The Times They Are A-Changin'

There's been so much going on and so many changes. I'm not going to attempt to get everything in the right order, so here's a random account of this transitioning time.

Job #1
My best friend at Job #1 is Rebecca. Sadly, Monday was her last day as she is moving to Cincinnati to become a prick - err, I mean, a conductor. ;-) She's starting a very challenging masters program in conducting at CCM - which means I am sure to be entertained by her crazy stories, but sadly it also means I won't get to see my friend Monday through Friday anymore. Who will rescue me from office baddies with her stash of carrots and hummus? Who will I get an afternoon diet coke with? Who will save me with a fake important phone call when someone annoying comes in my office? :-(

Rebecca at her going away cake party

The cake I actually wanted to give her

My parting gifts

Besides the fact that Rebecca is kind, caring, wickedly smart, very witty, and obsessively organized (something I admire very much), she knows about my food weirdness and still likes me just the same. I LOVE my very healthy snacks box... I promise to only put healthy things in it!!! And also the food permit (it's my pass to have baddies), which sadly I should have used last night... stupid baddies. Anyway, all that to say, I WILL MISS YOU RE-DOUBLE B- ECA!

Packing/Moving
We are, dare I say, finally packed. Andy and I spent the entire weekend packing things up. Even after getting rid of a ton, we still have so much stuff... it's ridiculous. Anyway, we get the truck tomorrow morning, will load it up and clean clean clean. Then Thursday we unload at the new place. I'm so glad that this is almost "over" - which it's totally not because then I have to unpack, but you get the gist. I'm also very nervous about moving without tons of help. I know I'm fairly useful but even just packing has really made my knee flare up... stupid knee. I just hope it lasts me enough to make it through Wednesday and Thursday. Of everything, I think I'm dreading cleaning the most. :-/

So many things....

House/Cat Sitting
The light in this whole moving transition time is the ability to escape to a calm house each night for house/cat sitting. After a request for a picture of Sass... here she is!

Sass! I think she's about to fall asleep :-)

Wedding
Ugh. My mom and I are trying to "finalize" a budget outline by Friday. It's overwhelming to try to guess how much things will cost, making sure we don't forget about things... It all costs so much money, and added up it seems even worse. She's talking about getting a second job, my dad writing more articles... I feel like I should get a second job too, but wait, oh I already have one just to afford to breathe each month. How can it be that something I've dreamed about as a little girl can turn out to be so stressful once the time comes? But it isn't all stressful... when you can ignore the finances, it's actually very fun. On Saturday Andy and I went to look at wedding rings so we knew how much they cost. This one was my favorite...

Much more sparkly in the magic lights at the store!

While there, I left my engagement ring to be sized. It takes two weeks, so I figured it was a good time to do it - it will be in safe hands while I'm using mine to schlep boxes on and off a truck.

Ok friends, I know there's more to write about like: how my upper back is sore (in a good way) from training with Sarah on Monday morning. How we went to celebrate Andy's dad's birthday in Buffalo last night, got back way too late, and how I devoured a sleeve of crackers with peanut butter. How I had lost another 1.6 pounds last week (but gained them all back post-cracker fest). How I feel ugly because I've stopped drying my hair, but it saves time and I'm having a hard time caring. But we can save all of that and more for another day.

Time for lunch.

Packingpalooza

Guys... this is my 200th blog post! That's a lot of typing and picture taking lol. Thanks for sticking around and continuing to read the play by play of my days - the good, the bad, and the probably somewhat boring.

Currently Andy and I have initiated our "packing plan of attack." With less than a week until moving day, I've assigned rooms for us to tackle each day. Over the last two evenings we've managed to basically get everything upstairs packed away. We. have. so. much. stuff. And when I say we have so much stuff, I really mean I. have. so. many. clothes. Andy's decided I'm a hoarder. But he didn't think that until we started packing... so at least I've been able to hide it, which must mean I'm an organized hoarder, haha.

Everything was going well until a shelf fell on my bare foot.

