FRIDAY
I washed my hair, so all of my curls came back. And THEY CAME BACK WITH A VENGEANCE. My curls haven’t been this tight in ages.
My hair was like this just a few days before:
Then Jen met me at the yoga studio, where I was picking up some work-study stuff to work on. We took a class together. It was supposed to be Rich’s class (he’s one of my favorite teachers) but Rich was out and Mia was teaching, which was an awesome surprise. 🙂 After yoga, we came to my place and watched New Moon with RiffTrax. It was a fun day.
SATURDAY
Adam and I got up and headed up north to the tippy top of the state to Richardson Adventure Farm (home of the world’s largest corn maze) for our friends Paul & Krista’s wedding. As guests of their wedding, we had all-day passes to the corn maze. It was a lot of fun. The bride looked GORGEOUS. AND… they got a picture of her on the zip line in her wedding dress which I cannot wait to see.
What I love about this picture is that my original was far away. I cropped it and only then did I notice that she had tears running down her cheeks.
After the wedding and dinner, we headed over to the actual farm. There were animals:
A pig race:
A Pillow Jump:
And of course, the corn maze itself.
This maze is huge and it goes in stages. To do the ENTIRE maze would have taken hours. Adam and I did the one-mile maze. It was pretty cool. I hadn’t been in a corn maze since 2004.
After we left the festivities, we headed home. Naturally, we took some wrong turns. So we decided, since we were in the area, to drive across the border just so I’d say I’d been to Wisconsin. So we did. Then we made our way home.
SUNDAY
I did some work for Moksha, then I spend the rest of the day playing games, working on my website, reading, and cuddling with the cats. At one point, all three of them were sitting on the couch with me. It was pretty awesome.
And that was my weekend in a nutshell. How was your weekend?
I stumbled across this one here. I was blog hopping and I liked the name of her blog (seriously, Petite Insanities, how cute is that?), and I started scrolling and came across this neat thing. Seven questions. Seven answers to each question. I thought I’d take a stab at it even though I kinda suck at the memes that have a specific number of slots I have to fill out. I hardly ever fill them out without a lot of thought, and most of the time, I don’t want to *think* too hard when I am doing a meme (I mean, I might as well write a “real” entry, right?). But whatever. I’ll try it anyway. Because it’s almost 3am and for some reason, I’m just not into going to bed right now.
So, here goes.
7 Places I Would Like To Visit
. London, England UK
. Ireland
. Scotland
. India
. the Tropics
. Disneyland Paris
. Disneyland TokyoSea
7 Things I Would Like To Make
. lots and lots and lots of money
. scrapbooks (I’m way behind)
. the New York Times bestseller’s list
. a warm, happy home
. large donations to every single charity and organization that touches my heart and shares my values
. a really creative and functional paper journal
. at least three or four hair falls
7 People I Would Like To Meet (Dead or Alive)
. JK Rowling
. Aaron Lohr
. Adam Brody
. Michael Jackson
. Drew Barrymore
. David Tennant
. Matt Smith
7 Things I Would Like To Own
. my dream house
. a treadmill
. an Oxford dictionary
. an iPad
. the Kanani American Girl doll
. the black doll that Ellowyne Wilde is going to release this fall
. really nice furniture
7 Things That Annoy Me
. footsteps
. slow people
. rude people
. traffic
. slow internet
. being interrupted
. being taken for granted
7 Films I Love
. Stick It
. Clueless
. Girls Just Want To Have Fun
. Firestarter
. Mean Girls
. Juno
. Saved
7 Funny Words
. banana
. what
. poop
. pish posh
. raspberry
. squish
. butt
When you’re having trouble staying awake, what are some things you do to make sure you don’t drift off to sleep?
I drink a Red Bull.
What’s most likely to cause you a prolonged period of not enough sleep?
A crazy bout of creativity or a big worry. A blast of “mania” in which my mind is racing with ideas and things to do but knowing I need to rest–it’s a vicious cycle.
When you’re going through a prolonged period of not enough sleep, what parts of your daily
routine are likely to change, and how?
I’ll try to get a nap in but if I can’t then I get stressed and my eyes get all grainy.
