Fitness followed shortly by Fudge Stripes...

About 20 minutes ago I thought it was a good idea to open my blinds (it appeared to be getting darker, I wanted to keep an eye on the weather). About ten minutes ago my neighbor caught a good eyeful of me standing in front of the TV in my underwear (I was changing channels). I used to be crazy modest: wouldn't undress in front of my sister/mom modest. Something happened in the last few years and that just leaked away. And now I stand, in front of my ground level windows, in my skivies.

Although, to be fair, the amount and type of skivies I'm currently wearing could be misunderstood as a slutty workout outfit (sport bra and boy shorts). However, I think the guy that caught an eyeful was perplexed and intrigued as I watched his reflection (bouncing off an opposite window) slow down and consider a second pass.

In other news, the wiiFit has empowered me to work out in my skivies. And it's delicious. I wish everyone in the gym would just agree not to look around and we could all wear underwear only. It would be amazing. But that is also horrifying.

And, can I tell you that it makes no sense to me that the male trainer "stood in" for the female on one of my wiiFit yoga poses today? Like the lady trainer was so busy elsewhere in fake gym land. I hate him because of his soothing voice and lame mini ponytail. Who thought, hey, let's make the male trainer have a really stupid ponytail, that'd be manly and hot?

HA!

The WiiFit just told me my ideal weight is 116.6 lbs (this to have a BMI of exactly 22, the ideal BMI). I'm not sure how much I truly believe in BMI - because 116.6 lbs seems like...not enough for my particular body (read: huge rack). No matter what I do (and at one point a few years ago I was at 119) I will always, always have this size chest. So if you take into account the fact that all those pounds of chest are likely not figured in and are impossible for me to lose....well, that just makes 116 seem ridiculous.

I'm not sure of what I see...

My sister told me yesterday that she feels like the world is telling me to get a robot tattoo. This after I went to this website and Barack Obama built me a robot. Apparently this was strange since she clicked a dozen times and never got a robot. So Barack Obama wants me to get a robot tattoo. And just now, when I was finding that link, he thinks I'm cute. I feel like using the word kismet here.

I've been thinking long and hard about the failure of the experiment and today I had an epiphany. My cookie maker was dying. So I bought some batteries, and whiz, bang, I think that might explain things. I also want to note that I think I might have been in a mid-winter slump. I think there were things adding to the weather causing glumness...but I think I have crested the slump. I will be trying the experiment again - but this time I'll be "eating cookies" 5 times a week. I'm thinking April. Or should I just go ahead with March?

And, in a moment of craziness, I found myself thinking what my modern day dowry would be. Let's say that tradition was still around...what would my dad bribe some guy with to get me hitched? Here's the list I quickly created:

1. In lieu of goats, livestock, etc, one little gray schnauzer.
   
2. Cases of wine
3. A pinball machine
4. A guitar or two
5. Some golf clubs

That list solely comprised of things my dad has in abundance. Besides piles of cash. I think that dowry might make me a pretty desirable catch...

Drinking lessons...

I have found, over many years of sporadic drinking, that sometimes, no matter how much you want it, it is impossible to get drunk. Through what seems like no fault of your own, the drunk buzz? Never happens.

One drink and two strong martinis later...I was still sober. Maybe a little more honest and noisy than usual, but sober (a final piece of honesty...I didn't give up my post-game JT). This is the third time I've experienced this:

1. Sometime in college (junior year?) I was at a party, drinking half a tray (for real) of jello shots that were full of everclear. And I was sober.
2. Last year - I hate to say it - but at my friends bachelorette party. You know, I did hit drunk, but for like...10 minutes. And then I was back to normal.
3. And tonight.

There is very little that is similar between the events. Possibly my desire to get drunk was high? And I promise, it's not that I'm drunk but I'm so stupid that I think I'm not. No. I really can talk normally, walk normally, do everything the same old sober way....

I wish this wouldn't happen.

As a side note (and somehow a corollary), I found myself wondering the extent to which I allow other people to impact my world view.

And as another side note, I find the no smoking in bars thing AMAZING.

And, assuming there are two sides to each blog post, as a bottom note (it fits), what do you think would happen if JT got a big old b0ner during his concert? You think he's wearing a cup?

Happy Birthday Al! I'm sorry I couldn't get ripped with you tonight....

"Cookie" follow-up...

Hope your day isn't full of bad luck like everyone else I know...

