Ugh…ugh…ugh! Last night was a total bust. Bryan and I battled our way all the way down to the South Lamar location of the Alamo Drafthouse and struggled for 10 minutes to find a parking space only to get a call from my TKD instructor saying that the Alamo had canceled the pre-screening and demo of The Foot Fist Way. How rude!! It wasn’t my instructors fault. The Alamo didn’t even take the time or courtesy to call him. Poor guy! He drove over an hour just to get there. He invited us to come eat with him and a few of the other students that had arrived to see the movie, but we decided to go to a restaurant that I ate at a lot while I was working at LGI. I had bragged on it so much, and Bryan wanted to try it since we were in the neighborhood.

Here’s a pic of him before the meal:

It was probably good that things worked out the way they did. There were still many things that I wanted to do before today (the day Bryan’s mother arrives!). We definitely used our unexpected time wisely. We hung framed art up all over the house. It looks really nice too. Bryan already had quite a bit up, but now we are both represented. So, for those of you have heard me talk a lot about my photography but haven’t seen any actual proof of it…well, the next time you come over have a little looksy. 🙂 Oh and if it’s mine its for sale…lol…not that any one would want it, but hey, “I’m just sayin’.”

Work is good today. I’m currently eating lunch at my desk because I’m working through lunch so I can go with Bryan to pick up his mother from the airport around 5. I look forward to meeting her and hope she will think highly of me.

Looks like the Pancake Theater is on for Saturday. I’m really excited to do this again. Hmmm…I wonder what we will be bringing?

Lastly, I keep waking with stuffed ears. This happened for the first time last Friday. It stayed that way the whole day. It’s not painful only annoying, but the worst part is that it knocks off my equilibrium making TKD very difficult. I even had to take allergy medication before my TKD testing. Not having balance on an important day like that would suck in a royal way. It’s happened a few other days since only not as bad…until today….ugh. Everything has a roar to it. This sucks. But again, it’s not painful, just annoying. I just wish I knew what was causing it. Any guesses/suggestions?

Music I’m digging right now:
Coldplay – Violet Hill

This week is odd for many reasons. Not odd in a bad way…just different from a normal week.

First of all there are no TaeKwonDo classes this week. Well, there are a couple, but because of primary testing that was held this past Saturday and secondary testing being held this week the classes are all off. There were no classes last night. The schools all take the day to pour over all of the results from Saturday’s testing. The wait is killing me. It will all be over on Friday though. Pass or fail, I will finally know. Friday is the awards ceremony. I’m excited because I have never been to an awards ceremony and scared because I still believe somehow there is a small chance that perhpas I didn’t do as good as I had thought. Yeah, I know – don’t say a word! I really enjoyed my night off last night. I have been going at TKD classes so hard lately. It was good to just chill especially after all of the upacking and cleaning I’ve been doing lately.

Bryan’s mother comes on Wednesday and will be here till Sunday. She picked a good week. Now that I’m done with testing and classes are all crazy anyway, I can really focus my attention on her visit. I’ve been cleaning the house like a mad woman to make sure it’s spotless, and we’ve revamped the guest room. I really like it and hope she does as well.

Yesterday Bryan and I fasted. We finally feasted at our Monday night tradition of Kirby Lane. I’m amazed that I don’t eat more after fasting for 24 hours. I expected to make up for ever meal I had missed in one sitting, but find that the opposite is true. Perhpas the fasting gives your stomach a chance to shrink. I hope so. I wouldn’t mind losing a few pounds. Not many…maybe 5? There’s muscle under there begging to show. 😀

Today has been a good day indeed. Jason and I spent the afternoon together. We ate an awesome lunch at Fuddrucker’s. I really love that place. They have the best burgers I’ve ever eaten, and the shakes are also hard to beat.

After we ate we went to Goodwill. I love thrift shopping. It’s one of the few things that I think Jason and I always agree on. It’s been a hobby of ours for a few years now. You never know what treasure might be found or what deal you may come across. I’m pretty dorky like that :). I did get a few things. The one right by my house is a pretty upscale Goodwill.

