F.M.L.

I had an interview at 7:30AM this morning at an early learning center just south of the Loop.

I went to bed early because I was afraid of sleeping through my alarm. I had nightmares about sleeping through it, and missing the interview.

I woke up at 5:45, looked at the clock and knew I had 15 more minutes to sleep, so I did. I next wake up and the clock says 6:20, my alarm never went off, since i set it for 6:00PM.

So, I rush to shower and get ready and am still able to leave by 6:45.

I didn't really pay attention to what redline stop I needed to get off at, just that I needed to get to 800 S Wabash. I get off at Harrison (the stop I assumed was closest), and low and behold, it's 800S.

I walk a block over to Wabash, I'm a little early, so I grab a water at the Caribu on the corner.

I walk up and down Wabash looking for the center, it's not within 2 blocks on either side of 800 S Wabash.

I go back to the Caribu to ask if they know where it is. They hadn't heard of the name, but said there was a center about 3 blocks down. I hustle to get down there.

It's not the place. By this point, it's 7:35 and I'm 5 minutes late.

In my haste this morning, I didn't write down the woman's number, so I had no idea what to do.

I just got on the bus and went into work.

I open the email to get a hold of the woman I was supposed to meet with.

I notice the address is 800 S Wells, not 800 S Wabash. (Wells is on the other side of the Loop downtown).

FML

Ok, seriously

I went to the new Curves tonight. Part of starting at a new Curves involves getting measured, weighed, body fat taken, etc. Good lord. I didn't look closely enough at all of the measurements, but the body fat/scale dealiebob was quite an experience.

It involved standing barefoot on a couple of metal footprints, while you waited for something to spit out with your weight and body fat percentage. While I'm not at my heaviest, I'm certainly close. It's downright disgusting and something needs to be done about it.

The new Curves location isn't really all that convenient, but it's what I have and I need to suck it up.

And I need the weather to warm up al-freakin-ready!

/end rant.

Birthdays, Basketball and Soup

Knee-deep into college basketball, I celebrated my 31st birthday on Friday night. This year, I kept it pretty low-key (in the past I've done AYCD parties and Vegas) - so a bunch of friends showed up at the bar around the corner from our place, that we've sort of adopted for most non-Illini sporting events. My old friends from grade school, Becky and Amy drove in from the suburbs to celebrate with me, so that was pretty cool. I ended up making it out until about 1:30AM, which is a feat in itself, even more awesome that I was at the bar at 6PM. My tolerance and pacing were awesome.

The final four is coming up this weekend. After a blip in the tradition last year, I'm heading to Detroit for the final four, making it my 6th trip in 7 years. I started going to the final four with some girlfriends back in 2003. I enjoyed myself so much that I made it a priority to go every year, no matter who is playing. Now, I'm not particularly looking forward to Detroit itself, but I am looking forward to seeing my friend Chris (we're likely staying with him for at least one night), and I'm looking forward to the atmosphere. Detroit certainly isn't a place I'd go to on my own, and not what I'd call a big sports town - so it'll be interesting to see how the final four goes.

Finally, I woke up early on Sunday (well, early for me on a weekend), so I decided to look up a crock pot soup recipe and make it. I decided on a really easy beef/vegetable soup, wrote down the ingredients and made my way to the store. It cooked in the crock pot over the course of about 7 hours, and I have to say, it was pretty good. We really need to use our crock pot more often - it's an easy way to make a meal that'll last for a while.

I'm also heading to the new Curves location today after work, after finding out mine was closing for good. The location isn't quite as convenient (heck, it's not really convenient at all), but I'm hoping I'm able to stick it out there. I really need to get back into the swing of things. March is an awful month for me, work-out wise.

Trying something new

I dont know what to think of this change, but I've made it.

I apologize for those who are used to the old format. I may eventually go back. "Eventually" could mean anytime after I hit "PUBLISH POST"

Forever 21 isnt just for 21 year olds

At least that's what I kept telling myself in order to gather enough courage to walk into the store.

Every day when I get off the train, I walk by Forever 21 & see some cute stuff in the windows. I've always thought I was way too old to go inside, but always secretly wanted to go in. So, after liking a shirt our waitress wore this weekend, and finding out she bought it at Forever 21, I decided to check the place out this afternoon during lunch.

It wasn't so bad.

I didn't really allow myself to have eye-contact with anyone else, but still, not so bad.

I ended up with 3 tops (1 that I'm iffy on, but decided since it was only $17 that I'd give it a shot). - The first one is the iffy one.

SPRING BREAK!!!!!!!

I'm totally on spring break until April 7th or 9th!!!! Whatever happens in Cabo stays in Cabo!!!

