Trying New Things

It is the fifth month of 2011, and I have stayed true to my resolution to try something new:

January: joined a bowling league with W
February: went to my first book-club meeting
March: traveled away from home for 28 days straight (yuck)
April: planted my own flower bed and vegetable garden
May: bought MY OWN bowling ball for league #2

Also...

...I have started watching a Spanish language soap opera (telenovela) which I would like to believe is helping to improve my Spanish, but in no way is it contributing to resolution to learn French.

...I organized my sewing box and downloaded a skirt pattern, does that count?

...W and I walked around a campground next to beach and ate at their taco stand, does that count too? We tried to reserve a campsite for the next weekend but it was already sold out, darn.

...When I was at a hotel and an episode of Friends came on the TV, I turned it off. I wonder if I'll ever watch Friends again now...

March Madness
My crazy month of travel

Day 4


C gave up his bed for us to sleep in, but there was no sleeping in a city loft apartment with city noise and city lights. I couldn’t breath because of my stuffy nose and I couldn’t swollow because of my sore throat.

I didn’t want to let my sickness take over so I forced myself to spend the morning sightseeing and exploring the city with W. It was fun, but would have been more so if I didn’t feel like I was going to keel over with a sicky germ head and lack of sleep.

March Madness
My crazy month of travel

Day 3 – March 3, 2011

Woke up and sore throat was gone! My home remedies must have worked!

Wrong. It’s now nighttime and I can hardly swallow my throat hurts so bad. It got worse as the day went on, and talking non-stop for 8 hours didn’t help.

Work appointment in Watsonville all day. Throat just go worse and worse. So annoyed that I’m getting sick. Being sick on travels suck. Just keep drinking Apple Cider Vinegar…

4:00, finally done. Drive to Oakland to pick up W at the airport and then to downtown San Francisco to meet up with P’s brother. Ignore the sore throat, ignore the sore throat. I am not getting sick, I am not getting sick.

I love San Francisco. I want to live in San Francisco. How can I live in San Francisco? Walked around city, went to awesome restaurant. C’s city luxury loft is awesome. Everything is awesome except my sore throat. Going to gargle hydrogen peroxide again.

March Madness
My crazy month of Travel

Day 2 – March 2

Mission today is to swap out this stupid rental car. It’s raining and the windshield wipers don’t work. Checked out of hotel and found the nearest Budget. No luck. The only other economy car available is the exact same car I’m trying to exchange. No thanks.

Went to work appointment. Drove to SFO to exchange car and try to get an upgrade? Lugged my million bags of luggage across the entire rental lot to the counter, which was the most miserable hike ever and I once again vowed to pack lighter next time. I always say that, but I can never do it! It’s literally impossible. Especially when I’m going to be gone for twenty-eight days. It just really, really sucks being on your own trying to juggle four different sized bags.

Tried to bargain with “Candy” at the Budget desk to get a new car. After an hour ended up in the same economy car, only this time a Hyundai instead of Ford. At least Hyundai’s have XM radio. And the windshield wipers work.

Ate lunch at Vegan Chinese Restaurant in Palo Alto. I love Palo Alto. I want to be a Professor at Stanford and live in Palo Alto. How can I live in Palo Alto?

Drove to Marina and checked into hotel. Still trying to find a cheap salon to get my nasty haircut fixed. Decided to buy two dollar scissors at Wal Mart and try to cut my own hair. Ummm, don’t know how that worked out. Pretty sure the back of my hair now looks like a five year old cut it. Whatever.

Throat has been feeling funny. Gargled hydrogen peroxide and drank apple cider vinegar.

Ordered take-out from a Korean restaurant and ate it in front of my computer while watching Mr. Sunshine on hulu. Took a shower, watched Survivor. Went to bed.

Throat has been feeling funny. Need Sleep.

March Madness
My crazy month of non-stop travel

Day 1 – March 1, 2011

San Diego airport – nothing to complain about. Easy in, no lines and an A32 boarding pass. Right back to the last seat on the plane.

Flight uneventful. My overhead seat light was extremely bright for some reason, but at least I got to read the entire time.

Oakland airport, Budget rental counter. My name isn’t on the Fast Break list, of course! Why isn’t it ever on that list? Oh, because my credit card on file has expired. Oops. Tried to get an upgrade. No bargaining with this lady. However, I could get a Chevy Malibu for ten dollars more a day. I don’t think so. Instead, I get the economy sized Ford Focus in the ugliest pale green color I’ve ever seen. What.

