Garden success and allery nightmare

Here are some pictures for you guys....These are the baby green beans growing on my vines in the garden. I put little arrows in there so you could see them because they blend in so much.
A green bean on the vine, should be ready soon :-)

The above two pictures are of a green bean that was ready so I picked it and ate it...it was yummy and full of flavor..I hope that I get lots more!!!
Now this you might think is snow, but no, it is the AWFUL allergy inducing seed that flies around in the sky like snow! It is everywhere...I mean this is the edge of a sidewalk near my house. This stuff has caused my head to pretty much constantly hurt, has caused dizzy spells and just all around allergy nightmares. I hate it and I can't wait for it to go away. I have a huge headache today and I think that it is because I spent a lot of time outside yesterday....ugh. What good is nice weather if you can't enjoy it??

Baby Quilt results....

Here is my baby quilt from my class. I wasn't a huge fan of the duck material...and that yellow material...you have seen it before, they make baby blankets out of it and stuff..it is super soft but OH MY GOD is it a nightmare to sew with...it is stretchy and it moves all over the place. Also, you can notice that the yellow corners don't exactly match up. I am going to try another one with some of the scraps from some of my other projects to see if I can do it without the stretchy stuff. I really like sewing and might take a couple more classes.

Motivation...

I think that confessing my weight issue two posts ago really helped. It sort of seems silly now that I thought I was the only one who had this worry (though I think that you all look great). I was talking to Carrie and Morgan over email earlier and it really did make me feel better. I feel like I have some motivation now since I know I am not alone. You guys all gave great snack ideas..unfortunately some of them are perishable and I am about to be on the road for three weeks (I leave in 9 days for 10 days of vacation, then a week in Atlanta, and then a week in Darlington....ugh (though I will probably fly into Charlotte so I could probably wrangle Meghan and Molly into a dinner or drinks situation :-)) Since traveling is where it seems to go wrong for me, I am going to try to get on a good track in the next 9 days that will hopefully carry over and I am going to try to figure out the whole traveling and eating healthy thing..something that I have never really mastered....

In other news, I have my last baby quilting class tonight. I am not much of a fan of the woman who teaches it (she babbles about nothing a lot) and I don't like working with the one fabric...it is stretchy and hard to sew, but hopefully it will get done tonight. I will post some pictures when it is done. I also got some cool UGA material in the mail yesterday that I can't wait to play with and I am hoping to seriously finish up the mother/daughter aprons tonight. You can check it all out at my Melissa's Knits blog....what do you think of the fabric? Bookmark the blog and I will be updating often :-)

Healthy Snacks

Thanks for the comments guys!

I got curious about the pound for pound challenge (for those of you that watch the Biggest Loser), and attached to that website is a cool site where they will adjust regular recipes to make them healthier and here are two easy snacks for taking to work..easy to make...right up my alley :-) There are some others that include dried fruit, I am just not a huge fan of that mixed with stuff.
Southwest snack
Whole Grain Snack Mix

Nice and Plump....

That is how I feel like I should be described right now. UGH. I finally got my scale to Craig's so I could actually weigh myself (cause I like to do it nakky in the morning to be "accurate") and I did the weighing part and it was not pretty! Pretty much about the most I have ever weighed...WTF? I really thought I was eating healthy here but then I realized that I just started that like in May...and then I went to Atlanta and that sort of went out the window...too many yummy dinner with fun friends. So, here is my list of excuses:
--my clothes still fit (though my tummy probably rolls over the top more than it used to).
--I just moved my scale and everyone knows that can make them inaccurate (right??)
--I just started working out so it is probably muscle that I have built (that is what everyone always says, right).
--I moved to a new city??? Not sure why this should be an excuse but it seems like it is one people use.


Here is what probably actually happened:
--Craig eats out a lot and it makes it easy to be lazy and join him sometimes. I did this for a while without really thinking about what I was eating but have since looked up to see what the healthiest option is at each place.
--I get bored in my trailer and I snack...I need to cut out the carbs and find some healthy snacks from each category.
--Craig loves pasta...enough said.
--We get pizza every Friday night and by the time we get it I am starving and eat too much (again, enough said).
--I haven't been drinking as much water as I used to....

