uRbAn DeCaY

Urban Decay, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

#1 - YOU HAVE SPARKLY EYESHADOW
In March, as I disembarked from my cruise and went through Customs, my little happy Customs fella let me scoot right on past him saying, "Girl, look at you with your sparkles." I replied, "Sir, I will wear sparkes until the day I die." It didn't matter that I was sicker than a dog that entire week or that I was (and still am) 32 years old, I still proudly donned my sparkles, dammit! My favorite color, FYI, is Midnight Cowboy Rides Again because it can be worn all by itself OR you can use it in conjunction with another color AND it's a neutral!

#2 - YOU HAVE TRENDY LITTLE NAMES FOR YOUR PRODUCTS
What's not to love about blush called Fetish and Exhale or eye shadows with names such as Polyester Bride, Maui Wowie, Minx, and Stalker? Let's not forget lip glosses entitled Kinky, Carney, and Lust.

#3 - YOU HAVE AWESOME SHADOW BOX SETS
Unlike most eye shadow box sets sold by your competitors, you have a really cool combo of some really cool shades. I can honestly say I have used every single eye shadow in the one shadow box I have purchased. I would be honored to have another shadow box set and it just so happens I see you have a new one - The Alice in Wonderland Book of Shadows and now I want it!

#4 - YOU OFFER FREE SHIPPING FOR ORDERS OVER $50 ON YOUR WEBSITE
It's not difficult to rack of $50 when purchasing make-up. It's nice to be able to do so on a VERY user-friendly website that shows product pictures, gives color descriptions, and offers the convenience of not having to leave your home.

#5 - YOUR PRODUCTS LAST A REALLY LONG TIME
I don't know how long exactly because I've never really taken the time out to run an experiment because I'm not a dork, BUT trust me on this one!

Okay, well I guess 5 ways of love might not seem like so many, but it's Big Love, y'all. We are talking huge! So, if you haven't tried it yet, I totally recommend checking it out. It's only my *favorite* brand of make-up EVER!

Hungry Like a Wolf

I have maintained my pact, kids. There have been four mornings so far and there have been four morning workouts. I'm quite proud of myself because any one of those mornings I could have EASILY reset my alarm for a more reasonable hour.

I've been quite awful about going to bed at a decent hour to accomodate my new early bird gets the worm routine. Not cool. I do require more than 5 or 6 hours of sleep to be a nice sweet girl and I am certain there are many who have forced interaction with me throughout the day who can vouch for this (sorry guys).

One huge difference I have noticed with this new routine is that I am TURBO HUNGRY from around 9am to lunch. I've been making myself a breakfast sandwich to eat in the car on the way to work - it's a sugar free whole wheat hamburger bun with one egg, two slices of canadian bacon, and one slice of 2% cheese. That should sustain me to lunch since it is WAY more breakfast than I would normally eat. Normally I eat a Carb Master yogurt (properly refrigerated, of course - haha) and a couple of slices of some lunch meat and maybe some almonds. Now, around 9am, I was looking for more, so I grabbed a sugar free pudding. Then around 10am, I am looking for more, so I ate a couple pieces of some lunch meat, then around 11am, I was STILL HUNGRY so I had a spoonful of some almond butter (like peanut butter, but made with almonds). At noon, I was still freakin' hungry like a wolf, but I had to lay down the law and not allow me anymore food until lunch time. Then I can eat the chicken salad, cucumbers, yogurt, and blueberries I brought. I know that will hold me over until dinner, but good golly miss molly, all I've done is eat from the minute I got in the car this morning until lunch. Oye!

Anyway...good thing I'm eating healthy.

Incessant Chatter

Exercise and I did not get along with each other last week. I think I pushed myself a bit too hard the week before and my thighs were *killing* me. It's kind of a good feeling, though, you know?! First and foremost, I was thankful my knees were happy. I worry about them since I had ACL surgery on my left one my Junior year in high school and surgery on my right one my Senior year in college. The cold also killed my jogging/walking plans for the weekend. I know, I know I'm a total pansy. You are probably wondering why I didn't just hit the treadmill at the gym. Um...that is so way more intimidating than running in public in my subdivision. I'm weird that way, not to mention I kinda like my whole run two light fixtures / walk one routine that I have going for now (remember...I'm new at this). They don't have light fixtures at the gym, so I'd be completely thrown off and the look of confusion upon my face would probably scare some other gym members and that isn't even fair to them. I'm a huge advocate of fair.

BUT, alas...that isn't even what this blog is about. No, no...it's about so much more. So because of my lack of exercise last week, I fell behind the 8-ball and so I must make up for it. I'm kind of all-or-nothing that way. This means I decided I must hit the gym every morning this week come rain or shine (or ridiculously cold weather) no matter what kind of sleep I get or what kind of pain I'm in or what kind of mood I'm in, etc etc etc...