Return of the frozen peas

Yes, those are the same peas that lived on my knee for at least a week after surgery. Those things have thawed/frozen/thawed/frozen so many times... they're bound to be riddled with E. coli, salmonella, etc. I will definitely throw them out rather than taking them to the new place!

All in all, Andy and I are making a very good team - he is excellent at throwing things away, we are both good at setting things aside for donations, and I am a good packer. We've made some good progress.

Piles of boxes

Thankfully house/cat sitting starts tonight. Our apartment is half covered in boxes and half destroyed. It's getting tough to live in, so I am VERY thankful we have a calm place to retreat to each day. Which also means when we're in our apartment, we can really get down to business - this weekend we are tackling the bathroom and kitchen. Yuck.

Wish us luck!

Happy Birthday Prince George!

After spending roughly the last two weeks constantly checking online news sites and twitter, I was SO excited that Kate Middleton finally had her baby! Yeah, a new baby is exciting (especially since he will one day be the King), but mostly I am just looking forward to seeing pictures of Kate out and about wearing cute outfits that I can try to copy. :-) It's true. HOORAY!!! They seem like such good people, so I'm sure they will make good parents.

Speaking of new parents... Nichi and Matt found out on Tuesday that they are also having a little prince! How exciting! I had guessed a boy for her (and for Kate too... actually I even guessed the name George for Kate's baby... I should buy a lotto ticket). But yes, now I can start looking for little presents for Baby Boy Hovland! Congrats you two!

Between keeping up on Royal Baby and waiting for news from Nicole, I'm surprised I haven't had an aneurysm yet. Thankfully I was still able to get some things done in the midst of baby-mania...

Monday morning started with partner training with Sarah and Vinny. We used to train on Tuesday mornings, but I'm so glad we've moved to Monday - it is the perfect way to start off the week. The one strange thing that keeps happening (that didn't used to happen) is I get these red marks on my knees that take a whole day to go away. Very odd.

You can also see my scars in this pic

 

After Job #1 on Monday I was a glutton for punishment and met Anna and Lisa to do Urban Fit. Bad idea. That was probably a little too much for my knee in one day, plus I wasn't really feeling excited about laying in the grass to do sit ups, etc. We ditched out after 30 minutes and then just went for a walk. Much better! After our walk we headed to the grocery store for dinner. Good day!!

Unfortunately I'm paying the price today. After the 5k on Sunday, training/urban fit/walk on Monday.... I've got a serious case of shin splints. Yuck (although I'm not surprised at all). Check out my secret attire while at Job #1 today...

Wearing my compression sleeves!

The compression sleeves are actually making a big difference. I love those things. And yes, I am wearing Crocs at work, but "work shoes" still hurt my knee, so I don't have much of a choice. Honestly it's pretty nice to wear comfy shoes to the office!

Ok so besides the shin splint issue, I have two other concerns at the moment. 1) Packing (and cleaning). We get the U-haul in one week, and let's just say there's a LOT to do still. 2) Weight loss progress. I have STILL not lost all of the weight I gained over the weekend, which is very frustrating. I cannot keep having weekends full of events or I will never make more progress. And all of the packing (while it does burn some calories) is eating up my gym time. That means I have to be good with what I eat, but when you don't see the progress you want to see... it gets harder to stick to it. So far I'm still hanging on though - the photo stream of all of my meals to Anna, Lisa, Bipul, Andy, and my mom is really helping.

Now for the good news! I got all of the centerpieces for my wedding! Andy's mom found lanterns at Wegmans (local grocery store) that were on sale ($12 each). I actually really liked them, so I went to Wegs to buy them... I figured I'd have to visit several stores to find enough of them, so I decided to start at a store kind of far away and then work my way back home. I walked into the store, made it about 10 yards, and saw my centerpieces. Except they weren't the lanterns!!! On this trolly cart (the kind employees use to cart things around the store for stocking) were buckets and watering cans. After some very fast consultation with my mom I ended up buying them right there! And they even had enough so I didn't have to visit any other store!! Best part is... they averaged $4.50 a piece. Much better than $12!!!