Who in your life seems regularly to have not enough sleep?
Out of everyone I know, it’d probably be me. I am a night owl, but I have to force myself not to sleep during the day or evening when I am desperate for a nap. OR I do actually get to sleep at a decent hour only to be awakened by the damn cat wailing for no reason.
In what ways does your personality change when you go through a prolonged period of not enough sleep?
I get either cranky and irritable, or extra loopy and silly.
And August is out the door. I think I’m still kind of in denial about that; I know I haven’t changed all the calendars yet. I don’t know. It’s so weird, how quickly summer goes by. It’ll be time to seriously think about the holidays before long. I’ve already started my holiday shopping. A little bit, anyway.
So, check this. You all know how much I love yoga, right? So, a few weeks ago, I was talking to one of the managers at Moksha. We got to talking about my editing skills and I mentioned that if they needed anyone, I’d certainly be interested working with their promo materials. She gave me the name of the marketing manager. I contacted her, she contacted me back. We met, hit it off, and well, yesterday was my first day as a work study student at Moksha. Basically, I do six hours of editing a week for them in exchange for unlimited yoga. You guys, I get to do what I love for an organization I love, and in exchange, I get unlimited amounts of WHAT I LOVE. How amazing is that?
And as always, the question of yoga teacher training came up. See, it’s been in the back of my mind since last summer. I daydream about teaching classes, and I wish I had some official training so I could teach classes, or even teach Aidan. But I thought I needed to be way more experienced. Turns out that I don’t have to be at all. All the things I thought I needed to know as a prerequisite? Nope. They teach me everything I need to know. The fall session starts next week, so I don’t think I’ll be ready for that. But I am looking into the spring session that starts in March. Everyone who’s gone through it says it’s one of the best things they’ve done in their life. And more than one person has come up to me and asked if I was in training, and seemed surprised that I wasn’t. And then they told me that I should do the training.
So. It’s a possibility. Not sure if I could teach yoga full time, but it would be an awesome part time/side gig. And who knows where it might take me?
In the meantime, I’ve been taking much better care of myself and let me tell ya. It feels good. I’ve been doing yoga and I’ve been on the bike again. For a while, it felt like my legs weren’t stretching out enough on the bike, so I adjusted the seat just a bit. Now it feels great. I guess it was just a little bit too short before. I did have it at the lowest level. I’ve been halfway considering doing a “Couch to 5K” program, but I’m not very comfortable with the idea of running outside. Also, I need really good shoes and I know the investment for that won’t be tiny. Still, it’s worth considering. Running a 5K would be super neat. I just really want to vary my workouts. Not that I consider yoga to be just a workout, but that’s another post.
Now, if I could just get my diet in check. I know what I need. I need Kanani, the 2011 American Girl doll of the year, but seriously, I need more fruit that I manage to actually eat. Peaches. I’m craving peaches. Sweet, juicy peaches. Maybe I’ll go to Stanley’s tomorrow and get some. Mmm, peaches. WAIT, I have some fruit cup peaches. Those can tide me over til I get fresh ones. YAY!
I’ve managed to read more than 50 books this year. It was hard. I’m usually nearing 100 by now, if I haven’t passed that already. But I was way too busy for a while there. Things are much better now.
Other random things:
– I have eight unopened Monster High dolls, an unopened Professor Snape action figure, and I still haven’t opened my She Ra toys yet. I really need to get on that.
– But before I can play, I have a lot of projects going on and many deadlines to meet before I can take a breather. They’re projects I enjoy, though, which makes doing them seem less like work and more like fun.
– I need to seriously QUIT the Facebook games (again) and focus more on my work. The games are so demanding with their quests and begging that one could easily spend hours and hours “playing” them. That’s not good for me or my eyes or my brain, so it’s time to step away. I only play three of them regularly, but even that’s too much.
– I have more self-control with The Sims, which I am so happy I can play again. When my Mac’s OS was updated to Lion, something wonky happened with the video cards and the game, rendering the game unplayable. A patch was just released the other day making the game playable again. But I can only play The Sims for a few hours before it starts lagging and they need to sleep too darn much so I get bored. That’s a good thing. Else, I’d play it for 10+ hours straight. No bueno.
