Leggings

Are you allowed to wear regular ole' loungy leggings to the gym if you aren't doing cardio and only doing weights for your upper body?

Because I did.

And hot damn was I comfortable.

Side note:  my husband made a comment about how nice it is to go to the gym on Sunday mornings because only the "hardcore" people like he and I are there. 

Which made me giggle.

Because I'm horrible at working out.

But that one morning.

Oh boy, were we hardcore.

(We ate key lime pie and got drunk at lunch that day.  Whoops.)

Happy Birthday Mikey

Happy 31st birthday to this guy.

Mike.

Or Hubbin McStubbinstein as he's known around my condo.

(Obscure office joke mixed in with non-funny nickname joke...sorry)

Thanks for marrying me and putting up with me and being so darn handsome, handy, and amazing.

Love you tons and tons.

Us

A perfect example of the differences between Mike & I:

After leaving the gym the today, he came home, made a protein shake, and ironed a shirt.

I ate a spoon full of cookie dough and played Tetris on my phone.

That about sums it up.

It's Cold Here Ya'll

This is what having to walk your dogs at night, in the freezing cold wind looks like

It ain't pretty

Oh man do I miss our backyard

Christmas!

We had a lovely little first East Coast Christmas

We packed up the pups and drove to my dad's.

Then we realized we forgot to give Gizmo his doggy dramomine and he repaid us by barfing twice in two hours all over the backseat.

Poor corgi.

After we dropped the dogs off at the kennel (where I cried like a baby) and Mike cleaned up corgi barf, we settled in at my dad's.

Which mainly consisted of eating, relaxing, and cuddling their dog Oscar and cat Cosmo.

We baked some perfect Mike cookies.

We drove around fancy neighborhoods to look at their Christmas lights.

One morning, I woke up to a cat in my bed (terrifying).

And to top off a lovely holiday, it snowed the day after Christmas

(Note to self:  Always bring snow boots even if the forecast doesn't say snow.  That way, you aren't traipsing around in snow and ice in your leather sperry's.)

Then we packed up our loot, said goodbye to our fam, picked up the pups, and drove home in the wind, rain, and snow to cuddle on the couch with some soup.

How was your Christmas?

Today

I realized today that I haven't been blogging much.

But I don't have that much to talk about.

And, I can't generally be bothered to get off the couch once the pug sits on me.

He's so warm and smooshy.

And Tetris on my phone is just so addicting.

And I'm re-sucked into Lost.

So...

Basically I'm useless.

BUT

For the sake of a blog, here is what I did today:

I woke up at 8:00

Took a shower

Got ready (which means put on clean leggings and brushed my hair basically)

Walked the dogs

Watched Lost while I ate leftover french toast for breakfast

Watched Lost while I drank coffee

Effed around on the internet

Made Greek salads for Mike and I for lunch

Watched How I Met Your Mother with Mike during lunch

Did my unemployment interview over the phone

Got depressed about needing unemployment

Mike went back to work

Watched Lost while eating a second helping of salad 

Moved to the office where I watched Lost on the computer while looking at office/guest room furniture

Cleaned up the office

Walked the dogs

Cleaned up the kitchen

Mike came home early

Watched How I Met Your Mother while playing Tetris on my phone and talking to Mike

Went to the gym

Came home

Walked the dogs

Put a lasagna in the oven

Did a blog

Now I plan to take a shower, open a bottle of wine, watch tv with my husband, and hopefully drink the whole bottle of wine.

Happy Thursday!

Why I'm Starting To Love Living Here

Yesterday was a crap ball of a day.

I was FUSSY.

For no good reason.

Just woke up in a stanky mood.

Proceeded to do jack crappity for the majority of the day.

Even stayed home while Mike ran to the gym and ran home.

(Fun fact, I told him that would be too far, he said it would be fine, he ended up wanting to die on the way home.  I felt slightly vindicated.  Still felt lazy though, vindicated or not.)

The difference, however, to being in a stanky mood here and being in a stanky mood back where we used to live is that we were able to rally our day by going over the bridge to Solomons Island, enjoying the view, doing some shopping, and having a much needed beer at the brewery.

I'm not a big water person, but for some reason once we get over the bridge (I hate bridges...big irrational fear going on there) I just get so happy looking out at the water and the beautiful homes and boats.

