My life is full of crazy eyes.

As my Facebook friends might well know, I've been on a crazy cooking spree. I cook everything these days. Well, except for this weekend. I really just wanted to eat out as much as possible. No tedious labor for me, thanks! Right now, I'm waiting for my homemade potato salad to cool and the dryer to ding. Soon, David will start on the sloppy joes and we'll be enjoy yet another delicious meal. Yay teamwork. Here's some of the latest:

Filet mignon, potatoes, and onions

Bowties, broccoli, garlic, red pepper, parmesan cheese

Tomato, watermelon, mint, and feta cheese salad

Black beans, mango salsa, tuna steaks, avocado, and avocado vinaigrette tostadas

Paella (chorizo, chicken, shrimp, peppers, peas, and rice)

Pork chops and string beans, corn, squash, zucchini medley cooked in red wine

Yum, right? Feel free to take a "fat" break.

Having met few people in our area yet, I've been hard pressed to stay distracted from my long work week and the unavoidable exhaustion. So, I planned an awesome weekend for the two of us; beginning and ending with food. We managed to tear ourselves from food long enough to see a comedy show, the new Batman movie (epic--go see it), and shop til I got blisters on my feet. I'd say it was probably best weekend we've had since we've been here.

Andy and Sharon (David's dad and step-mom) will be here next week, and Kathy (David's mom) the week after. Just in time for all the birthdays coming up. David's rounding the big 2-7 (onward toward 30)! Mom and Crazy Eyes (see below) will be visiting in three weeks, too. We should have all of our furniture by then, so I'm pretty excited. We've finally picked out our sets, so stick around for those updates. It should be pretty awesome. No more lawn chairs in the living room!

He's never looking directly at you. Creepy.

Aside from that, I'm so ready to get everything settled so that we can get into an exercise routine. We've be able to do some things here and there, like racquetball tonight. It's falling into place, dears. Soon, our house will be furnished. Soon, we'll be on top of our healthy-life journey. It's all so exciting!

As always, thanks for reading.

xoxo

Blessings in disguise

For those of you who haven't heard...work and I broke up. A sad reality...or not? It is really quite hysterical since I've been droning on about how much I hated my job. Unfortunately, now, we're just two unemployed bums looking for the big break. Luckily, they "were not required to give me a reason for termination", so I could apply for unemployment. Still. You're taking away my livelihood. Some explanation would have been appreciated. Turns out that I'm not the first (and assuredly not the last) to get terminated for standing up to management (ie. making it known that I was unhappy about the way things were being run). I think the saddest part about the whole ordeal is how close I was with my supervisor. She knew that David and I were pretty much sharing my income. She knew how much pressure I was under both at work and as the sole provider. Point and case why you should keep your superiors at a distance. I get too friendly. I'm your average chatty Kathy. I crave those friendships. This is my first to have gone sour, though. Sometimes a power trip is just what someone needs to ruin everything. But what goes around comes around, darling. No hard feelings.

These types of situations generally have good outcomes for me. God is so good! And He blesses my life in the strangest ways. We're hardcore looking for cash. But most importantly, we're looking for a new start. Somewhere new. Unless something pops up unexpectedly, I'd like to be done with Tallahassee. So we're searching. Searching for jobs elsewhere. Determining our budget for cute houses and apartments much sooner than I ever thought we would. And like everything, He will show us the way. In the meantime, we have SO much time to spend together, complete with sleeping in (for like the first time ever) and having the entire day to just get things done. So far, we've managed to visit my favorite museum in town, spend time with friends, exercise, set up a (one time) job for easy money (any one else need a home cleaning service?), make plans, and stay up all night talking without feeling rushed or obligated to hit the sack before 3am. And now, as 2am rounds the bend, I feel sort of liberated. The taste of freedom is so sweet. Let's hear it for not waking up and hating my life. Woo!

Yea, we actually go out in public like this.

And the best part about it? My darling David has been so wonderfully supportive. Sometimes he knows just what to say. I'm lucky.

On a crappy note, the straightener I bought (before the break up, mind you) arrived on Friday WITH EUROPEAN PLUGS. I mean...really? Really. You're an American. Selling products in America. And you don't bother to put on the item description that the product will be pretty much useless unless I want to spend more money to buy a converter? Jesus. The nerve!

I feel like I'll be blogging less regularly since I'll be spending more time at home. I should be able to get more homework, cleaning, and reading done. Speaking of homework, I have a 7 page paper due tomorrow night (tonight?). I should probably start that. I could say that I'm torn up about my job situation and couldn't bare to think about academics, but I'd be lying. No matter what, I still would have left it until the last minute. World's best procrastinator, people.

Thanks for the continued support through this crappy ordeal, dolls!

xoxo

Bye Bye, Birdies.