– Adam and I’ve been going through Arrested Development again. That show never gets old.
– Tumblr is my newest addition. Holy awesome. Another time suck I have to be aware of.
– Aidan’s in third grade now. He has his own phone, so he sends me random texts and he also showed me how to attach audio files to text messages. I miss him. Look at this picture of him and Fi:
Poor Fi has conjuctivitis. It’s not contagious or anything, but his right eye was red and swollen and teary when he first came to live with us. Now, his eye isn’t red and swollen anymore, although he is very teary. I’m pretty sure he has allergies. He sneezes all the time. Still, he’s my baby.
When I lived with him in Columbus, he stopped being very cuddly when he turned about… three or four, I’d say. But now, he’s always near me or next to me. He and Helena’s relationship is still pretty tumultuous. Just last night, they bumped noses while they were waiting for me to pass out the treats. (Come to think about it, they get along fine when there is food involved.) Today, he was next to me, she was right across from me. She leaned over, maybe to bump his nose again, and he swatted at her and hissed. She made this face like “But but but…” I mean, she looked so devastated. I chastised Fi gently and pet Helena, but she seemed mad at ME. 🙁 Oh dear. I wonder if they’ll ever LIKE each other or even tolerate each other. I don’t know. Fi’s kinda old and set in his ways. We’ll see. He’s sleeping right beside me right now. Let me tell you. A warm summer evening. Friday. Kitty beside me who I can pet constantly. Glass of juice behind me and lots of pillows. Pizza burgers and tater tots for dinner. All of that after a day of being productive. That’s a good day.
Ooh, ooh, ooh!!
I made a video demonstrating how to make a simple hair fall! 🙂 Wanna see? Fi’s in it, too! Please watch it. I had too much fighting with iMovie to do for this to go unappreciated.
I have a headache and need to get to bed. But first, maybe some chocolate. Or peaches.
1. What city, in your opinion, has the crummiest weather?
Chicago is pretty up there, although the past few days have been absolutely lovely.
2. What kind of weather is the crummiest weather that your current home experiences?
WINTER SUCKS HERE. It starts in October or early November and lasts through May. It’s long and cold and grey and depressing. And sometimes we get a blizzard or snow and ice and bitter, bitter cold. We don’t get much Spring here. It stays in the 30s, 40s, or 50s (if we’re lucky) until mid June, then it gets really warm then hot at the end of June. It’s hot through July, hot/warm in August, but then it starts getting cool at the end of August. September is usually OK, but by the end, it’s already getting into jacket weather. Winter coats should be taken out in October because the snow could start flying at any time. True summer weather here lasts about eight weeks if we’re lucky. So OK, I elaborated a lot more than the question asked, but there you go.
3. When the weather alerts and alarms go off, what do you do?
Panic.
4. What is the crummiest weather event that you have personally ever experienced?
Any blizzard, ice storm, or severe/tornadic weather.
5. Where would you rather be stuck for a month: somewhere where there is 20 inches of snow and below freezing temps or somewhere where it is painfully hot and humid?
Give me the heat and humidity any day. As long as I have plenty of drinking water and some shade, I’m good.
6. What kind of weather keeps you indoors?
It’s not even weather that keeps me indoors. It’s just the fact that I’m a homebody. BUT, temps below 40 are a good way to keep me from going anywhere. If it’s cold and snowing out, or rainy and stormy, and I don’t have to be anywhere, then I’m not going anywhere.
7. Tell us the name of one famous person and the kind of weather you would wish upon them.
I wish awesome weather on all the Doctor Who actors. I’ve seen the Confidentials. They’re always wearing HUGE coats in between takes. Must be bloody miserable and cold.
8. If you were the official ruler of all weather, what kind of weather would you make happen?
It would only rain at night. No storms, ever. No snow ever. Temps would never go below 70F. Blue skies, sunshine, light breeze. Average temp would be about 84F in the day, and 71F at night.
9. What kinds of weather do you dread?
Cold, snow, ice, sleet, storms.
10. What’s your weather like today?
Today was beautiful. High 70s. Blue skies. Sun. 🙂 Happy Ronni Weather.