heidisjourney2thirty

2009-04-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

i must say that i'm missing my new things challenge! i still have a lot of things on my list that didn't get done for one reason or another, so i am going to make it my mission to finish those things before i turn 31. i don't think many people even read this blog, but that's ok...i will still come back and blog about my new things.
i've already gotten one thing checked of my list and it's going to lead to a WHOLE BUNCH of new things this year...but i can't tell you until may 6.

day #365: the BIG finale

2009-03-28T15:11:00.000-07:00

happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear me-e, happy birthday to me!

as mentioned, we were in atlanta this weekend. it wasn't our first time, but we did lots of things we'd never done before.

to get things started right, i wore a "birthday girl" sash all day. i highly recommend that...i had TONS of people saying happy birthday to me all day. some even sang...it was great!

we picked up our race packets for tomorrow and got some of free stuff. a Jamaican guy (promoting their marathon which is in december) gave me a free drawstring bag since it was my b-day.

then we went to the King Tut exhibit which my hubby has been dying to see. he LOVES egypt. i thought it was cool too.

afterwards we went to the georgia aquarium. i am now officially going to say that if you've been to one, you've been to them all. i know that this one is the largest in the world, but when all is said and done a fish is a fish. sure, it looked really fancy on the inside, but it was so freakin' crowded it was impossible to enjoy yourself. i swear the fire code for occupancy must have been thrown out the window. anyways, while there i did pet a shrimp which was a little weird. i felt a little bad because they TASTE SO GOOD.

we didn't stay very long at the aquarium. we tried to wait to see the penguins (which apparently are in a secret location) but the line was really long and our feet hurt. they will have dolphin exhibit fall 2010, so it might be worth a trip back.

my favorite part of the day came when we stopped by phipps plaza (the ritziest shopping area in ATL) to visit tiffany's. i marched right in there and told the lady it was my 30th birthday and i couldn't afford anything, but i wanted to try something on. at first she asked if i wanted to try on the biggest diamond...but instead i tried on the most expensive ring in the store. $530,000 and 6 karats total. it was gorgeous!

one of the things on my list was to try on a pair of jimmy choo's...and i had the perfect opportunity since the store was right across from tiff's...but i knew my feet were probably nasty from walking in the rain...so instead i had a glass of champagne in the jimmy choo store. i don't even like champagne, but i figured that was a pretty cool thing to do in lieu of a try-on. they had mini cupcakes and cookies too, but i wanted to save room for dinner.

to end the day, we went to dinner and i only waited 30 minutes for a table at Cheesecake Factory. i swear it's always been at least 2 hours. thank goodness it was short because it was a stand-alone meaning we couldn't walk around the mall to kill time. unfortunately, the service was HORRIBLE...which was the case the last time we ate at a (different) CF in atlanta.

so there you have it...i have completed my 365 days of new things. i know there aren't a ton of readers out there, but thank you to the loyal ones :) i got this idea from jen in NYC and although i have left her lots of comments, she has not ever left one on my site. i'm not sure if she has even read it...but JEN...if you're out there...thanks for the inspiration!

i will definitely be updating again. i still have quite a few things on my list to do and i am planning on completing all of them by the end of this year.

day #364: the home stretch

2009-03-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

i cannot believe that tomorrow i will be 30 years old!!! we have some exciting things planned this weekend :) but for today...
our student council is raising money for JDRF and today during 4th period all the students came to the gym for something fun. i played in the faculty vs. student basketball game. now you would think that since i am a PE teacher that i would be great at all sports, right? NOT. i am mediocre at best...but i sure try hard. i chose jersey #30 (for obvious reasons) and i played a total of about 4 minutes. (the women and men each played 2 eight minute quarters). it was fun and the staff actually won 40-20!
after school, i rushed home to meet hubby and we packed up to leave for atlanta. on the way, we stopped at moe's for dinner. since i'm on the e-mail list, i got a coupon for a free entree...however, i forgot about said coupon until after we'd paid...so i gave my birthday coupon to a stranger. i hope she enjoyed it!
once we got to atlanta, we hung out with friends for a little while and then decided we'd try another new thing. we called to find out their hours and the guy said they were open until midnight. so we tried to go to Gladys Knight's chicken and waffles which i'd seen on the travel channel's "man vs. food". we got there at 11:40 and it was closed! we were so upset...so instead we stopped at a convenience store and i tried a red hot smoothie (tastes just like 'em!) and a horchata smoothie (kinda weird). apparently horchata is a Mexican mixture consisting of almonds, rice, cinnamon, sugar, and lime.

day #363: does anyone tweet?

2009-03-26T14:57:00.000-07:00

lately i've been hearing a lot on the news about twitter. apparently everyone is doing it. today i signed up for twitter. i allowed it to look up people in my e-mail address book and it came back with nothing. i don't think i'll be using it...since i have facebook on my phone and everyone i know uses that, i'll just stick to updating my status on that.

day #362: on trial

2009-03-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

i don't want to disclose too many details on here, but today i had a hearing in front of the NC Board of Athletic Training Examiners. i was so nervous...in fact, i had a nightmare last night that i had to go to the bathroom and completely missed my hearing. there were 6 people on the board...5 were super nice and 1 was a douche bag.
i should be getting a letter soon telling me the outcome. hopefully it goes in my favor.
since i had to take the day off from work to go to this meeting, i worked out at a different YMCA. everyone seems to love that one, but honestly i like the smaller one near my school.

day #361: i'm supposed to GIVE report cards!

2009-03-24T18:37:00.000-07:00

i've worked at bath and body works for over a year and the other day i was informed that i was up for a raise. today i got a one year evaluation which resulted in a 38 cent pay raise. yay!

tonight i watched the first episode of "Friends". i've only ever watched a few episodes here and there...so i definitely had no idea how it all started. i may have to rent all the seasons on netflix since everyone seemed to love it so much. those outfits were hilarious!

day #360: "it ain't so bad when your miniature horse poop is dusty"*

2009-03-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

* that's a hilarious line from an episode of "rob and big"

a few weeks ago i noticed that my computer at work is really dusty...so today i used DustOff on the keyboard and the CPU. man, that can gets REALLY cold after a while!
after i cleaned the computer, i got online and learned how to write my name in chinese. that was really difficult...i'd love to have a Chinese person look at it and tell me if it really says what it's supposed to. i probably didn't do it write and it says something like "i eat cats".

find out your Chinese name at www.mandarintools.com/chinesename.html

day #359: this would take a lot of video tapes!

