where did november go?

hello everyone, hope you had a great Thanksgiving... i've had a nice few days off and tomorrow, it's back to work and time to decorate... i'm known for making our area quite festive at this time of year and look forward to hanging more lights and putting up my little christmas tree... i figured as much time as i spend there, i may as well enjoy the sights and sounds of it all right? i finished decorating my apartment on friday - didn't get out nearly as much as usual since i'm at eric's every weekend but it's still nice to have a tree, various trinkets, and lights on my balcony... and yes, even eric has a small tree here so i think i've covered all the bases... :)

thanksgiving was great - my mom fixed dinner for everyone (my brother, his girlfriend, and my sister's family) so all 9 of us were crammed in her tiny place... the highlight is always her sweet potato & marshmallow casserole but the pumpkin cheesecake i made was pretty damn good too (sorry mom)... eric and i hung some lights on her porch after everyone left and took the much appreciated doggy-bag of turkey, rolls, cole slaw, and yes - 2 pieces of my pie... :)

i had off on friday and after going to the chiropractor (which is going well), i did a bit of shopping, finished decorating my place, and then went for an hour long walk/jog since the weather was in the low-50s... friday night, a bunch of my friends and i got together - sort of like a mini-reunion since some of us had not seen each other in years... i guess i can say that i know someone that works for someone famous - my friend mark (2nd from right) works on "diners, drive-ins, and dives" and said that guy fieri is just as he seems on the show (really nice and fun to be around)... he's even been to his house in california - how cool is that?! anyway, it was great to see them, tell stories from HS, and catch-up - hard to believe our 20th is coming up next year... i feel so old but am glad that i don't look it... ;)





as for the rest of the weekend - eric and i went truck shopping yesterday since he may have blown a head-gasket in the one he has now... we went to 3 chevy dealerships and test drove one - i know it may not seem like it but i'm a truck girl at heart (though we only drove fords!)... i grew up riding in trucks because my dad used it for work and most of the time, i rode in the back with my dog, sandy... and yes, eric already has a mini-cooper, a BMW motorcycle, and harley but a truck comes in handy for when we go to his parents farm, when we go camping, and for towing the bike so it's sort of a no brainer... he's doing his comparison thing now so maybe he'll make a decision soon and i can post a nice picture... does this make me a redneck? ;)

and as for today, besides the redskins getting their asses kicked by the giants - at least the steelers won... eric made another batch of his AWESOME chili and we just had some coffee chip ice cream with bananas, peanuts, and chocolate sauce... *sigh*... i read on someone's blog that WW may be introducing a new plan - anyone hear of such a thing? any idea what i may be?

happy sunday...

ready, set, eat!

wishing you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving... :)

good news and bad news

the good news --> eric and i put up christmas lights...


the bad news --> norman used my face as a scratching post friday night (don't worry, it looks worse than it really was)...


GO REDSKINS! :)

you know when you're bored when...

you post a picture of yourself and your new glasses... 2-years seemed to just fly by so i had my eyes checked a few weeks ago and then made my usual pilgrimage to 'hour eyes' to pick out a new pair... i've become rather fond of thicker frames but chose a subtle blue color this time around... i think they're nice but yet still funky, in a jodi-kind of way, and think they'll work out nicely... :)



i had my 3rd visit with the chiropractor tonight - the doctor can't believe how tight i am in my neck and shoulders, yet only feel pain in my middle back... after a few cracks, he had me lay on my left/right side and moved my arm around (trying to keep your arm "like a noodle" is more difficult than you think)... he also showed me an exercise that i can do while laying on a pilates roll - i remember using that in my class and think it will be a wise-purchase... he said it will be good for my spine after a long-day at work, which seems to be the culprit of all my problems... i suppose 6 years of doing what i was doing, is going to take a while to un-do, so i'm hoping the pain gradually starts to disappear... it can really affect how you feel, on all levels, and i'm so ready to feel whole again... if that makes any sense...