Finished with thrift shopping, I got the bright idea that we should trade in a bunch of games and my PS2 (because Bryan and I each had one). We went to Game Over because most of my stuff included really old stuff like NES and SEGA. Game Stop is a pretty cool place if you need something current, but they just don’t really don’t do it for me. I like ALL things video games. I still have all my old systems (NES, N64, gameboys (several!)). This place is AWESOME! They even have a little museum of every system you can imagine, plus they have a bunch of old systems for sale. It was pretty sweet. I definitely saw about 10 things that were a must have. 🙂 I ended up having $64 in store credit or $38 in cash. I’ve found it pretty impossible to walk out without making the trade. After looking at all of the old systems I really wanted one. So, I settled on this:

Oh yeah – a Game Cube! I haven’t plugged it in yet (waiting on Bryan), but I am so excited to crank this thing up. She’s a beauty!! I got 2 controllers and 1 game. I spent about $25 extra, but it was totally worth it.

I’d like to brag on myself at this point by saying that not many girlfriends acquire video games/sets while their boyfriends are out of town. Bryan, you are a lucky fella!

Speaking of the man…I can’t wait for him to get home. 4:30 tomorrow! Let’s just hope that I don’t get into any wrecks on the way to the airport this time. 😉 Ok, I have to get back to cleaning. This house must be spotless for Bryan but more importantly his mom. She comes on Wednesday!!

Today was the big day. Testing. I know its been all I’ve talked about on here lately. It has pretty much consumed more and more of my thinking the closer it got. But it’s over now! I tested at 8:30 this morning. TKD Plus school from all over Austin and surrounding areas were also there. It was quite a lot of people. There will be testing all day.

They got all of the yellow belts together (all ages), and then they tested us starting with adults and going down. I had to sit through every little kid testing. All the kids running around and acting up and pushing on me was really testing my nerves and stress level before the test. However, after I had finished they were actually pretty cute. One kid even stopped in mid test to point out how “cool” the black belt sparrings looked. The judge got him back on track. What can you expect from a 5 year-old?

Ok, Ok…I know you are all just wondering how I did. I did pretty good, and that’s the best I’ll give myself. I let my nerves get to me enough that I didn’t do my best, but I did pretty good. I was better than most of the adults there. I didn’t really get to see the ones who did theirs behind me. I’m confident that I passed. I hope I don’t have to eat those words later. They don’t tell you how you did there. I’ll have to wait till I go back to class. I think there might be some sort of ceremony, but that could just be for the kids. I’m not really sure as you can tell. I know there won’t be any classes on Monday. That’s probably a good thing because I’m sure I will be getting ready for Bryan’s mom’s visit up until she arrives on Wednesday.

Let me recap since my last posting:

The week went by…slowly for the most part because of Bryan being gone to New York. (He comes home tomorrow!) Work has been getting better and better. I’m enjoying it more everyday. I’m learning a lot and finally starting to get into the swing of things, but there is still much to learn.

Friday:
I went to class. It was a good class with lots of review for testing. After that I met up with the group at a Persian restaurant that had belly dancers. I didn’t like the food. I’m a simple palette type of girl. 🙂 What can I say? I was raised on simple Southern food. I barely got to eat out when I was growing up. I’ll try anything, but I’m still working on liking it. 🙂 Anyway, it was still fun hanging with the group. Ben even got a belly dancing lesson which was pretty funny. After eating, we all headed to Ben’s to hang out. I didn’t stay long because I needed my rest for this morning.

Here are the pics from Friday night:

Tommy and Elizabeth watching Ben…

Ben gets his belly dancing lesson…

Ryon and Elizabeth chillin and drinking…



Saturday(today):
Now that I’m done with my testing I feel like I can finally tackle some stuff here at the house. There is a lot of cleaning and unpacking/organizing that needs to occur. But first I’m gonna meet Jason at Fuddrucker’s (my favorite!!) for lunch. I also have some errands that need to be ran.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

….but I guess I’ll survive. However, I’ll be super happy when he gets home. I sure hope he doesn’t have to leave again for awhile.

