It's Monday! And I didn't have a bad day! Even though I slept in! And I had a shit ton to do! And I made it to the gym! And ran all of my errands! And I'm making dinner for Dylan and me! It's Monday and everything is OK! I can't take these things for granted because just a couple of months ago, this was unheard of. Or at least rate. But I am eternally grateful for my psychiatrist and his tip that I should try taking Topomax. It has saved my life on Mondays, even though it may not sound like much.
On this particular Monday, I am making stuffed peppers for dinner. I had an idea in my mind of what stuffed peppers were, or should be, and I kind of just went with it from there. I knew I had rice, so I bought peppers and beef and an onion for flavor. At home, I added some fresh garlic and garlic powder, salt and pepper, seasoned diced tomatoes and even some spinach. And man, do my stuffed peppers look way better than the ones on the internet. I think I might post my recipe on the google share page!
So I don't know if it's the Topomax or what, but I am having a very hard time waking up at or before 6 in the morning lately. In fact, I have had a hard time getting out of bed anytime before 7! I am not sure what the reason quite is, but I'm not terribly concerned. My goal is going to be to take a pre-7 am train at least 2 times per week, whether it be the 6:12 or the 6:45. And hopefully, from there, I can build back up again. We'll see!
I'm also not 100% convinced that I should be continuing with this gluten-free business for as long as I was going to (she says as she drinks a Dos Equis Amber). I think I have to change something drastic if I want to lose the 10 or 15 pounds that I wanted to by my birthday, but I don't think going gluten free is the way to do it. Though, it does make me feel good, and it has been good for maintaining my weight over the course of 3 weeks and that's not something to look down upon, when those 3 weeks have included decadent Italian dinners, binge drinking, nights full of cheese and lots and lots of sweets!
On my list of things to do today, and something I didn't get to, was to call my insurance company and find out what my roadside assistance happens to be, since I don't know much about it. I received an offer in the mail to become a AAA member for just $52 a year and I have to be honest, it sounds like a pretty good deal. I'd consider doing it, but I just don't want to double up since I specifically remember that I get roadside assistance with Progressive. I'll find out tomorrow, hopefully!
I also have to drag my butt down to the doctor's office tomorrow to drop off a bloodwork prescription from my psychiastrist for my primary care doctor who has got to write the master prescription. It's that time of year again! I have been a healthy beast over the past year, but one thing I was specifically told to do that I did NOT do was take Vitamin D supplements. That might be on my "next year's" list of things to do. Not 2014, per se, but my "before 30" bucket list. BEFORE 30. Damn, I am getting old.
I talked to Jo and Nancy about doing a brunch at Mad Mex for my birthday again this year, making it kind of like a tradition, but I was thinking that it might be good to have kind of a low key birthday this year. It seems like each year keeps outdoing the last and I don't want one of these birthdays to end up a colossal disappointment. So maybe this year, I can have a little brunch with my coworkers, a night out with Bob and Justin in NYC, and maybe a night out in Ardmore with Callan and Sean. Hopefully, we can catch up with Anya and Jeff in NYC too, since they seem to be my birthday buds lately! Since I have 2 whole months to figure this birthday business out, I think I'll be safe. For now, I have to plan this night out to see Stephen Lynch w/ Jo and the gang, the Carpe Diem party on Friday and the next Philadelphia FTI event!
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Monday, February 18, 2013
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Birthday Ramblins Part Trois
Note: This was preceded in my 750words.com entry with a yelp review for Mad Mex...just to provide a bit of context for the start of my first sentence. Here we go.
Now that THAT'S out of the way I can gush about my awesome boyfriend who surprised me not once, not twice, not even three, but FOUR TIMES on my birthday this year. With big surprises too! The first was when we went to the symphony on Sunday, which I knew about, but the surprise was instead of buying the $24 second balcony tickets I had sent him the link to...he bought third row seats! Not only had I never been to a professional classical music performance since I'd moved to Philly (I think I'd been to the opera when I lived in London), but I'd never been this close to pretty much anything before except maybe community theater! I was stunned and in awe. The cellist that played was extremely talented, and the sound of the group as a whole was phenomenal.
