Possible trip in my future?

New Zealand

Looks pretty, right? This is the Auckland skyline. My college roommate, the one that set Jason and I up, got a teaching job at a music conservatory here. That is awesome. She currently lives on Hawaii and has this easy going personality. I'm sure she will love it there. Well, she moves out sometime in January as their school year starts in February and goes through November.

So, she has asked us to come and visit her. We can stay with her, and we can fly stand by on airlines for a very cheap expense. As long as we don't mind the 13 hour plane flight. We're thinking that we can go during Jason's spring break in March and maybe spend 3 days in New Zealand and 3 days in Sydney - especially if we make this trip, why not see something else in that region?

I'm excited about possibly going out that way. It may not be Paris, but how often do people make that long of a trip?!

Downside to this

I would love to be able to post entries just for me, a private setting... But, I don't think there is one. Anyone know if there is one?

Day Zero Recap

9. Have a movie night once a week for 6 months.

Well, Jason being a Trekkie, he could not wait to own the new Star Trek movie. He had bought it before I made it home from work the day it came out. I saw it the evening after I did my triathlon in May, the 2nd day out in theaters. Needless to say, I was exhausted and didn't really pay attention to it. I then saw it at Feralli's supper club where I was much more alert and focused on the movie. I can say I enjoyed it. It wasn't too sci fi for me, not really any weird alien scenes. I don't know the characters, back stories... But, I found it enjoyable and funny in parts.

Last week with my family in town, we watched Home Alone on Thanksgiving while the food cooked. My mom told stories about how my sister was just a baby when we saw it and she screamed for the first half so my mom took her out in the lobby and came back for the second half, just in time to see the funny parts. It always seems to be a classic.

22. See 3 musicals.

On November 15th we went to Gammage Auditorium and saw The Phantom of the Opera. It was my 5th time seeing it and Jason's 2nd time. We had seats in row 7 so it was pretty good. We could really see their faces for their expressions. The production, as always, was very good, but the actors, I was disappointed in. The Phantom was an understudy (though the best one out of all of those and Christine was not good at all. The worst was Meg. She was terrible, looked like a fish when she sang and was out of tune. We were sad with that, but, it is still Phantom and we had a great night out.

46. Read 6 new books a year.

I finally finished Something Borrowed by Emily Griffith. It was a pretty easy read. I enjoyed it. Some parts were unrealistic I thought, but I did enjoy it. It didn't really make me think or anything, but I did forget about the world around me, and at times, that can be a good thing.

86. Drink 4 glasses of water a day for 30 days.

This one is done. I made sure to drink only water at work (unless I was tired and ran out to get a red bull) and, it resulted in more trips to the restroom! But, I finished it. Next up, 6 glasses.

99. Watch a movie starting with each letter of the alphabet.

My family has this tradition to see a movie on holidays. So, we went to see The Blind Side. We love Sandra Bullock and we love sports underdog movies so this was a no brainer. It was fabulous! It will be one that we purchase when it comes out.

I know I have to post about my me days and the Arizona Iron Man, but that will come later.

To keep track

Last week's movie was Star Trek

My latest top 10 movie was Big Fish

This week's movie was Home Alone

Alphabet movie to add is The Blind Side

One musical down, saw Phantom of the Opera

Another goal down, completed 1 month of drinking at least 4 glasses of water a day. I've moved on to 6 now.

I also must talk about my One a Month Me days, and how volunteering for the Arizona IronMan went.

I'll go more into these when I have a chance.

A pleasant surprise

We are 15 games into the Suns 09-10 NBA season and we are certainly pleasantly surprised. We sit at the top of the league, sharing the league's best record at 12 and 3, undefeated at home. They left yesterday for another possibly brutal east coast trip in which they'll face the East power house Cleveland Cavaliers. December is actually a rough month for them. Cleveland, Lakers, Celtics, Spurs, Mavericks (I think)... We'll see once December is over if we are a contender or just a playoff spot. But, I believe it is safe to say that we are a playoff spot. And, that makes me happy.