2009-03-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

i hope my DVR box doesn't blow up...
today i recorded 24 consecutive hours of TV. it's amazing what comes on at 3 and 4 in the morning. i think i got a good variety of TV shows...i'll share the list later. who knows if i'll ever get around to watching all 24 hours.

day #358: getting a head start

2009-03-21T06:09:00.000-07:00

we have big plans for my birthday next week, so robert surprised me by having his family (well half of it) show up at our place to go celebrate. we went to the cheesecake factory (my fave!) which is all the way on the other side of charlotte in our most expensive mall...it has neiman marcus, louis vuitton, burberry, etc.
i have only been there 2 or 3 other times. today i finally went in the bath and body works at southpark which is twice the size of the one i work at. it's a featured store which means they have lots of products that we don't have. room sprays and scentportables were only $3 so i stocked up on my pineapple orchid.
at the cheesecake factory i celebrated my 30th birthday with the 30th anniversary cheesecake. yum!

day #357: toe jam and earl

2009-03-20T06:04:00.000-07:00

one of our athletes is having problems with his feet, knees, and back. i told him i wanted to look at his feet first...ew. today i saw the nastiest feet i have ever seen. trust me, i have seen a lot of gross feet...but these were disgusting. i wish i had a picture to show you, but that would be rude of me.
his feet are totally flat, so i'm hoping that treating that will help with the other problems.

day #356: i can't stand the rain (or softball)

2009-03-19T05:56:00.000-07:00

when i was in junior high i played softball. i was terrible. i stood in right field and prayed the ball wouldn't come to me. the one time they let me play catcher i almost broke my hand (it got hit by the batter...don't ask how that happened). i liked being on the team. i was lucky because i couldn't make it to tryouts and my best friend got us onto the best team in the league...and they were the blue devils (i was a huge duke fan)...and we were the only team with the real uniforms (as opposed to T-shirts with the softball pants). but i have to say that watching softball is so BORING.
usually we have soccer and softball going at the same time and my assistant covers SB...but he couldn't work today and we didn't have soccer...so i had to cover. we played an undefeated team and did really well. the score was 0-0 in the 7th inning, so i watched a 14 inning softball game...in the rain. yes...one game was 14 innings! and even though it was raining really hard, the umps never called it off. we ended up losing 1-0 .
i am NEVER working softball again if i can help it.

day #355: double fisting

2009-03-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

i didn't have much time to squeeze in a workout before our soccer game tonight, so after i took a shower at the Y, i used 2 hair dryers at the same time to dry my hair faster. i think it helped, but i also think they had the heat on in there because i was sweating when i was done. putting makeup on a sweaty face is not fun!

day #354: seussical st. patty's day

2009-03-17T13:38:00.001-07:00

by best friend from junior high was irish (her name was fitzpatrick...if that isn't irish, i don't know what is!). i remember her parents making green versions of food for them and i was jealous...i am not the least bit irish.

today i ate green eggs and milk. (i know the book says ham, but i don't like ham!)

they look really nasty, but they didn't taste any different.

day #353: undressing

2009-03-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

i looooove the chicken tortilla soup at mcalister's deli and since hubby was out of town, i stopped by to get some. i do the soup and salad combo and i was happy that they kept that because their menu changed. i was NOT happy when i found out that they got rid of my favorite (parmesean peppercorn) salad dressing. i'm going to have to write to the corporate office about that!

day #352: healthy choices

2009-03-15T13:12:00.000-07:00

i was proud of myself for this new thing...
on the way home from the convention, everyone wanted to go to IHOP. i love pancakes. since i had key lime cheesecake yesterday, i sacrificed today and ordered the healthy whole grain blueberry nut pancakes with egg beaters. they were decent.

day #351: "we don't sleep to sleep...

2009-03-14T13:05:00.000-07:00

we sleep to live." that is the motto of the place that was the host of my new thing today. we completed our sleep profile at the sleep to live store. let me just say that it was AMAZING. there's a little bit of a backstory to this...
my sister-in-law has the most comfortable bed ever. you really feel like you're floating on a cloud when you lay on it. i remember the first time we slept on it i asked what kind of mattress it was and she said kingsdown. apparently they are pretty expensive.
well now that we're building a house, we've been looking at bedroom furniture and i thought hey, why not see about a kingsdown.
the boyles website has some listed as low as $1,000. well while we were at the mall in durham today we saw a sleep to live store and asked if they have kingsdown...and they did!
so this profile thing was so cool and we found out that i need the "forest" (the second softest they sell) and robert needs the "navy" which is a little more firm.
they also have beds that have a massaging mechanism and you can adjust the head/feet up or down.
my says he can't rationalize spending $3500 on a bed...but i can! ;)

bonus new thing: i tried key lime cheesecake...not so good.

day #350: blogging on crack(berry)

2009-03-13T21:50:00.000-07:00

This is so weird...I am blogging from my blackberry. I will probably never do this again because it feels weird, but I am at a convention.

day #349: grilled cheese the paris hilton way

2009-03-12T13:05:00.000-07:00

i've had this on my list a loooooong time, but today i was so busy at school that i didn't get to eat a real lunch. as soon as i got home i made grilled cheese with an iron just like they did on "the simple life". as you can see in the pictures, at first it looked like it was going to be really yummy...and then i pulled the wax paper off (which i'd put around the sandwich so it wouldn't ruin my iron) and it took the nice buttery grilled part with it. it still wasn't bad...if i wanted grilled cheese and didn't have a skillet this would do just fine.

day #348: is this thing on right?