Anyway, a few questions were asked:

I am considering posting my adjectives here every day. I can't promise perfect FebBloPoMo or anything, but most days I'll post my morning, afternoon, night adjectives.

No, I will not "eat a cookie" at the same time everyday. Most days it'll probably end up being around the same time, but there will be exceptions.

And, am I going to "eat" the same "cookie" every day or try different varieties? This is a super tricky question. I only have access to a few types of "cookie" so...I imagine I'll "eat" what I have access to.

Seriously, this whole post should be in quotations.

Expectations...

For some reason, it suddenly seems that everything revolves around etiquette....how you should behave around others, what you should discuss in public and with whom, what I can't say here and how you should conduct yourself on facebook.

In the end I've come to the following conclusion: fuck it. I'm going to talk about sex loudly in public, I'm going to play rock band and not be embarrassed about how I look and I'll go ahead and write what I want here.

So. I've talked in the past about my tendency to concoct experiments out of hare-brained ideas. This February I will begin a month long experiment in which I will try to figure out how "eating a cookie" every day affects my life. I will somehow be monitoring my mood and outlook on life. Yes, that is the vaguest of the vague. I have no clue how to monitor....my plan right now is to write down an adjective for how I feel at three points each day:

1)Upon waking up
2)Sometime around 2pm
3) After dinner but prior to bed

I have a friend who is also going to participate. And another friend who is sort of half-assedly considering the idea. Either way - hopefully it'll be an interesting month....

Only in dreams...

My sleeping patterns have been really strange over the past month. I've found myself waking a lot in the middle of the night. And having issues falling back asleep. I've also been having the most realistic and vivid dreams I've ever had. Two in particular which haunted me the next day.

The first was a few weeks ago and in it I was pregnant. I know most women have pregnant dreams...and I also know there is no way I could be pregnant. But I woke up feeling pregnant. And I continually found myself thinking back to that dream. And while I don't have any idea what it feels like to be pregnant, it sure felt real...that dream was creepy.

And then last night...last night was intense. It was a fight...a fight that exploded into a kiss. The jealousy was uncomfortable, the anger releasing, the hatred righteous and the lust strong. It was quite tasty in general. And all those feelings are still sitting in my belly...it was so realistic that I feel the fall-out the next day.

This is all interesting to me in a dozen ways. And I have theories as to why my sleep patterns have changed...and why I had a baby with no father....and why I had that explosive kiss with a particular person. And for 2008 I want those theories to no longer be possibilities. I want them to be fact. Or complete fiction.

2008 will be the year that doesn't suck ass (courtesy of Al).
Or for me, the year of action over analysis.

Last dance...

I've made it through NaBloPoMo. And truly, the shit only hit the fan towards the end. I nearly managed to squeak out a full month of non-whining. I vow to keep up the upbeat nature....starting tomorrow. But first I just need to throw it out there that my cable isn't working (no channels. Not even your basic shit). I therefore may need some entertaining this weekend. Anyone want to volunteer? Or, maybe I should throw out there....anyone new and exciting want to volunteer? The cable breaks every year because they have some seriously janky wiring outside (are you surprised?). I'll probably end up breaking my tightly crafted budget to fix it (there's supposedly some work in my area. I'm doubtful).

Other than that I am "chipper" today. I turned off the bad attitude and feel much better. Spinning forward if you will....

So are you all going to miss me when I go back to posting irregularly? No? Didn't think so.

I just want you to know that if I had any photographic skill at all, I'd be posting everyday in December. Maybe the sister can convince her superbly gifted bf to take pictures of advent legoland everyday...

Music is my boyfriend...

How catchy is that little ditty?

I wrote about 10 different blog entries on the walk home from the gym (8 of them skewing dirty). I'm going to run with one of the ideas, but first here are two things that I found weird today:

• Girl next to me in the gym, reading the glossary of a book. I imagine this is her finals' studying technique? But...I think it's pretty bad, because what good is a definition without context?
• I wrote this TERRIBLE paper for my capstone class. I mean, it was regrettable. The only good thing about it was my research, which was seriously good. I got a really good grade and my theory that the quality of education at my school is bad? Justified.
  

On the walk home I was trying to figure out what I was going to do tonight, my first night of freedom in a few months. My train of thought follows:

• I think I'll do a little jig.
• Aw, remember when I used to dance around my room to my theme song senior year of college and Janet would laugh at me?
• I need a dance-y theme song again.
• (here's where I tumble into the gutter of my mind) Well, shit, if I ever get laid again, my theme song should be "Do It" by Nelly Furtado.
• Good plan. But maybe I should only make that my theme song if I'm consistently hitting it.
  

