Cause I Been Through the Flatland in a Car with No Name

Ahem - "internet" silence is over finally.  I had the most amazing time!  I spent way too much time in a car, but the views, hiking, horseback riding, and the chance to visit some family that I haven't seen in YEARS were all worth the pancake butt.  The saddle-sore began to compete with the pancake butt towards the end.  It was a fantastic time and I will for sure recommend a trip to The Inn at Riverbend.  The bed and breakfast is stunning: the view is unbeatable and the breakfast was mouthwateringly delicious.



At Glencoe Museum

We had a great time hiking to Cascade Falls and then riding through the wilderness at Winterfrost Farm in Radford.  Speaking of Radford, we met the awesomest guide at the Glencoe Museum in Radford. Glencoe was the first place we visited (after not sleeping for close to 30 hours) and Robert was such an amazing guide!  At the end, he offered for him and his wife to take us out to dinner some time while we were in town.  We never got around to it, which is sad, because he had some amazing stories to tell!


Cascade Falls

  We did get a chance to eat at The Bank and it is a really nice place.  The food is phenomenal and worth the pricey tag.  Heck, I probably would have eaten the honey butter by itself - it was THAT good.  The set up is a little awkward at first, but once you get to where you are eating, it has a very charming ambiance. They have framed photos of the town in the past and articles from the building's past as a bank: money bags, checks, deposit slips. The local brews and ingredients made the dinner a cultural experience as well.  I've also never been in a restaurant that was so nice that the chef came out to check on us and see how we were enjoying our meal.  Probably why I got caught patting my food baby by the waitress as she ducked into our alcove!  I'm really classy - heck, if you ate that 2 inch thick pork chop, you'd have had a food baby too!

Sunrise view from our room

 The drive from Virginia through Tennessee to Kentucky was forever long.  I know that might sound a little stupid, but that was the way we were told to go to get to my family in Kentucky.  I couldn't pass up an opportunity to see the boy that gave me my first hickey and peed on me at the same time (he was a baby, like days old, at the time).  I guess I can say I came back refreshed, happy, and a bit sore.  There was no time to watch anything new.  We watched part of Pride and Prejudice before passing out and I had watched a few episodes of Awkward while my travel companion napped.  The title is inspired by listening to America's Horse With No Name while driving through Illinois.  My co-pilot had mentioned the fact that we hadn't named our rental car; we then listed the names of our cars.  Our little Mazda2 never did get christened, so I changed the America lyrics to my own while driving through the Land of Lincoln.

Too Busy for Avalon

Busy, busy, busy!  I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  So, I'm still a slacker even though I spent 2 to 2 1/2 hours reading on Saturday.  I started a new book, The Mists of Avalon.  This is our newest book club book and it is approximately 900 pages.  We are going to go by the 4 books in the single book and make that last about 4 months of book club.  I wish I could write more, but this is it for now.  Radio silence until I return from Virginia.  Hopefully, rested and relaxed!

Boys and Girls No Strings Attached

I am currently watching Boys and Girls.  It is so late 90s/early 2000s.  It is ridiculous.  Oh Freddie Prince Jr - what would our lives have like without you!?!?

I did watch a really stupid movie this weekend.  No Strings Attached was so horrible, I can't believe my time was wasted for an ending that was beyond ridiculously stupid!  Seriously, it just went passed the point of being cutesy to the point of "ugh, I think I just vomited in my mouth a bit."  Anyways, the two main characters (don't ask me to remember their names, it was Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman) decide to make a deal to just have sex but they can't fall in love.  Barf, choke, gag through the copious sex to find out - oh, they are starting to have feelings for one another and have to break it off.  Blah, blah, blah....what is life without love?  Don't bother watching it.  You can watch A Walk to Remember and have a way better time and feel a lot better at the end. They make a similar pact, but it is regarding hanging out, not sex.

Brave New Path

Wow - between being busy and my internet being down, I have been horrible at blogging recently.