i'm sure many of you received an email about mary lou retton's new weightloss plan... if you have no idea what i'm talking about, check out her website and then you can see for yourself... i'm not sure what to think about the whole "it's a scale but not really a scale" thing but do like that it focuses more on the basics and positive reinforcement... let me know what you think... :)

tomorrow, i am going to a thanksgiving luncheon with eric at AU and then we'll be going to a seminar in the afternoon (to stop smoking)... i don't talk about it often but yes, i'm a smoker though i don't do it often - i do it more when i'm around him... i'm glad that he took the initiative because we've been talking about quitting for a while - i had pretty much quit when we first met 4 years ago and here i am, still doing it... time to stop, once a for all... :)

no exercise for me today but i will do some treadmill work tomorrow... after the luncheon and seminar, it's back to the chiropractor and then i'm done for the week... :)

happy hump day...

do we REALLY need another food magazine?

if you're a foody like me, i'm sure you've heard about the new food network magazine... even though i haven't been keeping up with my current subscriptions (i have 4), one of them is rachael ray's magazine and i DO enjoy that one... as much as i LOVE watching the food network - i'm not sure how different that magazine will be from all the other ones... sure, it's new, well-designed, and loaded with recipes but i can probably find them all online and why add more stuff to my recycling pile... i won't lie though - if my grocery store has it tonight, i'll pick one up but my question is: how do you feel about it or do you even care? just curious... :)

my weekend was busy - went to my sister's cabin friday night, spent the morning with my dad, and then headed to pittsburgh to see eric's parents... the weather was good but yesterday it was cold and snowing... yes, i said SNOWING people! everyone is doing well - got to try my hand at nintendo Wii golf (interesting) and feed the cows some apples (too cute!)... eric's truck overheated twice on the way home so that was a bit scary - hopefully it's nothing serious and/or expensive to fix...

i jogged on the treadmill for 30 minutes today (5-minute warmup/cooldown)... it felt good though more is jiggling than it used too... just need to get my diet in order and we'll be good to go... :)

and i have NO comment on last night's redskins/cowboys game... at least the steelers won...

happy monday...

on the mend

i finally went to see a chiropractor on tuesday (since i had off on veterans day) and found out that my back is ALL out of whack and needs major adjusting... i've been having mid-back pain for months and after they did some muscle spasm tests, it appears the problem is really in my upper/lower back... he also did some neurological tests (reflexes, etc.) which i sucked at, but it just goes to show you how weak you can be when your nerves are not working properly with your muscles... they took xrays of my neck and i went back tonight to get my prognosis - instead of having a nice c-curve, my neck is practically straight so my head isn't sitting on my spine properly... it's evident that i need some major TLC so i'll be going 3x/week for massage and adjusting, and then will slowly work into remedial therapy and then some physical therapy... i started treatment tonight and had 10-minutes of massage and then an adjustment - my neck cracked several times, as well as some areas on my back, and the doctor thinks i'll be as good as new in a few months... i will also need to work on my desk setup at work and at home, as well as my posture and other things... so my advice is - if you're having back pains, don't think they'll go away - see a doctor! you could make things worse by not getting medical attention!

work has been better now that the annual report is done and has been delivered... the president told my boss today that it's the most beautiful publication he's ever seen, and couldn't wait to go home and show his wife! i've also had several coworkers compliment me, including a woman in the media department who can be very harsh/mean at times... honestly, i think it really hasn't hit me yet (that it's done) so perhaps in another week or so i'll be able to look at it without looking for something that should've been fixed... ;-)

exercise/food has been mediocre at best... i needed a few more pairs of pants and have to admit, i had to buy 12's and not 10's... i bought most at consignment/thrift stores so at most, i'm out a few bucks but it's still a bit depressing... i know it's just a SIZE but i can feel that i've gained and i can see more jiggle than i used too... perhaps when my back is feeling better and i'm feeling better in general (still feeling funky), i'll be able to focus on myself again... i've lost interest in reading and am behind about 6 magazines - that never used to happen so i really need to work on that... i'm sleeping okay and haven't had daily crying outbursts so it's a very different depression than i'm used too... could be the change in weather too - this getting dark at 5:00 really sucks!