So there you have it readers, this is the usual for me. As for theme songs (if you're wondering, what kind of freak has a theme song?), what I mean is...any song that you seem to be playing repeatedly at a certain time of your life. Right now I have two that I can think of. One that I am going to hold close to my chest - not for embarrassment but for...privacy? The other is Possibly Maybe by Bjork (but only if the lyric is "possibly NO").

I huffed and I puffed...

And I got my fitness assessed.

It was actually thoroughly interesting and worth the 30 something dollars I paid to be told I'm fat. She didn't actually say that. But she did comment on my percentage body fat. I got on this weird machine (a body composition analyzer) and it basically spit out all this information. That machine thinks my body fat percentage is in the desirable range (I guess the machines like me better than the real people). So, here I am broken down by the Tanita TBF-410:

BMI: 25.2

This is slightly funny to me because from 19-25 is normal, but 25 and up is "overweight". How on edge am I there?

BMR: 1378 calories.

I'm still not 100% sure what this means. But I think that's how many calories I should take in each day to break even. So if I wanted to lose weight, I'd eat less than that and move more.

Impedance: 561 Ω

This means nothing to me.

Fat%: 28.8%

My fitness assessor says to be "fit" I probably want to get to the 20-25% range, that those numbers are more acceptable. I'm not dying or anything. But that percentage could go down and I'd be better off.

Fat Mass: 37.2 lbs.

Yes, that is the amount of fat dragging me down. I'll go ahead and take off a few pounds for my boobs which I can't seem to do anything about...

So. There you go. I also found out that I am much less flexible than I should be and that I cannot do any push-ups AT ALL (ok, I did 5. Then my arms shook and my body screamed a high pitch pain scream, so I stopped). I also learned that the treadmill is my enemy and that I HATE running. However, it turns out that the treadmill and I are better than I thought, because my "vo2max" is actually slightly above average (vo2max is just an indicator of cardiorespiratory endurance). At least one of you is shocked by this and so am I. I guess walking all over the place and sporadically using the elliptical paid off.

Anyway, I now have a weight routine and some advice on what I should do. I'm probably not going to start really trying to get into it until after the quarter is over (I'm deeply behind on my projects and am probably going to do some dishes and procrastinate tonight). So here's what I've been told to do:

• Cardio 4 times a week, for at least 30 minutes
• Serious weight routine 2 times a week.

These two can overlap. I'll keep you all updated on my fit adventure. Maybe a few months into the routine I can meet with the trainer again and get assessed again.

Gimme, gimme more...

So what happened Saturday night? What happened indeed....I think the quote of the night that sums it all up for me is:

Where is his penis at?

Yeah. Here we go...

My request for the birthday night out was to go to dinner somewhere and then dancing. From my few trips up to Andersonville, I knew there was a bar that had booming dance music on Clark. We went there first and it was more like a normal bar with booming dance music. No actual dancing was taking place. However, the atmosphere was pretty good and we stayed for a few drinks.

Then we decided to try out some other options, see if we could find dancing. I just wanted to dance with my girls. We ended up across the street at a different bar. When we walked in someone was singing and I thought it was karaoke. It wasn't. It was some kind of...revue. Dancing and singing people. They were highly entertaining and we enjoyed it immensely. One of us even found her dream career (revue background dancer). I'm intentionally avoiding naming names here because I think my other two companions are a little more embarrassed with the turn the night took than I am. After the revue, go-go boys. What's a go-go boy? A nice word for a stripper that doesn't take off his underwear (mostly, I saw some ass and so did you if you clicked on that picture in the last post).

It was...hilarious. And creepy (we were in a gay bar, so there were some very creepy moments involving old men and go-go boys). And HILARIOUS. I giggle just thinking about it. The two friends I was with...I've known them forever. And seeing us all react to the situation and take it in...it was eye-opening. I tend to forget how open and unembarrassed I am about that kind of stuff. I guess I should feel like there's a taboo about talking about sex, penes, lust, boobs, etc....but I just don't. Especially not with these two girls.

And the question of "what makes a man be a go-go boy?". Well my answer to that was...it's his choice. It's his choice to let those creepy old guys fondle him (tmi?), it's his choice to parade around in his tighty...grayies? Who am I to judge him or wonder if the money is worth it? That's not my place.

I am leaving out a whole insane part of this story. Tighty gray pants boy? Went to our high school.