It’s lightly raining in the bay area, and the windshield wipers on this majestic Ford only work to spread a foggy mess of smeared water or something all over in front of my vision. Great.

Check in at the Pleasant Hill Inn, conveniently located in Pleasant Hill. Front desk lady is nice enough. The lobby looks humble but nice enough. Fine so far for a super-economy hotel for one night.

Room 203. The key doesn’t work. Lug all my stuff back downstairs and request a room that’s not right next to the elevator anyway.

Room 313. The key works and I enter my dormitory for the night. Not one to complain about cheap hotels I ignore the manifest disgusts… the ratty bed spread and thread-bare sheets. The dust bunnies lining the walls, the dried paint (or SOMETHING) all over the carpet, the internet that doesn’t work, the TV that doesn’t work….sigh. But whatever. I’m not complaining, remember? All I can think about is how I have 27 more days of this. Blah.

I call the 800 number for Budget to get a new car tomorrow. They direct me to Oakland’s Budget center. I try calling three times with no answer. Can’t even look up a nearby Budget place on the internet. I’ll have to wake up early to go sit at a Starbucks and surf the web.

11:29. Day 1. It can only get better from here.

About this Project

Update: February 26, 2011

Almost two months have passed since I started my Project 2011. It started at as this great project for me to accomplish all these goals this year. After two months, it's turning out to be more like me resolving to overcome my vices by tackling one each month.

In January it was to watch less TV. In February it has been to save money and spend less. In March all bets are off because I will be traveling the entire month and who knows what's going to happen.

I decided I need to modify the focus of this blog and this project 2011. The past two months have shown my progress (or lack thereof) in trying to change some lifestyle habits. I kinda like the idea that I'm making myself accountable for these things. It makes me more aware of what I'm doing in my life and what I really need to change.

When I first started this project, there were several things in my life I really needed to change; and those are the first three items on my list of projects for 2011. Also number 10 was getting to be an issue, which we've already discussed. However, although I am no longer watching my Friends DVD's I have moved on to my Will and Grace DVD's which is a little bit like cheating. The point of me not watching Friends anymore was to help with watching less TV in general... sigh.

Rounding out the top four things on which Michele needs to improve is "Exercise."
This is something I just can not get motivated to do! I used to be a member of LA Fitness way back in the day. I would go every single day and work out for about 2 hours! I was in such good shape! Last year, after about four years of nothing, I started walking and using a shake-weight. Not quite two hours a day, maybe 30 minutes if any. I slacked off after only a four months when I got mono and basically couldn't do any physical exercise of any kind for six weeks. Now, I'm back to my lazy-self and barely exercise twice a month. I vow to make April my exercise month. I might have to splurge and join a gym, we shall see...

Packing is an up-hill battle

I really tried to pack light for this trip I’m on right now. I forced myself to use a carry-on sized suitcase and I even lightened my purse. Why does it feel like I still brought too much stuff? Luckily W came on this four-day trip with me this time, so when I didn’t have any more room in my suitcase I just added my extra stuff to HIS! I feel like that’s cheating though, right?

I don’t know how in the world I’m going to pack for my three-week trip in March. Especially since I’m going to COLD places. Just now, I was thinking I didn’t even pack enough warm stuff for this trip, because I’m freezing and wish I had more layers. But that would have involved me packing a bigger suitcase, which I was trying to avoid! I guess there really is no way around it. I am a naturally freezing-cold person, and even in Southern California I wear three layers of clothing in the evening.

I’ve already been planning for weeks, what I’m going to pack for this upcoming March trip where I have to go to Northern California, and New England for, actually, almost a whole month. I’m going to be pretty much just wear the same outfit every single day I think – skinny jeans, boots, black turtleneck, cardigan, and thick woolly sweater; and a Pashmina. And a coat. That should keep me warm enough.
The other problem with packing is my excessive amounts of toiletries and hair-styling tools. Especially now that my hair is absolutely impossible to style, I have to bring a blow-dryer, a hot iron, two brushes, and a pick. Not to mention piles of bobby pins and barrettes. Then there’s the five different hair products: shampoo, conditioner, styling cream, root-boost spray, styling putty, and hairspray. Wait, that’s six products. Ridiculous. Add that to my body lotion, face cream, night cream, toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, makeup remover, cotton balls, nail polish remover, ear plugs, benadryl, advil, chapstick, and all my makeup! It’s too much stuff! I am so high-maintenance!