I briefly mentioned here that David and I had registered for a 5k here in Tallahassee. If you have a chance, please read this article about fallen detective, David White. The David White Memorial 5k will be held on Saturday, May 19th at 9:00 at Tallahassee Community College campus. All proceeds and donations will be donated to the detective's family. If you're interested in walking or running, visit this site to register. It's cheap, it'll be a good time, and it's for a great cause. If you're in the area, please come out and support us!

Though I'm committed to being frugal {let's get real, I've never been frugal in my life...except when I have no money.}, I know that my weight loss journey demands appropriate gear. In this post, I talked about some of the stuff I want to help me get my butt in shape for up and coming 5k-ness.

I was able to get these from here. Vanessa from Ruffles With Love (an etsy shop) was absolutely awesome! On Monday, we talked about the possibility of her making the shirts and then getting them here before I left on Friday, and she was all for it! I checked my email Tuesday morning and I already had a tracking number waiting for me. That's some serious production power. Thanks, Vanessa!!

Also, I headed over to Target and picked up my first pair of compression shorts and four new {neon!} C9 sports bras: yellow, blue, pink, and lime. Perfect in time for summer.

Face it, I look fab. {lol.} But seriously. I'm feeling super good about my weightloss. I'm down 13 lbs since February. Sometimes I look in the mirror and don't feel like I've made any progress, but when I can fit into pants that I haven't worn in about two years....it's hard to deny.

A slight change of plans is allowing David to leave town with me on Friday. While I was anticipating spending five days away from him, it looks like I'll just have to be forced into his company. {Please.} It doesn't count that the real reason he wants to come with me is not because he'll miss me, but because he doesn't want to miss out on epic waterpark-ness going down on Tuesday. What a guy.

Anywho, I'm not sure how often I'll be blogging from South Florida, but I'll only be away from you fine readers until the 23rd. Look for my Thursday and Friday link-ups before I head out of town. Happy week, darlings!

The incredibly long post that describes my terrible pre-Easter Saturday.

School starts today.
South Florida in 4 days.
DB and David and Miami in 9 days.
Wedding in 11 days.
Busch Gardens in 12 days.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter/Passover weekend. Mine was absolutely ridiculous. Let me recap for you:

Saturday, David and I brought my car in for an oil change. Yay for knowing the manager and getting $20 off of my service (for a grand total of $18.60).

In the midst of making sure I have everything I need for the wedding, we headed to Ross to shop for a dress for the rehearsal dinner. After dragging David around for a little under an hour, I finally found four that I thought would be winners. Less than five minutes after I tried them all on, I realized that I had left my phone in the fitting room and went back to retrieve it...only to find it empty. Panic set in after trying to remain optimistic about the loss, but after making several calls to my phone, the "finder" (that sounds so much better than thief) turned it off. Lost forever.

As a side note: Friday night, David and I found a phone on a bench at the lake where we run. Despite his protests to just leave the phone where it was, I called the numbers on the recent call list to locate the owner, and was able to return it. You'd think I'd have stirred up some good karma, right?

Anyway.

I left my information with customer service, and we headed back to the house so that I could activate an old phone that I had before my Android. Weirdly enough, this old phone was apparently "tied to another account" that was not mine. It would take at least 24 hours to investigate. Needless to say, David and I made a trip to the store to get a new phone that I didn't have the money for.

After that was taken care of, we headed to the mall to take pictures with the Easter bunny as a favor to my mother (a long standing tradition that she cannot survive without). I would post it if I had thought to scan it in before work. My hair looked absurd (and had--very obviously, if I might add--caught in the bunny's costumed hand...sigh) and we have our thumbs up like idiots. But much appreciation to my wonderfully supportive boyfriend. He stood in line for a whole hour while nap-deficient, rowdy kids swarmed around us like flies. We rewarded our patience with Auntie Anne's pretzels. Also a tradition.

And just because:

Right before we left the mall, a man called to say that he had found "a phone" in his girlfriend's purse, and saw that David had texted to "do the right thing" with his phone number. I'd like to believe that he was, in fact, doing the right thing, but my Droid became absolutely useless after I turned off the service and flagged it for theft. Then we got the call that it was "found". I'm hoping it was just a coincidence. The pickup was arranged, and I was ecstatic. It was a few moments later that I realized that my new phone was useless...and a complete waste of money.

Dammit.

What we were looking forward to was our Easter dinner plans with Mallory and James. My mother had reserved us a Honeybaked Ham that we were headed to get after our mall adventure. When I called to confirm with her, however, she told me that was supposed to have picked it up before 3pm. Cue aggravation. After arguing with her, Mallory suggested that we go to the store to see if anything could be done.

We went.

They provided.

Yay, ham.

Before heading back, we stopped at Sam's for remaining Easter dinner ingredients. Bravely, I decided to call my bank to see how much money was left from my pathetic paycheck. Did I even have enough to make the drive to South Florida? When I heard the balance, I almost had a heart attack. My new, non-smart phone phone was incapable of bringing up my bank account, so I used Mallory's. That number was no lie. I had miraculously acquired a substantial amount of money. What?? A little more investigation revealed that after two months of waiting for my tax return claim (there was some information that needed to be disputed), it had finally posted to my account. It was all I could do to hold back the tears in the middle of the checkout line. God is SO good!!

