Busyness, Laziness and all that jazz...

Monday is kind of like the weekend, right? Or maybe not. Nonetheless, here is the post I promised over the weekend. I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted. How the time flies. Life has been busy and I have been lazy all at the same time. Shocking, I know. Plus, I don't foresee an end to the busyness for a while. Well, here's what has been going on for the last month and will be going on in the upcoming month(s):


1. Work has been pretty crazy. It's seems like there has been one deadline after another since April. It's calmed down a bit, but it's about to gear up again. We have a big trial coming up in November. Plus, there has been discussion of a merger with some other attorneys so we will definitely be moving office space. Which sucks. I hate moving.


2. The Show Me the Money Challenge. So I'm doing a new challenge with J and B and there's money involved. And I'm losing horribly. We totally jacked the idea from Kmbuckeye and MG. This time the winner isn't the person who loses the most weight. The person who has to put the least amount of money in the pot is the winner. We have to put $5 in the pot if we gain weight over the week; $2 if we don't exercise at 3 times per week; and we each have $1 items. Mine are 1) $1 if I drink more than 1 soda pop per day; 2) $1 if I eat candy more than 1 time per week; 3) $1 if I order french fries in a restaurant more than 2 times per month. It's 12 week challenge (I think) ending on Oct. 30. Aside from owing a lot money, the weight loss portion is going pretty well. In 3 weeks, I have lost 6.7 lbs. so I can't complain. Hopefully, the losses will continue.

3. The next few weeks are going to be pretty crazy. On my plate, I have the OSU-Troy football game, an engagement party to plan/attend, the New Albany 10K, a CAACO alumni event to plan/attend, AH's bachelorette party in Boston, and AH's wedding in Syracuse. Not too mention work. Work will be getting busy.

I think that's about it for now. I will make an effort to get back on track with blogging weekly. Also, I have book club on Thurs. Hopefully, I'll get the book read by then so I can post a book review.

Coming Soon...

A posting, I swear. This weekend. It's on my "To Do" list.

Dub Crawl 4-Miler

So I did the Dub Crawl 4-Miler last Thursday night with JT instead of going to WW. It didn't really go as planned. I hardly jogged any of it. I walked probably 3/4 of the race. I started out fine, too fast, but fine, and then I hit the hill. Between mile marker 1 and 2, it was uphill. And after that, there were rolling hills the rest of the way (or it seemed like that anyway). I was not prepared for hills.

Actually, I wasn't prepared at all for the race. I had been jogging semi-regularly (at least 2x per week) for the month of July and doing between 3 and 4 miles each time I jogged, so I thought I would be fine for the race. I wasn't expecting to break any speed records or anything, but I thought I would at least be able to jog/walk the entire 4 miles. But no. I ended up jog/walking the first 2 miles and walking the last 2 miles. I still managed to finish in just over an hour - 1:02 - which wasn't too bad. I had hoped to finish in just under an hour. But, whatever, it works for me. At least I was out doing something instead of sitting around on my ass.

I have realized, after doing this race and walking it, that I will definitely need to train for the New Albany Walking Classic 10K if I hope to finish in a reasonable time. Sustaining a 15 min./mile pace walking was an effort for the Dub Crawl. I don't know that I could've kept on going for another 2.2 miles required for a 10K. I need to keep that in mind.

Book Review: Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann

I think I hated it. Well, I didn't really hate it. I was extremely dissatisfied with the ending. I like happy endings and the book definitely did not have a happy ending. I was mad at one of the main characters for giving up on her life in the end. She got screwed over by people who were supposed to care for her and just took it. I wanted her to kick them to curb and return to feisty girl who left her hometown to move to NYC because she wanted more than a husband, kids and house with a white picket fence and didn't want to settle. But in the end, that's what she did. She gave up and settled. It really irritated me (clearly).

In any case, it was a good read despite my dissatisfaction with the ending, if that makes sense. I would recommend the book to anyone who hasn't read it. I got absorbed in it and had a hard time putting it down. I needed to know how the book ended.

For those who have never heard of this book, it's about three women who move to NYC and get involved in show business in the late '40s. The book follows their rises and falls throughout their lives as they become friends and rivals and move from Broadway to Hollywood. Dolls = pills, green, yellow and red. Apparently, it was a very popular book back in the day when our moms were in high school and was made into a movie (which doesn't really follow the book from what I hear). I had never heard of it.