Relationships:  I honestly love my friends and family.  Sometimes it just pains me when I can see the disappointment on their faces.  I guess it isn't really disappointment as much as pity.  They want me to be happy and to them that means having me wrapped around a man.  I wouldn't honestly mind if I found a guy I liked.  I just haven't yet and I refuse to use people just to have a filler until I do find "the one."  My grandpa had a cheeky grin on his face as he told me his male attendant was "tall and handsome."  Oi.  I swear, between my grandpa and his roommate, I'll be a June bride.  haha.  My dad seemed slightly excited when he thought that my facebook post about having a "good night with Sam Weir" was about a date and not my staying home on a Saturday night watching a cheesy 1999/2000 tv show.  My brother told me the other day I needed to work on getting married.  I said: "Ok, what would you like me to do to fix the situation?"  To which he replied: "Well, the boy is supposed to make the move, so I suppose you just have to wait around some more."  I just giggled to myself.  I guess I should be happy so many people want to see me happily in love.

Health:  I'm working and working.  I seem to have hit a plateau, but I'm continuing at working out 6 times a week.  Hopefully I'll have a 6 pack to rival my brothers soon - oh, I can hope.  They are both on "diets" right now.  They make me laugh.  They won't split a cupcake with me even though I'll have to do a hard workout session to burn half of it off and they could burn the calories off just by chewing it.  Ugh!

Career:  There is a lot going on at work recently.  We are adding some new stuff to our business and I'm a bit stressed about how it is all going to work and how much extra work is going to be put on me because of said changes.  I'm so happy I'm going on vacation next week - yay!  Hitting up a state I have never been to before: Hello Virginia!  I am also really excited/nervous about doing yoga teacher training this May! I'm constantly plagued by self-doubt and I'm freaking out that I might just suck terribly!  I have to remind myself that this is something that I love and want to share with other people.  I want to be a tour guide/travel host/yogi/writer/baker/a peon at TOMS shoes/and a helper to those in need (I feel like I may end up like Josephine Baker with a 'tribe' of adopted kids).  Here is to dreams and heading down a new path - "tread new ground" and may I be brave enough to do it always!

Inside Voice

There were so many things I wanted to write about tonight.  I just got so derailed.  I even had something to write about last night; however, the internet decided not to work last night.  I am writing this from my parents' place since I had to come over and have my mother sign my sister up for the color run.  I started helping with homework and now I'm tired and drawing a blank.  I just need sleep.  Hopefully, it will be blissful, undisturbed sleep.  I've decided I'm just going to start responding to all the things the guys downstairs say that is loud enough for me to hear.  This morning, one said: "Oh my God, oh wow, OH MY GOD."  To which I responded: "Was it really all that good?"  Later I heard one of them saying: "No, It's ok.  I'm fine."  It only made my sassy remarks all the more funny!  This was after a night of listening to them titter like pre-teens at a slumber party until 1am.  Seriously?!?  Go to bed...or learn what an "inside voice" is and how to utilize it properly!

Slacker

I have been such a slacker this year when it comes to reading.  I just don't have time anymore.  I used to read on my lunch and prior to going to bed.  Now, I spend my lunch with my grandfather and shoveling food in as fast as I can before having to rush back to work.  At night, I typically fall into bed and pass out, and that is usually because I have already stayed up way passed when I should have already gone to bed.  On the weekends I'm lucky if I can even begin to look at a book - I have been that busy lately.  I think I may get some time to read tonight before I am just pass out.  I had a goal of reading 45 books this year...I'm thinking it isn't going to happen.  Although, it is a possibility that once the weather gets a little nicer I can do a whole lot more walking and listening to audiobooks. Here is to meeting my goal of getting to 45 books this year and not being such a slacker!

