Living in the world of Phil

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T09:17:00.003-05:00

Trev and I have never really been into getting into costumes and the whole Halloween thing. Neither of us did it as kids and I have to say, I really don't get it. That said, this year for the first time in a long time we did make the effort. Our friends Aaron and Lyn who we met in Mexico were having a party and as it was Saturday night we decided we would go. We were told if we didn't dress up that they'd do it for us when we got there. Friday night we went up to the Halloween store, but I was shocked that every outfit was about $40 and that was without all the wigs, shoes and makeup. Rip off. Seriously.

During the day I was off shopping with a couple of friends and thought I had settled on dressing up as Trev as that was easy but then my friend Leslie, who's Scottish, suggested a St Trinian's school girl. I thought that was hilarious - especially as a) I wouldn't need to style my hair and b) stilettos, white shirt and makeup is all you really need. Trev was stuck too....but we found something:)

We had a great time, check out our pics below (here's a link to youtube if you need a St Trinian's explanation)

10-31-09 Halloween at Lyn and Aaron's

The best shortbread

2009-11-01T09:16:00.002-05:00

Since Trev isn't working we've been experimenting with different recipes for cookies. Our challenge is that we make our treats, not buy them. Some have been good, some have been bad.... this is awesome:

Shortbread
This is actually a Barefoot Contessa recipe from foodtv.com - I didn't all the chocolate dipping stuff, and I made these with just regular cooking margarine. They were awesome. They freeze well (you can also eat straight from the freezer), and fresh they didn't go "off". Here's the quick version:

3 sticks cooking margarine at room temperature
1 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt

1) Cream the marg and sugar until combined
2) Add the vanilla extract, flour and salt. Mix on low speed until dough is combined
3) Drop dough on worktop and pat together, wrap in clingfilm and refridgerate for 30mins
4) After the half hour, set oven to 350F to preheat
5) Take out dough, roll out to the depth you want (round disks about 1/3rd inch are good)
6) Use a cookie cutter to create the discs, keeping rolling out the dough til there's none left.
7) Put on an ungreased pan, sprinkle with sugar, and bake for about 15-20mins until edges are golden
8) Remove from oven, let cool to room temperature

Me - October 2009

2009-10-26T21:58:00.004-04:00

So, I had to do it. In preparation for Mum and Dad coming to visit we're rearranging the spare bedroom and doing a bit of a clear out and in my needlework basket were a couple of pairs of pants that needed hemming. "Great!" thought I - I can take them up and add them to my limited wardrobe.... yeah well - that worked til I realized they were way way way too big.

How cool - almost 5 years to the day since I committed to being healthier and joined a gym in St Louis. October 14th was the day...... I've dropped 3 dress sizes, can bike and run and much as I need and can do a full 2 hour strength workout - and survive. What I love the most - is that I can completely overindulge (this past weekend being a good example!!! I'm on a detox week!) and still not feel like a failure.

For the first time in my life I truly feel like I could write a book about how to change your life - realistically!

First....our crappy weekend

2009-10-26T21:25:00.002-04:00

It really doesn't matter how much you want to keep a smile on your face sometimes the world smacks you in the face! What a shitty weekend..... I keep telling myself "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger"

On Saturday afternoon after a rather taxing workout I went off to the shopping mall - when I got back Trev's bike had been stolen. I actually thought he'd gone out.....until I walked in the apartment. From our apartment garage - the door of the garage was left open for no more than 30 minutes. It was locked too - they jimmied it open, and left the lock on the floor right next to my bike.

Oh my - it was terrible. Poor Trev - talk about kicking someone in the nuts when he's down. He was completely distraught! It was awful.... then he cracked a tooth today.

Usually we'd find a new bike and replace it - just not quite so easy right now. Why couldn't the freaking thief just have taken my bike.......

Nevermind - it could be worse! Right?

Gotta love this cooking thing...

2009-10-20T21:56:00.002-04:00

So since we're trying to cut costs we've stopped buying cookies and stuff - we are experimenting with making them instead....so each weekend we do something.

I'm pretty good at making oatmeal cookies - chucking in chopped apples is awesome. I'm also experimenting with what oatmeal to use (ie ideally the cheapest)....so the first week we used up all the old instant oatmeal which was great. Then I found a good website for cheap recipes.

But this cake..........awesome!

Preparing for Mrs. O'Shea

2009-10-19T21:47:00.002-04:00

On November 14th Rachel and Mike get married in Chicago - it's been a fun run up to the wedding and I can't believe it's nearly here. Admittedly it's been more of a challenge with Trev not working but I'm really starting to look forward to seeing everyone soon.

It's weird feeling so removed from the wedding preparations - Rach is so, so organized (a chip off the old block we think!) and has everything under control. It's been fun listening, watching, participating and watching it all come together. Being so far away it's hard to be useful, but we have our responsibilities - my last one is to design and print the programs for the church service. We've picked out the design (well, one or two to choose from) - all we have to do now is put it together and print it.

I've had my dress for months - in 2 sizes ... and I'm pleased to report it's in the smaller size. I think I'm still going to get Spanx.....need to look fab in the pics, right? What I don't have is shoes or a bag - and I really don't like the jacket I have.....but I'm going to have to find time to shop.....

Trev's losing too - he got a couple of inches off the shoulders, and recently is now showing 11lb of weightloss. We're both going to be terrific.

On the work front, Trev is making some great connections and at some point soon I'm sure he'll have something, just it's a bit tough going into the holidays .... but I tell myself that others have it much worse than us. It's been good for us to be focused on what we really want - and it's preparing us to put everything to good use.

I also had an MRI on my knee last week as it wasn't getting better - but brilliant news - there's no tears or rips, and while it's sore, there's no arthritis or anything. So, as I've taken up running (albeit slowly) I can continue that...

More updates here as things happen ...

Busy busy September

2009-10-02T08:18:00.003-04:00

My world is flying by at such a pace I'm not getting any time to catch everyone up here - while I like my life full...I feel it may be running away from me. I did do a bunk on Friday and we went up to see our friend Melissa in Connecticut. It's only a couple of hours away, but it feels so different. Large spaces, dogs, cat, green grass and quiet. It was lovely.

Trevor drove while I caught up with some work, then after a quick brunch Melissa and I went off shopping while Trev rested and played with the dogs. Well....sounds boring for him, but he prefers it to going around stores. There are a few things that I need right now - first, shoes for Rachel's wedding. I thought I had the shoes, but when I tried them on they're way too big - my feet have shrunk. Weird eh? The other thing is that I need are tops. I spent the first half of the year buying pants as i kept dropping sizes, then it stabilized over the summer. Now my boobs have shrunk ... and my tops are all too big - to the point where my bra shows too much at work. Funny, but true. I've never looked forward to cold weather before - because right now I'd really rather not be buying too much.

Onto news....

Work - it's been CRAZY. I cannot say that enough. While I would be bored if there wasn't so much to do, it's been really hard to balance work and home life. it seems to be squaring away now, but this year has been one for the record books. I am involved in many projects - and the more I get involved in, the more I have to get involved in.

Trevor - he's still looking. He has good days and bad - but over the past 2 weeks he's been back in contact with people that we both used to work with. It's been a positive week for him, and that really helps. He's so talented and it's a shame that it's taking so long. I'm thankful that we are able to continue to live here without too much stress. Of course, if he's still not working by the new year, it'll be a different kettle of fish - but for now it's ok.

Car- we've decided to get rid of our car as we don't drive it. We actually thought we'd sold the lease really quickly - we signed the paperwork etc etc - and the little arsehole dropped out at the last minute. We were totally bummed. I'm still hoping that we get rid of it as it's a waste of several hundred dollars a month.

Health - we're both doing good. We're so fit these days it's kinda scary......i think we've both finally accepted we're not the lard-ass anymore....but it is very difficult to change your view of yourself. My ankle/knee is kinda crappy but I think we're about to finalize the therapy so that we can start a lawsuit! Hopefully that'll mean big bucks!!

Rachel's wedding - well, she has the dress, i have mine, we all look fab - so we're very excited that on November 14th Mike and her will be married. Mum, Dad and Tim are coming over and that'll be cool too. I just have to figure out how to get all my vacation time in before the end of the year:)

Rachel's Batchelorette Weekend

2009-09-18T23:29:00.003-04:00

Two weeks ago we all went back to Iowa over Labor Day weekend. We had a blast. There are lots of photos - we got a lot done in the few days we were there.

09-05-09 Rachel's Batchelorette Weekend

Friday we met up with some friends, Saturday celebrations started with tailgating at 7am along with flippy cup and cheese puffs - I did pass on the football game, and we went off to meet BJ and Paul. That evening, a bar crawl - was pretty funny especially when playing "I never..." - reminded me of a time playing that game in Cedar Rapids when I learnt that a girlfriend of a friend of mine had actually been paid for sex. It takes a lot for Penny AND I to be surprised, but believe me - that did it.

It was awesome - just need to lose a few pounds to get in my fabulous dress!

2 things I've learnt

2009-08-29T20:47:00.002-04:00

1) Muscle Milk (ie protein shake) makes you stronger when you're working out

2) I'm allergic to hydrogenated soy bean oil

At the age of 42, it's kinda weird to actually learn stuff about yourself, right? By now, don't you know it all? Well.....as you know the past several months we've been strength training with Billy at home - which basically results in 1.5 to 2 hours of hardass strength training twice a week....it's a killer. What we were finding is that we couldn't eat enough (without feeling sick) to sustain our energy through that. Billy suggested that we try a protein shake.....and both Trev and I are big sceptics about this kind of thing....anyway, we're converted. Muscle Milk is the brand - it's just over $20 delivered for about 3lbs of powder that you make up with water. The banana flavour seems to be the favourite.....so that's what we're sticking with. It's cool.

The other thing that's driving me nuts is that I kept getting puffy, red and itchy eyes - for the past few years. I've always put it down to hairspray or moisturizer...until a colleague mentioned this "hydrogenated soy bean oil". I've been aware for a while and have steered clear of the stuff - but today, for the first time in freaking ages I had an outbreak. After working out this morning I was hungry - but rather than craving eggs like usual, I wanted something crappy - and the choice today was a boxed soup - noodle soup. Not even the one with chicken bits. i've eaten this for years, although not this particular store bought version - let's face it, it's about once a year I eat this kind of thing. Anyway, made it, got ready to head out to the hairdressers - and whaddaya know - in less than 10 mins I look like I've cried for a week, with big red itchy eyes. While at the hairdressers, my eyes got bigger and bigger......so I guess tonight it's going to be 2 Benadryl and go to bed - just so i can get rid of the itching.....

In other news, Trev's still looking for a job, we're off to Cedar Rapids next weekend for Rachel's batchelorette party - so we're sneaking in an old haunt the night before - I'm so excited to be going back to Muddy Waters.......old times are such fabulous memories!

Is Facebook taking over????

2009-08-23T21:21:00.002-04:00

I didn't realize that it'd been over 6 weeks since I'd posted here - that's AWFUL. I feel terrible that the poor peeps that check in haven't had anything to read. So, while Trev is watching pre-season football (groan!) I figured I'd check in. This update is clearly going to take longer than I thought it would!

Now I realized that it was at the beginning of July I posted I'm trying to figure out why. I'm thinking that I'm blaming Facebook.... I check in daily, I have the app on my blackberry and can post comments easily. However, it's not the same as a long rant and rave about things here.

My quick catch up is as follows:

Our biggest news of the summer is that Trev was laid off in the middle of July and is searching for a position that a) keeps him local and b) he will enjoy. It'll be a few months before we get into crisis mode - although his mind is getting bored already.

For me - I've had a couple of very brief trips to England for work, but as it always seems I'm so busy I really don't feel that I'm using my vacation time well. I need to book some time....but I'm going to save it for when people are visiting. I'm really hoping to get back to the UK this year, but I'm not sure it'l lhappen.

Labour Day weekend we'll be in Iowa for Rachel batchelorette party....it should be fun. I"m so excited that laura and BJ are coming into town - and I'm also able to squeeze in on the Friday night a "Muddy Waters" night in Cedar Rapids with all the ex-APACers..... fun!

Recently my job has been awful - so stressful right now. Too many hours, not enough time and shitloads of stupid people!! At least I'm employed though, right? That's what I keep telling myself.

Anyway - I promise to update as things happen - and I'll get better at it!

June Update

2009-07-08T16:32:00.002-04:00

So, I've been bad - I got totally out of whack of updating and, you know how it goes, it's so long that you just don't bother. Now i feel bad - I keep reading everyone else's blog....and even make comments on occasions, but I'm not organized enough to do mine.

I posted our Mexico trip separately....but then so much else has happened - so grab a cup of tea, a biscuit and happy viewing/reading:)

Work has taken up a lot of our time - especially as I had a business trip smack bang in the middle of the month to the UK....that's a whole other story, of which I'll write separately about that when I have enough time to be coherent. Seeing friends was awesome - work was not so fun!

So first, we went into NYC for dinner at the Blue Fin with our friend Carla and some of her her relatives from Toronto. The pics are below. Carla amazes me - she's so fit and skinny and gorgeous. And for 48 years old she looks incredible. These pics were not photoshopped at all....I'm sure it's because she eats almost nothing and permanently detoxes herself! We had a great time!

06-12-09 Out with Carla

That same weekend I'd had enough of my humid hair....I'd had a terrible time in Mexico - it looks bad left alone, if I dried it etc etc etc.....so I went and saw my stylist and she nuked it. I'm now blond and beautiful and short.....it's awesome!! It's easy to manage and while it's not as straight as shown here it's much easier. I'm just waiting for humid weather to really try it out:)

06-14-09 New Hair

That same weekend we had a mammouth training session with Billy. As he now comes to our house our hourly sessions go on a bit. I am pleased to report that I can now do 60 pushups (proper ones, not the girly type!!) and then 250 sit ups in a row. WITHOUT STOPPING. I know - I'm even amazed at myself:)

After that I headed to the UK for about 10 days (weekend at home, working the week, another weekend at home, travel back the following Monday). These pics are a combination of home and work! The weather in England was almost perfect, it only rained a little bit and then it was sunshine the rest of the way. My goal for any remaining trip I have this year is to figure out how to get fitness into my routine when I'm away from home - I know I can do it....I just have to figure out how. Maybe my family should exercise....

06-18-09 Trip to UK

The month went by in a whirlwind and I can't believe it was over so fast! I feel like my ass never had a moment to sit and chill.

On a more sombre note, my knee is giving me grief - my medical insurance won't pay for physio and therefore they won't take me in....so while my ankle is pretty OK my left knee is not so good. I'm still trying to figure out what to do - but I feel a call to the lawyer is in order.

I promise to post our July 4th celebrations soon:)

May 30th - Nick and Jackie get married in Mexico

2009-07-08T16:31:00.001-04:00

We left Memorial day for a trip to Mexico - and we had a great time. While it felt like a 6 day frat party it was a lot of fun. The hotel was awesome and the definition of "all inclusive" was incredible. Room service was even included. We ate too much, drank too much, sat in the sun too much etc etc and we had a blast - I did post the pics on Facebook, but just in case you didn't see them....here they are.

It was the first time i'd ever gone away with a big bunch of people - to be honest we didn't have too much in common with a lot of them - way too many fraternity and cheerleader types for us....but we did meet some nice people to hang out with, and really enjoyed it.

I didn't like the humidity and the crappy hair i had all week - but you'll see dresses are my thing this summer...I'm so excited! I can't stop shopping. it's a pretty good incentive to keep going!

Nick and Jackie's Wedding

Our 12th Wedding Anniversary

2009-06-07T21:25:00.003-04:00

Wow! Where does time go? It only seems a little while ago that we moved to America, got married, headed to Disney, raised teenagers etc etc etc. And now look at us....

Trevor bought me a beautiful new ring to celebrate - so now my 3 stone ring is on my right hand and this new one replaces my wedding band. It's beautiful.

