Our Married Life

It seems I only make updates on the weekends. I can’t believe Sunday is half over. Yuck. Yesterday Brian and I went to go see The Dark Knight. It was a very good movie, very dark, but not too violent. I guess it’s because it’s PG13. I think if it was rated R it may have been a better movie. I’m not sure I like Maggie Gyllenhal’s as Rachel, but everyone else did a fantastic movie. Unfortunately it seemed the movie was more about Harvey Dent than it was about Batman himself.

Anyway, other than the movie, we spent the majority of the weekend chilling. I baked Brian his birthday cake today, and tonight we’ll probably grill or something for his early birthday dinner. I need to pack up for my trip to Richmond tomorrow. I feel completely unprepared, although I’m not sure what else I can do. Most of it is going to be talking anyway.

Since Matt and Josie are coming into town next weekend, I’ve been getting the laundry done and washing all the sheets in the guest room. I hate laundry. It’s NEVER ending. Anyway, there’s more tidying up to do, but I guess I can work on it when I get back.

Not much to say other than Reesey hurt her other leg playing fetch this past weekend. She had just recovered from her right front leg hurting, and now she’s hurt her left front leg. I noticed her walking funny as she was going down the stairs and not standing straight. Plus she was mopey all day yesterday, although I’m sure she was mopey because Brian was in bed all day due to a high fever. Good thing she’s going to the vet this week for some shots, we’ll be sure to have them take a look.

At least her spirit is the same, for the most part that is. I want her to be 100% healthy, but it’s so hard to keep her that way when she likes playing rough. She hurt herself by hitting the corner of the wall as she turned around to catch her squeaky.

Anyway, this weekend was very uneventful since Brian is sick. I’m not sure where it came from, but he was sick with something similar about a month ago. I hope I don’t catch it again because it took me about 2 weeks to recover from it.

I feel old. Or maybe because I treated my body pretty badly this weekend because my body feels really lousy today. On Friday, I went to a work happy hour. After mentioning that I needed a drink, a coworker organized a happy hour. I got a bit tipsy, but it was definitely needed after the long week. Those drinks at BJs are strong! I then proceeded to go eat BAD fried catfish at a local dive in Allen. Brian and I ended up here by accident because the place we were looking for was closed. So we decided to stop here since it looked quite busy. The people there looked a little rough around the edges, and there was karaoke. So weird. I can’t remember the name of the place, but whatever it was called, it’s in downtown Allen. Stay away people.

Then on Saturday, we spent a couple hours at my parents place before heading out to the ballpark in Arlington to watch the Astros and Rangers. The Rangers won. We haven’t been to a ballgame in a two years, but it was fun and we’ll have to do it again. The only reason why we went this year was because I got the tickets from work. Too bad the hotdogs and nachos we had sucked, but Brian did enjoy his cotton candy which he reluctantly shared it with me. And…shame on me for having processed meat! I suck at trying to be vegetarian.

Anyway, we left the game after the 8th inning and went to a friend’s house for some drinks. After getting tipsy some more and eating more junk food we finally headed home at 3am and crashed until lunchtime the next day. By the way, these people’s house makes me want to redecorate. It had a lofty feel to it, which is the total opposite of our decor.

On Sunday, I had to finish up my cupcakes for the cake decorating class. Before the class, we went to Chili’s for lunch and I for some reason craved their fried stuff, possibly because I was eating lousy all weekend long. My body definitely paid for it last night and this morning because I didn’t sleep well at all and woke up with a stomach ache.

So this week, I need to get back on the healthy routine. I had a veggie sandwich for lunch, and need to plan what to have for dinner since we have nothing to cook with at home.

I also need to do a better job of meal planning. I haven’t been cooking as much which isn’t a good thing. On top of that, I need to start going back to the gym and doing some of those free classes. I enjoy those much more than the boring cardio workout. I think I’ll go to yoga tomorrow morning at Sunstone. That is if I can wake up at 5:30 am….