TKD class was good last night. The instructor told me that my back stances had improved along with a few other things that I had been having some reoccurring problems with. So now I feel like my form is finally ready for the judges. I know my one steps too, but still feel like they need much practice over the next couple of days. I only have till Saturday!!!! Every time I mark a day off the calender I get a nervous wave through my body. I doubt I’ll be super nervous at the testing because I will know there is a task at hand but until then…well, I can’t be so strong.

So, Bryan really hasn’t been gone all that long, but I miss him. I played a lot of guitar on Rock Band last night. I needed a night of play after all the moving. And I needed something to distract me from the presence of all the cats and the absence of Bryan. I love the PS3 version! It’s so much fun. And I was tearing it up last night. It was like my fingers had a mind (one smarter and faster than mine) of their own. I remember when I made the move from medium to hard. I never thought I’d get even one song down. Looks like soon I’ll have to make the last move…but let me not get ahead of myself here. 🙂

I know it’s extremely dorky to post pics/vids of your Rock Band/Guitar Hero accomplishments (unless you’re that one dude from YouTube), but I have been known to be very dorky on many occasions. So here:


I stayed up way too late last night trying to get in as many songs as possible because I was afraid I’d wake up today and be clumsy on it again. I may be. I don’t want to play today; I’d rather sleep. However, I really need to unpack, organize, and clean. I would also like some snugly kitty time. 🙂 The guest room is almost done. I definitely want to finish that tonight. Bryan’s mom will be here only a few days after he returns home on Sunday. I don’t want her to think he’s dating a slob! 🙂

Bella is doing better and better with Mallos and OC. I am very proud of her. I can’t imagine being uprooted and being dropped in a new house with 2 people I didn’t know or care to know. Mallos really wants to play with her. She has been letting him get close but not too close. OC seems to be as uninterested in getting to know her as she is in getting to know him. That relationship may take a little longer. They are both used to sleeping in the bed with us, but since neither wants to be too close to the other, it is a battle for the right. Bella won last night. I guess it’s a first come first love situation. And speaking of cats…have you ever cleaned a litter box after 3? Lucky you!

Here’s a video I took of me and Bella playing last night. She’s a wild one!

Well, Memorial Day weekend has come and gone. It was a good weekend though…very busy, but very good.

Yesterday (Memorial Day):
We didn’t really get to sleep in. We had to wake up and get over to the duplex to move what little furniture I wanted to keep. This included my bed and a futon. Without Jason and his truck this would not have happened…so, thanks Jason! 🙂 Bryan was a huge help too! Those boys knocked it out in no time while I worked on packing this and that and loading down my car. After everything had been unloaded and something put away, we finally started on the holiday festivities. This included cooking/grilling by both Bryan and me (yes, me). I made one very delicious mock apple pie.

Here is the recipe:
Ritz Mock Apple Pie

The classic pie, featuring Ritz crackers baked in a golden crust,
is perfect for the holidays.

Pastry for two-crust 9-inch pie
36 RITZ Crackers, coarsely broken (about 1 3/4 cups crumbs)
1 3/4 cups water
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Grated peel of one lemon
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Roll out half the pastry and line a 9-inch pie plate. Place
cracker crumbs in prepared crust; set aside.

2. Heat water, sugar and cream of tartar to a boil in saucepan
over high heat; simmer for 15 minutes. Add lemon juice and peel;
cool.

3. Pour syrup over cracker crumbs. Dot with margarine or butter;
sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll out remaining pastry; place over pie.
Trim, seal and flute edges. Slit top crust to allow steam to escape.

4. Bake at 425 F for 30 to 35 minutes or until crust is crisp
and golden. Cool completely.

Makes 10 servings

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION per serving
413 calories, 3 g protein, 63 g carbohydrate, 17 g total fat,
3 g saturated fat, 339 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fiber.

