there you are, i thought i lost you forever

in one week we'll be on a mini-break! we're going to virginia to see his parents. from what i understand we'll have an entire wing of their new house all to ourselves. i heart mini-vacations. sure, it's not california and i won't be sporting any swimwear, but still, three days of zero work, worry and high heels. i may bring a pair of running shoes though.

v. bad day

weight: not sure as haven’t eaten anything in the past 12 hours, assume to have lost 2 pounds
cigarettes: 0, since don’t smoke but almost wish did for one fleeting moment
visits to ER: 1

6:00 am: funny stomach cramps from saturday still not gone, will skip workout and sleep them off. sushi = bad.

7:00 am: cramps still there but will get to work as feel better really

9:00 am: have just had breakfast and annoying sushi-related cramps are back. will call doctor.

9:15 am: have doctor appointment @2:15. (hope will not have to wait entire hour to be seen as usual)

2:15 pm: doctors office. have to wait entire hour to be seen as usual.

3:15 pm: may possibly have appendicitis or tubular pregnancy which either ignored will surely end up in death. since do not want to die, will go to ER for ct scan since imaging office will close soon. poop.

3:30 pm: blood work taken, ouch. pregnancy test negative, phew.

4:30 pm: picked up jeans and book from home, heading to husband’s office, who has kindly agreed to leave work and come to ER in scuzzy city with me.

6:00 pm: starving, have not eaten anything since lunch and even then only teeny tiny clif bar. am hating energy bars and sick people.

7:30 pm: only three hours to actually get bed in hospital, since of course, seeing welfare recipient with head cold is actually more important than bleeding finger chopped off man in waiting room. poor bleeding man.

8:00 pm: still starving. but now have lovely iv hooked into arm to slowly pour water into body since am not apparently capable of doing this myself (am totally capable of course).

9:00 pm: still starving.

9:30 pm: still starving but get wonderful stingingly metallic drink to swallow due to test to be performed in 1-2 hours from finishing nasty drink.

11:00 pm: back from weird rotating testing tube in which my body was inserted and removed and inserted again several times. breath, hold breath, breath, hold breath, etc.

11:30 pm: do not indeed have appendicitis. get antibiotic in arm for bacterial infection (which upon further research into the actual cause of, know DO NOT have said bacteria. at which point am v. v. upset about having to cry over really bad long needle in arm muscle).

12:00 am: discharged from hospital knowing exactly what i knew 8 hours ago, which is nothing. i have nothing. except for some useless antibiotics floating around in my body. so the good news is i get to keep my appendix and my tubes. and from now on promise not to eat sushi prepared in gorcery store. (also had to take day off from work to be able to sleep for ten hours, clean house and watch movie with husband. hoorah.)

beauty and the beads

beauty and the beads, originally uploaded by tinkerellen.

my latest hobby involves all things pretty.

so i was hoping today would be gorgeous and sunny and i could take tons of photos of all the beautiful trees and flowers that are blooming but alas, it's 'raw' here. you know it's bad when they use the word 'raw' to describe the current weather. so instead i went shopping. grocery and clothes...there's some great deals out there right now, too bad i can't go hog wild (big expensive shoes remember?).

anyway, i'm lounging around in the sweats, doing a little laundry and work, and drinking some white tea in my fabulous new mug. hava great weekend everyone.

happy birthday cousin

jens bday book, originally uploaded by tinkerellen.

today's my cousin's b-day. i made her a book. that was the other fun gift i was working on but couldn't give any hints about, since she lies and says she read this every few days. anyway, i hope she had a good one out there in the LA sun. jerk.

so do you ever hear a song and think, you know, i need that album. well, i did that today. i want ray charles greatest hits. and then at the end of the song i realized it wasn't even ray charles. but still, it made me think of his deep raspy voice and i still want that CD.

haircut today! i'm sporting the summer short do and loving it. my head feels three pounds lighter. AND i picked up a pair of Born shoes yesterday, or should i say invested in them. those things cost a small fortune. anyway, i needed some since i threw away (yes, threw away) a pair that i used constantly EVERY summer. why, you ask, would i throw them away? because i'm an idiot. (tell us something we don't know) hey! and they had a small tear in the stretchy canvas that was only bound to get bad and i would still be wearing them around until half my shoe fall off in the middle of the street leaving me shoeless in the grungy part of town. that's why.

a new low

you know things are rock-bottom when shaving your legs ends up on your 'to do' list.

goodies

goodies, originally uploaded by tinkerellen.

don't you just love gifts that arrive out of the blue and for no reason at all? me too. i came home yesterday to a box! a box, i said? what could it be? for me? yes please.

inside was a gift sent from the great sara as a thank you, all for creating a nifty little header for her blog. but i say thank you, to you, sara. i have been wanting a glass tea mug since i read about them last year, and it's green and fabulous. i can't wait to brew my next cup and watch the colors appear before my eyes...

