Mika Hat

Maybe this will teach the cat to stop bothering me when I am trying to read. I chased her down, plunked on the hat I knit the other night, and took her picture. I wish you could see more of the hat. But still. It made me laugh...and I needed it.






Nikki on 02.21.05 @ 11:54 PM PST [link]

Something to Look Forward To

This past Friday, I discovered that my old step aerobics teacher is teaching, although just on Fridays. I was SO happy. I really miss step aerobics. And also, I was able to ask her if she was the girl I did workstudy with in college, and as I suspected, she isn't. She looks so much like that girl, though. Anyway, the mystery is solved. :)



The weekend wasn't too eventful, but not dull either. Stopped by the dealership and picked up my license plate. I was hoping for something cool, something intuitive, but sadly, it's just a random set of numbers and letter. I didn't feel like going home afterwards, so Judy and I went to dinner at Changs. Saturday morning I was weighed, and for the first time in a year, I stayed at exactly the same weight as last week. How is that possible?? I was not too happy about it. Still am not. But, I've figured out my new goal. I want to weigh no more than 131 by my 31st birthday. I figured it out and it's totally doable. I have 101 days to lose 12 pounds. That's not unfeasible. Although, at the rate I've been going lately, it'll take my until I am 50 to lose the rest of this weight. Anyway. Cleaned the house thoroughly the rest of Saturday. Saturday night went to Melissa's and a group of us watched Supersize Me. It was pretty interesting. I can't say that it has totally turned me off from fast food. I don't eat at McDonalds very often anyway. I think it's been a couple months. But it was certainly an interesting, although dangerous, experiment that the guy tried. Sunday was the Writergrrl leadership summit. It was actually pretty good. Sometimes these things end up getting very little accomplished. Worked out afterwards. Went home. When the plans I had were aborted, I ended up knitting a baby hat. No good reason other than I wanted to try knitting a hat and baby things are quick to do since they're so small. I didn't get the top right; I will have to ask Mia about what went wrong. It doesn't look too bad, and I tried to follow the pattern I had. But there are gaps at the very top and that's not what should happen.



Today I am wearing the dress I bought for my birthday. Although it fit fine in June, I do think that it looks better now. Except the bust part. Still too gappy there. lol (Too much info, huh?) I am having a pretty cute day. However, this morning I spilled jasmine tea on myself. When wearing a thin dress, I don't recommend spilling super hot tea on yourself. It's not great. At least it wasn't something that will stain, though.

Nikki on 02.21.05 @ 01:55 PM PST [link]

Bum Information

Maybe this will be way more information about me than you want. I don't care. This blog is about me and right now, my butt hurts. I took a spinning class last night. I enjoyed the class and I knew, in that theoretical way, that the potential for there to be some sort or even multiple sorts of pain afterward was high. Today, it's not actually as bad as I thought it might be, maybe that bath I took last night aleviated the brunt of it, but you know that area at the bottom of your bottom (hehehe), the part that connects to the top of your thigh? Well, that is what hurts and I know it's from the seat of the bike. I haven't ridden a real bike in a quite a few years (since mine was stollen in Snohomish). When I ride the bikes to work out, I ride the other kind, the one that is more like sitting in a car. So now I feel like I am bruised there. I checked, though, because I bruise easily, and I didn't see any evidence of bruising. :) Now the question is, should I do another class tonight? Or should I let my bum recover? What I fear is, if I let it recover, that next week when I try it will be more of the same. Hm.



Now we have that out of the way.



I worked briefly on the novel last night, in bed, which is a decadent feeling. But I was tired, so it wasn't very long, nor very good I fear. Read some more of Microserfs, which I am afraid isn't going to be as interesting now because the characters are moving to Silicon Valley. Part of the charm of the book is the local stuff. I've never even been to California...



I've had this feeling lately that I want to go somewhere on a vacation. Maybe not even a week long thing, maybe a long weekend. I don't know. I think about driving down to Portland. And when I start to think, "But I don't know what to do there," I counter it with, well, I could just go there and write. But who wants to rent a motel room for a couple nights and just hole themself up, chained to a laptop. And seriously, I wouldn't be able to carry that off for 48 full hours. Sigh.

Nikki on 02.16.05 @ 01:39 PM PST [link]

The Bed Problem

On Saturday night, after all the moving of stuff, I had a hard time sleeping. I attributed it to the bed being in a different place. But then Sunday night, I also had a hard time. As I tried to fall asleep last night, I think I figured out what the problem is. I think it may have more to do with the fact I am on a different side of the mattress than anything. I am now on the opposite side from where I am used to sleeping. I scooted over to the other side, to sleep on the familiar side, but it didn't feel right either, being so close to the wall. And when I wake up in the mornings I have those crease marks all over me. It's quite a problem, moving a bed. You'd think it was a simple endeavor.



