The New Book Club Idea

So the besties and I have started a new book exchange program. We each pick a book, read it, and make notes in it while we read it, then pass it along.

My first book is Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer.

I've just started, and let me tell you, it's a weird feeling to actually write in a book (that's not a textbook of course). But I got it used on half.com for $3.10 - so I don't feel too bad. I'm a few chapters in, and so far it's so good!

I'm really excited to see how this turns out for all of us!

Almost blew Lent - accidentally

So yesterday, I'm sitting in class, and the girl sitting next to me pulls out a bag of chocolate chip cookies. She asks if I want one and the first thing I say is "Sure!"

She opens the bag, and I reach out to get one, only to stop seconds before the cookie is in hand to realize NO I can't have a cookie!

It's amazing how quickly one can forget things.

Please sir may I have another?

Alcoholically I'm a late bloomer.

Don't get me wrong, I did my share of college drinking. But I never appreciated beer until my late 20s, and still like a good fruity drink. [Yes Carrie Underwood, I am one of those girls that can't shoot whiskey]. And while my drink of choice is a Vodka Tonic, I'm not actually sure that I like them all that much. I didn't get into wine until law school, and even now, I like red a lot, and don't like white at all, and have no problem drinking $10 wine from the grocery store.

Where am I going with this? Here: I drink a lot more now than I did when I started law school.

Prior to law school my drinking was limited to the occasional cocktail with dinner, or celebratory parties where everyone ended up trashed (New Years, 4th of July, Halloween, etc).

Now? I've at least one drink for the past 4 nights.

Does this bother me? Not really. But I will concede that I am a light weight. Three drinks (two if they're doubles or heavy beers) and I'm toasty warm, and shouldn't drive, more than that... and well, overly affectionate Fat Girl comes out to play.

So what sparked this post? The following story:

Thursday night I'm out for trivia with friends. We're at a bar, so I get a Vodka Tonic (a single in a double glass - which means extra tonic, and it takes me longer to drink it). I have my drink - and get a mild ration of crap from one of my friends. Just giving me a teasing hard time, I'm used it, no big. But it really pissed off my other friend. (A rant about why should X give a crap about how much I drank - I wasn't drunk and I wasn't driving).

So Saturday night, I'm out with the teasing friend at a function and I have a glass of wine (one, when we got there at like 6:00 - we didn't leave til 8:30 and between the wine and leaving I consumed food, soda, and a bottle of water) and when we're leaving I a get the whole "Do I need to drive?" speech.

Now, I know this is again meant in jest - because I mentioned the other friend's annoyance at the first hard time. But i wasn't even showing faux signs of being drunk (I wasn't being loud, or affectionate, or giggly, or finding immature things funny).

But now I'm self conscious. I don't want it to be one of things that I'm sensitive about (I already have enough sore subjects), but I also don't want to be teased every time I have a single drink.

And I don't want to be one of those people who can't have drinks around certain people.

Gah - I hate letting stupid teasing get to me. But my personal feeling on teasing is - if it's the same thing over and over again, there's probably something serious behind the teasing.

Anyhow - for now I guess I'll just ignore it, and ask for another drink.

Lent - Weekend One

I'm officially past the first weekend. For me, weekends are the hardest part. I tend to be a boredom eater - and those snacks tend to be sweet treats.

This weekend I managed to keep myself busy with a variety of things:

Friday:

Happy Hour with some people from school

Watching Anchorman with friends*

Late night karaoke with the above mentioned friends

Saturday:

A dog walk for public service hours

A "social" for a group I belong to*

Sunday:

Long lines for basketball tickets

Yoga

Dinner and a movie with friends*

So what the heck is the asterisk for? Those are events that tested my dessert will power. Friday night it was a stop at the local grocery store for ice cream (which I did not get any of). Saturday night it was a buffet of desserts after dinner. (Again, I did not partake, but I did ask the friend that I attended with to describe the brownie he was consuming. And then he speared the last bite and offered it to me.... very tempting... but I resisted)

Last night doesn't really deserve a whole asterisk, but I got to watch a friend sit and consume amazing looking ice cream straight from the container... and not have any.

I think that every place I go for the next 6 weeks should just serve cheesecake for dessert. I can avoid that without a problem. Or be a morning event so I can have a doughnut for breakfast and not worry about it.

More updates to come.

Lent - Day One

When quitting anything, they always say that the first day is the hardest. I think it depends on what the thing you're quitting is.

