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On 32

I turn 32 in just under an hour, and I an excited for the future “me”. I thought I would share more about “me” with you.

With no further ado, I bring you 32 things about me that you may not know:

1. I lived most of my early years on a farm in Eastern Iowa. Yes, we had Pigs. And Cows. And Chickens. And Corn. Lots and lots of Corn.
2. I am on only child; but if/when I have kids, I want to make sure my kid has a sibling.
3. The most interesting job I have done is air traffic controller at a small airstrip in NE Iowa. With 1 day training.
4. My favorite food in the universe is crinkle cut french fries. Bonus if you add melted shredded cheese to them. mmmmm….
5. I would not know how to function on weekday mornings without my Grande, non-fat, 2 pump mocha, with whip hot chocolate from Starbucks.
6. When I was little, all I wanted was long, straight, blond hair.
7. Also, a wheelchair, braces, crutches and glasses. I have braces and glasses, and sometimes have straight hair like right now).
8. I have over 1,000 ‘Winnie the Pooh’ Piglet collectibles. It’s a sickness.
9. I don’t know what I would do without my Tivo.
10. My big orange cat, Mr. More, weighs 26lbs and is as long as a 2 year old.
11. I really, really dislike everything that has to do with celery.
12. Most of my friends from Jr High and High School called me “Anne” and had (and still have) no idea my real name is Andrea. (yep, my name is not AJ, it’s Andrea- I just outed myself! Hi Interweb!)
13. My favorite past time is to take photos and scrapbook.
14. My last name was changed by a few letters when my ancestors came over from Europe.
15. While I have lived my whole life in the Midwest (except for a recent 6 month stint in GA) and traveled to Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, many of the 50 states and Guatemala, I have never been to Canada.
16. I like fountain Coke products and can Pepsi products.
17. I loved being Editor In Chief of a magazine before being laid off Oct 31st.
18. I tried once to learn to drive a stick shift, but failed.
19. My favorite movie of all time is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
20. My favorite book of all time is She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb.
21. I suffer from Barometric Migraine Headaches: every time a large front heads in to the area, I get massive headaches until the front passes; then I am fine.

22. The weirdest job I have ever had was a waitress in a sale barn. (I sold coffee and pie to farmers as they bought pigs and cows for slaughter about 50 feet away from me)

23. My travel wishlist includes: India, Thailand, Europe, and Ethiopia. Oh, and Canada.
24. I always watch TV and movies with the closed captioning on. Always.
25. I love my Invisalign braces though will be happy to be done with them in 5 months.

26. If I had to pick one chore I hate to do around the house, it would be vacuuming.

27. I have a huge girl crush on Janet Jackson.

28. My IRL friends call me to find out what the cool new products are- chances are, I have it in my house before the commercials are even on TV for “it”.

29. I have only smoked a cigarette 5 times in my life and they were all for theater performances. Otherwise, I hate cigarette smoke.

30. I cried at 5 out of 7 performance reviews at work– I hate “bragging” about myself and am uncomfortable to tears to have to do it. I also have a very hard time reading birthday cards and goodbye cards. I can handle criticism fine, though. :-)

31. I have 5 friends that all have the same birthday week and we try to celebrate together each year. it is fun to share the spotlight!

32. I have amazing IRL and online friends who have already made the entry to my 32nd year amazing! Thank you!

Banana What?

I went and saw Banana Shpeel, the new Cirque Du Soleil show tonight because my friend won tickets, and treated me for my birthday. I am so glad we didn’t pay for it. Sorry, but if I am gonna see a “circus”, I wanna see a circus.

They really need to overhaul the show before they are going to get repeat business (IMO). The outstanding parts of the show were the traditional circus acts- a man who juggled 6 hats a a time; a tiny woman who spun a cloth on each hand and foot while balancing on her head; and a dude who was like GUMBY as he spun around a pole- I am serious, GUMBY. He was a.ma.zing.The comedy team that opens the show is great, along with the 3 “audience members” that “audition” for the show and then wreak havoc the rest of the show. The band was good too– but, I just didn’t understand the dancers role (usually during a vaudeville act they would be used for scene changes, but not the case here) and the skits were WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too long.

