I have a Happy Friend named Jess. She loves people. She loves animals. She loves mac and cheese like nobody's business.
My Happy Friend Jess is a lover of life.
She'll talk your ear off about happy things and if you happen to be sad, she'll do her best to make you feel happy too.
My Happy Friend Jess happens to be sad right now, and if I could send her a package full of friendly people, cuddly animals, yummy mac and cheese and lovely life, I would.
I would, because she's my Happy Friend Jess. And that's the most important reason there is.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Two Twists and Twirls Forward, One Tumble Back
And so the tumbling begins...
I had a few not-so-good days last week, and in true Chrissy fashion, I've found myself less productive and in a deeper hole since beginning my leafy journey just one week ago.
In an attempt to eat lower calorie food and less of it, I became irritable, crabby and upset with myself when I'd slip up. And for the grand finale, I was blindsighted by a migraine at work on Wednesday (perhaps I was HUNGRY!), accidentally overdosed on Excedrin Migraine and lost an entire half of a day to a dark, quiet room . Eating less is now, inevitably, out of the question. I cancelled my USA Eat Fit membership and discontinued logging all of my meals. From now on, I'll just try to make better choices when it comes to food and that's that. Twisty, turny, tumbly, fumbly...
My laundry piled up and spilled out of my closet and into our bedroom when I specifically told myself that as soon as the laundry bin filled up, I'd do a load. I think it was on its way to attack me, but I can't quite be sure... Stupid leaf! Hmmph...
AND, due to my ever-worrisome financial situation, I was unable to give my friend Melanie a birthday present on time, or bring my "favorite things" to our "favorite things" party with the girls. I'm way behind in gifts and one of my bestest friends, Michelle, has a birthday coming up very soon and I worry I won't be able to give her the proper gift. Makes me sad, and mad at myself all at the same time :-(
Anyway, THESE are the reasons that I started this blog. Little things that turn into big things that have a fabulous way of getting the best of me. I'm holding myself accountable, and hopefully that by bitching about these slip-ups, I can motivate myself to quickly turn them all around.
And, in an attempt to end on a positive note, here's a few good things goin' on in my life:
1. I met two new girls -- Maggie and Michelle -- in my running group who run about the same pace as me. Hopefully they will be my new running partners and friends! Maggie's husband's name is Tucker, so they've just GOT to be cool! :-)
2. I'm really starting to love my new friend Jill. She is very motivating, and we are alike in many ways. I'm excited about our new friendship, because I feel that we can really learn alot about each other!
3. My totally awesome friend in Chicago, Michelle, has many happy things going on in her life, and in turn, that makes ME super happy. I miss her like the dickens, but I'm so very happy for my lovely friend.
4. My preschoolers ALL poured their own juice out of little pitchers today for the first time ever in our class. One of them said, "WOW Miss Chwissy! This is REALLY fun!" Makes me smile...
Well, it's a new week. My day went pretty well at work and tonight I'll be plugging away at many of the little things that have been piling up for weeks. A new start, a new turn, for my new important journey.
Onward!
I had a few not-so-good days last week, and in true Chrissy fashion, I've found myself less productive and in a deeper hole since beginning my leafy journey just one week ago.
In an attempt to eat lower calorie food and less of it, I became irritable, crabby and upset with myself when I'd slip up. And for the grand finale, I was blindsighted by a migraine at work on Wednesday (perhaps I was HUNGRY!), accidentally overdosed on Excedrin Migraine and lost an entire half of a day to a dark, quiet room . Eating less is now, inevitably, out of the question. I cancelled my USA Eat Fit membership and discontinued logging all of my meals. From now on, I'll just try to make better choices when it comes to food and that's that. Twisty, turny, tumbly, fumbly...
My laundry piled up and spilled out of my closet and into our bedroom when I specifically told myself that as soon as the laundry bin filled up, I'd do a load. I think it was on its way to attack me, but I can't quite be sure... Stupid leaf! Hmmph...
AND, due to my ever-worrisome financial situation, I was unable to give my friend Melanie a birthday present on time, or bring my "favorite things" to our "favorite things" party with the girls. I'm way behind in gifts and one of my bestest friends, Michelle, has a birthday coming up very soon and I worry I won't be able to give her the proper gift. Makes me sad, and mad at myself all at the same time :-(
Anyway, THESE are the reasons that I started this blog. Little things that turn into big things that have a fabulous way of getting the best of me. I'm holding myself accountable, and hopefully that by bitching about these slip-ups, I can motivate myself to quickly turn them all around.