One of my trips in November, I didn’t pack the blow dryer. That was my tiny attempt at packing lighter. Maybe that will have to be the case again. Or I just pack that one outfit like I said, because I never end up wearing all the clothes I bring anyway, and that should leave me enough room for my entire bathroom. Thank you very much.

Bad Hair Day

What do I do?  I paid an ungodly amount of money for a haircut and low-lights last week, and I hate it.  I gave myself one week to figure out how to style it, and it just isn’t working.  Do I call the salon and complain?  Do I ask for a refund?  I am not going to try to have her fix it, because it’s already too short.  I feel like if I’m going to get a bad haircuts I might as well just go to SuperCuts and pay the $16.95 instead of the amount of my car payment.  This is my save money month, so it just really makes me sick to think I spent all that precious, hard-earned money on a raggedy haircut and a highlighting job that isn’t even that good.  I wanted to go darker, so that’s why she supposedly did low-lights, but you can’t even tell.  There’s even one whole section that looks like I still have really bad roots.  I am so disgusted.

I literally am just going to go to SuperCuts from now on.  I am sick of paying hundreds of dollars for haircuts that suck.  I thought I had finally found a stylist at a salon I really liked, and now I’ve been slapped in the face.  I’m very disappointed, and now broke, thanks to “Molly” the hair stylist.  That haircut and a pricey speeding ticket have set me back half a months pay.  Granted I don’t get paid much, but still, that’s a lot of money for repulsive hair and a traffic fine.  So far, in “Save-Money-Month” I have saved zero dollars.  Unless I count the number of times I wanted to go to Amazon.com and didn’t.  That’s something.

Facing Target

I just went to Target.  My nemisis.  I had to face it though.  We were down to our last half-roll of toilet paper; we desperately needed detergent to do laundry; and since both of us have crazy allergies, we're always blowing our noses, and we were also out of tissue. 

Sigh.  This shouldn't be that big of a deal.  Most normal people would just go to the store and get those three things they need.  For me, it's not that easy.  I once went into Target with my friend KK and between the two of us, we spent $500.  How in the world does that happen?  At that time, our intention was to sign up for the Target charge card and get the 5% discount on our purchase.  Big savings!  So we piled our carts full of junk -- I don't even know what we could spend that much money on at Target! 

My last big Target trip before I cut myself off I bought four washcloths, a book, and several things I already have plenty of at home:  eye drops, benadryl, face wash, moisturizer and lotion.  I mean, I could seriously run a drug-store out of my bathroom. 

As you can see, I was dreading this trip to Target during my month of not spending money.  I knew it was going to be difficult and I didn't want to place myself in that tempting environment.

I starting psyching myself last night:

"Only three items.  I'm going into Target, and I'm getting only those three items.  That's it, that's all I can get.  I can do this!  I will succeed!"

This morning, I reinforced myself by telling W that I was going to Target to get toilet paper, tissue and laundry detergent, "and THAT'S IT!"  He said, "Why, what else do we need?  Do you want to get something else."

AUGH!  He is not helping matters here!

So I walked into Target and was instantly drawn to the new purses and scarves strategically placed in front of the entrance.  "NO!"  A voice screamed inside my head.  I turned away and saw a rack of five dollar DVD's.  Oooh!  I always wanted to see Johny Depp's Crybaby!  I then passed the pharmacy section and rows and rows of beautifully packaged vitamins, allergy pills, bandaids, and cotton balls threatened to jump into my cart.  In the other direction I saw a new line of glade candles...  This was bad. 

Finally I reached the household products section and quickly tossed the needed items in my empty cart.  As I turned back toward the check-out, I remembered we needed lettuce for salads this week.  What do I do?!  I told myself that I could only get those three items, but if don't get lettuce, I'm going to have to go the grocery and that could only prove to be more disastrous because at this rate, I'm going to figure out I need a million other ingredients and I'll buy out the whole market to compensate for my lack of excessive shopping at Target!  Dilemma! 

I practically ran to the food section in Target and grabbed a bag of spinach and a bag of leafy romaine (2 for $4) and dashed out of the store as fast as possible.

