Slackin’ Off

Yes, I know I am a slacker. I do. But I just like to say I have been busy. I have. I promise. I have been busy posting to my other blog, my facebook account, twitter, even myspace. Why I still have a myspace account is a question I can’t even think of an answer to. Not a good one anyway. I’m sure it’s purely out of boredom.

Anyway, it’s been too long and a lot of changes have happened. A lot of good things, not so much on the bad stuff. I try to take that in and let it go all in one breath. So my most recent development is running. I run now. Yep. Got my shoes, my sweats, my running partner, and a place to run and I need no more than to just do it, so I do. I have to admit, I haven’t run in a long time before now… about 1 and a half years actually, so I’m rusty but I power through without much thought and the aftermath is just an awesome feeling of both accomplishment, near-asthma-induced-death, adrenaline, shaky muscles, and pure awesome euphoria. All of those feelings combine to inspire me to run more and more. I knew I got like this when I run, but I just wasn’t motivated enough to just do it until I got a running partner. Ahhh all the wasted time of NOT running… but I’m an optimist so I’m going to just think of all the running I’m going to be doing in the future and eat that up!

The Holiday Aftermath

Christmas is over and 2009 is almost done, too. Maya and I were fortunate to each have a Christmas Eve filled to the brim with family, food, gifts, fun, and more. Then we were each lucky to do it again on Christmas day separately, she with her dad’s side of the family, and I with Joe’s side of the family. Maya spent from Friday through Monday at her dad’s in Orange County, CA while Joe and I traveled to Arizona and Nevada during that time.

Now that Christmas is over, it’s on to my birthday, which is tomorrow. I am taking advantage of my free ticket to Disneyland (which is probably one of my favorite places to be). After that, New Year’s Eve, and finally, 2010, a new decade! I have no crazy resolutions, really. I don’t plan to breathe only pure Oxygen, become anorexic, quit participating in the media, drive the speed limit, jump off the Golden Gate Bridge, or anything crazy and hardly possible… but I do have goals.

What are your resolutions? I resolve to not have strict and impossible expectations of myself. Not to make my goals too broad or too difficult. Baby steps, because I ALWAYS try to lose 20lbs in 2wks. and get discouraged, but it’s just not possible. I set myself up for nothing but failure, and 2009 has been FULL of great changes, I like my life so much more than I did a year ago. I am in a great relationship, Maya is doing good in school, I am happy, and I am surrounded with happy people. Last year I was surrounded by people focused on causing drama, people unhappy in their own relationships, unhappy with themselves. Being away from that is indescribable, honestly. I can’t conjoin words to describe how amazing it’s been to be separated from all of that. It’s fantastic to hang out with people who are always happy and love their lives.

Well I guess that’s my update for now… I DID get a Flip Ultra HD from Joe for Christmas, so I plan to start posting vids of random crap I get. Some of Disneyland will be up at the start of the new year, I’m sure, so stay tuned!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

As 2009 comes to an end and the holidays near, Maya and I would like to share some highlights of our year.  We look forward to these cooler months and sharing Christmas cheer.

On the night of Friday, September 12th, 2008 we arrived in Joshua Tree, California.  We have been here one year and nearly three months.  Here are a few photos of what the end of 2008 was like for us in our new home.

The Moon in Joshua Tree on Our First Night

Sunset in September

In December 2008 We got Quite A Lot of Snow

Our Cat Bagheera LOVED the snow!

I'm on top of the snow-covered world!

In short, we <3 snow!

2009 was a year full of changes.  Maya and I made new friends and started to have fun!  We took trips to Orange County to visit friends and family, had sleepovers, went to parties, too day trips, and more!

In early 2009 I kept busy making hair bows and lookin' pretty apparently.

On alentine's Day I went out for drinks with friends at the local bar.

Maya actually made a normal face for me...

...but that normal face didn't last long enough for photo number 2.