The Rebound

Last weekend, I had my lazy weekend and I just bummed it.  I ended up finding a new show to love and a really funny movie.  The tv show, surprise, was a Discovery Channel Investigates show called: Who the &!*$/ Did I Marry?  It is a very interesting show.  One of the episodes that really pissed me off was this one where a lady had married a Cuban exile.  After a couple of years, he defected back to Cuba and helped lead an attack on a group of people that help Cuban exiles in their escape.  He turned out to be a spy and a jerk!  He went on national tv and said the thing he missed most about the US was his car.  His wife just gave it away after that; I, however, would have had cameras rolling as I demolished the thing and then sent that over to Cuba.  She was obviously way more mature than I am about the situation.  It is crazy how you can be deceived so much by the one person in the world you thought you knew the most.

I also watched a Catherine Zeta-Jones movie.  I absolutely LOVE Catherine Zeta-Jones!  So, I had to watch an episode.  It also has Justin Bartha in it; he is adorable.  The movie is about Sandy (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a suburban house wife that is obsessed with sports.  One day while doing the normal routine, she finds video of her husband cheating on her at their son's birthday party (the son wanted the video for show and tell and while burning a copy she noticed something in the background..oops).  She decides to move into the city, get a job, and become the woman she somehow got derailed from being.  She ends up hiring the guy, Aram (Justin Bartha), who works at the coffee shop below her apartment as a nanny.  He helps her move on from her broken marriage in more ways than one, while her and her kids help him move passed his fraudulent, dissolved marriage (duped by a girl looking for a green card).  As the relationship develops more, more reasons begin to crop up about why they shouldn't be together.  Whether they work it out or not it up to you to figure out by watching!   It is a cutesy little movie that will have you rolling on the floor laughing.  Some parts get ridiculously cheesy, but it does have some redeeming qualities.  Here is a small taste.

Disco and Dragons to the Death

The only thing to discuss tonight:

WHY DID THEY ONLY MAKE 18 EPISODES OF FREAKS AND GEEKS!?!?!?!?!?!

:(

It was so good; even if the titles were getting a bit ridiculous (Moshing and Noshing is just one example of many that turned out like that).  WHAT HAPPENED WITH LINDSEY AND NICK?!?  Are her parents going to flip when she isn't at the summit?

Youtube has been stupid the last couple of days and I haven't been able to put any videos into my blog recently, so I'll just have to leave you with a small clue as to how it all ended....... for - ever.

Graphing CWX

I have like a perma-smile on my face from watching Freaks and Geeks.  It is just the best show EVER! 

Tonight, I went home to do some laundry and ended up doing linear equations with my little brother.  I haven't had to do math since I was a junior in high school.  It really does just come back right away though.  Oh, how I miss graph paper!  Oi - I am such a nerd for just admitting to that.  I miss it.  I think I need to bust out an old math text book and do a few problems just for the hell of it.  It really freaked me out that my brother's whole textbook is on his iPad - and it doesn't have the answers to the odd questions in the back of the book!  I don't think I could have passed some sections of math had it not been for the answers in the back of the book telling me my original attempt was far off.  That and my dreams always were the place my brain figured out math problems that stumped me.

I have another product review to do as well.  I had to upgrade some of my workout gear lately.  One of those things was a workout bra.  Along with yoga, I started picking up running.  I haven't really been running all winter because of the deadly conditions of the roads and sidewalks.  I'd prefer not to die while working out; or, at the very least, not break something.  Anyways, I had heard about the CWX sports bra...we all saw the hilarious ad.  I decided to get myself a nice sports bra for when I am working out.  The sizing took a little bit of work and I had to send it back.  I finally got a size that fits; however, there doesn't seem to be enough fabric surrounding the clasps they have in the back.  I get poked constantly in the back by the hooks.  The size could probably be adjust a little bit, but everwhere seems to fit like a glove except the hooks seemingly wanting to dig into my back flesh.  It holds me together like you would not believe; it honestly is fantastic for hoping around like a crazoid.  I just can't stand the hooks digging into my back all the time.  I'll use this bra for now, but I don't think I'll try this style again.  I can't honestly say it was worth the $58 plus shipping.  I have another sports bra (not exactly for high intensity workouts) that is divine.  I swear if it weren't practically a breast plate, it would be the only bra I'd ever wear.  It supports and it honestly feels like you are wearing nothing.  It is heaven! (minus the fact that you can't wear anything other than turtlenecks and sweaters while wearing it).