When I was in high school I think we had a graduating class of less than 200? I have no idea...but I think our school in total was less than 1000 people. And out of those 1000, one of them happens to be dancing in his skivies in the bar we randomly ended up in? Crazy small world...

You know what that means...

Justin Timberlake. Febrezed hair. It's like senior year of college all over again. Drunk Katie is somehow the most drunk when she gets back to her house, alone, and therefore sits and drools over Justin. All of this after she has Febrezed. Because smoky hair smells like ass. Must admit though, it's MUCH harder to Febreze short hair - my new hair cut isn't handling the night out all that well.

Tonight was...wow. Happy birthday to me. Technically this post could be my November 4 post. But I refuse to cheat. Although depending on the level of hangover tomorrow....we'll see.

Check in some time tomorrow (no promises, but probably) for a post about me , Al and Katy's night out in Andersonville. You will NOT be disappointed.

Two extras for you:

1. Cry Me a River Justin is done. Lovestoned Justin...IN. If he releases a new live concert DVD in the next 2 months, that bastard better be in my stocking.
   
2. This picture...this says it all (you should pay close attention to ALL details):
   

I am drunk. How should I amuse myself for the next hour or so?

Katie uses technology for evil....

So, before I get into my planned subject matter, let me just complain. I wore heely boots today where I usually wear flats; had to stand a lot when I am usually slothful. On the walk home I literally almost took off my shoes. My feet cramped up in the most painful way. I don't think they are going to be normal tomorrow.

Back to our regularly scheduled subject....

Sometimes I concoct lame experiments. Here's what happens: I have a fleeting thought. I boneheadedly believe that said thought is valid.

That is why I decided it would be intriguing to find out how many messages my answering machine can hold (somewhere between 20 and...infinity. It basically just said FL and then wouldn't give me my messages).

The following experiments are still underway:

1. The one where I think my coworkers are nicer to me when I'm either
• Wearing my hair pulled back
• Wearing form fitting clothes
2. The one where I use technology for evil (see below).

Ok. Here's the deal. Even though I was drunk at work on Friday, I had a full candy bowl. I got to work on Monday and there were like 5 pieces of candy in that bowl. Who is eating my candy? My desk came with a webcam. I hooked that bad boy up, pointed it at my candy bowl and set it to motion sensitive. Here are my conclusions thus far:

When I am away from my cube, people are more likely to:

• Root around in the bowl and touch every piece of candy
• Visit the candy bowl in general

Honestly, you'd be shocked by the time these people take to look around in the bowl. A bowl that can hold maybe 25 pieces of candy total. Touching every piece of candy. One of my coworkers ONLY visits the bowl when I'm not there. I am now convinced that she only eats my candy and canned shellfish (have you ever smelled oysters being microwaved? No? Well, consider yourself one lucky bastard). And I caught the cleaning lady eating my candy.

When I am at the desk, people do a hit and run. Grab the candy on the top and run. RUN! Katie hasn't seen you yet! Or else they feel the need to chat, pretend they like me, chat.

Candy bowl etiquette seems to be lacking...

Listening...

Something weird is going on with my body. Ignoring the fact that I may be allergic to being a woman (uncontrollably sneezy Saturdays exactly one month apart during my period? Allergic to womanhood), weird stuff is going on over here.

This weekend I somehow accidentally (for real - both yesterday and this morning I woke up in the morning and was SHOCKED by the time on the clock) slept for almost 20 hours. I rarely sleep in. Mine is the kind of routine where I wake up before my alarm goes off most days (and on the weekend I usually wake up at that time as well). I've also been having headaches and some minor facial tingling (if I was super worried I'd have made an appointment with my doctor. But I don't think I'm dying, I just think something is up...which leads to...) So what the hell is going on here?

I think I'm not going to work out this week. I know it's not a solution - but I want to try to figure out what the hell is up here. And part of me suspects nutrition. So I'm going to take this week and get my diet together (not diet as in "lose weight" but diet as in "what I eat everyday"). Then I think I'm not going to work out again until I can get a fitness assessment/personal trainer session. And if something doesn't change and I keep tingling and snoozing, I may have to go to the doctor....

Here's your picture Sunday for you...my amazing new bag....



And the inside...

Week in bullets...

The good:

• Two really solid work-outs

The bad:

• Excuse for not working out on Monday (it was a pretty good excuse though...one which involved a stomach issue and air pollution at the gym. Was that too much information or too subtle...or did I hit it just right?)

