Christmas Cards! :-)

Thanksgiving is in a few weeks and I find myself smiling. Tis the season. Putting together Christmas cards this year (first). E-mail me your address so I can send you one. Love all you girls. I hope you are doing well.

PS-I am adding new rule that we have to post a new pic of our lives every time we add a post. I want to see your smiling faces wherever they are.

Yay for me!!!

Today, I was totally excited because I ran 9.3 miles. Sure it was a bit slow (10:30 min miles), BUT who cares. That is now the furthest I've even run.

So then I get home, and I check the mail, and I get the results from the THEA (TX Higher Education Assessment) exam that I took a week or so ago, and I passed (with very good grades too)!!!

So for those of you who don't know, I'm going to start a Teacher Certification program this next semester through our local community college, and that was one of the requirements to get into the program.

Lalala... just wanted to share with you all. I am very excited, and we are going out tonight for Mexican food to celebrate (Susan - at Dos Charros, the place we took you too).

Goals for the rest of 2008!

Just a thought, as I was actually trying to catch up on posting here, about our goals we set for ourselves. I never like goal-setting for the New Year, and actually struggle with setting goals at all. I am a glass-is-half-empty kind of person, and cannot set lofty goals for myself as I get discouraged so very easily. But over these last few years, I had set some small goals for myself, and am finally seeing some of them come to fruitation (which is totally cool).

1st goal for me was discipline in daily workouts. Getting to the gym 5x/week with a goal of at least 1 hour of cardio. Now, I know that this is a much easier goal being single or with no kids, and a much tougher one once there is a baby there too. But I have done that, and have enjoyed that consistency (with slack days every so often).

2nd goal was just trying to eat healthier... more veggies/salad... more home cooked (not from a box) meals... more wholegrain... less additives, etc... blah blah blah, the list goes on. Done pretty well with that. Not always, but overall have a good well-balanced diet.

3rd goal more recently has been to push myself physically (first with this was running, which I still don't like doing). Before my surgery, I was up to 8 miles, and though I am not back up to that yet, it's okay... now I know I can do it, and am encouraged. I am also inspired to begin swimming again (yay Phelps), and want to add that into my workouts, but will only do that as time allows, as I don't want it to take the place of anything I am currently doing, so we'll see how that goes. But I did a half mile the other day, and really enjoyed it.

4th goal, and one I just started a month ago, was to go for a while counting calories. And that has been fun to do, and I can already see a change in my eating habits, and even a bit of weight loss too, from it.

So overall, I guess my goals are all fitness related, but that is not a bad thing. I have been excited recently by how well I am doing physically, and I can fit in a size 4 jeans (from Old Navy, who knows, they may run big for all I know)... and I don't even remember when I EVER fit in a size 4, which is totally exciting for me. :-)

Anyways, sorry for blabbing on. I am procrastinating going to the gym (haha, isn't that funny considering my post). So I suppose I should go now. Let me know your own personal goals and encouragements recently!

Sex in the Suburbs: Creature comforts

Here's a short one! What do you do to feel better? Maybe you've had a rough day, week, month...... or maybe just because. What do you do to make yourself happy?

Party thread

Here we can talk about things like we're at a party together. First topic: Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion.

Sex in the Suburbs: A Blast from the Past

Elizabeth stood in thought as she gazed longingly at the sweet inviting confections. They had the same deliciously welcoming grin as Bear who was at that moment reaching for her hair with his slobber-drenched fingers. "Gosh, is it really worth the extra fifteen minutes on the stair-master?" she finally sighed. "You know, I used to be able to eat a whole candy bar every day and it didn't affect me." 

Meadow was not so concerned. This already being her second breakfast, her eating habits were more closely mimicking a hobbits'. "A chocolate croissant, an apple tart and a chocolate milk, please." How liberating it must be to not have a period and eat whatever you want! Meadow made her sick!

Elizabeth finally caved to the peer pressure and ordered a crumble cake and her own hot chocolate before joining her friend in a luxurious velvet cushioned oversized chair. She noticed the two empty seats that also faced the antique-looking table. "So do you think they'll be joining us?"

"Well, one of them did just have a baby and the other one will probably join us once she sees just how much fun we're having," winked Meadow. 

Elizabeth emitted a single giddy giggle, "Too much fun!"

The smooth jazz saxophone piped over the speakers changed its tune to resemble the artist formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince now once again known as Prince. Meadow's eyes flickered, "Do you realize that next year is the 10 year anniversary of our graduation from high school?"

Elizabeth blinked while she translated that statement to regular people English. "Our 10 year high school reunion?!?"

"Yeah, to think ten years ago boy bands and bouncing blondes ruled the radio waves with their candy pop and our economy was also doing so well...You know, at the end of the other Bush's term there was also a recession and all the music was grunge. Here and now we have another recession but our music has no defining or unifying sound. I mean, when you think about the political songs that protested the Vietnam War it was all folk music - hippie stuff. But now, what does pop music of today sound like? Take your pick. It's as if we are all suffering on our own, alone......" Feeling that she was losing her audience, Meadow changed the subject, "We should celebrate.*" 

Elizabeth was lost in a different thought. "Wow! Ten years. I'm kind of torn. I've kept in touch with those I really cared about. So part of me wants to go and show off but I bet all those people I hated are still rich and snobby."

"We've changed......haven't we?"

That's when they thought: How much have we really changed? If we met our high school selves, what would they think of us? What would we think of them? What advice would we give ourselves, if any? Is this how we thought our lives would be?

So here's the challenge, write about your character remenesing of the olden days, thinking about how life has changed, and possibly exploring feelings about returning to the high school.

*This story has an interactive feature! Since we can't actually party together, we can pretend we are. Watch Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion, drink chocolate milk, and look through your old high school year book and jam out to some music from the 90s. Check out the party thread to discuss the movie.

Sex in the Suburbs: A Tasty Treat

Another charming aspect to the show was that they had a signature drink. We, too should have a special drink! What's your favorite drink(s)?