The other to-do is finish planning our trip. We’re undecided between a fancy hotel or the standard economy hotels. I know we won’t be spending too much time in the room, but it is a vacation afterall. I looked at the rates for the Solamar Hotel that Terri recommended, but I think it’s too much of a splurge. I did see some good rates at Temecula Creek Inn, but it seems out of the way. The Hyatt Regency in La Jolla had some good rates. If I had it my way, I’d go with the Hyatt, but Brian had some sticker shock only because he doesn’t do any of the planning and didn’t realize how expensive stuff was. I guess we’ll figure it all out tonight.

I am doing good with cutting out meats. I did have a tuna sandwich for lunch today but otherwise I haven’t missed having real meat. It’s been 4 days. The only problem with going vegetarian is having to cook two separate meals. I got some tofu and chinese eggplant that I’m going to cook up tomorrow for dinner, but I doubt Brian is going to eat that. So I have to find a way to make two quick meals on a work night. I supposed the only reason I’m cutting out meat is that I’m trying to eat cleaner. I figured if I cut out the meat, I’m forced to eat more veggies and therefore cook more of it. I suppose eventually if I ever do want to eat meat, we’ll go for organic and free range ones.

Anyway, we spent the day today cleaning and reorganizing. It’s been almost a year since we’ve moved in and the place is a clutter. I cleared the kitchen counters so it looks less cluttered. I even moved some of the canned goods and spices into the cabinet next to the fridge to make room in the pantry.

Brian spent the morning hanging some floating shelves that we got for Christmas and then spent the afternoon clearing out the tubs in the back bedroom. It looks less like a storage room. Even the office downstairs is clean.

We even went and looked at some new model homes to get ideas for decoration, but I was more inspired by all the modern touches of the houses than I was with the decor. Too bad we didn’t take any pictures. I would love to someday have dark wood floors downstairs. Although it might clash with our cabinets.

I am so glad the studying is over. It’s so nice not having to spend all your free time studying or thinking about studying. I can now enjoy reading the book for my work bookclub and watching tv. Next week, we’re having a rock band party and I’m going to spend Sunday planting flowers in our yard.

Oh and since I’m rambling, Reesey had an animal’s head in her mouth yesterday. I could tell she had something in her mouth as soon as she ran inside. I was too afraid to try to take it from her, so I threw a snausage across the room. She dropped whatever she was trying to eat to grab the snausage and I shrieked the entire time I was trying to pick up the nastiness that she brought into the house. Brian was still in bed as it was only 7am, but he came running down to see what was going on. I had him look in the trash and I think we both agreed it was a head of some sort. I could totally see guts sticking out from the head. Yuck. What a gross doggy!! No kissies for her!

Anyway, I haven’t started meditating yet, but I will start this week. I need to find articles or books to see how I can do this effectively. So if anyone has any recommendations, let me know. I know a girl at work that is interested in doing it with me if I happen to find a class. But I think I’ll try mastering it by myself first.

I need to learn how to meditate. I’ve never been one to see the benefits of meditation, but I really need a way to relax and clear my mind. My brain never shuts off even while I’m asleep. I think if I can just invest 10-15 minutes relaxing and meditating that will at least alleviate some of the stress. I’m also going to change my diet. I hate feeling cruddy all the time and I’m sure whatever I’m eating is helping with that. What’s the point of working out if you don’t eat well?

So with that said, starting this week, I’m going to try to eat a semi vegetarian diet (limiting my meat intake to once or twice a week, gotta start slowly). I packed myself a bowl of whole wheat couscous with some feta mixed in. So what is sparking all of this?? My visit to the doctor yesterday was ok. My blood pressure is on the borderline of the prehypertension stage (130/90) and I need to get it down. It’s not a horrible thing, but I should start watching my body. That’s probably why I get headaches all the time. So with these small changes, I am hoping that things will get better in 2 weeks when I return to the doctor. I am sure the fact that my dad was in the hospital earlier this month and the looming PMP exam which is in TWO days isn’t helping with my stress. But once the test is over, things will we back in order. In fact, I plan on spending the weekend shopping and gardening. I’ve been waiting all season to be able to replant our flowers.

I worked out today. YAY. I actually brought my workout clothes to my cube so I can run downstairs to do some cardio. It’s a good feeling. Now if only I can keep this up for the next few weeks.

