Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Indulging, or Being Bad!

So, I mentioned over the summer that I would be blogging about my trials and tribulations with the South Beach Diet, which I've been doing since the first week of July. That didn't really end up happening...mostly because there have been none!

I don't mean to sound like an obnoxious pain in the butt, but this diet has been a breeze. My biggest problem was being way too obsessive about it (although now the compliments have gone to my head, and I'm being a bit more lax than I should be.) I lost between 15 and 20 pounds, two pants/dress sizes, and I feel FANTASTIC. I have truly never felt better.
That being said...

I am SO MUCH MORE INTO CLOTHES NOW than I ever was before! It's terrible. But I just feel SO good in them! And since I had a real-person job making a real-person salary this summer, I'm justifying making some pretty indulgent purchases to myself. Here's what I've been splurging on for the fall....

The kicker: my Bandolino Castalina cognac leather boots. I STILL don't remember how I convinced myself it was acceptable to buy these babies. At $149.00, they are not an impulse purchase. In fact, I kept the Piperlime tab up on my firefox browser for multiple days, and every day I looked at them again, and every day I wanted them even more than the day before. But I am someone who NEVER makes big purchases. EVER. I buy lots of little things that probably add up to the same amount in the end, anyways, but I really am the opposite of extravagant.


The next few items won't seem so bad, but keep in mind that I bought them all with the SOLE INTENTION of pairing them with the boots. I am not kidding. "Great," I thought when I got them, "I have awesome fall boots!" But oh no--all my jeans are flared! None of my tops cover my butt when I wear leggings! I have no outfits for these boots!"

So next came the AE tunics. They're adorable, have ruffles, will look good with my pearls, and will hopefully cover what L. has affectionately called my "apple bottom."




And to go with the tunics...the leggings. And by the way, these all come not long after my oh-so-out-of-character summer indulgence, my enV 3. Which I have managed to drop about five times since I've been at Williams, leaving some very noticeable scuffs. But I still love it.



And these are just the things I've already gotten. I haven't even ordered my new two-size-smaller skinny jeans yet!

Losing weight is an expensive endeavor. This weekend, I'm totally eating some ice cream.

A Pitch, Chip and a Putt Away

On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, I get my lazy college junior butt out of bed at 9am (usually after going to bed at 2am), try to look respectable, put on some pearls, and drive down to Taconic Golf Club, which is the golf course owned by Williams, for golf lessons.

I take these lessons through Williams, and so they're free and satisfy one of our four physical activity credits (I know. Why am I suddenly back in high school?) It's actually a really great deal because to take lessons with any of these guys individually, it'd be like upwards of $100 a session.

So anyways, I'm taking these lessons because L. is a pretty good golfer (he was captain of his high school golf team), and I'd like to be able to do this with him since golfing is a pretty big time-suck. 5 hours to play? I can't think of the last activity I spent 5 hours doing. Maybe hiking, which L. would never do with me. Thus, I am forced to meet him in the middle. Or, on the green, I suppose.I know what you're thinking. Men learn golf so that they have an activity that their girlfriends/wives don't know how to do, thus they have an escape mechanism when said girlfriends/wives drive them nuts. Well, phooey, says I. I have two responses to this: 1. L. genuinely wants me to learn so that we can play together, and 2. I never drive him nuts. (Okay, maybe like, once a month, I will rile him up to the point where I might be able to catch the glimpse of a frown, maybe. But that's it.)

Plus, I really want to learn. C.'s dad has said that one of his biggest regrets in life is that he never learned to golf better, because he misses out on a lot of business opportunities when he can't go on the outings. I'm not sure if English Literature professors go out golfing with the deans or President of the schools at which they teach, but if they do, I'm gonna be a damn good golfer by then!

So, I think I've been doing alright. We've had three lessons: putting, chipping, and pitching. Putting was a breeze because I'm only, like, the best mini-golfer ever. Chipping wasn't bad either because it's basically like putting, but if you're really angry and want to whack the crap out of the ball. Pitching was very, very tricky. My hands are still achy as I type this from the blisters I got, and that was only an hour's practicing. How does L. do it for 5 hours?!? Anyway, pitching with the wedge is kind of exciting because when you thwack the ball a satisfying chunk of green flies up with your ball, making the whole thing pretty cool. I think I probably chopped up more of the green than I was supposed to, but at least for me it seemed like the more green you take up, the nicer arch your ball has.