If anyone is wondering why I decided to post a book review, it's because I've joined a book club. So far, it's been a lot of fun. Most of the people in the book club are girls I went to law school with, but then there are also several girls who are friends of the girls I went to law school with. It's a good group. We meet about every 4-6 weeks at a different person's house. The hostess gets to choose the book and I think it has to be fiction.

Valley of the Dolls was my second book club. Our next book is Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. I don't know much about the book yet, except that the book/movie "The Hours" was inspired by it. If you look to the right, I'm keeping a list of the books that I'm reading for book club. If you click on the pictures, it will take you to a synopsis of the book. Middlesex was my first book, but I haven't finished yet which is why it's still on the list.

Boston & HGTV

So I was waiting for my flight back to C-bus from Boston on Sun. when I saw someone I thought I recognized out of the corner of my eye. At first, I couldn't place the girl and then I was like, OMG, I think that's one of the hosts from HGTV's Designed to Sell. So kept trying to stare at her surrepticiously to see if it really was her because I didn't want to be rude. And I didn't want to just ask her because, again, I didn't want to be rude. But it turns out I was definitely right...one of the flight attendants on my flight recognized her and asked. She was sitting a couple of rows behind me. In any case, as I am an HGTV fanatic and I love the show "Designed to Sell", that was the highlight of my otherwise crummy trip back to C-bus.* By the way, her name is Taniya Nayak.

*For clarification, my weekend in Boston was fantastic. I was very excited to see and spend time with new mama BD and baby A. It was the trip home that kind of sucked. My flight was delayed out of Boston and I wasn't able to get on the earlier flight to DC. So I missed the last flight of the night to C-bus out of DC and had to stay overnight in a hotel.

In other famous people news, while I was trying to figure whether or not Taniya Nayak was actually on my flight, I was talking to a girl who was on her way home from Martha's Vineyard. While we were discussing whether it was Taniya or not, she said it would be really weird if this was the second famous (or semi-famous, depending on your view) person she saw on her trip home. Apparently, when she settling into her seat in coach on her flight in from Martha's Vineyard, she glanced at the person sitting next to her and it was Mitt Romney. They had a nice discussion about the books they were reading.

-1/2 lb.

I'll take it. While I was happy to see a loss, I had hoped/expected for something more than 1/2 lb. because I was journaling and working out on schedule for the past week. But, I'll take it. It's better than seeing my weight increase as it has been for the past year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for next week.

Another Week with 0 lbs. Lost

I think my title says it all. However, it's misleading because I probably did actually lose weight this week. Here's the explanation - I haven't weighed in for 2 weeks. I was in Atlanta two weeks ago and then last week my meeting was closed due to the July 4th holiday. I did get on my own scale which showed a very scary number that was higher than the scary number I saw last night at WI. So I did lose weight. I just don't know how much.

My personal scale is very difficult to read and somewhat unreliable. I always have to add 4 lbs. to the number I think the scale is showing to get somewhere in the neighborhood of my actual weight when I get on the scale at WW. The +4 weight from my scale from last weekend was about 3.5-4 lbs. higher than the scary number I saw last night. So it's highly likely that I lost weight this week.

However, the WW scale is the official weight measurer (in my mind) and so my scary number from last night is my official weight. And since the scary number on the scale at WW last night wasn't smaller than the last time I got on the scale at WW about 3 weeks ago, I lost 0 lbs. this week.

Hopefully, next week I will see a loss on the scale. I have been working out regularly this week - jogged on Tues. and Thurs. and Pilates on Mon. and Fri. And I plan on being just as diligent this coming week with my working out efforts. Plus, I have been journaling 5 days out of 7. This coming week I am aiming for a perfect 7 for journaling. I'm working very hard to keep motivated and stay on track. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Thievery

I'm totally stealing the scale from my hotel room. I love it. It's completely broken and I love it. Everytime I get on the scale, it says I weigh 130 lbs. I don't know that I've ever seen that number on the scale (except in passing as the numbers whirled by to my actual weight).

