Funny moments when you wish you had a camera ready

The other day... earlier this week. I came home from the gym and was sitting in the basment on a exercise ball. Amanda and Blake were in the living room with me watching TV and the dogs were being hyper. Had been sitting on the ball for some time before I stood up, and when I did, Junior (Amanda and Blakes dog) thought he would jump on my "chair" I had been sitting on. Well, it wasn't a chair, it was a ball, so when he jumped on it, it began to roll, and Junior was trying desperatly to stay on. He rolled forward and began to walk on the ball to stay upright... he rolled backward and had to walk backwards on the ball to stay up... finally he and the ball had rolled far enough from the couch that he could jump forward to the ground. Junior was free of the rolling chair, but we were laughing quite hard, it was so awesome! :) If only you had seen it.

Beets

I love my veggies, and I wanted to spotlight beets today. Beets are yummy. The are good for you, fat free, low cal, and are great alone. A lot of veggies we tend to want to dip, drench, spray, saute, or cover with something a little less than healthy. But beets, they are sweet and don't require things like; cheese, butter, ranch, or even salt and pepper (although salt and pepper and the only thing that would taste good on them, but not needed). Mm, mm, mm I like beets! :)

Where Everybody Knows Your Name, or Where Nobody Knows Your Name?

I'm I alone in this? Does anyone else ever feel like moving away and starting anew? I do! I mentioned in my last blog how I feel I'm in a career rut... I think I've hit a weight loss rut... I'm in a lot of ruts, and one of the many is a social rut. I feel like there are not a lot of single people my age to be friends with in Utah, and I feel like the few that exist I already know, and we have clearly not been able to establish a strong friendship, so it's time for new people.

I would love to leave Utah and find new people. My friends are all married and/or don't live near me, and I need friendships with single people near me. If I could move to a new city in a new state and start again. New ward, new neighborhood, new social scene, new job, new everything.

I don't know... it's just a thought I visit now and then... it would be nice...

Time For Change

So I decided it's time for change. I've graduated, I can get a better job with my degree, but it's hard to find a job, especially one that meets my needs. Also, I'm unsatisfied with my job and I'm ready to move on. My cute friend Nikki has asked if I wanna take her spot at her job when she leaves, but it pays less than my current job, and I have a hard time with that idea, plus it's not relevant to my major, and I wouldn't mind racking up more experience in my field. However, I do like the idea of a 8-5 m-f job...

So after much thinking about what company could meet my needs... I decided Deseret Book. I LOVE to read, and I wouldn't be asked to work Sundays since they are closed on Sunday. I looked to see what possible store manager positions they have avalible right now, and the only one is in Sacramento CA. I'm not opposed to leaving Utah, but I would miss my family. I applied for the job, and we'll see what happens, but I don't think I'll get it, because they would want me to start right away, and it might be 2 months before I could. Not only do I have a vacation in April that I'm commited to, but I would have to get things in order here, and it would take me a little bit to get a place to live and to prepare to leave... but who knows, maybe they will be okay with waiting till the middle of May. And this is of course assuming they want me. I would guess they would interview me over the phone if they wanted to interview me, but who really knows.

I'm gonna send my info to all the Utah locations too, and who knows, something may open up. I'm just needing something to change. I need/want more money, I want to buy a house and pay off student loans, and I want to move on to a career that could get me somewhere. I'll keep ya'll posted, this may all fall to peices and nothing could change for awhile, so we'll see.

On another topic, I'm on my 7th week, 3rd day of my workout 6 days a week schedule. I steped on the scale this morning and it said I was at an 11 lb loss now... which is great! BUT, I always slip up on the weekends and end up messing up all I accomplished during the week, so I hope I can keep up the good work this weekend.

Well, that's all for now, I'll update you soon.