No-one ever said that marriage was easy but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? I love you Trev - let's have many more years!

My first attempt at a spray tan;)

2009-05-27T21:18:00.002-04:00

It's always so busy and I really feel like I'm out of the groove of writing. It's nuts. I started writing this post before we headed to Mexico, and managed to lose it all...so here's the precis! Just before we went friends convinced me that I should get a spray tan so I didn't look like the fat, white English one at the back. So, duly on the Thursday before we left I headed out and got sprayed. Now... I did what they told me and exfoliated like mad the day before and applied moisturizer but it still didn't turn out as planned.

We headed out on the Friday to celebrate our friend Sharon's birthday - see our pics below. You can check out my tan there. On the plus side, I really do think a tan makes you look thinner. It was also the first outing for the new camera.

05-22-09 Sharon's Birthday

New camera and new hair

2009-05-20T22:30:00.001-04:00

Check out the pics... the ones off the balcony are zooming in and out of the Empire State......amazing. I love it. Then later on you'll see new hair!!!

New Camera and New Hair!

Busy busy busy....still

2009-05-17T20:32:00.005-04:00

I feel like life is going by in a flash right now. Last weekend Trev organized a weekend in the city to celebrate Mother's day. It was great. We went and saw the new Star Trek movie which was AWESOME.....and I mean AWESOME, then we went off to the Joshua Tree for cocktails and dinner. The bar is great - it's all 80s music and lots of dancing. Was a lot of fun.

On Sunday we went out to the new "W" hotel where we live. Very swanky. Brunch was great too - and it's priced just right to keep out the skanks (if you know what I mean...). We met up with Rich, our neighbour for the afternoon.

Back at work time just flew. I had a colleague/friend over from the UK so Tuesday night we went out for drinks with some colleagues to a fabulous bar - http://230-fifth.com/ The views were stunning - right under the Empire State Building. Such a great place - it's an outside bar but if it's chilly there are both blankets and heaters. Very nice. Tuesday I also moved my desk - now I look at a wall and no-one can find me - it's PERFECT!!!!

Wednesday Trev and I were out supporting Rich. He was taking part in a bachelor auction in town on behalf of a charity (it's where guys get up on stage and people bid for them and their prizes). We went to Splash (http://www.splashbar.com/) where the event was taking place. Rich was worried that no-one would vote for him.....so he gave us money to make sure that we bidded for him. Needless to say it was a gay bar so there were some hunky topless guys serving drinks, the host for the evening was Hedda Lettuce (http://heddalettuce.com/), a famous drag queen. Was a lot of fun - we won our auction along with a "bag of booze" and a 90 minute massage. AWESOME.

On the following weekend we tried to rest - saw Angels and Demons, very disappointing. I'll re-read the book while in Mexico. From what I remember the book was far better than Davinci Code....not so with the movie. Weird.

Only a week or so til Mexico. Hopefully my health will keep the pigs away. On the fitness front I've been doing really well - I can now do 200 situps and 50 pushups (not one after the other!)......how cool is that. I actually feel pretty darn good!

Work work work work work and work

2009-05-08T20:25:00.004-04:00

I'm starting to get realistic. At the beginning the year I thought this mayhem would last a month, maybe 2. It's May....and nothing has changed. It's crazy.

I have managed to hire someone to help me out - and when I first started working with her she took ownership and like projects. I'm beginning to think it's me. She was a consultant, now she's hired (since Apr 13th). Just stupid stuff like I've asked her to set her PC up to work remotely and get a Blackberry. Why is it on May 8th this is not done? Why is it that I've told her for 3 months to get our performance reports out a week after month end and it's still not done? I really think I'm the problem. I've tried setting goals and saying "it needs to be done"....but it doesn't. WTF - my boss is already pissed I'm not as productive (esp with double the headcount!!!!).

I have to take this weekend to figure out how to set objectives and expectations and not interfere. This month I'm wrestling, while sitting here Friday night having worked until 7pm (when getting to work at 7.15am), with whether I check what she did today or I just ignore it and send people to her with questions. She has to learn that I can't carry her and ME. I think I'm sending people to her -and I'll do the one report my boss looks at. That way, I've got both bases covered.

Enough about work. Tonight I have zero energy to go out -I'm watching Biggest Loser (I'm a geek, what can I say), drinking a cocktail and catching up with you all.

Last week Pia visited and I had so much fun. She worked out with Billy alongside me - and he was soooo great with her. She's getting married in July and wants to lose weight. Being Italian she eats so much pasta so I'm convincing her to try my diet. In 18months I've lost 35lb.....and I feel (and look) so different. I love it. She did really well - Billy was great, she was so enthusiastic, but I did feel bad when she couldn't sit in the afternoon.....and worse when HER BOSS messaged me to say she was raving about us and her legs still hurt several days later. I've never seen myself as a diet and exercise guru....or that anyone would listen to me in this regard....I guess because I'd not seen Pia since last summer there was such a difference.

And on rain.....we're on our 7th straight day of rain. Fed up to say the least - it's like England in summer. Not fair - c'mon, bring the sun!

Pia visits

2009-05-03T21:30:00.002-04:00

My friend Maria Pia came to New York last week and we had a blast! She was here for work, but we got some socializing in....! First we walked around Soho, then made our way to China Town for dinner. Then, on Friday she came to our town, we had drinks and dinner at Sushi Lounge. On Saturday Pia worked out with Billy and I and after she'd recovered we went off shopping....what a blast!

04-30-08 With Pia in NYC

Trip to Chicago

2009-04-26T14:24:00.006-04:00

Trev and I had a great weekend in Chicago - we spent time doing some wedding planning and then socializing. Check out the pics.

04-24-09 Trip to Chicago

On Friday we visited Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs (baseball team) and the restaurant is where the wedding reception is going to be held. It's sooo "them". It's a lovely place and we'll probably be able to go out of the field for pictures. Very cool.

Then, Trev, Rach and I headed downtown so that we could check out what the Chicago skyline would look like in their wedding photos. The plan is for them to have a photo right at sunset - we tested by the water, up on the grass, halfway down the grass etc etc. We decided we liked down by the water the best.

After that we headed out to dinner. Following day Mike and Trev stayed in the bar while Rach and I went to check out linens for the reception. Didn't take too long, and then that was all decided which was great.

That afternoon we rested well and then headed out to dinner with Paul and BJ (who'd come up from St Louis) and Denise, Mike's Mum. Had a great time.

Today we're hanging out before taking a late afternoon flight home. We had a great time, and it was really nice relaxing with them both and seeing all the plans they've made. The wedding plans are so under control which is awesome.

Back to work tomorrow....

I'm a Great Aunt!

2009-04-21T08:34:00.003-04:00

Welcome to Abbie Janet Wilson, born April 20th at 1.42pm weighing 8lb 2oz. This is the most beautiful pic of Liz and Abbie - Colin took it. Liz is Trevor's niece.

Britain's got talent

2009-04-16T22:43:00.004-04:00

You just have to check this out.....not that I ever watch this program, or the American version, but this woman has had millions of hits on youtube....and deservedly so. Oh my - I hope she makes it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

And here's a UK article following up to that show... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1170309/I-wont-let-Simon-Cowell-Hollywood-makeover-vows-Amanda-Holden-TV-angel-internet-hit.html

Spring Blossom 2009

2009-04-16T22:30:00.002-04:00

Check out these beee-uuuu-ti-ful pictures of the Spring blossom. These are taken over 2 days at 6.30am by my bus stop. I'm in awe....

April 13th 2009 - 10 year anniversary

2009-04-13T20:33:00.003-04:00

Today is an important day for me. The last 10 years have flown by .... when I think back it seems like just yesterday. A lot's happened since then.

10 years ago today I had a hysterectomy, age 31. It wasn't all plain sailing but I can truly say that it was one of the best decisions I made. No periods, mood swings, food cravings etc etc etc. I've learnt to deal with the other stuff (hot flashes if I don't take HRT etc) and it's really not a big deal.

I'm healthier than I've ever been and I know that at some point the endometriosis will return and I'll end up with bowel surgery - the doc said 5-10 years at the time....and I'm getting no symptoms that means I have to go through with all that.

Every time I think of that I know that the investment (ie Billy) I make in my health is worth it.

Wooohooo! Here's to the next 10 years!

Ladies, if you're ever in doubt - don't be. Just do it! While recovery takes a little while, it's worth it in the long run!

Clearing out the closet

2009-04-10T10:56:00.003-04:00

Growing up I was always used to celebrating Easter - and still do, it's just different here. In England Easter starts on Thursday lunchtime where you clear out of work and then Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays. None of these days are public holidays here - I get Good Friday off, but Trevor has always had to work. That makes it a strange holiday.

So today my original plan was to work the morning, then go into town to meet Trev for lunch before heading off to physio. Next I thought I'd head off to the mall to go shopping.... then I decided I had enough clothes. So I spent most of the morning clearing out my closet. At work there's a been a clothes drive the past couple of weeks, especially for business wear as it goes to an organization who focuses on women who are on welfare and getting back into the work place. Last year I participated and gave some stuff away, this year I have even more reason to.

While I've stalled in weightloss during March due to all the trips and parties since last fall I've lost about 20 pounds. I've gone from size US 14/16 to size 10, and even that's getting loose. I've also been working out well and it's really beginning to show. Not only are my pants getting smaller, and the bra size shrunk (which I'm so happy about!!) but now all the sweaters and tops I have are starting to get too big. Rather than ditch everything I've just spent the morning going through everything - trying it on and putting in piles that stuff that I just can't wear.

I'm happy - but what's awful is all the money spent on these clothes. I have suits and jackets I've just got to give away because they don't fit. I do have the "woo-hoo" going on - but at the same time I'm just thinking of all the money I'll have to spend to replace it all.

For now as long as I have 2-3 pairs of work pants, 2-3 pairs of jeans and a dozen tops or so for work then I'll be good. I don't want to buy too much in case I keep shrinking.

Certainly the brown jeans I bought in England last summer with my friend Debbie, that were just way way too tight are getting to the point where they're too loose. Yippee! Hopefully I'll get back soon so I can show off!!

This has given me the motivation to keep off the chocolate and partying and start focusing on my butt. I have a wedding in Mexico at the end of May and I'd like to drop at least another 5lb by then.....let's see if I can do that!!

The one about the screaming woman....

2009-04-06T21:59:00.005-04:00

Looking back, this is pretty funny..... but at the time I was so, so mad. It's been many years since I've been yelled at (and I mean YELLED at!) in my job. Funny how some people react.

I have to preface this with what my job is..... for this particular story. Not only do I run a global team of peeps (one reporting directly to me, the others in a matrix style), but I am responsible for the detail of the programming when it comes to performance reporting. This is not something that I've trained for - I've picked it up over the years. I've said many times that learning this has given me several career opportunities and I'm always floored about how easy it can be to WOW people:) That's my secret....and I'm keeping it. I'm forever thankful to Trevor for refusing me reporting resources when we worked together when I first joined my current company. ..... because without that I wouldn't be where I am today.

Anyway.....back to the weirdo. In one of the projects we launched this quarter a new team lead in the UK was responsible for co-ordinating with everyone globally to ensure that all requirements were taken care of. Two things happened. First in order for this project to execute the team needs a list of clients for their teams to go and visit. Seems easy, right? Yeah well.....not so much. Second, it's important that all the regions agree. What I should also say here is that my boss had distributed "final" documents to some VERY senior people around the company. What I didn't know when this happened was that a war was brewing under the surface.....trust me to be the catalyst!!

Let's take the first one - the list of clients. Now the thing that's really important is that the list is accurate and relevant to the topic of the project. I spent time on the phone with the owner of the project asking for the criteria. I explained the information I needed and tried to walk her through the process of a) why she needed to do it and b) how to do it. I had a Webex running so she could see what I was doing (it's a tool where she can go to a website and watch what I'm doing on my PC) but it was clear from right at the beginning that she had already decided my role in this..... which wasn't quite what I had planned! Hahhahahaha. Anyway..... she wanted a number of clients by product and country. Easy enough.....except that I know when dealing with her colleagues that while they will want that information they will want other information also (like exactly WHO to go and see and WHERE they are located). What a freaking dumb ass. So, after about half hour of me trying to explain this I gave up. She complained that I asked too many questions - as I explained to her many times it's important she's specific so that she can give the team the CORRECT information. In the end I sent her what she asked for..... I still can't believe she was screaming at me down the phone....no joke.

What got me was this. I took time out to give her information and recommendations (especially as I already knew what my boss was after.....because a) I confirmed my thinking was correct and b) I know her too flipping well!!) but it was ignored. She took what I sent her, deleted half of it, and then sent out basic info that was totally no help to anyone. Overnight all the other people asked for the specific client information that I had originally recommended. Now, I have no problem providing it - I'm just too damn busy to do things more than once....and would have preferred to do this originally. What really peed me off was that when someone emailed her with a request she had the audacity to reply to an email and said "well, Phil is our data whiz, so i'm sure she can provide this information". WTF. Who am I? Her admin? C'mon people....get with the program. What I didn't realize at this moment was that every other person in the team was already peed off with her - and I had no idea. I thought it was just me - and that maybe it was the moon or something giving me no tolerance. Everyone was coming to me with questions because they trust me. So, I fixed the data and sent it out. Problem over.....or so I thought....

The second thing that happened was even worse.....well, it took longer to fix. I was looking at the detailed programming to make sure that I could report correctly at the end of the month. I took the "final" documents my boss had distributed and started reconciling with the previous information. I had given this task to the person who works for me - figuring it'd take her about 2 hours to get this information together. Well after a day I was getting VERY frustrated with her that she didn't have the answers. So, at the end of the day we both sat down with the information in order to figure it out - my view being at that time was "blinking heck, give to me I'll do it myself!!". What I quickly realized was that it wasn't us.....it was the project owner. Hmmmmphf. To confirm my thinking I quickly sent emails off to people in Asia and Europe to give them the two sets of info I had and asked them to confirm what I should be programming. Well......this gave me the confirmation I needed that this woman is a total nut job.

So to finish the story....the following day at our global team meeting I asked her to present the project. I confirmed with her that all the regions had signed off on her project and that they were all happy. She said "yes". Now....given the story above AND the fact that all the regional heads were on this conference call I was pretty surprised she confirmed they were all happy. Well, can you imagine what happened when I said "Thanks....I'm not sure that's correct - and then opened it up to the regions". Sit back and watching the fireworks..... was pretty funny to me. Luckily everyone else trusts me - the question is do I try and turn her around, or just wait for her to bury herself.

Maybe this woman just needs some mentoring, maybe she's nuts - who flipping knows. All I know is that this coming week all these people are in NYC at a global management meeting - and she has to face all these people that she's peed off. This should be fun! How dumb must she feel? Or maybe she's too stupid to even know.....

Luckily I'm a smartarse and I can fix everything.....it just means there was loads of stuff I couldn't get done and I have to work over my 3 day weekend! That said....that's why these guys trust me - they know I have their back!

Ok, ranting and raving over....

Rhubarb, bikes, my ankle and hair

2009-04-05T20:01:00.006-04:00

The week went by in a whirlwind as always. I'll get onto the crappy parts later, but let's start with this weekend. So first, check out the pic below - if you remember back to last year I thought I'd killed the rhubarb. It had blackfly and totally died. I figured that I'd just start again this year. Anyway, we went out on the balcony this weekend - and CHECK IT OUT! I'm soooooo excited we might be eating it this year!

We also achieved something else this weekend - Trev bought a bike. I'm excited about that too - Billy (our trainer) has a new bike, I have mine from last year, so it's looking like we'll have lots of trips out and about. That is so cool. At the same time we got bike shoes - and they make such a difference in spin class. I never thought they would - but now my toes don't go numb!

