You + I = bad romance

Lady GaGa, how catchy and amazing you are.

Yesterday was okay. I left work about an hour early since we were slow and I'm so glad I did. The morning just draaaaaaaged on. I went to the zoo after work to buy a little-stuffed zebra for Ella and walked around the zoo. The animals were out in full force! I saw Papa Lion climb onto his rock hill and Mama Lion joined him about a few minutes later. It was so cute. I also saw a tiger, an ostrich, various snakes and turtles and some bears. I was lazy as heck Sunday evening and ate a bit too much.

This morning was AWESOME. Ran 7 miles straight w/o walking! I like being able to run these distances again. I showered and made french toast for breakfast. I went to the grocery store with mum. After we got home I called active.com and they will be refunding my $60. Nice and easy that process was. I made lunch, watched a bit of "White Heat," read and took a 20-minute power nap. Mum and I made turkey salad and I'm the process of making some wheat-oat-honey bagels. Hopefully they turn out. This evening it'll be soup, a roll and something else for dinner. I work tomorrow and have Wednesday off so I'm running errands on Wednesday.

Random thought: Gosh my e-mail is being a pain in the butt right now.

~Nicole

Random thoughts/notes about the past few days

-Love Grandma, but she overdoes the perfume
-Whenever I go out to the bar I should just use cash since after a drink in me I always feel compelled to buy more drinks or buy drinks for others. Granted I do not go out to bars very often and I only bought one extra drink, but still.
-I weighed myself this morning and weighed one pound LESS than when I weighed myself last week. YES!
-I love it how at the beginning of a race people pass me, but I always pass people half-way through because they started out too fast whereas I start out at a pace that feels good and get faster (most times) as the race progresses.
-I was in bed for 10 hours and it was AWESOME
-Lady GaGa is amazing and so-damn catchy
-Christmas is in 4 weeks - holy crud!
-My days have been all mixed up since I worked 2 days, have 2 days off and then I work the next 2 days. Not complaining; just a bit out of the norm.
-Am looking forward to all of the Holiday plans/parties/festivities :)
-Am glad Angela's boyfriend made it home safe from Afghanistan
-Love and miss you all :)

Random thought: I need a new digital camera.

~Nicole

Am I odd?

After a few drinks at the bar I ALWAYS want cereal. Most people crave tacos or pizza or something greasy. Not me. Give me a bowl of cheerios and I am happy.

I also turn on the MLB Network a lot of the time. Right now it is game 5 of the 1956 World Series when Don Larsen threw a perfect game.

Random thought: I should get to bed.

~Nicole

Gyros

I attempted to make chicken gyros for dinner and they tasted pretty good considering it was my first attempt. The yogurt sauce turned out well. I'd like to try lamb next time I make gyros.

Today I was lazy as hell. I woke up, went out for a run, showered and had breakfast. After looking at a bit of the paper I took a nap. After my nap I hung out with my neighbours for a bit and then made lunch. I watched a bit of football before going shopping. Needed a bra, but came home with a purse, headband and a fedora. I swear fedoras are my downfall. I went to my friends' band concert. After the concert I did some grocery shopping for my gyro ingredients. Now I am just watching TV and hanging out before I go out later.

My dinner party turned out great. I was a bit nervous with Booth coming since he didn't know any of my other friends, but everyone had a great evening. After my semi-disaster dinner with my friend Charles and my other friends in NYC I was really hoping everyone would get along and talk and laugh and we all did.

Tomorrow I have to run some errands and get some stuff ready for Thanksgiving. Nothing too exciting.

Random thought: I am le tired.

~Nicole

My grandma is 90 years old today

But she has not remembered/known who I was for about 5 years now. It's really sad. I don't even remember the last time I visited her.

I am very tired right now. I honestly can't believe I was able to function today. Yesterday I worked 6-2 and went grocery shopping right after work. Once I got home I ran on the treadmill for a bit, showered and rested in my room for a little over an hour. I took it easy before getting pertied up for the New Moon premiere. I'll post pictures once I get them off my camera. The movie was an improvement from the first one - acting, etc. is definitely better. But it's still Twilight and still not grade-A cinema. Unless I receive it on dvd I probably won't see it again. I was home by 2:30 and probably fell asleep by like 3:10'ish. I was on-and-off for a bit.

