Too much coffee?

I think I had too much coffee this morning. I was really chipper and then it all went downhill. This has been happening the past few days. When I have coffee in the morning, I get moody in the afternoon. I've been getting unusually emotional after 11:00 a.m this week. I'm trying to figure out why.

So tonight is my last pattern making class... *sigh* I'm frustrated with it, because I think the measurements my instructor took 7 weeks ago are now wrong, or as in the case of my waist-to-hip length, were never right to begin with. So. I'm feeling like it will take too much to get everything right to make the dress I want to make out of the beautiful fabric that I bought in time for the fashion show next Thursday. Bleargh.

Yay for Motivation!

Current mood: chipper

So I started back on the Weight Watchers plan about 2 weeks ago. I've been working out at Curves as well, and I've lost 5 lbs! Yay! For those of you who don't know, I lost 40 lbs over the course of a year and a half and made it to goal with Weight Watchers. I maintained my goal weight for at least 6 weeks and thus achieved "Lifetime Membership." I then managed to maintain my weight around goal (up to 2 lbs over) for about a year.

Unfortunately, this year I gained about 10 lbs. My causal theories include 1) Trying to quit smoking TWICE, 2) Moving to a location about 3 blocks away from the best patisserie in town, and 3) Not going to Curves for about 3 months straight.

So- I want to nip this in the bud. Studies have shown that most people who are overweight/obese got that way through about 10 lbs. gained per year. If I don't take it off now, more will accumulate, and I worked too damn hard to lose that original 40. I also gained a huge amount of self esteem while earning my goal. Yes, I'm a vain person. NO, I don't want to be stick-thin. I rather like my curves. But I want my clothes to fit well. I don't want to be constantly looking in the mirror wondering if something makes me look fat. I want to have the energy that I had at goal.

So... I'm partway back to goal. This time, I think I'll get to goal (which is at the very top of my healthy weight range), and lose 10 more lbs. so I'll be in the middle of my weight range. Then I don't have to worry so much about going over goal.

In other news, I'm soooo excited to go up to my mom and grandma's. Justin (my brother) and Chris (his girlfriend) are flying in from Texas. It will be the first time I've seen him in 3 years, and will be my first time meeting her in person. I can't wait! I'm taking my boyfriend, and he and I are going to cook for them, giving Grams a much needed break from cooking. I think it's going to be a hoot!

Currently listening : Crazy By Gnarls Barkley Release date: By 13 March, 2006

Camping, Weight Loss, and Birthday Gifts

Current mood: amused

I turned the big 29 on Friday and went camping with my family. I had a great time with my boyfriend, mom, dad, and uncle. We sat around the campfire telling stories and having sometimes deep discussions on politics and religion.

My grandmother stopped by on Sunday and gave me a great birthday present: Motivation. She said, "Oh, it looks like you've gained some of that weight back." It's true- I've gained 10 lbs in the past year. So now I'm gonna try to be good with diet and exercise and take it off, plus 10 more lbs. I want to lose 5 lbs by Sept 8. I think that's a pretty reasonable goal.

Also, Richie (my wonderful man), surprised me with a Singer sewing machine last night . He had had to order it in and it didn't get here until yesterday. He wasn't too happy about it being late, but I don't mind. My Riccar was just breaking down too much and wouldn't go through some fabrics. He's such a sweetheart.

On another note, I'm so excited to go see my mom, grandma, brother and his girlfriend in September. I haven't seen my brother in 3 years, and I've never met Chris, his gf, in person. She seems like a total sweetheart, though.
Richie will be coming along on this one. He's only been up there once before. It will be a fun trip.

Currently listening : St. Elsewhere By Gnarls Barkley Release date: By 09 May, 2006

Sometimes I could kick myself

Current mood: hurrrr... Vicodin... hurrrr

Yeah. So. I got all moved in to my new apartment. Ok, ok, Ive actually been there exactly a month, but it seems like only a few weeks. I absolutely love it! Its still kind of a mess because I need to sell a bunch of stuff that I had in storage, but at least I got storage cleaned out.

So, in the course of things, I had to sell my dining room table in order to set up a newer one my step-brother doesnt have room for anymore. I sold the table on Wednesday, and decided that I needed to set up the new table THAT NIGHT, which also meant BY MYSELF. I had to move 4 large Rubbermaid boxes, full of fabric, out of my closet in order to get to the table. That done, I tried to lift, but mostly drug, the table top out into the middle of my kitchen floor. I then proceeded to install the legs and set it upright. Sometime during all this, I reflected later, is when my back started hurting. I noticed it as soon as I got the table upright. It had been aching just a bit from everyday stuff. Then it got worse.

