* Australia
* Oreo cookies and milk
* Summer
* Holding his hand
* Traveling
* Roommates that make me laugh and laugh and laugh
* No responsibility
* You. Yes, you.
* Being bad
* Sleeping in
* October Road
* A mouse-free house
* Indian food
* Warm feet (see above, Summer)
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 08, 2009
V Addict
It's Sunday afternoon around 1:45pm. I am still wearing my glasses, the fugliest (and most comfy) sweatshirt of all time, and my favorite pink sweatpants. Masala has still not been taken for a walk despite the afternoon hour, which has never happened in his 2 year life.
You see, my life has gone to shit ever since I started watching True Blood. This weekend was supposed to be productive at both work and home, due to being gone 3 days last weekend in West Palm Beach and being gone 3 days this upcoming week in Raleigh for a work conference. But the True Blood. . .I cannot stop watching.
Now I'm all out of episodes, when I thought there were 14, not 12, and at a loss for what to do. I'm an addict without a fix. If only Lafayette lived around here, I bet he could hook a sister up.
Things I have neglected while "using":
* Masala
* A stack of files almost 2 feet high at work
* Gym
* Dirty kitchen
* Grocery shopping
* Laundry, laundry, laundry
* Sweeping
* Bathing
* Sleeping
* Football
* Friends
You see, my life has gone to shit ever since I started watching True Blood. This weekend was supposed to be productive at both work and home, due to being gone 3 days last weekend in West Palm Beach and being gone 3 days this upcoming week in Raleigh for a work conference. But the True Blood. . .I cannot stop watching.
Now I'm all out of episodes, when I thought there were 14, not 12, and at a loss for what to do. I'm an addict without a fix. If only Lafayette lived around here, I bet he could hook a sister up.
Things I have neglected while "using":
* Masala
* A stack of files almost 2 feet high at work
* Gym
* Dirty kitchen
* Grocery shopping
* Laundry, laundry, laundry
* Sweeping
* Bathing
* Sleeping
* Football
* Friends
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Mirror, Mirror
This week's installment of Happy Yoga presented an interesting "inner yoga" exercise:
Think about someone in your life who pushes all your buttons. What are the qualities in this person that you don't like at all? Make a list.
Look over your list. Do you notice any of these qualities in yourself? If not, put the list away and look at it again in a couple of hours. Happy Yoga: 7 Reasons There's Nothing to Worry About, Steve Ross, p53.
A simple, not-rocket-science revelation, but an important one nonetheless. I'm not sure what others get out of this exercise, but for me, I shared a lot of the same qualities. This made me think: Do we not like others when we see our own bad traits reflected back at us from them? A lot of times, I think the answer is yes, and those times the answer is no, more often than not it's because they aren't doing things the "right" way, the way we think is best.
The book has this to say about relating to others:
If you want to be happy, the best thing you can do is thank, forgive, and consciously love [everyone] for being themselves. By not blaming them, but accepting them exactly as they are, you will begin to see that what was bothering you about them was really. . .you. Don't cling to your negativity; let it go. p52
Once again, I am reminded that there is no one to blame for being unhappy except me. Even when external circumstances don't always act as I would like them to, an angry, frustrated, disappointed, or other negative emotion is just a reaction. External forces, I can't control. My reaction, I can.
Think about someone in your life who pushes all your buttons. What are the qualities in this person that you don't like at all? Make a list.
Look over your list. Do you notice any of these qualities in yourself? If not, put the list away and look at it again in a couple of hours. Happy Yoga: 7 Reasons There's Nothing to Worry About, Steve Ross, p53.
A simple, not-rocket-science revelation, but an important one nonetheless. I'm not sure what others get out of this exercise, but for me, I shared a lot of the same qualities. This made me think: Do we not like others when we see our own bad traits reflected back at us from them? A lot of times, I think the answer is yes, and those times the answer is no, more often than not it's because they aren't doing things the "right" way, the way we think is best.
The book has this to say about relating to others:
If you want to be happy, the best thing you can do is thank, forgive, and consciously love [everyone] for being themselves. By not blaming them, but accepting them exactly as they are, you will begin to see that what was bothering you about them was really. . .you. Don't cling to your negativity; let it go. p52
Once again, I am reminded that there is no one to blame for being unhappy except me. Even when external circumstances don't always act as I would like them to, an angry, frustrated, disappointed, or other negative emotion is just a reaction. External forces, I can't control. My reaction, I can.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
So cute.