Preparation Time: 45 mins.
Cook Time: 30 mins.
Cooling Time: 3 hrs.
Total Time: 4 hrs. 15 mins.

Jason came over and ate with us. It was a very good meal indeed. After as much food as we could handle was consumed, we packed up the rest and hauled it to Ben’s house. We were supposed to be going over to swim. If wearing a swimsuit and dangling your legs in the pool counts as swimming, then yes, we swam. It was good conversation with lots of laughs as always, but we couldn’t stay long. We needed to be in bed early so that we could get up early in order for Bryan to catch he flight to New York this morning. I woke up at 4:30 am to get ready. I drove him there. Traffic was moving along very nicely….and then….

About a mile from the airport, I spotted a truck up ahead in the lane. I saw that it had its break lights on, but I quickly realized that it was stopped completely in the lane. I had to put on my breaks kind of heavy, but by no means was its a slam on the breaks kind of stop. However, the idiot behind me either was too close or failed to pay attention to what was going on ahead of him because I heard the screech of breaks and then Wham! Yep, he rear ended me. I pulled over knowing this was going to kill Bryan’s chances of catching his plane. I felt bad, but when we surveyed the damage there really wasn’t any. Thank goodness for this idiot of a driver because I’m pretty sure he was an illegal alien. He didn’t seem to know any English anyway. I’ll hold in that rant for the time being. We didn’t waste any time and moved on to the airport. It was hard to say bye to Bryan knowing he will be gone till Sunday. The wreck though made it a little easier becuase I was still a little shaken up and hot from it. And now that all that has passed, I miss him like crazy. I know that’s extreme. He hasn’t even been gone a full day, but we’re not used to being apart. Ok, ok…I know it will probably be good for us and all, and I am glad that Bryan will get to see his family. I know he misses them. So, I hope that he has a great time, but I will be very happy to have him home. To top things off, now that it is light outside, there was some very minor damage done by that idiot who hit me. It really wouldn’t be worth the trouble of having it fixed. You have to put your nose right up to it just to see it. So don’t! Promblem solved.

Enjoy the rest of the short week at work. I know it might feel like Monday, but it isn’t!! 🙂

This weekend I had some very odd dreams. I wonder what they meant? I won’t mention one because it involves people I know, and though all parties already know of it…well, I don’t want any help interpreting it. 🙂 It was nothing bad…just odd…like WTF?

But Saturday night I had this really disturbing dream. You know the kind. This one goes in the top 10 scariest/disturbing dreams I’ve ever had.

Ok, so here it is:
The U.S. (not sure if it was the world) suffered in a major way from sort of disease. No normal disease, it basically was the destroyer of our society. So many people died that all organizations of any kind including government were unable to stay together. No schools, hospitals, or any other kind of organization that you take for granted these days were around. There were utilities but only as long as nothing destroyed them. If a power line was knocked down then it was finished. No one from the electric company was going to come out and fix it. Crime was everywhere. No one left their homes unless absolute necessary. People pillaged stores and homes for food and items that were needed. And though money didn’t really mean anything with out stores it was still highly coveted (imagine that). Most people seemed to come together in small groups and live together at one home. It became a family/community of sorts. Without prior knowledge, most of these groups had a hard time gaining food and medical care. Not many people had had to farm or do much of anything for themselves before this point. The breakdown of sanitation led to more sickness. Fevers and death often caught on and ran throughout the homes often killing half the group. It was questionable whether it was a blessing or curse to survive the outbreaks. I can’t remember much about my group. I do remember a fever sweeping the house. I caught it, but somehow I managed to survive. I mostly remember tons of graphic images one would expect to find on the news reporting such a story, but there definitely was no news crew. I suppose it was just my dream filling in the missing spots.