It was hard to get another serious photo of my lil goofball.

The 2nd week of March, our cat Parker had three kittens. My mom kept one, we gave one to a local woman, and the other one went to my aunt.

Maya and I got to see the first kitten being born, but we slept through the next two births.

On Mardi Gras, we had a party at my friend Renee's house.

Renee & I at Party Gras

Soon it was Summertime and we were dying in the heat, but we made it work and did lots of exciting things!

Renee and I only left the cool indoor air for the pool TWICE all summer.

Maya & her friends, on the other hand, were barely seen OUT of the pool for 3 months.

Maya had a sleepover about twice a week. Here, she and a friend are sleeping.

Maya participated in the library's reading program and got a free shake as one of the rewards.

Even in hte summer heat, Bagheera loves being outside.

Maya loves the outdoors too...

Joe and Maya and I picnic and play basketbll at the park whenever we can.

We saw heat over 100 degrees on most days this summer.

And the summer fun came to an end for Maya when school started. Here she is on her first day of 4th grade.

As Summer came to an end and Fall began, the weather started to cool a little and we continued to have good times.  Halloween came and went and now we are seeing temps down to 28 degrees.  We are hoping for another snowy winter!

Here is Bagheera...our little scaredy cat got all puffed up and "big" because a stray dog was near.

I dyed my hair red and spent Halloween in Long Beach with my boyfriend Joe and friends as a zombie pirate. Here I am with Martha.

Joe ate a lot of brains that night too!

I made Thanksgiving dinner for the family, we all ate too much. Now the Christmas decorations are up!

Bagheera and Parker are our two favorite cats.  Bagheera spends 80% of his life outside doing who-knows-what… he hunts, fights, does boy cat things (see “Bloopers” section for the highlight of HIS year), but Parker just sleeps.  I think that is what she does best, and cutest.  We love them both!  Check out Parky doing what she does best…

Parker LOVES brushes, she brushes herself on them, plays with them and more... then sleeps.

Whenever she's awake, she is bright eyed and curious!

She sleeps under the covers all the time. I think Parker thinks she is human.

She even lays on me in bed when I'm under the covers.

Sometimes she is just SO tired she falls asleep where she lies... even if it's in a strange twisted stretch.

Here she is all snuggled up under the covers again.

If Parky could talk, she'd say "Can't you see I'm trying to sleep here?"

Parker steals all my good spots...like my pillow!

You just don't disturb your cat when she's sleeping like a baby.

Two sleeping champions at work!

It’s not always easy to get Maya to stop running around long enough to take a picture with me, and once I do, it’s another battle to get a serious face from her.

Maya with the kitten my mom kept, Boofie.

Here we are...but Maya has her crazy face on.

Maya is my snuggle bunny.

I can't think of the words to describe this face. A face only a mother could love?

Here she is after a weekend at her dad's.

BLOOPERS!

Here are some pics of my injuries through the year.

In December, a friend accidentally poked me in the forehead. I had this scrape for two weeks...cute, right?

In this series of pics, you’ll see a scrape on my leg my knees cut open.  I had found a dog wandering our neighborhood and he had an I.D. tag.  I put him on a leash to see the tag and hopefully find his owner when he decided to take off, tripping me in the process. I fell on the gravel/asphalt in front of my neighbor’s house and this is the result. Warning: Skip these ones if you’re squeamish!

Next, in a rare off-roading incident, I hit my brow bone on the roll bar of a jeep and ended up with a mild black eye. It was puffy, sore, and bruised but not too terrible.

More recently, my mom and Maya and I went hiking and rock climbing and a scraped my leg.  This one is still visible and hurt the worst.

And last but not least… Bagheera’s big batch of the year!  He actually carried this jackrabbit home and dropped it just outside our front door.  Bagheera is a pretty large cat but this “present” he brought us was more than half his size!

I know, this is gross but this is his gift.