The second surprise came on my actual birthday, yesterday. Dylan had come over Monday night. I cooked us a big healthy dinner, and we went out for a nice evening walk. We came back with ice cream and watched TV for a while, ending up on youtube at 1AM, like the youthful misfits we really are inside. We finally fell asleep, and I got to sleep in because I had yesterday off from work. I got up a little after 9 to begin checking email, and we laid in bed for a while talking about what to eat for breakfast. I decided I really had a craving for Chinese food, so we found a good place and made a plan to go at noon. I worked for a bit while Dylan watched TV and then we headed to lunch. It was a great little place, which reminds me, I have to review it!
HUNAN
Casellula
I'll remember now!
Anyhow, after lunch, we came back to my place to drop off our leftovers before heading to Longwood Gardens, the plan we had made a month prior when I'd gotten the day off from work. But Dylan had other plans. In the birthday card he gave me, it said "Get on your comfy shoes. We're going to NY!" He basically whisked me away in the middle of a beautiful sunny Tuesday on the greyhound bus he'd gotten tickets for to Manhattan! It was a huge surprise! He wouldn't tell me where we were going, or what we were doing though. A slight diversion of the bus getting caught in traffic was a brief hiccup to the day, but we ended up skidding into the afore-mentioned Casellula at about 6:30 and who was there, but Anya and Jeff! They were Dylan's first surprise. The second surprise came during our whirlwind dinner of assorted cheeses, accompaniments, meats, breads, and mac n' cheese, and the giant glass of wine I somehow downed in 3 minutes after sipping slowly on it for 15. The second birthday card he gave me had a monkey dressed as a fairy on it, and said since I had been so good this year, the good witch Galinda had asked him to give me what was inside: two tickets to Wicked! The show I had told him was my favorite, that he said he didn't like, that I got mad at him for disliking, that he said he'd never see with me! We'd had this conversation MONTHS ago, and not only had he remembered that I loved it, but he arranged to surprise me on my birthday, LAST NIGHT, with tickets to see it! We had to leave Anya and Jeff quickly, and barely got to eat our dinner, but we made it to the show with a few minutes to spare, and it was INCREDIBLE. I cried during Defying Gravity. We gave them a standing ovation at the end. Such an amazing time.
And I got to live the whole birthday, the whole birthday season this year, with an amazing man by my side who helped make it all happen, and orchestrated some of the best parts of it all. To say I feel lucky is an understatement. I am blessed to have him. And now it's time more than ever to brainstorm how I can make his birthday just as great. So far, I have the DVDs for the first two seasons of Modern Family, the peanut and pretzel M&Ms combination, and a plan to take him to Chima or Fogo de Chau on his birthday, which we both have off! Let's see what other excitement I can come up with!
Now that THAT'S out of the way I can gush about my awesome boyfriend who surprised me not once, not twice, not even three, but FOUR TIMES on my birthday this year. With big surprises too! The first was when we went to the symphony on Sunday, which I knew about, but the surprise was instead of buying the $24 second balcony tickets I had sent him the link to...he bought third row seats! Not only had I never been to a professional classical music performance since I'd moved to Philly (I think I'd been to the opera when I lived in London), but I'd never been this close to pretty much anything before except maybe community theater! I was stunned and in awe. The cellist that played was extremely talented, and the sound of the group as a whole was phenomenal.
The second surprise came on my actual birthday, yesterday. Dylan had come over Monday night. I cooked us a big healthy dinner, and we went out for a nice evening walk. We came back with ice cream and watched TV for a while, ending up on youtube at 1AM, like the youthful misfits we really are inside. We finally fell asleep, and I got to sleep in because I had yesterday off from work. I got up a little after 9 to begin checking email, and we laid in bed for a while talking about what to eat for breakfast. I decided I really had a craving for Chinese food, so we found a good place and made a plan to go at noon. I worked for a bit while Dylan watched TV and then we headed to lunch. It was a great little place, which reminds me, I have to review it!