Finally I realized that I could live and die in this hell hole of a house or I could make an attempt at something better. Dying out on the streets or in this house sounded pretty much the same to me. I’m not sure who I was trying to reach, but I was pretty damn determined to get there. I saw so much violence and crime in the streets. It was not safe to walk out in the open. The journey was slow as each movement had to be carefully planned. I’m not sure when, how, or who, but several people had joined in my quest. I never made it to this person that I was seeking. I supposed they had some answers or plans that I knew would be beneficial to me. However, I met a woman and her family who had somehow maintained a fairly normal existence. They were convinced this would pass, and were determined not to let their children be exposed to what was happening right outside their door. I believe the father was some sort of doctor. They were very intelligent. For the most part they had food and stability that they were providing for themselves. They didn’t seem eager to have us stay for too long, but were happy to try and teach us their “ways.”

That’s about all I remember before I woke up, but that is plenty. It was surreal to see the world in that state. Yet when I woke up I just remember thinking that this somehow could really happen, and it definitely sends a cold chill down your spine. I dunno. I’m not really worried about this, but it definitely makes me stop and think. How long could we survive if we only had a handful of strangers to depend on? Or worse…only ourselves? Me…not long at all….not long at all. Hell, I already can barely feed myself. I am one of the worst cooks ever. Without a microwave, I become a nothing in the kitchen. Well, I have been known to bake but cook…definitely not!

I don’t remember dreaming at all since Saturday night. Hopefully this means it was just a weird couple of nights that are done for now.

I am loving this looong holiday weekend.

Friday:
In Friday’s post I told you that Bryan and I were trying a new diet (if you will) where you fast. We made it through the 24 hours! When we finally at it was at the Alamo Drafthouse as we watched the new Indiana Jones movie with the group. It was pretty good but a little odd. I have mixed feelings about it. The food was awesome however. This is natural considering. 🙂

After the movie we made a trip to Wal-Mart to grab some stuff for the house and food for the UFC. We ended up getting the PS3 version of Rock Band. I have been wanting ever since I played on Nik’s. It has so many more features than the PS2. Totally worth it. After that we went home to sleep. Good day.

Saturday:
I woke up at like 8:30! WTF? Oh well…I ended up getting up and going to try out the new Rock Band. I’m just like a little kid. This version is so awesome! We ended up downloading some more songs for it, and I also played against someone online. Love it!

I skipped TKD class. There was so much to do with the moving and getting ready to host the UFC 84 at our house. I wanted to clean and all and not feel rushed. Bryan cooked some great chicken spaghetti (my granny’s recipe) for the party, and I took a big ole nap….so typical. The fight was awesome. So many people came. I think everyone had a lot of fun. There were so many pictures! So many laughs…I love this group of people.

Check out the pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010118&l=eea04&id=163200356
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010136&l=d82ea&id=163200356

Check out these vids (random UFC dancing):




Sunday:
This has been such a long day full of everything. We went shopping at Garden Ridge and then Lowe’s trying to get more stuff for the house. We are trying to “kitty proof” the backyard so that the cats can go outside without our constant attention. After that we met up with Jason for some BBQ. Then it was time for me to move all of my clothes and bring the cat. Wow…introducing all the cats to each other. It went better than expected, but hisses can still be heard every now and then. Mostly it is my cat. Bryan’s cats just seem to want to smell or play with her, but she is not having any of it. I don’t call her a princess for nothing. 🙂

I unloaded a bunch of my stuff and tried to organize a bunch of it. Bryan cooked hamburgers on the grill and we dined while we watched 300. It was a good movie but nothing compared to the food. He never displeases. 😀 I’m a sucker for a good meal, and he knows it!

Tomorrow we are moving my furniture. I want to have it all set up for Bryan’s mother’s visit. Oh, and Happy Memorial Day. Enjoy your time off from work if you are that lucky. I am, and I will!!

Ryon turned Bryan onto this book called EatStopEat. I’m horrible at explaining things like this so I’m gonna steal right out of Bryan’s blog posting that he wrote earlier today.

