What's on the front of your car? Sorority tag? Favorite sports team? Or are you in a state where license tags are on the front and the back of the car, like in NY and VA?
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Now We're Cookin'...
They couldn't install my XM, but at least they put my tag holder and Dallas Cowboys tag on the front of my car. Now we're cookin' with gas!
What's on the front of your car? Sorority tag? Favorite sports team? Or are you in a state where license tags are on the front and the back of the car, like in NY and VA?
What's on the front of your car? Sorority tag? Favorite sports team? Or are you in a state where license tags are on the front and the back of the car, like in NY and VA?
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
So...yeah. Day 5.
I'm writing this from the Starbucks in Concord Mills. I'm here waiting to get the XM radio installed by Best Buy (cheaper than the dealer. They took the wires outta Maxiniti for me, but wanted to charge DEALER LABOR to install in the Altima. Uh, no. Rat Bastids.)
Well - of course, as I was finishing that, Best Buy called. So I'm finishing this from home.
Day 5 observations:
*I hate to admit it, but I'm a bit more productive at work without the shenanigans of Fb and Twitter.
*Clearly, I need to carry a book with me for the next 26 days! I had all this lag time while I was waiting for the car. I could have tweeted like a mad woman! Instead I sat in Starbucks looking forlorn. :/
*These two college girls talked NON-STOP the entire time I was sitting in Starbucks. Did I talk that much when I was 20?? Jesus.
*These Dead Sea Cosmetics folks are gonna learn to stop flagging me down from their kiosks. I will make you waste time and product doing a demonstration on me. I told you in the first 10 seconds that I make my own stuff and I'm happy with what I got. But if you want to exfoliate my wrist, knock yourself out. Oh - I'm gonna need to see the ingredients list before any of that touches me. Thanks.
*The guy who installed my XM was named "Shirley." I'm sure it was a derivative nick name, but I hate I didn't ask what his actual first name was.
*Yesterday, I found 2 gift cards in one of my wallets. One was a Victoria's Secret gift card that my friend Korin gave me for my birthday. In 2007. Yeah. The other was a Banana Republic gift card my old supervisor gave me for Christmas...in 2008. ::::hangs head in shame:::: Free money!! $30 and $25, respectoively. I am the proud new owner of 5 pairs bikini undies from VS, and 2 Banana Republic shirts. Score!
Hope you had a good day!
Well - of course, as I was finishing that, Best Buy called. So I'm finishing this from home.
Day 5 observations:
*I hate to admit it, but I'm a bit more productive at work without the shenanigans of Fb and Twitter.
*Clearly, I need to carry a book with me for the next 26 days! I had all this lag time while I was waiting for the car. I could have tweeted like a mad woman! Instead I sat in Starbucks looking forlorn. :/
*These two college girls talked NON-STOP the entire time I was sitting in Starbucks. Did I talk that much when I was 20?? Jesus.
*These Dead Sea Cosmetics folks are gonna learn to stop flagging me down from their kiosks. I will make you waste time and product doing a demonstration on me. I told you in the first 10 seconds that I make my own stuff and I'm happy with what I got. But if you want to exfoliate my wrist, knock yourself out. Oh - I'm gonna need to see the ingredients list before any of that touches me. Thanks.
*The guy who installed my XM was named "Shirley." I'm sure it was a derivative nick name, but I hate I didn't ask what his actual first name was.
*Yesterday, I found 2 gift cards in one of my wallets. One was a Victoria's Secret gift card that my friend Korin gave me for my birthday. In 2007. Yeah. The other was a Banana Republic gift card my old supervisor gave me for Christmas...in 2008. ::::hangs head in shame:::: Free money!! $30 and $25, respectoively. I am the proud new owner of 5 pairs bikini undies from VS, and 2 Banana Republic shirts. Score!
Hope you had a good day!
Monday, October 4, 2010
What's In The Mix
I wrote a previous blog about product ingredients, after attending a seminar entitled "What's In Your Hair Care Products." I don't know why, but attending that seminar really made an impression on me.
Well, I know part of the reason why: I heard the word "cancer" several times. There's been a LOT of cancer in my family. A lot.