HUNAN
Casellula
I'll remember now!
Anyhow, after lunch, we came back to my place to drop off our leftovers before heading to Longwood Gardens, the plan we had made a month prior when I'd gotten the day off from work. But Dylan had other plans. In the birthday card he gave me, it said "Get on your comfy shoes. We're going to NY!" He basically whisked me away in the middle of a beautiful sunny Tuesday on the greyhound bus he'd gotten tickets for to Manhattan! It was a huge surprise! He wouldn't tell me where we were going, or what we were doing though. A slight diversion of the bus getting caught in traffic was a brief hiccup to the day, but we ended up skidding into the afore-mentioned Casellula at about 6:30 and who was there, but Anya and Jeff! They were Dylan's first surprise. The second surprise came during our whirlwind dinner of assorted cheeses, accompaniments, meats, breads, and mac n' cheese, and the giant glass of wine I somehow downed in 3 minutes after sipping slowly on it for 15. The second birthday card he gave me had a monkey dressed as a fairy on it, and said since I had been so good this year, the good witch Galinda had asked him to give me what was inside: two tickets to Wicked! The show I had told him was my favorite, that he said he didn't like, that I got mad at him for disliking, that he said he'd never see with me! We'd had this conversation MONTHS ago, and not only had he remembered that I loved it, but he arranged to surprise me on my birthday, LAST NIGHT, with tickets to see it! We had to leave Anya and Jeff quickly, and barely got to eat our dinner, but we made it to the show with a few minutes to spare, and it was INCREDIBLE. I cried during Defying Gravity. We gave them a standing ovation at the end. Such an amazing time.
And I got to live the whole birthday, the whole birthday season this year, with an amazing man by my side who helped make it all happen, and orchestrated some of the best parts of it all. To say I feel lucky is an understatement. I am blessed to have him. And now it's time more than ever to brainstorm how I can make his birthday just as great. So far, I have the DVDs for the first two seasons of Modern Family, the peanut and pretzel M&Ms combination, and a plan to take him to Chima or Fogo de Chau on his birthday, which we both have off! Let's see what other excitement I can come up with!
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Birthday Ramblins Part Deux
I'm on a streak! And it's Saturday! And I'm writing! And it's 7:33 in the morning, and I can't sleep anymore, because I'm excited for this day! And Dylan's sleeping next to me, and I think my typing, no matter how quiet I try to make it, is always too loud! People at work mock me by doing this crazy typing gesture- hands coming down on the keyboard from 2 feet in the air, very exaggerated and cartoon-esque. I love it, but it's also kind of embarrassing.
I had a dream last night that I met Clare Danes and we hung out and talked a bunch, she told me she's from Philly and that she actually LIVES here, and we had so much in common, and she was beautiful and cool, and she was trying to hint that she was dating my boss Rob. Weird twist, but I'll take it.
We had a really fun night last night at Distrito. Jess and David arrived on time, the Cubans were 25 and 45 minutes late (Marie and Janire/Liza, respectively). I drank tasty margaritas, and sampled some of Liza's tequila flight, Dylan got Coronas, Jess got some kind of fancy drink with a cherry in it- with a cherry stem she TIED IN HER MOUTH. I've "done that" before...but it was all a lie! I'd slip it out of my mouth and tie it under the table. I'm such a party trick cheater! I shouldn't be allowed to play party tricks. No more fake tricks for me. ANYHOW, last night was a lot of fun. I actually got PRESENTS from my friends (NEW DEVELOPMENT IN MY GROWN UP LIFE), and I got a candle in my Frios (flan, dulce de leche, coconut cake & mango - SO AMAZING).
The food was incredible. We ordered ceviche and chips w/ guacamole to start, and then Dylan ordered us a bunch of food: out of this world kobe beef tacos with the most delicate shoestring potatoes and truffle oil, a chicken tortilla soup, some kind of flatbread pizza with shortribs and radish on it, and this amazing fried plantain with cheese on it. Nothing I ate was short of awesome. I'm not holding out such high hopes for the Mexican today, but we certainly will have a smaller bill this afternoon. At least we better! And the $10 margaritas are going to be 22 oz. this time, so maybe I will only need 2 to get me feeling feisty.
