Running And Hamburger Helper

Because of my constant complaining, I'm sure by now you are aware that the gym I go to has no air conditioning. Also, to make matters worse, the cardio room is on the second floor where it is even hotter. The gym used to be a church and the cardio room is the old choir loft where there is no air circulation. IT. IS. AWFUL. I have tried to get out of my membership, but since the gym offers a "discounted" price to people who work at my company, a 1 year membership is the minimum. My one year is not up until October. June has been pretty awful as far as humidity goes and July and August are only going to be worse. What really makes me want to punch the owner is the fact that he advertises the gym as an "upscale fitness center." WHATEVER. Anyway, I digress.

Usually we hit the gym right after work and 99% of the time it is hotter in the gym than it is outside. I have off every other Friday (YAY for 9/80 work weeks!) and I try to get to the gym as early as possibly on those Fridays to beat the heat. Last Friday I was there at 8 AM and ran 2.25 miles with hardly any problem at all. Yesterday after work, I could barely get out 1.25 miles before I had to stop.

This is so frustrating, especially since I am going to be running a 5K in a few months... how am I going to train for this if I feel like I am going to pass out from the heat every time I run?? Because it is just going to be even hotter in July and August. I know, you are probably saying, why not just run outside? Sure, I plan on doing that, too... but why am I paying for a gym membership if I can't use it?! You all know how cheap I am, so I'm not even going to pay for something I'm not using.

1. For those of you who run, any suggestions as to how to get ready for this 5K when I am dealing with the heat issue? 2. Would it be completely horrible of me to just call my credit card company and tell them no more charges from the gym (since the gym will NOT budge in letting me cancel) so I can join a new gym? I refuse to pay for two gym memberships.

Second...

I love hamburger helper. I know, I know, it's not good for you which is why I pretty much never eat it. Then, I stumbled upon this...

At only 170 calories... heck yes I needed to try this!

But I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. This is more like a snack. I ate it for lunch today and seriously, there's only about 5 bites before it is gone. Not even worth it.

Let's be honest though, I don't really need to be eating hamburger helper anyway, right??

I hope you all are having a fabulous week!

My Birthday And A 5K

I woke up this morning to roses, chocolate, and a card on the kitchen table. Nice job, M! AND, M started the coffee for me this morning. Yep, he's a keeper. So, at 5:15 in the morning, I was thinking, is it too early to eat chocolate? To which I decided, heck no, it's my birthday, after all. So I enjoyed a few pieces of chocolate along with my wonderful coffee this morning.

Then, as I was getting ready to leave, I thought, hmm... should I make this morning a Starbucks morning? Heck yes, it's my birthday after all.

And for lunch... I had a chicken philly sandwhich WITH the french fries. Because heck, today is my birthday.

After work, I'm headed to happy hour with M and some co-workers for dinner and a few alcoholic beverages. I don't normally drink during the week. But in case you didn't know - it's my birthday!

So, I will be paying for this for the rest of the week - I'm thinking this is going to result in an extra day in the gym. But who cares, it's my birthday... right?

Well... I signed up for my first 5K.

This is a big deal, seeing as I once could be heard saying, "I will never run again..." after I was done with the police academy. I am currently only running a little over 2 miles about 3 times a week. The 5K is not until September 11 (which also happens to be the day of my bachelorette party), so I think if I can start getting in at least 4 days of running a week, a 5K in September should be easy breezy. I hope!

The Fit Train

Hi kids. I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! I did.

We took my dad out to breakfast yesterday and then headed back to my parents house to celebrate June birthdays - my older brother, sweet little niece, and myself all have birthdays this month and it was fun to just hang out with the family yesterday.

My actual birthday is tomorrow, but M already gave me my gifts. Here is one of dresses he bought me, I love it!


Don't mind the fact that I took this in the work restroom! Who knew he had such good taste? He also bought me another dress I plan on wearing to my bridal shower.

Which brings me to the weight loss issue. I'm still in the 170's. I want to lose another 15 lbs before the wedding - I need to buckle down (only 96 days!) I haven't lost much weight in the last month or so, but I think the running is helping me tone up. M told a co-worker today about how proud he is of me... that I have been working hard and it's been paying off. It totally made my day. Ok, ok, it made my whole week.

How is everyone else doing with their weight loss/fitness goals??

Cussing And Another Book

It's no surprise that a curse frequently.

My mom is always asking me why I swear so much. She likes to tell me that swearing like a sailor is "not very lady like." To that I say... whatever!

Okay, so I cuss... a lot. When I'm pissed off. When I really want to get a point across. When I think something is really damn funny. There always seems to be a good reason. The F word is my favorite. I guess most of the people in my life have just accepted this, except for my mom of course. Crap, I have 3 brothers who are probably worse than I am. Such a double standard.