So now, I pay more attention to ingredients. I pay more attention to side effects listed in these drug commercials. I was just watching one for this new drug called Stel.ara. They straight up said that this drug may cause you to get tuberculosis, or even worse - cancer. HUH? Isn't this supposed to be helping you heal?
The other day, iHerb posted a tweet about 8 ingredients to avoid. I was already familiar as I had talked about these same ingredients earlier this year. I re-tweeted the link and said something to the effect of, "your beauty is important, but your health is more important."
A fellow tweeter basically said, that's all well and good, but I just have to trust that I'm under the grace of God.
Hmmm. OK.
I don't know how I feel about that. This happened shortly before my hiatus, and with everything going down with my dad, I really didn't get to respond to her. But, I think God would want us to do better. When you know better, you do better. Hey - nobody's perfect. Pedicures are still my weakness. I have yet to make a move to get any toluene-free polish. :::scratches another entry on to-do list::: But, I think He put a lot of plants and botanicals on this earth that we can use to take care of ourselves, and we've just taken it to the next level with all the synthetics.
Take deodorant, for example. I still struggle with this because I just sweat like a pig. There's really no other way to put it. I struggle with getting natural deodorants to work with me, because they are NOT anti-perspirants. They are deodorants. But anywho - one of the things I noticed when I was using The Crystal regularly, is that the hair under my arms grew in faster! I thought I was crazy. I mentioned it to my friend Kenya, and she just gave me her usual "um...duh!" look. LOL!
So that got me to thinking: wouldn't the same follow for the follicles on my head? We hear people focusing on growing their hair and complaining about its health, but they are probably hindering it with the very things they're putting on their scalps to try and make it grow. I don't know. I see people whose hair is thriving and they don't care about ingredients. Which is perfectly fine. My scalp, on the other hand, was not thriving - so I decided to make a change.
I guess I'm a Natural Ingredients Na.zi. So be it. I'll take that label.
I just want to pass on information I feel strongly about. If people don't agree with me, then so be it. I've said my piece. And I'll keep saying it. If it helps one person, then I did what I was supposed to do. :)
Well, I know part of the reason why: I heard the word "cancer" several times. There's been a LOT of cancer in my family. A lot.
So now, I pay more attention to ingredients. I pay more attention to side effects listed in these drug commercials. I was just watching one for this new drug called Stel.ara. They straight up said that this drug may cause you to get tuberculosis, or even worse - cancer. HUH? Isn't this supposed to be helping you heal?
The other day, iHerb posted a tweet about 8 ingredients to avoid. I was already familiar as I had talked about these same ingredients earlier this year. I re-tweeted the link and said something to the effect of, "your beauty is important, but your health is more important."
A fellow tweeter basically said, that's all well and good, but I just have to trust that I'm under the grace of God.
Hmmm. OK.
I don't know how I feel about that. This happened shortly before my hiatus, and with everything going down with my dad, I really didn't get to respond to her. But, I think God would want us to do better. When you know better, you do better. Hey - nobody's perfect. Pedicures are still my weakness. I have yet to make a move to get any toluene-free polish. :::scratches another entry on to-do list::: But, I think He put a lot of plants and botanicals on this earth that we can use to take care of ourselves, and we've just taken it to the next level with all the synthetics.
Take deodorant, for example. I still struggle with this because I just sweat like a pig. There's really no other way to put it. I struggle with getting natural deodorants to work with me, because they are NOT anti-perspirants. They are deodorants. But anywho - one of the things I noticed when I was using The Crystal regularly, is that the hair under my arms grew in faster! I thought I was crazy. I mentioned it to my friend Kenya, and she just gave me her usual "um...duh!" look. LOL!
So that got me to thinking: wouldn't the same follow for the follicles on my head? We hear people focusing on growing their hair and complaining about its health, but they are probably hindering it with the very things they're putting on their scalps to try and make it grow. I don't know. I see people whose hair is thriving and they don't care about ingredients. Which is perfectly fine. My scalp, on the other hand, was not thriving - so I decided to make a change.
I guess I'm a Natural Ingredients Na.zi. So be it. I'll take that label.
I just want to pass on information I feel strongly about. If people don't agree with me, then so be it. I've said my piece. And I'll keep saying it. If it helps one person, then I did what I was supposed to do. :)
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Patience...it IS a virtue, right?
