Rochelle's Blog ::: Subtitles Included

Monday! And I wasn’t working. How wonderful! But I did work hard at home, getting ready for the trip. I swear, I’ve put so much energy into this trip, it’s ridiculous. And it’s stressful. I’ve spent so much money on all this, that a part of me can’t wait to get back and not spend money. Be really frugal. It sounds so nice to be stingy. But for all the money I’m spending, it’s stuff that I needed anyway. New clothes, new shoes, medicine (lol). And I got a haircut, which of course was needed. I feel so accomplished because this was my second haircut of the year. I rarely get more than one haircut a year, so I feel all girly. I took my sister along too, and so we both got our haircuts at the same time. We’ve both got complicated heads of hair that makes stylists groan. And even though my sister had a ton of hair to come out, detangle, and cut off, my haircut still took longer. Oh well. And for all my worries about my hair thinning out, which I think it is, the stylist went off on me about how much hair I have. So that’s good I guess.

Anyway, after haircuts, we went to eat dinner in the foodcourt and then did some shoe shopping. I bought another pair of shoes to replace the shoes I recently photographed. Those devil shoes killed my feet. Unbelievable. So I got some gray Eccos that feel amazing on my feet.

Not much to report from today. I stayed at work until 7 p.m. because I was cruising on the project I was working on. When I came home I got right into my work out clothes and worked out. So needless to say, after all of that, I was exhausted. The only thing to note is that I got new contact lenses a little while ago, and I’m pleased to report that they are working a lot better than my last set. I’m able to wear them to work and that does a lot to help me feel more confident.

My plans got a little rearranged for the night, and then it turned out that Marissa came over. We ended up having a very girly night together and even painted our nails and toenails. I love whenever we can do that!

One of my favorite things…
My showerhead. I bought this last fall at Costco. It’s a fancy one with all kinds of settings and such. Well lately, I love it so much more than ever because of how therapeutic it can be after a hard work out on my EA Sports Active.

This rest of this week’s pictures is going to highlight different parts of my weight loss strategy and exercise routine.

This week I did my four scheduled workouts on EA Sports Active. It’s part of the preset 30-Day Challenge, that comes with the software. So far, so good! I am immensely enjoying the workouts I’m getting and I’m consistently impressed with the system and how much I sweat.

After my first day, the muscle hangover was mighty! I struggled getting up and down the stairs and my thighs just burned all day. It seemed impossible to work out the second day, but I did it anyway. Sure enough, once I really got moving, the burn dissipated, and I was really moving. The rest day was nice, and then I was back at it on Thursday and Friday. I ended up burning around 600 calories all together, and I can feel muscles operating that I had forgotten.

Each work out adds intensity and diversity. Some of the exercises I’ve totally mastered, others, such as the inline skating, I’m still struggling at. I can’t wait to see what else it has in store.

So tonight begins week two, and will be my fifth work out. I’m genuinely looking forward to it. I still very much recommend it to anyone who has a Wii!

So today was my first day off in Operation “Get The Hell Away From Work So I Don’t Rip All My Hair Out.” Overall it was a great success. Now to appreciate this post, you should go back and read “An Ideal Day” to see my grand fantasy of how I’d like to spend my time during this week. I certainly couldn’t have it all, but I could do some of it and I did!

I didn’t get up at dawn, but I didn’t need to. Instead, I woke up around 8:15 fully rested. I took a hot shower and put on my yoga clothes. I meandered downstairs and found my favorite Yoga DVD. I blew off the dust it had collected and followed an almost nude Rodney Yee as he stretched his way into the day.

Seeing him in his little bikini bottom made me think about Never-Nudes, and during my downward dog I chuckled, which didn’t do much to relax my belly toward the earth.

After floor time with the cats, which is essentially what my yoga turned out to be, I went right toward the fruit. Yesterday at the grocery store I bought every fruit imaginable so I could get some variety all week. To start things off, I opted for melon. That along with an English Muffin and I had quite a tasty breakfast. Sadly, I didn’t read anything while eating, but I did listen to music, so that should count for some sort of cultural calories.

