Around Here

This year we didn't have to endure the public shaming of not donating to Scouts. 

Little DIY project--these used to be black.

I'm quite proud of this photo, normally a casserole looks truly disgusting in photos.

Valentines

It would be more normal for me to not comment on all these artsy photos of my Valentine's Day, but I think we all need some commentary.

For one of our Valentine's dates (yes, everything we do is considered a date), we played one of our favorite board games, Stone Age.  I was dominating the entire game, and we both made comments about how everything just seemed to be going my way and I would, no doubt, win.  Then, somehow at the end, Scott won by 13 points!  I felt especially jipped because I tried to be extra compassionate several times during the game to soften Scott's inevitable landslide loss.  Well played, Scott.  Well played.

Scott wrote on my Facebook wall for the first time in probably 3 years and our friend told us to quote, "get a room." (Which made us laugh and we require more future comments from you, Nate!)  However, I'm not sure why we come across as homeless, so just so everyone's clear, we own a house full of rooms.  That's where we get the Wifi to write said sappy posts.

Now, scroll back above to that photo of me with my head chopped off, and then come back down here.  You're back?  Ok.  This reminds me of a super funny story.  When we took our engagement photos, we had two or three like the one below:

Nothing too out-of-the-norm for engagement photos.  Well, Scott's dad shared our photo album on his social media with the comment: "Wonderful pictures including the mystery topless pics."  *Cue me choking on my water.*  I don't want to know what kind of traffic a comment like that generated, but anyway we still crack up about this.  Worst double-meaning ever.

Happy Valentine's Day my friends.

The Business Trip

It's been a while since I've had to fly solo here at the house overnight.  So naturally Scott's trip to Mexico City was not pleasant news to my charmed-life-ears.  We've been spoiled with the lack of the-s-word* in this household for far too long it seems.

So anyway there I was waking up on the departure date and feeling like this might be the worst day of my life (drama queen alert).  I was just not sure how exactly I was supposed to fill these days with things to do.  Or how I was supposed to scratch my own back.

I had a few ideas on how to make the time pass.  Namely cleaning, grocery shopping, and wasting away on Youtube.  Sadly none of these activities take as long as I think they will and then I'm left to stroking Scott's pillow and weeping.  You know, just normal things like that.

All this time alone, however, has allowed me to slow down and realize I don't have to get in and out of Winco in 12 minutes.  I was at the store running at breakneck speed until I remembered there was nothing for me at home, so then I adopted a new strategy to "browse every item" (sung to the tune of "Climb Every Mountain").  You would not believe the new things I discovered.  Like the fact that I could buy a single fruit snack in the bulk section (I'm not talking a single pack, I'm talking a single snack). Would they round up to 1 cent do you think?  Or I also learned you can churn your own almond butter over there.  I've never even tasted almond butter so I guess this wasn't that exciting.

Another plus of this business trip is Scott took all of our mobile devices to Mexico, so shucks, all that mobile testing I could've done at work just couldn't happen.  Maybe he can just leave the devices in Mexico.

*scouting

The Milestone

Remember how last year I talked about how Scott and I were setting resolutions to exercise more? (Or you may even remember the triumphant post about when I did my first pull-up?)  Well, now in 2015 I'm here to celebrate the fact that I finally made it through an entire year of exercising 6 days per week. Just writing that sentence makes me want to take a nap.

*Yawn/Stretch*

Ok, we're back.  So anyway, isn't it great that someone in the world actually achieved their NYR to exercise?  I didn't know it was possible since I've never exercised for an extended period of time in my life.  Here is what I've learned:

1. Eating a brownie is still more fun than exercising.  When I first started exercising I expected something like this to happen:

While exercising has become much more enjoyable, unfortunately brownie eating has remained quite constant in its fun levels, and I don't think these lines will ever actually cross.  I was really looking forward to that moment when 7 o'clock rolls around and I would think, "You know what sounds awesome right now?  A giant glass of milk and a plyometric circuit."  This has never happened.

2. If you're like me and you can talk yourself out of anything, an actual scheduled program is the way to go.  Plus if you're working out with DVDs it's easier to endure an entire hour.  Insanity is my current pain of choice.  "Letsssssgooooooooooooo."  Ok, Shaun T, if you insist on screaming about it.

3. Running is the worst.  Other exercises can not only be a more efficient use of your time, but they are so much more fun (plus TV is the best distraction in the world).

4. Sadly, there is not enough quality TV programming out there to fill one hour per day, 6 days a week.  This means I've resorted to watching some pretty ridiculous stuff.  I hope I don't lose some friends by saying this, but Gilmore Girls is just not working for me.

5. Exercising at the crack of dawn doesn't work.  Exercising at 10 PM also doesn't work.  Exercising in the middle of the day is the new revolution!

6. Unfortunately when you're used to exercising a lot, your only hope of making any headway on the scale is to either work out for 16 hours per day or eat less.  Some days I weigh out both options equally.