Yesterday, after the cardio class, I had to stop by the grocery store. Bogey needed cat treats and kitty litter, and I needed some food items. I went to the Food Lion that's close to my apartment, because it was on the way home.
I call this store Ghetto Food Lion. When I say it, my friends know exactly which location I'm talking about. They moved it from it's original location and built a new building, but that did not change a DANG thing. Frequently I go in here and they have like 20 check out lanes, but they'll have 4 cashiers working. What the deuce?
That was the case yesterday. It was around noon. There were several shoppers in the store, and when I went to check out, all the lines were long. And moving slow. O_o
I chose a line and prepared to wait. This would have been a GREAT time to tweet/FB, but of course, I'm on hiatus. So I'm just sort of standing there looking around, noticing my surroundings, and wishing I could tweet my thoughts. :lol:
After a while I notice this line is REALLY taking a long time. WTH is going on? I look up and this older woman is at the front of the line. She has apparently checked out. She has a basket full of bagged groceries, but now she's reaching into the basket and randomly pulling out things and handing them back to the cashier. I thought maybe she overspent, and just needed to take a few things off the bill. But then we (myself and the rest of the folks in line) can see that she's taking out more than a few things. She's pulling out all the produce items and handing them back.
Around me I hear, "this is ridiculous!" and "why is this line so slow?" and "what the heck is this lady doing?" Those were my initial thoughts as well. I've said before, I really don't have as much patience as I used to have. I was thinking, really lady? DID you not know what you could spend when you got here? How do you get a CART LOAD of groceries, get then rung up and bagged, and THEN you realize you can't pay for it all?? My feet were hurting from that cardio class, my legs were hurting, and I was definitely ready to go. Mood: aggravated.
Then, I happened to glance at the woman's face. She didn't look frustrated or angry, she looked sad. So that made me feel sort of bad about being impatient, like maybe she was having some sort of fixed income issue. Which made me think of my dad, because I know he struggles on Medicare and he won't go and get the other benefits he is entitled to.
I don't know why I went from zero to aggravated so quickly. It's not like I had any place to be. Yeah, my feet hurt, but I wasn't dying. It probably wasn't that long a blip in time, if I had actually timed how long we were waiting on her transaction to complete. I felt bad, because when I got up there, it looked like she left the whole cart there, but had pulled out the produce items so they could be put back.
I guess I need to work on some more patience.
I call this store Ghetto Food Lion. When I say it, my friends know exactly which location I'm talking about. They moved it from it's original location and built a new building, but that did not change a DANG thing. Frequently I go in here and they have like 20 check out lanes, but they'll have 4 cashiers working. What the deuce?
That was the case yesterday. It was around noon. There were several shoppers in the store, and when I went to check out, all the lines were long. And moving slow. O_o
I chose a line and prepared to wait. This would have been a GREAT time to tweet/FB, but of course, I'm on hiatus. So I'm just sort of standing there looking around, noticing my surroundings, and wishing I could tweet my thoughts. :lol:
After a while I notice this line is REALLY taking a long time. WTH is going on? I look up and this older woman is at the front of the line. She has apparently checked out. She has a basket full of bagged groceries, but now she's reaching into the basket and randomly pulling out things and handing them back to the cashier. I thought maybe she overspent, and just needed to take a few things off the bill. But then we (myself and the rest of the folks in line) can see that she's taking out more than a few things. She's pulling out all the produce items and handing them back.
Around me I hear, "this is ridiculous!" and "why is this line so slow?" and "what the heck is this lady doing?" Those were my initial thoughts as well. I've said before, I really don't have as much patience as I used to have. I was thinking, really lady? DID you not know what you could spend when you got here? How do you get a CART LOAD of groceries, get then rung up and bagged, and THEN you realize you can't pay for it all?? My feet were hurting from that cardio class, my legs were hurting, and I was definitely ready to go. Mood: aggravated.
Then, I happened to glance at the woman's face. She didn't look frustrated or angry, she looked sad. So that made me feel sort of bad about being impatient, like maybe she was having some sort of fixed income issue. Which made me think of my dad, because I know he struggles on Medicare and he won't go and get the other benefits he is entitled to.
