We also purchase a new rolling island and a nice new bookshelf for the living room/kitchen space. We sure have crammed a lot of furniture into this place, but it's very homey, we've been enjoying the necessary 'purging,' and it's been a whole lot of fun nesting and making this our new home. Our new kitchen table and stools arrived today. Ian built them while I cooked dinner.
Part of the project was dealing with all of our PAPER. Apparently, Ian and I love paper more than we love.. other things (?). Stacks of old college notes, psychology and philosophy articles, personality quizzes (sure, I admit this is a phase I went through in high-school and I've sort of hung on to a lot of things), etc. We also dug out THE GRAND RECIPE PROJECT, a binder I started to consolidate our 40+ cooking magazine recipes that were worth keeping. This was started at the beginning of our relationship, and after a brief and enthusiastic burst of activity, was dispersed in depressing piles of recipes, magazines, and piles of copied cooking tips about the Ann Arbor apartment. Now, faced with zero room for extra clutter (new family motto: if it doesn't have a home, it goes!), I was faced with the necessity of finishing my long-abandoned projects.
I am proud to report that as of tonight, I've tumbled through dozens of copies of Cooking Light, Vegetarian Times (rather forgettable, sorry veggie dudes), Bon Apetit, Gourmet, and America's Test Kitchen / Best Recipe magazines and brought together a finished project. It's huge, thick, and organized by a crazed sure-I-can-find-this-again optimist, but it's done and on our shelf with all of our other cookbooks.
Speaking of cookbooks, I saw the most beautiful cookbook in Crazy Wisdom a few nights ago. First, let me defend myself being in Crazy Wisdom, the scary New Age shop of incense hell. We met up with some friends at ABC for a birthday celebration of sorts, and needed to work off the Framboise before trekking home. Crazy Wisdom was the only store that sold books within a 6 block radius that was open, and our defenses were down.
Anyways, we walked in the door and I saw this:
Can we all take a moment to breathe? Seriously. SERIOUSLY.
I'm in love?
I've been told (ahem) that if I still really want this cookbook in... negative three days ago, someone (ahem, again) would buy it for me. Someone who really likes it when his lady surprises him with delicious (cough) fruit desserts.
- - -
Well, I have one week of work left in my normal, full-time schedule. I'll then have one week working part time before my semester starts at Eastern University. As I've been telling my clients that I'm transitioning into a part time position (so if they call and I'm not there, they don't freak), I've been asked again and again, "What, are you like, having a baby?"
No. I am not pregnant. To you, my clients, who I have a strictly over-the-phone relationship with, and to my anxious cube-mates, whom have seen me put on about 10 pounds since the wedding three months ago. I'm not pregnant, I'm just really lazy and my breasts are overwhelming all on their own (oh, that I could tame the girls!).
Anyways, back to work: I saw a job posting for an Ann Arbor counselor position, working under my old manager - I think he liked me? I wrote him an email, has he thought about a part-time counselor as he already has one full-timer in the office. He wrote back, hadn't considered it but let's interview and chat. Sooo... suddenly I have an interview scheduled for Monday. Me and... ten other candidates. BUT... I have been the performing well in my current position, would be an asset to a manager as a part-time employee doesn't have a benefit package and so is cheaper to employ, I would still be working 20-30 hours weekly, and he's worked with me before and knows I'm consistent and a fast learner. I'm really crossing my fingers for this. It would be awesome to have a shorter commute, more regular hours (what, no late nights?), and be able to do face-to-face counseling instead of over the phone, which can be challenging.
Certainly my current position has benefits as well, in that there is more scheduling flexibility, my current plan only involves driving over 2 days a week (two ten-hour days), and I can wear jeans. I think I'll be happy either way, and my lovely, lovely husband is so terribly flexible and supportive, so we'll make it work, whatever happens.
- - -
I had mentioned above gaining back almost all the weight I lost before the wedding. Bummer, huh?
So, starting this Monday, some changes:
- Really avoiding eating out. Ian and I have been less conscientious than we have been in the past about our eating habits, in that if I'm late coming home from work or we're tired, we're much more likely to drive somewhere and get food instead of making it. Expensive and unhealthy. Also, we have this great farm share right now and haven't been using all of our vegetables and fruits before they had south, a travesty! So, avoiding eating out, unless it's a special occasion.
- Regular exercise. There is a great facility, Ypsi Studio, a few blocks from our apartment. They offer yoga, pilates, zumba, kickboxing, spinning, etc. Their schedules change a bit week to week, but I'm planning to start a few classes when I can. I'm especially excited about the prospect of kickboxing again, love it!
- Tracking calories. Super boring, right? But if I don't, I just eat too much, I'm terrible with portion sizes or telling myself no when I want something. Plus, since I'm so short, I'm really only supposed to have 1600-1700 calories daily to maintain current weight, which is hard to stay within if you're not careful.
I have to say, I guess I've realized that I was slipping back into old habits after coming back and let it happen. I have a lot of resentment that I really have to work so hard against my body to be in a healthy weight range and to look how I want to. Perhaps a deeper issue that needs be dealt with in all of this? Accepting genetics and that I do have to work harder than some of my friends or co-workers to be in a healthy place.
Well it's almost one in the morning now, and we woke up before 7:00 am today, so time to read and drift off to sleep. (Currently working on The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson. Good so far!)
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