My centerpieces!!!

Either a florist can make something to go in them, or if we need to save a little more, we can just buy potted plants/flowers and drop them right in. I'm really excited about them! Sometimes I guess things just fall in your lap like that. It's too bad because I still really like the lanterns Cindy found, but if she doesn't mind, I'm going to ask if we can keep them and use them to decorate our new place. :-) I'd say that's a win win.

 

Back to the races!!!

Well friends, it was another crazy busy weekend full of friends, fun, and (unfortunately) too much food. Friday was actually relatively low key. After work I spent time packing, making dinner, and then while Andy played a concert, I went grocery shopping. Not exactly a rockin' Friday night, but I knew it would be the only chance I had to get some things done all weekend, so I needed to take advantage of that time.

Saturday was insane! First I weighed in at Fleet Feet (down another 1.4 pounds!!!). Then I worked at Job #2... we were slammed, which at least made the time go by fast. After work I flew around town getting a birthday present for my friend Tara and picking up mine and Andy's race packets for a 5k the following day. Next on the list was a trip to Sarah's parent's to learn the ways of Sassy, their 17 year old cat - I get to take care of her while they are on vacation. :-) Then it was rush home, make a quick dinner, throw on my black and white dress, and head to Tara's 30th birthday bash!!!

The birthday girl!!!

Vinny was there too!! (my trainer)

I had fun celebrating with Tara, but the extra bonus of the night was catching up with her sister Elizabeth. :-) I actually got to know Tara through my friendship with Elizabeth, but now that Elizabeth has two little boys, I don't get to see her as much as I wish I could. Turns out Elizabeth has started running and is training for her first half marathon in September. I sense a future running buddy!!!

Sunday morning started bright and early with the Jungle Jog 5k!!! This was the 4th time in a row that Andy and I have done this race, making it our most run race to date. The course goes through the zoo and the proceeds benefit the zoo - a cause I actually care about, so it's a pretty cool event. Andy agreed to do it too, even though it's not his favorite course, and of course Cheetah Sarah ran too. :-) Newer to the racing scene was Kristin!!! I work with Kristin at Job #2... she has recently decided to run a half marathon next May, so I was really excited that she did this race too. Another new friend to add to my running scrapbook!

It was also extra special as this was my first race since knee surgery. Considering I was only allowed to run 0.06 miles at a time 8 weeks past surgery, I'd say I did a pretty darn good job running a 5k only 5 weeks after that point. I took it nice and slow, but still managed to run the whole thing, which was my goal. According to my watch I finished in 32:35 - just about a 10:30/mile pace. I honestly could not have been happier with how it went. Yes, I'll admit my knee did not feel perfect, but it never hurt to the point where I felt like I should stop. I remember a few nights in bed before my surgery crying because I was worried I'd never be able to run again (I know, very dramatic).... but that, my friends, is not the case! RunnerBabs is BACK!!!

Babs and Andy running again :-)

Sarah, Babs, and Kristin!!!

One of my favorite post-race treats :-)

After the race, Andy and I headed back to our apartment to get showered, and then immediately were out the door to meet his mom and sister (she was visiting from Kentucky) for a picnic. They brought Bailey with them (their dog) so we had fun throwing the frisbee around for her.

The Brown's

The weather was absolutely perfect - a much deserved break from the excruciating heat we had all week long. It was nice to spend some time outside. Before they headed back to Buffalo, we drove them by our soon to be new place - I'm glad Ali got to see it before she heads back out of town.

As soon as we got back to our apartment, Andy whipped up a batch of guacamole and we were back out the door again, this time to a BBQ hosted by some important people at Job #1 at their new house. Their house was beautiful, and once again, with the weather being so nice, it was great to be outside. But I ate WAY too much (felt sick to my stomach) and got home much later than I had planned on... once again, starting the week out feeling not quite as prepared as I would have liked.

But hey, it's Monday and I'm back on track. I was able to turn last weekend's slip ups around and have a successful week, so there's no reason I can't do it again... and I've already made a pact with myself that I am saying NO to activities next weekend. I. need. to. pack. and. clean. all. the. things.

