Why do I watch Oprah?

So, my darling husband gets up at 3:30 for work. Yes, 3:30 AM. Love that man.
He must love us because why else would he get up at 3:30 in the morning to drive to DC for work everyday. But I digress....

So, I check the tv for a snow closing update. Nothing. But it's 3:30 in the morning. I go back to sleep and wake up at 6 to find out we have a 2 hour delay. YIPPEE!! I'm so freakin excited. I go turn off the kiddos alarm clocks, get back in bed, snuggle down under the comforter....and..... can't sleep. I'm too awake and excited. Great-- perfect quiet time to catch up on my Tivo. I turn on Oprah because Tony can't stand it and rolls his eyes when he is around and I'm watching it.

It's about teenagers with weight problems. Oh my goodness. I was bawling. Not just a few little tears. I was really crying. I feel so badly for these children. And the one girl says that not just kids pick on her, but her teachers. And it got me to thinking. How many people, including myself, make comments about fat kids, or fat adults. I should know from having a sister that was really overweight (until she had lapband surgery) that not every fat person is fat because of just eating too much. There is a pain there from goodness knows what....these kids shared some really painful, personal things, and it just broke my heart. Finally, with 15 minutes left in the show, I had to turn it off.

So, to those random strangers that are really overweight that I have made comments about or thought bad things about, I am really, really sorry. :-(

Shopping

I slept til 10 am today. Can you believe that??? I can't. Late sleeping for me is usually like 8 am. Crazy. Granted, I didn't go to bed until 2 am, but still. I always wake up early.

Then, I went shopping with Keene...had a great time. Warm weather, and we were talking and catching up like you just can't do at work. I was determined to find something cute for myself. That was my entire reason for going- to be purely selfish and buy something (or things) for myself. What did I come home with?

1. A Hanna Andersson coat for abbie.
2. 2 Tommy Bahama shirts for Tony.
3. A coat for Tony's niece
4. a t-shirt for me.

That's it. A tshirt.
I tried on jeans at True Religion because I have a serious jeans fetish. I loved them, and they were a great price. (Although my husband would seriously disagree!) But anyone that knows me knows that I often get buyers remorse after an expensive purchase. I went up to pay for them and the lady says "All sales are final". I'm taking that to mean no returns, exchanges only. But nope. Not even exchanges. I had tried them on, but still....you just never know! I just found that to be so unfriendly and such poor customer care that I told her I didn't want them. Now I'm sad cuz I really wanted those jeans. But not enough to sacrifice my beliefs about customer service! :-)

Anyway..... just wasnt my shopping day. Maybe I'll drag Tony to Potomac Mills sometime soon!

Not me....

Ok, so I'm on a roll today. I love this idea. I read it on someone else's blog. "Not me" Fridays.

I did not put on two different color boots yesterday as I was leaving for work. One black and one brown. If I did, I would have noticed it just as I was getting in the car, already late for work.

I did not tell a white lie and tell someone I couldn't make an appt because my daughter was sick when she wasn't. That would just be bad karma.

I did not get stared at at the gym, on the treadmill, because someone realized I was singing out loud to my Ipod. That would be so embarassing. Even if it was a realllllllllllly good song. Especially since I can't carry a tune in a bucket.

I did not ignore school work to watch 3 episodes back to back of The Real Housewives of Orange County. Such trashy tv.

I did not tell my son to practice his saxaphone for 2 hours straight since he forgot all week to practice. He is supposed to play for 120 minutes a week, and of course, I only encourage him to play for 20 minutes 6 days a week like he is supposed to.

Nope, not me.

Best.Invention.Ever.

Seriously. Check out their site. http://www.poopourri.net/
And go buy this stuff.
If you have a stinky man in your house, and I know that you do, this stuff is AMAZING. You know what I'm talking about. If you have to tell your husband to go use the upstairs bathroom just in case someone comes over, you need this. If you can't go in your own bathroom for at least an hour afterwards, you need this. It will change your life. For real.

Their slogan? "Spray the bowl before you go, and no one else will ever know".

This stuff has changed my life. And Tony's.
I'm just sayin.....go buy it. Don't even think twice about the cost. It's worth it's weight in gold.

I'm a big mush

I'm such a big mush! I have been wanting to write about the Inauguration, the speeches, the follow ups on tv....just haven't found the words! (or the time!)

I guess I never really realized I was patriotic. But looking at the mall that day got to me more than the speeches themselves. To see so many people, black,white, asian, hispanic, young, old.... all together....all so excited.... was just too much for me. I was teary all day long. And then I heard that there were NO arrests that day, which I thought was just pretty amazing.

The inaugural address just gave me chills. Some of my favorite parts:
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.....We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

and lastly:
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

I guess more than anything I'm just so inspired by this new-found feeling of "we are all in this together". I love that people are feeling inspired to do things for others, to think of service, and the idea of pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.

And on a much lighter note, I love the white-ish dress Michelle wore to the balls. And listening to Beyonce sing "At Last" (which is the song I originally wanted Tony and I to dance to) made me cry. It's one of my all time favorite love songs.

Anyway....life is good. Exams are over for Mason, report cards are almost done for me, I have a date with my husband tonight, I lost 3.6 lbs this week, and it was nice, and warm, and sunny today. Off to the gym before I go eat something disgustingly fattening tonight.....

Running, or trying to....

