Our Arizona Trip

So Jason and I decided to go play in the great state of Arizona. Our main reason for going to visit was to meet the lady from whom we got Korra and Tenchi. While things did fall through with us meeting her, we did get to see her kennel, so that part was awesome.

Our trip began when we flew into Phoenix on the morning of Friday, June 2^nd. From there, we drove around, just exploring the city. We wanted to go eat at Cooper’s Town, which is Alice Cooper’s restaurant. But, Phoenix doesn’t seem to believe in free parking in their downtown area or even reasonably priced parking (the closest lot, which was connected to the restaurant, but not owned by it, was $5 if it was before 2pm or $10 after. By the time we were looking for lunch, it was after 2pm), so we decided it wasn’t worth eating there. Besides, the odds of Alice Cooper being there was slim… Right?

We ended up eating at a little hole-in-the-wall called Paradise Valley Burger Co. OMG, it was sooooo good. This place has been on the show “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” with Guy What’s-His-Face. Jason got the Burger Brulee which has: fried egg, bacon, onion, burnt sugar, and havarti. His eyes rolled back into his head with the first bite. And the second. And the third. I just got a “plain ol’” cheeseburger. But I did get French Toast fries (which were little pieces of French toast with a cup o’syrup for dipping). I’m embarrassed at the rate those things went into my mouth.

Before our trip, Jason had looked up some places that we might want to visit while in Phoenix. One thing he found was the Phoenix Art Museum, which has a “Firefly Room.” The picture he saw looked cool, so we decided “why not.” As we were pulling into the parking lot, I saw a banner stating that the museum currently had a limited-time Samurai exhibition. This was meant to be!!! We spent the majority of our visit looking at the Samurai exhibition. Fascinating. Just fascinating. Finally, we went traipsing along to find the Firefly room. Oh sweet baby cheez-its!!!! I posted a video on Facebook, so if you missed that, you’ll have to see about finding that. The video or any pictures do not do this room justice. It’s a pitch black room and it’s slightly a maze (you go in one door and have to navigate to the exit). The walls, floor, and ceiling are mirror. Hanging from the ceiling are thousands of strands of lights. The lights flicker and change color. It’s just simply breathtaking. Jason and I had the room to ourselves for the majority of the time we were in that room. At one point, we just plopped down in a corner and just watched the twinkling lights.

After the museum and lunch, we decided to head on to our first stop of the night – a little town called Payson. This was just a small town and basically a half-way point between Phoenix and our next true stop, which was Snowflake. We did nothing more than eat dinner at a little restaurant right beside our hotel and then pass out from exhaustion. Saturday morning, we woke up to continue our adventure.

In Snowflake we learned that roads can look like driveways. And we were very, very happy that the full-sized car we had originally reserved through Hertz had been unavailable. Meaning, they upgraded us to an SUV for no additional charge. We needed an SUV or a truck to navigate around out there. In Snowflake we got to play with some Malamutes and just see where Korra and Tenchi came from. We got to play with some puppies and tried to figure out how to smuggle one or 3 into our pockets. We actually got see Tenchi’s sister. She was the spitting image of him, so that was a stab to our hearts.

After spending a couple of hours there, we left the property to head to our next stop – the Grand Canyon. On the way there, we planned to stop in Winslow. If you’re a fan of the Eagles, then you may be familiar with the song, “Take It Easy.” If you’re not, then there’s a line in the song that references Winslow, AZ. The town very smartly has profited from the song and a corner is made up as a tourist trap. There’s a store on the corner that plays Eagles’ songs all day. There’s even a flatbed Ford truck at the corner. This pit stop was one of the highlight of the trip for me.

Now, on the way to Winslow, we saw a sign for a meteor crater. Of course we were intrigued and decided to make that a waypoint. Whoa, seriously glad we did. Check out the website (http://meteorcrater.com/). Look at these stats: Meteor Crater is nearly one mile across, 2.4 miles in circumference and more than 550 feet deep.

After seeing the crater and the corner in Winslow, we continued on to the Grand Canyon. Now, Jason warned me that I was going to dislike him a great deal Sunday morning because he wanted to be in the park in time to actually watch the sunrise. Just in case you need more clarification, this means: we had to wake up when it was still dark outside, head into the park, traipse around until Mr. Obsessive found the absolutely perfect spot so we could park our rear ends and then proceed to listen to the specially built playlist that he had created for this moment. While I did want to stab him a bit when he first woke me up from our “nap,” (by the time we got dinner and checked into our hotel, a nap was really all we had time for) I have to admit that it was worth it. After experiencing the beauty of the world waking up, we headed back to our hotel for another nap before heading back into the park… Because, as you can probably guess, Jason also wanted to watch the sunset. I hate to admit that by the time the sun was setting, I was over the Grand Canyon and just ready to move on to our next destination. While Jason did again have a specially made playlist for this event, I only half-heartedly listened/paid attention.

Finally, we were done with the Grand Canyon and that area. Thus began our journey to the city of Sedona. Unfortunately, we drove in at night, getting to our hotel just around midnight, so we didn’t get to see what exactly we were passing (in fact, pretty much all of our city hopping happened at night like we were gypsies, so there’s quite a bit of Arizona that we haven’t actually seen). Monday morning when we went out to explore, we were shocked at the beauty of the area. There’s a little airport in the area with a great overlook, so we headed there. We definitely want to take a trip back to Arizona to stay longer in the Sedona area and, hopefully, I’ll get to go skydiving there. I can’t even begin to imagine how beautiful that jump would be (the one time I’ve done it was out of the Salisbury airport… It was a great site and all that jazz. But, jumping over the red rocks???? Yes, please!!!).