An interesting few weeks

My mom's cousin, my grandma's sister's daughter, passed away November 13, she was buried Sunday, the 15th. When her mother, my grandma's sister, found out, she went into shock. She developed kidney stones, a UTI, a stomach that didn't want to digest food... She just started to shut down. They removed her IV's that were providing the nutrients to her this past Friday. I got word as I was working the Arizona Iron Man competition yesterday that she finally gave up and passed away. My mom is on her way to Mississippi for the second time in about 2 weeks. I am most worried about my grandma. Everyone knew that her sister was on her way out. When my sister was visiting my grandma last summer and saw her sister, she cried to me about how she would say that she just wanted to die. I believe my grandma knows that her sister is no longer in pain. However, the two family members in Mississippi that my grandma was closest to are now gone, in 2 weeks. My parents would move my grandma out to live with them here in Phoenix, but they themselves don't live here full time yet. I spoke with my grandma today and she didn't talk about her sister. She said that my mom was coming to visit and that she couldn't wait to come to Phoenix for Christmas and I heard The Price is Right in the background. We'll see, only time will tell I guess.

Who knew ugly was in?!

That is the sweater I found at Sears. My thought was to wear some sort of red or green long sleeved shirt with it, maybe a black skirt, and some knee length Christmas socks (if I could not locate some tights!). I go out to Goodwill over the weekend to look for something for Jason, and I come across 2 more "lovely" red sweater vests by this same designer for $4.00. Both, were probably even better than this one from Sears. So, I bought one of them and I plan to return this one back to Sears. Hey, it's an extra $25.00 I get back. But, I did not see anything for Jason.

So, the search online begins. I've come across numerous websites that have talked about the new hit thing is to throw these ugly Christmas sweater parties. I had no idea! Check out some of these sites:

http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/ugly-christmas-sweaters-461208

http://www.uglychristmassweaterparty.com/

http://thefuntimesguide.com/2006/12/ugly_sweater.php

http://www.hellishholidays.com/2006/12/ugly-christmas-sweater-party-guide.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_5450556_host-ugly-christmas-sweater-party.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1246516/plan_an_ugly_sweater_christmas_party.html

http://homemanagement.suite101.com/article.cfm/ugly_christmas_sweater_parties

Who knew??! Now I just have to find something for Jason! If only he would agree to wearing a sweater.

Training for 1/2 marathon

So, I guess I can really look at running more and more for this 1/2 marathon in Disney World in March. Ugh, I hate running. But I guess the only way to get better is to keep at it, right?

So, let's start with a month's plan of running. I actually have a tentative plan through the race weekend, but I plan on changing that as I either progress faster or slower or become lazy!

Here it is:

Sunday, November 15: Run 1.5 mi

Tuesday, November 17: Run 2 mi

Thursday, November 19: Run 3 mi

Saturday, November 21: Run 3 mi

Sunday, November 22: Run 4 mi (and get inspired by watching/volunteering at the Arizona IronMan competition)

Monday, November 23: If Bike is fixed, Bike 6 mi

Tuesday, November 24: Run 4 mi

Thursday, November 26: Bike 7 mi

Friday, November 27: Run 4 mi

Sunday, November 29: Bike 7 mi

Monday, November 30: Run 4 mi

Wednesday, December 2: Run 5 mi

Friday, December 4: Run 5 mi

Saturday, December 5: Bike 8 mi

Monday, December 7: Run 5 mi

Wednesday, December 9: Run 6 mi

Thursday, December 10: Bike 8 mi

Saturday, December 12: Run 6 mi

Very aggressive... we'll see how I do. I did my 1.5 run today. Man, I hate running. What am I thinking??!

Starting Over

Alright. So, yesterday was the day that Fertility Friend wanted me to test. Jason and I had discussed that if no sign of AF had appeared by the weekend, we'd get me a test then. So, I took my temperature before getting out of bed yesterday, then headed to the bathroom and discovered that she had arrived.

In the 6 months that we have been trying, I had yet to be truly disappointed when she showed her ugly self. Yesterday was a different story though. I wanted it so bad and just "knew" that it was going to happen last month that I was extremely disappointed. I say I "knew" because the due date would have been at the end of July, right when Jason has band camp in Prescott. It would be the most inconvenient time to go into labor - he'd be out of town, my water would break - he'd have to rush down the mountain without the kids (don't worry, they'd have parents and district staff there so it would be allowed) - it would just be bad timing. And, I "knew" because of the bad timing, it would happen. And, I had purchased the VIP membership for fertility friend so I started tracking any and all symptoms or signs that I would have, started reading any spike and wondering if it was a "triphasic" chart or wondering if any dip would be an "implantation dip"... I had all this hope and anticipation and excitement built up that it all came crashing down.

