13 Things I'm Thankful for on this Last Day in November

It's the last day of November! If you're on Facebook, you've probably seen tons of people putting daily statuses up for what they're thankful for. It got annoying pretty quickly.

And when you think about it, we should be thankful a lot more often than that. Not just on Thanksgiving, or just for 30 days in November.

I'm not saying you need to tell everyone every day what you're thankful for. The Facebook world doesn't need to know (and I'm guessing most of them don't really care). But it doesn't hurt to think once or twice a day about the things/people you're thankful to have in your life.

I used to keep a daily journal of things I was thankful for. I did it for about 6 months straight before I got lazy.

But, in honor of the season and the fact that I haven't done this in quite a while, here are some things I'm thankful for (in no particular order):

1. It's the last day of November and it's 60 degrees and sunny.

2. Chris, for so so many reasons. Mainly that he's a good cook and so we won't starve to death :)

3. My job. Even though I'm having my little crisis and I don't know what I want to do with my life right now, I'm definitely thankful I have a job at all and that it's something I enjoy (except for the parts involving math and money. Yuck.)

4. My new car. Driving so much every day sucks, but my new car makes it more bearable :)

5. Our home. I love it, despite my complaints about driving and the slow drains.

6. I'm actually happy/excited about the holidays this year. I've already watched 4 Christmas movies, and I'm decorating, and our tree will officially be up and decorated some time this weekend. And I'm excited about that. I'm normally a huge grinch, so this is new/weird for me.

7. The houses that have their Christmas lights up on my drive home. It makes my drive so much more fun and pretty!

8. Being in school. I know I complain about it a lot. It's a lot of work and it's stressful, especially now with finals in a week, but I do enjoy it. Wanna honestly know what my dream job is? To go to school. Full-time. And not have to worry about paying for it or having a job. Just go to school and learn. I like learning. There's so much I want to know. And I really want to study psychology. Kind of kicking myself for not double-majoring in psych and english as an undergrad.

9. Weekends. I can't even begin to describe to you how happy I will be when I leave work today. This week has been so incredibly exhausting. We got home super late Sunday night. I had a late class Monday night. Worked until 10:30 Tuesday night. Got home around 9:30 Wednesday night and had a lot to do, so went to bed late. Last night was the only night we went to bed before 11. Unfortunately I don't get to sleep in tomorrow, but I can take a nap at some point (I hope)!

10. My sister sends me funny pictures throughout the day and they always make me smile/laugh.

11. My mom and dad for allowing me to store about 50% or more of my belongings in their basement at any given time.

12. Christmas break is two weeks away. It will be so amazing to go straight home after work every day for a month. And not have homework to do when I get home. Or anything else. I can watch tv all night. Or read. Or sleep. I plan on reading though. I've got a long list.

13. Did I mention Chris? And how he puts up with me and somehow still loves me? And he's a good cook? And he doesn't get mad at me for leaving my books and papers all over the place? And he eats the food I cook even though it's rarely delicious? And he makes me laugh? Just making sure I covered it all. He's the best. :)

Me and Chris at Thanksgiving

Random Things Thursday: Tuesday

So yesterday I wrote about the TrekDesk instead of telling you all about my Tuesday. In honor of Random Things Thursday, let's talk about Tuesday!

We launched our latest book, Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors on Tuesday night and it was incredible getting to meet some of the vets who wrote the stories, poems, essays, etc.

We first met at Maggiano's for dinner. It was delicious. It was my second time going there and the experience was just as great as the first. In spite of all the food, I surprisingly didn't overeat. They served it all family-style.

For appetizers we had bread, and salads--one was a caesar and the other had blue cheese and pecans and was delish. Then they brought out bruschetta which was also really good. And then they brought out spinach and artichoke al forno. Also delish.

Then they brought out dinner. Fettucini alfredo was the first out and by far my favorite. I love love love alfredo. There was also chicken marsala (which I didn't try because I'm not a fan of it), some pasta with red sauce and meat balls which was pretty good. Then they brought out salmon. I've never tried salmon before, but I've been wanting to, so I figured might as well try it at a fancy restaurant (for free!). I was surprised by how much I liked it!

