Made it to the gym again last night! And did 40 min of cardio, with 30 min of that being interval training (3 min L4, 2 min L7, repeat 6 times) .. yay for me!
Today the dogs are nuts for some reason .. I think they want to go to the dog park, but Keri is on her way over with the kids for a photoshoot .. they’ll just have to wait til tomorrow!
I’m not including too many pictures with people from the bonfire, but I did catch a few cool fire pictures that I’d like to share. So I finally created a flickr account for my pictures, flickr has the best compression (or no compression) and images always look bright and vibrant on there, unlike when I upload them some other places and they always look washed out. So hopefully I’ll start having more pictures to share.
Here is a link to the Jason & Keith’s Birthday Bonfire Set
Oh! And here is a video from that night that’s also alot of fun.
Yes, our oven was brain dead 
.. that’s our 2nd appliance who’s brain fried in the last 3 months. Unfortunately this one was out of it’s warranty period. I asked the tech if it could be a problem with the house, our wiring, or something and he responded “yep, that could be it, or it could just be bad luck, there’s no way really to tell” .. fantastic.
I didn’t vote .. I know I’m bad. The thing is, I continued to flip-flop on that stupid amendment all day long, yes or no, yes or no. So I decided to leave it up to everybody else in the state, I’m fine with whatever they choose. Turns out they chose yes. Rumor has it that the amendment is going to be challenged in court, but hopefully it’ll stick around, I was kinda getting used to the idea of a few tax breaks. But what I really hope for is that those important people up in Tallahassee continue to figure out other solutions to our property tax issue.
What I actually did do yesterday .. is go to the gym. Yeah, remember that post from before the first of the year with all my resolutions and such. Oh, and that 25 lbs to go ticker at the top of this site .. yeah, before yesterday I hadn’t been to the gym since last year (December 31st to be exact). I know, I know .. I had a plan, I had a time scheduled in my day to drag my butt to the gym, but my schedule had to change. I had planned on making the morning my workout time, but I came to realize that mornings are when I’m the most productive for work. I’d get up, take care of the pups, and then sit at the computer to check my email and 4 hours later I’d have completed all my work for the day, but hadn’t made it to the gym. Last night I realized that I’m usually sitting in front of the TV from 6pm on. I know, sad. But the dogs are usually curled up on top of me, and its so nice and warm. So after my fix of national news, I picked myself up and made the half hour drive to our nearest gym, and had my first workout of the year. Yippie!
I used to think I hated working out at night. It would take me awhile to calm down and relax after a workout, which would make it hard to sleep. But I remembered that when I first started last time, I was EXHAUSTED after every workout. So this might actually work out well. I’m going to try my hardest to make it a habit.
Onto today .. our oven stopped working. I really dont know what happened, Thursday it was having problems preheating, I put it on broil instead of bake, and it seemed to fix the problem. Saturday I baked a bunch of cookies for Keith’s birthday present, and didn’t really notice a problem. Although Sean swears the first batches were undercooked, and I swear the last batches were over cooked :\ Onto Sunday and I really wanted one of these Pillsbury whole wheat dinner rolls I recently picked up .. they’re just awesome, nice crusty outside, warm and soft inside (I WANT ONE NOW!!) .. but I turned the oven on and forgot about it. A half hour later I remembered and went to put the rolls in, and the oven was cold I then slammed the oven door about 10 times, but that didn’t fix it, HA. Fast forward to last night, I tried to heat the oven up for shits and giggles .. and nothing happened. So Sears is now on its way to take a look. I’ll update you later. Homeownership is so great. Why do we have such problems with our appliances?!? Ugh.