So, I know I have posted a couple times about weight and it isn't that I am obsessed with it or anything but I do worry about the health problems that my parents have (high blood pressure, diabetes). And, there is a difference between wanting to be healthy and becoming anorexic. I am not healthy at this weight so time to work toward that. I thought that if I posted it here and used up all the excuses (and forced myself to write down the things that I know I am doing that aren't good), it would help me. It is not rocket science and I am not going to do some crazy diet...but I do need to stop eating all the crap that I know is not good for me....hopefully it will work :-) I am not sure why I struggle so much with this....I feel like I am the only one who ever worries about this. I know I posted about it before but it just seems like I get off track every time something changes. Craig halfway thinks that I am nuts cause I wanted to move my scale so I could weigh myself.

So, any healthy snacks that might actually have nutritional value in them??

Memorial Day

It was sort of a whirlwind. I am back in the trailer today after working from home Thurs, Fri, and yesterday. It was sort of nice to not have to make the drive and the gas prices have really climbed here! it is over $2.65 now and it was about $1.85 when I moved here. It takes a tank of gas per week to get to and from work if I only come in for 4 days. Yikes. So, I have been working from home a bit.

So, sadly, Craig could not make the trip with us to Chicago because of his knee :-( I felt bad for him but we still went. It took us almost 6 hours to get there (we hit traffic and driving in Chicago proved to be quite crazy) and we discovered that Indiana is not really our type of state. We didn't do much but catch up with Jimmy on Friday night and get a good night's sleep for the rest of the weekend. On Saturday we got up and got ready to head to lunch at the Signature Room on the 95th floor of the Hancock Building. The views were amazing (and I will add in some pictures tonight). Then we headed to Navy Pier and walked around a bit. We had decided that we were going to do a riverboat tour of the architecture of the city so we bought those tickets and then headed to Millennium Park to see what I call the giant bean. It looks like the Elsa Peretti bean from Tiffany. After the park we went on our boat tour and then headed over near Northwestern University for some beer and deep dish pizza (parking in the city is a bitch and we had already spent about $30 on it so we didn't want to park again for pizza in the city).

Sunday we took it really easy. Jimmy lives in a place like Atlantic Station with lots of restaurants and stores and a movie theatre and stuff. There was this really good looking breakfast place and it was nice out so we went there and ate and then decided to go to the beach. Um, yeah, we got to the beach, learned why they call it the windy city, and couldn't believe that we were FREEZING Memorial Day weekend at the beach...crazy. We didn't last too long, it was seriously about 55 with the wind. After that we went back to get ready for the evening which involved a yummy Mexican restaurant, Adobo and then to Second City Comedy Club. This is where a lot of the SNL people get their start (there are some in other cities too). I am not sure that sketch comedy is really my thing at this talent level but some of it was really funny. Morgan and Jimmy laughed the entire time so maybe I just didn't get some of it.....

Monday we got up early (6:30am Chicago time) and drove back. The drive was shorter...we only stopped once for coffee and then we hit some HORRIBLE rain...seriously the hardest rain I have ever seen and it lasted for an hour and a half. Oh well. It was sunny in Ohio so we spent some time at the pool and then went to Craig's to grill out.

All in all it was a pretty relaxing weekend, even with all the driving, but I do sort of miss my weekend now. I only have one more before I go on vacation! I hope that Craig's knee heals by then. It seems to have good days and bad days so we aren't sure.

Last night I also started on my Mother/Daughter aprons so hopefully I will be able to post those soon :-)

Dayton Police

Got to meet them last night...grr. Morgan and I were driving home from Craig's at about 12:15 and as we were driving down the road I saw lights in my rearview mirror. I thought he was just trying to go around me because I wasn't speeding at all and didn't know what else I could be pulled over for so I pulled into the turning lane to get out of his way. He followed...crap. So, I had to pull down a road on the left side where I already was. I was sure that he would get mad at me about that one but he didn't. Why did he pull me over you ask? Well, that would be because I didn't have my front license plate on...you remember, the one I didn't want to put on and that Craig hasn't had on his car for 14 years and has been pulled over 4 times with no mention of the missing plate? I also said "how would they know? Thy are either in front of you or behind you." Well, that question was answered yesterday...apparently they can see it when they are sitting at a fast food place waiting to pull out and they can see your front and say to themselves "huh, there aren't many Georgia fans around here" and then see that you have an Ohio back plate. Oh well. He was nice about it. I told him that it was in my trunk and I just hadn't been able to get the front one off and I had just moved. He then asked for my license and insurance and since I didn't have my most recent insurance in my car I told him we were not required to have that in GA (which we are but I was betting he wouldn't know that). He didn't seem to care and then took my license, literally walked to his car and walked right back....I don't think that he checked anything. Craig said he was probably looking for drinking and driving since it is a holiday weekend and once I didn't smell like booze he didn't care anymore.

