As is tradition with me, here is my new years resolutions posting for the upcoming year. I've managed to keep my list to only four, although there are many more things I'd like to improve upon in my life. However, these are the major things that I'm going to work hard on in 2007.
Eat healthier. This has always been my downfall. I was always a chubby child, not because I wasn't active, but because my parents always had junk food in the house, and I never learned how to make healthy choices. Now, the temptation is just too great. However, I'm going to try my hardest to start eating better, not only to feel better, but I'd like to lose the weight I've gained back this year and fit back in to my "skinny" jeans. ;) I know looks aren't everything, but I just have more confidence when I feel like I look my best. Armed with lots of healthy cutout recipes from magazines and a shopping list, not only will I begin eating better, I'll also learn how to cook better too. ^__^
Exercise more. Between May of 2004 and April of this year, I lost nearly 40lbs by working out and eating (slightly) better. Since April (when I got with Matt, haha), my frequent work outs have started to slip from 5 times a week, to maybe 1 or 2. I miss the feeling I get after a good workout, and seeing my body transform itself after several weeks of good cardio and strength training work outs. I've gained some of the weight I lost back, and thus have been feeling less than confident about myself. My goal for 2007 is to start working out more frequently again, not only to look better, but to feel better and be healthier in general.
Try something new. There are so many things on my lifelong "to do list" that I've not yet done, and even though I'm only 22 years old, I feel like I need to get going on some of them. Soooo, one of my goals for this year is to try something new, whether that be taking a dancing class, trying yoga out, taking a cake decorating class, learn to knit or crochet or weave bracelets (thanks Lauren!), or learn to write in calligraphy. I just need to try something, because there's so many things I want to do in life, but I don't think I'll ever have enough lifetime to do them all. Time to get started!
Manage my money. This is something I've normally always been good at, but lately, I feel like my spending is spinning out of control. Part of it, I think, was the fact that Matt was jobless the entire year, so any time we wanted to go out, I had to foot the bill, which was pretty much every Friday and Saturday. I ended up charging a lot on my credit cards, which I did always pay on time and in full, but I hate using credit cards, and I hate living paycheck to paycheck. The fact that my rent has gone up almost $150/month since Matt and Josh left over the summer hasn't helped either. Therefore, my last goal for 2007 is to stop impulse buying, shop smarter, and try to put aside a little each paycheck into my savings account, which is currently at $0.
Does anyone else have any new years resolutions? I'll be in Texas on New Years Eve this year, which I'm terribly excited about because it will be our first New Years together, as well as my first New Years kiss. ^__^ I can't wait!!!
Happy New Years everyone -- I hope your year will be a happy, memorable, and prosperous one.
Show us someone you can't wait to see.
I was a little sad, though, because Matt was stuck in Georgia for work. He was supposed to come back this morning, but they shut Denver International down for the next day or two, so his flight got canceled. They told him the next flight he could get to Denver wouldn't be until the 27th, so he opted to fly straight to Dallas instead. But now his dad has to go to the airport to get Matt's car and drive it down to him before Christmas. I'm the only one with a spare key to his apartment, and the only spare key to his car is inside his apartment. Needless to say, I'm a little stressed, because I doubt I'm going to be able to get his dad the key anytime soon.
Despite this snow storm, my break so far has been great. I spent the weekend at Matt's apartment before coming home to my parent's house on Monday morning. Saturday night we went to his work's Christmas party, which was a blast. It was all the free food and drinks you could want at a bar called Fox & Hound, which was quite impressive. I had a lot of fun, and discovered that I really, really enjoy cranberry vodkas. I usually hate vodka, but I really enjoyed that drink -- I had a few of them. ;)
And Sunday... we went and had lunch at Qdoba, and then headed over to the mall and browsed around Borders for about half an hour before heading over to the movie theater and catching a showing of Apocalypto. It was an excellent movie... very gory in some scenes, but a great story overall, and a wonderful visual experience. I spent the rest of the night baking some Oreo Balls for us to eat. ;)
I hope all of you are having a great Christmas and holiday season. I've been really behind on commenting on everyone's blogs, but I'll try to catch up here shortly. You're all in my thoughts. *hugs*
Now, if only this snow will melt.
I feel so lucky to have so many kind and wonderful friends who all made my birthday so great. *sigh* I love them all, and am so grateful to have them in my life. Right as I was leaving work on Tuesday, my boss, Linda, brought out a big chocolate cake and all my coworkers sang Happy Birthday. ^__^ I wasn't expecting it, since no one else really got a cake this year (budget cuts, wah!). It was really sweet of them. I got to bring a lot of it home, too! I still have half a cake that needs to be eaten. Hehe, I can take care of that, I'm sure.