I don't know why I went from zero to aggravated so quickly. It's not like I had any place to be. Yeah, my feet hurt, but I wasn't dying. It probably wasn't that long a blip in time, if I had actually timed how long we were waiting on her transaction to complete. I felt bad, because when I got up there, it looked like she left the whole cart there, but had pulled out the produce items so they could be put back.
I guess I need to work on some more patience.
Funkytown!
So, yesterday I tried an aerobics class called Cardio Funkytown. A friend/former co-worker has been going for months, and she asked me weeks ago to come and try it out. It's $5 per class, and they have classes on Saturday mornings from 10 - 11, Sunday evenings from 5-6, and Wednesday evenings from 7-8. They are held in a gymnasium at a local church. If you decide you want to attend all three classes every week, you can get a discount pass online.
This class was sooooooo fun! The warm up was to The Cupid Shuffle. Apparently this is what is done every week because everyone just jumped in line as soon as the music started. There was a mixture of people; young and old, black and white, mostly women, but there were a few men sprinkled in. I even saw a few women I knew from the skating rink.
This is a high impact class. If you have joint problems, I definitely would not recommend it. It had my knees a little sore on certain squat moves, but I expected that. By the time the third song finished, I was sweating so hard! I wish I had a HRM - I'd be able to tell you how many calories I burned in that hour. It wasn't hard to catch up on the moves, and even the members of the Rhythmless Nation were able to keep up. At the end of the class, he asked who had attended the class for the first time, and he thanked us for coming out. Next Saturday's class is going to be 90 minutes long, and he's going to have a live DJ. Sweet!
So, at the end of this class, I was really psyched. I had a great workout and was really thinking about getting the monthly discount pass. I think I will just make the time to get to the Wednesday night class, and sometimes on Sundays. Of course, that depends on what time the Cowboys play on Sundays. :)
I woke up this morning and my calves are SOOOOOOOOOOOO SORE. I've apparently worked muscles that I haven't worked in a while. Before I even got out of the bed, I could feel the soreness. Last night my quads were hurting before I went to bed. I guess it jumped to my calves. :lol:
Oh well. No pain, no gain! This was definitely the "shake up" my workout routine needed, and it helped me to get 6 workouts in this week.
This class was sooooooo fun! The warm up was to The Cupid Shuffle. Apparently this is what is done every week because everyone just jumped in line as soon as the music started. There was a mixture of people; young and old, black and white, mostly women, but there were a few men sprinkled in. I even saw a few women I knew from the skating rink.
This is a high impact class. If you have joint problems, I definitely would not recommend it. It had my knees a little sore on certain squat moves, but I expected that. By the time the third song finished, I was sweating so hard! I wish I had a HRM - I'd be able to tell you how many calories I burned in that hour. It wasn't hard to catch up on the moves, and even the members of the Rhythmless Nation were able to keep up. At the end of the class, he asked who had attended the class for the first time, and he thanked us for coming out. Next Saturday's class is going to be 90 minutes long, and he's going to have a live DJ. Sweet!
So, at the end of this class, I was really psyched. I had a great workout and was really thinking about getting the monthly discount pass. I think I will just make the time to get to the Wednesday night class, and sometimes on Sundays. Of course, that depends on what time the Cowboys play on Sundays. :)
I woke up this morning and my calves are SOOOOOOOOOOOO SORE. I've apparently worked muscles that I haven't worked in a while. Before I even got out of the bed, I could feel the soreness. Last night my quads were hurting before I went to bed. I guess it jumped to my calves. :lol:
Oh well. No pain, no gain! This was definitely the "shake up" my workout routine needed, and it helped me to get 6 workouts in this week.
Friday, October 1, 2010
And so it begins...
Today is day 1 of my social networking hiatus. It feels very weird not to be on FB or Twitter right now, shooting the breeze with my friends on the innanets. ESPECIALLY with all the stuff going on.
NEW CAR
So, the Maxiniti (the nickname for the 05 Maxima I had) was starting to have some transmission issues. That, coupled with the fact that it had 106,300 miles on it, was expensive in upkeep (the thing needed premium fuel, and we won't discuss the $800 I spent on tires in August 2008)let me to think about downsizing. Long story short, the Maxiniti is gone, and in it's place is this 2010 Nissan Altima S with the convenience package:
As I was leaving the dealership I actually got a bit sad as I drove past the Maxiniti. 4 years...been through a lot with that vehicle. I don't know why it made me a bit sad to leave it behind, considering. But, the past 24 hours have been emotional anyway.