Leaving Sedona on Monday, we headed to the small town of Jerome. Population of 462. Although, that’s about to go down to 461 as one of the residents is moving away. However, we met a guy named Taylor who literally that day found out his girlfriend was preggers, so the population will go back up to 462. Jerome was the coolest little town. It was a mining town back in the day and supposedly completely haunted. The town plays up the haunted aspect. We had lunch at a place called the Haunted Hamburger, where I had a Ghostly Burger. We took a ghost tour that evening (Taylor was our tour guide). We went to stay in the big hotel there, which is called Jerome Grand Hotel (http://www.jeromegrandhotel.net/). Doesn’t it look spooky?? It was once upon a time a hospital. We went into the lobby, but decided not to explore the hotel any further. We’ll save that for when we stay there. There can be long waiting periods for the hotel! If you want to stay there on any given weekend, you could be looking at a 6 month wait. If you want to stay there around Halloween (and specifically that night), you’re looking at a 3 year wait. There is a specific room that has a sordid past and to book that room has a year waiting list. They actually had a vacancy on Monday! The guy in the lobby said that they usually do have rooms available during the week. We almost stayed there. We wanted to so badly. But, alas, we had already booked our hotel in Scottsdale (one of the neighboring towns to Phoenix) because we were flying out Tuesday morning. Since Jerome is about an hour and a half from the Phoenix/Scottsdale area, we thought it best to just stick with the hotel we had already booked.

This trip was, for the most part, so much fun. Jason and I had a blast just roadtripping around the state. We got to see a good bit of Arizona, but there are still quite a few places that we didn’t get to visit. Hopefully, those places will be in the itinerary the next time we head out west.  

The Thailand Saga Continues Again

[Sheesh, I'm starting to think this Thailand saga needs a theme song and catch phrase. Like a soap opera or something. Anyway - on with the story...]

Finally, finally, finally, we reached our hotel. After saying goodbye to my family and promising my mom that we'd call her whenever we woke up, Jason and I headed up to our room to pass out. At this point, we had been awake for basically 48 hours.

This is where we stayed.

But once we got to our room, we discovered that our room was actually a little apartment! I wasn't expecting that and am not sure if Jason was or not (he had booked the hotel, but hadn't told me much about it).

When you entered, you came into the full sized (albeit) small kitchen. Continuing into the apartment brought you to your "living room." Off of the living room was the bedroom. Next to the bedroom was a room o'closets. Seriously, it was a room with 2 built in armoires. Next to that room was the bathroom. We suddenly had a burst of energy as we checked out every nook and cranny of our "apartment."

One thing we thought was neat - the electricity didn't work unless your room key was plugged into this slot on the wall. Although, this kinda sucked because when we would go out exploring the city during the day, we couldn't leave the air conditioner running to keep the room cool. And trust me, the winter in Thailand is disgustingly hot. And humid. You don't even wanna know what summers are like there. Here are a few pictures of our humble, temporary abode:

Here's the kitchen

Our living room. The door leading to the bedroom is on the right. 

The bedroom

The room of closets!

One view from our balcony

Another view... I can't remember if this is
from our window or from another area of the hotel.

Anyway - we finally satisfied ourselves with checking out our new home and the weariness hit us again. I don't even remember if we bothered with PJs or if we just stripped down to our underroos and collapsed in the bed. Either way, it was around 4:00am (I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open at this point and wasn't making coherent sentences). We slept for hours. One of us would sort of wake up, but then we'd get pulled right back down into Sleepy Land. We finally woke up around 2:00pm I woke up in a panic thinking I was wasting precious sightseeing time. I called mom to let her know we were up and she gave us directions to my aunt's house, which is where mom stays every time she goes to Thailand.

Let me back up and give you a little family tree... My mom has 4 siblings. In order of age its: my aunt (A1), my mom, another aunt (A2), an uncle, then another aunt (A3). Mom says I take after the youngest aunt... especially in my short temper (that's another story). I would tell you everyone's names, buuuut I couldn't even begin to spell them. Mom stays with A1. My grandmother usually lives with my uncle (I think), but when mom is visiting, grandma stays with A1 since my mom is there. A3 lives close to my uncle and is the primary caregiver to my grandma. She also comes to stay with A1 when mom's in town... So, A1's house gets pretty dang crowded for a few months every other year or so.

After Jason and I got showered, we ready to continue our adventure. So we headed to...

[to be continued]

The Thailand Saga Continues

After making it through customs and all that fun mess, we started to make our way out of the airport to find transportation to our hotel only to find a small handful of my family waiting for us: my mom, my brother, one of my aunts, and 3 of my cousins.

My mom and brother had flown to Thailand on November 1st. Jason and I had wanted to go with them so that all of us could be there together, but we were using the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday as a buffer against our vacation time from work. My mom only makes it home every few years, so when she goes she stays for about 3 months. My brother, on the other hand, was actually flying out at 5:00am that Monday morning. So, they decided to just come on to the airport to wait for Jason and me to get in and then we would all hang out in the airport until Rob (my bro) could board his flight. 

At this point, Jason and I had been up for way too long. We were giddy with the excitement of being in Thailand and seeing my family, but we were also a little delirious with lack of sleep. We ended up hanging out in the airport from a little before midnight to 3:00am (at the time Rob was able to go through the security checkpoint to head to his gate. While there, we took a few pictures of the decorations around the Bangkok airport:

After saying goodbye to my brother, we piled into the van with the remaining family members and began the journey back into the heart of the city and our hotel. On the way to the hotel, Jason and I were hungry, so we stopped at a 7/11 (which you can find on every other street corner in Thailand... this is NOT an exaggeration) and picked up a few provisions to tide us over. Here's one of the things we bought.

Yes, those are salmon flavored Lays chips. They were good, but not as good as the seaweed flavored ones we had later in our trip. But, I digress....