I never thought that I would be one to be truly upset if it didn't happen. I knew that it would happen when it happens... So, the fact that I would be crying off and on sitting at my cube yesterday... that was surprising to me. I told a coworker of mine not to worry about me - then I ended up briefly saying that we are TTC and that this "we'll see what happens" front is just a front to avoid questions. I also said (and this is how I feel) that due to my mom's 3 miscarriages, I feel like I want to hurry up and get pregnant, have my miscarriage so I can move on and start the real thing. I'm completely expecting to have a miscarriage and because of that, anytime that goes by where I'm not pregnant to lead to this miscarriage just means it will be that much longer before I become pregnant for real! Might sound silly on the miscarriage part, maybe I do that so that I won't be too disappointed/sad if/when it happens.

But, yesterday, I felt like if I had someone tell me that they were pregnant that same day that I might yell, throw something, sob uncontrollably, not really sure. But, then again, it depends on who that was... There are a few that I would be truly happy for, and there are others that, if told yesterday, would just make me angry. If told today... well, I'm not really sure.

Another movie, another restaurant

Number 13. Try 10 new restaurants.

Last night we tried Fajitas, on the Frontage Road just north of Dunlap. I'm not a huge Mexican food fan but Jason just loves it. So, I humored him with some Mexican food. I figured worst case I could eat a cheese crisp or something. The place was relatively empty when we walked in and we were greeted right away by our server by some very warm tortilla chips and salsa. I'm not a salsa person so Jason had the salsa. He said his (he likes to make his own) is better, or for a restaurant comparison, Chili's is better. But, the chips were very warm - I quite enjoyed them. For dinner, we both wanted fajitas, so we ordered the larger order of fajitas to share. The steak was steak, nothing really special, but their tortillas were homemade. Yum! They were so good! We'll probably go back at some point but it's not a top priority on our list.

Number 25. Buy new Pixar feature films.

Gotta love it when Jason doesn't have school. I came home from work today to see that Jason bought Up today. I think we'll be watching it before Glee tonight.

A 101 update

Number 9. Have a movie night once a week for 6 months

So, I'm not ready for Christmas decorations to come out, but an occassional movie or some select Christmas songs? That's ok. So, we watched probably our favorite Christmas movie: Elf. I'm not a huge Will Ferrell fan but I adore him in this movie. We just laugh at so many different things and different quotes (Buddy the Elf, What's Your Favorite Color?, Francisco, That's fun to say, Ooh, What's a Christmas gram, I want one! Oh! It's very sucky!) HAHA! I love it.

Number 49. Take Ballroom Dance Lessons

Well, this past Friday was the dance party night at the dance studio I've been going to. $10 gets you a lesson and then the dance party where they'll play songs and tell you the kind of dance you should do to that song and you just dance. So, I went this past Friday, it was my first time going on a Friday. The lesson of the night was the Samba, which sitting here right now, I honestly do not remember. 1 hour just is not long enough to try to learn/remember a dance! Yeah, I cannot think of the basic step at all. Geez that's sad.

I ran into the same problems during the dance party - I struggled with remembering how to start certain dances or getting into the rhythm for certain dances. It didn't help though that there was this guy that wanted to dance by the name of Leonard. You know the saying where a person marches to the beat of a different drum? Well, Leonard dances to the beat of a different tune. He tried to do both Cha Cha and Tango with me and, well, I had no idea what I was supposed to do. It made things very interesting. But, I did get the chance to dance with another instructor by the name of Russ (or Ross! Ahh, it's a Friends episode!) who helped get me back on track with dances and such and I had a good time. This Wednesday is the NY Hustle (I think at least) and the Samba again (I think). If I make it to Friday's dance party/lesson, I will learn the Salsa. Then, that pretty much leaves the Night Club Two Step for their Wednesday Night crash course lessons. I'm still thinking Swing is the way to go for me though.

