Game time

Smell that...it's college football!

And it will be in full force starting tonight. And I cannot wait!

The other day the boyfriend and I were coming back from a walk, talking about football being right around the corner, when I had the realization that I've never dated anyone who was remotely interested in college football before. Thankfully that's now changed.

Luckily 'our' teams are in difference conferences so there's no trash talking to be had on game day between us. Though I can hold over his head that that two times our teams have played each other, we have won.

While I'm not an alum of 'my' school, I will claim it as mine. I'll refer to Carolina as a we, our and us. As in, we won last night! Or, did you that play by our quarterback? I know this rubs some people the wrong way, but I don't care. In this state you choose one of three options. Carolina, Clemson, or I could care less about college football. I chose option A, even though my mother tried to push option B on me from birth.

I am proudly rocking my garnet and black today. And I'm proudly a Gamecock!

Freedom

Why is it every time I tell someone I don't want to have kids the first thing out of their mouth is that I'll change my mind followed shortly by the fact that I need a kid.

Sure, I may change my mind, but it's been pretty set for about 10+ years now. The only time I ever thought about it differently was shortly after I realized I was getting divorced and that my window for having kids was closed. That lasted about a week and then I was over it.

And no, I don't need a kid. Especially if I don't want one. That makes zero sense!

Don't get me wrong, I love kids! They're fun, entertaining and can make you feel like a kid again yourself. But they're also exhausting, expensive and you don't know what you're going to get.

I think people who want kids should have kids.

I don't think people should have kids for tax benefits or because it's just what you do at a certain point in your life.

I was slightly concerned when the boyfriend and I started getting serious because I wasn't sure what his stance was. I knew he had nieces and nephews that he loved being around and figured like most he wanted kids eventually. Thankfully, he and I are on similar pages. We're content being the fun aunt and uncle. Take the kids for a weekend, feed them a bunch of sugar, but give them back when they start getting grumpy.

Maybe if we asked people why they wanted children instead of why they didn't want children we'd have more kids born into happy healthy homes.

P.S. The boyfriend would make an amazing dad if we ever change our minds.

More often than not

I just wrote my first legit programming cycle for myself. While I'm only one day in, I'm kind of impressed with myself. Well only slightly.

I haven't been doing traditional CF classes for a while now. I was originally stealing WODs from other gyms sites or doing PDCF wods on my own without the class. I promise I'm not anti-social! Then I decided I wanted to focus more on strength and form in the last four weeks doing a similar a rep scheme every day I went into the gym. But that started to get stale.

So last Friday afternoon I spent a few hours playing in Google docs coming up with a five week plan. I started by listing about 20 movements I wanted to incorporate. I came up with the rep schemes I wanted to do on certain days then started filling in the movements.

Here's what week one looks like...

Day	Workout	Movement	Reps/Time	Weight
Monday		Kipping Pull-ups	5 minutes
	EMOM 10 min O/E	Power cleans	5	65 lbs
		Med Ball Sit-Ups	10	10 lb
	Reps for Time	KB Swing	15-9-6	1 pood
		Wall Balls	15-9-6	10 lb
Tuesday	EMOM 10 min O/E	OH Squat	3	45 lb
		Walking Lunge	5 yd	70 lb
	Tabata	Burpee
		Row
Thursday	EMOM 10 min O/E	Back Squat	5	100
		Dips	3
	EMOM 10 min O/E	Press	3	55 lb
		Deadlift	3	135 lb
Saturday	WOD	TBD

I went week by week, making sure to alternate between upper and lower body within one workout. And tried to stagger the movements so it wouldn't become repetitive. Can't have any boredom, right?

Last night officially started the program and from judging at how sore I am today I think I planned it pretty well. I'm excited to see if I can progress over the next five weeks. Maybe see if I can hit a new PR on a select few lifts when its all said and done. 

P.S. After talking about soreness this weekend with the boyfriend, I've realized I've been sore more days than not over the past 12+ months. Thanks CrossFit!

Public Office

Today, for the second time in three months, I'll be touring lovely local administrative offices.

We'll be starting the tour at the one and only Social Security Administration office to get my name changed and to get a fancy new card.

From there we will trek back across town to the always enjoyable DMV. Not only do I get a name change, but I also get to change my address at this stop. Possibly show off the new do (the one Beyonce copied!) in my drivers license photo. Fingers crossed!

Then we'll head downtown to contest a water bill in which I was billed my normal rate but for zero gallons of water used. Not sure how they calculated that!

And finally we'll do a hopefully quick trip in the bank to update my account information with new name and request a new debit card be sent my way.

Not my ideal way to spend an afternoon off work, but I'm happy to finally be able to start signing my old name again.

Bonus time

Usually the second weekend of the month is reserved for trips to Raleigh to visit the boyfriends parents and to wash Pepsi trucks.

Not this month!

Just to be clear, I enjoy those weekends quite a bit and always leave having had a great weekend. However, I am happy to have a bonus weekend at home with the boyfriend to do whatever we want. And to not leave my sweet pups at home.

Last weekend we ran into some extra time we weren't expecting and didn't really know what to do with so we planned ahead for this weekend. And we're doing two things I'm super excited about.