Finally, finally, finally, we reached our hotel. After saying goodbye to my family and promising my mom that we'd call her whenever we woke up, Jason and I headed up to our room to pass out. At this point, we had been awake for basically 48 hours. But once we got to our room, we discovered that our room was....

[to be continued]

Step into my time traveling machine...

So I'm trying to get back to my blogging ways. I truly miss documenting some random moment of my life - whether it's big or small. Just some piece I found amusing/interesting/confusing/whatever.

If you've read my previous posts, you saw that the one last I wrote before my huge sabbatical was about Jason and me buying plane tickets to head to Thailand. I really meant to keep notes throughout our trip so that I could regale you all with stories of the adventures Jason and I had. But, I think I just got too caught up in enjoying myself. Honestly, I'm even bad with taking pictures of things. Thank God for Jason. We wouldn't have nearly as many pictures as we do if he hadn't been there. He's so much better about documenting our capers, at least with photographs.

For some some reason, our Thailand trip seems to be at the forefront of both of minds. We've been bringing it up a lot lately to some of our friends. This got me thinking about my blog and how I should relive that vacation now and in a bigger way.

So we bought our tickets in June 2013. We had to wait until November for our actual trip. From the moment we bought our plane tickets we went into overdrive with making lists - of things we needed to buy for the trip and things we needed to do before we left. Some days we felt that our leave date would never get here. Other days, we were shocked that time was flying by.

Finally, the magical day arrived. We left on a Saturday morning at the ass crack of dawn (did you know there's a 4:00am as well as a 4:00pm???). Our awesome friends, Josh and Jessica Coleman, took us to the airport. We were planning to drive ourselves because we didn't want to be an burden on anyone since we had such an early leave time. But, Jess wouldn't hear of it. They also picked us up when we came home. Thankfully our return flight wasn't too horrible of a time.

Anyhoo - we got to the very quiet airport. It may have been early, but you can bet Jason and I were WIDE AWAKE with the excitement of where we were going. This wasn't just one of our normal vacations. We were going to a new continent. I was going to see family members I hadn't seen in 18 years. Hell, I was going to meet family I had NEVER met. Even cooler - Jason was going to meet the maternal side of my family for the first time ever!

Our flight took us from Greensboro, NC to Washington, DC. From there, we headed west to Seattle. Then to Japan... then finally Bangkok, Thailand. Amount of time it took us to get from North Carolina to Thailand? 30-ish hours. Amount of time I slept on the planes? Umm, just a couple of hours and not all together. Usually, I get in a moving vehicle of any kind and I'm out. Don't even need sleeping pills. But, nope, not this time. I don't know why either. Our longest flight (Seattle to Japan) was about 10 hours. Jason had decided we should spend the extra money to upgrade our cheap ass seats to get not as cheap ass seats. I'm glad he did. We had a little extra leg room and our own personal TV screens built into the seats in front of us. Even better - the row we were in only had 2 seats, while most of the rows on the outer edges of the plane had three. This was nice because we didn't have to worry about some random seat mate. I popped in my headphones and proceeded to watch 4 movies back-to-back.

We landed in Thailand around midnight on Sunday night/Monday morning. Remember, we were up at 4am our time, Saturday morning. At this time, the time difference between here and there as 12 hours on the dot, with Thailand being ahead (so if it was, say, 4pm Sunday afternoon here, it would be 4am Monday morning in Thailand).

After making it through customs and all that fun mess, we started to make our way out of the airport to find transportation to our hotel only to find...

[...to be continued]

Better than yesterday

On July 11, 2013, I attempted and conquered a race called The Bear Run. This is a 5 mile race in which you climb 1541 feet of elevation. Upon crossing the finish line, I burst into tears and proclaimed out loud that I was never doing this race again... If you've read my previous posts (yes, I am aware that it's been over a year since my last), then you know that I've said that before about other races and that I usually don't listen to myself. This post is about one of those times.

I really was not planning to do this race again. Seriously. Scout's honor. This run was so hellish, especially the last mile and a half. At one point during that portion of the track I turned to the girl behind me (a complete stranger) and announced that "I don't think I can do this." Her response was to shrug her shoulders and make a "what do you want me to do about it" sound. Thanks. Thanks a bunch for the encouragement.

Registration for The Bear opened in February. I messaged a friend of mine (Shellen) who had done this race last year to let her know. When Shellen heard that I wasn't planning to do this again she said, "But, we did this together last year. It wouldn't be the same without you." The next thing I knew, I was registered and freaking out. But - eh - I had MONTHS to whip my lazy butt into gear. "I'll be fine," I told myself.

The days started to fly by, as they tend to do. Suddenly it was the day before the race (Wednesday, July 9, 2014). Now, don't get me wrong - this entire time was not spent sitting on my couch eating bonbons (don't I wish???). I'm active in Crossfit and I do a bunch of other races even though I am a horrible runner. I completed my 3rd half marathon in April (remember from an earlier post how I said I'd NEVER do a second after I completed my first? If not, you can catch up here (side note - I'm actually registered for half marathons # 4 and 5! The fourth will be in October of this year and the fifth is in April of next year).

 All day at work, my nerves would suddenly start tingling as I would think about what was happening the next day, but having to actually do some work helped to (somewhat) keep my mind off of it. Then 5:00pm came - quitting time. Immediately, my nerves went into overdrive. The butterflies in my stomach grew exponentially and started their dance of destruction. This was the day before the race. I knew this meant I'd be a wreck the day of.

And I wasn't wrong. I woke up and just knew I was going to throw up or burst into tears... Or both. The killer was knowing that I had to wait until 7pm for the race to start and a close to 2 hour drive to get to the town where this race is held. The good news about the commute - a group from my crossfit box was also doing this race and we had rented a van so we could carpool together. That helped a lot. They are such an awesome group. Another thing that helped - throughout the day, numerous people sent out encouragement to me and my teammates on Facebook. My heart overflowed with the love that was being sent our way.