I don't know what I'm going to do for the next hour and a half. I'm also wondering if I'm going to get hungry, and maybe I should eat a little something, something. Maybe a banana. I don't want to eat a true meal, though it would be tempting to cook up some onion and spinach omelets with that yummy cheese I have.
I can't believe so many people are meeting us for brunch today. I know not everyone's coming because it's my birthday, but this is all part of my birthday season and that makes it exciting. I hope we get to sit next to Alex and Michael, because they're really my bestestes of the group. A seat next to Larry Latore might be nothing to sneer at as well.
Something that bothered me at work the other day was in our status meeting, I brought up wanting to clear out the vendor list, which everyone was on board for, but I mentioned wanting to reach out to the contact whose address we had for the email order notifications. Nancy was like, "NO WAY," and proceeded to go into why doing that was opening a can of worms and not our responsibility. I think all aspects of site maintenance are our responsibility, and making sure that we have the right contact information for our vendors is important! I couldn't believe she was fighting me so much on this issue, and I even got a "we can talk about it later." Luckily, we ended up out for a drink that night, so I think all was saved.
Dylan's snoring. It's now 7:50 (not going to break my record typing time today!) I don't know if I want to spoon him, or get up and go to the kitchen to weigh myself and decide if I want breakfast. Is it weird that I base whether or not I eat on my weight on that faulty ass scale? I maybe need to take my scale out of the damn kitchen. I just want to be rocking for my weigh in next week!
Give me strength!
I had a dream last night that I met Clare Danes and we hung out and talked a bunch, she told me she's from Philly and that she actually LIVES here, and we had so much in common, and she was beautiful and cool, and she was trying to hint that she was dating my boss Rob. Weird twist, but I'll take it.
We had a really fun night last night at Distrito. Jess and David arrived on time, the Cubans were 25 and 45 minutes late (Marie and Janire/Liza, respectively). I drank tasty margaritas, and sampled some of Liza's tequila flight, Dylan got Coronas, Jess got some kind of fancy drink with a cherry in it- with a cherry stem she TIED IN HER MOUTH. I've "done that" before...but it was all a lie! I'd slip it out of my mouth and tie it under the table. I'm such a party trick cheater! I shouldn't be allowed to play party tricks. No more fake tricks for me. ANYHOW, last night was a lot of fun. I actually got PRESENTS from my friends (NEW DEVELOPMENT IN MY GROWN UP LIFE), and I got a candle in my Frios (flan, dulce de leche, coconut cake & mango - SO AMAZING).
The food was incredible. We ordered ceviche and chips w/ guacamole to start, and then Dylan ordered us a bunch of food: out of this world kobe beef tacos with the most delicate shoestring potatoes and truffle oil, a chicken tortilla soup, some kind of flatbread pizza with shortribs and radish on it, and this amazing fried plantain with cheese on it. Nothing I ate was short of awesome. I'm not holding out such high hopes for the Mexican today, but we certainly will have a smaller bill this afternoon. At least we better! And the $10 margaritas are going to be 22 oz. this time, so maybe I will only need 2 to get me feeling feisty.
I don't know what I'm going to do for the next hour and a half. I'm also wondering if I'm going to get hungry, and maybe I should eat a little something, something. Maybe a banana. I don't want to eat a true meal, though it would be tempting to cook up some onion and spinach omelets with that yummy cheese I have.
I can't believe so many people are meeting us for brunch today. I know not everyone's coming because it's my birthday, but this is all part of my birthday season and that makes it exciting. I hope we get to sit next to Alex and Michael, because they're really my bestestes of the group. A seat next to Larry Latore might be nothing to sneer at as well.