This morning I was up at a little after 6:00. I made sure to set two alarms incase I missed the first one. Luckily we were pretty steady at work so I wasn't just standing there. After work I've pretty much been busy. I've got some friends coming over for dinner so I've been prepping that all evening. Menu is: veggie sandwiches, chips & various dips, fruit, and an upside-down apple cake with caramel sauce and whipped cream. Don't know how long people will stay since I have to be up at 5:40'ish tomorrow. But I only work 5 hours so I plan on stopping at daisycafeandcupcakery.com/default.aspx for a quick lunch. I can nap after lunch. And then I'm going to see my lovely friend Kelly in a play Saturday evening. :)

Random thought: Yay for dinner party!

~Nicole

See Nicole, that wasn't difficult

I make things too hard on myself when they don't have to be.

Random thought: Was offered assistant manager at the coffeeshop. I'll most likely take it, but I still need to think on it.

~Nicole

Why do I make things difficult?

So boy and I are going to be friends. That's cool. That's the vibe I was getting anyways. I figure well maybe I'll invite him out when my friends and I go out so he can meet some new people and it's not just us. He was interested in karoke a few weeks ago, but my friends and I don't do that as often. When we go out again for karoke I will invite him.

Now I'm conflicted. Some friends and I are thinking about doing dinner Friday night. I'm thinking well I'll invite him along. I've got a friend saying yeah, good idea. I've got another friend saying yeah, not so much. If I was inviting another one of my guy friends I wouldn't be having this discussion, but for him it's different and I'm not exactly sure why.

Ugh Nicole you make things too hard on yourself.

On a good note the massages were awesome. I did not realize how tired my legs were until I was getting them worked on.

Random thought: Extra hour of sleep tomorrow - woot! Or technically I get to wake up an hour later.

~Nicole

New Leona Lewis song

I'm really feeling her new song "Happy." Her album comes out tomorrow. I may listen to samples on amazon.com and if I'm into it I'll buy it. Here's a link to the song (lyrics are below), thanks to youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mt7Nfq1CJc

"Happy"

Someone once told me that you have to choose
What you win or lose, you can’t have everything
Don’t you take chances, you might feel the pain
Don’t you love in vain; cuz Love won’t set you free

I could stand by the side
Watch this life pass me by
So unhappy, but safe as could be

So what if it hurts me
So what if I break down
So what if this world just throws me off the edge
And my feet run out of ground
I gotta find my place
I wanna hear my sound
Don’t care about all the pain in front of me
I’m just trying to be
HAPPY (Just wanna be Happy)

Holding on tightly, just can’t let it go
Just trying to play my roll, slowly disappear
And all these days they feel like they’re the same
Just different faces, different names
Get me out of here

I could stand by the side
Watch this life pass me by
Pass me by

So what if it hurts me
So what if I break down
So what if this world just throws me off the edge
And my feet run out of ground
I gotta find my place
I wanna hear my sound
Don’t care about all the pain in front of me
I’m just trying to be
HAPPY (Just wanna be Happy)

So many turns that I can’t See
Like I’m a stranger on this road
Don’t say Victim, don’t Say Anything

So what if it hurts me
So what if I break down
So what if this world just throws me off the edge
And my feet run out of ground
I gotta find my place
I wanna hear my sound
Don’t care about all the pain in front of me
I’m just trying to be
HAPPY (Just wanna be Happy)

I am a lucky SOB

It turns out two friends of mine that I had recently hung out with got the swine flu. One just got it and the other one just got over it. I am a lucky SOB that I didn't get it. Or haven't gotten it yet. You think I would have by now considering the proximity. I didn't get it from Lindsey and I hung out with her the day she started feeling ill. I hung out with Sam Friday night and she started feeling ill early Saturday. It's not almost mid-Sunday and I feel fine. But mum felt ill last night again. Don't know why though. I thought maybe it was because of some bad bread (it has mold on it this morning), but dad ate the same bread, I think, and he feels fine. Dad didn't eat the same bread so it was the bad bread that made mum sick.

Life has been good of late. Just been working, as usual. This afternoon I need to do some shopping. I'll probably shoot some pool later with some friends. Going to see if Booth would like to join us. Other than that I'll have a "lazy'ish" day. This really starts my weekend as I have today and Monday off. I thought about running my errands tomorrow, but it's a bright, sunny day so I'll do it today and have Monday be my lazy day.

