Marley and Me - great book!

I just finished reading the book, Marley and Me, by Philadelphia Inquirer Pennsylvania columnist John Grogan. It was a funny and heartwarming tale about the author's (and his family's) dog. The dog, a yellow lab, wasn't the brightest dog but he sure was lovable. The book was laugh out loud funny in several parts - I burst out in laughter on the plane several times. People must've thought I was crazy. If you've ever had a pet, I think you'll relate to this book, since you undoubtedly experienced moments of loving, and not loving quite as much, that pet or pets. Of course, the end of the book left me in tears (again on the plane, I swear, the woman next to me must've thought I was really nuts), which any pet owner could also relate to. So if my eating/yoga/searching for pleasure recommendation of Eat, Pray, Love didn't do it for you, maybe this one will capture your interest.

On an animal-related note, I'm very proud to report that Ms. Camper (aka, the fatter of our two cats) has lost an astounding 2 pounds since her month of sicknesses. Samba has lost 1 pound, and it's all a result of switching them to the Whole Foods Whole Paws cat food at our vet's recommendation. Their coats are shinier and softer than ever. And, to our delight and occasional dismay (when they wake us at 5:30 am), they have much more energy. Now if only their mommy would find such success in weight loss...

I've been on a better streak lately, not taking a cookie each night at my hotel, hitting the gym (and working out with a trainer who kicked my butt last week) more regularly, and trying to eat better. With the hectic travel schedule, the sub-par fitness center in my hotel, and eating out for every meal when I travel, it's an uphill battle. This is why I've told Markus that our children must have his long, naturally lean physique instead of my short and stout one (which I try to make less stout). :-)

I have my appointment with the sports medicine doctor tomorrow about my feet. I really think I have plantar fasciitis, since the pain in my arches hasn't gone away and in fact, has gotten worse, and it's been around since April. It seems like all of a sudden, my body started getting creaky. I'm only 29 - this isn't supposed to happen yet! AHHHH! I was completely prepared for falling apart at 40, because my mom had a few rough years around that age, when seemingly all of her major systems failed her in one way or another, but not at 30! My knees are popping, my hamstrings ache, and I haven't even been running because of my feet. I'm not whining, I think I'm just in shock that this is happening (like the Bjork lyrick - "this wasn't supposed to happen". Amen, sister!). Needless to say, I'll be glad to get a verdict tomorrow afternoon. God help me if I have to buy some awful "comfort" shoes...no offense to anyone who wears "comfort" shoes, of course, but I just planned on a few more years of cute, and totally bad for your feet, sandals.

Tonight, I returned from a week in Indy (and can't sleep); I found out today that I have to go back next week, and I'll be back the week after that. I'll be glad to be home the weekend of July 4, and to see our friends Sean and Brooke then. It happens every year, but I'm always amazed at how quickly the summer flies by. Until I have more than 3 days per week to spend in my own home, it'll be July! Then it'll be August and time for our vacation to Ireland! Then it'll be our anniversary, and my birthday. And then it'll be Christmas! All in the blink of an eye.

My friend Becky has returned from her travels in India and will be coming over for breakfast tomorrow (well, later this) morning. Afer my doctor's appointment, it's back to B-town to watch my mom's dance studio's annual recital. I'm looking forward to seeing my sister perform; although she was in school mere blocks from me, I wasn't able to attend any of her practices or performances. Since she spent this past year studying dance intensively, I think she'll knock peoples' socks off. She's a great performer (she got all those genes in the family - nothing was evenly distributed in our family. My brother is a good athlete and is extremely mechanically inclined, we girls are soooo not. My sister can outperform most people, I couldn't if my life depended on it. What did I get? Anal retentiveness, obsessive compulsive tendencies, anxiety...all the glamorous stuff. I still wonder what on earth gave Markus the idea that I was a good pick...every now and then he throws me a bone and gives me a reason or two :-) I'll never forget, the first time I met Markus' mom, he looked over at one point and there we both were, sitting on the couch and picking our fingernails. He should've known then it was a bad sign, but Markus has always liked a good challenge; he got a good one with me!

If you're interested in seeing a fun and entertaining dance recital, it's at the high school and starts at 6:30 pm. Happy Father's Day to all the dads!