Phew.  What drama this saving more and spending less is!  And honestly, after my hair cut and highlights touch up on Friday (which I forgot about when I made this month the "Save Money Month) I don't feel like my bank account looks any fuller.

merci beaucoup

Way back in 2005 I booked a $400 ticket to Paris, France to visit my best friend "Ace."  I had been to Paris one time before but decided this time to fit in as much as possible and try to learn as much French as I could in the four months I had before my trip.

I bought two French language self-teaching books, one that came with a CD, and scheduled in hours of study time each day and on the weekends to teach myself the new language.  I made flash cards, notes, and even found people on craigslist advertising French for English lessons!  I actually did meet up with two different French guys at several different times.  We spent an hour each time interacting and sharing lessons back and forth in each of our prospective languages.

That was when I was a nanny for two teenagers that were in school 8 hours a day, and I had a lot of time on my hands.  By the time I went to France, I could say several important phrases, and could understand 50% (maybe a little bit more) of what was spoken around me.  Of course, after that trip I completely forgot everything and never practiced French again.

Six years later, enter Project 2011!  Learn French (again!)

I have finally started, slowly but surely, practicing some simple French phrases again.  One of the student workers in my office is from Paris, and she is turning out to be a very valuable resource!  This started only last week, but every day so far she's quizzed me with a phrase and after repeating it, she tells me what it means.  I decided I'm going to take her out to lunch once a week in exchange for tutoring me! 

Tres bien!

Toilet Paper

Upon informing W that I was restricting myself from any Target or online shopping, he replied very thoughtfully, "Well, if you could figure out some way to use less toilet paper, we could save a million bucks!"

This is a true story.  I am a girl, with allergies and a small bladder.  Therefore I use a lot of toilet paper.  I shared this anecdote with some of my male coworkers, and like my husband, they just don't understand!  Boys don't have to "wipe" every time they go to the bathroom, so it's a little bit different for us girls.  I really, really do try to use less toilet paper, but it's not even just toilet use.  For example, I am always blowing my nose, wiping up spilled make-up, or blotting my eyes after using eye drops.  Yes, there are boxes of tissues all over the house as well, but sometimes the bathroom, and toilet paper, is just more convenient.

I compensate for this excessive paper use by using cloth napkins, and wiping the counters with washcloths instead of paper towels.  Doesn't that even things out?  Apparently not. 

Month in Review

January has come and past; shall we review my progress?  I'd rather not.  It's pretty grim.  I have failed miserably at starting any of my projects except that sad attempt of watching less TV. 

To be on the positive side, I did say goodbye to Friends and have not turned back... although I was very tempted to just pop one DVD in this weekend when W was gone and I needed some background noise. 


However, did I start practicing yoga frequently?  No.  I barely made it up the hill on the two walks I took during the month.  Really, really sad.  Did I venture to utter a French word?  That would another big NO.  Although, I did read Madame Bovary which is translated from French, so I figured that counted.  My sewing machine still sits in the guest room closet, and I have definitely not gone camping.  Also, I have set a very bad pace of not spending less or saving more.

That brings me to February's new project:

For one month, I am not allowed to step one foot inside a Target, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, or any other kind of pharmacy type store.  In addition, I am restricted from going to Amazon.com, zappos.com, Southwest.com or  iTunes.  (Lucky this is the shortest month of the year, right?!)  This pretty much means no shopping, except at the grocery store.  I mean, the toilet paper is not going to last another week. 

This is going to force me to save some money, for crying out loud!  Target is the biggest trap ever.  I went in over the weekend to get eye drops with a very strict order to myself to walk in only for eye drops and that's it.  Why did I all of a sudden spend seventy-four dollars?!  That is ridiculous.  Enough is enough.

February is all about saving money.  Maybe I can distract myself from shopping online by doing some warrior poses instead. 

Trying something new

After being inspired by Trader Joe's marketing campaign to eat healthy (which I already do) and try something new, I am going to now include that as a modification of my project number one.  While watching less TV I will be trying new things.

Today my new thing is wearing no makeup to work.  If you would have told me even one week ago that I would be doing this, I would have first passed out from the audacity of that suggestion, and then I would have laughed in your face and said "No way!  Me not wear makeup before stepping out of the house?  Never!"  Much to my mother's chagrin, I started wearing makeup the second I turned fourteen and I haven't stopped since.  I know I "don't need to wear makeup" (blah, blah, blah) but I like to!  I like the whole artistic process of it. 