The first time it happened I thought maybe it was showing kilograms or some other alternate calculation of weight, so I got off and checked and it definitely said lbs. So then I thought I just misread it, but no, it really is just broken and it's just broken. And I want to take it home.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Actually, this post is going to involve planes and motorcycle. I am currently on my way to Atlanta for a conference. And there was a small "to-do" on my flight. A girl fainted in the middle of the aisle on her way back from the bathroom. Luckily, we were going into our final descent, so she didn't have long to wait to get off the plane. But the EMTs were called and met the plane on the tarmack and we had to wait for them to get her off the plane before we could get off. It was kind of cool to see the firetruck racing across the tarmack to meet our plane. The girl seemed fine and was able to walk off the plane. This is the first time I have ever been on a plane where the EMTs had to meet the flight and I've been on lots of planes over the past 27 years.

Now for odd observation no. 2. I saw the most ridiculous thing last night as I was driving on the freeway. This motorcycle came racing up behind me and passed me. I was somewhat annoyed because he was tailgating me and I don't like motorcycles near me. I'm afraid I'm going to run them over. In any case, this guy on the motorcycle looked like the stereotypical big, bad, tattooed, biker dude complete with a massive Harley. And then I glanced at his feet after he passed me...he was wearing bright orange Crocs (with black socks, I might add). WTF? Who wears Crocs to ride a motorcycle? He looked ridiculous.

In other news, weight loss efforts still aren't on track, but I'm working my way there. I won't WI this week because I'll be in Atlanta. I'm a little concerned about this conference. A lot of the food is provided as part of the conference, which is good, because this is going to be an expensive trip even with the scholarship I got to attend. But it's also bad because it means I own't really have a say in what I get to eat.

I did bring my running sneakers and workout clothes though. My hotel is right across from the Olympics Centennial Park, so my plan is to jog/walk at least a couple of times. I definitely need to get my ass in gear because I signed up to do the Dub Crawl 4-Miler on July 31 with JT. I'm not really concerned about the distance, but the amount of time it will take me to go the distance. The finish line will be all packed up by the time I get there. Oh well, I get a free tech tee, a free ticket to the Dublin Irish Festival and a $20 gas card for signing up and doing the race. I'm game. I would also like to note that upon completing this race and the one in Sept., I will have met yet another one of New Years resolutions (revised). Yay for me.

Argh...

How did it get to be the middle of June already and I haven't posted anything since I stated I was going to blog once per week? Argh... Maybe it's because I don't really have anything newsworthy to report.

I skipped WW this week in order to clean the house so it wouldn't be disgusting upon my mother's return from her vacation. I did go last week and hopefully the number I saw on the scale will give me motivation to get my ass in gear. I haven't seen that number since my 2L year of law school - so since about 2004. Wow, that's a really long time ago. That's just great...I've managed to lose and re-gain the same 20 lbs. in the 4 past years. Aren't I a winner? Grrrr... Ok, enough self-hatred. It's time to move on and focus on the positive. Maybe if I tell myself that enough, I'll begin to believe it again.

That's it for now. Hopefully, I'll be more cheerful in my next post.

I'm Back...Again

After a long 3 month absence, I'm back in business. It's ridiculous how many times I stop and start this blog. I'll be suprised if I have any readers left. Actually, I'm suprised I have any readers at all. It's not as if this is an especially exciting blog, but it is occassionally therapeutic.

In honor of my return and the passing of over 1/3 of this year, I'm going to give a status update on my New Year's resolutions:

1. Reaffirm my commitment to lose weight and continue losing weight. Status: ABYSMAL. I've pretty much been lazy and yoyo dieting for the past 5 months. This must change in the next 7 months. My goal is to average a loss of 5 lbs. per month for the rest of the year. May the force be with me. And I'm also going to make every effort to update my blog at least once per week.

2. Train for and complete 2 half marathons. Status: Fallen by the wayside. I didn't do the Indy Mini this year as I had planned. See the previous paragraphy regarding being lazy. This resolution has been changed to train for and complete 2 races this year. Distance doesn't matter. So far, I'm signed up for a 10K (walking) in Sept. and I'm going to sign up to do a 10-Miler with Kmbuckeye in Aug. I've already started training for the 10-Miler. I'll keep you updated.

3. Get out of debt. Status: On track. Finally, a resolution I have been actively working on. I've have taken some big steps towards getting out of debt. And it all started with saving money to pay taxes for 2007 because I was an independent contractor. I saved about $4000 more than I needed because I was petrified that I would come up short at tax time. This has allowed me to pay down on my debt and actually have the beginnings of a savings/emergency fund. Go me.