I've also had my hair done again - getting ready for Mexico in May I've had it brightened for the summer - so while I'm still red, it's definitely brighter. When I get my act together I'll take a pic!

Onto the ankle....which is coming up for it's first anniversary.....I saw the doctor again last week. I got stuck with a needle of cortizone. The doc thinks that it'll help. What I wasn't ready for was a flipping big kick ass bruise that hurts like hell! Anyway.....we'll wait and see:) You never know - it may do the job!!

Trip to Cedar Rapids

2009-03-26T11:19:00.003-04:00

Sorry I've been so absent - between trips and work, I've got out of the habit of writing. I'm hoping to rectify that right now. We had a riot in Iowa - check out the pics below. We just had so much fun - with catching up with everyone, to our friend Jane's 40th birthday party. It's great to see so many friends come out for us. Makes me want to visit more often.

It was also great to see Carrieanne in her own world. She's got a great house and a wonderful set of friends. I got to visit where she works - and everyone LOVES her! While she may not end up staying in her house (forces not under her control...blame the landlord!) she clearly has carved out a great lifestyle. It was fun to hang out - even with Louie, the weird ass cat!

Work is still nuts. I don't have time to eat or sleep. I feel like I'm permanently sick and that I'm even giving up important classes at the gym. I'm turning over a new leaf on April 1st - I have to limit work and start doing the things I love - especially as it's spring and I want to get my bike out.

Trip to Colorado

2009-03-16T07:37:00.002-04:00

So, last weekend we headed out to Colorado to see Peter, celebrate Trev's birthday and meet Stephanie. As you'll see from the pics, we had a blast! We were tired all week trying to recover, but we had fun.

03-07-09 Trev's B-day in Colorado

First day Peter, Trev and I went ski-ing. It was a little slushy but not too bad. I was totally paranoid regarding my ankle but did OK after a while. I did stop after lunch and let the boys carry on as I didn't want to hurt myself - gave me an excuse to sit on one's behind and do nothing much. Lovely.

Friday we hung out in Boulder all day. We went and saw Peter's office, had a great lunch, did a little work (well c'mon....it's not like I couldn't), and then ate ourselves silly. Stephanie and I spent a great deal of time shopping at Ann Taylor (or Ann Taylor Loft) as she gets a fantastic employee discount - woooohoooo! Love it. I think over the course of the weekend I was in one of these stores at least 6 times:) I have the bill to prove it. I just keep telling myself it would have been a lot worse had I not had the big ass discount!

Saturday Trev and Peter went ski-ing again while Steph and I went shopping again:) It ended all too soon with us returning home late on Sunday. It was fun!

We're off to Iowa this coming weekend - so it'll be another round of catching up and partying. Can't wait.

I knew it was true....

2009-03-13T20:33:00.002-04:00

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2316487.ece

Hahah - I'm a stickler for this. I like my tea "just so". This is a cup of hot, strong, English tea.

Boiling water has to be put on the tea, a little milk. It must be strong and hot. I am happiest when I drink it from a favourite mug.

Now it's in print - I know I'm not nuts!

My hellish fortnight ended in Colorado

2009-03-06T08:58:00.004-05:00

Now I'm safely with Peter in Colorado and have done a day's ski-ing I can relax and reply the past few weeks. This may go on a bit....don't say I didn't warn you:)

Every time I think I'm getting somewhere at work I relax, feel better, start working normal hours....and then it all blows up again. I had a cathartic afternoon last Friday by basically telling the guy that's been giving me grief EXACTLY how I felt. This is the same dude that has hounded me for the last 4 years - he's worked for me directly a few times, and I've even threatened to fire him if his behaviour didn't change (but changed my job before I could follow through). It never ceases to amaze me that he assumes everyone (regardless of their level!) is an idiot and has done absolutely nothing, and even if they had, it would be crap. It's infuriating. It was so bad about a month ago in my 121 with my boss I asked her to clarify my role in the project. It was simple....I was her. This made such a difference - it was clear that I was running the program. This made it really easy for me and i was back on track. That was my first 'serenity' moment - when clarity hit and I didn't need to worry about feelings so much.

OK, back to Friday. I have put together a program and presentation for this project to start communicating to staff proactively. I have lots of experience and am clear on the detail I want to portray. I sent a note stating the agenda, asked for feedback and then asked the team to provide me with their slides to include. Good, right? OK...what set me off was that he replied to my email, copied my boss (yeah, that's right - copied my boss!!!!!) and said he didn't agree with the agenda. Never talked to me, called or anything. Un - freaking - real. I went nuts - it takes a lot for me to lose my temper but I was not happy for a few reasons:

1) not talking to me if you're not happy shows a lack of respect....
2) my boss doesn't give a crap....her view is simple - she's paying you to fix the problems
3) my boss doesn't understand the word "NO" :):):)
4) I was running the project/program

Anyway, I told him he needed to find me on Friday and we WOULD TALK.....not exchange email. It took until 3.30pm for him to find me.... and it started nice enough. He then started saying he was annoyed that I didn't consult him, that I was interfering etc etc. I said that I agreed, I was interfering but that's because he's worked on this project a year and there's no plan, documentation, issues list, task list or ANYTHING. I had also asked around for feedback on the current team structure and people weren't happy. I immediately asked him if he understood my role (he said no) and then clarified. I gave it back to him right between the eyes.

1) I have asked several times for the agenda before his meetings in case I want to add anything. I never get it
2) He makes comments in meetings that are not correct
3) he keeps complaining/escalating about resources, but he doesn't actually have a plan or documentation to demonstrate it's an issue at this point
4) He excludes me from decisions he's unilaterally made for the department that miss key items. Because he doesn't consult me ever the only time I can challenge is at a meeting

I could go on, but I feel my blood pressure rising.

Here comes the cathartic moment. He started going on at me about a million things. "I sent notes, or copy notes to Deb (my boss) and I get no response". That was so funny to me. I looked at him and asked him if he was expecting direction from her.....he said yes. This is when I started laughing. I said to him that it's not her style - and that she's expecting us to provide that direction to the team. She's expecting regular updates that she can give to her management, she needs documentation that can show her we have it under control, she needs to be able to work with competing forces and look at all of them - and that his number 1 priority should be to cover her ass! Anyway that's when I realized that this kid for all his BS actually likes to be told what to do. Interesting.

Now, I thought everything was clear, I sent out a kick off meeting notice for planning with all key players in our group globally for next Wednesday. He then tells me again that the agenda is wrong. WTF is wrong with this guy? There's nothing I can do while I'm watching the beautiful Colorado mountains....

the other thing that drives me nuts is that he challenges everyone but without a context. Example - "so, when do you think you'll have it? Wednesday? No, why not? It has to be Friday at the latest" he doesn't know he needs it by then and the other guys have lots of work going on. What amazes me is that the don't push back on him....because I know I would.

Anyway, it's now just a matter of time before I kick his ass out. His usefulness is gone I think.

I talked to my boss again, just to verify my approach and what I'm doing and she's fine. Hopefully this will resolve itself.

Anyway, here we are in Colorado. We ski'ed yesterday and I think today we're hanging out in Boulder. Had great indian food last night and enjoying getting away for a few days.

The clock goes forward Saturday night for us, with the 2 hour time difference, and landing at home at 11pm Sunday night our Monday is going to be tiring.

Two weeks from now we're back in Iowa. I'm so looking forward to that weekend it's not even funny! I can catch up with friends and enjoy - but it'll be another knackering weekend!

Training with Billy

2009-02-28T14:52:00.002-05:00

Check out our second bedroom. We lost the right to train with Billy at the last place back in December, we joined a different gym because our old one was terrible and we finally made a decision to modify our spare bedroom into a home gym so we could work out with Billy (our trainer). We have minimalist equipment but it's awesome.

We've both worked out 3 times each and can honestly say it's worse (ie better) than being in a regular gym. You can't escape and take a break by walking around the gym. We are now in a 12x12 room with no escape. We also have no cardio equipment so our warm up/warm down is by weights. Therefore it's constant for 90 minutes at a time. Here are some pics. All we have to do now is put stuff on the walls.

The weights are awesome. They're in 2 blocks....and have filters so you can go from 2.5lb to 50lb on each arm. We feel so much better already!

Another zero down!

2009-02-28T07:23:00.002-05:00

Woooohoooo! So, I'm just loving this weight loss thing. I still can't figure out what I'm doing different this time, but it's working so who cares. I have officially gone past another zero - and since October have lost 21lb and since the beginning of the whole carb/protein diet 31lb. How exciting is it?

I can definitely tell you that taking each day/meal at a time, following a set of rules most of the time is working. In addition I have a regular exercise schedule that I follow - and it all is now part of my lifestyle. I miss it if I don't do it. It's only taken 4 years! About freaking time.

We're off to Mexico in May - I actually have to shop for clothes as none of my dresses, skirts or shorts fit. Now....that's what I call an excuse for shopping!

Who's more stressed?

2009-02-24T12:44:00.001-05:00

It's an age old question right? Is it the person who goes out to work or the person who's at home looking after kids? Admittedly this article focused on the 2 parents, 2 children scenario but it's an interesting read.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1153566/Who-pressure-breadwinner-homemaker-Nick-Harding-wife-stress-test-.html

It does make you wonder though what a single parent goes through.... I bet their stress levels are double everyone elses. Penny, I'm thinking of you!

Billy's back, back, back!

2009-02-22T11:37:00.003-05:00

If you remember back to the beginning of December when the girls came to visit I set them up with personal training sessions to kick start their diet and training program getting ready for Rach's wedding in November......and on the second session they got kicked out of the gym we used. We were using a gym attached to a building that a friend of mine managed (she's the assistant to the owner of the building) and said it was OK if we trained there.....well he was having a bad day - and kicked us out. We tried and tried to organize it to no avail... everything from "we need to open our own gym" to "why can't our 2nd bedroom be a gym".

We opted for the second option. It was a hard choice especially as it's important to me that when we have guests they're comfortable so I don't really want to rely on an inflatable bed - most people don't come for a couple of days, it's usually a week or more. So, what we've decided to do is sell on Craigslist the bedframe/headboard/chest of drawers and store the mattress and box spring in the hallway. Then all I have to do is buy a cheap bed frame that's easy to put together when we have visitors.

Yesterday was the first step in the process. We had ordered everything a week or so back and everything had been delivered (trust me...our apartment was covered in boxes!). I was sooooo excited I booked Billy's time for yesterday afternoon, which meant that the morning was spent unpacking all the boxes and putting everything together. I have to tell you by the time Billy arrived we were exhausted.

So, this is what we have:
- Bench and weights (powerblock.com - very consolidated set of weights. Awesome)
- Bosu ball
- Exercise ball
- Bands
- Mats
- Padded floor (arriving Tuesday)

Our first workouts went great. My butt cheeks are telling me that today - I hurt like hell. But that's good -right? I'm determined by the time I'm in Iowa at the end of March that I'm fabulous and not hurting anymore.

We have a few things to get like medicine balls but that'll come....I'm so excited that we are now in total control of our gym and personal trainer.....we don't miss our old gym, we love our new gym for all the cardio workouts so it's all working out well!

A Tribute....to Jade Goody

2009-02-17T21:58:00.003-05:00

I can't believe I'm writing this....especially as it all started with reality TV, but I just can't help myself. Here's the latest on Jade http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1147323/Jade-Goody-earns-1-5m-magazine-TV-deals-Sunday-wedding-ceremony.html

Jade burst on the UK TV reality scene in 2002 or 2003. She was young and stupid. During the Big Brother season she was seen doing lots of weird things - like getting her geography wrong, or saying words incorrectly. She was common and always spoke without thinking. But, no matter how much you didn't want to watch, there was something about her that kept you interested. More recently she drew international notoriety a year or so back in a racism row during the UK version of Celebrity Big Brother. All of that said, what has happened to her over the past 6 months is just awful. I can't stop thinking about it.

Her children are 4 and 5. Over the years she's had unexplained health issues which has always ended with nothing. Until last August that is. After the bad TV exposure the previous January Jade had agreed to go on the Indian version of Big Brother to fix the race issues that had occurred. Can you believe that at the age of 27 with two young children this poor woman found out that she had cervical cancer.....on Big Brother. Over the past several months Jade has been undergoing chemo etc....and two weeks ago found out that it hadn't worked and that the cancer has spread. Today I read that she has a few weeks left to live. She's marrying her boyfriend this coming weekend and depending on which report you read there's not a lot of time.

Jade has lived her life in the limelight...and during her cancer battle hired a TV company to follow her treatments and her daily life. She has made it very clear that her focus is on her children and keeping in the limelight at this time is meaning she's securing their future.

Doesn't it make you think? How in an instant the plans for your life can be gone? I'd like to think that I have no regrets and I think that's the case. I do put things off until tomorrow, when I know I shouldn't and time passes so quickly. I also know, when weird medical things happen and there's no explanation you don't accept no result....Jade is testimony to that.

So ladies, if you haven't had your annual physical yet.....go get it.

The Lion's Balls...

2009-02-17T17:49:00.001-05:00

Read this article.....this guy clearly has more gonads than I EVER EVER EVER would.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2246717.ece

Valentines Day

2009-02-15T09:47:00.002-05:00

Apart from the fact that I have a terrible sinus cold we had a good Valentines Day. Trev arranged for me to have a facial at our local salon which was great - the steam really helped clear my head and over the whole hour I got to hear about how bad my skin was:) In St Louis I'd have a facial every few months - I considered it a luxury, but it did mean that zits were at a minimum. Here in NY I think that was my second facial in 3 years - that said, I do look after my skin so I don't consider it a necessity at all. Personally, I'd rather do it myself and then go get a massage:)

This morning though my skin does feel smoother and the dry skin not so dry. That's all good. The one thing I didn't like was this woman was all "so, we're going to put you on this regimen which means you should come and see me monthly....". Yeah..........right! That REALLY annoys me. I know she wants to keep her business going but don't make me feel bad for not wanting to do that every month. Quite honestly having the "extraction" bit done (where they burst all the zits) I can only handle every so often:)

Trev's gift had a couple of bits. First I had downloaded a couple of audio books for him for his iPod. He's just got into listening to spoken word so thought it'd be cool. Then, I booked dinner and show at a comedy club in the city. We went and saw Judah Freelander - if you watch 30 Rock he's the dude with the hat and glasses. Was pretty flipping funny. It was great not to hear about politics. He was very clever - spent most of the time asking people questions and talking, so not a whole lot of preparation. It was fun.

I have to say though, I'd fed up with this sinus cold. I'm really glad I have tomorrow off of work because it'll give me a bit of time to recover. I wish it was spring.

And another week been and gone...

2009-02-14T09:18:00.002-05:00

Amazing isn't it? You look round and suddenly it's the weekend again! I can honestly say that sometimes I don't know where the time goes. Had quite an eventful week...so here goes:

1. My ankle. I decided that it was time to consult a different doctor. I haven't been to physio and yesterday I had my first appointment with a recommended surgeon. The other thing I've done is also included my left knee in this consult as it's been bugging me ever since I wore the bootee back in the summer. I've had oodles of xrays taken of both the knee and ankle/foot. The knee looks fine (whew!) and the ankle may have a chip of bone and some calcium deposits. What she has asked for is the MRI results that I had done last summer for her to look at more closely. She has recommended I do physio at a different facility, so I start that on Tuesday. So, I'm on the case - and I'm back to the lawyer on Monday to decide next steps.

2. An old friend. On Thursday we had a surprise when a friend of ours from England pinged me and was in NY for the week. So Thursday we met for drinks and dinner. We ended up in one of my favourite restaurants, Les Halles. What a great time....thoroughly enjoyed it. Even better it looks like we'll be working together for the next year or so.

