health = $$$$$$$$

Attempting to be healthy is expensive.  Really stupidly expensive.

Current example: after reviewing the menu for p90x (which we are starting tomorrow), I realized that I would need approximately a thousand ingredients.  After further review, I canceled out some of the deemed extraneous ingredients in order to cut back on the mass expenditures that would be necessary to carry out even the first week of this diet. 

Anyway.

I then proceeded to make a modified menu until I became so overwhelmed I was compelled to say, "Eff it", taking only the menu for day 1 and heading to Kroger to get what we needed.

THIRTY-FIVE DOLLARS LATER, and I didn't even have everything I needed to even complete the meals.  Thirty-five dollars.  Some quick math: if every day of p90x cost this much (Lord willin' we make it that far), food alone for this program would be THREE THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS.  Yes, you would need a comma to complete that number.  HOLY FRICK. 

Needless to say, we will be creating our own menu. 

Here's hoping it still works.

random thoughts for a friday night in

Snow.
I hate it.  I'm over it.  Winter used to not get to me this way, but I can say honestly this year, it is making me miserable.  The cold hurts and it makes my job harder and it makes the air dry and it destroys my skin and my hair and yeah...I'm over it.


Schedules and obligations.
For the past however many weekends, we have been really busy.  Not with bad stuff, but with organized hang-outs and such that is supposed to be super fun and always does end up being super fun.  However, I am thrilled that tonight we have nothing to do.  I am unfortunately the type of person that feels suffocated by schedules and obligations (part of the reason I would probably not end up being a good teacher).  Even if I make the plans myself in advance, by the time it's time to do whatever plan I made, I don't want to do it, solely because I feel obligated to do it.  It's a really weird thing about me.  And this applies to almost anything.

Fashion magazines.
The lady I nanny for gets some of these in the mail.  If by chance I didn't bring my laptop and forgot whatever book I'm reading, I will flip through one of these.  They seriously irritate me.  For example, today I was reading through an article in the latest issue of Lucky magazine about Nicole Richie.  It was describing her as such a great person because now she is all "thrifty" and her supposedly great philosophy on fashion.  Really?  Because no.  Stuff like that and then all the buy this designer face cream or wear this obscenely priced outfit or carry this bag so that if you collectively spent all this money together, you could put a down payment on a house.  Or sponsor several children from Colombia or something.  Just saying.  They are insanely superficial and it drives me nuts.

Sketching rabbits.

My second drawing since I told myself I was going to start drawing more.  This will be in honor of all those little half-alive bunnies I rescued from the jaws of my cats growing up.  In case you were wondering, none survived.  And yes, it was traumatizing.

happy snow day from winterized chipmans!

 

Hooray for getting to go home early, boo to slippery streets and small cars.

holy snap.

Right now, I am watching the first workout of the P90x program, which Rob and I will be starting next Wednesday.  I like to know what's coming.  Besides the obvious fact that the host is both ripped and obnoxious, this is going to be extreme.  I am only about 10 minutes in and there have been approximately a zillion push-ups, which is bad news for me and my absence of upper-body strength. It is going to be very interesting chronicling our progress. In an attempt to say something positive, one thing I like about the program though is that there is a constant countdown going on the bottom of the screen so you know just how much time is left for each specific workout as well as the overall video. 

In other news, I got a frame for Woolly Bear today!  If you need picture frames for anything, Michael's has all frames for 55% off this week.  Now it is hanging proudly in our...bathroom?  I approve (clearly).  I'm waiting to see how I want to frame the other one because I found a frame I really like on Etsy but it's $60, and I can't quite justify it yet.  Give me a day or two.

 

On a completely unrelated note, when I was uploading all kinds of junk from my SD card, I came across this decently aged engagement-picture-turned-part-of-our-wedding-invite our friend Sam took and had to share.

