Travel Bug

So, we can save up a good amount of money for a decent overseas trip by next summer. We just have to choose where. On the list: Vienna, Prague, Amsterdam, Munich, Berlin, Geneva, among others. Italy is pretty much out of the picture, the flights are as high as flights to Greece, but the cost to sleep and eat there is exorbitant. Tokyo also has cheap flights, but hotels are a bit pricey and we'd probably have a better time in another city, like Kyoto, where there is more historic things to do. South and Central America are still on the table, but not on the forefront.

We're also throwing around the idea of going to visit Chris's cousins in Hawaii. With no hotel expenses, we wouldn't have to spend too much for that trip. They live in Maui, which everyone says is the most beautiful of the islands. I just want to sit on the beach and hike through the forest with my new husband and my new family. I think it would be awesome.

It's amazing to me that although Chris and I don't make a lot, we have a great cushion and the discipline to save up for things that we want to do. I get frustrated at the fact that I don't have as many options to go to school because I have to work mon-fri from 8-3:30 in order to pay bills and save up that money. Jobs that generally work nights and weekends are usually the lowest paid, like retail and fast food, so I'm not complaining that I have to work mon-fri, I'm complaining that not enough classes are offered outside of those hours. It's a real failure of the higher education system to make classes available to the most amount of people. Anyway, enough of that, I'm ready to go on a bike ride.

Punch Line Part 2

Chris won the Dimple drawing last week for ten tickets to the Punch Line is Sacramento. We saw Jim Jefferies, who was absolutely hysterically funny. This week, I was the lucky winner, so we went and saw Dov Davidson, who was also very funny, but Jim Jefferies ruined stand-up for me and I'll forever compare other acts to his. That's saying a lot, because Dov Davidson was flippin' hilarious, but Jim is still at the top in my book. My mom also won tickets, so we're going back in August. She's busy next week when Dat Phan will be there, so we will miss his show (boo hoo) but I'm convinced that any show at the Punch Line is going to be a good one, especially if it's free. A good night with good friends.

Speaking of friends, Chris and I are trying to save up money for a trip next year with a couple of our good friends. If we can save enough, Greece; that would be best case scenario. Other possible destinations include Belize, Panama or even New Orleans or somewhere on the East Coast, like Boston. Anyway, we all have the travel bug and we really want to go out of the country so we're looking at all our options. Anyway, it's been a good night and I'm ready for bed now.

Day 9

I've been under my Calories every day. I am becoming more and more inspired by the large group of fitness gurus on Pinterest (how many of them are actually heeding their own advice or slogans is still up for debate), and have created a board of my own for inspirational work-out quotes. Today, I had a mini peanut butter cup. It was 55 Calories and it was worth it. I burned 183 doing my intervals on the treadmill.

I still have plenty of Calories left for dinner. I've finally found a balance. I was coming home from work after having breakfast and lunch and having to settle for a tiny dinner because I had used up so many of my allotted Calories. I've cut the bread from my sandwich (I always eat them dry anyway) and have forgone snack crackers and instead bring a fruit, a veggie and a low-fat yogurt.

It's said that when people make public statements, they tend to stick by those statements more because retraction in front of a large group of people is hard for humans to do. So I'm saying on the web right now that I will be 135 pounds by January. I'm going to take "before" pictures tonight and put them up. Ugh. Yes, put them on the internet. I haven't decided if I'm going to put them up on here or wait until I have the "after" pictures, but they are for sure going on facebook.

Speaking of facebook, if you are a friend of mine or Chris's, or a friend of our friends, you can go see our Europe Trip documentary that Chris made out of the footage we took when we went "Over There!" (Please excuse the geeky WWI reference, I just can't help myself). It's on Chris's page in three parts so you don't have to watch them all at once (in fact, you probably don't even have to watch them in order). The trip was two weeks and the total film was forty or so minutes, so it's not everything, but we got some really good stuff in. Anyone planning on going to Europe might be interested in my "Advice for Future Travelers" pieces. Enjoy!