Something that bothered me at work the other day was in our status meeting, I brought up wanting to clear out the vendor list, which everyone was on board for, but I mentioned wanting to reach out to the contact whose address we had for the email order notifications. Nancy was like, "NO WAY," and proceeded to go into why doing that was opening a can of worms and not our responsibility. I think all aspects of site maintenance are our responsibility, and making sure that we have the right contact information for our vendors is important! I couldn't believe she was fighting me so much on this issue, and I even got a "we can talk about it later." Luckily, we ended up out for a drink that night, so I think all was saved.
Dylan's snoring. It's now 7:50 (not going to break my record typing time today!) I don't know if I want to spoon him, or get up and go to the kitchen to weigh myself and decide if I want breakfast. Is it weird that I base whether or not I eat on my weight on that faulty ass scale? I maybe need to take my scale out of the damn kitchen. I just want to be rocking for my weigh in next week!
Give me strength!
Friday, April 13, 2012
Birthday Ramblins
The below is just me being excited about life the past couple days, and for the next few days. It's not any sort of retrospective on birthdays in general. I'll try to work on that some time this weekend :)
I'm in a pretty great mood today. It's the start of birthday-pa-looza tonight! Dylan texted me before to ask if I was excited. I wasn't on Wednesday for some reason, but right now? Hell YEAH, I am! I'm also super excited for lunch, though, I don't know what it will be yet. Something with lots of veggies, that's for sure. I want to be hungry and raring to go at Distrito tonight. I wrote on here on Wednesday about how I was kind of out of sorts. Dylan came over, and he was kind of out of it, too. We sat, chatting for a while, then headed to dinner. Being with him makes me feel like everything in the world- all the problems, issues, big and small, are all going to work out. He's my panacea. And when being with him can't make me feel better, I know it's something I've got to work on because that means it's a big deal. Wednesday's funk wasn't such a big deal, and the making out and such definitely helped. Afterwards, we cuddled for a while, then Dylan offered to tuck me in to bed for the night. It was so sweet. I woke up early, ready and raring to go on Thursday and felt awesome.
I had a super productive morning at work yesterday. I got more done before 9AM than I did for much of the rest of the day. And that's OK sometimes! Now, today, we're already working on stuff for Monday. Yesterday, I also went for a great run. I'm up to 5.3 miles per hour for 30 minutes. I'm hoping to get up to 6.0 miles per hour. If all goes as planned, that will be in 7 weeks! I also got a new circuit from my trainer on Tuesday which I just tried out today on my own for the first time. It is really tough, especially on my legs and abs, though those bosu ball alternating arm pushups are KILLER. It feels a lot shorter than my circuit last month. I think I'm going to try to get this new circuit in at least two times a week, and then do last month's circuit once a week. I may even add in the first month's circuit once in a while, on weekends, like I have been. The first month's circuit is a plank, 60 squats, 60 situps, 30 pushups and 100 jumping jacks. It's so funny to think back on the fact that that circuit was once challenging. Now, it seems like cake.
Back to yesterday! I stayed at work until about 5:15, and then went to get a drink with Nancy and guess who was there! Brian Kempf! I was so excited to see him, and it was great to talk to him, if even for just the little time I was there. I ran to the train at 6, so I could make it home to clean. I did do some cleaning, but also made an awesome salad while I was on the phone with my mom, and worked on the blender book for Dylan. My salad was sauteed chicken sausage, ham and onions over a bed of fresh spinach and fresh carrots. It had a little hummus dressing on top, but I felt like I didn't even need the extras - nuts, cheese, olives. It was just perfect the way it was.
I think I'm making Dylan dinner on Monday night after my art class. I have onions, peppers, avocado...ooh! Maybe I'll make the cheeritos! We got the idea to make cheeseburger burritos and call them cheeritos. I think if I bought some wraps and some salsa...I have the ground beef, cheese, guacamole, avocado. Maybe I'll buy some sliced cheese as well. Ooh, maybe it would be good with some pickles! Or ketchup and mustard! Now we're thinking outside the box. I wonder what I could make to go with it. Maybe a salad. Always a salad. It would be really good with french fries, but I have a weigh in on Thursday to think about! Either way, I'll have to remember to take the ground beef out of the freezer in the next day or so. I think I have breadcrumbs, and I know have an egg to make the burger patties. Maybe I should get some kind of spice as well...The exciting thing is that after I make this dinner on Monday night, it becomes my actual birthday! And I have the whole day off. I'm going to sleep until 9, watch movies all morning, shower and get ready, have lunch, and then go to Longwood Gardens for the day!
