What did you give up for Lent?

I'm really not the religious type, but I was raised Catholic. I remember during past Lenten seasons, I've had a hard time staying away from meat on Fridays. I don't even eat meat that much, but it always seemed like I was having a McDonald's hamburger on those days. 

So this year, to make up for that (and because I want to live healthier), I am giving up meat for the entirety of Lent. (And when I say meat, I mean all meat - including chicken and fish. I don't like fish anyway.) Thought I'd try the life of a vegetarian for a while. 

The hardest part is going to be the small stuff I never thought about having meat in it, but I think I can do it. Like I said I don't eat much meat anyway and always tend to get vegetarian options at restaurants. 

Wish me luck!

White woodworking continued...

Amy came over on Sunday to help with the house.

We put in another entire day. Ate like crap again (a little better with lunchmeat sandwiches instead of fast food, but the morning's donuts made up for that). 

I didn't take enough pics for a slideshow because we spent the whole day on woodwork again. This time, we put Behr's satin white latex indoor paint on top of the base coat we did Saturday. 2 layers. Most of the woodworking looks good. The doors could use some touching up or another coat to be perfectly honest, but our work was starting to show a little more. This week, we'll finish the woodwork and be able to move onto the walls by Sunday. Yay! The fun part!

Here are some before and after photos. You can already see improvement!

Yellow sparkle closet in the office BEFORE

Sparkle closet AFTER

Window woodworking BEFORE
(keep in mind it looks better in the photo than it did in person)

Window woodwork painted white AFTER

Guest bedroom closet BEFORE

Guest bedroom woodworking and walls BEFORE

Guest bedroom closet AFTER (walls still in progress)

Here are some more pics of some of our work on Sunday. The doors are almost done! 

Day 2 - Painting the woodwork white

Today we started painting the woodwork - windows and trim - white, with the exception of everything in the knotty pine master bedroom (and the bathroom and kitchen, which are already taken care of). We're going to humor the wood there and pretend to be sleeping at the Great Northern (Twin Peaks) because it is in decent shape and the room is slightly newer than the rest of the house, being that it was an add-on. 

We started around 10:30 a.m. after a night of deep sleep. My parents had already been at the house for a bit, scrubbing things down and patching rough spots. Today we realized, moreso than yesterday anyway, that we've got a lot of work ahead of us. I think it'll be well worth it though.

Justin came over and was glad to help. The room that saw the most work today is the one he'll crash in if he stays over after a night of hard partying, so I guess he's earning his keep. JK. The guest bedroom had some awful wood paneling in it before, and we plan on painting that - so we did the walls, windows and trim in that room. 

It looks rough right now, but it's only the basecoat. Tomorrow, we'll work to paint it all white. All over again. 

Really though, if you look around the house and notice all that is white now that wasn't - it seems like we really accomplished something. We've spent close to $100 so far I'd estimate.  

Enjoy the slideshow from today's work!  (More photos of the basement also included):

Day 1 - The Woodwork

Once we got inside the house for the first time as the owners, I made sure to take some more "before" pictures. Because I went into work early yesterday morning and because closing didn't take long, I was able to get off at 5. We were at the house until 10:30 at least. 

The woodwork around the doors and windows was one of our biggest concerns going in (other than the windows themselves, which will have to be replaced over time). 

First, we tried to strip the bubbling varnish to refinish everything, but in the end, we decided just to paint all of the windows and trim white. We love the white woodwork in the apartment, so we figured, why not?

I'll be doing slideshows each day that I take pictures and adding them to this blog as we go along. Enjoy!

I'm a homeowner.

Just got back from closing. Now I have to work for an hour and a half before I can go celebrate!

Will include more pics later. We're going over tonight to start some work.

Thanks to everyone who wished us well!!

UPDATE: I just opened a card our realtor gave us. It had a $50 gift card in it!! I didn't expect that :)

So excited!

I close on the house in T-2 hrs and 35 minutes. Yay!

Closing is set!

I will close on the house at 2:30 p.m. Friday!
Yay!!

-via e-mail

More house pictures on Flickr

I wanted to mention I took some more pictures of the house. Different parts you couldn't see clearly from the ones on the Century 21 Web site. I was kind of in a hurry, so expect better quality photos when we actually get to get in and work on stuff. Plus there will be people in them!!

www.flickr.com/viewsfromlalaland OR See my photostream in the left hand column of this blog page. For now, here's some things you haven't seen.

Week in review Feb. 9-15

Last week I started the Couch to 5K running challenge from coolrunning.com.

I successfully completed the first week and am excited to move on this week. Paired with vastly smaller portions and better eating habits, I haven't really lost too much weight just yet. But I am feeling tighter and less flabby - and much better, thank you.

I ran Monday, Wednesday and Saturday - or I walked briskly for 5 minutes then alternated 60 seconds of jogging followed by 90 seconds of walking 8 times, then walked for 6 minutes to cool down.

In other news, we didn't do so well in volleyball last week, so let's hope this coming week improves.

This weekend was a slow one, but I got a lot of much-needed rest. I am suffering from pretty bad, chronic allergies. The Bendryl has pretty much kicked in now, but I don't know whether it's really helping or just making me feel funny.