In other news, Craig hurt a ligament in his knee last night at soccer and now might not be able to go to Chicago this weekend. I am not happy about it at all. I know that Morgan and I will still have fun but I really wanted him to go. He doesn't get many opportunities to hang out with my friends so I was excited about this trip and because I knew we would all have fun but now he can barely walk and I don't think that he is going to go....I am really sad. I feel like it will distract me a little bit. Then again, we had a lot planned and it will probably be hard for him to walk around and stuff so maybe it is the best...it just makes me really sad...especially since I was gone all last week and have been pretty busy this week.

So, last night I had my quilting class. I got there at 6:25 and the class was supposed to start at 6:30. Still sitting there with no instructor (but one classmate) at 6:45 I decided to try to figure out what was going on. After about 3 people and no one really knowing anything, I found someone who called the instructor who said she would be there in 15 mins..this is at 6:50. I was not happy. I can't stand when people are late and disrespectful of other people's time...it is one of the hardest thing about my photography business. Then when she got there she was babbling on about nothing in particular. It was pissing my off..chick, you are LATE...by A LOT, stop babbling and let's get to it to make up for the time. UGH! Then even when we were doing it, I just didn't like her. She was one of those people who just talks a lot about nothing and who was super particular about how she does stuff, even if the way you are doing it is fine. I did get all my pieces cut and one thing sewn. She said we should try to sew some more of it while at home and then we will finish it next week so I will try to work on it at home. I am just a little disappointed by her. Oh well.

Aprons and Bird Nests

Here are some pictures that I promised. I am sorry that they are crappy but I was sort of running out of light. I am really tired today and just feel a little off. I am hoping it is because I drove 5 hours today since I went to Louisville and back and the allergies here are obnoxious! Apparently they have some sort of different allergens here so I have been miserable this week. I thought it might be the cats but it is definitely not because it lasts all day and I can see stuff flying around in the air. I didn't have to take any medicine last week in Atlanta but I guess the allergies hit later here in D town :-)
Eggs in the basket where my strawberries were...
Mamma bird laying with her eggs! She is not happy when I open the door to water the other plants....
Detail of pockets of apron
Detail of top pocket of apron
Full apron
The apron laying down (took this first and then wanted a better one of the whole thing).

Tomorrow Morgan is coming into town and I am really excited...we have an extremely busy weekend visiting Jimmy in Chicago with Craig :-) It should be a lot of fun and the weather here is gorgeous and is supposed to stay that way!

BS

If this happens, I will not be using a credit card anymore. I really only use them for the points now and I pay it off every month....way to punish people that do the right thing....oh wait, doing the right thing doesn't benefit the credit card companies...does this make sense to anyone else? Don't they think that the people who pay it off every month will stop using it (cause they obviously have the money to pay for it and are probably like me and just do it for convenience) and then they will not get the fees from the merchants...so, not only will they not get my annual fee or my interest, but they will also not get the 1-3% that they charge every store I shop in for my transaction. I don't understand how they will make more money doing this....or am I just one of only a few people who use credit cards the way that I do and everyone else will just pay more fees? I understand that the law is to keep them from gouging people but they way they are going to make up for the lack of funds just doesn't make sense to me....good thing I wasn't an econ major.

