June 2009 Archives

I was left to my own devices, today.  Saturday afternoon entirely to myself.  What should I do?

My hair was crying out for some attention so I decided I'd go get it cut and highlighted.  I usually go to the same girl who works at a place over at the mall (yes, lame, I know) so I thought after the hair business was finished I'd do some clothes shopping. 

Normally, I avoid shopping.  I don't find it fun.  I usually find it tiring and I loathe looking at my body in the mirror, particular when my weight has been on an uphill climb.  I am very indecisive and never think anything looks good on me.  Nevertheless, I wanted to try to find a bathing suit, a cover-up, and possibly a few cute tops for my upcoming beach vacation. 

As I just mentioned, I hate trying things on and seeing how they look on me, so you can imagine how I feel about trying on bathing suits.  Pretty much my worst nightmare.  The good news is I ended up finding one.  Yay!  It may look dorky, but I think the colors are cute and it is the most flattering style for my size/shape -- petite with larger chest and thighs.  The top kind of flows outward like an A-line rather than being tight against the skin so it's good for hiding any extra tummy flab.

I decided I shouldn't stop there.  I have three weddings to go to this year, and two rehearsal dinners.  I have one dress.  And I haven't tried on that one dress in a while to see if it still fits.  It probably doesn't.  You don't have to be good at math to see the problem there.  So after the bathing suit was purchased I decided to head to some other stores to look for a dress.  I tried Old Navy and found a cute shirt, but no dresses.  Then I tried Macy's and after walking around and around the store I found a decent dress on the clearance rack for $30.  There were two sizes left, and one of them was mine.  In petite, even.  So I snatched it up. Since I was having such good luck I decided to trek over to Ann Taylor Loft to see what I could find there.  I found a pretty red dress on sale for $40.  Red is not really my color, but it fit well and looked decent.  I just need to buy a wrap or sweater or something to throw over it.  Any recommendations for what might look cute over the red dress below for a fall wedding are welcome.  In fact, I may pick my favorite suggestion and make that blogger's site the next "Blog of the Month".

      

Tonight after work I ran to the pharmacy to pick up a couple of prescriptions.  I had to wait until 6:30 to pick them up, and then had to wait an additional 10 minutes because they weren't ready yet.  Then I ate two tiny left-over pieces of pizza for dinner.  And then I mowed the lawn.  I had planned to eat a salad after I finished the lawn, but I sort of... forgot.  So then 9:30 rolls around and I was hungry again.  I no longer really felt like having a salad but didn't know what I wanted.  I remembered I had bought apples the day before when I first tried to pick up my prescriptions (long story) but wasn't too excited about having one.  Then I remembered what my mom used to give me as an after school snack sometimes -- an apple cut into eight pieces with cinnamon sprinkled on top.  Suddenly the apple sounded much more appealing.  I think I was a bit heavy-handed when it came to adding the cinnamon, but it was still pretty tasty.

 

For a long time now I have realized it is generally a really good idea to heed the advice of those older and wiser. I know there are lots of things I would go back and tell my twenty-something self so I thought it would be nice to hear what others would go back and tell their thirty-something self. Hindsight is 20/20, right?

So I posed the following question in the CMF Ads Forums:

What is your advice for thirty-somethings?

And I got some terrific answers:

Laura:

Don't get stuck on a lot of nit-picky fussy details. When you put on a pair of socks you are really the only one who is going to care whether or not they match. Can't think of another example right now. Except that today I had the option of staying home and colouring my hair again or going out to the Peony Festival in Oshawa (with about an inch of my natural hair and the grey traitors among them showing). I didn't stay home and colour my hair. Being 40 I can live with being imperfect and not really care all that much if my socks match or my hair is wind blown, etc. Life is big look up from your own feet and don't think too small.

Jane:

Don't keep putting things off because you think have lots of time. If your goal is achievable in your 30's then go for it, don't wait for the 'right' time, it never arrives.

Don't spend time envying your friends' lives; focus on yourself, take control and appreciate what you already have. Use that as a base to build the life you want, and work at it. 

A Changing Life:

Know that in 15 or 20 years' time you will look back on old photos and think, "Didn't I look good?" and wish you had realised at the time.

Sandilynn:

I realized that I better get the things done NOW that I want to accomplish. Almost done with my required classes and I start Nursing School in January. 2 years of clinicals and I'll have my BSN. No waiting around to fulfill my dreams.

catswiththumbs:

Save more money. Have more sex. Try to live near the beach.