Breakfast, check. Coffee, check. I was then ready to write. In my two-bedroom townhouse, I don’t have a home office, but I do have a cute little desk with a rather comfortable chair. So I planted myself at it and started the writing process. For three hours I worked on my book, reviewing and writing. I managed somehow to stay off of Twitter and Facebook, and got a lot done.

Before I knew it, my stomach grumbled and it was time for lunch. Fortunately, I had purchased some of the ingredients required for the grilled chicken salad of my dream day. I put it all together and it was better than I had expected it to be.

Then it was back to work. I started doing some major outlining of my novel with a program called StoryMill. It’s this software that helps you outline, organize scenes, keep characters lists, location descriptions, etc. I’ve only recently started using it for those purposes. I might end up buying it.

I spent a little time on the couch listening to music and trying to dream up what would happen next in my story and that was pleasant. There may have been a little singing, but only the cats could tell you for sure. And that’s pretty much how my first day went.

Sadly, there was no cute café, writers group, or secret forest path. But there will be a book and bath in my evening.

Tomorrow — I’m using the first half of my day to run some errands, pay bills, and do some cleaning. Then I’ll be back on the computer. So tune in tomorrow and I’ll show you just how that turned out too.

For the past month or so, I’ve been thinking about taking off an entire week of work to get a much-needed break, but to also focus on writing my novel. I have loads of vacation time, but not a lot of money, so I thought this little “staycation” as they now call it could be really beneficial. So I booked it and starting next Monday I’ll have the week off. On Thursday afternoon, I’ll have to travel about two hours to go to my brother’s wedding, which will be a great way to end my week.

So, now that I have a plan, I’ve been fantasizing about what I will do with my time. A part of me thinks I should treat it as a write-from-home workday, so I can role-play what that would be like regularly. Another part of me thinks I should just relax and take it easy.

Either way, they are somewhat one in the same in my mind. My fantasies include four days of the following…

Wake up at dawn, and do some amazing yoga, where I’m already completely flexible and able. Preferably, this yoga would be done on some sort of veranda with the sunrise within my gaze. I would be a master at it and wouldn’t require the assistance of instruction.

Then, I would eat a delicious fresh fruit salad. For whatever reason, when I picture this time off I think of fresh fruit. I have no idea why. But there would be lots of it. Ideally, I would eat this on some patio while reading a newspaper that I have some sort of subscription to. Or maybe a book.

Around 8:30, I would wander into my amazing home office that has an incredibly comfortable office chair, and get to work writing. The words would come out easily and my manuscript would just flow, but not too much. Every paragraph would be tight and meaningful of course.

Then around lunchtime, I would make myself a delicious grilled chicken salad. All organic of course, and drink peach iced tea.

After lunch, I’d pack up my laptop and head down to my favorite little café, where I’d enjoy some sort of latte and continue writing.

Then at 3:00, my really amazing writing group would converge at the local bookstore, which of course, would be right next to the café. We’d talk about our writing, review each other’s work and talk about books in general.

Around 5, I’d head home on foot, by way of a beautiful (secret) forest path that sits between my cute café and my (very nice) house.

Once home…

I’d make dinner for myself, probably something along the lines of a stir fry dish and a glass of pinot grigio. After dinner, I would maybe do some more editing and then retire with a big giant book. After a long bath, I’d fall asleep peacefully around 10 p.m. in matching pajamas (I have this strange theory that if your pajama bottoms and top match, you’ve got your life together).

And then I’d be so well rested to do it all again the next day, with some variations to keep things fresh.

But let’s be honest, chances are that I’ll sleep in until 10, grab a bagel, sit on the couch with my laptop, write if I’m lucky, eat grilled cheese, take a nap, watch Ellen, have some cookies, come up with something for dinner, do laundry, watch primetime TV while tweeting and reading blogs, and somehow squeeze a shower in there, before starting it all over again.

But a girl can dream, right?

By the way, if any of these pictures belong to you, I’m sorry. But you should know that I’m incredibly jealous!