Walking around, holding hands with Mike, pointing out our dream homes, and finding little restaurants we can't wait to try is the perfect way to rally a stanky mood.

It worked.

(The beer helped a lot)

High Five For Friday

I haven't done one of these in forever.

I blame the move.

And, you know, laziness.

But here are the best five things about this week (and a little of last week)!

(1)  Cozying up for winter (that fireplace is fake, but it does pump out heat)

(2) Actual fresh fish!

(3)  Cold weather that calls for silly sweaters

(4)  Hanging out with our silly little family

(5)  Being near water.  There are condos over there ---> that we are currently dreaming of.

Per usual, head on over to From My Grey Desk Blog for more H54F posts!

Running With Mike & Val

A typical conversation during a run with Mike & I:

Mike pointing at a really thick and brambly bunch of trees:  "Should we run through those?"

Me:  "You do it.  I dare you."

Mike:  Silence

Me:  "Triple dog dare you."

Mike:  Silence

Me:  Chicken noise

Mike:  Silence

Me:  "I make the best chicken noises."

Mike:  Silence

Me:  "Did you hear my chicken noise?"

Mike:  "Yes."

(All this while Mike is running 4 feet ahead of me because I'm slow and lazy)

The End

On Being A Stay At Home Wife

So, since we've moved here I've been unemployed.

It hasn't even been two weeks yet.

I'm so bored, you guys.

We moved here with one car.

Which Mike takes to work every day.

So I am home alone, with no car.

All day.

In my head I may have thought, Yeah!  This will be awesome!

I'll be home all day, I can relax and do DIY projects and cook.

Whatever I want!

But that is not the reality.

In reality, when you are home alone all day with no kids and no car, you have zero motivation.

And there is ALWAYS a season of real housewives on tv.

And chips and guacamole to eat.

And pugs to cuddle.

So you become a lazy ball of laziness.

Which Mike keeps telling me to enjoy because I'll never have it again.

But it's boring, you guys.

BORING.

Yesterday I made spaghetti.

That's all I did.

Today, I painted my toe nails.

And watched like 40 episodes of The Office.

I'm the worst.

And I think my pug is officially sick of me...

Home Sweet Home

It's been hard for me to feel at home here.

I miss our big, comfortable house.

And having a job (sort of).

And all our things in their rightful places.

And family nearby.

But over the weekend, I woke up and walked out to our living room to see this.

And it made me feel a little bit more at home.

Any place with these boys is home enough for me.

Life So Far

Now that you've slogged through all five of my moving posts, here are some pictures and thoughts on our new life so far.

The first couple of days were really hard.

Mike and I are both control freaks and he wanted to unpack the whole house himself and I wanted to help and it caused a few arguments.

Living in the chaos of boxes was stressful and seemed like it would never be back to normal.

Living in a town with a Target five minutes away is HANDY.  

We have been there like five times already.

My dad and step mom came to visit the first Saturday and we went to Solomons Island for some food and to walk along the water and drool over the homes there.

This helped a lot and I'm trying to convince Mike to buy a house over there when we do get one.

Except the bridge is terrifying.

Am I the only one scared of bridges?

This one is a DOOZY.

We tried to buy a couch, but they wanted $100 to deliver it a five minute drive and 8-10 weeks to get it to us.

So, we spent that night watching tv on the floor.

Mike took me to his two favorite restaurants here and I fear I may become obese.

They were GOOD.

My dad and step mom aka The Ikea Fairies showed up on Sunday with a pull-out couch they bought us from Ikea as a temporary couch for the living room and a pull-out for guests in the office.

No more sitting on the floor for us!

(They rock)

We went to a Christmas fair thingy at Flat Iron Farm and I got to pet a baby pig and stare at cows and watch a woman grab a watusi's horn and silently hope she get gored.

I was more excited to see the animals than most of the little kids there.

We have actual plans for 3 days this week.

It's freakishly hot in our apartment and we haven't touched the heater yet.

It's starting to look more like a home every day.

We miss our house.

And friends.

And family.

And I need a job something awful.

But we like it here.

The Big Move - Day 5

Annnnd we're done!

Day 5!

The last day of our trip we drove from Virginia to Maryland for a total of 231 miles.