10k Club and Gala Fun

Hello all! A lot has been going on - between work, getting ready to move, and trying to have some summer fun, I've not gotten to my computer as soon as I'd have liked to type this update. Better late than never! Let's back up...

Friday was fun - After work I went to the outdoor Zumba class. Sarah and Maddie were both there which of course made it extra fun. It was still pretty frustrating since I can't do all of the moves yet (stupid knee) but I did notice I could do a little more than the time I went before. At least there's some noticeable improvement.

Saturday was suuuuuper busy. I started the morning off at Fleet Feet for my weekly weigh-in.

My 10k club prize!!

That's right! I had actually lost a total of 8 pounds, which meant I easily made it into the 10k club (you have to have a 6.2 pound weight loss). The first week of the weight loss challenge went really well, I think because it was new and I was excited. The second week was a different story (I gained it all back plus more...), but then I went home to Washington. :-) My parents were so good about helping me get back on track. I lost a lot there, and although it has certainly slowed down since I've gone back to work, I am still slowly but steadily losing. The biggest thing that is helping me?? Taking a picture of everything I eat and sending it to Andy, Anna, Lisa, Bipul, and my mom. I know it sounds wacko, but it's helped me so much knowing I'm being held accountable, and also to hear their support when they comment on my pics. :-)

Anyway, after weighing in I worked Job #2. Then I rushed around running some last minute errands and getting ready for Job #1's 90th Season Gala! It was fun to have an excuse to dress up - plus the free food and drinks didn't hurt either. The best part of the night was dancing with Andy, Anna, Lisa, Ben, and Lydia. It actually made me really excited for my wedding. If we could make a work function fun, then the wedding should be a blast!

Andy and Babs

Babs, Anna, Lisa w/photobombers Ben and Lydia

The Gala turned out to be a pretty late night and the next day I didn't feel so hot (I think I just ate too much the night before), so Sunday morning was pretty lazy. By lunchtime I felt a little better, so Andy and I decided to walk around the Corn Hill Art's Festival, which was pretty cool. While there, Andy got a call from Will and Rose asking if we wanted to go hang out at a lake to go swimming. I didn't go swimming (let's be honest, I just didn't want to wear a bathing suit in front of friends), but it was still nice to be outside. Afterwards we got ice cream - not exactly the healthy rebound I had hoped for after the gala - but that weekend gave me increased motivation to get back on track on Monday.

Andy and Will = man love

Ice cream time!

Monday morning was my return to partner training with Sarah and Vinny! Vinny was so great in modifying things to make sure I wasn't hurting myself without making Sarah's workout too boring (I hope). It is obvious I have lost a LOT of leg strength since my surgery. I have been basically crippled ever since that workout... and I can recognize that it wasn't even a hard workout... I'm just that out of shape. Yikes! But it felt good to get back to it, and was a great way to start off my week.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was another trip to Camp Good Days. It was in the 90s, so I was pretty darn miserable sitting in the barn watching the concert. Of course, by the time I got home late after working Job #2, our air conditioning at our apartment was broken AGAIN for the 4th time in less than a month. Let's just say I did not sleep all too well last night.

Right now I'm at Job #1. We are interviewing people for one of the Vice President positions here so I'm about to sit through another one of those. I will say they are kind of interesting. I'm definitely learning what NOT to do in an interview, haha. Tonight I hope to do some sort of packing and also hopefully some sort of exercise. Hopefully the air conditioning will be fixed and I can get a better night's sleep tonight.

That's all for now! This coming weekend is another busy one - hopefully I can update without tooooo much time going by. :-)

Breakfast with Bips!

I promised a mid-week update so here ya go!

With the exception of today, it has been incredibly hot/humid here... which of course means it's the perfect time for our air conditioner to break. Awesome. Nothing like packing in a hot hot apartment.

My special trick for cooling off...

We've had people in our apartment all week trying to fix it. It's working now, but makes a TERRIBLE noise. Good thing we are moving soon! Speaking of moving... packing is slow going. I've been doing about one box a day, but it's going to be time to pick up the pace. August 1st will be here before I know it.

