As Matt and I were discussing a packing strategy, I remember saying something about going through rooms/closets one at a time and doing an orderly pack. Well, I got home from work last night to find most cupboards/closets empty and everything out in the middle of the rooms. Oh dear. This would be one of those “choose your battles” scenarios… I decided not to be upset about it because he was able to pack a lot of his stuff… but MAN, do I hate the house looking like this. I guess it gives me more incentive to pack… maybe that was his plan all along!

We picked up some boxes from Wal-Mart last night but were told to go back on Thursday for their busy night. Boxes galore. In any size we could possibly want. Beautiful. That gives me tonight to fill up these smaller ones we got last night.

I listed a few things on Craig’s List the other day. I’ve gotten two inquiries: one asking what the deal was with the add (what?!?) and the other offering $20 on an $80 item. Whatevs.

We’re also looking into options for moving. Matt wanted to avoid the U-Haul thing because it’s such a pain. Movers are not even double (when you take into account fuel). Today I’m going to price those pods. We don’t have that much stuff but it’d be fun to have it all moved out there for us so we could enjoy the road trip to Cali together.

Matt’s taking his last test in Algebra today (the final is optional). It’s funny how everything is coming to a close at the same time. I resigned from Level 3 on Monday. I felt bad sending in the resignation letter because I have learned a lot and had fun there. But, it’s definitely time. We are soooo excited to be moving on to the next phase in life!

What’s been going on? For once, a whole lot! I’ve been focusing a lot of my time and attention on Luka. We’ve gone to several local shows, met people, got to watch them smell, and sometimes wrinkle their noses at, our soap, chatted with them, and sold a bunch. I’m in the process now of re-evaluating the scents we started out with. There are a few that haven’t done as well and I’m phasing them out and adding new ones. Our bar soap production has gotten to the point where we don’t have to think about it, we just do it. Our basic recipe is exactly how we want it and it’s become fairly simple to make a batch. I love making it, cutting it and selling it. It’s really neat to see people appreciative of all that I’ve put into it.

We’re going to be adding another product soon. I still haven’t decided if it’s going to be bath salts or hand salve yet. I actually have everything for both of those but I want to focus on one first, get the recipe right, decide on the scents and then move on to another. It’s important to me that I have a good handle on what I’m offering before I add something new.

My full-time job keeps me busy 40 hours out of the week but, thankfully, I’ve learned a lot and don’t feel near as much stress as I used to. Obviously there is stress involved, it’s TV folks!, but I’m actually enjoying what I do there more than ever.

Matt’s been taking Algebra this summer. I always felt like I rocked Algebra in high school. I remember sitting with my mom for HOURS trying to figure it all out, but once it clicked, I enjoyed doing it. Well, it’s been many, many moons since I’ve even thought of Algebra and it’s safe to say that I don’t remember very much. I’ll look over at what Matt’s working on and not even recognize it. And it doesn’t look very fun either! He’s never been a math kind of guy but it’s starting to click for him and he’s doing great. Having the whole class in just a few weeks is crazy though, I can’t believe he’s learning all that he is and testing on it nearly every week. Good thing retention isn’t a career necessity. Hehe.

We’ve been considering a cross-country move again. It’s funny though, the more I think about leaving Tulsa, the more I realize how many things I’ve come to appreciate about this place. We have a great little community of people we’re becoming involved in with the Pearl Farmers’ Market and Sustainable Tulsa. We love everyone at Eloté (the food is awesome too!) and I love stopping in to chat with Tiffany at eco baby + kids. I love that people are becoming more eco conscious here and I love that I’m involved in the movement. All that to say, I’m still not sure how long we’ll be in Tulsa but I’m really enjoying it for now. Life is good and I have lots of things I’m looking forward to doing and being involved in (which, if you remember, was one thing I was seriously lacking a month ago).

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Love, love, LOVE this kitchen renovation over at Urban Nest. Honestly, this is pretty close to my idea of the perfect kitchen. Gorgeous! I found Urban Nest through one of my daily reads, This Young House.  They pretty much rock too.  Okay, they totally rock.  If you haven’t browsed through their site, get to it!

I really enjoy following Globe Stompers as well.  Jared is currently in southern Italy and looking at his pictures equals involuntary daydreaming.  Ahhhh… wish I was there!

