Hello, Lover...

I have an old guy named Joseph Pilates to thank for my new found love of fitness. I went to a Pilates Reformer class yesterday for the first time, and while I felt a little awkward when I couldn’t quite catch on to the inhale-exhale timing, overall, I loved the way it made me feel!

Once I got focused, I found myself very relaxed. All I could think was, why haven’t I tried this sooner?

I’m very, very sore today, but it’s a good kind of sore. My hips, thighs and sides are a little achy, but any exercise that makes me that sore without breaking a big sweat is right up my alley. Plus, you do it barefooted, which is even better! I feel very "new age." :)

I’m going again tomorrow. And Saturday morning, too. Hopefully I will actually stick with a real exercise plan this time. We shall see…

Atta Girl

I'm patting myself on the back this morning because after a long-awaited two and a half years (almost to the day), I finally got a promotion at work, effective today. State government can be tricky as far as promotions/reclassifications go, so I'm pretty excited.

Derek's mom would have called this an "atta girl," so I'm calling it that myself. If you don't toot your own horn, then who else will? :)

Lovely Labor Day Weekend

We started off the long weekend by heading out to the lake on Saturday morning… it was a beautiful day, and it was so much fun to have a family day out there with a few babies running and crawling around. Ryan Hadley was there, as well as Trey, Melanie and Jane Reynolds, plus Ben, Kristen and Mary Hogan. For once, we non-parents were outnumbered! :)

After spending most of the afternoon on the water, we had some great ribs on the grill with all the fixin's and then took the boat out after dark to ride over and listen to a few members of The Chill (our wedding band and one of my all-time faves) play at a house down the lake. Sometimes there’s nothing like dancing barefoot in your bathing suit on a Saturday night!

We headed back Sunday morning and enjoyed a lazy afternoon watching the Ole Miss game followed by some HGTV (for Derek) and Lifetime (for me).

We slept in Monday morning and I ran a few errands before getting some food together to take across the street for a cook-out at Ben and Tina’s. It, too, was a family event with Baby Brady and our friends John and Susan and little Eli. Was someone trying to send us a message this weekend or what? Ha!

A few hours later and bellies full of a smorgasbord of food, we put on our pajamas, watched an hour of “House Hunters” and were both falling asleep on the couch by about 9.

It was such a nice weekend. It was nice to do something low-key like that instead of a having a three-day party. It was even fine with me that we spent the majority of the weekend around a bunch of babies… I guess it comes with the territory of being in my last few weeks before my last year of my 20s. We are getting O.L.D., and I’m proud of it. :)

Random Thought Thursday

It’s quite a boring but busy week our way, so I thought I’d write a Random Thought Thursday post to share what all has been going on here lately…

• CAR - Monday the insurance adjuster came to look at my car, and the good news is that the case seems to be moving along as it should, even though the towing company has not been very cooperative. He estimated the damage at just over $1,000. Long story short, they’re still processing the claim from us, but he assured us it would be a favorable ruling, even if the other party doesn’t provide their insurance information… The claims rep I’ve been dealing with is as frustrated with the towing company as I am. He actually hung up on her when she called to get his info. She called him an idiot. I obviously agree.

• BABY – I’m totally in love with Baby Brady across the street. We went over Monday night to visit with Ben and Tina and meet Ben’s mom from Canada. I know it’s been a tough and tiring few weeks for them, but he’s already grown so much! He’s adorable and I’m ready to baby sit.

• BIRTHDAY – My birthday is a little over three weeks away. Whoop Whoop! I’m excited and ready to ring in the big 2-9, although there will be no Back To College Party this year. I will act my age by having an “adult” birthday party with a nice dinner out and some wine. Nothing too crazy so I can save up my energy for the Dirty Thirty Party next year. You just wait…

• TV – I’m definitely ready for my shows to come back on!! I got super excited when I saw that “Glee” was new on the schedule for last night until I realized they were just showing the pilot again. At least next week I’ll be able to watch a new episode, plus a few other silly shows Derek doesn’t watch with me (90210, specifically). The rest of my faves will premiere in late September, coincidentally the week leading up to my birthday AND the week Derek is in Chicago for work. I will probably go cross-eyed from watching too much TV that week. On the upside of waiting on all the premieres, I learned how to fight back against a terrorist hijacker on a plane last night on “Surviving Disaster” that Derek made us watch. I even know how to fly a commercial airline now if I had to. Interesting stuff.

