Funny, with the emergence of youtube sensations, and up-and-coming fashion bloggers, every inarticulate, unoriginal individual is finding that they now surprise have been or had been thinking about starting a daily blog to follow their passion. I've even found a couple of friends who have started to follow this, I give them this, whoever takes their pictures are for the most part doing a decent job of documenting; however, sans the photos, what they have to say is barely significant. My opinion, of course. At least have something meaningful to say, or something original to document, don't blindly follow the masses in hopes that somehow yours will stand out in a sea of many. Most that I've seen take their everyday wardrobe, photograph it, and then viola, look at how I've styled it. I accept that every one has a unique sense of style/fashion, and some people are entirely capable of pulling off the most random concoctions of styles/prints/etc, but if you have no more to say to your readers than we took the day to go to the mall, I want to un-follow, immediately.
I've been following some friend bloggers recently, and the novelty of the first couple of posts I think have finally worn off. I'm on the trows of removing them from my list of daily reads.
Wednesday, April 25
Monday, April 23
Apr 23, 2012 - Half Proposal.
I guess I've always been lucky to find a nice guy. Before they went bad, that is. Or, in the case of the love of my life, when he found himself again. This isn't the first time that marriage has been talked about in a relationship, so there's little novelty in the idea being tossed around. I didn't expect that my reactions to the idea being brought up in serious discussion would be so far from what I always thought they would be.
I've been known to guard myself shields up, walls high, twenty feet behind extensively when I'm threatened in any way, so this weekend when my boyfriend was driving to my Alma mater's annual Picnic Day, and brought up the lunch conversation he had with his housemate Friday about my spending so much time at the house, I diverted the conversation. I was curious, though. So Sunday morning, while in bed, I brought up the conversation again. Even I had noticed that I spent all of my time at their home in the hills, and I was starting to feel like a free loader. I have my own mortgage, yet spend more than 75% of my time at someone else's home... When do you want me to move in with you?
I had always responded with I don't want us to live together unless we're engaged and he had accepted that. They reach the end of their contract in November, and in planning for the future, he had to start considering my feelings and thoughts about our lives together. Like moving out, and living together. Like babies, marriage, and engagement, in that order. We had talked about wanting to be young parents, and in order to do it at our leisure, we did not have as much time as we thought. In his rationale for being financially responsible, and saving a ton of money while living with me, he really said, "I'm indirectly trying to figure out how you feel about being engaged." Verbatim.
He's entirely comfortable with the idea of being engaged, albeit there are slight things that are uncertain, and makes him nervous and anxious, but the things that result, in his words, will be so much better, time wouldn't change how he felt, so waiting until later to get engaged was just a matter of time, essentially why wait?
I always thought I'd be extremely excited, and elated. I found myself scared, and unsure. I love the guy and the idea of spending the rest of my life with him. If it's anything like our relationship now, I think I'll be the happiest girl alive. Still, I am apprehensive. Maybe I'm just too focused on staying true to my timeline. As for his roommate, he wanted to know if they would need to find a new roommate, or potentially move, again.
I've been known to guard myself shields up, walls high, twenty feet behind extensively when I'm threatened in any way, so this weekend when my boyfriend was driving to my Alma mater's annual Picnic Day, and brought up the lunch conversation he had with his housemate Friday about my spending so much time at the house, I diverted the conversation. I was curious, though. So Sunday morning, while in bed, I brought up the conversation again. Even I had noticed that I spent all of my time at their home in the hills, and I was starting to feel like a free loader. I have my own mortgage, yet spend more than 75% of my time at someone else's home... When do you want me to move in with you?
I had always responded with I don't want us to live together unless we're engaged and he had accepted that. They reach the end of their contract in November, and in planning for the future, he had to start considering my feelings and thoughts about our lives together. Like moving out, and living together. Like babies, marriage, and engagement, in that order. We had talked about wanting to be young parents, and in order to do it at our leisure, we did not have as much time as we thought. In his rationale for being financially responsible, and saving a ton of money while living with me, he really said, "I'm indirectly trying to figure out how you feel about being engaged." Verbatim.
He's entirely comfortable with the idea of being engaged, albeit there are slight things that are uncertain, and makes him nervous and anxious, but the things that result, in his words, will be so much better, time wouldn't change how he felt, so waiting until later to get engaged was just a matter of time, essentially why wait?
I always thought I'd be extremely excited, and elated. I found myself scared, and unsure. I love the guy and the idea of spending the rest of my life with him. If it's anything like our relationship now, I think I'll be the happiest girl alive. Still, I am apprehensive. Maybe I'm just too focused on staying true to my timeline. As for his roommate, he wanted to know if they would need to find a new roommate, or potentially move, again.