The basic idea behind this is as follows:

“Diets” or “eating plans” most often fail in the long term. Sure, in the short term, they might work really well. How many of you have tried the “South Beach Diet” or the “Abs Diet”? I have. I got pretty good results for the first couple of months, then pretty much said “fuck it, this is way too much work”, and went back to whatever I was doing before I started.

Some of the myths/misconceptions that this book speaks to are:

• the idea that fasting will kill your metabolism.
• the idea that you will lose muscle mass from fasting.
• that eating 6-8 times per day will “stoke” your metabolism.
• why eating “plans” or “diets” typically fail once you extend the observation period.

So, currently we are in the stop process…no eating. The 24 hour mark is approaching. I thought this would be harder, but I’m actually doing quite well. We’re going to try to do this twice a week. I’ll save judgment for now. I don’t know how I’m gonna feel the next time it’s time to fast. I might find myself weak to the temptation to get my grub on, but I’m optimistic. It would be awesome if this turns out to work. At least I don’t have to prepare any crazy meals or even a lot of simple meals. If you know me well, you know that I’m a procrastinator and always running behind meaning I’d never be able to keep up with meal preparations. I also can’t cook worth a shit so there goes me making any meal period. But I might be able to not shove food in my mouth for a day. At least one would hope I could. Hopefully, there will be two pluses to this – lose weight and save money. I love to kill two birds with one stone. 😀

The 24 hour mark will be up when we arrive to see the Indiana Jones movie tonight at the Alamo. Thank you Alamo for serving food! I usually don’t partake of the food there, but tonight I can promise you that we will both be chowing down. Hmmm…what to eat, what to eat. Suggestions?

Well, the day is almost over. Five o’clock draws ever nearer. It’s Memorial Day weekend which means good food and most importantly a day off from work. Yeah, I know I’m loving this new job, but I love lazy days at home more. 🙂 However, I really doubt it will be too lazy since the moving starts on Sunday and continues into Monday. Sunday comes clothes and the necessaries and the cat. Thanks to Bryan’s trip to New York on business the furniture has been pushed up a weekend and will now occur on Monday. Thanks to Jason (my current roomie) for offering up his muscle power and truck. Without these it would be a very difficult move indeed. It’s important to me to get this furniture in because of Bryan’s mothers upcoming trip. I want everything in the house to be really nice looking. Plus I need a little touch of my own there. 🙂

Ok, well I will keep you updated on the new diety thingy, TKD, the move, integration of the cats, the job, and whatever else I’m up to these days. Have a great Memorial Day!

Tomorrow will complete my first week at the new grindstone. I love it! 🙂

Not much new going on this week, but I’ll give you a quick update on the usual.

TaeKwonDo – I skipped one class due to being absolutely exhausted. However, I drug myself to class tonight even though I felt pretty bad. I had taken the skin off of my two of my knuckles earlier this week. Tonight while hitting the targets I made one of them bleed. Something about seeing my blood awakened my inner “ninja”…hehe. Anyway, after that I really woke up, and and I did my best form to date. I test next Saturday. I get one more week to practice. I finally feel confident. I’m finally excited to test! Bring it on!!

On other news…and I’ll make this quick and to the point…I’m moving. Yes, with Bryan. I can’t wait. This will be awesome! We will now have 3 cats under one roof…wow…that’s a little crazy. I don’t think Bella is going to like this at first, but she should adjust after a little time.

This weekend will be pretty hectic but should be fun. Bryan and I are meeting a bunch of friends at the Alamo Drafthouse tomorrow night to catch the new Indiana Jones movie. That should be a lot of fun. Plus we start the move. I’ll be stretching it out over the next month, but I’ll be moving the essentials on Sunday. Saturday is the UFC fight at Bryan’s house. I’m pretty sure everyone will be in attendance. That is always a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to Saturday’s TKD class.

Bryan’s mom is coming visit soon. I’m really looking forward to meeting her. Hopes she likes me. 😀