Mid-August you sly fox

And it's August. Sorry, half way through August. A second ago it was June. I swear.

However, I've come up for air. The past 6 months I've been drowning myself in work and I'm ready for the cool breezes of fall to come and clar my plate. We went camping the first week of Augsut and for the first time in a long while I did nothing. I had no work to do (well, I wasn't going to do it!), and I was surrounded by water and nature. I napped in a hammock. Really.

I feel like it's the new school year. Even though I want the warm weather to stick around, I got excited when I saw the farmers market had apples last week! I'm not rushing time forward at all, just trying to enjoy it more.

Adopting a phone

I broke my phone again. I really feel like it's broken more than it's working. This time I dropped it on my driveway. This would not have been such an issue if the case had not broken a few weeks ago (from being dropped) and the screen went dead. I just had the screen fixed. And, in the time from having my screen fixed to now (about 6 weeks) I voided the warranty by leaving the phone outside while their was a brief sun shower. I nearly got to it in time. I even got to see the battery marker turn red when it got wet. Once it's red the phone is pretty much worth $10. They told me yesterday.

So, it landed on my driveway. We were going blueberry picking and the people we were supposed to meet there had canceled on us already so the only thing I would have used my phone for was pictures. I designated husband for pictures and we picked just over 15 pounds in about 1 1/2 hours. No pictures were taken.

After blueberries I decided I needed to get a new phone right away. I work from my phone a lot, so it is essential that I have access to my work emails from the beach. Otherwise I need to go into the office on Wednesdays which is NOT going to happen. I'm currently working on a way to get out of the office more.

We hit the Sprint store at Solomon Pond Mall and I cut right to the chase. I needed the same phone, a Samsung Epic 4G. It has a slide out key board which is very handy for taking notes when I am doing my reporter gig. On screen keyboards just don't cut it. The guy of course tries to sell me the newer version, the Galaxy S3. It's an iphone. With no slide out keyboard. I immediately say no and tell him to get me my phone. Then I hear a gurgle next to me. Husband is drooling over new phone.

And he is ready to make a deal. He hands me his phone (we have matching phones not because it's cute but because the Epic is, in fact, EPIC). He will get the new S3 and I can have his phone. 

Fine.

The S3 is so light, it would have shattered in my hands in an instant. I don't use any of my electronics to their full potential, so the techiness would have been wasted on me. Plus, I know how to use the Epic. We left the Sprint store all a bit happier.

And I got all his apps! And emails. You know your husband trusts you when he wipes his phone but still leaves you access to his email and credit card.

Happy 4th!

It's nearly the 4th of July!

This morning I laid out my son's clothes for my husband to get him ready and was deciding between his two 4th of July shirts. One is the standard Old Navy flag shirt and the other is a skull wearing a Uncle Sam hat with blue stars where his eyes should be. I love both shirts, but seeing as the daycare lady probably thinks Im weird already, I sent him in the flag shirt. He can rock the skull shirt tomorrow.

And is it disturbing or awesome that they make a skull/Uncle Sam hat shirt for 2 year olds? I'm pretty sure there was nothing like that when I was a 2. Unless your older brother/cousin/uncle hand painted one for you before they rode off on their motorcycle.

Also, I bought this shirt not at a rock concert or t-shirt stand in the park. I got it at the Children's Place. It's a pretty mainstream store. But for some reason this year, skulls are acceptable. I think it came out of the whole pirate phase America is in (which I love).

But, happy 4th! I am taking all day off from writing and editing and will just go to yoga, get a new mattress, garden, and then attend a traditional 4th of July BBQ.

Who's got the fireworks?!

Making up for lost time

Admittedly I spent the first 10 years of my job not doing too much. I used to complain about being bored, watching TV, etc.

Get me the freaking time machine to go back and slap myself.

I've been buried under work since late March. As in working until 1 AM, stressed, constantly tired. I have another 8 weeks to go, and then will gladly revert to staring out the window. I feel like I'm paying for all the work I did easily!

Not only do I not have time to do personal writing, but my exercise routine, sleep, and child rearing have suffered. It's too much!

8 more weeks....8 more weeks!