This week has been pretty hellish by all accounts. Seems like everyone I've talked to or heard about has had one of the worst weeks ever. (Well, except for Tempe, who hopefully is having a kick-ass birthday week.)
Apart from puppies, these 50 seconds have provided me with perhaps my only genuine, purely blissful smile all week. Ya'll probably won't have the same result, but nonetheless, I had to share.
*And no, I didn't miss the obvious "balls" joke, I'm just rising above. That's right, just like Dr. Bailey. Rising. Above.
Apart from puppies, these 50 seconds have provided me with perhaps my only genuine, purely blissful smile all week. Ya'll probably won't have the same result, but nonetheless, I had to share.
*And no, I didn't miss the obvious "balls" joke, I'm just rising above. That's right, just like Dr. Bailey. Rising. Above.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
The October Experiment
On September 25th, 2009 I checked my bank account to ensure I had sufficient funds to go to Busch Gardens "Howl-o-Scream" with friends on Saturday. Well, technically I did, but realistically, I sooooo did not. It turns out my adventures at the US Open, which returned magnificent emotional dividends, had the somewhat reverse effect on finances. I didn't get paid until September 30th, so let's just say the next five/six days were, um, frugal. And by frugal I mean I ate stale cereal, eggs, and toast for almost every meal because my bank account exhausted itself around the same time as my pantry/refrigerator.
So I get paid. Then I do something really, really stupid. I buy a plane ticket to Florida for Halloween weekend. SHUT. UP. It had to be done, and I don't want to hear another chastising word about it; my mother has done a very good job already.
Which brings me to the subject of our post: What the hell have I done and how the hell am I going to make it through October?
Part of my game plan, a very large part actually, is to not eat out the entire month. No, I won't succeed, but if I make it my goal to never do it, I will fail less than if my goal is to "not eat out very often." Trust me. I've tried the latter.
This means I have to do the task I've dreaded for.ev.er. Make a meal plan. Aaaaaahhhhh. Even saying the thought makes me cringe. You see, once in college I had this roommate who posted the days of the week with their corresponding meals on the refrigerator. All three roommates chipped in for shared groceries to reduce expenses. No big deal. Except one time the other roommate and I made a meal that didn't correspond with the list and Meal-planning roommate went apeshit on us because we used the cheese that was earmarked for the enchiladas or whatever on Thursday. AS IF WE COULDN'T BUY MORE F-ING CHEESE. I digress.
The goal: Take lunch to work, make nutritious, cheap meals for dinner - use leftovers for lunch/dinner later on (read: No microwave shit)
Plan of attack: Meal plan, grocery list, banning microwave meals from fridge (insert sad face for lazy Niki)
Progress (unless otherwise noted, Clif bars for breakfast):
Oct 1 - Ate lunch at home. I think it consisted of two pieces of toast and Marmite or a microwave Amy's Organic Black Bean Burrito (had not been to store yet). Dinner - cereal, 4 margaritas (only 99cents each), chips & salsa (free w/margaritas)
Oct 2 - Convinced boss to buy lunch at local deli! Ate hodge-podge of yummy junk food at movie night. Still did not go to store.
Oct 3 - Hungover from movie night and/or beginning swine flu symptoms. Ate leftover brown rice for breakfast, Clif bar for lunch on the way to friend's parents' house at the beach, free pizza & beer for dinner. Um...accidentally had $29 bar tab. Whoops. Not entirely my fault, peeps put drinks on my tab, too drunk to sort out.
Oct 4 - Cheez-Its and burned cookies leftover from midnight snack for breakfast. Free pizza for lunch. Leftover pizza for dinner. Still have not gone to store as on vacation, returned too tired to care. Obviously. Attempt meal planning, brain could not cope with the pressure.
Oct 5 - Had to buy lunch as was at out-of-town court, no groceries to make to-go lunch. Leftover free pizza for dinner. (In case you're counting, that's approximately 4/7 meals, not counting the pizza consumed as part of movie night on Friday. When I informed R of this statistic + intent to eat only cereal for entire month, his response: Are you in college?) DID make it to store w/half-ass grocery list and ingredients purchased for real, adult meal the next day!!
