I have become mildly obsessed with this genealogy research. Found out that the library holds subscriptions to those expensive sites I can't afford; all I have to do is go there and take advantage. Constructed my family tree yesterday and harassed my mother for information. She doesn't have all that much, but my grandmothers do. Making some calls this weekend :)


Yesterday Artsy Friend came over and we had coffee and talked for a few hours. It was fun. I hadn't yet "hosted" in my own apartment before, unless you count Boyfriend's friends coming over to watch the game.

Finished some of this week's deadlines which has alleviated some of the pressure. Some.

Day 17

Desperate times call for desperate measures. I replaced my beloved half and half this morning with skim milk. My coffee tastes like shit. On Tuesday I start aerobics class. Yay!

In other news, I started researching my genealogy. This is something I have ALWAYS wanted to do but thought it was too expensive and hard. I found a free site, RootsWeb.com, and I'm sure there are others. This is really exciting to me.

After I get into work a tad late due to a doctor's appointment...

"So how did that, um, brain transplant go this morning?"

It's nice to know that I have such a sensitive employer.

I got a seemingly stable freelance writing gig that I am jazzed about. I'm meeting with the guy on Thursday to discuss the future, but I already did a piece for his company and he is very happy with it. I never do PR work for companies that are in the same industry as mine because that would be a conflict of interest and just wrong. (Plus, I'm sure that I have somewhere signed something saying I wouldn't, though I couldn't point you to it.) But this is a retail company that sells things that are practically from another planet as my company's products, so I worry not.

I had a fun weekend. Saturday night Boyfriend and I tried to revive our Sunday night ritual by buying and cooking some delicacies, pouring some wine, and watching the first two episodes of Rome. First we had Sopranos, then the Tudors, but now we've got nothing, so we tried it. Not bad; I think we both got into it, although I have to turn away every five seconds because I can't stand gore.

Yesterday we went shopping. All day we were at the mall, and I came home with a ton of cheap, gorgeous stuff. I was/am very happy. Just to give you an idea... I bought two pretty dresses that fit me perfectly for the combined total of $21. Today I wore a new outfit to work and a colleague whistled when I got out of my car. Things are looking up for the not-cute intern.

For those of you concerned about energy expenditure, use Blackle instead of Google. Same search engine, more green.

(I think it's sexy looking, too.)

Day 12

So I read the calorie guidelines more carefully, and I am supposed to be burning 500-750 more calories than I take in each day, not 300 like I had been doing. Yesterday I got it up to 500 because of a long, one hour walk we took. Guess that will be the minimum goal from now on. 500 calories per day equals loss of 1 pound a week, as 1 pound of fat equals 3500 calories.

I have begun using a calorie counting tool online and it is working really well for me. In the last two days I managed to burn around 300 more calories than I consumed. If I can just do that every day it will slowly and surely come off.

I have arranged for a Saturday night hangout with Artsy Friend, which I am pretty jazzed about. I watch Sex and the City episodes and I get bummed about not being surrounded by estrogen. I'm used to that, you know, in my family. I have two awesome female friends in town that I have to start making plans with more often. So Saturday! Girls night out! Frozen margaritas baby!

So I keep telling myself, Okay, I'm going to focus on banging out my classes and stop taking on freelance writing jobs. But I can't stick to it. It's not just that I'm incapable of saying 'no,' but I am incapable of not going out and searching the boards and soliciting people to hire me. It's just too tempting. I mean, if I see that someone will pay me $50 for an article it will take me a half hour to write it... damn it, I'm going to do it. And gigs like that are few and far between, which means I work my tail off to get and keep them. I try to tell myself I will take it out of my 'leisure time' but I don't think I have any of that anymore!

I just came across my japa beads in the side pocket of my purse while looking for a scrunchie, and came to the sad realization that I don't meditate anymore. Not "once in a while," but never. The last time I meditated was on the way home from the airport in NY because I was really stressed out and wanted to kill someone.

Goal: to meditate every night

This morning I met with the COO and they are having me do a whole bunch of work on the marketing plan for our company's new product. I suppose they are going to really make me work for this new salary. I don't care; I feel important! And consequently, happy.

I have decided to go to the mall this weekend and buy some fabulous new clothes. I detest clothes shopping and tend to dress like a hobo in order to avoid it, but I am still on my work high and want to be a stud.

Gosh I wish the Traveler was in town to go with me! :) She should have one of those shows where you make people over, I swear.

I really want to buy a dress. I don't think I own a dress. Not a fancy one, but something to wear to work and out for drinks with friends. Something like this maybe?

Day 8

Today at work I noticed in the ladies' room mirror that I looked slimmer. It could have been my imagination but that was the distinct impression that I got, and it made me feel good all day. Then for dinner I had a bad-ass burger and fries.

I'm not sorry.

I have had a rough ass week. They gave me an injection for my strep throat which led to my left leg being numb for several days. (When does that happen??) They hit a nerve or something; incompetent bastards. I am hoping it will go away because I can't do another minute in that hell-hole, I mean, emergency room.

I am back at work today. Nearly finished with antibiotics but they make me nauseous and there's the, uh, numb leg thing, so I was kinda worried about coming back. But I feel good having work to do and being at my desk with my coffee (not my healthy latte, but my coffee). I hope that will last throughout the day.

What else, what else... not much actually. I lined up some freelance gigs, which is good, but have to balance them with finishing my damn classes, which is not so good. Some good news, though, is that someone at my school is lobbying with the dean for me to get me internship credit for writing this damn book. If it works out, that will take care of the last class I need and I can finally graduate!!

I have the best boyfriend in the world. He cleared his pretty full, pretty important schedule today to stay home with me.

:)

I am doing okay. This is not the most pleasant thing, obviously, but whatever. I got some movies from the library yesterday and have a ton of deadlines today, so I am all set up with stuff to do. I also have Butterfinger hot chocolate. You know, for my throat....

I have strep throat. I had to go to the hospital yet again (darn doctors who don't take walk-ins), but this time, I got a very painful injection that made me want to throw up all over the emergency room and then eventually displace another patient from her room so I could lie down. Yeah.