Birdies and Sewing Class

Tonight was my second sewing class and we made an apron..not to brag or anything but I love mine :-) I think that my sewing skills are definitely improving and I can't wait to make some different little dresses for little girls now that I know some more tricks and trades :-) There were more people in my class this time so that was fun. They were an odd mix..there was this one lady who didn't look that old but kept complaining about hot flashes from "the change" and then there was a mother daughter team. The daughter was 16 and all over the place. She definitely had ADD. She didn't like to do the cutting, ironing or pinning, she just wanted to sew...um, ok. So her mom did the rest and then she would sew with the sewing machine on 90 mph. She kept getting it all caught up and stuff. It was entertaining but she also asked a million questions....and not of the instructor, just in general. It was a little old after 3 hours. At least I did get my apron done, but just barely....I think that I had 3 mins to spare. I will take a picture of it soon and post it. Also, the good news is that they had all taken the baby quilting class and said it was fun and Joann's put out a new flyer with new classes and there are two new sewing classes where you make stuff so I think that I might take those too. I really like having someone there telling me how to make it look professional and the other two classes will help round out my skills. Plus, they are having another "open house" where you get 50% so what is there to lose?

So, I was gone all last week and Craig watered my strawberries for me on Friday and when I went to look at them yesterday I noticed some straw like stuff in there sort of forming a circle. With all the posts about bird nests lately, I figured that was what it was....so my plan was to move it today. It didn't look like momma bird hadn't gotten far with construction and I didn't really have anywhere to put it yesterday. Well, today when I got home, I turned on the porch light and opened the door only to be staring at a big fat bird in my strawberry plant. CRAP. Looks like I will not be having anymore strawberries this year from that plant. I was telling Craig about it and how I might move it if there were no eggs but he got really upset and said that what if the momma bird didn't have time to build another nest and the eggs died....Ugh, nothing like a guilt trip. I guess I will let that plant go...it was not doing terribly well anyway and I planted some new strawberries on Sunday so oh well. I will try to get a picture of it tomorrow if momma bird isn't staring at me...and maybe even of the eggs if there are any....as long as I can get up there without touching it....we will see.

Funk

That is what I am in today. I have about 30 mins left until I leave work and I have been super productive all day long so now I have just hit a wall. I have looked on fb a thousand times and there is nothing new there. I read everyone's blogs (not that many of you posted anything today) and I looked up something I wanted to know how to do with sewing. Now I just want to go home. I would leave early except that I have my sewing class tonight and it is on the way home so it would be one of those things where I don't have enough time to go home and come back but I would get there way too early if I went now. Oh well. At least this took a whole 30 seconds to type......

Home Sweet Home

I am not really sure where home is anymore since I say I am going "home" no matter whether I a going to Atlanta or Dayton.

Yesterday turned out to be a rough day the second half of the day. In the morning I had a session with some of my favorite clients...they are so sweet and easy going and I just love them. After that I went up to Lula to meet my mom and sister at the Railroad Days festival. This was the craft fair that I was making my little dresses and tutus for. Unfortunately it was raining pretty hard for a lot of it and since it was outdoors there were not many people around. It was also not the kind of crowd that would buy the dresses and stuff we had for sale....it was the kind where some kids didn't have shoes on and there were lots of cut off jeans and Nascar shirts :-) We did sell a few things and enough to cover all the costs so that was good. I am completely addicted now though so I plan on making some more stuff and we are going to try a bigger festival in the fall and see how that one goes. I did get to see my little bb...unfortunately she wasn't feeling too stellar...I think that her face says it all...she did perk up once her Tylenol kicked in and we went for a litlte walk around the festival. She got balloons and a little bank from a local bank display.

Then the fun started. I got home and packed up and headed to the airport on Marta...I was grateful that I missed all the rain. Got to the airport and got on my flight. We sat around for what seemed like forever but then we finally took off. Even with the delayed take off we landed on time and I went to get my luggage...except it never came. I went to the Delta counter and she just told me matter of a factly that it would not be in until today...random. I was at the airport an hour and a half before my flight...how did it not make it? It was also a really light bag, filled with ribbon, dresses and tutus. Then I go to leave the airport and to walk to the lot that I parked my car in...which I chose purposefully because I could walk and didn't have to take that blessed shuttle. Nothing bugs me more than damn shuttles. Well, in the 5 days that I was gone they completely closed the sidewalk to my car....covered it with a gate you couldn't get around...awesome. So I had to walk back and get on the darn shuttle and then 20mins later I was finally at my car. I didn't get Craig's until about 1am. UGH. I spent today running errands and it seemed to take forever.

