Return of the Pup!

I missed last week’s puppy, but I’ve got one for you on a Monday morning, so all is forgiven.  Right?

It’s a Chonzer–a Bichon/Schnauzer mix.  I’m not a big fan of Schnauzers, but this blend is a real cutie.  And yes, I’ve got Bichons on the brain.  Over the weekend I was watching H.’s dog again and on one of our walks we ran into a little Bichon puppy.  They were instant friends!  So totally cute.
I spent most of the weekend with a gastrointestinal mess to deal with that started Friday night.  I still got out for the gym, dinner, and a movie Saturday night, but paid dearly for it yesterday.  Today I seem better able to eat and less likely to faint or puke, so that is good.  However I am horribly behind on all the things I needed to do yesterday.  I’m meeting a friend for coffee/tea this evening but skipping the gym.  I think my body could use one more day of rest, and I have to get my tax stuff done. TODAY. No ifs, ands or buts. 

Q2 Goals

I know I’ve sort of been phoning it in this week blog-style.  Truth is I’ve had a lot of things on my mind I wasn’t quite ready to pen.  I’m still struggling with what to do with my “6 Months” blog.  I’ve lost close to 15 pounds now, so I sort of am a new me.  Actually, I AM a new me.  Very much so.  And I’m backing away from counting the numbers, so that blog’s fate is undecided.
Plus, that whole fitness thing should not be separate from what I write here anymore.  That’s not a different me.  That’s my goals that have now fused into me.  (told you I was having trouble penning this)
I’ve been reading Body for Life to sort of restart my engine, which was stalling a little. I highly recommend it if you are contemplating changing your body in any way.  Because it will pretty much tell you, truthfully, whether you are ready or not.  Anyway, BFL got me thinking big about goals again.  My primary goal this year was to lose 20 lbs (which I would now restate as “get in good physical shape).  I got so focused on that, I dropped everything else.  Something reminded me of my 43 Things list and I thought I’d revisit for this quarter.
I do have some professional goals I’m not really going to talk about here.  One thing is for certain, I really need to buckle down on the PHR* study guide and be prepared to take that May/June certification exam.
I am fully committed to running/walking races for charity this spring, summer, and fall.  My trainer is helping me prepare for a 5K on May 11th.  More details on that once I get the plan and decide I can actually do it.   Also, my gym is having a “girls only” climbing class on April 11th and I’d really like to do that too.
Of  course, I recommit to my new healthy lifestyle.
By May 1st, I’ll finish going through my clothes and getting rid of stuff that no longer fits.  I already have one bag filled.
I have a lot of trips already planned (including home in April, and San Diego in May) so I can’t really add more to those.  But I do want to remind myself of the value of a weekend getaway whenever possible, and maybe plan a little more for the summer.
That’s enough for now.  The professional goals are big, and I know how well I do when I overextend myself (not very well). 
*Professional in Human Resources

This Made Me Laugh

http://tinylittledivision.blogspot.com/2008/03/trend-alert.html

 Who else do you think should not have a signature scent?

It’s Been Three Days?

This week has been a blur.  I have a lot of things to attend to, but wanted to take a moment to reflect on the weekend.  Because I never shared anything about it, and because right now I need a reminder of how relaxed and wonderful I felt!
E. and I drove up to Kalahari resort early in the day on Saturday.  We arrived around 2ish, and immediately hit the water park. Um, yeah.  There are no words.  The place is almost perfectly designed for both adults and children and everything in between.  We had fun on the waterslides (except for one called the Pro Bowl, which dumped me into a metal bowl where I promptly conked my head) and spent time in between soaking in one of the 8 hot tubs located throughout the park.  We floated on a two-person rafty/intertube thing along the lazy river.  Twice.  We considered hitting the hot-tub side bar, but decided to save our drinks for later.  The only thing we never hit was the surfing.  I know!  I was so excited…but the line was long, I got a little chicken-y, and we agreed we’d rather learn to surf in California anyway.
For dinner, we went to a restaurant in the resort that had an all you can eat crab leg and prime rib buffet.  Plus a huge assortment of other dishes, sides, salads, and desserts.  I was fairly good in that I only ate crab legs (no butter), a baked potato, and some salad.  But oh man, I ate wayyyy more than one portion of crab legs.
We also had yummy margaritas.
While we had plans to “let our food digest” and then hit the arcade, we ended up flopping on the bed in the hotel room and promptly sleeping for 4 hours. Soooo needed.
Sunday was the Easter brunch, and more stuffing our faces.  Creme brulee french toast, applewood smoked bacon, chicken wings, fruit, more prime rib, shrimp cocktail, a table of desserts and a chocolate fountain.  Mostly I filled up on the french toast, bacon, and chocolate dipped strawberries.
We weren’t sure we wanted to go through all the fuss of getting into the waterpark for only an hour of time after that, so we curled up in front of the fireplace in the lobby until we decided to head out.  We also drove around Madison, WI on our trip home.  I had heard it was pretty, and it is, but when you live in a city like Chicago most non-major cities end up being a little anticlimactic.
By this time I was starting to get hit with my sinus infection so most of the rest of the trip, I slept. 
I slept a lot.  And relaxed a lot.  And ate, a LOT.  It was wonderful.
I keep pestering E. that I want to go away again this weekend.   It’s amazing what just a couple days away can do!

The Hair

Seriously, this feels so anticlimactic now.  I look less like Keira Knightley and more like Katie Holmes.  But whatever, I like it:

Got a report assigned to me at 5:15 last night, so I’m busy this morning. 