So, last year I decided to run the Race for the Cure. I made it just past mile one, and had to stop. Ran on and off for the rest of the race. I'd say I ended up running about half the time. Not what I planned on. BUT, I know what my mistake was. One, I had never run on hills- ever. My neighborhood is pretty flat, and the one big hill around, i always walked it or avoided it completely. So the up and down of the asphalt really hurt me. Secondly, I always run with music. Always. I was running with someone else that day, which I had never done before, and I thought it would rude to have my Ipod on. Little did I know, he was bringing his, and turned it on at the very beginning!

So, this year, I'm going to plan ahead! My goal is to start training now and be able to run the whole time. I know 5K is not very far. Most people who "train" are training for a marathon or at least a 10K, but for me, it's a huge deal. I've never run over 2 miles, that those 2 miles are painful for me. So, today, I started a training program I found that is meant specifically for a 5K. Todays workout only took about 30 minutes. I love that it was short! I have tomorrow off, and hopefully can get in Monday to do it again. We will see. I really need to do it.... one, to get in shape and be healthy, and two, to relieve some stress!

Maybe since I wrote it here, I'll stick to it. Maybe.

Housework

I want honesty.

Seriously.

I look around my house sometimes and I don't like what I see. But, I have no clue how to fix it.

Do you have "stuff" laying around? I see ends of envelopes, pen tops, kids pieces of toys..... I don't mean "everywhere" but in random little places where they shouldn't be. Seriously- how does one walk up the stairs and see an Uno card laying there and not pick it up? It happens here. If I don't pick it up, or tell someone to pick it up, it will stay there and grow into the carpet. The house is clean.... that's not the issue. It's just "cluttered".

I've tried different things. I've tried picking it all up, and making a "stack" for everyone on the steps and made them pick it all up. I have thrown it all in trash bags and waited a week to see if anyone looks for any of the items. If they don't, I pitch em.

I guess I feel like I'm fighting this losing battle. I look at the pottery barn catalog or whatever catalog comes that day and I want my house to look like that. But maybe it's not realistic. I'm hoping "real" people's houses just don't look like that all the time. Maybe they just look like that when people come over, and the rest of the time, they look like mine.

At least I hope so.

Hawaii

So we are back from Hawaii.

Amazing trip.

A few random thoughts:


1. I had no idea jet lag was as hard as it was. For three days, I was up at 6 or so, and wanting to go to bed at like 8 pm. I resisted, but it was tough.


2. I had no idea that Hawaii was so different historically than the rest of the US. Did you know it was run by a king and a queen right up until the US took it over?? They lived here:It was so pretty.



3. I had no idea there were going to be so many Japanese people there. Everything was in English and Japanese. It was pretty cool. The Japanese people there were very "trendy". Fashion I've never seen around here, that's for sure. I wish I had taken some pictures, but I guess that would have been rude, huh?


4. My favorite day was when we rented a car and drove the entire island of Oahu. We went to Pearl Harbor, which was one of those things you "have" to do if you go. It was very sad. After that we drove to the North Shore, went to Haleiwa, which is where Barack Obama used to "shave ice" when he was a kid. It's called the surfing capital of the world, and is tiny, very remote, and beautiful. We drove all day, and went in the mountains, Sandy's beach, around Diamond Head, and even stopped for pictures at some of the places "50 First Dates" was filmed.


5. Spam. It's all over Hawaii. Even at 7-11, in the little hot dog case, they have spam stuff. I did not try it. I ate it as a kid and had enough. Seriously. What is Spam? I'm not sure I want to know.



6. Sunsets. Absolutely amazing. Every.Single.Night. Well except for the one night we went on a sunset dinner cruise. Figures.
7. I also had no idea that Waikiki was so "busy". Beach town with massive skyscrapers on one side. Louis Vuitton, Coach, Kate Spade.....seriously. There was a Coach store on just about every block. And people were buying! The sunset picture and the picture below were taken on opposing sides of our hotel. Our balcony looked out on the beach and the city....depending on which way you looked. Crazy.

8. I missed my children terribly. I couldn't wait to get back to them, after about the first three days. I won't lie. The break was good. But 9 days was way too long. Mason wanted a Hard Rock Tshirt from Honolulu, and we found that. I also got him a really cool Obama shirt that says "OBAMA SURFS" since Obama is from there. They are very proud of the future president! Abbie wanted a snow globe- not easy to find in Hawaii believe it or not. But we found one. We also brought them chocolate covered pineapple from the actual Dole plantation, some shell necklaces from the luau we went to, and a few other random shirts.

9. Yes, I want to go back. I actually think I could live there. BUT, the 10 hour straight flight from Atlanta, not being able to move, my feet falling asleep, freezing or being hot, and then being stuck in between Tony and another guy on the way home will definitely keep me from going back for quite some time. We originally were going to take the kids. Thank goodness we didn't. I was whiny and miserable and cranky. I can only imagine how they would have felt. Awful. Just awful.

10. We both got sick while we were there. Can you believe it? The morning after the dinner cruise where we ate salmon, steak, and lobster, I woke up with a "rash" on my wrist. The rash became full blown, head to toe hives within a hour or so, and 2 days later, I was at the dr getting a shot. It looked awful. It's never a good sign when the dr is looking very puzzled and tells me he's not sure what to do- meds or a shot. I made the decision for him. :-) Tony, on the other hand, started with a cold, and for 2 days didn't leave the room at all. Luckily, this was why I was at the conference. For two more days, he was miserable, but mustered the strength to at least sit by the pool bar with me. We also went to see an illusionist that trained with David Copperfield....that was awesome, even though Tony felt bad. He would not go to the dr. I don't get that about men....but that's another post entirely.

Anyway, we had a great time, and enjoyed a part of the country that I have to say was even more beautiful than the Caribbean. I feel certain we will go back someday.