Guilty!!!

I always feel guilty after a few days of not exercising like I should. Actually, I always feel guilty after a few days of not doing anything I should. So much so that I actually feel like I don't want to do it. Call your relatives. Well hell, it's been months, I feel horrible. Might as well not call now; it could be awkward.

So tonight I took the bull by the horns. It's my second hour this week exercising and I really should be doing 5-7 days a week. The weather has been poor, the daylight hours are shorter after I get off work and my body isn't exactly hormonally balanced right now, if you know what I mean. I feel like a blob, so I've decided to do something about it.

I've taken up jogging on the treadmill. I do it for as long as I can (usually about two minutes) and then power walk until I catch my breath. I do this in intervals for 10-20 minutes and then I jump on the exercise bike. I like how the air conditioner isn't blasting in the apartment gym because then I get all drippy-sweaty and feel like I'm an athlete or something. I never got drippy-sweat at those other gyms. Something about it just makes me feel like I've accomplished something. The night air when I leave to go back to my apartment is enough to cool me down.

I forget how good it feels to get moving. I'll be sitting there on the couch, watching TV or playing on teh internetz and I think it must be better to just sit here rather than walk all that way in the cold to the pool and torture my body on work-out machines. I suppose this is normal, right?

I feel good tonight. Probably going to get to bed early. Oh! I saw the venue on Sunday, it's gong to be just the right size and everything so we're going to start paperwork soon. Now I can stop having those dreams about it being the date and having no where to get married. Onto the ones where I show up walk down the aisle realizing I'm naked...

Thanksgiving Updates and the Best New Game Ever (Not GT5)

The work week was only three days long, and so went by rather quickly, despite Wednesday being the hardest I'd ever had. Due to the nature of my job, I can't go into detail, but I can say I left work feeling completely inept and stressed. I ended up in traffic on the way home and running out of gas. It was brilliant.

I went to bed pretty early Wednesday and woke up only for Chris to ask me if he could go buy Gran Tourismo 5, which had just come out. One less 60+ dollar game I didn't have to buy him for Christmas, I said, "Sure, go ahead."

The next day, we drove to Placerville for dinner with Chris's folks. Chris and his dad, Garry, went to take the dog for a walk while I shared with Chris's mom, Robin, my relief at finding a venue where I could have the ceremony and the reception in one place so that no one would be mad at me for either not being able to go to the ceremony or having to leave some family members at the reception hall or whatever. Robin thought that was excellent. I think Chris and Garry liked it even more because it meant they don't have to clean up the yard anymore.

When Chris and Garry and Baxter (the toy poodle) got back from their walk Garry asked Robin about Gran Tourismo 5 and whether or not it had been on Chris's Christmas list. Oops. The ensuing comedy (or tragedy?) of Robin booting up her computer and searching her email for the Christmas list on which Chris insisted he had never put Gran Tourismo 5 resulted in Chris being promised a bag of coal under the tree this year. Chris swears he doesn't remember sending that email, the poor guy, but there it was from his address. After all was settled, we had wonderful snacks and a lovely dinner.

The next day we went to Tracy for my mom's Thanksgiving. It was splendid! The turkey was super moist. I don't know how my mom does it. I ate seconds for the sake of seconds, as I was no longer hungry, but what the hell-it's the holidays. I did exercise this week for at least a half hour at a time, so I'm not completely in the red.

Afterward, we played the traditional Apples to Apples game, of course, followed by a new game that requires nothing but pens, paper and an imagination. It's called "Toilet Paper Roll." The idea is that everyone writes a sentence on the top of a piece of paper and then folds the paper forward so that the sentence is facing up. The paper is then passed to the left. Players read the sentence and then draw a picture depicting it and fold the paper forward again so that the person they pass it to next can't see the original sentence, only the picture. That person then must right a sentence explaining what they see in the picture. At one point, seeing my picture of an army of bunnies saluting Hitler near the bottom of the paper, Chris said, "Oh god. I see where this came from my original sentence." The game is a blast.

Michelle, my little sister, brought her Holland Lop rabbit, Waffle with her. She said she just felt like taking him, but she knows I'm trying to wear Chris down into giving me a rabbit for Christmas, so I think it was also a good tool to get Chris to look at the bunny, pet the bunny, know the bunny and maybe want a bunny himself. We'll see. I'm still working on him.

The weekend has been pretty lazy. I'm enjoying my time off. Work is going to be hard to go back to on Monday, which is pretty much normal after these long holidays, but I'm ready. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Adventures in Venue Searching

This weekend Chris and I spent Friday and Saturday in Placerville. Friday night was the Halloween dance at the company I used to work for. Believe me, it was great to see familiar faces, no matter that it was still hard to say goodbye again. Chris and his band did some recording Friday night, which means that the new album is just about complete. We have been throwing around a few names, including but not limited to: "They're So Big" and other things Andrea and I heard them saying during practice that could be taken completely out of context.