I give it 5 out of 10 stars, mostly because of the dude on the pole.  (FYI: A Lot of people left at intermission, missing the dude on the pole.)

[caption id="attachment_1078" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="free ticket to Banana Shpeel"]free ticket to Banana Shpeel[/caption]

Next post will be a birthday post– I turn 32 tomorrow (or in 1 hour, I should say!!)

AJ Loves to forget to post :-)

I had a busy day on Wednesday, and I totally forgot to get online!

The day started with sleeping in till noon— JUST KIDDING!

I went on an adventure yesterday- an adventure called the Secretary of State, the IL DMV and The City Clerk’s Office- ans surprisingly? I didn’t want to rip our my hair afterward.

Because my Honda Fit is my first car in the city (other than the POS I brought with me from Iowa 8 years ago that I kept here for 3 months then sold) and I had NO idea what I needed to do to make sure it was legally registered for the state. Thank goodness, the Secretary of State’s office believes in the interweb so I had printouts of brochures of everything I needed. The only problem was, when I moved, I forgot to grab all my car purchase info, and I have no idea which box all that crap is in. So I had to talk to the back I got the loan from, and get a copy of the title (and, though it said differently on the brochure, a copy of my loan application that had to be faxed from the bank at 9AM to the office).

Anyway, I took Mr Bus (that is what my mom calls the bus) over to the office, as parking is sooooo pricey in the Loop. I got to the office about 45 minutes after it opened, expecting to stand in a loooong line. I even brought a magazine (or 4).

NO LINE! I was first! Seriously- I almost teared up.

though I had to fill out forms, wait for my bank to fax over info, fill out tax forms and pay a cashier, I was out of there in less than 30 minutes. Everyone was polite, jovial even and wished me a happy early birthday.

Seriously! Nice! JOVIAL EVEN!

On to the DMV. When I got my license in GA, the (mistakenly??) gave me back my IL license, which did not expire until Nov of 2011. I thought I would be OK using the “old” one until it expired– yeah, I was wrong. I am glad I checked. Getting a license in another state negates the other state’s. Good to know.

What was not good to know was that I had to take the test (slightly unprepared) and get a whole new photo. It was raining, I looked like a drowned rat, and I had not a stick of makeup on. Of course.

But I got right in (as he printed my “take a number”, they were already calling my number), got new paperwork, got flirted with by 3 different DMV employees, paid for my new license, took the test, got my picture taken, and got my license all in under 25 minutes. REALLY.

Again, nice, jovial, joking, flirty, and quick.

All this is so foreign to me- when I got my last license in IL in 2002, it took me 2 hours. And they were CRABBY.

Last but not least, I got my new city sticker in the office in City Hall.  I have never been in the building before and it is very pretty. What I really loved was there was a walkway from the Thompson Center to City Hall so I didn’t get all wet. :-)

Again, in and out in 10 minutes. Nice, easy, helpful, great.

I was in and out in one hour and 15 minutes. That HAS to be some sort of record!

I went for a walk to the Walgreen’s waaaaay far away (called the wrong one) to pick up a Rx, and since it has stopped raining, I really enjoyed myself. Chicago is such a pretty city.

I came home and took a short nap, then went for my annual “two days before my b-day” haircut.

I love my friend/hairstylist Trisha. She really knows how to cut super curly hair, AND I love that she blow dries my hair straight LOVE IT! So I have straight hair and it is rainy out- of course. :-)

I also went to the Shedd Aquarium with my godchildren last night for a behind-the-scenes look at how they keep the place up and running. Some cool things I learned (while wrangling two 6 year olds and a 4 year old):

