AccuWAIT!

In the year 2008, how can seemingly intelligent people still fall into these crazy fad diets? I have a coworker who does the Accu-Weight Loss program. She has a bead behind her ear, which is the acupuncture aspect of the diet. She is supposed to rub this bead to keep focused. Here are some of the rules of the diet.

1. Only eat between noon and 6pm.

2. For two days, you can only consume whole milk products. You must have 2.5 cups of milk and/or yogurt. Thats all you eat on your milk days!

3. The next two days, you consume vegetables only. You get 2 servings of fruit and up to 1.5 lbs of veggies. Thats all you eat on your veggie days!

4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 until you get to your goal weight.

So, basically, you are starving your body on this diet. There are no whole grains and there are no sources of protein other than the milk. Our bodies work best when we combine many different healthy foods and eat them in moderation. I like Weight Watchers the best but in my opinion, the best diet is not really a diet but a plan you can live with permanently!

Anyone ever hear of this crazy diet?

No More Polaroids

I read online today that Polaroid is shutting down the instant photography aspect of their business. They've already ceased production of instant cameras and will stop manufacturing the film for them (though they do have enough film to last through 2009).

How sad. I admit it. I haven't owned a Polaroid camera in years. Back in 2000 or so, I had one of those Polaroid sticker cameras. They were very popular at the time!

No matter your age, there's still something magical about holding that Polaroid photo in your hand waiting for it to develop.

When my friends took me out for Hibachi on my 29th birthday, I received a birthday Polaroid souvenir. It's still on my refrigerator.

Here's a "vintage" Polaroid commercial from 1979.

Absolutely Absurd!

Our lovely state of NJ is in debt. And a lot of it. $32 billion dollars in debt. Sounds pretty much typical for this country.

Our esteemed Governor Corzine came up with a plan a couple days ago to relieve us of this debt.

What a joke.

Many of our New Jersey roads are toll roads. Corzine's plan is, beginning in the year 2010, increase said tolls by 50%. And every four years, increase the tolls by another 50%...

He also proposes to add tolls to a stretch of Route 440, which is now toll-free.

Corzine thinks this pretty much only affect commercial vehicles and out-of-state traffic.

Well, he's dead wrong. Many, many, many of New Jersey residents commute to work on a daily basis on these toll roads! I'm fortunate that with the move, I don't have to travel the toll roads any longer. But prior to this year, I traveled the Garden State Parkway to work on a daily basis. I paid $2.10 a day in tolls, a total of $42.00 a month. Here's how the increase, if approved would affect a commuter, like myself, on a yearly basis.

Year Monthly Toll Expenditure

2007 $42.00

2010 $63.00

2014 $94.50

2018 $141.75

2022 $212.62

2026 $318.94

That's almost an increase of 10 times over a twenty year period. Gee, lets stop and think. Add that to the increased prices of gas, property taxes that never stop rising, and the astronomical cost of living in this state.

This plan would pay off half of New Jersey's debt. Tell me, how is it our responsibility to clean up the mess that others have left???

Just needed to vent.

2007 in Review

Jennifer posted a year in review on her blog. I liked that idea. Mine probably won't look as pretty as hers but I'll try my hand at making one too. A lot HAS changed this year!

January

In January I had attempted to cancel my match.com membership. I was frustrated and tired of the whole thing. I wasn't meeting anybody who I really connected with. But apparently, I didn't hit the confirm button when I tried to cancel so I got charged for another six months.

I figured I might as well get some use out of the damn membership. So I sent a bunch of emails out. One to some guy named Eric. And so we began emailing back and forth...


February



Eric and I had our first date at an Ethiopian restaurant called Makeda in New Brunswick. We also had a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth date...


March



My mom had a special birthday this month. My siblings and I planned a birthday luncheon for her. Eric met my family for the first time this day.


April

I missed Eric while he was in Scotland but then it was my spring break! We spent a lot of time together that week.

We had our first New York outing together. We had our first fight at Zabar's.

May

May was a special month. On Mother's Day, we got engaged! Yay! Norton (and Pumpkin too) was very happy to hear the news. He adores his new daddy-to-be!

Speaking of daddies-to-be, at the end of the month, my brother, Ryan and sister-in-law Lauren announce that they are expecting a little one in the beginning of 2008!

June


June was a good month. Our friends gave birth to Caiden who underwent very successful heart surgery. He's a champ!!! He's now a healthy, happy baby!

July


We went to Miami for Eric's AAJA conference but we enjoyed some downtime as well.

August


We moved. Really, must I say more? What a crazy month fixing up the townhouse so it could sell and fixing up our new home.

September


Eric and I enjoyed a weekend in the San Francisco area before I had to return to work. I also got to attend my first football game!

October



We hosted a party for my birthday at our new house!!! The Bell Family (the nickname my college friends and I gave ourselves) even attended!

November

Eric and I went away for a long weekend to Burlington, Vermont. We had a great time exploring! Here I am in Middlebury trying to stay warm!