And, in an attempt to end on a positive note, here's a few good things goin' on in my life:
1. I met two new girls -- Maggie and Michelle -- in my running group who run about the same pace as me. Hopefully they will be my new running partners and friends! Maggie's husband's name is Tucker, so they've just GOT to be cool! :-)
2. I'm really starting to love my new friend Jill. She is very motivating, and we are alike in many ways. I'm excited about our new friendship, because I feel that we can really learn alot about each other!
3. My totally awesome friend in Chicago, Michelle, has many happy things going on in her life, and in turn, that makes ME super happy. I miss her like the dickens, but I'm so very happy for my lovely friend.
4. My preschoolers ALL poured their own juice out of little pitchers today for the first time ever in our class. One of them said, "WOW Miss Chwissy! This is REALLY fun!" Makes me smile...
Well, it's a new week. My day went pretty well at work and tonight I'll be plugging away at many of the little things that have been piling up for weeks. A new start, a new turn, for my new important journey.
Onward!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Boob Tube Blasphemy
Sanjaya WHO? Dr. Mc HUH? America's Next Top WHAT?
Approximately 8 months ago, I was the type of girl who could answer questions of the like at the drop of a hat. Previously, you would have thunk that I was an actual member of the graduating class in Laguna Beach. And also, simultaneously, a Harbor High School student in Newport, CA(thanks for the memories, Mischa Barton!) I could rattle off the top 10 videos on not only Mtv, but Vh1 as well. And best of all, I could tell you the exact number of votes that came between Ms. McPhee and Mr. Hicks.
As fate would have it, not no mo.
And I'm finally at a point in my life when that's a fabulous thing! I'm out exploring new things in Denver, exercising, and best of all, spending some major quality time with my friends. Granted, I wouldn't miss an episode of Prison Break, Entourage or Sopranos. But I simply find solice in the fact that I failed to miss every episode of J Lo's dance show on Mtv...
What was that show called again? :-)
Approximately 8 months ago, I was the type of girl who could answer questions of the like at the drop of a hat. Previously, you would have thunk that I was an actual member of the graduating class in Laguna Beach. And also, simultaneously, a Harbor High School student in Newport, CA(thanks for the memories, Mischa Barton!) I could rattle off the top 10 videos on not only Mtv, but Vh1 as well. And best of all, I could tell you the exact number of votes that came between Ms. McPhee and Mr. Hicks.
As fate would have it, not no mo.
And I'm finally at a point in my life when that's a fabulous thing! I'm out exploring new things in Denver, exercising, and best of all, spending some major quality time with my friends. Granted, I wouldn't miss an episode of Prison Break, Entourage or Sopranos. But I simply find solice in the fact that I failed to miss every episode of J Lo's dance show on Mtv...
What was that show called again? :-)
Monday, April 23, 2007
I've Got the Jittery Jumps (and Tucker Does Too...)
Like a nasty, sneaky evil cat...a swan will hiss too.
Yep, a swan. Those graceful white beauties that hang out at the lake with the duckies at Washington Park near my house. They certainly do hiss. And pouf their bodies up like a cat does and the only thing that's different between the feline and the bird, in my opinion, is the "meow" and the "honk."
I'm a city girl. I don't know the first thing about swans, ducks, whathaveyou. Then how do I know that they hiss? Because seriously, not one, but TWO swans at Wash Park chased me and Tucker away from the lake today, hissing and honking like somebody killed all of their swan babies (ugh....for those of you who don't know my crazy killer cats story, I'll paste it at the bottom of this post so you're up to speed and can make the silly connection between these two rediculous stories).
Well, our encounter today was unlike the kitty encounter, but nonetheless freaky. Tucker knows the lake well, since both Mark and I take him around the lake at least 3 times a week. He's familiar with the ducks. He's familiar with the swans. He just kind of looks at them funny, like they're these foreign creatures that just landed from outer space (which now I'm fairly convinced that they might ACTUALLY be from outer space, and they've formed a pact with the kitties in the secret underground kitty lair, plotting the earth's demise. Again -- read my crazy killer cats posting below...)
Anyway, we ran past the pretty birds. Well, I mean, we TRIED to run past them. But instead of heading towards the water like all of the other duckies normally do when Tucker and I are running, this time, they started towards us, hissing (I could actually see swanny tounge!) and honking and making a ruckus. And what did I do? Just like the kitty encounter, I screamed. I freaking screamed out loud and turned Tucker around so we could go around the back of the boat house instead of in front of it like we normally do.