ConnieFoggles:

Do things even if you feel silly, those are usually the most fun things you'll ever do. (Kinda like the dance like no one's watching quote.)

Read a lot, even things that you think you won't enjoy. Books can teach you so much.

Love like there's no tomorrow and let the people you love know how much you love them.

TonyBriley:

I'm usually the jokester, but in all seriousness, it's almost an impossible question to answer. If I was to answer, I'd say look at yourself and sort out your values and goals, and then go 100% toward whatever fulfills those aspirations.

When I was 32 years old, I was in perfect health and never missed a day's work in my life. Then one Friday I woke up with a headache. By Monday, after a torturous weekend of agony and ER visits, I had a major stroke, and it changed my life forever. Then shortly thereafter, when trying to repair damage from the stroke- they killed me, literally. (I've recovered pretty good, I'm alive!)

You've seen the cheesy motivational sayings, "Live today like its your last"..... My advise would be to take that to heart. For me, it means working hard to provide for my family, but at the same time making them my focus, not something that simply comes along as a side to my career. I don't leave the house or hang up the phone without telling my wife I love her, and my daughters. I'm still a neat freak, but I don't cry over spilt milk, it can be cleaned up.

I can speak as someone who isn't just older (I'm 41), but as someone who has laid there on a table watching myself bleed to death and having the nurses ask if there's anything I want to tell my family. And at that moment, that is when you know what is important to you and what you want.

So close your eyes and pretend that is you, then listen to what you tell yourself.

I rode my bike today for the first time in 2 years.  For some inexplicable reason I never rode it last year.  The last time I had ridden a bike before that was about 15 years prior.  The last time I really remember riding a as a teenager I had a bad accident that pretty well ruined my bike.  And I never got another one, until about three years ago. 

In my last experience, I was riding around an unfamiliar part of the neighborhood with some friends.  I thought everyone was turning right and heading down a side street, but they stopped instead.  It was too late for me to stop and so I headed down the street.  After a moment I realized why everyone else stopped and no one was following me.  It was a really steep hill that was not meant for bikes.  I flew down the street and at the bottom there was a rock or a pot hole or... something.  And I caught it.  And I flew over my handlebars clear across the street and landed on the other side.  I was all banged up and bleeding from several place, but nothing was broken and I wasn't seriously hurt.  Just lots of bumps and bruises and road rash.  Luckily, my mom's friend lived across the street from that large hill and saw what happened and helped me recover and find my mom, who was at the school at an aerobics class.  I remember going up to my room after this incident and just shutting myself in.  Going over and over what hat just happened.    

I saw some little kids riding back and forth in front of my house this evening and I guess that is what inspired the bike ride.  I went out to the garage, found the bike, pumped up the tires, found my silly little helmet and I was off!  I felt silly as the adult neighbors gave me goofy smiles and said hello.  One of the little kids, maybe about two years old, was out on his three-wheeler and kept pointing at me and then waving every time I went past him.  I really felt like a little kid out there on my bike with my helmet on just riding around the neighborhood.  It was fun though.  And very refreshing.  I hope to make riding my bike a regular occurrence this summer and fall. 

I am just totally unmotivated to do anything today.  It's been rainy and gloomy for about 3 straight days now.  There's a long list of things I could/should be doing inside the house since I've spent a lot of time recently neglecting it, choosing to do things outside instead.  But I just don't feel like doing it.  It's a blah Saturday.  And I blame the weather. 

Luckily though, next week's weather is supposed to be awesome.  And then I go on vacation to the beach a couple weeks after that.  Which reminds me, really should get off my butt and make sure I've got everything I need before we leave.

I was recently part of what I thought was quite an interesting debate/conversation.  The conversation started talking about the premarital counseling that is required to get married in the catholic church.  We were discussing one question in particular. 

Would you be willing to do whatever it took in order to make your partner happy?

My immediate answer was a definite no. I take things very literally.  In general, I don't like absolutes like that.  I think a marriage (and relationship in general) is all about compromise. I don't think one person should give up everything for the other. I think that sacrifices have to be made by both parties in order to make both people happy. However, I would not give up my hopes and dreams or anything else extremely important to me for another person. I would not change myself in fundamental ways for another person. I would not be happy that way.  There will be things that either both people have to completely agree upon, or be willing to compromise on. If there is something really important to me that I can't have because of something else that is really important to my partner, then it probably won't work.