Saturday was Venue Searching Day. We went to Mt. Aukum Winery, Lacham, Granite Springs and Fitzpatrick, which seems the most comfortable as a venue but has some weird rules regarding time and set up and will probably be the most expensive. We also took a look at Chris' parents' yard to see what it would take to get the garden at the top of the hill looking like a wedding venue. It doesn't look like it would take too much, so we're keeping that in the forefront of our minds. I just wish it was big enough for everyone to be there. As it stands, there is only room for the immediate family and honorable bridesmaids/groomsmen (we're not actually having bridal party/groomsmen, but there are a few people that we'd like to show our appreciation to for being great friends).

I carved a pumpkin this weekend for the first time in years and years. I was trying to make a picture of a Holland Lop, as that is the kind of bunny I'm trying to convince Chris to let me have, but the nose and cheeks ended up being harder than I thought. I eventually just turned the thing into a ghost. Chris carved the other side with a trippy-looking gypsy-eye thing so we put it on our front porch. Good times.

Chris ended up having a lot of homework Sunday night so I drove up to El Dorado Hills to go Trick or Treating with my nephews. We had a great time. Devin is taller than his mother now and very close to passing me up. Now, at 4"11' and 5"2' that's usually not saying much; most of the world is taller than us. But Devin is only ten. How fast those boys grow!

The Giants won the World Series tonight. We went out to dinner at Burgers & Brew downtown this evening and learned of the good news when some Giants fans ran by the outdoor seating area twirling their Giants shirts above their heads and wearing nothing but boxer shorts. That was interesting to say the least, but as Niner fans, we're glad that at least one SF team is doin' it right. Go Giants.

Hump Day

An eventful Wednesday, I must say. I'm officially a week and a half at my new job and I really, really like it. I feel comfortable there and am learning a lot. Starting a new job in the field I'm in has confirmed that I want to do this for the rest of my career life.

I got home and Chris and I enjoyed a dinner at Ali Baba's, the Kebab place downtown. It's very good food for very cheap. I enjoy the lamb sandwich because it is the closest thing to the Kebap we had in Germany that we've found in the States, so far.

After dinner, I decided to text my friend Mo, who bought a Go Phone to use because his iPhone broke. He hadn't saved his contacts to the SIM card, so when I text messaged him, he thought I was a mutual friend of ours. I just went with it. I recorded the thread and put it on facebook where it will live forever in its epicness. I finally told him hours later who I really was and we got a big kick out of it. Good times with good friends and the reminder that technology can always be used for great things.

Chris remembered that we had some more still pictures that weren't taken off the camcorder yet. They will be available in his photos and probably some in DeviantArt soon. He's been editing some of the ones from the Cannon, including a really cool one from the Eiffel Tower that he edited to make look like a miniature town. Check his gallery out here.

Wedding planning is coming along. I've started two online registries. I'm gathering addresses for the save-the-dates and, later, the invitations. I'm struggling with the budget. It just seems to keep going up as I research more. At this point, if my dress isn't free and I don't bake my own cake, we're going to be a bit in debt come next July. C'est la vie, n'est-ce pas? I waited years to hear him pop the question; be careful what you wish for!

Saturday we are looking at a venue in the foothills. I'm gathering as much info and ideas as possible. I've called Safeway for info about a cake. I've researched food. I've pretty much finalized my guest list (I'm sure I'll remember some more later, though). I spent an hour on the phone with my big sister this evening, which is always a good time. All in all, a pretty good day, I think. Time to get to bed so I'll be ready for work tomorrow.

Renting a Hall

I've nailed the wedding date and the ceremony venue (Chris's parent's house), and am now in the process of renting a hall for the reception. I began by emailing the address on the website and I wish I would have just called her in the first place. She now wants me to rent the hall for twenty-four hours instead of the four I requested, which will be another $125 rent. Alcohol at the reception would be an addition $225 to the $200 deposit. I emailed her back to let her know that I didn't want the hall for the whole day but haven't heard back yet.

Also in the email was fax number where I could send proof of insurance. I've never been married before and have never rented a hall so my first reaction was "WTF?" Turns out I have to have a general liability insurance policy of no less than a million dollars to rent this place for more than fifty people. My car is insured up to ten grand, I think and it costs me over $100 per month. I'm a little worried what one MILLION dollars is going to cost me, even if it's for a day. General consensus online is about $200. So my low estimate here is $600 for a hall.

I hope I hear back from her soon, because while I plan on having more than 50 guests, I don't plan on having alcohol, which I hope will keep the deposit and insurance low. We'll see. Worst case scenario, I'm paying a thousand dollars for a community hall, in which case I'll just pay the same price and go find one of the local vineyards and have the ceremony and reception outside in the same place.

Getting married sucks, by the way. I have wanted Chris to pop the question for four years and now I'm thinking that it better be the best freakin' party I've ever  had or I'm going to be one upset little bride.