Watermelon and Strawberries

When I go grocery shopping I tend to buy the same things over and over. Strawberries, watermelon, avocados, goldfish crackers, and milk. Pretty much what my son eats every day. Of course, none of the fruits grow year round in the Northeast, so I watch the prices pretty closely. And the shelves. I knew winter was here last year when the watermelons disappeared. There were the square Japanese ones, but I'm not buying any fruits from Asia. It's just a rule of mine. I don't like to buy the South American ones either, just because of how far they have to travel. It can't be good if it rides on a plane for 6 hours, is in a warehouse for however many weeks, and then trucked around the USA until it reaches our far corner. But when watermelon reappeared about a month ago I got excited.
And it just got better.
The prices are dropping...which means summer (and REAL watermelon/strawberry season) is close! Now the strawberries in my yard are green, but in a few week they will be red and ready to be raided by the birds and chipmunks. I don't even pretend I'll get more than 4 out of them.
As of yesterday, grocery store watermelon was 59 cents per pound and the strawberries were $1.69 per container!! A few months ago a container was $5, so this is a big improvement. Especially when you have a little boy who eats them like hotcakes. And with hotcakes.
The sun is rising early and setting late, prices are dropping on summer seasonals, and it's rarely truly cold out. Must be mid May!

That old spring thing

It must be nearly summer if I'm joining weight watchers, going on a no-carb meal plan, or found sobbing over a pile of swim suits.

This spring: Weight Watchers. I had some great success with WW back in 2008. Of course I did. I had gotten married the year before and wasn't able to lose a single pound before the wedding. After I was deported to the suburbs with no social calendar *BAM*. 25-30 pounds lost. Perhaps it was WW plus depression. Either way, I got down to a weight I hadn't seen since college. Having a baby and going on a hormone based BC has packed on the pounds. Specifically on my freaking hips.

Instead of joining WW officially, I am using my friend's online profile that she doesn't use. She goes to the meetings and faces real people. She is far braver than I. Because yesterday I found a chocolate, marshmallow, caramel square I had bought on vacation a week ago in Willamsburg, VA. It had melded to a beautiful dark chocolate peppermint patty. And I ate it of course. It was delicious. However, it was the size of my palm and definitely more than the 26 points I'm allotted each day on the WW points plus program. Even though I made up for it by walking 2 miles and chasing a toddler around the playground for an hour, plus having a seriously healthy dinner of broiled fish, I know I ate it.

But here is my problem with WW. I don't think it was made for athletes. Yeah, I said it, I'm an athlete. Not an Olympic one, but I run a lot and do yoga and try to do pull ups. I'm running my 3rd half marathon of the year in two weeks, so I'm fairly comfortable with calling myself that word. When I track my exercises in the system though, I find that it's giving me a lot of points back. I went running on Saturday for an hour and a half. I did over 8 miles, but it gave me 10 points. Over a third of my daily allotment. How do they expect me to lose weight if I am allowed to eat the exercise points? Not only that, but they carry over all week. So that caramel, marshmallow, chocolate, peppermint patty-square I had? Probably covered between that one run, my 4 mile run on Tuesday morning, and my gym class Tuesday night [I did no exercise after eating the heavenly confection].

There goes the guilt.

In the past week I think I've lost a few pounds. I don't own a working scale so I'm not sure, but my hips stuck out less over my pants this morning.

Pretty much, I just want to be able to wear a t-shirt and jeans without looking like a lumpy hippo. A smooth silhouette. And some ripped arms. Yeah, I'd like those too while we're at it.  

Something I've been meaning to say

This winter I have been wearing a wool coat. Now, I usually wear wool coats so it hasn't been too big of a deal. Sure, the past two years I bought into the down parka deal, but from 2002-2009 I wore the same black wool pea coat. My coat this year is a Kenneth Cole gray, belted coat. With a hood. Now, I really like hoods. A sweatshirt isn't worth wearing if it doesn't have a hood.

But the hood on this coat is the best hood ever.

It comes out a few inches in front of my face, allowing me to hide from people at the train station. The rain rolls off the fabric. It's warm.

And, it makes me think of one of my favorite books from my childhood, the Witch of Blackbird Pond. I the book they all wear wool hoods, which are pulled up over their heads when they are running away, kissing, leaving huffily.

I just love leaving work every day, pulling the hood up, and rushing out the door. Even if I take it down again once I get out into the sunshine.