The Only Bad Thing About a Vacation…

Is coming back.  Blegh.
E. and I had a wonderful trip.  I’ll tell you all about it later, I promise.
My inbox looks like it is going to throw up, and I think I might have come back with a sinus infection.  Hard to believe, considering all the chlorine that went up my nose!
Also, I love the haircut.  Will give you pictures, I promise.  
Hope everyone had a nice Easter and/or weekend!  More later…

Chop, Chop!

I am getting my hair cut tonight.  After months and months of growing it out, I am finally ready to let it go.
My initial hope was that I could spend the whole summer with my hair in a braid.  But I am just tired of taking so damn long to do my hair, braid or no braid.  The idea was that it would be a fun little segue into spring but seeing as to how there is a snowstorm outside right now…uh…yeah…
Anyway, this is the cut I am shooting for:

Of course it will not look like that on me, and honestly I don’t think my bangs have gotten long enough to hang down that far.  But it’s a good template.
Anyway, it will be nice for tromping around the waterpark this weekend.  The warm, tropical, California-esque waterpark!  Which I will enjoy in my swimsuit! Whilst it is snowing outside! Muh ha ha!
Have a great weekend, and Happy Easter to those that celebrate it.

On a Lighter Note!

 This one has been floating around the interwebs…steal if you wish!

A MEME IN PICTURES

Here’s how it works:
1. Go to http://www.photobucket.com/
2. Type in your answer to the question in the “search” box
3. Use only the first page
4. Insert the picture into your Blog

1.) What is your relationship status?

2.)  What is your current mood?

3.)  Who is your favorite band/artist?

4.)    What is your favorite movie?

5.)    What kind of pet do you have? 

6.) What is your favorite candy?

7.)  Where do you live?

8.)  Where do you work?*

9.)  What do you look like?

10.)  What do you drive?

(Get it? Shoes, b/c I have no car!)

11.)  What did you do last night?

12.)  What is your favorite TV show?

13.)  Describe yourself.

14.)  What are you doing today?

15.)  What is your name?

*I wish my home office was that pretty!

In Which I Lay My Head On the Guillotine

I am totally going to get thrashed for what I’m about to say, I know it.  But I am so frustrated this morning that I have to talk about it here.  And so I walk in full well knowing what lies ahead in terms of response to this entry.
I don’t talk politics much.  It is very, very hard for people to take off the lens of what they believe politically and truly analyze what is being said or done.  I have never, ever declared here who I am voting for in the presidential election.  And I will not share that information until after I have voted. 
I live in Illinois, where I feel that saying anything negative about Obama will incur the wrath of God Almighty.  I feel like I am not allowed to have a voice.  That I am not allowed to wonder, or question, or disagree, without someone going on the impassioned defensive. 
I want someone to say to me, “Interesting, why do you feel that why?”  Not, YOU ARE WRONG!! WRONG WRONG WRONG!
The best way I can sum it up is what I just wrote in an e-mail to a friend about the Philly speech from yesterday:
One of the things that is killing me is that by questioning Obama’s speech, the automatic assumption has been that I didn’t read it. 
I understand that Pastor Wright was a human being, and a sometimes angry one at that.  I am a person who left a church I was baptized in AS AN ADULT because I cannot find a spiritual leader I agree with deep in my heart.  So how Obama can raise his entire family in a church where the leader’s admitted residual anger is counter productive to the nation he is trying to build utterly confuses me. 
It is okay to be angry, certainly.  My grandparents still think “colored” people are suspect, and I love them very much.  But leading a spiritual center is far different from just being my grandparents.  If they headed up a church, I wouldn’t go there either.
That is what I feel Obama failed to address.  Sure, you can love your Pastor and see him like a father.  But why would you continue to attend a church where there obviously exists a hatred and anger that is counter to what you say you are trying to build for a nation?

It doesn’t matter what I write here, the answers will be the same across the board.  It is right there in the speech! It wasn’t for me.  I’m not saying it wasn’t a good speech, it was a great speech.  But I am still left with questions.  And so we agree to disagree…I hope…

ETA:  From another conversation, replace “Racisim” with anything else and hopefully it helps distill my point:
If the issue was that we shouldn’t eat eggs or that no one should mow their lawn, it wouldn’t matter. If Obama said some people think we should mow our lawn and some people don’t, but I won’t follow the spiritual teachings of a person who believes we should be angry at people who come over and mow our lawn when we don’t want our lawn mowed because it is unproductive–well, then I would understand better.
We can talk about mowing the lawn all day long, but when you allow someone who feels differently from you about mowing your lawn to become your spiritual leader, that is troubling to me.

Not Puppies, But Still Cute

Happy Birthday to my little kitty girls, Beatrice and Bastet!  I don’t know when exactly they were born, except that it was sometime during the month of March.  They are 8 years old and still behave like the little kittens they once were:

They have, however, grown into those big kitty ears.   I will never, ever forget going into the kitten room at the shelter and Bastet jumping up on my lap.  Or taking them home in their box that they BOTH could fit into (I don’t think one could fit now!) and opening the lid to let them explore the kitchen at their own pace.  Both popped their tiny heads up, and Beatrice (the shy one) was actually the first to hop out and go explore.  I remember buying them Burger King hamburgers after their first trip to the vet and both of them being utterly unimpressed (doy, kitties don’t eat cows!). 
I really wish I had more pictures of them from when they were little, but back then digital cameras were still new-ish and the quality ones cost a lot of money.  
Anyway, happy birthday month to my favorite furballs!