You should avoid...

For those of you not aware Heathrow Airport opened a new terminal this week, they did. Now anyone who has worked on a large project knows you should never go "big bang" - which is what they did. Check out this article - it shows the frustration of some flyers.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=547050&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

Rule of thumb - don't fly out of a new terminal in the first few weeks, and for those running the flipping project - don't subject the poor passengers to this.

Balance

It's been a crap day today. Let's talk about my calorie balance

1440 carried forward
+ 600 SPIN Class
- 340 2 x Creme eggs (Wed)
- 170 1 x Creme eggs (Thurs)
- 270 2 x Cadbury Flakes (Thurs)
1260 current balance

It really is easy to see why I'm not losing weight. I would really like to give it up, but that's easier said than done. If I had not had any chocolate then my balance would be 2500. It's easy to see how it whittles down when you eat crap. I'm going to work on it. I did it the fall quite easily.

Penny, good luck with surgery tomorrow. I'll be thinking of you.

Chocolate

Well I did good yesterday and didn't eat chocolate - suffice it to say that I made up for it today. But, using my new rules it goes as follows:

1300 calories in the bank
+600 calories for SPIN class = 1900 calories
-2 x cadbury creme eggs (170c each) and 1 curly wurly (120c each) = total 460
1440 calories remain in the bank

So, luckily I did a SPIN class which was good....however I should have more resolve tomorrow.

Good night.

Tag - you're it

My cousin Emily sent me this....figured I'd post for everyone.

Two names you go by:
1) Phil 2) Oi you!

Two things you are wearing right now:
1. Black twinset 2. Grey trousers/pants (I'm at work!)

Top Two of your favorite things to do:
1. Work out 2. Hanging out with friends

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. Green card 2. Be thin (yeah, like THAT is gonna happen)

Two favorite pets you have had/have now
1. Trudy (dog) 2. Candy and Holly (cats, they came as a pair)

Two people who will most likely fill this out:
1. Penny 2. Can't think of a second

Two things you did last night:
1. Double spin class 2) Watched the movie Mona Lisa

Two things you ate today:
1. Omelette 2. Handful of nuts

Two people you last talked to:
1. Trevor 2. Jennifer

Two things you're doing tomorrow:
1. Working 2. and Working

Two longest car rides:
1. St Louis to Boulder (12 hours) 2. Chicago to Hoboken (17 hours)

Two favorite holidays:
1. Memorial Day/Whitsun (last weekend of May) 2. Christmas

Two favorite vacations:
1. Australia, specifically Heron Island 2. Jamaica

Two favorite beverages:
1. Tea 2. Equal second Tanqueray (Gin) and Tonic with 3 limes or Surfer on Acid (Malibu, Pineapple and Jagermeister - equal parts) - depends what mood I'm in

Fitness assessment

Now we're living on our own again it's time for an assessment. Q1 has been a bit stagnant on the dieting front, especially with our neighbours living with us. Not that they were a problem, but we definitely did eat out way more than I would if I was on my own. I've decided to go back to doing what I did when I first kicked off this drive - start blogging exactly what I'm eating/doing. When it comes to chocolate, the more of the stuff I eat, the more I want. It's cold turkey time....and that's hard especially as we bought 2 boxes of Cadbury's creme eggs from Sams Club at the weekend (and they're not the boxes of 4....they're the boxes of 36!). Anyhow, I'm going to give up chocolate during the week and allow myself to eat at weekends. You'll be hearing here just how well that's going. Hopefully with sugar free jello at home in large supply we should be good to go.

So, I worked out twice with Mitch this weekend. He's my new trainer. I'm still so mad at Billy for leaving like he did...but I have to get over it. I'm trying to look on the positive and have spent all weekend trying not to compare them - but ya know, that's really hard. Billy and I got on soooo well - and Mitch is just so different. The jury is out on whether this is a long term relationship. I thought I'd write the positives and negatives down to see if I can organize my thoughts. So, here goes...

Positives
- He's into fitness
- He always checks to make sure I'm doing the exercises correctly
- Like his personality even though he's quiet
- He doesn't mind me whining/complaining/cursing when I get tired
- After Friday's session the backs of my thighs were very sore indicating a good workout

Negatives
- Not sure he works out all the muscle groups each time
- He's not working me as hard, it's so much like a cardio workout like it used to be
- He's not always available when I want him to be
- He's not Billy (I guess that translates to he's not familiar)

So, I think that on the whole we're doing OK - I decided to give him another 3 sessions to see if we can work on what I want out of it. Hopefully that'll sort it out, if not I'll be on the hunt for someone else. I wish I could just run away from the gym and tell them to stuff it, but I don't earn a million $$ a year and just can't turn down the fact that I have 30 sessions to go.