Friday, April 6
Apr 6, 2012
My boyfriend is the most amazing person, if not THE most amazing thing to happen to me. I've been having car issues, I've taken it to the shop, and each time I go, there's something else I need to fix. Fortunately, and not so fortunately for the shop guys, I don't often just fix things without a second opinion. Thankfully my boyfriend is skilled in more things than just fancy, high-tech mechanics, so he offered to help me with my car whenever I wanted. I took him up on the offer last week, and last night the first thing on the bucket list was my brake pads and rotors.
The auto shop I had been going to for years had always been dependable, and reliable, and I always came away feeling like I was taken care of. I'm not sure if the shop changed hands, but the usual manager no longer manned the desk... and it's in these last few visits that I started to notice that I required more and more work. Granted that my car is a 2001, and I don't do work on it other than the usual oil change every 3-4 months. This last visit was no different, I asked for the usual oil change, and for a brake check. They questioned my request, "do you hear noises? is something wrong with them??". It's not the recent downpour of rain that's got me worried about my brakes, nope. Service was fine, but the guy working on my car looked so miserable. At the end of it all, he mentions a couple of things, and tells the desk guy to let me know all of the work I needed done.
I needed the following services:
- new front rotors and brake pads (I had about 20% left on them, and 60% on the back ones... which meant "change the front ones now, and change your back brakes in 6 months")
On top of these other services for other things I asked them to check and maintain:
- timing belt change (which I might actually need to do)
- new A/C compressor (boyfriend mentioned that I might only need to have it recharged... so this new compressor business is NEW to me)
And not to mention....:
- I'm missing 2 lug nuts and one of the studs had corroded...
And let's not stop there, they offered me this information, but didn't even suggest how I go about fixing it. I had to ask the desk guy what I needed to do about the lugs, and how to go about FIXING my corroded stud. Do I replace it? Do I bring it into a shop? Is it something I can do? The desk guy was very genuine, told me it was simple, and told me where to get the parts. I just had no idea, and this guy... didn't give a rat's a-s-s about my safety.
My boyfriend and I had tentatively planned to check my brakes before he ordered the parts, just to be sure. He showed me how to jack my car, loosen the lugs, take off the tires, look at my brakes, check the parts, and explained to me in detail what I should be looking for. He was extremely patient, since I was being a little prissy about unscrewing the lugs... and wimpy about jacking up my car. In the end, what I learned was auto shops are just not to be trusted. I had been lied to. Not only were my brakes and rotors fine for another half a year, my stud was not corroded. "Someone" had stripped the stud, and the lug wouldn't screw on after that... even I thought it was funny that he should tell me it corroded. ONE stud on ONE wheel... shouldn't they ALL be corroded?? Didn't make no darned sense.
All of this has made me think how lucky I am to have him in my life, and I don't know if anyone else in a relationship ever feels this way, but sometimes I wonder... if my boyfriend's so wonderful... then why didn't his last relationships work. It boggles my mind.
Maybe it's true, what's great for one person, might not be so great for another. For me, he's perfect.
The auto shop I had been going to for years had always been dependable, and reliable, and I always came away feeling like I was taken care of. I'm not sure if the shop changed hands, but the usual manager no longer manned the desk... and it's in these last few visits that I started to notice that I required more and more work. Granted that my car is a 2001, and I don't do work on it other than the usual oil change every 3-4 months. This last visit was no different, I asked for the usual oil change, and for a brake check. They questioned my request, "do you hear noises? is something wrong with them??". It's not the recent downpour of rain that's got me worried about my brakes, nope. Service was fine, but the guy working on my car looked so miserable. At the end of it all, he mentions a couple of things, and tells the desk guy to let me know all of the work I needed done.
I needed the following services:
- new front rotors and brake pads (I had about 20% left on them, and 60% on the back ones... which meant "change the front ones now, and change your back brakes in 6 months")
On top of these other services for other things I asked them to check and maintain:
- timing belt change (which I might actually need to do)
- new A/C compressor (boyfriend mentioned that I might only need to have it recharged... so this new compressor business is NEW to me)
And not to mention....:
- I'm missing 2 lug nuts and one of the studs had corroded...
And let's not stop there, they offered me this information, but didn't even suggest how I go about fixing it. I had to ask the desk guy what I needed to do about the lugs, and how to go about FIXING my corroded stud. Do I replace it? Do I bring it into a shop? Is it something I can do? The desk guy was very genuine, told me it was simple, and told me where to get the parts. I just had no idea, and this guy... didn't give a rat's a-s-s about my safety.
My boyfriend and I had tentatively planned to check my brakes before he ordered the parts, just to be sure. He showed me how to jack my car, loosen the lugs, take off the tires, look at my brakes, check the parts, and explained to me in detail what I should be looking for. He was extremely patient, since I was being a little prissy about unscrewing the lugs... and wimpy about jacking up my car. In the end, what I learned was auto shops are just not to be trusted. I had been lied to. Not only were my brakes and rotors fine for another half a year, my stud was not corroded. "Someone" had stripped the stud, and the lug wouldn't screw on after that... even I thought it was funny that he should tell me it corroded. ONE stud on ONE wheel... shouldn't they ALL be corroded?? Didn't make no darned sense.
