Book Club Night!

Book Club is the highlight of the month. After all the blah you know you have something to look forward to coming up. Book club goes like this... the hostess of the month picks the book and the place we go, we have dinner then discuss. Our book club is a small manageable number with a nice spread of ages and life experiences so everyone brings something different to the table.

We have discovered that it isn't really the book that makes the club it is the discussions we have. Since this discovery we have decided to rate the book prior to discussion then again after the discussion, because the discussion has been know to kind of boost the quality of the book.

This month we met at our hostess's house and we all brought something to eat. Delish, too much for us all. We got to sit outside enjoy this awesome weather [thank you mother nature.. you finally heard us!] and enjoy a nice Bud Light Lime and some margaritas! Thank you hostess for a great night!

So as you can tell by the picture this months book was Swine Not? by Jimmy Buffett [hence the margaritas]... yes Jimmy Buffet writes books.. who knew. So how was it you ask, well...
  

10 Things: That Prove Spring Has Arrived in GC

Small towns have their own way of letting you know that Spring has officially arrived... Here's 10

- First spotting of a riding lawn mower cruising down the road

- Cars are now parked with keys in-windows down instead of running to keep warm
- The skateboard punks are in full force
- Cars are parked at the North Park
- Dogs are crapping in the front yard
- There was a GC traffic jam (3 cars at a stop sign) while we waited for a family on bikes to cross the street
- Plantin' talk has started
- Gma is getting her garden ready :)
- squirrels are getting squashed :(
- Motorcycles are out! <3

TV Talk: DWTS

I watch entirely too much TV... go ahead judge.

Here is what I'm watching so let's chat...

Monday:

- Dancing with the Stars [abc]

- How I Met Your Mother [cbs]

- Rules of Engagement [cbs]

- Chuck [nbc]

Tuesday:

- Justified [FX] *I'm giving this one a shot*
- Dancing with the Stars [abc]

Wednesday:

- The Middle [nbc]

- Ghost Hunters [syfy]

- Cougar Town [nbc]

- Destination Truth [syfy]

Thursday:

- FlashForward [nbc]

Sunday:

- True Blood [HBO]

Todays review: Dancing with the stars

Pamela Anderson = wtf?! You aren't that hot anymore you seem drunk.. you can go

Aiden Turner = good looks will only get you so far.. you can stay for now

Buzz Aldrin = sorry nice try but I think you are the first to go, we don't have the patience for ya too long. But you're giving it your best

Chad Ochocinco = can't be good at everything.. this will humble you. I give you a few more episodes, we will keep you around to see your chemistry with Cheryl [old lady thinks you two are dancing more than what we see]

Erin Andrews = nothing standing out right now.. you may stay

Evan Lysacek = again you have a skating background so you have a better chance... you could be the sleeper. You may stay

Jake Pavelka = you're a douche

Kate Gosselin = I want to throw you against a wall... [insert tear] "Thank you for not quitting, a lot of people have quite on me in my life." Stop being so whiney, you seem like a stubburn woman. Bless Tony for putting up with you-- I'd rather see you go home than Buzz.

Nicole Scherzinger = I hate to cheer for people who have a strong dance background already, but you seem nice.. you may also stay

Niecy Nash = you have fun and prove bigger girls can party too... you can stay

Shannen Doherty = you look like you are having fun.. you may stay

Just my opinion :)

I Will Miss You My Four Day Weekend

Work was really cramping my style this week so I decided not to partake on Thursday or Friday... best decision ever. While it would have been nice if the weather would have made it completely worth my while, it was completely relaxing and worth it. What did I do you ask? Absolutely nothing, well I watched entirely too many movies but I couldn't help it.

This week's To Do List:
- Continue my one a day blogs [ good job me! ]
- Book Club Wednesday!!!!! <3
- Went to the gym tonight so get back on that wagon and continue to visit
- Finish reading Ladder of Years- it's getting good & has taken far too long
- Enjoy the last days of March-- Spring is just around the corner!

Earth Hour!

