Pottery Barn

I remember the first time I heard the words Pottery Barn. It was in a friends episode. I think Rachel had gotten something from Pottery Barn and forbid anyone else to buy the same thing, or something. Anyway - Pottery Barn has this way of making stuff that just looks great and a way of putting it all together in such a way that it becomes such beautiful clutter. If I put things together, it looks like a mess. When they do it, it looks beautiful. Replicating would be great - except that in each scene, they use so many pieces that replication would = bankruptcy. Anway, I just wanted to share a few pictures of my guilty addiction. If only I could decorate my whole house like this!

Dreaming

Of going here April 24th...

And looking like this by then....

Cheers! Have a lovely day!

B.U.S.Y. Spells BUSY!

We have been so busy lately! Between busy season (working 6 days a week or more), working on the back yard, and trying to get myslef back into shape - things are busy around here.

I applied for a job within my company to be a retirement educator and I didn't get the position. I was actually surprisingly ok with it and here is why - Nick and I are getting to the point where kids are a possibility in the next few years. This position was a no part time position and I would have felt so guilty if we decided it was time to start a family and I would have had to make a really hard choice about what to do.

I am still going to the gym 6 days a week in the mornings. There are some mornings where I really have to drag myself out of bed, but I am always glad that I went. I counted the number of mornings I have done. 21. The scale has not budged. Not that I am overweight or need to lose pounds, it is more about feeling and looking better and more toned. But still. I would expect that I would at least drop a pound or two, maybe?

I was introduced to an organic dairy here called the Noris Dairy. They have organic milk, cheese, yogurt, eggs, meat, sour cream, and butter. They deliver to your door weekly, like back in the day. I have deciced that it is worth a little extra money to have them deliver to us because I do get pretty nervous about what I am eating. It really isnt all that much more expensive, but then again, Nick and I really dont eat that much dairy.

I planted some of the veggies in my garden. Spinach, lettuce, onions, carrots, strawberries. Yummy. Nick is building me a greenhouse so that I can have fresh veggies all year. This year, we are adding on to our garden. We will be doing blueberries, grapes (which don't grow the first few years), lots of veggies, and I am currently trying to decide what kind of fruit trees I would like to have. My mantra is easy care items that taste delish! I loved my garden last year because it grew itself and I felt so good about eating it because it was completely 100% organic and natural. Nothing sprayed, added, subtracted - just pure food.

We planted some new trees. They will eventually create a privacy screen when they are bigger, but for now, they have a bit of a gap between them. They are called incense ceadars and they are really pretty. I will post picutres- when I get around to taking them and loading them!

Nick is still busy working on his fence, gate and other projects. I need to post those as well!

People in Gyms surprise me all the time

So, I have fallen in love with spinning. It is such a great workout and I feel like I sweat so much that I must be getting a stellar workout. Most of the time when I go, I go to group ride which is to the same music every time and is designed to get the most bang for your buck in the shortest amount of time. Anyway - Monday and Friday are group ride days and Wednesday is Endurance cycle. On Tuesday Thursday and Saturday, I do group power which is a class with weights. OK, so my story:

I go to the classes at 5:30 am and I generally screech in just in time for the class to start. On group ride days, there seem to be plenty of bikes. Group power days are full, but I always get a spot. Sooo...I waltzed in to endurance cycle this morning and noticed that the class looked very full. Ok, if you know anything about spin classes, you know that the bikes are equiped with either toe clips if you have cycle shoes or harness things if you just wear tennis shoes (which is what I do) some of the bikes have both, some have clips only, some have harnesses only. So I walk in just as the class is getting started - Eureka! A bike! I go all the way over to the bike that is free in the corner. Are you kidding me?!? The bike is clip only. I scan the room - 90% of the people are wearing cycle shoes. HELLO!!! HAVE SOME COURTESY! IF YOU WEAR CYCLE SHOES, TRY TO GRAB A CLIP ONLY BIKE. Right. So I head out of the room. Rats. So then I take step. Mind you, I am not coordinated and on top of that, I rolled my ankle throwing a tennis ball for Trooper on flat ground in our back yard over the weekend so it is pretty tender. I huff my way through step managing to stay off beat the whole time! I even kicked my step off the risers and had to bend over and reset it to which the instructor goes "that happens from time to time, you just gassed it up a little too much" -awesome. On top of that, I am pretty sure all of the people in step have been going to years, they knew all the steps before they happened. Alright, so I leave the step room sweating - not so bad. I walk by the cycle room - now keep in mind I said it was endurance cycle which means it is from 5:30 - 6:45 (step was only 1 hour) - and what did I see, half of the bikes were vacant. Those losers deciced to do only a portion of the workout taking a bike from someone who would have stayed the whole workout! Lovely.

Humiliation

And the results are in: Surgery $60, a new toy $8, total humiliation, priceless.

The Ax

Well, as you all may know already, Trooper goes to work with Nick. Trooper and Nick are always together. Nick took Trooper in to get neutered today. We both feel really bad that the poor little guy has to be at the vet all day. He pretty much has never been locked in a cage all day. Nick informed me that there were lots of dogs at the vet already and they were whinning or barking in the kennel area. Trooper was shaking and scared. Poor little guy! Then Nick sends me this picutre:

which is Trooper's bed in Nicks truck and is where Nicks little helper sits when they go to work. Just breaks your heart to get a picture like this from your husband. He seems really sad today. It will be for the best when Trooper is all done!

Early Mornings

I found that I wasn't making it to the gym anymore - so I tried an experiment. The non-morning person that I am has gotten up this whole week at 4:50am to be to the gym by 5:30am for classes. M / W was spin and T/ H was group power. Tomorrow will be spin again! I have to say, while I was dead tired and admit that I was in bed by 8pm on Monday night, I have done really well with the early mornings and enjoy getting a workout in before work. I find that I feel better all day and I tend to eat better.

I don't have much to report. I have been busy with work- staying busy and just holding my breath until the end of busy season. If I have calculated the number of Saturday's I have left, I am a little under half way there - this Saturday will be the halfway point. I cannot wait to have my weekends back all to myself!

Well, it is almost 10pm and I am really sleepy.