The good:

• Two classes but...NOT ONE TEST.
• And the kicker, the light of my life...NOT ONE GROUP PROJECT. Yippee!! (Picture me jumping up and clicking my heels together).

The bad:

• A class that is very discussion based, with 12 total people (including myself), 2 of which had done the reading and could therefore participate in discussion (including myself). It was like pulling teeth.

The bad:

• Cute new shoes (super cute - my pattern, if you go to that link is Dots White/Pewter) possibly ruined by cute new jeans (apparently, dark, dark jeans need more than one washing before worn over whitish shoes. Because now my shoes are semi-blue)
  

The good:

• New dark jeans that I feel kick ass in

The bad:

• Blowdryer broke mid-use on Wednesday morning culminating in an iffy-hair day, a rushed work out and a trip to Ulta. Pain in the ass.

The good:

• My new blowdryer made my hair look AMAZING. Or I just had a good hair day. But hey - I had a good hair day!

Was that annoying with all the goods and bads?

Today on the walk home from work I blogged (in my head...does that make me crazy?) about my non-existent purchase of a non-existent condo. Now that makes me crazy...

Somewhere down there...

So part of the reason I am enjoying my workouts right now is because of the music. I love some poppy happy music (right now the three "go-to" songs that I sometimes just skip the shuffle for are: Do It - Nelly Furtado; Stronger - Kanye; What You Waiting For - Gwen Stefani). I look forward to listening to that stuff and "moving to the beat."

Because somewhere, deep down, I like to believe I have a little dancer in me. I love to dance. And I love to watch people dance. Obviously this is what draws me to music with a beat [and Justin Timberlake...because watching him dance is like dirty, sexy eye candy. And if you haven't seen his little dance bit in the final number of the VMA's, you should watch it. There's this weird slow-mo thing, and then he...I can't describe it, but he kicks it up a notch and does this weird hand body twitch and its absolutely stunningly mesmerizing. Go here to see it (you can skip the boring Nelly Furtado part, although that is the song I work out to...without the boring slow intro part.)].

And to be completely honest, this is why I love musicals so much. I really enjoy going to shows for the story and atmosphere too, and I obviously like when the singing is super strong...but when there is a good dance number, I instantly feel like I perk up. Like in Color Purple, the Africa part...that was kick ass. And while my sister remembers Sweet Charity as not so enjoyable, I remember being fairly delighted with the dancing.

Anyway...if you ever see me working out on the elliptical or bike, it's most likely I'll be mouthing the words and bobbing along to the beat (and I know I look stupid, because I've seen another person doing it and he looked dumb. Yes, only 1 other person enjoying his music in my 3 weeks working out).

One step forward...

Two giant leaping steps back.

Those two leaps back are:

1. Grandma's Mini Cookie Bites - Vanilla Creme.
2. Oreo Blizzard.

Up until dinner tonight, the only things I had eaten all day were 1, 2 and a granola bar. Not shitting you. I had the granola bar before I went to work. Accidentally put $1 into the vending machine and ate number 1 before 10am. Then around Noon I had number 2...as my lunch.

Yes. That is supremely unhealthy.

You know how people always say "well, when you're an adult you can do or eat whatever you want? You can have cookies for dinner!" I'm possibly the only 25 year old I know that actually literally does that. Or maybe everyone else does it every now and again and no one will admit it.

My one step forward? My work-outs have been going rather brilliantly. I'm getting noticeably stronger with each workout. I'm doing the same program on the elliptical but slowly gaining more distance (and I can actually handle the "ramp" that it pushes me up to and the resistance level, whereas at the beginning I used to have to decrease both of those levels). Don't get me wrong, I still struggle with that program. My thighs burn...I huff and puff...but it's starting to feel like I'm making headway. Now I just have to tackle my dread and fear of those blasted weight machines....

Oh yeah, and stop eating sugar all day...

And off I go...

I officially was offered a job! My first day is next Tuesday (just in case you're new here, it's the same job I currently do...only I'll be a "real" employee with a salary and benefits and the like...instead of an intern).

In other "good for me" news I worked out today. I have lots to say about this...bullet points? Yes, I think so...

• My ridiculing coworker works out every day at the same time I plan to. And yet I didn't see him today. And I must say, I was on edge waiting for him to pop up and point at my sweaty forehead and ridiculous little ponytail and laugh. Ok, he probably wouldn't do that, he's honestly sort of nice to me on most occasions. But either way, being on edge was not fun. I think it'll get better tomorrow as I get more comfortable with the place and the machines. The edginess is going to go away.
• I don't think I'll ever be comfortable standing naked in a women's locker room.
  