cheescaheaven

cheescaheaven, originally uploaded by tinkerellen.

easter was ok this year. it's becoming tradition that we head to our pastor's house. they invite over all the relative-less people each year. and this year i didn't even show up empty-handed. i brought these little cheesecake suckers and some good ol' mashed taters. i even mashed them myself. unfortunately i have an entire tupperware full of leftover cheesecake bars.

i weigh 114 as of this morning. i'll weigh myself at the end of the week and let you know how many pounds of cheesecake i finished off...

happy easter

mean_bunny.jpg, originally uploaded by tinkerellen.

and i mean that from the bottom of my fuzzy little tail.

scrapping example

heather's gift, originally uploaded by tinkerellen.

here it is folks. this was the baby shower gift i was telling you about. picture this, but in about 12 pages. and i won't post all 12 either...

i heart chocolate cake

ok, so i'm gonna stop talking about my 21 day goal, since you're all probably sick of hearing about it. after this of course: my body has completely adjusted to working out in the mornings (i'm exhausted by 9 and there's no problems falling to sleep anymore) and i love how free my schedule feels, so i plan on keeping to it.

in other news, i love my new hobby: digital scrapbooking. seriously. who has the time to scrapbook entire albums? not me. so i've resorted to creating 8x8 printable pages in photoshop. and i've discovered an entire online community of people who do this, and even digital products you can buy like fonts, tags, papers, etc. i love it. i'll have a couple of samples up soon. that was my baby gift for heather's shower a few weeks ago that i still haven't shown you, so sorry!

and another shout out to heather for the fabulous hand-me over sweater i'm sportin today. green is the new green baby.

current music: soothing seas to fall asleep to (reminds me of all that precious beach time)
current reading: real simple's article on why thin people stay thin
current mood: anticipation, for that piece of chocolate cake (it's friday you know, chocolate cake day)

day fourteen. million.

it feels like it anyway. so tired. BUT energized at the same time, really weird.

tonight i need to clean clean clean. it's a mess and it's freaking me out. dishes, laundry, floors, etc. and etc. i also plan to try to make this cute necklace i saw the other day. looks easy enough. we'll see. and i need to paint my toenails! this nice weather has had me pulling out the comfy bass sandals, but my toes looks like crap. (not to mention my skin is still white as a ghost that just saw a ghost.) (oh and i plan to reorganize the laundry room as read on real simple this morning.) and charge the phone and the ipod, so much to do...

current listening: missy higgins.
currently reading: nothing even though several books are waiting patiently on my shelf.
current mood: meh. but the day's not over yet.

too much of a good thing is an awesome thing

this morning was a success. not only did i get my butt up early and to the gym, but the husband's butt went with me. he's so proud of himself. it helps that the weather is so nice. it just changes your entire attitude. and wardrobe. i'm wearing a cute new 5 dollar skirt and people can't stop complimenting me on it. i love compliments! then, before i was leaving the house the dhl guy showed up with our completed tax forms courtesy our nyc accountant. i can't believe how much we're getting back this year. being a full-time student was good to us. now we can plan our trip to los angeles and hire someone to remodel the bathroom. God is awesome.

i'm also submitted a couple photos tonight for a local craft store contest. sounds stupid, i know, but if i win i get a gift certificate and i love free money. especially now that i have a budget to stick to...

self-portrait tuesday: april fool's

funny_bunny.jpg, originally uploaded by tinkerellen.

and i AM a fool. the bunny thing was getting done and done and done, so i exagerated a bit. oh what fun one can have with a set of dollar plastic ears and a tripod.

to see more funny bunnies go here. (or you can wait until it's a wee bit closer to sunday which is when i'll be posting the forced photo of my husband....oh what fun one can have with an unwilling subject, a set of dollar plastic ears and a camera.)

busted, on day 16...

king kong was decent. long, but visually interesting. i have now also developed a crush on adrian brody. but i think the husband has a crush on naomi watts, so we're good.

this morning was a total bust. i slept in, and by the time i realized i had, it was too late to even try to get to the gym. i had an early dentist appointment this morning that i couldn't miss. oh well. apparently i had my alarm set on radio, and the volume was all the way down. BUT i did get lots of sleep and feel incredibly rested. and, there's always tonight if i'm feeling somewhat enthusiastic.

the weather is looking up. blue skies and warm sunshine. everything's starting to bud and there's no sign of snow anywhere. amen.

the camper that was

charbroiled, originally uploaded by tinkerellen.

this is a photo from my mom's fire. it's sobering and amazing what can happen. all weekend i made sure everything was off or unplugged.

day 5? or day 17 i guess. i probably shouldn't count the weekends since i don't do anything on them... anyway, hard time waking up and late to the gym BUT a much better workout. i think my body is adjusting to me forcing it to work at 7 in the morning.

started to watch king kong lastnight. 3 hour movie! so we had to stop it and get our butts in bed before getting up this am became impossible. will power i tell ya. also bought a new teapot this weekend. red. oo la la.