Monday went without a hitch. In fact, dare I say it was a motivated, fantasmic work-out?! BUT, alas...that isn't even what this blog is about either. We are leading up to today's work-out. At 4:45am, my alarm sounded the start of my day. I arrived at the gym and picked out my elliptical. I clipped my iPod shuffle and started working those glutes. About 10 minutes into my workout, these two girls appear and take the two machines beside me. They are clearly friends and they are clearly there to workout their mouths.

I turn my iPod's volume up incrementally to try to block out their incessant chatter, which, by the way, was totally reminiscent of my brother and brother-in-law's incessant chatter when we all went to workout while in Vegas over Thanksgiving. It was annoying, to say the least. At some point, I was *this close* to blowing out my ear drums, I swear.

I know what you are thinking. Isn't that funny coming from Kim? She's the #1 incessant chatterer. Whatever, dudes. There are times for incessant chatter and times for kicking it into gear and the gym is time to SHUT-UP. Plus, for the record, it isn't incessant chatter when it provides the masses with amusement. Anyway, I know it sounds like I'm being totally harsh, but I have to explain something else. I get very easily side-tracked and I'm quite clumsy. I try very hard to stay in "the zone" because if I don't I will fall off my machine.

I do the whole "look mom, no hands" thing on the elliptical which is all fun and games until some girl starts talking to another girl about what her boyfriend did the night before and then the gossip girl in me comes out (read: no matter how loud my music is, I'm secretly straining to listen in) and then the next thing you know, I'm all off balance and I almost "Boom Boom Pow" my way off that machine.

Good thing they only lasted 7 minutes in their "workout". Sheesh.

Oh my gosh...I almost died!

On Friday morning, while reading and responding to work emails, I reached into my purse and grabbed my Kroger brand Carb Master yogurt. I took the lid off of the blackberry flavored delightfulness, picked up my plastic spoon, took a spoonful, and came *this close* to taking a bite when suddenly I remembered one tiny little detail of great importance. I did not bring my yogurt to work that day in my purse. I had brought it in a plastic bag along with some of my bottled water and some leftover homemade soup for my lunch. Oh my gosh...I almost died!

I know what you are wondering. Did it look right? Yes. I mean I had left my purse in my car overnight and we had freezing temperatures, so it was re-refrigerated quite nicely. Your next question is probably along the lines of how long had it been there, right? Um...yeah...I have no clue. I pretty much eat a yogurt a day, but there are some days I forget (remember that I do have A.D.D.) or that I opt to have a sugar free pudding instead. So it might have been there from the day before or the day before that. All I know for sure is that it wasn't put in my purse THAT morning and so...oh my gosh...I almost died!

This is why the whole big purse trend is a really bad one for me. For all of you who knew me in my latter years in college and the first 8 years post, I always used to find the tiniest purses possible. They were soooo cute and people were amazed by what I could fit in them. Last year, I jumped on the big purse bandwagon and my purses have gotten progressively bigger to the point I might as well be carrying luggage with me. Seriously, y'all...what I have in there is ridiculous. I think I need a purse monitor...a person to tell me, "no, no" everytime I go to put something in it. I'm outta control and as a result...oh my gosh...I almost died!

I guess I will have to try to self regulate somehow, someway...I'll just take it one day at a time. I'll start off simple...something like no perishable foods are allowed in my purse. That's probably a good one to ward off future death threats.

Only Lonely

Sometimes I feel lonely. Tonight is one of those nights. It's sort of like a pity party for one and I'm the guest of honor (...a wee bit over-dramatic).

Could it be the cold? Yes.

Could it be the anticlimatic "fall" after a whirlwind of holiday festivities? Yes.

I'm sure it could be lots of different things or a combination of things.

*sigh* This too shall pass.

The dawning of decorum

I love to decorate. It's one of my favorite things to do. Unfortunately, it's an expensive undertaking. Over 5 years ago, I redecorated most of my house. It all started with the changing out of 75% of the flooring. I had hard wood put down in the entranceway, family room, dining room, hallway, and my bedroom (it replaced the forest green carpet that I thought was such a good idea when I purchased my brand new home 4 years before that). Additionally, I replaced the linoleum floors in the kitchen, laundry room, my bathroom, and the guest bathroom with a large beautiful rustic looking tile. Then I couldn't be stopped.

I love what painting does to a room. It adds such dimension...such warmth. I just hate painting. 9 1/2 years into my house and I've only painted my bedroom and bathroom (twice). Honestly, the whole house needs painting. I had dabbled with the idea of having a painting party this past Fall. I figured if you feed them, they will come. I lacked the true ambition to see it through though.