However, for the past several days, I have developed a terrible allergic reaction to something -- perhaps the massive amounts of dust and pollen that have been swirled into the dry air lately -- and it has a rash of some kind around my eyes.  It's not pink-eye, because my eye ball isn't red.  It's just the skin around my eyes, mostly my right eye.  It was red, itchy, and swollen all weekend, and today it's just red.  The swelling has gone down and it's not as itchy.  But I still can't wear makeup!  I tried when I went to a party on Saturday night, and it just made the itchiness and swelling worse.  Not only am I bare-faced, but the redness around my eyes makes me look absolutely terrifying! 

I was absolutely dying of embarrassment at the thought of going to work in this condition, so I found a pair of "fashion glasses," which are just fake spectacles with pink rims, and am wearing them to somewhat disguise my poor allergy-ridden eyes.  Everyone thinks I wear glasses now, and one friend thought I was going to a 70's theme party.  I'm just playing it off as a bold new fashion statement.  In all reality, I think I could probably do without wearing makeup so much, just without the red puffy eyes, please. 

Trader Joe's Inspiration

January is almost over and my projects, or resolutions, for 2011 have yet to even begin!  Mostly I've been focusing on the watch less TV resolution which is proving to be ridiculously difficult!  I hate to admit it, but I love TV!  I also love reading and doing other things, and I believe the whole point of making these projects for myself this year was to stop wasting my time watching stupid television shows and get into action!  I'm resigning to my "old age" too soon.  I didn't watch TV all through high school or college.  Why?  Because I was the social butterfly (I hate that term, but I don't know what else to use at this moment) and I was ALWAYS out and about, socializing, having fun, doing things with other people!  During graduate school I didn't watch much TV either.  I didn't have time between working full-time and studying every other second of the day I wasn't working (and even some while I was working.)  But ever since then, since getting real jobs in the real world that require me to actually work hard for 8-10 hours a day,  all I want to do during my freetime now is nothing.  Or, in other words, be a couch potato and watch TV.

My daily routine was this:  Wake up.  Work, work, work, all day.  Get home around 6:30.  Make food and sit in front of TV until 10:00.  Go to bed.

I was getting nothing done during the week!  I was in a daze each night, and felt stressed out during the day because of all the errands and other stuff that needed to be done that I was simply ignoring each night.  I felt like TV was starting to rule my life.  I wanted to actually read and write in my journals again.  I wanted to do something productive!  Therefore "Michele's Project 2011" was born.  Mission: get off my lazy, TV-addicted butt and DO SOMETHING.

It's been harder than I thought.  Granted, my husband and I enjoyed making some awesome dinners that first week.  We both were reading some great books, and it was nice to not be depressed and terrorized by the nightly news before going to bed.  Then... it just started going down hill. I don't know why or how, it just did.  He got sick of reading, we both got sick of cleaning up the major disasters we made in the kitchen after our gourmet meals, and we both kinda just wanted to watch a new favorite show we're catching up with on Netflix instant play!  Besides, it still gets dark early, and it gets super freezing cold in our house, so all I want to do is cuddle up in a blanket anyway!


Last week I was starting to feel so irritated with this "rule" I had made for myself about TV!  I was starting to get rebellious and angry with the restriction.  And that, I decided, was not healthy and not the purpose of my resolution.

At Trader Joe's I gained new inspiration.  At the checkout, I saw a poster they had on their window with three resolutions they have for the new year.  It's one of those marketing ploys to get customers to come back to their store, of course, but it struck me as something I should follow in my own life and stop trying to deprive myself.  Number 1 was the classic, all important "Eat healthy."  Of course it was!  It's Trader Joe's after all!  I can't remember what number 2 was, but it was probably something about exercising or something Trader Joesish.  Number 3 was what hit me and made me rethink my own resolution number one.  "Try something new."  There it was, so simple yet so profound.  Instead of thinking of my resolution to watch less TV as restrictive and wanting to rebel against my own rule so badly it was making me be a miserable person, I should think of it as an opportunity to TRY SOMETHING NEW!  Wasn't this the exact reason I made the "rule" in the first place?  Some of my other projects for this year actually already fit into the category of trying something new... such as camping.  Sorry, but that won't be happening until it gets a little warmer.  However, this is now the time to pull out my dusty sewing machine, and crack open the covers of those French books or even brush up on my very rusty Spanish.

It just seems so painfully obvious, but thank you Trader Joe's for reminding me and pointing out that watching less TV is all about trying new things. 