At least Craig did have the idea for me to stop at Cheesecake Factory to get us each a piece of cheesecake with a gift certificate that he got so I have that to look forward to tonight and I have my second sewing class tomorrow...we are going to make an apron. Other than that, sort of a busy week...day trip to Kentucky on Wednesday and then Morgan comes into town on Thursday night! YAY, my first Atlanta visitor. I am excited and we are going to Chicago for the weekend so that should be fun.

Passports and Nails

So, if you are on facebook you saw my dilemma yesterday. Apparently, even though I looked it up weeks ago and found an article from Feb that said you didn't need one, you will need a passport to go to Canada by land after June 1st. No big deal for me but Craig doesn't have one...and we are going on vacation in exactly 3 weeks from tomorrow and found this out yesterday. He was talking to a girl at work and then looked it up. He saw the article from February that I had seen but then saw that they changed it and it is now required. It was quite stressful yesterday trying to figure out what he could do (other than drive to Chicago in a few weeks) to get one. Finally he was able to get everything together, expediate it and send it off today. They say it takes 2-3 weeks when you expediate it so we have 3 weeks and hopefully it will get here by then. If not we can rearrange our trip a bit so the Canada parts are at the end of the trip. It was a big relief and I am proud of him for getting it all together. Sometimes he isn't good at that stuff and I normally do all the running around for him...it is just how our dynamic works for us but it was great that he could get it all done while I was gone.

On to the nails. I know that a lot of people think getting your nails done is silly but I don't care. I like it. I like my nails to be uniform and pretty and they just aren't without getting them done (I have eczema and it makes them ridgedy (new word). I have not been happy AT ALL with the places I have tried in Ohio...to the point where I just wanted to let these grow out and not get them done anymore...but that made me sad because it is one of the few things that I do for myself. Craig promised me that he would help me by showing me where the good part of town is where I could find a place (I think that he felt bad for me) but one of my nails is about to break (after paying the most I have EVER paid to get my nails done, I am not happy about this...it has been 2 weeks!!) so today I am going to my guy in Atlanta...I have my mom's car so I can go on my way home from work and I am super excited....at least getting them done there will last me a few week instead of a few days and will cost half the price...YAY!!

Craft show tomorrow and then back to Ohio...tonight is dinner with Drena, Erin, Morgan and the boys and then to see Angels and Demons :-) Wish me luck at the craft show!!

My latest projects

Since I talked about my sewing class and the craft fair I thought I would show you some of the things that I made. You can also see them here where I am going to add most stuff as I do it (or as I take pictures of it anyway :-) ) Bookmark it to see what my current projects are!
Here is the bag that I made in my sewing class :-)


Here are some burp cloths that I made from scratch..they are two sided and flannel.
Here is a store bought burp cloth that I just added some fabric at the end of to make it cuter :-)


Here is a selection of little pillowcase dresses that I made for different sizes of little girls :-) You can make them for any age from 6 months all the way to older kids (though I think that as you get older they might require a shirt underneath it). These are also popular for little ones to wear as dresses when they are younger and then as shirts as they get older because they are plenty side to even fit me (though very snug on me :-))





Not much else going on with me. I am extremely tired today...the second day is always the worse day for me when I have to get up early to fly in but I guess there are only three more work days this week so not too bad. Last night I went and watched Georgia beat GA Tech at Turner Field with Morgan, her boy and some of her law school friends. Everyone was super nice (and one guy even works on the Cox engagement at Deloitte...small world) and I really liked her boy so that was good. They were very cute together :-)

Milestones, Sewing and on the road again...

Rebecca's post made me look at my blog and I realized that I missed my blog birthday and pretty much any other milestones in between. Maybe I will just have an awesome post for my 500th post!

I took my first sewing class tonight and we made a little bag. I can't say that I learned anything super new, but I did learn a couple easy ways to do somethings that I already knew how to do. There were also only two of us in the class so it was almost like a personal class. The other girl in the class was nice and she said she might take some more classes so that will be fun.