When I got home I found several surprises waiting for me in the mailbox... two letters from my dear sister, and a package from the one and only Lauren! Thank you to you both, they were all really sweet. *hugs*
Our dinner was fabulous as well (the waitress gave me a free beer since it was my birthday too, hehe), and I was really sad the night had to end. I love having all my friends together at once and just feeling totally lucky and loved like I did that night (I still do). Plus, the atmosphere was great... fairly dark with white twinkle lights everywhere and a little gas light on our table... *sigh* It's definitely a birthday I'll always remember. I'm still on an emotional happy high from it.
This morning I had breakfast with my friend Karina to see her one last time before she left for back home to Brazil. She surprised me with an adorable photo frame with a picture of us in it. I've always told her how cute her room is with all the pictures and frames she has around it with her family and friends, and how I needed to make my room more interesting and cute like hers. ^__^ She's just an all around sweet person, I'm so happy to have met her this school year.
I'm so lucky to have all my friends. Even without all the sweet gifts, they're all very special to me and I hope they all know how much I appreciate them. Also, thank you very much to everyone here to wished me a happy day. It made my day that much more special. *hugs*
My holiday baking last night was great. I had so much fun making everything with my new bread and muffin pans! I made mini cupcakes, big cupcakes (because I didn't want to make 80 mini ones to use up all the batter!), and some mini banana bread loafs. I'm giving almost everything away to friends and coworkers, since I don't need to have all those sweets laying around anyway. I just love to bake and decorate. :D It was a really nice way to destress after taking my Software Development Methods final, which was nothing to stress about -- I thought it was really easy, and the cheat sheet we were allowed to have really helped me with the multiple choice. I'm just curious as to what my grade will be in the class, which we probably won't know for another week. One final down, two more to go.
Tonight Matt is driving up and them him, Steve, Kelsey, Karina, and I are going to go to Coopersmiths for dinner. He keeps bugging me about my birthday present and what he got me... he said it has to do with one of the 5 senses, which could pretty much be anything. At least I won't have to wait much longer, hehe. I love surprises, but they also bug the hell out of me! It's going to be a fun night, I love having ALL my friends together at once, and that rarely ever happens. Plus I'm excited for Matt and Steve and Kelsey to all meet Karina, since they haven't before. :)
After dinner... it's home to study for the rest of the night. Literally... the whole night. My hardest final is my Operating Systems final which is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 9am, and I have so much I need to study for. It almost seems hopeless, but I'm going to do what I can. I guess I should have been studying instead of baking last night, but I needed a break since I had been doing it all day. But I can do it... I'll put on a (huge) pot of my favorite coffee and turn my computer off (it's a major distraction) and go through all my study guides from past exams. Only a few more days until break...
As for my baking photos, I tried to make them look better in Photoshop like Lauren does in hers, so here is my first attempt. Let's hope I get better. ;)
Ah, I've missed my Vox blog! I've been extremely busy the last week with the last week of classes (I'm officially done with classes now!) and getting ready for finals. My jobs has been keeping me busy as well, so I haven't had time to blog at work like I usually do, hehe.
Despite all the craziness of the last week, I did manage to have an excellent weekend. Friday was my last day of classes, and I also got my final grade back for my asp.net project -- 97%. ^__^ She also gave us our final grades in the class, and I was happy to see that I received an A! Needless to say, I was happy about it, since I worked my butt off in that class. After class I drove down to Matt's apartment for the weekend. We ate dinner at Saltgrass once more as an early birthday dinner for me, which again was excellent as usual, except for the horrid wait we had to do this time. It was almost an hour before we got seated. We don't plan on going back there again anytime soon.
Saturday afternoon Matt and I went shopping for some more essentials for his apartment that he had yet to buy... a can opener, a bath mat, tupperware, some coat hangers... ;) We went to Linens 'N Things (one of my favorite stores!) and walked around in there for a good hour, where he got a toaster oven. It's funny how much stuff you realize you need once you move out on your own. Later that night we went to Best Buy because he wanted to give me an early birthday present (my real birthday isn't until tomorrow)... the Final Fantasy III DS game I've been wanting. :D I was so excited to play it, I could hardly wait to get home. However, we went and picked up some Chinese food at Heaven Dragon first. It's one of the best Chinese places in Denver. President Bush orders takeout there everytime he's in Colorado, as do lots of the senators on Capitol Hill, heh. My family has been going there since we moved to Colorado... about 16 years ago! But anyways, we went home and ate and I played my new game for a few hours while he worked on some database stuff for work. I love my new game... it's taking a lot of will power not to play it and instead study for finals. :X
This past weekend was wonderful... I'm sad it had to end. I went down to Matt's apartment Friday after class, and once I got there we immediately left for Saltgrass. As always, it was delicious, but him and I are definitely going to have to find a different place to spend our Friday nights, as it's sort of pricey.