For Christmas, I asked my parents for a new shower curtain and the accessories for my guest bathroom. A few weeks before Christmas, I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and picked it out. I guess I really hadn't thought too much past the gift and then the actuality of the situation slapped me once I actually had the gift in my possession. I couldn't possibly display this new shower curtain and the accompanying accessories without painting the bathroom to bring the color scheme all together. Project #1 for The New Year: 2010 had wormed its way into my life. I went to WalMart and bought all kinds of painting supplies - brushes, etc. I then went to Home Depot with the toothbrush holder in hand to help me pick out a color. I found a selection of paints that were primer/paint combos (perfect for those of us who really really hate painting) PLUS they really had pretty colors. I found 3 that would work and took all 3 up to the girl who worked there and made her choose the one I would take home with me. She chose "dragonfly" which is totally the one I was hoping she would pick! Yay! My next stop was Kirklands to find artwork for the walls. I did not have a vision before me as to what I wanted to do, so I wandered around the store for a good 45 minutes with different ideas popping into my head until I saw it. It was one picture and it was perfect. I built my plan in my head and found the rest of the pictures (all on sale) to help to create my masterpiece. I then went home to do the taping.

The next day, I did the painting with full anticipation of putting everything into place the following day. Here's where things got rough. Old Kim would have noticed the few splotchy areas and said "oh well, that sucks" and put up all the stuff anyway. New and improved Kim (read: anal retentive) needed to fix it. There went another day. So the next day (which was yesterday, by the way), I was so excited to get home and put everything in its rightful place. All was going well until I couldn't find one of my two hammers to put up my pictures. RAR! The pictures had to wait until today. This ended up being okay because I decided on a couple more items to buy from Bed, Bath, & Beyond to finish the look. Even though I still have one more thing to add (a chocolate brown valance which I have yet to buy), I wanted to go ahead and post the pics to display my beauty.

Of course, the pictures can't possibly do the bathroom justice, but it will serve its purpose. My only regret was not taking BEFORE pictures for those of you who never saw the bathroom in its former state.

I'm going to take a short break from painting to focus on decluttering my home, but rest assured that the kitchen it my next undertaking. Choosing a color for that one is going to be a bit trickier.

Fighter

Despite the fact that I'm on my death bed with what some might call "the common cold" but I call MY PLAGUE, I decided to begin my resolve to hit up the ol' workouts on a more frequent basis. Though The Houston (1/2) Marathon 2011 is a whole year away, let's face it...lately these years seem to keep coming rapid fire fast, so there is no rest for the weary or the plagued.

After my Nyquil wore off, the dogs were fed, watered, and medicated (Oliver and Penelope), I put on my snazzy new workout gear and hit my parent's gym (conveniently located between their master bedroom and the billiard room). I set the elliptical for 30 minutes on gluteal 2 - yes, let's get that booty bootilicious or um...something like that. Around about minute 10, Christina Aguilera's Fighter came on my iPod. You know how you listen to music but you really don't LISTEN to the lyrics? Well this time I LISTENED. Dude(s), this is so my theme song...well sorta. I mean I don't want to come across all angry and stuff cuz I'm not. I also don't want to come across all rough and tumble cuz that's more my sister, Linda (haha). I'm just me, a girl who went through a rough time and is *finally* on the right path again feeling stronger than ever. Here are the lyrics if you are interested: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/christinaaguilera/fighter.html . Anyway, it was soooo awesome cuz I totally kicked it into gear and worked that ellipitcal like never before.

About 8 minutes later, something weird happened. I felt dead. I think we shall blame my plague (or dehydration?) cuz I really don't know what caused it, but now I was on 18 minutes and I felt like it would be impossible for me to finish the 30. I decided to somehow swing 2 more minutes and then go get some water, so that's what I did. I felt okay after the water....well maybe a little weird, but whatever. I then decided to hit the bike. I set it for 25 minutes so at least I would manage a 45 minute workout before meeting my siblings and their spouses for our Saturday family lunch (sans the parentals since they are out of town). I felt great while on the bike. It was after the 25 minutes when I went to get off the bike that the world was off balance. I honestly felt nauseous and sort of dizzy. I went to the kitchen to get some water and then I threw up the water and the walnuts I had eaten earlier. Lovely. I sat down for a minute and then I knew I was running out of time and that I had to get in the shower. It literally took every ounce of effort I had to wash my hair. In order to condition it, I had to sit on the bench in the shower. Something was majorly wrong with me. I seriously thought about calling my sister to either cancel going to lunch or to ask her to come pick me up. After my shower, I laid down on the bed until I felt somewhat okay. I then slowly went about my routine of drying/styling my hair, putting some make-up on, and getting dressed. I still felt strange, but significantly better than before. I then put the dogs in their respective locations, grabbed a cup of milk hoping that would stabilize me until I had some food in me, and hit the door. I was perfectly normal the rest of the day.

But...enough about my plague cuz it'll be gone soon. I'm a fighter, after all! =)