(One of which might be joining a bowling league, but that's for another discussion.)

I need food

Wow, I have definitely learned a lesson this week:  raw food diets are not for me.

You see, I had mentioned something on here about doing the Whole Living Magazine's 28 day challenge, and I started it on Sunday.  The first week you are supposed to completely detox and cleanse your system by going completely raw.  As in, eating only raw fruits and veggies.  They don't even allow nuts, but I thought that was crazy, so I got a bunch of raw nuts and dried fruit for snacking purposes.

I did something like this last summer and lasted for four days.  This time I made it only two.  Last night, after the second day of nothing but carrots, celery, cauliflower and pepper I started developing a massive headache.  I knew this came with the territory and thought I could fight through it.  I actually had made some rather tasty raw food dishes like a kind of cabbage slaw that we put on huge leaves of romaine lettuce and ate like lettuce wraps.

However, I went to bed feeling dizzy and headachy.  I thought I could sleep it off and be good to go in the morning.  Not so.  This morning, after a restless night I was still dizzy and my head was still throbbing.  W demanded I go eat some FOOD and"screw the diet, you're too skinny!"  I called in sick and wobbled to the kitchen, amidst spinning walls, and promptly made some hot oatmeal.  In the mean time I managed to put some ingredients in the bread maker so I could have some hearty whole grain bread by lunch.

After some healthy nourishment of whole grain carbohydrates I finally started to feel better.

This is just another example of a resolution gone bad.  Sometimes I don't know what I'm thinking.  It's not like I'm super unhealthy and eat junk food all the time.  I think that's what these kind of diets are for.  I, on the other hand, am already thin and in good shape and don't eat unhealthy at all!  I promise!  Me eating junk food is having two M+M's at Christmas time.  My husband makes fun of me all the time because when I go to the kitchen to get a snack, I come back with carrots and celery sticks or half of a pomegranate.  I am already a health-food freak, so why did I decided I all of a sudden needed to go on this extreme diet?

I've come up with some crazy notions lately.

So for now, I'm going back to my normal healthy diet.  But since I have $100 worth of fruits of veggies and fruit in my fridge, I'm going to have to get creative this week...

Speaking of food and being creative with it, check out my other blog Eat Your Veggies

Resolutions...

Here's the thing with me and resolutions; I love dreaming them up and setting forth on accomplishing them.  Always around my birthday and the new year I do it.  I have really good intentions to start afresh or something like that, and I believe it's good for me to make goals.  But then I get overwhelmed and feel pressured and I just don't want to do it anymore!  It's kinda like being forced to do something when you really don't want to, so it makes you hate it even more. 

That is why I have to just realize that I'm doing my best and to not beat myself up if I watch the news in the morning, because sometimes it's important to watch the news.  It's all about moderation right?  I actually feel very good about my resolution of less TV.  Maybe I shouldn't be so strict with myself and actually be okay with watching the news and stuff like that. 

I think I'm just feeling really unmotivated right now, and I just don't want to do anything, so my resolutions are just feeling like a huge burden for some reason. 

I'll be better tomorrow. 

Do you know why I'm pulling you over Ma'am?

I'm feeling very bummed out on the eleventh day of 2011.  After almost six years of a perfect driving record, I just got a speeding ticket today.  Boo hoo.  I am so sad.  This definitely does not fit into my projects for 2011!  Although, now I can add a new one which is "Do not get any more speeding tickets!"

Number 3: Pack Lighter

This week I start traveling again.  It's only a one night trip, so it should be pretty easy to try out my new resolution to pack lighter.  Then again... I've been know to pack like this on even a one nighter:

Yes, that's all my stuff.  You see, I need to pack several different outfits -- all with different shoe options -- for at least six different climates.  Because with this crazy ozone layer thing, you can never really know what the weather is going to be like.  Even if it's January in New England, it would be my luck that it's 70 degrees the one day I'm there. 
 

An old friend is good for the soul

Number 10 of Project 2011 was put into place yesterday.  My boarding school and college roommate called during work yesterday and said she's coming into town and wanted to meet me for dinner.  Hooray!  We went to dinner with another friend and commented that we've known each other since we were 16!  The other friend said that we've known each other for literally half of our lives.  When you put it that way, it's kinda crazy!  First of all, since when did we become old enough for 16 to be half of our age, and two, for a kid who moved around so much growing up, it's amazing I've known someone for that long and can still hang out with her and have a great time!  Conveniently she also lives on one of my travel routes so I get to see her more often than I have in the past.

