[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx1XIm6q4r4]
I Know How Harry Potter Ends…
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Rantings of a Frustrated WWer
I’ll admit it, I’ve been slacking lately. I’m *mostly* watching what I’m eating and working out (some – mostly hour long walks with my hubby and the pupster at night), but otherwise, I’m just not feeling it. I just can’t seem to find the motivation to stick to it and play by the rules.
I weighed in today and in the past month I’ve gained 1.6 pounds (with losses mixed in with the gains). While that’s not a lot, it still sucks. I’ve been gaining and losing the same damn two pounds for months now. I look at myself and I see that I’ve lost weight (I have an obvious chin now!). I walk places or climb stairs and I feel that I’ve lost weight. I try on smaller clothes and I can tell that I’ve lost weight. But dammit, I want the scale to show this as well.
I need to get focused. I need to make wise choices. I need to work out, in addition to walking with Richard at night. I need to track. I really, really, need to track and hold myself accountable. I need to walk away from the alcohol and nibbles here and there. Man, losing weight sucks.
I know what my challenges are. I know it’s my responsibility and mine alone. I’m the one that sits on the couch. I’m the one that shovels in the food. I’m the one that orders the margarita. I know that WW works. I’ve seen it work for others and I’ve personally had it work for me in the past. Dammit, why do I fight myself so?!?!
Someone, anyone, feel free to smack some sense into me! Please.
What is Lost is Found
I believe the Universe has a message for me. Thing is, I haven’t quite figured out yet what that message might be. While I had a blast running around Chicago this weekend meeting new friends, I also seemed to have had a pattern of misplacing things. I’d call them lost, but really, as I’ve learned, what is lost, can be found. Just ask, believe and ye shall receive.
So basically, it all started before I even really left LA. I found out on the shuttle to the airport that I’d left my cell phone in my car. Of course, there was no way I was able to go back and get it. The challenge here is that I don’t know my husband’s cell phone number and I didn’t have his business card with his cell number on me. So I called my girlfriend in NM (a number that I did have memorized) and asked if she had it. So I was able to call from the airport and leave him a message that I didn’t have my phone. Luckily, I’ll basically talk to anyone, so on the train from the airport into the hotel, I borrowed a gal’s phone to let him know that I was on my way. No harm, no foul. Continue reading
Thursday Thirteen – Chicago, My Kind of Town
1. hung out at the ultra-hip, über-trendy hotel lobby, feeling way out of my element
2. walked around Navy Pier
3. ate Chicago deep dish pizza at Pizzeria Due (Uno was too crowded)
4. took the L
5. rode the Metra
6. visited with friends
7. hung out in the suburbs with friends
8. visited the Marshall Fields flagship store
9. had some caramel and cheddar popcorn at Garretts
10. tasted a Chicago Dog
11. got blissed out and pampered at Bliss
12. took tons of photos
13. admired the architecture
Chicago, Here I Come!
I leave first thing in the morning to head on out for my shuttle to LAX. And no, really, I do mean first thing since I’ll be getting up at 5:00AM!! Keep in mind, many, many nights we don’t go to bed before 3:00AM. So yeah, this is a big deal for me. I’m really looking forward to seeing the hubby again (still missing him and still finding that a tad bizarre) and poking around Chi-Town. I probably won’t post until I get back.
In the hopes of getting some comments from folks (I get the views, just not to comments, it seems), I’d like to ask…where is your favorite US city to go to for business travel and why?
Thursday Thirteen – About Me
1. I’m a Jersey Girl, born and bred, though you’ll rarely catch the accent.
2. You will generally only hear the Jersey when I’m either very drunk, very excited or very emotional.
3. I left Jersey when my family moved to GA my sophomore year in college.
4. The Atlanta, GA area is still my favorite place to live though I wasn’t nearly as social as I’ve been while living elsewhere.
5. When I was an undergrad, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to be an elementary teacher or a DJ.
6. I decided to go with being a teacher, but man do I miss being on air, even now, nearly 20 years later.
7. I taught 4th grade for 3 years in inner-city, Atlanta.
8. I pretty much hated teaching there – mostly due the lack of administrative and parental support and the lack of respect from the overall student population.
9. But I love the teachable moment – just not the lesson plan, teach the test sort of thing.
10. I went from teaching to working in the mental health field.
11. I’ve worked closely with substance abusers, domestic violence offenders and the developmentally disabled population.
12. While I enjoyed working with the developmentally disabled population the best, I also don’t feel like I was able to directly help my clients enough, yet often felt drained at the end of the day.