Those hooks in the back just dig into me for some reason.

Bill Me

I was having too much fun watching episode upon episode of Freaks and Geeks.  OMG, I am totally in love with Bill at this moment in time.  I know that he doesn't get any better with age, but he is a freaking adorable kid.  I miss this show, I'm so sad it got canceled.  Especially since Jason Segel is so ADORABLE in this role as Nick.  He is so ridiculous. Exhibit A ... just watch it.



Bill - I love you!

If you've never ever watched an episode of this show...do it NOW!  You will not regret it.

I am through the Os of my "Why We Say It" book.  Off to bed...if I can force myself to turn off Freaks and Geeks.

Let's Talk About Sex/Love?

So, the last couple of days have pretty much been rants, and I'm gonna follow it up with another rant.  As my trial "special" brownies bake (I tried making mint chip, caramel pretzel, and tropical).  Umm, YUM! 

Anyways...the bachelor topic at work this week was about how whiny and desperate the one girl looked as she dissed the guy for telling her all of these lovey-dovey things and then not picking her. Someone said: "duh, you were in the one-on-one suite, he wanted ass."  Another person said: "She is just making herself look bad, she should have just shut up.  I think she has some issues."  While I understand where they are coming from, I find it disgusting.  I feel sorry for the girl and I applaud her at the same time for calling him on his lies.  A) the one-on-one suite disgusts me and B) just because you are horny, doesn't mean you get the right to mess with some one's emotions.  I made it known that I found it absolutely disgusting that there is such a thing as a "one-on-one" room which is basically for "getting to know each other better" *achem, sex.  I was immediately told that that is the way of the world.  It may be the way the world works and probably the reason we have people with porn and sex additions and the inability to remain faithful.  If the way the world works is like the bachelor/bachelorette, this is the way it would be: it is perfectly alright to declare your love in exchange for sex and the next night, say the same thing to some other person for the same reason.  No wonder people cheat, have affairs, get divorced, and spend astronomical amounts on pornography: WE THINK IT IS NORMAL!  I don't think anyone should have to worry about if their partner is sneaking around, doubt the sincerity of some one's declaration of love because someone else have already cheapened the word, if the person they love would rather spend their time watching someone else on a screen or around a pole than being at home with them (even doing the wild thing), or worse yet, taking everything you hold dear and smashing it to pieces when you realized the one thing you thought was real in the world was all just an illusion.  People need to realize the world isn't all about them.  Life gets messy when you let other people in, especially when you let your heart open up to them.  It isn't a fairy tale love story; it is hard work and dedication to the one person you committed yourself to in a relationship.  Most of all, don't believe the lies that "this is the way the world works."  You do NOT have to accept that as a universal truth.  People may call you naive (or say that you have issues), but someone worth waiting to hear those words from (someone who says it without hope of anything in return) is better than hearing a million different hollow voices saying: I love you (all so their pleasures are satisfied).

Testing Out Stranger Danger

I was feeling testy today.  And the bad sort of testy. (lol - I have such a dirty mind.  That last sentence just made my mind go to a dark place).  I mean all the bad weather had me feeling somewhere between grumpy and giddy.  To start, we were supposed to have about 5" of snow by morning.  I woke up at 7 and it wasn't even snowing, neither had it snowed during the night.  I thought: "5 inches, they said, 5 inches my ass" (again, mind just went into the gutter - tonight is apparently not a higher level thinking night).  I turned around 5 seconds later and the snow is coming down like crazy...it has just stopped within the last hour.  I then proceeded to leave the house with my snow boots, I realized once I got to my car that I had left the dress shoes I was going to wear at work next to the door.   Almost no one came in today.  When I had gone home for lunch, I ended up putting on the dress shoes that were sitting by the door out of habit.  Needless to say, my feet realized, about the time they hit the 5-6" of snow, that I had forgotten my boots this time around.  Ugh. I then got to come home to finishing my state taxes.  I am getting less than $20 back from the state.  Woohoo.  It pretty much wasn't worth me wasting the time to figure it out, print it out, and mail it in to the government.  Stupid. To make matters worse, while looking for articles on Mercola.com, I came across and article about a 15 year old boy that developed a cheap and simple test for detecting pancreatic, lung, and ovarian cancer.  It made me feel highly NOT productive.  I know that grammar is wrong; however, I feel like a dunce when I think about  the amazing thing this kid has accomplished and his voice hasn't even dropped yet. 