Valentine's Day was good. I drove to the Galleria, looking all scrubby in my running gear and shorts, and braved the V-day crowd at the Cheesecake Factory to bring myself and David home a piece of Chocolate Peanut Butter cheesecake each. I know it's not on my diet but I ate it in two stages - plus it made David's day.  Sunday we ate at Castelli's, because David had to work and didn't know when he would get off Saturday.

Also Sunday, we walked through the house again with David's parents. It was their first time through and they liked it. My realtor is supposed to let me know by tomorrow whether we will close this Friday or Monday. I hope this Friday because David's miraculously off this weekend and we can get a lot of our painting done.

That's about it, except another long week ahead. I'll keep you posted!

We may be closing three days early!

The seller has made the repairs he was supposed to, and the inspector has gone back in and looked around. I assume it passed, because my realtor is talking like everything went through OK.

Paperwork is being processed at the title company right now, and as soon as everything is ready, she is supposed to let me know what time we'll be closing. Last I heard, it was being moved from Feb. 23 to Feb. 20, which would give us an entire additional weekend to work on the house before we have to move in. Yay! Getting so excited!!

Last night I had to do First-time homebuyer's one-on-one counseling with a company called Justine Petersen out of St. Louis. A guy named Colby met me in Edwardsville and gave me the rundown on what I can expect at closing. He also taught me about everything I've done up until now just because my realtor, parents and loan officer have been having me do.

I learned that my credit score is in great shape - 748. It didn't surprise him when I said my parents have good credit because he said he sees lots of children with credit habits similar to their parents. But I think he was surprised it was high. He said only about 5 percent of Americans have credit comparable to that. With the way the economy is and the number of people in debt, that wouldn't surprise me.

He gave me some pointers for keeping it high and even raising it. He told me how to pay off a 30-year mortgage in 15 years without refinancing and a whole lot more. It really takes the edge off the stress, knowing what I'm going into.

Seems like smooth sailing from here.

We're going into the house Sunday and I'm going to take lots of my own "before" pictures. Stay tuned for updates.

My first run today...

It took my first run today to realize how freaking heavy I am!! I thought my legs might could crumple under the weight!!

Breath-wise, I was good until about the last three minutes of the 25 minute workout.

I need some breathing tips, but I'm otherwise looking forward to trying hard and pushing my way to what right now seems impossible, a 5K distance.

Bonnaroo fitness double post

If you read I'm a Bonnaroo Virgin, then you may have already read this post. If not, read on.

So I've been wanting to get in shape for awhile, but always found it quite easy to slough off my efforts and go back to lounging and fast food.

The fact of the matter is though, I can't be my unhealthy self on the farm with temps hovering around 100 and a gagillion people crammed into a loud, loud, dirty, smelly (yet heavenly) space. It won't be as heavenly if I am.

So I'm taking this opportunity to try and stick to my fitness initiative. I have just about 17 weeks.

Here's the plan.

I'm trying to make David do a "couch to 5K" running plan with me. It requires going to the gym three days per week, which I think we can handle. It's a 9-week program altogether.

I'll stick to Yoga and Wii fit on the other days, so as not to wear myself out.

I can't start eating 100 percent healthy right away because that would be a diet 180, but I can cut down on fast food and portion sizes. Less soda, more water, etc.

I'll be keeping track of my progress on my Bonnaroo blog. It will be fun and you all can laugh at me if I don't make my goal. Maybe that will give me some more inspiration.

Speaking of inspiration, lots of 'Rooers are doing the same thing as I am. I found a really neat thread on Inforoo where the girls are supporting one another through the whole process.

(I'm onesweetla83 if you want to find me.)

Wish me luck!

Blink 182 is coming back!

Mark, Tom and a recovering Travis just announced it at the Grammys :)

Yyyyyaaaaayyyy!!!

Re-launching 'I'm a Bonnaroo Virgin'

The 2009 Bonnaroo initial lineup has been announced. We are going this year. It's settled. Whether it's a big group or just David and I.

Therefore, I am re-launching my blog, I'm a Bonnaroo Virgin.

I suggest you follow along.

Superbowl weekend

I'm so exhausted.

 

I've not felt well all weekend, but I did have a relaxing Saturday. Amy took me to get my nails done at this salon in East Alton she usually goes to. I got French tips, which is the girliest thing I've done in a long time, but they look nice! It was very relaxing. Also, we got to talk and we really needed to, so that was nice.

 

Superbowl Sunday was pretty crazy. David and I went to Ben and Jacob's and started the fun there. Then I had to leave around 1:15 p.m. for a badly scheduled Relay for Life bowling tournament put on by my mom's team. Callie and I had fun, but as usual didn't do so well. That, of course, doesn't matter though because it was still for a good cause. Our teams were the last to bowl, so I returned to the Superbowl party around 6 p.m.

 

By that time, I already had a throbbing headache that didn't go away. On top of that, the Steelers won the Superbowl. Luckily I didn't put much stock into the game this year and didn't really care. I took a prescription strendth Ibuprofen, but that ended up only making me stomach hurt, so I sat through "The Office," a show I normally love, and then we had to leave.

 

I fell asleep and felt good this morning, but started to wear down this afternoon. Ugh I have to make it through class tonight...