We escaped the birdie attack, but needless to say, both Tucker and I were a little "jumpy" the rest of the way home. Denver is a city FULL of animals. They're everywhere, which is why I love it. But holy Jeez, do they all have a vendetta against me and my 85 pound dog? You'd think that he'd bark at them, or chase them, or try to bite them, but no. He just shakes and gets scared. Ugh...
So that's not all. In the 8 blocks that we had left to travel on the way home, I managed to scream out loud yet again. We were passing the kitty house, and I'll be damned if I'll let them be scared in my own neighborhood. So we proceeded with caution again, but this time, no cats in sight. However, Tucker definitely recognizes the house and always looks around for them. But no cats. WHEW!
Umm...yeah. So we go about another block with our guards let down, sighing silly sighs of relief in unison. We're both smiling and prancing down Cedar St., light on our feet, and then...RUFF RUFF RUFF RUFF RUFF RUFF (scary dog barking noises)! SCRATCHING SCRATCHING SCRATCHING (behind the wooden fence)! Kujo himself emerges from his backyard to give us one last run for our money.
Yep, I certainly yelped out loud, and couldn't help but laugh at the silliness of our luck with animals lately.
This time, the man across the street didn't ask if we needed help like before. He simply laughed at us too. :-)
HERE'S THE KITTY POST:
Chrissy and Tucker, 0. Killer crazy cats, 2.
That's right, I said, "Killer crazy cats, 2." If you've seen me within the past 2 weeks, you'll know that me and my dog Tucker got attacked by two sneaky evil cats on the street last week. Seriously...attacked! No joke... Except really, it was only me that walked away with bloody scratched up rabies legs, not Tucker. And although he is nearly 85 pounds, he bolted halfways down the block, shaking like a little school girl when satan's spawns decided to lay into me with their hissing and their crazy claws. That's some vicious guard dog I've got on my hands...
I know it sounds silly, but seriously, it was one of the most embarrasing and scary things that have happened to me in a long time. Embarrassing, because 2 other people across the street saw the entire freakish encounter, and one guy (who was about my age) yelled, "hey, do you need help????) Ummm...well...hmmm...I don't know jackass, I've never been attacked by one cat before, let alone two at one time. Well, the stupid bitchy cats finally decided to have mercy on me and they slowly slithered their way back to their evil kitty lair where cats go to plan the end of the world...
Anyway, after that episode, it was Chrissy and Tucker, 0 and killer crazy cats, 1.
Unfortunately, after my walk with Tucker today, the stinking furballs got to put another one up on the board. I wasn't going to let 2 bitchy kitties keep me from walking down Cedar street, so Tucker and I strolled past the house once again with caution, but with our heads held high. When to my surprise, I found one of the wretched culprits lounging on his owner's lap on the front porch of the house.
Yep, they weren't stray cats...someone actually owns these cats and despite their apparent complete disregard for bubbly joggers and their innocent dogs, allows them to roam the streets.
Immediately, the creepy feline jumped off the man's lap and started hissing and walking towards us, and I'll admit, I was freaked out! Damn cat won again. I've never been that scared of an animal before, and I have the scratches all over my legs as a pretty damn good excuse.
So I said, "Excuse me sir, do you own 2 cats?" And he nodded, and said the one that was approaching us has a "brother." At this point, I could care less about the relation of one nasty cat to another, and I was quick to say, "I just want you to know that they attacked me and my dog last week."
And his response was classic...
"Well, normally if you just keep walking, they'll leave you alone." Hmmm...so you're saying that they've attempted this sort of sneaky sabotage in the past?
"Well we were running, and we didn't have time to just 'keep walking.'" I said, somewhat sarcastically and with good reason.
"Yeah, they really like to go after dogs." Wha wha WHAT???
"Well they attacked MY legs, not my dog's."
"Gee, I'm sorry about that, but normally if you just walk away, they'll leave you alone."
At that point, I took Tucker and we just started walking back to our house. Seriously....you are AWARE that your cats like to "go after" dogs, yet you leave them outside in a city where there's literally more dogs than there are people?
WHACK JOB. Anyway, I never thought I'd do it, but if I see them on the street again, I'm going to punt them farther than (insert a super good NFL punter's name here) ever could. Besides, Mark has been, and I quote, "waiting his whole life to kick a cat," so I thought I'd make him proud ! :-)
Yep, a swan. Those graceful white beauties that hang out at the lake with the duckies at Washington Park near my house. They certainly do hiss. And pouf their bodies up like a cat does and the only thing that's different between the feline and the bird, in my opinion, is the "meow" and the "honk."