2009-03-11T13:01:00.000-07:00

a few more people noticed my new thing today than when i painted all my fingernails different colors.
we had a key club meeting after school, so i purposely wore my shirt backwards to see if anyone would notice. i had about 6 students say something. it was a T-shirt, so most people probably couldn't even tell.

day #347: all circuits are busy

2009-03-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

while watching TV, we saw an ad asking people to call obama and ask him to make it harder for illegal immigrants to get jobs so that legal residents can keep them.
i'm all about it, so i tried to call the President. of course i didn't get through...
"all circuits are busy"...just like when i try to win stuff from radio stations.

day #346: change of scenery

2009-03-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

due to the fact that we forgot about daylight savings time and woke up late at the in-law's house 2 hours away from home, we did not get to go on our scheduled 9 mile run. instead we ran to the bi-lo near our house. it's 5 miles round trip and then we ran a little extra. it was pretty hot outside too!

day #345: i swear they'll fry anything!

2009-03-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

i have heard of lots of fried things that i think are crazy: oreos, snickers, twinkies, pickles (ew!)
tonight at olive garden i noticed a new appetizer on their seasonal menu and i just had to try it. i tried lasagna fritta which is fried lasagna...and WOW it is delicious!
at my nephew's birthday party i also tried to pogo but i was unsuccessful. my brother-in-law has the video...i'll see if i can get it.

day #344: toasty

2009-03-06T19:55:00.001-08:00

*update from yesterday: i actually only had 2 girls notice my fingernails, but they liked them. i need to remove it though because a few fingers are already chipped.

today's new thing has been on the list for a while, but i finally got the "courage" to do it.
since the beginning of time i have ordered the turkey sub at subway. (ok, every once in a while in high school i'd get a meatball, but then i started actually caring about calories.)
i finally tried the teriyaki chicken sub...oh it was so good! and since i'd never had it before, i wasn't sure what to get on it, so i let the subway sandwich artist decide what to put on my sub. good move...he toasted it and added cheese, lettuce, and some sweet onion sauce...delish!

day #343: color me crazy

2009-03-05T14:58:00.001-08:00

a lot of times i don't even wear polish on my nails, even though i really like it. since i usually have a hard time choosing what color i want to wear, today i painted a different color on every fingernail. (i had no idea i even had 10 colors!) yes, i'm going to leave it on to go to work tomorrow :)

day #342: about face

2009-03-04T14:47:00.000-08:00

i joined facebook about a year ago, but i haven't really embraced it like so many other people. i guess i haven't really figured it all out yet. today i actually messed around on it and added facebook applications that i wasn't invited to. i think i'm starting to like it more, especially now that more of my old friends are on it.

day #341: NOW

2009-03-03T14:27:00.001-08:00

if any of you have seen "the amazing race", you should do this new thing.
i read "no opportunity wasted" which was written by phil (the host of the show). he has an amazing outlook on life. it makes me want to do even bigger and better things. let's be honest...most of these new things i've done haven't been all that exciting. i'm accepting that they are new to me, but i definitely want even more excitement in my life!

day #340: makin' makin' bacon

2009-03-02T12:55:00.000-08:00

due to the weather from last night, school was cancelled. and i already mentioned that i missed the BBW floorset last night because of the weather, but this morning the BBW manager called me with a huge favor...
even though i was forced to stay home from my real job because of road conditions, i went to bath and body works to finish a floor set during the day. usually they are sundays from 7pm til midnight (or whenever they finish).
my hubby was NOT happy, but he drove me to the mall and went to a movie while i worked.

day #339: danger...watch yourself!

2009-03-01T12:53:00.000-08:00

i've worked part time at bath and body works for over a year...and i love it...but they are crazy if they think that i'll drive there during a winter weather warning! i missed a floorset due to a snow storm.

day #338: tastes like chicken

2009-02-28T12:51:00.000-08:00

chili's is one of our favorite restaurants and i tend to order the same thing every time i go, but tonight i tried the glazed chile boneless chicken wings...mmm they were good!

day #337: this is a test

2009-02-27T12:47:00.000-08:00

i've given this computerized test to football and male soccer players and wrestlers, but today is the first time i gave the concussion baseline test to girls soccer players. luckily next year we won't have to give it to those who have already had it.

day #336: beat that, bill clinton

2009-02-26T12:42:00.000-08:00

there's a scene in "jerry maguire" where this musician is mentioned and i have never taken the time to listen to him. i decided to put this on my list after randomly hearing that this man is from hamlet, nc which is a TINY town i used to drive through on the way home from college (before they built a by pass around it).
i listened to john coltrane. pretty cool, but definitely not something i'd listen to all the time.

day #335: beef up that resume'

2009-02-25T12:40:00.000-08:00

i was supposed to do this new thing over the summer, but couldn't because of my summer job. half way into the school year, i finally got officially trained to be a teacher mentor.

day #334: missing: the Y factor

2009-02-24T12:38:00.000-08:00

i don't want today's new thing to just be about me watching a movie i'd never seen before...this is a little more unique than that...
i watched a movie that had ABSOLUTELY NO MEN in it. the movie was called, not surprisingly, "the women"...and it was fantastic! even the busy store and street scenes had no testosterone.

day #333: deception

2009-02-23T12:33:00.000-08:00

today i was deceived by a product that was created for teachers, by teachers.
i mentioned to a co-worker that i felt a cold coming on, so she immediately offered me something that sounded like a great solution...a candied-apple flavored chewable version of airborne which supposedly boosts your immune system.
i chewed up airborne and (almost had to spit it out).
teachers should stick to teaching.

day #332: "the graduate" drop out

2009-02-22T12:30:00.000-08:00

another movie that's been on my list a while...
i attempted to watch "the graduate"...but we ended up not finishing it. i thought it was interesting that mr. feeney from "boy meets world" was in it.

day #331: kaledioscope of colors

2009-02-21T14:46:00.000-08:00

*the word in the title doesn't look right, but that's how spellcheck fixed it.
our key club helps out with events at the nearby elementary school. today i helped with the multi-cultural celebration. there were 43 countries represented and a lot of them brought food. it was really cool! i also saw one of my students perform with the Irish dancers...impressive!