My hair is getting very long. I like long hair. It's just easier to deal with, which seems like the opposite of what would be true. But I do need it at least trimmed. But since it's so long, I'm thinking of donating the minimum, 10 inches, to Locks of Love. I measured from the base of my head to the end and I came up with 15 inches, so that would leave plenty of length. Dunno for sure yet. Maybe I'll just get it trimmed and then whack it later.



A friend of mine suggested to me, now that I have a hot car, that I need some kind of hot outfit. She suggested as a model someone that we used to work with...but I don't know if I can quite pull off that look. :) My friend suggested something along the lines of big boots (which I have) a short leather skirt, she didn't mention what kind of shirt. And then, I am to wear the outfit and stand beside the car. Why? I don't know. She thinks I could probably Goodwill it for about $10. And when I ask her, "How am I supposed to pull this off?" she answers, as is her answer for everything regarding my appearance, "You have long blond hair and big blue eyes. That's all you need." Like that is the answer. Like that has ever worked for me in my 30 years on this earth, probably 20 of which I have had long hair to some degree and my eyes have always been the same color and size in proportion to my face. :) Yep, it's totally worked for me (/sarcasm)



Currently, I am reading Microserfs. I think it's great. I'm not that far into it yet, so storywise I don't know how it is quite yet, but I sometimes laugh out loud. I also enjoy reading about familiar places. Like, when the main character bikes over to Nintendo...I thought, "I've been in there!"

Nikki on 02.15.05 @ 11:29 AM PST [link]

Snow

Imagine my surprise this morning when I saw snowish looking stuff outside. No one was talking about it on the radio, so I figured it wasn't bad. Which, it wasn't. When I arrived on the Eastside, in the Bellevue area, it was quite blustery! And then it cleared up. Weird weather.



I got most of the house cleaned this weekend. My room and the kitchen. And most of the living room; there's still yarn all over the place. The bathroom is the major offender right now and will be battled this evening.



I bought curtains for my bedroom. Yes, I realize I've lived there for over two years now. I didn't mind there being no curtains. No one is ever in the backyard, so low to the ground as to peer into my humble bedroom (except maybe the cats). But, it was time. :) So I bought a pretty, blue velvet panel for the middle and on either side a sheerish white panel. Then I went nuts and put sheer blue curtains on the closet opening. Because, you never know who is in the closet copping a peep at you. :) Anyway, it makes the room darker, meaning, lets less sunlight in, which means I sleep longer. Like I needed to do that. But with the purchase of curtains came the need to move the bed around, which dragged out into rearranging stuff on the walls so that things were centered better and so on and so forth. I could've cleaned the entire place in the amount of time I spent on just my room. But it's so pretty now. :)



Went swimming yesterday. Hadn't done that in a long time. I either need to buy some goggles or learn to keep my eyes shut under water. When I tried that, though, I swam into the wall, so I think the goggles are in order.



I'm on my third Nalgene of water.

Nikki on 02.14.05 @ 03:53 PM PST [link]

The Weekend

Usually I blog about the weekend after it's passed. But, I feel like being daring tonight.



I've surpassed my monthly two book goal for the month, but since I only read one in January, I'm now caught up for the year. And the month is still young and I have plenty of more books to read. Unfortunately, the book I am going to read and review for HarperCollins still hasn't come in the mail. They supposedly mailed it last Friday, so I don't know what the deal is. Of course it's the book that I am looking forward to the most to reading that would dillydally. I finished Mirror, Mirror tonight. I was disappointed. First of all, I thought it was going to be a little different of a story than it actually turned out to be. It's a retelling of Snow White sans the Disneyication. (Was it a Grimm's fairy tale?) Anyway, I thought that it was more the backstory of the wicked step-mother, but it was less that and more a retelling of the story from several different perspectives: Bianca (Snow White), her father, the "step-mother" (who in this portrayal is not, she's simply a guardian while the father is sent away), and the dwarves (an here there are actually eight and they are very very different than any adaptation I've ever encountered). And the writing was okay...but I think maybe Mr. Maguire likes obscure words. I love words, and I don't mind big words, but every other words was some monstrocity. After awhile, it's just overkill. I have two more of this books on reserve at the library. If the next one is like this one, I may not read the last one.



I've taken a break this evening, from beginning a new book, and have started to knit a new scarf. I realize that scarf season may be over, but I am hoping I can finish it quickly and give it so that perhaps it can be worn for a little bit before seasonal retirement. :)



The largest agenda for the weekend is to clean the house. How is it that every other week I let it get this bad?? You'd think I'd learn by now.