So all in all, as you can see, it’s been a really busy, fun, exciting year for us.  It was full of new people and experiences.  Feel free to send us any feedback or comment on photos, ask questions, tell us about your year, or anything you’d like to say!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS <3 MAYA & VALERIE

Hey Internet, Be Exciting!

After having stressed over planning my Thanksgiving menu, what to cook, when to prep the veggies and fruits, what to make when and in which order, what does everyone drink, is there anything I’m serving that someone won’t eat that I need to have an alternate for, I am done! DONE!

I have come up with a pretty traditional menu with a slight Southern flair. We will have herb-roasted, buttered turkey. I made my turkey this way last year and it was a HUGE hit! It was the juiciest turkey I’d ever eaten (and I’ve had some pretty juicy turkeys in the past). As far as sides go, we are having garlic/onion/bacon green beans, cornbread stuffin’, candied yams, white corn, baked mac & cheese, salad, cranberry-orange relish, garlic mashed potatoes, and crescent rolls. Pre-dinner, we will have carrots, celery, ranch dip, and a fruit mix of red globe grapes, kiwi, and pineapple. For drinks, we will have sun tea, gatorade, coffee (gotta have coffee, ok? Forgive me for being Dutch. jk), and juices to mix with 7-up (7-up and cranberry is VERY good!). The only thing I’m not 100% on yet is the pie. I like pumpkin pie so I might make that, I’m the cook, so whatever… or maybe apple pie which I hate. Probably both. Pie a la mode!

I have decided to prep everything I can on Wednesday. Tomorrow, the turkey is moving into the fridge to start the defrost process. Wednesday I will cut up ALL the onions, celery, and carrots different ways for the veggie tray, the stuffin’, the turkey bed (veggies layered under your turkey in the pan both infuses flavor AND keeps it moist…that’s a trick to try. I use onions, carrots, and celery… then you can EAT them, and they are SO delish!), and I will cook the bacon for the green beans, prepare and make the cranberry-orange relish which will be served in cups made from gutted oranges and cut in zig-zag and scalloped edges. I will use a cheese grater to grate just a tad off the bottom of each orange cup to flatten it so it will sit flat on the table, and I will use that rind to garnish the relish. These will be the most work other than the turkey itself, and I’m sure they will be gorgeous and tasty! I am making one stuffin’ IN the bird, and one out of the bird, so I will have to do that on Thursday morning. I want to spatchcock the turkey but I’m still not sure if I will be able to breast the bones with my kitchen scissors so I have allowed enough time to prepare on Thursday should I decide to cook it the “normal” way. Also, I fear that I MIGHT lose flavor by spatchcocking, although I read that that won’t happen.

So, it shouldn’t be TOO much work for one person, and my one and only hope is that everyone stays out of the kitchen while I’m busy cooking so I can get it done as planned. I don’t need anyone eating my stuffin’ veggies or anything. My family are hungry people, too… it’s like they start a fast on Monday and by the time it’s Thanksgiving they are half-dead and ready to stuff face like no other.

Alright, well I hope everyone has as great of a Thanksgiving as I plan to!

Slackin’

Yes, I have been a blog-slacker. If that’s a thing, that is what I am.  Since my last update on 11/13/09, I have been spending time with Maya and Joe, along with the occasional day with a friend. I have gone rock climbing, bike riding, basketball playing, re-learned to play CLUE, made broiled filet mignon and crab cakes for Maya and Joe and I.  This week I finally bought my new running shoes.  I have been wearing them in all week and they are ULTRA comfortable.  It’s been cold enough at night (37 degrees) to wear footless tights under my pants if I plan on spending any significant amount of time outside.  I decided to try a new hair dye and although the color is similar, it is definitely more rich and shiny… and I love it!