day #330: that's reDUCKulous

2009-02-20T14:41:00.000-08:00

unfortunately, today's new thing didn't go as planned. we have an arts district in charlotte called NoDa (for North Davidson Street). the 1st and 3rd fridays of every month they have a gallery crawl and live music in small venues along the street. i've really been wanting to check it out, but when we got down there robert felt like it wasn't the safest area. so instead of a gallery crawl, i did a gallery drive-by.

to make it up to me, robert suggested we go to melting pot which was fine with me since we only had moe's for valentine's day. tonight we ate duck. i don't know if it was a mental thing or what, but i didn't like it.

day #329: ballin'

2009-02-19T14:38:00.000-08:00

one of the perks of my school getting out 1 1/2 hours before my hubby's is that i can make it out to his school if i need/want to. today was one of those days...i watched my hubby play in the faculty vs. student basketball game. unfortunately, the female teachers weren't very good. (they alternated girls then boys for 4 eight minute quarters). my hubby is 6'8" and he's pretty good :)

day #328: top secret

2009-02-18T18:30:00.001-08:00

i don't want to say too much that will incriminate myself if someone i work with/for reads this...but i had a doctor's appointment this afternoon and took the whole day off. let's just say the pictures are worth a million words.

day #327: let them eat cake

2009-02-17T18:26:00.000-08:00

there was a lot of extra cake leftover from the induction ceremony, so today i took my sports medicine class to the athletic training room for the sole purpose of eating cake. they did a really good job on it...i'm glad it didn't go to waste or that i didn't eat the rest of it myself.

there were actually 2 cakes...a store bought and one a student made shaped like an old time key (pictured above). the homemade was DELICIOUS!

day #326: retired flats

2009-02-16T18:10:00.000-08:00

several years ago i found the cutest flats on clearance at target. they were less than $10, so i bought 2 pairs. i've been on the second pair for too long and they were starting to smell. i am so sad to say that today i threw away my absolute favorite pair of shoes.

can anyone tell me where to find a similar pair?

day #325: trai thai

2009-02-15T14:29:00.000-08:00

today after we heard shaunti feldhahn (author of the "for women only", "for men only" and "for parents only" books) speak at our church, we tried thai food at mai thai. i had the pad see ewe noodle. mmmmm...it was so delicious! my husband (mr. picky) liked it too! score!

day #324: recessionista valentine's day

2009-02-14T14:26:00.000-08:00

ha...today's new thing really doesn't have anything to do with the recession. i had to work at BBW (which makes me wonder again "what recession???" because the place was PACKED) and we didn't want to wait for hours to eat out, so we celebrated valentine's day at moe's. there were lots of other people there!

day #323: camp crystal lake

2009-02-13T07:17:00.000-08:00

growing up, my mom wouldn't let me watch scary movies. my friend's parents let me watch "the omen" and i had nightmares for a long time. my aunt and uncle let me watch "poltergeist" without my mom knowing. that's it though. no freddy kruger, michael myers, or jason for me.
so you guessed it...tonight i watched (the original) "friday the 13th". i actually watched part 2 also because my husband said i had to see the one where jason actually does the killing. it's probably a good thing i didn't see them as a kid because i went to camp for many summers.
i was really surprised that there was nudity and sex in the movies...not to mention kevin bacon.
i will probably watch the new version when it comes out on DVD.
do you realize there's another friday the 13th next month? crazy!

day #322: official membership

2009-02-12T07:08:00.000-08:00

although i started the key club last year, we've had trouble getting a kiwanis group to sponsor us. we finally got chartered and tonight we had an induction ceremony. one of my members made a delicious and unique cake shaped like a key. i was really impressed!

day #321: dumbest

2009-02-11T07:06:00.000-08:00

tonight i watched "the hottie and the nottie" and it was awful.

day #320: out of ink

2009-02-10T07:04:00.000-08:00

i am in charge of a community service organization at my school that has 104 members...and today i wrote out 104 member certificates for them...my hand was tired!

day #319: sparks lead to a fire

2009-02-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

the county i work in recently got a huge grant to prevent childhood obesity. part of that grant is paying for training for PE teachers. today i attended SPARK training. SPARK stands for Sports, Play, Active Recreation for Kids. apparently it's all the rage in california. we did lots of fun activities...hopefully i'll be successful at implementing this program with my students!

day #318: hidden gem

2009-02-08T19:20:00.000-08:00

i know i've said this before, but i LOVE it when i do a new thing that i've been waiting for a while to do. this afternoon we went to the gem theatre in kannapolis. it's an ooooooold theater with only one screen. we sat in the balcony which was awesome. they showed an old "tom and jerry" cartoon before the movie and only one preview. the movie we saw was "paul blart: mall cop"...kind of funny, but not hilarious.

the best part was that for 3 movie tickets, a large popcorn, 2 large drinks, milk duds, and sugar babies it was only $18!!!!!!!

day #317: what up, J.P.?!

2009-02-07T08:57:00.000-08:00

today was a nice day. hubby and i ran 6 miles, grabbed lunch, stopped by the Y just to take a shower (we were on the opposite side of town from where we live and didn't want to go all the way home), hung out at border's books, and then went to a birthday party for someone i don't even know. she's a co-worker of robert's. there were 18 people there and we ate at buca de beppo's which is REALLY good. we actually sat in the "pope room" which is literally a room dedicated completely with pictures of nuns and old popes, a very Catholic-ish ceiling, and a pope head in the middle of the large, round table. there's a huge lazy susan in the middle of the table, so the waiter just sets the food and drinks down and you spin it around to whoever needs it. it's a family-style place so although the prices are a little high, you get enough food to share. we had an awesome time...full of laughter...and then we went to angry ale's for a nightcap. definitely the best time i've had in a while.