Job #1 has been revolving around ensembles playing out a different summer camps for kids with cancer.

Woodwind Quintet at Camp Open Arms

String Quartet at Camp Good Days

This Saturday is the big gala, and I know for sure now that Andy and I will get to attend for free. Woohoo! All in all, things at Job #1 are pretty decent right now.

Job #2 on the other hand.... I'll just make it short and say.... if you are ever a COO of a company, don't write a mean email where you refer to "someone" as blondy, because that "someone" will report you. Have fun with HR you a$$hole.

Anyway!!!!! Today was exciting because Bipil was in town for the first time since he's moved to Omaha. I was lucky enough to have breakfast with him, Anna, and Lisa. Yay!!!

Bips is on the other end of the camera :-)

It was so nice to see him again! And the good news is he will be back next month too!

Speaking of out of town friends, I also got to talk to Katie on the phone for awhile last night, which made me very happy. I love Katie! Of course I think it was our conversation that inspired the dream I had last night: Katie and I had to make a top secret trip to Korea (which was located north of Canada, obviously). Then after missing a connecting flight, we wound up in a field of capybaras - but of course we didn't get cell phone reception in the field so we went to a Korean buffet where they gave you a platter and a sword and then you had to go swimming to catch your own fish for them to cook for you. Weeeeiiiirrrrd. If you don't know what a capybara is, google it. I recently learned myself.

I suppose that's all for now. Eating has been going well (with this morning and the gala being my planned "splurges" for the week). I haven't really had much of a chance to exercise, but I'll get that piece back in the puzzle soon. As long as I don't let this morning's breakfast splurge turn into a two day splurge-fest, I think I might actually join the 10k club for the weight loss challenge on Saturday. I will keep you posted!!

Back to the grind

One week ago from today I was getting on a plane. :-( Before heading to the airport, my parents and I had lunch at Panera. Only in Washington do you see this...

Coffee beans as an ashtray

What a good waste of coffee! Anyway, my flights back were perfectly fine. I really enjoyed watching this documentary I downloaded on iTunes called "Weight of the Nation." It's free to download - I'd highly recommend it. I finally got in past midnight, but of course wasn't entirely tired due to the time change... it took me forever to fall asleep. I hate adjusting from West Coast time to East Coast time.

I won't go into all of the details of my week, but I'll just say it was very hard to go back to work, hard to eat healthy (although I did a decent job on the whole), hard to find time to exercise, hard to get things done around the apartment because our apartment is a sauna (our air conditioning is not working). I always have a hard time adjusting back to "normal" life, and this time around really hasn't been any different. I'm excited to move, but I think this next month of living in a torn apart apartment will be challenging too. I need to win the lottery.

Moving on... things of note this last week...

The orchestra played downtown for the 4th of July, so once again I got to go to the VIP reception, which is always fun.

Babs and Sarah - it was so hot and humid

The next night the orchestra played after the baseball game. It was fun to see the "fun facts" I wrote at work projected on the jumbo screen throughout the game.

That's a big logo

The next morning (Saturday) I went to weigh in at Fleet Feet for the Tons of Fun Challenge. I've lost a little over 5 pounds in the first four weeks of the program. Most of that was honestly done while I was in Washington. I haven't managed to lose anything since being back. My goal is to lose enough by next Saturday that I make it into the "10k club" - you have to lose 6.2 pounds for that. It will be hard, but I hope I can do it!

Saturday night Sarah came over and made me dinner (yes you read that right lol). Then we headed out to play mini golf!!

Sarah the super golfer

We ended with a tied game... of course we both cheated too, haha. After that we went down to the lake and got ice cream cones. Sarah and I always go on the best dates. ;-)

Sunday was mostly spent at home. Andy and I went for a slow 4 mile run (with a few walk breaks mixed in). My knee did not feel very good later in the day. :-( I also managed to pack a little, but more impressively... I managed to go through some of my clothes and got rid of a lot of them - and I still have more to go through! It's a slow process, but I'm glad to have a reason to go through everything and get rid of stuff.