2 am and i'm still awake

it's 11:30 pm on saturday. i'm exhausted. i like to think of this as talking to myself. especially since actually talking to myself would just be crazy. yeah totally. i know. anyway, i should just pull on my jammies and roll into bed like all the normal people. oh crap, i forgot to put sheets on the bed. (by the way, 32 degrees today. it's enough to make a person bitter and pissed off.)

let's get together, yeah yeah yeah

good morning everyone! as you might have read, my mother lost her temporary home lastnight. the camper she was staying in while she and my stepdad build their new house burned to the ground. Everyone was ok, since (luckily) she had decided to stay one more night at my sister's house. BUT, they lost everything in the camper, which luckily wasn't a whole lot, but still, imagine losing anything you own, even the replaceable things.

anyway, i'ld like to do something nice for her, so if you want to be involved let me know via e-mail and i'll give you some details: tinkerellen@yahoo.com.

and day 18 went awesome. woke up early, went to the gym and even roped another friend into starting this new habit with me! she plans to start after she gets back from her disney vacation next week...

down at the corner wong

i got up early. i didn't want to. oh, i so didn't want to. i wanted to lay snuggled in bed next to my warm husband under the warm covers inside my warm room. but i got up. i knew this would be hard, but gosh already. anyway, hit the gym and everything. woohoo. and for my big fat reward at the end of my big fat first week i plan to eat a big fat piece of chocolate cake (minus the guilt). sure, i could eat one whenever my 110 pound butt (buttocks for sarah) wanted to, but saving it as a reward just gives me something to look forward to.

i spent lunch at the small business office. i would have had more luck talking to Mr. Hong down at the corner take-out (food and advice, what gives...). i need to talk to someone who's actually started their own business and can give me advice and relevant stories, not joe mc'schmoe who tells me endless stories of his daughter's fitness business (which would be OK if he made them applicable to me, which he didn't). oh well, he's still a nice flushed irishman with lots of stories. which does nothing for my situation.

day 20

things are on schedule. i went to bed by 10 (10:20 to be exact), i woke up early (so i hit the snooze four times, so what) BUT i did not go to the gym. EGADS. seriously though. people. my buttocks were on fire. everytime i sat down they would scream out 'please have mercy senorita, we are in paaaaain'....my buttocks apparently are mexican, who knew?

anyway, my goal is five times a week and weekends to myself, with the occasional day off in between, so i'm gauranteed a minimum of four workouts. so today i'll count as my day off. although i'm debating going tonight to do more cardio. but i don't need to. SO it feels like i failed even though i'm still on track with my plan. i did however watch the morning news and fold clothes at 7 am. sooo unlike me. i'ld say things are looking more productive in my life already.

mb, joining our little internet support circle means you now have to give us daily updates* (ok, maybe every other day) and inform us of your goals. which we already know that staying away from dairy queen blizzards is one of them. (*awesome excuse for dsl)

21 days

so today was the first day with a new habit. this morning i was at the gym by 7:15. sure, a little later than anticipated, but it was snowing and dark, so i’m using that as an excuse. i now have a heart monitor. which is really important, and i didn’t even realize it. work smarter, not harder right? so if you pant and sweat and try so hard on that crappy machine without seeing enough results to make it worth it, there’s a reason for that. you’re doing it wrong.

Go here to check out the fat-burning zones as opposed to the muscle burning zone or which zone burns more calories, or just in general what your max heart rate should be, since hurting your heart is probably a bad thing: target heart rate and zones.

so say it with me people, i will start a new habit. i will replace a bad one with a good one. i will write about it in my blog. i need a support group, i’m just not motivated enough on my own. who’s with me?

ilist

courtesy marybeth: my ipod shuffles.

feels like today – rascall flats
the space between – zero 7
ready for your love – chantal kreviazuk
yeat’s grave – the cranberries
sweet chariot – charlotte martin
what am i to you – norah jones
in my place – coldplay
sooner or later – michael tolcher
drops me down – lisa loeb
back door santa - jet

on a one-hour delay

seriously? stayed up late to watch Grey’s. worth every minute of lost sleep. *spoiler alert* chris o’donnel = delicious. these next few episodes have a lot of promise. in my world anyway.

of course we completely forgot about the time change this weekend. showed up at the end of church. second year in a row. so we booked out of there before anyone could see us and point and laugh.

two new goals: get to bed by 10 every night. get to the gym by 7 every morning.
we’ll see. 21 days right. starting tonight.

check out the new header designed by yours truly: letter to the world, as soon as she gets it up there.