day #316: i'm an ATHLETIC trainer

2009-02-06T08:52:00.000-08:00

i was really annoyed that during half-time of the basketball game i was trying to take a little break and i got called back into the gym. i provided first aid to a step team member who pulled her quadricep during the performance. i made 2 suggestions for the future: warm up and stretch first and don't wear tight jeans.
if you have no idea what a step team is, watch this:

day #315: the most important meal of the day

2009-02-05T08:49:00.000-08:00

we had a 2 hour delay today (love those...they don't have to be made up!), so a co-worker and i went to a local breakfast spot called looey's. the belgian waffle was amazing, but the hot chocolate was nasty.

day #314: sweet meat

2009-02-04T13:21:00.000-08:00

we had a snow day today...what a joke since there was less than an inch. (i know you northerners and midwesterners are just cracking up right now.) you would think that if school was cancelled it would be so bad outside that we'd be holed up trying to keep from getting frostbite.
oh no...not even close.
we slept in, got lunch at panera (mmm!), went to the gym (which was packed with school aged kids playing basketball...wonder how they got there), and then picked up dinner with a giftcard my mom got from her sister. we ate Honeybaked turkey (since i don't like ham). it was interesting...there's a very hard shell of sugar, cinnamon, and i'm assuming honey on top. you're supposed to just let it thaw, but not actually heat it up. i'd take a full turkey any day of the week. the crazy thing is that the turkey breast (smaller than the size of a loaf of bread) was $25...then sides were $7.50 each and a cheesecake sampler was $16. that $50 giftcard didn't go very far!

day #313: you spin me right round, baby

2009-02-03T16:30:00.000-08:00

i am utterly exhausted from today's new thing, but i am so proud of myself. i've been putting this thing off because i was afraid of the pain...but i survived.
i took a spinning class. 50 minutes of burning legs and dripping sweat...not to mention a sore butt!

day #312: let's celebrate with Punxsutawney Phil

2009-02-02T16:26:00.000-08:00

i know this is the second day in a row that my new thing has involved watching the boob tube, but today had special meaning.
i watched "groundhog's day". my husband is always telling me i need to watch it, so finally i have. it was cute.
many many years ago i got myself in a whole lot of trouble on this day, but that's a story for another time.

day #311: classics

2009-02-01T16:20:00.000-08:00

i'm ashamed to say that before today i had never seen an audrey hepburn movie. i'm excited to say that this morning i got up before my husband and watched "breakfast at tiffany's"...while i ate breakfast. i really enjoyed it!
you also might be surprised at this other new thing...i watched (and actually paid attention to) the superbowl. i'm not a big NFL fan, but i figured i know more about football now than i ever have. i actually got really into it...i wanted the cardinals to win so badly! :(

day #310: a necessary evil

2009-01-31T16:17:00.000-08:00

one of the downsides to being a certified athletic trainer is that you have to get CEUs and they are expensive. however, one of the perks to working in the county i work in is that every year they have a conference and employees get to go for free. i've attended before, but this was the first time i volunteered at the sports medicine symposium. basically we did about 30 minutes of work and sat around the other 8 hours...but hey, the CEUs were free.

day #309: into my comfort zone

2009-01-30T16:05:00.000-08:00

the town i work in is pretty small, but it has a really nice YMCA branch. my peak membership doesn't actually run out until february 5, so i've been still going there...but today i finally worked out at the harrisburg Y. it's really nice and i was much more comfortable there than peak fitness.

day #308: call me vern yip

2009-01-29T16:03:00.000-08:00

i've already mentioned we're buying a new house...and i'm so excited about decorating it. and we just happen to be getting an IKEA soon...so today i downloaded the IKEA house planner tool. i can't wait to use it!

day #307: "air quotes"

2009-01-28T16:01:00.000-08:00

i think this is really funny because i LOVE air quotes. i don't think i abuse them though...
i read an article about air quotes. here it is if you want to read it:
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/Features/Columns/?article=QuotationMarks&GT1=27004

day #306: first sweep

2009-01-27T15:56:00.000-08:00

it's sad that this is my first time doing this...
i saw all 4 basketball teams (JV girls and boys and varsity girls and boys) win in one night. it was actually against the kids from my old school, so it was a little bittersweet. i'm definitely happy to see my varsity boys win...they've struggled this season.

day #305: so you had a bad day

2009-01-26T16:39:00.001-08:00

i don't want to give away TMI, but let's say that this morning i didn't do a good job "hovering" at school and peed all over the back of my pants leg. if that wasn't enough, AF came to visit and messed up my favorite ann taylor pants so i left during a fire drill to go home and change. (i was done teaching for the day anyways). grrr. i hope the dry cleaner can perform miracles!

day #304: color me crazy

2009-01-25T16:37:00.000-08:00

i was actually disappointed today...at border's i researched color and decorating ideas for our new house and actually didn't find anything i liked. i CANNOT wait until our ikea opens!

day #303: self created BOGO free

2009-01-24T19:38:00.000-08:00

this is the first time that we haven't had anything planned on a saturday in a LOOOOOONG time...so i finally had enough time to do this thing that i've always wanted to do. this is also really the first time there have been so many movies out that i want to see at one time. we had a tough time narrowing it down.
we paid for one movie ticket, but stayed for two movies. i was really nervous about it...especially since they were on two different sides of the theater. we had to actually walk right in front of the concession stand and ticket taker to get to the second show.
both of the movies were great: "bride wars" and "gran torino"
yes, i know that i broke the law...this was a one time thing. i justified it by spending a lot of money at the concession stand.

day #302: it's about time

2009-01-23T19:34:00.000-08:00

since i have an assistant (and last year i was the assistant), i don't have to cover all athletic events myself...we rotate. i'm not sure if i've just missed out or if this really is the first in school history, but today i witnessed a win by our wrestling team.
i'm still wondering why teenage boys would want to roll around on the floor in a singlet with another boy's crotch/butt in his face...

day #301: happy birthday, mom!