On Earth Hour hundreds of millions of people, organizations, corporations and governments around the world will come together to make a bold statement about their concern for climate change by doing something quite simple—turning off their lights for one hour. In the U.S. where we are already feeling the impacts of climate change, Earth Hour sends a clear message that Americans care about this issue and want to turn the lights out on dirty air, dangerous dependency on foreign oil and costly climate change impacts, and make the switch to cleaner air, a strong economic future and a more secure nation.

Participation is easy. By flipping off your lights on March 27th at 8:30 p.m. local time you will be making the switch to a cleaner, more secure nation and prosperous America.

Since its inception three years ago, Earth Hour’s non-partisan approach has captured the world’s imagination and became a global phenomenon. Nearly one billion people turned out for Earth Hour 2009 – involving 4,100 cities in 87 countries on seven continents.

Last year, 80 million Americans and 318 U.S. cities officially voted for action with their light switch, joining iconic landmarks from around the world that went dark for Earth Hour

source: www.earthhour.org

10 Things: To Do Before Turning 30

I had lunch today with an old friend that I haven't seen in awhile. While catching up we discussed that time flies by so fast. It's been almost 6 years since we've been out of High School and so much has changed. Not many people from our class have stayed around the area (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) but so much can change in 6 years. Some of our classmates are married and have children already. Time is literally melting away from us. While we agreed that we don't care that we are getting older, we think that 25 (next year!) is going to hit us in the face a little bit, and not because we are getting older but just because 25 is kind of that benchmark you have in your head. I had many things in mind to have accomplished by 25 and er ah well not quite there which is fine. But 30 will be here in 6 years... here is my list (in no particular order) of 10 things I would like to do before turning 30.

1. Vist another country (England, Ireland, or France)
2. Be debt free
3. Research my family history
4. Road Trip route 66
5. Get a tattoo
6. Throw a dinner party for no reason
7. Learn how to make a properly mixed drink
8. Fall madly in Love
9. Midnight walk on the beach
10. Finish a marathon

Rainy Day Blues

Quotes are probaly on of my most favorite things in the whole world. When I'm feeling a little down or bored I'll sit and search the internet for quotes. I look for quotes that make me feel better or something I think might come in handy some day, it also makes me feel better that sometimes I'm not the only one feeling this way and there is definately comfort in numbers. These are the ones that cheered me up a little bit today.

"Don't rely on someone else for your happiness and self worth. Only you can be responsible for that. If you can't love and respect yourself- no one else will be able to make that happen. Accept who you are- completely; the good and the bad- and make changes as you see fit- not becuase you think someone else wants you to be different."

-- Stacy Charter

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
-- Mark Twain

"The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for"
--Allan K. Chalmers

Lessons Learning

A friend at work gave me this list awhile back. I have it hanging on my desk and find myself staring at it every once in awhile. Some of these things are like duh.. no brainer, but some of them really make you think and make me want to do better with life. I am working on a good start to my "bucket list", things I want to accomplish, see and do in my lifetime.. but this is a good list that we can all focus on for this year.

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water. [ easy enough I drink alot of water ]
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar. [ working on it ]
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants. [ does fried green beans count in that? ]
4. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy [ Eh..]
5. Make time to pray. [ need to more ]
6. Play more games [ board games? ]
7. Read more books than you did in 2009 . [ already done.. thank you book club ]
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day [ I'll add this to the first five minutes of my morning commute ]
9. Sleep for 7 hours.. [ most of the time ]
10. Take a 10-30 minute walk daily. And while you walk, smile. [ I've never understood the concept behind people saying to you "smile" if you meet them in the hall... if I had a smile on my face all the time you'd think I was a crazy person ]


Personality:
11. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about. [this is really ALOT harder than you think ]
12. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment. [ I've been more positive and trying to see the positive in the situation.. good job me! ]
13. Don’t over do. Keep your limits. [check.. couldn't handle 5 work days this week.. PV tomorrow :) ]
14. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does. [ I think someone is reading this, clearly not a problem ]
15. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip. [ define gossip ]
16. Dream more while you are awake [ check.. it's called 7 hrs and 45 mins of work.. dreaming of not being there ]
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.. [ working on this one ]
18. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness. [ can be difficult ]
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others. [ I can strongly dislike ]
20. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present. [ I got no beef with you past ]
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you. [ beginning to figure this out ]
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime. [ really life problems and algebra?! At least with algebra you knew someone had an answer book ]
23. Smile and laugh more. [ every day brings laughter.. thank you work friends ]
24. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree… [ hmmmm ]


