Barbara’s blog

finally

nobody@vox.com(Barbara) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:42:49 -0400

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Recap

nobody@vox.com(Barbara) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:39:09 -0400

It's been 6 days since my last post and I'm trying to think of exciting things to recap. Nothing really that great has happened. It's funny how sometimes I feel like I've done so much stuff that I need to write 2 times a day to fit it all in and then other times, I'll go 6 days without feeling the need to post anything. So this is what has been happening...

I've started up at the gym again. I'm really serious about it this time. I know I've said that like 100 times, but I'm really making much more of an effort than ever before. I'm keeping a fitness journal to track my workouts and eating and I'm setting goals for myself. I've been doing it for a week and haven't lost any weight, but feel thinner and fitter. I'm trying not to focus on the scale so much this time because I think that is what deterred me from working out the last time. I mean, I was doing so awesome at first and in like 3 weeks I lost 10 lbs. I was all on top of the world and then the next 2 weeks I didn't lose ANYTHING. Not one pound. so I tried harder and would get on the scale and still, nothing. So then I gave up and started eating out all the time and didn't do any workouts. Then the cruise came and I was on vacation and there was all this good food and deserts and giant margaritas in Cozumel and I scarfed it all. Eventually I had enough and said it's time to get back in there. And boy did I ever. I've really worked out hard. To the point where I'm still sore. My abs hurt every time I cough, but it's good. I'm proud of myself.

Tonight, Chrissy is having a party that I just so happened to be invited to. She kind of forgets that technically it's still my place she lives in and I still pay for half of all the bills. I've met most of the people she's inviting and don't really care about her having a party because I know it isn't going to be like the last one she had. I'd seriously kick her out if that happened again. She's saying it's for her birthday because she didn't get to spend it with friends since she was on the cruise, but it's closer to Dave's birthday so I said she had to make it a joint party.

Speaking of Dave's birthday, it's Monday. I already gave him the Rockband guitar I bought him because I was afraid he was going to buy one himself. He was like a little kid when he saw it. we're going to Epcot on Monday (his actual birthday) because Disney is doing a promotion where you get in free on your birthday. So we got a hotel for tomorrow so we didn't have to drive super early to Orlando on Monday. (I-4 rush hour...no thanks). I haven't been to Disney in like 5-6 years, so I should be fun.

Work has been ok. We signed a lot of contracts last week and have a lot of design work to do, so that should keep me busy for awhile. I was really getting tired of writing SEO copy. I'll be glad to open photoshop instead of word.

Oh, I fogot to mention Dave has 3 dogs in his house right now. His friend went to St. Augustine for a family reunion and brought his ex-girlfriend with him (yeah, I don't get it either). They both have dogs so we have a little white furball (I think she's a shiz tsu) named Luna who loves to cuddle and lick your face, a big fat husky that sheds everywhere and has extra toes and is the sweetest thing ever, and super jealous Dali. It's only til Sunday though.

That's really all I that's happened. Not too exciting, right

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Lazy Days

nobody@vox.com(Barbara) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 22:36:44 -0400

I've been so lazy today. In fact this whole weekend has been pretty chillaxed. I haven't done much of anything except lay around, do a little reading, and take a nap. I did manage to get out of the house for a little bit. I headed to Walgreen's to pick up some good deals. I'm getting pretty decent at this coupon thing. I almost cut my bill in half!.

On Friday, we saw The Watchmen, which was completely disapointing. I was seriously expecting a really awesome movie and got...well...something that was hard for me to follow and too long. I really hate when movies disappoint me. I'm just glad we didn't waste the money to see it in IMAX.

Last night we went to the Lightning game (they lost again in a shootout... surprise, surprise). If we go to the games, we usually buy the cheap nosebleed seats for $8, but we saw an awesome special for lower level tickets in the paper and decided to take advantage of it. We got super close seats right behind the goal for $20 with our student ID's. Technically, I'm not a student, but I still have my ID and the guy at the box office didn't even check it. We had a great time, even though they lost.

After the game we headed to a karaoke bar to meet my friends Bob, Amy, and some other people. Bob's brother is down from CT and really likes singing karaoke. He went up to sing a few times and was actually pretty good. Dave drank an entire pitcher of Guiness himself and was asking for McDonald's cheeseburgers on the way home. I had 3 beers in like 3 hours. I was still really full from the dinner we ate beforehand and wasn't really in the mood to drink. Plus, I was driving home. I did enjoy watching Amy and Bob get drunk and try to sing karaoke. Sometimes I enjoy watching people drink more than doing it myself.

I'm still planning on doing a wordpress theme and taking this blog to my own domain. I wanted to work on it this weekend, but felt totally uninspired. I keep telling myself it will get done eventually.

