5.7 - Santa Cruz

I had to wake up extra early because I had to get to the airport to pick up my parents. Their flight was to arrive at 8:40. When we woke up, Dave told me it was scheduled to arrive 40 minutes early. I thought that meant we had to hurry. I was ready in 5 minutes. 40 minutes later, Dave was still getting ready.

Traffic was bad to and from the airport. Rush hour sucks.

We hung out a little then around 11 headed to Santa Cruz. We at lunch. Then we went to a few spots to look at the views. Then we headed home.

We hung out and watched TV and talked. We went to Trader Joe's. Dave made Falafel pita things for dinner.

I'm pretty sure I was ready for bed before my parents. They had about 2 hours of sleep. Well my dad had 2 and my mom had more. I don't know how they were still awake.

5.18

Google+ makes this movie now sometimes so I thought I'd share it. Too bad it included all the pictures I took even the one where I was touching my face. I guess it only uses ones that I upload but all my pics get uploaded. 

Shirt: Kohl's, Pants: JCP, Shoes: Famous Footwear, Earrings: Target 

(I couldn't decide on a necklace so then apparently I didn't wear one at all. I was trying to decide between short and long.)

I woke up early again. I used my computer. I had some issues so everything took longer than it should have.

I missed out on Evie visiting Pittsburgh. She comes every May to clean up the graves of her relatives. I have helped multiple years. Then the family goes to lunch after. I forced my brother to take a few pictures for me.

I got exhausted so I took a nap on the floor. I didn't mean to fall asleep but Dave brought me an afghan and a pillow so I was bound to. Poly even joined me.

At 5:30, we went to Outback with Wes and Hilary. That was fun. We haven't seen each other in awhile so I wanted to talk more but there was a long wait so we decided to leave so other people could eat.

We went to Whole Foods on the way home. Then we went to Sprouts because I refused to pay the high prices for fruit at Whole Foods. I think all the fruit we bought cost less than the strawberries alone would have been at Whole Foods. We bought strawberries, bananas, grapes, blueberries, and raspberries.

We got home and watched some TV until we went to sleep. Oh Dave did cut up the strawberries and make whipped cream. Man was it tasty.

5.17

Shoes: Famous Footwear, Jeans: Express, Shell and Cardigan: Limited, Necklace: Target
I got dressed in 2 minutes. It was warm outside but last time we went out to BJ's, it was freezing so I anticipated the cold.

I watched some TV. I used my computer. I took some pictures of Poly.

Around 5:30 Dave told me he was leaving work and we could go out to dinner. Too bad I had just snacked because every other Friday he works way later and then I'm starving by the time he gets home.

We went to BJ's. We got the same as always. The pizza was raw. This time the waiter was back in a minute and took it away and put it back in the oven. He was very good not like a week earlier with my parents. I don't think he even told his manager because all he did was credit our bill 10% and it said employee discount. But we both had pizza on our plates and that didn't get reheated but gone thrown away. If we would have known they were just putting it back in the oven we would have put our 2 pieces back on. The 10% didn't actually cover the 2 pieces we lost but we were using a $25 gift card from last week's fiasco and last week we got it taken off the bill too so I didn't complain. I would have otherwise. If the manager did come over during dinner I was going to say how this waiter was so much better than the one last week. We saw the same manager on duty. The waitress from last time was also there and she looked out of it. Luckily she wasn't our server.

After we got home we called my mom to tell her about the pizza but to also tell her about Dave's interesting trip home from work.

Dave calls me when he's at the light at Mathlida so I can go downstairs and meet him when he gets in the lot. He did that this time. But he says he thinks a guy is dead in his car a few lanes over so he gets out of his car to check on it. The guy didn't move his car and people were honking. There are so many lanes so everyone could go around him. Dave knocked on his window 10 times or so and was about to call 911 when the guy suddenly woke up and moved the couple car lengths ahead to be with the other cars. Some lady shouted at Dave asking if he was all right. Dave shouted back that he was just sleeping.  At least that guy sleeps with his foot on the break. Also he wasn't dead so that's always good.

We talked to my parents for about an hour on the phone. After we got off the phone they were going to finish watching TV but we went straight to bed. Sometimes it seems like the time zones go the opposite way. I don't know how they stay up so late.

4.28

I didn't do much. I never got dressed. I didn't even take many pictures.