My poor niece is only 3 1/2 and knows all of the swear words thanks to my brother, sister in law, and myself. I am aware you may think this is awful, but it's pretty damn hard not to laugh when you hear a 3 year old say, "Come on, fucking animals, play nice together," or "SHIT" when she colors outside the lines. Of course she gets into trouble for it, but it's hard not to laugh the second comments such of these come out of her mouth. But I digress...

What can I say, it's just part of my vocabulary. What do you do that your parents get on your case for?

So, I just finished reading this book.

Wow. It's about a woman (Tessa) who is married to a doctor (Nick)... who ends up cheating on her with a patient's mother (Valerie). The chapters go back and forth from the point of view of each woman... the wife, and the mistress. Dare I say I actually found myself at times somewhat sympathizing with the other woman? I'm still not sure how I feel about this.

I am one of those people who has always been adamant about not forgiving a cheater. I have been cheated on once, in college, and broke things off right away. But if M were to do this (don't worry, I'm not thinking that he actually would), it would be a totally different situation. So much more serious. This book really made me think, questioning what I would do in this situation. And honestly? I have no idea. On one hand, I'd like to believe that I would never let anyone treat me this way and that I would be strong enough to move on. On the other hand, I'd also like to believe that I would stay and fight for my marriage.

Relationships take work. This book reminded me of how important it is that M & I don't become so complacent in our relationship that we forget about the small things.

Anyway...

Have a fantastic fucking weekend!

Thursday, It's Nice To See You

I know I said I would do better. Sorry. I really don't have an excuse, just lack of motivation, I guess. M has been sick all week and I think I'm catching it now... wonderful, just in time for the weekend. My birthday is next week, so I just better feel better by then!

Well, I am interviewing for a new job next month. Usually, I don't get very nervous about these types of things... but for some reason I am about this one! The position is still within my company and similar to the job I have now, but in a completely different division. I have been thinking a lot lately about where I want my career to go and I have decided if I stay right here in this position in this particular department... I will go nowhere. Last year I was moved over to my current job from another department. I understand why it was done. The company was going through layoffs and in order to save everyone's job, I was moved to another position within Supply Management. I have to say, I'm a little resentful. It feels like a catch 22. I loved my old job, and now? For reasons I won't get into here, I don't like getting ready in the morning knowing I have to go to work... I count the days, hours until the weekend and am just a little irritated on Sundays when I know I have to go back to work the next day. Don't get me wrong, I will always keep a positive attitude and do my job the best I can, but I have to look out for myself, too, and I'm ready for a change. It's time to move on, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Onto other things. Let's talk about the oil spill for a minute. It's no secret that I am no fan of Obama. But that's a different post for a different day.

I say we need to stop this spill and clean it up... NOW (as would most people), right? Well, then wth was with the President's speech to the nation to address this issue? Obama used this as an opportunity to make a point of telling us we need to become less dependent on foreign oil. I don't think that's anyone's main concern right this second. Let's get this oil spill stopped and cleaned up before we start talking about the foreign oil issue! And why would Americans want to contribute to a national energy tax to a government that has not done well in their response to this oil spill crisis?

Sure, BP has a lot of blame in this... but why such a poor effort from the government? God forbid if George W. Bush were still President . He would have been crucified.

Just my two cents. I hope everyone is having a good week!

Homophones And A Trip To Bed, Bath, And Beyond

I can't stand poor grammar, it's one of my biggest pet peeves. I blame this on the fact that my eighth grade teacher was kind of nutty and made us diagram sentences constantly. Even today, I can diagram sentences like it's my job.

This site cracks me up.

I have a co-worker who commonly says, "I seen..." or "We seen..."
Oh no you DIDN'T! It's, "I have seen" or "I saw," there is no "I seen." It drives me absolutely crazy.

Even M occassionally makes me cringe with a text or email that says "I love you, to."
M! I do love you, but how hard is it to add the extra "o" to "too"?!

And yes, I do spell out every word correctly, always - even when I text.

What are your pet peeves?

In other news, M and I finally registered this weekend. The lady at Bed, Bath, and Beyond was very pushy. She was trying to get us to register for a lot of things we didn't even want. She walked around with us until I finally told her we were fine adding things to our registry by ourself and didn't need her help. When we were done I think we had about 53 things on our registry and she told us that wasn't enough, we needed at least 150. I said, well, 53 will have to do because that is ALL WE WANT. I don't think she was very happy with me by the time we were done but I don't like when sales associates are pushy.

Choices

My grandfather passed away and his funeral was a couple of weeks ago. I was asked to come and see him at the hospital before he passed away. I didn't go. I was asked to come to calling hours when he did pass. I didn't go. I was asked to come to the funeral. I did go to that. But let me be clear. I went to be there for the rest of my family, not to pay my last respects, because frankly, I had no respect for this man. I know, I know, you probably think I'm awful.