I have the best mom! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! I love my mom, she is so great, and today is her birthday. We are going over to their house to celebrate and have a fondue party. It's gonna be fun. :)

Oh, and I wanted to share also, that about a half hour ago I was just leaving church and I was talking to my super cute friend in the hall, and she lead forward to me and asks, "Have you been working out more? 'Cause you are looking good." OH! How nice! That makes me feel good. As I mentioned before, Amanda said something last week, and a couple weeks ago my co-worker did, I just don't really see it, but 3 people have said so, so I must me makeing strides. :)

A Night of Fright

3:20 am this morning, I awake to the sound of Junior (my sisters dog) up stairs barking like a maniac. Not sure what's going on, I look around my room, I can see light moving on the wall, and a blue flashing light from my laptop lighting up the room. Blake is gone camping, so it's just me and Amanda home, and I figure, maybe it snowed and Blake had to come home, so his coming in the house is makeing Junior bark. I lean over the edge of my bed to push my laptop under it so I can't see the light, and as I'm sitting back up, my sister bursts into the room with Junior in tow. She mumbles something and I ask her to repeat "Someone is here" she says, "They were knocking on my window and when I peaked out I heard a guy say 'hi'." Amanda hops on my bed, and I grab my phone and call 911 as she calls Blake on her phone.

I tell the operator I don't know if he's still here, I can't see or hear him. Amanda and Blakes room is directly above my basement room, and our windows are lined up at the same place. The light on the wall was clearly a reflection from somewhere outside, and as I'm talking to the operator, I see the light move on my wall again, that's when I realize that the movement is someone steping in front of the light and their shadow appearing on my wall. Amanda flips and I tell the operator he's standing outside my window, and that I can see him. She tells me 2 officers should be at my house now and asks if I can see them. I head out of my room and confirm I see their flashlights, she asks some questions about me and hangs up with me. As I'm getting off the phone with 911, Amanda is still on the phone with Blake downstairs, and he gets another call, comes back to Amanda, and tells her it's Nick (our brother) at our house! AGH! She calls up and tells me and I exclaim "oh my heck!"

I get to the door and there is an officer on the doorstep. I look out to the driveway, and there is Nick with another officer. "Audrey, it's me" he says. "What's wrong with you!?" I yell, "Knocking on peoples windows at 3:00 in the morning, and when there are only 2 girls here alone!?" Nick says he thought Blake was here, the officer on the pourch smiles and me and says "Yeah, that would have scared me too." And the officer with Nick looks up at him and says "Dude, you should have called!" "I didn't think anyone would be awake." Silly boy! Call, we wake up, ring the doorbell, we come to the door, prowel around the house knocking on windows, we call call 911.

On a funnier note, I always sleep well clothed. I have the idea that if there is ever a fire, natural disaster, prowler or intruder, I wanna be as close to dressed as I can be, and still sleep well. My sister, she sleeps in her garments, and that's how she was when she came to my room. As I was leaving my room to go to the door, Amanda calls "I don't have any clothes on!" and the operator hears her, and tells me to tell her to cover up. Looking back, I gotta laugh.
- On my first cruise, some people thought my friend and I were a couple because we were going to the different photographers as we waited for our other friends to join us. At first there was a guy with us, but when he left, we were mistaken as a couple, and I had to correct them (very funny and awkward).
- Amanda and I go grocery shopping together every week, run errands together, and go to the gym together, and the places we frequent, often resutl in odd looks from people who see us a lot...
- And then last night, 2 girls calling 911 from the bedroom, one not dressed...
Seriously, lots of "Are they lesbians" type situations... I find it funny. :) And for anyone reading this who may not know me, I'm straight. :)

An Uphill Battle

As I said before, I do workout 6 days a week, but my intensity does vary. I was supposed to do Yoga today, but after the treadmill, I didn't want to, I didn't have the energy today, and my lower body is SO sore from yesterday. I did however eat good... until about 6 or 7... then I had a nice big mug of hot cocoa, and then got the munchies so I ate popcorn... but in my defense, the popcorn was air popped, not micowave, and was very light on butter and salt, Blake even pulled a face when he got a taste, so it must not have been too bad for me. :)

I was thinking tonight, about an hour ago, how I wished I had spent the evening working out again, rather than watching Legally Blonde and eating popcorn... it would have been more productive, and it's hard to munch when you're working out. I just need to make better use of my time all around. I get these ideas I'm gonna be so productive, then I'm not. Oh well, hopefully after this next snow storm, things will start to warm up and I'll be more willing to do more.

I have Kenpo tomorrow, so hopefully I can kick and punch up a sweat and burn some calories. I'm still waiting to see improvements, but so far I see nothing. Today at the gym though, Amanda said she could tell I lost weight, so that's good, even if I can't, it's good to know someone else can see changes.

That's all I have to say today, nothing exciting, just updating you all on my fitness goal. Ciao for now.

My Poochy Pal

I have a cute dog named Lilly. She makes me smile all the time. This morning while I was eating breakfast I was listening to her drink her water and even that was cute, it made my smile. Here are some pics of my cute little Lilly.