4. Move out of my brother's house. Status: Completed. Though not exactly in the manner I intended. I moved in with my parents, two younger siblings and two dogs. I was also lucky enough to take my princess, Nanook, with me, so now there are three dogs. It all came about around tax time, when I was figuring out how much extra money I would have to help out with Resolution No. 3. I did the math and realized if I moved in with the 'rents that I would be able to cut my debt by almost half by the end of the year. That was enough to convince me. So far, so good. No blood has been shed.

I guess completing 1 resolution and actively working on 1 resolution is not too shabby when the year isn't even half over yet. At least I still have 7 months to continue working on the other 2. We'll see how it goes. Wish me luck.

Top 10 List (about being pregnant)

This list was just too funny not to post. I realize that many of you may not get all the references, as it's about my best friends from high school, but it's funny nonetheless. By the way, some names have been changed to protect the identities of the innocent ;-).

here goes ladies, my [MG's] top ten list about pregnancy crap I have learned from my friends and just some shit I have made up. Enjoy!

10. It is not appropriate to ask who the father is (we're not on maury povich here, so there will be no DNA tests)

9. There are no names left for the baby because Aunt Starfruit has reserved them all for her 14 children.

8. Dr. Gross will not in fact be delivering the baby, we all may be friends but I have no desire to see snatches

7. Babies do have cravings, Vodka is not one of them

6. Your boobs get bigger (if only i had known this sooner)

5.Aunt AH should only babysit under supervised conditions (picture AH changing a poopy diaper, ah hilarious)

4. Peeing your pants when you get drunk equals funny, peeing a little when you sneeze not so fun apparently

3. Pregnancy sex????? apparently it helps to get the baby out at the end (aaahhhh daddy you're poking me)

2. Aunt MG cannot use the baby to get free drinks at the bar, it's not a fucking puppy after all. Plus the new parents will get a breathalyzer to check me before I'm allowed to hold it

1. Squirting milk out your boobs when you orgasm, BW better get some goggles! (this was thanks to the crazy chick in key west for those of you that were on that trip)

Thanks, MG, for the laugh. Oh and by the way, I lost 1 lb. this week. I just realized I forgot to post this past week.

Crazy Ex?

I think my older brother's ex may be a wee bit stalkerish. Of course, this is probably a case of pot calling the kettle black given the amount of internet stalking that I do myself. But, whatever.

The reason I believe she a bit stalkerish is because she has looked at my MySpace page approximately 16 times, with 8 of them being after they broke up. The most recent one was 2 days ago. They broke up around Christmas. First, we aren't friends on MySpace because I wasn't a huge fan of her (that's probably a party foul, admitting it in such a public forum - oh well) and I don't think she was a big fan of me either. Second, many of you know that I haven't updated my MySpace page in ages. Third, I don't correspond with my brother on MySpace. We live together; if I have something to tell him, I say it in person. Basically, there's no reason for her to be looking at my MySpace page.

And it's not like she can pretend it's someone else - she's looking at my page from her place of employment. It's a pretty unique place of employment, so I can't imagine that someone else from there is looking at my page.

Oh, and for clarification, this is my brother's most recent ex - not KM, who I think is great.

Big Loser

Yay! I lost a total of 3.8 lbs. this week. I have no idea how that happened. Maybe the not drinking soda/pop (depending on where you're from) during the week and the not eating dessert after dinner is paying off! Whatever it is, I'll take it. Now I just hope it's not one of those weeks where I have a huge loss and then next week I stay the same or gain a little bit. I hate that. Not too mention, I admit, I had no shame last night at WW as I took off all the jewelry I don't normally wear for WI and my velvet blazer to ensure that I had a loss. In any case, I hope to keep up the good work and I'm excited that I no longer have a + in the "Weight Lost in '08" section of my blog.

I'm also very very very excited by the fact that I finally have internet at the office! It's only been three weeks since we moved in here. Do you know how hard it is to conduct business with no internet? It's practically impossible these days. I was going through withdrawal. I'm a compulsive e-mail checker. Although, I have become addicted to Mahjong Titans. It's my new favorite game.

Half marathon training is going enh. I didn't do all my days this week, but I hope to improve this coming week. I need to get on the ball, so I don't hurt myself again. That's it for now.