Once we got to the race site and got checked in, I was literally shaking with fear. You have to hit the 3 mile mark by a certain point or you get picked up by the sag wagon. Of course I didn't want to be picked up. Not only would that mean I wouldn't get the awesome race medal, but that would mean I'd be a failure. If I made it past that marker, the race gets even harder than it was prior to that point and I wasn't looking forward to that at all. I just wanted this race to start and then for me to get it over with. And I didn't want to let anyone down along the way (myself, my fellow group members, the "fans" who had encouraged us).

Finally, the starter gun was shot and we were off. Immediately, the majority of my nerves quieted down. Suddenly, I just knew I was going to be awesome (well, as awesome as I can be). I was going to kill The Bear. I could do this... And I was right. I made it to and past that 3 mile marker like a champ. I crushed each mile like there was going to be ice cream waiting at the finish line (damn, why oh why wasn't there ice cream???). I finished this race for the 2nd time in my life.

And, ya know what? I was smiling as I came across the finish line this year (SO much better than the tears last year). Also? I DIDN'T proclaim that I wasn't going to do this race next year.

Leavin' on a jet plane

Finally, finally, finally!! The Hubster and I are going to Thailand. I'm so stinkin' excited!

I've been to Thailand twice now - the first time was when I was 12, the second time I was 16. That was eighteen years ago. Jason has never been. He's never met that side of my family (my mom's kinfolk).

From pretty much day one of our marriage, we've been wanting to go. But, we just focused on the want and not so much the plotting. I think we would get discouraged at the cost. Plane tickets to Thailand are very expensive.Very. I don't know why we never set up a game plan to save up... maybe the task was too daunting?

But, just over a year ago (maybe closer to two years now), we started a savings account that we decided to build up for house projects (redoing our master bathroom, for example).  To help us build up this account, Jason split up his paychecks. Each pay day X amount would automatically go into our checking account and Y amount would go into that savings account. So, in the year and change that we've been building up that account, we've got a nice bit saved up.

In July 2012, Jason and I were visiting my hometown. My brother informed me that he and our mom were heading to Thailand at the end of 2013, so why didn't Jason and I come along too? Why not, indeed!

Up until today, the plotting that Jason and I have done for this trip has just been somewhat dreamlike. Still not exactly a concrete being. But, today, shit got real. 

We bought our plane tickets. That's right - We. Bought. Our. Plane. Tickets.  We've waited so long for this. We still have to wait until November. But, knowing that we have an actual date set... Eeeee!!!!

Next steps? Booking our hotel. Planning our itinerary. Buying some necessary items. Counting down the days. Making pack lists. Actually packing. Actually GOING!

The Birds

"Close the  car door! What are you thinking??! Close the damn door!"

These were things my manly husband was screaming shrilly at me. I could only stand there and laugh, tears rolling down my cheeks, my abs hurting. That is, until I turned around and realized that maybe Jason did have a reason to be frightened. I was alone on the outside of the car, having closed the door at some point in my doubled-over-laughing stage (and I'm 99% sure I heard the click of the door locking). With them. 

We had gone to the beach for a little get away. This particular evening, we had just had dinner and were cruising around, just seeing the sites. We came across a parking lot that led to a dock for boat drops. I saw a few seagulls just flying around and I had the bright idea.

I'm going to feed them my leftovers! 

Jason tried to put the kibosh on this idea right away. But, I tend to not listen to him. In my head, things sound like fun and they. must. be. done. 

As I was preoccupied with getting out of the car and reaching into the backseat to get my to-go box, I didn't notice what Jason was seeing. The few seagulls had multiplied into MANY. What the hell? Are they part rabbit? The MANY seagulls had gathered behind me as I was still facing the car. They were waiting expectantly for whatever I had in the magical box. This is why Jason was screaming (shrilly) for me to close the car door. He was scared that the mass of birds would fly into the car to see if there was more grub to be had. 

All that was running through my head at this time was "oh shit. If I open this box, a scene from Hitchcock's The Birds is going to be re-enacted right here, right now. I don't wanna be Tippi Hedren!"

But, I wanted to feed the birds. Part of my tiny brain was screaming, "that still sounds like fun. Do it." So, I slowly opened the box, keeping my eyes firmly locked on the gull closest to me, staring into those beady black eyes, mentally telling him not to make any sudden moves. 

I gently pulled a piece of flounder from my box. I peed a little when all the gulls cocked their heads and inched forward. With a girly scream (I'm pretty sure it came from me and not from The Hubster safely locked in the car), I flung the fish as far away from me as I could. Thankfully, it worked. The gaggle of gulls immediately went into a frenzy to get the small piece of food I had tossed. 

Being braver, I threw more food in the fray (still throwing it as far away as possible), getting a kick out of watching the birds fighting over the meal. Jason, who still was refusing to get out of the car, cracked the window a little, imploring me to get back in the car. 

"Don't you think you've fed them enough? Why don't you get back in the car while they're distracted?"

With a sigh, I concurred that maybe it was wisest to stop while I was ahead. Safely back in the car, I dissolved into giggles again as I replayed in my head - and then out loud, imitating Jason - his frantic cries, demanding that I shut the damn car door . 

Good times.  

Just a little beasty

If you've read some of my past blogs or if we're connected on Facebook, then you know I'm in love with Crossfit. That is one of the things that makes up my universe. What can I say? I really enjoy Crossit. I love the camaraderie, I love the suck, I love it all. Ok, granted, when I'm in the middle of a workout I begin questioning my sanity. But, when I finish and I realize what I just finished.... I feel invincible. Breathless, but invincible.

