... is a white coat or in my case, off-white, but you get the point. It was just too cute to say no to back on Black Friday when I was shopping half-asleep. Had I been fully awake and alert, I may have realized how risky, nay, dangerous it is to own such a light-colored coat. Wednesday I decided to wear it to work for the first time. I was worried sick I'd end up on the shoulder of I-35 for an accident. Luckily, that didn't happen. I spent most of my time in Kmart working on a story. I managed to make it through the day just fine UNTIL I left to go home at 10:45pm. I must have somehow spilled some soup from my lunchbox onto my steering wheel which my coat then smeared when I sat down in my car. I got home and quickly washed it out. I'm very glad it wasn't a beef or veggie based red soup, but a creamy one. I never spill on myself, ever, except for the day I wear my new, off-white coat. I'll just have to be a lot more careful going forward - it's just too awesome to stay hanging in my closet.
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As some of you may know, I do not have television. Life comes with decisions, and I decided to not have cable. I can't even get over-the-air channels because I don't have a digital converter box. My entertainment comes on DVDs mostly from the library (or my small movie collection). Anyway, a co-worker felt bad for me. He didn't understand how I could work on TV and not have it. I said life is full of choices. (I don't have Interent either, in case you were wondering). He gave me an old antenna he had buried in his garage or basement or somewhere. Tuesday night I hooked em up, turned on the tube, and still no picture. I figured out my TV is older than I thought. Being made in 2005, it's analog which requires a digital converter box to get the over-the-air channels. Looks like I can get one for around $60. Much cheaper than cable, but maybe I should just bite the bullet and buy a new TV. I should have put that on my list to Santa...
... I work out. Today I had my first fitness assessment at Fitness World West. You can see all the detail below, but the important one to take note of is the shortest bar - that's for aerobic fitness. I already knew I sucked at cardio, now I have it in writing thanks to some fancy-pants machine. The rest of my tests conclude I'm "fit" for body fat, diastolic blood pressure, resting heart rate, and sit ups and "excellent" for biceps strength, back flexibility, systolic blood pressure, and push ups. This is encouraging to know I'm not in awful shape and motivating to know I can do so much better. They'll test me again in eight weeks, which I should see results by then. I also swam and biked for the first time today. Swimming is so hard, but is so great for your whole body. I'm glad Tough Mudder is in May - perfect timing for bathing suit season.
I'm a little superstitious when it comes to sports. Take Mizzou's 2010 football season for example. The two games I started watching BEFORE kick off, we lost. So every other game I waited until AFTER kick off to tune in.. and it worked (until, the Insight Bowl against Iowa, but I'm blaming that loss entirely on Gabbert). I've been hearing about Tim Tebow's miracle fourth quarter wins for the Broncos the past few weeks (even Rick Perry referred to him in the last debate), but I hadn't actually seen him play. My Sunday entailed an in-depth study of Tebow's prowess and awesomeness for the first quarter. He ended up not coming back to win against the Patriots. Do I blame myself? A little. Or we can just say the Patriots are that good. Come to think about it, Sunday was also the first Packers game I watched this season (Bears fan) and they lost for the first time. Well, I'll just say I'm good luck for Kyle Orton. Go Chiefs!
Oh hockey. We have a love/hate relationship. I don't really like hockey per say, but my ex played hockey and loved watching it, especially his beloved Blackhawks. Being the excellent, supportive girlfriend I was, I learned some of the rules and was more than happy to watch some of the games. I hadn't ever been to a hockey game (besides my high school team for extra credit), so I decided I should really go to a Buccaneers game. I've heard they are a lot of fun, especially on $1.50 night. Well, it was $5.00 beer night Saturday, but I still had a great time. I will admit, it's a toss up of what was more exciting - the actual game or all the good looking men in attendance.
It's baby time! Not for me, silly, my sister. She's due in February with her first. Naturally, we have to have a baby shower for her. I spent my morning handwriting the invitations and envelopes. Luckily, I have legible penmanship, otherwise they would not have turned out quite so quite. We don't know the sex of the baby yet, so I had to pick something gender-neutral. Besides, the invitation isn't the important part, the gift they bring is. On a serious note, I'm excited to be an aunt and even more excited for my sister to be a mommy. She's wanted kids since I can remember. My mom swears when Jennifer was just two years old she was changing my diapers. Now, if only every toddler could be so helpful with the new baby. I wonder if it'll be a girl or a boy... Part II of new things: I had my first taste (shot) of Iowa's own pride and joy Templeton Rye and Wisconsin's New Glarus Spotted Cow. The beer was really good, the whiskey not so much. My review of Templeton Rye is based on the fact that I am not a whiskey girl (sorry to let you down, Toby Keith). My whiskey experience includes shots of Wild Turkey on cold winter nights at house parties in college. At least, now I can say I've had it (and I got a pretty picture out of the deal too).
I had another record run Thursday. I'm on a roll. So much in fact, I even signed up for a gym membership. I haven't spend any of my adult, post-collegiate life working out in a gym. I either lift free weights at my place or go for a run outside. I did in college, well, because I paid for the gym with the rest of my tuition. Not to mention Mizzou has the best college fitness facility in the country, or at least they did in 2008, and it was *the place to be on week nights. So after some quick research, based on convenience, price, and having a pool, I joined Fitness World West. I go in Monday for my initial fitness assessment. That should be interesting. I also need to start swimming to prepare for an indoor triathlon I want to do at the end of February. Not only is training for a triathlon and Tough Mudder hard work, so is being a hostess for a Christmas party. This depicts my Thursday night. I randomly picked up this book to learn how to throw the best parties around the holidays with help from Williams-Sonoma. I've never thrown a legit, classy party (I don't think my Halloween Dead Zone bash counts). So this opened my eyes to the details that come with party planning. Can't say I'll be matching my napkin rings to name cards or importing Italian chocolates anytime soon, but there's a recipe for homemade eggnog I'm sure to try out in the coming weeks. Oh, there's nothing new about CSI: Miami. I love the show and am watching every season in order. I'm on season 6.
... but only in my apartment. Today hit a balmy 56 degrees, but you wouldn't know that inside my place though. I had the Christmas music bumpin and I was rockin out as I decorated my very own first Christmas tree with my very own first Christmas ornaments. As you can see, I went with a classy red and gold theme. No lights either; I'm being energy efficient.
I signed up! Seeing I don't like to waste money, my non-refundable under any circumstances $135 will be a good source of motivation to keep me training. I'm super stoked to do the race, especially after another awesome run Tuesday morning. It was my best run in four years. I'm hoping by January 7th I can say I've had my best run ever... which would be three miles in 30 minutes. That may sound like child's play to you, but that would be a record-breaker for me. Bring it on Tough Mudder!
Walking in to Trader Joe's Monday night, I didn't plan on liking it. I shop at Aldi - yes, it's not the biggest selection ever, but you can't beat the prices. The two grocers are owned by the same company, so I thought there was a glimmer of hope the prices wouldn't be absurd. I was suprised when I walked in: there were other young people in the store. At Aldi, I'm the youngest by 50 years and the only one without three kids in tow. The store felt overly-trendy for me, but upon close inspection of the selection and prices, I was satisfied. Satisfied, not impressed. That's because I don't believe a box of cereal should ever cost more than $2, and there were several priced more than $4. I love they have a wine section and cheese section, and I trust their meat and produce a lot more than Aldi. They had great options for party appetizers, like a proscuitto mozzarella wrap. However, I was not a fan of the American Gothic re-creation. All the other cartoons in the store were about Iowa, and she's clearly from Wisconsin.
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