• I started on the elliptical and felt like..ok, I'm not so bad. Then I realized I was at about a 13 minute mile and that's like a fast walk. Eerrrr...not so hot. I also moved to the bike and my thigh muscles couldn't handle even two levels of resistance. Because..you know, they've all atrophied.
• For some reason I'm intimidated by the weight machines. And to be honest, it might be because it was all men hanging out over there. And again, I think when I get more comfortable with the place, I'll wander over there and work my arm muscles (which seriously need it).
• A question for those of you "in the know"....what should my target heart rate be and how long should I work out while at that target? I could look it up, but I'm lazy and sneezy and don't feel like it. If it helps, I'm 5' and weigh about 125 - 130. I thought maybe those of you bored at work could research that for me when you're bored.
• I expected all the girls at the place to be skinny Trixies. And they weren't! Maybe that'll happen next week though...
• The absolute worst part/hardest thing about working out was the walk home. It was evil and long. I don't understand how working out gives people energy. I think I could get in bed right now happily.
  

And finally, it smells bad here. Like gas. Or glue (which is what it actually is). Glue that is holding down my newly repaired parquet floor...

Wrapper...

Hello, and how was your weekend?

Mine was particularly good. Not only was I totally productive on the cleaning front (it is SO clean here. No, really) but I also saw an unexpectedly enjoyable movie on Friday.

First with the cleaning...remember way back when, I started a "big clean?" Yeah, well I never finished that clean. The upstairs hall has sported two vacuums and various junk for a month and a half. And the bedroom? Really never was cleaned. But today the bedroom, the hall and the downstairs are all tidy and scrubbed (with my new super floor cleaner vacuum combo - which has so much suction power that at points it was getting stuck to the floor and I was having a hard time moving it. Using that thing was a serious work out). The only areas that I have left to do (probably at various times on Saturday or Sunday of next weekend) are the kitchen and the bathroom. The bathroom is semi-clean. The kitchen had to be avoided because there is a patch of 4 parquet tiles missing as well as about 14 newly buckled tiles. I think that as the underfloor is drying, all the tiles are buckling. It is actually a serious hazard and I have hurt my toes numerous times on those damn tiles. I also keep stepping on them and crunching them in...

The movie was Stardust. It was actually really well attended for an older movie (might be the $5 price tag, good deal for the city!). And it was not only a well crafted, engaging story but it also packed some major laughs! Really glad I went.

Tuesday I'll start working out. Hopefully every day for the next week or so, try to find a pattern...maybe some classes that I like. Other than that...same old, same old. Hopefully in the next few days I'll have a "I got a job, congratulate me and buy me gifts" post. Ok...there's no reason why you should buy me gifts for that. But you should always just buy me gifts in general. It's Wednesday? Buy Katie gifts! It's september 1st, buy Katie gifts!

And on this...the 600th...

Happy 600th blog post to me! That's a lot, heh?

It is advisable to look at the shirt you are wearing before you leave the house, readers. Because you will arrive at the farmer's market in your neon pink and neon green "I Heart Beer" shirt....and feel vaguely embarrassed (because some old people will give you weird/grumpy looks). Young'uns (teen through 20's) will compliment you on your shirt.

The cleaning yesterday took way longer than I had hoped, but most of the apartment is super clean. The only room that wasn't scrubbed (and still has a bit of tidying left) is the bedroom. Also, because the bedroom is still to be done, the hallway upstairs is sort of jammy full of stuff (vacuums and garbage bags)...but, if you've never been to my apartment, I'd advise you to come visit now. It will probably be this clean again...a year from now...

Went to a concert on Friday...don't really feel like discussing the concert, but my ability to repel buses may become stuff of legend. We were supposed to take a bus to dinner...that bus never came so we hopped on a different bus. Then we were supposed to take a bus from dinner to the concert. We waited...and waited....that bus never came, so we had to get a cab. Finally, we were supposed to take a bus from the concert to an L stop to get us home. Guess what? That bus actually never came. For sure...because we walked all the way to the L stop along the bus route and never saw a bus. It's troubling...this ability to repel the bus I want to be on....especially since I'm supposed to take a bus today to visit "newly-moved to Chicago" friend Katy. Yes, one of my closest friends has the same name as me....it's just lucky she spells it with a Y isn't it?

Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend...and that you enjoyed the beautiful weather!