I started actual Crossfit classes at the end of April 2012 (after going through a month of the basics, learning some of the core pieces, etc). Crossfit is a scary beast, but it will change your life for the better. You won't realize how much stronger or faster you've gotten until you stop and look back over your time line. We keep a notebook where we write down the WODs (workout of the day) and our results of said WOD. 

I recently have had two workouts that made me realize how much better I have gotten...

The first time was this past Wednesday. We had to do sets of wall balls (50, 40, 30, 20, 10) with a 400 meter run after each set of wall balls. Wall balls are where you have to stand close to a wall, while holding a medicine ball. Then you squat. As you stand up you throw the wall up and against the wall, having to hit a high mark on the wall. You catch the ball as you're squatting back down.  What's even more "fun" is after finishing the sets, when you turn to run, you realize your quads have locked up and you have to "learn" how to work your legs so you don't just collapse (I won't tell you how close I've come to eating the floor). 

Anyhoo - it took me 21:51 to finish this WOD. But, back on October 4th we did this same WOD and it took me 25:34 to finish back then. Holy shit, I've gotten faster! 

The second occurrence that made me wake up a little was today. On January 12th, my box (as Crossfit gyms are called) began a Paleo Diet Challenge. A lot of Crossfitters believe in eating Paleo or as Paleo-ish as possible. On that day, we took measurements of different body parts: biceps, chest, waist, hip, thigh. We recorded our weights. We had to do a WOD. This WOD was a 400 meter run, 21 kettlebell swings, and 12 pull ups... and you had to do three rounds of that. We were given a 15 minute cap. On January 12th, I barely made the cut off. I finished in 14:58. Two freakin' seconds to spare. 

Today was the end of that challenge. We all remeasured our parts, weighed ourselves again, and - of course - redid that workout. I was nervous about the workout. What if I didn't have a better time? What if I didn't even finish this time (I cut it pretty damn close last time). 

I finished that WOD in TWELVE MINUTES, FORTY-SEVEN SECONDS! I cut off 2 minutes and 11 seconds. It took what was left of my strength to not burst into tears of joy when I saw the clock after I did my last rep. 

I am so proud of myself. I am proud to see how far I've come in less than a year. Yes, I still have lots of self-doubt ("can I do this workout??"). But, slowly and surely I'm getting over it. As I continue to get faster and stronger and BETTER!

A bit of untarnished soul

I'm a very cynical person. When I see people panhandling I think of a myriad of un-nice thoughts like "I can't believe you'd rather stand there and beg for money, rather than earn it" or "I bet this jerkwad is running a scam. He'll stand here all day, getting handouts, and then he'll go get in his Mercedes parked two blocks away."

But this evening, I saw something different.

On my way home from work, I ran to a little shopping center for a quick errand. As I was stopped at a  red light to leave the strip mall, there was a young man and his dog on the median. The driver in front of me rolled her window down and handed the man a bag of different items. I couldn't tell what all was in the bag, but I think I saw some toiletries. After the man took the bag, the woman grabbed his arm and had a conversation with him. She petted his dog. He kissed her hand before she pulled away when the light turned green. I didn't hear any of the exchange, but something about the whole thing actually moved me to tears.

The man looked back at my car and I'm sure he saw the tears in my eyes. He waved to me and through my watery gaze, I waved back, offering a tremulous smile, as I wished to some higher power that I had something, anything I could give him. I had bought some candy on my errand, and I thought about offering that to him.  But, I felt that would be a mockery.

Tears streamed down my cheeks my whole way home.

Maybe I'm not as cynical as I thought (feared) I was.

Happy Anniversary Part II

On Friday I wrote about mine and Jason's 15 year anniversary (missed it? Here ya go). Well, today is our other anniversary.

Friday was the anniversary of our relationship as a couple. But eleven wonderful years ago today, Jason and I took our relationship to the ultimate level. On December 16, 2001, Jason made me the happiest woman on earth by becoming my husband.

These past eleven years have truly been beyond amazing. I can honestly say that I married my best friend. When I have good news, he's the first person I want to tell. When I need comfort, he's the one I turn to. He makes me laugh, he wipes away my tears, he doesn't mind going shopping with me (and he'll even hold my purse while I'm trying on clothes!). What can I say? I caught a good one.... and I'm not letting go.

So, happy 11th (wedding) anniversary to my best friend, my soul mate, the man I'm honored to call my husband.

Happy Anniversary Part I

In August of 1997, I started my Freshman year at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I was about 3 hours away from home - the first time I'd really been away from home on my own - and was loving the freedom and excitement of college. Being on my own for the first time, I decided I didn't want a boyfriend. I wanted to be single and concentrate on finding me. 

But, in November of that year I met a guy named Jason.... this guy irrevocably changed my life for the better. We quickly became friends. Our favorite thing to do was just hang out until sometime in the early morning (sometimes until 3:00 or 4:00), just watching Cartoon Network. 

Fifteen years ago today, our relationship changed from "just friends" to  "it's official, we're a couple." 

I can't believe so many years have gone by. Our relationship has been nowhere near perfect. But, anytime we've hit a snag, we've always come through stronger than before. 

Happy 15 year (overall) anniversary, baby! I love you so much more than you can ever know. Bring on the next 15 years. I know they're gonna be epic.

Look Up in the Sky...

It's a bird, it's plane, it's... ME!

Back in the spring I had a dream that I went skydiving. When I woke up, I felt so peaceful and wonderful that I knew I had to make that dream become a reality.

I started looking up jump sites that were close to me and found a couple, but I never went further than just researching into things. I don't know why. Mainly it was the fear factor. I want to jump out of a plane... but do I really?