Yarnity yarn

I finally visited my local yarn shop to have them special order some yarn for me so I can complete a pair of socks I’ve been making forever. I was also able to pick up some more yarn I needed to complete this scarf I’m making…

The never-ending cold

So I’ve now had a cold of some sort for the past month. It’s ridiculous. I’m beginning to wonder if I actually just have allergies. I’ve never had allergies in my life and I’m not used to my nose running so much, but things change right? It doesn’t help that it’s completely and horribly dry here. It’s drier than I ever remember it being in Colorado. This winter has been horrible. I’m dying for some snow and there just isn’t any on the plains. Thankfully our mountains are getting snow so our drought won’t be too bad this year. Hopefully.

TV and other entertainmenty things

A couple things to note here…

First of all, I’m re-watching Lost from the start with a friend who has never seen it. It’s been a ton of fun to go back and watch. We’ve come a long way on that show. It’s amazing how little we all knew back in season one.

Second, DOOL is picking up again. Sami is back in town and finally sharing scenes with EJ, so the board is picking back up again and it’s fun to chat with my online friends. On that same front, I’m delighted to report that I’m now following Alison Sweeney on twitter. She’s so great. She’s even replied to me, which is super cool. Now I always joke about how my friend Alison is doing this or doing that.

Current annoyances

I freaking hate these Comcast commercials. They drive me up the wall. It is completely horrible. It almost makes me want to get rid of my service.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTcol9UVkWs]

I’m totally pissed that U2 isn’t coming to Denver. What the hell? All day I’ve been blaming Pat Bowlen and the stupid Denver Broncos for somehow interfering because of the stadium use. But I really have no idea why they aren’t coming here. I’m bummed out to say the least. Chances are they will come in the summer of 2010, but that might not be soon enough for me. So I might go up to Vancouver and see them with my friends Amanda and Jeremy.

Changes around the house

My household is expanding a bit and it’s been a nice shift. No longer can I be completely lazy and messy. It’s also pushed me into making some changes around here, like relocating the cat box. This might not be permanent, but it’s shown me that I don’t have to live like a hermit. It’s not bad to have someone around the house again.

Ugh. Still sick and a little bit worse actually.

Yesterday I was feeling much better, and then I did something dumb. I’ve been craving my workout that I now love so much. So I thought, why not give it go? Well I pushed just as hard as I usually do, if not even more. I did a bit over three miles on the treadmill, increased my repetitions on weights, crunches, and squats. Stretched it out and then took a shower. I felt great as I did all that.

Then after my shower I went downstairs to eat a bowl of cereal and watch a show. My cold struck back and was basically like “fuck you.” I had the hardest time falling asleep because of my sinuses. So I wiped on some vapor rub and upped my dosage of NyQuil (from one pill to two). Through the night I tossed and turned and blew my nose. It felt like it was burning, probably from the vapor rub. I thought there was no real way I could work today, but then I remembered that Greg was going to be in training all day and so I had to back him up, and we’re trying to launch a new LMS service feature that I need to edit some docs for. So somehow, I found the will to get my ass out of bed and get ready for this place.

It’s cold outside and grey. I’m happy about that because when I feel this way I just can’t deal with the sunshine. I’m sitting in a rather dark office now, not even wanting to turn my lamp on. So far I am loving the colder weather and the grey that this late autumn has given us. I’m hoping that December will be a very snowy month. What a difference than two years ago when I feared the snow. It’s nice to live so close to work and have someone drive me in that has no fear about it. Now I can really enjoy it.

So this is my post. It’s about being sick and about the weather. How boring. But that’s about all I can put into it today.

I’m proud to report that I am still holding out on Breaking Dawn. Even though I am yearning to read it, I just don’t want it to be done yet.

Well Thanksgiving has come and gone. My first Thanksgiving, in a sense, was a great success. I’ve never made Thanksgiving dinner before, but since things were not going so well with my Mom and she didn’t invite me to Thanksgiving, I decided to do my own thing.

Well on Thanksgiving day it was very cold and grey, perfect! I went out to watch the boys from work play flag football. It was fun, but did I mention cold? I was smart enough to bring a chair (thank God!), and for the longest time it seemed that they game on the field pretty much hovered around the middle of the field. It took them a while to score some points. One of the guys who played owns a bakery and so he brought us all kinds of goodies, including Virginia Rolls, which I grabbed up in case I didn’t have time to make my own dinner rolls (which it turns out I didn’t).

