Mmm, they’re cutting the grass and trimming the weeds down on the lawn and I can smell it way up here. The smell of freshly cut grass always relaxes me so much. Yum! Well, I guess it’s not really yum, as I don’t want to eat the cut grass… I did that once in elementary school and it didn’t work out so well. So I’ll just sit and smell it instead!

Today was… well, an adventure, as the title of this blog post would suggest. Leave it to me to get terribly, terribly lost on the right bus. Seriously. I was on the right bus. Going the wrong direction. This little mistake cost me an hour. An hour.

I got to the library an hour late (aside from the bus thing, it was raining, and my jeans were too big and the bottoms were soaked so they were trying to fall off… what a disaster it was!) and the people I was meeting were there waiting for me. The girl I’m tutoring had to leave shortly after I got there but we’re meeting on Thursday to do some work. I’m looking forward to it!

I’ve been very lazy about blogging the past few days, but that’s because I’ve been busy! Not busy doing anything spectacularly important, mind you. Just busy. Wasting time, I guess. I’ve been a bit antisocial, too, and I think it’s because I’m overwhelmed with my own stuff and while I completely appreciate that my friends come to me with their problems, I’m not doing a great job with handling them lately. So I do the best that I can and hope that they understand that I’m not trying to be a cold-hearted kind of person, but instead that I need to focus on straightening my life out first.

I’ve made a list of things that I need to do for immigration. The scary thing is that the list fits on one Post-It. I write big, too, so this means that it’s coming right down to the wire. I’ll be mailing it out hopefully by the end of the week. Scary? Yes. Terrifying. But I’m so ready for it all to be over already so I can move on with my life. The packet of information is already crazy thick, so I can’t wait to see just how thick it is when it’s done. Not to mention I’ll be waiting with my fingers crossed until the day that I get that envelope with the approval in it. Enough about that, though. I’ve already had my one allotted panic attack for the day regarding that!

I’ve spent the past three days at the beach. Not today, but the three days before that. Lots of sun, a bit of a burn, and lots of exercise. Swimming makes me happy. I prefer the ocean over lakes and to be honest, I prefer pools and wave pools over lakes too, but swimming is swimming and I’ll take it wherever I can get it! My shoulders and neck are a bit sore where they were burned but I have no regrets. I haven’t been out in the sun so much in over three years, so I’m well past due.

Last night Matt and I went with Jane and her boyfriend Rob to the casino for a thing with Matt’s coworkers. Jane and Rob are really close friends with Matt’s boss (they’re the reason he found out about the job!) so it was nice having them there. Another of Matt’s coworkers and his band were playing while we were there, and they were awesome! Absolutely fantastic band. It was nice to get out, have a night out, have some drinks and good music and just laugh. It felt so carefree. We gambled a tiny bit - when I say a tiny bit I mean that we used $10 in the slot machines and that was it. It was fun but we knew we didn’t want to spend too much. After the casino we decided that we really wanted some food (mind you, at this point I’d had a couple Smirnoff Ices and a Cosmopolitan, so I was along for the ride no matter where we were going!) so we stopped at a little pizza shop and got some take-out. Jane and I sat on the curb with our feet in the street and tried to figure out where everything was in relation to where we were standing (She definitely knew much more than I did about that!) while we waited for the food, and some crazy guy with no shoes came up asking for a light. After that, I managed to trip in a small hole in the sidewalk and skin my knee. Oh, the things you do when you’re a bit drunk. It was overall a great night though, honestly. I’d do it again in a heartbeat!

I’m debating whether to upload this short video that I have to youtube or not. It’s a guy at the casino that had obviously had a few drinks, and was apparently dancing with his daughter. Unfortunately he stopped shortly after I got the camera out, but I got some good footage! If I do upload it, you can bet I’ll be posting it here. It was one of the highlights of the night!

I am so sore today that even my feet are begging me to lay off. However, that means I did good on my workout yesterday! I took the trainer’s advice and pushed myself. I keep feeling guilt, though. I did more than I’ve been doing, so I should be proud, but I feel like I should still have done more. I don’t know what it is about myself that I can’t just be proud of the little things. But, it’s me, I guess. I could lose all the weight in two days and still not be happy that it wasn’t only one! (Yes, I know that’s far-fetched. Deal with it!) Yesterday’s workout consisted of:

• Warmup: 5 minutes, bike, level 1.
• Lower back: 12 reps, 130 lbs.
• Leg extension: 12 reps, 90 lbs.
• Leg curl: 12 reps, 90 lbs.
• Seated row: 12 reps, 50 lbs.
• Chest press: 12 reps, 50 lbs.
• Shoulder lateral raise: 12 reps, 20 lbs.
• Bicep: 4 reps, 35 lbs.
• Tricep: 6 reps, 35 lbs.
• Abdominal: 12 reps, 45 lbs.
• Treadmill: 2.5 minutes, level 3.
• Lower back: 12 reps, 130 lbs.
• Leg extension: 12 reps, 90 lbs.
• Leg curl: 6 reps, 90 lbs.
• Chest press: 8 reps, 50 lbs.
• Elliptical: 2 minutes, level 1.
• Bike: 3 minutes, level 3.

It’s a lot, even listed out, so that makes me feel much better, to be honest. I wish I’d been able to make it through two full circuits but if I could, then what would need to be improved? I’m going to go in tonight and do a 30 minute cardio circuit, trying to mix in all the machines. It should be fun!

As for my food, I’ve been doing good so far, I think. I’ve traded in my chips (oh, lovely chips) for brown rice crisps. They are actually a good alternative, so I’m satisfied. Last night’s meal was awesome. Even Matt enjoyed it! I made Havarti- and asparagus-stuffed chicken thighs, roasted red potatoes and asparagus, and served it with a large side salad. So yummy! I’m trying to experiment with healthier foods and get myself on a regular eating schedule so I stop forgetting to eat, then binging when I get really really hungry. Matt and I were talking last night and if I stick with the gym, I might be signing up at some point to take a healthy living class at Superstore (which is where the gym is). We’re waiting, though, because it’s $120, and I don’t want to spend that when I’m already paying for the gym and have slacked off a few times on that. No sense wasting money! It’d be a good thing for me, though, because it’s got menus and recipes, as well as a support system. Almost like a mini Weight Watchers!

Is anyone else a complete and total office supply addict? I can’t live without them. Notice my last two blog entries. A new stack of post-its (which was necessary, as mine had run out and I can’t live without them, seriously) and a new notebook, which I’m using as a food diary. I’ve written everything down so far today, so I’m proud. I’m trying to limit what I’m eating, but my goodness is that a tough task! I’m hungry. It’s probably just because I am writing it down and know I haven’t eaten a lot. I’m trying to think of which healthy snack to try. Maybe the yogurt.

I’ve never really been a fan of yogurt. I’ve bought it a few times and never really been able to enjoy it. However, I’ve decided to try it one more time. This time I’ve bought a small package - single serving! I’ll probably turn it into two servings, but it’s worth a try. If I like this, I might try more. It’s a healthy snack, of course!