Number 99. Watch a movie starting with each letter of the alphabet.

Tonight, I watched the tear jerker that is P.S. I Love You. I had heard it was a tear jerker - I just wasn't expecting it to start after only 15 minutes! Wow! By the time I'd stop crying, I'd start again! But, I did really enjoy the movie. Just not one I can watch too often, unless I need a good cry!

Ok, now I haven't done this yet, but I'm starting it.

Number 46. Read 6 new books a year

So, I was trying to read Wicked, but I couldn't get into it. I loved the musical, but could not get into the book. I felt like I was forcing myself to try to read it. So, I'm trying a new book. I picked up Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin. I've only read the first chapter but it does make me want to read more, just not before watching my Suns, Dancing With the Stars, Glee or dancing.

I wish

I wish I was better at reading my chart... I don't want to think about what today's temperature might mean... It could mean positive or negative things. Only time will tell. I don't recall ever wanting to skip an entire day and just get straight to the next morning so much than I have during this cycle. And, that is why, if this is a negative sign, I will stop charting for a while. It will just drive me crazy and I don't like that.

Holiday Party

Ok, so I am already planning for our holiday party. The previous 2 years I didn't really worry about things until a few days before, but this year is different.

We are having people bring a dessert (typical) and an ornament if they want to participate in the ornament exchange. We're also taking it up a notch. We're asking that every guest wear an ugly Christmas/Holiday article of clothing, like the ugly Christmas Sweater or the ugly Christmas tie and so forth. As the host, I guess it was decided that I need to be over the top ugly!

So, off to Sears I went - well, Wal Mart was first, and they disappointed me! Then, it was the mall where I went to look at JC Penny's and Sears. Sears was like a gold mine! They had like 6 or 7 different sweaters or sweater vests or long sleeved shirts and such! I saw them and knew that I was getting the first piece of my outfit from there. I'm trying to find a picture of it online but if I can't, I'll be sure to take a picture and post it later.

So, I'll be looking to add to my new ugly black sweater vest! I think I'll be adding a red or green long sleeved shirt, some lovely Christmas earrings, maybe a couple of Christmas pins to pin on the sweater (because the sweater vest isn't enough I guess)... and I'm trying to decide what to do with my lower half. Because it's a sweater vest, this is where I'm stuck. A co worker of mine and I were talking earlier today about doing the stirrup pants in red or green then add the long socks over top that you scrunch down your leg, or if no stirrups, then leggings with the socks, or the Christmas tights/panty hose... But, then I'd also be looking for a skirt or something I guess... So, I'm starting now to prepare my outfit... I'll have to figure out something for Jason to wear...

And I'm trying to get a game plan as to how to handle the "scrooges" that come to the party and not wear something ugly. I want to give them something to wear so that they participate and would love to tie in Scrooge somehow and possibly have all the "scrooges" sing a Christmas Carol or something... I have one month from tomorrow to get everything figured out.

Basketball is here!

So, the Suns season started last Wednesday. We've had a pretty easy schedule up until now so we've won all 3 games. It's hard to gauge how they will be this season because of that. But, they are running and gunning again which I like and our center went to UA and high school here in the valley and the man can shoot 3s! A center that can shoot 3s! He made 6 for both the 2nd and 3rd games. I like it! It's interesting only having a half season of tickets though and knowing that the second home game of the season we didn't even have a choice to attend (unless we bought tickets). That will take some getting used to.

Funny Girl

99. Watch a movie starting with each letter of the alphabet.

Last night I did not go to Jason's marching band practice. He was using the rehearsal to focus on music and I'm a visual/marching person, not a music person. I was going to go to the West Coast Swing class but after inputting my temperature for the day and it telling me that it can no longer determine if I O'd or not, I wasn't feeling like it. So, another movie of my 26 it was.

I took from my parents collection (ok, really my mom's collection) Funny Girl, with Barbara Streisand as my mom loves her. The movie was very cute. Barbara is an aspiring star who doesn't give up and once she gets her shot in a production, it continues with her life and falling in love, starting a family, being more successful than her husband...