After I got home, I took the longest hottest bath to warm myself up. Then I rested for a long time before starting to cook. Since my Thanksgiving was happening on Friday, I had the extra time to pre-cook, which I am so grateful for. My menu included:

• Turkey and gravy
• My mother’s special stuffing (both sausage and vegetarian versions)
• Mashed potatoes
• Corn
• Grape and apple salad
• Candied yams
• Green bean casserole
• Cranberries
• Virginia rolls
• Pumpkin pie

Surprisingly, this took a ton of ingredients.

So the day before, I made the pie, the vegetarian stuffing, and did all sorts of prep work, like making the cornbread of the stuffing and peeling things. I ended up having to peel 16 apples! And then peel 3 lbs of yukon gold potatoes. I felt like all I did was peel stuff to get this meal ready. But it’s worth it, especially my mom’s stuffing. I know that everybody loves their own stuffing, but I seriously cannot even enjoy other stuffing. My mom’s stuffing has six apples, sage sausage, cornbread, whitebread, onions, chicken stock, butter, and sage. The sage and apples together create a wonderful aroma.

The next morning, Mike came over to help me with the turkey. I’ve never made a turkey before and I enjoy his turkey oh so much. He’s got a great basting recipe that makes the turkey moist and tasty. And then it also makes the greatest gravy. I was happy that he shared his recipe with me.

So I cooked and cleaned and got everything ready. My guests included my dad, my sister, and her boyfriend. There were moments when there could have been around eight people attending, but I’m glad it only turned out to be four. It turned out just lovely and it tasted so great. I was really proud of myself.

After the meal I told my family to go relax while I cleaned up a bit. I always hated how my mom guilted us into cleaning for us since she cooked the meal. So I refused to do that. Plus, I have my own way and a small kitchen. They all promptly took a nap while I put the food away and washed off dishes.

After they woke up, we enjoyed pie and coffee and watched a special on the history channel about “The White House,” and then watched “Christmas Vacation”.

My sister and Johnny eventually left, and then it was just me and my dad, which was nice. We watched “P.S. I Love You” and then went to bed.

The next day, my dad and I had breakfast and then went to the mall for a bit. It certainly wasn’t as crowded as we expected. After that, my dad went back to Pueblo and I was left alone to relax.

Well ever since Thursday I had been feeling sick with a cold. I got a sore throat while watching the football game. It finally really caught up with me, so from Saturday night until now, I’ve been in my apartment relaxing and trying to get better. I didn’t go to work today either. It’s been nice.

Saturday night I finished reading New Moon. And then yesterday I read Eclipse from start to finish with little breaks in between. Eclipse was great. I think it was so hard to get through New Moon because I am not the biggest Jacob fan. So now I just have Breaking Dawn left, and I’ve decided to ask for that for Christmas. I don’t want it to be over yet, so I’m restraining myself and I’m going to read something else between now and then.

Now I’m just hanging out watching “The Holiday”, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite movies. I watch it whenever it’s on. I should be doing laundry and the like, but it’s just so nice to be cozy. I really miss working out, so I might go take a walk upstairs. I think I’m well enough to do about a half workout. I lost four pounds in a week since setting up my home gym. It’s been really rewarding. I hope I can keep it up. I’m trying to look at weight loss by percentage, like they do on the biggest loser. It seems more achievable if I have my 10% goal. I’m trying not to be too strict with myself or go over board, because then I get burned out immediately, but I decided to set up some goals and rewards based on percentages:

2% – Haircut
5% – $100 shopping spree
10% – $250 shopping spree
15% – New TV
20% – European trip

I know those seem like huge goals, but losing 20% would ridiculously improve my health and my body shape. It would be great to lose 20% by next fall and take my trip then. I’m thinking of a tour and going on my own. Or maybe with my sister. But for some reason, I think on my own would be great. I don’t know why. Anyway, we’ll see what happens with that. Slow and steady is the way.