Months went by and I still had the idea in the back of my mind. It was just a distant thought of "Yeah, I want to do it. Maybe I'll do it one day. Maybe not." Then in late October I learned that someone I know personally did it. Getting to actually talk to someone that I knew (versus just random comments from strangers online) was very helpful. It cemented my "I've gotta do this" mentality.

In early November I contacted two places - both about an hour away from my home -  to get more information and get a feeling for the companies. From talking with them both, I decided to go with a company called Piedmont Skydiving which is in a small town called Salisbury. In that city, there's a very small airport (emphasis on the "very") and that's where PS has their facility. On November 9th, I called to make my reservations and put down my $50, nonrefundable deposit. There was no backing out now!

Fast forward through two long weeks of anticipation and finally my Big Day was here. This morning I was a bundle of nerves as Jason and I drove down to Salisbury. Upon arriving at the airport, I had to fill out pages and pages of liability waivers, get outfitted in the harness, and kiss the hubster good-bye as the crew and I headed toward the Barbie's Dream Plane (swear to god, this thing was that little).

Once in the plane, we climbed to 10,000 feet before plummeting back down to the earth. Ok, so I really only plummeted for about 30 seconds before the parachute was released. After that point, it was a fairly nice glide down.

I will definitely go skydiving again. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever done in my life. I still can't believe I did it because I don't consider myself a daredevil. But, I guess a (small) part of me is!

Here are the videos of my journey. Enjoy!

Vera-ly I say unto thee

Do you remember when Vera Bradley purses came out? Females all across the nation went nuts (and bankrupt) over these floral-patterned purses. Except for this female, that is. The first time I ever saw one of these monstrosities, the first thought that flitted into my common-folk brain was, “holy shit, they've turned grandma’s wallpaper into a fashion accessory.”

Even if I did like one of the patterns I sure as hell couldn't afford it. Eventually patterns get retired (with full pension plans) and the prices of those pieces drop dramatically. But, the newly reduced cost is usually still above my spending plane. And lest ye forget – I don’t care for the sight of the products.

Yesterday, a co-worker had emailed out a coupon to a little local gift-shop-type boutique. The coupon was for 25% off your entire purchase. Knowing that this store sold cute novelty items (jewelry, candles, and the like) and it’s close to my work place, I thought why not take a trip there. So, on our lunch break, two co-workers (the infamous Melissa being one, Jennifer being the other) and I headed there for a shopping extravagance.

The store was small and tightly packed. You’re forced to take small, Geisha-like steps to scoot around different display cases and racks of baubles surrounded with ribbons. If you speak above a breathy whisper, the sales ladies glare at you disapprovingly. At one point I was just using hand signals – some mix of sign language and gang signs - with Jennifer and I think I moved the air too roughly because the librarianclerk cocked a haughty eyebrow my way.

At the back of store, there was a large section of Vera Bradley merchandise. For kicks and giggles, I decided to check out this area and see what ridiculous patterns were hip nowadays and what type of items I could get said pattern on. Good lord, pencils? I can buy a pack of 10 Vera Bradley pencils and that’ll only cost me $15?  Oh my god, just buy a pack of #2 pencils (you can buy 100 of those for, like, $1.00) and then paint a design on them yourself. Way cheaper. And probably way better looking too.

Melissa, intrigued by my snorting laughter (silent snooty sales ladies be damned), eventually wandered over to me to see what had captivated my attention.

“Look at this wallet,” I cried out to her.

Melissa stammers, “What the hell? It looks like... a... jungle...”

Both of us at the same time, “threw up!” (Great minds and all that jazz). And, no, I can’t make this stuff up. A jungle that threw up is exactly the best way to describe the design on this wallet (and the matching bag and matching luggage tag and matching chastity belt).

The two of us continued to make fun of some of the other patterns, before realizing that we needed to head out soon to get back to work on time. We found Jennifer, who had found a goody for herself. We all trooped to the checkout counter. While there, we noticed a display of Vera Bradley Iphone cases. As the cashier rang up Jennifer’s purchase, we flipped through the cases. I actually saw one with a design that wasn't grotesque. That case was sitting next to one that was. Jennifer noticed that the price tag on the ok one was more expensive than the Quasimodo one. Jennifer mused out loud, “I wonder why this one costs less” My reply, “because it’s uglier.”

The sales lady didn't appreciate that one. In the snootiest tone she could conjure (seriously, I felt a cold draft blow by), she informed us that the cases “are different types” – one’s a hard case. One’s a soft case. One’s made out of children’s skin. One’s made out of unicorn horns.

Really? Your name tag doesn't say, “Hello my name is Vera.” So, don’t act all high and mighty like you had a personal hand in creating this “artwork”... which resembles a cat’s uncleaned litter box.

With all that being said, would you believe I actually found a pattern today that I really like? Don’t worry, I didn't buy the purse (even though it was a great size and had a wonderful amount of pouches). Even with my 25% off coupon, the price on that bag was still more than 2/3 my annual salary.

An awesome(??) present

One random Saturday, Jason and I were just wandering the aisles of one of these box stores that sells everything from toilet paper to credenzas. We like to browse through these stores if we don’t have anything better to do (which is often. Don’t judge me).

As we rounded one turn, a box caught my eye.

I want one!

Pretty awesome device there.

But, check out the kid on the box. If I had human kids I so would not buy this for them (no, I’m not saying I’d buy this for my furry babies, either. None of them really seems interested in drawing).

Yeah, good job on the marketing plan there, geniuses at “Grafix.” I can see parents picking up the box... and immediately visions of colorful hand prints all over the walls, the dog, and the brand new Chintz sofa flash through mommy’s mind. Look, there’s a glimpse of mommy backed into a corner, drinking straight from a bottle of merlot, eyes wide as she takes in the horror of it all.

Hmmm, I have a niece who lives three hours away. And Christmas is coming.