What a rambley lovey pile of words! Yay life!
I'm in a pretty great mood today. It's the start of birthday-pa-looza tonight! Dylan texted me before to ask if I was excited. I wasn't on Wednesday for some reason, but right now? Hell YEAH, I am! I'm also super excited for lunch, though, I don't know what it will be yet. Something with lots of veggies, that's for sure. I want to be hungry and raring to go at Distrito tonight. I wrote on here on Wednesday about how I was kind of out of sorts. Dylan came over, and he was kind of out of it, too. We sat, chatting for a while, then headed to dinner. Being with him makes me feel like everything in the world- all the problems, issues, big and small, are all going to work out. He's my panacea. And when being with him can't make me feel better, I know it's something I've got to work on because that means it's a big deal. Wednesday's funk wasn't such a big deal, and the making out and such definitely helped. Afterwards, we cuddled for a while, then Dylan offered to tuck me in to bed for the night. It was so sweet. I woke up early, ready and raring to go on Thursday and felt awesome.
I had a super productive morning at work yesterday. I got more done before 9AM than I did for much of the rest of the day. And that's OK sometimes! Now, today, we're already working on stuff for Monday. Yesterday, I also went for a great run. I'm up to 5.3 miles per hour for 30 minutes. I'm hoping to get up to 6.0 miles per hour. If all goes as planned, that will be in 7 weeks! I also got a new circuit from my trainer on Tuesday which I just tried out today on my own for the first time. It is really tough, especially on my legs and abs, though those bosu ball alternating arm pushups are KILLER. It feels a lot shorter than my circuit last month. I think I'm going to try to get this new circuit in at least two times a week, and then do last month's circuit once a week. I may even add in the first month's circuit once in a while, on weekends, like I have been. The first month's circuit is a plank, 60 squats, 60 situps, 30 pushups and 100 jumping jacks. It's so funny to think back on the fact that that circuit was once challenging. Now, it seems like cake.
Back to yesterday! I stayed at work until about 5:15, and then went to get a drink with Nancy and guess who was there! Brian Kempf! I was so excited to see him, and it was great to talk to him, if even for just the little time I was there. I ran to the train at 6, so I could make it home to clean. I did do some cleaning, but also made an awesome salad while I was on the phone with my mom, and worked on the blender book for Dylan. My salad was sauteed chicken sausage, ham and onions over a bed of fresh spinach and fresh carrots. It had a little hummus dressing on top, but I felt like I didn't even need the extras - nuts, cheese, olives. It was just perfect the way it was.
I think I'm making Dylan dinner on Monday night after my art class. I have onions, peppers, avocado...ooh! Maybe I'll make the cheeritos! We got the idea to make cheeseburger burritos and call them cheeritos. I think if I bought some wraps and some salsa...I have the ground beef, cheese, guacamole, avocado. Maybe I'll buy some sliced cheese as well. Ooh, maybe it would be good with some pickles! Or ketchup and mustard! Now we're thinking outside the box. I wonder what I could make to go with it. Maybe a salad. Always a salad. It would be really good with french fries, but I have a weigh in on Thursday to think about! Either way, I'll have to remember to take the ground beef out of the freezer in the next day or so. I think I have breadcrumbs, and I know have an egg to make the burger patties. Maybe I should get some kind of spice as well...The exciting thing is that after I make this dinner on Monday night, it becomes my actual birthday! And I have the whole day off. I'm going to sleep until 9, watch movies all morning, shower and get ready, have lunch, and then go to Longwood Gardens for the day!
What a rambley lovey pile of words! Yay life!
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