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Quick Update

nobody@vox.com(Barbara) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:08:07 -0400

I have a few minutes before I have to go back to work. A few things got me thinking today:

1. Time seriously flies by when you're an adult. I got a bill from Geico in the mass of mail that had accumulated over the week I was away. I looked at it and said, "I already effing paid this!" Then I read further and realized it was for renewal. HOLY CRAP. I feel like I just bought that and it was 6 months ago already. Before I know it, I'll have been at my job for a year. I feel like I just started.

2. Saving money is hard, but I'm managing to do it. Hopefully I won't have to pull out any savings to buy Dave's birthday present. I should be ok, but it feels like whenever you think you are head of the game, something comes up (like a car insurance bill).

3. Eating healthy sucks. I miss cruise food. I'm already sick of oatmeal and protein shakes and it's only been a few days.

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Cruise Fun

nobody@vox.com(Barbara) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 13:57:01 -0400

This is going to be a long one. I actually went to the bathroom before writing this because I didn't want to have to get up mid blog and potentially forget something.

We had an amazing time. I did so many things in a week that it's going to be hard to remember everything. It was great to be "detached" from the rest of the world for awhile. No phone, no computer, no real concept of time. Here some pics of when we first got on board:

The next day we were at sea. These are pictures from the formal night:

The middle one is funny. Some random drunk kid in a tux started talking to Chrissy and they broke out in the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart".

The next day we were in Cozumel. It was also Chrissy's birthday. We decided to walk around and check out some shops and bars. It was a good time. I don't drink tequila EVER so I got pretty crazy. So did everyone else. Chrissy and I missed dinner that night. haha

The next day we went to Belize. Dave and I booked a Land Rover and Cave Expedition excursion and spent the day doing that. It was AMAZING. Belize is such a beautiful place and I'm so glad we went on this tour. We had a great time:

The next day we were in Costa Maya. We went on a Snuba dive there, which was the excursion Dave wanted to go on. It was ok, but definitely not as good as the Land Rover tour we did in Belize. I didn't like being attached to a boat and actually got tangled up by other people's cords. I didn't see any fish either. Apparently it wasn't a good day. After snuba, we took a taxi to the town and walked around, did a bit of shopping, and got a half hour massage for only $10. I had more fun walking around the town then I did doing snuba. Unfortunately, all my pictures were taken with a film camera that we could use underwater. I haven't developed them yet.

We had another sea day after Costa Maya and another formal night:

The last day we were in Nassau. We had fun walking around town, going to the straw market, and then taking a ferry boat to Paradise Island were the amazing Atlantis Hotel is:

All in all, it was an amazing and much needed trip. The only bad thing that happened was that my camera stopped working properly. I was still able to take tons of pictures (this is only a small taste of what I actually took) but my shutter stopped fully opening and I would have to pry it open with my fingers in order to take a picture. Also, the settings were going crazy on a lot of the shots. Some good ones turned out really dark. My camera has been through a lot. It's a few years old and was actually a prize I won at school. I need to upgrade, but have been saving for other things. I guess I'll have to shop around for some good bargains.

It's good to be back I guess, although I miss having people clean up after me and cook me gourmet meals. I miss our waitress and waiter and the man that made me ham, cheese, onion, and pepper omlettes in the morning. I weighed myself and actually didn't gain any weight, which is surprising since I ate more than enough food. I'm definitely carrying a lot of water weight though because my belly is bloated. My Dad said it's because the food has a lot of salt in it and if I drank a lot of water I should feel better in a few days.

I don't really want to go back to work, although I'm interested in seeing what happened when I was away. It will be good to get back in the swing of things I suppose.

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Impatience

nobody@vox.com(Barbara) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:15:56 -0500

I just want Saturday to be here already. I can't wait to get on that boat and relaaaaax. The week has been going faster than I expected it to go actually. Usually the week before you are about to go away somewhere drags on forever, but I've had some things at work and stuff to do at home to keep me busy.

It dawned on me the other day that I don't think I have shorts to wear. I might have two pairs that aren't gym shorts. I never wear shorts because I hate the way my legs look, but it might be a necessity in tropical weather. I'll have to dig them up for days when we'll be out and about.

I'm almost done with Twilight. I'm still deciding whether or not I like the book. I like the story a lot, but I'm not too fond of the way Stephanie Meyer writes. I think the characters need to be developed more and I always find myself re-reading certain parts of dialogue because I'm not sure who said what. It's not like if I hated it I would stop reading it though. Once I start a book have to finish. And I usually finish quick, within a week most of the time depending on how long the book is. I read quite a bit of it last night because the story was getting really good. I'm sure I'll end up reading all the other books because I'm curious to see what happens.