13. I still miss working with people to help them to get educated and to make positive changes in their life.
Bye Bye Baby, B’Bye
So bright and early I got up to take the hubby off to the flyaway shuttle to LAX. Man, I do hate getting up so early and it’s even worse having done it on such little sleep. But oh well, it needed to be done and I’ll be doing it again for myself on Friday. Needless to say, I’ve been frazzled since and fighting off a migraine *yuck*
It’s weird though, the hubby has business trips two, maybe three times a year, and really, I’m fine with it. But today, for some reason, it saddened me to see him go. I don’t normally get sad when he leaves and in fact, we can go days without talking and just touching base through text messages if it comes down to it. But today though, yeah, not the same. Though I’ll see him again on Friday when I get to Chicago, so it’s not really a big deal.
Maybe I’ll just take advantage of the hubby-free time and eat all those things that they hubby won’t eat with me. Take out pizza and Ben & Jerry’s. Yum!!
How Many Books Do You Read?
I don’t mean in the 50 Book Challenge sort of way. I mean, more like the how many books do you read a week? Or how many books do you read at once? You know, how many books are by your bedside? I ask because I’m since it’s summer, I’m once again blowing through 2-4 books a week – there’s just something about summer TV that has me just ignoring it all together and laying on the couch (in front of a fan or three) and reading instead.
I noticed the other night that I have about four books that I’ll usually be reading at once – something new agey, new thoughtish; something business-like; something I’m totally and completely digging (more than likely chick lit); and something that I just can’t seem to get into at the moment. Then I notice that I’ll also head out to the library or bookstore (hello, air conditioning!) and pick up another stack of books to read at some point.
So really, how many books do you read at once? And um…how big is your stack?
Eight Bands in Three Nights
And you thought you had a busy weekend…
Thurs – Great Northern @ the Hammer. This is a great outdoor venue and would be just perfect for a wedding or party. Not the best for live music since the sound just bounces off all the concrete, but really, for a free concert, it was good fun!
Fri – Sara Bareilles, The Last Goodnight, Rocco Deluca. I absolutely love the Fonda, it’s so very art deco. We had the privilege of attending a private pre-concert party a while back up on the roof and it’s an amazing, fun space. We caught the tail end of Sara and for a young’un, she sounded great and really worked the crowd. We went to specifically to see/shoot The Last Good Night as my hubby was at their record launch a week or so ago. They’re quite good – very Maroon 5ish. I have to say though, Rocco Deluca, so not my thing. But dayum can that boy rock a guitar! Impressive.
Sat – KaiserCartel @ the Hotel Cafe. Now with exceptions (mostly being, excessive heat, mass crowds and rude, talkative audience members – see the Hanson show post) I really love seeing shows at the Hotel Cafe. It’s a well-run, small, intimate scene where you can really enjoy the music and the bands’ interaction. And while I don’t see KaiserCartel making it big on the radio anytime soon, their sound was incredible! They ended the night totally acoustic, no mics, wandering around the place singing to everyone. I don’t think I’ve ever heard that place so quiet. It was awesome!
This was followed by…Dave Lichens, Libbie Schrader, Andrea Wasse @ Room 5. This is yet another awesome venue to listen to singer/songwriters. It’s even more intimate than the Hotel Cafe, but believe it or not, they have seating!! It’s upstairs from Amalfi Ristorante over on La Brea. They make some awesome cocktails (and my Cosmo was actually made with Grey Goose!) and they’re not crazy expensive. I hear good things about the restaurant – everything that passed by looked great and again, great prices. We’ll either have to eat there next show, or make it a date night outing. Speaking of, what a great location for a date night…good food, good drinks, good atmosphere and good music. Sounds like a great date to me!
I have to say though, seeing eight performances in three days, well, that’s just a bit much for me. Then again, since the hubby started up with his concert photography biz (before that, he was reviewing live shows), summers are typically like this. It gets to be fun when we get to travel for shows!! I think our next big out of state gig will be Herbie Hancock in Santa Fe, not counting Pitchfork in Chicago (since I’m not going to that).
In closing…holy segue Batman! Can I just say that it drives me crazy when I don’t seem to have a natural ending or a good segue. Mind you, not crazy enough to dwell on it. Just crazy enough to know that it’s out there, for all the world to read.
How do I Always End Up the Designated Driver?
oh yeah, because it’s less calories to drink diet coke than to drink a rum and diet coke *sigh* Of course, my hubby waited until after I finished my Cosmo and my Grey Goose and Cranberry to let me in on the fact that I’d be the one driving home. Luckily, with two more sets to go, lots of water and some tiramisu (yeah, less calories my ass!) I was good to go in a couple of hours.
Next time dammit, I’m going to be the tossing back the drinks!