I bet I looked just like that. (Lie.) So anyway, after practicing the pitch shot Drew, our instructor, decided we were going to simulate playing a hole. Side note: Drew is amazing. Imagine Vince Vaughn teaching you to play golf, but also asking you how your weekend was and making bad golf jokes. Today's: Drew: Why do golf professionals always tell you to keep your head down? Me: Why? Drew: So you can't see them laughing.

=( Thanks, Drew.

Anyway, we simulate playing a hole. I'd imagine it was a par 3; we just started about 50 yards up (we haven't practiced driving yet). I did it in four. I WOULD have done it in three, but I used my 6 iron for my first shot rather than my wedge. (That's a bad thing.) Totally made up for it in my short game though because, like I said, I am legendary at putting.

Thursday we start working on driving. I think I've got some Tiger in me. Let's find out!

[Images from Links Magazine, Top 100 Golf Courses, Golf Today]

Monday, September 28, 2009

Congratulations!


Last night my brother Brian and his girlfriend Tiffany got engaged!

I actually haven't met her yet which I'm super bummed about but she sounds so unbelieveably amazing, and my parents just met her earlier this summer and love her to death.

This is a really big deal because all three of my brothers are 29, 29 and 32 and none have seemed even remotely close to taking the plunge at any time. The family joke has always been that everyone's looking to me to provide the grandbabies before my brothers since I've always wanted to be married young-ish, at least before graduating grad school. (Aha but what they don't know is although I've always wanted to be married young, I do NOT want children...for at least another decade.)

So anyways, this is a huge deal and I'm so excited to go to the wedding next summer-ish, which will be in or around sunny San Diego.

And, speaking of weddings, I can't wait until Jim and Pam FINALLY have theirs in Niagra Falls next Thursday! (Unhealthily invested in their relationship.) This actually makes me laugh because I never realized Niagra Falls was such a popular wedding (read: elopement) destination but when L. and I stopped there on our cross-country road trip this summer his dad made an offhand remark about making sure not to do anything brash when we were up there. The only brashness came from ordering a drink (okay...more than one) in Ontario and then freaking out when we had to go back across the border to go to our hotel on the American side and I thought the cop/mountie/border patrol officer would arrest me for having legally drank in Canada but illegally crossed drunk into the US. (He didn't, but he did ask L. "what the relationship in the vehicle was." Um, hello?

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Severe Lack of Focus

So I've been sick for the last week or so, and have been convincing myself it's not a big deal and that I don't have the swine even when I've been flitting back and forth between cold symptoms (sniffles, sore throat, runny eyes) and flu symptoms (chills and FEELING like I have a fever even though the thermometer doesn't seem to think so).

But the biggest problem with this strange hybrid sickness that seems here to stay? It's completely stealing my ability to concentrate. I'm not kidding. It's like physical manifestations of procrastination. I have this permanent aching in my head that's not quite a headache, despite how much advil I've taken. It's more of this dull warm pain that starts where my spinal cord meets my head and travels up around the back area there. Doesn't sound too good, does it? But I refuse to visit the health center because they pack you up and ship you off to Mt. Hope if you have flu symptoms:

Doesn't seem too bad, right? Leaving the smelly dorms with co-ed bathrooms that must be shared with boys who don't know how to aim? Well, I simply cannot be shipped off to Mt. Hope. I have MUCH too much going on on campus with directing my show and insane amounts of work to do. So, I've settled on nurturing this miserable sickness that, like I said, seems to strike by taking away my ability to concentrate or think. It sounds like such a cop-out but it's so true! When I glance at things they're out of focus. Doing my Con Law reading right now is probably the hardest feat I've ever attempted; it's all just words and I'm reading pages but not being able to recall what's going on in any way possible. All I want to do is sleep!!!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The Age of Innocence

Check out my post about the book that changed my life, The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, on Seven Dames a Week!

Friday, September 18, 2009

Guest Blogger!

Hey, remember me? That girl whose blog you used to read sometimes?

