i had everything behind cuts, but then LJ broke it.
So, on one of the most random of whims, I've decided to reattempt the 21 Day Yoga Challenge. I'm a little unsure as to whether I'm supposed to start it tonight, or wait for the first newsletter tomorrow, so instead I sated my yoga urge with Yoga Mind & Body by Ali MacGraw. When I was deciding which DVD to use, I recall disliking this one very much, but couldn't recall why. I still can't - I'm so glad I gave it another shot, because I absolutely loved it this time around. It helps that my mind, body, and spirit are all particularly well-aligned today, so most likely ANYthing yoga would have done, but maybe not. In any case, although this was a little advanced for someone just (re)starting out, I only had to modify one of the sequences. I feel GREAT. It was a great experience, and I look forward to going back to it after the 21 Day Challenge is over.
On that note, I also discovered a 28 Day Veg Boot Camp (because clearly I don't have enough on my plate - HA! pun! - already). I'm going to read up on it a bit before committing, and am thinking it might be a better idea to wait until the end of June to start, after I get back from my week-long family vacation where cooking for myself will be nigh impossible.
My weekend was very busy, but...successful. I didn't kill my mom, she didn't drive me totally up a wall, and everyone left in one piece. It all started Saturday, when I went to work at 7 a.m. after getting maybe an hour and a half of sleep the night before. I worked until 4 then headed straight to Whole Foods to pick up ingredients for the Leaving-Home Penne Rigate with Broccoli recipe I found on Epicurious. I ALSO found the famous cheese I (think?) I've been raving about. If I haven't in past entries, I certainly have in RL. It's apparently called Dragon Cheese with Mustard Seed and Ale and is expensive, but a little bit goes a LONG way, and even though it's just a bitty wedge of cheese, I still had some leftover. I am still learning to navigate my way around Whole Foods, and it was really crowded what with the impending Rapture and all, but the broccoli and cheese were actually easy to find. Also on my list were Triscuit-like crackers for said cheese, and an alternative to the Toll-House refrigerated ready-made cookie dough.
I could not for the life of me find the cookie dough, and I got lost (but was eventually successful) in trying to find the crackers - I kept going down the chips aisle, thinking, DO THEY ONLY HAVE CHIPS?? So I went to customer service to ask about the dough, which is apparently kept in the freezer section (duh) and the nice young man led me to it and was chatting with me about if I'd ever tried it or not. I said no, a friend had tried a sample here once and she seemed to think it was pretty good, so I was going to try it. And as he's asking me he's taking out this like sheet of labels or something, and stuck one on my box of cookie dough. It had his signature on it, and he said, "This one's on me. You'll have to tell me what you think next time you're here," or something to that effect. So that's pretty cool that they're allowed to go around doing that. Though I still haven't figured out if I was being hit on or not. I don't think so, but then again I usually err on the side of pessimism :P
Dinner was ok. I thought the recipe was very bland, and I opted NOT to do the 1/4 cup of salt at the beginning. Yuck. I'd try it again, but maybe with some garlic or some spice added to it, like some of the reviewers suggest. In any case, it's an easy, filling recipe, although the clean-up is a tad unfortunate. That could have been because we doubled the dishes, since my mom and her husband were eating with us.
They stayed and we four had a good time socializing - they'd never met C. The following day my mom and I went to the King of Prussia Mall, which is a sight for tourists in itself, seeing as it's practically as large as my hometown. Nothing particularly of note there, except that I got a cute pair of boxers from Victoria's Secret with their $10 off coupon, as well as my free pair of underwear.
Then we went to see Pirates, with C and my mom's husband, which I have to say was really entertaining. It was good to see Captain Jack again, even if the movie was somewhat predictable. It was still good fun, I say. Although I could have done without the really limp romantic not-even-important-enough-to-be-a-subplot line. And I'm not referring to the main characters.
Then we four went to Morton's: The Steakhouse.
...
Yeah. It's no place for a vegetarian. So I ordered meat dishes, with gusto. I started with the scallops wrapped in bacon, followed by one of their filets with garlic green beans and garlic mashed potatoes, all of which are to die for. I had some of C's breaded shrimp which was basically fucking ambrosia, and I swear because they were better than sex. Better. Than. Sex.
I thanked the Goddess for the sacrifice as I ate each animal, and prayed. Each of those dishes could single-handedly be the best dishes I've ever eaten, and they were! But I couldn't get past the fact that they were meat. So I said to myself, Self, after this weekend, get back on track.