MY DAD
Yesterday my mom and I were discussing some things going on with my dad, health-wise. Shortly after lunch time, she called to say she had to take him into the doctor because he was apparently having some internal bleeding. I immediately became worried; I thought it was related to the cancer.
While I was in the midst of negotiating for the vehicle above, my mom calls to tell me that she had to take my dad to the ER, and that on the way he was coughing up blood; I mean like huge clots of blood.
Long story short, I'm in the middle of the dealership just blubbering. Men are running around trying to find me tissue and bottled water. I left that night with a different Altima so that I wouldn't put any more miles on the Maxiniti, and a wad of hard toilet tissue in my purse. I guess no one in the dealership keeps Kleenex on their desk?
What's crazy is, my dad and his illness is probably the reason why I made it out of the dealership with a decent deal. How ironic.
He is stabilized, but still in the ICU. They want to make sure he's not bleeding anymore, and then he'll be moved to a regular room.
I feel like I'm running out of time with him. We didn't have the greatest relationship when I was a teenager or in my 20s. We're just now really getting to where I want us to be. I'm a little scared. When my aunt's cancer reappeared, I wasn't really told of the severity. I saw her the night before she passed. I don't want to go through that with my dad. It's frustrating to me that he withholds details about his health. I guess he's trying to keep us from worrying...but I would rather know what's going on.
I told my brother to tell him I was gonna shake some sense into him when I see him...lol. That (and the good pain meds) made him chuckle.
DAY 1 COMES TO A CLOSE
So...this has been day 1. Tonight, I'm going to start reading the pH book I referenced in my previous post. Tomorrow morning, I'm trying an aerobics class from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. It's being held at a local church gymnasium. One of my old co-workers invited me a few weeks ago, so I'm all set to try it out. Tomorrow will be my 6th workout of the week. Whoo hoo!
I have a feeling October will be a pretty interesting month.
NEW CAR
So, the Maxiniti (the nickname for the 05 Maxima I had) was starting to have some transmission issues. That, coupled with the fact that it had 106,300 miles on it, was expensive in upkeep (the thing needed premium fuel, and we won't discuss the $800 I spent on tires in August 2008)let me to think about downsizing. Long story short, the Maxiniti is gone, and in it's place is this 2010 Nissan Altima S with the convenience package:
As I was leaving the dealership I actually got a bit sad as I drove past the Maxiniti. 4 years...been through a lot with that vehicle. I don't know why it made me a bit sad to leave it behind, considering. But, the past 24 hours have been emotional anyway.
MY DAD
Yesterday my mom and I were discussing some things going on with my dad, health-wise. Shortly after lunch time, she called to say she had to take him into the doctor because he was apparently having some internal bleeding. I immediately became worried; I thought it was related to the cancer.
While I was in the midst of negotiating for the vehicle above, my mom calls to tell me that she had to take my dad to the ER, and that on the way he was coughing up blood; I mean like huge clots of blood.
Long story short, I'm in the middle of the dealership just blubbering. Men are running around trying to find me tissue and bottled water. I left that night with a different Altima so that I wouldn't put any more miles on the Maxiniti, and a wad of hard toilet tissue in my purse. I guess no one in the dealership keeps Kleenex on their desk?
What's crazy is, my dad and his illness is probably the reason why I made it out of the dealership with a decent deal. How ironic.
He is stabilized, but still in the ICU. They want to make sure he's not bleeding anymore, and then he'll be moved to a regular room.
I feel like I'm running out of time with him. We didn't have the greatest relationship when I was a teenager or in my 20s. We're just now really getting to where I want us to be. I'm a little scared. When my aunt's cancer reappeared, I wasn't really told of the severity. I saw her the night before she passed. I don't want to go through that with my dad. It's frustrating to me that he withholds details about his health. I guess he's trying to keep us from worrying...but I would rather know what's going on.