Check out my stems

If you've read my past posts, then you know that I like trying different procedures in the hopes of bettering myself.

My latest thing is Sclerotherapy. What the hell is that? It's a treatment for spider veins. For years, I've had those veins running up the back of my legs, making me self conscious. And that sucks because I think my legs are one of my best features. From years of being fairly active (dance, Tae Kwon Do, now Crossfit and running) and of wearing high high heels, I have pretty nice calves. If I say so, myself. And I do.

My veins never stopped me from showing off my legs. But, I was always aware that those hideous blue tracks were there. Over the past few years, I've been looking into having some kind of vein removal treatment and started reading up on the procedures. I actually did contact a few places a couple of years ago, but some reason never followed through. But, I finally decided to go for it.

Earlier this year, I bought a voucher off of Groupon for some cellulite treatments (see, told ya I'm all about trying different procedures) and I liked the doctor's office. They offered vein removal, so during one of my cellulite treatments I talked to the doctor about treating my veins.

As I learned, I'd have to wear compression socks for awhile after my treatments, I thought I'd wait until the weather turned cold so that I could hide those socks under pants.  I'm so glad I waited. It turns out I have to wear thigh high "panty hose" because some the veins that I had treated were above  my knees, so calf high socks wouldn't work.

Wearing the "panty hose" wouldn't be so bad... if I were a delicate flower. But, I'm part ox or some other equally ungraceful beast. Within 24 hours of owning these damned things, I had runs and holes all over them. Sonofa.

Also, it wouldn't be so bad if the people who made these bleeping things understood height differences. The way you select which size you need (out of the standard small, medium, large, X large grouping) is by measuring different parts of your leg - ankle, calf, thigh. Then you read the handy little sizing chart on the packet. Where your measurements fall in that chart is the size you get. Now, please notice that HEIGHT is not one of the measurements.

Here's a picture on the box.

As always, sorry for the blurry picture.

Notice where the top of the stocking stops on the leggy model in this picture. I don't know how tall she is, but I'm 5'4" and the tops of the leggings basically comes up to my girl bits. Very comfortable. Hey. Assholes. I only needed thigh high. Not freaking armpit high. 

But, despite the joy of the compression hose, I am very happy with the results I'm already seeing from my vein treatments. Tomorrow will be one week since I had my first treatment. I go back on November 14th for a check-up and, if needed, to have some veins retreated (yes, it could take a few treatments). 

Now to start figuring out what my next "body project" will be...

I'm back... I hope.

I've missed this. Just sitting down, babbling on about something random about my life. Where have I been? Mainly training my ass off. This coming Sunday Jason and I will be running the Army Ten Miler. I'm so excited about that. This race starts and ends at the Pentagon. So I've stepped up my game and I've been training at Crossfit 3 days a week and trying to run 2 days a week (that latter bit didn't always happen). The other days were used to catch up on my reading (I get grumpy if I go too long without reading) and trying to clean my house.

But, as you saw my post's title - I hope I'm back. The reason I may not be back is because I'm obviously trying to kill myself... but not consciously. Let me explain.

Last night I decided to do the prepared adult thing and fix lunch for today. That way, I wouldn't be scrambling around in the morning. We had a package of sugar-cured ham in our fridge and I thought to myself, "A ham sammich sounds tasty." The ham was cut into long, wide strips and one piece would be too much for me. So I cut a bit off and made my sandwich.

Fast forward to today at lunch, I'm chowing down and trying to figure out what is up with this ham. It's tough and gummy. The flavor's ok, but not the greatest. As usual, I was eating lunch with Melissa and I actually apologized about my unladylike eating of my lunch. I made some offhand joke about me looking like a lion eating my prey.

Fast forward to my house, after work. I'm whining to Jason about the tough ham. He squints at me and says "how gummy was the ham?" I reply, "pretty damn gummy. It was kinda annoying to eat."

With that, he takes the package out of the fridge... only to find that the ham was uncooked. What the hell??? I just ate raw meat for lunch??? So, about that offhand joke I made. About the lion eating prey. Yeah, not so much a joke.

I immediately texted Melissa to tell her about my outstanding brilliance. Now she and Jason are making fun of me on Facebook. If you're friends with me there, feel free to join in the action. If we're not friends, and you wanna poke a little fun at me, send a request.

I sorta deserve it for being a dingbat.

It's not you, it's me.

Awhile back I wrote a post about some facial treatments I was starting to do - microdermabrasion and chemical peels (if you missed it, you can catch up here).

The technician I'm going to is really nice.  I assume her prices are reasonable (at least she keeps telling me how her prices beat pretty much everyone else's in town). And I do enjoy the microdermabrasion treatments. I even got brave and decided to have a second chemical peel done (this second time was much better than the first).

But - ah yes, the almighty "but" - circumstances have changed. While I want to continue with these treatments, I'm not sure I want to continue with her. Honestly, I do want to stop for a bit because of financial reasons. Jason and I are trying to tighten our purse strings and take care of some credit card debt we have (anyone want to give us a random "Happy September" present of cold, hard cash?). So, we're trying to stop some frivolous spending.

Another reason I want to move on to bigger and brighter pastures is because my technician has screwed up my schedule. When I first starting going to her, she took appointments on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Perfect! After having these facial treatments done, you can't workout because the sweat getting into your pores will sting. Well, Thursdays were out for a possible appointment day because I do a Crossfit class on Thursdays. So, I was good with one of the other two days.

Now, she's opened a new salon in a town about an hour away (I think she lives somewhere between that city and this one). But, she says she has so many clients here in Winston-Salem that she can't, and won't, leave the salon I've been going to. So, she'll be here on Mondays and spend all her other days in that other city. Great. Except... I'm still taking one class at the YMCA and Monday's the night for that class. What the hell, woman?