this weekend, eric and i are going to see my dad and then going to pittsburgh to see his parents... we'll be staying at my sister's cabin tomorrow night and then will spend the morning w/my dad on saturday before heading north to the farm... i haven't seen my dad in a while so i'm looking forward to that, same goes with his family... as for thanksgiving - we won't be doing the annual state college thing (with 80+ people) because eric needs to be in town for work... i'm not sure what i'll be doing instead but am looking forward to having a long weekend...

sorry for not posting/commenting as often... will try harder, i promise! :-)

happy thursday...

change is coming

let me just start out by saying GO OBAMA! whoo hooo, what an amazing election and an amazing time for our country... i made it to the polls after work and waited for over an hour - no one was complaining in line and i found that to be pretty awesome (someone said the location never had a down-time during the day)... i stayed up as long as i could last night and watched mccain give his concession speech but fell asleep by the time obama came on... i was just too tired and couldn't keep my eyes open but it was SO nice to wake-up to such great news! :)

the annual report is officially done - i went to the press inspection this morning and as long as they don't screw something up in binding, i'm done done DONE with that project... i love going to see printers because i find the whole process so fascinating - most have modern presses but some still use the old ones... to see a piece of machinery (i.e. a heidelberg) that sometimes can be over 100 years old is just amazing to me... since i had to wait around in between sheet inspections, i took advantage of their customer lounge, checked email, and watched some talking head shows... the rep bought me lunch and then i was able to call it a day around 1:00 - how nice of my boss to say i could have the rest of the day off... as many hours as i put in - i should have more than that but our company doesn't believe in flex time... such is life...

monday night was the football game and even though it was a lot of fun, the redskins still lost (cus they played like ass!) and eric was all happy-go-lucky... it was quite funny seeing us since he had a steelers jersey and i had a redskins jersey but then again - we saw a lot of split couples throughout the night... it took us almost 2 hours to get there but getting home was easy, thank god - still made for a long tuesday since i didn't get much sleep... anyway, here are some pictures so enjoy! :)

can you tell this was before the game (meaning i looked happy)...


there's nothing quite like being in a stadium with over 90k screaming people...


not sure why i'm smiling but perhaps i thought we'd still win... :(

she's alive, SHE'S ALIVE

last week was utter hell for me - i somehow managed to only have ONE meltdown in my office and still get the annual report out the door at 5:30 pm on friday night... needless to say, i did not participate in any halloween parties or activities and eric went alone... even though he understood that i had a stressful week - i still felt bad that i didn't want to go but just didn't have the energy... so i went home, had pizza for dinner, parked my ass on the couch, and then went to bed around 11:00... i also had THE most lovely sleep-in on saturday (minus several incidents with max) and felt human again by the afternoon... :)

since this project knocked the crap out of me and i was working 10-hour days, i didn't go to the gym... i believe it's been two weeks so i'm making a point and getting there today, come hell or high water... food has been okay but both need worked-on and i need to get back on some sort of plan before things get more out of control... i did try on a pair of my 'skinny' jeans and they still fit so maybe i haven't gained as much as i thought - what a treat indeed! ;)

in other news - eric has adopted another cat... a friend of his found it near a construction site and took it home, only to find that she was allergic... so eric offered to foster him until she found it a new home but since last week, he's become very attached (surprise, surprise)... he got all his shots this past weekend and was giving the go-ahead to be around others - norman seems to have tolerated him quickly and max (my cat) has basically growled more than anything... having 3 cats, in a smaller house, is definitely going to be a challenge so we'll see how it goes... he's very cute, solid black, and purrs very loudly.... as for naming him - we went from jean pierre to tyler since the living room resembled a scene from 'fight club'... anything named after brad pitt is fine with me... ;)



and the only other exciting news is that eric and i are going to the steelers/redskins monday night football game - i have been so looking forward to this game for months... we'll be going with some friends of mine and their daughter who turns 16 today - neither of them have been to a game so it should be fun... she's like, "i don't even know what you're supposed to do"... hahahaha, i'll try and post pics later this week...

i was supposed to have off tomorrow but since this project ran behind schedule, i'll have to come in for a few hours... i did ask to leave early since i have every intention of casting my vote before the polls close at 8:00... GO OBAMA! :)

happy monday...