31. Watch 10 of the IMDB top 250 movies.

I had a little bit of time today after work before the Suns game started (east coast so the game started at 5:30). So, I viewed the list of movies to see what I had that was on the list and what was a quick movie. Enter The Lion King. Who doesn't love that movie?!

No solution yet

But, I really shouldn't hide while I sort myself out. So, I'm moving on and trying to just have fun and not sweat the small stuff. As soon as this cycle is over (as FF is currently not able to show O for me this time and it's about CD20 right now) I'll stop charting for a while to just try to have fun and not wonder. I can't think of much else I can do at the moment.

This is It

Well, I'm sad that This is It was it for Michael Jackson. It was interesting. I went in knowing it was kind of a concert documentary thing. The first number was Don't Wanna Be Startin Something and it was interesting sitting in there and he's on the screen singing a song - well, sort of singing. There were parts during the song numbers where he wasn't singing full out, or at all. It was all to "get a feel" or "get the timing" down and such. By the time the second tune came on, Jam, I started to loosen up a bit and nod my head a little. The third tune was much better and there were some songs I was ready to sing out loud like Human Nature, Billie Jean, The Way You Make Me Feel, Smooth Criminal and Earth Song. Some of the movies that they had made for segments during the show were shown, including ones for Thriller and Smooth Criminal. Thriller was new stuff, not the original video. It was in a cemetery with a grave digger who looked an awful lot like the guy in the big ghost scene on the Haunted Mansion ride. I must say they surprised me in it though as they also introduced a spider during the song and it wasn't just zombies. I was so not a fan of that part and had to look away. They finished the movie with Man in the Mirror and were frozen on Michael Jackson at the end of the song. Then, it fades to black to make way for the credits and the new song, This is It. And, that makes me sad.

Last weeks goals

Number 9. Have a movie night once a week for 6 months.

Friday we watched Air Force One. I do love me some Harrison Ford! Today will be our movie night for this week as we're pretty busy this week. The chosen movie will be This is It, the Michael Jackson movie. We're both pretty excited about it. I'll share my thoughts after I see it.

Number 49. Take Ballroom Dance lessons

Well, this past Wednesday was the day I was looking forward to. The Foxtrot (eh) and the East Coast Swing (Yay!). We started off on East Coast Swing, but I'll share my thoughts on Foxtrot first. The Foxtrot I felt was very similar to the Tango as you move backwards in a very close position like the Tango, yet I didn't have as hard of a time with this as the Tango. Perhaps I'm feeling more comfortable with it? I would do the Foxtrot again but I still prefer the Latin dances. We learned a few moves and I felt bad for the other gal there as she had done a little bit of Foxtrot before but couldn't move on as I had never done it before.

East Coast Swing is very, very similar to West Coast Swing. Really the only difference I saw was that there is an extra shuffle step in the basic move (ok, really 2 shuffle steps). So, instead of West Coast with one step right, one step left, rock step to the back, East Coast is 3 steps right (small steps), 3 steps left and the rock step back. Otherwise, the moves are the same! I was loving it! There was only me and one gal in the class that night, the instructor (male) and the guy that comes to be an extra guy if needed. So, they didn't have to waste time in teaching the lead part and could just focus on the follower's part. And, the instructor knew I had danced swing before so he would put on a song, we would dance the steps he just taught us, then he would finish the song and see what I could do and I would keep right up with him. It was great. I can't wait to go back.

Number 54. Try a new meal/food once a month for 6 months.

Well, last week Jason made empanadas. I know, I've never had them before - Chicken empanadas with jalapenos. I have also never had those before. I was not a fan. I'd eat the empanadas again, just not with the jalapenos.

Number 96. Donate to Goodwill. We have both been making piles of stuff in our hallway for donation. I finally took old/small clothes, shoes and such to Goodwill yesterday.

Number 99. Watch a movie starting with each letter of the alphabet. Well, I haven't seen it yet, but I'm marking it in anyway. Jason and I go see This is It today. I was not sure originally if I wanted to see it but knew I would if Jason wanted to see it. He did, so we bought our tickets the date they went on sale and we see it today. A coworker saw it Thursday and just raved about it. She said she was going to see it again before it left the theaters so I'm really looking forward to it now.

:)