[via: Domino]

The biggest project would be the kitchen though.  Probably the only thing that my landlord would allow me to do would be to remove the hideous border above the back splash if I painted the room afterward.  I need to get curtains on the windows throughout the whole house.  All we have is the mini-blinds that came with the place.  The walls are bare too.  It’d also be sweet to lift the floor 10 floors up… pretty sure that’s not going to happen though!

[via: design*sponge]

When we moved in, our landlord asked if I wanted the bedroom painted the same color green as the other side of the duplex.  My favorite color is green and it was a really nice shade so I said yes.  I kind of regret that decision.  I wish the walls were lighter.  I feel annoyed that everything I buy for the room has to in some way work with that color because I know after we leave this place, that color will be history.  Oh well… at least I learned this lesson before we move into our own place.

[via: ashlie j: design sponge]

Someday I will pimp my home.  Until then, I’ll save pictures of cute rooms.  Haha!

On a side note, I had a meeting this morning with another potential Luka customer. I’m going to hold off on announcing who they are for the time being but let me just say… I’m so excited!!

I got two purses from the Fossil store, a couple of t-shirts and another pair of Converse All-Stars. Matt made me get the shoes. It wasn’t like he had to twist my arm though. Haha. Matt got a pair of shoes too and a shirt. It wasn’t busy there, so we had a lot of fun shopping around. Next we went to IKEA. It was tons of fun! We just wandered through, checking out all the room displays and getting ideas. If we would have had more money and a truck, I would have been tempted to load up. Instead, we bought two nightstands for our bedroom and some cute glasses.

We also ate in their cafeteria. Matt had some chicken wrap and I had Swedish meatballs. I’ve been thinking about making them for several months but have never gotten around to it. They weren’t quite as good as my mom’s but they definitely satisfied my craving. I also drank Lingonberry soda… so good! We didn’t walk through the food area, so I didn’t see that they sell Lingonberry syrup there. I think I might have to order some so I can have it more often. Either that or live in a Scandavian country for awhile. Hehe.

After shopping our hearts out, he headed to the church where Trey Ratcliff was going to be speaking. We got there ten minutes before the meeting was scheduled to start and found the room packed. We had to sit in the very back. Matt took notes the whole time and I just kinda sat there absorbing it. I have worked through Trey’s tutorial online before, so I had an idea of what was going on, but I wanted t see if it’d actually just sink in while I was there. Happy to say, it did. Something clicked and I was like, I get it!

Afterwards, we went up to introduce ourselves and thank him for everything. He actually knew who we were, because of this blog or Twitter, which surprised us. We took our picture with him and Matt asked if he could show him a few of his HDR photos and get his opinion on them. We were really impressed that he actually took his time looking at them and gave Matt some good advice. Matt, of course, was stoked that the Master of HDR (haha!) said that he was above average. Hearing Trey speak was the reason for going and it definitely made the entire trip worth it.

Our drive home was uneventful, thankfully. Matt drove the whole way while I kept music going and talked with him. We pulled into Tulsa around 5 a.m. He stayed up, showered and went to class at 9, returned the rental car at 12, took me to work at 2, stayed up all day (even worked out at some point), picked me up at midnight and then we both crashed. He stayed up for 38 hours straight. Crazy yet impressive. Haha. I slept as soon as we got home until I had to go to work and was still pretty zonked out during my shift.

Overall, we liked Austin. We would have liked more time to get to know the city but we were happy with our short trip.

This type of programming is purely entertainment and I don’t feel like my life is being enriched in any way whatsoever by watching it.  Oh well.  Gotta veg sometimes. :) 

Survivor, on the other hand, has lost my attention.  I used to like it, especially the challenges, but it’s not enough for me anymore.  It was on the other night and all I heard was drama.  Over it.

Now that Matt is in school, we have to plan our vacations and get-a-ways around his schedule.  Spring break is coming up in March and I was able to get the time off work as well.  Awesome.

My first idea was to take a road trip down through Texas.  I figured that we won’t be in this part of the country forever and we should explore the parts we’re in while we’re there… BUT I really don’t want to go see the Alamo right now. 

What I really want to do, what I’ve been wanting to do since we were still in Korea, is go to a beach.  I want to lie on the beach, with my only thought being which drink I’m going to order next. 