  • They use alot of the same medical equipment we do to take care of the animals. They showed us how they get foreign objects out of turtles (with a flexible laryngiscope) and showed us some of the animals who were in ICU.
  • We got to have a birds eye view of the BIIIIG aquarium where the sharks are held, and learned what they eat (small shellfish) and how they transport the animals for care. They also use signs for each of the largest sharks (using a Pavlov’s Dog response) to individually feed them.
  • We learned that the Shedd makes their own sea water! Contrary to popular belief, The DO NOT use Lake Michigan water. Not only is is NOT salty, it does not have the right Ph balances. The Shedd used to SHIP THE WATER IN from the actual sea on TRAINS!! (how expensive must that have been?!?) but now they have these boxes called “sea in a box”  that they use to make the water. This was my favorite fact of the night.
  • The night was tailored to kids, though I think 6 and 4 might have been a bit young for the big words being thrown at them (even almost 32 was also getting a bit confused with the big words sometimes!) The Shedd had areas to color and the like, and my goddaughter/niece M made this (also, I filmed what her brothers made) :

They are so cute. She was drawing pictures of “me” all night.

One thing I love to do with M is count stairs when we are going up/down them. She LOVES doing this and is soooo excited when we ge to them. Man, i think i counted 500 steps last night. It was good exercise!

I ended up walking over 11300 steps yesterday, and most of it was in the Shedd!  WHOO HOO! I had 43 minutes total of aerobic movement.

Today, I am relaxing most of the day then tonight, I am headed to opening night of Banana Shpeel, the new Cirque Du Soleil show in Chicago. My friend won tickets and is taking me as a birthday present!! I am SOOO excited to see this show – it will be my first Cirque show!

OK, off to look for a job!

Bullets, Ho!

It’s a bullets kind of night, peeps…. in no particular order:

  • Welcome visitors from We Are the Real Deal, Miz Fit and the other blogs that linked to me today in their “Exposed” posts! Since junior high I have had an issue with my body– I am so glad REAL women are talking about what REAL bodies look like. We DON’T all look the same, and we should be proud of what we have.
  • Missed breakfast again today. While I slept really well last night, again, thank goodness, I woke up late for my orthodontist appt and forgot to grab something to eat. By the time I left that office (in the burbs and later than I thought), I was late for another appt at the outplacement service that is helping me find a job. By the time I was done there, I was starving and it was 2:15pm! I grabbed a Potbelly’s skinny turkey sandwich, and a bag of baked lays. It was good and I ate it ALL! :-) I realized a few minutes ago I never ate dinner. What is with me forgetting to eat lately???
  • I walked 6,000 steps today, but never got a “formal” workout in. I am happy to say not only do my pants feel a tiny bit looser, I had to buy new “interview” pants today and they we the same size I normally buy (good news that I didn’t go up a size like I thought I did!)
  • I GOT FREE CHOBANI YOGURT IN THE MAIL TODAY!! A WHOLE CASE! Now while that might not sound too exciting to some of you that get free stuff to try in the mail all the time, I am SO EXCITED about this. I won it playing Twitter spoons on their website. It is my favorite yogurt, but it is pricey, and with me not working right now, I can’t afford it. now I have 24 WHOLE CUPS to myself!! YIPPEE!
  • While I haven’t posted about it, I have been in COBRA and insurance hell the past few weeks. I think everything was figured out today. Thank GOODNESS.
  • My birthday (b-day is Friday) and Christmas gift from my mom is a new DSLR Camera! I got the check today in the mail and can’t wait to go buy it. Beware, my blog is gonna be picture-fied for the next few months… lol…
  • I keep forgetting to tell you all about my new inspiration buddy, Fatinah!! She is an amazing person and I am so glad to have her as my motivational buddy. Please check out her blog and say hi!
  • I paid off 2 of my credit cards today and it feels SOOOO GOOOOOD. Welcome to adulthood, miss almost 32 year old!
  • The cats decided to poo outside the box tonight. Mr More has no idea what to think about living with 3 other cats. He is calmer than I thought he would be, though he is still being a pissy old man and is totally set in his ways.
  • There is alot of bloggy drama out there right now. I am so happy to not be part of it. SOOO many other things to be worried about right now that whether someone likes what I write (or not)…
  • aaaaand, fin. I have got to get to bed. I am tired, and tomorrow will be spent at the DMV trying to get new tags for my car. Joy. Expect alot of “I’mmmmm BOOOOOORED” tweets in the AM. :-)

How was your day?