As we all know, Thanksgiving is coming up this week and I am all of these: excited to eat a nice tiring homemade (by me) meal, anxious to see how everyone likes the Southern food theme, nervous that I will forget to make something ahead and that I’ll have to make it last minute.  Nevertheless, I know it will be great!  I wish Maya could be with us, but she is going to her dad’s from 11/25-29.  I will have my first Thanksgiving with Joe… and Joe loves to eat, so as long as he’s willing to enjoy HOURS of The Twilight Zone, it will be a great day! The days to follow will probably be spent with Joe being able to do whatever we please, like lie in bed all day, or have too many drinks, or take a bath, or get back massages, or drive around aimlessly, or see a movie.  I’m sure you get the idea.

Happy Friday the 13th!

It’s been a really great day, but honestly I don’t have much to say… here is some inspiration!

Beauty Tips by Audrey Hepburn

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge you’ll never walk alone.

Sharing is Caring

YOU should do something for someone ELSE this holiday season.  Think of the kids… think of a toy you loved as a child, or a toy you would love if you still WERE a child, have you kids pick out a toy since he or she IS a child.  Do something for those less fortunate than yourself.  The meaning of Christmas has nothing to do with gifts if you’re in it for the religious aspects, however, we all know that kids don’t always “get” that, and some of us just celebrate out of habit or tradition.  In any case, making sure a child gets one gift for the holidays is a great feeling.  Just imagine the amount of happiness your one little gift will bring someone.  Doesn’t it feel good to be the reason for that feeling?

 

Not into Christmas?  Well that doesn’t matter… get your best zombie gear on and come walk around Pasadena after you donate your gift. Here is all the information taken straight from a myspace.com bulletin.

 

We’re coming to get you “again” Pasadena…You better watch out!

It’s time again Zombies for our annual Holiday ZombieWalk..so get your holiday festive Zombie looks together and join us for another amazing night !

So.Cal ZombieWalk strikes back with our Scary X-mas Walk pt.2

Start spreading the word to all of your holiday /zombie loven friends and family..Last year the WALK was a huge hit and this year is bound to be just as amazing!!

At this WALK we’ll be collecting toys for needy familes and donating them to the “Spark of love” which is a LA county Fire dept. chairity in our name!

Saturday Dec 12, 2009 along Colorado blvd. in Pasadena ,Ca

Meet up location will be between 5:00-5:30 pm @ the North end of Central park .Be on time forRules, photos and the toy collection!

Please get in touch with any questions you may have!

Antho.​.​aka.​.​Zombie Claus

 

My Daily Plate

I used to use The Daily Plate regularly, then I stopped.  I am back on the wagon as of the start of November, and I’ve noticed that instead of having a Snickers mini, I will have the water that I purposely put on my desk because it’s better for me and I know I am too lazy to get up for food.  This is good.  I am too lazy to get up to eat junk food, and I am too lazy to eat a Snickers mini because I know I’ll have to enter it into my Daily Plate log.  So…laziness is my motivation for how astoundingly healthy I have eaten this month so far.  It is NOT the motivation for me to work out.  The reason I have been working out is because I like to see my deficit (calories eaten minus calories burned).  I am driven by the lack of calories  still hanging around in me at the end of the day.

Whatever it takes, right?  That’s my motto!  lol

Here is a link to The Daily Plate via Livestrong.com in case you want to check it out, and you SHOULD.  Even if you think you might be eating healthy, you probably aren’t.  And if you actually ARE, then you can tweak your carb, protein, and fat intakes based upon your type of workout, and your calorie intake if you’d like to lose a few pounds or up your protein…whatever you want to do, you should check it out.  The worst that could happen is that you don’t like it and don’t use it.  It’s free! Just click on the Livestrong logo below!