I'm a city girl. I don't know the first thing about swans, ducks, whathaveyou. Then how do I know that they hiss? Because seriously, not one, but TWO swans at Wash Park chased me and Tucker away from the lake today, hissing and honking like somebody killed all of their swan babies (ugh....for those of you who don't know my crazy killer cats story, I'll paste it at the bottom of this post so you're up to speed and can make the silly connection between these two rediculous stories).
Well, our encounter today was unlike the kitty encounter, but nonetheless freaky. Tucker knows the lake well, since both Mark and I take him around the lake at least 3 times a week. He's familiar with the ducks. He's familiar with the swans. He just kind of looks at them funny, like they're these foreign creatures that just landed from outer space (which now I'm fairly convinced that they might ACTUALLY be from outer space, and they've formed a pact with the kitties in the secret underground kitty lair, plotting the earth's demise. Again -- read my crazy killer cats posting below...)
Anyway, we ran past the pretty birds. Well, I mean, we TRIED to run past them. But instead of heading towards the water like all of the other duckies normally do when Tucker and I are running, this time, they started towards us, hissing (I could actually see swanny tounge!) and honking and making a ruckus. And what did I do? Just like the kitty encounter, I screamed. I freaking screamed out loud and turned Tucker around so we could go around the back of the boat house instead of in front of it like we normally do.
We escaped the birdie attack, but needless to say, both Tucker and I were a little "jumpy" the rest of the way home. Denver is a city FULL of animals. They're everywhere, which is why I love it. But holy Jeez, do they all have a vendetta against me and my 85 pound dog? You'd think that he'd bark at them, or chase them, or try to bite them, but no. He just shakes and gets scared. Ugh...
So that's not all. In the 8 blocks that we had left to travel on the way home, I managed to scream out loud yet again. We were passing the kitty house, and I'll be damned if I'll let them be scared in my own neighborhood. So we proceeded with caution again, but this time, no cats in sight. However, Tucker definitely recognizes the house and always looks around for them. But no cats. WHEW!
Umm...yeah. So we go about another block with our guards let down, sighing silly sighs of relief in unison. We're both smiling and prancing down Cedar St., light on our feet, and then...RUFF RUFF RUFF RUFF RUFF RUFF (scary dog barking noises)! SCRATCHING SCRATCHING SCRATCHING (behind the wooden fence)! Kujo himself emerges from his backyard to give us one last run for our money.
Yep, I certainly yelped out loud, and couldn't help but laugh at the silliness of our luck with animals lately.
This time, the man across the street didn't ask if we needed help like before. He simply laughed at us too. :-)
HERE'S THE KITTY POST:
Chrissy and Tucker, 0. Killer crazy cats, 2.
That's right, I said, "Killer crazy cats, 2." If you've seen me within the past 2 weeks, you'll know that me and my dog Tucker got attacked by two sneaky evil cats on the street last week. Seriously...attacked! No joke... Except really, it was only me that walked away with bloody scratched up rabies legs, not Tucker. And although he is nearly 85 pounds, he bolted halfways down the block, shaking like a little school girl when satan's spawns decided to lay into me with their hissing and their crazy claws. That's some vicious guard dog I've got on my hands...
I know it sounds silly, but seriously, it was one of the most embarrasing and scary things that have happened to me in a long time. Embarrassing, because 2 other people across the street saw the entire freakish encounter, and one guy (who was about my age) yelled, "hey, do you need help????) Ummm...well...hmmm...I don't know jackass, I've never been attacked by one cat before, let alone two at one time. Well, the stupid bitchy cats finally decided to have mercy on me and they slowly slithered their way back to their evil kitty lair where cats go to plan the end of the world...
Anyway, after that episode, it was Chrissy and Tucker, 0 and killer crazy cats, 1.
Unfortunately, after my walk with Tucker today, the stinking furballs got to put another one up on the board. I wasn't going to let 2 bitchy kitties keep me from walking down Cedar street, so Tucker and I strolled past the house once again with caution, but with our heads held high. When to my surprise, I found one of the wretched culprits lounging on his owner's lap on the front porch of the house.
Yep, they weren't stray cats...someone actually owns these cats and despite their apparent complete disregard for bubbly joggers and their innocent dogs, allows them to roam the streets.
Immediately, the creepy feline jumped off the man's lap and started hissing and walking towards us, and I'll admit, I was freaked out! Damn cat won again. I've never been that scared of an animal before, and I have the scratches all over my legs as a pretty damn good excuse.
So I said, "Excuse me sir, do you own 2 cats?" And he nodded, and said the one that was approaching us has a "brother." At this point, I could care less about the relation of one nasty cat to another, and I was quick to say, "I just want you to know that they attacked me and my dog last week."