My boss and I left before they served dessert so we could go set up the books. The place was full and several of the vets got up on stage and read their work from the book and then signed books after. I worked on this book from start to finish and I've read everything in it multiple times, but hearing them read aloud was such an awesome experience.

It was midnight when I get home that night. Third late night in a row. Blah. Last night we were in bed by 11. Not super early, but earlier than the past few nights at least.

I've been considering taking real lunch breaks at work to go workout instead of working/blogging through my lunch. Obviously if I take my lunch break and go workout or run, I'll still be working and eating, but I pretty much do that every day anyway.

I just think it might be worth trying because I'm generally either too tired or have too much to do after work/class to workout at home.

Do any of you workout on your lunch breaks? Do you like it? What kind of exercises do you do? 

P.S. If you're interested in purchasing Proud to Be; Writing by American Warriors, you can click on the link above and get it through Amazon.com. It's also available at B&N.com, or through our website: http://www6.semo.edu/universitypress/Proud_to_Be1.htm

Desks

So I got this text from my mom this morning: 

I was intrigued, so I looked it up. It's called TrekDesk. Basically, it's a desk that fits over your treadmill so you can walk and work at the same time. For $450. I foolishly thought, Awesome! A treadmill and a desk for just $450?! Ha. Wrong. That's $450 for the desk. You gotta provide your own treadmill folks. 

I don't own a treadmill for two reasons: 1. They're expensive. 2. I loathe running on treadmills. 

But in a case such as using it with the TrekDesk, you'd be walking rather than running. And you'd be working too. They have some articles on their site about how sitting all day is bad for you, standing all day is only slightly better, moving all day is best. 

As many of you know, I recently got my standing desk put together and have been using it for almost 2 weeks now. I like it. I get strange looks from people (can you imagine walking into an office and seeing people on treadmills?), and my body is still getting used to it, but I like it much, much more than sitting all day. 

My current standing desk

I wish I had a treadmill at home now so I could try something like the TrekDesk out and see how I like it. Actually, I'd rather have a treadmill at work since it seems I spend more time at work/school than at home. 

Alas, I am poor and can afford neither a treadmill nor a TrekDesk for my home or office. But I think it's a cool idea. Maybe someday I'll work in one of those offices where the company pays for stuff like that. After all, healthier employees means you get more work out of them, right? 

If you're interested in the TrekDesk and what it is/does, you can check out their website: http://trekdesk.com/trekdesk

Or like/follow them on Facebook and/or Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/TrekDesk

https://twitter.com/TrekDesk

Quarter-Life Crisis

I had a mini-meltdown in my car last night on my way home from class. Okay, maybe it wasn't so mini. Whatever.

I got an assignment back in class last night and I got a B on it, which isn't really all that bad, and I currently have an A overall. But editing is my JOB, and getting a B on an editing assignment in the class my boss teaches kinda makes me feel like a failure, idiot, and anything else you can come up with. 

The fact that finals are two weeks away probably isn't helping this any. And neither is the fact that I tried to plan out my courses and see just how long it will take me to get my degree. If I continue to take two classes (6 hours) per semester and don't take summer classes, it will be at least spring 2015 before I graduate. Do you have any idea how far away that seems?! That's another 2 and a half to 3 years living in Farmington, driving 3 hours a day, going to class two nights a week. 

So then I decided to see how long it would take if I can take summer classes, and it would end up sometime in 2014ish. Then I decided to see how long it would take if I took summer classes and took 9 hours for a semester or two. Still 2014ish. Mainly because they just don't offer what I need during the summer. 

I don't hate school. I very much dislike some of the classes I have to take and some of the people who teach them. And I dislike how time-consuming it all is. But the main reason is that I have to work and go to school. Which is what most people do. But if I could just go to school, take 9 hours a semester like everyone else and be done in two years, I think I'd like it a whole lot more. And I also really want a degree in psychology. Which would mean more school (and also way more loans). 

I started questioning everything last night. Did I make the right decision going to Semo in the first place? Should I have gone somewhere else? Do I really want to be in school (the answer to that question is yes, by the way)? Am I even hungry now (yes, that was a legitimate question last night--again, the answer was yes)? 