Which was good, because I ate a hot dog at the Phillies game last night. And discovered that as good as it was, I CAN live without hot dogs. And I know the rest will come in time. Yesterday we also all went to the Philadelphia Zoo, which was apparently the first in the nation. It was surprisingly small (I've never been) and I have to say, what with all the hype, I was rather disappointed with it. We walked the whole thing in about 2 hours. There were lots of baby animals to see, which was really exciting and rewarding. Then we went to the Phillies game, which was SO MUCH FUN. As much as I hate to admit being - sort of - wrong about Phillies fans, they really remind me of Terp fans. And once I made that connection, I was done for. AND it's all good because the Phillies and the Orioles are in different leagues! So I can do a bit of moonlighting :)
Brief history: my mom left my dad the Christmas before I turned 4, to be with the man with whom she'd been cheating on my dad. 22 years later and I've been able to recognize that she's manipulative and self-centered, but does love me in her own way. Thank goodness she and her husband live in New Mexico. I don't have to put up with her very often.
Raiding tonight; attempting a new boss, as far as I know, if Maim remembered to extend the raid lock. And today began the first of eight days of work in a row, so I'm kind of bracing myself for that as well as trying to surround myself with as much Good and Happy as I can. Today was an easy 5 hour shift, though, so it was a good way to start a long streak...I was looking back on this and editing it and whatnot...and realized I called C Maim, which is his character's name (Maimonides). When you get into the WoW mindset, it's tough not to :P
C's programming camp thing for Oracle certification was canceled due to low enrollment, which means he'll have to wait until August to go back and take the third exam (which is kind of worrisome, since I assume he'll forget everything by then...hopefully he's good enough to relearn it all at the camp...which, considering he passed the first two exams without having had ANY previous Oracle experience...I think he'll be able to pick it back up again). More importantly, it means that he's not working AT ALL next week (since he had been planning on being at the camp) and would basically be wasting 23 hours of vacation time. Which is no fun at all. So I gave up one of my shifts for him, which, let's be honest, I was happy to do. I'm still getting paid for 5.5 days next week even though I'm only working 4, because we get holiday pay for Memorial Day regardless of if we work that day, and we get time-and-a-half if we DO work on top of it. So life is good in that regard. And I convinced the receiving manager, who is a good friend of ours, to give up his shift Tuesday so that C can work another day. And hopefully he'll be able to pick up another shift or two along the way. If not, that's ok too. Two shifts are way better than none.
Restarted C25K today after a mini-hiatus. It was fantastic. I could immediately tell that I was pushing myself harder during the jogging portions and that I was keeping up with myself anyway. Felt great. So great, that I decided I also wanted to do yoga this evening, because it would totally complete my night.
And now I think I've come full-circle :)
I by no means got everything accomplished that I wanted to with my afternoon, but I've decided to be much kinder to myself, with myself. I got home straight from work and had PLANNED to go running, but decided I wanted to do a bit of reading and get a start on dinner instead. Then, after I did some dishes, it just looked so pleasant outside, and had cooled off a bit, that I decided to go running then. And I'm so glad I trusted my instincts. The whole afternoon was much better for it.
And now I'm eating because I'm starving :) Good thing I premade a delicious chilled pasta salad! And I'm trying out Smart Sausages tonight...not half bad!! Which is REALLY exciting for this girl on the go.
On that note, I also discovered a 28 Day Veg Boot Camp (because clearly I don't have enough on my plate - HA! pun! - already). I'm going to read up on it a bit before committing, and am thinking it might be a better idea to wait until the end of June to start, after I get back from my week-long family vacation where cooking for myself will be nigh impossible.
My weekend was very busy, but...successful. I didn't kill my mom, she didn't drive me totally up a wall, and everyone left in one piece. It all started Saturday, when I went to work at 7 a.m. after getting maybe an hour and a half of sleep the night before. I worked until 4 then headed straight to Whole Foods to pick up ingredients for the Leaving-Home Penne Rigate with Broccoli recipe I found on Epicurious. I ALSO found the famous cheese I (think?) I've been raving about. If I haven't in past entries, I certainly have in RL. It's apparently called Dragon Cheese with Mustard Seed and Ale and is expensive, but a little bit goes a LONG way, and even though it's just a bitty wedge of cheese, I still had some leftover. I am still learning to navigate my way around Whole Foods, and it was really crowded what with the impending Rapture and all, but the broccoli and cheese were actually easy to find. Also on my list were Triscuit-like crackers for said cheese, and an alternative to the Toll-House refrigerated ready-made cookie dough.
I could not for the life of me find the cookie dough, and I got lost (but was eventually successful) in trying to find the crackers - I kept going down the chips aisle, thinking, DO THEY ONLY HAVE CHIPS?? So I went to customer service to ask about the dough, which is apparently kept in the freezer section (duh) and the nice young man led me to it and was chatting with me about if I'd ever tried it or not. I said no, a friend had tried a sample here once and she seemed to think it was pretty good, so I was going to try it. And as he's asking me he's taking out this like sheet of labels or something, and stuck one on my box of cookie dough. It had his signature on it, and he said, "This one's on me. You'll have to tell me what you think next time you're here," or something to that effect. So that's pretty cool that they're allowed to go around doing that. Though I still haven't figured out if I was being hit on or not. I don't think so, but then again I usually err on the side of pessimism :P
Dinner was ok. I thought the recipe was very bland, and I opted NOT to do the 1/4 cup of salt at the beginning. Yuck. I'd try it again, but maybe with some garlic or some spice added to it, like some of the reviewers suggest. In any case, it's an easy, filling recipe, although the clean-up is a tad unfortunate. That could have been because we doubled the dishes, since my mom and her husband were eating with us.