I do have to say there were a few light moments during the day.  While shovelling in the snow, the pristine white snow falling made me think of "snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelash."  Thus began a little hum fest while shovelling the front walk clear.  I also did a creeper thing today.  I noticed a mother, leaving my building, about to walk her two kids to school in the nasty snow this morning.  I stopped them and offered a ride (I drive right passed the school every day) and I was privileged to meet Maria, Maria, and Jose.  I felt a little like "Stranger Danger" since there mother was with them.  I feel a little badly that the mom had to still walk home in the snow after I dropped them all off at the school.   I also got in an hour worth of yoga.  That always makes me happier and calmer. 

What's New Powerful Lady

I cannot even begin to say how much time I just wasted checking a twitter feed.  It only makes me realize I will NEVER get an instagram or a twitter account.  People get into the DUMBEST fights or say the stupidest things on there.  Not that I don't get plenty of freeform to make an ass of my self here on my blog or on my facebook; I just don't need to add two additional forums for idiot things to come out of my mouth.  I laughed, but at the same time, I hung my head in shame to see someone comment on an instagramed photo of someone standing with the First Lady and her kids: "Is that your family?"  Seriously, I hope that person did not vote this last election!  No wonder our country is in shambles, we have people who don't even recognize members of the Presidential family. ugh. :(   Please, go read a book or watch a PBS documentary (both are free), although even they have sunk so low as to have Ryan Seacrest narrate a documentary.  *Hangs head in shame*

 

Speaking of books, I finished Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull.  It was a very interesting look at famous women throughout history and how their lives changed the world; whether for the better, or worse.  I found it extremely interesting that both Marie Antoinette and Catherine the Great were both female leaders that cared about the oppression and poor treatment of peasants; however, both of their reigns of power led directly to the bloody revolutions of their countries.  It was also impressive to see (and I do love the musical) how the government of Argentina collapsed after Eva's death (another female leader concerned with the needs of the impoverished).

I kind of want to travel to Buenos Aires just so I can sing this song when I get there :D

Fitting In

Yikes, I just finished my federal taxes.  I'm about halfway done with my state taxes as well.  I just need to go to bed now though.  I have been so busy since last week Tuesday.  I had gone straight from work to cleaning the apartment.  All of the drifting snow made the usual 40 minute drive an hour long.  I also had baby showers and shopping.  I had to grocery shop for mom and me.  I also had to do some clothes shopping.  I need some new bras but just ended up walking out of the store I went in; the girl who measured me had NO idea what she was doing.  She measured me at 33" below and then didn't move the tape measure up, she just moved the ends and measured 41".  She tells me she measured me at a 38C.  I almost laughed in her face.  If those were honestly my measurements, I'd be close to a 34G. I was nice though and I let her bring me some bras in a 38C size; however, I was linking the furthest clasp and finally not have the "sling shot" ability.  Not to mention, my boobs were spilling out over the cups - getting that nasty quad boob look.  I'm going to have to go in by myself.  I can tell by my measurements (that I did correctly myself) that I belong in a size closer to 34 or a 36DDD.  Oi - no wonder so many women are in the wrong bra size!  I sincerely recommend reading: Busted: The Fab Foundations Guide to Bras that Fit, Flatter, and Feel Fantastic by Ali Cudby.  It will honestly change your life!  I know it changed my life.