And now a new week has started. Coming up this week... 2 trips to summer camps for Job #1, a special outdoor zumba class (yay!), more packing, and most likely a gala on Saturday (it's Job #1's 90th anniversary). It should be a busy week so I'm sure it'll fly by. I'll try to update before the entire week gets past me this time.

Thanks for catching up on my first week back!

Washington Wrap Up

As promised, here is one last update before I get on my plane to head back - of course the weather here is amazing making it even harder to leave. Why couldn't it be cold and rainy??

On Friday morning, my mom and I headed to the track at my old Junior High School to get some exercise and take advantage of the great weather.

Meridian JH Track

I tried running again (very slowly of course) and actually made it two miles almost pain free. Woohoo! I never usually run on a track, but I actually kind of enjoy it - I'll have to do it every once in awhile when I get back. Just a cute side note... this is also where I learned how to ride a bike when I was little. Awwww.

The rest of the day was spent running a few errands - then that night we went to the cheapo movie theater and saw "Identity Thief." My mom and I have both been wanting to see that... it was pretty good! And it was also a great excuse to get in some air conditioning.

Saturday morning started early for the Old Navy $1 flip flop sale. I want to have a bucket of flip flops at my wedding for people to use if their shoes hurt, so this was a good opportunity to stock up on them. The limit was 5 pairs per person. Oh Daaaad!!!!

Dad and Mom, waiting in line FORVER

In order to get 30 pairs we each had to stand in line twice. It took us a total of 90 minutes to get all of them, but we ended up saving $88, so that was worth the wait. Later in the afternoon we made the trek to the Tulalip Casino (it wouldn't be a visit home without making that trip). We played for probably about 3 hours or so, and when all was said and done, we left up $2. Alright!!! Haha.

Something about being in a casino makes me feel like I'm on vacation

Yesterday (Sunday) was my last full day back at home. With the wedding next summer, I'm not sure when the next time I'll get to come back here will be, so I wanted to spend some time in Seattle - mainly at Pike Place Market and the Waterfront.

Before heading into Seattle, my mom and I hit the track again for some exercise. After lunch we headed to REI - I ended up getting a backpack and a helmet for my new bike! I love REI.

The door handles are ice picks :-)

After REI it was time for some Seattle time. First we went to Pike Place Market - it was so hot outside, and with all the people in there...whoa.

Pike Place!

Flying Fish Peeps

It was snack time while we were there - I got a white nectarine that was the juiciest piece of fruit I've ever had. My mom and dad split some raspberries that were also apparently delicious. It's not hard to find some nice looking produce there.

Fruits...

... and veggies!

I also got some artwork for my new apartment. Yay!! With the market crossed off the list it was time to head to the waterfront. There's a ferris wheel on one of the piers that hasn't always been there - my parents and I decided to ride it since none of us had ever done it.

The Great Wheel

The views from inside the gondola were pretty cool. And an added bonus... they were also air conditioned!! (I should mention that even though I said the weather was great, the temperature was 95 degrees, so it was great...but really hot).

A ferry - plus the Olympic Mountains in the background

Small section of downtown

Ship yards, stadiums, and more ferries

All in all, a very fun trip downtown. Back at home it was time to do laundry, pack, and go through more boxes...

Four boxes later it was time for fireworks!!! I can't stand that you can't buy fireworks in NY so I made sure to get a couple to do here before I left. Granted, my choice in fireworks is very lame - I was caught on fire by a firework when I was a little girl, so I'm always cautious to pick fireworks that are predictable (no jumping fireworks). Bring on the pop-its and the sparklers!

Expelliarmus!

Sidenote - it was 10:00 at night and you can see it's still somewhat light outside. The sun comes up a lot earlier and goes down a lot later out here than back on the East Coast.

The grand finale!

So there you have it - the wrap up of my trip home. I don't want to leave, although I'm glad I'll get to see Andy again. Plus I suppose I need to start packing. See you again on the other side!