They stayed and we four had a good time socializing - they'd never met C. The following day my mom and I went to the King of Prussia Mall, which is a sight for tourists in itself, seeing as it's practically as large as my hometown. Nothing particularly of note there, except that I got a cute pair of boxers from Victoria's Secret with their $10 off coupon, as well as my free pair of underwear.
Then we went to see Pirates, with C and my mom's husband, which I have to say was really entertaining. It was good to see Captain Jack again, even if the movie was somewhat predictable. It was still good fun, I say. Although I could have done without the really limp romantic not-even-important-enough-to-be-a-subplot line. And I'm not referring to the main characters.
Then we four went to Morton's: The Steakhouse.
...
Yeah. It's no place for a vegetarian. So I ordered meat dishes, with gusto. I started with the scallops wrapped in bacon, followed by one of their filets with garlic green beans and garlic mashed potatoes, all of which are to die for. I had some of C's breaded shrimp which was basically fucking ambrosia, and I swear because they were better than sex. Better. Than. Sex.
I thanked the Goddess for the sacrifice as I ate each animal, and prayed. Each of those dishes could single-handedly be the best dishes I've ever eaten, and they were! But I couldn't get past the fact that they were meat. So I said to myself, Self, after this weekend, get back on track.
Which was good, because I ate a hot dog at the Phillies game last night. And discovered that as good as it was, I CAN live without hot dogs. And I know the rest will come in time. Yesterday we also all went to the Philadelphia Zoo, which was apparently the first in the nation. It was surprisingly small (I've never been) and I have to say, what with all the hype, I was rather disappointed with it. We walked the whole thing in about 2 hours. There were lots of baby animals to see, which was really exciting and rewarding. Then we went to the Phillies game, which was SO MUCH FUN. As much as I hate to admit being - sort of - wrong about Phillies fans, they really remind me of Terp fans. And once I made that connection, I was done for. AND it's all good because the Phillies and the Orioles are in different leagues! So I can do a bit of moonlighting :)
Brief history: my mom left my dad the Christmas before I turned 4, to be with the man with whom she'd been cheating on my dad. 22 years later and I've been able to recognize that she's manipulative and self-centered, but does love me in her own way. Thank goodness she and her husband live in New Mexico. I don't have to put up with her very often.
Raiding tonight; attempting a new boss, as far as I know, if Maim remembered to extend the raid lock. And today began the first of eight days of work in a row, so I'm kind of bracing myself for that as well as trying to surround myself with as much Good and Happy as I can. Today was an easy 5 hour shift, though, so it was a good way to start a long streak...I was looking back on this and editing it and whatnot...and realized I called C Maim, which is his character's name (Maimonides). When you get into the WoW mindset, it's tough not to :P
C's programming camp thing for Oracle certification was canceled due to low enrollment, which means he'll have to wait until August to go back and take the third exam (which is kind of worrisome, since I assume he'll forget everything by then...hopefully he's good enough to relearn it all at the camp...which, considering he passed the first two exams without having had ANY previous Oracle experience...I think he'll be able to pick it back up again). More importantly, it means that he's not working AT ALL next week (since he had been planning on being at the camp) and would basically be wasting 23 hours of vacation time. Which is no fun at all. So I gave up one of my shifts for him, which, let's be honest, I was happy to do. I'm still getting paid for 5.5 days next week even though I'm only working 4, because we get holiday pay for Memorial Day regardless of if we work that day, and we get time-and-a-half if we DO work on top of it. So life is good in that regard. And I convinced the receiving manager, who is a good friend of ours, to give up his shift Tuesday so that C can work another day. And hopefully he'll be able to pick up another shift or two along the way. If not, that's ok too. Two shifts are way better than none.
Restarted C25K today after a mini-hiatus. It was fantastic. I could immediately tell that I was pushing myself harder during the jogging portions and that I was keeping up with myself anyway. Felt great. So great, that I decided I also wanted to do yoga this evening, because it would totally complete my night.
And now I think I've come full-circle :)
I by no means got everything accomplished that I wanted to with my afternoon, but I've decided to be much kinder to myself, with myself. I got home straight from work and had PLANNED to go running, but decided I wanted to do a bit of reading and get a start on dinner instead. Then, after I did some dishes, it just looked so pleasant outside, and had cooled off a bit, that I decided to go running then. And I'm so glad I trusted my instincts. The whole afternoon was much better for it.
And now I'm eating because I'm starving :) Good thing I premade a delicious chilled pasta salad! And I'm trying out Smart Sausages tonight...not half bad!! Which is REALLY exciting for this girl on the go.