rainy. I was looking forward to running in the rain. The cold and wind? Not so much. I ran for 30 minutes though and ran about 2.25 miles. I'm so slow. I guess the weather may have played a factor in that. And waiting at stoplights to cross the street. I hate that. It was a good run though and I only stopped once for a couple minutes.

I suppose I should stop procrastinating and get back to my homework. Lots to do the next couple weeks with midterms and all. My first midterms as a grad student! I'm pretty sure I only have one though . . . lol.

Have a wonderful night and be on the lookout for the weekend recap (the extended version with pics) sometime tomorrow! :)