2009-01-22T19:33:00.000-08:00

to celebrate my mom's birthday we went to coldstone creamery (yum!) usually i get the birthday cake remix (YUM!), but since i'm trying to lose weight, i thought i'd go with something with less calories and fat. i noticed a new flavor that claims to only have 25 calories and no fat. i tried the tart n tangy yogurt. it was really good!

day #300: modern day "grease"

2009-01-21T14:02:00.000-08:00

i'm going to sound like such a loser when i share this, but that's ok...
when i was in 6th grade, i was a latch-key kid. every day i'd come home from school to an empty house. since i was an only child, i entertained myself the only way i knew how...i played barbies and watched "grease". i loved that movie!
today i watched the 21st century teen's version of "grease"..."high school musical". at first i thought it was a little cheesy...but then i reminded myself that people probably felt that way about sandy, danny, and the gang. i do feel like a pedofile for thinking that zac efron is a cutie...

whew...i just checked...he's 21...

day #299: out of this world

2009-01-20T13:59:00.000-08:00

school was cancelled today due to snow (what a joke...not even an inch) and we had a lazy day at home. i tore myself away from mariokart and played mario galaxy. those wii controllers take some getting used to!

day #298: whoa, baby!

2009-01-19T18:42:00.001-08:00

despite the cold and snowy weather, we stopped at the new river high gorge bridge overlook. we actually had to climb over the fence because it was locked, but it was so worth it! the view and the bridge are amazing! we're making plans to come back to the area to go white water rafting this spring or summer.

day #297: let's try this again

2009-01-18T18:29:00.000-08:00

several years ago, my hubby, BIL, and hubby's BFF went skiing at hawk's nest in NC. FYI: if you want to go where the skiing is great, don't go to hawk's nest. it's tiny! besides that, we also were too cheap to take a ski lesson...we just thought we'd figure it out on our own. yea...let's just say that we spent more time on our butts than our feet.

this time we headed to winterplace in WV. (the same place we tubed yesterday). we were amazed at how big it was...and there was fresh snow which made it even better. and this time...we took a ski lesson. our instructor was art, an older gentleman, and he was good. we actually felt comfortable on the bunny slope and headed up a ski lift to a REAL beginner slope. *note: the boys hated it*

we enjoyed tubing so much yesterday that we paid the extra money to add on 2 hours of tubing today, so we did that from 3-5. it was a nice break from the pain of ski boots!

after tubing, i managed to convince the boys to put their boots back on and we night skiied. oh it was so beautiful because it snowed again! i felt like we were in a snow globe!

day #296: kinda like human bowling

2009-01-17T18:20:00.000-08:00

this morning we got up bright and early and headed to west virginia. my hubby, his BFF, his brother, and i went snow tubing. it was soooooo fun! the first 2 times i sat in the tube, but the last 3 times i laid on my stomach...which is amazing because up until earlier this year (when i did a new thing), i'd never gone down a slide head first. you go so fast that sometimes you almost knock people over at the end of the slide!

the sad thing is that we paid $30 and only went down 5 times...partly because the line was so long and partly because we had on tennis shoes and our feet got frozen. i think mine were on the verge of frost bite because when we went inside, my foot felt like it was in a fire...i swear! the ski patrol came over to make sure that i was ok because i was crying!

day #295: how many licks part II

2009-01-16T19:45:00.001-08:00

if you aren't familiar with part I of this new thing, a few months ago i found out about a contest on the tootsie roll website (who knew there was such a thing?!) where you guessed the answer to the old question. apparently my guess was wrong.

and as easy as this new thing seems, i have been putting it off over and over again. today i decided to do it with my 3rd period...i passed out a sucker to each student and asked them to participate...i counted how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop.
while we did it we talked about the different variables that would affect the actual count. it took me 650 licks to get to a bit of tootsie roll...i didn't wait to see how much longer it would take to reveal the whole thing.

day #294: HOA

2009-01-15T17:33:00.001-08:00

not to give too much away, but i read the home owner's association rule manual thingy. my favorites:

chainlink fences are prohibited. in fact, all fences MUST be white vinyl and not over 6 feet tall.
no more than 1 doghouse is allowed on any lot.
no above ground pools.
no portable basketball goals and permanent ones can't be within 15 feet of the street.
no wraps, decoration, or decorative mailboxes are allowed.
all projects should be completed within 30 days of start date.
no satellite dishes larger than 24 inches and they cannot be visible from the street.
no statues, fountains, or figurines in the front or side yards.
seasonal house decorations must be removed within 30 days of the holiday and Christmas lights are not permitted before Thanksgiving.

for those of you who don't live in the south, you might not realize why some of these rules are necessary...TRUST ME...i'm glad they are in writing! i know it sounds like a lot of rules, but i don't want to live in a trashy neighborhood!

day #293: not quite a contortionist

2009-01-14T15:02:00.000-08:00

i have a girl in my PE class who is so funny...and she really isn't even trying to be funny. she's been begging me to bring a workout video for her to do. i just happened to get the new biggest loser DVDs for Christmas, so today i did yoga with my PE class. i didn't force them...there were about 6 girls and 1 guy (!) who did it and we had a good time.
i also was asked to help out a fellow teacher during my planning period and i obliged. i scored theater students on their 1 minute monologues. most were not nearly dramatic enough, and one girl even read from a paper, but my favorite was a girl doing the character of the mom in "home alone" part 1 when she's begging the airline to get her home.

day #292: biggie biggie biggie can't you see...

