Five Good Things

1.) In conjunction with my four-day-weekend project, I am going on vacation at the end of the week.

2.) Because I am a grown up, there was no reason for me not to have a dinner entirely of cheese…so I did.  Osteoporosis prevention, etc.

3.) On Sunday, I went to one of my favorite brunch places in tundra.  I gobbled up their pork belly, poached eggs, polenta, and an english muffin with a lovely bellini.  I love me the brunch.

4.) Gas where I work is twenty cents cheaper PER GALLON than the gas where I live.

5.) It’s less than six months until I move away from the tundra!

Winter Survival Tip #3

One of my best winter survival tricks for tundra living is quite simple: leave.  Get out.  Go somewhere, preferably warm and sunny, but at the very least somewhere else.  Winter is a great time for visits of obligation; it’s a better time for fun vacations, but sometimes a body needs to work within certain restrictions.  A required family trip to your mismatched Nader’s Raider aunt and “Romney is too liberal” bellowing uncle might not be the most pleasant experience, but if they live in Florida, it is a lot more pleasant if you can couple the visit to them with one to some sunshine and temperatures above freezing.  Ideally you can take a week or weekend for fun – cheer on your team at a spring training baseball game, watch the whales migrate in Cabo, surf in Hawaii – but sometimes it is necessary to be a bit practical.  Vitamin D is a practical need; if only I could get my insurance to let me apply airfare to my deductible.

Besides the benefit of a break from snow and ice, taking a break from the tundra also gives you something to look forward to…regardless of the weather here, I will not have to scrape ice off my car to go to work next Monday – I won’t be near my car and I’m not going to work!  Win.  It’s a mental, physical, and emotional break and it is necessary.

So!  Tundra.  You are on notice.  If you are not significantly warmer and sunnier, preferably with longer days, by Thursday  I AM LEAVING.  One of us has to make a change; I accept that it will likely be me.

 

Eleven in ’11 – Sports and “Sports”

It’s important to have goals in life.  I think having goals – and working towards them – can be more important than the details of what the actual goals are.  Last April, I decided I needed a goal.  I also needed more fun in my life.  I married the two and created a FUN GOAL for myself, which I christened “Brewery Tourery, Ten in ’10″ as it involved going on ten tours of beer breweries before 2010 ended.  It was tight, but I made it.  Several of my friends went on brewery tours as well; some even joined me more than once.  I’ve been asked by a few people what my goal is going to be for this year.  I’m still a fan of increasing the fun in my life, so 2011′s quest needs to be supportive of that. 

In 2011, I am going to watch eleven sports/competitions of some physical/athletic nature and then either play or try some aspect of the skill or sport – possibly adapted for practicality or increased fun.  For example, I could go to the roller derby and then roller skating (ala my seventh birthday party) or to a basketball game and then hit a court at the local park with some friends.  Each sport only counts once, but I am counting any level – i.e. for baseball I could go to a Little League game or an MLB game.

First event is next week!  (Starting in April was a poor choice, particularly when I experienced lapses in time and/or motivation.)

Five Good Things

1.) The reason for my silence is that I was on vacation.  VACATION WAS GREAT!

2.) I finally, finally, finally saw a real football game played live.  It was super fun and ultra great. 

3.) I’m getting a new winter coat.   I am totally going to upgrade the warmth factor.  I also might attempt to buy a jacket that is not blue.  (I accidentally keep buying blue outerwear.)

4.) Improv tomorrow night!  I am already ready to laugh.

5.) I did not gain ten million pounds over Thanksgiving and vacation, despite eating a lot of junk.  I probably gained more like two.

Five Good Things

1.) I have a Diet Coke habit.  I like the DC in the afternoon, usually while the kidlets nap.  To support my habit, I bring a DC with me to work pretty much every day.  My current employers noticed and started stocking DC for me.   I recently switched to bike commuting and while a can of soda is neither large nor heavy, it’s really nice to have one less thing to pack and carry in the mornings.

2.) I leave for Thanksgiving vacation tomorrow!  It is going to be fantastic.

3.) A little over a week ago, I started selling things I don’t want ebay.  Today I broke $100 in sales!

4.) I found – and bought – a fantastic Christmas gift for my stepmom.  This  is my third BIG WIN Christmas gift purchase of the season.  I often end up with safety gifts for my stepmom, so it’s especially nice that I found something unique for her this year.

5.) I don’t have to work at all this week!  (Hence why I get to leave for vacation Tuesday morning, ha.)