And his response was classic...
"Well, normally if you just keep walking, they'll leave you alone." Hmmm...so you're saying that they've attempted this sort of sneaky sabotage in the past?
"Well we were running, and we didn't have time to just 'keep walking.'" I said, somewhat sarcastically and with good reason.
"Yeah, they really like to go after dogs." Wha wha WHAT???
"Well they attacked MY legs, not my dog's."
"Gee, I'm sorry about that, but normally if you just walk away, they'll leave you alone."
At that point, I took Tucker and we just started walking back to our house. Seriously....you are AWARE that your cats like to "go after" dogs, yet you leave them outside in a city where there's literally more dogs than there are people?
WHACK JOB. Anyway, I never thought I'd do it, but if I see them on the street again, I'm going to punt them farther than (insert a super good NFL punter's name here) ever could. Besides, Mark has been, and I quote, "waiting his whole life to kick a cat," so I thought I'd make him proud ! :-)
Sunday, April 22, 2007
My First Post!
This COULD be the beginning of a beautiful relationship...
A relationship between me and my keyboard. I say "could be," because I'm very hopeful that I can stick with this. I NEED to write. I need to. But I don't. I majored in Creative Writing, yet I don't write... So my new blog is a desperate attempt to get moving in a very informal way!
I'm "Denver's Tumbling Leaf" because I'm at a point in my life right now when I need to make some changes. If you know me and have seen my MySpace page, you'll see that recently I've been "Turning over a new leaf." I know I know...how cliche! The complete and utter epitome of cliche. But I've come to learn that there's a reason why things become cliche...because they work so well that people can't help but use them.
The changes? Well, many. And they're probably all pretty cliche as well, but I guess it's all a part of being human. All part of trying to be a better person. So I'm trying to get up earlier. I'm trying to make it to work on time. To train for the Denver marathon (holy altitude, Batman! That's all I'm going to say...) To eat better and significantly reduce my calorie intake since I'm a stress eater (THANKS, MOM!) To be better to my friends. To be better to my dog. To be better to MYSELF.
So I'm tumbling. Not just turning over, but majorly flipping and flopping all over the place. Because I know myself, and I know that I will have many many slip-ups along the way...hence my little leaf turning and twisting again and again and again. And I also know that every day I can start over and turn my leaf as many times as I need to to be happy.
And seriously...how cliche of me to move to Denver from Chicago and turn into a "leaf." Serioulsy Chicago people -- I PROMISE that I'm shaving my legs, showering, and steering clear of the reefer and magic mushrooms!
I hope you'll visit often and say hello. You will all help my little leaf to stay grounded!
Much love,
Chrissy
P.S.
I'd like to thank my awesome friends Jill, Melanie and Jenn for motivating me to create this blog in the first place. I swear -- once I figure out how to link you onto my page, I will! :-)
A relationship between me and my keyboard. I say "could be," because I'm very hopeful that I can stick with this. I NEED to write. I need to. But I don't. I majored in Creative Writing, yet I don't write... So my new blog is a desperate attempt to get moving in a very informal way!
I'm "Denver's Tumbling Leaf" because I'm at a point in my life right now when I need to make some changes. If you know me and have seen my MySpace page, you'll see that recently I've been "Turning over a new leaf." I know I know...how cliche! The complete and utter epitome of cliche. But I've come to learn that there's a reason why things become cliche...because they work so well that people can't help but use them.
The changes? Well, many. And they're probably all pretty cliche as well, but I guess it's all a part of being human. All part of trying to be a better person. So I'm trying to get up earlier. I'm trying to make it to work on time. To train for the Denver marathon (holy altitude, Batman! That's all I'm going to say...) To eat better and significantly reduce my calorie intake since I'm a stress eater (THANKS, MOM!) To be better to my friends. To be better to my dog. To be better to MYSELF.
So I'm tumbling. Not just turning over, but majorly flipping and flopping all over the place. Because I know myself, and I know that I will have many many slip-ups along the way...hence my little leaf turning and twisting again and again and again. And I also know that every day I can start over and turn my leaf as many times as I need to to be happy.
And seriously...how cliche of me to move to Denver from Chicago and turn into a "leaf." Serioulsy Chicago people -- I PROMISE that I'm shaving my legs, showering, and steering clear of the reefer and magic mushrooms!
I hope you'll visit often and say hello. You will all help my little leaf to stay grounded!
Much love,
Chrissy
P.S.
I'd like to thank my awesome friends Jill, Melanie and Jenn for motivating me to create this blog in the first place. I swear -- once I figure out how to link you onto my page, I will! :-)
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