Saturday we went and saw The Fountain, which confused the hell out of me, but it made more sense after I came home and read about it. The movie itself was visually stunning, and I loved the soundtrack -- it's serene, violent, peaceful... so many feelings in each song. I uploaded one of my favorites from the sountrack, titled "Tree of Life" for anyone who is interested. The violins are absolutely beautiful. However, if anyone goes to see this movie, I would recommend reading the book first or reading up about it at the wikipedia site. I think if I watch it again (which I will) I'll appreciate the movie much more.
After the movie we went and got some chinese takeout and brought it back to his apartment. He did some programming while I watched The Long Kiss Goodnight. Silly me, I thought it was going to be a romance or a romantic comedy (I judged it by it's title) but it was more of a drama/thriller. The movie reminded me a lot of A History of Violence, with a slightly different theme. But, I've always been a fan of Geena Davis and even though it wasn't what I was expecting, I thought the movie was good.
Sunday we slept in late and then went and had breakfast (it was actually lunch) at The Egg and I. Afterwards I helped him clean up his place and I decorated his Christmas tree for him. :) Ha, if everyone hasn't noticed by now, I love Christmas trees. They're the best part of Christmas! I think even if I didn't celebrate Christmas, I'd put up a tree, just because it brings so much joy and life to the house.
And that was my weekend! It was incredibly relaxing and fun, and I think Matt and I are definitely appreciating each other more now that we only get to see each other 2 days of the week. He was very sweet and attentive this weekend, which I loved. *sigh* Only a few more days until the weekend. At least it's the last week of classes! Now I just need to finish this asp.net project...
Scrubs last night was awesome. I was a little disappointed because I thought the season premiere was going to be an hour, but it was only a half hour. Oh well, I still loved it. It's the only show I'll ever make time to watch on TV, all the other ones I just wait until the DVD comes out, heh. I also watched The Da Vinci Code the other night, which I thought was great. I can see why a lot of people may not have liked it, especially for those who didn't read the book, but I did, and I thought both were fantastic. Obviously, the book was better, but for having to tell such a complex story in 2 hours, well, the movie did a great job.
Plans with Kelsey tonight fell threw so I'm heading down to Matt's place right after class this afternoon. I think we're going to go to Saltgrass again and get some more Texas teas. :D Then just relax, I hope. It's been a really stressful week. I still have to work on my asp.net project over the weekend while I'm at his place, but at least I can still hang out with him. I miss him not living at the house anymore.
I had lunch at Jimmy John's with Steve today. It was delicious, as always. Kelsey got me hooked on that place, and it's oh-so-convenient that there's one just blocks away from my work. I usually don't take lunches at my new work, but it's Friday so I thought I'd treat myself.
Only one more week of classes and a week of finals and I'm out of school for a month, and off work for 2 weeks, woohoo!
The season premiere of Scrubs season 6 airs tonight in 45 minutes, I can't wait! I almost forgot about it too... good thing I added it to my Google calendar, hehe. Too bad I don't have Matt's nice big TV to watch it on, instead I'll have to use Steve's 13" TV instead. Oh well, Scrubs is Scrubs, no matter what you watch it on. ^__^
Snow Day! Well, sorta. I called into work today because I'm still not feeling the best, and also partially because I didn't want to drive in the snow. Driving on snowy roads in my little Honda scares me like none other. Driving home from dinner last night took me about 35 minutes when it should have taken me 15 just because I was driving so slow, yet people were still passing me by and driving like crazy people. My hands were white-knuckled by the time I got home, heh. I need to get some sort of SUV or Jeep when I get a new car, even though they guzzle more gas. It's just a better car to have when you live in Colorado.
Anyhow, as promised... a picture of my lovely Christmas tree. It didn't come out very well -- I really need to invest in a new camera with better zoom and then learn how to take proper photos. But I'm very happy with how the tree came out, it totally lights up the living room and makes it feel more like home. :)
Yesterday was Kelsey's birthday, so I met up with her and some of her other friends at Olive Garden last night to celebrate. It was a lot of fun, I only knew 1 other person but got to know a few other people and had a lot of fun chatting and eating good food. Before dinner I went over to the Barnes & Noble's across the street and read for a bit with a Starbucks peppermint mocha to kill time before dinner, since I didn't want to drive home in the snow and then all the way over to dinner. Driving home was the only bad part about the night. Two weeks until my birthday! :D
Also, thank you to everyone for the well wishes on getting well. I'm starting to feel a bit better, yay!