3. Work. I've been having a tough time with someone at work...I think I'm most mad at the fact this guy manages to get me emotional and then irrational. I hate it. I've tried everything, but after 4 years of dealing with this guy I'm realizing it's that one in a million relationships that's not going to work. I'm OK with that. I've tried understanding what he's doing on this big ass project but he's so flipping secretive and has the "I know something you don't" attitude which is ridiculous given we all work for the same team! I think I hit my wall this week when staff and managers were starting to complain to me about him. Not only that but things that I had put in place and was working on I was finding out from these people that he was doing his own thing. Now, that's what put me over the edge - I really don't have time to a) listen to the complaints and b) do the same thing more than once. This made me start to doubt what my role was in this project. So, at my one to one with my boss on Thursday I asked for clarification. The complication is that my boss knows I don't like him, but this really wasn't a personal thing - it was how other people were feeling/reacting and the fact they weren't getting what they needed to kick the project off. Anyway......I asked what my role was. She asked for examples of why etc etc and then she made it very clear what my role was. For the purposes of this project, I'm her. And with those words the fuzziness disappeared, my annoyance and frustration disappeared and all became clear. Now I understand my role - it's dead simple. He works to my timetable, and my project plan, not the other way round. VERY cool.

4. Weight. I'm really not sure what happened but since October I've lost nearly 20lb. I'm doing what I've always done but suddenly it seems to be paying off. I'm so happy that I can lose weight, go to the gym and then splurge occasionally and it all works. I hope it continues - for the sake of all the weddings I've got this year.

5. Hair. So, I had it cut again - check out the pic, do you like it this short? I feel like a boy - but what's weird is that I'm getting lots of compliments. I can't decide if I like it or not. This isn't the nicest pic in the world, but it gives you an idea.

So, now I'm off to the salon for a facial, courtesy of Trev for Valentines....and then we're going to a show tonight. Happy Valentines one and all!

A new gym....

2009-02-11T21:22:00.005-05:00

We finally did it. After all the let-downs and complaining, we quit the gym we'd been at for almost 3 years, and have moved. It's such a relief. It's been so nice the past few weeks being able to go to a friendly place, with clean towels that down smell, with classes that are a) plentiful and b) happen at the advertised time. It's close to home and we've transitioned very well.

The tipping point came when we turned up on a Monday evening for a spin class and they wouldn't let us into the gym because "there's something wrong with your membership, you need to see a manager". I was not happy, especially as we'd been there the previous day. Anyhow we waited a few minutes and after a little while I mentioned to Trev that we could still make our favourite spin class at the new gym for which we had a 7 day membership. With that I leaned over the counter and told them exactly that. Next day Trev called the gym to speak to the manager (who, of course, didn't proactively call us....) to find out the problem as we knew we were paid up to date. Anyway, they wanted to double our membership.....for all the BS and about a third of the classes they used to have.....yeah, like that was a good incentive to join. NOT!

During February we actually had our final month at the old gym and briefly considered not joining until March, but we decided for our own sanity and health we were going to run both memberships for the month. Anyway....it was a good job we did because Trev went last weekend for one of his favourite classes - and that instructor had quit. It must just be a matter of time until they go under.

It's costing $1 less a month each at our new gym and another cool thing is that there are unlimited guest passes for those who come and stay with us - which is just AWESOME!

Anyway, that phase is over and we are enjoying our new weekday haunt.

That's the first phase of our gym transition. The second is more radical. So, since the girls visited back at the beginning of December we've not been able to train with Billy. We both enjoy the kick ass routines he puts us through and we miss it. So, we've decided to focus on our spare room and turn it into a gym. The equipment is on order (bench, weights, bands, ball etc). The bedframe and chest of drawers is going up on Craigslist this weekend, I've already picked out a new desk (although don't really have the money right now). Just have to decide what type of gym flooring we need. And that is what Amazon is for:) I'm just soooo excited about this.

My one thing that has stopped us doing it before is what to do with the bed. When we have people stay they usually stay for a while rather than a weekend so I don't want to not have available a comfortable bed. That said, it takes up the whole room and that's ridiculous when 90% of the time no-one is sleeping in it. We have a couple of choices:

1) take the box spring and mattress and store it in the hallway outside. Two issues with this: firstly, I'm probably violating some fire code and second, it'll gather dust over time.

2) have a murphy-type bed built. That means I can have a frame, keep our current mattress and have it folded against the wall in the bedroom most of the time and then bring it out when guests stay.

I'm going with #2 at the moment, but it'll depend on the moolah needed to put a murphy bed frame on the wall. The builder is coming in on Monday for a few other things so am going to discuss then. Can't wait!

Woman goes to work after many years...

2009-02-08T19:01:00.005-05:00

Over indulgences

2009-02-07T12:06:00.002-05:00

Over the past few weeks I've had so much going on it's made my brain hurt. It's been like a whirlwind and while I've had a blast I'm taking this opportunity to sit back and update everyone on what's been going on the past few weeks.

Work. This has been driving me crazy - too much to do, not enough time, too many stupid questions and stress, stress, stress. I broke my cardinal rule this week (my gym schedule is NOT to be broken) and worked 15 hour days for 3 days this week. On the plus side, I'm much calmer now and have got things under control. It wasn't fun, I hated it but now it's all good. I will make up for that time some other way - and I've made the promise to myself that next week that won't happen.

Working Out. It's funny, I never remember how great I feel when I've done a class/lifted weights etc. Today was the first day since Monday that I'd done anything at all and I feel tremendous. As I've already said, I will get back to my schedule. I do miss Billy - but I have a plan.... I'm going to have a workout area in our apartment! I'll keep the bed, but I'll store it in the hallway! How cool is that??

Eating and Drinking. How I'm managing a very slow and steady weightloss after all the meals I've eaten (or drunk!) is amazing. I'm guessing that my metabolism is higher now, and I'm not complaining. It's the first time in my life that this isn't a diet....and it's great. You get spured on when you hear compliments. I'm also healthier....which is the whole point after all.

Travel. We've done our trip to Chicago and we have the following ones planned already this year. Here's the current list:
- early March we're off to see Peter in Boulder
- end March we're in Cedar Rapids
- April we're back to Chicago
- May off to Mexico for a friend's wedding
So now I'm realizing the year is flying by so my plan this weekend is to figure out when I can get back the UK - it's been ages and I'm not convinced there are going to be any work trips this year so I'm looking. Tickets cost a fortune....which sucks. I also wanted to get to Turkey this year to see Mum and Dad's house.....but not sure how we're going to fit that all in with Rachel getting married, but we'll figure something out.

OK, I'm off to sort out my short hair....it takes so much more effort now!

Chicago trip

2009-02-02T22:20:00.003-05:00

Wow! We had such a great time - and soooo productive. Check out our pics below. We had two reasons to go - to celebrate Mike's 30th birthday (Rachel's fiance) and to start the wedding planning.

01-31-09 Chicago - Mike's 30th

We got a lot done:
- I met Denise (Mike's Mum), Eric (Mike's Sister) and her boyfriend (the "other" Mike)
- The guys picked out the tuxes with Rachel. Trevor and Peter have theirs ordered.
- The girls found their bridesmaids dresses - and we don't have to order for a few months giving everyone time to lose some weight
- We celebrated Mike's birthday several times
- Ate too much and did zero exercise

We had a blast.... and while it was rushed I wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Quote of the day

2009-01-27T11:29:00.001-05:00

Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater.

- If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby.
- If you give her a house, she'll give you a home.
- If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal.
- If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart.

She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit."

Off to Mexico

2009-01-26T08:53:00.003-05:00

I had a terrible week last week - by Friday I was beside myself. I was peed off, angry, upset at myself for feeling so bad, but couldn't find a way to kick my own ass out of it. I know how to stop people annoying me but it just wouldn't budge. I'm happy to report that spending the weekend doing almost nothing, out for dinner a couple of times with friends and a good massage has made me feel a whole lot better.

After that I wasn't really looking forward to today. I got my just desserts though. This person who annoyed the crap out of me last week managed to get their ass royally kicked by my boss. They organized a meeting to give my boss an update on this project - them, me, the global department program manager and my boss. Interesting that I didn't see the presentation beforehand, or even asked for my input....but that is soooooo typical. I didn't get mad and attended the meeting (which BTW was with 15 minutes notice!!!!!). It just shows you when you put a presentation together rule number 1 is to make sure you know your audience and what they will do with the information. She just ripped him a new a-hole. The bitchy side of me? Laughed my freakin ass off. It was laughable - even I couldn't understand what the hell they were trying to say....and believe me, with my boss - you have a total of 10 seconds to get your point across. hahahah-di-ha. Serves them right - they only need to ask my advice and I'd help. Even now neither of them has talked to me.

So, onto the topic of this post. We have friends getting married in Mexico in May. Part of me didn't really want to go as it was so far, expensive etc etc....however when we realized it was the holiday week and that we could airmile ourselves there for about $160 we booked it. This will now be our holiday for the year I think - and there was no arguing from Trevor. It'll be interesting to see what it's like. So exciting. I just need to figure out how you prevent yourself getting Delhi Belly......and most people I know who go to Mexico always get sick.

So now the keep fit and diet is kicking into high gear.....way too many skinny people will be there!

Work dilemma...brain dump!

2009-01-21T20:21:00.000-05:00

I've never usually had an issue getting on with people at work. While I'm a strong driver of deliverables I'm usually fair and work well with everyone. Every once in a while someone comes along who just gets right under my skin and whatever method of communication/planning/talking/emailing/relationship building I try they still irritate the crap out of me.

I'm working with someone this year who's driven me nuts for years. They first started working for back in 2005, then I took a break when they moved, then they worked for me for 2 years. They're so arrogant and I think the thing that just amazes me is that they have absolutely no fear - of anything or anyone. They are secretive and won't share information - it's totally nuts. I'm not usually to pull rank but he's several levels below me - and it would be nice that I was not treated like I was little more than a piece of dirt who knows nothing. Especially when I know that a) I don't and b) most of my colleagues agree with me. Now this is one of the biggest projects the company has ever under taken and it's important to get it right. I know that the people I work with are comfortable with my approach - so I'm very frustrated with myself that I just can't seem to cut a break with this idiot.

I hear all these voices in my head about how not to let them project their behaviour onto me, or to allow myself to get emotionally caught up in the BS that's going on. I also know lots of ways to get these kind of people on side....just NOTHING works. Nothing at all.

I know that I have lots of information and I'm just fed up getting emails to me, copied to the world with (and I quote) "This is critical to the account planning process. " No sh*t, sherlock! And that was the last sentence of the flipping email. So rude. And obnoxious.

So, I'm trying to figure out how the hell I get out of this. I know that I need to project manage them into a corner.....however, it's really hard when they won't share any information at all - unless I go to my boss and say they won't give it me, she then in turn emails them and then I get it. Seems ridiculously stupid and childish. It's also nuts that they INSIST on copying my boss on EVERYTHING. She doesn't care - she trusts that we'll make it happen. Such an idiot.

Back on track....I'm creating the plan and pieces and basically creating my dependencies on him. That way when I meet with them I'm focusing on deliverables and not my emotions. I just wish they'd quit and get a new job. This is way way too much stress.

I'm always so open...so I find it very difficult when people are secretive. By this I mean, I suggested we had some kind of repository for documentation/analysis/plans/issues lists etc - and they said no because "they don't want documents getting into the wrong hands". What the hell does that mean? This is a global project. How crappy is that? So, so short sighted.

I'm determined to get through this - I'm just trying to figure out the best way through. So, i've decided to start with what I know best - roles and responsibilities, a high level project plan and basic immediate deliverables.

Wish me luck!

New President, new era?

2009-01-21T19:43:00.003-05:00

I couldn't post anything until I least acknowledged that there's a new President in town. I'm not really sure how I feel in so far as I'm not sure if I'm happier that Obama is President or that George W is not.

I'm so happy that prize idiot is gone - isn't it amazing how much damage a guy can do in just 8 years? He started a war (without evidence), the economy has crashed (understatement), he's given the Daily Show on Comedy Central fodder for the funniest political show on TV, and he didn't find the guy responsible for 9/11. There are a million other things - but you get the idea.

What I am thrilled at is I've felt the mood change - for the better. This is the start of a new era.

I do think that Michelle Obama needs a stylist....while some of her dresses are good, so many of them are not. Hopefully that'll happen in the next few months:)

So now there's a new man in town we're looking at our financial options. This is a great time to invest in stuff - the million dollar question is how do you decide what will still be standing at the of this decade? Watch this space.

Here's to 2009!

A healthy burger recipe...

2009-01-21T09:48:00.003-05:00

As you know I'm all about splitting proteins and carbs on my diets and rarely eat them together (unless I'm eating sushi). This is a high protein burger...but with white meat. I tried this out a few days ago...got the idea off of Big Daddy's House on Food Network. Was marvelous. Of course I don't have quantities or anything like that but you'll get the idea...

Ground turkey
Few rashers of bacon, chopped
Chopped onion
Small cubes of cheese (I used strong cheddar)
Bit of cream cheese (like Boursin)
Mixed herbs, salt and pepper
Some egg

- In a pan, with a little oil or spray, fry the bacon and onion until cooked. Set aside.
- In a bowl put the ground turkey, herbs, salt and pepper and mix together well. Add enough egg to bind.
- Make sure the cheese is in small cubes
- Make the burgers - Next make some thin patties with the meat mixture, in the middle put a combination of the bacon, onion and cheese. Cover with another thin pattie
- Fry in a little oil until cooked

As long as you season well they taste great. Put it like this - Trev wants me to make them again!

Pants....and heels!

2009-01-19T21:35:00.003-05:00

This note is for my friend Debbie. No idea if she reads this....but I finally made it! The pair of brown pants we bought in England at the beginning of the summer that I bought on the basis that I was going to lose some pounds I wore out for the first time this past weekend! Wooooohooooo!

Very exciting. Now it wasn't all plain sailing. I had never had washed them and just took the label off and wore them. About half way through the evening I felt itching on the backs of my thighs. It was severely cold that night so thought the burning that I was feeling was downto the cold....not so sure - decided it was proabbly the pants. Owwweeeee! Getting better now though.

The second thing was to go with my brown pants was my pair of brown high heeled boots. Yep, that's right - 8 months after falling off a bus I spent an evening wearing heels. My ankle survived pretty good and I didn't have too far to walk but was so happy to go out feeling like a girl...rather than some kind of 60 vegetarian:)

That was really really cool. Let's hope we keep the pounds off:)

I just love the A&P delivery service

2009-01-17T11:23:00.003-05:00

I was pretty excited a few years ago when I discovered FreshDirect - a website where you can order groceries and for about $6 they would deliver it. The only issue with the website that about 30% of what we normally eat we couldn't get on there so you would either a) go without (which worked sometimes) or b) you'd have to take yourself to the grocery store anyway.

So...guess how excited I was when our local grocery store started doing online shopping and delivered for $6. Oh my word....I love this. You get a personal shopper who takes your list, walks round the store and then calls you if they have questions. It's sooooo cool. There are several benefits to this:

a) you only order what you want and can't get roped into impulse buying
b) the store has 99.9% of the stuff you want
c) you can leave little messages under each item (so if you don't know how heavy 8 apples is you can put 2lb in weight but then say "I want 8 please")
d) you spend less than if you went with the list because of a) above
e) you don't actually have to go to the store!

Marvelous!

Another week gone!

2009-01-17T08:16:00.003-05:00

I started work on Monday and next thing I knew it was 6pm on Friday night. It went soooo fast, as did the week before. I don't feel I had much time to post updates so here's a snapshot.

1. My trainer. Since beginning of December we've not been able to work out and I'm missing it dreadfully. I'm still hopeful my friend Sharon will fix it so we can use the facility that we did - if not, not really sure what I'm going to do. I still go to spin classes and the odd strength class but it's nothing like I was. This WILL get better (so I tell myself).

2. Diet. It's cool. I seem to have found a way to maintain or lose every week since October. I'm very happy about that. Slow but steady is always good.

