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?

Quote of the Year

R: See, this is good for you. Small steps toward relinquishing control of everything.

Me: Um. . .did you ever think maybe you're a control freak, too, a little bit?

R: (without missing a beat) There's a difference between being controlling and being right.


Finally. Someone who understands me.

Today Was a Good Day

8:15AM - Took a little extra time during morning sun salutations to do bridge pose, preparing the heart chakra to be compassionate for difficult clients - which I KNOW, sounds fucking cheesy, but I swear, it might have worked or at least placebo effect worked, which is a'ight by me.

12:30AM - Court finished! All cases resolved without trial, which had been a potential for two of my six cases. Difficult clients were not difficult. One hugged me.

1:30PM - Checked out Books 3 and 4 of Percy Jackson and The Olympians from the library (The Titan's Curse and The Battle of the Labryinth, respectively). Great lunch and conversation with co-worker.

3:30PM - Made grocery list, excited about three new recipes I'm going to try this week.

5:30PM - Yeah, "Boom Boom Pow" is my new go-to treadmill song. Freakin' perfect.

7:00PM - Awesome yoga class at the gym; friend subbed for normally crappy teacher, thus allowing me to get my yoga fix locally.

9:30PM - Finished baking these fucking awesome German Chocolate Cookies.

10:19PM - Wrote a blog remembering good day, about to drink some wine and chill with Percy.

Lately...

...I've had the strangest feelin' with no vivid reason to here to find. But yet the thought of losing you's been hangin' 'round my mind...."  Sorry. That's a habit I haven't been able to drop since high school - anytime someone starts off with the word "Lately" I break into Jodeci/Stevie Wonder.



I digress.**

A bullet list of things I've done "lately":

* Braves game! The Braves may be my latest sports obsession. It was so. much. fun. I haven't watched the Braves in awhile, but now I've totally memorized the lineup and have been keeping tabs on the score. If only I had cable.

* Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band. Aaaahh. There are no words. As it turns out, there are apparently no youtube videos or flickr photos either. Yet. Don't be sad. I'll find some for us soon.

* New record of driving home - 7.75 hours! The only problem is that this record is nearly untouchable yet everytime I drive I'll be kicking myself if I don't beat or match it. Sometimes awesomeness can be too awesome.

* Yoga at Athens Healing Arts Centre. I'm so in love with their Mon/Wed night power yoga class. The teacher is incredible, one of my very favoritist. Her class is challenging but she also does a remarkable job of the spiritual aspect of yoga practice as well. I'd seriously consider moving home just to take her class. No joke.

* Ate half a thin crust pizza and half a slice of birthday cake. Now, before you go all judgmental on me, let me tell you what I'd eaten previously today: 1) bowl of Cheerios for breakfast; 2) handful of Goldfish; 3) 6 inch veggie sub from Subway.  Plus, did you see above where I drove home in record time?! Then I walked the dog for 45 minutes. That shit will wipe a girl out. Tasted good, too. I *almost* don't feel guilty (I mean come one, it's thin crust).

**But since we're on the subject, how come there are no more R&B groups like there used to be? Boyz II Men, Bel Biv Devoe, Jodeci, and my personal favorite, K-Ci and JoJo.

I Have No Idea

I felt like I should post even though have little to no brain power and desperately need to be in bed. Boone retreat with girlfriends was excellent, and I am missing those bitches already. Today I hiked alone at Grandfather Mountain. Sure that place is sort of cheesy, but it's relatively safe and easy to find the trails; the trails themselves, kind of treacherous. I could've spent all day there, but cut it short so as not to arrive home at 2AM (am slightly responsible, boo). More on this adventure later. I leave you with Cody, one of the bears in the bear habitat.

Scenes: 2/16/09

* 8am, Sidewalk - three layers, frozen hands, a happy pup, brisk pace, not a bad start to what should be a relaxed day at work, productive evening

* 9am, Walk-in Closet - standing in front of the mirror, repeatedly turning around and bending over, contemplating whether to wear underwear with these pants, realization that even thinking about not wearing underwear is a sign NOT to wear pants altogether, ignore realization and opt for light blue Hanky Pankys because hatred of all other pants and winter weather trumps rational fashion thinking

* 930am, Front Foyer of Office - jumping and pumping fists in jubilation, Girl Scout cookies are here!

* 145pm, Local Fugly Dress Shop - drowning in teal and hot pink polyester/satin blends, bedazzler overload, the ugliest formal dresses you have ever seen, seriously circa 1994 style, cannot suppress laughter with co-worker and run in a fit of giggles out the door before staff offers to help (*may* have gone into shop specifically for this purpose)

* 155pm, Interior of Magic Car Wash - sitting inside car as the machines lather and rinse, surrounding me with whooshes and waterfalls, sometimes dreams do come true

* 523pm, Yoga Mat - legs lifting, heels beating, glutes burning, damn the Pilates side series and this instructor

* 615pm, Stationary Bike - beads of sweat running down face, last two minutes of spinning class, eyes focused on the orange glow of the stereo power button, breathing like I am in labor, glutes still burning, empowerment

* 705pm, Driver's Seat of Car - sitting in driveway, surrounded by darkness and silence, face in hands, sobbing, sometimes one phone call can do that to a girl

* 750pm, Kitchen - wet hair, fugly comfy sweatshirt, forcing the mixer through the batter, friends need to be thanked for kind gestures, no matter what phone calls bring

* 830pm, Stovetop - warm cookies removed from the oven, chocolate melting on the pan, may be emotional basketcase, but still make near-perfect cookies, damn it.

* 915pm, Dining Room - "Walk it Out" blaring from the iPod dock, cookies nestled on the cooling rack, dancing and bootyshaking, Masala jumping up and down bootyshaking, too!, even phone calls can be overcome