Ok, just kidding. Well, sort of. I'm finished with my first quarter of classes at NLU. I'm pretty relieved about it, and sort of wish I would have finished everything prior to my 4-day weekend, but all-in-all, I'm happy.

I am heading to a second interview at an early childhood education center called Kids Work on Tuesday early evening. I hadn't heard back after my phone interview, so I reached out to the woman I spoke with and she asked me to come in for a second interview. I'm looking forward to it, and hoping things go well. As sad it may be to leave my current job, I need the change for my professional and personal happiness. The difference in pay isn't really prudent in this economy, and that's certainly something I need to take into account, but I'm also anxious to start making more steps toward my future.

I've spent the past 4 days at the bar watching college basketball. The first Thursday and Friday of the tournament are probably my two favorite days of the year. Friday I held a fund raiser for my 3 Day Walk where people sponsored me by the drink, and overall I ended up raising close to $500. This was an awesome relief for me, considering our minimum fundraising amount is $2300. I'm almost there and still have 5 months to raise the remainder.

I've recently located my passport. I will be using it again at the beginning of April for the second year in a row. Unfortunately, this time it's not for Paris or London - but instead for Windsor, ON. I'm getting back to my annual Final Four trip, only this year it's just Jamie and I. Fortunately, friends we've met at a previous Final Four (Atlanta) - Nadine and Nate will also be there, so we'll likely hang out with or stay with them in Windsor, since Jamie and I don't really have a hotel (we're planning on staying with friends and family like the hobos we are). I'm doing well so far in my brackets, so hopefully my luck continues.

This is my last Sunday as a 30 year old. My 31st birthday is on Friday. I may be old, but I sure act like I'm still in college some days (see: this weekend extended). That said, I think I'm going for a low-key happy hour birthday celebration this Friday.

Have a good week, everyone! (and by everyone, I mean all 4 of you)

Awesome parking spot fight I witnessed this evening

Girl standing in open, metered parking spot on a busier than usual Southport Avenue, directly across the street from Mystic Celt (which is packed full of drunks celebrating St Pats Day)

Car pulls up, puts car in reverse to pull in. Assuming girl standing is waiting to cross the street, she looks out the window and waves her on. Standing girl doesn't move.

Passenger gets out of the car to ask the girl to move. Standing girl refuses.

Passenger girl continues to talk to the standing girl, asking her to move.

Meanwhile, driver is semi-blocking traffic along Southport.

Passenger girl tries to talk more to the standing girl, explaining that they are blocking traffic, they are on a public street, etc etc. Standing girl's friend now comes from outside of the bar across the street, slowly walks over and stands in the spot with her friend.

The driver now puts her hazzards on, puts the car in park and gets out to ask the standers to move. Meanwhile, passenger girl now gets into the drivers side. As her friend is asking the girls to move, passenger girl (now driving) starts slowly backing up, into the spot.

Eventually, the car taps the standing girl, who still refuses to move. Her friend is behind her, but starts getting out of the spot. The car makes its way into the spot, after lightly tapping the standing girl a couple of times.

Along comes a drunk spinner, running out of the bar, across the busy street over to the situation. She gets into the face of the owner of the car (original driver) and starts shoving her, "You ####ing ran my friend over, b###h!"

People at the bar are clapping and encouraging.

The car people do nothing. The girl who parked put money into the meter and waved her friend over.

Spinner is still angry and continues to yell and flail about.

Standing girl takes multiple pictures of the car, and says, "Don't worry, when I fall down tonight and hurt myself, it's going to be because I was run over by your car. I'm just getting proof now"

End of story.

That car is going to get effed up.

The weather outside is not frightful

What a gorgeous morning. I walked outside to weather in the 50s. This probably sounds cold to those of you in warmer weather, but it's awesome for those of us who've been wearing winter coats, scarves and hats for 4 1/2 months. Temps are supposed to reach 70 today, which is downright perfect. Unfortunately for me, I have homework to finish up by tomorrow evening, and that means I'm doing it tonight and tomorrow evening.

I may sneak out with Matt for some corned beef (hold the cabbage) for dinner. It'd be a travesty to skip out on one, right?

Last night, we had a team meeting for our 3 Day Walk to talk about different fundraising ideas. I don't think much was accomplished at the meeting (besides eating delicious salsa from Trader Joes) and we could have easily used email or facebook to discuss ideas as we did last night. I'm appreciative that Jen had people over for the meeting, I just didn't have the time to set aside for it, and should have declined. On the bright side, I walked to and from her place and got in a 3-mile walk (since I'll be missing at least one this week).