Oct 6 - Toast with avocado for lunch, popcorn w/nutritional yeast & pita w/cheese for dinner. Yeah, I didn't quite make The Grit "Golden Bowl" as I had intended, but turns out nutritional yeast is excellent on popcorn (thanks organic store clerks!). Tomorrow, I swear. Tomorrow I'm going to do it. I will make nutritious dinner!
Yep, well. Off to a good start, aren't I?
So I get paid. Then I do something really, really stupid. I buy a plane ticket to Florida for Halloween weekend. SHUT. UP. It had to be done, and I don't want to hear another chastising word about it; my mother has done a very good job already.
Which brings me to the subject of our post: What the hell have I done and how the hell am I going to make it through October?
Part of my game plan, a very large part actually, is to not eat out the entire month. No, I won't succeed, but if I make it my goal to never do it, I will fail less than if my goal is to "not eat out very often." Trust me. I've tried the latter.
This means I have to do the task I've dreaded for.ev.er. Make a meal plan. Aaaaaahhhhh. Even saying the thought makes me cringe. You see, once in college I had this roommate who posted the days of the week with their corresponding meals on the refrigerator. All three roommates chipped in for shared groceries to reduce expenses. No big deal. Except one time the other roommate and I made a meal that didn't correspond with the list and Meal-planning roommate went apeshit on us because we used the cheese that was earmarked for the enchiladas or whatever on Thursday. AS IF WE COULDN'T BUY MORE F-ING CHEESE. I digress.
The goal: Take lunch to work, make nutritious, cheap meals for dinner - use leftovers for lunch/dinner later on (read: No microwave shit)
Plan of attack: Meal plan, grocery list, banning microwave meals from fridge (insert sad face for lazy Niki)
Progress (unless otherwise noted, Clif bars for breakfast):
Oct 1 - Ate lunch at home. I think it consisted of two pieces of toast and Marmite or a microwave Amy's Organic Black Bean Burrito (had not been to store yet). Dinner - cereal, 4 margaritas (only 99cents each), chips & salsa (free w/margaritas)
Oct 2 - Convinced boss to buy lunch at local deli! Ate hodge-podge of yummy junk food at movie night. Still did not go to store.
Oct 3 - Hungover from movie night and/or beginning swine flu symptoms. Ate leftover brown rice for breakfast, Clif bar for lunch on the way to friend's parents' house at the beach, free pizza & beer for dinner. Um...accidentally had $29 bar tab. Whoops. Not entirely my fault, peeps put drinks on my tab, too drunk to sort out.
Oct 4 - Cheez-Its and burned cookies leftover from midnight snack for breakfast. Free pizza for lunch. Leftover pizza for dinner. Still have not gone to store as on vacation, returned too tired to care. Obviously. Attempt meal planning, brain could not cope with the pressure.
Oct 5 - Had to buy lunch as was at out-of-town court, no groceries to make to-go lunch. Leftover free pizza for dinner. (In case you're counting, that's approximately 4/7 meals, not counting the pizza consumed as part of movie night on Friday. When I informed R of this statistic + intent to eat only cereal for entire month, his response: Are you in college?) DID make it to store w/half-ass grocery list and ingredients purchased for real, adult meal the next day!!
Oct 6 - Toast with avocado for lunch, popcorn w/nutritional yeast & pita w/cheese for dinner. Yeah, I didn't quite make The Grit "Golden Bowl" as I had intended, but turns out nutritional yeast is excellent on popcorn (thanks organic store clerks!). Tomorrow, I swear. Tomorrow I'm going to do it. I will make nutritious dinner!
Yep, well. Off to a good start, aren't I?
Saturday, October 03, 2009
I heart hoodies.
Yeah, I'm up late again. Watched Evil Dead and Evil Dead II at movie night, drank sangria, and ate brownies. Zombies + caffeine = will never sleep.
In effort to chase the mental images of the movies away, I'm posting this Nike interview. I've always had a thing for hoodies, and this just might be a teeny slice of my heaven.
In effort to chase the mental images of the movies away, I'm posting this Nike interview. I've always had a thing for hoodies, and this just might be a teeny slice of my heaven.
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