Yesterday was my first day of the start of the new regime (yeah yeah, again I hear you say). I came up with a great way to track progress. Record what I eat that's normal/healthy but then record the # of calories burnt in the gym (using my watch) less the number of calories consumed in a bad way. Cool eh? So here goes...

Monday
- 2 eggs (one regular, one white), cheese, side of bacon
- salad, no meat
- granola bar
- bowl of soup, salad and a few Mini Cheddars, Activia yogurt, sugar free jello

Gym: 2 x SPIN class, calories burnt - 1300
Bad things: zero
Balance: 1300 calories

Let's see how we go:) I did really well yesterday - let's see if i can keep it up. I am planning a Bodypump class (that's strength training/weight lifting) plus another SPIN class. The only thing that would change that is that my right hip is giving me a problem. I thought I'd bruised it and that I'd knocked into something, but couldn't remember what. Well, the bruise has gone down and it still hurts. Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

Making my blood boil...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=541598&in_page_id=1770

Is this weird?

Try and imagine this...

I'm looking out of the office window to a very colourful sky - there are at least 6 windows so I have a pretty wide view. The view is split into 3 - sky on the left, a high rise building in the middle, and then more sky on the right. The view is of New Jersey, across the Hudson river.

Why is it that the clouds on the left are moving quite fast and that the clouds on the right are stationary?

Do you think that's weird? I do. I've been looking at it for ages, and it's still doing it. If I had a camera I'd take a picture, but I don't.

Awful story

Isn't this an awful story? For the record, Mum (and Dad) - I love you. While there were rules when I was growing up (sometimes lots!!) I never doubted you loved me. This story breaks my heart.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=540153&in_page_id=1879

I also know that even though I was propelled into Motherhood many years ago that my daughters don't think of me this way either.

OK, I'm off to find a happy article....

What personality cluster are you?

Your Personality Cluster is Extraverted Thinking

You are: Organized and logical - a master at puzzles Competitive in almost any arena of life Objective when necessary, but passionate about what you truly love Intolerant of excuses and incompetence

What's Your Personality Cluster?

What kind of breakfast are you?

You Are Toast

Old fashioned and a bit of a homebody, you totally go for comfort food. You're the type who loves to cook for friends, and they love you for it. You truly know what tastes good, and you can often pick out the best dish at a restaurant. You don't fall for food trends. You stick with what's been food for a long time!

What Kind of Breakfast Are You?

Slowcoaches

Today was one of those days where people think they can get in the "commuter lane" and be slow. Let me explain. At commuter times there are rules. The people on the right can move at their own pace, the people on the left walk as fast as they can. It's the rules.

Not sure what happened today but both this morning and on the way home I was behind slow coaches. Now, I've been here long enough to know that you can say "Excuse me sir/ma'am". Most of the time they move their asses out the way, sometimes they don't. I don't mind unless I'm late for the bus and then I have zero patience for slow coaches. Tonight was one of those nights:)

Vodka

Check out the medicinal version of Vodka:)

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSKUA76164020080317

When is equality not equality

Call me strange, but I never want to get a job or be selected for a project based on my gender or ethinicity. Never have, probably never will. Do I think that women have to work harder than men to be successful in the corporate world? Probably. I know I've experienced a few times where I've felt guys have got away with stuff that I never could. Is it unfair? Probably.

Here's article where I think it's taking things too far... for my US readers Labour = Democrats.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=536050&in_page_id=1770

I've interviewed and recruited many times, and I've always usually had a diverse team. I can honestly say I have never, ever hired based on gender or race - it's all about skills. Certainly in my last job I had waves of hiring just guys, then just girls but never of a particular race. I find it hard to believe that in my mother country they would consider giving a job or position to someone based on those factors.

Maybe I've been lucky, or maybe I've got to do the things I've done because I worked hard for them - on my own terms.

The Hawaii Chair

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/2008/01/hawaii_chair.php

I haven't laughed so much in ages.... well, since last Friday night, but it's blinking funny!

End of a training era

My trainer quit. I'm gutted and mad all at the same time. I signed up at new year for 50 sessions on the basis that he'd be there. It's not cheap, but buying this number gets me a good discount and it's worth it. I'm mad at Billy because he quit. And let me down. He went on "2 weeks vacation" then apparently 30 minutes before we were due to meet he canceled and said he'd quit.

I've never been so gutted. It feels terrible. Now, it's not like I've not been working out or anything like that - I have my classes etc and I keep up with them deliberately. But....it's not the same as a trainer.

I was also told that I could get my money back, but when I actually tried to do that this week it wasn't allowed. Worse, the way I was treated has left me with a very very bad taste in my mouth. This new management at the gym sucks.