Getting Back to 8

In order to explain one of my personal goals, I will be revealing personal info about myself, but it's good for me to admit what I'm embarrassed to admit.

In high school I weighed, to my best knowledge, 175 lbs. I say to my best knowledge because I didn't weigh myself all the time, and that was the most I saw on the scale. ANYWAY, so when I graduated and moved away to college I started to workout a little in classes I took, and by the end of the 2 years, when I moved back home, I'd lost 10 lbs without having been too serious about it. When I moved home I didn't worked out much at first, but about 6 months later I started buying videos and working out at home, and made an effort to be fit. I ended up losing 15 lbs that first 6 months, and that's where I stayed. I never dropped below 150, but I had so much more confidence, and I really did look better. My face thinned out, my stomach had flattened out more, and I went from a size 14 in high school, to a size 8.

This last year (2008) was my last year of college, and I was SO busy. Between school and work, I didn't have time to workout EVER, and I started to just eat whatever was quick and convinient, whatever I could find, because I didn't want to spend a lot of time buying or preparing food. I knew I was gaining weight, my pants were getting tighter, I could see my stomach growing, and... ew, I was sporting hoodies and jackets and whatever to hide my body.

So I graduated, and I knew it was time to get back to where I had been. It was slow going at first, I was eating better, but it was hard to get back into the habit of woking out. I dared the scale, and sadly, found I was 175 lbs again, but this time I had more muscle, so I carried it better, I was only a tight size 10, and not a 14 like I had been in high school.

I decided I needed to make goals because I kept falling off the wagon, so at the end of January I buckled down. For the past 5 weeks I've been working out 6 days a week, and today I started my 6th week of this routine. So far I'm only down 10 lbs, 15 to go to be where I was a year ago, and hopefully I can go beyond that. :)

SO, I'm trying to get back to 8. I have so many pants that are size 8, but I can't wear them. :( I don't want to buy clothes I intend to shrink out of, so I have to keep washing and wearing my few outfitts that fit... I know, lame, but I don't want to accept the weight or waste money on clothes I won't wear for long. My stomach is flattening again, so I guess it's just a matter or working and waiting... so cheer me on folks, I WANNA GET BACK TO 8!!! (or less...)

Gender Does Not Define a Persons Strength

I am a pretty tough person. I've been lifting furniture for years at my job, and I workout on a regualar basis. Most of my employees have been male, and I've had no trouble out lifting many of them, and I can certainily hold my own in getting things done that involve heavy lifting. WELL, yesterday at work I sell some furniture to a family, and when they come back to pick it up, me and my 2 employees that were with me each grabbed an item and carried them out. I was at the lead with a sofa, doing fine, minding my own business, I've carried hundreds of sofas out in my day, and this certainly wan't the heaviest one. The husband of this family sees me with the couch and about has a cow. "Why are you moving that, shouldn't the big guy inside be doing that?" I told him I can handel it fine and they are bringing his other stuff. He tells me to let the guys do it, I tell him I'm fine, I'm tough. He scoffs and tells me I'm not tough and he'd like to see me get it into his trailer (not even a high trailer mind you). I tell him no problem and start to load it in. And as a side note, lots of male customers are shocked to see me brining out their load, but this guy wasn't concerened about if I needed help and then just let it go, no, he was dripping with disgust. My employee who was the "big guy" he was refering to, is outside now and heads over to help out of courtesy. I tell him "No, don't help me, he doesn't think I can do it." (Sue me, but I don't like to be told I can't do something, and I do have pride.) My employee steps back and I finish loading the sofa with ease.
If you can't already tell, I'm a little annoyed with this man, he's not saying these things in jest, he's dead serious and is clearly jerk. After loading the sofa I pronounce, "See, I'm not a wimp." He replys, "Yes you are, you are a girl, so you are a wimp." AGH! What a misogynist!! My "big guy" confirms that I am indeed no wimp, but the guy isn't gonna hear it. Before I hop the trailer in one bounding leap to clobber the guy, I decide it's high time to go in, and on my way past his wife she simply laughs like it's no big deal that her husband is a moron. And the funny thing is, that guy couldn't even lift CRAP 'cause he has a bad back and beer belly, and just wants to get his recliner home so he can plop down in front of the TV. The nerve!! Sorry, I just had to share my annoyance.