I'll leave out many of the other things I questioned/thought for the sake of being nice. After seeing Yellowcard on Sunday night, I started thinking about how much I miss playing the violin and how I really don't have the time for it anymore. Between work, school, and trying to exercise enough so that I don't get fat, I just don't have the spare time or energy for it. Which is really depressing. And then of course came the inevitable question: could I have been a better violinist? Probably. I know I could have been, and could still be (assuming I had the time to dedicate to it), but I hated the classes I took as a music major my freshman year. So I know that while in my head I still think being a pro violinist would be one of the coolest jobs ever (especially in a rock band), I made the right move when I switched majors.  

Then's there's the stress of writing, which, aside from the blog, I'm doing very little of right now. I've written one or two poems all semester. And they're not great. But I'm doing a creative thesis so I need to be writing constantly. And I need to be revising other poems I've written. I need to be submitting to try and get published. Where am I supposed to find the time and inspiration? 

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. And kind of angry, mostly at myself because I just don't know what I want. I want my master's. I want to study psychology. I want to move back to St. Louis some day in the not-so-far-away future. I want to not be in debt forever. I want to not have to work and go to school. Obviously, I can't have it all, and very few of those things are real possibilities. 

Am I the only one who doesn't know what the hell I want?

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

So posts the next couple weeks might be limited since finals are in two weeks. And they'll probably be shorter too. Or longer...depends on how much I'm procrastinating.

Anyhoo, I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving. Mine was great. Too much going on all weekend, but it was fun.

I took very few pictures (you should just expect that by now), and I don't have the patience to try to upload them right now.

Wednesday night I made a casserole with chicken, broccoli, and cauliflower. It wasn't too bad. I didn't have all the ingredients, so I'm gonna try it again and maybe it will be just a little bit better. But Chris said he liked it, so I guess it wasn't too terrible ;) And I had leftovers for lunch today and they tasted pretty darn good.

After dinner we watched Elf and ate Christmas Oreos and had strawberry floats.



Thursday we had lunch with my mom's family and dinner with Chris's family. After the screaming babies left, we watched The Grinch (the Dr. Seuss version--the best one!) and then went to bed.



Friday I helped my mom decorate the tree. We also went through a ton of my stuff that was in my parents' basement. They'll be donating at least two big boxes of clothes to the East Coast to the hurricane victims.

Friday night Mom made white chicken chili and it was incredible. It's definitely one of my favorite meals. Afterward, Chris, me, my sister, and my dad watched Christmas Vacation (which is the best Christmas move EVER). And we had homemade popcorn with extra butter. Yum :)

Saturday, I had every intention of going for a run after I dropped Chris off at work. Except that it was 20 degrees and I didn't have clothes warm enough to go run in those conditions. So I got my hair cut and went shopping instead. I bought Chris new shoes and got myself some boots (finally).

Later that night we went to Fast Eddie's. It was delicious as always. Afterward we went to the casino where the ATM ate Chris's debit card :( That was partially my fault. Oops.

On Sunday we went to Crown Candy for lunch with Chris's parents. Then we did a little more shopping and then headed over to Pop's to see Yellowcard. The opening bands were not all that great. But Yellowcard was amazing. I can't believe that was my first time ever seeing them. Finally! I was disappointed in their shirt selection though. The only shirts I liked, they didn't have my size.

We got home a little before 1am, got a couple hours of sleep, and then back to work this morning. Blah.

As you can see, I didn't run once. Major fail. And I brought clothes to wear for a run this evening before class, but now it's raining. And colder. I'd love to say that it was my fault because I didn't check the weather or something, but I totally did. For last weekend, and for today. None of this was in the forecast when I checked. Ugh. So I'm gonna get coffee instead I think. The forecast for Wednesday says mid-50s, so let's hope that doesn't change!

I have a lot of work to get done in the next two weeks. Yuck. Hopefully I don't get too stressed over it. I have a project due next Monday (which I should have been working on all weekend and didn't) and a paper due in two weeks, plus one final to study for. Piece of cake. Speaking of cake...that sounds delicious.

Enjoy the rest of your Monday everyone!