November

November.  Already.  I am not excited about this month at all.  First, I feel like it’s just a month someone invented to fill a space between Halloween and Christmas.  I know there is Thanksgiving, but really, people generally skip the decor and hurry the celebration along to get to Christmas and then to New Year’s Eve.  There is no chance for me to shop for Thanksgiving decor and things other than when I’m already at the store to pick up Halloween decor or Christmas decor.  Another thing that boggles my mind is why people get so upset about how quickly Christmas creeps up on us.  The only explanation for that is that we basically skip over November so as to quickly move on to the presents.  Personally, I could have Halloween and my birthday (December 30th) every year and not give a damn about anything else.  That’s just me.  Don’t get me wrong, I love to decorate for almost every holiday, but when I weight how much work it is vs. the actual appreciation for the work people do to make it a special, memorable day, it’s just not really worth it to me.  I don’t expect someone to bring me a gift because I made them an awesome Thanksgiving dinner, but I DO expect them to say thank you and let me know what they liked…and by all means, act respectfully toward one another, right?

 

With all of that said, how do you like the time change?  Personally, at the risk of sounding like a total pessimist today, I don’t like it at all.  I think it messed up mine and Maya’s sleep schedules completely and while I don’t completely mind it being dark at 5:30pm, it would be nice if I had until 8pm like I did in the summer.  In an effort to look on the bright side, I recently found out that the park I frequent is lit-up at night.  That means that I will be able to take a run or play some basketball at night if I want to.  I am also in the process of finding out if the same is true for another park slightly further from home but equally as nice (and grassy).  Hey, I live in the desert, so a nice and grassy park is harder to come by than you’d think.  They are both really nice parks, when I’m there it makes me feel like I’m in Orange County again… where things are green and the air smells like plants, not allergies.

 

In other news, I searched and searched for a running shoe to accommodate my unusually high arch.  I tried on EVERY women’s running shoe in Big 5 and ONE pair was decent.  Not PERFECT, but good enough.  If for any reason it becomes painful to run in them, the arch is high enough that if I add an arch support insert it will sit high enough to help.  I used to just run using any cheap runner from Target and I’d suffer arch pain but kept on going.  I figure if I did THAT for years, I can certainly find ways to run on a near-perfect shoe.  I am completely motivated by these shoes.  I get that way.  When I have proper gear, I love to run.  Hopefully this week I’ll be able to pick up a new knee brace, running tights, and shorts to go over said tights so I won’t hurt my knee even more by being cold AND running up and down hills on it.  I can’t believe it took me a year to get up the nerve to run these hills.  I’m starting slow but at least I’m making the effort.  OH!  And I found out that shooting hoops burns 573 calories an hour! I couldn’t contain my excitement.  I know, dumb, right? But honestly, name something you love to do, then imagine if it burned 573 calories an hour.  How excited would YOU be!?

 

Well on that note, I’m going to search the web for reviews on running gear.  Have a great day!

Cleaning House

It isn’t Thanksgiving yet, but I still have things to be thankful for and I would like to share some of those things, along with a rant, today.  With no more appropriate place to start than at the beginning of the year, let me go back to January 2009.  In January, I decided it was best to sever ties with some old friends whom I didn’t actually consider friends anymore.  My reasoning is irrelevant in that it is due to events that took place in 2008 and I am not going that far back.  To be short and sweet, we grew apart in maturity, taste, behavior, and values.  We no longer saw eye to eye and in all brutal honesty, I didn’t really have much respect for them anymore.

Between January and March, I was a bit lonely because I had just moved 200 miles from my hometown and old friends a mere 6 months prior.  This being a vacation/camping/military place to live, I had only made a couple friends here thus far.  To add to the chain of events, one of the best friends I have moved 6 hours from our hometown, making it an 8 hour drive from my new home to her new home.  I have still never visited her, as much as I want to, it’s costly and time-consuming to spend 16 hours driving in order to spend about 1 day with her.  I wish things weren’t that way, but for now, we talk every day online to maintain our friendship and I’m certainly thankful for that.