Tomorrow I have to get up at the ass crack of dawn..actually earlier at 4:30am so I can catch my flight to Atlanta. I am excited to come home but not excited to leave here...I was only in town for two weeks before it was time to go again...and Craig and I have a lot coming up....Morgan is coming to visit next weekend and we are all going to Chicago to see Jimmy and then two weeks later Craig and I are going on vacation...I could use some weekend time here without any plans. I do have a lot planned for Atlanta this time though...tomorrow is the UGA/Ga Tech with Morgan, Eliz, some of Morgan's friend and a male special friend of hers (don't kill me Morgan). I am excited to meet him because he sounds so sweet and awesome. Wednesday night is dinner with Drena, Adam, and Cranky (who I might have to rename :-)), Thursday is lunch with Rebecca (Mexican, yay) and then that night I am taking my mom to meet my step dad cause she is going to let me borrow her car (too busy to learn the rest of the stick so we will save that for June). Friday is the Braves' game and then Saturday I have a session in the morning and then the craft show with my sister and mom and then I fly out that night while possibly squeezing in a dinner with Dudley. Whew....busy! I am excited to have it all packed in this time :-) because my condo is a little sad without real furniture and stuff.

Well, I better go pack and clean up this place!

How My Garden Grows and Trekkies

I have to say that I am completely in awe of growing things..I know this sounds weird but I am. As I have talked about my garden a bit, here is an update. Since some of the plants that I had grown inside didn't seem to be doing too well outside (don't think that they should have been inside that long and I think that they didn't get enough water when I was gone for two weeks), I had planted some seeds about 2 weekends ago...exactly two weeks from tomorrow. At first I was a little worried that they wouldn't do well. It turns out that the area my garden is in is really muddy after a week where it rained a lot and I am not sure that plants grow well in mud. When I planted I put some potting soil in the ground and then the regular dirt on top. Forever there was no progress and now they are about 3 inches tall in some places. It is so bizarre...I swear that last night some of them were barely poking up and then today they were 3 inches....so strange. These look like they are staying pretty healthy so far so we will see. I am excited but will not consider the garden a complete success until I can actually eat something from it!

So, for those of you who are not married to or dating a geek, the Star Trek movie came out last night. Craig loves Star Trek and had talked about going to see the movie this weekend, thinking that if we went to a matinee it wouldn't be so bad. Since the movie theatre is across the street from the gym that I went to this morning, I decided to be nice and stop by to get tickets for tomorrow. This movie got like 4 or 5 stars from the NYT who seem to hate every movie so we will see. Well, movies hear are RIDICULOUS! It is $10.50 for a matinee!! And, there was a sign up that said "For all discount and promotion tickets there is a $3 processing charge" Seriously? To do what exactly?? Anyway, so I tell the guy I want the noon show tomorrow and he proceeds to tell me that it is in the Director's Hall (like I was supposed to know what that was) so I said "ok". Then he pulled out a seating chart and told me to pick my seats. Huh. Turns out the "Director's Hall" has nice leather, reserved seats and you can order concessions right at your seat so no need to go stand in line. And, what does all this cost you? $10 for the matinee so it was actually $.50 cheaper than the normal matinee..what? Oh well, whatever. I will be seeing the movie tomorrow and if it sucks, at least I will be comfortable :-)

Not too much else going on right now. I went to dinner with Lauren on Thursday and we had fun and she was easy to talk to. We both said we should do it again so we will see if that happens. I also went to the gym this morning but my gym buddy wasn't there...maybe in a couple weeks when I get back.

It is extremely windy here today and on the agenda is a trip to Columbus to go to the Crew game...should be fun. Tomorrow I will be weeding the garden (though there are not that many weeds really).

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

A think I made a friend..

HA, making friends is seriously like dating. Here is how this went:

I show up at the gym to try a new 10am class because I am working from home today and there is a girl sitting there on the floor.
Her: Are you taking the muscle pump class?
Me: Yeah, are you?
Her: Yeah, I haven't even taken it before, how is it?
Me: I don't know, I haven't taken it either, I did take another class by this lady and it was good but I just joined this gym recently cause I just moved so I have only taken a couple classes.
Her: I just joined a couple weeks ago too.

Then we go through the whole "what classes do you like, which ones are good, what do you do for a living" thing. She seems to be about my age and is married (who isn't at my age) and her husband is a lawyer and she works in HR at a local college (there are a million here). When we got in the class neither of us knew what we needed so we just hung out and asked and stuff. It was an ok class..not much in the calorie burning department but my legs BURNED. After the class we talked about the class on Saturday and how we might go. She has a ceremony for her husband and isn't sure when it was so she wasn't sure she would make the class but she did say that hopefully we would have another class together. I know this all seems really silly and I feel like I just met some dude that I hope calls, but hey, at least I am talking to people, she seemed nice and it will be someone besides Craig to hang out with. I love him, don't get me wrong but I think that the trailer at work complicates things...there are literally days when the only people I see or talk to all day are Craig and the cats....I don't have anyone at work to talk to and no friends to meet for dinner so I see the people in the cars next to me and then if I go to the store I have that conversation. I am just excited to have a real conversation with someone and the fact that she talked to me and pretty much did just what I have done when waiting for other classes (though no one responded as well) leads me to believe that she could be a fun workout buddy. We will see.....