4.21

Orange: Loft, Shorts: AE, Shoes: Famous Footwear Necklace: Sears?, Purse: handmade
I wore orange because I told Dave to pick a color and he picked orange.

I woke up at 11. Then I spent over an hour emailing from bed. Dave probably thought I was still sleeping.   Then I used my desktop for a bit.

We went to Target around 2:30. We spent over an hour at Target. We were trying to buy a shower curtain. It's funny that between Dave and I we couldn't figure out what color our rugs were. I thought they were blue (was thinking navy) but they are a green/jade type color. I thought our towels were white and tan but that's the other bathroom. They were tan and that green color.  We did figure out the walls were a tan and the ceramic was tan. We thought the cabinets were medium wood but they are white. I thought the sink and counter were white but the sink was white and the counter was the same pattern as our kitchen counter.  We were so close yet so far away. It's funny.  We ended up just buying a white shower curtain. We couldn't handle choosing a pattern.  They had one with a subway map on it but it wasn't that cool so we didn't get it.

Through most of Target, I swear Dave was in slow motion. I had to wait for him in each aisle.  Since we drove, we had so many things on the list that I wouldn't buy when I was walking.  We had 92 lbs of groceries + however much the big Tide laundry detergent weights. We left that in the car.

We went to BJ's for dinner.

We watched Argo and then I read in bed.  The light was keeping Dave awake so I played Popping Donuts on my iPad instead.

Stampin' Up Cards Class (4.11.13)

I thought I'd share the cards we made at class. The ones that involved embossing took forever.

actually used different ribbon

embossed

embossed

Which is your favorite? I really like the big butterfly one or the father's day card. I can't really decide.

Teen Dramas

I've watched a lot of teen dramas since I graduated college.  Some on Netflix and some as they aired.  Not all are really teen dramas but they involve teens so I counted them.

Veronica Mars might be my first teen drama show obsession. Back in Fall of 2005, I started watching Veronica Mars. 24 hours later, I had watched all 23 episodes we had.  I even went to class in there and slept for 1 hour. Dave had watched Veronica Mars over the summer and I complained that he'd watch it versus IM with me on his lunch break. Well then I understood why. I loved that show. I would dream about it too.  I can't even believe the show only lasted 3 seasons.  I would watch it again if it was on Netflix streaming.  It has an IMDB rating of 8.2. At least Netflix is smart enough to guess I would rate it at a 4.4 when the average rating is 4.2.  I'm very much excited about the movie. I watched the second season twice because I borrowed the DVD before Season 3 started. I liked the special features on the DVD and thought that might entice me to buy seasons on DVD but I never actually did.

One Tree Hill was a show I started watching after 5 seasons had aired. Therefore I got to watch many episodes in a row. I stayed up until 4 AM two work days in a row to watch so much. I think it took me 3 weeks to catch up. Then I would record it and watch it. I discovered I would much rather have 5 episodes in a row than to wait a week and only watch one at a time. So I would save up. I pretty much did that until the last season.  The IMDB rating is 7.4/10 and the Netflix rating is a 4/5.  I watched Seasons 1-8 twice. I only didn't watch Season 9 a second time because it wasn't on Netflix at the time. I watched the series for the second time the last week of June this year.  I liked the show a lot better when they were still in high school. I did like how they had 2 seasons = 1 year in high school so they could remain in high school longer. I thought more shows should have tried that. So many shows are awesome in high school and then they go off to college and they fall apart.  I was a bit intrigued with this show having a jump instead of following them at college. That was a little weird but I thought better than having them go separate ways or having them mysteriously all go to the same college. All of the main characters got a little bit too successful but I still loved the show because of the earlier seasons.

The O.C. was a show I started watching shortly after we moved into our house. I never watched any of it when it was on TV.  Dave would come downstairs and watch me watching it but then he started to stick around. Then I had to watch it with him. It was the only one besides Veronica Mars that I can remember him watching. IMDB gives it a 7.2/10.  Netflix guesses I'd rate it at a 4.7 while the average score is 3.7. (On a side note, it annoys me that Netflix will guess  a rating for me to the decimal place but I can only rate shows to the whole number.)  I wish The O.C was available to stream on Netflix because I'd like to watch it again.  There is so much I forget.