Rob looks like such a freaking rock star hottie, I love it. 

things

The best thing about today was that our prints came in the mail!  I found them through the site postercabaret.com, which a friend suggested to me.  They have a lot of cool underground artists who design concert posters and have other original work.  These are the two that we bought:

Two Rooks by Diana Sudyka

Woolly Bear by Julia Potts

I am so excited!  I just need to find some epic frames and they will be good to go.

The lamest thing about today is that I have been in a bad mood.  I can't decide if it started before or after work but basically the entire day I have felt pretty irritated with every little thing.  Maybe it was the rain, I don't know.  Also I was irritated because after work I went through the drive through at Wendy's and ordered Mr. Pibb and after I drove off I found out they gave me ROOT BEER.  If you know me, you know that I hate root beer, the foulest of all the fountain beverages. Obviously this changed into a happy mood when I came home and found that the prints had came.

So about P90x.  If you read the last entry, you may have remembered me mentioning Rob and I are going to attempt this apparently hxc exercise program, and are now wondering what I am doing by going through a fast food drive-thru and ordering soda?  Well, the first reason is obvious: I am lazy and have very little will power.  And secondly, we have not yet started said work out program.  We are starting next week.  So I guess I have until then to make unhealthy decisions?  Justified.  

However, I am excited to eventually start the program.  I don't think we are disgustingly overweight or anything, but we are both definitely out of shape and I think we should attempt something of a lifestyle change while we are still "young".  We are going to go grocery shopping this weekend for more appropriate foods for the diet.  It is awesome because Rob is also really into doing this and it helps to have someone working at it with me.

Speaking of Rob, yesterday he had the day of work for MLK day and guess what?  He cleaned the entire house!  Vacuuming and dishes and everything.  Seriously, I was so happy I thought I could burst.  And Rob - see?  was it so bad?  You are awesome.

weekend summary

Dear three people who read this who already know about my weekend because you were involved but I am going to recap anyway because I can,

Another good weekend that I didn't get enough sleep, but oh well :)

Friday - dinner with Rob's family - Jane, Dan, Jess, Erik, and little Ethan at Five Guys.  A lot of fun and we ended up hanging out talking until they closed!

Saturday - woke up and went to babysit Ethan!  Seriously, cutest kid ever.  Rob and I took him to Ikea and that was a lot of fun, too.  Plus we got a new rug!

 After we got home, Paige and Jarrod came over and we played Mario and Sonic again, some Scrabble, went to dinner at Dewey's and then came back and played more Mario and Sonic and Scrabble , until the wee hours of the AM.

Sunday - slept in due to exhaustion, woke up and started laundry, made breakfast, and eventually made out way out to Eastgate so my mom could cut Rob's hair.  It was good to see my family for a bit. We went to Target and got some things we needed, including exercise mats (we are going to attempt P90x...)

Love, Abi

it's wednesday.

So yesterday's day of recuperation was successful.  I felt so much better this morning than I did the past few.  I literally laid on the couch and watched movies all day, something I generally never do because I am too attention deficit for that.  I even tried to be productive by attempting knitting.  Impossible.  I read dozens of step-by-step procedures on various websites, watched YouTube videos, and still couldn't even figure out how to cast on.  Apparently I am a dunce.  So then I reverted to crocheting, which I can barely manage, but quickly gave up because I did not have a good variety of yarn available to me.  My final product of the day went back to the only thing I feel comfortable using, a freaking pen. 

 

Of course I drew an owl.  It was actually a lot of fun and I need to start drawing more.  It's been awhile.

Other than that, nothing much to report in life.  Little girl was especially good today so that was nice.  Rob and I ate Chipotle for dinner (again) (fat).  I just spent $75 on some totally sweet prints that will hopefully spruce up our wall space.  I got some jeans I ordered a bajillion years ago in the mail today.  Umm...and Rob's work holiday party is tomorrow so I guess I have to go to that.   

Hopefully one day I'll write something actually regarding our marriage, which is why I set up this blog.  I guess after all is said and done, it's sort of awkward to just have something like that available to anyone.  Plus I'm still trying to figure out what to say.


Until then.