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Liar

nobody@vox.com(Barbara) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 09:31:47 -0500

Ok, so I lied. I said I'd finish writing about my day of fail yesterday after dinner, but ended up getting sidetracked like usual. We decided to go to Home Depot after we ate and ended up not getting back home until almost 10. Then I started reading Twilight. Geez, that book has been out forever. You're just now reading it??? I know, I know, I'm a little behind. That ended up sucking me in for 2 hours. I got to chapter 6 already and like the way the story is playing out so far. By the time I stopped reading, I wanted to go to bed because my eyes were getting heavy. Writing was the last thing I wanted to do. This morning, I'm feeling a lot better and don't really feel like talking about it.

I hate in complaining in general. It always makes me sound like those whiny emo kids that gave blogging a bad reputation. I always feel guilty when I complain about my life, epsecially when I know tons of people have it way worse than I do. It makes me seem like an ungrateful little brat. Things could be a lot worse. I'm blessed to have all that I have. I was just having one of those days where it was one thing after another. Nothing seemed to go smoothly yesterday. It's just a bump on the road though.

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The day of fail

nobody@vox.com(Barbara) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 20:29:45 -0500

Today has so many suck moments. Until like an hour ago, I wasn't in the greatest mood. Work was so annoying. We've been doing this autorun DVD for a company and today we finished it and were ready to send it to the client. I had to upload the files to their account on our server so they could view them. Simple task, right? Not for genius over here. I still don't know HOW this happened, but somehow I managed to nuke half the files for the project. OH MY GOD. I was panicking. I really had no idea how it happened. I literally went to copy the files, the explorer window crashed, and poof, they were gone. THANK THE LORD WE HAD THEM ON BACKUP. I can't even tell you how many times backup files saved my ass. So we figure everything is cool. We'll just upload the damn thing and be done with it. Then I get an email saying they want one more change to the file...then another...then another. Seriously people? I was getting really annoyed because the emails for the changes always came right after I was done making the change from the previous email.

I'll continue this after dinner...

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fat kid's nightmare

nobody@vox.com(Barbara) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:18:24 -0500

I have a few minutes before I have to go to work. The cruise is coming so soon and I can't wait. I just wish I could lose more weight. I haven't lost anything in 2 weeks. My sister is totally going to win this competition. She's dropped 2 pants sizes. I just cannot seem to get over this 10 lb hurdle.

Last night after dinner, Dave wanted to go get ice cream (he's definitely not winning lol). There's this place called Maggie Moo's that has peanut butter ice cream that he loves. So we drove there, only to find that it had been closed down. His statement-"This is a fat kid's nightmare."

And I'll leave you folks with that...

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continuation

nobody@vox.com(Barbara) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:37:15 -0500

The last entry was cut short because Dave and I were going somewhere. I can't even remember what we did, or where we went, but 3 days later here I am finishing what I started.

So yes, I've been playing around with wordpress themes. Eventually I'll be happy with a design.I get bored with things too quickly and my ADD has been in overdrive the past 2 weeks. I've been telling myself for awhile that I should do this and finally made a half hearted attempt a few days ago, in between playing wii tennis and browsing failblog. I have three domain names that I'm not doing anything with and tons of server space, so why not actually use it for something?

Truth is, I've become an internet slacker. This used to be me; on a computer for hours researching, playing around, and doing work. Now that I have no school deadlines, I've lost some interest in my geek domain. I guess it's a good thing because there's so much else to do with my life, but in a way I feel like a part of me is gone.

Today has been awesome. I feel more relaxed that I have in years. The money that I said I would be coming into came today. I paid off all my credit cards and opened a savings account to put the rest of it in. I haven't had a savings in years because I haven't been able to save. As soon as I got a paycheck, it went right to bills, gas, or groceries. Having a safety net makes me happy. I'm planning on saving for a Jeep, since I'm going to need a new car sooner than later. I hope by the end of the year to have $5000 saved. Unless something tragic happens, I see no reason why this can't happen. I don't blow money. I'm not one of those girls that goes shopping all the time. I tend to plan things out before making any sudden spending moves and generally don't like the idea of spending anything. Even today when I went to the mall to buy shoes, which I needed to go with the 5 dresses Julie let me borrow for the cruise, I looked for the best possible deal. I ended up scoring a cute pair for $21 that will definitely go nice with at least 2 of the dresses. Happy times. I know money doesn't buy happiness, but it causes less stress. I have no fear of my electric being turned off anymore. I can plan to do some house decorating that I've been putting off for awhile. I can buy things for myself without feeling guilty. I still cut my coupons. I still look for the best deals. I don't think that aspect of myself will ever go away, but it's just nice to know that I'll be ok if something happens to me.

Dave is doing fine. He finished a class today and has just one more until he recieves his master in criminal justice administration! I'm so proud of him. He's worked hard and I know that it is going to really pay off. His last class he only meets 3 times, so it won't be that bad. I can't wait until he is finished!

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