Twitter Updates for 2009-11-17

  • carry my umbrella ALWAYS in my purse- except for toda. Guess when it decided to downpour??? #
  • I think it is time for a nap- then a trip to the gym. :-) @bwJen , how was shred day one? #

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I-O-W-A

I realized I hadn’t had a chance to visit my grandparents since I returned to the Midwest, so Sunday morning I hit the road and drove to visit them. My grandpa has been very ill with COPD and CHF, along with uncontrolled diabetes for a long time, all the time with my tiny grandma playing 24 hour nurse. It really took alot out of her, but she didn’t feel he needed to go to a home just yet. After falling a few times over a few months, my grandparents made the difficult decision to put him in a nursing home this summer. I think my grandma, who has been taking care of him full time for over 6 years, is feeling part-free and part-lonely. They have been married for 59 years, and it is hard for me to imagine her living alone after all those years. He actually LOVES the place because he gets to do all the things he loves to do: eat, watch tv and sleep in his chair. ;-) It was so great to see them both.

When I go to visit them, my grandma always buys TACO PIZZA for lunch. I frickin love that pizza and I can only get it at Happy Joes, and only at home. While it is probably 100000000 calories per slice, I only get it with other people and just a small so I can share it. I am proud to say I did not get my favorite lard-ridden tacos and 100% fat cheese fries that I normally get at another place (I have 3 places I usually hit when I go home- Happy Joes, Rudy’s Tacos – fatty tacos- and Hungry Hobo -like subway-)– it kinda made me sick to think about it, actually.

Before I left for my grandparents, I TOOK 11,500 STEPS IN ONE DAY and I was so proud of myself– then proceeded to sit on my @ss for 2 days and eat. But you know what? I enjoyed my grandparents, ate, but not what I normally would, and feel really good about myself.

That is what this is all about, isn’t it? Moderation; having fun; enjoying others; loving myself.

Tomorrow is a new day and I am excited to get up and work out at 6:30 am! Gotta get to bed!

PS: I also love my grandparents house because I slept for the first time in 3 weeks for 7 straight hours. I miss sleep!

Twitter Updates for 2009-11-16

  • am in IA visiting family-i forget how much light pollution we have in the chi–it is sooo dark here! no internet so no blog post 2day! #

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Twitter Updates for 2009-11-14

  • Off for my walking date w/ my good friend. I am so glad she was willing to walk and not go out to eat to catch up!! :-) #
  • already have 10,000 steps for the day and it isn't even 2 pm!!! YEAH!!!!! #

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Twitter Updates for 2009-11-14

  • Off for my walking date w/ my good friend. I am so glad she was willing to walk and not go out to eat to catch up!! :-) #
  • already have 10,000 steps for the day and it isn't even 2 pm!!! YEAH!!!!! #

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What a good day!

I need to get some sleep but wanted to keep up my “run” of posting every day. I went to brunch with 2 good friends and ate healthy (1/2 a 3 egg omelet with mushrooms, ham and broccoli) whole wheat toast, water, a small hot chocolate and fresh fruit) and had healthy conversations.

Lunch and dinner were combined into a quick Mickey D’s free for all of a cheeseburger small fry and a small diet coke before I went to the Chicago Craft Social where I met tons of cool crafty ladies and made a few cool craft items myself.

(pictures to follow, I am getting a new DSLR for my 32nd birthday (it’s in 7 days!!) so I am STOKED I will finally get to share more awesome pictures with you!)

I am not bummed that I got McDonald’s for dinner-I am actually happy that I stuck to the kid’s meal and not a huge crappy meal I didn’t want. I got a taste and now I won’t crave it for a while. Though, I wish I would have palnned my day better and had dinner ready before I had to leave for the craft social. Well, you live and you learn, right?

OK- really, I am off to bed. I am not sleeping well (still) and I need to kick the cats out of my bedroom, put the earplugs in and drift off into dream land. Also, I have a walking date tomorrow with a good friend and I want to make sure I am up in time to go!

AJ