One of the guys involved in the conversation brought up a related situation that had recently happened to him. First, a little background information is required:

• He goes to the gym 6 days a week and has been doing so for many, many years. This is something that is really important to him.
• He has a regular bedtime of around 10p so that he can get up extremely early and do his workout before going to a long day of work.
• He is very dedicated to his job and works many long hours.

So back to the story... he had been dating a girl for about a month. She knew the 3 facts I just stated above. She called him one night around 10:30 asking him to come over, even though they had a conversation earlier that evening and they decided not to do anything that night. His response was that he couldn't (wouldn't) come over because he was tired, it was time for bed, and he had to get up early for the gym. If he didn't go he'd be all off for the entire week. She got upset by this and said, "going to the gym is more important than seeing me?"

My personal opinion was that this was rather inconsiderate of the girl knowing his schedule and rigid routine. I thought it was too early in the relationship to start asking him to change and make such compromises for her. I agree that I probably would be upset to get that response from him, but I don't think I would have made the phone call and asked the question in the first place.

What's your opinion?  Should she have made the phone call?  Did she have a right to get upset that he wasn't willing to stay up late and skip the gym for her?  Should he have skipped the gym this once to make her happy?  What are some things you might not be willing to compromise on?

I mentioned a little bit ago that I was going to start a vegetable garden this year.  I wanted to post what exactly I ended up planting in the 5x5 area I fenced up and a few other spots.  I tried to take a few pictures of the garden today, now that it is pretty much all set up, but I was not very successful at getting any good ones.  I decided to share them anyway...

My boyfriend and I recently decided that we wanted to try cooking tilapia.  I was getting a little bit tired of chicken, even though we've come up with lots of different ways to cook it.  We didn't have the first clue how to cook tilapia so we turned to the internet.  We found a few different recipes and have tried a couple so far.  The first one we tried I really liked, but the boyfriend wasn't a big fan.  It also wasn't the healthiest way to cook the fish, by far.  So then we tried recipe number two and it was a definite keeper.  As such, I thought I'd share the fantastic tilapia recipe here.  It takes about 20 minutes with 5 minutes prep time and serves two.

Ingredients

• 3-4 tilapia fillets, depending on size
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs or crushed Ritz cracker
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• salt
• pepper
• garlic powder
• olive oil

Directions

1. Thaw and wash tilapia fillets if frozen. Pat dry on paper towels.
2. Combine crumbs, parmesan, italian seasoning and garlic powder on a plate, mixing well.
3. On a different plate, pour 1 tbsp lemon juice.
4. Working 1 at a time, place a fillet on the plate in the lemon juice, sprinkle with desired amount of salt (be careful about how much salt is in your parmesan, crumbs, and other seasonings), black pepper, and garlic powder. Turn the fillet over in the lemon juice and sprinkle seasoning on the other side.
5. Dredge fillet in the parmesan mixture patting it all over to coat.
6. Place in an oiled baking dish, repeat with remaining fillets.
7. Sprinkle a little lemon juice over fillets and drizzle or spray them lightly with olive oil.
8. Bake at 425ºF for about 10-15 minutes or until they easily flake with a fork and edges are browning (you can sprinkle some more parmesan on top if desired). You can also bake these faster at 450ºF.

recipe taken from Dine and Dish.

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Related Posts:
Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie - The recipe I used to bake a pie for my mom for mother's day.  It's always a huge hit!
Garlic Chicken Recipe -  Chicken dish for 2 in under 30 minutes.
Chicken and Veggie Casserole - Great recipe for the wintertime.  Made with the creamed soup of your choice.

So I was really pleased to get a few submissions in my Blog of the Month contest.  Thank you Candice, Erica, and Majimo!

For an indecisive person like myself, it was really hard to pick just one.  I did choose one though.  And the winner is... Delightfully Sweet!  The design is really appealing to the eye and the content is fun and interesting to read.  Her photography is excellent and I love all the original photos with the entries.  I love the recipes she posts and the fact that she posts frequently so there's always something fresh to ead. The tag line is great too, Give the gift of happiness...with something sweet! Awww.  I'm very glad that Candice introduced me to this delightfully sweet spot on the 'net.  Definitely a blog I will continue to visit frequently and I think you should too!

While growing up, my parents would pack my sisters and I into the big ol' station wagon every year and make the long drive from NY to Cape Cod.  We'd rent a house for two weeks.  We'd go fishing (both off the pier and deep sea), we'd sit on the beach, we'd go walking in the evening and get ice cream.  It really was nice, but of course I didn't appreciate it at the the time.  The 6 1/2 to 7 hour drive felt more like 16 or 17.  I complained how boring it was and in my whiniest voice would ask why would always had to go to Cape Cod instead of somewhere cooler. 