So today is election day here in FL. We got our sample ballot the other day and there was 1 .. only 1 thing to vote on. Both Sean and I are registered independants, so in FL where they have a closed primary, we dont get to vote for the presidential candidates. So the only thing we could vote for is Amendment 1, Charlie Crist’s property tax relief amendment. I’ve gone back and forth over this thing, it would only save an average home owner $240/yr (we paid $6500 in property taxes last year for our 2 properties). But it also made the ’save our homes’ protection portable, and doubled the homestead exemption. Basically save our homes caps the amount that your property value can go up per year, and homestead exemption lets you take $25k off the tax appraised value of your primary home. The bad part of all this is that the state budget would have to be slashed by something like 9 million in the next few years .. and most education groups are campaigning against the amendment for fear that their budgets are likely to get cut, and education will suffer. Anyways .. like I said I’ve been reading and debating this amendment in my head for weeks now, I haven’t come up with a good reason for or against it. I think the 2nd property protection would be beneficial to us, and I know the portability is important to my parents who have lived in their house for 25 years. But I dont know if its worth risking education. Plus I read an article yesterday in Florida Today that pointed out some of the alternative plans that may step up if this amendment fails, and I liked some of those options better. So I’ve pretty much decided to vote no on amendment 1, and hope that something better comes along, soon.
Anybody else make up their minds about 1?
Just wanted to give a big shout out to my little sister 
Some of you may know already, but I make mix CDs for Liz. Every couple of months I pile together a few songs I enjoy at that moment and stick them on a CD and expect her to listen to it over and over again until her ears bleed. HA! .. anyways I wanted to start posting my mixes just incase somebody wants to try some new music, and so I remember what the heck I included on the past mixes .. Anyways, here is my first Liz mix of 2008, Happy Birthday Liz!!
if you spend as much time on the internet as I do .. this is pretty creative
When Google’s parents go out of town …
I always think of February as a slow month .. I mean really .. no major holidays .. well Valentine’s Day, but you dont get a day off. I guess the banks are closed for Presidents day .. okay well scratch that comment. Anyways I just updated my calendar for Feb and realized that every Saturday is booked, and there are a ton of little things going on during the weeks. Pretty crazy. We’re going camping, Halle & Belle are having a birthday party, the family is planning on coming up for the Grant Seafood Festival again, and I have extended family coming to Orlando at the end of the month. On top of all that Sean and I have an anniversary this month (can you believe its been 3 years already), there’s a photography workshop in orlando, and substitute teaching class I want to sneak into (they’re booked until May, so I have to show up at the crack of dawn and wait list to get in). I can tell Feb is just going to fly by!
Stole this from Laney’s post on myspace .. I’m super bored tonight!
Q. What is your salad dressing of choice?
A. Cheesecake Factory’s Spicy Peanut-Cilantro Vinaigrette on their Santa-Fe Salad
Q. What is your favorite fast food restaurant?
A. Chick-Fil-A
Q. What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
A. Hmm .. tough one, I love Benihana’s, but I like pretty much anyplace if I like the company
Q. On average how much of a tip do you leave at a restaurant?
A. 20%
Q. What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?
A. Ice Cream
Q. What are your pizza toppings of choice?
A. Fresh tomatoes
Q. What do you like to put on your toast?
A. Butter or fake butter
TECHNOLOGY
Q. What is your wallpaper on your computer?
A. It was a picture of a flower with a bug on it that I took this summer, but there’s some kind of glitch with my computer and its back to some default pattern.
Q. How many televisions are in your house?
A. 4
Q. What kind of cell phone do you have?
A. iPhone
BIOLOGY
Q. Are you right-handed or left-handed?
A. Right
Q. Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
A. Tonsils, a couple of skin tags, and a chunk of the back of my hand (miss you Laser)
Q. What is the last heavy item you lifted?
A. My laundry hamper, or my new IKEA bookcase
Q. Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
A. Surprisingly no, or maybe I just dont remember .. hmm
BULL[CRAP]OLOGY
Q. If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
A. No no no
Q. If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
A. Wouldn’t change it, I’m branding it you know ..
Q. what color looks good on you?
A. Light pink and yellow, dark blues, reds and greens
Q. Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake?