Nikki on 02.12.05 @ 12:00 AM PST [link]

French Court

Currently I am reading the book, The Other Bolyn Girl by Phillippa Gregory. I must say, I am learning a lot about French history and especially what it means to be a courtier. What a strange lifestyle, to live in a home that's not yours, to be at the whim of a king. They travelled all over the place, to the various castles. The more I think about it, the more I realize it was similar communal living. Anyway. I looked up online Mary Boleyn, the protagonist of the story and it seems as though the novel is fairly historically accurate. I didn't read all that there was on her because I didn't want to ruin the ending for me. :)



I found out yesterday that I have been chosen by HarperCollins Publishing as one of 25 readers to received an advanced copy of Jacquelyn Mitchards next book! They have shipped the book and when I finish with it I write a review which will be published on their Web site. I am pretty excited about this.



I am inundated with books right now. I am reading that Boleyn book, which is quite thick. Then the Mitchard book is coming and I will probably have to pause reading the other since I believe that the review I will write is time sensitive. Two of the books I put on reserve at the library are ready to be picked up. And Tim has the sequel to the book I read earlier in the week. Argh! But it's a good argh. :)



I have been very bad this week. Have ate like crap. Haven't worked out. I will start again on Sunday. Hopefully the meds will have taken care of things by then and it will be comfortable to workout again.



I called T-Mobile about my phone, which I ordered nearly two weeks ago. Apparently it shipped yesterday. Argh.



Knitting group was fun, as usual, again last night. I really enjoy going to that.

Nikki on 02.04.05 @ 02:01 PM PST [link]

Day Two: I'm on a Roll

So here it is the end of Day Two of the Less TV Campaign (which is kinda ironic because tv stations like PBS have campaigns to make you watch more tv) and I am winning. I came home (didn't work out) and first was going to watch a movie. But instead, I decided to eat some chicken for dinner. I do amdit to watching the first half of the show that I missed last night (an allowed show) while I ate. But as soon as I got to the part that I picked up on last night, I turned it off and returned to my book, which I continued to read for two hours. Then I turned the tv back on for the allowed show, Gilmore Girls. Promptly one hour later, I turned it off again and worked on the novel for an hour before returning to the tv for Real World. Now the tv is off again even thought in one minute, the show that shall not be mentioned is on. All in all, not bad.



My mp3 player came in the mail today. I should go fiddle around with that.



Also, another thing I am doing while I read is writing down any words that I am unfamiliar with. I used to have such an extended vocabulary. Now, it feels fairly elementary. Then, if I get fancy, I use one of those words somewhere in the novel. Today's words were patois: a dialect other than the standard, diaspora: people settled far from their homeland, and aphorism: a terse formulation of the truth or a sentiment. So, I incorporated diaspora in a section where Aubry and Spense talk about how everyone in the Seattle area is from somewhere else. Aubry says something about Microsoft being the reason for the diaspora. I think I can work patois in, too, somewhere, someone has got to mention her Midwest accent (even though she doesn't have one) and I think patois will fit in nicely there.



I have orange juice in the house right now, left over from when I was sick. For some reason, when I drink this orange juice, I am reminded of college and I don't know why. I don't remember drinking a lot of orange juice in college. I was known for tater tots in the dorm, not oj. Huh. A mystery.

Nikki on 02.01.05 @ 11:05 PM PST [link]

Day One

So last night was the first night of my campaign to stop watching so much television. I think I was pretty successful. When I got home, I didn't immediately turn on the tv. Step one: finished. When I did turn it on, I watched a movie instead of tv. However, I fell asleep during it. I am still sending The Four Feathers back. It wasn't a movie I had to see anyway. Looking at Heath Ledger is always a nice thing, though. ;) By the time I woke up it was 10:15, which meant I had already missed the first fifteen minutes of the show I was "allowed" to watch, so I finished watching it. Then, I turned the tv off and went to bed and read nearly half a book before I went to bed.



And let me tell you about this book. It's called, Welcome to My Planet, Where English is Sometimes Spoken by Shannon Olson. The author and the protagonist share the same name...so I don't know if it's fiction or laziness on her part. I find naming characters to be one of the most enjoyable parts to writing, but maybe she finds it tedious and simply chooses names of people she knows to quickly bypass it. In any case, I am constantly shocked by how this "character" and I are so much alike. It's frightening sometimes. Right down to how she's mesmerized by Roseanne reruns. What the heck?? There are some differences, like, she has asthma, is much more depressed (I like to think of my bouts as melancholia. Most writers suffer from it.), and grew up in a two parent, middle class household with siblings. It's a good, not difficult read. A good way to start out. Hopefully today my other books will arrive.



Oh crap. I just looked at the clock and realized that I am going to miss yoga. I didn't work out yesterday. I will have to work out tonight, though. Can't get out of the habit.



Sears messed up my contact lens prescription AGAIN Last box it was the left eye. This time it's both. The contacts I have are ancient. My glasses feel like they're the prescription for a completely different set of eyeballs. Had to wear the contacts today since it's sunny. Had to!



Oh. I bought a new car this weekend.

Nikki on 02.01.05 @ 11:45 AM PST [link]