I’ve even started counting my calories today. Hopefully that will deter me from eating bad stuff. This morning I had a bagel. Then for lunch I had a frozen entree - Chicken Tikka Masala. I’m not sure what to do for dinner. My plan is to limit the amount of carbs at night. I bought some salmon yesterday, so we be having fish.

This weekend was quite uneventful. Brian hung the speakers I bought him for Christmas. They’re now nicely hung in the downstairs family room. If only he can do the same upstairs or maybe hang some of my other stuff. We also did laundry. I studied some. THANK GOD my PMP exam isn’t tomorrow. I would’ve died from test anxiety. Oh and we also went to Home Depot and got a bunch of grass fertilizer and weed killer. I had a dream the other night that our front lawn was full of weeds. Needless to say, there were a bunch of weeds. UGH. I blame our neighbors.

Anyway, that’s all I got.

Commercials were boring, although I did like the Corolla one. I didn’t pay much attention to the game other than the end which apparently was the best part. Of course I missed half time. I was actually asleep. After spending much of the day with my parents, I was exhausted.

The day prior, Brian and I went over to World Market and got some furniture. I was only interested in an accent table they had on sale that would fit perfectly in the foyer area. I took pictures, but of course they’re at home. Here’s one from the website.

But while looking at this particular table, we also found an end table that was the perfect size for our game room. So we bought two of those. Brian spent most of Saturday putting the tables together. What a pain in the butt they were.

We also got a pretty iron piece from Pier 1 for our bedroom. The bedroom is almost complete, other than the end table for my side of the bed. I really want one that match, perhaps when we go down to NB next weekend, we can stop by the furniture store and get one, if they still have it in stock.

So much furniture. We still need to fill the other two rooms downstairs. I think we have to wait another year before we can do that.

What a weekend. I think we met our quota for going out this month. Although we are nearing the end of the month. (Note: there really isn’t a quota)

Anyway, on Friday night, we went on a “double-date” with Linda and Jason. We didn’t have a plan on what to do until the last minute. Originally Linda mentioned Trader Vic’s, but after looking at the menu online, we all agreed it was a no-go. The menu started at around 30 bucks a person. No thanks.

So I sat around looking at the Guidelive website and saw that Coal Vines served up good pizza. Who doesn’t like pizza right. Well, first thing was we didn’t see how far it was from where we lived. Not that it mattered, but considering it was already 8pm, it was getting late. We headed out there anyway, and OMG…I would never go back there again. Way too overrated in my opinion. Picture this, tiny restaurant with a bar, swarms of people just hanging out at the bar. No hostess to be found to put our name on the list. We literally had to push our way to the back in hopes of finding the host, but of course after about 10 minutes of squeezing our way through, the little old man was no where to be found. I guess it was more of a bar hangout, although it was even too crowded for that. People were literally hovering over the tables where others were eating. So somehow, we ended up ordering the pizza to go and getting a bottle of wine. Now where do we eat this?? They said we could take it upstairs. Upstairs?? Where?? Apparently there’s a club/lounge next door. We got our pizzas, and our wine in our styrofoam to go cups and headed up the stairs. BUT the bouncer turned us away. He told us no food or drinks allowed. So we went around the front door and the guy there said it was a not a problem, we just couldn’t bring the cups with us. So we stood around trying to finish the cup of wine as quickly as possible. Not a good way to enjoy wine.

We finally made our way up there with our box of pizza. The music was loud, people were on the dance floor, some folks walked by gawking at us an our pizza. We ordered some drinks. After 2 cocktails I was done. But apparently the girl didn’t understand because she kept coming back with me. So instead I ended up consuming 4 apple martinis. Brian on the other hand had some pretty strong Jack and Coke. Let’s just say he woke up with a pretty bad hangover the next morning.

Speaking of the next day, it was actually the day of our end of year party at work. So more booze and fun. But after the night before, we decided to go light. It’s interesting to see folks outside the work environment along with their spouses/partners/dates. The theme of the party was diamonds and denims, so some people showed up all decked out and some came in jeans. I had on a sweater dress and Brian was in jeans and a sweater. we played it safe.

Anyway, we didn’t bring cameras either nights so no pictures to share. I’m hoping the photographers will post theirs up soon so I can borrow some.