Even though I got home really late last night, I realized it's more important to spend time with old friends once in awhile.  I went to her wedding a year ago, and she came to mine just three months ago.  We compared stories of married life and honeymoons and all sorts of girlie stuff like that.  Our conversations  have come a long way since the high school nonsense we stayed up late at night to whisper about in the dark.  But our old girliness still comes out when we're together and it's almost like we're 16 again... despite the under-eye wrinkles we kept pointing out on our faces.

Day 2 of No TV

This is how it went down last night -- day two of our no TV project (proving to be more challenging than we thought.)

W: "So what Netflix movie came?"
Me: "Last of the Mohicans."
W:  "We can watch that!  It's historical!"
Me:  "I was thinking the same thing, but we're staying strong!"

Thirty minutes later I was blogging and he was watching a snowboard video on his computer.

Me:  "Okay, this is defeating the whole point."
W:  "So we might as well just watch Last of the Mohicans."
Me:  "Ah, but we're doing so good!  And besides, it's already 8:30.  I'm going to start getting ready for bed in half an hour."
W:  "But it's not TV -- it's a historical movie.  It has the British. It has Pilgrims.  It has Indians... and it has the British."
Me:  "Oh I don't know... and you said British twice."
W:  "What if we just watch thirty minutes of it?  We'll make it a three-part series."
Me:  "Okay.  Yes.  Put it on."

Exactly thirty minutes later at 9:15 we turned it off and started getting ready for bed. W jumped into bed first and said:

W:  "Look, it's your dream come true."

He was propped up on a his pillows reading a book.

Me:  "I know, I literally can not even believe what I'm seeing right now."
Me:  "You know, I stole that book from your childhood bedroom at your parents house."
W:  "Yes, my high school's initials are stamped all over it."

I blissfully crawled into bed with my own book.  Day two -- a success!

First Night of No TV

Today the rest of the country went back to work after the Holidays.  I took today off to spend with my little brother who lives in Guam and is visiting for a friends wedding.  Needless to say I was very tempted to watch TV tonight since it technically is still my vacation and the "real world" hasn't started again.  Last night I started watching my recording of Desperate Housewives, but only got 8 minutes into it when my brother arrived.  After he left this evening, I thought I would just simply finish watching the episode and for the no-TV-during-the-week.... I'll "start tomorrow."  Haven't we all said something like that?

However, I stood strong.  I decided to make some vegan recipes I had selected for my lunches this week.  W was also standing strong in the No TV area, but was instead planting himself in front of his computer.  Um, no.  That is not how this works.  And I told him so.  I said I would love for him to come talk to me while I cook in the kitchen.  Halfway through my recipe he made an appearance and gratefully tasted my tofu delicacies (see my other blog www.veggiegoodness.com)

As he gained momentum in the idea of cooking with me, I assigned him the task of roasting the raw cashews and then pulsing them in the food processor.

"We're using a food processor!  We're cooking!  I'd totally do this everynight instead of watching TV!"  He said with sincerity.  Melt my heart why don't you! 

But then he had a realization.

"If we cook like this every night we're going to spend so much more money than stupid cable."

They will always be my "Friends."

Before I say a fond farewell to Friends I decided I couldn't let them go without watching my favorite season one last time -- Season 4.  This is Rachel, Joey, Phoebe, Chandler, Monica and Ross at their very best.  This is the season when Ross and Rachel are almost on again but he fails to read her 17 page letter (front and back) and doesn't know to what he's agreeing.  This is the one where Chandler spends Thanksgiving in a box to prove how much Joey means to him.  In season 4 Monica and Rachel lose their apartment to Chandler and Joey when they loe a bet because Rachel thinks Chandler's job is a "transpondster."  Phoebe agrees to have her brother's baby, which turns out to be triplets and Ross meets Emily and then says Rachel's name instead of Emily's at their wedding! 

And this is why I am putting my Friend's DVD's away for awhile.

Okay, the first day of 2011 is almost over and I'm still watching a Friends DVD.  I promise, after this weekend, they're over...  I just had to watch a few more episodes.

Happy New Year!

It is the first day of the new year as well as my new blog!  Since it's a holiday, not to mention a weekend, Project 2011 has yet to commence.  Come on, I'm still on Vacation!