One more day till a THREE DAY WEEKEND, kids!! Hope everyone has a great weekend! I'll try to actually post some photos soon (if you're even still reading this by now).

Just what the doctor ordered

Yes, indeed, I have had a pretty lazy weekend. And I feel like I deserved it after the week I had last week. I was mentally exhausted between a crazy week at work and dealing with my car drama for five days straight.

Friday night my friend Allison was in town, and we stayed up late catching up on the deck over a few beers for her and vodka tonics for me. Before we knew it it was almost 3 a.m. and time to call it a night. So of course when Saturday morning rolled around, I was feeling the repercussions of a late night the night before in addition to a runny nose and non-stop sneezing. I just felt BAD in general.

After talking myself out of not cleaning the house (which didn't take much) I napped almost all afternoon in a lovely Benadryl-induced sleep. I really think it was just what I needed! Poor Derek just had to fend for himself all afternoon, but I don't really think he minded. I finally got up and moving around 5 p.m., cooked dinner and then we decided to have a movie night at home by renting "I Love You, Man" through the On Demand channel. It was pretty funny, and I totally enjoyed snuggling up to my husband on the couch with the cat in my lap and the dog at my feet. It was great.

Today we met Katie and Evan at the movies to see "Final Destination 3-D." Much to my surprise, I couldn't really roll my eyes at this one... it was pretty good (not too much of a plot, but great special effects.) And 3-D movies are just fun to watch in general. After the movie, we did a little shopping for some new clothes and then finished the day with take-out from Julep.

All in all, it was a very nice weekend, and if cherishing my lazy, no-plans, stay-in-my-PJs weekends at home means I'm getting old, then I'll take it. It's like taking a mental health day at work... sometimes you just totally need it!

Nice guys just get screwed...

It’s been an exhausting week… on Friday, I was leaving work when a tow truck backed up into the street and hit my car. I was stupid enough to not get a police report, so now I’ve been dealing with backtracking and doing what I can to get them to fix my car. Luckily the responding officer witnessed most of it, so his report after the fact and my statement to the insurance people will hopefully help work it out.

The lesson I learned is ALWAYS FILE A POLICE REPORT!!! Never take the other driver’s word that they’ll fix it. Never assume that people are honest. Never even question it! I’m learning the hard way. I just hope it works out in my favor… I’m cautiously optimistic.

And, for those of you in the Jackson area… DO NOT USE UNITED AUTO AND TOWING COMPANY!!! I will shout it from the rooftops if I have to. They’re not honest people and their drivers are reckless! Not to mention they’re a bunch of dirty, lying rednecks, but that’s beside the point.

From now on, I’m not giving anyone the benefit of the doubt anymore. I’ll no longer be the nice girl. I won’t believe that there are good people in this world. I am now a certified b*tch. Excuse my language, but I guess that's the only way you can get anywhere these days. So sad...

We go back like 1980

What a BEAUTIFUL weekend it's been! Our friend Dave came down from Memphis, and we headed to the lake yesterday morning for a low-key day on the water and to celebrate Cousin Wes's 29th birthday.

We were essentially the only boat on the water, and it felt like fall outside... absolutely gorgeous! We spent most of the day tubing and parking at the Redneck Yacht Club, which wasn't really a yacht club at all since we were the only boat. We entertained ourselves nevertheless. :)

Last night built a fire to keep the mosquitoes away and enjoyed some live music from Dave's guitar. We had so much fun on the water that we didn't even make it to midnight although we really tried! Here's Dave Unplugged...

And the birthday boy unplugged... yes, he fell off the cooler onto the ground and kept playing. That's some dedication right there.

We came back home this morning and sat outside on the deck this afternoon for a little while since it was too pretty to stay inside. The beautiful weather didn't keep me from taking my long-awaited Sunday afternoon nap later today, however. Now I'm all rested and ready to start another work week.

Too bad this cool weather won't stick around... I know it's just a tease, but I'm so ready for fall! Summer weekends like this one are far in few between in Mississippi, so we enjoyed it while it lasted!