Sunday was much less frustrating. Church, nap, cooking, dinner, walking, David's house, Pirates of the Caribbean, home, Airplane, sleep. I meant to take a picture of our superb cooking, but I was too busy being a lard. I ate everything in sight. Yay, diet. We even decided to forego Day 2 of Week 8 in remembrance of the Resurrection Day (ie. we're fat and lazy and needed nap time). Also, most of my nails broke throughout the day. So now they're short and useless. Perfect timing, nails.

Oh, and David and I have registered for our first 5k on May 19th. If you're local, support the cause here.

***

There is still so much to be done before I leave for South Florida this Friday. I'm requesting prayers for David's sanity this week. I suppose for mine, as well. I can NOT wait for this month to be over. Happy Monday, dolls!

Falling short and making excuses: A semantical pick-me-up

Recent inactivity and laziness has caused me to make an attempt at holding myself accountable for things I really do want to do, but haven't yet. It's funny because I wrote this blog earlier this week, and decided to hold off publishing it, only to find out that David had written a similar one last night.

I've been inspired to invest in rudementary tasks to make it seem like I'm being productive.

Things to accomplish in 2012:

1. Marry off my best friend (added bonus for keeping both of our sanities in tact)
2. Re-habituate daily bible reading and study
3. Get David to re-habituate, as well
4. Renew my gym membership
5. Sand, paint, and hang my palette shelf 
6. Read every book on my wish list (a little more than ten)
7. Start making my rag quilt
8. Sew a new zipper on a dress I got at Goodwill a year ago that needed a new zipper before I bought it
9. Finish crocheting David's blanket that I've been working on for an eternity
10. Completely eliminate soda from my diet
11. Get a passport
12. Buy an iPhone and switch to a better carrier
13. Pay off my newly acquired hospital debt (currently a little over $2000)

It's strange to think about how much I've changed in recent years. Once marred by sexual frivolity and lewdness, I've discovered that I've since lost my knack for vulgarity as I continue to nurture a relationship with Christ (which is actually counter-intuitive, given the remaining content of this post). I notice it every time something crass or indecent passes my lips; its foul nature staining them; revealing me as a fraud. It makes me feel naive and innocent; new and refreshed.

As a side note, this post has proven to be all over the place, my apologies.

My relationship with God has been on my heart for the last two weeks. I feel hypocritical and impulsive; like I've lost sight of my spiritual priorities. My fast was a complete and utter bust. Not to mention, discouraging. My spiritual man is weak; completely controlled by its flesh. I'm not reading my bible. I keep saying I'm going to get back into my routine, but I'm really only lying to myself. Even Maggs is back on the wagon while I just sit on the sideline. I'm not making time for God, but rather sliding God into my schedule (occasionally) when I'm done making time for myself, David, and school. And to top it all off, I'm having negative thoughts about people I don't even know. I've received multiple calls at work from strongly accented people who don't speak much English, and elderly who either can't hear me or insist that they have the right number (when, in fact, they do not). Most of the time, I'm rolling my eyes, tuning out the rant they're on, or trying to ignore the increase in my heart rate as I grow irritated at the wasted time. The cut to my heart usually comes after they say "Have a blessed day", or my favorite: "God bless you for being so kind". If only they knew what I was really thinking.

Also, contrary to my initial impression, I've found that being a student at Capella has done just as much for me as I've done in my courses. I recently analyzed my own psychosocial and moral development, only to discover that my childhood reflects one or two of the negative counter parts in Erik Erikson's theory of development (most notably, initiative versus guilt). Not that I'm complaining about it, it was simply an eye-opener. I've learned that my competitive streak most likely began with the birth of my younger brother, and the loss of attention that new baby syndrome brings. I may have conspired to shut my brother out and remain the apple of my parents' eyes; a shining protege showered by love and affection. It may even account for my brother's lack of self-expression or his general disinterest with life. I spent a good five minutes being racked with guilt at this possibility. If you go back far enough, you find the skeletons, apparently.

The only other thing on my mind as of late is my steep decrease in finances. Granted, it was of my own doing, and I gave someone(s) a sizable loan out of the goodness of my heart, but I'm starting to feel the effects of not being able to depend on that financial breathing room, so to speak. When I gave it, my intentions were true and genuine, but several times a day, I find myself bitter in knowing the debt will never be repaid. I didn't anticipate feeling any kind of regret for doing something that I believed had God's blessing. Does that make me a bad person? My heart is heavy. Also, my bank account statement is probably worth more than I actually have in my account, and that saddens me.

I'm out of money, out of energy, and out of excuses. I really just want to get back on my feet. I want to be spiritually refreshed. I want to be surrounded by God's love and let it leak out of me onto everyone I meet. I want to be less of a stumbling block and more of a helping hand. And I want to want it. Pray for me and stay blessed, friends.