So, I thought, we could hit San Antonio, swing around and go to a photography workshop in Houston, see Matt’s relatives and then head over to Padre Island for some beach.  The only problem with that is that I don’t want to be at the beach with all the spring breakers and their alcoholic antics and bubblegum boobies. 

My next thought was to take a road trip somewhere else and having the actual roadtrip be the point, not necessarily the destination.  We could take some fun pictures with our new cameras and drive as little, or as much, as we want to on each day.  The only problem with this option is that there is no beach involved.

This week I found out how much my bonus at work would be and it got me thinking that maybe we could take some of it, add it to what we have alotted for break already, and do something even more fun. 

Like the beach in another country. 

I recently discovered a photographer’s blog who mentioned Kayak.com/buzzfor finding good deals on airfare.  I scooted over there and found roundtrip tickets to Costa Rica for $178 dollars each.  I couldn’t believe it!  I talked it over with Matt, he was game, but I wanted to think about it more.  I wish that I was more spontaneous because the next day, the tickets were $274.  Bummer!  That is still cheap but I was kicking myself anyway.

The next step in this whole messed up process is where I start to think more practically.  I don’t have a car, just a scooter, and Matt’ll be transferring to another college this fall and it’s going to be harder for us to swing the whole one car thing.  It would make our everyday lives easier if we got another car.  Danggit.  The problem with this option is that 1) there is no beach and 2) I really don’t want to accumulate a bunch of junk because I like to keep our options open to whatever might come up in the next few years. 

As upsetting as it is, last night we decided to go the practical route and take care of business.  We’ll get me a car and then stick the rest of it in savings. 

Boring.  Sad. 

I was looking at several photographer’s websites again last night and just couldn’t shake the fact that I’m passing up opportunities.  We have time off, we have the cash, we have no kids, the world is wide open to whatever we might want to do.  We love seeing new things, we hate sitting here, day after day.

The easy thing for me to do in this type of situation is to just go.  To not worry about how it might affect us later because I know that I will thoroughly enjoy myself.  Kinda of like a friend said on her blog recently, life is about living, not just planning.  I don’t want my life to pass by without my taking advantage of it.  That, to me, is a waste.

The resolution to this madness?  There isn’t one yet.  I’m thinking it all over. And over. And over again. Blek.

I love Anthropologie catalogs. I swear I spend more time looking at them than any other catalog.

I still have some work to do but I don’t feel quite so intimidated by it. I’m doing Slim in 6 for the next six weeks. Here’s to a toned bod by spring!

So, Matt has been working out like a crazy man the last couple of years.  I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this before, but if I haven’t, he works out for an hour to an hour and a half six days a week.  His consistency has blown me away.  It should be no surprise that he’s lost so much weight and is now looking like a hottie.  He’s eating really well and continues to learn new info daily on nutrician and fitness.

The other day he said he wanted to buy a scale that measures body fat.  Up until yesterday, he’d been measuring himself with a tape measure (the soft ones used for sewing) to get his approximate percentage of body fat.

This made me nervous for two reasons. 1) I made a remark about five years ago that I’d start working out more seriously once he and I were closer to the same fitness level (I, of course, thought it would never come to this!).  2) I am way too curious not to step on that scale to measure my body fat and I knew that once I saw the number, I’d be forced to face how out of shape I’ve become.

Before you all start gagging, I’d like to explain that even though I appear to be thin, I am not in as good of shape as I feel I should be.  I haven’t worked out for about a year, seriously anyway, and have started to feel the effects of it.  I’m tired, less limber and get weird aches and pains.

Back to the scale.  Matt told me last night that he was 20% body fat.  First off, I’m SO proud of him.  He has worked so hard and he looks so good!  Secondly, I started sweating my reading.  I didn’t want to do it last night, I wanted to do it first thing in the morning.  So, this morning I got up and stepped on the scale.

26.

Shite.  This is acceptable but not considered fit.  Danggit.  Matt and I are pretty close though.  I’m starting to feel competitive and I’m not sure why since I don’t normally care.  BUT I’m thinking I should do something about it.  The last thing I want to do is to slowly increase that percentage until it gets hard to do something about it.

I’m coming up with a game plan.  I’m be honest and say I’m not too excited.  I love the affects of working out but I don’t really like the actual working out.  My best bet is to distract myself in some way… the monotony of running on a treadmill kills me. 

Oh man.