So I find myself with a strained back, yet again. I went to the doctor last night and got myself checked out, plus scored a scrip for vicodin and muscle relaxers. Yay for pain relief! The drawback is that my brain is on partial vacation when I take these. I think its an o.k. tradeoff.

--San

Vertigo and Moving

Sorry I haven't posted in a week. I've been really busy. And dizzy.

I completed my duvet cover last Thursday night. It's everything I thought it could be. It's wonderful. I love it.

Then I came down with the nasty cold going around, so was out of commission for most of the weekend. I ended up packing some on Sunday night, but stayed up too late and got only 5 hours of sleep. That's when the vertigo hit, and I've had it all week. Something about moving and vertigo. I had it the last time I moved, as well.

So I got the keys to my new apartment today. *Does the happy dance.* I'm going to start moving a few things in tonight, with the help of my wonderful boyfriend, Richie. First thing: put futon frame together and reinforce it. It used to belong to Richie, but it started breaking down at points, so he bought a new one. He was going to toss the old one, but I nabbed it.

Anyway, I'm just going to be moving this weekend. Pretty busy. I can't wait to live in a place all to myself. I hope you all have a great weekend.

--San

Currently listening : Days of the New By Days of the New Release date: By 03 June, 1997

Moving and Sewing

Originally Posted on MySpace

Current mood: excited

Yay! My landlord called yesterday and had me put the gas and electricity in my name so they'd have lights and hot water to paint my new apartment. The previous tenant is gone, and I'm not scheduled to move in until the 11th of this month, so they're going to take three or four days to really paint the place well. In recompense for me turning on the utilities before I move in, they'll give me the keys sometime early next week, but only charge me pro-rated rent from the 11th on.

I'm so stoked. I don't know how I'm going to make it through the weekend- I'm just one big bundle of eagerness, like a little puppy so excited that he's about to pee on the floor. Ok, well, I'm not going to pee on the floor... wait, what's that puddle in the corner? Joking.

Anyway, I'll probably manage my excitement by packing some, and playing some Dungeon Siege 2, after I finish up my duvet cover. I hope to get it done tonight.

This is the look I finally went for (pic).

Last night I attached ties along the bottom of the front piece (5 of them), and attached a facing to the back of it to enclose the tie ends in the seam. I also attached 3 ties along the left side of the front. They will be enclosed in the seam when I stitch the back on. These ties will serve two purposes: 1) the loose ends will tie on to the frame of the futon when it is in couch position to keep it in place. 2) On the inside, the middle of each tie forms a loop, which will attach to a button I'm going to sew on to the actual comforter itself, thereby keeping the comforter in place as well. I made a picture of it in Adobe Illustrator while I was bored at work this morning, but then a whirlwind of activity hit at about 8:30 and I've been busy ever since. I finished it, but can't get it to post, even after I saved it as a jpeg in Photoshop. *shrug* Tant pis.

Anyway, gotta get home and work on the damned thing some more. Yeah, I love it.

Have a wonderful day, y'all. And remember... Always look on the bright side of life.

--Sanourra

Currently listening : In Between Dreams By Jack Johnson Release date: By 01 March, 2005

Only 2.5 weeks

Originally Posted on MySpace

Current mood: optimistic

I keep telling myself only 2.5 weeks. Only two and a half weeks that I have to deal with other people eating my food, and keeping me up by making lots of noise when I've gone to bed. Only a short amount of time that I have to wait for the bathroom or be extra quiet in the mornings (though they don't do the same for me at night). All in all, as roommates they're good people, but our ideas of "respectful" differ greatly.

I guess that means I'll have to start packing soon. Bleargh. I hate packing. You know, I've moved over 40 times in my 28 years. Admittedly, most of it was when I was a kid, but I've moved over 15 times in the last 10 years. College brings it on, I think, and also the training as a kid to move often. *sigh* I'd like to be in this new place for a long time, if it suits me as well as I think it will.

The only problem with staying in one house/apartment for a long time is the stuff accumulated. The longer you stay in one spot, it seems, the more junk ends up inhabiting said place. So when you do finally move, OMG, there's so much to sort, get rid of, and pack. I'm glad I got that out of the way back in September when I moved into the closet which I rent as a room.