Queen of Stain

I've decided that should be my new title, as I've focused my house project efforts on staining our windows recently. I had never stained before, so my first attempt was a bit messy. I took pictures of the splatter marks on the wall and floor as proof (I'll post a new album after the bathroom is done, which means you probably don't have to check back till Fall). Fortunately, we bought a house that basically needs fixing everywhere, so the wall that I splattered (on the third floor) hasn't been painted because we haven't picked a color for that room. And the floor, well, every floor in the house needs to be refinished so I didn't really care about the splatter marks there. My splatter marks blend in with all the other stains! You know, it's kind of nice to be able to be slightly careless about splatters. Now, I was much more diligent when I stained around the windows, since those are NOT being replaced (for the next 20 years, anyway).

We chose Red Mahogany as the color for the windows. Since the window installers used 3-inch trim around all the windows (we're still not sure why they used such wide trim), we decided to pick a strong color for the stain. It looks really nice, and this weekend, I was able to stain all of the 2nd floor windows. I polyurethaned the third floor, and will work on the 2nd floor tomorrow while Markus has class. I spent several hours today researching hotels and B&Bs for our trip to Ireland in August, so it was a nice break from housework.

Markus was no slouch, though. While I stained, he repaired some of the drywall holes in the third floor bathroom that we're remodeling in preparation for painting the walls. Our toilet and tiles arrived last week, so now we just have to finish painting and tiling before we put it all together. I leveled the floor (that sounds so funny to say), but I did have some uneven areas (I'm not a talented mason like my brother, which reminds me, I should've had him come and do that) so after I finish my polyurethaning tomorrow I have to go chisel the floor. I just want that bathroom to be done; we've had the cabinet and vanity since April, we have a new toilet in our front entry, etc. But, it's hard with Markus being in school and me being away half the time, so I just need to be patient, I know. Today while I looked for hotels, Markus spent 6 hours solid working on his next paper. He has to write about a current event involving negotiating, so he was researching and writing about the Iran nuclear arms situation.

I'm home this week, except for a trip to Boston and back on Tuesday, so hopefully we can make some project progress in the evenings. I got these really cool lights that attach to our patio umbrella, so we've been enjoying those in the evenings. We love projects that take 15 minutes instead of 15 hours or 15 days...

Today, Markus and I were reading this article about a one-year accelerated nursing program that Drexel University offers. Markus says he thinks I should consider this, that I'd be a good nurse (what, with my great nurturing skills that he sometimes thinks I lack? I say my cats would disagree..., but maybe I'm better with cats than husbands? ;-), and in light of the nursing shortage, I'd easily earn a respectable salary. Now, remember my post from a few weeks ago, the one where I said I really liked my job? Yeah, I still do, so wasn't really thinking of a career change!

I don't think I want to suddenly decide to do this nursing program (27 hours of class each week, plus 12 hours of clinical rotations, plus studying), but I suppose it is something to keep in mind for the future. Also, it's $26,000 for the one year (which isn't bad, considering many graduates receive $15k signing bonuses and start at salaries of $50k and higher), but that would mean no Christie salary for a year, plus paying $26k. Hmmm, if you have an extra $26k laying around and want to pay for me to go to school, let me know. Otherwise, I'm gonna stick with my current gig, which is pretty good. Oh, and if I can share a nice compliment - I was talking with the person who leads the team of Business Analysts that I'm on, she said I'm one of the best BAs on the team! I was so excited, because I always worry whether I'm doing a good job. She even told me that I'm being put on the team to work on our next software release, which is a project that needed to have the "Dream Team" working on it to get it done, as she said. So, yeah, I'm feeling pretty good - I made the dream team, after all! It's so neat to work at a job you really like, and to find out that your management really likes you back!