A. I dont think so
Q. Have you ever saved someone’s life?
A. Mmmm no
Q. Has someone ever saved yours?
A. Yes, my parents’ friend Beth pushed me out of a river just before I could’ve gone over a waterfall.
DAREOLOGY
Q. Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100?
A. Yes, I’ve done it for less
Q. Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000?
A. No I like my fingers!
Q. Would you never blog again for $50,000?
A. Man, blogging is a hard habit to break, I mean really I’ve been doing it since college .. no I dont think I could do it
Q. Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000?
A. If tastefully airbrushed, of course!
Q. Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000?
A. ick no
Q. Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for $1,000,000?
A. No
DUMBOLOGY
Q: What is in your left pocket?
A: No pockets
Q: Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie?
A: To be honest, I kept trying to figure out what year it was supposed to be taking place in and analyzing it too much to think it was any good. It had a few fun moments though
Q: Do you have hardwood or carpet in your house?
A: Tile and carpet.
Q: Do you sit or stand in the shower?
A: Stand
Q: Could you live with roommates?
A. Yep, I liked having roommates
Q: How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
A: 3 or 4
Q: Last time you had a run-in with the cops
A. I got pulled over for speeding on Monday Both the dogs and I cried and he still gave us a ticket. Stuipd Acura, that marks my 3rd speeding ticket in 12 months
Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A. Happy. (Laney’s answer is perfect)
Q: Who is number 1 on your top 8 (this is a myspace related question)
A. Liz
LASTOLOGY
Q: Last Friend you talked to?
A: Arielle
Q: Last person who called u?
A. Liz
FAVORITOLOGY
Q: Number?
A. 7
Q: Season?
A: Fall
Q: Holiday?
A: Christmas
Q: Day of the week:
A: Any day but Wednesday
Q: Month?
A: June
CURRENTOLOGY
Q: Missing someone?
A: Yes, even though he’s in the next room
Q: Mood?
A. Bored
Q: Listening to?
A: Deal or no deal, I hate this show
Q: Watching?
A: Deal or no deal is on, but I’m hardly watching it
Q: Worrying about?
A. Business
RANDOMOLOGY
Q: First place you went this morning?
A: The porch to let the dogs out
Q: What can you not wait to do?
A: Go to a photo seminar tomorrow
Q: What’s the last movie you saw?
A. Sweeney Todd
Q: Do you smile often?
A: Yep
Q: Are you a friendly person?
A: I thikn so
Q: What are you looking forward to?
A: Curling up with Sean in a few hours
I just sent a letter to the city to set up water service at the condo (our renters moved out.. boo) .. anyways it made me so happy to print out a letter with a matching envelope, it looked so pretty!! Plus I made a copy of an old bill and scanned my license, I love my all-in-one copier/printer/scanner! I’m nuts, I know.
It could be because I’m suffering from a lack of sleep. I was up until 3am last night, my mind was racing with ideas for promoting my photo business. I designed a new logo last night, 4×6 ads for both regular portraits and featuring pet portraits, set up a shopping cart to make online ordering easier, and this morning I made up a business card. I can’t wait until my prints & cards are delivered. I printed the 4×6s on metallic paper, its so neat!
Another random topic, today is my Mom’s birthday (Happy Birthday Again Mom!). I got a whole bunch of geneology stuff from my grandmother when I was in MA last summer, and found a great site to organize it. Incase I haven’t mentioned it before Geni.com rocks! (Thanks Keri) Its like a facebook or myspace, but for a family tree. You can leave notes to your relatives who also sign up, and everybody can add relatives to the tree, so it grows exponentially if you have involved family members. Its on my mind today because they just emailed me to remind me that its my moms birthday and I caught a glimpse at a bunch of new features they just added. Anyways you parents out there should start something to track your tree, I’m sure your kids will appreciate it at some point I know I had at least 1 school assignment on my family tree growing up.
Here’s my tree, thanks Angelle!
Thats all for now, going to the dog park soon, its Dachshund night!
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