2009-01-13T14:59:00.000-08:00

that huge ol' TV starin' back at me?
if you hadn't guessed why we needed a new entertainment center, it's because we bought a new TV. tonight i finally watched a show on our new TV. i'm also sad to say that i also watched a girl with no self respect try out for "american idol" wearing a bikini.

day #291: almost like a car lot

2009-01-12T14:55:00.000-08:00

have you ever gone to buy furniture in a real furniture show room? man...you can tell those people are on commission!
over the weekend we bought a nice looking entertainment center from best buy...but it had to be assembled and let's just say that didn't go very well. they actually gave us our money back with no hassle at all (that's a miracle). we hit up rooms to go first and they were having an AWESOME clearance sale...but we're not in the market for a house full of new furniture just yet.
although we found a nice piece, we decided to also check out a competitor. i shopped at ashley furniture (and we actually bought it from there).
overall i like the furntire at R2G much better.

day #290: "slice like a ninja, cut like a {roller} blade"

2009-01-11T14:44:00.000-08:00

lyrics from "ice ice baby" if you didn't know...
when i was in middle school i LOVED to go to the skating rink on a friday night. i was actually pretty good...and all the cute boys hung out there...and when vanilla ice came on, everyone got up. although i have ice skated, i have never trusted myself with 4 wheels in a row.
while at target (i need to send them a thank you for being a part of so many of my new things...but then they might send security guards around looking for people like me just trying to have a cheap-er, free-thrill), i decided to put on my big girl panties and rollerbladed in the store. it actually wasn't very difficult...and that was even with them secured together (which they probably do to deter people from trying them out in the store). i actually might buy a pair...they are only $40.

day #289: super model and super food

2009-01-10T20:41:00.000-08:00

ha...those things don't usually go together...but today they did. we are looking to buy a house this summer and today we went driving around to look at some houses on the market. then we decided to look at a brand new neighborhood that is being built. we toured a model home and absolutely positively LOVED IT! i'm praying this works out!!!
we also decided to use a gift card. it was for carabba's, but we like olive garden better, so we decided to try another restaurant. we ate at bonefish grill and oh man it was amazing! my mom and i shared the crab cakes and crunchy coconut shrimp. WOW. the waiter was super nice...and even though my hubby ordered salmon, he didn't like it...so the guy didn't make him pay for it! of course we left him a really big tip :)

day #288: the most awesome feeling...and dessert

2009-01-09T20:47:00.000-08:00

today my husband received a large portion of his inheritance, so we paid off all of our credit cards.

yes, i'm serious...and it feels so amazing! i cut several of the cards up and hopefully the rest of them will keep their 0 balance for a long time.

we also ate at mimi's cafe which was very good...especially the s'mores (pictured above).

day #287: i sound so important

2009-01-08T20:23:00.000-08:00

back in the spring one of my new things was to judge the graduation projects at a neighboring school. now that we have seniors, we have graudation presentations also but teachers can't grade any from their own school. therefore, i was a facilitator in a room. basically i told the judges what to do, timed the presentations, and made sure everything went smoothly.

day #286: you kill it, we grill it

2009-01-07T17:20:00.000-08:00

as mentioned in a previous post, my dad loves to hunt...and he loves to cook venison. he always puts a little oil in a skillet and browns it. today i actually grilled deer meat on the george foreman. i wasn't sure how it would taste, but it was really good. my dad would be so proud :)

day #285: do not pass go, do not collect $2 million

2009-01-06T18:00:00.000-08:00

while doing research about fundraising ideas, i came across the idea to have a MONOPOLY tournament. i have absolutely no desire to do that, but i also came across an online version of the game you can play. i played MONOPOLY (the here and now version) against the computer and actually won on my first try! it's actually pretty boring, but i do like the names of the properties...not your usual boardwalk and park place. and the money values are ridiculously higher.

day #284: boob tube

2009-01-05T17:59:00.000-08:00

i'm so ashamed at my new things today:
i watched "the city" which is a spin-off from "the hills" (which i absolutely love!)
i also watched "rock of love" which i will never watch again. those women are so trashy!

day #283: i made this all by myself through xtranormal.com!

2009-01-04T17:52:00.000-08:00

day #282: if i close my eyes...

2009-01-03T20:19:00.000-08:00

i can imagine myself at rockefeller center. well, that's what i did when i ice skated outdoors in downtown charlotte. it was really crowded, but we had a good time.

while we were in the heart of the city, we witnessed a protest...a real, live protest. there was a huge group of people with shirts, flags, posters, bullhorns...the whole 9 yards...and they were protesting against israel. i was not happy...i definitely wanted to voice my opinion, but my husband made me be quiet.

day #281: when you wish upon a {hero}

2009-01-02T10:38:00.000-08:00

i stole this idea from someone else...
there's an awesome website called wishuponahero.com where you can either submit or grant wishes. today i signed up to grant wishes.
i also finally organized birthday cards into a folder so that each month i can just pull out the card, stamp it, and put it in the mail. i've never been good about sending cards to family members, so this year i'm going to do it.

day #280: a new playing field

2009-01-01T10:35:00.000-08:00

i got my hubby some new disks for disk golf, so we went to a new disk golf course to play. it wasn't marked very well...i think we'll stick to our other one.
we also played a new game called "the big taboo". it's like regular taboo but with drawing and a weird puppet that you can use to act out words. it's a lot of fun!

day #279: out with a bang

2008-12-31T10:25:00.000-08:00

my hubby's BFF came in to visit and we wanted to do something fun for new year's. usually we stay home or visit with friends, but this year we decided to go out. we went to Charlotte's first night celebration which consisted of mini events at different venues down town. the venues weren't clearly marked, the shows didn't run on time, and it was freezing outside...but we still had a good time. we actually left at about 11:30 to beat the traffic and watched the ball drop in time's square on TV.

the highlight of the events was an artist named david garibaldi who paints to the beat of awesome music. check him out on youtube.

we also ate at fuel pizza which i'd heard is the best pizza in Charlotte. it was really yummy!