Approximately 15 years later, that's exactly where I plan to spend my summer vacation.  At least part of it. Funny, that.

We're in the midst of planning a 5 day stay on the Cape sometime in July. That will most likely be sandwiched in between a weekend at the font end in Rhode Island for a friend's party, and a weekend on the back end in Boston visiting a sibling.

That's about as much as we've got planned so far, but it is oh-so-nice to have something to look forward to.

Are you planning a vacation for this summer? If so, share your plans!

See the little section on the sidebar entitled "Blog of the Month"? 

Good.

I would like to ask a favor of you.  Please nominate a blog (via the comments) that you think I should put up there for the next month.  Include a brief description of why exactly you like the blog and why it is deserving of the little ad spot.  If no one comments, I will just have to pick one myself.  And I will be very sad.  I am really hoping for some reader participation here!  It's a great opportunity to pimp a friend.

The only rule is you can't nominate your own blog. I will pick my favorite within the next few days and contact the owner of the blog asking for a 125x125 image to put up.

I do have to admit that I have an ulterior motive here. I am hoping to find a few new interesting blogs to read, so get nominating!  Please?  :)

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UPDATE!  I have selected a winning blog and will write a follow-up post as soon as I receive the 125x125 ad from the blog owner. In the meantime you should all go click on Kathy's blog (the current blog of the month) and have a laugh. Thank you Candice, Erica, and Majimo for making submissions!

I finally created an account at goodreads.com the other day.  So far, thumbs up!  I like being able to easily track all the books I've read, and my to-read list so I don't forget.  I love lists  :)  It's also great for reading reviews and getting recommendations.  Hundreds of great suggestions right at your fingertips.

There is a downside, however. I am extremely tempted to spend far too much time reviewing books while at work.  I am sure TheBoss would not be very happy about that.

I have mentioned in the past, once just recently, about my sleeping issues.  I suffer with insomnia as well as sleep inertia.  Basically, my internal body clock is all kinds of messed up.

Sunday night I was invited over to my boyfriend's parent's house for dinner and dessert.  We had some delicious food (everyone seemed to love my pasta salad -- yay!) and then relaxed on the couch watching some tv.  I was going to leave around 10,  but then a show that sounded quite interesting to me came on so I decided to stay another hour.  The show was called The Secret Life of Your Body Clock.

There were definitely a few interesting tidbits, such as:

• You are most likely to die between the hours of 2 and 4 am
• You are also most likely to give birth during these same hours
• The most "dangerous" hours of the day are between 7am and 11am. Our blood is "stickier" and our blood vessels are stiffer during these hours so it's best not to do any rigorous exercise.  The best time to work out, according to our body clocks, is actually around 4pm.
  
• What time of day you receive cancer treatment can make a huge difference in the side-effects it has. If it is timed properly using the person's biological clock, the chemotherapy shrinks the tumors faster and does less damage to the healthy cells since they are less active at those times.
• Early research shows that patients with Alzheimer's can benefit greatly by being exposed to bright light during the day.
• Our bodies are programmed to slow down and prepare for a second sleep around 2pm and that's why we tend to feel groggy and sleepy after lunch.  Bring on the siesta!  I seriously think we'd have much more productive afternoons with a little siesta built into our work day.
  
• The elderly should not wear sunglasses. Our lenses get more dense and let in less and less light as we age. We need this light to help keep our body clocks working properly.
• Alcohol will have a different effect on your body depending on when you drink it.  It will have more of an effect in the afternoon, than it will in the evening.
  
• Men and women peak sexually at different times during the day.

One additional thing I learned (or had reinforced), which I am going to start applying to my own life, is to eat a large breakfast, medium lunch, and smaller dinner. Our bodies aren't meant to handle large amounts of food shortly before going to bed. It can't process it as well.  I tend to eat most of my calories at dinner time, and since I get home from work fairly late every evening, dinner isn't until 7:30 or 8 pm. I am going to start eating a smaller dinner, and eating it earlier. I am really hoping that will help me get my clock back on track. The other thing I'm doing is leaving my bedroom shade half open, and the bedroom door fully open, so that the light in the room will help send the message to my body that it's light out and it's time to wake up. I am determined to get my internal clock back on track, one way or another. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Overall I enjoyed the show and it was well worth the hour spent watching it.