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Good Will Hunting sort of helped

I went to the FFC Union Station last night to get my walk in. I was a bit anxious, because I assumed there'd be some sort of fight for open treadmills. While most of them were in use when I arrived, I was able to walk right up and get on one (where I proceeded to break the 30-minute rule).

Each treadmill has their own TV, so that sort of helps with the boring walking. I have a little trouble focusing on the picture, without it getting blurry and bumpy from walking, so I sometimes watch the bigger TVs above. As I was looking around, I noticed someone else watching Good Will Hunting, so I flipped through the 50 or so channels on my personal TV to find it on mine. I can't remember the last time I've seen that (college, probably) so I wasn't as familiar with the plot, etc. Watching a movie, TV show, or sporting event certainly helps the time pass, but still, walking on a treadmill is BORING.

As I was heading home from downtown, I received a call from the lady at Curves. They are definitely closing. I went to pick up my shoes and get whatever passes they had for the nearby Curves locations. We'll see how that works out. I think I'll stop by and check out the location closest to me on my way home from work today. Seeing that I couldn't always get myself to a place that was 148 steps away from my door, I have no idea how well I'd do at a new location. That said, I don't want to give up the workout Curves provides - so, we'll see.

"CLOSED"

"This location is considering closing. We are hopeful to find a buyer, but in the meantime, please visit these other nearby locations..."

This is the sign I was greeted with yesterday, and I was finally excited to work out. My shoes are in there! Only the ones I use to work out there, but still. Additionally, I wonder if I'll receive a discount for every day the place is closed. If not, I'm certainly going to seek one.

I'm going to the FFC gym downtown today after work to get my 3-mile training walk in. Walking on a treadmill is so boring, I need the weather to turn into Spring soon, so I can walk outside more. Walks go by so much faster when you have changing scenery.

I've got a few more things to finish up for my two classes. I'm hoping to get them finished before next week (end of the quarter) - as next week will be solely focused on basketball. It's bad enough that I will have to leave the bar to give a presentation in class on Thursday. Let's hope Illinois gets Fri/Sun games.

Week 2 - ALL FORMS OF FAIL

So, I called in sick to work on Monday so I could head to the childcare center I'm observing, and get a good chunk of observation hours in. I grab some breakfast & head to the center. There's a sign on the door, "Reminder, the center is closed on Monday, March 3rd for in-house faculty training" I wanted to bang my head against the wall. At this point, I had to decide what to do. I couldn't very well show up to work, so I went home & told myself I'd work out, clean the apartment and do homework. I ended up falling asleep on the couch for an hour, picked up a little bit & then forced myself to get out and do homework. Mostly a fail day.

Tuesday I woke up around 2AM with a bad headache. I took some advil and went back to bed. I woke up again around 6AM, still in pain. I took some more advil and laid back down. I went into work at 9, immediately tossed my cookies in the bathroom. I took care of time sensitive things, but left by 11 to head back home. I got home, closed all the blinds and went to sleep. For 3 hours. I finally felt better. That said, I didn't do my 3 mile training walk yesterday. FAIL. I figure, I have 24 weeks (well, 22 1/2 now) to train for this. Is missing a walk this early into training really that bad? (rhetorical, of course it's fine. Even if you tell me it's not).

Yesterday was also Matt's 30th birthday. He and I went to Tango Sur for dinner. Love that place. Love that it's within 3 blocks of our house. Both of us stuck to our typical orders, and we both had leftovers to take home. We arrived at home & realized we didn't have them with us (mostly because I had to usher Matt out of the place because the dude at the table next to us was going on some diatribe about how fearful he is that the US is turning socialist). Anyway, any other restaurant, I'd probably just say, "forget about it" - but, not Tango Sur. Matt called and asked if they still had the leftovers.... and they did! I don't want to think about whether they were tossed in the garbage and then fished out (even if they were, they were in a covered bowl, inside of a sealed plastic bag). So, Matt wandered back to collect our deliciousness.

Friday we're celebrating Matt's birthday, along with Jen and Janice, at happy hour extended at Messners (which is conveniently right around the corner from our place).

Saturday, Matt and I are going to the Chopping Block to take a cooking class (one of the gifts I got him for his birthday). I'm really looking forward to it... the class info is:


From Beer to Eternity
Saturday 03-07-2009, 7PM - 9:30PM

Be amazed as you experience the layers and nuances that beer can add to your cooking! Cheddar, Bacon and Beer Soup with Beer Thyme Biscuits; Sauteed Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Beer, Cherry and Mustard Glaze; Chocolate Stout Cake.

Work happy hour tonight, class tomorrow, and happy hour on Friday. I'm going to have to figure out how to get my butt to the gym.