Since I'm quitting dessert, something I don't have EVERY day, the first day may not be the hardest.

Was it hard?

Yes.

I had a craptastic day yesterday, and all I really wanted to do when I got home at 9:15 last night was comfort myself with a sugary treat, preferably a Little Debbie's Frosted Fudge Stick.

Did I do it?

No. I did however pace my kitchen for a good ten minutes trying to find something else to satisfy my craving.

Did I find something?

No.

I'm hoping today is easier. I made it through yesterday, but on a worse day, I may not have.

Fingers crossed that this works.

As for disparaging remarks - I managed to make no disparaging remarks about others - I did however make several about myself... but thankfully I didn't give up self loathing for lent :)

Lentien Resolutions

It's that time of year again... that's right the time that my Jesuit School educated self gives up something for Lent in an attempt to build some character.

The first year I was here (here being law school) I gave up soda. It was difficult mainly because while I don't drink soda all that often, I usually keep some in the house because sometimes I crave the carbonation. Yes, I know that's weird, but some nights I wake up in the middle of the night dying for a soda. It doesn't happen to me all that often, maybe once or twice a month, and sometimes not at all, but it happened to me three times during that Lent season, and I struggled through it, but it was rough.

The second year I was here I gave up coffee. You can read through my blogs from that time last year, for the full story, but I will sum up with two things. One - I am way more addicted coffee than soda. Two - I woke my husband up early Easter morning for "coffee day" to go restart my coffee addiction. (Yes, it was very bad).

This year I am giving up two things. The first is dessert. Not the treat you eat late at night, but rather the foods one typically eats as a treat. Cake, pie, ice cream, candy, and cookies. This also includes all variety of things not listed. The one glaring exception to this list is the doughnut, because the doughnut is not a dessert, it is a breakfast food. Now here is the true extent of my belief in that statement: Yesterday, I met one of my besties at a doughnut shop for breakfast. I purchased one doughnut for breakfast and two doughnuts for later (The breakfast was chocolate cake with frosting and sprinkles, and the laters were both bacon maple bars). Last night I really wanted to eat the bacon maple bar - but if I ate it last night, it would be dessert, and even though lent hasn't started yet (tomorrow) I saved the doughnut for breakfast this morning to preserve it's breakfast food status.

On the whole I am a huge fan of dessert. I have always been a dessert person. I have a major sweet tooth, and find myself craving something sweet after dinner on a daily basis. This is going to be hell.

The second thing I'm giving up has the potential to be either way easier or way harder. I'm giving up voicing my frustrations with 'others'. This a really bad habit I have, if someone does something to upset me or bother me, I tend to share it. This is a recent decision, it hit me yesterday at breakfast (thanks Bestie!), but I'm going to give it a try. It's not fair to let my frustrations or annoyances color the views of others. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and they are also entitled to have opinions not influenced by me.

So there you have it... my lentien resolutions. So if you see me in the next 40+ days, offer me some fruit to fix the sugar craving and if I start bitching about 'others' tell me to STFU (shut the *f* up).

Things From My Mother

Those that know me know that I'm a total Daddy's Girl. But as I stood in my kitchen making lunch, I realized that I got quite a bit from my mom too, and I never really give her credit for that... so here goes a list of things (traits, habits, likes, etc) I got from my mom.

- Putting potato chips on my tuna sandwiches (that's what inspired this)

- Putting French fries on my cheeseburgers from McDonalds

- A love of avocados

- A love of baked brie

- Making cookies at Christmas time

- The knowledge that a woman can do ANYTHING

- My big toes (as in the first toe - not that my toes are big)

- The love of a good book

- Tea and toast (although I drink my tea black, and she takes her with cream)

- Always leave extra on the beaters (for individual raw consumption) when making cakes and cookies

- An appreciation for the real estate industry

To be fair to the other side, here's a list of things I got from my father:

- The ability to handle tools

- A love of Blue Cheese

- An appreciation for the blues

- Some of the curl in my hair

- Cutting waffles on the lines (and filling every hole with syrup)

- An affinity for games (both board and card)

- A love of Perry Mason

- An appreciation of floor plans

- Enjoyment from entertaining

There you have it - there's probably more, but for the most part, the rest of it is me.

Update to Boys and Girls CAN Be Friends!!!

Apparently I was mistaken in regards to the first instance of mistaken couplehood. Accordingly it occurred months before at one of my functions with my friends.

This was pointed out by one of my very good friends, to which I say: Thanks Asshole. Way to make me feel worse!