Updates on my garden, my driving, and my date.

I am happy to report that even though we have had a ton of rain (that for some reason all decided to come down in about a 3 hour span of time on Friday night) that my new little seedlings in the garden are growing. If you remember, I had started some inside but then they sort of looked to be struggling by the time I moved them outside and since I had some room left in my garden, I planted new seeds. Well, as of yesterday I can see the new little plants getting ready to pop up through the soil....YAY!

Found out last night that Craig has never successfully taught someone to drive a stick because he has only tried to teach stupid girls who think that they want to try but then never really stick through with it. Also, only one other girl has ever driven his car...hmm, that doesn't help with all the nervousness. Why are boys so particular about their cars? I think that is my main problem here...afraid I will mess up his car.

My chick date with the two DGs is on Thursday night at Cheesecake Factory...I am really looking forward to it and hope that they are cool. Of course the fact that it has taken us 3 weeks to make plans doesn't really lend itself to them having a whole lot of free time to hang out but hopefully it will be fun nonetheless.

Not much else going on...I really want some Mexican tonight for Cinco de Mayo but since I asked Craig a couple days ago if he would be interested and he hasn't responded, I will take that as a no...looks like it might be a takeout night for me :-)

Stick Shift Lesson

Yesterday Craig and I were running around and one of the stops was to a park where there were supposed to be baby eagles. I say supposed to be because we never saw them. We did see some people who had some mack daddy binoculars looking across the street so I guess that is where they were but we couldn't see them.

While we were at the park Craig decided that would be a good place for showing me how to drive the stick. Now, I have had a general lesson in a parking lot before and if I ever needed to get someone to the hospital then I would be able to so I wasn't starting from complete scratch. The last time I attempted to do this I would stall when I stopped because I would forget to push the clutch in.

This lesson went ok I guess. I got really frustrated at it sometimes and the hardest part for me was starting out. I can shift gears just fine and I can stop just fine but the getting started part is hard for me. Craig says that I either don't give it enough gas or I release the clutch too fast. It makes me really nervous about stopping at lights (especially on hills, that seems like a nightmare) and you really can't avoid hills or stoplights in Atlanta. He wants us to practice some more on different days because that way he says he can make sure that I can remember it all from one day to the next, so we will see how much easier it gets in the next week. I don't know how to keep from being scared to give it more gas...he was saying that I really wasn't giving it enough to even make it go and that I really need to give it more but that just scares me a bit. I am such a wuss and I am not quite sure I am going to be ready when I visit Atlanta next week. I think there that I am more nervous about the other cars around me (like if I don't go fast enough after a light or something) than I am worried about myself.

Do any of you guys who know how to drive one (which I am sure is everyone but me) have any suggestions or tips to help me get it more completely.

Days like these...