December


We celebrated our engagement with some of our close friends and family.


2008 will be an even better year! I wish all of my readers a healthy and happy year!

Recycling Day

The first Friday of every month is recycling day. That means on the first Thursday night of every month, Eric and I are scrambling to put everything out after he gets home from work. Since we moved in August, half of our 2 1/2 car garage has been filled with boxes waiting to be broken down and recycled. Well thanks to Eric's hard work this week, we actually have a garage again. I bet the recycling people were cursing when they got to our house today. This is what they found:

• 7-8 large boxes filled with broken down boxes
• 2 bins of cans and bottles
• 2 boxes of newspapers, magazines and 1 expired YellowPages

Thats a LOT of stuff, don't you think? The hardest part was lugging all of that stuff up our windy, lengthy driveway. So Eric would load1-2 boxes at a time in the back of his SUV. Then Norton and I would hop in and drive the car up the driveway with Eric in the rear holding everything in place so we wouldn't lose any boxes. Norton had an important job too--co-captain of the Recycle Transit. He alternated riding in the back with the boxes or sitting on the passenger seat leaning over my shoulder.

Even Norton was exhausted last night. We all worked incredibly hard (especially Eric). It'll be worth it come our first snowfall when we'd like to park in the garage!

What a Day

It's Monday. Boy, was I tired this morning. But I woke up and headed on my way to work at 6:30. Plenty of time to make it in on time. But then, I was twenty minutes from home when I realized that Eric left his keys in my car last night.

And, they were still there this morning. So I had to drive all the way back home. Then all the way back to work. The drive should have taken me an hour and ten, maybe.

I left my house at 6:30 and made it to work at 8:40. But its okay. Now, Eric can make it to work too.

Any last guesses on the contest? I'll be tabulating the results later on today after work.

Happy Fall!

It's a couple days late but Happy Fall! It certainly doesn't feel like Autumn today. Hot and sticky, in the mid-80's. I'm looking forward to those crisp, cool Autumn days.

Random Thoughts

What a scary world we live in these days. Schools were closed today in 10 Bergen county towns due to a bomb scare. Though my school was open, we had cops in our building in the morning inspecting for anything suspicious. They even inspected my classroom! We had our yearly lockdown drill today in which we lock our classroom doors and "hide" in our closets. We never had these type of things when I was a kid.

You can now play Scrabble online for free on the website Scrabulous. The site was blocked at work. Go figure. I tried from home. You register for free and then enter whats basically a chat room to find a Scrabble partner. Nobody wanted to play with me. I'll try another day.

My allergies are really awful. Head congestion. Sore throat. Tired. Eric thinks its due to the dust and other stuff I'm breathing in on a daily basis at school (due to the recent construction). I'm trying to fight it naturally. It never works for me though.

I read someplace today that you can now access The New York Times online without a paid membership. Yippee!

My New Commute

Eric's friend told me a way to get to work in which I'd avoid a lot of the morning traffic. Its a distance of 43 miles each way. Ech. His way worked out just fine for me going home--it would take me an hour. But, going to work, has taken me 1 hour and 20 minutes in the morning. Not fun. So this morning, I went the way everybody has told me NOT to go. The way in which I'd hit a lot of traffic. It took me one hour. I guess I'm leaving early enough to avoid a lot of the rush.

The commute is so worth it when I'm driving to work and I get to witness a young buck (deer) grooming himself by the side of the road (or across the street from my house in this case). I love driving past lakes wrapped in fogginess.

It's worth it at the end of the day when Norton can run through the woods in our own backyard.

Sigh.

We're homeowners!

Today we closed on our new house! There's lots to be done this week including painting, cleaning, and packing. Next Tuesday night, we'll be sleeping in the new house. I'll be posting pictures when I can...

Martha Madness

I'm not quite sure when it became "cool" to dig Martha Stewart. Was it after she was arrested a few years back? (Here's an interested link, titled, 'Is Martha Stewart Finished?')

I think not! I read something in a newspaper yesterday about her new lines coming out: carpets and flooring, lamps, etc. The carpets and flooring will be available exclusively at Macy's and Flor.

(Pictured are Martha's cool new "carpet tiles," tiles that can stand on their own or you can mix and match! How cool is that?)

And if thats not enough, she's got paint lines out at Lowes for $25 a can. Eric, can we get Martha Stewart paint for our new house?

I'm partial to some of her magazines. I like Blueprint, a fun and fresh living magazine. I've got a copy of Martha Stewart Weddings too.

I just checked out Martha's website for the first time and it seems to be addictive. Perfect for a domestic goddess-in-training like myself!

We're Moving!

Just when I was half-way moved into Eric's townhouse, a deal of a house came along that we couldn't or didn't want to pass up in Sussex County, NJ. It's a four bedroom, 2 bathroom home on 1/2 an acre of property--comes complete with woods and deer and bears and hawks. Yep, I love it. There's a pond behind the woods, for ice skating in winter, and it'll be Norton's in summer. Two minutes away is Lake Tomahawk, a lake complete with water slides. But this is lake country; there's lots of them!