All of this has made me think how lucky I am to have him in my life, and I don't know if anyone else in a relationship ever feels this way, but sometimes I wonder... if my boyfriend's so wonderful... then why didn't his last relationships work. It boggles my mind.
Maybe it's true, what's great for one person, might not be so great for another. For me, he's perfect.
Thursday, April 5
Apr 5, 2012 - How Crossfit Changed my Fitness Outlook.
I don't know what it is about working out and eating right, but my way of life has not only improved, but depends on it.
My diet/splurge cycle these last few years looked something like this:
Eat "healthy" 2-3 weeks, BINGE several days to weeks at a time. No stomach problems, zilch.
Until September/October of last year, this cycle "worked" for me, but in early September I was watching some Youtube video, and saw this guy scaling a 6 foot wall, and for those of you who know me, stuff like that somehow piques my interest. In an instant, I wanted to scale 6 foot walls, and so began my search for them. I looked for gyms, random recreation centers, parks... but instead I found Crossfit. I didn't know what CF was, but I knew they had a wall, and rope climbing.
Since then, I haven't really looked back. It was in those early months post basics training when I realize that although I had been a gym buff, I had not been training smart... I didn't have a plan, and I definitely did not follow a healthy diet. The two weeks of less intensive workouts still kicked my a-s-s, and I was seeing serious results. My arms felt tight, and toned - something I never thought possible. Hearing something like "you're your mother's daughter, there's not much you can do to change your body..." from your own mother definitely did not help.
I've stopped going to my CF gym, for monetary reasons, but continue to incorporate their intensive workouts. My diet's changed, but not because of CF.
When I mentioned "healthy" earlier in this post, it had been my perception at the point in time; however, in this new phase of self-discovery, what I perceived was "healthy" was unbalanced. And splurges.... even several days of eating out of the norm causes my body to react violently. 1-2 cheat meals/snacks for 1-2 days seems to be the max as of late.
As my friend says, it's a blessing in disguise.
My diet/splurge cycle these last few years looked something like this:
Eat "healthy" 2-3 weeks, BINGE several days to weeks at a time. No stomach problems, zilch.
Until September/October of last year, this cycle "worked" for me, but in early September I was watching some Youtube video, and saw this guy scaling a 6 foot wall, and for those of you who know me, stuff like that somehow piques my interest. In an instant, I wanted to scale 6 foot walls, and so began my search for them. I looked for gyms, random recreation centers, parks... but instead I found Crossfit. I didn't know what CF was, but I knew they had a wall, and rope climbing.
Since then, I haven't really looked back. It was in those early months post basics training when I realize that although I had been a gym buff, I had not been training smart... I didn't have a plan, and I definitely did not follow a healthy diet. The two weeks of less intensive workouts still kicked my a-s-s, and I was seeing serious results. My arms felt tight, and toned - something I never thought possible. Hearing something like "you're your mother's daughter, there's not much you can do to change your body..." from your own mother definitely did not help.
I've stopped going to my CF gym, for monetary reasons, but continue to incorporate their intensive workouts. My diet's changed, but not because of CF.
When I mentioned "healthy" earlier in this post, it had been my perception at the point in time; however, in this new phase of self-discovery, what I perceived was "healthy" was unbalanced. And splurges.... even several days of eating out of the norm causes my body to react violently. 1-2 cheat meals/snacks for 1-2 days seems to be the max as of late.
As my friend says, it's a blessing in disguise.
Wednesday, April 4
Apr 4, 2012
Boyfriend is back from his business trip to the Netherlands; and we found out yesterday that they're sending him to Portland, OR at the end of the month for a one week training course. After having him away for about a month, one week seems piddly in comparison... especially since it'll be a leave Sunday evening, return Friday night sort of trip.
Despite these business trips wearing me down, I have come to appreciate and value our time together more. I love every minute with him, and wish not to spend even a second apart. It definitely helps that we have a very unique understanding of each other, and free flowing communication, albeit we have our misunderstandings, and moments where we take things too seriously, but all in all, very comfortable relationship.
Of course, sometimes even I misinterpret our comfort levels to be complacent, like a settling for... but that's something else to post about...
Despite these business trips wearing me down, I have come to appreciate and value our time together more. I love every minute with him, and wish not to spend even a second apart. It definitely helps that we have a very unique understanding of each other, and free flowing communication, albeit we have our misunderstandings, and moments where we take things too seriously, but all in all, very comfortable relationship.
Of course, sometimes even I misinterpret our comfort levels to be complacent, like a settling for... but that's something else to post about...
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