3. Work. I had my performance review and it was awesome. Not only does your boss review you but so do your colleagues. That's always more terrifying I think - you may think you have a good relationship but sometimes you find out that may not be the case. This was not what happened - there was not a single "development" item. It does make you wonder when that happens why you don't get the highest score......but hey, as long as I'm not average who cares?

4. Work. It's been nuts. I'm working like crazy and it's getting out of control because of #1 above. It seems to me that I need a more senior job, get paid more and then work way less - oh yeah, and hire a dummy like me who works their tail off. While some of the stuff I do is fun it would be nice to have a little bit of feedback periodically.

5. My ankle. It gets better all the time and while I don't notice it day in, day out I can now wear heels at work (although I revert to flats to go outside!) and walk any distance I choose. I just wish it'd stop aching when it's cold.

6. Our gym. It's nuts - the new owners are in a world of their own. They've canceled half the classes, all the instructors have left so coupled with not seeing Billy I'm finding it tough. Time to look for a new gym....problem is there's only a few in our town and all have their pros and cons.

7. My short hair. Now, I liked it the day it was done then hated it for about 10 days. I realized that perhaps if I changed brushes to match the shorter hair it'd be easier to manage. I seem to have found the best way to dry it so it at least looks like a style when I get to work (rather than just a crappy short hair do).

It's now the weekend - we're off to see Somorre tonight in the city with some friends - never seen any of her stuff (I'm told it's wild...) so will report back.

I just wish I had more time....

Bird's Eye View of a Hero

2009-01-16T07:39:00.004-05:00

I've never seen an airplane in water before....it's kind of scary. I work in Times Square and my floor is about 1500 yards from the Hudson river. While there are a few buildings between the Hudson and where I am I still caught a glimpse of the US Airbus that went down yesterday. My colleagues saw it hit the water and the emergency doors open (I happened to be in the Ladies room at that time). We then saw it float down the river as passengers were getting off. At the same time we've got all the TV's on showing us closeups of what's going on.

The pilot is a hero. How he managed to miss one of the most densely populated areas is beyond me. The Hudson is a big river...and the cool thing is there are so many ferries that go back and forth it made it easier to reach the stranded. I'm so happy that everyone got out alive.

The thing that irritated me was the people commentating on this event. Some of the things that came out of the mouths of these people - how did they get the job? Here were my 2 favourites.... and I quote:

- "is there anyone in the helicopter?" ..... (someone in my office shouted out "nah...we're on autopilot!")
- "it was so cool....watching the plane come down. I called my girlfriend to tell her what was going on..." (guy to interviewer...)

That just says to me that something that could have been a major catastophe was not.

We love ROKU!

2009-01-11T16:52:00.003-05:00

We indulged! A price of a cheap night out in NY ...$100. And it is soooooo worth it.

We have a Netflix subscription. We do the cheapest membership at $8.99 a month so by mail we get one DVD at a time. We thought it was pretty good because we rarely watch more than one DVD at a time and with work/gym etc we can wait the 2 days before the next one arrives. As a bonus you can watch loads of stuff free online on demand. That was pretty cool......

....until we were told about the Roku box. This is where as part of the on demand online feature it streams it directly to you TV. It's blinking awesome. It took just a few minutes to set up (program it to your wireless network) and then ta-da you go online and activate the box. Once you've done that you can then put stuff in your "watch instantly queue". Miraculously this turns up instantly on the TV - where you click "select" and watch. It takes less than a minute to load a movie or TV episode and then you watch. We have done a lot of watching this weekend and it's only jumped once or twice which is quite impressive given it's delivering movies across the wireless network.

A selection of what we've watched this weekend:

- Yes Minister
- Inspector Linley Mysteries (several)
- Vicar of Dibley finale episodes
- The Good Life (known in the US as The Good Neighbors)
- An old Doctor Who - Tom Baker was the Dr

Another cool this is that you unplug it and walk it to a different TV and it works there too. When we visit people (like Rach in Chicago) we'll for sure take it with us - it's the size of about 5 CDs stacked.

What a VERY lazy weekend.....

Celebrations!

2009-01-07T22:05:00.003-05:00

We have celebrations in the family.

Firstly, Carrieanne has passed her exam and she's now officially an Optician. We're so excited for her. It means that she can use that between different stores to change her job, and also she can trade that in different states. She was so worried that she hadn't done well - but no reason to. She passed! Yeeeeha.

Second, it's all about me. I can officially state that I've dropped 2 dress sizes. I have had to actually buy pants for work - just so I don't look weird...:) The reason I'm posting this as a celebration is that I'm managing to lose weight (probably 1-2lb every couple of weeks) and I'm really not in a diet. It's strange. For the first time in my life I watch what I eat all the time....but not in a "diet" way. I also exercise regularly. How cool is it? By the time Rachel gets married I may even be in single digit sizes....watch this space:)

Third, it's about me again. My ankle is getting better. I've progressed to walking around at work in boots with a 3 inch heel - something I couldn't do a few months ago. I don't walk in the city in heels, but I do wear something other than sneakers. Wooohooo - we may be near the end of the road.

A pain in the butt...

2009-01-07T20:10:00.000-05:00

This story made me laugh....

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2105253.ece

Tag

2009-01-06T20:38:00.002-05:00

TAG! ~ YOU'RE IT! ~If you opened it, you have to do it. It only takes a couple minutes! Then, send it back to the person who sent it to you and the rest of your friends!

~ Two names you go by: Phil or "Oi! You!"
~ Two things you are wearing right now: Gym pants, gym shirt
~ Two things you want very badly at the moment: Get out of debt & get healthy
~ Two people who will most likely send this back: Errr....given Penny gave this to me, no blinking idea
~ Two things you did last night: Spin class and watched an episode of Dr Who
~ Two People you just spoke with: Trevor and a colleague in Australia
~ Two things you're doing tomorrow: Work and spin class
~ Two longest car rides you've been on: St Louis MO to Boulder CO and St Louis MO to Hoboken NJ
~ Two favorite beverages: Nice cup of hot strong English tea with milk, surfer on acid

Now, here's what you're supposed to do ... And please do not spoil the fun. Hit reply, delete my answers and type in your answers. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know INCLUDING the person who sent it to you

You're gonna love my nuts...

2009-01-03T23:48:00.002-05:00

This is by far the funniest ad I've seen.....just wait for the line "you're going to love my nuts". This got posted on our local town's website....and I saw it on TV the same day. Blinking hilarious.

And here starts 2009

2009-01-03T23:00:00.002-05:00

It was a very quiet start to the year. After going out with friends on New Year's Eve we spent New Year's Day at home watching TV as Trev wasn't feeling too hot as he's caught what I had a couple of weeks ago. Work was on Friday and while I thought it'd be a quick day it turned into a full one as I finished loads of things off ready for the start of the "real new year" on Monday when everyone and its dog turns up after the holidays.

Poor Trev, he's still unwell. The coughing is bad and tonight his temperature is 101.6. That's way, way too high. I hope his fever breaks tonight and that tomorrow he'll be on the mend. I did suggest that he visit the doc's on Friday as I know that's what cleared mine up so fast....but he didn't do that. Funny thing is I think he'll go Monday.

So, I figured while I was keeping out of his way that I'd reflect on 2008 and start thinking about what I want to do in 2009.

- Green Card. Yeah!!! Never again will either of us complain we don't have one and it's just not fair and why can taxi drivers get them really easily but we can't. As of May we are official legal aliens:)

- Friends. This year we've really managed to get ourselves a set of friends outside of work that we hang out with on a regular basis. Some are our neighbours (Jackie, Nick, Rich) and some are from the gym (Sharon, Debbie, Billy, Leslie, Anwar). It's pretty cool to be able to call people if you need a hand (like when I got a flat tire just before we went to Jamaica and I needed to get to the Optician and Trev wasn't around). That said I totally miss everyone who's dotted around the world.

- My ankle. That really sucked when I had that accident. It was not planned and it totally knocked me for six. Now I'm finally doing physio I really think I'm making progress. I hate the physio place...there's just something about it I don't like, that said I did manage to all walk all the way down the high street and back where I live - something I've not done before. We have hired a lawyer and will be sueing the company responsible.

- My bike. I love it. It was my birthday present and I think both of us were unsure whether it'd get used, but I'm happy to report that if I'm going anywhere in town then I usually bike unless it's snowing. The only thing I really need to do is buy some gloves that are specifically for biking because regular insulated ones just don't cut it. Luckily I can get from one end of town to the other in 5 minutes so it's not long enough to get frost bite. I'm ordering those tonight while I'm killing time.

- My job. While I work for the same person I changed my job in 2008 to go back to delivering global programs and projects rather than directly managing 60 people. That was just too much. It was touch and go for a while as it was weird having to plan my time but after 3 months of figuring that out I've got used to playing with spreadsheets and making data look fabulous. I do have moments where I feel that I'm overpaid for what I do but they're usually short lived. I don't want to do this forever and I think I've finally got to the point where I know what I want to do next. That said, while the economy is doing what it's doing I'm staying put with people I know and benefits that are not bad.

- Rachel and Mike got engaged. That was VERY cool because we were all in Cedar Rapids celebrating Trev's birthday when it happened. 2009 will be full of wedding planning....that's for sure:) What a great couple.

- Peter's an official doctoral candidate. He passed all the things he needed to and he's now on the official path to becoming Dr Peter. 18 months from now we should all be heading out to Boulder for graduation and Trev will finally get his official cap and gown portrait that Peter refused after his first degree.

- Carrieanne got her house. It's so exciting to see her independent and confident enough to negotiate and move back into town. She's definitely got a plan on what she wants to do with her career and she's doing everything she can to get it. My fingers are crossed for her exam results that are due in January sometime.

- Trevor changed his job. As a result of the Green Card he started looking around for a job and while the salary wasn't quite what he was looking for he seems to be really enjoying what he's doing. It's great having him home all the time and I think he's finally settling into a routine.

- Mum is well on the road to recovery after her knee replacement. It took a while and I spent 5 weeks back in June in England hanging out and helping out.

- My weight/My fitness. This is a life long struggle but I've found a way to control this. I pay for a trainer. It seems on the surface to be a complete and utter luxury but I know personally that this is a good investment for the future. I'm fitter and stronger than I ever thought possible and nothing phases me any more at all. Also once I started getting active again after my fall I've lost about 15lb....and I fully expect to keep that going.

- The condo. We're still in litigation and have to do depositions soon so that the association can sue the builders for the $400,000 we now owe fixing all the things they didn't. Hmmmm... that'll be a story for 2009 I'm sure. Even so we managed to get the whole place finally decorated: living room has all new furniture and the TV hung on the wall, the bathroom floors are different, the master bath has a new vanity and sink, the kitchen now has a splashback and all the walls have fancy paint on them. Woooo hoooo! I just LOVE it.

I'm so thankful that I was able to spend time in England with my family - I went back a record 4 or 5 times in 2008 and while it made it difficult at home it was the right thing to do and I enjoyed meeting up with everyone. I'm looking forward to planning my first visit for this year - we have traditions set up that are now hard to break. I get picked up from the airport (unless it's a business trip), we go to Kesgrave Kitchen for a Full Monty Breakfast, we have fish and chips for dinner on the same day, I visit the Baipo Thai restaurant with Diana and Charlie, I hang out at Debbie's and we catch up and usually reminisce about being her kids ages (!!!!) and I also meet up with Jenny and Frankie. I then manage at least once to meet up with other family members (Angela and Mike, Caren and Lee (and kids), Emily (and kids), Frank) to catch up as well as with colleagues in London and my friend Amanda. Oh what fun we have!!

In 2009 I'm looking forward to spending more time with Trev. With him working locally and not traveling so much (and me not traveling quite so much) we should be able to spend time on us. We already have common interests but now we can do them together rather than separately. We'll have our 12th wedding anniversary in June...how is that possible? Time really does fly.

So far we have planned:

- a visit to Chicago to celebrate Mike's 30th birthday (ssshhhhhh - it's a secret and he doesn't know - hopefully he doesn't have my blog link)
- Boulder in March to go ski-ing
- Mexico in May for Jackie and Nick's wedding
- A trip to Cedar Rapids at some point
- A trip to St Louis to meet up with BJ and Paul and everyone else who's there (Debbie, Caroline, Nikki)
- A few more trips to Chicago to help with Rach's wedding
- Alaska for me if Mum and Dad book their holiday like they're planning to
- Turkey (if I have time this year) - I promised when I got my Green Card that I'd go and visit Mum and Dad there.....I'm thinking September time
- Rachel's wedding in November
- Go Race Car driving - I bought it for Trev last year and we haven't used it. I think we have that planned for August some time
- A holiday just for us.....not really sure at all when we're going to get that planned, but I'm determined to

It's January 3rd.....and we have that much planned already. Phew!!!!!

Happy New Year everyone....

New Hair

2009-01-03T17:49:00.004-05:00

Got a new hair do.....whaddayathink?

I decided to stop fighting the fact that it kinks out at my chin....I've had it cut to emphasize it. The test will be on Monday morning when I have to make it look this good for myself:)

A word about my crockpot

2009-01-01T17:00:00.002-05:00

I got a new crockpot! Woohoo. Mum and Dad bought us a new one for Christmas. It's fabulous.

My old one has been retired to the bin. It's done really well - I bought it for about $35 when we first arrived in America in 1996. My new one is a step up - it has a timer, probe and a locking lid. It's blinking awesome. I tried it the day I got it and it works great.

I love the fact that I don't have to worry if I get caught at work and that it'll turn itself off. I'm looking forward to cooking a whole chicken at the weekend so I can use the probe:)

I think the funniest thing is I thought I'd ordered quite a small one - and it turns out it's huge. I've had to move stuff around so I have somewhere to store it as it was too deep to put where the other one was.

Happy New Year everyone!

New Year 2008

2009-01-01T12:07:00.002-05:00

We celebrated with a few friends last night. We went out with Leslie and Anwar, their friend Steve, Sharon and ourselves. It was so cold last night (about 20F with wind chills way below that) - I know for those in the midwest that's not too bad but for us on the east coast I've never know it so cold.

We had dinner at a restaurant that was disappointing then continued onto Anwar's local bar in town. Check out the pics - we had fun!

Happy New Year!

12-31-08 New Year

Times Square on New Year's Eve

2008-12-31T16:23:00.003-05:00

The are some benefits (!) to working in Times Square. Most days I'm not really sure what they are....but today was cool. I'm on the 23rd floor of my building so get a really good view of the testing and preparation ready for tonight's festivities in the city. We're safely back in NJ and will be quietly celebrating with friends. Here are some pics from this morning.

I also had lunch with a few friends (L-R - Trish, Mary, Me, Franca) that I chucked in here too.

12-31-08 New Year in Times Square

A first for age 41

2008-12-27T13:21:00.002-05:00

I can't believe I'm even going to post about this but last night 3 adults aged 53, 41 and 28 got chucked out of a bar. Even today I can't believe that it happened. It was a first for all of us.

Peter, Trev and I went to a comedy club for dinner and show last night. The plan was to head back to Hoboken and then go out for a beer before going home. We went to a bar a few blocks away from home. We sat at some bar stools at the bar and ordered a cocktail. We were deep in conversation minding our own business, and after about 45 minutes the bouncer came over and told us he needed to move the chairs. No warning. Now, I really don't think it was unreasonable of us to ask why we had to move. It wasn't heaving full of people (but it was busy). I swear, nothing much else happened, just the bouncers literally picked Peter up and carried him out. Now Trev, who'd been minding his own business gets very protective of his family and started yelling at the bouncers....it was awful. Seriously. I managed to get Trev to button it and walk out. At which point the owner got in on the act.

Now I know that when Trev is in one of those moods the ONLY way to deal with it is to get him out of the area so he can cool down....the owner didn't realize this at all. It got worse and worse. Once Trev was out I told the guy what happened....and said that at our age it's a bit unreasonable to manhandle us. I told him what happened and said to him that we would never come to his establishment again....