Five Good Things

1.) I am a Food Network fiend.  Food Network did a major programming dump on On Demand.  While I’m still not very good at watching tv, I like that I now have a greater number of programs to reject and not watch.

2.) I am less than a week away from vacation!  This means that I am about to start thinking about doing laundry that I might want to pack…well, maybe it’s more like thinking about thinking about doing laundry, or maybe I just need to do laundry.  Whatever though, I have both Tide and time.

3.) My pumpkin whoopie pie recipe is better than Rachel Ray’s is.  My tastebuds say so and that is one sense with which I do not argue.  (Ray Ray’s is still all right; mine is just better.)

4.) I am attending a fancy event this week.  I’d go so far as to call it a gala affair and I will be wearing a dress that is dry clean only.

5.) I tried a new pizza topping combination and I liked it – eggplant and spinach.

Five Good Things

1.) I love to sleep in; I’m naturally a night person.  (Ask me how that works with rowing.)  Falling back over the weekend was fantastic and I am still enjoying that extra hour of sleep.  As a special bonus, the kiddos received the memo about the time change and made the shift flawlessly.

2.) My dinner tonight consisted of mulled wine, cheese, and ice cream.   This is okay because I am a grown-up adult and can do whatever I want.  Whatever, my bloodwork is fantastic.  I’m more likely to die because I did a bad job crossing the street (the drivers of the tundra are le horrid) than due to severe scurvy.  (How bad does scurvy have to get to be fatal?)

3.) Not only did my tuberculosis clear up, but it’s nice enough to go outside and enjoy my recovered lung capacity!   It’s pretty much our third Indian Summer and I am not complaining.

4.) Later this week, some of my friends and I are going to improv.  The concept?  Personal ads and missed connections from craigslist.  Can’t wait. 

5.) Scrabble is on sale at Toys R Us and there is a rebate on it from Hasbro.  I’m totally hosting a Scrabble Tournament this winter (with bracket) so took advantage of this one.

Five Good Things

This is late as it’s been a busy week – at work, with volunteering, and with my fun life.

1.) I leave for vacation in 36 hours – hooray!

2.) While I am still not a dating champ, I went on an accidate over the weekend.  Unlike my last accidate, this one involved a really good dinner, delicious wine, and a special beer.   While I didn’t mean to go out with the fellow and don’t intend to go out with him again, this is progress.  (He doesn’t know I have a blog and I am not going to detail why, so that makes me feel like it is okay to say this and that.)

3.) I have rediscovered my love for long spandex – applicable only for working out, thanks. 

4.) I am in charge of organizing a number of things (and people) for different and distinct purposes.  They are pretty much all very cooperative.

5.) T-minus four days to delicious food: Mexican, cheese, ice cream, mulled wine, cake, cookies, donuts, bacon, juice, candy, beer, mmm…

My Head Shows My Age

I “did” my hair a little differently than usual today, which meant some normally hidden hairs made their way to the top layer.  My normally response to non-conformist hairs is to pull them out.  Today, however, they received a reprieve as I was tired and their numbers were strong.  Instead, I am going to try to remarket them to myself.  Here are some ideas:

1.) Sparkly hairs – sort of like hair glitter for the over-30 crowd.   (Except I had my first sparkly hair in eighth grade.)

2.) SHINY hairs – who doesn’t like shiny things?  Shiny like money or jewelry.

3.) Open-minded hairs – let the top of my head be a symbol of racial equality.

4.) Way to get a bus seat hairs - the sign says to stand for the elderly.

I think I might be onto something.  Interestingly, the chemicals from hair coloring did not inspire any of these ideas.  I am just not ready to go there.

Five Good Things!

1.) This week’s five good things comes from New York.  I was able to combine my funemployment with a national holiday and have been having a lovely time with some old friends.

2.) As part of #1, I got to know their new(er) puppy, who is FANTASTIC and quite possibly my favorite dog.

3.) I was offered a job that I am interested in.   I’m going to discuss logistics on Thursday, hopefully resulting in a match.

4.) One of my friends made me a HUGE bag snacks for my long drive back to the tundra tomorrow.  I’m not looking forward to the drive, but I am looking forward to the snacks.

5.) Despite my initial plan to drive home via Canada, I received a better offer to meet up with a friend in Toledo, so get to see a BONUS BUDDY.  I really loathe driving through Ohio, but this will likely make it all right.