Gossip Girl was on the CW so I felt like I needed to watch it. I really liked it but if I only had 1 episode to watch, it wasn't nearly as good. I would save up and get 4-8 episodes and then watch it then. I'd much rather take 2 months off than watch one then wait a week. I really like the opportunity to know what happens next. I watched it for a couple years before Dave happened to walk downstairs and hear the voice over from Gossip Girl and he knew right away it was "Veronica Mars" (Kristen Bell). I had been watching it all that time and thought the voice was familiar but never thought about from where. From then on, every time I watched it and heard her voice it made me miss the actual show Veronica Mars. I think the first couple seasons were better. Once they went to college, it wasn't as good. I even talked to some guys at a work conference and they agreed that this was a good show. I can't even believe guys were watching it. It only got a 7 on IMDB and a 3.8 on Netflix which is surprising since guys were watching it too.

Hellcats is a show I started watching just because it was on the CW. Because of Veronica Mars and then One Tree Hill, I kept trying to watch all shows on the CW. I really did like it. It only has a 6.2 on IMDB. It probably wasn't the best but I could have seen it being awesome.  I watched this as it was on versus on Netflix later.

Life Unexpected is a show I started watching because it was on the CW. I really liked it. It ended after 2 seasons. It ended somewhat abruptly and I felt like they just changed 5 minutes of the last show to try to tie up some loose ends. They didn't end enough things for me though.  I watched the entire series again in September but it's easy to watch it again since it was just 2 seasons. Netflix gives it a 4.1/5 and IMDB gives it a 7.2/10.  I thought the show could have gone on longer. I was excited it started when the main character, Lux, was 15 because that meant she had quite a few years to still be in high school.

Friday Night Lights was a show I started watching with Dave. He thought it'd be more about football and stopped watching. That is the only show that every single episode would have me in tears. I'm really sad it got cancelled. I felt like there were too many loose ends.  I found it interesting how they handled it with the writers strike. They didn't get to write about so many things so then they just pretended they had happened when the next season started.  The only thing I remember off the top of my head is the one guy getting injured.

90210 was another show on the CW so I had to watch it. Plus back in the 90s, I watched Beverly Hills, 90210.  I really liked that they had Kelly and Brenda on but then of course all the young people didn't care about those old characters so they just wrote them out.  It's been far too long since I watched Beverly Hills, 90210 but I swear the Peach Pitt was a big part of the show and I don't even remember it in this one.  The ratings are bad on IMDB (5.6) and Netflix (3.7). I'm a little shocked how low they are. Granted I have about 5 episodes recorded and not watched yet so maybe it isn't that good.  This is another one of those shows that was better when they were in high school versus when they are in college.

Pretty Little Liars was a show I started watching based on Dave's recommendation. He searched Netflix for The OC and it recommended this show. This might have been when I first started using Netflix so I didn't search things on my own yet.  I started watching it on Netflix but then started recording it in the fall of 2012.  It has a 4.3/10 on Netflix and their guess is I would rate it at a 4.7.  It got a 7.9/10 from IMDB.  I just want to know all the details about A and all the details about Alison's murder. It seems to be dragging on for far too long. I was thoroughly addicted at first but then when I didn't have a million episodes on hand, it just wasn't as good.

Dawson's Creek was recommended by a friend. I watched all 6 seasons in a week in September. I got very little sleep. I was never rooting for Dawson during any of it. It's so weird watching people make plans by using a real phone or by picking a designated spot in advance. Once they went off to college, they had cell phones. I still found it odd that Joey ran with a cell phone in her running shorts and that was in the opening credits so I saw it every episode.

The Lying Game is a show I started watching on Netflix then continued to watch weekly.  I tape many shows each week and I would watch this show every time it was on. The IMDB rating is 6.9/10. There is no way it should be that low. I love this show. I gave it a 5/5 on Netflix. The average on Netflix is 4.3.  So far there have been 2 seasons or maybe it's 1.5. I can't really tell how their  seasons work. I really hope there are more. I started watching the Lying Game after having watched a few other series on ABC Family.  The Lying Game involves adopted twins that were separated at birth. There are so many twists to the story. Some might be a bit over the top but not too much. I still love it.

Make It or Break It was one of the first few series I watched on Netflix. I started it because it was on ABC Family. I am surprised how much I liked it especially considering the girls weren't actually gymnasts and doubles did all that work. As the years went on the main characters got a bit heavier and clearly weren't built like Olympic gymnasts anymore.