Let me explain.

I am not dramatic. I rarely ever cry. I am brutally honest and I tell it like it is. Always. When you are looking for an honest answer and an evaluation or plan of attack for fixing something - I'm your girl. So let's be honest. I'm not usually the first person my friends go to when they are looking for sympathy. It's not that I can't be sympathetic, but fixing things is what I'm better at.

Personally, when I'm in a complicated situation or something bad happens, the last thing I am looking for is sympathy. I'd rather get on with it and find a solution to my problem as quickly as possible.

That being said, I have had a few relationships in my life that I considered to be "toxic." Not surprisingly, I didn't have a problem at all when it came to cutting ties in those cases. I'm very confident in my decisions when it comes to these types of situations. One of these relationships was with my grandfather.

When I was in 8th/9th grade, my mom, brother, and I had to live with my grandparents for a few years. As a single mother, there where times when my mom struggled. This was one of those times. My grandfather was an alcoholic - a mean one. He made our lives hell.

You can say/do what you want to me - and we'll deal with that. But when you hurt my family, I'm not very forgiving. The way my grandfather treated my mom and my brother was unforgivable as far as I am concerned. Not only that, but not even once did he ever take any responsibility for things he did/said... he was never sorry for any of the hurt or humiliation he caused. The day we moved out was the day I decided I was done having anything to do with him. I have not, nor will I ever regret that decision.

My grandfather continued to be an alcoholic until the day he died. He treated his family horribly. But for some reason, most people excused his behavior. There are people in my family who cannot understand how I could make the decision to have no contact with my own grandfather.... they say, "but, he's family." Just as they don't understand my decision to cut any and all ties, I don't understand their decision to allow themselves to be treated this way by a family member just because "family is family." Not that I feel I need to justify my decision - but I have had to remind these family members from time to time that just as I made a choice, so did he.... to continue to treat people with no respect. Just because we are blood does not give you the right to treat me (or the rest of your family for that matter) any worse than what I would accept from a total stranger.

Sure, there were times over the years when it would have been nice to have a relationship with my grandfather. But a "normal" relationship with him was never a possibility. It came with a cost, but I did what I had to do to "fix" my situation the best way I could. My grandfather was destructive in my life, my brother's life, and my mom's life. I took a stand, and I have made peace with my decision. I refuse to let anyone tell me I am the one who was wrong.

What about you? Have you ever had to end a friendship/family relationship? Could you do it?

Sorry For Being MIA - And A Book Review

I've been MIA lately and I'm sorry. I promise I have been keeping up with your blogs, I will do a better job with commenting and posting my own blogs. Life has just been busy. Wedding planning is still going well - and we found a photographer!! Yay! So I'm not freaking out so much.

Weight loss has been... eh, not so great. I gained a couple of lbs back. But this week I am back at in full force. I'm sick of busting my @ss in the gym for nothing. Speaking of that, we recently found out our gym doesn't have air conditioning. It's awful. I don't mind lifting weights in the heat, but running (or any cardio) is completely miserable. I literally am soaking wet by the time I leave and it's gross. Honestly, I don't think I would have joined the gym back in November if I knew about the no air conditioning. Not sure what I'm going to do as it gets even warmer outside. However, I have kept up with the running. The most I have run at one time is 2 miles... but I have been mostly sticking with 1.5 mile runs and trying to increase my speed a little.

Onto the book review.

I love to read, but haven't had a whole lot of time for it lately. But, I've been hearing a lot of good things about this book...

And let me tell you... it did not disappoint. I picked it up Friday and was done with it yesterday morning. I would definitely recommend it!

Hunger Games takes place in a country called Panem. Panem consists of 13 districts - the 13th district was destroyed when all of the districts tried to rebel against the Capitol (the government). In order to deter the people from future rebellion and as a reminder of the control the Capitol has over the districts, "The Hunger Games" are held every year and are televised for everyone to see.

Life in District 12, the poorest district, isn't easy for 16 year old Katniss Everdeen. Her father died several years ago and Katniss now spends her days saving her mother and little sister Prim from starvation by hunting on forbidden land.

Worst of all is reaping day when the government chooses (by lottery) a boy and girl between the ages of 12-18 from each of the twelve districts to compete against one another in "The Hunger Games." When Prim's name is called, Katniss exchanges herself without hesitation to compete alongside the baker's boy, Peeta. The goal of "The Hunger Games" is to survive - to kill or be killed. The last person standing is the winner. As a prize, the winner receives a life of luxury back home and has more than enough food to feed their family.

Slightly creepy, right? This book is classified as Young Adult... but it's GOOD. It's the first in a trilogy. I plan on getting my hands on the next one, Catching Fire, soon! And the third, Mockingjay, is to be released August 2010. You can bet I will be reading that one, too.

If you're looking for a good read, pick up this book!