Oh and ps to reoracer and atlanticat : Atlantics aren't going to go to MO as part of the irl, but as part of Grand Am (their schedule came out). So that means we'll have to pick a non-race weekend to get together. Maybe meet in Chicago since that's halfway for myself and Jen. And then we could hang out with terani . :)

Random thought: I LOVE my neighbours.

~Nicole

Just gonna be friends

Am a bit disappointed, not going to lie. He brought it up and was like "you know this is just as friends, right." I tried to play it cool and replied with something like "oh yeah. Was I giving off vibes?" I guess I was giving something off, like being gusto or eager. I then said "well you see me at work. I'm always bubbly and hyper." I was definitely on the defence aka trying not to look like an idiot AND trying not to make it seem like I was on the defence. Kind of sucks.

On the bright side since he moved here he said I'm one of the most normal and awesome people he's met. We'll hang out again for sure. Maybe we can get a group thing or something. Chat him up at work still and maybe go out for a drink or something later next week.

Random thought: Good thing my hopes weren't super high. Now I can flirt with other hotties. lolz. Maybe...

~Nicole

Karoke

SO much fun!

I picked up Lindsey at 9:45 and we drove around for a bit since most of our friends wouldn't be able to come until 11:00. We got there at 10:30, chatted and drank some beer. Slowly our friends started showing up. I bought a pitcher of beer for everyone. We were in a 90's mood. Luke and I sang "Tubthumping" by ChumbaWumba. The next song I sang was "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls; the whole gang was up there for that one. Lindsey, Ashton and I sang "I want you to want me." Not 90's, but it's a good song. I put in "Gin and Juice" by Snoop Dogg, but they didn't get to me. I'll sing it next time. There's karoke again Wednesday night. I work at 6:00 Thursday morning, but I'm probably going to say fuck it, go out and just drink loads of coffee Thursday morning. We might do Sunday karoke again. I want Booth to come with us one of those nights so when I (most likely) see him tomorrow I'll bring it up.

Random thought: Nicole, why did you eat that? Now you're feeling meh.
Random thought #2: Didn't do a whole lot today. 'Twas my day off.

~Nicole

The lovely weather/weekend

Friday was a good day. It wasn't horribly busy. After work I met my friend Ali. She sat with me while I ate Jimmy Johns (sandwich shop) for lunch and then we split ice cream from Coldstone. After we split up I wandered to the Memorial Union and found a funny birthday card for my brother. Since I was meeting Booth (yes, that's his real name) for drinks later I just took my stuff to work instead of going home and then coming back downtown. I mailed something for my friend. I glamoured myself up, which consisted of changing clothes (didn't want to smell like coffee) and a bit of make up. He was running a little late (see the anticipation post) and that was making me anxious. I called Lindsey and she told me to call him. I was going to wait another 10 minutes (by this time it would have been 30 minutes after the time he gave). I talked to a co-worker and he called and apologized for being late. Since he's not from here he doesn't know the area so we met at my work and we walked to Genna's. We talked for a couple of hours. I can tell we both had a good time and we plan on hanging out more often; we'll see what happens. Like I said before if all else I made a new friend. I took the bus home and talked to Mel, stopped at Culvers for cheesecurds and talked to the parents until midnight.

Saturday I went out for a run. I wanted to go for a longer run, but with the 5-mile race on Sunday I didn't want to tire out my legs. After my run I basically did a lot of nothing until I left for work just past 3:00. It was a pretty slow night. Joanna and I made pizza. After work I came home and talked with the parents. I was in bed by 11:00'ish. I was tired. I'm used to being up between 5:00-6:00 so I tired early.

This morning I woke up and read the newspaper. I had a light breakfast and watched a special episode of "Top Chef" before getting ready for the run. GORGEOUS day for one. Should have worn shorts though. My mouth became very, very dry within the first five minutes. Just before mile two there was a drinking fountain so I took a swig of water from that. I had a decent race. My pace was better than I thought. I thought I'd be around 10-minute mile, but my average was about a 9:36. That includes walking up some hills, which I know I could have ran up (I've done this race before), but right after mile one and just before mile three I had very bad stomach cramps. Even though during races I HATE walking I figured it's going to be better if I take a few walk breaks. This turned out to be true. I finished in about 48 minutes and AC/DC helped me cross the line with "Hells Bells."