No Clever (or even semi-clever) Title This Week

No, your eyes do not deceive you - I am up 0.4 lbs. on the year. Whoops. I pretty much ate like there was no tomorrow last week. I am not sure why, but I imagine if I took a minute to think about it, it would help tremendously with my weight loss effort. I'll have to put it on my "to do" list.

As for the 1/2 marathon training, it's going pretty well. I ended up doing 4 miles last week for my long run. It went better than I expected. I averaged 13:42 min./mile, which may not seem great for most people. However, if you factor in that I haven't run since last May (7 months) and that I've gained a significant amount of weight, it's not too shabby. It's more than a minute faster per mile than I averaged when I first started running this time last year. I need to shave off 42 seconds/mile in order to meet my goal of finishing the Indy Mini in under 3 hours. I feel like that is an awful lot of time. Yikes.

I also ran 4 miles this week for my long run. I was supposed to do 5 miles this week according to my schedule. But, I decided to do only 4 miles again since it was only my second long run and I didn't want to overdo it early on. Also, it was extremely windy yesterday (gusts up to 20-30 mph) and I was running outside, so I doubt I would have made it another mile even if I wanted to.

This week I'm going to focus on staying OP. I've also decided to give a couple things up for Lent, even though I'm not Catholic and I don't have to give anything up for Lent: (1) no dessert after dinner and (2) no soda/pop during the week. As a side note, I'm not completely giving up sweets. I'm just not going to be eating them after dinner.

Fully Operational

I am happy to report that I no longer feel the need to cut off my left foot. It is once again fully operational. I was able to jog both Tues. and Thurs. this week and I'm about to head out for my long jog. I'm supposed to do 4 miles today, but I might take it easy and only do 3 miles. We'll see how the foot feels at 3 miles.

In weight loss news, I lost exactly 0 lbs. this week. At least I didn't gain weight, I guess. Hopefully, I'll have a loss this coming week, if I can get myself under control. For some reason, I'm ravenous all the time and all I want is crap, i.e. Chipotle, which I did eat last night. Not good. I'm trying to pull myself together.

That's all for now. Sorry, I was late in posting, but I don't have internet at work right now. I changed office space and AT&T is stupid. They were supposed to hook up our DSL this past Mon., but because they are big, fat, stupid liars, we still don't have internet and we may not get it for at least another week. It makes life very difficult.

Web Searches that Have Led to My Blog

For a little bit of fun, here are a list of the searches that have led people to my blog. I've also listed their location. Enjoy!

Web Searches:
1. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada: When does Bus 1 go?
2. Staten Island, NY: "cranberry apple" drink "sugar free" "walmart"
3. Miami, FL: star fruit bad
4. Portland, OR: where’s waldo yourself
5. Adrian, MI: who on foodnetwork went to g&r in waldo ohio
6. Huntingtown, MD: january starfruit
7. Perrysburg, OH: nothing important [My personal favorite ;-)]
8. Springfield, VA: starfruit in the bible
9. Arlington Heights, IL: 2008 Indy Mini

Random International Visitors:
1. Jakarta, Indonesia
2. Athens, Greece
3. Barquisimeto, Venezuela
4. Bangkok, Thailand
5. Germany
6. Hamilton, Ontario

WI Update

I'm down 1.5 lbs. this week. Yay for me. Ideally, 14 weeks from now, I would like to be 21 lbs. lighter. We'll see how it goes. Oh, by the way, 14 weeks from now is important because it's the Indy Mini and KK's wedding.

By the way, has anyone ever tried pool running? Have any tips?

Stupid Foot

I hate my left foot - it's stupid. I want to cut it off and get a new one. The reason being that I sprained my foot again last night. (Some may recall that I sprained this same foot 2 weeks before the Indy Mini last year and I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to do the race.) The worst part is it happened on the treadmill. Who's sprains their foot on a treadmill? Ridiculous. I didn't stumble, I didn't trip, I didn't fall off, nothing. Apparently, my dainty feet aren't strong enough for my giant elephant body to jog. Curses... The sprain isn't as bad as last time. I'm doing everything the dr. told me to do last time - Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevate - and I'm hoping it will get better today, I mean, in the next couple of days. I'm going to the gym tonight to test it out, but I won't be jogging. Today is my cross-training and weight lifting day. I don't think that either of those activities will overly tax my foot, since I'm sitting all day at work. So we'll see.