Society:
25. Call your family often. [ how about see them instead? ]
26. Each day give something good to others. [ greedy people... isn't my presence enough for you? ]
27. Forgive everyone for everything.. [ whoa whoa whoa.. let's be real here ]
28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6. [ dang the old lady at work isn't quite there... but closer to 70 then 40 since we round up.. ]
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day. [ do I count as one of those ]
30. What other people think of you is none of your business. [ um.. it's about me?! why can't I know ]
31. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch. [ will do ]


Life:
32. Do the right thing! [ but how will I know? ]
33. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful. [ oh but you can make anything useful ]
34. GOD heals everything. [ true dat.. may take some time though ]
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.. [ yes.. and hopefully for the better ]
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up. [ AMEN! ]
37. The best is yet to come.. [ man I sure hope so.. ]
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it. [ Thank you! ]
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy. [on it! ]



Then after reading this it made me take a step back and realize I still have alot of things to learn. One of the best things about our book club is the spread of people we have, older/younger, married/divorced/single, so many different life experiences that we bring to the table. After every book club I always take away something and it gets me thinking and listening to advice.. I'm kind of at a point in my life where I am starting to see things in a completley different way and listening and learning from others and using the great wealth of knowledge they have.

And lo and behold my favorite blog The Frisky had a story "Things We Wish We Knew About Womanhood At Age 18" some of these responses are things I'm just beginning to think about now at 24... always learning something aren't we-- here are some of the ones that stood out to me:

“Once you start working post-graduation, you have 40 more years of it coming, so do not get down on yourself if things don’t happen instantly"

“That you probably won’t have the American Dream by 25 unless your parents arrange a marriage for you and pass down their uber-successful business.”

“Nothing outside of yourself will ultimately make you happy. That all happiness is generated from within and will not come to you through, guys, career, kids, or any life circumstances.”

" It gets way harder to meet new people post-college, so explore and talk to all the new people you can.”

“You will eventually get over your first love who broke your heart so many times ... and many years later you’ll just throw his jail missive in the trash.”

What have you learned, wish you had know at a younger age or know you are still learning?

Don't Get It

Today's List of Things I Don't Get...

- guys in girl jeans

- girls in skinny jeans

- grown-ups who smoke pot

- people who cheat

- Farmville

- why guys and girls can't be friends

- why cat ladies get a bad wrap and there are dog ladies just as crazy

- why I'm not in Florida with my brother and sister :(

- beer bongs

- Twitter

- girls on the bachelor/bachelorette
- how the day begins at 28 degrees and ends in 66
- politics

Shouldn't Falling Hurt?

I was always under the impression that falling off of something would hurt. Seems to be the case that perhaps every fall does not merit pain.. well at first anyway. I have indeed fallen off the wagon. I blame girl scout cookies for the initial stumble, and delicious Cadbury cream eggs and their mini-companions for the heave over the side.

A few folks at work have been being big losers... or trying at least. After the terrible terrible event of the great tonsil ejection I lost about ten pounds :) My first goal was to not gain that back, which I thought would be really hard.. I went from eating nothing to eating regular food and my sis and I had been going to the gym pretty regularly, and I kept it off pretty good. Then the girl scout cookies came along, and I tripped a little. Then working the early shift made me a little bit tired and the gym wasn't such a priority. Then came the evil pizza and Easter candy and that my friends was the straw that broke this camel's back and off the wagon I went.

While the carnage is not as bad as it could have been.. a bruised ego and back to where I started weight wise, I guess I'll be ok. Pull myself up by the boot straps, dust myself off, and hop back up on that there wagon. Not gonna lie there may be a few more cadbury eggs and a peep or two, but as soon as I get my butt back in the gym I think I'll be on the right direction again. A month left until our contest ends, I may not end up being the biggest loser, but I hope to be a loser none the less. So onward we go, we aren't circling those wagons just yet.