In other non-Christie and Markus news...my Dad played in a golf tournament this weekend and won a few prizes. I swear, he should join the Senior PGA when he retires because he could probably win money - and then he could get the boat AND the beach house that he keeps trying to talk my mom into buying. (Keep going Dad, eventually you'll wear her down and she'll give in and say yes. That's always worked for me, Justin, and Lindsay when we wanted something) He's gotten a hole in one and won his flight in the DuPont tournament in Myrtle Beach, he wins prizes in most tournments he enters, and in this tournament, he beat the pro, got closest to the flag, and something else. Keep up the good work, Dad, and if you ever make it big in the golf world and win lots of money, you know where to find us! :-)

My brother also had an exciting week, but not in a great way. So I'm sitting in a meeting in Indy with our president and other important people and get a voice mail from my brother. He almost never calls me, so I immediately think something bad happened, but he said not to worry just to call later. So I did. It turns out he was in a car accident (not his fault) and his new truck that was 2 weeks old, was totaled. Luckily, he was not hurt, but another person involved in the accident had to be flown to the hospital. What I found out today is that my brother was quite courageous that morning - after he was hit, he saw that the person who hit him was unconscious in their car. Justin and his friend couldn't get the other person's door open, so they shattered the window, Justin crawled in and turned the car off (to avoid a fire) and was smart enough to get some of his work shirts out and put pressure on this other person's head wounds. Eventually, this young man regained consciousness and was flown to the hospital for care. The O/R nurse said my brother essentially saved the guy's life. It makes me proud to know that Justin was able to think so clearly in such a crazy situation, and try to help another person who needed it so much. And of course, when my brother recounted the accident to me, he mentioned none of this. He's kind of a humble guy, but Justin, we're glad you're okay, and really proud of you for helping that person out.

I'm going to go read a little more of Eat, Pray, Love now, as I eat my Haagen-Dazs Strawberry Shortcake ice cream, which I will eat AND love!

Eat, Pray, Love

I'd been looking forward to reading this book for several weeks after reading a synopsis in a magazine and hearing a recommendation from a friend. Plus, the author (Elizabeth Gilbert) is a resident of Philadelphia, so I requested it at my local library and have been reading it for the last few days.

The book is broken into three sections, the first of which is about the author's four month stay in Italy. Then she goes to India, followed by Bali; it's a one-year adventure in which she does some serious soul searching after the breakup of her marriage and a serious relationship that followed her marriage.

I knew I was destined to love to love the book in the first section when she mentions - you guessed it, gelato (!!) - and how she ate it after every meal and that Italians think nothing of seeing a person eating gelato at 9:30 am. That's my kind of lady, eating gelato at 9:30 am! I did the same thing when I first discovered gelato during my trip to Italy when I studied abroad. Thankfully, I was only in Italy for four days, but I ate gelato after every meal for those four days. After four months, I'd probably weigh, well, a lot...

Back to the book. The second section recounts her four month stay at an ashram in India (similar to what our friend Becky just did).

I've really enjoyed reading about her time in India (haven't gotten to section three yet). I started taking yoga about two months ago and have come to enjoy it in several aspects. After my first class, I told Markus I didn't think I was a yoga person even though Becky had been telling me how great it was. I had a hard time turning my brain off. I stuck with it, though, and have conquered my mind, so to speak, and have discovered that I can make it through a one hour class thinking only of what my body is doing and counting my breaths.

For anyone who doesn't already know this about me, my brain is an overactive thing (just like my mouth, and my keyboard when I'm typing messages) and I've always found it difficult to relax and think about nothing. I had to work at quieting my thoughts, and to relate back to this book, the author describes her personality as being very similar. It took her a long time to conquer her overactive mind and negative thoughts, but through years of studying yoga and meditation, she was finally able to do it as a result of her years spent studying then her work at the ashram.

Not to seem all new-agey, but it really made me admire her, inspired me to continue taking yoga classes and learn more about meditation, and share that information. I had pre-conceived notions about yoga and the new-ageyness of it, but in addition to the mental benefits I've found, it really is great exercise. My arms are looking pretty toned, and I have done NO weight lifting in months. For those who like low impact exercise, exercise that doesn't require too much coordination or quick movement, or just looking for something new, give it a try. And stick with it for a few classes. I think you'll find at least one benefit of it, whether it helps your mind or your body.

So, check out the book (I can't wait to get to the "Love" part of the title about her four month stay in Bali) if you want a good read. She has a down-to-earth writing style, a great sense of humor, and talks about her spiritual beliefs without being preachy. Enjoy the book, if you do decide to read it.