Weekend Recap, Bruised Knee(cap)

This weekend was not quite as relaxing as I hoped it would be. Nor did it include any of the running I had planned. Oops. Two reasons for that. 1. I slept until about 1pm on Saturday. Again, oops. But it was a glorious sleep. 2. On Sunday we went to St. Louis to go to the Rams game and so I didn't have time to go for a run that morning. 

Friday night we got Taco Bell for dinner, which was not as delicious as my cravings said it would be. Damn. Saturday I slept until 1, then showered, had an apple and peanut butter for lunch and then went shopping. I got two new pairs of flats (which I've been needing for quite a while now). I'm waiting for one of them to come in the mail and I'm getting super impatient and will be kinda upset if I don't get them before Thanksgiving. 

Saturday night instead of cooking like I totally should have, we went to A&W and I got mini corndogs with cheese and I felt like a little kid and it was delicious. We also picked up a couple movies and snacks. We bought Napolean Dynamite for $3 and we also got 1408 and The Santa Clause. 

Sunday we woke up early (boo) and got ready to go to the football game. This was my first NFL game. I'm not a big football fan to begin with, and I'm really not a Rams fan. So it was interesting. We met up with Chris's parents and got some food at a tailgate (which apparently people do everywhere down there). Then we headed back to the dome. We had pretty good seats, so that was nice. 

View from our seats

Unfortunately, the Rams suck and we ended up leaving early (like many others). We had a good time though and I'm glad I got to go, since I'll probably never go to another NFL game again, unless it's free like it was this time :)

Yesterday wasn't so bad--for a Monday. Decent day at work, did quite a bit of editing (my favorite part of my job) and then we had a really short class last night. I went for a run after work. Not my best, but at least I got out there and ran.

Another crappy picture of the bridge on my run. 

We had chicken nuggets and mac n cheese for dinner because we're awesome and after watching a couple episodes of Family Guy, we went to bed. We live such exciting lives. 

I noticed a nice, big bruise on my knee while we were eating dinner last night. It looks slightly better this morning, but I have no idea what it's from. I don't recall running into anything. And my knee does bruise sometimes when I run. That's probably not a good thing, but so far it hasn't given me a ton of pain, so I'm not gonna worry about it. 

Please ignore the pasty-white skin :)

As far as workouts go, well, those aren't going..at all. But I'm running at least twice a week now, which is way more than I was doing before. So that's something. And I'm standing most of the day too, so that seems to be helping.

Not much going on today. I'm gonna try to get a workout in when I get home. In the meantime, I need coffee. 

Also, I forgot to take pictures of my car. So, I'll try to get around to that this weekend among everything else going on. Woo. And maybe I'll just have more pictures for you in general. You never know. :) 

One Month

As of yesterday, Chris and I have officially been living together for a month. And we still love each other :) lol It's taken most of the month to adjust to the longer commutes and such, but I'm finally getting used to it. I'm still exhausted most days, but I'm adjusting. And I've finally started running again.  I ran 2 miles Monday night, and another 2-something miles last night. My pace last night seemed to be a little more accurate at 10:26 rather than the 9-something it was Monday night.

It was super cold last night though. Not fun. But I ran from the parking lot at the English building down to the river and back. I love running by the river. It's so calm and relaxing. I tried to take a picture for you all, but that didn't turn out too well.

Not the greatest picture, but I love it there. It is absolutely the greatest thing about that town. 

I got my paper on Uncle Tom's Cabin back last night and I got an A! Woo! I was so excited! Mainly because I wanted to use parts of that paper in my longer, final paper, but I wanted to make sure I got a good grade on it first lol.

I planned on coming home and working out, but I'm not going to (I know, you guys are all shocked). I started getting a really bad headache on my drive home, so I think I'm just going to try and relax tonight. Maybe get a little homework done, and I'm going to do some laundry and then get to bed early.

This is a picture of the sunrise on my way to work this morning:

One of the few things that makes the drive worthwhile.

Tomorrow night I'll be doing a poetry reading. Lucky for me, Chris found my flash drive (which was right where I left it...) which has just about everything I've written during my undergrad on it. So now I at least have a few decent poems to choose from. Now I have to actually pick a couple. Blah. 

I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes :) 

Ps if you're not following me on Twitter, you should be (I'm getting better about posting pics on there lol). Check it out: @Run_Chata