Monday

This is the first Monday I've had to work in a while - it's not my favorite. Thanks to NATO and Memorial Day for giving me the last 2 Mondays off work. I suppose the 4 day weeks and the 3 day weekends had to end sometime.

I have a camping trip planned near the end of this month, which has the fixins to be awesome. Heading out on Friday night, staying with friends in Indianapolis, then driving down to Nashville, TN on Saturday for good times and live music. Sunday and Monday camping out near Kentucky Lake! We may stop in southern Illinois to visit my grandparents on our way home Tuesday night. Anyway, I think it sounds like a ball of fun and can't wait for the next 2 weekends to pass :) Though I am nervous about asking my boss for the time off. I have been putting that off. Shh, don't talk about it.

Amanda and I are trying some detox this week. No beers til Friday AND waking up to go for a run on Tuesday and Thursday. Haha, this should be interesting. We both want to be healthier, but we are terrible at acting on it! I see so many people out running in the mornings while I'm on my way to the bus stop, and I've felt so jealous of them. Finally, I realized I didn't need to be jealous anymore because I too could chooise to be a morning runner! Getting out of bed at 5:15 will not be easy, but it's certainly not impossible. As for the no beer rule, I figure that can't hurt, right? Several nights a week when we get home from work, Amanda and I will have a beer. Especially since it's getting warm outside, it's really lovely to have a beer on the balcony and talk for a while. But we don't need the beers, so why waste the money and the calories? We aren't drinking to get drunk, it's just become a bit of a habit. I think the no beer rule will help with the waking early, and the being healthier thing so we're going to give it a shot! Please wish us luck, haha.

Exciting news from yesterday: the baby birds from the nest on our balcony are growing up! One left the nest yesterday afternoon, and the three roomies (Amanda/Molly/Me) eagerly watched from the window as his adults tweeted encouraging words and would occasionally regurgitate food into his mouth. We named him Olivander. I think there are 2 other babies in the nest, so we may see some more "coming of age" action soon.

Okay, I've been putting it off long enough - time to get to work. Bye!

Even though I see this view everyday, it seemed extra nice today :)

It's that time again

End of the work week, it is Friday folks! All week I've been enjoying the weather, and the smell of Summer is slowly creeping in. It will be so refreshing to not wear a jacket (and scarf) to work anymore! And with the tip of Summer on the horizon I can't help but create this seriously lengthy "summer bucket list" in my head. There are just about a million things I want to do this summer, and I really hope I get to them all!

Next week I will start experimenting with working out (at the gym in my office building) during lunch. I know a few people who do this, and I think it's a really great idea. I can always eat my lunch at my desk afterwards AND it might deter me from smoking during the day :) I notice such a big difference in my lung capacity when I walk/run after (or during) smoking. Even this morning-- I chose not to have a cigarette on my walk to the bus stop, and was able to make the quick sprint down the block and across the street so I didn't miss the light. Because of this I caught a bus that I wouldn't have otherwise, and I wasn't late to work! See how that works?!

On Tuesday this week I went to a *free* reading at a bar in my neighborhood. There were 6 or 7 people who read stories about their lives. Some of them were funny, some were a bit more serious, but they were all so interesting. A lot of the stories were about weird or crummy jobs, which I can relate to, haha. Not this one necessarily, but some of my past jobs have been interesting for sure. Anyway, I went to this reading by myself because nobody was available so last minute. It turned out to be really fun to take myself on this little date :) I met a friend, drank a beer, listened to some stories, and had a lovely walk home on a warm night. Apparently this story thing happens on the 2nd Tuesday of every month, so I'd like to check it out again in June!

I'm about to head off to a meeting, but before I do I want to share some of my summer bucket list items with you!
- Go kayaking
- Camping
- Take a road trip
- Go to the beach (a lot)
- Ride my back around Andersonville (and possibly beyond, if I get brave)
- Baseball games!
- 6 flags
- Have some poker nights at our apartment
- Take a class (this one might be a fall thing, we'll see)
- Run a 5K
- Go to free/cheap concerts as much as possible
- Go to lots of neighborhood festivals
- Brew my own beer!

Alrighty, my coffee and I are outtie 9000. Cheers!

Meditation

I've always been intrigued (and intimidated) by the thought of meditation. Maybe it's because I associate introspection with anxiety and impending doom (haha?), but I would like to change that! For this reason I've added meditation to my summer bucket list. I often hear my own inner voice as critical, nagging, and overly analytical. What I'd like to gain from meditation is a more positive relationship with...myself I guess.

I am also very interested in meditation with my Amanda. It seems like it would be an insightful and intimate way to spend time together.

Okay, that is all for now :)

Coffee

I might have an emotional dependency to coffee. Haiku:

Elixir, so brown
I kiss you and consume you
Happy til you're gone.

Oh, hello!

This week flew by. Holy bananas. I love when they do that! After work today I'm heading down to southern Illinois with my mama to hang out with the fam for the weekend. I'm going to meet my cousin's new baby which is pretty exciting. I love babies when you can return them to their owners as needed ;)

I discovered a dive-y mexican restaurant by my apartment yesterday, and picked up some foods for dinner. Guess what? It was delicious. It's safe to assume that I will be a regular there. I'm looking forward to (hopefully) finding more places like this.

I have fallen off the vegan/vegetarian wagon SO SO SO HARD the last few weeks. I tend to have this "all or nothing" attitude about some things, and once I messed up I just went all out. And the silly thing is that I feel so much healthier and better when I don't eat meat, so it doesn't even make sense to start eating it again. I noticed myself looking healthier, and having more energy - even sleeping better, when I cut out animal products. I must do it again!

Sidebar: I can't express how much anger I have for the people who are writing blogs/posting things like this. Ignorance is rampant, and everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but I struggle to sympathize with these kinds of people. Victim mentality isn't flattering on anybody. Someone I am friends with on Facebook is constantly posting these types of ignorant blogs/articles, and it makes me sick. When I think about getting involved in a stupid Facebook discussion with him, this silly (but appropriate) saying goes through my head: Don't wrestle with a pig, because you'll both get dirty - but the pig will like it.

Haha I don't use that saying nearly enough.

over the weekend...

we moved in :) Yes, that's right ladies and gents I am now a resident of Chicago. I have keys, I have an address, and the cable/internet is in my name. Damn, I am a grown ass woman! Haha, that's what I'd like you to believe anyway. Maybe once you see my riding to the bus stop on my razor scooter you'll change your mind.

Moving is such a massive pain in the ass - I do not want to do it again any time soon. Packing is just the tip of the iceberg. And even though I've moved A LOT in my life, none of those moves are really comparable to the time you move out of your parent's house for good.

I can't wait til we are settled into the apartment for good, so we can finally just...breathe and hang out, haha. Molly is really good at decorating which is nice. And it's been fun to go through all of our things to make a very complete kitchen. Ahhh I wish I could just take this whole week off work to hang out at my new home :) But on the other hand I suppose it's keeping me sane to get out of that mess for a while.

I think I got a bit spoiled, as far as work commutes go, when I was staying at Amanda's old apartment. Getting to work was super quick and easy (about 20-30 mins and the bus would drop me off right in front of my building!). So this morning on my first commute to work from Andersonville I was kinda bummed. But then I remembered it was better than coming from the burbs, so that cheered me up ;) I decided to make a map, because I like doing weird things like that to demonstrate my travels to you:

Okay, I'm a nerd. I need to use my powers for good now. Later taters!