I will get to packing soon, but this week my goal is to make a duvet cover for my comforter, as my bed will double as a couch in my new place. I bought some Waverly "Castille" in Jewel a few years ago on e-bay. I've got about 10 yards of it, so that's what I'll use. I bought some sage green fabric on discount last night at Jo-Ann's Fabrics to be able to run a stripe down each side, as the fabric (from edge repeat) is about 52.5" wide, and my comforter is 86" x 86". It should turn out nicely. I'll post more about it when I get more time.

Have a great day, y'all.

--Sanourra

Currently listening : Garden State By Various Artists Release date: By 10 August, 2004

Cupboards and Kooks- ah the fun of apartment hunting.

Originally Posted on MySpace on February 20, 2006

I saw 3 apartments over the weekend. The first one was smallish, expensive, and came with a kooky landlord who lives in the house on the property. It seems the studio was once a garage. The owner got rather... erm... enthusiastic in speaking about how upset the previous tenant had made her... There were also large gates at any entrance which were locked most of the time. The neighborhood didn't seem to be that bad, but, I dunno, I don't live there. Anyway, what it came down to was that she was charging too much rent for too small a space and tacking on 1/3 of the utilities on top of it. Oh, also I couldn't smoke on the property or have many friends over. I'm not a party animal, but I do like having friends over sometimes.

The second one was so small and so wrong on so many levels. And I do mean levels- One has to step up to get into the bathroom, then step up again to get onto the toilet level. The shower stall (I hate stall showers, btw) and sink are on the first level, then the toilet is off in its own little raised nook. Wacky. Then there were the stairs up to the "upstairs." The stairs were about 6 inches deep all the way up about 9 or 10 stairs. I swear you go from downstairs to upstairs in the horizontal space of 3 feet. The "upstairs" has about 12 square feet (closet-sized) in which one can stand upright- the rest slopes with the roof, and very sharply, I might add. I don't even want to talk about the non-existent kitchen. Needless to say, I politely thanked the woman showing me the place and wished her luck in finding someone to rent that cupboard masquerading as a 1 Bedroom.

So the third one I looked at caught me. It's advertised as a 1 Bdrm because it's so large, but the main room doubles as living room and bedroom. This is not a problem for me. The main room is roughly 25' x 25'. The kitchen sits off of the main room and is about 12' x 14'. There's a large closet (in the kitchen, oddly enough), and a really small bathroom with a full-sized tub. Also there's a small, enclosed front porch area that's technically mine, but the upstairs neighbors pass thru it to get to their domicile. AND the rent is cheaper than the other two places I looked at.

Yes, I did just say "technically mine," because I signed the rental agreement and paid the security on the apartment ealier this evening. *insert enthusiastic bouncing and squealing here* I'll get to move in around the middle of March.

I can't believe how smooth all this went... I had a really hard time finding a place last fall. This time, I found a place I'll enjoy within five days of starting a serious search.

*sigh* Now I just can't wait to get there.

Here's wishing similar luck to all those looking for housing or love or jobs or anything else right now.

--Sanourra

Currently playing : Dungeon Siege 2 Release date: By 16 August, 2005

My First Blog - Originally Posted on MySpace

A little test Current mood: chipper Category: Quiz/Survey I forgot to put this in my last post: If you think you know me, go to my Johari page and let me know how you see me. It's really cool to see the difference between how we see ourselves and how others percieve us to be. Tootles, Megan Currently listening : Mezzanine By Massive Attack Release date: By 12 May, 1998 3:02 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

My First Blog Hi Y'all. Thanks for reading My First Blog. Kinda like My Little Pony, but with less sparkles and plastic, eh? I should have started this thing over 2 years ago when I started losing weight. Oh well. So I found out last night that I have to move by the middle of next month because my landlord/roommate wants his girlfriend to move into the space I am currently inhabiting. No big loss. I don't necessarily enjoy living in Glenwood with a bunch of young party animals, but didn't want to have to move again so soon. Oh well... It's a good nudge to get me into a studio that I would enjoy. So if any of you know of a studio or 1 BR apt. for rent for under $500, let me know. I'd really like something in the west Eugene area, between Lincoln and Chambers. Whitaker is cool, too. To tell the truth, I'm really excited about this move. I wasn't excited about my last one, because I was moving out of a place that I really loved, but couldn't afford when one roommate moved to Portland for college, and the other decided it was the perfect time to get a studio (which is a very awesome place, btw). *sigh* Hope I can find one that cool. Anyway, not much else going on at this point... I still need to update my profile on here... blah blah blah. Check out some webcomix: Something Positive Questionable Content Girl Genius they're my favorites --Megan Currently listening : Furious Angels By Rob Dougan Release date: By 03 June, 2003