Numero Uno: Painting!

The spare bedroom in the house will one day become a lounge/reading room. But for that to happen, we have to paint it and get all the stuff we intend to hang off the floor. After this weekend that problem will be solved and all we'll need is a quick trip to IKEA to give the room a purpose.

Back to the painting, I know most people don't enjoy painting. It's a chore. You can pay people to do it for you. I'm not that person. I really enjoy painting, especially when it's going to totally change a space. For example, I painted the kitchen and dining room of my old house within 24 hours of getting the keys. I painting my living room purple on a whim one Sunday afternoon. I up and decided to take down the wallpaper and paint my hallway on weekend for fun. I'm that person. I also painted the boyfriends dining room while in the process of moving in and painted his kitchen a few weeks later.

It's a bit of a combination. I enjoy painting. I'm not afraid of colour. And it's a relatively cheap and easy way to change the look of room. Plus it can be a quick process.

All of that said, we're painting the lounge room this weekend and I cannot wait!

Numero Dos: Date Night

The boyfriend and I don't eat out much. Not because we're recluses, we just both enjoy cooking and can prepare some damn good meals so why go out all the time. Every now and then we do on your own nights which usually mean he cooks something I won't eat and I'll get take out of something tasty like pizza or mexican. But rarely do we go out to eat together.

We actually didn't have our first meal out together until in May when we went to Charleston. We have since gone out a handful of times, but it's still a rare occasion.

All that said, I'm super duper excited to go out Saturday night. Throw on something other than my usual attire. Eat some tasty food. Have an excuse to Eat dessert. Just be out of the normal routine. It's going to be a grand time!

Introducing....

The divorces are final. I've got my old name back. And we’re nearing the one year mark.

I think it might be time to finally introduce the boyfriend.

*insert drum-roll*

His name is Charley. And I think he’s the cat’s meow!

I was looking back through my old calendar last night and we were reliving some of the first few times we started hanging out. It was really fun to think back to when it all started. I can remember the exact moment when it crossed my mind that I could be interested in him beyond our friendship.

We had met a couple years back through our spouses. They worked together and slowly we became couple friends. You know, dinners, movies, weekly ultimate Frisbee and a few trips out of town. Never once during that time did I think about him outside of the capacity of a friend during that time.

Then the ex-husband moved away and those couple’s nights came to an end. He started showing up less and less for ultimate, but I never thought anything of it. Come July, I joined PDCF, of which he was already a member. We chatted here and there at the gym, but nothing too serious. Then one night I had hurt my knee and was going to sit out the WOD. He said he was taking a rest day and asked if I wanted to stretch it out and join him and his pup for a walk. Thought it was a little odd, but didn’t put much thought into it. When I got there he informed me that he and his wife had also separated and she had moved out a month ago.

Hold the phone! We are both getting divorced at the same time?!? Oh well, guess it happens, right?

Back to that exact moment.

I was at my then brother-in-law’s house watching the Olympics. There were a few of us there, including Charley. At some point during one of the events he was giving me a hard time about my “boyfriend” Ryan Locthe being a moron (It’s true, he totally is). I looked at him to reply and he didn’t look quite the same to me at that moment. Something had changed and it gave me a serious case of the butterflies.

What no one tells you is that no matter how old you are or what you’ve been through in your life, a crush is a crush is a crush. Over analyzing, sweaty palms, butterflies. The whole nine yards. That was me. I was on the phone with the college kid 24/7 wondering if he liked me too. I was a 28 year old soon to be divorcee that felt like I was in elementary school all over again. I liked a boy! Did he like me back? Circle yes or no.

Time passed and it soon became clear I wasn’t alone in my feelings. The year flew by and before I knew it I had moved in and our divorces were right around the corner.

And here we are, a year later from when all those butterflies started kicking around in my gut. Every now and then I’ll catch him glancing my way at the gym and I still get those butterflies. 

Idle hands

I've got somewhat of a dilemma.

I’m really enjoying my new job and the work I’m doing. It’s pretty different from what I've done before. Doing accounting work is like a giant game of match.

Part of issue is I’m having a hard time managing my work flow. Not that I have too much to do. Quite the opposite on most days, I breeze through my work too quickly.

I’ve run into this issue before.  But in positions of employment, my work space had a bit of privacy so I was able to fill the lulls with the internet. However, my new work space is a tiny cubicle that has my back to face a hallway. Meaning, everyone can see what I’m working or not working on as they pass.

Very few people here have privacy when it comes to their work space. The few that do are the ones who have offices and those folks keep their doors closed mostly. An abundance of privacy! Lucky.

My days working for a non-profit I hated my job and how the organization was run, but I had an office.  And at Dunder Mifflin, I didn't quite have an office, but I had some privacy. And my boss didn't mind what I did in my down time as long as my work was finished. Those were the days!

Now I’m resorting to slowing my work down and stretching it out so I don’t have to look busy when in actuality I don’t have any work to do. I hate not doing my work to my best ability. I don’t want my co-workers to think I do my work at a snail’s pace. But I also can’t twiddle my thumbs until something lands in my inbox.

What’s a girl to do?!?