I told my brother to tell him I was gonna shake some sense into him when I see him...lol. That (and the good pain meds) made him chuckle.
DAY 1 COMES TO A CLOSE
So...this has been day 1. Tonight, I'm going to start reading the pH book I referenced in my previous post. Tomorrow morning, I'm trying an aerobics class from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. It's being held at a local church gymnasium. One of my old co-workers invited me a few weeks ago, so I'm all set to try it out. Tomorrow will be my 6th workout of the week. Whoo hoo!
I have a feeling October will be a pretty interesting month.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Social Networking Hiatus
I decided, that for the month of October, I will take a hiatus from Twitter and Facebook. Most folks are shocked and want to know the "why's" of it all.
I love my FB people and my Twitter people. I truly do. But I find myself distracted from other things I want to do (*cough* blogging *cough*)and reading more, etc. So I am challenging myself to blog every day in October, since I won't be on FB and Twitter. I think I can do it!
I'm frustrated that I can't run, but I can focus that energy on other things. It's time to get going!
READING/STUDYING:
I have two books I want to crack into:
I eat like crap. Well...I have good days, and then when I have a bad day, it's a "crash and burn" really bad day. My DBF is a pescatarian. I have been gradually cutting down on things. I haven't had pork or beef in ages. Chicken is going to be a challenge, though. I won't even lie.
I was talking to my friend Kenya about some of the things that plague me: allergies, tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, acne...and we started discussing pH. She recommended this book to me and I purchased it that day. I will delve into it in the month of October and find out what I need to know about getting my inner flora in order.
Since I chopped my hair off, I have been thinking about starting locs. I'm so used to doing my own hair, I don't want to find myself dependent on a stylist for every little thing again. I want to know as much about it as I can, and see if I can maintain them on my own.
I've been wearing my hair natural since 2003. It's such a different world now! Back then, we didn't have a lot of sources for info, other than MotownGirl's website....and occasionally some info from Naturally Curly. Now, it seems like everybody and their momma has a blog. I love that there's more information out here. I've pretty much tried everything except locs. I've cut it short 3 times, I've dyed it, flat ironed it, and everything else. Now it's time to take the journey in a new direction.
My last hair cut was in August. As much as I'm wanting to cut it again, I am going to let it grow. I'll figure out how much hair I need to start the locs, and go from there!
So, feel free to yell at me if I miss any blog posts in October. I think I'll start with the pH book first. I hope to blog about some of the things I'm learning, as well as what's going on with life in general.
I love my FB people and my Twitter people. I truly do. But I find myself distracted from other things I want to do (*cough* blogging *cough*)and reading more, etc. So I am challenging myself to blog every day in October, since I won't be on FB and Twitter. I think I can do it!
I'm frustrated that I can't run, but I can focus that energy on other things. It's time to get going!
READING/STUDYING:
I have two books I want to crack into:
I eat like crap. Well...I have good days, and then when I have a bad day, it's a "crash and burn" really bad day. My DBF is a pescatarian. I have been gradually cutting down on things. I haven't had pork or beef in ages. Chicken is going to be a challenge, though. I won't even lie.
I was talking to my friend Kenya about some of the things that plague me: allergies, tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, acne...and we started discussing pH. She recommended this book to me and I purchased it that day. I will delve into it in the month of October and find out what I need to know about getting my inner flora in order.
Since I chopped my hair off, I have been thinking about starting locs. I'm so used to doing my own hair, I don't want to find myself dependent on a stylist for every little thing again. I want to know as much about it as I can, and see if I can maintain them on my own.
I've been wearing my hair natural since 2003. It's such a different world now! Back then, we didn't have a lot of sources for info, other than MotownGirl's website....and occasionally some info from Naturally Curly. Now, it seems like everybody and their momma has a blog. I love that there's more information out here. I've pretty much tried everything except locs. I've cut it short 3 times, I've dyed it, flat ironed it, and everything else. Now it's time to take the journey in a new direction.
My last hair cut was in August. As much as I'm wanting to cut it again, I am going to let it grow. I'll figure out how much hair I need to start the locs, and go from there!
So, feel free to yell at me if I miss any blog posts in October. I think I'll start with the pH book first. I hope to blog about some of the things I'm learning, as well as what's going on with life in general.
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