And, guess what's ten minutes away? Remember my post about Wild West City from a couple weeks ago. You got it!

In Memory of...

My father called me a couple days ago to give me the sad news that a 27 year old female soldier from my hometown was killed in Iraq. I didn't know her but I graduated, and later worked with, her older sister. There are no words to tell how I'm feeling right now. I was home at my parents' today and all over towns are signs, "We love you, Trista" and "We'll miss you, Trista." There was even one with a photo at the vet's office where I took Norton for his shots today. When is this war going to end? It breaks my heart that so many soldiers are losing their lives out there...

Here's a link to a story...

Summer!!!!

Summer started at 2:30 pm on Friday for me...not a day earlier, even though Thursday was the official first day of summer. Summer began on Friday when I walked out of school--and I do not plan on returning until sometime at the end of August. Yippee!!!

There are a lot of reasons for me to be happy and stressed right now. Here's one of them.

I'm at Eric's, where I have basically been living. At my feet is my Norton. With the exception of the occasional overnight visit, I wanted to leave Norton with my parents until the summer. This way, I'd have time to spend with Norton so he can actually get used to his new digs. Pumpkin will have to come later...so today, I packed up Norton's food and his pills and his leash and his toy box, etc. He's happy now. I am pretty sure of it. And so am I to have my boy with me!

Tuesday, Tuesday

Sitting here on the futon, Eric's laptop on my lap. Eyes are growing sleepy as the rain pours down. The thunder and lightning...

This post was intended to be posted on Tuesday...but I fell asleep and my Tuesday, Tuesday post will have to be published on Wednesday, Wednesday.

Driving to work yesterday morning, I made a smart and quick decision which may very well have saved me hundreds of dollars. And made me five minutes late for work. But it was well worth it.

I was driving my daily commute and going the speed of traffic when I zoooommmmmed past a cop going 80 mph. By the time I saw him and stepped on my brake, it was too late. Heart pounding, I moved into the right lane. I didn't see him pull out of his hiding place and maybe he had no plans to come after me. But I wasn't taking a chance. I got off the highway at the next exit...took a long way to get back to the highway. This way, if the cop was looking for me, I stumped him.

Smartmunkee.

Wild about Wild West City

Somewhere in dusty albums of long ago and in basement boxes, there are pictures of my parents and my brother and I. It was in the days before my sister came along and it was at a place called Wild West City. In the pictures, my cheeks are rosy pink and I'm pig-tailed while my brother, Ryan has one of those bowl hair cuts. Eighties all the way. (I'll have to hunt up some pictures and try to add to the post.)

I'm not sure how many times I'd been to Wild West City as a kid but I've always had fond memories of it. In fact, I dragged a boyfriend there when I was 18 or so just go to back. What more could you ask for out of a day outing? You can ride a stagecoach or train and get held up. You can witness a gun fight. You can tour the old west and a petting zoo too!

A couple years ago, there was a mishap and during one of the "staged" gun fights, somebody was really shot. There were real bullets in the gun. There were supposed to be blanks!

I haven't been back to this place for several years, probably ten or so. I'm hoping to share some slightly relevant but exciting news in a couple days. I'll keep y'all posted.

Busy-Happy-Stressed-Glowing

The title of this blog entry kind of gives you an idea of how I'm feeling now. Wedding planning is exciting yet stressful. However, I've never been happier and I can't stop smiling and glowing (or so I'm told)! Not only do I have a million things to do with our nuptial planning, but I have a million things to do at home. Oh yeah. And our school is in the middle of construction and I'll have a classroom next year. At some point. Thats good. But I have to pack everything up here at school by June 27th. And that, my friends, just adds to my aggrevation level right now.

I have a blog entry in the works about this past weekend and some pics too. So keep checking back. I'll get to it soon. I hope.

Three

May 15th of this month marks the three year anniversary of the day I moved back home.

Three months I thought I'd stay there.

Three years later, I'm still living at home (which won't be the case for much longer. Mom and Dad, you can breathe a sigh of relief.)

Good things happen in threes...

Yesterday, Eric and I celebrated 3 glorious months together.

Eric finally received his much-awaited and well-deserved promotion this week!

And I'll let you know when the third thing happens!

So in anticipation of flying the coop sometime soon, I began cleaning out my $149.80 per month storage space this past weekend. As I mentioned above, I expected to be home a matter of months. Three years later and a lot wiser than I was when I was 25, I realized I saved way too much! I've so far emptied out about nine boxes. I have thrown a ton away. And apparently buggy bugs really like my storage space too. I rented the storage space to store...well...my stuff...two nearly new couches, a two-year old queen sized bed, hand-me-down furniture...and lots of boxes.

The cost to store all this junk? About $5,080.

Five thousand dollars and change to house some spiders and a lot of garbage I should have parted with when I was 25. Priceless. (Don't you love my sarcastic wit?)

Oh well. Live and learn.