Today I bit the bullet, called the gym, and asked to set up a training session with Mitch. It's who Billy recommended. I find it very weird when I talked to Rob (who introduced himself as head physiologist and been in the job 6 weeks) that he didn't know where Mitch was. He wanted to palm me off with another dude.

So I'm now stuck in a rut. I have 34 sessions to use up and with no trainer I want to train with. I feel duped.

And I'm still pissed at Billy for being so hot-headed that he left me in this position.

Totally totally depressed.

Is it April fool's yet?

Check out this article....do you think it's for real?

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article909822.ece

Spring is here...

2 reasons why I think spring is around the corner:

1) my eyes sting like crazy in the morning (a sure sign that spring allergies are here)
2) I keep getting zapped from the static

I also managed to lose ½lb in weight....first bit all year. Yeah! Spring is definitely here

Weird...

Ok, at work this week I got weirded out. Here's a scenario - you tell me if you thought this was weird too.

So there's a colleague of mine who's getting married in a few weeks. She received her first wedding gift. She was mad/upset/peed off that the value of this gift was $40. I don't mean just a little bit - I mean she went on and on and on and on and on about it. To the point where she removed the online registry so no-one else could purchase the same thing.

I think it made her even more mad because I didn't see the problem. I told her that when I got married (both times actually) it never occurred to me to worry about the value of the gift. I pinged Rach and asked her (as she's getting married) and asked her if she'd be mad if she got a $40 gift. She kept my sanity and confirmed that it was OK.

Now, I think this is a tri-state thing. Apparently (!), it's a big deal and when you accept an invitation to a wedding you should plan on giving the amount of the plate (ie food, drink, tip) (x2 if you take a partner) in either money or gifts. It's looked on poorly if you don't. Now, to put this in context, a plate of food per person at a wedding here is about $200. That means you're expected to drop a gift of $350-400 just for showing up to celebrate with your husband/partner.

I honestly couldn't believe it.....can you?

Blinking weirdos over here on the east coast.

Photos from last weekend

I will have emailed a lot of people these pics, but just in case I didn't, check out the pics from the past weekend. We had a blast and even though we didn't get to see everyone we had a great time.



We also had formal photos taken at Sears - check them out here.

Iowa

We had a blast. Here's the run down.

Arrived Thursday night but not before having got stopped for speeding in Illinois. Oh well, Trev was driving - good flipping job I saw the cop when I did, coz Trev got nabbed for 86 in a 65. That's $95 gone.

Friday we didn't do much in the morning, but we met Carrieanne for lunch, then went and got a manicure and pedicure before heading out to the bar to celebrate Trev's birthday. Rachel, Mike and Peter joined us along with oodles of friends. Let's see if I can remember those who joined us. Matt and Jackie, Greg B, Sue and Pete, Tammy (and a friend, didn't know her), Jenness and Tom, Jane and Carlos. We knew Jane and Carlos from when we worked at APAC and they are (were) Trev's bosses at his current company - however they came and stopped by as they'd got fired that day. Sad...but we had a great night. The great news of the evening is that Mike popped the question to Rachel and they're now getting married - so cute. Lots of tears, hugs, phone calls etc - made the night extra special. Special thanks go to Hunkydory - thanks for getting us back to the hotel in one piece on Friday night.

Saturday was a whirlwind again - after our late night we were up and at Sears ready for pics (the one here is the dumb one we had taken....it's the #1 family!!), then we met our friends Bill and Margo for lunch and coffee. The kids headed off out to see their friends and do stuff, we headed back to the hotel and had a quick nap. Then it was off to Matt and Jackie's where we played Rock Band on the Xbox for most of the night. Jackie and I played guitar, Trev played drums, Matt sang....lots of martinis later we were an amazing band. So much fun.

Sunday was primarily travel. First thing we forgot about daylight savings. Once we'd got over that we went to the Old Mill and met Betty for coffee (Darren was a misery guts and didn't make it), then after picking up Peter we met everyone in Iowa City for lunch at our favourite Indian restaurant. Then it was back to Chicago where I booked into my cheap ass hotel (thanks Hotwire....love that website. $60 got me a night at the Hilton on the airport...very nice it was too) and Trev flew back home.

And that was it. I'm bummed we didn't get to see Darren or Penny but we'll do it next time. We've decided we hav eto do that trip more than once a year - we have so much fun.

You know you're in Iowa when....

So this was part of the previous post, but as the weekend in Iowa progressed the list of "you know you're in Iowa when..." got longer and longer. This is what I can remember.