Can you believe it? I'm such a boring person normally...and definitely not one to cause trouble at all.... I guess there's one less place we will frequent. Bummer, because their martinis were pretty good.

Christmas

2008-12-26T15:36:00.002-05:00

We had a busy social holiday this year. Usually we're total homebodies but this year we had lots of people staying local with us. This is the first year EVER, EVER that I don't have a tree up - this disappointed me earlier in the week but something had to give. I didn't feel well and just hadn't had time. What I learnt this year is that it's not decorations or how much you spend on gifts, but what you think about and celebrate and who you have around you. I think sometimes it's easy to forget why Christmas is celebrated - and this year we had time to reflect. That was really nice. We had some really good times with everyone and I've really enjoyed it.

I have been working for a bit today (it's not a holiday in the US) while Trevor and Peter are in the city. Later we're going to a comedy club so while I had a bit of peace and quiet I thought I'd catch up with pics (especially as Penny beat me to it this year).

Christmas Eve we had dinner at our place with our neighbours Nick, Jackie and Rich. As always when we have dinner at ours we had some good English fare - shepherd's pie followed by chocolate mousse. Christmas Day we had different friends round - Sharon, Leslie and Anwar.

The pics we took are below. They're also posted in Facebook.

Christmas Eve

12-24-08 Christmas Eve

Christmas Day

12-25-08 Christmas Day

Happy Christmas everyone! I love you all.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T19:27:00.002-05:00

This week has gone by in a blur. I've managed to get a lot done at work, my chest infection is finally abating, Peter's here and I'm sitting watching 30 Rock waiting for our friends(Nick, Jackie and Rich) to come over for dinner. I've cooked shepherd's pie and then made a chocolate mousse for dessert. Yummo. I've made a cosmo to Peter's recipe - yummy.

Trevor and Peter went out for a beer (well, technically they went to the store to pick some cheese up and took 2 hours!!) leaving me at home being peaceful finishing up the meal. They will take care of Christmas dinner - we have 3 friends coming over for that (Leslie, Anwar and Sharon). We'll have a blast.

I'm counting my blessings - I'm employed, Trev's employed, the kids are happy, we don't have too much debt (phew!) and I can afford to help charities and friends in times of need. My friend Penny has had a rough year - she's such a tough cookie....she's providng for her 6 year old and managing to find time to fend of creditors....and knit. Can you believe that? Knit. Hmmm....I don't think I've done that since I was about 12 - I always preferred crossitch. I'm proud of her - she's strong and knows what she needs to do to keep her family on track and give "a" the solid family life he needs. 2009 will be a better for her, I'm sure - well done for keeping it together - and have a great Christmas.

I'm starting to put a calendar together for all the things we want to do next year. Go to Chicago regularly to help with Rach's wedding, go and visit Carrieanne in Iowa and Peter in Colorado. Got some concerts and shows to go to as well as 2 weddings. It's going to be a busy busy year.

Everyone, have a fabulous Christmas and Happy New Year.

Jamaica

2008-12-22T22:56:00.003-05:00

We had a great week away. While we have both been sick it was still a great rest.

We stayed at the same place that we went to for my 40th birthday. Never before have we returned anywhere that we've stayed. I have to say I really liked it - there's a certain sense of familiarity that feels welcoming. The pics are below.

12-3-2008 Jamaica

We nearly didn't make it on the way out there. Usually when we leave we give it 90 minutes - so that gives us about an hour at the airport. We had carry on only luggage so we decided that it was plenty of time as we could check in at home. We should have known when we didn't get our boarding passes via email like usual, but we still thought that we could go to the kiosk and print off the tickets. So, we tried to do that - that didn't work. Now at this point we have exactly 60 minutes before our flight takes off so it's vital we get our boarding passes. I should say here that there are masses of people around and it's crazy busy with irritated conversations going on everywhere. So, we try and flag down a member of staff....and the first person we talk to says he's going to get someone, and doesn't. The second person was the most unhelpful... and told us to get inline. Now, with an hour to go and a line with maybe 100 people in it...didn't seem the most useful thing to be told. So, we start to invoke our elite frequent flyer status. I find a manager and ask how we fix this. This guy was more helpful - he kept being told that the gate was closing and "tough boobies". However, he led us down a floor at the other end of the airport and introduced us to the checkin kiosk guy. Now, this guy was the most helpful and dramatic guy I've dealt with in ages. He was about 50, gay (think Nathan Lane in Birdcage) and very animated. Talk about drama. So, he called the gate who told him it was fine to check us in. So....he ran over to a kiosk, grabbed our passports etc etc. The system was being very slow (probably due to the number of people at the airport) so he was getting so funny on trying to get it to work faster. Anyway, he got us checked in then led us through all the employee lines so that we could get through security. He was soooooo fantastic. Anyway, we got through and on the plane - we cut it way, way, way too fine because we didn't even have a moment to grab a coffee. Next time, we'll leave more time....way, way too stressful.

We arrived on time, hung out at the airport for about 90 minutes before finally the bus took off - luckily by that point we were both on "Jamaica time" so nothing was bothering us. It did occur to us more than once that it may just be worth paying the $100 for a taxi to take us there at our leisure rather than wait around. However, it did give us a chance to grab a cocktail and hang out. When we went last time the bus wasn't airconditioned so it was quite uncomfortable as you're in sneakers, jeans and have a sweater. This bus was airconditioned so we just hung out. By 5pm we were in our swimsuits and getting refamiliarized with the hotel. It was great.

Sunday was our first full day. Started off normal enough, but by mid-afternoon Trev was complaining of not feeling well. By 4pm he was in the bathroom violently ill...and spent several hours there. We think he ate something funny, especially when he said afterwards that he thought the eggs he'd had at breakfast tasted funny. Now, as a woman I think I'd stop eating immediately.....but I guess guys are different. I then spent the next 2 days having a set of hypercondria thinking I was going to get it (because originally we thought it was the stomach flu going around). Anyway after a couple of days Trev was fine, although neither of us ate eggs again until the last day.

Not much went on other than sit on the beach or by the pool, having a few cocktails and sunning ourselves. It was fun. On Wednesday I started feeling more peculiar. It was clear by Thursday that I had some kind of flu/cold thing with a vicious cough. Luckily I had a bit of foresight to pack some cold medications - problem was I packed all the sinus/head cold meds....and I had chest pains and a bad cough. I also only packed a few cough drops. Can you believe the hotel had ZERO...that ZERO....cough drops, boiled candy or anything. That was madness. I drank so much iced water it was nuts.

Suffice to say we had a quiet week. We never got to the nightclub that opened at 11...because we were always asleep by then. Let's put it in even more context. I lost 2lb in weight. ON HOLIDAY. Can you believe that?

Still, we had a great time - and I'm sure we'll be back there soon.

What kind of board game are you?

2008-12-10T18:37:00.002-05:00

You Are Scrabble

You are incredibly clever and witty. You can talk your way out of (and into) situations easily.

You are an excellent decision maker. You are good at weighing the options in front of you.

You're the type of person who can make something out of nothing. You are very resourceful.

You know a lot of things. Most importantly, you know when people are wrong - even when they won't admit it.

What Board Game Are You?

What kind of pyjamas are you?

2008-12-10T18:33:00.001-05:00

This totally assumes I wear anything in bed.....

You Are A Nightgown

You are a bit old fashioned and elegant. You aren't very casual.

You are well mannered and modest. You don't make a fool of yourself.

You tend to be a bit reserved, and it's hard for strangers to get to know you.

You are likely to not let anyone outside your bedroom see you in your pajamas.

What Kind of Pajamas Are You?

Check out the weight loss ticker!

2008-12-10T18:30:00.003-05:00

OK...so that ticker has been on my blog for a good 18 months I think.

So, while I can only admit to losing 12lb this time around....since the ticker started, for the first time it's gone over 20lb. How very cool is that?

I'm so happy, and I really don't seem to be depriving myself of anything much. I am very good at selecting healthy things to eat, but I do cheat....just not too often. This diet of Billy's is easy peasy for me.

I leave for Jamaica on Saturday. It will be interesting to see if I can keep it up while I'm laying on a beach.....

It's pretty funny because I'm down to about 2 pairs of pants that I can wear to work - all the others are just too big. I'm trying to hold on for a month or two- then I can drop another size.

Yeeeha!

Carrieanne and Rachel visit

2008-12-10T17:45:00.002-05:00

We had a busy few days -lots to do, not enough time. We were exhausted. They arrived on time last Wednesday. The idea of the trip was to do 1) shop for wedding dresses and 2) have our family Christmas break. The pics we took are below - check them out, they're pretty cool.

12-3-08 Carrieanne and Rachel Visit

The first day the girls joined us at the gym and had an hour's session with Billy our trainer. Ready for Rachel's wedding next year we're all trying to get in shape. They have both joined a gym so we thought it'd be pretty cool to give them a couple of lessons on how to strength train correctly. I think they had a great time, although both were pretty sore after each session. We had a bit of drama with Billy on Saturday which resulted in Rachel not getting her second hour, but I'll write about that in a separate post.

Trev had to work Thursday/Friday so the girls and I started our Thursday well with a massage each with my fabulous masseuse, Cici. Having all had our butt cheeks knelt on we were all relaxed and then headed into ChinaTown for a Dim Sum lunch. We did that, then while I headed back home to go to the physio, the girls went fake bag shopping with Carrieanne getting a Coach knockoff cheap. They then did Central Park, Rockerfella etc. That evening we ate locally then spent several hours drinking cocktails and playing Rockband. We couldn't get the mike to work, but the guitars and drums worked great. Trev and I went to bed and the girls continued to play - that was such fun.

Next day was the wedding dress shop. Our first stop was Kleinfelds - and I have to tell you, it was one of the worst experiences of my life. It put us in a really grumpy mood. For those that don't know this shop is the biggest wedding dress shop in the world..... so, we're kept waiting for ages along with other families. You're then given a consultant where they help you choose dresses. Except our woman was crap. She walked into the reception, Rachel leans over and says "I hope that's not ours...". No sooner were the words out of her mouth than she walked over and introduced herself as Camille. Now...this is where I have to set the scene. She had black hair in a harsh pony tail, lots of make up, the worst of which was dark brown lip liner about quarter inch away from the edge of her lips. It looked HYSTERICAL. You couldn't help but stare. Apparently people look for dresses that are up to $20k....and that's not our budget. We never even got to talk around the floor. She shuffled us into the back and basically said - go and pick what you want and we'll try them on. Now....correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the consultant help you understand what you look good in? It didn't happen quite like that. Anyway, we got all grumpy and miserable and left.

We found out later that apparently she's famous. We had no idea at all. There's a show on the TLC channel called "Say yes to the dress". Check the link out. http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/say-yes-dress/expert-bios.html. Look here for Camille.....and you'll get the idea. It was awful.

We got rid of that and went to eat to cheer ourselves up. Next we went to a smaller place that was much nicer and then finally to Macy's. Suffice to say that while we found some nice dresses we all agreed that the dress she tried on in England was the best and the most flattering.

After that we took the subway to Soho and then hung out in a bar. Later in the evening we then headed back to midtown and went to fantastic 80s bar called the Joshua Tree. We had a blast - lots of drinks, some weird ass guys who tried to crash the party.

Saturday we worked out and then headed into Times Square, had a beer and came home. By this time we were all exhausted. Carrieanne was desperate to sleep, Trev wanted a nap, Rachel and I wanted to stop off for a cocktail. We were due at our neighbours around 10pm, so what we didn't want to do was go home and sit down because then we not want to go out. So Rachel and I had some cocktails and then walked home ready to go to our neighbours. When we got home, Carrieanne had gone to bed (even though she'd promised she wouldn't). Anyway.....Trev, Rach and I headed down to Nick and Jackie's where a party was in full swing with lots of karaoke. So, we joined in....after more cocktails Jackie decided that the best thing that we needed to do was wake Carrieanne up. Now, we all looked at her and said "knock yourself out" because we know what she's like. She was NOT a happy bunny at all....you can't see much from the single pic I took, but it was pretty funny. What was not so funny was that when we finally went to bed around 1.30am Carrieanne had locked us all out of the bedroom. Then I had to witness Trev and Rach try and pick the lock of the bedroom door. That was pretty funny too.

Sunday we relaxed....and did nothing other than eat brunch. Phew! And we're done. All I can say is that I went back to work for a rest.

Feeling grumpy

2008-12-09T13:59:00.003-05:00

I'll post on last weekend's exploits at a later date but right now I have to have a rant before I say something I'll regret.

I think I'm fed up of working on vacation, basically being available 24/7 and generally a dogsbody when my boss takes their bony ass out to lunch for several hours several days a week. I've had enough.

Today was ridiculous. Not only did they go out to lunch (my boss and their colleague....at least 3 times a week 12-2.30ish if not 3) they then proceeded to call and text their assistant until she left too. Their assistant is pretty funny most of the time as she's loud and brash and tends to say what's on her mind and it's usually colourful too. However today she spent an hour telling me how our boss was hindering her to go join them.

Bloody marvelous. As I said to her, she should be thankful she gets an invite. Apparently I'm stuck here, never have time to go out and never get an invite either.

I think it's more fool me. As of today no more. I'm done. It's not fair, and I'm not doing myself any favours at all.

Tonight is the holiday party and I'm so not festive. I've not put up my tree, sent cards or anything .... and perhaps that's not helping. We leave early Saturday for our vacation - so if the tree doesn't go up before Friday it won't go up.....

Jeepers.....at least I know I'll be sitting on a beach with a VERY large cocktail this time next week.

I just hope that when I finally get my annual review....that it says I walk on water. If it doesn't....then maybe it's time to move on.

Blue lips

2008-12-04T07:12:00.002-05:00

Yesterday the girls arrived for their holiday break. As part of their gift I arranged for them to have a couple of personal training sessions each - they are both so eager to get fit and healthy (and lose a few pounds) before Rachel gets married that I thought it'd be good if they talked to a professional who could show them how to strength train. More muscle means you burn more ....so it's all good.

They each did brilliantly with Billy and they're going to go back at the weekend for more punishment:) Anyway....I had a session with him too. I was feel particularly weird yesterday and I have no idea why. The only way I can describe it is that my brain was left of center - definitely not myself. I had a bad day at work, and had skipped lunch - most unlike me. However I'd eaten an omelet, an apple and some nuts so I'd had some nutrition. Anyway, I train pretty hard when I work out - and I had made the odd comment about not making me balance as I was not feeling so great. About 40 minutes into the workout (it's usually 90mins) Billy says "I think it's time you sat on the bike" - which is code for "cool down, you're done". I found out later after he'd met with Rach that apparently my lips had turned blue, I'd gone deathly pale and didn't look too hot. Apparently another indicator I wasn't well was that I didn't swear at him once and complain:)

So, I came home, sat and I feel fine today. How strange is that?

Is there something about Autumn?

2008-12-03T07:41:00.002-05:00

It's weird. Last year I did really well Oct-Dec with losing weight. It got to about 20lb in that three months. At the beginning of this year it kind of tailed off and then through the summer, between traveling and being sedentary because of my ankle a few pounds crept back on - nothing major but it was disheartening.

In September I vented my frustration at Billy (my trainer) who was so successful in helping me lose weight last year. I said I wasn't cheating, he said I must be. He had me keep a diary for a few days to keep track of what I eat, how much and when. Anyway...there it was in black and white. I cheat. Not with bad food....but I wasn't alternating my proteins and carbs like I should be.

So....I've been back on the straight and narrow....and for whatever reason it's working. Really well. Even over the holidays. I'm back to 20lb lost (see my ticker...). So....I'm back to being motivated. Who knows - I might even need a whole new wardrobe:)

Connecticut

2008-12-01T20:27:00.002-05:00

We had a great time over the holiday weekend. We met up with loads of friends and spent a great deal of time just hanging out. It was most relaxing. See the pics below.