In March, I met my current boyfriend, Joe.  He is by far the best person to come into my life since Maya was born.  Don’t get me wrong, I have had a couple really awesome boyfriends in the past but none even remotely compare.  He is everything the others were not, and everything I needed and wanted for years and years.  Joe is considerate, honest, chivalrous, attentive, even-tempered, giving, funny, he likes kids, likes going to the park w/ Maya and I, he is a good sport, he has interesting things to say, he doesn’t spend all his time on the computer, he appreciates me, he appreciates things I do (like when I make him dinner, buy him new sheets, etc), he is reciprocative, and seriously I could just sit here and fill an entire paragraph but I don’t want to bore you with how awesome my boyfriend is.

In April I got my car.  While it’s proven to be a bit of a pain in my neck because it’s only a two-seater and I normally do things with two other people, I am truly thankful for it, too.  It gets me where I need to be in a safe, timely, and inexpensive manner.  36 miles per gallon in more than any girl could ever ask for, right?  I am thankful for Maya.  She is an extremely intelligent, sincere, affectionate, loving 9 year old girl whom I love.

I had an amazing year, an eventful Summer, and so far, an exciting Fall.  I am planning my Thanksgiving menu, and Christmas will be here sooner than I would like.  I’m not a scrooge or a Grinch but seriously, Christmas is a lot of work for not that much fun.  That is how I gauge holidays, I guess.  Halloween, for example, I spend hours on my costume, but I get candy and have an awesome time that night.  Worth it.

On the bright side, the decision to rid my life of people I don’t identify with, have nothing in common with, don’t see eye-to-eye with, and in some cases, just don’t like anymore (or maybe never really DID like), really was the best thing I did all year.  I don’t think of friends as disposable, however, I don’t think of friends as NOT friends, either.  There is really no reason to keep people in your life and have to pretend you like them, pretend you have something in common, or basically never talk to them at all unless you see them at parties and such.  I am just not into that.  I consider myself more genuine than that.  I treasure the people I keep in my life and the rest of them I offer common courtesy IF they deserve it.  In the end, having a smaller circle of friends, new and old has been a success.  My life feels cleaner, new and improved, if you will, and I have yet to feel any sense of loss in doing this.  I wish them all the best!

So this post was partly about how I’m thankful, thankful for this, thankful for that, thankful for the lack of this or that, but what actually drove me to post a blog tonight was how irritated I was about this house.  I cleaned the bathroom from top to bottom on Monday.  I swept, I put out clean towels, I washed the shower curtain liner, the shower, the counter and sink…EVERYTHING!  Today I walked into the bathroom and everything was in disarray.  Maybe I have a slight case of OCD because I like my house to always look like I’m walking into a freshly-cleaned hotel room, but I can’t help it that I’m visual.  I like things to be clean and be in order.  Walking into a room that is clean and orderly is one of my favorite feelings.  If it smells nice, too… that’s a HUGE plus.  Maybe it’s just me.  Maybe it’s not that easy to put things where they belong, wipe the foam soap from the counter, cup your two hands to rinse your toothpaste out of the sink when you’re done brushing your teeth, pick up and re-fold the washcloth you knocked down when you set a magazine on the towel rack, or put the magazine back where it belongs?  In addition to all of that, the shower curtain rod was moved UP on the wall about three inches.  WHY?  I don’t know.  When the rod rests three inches lower, the curtain falls at the exactly perfect spot from the floor and the curtain rod rests perfectly at the top of the shower wall, so what is the problem with that?  Sometimes I think these things are done just to annoy the crap out of me, because everyone here knows how I like things just so, BUT I know better… it is really that I just live with SLOBS!  Yep.  It’s true, I do.  You should see the living room.  My bedroom is almost as clean as it can be.  Neat, organized, clean, dusted, things are in order, the bed is always made unless I’m sleeping in it, things like that.  I won’t ask you to take your shoes off, or not eat or drink in here or anything and I think my level of clean is pretty normal, I just like things to stay clean.

How do you keep your house in check?