Greek was another ABC Family show. I can't remember if I watched it before or after Make it or Break it. I really liked it. I enjoyed it more that after the season was over, I went online and they had an extra 2 minute clip that kind of showed what happened to the main characters after the season ended. It was about a few years later. I enjoyed this college series a lot.

Switched at Birth was started on Netflix because I watched quite a few ABC Family shows and liked them all. I record it as episodes air now. I'm not sure where the story line can go. It's not so much focused on the switching at birth anymore so we will see how that goes.  I often watch this as it aired instead of collecting a 5 or so to watch. IMDB gives it a 7.6/10 and Netflix gives it a 4.2/5.  It's harder to do other stuff and watch this show because you have to be constantly watching the screen with all the sign language going on.

Dance Academy (Australia) has 2 seasons on Netflix but the show is still going on.  It was a half hour show so I felt they didn't waste time with a lot of little stuff in episodes.  I really did like it.  The average rating on Netflix was 4/5 and their suggestion for me was 4.1. I gave it a 5. IMDB has it at a 7.8/10.  The show focuses more on class and dancing than normal teen dramas that focus on sex. I started another Australian teen drama, Blue Water High, after this but then stopped after the 2nd episode. Maybe I'll jump back to it later.

Glee has been on for ages. I'm not sure how much of a teen drama it is but it is about teens so I included it. I used to love the show but lately I'm not even that motivated to finish and episode I start watching. Dave even quit watching it after last season.

The Secret Life of an American Teenager is a show I started and got 3 minutes in and stopped but then a few weeks later I started it over again. I record it weekly now too. I might only be 2 episodes behind. I'm not sure but I think I hate the show but then I keep watching it so I guess I don't. I know I don't like Amy and I like Ricky. I'm not sure if that's how they want it to be or not. I think I might keep watching because I want something awful to happen to her.

Jane by Design was pretty cool but it only had 1 season. I really wanted more.

Freaks and Geeks only lasted 1 season. I started watching it because I would look up good teen dramas and it was on so many lists of the top 15 teen dramas. I almost stopped watching it about 6 episodes in but then I kept at it. I liked the second half of the season better but then it was cancelled anyway. I probably kept with the show as long as I did because so many of the actors are in other shows I watch.  I gave it a 4 on Netflix but the average was 4.4.  IMDB gives it a 9.0/10. I can't even believe how it has such good ratings. Maybe it was awesome for 1999 or something.  Sometimes the older shows are harder for me to watch now. It's so weird that everyone doesn't have cell phones.

18 to Life was another half hour show. The main characters were 18 when they got married so I counted it in teen dramas but it wasn't so much of a teen drama as an annoying show with teens. It was set in Canada but it took me until about halfway through the first season to even realize it wasn't in the US. It lasted 2 seasons. I was actually surprised it lasted that long but then at the same time I really wanted to know what happened next. IMDB gives it a 6.5/10.  I watched it a few months ago and would probably give it a 2 or 3 (out of 5) based on what I remember about it.  Netflix guesses that I would give it 3.9 and the average rating is 3.7 stars.

What teen dramas do you like? Which ones do you hate? Did you watch any that I haven't included here?  I wonder if I watched some that I forgot to include.

Overall  I think Veronica Mars, One Tree Hill (earlier seasons), Dance Academy, The Lying Game, and Green were my favorites.

4.13

Jacket: NY&Co, Shirt: Sam's Club, Skirt: Express, Sandals: Kohl's, Bracelet: Target, Necklace: Charlotte Russe

I woke up before 8. I kept going back to sleep because 8 is entirely too early for me.  Finally at 8, I woke up. I stayed in bed a bit. Then at 9, I went running. Dave was still sleeping. He only woke up 5 minutes before I got back.

I showered and got ready to leave.  We went to JCP for Dave to get some clothes. We spent forever shopping. We only shopped for Dave and only went to 1 store. He got new jeans, 2 shorts, 6 t-shirts, and 1 polo shirt.

Then we went to the Melt for lunch. I wasn't a huge fan. I can make things just as good or better at home. We went to Sprinkles after. I got 2 cupcakes and liked 1 a lot more than the other. Banana was really good. I'm not a huge fan of the vanilla with chocolate icing. Dave said his strawberry didn't taste like strawberries at all .