- bad, bad karaoke (I can't even describe how bad) and people think this is "THE" night out of the week
- smokey bars - ie, you can still smoke in a bar - (I'd forgotten that you smell at the end of the evening
- breakfast, out, for 2, for under $20
- hotel room service is run by the over 60s
- there's a super-Target AND a Super-Walmart within a mile of each other
- the snow piles are taller than you are
- you enter a bar/restaurant at 5.30pm and people are leaving having FINISHED dinner
- you're in a bar, and there's a 2 year old there, and no-one is saying anything
- at a traffic stop light, it goes green and it's a full 5 seconds before the first car moves, and no-one honked their horn
- you're at a traffic stop light with 2 lanes and everyone's in the right hand lane (until I come along and zip past them all!!!!!!)
- you're waiting for a table for lunch...and you're kept waiting for 20 minutes (and starving hungry) only to find when you walk in the restaurant 25% of the tables are free
- old ladies drive cadillacs ( badly)
- a car is parked taking up 3 spaces........and no-one cares

If I remember more I'll update this list.

Excited

We made it to Iowa. I still have my stinking cold, but if I take enough cold medicine I can be in continued denial.

We've been here less than a day and we're going through the "You Know You're in Iowa When...." - here's the list so far:

- bad, bad karaoke (I can't even describe how bad) and people think this is "THE" night out of the week
- smokey bars (I'd forgotten that you smell at the end of the evening
- breakfast, out, for 2, for under $20
- hotel room service is run by the over 60s
- there's a super-Target AND a Super-Walmart within a mile of each other
- the snow piles are taller than you are

....not a bad start for less than 24 hours

I can't wait to see everyone tonight.

Who has time?

We all love IKEA, right? I know I do. I have to say though when you read this article you'll wonder if there are some people in this world who don't have enough to do.

I'm happy to share my to-do list with them....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=527862&in_page_id=1770

Sick

I'm flipping sick. It sucks. I've been ignoring it for 24 hours, but there's no denying it. I feel like crap.

I got a sore throat yesterday, followed by yukky nausea. I'm sure it didn't help that I ate an omelet for breakfast followed by sushi for lunch:) I ate noodle soup for dinner, but not before I thought I could exercise my way out of this.....so I completed a Bodypump class and an hour's spin class. Still no luck - feeling terrible. I popped Tylenol Cold Remedy nighttime so I slept OK.

This morning, I popped more day time Tylenol....and then ate cereal for breakfast. There's no denying it - just in time for my weekend in Iowa. We're getting family pics done at Sears on Saturday morning - the first in about 6 years so really excited. How cool it'll be for me to do that with a nose like Rudolph. Yipp-di-flipping-doo.

Really really looking forward to our weekend away. I'm sad Penny can't make it (she hurt her leg ski-ing) but that just means I need a trip to Des Moines at some point this year. That said, still really looking forward to meeting up with old friends and the kids in Iowa. This is the reason I do not have time to be sick.

Green card woes

Oh my.... it had to happen, it was just a matter of waiting. The bomb dropped yesterday. It sucks ass. Our green card application was denied. Yes, denied. So before everyone panics and thinks we're moving we're not....Flipping Americans....can't they organize anything?

Remember back in October when I said that we were notified that the Immigration Dept wanted more info? And remember I said that we never got notified, and remember we contacted Immigration to say this, twice. Well, apparently they found our case and promptly denied the application.

Now, the lawyer believes it's because they never received the information they asked for....and all we need to do is wait until we receive details about the "why" surrounding the denied notice, we can then send the info they want and hey presto, all will be well.

Those of you who know my husband will know he doesn't take bad news well...and this was no exception.

We're waiting with baited breath. Will keep everyone posted.....but please don't hold your breath - the way it's been going it'll take blinking months and months, if not years to have a resolution.

As an aside, check out this blog...I find it super funny when I check in on the odd occasion. Any of you who have or have had preschoolers you'll love this particular post http://supamb.com/supafine/2008/03/03/never-take-your-babies-to-the-mall/

Moving out day

Remember back in December when our neighbours moved in for 2 weeks? Well, they moved out yesterday! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!! We got on really well, learnt a lot from each other and celebrated many times. That said, it's still nice to be able to walk naked to the 2nd bathroom if you need to:)

We have the house to ourselves again.

A faux pas today though. It was Mother's Day in England.....AND I HAD NO IDEA. Usually it's the Sunday before Easter but I guess this year it wasn't. I had no reminder, there was nothing on all the UK websites I visit everyday either. I was bummed. When I did find out I tried to call Mum, and then Dad and I couldn't get through. I felt terrible when she called me from Turkey. Ouch. Sorry Mum, wasn't intentional at all - I'm glad i was thinking "oh, it must be Mother's day soon I better look up when it is" - because that's how I found out.