This evening I'm going to karoke. I told Booth about it Friday and he seemed interested. I called and left him a message, but he called me back and can't make it tonight. I was kind of bummed, but actually happy that he called me back (am I pathetic or what?) since if he hadn't of by a certain time I was toying if I should call him again or not. We'll see each other at my work and we'll definitely hang out again.

Random thought: I totally felt gourmet in my lunch and dinner choices today.

~Nicole

Evening with the boy

Went well. He's single. Just gonna see where this goes for now. Seemed like we both had a good time. We're planning to karoke Sunday night and maybe do something later next week. If all else I made a new friend.

Random thought: :)

Got digits from the boy

New Nicole and confidence, 1
Old Nicole, 0

New haircut and NYC review

Instead of having a long post I'll just do bullet points of the trip with some brief explanations.

Thursday:
-Woke up at 4:15 and on the road by 5:00 to catch our 7:50 flight out of Milwaukee. Blasted music and drank coffee.
-Got to NYC just after 11:00 ET. Took a cab to the hostel, dropped off our stuff and walked around. Walked around for a bit and found an awesome and cheap and GOOD sandwich place for lunch
-Met up with Jaime at about 3:00. Got her settled in, rested and enjoyed free pizza at the hostel
-Walked around for the evening. Enjoyed some ice cream and bubble tea. We also found a decent bar. We were back at the hostel at 10:00'ish. We did another podcast and talked until about 11:30.

Friday:
-One of our other roomies came in at 4:00 and snored like no other so we didn't sleep much past then. The hostel has a free breakfast from 8-10 so after a shower and getting dressed we headed down.
-We headed up Broadway. Stopped at a mini "farmer's market" along the way. I picked up some cider. Don't think it was pasteurized. Stopped at Macys but didn't find anything worth buying.
-Had lunch from a vendor in Times Square. Went into various TS shops, including riding the carousel in Toys R Us.
-Continued our walk up to Central Park where we had a carriage ride. Went into FAO Schwartz and bought some candy.
-Went into Prada, Chanel and a few other designers and felt poor and WAY out of place. Killed a bit of time and rested our feet and drank coffee at Rockefeller Centre
-Went to dinner at Dave and Busters. Met up with my friend Charles. Shared ice cream with Luke. Spent some more time at TS. Took the subway back.
-Jaime and Lindsey weren't feeling the best so after a bit of rest Luke and I went back out. A 30 minute walk turned into a 2-hour walk. Stopped at a bar just go I could pee. Got a bit lost. Back by 1:30 a.m.

Saturday:
-Slept in and had breakfast at the hostel. Was out by 9:30 and walked down to lower Manhattan, via Chinatown and Little Italy. Went halfway across the Brooklyn Bridge and back. Went down to the World Trade Centre site.
-Walked back via Broadway. Stopped for some gelato. Got ready for Halloween. Took pictures.
-Started out the night in heels, but Lindsey and I had to switch. Went to the liquor store so we could make some drinks. Went out and tried to catch some of the Greenwich parade. Started raining so we stopped for pizza.
-Waited out the rain a bit. Had some shots at a bar. Lindsey and Luke went down to Times Square while Jaime and I walked around the East Village. In bed by 12:00.

Sunday:
-Was up by 7:00. Packed and lounged around before heading to breakfast solo at 8:00. Ventured out to try and find a bakery. Stopped at Whole Foods for some noms for the plane.
-Finished packing with the gang and then went for a final walk with everyone. We did a final podcast and I left our roomie a note (he was running the NYC marathon so I wrote him a quick note congratulating him). We checked out, said goodbye to Jaime and went our ways.
-Took the subway to catch a bus to LaGuardia. Got there hella early and had lunch and played cards. Bought a magazine. Left NYC at about 5:00 ET.
-Landed in Milwaukee just past 6:00 CT. Got the luggage and were on the road by 6:30. Stopped for noms and cigs. Back in Madison by 8:00, home by 8:30.

Random thought: Had fun, but I miss it. Now to see if I can plan a trip to Arizona in March...

Random thought #2: If you are my friend on facebook there are photos there. If not, I'll post some soon.

~Nicole

Before:


Now:

Home safe

Will update later