day #278: RIP bambi

2008-12-30T12:48:00.000-08:00

my dad loves to hunt. for as long as i can remember i have never really understood why anyone would sit in the woods for hours and be completely quiet just praying that a deer would come by so that they could kill it.
even when i gave in and tried venison for the first time (and loved it), i still didn't get the whole "sport" of it. *disclaimer: i still do not think of hunting as a sport*
however, one of my female students (who is more like my little sister) is a hunter and a few weeks ago she shot her first buck. i was impressed! i've always wanted to shoot a gun anyways, so why not just go all the way and try my hand at hunting?
katie's parents own a TON of land that they hunt on, so hubby and i got dressed up in sweat pants and inside-out green shirts (we don't own camouflage anything) and went out to the farm at about 3. that gave us enough time to get familiar with the gun and get settled in the woods.
first up: i shot a rifle. i was nervous, but i was just shooting at a target. i actually did really well (just below the bull's eye).
next up: we trekked into the woods and i sat in a tree stand. it wasn't the kind you have to climb a ladder to get into...it's actually a great set up because it's up on a hill that looks down onto a creek and a deer feeder in an slightly open area. anyways, we got there around 4 and sat and sat and sat. i actually prayed that a deer would come so i could have my shot...my dad would be so impressed! at 4:30 we heard a gun shot...and seconds later, katie's brother called to say he'd shot a deer.
we stayed until it was too dark to see and then headed out.
i was really disappointed, but at least i know i can do it again if i ever want to. (i'm actually thinking about getting my hunting license).
when we got back to the farm katie's brother was there with his button head buck (the antlers weren't through completely). just to get the full experience of hunting, i watched them skin and gut the deer. it was really gross...if i ever got a deer i'd have to get someone else to do the dirty work.
today really showed me that i need to be open-minded.

day #277: it's fun to stay at the Y

2008-12-29T12:44:00.000-08:00

my hubby's co-worker gave him some guest passes to the YMCA. we've only been to one other Y (also using guest passes LOL) and although we liked it, we decided to join peak fitness. in the past year we have grown to hate peak, so today we used guest passes to go to the Y closest to our house (about 3 miles away). we were very impressed and they are running a no joining fees special until the end of january, so we will probably take advantage of that as soon as we get out of our contract with peak.
while at the Y i also used a new piece of cardio equipment which was sort of like an elliptical, but without the cycling motion. kind of like doing high knees without the pounding on the ground. it was a great workout...can't wait to incorporate it into my training!

day #276: share the love

2008-12-28T12:42:00.000-08:00

everyone who knows me knows that i LOVE moe's southwest grill. since my friend had never been there, i took melissa to moe's.
i also had to work tonight and i rang up one of my co-workers from my real job. at first i didn't think she recognized me. she definitely acted a little weird...hmm.

day #275: kickin' some game

2008-12-27T12:39:00.000-08:00

one of my friends is visiting from out of town so we figured it would be a great time to try out some new games we got the other day for 50% off. (in one of those seasonal calendar stores). we played imaginiff and bonehead. i liked imaginiff A LOT...it's a cross between apples to apples (another fave of mine) and true colors (a game you've probably never heard of).

day #274: sign me up

2008-12-26T12:37:00.000-08:00

ugggg...today's new thing was HORRIBLE. during our BBW floorset, i was in charge of marketing. basically i had to search through mounds of paper looking for "50% off" or "buy 2 get 2 free" signs to put up around the store. i NEVER want to do that again!

day #273: lazy day

2008-12-25T11:22:00.000-08:00

every year robert and i have a crazy routine. he spends the night at his mom's house and i spend the night at my parents' house. we exchange gifts with our own families and then i meet his family at his grandparents' house for lunch. afterwards we go to his mom's house for presents, then to my parents' house for more presents and dinner.
it would be different if we had kids, but since we don't we want to make sure our parents still get to spend a lot of time with us.
this eyar was different. since we aren't talking to his family right now, we just stayed at my dad's the whole time. we actually did not take a shower or leave the house on Christmas day. even in high school i'd go visit friends or see the premier of a movie. not today though...
my dad drove us crazy...i think next year robert and i will go somewhere far far away all by ourselves.

day #272: fireman in training

2008-12-24T11:18:00.000-08:00

it has always freaked me out when someone uses their fingers to put out a candle flame. tonight i overcame that fear at the Christmas Eve church service. we always form a circle and go around the circle lighting each other's candles and then sing "silent night". when we were done i licked my fingers and extinguished the candle with my fingers. it actually didn't hurt at all.

day #271: shot at love

2008-12-23T11:16:00.000-08:00

i absolutely adore those little shot desserts they have at chili's and applebee's. they are just the right size and you can have more than one flavor if it fancies you. tonight i tried the red velvet cake shot...mmmm...so good!

day #270: cuts and burn(er)s

2008-12-22T11:11:00.000-08:00

since i work at bath & body works i'm used to being in rooms that smell really good. in our apt we've always used wallflowers (scented plug-ins) and candles, but i've realized that BBW smells so good because of the oils we burn. we had cute oil burners on sale a few weeks ago, so i got one...and today we finally burned oil...and oh it scented the WHOLE apartment! the cinnamon is very strong, so i think we might test some other scents.
i also had another crazy (accidental) new thing happen today. as a child i was pretty lucky not to ever break bones or get hurt too badly...but today i was pushing a bottom drawer in on our game cabinet and a large picture frame that was balancing on top fell over. i cut my head open. luckily it wasn't bad enough for stitches, but it throbbed and bled. then i went to work at BBW for 5 hours. (i tried calling in, but 4 people didn't show so they really needed me).

day #269: two-wheeled test drive

2008-12-21T11:07:00.000-08:00

while shopping at target today we saw some cute pink bikes on display. they were so cute that i hopped on a bike and rode it around the store. it's been a while since i've ridden and it wasn't easy going down those narrow aisles...especially with shopping carts around!

day #268: what did the girl mushroom say to the boy mushroom?

2008-12-20T11:04:00.000-08:00

you're a fun-gi!
LOL...i love that old joke
robert and i went back to his dad's house for dinner today. his dad is an awesome cook! we had baked potatoes, grilled steak, green beans, and for the first time i ate mushrooms. they were soaked in some special sauce and sauteed...and when eaten with a biteful of steak everything tasted wonderful! robert even ate them and liked them too (and he is the pickiest eater ever!)

day #267: artist in training

2008-12-19T11:02:00.001-08:00

right before i went to sleep, i picked up a pencil and pad of paper and sketched my nightstand. it looked pitiful. i'd like to scan it and upload it to here, but i need to figure out how. (i guess that can be a new thing sometime soon).