In other news, I forgot to post last week because I've gotten out of the habit. I lost 0.1 lbs. at WW. Miniscule, but I'll take it. Hopefully, I'll have a bigger loss this week. I'm going to WI a day early (today) because I'm hanging out with my lil sis tomorrow evening while our parents go to lil bro's wrestling match. I'll try to remember to update tomorrow.

Other good things that have happened in the past week: (1) my dad got a new job (finally, I might add. I won't have to represent my mom in court for murder ;-) ); (2) I got a raise (every little bit helps); and (3) I'm moving office space this weekend (we'll finally give the appearance of being a proper law firm).

That's all, folks.

The Rededication of Starfruit

Happy New Year…10 days late! I hope everyone is enjoying a prosperous new year thus far. This post signifies my official return to blogging after a very long 3 month absence. I’m back and better than ever. Just like last year, I am going to devote my first post in 2008 to my New Year’s resolutions. And again, I am going to try not to get crazy :-).

Last year’s resolutions:
1. Reaffirm my commitment to losing weight and continue to lose weight. I was completely on track with this goal until summer hit. In May, I was at my lowest weight since my sophomore year of college and I was 1.7 lbs. away from the ever elusive 50 lbs. star. And yes, it is the same star I have been talking about since I started this blog in August 2006. Unfortunately, the last 6 months of 2007 were not great months for me on weight loss front and for the first time since I started WW in 2001, I left a year heavier than I began it. That is an extremely difficult truth for me to face, but face it I will, and here’s to better luck in 2008.
2. Train for and complete the Indy Mini Marathon on May 5, 2007. Been there, done that, have the t-shirt (literally). Finishing the Indy Mini is one of my proudest moments. Who knew I could jog/walk 13.1 miles, especially with a sprained foot? I certainly didn’t. I’m signed up to do the Indy Mini again this year on May 3, 2008. Training begins this coming week!
3. Get employed full-time. Another resolution successfully completed! For anyone who doesn’t know, I finally found full-time employment as a lawyer in July 2007. Yay for me! Now, if only I could get a raise.

Two out of three isn’t too bad, I guess. I’ve definitely had worse years.

Resolutions for 2008:
1. Reaffirm my commitment to losing weight and continue to lose weight. Sound familiar? I figured. I will end 2008 lighter than I began it. That is non-negotiable for me. I have a plan of attack: (1) I will attend WW every week and stay for the meeting; (2) I will follow WW program (not the Starfruit hybrid of the WW program); (3) I will begin exercising again; and (4) I will make myself accountable by blogging at least once per week. Who knows? Maybe I will hit my goal by December 31, 2008. Only 75 lbs. to go. I would need to average a loss of 1.5 lbs. per week. Not unheard of.

2. Train for and complete 2 half marathons in 2008. As I mentioned, I am already signed up to do the Indy Mini in May. But I also want to do at least one other 1/2 marathon this year. Now I just need to pick one.

3. Get out of debt. I should probably clarify – I want to get out of consumer debt. I would love to completely eradicate my law school loans, but it’s completely unlikely that I’m going to be able to pay off $100K in school loans this year unless I win the lottery. Since I don’t play the lottery, it’s even more unlikely. In any case, after living on credit cards for 2 years after law school while virtually unemployed, I’m enslaved to Bank of America and Citibank. I’m too embarrassed to say how much though some people know. However, I am determined to get out of debt, or at least take big steps in that direction, this year. So far, I’m working on moving to a cash-based system. It’s been a little rough. There never seems to be enough cash :-).

4. Move out of my brother’s house. I am extremely grateful to my brother for letting me live with him for the past 1.25 years rent free at first and now at an extremely reasonable rate. With that being said, I desperately want to move out for a couple of reasons: (1) I’m tired of cramming all of my belongings into 1 room just like I was in college; (2) I miss all of my furniture, pictures and knickknacks (It will be like Christmas when I move into my own place again); (3) I miss having my own space that I can do anything with; and (4) I want a shorter commute to work – 60 miles roundtrip is getting old. The real trick will be convincing my brother to let me take my pretty princess (the dog) with me as she technically belongs to my brother. She loves me more though.

Alright, four resolutions are more than enough to work on right now, especially since two of them involve multiple steps. And so 2008 begins…bring it on.

P.S. I’m turning 28 on the 28th in 2008. For some reason, I think this is extremely important :-).