I kid, I kid. Kind of. I've been super busy still trying to settle into my routine back at Williams. But something exciting has happened! I'm a new guest blogger for one of my favorite blogs, Seven Dames a Week! It's such a great concept, and I'm really happy to be blogging with these amazing women whom, I have to say, in comparison to me seem to lead infinitesimally more interesting lives.

Check out my introductory post!

More to come soon, I promise.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Toeing The Line Between Two Worlds

So now that summer has ended and classes are starting (tomorrow!), you'd think that I'd be able to happily acknowledge that I lived life as a "real person" this summer with a 40-hour-a-week, 9-to-5 job, and settle comfortably back into the considerably different, 9-to-2-in-the-morning life of a college student.

Wrong!

I'm in this stage where I have been asked by by bosses at the museum to stay on and help with the publishing process of our up-and-coming European Paintings Catalogue (the project on which I've been working all summer), which is a great opportunity and of course I said yes. But I'm also still a college junior, focused on classes, parties, directing a show, editing a campus newspaper, and all the other minute details that make up that part of my life, and quickly realizing that making those two lives exist in marital bliss is going to be very difficult.

I had my first taste of it today. I woke up, dressed up, put on a cute pair of brown suede heels with a little bow and set off to drive to work. I worked on my project, had my morning tea, and met with our Director of Gifts to go to lunch with the Williams alum who sponsored my internship this summer (basically, he paid my rent. Thanks!). After business lunch, I finished up the essay I was editing and left for the day. Normally, I'd go home, kick my shoes off, watch some TV and order some takeout, happy to not have to take my work home with me and recharge for the next day. But today, immediately after coming home from work (and still kicking my heels off, because let's face it, the cuter they are the more water blisters they cause), but immediately following that I had a board meeting for the Record, our newspaper, and then ran to a meeting with the board of our student theatre organization to talk about how preparations for my show are coming along (I have auditions this weekend! Ah!). After posting up flyers for auditions I'm squeezing in some time to order in beef and broccoli with L., but then it's off to my night job making photocopies for the Political Science department.

I really like both of these worlds separately, but it's really, really weird making them coexist.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

On Romantic Airport Rendezvous

Lately, my absence has been notable. There's a ton of things I want to share with everyone about my last week, which has included reuniting with L. after three months of separation at the airport (it's been over a week and I still can't stop kissing him!), Round Three of L. And My Family Quality Time (Round Two was over Memorial Day Weekend and Round One was my birthday weekend in January), which included celebrating their anniversary and L. and my dad taking a golfing outing, and moving back into Williams. Aka, a super busy week and thus the explanation behind my lack of babble. But never fear, the more I start to settle in and relax the more funny tidbits will start to bubble out of me. For today though, I'm mostly just going to focus on Airport Reunions.

As I'm sure you know by now, I hate airplanes, and flying. However, ironically, I LOVE airports. Usually when I am in them as of late I am being reunited with L. (although there have been those couple times that I've had to say goodbye to him at airports which have caused momentary clouds to form over my genial attitude towards them), but they also represent excitement, adventure, and independence.

I was thinking about it, and I decided that most of the happiest and most miserable moments of people's lives probably happen in the airport. There are those with spouses in the service who get to reunite with them after their deployment is over, those who get proposed to before or after a long-distance visit, or even those like me who have to be separated from the love of their life for three agonizing months but finally get to drive to the airport at ten o'clock at night to wait for their boyfriend, whose flight doesn't get in until 11:45. That was silly on my part, and I almost went nuts waiting in the airport for an hour and forty-five minutes. Not to mention I thought I'd have to call an EMT from the rise in my blood pressure.

L.'s and my romantic airport reunion was everything I thought it would be, complete with tears, shrieks, legs-around-the-waist-and-arms-around-the-neck kisses, and the strange feeling of kissing someone after having not for three months, but I think it almost got overshadowed. Right before L. walked out of the terminal, a little boy (probably about four or five) and his dad walked out. The little boy apparently hadn't seen his mom for a long time because as soon as he did he started SHRIEKING at the top of his lungs "MOM! MOM! MOMMY! MOM!" and refused to let go of her neck. After I realized that he wasn't fatally injured (he really sounded like something horrible had just happened) I couldn't stop smiling, and then I got to have my own reunion.

I have more unpacking to do, sadly, but posting should be a lot more regular now!

[Images from Flickr]