11-26-08 Thanksgiving at Melissa's

Melissa and Merina drove down to us on Wednesday night so they could go to the Macy's Parade in the city - Trev and I stayed away. Call us boring...but we have enough of tourists on a normal day.....:) Then, we all drove back to Melissa's on Thursday afternoon. Not the best journey (nearly 4 hours for 120 miles...) but we had a great Thanksgiving dinner with everyone.

I had my first foray into 4am shopping on Black Friday. It was crazy. Up at 3.15am, at Kohls for 4am, Walmart for 5am, breakfast at 7.30am and then back out at lunch time. OMG - it was craaaazzzzzyyyyyy. Kohls was just boring and the lines way too long. Walmart was just incredible. There were thousands of people lined up waiting for the doors to open at 5am.....and by the time we got in there were people everywhere. I've never seen such an angry set of people. There were people stealing stuff out of other's carts, when we were in line a lady tried to push in which resulted in the police being called and her nearly being escorted off the premises. Unbelieveable. Isn't this the season of goodwill? When we got home we heard about the guy in Long Island, NY who was trampled to death. Good grief. What is the world coming to. In the afternoon we went to a regular mall and that was much more serene - even Trev bought a few things.

The rest of the weekend was hanging out and playing with the dogs, Lily and Maggie. They have so much energy, and while Melissa has put up loads of fencing these canines are experts at finding their way out. Trev and I lost them at least 3 times over the weekend and had to go and get them...... it convinced me that you need a lot of space before getting dogs. Maybe when I retire:)

We had a great journey home and now we're getting ready for Carrieanne and Rachel to come on Wednesday. What a cool holiday season we're having!

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T08:42:00.002-05:00

It's quiet this year. Later today we're driving up to Connecticut to see our friend Melissa and have Thanksgiving dinner with her family. It'll be a nice rest. Here's a list of things I'm thankful for this year:

- I'm glad that I still have a job after all the movement in the financial markets. I feel relatively safe right now, but who knows. While I'm not in a perfect job I'm surrounded by people I like and who respect me. Not like the old days at AP*C
- I'm happy that Trev found a job this year that he loves. He's settled in well and just loves working there
- We got our green card. Given the economy this is AWESOME. If the worst happens, we can work anywhere. That is very satisfying to know
- Rachel and Mike are getting married next year; they are so cute together. I'm thankful she has landed on her feet, has a great job, a guy who loves her
- I'm happy that Carrieanne continues to gain confidence and is now an independent woman. She knows what she wants and I'm in no doubt that she will make great decisions that will make her happy
- Peter is doing great and I'm thankful he's almost at the end of his studies. He made it to formal "doctoral student" this year which is a huge achievement.

- I'm thankful that Mum's knee replacement has been a success and that she continues to improve

- My family. I'm thankful that we talk/email/IM regularly and stay close. While we're not on the same continent all the time we do stay in touch and all proactively contact each other. I don't take this for granted; I'm sad that Trev talks to his family in the UK so rarely- they seem OK with it, I find it strange
- I'm definitely thankful for Facebook. We keep in touch with Trev's family and friends who we've met through the years. While I'm not obsessed, I do check in once daily at least

That's not bad for 11 months of the year is it?

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

At last....it arrived

2008-11-27T08:31:00.002-05:00

Remember the refridgerator debacle? Well, late on Tuesday afternoon I got a call from the delivery company and they wanted to deliver Wednesday. Nothing like notice...right? Anyway, thankfully it was the day before Thanksgiving so it was VERY quiet so I worked from home. I asked them to call me an hour before they were arriving to I could prepare.....that didn't quite happen, so the guys had to watch me empty the fridge at breakneck speed. Check out the pic below....that is one half of the crap we had in our fridge.

I know with confidence that this refridgerator is going to work just fine. I figured out in less than 15 seconds what was wrong with the old one! Can you believe that? What made it worse is that I asked the engineers who visited on multiple occasions and they said it was normal. At the back of the freezer there's a seal in the back left corner. On the old fridge there was about a 4 inch piece that was not stuck down properly - low and behold on the new one it's not like that.

At least this saga may now be over. Woohoo

Vegas and the Grand Canyon

2008-11-22T17:10:00.002-05:00

It's been a while.... time has just flown by. First Jenny and Frankie came to stay, then Tim came into town for 10 days. You'll see the photos below. We had a great trip and got so much done.

Before we left for Vegas we spent the day before in China Town. We wanted to eat Dim Sum and then I wanted to see the Chinese doctor regarding my knee. The funniest thing that happened that day was that I wanted to eat meat...I'd worked out in the morning and I was flipping hungry. So we ordered some dumplings and ribs, and on the menu we saw "beef triple". Sounded fabulous, or so we thought. We had both imagined three different types of beef in a fantastic sauce. We had terrible service problems in this place, but when the food did arrive it was good. Anyway we kept asking about the "beef triple"....something turned up on our table that looked like furry fettucine (tagliatelle). We asked what it was knowing we hadn't ordered anything like that and was told it was "beef tripe"....yes, that's right? cow's stomach. We explained that there was a typo on the menu...ewww it was awful.

Our trip to Vegas was uneventful. We spent the first day getting our bearings - we did it in style and stayed at the Bellagio - you know, the hotel with the fountains outside it. We walked along the strip, did a bit of gambling and then rested. One of the coolest things is that if you're gambling on the slots or at a table then there are waitresses who come round offering drinks....and you don't pay. That's pretty cool. The first evening we saw Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond) and Kevin James (King of Queens, Hitch) doing stand up. They were so good - and very very funny.

Next day we were up for the second day in a row at 5am -just this time it was 2 hours earlier because of the time difference. We slept on the 3 hour coach trip to the Canyon. The day was long, but fabulous. The weather wasn't the best - and it was cold and rainy at times. We keep telling ourselves that we're part of the select few who's been there when it rained:)

The last night we had a fantastic meal and finally plucked up courage to walk up to a table and play blackjack. None of us are experts so it was a little intimidating but we found an empty table with a nice looking dealer. We all put $100 down. We thought we'd be done in 20 minutes but we held our own, even when weird asses joined our table for a time. After about 2.5 hours I decided that if I made it to $500 then I was walking away. You'll find the picture with my single $500 chip.

Vegas and the Grand Canyon

We had a riot!

When we were back home we also took in a Cirque de Soleil show at Madison Square Garden. It was awesome. See my pics here....taken only with the little camera, but given we were at the back they came out pretty good.

11-12-08 Cirque de Soleil

The rest of the week was shopping and hanging out. What a great trip!

Work was crazy this week -more on that later.

The refridgerator

2008-11-05T11:44:00.002-05:00

After 5 months, 12 half days waiting for the repair man, numerous phone calls and just one melt down on the phone last Thursday GE have finally agreed to replace our refridgerator.

Being British I don't often have an "American" approach to things, however it's quite cathartic to let rip.

So, within the next week I should have a side by side refridgerator that will produce ice and work for more than 3 days at a time.

Here's hoping.

I couldn't let today go by without comment on two things:

1) Barack Obama. After 8 years of a complete idiot being President I'm happy that there's going to be change. I hope it's going to be as good as he's promised while campaigning.

2) Guy Fawkes Day. It's Firework day in England! Yeah. I still think fondly of Christchurch Park and loads of fireworks. Even after all these years I still miss that every Autumn.

Hey ho.

9 words women use

2008-11-05T11:42:00.001-05:00

Sent to me via email from my friend Diana. Was way too good not to share.....and probably very very very true - right girls? :)

9 WORDS WOMEN USE

(1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they
are right and you need to shut up.

(2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an
hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given
five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

(3) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means
something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with
nothing usually end in fine.

(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

(5) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal
statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks
you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing
here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the
meaning of nothing.)

(6) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a
women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long
and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

(7) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or Faint. Just
say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true,
unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not
thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome' ... that will bring
on a 'whatever').

(8) Whatever: Is a women's way of saying F*cK YOU!

(9) Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement,
meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several
times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man
asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.

Flipping viruses

2008-11-03T11:03:00.002-05:00

So, for those of you who have an email address in my contact list you will have received at least one dodgy looking email from us. Get this for a scenario

- We have 4 emails in our sent folder sent to EVERYONE.
- The email that was forwarded out was not in our Inbox or our Spam folder.
- We've run virus software and Ad-aware/Spybot and it found nothing really bad

I changed our password but my fear is there's a key tracker on one of the PCs and we don't know which one.

Any ideas on what to do next?

Needless to say I'm watching all bank accounts and credit cards like a hawk!

I am Thankful

2008-11-03T08:18:00.001-05:00

Mum sent this through email - it's cool so thought I'd share. Some good thoughts to kick off the week.

I Am Thankful...

• For the wife who says it's hot dogs tonight, because she is home with me, and not out with someone else.
• For the husband who is on the sofa being a couch potato, because he is home with me and not out at the bars.
• For the teenager who is complaining about doing dishes because it means she is at home, not on the streets.
• For the taxes I pay because it means I am employed. For the mess to clean after a party because it means i have been surrounded by friends.
• For the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.
• For my shadow that watches me work because it means I am out in the sunshine for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home
• For all the complaining I hear about the government because it means we have freedom of speech.
• For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means i am capable of walking and I have been blessed with transportation .
• For my huge heating bill because it means i am warm.
• For the lady behind me in church who sings off key because it means i can hear.
• For the pile of laundry and ironing because it means I have clothes to wear. For weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been capable of working hard.
• For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means I am alive.
• And I am thankful: for the crazy people I work with because they make work interesting and fun! And finally, for too much e-mail because it means I have friends who are thinking of me!

Diet, exercise and kicking it up a notch

2008-11-02T07:49:00.006-05:00

This whole weight loss/get fit campaign is starting to annoy me. These days I've finally managed to accept that I'm fit and healthy - even if I'm not so accepting on my ass-size:) I really did think way back when that when I kick started my health regime (4 years ago now) that I would have dropped more dress sizes.

I am more than happy to watch what I eat - and I do. Sometimes I wish I didn't have to, but it's OK and I've got used to it. What I'm finding more frustrating is that my weight has plateaued no matter what I eat or how much exercise I do. Now, if I was doing a couple of cardio classes a week I'd just do more (or accept that this is how it is), but I spend upwards of 10 hours a week in the gym and I eat healthy food 99% of time the time. This frustration last Saturday translated to me yelling at my trainer (and my nutritionist in his spare time) that it's not fair and that I work too hard for no results. I must have got my point across because he said to write down what I ate, when and the quantities. So, that's what I did for Sun, Mon, Tues and Weds.

Yesterday I returned for my regular Saturday ass kicking (training session) and we spent a lot of time talking about my diet. Billy, as always, is honest and I love that. His view that was from a calorie standpoint that I'm eating just fine but that I was getting sloppy with the protein/carb/protein/carb alternating thing. So, I tried to explain why...and it really does make sense. So here goes. I'm usually pretty good with meals and they're protein based. I rarely eat potatoes/rice/bread at all. My carbs come mainly from fruit. The issue that I have when I'm doing a long stint at the gym is that eating protein just doesn't cut it. I need the fruit (ie bananas) to sustain the energy through 2 hours or so. That means that after a protein lunch I may have a yogurt or fruit around 2.30pm, then have bananas at 4.30pm or 5pm ready for the gym at 6. The fact is Billy's right - I'm not following it rigidly....but I am going to try. The other thing we talked about is that he doesn't think I'm getting enough protein - at this point I did tell him I thought that was BS. The reason being is that I usually eat eggs/turkey/cheese for breakfast, a meat salad for lunch and then meat/fish with veggies for dinner. That's like protein overload in my mind.....right? Anyway, I have to listen to the expert - especially as he's worked out for over a decade and has a body to die for (ladies.....trust me, totally enviable even if he is a guy).

Billy also gave me another option if alternating proteins and carbs wasn't fitting into my lifestyle. He said that what I can do is make sure that during the day I eat 100g (3.5oz) of protein a day and 200g (7.05oz) of carbs. I've been mulling this over since yesterday. While I reckon I could eat the protein I think I'm really going to struggle with the carbs. I have lots of questions before I decide whether to try this one instead:

1) Let's take protein. Does 100g mean 100g of chicken....or 100 g of the protein within the chicken. As an example I will use chicken. At this link http://www.hoptechno.com/nightcrew/sante7000/Sante7000_Detail2.cfm?ID=24110020 it says that per oz of chicken there are 12g in total, or 3.44g of protein. So, say you have a 8oz piece of chicken - is it 96g of the total allowed or 24g? I'm guessing that it's the latter....which means you have to eat crap loads of meat.
2) Carbs. So, if my assumption is true on carbs then I'm not sure I can at all hit 200g. Let's take this link http://www.hoptechno.com/nightcrew/sante7000/Sante7000_Detail2.cfm?ID=51101000. This says that a cup of white bread has 17.33g of carbs. OMG. That is a crap load of carbs.
3) For carbs, does that mean I could drink fruit juice and that would count towards carbs.

I can't decide what to do. I think I'm going to be more strict with the carb/protein/carb thing.....because the whole measuring thing is freaking me out.

Now, on the plus side my friend Sharon and I when we were in China Town last week asked the doctor for something for weightloss. We've both been taking a daily supplement of something (it's Chinese after all....) and it seems to be working. Now this, of course, could be working as a placebo but I dropped about 3.5lb this week - the first in about 6 months. We'll see as the holidays approach whether that continues.

I'm keeping up the detail of the diary as it keeps me honest....and I don't cheat as much. I really can't be bothered to fill in the other blog, so I'm going to disable it at some point today.

Watch this space for progress! With two weddings next year we've got to be looking our best so I'm determined to fix this and look freaking fabulous in the process!!

As an aside, I've also got another personal trainer at the gym who's courting me to work out. Given that I have over 20 sessions sitting in a bank waiting to be used I'm seriously thinking of adding a 3rd strength training hour to my weekly regime....my only concern is how to fit it into my life:) We'll see....I'm still thinking about.

Made me laugh

2008-10-30T18:59:00.000-04:00

Read this article.....I thought this was sooooooooo funny!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1081607/Speeding-puppet-seat-British-car-makes-muppets-German-police.html

Hhhhrrruummpppffffss

2008-10-29T10:20:00.003-04:00

Why is it that things that piss you off always happen on the same day. Here goes on my rant:

1) Trev is traveling on business somewhere for 3 straight weeks. This week he's in California Sat-Thurs (note the Sat.....not a Mon), next week he's somewhere else Mon-Tues then the following week he's in Florida somewhere Weds-Thurs. Usually I don't mind but this week we had friends in from the UK and on the 3rd trip Tim's in town. For such a significant pay cut that he took he better not be traveling every flipping week. he assures me this is a blip and (i quote) "I won't travel for the rest of the year".

2) A guy called Christian calls up on my cell phone just now asking for Trev. I say he's not available and can I take a message. He says in an aloof voice "do you have a pen?", I say "yes I do" and he proceeds to give me a phone number and told me he was from our bank. I then ask him if there's anything I can help with as I'm Trev's wife. Apparently he wants to discuss why we have so much money in our savings account and perhaps there are other things we can do. What pisses me off here is a) his voice got all nice once he realized I was a wife not a secretary (grrrrrr) 2) he called my cellphone and asked for my husband....note I happen to be the primary account holder and the one who works right next to the branch this Christian dude works in.....but apparently in the 21st century only the men can make the decisions. OMG - that totally pissed me off. In fact, I'm still so mad i'm hitting the keys so hard I think they're going to ping off. I'm also going for a record on how many words per minute I can type. I did make an appointment to see him next Tuesday just to see what this little upshoot looks like. What I find even funnier is that we really dont' have that much dosh in our savings account.....so maybe his records are 6 months old:)

3) Guy on the bus who ALWAYS sits next to me and then ALWAYS proceeds to take up two thirds of the double seat and the wave is freaking newspaper around. Not only does he irritate me, but the person who's closest in front also gets hit with the paper. Put the damn thing away, get an iPod and listen to the news via a podcast. Nutter. Why can't he sit elsewhere.