After we got home, we started watching Dexter. We watched for a few hours. I did laundry at the same time. Dave went and got Boudin's for dinner.  We watched more Dexter.  We took a quick break so Dave could play his video game but I Just wanted to keep watching straight through.

4.12

I watched a lot of TV. I did spend some time cleaning up from my Stampin' Up class.

I slept 10 hours that Stampin' Up class was so exhausting.

Dave and I walked to the Cheese Steak place for dinner. We went the long way to have it count as exercise. We walked 1.9 miles total.

We watched some Dexter after but Dave fell asleep around 10:00 so then I watched some of Damages until I fell asleep around 12:30.

April Workout Goals - How I Did

Here's how I did

1. Complete 16 cardio workouts = 12
2. Complete 13 core workouts  = 5
3. Frequency: Run 12 times = 9
4. Distance: Run 60 total miles (Reach goal of 70 miles) = 25.06
5. Workout with Dave 5 times. = 9
6. Lift weights 10 times. = 6
7. Exercise 5 times that aren't considered cardio above (mainly thinking about walks here that don't fit in anywhere) = 9
8. Have 3 double workout days (morning + evening, lunch + evening, etc) = 2
9. Stretch for 10 consecutive minutes 2 times  = 0
10. Do foam roller exercises 3 times = 0
11. Do yoga 1 time = 0
12. Bike 5 Times = 2
13. Attend Body Pump 3 times = 0

I have a few other goals that are related to exercise but aren't me working out.

1. Have a photo shoot to get some athletic pictures for at the top of this post. = 1
2. No more than 12 rest days all month (stretching or doing foam roller exercises means it is not a rest day)  = 12
3. No more than 3 consecutive rest days. = 2 times

I did better in March and January than I did in February and April. Maybe I go through phases of a good month then a bad month. My mileage was way down this month because for more than the first half of it my plantar fasciitis was really bad. Then when it was only a little bad it was really hot outside.  I feel like I walked to the store this month but forgot to mark it down so I would have had another double workout day at least from that. I only lifted weights 6 times but all 6 were really long and good workouts. Some months I do cardio then only lift for 10-15 minutes and I still count that as lifting. How was your April?

Enjoy the details.

4.24

I wore green because it comes after yellow in the rainbow. (It all started 2 days earlier when I asked Dave to pick a color. He picked Orange. Then the next day I picked yellow since it comes after orange.)  I should do some form of color rotation because it sure made picking out my clothes easier.

Shirt: Loft, Pants: JCP, Shoes: Famous Footwear, Necklace: Lia Sophia, Purse: Handmade (by Erin)

I woke up around 9. I played Donut Popping in bed. I went and used my computer until lunch.  I did a bunch of different stuff. I also played fetch with Poly. I took a break to clean the bathrooms to be able to cross that off my to-do list.

I ate lunch close to 1 PM. I had one lunch then another. Well I had tuna on crackers then I had Beeferoni.   I watched TV for a bit and used my computer.  Then I did the best of both worlds and used my computer while watching TV.

Dave and I met a potential new landlord after work. We got the lease and sat and talked for a bit. I learned that when he was late he called his son to email me to say he was on his way. So his son just pretended to be him to let me know he was late. But then he also gave us his phone number so that was good.  I should probably post about the new place in another post but it's renting a house versus renting an apartment. The only issue is it's available before we're ready so we will have to double up for part of June.

Dave and I went to the gym.  (They started work on the pool and I snapped a few pictures as we walked by.) We got Habit Burger on the way home. The sweet potato fries were much better than the regular fries. The milkshake was good but I had to keep waiting for it to soften up so I could drink some more.

We watched TV and before we knew it, it was bedtime. I think we only watched Rachel Maddow and then American Idol.

4.11 Stampin' Up Class

Top: Express, Necklace: Charlotte Russe, Jeans: Express, Shoes: Adrenaline 12 

I spent most of my morning watching Damages. I should have been cleaning. I did manage to clean up enough.  I made peanut butter fudge too

From 6-9:30, I had a Stampin' Up class here. Before the class, I was setting up and Poly was all ready for the party.  We were doing so well but then the 2 cards where we embossed took forever.

After everyone left, I cleaned up a little and went to sleep early. I was sleeping by 11:30. I'm never asleep that early. I'm not used to wearing clothes so many hours in a day or socializing so long anymore. It was all exhausting.