So, my question is - how do I "break up" with her? Most of you are probably thinking, "what's the big deal." Just don't schedule a new appointment and ignore her calls. Eventually she'll get the picture and go away. Or, even better, be an adult and tell her the truth. Something along the lines of, "I really like you, but I need to see other facial people. It's not you, it's me. I just need someone who offers me more appointment options." But, I can't do that. I guess part of me is worried that I'll hurt her feelings or she'll think badly of me.

I actually did call her today to cancel my next appointment. Since this past Monday was Labor Day, the YMCA closed earlier and therefore my class was cancelled. My next facial appointment was scheduled for next Monday. When I called Face Lady I used that as my excuse - the," since I missed class this week due to Labor Day, I don't want to miss it next week" drivel. In my defense, that is the truth. I did tell her I wasn't ready to reschedule because I needed to figure out my Monday schedule, basically saying I need to figure out when I'm willing to skip my class.

Now most of you will probably say, just leave it at that. Don't call her back. But, let me redirect you to the last sentence a couple of paragraphs ago - I'm worried I'll hurt her feelings, etc. I know she's not going to be sitting by the phone, anxiously awaiting my call. But, what if she is???

Sigh. This is why I hate doing things like this -  facial appointments or hair appointments or other such type of repeating appointments that don't really have an actual ending. I never know how to gracefully bow out of those "relationships."

A much needed vacation

On August 8th, Jason and I headed to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for a much needed vacation. Prior to this beach trip, it had been EIGHT years since we had been to a beach. It had been over ten years since we had been to a "local" beach (eight years ago we went on a cruise, so those beaches were obviously far, far away from home).

Going that long without going to the ocean is strange for me. I grew up about an hour from the coast - just a hop, jump, and a skip away. Now it's about a 4+ hour trip, depending on where we're going.

On that Wednesday, we took a half day from work before heading home to finish packing and getting things ready. Finally we were on our way. About 4 hours later, we got to our hotel.

Our resort was awesome. We had access from the resort to a private beach. As soon as Jason and I checked in, we tossed our bags into the room and immediately headed for the shore. Too excited to care about changing into bathing suits. We just wanted to get our feet in the water.

I could've stood there forever.

After standing in the ocean for an indeterminate amount of time (literally, just standing there, looking at the grand infinity "pool" we were standing in, speechless), we decided to head back to our room and freshen up before heading out to dinner.

Across the street from our hotel was an outdoor mall/pavilion called Barefoot Landing. A lot of touristy shops and restaurants. We wandered in and out of stores, just seeing the sites, taking it all in. Enjoying life. We finally decided we were hungry and - being at the coast - felt we had to have seafood. I had always wanted to eat a Joe's Crab Shack, and there was one at Barefoot Landing, so we headed there. Of course I had to get one of their bucket o'crab legs (I love crab legs!!). Here's the bib the waitress gave me.

And, boy, did they itch!

The next day, we woke up at 5:45am. Jason had said he wanted to get up early one morning to see the sunrise. Why not? So, we got up and traipsed (sluggishly, mind you) to the beach. Oh, wow, it was so peaceful out there. The sunrise was beautiful. We sat on the sand for a bit, watching the sky lighten up, before heading back to our room. Where we promptly passed back out for a couple more hours.

The whole vacation was just uneventful. Which was perfect. With the stress of our everyday lives and the go-go-go pace we're so used to, we needed this time to recharge. We didn't have any time constraints.

As each day back in our normal (busy) lives takes us further from our time at the surf, those happy days become more so like a dream.

Don't ask why Jason and I haven't been to the beach in so long. I don't have a good answer. But, we've learned our lesson. We'll definitely head back next year. Maybe (hopefully) we'll even make more than one trip.

Two tickets to the gun show

I just have to brag on myself. Get over it, I don't do it nearly enough.

I've been doing Crossfit at Crossfit Amplitude since the end of April. Here's their website, if you want to check out what some of the classes look like http://crossfitamplitude.com/. If you don't know what the moves are, look them up on youtube.

In tonight's class we were working on personal weight lifting records. We worked with three different moves. I've included videos of the movements to help you see what each thing is if you're not familiar.

Back squat:

Shoulder Press (this video also shows 2 other moves we do in Crossfit):

Dead Lift:

Tonight, I did 125lbs on the back squat, 75lbs on the shoulder press, and155lbs on the dead lift.

While those weights are probably pansy weights compared to what other people can lift, I think they are pretty damn beasty. I'm proud of myself.

And, I'm only going to get stronger.

I'm what?

Part of my job is meeting with clients. Most of the time, I thoroughly enjoy doing this because I get to meet some very interesting folks and hear awesome stories. On the other hand, I also get to meet people that can make me stop in my tracks with the things that come out of their mouths.

Recently, I met with a elderly lady who just wanted to chat. Time schedule be damned. She told me about her grown kids and their families. She told me about her past times. She told me about some of her ailments.

Then she told me that I wasn't "from here."

What? Here's how the conversation went from there.

Me: "Ummm. Noooo. I was raised about three and a half hours away in eastern North Carolina."

Client: "Well, with your dark hair and skin I'd say you were fur-in."

Big pause as I translated what in the hell 'fur-in' meant. Oh, foreign. Ok, my tiny brain caught up.

Me: "Oh dear..... [another big pause]..... Ummm. Yes. I am actually half Asian. But I was born in America.

Client: "Huh."

Me: "I've enjoyed chatting with you! But, ummm, I guess I'd better get back to work. Have a good day."

I quickly scurried out of the conference room and through the door that separates the lobby/conference rooms area from the back, where all the offices are located. I was too frightened that my Asian roots might give her flashbacks to 'Nam and she'd try to take me down.

Good. Grief.