4) Ankle. Not sure the Chinese Dr helped. In fact I now a big red rash and it's still smarting. To make it worse my left knee has how started to hurt....right at the top. I think I just over extended in a gym class but we'll see. Hopefully it'll be better. I'm secretly hoping that I'm going to wake up one day and my ankle doesn't hurt anymore.....

I'm still mad as crap about #2.....but maybe typing it out will help

My visit to China Town

2008-10-26T20:30:00.002-04:00

I had such a great day yesterday with my friend Sharon. After working out in the morning we drove into the City and spent several hours in China Town. The purpose of the trip was to go and see this highly recommended Chinese doctor regarding my ankle. While it's much better than it was it's not where it was before I had the accident. This trip was $20 for a consultation - what did I have to lose.

We started our afternoon with leisurely dim sum - I love it. It's so cool and there's loads of choice. While the weather wasn't the best (at times it was raining like crazy) we had a lot of fun. After that we headed to the doctor. Oh, now was THIS an experience.

Everything in China Town is tatty and run down, but there's such a vibrant energy it makes you go back time and again. We went and saw Dr Mak... oh my word, what a dump. It was dirty and very small. He had a little dog too that kept peeing on the floor (I kid you not!!). Anyway - he looked a lot, swabbed with alcohol, did a bit of massage, told me that my tendon was overstretched. Anyway, he moved it around a bit then he slathered on something that looked like dark brown peanut butter and told me to wear it for 24 hours, which I did. I have absolutely no idea if it's fixed yet, but if it's not I'm to go back next Saturday. We'll see - for $20 what do you have to lose. While I'm writing this it's aching a bit, but I did do a lot of walking yesterday.

After visiting the doctor we visited a tea shop (where I bought some plum tea....I'm trying to kick my Crystal Light addition!!) and then we spent ages going round grocery and kitchen shops. There's so many cool things, but while I did buy a few things I decided to wait for Tim to come over because I know we'll end up getting sucked into loads of stuff.

When we were done we headed back to Hoboken we met up with another friend, Carla, for dinner.

By the time I got home at 9pm I was knackered!

Today friends from England, Jenny and Frankie, arrived. They're here for a week so we should have a lot of fun.

Have a great week!

Busy week

2008-10-24T18:24:00.005-04:00

Friday again, and I keep thinking about all the things I wanted to post about. Here's a brain dump.

- Brown water. It got fixed. It affected a few towns. I only went one day without a shower, then we realized our neighbours have a filter on their water tank. I know I posted the water company said it was ok to drink but I have to tell you it was nasty to look at. Weird, that had never happened to me before. I am more aware of what you shouldn't take for granted - and have a far greater appreciation for what it must have been like for you guys back in Iowa during the floods and losing water for days.

- Fitness. I decided that clearly I'm still eating too much as I'm not losing any pounds at all. You'd think with all the exercise I did i could, but obviously not. My thyroid was tested in the summer so I'm just guessing that I have bad genes and slow metabolism. I have worked my bootie this week, and have taken an additional 3 classes this week. I was rewarded with a whole 0.6lb off the weight. Woop di do. This is driving me nuts. My friend Sharon suggested I meet with a nutritionist to see if I'm screwing myself over with what I eat. I can honestly say I've so limited the treats I eat, I'm assuming it's down to the sheer volume of food I eat. Is it really that bad to eat 5 pieces of fruit a day and a turkey/cheese omelet? Who knows. We'll see. As an aside I did a Columbian Salsa dance class last night. That wasn't really a work out (ie I didn't really break a sweat) but it was pretty funny - they feed you a couple of shots of rum to loosen up. One things for sure - I have two left feet and I'm crap. Still....I think I got it. I just can't wiggle my arse like you're supposed to:) We'll see...I may try again just for the social bit....

- Ankle. Saw the lawyer on Monday so we'll wait and see. It's been hurting like crazy this week, but a lot of that is probably due to the additional exercise classes. Today I'm actually off to China Town to see a Chinese Doctor - it's $20 so what do I have to lose? I've heard great things so we'll see. I'm going with my friend Sharon from the gym - she's driving because I refuse to drive in Manhattan (it's nuts) and we're going early so we can have Dim Sum for lunch. Yummo.

- Work. My boss has been driving me nuts lately. It's not her fault particularly, there's just so much to do and not enough time. I've also been training the lady who works for me (note: it's my boss' best friend's sister....the great thing is she's fantastic) and that means that production of stuff takes longer. She picks things up quickly which is great and after 6 weeks she's at the point where I think she's going to be a real asset. My boss has asked me to put a job description together with a possible view to hiring her full time come January. I'm excited about that for sure! There just seems to be more to do than there is time for. While I'm quite rigid about the hours I work

- Refridgerator. Well...the guy came last week and I was quite hopeful, but it's not working again. My ice bucket is one big ice cube. Joy for us. They've now been 10 times - I think it's time for a new one. I'm fed up of "trying" something and not actually just replacing the unit. They have already offered me an additional 6 months on the warranty - that tells you something, doesn't it.

- Apartment. It's been Ok for a while...but my lovely vanity I bought on ebay the tap (faucet) has stopped working. I've had to brush my teeth in the bath all week. Oh joyfulness...I guess I'm calling Jose this weekend.

Ok I'm off to have my arse whooped by Billy....gives me the approval to go and eat Dim Sum.

More on brown water

2008-10-22T16:18:00.002-04:00

Now....see below the press release from the water company. Now you tell me - would you drink or wash in dark brown water?

JERSEY CITY, NJ, 10/22/2008 10:19:10 AM – United Water customers in Jersey City, Hoboken and parts of North Hudson may have discolored water today. Even though the water is discolored, it meets safe drinking water standards. Customers may prefer to wait until it runs clear before drinking or washing clothes or dishes. United Water crews will be flushing hydrants throughout the day in order to resolve the problem as quickly as possible. Tom Neilan, project executive, explained that the discolored water is the result of harmless minerals in the water mains. Yesterday, the company was testing large 48-inch valves in Little Falls on the Jersey City aqueduct system as part of its routine maintenance program. That activity caused large amounts of water to flow through the mains which disturbed the sediment. We apologize for the inconvenience, said Neilan. Please be assured that we are working diligently to resolve this issue for our customers

Shoot me now....!

2008-10-22T13:43:00.002-04:00

My day is not going well.

First, I got up this morning, went into the bathroom, turned on the shower, cleaned my teeth, took my glasses off, opened the shower curtain and screamed.... now, you might think that there was a spider/mouse...but oh no. The water was DARK BROWN. Ewwwwwww. Worse, I had cleaned my teeth in that water before it had turned brown. So, at 6.04am I called the condo manager - he called me back and made a complaint.

So, I'm at work not having had a shower.....oh yuk! Can you remember the days when you didn't shower daily? I remember as a kid having a bath on a Sunday....the rest of the time it was a flannel ove the face - right? When did we turn to needing a shower daily? I feel horrible.

Here's an article on the water situation. That picture is EXACTLY how my bath looked this morning. And still we have no news when it'll be fixed. Oh joy for us!

http://hoboken411.com/archives/14467

Second, I'm in reporting hell at work. The server is slow, the application worse and of course my Q3 report is still not complete. In addition I'm trying to train someone, and while she's doing an awesome job it's the 22nd and the report is not out. This is total nuts.

I'm ready to shoot myself........or just have a gin and tonic:)

Lawyers and stuff

2008-10-20T20:43:00.003-04:00

Today I signed an agreement with a lawyer to sue Budget - the price is steep (30% after all the costs - ouch!) but I'm sure I'll end up with more than if I tried to do this all myself. That's what I keep telling myself anyway.

I have to say that I have clearly got used to not using a car much. It was a mere 20 miles away and I felt like I'd gone on this huge trek. It was like being back in Iowa - and being autumn it was beautiful. A clear sky and cooler weather - it was lovely.

We're a few days away from our busy holiday season - have friends coming into town next weekend, then we're in Atlantic City, then the week after that Tim arrives and we're off to Vegas. In between I have to get all my work done so I can take time off. Phew! It's freaking me out already....

A sign?

2008-10-16T09:06:00.002-04:00

My ankle is still not back to where it was before my fall last May. It's annoying. I'm fed up of the aching when I'm sitting on a bar stool or at the theater, or when I want to kneel and can't.

So, I've been looking for a lawyer, and yesterday I spoke with one. He's looking into my case and will get back to me. I'm really upset I can't wear heels, and it's been almost 6 months.

Even funnier, here's an article from the UK about a woman who had a fall at an airport and can sue for damages as she can't wear high heels.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1077900/Payout-businesswoman-hurt-airport-slip--200-pairs-shoes-useless.html

Is this a sign that means I can sue? Hope so...

Would YOU be happy with this?

2008-10-15T14:20:00.000-04:00

OK, am I the only person who's freaked out about this?????

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1077800/Airport-admits-strip-search-body-scanners-WILL-people-naked.html

Cooking overload

2008-10-12T12:30:00.002-04:00

I've been absent for a few days. The financial markets continue to decline; from a personal and business perspective it's totally nuts. With money both in the UK and US it's crazy trying to understand where money is safe. I'm thinking that under the mattress is the best place.

Anyway we had some work colleagues of mine over for dinner last night - there was a total of 10 of us. I had a basic menu organized but it still took a while to put it together.

My pierce de resistance was a trifle. It turned out perfectly. I think someone took a photo of it - if I get it then I'll post it - because it did look amazing. Tasted good too.

It's been a long time since I've cooked for 10 people - the sheer quantities were huge. We have soooooo many left overs. Needless to say our colleagues will see them tomorrow!

New hair

2008-10-07T22:00:00.002-04:00

Check it out.... in an effort to be more cost conscious I wanted to change where I got my hair done. At Trev's encouragement I went to his local place...whaddayathink? It's been a few years since I've had such funky hair.

I do think that red matches my personality....that said, I'm hoping it fades a little bit. But, I do think I've broken my addiction to the Manhattan hairdressers.

The little things

2008-10-07T16:32:00.000-04:00

I'm a geek, I've admitted several times. I've been trying to figure out how the Direct TV DVR Scheduling works - I keep seeing ads that say you can do it online.....there are always shows I forget to record so I finally figured it out.

How flipping cool is that? I don't have to use the slow box at home to record stuff. I can organize online.....yippee!

Sometimes it really is the smallest thing to make your day:)

Pictures on the walls

2008-10-03T15:17:00.003-04:00

So, I bought new frames weeks and weeks ago so I could hang some family pictures on the walls. I never got around to it - probably because I couldn't decide what arrangement I wanted, where to hang them etc etc.

I bought 8 frames the same and had put pictures in a while back - and realized I had 4 portrait and 4 landscape pics - check out the layout above the table in the kitchen. I think it looks VERY cool.

Now all I need to do is get some bigger frames for some of the pictures I've had printed from Australia, Spain, Caribbean etc.

I managed to do all this while a) waiting for the fridge guy again and b) supposed to be working!!

Messy or clean?

2008-10-02T21:47:00.001-04:00

You Are Not Messy

You're so clean, people have accused you of being a clean freak!

You like things tidy, organized, and smelling fresh.

Messes drive you crazy, especially when you didn't make them.

It's hard for you to live with a slob - or someone who leaves their dishes in the sink.

Are You Messy?

Are you boring or interesting?

2008-10-02T21:45:00.000-04:00

You Are 68% Interesting

You are a fairly interesting person. Many people find you to be intriguing.

You have a dynamic, adventurous life... a life that others envy.

You are genuinely interested in and open to the world.

You love making new friends, and you're always up for an unusual experience.

Like everyone else, you can get a bit boring from time to time. That's normal.

But unlike everyone else, you can pull yourself out of a rut. You don't stay boring for long.

Are You Boring or Interesting?

Delia's way

2008-10-02T13:31:00.002-04:00

For my American friends Delia Smith is the equivalent in England of Julia Child - ie she's a cooking institution. My friend Lorraine sent this ages ago and as I was cleaning out my email I found it. So, so funny and even more true!!

Delia's Way
Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to prevent ice-cream drips.

The Real Woman's Way
Just suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone, for God's sake. You are probably lying on the couch with your feet up eating it anyway.

Delia's Way
To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.

The Real Woman's Way
Buy Smash and keep it in the cupboard for up to a year.

Delia's Way
When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking tin, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the outside of the cake.

The Real Woman's Way
Morrisons sell cakes. They even do decorated versions.

Delia's Way
If you accidentally over-salt a dish while it's still cooking, drop in a potato slice.

The Real Woman's Way
If you over salt a dish while you are cooking, that's tough. Please recite with me the Real Woman's motto: 'I made it and you will eat it and I don't care how bad it tastes.'

Delia' s Way
Wrap celery in aluminium foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks

The Real Woman's Way
It could keep forever. Who eats it?

Delia's Way
Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead.. The throbbing will go away.

The Real Woman's Way
Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and drop it in 8 ounces of vodka. Drink the vodka. You might still have the headache, but you wont give a flying banana!

Finally the most important tip - my favourite

Delia's Way
Freeze left over wine into ice cubes for future use in casseroles

The Real Woman's Way
Left over wine???? Hellooo

I will never complain again....

2008-10-02T11:27:00.001-04:00

...about big boobs.

Check out this poor woman! http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1760007.ece

Push ups

2008-10-02T09:35:00.002-04:00

I'm not sure why I'm excited about this - especially as I work out quite a lot. However, last night for the first time I did 20 pushups in a row, no stopping. That's the full ones, rather than resting on your knees.

I'm blown away..... still, pretty though, huh?

Feeling broke...

2008-10-01T11:11:00.003-04:00

I know as I write this things are not as dire as I might feel right now. Penny, just ignore this because this is NOTHING like you're going through and I apologize for writing this. However, I've got to vent before I go completely nuts.

I feel like we're hemorrhaging money right now. We've done a lot this year - almost completely redone the apartment (bathrooms, decorating, living room) which wasn't cheap and while we've not had a vacation yet we have organized ourselves a week in Jamaica (where we went last year) as it was the cheapest place I can find and we know what we're going to get. In addition to that I've bought several flights this year to the UK and elsewhere for ourselves and also over the past few weeks sorted the kids out for the holidays. We're off to Vegas with Tim, Atlantic City with Jenny and Frankie and who knows what else. We've also had medical bills from Peter's surgery last May......tuition fees, and oh yeah a wedding. It's totally nuts. All of it we deemed necessary.....

I guess I'm freaking out more than usual because we also took a big income dip with Trev's job move. I'm so happy he's finally happy in his job and it's definitely worth it....but it just seems that no matter what we plan our savings are getting depleted. I guess I'm used to being able to plan stuff and also be able to save without a lot of effort. Not working right now.....

Now.... I say this knowing that a) I have a personal trainer and so does Trev b) I pay someone to clean my apartment c) Trev has his work shirts laundered d) I get a massage relatively frequently. I really have nothing to complain about at all....and given that Penny is going through the toughest time I feel so guilty even writing this.

Things I'm doing to cut costs
- I take lunch to work every day (saves at least $7/day)
- I don't buy coffee out at all (I use the free stuff at work)
- I never buy magazines or newpapers out (I can use the online websites)
- I don't eat out during the week, we have food at home, we eat that (no matter how tempting the pizza at the end of the street is)

I started to use Quicken.com - and Trev agrees. That way we can at least understand where all the cash is going. Hopefully that'll help us get back on track. I'm definitely creating a budget, and starting today we're keeping to it.

With any luck, Trev will get great bonuses and I won't have to worry like I am right now.