I guess we all have them but yesterday I didn't feel like was the greatest day for me. It started off pretty good. We were predicted to have rain for the next 7 days, which didn't thrill me because I had errands to run and I hate doing it in the rain, but when I woke up yesterday it was sunny and cool out...perfect. I decided to try a 10am class at the gym (some kind of body sculpting type class where you lift light weights but you repeat for an entire song..I am slightly sore today) and I really liked it. I also really liked the teacher who teaches a step class right afterward and since the body sculpting doesn't really get your heart rate up, I might do both from now on but yesterday I hadn't eaten breakfast so that wasn't going to work. Next, I am feeling good so I decide to go and get my nails done...walk in and there is only one other person there, but there is also only one person working. She tells me that she has called her son so he will be here soon so I wait. He finally gets there like 20mins later and does my toes. Then, he says he is going to do this "5 min manicure" for a girl that walked in after me (and his mom is working on another girl that came in after me) and that he will let my toes dry and be right with me. 30 mins later he is finally ready to do my nails...meanwhile BOTH people who came in after me have come and gone (and this is after I wanted 20 mins for him to begin with). He starts doing the nails and is SUPER slow! Then he asks what is wrong (guess I am looking less than pleased) and I tell him that it is almost 1:00 and I have been here since 11 and my nails are still just being started. He speaks in vietnamese to his mom and then tells me she will do it because she is much faster...ok, whatever. She does it and is done and then tells me to pay...it was $50 for both. Now, I don't know if any of you guys get this done, but a $30 crappy pedicure was not worth it for me. At home I used to go to a really nice place (decorated cute, clean, spa chairs, fast, good) and it was only $36 for what I got done today and I have never once had a problem. This place was just some tables and stuff set up in a white store. I will not be going back. Well, that sort of set my day into a little bit of sadness. Getting my nails done is like the one thing that I do that is just for me and is completely wasted money, so I like to enjoy it. I just haven't found a good place yet. Luckily though in my cleaning yesterday, I did find the card to a place near work that looks a lot like the one at home I used to go to so I might try that next.

Next, Craig had decided that he had a lot do to yesterday and truthfully, I had some stuff I had to get done (still getting some stuff unpacked, getting the kitchen clean, all of that), so it was cool. Then, when I didn't really hear from him all day I started to get sad...not really because I wasn't with him, but more because I didn't have anyone else to call. It was gorgeous out...would have been a nice day for a walk with a friend or to go around to yard sales or any number of things (apparently the weathermen here suck more than normal). It just reminded me about the lack of friends :-( Hopefully the DGs that I am going out with on Thursday will be cool. I did get a lot of crafting done for the upcoming craft fair so I am excited about that. I will take some pictures and post them later. I also got to organize all my crafts so that was good too.

Today I am still waiting for Craig to get up and then who knows what we are going to do. I have been wanting to do a brunch forever at this cute little place downtown but we haven't been able to so I am hoping he will wake up hungry. Also, on the agenda for the day is to learn to drive a stick. I have done the whole parking lot thing but today we are going to take it on the road. I hope I don't stall!!

Spin Class, Take 2

Yesterday I woke up at about 4am with a tummy ache....of course I was convinced that I had swine flu (not really but I joked about it)...which would be funny since I have never even had the regular flu. All day my tummy just felt off so I debated about my workout. I really wanted to try another class to see if I liked it but I didn't want to puke in the class (I have never seen anyone do it but I am sure it is frowned upon).

Finally I decided that I would go but I had to stop by the main office first to pick up my mail and I was going to talk to the Controller for a bit until time to go to the class. Well, when I got up there he was busy and couldn't chat so I had a lot of extra time before the class. I decided to go and just do the elliptical but when I got there and saw the classroom it just looked intriquing so I decided to go to the spin class. I LOVE it. I liked the instuctor and I could actually understand her and her lingo and I burned 440 calories in the hour class that actually lasted an hour....yay! I am definitely going to keep that one on my list!

Here is a picture of the little dress that I made my little bb....I need to trim the strings hanging at the bottom and stuff but not bad for my first attempt, right? I also made her some shorts but the first time I made them they just didn't look right...yeah, I sewed them together upside down...hard to explain but I will post photos later of what they originally looked like and what they ended up looking like. I took the picture at midnight with the on camera flash...ugh.
Other than that, not much going on this weekend. Craig's parents' (in case anyone was wondering who Chairel Babby is on FB, that is his mom) piano is being delivered today. This caused quite the stress for Craig and his anal self trying to figure out how to move around his furniture that has probably been in the same place for the last 10 years :-) I think we got it all situated and I am working from home today to wait on it. I will be glad when it gets here because between that and the refinance he did yesterday, we was pretty cranky Tuesday and Wednesday ....finally last night he was back to normal. Because of it though he has had to a do a lot of rearranging so I think that he is going to spend the weekend cleaning and moving stuff around and I am going to spend it crafting. The best part about my new sewing machine is that you don't have to use the foot pedal!! You can just push a button on the machine...that is great because I can use it on his coffee table if I want to hang out while he is cleaning. We will see but I have a feeling it will be a mild weekend (not like we are every crazy) of weeding my garden between the rain storms and crafting....I want to get some things made for the craft show we are doing.