Before we left Virginia, we met up with my dad at a gas station on the way so he could follow us there and help unload the car (handy!).

He met us at the gas station wearing his favorite jester hat.

That scared the bejeesus out of Gizmo who tried to then murder his grandpa through the car door.

The drive from where we met my dad (Frederick, VA I think?) to our new home was gorgeous.

Farms, trees, grass, cows, horses...just gorgeous.

It made my HOLY SHIT WE'RE MOVING ACROSS COUNTRY AND I HAVE NO JOB heart palpitations calm down a bit.

And our apartment is cute.

Even if the people who work there are not super nice and there is no storage and it wasn't the apartment Mike was shown and the next day I found a ton of horrid reviews online about the joint.

(Apartment living, how I have not missed you)

It's still 1,200 square feet, we can afford it, it's a 4 mile commute to Mike's work, there is a dog park on the premises, two free gyms, and our neighbors are nice and quiet.

We can do 14 months here!

Unloading the truck took a year.

My dad can lift some heavy shit.

That 65 year old dude is not joking around.

And Mike apparently counts the stairs when he is carrying things up them.

There 19 up to our apartment in case you were wondering.

And if I don't get fed and then have to carry heavy things I get BITCHY.

But a beer, a Five Guys burger, and pj's helps.

And now we're home?

The Big Move - Day 4

Last long driving day!

Day 4!

By this point we were so sick of driving in that damn truck, we couldn't stand it.

We drove from Tennessee to Virginia for 611 miles.

It was effing cold.

Mike realized he had lost his wallet at a gas station in Virginia.

And it was the most terrified I've ever seen him.

We searched that truck for about half an hour.

Trying not to cry.

Realizing the last place he used it was over 4 hours away.

And my debit card was in it with all his cards.

And then we found it in a zipped up pocket in my purse.

So it was kind of my fault.

But whatever.

The drive once we got into Virginia was gorgeous.

Trees!

Our hotel had life-size mannequins of historical figures including one of a Native American dude who was positioned to look like he was peaking around the corner and it scared the shit out of me every time.

Mike found a soccer game on tv.

Our hotel room had two sinks, one in the bathroom and one next to the door (why?!).

I found one bag of tea.

It was a pretty good night.

The Big Move - Day 3

Sick of this yet?

Day 3!

We were sick of the truck at this point.

Everything smelled like dog sweat.

We drove from Oklahoma to Tennessee for 635 miles.

Because we were driving to Jackson, TN I kept singing the song Jackson from Walk the Line, but I only know the line, "We're going to Jackson" so I sang that over and over.

My husband is a lucky man.

We drove by the memorial for the Infant Baby Jesus of Prague.

Which I found intriguing.

Does Prague have a different Jesus than us?

And why is he being memorialized in Oklahoma?

Also, we started to see a LOT of porn factory outlets.

Which I didn't know existed.

And they are huge.

And usually across the freeway from the Infant Baby Jesus of Prague.

Or a giant cross.

This was a weird stretch of highway.

By the time we got to Tennessee, we finally got to see trees.

Which made us even more excited for our final destination.

Side Note:  Don't order avocado on your subway sandwich outside of California because they put guacamole on it, not fresh avocado.  Yuck.

Also, this is where it started to get cold.  

Like puffy jacket cold.

Thank G for early Christmas presents!

Day 3 was also the first time we got to our hotel room before 10/11pm so we were able to walk over to the a gas station, get a beer, and watch some tv in bed while the dogs wrestled.

Oh how we needed a beer by this point.

This baseball hat actually fits my head!  (That's kind of a big deal)

I tried really hard to take a picture of Memphis because it was pretty, but yeah...cell phone pics in  a moving car are not great.

Enjoying our beers in bed

Our Bedroom

People keep asking for pictures of our new little "home"

But really, it is not cute in here yet

No decorations

No organization

And I'm having a rough time designing all our rooms from scratch

So here is the most done room so far

HELP ME FIGURE OUT HOW TO DECORATE IT PLEASE!

The bathroom with our owl door stopper (that door closes on your head every time)

We literally had to buy king pillows and a comforter just to be able to get this duvet cover.  We're a little obsessed with it.

My favorite area, the girly part of the closet.

Gizmo approved